#i am team brunette btw!!!!!

[flanneryculp]

[wileys-russo]

r is a (new) worker in a cafe leah is a regular in. one day leah comes in with a few friends and some fans rush towards them trying to take photos or autographs. eventually the pile of people just kinda grow and block the entry . r sees this and shoos the group of people off for blocking the entrance. and leah is just there standing with that signature smirk admiring this girl who she's never seen before that's just saved her and her friends some time when leah is ordering she talks to r, thanking them for shooing the people off. (+ some teasing and friendly banter and stuff ) they have a small talk before leah's order comes in and she goes back to the table her and her friends in. before leah and her friends leave the musters up the courage to talk to you one more time, asking for your name, your number anything she could use to know you better. r teases leah and says something like "if i call you am i gonna just be 'one of your girls'?" something among those lines. sorry if this is a bit boring but i tried. i love your work btw keep it up!! you're doing amazing🙏

no p2 to this! just a cute little blurb one of your girls II l.williamson

"-and obviously you know how this works?" evelyn, your new boss, chuckled as she patted the top of the large espresso machine. "i certainly hope so." you grinned toothily, the older girl still walking you through it all quickly anyway.

"well, thats the tour over then. jobs yours!"

~

you survived your first few days unscathed, your work ethic and natural confident charm had you well liked among your coworkers and earned you regular hours as customers were showering your coffee with compliments.

the small cafe wasn't overly busy of an afternoon so you found yourself rostered mostly on mornings which you didn't mind, happy to start around five if it meant you could be home not long after lunch time and have the rest of your day as your own.

being one of the only cafe's on the street meant you had a large handful of repeat customers, and with your memory one of your best assets you knew most if not all of their orders off by heart by the end of your first week.

which is why your curiosity was peaked one morning when a group of girls you hadn't seen before came bundling in around seven in the morning, all in matching uniforms you assumed they were on a team of sorts but sports had never been of a great interest to you.

when your friends and peers were running around kicking a football or playing tag you had your head buried in a book or challenging someone to a card game, you were quite introverted until your teenage years and it wasn't until you left school all together that you came completely out of your shell.

as they all took turns ordering you clocked that there was a handful of different nationalities among them, australian, irish, british and something european you couldn't quite place.

they were all friendly enough though, two of them a blonde and a brunette leaning against the counter speaking with you as you made their coffees with a smile, all ordered at once under the same name.

"so which one of you is katie?" you questioned with a quirk of your eyebrow, the brunette sending you a grin. "that would be me, haven't seen you round here before though. you new?" katie questioned, irish accent thick and the grin never dropping from her face.

"could say that. been here a little over a week though and never seen any of you." you smiled back, leaning your head back a little as you frothed the milk and moved the wand out, hot steam flooding your vision.

"ahh see this is our regular spot but we've been jetsettin. famous footballers and all that!" katie winked as you hummed and the blonde beside her rolled her eyes.

"ignore her, if her head and her ego get any bigger she won't fit through the door!" the blonde nodded behind her as you laughed and katie pushed her.

"ah shove off russo. see ya round then new kid!" katie winked again, grabbing one tray of drinks as the blonde grabbed the other and sent you a smile, the other girls following out after them.

surviving the morning rush not long after you were taking a well earned break and sipping at a coffee of your own though you stood as a group of teenagers burst inside, their chatter filling the previously quiet room.

plastering a smile on your face you slipped your coffee beneath the counter and readied yourself to take their orders. as they rattled them off almost all at the same time you did your best to put them through, only missing two as you read them back.

half the group taking a seat a few of the girls hovered by the machine as you moved to start their order, your coworker dipping out back to toast the sandwiches ordered alongside the drinks.

"do you ever get arsenal players in here?" one of them asked as you gave her an odd look. "i don't really watch sports much, sorry." you shrugged honestly, that answer seeming to displease her as she frowned.

"like arsenal women, the football team? any of these girls?" you flinched back a little as another one of them shoved a phone in your face, eyes narrowing as they roamed the team photo in front of you, recognizing a few of the girls with katie this morning.

though sensing maybe there was something a little off with the request, you again shrugged. "don't really remember sorry, we get a lot of people in here, especially on a tuesday morning." you smiled politely as again the girls frowned, turning away from you as you focused on filling their order.

"all done!" you smiled as you slipped the last coffee into the tray, rolling your eyes as they grabbed them and gave you a weird look, hurrying over to their table.

it wasn't hard to know you'd been mentioned once or twice in their conversation as heads frequently turned to glance at you and you pretended not to notice, suddenly feeling like you were back in high school again.

you perked up as the bell for the door rang and a new group entered, but your eyes flickered over to the girls already sat down, recognizing one of your new customers to be in the same uniform as katie and her friends.

sure enough the moment the girls noticed they were up to their feet, crowding around the footballer who smiled politely and took a few photos, but you could see in her eyes that her smile never made it all the way there.

it would seem word traveled fast as within a couple of minutes a second group of teenagers appeared and you watched the blondes polite smile turn to a frown and though you couldn't hear what she was saying, you could see it wasn't being listened to.

brushing your hands off on your apron you hurried around the counter and toward the front door. "hey! if you're not a current customer, out." you warned sternly, raising your voice at the group and nodding for the blonde footballer to step inside.

"i said current." you repeated, blocking the second group of teenagers from entering as the blonde and her friends made their way to the counter. "our friends are in there, we're with them." one of the girls pointed out.

"your friends were just leaving, since their drinks and food are finished." you nodded to the empty plates and discarded takeaway cups sat on the table they'd abandoned.

"you can't kick us out." the girl from earlier frowned with a scoff. "i'm not kicking you out, but we have every right to deny service to people who don't know how to act with respect." you raised an eyebrow.

"and harassing footballers who are just trying to get a coffee doesn't sound very respectful, does it? they're humans too, so how about giving them a little privacy. feel free not to come back!" you nodded for them to move on after that, ignoring the insults thrown your way as you closed the door and headed for the counter, your coworker already taking their orders.

"nicely done, talk about an attitude problem." the girl chuckled as she handed you the order slip, sending you a wink and ducking out back as you sighed with relief it didn't seem you'd be getting in any sort of trouble.

"hey, thank you for that." you looked up to meet a confident smile and a set of bright blue eyes looking back at you. "no problem, but does that happen a lot?" you asked with concern. "more than i want. especially in the last year since the euros!" the blonde sighed with a slight chuckle.

"not a big sports fan, you might need to elaborate on that." you admitted with a smile, the blonde raising an eyebrow with a surprised look. "you don't know who i am?" she questioned but seeing the look on your own face she clearly rethought it.

"jesus that sounded self-absorbed. let me try again, i'm leah!" she held her hand out with a grin, you shook it and introduced yourself back.

