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joelscruff · 1 year

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one thing i'm missing (joel miller x reader) PART FIVE

i'm SO appreciative of all the kind words, it all means so much to me. thank you so much for reading & here's my kofi if you'd like to leave a tip. masterlist | ao3 summary: you and joel accidentally end up falling asleep together, and what follows is the beginning of a quiet and tender relationship neither of you saw coming. rating: 18+ explicit (mdni) warnings: (for this chapter) fem!reader, smut, age difference (reader is in her mid 20s and joel in his mid 50s), unprotected p in v sex (very tender & loving), cunnilingus, pet names, soft!joel word count: 5.1k

Pulling yourself out of Joel's arms was probably the most difficult thing you'd ever had to do, but you'd been standing there kissing in the hot spring for at least twenty minutes at that point, smiling at each other between stolen pecks and tender whispers. The way he looked at you now was still the same but somehow less guarded, more open. He didn't try to hide the way his gaze darted to your lips, to your breasts, to your legs and back up again. You felt so safe in his embrace, his fingers trailing up and down your back in a steady motion as he kissed you sweetly. You never wanted the moment to end.

But it had to. Ellie was waiting back at the cabins and it wasn't wise to leave her alone for much longer. You'd obviously checked the entire resort for infected but you'd been caught off guard before; it was always better to be safe than sorry.

“We need to go back,” Joel murmured against your lips, almost like he'd read your mind, and you felt yourself pout.

“I know, but I don't want to.”

He smiled, kissing you again, hands palming your shoulder blades, “I know. I could kiss you for hours,” he groaned playfully against your mouth, “Suddenly I'm sixteen years old again.”

“Cute,” you giggled, “I bet you were adorable.”

“I was a football player,” he teased, “Got all the cheerleaders.”

“Suuure you did.”

He raised his eyebrows, “You think I'm joking? They loved me. Don't I look like a cheerleader magnet?”

You rolled your eyes, “All my cheerleading knowledge comes from Bring it On, did you ever see it?” He shook his head, “It was a movie about cheerleaders, it came out a few years before the outbreak. I remember my sister rented it and let me watch it with her.” You smiled at the memory, it was one of the more concrete things you could remember from before the world had gone to shit.

He groaned again, shutting his eyes, “Please don't remind me how old you are, I just went from sixteen to fifty-six in about five seconds,” you laughed and he shook his head, trying not to smile, “I'm serious, I really do forget that you're...” he trailed off.

“Young?” you finished for him, “I know. I'm sorry. If I could change it I would. But unless we find a time machine out here I think we're stuck the way it is.”

“I just worry,” he was suddenly serious, brow furrowed, “You know, when we tell Ellie...she might think it's weird. I mean, she sees you kind of like an older sister, doesn't she? I don't want her to think I'm being a creep or something. That's half the reason it took me so damn long to...” he gestured between the two of you, “...do this.”

You stared at him for a second and grimaced.

“What?” he asked, raising an eyebrow, “What's that face?”

“Well...um...Ellie actually knows.”

His hands dropped from you like he'd been shocked, “She what?”

“The whole time,” he said for about the tenth time as you walked with him down the overgrown path back to the cabins, both of you now fully dressed, “She knew the whole time.”

“I think that's a bit hyperbolic,” you patted him on the shoulder reassuringly, trying to keep up with his fast pace, “She didn't really know anything, and to be fair even I didn't really know what exactly this was between us until about an hour ago, so I mean...”

“I thought she had PTSD or something,” he gritted through his teeth, “I thought she was traumatized.”

“Turns out she's just a matchmaker.”

He rolled his eyes, “Please stop trying to make this funny, it's not funny.”

“Joel, slow down,” you grabbed his arm, “Stop.”

He huffed to himself but stopped in his tracks, spinning around to face you, “What?”

“This is a good thing,” you told him softly, trailing your fingers along his forearm soothingly, “Yes, it's surprising, yes it's kind of annoying that she never said anything, but wouldn't you rather this than the alternative?” your hand found his and squeezed it gently, thumb caressing his knuckles which now felt smoother from the soap and warm water, “She's not traumatized, she's okay.”

You watched his expression soften as you soothed him, slowly nodding at you and closing his eyes when you reached your hand up to stroke his face gently. He smiled at your touch, hand resting tenderly on your wrist as your finger traced the shape of his lips.

"Don't ruin today," you said quietly with a reassuring smile, "You just kissed me in a hot spring, let's focus on that."

He smirked, "Did a lot more than kiss you."

You bit back a laugh and started walking again, shaking your head, "You really are sixteen at heart, aren't you?"

Ellie had already finished her lunch by the time you both got back to the cabins. Admittedly, you would have gotten there sooner if Joel hadn't kept stopping every so often to admire you, appraise you, thumb your cheekbone and kiss you softly in the middle of the path. You weren't complaining though. You'd been waiting to see this side of Joel for so long, knew it was there somewhere beneath the surface just waiting to have a reason to come out. Turns out, that reason was you.

"How was the bath, Joel?" Ellie asked from her place at one of the picnic tables, journal open in front of her.

"Very... informative," he replied, voice a bit stiff, making direct eye contact with her.

She stared back at him in confusion, "Well that's ominous."

"I told him," you explained quietly beside him, and you watched guiltily as her jaw dropped.

"What the fuck?" she slammed her journal shut and extricated herself from the picnic table, then stomped over to you with a hellish glint in her eye, "Why would you do that?!"

"Ellie, I'm-"

"Look, I'm sorry if I crossed a line but you're the one who asked," she interrupted, face going redder and redder with every word, "I was gonna keep it to myself, I told you it was none of your business."

Your brow furrowed in response, confusion settling on your face. Joel, who obviously hadn't been there for the conversation, immediately began to defend you.

"She did the right thing," he said firmly, although his voice had become a bit more tender at Ellie's sudden surge of emotion, "I have a right to know."

"Neither of you have a right to know anything," Ellie growled, clutching her journal to her chest and backing away from the both of you, "Jesus, I may have been born after the outbreak but I thought this kinda shit was supposed to be private until the person themselves actually wants to talk about it."

Joel froze then, making a similar puzzled face as you, "Wait, what?"

You slowly began to put your hand up, lips parting, "Hold on, I think we're talking about two different things here."

Ellie's angry expression faltered, looking from Joel to you and back again in total bewilderment. She held her journal even tighter against herself and realization suddenly doused you like a bucket of cold water.

"Oh my god, Ellie, no. I didn't tell him about that," you gestured to her journal, shaking your head frantically, "I told him that you knew about us."

She froze, lips forming a small "o" as her grip loosened on her journal. The anger was gone but her skin had somehow gone even redder, "Oh."

"I'm confused," Joel said, eyebrows raised.

"And you're gonna stay that way, sorry," you winced, patting his arm carefully and trying not to feel too bad when he frowned at you, "Ellie and I, we talked about, uh, two completely different things earlier. She thought you were mad at her for...something else."

"For what?" Joel suddenly looked concerned, peering over at her again, "What else should I be mad about?"

"You actually wouldn't be mad about the other thing," you said quietly, eyeing Ellie again. Her eyes had begun to fill with tears and she was still standing there quite dejectedly, "It's just personal, girl stuff. Nothing to worry about."

"He might get mad," she suddenly said, biting on her lip and giving you a worried look, "He's old."

"Hey-" Joel began but you put your hand up again to stop him, shaking your head.

"He would never be mad about that, Ellie. Trust me," you took a few steps toward her and opened your arms a bit, "I'm not mad, am I?"

She nodded slowly, the tears fading before they'd had a chance to spill over, "That's true."

You closed the distance between the two of you and hugged her tenderly. It was the first time you'd actually shown her any physical affection; you'd been too scared to cross her boundaries before, worried it would trigger something deep within her about David. Obviously, those worries no longer existed.

She buried her face in your jacket, sniffling a bit, "This is so embarrassing," she whispered, voice muffled.

"Hey, it's okay," you whispered back, quiet enough so only she could hear you, "What you're feeling is totally normal, believe me," you pulled back a bit to look at her again, hand coming up to cup her face, "I only yelled earlier because you took me by surprise, you know that right?"

"I know," she nodded, "And I know I shouldn't have been looking at you. It's just...it's not like I'm ever gonna see another pair of boobs out here in the middle of nowhere. I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about."

You laughed, rolling your eyes, "I get it, but yeah, no more looking at me like that, okay?" you scrunched up your nose, "It's not appropriate, I'm sorry. Not because I'm a girl but because I'm an adult. But after all this is over I'm sure you'll find a girl who will actually let you look at her boobs."

Her skin, which had faded back to a gentle pink as you'd spoke, suddenly surged a bright red again, and she began to pull away from your hug, "Okay, no more boob talk please," she groaned, "This is way too awkward for me to handle."

You chuckled and released her, stepping away and turning around to see Joel still standing there with a look of pure confusion etched all over his face. You walked back over to him and gave him a pat on the shoulder fondly.

"What was that all about?" he asked both of you, "Are we fighting or not?"

"Not," Ellie responded with a small smile, "Definitely not."

At around one o'clock you'd already overstayed your welcome at the springs and knew you had to get back on the proverbial road again. As much as you would have loved to spend another night in the cabin with Joel, in an actual bed, you both knew that time wasn't on your side. You still had a ways to go before Salt Lake City and you all just wanted to get it over with, have all of this behind you and be able to go back to Jackson with a clear conscious.

"So since you're not actually traumatized, we could probably start traveling by road again," Joel suggested about three hours into the days' hike, giving Ellie a semi-irritated look.

"You're never gonna let this go, are you?" she replied with a groan, "Come on, I did you a favor and you know it."

Joel flushed red and you giggled quietly, walking ahead of them a bit and listening to their familiar banter. It was so natural to settle back into things, the step you and Joel had taken together not really changing anything in the grand scheme of your little trio. It was a relief to hear them laugh together, rib each other, knowing Ellie was okay and Joel was okay and that was all that mattered.

Your mind kept playing back the image of him standing in front of you a few hours ago, baring himself to you, not just his body but his soul and his heart. My girl, he'd murmured to you in the spring, don't want anybody but you, you hear me? Nobody.

You smiled to yourself; you were his now. His girl.

Ultimately you all decided to stick to the heavy cover of the woods, knowing it was better to be safe than sorry. It would take a bit longer to get to the city but at least there was a less likely chance of one - if not all - of you dying before you got there. The forest just made more sense, and with it came the promise of another cozy night under your sleeping bag with Joel. It would be different this time, and you shivered at the notion.

"So you guys are together now, right?" Ellie asked a few hours later when you'd set up camp again, sun setting as she poked at the fire the way Joel had showed her.

You looked at Joel, unsure of what to say, but to your satisfaction he gave you a soft smile and then said kindly to Ellie, "Yeah, kiddo. We are."

Ellie had never set up her sleeping bag as far away from you as she did that night. You and Joel both watched as she settled into it and turned to face away from you, almost completely out of your eyeline and hidden by the dark branches of the trees. You'd both protested, but she'd been stubborn in her decision.

"You deserve alone time," she'd said, addressing you both like you were children and she was the adult, speaking slowly and clearly, "I'm giving you guys a free pass to be gross, please just let me."

"This is the most awkward conversation I've ever had," Joel had grumbled, head in his hands.

"Everybody poops, Joel," she replied, purposely trying to sound wise.

You'd both looked at her in confusion.

"Everybody poops," she repeated, "And everybody has sex."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Joel had groaned, and practically kicked her away from the fire, "Go to bed."

"I'm just sayin'!" she'd called back with a grin, making her way over to her faraway sleeping spot, "I can't hear you over here!" and she was right; once she'd gotten into her sleeping bag you couldn't even hear the rustle of the fabric, let alone see what she was doing.

"God, she is so much like Sarah sometimes," Joel muttered beside you, and your eyebrows went up in surprise at his mention of her, turning to peer at him gently. He smiled crookedly at you, "She used to try to set me up on dates with her teachers."

You covered your mouth to stifle a laugh, "And how'd that work out?"

"Let's just say I'd lost my sixteen year old mojo by then," he replied with a grin, "Made Tommy go to the parent-teacher conferences so I wouldn't have to face 'em."

"Really? You were that against dating?"

He shook his head, "I wasn't against datin', just not with Sarah's much older and very married teachers."

You shrugged, "Nothing wrong with someone who's older, I think it's sexy," you wiggled your eyebrows and he rolled his eyes, tossing a pebble into the fire.

"Well, anyway, I did go on a few dates - ones that she didn't set up - but nothing panned out," he looked over at you and smiled tenderly, "Was waitin' for you, I think."

You scoffed, "Oh, now that's bullshit."

"No, sweetheart, that's flirting," he replied, and suddenly his hand was on your thigh, palm warm and flat through the denim, "Woulda thought you knew that."

Immediately your eyes fell to his hand, swallowing tightly at how large it was on your thigh, thumb gently stroking you through your jeans. You looked back up at him and involuntarily licked your lips, feeling a cascade of tingles flutter through your body when you saw him looking right at you.

"...Are we gonna have sex?" you asked bluntly, voice quiet, and the expression on his face changed from sensuality to shock as he released your leg and groaned, covering his face.

"How do you both do that?" he asked, voice muffled by his palms, "How do you just say shit without any thought?"

You covered your own mouth, trying not to giggle too loudly. He was right, you and Ellie both did have a bluntness about you, a desire to say what you felt before really thinking about it. You supposed asking him directly if you were going to have sex was probably not the sexiest thing in the world, but you were desperately out of practice.

"I'm sorry," you laughed softly, "I'm just... I'm not good at this. It's been a long time since I've...." you shook your head, "Like, I'm talking years, Joel. That long."

He gave you a smile and dropped his hands again, placing his left back on your thigh and squeezing it gently, reassuringly, "We don't have to, it's okay."

"But you want to," you replied immediately, "So do I, I'm just worried that..." your gaze scanned the tree line until you saw Ellie's still form, far away in the darkness.

"Let's just get in bed," he breathed, squeezing your thigh again, "We'll figure it out."

You felt yourself blush, starting to feel slightly self conscious as the reality of what was about to happen - because it was about to happen, you knew that - set in.

"Sleeping bag, you mean," you replied a bit breathlessly.

He cringed, "Oh. Right."

You both laughed and any tension you'd been feeling melted away in the warmth of his voice, the softness in his expression. You trusted him so much, you knew that if you asked him not to touch you he'd listen, would respect you completely. Your ears burned red as you shuffled over to the sleeping bag and thought alternatively that if you asked him to touch you, asked him to do pretty much anything to make you feel good, he'd do that too.

The safety you felt climbing underneath the sleeping bag beside him was unmatched; the last time you'd slept this way under the stars you'd still just been friends, allies, protectors. Now you were his girl, and you guessed that meant he was your guy. The thought made you smile.

You cuddled in close beside him, resting your head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around you and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of your head. There was no more hesitation, no more questioning what anything meant, you were his and he was yours. Simple. Sweet.

You laid like that for a while, both of you secretly waiting until you were sure Ellie was asleep, even though you doubted she'd be able to hear you at this distance. Still, you waited, and so did he, just holding each other and quietly enjoying each other's company.

"I want to," you eventually told him softly, burrowing yourself into him more and inhaling his scent, so much fresher after his bath in the spring, "Take it slow, though, okay? Be...be gentle."

"Of course," he murmured, kissing your head again, "I'll go as slow as you need me to, I swear. The second I do something wrong, you tell me."

The next few minutes were pure bliss on their own as you both undressed each other in the darkness, feeling for buttons and zippers and laughing breathlessly as you exposed yourselves to one another again. It was different this time, laying there getting naked instead of standing across from each other. You reveled in how strong he felt beneath you, the way his fingers trailed up and down your back like they had in the spring, pulling you closer.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, and carefully flipped you so he was on top, his big hands gliding across your body hungrily, "Don't know how you're real."

His words made you feel so warm, so safe. Your hands came up and tangled in his hair as he leaned down to capture one of your nipples in his mouth, tongue dancing across the sensitive little bumps that trailed across the flesh. You whimpered and pulled slightly at his curls, soft and silky under your touch.

You felt one of his hands snake down your torso and cup you where you were completely bare for him, already wet and begging to feel him. His finger slipped between your soft lips, opening you up for him and rubbing circles into your clit gently. He continued to suckle at your breast, the scruff of his beard scratching against your skin in the best possible way.

He pulled back to look up at you, eyes hooded and lustful, "Feel good, sweetheart?"

"Yes," you breathed, voice breaking, "Feels so good, Joel. Need more."

He smiled at you knowingly and pressed one final kiss to your nipple, thumb tracing it lightly before he slowly began to shuffle downward beneath the sleeping bag. You watched in slight confusion before you realized where he was going, what he was doing.

"Oh, fuck," you whispered, and he looked up at you again.

"Gonna taste you, that okay?"

You nodded, cheeks flushing a bright red, "If you want to."

He chuckled like you'd said something funny and pressed a tiny kiss to your hip bone, wet and warm, "I want to, baby. I've wanted to."

You watched with your lip between your teeth as he disappeared beneath the confines of the sleeping bag. Part of you wanted to lift it up and watch, but you weren't sure you could handle that level of vulnerability, not when you were already feeling so shy. You just closed your eyes and leaned your head back, taking deep breaths and focusing on the way his lips pressed more gentle kisses back and forth along your hips, your belly, your thighs. He was so tender, so sweet, so loving, it almost made you want to cry.

When he licked a gentle stripe along your center you felt yourself involuntarily begin to fist the blanket beneath you in both hands, trying not to make too much noise as he tasted you for the first time. His breath was so hot against your pussy, his lips damp and tongue so wet as he circled the tip of it around your clit, one of his hands pressing flush against your stomach, the other snaking up to your inner thigh to hold you open. You shook in his grasp, feeling yourself drip down onto the blanket, shaking even more when he pulled back to lap up what he could from one of your thighs.

"Joel," you moaned softly, eyes still closed as you reached down and felt for his hair, tugging on it gently.

"Is this okay?" he asked quietly, waiting for your reply before he went any further.

"Yes," you whined, "More." You didn't know where this demanding version of yourself had come from but he didn't seem to be complaining, chuckling softly to himself as he leaned back in to taste you again. He sucked gently on your clit, his beard pressed firmly against your throbbing hole. You couldn't see him but you knew he was probably covered in your wetness, practically dripping in it. The thought made you tense up, stomach tightening as you felt his tongue slip from your clit to your entrance and slowly prod its way inside.

"Oh, fuck," you groaned, fingers tightening in his hair, "Right there."

Listening to your encouragement, he pushed his tongue further inside of you, nosing your clit and holding you open a bit wider. He moved his hand from your stomach and brought it down to touch your pussy, slicking up his fingers before delicately pressing one in alongside his tongue. You writhed beneath his touch, pulling his hair probably a bit harder than you'd meant to, but he didn't seem to care.

"Gonna come," you said it apologetically, slightly ashamed as your legs squeezed his head between your thighs as he continued to fuck you with his tongue and finger, nose still pressed firmly against your clit like it belonged there. He didn't say anything, didn't stop, just kept licking and sucking and fingering until you were a complete mess, whimpering out his name hopelessly in the darkness. He kept going throughout your whole orgasm, only stopping when you told him to, completely overstimulated.

"You doin' okay?" he asked you softly, crawling back out from underneath the sleeping bag. You were right; his face was glistening with your release, beard wet and shining.

You reached up and touched his wet chin, scrunching up your nose, "I'm sorry."

He looked surprised by your words, "For what?"

"You're a mess," you replied, feeling embarrassed, "And I came too early."

He shook his head with a smile, "Sweetheart, the mess is the best part."

He didn't want you to suck him, admitting to you with a hint of guilt in his voice that he would end up coming before getting to actually be inside you, and you made a mental note to make sure you tasted him next time. It was only fair.

Plus, you wanted to. Very badly.

You now found yourselves laying underneath the sleeping bag again, him spooning you from behind and kissing your neck as he fingered you steadily, groin pressed firmly against you. It was so different now that you were both naked, his cock sitting large and heavy against your ass while the head bobbed back and forth along your lower back, leaving your skin sticky and wet. Your eyes were closed, a stream of whines and whimpers falling from your lips as he pushed a third finger inside and fucked you slowly, whispering things in your ear that you'd only dreamt of.

"Takin' my fingers so well," he murmured, kissing your ear tenderly and pulling some of your hair back and out of your face, "Gotta get you ready for my cock, don't wanna hurt you, baby."

"I need it," you moaned, leaning back into his touch, feeling his hand reach down to cup one of your breasts, "Joel, please, I'm ready."

"Okay, sweetheart," he whispered, "Lay on your back for me."

Lying there underneath the sky as Joel situated himself above you, seeing his gorgeous body silhouetted against the shape of the moon and the twinkling of stars, you knew in that moment that this was exactly where you were supposed to be. You watched with tender fondness in your eyes as he placed his hands above you, leaned down to press a soft kiss to your cheek, and aligned himself at your entrance.

"I'm so glad you exist," you breathed, wanting him to know how you felt, wanting him to feel it the way you'd felt it that first night.

"Baby," he breathed, brow furrowing as the head of his cock slipped inside you slowly, "I don't exist without you."

You wrapped your arms around him, holding him close as he pushed himself inside inch by inch, watching your face and making sure it felt good, making sure you wanted it. You'd never wanted anything more in your life than you wanted him at that moment.

He found a rhythm easily, fucking into you slowly and steadily while he cradled your head and peppered kisses all along your skin, showing you continuously how much he wanted you. In response you held him tighter, hands pressed flush against the width of his strong back as he plunged in and out of you. Every so often he'd make sure to look directly in your eyes, give you those special smiles he reserved especially for you, and whisper to you how good it felt.

"You're so big," you whispered, voice broken and weak, "So fucking big."

"Doesn't hurt, does it?" he asked, slowing a bit and peering down at you with concern, "Don't need me to stop?"

You shook your head frantically, "No, don't stop, feels so good, Joel," you looked up at him earnestly, feeling tears prick in your eyes, "Go faster, please."

He didn't need telling twice, picking up his pace, bringing down one of his hands to thumb your clit as he fucked you, bringing you closer and closer to the edge. You dug your nails into his back, eyes shutting tightly as he pounded into you over and over.

"Where do you want me to come, sweetheart?" he groaned in your ear, breath hot against your skin, "Tell me where, quick."

"Anywhere," you whimpered, biting down hard on your lip as he rubbed your clit furiously, wanting to get you there at the same time as him, "You can come anywhere you want, please."

"Oh, fuck," he groaned, "Tell me when you're coming, wanna come with you, baby."

"I'm close" you replied almost immediately, eyes going wide as you watched him start to fall apart above you, "Oh my god, don't stop, don't stop." you gripped his wrist tightly as he pressed harder on your clit, sending you over the edge, "Right there, Joel, right there."

You felt him pull out of you as you began to shake with your orgasm, body convulsing underneath him as he aimed his cock at your breasts and painted you with his come, marking you. Your eyes rolled back in your head, his fingers still stimulating your clit over and over until you'd finished.

"Oh my god," he groaned, deep and husky, the last few aftershocks wracking through his body as he released his fingers from your clit and brought them to his cock, slicking himself up as he fisted himself a few more times, small spurts of come still pulsing out of him and onto your chest.

"Fuck," you breathed in response, throwing your arms above you and laying there panting. The stars had somehow moved from the sky and were now permanently dancing behind your lids, white and sparkling every time you closed your eyes.

Your body was heavy and warm, relaxed and satisfied. You didn't want to move. And you didn't have to, feeling Joel wipe you gently with some of the toilet paper you'd stolen from the resort, taking extra care to make sure he cleaned your thighs as well. Eyes still closed, breath becoming more and more even, you felt him swipe the tissue along your breasts, slow and gentle.

"Almost done," he murmured, ripping off another piece and pressing it to your forehead where you realized you were practically drenched with sweat. He wiped it off and stroked your hair, kissing your temple lightly before settling in beside you. He pulled you in close, his body still naked and warm, heart pounding quickly against your back.

"I love you," you whispered into the darkness.

He pulled you impossibly closer, nosing your neck and breathing you in, "I love you," he whispered, like he'd said it a thousand times before.

And maybe he had.

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #tlou fic #*#fic: one thing i'm missing

1K notes · View notes

iguessweallcrazyithinktho · 9 months

Text

𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 • 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐦

Jude noticing you in the crowd and makes a move

Genre: fluff

Warning: reader who isn't into football, Jude flirting (?)

Word count: 600

Pairing: Jude Bellingham x f reader

Author note: thanks for 15k followers. I'll try my best to write more tho

Jude Bellingham Masterlist

Enjoy

๑‧˚₊꒷︶ଓ︶꒷꒦⊹๑‧˚₊꒷︶ଓ︶꒷꒦⊹๑

You weren’t really into football as others were. Your friends has managed to dragged you with them to see their favorite team real Madrid play against some other team they didn’t tell you about. You couldn’t even pretend you were interested as they were that’s why you were sitting in the crowd, nose deep in your phone while everyone else buzzed as they waited for the game to start.

“I’m so excited.” Your friend Tessa said beside you. Her legs bounced up and down as she looked out at the field.

“ I’m not excited.” You sighed, tucking your phone into your pocket. “I should have stayed home and studied.”

“Oh my gosh lighten up y/n!” your friend groaned, rolling her eyes. “you’re about to watch a bunch of men chase a ball. That’s way better than studying.” Your friend wrapped her arm around your shoulder. “maybe you’ll find some of them attractive. Like Eduardo Camavinga or Jude Bellingham. Oh here they come.”

Your friend squealed as a bunch of men ran on the field. You eyed them as they ran out to do some warming up.

You were about to look away until one caught your eye. “who’s that?” you pointed at one on the field.

“Oh that’s Jude Bellingham. Hot right?” she turned away to engage in conversation with your other friend. All you could do is nod.

He was extremely attractive. More attractive than any man you’ve ever laid your eyes on.

You tried to tear your eyes away from him, but you couldn’t. You stared at him for what felt like forever. That was until his eyes met yours.

Instantly you looked away, heat growing on your cheek. When you looked back at him after a few seconds his eyes were still on you.

You had to be dreaming. Was he looking at someone else? You turned around noticing nobody else barely filled the section you were in.

