#however after i got off of social media and told people about it a few of my friends did the same

[chemicaljacketslut]

god u know when there was like. a whole hippie movement. can we pleasee make an anti-tech movement. like ik that exists but i mean a BIG WIDESPREAD one. & like not a crazy one but a positive & chill one, like we can def use helpful & necessary technology but generally no social media and prob no streaming platforms either. if companies are doing shitty things with tech we won’t stand for it. using “outdated” things like physical media & wtv. engaging with your local community more if that’s viable. going to random knitting club meetings at the library or smth. volunteering. there’d be no rejection of people who didn’t do these things, just encouragement to move away from the worst parts of tech and do what works for you, even if that means social media (although i feel like it’s VERY hard to use social media healthily now). idk i just feel so poisoned by technology at this point i want to LIVE

[jemiswumbo]

bulletproof love (18+)

twitchstreamer!luke x reader

author’s note: omgg this oneshot took all my blood sweat and tears to produce. i am NOT a graphic designer. i do NOT normally write smut. but this idea had to come to fruition before i went insane. HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY!!!!

title is from bulletproof love by pierce the veil. lyrics have no correlation but it IS a certified banger.

tags/warnings: smut!! minors dni. oral (m receiving). use of y/n. not proofread. kinda long. teeheehee etc.

i.

You met Luke Castellan at the grocery store.

He looked like a completely normal (albeit, very attractive) guy in his twenties. His dark curls fell slightly over his warm, chocolate brown eyes. A mischievous smirk was plastered across his cheeks, showing off a small dimple on the left side. He wore a simple hoodie and sweats as he perused the pasta aisle, picking up different jars of sauce and reading the labels absentmindedly. He did, however, have an interesting scar sitting jagged over his cheekbone, but it was so faint that you hadn’t noticed it until way later on.

You would have never guessed he was a near millionaire with close to a million social media followers. You would have never guessed he spent the majority of his life not at the grocery store, but rather streaming FPS and RPG games for an average of fifty thousand views at a time.

You would have never guessed he’d take a liking to you.

You, who worked part time at this very grocery store. You, who didn’t really know the first thing about video games, except that they were confusing and it was insane that some people could build ridiculously complex structures at a mind-boggling speed on Fortnite whilst also shooting with godly precision.

He had backed into you accidentally whilst you were restocking a shelf, causing you to drop a couple glass jars that cracked open upon impact with the floor. You apologized, even though you’d really done nothing wrong. He obviously thought you attractive (or maybe he just didn’t leave the house much?) because his idea of an apology was taking you out to some lavishly expensive dinner the next night.

The dinner was okay but the conversation is what got you hooked. He was so sweet and told you so many wild stories that had you laughing until your chest ached. He paid for the meal and held your hand on the drive home. When he dropped you off, he casually told you his Instagram handle and told you to shoot him a follow. You blushed, smiled, and scurried inside.

You just about died when you saw his profile.

ii.

It’s been about a year since you had started dating Luke Castellan, otherwise known as his twitch handle “SonofHermes.”

(“Because he’s the messenger god, right? In, like, Greek Mythology? And I felt like a damned messenger god when I was a moderator for four different discord servers and a twitch chat—“)

Luke’s twitch streams occured mostly every night, from 8pm to about 3am. He always began his streams with some FPS game (Overwatch, Valorant, CS:GO, or something similar). After a few hours he would swap over to a different game for his variety segment. His chat was hilarious. They loved to tease Luke and joke around with him and donate silly messages. And, of course, because Luke was so very attractive, a decent chunk of his fan base was dedicated towards swooning over his every word and look and smile.

You, honestly, never really minded. Mostly because Luke was yours. You were sure the thirsting from chat would diminish once they knew you were dating. But… you really, truly, had no desire to be in the public eye. Having nearly a million people know your name and your face was daunting and scary. You also had enough common sense to realize that some of his fans were probably batshit crazy and would send you hate and death threats for dating Luke. You were a part time employee and a student; you did not need another reason on top of that to have poor mental health.

Luke loved you unconditionally and that was all that mattered. You were perfectly content spending most evenings to yourself. He was a good boyfriend, though, and did schedule days off to take you out and show you incredible amounts of love and support. You were both very happy and secure in your relationship.

One particular evening, you were staying over at Luke’s apartment. It was a Friday, and you had no work tomorrow, so he bought alcohol and weed and selected a list of movies to marathon. It was basically your most ideal way to spend the weekend.

That was, until, Luke’s gamer friends messaged him on discord, begging him to join their Rust server to defend their group base.

Luke had met these friends through Twitch events and game conventions. There was Percy, who streamed with his girlfriend Annabeth. They were one of the most adored couples in the gaming community. They all lived in the same state, so Luke hung out with them pretty often. There was also Grover, who was Percy’s roommate and would join his streams from time to time. As well, there was Thalia, who was a huge advocate for women in eSports, and played in a professional league. Luke had introduced them too you a few months ago, and they all swore to help keep your relationship a secret.

The five of them often played different games together, as most of their fanbases consisted of the same people, so it really raked in the views and made for good content. Plus, it was just really fun. You knew how much Luke loved his friends and cherished the times they got to play together.

The Rust server was a recent hyperfixation that you were positive would fade once a new MMO came out to grab their attention. But, you were also aware of how much time and effort Luke had spent constructing this base of his.

“Go,” you said, noticing his confliction. “You can have one hour to play. Stream, too, so I can watch out here. But after that, you’re mine for the rest of the night.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Luke said with his devilish grin. He kissed you hard, leaving a swarm of butterflies dancing in your stomach. He hurried off to his bedroom, where he kept his gaming setup, and shut the door.

You were fine with spending an hour alone. Flipping through Netflix, you cracked open a bottle of wine and relaxed into the sofa.

One hour went by fast. Luke didn’t return to the living room.

You picked up your phone and opened the Twitch app, clicking on Luke’s stream. He was currently in the middle of some intense adventure with Percy. Luke’s webcam was situated in the top left corner of the game feed, and he looked so cute and handsome under the glow of the monitor and the purple LED lights.

To be honest, the wine was getting to you. You felt such a strong desire to be near Luke and to feel him and be with him. He bit his lip on camera, deep in concentration, and that action alone had your heart rate increasing.

“Fuck it,” you said, turning off the TV and standing up from the couch. His hour was up, and it was time to take the matter into your own hands.

iii.

Luke enjoyed playing his games with the volume high in his headphones. It allowed him to feel like he was actually in the game, and unaware of the outside world. This also was an issue, because more often than not he would lose track of time and forget about his plans and scheduled events.

He just couldn’t help it — he loved video games. Currently, he was busy perfecting his base on Rust so it wouldn’t be broken into again. It took a lot of effort and concentration, and Percy and Grover dicking around and goofing off did nothing to help his focus.

So, it only made sense that he didn’t notice his bedroom door opening. The door wasn’t in frame on his camera, so he didn’t see it open, either. He didn’t notice it close. He didn’t notice you, getting down on all fours and crawling over to his desk setup.

He didn’t notice you, at all, until you put a hand on his leg.

Luke jumped a bit and glanced down, meeting your mischievous glance and the naughty smile on your cheeks.

“Uh, chat — sorry, gotta go to the bathroom, one sec —“ Luke rushed out. He shut off his camera and muted his mic, double checking that it was definitely muted by quickly scanning the latest messages in his chat:

He rolled his eyes at the messages, and pushed his chair back, glaring at you on the floor. “Baby, what the hell are you doing?!”

You smiled. “I was just missing you, is all.”

“So you snuck in — wait, shit, you said one hour. It’s been an hour hasn’t it?” Luke said, running a hand through his messy curls.

You nodded, and gave a weak shrug. “It’s okay, though. I think it would be fun if we also played a game of our own.”

Luke raised his eyebrows, feeling a blush form on his cheeks. “What’re .. what’re you suggesting?”

You unbuttoned your blouse and tossed to the floor, leaving you in a lacy black bra and your mini skirt. You let your fingers linger on the strap of your bra. “I’ll let you stream longer. But.. once you cum, you have to shut it off.”

“You want to blow me on stream?” Luke asked, incredulously. He could already feel himself start to harden at the thought of this ‘game’ of yours occurring.

“Like, secretly, though.” You said with a slight eye roll. “You can try to keep your composure for as long as you can, but you’ll be all mine for the rest of the night. Okay?”

Luke took a minute to ponder. If he somehow got caught… the consequences would be severe. His reputation would be tarnished. He’d lose his job and his income and the entire career he had worked so hard to build.

But on the other hand.. you looked really fucking sexy, staring at him with your doe-eyes, feigning innocence in the most seductive lingerie he’d ever seen you in.

“Fuck’s sake.” Luke pulled his chair back towards his desk. He tugged his sweatpants down to his ankles, giving you a face full of his half hard cock and his toned, muscular thighs. “You have to be quiet too, you little slut. I seriously cannot get caught.”

“Of course,” you replied, slightly moaning as you took his length into your hand. “You’re so incredibly attractive.”

“Shut up,” Luke said, adjusting his camera angle to absolutely ensure it cut off at his upper chest and nothing lower than that was visible. He took a deep breath and was about to rejoin his stream, when you began sucking him off. “Fuck!”

You pulled your lips off of him with a loud pop. “Come on, Lukey, you can last longer than that.”

“You’re mouth feels so fucking good though,” Luke groaned, threading his fingers through your hair. He took another deep breath and guided your head back to his cock, which was now fully hard and aching for your mouth. This time, when you licked up his shaft, he was more prepared and was able to maintain his chill composure. “Okay. Okay, baby, I’m turning my stuff back on. Be quiet, please.”

You nodded, slowly taking him back into your warm mouth.

Luke turned on his camera. He turned on his mic. He ran a hand through his hair and grabbed his mouse and keyboard. “Okay, I’m back. Chat, please tell me Percy and Thalia didn’t do anything stupid while I was gone.”

“Hey!” You heard, faintly from Luke’s headset. “We didn’t do anything, and if your chat says otherwise, they are lying!”

You giggled as quietly as you could, and clearly the vibrations from such movement felt good for Luke, because you heard him take a sharp intake of breath.

“Wh-whatever. Doesn’t matter. Let’s get back to work.” Luke said defensively.

“What?” Percy asked. “You sound weird, man. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong!” Luke replied, too quickly and at an octave higher than he normally speaks. You couldn’t help but get a little nervous. He was terrible at being subtle.

“Okay…” This was a girl’s voice, and sounded like Thalia. “My chat agrees that you’re being weird.”

“Same.” Percy agreed.

“Yeah, well,” Luke scanned his second monitor to check in on how his chat was reacting. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “My chat is being dumb, as per usual.”

Below the desk, your nerves had subsided and instead you became preoccupied with the notion of possibly getting caught. It was kind of twisted but this caused your lower region to dampen. You lifted your short little skirt over your hips and moved your lacy underwear to the side, giving you access to finger yourself.

You moaned, with your mouth full of thick, heady cock, and brain slightly foggy from the wine consumption. You were close already.

“What?” Luke said, clearly reading something on his monitor. “Chat, that was my phone vibrating on my desk. I did not moan over that headshot Percy made. Be so for real”

“Rude,” Percy said. “I would’ve moaned. I’m like, the god of gaming.”

“Loser.” Luke responded, biting his lower lip and slightly bucking his hips into your mouth. He must’ve been getting close, too.

From that moment on, you were desperate to make Luke finish. You abandoned your slow and gentle place, and took his entire cock down your throat. You silently gagged, and bobbed your head up and down, making sure to suck a bit longer on his leaking tip. You grabbed his balls in your right hand and squeezed, keeping your left hand on his upper thigh.

“Fuck,” Luke murmured, just under his breath. You sucked harder in response. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“What is going on, dude?” Percy questioned. “You’re stressing me out.”

Luke glanced over at his chat again.

Luke flipped a middle finger to his camera, and gave a playful, “Chat, you all suck.” Obviously, he loved his fans and was eternally grateful for their support. It was just fun to mess around with them and feign a love hate relationship. It did make him a bit anxious, however, that everyone easily picked up on the fact that something was affecting Luke. It didn’t exactly help that he was really close to finishing and was starting to lose track of what was happening in the game. All he could feel was his cock going in and out and in and out of your soft lips, that were now coated in a mixture of salvia and his precum. It was just about driving him insane.

You, on the other hand, were knuckle deep inside your own cunt and sucking Luke off with so much fervour your jaw was starting to ache. But you loved the feeling. And you were determined to get him off. Now.

Suddenly, Luke felt the familiar feeling build inside himself. Before he realized it was happening, he was shooting thick ropes down your eager throat. “Fuck!” he screamed, legs shaking and eyes squeezing shut. He shuddered and gasped for air as you did not let up on your pace, sucking every last drop of cum from him.

He realized how fucking weird this whole ordeal must’ve looked to his many (many, many) viewers.

Instead of confronting what just happened, he slammed his mouse on the End Stream button and shut off his computer, without so much as a goodbye. He pushed his chair back and grabbed your shoulders, pulling you up to your feet.

You smiled at him sweetly, a sheen of sweat covering your entire body. Luke leaned down and kissed you hungrily.

“Y/n,” he said, once he was out of breath from such an intense kiss. “I.. Need. To be inside of you. And you can never, ever do that again.”

“Mhmm,” you hummed innocently. “Kinda seemed like you really liked it though.”

“Oh, shut up.” Luke said with a grin. “Bed. Now.”

You obliged, heading over to his comfy queen sized bed, unaware that you were about to have the most mind blowing sex of your entire life.

authors note: aaaaa ok. first of all i’d like to apologize. i have not proofread this at all and i wrote each chunk on separate days. i will proofread it eventually and fix the errors lmao.

also! now that all the ~lore~ to this AU is sorted, if you ever wanna send me twitchstreamer!luke specific prompts, i would ADORE THAT.

thank you all again for reading !!!!! <3

taglist: @notacluelessblonde00 @lilyirlevans

[demiesworld]

How They React When You Fight (Tokyo Revengers)

pairings: mikey, draken, baji, chifuyu, mitsuya, kazutora x fem!reader synopsis: reader gets into fights with people warnings: fighting, violence, and swearing

SANO MANJIRO | MIKEY

He doesn’t remember how the beef between you and this girl started, and he doesn’t really care about it. So when you tell him one night that when you see her in person you were gonna quote unquote “whoop her ass” he didn’t take you seriously. Mikey just nodded his head as he mindlessly scrolled through his social media then went off to sleep that night.

It’s not until you and him were walking out of a restaurant after having lunch together that Mikey should have believed in your words. You spotted the girl from the internet walking with a friend of hers. The two were both giggling with each other over something, but you didn’t give two shits. All you saw was red when you saw her. She didn’t notice you charging towards her, and neither did Mikey notice you leaving his side, until you shouted, “RIKA!” and then slugged her. Your closed tight fist landed a strike on her left cheek.

“Y/N!” Mikey shouts, but it’s too late. You were already punching the girl in her face again with a left hook and kicking her in the stomach. Mikey was stunned to say the least as he stood there watching you climb on top of the girl, straddling her then wailing your closed fists on her.

Mikey took a step forward when her friend tried to pull you off of her, but to his surprise again you took her on too. “You want some of this too bitch?!” you yell at her and shove her away from the unmoving body of her friend. The friend was going to say something back to you, but Mikey snuck up behind you, his arms wrapping around your waist and pulling you away from the scene. You were flailing your arms, yelling at him to let you go.

“If I let you go, you’re gonna have a murder case on your hands babe, not happening.”

KEN RYUGUJI | DRAKEN

Draken should have seen this coming from the moment he stepped into the club with you. He remembers you telling him that you were a hot-head, and had little patience for bullshit. Draken took steps into not pissing you off or making you angry in your two’s relationship. A few arguments did happen between you two here and there, but never did they result in any physical violence.