"so, you're new around here right? i come at least four times a week with the girls normally and i've not seen you. i'd have remembered!" leah leaned against the counter, confident smile plastered back on her face again.

"seems to be the common theme. let me guess, you've been out of town jetsetting?" you chuckled as leah gave you an odd look. "some of your teammates were here this morning, katie said the same thing." you revealed as leah hummed thoughtfully.

"also seemed to like to think of herself as a big famous footballer, but she wasn't shocked i didn't know her though." you teased as leah playfully rolled her eyes.

"how about i take you for dinner as an apology?" leah asked somewhat hopefully, even surprising herself with the forwardness of her request. "so i can be one of your adoring fangirls? thats cute. but i don't date customers, leah." you smiled, sliding over the tray of coffees

"did you see me order these? they're not under my name, technically i'm not a customer." the blonde smiled charmingly and you shook your head amused at her persistence.

"mm you're drinking them here though? customer." you smiled back, nodding to her friends who were already sat down at a table eating food.

"it was nice to meet you leah, i'm sure i'll see you around."

~

turns out, it was a lot sooner than you thought.

that afternoon to be exact as you were out walking your best friends dog, having agreed to babysit her precious fur baby while she was away at a wedding for a few days.

you watched with an amused smile as bear raced after his ball, laughing as he nearly fell over his paws, the poor puppy growing at a rate which he couldn't seem to keep up with.

you jumped in surprise as suddenly a dog sprinted through your legs in a flash of tan fur, taking off after bear as you heard a groan behind you. "bella! come here, sit, stay, heel! oh fuck whats the word again?" you looked up to see a flash of blonde dart past you next.

"bear!" you whistled noticing the new dog sniffing him curiously, the chocolate labs head whipping toward you as you whistled again and he took off toward you, the new dog following eagerly after him.

as bear dropped in a sit by your feet you squatted down and carefully grabbed the new dogs collar, the owner racing over toward you as you checked the tag, bella.

"well aren't you lovely." you smiled, scratching behind her ears as she licked your hand making you laugh. "bella! we do not lick strangers its impolite." you looked up with a smile which was wiped away as bella's owner looked down.

"wow are you stalking me? crazy fangirl." leah tutted with a smirk as she clipped bella's leash back on and you scoffed. "i'm sure you'd like to think so, but i haven't even given you enough thought to google your last name." you hit back as she gasped and held a hand to her chest, bear running off again as bella tried to follow with a whine.

"my poor ego, that hurt." leah sighed with a shake of her head as bear returned, dropping his ball at your feet as you clipped his own leash back and slipped the ball into your pocket.

"i'm sure it'll recover when the next adoring fan asks you for a selfie. maybe next time i'll leave you to the wolves and just do my job." you smiled, starting to walk off as leah was quick to fall into step with you.

"you mean you're not a security guard?" leah spoke with mock surprise as you hummed. "only a lowly barista." you pouted sarcastically, bear and bella also walking in step.

"might be in the wrong profession, you're proper scary." leah smirked poking at your arm as you pushed her gently, not missing the sarcasm in her tone at the obvious height difference between you both, the blonde easily two heads taller.

"didn't see you complaining about the coffee so i don't think i've missed my calling." you laughed as leah shook her head. "wouldn't know, i had the hot chocolate. not the best i've had!" the blonde shrugged as you scoffed.

"well if you can run on a football pitch like you can run your mouth i'm sure you're just as famous and successful as you think you are." you hit back though the smile on your face betrayed the false offence in your tone.

"oh even more so! best in the world." leah stated dead seriously as you both exchanged a glance and her face broke into a grin, bumping her shoulder into yours.

"well. we're not in your workplace so i'm not a customer, can i take you to dinner? i'd ask you out for coffee but i don't drink it and i'm sure you think you're just as good at making it as i know i am at football." leah smirked and despite the cockiness you could see just a flicker of nerves in her eyes as you both stopped walking for a moment.

"are all footballers this insufferably self absorbed?" you questioned with a raised eyebrow. "only the really really talented ones." leah grinned cheekily, beanie sitting lopsided on top of her head as you smiled.

"fine, dinner. so i guess i have to give you my number then lily." you pulled your phone from your pocket. "leah." the blonde corrected as you exchanged numbers.

"oh was it? just such a forgettable name and face." you shrugged, both of your walking resuming as leah hummed. "cute." the blonde retorted with a smirk and a shake of her head.

"i am. and by the end of dinner maybe i'll have humbled you just enough that i might tolerate a second date with...sorry was it lucy? layla? luna?" you pondered with a frown as leah shoved you with a grin.

"leah."

[sweettomyhoney]

personally i would love to read a fic where y/n catches an assault charge for fighting a reporter who said something outta line about her man lmao

𝕂𝕟𝕠𝕔𝕜𝕠𝕦𝕥- 𝕄𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕨.𝕋𝕜

𝙿𝚘𝚟: 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊 𝚛𝚞𝚍𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚠.

𝙰𝙽: 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝙼𝚛. 𝚃𝚔𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚞𝚔 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜.

Prof read is a no/ this is a long one

———————————————————

Matthew knew what type of woman he had on his hands from the day one. You were sweet, kindhearted and loving. You were the girl of his dreams and his family absolutely adored you. After all, you did have a temper that only a Tkachuk could love. You were a perfect match for Matthew.

On the other hand, you were a force to be reckoned with. If someone even dared to test your gangster you would give them exactly what they dished out. You were a very protective person, especially when it came to Matthew, or the people that you loved. You were not afraid to get your hands dirty if need be. And today was not the day for someone to want to get on your bad side.

Moving from Calgary to Florida was a huge transition for you and Matthew. But, the both of you knew as long as you had each other everything would be fine. Sadly, ever since you’ve gotten settled in the state it seems like the chaos had not stopped. From unpack, adjusting schedules, getting settled at work, time difference, dealing with new people, and Matthew traveling, it was overwhelming. Now, your main concern was making it through family media day.

Today was the first family day for Matthew with his new team. Since you are now Matthew‘s wife, that ment your day would be filled with nonstop interviews from different local media outlets.For the most part things went smooth, until your last interview with a reporter from a hockey podcast you were not familiar with.

You made your way to your designated interview room hoping to be joined by your husband. As you took your seat ,you were informed it was a solo interview due to Matthew needing to meet with the NHL Network. Then a older blonde women entered the room.

•“Mrs. Tkachuk! it is so nice to meet you.” She said with a smile.

• “Hello it’s nice to meet you too” You reply happily.

• “You are even more beautiful in person.” She said now shaking your hand.

•“I’m Carla. Media Manager for the Panthers and I wanted to introduce you to your interviewer today.” She continued.