You turned back to the field to realize Jude was no longer in the spot he was in before. Your attention turned back to your phone, trying to distract yourself. Before long the game started. You watched the players run back and forth, kicking the ball between each other. Everyone around you grew excited and nervous every time the ball got closer to each goal.

What you did know was the ball needed to go in the net and that’s what happened around the 30th minute of the game when Jude kicked it in.

The crowd interrupted in cheers at their Starboy. You smiled watching all his team mates crowd him. He then did his famous celebration and grabbed his shirt showing off the Madrid badge. He found himself pointing in your direction, winking at you as he did so.

You weren’t sure if it was directed at you or not. Soon you found out.

The score was 3-1 when the game was over. Everyone flooded out of the stadium but you and your friends lingered for a bit.

“ma’am you heard from behind you.” You turned around to see a guy you assumed was staff by the real Madrid badge on his suit.

“can you come with us. Someone would like to see you.”

You were confused but you told your friends to get going and you’ll meet them later before following the man.

He took you out of the stands in down through the tunnel. You followed him into a long hallway that was full of people.

“stay right here.” You stopped as he said. You watched him walk away, disappear into a room then emerging with the 6ft tall footballer Jude Bellingham.

He smiled when he saw you standing there. Your breath hitched when he walks towards you. He was walking towards you!!

“ I’m sure you saw me staring and pointing at you like a weirdo.” Jude leaned up against the wall beside you. “ I’m Jude.” He stuck out his hand waiting for you to shake it.

You laughed slightly. “yeah I noticed. I’m y/n.”

꒦ˎˊ˗ ︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶︶ ꒦꒷꒦₊˚

I know cliff hanger. Im not sorry

#jude bellingham #jude bellingham x reader #jude bellingham fluff #Jude Bellingham fanfiction #jude bellingham x you

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homeofatlas · 1 month

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Wasted Days

Summary: Being in the public eye isn’t easy. Especially when you’re in love with your best friend.

Authors note: Y'all.......I'm sorry this has been sitting half finished forever and i just needed to get it done and out there. Not edited. Also yes this is lowkey based on that line from call me by your name. but not really but inspired from it.

Word Count: 3.2k

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Being somewhat famous isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You loved the fans' sweet messages, the way they encouraged you and supported you when you had bad games, and how much dedication went into the edits and the fanpages. You’d even be lying if you said you hadn’t looked up your own name on tumblr to see if their was any fanfic of you. It flattered you, all these people you didn’t know idolising you and watching your interviews. What you didn’t appreciate was how they began to read into your relationship with your best friend. Could you call it reading into when they were just calling it like they saw it? It’s hardly their fault whenever you and elisa posted pictures of your excursions or you had interviews together you were staring at her like she’s hung the moon and the stars. It seemed quite rude of them to have to point that out though, in your opinion.

The recent influx of comments asking whether or not you two were dating made your heart beat faster in your chest. Surely there must be something there that other people can see and you aren’t just making it all up in your head, right? If not then it’s blatantly obvious for the entire internet to see how in love you are with your best friend, Elisa. You honestly can’t help the way you allegedly look at her. You’ve tried to rein it in, you’ve tried to like other people, you’ve tried to not tell anyone and make it go away. But apparently no matter where you go as soon as anyone sees you interact with her it’s like you’ve got I’m in love with her tattooed on your forehead.

During your professional football career you’d been at Montpellier with Elisa for a year before she’d left to join PSG. Giving you just enough time to learn everything about the girl and fall in love with her, convince yourself she might feel the same way, and then be heartbroken about her transfer. You’d kept in contact and tried to see her as regularly as possible but with training and games and travelling it’d been difficult until one day when you got the call from your agent telling you PSG wanted to sign you. Immediately you’d said yes in every way but in formal writing.

Upon your first connection with the PSG team they’d noticed something was different about you. The way your hug reuniting with Elisa lasted longer than it potentially should have. The way she was more distracted with you around. The way she stuck to you like glue and smiled more than she had before. You’d gotten into the habit of constantly being around each other again. When you two played together there was no stopping you. You could read what the other was thinking before they did it. It was like watching one person be split into two bodies. Unfortunately none of these things made your crush on her go away or dull even a little. That old saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”? They had a point.

In your time away from Elisa you’d forgotten the way her eyes crinkle when she smiled and the sound of her voice without the glitchiness of the phone. Constantly being around her again made everything better and worse at the same time. You were so screwed it wasn’t even funny. Which is why it took less than three weeks for the girls to corner you and ask about your relationship with Elisa. They’d assumed something had happened in the past or you were currently together. Either way that had been your first inkling you weren’t hiding your feelings as well as you tried to. Realistically there was only so much you could do before you started to avoid the girl or be constantly dead faced. You couldn’t help smiling at her the way you did or being the one she ran to when she scored a goal. If you’re being honest, it’s her fault for being so loveable. What were you supposed to do?

Pulling into the PSG parking lot you ready yourself for the teasing you know you’ll face. Elisa posted a photo last night which showcased you two looking awfully close together while on a night out with the team. You’d already skimmed the comments and they were the same on every post which had the two of you together.

“Are Elisa and Y/N together?”

“They are such a cute couple!”

“My OTP”

Yeah, you thought bitterly, mine too. Scanning the parking lot to see which of the girls were already getting ready your eyes landed on Elisas car. Knowing she’s already there puts a pep in your step. Walking towards the change rooms weaving into corridors and making turns you come up on the hallway before the change room. You can hear voices inside speaking with one of the voices distinctly agitated. As you move to enter you hear your name. It’s Jackie and Elisa speaking about you. Deciding to wait for a moment, you want to hear what they’re talking about. You hear Elisas voice cut through the tense silence.

“Drop it Jackie, we’re just friends. I don’t have feelings for her and I never have. Plus if anything was going to happen don’t you think it would have by now? We’ve been friends for years.”

You can practically see the face Elisas disbelieving face as someone once again questions the nature of your relationship. Are you really so bad she can’t even see how someone else could see the two of you together? Your stomach turns at the thought. It never gets easier to see her with other people, or hear her refer to your love as being strictly platonic. It never feels strictly platonic whenever you shiver and she immediately throws an arm around you pulling you into her side. Or when she grabs you to tell you something when she could have called your name to grab your attention. Or when she cracks a joke and she looks at you first to see if you’re smiling. Those moments rarely feel entirely platonic.

The words straight from her mouth saying she hasn’t got feelings for you makes you want to turn around and call in sick for training but you have to get over this at some point. You have to learn your place in Elisas life, her longtime friend, perhaps even her best friend. Not her lover. The realisation never hurts less despite the dozens of times you’ve come to it.

You give it a couple more minutes letting the conversation truly die out before walking in as though you hadn’t heard a thing. As you walk in you notice the way Jackie glances between you two. You’re sure your melancholy is written on your face, everything always is. You avert your gaze before she can decipher why. Thankfully she’s quiet while you change silently you really can't handle any teasing right now. Small bits of you break off every time you have to tell someone you and Elisa are just friends. Going up to the pitch and beginning to warm up Elisas words are still ringing in your head. Day 1067 (roughly) wasted thinking of a girl who doesn’t want you back. Story of my life, you think to yourself.

—-------

A team dinner is the last place you want to be tonight. It’s good for bonding but you’re attached to Elisas side the whole time anyways. You aren’t sure you can get anymore bonded to her. You wonder how much of it is you sticking close to her and how much of it is her keeping you close. You wonder how far you’d get before she pulled you back into her orbit. Not very far, you reckon.

Sakina slides into the seat opposite of you. You’d say her grin is wolfish but her features are too soft for the term.

“So you two looked pretty comfy on instagram the last couple of posts. Anything you’d like to share with the team?”

Your eyes flicker to Elisa beside you only to find her making eye contact with Jackie a couple people down. Whatever telepathic conversation they’re having right now makes your chest burn. You’re supposed to be the only one who knows her that well. Your mouth is filled with a bitter taste and something clenches and flexes in your chest. You look down trying to contain yourself before replying to Sakinas comment.

“We hang out a lot, sue us.”

You can feel Elisa nod more than you see it.

“Plus Y/ns a good photo taker I’ve got to put her skills to use when I have them!” She says jokingly. She leans forward in her chair propping one elbow up on the table the other coming up to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear. You glance to the side meeting her eyes and smile. Yes keep your focus on me, the beast in your chest sighs and relaxes.

“Yeah but she’s been here for a while now. You’d think you guys would be sick of each other. I mean you’ve been friends for so long. What else do you even have to talk about?”

You have a feeling it's time for Sakina to start drinking water. Luckily Elisa saves you from having to answer again.

“Anything, everything, whatever we feel like mostly. Sometimes we talk about nothing at all and it’s the best conversation I'll have all day.”

See? It’s stuff like that which makes you wanna scream and shout and call bullshit on being platonic.

It's like watching everything you've ever worked for go down the drain as Sakinas eyes light up. Something in her brain seems to scream BINGO!

“So have you guys ever….you know?” She looks between you two, clearly hinting at something. “Clearly you’re great together and have been in the same places at the same times coincidentally.”

Yeah coincidentally, you think.

Elisa leans back in her chair seemingly nonchalantly, “I mean I liked her when we were younger but it was never the right time.” She shrugs as if she hasn’t just blown up the ground you’re standing on.

“I mean we were young and starting out in our careers, we didn’t know where we’d go. There was no point in saying anything at that point.” You try to recover. Jumping in so it seems like you’re also unbothered and knew this information. You might pass out. It feels like the lights got brighter than they were a minute ago.

Sakina puts down her drink and seems to take a pause before replying. She goes unnaturally still for a moment before she relaxes and looks between you two with a confidence you see projected towards crowds but rarely in spaces with her friends. You’re starting to think she’a lot more sober than she’s let on and this a massive ploy or some sick fucking prank you’re the victim of.

“So why aren’t you now?”

Oh, Fuck.

Damage control.

Act like this is the first time you’ve thought of this.

You see Elisas eyes darken and an intense look in her eye directed at Sakina which the girl seems to pointedly ignore instead putting on a vague attitude of indifference which seems to suggest she’s just come to an observation, not blown up your carefully constructed weird homoerotic friendship.

“We could never jeopardise our friendship.” Elisa answers lamely.

You feel nauseous. Someone might need to call an ambulance because you aren’t sure if your heart has beat at all in the past five minutes. You’ve got to get out of here, you need to be alone. Just as that crosses your mind, a warm palm goes to rubbing circles on your lower back. You know she’s trying to soothe you but right now she’s a match stick and you're an old crumpled newspaper. Glancing back you give Elisa a tight smile before excusing yourself to go to the bathroom, instead you walk out the front door and go home.

—----------------

You aren’t expecting to hear from her. She’s made it abundantly clear in the last 12 hours she values your relationship but strictly as friends and used to like you but doesn’t anymore? You sigh, needing a minute to shut your brain off.

So when there’s a knock at the door you’re confused about who's at your door on a thursday night at almost 11 pm, you know it’s the one person who would’ve noticed you slip away.

She’s the last person you want to see and the first one you want to go to about all of this. Being in love with your best friend is too frustrating, you think as you unlock the door.

“You left.” She’s pouting in your hallway.

“I’ve filled my quota of hearing why I’m not relationship material to you today. Thanks, come back tomorrow.” Crap. You’re tired and you just want to go to bed, it slipped out.

“So this is about dinner?”

You’ve had enough.

At 11:08 pm on day 1067 (roughly) of being in love with Elisa you’ve decided you’ve had enough.

“It’s about us. I’ve loved you for a quarter of forever and I've spent all day listening to the ways you don’t like me in front of our teammates so excuse me if i had enough and came home.”

“Can I come in? This feels like an inside conversation, not a hallway conversation.”

You hate how she’s right and how she places her jacket on the hook that’s unofficially hers. When you turn and she’s made your home hers. She does that a lot, gets into your stuff and makes it her own. Your heart was the first thing she ever did too.

The moment you make eye contact with her again, it comes spilling out.

“I’ve loved you since forever. Honestly I can't pinpoint a specific moment in time where I knew I was in love. But when I listen to music there’s montages of your smile running through my head and your spirit feels like everything good in the world. Violins and guitars remind me of you. You’re music. You’re art. I love you, I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like I didn’t.” Everythings comes out of Elisa at rapid fire. You’re left blinking at her tiredly.

Word’s have done enough today. You’re too tired to talk. You walk over to her and tangle her hands with yours. Her fingers run along the sides of yours and you’ve never felt simultaneously at home and like you're on a rollercoaster. You love that feeling best when you’re with Elisa, she makes everything down to going on a walk feel like an adventure but also like you’re coming home and taking off your shoes and falling into bed when you’re tired. Safe, you realise, she makes you feel safe. No one ever felt this much like home before. In fact, you think if there is a home where all the atoms in the universe started your’s would be next to hers.

She pulls you closer to her body and before you can register it you feel a soft kiss, tentative kiss on your lips. It feels so right. You’ve always felt like your bodies were made to fit together and now you have confirmation.

“Sorry, I had to do that, I couldn't wait any longer.”

You hum at the sentiment.

She pulls away before bumping your foreheads together and letting it rest there. You love how Elisa knows you. Kissing is great but you know there’s more way to be intimate in a moment without you being attached to each other. Sitting here in this silence with her is filling your lungs with life again. You hadn’t noticed how little air you’d been breathing before, now every breath is a big heave and you’re trying to fill all your senses with her. You can see her, you can hear her breaths, you can feel her warmth against you, you can smell her, you can taste the chapstick she keeps in her car. This is where you’re supposed to be, you’ve never been more sure of anything.

Her hand comes up to cup the side of your face. Speaking quietly she utters,

“We wasted so many days.”

She sounds like she's laughing at the irony of it all. You know her well enough to detect the hint of bitterness in her voice. You think back to all the days you spent throwing her longing looks, waiting until she looked away or turned to look back at her. Everytime she smiled or laughed or frowned and they all went into a file to document exactly what she looked like. When you were younger and she would run up to hug you after a goal or the late night phone calls or the times where the moment hung just long enough for you to consider saying something. A light on the dark sea looking for a boat to say I see you, come home to me, I'll keep you safe. You wouldn’t trade any of those moments for the world.

“No, my love,” you whisper back bringing your own hand up to clutch hers, “I haven’t wasted a single day loving you. You make me feel like I’m somebody when I'm next to you. I don’t care about how many goals or assists I have, none of that matters. I don’t need to be somebody to anyone, I want to be someone to you. You’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

You love her so much it’s utterly overwhelming, you can feel your throat beginning to close up. Sometimes it’s hard for you to tell her you love her because she means so much to you. Words could never portray how essential she is to your being. All you can do is hold her and try to give her the same sense of safety and wonder she gives you. Your hands tightly grip hers. You can feel her lips ghosting over the skin of your face. Her warm and heavy presence reminds you that this moment isn’t a dream.

You feel her press small kisses from your temple to your hairline, her hand moving to cradle the back of your head. Eventually she trails her kisses along your nose before hovering over your mouth where you meet her to connect your lips again. This kiss isn’t as soft as the last. This is the kiss which tells you she’s waited long enough to have you, she isn’t going to waste another moment. Your arms creep up to wind around her neck pulling her closer to you. A deep inhale from your nose tells her you don’t want to let go just as much as her. With a small bite to your lower lip, you knew you’d been right in assuming your chemistry would translate to the physical side of the potential relationship.

Pulling away with great effort you ask her to stay over tonight.

She replies by kissing you harder than before.

Perfect, you think, you’re not going to waste one more day.

#elisa de almeida #elisa de almeida x reader #woso x reader #élisa de almeida #woso #i've been holding this fic hostage so i'll do my homework #i'm trying to finish all the ones which are half done so yall stay tuned #i aware when i did the poll it was completely different but im still gonna write

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yelena-bellova · 11 months

Text

Heartfirst: A Ted Lasso Story - Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven: Movin’ On Up

Plot: Y/n receives some surprise visitors on moving day, and Richmond suffers a shocking blow to their lineup.

Word Count: 5.9k

Warnings: f!reader, language, (16+)

A/N: I really don’t know how I’m managing to crank these out so fast. Maybe shorter chapters? Anyway, this one was fun. We’re getting into the meat of the story, so hold onto your butts, and enjoy!!

(Forgive any typos, I wrote the bulk of this one at midnight 🌙)

——————

If there was a magical force at play in Richmond, it had made Y/n its latest target.

Not only had she found the perfect apartment, she’d toured it, signed the lease and booked movers in the same week. In all her post-university years, she’d never seen real estate move quicker.

Y/n wandered the flat, directing the men and whatever piece of furniture they were holding to its corresponding room.

A knock sounded from the stairs.

“Oh, the dresser can go to-“ Y/n spun around to help guide the mover she’d just seen downstairs, only to find the last person she expected.

“Hey, there, neighbor,” Ted greeted, standing at the top of the steps.

Y/n quickly plastered on her Monday-Friday grin, “Ted. What are you…how did you…?”

“Well, you said you were movin’ into your new place this weekend,” Ted hopped a step inside the apartment to let one of the movers pass by, “Took a guess that the van that came through this morning was probably yours.”

Y/n tried to laugh off the intrusion. The safety of living thirty minutes away was long gone…

“Brought you a little ‘welcome to the neighborhood’ gift,” Ted held up a little pink box and set it on Y/n’s kitchen counter. It was the same one that he dropped on Rebecca’s desk each morning.

“Thank you,” Y/n replied while pointing one of the movers in the direction of her bedroom.

Ted stuck his hands in his pockets and took a look around the living room. He let out a whistle, “I wish you’d’ve told us you were movin’ in sooner. Coaches and the boys coulda saved you some money, get you settled ourselves.”

That was exactly why she hadn’t told anyone she was moving until the day before. She knew Ted would have assembled the Greyhounds and she would have had 15+ footballers funneling in and out of her apartment, invading the little bubble she had left.

“Oh, I wasn’t gonna inconvenience you guys,” Y/n replied, watching Ted as he maneuvered around the boxes, “Especially with the match tomorrow.”

Ted made a raspberry, “Pish posh, Oshkosh. Woulda been happy to help. Hey,” Ted swirled a finger toward the ceiling, “This place got A/C?”

Y/n nodded.

“Whew,” Ted exhaled, “I gotta tell you, biggest surprise comin’ over here.”

“You get used to it,” Y/n replied, a deep double meaning to her words.

“What about you? What was the biggest shock for you, movin’ here?”

Y/n thought back to when she was eighteen, fresh out of high school and starting a brand new life in another country. Even if it had only been a few years, it felt like a decade ago.

“I don’t know,” she sighed, “Probably the difference in English. Chips versus fries, that sort of thing.”

“Man, I still slip up,” Ted said, “Took me months to get the football lingo down.”

“I still call the pitch a field sometimes,” Y/n admitted, settling on one of her barstools.

“Well, now I don’t feel so bad,” Ted chuckled as he came to sit across from Y/n, “Hey, what’s the thing you miss most from home? Just a little thing, y’know?”

Y/n sighed, thinking about the region-specific foods she couldn’t find in the international section of the market or the channels missing from her television. Truth be told, there wasn’t anything she missed so much it could be considered missing.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “It’s been so long since I’ve been home.”

“When was the last time you went back?” Ted asked.

“Uh…” Y/n traced back the list of holidays, “My sister’s birthday…two years ago?”

Ted whistled once more, “That’s a long time. Bet your folks miss you.”

On cue, Y/n’s muscles tensed. Her smile returned to conceal her discomfort. “My sister visits,” she said, “Every year.”

“Aw, that’s nice,” Ted cooed, “For me, it’s gotta be good barbecue. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they do food dang well over here, but I miss a good southern BBQ, y’know?”

“I actually do,” Y/n admitted with a small laugh, “4th of July’s always weird.”

Ted smacked a hand against the counter. “Thank you,” he said loudly, “Last year, we had a game. Felt like Beard and I were betrayin’ our ancestors or somethin’.”

Y/n chuckled, Ted struck her as someone who went all out for Independence Day.

“Hey, truth time,” Ted continued, the humor draining from his face, “Yea or nay on tea?”

Y/n shrugged, “I like it.”

“Dang it,” Ted bobbed his head, “Beard, you…us ex-pats keep droppin’ like flies.”

“It takes some adjusting, I’ll admit that,” Y/n raised a finger, “Not exactly a frappachino.”

“Mm-mm,” Ted shook his head, “I have tried and tried with that tree piss. Warmth ain’t goin’ anywhere north on that one.”

Y/n snorted a little, imagining what that might look like, Ted sipping on earl grey.

One of the movers asked Y/n where she wanted a bookcase and she gave him directions. For once, Ted sensed the moment.

“Well, I’ll get outta your hair,” he held up his hands and hopped off the barstool, “But I’m just down the street so you ever need anything, don’t be a stranger.”

“Good to know,” Y/n watched Ted walk away, “Ted?”

He stopped at the top of the stairs, “Hmm?”

While Ted was still a lot, after all her years spent as the foreigner, it was almost…nice to talk to someone from home. Someone she didn’t need to explain her references to or rearrange her vocabulary for.

“Thank you,” Y/n said, quickly concealing the truth of her gratitude, “For the biscuits.”

“Anytime,” Ted saluted before heading on his way.

Y/n let out a loud sigh once she was sure he was gone. She wandered back over to the counter and opened the pink box, finding the signature biscuits Rebecca raved about. Out of curiosity, she broke off a bite and ate it.

“Shit,” she mumbled, they were better than anything she’d ever found in any of London’s cafés.

Despite his line-crossing, Ted was good-natured. He had a heart of gold and tried to make sure everyone he encountered felt like they had one too. Y/n could call it tolerance or simply learning to deal with him, but deep down, Ted’s efforts were starting to poke and prod a little harder at her walls.

—————————

That evening, after the movers had finished and Y/n had gotten the basics unpacked, she started on the non-essentials. She was stacking dishes when the doorbell rang.

Y/n was perturbed as she descended her stairs, there were exactly three people who had her new address, the absolute minimum. Lisa, who handled payroll at the club, Ted, who’d stumbled upon her apartment by sheer luck, and her sister.

Looking through the peephole, Y/n sighed. She’d forgotten there was a fourth on the list.

Jamie smiled smugly as Y/n opened the door, “You went with mine.”

Y/n rolled her eyes, “I didn’t ‘go with yours.’ I was the one who found it, you just deemed it worthy.”

“And I was right,” Jamie stuck his neck out and lifted off his heels.

She’d never give him the satisfaction of knowing, but Jamie was completely right. The night of the West Ham match, the two of them had stayed at the Crown and Anchor till Mae kicked them out, pouring over each apartment until they’d eliminated 75% of the stack. The one Y/n had settled on was also the one that Jamie had decided was the best.

Jamie held up a plastic takeaway bag, “Come bearin’ sustenance.”

Not only was Y/n tired, she didn’t want to entertain anybody else from work. But, starving as she was, she was in no position to turn down free food.

“Entry permitted,” she snatched the bag from him, “Barely.”

Jamie took an exaggerated step over the seal and passed Y/n. They’d gotten to know each other better over the last few weeks, Jamie stopping Y/n anytime he saw her to ask about the apartment tours she was taking on the weekends. They’d gotten many laughs out of the stories of Y/n going against Jamie’s advice and visiting the properties that did indeed turn out to be crap.

In another world, they’d almost consider each other friends.

Upstairs, Jamie swung his arms as he took in the living room, “Not bad.”

“‘Not bad?’” Y/n turned around from where she stood in the adjoining kitchen, “You pick this place out and then it’s just ‘not bad?’”

Jamie cackled, spinning on his heel and pointing a finger at Y/n. “That’s an admission.”

Y/n internally cringed, her sharp edge was dulled by exhaustion. She could usually keep up with Jamie. “If you want any of this,” she unpacked the styrofoam container of kebabs, “You’ll stay on my good side.”

“Can’t have any,” Jamie replied, coming to lean on the bar, “Diet, ‘member?”

Y/n shook her head, popping a stray piece of chicken into her mouth. “I still don’t get why you’re doing this.”

“You know why,” Jamie crossed his arms on the counter, “Gotta get back to being the best.”

“Yeah, but is being better than Zava worth missing out on things like food and sleep?” Y/n asked. She could appreciate Jamie’s drive, but this dedication seemed overboard.

“It’ll be worth it,” Jamie stated.

Y/n decided to play the asshole, sliding across the kitchen to wave the kebab box under Jamie’s nose. She watched his willpower waver ever so fleetingly.

Jamie glared up at her, “You’re evil.”

Y/n snickered as she went back to her spot, stealing a bite before going back to unpacking. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with Roy?”

“Night before a match, I’m off,” Jamie swung around the bar to the kitchen.

“So shouldn’t you be resting?” Y/n asked as she un-bubble wrapped a stack of plates.

“I will,” Jamie shrugged, bending over to peel the tape off a box.

Y/n glanced over, watching as Jamie began to unpack various glasses. He didn’t offer, he didn’t ask, just went about it as if it were his business. It was slightly intrusive…and also kind.

Jamie Tartt, Y/n had come to learn, was nothing and everything like what she’d thought he’d be. He had more depth than he let onto and he’d shown a side of it by trying to help her find a place. And though she knew the Zava battle was a personal thing for him, she also knew how much Jamie cared about his team. He wanted to be at his best for them just as much as he did for himself.

Unlike Keeley, who announced her efforts to get Y/n to crack at every turn, or Ted, who went overboard, Jamie hadn’t tried to enter into Y/n’s life. He had simply occurred.

“Do you get nervous?” Y/n asked out of pure curiosity, “Before games?”

“Not really. I mean,” Jamie answered, lining up coffee mugs in a cupboard, “Sometimes. Depends.”

Y/n stretched on her toes to put away china she never used, “On?”

“I dunno,” Jamie replied, a particular trigger or two popping up, “Lots of things.”

“So what about tomorrow?” Y/n continued.

Any slip Jamie’s mind had made was caught with quick footing. “Nah,” he said confidently, “Nah, we got that.”

“Well, good,” Y/n exhaled, setting the empty box on the floor, “It’d be nice to get a win. And hey, if it doesn’t work out and you’re forced to retire after this season, I’m sure the reality tv world is still thriving with opportunities.”

Jamie managed to grimace while smiling, “How the fuck did you find out about that?”