However, nothing could prepare him for when some drunk woman spills her bottle of liquor over your new dress. The liquid stuck to your skin like glue, and the drunk woman had the nerve to laugh at you. You weren’t having that. “Excuse me, but you just spilled your drink on me.”

“Yeah, I did, and?”

“You got three seconds to apologize to me, bitch.”

“Bitch, get the fuck-”

She didn’t finish her sentence because you had secretly grabbed an empty bottle of beer that was sitting on an end table near the corner of the club and whacked it on the side of her head. Glass shattering when it made contact with the woman’s head. She screamed and you began to slug your fist at her face. She backed up, falling to her feet when she slipped on the broken shards of glass on the floor.

Draken saw all of this happening from the booth he was in and he immediately got to his feet. He pushed through the crowd of dancing drunkards to get to you. “Babe, it’s not worth it, it’s time to go.” He yells into your ear, and grabs your upper arm, tugging you away from the incapacitated woman. “You’re lucky my man is here or you would be dead.”

“That’s the last time I’m letting you out of my sight again, Y/N. Damn!”

BAJI KEISUKE

Baji knew that when it came to an argument with you, he knew just to let you have the last word and think that you’ve won. When he first got into an argument with you, Baji ended up talking out of his ass and that got him three things: 1. slept at his momma’s house for a week, 2. no pussy for a week, and 3. a knot on his forehead. His mom asked him what happened for him to get the knot, and he was truthful with her, to which his mother told him never to argue with you again. And he didn’t.

So, in conclusion, Baji learned just to let you have the last word and the impression that you’ve won an argument with him. Now that didn’t necessarily mean that his friends knew. No, they sadly didn’t. It happened at a house party at the Haitani Brother’s house. You were in the kitchen grabbing a beer for you and Baji to drink on.

That’s when Rindou entered the kitchen and was talking to you about your attitude. “…I mean like you’re in my house and you didn’t even say ‘hey’ to me when you walked in. You just gave me a disgusted look like you don’t even fuck with me. What’s up with that?”

“Rindou, shut up and get out of my face, now. I greeted both you and Ran, now leave me the fuck alone.” You sneered, gripping the can of beer in your right hand tighter.

He ignores your warning and presses on, “Put my beer back in my refrigerator then woman, and then I’ll get out of your face.”

As Baji was about to tell Draken and Mitsuya a story from their childhood, he heard the sound of loud pop and all of a sudden the living room got quiet. Followed by a sound of a man screaming and a woman hollering.

“Shit, Y/N!” Baji hisses as he rushes out of his seat to race into the kitchen. Behind him were Draken and Mitsuya, both men curious to see what was going on. The three of them saw Rindou with a bleeding head, clutching it in his hands and kneeling on the floor. Towering above him was you, holding a damaged beer can in your hand. “Y/N what the fuck did you do?!” Baji says.

You turn your body to face your boyfriend, “I told you I didn’t wanna come to this shitshow of a party. Let’s get the fuck out of here Baji, we’re going home!” You throw the can of beer into the sink ignoring Baji’s shouts for you to come back.

TAKASHI MITSUYA

He likes spending time with you and especially when you come around to hang out with him and his two little sisters. They couldn’t get enough of you. So when Mitsuya invited you to the playground to help him babysit, you couldn’t refuse. You and him were on the bench, seated and your eyes were glued to the screen of his phone as he showed you sketches of clothes he had made. The two of you were laughing and smiling when you heard the heartbreaking cry of a little girl and shuffling of feet.

Mana came over crying with her Luna holding onto her as she sobbed. You and Mitsuya were worried as the two sisters walked together and you asked what happened. Luna explained that a boy on the playground pushed Mana off of the swing and took it from her. “Mana, it’s okay big brother is here.” Just then you stood up and walked away from the three siblings. Mitsuya notices and he blinks, “Y/N where are you going?”

You ignored Mitsuya. You went up to the little boy and crossed your arms at him. “Hey little boy, who are you with?” He looked up at you, stopped swinging his legs, and pointed over to a woman. “I’m with my sister,” You tell him that you wanted to talk to her and he calls her over. You tell the sister that he had pushed your boyfriend’s sister off of the swings. You were being polite and explained to her that he should give the swing back to her. “I don’t see a problem here, this is just kids being kids, so if you don’t mind just leaving us alone.”

“You don’t see a problem? Your spoiled little brother just pushed off my boyfriend’s sister from the swing! She could have gotten hurt!”

“Well she’s not hurt is she? No, they’re kids.”

You had enough of reasoning with the woman, so instead you shoved her to the ground. “You know what you’re right. They’re kids, and that makes us adults. So let’s settle this like adults then.” She looked up at you in horror, “Get up, we’re gonna settle this.”

Mitsuya shook his head as he sat on the bench and watched you shove the woman to the ground. “Luna and Mana, you two stay right here okay?” He tells the two girls before rushing over to your side. You had your arm cocked back ready to punch the girl, but your boyfriend stopped you before you could touch her. “Y/N, this isn’t the time or place to do this right now. Let’s go get the girls some ice cream.”

Reluctantly you lower your arm and jerk your body towards the woman. It scares her causing her to grab her little brother by his arm and pull him away from the swings and out of the playground area. “Pussy,” you mutter under your breath and Mitsuya shakes his head.

“What am I going to do with you?”

HANEMIYA KAZUTORA

“Yeah there’s been some girl harassing Kazutora for his phone number at work.” Chifuyu blurts out in the living room of you and Kazutora’s apartment. Your eyes widened and you don’t remember your boyfriend telling you that a girl was bothering him. “Who’s harassing Kazutora?” you asked Chifuyu. That’s when he knew he fucked up. He stammered on his words, trying to explain that the girl was just a customer at the pet store and she wasn’t anything to worry about. “No to me it sounds like there is something to worry about.”

Kazutora enters the living room after exiting the bathroom and overheard part of the conversation. “What are we worrying about?” He questions, his eyes drift from Chifuyu to you and you immediately ask him. “Who’s the girl that’s bothering you Kazutora and why haven’t you told me this?”

Kazutora wants to kill Chifuyu right now, so he glares at the man before returning his attention to you. “She’s a customer that shows up on the weekends, begging me for my phone number and socials. Don’t worry about her though, baby, I’m not entertaining her.” You grunt, “I still don’t like this, so I will be showing up at your job to make sure she doesn’t try anything.” Kazutora goes to interject, but you shoot him a stern glare. “I mean it Kazutora.”

And that is how he finds himself working the front counter at the pet store on a Saturday afternoon. You were in the office of the store watching the cameras waiting for that girl to show up so you could surprise her. She did. You took note of her outfit, seeing that she was a college student. She smiles sweetly at Kazutora and tucks her hair behind her ear. “Hey there Kazu’baby. How are you doing today?” He clears his throat and ignores her. He waves his hand dismissively at her, trying to get her to leave, but she reaches over the counter and pulls him down by the collar of his shirt.

Oh hell no. You sprung up from your seat so fast, the Flash would be impressed. You stormed out of the office and hollered, “Hands off of him!” before you pushed the girl away from Kazutora. “W-Who are you?” She shouts, looking at you and Kazutora. “I’m his girlfriend you little slut! Now hands off of my man, before you end up in a cage like these animals!”

Your boyfriend sighs, running a hand down his face, “I told you that I had a girlfriend, and I told you that she’s crazy.”

CHIFUYU MATSUNO

You were at home just doing some house cleaning when your phone went off with notifications. You stopped sweeping and wiped your hands on your apron as you entered the living room to grab your phone. You were getting messages from Baji, Kazutora, and Draken asking where you were. You were confused until a message from Baji said that Chifuyu was getting into a fight with some girls on the way to your place.

You knew that none of the guys would ever fight a girl. None of them were raised to hit a female. A sigh left your lips as you took off your apron and high tailed it out of your apartment to go find your boyfriend and his friends. As you turned a corner you saw Chifuyu getting smacked by a girl and off to the side stood the other three men just watching the situation happen.

“You fucking idiots you aren’t gonna stop her? What kind of friends are you?” You yell at him as you near the scene. Kazutora replied, “She said if we jumped in we were gonna get it too.” You rolled your eyes at the three of them and snatched the girl by the collar of her shirt.

“Listen here bitch,” you hissed and before she could utter a word you slammed your fist against her face. “Don’t, fucking, touch, my, boyfriend!” Each pause you punched her in her nose. The nasty sound of bones cracking and a loud screech came from the girl. By the time you were done with her she was laid out on the alleyway crying and holding onto her broken bleeding nose. “You try to pull some shit like that again, and you won’t be leaving with just a broken nose.”

As you were walking back to your place with the boys you asked them why she randomly fought with Chifuyu. Your boyfriend answered, “At first she told us she wanted to rob us for our money, but then she said I looked like one of her friend’s exes and she just started fighting me. I didn’t wanna fight her because you know, we don’t hit girls.” You hit Chifuyu in his arm, “Next time don’t just get your ass beat, stupid, at least block her hits or something!” Then you looked at the guys, “And you three, should be ashamed of yourselves, if this happens again pull the chick away from ‘em don’t just stand there!”

The trio chorused, “Yes ma’am!”

a/n: i think im going to make a part two with other tokyo revengers characters. coming soon!

[skzstannie]

“We’d never want you to struggle alone”

SKZ-> ot8 x 9th member! reader

genre: angst wc: ~2100 cw: mentions of depression and death of family members, hatred for the holidays

Hi guys! Here’s my attempt at some Christmas/holiday angst. The fluffy Part 2 is posted and linked at the bottom of this post!

Feedback and likes/reblogs are greatly appreciated! I haven't got the chance to interact with too many people on here yet, so reach out if you'd like!

Happy scrolling!

"Hey guys, I'm pretty tired. I think I'm gonna head to bed. Chan Oppa, I'm gonna go lay down in your room until everyone's ready to go back to our dorm," you wave off their comments asking you to stay with them and make your way to the leader's bedroom.

It's December 20th, and the guys are all gathered around the television in the 3Racha/Hyunjin dorm, binge watching Christmas movies. During a normal year, you'd all be at your own homes with your families, cozying up to the fireplaces and drinking hot chocolate with your siblings. However, this was no normal year, and your comeback ran too close to the holidays, not allowing you nor the boys to go home for Christmas. Not that you particularly minded; you hated the holidays.

You imagine what you'd be doing at home right now, no doubt curled up in your bed with an exciting romance novel, listening to some dark academia playlist you'd found on YouTube.

But you're not home, you're stuck here with a bunch of Christmas-crazed dorks who have spent the last few weeks decorating your dorms full of all things Santa Claus. You've been managing to sneak away whenever any holiday-esque activities are taking place. You've not told them of your hatred towards the holidays, and you're not really planning to, either, not wanting to be the reason their fun-filled nights are ruined; they're already sad enough about not being able to head home for the holidays, the last thing you want to do is be a scrooge. So, you’ve resorted to humbly excusing yourself, busying yourself with your own activities when the occasion arises.

As you walk into Chan's room, you take notice of all the little trees he has decorating his room. Cute. You pick up the picture of his family he has resting on his nightstand beside his bed. You stare at his mom, dad, siblings, and grandparents smiling faces, feeling the familiarly unavoidable pit in your stomach form.

Your parents and one set of your grandparents passed away in a car wreck about five years ago, before you debuted with the guys. Your other grandparents, your mother's parents, passed away before you were born, never getting the opportunity to meet them. So, that left just you and your brother. Your brother, being a few years older than you, started his own family the summer after your parents passed. He has a beautiful wife and two children now, one boy and one girl. They got right to baby-making after they got married, so excited to start a family of their own. Unfortunately, that family never included you. You only know of their children because you’re mutuals with your sister-in-law on social media.

Your brother essentially ghosted you after his first child was born. You two were never the closest sibling duo, but you never expected him to completely drop you and ignore your existence. But he did, and that's just something you have learned to live with.

You were not in a healthy place after all this happened. You had no one to go to when your heart was breaking, grieving the loss of both your dead and alive family members. You put all your focus into the trainee program, all your sadness and anger towards the world into your dance and song. Chan eventually found you on that one fateful day that you deemed saved your life. You were at the lowest of your low, and you thought you had finally reached your breaking point, but then walked in Christopher Bang Chan, all smiles and laughter. He recruited you to be in his group as one of the first, right after Han. From then on, you had another reason to keep going, to keep fighting.

You've never told the guys this. You have always been a more reserved member, keeping all of your personal life out of the spotlight. While the boys never heard you talk much about your family, really only knowing you have a brother, they always thought that, when you went home for the holidays, you went home to a nice big house filled with love. They thought when you walked in the doors to your childhood home, you were welcomed in by your parents with opened arms, beckoning you in. They thought you spent your Christmas mornings opening nicely wrapped presents, followed by a home-cooked breakfast that'd be shared amongst your family.

They didn't know of the single bedroom apartment you called yours. They didn't know of the bareness that captured your living room, baren of all things Christmas and the lack of Christmas cookies and presents on Christmas Day. They didn't know you've always spent your holidays alone.

Honestly, you were completely fine with their assumptions. You didn't need nor want their pity. Your family was still an incredibly sensitive topic to you. Before their passing, you were so very close. You'd spent every holiday together, enjoying your time as a family, doing all the cliche things. You'd even gone caroling a few times, walking around your childhood neighborhood singing the classic Christmas songs off-key to your friendly neighbors.

Afraid you'd spiral, leading you right back to how you'd been before Chan found you, you never brought it up, and the boys never pushed you to talk about your family. They figured you were normal with a mom, dad, and a loving brother-so what's to talk about?

The holidays have never felt the same; you knew they wouldn't. So why try? Why go through the effort of making yourself a nice Christmas dinner, attending church on Christmas eve and waking up early Christmas morning, when you knew your parents wouldn't be there to greet you. When you knew your grandmother wouldn't be there to give you the biggest hug she could muster in her old age. When your grandfather wouldn't be there to give you a hearty pat on the back, his only true form of physical affection you'd ever experienced in all your years with him.

A quiet knock pulls you out of your thoughts, and in walks Felix with a glass of milk in hand. You quickly set down the picture frame you didn't realize you were still holding and give him a warm smile.

"Hey, what's up?" you ask him, taking the glass from him and sipping on the cold beverage.

"I just wanted to make sure you were feeling alright. You've been pretty distant for a couple weeks now. Is everything ok?"

You're a little caught off guard, this being the first time anyone's noticed your pulling back since the beginning of December. You honesty didn't even realize anyone was paying attention to you, all of them too caught up in the festive activities and excitement of the season.

"Yea, I mean, I'm fine. Just a bit of seasonal depression," you write off his concerns.

"I didn't know you had that," Felix ponders his thoughts for a minute, giving you a loving look. "Is there anything I can do to help? Have you always had seasonal depression?"

While looking into Felix's warm, brown eyes, you decide that keeping all these things from them all these years has been unfair. They're never afraid of sharing their personal struggles with you. You think back to all the times Han's came to you with anxiety, and how you've wanted nothing more than to take away all his worry and pain. How Seungmin's came to you with his insecurities, and you always hyping him up, calling him the most beautiful boy. If any of them had kept their struggling to themselves, it'd crush you. How dare they feel like they couldn't come to you? Why would they want to struggle alone?

You realize that these feelings are most definitely reciprocated by the guys. Now, feeling vulnerable after being left alone with your thoughts for so long, you have the dire urge to come clean about your family.

"Actually Felix, I've been struggling with this for quite some time now. Can you, maybe just, listen? I've never talked to anyone about this, but I want to now. I want you guys to know," you fiddle with your hands, sliding one of your rings on and off your finger.

"Of course! You can always talk to me. Go ahead, I'm listening." He grabs your hand, halting your fidgeting. You look up at him, take a deep breath, and let it all out. Everything you've been holding onto these last few years. It probably sounds like word vomit, all your feelings and hardships falling out of your mouth at lightning speed. You finish your rambling, and you finally have the courage to look up at his face again.