Before you could even get a word in, a much younger brunette entered the room.

•“You’re the new WAG I need to interview right?” The brunette said coldly.

•“Yeah that is me, and my name is (y\n) btw.” You replied confused.

•“Not important we are here about Matthew anyway.” She replied with an eye roll

•“Matthew will not be joining us for this interview.” Carla introjected.

• “Great! Another interview with an air head.” The brunette muttered under her breath.

• “Excuse me?” You replied taken back.

• “ Well! I will leave y’all to it!” Carla said quickly before leaving the room.

• “This is going to be fun!” You said to yourself sarcastically.

You then made your way over to your designated seat. The camera crew made sure that your mic was on,and that the lighting was working for you. Once everything was good the interview started.

•“ 3.2.1… Action! ” The camera man counted down.

• “ Welcome back to the Hockey Babes Podcast! I am Brianna! Today I am joined with the new Mrs. Matthew Tkachuk!” The brown haired reporter said enthusiastically.

• “Oh so you have a name? Brianna is it?” You said with a smile.

• “Yes! That is me.” She replied with a hair flip.

• “But anyway! Let’s get into the questions shall we?” Briana said sharply.

• “ We shall.” You replied trying to play nice.

• “So (y/n) what is it like marrying into the most hated NHL family?” Brianna said with a smile.

•“ Excuse me? Hate is a strong word don’t you think?” You replied taken back.

• “ Well it’s not like you married into a truly classy family like the Nylander’s. The Tkachuk’s do have a reputation for being white trash.” She said with a laugh.

“Is this bitch for real?” You thought to yourself. What type of interviewer asks a question like that. You were trying so hard to keep your patience. Luckily, It was the last interview of the day. All you needed to do was get through this last thing, then you were back with your loving husband. You continued to answer the question as calmly as possible.

• “ I do understand that my husbands family has a reputation for playing rough. But, white trash is the last thing that they are. Also, if you were good at your job you would know what WE Tkachuk’s are pretty close to the Nylander’s . My husband was drafted the same year as Alex. Also, his former team mate Auston Matthews now plays on the same line and team as William. So, I am pretty sure if we weren’t classy we wouldn’t be as close as we are.” You said confidently.

•“ You keep telling yourself that.” She replied laughing it off

• “So how did you and Matthew meet exactly?” Brianna continued with a snarky grin.

• “It was after he was drafted. I work with nonprofit organizations with the goal to make sports accessible to everyone. I have worked with Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and Dicks Sporting Goods. I met Matthew when the Calgary Flames volunteered to work with at risk kids. I have been in love with him ever since.” You replied reminiscing on the very moment you knew Matt was the one. 

•“ How cute! Got to make up for the lack of talent he has somehow. Glad to see you have a working brain as well!” she said light heartedly.

•“ What do you mean by that?” You replied getting angrier by the second.

•“ I mean you are with the less successful brother. Brady is the youngest captain in the NHL. And tell me what exactly Matthew has accomplished?” She remarked doubling down on her rude comments.

“ You know what? I think this interview is over!” You said angrily as you stood to take off your mic.

“Aww…Did I make the Air Head mad?” Brianna said antagonizing you.

Before you could think, you lunged at her your fist connecting with her face. You grabbed her hair and pulled her out of her seat. You were full on twirling on this hoe.

• “YOU WANNA TALK SHIT LIKE A BITCH THEN IMMA DOG WALK YOU LIKE ONE!” you said dragging her across the floor.

• “ RIGHT BITCH! WRONG IDEA! DON’T EVER TRY TO BAD MOUTH MY FAMILY HOE!” You screamed as security and Matthew proceed to try a pull you two apart.

•“ Y/N IT’S OKAY! IT IS OKAY! YOU GOT HER! IT’S OKAY” you heard Matthew yell as he held you back from going at her again.

As Security dealt with Brianna, Matthew walked you to the medical room. You took a seat on the patient table. Matthew tried to calm you down as best as he could. You had a few scratches, so Matthew decided to find some things to clean you up. When you were calm enough, Matthew asked you what exactly happened.

•“ Baby what happened? Are you okay?” Matthew asked you wrapping his arms around you.

•“ NO! I am not okay! I just spent the last 45 minutes listening to my family be bad mouthed by a random podcast bitch.” You said brokenhearted.

• “ WHAT!” Matthew replied now upset at what he was hearing.

• “ YES! That bitch was talking about how the Tkachuk’s are white trash. How you are not successful cause you’re not a captain yet! And a bunch of other shit about my intelligence!” You told Matthew getting upset again.

• “ That is fucked up! I’ll take care of whatever bullshit comes next okay?You don’t have to worry about that. But,I want to make sure you are okay?” Matthew said concerned.

• “Well I just whooped her ass, so I guess I’m good” you said brushing your tears away.

• “ You did get her pretty good babe. Maybe you are a Tkachuk after all. I should take a few fights lessons from you. ” Matthew said cracking a grin.

• “ Matthew shut up!” You replied rolling your eyes.

• “ What? All I’m saying is that my father would definitely be proud of you.” Matthew replied causing you to crack a little smile.

• “ You think?” You asked looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

• “ I know for sure my little hot head.” Matthew continued leaning into kiss your forehead.

• “ Now you lay back and rest I’m going to sort this all out. Then we will be on our way home.” Matthew added giving you another forehead kiss.

• “ You don’t think I’ll have to deal with the police right?” You questioned him before he left the room.

• “ No way! The most that will happen is needing to pay a fine. Also you know I have a Fight Fine Fund. Triple F for short .” Matthew reassured you with a slight laugh.

• “It is the NHL after all.” You said laying your head down on the padded table.

Matthew managed to sort some things out for you. The most you had to pay was a fine of 8,000 bucks. This was a standard financial investment for Matthew. The man had 100k stocked for fines he might rack up during the season. Brianna on the other hand, was prohibited to conduct any future interviews with the Panthers. In the end, never mess with a woman who is in love with a man like Matthew Tkachuk. You will end up with your ass beat.

PS: I HOPE THIS DOSE YOUR REQUEST JUSTICE 😘💪

[amoebagrl]

“i wanna be the one you think about at night”

college au!abby anderson x hyper fem!reader

abby keeps seeing this cute girl all over campus, and when she goes to the first lecture in her new class she finally gets to talk to you!! ♡

warnings: none except for abby being whipped for 30 minutes straight

wc: 735

part one of two

an: my first fic on a new blog!! how exciting ♡ so sorry this is so bad, i’m a little nervous to write 😭 also this is alittle loser!abby oops! song is flaming hot cheetos by clairo!!

not proofread!