“You thought the PR department wouldn’t know about that?” Y/n strode past him to get another box, “I also live in England.”

“You at least vote for me?” Jamie asked, a playful lilt to his tone.

Y/n hoisted another box of kitchenware into her arms and balanced it on her knee. “Yep, you caught me,” she sarcastically grunted, “I have a weakness for crap tv featuring mediocre footballers.”

Jamie set down the mug in his hand with a particular harshness. Mediocre footballer. “Now, hang on-“ he began.

“Less talking, more working,” Y/n cut him off, she stopped to check out the cupboard he was finishing. “That’s also not where they go.”

“What?”

“The mugs,” Y/n gestured to where her coffee maker was, “Disrupts the flow if they’re all the way over there.”

Jamie rolled his eyes, only playful annoyance accompanying. “God forbid we disturb the flow,” he lamented, grabbing a mug in each hand and heading to the correct cabinet.

They unpacked in comfortable silence a minute more before Y/n decided it didn’t matter if Jamie wasn’t nervous about the match. They needed all the encouragement they could get.

“It’ll happen tomorrow,” she said, referring to their recent losses.

Regardless of whether he was hiding any feelings or if they’d pop out the moment he stepped on the pitch, Jamie stopped what he was doing to absorb the kind words. Y/n was a recent addition to his life, certainly an unexpected one, but she felt…safe. Like even if they didn’t know anything about each other past their mutual taste in real estate, he didn’t have to act so much around her.

“Thanks,” he replied, making effort to meet her eyes.

Y/n gave a small smile, “It will.”

—————————

It didn’t.

Over the next month, Richmond’s lack of luck turned to a 7-game losing streak. Some weeks were better than others, but they all ended the same way: with the Greyhounds leaving the pitch with their heads hanging in defeat.

Luckily, Y/n was kept occupied on the eighth week. Jack Danvers was coming into the office for a meeting and Keeley had asked Y/n to be there as well.

“You’re all business-y,” she’d said, “You know way more than I do, plus, Jack really likes you.”

Y/n sat on one side of Jack, with Barbara on the other, as she and Keeley recounted the conversation and clash of opinions they’d had recently.

“I completely understand where Barbara’s coming from,” Keeley said, keeping a kind tone as she turned to her CFO, “But as I was explaining to you, I’m worried that by adding more clients that could mean less attention paid to the wonderful people we already represent.”

“And then,” Barbara chuckled, though she lacked any humor, “I reminded Keeley, as you’ve said so many times, Jack, that if it does get to the point where we feel we’re spreading ourselves thinly, then we’ll hire more people,” she grinned politely at Keeley, “It’s called ‘growth.’”

Y/n and Keeley glanced over at one another fleetingly, the tension was so poorly concealed, it was getting uncomfortable.

“I’m sure you can see that as well, Y/n,” Barbara gestured towards Y/n.

“Actually, Keeley’s absolutely right, in my opinion,” Y/n answered, spotting her boss a smile, “There’s big firms, there’s small firms. Both have their allure, but I think our personability is the biggest thing we have going for us.”

“Oh,” Barbara’s grin grew scarier, “Wonderful, wonderful…”

Jack looked sweetly towards Barbara, “Okay. Let me weight in here.

“Oh, please,” Barbara obliged.

“I agree with Keeley,” Jack finished.

“Oh, that’s great,” Barbara beamed.

“Being a small boutique firm is exactly what sets you apart, like Y/n said,” Jack went on, “You want a restaurant to look successful, you take out half the tables and you have a line out the door. I say, let’s go for it.”

Keeley and Jack shared a smile.

“No, that’s wonderful. Yeah,” Barbara forced out as she rose, “And instead of salaries, we can give away the tables we threw out.”

“Don’t worry, Barbara,” Jack called, “It’ll be great.”

Barbara mumbled some dishonest agreement as she left the room, leaving it open on her way out.

Jack turned to Keeley and Y/n, “Do you ever think sunshine gets jealous of her?”

The women shared a laugh just before a knock at the door revealed Shandy. “Knock, knock.”

“Hi, babe,” Keeley greeted her friend.

“Now that your little cool girls meeting’s done,” Shandy leaned on the empty chair, very visibly unhappy, “Just wanted to share the exciting news that I’ve started an app.”

“Oh,” Keeley replied.

“It’s like Bantr, but it’s better and cooler,” Shandy’s tone was even and icy, “And actually cares about helping people have sex with celebrities.”

Y/n kept her head down, sharing an awkward glance with Jack. This was strictly Keeley’s business to handle.

“What? Shandy-“ Keeley began.

“It’s called ‘Star Fuckr,’” she announced before looking to Jack, “And yeah, we are looking for investors.”

When Jack didn’t offer to write a multi-zero check right then and there, Shandy stood tall, shot daggers at Keeley and strutted her way out of the room.

“I take it she’s still angry about the whole Bantr thing?” Jack asked.

“Oh, yes,” Keeley nodded, “Shandy does not have a good relationship with rejection, or her ex, or with her workplace, or most nouns, really.”

“‘You are so passionate, but I have to let you go,” Jack said, pulling Y/n and Keeley’s attention, “‘I’m sorry, but I know someone as brilliant as you will land on their feet.”

Keeley struggled momentarily, “What did I do?”

“No, no, no, no,” Jack reached out across the desk, “Keeley, sorry. That’s what you say when you fire Shandy.”

Y/n and Keeley both exhaled forcefully, laughing after.

“Sorry,” Jack apologized.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Y/n’s hand was pressed to her chest, “I just saw my lease flash before my eyes.”

“It’s called a compliment sandwich,” Jack explained, “You give someone bad news, but to soften the blow, you slap it between two delicious slices of compliments.”

Keeley nodded, “But I can’t fire Shandy. She’ll hate me. And she really thinks she’s killing it.”

“I am sure she does,” Jack exhaled, “The worst people often think they’re the best. My dad calls it ‘talent dysmorphia.’”

Keeley laughed while Y/n stayed silent, knowing what was coming next.

“What do you think?” Keeley turned to her hardest worker, “Do you think it’s the right decision?”

Y/n looked down at her notebook, taking a deep breath to see if it would help the force of what she wanted to say dissipate. Jack was waiting on her too, and she couldn’t lie to her or Keeley.

“I think…” she started slow before shutting her eyes and letting it fly, “Keeley, if you don’t fire her, she will literally run the company into the ground and strut over its mangled corpse.”

When she opened her eyes, Jack and Keeley were leant back an inch or two as if to avoid the splash of her opinion. Before she could try and explain it more eloquently, the two women started laughing.

“No, no,” Jack chuckled, “Don’t hold back.”

Y/n exhaled with a small smile, turning to Keeley, “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Keeley reached a hand over and poked the back of Y/n’s, “That’s why you’re my best. You don’t hold back.”

It was ironic, they both knew, considering how withdrawn Y/n kept herself. But with Keeley, it seemed to be a bit of a joke between the two of them.

“You two wanna get some lunch?” Jack asked when the giggles had died down, “My meeting just got pushed.”

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Keeley smiled, “Yeah, my stomach started grumbling when you said ‘compliment sandwich.’”

“You guys enjoy,” Y/n rose with them and collected her purse, “I’ve gotta get back to the office.”

“Oh,” Keeley reached back over her desk and handed Y/n a sheet of paper, “Give this to Zava. A couple more people called requesting interviews.”

Y/n glanced over the list she’d originally made, it seemed like the Zava craze still hadn’t died down. In fact, the more Richmond lost, the more people wanted to hear what he had to say. “Are we sure it’s a good idea to do so many interviews on a seven-game streak?”

“That’s the thing,” Keeley grabbed her coat, “The press eat up whatever Zava says. Can’t get enough.”

Quirking an eyebrow in understanding, Y/n tucked the list in her book and tried to imagine the ridiculous headlines that would be tied to Richmond this week.

—————————

Returning to the office after having taken lunch by herself, Y/n rapped two knuckles on the open locker room door. She still knew to wait for the all-clear.

“Everybody decent?”

A chorus of various ‘yeses’ were her key in.

“Zava,” Y/n turned to the star player, “Here’s your interview schedule. The press is really eager this weekend in particular. Let me know if there’s any changes you want to make.”

Zava pressed a hand to his heart and touched Y/n’s arm with the other. “Thank you,” he said softly, before looking to his teammates, “Men.”

Taking hold of both her shoulders, Zava guided Y/n to stand in front of him. “Okay,” Y/n stuttered as she was stood in front of the entire team. Seated in the middle of the room with Isaac, Jamie matched her confused gaze.

“This is what your hearts should be seeking,” Zava began to wax his odd form of poetry, “Brains, talent, warmth-“

Y/n’s brow creased, what the fuck had she walked into?

“Outer beauty will fade,” he continued, “But a smudge like this,” Zava smiled down on Y/n, “It will last forever.”

Zava patted her shoulders once more before throwing his towel over his shoulder and exiting the room. Not only was Y/n left with every Greyhound staring at her, contemplating Zava’s words, but with his schedule still clutched in her hand.

“Can someone make sure he gets this?” Y/n asked, failing to keep her tone even.

“Oh,” Dani raised his hand and climbed over Jamie’s leg to get to Y/n, “I will.”

Y/n willingly handed it off, “Thank you, Dani.” Not caring to spend another second in the room, she turned on her heel and left. She backtracked her steps quickly, “Is a smudge a good or a bad thing?”

Colin scrunched his face up, “It’s not…not…a good thing.”

Pressing a hand to her temple, Y/n decided she didn’t need to know any more about whatever conversation she’d interrupted and left the locker room.

—————————

The Man City match came about like every other one, but the air of anticipation heightened with each week. Would this be the day Richmond finally broke their streak? Or would they take another step towards double digits?

Not more than a second after Y/n had parked in the car lot, her phone rang with a call from Higgins.

“Hi,” she answered, “What’s going on?”

“Are you here yet?” Higgins asked, his tone nervous.

Y/n shut the door to her car, striding towards the back entrance to the stadium. “I just pulled in.”

“Could you pop into the coach’s office?”

“Yeah,” Y/n hung on the syllable suspiciously, turning in the other direction and swinging the door to the office building open. “Be right there.”

Y/n took long steps down the hall, passing by the locker room and heading straight for Ted’s office.

“Hey,” she said as she entered. Coach Beard, Roy and Higgins were standing around the desk clump, huddled together in conversation. Ted was already on the pitch. “What’s wrong?”

Beard kept his hand pressed to his mouth, Roy scowled at the air.

“It seems that Zava hasn’t showed up yet,” Higgins answered, “No one knows where he is.”

Y/n’s lips parted in confusion, “He’s just…not here?”

“Apparently so.”

Setting aside her annoyance, Y/n snapped into work mode and pulled her phone from her coat pocket. “Alright,” she scanned her contacts, “Let me get on the phone with some people. See if I can track him down.”

“He’d better fucking be here,” Roy growled at no one in particular.

Y/n raised her phone to her ear and pointed to Roy and Trent’s office, the former nodding for her to take it. She started at the top of the list of Zava’s personal team he’d given to her, Keeley and Higgins. Why a fecalist needed to be considered an emergency contact, Y/n would never understand, but she’d try whoever she had to…

Except the fecalist hadn’t heard from him.

Or his agent.

Or anyone Y/n dialed.

Defeatedly, and beginning to grow anxious, Y/n rejoined Beard, Roy and Higgins. “No one knows where the fuck he is,” she answered.

“Fuck,” Roy muttered.

“We got three minutes,” Beard shrugged, “What the fuck do we do?”

“Start Colin,” Roy resolved before looking to Y/n, “If you track that prick down, I don’t care, you fucking get on the pitch and tell us.”

Y/n gave a definitive nod, “You got it.”

With not so much a plan as a temporary fix, Roy and Beard left for the locker room while Y/n and Higgins headed for the hall.

“I told everyone to call me if they hear from him,” Y/n reported as they walked.

“What could be so important to make him miss a match?” Higgins pondered as they made their way to the stadium.

“I don’t know, but so long as his wife and kids are breathing and in possession of all their limbs,” Y/n practically growled, the cheering of packed house of Greyhounds growing louder with each step, “I’ll drag him onto the field myself.”

—————————

Rebecca took to the news…as expected.

“Who the fuck does he think he is?”

Y/n sat on one side of her boss, raising two fingers of the hand rubbing at her temple, in agreement.

“So just, no one’s heard from him?” Rebecca asked.

“No one,” Higgins grimaced.

“Well,” Rebecca let her palms fall against her legs, “There goes any chance of a win.”

“Let’s pray otherwise,” Y/n scanned her phone for the fifth time since she’d sat down. It was then that she realized there was a very vocal presence missing. “Where’s Keeley?”

Snapping out of her most likely violent thoughts, Rebecca unlocked her phone and held it up to Y/n. She found a text thread from Keeley including a message that said she’d be missing the game. Below it was a picture of a baby lamb standing on the table of the KJPR conference room, surrounded by its own feces.

Three months ago, Y/n might have had a question or twelve. Now, she simply nodded and sat back in her seat. “So Shandy’s gone,” she mumbled to herself.

The game went as well as the last ones had. Colin, though talented, couldn’t rival Zava’s skill. Jamie’s extra training wasn’t the solution either, and Man City walked away with a 4-0 win against the Greyhounds.

Rebecca retired to her office while Higgins and Y/n headed to touch base with the coaches. Trent met them along the way.

“No one heard from him?” Trent asked Y/n on their way.

“Not a single text or call during the game,” Y/n scrolled her phone as they walked, an Instagram notification popping up, “Shit.”

Higgins looked over, “What?”

Y/n stopped midway to their destination, hitting play on the video.

“Hello, how are you?” Zava spoke, dressed in casual wear, “I’m just - I have to share something with you, my friends. You are not my followers. You are my believers.”

Trent and Higgins came to stand beside Y/n, expectantly waiting for an answer.

“And so it— I have to tell you,” the man paused, “Zava has played his last match. I will now dedicate all of my time and all of my energy to my family and my avocado farm.”

The rest of whatever utter nonsense Zava had to spew, Y/n didn’t listen. She was infuriated, partially because of his actions, and partially because they’d all allowed themselves to think it was ever a good idea to hire him. He’d fed the Greyhounds to the wolves with no regret and it affected all of AFC Richmond.

When the video ended, Trent, Y/n and Higgins shared a hopeless look.

“We’ve got to tell the boys,” Higgins finally spoke, shrugging slightly.

The three of them made their way down the rest of the hall where the locker room door hung open. The scene inside was dismal, each of the men sat on the benches with their heads hung.

“Hey, guys,” Higgins greeted in an attempt to stay positive, “Good effort today.”

“Mr. Higgins,” Colin spoke up from his seat, “Is it true about Zava?”

Y/n cast her gaze downwards, avoiding eye contact with any of them.

“I’m afraid so,” Higgins replied.

Dani, cradling a towel to his face, began to weep into the fabric.

“Maybe some tissues for Dani,” Higgins muttered quietly.

“Hey, hey, guys,” Sam stood with his phone in hand, “Zava just posted a video.”

“Oh gosh,” Y/n grumbled under her breath as the Greyhounds circled up. Everyone except Jamie, who remained sat on the floor.

The boys watched the video, clinging to every last word at the start, and walking away with mumbled curses and shakes of the head. Any love or respect they had for their former teammate had been lost within thirty virtual seconds.

Y/n snuck a glance over at Jamie, expecting to see him struggle to keep his joy under wraps. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Even he was in shock.

“Gentlemen,” Ted said as he entered, quickly noticing Y/n’s presence, “And lady. That was a tough one tonight. Okay? Man City has still got our number. That’s all right. We gonna get another crack at ‘em later in the season. Uh-huh,” Ted looked to Beard, “Coach? No practice tomorrow.”

Beard nodded, “That’s right.”

“Okay,” Ted looked back to the team, “Well, I’ll see y’all on Monday.”

While the rest of the team began to talk amongst themselves, Sam looked up confusedly at Ted. “Hey, hey. Hey, Coach,” he called till the manager stopped in his tracks, “What about Zava?”

Ted glanced over at Zava’s multiple lockers, his empty chair.

“He quit the team,” Sam stated, as if it unheard news.

“I mean, technically he retired from the whole sport,” Ted clarified, “Which makes it feel a little less personal, yeah? You know, like if your girlfriend runs off with some dude and it turns out they were soulmates.”

The Greyhounds replied quietly in agreement.

“But look, look, look, look,” Ted redirected their focus back, “I hear you, okay? Zava is gone. And you know what? I think it’s a good thing.”

The boys began to argue back in shock.

“Well, I do. Okay, look,” Ted spoke over his players, “Do I wanna win? Heck yeah. But I also wanna do it with folks that wanna be here. It’s not like we could handcuff him to his locker and make him love us.”

“We could have tried,” a desperate Dani replied.

As the initial surprised faded, Y/n was beginning to match Ted’s opinion. Zava may have taken them for a temporary ride to the top, but this ultimate insult had shown that his heart was next in Richmond.

“Hey, guys. Guys, look,” Ted held up a hand, “We got a good thing going here. All right?” Ted’s eyes fell to his left, meeting Jamie’s, “We didn’t need Zava. Yeah?”

No one dared disturb the silence as the truth washed over each of them, including those who weren’t players.

“Yeah,” Ted said quietly, “All we need to win are the fellas in this room, right now,” he pointed to the men on the benches, “And all you fellas need to do is believe it.”

No sooner than when Ted had uttered the last two words did the bright yellow ‘Believe’ sign hanging over his head split itself down the middle. The Greyhounds jumped to their feet and cried out to various degrees. Even Y/n gasped a little, having learned of its significance.

“It’s a sign,” Bumbercatch called out.

“That’s it,” Colin held up his hands, accepting fate, “We’re doomed.”

As the locker room grew louder, Ted held up his hands and attempted to settle things down.

“Now hold on. Hey, knock it off, okay? We’re not doomed. No one is doomed. But Bumbercatch, yes, you’re right. It is a sign. I agree, Yeah.”

Ted turned around and removed both halves of his handiwork, folding them together. “In fact this, it’s just a sign.”

Without any hesitation, Ted tore the paper into four pieces, sending the locker room into chaos again.

“All right, guys, listen to me,” Ted commanded the room, “Belief doesn’t just happen ‘cause you hang something up on a wall. All right? It comes from in here,” he touched his chest, “You know? And up here,” he touched his temple before hitting his stomach, “Down here. Only problem is, we all got so much junk floating through us, a lot of times, we end up getting in our own way.”

Y/n had yet to be present for any of Ted’s locker room speeches, as she had no reason to be. But immediately, like some spiritual presence moving through the room, she felt his words take hold of her.

“You know, crap like envy or fear, shame,” Ted continued, seemingly speaking to himself as well, “I don’t wanna mess around with that shit anymore. You know what I mean? Do you?”

He wasn’t speaking to her, but the question still penetrated Y/n all the same. She could feel a familiar ball of anxiety beginning to build in her stomach.

“No, me neither,” Ted shook his head after the boys answered back, “Hell no. Well, you know what I wanna mess around with? The belief that I matter, you know? Regardless of what I do or don’t achieve.”

One blade inserted itself into Y/n’s gut, the omnipresent pain causing her heart rate to speed up.

“Or the belief that we all deserve to be loved,” Ted went on, “Whether we’ve been hurt or maybe we’ve hurt somebody else.”

A second blade settled in Y/n’s chest, this one causing the muscles to contract. She closed her eyes in an attempt to keep the rising emotions at bay.

“Or what about the belief of hope?” Ted asked, “Yeah? That’s what I wanna mess with. Believing that things can get better. That I can get better. That we will get better.”

Better, Y/n thought on the word. Better. Did things ever get better? Or did ‘bad’ just shapeshift into something else? Did it just wait along the road in the shadows, waiting for ‘better’ to come merrily on its way?

“Oh, man,” Ted sighed, “To believe in yourself. To believe in one another. Man, that’s fundamental to being alive. And look. Yo, hey. If you can do that,” he pointed to each player in the room, “If each of your can truly do that-“

Ted made one more rip down the sign’s tatters, walking to the center of the room. “Can’t nobody rip that apart.”

As the remains of the sign slapped against the metal bench, Y/n’s anxiety reached its brim. She placed a near shaking hand on Higgins’ shoulder to signal she was leaving before slipping out the back door. Blearily, she made it down the hall and outside, the fresh air of the parking lot slamming into her.

Once in the safety of her car, she allowed herself to weep.

Zava was the furthest thing from her mind. The incoming headlines, another loss on the scoreboard…all of it. She couldn’t have cared less if she’d tried. All she could feel was the crippling ache in her chest, the sting of her tears, the overwhelming feeling that came with being utterly alone. When a person became aware of just how much bigger the world around them was and how infinitely small they really were. The pain that could be remedied with a simple hug or a comforting word.

Y/n let out a silent sob, the familiar ache of all she wanted having taken a new form, once again. It would certainly kill her to allow herself her basic needs, to walk back in and hurt with the people inside. And it would break her all the same to continue hiding.

————

Heartfirst Taglist: @lalla-04p @optimisticsandwichgladiator @makingmunson94 @taytaylala12 @storysimp @sokkigarden @lightninginab0ttle @poohkie90 @alipap3 @verra-nerevarine @shineforever19 @spaceagechimera @burnafter-reading @qardasngan @cyberpvnk-enthusiast @sogoodtoheritsvicious @buckybarnex @angelsunflxwer @blueanfield @thewildestwonderland @sablecities

#ted lasso imagine #ted lasso fanfiction #ted lasso fanfic #ted lasso fic #jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt imagine #ted lasso x reader #keeley jones x reader #rebecca welton x reader #heartfirst

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rafesapologist · 11 months

Note

a request but if you don’t like it ignore:)

Rafe plays some kind of sport, (football??) and reader wears a jersey with someone else’s number?

🩷

𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 - 𝐣𝐨𝐜𝐤!𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐞

summary: you and rafe cameron have been together throughout the duration of college since meeting at a freshman seminar during your guys' first week attending university. you've stuck by your jock of a boyfriend consistently ever since, witnessing all the highs and lows of his athletic career while playing for your school's football team. it's now both of you twos senior year and your boyfriend's football season is drawing to a close, leading you to come up with the idea to play a prank on him in honor of his last game. with the help of his best friend, topper thornton, you come up with a devious scheme that you know will illicit a rise out of an unsuspecting rafe. it's finally saturday night and your school's team won their final game, now excitement was at an all time high and celebration was to be had. the night couldn't have gone any better, until rafe notices you wearing his best friend's jersey number instead of his.

warnings: swearing, alcohol use, violence, angry rafe

author's note: hii! thank you for the request :) your wish is my command mwah requests are open !

It was a picturesque, boisterous Saturday night just after your university's last game of the season had just wrapped up. A chorus of delirium erupted amongst the filled stadium once the final touchdown had been made, concluding the game and ruling that it was your boyfriend, Rafe's, team that had won. It didn't come as much of a shock to you as it did to everyone else when your boyfriend had been the one to score the last few points that won the team it's finishing game, due to the fact that Rafe was an exceptional athlete for as long as you could remember. However, despite your lack of surprise, you still felt a large quantity of enthusiasm following his accomplishment.

It had been an agreement amongst the football team and their girlfriends', you included, that had they won, there would be an afterparty at the Boneyard in order to celebrate. You had predicated ahead of time that the team would win regardless, so you took it upon yourself to end the season with a good, old-fashioned prank on you beloved partner, Rafe. As a way of doing so, you got in contact with Rafe's closest friend, Topper, to come together and plot the perfect stunt against him without his knowledge. The two of you came up with the idea that you would be showing up to the afterparty sporting an oversized football jersey with the catch being that the number written on it wouldn't be your boyfriend's, instead it would be his best friend's.

You were eager to show up at the Boneyard once the game was over just to be able to finally see Rafe face-to-face, even more to get his reaction once he realized you were wearing somebody else's jersey number. You ended up driving over to the location with a group of friends that you had arrived at the game with, making sure to text your boyfriend that you would be meeting up with him once you made it to the beach.

"Rafe is gonna kill you and Topper." One of your friends joked from the passenger seat as you neared your destination, shaking their head as they pictured the thought of Rafe's reaction once he saw what you had on.

"He wouldn't even raise his voice at me," you shrugged as you took a sip from the seltzer can that was in your hands, "but Topper, yeah he's dead." You stated, causing you and your friends to erupt in a fit of laughter throughout the car.

Impatience consumed you as you watched the car pull into the parking lot nearby before coming to a complete stop. You quickly hopped out of the vehicle and could see the flames of the bonfire that had been set up close by, telling you that you were close to where everyone else had been. You attempted to control your giggles and keep your composure while you treaded closer to the sight, feeling jitters in the pit of your stomach as Rafe and his teammates come into view.

"Hi baby." You greeted, your voice flowing with honey that was a sweet-surprise to Rafe's ears.

"Hey princess," Rafe welcomed as he turned to face you, his scleras coated a faint shade of red as the evidence of the alcohol in his system, "missed you." He murmured, placing a gentle kiss to your forehead. You basked in the way his lips felt against your skin as he opened you to his embrace, his free arm snaking over your shoulder to pull you into his side with glee.

"Ohh shit." Kelce interposed with his eyes glued to the jersey you were wearing. Immediately, you pressed your lips into a thin line in an attempt to conceal your laughter, silently praying that Rafe had not caught a glimpse of the expression written on your face.

"What?" Rafe catechized his friend for his sudden comment, looking over at the boy with confusion plastered on his features.

"Your girl is wearing Topper's number, bro." Another teammate added, gesturing to the large article of clothing you had on.

"What the fuck?" Your boyfriend remonstrated as his azure-shaded eyes surveyed your body, flickering over the numbers placed across the jersey. He observed the atypical digits, quickly recognizing them to have belonged to none other than his best friend. Fucking Topper.

Rafe's jaw began to clench, becoming noticeably tense and jut forwards at the slightest bit. You noticed that way his nostrils flared just before he took one last swig of the beer in his hands, throwing it on the grown with aggression after intaking the remaining liquid in the can. Your eyes widened, your jaw also falling open as you watched the provoked boy storm off in the direction of Topper as he stood obliviously with the crowd of individuals at the bonfire a few feet away.