He's crying. Equipped with all the theatrics, the wobbly lip and rosy cheeks. You made Felix cry with all your problems. You reach up to his cheek, wiping a few of his falling tears.

"Ok, I think I'm done," you freeze as Felix also brings his index finger up to your cheek. You flinch when he pulls away, seeing the dampness of it.

You're crying, too. You didn't even realize. I mean, it makes sense. You just trauma dumped all of your troubles onto Felix, the world's most renowned empath, of course you'd be crying.

You guys sit in silence for a minute, before Felix's whimpers become audible. He's so visibly distraught, and your heart breaks even more just at the mere sight of him.

He launches himself at you, clinging to you so tightly you think your ribs may crack. He tackles you back onto the bed, resting on top of you.

"Why did you never tell us this?" his sobs wreck through his body, his arms trembling around you, "We could've helped you."

"I was scared," you wriggle one of your arms free of his embrace, using it to affectionately run your hand through his hair. Your sobs join together as one, both of you a mess. "I was scared you guys would pity me, or look at me less. I was scared that I'd spiral again if I talked about it."

"Well, we're here now, Jagiya." He sits up after a few minutes. His cries have quieted, and so have yours. "We aren't going to let you continue going through this alone, ya know. We are one, and if one of us is hurting, we're all hurting. Please don't keep things like this from us anymore." He begs, standing from the bed. He grabs your hand and pulls you up, making his way towards the door.

"Where are we going?" your voice shakes and you pull away from Felix, standing in the middle of Chan's room. You wrap your arms around your middle, feeling more exposed than you ever have before.

"You know we have to tell the rest of them. They deserve to know, too."

"Felix, I don't think I can tell the story again. Once was enough for a lifetime."

"OK, do you feel comfortable with me telling them? I'll tell them exactly what you told me, no more, no less, ok?"

You frantically nod your head, grateful for Felix's suggestion.

He blows you a playful kiss, no doubt trying to make you feel better, and he leaves to go to the living room. You take your seat back down on the side of the bed and wait patiently for Felix to finish.

You don't hear much for the next few minutes, but you're startled by the swinging open of the door, the handle cracking against Chan's poor wall. Han stands there, a dazed look on his face. His glassy eyes meet yours, and you shriek when he takes off, leaping onto the bed onto your small frame. He wraps you up in a big hug, squeezing the life out of you.

"We love you, and we'd never want you to struggle alone. We're in this life together."

One by one, the rest of the guys make their way into the room onto the bed. We're haphazardly thrown into a cuddle pile of sorts. A cuddle pile filled with the love and adoration you've been missing during the holidays.

You all lay in each other's arms, and you feel incredibly comfortable and safe. Chan's the first to break the silence, "We have five days left until Christmas. What do you say we make some new Christmas traditions? We don't want to replace what you used to have, and you’re entitled to spend your Christmas season as you'd like. But, if you'll let us, we’ll give you something to look forward to about the holidays again. Please?" The guys are all looking at you now, each of them displaying a face that could rival a sad puppy.

You realize now that there's nothing to be scared of. These are your best friends you're talking about, who want nothing but to shower you in love and happiness.

"I'd love that."

Part 2

[inkwolvesandcoffee]

First Times (Poly Relationship w/ John & Ghost Headcanons)

I spent the morning exploring Hackney, which is rich in breweries. While wandering about, I got to thinking, what if…

John starts working at a brewery when he retires from the army?

OR!

He starts a micro brewery/pub with Simon, who retires around the same time.

🍺 The two men set to work immediately to acquire the proper licenses and a premise. Fortunately for the both of them, they’re quite handy and so know how to create a lovely, albeit very manly, space without too much interference from contractors. After all, why hire others for work you can do yourself?

🍺 Honestly, the business is a dream come true for John. Owning a micro brewery was his Plan B should things not work out with the army. However, it’s because of his former employment, he’s become a better business owner. It’s through the development of his leadership and risk-assessment skills he managed to secure the rank of captain.

🍺 For Simon, the brewery is an unexpected ambition, a new dream to follow. While he lets John do most of the marketing (because Simon can’t be arsed with social media… being social in general), he’s mostly pre-occupied with the creation of new and improvement of the already existing craft beers.

🍺 The business steadily grows as word gets about town. Soon, it’s not only the local Hackney residents who pop by, but also people from other boroughs.

🍺 Including you.

🍺 Come from Inner London, the people of the area find you somewhat of a posh puppy, a bit of a toff. It’s this view of you which makes them wonder what on Earth you’re doing in East London, this artsy and not as affluent part of the city.

🍺 Nevertheless, you’re a sight for sore eyes if you ask Simon, who’s your old neighbour back from the few years you lived in Manchester after moving there with your parents.

🍺 Though gruff and distant in the beginning, Simon gradually warmed up to you. Despite never opening up emotionally, you two did develop a strong amiable bond. Maybe because you were the only one to greet him on the street, to ask about his career after catching a glimpse of the dog tag around his neck, to welcome him back each time he was deployed.

🍺 To show sincere interest in him.

🍺 Your parents weren’t a fan of you socializing with the giant in the skull balaclava, but they never told you off for it since you two always seemed to have a good time. Moreover, they rarely saw you smile unless you were with him. So they let it slide, prioritizing your happiness over their prejudice.

🍺 It was only in the spring before you moved without telling him where to and he was deployed yet again, Simon realized he had feelings for you. Nonetheless, he put them aside or, rather, suppressed them until they numbed. He had nothing to offer, fifteen years your elder and terribly haunted.

🍺 So imagine his surprise and absolute delight when you stand in front of him, prettier than he can remember. “Been a while, hasn’t it?”

🍺 “Y/N,” it’s the only thing he can say, finally out loud after years of uttering it in silence.

🍺 “Who’s this fair lady?” John slides up next to Simon, arms crossed as he takes you in. His sea blue eyes darken when they meet yours. “How can we help, miss?”

🍺 The way he practically purrs the words sends a pleasant shiver down your spine. Yet, you conceal the effect he has on you behind a steady voice. “I saw the notice on the window, about the open position. Has it been filled in the meanwhile or can I still apply?”

🍺 “She’s a good one, John. Hardworking, trustworthy, kind. Fast learner too,” Simon says pensively.

🍺 “Got experience in the field?” John asks.

🍺 “Studied psychology, during which I mostly focused on the effect of marketing on the human psyche. Also run a food blog and Instagram”

🍺 “Thank Simon properly before you leave. I trust his judgment and seeing he knows you best, I’ll take his word for it.” He slaps his business partner on the shoulder. “Drop by tomorrow and we’ll discuss your contract. I’m looking forward to working with you…”

🍺 “Y/N.”

🍺 “Y/N...” John repeats thoughtfully. Then he hums and heads off.

🍺 Thus begins a series of firsts and connections as you settle down in Hackney.

🍺 Over the course of a few weeks, the locals come to see you as one of their own as you show them you simply aren’t some girl with rich parents, a spoiled princess, but a young woman trying to make a life for herself with her own hard-earned money via helping at the counter and striking up conversations.

🍺 John and you grow closer too. He admires and respects your eye for detail and aesthetics, though sometimes he feels a little awkward when you’re trying to direct him for the occasional TikTok. Nevertheless, it’s your creativity that keeps drawing him in, igniting the need to keep getting closer to you. What also helps is you bringing him coffee or reminding him to take breaks (both with a kiss on the cheek later down the line).

🍺 Loves to review the content you create together, especially when you’re in his lap while doing so.

🍺 On your mutual days off, John drags you all over London to visit bakeries and cafés. Never had you thought him a foodie, though it’s a pleasant discovery since there’s always something new to experience on the food scene. Moreover, he loves helping you out with your own blog, not just the one you created for the brewery.

🍺 These days, you’re teaching him photography and are taking baking classes together. Although, you might as well go on your own to the latter because he’s a terrible baker (unlike Simon, who’s self-taught and surprisingly good, like, sale-appropriate why-doesn’t-he-have-at-least-a-micro-bakery good).

🍺 Your bond with Simon mostly rekindles via being his guinea pig. He knows how brutally honest you can be in your feedback, which he thoroughly appreciates. Outside work, the two of you frequent bookshops, have picnics in the major parks in London, and visit the city’s oldest cemeteries. The latter is a bit of a morbid idea of a nice outing, but you appreciate the silence and romantic sense of decay in the air.

🍺 It isn’t long before you take up residence in the apartment the two men share, which leaves the other residents of the building wondering about your relationships to one another. Although, they can guess at the nature of it seeing the “noise” at night. As I said, lots of first including a relationship with two men older than you.

🍺 But aside from the plethora of sensual moments, there are also plenty of tender (and domestic) firsts. For example, Simon accompanies you to your first tattoo appointment. When, the next day, you’re struck by tattoo flu, he takes care of you. Of course John doesn’t force you to come to work nor Simon for that matter, who you clearly need at the moment (despite claiming otherwise). Henceforth, you’re both granted PTO until you’re back on your feet.

🍺 Speaking of the former-captain, John is your very first kiss. You and him went out for pizza (Simon preferring to stay home and read). On the way to Hackney Wick, beneath a bridge heavily decorated with graffiti and sheltering a few barges, he put his hands on your cheeks and crashed his lips into yours. He tasted of tobacco and white wine, laced with the sweetness of tomatoes and basil. That night, he made love to you.

🍺 Another first.

🍺 Simon prepared breakfast the next morning, serving food to ensure John and you wouldn’t succumb to exhaustion later in the day. Nor him, for that matter, because while he doesn’t get jealous and loves sharing you with his best friend, he sometimes wishes you wouldn’t go at it till early in the morning when the next day is an ordinary work day.

🍺 You’re there for them when either of them suffers from night terrors or combat stress. Simon is more prone to the former, whereas John is to the latter.

🍺 You accompany Simon to therapy too after he’s been diagnosed with PTSD. At first he didn’t want to go, refused it even, until he finally relented after another episode of flashbacks and coming to his senses while shaking in your arms.

🍺 Life with John and Simon isn’t always easy nor romantic.

🍺 But bloody hell, do they make it better.

[everythingne]

akin to a pride, mv1

[series, 1] - 'the lions come at night'

Reina 'Little Lion' Matsumoto is known for her reckless driving on the track, earning her the nickname she partly shares with a certain 3x WDC. Off the track, however, she's known for being bubbly, bright, and kind. When she's reached out to by F1 about joining their new 'Siblings Mentorship,' a program that will pair her with a 'similar F1 driver' as her mentor for the upcoming season, she fully expects Daniel or Lando.

Her surprise comes in the form of Max Verstappen, and though she thinks they won't be that much alike off track, she's quick to find it's quite the opposite. Reina learns she needs someone who understands what shes going through to lean on, and Max learns that sometimes healing comes in breaking a cycle that's not your own.

(multipart series, non-linear in writing)

warnings/notes: mentioned/implied abusive father, father being manipulative and nasty via phone call, [word] used to show other languages being spoken, probably inaccurate/purposefully inaccurate f2/f1 information but its for the plot, also purposefully incorrect NASCAR information (RBR having a currently running NASCAR team being part of it), and probably incorrect Japanese culture (please correct me, I'm not Japanese myself!!), 5k words.

face claim: nina hillman

MAX HAD ALWAYS ENJOYED MEETING YOUNG FANS. Especially the ones who were karting or just getting into motorsports, there was something strong and pure in their hearts--a full love for what they were doing that was so refreshing to him. The media could wear him down day after day, racing every few weekends and changing time zones over and over making him a bit of a husk. He and the people he worked around were always so drained and tired, but one meeting with a young fan, listen to their proud "I'll be just like you when I grow up" and a big grin as they snapped a photo with him would always set him right.

Victoria had called him soft but he didn't care. He was the go-to babysitter of her two sons for a reason, the so called 'baby whisperer' by her husband and the beloved Uncle Max who they cheered on every other weekend on TV. When Victoria's eldest had an F1 themed birthday party with his class, Max had shown up with some of his gear in his car just in case, and ended up being the life of the party as he let each kid try on some of his old helmets and gloves and such.

Max loved the few and far between meetings he had with kids because they always seemed to come to him at the perfect times. Like the day Christian asked him if he wanted to do a program a few other drivers were a doing. It was a season long 'older siblings' mentorship for teens in the F3 or F2 leagues so they could get insight into what being an F1 driver was like and how it differed from what they were doing now. It had been mentioned off hand, with Christian expecting Max to say no and that he 'didnt want to do that media stuff', but imagine Christian's surprise when the man instantly said yes. He said it with no hesitation, a small smile peeking on his lips as he asked who he'd be helping.

"Reina Matsumoto." Christian had said and Max's eyes widened with a mix of excitement and genuine happiness as a grin peeked at his lips as he looked through Reina's social medias. It was a face Christian hadn't seen much, typically reserved for Penelope or Victoria's boys.

"Oh, wait until I tell Kelly!" He'd laughed, following the driver and shutting off his phone as he'd crosses his arms and smiled.

Geri had laughed with her whole heart when Christian told the story to her that night, watching as she attempted to pack three school lunches, do the dishes, and clean up while he was making his way over to help her. He dropped his bag on the floor by the island, hands coming up to her back as he slipped behind her and into the kitchen.

"He's got a big heart," Geri said gently with a grin on her lips, pausing mid sandwich packing to press a kiss to her husband's cheek. Her nails scratched slightly as she pat his shoulder as she handed him the dishes she needed put away, "and look at him and little Penelope! He's practically her father."

"This is a teenager though." Christian emphasized as he opened the cabinet with one hand, the other balancing a stack of plates from dinner--porkchops, he'd missed it due to being in the office for the exact thing they're talking about.

He sets down the dishes in their respective spots and shuts the cabinet as he turns back to Geri, "She's seventeen, she’s Bluebell's age.”

"First of all," Geri zips closed the remaining lunch bags for the kids and turns to Christian as she points at him, "Teenager or not, Max knows how to deal with kids. We've seen that."

Geri then flicks her wrist to show a peace sign she points at Christian once more, "and second, she's from Formula Two and she? Is it Matsumoto?"

"Yep. The Reina Matsumoto, Miss Little Lion," Christian nods, the girls nickname being given due to her driving style being very similar to Max's when he was her age. Controlled chaos, slightly reckless depending on the day, but she almost always left unscathed.

"Her dad was one of Japan's top Tour Racing drivers," Christian explains as he moves to help Geri finishing wiping off the counters, "Her mom raced drift cars in the states, works in NASCAR now. Reina used to live with her dad in Japan. She just moved to England to continue pursuing racing."

"So she has two motorsports parents... how much pressure is on her?" Geri crosses her arms as she leans back on the kitchen island and Christian lets out a low whistle as he rubs his forehead.

"I don't know, they don't exactly brief me on her entire past, Ger. But from what I was able to dig up on her father? It's not good."

"Do you think they teamed her with Max because of how they were both raised?" Geri pushes off the counter to open the fridge and waves over Christian to help her stuff the lunch boxes inside with all the leftovers and other foodstuffs stacked in the fridge,

"I don't know. But looking at the words 'Project Matsumoto' as the third term when I looked up her name; and having it be an article where her dad says he pushes her to be her best 'no matter what he has to do to make her'? I can't imagine it's anything good."

Geri sighs, rolling her neck and then nodding, "But how's her mother?"

"Oh, Hana is a sweetheart. She owned the NASCAR side of Red Bull Racing until about... two years ago, when she took full custody of her daughter. Now she does engineering, she has nothing but good articles about her."

"So, dad who forces her to be the best in every race she does, and a mom who was in racing but doesn't seem to push her too hard. Parents divorced, she lived with her father, now she lives with her mother." Geri recounts and when Christian nods sharply she starts to laugh and rub at her forehead.