(basketball!abby created by the lovely @elsweetheart)

grunting, as she sets down her heavy backpack, she sees you standing in the doorway

you’re the mystery girl. her mystery girl.

you’re just walking into the class, anxiously searching for a familiar face when you lock eyes with her. you’d seen abby anderson before, i mean, she’s the captain of your university’s basketball team.

you quickly scanned the room, looking for anyone else you knew, but ultimately decided on taking a seat next to her.

“hi!” you quickly smile and wave, setting down your pink tote bag at the seat right next to hers.

“oh, um hey” she says, freaking out internally “you’re y/n right? i’m abby” she asks, smiling. “yeah, i am” you laugh “you play basketball here, right?” you question

“yeah- um i do. i’m the captain actually” she clears her throat. what. the hell. she knows me?!?? stay calm abby.

“cool! i’ve always wanted to see you guys play but just haven’t really gotten a chance” you admit, sheepishly, toying with the trim of your baby pink sweater

“i mean, we have a game tomorrow night… that’s if you want to come, of course” “really? i’d love to come!” you chirp

“if you’d want to go earlier i could- i could pick you up, like when i’m on my way… like you could watch us warm up and everything. it sounds boring so if you wouldn’t wanna-“ “yes! omg of course that sounds fun!” she freezes for a second, almost shocked at the fact that you’d even want to see her play

“really?” “yeah” you grin. she’s kind of cute you think to yourself

she stands there for a second, and then fumbles for her phone “can i have your number? so i could text you all the times and… stuff” “sure!” you pull out your phone, which has a baby blue case with little bunnies on it, “here” you take her phone, typing in your number and adding your name, with a little ‘♡’ after it

she hands you your phone back, with her contact now saved “so i’ll text you tomorrow, yeah?” “yeah!” you blush, and turn to take out your laptop

that whole afternoon, she stares at your contact in her phone, drafting about 101 texts she doesn’t dare send.

unbeknownst to her, you’re doing the exact same thing.

the next day your phone ‘dings’

abby: hey, is 4:30 alright? i have to get there earlier and stuff

you: yeah that’s perfect! :) this is my dorm btw

*1 attachment*

abby: i’ll see u then

you: see u!! ♡

a heart???? does that mean anything?? she thinks, mind racing.

you panic, checking the time. “ITS ALREADY NOON?? I NEED MORE TIME TO GET READY” you squeal, alerting your roommate, dina, who was in the middle of doing some homework

“oooo getting ready for who??” “you’ll never guess. not in a million years?” “who?!” ellie, dina’s girlfriend, asks sitting up from dina’s bed “um how long have you been here?” you ask the auburn haired girl, startled. “ummm too long. anyways who is it??” “abby anderson.” you say, quietly, almost in a whisper.

“abby… anderson?” she asks, brows furrowed. “yes… sorry els i know you hate her or whatever” you wince “hate is an understatement. did you know what she said to me in freshman gym??” “ellie, please” dina warns, clearly having heard this story plenty of times

“yeah fine” she shrugs, pulling the duvet back over her head.

“okay so where is she taking you??” dina asks, turning to face you. “well… to her game tonight. it’s not a date or anything!” you say, ignoring the brunettes eye roll “that’s very boring. anyways you should wear that new jean skirt you got last week” “i was thinking of wearing that! with what top though? the pink one? “that’s really flowy?” “yeah!” “and then the white sweater over it!”

“dina. you are literally my fairy godmother” she shrugs off your compliment, “i’m just that good” she brags.

you nervously sit on the edge of your bed in the shared dorm, as ellie and dina already made their way to some party

two sharp knocks on your door echo through the room and you quickly sit up and make your way over to the door, adjusting your purse on your shoulder and you turn the knob.

the door swings open, revealing the muscular blonde in front of you.

“wow.” she breaths out

reblog to help support your fav writers! 🫧

[somber-sapphic]

Hi!! Um so I just read your Carina DeLuca x Maya Bishop x Reader and now I’m opposed. Your writing got me into this ship and this show bahaha- and speaking of your writing I f*cking love it. Literally lights up my day/days whenever I read one of your posts and I get so excited ahaha so legitimately thank you🥲 if possible could you do another one of Carina DeLuca x Maya Bishop x Reader? Idrc about what prompt, just like a bad situation, to worse to better you know. If you don’t want to write for them I’d love to read another WandaNat x Reader🫣 (but if u really need a prompt something like insult to injury) thank you!

I hope you’re doing okay and it’s okay if you aren’t <3 and hopefully u are taking care of yourself. I’ve been reading ur fics for ages so if u ever need like a randoms imaginary shoulder to cry on I’ve got you ;) 🌸

Worse Alone

I am so, so sorry it took me so long to get to you 🌸! I can't express in words how much what you said means to me though, like (and I say this a lot, I know, but it's true) stuff like this truly gives me so much motivation. I love you so much and I will give you my imaginary shoulder any day that you need it. Btw, you don't have to sensor your swears unless you truly want to, I am the queen of obscenities <3

[[Summary]] Smoke and semi-working lungs don't go too well together. But you have a job to do. (marina x reader)

Word Count: 1.8k

-----

A five-hour blaze wasn’t something that anyone wanted to deal with, but it was something that you and your team knew how to deal with. Of course, it was dangerous for everyone around, but it was also thrilling. You all ran into fires for a reason, the eight of you were adrenaline junkies who felt the irresistible need to save lives. 

Every so often after a particularly rough day Maya, Carina, and you would just curl up together in bed, no one sleeping despite how exhausted the three of you would be. The brunette would alternate between stroking your hair and rubbing Maya’s back, cushioned in between the two of you as if she needed the pressure to prove to her that you both were safe. 

To call today a ‘rough day’ would be an understatement. Thankfully everyone had survived, but a young woman had been sent to Grey Sloan with severe burns, screaming about her baby. The baby, a severely annoyed two-year-old, was thankfully fine. The little boy had been distracted fairly quickly as the other paramedics checked him over, focusing on the stethoscope which he for some reason found absolutely fascinating. 

His mother was rushed to the burn unit but from what you and everyone else knew she was holding strong and the boy's other mom was taking care of him. That wasn’t the worst part though. The worst part was that your body was utterly pissed with you for deciding to treat it so badly and it was taking it out on you at the worst possible time. 

You had done the best that you could when it came to fighting the blaze, resisting the urge to attach yourself to an oxygen tank even when you were outside of the house, away from the smoke. Entering the house was an atrocious idea, but your girlfriend was in there. You had ignored Andy’s orders and raced to rescue the woman you loved.

The blonde knew that you weren’t feeling very well, she had heard you coughing in the bathroom before the call had come in and had tried to convince you to go home. Then of course the alarm sounded and there was nothing that either of you could do. Sure you wanted to be anywhere but inside a burning building with your lungs already starved for oxygen, but it wasn’t like you had much of a choice. 