"Rafe!" You shouted, trailing behind the long-legged boy as he stomped over in the direction of the cluster of people. Unfortunately for you though, your boyfriend was much faster and agile than you were, his long stature at his advantage when it came to getting places quicker.

Your efforts to gain Rafe's attention went unnoticed as he picked up speed. Panic set in as you spotted him place a hand on Topper's shoulder, swiftly turning him around to face him.

"Why the fuck is y/n wearing your jersey number? Did you fucking give it to her?" Rafe fumed, shoving Topper with enough force that caused him to stumble back a bit. Much to your boyfriend's surpise, the blond Kook simply laughed in return, his hands held up in the air in defense.

"I don't know how she got it bro. Must like me better or something." Topper mocked as he chuckled tauntingly, a clear attempt to get a rise out of the already seething boy.

"Don't fucking play with me right now, Topper. How. Did. She. Get. Your. Jersey." He demanded.

"You should ask your girl." The blond smirked with an ever-present smug look on his face, which of course, pissed Rafe off to no return. Without a second breath, you found yourself standing there frozen, simply a bystander in the midst of chaos as it began to ensue as your boyfriend remorselessly swung at Topper. You felt as if your eyes were nearly going to pop out of their sockets as you watched in disbelief at what had unfolded in just a few moments.

"Rafe, stop! It's a joke!" You cried out, but your voice went unheard.

"Dude, that's enough! She said it was a joke." One of your boyfriend's teammates interjected into the matter, grabbing Rafe's shoulders from behind and pulling him off the assaulted boy.

"You-Huh?" Rafe questioned breathlessly as he spun around to look at you, his eyes flickering between you and the person who had pulled him off of Topper.

"It was a prank," you admitted, sighing as your adrenaline started coming down, "for your last game. Topper and I came up with it together just to mess with you."

Rafe stared back at you with an unreadable expression on his face, seeming as though a thousand thoughts were scrambling through his mind in that very moment. His chest rose and fell heavily as he stood there, mouth agape. He shooked his head as he scratched the back of his neck before he turned back around to Topper who has in the middle of trying to pick himself up off of the ground.

"My bad, Top." Rafe mumbled quietly with his hand extended out for his friend to grab, to which he complied and held onto it as he lifted himself up.

Topper sighed, brushing the sand off of his body as he stood upright. "I guess now we know what happens when you fuck with Rafe's girlfriend." He noted.

Rafe chuckled in response as he nudged the blond headed boy, "They'd be dead."

"What are you saying about me?" You inquired as you approached the two boys. Rafe's focus immediately shifted to you, his eyes shooting over in your direction while you came up to him. You stood before him with your hands on your hips, a non-verbal communication that you were scolding him for his actions.

"Nothing baby, just that I'd kill anyone who touches you. That's all." Rafe smirked as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders and pulled you into a tight embrace against his chest, kissing the top of your head tenderly.

"It's not like I'd choose any of them over you," you giggled, wrapping your arms around his torso as you looked up at him yearningly, bliss twinkling in your eyes, "the dick is too good." You whispered, catching him entirely off guard. Rafe's first reaction was his eyes widening at your crude-humored comment, then switching to a deep chuckle as a smirk formed across his face while he looked down at you.

"All yours princess." Rafe attested with certainty, his glossy eyes gazing at you with a look you were all too familiar with. You felt butterflies float in your stomach under his lustful stare, realizing that the night was far from over.

"How about we go prove that on the beach over there?"

#askrafesapologist

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beardysuits · 1 year

Text

Family Matters

“You know, your brother really has a perkier ass than I expected him to,” Ashten said, eyeing his borrowed body in the mirror. He threw his head back and lifted his new cheeks with his hands, then dropped them, making them jiggle in the tight briefs we had brought with us.

“It’s a shame he’s always wearing those baggy camo pants, they don’t do anything to show off this off,” he continued.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed in Brendon’s room, bouncing my leg and watching as Ashten toyed around with my brother’s body. He was flexing and groping at every inch he had stolen. I of course had to admit I was incredibly turned on, watching my veteran brother take on my best friend’s mannerisms, but I was too nervous about the next step in our plan to really focus.

Ashten and I had always been somewhat kinky, he would constantly make comments on my brother, saying how hot he was and always ogling at him. It got even worse the one year we were all in high school together and Brendon was the star football player. Truthfully, I was never close with my brother. Even though he was only three years older, we felt lifetimes apart. He had the stereotypical peak high school career and then went off to high school right after graduation, and I… well, I was the pudgy younger brother who did robotics. The rift between my brother and I extended to my father, well, step dad, who got to relive his glory days of football through him, while not knowing what I was talking about when discussing my interests. I almost think a selling point of him marrying my mom was that he got the jock son he always wanted, even if I was part of the package.

Truthfully, I always wanted to know what it would be like to be my brother or dad, bigger, but in the right way. Muscles, strong stature, confidence; they had all of those, while I had love handles and acne. Ashten was my only real friend and while puberty did a number to his libido, he stuck by me, though sometimes I wondered if it was to come over and stare at my brother.

An opportunity arose when Ashten came over last week excitedly, explaining he had found this vial online that would actually allow for us to take over any bodies we wanted. I thought he was crazy, but with Brendon in town from his latest deployment and staying with my dad and I for a few months, Ashten convinced me to at least try it. He snuck in while Brendon was taking a nap, I didn’t bother stopping him as I figured when his little plan failed, it would be a good lesson on maybe finally leaving my brother alone.

Ashten took the vial just moments earlier, but even as he approached Brendon, his skin became so slippery looking. That’s when I got intrigued. Ashthen jumped at Brendon and within seconds, he was actually doing down his throat! Brendon jumped awake but was too startled to do anything. Soon enough, Ashten slurped his way inside and Brendon laid still. The moment he opened his eyes he shot up and gasped for air. Immediately he was feeling himself up and checking himself out in the mirror, bringing us to where we left off. Ashten turned to me and raised one his eyebrows.

“What’s wrong man? I thought you’d be excited,” he said in Brendon’s voice, which I was still getting used to. I got up and paced, my nerves absolutely shot.

“Yeah man, I thought it was just some dumb joke or fantasy! I mean, you’re my fucking brother! Like… how is this even possible?” I asked him. He clapped his arms on my shoulders, which pushed me down.

“Sorry, not used to my new strength,” he chuckled. “Look, it’s real okay? And it’s temporary, so don’t even worry about it. Besides, your stepdad can be pretty sexy, it’s not weird, no blood involved”.

“Besides me fucking my own brother,” I corrected him.

“You mean him fucking you,” he countered, bopping me on the nose. I swatted his hand away but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer. “Just see where rebellion takes you,” he growled into my ear. I could feel myself pitching a tent and trembling. He let go and laughed to himself before going back to the mirror.

“I’m just fucking with you man,” he said. He glanced at me through the reflection in the mirror. “Or rather, I will be,” he continued, his eyes narrowing. He was challenging me, wanting to take top dominant spot. And while seconds ago I was stunned and terrified, only lust and the desire to best him entered my brain now.

“We’ll see how the tables turn when I’m daddy,” I retorted. He smirked before clearing his throat.

“Hey dad! Can you get in here?” He called out. Turning to me, he winked. “Showtime.”

I could hear my stepdad’s heavy steps climbing up the stairs. I dashed into Brendon’s closet and uncorked the vial. Slamming it down, I nearly started choking from the taste. It was vile! Sour, bitter and almost like I was drinking toilet water. I began to feel a film develop on my skin, reminding me that I had to strip down. With the minimal space available to me in the closet, it took a few attempts to get my shirt and pants off, almost busting out of the door as I did. Once I was down to my underwear, I heard Brendon’s door open and the steps of my step dad as he walked in.

“What’s up bro?” He asked. Fucking shit I hated when he called Brendon that. He was just a substitute friend, not a son to him.

“I’m not feeling great, can you come here real quick?” Ash… I mean Brendon said.

“Umm…okay,” he said, stepping past the closet. I cracked open the door and saw him standing to the right, just past where I was. I slipped off my underwear and opened the door wider as he stepped closer to the bed. I almost slipped on the goo that was running down my legs. Brendon made eye contact with me just as my step dad made it to the edge of the bed. He was laying under the covers and made my brother look so pitiful.

“So… what’s going on? You like, sick or something?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say I’m sick,” Brendon said. I was right behind him when Brendon smirked. “Sick of seeing you with pants on!” He called out, flinging the comforter off himself and diving at my dad’s gym shorts.

“What the fuck!?” He called out as Brendon pulled down the shorts and revealed his former jock ass. Even 20 something years after high school, his ass was surprisingly perky.

“Dude!” I called out, panicking.

“Go in the ass!” Brendon yelled out, grabbing my dad and forcing him to bend over. Fucking hell! I ran forward and dived like I was going in to a pool, hoping this would work. His hole was spread open as my hands made contact. I began to slide inside and before I knew it, my head was engulfed into total darkness. I could feel the rumble of my dad as he yelled, his virgin as being penetrated for the first time. It was like I was going through a slip n slide. I felt my legs slip through, my ankles getting snagged right before slipping past the opening which squelched as it closed behind me. I stretched myself out, digging through his body to assimilate. One by one though, each limb slid into place, I could feel my borrowed strength come to me as each arm and leg took over. There was a tightness in around my face as I pushed through his neck. It was almost as if I couldn’t breathe. A panic began to grow as I struggled to breathe, only to feel my face lock behind his and I gasped for air.

My eyes shot open to see the floor of Ashton’s room, my meatier hands pressed against it, barely holding me up. The fresh breaths of air were exhilarating as I became accustomed to my new weight. My breathing finally came to a regular pattern when I saw two bare feet saunter over and stop in front of me. Looking up, I came face to face with Ashton’s erect cock, his sly smirk peaking over the shaft as he looked down on me.

“Well ‘dad’, looks like you could use a hand,” he said. He cocked his head to the side and bit his lip. “And I could use a mouth”. Any resistance I had planned on giving him immediately melted away and I pushed myself up high enough to tickle the head of his dick with my tongue. He chuckled, his leg spasming a bit.

“Don’t be such a fucking tease,” he groaned, grabbing the base of his cock and slapping me in the cheek with it.

“I want your lips around it,” he told me. I obeyed, taking my step father’s mouth and parted it just wide enough to allow him passage. Fuck, there was a clear taste which suggested Brendon hadn’t showered in a few days. It was almost intoxicating though. I used my tongue and lapped around the shaft of his cock, my lips slithering further down until I was almost to the base. There was clear resistance from my body as I could feel myself wanting to gag. Tears began to well in my eyes, tempted to break free. I held them back though, not wanting to give him any more of a boost in his ego.

He grabbed the back of my head and pushed me down until my nose was buried into his pubes. The head of his dick rammed into the back of my throat, causing me to choke and pull back instinctively. He let go of me, my head lunging back and leaving me to cough while the water in my eyes streamed down my cheeks.

“We’ll have to work on that, don’t want to have a daddy that’s such a pussy,” Ashten said, his hands on his knees and that stupid fucking smile on his face.

“Fuck off,” I told him, getting up. He grabbed ahold of my wrist and pushed me against the wall. He pulled himself in closer until his mouth was against my ear.

“That’s right, your son is stronger than you now. So how about you be a good daddy and just follow some simple instructions?” He asked. His other hand reached down and stroked my cock, which I had only just realized was out as he had pulled these pants down just before I took over.

“Your first order is to have fun,” he said. His fingertips caressed my new sheath, making me tremble as the slightest motions sent shockwaves of pleasure across my body. “The second,” he continued, “Is to show off for me.” He pulled away from my ear, his grip tightening around my cock. Kissing my cheek, the locked eyes with me and licked his lips.

“W… what do you want to see?” I asked him. He raised an eyebrow, as if anticipating more. “Son?” I added. He smiled and relaxed his shoulders.

“I want to play dress up,” he said, letting go of my wrist and strolling past me to his closet. He opened up the door and rummaged for a second before throwing some clothes at me. I looked through and saw a football pants and a jockstrap.

“I want my football player daddy to dress up, strip down, and then take his son’s cock. I want his seed to rest in him while he touches himself, and then, when I tell him to, he can stain these pants with his cum.” Ashten must have planned out this fantasy for ages now. And despite how much I began to resent him for having his planned far more in advance than he let on, I was too turned on to object. I fiddled with the jock before sliding it on, feeling the tight straps cling to my thighs which were far too girthy to be contained by it. I figured the pants would present a similar issue, but luckily they were meant for padding, so despite being a snug fit, I was able to get them on with little trouble. I hated to admit it, but feeling the compression of the shorts and jock was fucking sexy. I could feel my cock pressing itself against both layers, begging to be released.

“Now give you son a lil smile,” he said, eyeing me up. I obeyed, grabbing at my cock and tugging it through the pants. I felt like a fucking sexy bull in my step dad’s body and Brendon’s football gear. Maybe we would have to do more of this after all.

“Good boy,” he said, pulling me in close and rubbing his hands over my chest. “I think this suits you quite nicely”. He leaned in and stuck his tongue in my mouth, wrestling with mine before pulling away and spinning me to face the bed.

“Let’s see that sexy ass now,” he ordered me. I did as he commanded, getting on the bed and pulling down the pants to my knees. I wiggled my ass, making him coo as I peaked over my shoulder. He had leaned against the bed and proceeded to slap my ass with his new hands. He had a death grip on my cheeks, spreading them apart and diving in face first. My borrowed voice let out a deep moan as I felt his tongue rim my hole, tickling the edges and lathering them up. I could feel my jockstrap beginning to dampen as precum began to leak from the sensation. The tingle of pure eroticism made my whole body shiver as I loosened up for me new son.

“Fuuuuuckk…” I managed to moan out, feeling my legs spread further apart, until the constraint of my pants held them from moving any further. I wished I could get a photo of this, I would look at it every damn night; my brother having his face buried in my step dad’s ass, making him almost cum on the spot.

“I think we’re ready,” he told me, getting up. Before I could even react, I felt Brendon’s thick cock press against my hole and slide in. The shockwave of pain made me yell out and throw my head back. Brendon grabbed the small tuft from my head he could grasp and pulled my head back. I could catch a glimpse of him from behind as he pounded away in me. His cock hit my prostate like a jackhammer, picking up speed and making me lose myself in the ecstasy.

The pain had immediately subsided and soon I was overcome with the rush of pleasure as he dominated my hole. He pulled out, leaving my hole to gape and beg for more. He stepped up fully on the bed and pressed his thighs against mine before lowering himself down. It took only a second of working around it before his cock found his way inside of me again. His arms wrapped around my chest as he hugged me close and went in like a bullet train. It was becoming way too much for me to handle, without even touching myself, I could feel my balls tightening and the pressure building.

“Oh fuck! Fuck I’m about to cum!” I yelled out.

“Yeah daddy cum for me!” He yelled back. He wrapped an arm around my neck and squeezed, leaving me light headed as cum spurt inside of my jock. Each load felt more powerful than the last and I could feel my cock swimming in it as the jock cupped my seed.

“Fuck daddy, I’m going to seed you,” he moaned. His last few thrusts were powerful, pushing his cock balls deep inside of me until he let it rest in place. I could feel it twitch inside of me as wave after wave of his load spread inside. He threw his head back and roared like a god damn lion. He was breathing so heavy, exhausted and spent. He pulled out, a sensation almost as enjoyable as the feeling of his cum coating me.

Once he was out, I could feel the dribble of cum leak from my hole, trailing down my taint and mixing with the cum I had still had resting in my jock. Looking down, I could see the small pool of it stain the bed.

“Fuck dude, we’re doing this again,” he said, walking away to admire himself in the mirror once more. “There’s no way I’m letting this be a one time thing,” he continued, flexing.

“Okay ‘son’, I think I can make that work,” I told him, my knees giving away and allowing me to fall stomach first on the bed. I looked over my shoulder to see him admiring his work.

“But next time,” I told him, “I get to be Brendon”.

#male bodypossession #male takeover #father and son #step dad #body possession #male possession

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trickphotography2 · 7 months

Text

Overtime

It was just supposed to be a football game. But then Hangman took Syla up on her invitation to watch the Blue Angels perform at the Miramar air show. A month after meeting and facing the last home show of her career, the history making Naval Aviator invited Hangman to visit her in Pensacola. She didn't actually expect him to accept. Payback definitely wasn't happy.

A continuation of First and Goal. This got away from me at 5.1K words. No physical description of the reader, callsign is Syla (pronounced like Cilla) and she's a Florida State fan.

Cross-posted on Ao3.

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

The humidity hit Jake in the face as he exited the Pensacola airport. His eyes darted up and then to the line of cars. “I’m under the Delta sign.”

“Okay, I’m pulling out of the cellphone lot,” Syla said. He heard her humming and felt his lip twitch. Over the month they’d been talking, he’d heard it many, many times, usually when she was focused on something. Once, when they’d done a video call while she was in Oregon, he’d asked her if she hummed while flying and was promptly flipped off. “I...think I see you.” The call disconnected as a blue convertible Mini Cooper stopped in front of him. Payback scowled, elbowing him out of the way as Syla got out and circled the car.

“Reuben!” she squealed. Jake rolled his eyes, grabbing the other man’s bag as he hugged Syla, lifting her off her feet. Payback hadn’t been thrilled to find out he wasn’t the only one who had requested leave to head down to Florida for the Blue Angels homecoming show. Hell, Syla had been surprised when Jake had quickly accepted her half-joking invitation.

Jake had gone to the show in Miramar. It was his first time seeing them since their flyover at his Academy graduation, which he’d only half paid attention to back then. The Blue Angels were good PR for the Navy but had never caught his attention - pilots stuck repeating the same maneuvers every time? Sounded almost as bad as being assigned to desk duty. He'd take dog fighting every time if given the choice between it and the flying equivalent of synchronized swimming. But, after going through flight school and some experience with formation flying, he had a new respect for the Angels.

The way Syla filled out her tight blue flight suit definitely didn’t hurt matters. Jake had managed to get close enough to watch the team march in a line to their jets and climb in, trading out their caps for helmets before taxiing and taking off in formation. For an hour, he watched them execute loops, inversions, pitches, and breaks. After the show, he’d joined the queue for her autograph and grinned at her surprised look. As she signed the team picture, he asked her about not wearing a g-suit that helped keep blood from pooling in the lower extremities and forced it toward the brain. From his estimation, they were pulling at least 7Gs at points.

“Can’t,” Syla had shrugged. “We have our right arm on our thigh for stability and to help with the 40-pound spring tensioned on the stick. Air bladders would inflate at the worst time and ruin the maneuver. ‘Sides, since we fly it constantly, we know when to tense to avoid G-LOC.” Sliding her aviators down her nose, the Blue Angel smirked and slid the picture across the table to him. “Good to see you again, Hangman.”

Her phone number was under her loopy signature.

“Hey,” Jake said when she turned her attention to him, eyebrow raised over her sunglasses. Crossing her arms over her chest, forcing her breasts higher into the tank top she wore, Syla cocked her hip.

“I have so many questions. First - what the hell is with the pornstache?” Grinning, Jake ran a hand over his mustache.

“Don’t like it?”

“You look like the other guy in your squad… um…” she snapped her fingers, glancing at Payback.

“Rooster.”

“Rooster! That’s right. He can pull off a mustache.”

“I make a mustache look good,” he chuckled, dropping the bags into the open trunk. Shaking her head, she stepped closer, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Jury’s out. Also, people are gonna think you’re a Gator or Canes fan in that orange.”

“Hook ‘em, baby.” Over her head, Jake caught Payback’s eye roll.

“Alright,” Syla said, stepping out of his loose embrace and slamming the trunk closed. “Get in so we can go grab dinner. I’m starving.”

“Please tell me we’re getting some seafood,” Payback moaned, beelining for the front seat. Jake rolled his eyes, following Syla around the car and pulling open the door for her before ducking into the back seat. His knees pressed into her seat, and he shifted to try and get more comfortable.

The two aviators chatted while Syla pulled out of the airport and drove through Pensacola. It had been years since Jake had been back. Like many Naval aviators, his career had begun at a local flight school while stationed at NAS Whiting Field, just across the bridge and a couple of miles down I-10 in Milton. While he’d enjoyed his time at Annapolis during the Academy, it had been fun to cut loose and spend weekends on the white sand beaches, flirting with tourists and drinking at dive bars. But after he’d moved on to Intermediate Flight Training, he’d never looked back. North Florida had little appeal for him. If he had to be stationed in the state, he would go for the Keys.

“You good back there, Hangman?” Syla asked, pulling him from his musing. She’d twisted in her seat, strands of hair that had escaped her regulation bun framing her face.

“All good, just looking at how much it’s changed.” She smiled, turning back around when the light turned green.

After grabbing dinner by the beach at a local spot called The Oar House, the trio made their way to Syla’s place. It was a cute little white house with a red - “garnet,” she’d corrected - door. As another condition of his coming, Payback claimed the one guest bedroom while Jake was relegated to the couch.

It helped to know that Payback only had the bed for one night and would join him in sleeping in the living room when Syla’s parents arrived the next day.

So, while Payback went to bed early to call his kid, Jake and Syla hung out. At first, there had been some initial awkwardness, trying to navigate a friendship conducted mainly over the phone. It didn’t take long until Jake found himself itching to tuck her hair, free from the tight bun and damp from her shower, behind her ear.

“Okay, I have to know,” she said, setting her glass on the coffee table before facing him. Propping her elbow against the back of the couch, she buried a hand in her hair and smirked. “What’s with the mustache? You weren’t deployed, so it’s not a deployment ‘stache. Or is this like a normal thing for you?”

“Definitely not a normal thing for me,” he chuckled, setting his beer on the coffee table and turning to mirror her. At her cocked eyebrow, he shrugged. “Payback.”

“Are we talking Reuben or revenge for something?”

“A bit of both. He’s real protective of you and wasn’t happy to hear that we’ve been talking. Or that I was coming here.”

“Oh god, are you telling me you look like that because of me?” She let her head fall back at his shrug while taking a deep breath. The move pulled her sleep shirt tight against her chest, and he could see her pebbled nipples through the material. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“It’s fine.” And it was. It was worth it if this was the penalty for violating the bro code - as the rest of the Daggers had ruled when they found out about his contact with Syla.

“Your pretty face shouldn’t be sacrificed for his petty male ego.”

“You think I’m pretty?” Jake teased. Syla lowered her head and gave him an unimpressed look. With a huff, she ran her thumb over his mustache.

“When you don’t have a fuzzy caterpillar on your face.” Amusement sparkled in his green eyes when Syla raised hers from his mouth to meet his. Her fingers rasped on his stubble as they glided across his jaw. Jake watched, biting back a groan when she played with the hair on the nape of his neck. Gentle pressure guided him closer as her tongue darted to wet her lips. A smirk curved his mouth as his gaze narrowed to hers.

A throat cleared, and Syla jumped, her hand falling to her lap. Payback stood beside the television, arms crossed over his chest. “Am I interrupting something?” he asked.

“Absolutely,” Syla replied, even as pink dusted her cheeks. Payback’s eyes darted to Jake, who shrugged. “Oh no - this is not… If you have a problem with me talking to Jake, you’ll talk to me about it, Reuben.”

“Okay. I don’t like it. You don’t know Hangman.”

“Cool. Good to know. That’s part of why we’re talking - to get to know one another.” He groaned her name, running a hand down his face.

“He’s got a reputation in Miramar.” Jake flushed with embarrassment. Sure, he enjoyed a one-night stand, but he hadn’t had one in a while. Definitely not since he’d started talking to the pilot beside him.

“So you’re telling me he knows what he’s doing and can probably find the clit. That’s great to know.” Both men sputtered, and Syla laughed. “In case you haven’t noticed, Payback, I’m not the 22-year-old girl you met. And as much as I appreciate you looking out for me, I’m a pretty good judge of character. So if I want to talk to Jake, kiss him, and maybe have sex, that’s our decision.” Patting Jake’s shoulder, she stood and gave Payback a sweet smile. “And with that, gentlemen, I’m going to go to bed since I have work in the morning. You know, where I’m a history-making Naval aviator whose judgment is tested and proven every day that I’m in the air flying inches away from other aviators, where one small deviation could mean death for either of us. Night boys.”

The two men watched Syla walk to the hallway, pausing to pat Payback’s chest and closing her bedroom door.

Jake fell a little bit in love.

“Morning,” Jake said, his voice rough with sleep. Syla smiled and waved, continuing towards the kitchen where the coffee pot gurgled. Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he joined her, taking the mug she slid across the counter and leaning against the stove, scratching his bare chest.

“How’d you sleep?” she asked.

“Not the worst place I’ve bunked.”

“It’s a step above the carrier.” He smiled over the rim of his mug. He’d never dated a woman in the military and never would have even thought about pursuing another aviator. Sure, he enjoyed flirting with Phoenix to get a rise out of her, but their careers overlapped too much for him to ever think about pursuing anything. Plus, Rooster would kill him if he ever worked up the nerve to admit his feelings about his “best friend.”

But there was something comforting about talking with Syla. Over the last month, he’d enjoyed not having to explain things in his daily life. No explanation was needed when he rescheduled calls because he was doing late maneuvers. Honestly, she was the one doing the rescheduling more often than not. She was also the one who fell asleep when they were on the phone. He’d never admit it, but Jake usually stayed on the line for a few more minutes, listening to her soft breathing and half-heartedly hoping she’d wake before hanging up.

“What’s your day look like?” he asked. Syla frowned and stepped past him to look at the calendar hanging on the refrigerator.

“We’re briefing the show this morning and then going to a middle school. Not sure if we’re doing the interview there or if the camera crew is just getting footage. Then final dress rehearsal over the Gulf.” There was something sad in her eyes when she turned to meet his gaze.

“What?”

“I just…” To his surprise, tears gathered in her eyes as she looked up at the ceiling and swallowed. “Sorry, just kinda hitting me that this is it.” Setting his mug down, he opened his arms. Syla rested her head on his shoulder, palms flat on his chest. Jake's hand ran up the back of her flight suit, tugging her closer as he brushed his lips against her temple. When she lifted her head, he kissed her cheek. But when he tried to do it again, she turned to meet him.