"So... literally Max?" She says and Christian just nods again. There's no other way to explain it, she was simply a younger version of Max. But maybe there was a chance here, to save some of the love for the world she had left, because while Max was a genuine sweetheart he was always a bit haunted in Geri's eyes.

If she could save Reina from looking the same way, that would be her own personal WDC.

reinamatsumoto made a new post !

liked by biancabustamente, lilymhe, premaracing, and 15k others...

reinamatsumoto: winter break recap. whew. what a time. from my dad's place in fukushima to my grandparents home in washington state, to buying an apartment by myself in london :D!! (with my mom living there until I know how to adult because lord knows I can't be trusted by myself yet..)

also, big news! I am excited to announce ill be joining in the f2 to f1 mentorship program! I cannot wait to see which f1 driver I get to annoy with my useless knowledge of everything (and katsu…)

tagged: mrshanatanaka

mrshanatanaka: [my beautiful daughter] xx

user1: so pretty!!

biancabustamente: so i need your whole workout routine

⤷ reinamatsumoto: when are you back in london ?? I can take u to my trainers .. 👀

premaracing: so happy to have you back reina!

Dear Reina Matsumoto,

I READ MY NAME FOR THE THIRD TIME, fingers dusting over the slight texture change from the ink on the white paper that slightly creases in my hand. René had handed it to me at Prema last weekend before I went home for Christmas. Inside was a little invitation from Formula One. I had assumed, and kinda prayed, it was some sort of contract for any team (my fingers had crossed briefly for Red Bull) but was also a bit more delighted to see it was an invitation to their 'siblings' mentorship program. I took my time reading the letter, glossing over the words asking if I would be fine being trained by a handpicked Formula One driver who matched my driving style and my personality...I was elated.

I didn't know many drivers who matched both, maybe like Lando as the closest, or if we pushed it a bit maybe Daniel but his driving was more reserved than mine. I had explained to my mother, and she had joked saying my closest match would be Max. But I doubted they'd put him with me. I doubted he'd even said yes to the whole thing, everyone knew Max hated media stunts that didn't involve him driving some weird ass vehicle or like, putting snow chains on an F1 car.

I roll over to slide the note back on my bedside table, sighing as I curl deeper into my blankets to try and fight off the chill I still felt after my afternoon run in the light snow. Probably my last exterior run of the year, I was lucky to get one so close to the end of December.

The heater fan is on high blast next to my bed, rolling warm air across my chest as I look out the window and into the setting sun on the snow tipped trees of Washington State. My mom had worked hard to get us here, to her parents home up in a coastal town, where I can faintly smell some sort of curry dish being prepared by my grandmothers nimble hands. My grandfather a fisherman, my grandmother a school treasurer, my mother a business owner and engineer, her only daughter an aspiring Formula One driver.

Quite a group.

My attempt at warmth is abruptly ended by my mother knocking on my door, waiting only a brief moment before entering. She's dressed from work, I can tell it was some sort of zoom meeting by the slippers she has on. Her hair is pulled back, makeup light on her face as the warm golden rays slip through into my room from the hallway.

"You got mail, Rei, did you not see it on the counter?" My mother asks with a slight huff, sitting on the edge of my bed and cranking up my heater with a complaint about how its still too cold in my little room. It was supposed to be an office, but when I visited my grandparents and moms side of the family (since my aunt and cousins lived with them here in the states) it became my room so I didn't have to share with toddlers.

"Jiji was cooking, didn't wanna disturb her." I say softly, looking over at my mother and noticing the giddy expression on her face. Her eyes are sparkling as her nails crease the edges of the letter.

"What?" I ask, looking up at her through the thick fuzzy blankets that cover me and basically cement me down to the bed with their weight. Another wonderful thing about my grandparents, they were always prepared.

"It's from Oracle Red Bull Racing." my mother emphasizes each word with a huge smile that only seems to grow. My mother had raced for Red Bull back when she was a bit older than me, and owned their NASCAR team for years, which she now was an engineer for. I think her excitement bleeds onto me as I throw myself up into a seated position and snag the unopened letter. I take it and nearly tear the damn thing open, my mom laughing as I hand her the envelope and flip the letter open to read aloud.

"Miss Matsumoto/Matsumoto-san," I say and then whistle, "Someone did their homework."

My mom laughs and urges me to keep reading, and so, I take a deep breath and read the words that seem so powerful even with their tiny ten or so pixel statue.

"We at Oracle Red Bull Racing wish you well this holiday season, and it's an honor for me, Christian Horner, to welcome you to the family as the younger sister/mentee of three time world champion, Max Verstappen!--"

My mom squeals in excitement at the same time I do. The usually reserved side of her gone as she leaps off my bed and jumps around as I kick my legs in excitement. Seconds later I'm falling back as my mom is crashing into me in a bone crushing hug as she laughs with watery eyes I ignore for both of our sakes.

"Oh! Oh my god, that's so exciting!" She shouts.

"[Is everything okay?]" I hear my grandfather rough voice call from the base of the stairs in Japanese and my mother lifts her head away from my ear to shout through the doorway,

"[Yes, yes, everything is fine!]" My mother laughs once more, "[Just some very good news,] keep reading Rei, keep reading!"

"Okay, okay!" I laugh, grabbing the letter and continuing down the page, trying to keep myself from skipping ahead in excitement.

"We are very excited to get to know you over this season, and look forward to meeting you in person for the first time soon! In fact, we have extended an invitation for you to meet Max and the rest of RBR at our home base in Milton Keynes on January 5th-10th. We will provide you and one guest a flight over if needed, room and board at The Berkeley in London as well as transportation to and from our garage.

We eagerly await your response. Thank you and welcome!

Christian Horner."

But the letter doesn't stop there, in fact, there's a little hand written note that's been scanned to fit on the paper and I squint to read the scratchy handwriting.

'Reina,

Hello! It's Max, your 'big brother' or mentor for this upcoming season. As you may know, I'll be your right hand this season when it comes to advice with driving and media, but I wanted to extend an invitation for you to ask/talk about any of your interests or just life in general. I genuinely cannot wait to get to see how we get along (as I'm sure we will) and I hope you have a wonderful holidays with your family.

See you in January!

Max Verstappen.

(ps. I wrote my phone number on the back of this, feel free to send me a text/call and introduce yourself!)'

The exciting news brings my family to tears of joy as we celebrate with loud laughter and tight hugs. Max Verstappen. A three time world champion helping me of all people learn the real ins and outs of racing? It’s like a dream come true.

And even though I know it should be the absolute last thing I ever could even think about asking, he’d been raised similar to myself. I needed to know how he handled it, or the lack thereof.

redbullracing made a new post !

liked by gerihalliwell, reinamatsumoto, misshanatanaka and 674k others..

redbullracing: Introducing the final set of mentorship siblings for this season! Our @ maxverstappen will be mentoring @ premaracing 's @ reinamatsumoto for the upcoming season. Reina is known across Formula 2 for her bubbly bright personality and colorful disposition. Join us on TikTok Live, January 5th at 6pm BST to see them in action!

user1: sunshine x grumpy trope frfr

misshanatanaka: so excited for my little lion cub !

user2: they definetely picked her for her little lion nickname and yk what. respect.

reinamatsumoto: this is such an incredible opportunity, thank you so much red bull!!!

danielricciardo: soon we will have a whole god damn lion pride in RBR.

user3: unlikely duo actually?

logansargeant: and they wouldnt give ME reina???

⤷ maxverstappen: another L for logan sargeant

⤷ logansargeant: i'm gonna take your damn knees old man

⤷ reinamatsumoto: its ok logan i will never forget my first (and favorite) f2 teammate 💙

WALKING INTO RED BULL'S HEADQUARTERS WAS LIKE A DREAM. My mom chats with the woman whose brought us in eagerly, and excitedly points to a photo of her on the wall from the early 2000s. I'm shocked to see Christian Horner's in the photo as well. Reading the little plaque under makes it all click, it's a photo of all the 'team principles' or their equivalents of each Red Bull Sporting branch at the time.

My fingers skim over the names, EHC Red Bull München, FC Red Bull Salzburg, Hansen Motorsport, JMB Racing, and eventually I find my moms name, 'Hana Matsumoto (neé, Tanaka) Team Leader: Red Bull Racing (NASCAR).'

"Ah! Glad you both could make it!" A voice calls and I snap my head to its source, making his way across the big expanse of the lobby is Christian Horner, Geri following close behind her husband with a glittery smile. My mother shakes his hand and the two begin conversing, immediately snapping back into some sort of old pals situation while I step back to admire it.

My mother, after my father abandoned us when I was twelve, refused to touch racing for years, except for when it came to me and my karting. When I advanced to rally, she got back into working for NASCAR as an engineer, and then when I was going into Formula Four she had become a head engineer for Red Bull's NASCAR team.

I had never had an opportunity to work for Red Bull myself, narrowly missing making their junior team due to my dad's interference. I had hated Red Bull due to my fathers influence, but once or twice I caught my mother reminiscing over old images of her in her glory days of drift cars and owning a NASCAR team, and it made me wonder...

I wondered about wearing navy blue, standing on a podium, racing a car that would rocket itself around a track with no issue. And then slowly my mind would shift and I would wonder what else my father had stolen from her other than money and her daughter for years. A stolen daughter for some sort of prize he could never get for himself. A Formula One racer. Something I could be, something he would beat into me.

"And you must be Reina." Geri's voice catches me off guard and pulls me out of whatever pouty moment I've found myself in. The smile on my face is real as I allow her to pull me into a tight hug, her warm hands settling on my back as she squeezes me. It's safety in two arms, immediately, and I relax into it as I place one hand on the center of her back.

"Geri Horner, it's such an honor to finally meet my favorite Spice Girl." I say into the hug and Geri laughs, stepping back to squeeze me shoulders in her hands as she looks me over with an approving grin.

"Good to know you have taste!" She teases, turning to my mother who nods and laughs as she makes her way over to where Geri has come to distract me. Christian grabs his phone out of his pocket, glancing behind him, but I miss what he calls out as my Mom starts to speak to Geri.

"Yep! God, we have so much Spice Girls stuff in our house in Washington you'd think it was a museum." My mother giggles, patting my back as she sends me a small grin, "I think you even have a replica of the union jack dress."

"It's in Fukushima, so who knows if it's still there." I hum, my smile dropping for half a second as I remember the cold home I had lived in for years, before I force it back up, "But I bet I can find photos of it!"

"Would love to see them." Geri places a hand on her heart, then turns to Christian as he approaches us. He brings us to a small room, two chairs facing a few cameras, interns and workers milling around the room as I'm instructed to sit down in one of the chairs. I sit down as told, crossing my ankles as my mom frets with my collar and sweater for a few moments, then presses a kiss to my forehead and tells me to be kind before slipping behind the lights that shine on me.

"Alright, we're gonna have you introduce yourself..." A woman starts to explain the protocols to me. The stream is running right now, people can see me, but the audio is muted. On her signal, I'll introduce myself, and then they'll start a QnA with me while they wait for Max to arrive. I nod along, smiling when she compliments me and laughing at her jokes with practiced kindness. I wasn't media trained, but rather trained by walking on eggshells and keeping peace for years.

Eventually, I'm cued in, and I wave happily.

"Hello!" I cheer, "I'm Reina Matsumoto, known as Rei or Little Lion, this is my third year racing for Prema in Formula Two. I finished my first season with them in second, right behind Oscar Piastri, my second season I unfortunately didn't complete due to personal issues and an injury, and so I'm looking to use this season as a comeback to finally get my hands on an F2 win.

"I'm going to be mentored by Max Verstappen, which is... just really incredible." I feel heat rush to my cheeks and I let a giddy smile cross my face, "So yeah! Let's get on with the QnA?"

A man steps up so I can see him, and holds up a phone, he scrolls before landing on a question he likes,

"Can you explain your racing journey to us?"

"Oh! Yeah! So I started karting in Japan with my father when I was barely three, and started competing on my fifth birthday. I kept karting, I won, I lost, y'know, and got into rally racing for a few years when I was around ten to fourteen, then I went into Formula Four when I was fifteen, did half a season of F3, and then jumped to compete in Formula Two the last three years." I explain, having to pause a few times to think and make sure I'm getting my age right. Trying my best to keep my voice happy as I recount the time spent with my father, "Around the time I switched to Formula racing, I also moved in with my Mom, Hana Tanaka, in the United States and lived partially in England."

"Do you race for Japan or for the States?"

"I'm racing for Japan since I'm technically a citizen of Japan living on a work visa in the UK. I lived in Japan for years, my mother traveling back to the states a lot for work, and--uhm," I swallowed, glancing down at my left wrist briefly as my hand twitched and my pinkie struggled to close up in the fist I balled up, "I lived with my father there when my parents divorced, from when I was nine to thirteen."

"Do you have a favorite F1 driver who is racing right now?"

"If I say anyone other than Logan or Oscar they'll be very upset." I grin, kicking my feet a little, "They're basically my older brothers! They took me in when I started racing F2, since we all raced together, and I'm really proud of both of them and all their hard work."

After maybe ten or so more questions, the man leans back as someone whispers something to him and he nods, there's a bit of a shuffle and then I see a door open. I know it's Max who walks in even if I can only see his shadow behind the lights. I try to hide my giddy smile as the same woman from before steps in front of me and begins to announce Max and I are meeting for the first time. I take a deep breath, swallow my nerves, and plaster on the most professional smile I can muster. Max is much taller than I am, that much is obvious when he dips under a light to come in front of the camera and I stand immediately to greet him. I expect him to go for a handshake, but I'm pleasantly surprised with a hug. We take our respective seats, Max gives his little introduction to the camera, and then we're off.

"So this is a drawing challenge." We're both handed whiteboards and I grin, looking at Max who laughs and looks down at the whiteboard being set in his hands. I can see a little playful gleam in his eyes, something I've never caught before in the hundreds of photos and videos I've seen of him. It's intriguing but I don't have time to stare, and this is hardly the place to do so.

"You guys are about to be amazed at how much someone can suck at art." He says, uncapping his pen.

"You both have to try and draw each other in three minutes," She says, "and then there will be a poll on who won."

The timer goes off then and I prop the whiteboard up and begin drawing. I had doodled as a hobby, so I make it less realistic (because lord knows I can't do that) and make it more cutesy. I giggle at my drawing as I add a little flare to it and when times up, we flip them around. The crew audibly awes over mine and Max laughs, tilting it so he can see it past the glare of the lights.

"Oh my god, I need someone to save this so I can have it. This is genuinely the cutest thing anyone has ever drawn for me." He looks at it in awe and I laugh into the back of my hand as he takes the whiteboard from me and just looks at it.

"Proud dad moment," I grin, trying to hide my obvious giddy attitude at the fact that Max fucking Verstappen was praising my shitty art skills. He nods, holding it up and telling everyone to look, which only makes me blush and grin harder.

We move on from that a few moments later, we're asked to draw each others cars, then we play a few rounds of pictionary where Max fails horribly the whole time. By the end of it, I'm laughing teary eyed as I lean onto his chair for support--and he's pretty much in the same boat as me as we both struggle to catch our breaths.

"How the hell is this a cat?!" I wheeze out, pointing at the oddly long cat he's drawn with a much too big head and much too small legs, "don't you have two? Do you not know what they look like?!"

"I can't draw! It's the thing I can't do!" He leans back in his chair, struggling to catch his breath and I have to pause to dot under my eyes so my makeup doesn't run. After a while we catch our breath, and move into QnA.

Max asks me, from a Twitter tag we both idly scroll on our phones, "What are some of your favorites? Racers, colors, TV Shows, etc?"