Maya was fine, momentarily hindered when a piece of the roof collapsed leaving her needing to find a new way to get herself out. You had helped despite her protests that she could do it on her own and that you needed to leave. Instead of doing what she asked of you, you took the time to help her get out, working strategically and quickly around the debris. 

You made it through without passing out even a little bit and the fire was finally extinguished. When you got outside you pulled your helmet off and half stumbled over to Ben in search of oxygen. He noticed your struggle and passed over a mask, asking repeatedly if you were okay as you sat down on the bumper of the Aid Car, your gear practically pulling you down. Gravity was not working in your favor. 

“Y/n, let me take your jacket off,” Ben ordered, sounding like a doctor. He was a doctor. The damn man had too many careers, it sometimes frustrated you just how accomplished he was. 

“Back off, Probie.” You rasped, shrugging him away. Technically you had rank over him, so technically you could order him around. The loophole totally worked for you as long as it mean that he’d leave you alone. You didn’t have any problem with Ben as a person, he was actually a pretty nice dude, but you had absolutely no wish to be ‘Doctored’ right now.

You were expecting to be yelled at, but thankfully Andy hadn’t come over to shout while you were still on the scene. You could see her casting you frustrated looks while she talked to your girlfriend, but left it alone. That only lasted until you got to the station.

“L/n!” Andy yelled, stomping over to you. She looked angry but also concerned. Maya was beside her, wearing a similar expression. “What the hell were you thinking? You endangered every one of us!” The captain snapped, glaring down at you. 

You stood to meet her gaze, trying to look less weak than you felt. Fighting her on this was probably a poor decision, but you had no intention to take this lying down. 

“I was doing my job, Captain.” You bit back. Andy bristled at the comment, rage hardening in her eyes. The woman beside her bit back what would definitely be a remake would probably upset everyone and reserved herself to a slight shake of the head. 

“Check. Your. Tone. L/n. I am your boss, not your punching bag. I don’t care that you aren’t feeling well, that doesn’t give you an excuse to be an ass. You could have gotten yourself and others hurt.” Now it was your turn to bristle. 

“Maya was trapped, she needed-”

“She needed you to do what you are told instead of ignoring direct orders. You aren’t the only one on this team Y/n, do you understand that? If you ever do something so stupid again I will have you suspended. For now, you will be taking two weeks paid leave. Take care of yourself. Come back when you’re done making stupid decisions.” Her voice softened on the last sentence, expression fading from stern boss to worried friend. 

You sagged slightly, shrugged, and looked over at Maya in hopes to find support there. 

“Come on Y/n. Carina’s off today, I bet she’ll make you some soup.” She held out a hand and part of you didn’t want to take it. Part of you wanted to prove yourself to your boss, but Maya’s offer was too good to pass up. Carina made the best soup and she was always so good at knowing exactly what you needed. 

You took the hand and allowed yourself to be led out of the station, ignoring everyone’s kind words and well wishes. Maya got you situated in the car, both of you silent. She was incredibly gentle, brushing your hair away from your face and lingering a bit with her touches, but she was still frustrated with you. It was okay, you understood. You had scared her. 

The ride home was quick and quiet. You were half asleep and Maya was listening to the radio, your cough overpowering the soft music. Carina would probably insist that you sleep with at least two humidifiers tonight, but it wouldn't matter, at least you’d be with them. 

You let your eyes slip closed and you leaned against the cool window, shivering in your loose clothes. You wanted your bed and someone to hold you. Unfortunately, you’d have to wait for those things. They’d probably make you shower before you were allowed to climb into the bed.

You were right. The second you got into the house Carina was all over you, asking a flurry of questions and speaking in rapid-fire Italian about your condition. Normally you loved to listen to speak the language that you didn't understand, but now it was just messing with your mind. 

She had ordered you and Maya into the bathroom, promising to have your room made up with whatever she believed that you would need to feel better. The shower was nice enough. Maya washed your hair, allowing you to lean back against her in your exhaustion. It was tough to stay standing, but she was there, making sure that you would be okay. 

“M’sorry.” You rasped, blinking teary eyes at the worried looking blonde. She tilted her head to the side and smiled, gripping your elbows tightly. 

“Babe, I just want you to be safe. I’m sorry you don’t feel well. I wish that you had told one of us sooner, then you would have gotten to be with Carina all day. It could have been a good day, not an awful one. Okay?” You nodded your understanding and sniffled softly, your nose running in what you were sure was a disgusting way. Maya looked at you lovingly nonetheless. 

When the brunette said that she was going to get everything you could possibly need, she had really meant it. The room that the three of you shared was decked out in everything one would want for a sick day. Boxes of tissues, a mug of tea on the bedside sitting beside a glass of apple juice, three humidifiers, a bottle of cold medicine, a fluffy blanket, and extra pillows.

“You did that pretty fast, Car.” You forced out, climbing into the bed with the help of both of your girlfriends. Maya followed and wrapped her arms around your waist, holding you close while Carina measured out a dose of medicine. 

“Si, I work quickly. Now open your mouth, I want to see how high your temperature is.” She was in work mode right now, they’d be time for joking after you did what you were told. You pouted but opened your mouth, holding the thermometer under your tongue. The brunette carded her fingers through your hair as you waited for the reading, looking utterly disappointed. 

“102.3, oh Y/n, no wonder you do not feel well. Take this, alright? Then you can go to sleep.” She kissed your forehead, prompting you to obey her wishes. You were a sucker for physical attention, even more so when you were sick. 

The medicine tasted like you licked a fake plastic cherry and stung your throat, but it was what it was. Both women smiled when you finished it and you got twin kisses on each of your cheeks. These women were amazing. 

You felt your eyes fill with tears and you ducked your head, not wanting to show them that you were about to cry. That was just too much, they didn’t need to deal with your unnecessary emotions at the same time. 

“Oh baby, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Maya crooned, tilting your chin back up so that you were forced to meet her crystal blue eyes. You felt Carina’s arms slip around your waist as she sat on your other side and that was about all that you could take. 

You broke into stifled sobs and pressed your head against the blonde's shoulder in search of comfort. You didn’t want to talk about it, you just wanted to cry. Which was stupid, because earlier you had been completely fine. Now you were bawling like a baby in the arms of your girlfriends. 

Neither of them said anything while you cried, they just let you, holding you close until you were too tired to cry anymore. You didn’t actually remember falling asleep, all that you knew was that one minute it was dark out, and the next you were laying down with your head on Carina’s chest, both of the women asleep beside you. 

Your body still hurt and you still felt disgusting, but at least you weren’t alone. Being sick and alone was worse than being sick with people who loved you.