Their first kiss was a sweet one. Syla’s hands drifted up his chest to wrap around the back of his neck and tug him down as she surged onto her toes. He steadied her with hands on her hips, gripping the blue fabric tightly as she licked into his mouth. A groan escaped him as she smiled. The mustache prickled against her skin.

“It’s too early for this.”

“Morning, Reuben,” Syla sighed, dropping back onto her heels and resting her forehead against Jake’s chin. Slowly, she pulled away and looked at her friend. “Sleep well?”

“Other than a nightmare, yeah.” Chuckling, she stepped out of Jake’s arms and grabbed her travel coffee mug.

“Duke is gonna pick me up so you can have my car for the day. I’ll be home around 5:30 or 6:00. My parent should be here around that time, too, so we’ll go out for dinner. I have to have an early night for the show tomorrow, but we can take two cars so you can have fun downtown.” The flight leader was happy to help her with a ride, seeing as he lived down the street.

“An early night sounds good to me,” Jake nodded.

“Great. Duke’s pulling up, so I’m headed out.” With a quick peck to both men’s cheeks, she left.

“You’re an ass,” Payback grumbled while opening the cabinets for a mug. Ignoring him, Jake returned to the couch and grabbed his cell phone, quickly pulling up their text thread.

Can confirm I know where the clit is

A few minutes later came her reply.

Seeing is believing

Syla woke early and pulled on her running gear. It was hard to sneak out of the house with the two aviators crashing in the living room, but she managed it. After slipping her earbuds in, she started her pre-show tradition of a five-mile run while mentally practicing the flight maneuvers. Hands clenched in front of her, she imagined Duke’s voice and positioned the stick and throttle. Deployed the smoke that allowed the crowd to follow them as they climbed. She would have the privilege of a sneak attack on the beach, buzzing the crowd who watched her wingmen fly ahead.

Even after three seasons, every show made her nervous. And performing in front of the hometown crowd, while amazing, brought its own level of pressure. North Florida was the home to a huge military population. These people saw them the most - they practiced over the Naval Aviation Museum twice weekly and signed autographs. Hell, there was a sign as you got into town that said ‘Home of the Blue Angels.’ Pensacola had the Blue Angels, Corry Station, and Whiting Field, where many aviation careers started. The Air Force had three bases just an hour up the road - Hurlburt Field, Duke Field, and Eglin. Eglin had its own place in military aviation history, as it was where the pilots of the Doolittle Raid - the US’s retaliation on Japan following Pearl Harbor, where modified bombers had launched from the USS Hornet with no fighters as backup - had trained. The Air Force had their own fighter and test wings stationed there, and the Army was training special forces.

Further out were the two bases in Panama City - the Naval Support Activity Panama City and Tyndall Air Force Base, which housed their own fighter wing. That wasn’t even considering all of the veterans in the area. Syla had briefly dated someone who worked for the Veteran’s Administration, who had told her that the Gulf Coast was one of the fastest-growing areas for vets.

So yeah, hometown shows made her nervous. And her dumb ass had invited a certain Lieutenant, who made her even more nervous. Who she outranked. As a Lieutenant Commander, she was responsible for ensuring they didn’t break any fraternization rules. And even though Jake wouldn’t be under her command - the Daggers were stationed at Miramar under TOPGUN but were not instructors - they might still get some looks.

Which was presuming that Jake even wanted something other than a fling. Panting, Syla stopped running and bent, wiping away the sweat on her brow. Even this early, the humidity was killer. “Fucking focus,” she ordered herself.

There was nothing like an airshow. From the moment Syla stepped onto the tarmac, the energy was electric. For her last home show, they’d picked the theme of Celebrating Women in Aviation, focusing on the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) that began in WWII when the US needed pilots. Women could join the military to ferry, test, and deliver planes for repair.

From the civilian aerobatic pilots to the Air Force’s Viper and F-35 demo teams and the explosive Tora Tora Tora reenactment, there was something for everyone. She joined her parents, Reuben, and Jake after the Angels’ morning briefing. While her parents and Reuben stayed in the tent, she and Jake did a quick walk around, pausing so she could sign autographs and take pictures. She was glad her sunglasses were on when a little girl traced over her embroidered wings and said she wanted to be a pilot, too. Jake’s fingers brushed hers as they walked, and she fought a smile.

And then it was show time. Syla forced herself to focus on the moment. Doing anything else would endanger the team and her aircraft. So, she focused on saluting her flight crew and doing her checks. She wasn’t part of the diamond take-off formation but would be doing a high G vertical climb into an inversion. And then she thought about Duke’s final order - “Have fun.”

So she did. She allowed herself to smile as she fought against gravity, admired the beautiful ocean she flew over, and laughed at the startled crowd as she executed the sneak pass.

And yes, she did hum while doing it.

Sunday was harder. Syla woke up early for her run and was surprised to find Jake awake in the kitchen, shirtless and wearing running shorts and sneakers. He joined her, her extra reflective belt wrapped around his bicep. It was still dark, their way lit by streetlights and the occasional passing car. Jake glanced over as she ran through the show, hands at her stomach moving the imaginary stick and throttle.

Everything for her last show needed to be perfect.

“You’ve got this,” he said when they turned back into her cul de sac. Feeling like a teenager sneaking around, she tugged him around the side of the house and pressed him against the siding. His hands wrapped around her hips, holding her tightly as her hands slid up his sweat-slicked skin to wrap around the back of his neck. It was still dark out, the sun not due to rise for another hour. If her neighbors looked out the glass door in their living room or someone drove past, they would easily be spotted. But that didn’t stop her from pressing against him, feeling his heat through her sports bra and running shorts.

Jake pressed teasing kisses to her forehead, nose, and cheek before Syla gripped his hair and kissed him hard. His hand slid to her ass, squeezing and tugging her closer. She could feel his cock through his jogging shorts and dug her nails into his skin to keep from touching him. Nothing in the world would make her jeopardize her career with a public indecency charge.

When his attention shifted to her neck, licking the salt from her skin, Syla forced herself to push against his shoulders and step back. His grip tightened, not letting her go too far. “Everything okay?” he asked. In the semi-darkness, she could barely make out his confused expression.

“I need to know,” she said, biting her kiss-swollen lower lip. “I know we’ve only known each other for a month, but am I pissing off one of my best friends for a fling?”

“A fling?”

“I outrank you, Jake. If there’s blowback, it’s gonna come back on me. Not only because of rank but because I’m a woman. I will always have Blue Angels in my bio, so I will always be held to the highest standard. So I have to know - is this just having fun? Or is this something we want to pursue? Because I’m fine either - ”

Jake’s lips silenced her, his tongue insistently licking into her mouth as he turned them to pin her against the siding with his hips. With his hands braced by her head, he pulled away, smirking when she chased his kiss. One knuckle traced from her temple and swept across her jaw before tilting her head up as he tutted her name. “You think I’d risk pissing off my entire squad for a fling? If I wanted that, I would have just waited for you to get to Miramar instead of coming out here, annoying Payback, and meeting your parents. This is my first vacation in years, and I wanted to spend time alone with you. If you want this to be a fling - ”

“I don’t.”

“Good. Cause I don’t either.” They stood there, smiling at one another for a long moment until they heard a dog bark. Shoving him away, Syla turned and waved at her neighbor as he stepped out of the house across the street, dressed for his own morning run. Taking Jake’s hand, she tugged him back towards the front door, enjoying how he pressed himself against her back as she unlocked it. “Just wait until we’re alone, and I’ll show you just how well I can find your clit,” he growled in her ear as she gripped the doorknob.

“Just out of curiosity,” she said, glancing at him over her shoulder. “Did you tell Reuben that you were staying for a week? Or does he think you’re flying out tonight, too?”

“Now, where would the fun be in telling him?” Jake asked. Syla laughed, turning in his embrace to pat his cheek.

“It’s your funeral, Hangman.” His grin was blinding as he leaned down to kiss her.

“What a hell of a reason to go.”

Emotion nearly choked her as Syla drove down Blue Angel Parkway toward the base. She’d left her parents to drive the other aviators in, wanting some time alone that morning. The squad had invited her guests to watch the last briefing of the season so they wouldn’t be too far behind. Reuben or Jake would be able to get her parents on base. While the air show gates didn’t open until 8:00AM, a few cars were already waiting at the Visitor Control building’s parking lot. After flashing her ID to the gate guard, she made her way to the hanger to quickly inspect her plane. Their flight mechanics were among the best in the world, and Syla trusted them with her life, but you could never be too careful. Once assured that everything was fine, she made her way to the briefing room, pausing to talk to some of the other early birds and to grab a shitty cup of coffee from the break room. Rather than take her seat, she took the opportunity to read the plaques that decorated the walls, running her finger over her name engraved on the list of pilots.

“Big day, Syla. You ready for it?” Duke asked, coming into the briefing room and standing beside her. She glanced up at him and rolled her lips together, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat.

“As I’ll ever be,” she replied hoarsely.

“One more flight, and then you’re back in the greens,” he chuckled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her close.

“I look so much better in blue,” she smirked, glancing down at her flight suit. After three years, going back to a green suit that didn’t have her name and plane number embroidered on her chest, that had a different squadron patch, would be strange. This wasn’t the first time she’d left a squad, but it definitely was the hardest. Their team, from the flight and ground crew to the Marine pilots that flew Fat Albert, the C-130J that carried the crew show to show, spent so much time together. From January to November, they saw each other every day - on Thursdays, they flew out to the show location and returned to Pensacola on Mondays; Tuesdays and Wednesdays were practice days. For three years, Syla had celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, new babies, and graduations with these folks. She’d babysat for their kids and hung out at their houses. They had gotten her drunk to celebrate her promotion before dragging her to the beach and tossing her into the Gulf in her whites - she made sure that they also got drenched - and teased her relentlessly whenever she dated someone.

The other squad members slowly filed in, and Syla was subjected to brotherly teasing. When her guests arrived, she introduced Jake and Reuben by their callsigns. The looks her squad sent her when Hangman shook their hands were priceless - they’d seen his name pop up on her phone more than a few times. The corner of Jake’s eye twitched at every shake, making her wonder if they were squeezing his hand harder than necessary. Payback looked happy at the cooler welcome the other pilot got.

“Alright,” the flight leader said once everyone had taken their seat around the table, him at the head. Crew and her guests sat along the wall. “We’ll leave the sentimental stuff for the boat party later, but as you all know, this is Syla’s last flight with us. And while we’re excited to welcome Lieutenant Commander Reyes in a few months, she will have big shoes to fill. So we’ll be perfect today, not only for Syla but for our hometown crowd. I want the debrief to be short this afternoon so we can go celebrate another successful season and get some downtime. Now, conditions today allow for the high show…” Syla opened her folder and retrieved the aerial map of Pensacola as he read out the wind and view data. The tip of her pen traced the maneuvers they would go through, as he called them.

She could feel eyes on her as they pushed away from the table and did a chair flight, Duke’s comforting cadence helping her block out everything else. Her own eyes remained closed as they talked through the flight, visualizing and practicing the throttles and stick positions, where they would have pull on the stick, tensing to fight the Gs, her calls on the radio, turning to check the alignment of their synchronized ascent into the loop, deploying smoke - every second of the 45-minute show.

And when she opened her eyes, they caught on a pair of green ones that stared at her from across the room. The corner of Jake’s mouth twitched as he gave a curt nod. Beside him, her parents beamed. Payback sat back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest and grinned.

Syla couldn’t help the tears that fell as she taxied back into position. Even over her engine, she could hear the crowd cheering as they announced her name and thanked her for her years of flying with the Blues. As the canopy rose, she swiped at her face and took a deep breath.

It was over.

After three years, she was now returning to the fleet. She would be assigned a new Super Hornet, grey instead of bright blue, with her name and callsign painted below the canopy. The next few months would be spent reviewing tactical and weapons updates, and she’d have a few weeks to refresh her air combat skills before taking on her first TOPGUN class. She was pretty sure that she'd spend some time with the meatball, the machine that helped baby aviators learn the dimensions of the ship's flight line; she felt rusty even with over 600 carrier landings under her belt.

Thankfully, she was sure there was an active-duty pilot who would be more than happy to help her study.

“You good?” Syla looked up at her crew chief and nodded at the woman. Quickly, she handed over the helmet, realizing it would be one of the last times she wore it. Soon, she would be back in her garnet one with gold arrows - her nod to her alma mater. After smoothing down her hair, she put her cover back on and prepared to exit the cockpit.

Three years. Over 900 days on the road. Hundreds of hours in the air.

It was over.

A Week Later

Fanboy glanced at his phone, frowning at the text from Hangman. The Miami game was on a commercial break, so he quickly opened it and saw it was a video.

He recognized the place immediately - Florida State’s football stadium. Doak Campbell. Fucking Hangman was at the Miami-FSU game. Hangman panned the camera around the stadium, and Fanboy realized he was standing on the field. In the endzone. The announcer’s voice was a bit muffled but became clearer as Hangman refocused the camera on Syla.

“Callsign Syla made history as the first female aviator on the Blue Angels, carrying on the proud FSU tradition of excellence. Let’s give a loud welcome home to Syla!”

The crowd roared, chants of “USA” echoing as Syla held up her hands and waved before doing the tomahawk chop. In the background, he saw that she was being broadcast on the jumbotron. As it cut away, she held her hands up again. She brought her thumbs together to form the University of Miami ‘U’ symbol before dropping all but her middle fingers. The student section started a chant of ‘Fuck U’ as she laughed.

“Fuck Miami!” Syla grinned.

“Fuck Miami!” Hangman echoed, swinging the camera around to show himself flipping off the camera, that god-awful mustache still on his face. For once, he wasn’t wearing Texas gear but had swapped it out for a Seminoles cap and t-shirt.

Oh, Fanboy thought. He was definitely gonna have to deal with way more bro code violations once he got back. Especially after he forgot to turn off the recording before kissing Syla.

Fanboy debated forwarding it to the group chat but decided against it. Having a bit of blackmail was never a bad thing.

The group chat started popping off in the 4th quarter.

What the fuck is this? Payback fired off, sharing a picture of Hangman with his arm around Syla and their back to the field. Her hand rested on his stomach.

Damn, Rooster replied. Phoenix added a gif of Stephen Colbert eating popcorn.

Looks like fun, Bob added.

Fuck the Noles, Fanboy typed out.

Is no one bothered by this??? Payback demanded. The chat went silent until Hangman’s name popped up.

Syla here. Two things - 1) Fuck Miami, and 2) I’m begging you to let the man shave the fucking mustache. Facial hair is not my thing.

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

Note: I didn't expect to write a follow up to First and Goal, but I also didn't expect the engagement with it. Thank you to everyone who read it. A major thank you to @mayhemmanaged for helping talk me through this fic and reading a rough draft of it. And @dreamlandcreations for saying she wanted a part 2.

The North Florida panhandle has a huge military population. I recently moved away from the Gulf Coast, after my dad was stationed at Eglin AFB. That is where I first got to see a jet engine up close and see how beautiful the afterburner could be. It's where I went to my first stateside air show. I completed an internship at the VA in Pensacola, and was able to see the Blue Angels fly every week. Like Jake, I didn't really appreciate the panhandle until I left. There's nothing like shifting from pine trees to an ocean view as you cross the I-10 bridge, going from Whiting Field to Pensacola.

Like Syla, I'm a diehard Seminole, graduating from there a total of 4 times. I actually stole her flight leader's callsign, Duke, from a guy I went to high school and college with, who flies for the Air Force.

So long story short, this fic was inspired by aviation and Lieutenant Commander Amanda 'Stalin' Lee, the first female Blue Angel. Thanks for reading ❤️

Tagging those who reblogged and commented on First and Goal:

kmc1989; gigisimsonmars; starset21; the-slytherin-library-12; ssa-sadboi; fanficfandomlove; shanimallina87; myfaveficrecs; roosterforme; thefandomimagines; dreamlandcreations; topherwrites; roosteraloha; tgmreader; love-in-light; starlightmoon2020; clockworkballerina; bibissparkles; top-hhun; just-in-case-iloveyou; scarlettwidow19; themusingofagothicsoul; milani-marie; rooseresintg; lets-turn-and-burn; bellaireland1981; shanimallina87; sydthekid1518; gspenc; mimi-8793; novagreen04; fulla02reads; alldaysdreamers; atarmychick007; onceupona-happilyeverafter-love; rosiahills22

#hangman fic #hangman x reader #jake seresin x reader #Jake Seresin #jake hangman seresin #top gun #top gun fanfiction #top gun x female reader #First and Goal fic

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hana-no-seiiki · 1 year

Text

星を探す瞳が好き

(MOSTLY IMPLIED) SOFT YANDERE! RIN ITOSHI x IDOL! READER

(ft. Sae x Reader’s Twin)

warnings: short reader, reader is older than rin, otherwise reader’s looks and info aren’t specified. all my knowledge comes from fics and wiki searching so i apologize if he’s ooc (even for a yandere)

might make a sae x reader / a fic but in the twin’s pov in the future if the brainrot persists

It had been a while since you’ve seen your twin brother’s boyfriend’s younger brother (that was a mouthful).

And you . . .

Well you barely even reached his shoulders.

And he’s two years your junior.

Throughout the dinner you four attended at home, you couldn’t help but glare at the handsome young man the entire time. Which in turn caused the meal to be hella awkward

Your brother and Sae didn’t really engage in PDA, at least verbally. Both preferred actions rather than professing their affections through words (You couldn’t count the amount of times Sae had made out with your brother after their matches on field).

And well, Rin is Rin.

So you were implicitly put in charge of creating conversation.

But Rin’s growth spurt just made you feel so jealous you couldn’t think of anything to say aside from ‘Damn you!’ or ‘Why????’.

Your annoyance was so obvious that even Rin himself noticed it. The dude with zero friends and social experience.

“You alright?” He asked, assisting you with the dishes.

“Huh? Yeah.” You averted your eyes, rubbing the sponge a little too hard on the poor plate.

“Did I . . . do something wrong?”

“What? No! It’s just — “ You put down the ceramic. Still avoiding eye contact with the younger Itoshi. “I’m . . . a little jealous of your genes that’s all.”

“My genes?”

“You grew up so quickly. I have to bend my neck to oblivion just to look at you directly.”

“But your height is part of your charm?”

“Huh?”

“It’s cute.” He took the plate and rinsed it. You could feel him staring at you intently. “Besides isn’t being shorter better for dancing?”

“Not when you’re as short as I am.” You continued doing the dishes with a sigh, pausing after properly digesting his words. “Hang on. Back up a moment will ya. You know I dance?”

“I . . . I watched all of your performances.”

“Ehhh . . . “ You nodded a few times . . . and then realized what his words meant. Finally rotating your head to face him, you yelled, “E H H H ? ! ? “

“I thought football was all you thought about!”

Now that you looked at him and can see his face, you noticed a slight flinching due to your volume. However it was quickly replaced with the smallest of smiles. “It used to be. My teammates listen to your songs a lot during practice and it just sort of stuck with me.”

“Point is. I like that part about you. I’m sure many of your fans do too.”

Before you two finish by drying everything with a towel, you spray a bit of water on Rin with your hands causing a bit of war. A really wet one.

It was about to get even wetter when you threatened to use a bowl of water but Rin beat you by caging your body and trapping your arms to the sink’s edge.

His face was inches from yours.

“Rin?”

He soon let go of your limbs, using his hand to trace your features. From your eyelids, to your cheeks and then your lips. He puts a little pressure with his thumb, almost inserting it into your mouth.

Then, his teal eyes met yours. His long, pretty under lashes mesmerized you, almost distracting you from the fact that his large figure was suffocating yours.

“I’d say you’re pretty luck when it comes to genes.”

EXTRA:

Rin lived and breathed football. Every moment was dedicated towards his passion.

That was still the case til now. It just so happened that his passion included you.

“Rin!” He recognized that voice immediately. He’s surprised he didn’t get whiplash with how fast his head swerved to meet your form.

“[Y/N]—?“

“Got a copy of your jersey! What do ya think ? “ You gave him a little spin, letting him see how the jersey basically swallowed you whole. He makes a mental note to slip in one of his used ones into your wardrobe. He was adept at discreetly taking stuff out of it anyways.

He was so flustered that he completely forgot to respond, so you opted to take his silence as approval, “I’m guessing you like it?” You winked. You’ve gotten a lot bolder since the reunion dinner and acted a lot more like your ‘idol’ self around him at times. He didn’t know whether he liked it or not. On one hand it was the personality he fell for at the beginning, on the other it was getting increasingly more difficult not to take you.

“Mhm.” He nodded. Fists clenched so tight he could feel some blood leaking. Self control was just so hard when he was around you.

“Is that . . . the [L/N] [Y/N]?” He heard his teammates holler behind him.

He grimaced, knowing they’ll hog your attention for the following moments.

But at least that means both of you were safe from his aching lust and obsession this time.

星を探す瞳が好き　

hoshi wo sagasu hitomi ga suki

— Those eyes that search for the stars, I love them / I love those eyes that search for the stars

— Lyrics for D4DJ Photon Maiden’s 暁 Akatsuki (Dawn)

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snaillock · 1 year

Text

demotivated artist!reader x bllk boys

(bachira, kaiser)

tags: gn!reader, kaisers gratuitous stripping of course, bachira being a silly little guy, kaiser being an attention whore

bachira

you sat at your desk, mindlessly watching a youtube video that was supposed to be your background noise as you did your art. instead your sketchbook was left on the fresh blank page as you were completely engrossed in the video.

“aren’t you supposed to be doing something” you snapped out of your focus from the distraction and turned to see bachira cheekily smiling at you with an eyebrow raised and hands on his hips

“ugh fine you caught me,” you said as you turned back to look at your computer and felt bachira wrap his arms around you and his head rest on his shoulder.

“i just… don’t know how to start. i’ve been on an art block for weeks now and it’s starting to wear me down.” you let out a deep sigh as you rambled and tapped your pencil on the desk, “it’s just so hard to find any ideas now”

as bachira listened to your rant, he unwrapped one of his arms from your shoulder and silently reached out for your colored pens and markers with his tongue out in absolute concentration, none of which you noticed.

your ramble got interrupted the second you heard marker scratching on paper. you look down to see bachira doodling on your sketchbook

“bachira?! what the hell are you doing!?” when you said that, he quickly snatched up your sketchbook and a couple of markers and ran out the room giggling, too fast for you to catch up. ‘god why did i date a football player’ you sighed and ran out to find him

you spotted him on the couch, comfortably laying on his stomach as he continued doodling on your stolen sketchbook with your stolen markers. you immediately snatched the book out of his hands.

“i cannot believe you would take my things like that! not only did you take my sketchbook, you also drew in it without my permiss- oh wait…” your scolding trailed off as you took a look at the page he drew. you saw the vibrant squiggles and lines he did along with some star shapes and hearts.

“wow this is actually really pretty,” you said, sitting down right next to him. you took one of your pens that bachira stole from your desk and started to draw on that page, using the art bachira did as a colorful background to bring out the black ink of the figures you drew in front of it. bachira rested his head on your shoulder and watched the entire time.

“hehe looks like i once again saved the day,” bachira laughed as he looked at your ‘collaborated’ work.

you rolled your eyes at his comment. “ok fine i guess you did help with my art block,” you smiled and kissed his cheek, “i appreciate it and i appreciate you”

bachira grinned and wrapped his arms around your waist, “you are so so welcome!”

“is this something you did with your mom every time she couldn’t paint?” “oh yeah constantly” “ah should’ve guessed”

kaiser

you sat at your desk while scrolling through different photos on your laptop, trying to find something to draw since your brain was completely dried out of ideas

“babe~” you sighed as you heard a whiny voice from behind you. uh oh kaiser needs attention. you turned your head to look at him

“what do you need kaiser”

“how much longer are you gonna be in here for? you’ve already been here all day…” it’s only been an hour.

you rolled your eyes as his whining got more desperate and you spoke, “who knows at this point. i’ve been stuck for a while so you might have to wait for the rest of the day.” you glanced at him, knowing that would get to him.

“no darling! you cant stay here all day”

“well if you have any ideas for me, i’ll love to hear them”

he closed your laptop, pushing all your things aside, and sat on your desk right in front of you with his leg crossed over his knee, “how about this… you should just draw me.” he smirked as he looked down at your unimpressed face

you thought about it for a second before nodding, “you know what… that’s not too bad of an idea! i’ll do it.”

“ok great!” he said as he started taking his shirt off.

“kaiser no! i don’t need a nude model so please leave your shirt on!”

“fine…” he groaned, hesitantly removing his hands from his shirt and smoothed it out. he mumbled, “it’s nothing you haven’t seen before anyway”

you playfully rolled your eyes and got your stuff ready. you started drawing him as he did various poses while basking in all your attention. every now and then he would try to convince you that him stripping off his clothes would help more but you kept shooting that idea down. you had to deal with him constantly walking naked around the house already.

once you finished, you showed him the sketches. he wrapped his arms around you and kissed you multiple times, each one on a different spot on your face. “wow you did such a good job! you captured my beauty so well”

he took photos of your sketches while gushing about how good of an artist you are and how blessed he is for having you (and also how blessed you are for having a great and attractive model like him)

the next day while he was out at practice, he showed off your drawings to his teammates, bragging about how beautiful and talented his partner is

a/n: haha hai so like i was planning on only sticking to hcs format for this blog but i really wanted to do like a drabble/hc thingy and i also have very little writing experience so sorry if this sucks ass. hope you enjoyed it!

this was supposed to be a three character post but i struggled to

think of another so if anyone wants a part 2 with diff characters, feel free to request so with the characters you want!

#blue lock #bachira x reader #kaiser x reader #michael kaiser x reader #blue lock x reader #blue lock x gender neutral reader #blue lock x you #★ snail.writes ★#bachira #kaiser #wrote this while watching various reaction videos

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wineauntharry · 1 year

Note

best friends to enemies to lovers with Joe burrow plsss!! like when he got on the football team he became a douche and stopped being nice and that's why they r enemies

sorry it took so long to get to this hehe ily guys, i’ve gotten a lot of requests for a friends to enemies to lovers trope type thing so i combined them here! hope ya like it!

—-----

as it was// j.b.