I look up as he asks the question and a big grin splits across my lips as I proudly announce, "When it comes to F1, I'm one hundred percent a Vettel girl,"

"Really?" He says, and I start laughing as I nod to him, adjusting the way I'm sitting as I lean on the arm of the chair a bit and wave my phone as I speak,

"I grew up watching him and Lewis Hamilton winning, y'know, so it was always like--my dad would always reprimand me and say stuff like 'you should race risky like Hamilton' or 'go fast like Vettel' so they're kinda cemented into my brain as the like--top drivers."

"My dad was the same with some older drivers, always had to practice like I was the best of the best." Max nods, but waves for me to continue on with answering the ret of the question,

"NASCAR is huge in my family, my mom works for Red Bull's NASCAR team," I explain, looking to where I think my mom stands behind the camera, "So my favorite driver from there? I'd say Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Busch. I've met them both quite a few times, since they both raced with Red Bull, and Kyle is one of my sponsors for racing right now which is so kind of him to do."

I continue when Max doesn't have a comment, "Favorite color, blue." He agrees, "TV Shows..? Right now I'm binging Doctor Who--I'm on Matt Smith's doctor right now."

"Oh, which episode?"

"Uhm... I just finished The Almost People. So I think next is A Good Man Goes to War?" I turn and watch Max's face light up as he makes a soft gasping noise in the back of his throat.

"Oh you have to tell me how you like that episode. It's so good."

My eyes widen, "You've seen Doctor Who?"

"Kelly watches it all the time. When I started watching them with her she made us restart at The Ninth Doctor and watch from there, and then we went back and watched all the older episodes but her favorite is The Ninth Doctor so she made me start there. I think my favorite is him or The War Doctor."

"My favorite so far is the eleventh." I smile, kicking my feet a little once again and Max nods.

"A solid choice."

We run through another twenty minutes or so before signing off, and the energy in the room is light and almost electric as we begin to pack up. A phone call ends up with me slipping out into the hall as everyone mingles, my mom loudly laughing with Kelly and Geri as Christian brings Max over to introduce to my mother. I catch Max's eye fleetingly as I whisk around and slip out into the much quieter hall, pressing my phone to my ear.

"[Hello, Dad.]" I say into the phone, the ten missed calls from him already enough to make my blood icy and my hands shaken.

"[Why weren't you answering me? Am I not important?]" His voice is hard as it always is when he thinks I've wronged him. It makes my heart pound a little bit harder, makes me swallow, makes my hands twitch.

"[I was doing work with Red Bull, Dad. I wasn't with my phone, I'm sorry.]" I say into the phone, crossing one arm over my chest as I look out into the little track behind the building from the windows, walking up to lean against a pole that separates the panes of glass.

"[Oh, about that, you didn't want to tell me? Hm? That you even thought of signing up for that? You're going to waste the talent of a three time world champion on yourself? On the lack of talent you have? You couldn't even beat that Australian boy, now you expect Max Verstappen to want to help you?]" My fathers voice grows harsher, the insults digging deep into my chest and ripping at my confidence and my heart. I hear the door next to me open, but I can't even spare a glance as my fathers hateful tirade continues. I lose track of what he's saying, his voice louder, and when I don't respond he claims I'm 'losing my heritage' and switches to English to mock me. I feel someone behind me, eyes glancing up in the reflection to see Max leaning on the wall on the other side of the hallway.

"[Dad--]" I try, but he cuts me off with more ramblings.

"A waste of talent, a waste of that mans time!" He shouts, "You are nothing but--"

A hand comes to grab the phone, a thumb thats not mine pressing to end the call. I flinch at the touch, but it's warm, and when I look up Max just watches me before slipping my phone back into my hand and sighing. Nothing is said, he just turns and nods over his shoulder. Max moves like a ghost back to the doorway, eyes peeking over at me from under his hat and his voice carries down the hall to me.

"You're not wasting my time. I picked you."

And then he slips into the room where I can hear my mother replaying some story of my early racing days to someone, and I blink back the tears that well up with my shaky sigh. Then something hits me, eyes widening as I stare after Max's retreated form.

Max had picked me to be his mentee.

He picked me. Me.

And a giddy smile crosses my face before I can try and suppress it.

formulaupdates made a new post!

liked by user1, user2, user3 and 359k others...

formulaupdates: Reina Matusmoto (Prema, f2) joined Max Verstappen (Red Bull, F1) to welcome their 'siblingship' this season during a livestream on Red Bull's TikTok wearing the teams signature color in a vintage Ralph Lauren sweater! (+ a scanned version her drawing of Max for everyones icon needs)

tagged: reinamatsumoto, ralphlauren, premaracing, redbullracing, maxverstappen

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tag list!

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[badasgirlfriend]

Stolen Hoodie | Bada Lee Social Media Au

pairings: bada lee x shin nari

prev - next

a/n: i just wanted to say thankkkk u sm for giving stolen hoodie a chance the support ive been getting is so crazyyyyy i love all of u

"C'mon, girl." Aeri told her best friend as they drove in her car to Xiaoting's party. "Don't overthink, just have a good time," she urged, flashing a cheerful smile.

"Yeah i'll try" Nari said smiling "I just hope i dont see her"

Aeri hesitated to say something, she didnt want to lie after all the whole dance class will be there probably

"if you do.." Aeri paused "just ignore her"

"Thank you, Aeri," Nari said, staring at her best friend with determination. "For everything - for always being by my side and having my back, no matter what. I really hope I can return it all to you someday."

"Oh quit it," Aeri replied, pretending to be annoyed but unable to hide her warm smile at Nari's words. "You've always been by my side just as much as I've been by yours - and you're the first one to show up when I need someone too. Don't doubt yourself - we've got each other's backs, that's what being best friends is all about." As Aeri spoke, she gave Nari a light punch on the shoulder in response to her earlier action, causing both of them to giggle in amusement.

As Aeri pulled her car into the driveway, she turned off the engine and removed the keys from the ignition.

"Wow," Nari breathed, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of her Xiaoting's house. It was enormous - far more spacious than she had imagined. "This place is huge!"

The cold air hit the girls as they exited the vehicle, taking a moment to adjust to the sudden change in temperature. Nari glanced down at her outfit, adjusting the straps of her bralette as she did so. She had paired it with a white crop top and a skirt-shorts hybrid that she had made a few days ago, creating a unique ensemble that suited her well.

"Okay sexy, let's get inside," Aeri said with a smirk, smacking Nari's ass hard enough to make her wince.

"Ow, that hurt, you bitch!" Nari groaned, turning to face her friend

"Lets go," Aeri grabbed her hand and guided them into the house. As soon as they entered, Nari's eyes widened in surprise. The place was already packed with people - far more than she had expected at such an early stage in the party.

Some were dancing some were drinking, and some girls were already on the floor passed out drunk

"Nari!" Aeri exclaimed as the song "Shake That Ass" by Eminem and Nate Dogg began playing.

"Hell yeah," Nari replied, pulling the shorter girl onto the dance floor.

Sure! Here's a more descriptive version of their dance:

The pair begun moving their hips back and forth seductively, grinding against each other as they danced. Every movement was fluid and in sync with the beat of the song, as they both let their bodies move with the music in a way that left little to the imagination.

Nari and Aeri were lost in the moment, the rhythm of the music coursing through their bodies as they swayed seductively. Nari wrapped her arm around Aeri, moving down until she was grinding her hips sensually against her best friend. The music was intoxicating, the vibrations of the beat adding to the thrilling sensation of their bodies moving together. Their eyes were locked on each other, both of them smiling and having fun

"Shake that ass for me, shake that ass for me, come on girl!" the best friends shouted the lyrics in unison, their voices rising above the music as they continued dancing with one another.

Bada wasn't having fun at all. She regretted having listened to Tatters' suggestion to come. However, she looked around in hopes of finding her best friend - and her eyes fell on a familiar boy talking to her.

Yeonjun.

As he felt somebody's eyes on him, Yeonjun turned towards Bada and glared at her

Bada simply rolled her eyes, her gaze wandering over to the two girls who had just entered the house. However, as soon as she recognized who they were, she was taken aback - almost choking on her drink as she realized who it was.

"Fuck" Bada cursed under her breath, her eyes trailing the brunette girl. She had never seen Nari in person before, but seeing her here in the flesh, she was truly stunned - the pictures didn't even come close to doing her justice.

Nari didn't see her, and Bada was thankful for it. She watched her and Aeri go over to the dance floor and begin moving, bodies swaying sensually in perfect harmony. The music filled the air with an infectious beat, and the heat of the moment brought out passionate and seductive vibes that made the party even more electric.

Bada's heart beat rapidly in her chest as she watched Nari dance, her movements flowing with grace and elegance that made her even more magnificent. Bada felt herself become distracted and had to swallow back her desire to keep watching, feeling a little guilty that she found her so alluring.

"You sneaky little thing." Bada nearly jumped out of her skin when Tatter spoke out of nowhere, startling her.

"You really need to stop doing that," Bada scoffed as she snatched Tatter's drink back from her.

"Hey, I was drinking that." Tatter pouts

"Too late." Bada shrugs nonchalantly. Tatter playfully glares at her for a moment before taking her drink back and taking a sip.

"Ehh" Tatter sighed, placing her hand on her hip "If you didn't act like an idiot, you would be the one dancing with her."

'Shut up," Bada said, chuckling as she pushed Tatter away lightly, amused by her friend's remark.

Hours passed, and Nari had no clue where Aeri was. After a while of searching, she found herself perched on top of a table, swaying and dancinh to the song "Tell Me" by Wonder Girls. She was completely inebriated, as she didn't remember how she got there. In her drunken state, she lost all her shame, along with her worries, as she began to dance on the table, lost in the music. She forgot about anything holding back, no sense of embarrassment left in her drunken state. The music filled every part of her soul, sending her into another world where she was the star of her own little personal show, where the only thing that mattered was her and the music, everything else forgotten.

"Come on, everyone!" Nari yelled, her voice ringing out over the loud crowd. As everyone erupted in cheers of encouragement, she felt her heart racing with excitement. With a wide smile on her face, Nari began to sing more like yell "Tell me, tell me, tell me too, want me want me want me too"

"Tell me, tell me, tell me you love me too, love me too," the crowd shouted back making Nari giggle

Bada's attention was drawn when she heard a familiar voice ring out, causing her to look up and spot nari high up on the table, singing and dancing. She couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, realising that Nari was likely the voice she had heard a few weeks ago.

Bada's laughter vanished when she saw nari begin to lift up her top, a look of concern quickly appearing on her face. "Nari, get down," Bada yelled, a sense of urgency to her voice.

Nari giggled as she looked around, unable to concentrate on anything else. "What? Where are you?"

Bada felt the urge to roll her eyes, the alcohol clearly taking its toll on Nari's senses. "Come on, get down." She grabbed Nari by the hand, a sense of concern and worry mixed with irritation growing inside her.

Nari finally focused her gaze on Bada, their eyes meeting, and Bada suddenly felt like time had slowed down. Her short hair sticking out in all directions in an endearing manner, framed her sharp but delicate face. Her features were still accentuated by the shadows, highlighting her high cheekbones on her smooth complexion. Her expression was soft and playful, a slight grin playing on her lips while she laughed silently

"When Nari recognized who had grabbed her hand, she immediately stopped laughing, her expression turning into a glare. 'What are you doing here?' she snapped her tone colder than before

"Get down"

"No!"

"Stop lifting your top and get down, Nari - you're embarassing yourself," Bada said firmly, trying to make her friend comply with her request.

"I'll lift this up," Nari said, giving her a sarcastic smile and lifting her middle finger up.

Bada let out a low groan and closed her eyes. She grabbed her hand again and with a sudden jerk, she pulled Nari up onto her shoulder, leaving her feet dangling in the air. Nari screamed as she found herself facing away from Bada,

"Put me down!" Nari screamed out, her grip on Bada's arm getting even tighter, her hands holding on stubbornly. She refused to budge, hanging on for dear life, while Bada sighed and finally reached a room, and as she entered, Nari's screams changed to a mumble, her voice going soft and her grip loosening. She was so drunk she couldn't even scream anymore, her body limp in Bada's arms.

Bada sighed and bent down, and managed to lower Nari safely onto the ground. Nari was ready to yell at Bada again, but she stopped herself when she saw how close they were. Even in her drunken state, Nari was slightly anxious as she stood in front of Bada, her proximity making her feel nervous. She was dressed casually with a jersey and beige cargo pants.

She didn't know if she was panicking because of Bada standing in front of her or because of the intense urge to vomit that was building up inside her. Her stomach churned and bubbled, as her body was about to rid itself from all that alcohol she drank "I'll be back"

Bada's eyes widened as Nari bolted past her into the bathroom, almost tripping over her feet, Bada followed Nari into the bathroom, seeing her kneeling on the toilet, her head resting on the bowl while she vomited.

Bada immediately dashed towards her side, holding her hair up so that it wouldn't get caught by the vomit that was spewing out of her mouth.

Nari managed to raise her head for a moment. "Sorry, Bada..." she mumbled, her voice quiet and her words slurred.

Bada shook her head gently, reassuring Nari that it was alright "Continue if it makes you feel better" she added

With a small nod, Nari continues to vomit into the toilet, and Bada just held her hair

After Nari was done vomiting, Bada helped her up and dragged her over to the sink so she could clean the excess out of her mouth. Nari's eyes were still glazed over with booze and her face was flushed, but she still managed to feel embarrassed at being this drunk and having to be taken care of by Bada.

Somehow, Nari managed to walk alone towards the bed. She threw herself down onto the soft mattress, groaning out loud about how comfortable it felt. The alcohol was starting to make its effects known in her body again, and Nari felt the need to lie down and close her eyes. She yawned and let out a deep sigh, her eyes closing slowly, Bada, watching her all this time, smiles softly.

"I won't remember this so..." Nari slurred her words, her voice heavily affected "I didn't want to be late, I was truly excited... and that creepy guy just happened to be there,"

"We don't..." Bada sighed deeply, "we don't need to talk about that"

"Maybe you dont want to but i do" Nari said "I hate being called a liar while im telling the truth. What you said to me was really harsh it made me so upset"

"Maybe you were right..." Nari says, her tone slightly defeated as she rolls over to her other side. "Yeah maybe Im a burden to my friends but I can't. But they don't even know half the things I- nevermind" Nari continues, sounding more resigned than upset or angry.

Bada watches her roll over, and catches a glimpse of bruises on Nari's waist. She furrows her brows, her gaze growing sharp as she pulls up the fabric of Nari's shirt to reveal more bruises, a little more alarmed now than before.

"Oh, that..." Nari laughs nervously, trying to make light of the situation. "I fell while I was playing tag with my sister," she chuckles. "I couldn't sit right for two whole days." Nari smoothly lies, her eyes darting around the room to ensure that Bada doesn't see through this lie.

This causes Bada to raise her eyebrow in suspicion "Nari-"

Bada started to say, but she was cut off when Aeri opened the door and let out a relieved sigh after seeing Nari in bed. She had been worried about her best friend's well-being and it felt good to see her in a more relaxed state.

"Oh, she was with you." Aeri said, turning to look at Bada "Thank you for taking care of her"

"It's nothing," Bada replied, waving off her thanks

"Come on bae, we'll go home now." Aeri walks over to the bed and grabs Nari by the shoulder.

"No, I don't want to go there-" Nari begins to argue, but Aeri quickly interrupts her.

"My house okay, you're staying at mine tonight." Aeri clarifies, trying to reassure her friend.

"With that, Nari stands up, her arm around Aeri's shoulder, and the two walk away, leaving Bada alone.

Bada's hope of some sort of reaction from Nari was quickly shut down, however, as Nari simply turns and looks at Bada, staying silent and not saying anything. She didn't utter a word, not even a little "fuck you." as Bada wanted.

"What am I getting myself into?" Bada sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for vague posting about my ex after he got me an expensive but upsetting gift?