[m3r1m4r5u333]

Buddie & the timing of their coming outs

I am reposting an old post with some edits because my theory about the show teasing buddie's coming out arcs?

It handled the pressure test of Buck's coming out quite nicely. Now I want to update my theory to speculate on the way Eddie may eventually follow Buck)

(Edit: Btw I wrote this post before Buck came out... Right before Buck's coming out episode there is the episode with the capsized ship.

The basis for this speculation was based on the episode Monsters (s3x6), the one with all those crows. I think the episode teases Buck and Eddie, coming out.

Two young boys symbolize them. One blond boy "Buck", one brunette "Eddie". End of edit.)

You know, I keep thinking of that crow episode in season 3 (Monsters, 3x06). The episode, to me, feels like the show was talking about how to navigate onward without angering the buddie fans with apparent queer-baiting.

The crows symbolized buddie fans - Hen remarked that crows are very docile, and do not attack unless they are provoked.

Chimney also called a crow "buddy" when it was following him. Obviously, "buddy" sounds curiously similar to buddie, and the ship name was well known by then.

Anyway, the team enters a barn to save two young boys who had angered crows:

Chimney: Cap! They know we're in here!

Hen: No, they know they're in here... Crows are smart and they hold grudges. (Much like fans, right?)

Bobby: Do you think they're waiting for these boys to come out?

Hen: They've known to remember the faces of their tormentors years later, and still attack.

Chimney: Murder by crows, great 🙄...(And I can't help but notice that the sentence does also sound out loud like "murder bi crows, great.")

Eddie: How do we get these boys past them? (Btw I can see you smirking, Ryan.)

Hen: Well they're looking for two kids.

Bobby says "We give them something else."

---

Then to get past the angry crows the team disguises the boys.

They all sneak past the crows. One young (brunette) boy is on a strecher, wrapped in bandages.

The second one (blond) is wearing a firefighter's uniform and Bobby's captain's helmet.

----

So let's rewind the subtext. The writing team wonders how they can tell a story without angering the fans.

They decide they will give the fans something else. We were expecting kids, but will get a different version of them. Maybe they will be more mature, maybe they will go through some pain.

What makes my theory-loving brain fizz is that this "future version" of one of these boys is wearing a captain's helmet.

And now, I know that "capsized" basically means a ship that's overturned & in trouble, but it could be a wordplay, right?

Capsized... Captain sized... That captain's helmet on the boy. A boy looking "cap-sized".

And hey, remember that episode called Capsized and the scene we just got in season 7, dears?

The team goes to rescue the ship. The team spots the ship. The team cheers. And they also notice that the ship is

!!!!CAPSIZED!!!!

Okay I've done it, I've unraveled my own brain. Ca-caw motherfuckers!! I regret nothing.

Okay that was my old post.

Anyway. We did get a capsized ship, and very soon after that the blond boy, looking "cap-sized" = an older Buck... Came out.

So how about Eddie? It looks like the show promises he will emerge out of the closet after he's experienced some pain.

In the episode he is attacked by the crows, but it could also be some other kind of anguish I suppose. Either way, when he sneaks past the crows he's wrapped up in bandages, and on a strecher.

To wrap this up:

I think we're about to see Eddie go through some more pain. He won't come out of the closet before that.

[smalls-words]

Couple Goals

Summary: A measly fight on the oval could not compare to a soccer goalie and cheerleader love. Especially when comments on the cheerleader are made. No power AU

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x GN!Goalie!Reader

Warnings: John Walker being rude about Wanda, blood, fights, asshole behaviour I’ve witnessed/experienced :) let me know if there’s anything else!

A/N: Based on a request for soccer!reader with Wanda where reader gets hurt, but I scaled it up a notch by putting in a similar fight to what my sister has had, and where i came in and put the girl into hospital :) (btw, it’s gender!neutral and supposed to be a mixed team, but I only named a few boys 🙈 also used some inspiration, as you will see below)

You stood by your car in the parking lot of West View High School, with tonight as the grand final of the local schools’ soccer competition. Your team had been waiting for this moment as you went up against East View High, your arch-nemesis, who had won last year by playing dirty. You weren’t there, they’d messed you up pretty badly earlier in the year, but now you wanted revenge. 

Just as you shut your passenger door after grabbing your boots and gloves, you looked up to see your stunning girlfriend appear with a shimmer of her red jacket.

“Hi, draga (dear).” She beamed, giving you a short kiss on the lips before walking with you to the oval.

“So, Natasha and I have come up with this really cool sequence that I think you’ll like, but I really want you to see it before we show anyone else because I know how honest you are and how you never lie to me-”

You took her hand and squeezed it softly, the tiny fingers engulfed in your palm, before the words coming out of her mouth next were swallowed by your sealing kiss. You stopped walking, boots in one hand and a Sokovian in the other, and kissed her softly. 

“You, Wanda Maximoff, are a worrier.” You stated as you pulled away. 

“I am… not.” She huffed, slightly out of breath. 

“Indeed you are. Honey, anything you come up with is amazing. And that Russian? Boy does she have a wicked mind.” You chuffed, noticing the crinkle of her nose turn slightly sour. 

“That’s my best friend you are talking about.”

“Do you know why I like her mind?” You continued to tease her, wondering how far her jealousy would reach.

And you easily found out - about as far as two hands firmly tied round your waist.

“Let me remind you, I am in charge here.” She grumbled, leaning into you as you chuckled.

“I know, princess. I’m just playing with you.” Your fingers scaled from her waist up her firm but small bicep until they reached behind her ear, tangling themselves into her brunette locks.

“You know I love you, right?” 

“Mhmm.” She hummed, kissing your chest just as a whistle blew in the distance.

“Y/L/N!” Your soccer coach bellowed, signalling your time up.

“I’ll see you tonight, gorgeous.” You murmured, giving her a quick kiss before you jogged over to the team for warm-up.

Wanda didn’t even realise she was staring until she felt a nudge into her ribs, causing her to cave slightly. 

“Come on, Wands - we gotta practise in the hall before tonight, because you will not focus with that stunner in your field of view. I don’t think anyone could.” Natasha chided playfully, dragging Wanda by the hand. 

But not without her sparkling green eyes catching your loving smirk, bashful cheeks forming at the wink you sent her. 

——————————🜃🜂🜁🜄 —————————

After training, you had to quickly dash home and change into your uniform since it was different from the rest of the team - black writing on red was your team’s colours, so you had to wear light blue. You slipped on the jersey and shorts before darting back into your car, surprised you weren’t pulled over by the time you arrived.

You fumbled your boot laces on the sideline as your team warmed up, your eyes drifting around the crowd until they landed right at the front row. Wanda was there with her teammates, probably going over their strategy you had yet to see.