Joe was no stranger to me. We had grown up in the same neighborhood. I remember swimming in eachother’s pools, having snowball fights, and our little movie night’s as kids. We were always interested in the same things, science, space, and animals. I would come over and play with his lizard every day after school.

We began to grow apart during high school. It was the beginning of his future and though I was as supportive as a childhood friend could be, things began to come between us. I was focused solely on my grades and Joe’s priority was getting into a D1 university to keep his career progressing. So when I found out he had gotten into Ohio State I was incredibly happy for him. I had gotten into Baylor and he knew it was my dream school. We were both so excited for eachother and what the future held.

Everyone always believed there was something between Joe and I, but we always kept it friendly. He was my prom date, first kiss, and best friend. I never knew what Joe was feeling, but then again was it even my business? All I needed to know is that we were friends still.

Before we both left for school we promised to stay in touch and never lose the friendship we had. We had only ever been comfortable with eachother, so we decided it would be best to be eachothers first…..and second, and third. But that doesn’t matter. This wasn’t some movie where the main characters went from friends to lovers or some shit like that.

The last time we saw eachother was winter break of our freshman year. We had been hanging out in his basement watching movies and scrolling on our phones when he spoke up out of nowhere.

“Y/N I’m so lucky to have a friend like you. Straight up no one has stuck by me like you have, and I hope you know I’m grateful.” He said

“I promise I believe you Joey, don’t worry.” I responded with a small giggle.

“I met somebody.” He blurted out. It almost sounded like he was saying something just to say something.

I didn’t respond right away partly because I didn’t know what to say and partly because I didn’t want to say anything.

“That’s good J, is she good to you?” I responded, we were just friends. I shouldn’t have to remind myself of that, but I do.

“Yeah, I just don’t want you to trip when I post her or some shit.” He said, by this time I could tell he was lying.

“Why would I?” I asked.

He started to respond. “Because you know-”

I had to cut him off before it got any deeper.

“Joe, we’re best friends, that's it. Plus, I want you to be happy. Yeah we messed around for a little but that doesn’t mean much. Our friendship comes before anything else.” I responded.

I could see disappointment take over his face. But what he said next was something I never expected to hear.

“You were just a good fuck if that’s the case. Friends or not, I thought you would at least care a little more.” He yelled.

“Joe what the fuck are you even saying right now, like actually. Do you want me to be jealous or something? You are the one who just brought up meeting a different girl.” I was shocked.

“I don’t know how I feel about you Y/N, I mean, our friendship or whatever you want to call it, has always been a little messy. I’ve loved you since we were kids.” He said

“Joe, if that was the case you would’ve at least made some room for me in your life when your football career took off. Nobody was there for you like I was and you know that.” I spat.

I could see his ears turn pink and bright flush starting to come over his cheeks, a tell-tale sign that he was about to cry.

“Look, I don’t know how we got here whether its this point of the conversation or our lives, but fuck Joe, why did you have to do this. Why did we have to do this? I just wanted to catch up and have a good night.” I said

“But since we’re bringing shit up, you have been a terrible fucking friend. You don’t answer texts let alone answer calls. We barely talk. Did the night before you left mean nothing?” I yelled.

We had both promised to never bring that night up. We had slept together, but that night was different. He told me he loved me and I said it back. Sure, we had said it before, but it was always platonically. I knew that night he had made love to me. There was no one else for me but J. But I refuse to even pursue it. He’s my childhood best friend, not my soulmate.

“Fuck you Joey, seriously.”

I rushed up the stairs and out the door to my car with tears streaming down my face. I really can’t believe what just happened. That’s so not like him. Not like us. All of this came from left field. We were bestfriends, then best friends who fucked, and now we’re nothing.

What the fuck happened?

—---

I haven’t seen Joe since last winter break. Everyone would ask what happened between us, but I refused to talk about it.

I was laying in my room since I was back for spring break when there was a light knock at my door.

“Come in.” I yelled.

“Y/N, someone is here to see you love.” She whispered.

Before I could respond she stepped to the side and I saw that last person in the world I wanted to. It was fucking Joe.

“I’m not doing this.” I said as I got up to go close my door before he could walk in.

“Y/N don’t be like this.” He said. I could tell it took a lot for him to do this. He sounded defeated before he even started.

I just stood there and stared at him, giving him a hurry up before I change my mind glare.

“I want to say sorry. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I miss you so much dude.” He whispered.

I didn’t have much to say so I just pulled him into a hug. His touch and scent were so familiar, I didn’t realize I missed him so much.

God, I had missed him so much.

We were still holding onto eachother when he began pressing kisses onto the top of my head. We coudn’t let go of eachother. We both had salty tears running down our faces.

“Joe, I’ve missed you too. Watching you all over instagram twitter has sucked but I’ve been so proud of you.” I said.

“I can’t explain how sorry I am for that night. I don’t mean any of the shit I said. You mean more to me than just sex. I’m in love with you Y/N and I can’t keep it from you anymore.” He whimpered.

I finally pulled away from him and just stared into those comforting eyes I had missed so much. We both layed down onto my bed, tangled in each other's arms.

We caught up on everything we had missed in eachothers lives. We shared spaced out kisses the entire night, falling asleep cuddling with the other.

After we were completely caught up I felt Joe’s energy shift. He pushed himself closer to me and tightened his grip on one of my hips.

“Y/N, let me show you how much I missed you. Please, I’m begging.” He whispered as he began to place soft wet kisses onto my neck and shoulder.

“Show me J.” I responded quickly.

He swiftly flipped me onto my back and put his body on top of mine all while connecting his lips to mine, refusing to let any space come between our bodies.

“I love you Y/N, I always have.” He whispered.

“I know you have Joey, I promise I love you just the same.” I responded.

—---------------

wait i cant tell if i like this or not so please send positive reinforcements in my inbox before i cry. i have been feeling very discouraged, which makes no sense because you guys support me so much.

i will continue to work on requests this week bc there are so many sorryyyyyy

i love all of you SOOOOOO much

be blessed and blessed be

send requests here!

masterlist!

all the love, kitt

#joe burrow #joeburrow x reader #joe burrow imagine #joe burrow oneshot #joe burrow fan fic #masterlist

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sparkle-d · 2 years

Text

untouchable

pairing: daniel ricciardo x you

tags: friends to lovers; unrequited love; mutual pining

warnings: drinking, mature, swearing, sexting

words: 16541

summary:

“I bet I can make you fall in love with me.”

“Well, I bet I can make you fall in love with me first.”

They say after drinking a bottle of tequila.

you can also read it here!

hope you enjoy it <3

Your friendship with Daniel has always been like a ticking bomb, ready to explode any time. Since the first day you met, things were very intense and… fiery. Apart from that little detail, you were inseparable, even when Daniel broke his arm and needed to stay at the hospital for the night, you stayed and slept beside him in the bed. And you totally hate hospitals.

But what really made things hard for the outsiders to handle your friendship was that both of you are very, very competitive, always wanting to do better and be better. Alex says it’s a healthy thing, to push yourself to the limit and try to be a better person. Pierre is the one that hates it with all of his guts, he always thought you would end up killing each other one day.

When the bets started, things got even worse.

The first bet in all those years of friendship started when you were just thirteen years old, when both of you were still in the school’s soccer team. It was a summer afternoon, when Daniel had his first real and official match as a team and you, being the great best friend you were, went there to watch and support him. After winning it, the coach took the team to eat pizza in a small diner near the soccer field where the match had been held.

The pizza was so good you said aloud “I bet I could eat a whole pizza alone.” Daniel peered you with the corner of his eyes, watching a string of cheese get stuck in your chin. Daniel pointed with his fingers where you should clean your face.

“I bet I could eat a whole pizza plus an extra slice. Alone.” Daniel voiced, his eyes piercing you, which just raised one of your eyebrows.

“With peppers and pineapple?” Daniel aggressively nodded at your words.

Daniel could fulfill his bet and actually ate more than a whole pizza alone, with all the peppers and pineapple. But that led him to stay in the hospital for an entire day with an upset stomach. He won the bet anyways, so it gave him some confidence, even if you laughed his ass off while Daniel was throwing up his guts during the night.

The second time it happened, it was some months later and, this time, you were the one to start the bet. You were in football practice, just some days away from an important game for both teams. You caught yourself thinking about Daniel’s long legs. They were so lean he could run ten laps around the field in minutes. At that time, you still had short legs, making it difficult for you to run as fast as Daniel.

“I bet I can finish ten laps faster than you.” You started to stretch your legs and noticed a grin around Daniel’s lips.

“You know I’m always up to beat you up in a bet.” And he fully smiled at you.

You snorted “I’ve been practicing my time. It’s way closer to yours than you might think it is.” Daniel shrugged, not really buying your improvement in running.

You and Daniel got set up and started the laps. Daniel was so fast in the beginning, but you did indeed improve your running and could beat him up so easily. Daniel felt bitter about it later. After you finished, you were feeling glorious about you winning and he needed to put his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

“It doesn’t matter if you win or not, we aren’t from the athlete’s team anyways. We play soccer.” You rolled his eyes at your words “Let’s upgrade this bet a little.”

“I’m listening.” You said.

“Who scores the most during our next game wins.” You know Daniel is better at scoring, that’s why he’s the forward of the team. Daniel seems pleased with the bet, but it would be too easy for you to not even try hard and accept your loss. There’s no point in winning something if you don’t have a regard for it in the end “And the loser has to shave all of their head.”

You thought twice about the bet. You’ve never even thought about cutting your hair short, imagine shaving it. You were not even sure your parents would allow something like that, but you agreed, excited with your newest bet.

The next monday, Daniel appeared at school with his head shaved.

At some point, Pierre started to get worried with your competitive asses and tried to stop it. It wasn’t healthy at all in his opinion, especially when you started to grow up and you weren’t from the soccer team anymore, so the bets started to get serious.

Like when you were sixteen and you bet who could stack more books on the foot while upside down. It became a school’s event, everyone stopped to watch you two struggle while all of the blood in your bodies was flowing to your heads.

After ten books on each, you fainted, causing the whole school to freak out, especially Pierre who almost started crying when you were still unconscious.

You had to give your Percy Jackson collection to Daniel after losing that bet.

After the fainting event, you stopped with the bets for some years, until you were in their last year of high school and you decided you needed to shake things up once more “I bet you to go to the school’s radio during the class break, take the mic and scream ‘ HULAHOOPOHOOPIN ’ .”

“Just HULAHOOPOHOOPIN ?” Daniel asked.

“Yeah, you’re right, scratch that. I bet you to go to the school’s radio during the class break, take the mic and scream ‘ HULAHOOPOHOOPIN, I’m Daniel Ricciardo from 3-C and I have two penises ’ .”

Daniel never felt so betrayed by himself before for encouraging you to do worse with him.

The next day a girl came and asked him what two penises could do.

°°°

In university, the bets started to involve alcohol too, leading things to a whole different and dangerous level. But since Pierre was always around you two, nothing deathly happened, just Daniel in the ER taking glucose shots in his vein after drinking a whole bottle and a half of vodka alone. Plus some other things - but you like to forget that part - and label Daniel as a ‘ light weight ’, in your opinion.

“It’s been a while since the last time we bet something.” You say, leaning against the kitchen’s counter of Charles’ house. Daniel is opening the second bottle of tequila for you, since you two have been drinking alone in the kitchen while everyone else is playing some card game in the living room.

“Sometimes you forget that our last bet led me to break up with my girlfriend, so yeah, we stopped with the bets for real.” Daniel says it in a bitter tone with a grimace in his face. He remembers your bet with him: who could run the longest naked around the campus without getting caught by the security. You never actually went running naked, you were in your bikinis, only Daniel did indeed get fully naked.

Daniel’s ex-girlfriend didn’t like it, everyone seeing his boyfriend’s hot body naked and talking about it for the rest of the year.

“She was a coward. Everyone, even the ones that aren’t close to you, know that you have a six pack anyways.” Daniel drinks another shot of tequila and glances at you. He looks totally drunk, his eyes almost shut and a corny smile on his lips.

“You just say that because no one said anything about your body.” Daniel knows that gets on your fragile spot, because you always want attention and praise, but no one really cared about you when your best friend Daniel was showing off his nice butt around. Which was odd because Daniel thinks you have a really good body, maybe not as muscular as Daniel’s, but still, nice thighs and curves.

“Yeah, because I’m a girl and it wouldn’t be nice to comment on my body around campus.” You roll your eyes “And I didn’t even go past my dorm’s door.”

“Yeah, sure.” Daniel chuckles “Oh, some of them remembered the two penises thing. Turns out I only have one, sadly.”

Daniel does the face he always does when he’s being sarcastic and you hate it, because you’re the sarcastic one in your friendship and what’s the point of being sarcastic if you’re going to give it away with your expression? “I thought people would let it die in high school.”

“They were really interested in my two penises, you know.” You punch Daniel’s arm, but he doesn’t feel a thing because his body is already numb and you are not that strong “Even with only one penis, I may be more interesting than you.”

You gasp “I have my charms too, Daniel. I’m hard to get, but a bunch of people are interested in me, for your information.”

And Daniel wheezes.

“I bet they are.”

“What do you mean by that?” You hiss and squint your eyes in Daniel’s direction. Daniel says all sorts of things when he’s drunk, but he’s playing with a side of your insecurities that is really sensible.

“I mean that it’s hard for you to make people fall for you. You always look so mighty and when someone tries to get closer to you, you always push them away.” Daniel shrugs, as if what he’s saying is nothing, but it gets deep in you.

Daniel is your best friend, but still he doesn’t know how to deal with your feelings most of the time, maybe because you never show what you’re truly feeling in your core.

“They fall for me, you’re just not around.” You say, trying not to sound as pathetic as you feel.

“Yeah? Could you name them for me then?” Daniel takes another shot.

“I could if I cared about them, but I don’t so…” That could fool Daniel, especially when drunk. You can be really cold when you want to and Daniel knows it.

“Not a single name from the people that technically fell in love with you? A one night stand, maybe? Nothing?” Daniel continues to try to get something from you, but it only makes you more and more nervous with your conversation “That’s bullshit, just assume people don’t have interest in you because you’re not that appealing and that’s okay, you don’t need to be a lady killer or whatever.”

That’s easy to say when you’re literally the heartthrob from campus , you think.

Even if you have your reasons for not being tempting in others eyes, you can’t just say it in front of Daniel like it means nothing to you. Daniel is too drunk and wouldn’t understand your reasons anyways.

Your mind is foggy with all the alcohol you drank with Daniel. The second bottle is almost empty already, the liquor disappearing faster than you imagined. You think of something Daniel would say if this conversation was the opposite, if you were the one accusing Daniel of being untouchable and impersonal. Daniel would get at the main point of the conversation and use it in his favor, so you do the same.

“I bet I can make you fall in love with me, Daniel.” You hiccup, glaring in Daniel’s direction. The latter grins because he knows what you are doing. Trying to scare him . But Daniel isn’t the type to bolt away from your bets and panic with it, he’s the one to embrace them and make you regret betting with him in the first place. It was always like this.

“Well, I bet I can make you fall in love with me first, cupcake.”

The mood completely changes in between you, because as Daniel says those words, you lick your lips and smirks, reaching for the bottle next to Daniel. You could blame everything in the booze you drank so you did close the gap between you and Daniel, touching the latter’s chest with your fingers.

You obviously never flirted with Daniel before, your friendship never got that intimate, but Daniel can feel that you are already trying to make a move in his direction. You’re too close, with your expression showing anything, but innocence and Daniel takes a deep breath, because you are serious about whatever you were just talking about seconds ago.

“Deal.” You whisper next to Daniel’s ears.

Maybe Daniel is the type to panic a little, just a bit.

°°°

“Jesus fucking christ, calm down.” Alex rolls his eyes, sitting in your bed. He watches you pacing around in your room, panicking with every little cell in your body. You are close to having a breakdown “Can’t you just quit the bet?”

“Alexander, I love you, but do I look like a quitter to you?” You let a hand go through your hair, messing it a little bit, trying to think of a way to get out of the bet without sounding like you’re chickening out, which you totally are “W-What if he touches me, Alex? Like, intimately touches me. I would probably have a heart attack.”

“I still can’t believe you started this bet about who falls in love with who first,” Alex sighs, pulling a strand of his hair out of his sight “when you’re already in love with the person.”

“I WAS DRUNK.” You snort because you don't want to believe you actually did that. Daniel would win the bet, he already did actually, and plus he will get to know about your feelings, you’ve been hiding them for so fucking long. It’s bullshit letting Daniel know about them now, after so many years “It’s your fault, actually. You started that crappy card game you know both me and Daniel hate, so we left to drink and that’s when things got out of control.”

“You started a bet out of your free will with your best friend, how is that MY fault?”

“That’s not the main point here, Alex. I need to think of how I will conquer him and not give myself in with his first attempts. No… I can’t, I need to at least try to hold myself back from it.” You stop and stare at Alex “From where should I begin to try to seduce him? I need a plan.”

“Okay, let’s see. He’s your best friend, so you should know what he likes and what makes him hot… at least the basics. Focus on those things and it’ll be a complete success.” Alex says it like it’s the easiest thing to do.

Maybe he’s a maneater and knows how to steal others' hearts with a snap of his finger, but you don't have much background to work with. People are always trying to win him over, not the other way around.

“Uhm… Daniel likes touching, things like grabbing his thigh during meals and cuddling, but he’s also really into sexting, I guess?” You start thinking about everything you know from your best friend “I don’t know if I can be this risky with him. Not like this, as his friend.”

Alex blinks twice “I honestly don’t wanna know how you know the sexting part, but you have your plan here. Grab him whenever you can and cuddle with him before going to sleep. Also text him like you normally would, but put something spicy in it. Like… invite him for dinner! In my apartment, so he won’t suspect anything.”

You laugh, out of nervousness “What should I do? Be clingy with him the whole night? You know he’s trying to win this too, right? If I do something like that, I might be the one enjoying it more than him.”

“I don’t know. You’ll figure it out once you’re doing it.” Again, you snort. You want to tell Alex it’s useless trying anything, but don't want to sound like your friend isn’t helping you at all “Let’s not panic and think about solutions to your plan.”

“Ok, I’m going to invite him for dinner in your apartment. Play it simple, some slight touches and some flirting…” You say, holding your hands.

Maybe Daniel is right and you have no idea how to do these things, not even how you should make someone pay attention to you. You’re useless when the main point is love life and things related to it.

“Maybe… try kissing him at the end of the night? Oh, Pierre would have a heart attack if he saw it happening.” Alex laughs and gets up from the bed.

Your group of friends consists of your friend’s from the football team. You’ve known each other since kids, they would indeed find it weird if you and Daniel became more than friends. None of them ever thought of you in a different way than everyone’s beloved friend. You don’t want to mess up that too.

“Alex, jesus fucking christ, if I kiss him I might, I don’t know, melt right there in front of him. I already told you, I don’t want him to notice I like him.” You roll your eyes, feeling your heart start racing only by thinking about kissing Daniel.

“Look, I can’t help you with a lot of tips because things like this come easily to me, but I can help with something else. Give me your phone.” Alex says.

You raise an eyebrow, thinking if you should really give your cellphone to Alex. You couldn’t invite Daniel for this kind of dinner alone, you’re sure of it, and Alex might really help. So you hand the phone. Alex gives a giggle and starts typing, making some pauses to think, and going back to it again.

“So, what are you doing?” Alex does a dramatic last touch on the screen and gives it back to you, with a small grin around his lips.

You read the message on your phone.

mybuttercup said: hey, so we’re having dinner tonight at Alex’s. at 8pm.

mybuttercup said: bring that wine i like ;)

And immediately Daniel replies.

danirik said: ok… but which wine you’re talking about tho?

“This is what you call spicy? I could’ve done better alone.” You feel frustrated after reading the simple texts and Alex just shrugs “But that’s enough, he’ll never guess this is a trap for me to seduce him.”

“I’ll invite Pierre and the boys too, so it won’t be too awkward for me while you two are flirting.” You sit in your bed for a moment, your mind spinning with how much you need to think now “We should eat pizza.”

You nod because you don't really mind that much what the menu will be for the night, you need to organize his thoughts about what you intend to do with Daniel. You need to prove to Daniel that you’re playing seriously and you can make Daniel feel the slightest of attraction towards him. You need to prove that to yourself too, or else, everything Daniel said to you will be one hundred percent true, and you hate that you’re not lovable. You need to think people actually fall for you.

The first thing you come to a conclusion, is that the grabbing thigh under table is a must.

°°°

“Use your best cologne, she likes men that smell good.” Pierre yells when Daniel comes out of the bathroom “And let your curls down, she likes it too.”

Sometimes Daniel thinks Pierre is your best friend and not him, but it’s just that there are things that you won’t speak about with Daniel. Like your love life, or sex life, or whatever. You just mention the basics, a date with a girl you met in the bar or that you kissed a cute freshman from Daniel’s history class in a party. No details, rarely names, or if you think you’ll have a future with this lover or not. It’s very impersonal like everything you do in your life.

But with Pierre, you normally say all the little details and answer every question Pierre does, even the personal ones. Daniel can feel a small sting of jealousy, bothering him every time he thinks about the matter, every time he remembers that he is your second option sometimes, while you are always his first.

Daniel decides to dress the way he always does when he wants to get someone’s attention: black t-shirt and skinny jeans. Once you said he looked hot in a suit, but laughed it off some seconds later, saying you preferred the normal shirt and jeans look better, so Daniel kept that in mind since then.

“Do you have any idea of how you’ll win this?” Pierre enters the room, holding his shoes in his hands “Like, okay, you can look hot for her, but she saw you naked already so many times, that won’t change much? You need to think about how to win her heart, not only make her horny.”

“Her being horny would be enough… I mean, she could fall in love with me because of her hormones and my-”

“This is not the way to go, I think.” Pierre starts, totally cutting Daniel “It’s hard to get into her core, you should try something tender. Show her you’re really intending to make her fall in love with you, that you’re the love of her life, not just a sexual attraction.” Pierre finishes putting his shoes on and looks at Daniel “She can have anyone’s body and you know it. You need to be different and conquer her heart.”

Daniel thinks through about what Pierre said and maybe his friend is right. You had countless relationships, but none of them were really that important to you; the moment you broke up with the person, you wouldn’t care about them anymore. Daniel can’t aim for something like that, he needs to go somewhere no one tried to go before and bloom your deepest feelings.

He already knows what to do. Even if you run to Pierre’s direction sometimes, Daniel is still your best friend and he knows you better than anyone else.

“I should make a list of the things I should do to try to win her.” Daniel speaks more to himself than to Pierre, already plotting how to put everything in practice.

°°°

“Can we eat already?” Max asks, whining because he’s hungry and everyone is doing whatever, but gathering at the table to eat “The pizza will get cold.”

“We’re coming.” George screams from somewhere in the balcony, where he’s waiting for Alex to enter too “Max, go upstairs and tell our beloved friend to come eat, she’s been hiding in Alex’s room the entire night.”

Max rolls his eyes because he doesn’t want to move from his seat, he’s ready to dig into a big plate of pizza and drink a whole mug of beer in one sip. Charles gives him a look, the one he always does when Max is being stubborn about something, and Max just sighs “I’m going, okay?”

Charles smirks at him and Max gets up off his chair, heading to Alex’s room.

Everyone is in the living room, so when Max is in front of Alex’s room’s door, it’s pretty silent compared to the rest of his friend’s house. When he opens the room’s door, he finds a worried you inside, totally panicking over something, with one hand in your waist and the other on your forehead, trying to figure something out.

Max lets out a giggle, because the view is funny. You are always composed and hardly show any bad feelings, you always look happy and confident.

Max never saw you like that.

“What’s happening?” Max asks, entering the room. You seem to not notice Max until the moment he speaks, so you look surprised with the boy there, watching you “Something’s wrong? You’ve been in this room the whole night.”

“I was just trying to figure something out…” You say with a low voice, more tense than ever. And then something pops in your mind “Actually, Max, I have something to ask you.”

“Sure, shoot it.” Max says.

“Remember when Daniel had a crush on you in...”

“Middle school. Yeah, terrifying.” Max grimaces at the memory of Daniel being all kinds of cringe with him and eventually giving up because Max didn’t give two fucks about him “What about it?”

“I was wondering if you’ve ever done something to him to, you know, make him like you.”

Max stops for a moment and tries to remember something that triggered Daniel’s feelings for him. They were from the soccer team and you broke your little finger, so you couldn't show up in the practices for a while.

Daniel was lost in the first few days, especially because him and you were almost the same person, always stuck together. One day after training, Max went home with Daniel because he looked lonely and sad, and that’s when everything started.

“I spoke with him about you while walking home, he said you broke your finger because you two were betting who could punch the wall harder and you won.” Max shrugs, because he didn’t do anything special for Daniel to feel that way about him, he just did “I told him to take care of you and after that day he was always around me wanting to spend some time together.”

“So he likes to just… talk? Uh…” That didn’t help much because you already did that with Daniel. All the time.

Max nods, not thinking too deep about Daniel’s feelings “I guess…? Daniel is a pretty quiet guy sometimes, but he likes to be listened to.”

You look at your friend, wondering if you should thank for what he said or keep it like that because you don’t want to speak about the bet with Max, or mention it to him at all “He’s been distant to me lately, so I was wondering what I should do.”

That makes zero sense in your head, asking about how Daniel started to have feelings for Max and then telling him it’s because you’re going through a phase in your friendship. But Max seems to not bother it too much.

“Communication is an essential thing in friendship, I would say.” Max shrugs. “Anyways, I came here because the pizza is ready, we should go downstairs to eat.” Max isn’t the type to listen to others, or give advice, or anything that implies in giving too much of his time, but you seem troubled and friends are supposed to help, right?

“Yeah, we should.” You take your last deep breath and follow Max in the hallways.

°°°

Daniel is there as expected, of course, you invited him. Actually, Alex did, but Daniel didn’t know about that. You notice Daniel did the thing with his hair that you said one hundred times that you loved. That made it more difficult for you to not show any kind of confused feelings you have for your friend, but you were used to hiding it, you’ve been hiding for years now.

“Hey, I haven’t seen you all night.” Daniel is the first to notice you’re in the room. He comes for a hug and makes it last more than it usually does. You can smell Daniel’s perfume and feel the soft skin in the nape of his neck.