I (23 m) and my ex (22 m) have only been separated from our 2 year long relationship for a few months now. I was the one who broke things off and I wanted to stay friends, however, for reasons I feel are obvious, this was super difficult for him. We went a while without talking regularly, and he was often very upset with me and short, and would vague me online (very privately). It made me really upset to be treated that way but I didnt say anything since he was grieving and processing our breakup. About a month into our split, my service cat passed I was extremely distraught and upset, like this was my best friend and it was so sudden, I was unstable from grief, but he reached out with his condolences and I really appreciated it. We talked more and seemed to be reconnecting and I was super excited about it. I came over to him to help him fix his car, picked him up from the airport, etc. I had missed him so much and were finally hanging out again!! I had been grieving quietly for another month when, while I'm petsitting his cats for him, he tells me about a gift he left for me. I open it to a letter saying that basically he was having a hard time getting over our breakup and that he didnt know if hed ever be over it, but he was sorry for my recent loss. I unpackaged the gift to reveal one of those 3D felted cat portraits of my late best friend. It was too much for me to see him in 3D again and I started sobbing and freaking out immediately. I texted him thanking him for the gift, but saying it was too soon for me to have recieved it, but I didnt elaborate much on that for fear he'd be upset that his gift has hurt me. I didn't have many other people to personally reach out to about my grief. My friends all seriously disliked this guy for most of my relationship with him (he had done some really upsetting shit to me several times before he was medicated and they thought he was bad for me) and I didnt want to talk shit about him like theyd want to, I like this guy a lot... I also posted privately online that I had recieved a gift (not saying what it was, not saying who it was from) that I wasnt ready to get and that it was sending me into a grief spiral again. I didnt use his name because I worried people would comment to talk shit about him and he would see. Well a friend of mine made a comment saying that whoever gave it to me should have thought more about how I would feel to recieve it. I responded basically telling my friend that I wasnt upset about the gift giver, just the gift itself had caused me to relive some stuff I wasnt ready for. But my ex saw and reached out to me saying "oh so your friends think I'm a bad person? I can take the gift back then." Which I tried to argue that I really loved the gift and that I didnt think he was a bad person. I showed him that I had disagreed with my friend, and rhat I wasnt venting about a good thing he did for me, but rather the post was more about my grief for the loss of my pet. The argument basically ended with me saying that I felt I needed to be totally emotionally sterile for his comfort and wasnt allowed to feel my grief publicly, and him saying that I could feel grief but I shouldnt have vagued him because then people could freely comment and judge him since he was nameless in the post. I deleted my post and agreed with him that I probably shouldnt have made the post at all, I apologized and hoped we could move on, but he replied with "dont talk to me" and blocked me on the social media where I made the post. I ended up reaching out again a few days ago (a week from our fight) to apologize for having gone too far during our argument and suggesting we meet in person to talk. He told me that our argument had made him the most manic he had ever been and that he appreciated the option to talk it out in person but he was very angry that I would treat him like that after saying I wanted to maintain a friendship. I apologized again, saying I wish we could be nicer to each other and we havent talked since.

(I'm trying to keep this as neutral as possible, all my friends are on my side but I still feel like it might be because they just never liked him...)

What are these acronyms?

[lab1rynth]

YAN!TATTOOIST

Yan!Tattooist who you meet around the third time you get a tattoo, he was quite well rated in your area so you decided to just try out his work. When you met him you honestly were astonished at how handsome he was, and that immediately made you doubt where you wanted your tattoo, on your thigh.

Yan!Tattoist who worked quite swiftly and delicately on your thigh, his gloved hand gripping onto the skin of your thigh, as he focused, wiping the excess ink off of your skin after finishing a few lines of detail. His playful banter during so was not helping what so ever, your face going red.

Yan!Tattoist who you came to for the rest of your tattoo's, getting them everywhere that put you in some sort of exposed position with him and you had proudly exclaimed to your friends that you had a crush on your tattoo artist. You did however get tired of this one sided love for a while and invited him over for dinner after his shift a few times, which he gladly accepted as he just absolutely loved anything that was food.

Yan!Tattooist who starts to see your crush on him one night as he was out with his friends, they had to explain it to him after he told them about you. He never was too good at understanding other peoples emotions, neither did he understand his most of the time. He did feel drawn to you in some way, he has for a while.

Yan!Tattooist who quietly strays behind his friends, quietly thinking of the new information he just got handed. Then at night he laid in bed staring up at the ceiling as he continued with his thoughts. The next day you would have another appointment with him, he would study you as much as he could in the time being. He found all your social medias, your families social medias, your friends, and everything you're seen in.

Yan!Tattooist who comes in the next day with large eyebags and messy hair, his black button up stopping lower than normal, showing a bit of his chest. He was quite tired but he put on his rubber gloves and went to see you. You were cheerful as always, you smiled and asked him for one of those Lip color tattoos. He asked, "You know its quite common for them to fade away after a while? Pain and bleeding can also occur during, as well as 2 weeks after, the tattoo being made," You nod, "You don't have to keep treating me like I don't know my stuff. I probably know a lot more than you!" You laugh as you told the tattoo artist. He shook his head and smiled, everything you did affected him somehow now that he knows how you feel, how HE feels. Your voice is like music to him.

Yan!Tattooist who sets you down at his booth, getting all the ink and his tattoo gun. He cleaned everything he could as he made some small talk with you, which was fine up until he said, "How was your little brothers game yesterday?" You looked up at him confused, "Good, uh, how do you know about that?" He looked over at you, "You didn't tell me about that?" "No, I didn't," He then turned around and focused back on his tools, "Then never mind."

Yan!Tattooist who gets started almost immediately, getting a small string with white lipstick on it to carefully map out your cupids bow, then going in with red lip liner so he could easily see where he was going to be tattooing. Using a white lip liner around the edges of your lips for more contrast. All the while he keeps his eyes on your lips, gently holding your chin between two of his fingers as he closely focused.

Yan!Tattooist who then got his tattoo gun, the needle was honestly quite small, you could barely see it. He walked around you to lay you chair back so you were facing the ceiling before sitting next to you, gently holding your face in his hands to have your head laying flat against the chair behind you before whispering, "Try not to move your head for me, alright doll?" Your eyes went wide and you almost nodded, before catching yourself, "Okay," you weakly spoke. He nodded with a small laugh before he got to work.

Yan!Tattooist who continues on, slightly making a hissing sound when he sees some blood run down your face from your lips, he wipes it off with his thumb and nonchalantly licks it off his glove. Your wide eyes continue to get wider, did he just...

Yan!Tattooist who finishes up after a few minutes wiping the excess ink off gently with a cleaning cloth before saying, "Okay I want you to be careful of your lip area, alright? No spicy foods for the next two days, and be careful of some facial cleaning products, like with vitamin C and vitamin D," You nodded along. He moved around the chair again to move it back up so you were sitting.

Yan!Tattooist who hums at the sight of your lips, somewhat swelled from his work with a small little bloody cut on it. Your lips were red from the ink, though they wouldn't be that red for long. He leaned forward and pressed a deep kiss onto your lips, you almost yelled right there, you pushed him back. "What, did you not like that?" he asked, tilting his head, "Well, first of all, my lips hurt like hell," You started, "And second, I have a boyfriend!" You said angrily.

Yan!Tattooist who laughed that one laugh of his, the one that always put a blush to your face, "Seeing on how you and your body reacts to me, honey, that 'boyfriend' of yours might as well be an exe," He said with a pointed smile, looking down at you as he leaned on his table of tools.

Yan!Tattooist who quietly watches as you look down and hesitate a bit before you stand up and storm off, he stayed still, letting you do as you pleased, as you had paid beforehand anyways. He knew where you lived from his little search last night, and he would definitely be visiting you tonight no matter if you know he was there or not.

[upon-a-starry-night]