Warm-up was good, but you were already slightly warm from your training beforehand, so you didn’t push that hard. When the other team finally arrived, you scowled at the sight of the boy who sent you to the hospital last year. 

“Y/N, don’t.” Your mid-back, Jaden, stopped you from going towards him. 

“John’s not worth it.” 

You huffed, already knowing he was going to play dirty. You looked up into the crowd to see the cheerleaders - more specifically, your Wanda - walk down the steps to the beat of the band’s drums. 

“Who are we?!” Natasha yelled towards the crowd. 

“W-E-S-T!” The crowd responds, clearly having gone over the plan with a few of them. 

“We are the best, because we’re the west!” The girls cheered, your eyes darting over Wanda’s figure before you spotted the black and red face paint on her cheeks. 

You glared over at John, his disgusting blonde hair and his teammates before your team disperses onto the field. A gleeful grin made its way to your lips and you quickly ran over to the crowd.

“WHAT DO WE THINK OF EAST VIEW?!” You howled.

“SHIT!” The crowd responded.

“WHAT DO WE THINK OF SHIT?!”

“EAST VIEW!”

“THANK YOU!”

“THAT’S ALRIGHT! WE HATE EAST VIEW, WE HATE EAST VIEW! WE HATE EAST VIEW, WE HATE EAST VIEW!” 

Your chant sent the crowd into a frenzy, a yell from your coach to get on the field before the referee blew the whistle.

*Game on.* You thought to yourself as you mentally prepared for a massacre.

Almost ten minutes in and your left forward, Marcel, got tackled badly by John and was subbed off of the field. Another ten minutes and Jaden got tackled, to which you argued with the referee and he warned you. You knew that he was either blind or being bought out by John, who was easily the richest in that stupid preppy school. 

A corner against you was given later, to which John came up to you as the middle forward. “So, that brunette over there in the black and red…” 

You looked over at Wanda and she gave you a huge smile, shaking her pom poms as she jumped up and down, both in excitement and in your request for her to stay warm on the chilly night. 

“Is she available? She looks like a good fuck, but probably dumb as a sack of potatoes.” 

You huffed out a cloud of hot air and tried to ignore him, shuffling around and trying to screw up the kicker in the corner. He went for it and you jumped up, catching it just in front of John’s head. 

“Nope!” You jeered loudly, getting underneath their skin as you pushed John’s comment out of your mind. 

The play was on and you booted it up the field to your twin forwards, Fred and George, who were basically telepathic as they had the defenders in a dizzying dance, scoring in the bottom left corner just before the referee blew his whistle - one-nil, your way. 

After a quick drinks break and a strategy plan, you were back out on the field. Five minutes in, three of your players were down, with only one sub left. 

*Dwindling the numbers means tiring the players.* You thought to yourself, getting annoyed at John’s stupid smirk whenever he waved at Wanda.

But you were always glad to know that she was there smiling at you and only you. 

After a yellow card was given against Jaden, you were almost ready to blow the non-existent roof off of the place. The game was played slightly fairly for almost a whole quarter until a herd of their team stopped Sean, your right forward, from landing on the ground properly, causing him to hit his head.

Of course, East View continued to play, with the referee physically turning a blind eye as John sprinted down towards you. You tackled him head-on, going low to kick the ball out of the field, and you raced down to Sean. 

“Sean! Johnson! Come on, wake up!” You remembered your Health lessons and didn’t try to shake him, instead putting pressure on his collarbone. 

“OW!” He howled and you pulled away, sighing in relief until you followed the sight of his eyes.

“Coach Johnson!” You yelled, standing up slowly.

“Y/L/N!” He yelled back, your eyes drifting to him.

“Popcorn!” 

All hell broke loose.

You rushed towards John and tackled him to the ground, sitting on top of him whilst you threw punch after punch. He managed to get a few deep nail rakes through your sleeves, tearing the thin material easily. 

The referee was struggling to break up the two teams, the rivalry finally pushed over the edge until Coach Johnson came over. He pulled you and most of the others away, whilst the referee stood in front of the East View team.

“What am I paying you for if you can’t make a fucking simple call?!” John growled loudly, catching Coach’s attention.

“This game is over. I’m calling the association and you’re gonna get your licence removed.” He promised the referee, who followed him to his car whilst begging him not to.

You stormed over to your car and threw your stuff into the back, wincing as your arm bumped the car door.

“Are you okay, Iubirea mea (my love)?” Wanda asked you quietly, noticing your anger.

You turned around to face her slightly shivering form, pom poms rustling in her grip as she tried to keep warm with her arms covering her stomach. You took them from her, which she whimpered at, but you dug around in your passenger seat and opened the door wider.

“Get in, love.” You murmured, offering a jumper of yours.

She grabbed it and slipped it on, the hem reaching past her ass and the sleeves swallowing her arms whole as you drove home. You announced your presence to your parents but were too fast for them to see your wounds, even if they would ask in the morning.

You went into the bathroom, Wanda on your tail, and began to pull stuff out of the cupboards. You growled in frustration before soft hands eased the tension in your shoulders, your eyes drifting to the mirror to see her looking at you.

“You get in the shower and clean those. I’ll be back with some bandages.” She kissed the side of your head and went back downstairs.

You hopped in and out, a white towel slowly turning into an American flag lookalike until Wanda returned. She hissed at your wounds and immediately got to work, your eyes floating over her form.

“I’m gonna kill him when I see him next. I swear, that Joanne-”

“John.” You corrected.

“Whatever. He’s gonna get much worse than a bruised cheekbone, a black eye and a split lip. I’m gonna get my girls on him, just you wait and see.” She huffed.

“You’re cute when you’re angry.” You commented, making her look at you.

She moved your arms up and sat down on the towel on your lap, giving you a sly grin before she leaned in and kissed you softly. 

“Kissing me is not going to make me take it back.” You murmured, listening to her sigh.

She pulled away and finished the last clip on your bandage, helping you stand up when she noticed how you wobbled. She guided you to your bed and laid you down, the scent of her cooking drifting from the right as a bowl sat upon your nightstand.

“You made me paprikás?” You smiled softly, looking up at her bashful cheeks still stained with red and black paint. 

“I made it last night and brought it over whilst you were at training. Thought it would be a nice meal, win or lose.” She murmured, rubbing her neck anxiously.

You brought her hand away and kissed her knuckles, watching her put a pillow on her lap before the bowl went on top. She dipped the spoon into the never-ending pool of sauce, pulling out some vegetables like they were from the great beyond.

You giggled quietly as she lifted the spoon to her lips, blowing on it before it came towards you. You cheekily accepted the spoon and sealed your teeth over the edges, making it difficult for her to pull it back out.

“Draga… (Dear)...” She warned you playfully, tilting her head to the side.