For a moment, you forget Daniel is playing his game too and trying to win against you, because there’s nothing to win there. You already like him. But Daniel seems to be trying to do all the things you like, and that pleases you more than you thought it would.

“University stuff.” You smile when you get away from each other. Everyone is already sitting at the table and there’s two spots left, one for you and the one next to it for Daniel “History of Art can be really exhausting when your teacher thinks you only study their subject.”

Daniel chuckles and sits in one of the chairs, next to Alex. You sit in the remaining one, George by your side. You feel relieved because if George saw your hand running around Daniel’s thighs he wouldn’t make a scene out of it, like Lando and Charles would. They would make everyone look at you and Daniel, and point at your faces, claiming you were almost fucking under the table while your friends were there, eating.

George would find it normal, just bros being bros.

Things are going smoothly as ever and everything is leading to a success for you.

You start to eat, but you can’t even finish your first slide of pizza out of anxiety. There’s always the option that Daniel will hate it, especially because you’re with friends around them. You need to be seductive, and also do it in a way you’re sure Daniel will like it.

“There’s something I have to ask you.” You whisper in Daniel’s ears, when you notice everyone is too distracted with Pierre’s story of how he lost his car in a parking lot next to the University, to care for what you’re whispering in Daniel’s ears.

“What?” Daniel answers, just some inches away from you. You normally speak like that, close to each other, so you don't have to cope with your proximity.

“I was wondering, what’s the final prize of our bet?” You whisper again, speaking slowly in the last words of the sentence. And when Daniel turns to face you, you slide your left hand in the corner of Daniel’s thigh.

Daniel tenses up, you can feel it under your fingers. All the muscles are stiffened up and you continue your trail until you’re fully grabbing Daniel like you’ve planned to since the beginning “A prize?” Daniel breaths out, trying not to catch your friend’s attention.

“There’s no point in a bet, if there’s no prize in the end.” Your fingers almost reach Daniel’s groin area, but come back to massage Daniel’s thigh. It seems to be working because Daniel takes a little longer to even think about what is happening “Like that time when I bought you lunch for a whole month.”

You want to touch more, to really make Daniel horny and bothered in the middle of your friends, but you need time. It would be no fun if Daniel gave away so easily, it’s not only an arousal you are looking for. So you stay in a safe area, running your fingers up and down, sometimes doing circles in some areas. Daniel doesn’t even move under your touch.

“I don’t know.” He whispers back, staring right into your eyes “If I win the bet, your love and heart is the best prize I could ask for.” And you freeze, because Daniel says that like he means it. As if your affection was the only thing he was aiming to get out of that craziness you called a bet “Or maybe a car, I need one.”

You brush off any thoughts of Daniel really meaning what he said, because he ruined it just seconds later. You smirk, letting your hand run freely in the inner part of Daniel’s thigh, discovering every inch of it “I’m being serious.”

Daniel breathes in again, glancing to see if any of your friends noticed what is happening there. They seem to be used to you and Daniel having your own conversations like this, in your own world “The prize is that the loser needs to do one thing the winner wants.” He glances at your hand on him, and looks back at you “Whatever the winner wants.”

“Whatever the winner wants?” You repeat and Daniel nods “Deal.”

Even if it wasn’t your intention to give Daniel a boner, you could see it slowly appearing through his jeans. You lick your lips thinking about if you should go near that part, maybe touch it with your fingers, but in that exact moment Pierre says loudly.

“We need another bottle of wine.” And you hear it despite your intimate moment with Daniel.

“Daniel can go get a new one in the kitchen for us.” You say with a smile on your face.

You take your hand off from Daniel’s body, feeling the skin of your palm feverish after touching Daniel like that, so different from what you’re used to. Daniel looks confused and mostly embarrassed because if he stands up, everyone will see what is happening inside his pants.

“Daniel?” Pierre calls after no answer from Daniel, not a single muscle moving “Will you go get the wine or…?”

“Sure.” He says, starting to cover his crotch with his hands, but you stop him from getting up.

“I’ll go.” You say, holding Daniel down in his place. Daniel looks disoriented with everything that is happening in such a small span of time. You groping him in an unsafe way during dinner with your friends and then trying to sabotage him in front of everyone… but not really.

“Thanks.” He smiles softly at you and you give a smile back to him.

danirik said: next time you do something like that

danirik said: please don’t leave me hanging like that

danirik said: i almost got blue balls from whatever you were trying to do today

mybuttercup said: nice :)

After the first time during the dinner, you start to feel more confident with your actions. Not because you’re over the fact you’re, finally, hitting on Daniel for real, but because you saw Daniel’s reaction to it.

In all those years of friendship, you always kept your feelings a secret from Daniel, not even showing the slightest attraction towards your friend. You never even thought about Daniel actually reacting positively if you ever tried anything. In your head, Daniel would turn you down in every scenario. But in reality, Daniel is showing way more attraction towards you, than you towards Daniel

Maybe you have a chance of winning this thing after all. Daniel hasn't won this one yet.

“I think we should put some rules in this bet.” Daniel puts his plate on the table where you are sitting to eat your lunch during break “Or things can go bad really easily.”

“Aren’t you taking this too seriously?” You ask, trying to be the calmest ever. You are the one being too serious about winning it “It’s just a bet, we had countless of them.”

“But with this one, now I feel like you will slide your hand inside my pants during class someday.” You look up to see Daniel glaring at you. After the event during dinner, Daniel stormed down with you, and you just laughed in his face (and found Daniel’s angry side really hot). Daniel admitted he liked the massage, but the situation was awful, especially that not all of your friends were fully aware about the bet they were in “Or I don’t know, do something as dangerous as that with me.”

You grin, “Okay, you’re right, we should put some boundaries in this.” Daniel feels relieved that you agreed with it “We could’ve made Pierre’s life so much easier by putting rules in the bets since the beginning.”

“It wouldn’t be as funny as it was.” Daniel says, almost grinning at his own comment, but shaking his head and getting back to the serious subject “But this one is a different case. So, the first rule is: nothing during classes or around friends. No teasing, rubbing, massaging, or groping. The crotch area is completely out of limits in these cases too.”

“So, public stuff is allowed, just in class and with friends that it’s forbidden?” And Daniel can feel your foot touching his leg underneath from the other side of the table.

“Yes.” Daniel just answers. You go up with your foot a little, but stop in Daniel’s knee. You could use that move in a better situation, you think “Aside from these two things, everything is allowed.”

Daniel smirks and for the nth time, you regret starting that bet in the first place, because there’s no way you’ll handle whatever Daniel have in mind to do with you.

°°°

It’s test season and you are stuck in the library the whole day. You saw the morning, afternoon and night students pass by the library and leave. Now, almost too late for anyone to be there, there’s only you, a student in the computer and the library lady in the place. Oh, and Daniel is sleeping on his chair on the other side of your table, right in front of you. He stayed the whole day with you, helping you study History of Music for your test.

But now he’s sleeping, his eyelids not fully closed and you could hear a soft snore coming from his mouth. Daniel’s arms are his pillow and his hair is falling over his face. You have seen Daniel sleep a zillion times before; since you were six years old you would throw sleepover parties with your friends, or just sleep in each other’s house once in a while. But every time you remember Daniel has this habit of sighing while sleeping, you get reminded of why asleep Daniel is the most adorable thing in the world.

The library woman looks at you and points at the clock, showing that they’re about to close and you should leave. You stare at Daniel, thinking about how you should wake him up. You really don't want to do it, because you know Daniel is tired and probably needs all the sleep he can get, but there’s no other option than waking him up.

Maybe leave him in the library, but that’s not really an option at all either.

You wonder what he’s dreaming about, because he looks so calm and peaceful, and Daniel is normally an agitated sleeper. You remember all the kicks Daniel gave you whenever they shared a bed together. It’s rare to see him still for so long while sleeping.

Daniel sighs, moving his head slightly on his arm. You feel your chest tight, squeezing your heart inside of it. If Daniel knew he didn’t have to do anything to conquer your heart, how would his reaction be? You thought about it a lot. Would he still be there in the library with you?

You always wanted to tell the truth to Daniel, to speak your mind and explain to him how much you’re attracted to him; it’s almost absurd the way you feel towards your best friend.

For a couple of years, it was torture every minute of your life.

You are still Daniel’s best friend and that means seeing him naked or changing his clothes in front of you at least once a month, touching Daniel. Feeling like electricity is running through your body, but having to hold it back; cuddling with Daniel but not being allowed to go too far. But what hurt you the most over the years was Daniel talking about his significant others. And Daniel had a lot of them. And the worse one out of all of them: Max.

Daniel never confessed a thing to you or Max, not even Pierre, but everyone knew it. The way Daniel looked at the boy made super obvious that he had a crush on Max. It was as if he was mesmerized by seeing such a beautiful creature in front of his eyes. You don't take Max’s credits in the story, he’s pretty handsome and anyone with two eyes and a little bit of patience would fall in love with him too.

“I like his eyes.” Daniel would say to you, with a dumb smile in his lips. You normally would just roll your eyes and Daniel would still go on about Max for the rest of the day.

It’s been a while since Daniel hadn’t had anyone in his love life and you feel relieved for it, but something it’s fishy because Daniel is the type of person to always have someone by his side. He needs affection all the time.

“Hey, wake up.” You whisper into Daniel’s ear, trying to wake him up.

Daniel hums something you can’t understand and squeezes his eyes. When he opens it and sees you so close to him, he almost jumps out of his chair. There’s no one around, so it’s alright to make some noise and have some reaction. You just giggle.

“We need to go, they’re closing the library.” Daniel rubs his eyes with the back of his hand.

“How long have I been sleeping?” Daniel’s voice is still warming up, so it cracks a little in the middle of the words.

“A couple of hours maybe?” Daniel’s eyes go wide and you laugh again “It’s okay, I know you’re tired from all the race training.”

“But I said I would make you company.” He says it more to himself than to you.

“I guess your plan didn’t go as you expected?” You grin, because you know Daniel spent the whole day there because of the bet. Daniel would do something like that for you on a daily basis, but he surely thought it would be a nice move to try something with you. Make you melt with his tender action of spending the whole day watching you study. You already melt for him all the time anyways, so there’s no difference between “We should go.”

Daniel nods, packing his things inside his bag and getting up, ready to leave.

Outside the building, you can feel shivers running around your body because it’s much chillier than earlier. You hug yourself, trying to keep yourself warm, but there’s not much you can do when you’re wearing only a shirt and it’s freezing outside. At this time of the year, no one really expects to be this cold already, but you were naive to leave your house without a sweater.

“Here, take my jacket.” Daniel puts the jacket on your shoulders and covers you, rubbing his hands around your sides. When you are ready to protest, Daniel continues “You get sick too easily.”

You don't know if Daniel is really doing it because he cares about you or just because of the bet. You had repeated at least a hundred times to Daniel how much you love when people give you their hoodies or jackets, trying to protect you.

That’s the issue of betting something so intimate with your best friend, he knows everything about you, everything you like and how you like it.

The jacket smells like Daniel, citric and woody. So different from the floral perfume you use, but you like Daniel’s scent better. It’s warm and involving, wrapping around your body. You feel like you're more and more falling into Daniel’s trap, even if you thought things couldn’t get any worse for you.

Daniel surely is doing it for the bet, you don't doubt it for a minute.

Daniel watches you for a moment, stopping his hands and just contemplating your figure in front of him. He likes your eyes a lot. But Daniel likes a lot of things about you and that’s no secret. He’s always telling his best friend about it. He’s always praising your looks and your beautiful legs.

You always take Daniel’s compliments as jokes, or something normal between friends, but Daniel is serious about it. He always takes notes inside his head about your beauty and sense of humor, even when he doesn’t share it with you. Daniel really likes you as a whole.

“Is kissing allowed?” Daniel asks suddenly, then blinks twice and smiles at you “I mean, in our rules, we didn’t mention it, right?”

“No, we didn’t.” You say, bluntly.

“But if I want to, is it allowed?” By the distance in between you, he can easily kiss you if he wants to. You aren't sure if Daniel is asking you for consent to kiss you, or if he’s just asking if during the bet - as a whole - you can kiss at all.

In whatever scenario he means, you are panicking inside because the kissing thought crossed Daniel’s mind at that moment.

“No.” You say. Daniel tilts his head, backing off a little and taking his hands away from yourbody “We should add it to the list of rules. No kissing is allowed during the bet.”

“No kissing.” Daniel repeats.

You know that if you, by any chance, kiss Daniel, it’s over for you. While for Daniel, this is all fun, hormones and nothing more than a bet. You can’t risk any more things into this.

Your drunk self should fuck off , you think.

°°°

You are just laying down on the couch in your dorm, waiting for the delicious meal Alex is doing for you. Probably spicy noodles, with grilled chicken and cheese on top of it. It smells good and you forget about your problems for a moment, because you’re too hungry and can only think about that for a while.

Until your phone buzzes in your pocket and you see a message from Daniel popping on the screen.

danirik said: are you alone right now

mybuttercup said: kind of

mybuttercup said: alexie is in the kitchen doing dinner for us and i’m procrastinating in the couch

You see in the app that Daniel starts typing and then stops midway. He does it twice and then the message arrives.

danirik said: are you up to something

It’s kind of suspicious because Daniel is normally straightforward with what he wants, especially with you. But he’s not going to the main point of the conversation and you frown your eyebrows reading the message.

mybuttercup said: up to what exactly?

Again, Daniel takes a while to answer, but he does it. When you read the message on the screen of his phone, you jump from the couch, holding the phone tight with your fingers.

danirik said: idk i’m kinda horny right now

You can feel your heart pounding against your chest. It’s unreal how much it affected you. Daniel haven’t said anything in particular with that, but he could only mean one thing with that message – and it was directed towards you.

Alex shows up in the living room, holding a bowl in each hand. He studies you for a second and raises an eyebrow in his friend’s direction. You are patting to say the least, your face has this reddish tone all over it, especially in the cheeks and ears, and you’re almost hugging his phone.

“What is happening?” Alex asks a little concerned and you just shoves your cellphone in Alex’s face, showing your text chat with Daniel. Alex’s mouth forms a perfect ‘o’ when he reads the last message, putting the bowls on the living room’s table for a moment “He’s willing to sext you!”

You groan loudly, falling on the sofa and hiding your red face in a pillow “Is he really?”

Alex takes a while to understand what his friend said because you said the words against the pillow, but when he understands, he jumps on his friend’s side on the couch and makes you look him in the face.

“Of course! He wouldn’t tell you he’s horny out of nowhere like this, has he done it before?” You deny and Alex almost rolls his eyes at you “Do you want to do it too?”

“I don’t know, Alexie.” You murmur, trying to hide again but Alex stops you before doing it “I’ve never done this and it’s Daniel we’re talking about here. He might send photos!”

The phone buzzes again and both you and Alex look at it the fastest you can.

danirik said: is it against our rules

“What rules?” Alex asks, taking his bowl of noodles and starts eating.

“We’ve made rules for this bet, you know, to make things more civilized. But this isn’t in any of the rules, I should’ve thought of it first.” You are whining and Alex just sighs at his friend freaking out in front of him.

“This is your opportunity, sweetie. It won’t kill you to go with the flow and enjoy this a little.” Alex says.

Another message arrives.

danirik said: welp nvm then

Alex is the one yelping this time, almost pouring his dinner on their couch. He looks at you and you look like a scared kitten lost in the middle of the night.

“Come on, I can help you.” Alex tries again, now thinking that if they wait for too long, Daniel will give up for real or think that he went too far in their friendship’s boundaries.

“This is personal, Alex! How will you help me?” You look at your phone again, reading the messages Daniel sent and taking a deep breath.

“I can help you with the beginning and then you just need to continue it as if it was in real life. Start with the foreplay, you know.” Alex slurps his noodles and continues “But first, answer Daniel and tell him you’re down to it.”

You unlock your phone, your fingers trembling a little as you start to type on the screen.

mybuttercup said: it’s not against rules I guess but im having dinner right now

mybuttercup said: if you can wait a little until im done and in my room…

mybuttercup said: ten minutes

And as soon as you send the message, Daniel replies.

danirik said: sure ;)

“Ok, you did well.” Alex says, reaching for your bowl and handing it to his friend “Now you need to eat while I tell you what you need to do here.”

“I don’t feel like eating right now…” You are hyperventilating with what you’re about to do.

“But you need to, also I made the noodles for you, so eat while I teach you the ways.” Alex waits until you take the first bite to continue, “First, it’ll start a little weird, especially if you’ve never done it before, it’s more like ‘what are you doing right now?’ and then you need to answer things in a sexy way. He’s already horny, so he’ll probably start things and you continue with whatever is happening.”

“And if I just don’t know what to answer?” You are still frightened, but now your only option is to do it or ignore Daniel for the rest of your lives.

“You’ll know. Remember that you can’t be ashamed of whatever you’re talking about with him, he’s your best friend and you probably said worse things to him than just a little sexting.” Alex pats your shoulder, giving you courage to do it. It seems like such a big thing and it’s only Daniel wanting to be naughty with his best friend “Ah, and have fun, of course.”

Alex seems more into this than you. He waits until you finish your noodles, takes your bowl and leaves to the kitchen. So now it’s your turn to go to your room and start that nonsense with Daniel.

mybuttercup said: im back

You close the door from your room, feeling your heart racing again. You’re anxious and can already feel your body warm. You lay on your bed, waiting for Daniel to show up. Will Daniel say explicit things to you? You’ve spoken about Daniel’s sex life before, but details weren’t mentioned. And even if you have already seen Daniel naked, you’ve never seen him naked with a boner. Only with clothes on, most of the time Daniel’s hand was covering it, so that’s a field you’ve never walked in before with your best friend.

There’s a chance photos won’t happen too, and you would be a bit thankful if they didn’t.

Maybe you can send one to Daniel, to surprise him.

danirik said: hey

danirik said: have you eaten?

mybuttercup said: yea, left alex alone in the kitchen so i could talk to you

Not that you would complain about not doing chores, but you know Alex let this time slide because you had business to finish.

You remember that Daniel doesn’t know that Alex is aware about what you’re going to do, and Daniel knows Alex as good as you do, so you continue.

mybuttercup said: he started to whine about me not helping but i said i have a headache and he let me leave

mybuttercup said: heh

danirik said: were you this excited to chat with me?

danirik said: even lying to alexie

mybuttercup said: i told you i would be back in ten minutes

mybuttercup said: and here i am

mybuttercup said: :)

You bite your lower lip and remember Alex’s tips, so you think a little and send another text, before Daniel can reply.

mybuttercup said: and what are you doing right now?

danirik said: spent the day on the couch only left for training

danirik said: now im on the couch and talking to you

danirik said: you?

mybuttercup said: laying in bed and talking to you

danirik said: you could be laying in bed WITH ME right now

danirik said: just sayin

mybuttercup said: could i? and what would we be doing then

mybuttercup said: you should’ve invited me earlier

You slap your face, feeling the embarrassment bubbling inside your body. You can feel the heat in your face growing and as the conversation starts to lead to the point where Daniel wants to, the more you feel hot inside your clothes.

danirik said: first i would cuddle you because you know how much i like it

danirik said: i like to have you in my arms

danirik said: especially because you smell so nice

danirik said: it makes melt every time i feel your scent so close to me

danirik said: and other things not very pg13 i guess

mybuttercup said: kjdskjfn

mybuttercup said: what-

mybuttercup said: whta you mean

danirik said: that i like your perfume?

danirik said: and i think the skin in your neck is very smooth

danirik said: very kissable

mybuttercup said: you know that i have a sensible neck

mybuttercup said: i wouldn’t let you get any way closer to my neck. not even in your wildest dreams.

danirik said: You. you say this now

danirik said: i would get closer to your neck and whisper something in your ear

danirik said: and make my way to your neck with my lips

danirik said: leaving soft pecks all over it until i decide to fully kiss it

The messages start to cause some reaction in your body aside from awkwardness, anxiety or embarrassment. You can almost feel Daniel getting close to your neck and kissing it, sending shivers through all of your body.

mybuttercup said: if you do this

mybuttercup said: i will kick you in the balls

After sending the messages, you notice what you did. That would be your answer if Daniel ever said something like that normally, but that wasn’t a normal conversation between you and your best friend. This wasn’t the time for you to say anything like that.

danirik said: Yo

danirik said: WHAT THE FUCK

danirik said: KSKFJGNB

mybuttercup said: sorry heh

mybuttercup said: i got carried away force of habit etc etc

mybuttercup said: you know what would really happen if you kissed my neck

mybuttercup said: and it wouldn’t be a kick in the balls…

danirik said: no i don’t?

danirik said: i’ve never kissed your neck before remember

danirik said: duh

You think about what to say for a second. You have something in mind. As you start writing it, you stop, erase it and sigh loudly. You can’t say that to Daniel, not like that.

No, you can’t.

But you have nothing to lose there. You can even use that to tease Daniel a little. Alex told you to have some fun, so you will.

mybuttercup said: as you kiss my neck

mybuttercup said: it’s so sensible and you will be so close to me

mybuttercup said: i might moan a little

mybuttercup said: very close to your ear

mybuttercup said: you know i’m not quiet at all

Daniel doesn’t say anything for a couple of minutes, but you can see that he’s online. Perhaps you went a little too far and now Daniel is awkward to answer something to you, but that was what Daniel was asking for, right?

danirik said: then i would know i was doing the right thing

danirik said: and continue doing it

danirik said: until i thought your neck received the care it deserves

danirik said: then lower my kisses

It’s like Daniel is there with you, and you truly wish your best friend was indeed there. You can almost sense the kisses tracing its path through your neck, to your collarbone and to your chest. Would Daniel do it in real life, or was it just a momentary thing? You couldn’t tell exactly the difference there.

Daniel seems good with this entire sexting thing, and of course he does, he’s a normal person after all. He has had girlfriends before and he probably played the same card on them too, just repeating things he already told someone else.

Does Daniel do this often?

That’s the question.

With plenty of different people?

Probably.

Doesn’t he have someone better to do it, so he’s doing it with you? What does this have to do with the bet after all?

And even if you want to continue this and see where it goes, you’re also not feeling it anymore. You’ve never felt the slightest kind of jealousy over your best friend, but the thought of others having him entirely and you can’t even tell him your feelings, makes you feel pettiness for yourself. You’ll never be more than just a good friend, something like a sister, to Daniel and this thought breaks your heart more than anything.

Sometimes you think this is why you’ve never had anyone by your side, because the thought of the person not being Daniel makes everything too overwhelming to you, and it wouldn’t be fair.

danirik said: are you there

danirik said: i can see you online skjfn

danirik said: are you doing something without letting me know?

Yeah, just overthinking my situation again , you think.

You feel a heavy weight in your chest, as if you’re sinking to the ground. You don't want to talk to Daniel anymore, you just want to lay and be gloomy until you fall asleep. Until you stop thinking about Daniel kissing your neck, with his soft lips discovering every part of your collarbone and chest.

You need to stop.

mybuttercup said: i have to go sleep

mybuttercup said: sorry…

mybuttercup said: we can talk tomorrow

mybuttercup said: good night

danirik said: good night cupcake…

danirik said: tests are over!!!!

danirik said: we should do something

danirik said: i feel like I haven’t seen you in ages

mybuttercup said: my room or yours ;)

danirik said: mine ;)

You sigh after reading the message, because there’s no escape from Daniel if it’s just both of you together - and you’re pretty sure Daniel didn’t invite the others to his house. After a week of flirting all the time and touching in inappropriate places, you don't feel as scared as you did the first time.

You feel freer to try things with Daniel, but you’re still trying his best to hold it back a little. Your feelings are still in the game and you can’t let them control you, not right now, not after so many years hiding them deep inside your heart. After the event that led you to avoid Daniel for some days, you’re trying really hard to hold everything in and keep things like they always were.

°°°

“Really?” Daniel says looking up at you. Daniel is studying for his tests and you are laying on the floor of his room playing games on your phone, looking through your social media feeds and doing whatever. You’re beyond bored, you had enough of watching Daniel reading that book about engineering over, and over again. So you decide to try something new “Sitting on my lap? While I’m studying?”

Daniel has a defeated look on his face, almost grinnin in your direction when you put your legs on each side of Daniel’s waist. At first, Daniel doesn’t know where to put his hands, he would normally put them on the thighs, maybe a little higher… But it’s you and he still doesn’t know how to act when things like this happen between you.

“You’ve been studying for several hours, you need to relax a little.” You smirk and grind with your hips, watching the normal face Daniel does whenever you touch him in the right places. It’s something similar to a pleasure expression, but when the person tries to hold it back and fails “I know it’s a big test, but you could take a little break.”

And you grind again.

It’s not like you wanted to have sex with Daniel. Actually, you wanted to, but not in this situation. You’ve been holding back all of the uncontrollable hormones inside of you for so long, you could wait a little longer. Also, you’re pretty sure nothing like that would actually ever happen between you, but if it did, you would want it to be special. Not you just messing around in Daniel’s room before a big test.

You just want to tease Daniel because it’s fun. Daniel is desperate and gets turned on easily, so you only need to do the bare minimum and Daniel is already crawling in your direction. It’s fun to see Daniel like that, especially because it’s a part of Daniel that you’ve never had the chance to see before.

“You’re right, a break should be fine.” Daniel almost bites his lower lip, but decides to grin at your direction instead.

You can feel Daniel spreading his legs under you, making your legs spread too, and grabs both of your butt cheeks with his strong hands. Daniel tightens his grip and makes you grind again, this time slower and deeper

He continues to guide what your body should do, with his fingers tight around your ass “Are we dry humping?” You smile because you like it, especially because Daniel is so down to it too.

“I don’t know, are we?”

“I think so.” You say in a soft whisper because you’re starting to feel things, and feeling whatever is happening with Daniel’s down parts too.

It’s a new sensation, to be finally able to share a moment like this with Daniel. It’s totally different from when you were fourteen and decided to share a first kiss, just to see how it was to kiss someone. It was just a peck on the lips, but it was the most intimate moment you shared in years.

It was different from your almost-sexting weeks ago, because now you are face-to-face. You can feel Daniel under you. It’s physical, tangible and hot. You don't need to imagine anything, because you’re living it.