Number Neighbors Pt.1

Natasha x Fem!Reader

Natasha Masterlist         Series Masterlist

Word Count: 970

Summary:  When you catch sight of the newest trend going around you know you’re all but bound to at least try it, it was harmless anyway. What could possibly stem from something so little?

~~~~ You were told you were a naturally curious person, you tried every hobby you saw, new things caught your attention, and trends were constantly popping up on your social media that you’d wanted to try. So when you’d caught sight of the newest trend going around you knew you were all but bound to at least try it, it was harmless anyway. 

What could possibly stem from something so little?

You’d just woken up from a dream about living in a beautiful house with some woman you’d met online, inside of the dream you were sitting on the counter while the woman made breakfast. Your brain was still fuzzy with sleep as you were trying to recall the memories of the dream before they faded away. 

You really should keep a dream journal with all the odd dreams you have.

You remember the dream almost exactly but the woman was blurry in your memory, her face never fully visible and always changing so you could never quite get a clear grasp on her features. But there is one thing that you could recall; clear striking green eyes. 

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Your second alarm spooked you out of your thoughts and you shook your head, silently erasing the dream like an Etch-a-Sketch. As you grabbed your clothes for your shower you remembered your late-night activity; scrolling through copious amounts of online videos, and deduced those were definitely a contributor to your weird dreams. 

As you were opening your phone to set up your shower music you got a notification from one of your favorite news articles.

“Social Media’s New Craze! Meet Your #NumberNeighbor!”

You chuckled a bit, this new trend had been going crazy ever since some girl had found out she was number neighbors with a celebrity. No doubt everyone was trying to have the same lucky result as she did. 

Even you had to admit over the past few days you’d been resisting the temptation to try it for yourself. But you were worried your number neighbor might be some sort of perv or weirdo that asked you for feet pics. However, with all the stories you’d been reading over the past few days of people finding new internet best friends, the temptation and curiosity were quickly becoming too much to bear. So to save yourself from curiosity overload you shrugged your shoulders and typed your number with one digit off into your phone.

          Unknown Contact

                                    Y/n: Hello!

It was simple, nothing fancy or weird for a first text, you didn’t want to scare them away by coming off as too strong. You could save the memes for the future- if there ever was one. There was no immediate response and you deflated after a few minutes, sometimes no one owned the other number, and a lot of the time people chose to ignore texts from random numbers. 

You couldn’t really blame them honestly. Although, you also had to take into account that it was currently 7 AM and most people didn’t wake up at that hour on purpose… except for those who like to indulge in self-torture that is.

You got yourself ready for the day, taking a nice long warm shower (including having a shower concert) and making yourself a quick breakfast. You were seconds away from forking another bite of your syrupy waffle into your mouth when your phone chimed with a notification. You were a bit confused at the sight of a text notification, having forgotten about your spontaneous early morning decision, but as soon as the memory popped back into your head you were eagerly unlocking your phone and opening the message.  

          Unknown Contact

Unknown: 

Hi? I’m sorry, who is this?

                                                                                    Y/n: 

                                 Right sorry, I realize now how weird just saying hi is

                                 I’m your number neighbor!

Unknown: 

What is that?

                                  Y/n: 

                                  :0 You don’t know what a  

                                   number neighbor is?

Unknown: 

No.

                               Y/n:

                                It’s where you text the number that’s one digit off of yours!

Unknown: 

You expect me to believe that you got this number by coincidence?

                             Y/n: 

                              Why? Are you some sort of celebrity?

                               If you don’t believe me just look at my number 

                               it should be one digit different than yours.

                              You can even look it up online it’s super popular right now

Unknown: 

huh

I guess you’re right

but I’m going to need you to lose this number

                               Y/n:

                                Aw, what? Why?

Unknown: 

because it’s a very private number

                                   Y/n: 

                                    Wait omg are you like the FBI or something?

Unknown: 

or something.

                                    Y/n: 

                                     That’s so cool!

                                     Do you solve crimes like how they do in criminal minds?

Unknown: 

You mean that crime show

on Netflix?

                                          Y/n: 

                                           Yes! I’ve seen like all of the episodes a hundred times

                                           Have you ever seen it?

Unknown: 

can’t say that I have

                                          Y/n:

                                           You have to watch it! It’s sooo good

Unknown: 

I guess I’ll have to take your word 

seeing as you’ve seen it a hundred times

                                         Y/n:

                                          😳 ok so that miiiight have been an over exaggeration

Unknown:

I never would’ve guessed

                                        Y/n: 

                                         Ha! So you do have a sense of humor!

                                         Good to know

                                         Oh shoot I’m gonna be late for work, It was really                                                    lovely texting you!

                                         Byeee!

Unknown: 

Bye. 

You were smiling the whole drive to your work, sure they might be some sort of FBI secret service person but they seemed nice- not a dry texter at least, and it didn’t seem like they were too annoyed that you were texting them. You wanted to give them some space since they’d asked you to lose their number, and you completely understood their hesitation, but the excited feeling that settled in your stomach told you that you were not going to be able to resist texting them again.

Pt.2

A/n: I’m still contemplating this format but I think it’s better than pictures of text messages don’t you? Lmk :)

[mountingpulisic]

CHERRY

don't you call him baby

we're not talking lately

don't you call him what you used to call me

you had just gotten engaged. 

you were getting married to someone else. 

you were going to marry someone who wasn't him. 

the two of you had been separated for two years now, having gone your own ways after a tactless late night in january. 

fearing the possibility of rejection, mason had held off on any efforts towards a reconciliation and now it was his biggest regret. 

having a strenuous time accepting the news that declan had announced over the phone, mason had wondered if his childhood best friend could hear his heart fracture over the phone, if he heard the subtle gasp. 

mason didn’t want to cloud his brains with thoughts of you and your new fiance. he didn’t want to think about how you were probably calling him baby, a term of endearment you had used to speak to him.

i, i confess i can tell that you are at your best

i'm selfish so i'm hating it

i noticed that there's a piece of you in how i dress

take it as a compliment

mason wasn’t exactly thrilled when he caught wind of the official engagement announcement. he still followed your mum on social media, and she didn’t shy away from posting her daughter’s recent engagement. 

you looked blissful as you stared up at your fiancé with love struck eyes, the biggest smile was painted on your lips as you held your left hand up to the camera. 

mason wasn’t impressed with the size of your engagement ring like most people who commented were. it looked as if it was weighing down your ring finger and it wasn’t even your style, you had enjoyed more of a simple antique look. he only knew of this because one night the two of you stayed up, hopelessly planning a wedding from the tiniest detail of what fabric the napkins would be to the color of the groomsmen’s ties. 

he knew he was being selfish when the idea of commenting on your mother’s post entered his head, mason knew your mom was you guys' number one supporter. he wondered if you knew she still called to check up on him whenever she got the chance, giving updates about you. 

mason tried to rack through his brain for any moment your mom had mentioned the new leading male role in your life, but he came up empty. 

only memory that stuck out to him was when your mom told him how there’s a piece of him in the way you dressed. her knowing when you wore old jumpers that had belonged to him. she told him to take it as a compliment that you didn’t toss them out, to take it as a sign.

i, i just miss

i just miss your accent and your friends

did you know I still talk to them?

does he take you walking round his parents' gallery?

the one thing mason missed most about you was your accent. he would always poke fun at how you would pronounce certain words. being originally from american, it took you a while to adjust to british slang. 

mason also missed your friends. 

he still occasionally talked to them, checking in here and there.

your best friend had invited him to her birthday party a few months back, hoping to bring you both to your senses when it came to recognizing the mutual pining between the two of you. she wanted mason to stop asking her if you had moved on from him, if you had missed him in the slightest. 

being a firm believer on girl code, she never told mason how sometimes when you had gotten dangerously drunk on a girl’s night out, she would have to force your cellular device out of your hand. you would whine about how you just wanted to hear mason’s voice, to tell him you still loved him, that you wanted to give you guys another try.

waking up the next morning, you had always thanked her for saving you a lifetime's worth of embarrassment. 

however, the reunion never came due to you canceling at the last minute. you told y/bf/n that thomas, your boyfriend turned fiancé, was taking you on a surprise date to his parent’s gallery in france. apologizing, you had promised her the two of you would celebrate when you came back into town. leaving her to care for a drunk mason, having drowned himself in alcohol when he found out you weren't going to be of attendance.

don't you call him baby

we're not talking lately

don't you call him what you used to call me

“mason, what are you doing here?” 

letting his heart lead for once instead of his head, mason found himself on your doorstep. 

he had gotten your address from your mum, telling her that he needed to right his wrongs, or he was going to spend the rest of his life regretting that he had not.

you stood in front, perplexed at the reality of him actually being there. doing a once over, you noticed how much he had changed in the last two years. his shoulders were broader, and he had let his facial hair grow out into a stubble.

he had looked amazing.

mason as well took the chance to check you out, taking in your current attire and his heart had summersaulted when he realized you were wearing an old jumper of his, your favorite if he remembered correctly. 

before he had the chance to speak, thomas had called out, asking you who was at the door at this time of night. 

“baby don't worry, it’s just the neighbor’s son. his just asking if we have seen his cat.” you lied, keeping the door at the perfect position so thomas couldn’t see mason properly. ushering for him to go back into the kitchen, you turned your attention back to mason. 

too absorbed in his jealous thoughts on how you called someone else baby, mason didn’t register that you had stepped outside to be with him. 

“mase, it's late and it's freezing. what are you doing here?” concern was washed over your entire face as you silently closed the door behind you.

mason bravely spoke.

“tell me that you love him. tell me that he is the only guy you can see yourself marrying. tell me that there is no chance in hell for us to rebuild what we had. tell me so i can move on.”

mason’s heart was beating a mile per minute. he had desperately hoped you couldn’t properly tell him that you truly loved your fiance, he wanted you to confess that thomas was just a placeholder until mason was able to grow up and be the man that you needed, that you deserved. 

you were stunned, mouthing gaping open like a fish out of water at his testimony.  

“mase, where’s all this coming from?” 

“tell me y/n and i’ll leave you alone.” mason pleaded, any once of self-respect thrown out the window as he begged you.

“I love him.” you whispered ever so gently. "now move on."

don't you call him baby

we're not talking lately

don't you call him what you used to call me

“stop, y/bf/n, i wanna talk to him! heeey, mmasseey boy. its you're pretty girl, y/n. I miss you, i miss you sooooo much. do you miss me? I hope you do. i’m getting married next week and if i’m being honest with myself i wish it was going to be you at the end of the aisle, not thomas. he is a great guy, don’t get me wrong but he isn’t you masey.  well y/bf/n is trying to get me off the phone so i gotta go beautiful boy, call me back when you get this. I looovvvveeee you byeee.” 

“If you would like to repeat this message please press one.” 

[fanfic-for-multifandoms]

Our Plans May Change But Our Hearts Remain {Nick Folio x reader}

First Bad Omens fic!

Warnings: Angst that turns a into a bit of fluff at the end. 

Nick folio x Female reader

It had been years since Nick had seen the only girl he'd ever truly loved.

He had no idea what she would think when she saw him. After all, he had left her with no explanation, he left without ever saying goodbye. They were seventeen when he joined Bad Omens. They had plans. She knew he loved music but never thought he'd up and leave her without a word, but neither of them ever forgot about the other. They never forgot the love they had for each other. Even their parents knew they'd eventually find each other again.

No matter how much he thought of her, he could never bring himself to send her a message. The guilt of just up and leaving her was too much, but he knew he couldn't tell her he was leaving because one "stay" from her mouth, and he knew he would never be able to get on that flight. He hated leaving her like that, but he didn't even know how to say goodbye. How do you tell the love of your life that you are leaving and won't see them for a long time? He knew she listened to his band. She still followed him on every social media account. But he could never bring himself to message her.

He still remembered every little thing about her—the things she loved, the way she talked, all the little things she was so passionate about—he remembered the nights they would stay up late and talk about music and how they wanted to travel the world together. No matter how many people he met or how many girls he found, none of them could compare to her, and she felt the same even now when they are both musicians only in two different places in their careers—her band just starting to take off and his none stop touring.

She still loved him even all this time later. She never got the closer she wanted, the closer she needed. All she knew was that he had taken off. She loved her job, but doing it reminded her of all the promises Nick had made her when they were seventeen: how they were going to be famous and travel the world, or how he was going to marry her and they would be together forever. She always wanted to message him just to see if he would respond, but knowing his busy schedule, he probably wouldn't even have a chance to look at it, but it was worth a shot. She didn't know if he was in his hometown or even if he would want to go, but her band was playing their first sold-out show, and she wanted him there.

 She knew it was a long shot, but she sent the message anyway: "Hey, idk if you are in town or not, but my band is playing our first sold-out show, and they told me I could invite however many people I wanted, and I thought it would be nice to have my childhood best friend there. If you can't make it, that's understandable, but it would be nice if you were there." After she sent him that message, she put her phone down and left it in a different room. She was so nervous about his response that she couldn't even look at her phone.

A few hours later, she picked up her phone to call her best friend and saw a message back from Nick, and her heart stopped. She took a moment to read it. "Hey, I would love to be there; my only question is if I'm allowed to bring some people with me." She was so relieved to see he actually even saw her message. She hadn't talked to him in 5 years and thought he wouldn't want to talk to her at all, but here she is having a conversation with him, even if it's small.

After talking back and forth about the show and her band, she decided to go to bed. The show was in a couple of days, so she decided to take the next few days leading up to chill and go into town. She was hanging out in her house and about to leave when she got a message from Nick asking if they could meet up before the show if she was in town. After talking for a bit, they decided to meet up at a restaurant not far from where she was staying. To say she was nervous was an understatement, but she powered through her drive there.

As she pulled into the parking lot, she saw Nick standing outside. He really hadn't changed that much. She still saw the boy she fell in love with years ago. His hair was different, but aside from that, he was still the same. He greeted her with a hug. Something she wasn't really expecting but was more than happy to receive. They went inside and took a seat in one of the booths. They were facing each other; it reminded her of the dates they used to go on as teenagers. He would always sit across from her and hold her hand under the table. It made her a bit sad. She didn't know much about him anymore. She didn't know if he had a girlfriend or what his favorite color was. It used to be blue, but she doubted it was still that. 

After the waitress came over and got their drink order, they started talking. "So, how's life?" Nick asked her, "Pretty good? Me and my band have worked hard to get to this point, and I'm pretty glad our first sold-out show could be in our hometown. How about you?" She looked him in the eyes for the first time. She always loved his eyes, and one look from him made her knees weak. "It's been good. I never thought we would get to this point; we just headlined our first tour. I never knew you wanted to be a metal vocalist. I always knew you would play guitar but never thought you'd be a lead vocalist." "I never planned on it, but sometimes plans change. Our first vocalist quit, and I had been doing the backup vocals, and the rest of the band thought it would be good if I just started doing lead. I never thought I could do it, but here we are. I didn't know you listened to my band.”

"Of course I do; why wouldn't I?" He questions, "I don't know. Anyway, you've got a girlfriend or something?" She asks, hoping the answer is no. No, I tried that but couldn't bring myself to stop loving you." He looks down as he speaks as if ashamed. "Then why did you leave if you loved so much?" she murmured, now finally feeling the anger over what he had done. "Because I knew if I came to you, I wouldn't be able to leave," he explained. "Is that supposed to make me feel better? I spent years thinking you hated me when you first left. I couldn't get out of bed for a week. I couldn't understand what I did wrong. I wouldn't have asked you to stay. I know that music is your passion. Why would I have stopped you from that?"

He looked away from her as she ranted, not wanting to look her in the eyes until she said one thing that made his heart stop: "I still love you." He looked at her, finally meeting her eyes. "I never stopped. I couldn't even bring myself to hate you after you left." She started tearing up. Her voice was begining to break. She looked down as Nick began to speak. "I never stopped loving you either. Every day I regret leaving you. I don't even know why I thought it was better to leave without seeing you than to tell you what had happened. She cut him off to say, "I had to find out from your mom." She speaks quietly, "I know, and I'm so fucking sorry. I hate that I did that." "Then why didn't you reach out?" She says, "I was ashamed. I lost the love of my life by my own doing." She doesn't speak much more after that. They finish their lunch, and as they are leaving, he walks with her to her car and says, "I want you to know I truly do regret my decision every fucking day."

"I miss my best friend." She speaks, looking at the ground, not wanting to face him: "I miss you too; I don’t want to keep living without you." He is hesitant, but he reaches out without one hand and lifts her face to look at him. She looks him in the eyes and starts to tear up again. "I don't want to keep living without you." He wiped away the tears that were now falling down her face, trying not to tear up himself."I don't either," she whispered. They stand for a moment, just looking into each other's eyes.

She reaches out and intertwines their hands before leaning in and kissing him. Realizing she still feels the same way about him as she did five years ago, she pulls back. "I'm sorry," she says, looking down at the ground again. "Don't be. If you hadn't done that, I was going to." He steps closer to her leaving her back pressed against her car and leans in to kisses her as she wraps her arms around his neck. He kisses her as if he is making up for all the years he's been away from her, finally pulling back to catch their breath. "Where are you staying?" he asks her.

A/N

Part 2?? I quite enjoyed writing this so if yall want a part 2 lmk

As always feedback is welcomed so if there is anything I can work on lmk

[heavyhitterheaux]

Unpretty

First Lady of Private Garden Fic Preview

“Hey, long time, no see. Remember me?”

“Oh hell no.” You heard Urban mutter under his breath and quickly rolled his eyes.

“Kara?” Jack said while looking at her unimpressed.

He had told you that the two of them had dated for three months before the two of you had met and you knew ever since Jack had asked for you to be his girlfriend that she was jealous.

Dirty looks at you in the hallway

Rolling her eyes if you spoke up in class

Even almost trying to get you hurt when the both of you were practicing a new routine after school being as you both were on the cheerleading squad

She had it out for you and all of PG knew it

However, she didn’t dare step to you to say anything during your high school days because of your reputation and you knowing how to fight.

This was no different as Jack turned towards you and seeing you look unfazed. 

“The one and only. I just can’t believe the two of you lasted this long and are still together.”

Here comes the eye rolls and dirty looks.

“Why wouldn’t you think that we would be?”

“I mean? You kind of lowered your standards.”

You remained quiet as Jack began to get a pissed off look on your face.

But, you kept your cool knowing that your husband would always protect you and defend you.

“Excuse me? Lowered my standards how? If anything they got higher because she was definitely an upgrade from you.”

You immediately snorted and stifled a laugh and Kara cut her eyes at you.

“I guess that’s what I would expect from someone who is a nig-”

Jack immediately cut her off with her not being able to finish her sentence and for once in your life you were speechless.

“You can remove yourself from me and my wife’s presence. One thing I’m not tolerating is you disrespecting her or our marriage. Safe to say you still haven’t changed.”

“I just call it like I see it.” She shrugged as she smiled towards the both of you.

Kara walked away without another word and it was quiet for a few minutes because everyone was taking in the fact what she was about to say.

However, this was nothing new to you.

You knew racism was alive and well and that some people would never accept the fact that there are people who have a different skin color than they do.

You saw the comments under your posts on social media and did your best to ignore them.

One thing you avoided as telling your husband and wanted to keep it that way for as long as you could.

When you first laid eyes on Jack when you were fourteen, your first thought besides the one thought of him being cute with his glasses and blue eyes was if he liked black girls.

That was something that went through every black girls mind if they liked someone.

No matter what his race was.

The most disrespected woman in America or the world rather was the black woman.

You admit that at times you did get insecure thinking that Jack would be better off being with someone who shares the same race as him, but you would quickly push it to the back of your mind.

He loved you and only you

And that was never going to change