For a moment, you stop and think about this situation. Daniel has no idea about your true intentions. Of course, Daniel was the one to start the intense grinding, but he doesn’t know you are actually taking advantage of everything. And you feel awful thinking about it in this way.

You put your hands over Daniel’s and the boy smiles, thinking you wanted to take control, but it’s the opposite, you wanted to end everything right there “I-I should probably go home… you have to study.”

Daniel looks like a lost puppy, eyes begging for at least an explanation from his best friend “You… Did I do something wrong? I’m sorry if I did, you don’t have to leave, you can stay.”

“No, I really should go.” You brushed off any chance Daniel could get off making you stay. You grab your jacket on the floor and leave the room before Daniel could even get up from his chair.

While you’re walking home, you feel nauseous because you know you’re doing something wrong. It’s not fair with both of you, but you can’t think of a way out of this situation.

You decide to avoid Daniel for a whole week, until Daniel asks you to come over, so you do.

You still have to win the bet and being impersonal and avoiding Daniel isn’t the way to win him over. Daniel’s love language is physical and touches, so that’s your chance to make a move again.

Daniel would never resist your cuddles, you’re sure of it.

When you arrive, Daniel is watching something and eating snacks on his couch. It’s the perfect mood for a cuddling session and you are glad Daniel’s brain always works in your favor.

You watch an episode of some series Daniel has been binge watching since early that day and in the middle of the second episode, you’re already tangled together. It was easier than you imagined, because all you had to do was lean against Daniel’s shoulder and Daniel did the rest. You’ve already cuddled before, especially when Daniel feels down and sad, he can be really clingy. But Daniel is being more… loving? If that’s the right word to use in that situation.

You’re on the floor, you're sitting in the middle of Daniel’s legs. You gave up on the sofa because it was too small for both of you and you honestly hated that sofa since day one, it was too uncomfortable.

You like this new cuddling more, because Daniel keeps kissing his neck and caressing your arms. There’s not much difference from when you used to cuddle when Daniel needed to, but you would normally just stay hug on the bed during the whole day. Now, Daniel is really cuddling you, not just waiting for you to comfort him.

This time it looks like what Daniel would do with his love interest. You saw him doing it to many of them, and deep inside envied all of them. Daniel is romantic and his love can be really intense when he’s into someone. You've never thought you would experience this type of relationship with Daniel after so many years of crushing him. It always felt too far away from your reality, but now that you’re in it, you enjoy it.

“I need to ask something.” Daniel says, placing another round of kisses in your neck. And you don’t feel like punching him at all.

“What do you want to ask?” You are ticklish in your neck, but you don't mind if Daniel continues to kiss it for the rest of the day “It isn’t related to the episode we just watched, right? You always get distracted when we watch something and I always have to explain everything that happened in it to you. But this time it’ll be a little difficult, I already forgot how many times he went back in time.”

Daniel keeps quiet for a second and then says:

“No, it’s about us.” The way Daniel says ‘ us ’ makes you turn around and face him. Nothing good comes from Daniel using that type of tone and speaking about a relationship “It’s nothing serious, don’t worry.”

You gulp because maybe Daniel noticed you have a crush on him, and now he wants to claim that he won the bet and kick you out of his life “Okay, so what about us?”

“I was just wondering, this is weird, right?” Daniel scratches the back of his head, looking away from your eyes “We’re best friends and we never had something like this. I know all of this is because we made a bet and we’re trying to win this by seducing each other, but when this ends, what will happen? Are we friends with benefits now?”

“No, I think we’re still just friends.” You feel like throwing up, or maybe running away. You can still end the bet and things will go back to normal, but deep in your guts you want to continue this fantasy and have Daniel treating you like you’re in a relationship for a little longer. You’re selfish after all.

“So what will happen? The bet will end at some point.” Daniel sighs, a defeated sigh.

“In the end one of us will have fallen in love.” You shrug, trying to sound unbothered by the matter “And probably heartbroken too. It's a pity to fall in love with your best friend.”

Daniel keeps silent for a moment, making you even more nervous “We should add more rules into this bet, it’s still too abstract in my opinion and I get confused.”

“Okay, let’s solve this then.” You cross your legs and start to point out everything you’ve discussed about the bet “I said I can make you fall in love with me and you said you can make me fall in love with you first, that’s how the bet started, right?” Daniel nods “We can do everything to win this bet, BUT nothing during classes or when our friends are with us. And no kissing. This is a long-term bet, we have all the time we want and the winner can make the other do whatever they want as the prize. I don’t know what will happen next, Daniel, because I don’t know how our reactions will be if the other wins the bet. It’s crazy to bet on something like this because it involves feelings and all, but that’s what we agreed to do.”

Daniel thinks for a while and says “I want to add another rule.” You just nod at him “We need to know when and if the other falls in love, right? So the new rule is: confess your feelings the moment you realize you’re in love. No lying, just accept you lost the best.”

You freak out inside because you already know you’re in love with Daniel, but you’re not ready to confess it right away. You can’t just say in Daniel’s face that you’ve been in love with him for the past few years, even before the bet even started. You can’t say without it sounding bad; Daniel will feel betrayed and he’ll assume you started all of this to take advantage of him.

No, you can’t confess.

“Deal.” You say with a straight voice. You need to get out of this situation so you continue “You know Daniel, now that we figured everything out, I really want to know the end of this episode, so…” Daniel rolls his eyes and nods.

You sit like before, in your spot in between Daniel’s legs. Daniel hugs you and hides his face in the curve of his neck, holding you tight.

You have made your mind – he needs to forget about Daniel, quickly. For your own good.

°°°

It’s 4 a.m when Daniel’s phone starts ringing. He reaches for it on the bed table, and with his eyes almost shut he looks at the bright screen. ‘My buttercup’ is shining in it, so he picks it up right away.

“Cupcake?” He says with his husky voice, confused with the call.

“Daniel, can you come pick me up, please?”

°°°

“Our relationship labeled as friendship

I wonder if I’ll ever ruin it

I just hover around you as if I was lost”

You feel completely out of control, everything that happens is just a huge mess.

It’s something new in your life because you have always been in control of everything. If you knew the bet would make you feel this way, you would have never even started it. But now you’re here, in the middle of your friends for Daniel’s birthday.

You decided you would wait until Daniel’s birthday was gone to tell him about everything - you couldn’t ruin such a special date for your best friend with your bullshit. Once, Daniel told you his birthday was the best day on earth for him; he liked the attention and the gifts, that everything always works in his favor and he could eat all the cake he wanted to.

You can’t confess to him in such circumstances and ruin his birthday.

“Have you sent it already?” Alex whispers, eyeing everyone sitting around the table in Daniel’s apartment.

Charles is stuffing all the cake he can inside his mouth, while Max rolls his eyes and eats another slice of pizza; Max was more of a savory guy, so cake wasn’t that attractive to him.

George is holding a glass of wine, watching everyone with almost shut eyes. You knew he drank too much wine for a night and now is sleepy as hell. Daniel and Pierre are with birthday hats, drinking beer and eating all the snacks they can. Pierre would punch Daniel in the arm every time he stole a snack from Pierre’s bowl, leading him to pout, but laugh just a moment later.

Alex is dancing in the middle of the living room; he drank too much beer and is drunk too, so whenever he approaches you, you would feed Alex with something sweet, trying to sober up your friend.

“I don’t know about this, Alex.” You sigh, keeping your voice down, but with the loud music you’re sure no one would listen to your conversation “I mean, he already saw me naked before.”

Alex sits beside you and puts his hand on your shoulder, looking straight inside his eye “Being naked isn’t the only way to turn someone on, sweetie, and you know it.” Alex tsks because he feels like you’ve lost all of your flirting skills, that Alex knows they exist, when the only one you’re supposed to conquer is Daniel “Also, it’s a pretty picture, he’ll probably go nuts with it.”

“Did YOU go nuts with it?” You are grossed out by thinking that. Alex was almost like your brother, he couldn’t think of your body in that way.

“You disgust me, loser.” He grimaces “Anyways, do you want me to send it then?”

“No, I’ve got this.” You shrug it off, holding your cellphone tight inside your fingers “Should I wait until we sing ‘Happy birthday’?”

“Charles almost ate all of the cake, but yeah, you should send the photo after it.” Alex looks around, grins at you and then yells “Let’s sing ‘Happy Birthday’!”

You try not to look so surprised with the sudden suggestion because everyone is cheering and excited with the candles, it would look bad if you winced at Alex’s actions. Daniel would think it’s directed to him and it would be difficult for you to explain the situation to your best friend.

Daniel looks so happy and cheerful, you don’t want to take that away from him.

They put the candles on a fried chicken because the cake is already destroyed and Pierre is the one to start the Happy Birthday’s singing. You can’t breathe properly, but keep on singing, trying not to look suspicious to your friends. Daniel’s stare crosses with yours and for a moment you keep just looking at each other. Daniel looks so happy, like really happy, the wrinkles around his eyes are more prominent because of his smile.

Everyone is cheering and yelling, but the first thing you do after they finish the ‘Happy Birthday’ part is unlock your phone and send Daniel your picture. It’s not a nude, because it would be too obvious - Daniel sent one to you last week and all you did was laugh because he saw him naked so many times it wasn’t a surprise at all to you. Even if your face turned bright red instantly, but you were alone, no one needs to know it.

You needed to go somewhere Daniel never reached. Something he thought you would never do in front of your best friend, with all the no romantic feelings in your relationship. Cuddling and neck kissing, but no romantic feelings. At least three dates a week, but no romantic feelings.

Everything is a hundred percent normal between best friends.

That’s how you imagined Daniel’s brain would think about everything that was happening between you in the last few weeks.

Alex is sure Daniel is already in love, you think he is crazy.

You two promised to tell whenever you fell in love.

“You never told him”, Alex said to you when you used that excuse, but it was different. You didn’t confess because it was a much deeper matter, not just because of the bet. If it was just the bet, you would’ve already confessed. Probably.

You can see Daniel take his phone from his pocket, a frown growing in his forehead while he looks at the screen of it. It takes him a moment to unlock the phone. He looks up in your direction and grins, probably knowing what that photo meant, and then unlocking the phone.

Daniel’s expression changes to completely astonished with a hint of dumbfoundedness in it. Maybe horror too. Daniel glares at the photo for too long and that makes you uneasy because you wanted a reaction from him, anything at all.

Actually, you didn’t know what kind of reaction you wanted or expected, you’ve never experienced that with Daniel before and you also thought you broke the friends’ rule a second time. But again, it is just a photo.

Daniel looks up in your direction again, and he looks somewhat angry. Not as angry as when you broke his CD player, but the kind you can see his jaw clenching and his eyes narrow, studying you.

He goes back to the phone and takes a deep breath, his eyes search for you and he mouth-shouts “Bedroom” to you. You just tilt your head, not getting what he means, so Daniel does it again.

“My. Bedroom. Now.”

You gulp because you feel like you’re going to get scolded.

Daniel looks beyond pissed, or maybe it’s just you increasing everything inside your head. You get up from your chair and see Daniel doing the same. Daniel puts his hands in his pocket and walks to the hall, so fast you lose his figure for a moment. You look back and your friends don’t seem to mind that you are living the small party. If they didn’t miss the birthday boy, they wouldn’t miss you as well.

The room’s door is opened, so you peek inside of it, trying to read the atmosphere before getting in. Daniel just looks like he’s about to explode, you can see his cheeks flushed a bright color of red.

You don't feel like Daniel would be physical with you, maybe scream at you? He looks more frustrated than anything. In any case, you should close the door after getting in, Daniel can be unpredictable sometimes.

When you enter the room, you do it in slow motion, saving some time before Daniel criticizes you for what you did. You close the door behind you, leaning your body against it, not wanting to get any closer to Daniel. Daniel looks at you, holding your stare for a couple of minutes, until he reaches for you. It’s not the reaction you expected at all, but Daniel goes at you, his stare so intense you could disintegrate right there, on his room’s floor.

“I know this is in the rules, but you broke one too, so…” Daniel speaks too fast, holding you with both his hands on the sides of your face. Your mind is swirling around him, ready to have a meltdown in that moment, right there. Daniel is so close there’s no other rule to break than the kissing one and that makes you lose it in the few seconds you had to think about what was happening “Actually, can I…”

Daniel doesn’t have to end his sentence because you are already kissing him, all the red signs starting to appear in your brain, telling you to stop it right away. But you don't and Daniel doesn’t too, he actually deepens the kiss and runs his hands from your face to the lower part of your back. Daniel tastes like beer and candy. It’s a bittersweet taste, but you don't mind because you’ve been waiting for this to happen for so long that everything seems perfect to you.

It’s not like you once imagined it, because it’s way sloppier and you never thought Daniel was the messy type of kisser. But there was a lot going on with you, all the hands running on your curves and tongues out of rhythm. You hold Daniel back and make the kiss slower, taking control over the kiss and Daniel follows you, biting your lip every now and then, tasting your flavors.

Daniel lets a groan escape his mouth, trying to reach for some air after several minutes of kissing.

Daniel is out of breath. He’s only pecking your lips, but not kissing you properly, just not wanting to let the moment end. He doesn’t close his eyes and you watch him in front of you, so vulnerable and tamed, you felt like you could ask for anything in that moment and Daniel would do it. Start a war, rob a bank, steal the sun or just confess your feelings… and Daniel would welcome those twisted thoughts and feelings you had for years about your best friend.

“Daniel…” You take a deep breath, ready to say something.

“I like you, cupcake.” Daniel blinks twice and shakes his head “We promised we would say something if we were sure and now… I am.”

“Did my photo in lingerie make you fall in love?” You try to laugh, but you’re sinking in your own mind, not knowing how to cope with what Daniel just said because now it would be weird to confess too.

You just won the bet.

“It wasn’t the photo.” Daniel lowers his voice as if he’s telling a secret to you “I just feel like I want you all the time and I kind of lost my control here because it wasn’t my intention to kiss you, but that’s not what I’m trying to say. I love you, cupcake. As a friend, of course, but maybe more than a friend too.”

You doze off, Daniel’s words echoing inside your brain. It’s not like you ever imagined things to go this way, not even a little bit. You always thought things would end up with you confessing and being rejected.

Daniel didn’t go as planned and just dumped you. No, he had to fall in love too.

You feel lost, weird and kind of happy. You still don't know how to react, you should probably confess too, Daniel would laugh and the bet would end up as a tie. But you say nothing, you just stare at Daniel’s direction, studying his rose cheeks and plump lips.

“I’m sorry, I went a little too far. We should go back to the party, they’ll notice we’ve been gone.” Daniel says, patting his best friend’s shoulder. You just nod, starting to open the door behind him.

You didn’t have the chance confess too.

°°°

Daniel pulls the car and waits for you to come out of the house party and enter the car. Everyone looks wasted, some of them are laying down on the sidewalk, with friends helping them to at least survive.

Daniel can hear the loud music coming from inside the place, it’s a deep beat, but Daniel can’t really recognize which song it is because it sounds distorted from where he is. He can see you getting up from the sidewalk you were sitting on, near where Daniel parked, and walking to the car’s direction. Opening the door, closing it and putting the seat bell.

You don't say a thing, not even a hi to Daniel.

He smells like cigarettes, booze and sweat. Daniel is pretty sure he can see a beer stain in your jeans. You turn around to the window and keep watching the night sky, so silent it’s like you’re not even there. Daniel is confused because he’s sure something is up with you. You normally go to parties every weekend and never called Daniel to pick you up before. It’s so out of ordinary and weird, Daniel doesn’t know how to act, so he stops the car.

“It’s my prize, Daniel. I want you to give me a ride to my dorm.” You say.

You eye him, not fully looking at Daniel’s direction and go back to the window, looking in whatever direction, but Daniel’s “Did something happen? Can you tell me what?”

“Nothing.” You sigh.

“I’m serious, what happened?” Daniel didn’t buy the monotone you used with him, he knows you too well to be fooled by a simple ‘nothing’.

You gulp, turning in Daniel’s direction. Daniel is watching you with worried eyes, the same exact ones he uses when you are sick, or hurt. It’s as if Daniel can feel what you are feeling, but doesn’t understand it.

When you open your mouth to speak, you stop for a moment again, thinking, and start to cry.

Big and round tears fall from your eyes, washing your face with them. You try to brush them off, but every time a tear is pulled away, another one appears in its place. You cry so hard you can’t even breathe. Your head feels like it is about to explode and your chest is tight. You start sobbing and trying to say something to Daniel, but Daniel can’t understand a thing.

“T-They… they…” You try to continue, but nothing comes from it.

Daniel doesn’t have a reaction at first. He normally doesn’t know what to do when people start crying, but what makes him more numb is that you hardly cry. He saw you crying maybe twice during all the years you’ve been friends. Of course, you whine and sometimes you let a tear or two fall, but cry like a baby like that, it’s something new.

With gentle fingers, Daniel reaches for your face and starts to caress your cheeks slowly. He wipes some tears and touches your hair, brushing it away from your forehead and face “Take a deep breath.”

You do what he says and take a deep breath, your restless hands rubbing your knees, trying to calm yourself down. Daniel continues to try to calm his best friend down, even if you spent the night there, trying to figure out what is really happening. Daniel can see some red spots around your neck and it makes his heart sink a little, not wanting to know the story behind the bruises. You slowly stop crying and breathe normally, but you don't look at Daniel’s direction, not even a single glance.

“I was hanging out with some friends, they were all drunk. We started talking about some people in our campus and they just told me about a rumor that goes around about me and… For a moment I-I thought about you and I started to panic and I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t mean to call you, but your number is the only one in my favorite’s list so I called you, but…”

You let some tears fall, wiping them quickly away from your face. Daniel doesn’t know what to say because he knows about the rumor, but he doesn’t want to believe you thought he would do something like that to his best friend “Why am I included in this?”

You wheeze at Daniel’s words “Daniel, there’s a rumor on campus about me. A very specific one about people trying to sleep with me in these three years and that’s why people call me the Ice Princess behind my back, and there’s a bet with the people around campus about who can take me to their beds and have sex with me, but you don’t see anything related to you in this?”

Daniel tries to control anything he’s feeling inside of him. He’s running his hands around his hair and looking redder and redder as he controls to not yell with you.

“Really? I’ve known you my whole life, but you think I would do something like this to you?” He puts his hands on the wheel of his car, trying to calm down a bit and waiting for you to say something.

“You’re popular and I don’t know, people thought it was funny.” Daniel looks like he’s about to burst “It’s just that everything fits so well, Daniel. Our bet, you getting closer to me in a way you’ve never done before and the thing at your birthday. The next step is obvious in my opinion.”

“Next step? What, me trying to have sex with you?” Daniel tries to sound as sarcastic as possible, or else you would believe this was his evil plan from the beginning “You forgot you were the one to start all of this? I was just drunk and went with your craziness.”

“So you didn’t think about it even for a second? You had everything in your hands.” You still want to take something from Daniel, maybe a confession, it would be easier if Daniel did all of that out of pure selfishness.

“You know, it pisses me off that you even thought I would do something like this to you. Humiliate you in front of everyone just to win this stupid thing? I just confessed to you, dumbass. I just said I love you as in more than a friend and you think this about me. I liked you for so long and when I finally realized and said something you mislead my actions. Why would you even consider this crazy thought in the first place?”

“Because in my stupid mind it makes sense, Daniel!” For a few seconds, it escapes your mind what Daniel just said, but you overlook every word again “Liked me for so long?”

Daniel freezes there, looking at you. He didn’t intend to say that, not in a moment like that. You just accused Daniel of being a jerk with you and now he’s being whipped as always “Yeah, for years, I think.”

“Years? But what about Max and…?” You try to not sound jealous when mentioning it, because if Daniel is just messing with you, you might sound too unsettled.

“Jesus fucking christ, I have no idea where all this Max thing came from, but I’ve never had a crush on him.” Daniel rolls his eyes, leaning on his seat and crosses his arms.

“What? You were all over him the whole time, everything you spoke was about Max.” You blink a couple of times, to make sure it is really Daniel in front of you “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“When you were gone for that week, when you broke your finger, Max was the one to fill the gap you left. I know, it wasn’t that deep, but we were almost the same person at that time and I missed you so much. And if you ask Max, everything we spoke was about you, he gave me tips about my feelings towards you. I guess it didn’t help at all because Max is terrible with feelings, but at least he tried. And for years I thought I was confusing my feelings for you because of what he said to me.” Daniel speaks everything too fast, almost eating some words and making weird sentences that you almost would not understand.

“What about your girlfriends and boyfriends?”

“Oh, I couldn’t wait forever for you, cupcake.” Daniel sighs, glancing at his best friend’s direction “At some point I just accepted you were only my best friend and I needed to move on, but then you made the bet and I couldn’t run from it.”

You don't know what to say, because it all sounds too unrealistic.

Daniel crushing on him since forever? Doesn’t sound like something you should believe. Daniel never showed his true feelings towards you, except from that one time he went to take care of you when you were sick, or when he got in a fight because some boys from school said some bad things about you. Or when he helped you finish your essay in the middle of the night, on a Monday before his race test.

But you thought he did all of that just because you were best friends.

“Why didn’t you say something before?” You whine with your crying voice, feeling like everything would be much easier if Daniel just said things right away. Or even you, but that’s a small detail.

“Because you’re my best friend and you’ve never shown anything more than just friend’s love and all the ‘ I don’t want to ruin our friendship ’ crossed my mind.” It was amusing to think both of you were idiots trying to hide your feelings; one because he didn’t want to ruin the friendship and the other because she couldn’t handle rejection. “But I’ll get over it, you don’t have to worry about my feelings. Just please, never doubt me again.”

You hold your breath for a moment thinking about your next actions.

You could end everything there, you wouldn’t get over each other for sure, you’ve been in this for so long that thinking about getting over anything at this point is almost impossible.

At least for you.

Or you can pretend as if nothing happened, the next day you can tell Daniel you were too drunk and don't remember a thing.

It’s a rough choice, because the last one is so much easier.You’ve been hiding everything for so long, you can pretend nothing happened for a little longer. The one with feelings and commitment was a much more complicated choice, especially because you had no idea about what would happen after you got together.

Maybe you wouldn’t even get together, now that you doubted Daniel and everything. Everything is just messed up now.

“Okay Daniel, if we’re going to do this we need to start from the beginning and not just cover everything for years and be constipated about our feelings.” Daniel frowns his forehead, not getting where you are going with all of this. But you continue before Daniel can get the wrong idea “First of all, I hate that we waited so long to speak about this. We literally had to come up with a bet to make things clear about this matter and it should be so much easier. We’ve always been so close and open with each other, we should’ve talked about this when it started. Maybe the fifteen years old me was too scared of rejection, and it only grew inside of me with the passing years. Because I always saw you with someone else and never pictured me by your side like them. It’s still a weird thought because I never thought I had the chance, but if what you say is true then there’s no running from it, right? There’s no point in suffering more just because we don’t know what will happen. Can it end pretty bad? Of course it can, knowing us there’s at least a hundred different horrible ways to screw things between us. Can it change us? Well, if you take into account that we’re always changing, for bad or for good, there’s not much we can do about it. Can it end our friendship? Never in a billion years. I would never let this happen, even if I need to step in my pride and do anything to keep you in my life, I would do it. So there’s nothing we need to worry about, right?”

Daniel takes a moment and nods “So, what you’re saying is…?”

“That you’re really dense and never noticed that I’ve had a crush on you since forever.” You roll your eyes.

“Have you?” Daniel raises his eyebrows and looks shocked, but with a little bit of irony in his tone “What does this mean exactly?”

“That we’re probably going to date?” You sound as if you think Daniel is dumb, which you totally think he is “Sorry, I’m not as good as confessing as you’re.”

“You just did a whole essay about our ‘relationship’ but can’t ask me properly about it.” You think about kneeling and doing a show about asking Daniel to be your boyfriend, but that would be something Alex would do, not you. Maybe if you were drunk or in front of your friends, but just you and Daniel makes you a little shy about being so extra in a moment like this. Also, you’re inside of a car, no kneeling space.

“Oh, Great Daniel Ricciardo, do you want to be my boyfriend?” You say, hiding all the redness in your face, but it goes down your neck and up your ears. Daniel can see it even with the dim light from the pole.

“Two things I never thought I would have the pleasure to be alive to see: you being so shy about something and you asking me to be your boyfriend.” Daniel chuckles.

“Answer the damn question, Daniel.”

“Oh, you want me to answer it even if I was the first to confess. But, yeah, I want to be your boyfriend.” Daniel shrugs and you hit him on his arm, both of you letting soft giggles escape “Now that we’re boyfriend and girlfriend can we kiss? And hold hands? And cuddle, like, all the time? And touch each other in inappropriate spots even in public?”

“I guess the last one is a bit too much, maybe only sometimes. But the rest, a big yes for those.” Daniel lets his hands fall on his side and then tries to reach for your’s, grabbing your fingers first and then holding your hand. It feels warm, safe and right to do it, so Daniel squeezes your hand to make sure everything it is real. And it indeed is.

“How are we going to tell our friends about this? They’ll freak out or not believe it.” Daniel imagines Max tsking because he already knew Daniel’s feelings. Pierre would laugh in your faces because it was too obvious. George and Charles wouldn’t believe it, they would think it’s just pretending to fool your friends. Alex would make a play about your love life and make the next university’s recital be about the foolish best friends that were too damn idiots to know how to deal with feelings. And finally when Lando comes back from his trip he would join Pierre and laugh in your faces, but help you to make a silly poem for Daniel. Something really cheesy and stupid that you would mention only when you’re drunk or during midnight talks. You are the type to spill things when you’re sleepy.

“I bet I can hide it better than you. I’m almost an actor, you know. It’s easy for me to hide things.” Daniel looks as if he’s superior to you.

“And I bet I can hide it better than you, because now that I know how you play your games and now that I know that you’re crazy about me things are much easier for me.”

“Cupcake, you’re so naive.” Daniel runs his hands up until his fingers are on the side of your neck “I can’t wait to win another bet over you.”

#daniel ricciardo x you #daniel ricciardo #f1 #daniel ricciardo fanfic #f1 imagine #f1 x you #formula 1 #daniel ricciardo x reader #f1 fic #awriting

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