“Did she really just try to say that shit out of her mouth and expect for us to let her get away with it?” Urban asked as he looked over at you and checking if you were okay.

“She was always acted like an asshole. Anyway, you okay, mamas?” Jack asked while looking down at you and bringing you into a hug which you immediately accepted.

“I’m okay.” You quietly answered before Jack lifted up your chin to look up at him and kissing you.

Only you weren’t okay, not at all.

It was only so much you could take and the dam finally broke.

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[sapphyreopal5]

Did you see a certain someone deleted her instagram account? Why do that if you’ve got nothing to hide?

Hello Anon thank you for the ask. Yes, I did see she truly temporarily deactivated her account for a few hours last week. I see you sent this ask in last week about an hour after I myself was told by someone that her profile can't be found (and I myself couldn't either). At first glance with the last post she created, it sounds like she decided to leave her account up but to consider it deactivated. She claimed she will only leave her IG up so people can read that post and left a few other posts up. The post also claims she showed up to her makeover that day crying from all of the Megyn Kelly statement and following criticism of her looks. However, upon closer inspection, assuming the "after" photo Megyn used in talking about the said plastic surgeries she's had, it is in fact from the day she got that same makeover with the heavy contouring. This to me implies she was upset about other things before she got this makeover. "I got my makeup done that day and it involves major contouring and I remember leaving and feeling pretty. And even that day was an immensely stressful day for me. I came running to these girls and I showed up in tears after what happened that day and I left feeling better because I felt like they had reduced my lack of sleep and worked their magic wands. I saw the comments, scathing enough to just turn off my comments." For reference, here is the video clip where Megyn Kelly made the remarks alleging Erin has had some work done.

Also earlier in this same post she stated "I had no idea what was going on, to be honest, because I've had one of the most challenging weeks of my life". She certainly implied there were other things going on that week prior to people making more criticisms over her looks. As for what upset her before the makeover, I believe that based on a post I saw about a couple weeks or so ago in her story, her new puppy got sick as at least part of why she was upset and sleep deprived. In 2 of 3 bullet points in this story, she said f*ck you to people who don't clean up after their dogs. I unfortunately don't have the screenshot of this, as I recently cleared my phone out some.

Now, as for whether Megyn was lying or not.... Just a couple days ago Daily Mail wrote an article showing her walking her dogs with a "natural complexion" (which I by the way disagree with the author that she was makeup free here). This last post of hers stated what Megyn said was false news. Looking at the most recent photos of her from that Daily Mail story and then also some from just a few months ago, I do notice quite a bit of a difference between her looks as of a couple weeks ago versus a few months ago. Whether she simply lost a lot of weight from stress or if she really doesn't want to admit she's had work done is up to you to decide. One cannot deny that she looks a good bit different from how she did 10 years ago. I believe it can logically be said that Megyn's remarks simply are what made the water boil over. I will certainly say this too. I saw some of the comments on her last post and one user made a good point: deleting all of her most recent photos off her Instagram certainly helps her case none whatsoever, and in my opinion just fueled the fire even more.

She has a very interesting history when it comes to her social media page and the posts she makes, deleting posts, clearing out pages she follows, etc. I know at one point based on what her Socialblade analysis said, she removed 68 posts and unfollowed 207 out of 605 pages sometime between 9/25 and 9/28 from her profile (talk about scrubbing). I remember a post she made on 1/18 that said "your “wyd” hour is my “sit back & watch the red flags fly” hour" she deleted on 1/23. Again, I removed some of my screenshots from my phone and didn't capture it on my desktop but it still shows up in Google searches as seen in the link above so it did once exist.

And no, not everything shows up on archive websites as this article here discusses particularly with Instagram having more strict privacy policies and sometimes Instagram will straight up deny permission to archive posts to archiving software and websites, such as Wayback Machine.

When she reactivated her profile, she went from having 194 media to just now 11. Of course, she's also deleted other posts she's made in the past usually within a few weeks after made but during her last scrubbing she removed some that were more than a year old.

She's also turned off comments on her posts multiple times in the past. As for why she does not have a social media manager, I couldn't say for sure (although some have said in the past she doesn't have the means to hire one). It's also interesting to note that she followed 1 new page yesterday on her so called "deactivated" Instagram account. As the Daily Mail author of their latest story on her appearing in LA walking her dogs said, she was clearly glued to her phone when she was out. I would say she made it a point to be seen "makeup free" by the paparazzi after what Megyn said about her but that's just me speculating...

I say this with respect and out of concern for her well-being. As someone who has educational and work background in healthcare and even psychology, I have reasons to believe that she has some mental health issues she needs to get addressed and that's 100% okay. Anyone who says they don't have something going on in this crazy world is frankly a liar. However, I definitely do think that she had a very dramatic reaction to Megyn Kelly's statements about her. She could've simply pointed out how Megyn used a decade old photo but incorrectly calling it a year old. This would've effectively made Megyn Kelly look like an idiot and could've just left it at that. Deleting all of her most recent photos merely fueled the fire in my opinion as I said earlier in this post.

I believe she made this last post/public statement to Megyn Kelly as a cry for help and yes in that, for attention. She made another story late last night that says thank you to the people who are sharing their stories and that she wants to hear what others have to say. She's probably a very sweet girl like those who have met her at conventions have said but fact is, she is certainly very sensitive and I question if her skin is thick enough to last in the entertainment industry. Time will tell of course but the reality is, no matter who you are in the show biz people will always have unrealistic expectations of your looks and you will always have critics (some more than others).

Thank you for the ask Anon.

[ivalice-tifalucis]

Jason.

Suddenly I want to talk about Jason (it's a very long talk).

I realize I never talk about this here, but I often compare him to Queen's John Deacon. There are few similarities. The "silent" one, the underrated one, the one who prefer tea when the others would prefer wine, the one whose lyrics always about life, the dark horse, the one who is not confident with singing, the one who left the band and never be seen again.

The thing about John Deacon is that I never feel sort of bereaved, longing, or sad that he is no longer in Queen. I am a Queen fan since I could barely speak english thanks to my dad and the moment I learn that he left Queen so many years ago I was like that's ok. That's because even though Brian and Roger are the spine of Queen, the heart and soul will always be with Freddie and Freddie died 32 years ago. New fans had their hard time accepting it when they searched for Deacy but they quickly realized time has gone long and he has been living a peaceful private life. It's easy for us to let go of Deacy, because Queen regardless how good Adam Lambert is now, is over the moment Freddie died. There are no what ifs when talking about Deacy leaving Queen and public life. His statement is also clear and undeniable that he left because he thought there should be no more Queen after Freddie.

But the thing about Jason Orange is that he left at the height of Take That fandom. They just had Robbie back and they released Progress and it was very very success album and tour too. Three years later, people expect something but Robbie's not coming back and so did Jason. It feels anticlimactic for fans even though it may not be for him. There are no impromptu. Unlike the rest of the members, Jason doesn't have social media but he also didn't do or say anything leading up to that day in 2014. Take That was perfectly fine ship and suddenly one of their longest standing member at that time jumped the ship without lifeboat that could help him return. He swam to the nearest island and not planning to swim back to the ship ever again. Sure he made a statement through Take That's PR but it's just a thank yous. Something is not told and as fans we left to wonder why did he leave. What had gone wrong in the background??

Toxic fans would often like to think it's because of Robbie because Jason didn't like Rob in the 90s and, while often written off in newer documentaries or autobiographies, was the one who propagated to kick Robbie Williams out of Take That (as stated by the man himself in Look Back, Don't Stare). It's easy to make Robbie Williams a scapegoat, isn't it? However, Jason himself said back in Progress era that Robbie came back to Take That was the final piece of puzzle. Gary in his book A Better Me also said that Jason always wanted Robbie to return and felt like his job is done when he got to see all his boyband friends in the same room again.

However, it still doesn't answer the question to why did he leave? I have a habit of wondering over unimportant things and sometimes, especially now, my mind wonder about Jason and why exactly did he leave. I have some theories, it might not satisfy you but bare with me.

Here's a gif of Jason so you won't get too tired reading this post lol

First theory: tax evasion scandal. I'm not gonna pretend to be a foolish fan and not know that sometimes in 2014, Take That faced a huge backlash thanks to this scandal. Those annoying 40-50 something British guy who love to make this tax evader joke to state they never like Take That to look manly can never escape me every time I go around social media about Take That. Even though it rarely talked about among Thatters, I feel like if they are not known more now than they are a decade ago it's because this scandal still affecting them in the eyes of UK public, who are their major target market. I could also argue if only they make another big break this scandal will be gone from people's mind but sad to say they haven't done anything bigger than Progress even until now, not that I don't like III, Wonderland, and This Life, I do. But me and all of you (roughly 30 people around here) and I'd estimate less than 2 millions most royal Thatters out there who are interested are not enough. Back to the tax scandal, it is a fact that Gary, Mark, and Howard are part of the scandal but not Jason because his finance always managed by his twin brother, so I heard. I wonder whatever went behind the scene could might affect Jason's decision to leave.

Why? Because if it is true that he left because Progress is enough, he could have stated he would be leaving since after Progress or any time between 2012 to early 2014. Why did he have to wait and drag this for too long? Also, I wonder if this is why they are so sensitive about Jason leaving at first. Remember in Robbie's autobiography when they were really angry at Rob for accidentally blurted it that Jason would leave before official statement?

Second theory: anxiety, illness, physical problem or other health problems. I often wonder about this too. Progress era is the ultimate era especially for old school Thatters (lol sorry to the actual ultimate era). Who would have thought that "I'm rich beyond my wildest dream", the greatest britpop star living in private mansion in Beverly Hills with around 10 entourages including his gf, Robbie Williams, could ever reunited with Take That? I can only look this like history book and only recently realized how crazy it is. It happened. In his Netflix documentary, even his management didn't believe this that he'd rather earn so little yet did so much effort for Take That rather than earning another hundreds of millions of dollar doing another solo tour. But it happened, he needed it, the rest of Take That needed it, and we're glad it happened. And then, imagine Never Forget. One of the best Take That song ever, made in 1995 but released when Rob had left, so before 2010 this song had never been performed by Robbie Williams. The moment that all Thatters had been waiting for, to see all five members of Take That perform this song life, without others backing the others, as the original single intended. The only era where they can do this, and it only ever happened once (1). And then Jason...

And then they never did it again. Throughout Progress live tour, Jason didn't sing a single note by solo. His part in Never Forget was covered by Gary. You could even argue that his mic was never on during any of Progress live performances and I would believe you. So much downgrade than The Circus Live where he did an entire section singing two songs with his guitar. What was going on??

Why? He stated few times he was never confident in singing. Even Nigel Martin Smith berating him in the 90s for being the one with the worse singing voice (arguable though because he actually has decent voice). I'm glad Take Two era gave him the confidence to try albeit shyly. However, maybe eventually his anxiety won sometimes between 2012 to 2014. Plus the fact that we know he can't do breakdance forever. He was in his 40s at that time. Even current Take That dance lesser and lesser than they were in previous era. Maybe Jason thought there should not be more dancing in Take That. Maybe he thought his body would no longer able to. Maybe he's not strong as he used to be. He's ill? Idk, only Jason knows.

Third theory: settling down in private. It could be just my headcanon but think about it. We always joke he might as well marry to the bench because he's always photographed alone in his own thoughts. Some people even randomly thinking is he gay? He has that swag though, but I don't think at least he himself think that he's gay(?).

Lol this iconic pic

But what we never talk about is that he did have girlfriends in the past. He has been photographed by paparazzi in the past with "mystery" women (yes women as in plural) which I will not share here. He had a public relationship with Catherine Tate after all.

I genuinely think Jason is the kind who would drop everything to keep his family safe from public. This is after all the same guy who despite the height of his career barely show his family to the public, except his mom probably, but then again all TT moms always have media presence since day 1. Being in kdrama fandom and see korean actors and actresses who literally just dropped their career for their family and their privacy, I can see Jason would do just like that. Why not? He has achieved and experienced everything there is to know about being a celebrity. He doesn't feel the need to. And I feel like his relationship with Catherine Tate, since she also a public figure, was so gobbled down by media that maybe he thought this isn't right to have people judging his partner. If one day Jason appear with a wife and a child, I won't be surprised at all. I would be exploding in happiness that this theory is correct though.

Also I'm happy to see Catherine Tate returns to Doctor Who with David Tennant. I just know then that she actually is known for being in Doctor Who. I had no idea who is she outside being in Happy Now music video 😂

My theory outside Jason leaving:

Take That (and their management) know where and how Jason is (to some extent). In the interviews often Gary, Mark, and Howard would be asked about Jason to which they would say they didn't contact him for ages. Or joke that they tried to email him but then maybe he only have flip phones and doesn't even have a computer to answer the email. Look, he can be a hermit but man living in first world country and doesn't have even a smartphone to answer email in 21st century is ridiculous. I believe they still talk or see each other once in a while, especially with Howard, who tweeted that he met Jason in 2018. Hell, I feel like even Rob has seen Jason at least once between 2014 to now. I don't know, just a hunch.

His privacy is protected by Take That management and also by most of public. Continuation from previous bullet point. Yes. Because do you remember when there was George Michael's art auction in Manchester and some celebrities who came there are photographed clearly. But not Jason. It's hard to find that picture again but I found it and that's just the only the bigfoot sightings of Jason Orange that I know of because it happened after I know Take That deep enough. Between 2014 to 2017, how many sightings that I didn't know? Where if other celeb would have crystal clear pictures taken but not him on the same occasion? I wonder. Also many people claimed that they met Jason in public space in around London or Manchester, but mostly Manchester. So he is not as hermit as they would like you to think. Maybe if you go around there and if you just lucky, you might come across a wild Jason Orange.

Goddammit this guy.

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At the end of this post, thank you for reading this until this part, guys. I really miss Jason like all of you. He is truly an enigma but no matter what would always have special place in every Thatters' heart. Awww...I cringe a little when I wrote that.

Regardless my theory, I can only wish he lives a good and happy life. If you have something to say, you can also add here in the reblog or reply, or dm me, let's chat.

Also I put all Jason sightings on my tumblr with this tag called The Bigfoot Sightings of Jason Orange (because he is as blurry as bigfoot sightings).

[khaire-traveler]

I just stumbled upon your blog a few days ago and absolutely love it! I hope your days get better, I'll be sending good energy your way :3

Question: How did you first get into paganism? (If its a personal story, no worries!) I got started by getting really into mythology and then it just blossomed into way more than that

Thank you for the well wishes! I'm feeling better today. 🧡

My answer is way longer than I intended it to be, so I'm adding a "read more". Apologies in advance, but thank you to anyone who decides to read it. XD

I'm more than ok answering that question! Honestly, I wasn't really interested in paganism at all for a while. I was open to it, but it wasn't on my radar. I had just left Christianity about five or six months prior, given Wicca a chance to discover I didn't vibe with it, and decided I would remain agnostic while practicing witchcraft instead. I honestly wasn't even sure if any deities existed at all at that point and didn't really have faith in anything (which I've since discovered is a necessity for me). I was also in a pretty bad place mentally and emotionally at that time.

Without warning, I started receiving strange dreams that featured Greek gods. I had literally never known anything about Greek mythology beforehand aside from Persephone's kidnapping and whatever was going on in Disney's Hercules, so having dreams about Greek gods was very strange for me. I decided to look into it further since the dream contained a lot of symbolism I honestly couldn't decipher. I spoke to the one and only pagan I knew at the time - a follower of some other Greek gods.

Now, this person sucked a lot and decided that it'd be a great idea to tell me that my dream either meant that Hermes was reaching out to me, there was some spirit haunting me, or I was going to DIE soon!?!?!?! Like, seriously, who says that to someone with literally no experience in anything pagan related???? Anywho, the first option was the actual truth.

For the next three weeks after that dream, I was in HEAVY denial that a god would ever be interested in having anything to do with me. Instead, I focused on the more pessimistic outcomes the asshole person suggested.

However, Lord Hermes was absolutely not just going to throw up his hands and walk off into the sunset. No, quite the contrary! He spammed the shit out of me with sign after sign after sign, and I continued to dismiss them, although I was getting increasingly more hopeful because I had read up on him and thought he was really cool. I remember saying aloud to myself while reading his cattle myth, "Now THIS is a god I would want to worship!"

Despite all the signs I was being sent, I kept eventually dismissing it as coincidence or a weird one-off event. Until one day, I went into my kitchen to start my day, and in the backyard, the entire ground was covered by a massive flock of black birds. They were even sitting on the fence because there was no room on the ground! They were literally everywhere; I had never seen that in all my years of living in that house, and I had never seen it again. As soon as I saw them, they immediately flew away, and Hermes' name randomly popped into my head.

I obviously couldn't ignore that.

Within the next few days, I tried my best to research everything about paganism and deity worship that I could. I tried reaching out to my shitty pagan friend, and she did give me some helpful pointers but mostly left me on my own. Weirdly, I couldn't find a lot of information on worshipping Hermes at that time. I barely had any social media (I didn't have a Tumblr yet and had never used it prior), so I wasn't sure who to ask for good research options. I tried the Hellenic Polytheism Reddit and was told to "just search it up". The reason I try to answer asks sent to me is partially because of the extremely unwelcoming people I came across in that community. I'm not sure if they've changed since then, as it's been several years, but I sure fucking hope they did, god damn.

Anyway, I often felt a presence "looking over my shoulder" whenever I'd research the topic. It honestly freaked me out a bit because I hadn't ever experienced that kind of thing so strongly before outside of some one-off experiences. I finally decided to put together a small display of offerings. I used a tealight candle and gave him quite a few trinkets I had gained over my travels. As I lit the candle, I started writing a letter to Hermes because I wasn't comfortable praying yet. The entire time, it felt as if someone was looking over my shoulder and watching me write. It was freaky at first but grew comforting over time.

I had asked Lord Hermes for help adopting a specific cat that I wanted to train to be a service animal. The cat was already used to walking on a leash and was a few years old (I didn't want a kitten at the time). I told him that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to adopt him because the adoption center seemed weirdly hell-bent on not allowing me to adopt him, despite the fact that he had been stuck there for a year already. I was financially stable enough to take care of him and could even prove it, but they were extremely unfriendly with me for whatever reason. I asked him if he could please ensure the adoption, as I had sent a message to the center earlier in the day and was hoping for a reply.

Well, I woke up the next day, and the cat had apparently been adopted by someone else, despite there being no mention of anyone else with an interest in him to me. I was crushed by this, but my mom came running into the room to tell me to get dressed and that we were getting a cat. I was super confused, obviously, but she told me that someone she had reached out to last night about literally the only other Siamese cat she could find in the state (needed that breed specifically due to cat allergies in the household) and had confirmed we could pick up the cat. The cat was professionally bred and would come with all his toys, a cat tree, all his food, and his litterbox. Instead of being $2,000 as the owner had originally bought him for, he was $500. Thankfully, we were in a place that we could make that payment.

The only downside for me was how young the cat was. He was six months old. I decided to push that aside and meet him in person. He immediately loved me. He purred loudly and rubbed against me specifically. He barely even interacted with any of the other four people in the room; it was like he already wanted to be my best friend. I can't describe how wonderful that felt for me.

Suffice to say, we brought him home lol. On the way home, we passed a sign I had never seen in the city before. "Hermés", the brand, but I took as a very literal sign that my letter had been received.

Since then, I've been worshipping Lord Hermes! He means a great deal to me and has helped me through some extremely difficult times these past four years. He introduced me to many more deities, and over time, I found myself becoming a Hellenic Polytheist rather than a Hellenic Pagan. I'm happier with my religion than I've ever been, and I'm certain that I made the right choice that afternoon that I lit a tealight candle and wrote a letter.

Thank you for asking and reading this long ass answer lol. Sorry for any typos; I decided not to proof read it. I'm glad you found happiness in the pagan path as well! Take care, and have a wonderful day/night. 🧡