You immediately let go of the spoon, swallowing down the remnants of the dish. “Sorry.” You murmured.

“It’s okay. Just… no silly games, okay?” She whispered, a slight pang of hurt in her tone. “I was really worried.”

You lifted your hand to her cheek and stroked her soft skin a few times with your thumb, nodding. “Of course, I’ll stop.” 

You let Wanda feed you the whole dish, a small conversation of how she and the other cheerleaders were talking about your team, how they all thought you were hot defending the Sokovian whilst the others protected you from the East High boys. You checked with a few of them, and surely enough, they had a few injuries too.

“Hey.” Wanda called for your attention and you zeroed in on her.

“Are you okay? Your eyes keep drooping downwards.” 

“Just tired.” You mumbled, leaning towards her for a kiss.

She meets you halfway but doesn’t extend it any further than a peck, moving to straddle you underneath the blanket before she lies down on your front. Her arms wrap around your waist and she sighs into your chest, feeling comforted when your arms do the same.

“You tired from being the prettiest girl in the school?” You joked softly, kissing her forehead.

“No, I’m tired from being the girlfriend of the most overprotective idiot in the school.” She shot back jokingly, kissing your jaw before she returned to her normal posture.

You sighed against her head, feeling sleep try to take over you even if you wanted to simply savour the calm moment. Her shampoo wafting into your hair, the way her fingertips glided over your bruised skin as if she were nothing but the ticklish wind, how her… stunning green eyes… were imprinted on the back of your eyelids…

“Go to sleep, lubirea mea (my love). I’ll be here when you wake up.” Wanda’s whisper was the last thing you heard, her kiss against your neck the last thing you felt.

But the thought of her compassion, her kindness, her sweetness and her beauty carried on into your dream.

[explosionshark]

bri I literally rewatched the Ep were Buffy gets kicked out of the Big Brother House + they go to the Bronze and it’s SO much funnier than I even remembered jfc

The fact that even Faith is like “wait I literally don’t want to be in charge, I just think B needs to take a nap before we rush into a plan” but EVERYONE ELSE INCLUDING BUFFY’S FRIENDS ARE JUST LIKE “ABSOLUTELY NOT, WE WANT VIOLENCE” is HYSTERICAL. The only other person NOT on team “get this blonde OUTTA HERE” is Principal Wood, and that’s EXCLUSIVELY because Faith read him so hard after their 3 minute conversation that he was too horned up to speak the rest of the night (and frankly he’s right for that).

Speaking of King Wood btw, forgot that he basically says to Faith “Fuffy Real Yeah?” which leads to Faith shading him and him literally BATTING HIS EYES BASICALLY AT HER LIKE ‘noooo faith don’t come for my everything noooo omg (kicks feet)’.

S7 was trip. I’m still mad that those ex wives never kiss. They literally argue every 10 seconds & Buffy is STILL dealing w/ this tangible fear that Faith is gonna try to fuck her life up again. She literally can’t parse that Faith just wants to like, be there & be a part of things!!! Let my stupid brunette big brown eyed loser girlfailure just grab her and kiss her!!! Please!!!

The melatonin NEEDS to kick in I’m actually going insane sicko mode about this!!!

hi stag sorry this languished in my inbox for soooo long i am just easily distractable.

anyway god yeah i really wish there had been more time for buffy/faith interactions bc like. what we get is SO tantalizing.

i love how the dynamic kinda flips - buffy's got all this anger she's been holding onto and faith, in the meantime, has become kinda just stoic and sad and even more fuckable. some good gifsets have REALLY highlighted this but the contrast btwn s3/s4 faith goading buffy into violence and gleefully accepting her ass whoopings vs s7 faith. when she gets suckerpunched in dirty girls she takes it really gracefully. when buffy hits her again outside the bronze in empty spaces she looks SO disappointed and devastated. watching that dynamic untangle over more time would have been soooo satisfying.

i guess that's what fic is for. there are a bunch of good s7 ones out there anyway.

[jandjsalmon]

2023 FFRC - March🍀

Can you believe it's already April!? Crazy. Though you'd never know it here though, because my backyard still looks like Hoth. It's horrific. It's supposed to snow again tomorrow too. I just want to sit in my hammock.😢

Anyway, I hope you've all been doing well. MotherMaple (who just had a birthday btw🥳) recently came down with covid for the second time - so if you know her and love her, if you could please send her positive healing vibes, I would appreciate it (as her bestie who worries - I'm a worrier). Thank you!

Moving along -- our most exciting news this month was that my beautiful and talented daughter and her basketball team won Provincials (essentially our "State" Tournament). Go Spartans! The first time in our High School's history! I've blurred out the faces of the other girls to show you below - but here's a fun piece of trivia: two of the girls (the redhead and the brunette just to the right of my Bethy) were the girls who dressed up with her for Halloween 2017 as Betty, Veronica, and Cheryl - Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa even retweeted their photo back in the day. I'm so glad they're still all friends (though they're all smarter than I am because none of them still watch Rvd)

Okay - so getting back on track - as all of you should know by now, I'm a regular participant (and low-key assistant) at the @fanfic-reading-challenge - additionally, for the last couple of years, I've been tracking all the fic I read and I've reported back here once a month with some stats and some recs, and a little bit of boring stuff about my life. That's what this post is.

Below the cut are my March stats and some fun fic recs. I read nearly 2 million words this month - over 550 chapters (of various lengths), and 178 stories. I've been tackling the challenge tasks and am nearly done the 'extreme' mode. I'm still struggling with a few of the categories, but I think my goal this year is not only to complete the Regular/Hard/Extreme modes - but to complete every task. I'm at 212/309 so there is still some work to do.

March 2023

As for my recs for you! Try these - you might enjoy them. They are Wavier because that's what I've mostly been reading - and if you've never read the pairing before, let one of them be your first foray if you are on the fence. Don't be on the fence. Come ship with me! 🖤🖤

--*--

An Unkindness by Agmo (Wavier - E 3/3)

Summary: Finding out that he is Wednesday Addams' soulmate goes about as well for Xavier as anything involving Wednesday Addams does.

Why you should read: Soulmates are my jam. This was originally a one-shot and even though my heart kinda ripped out of my chest where they ended it, the author surprised us with two extra chapters - AND IT WAS AMAZING. There is so much growth. Soulmates are my favourite when it's not a given that everything will turn out. Characters are still beings with agency. This story has room for this growth - and I could not recommend it more. Probably one of my favourites of the year so far.

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For the Rare and Radiant Maiden by @drollicpixiefanfic (Wavier - E 6/6)

Summary: Xavier Thorpe didn’t exactly expect Wednesday to use the cell phone he purchased for her. It was a ridiculous idea, a whim, a fancy. But something had compelled him to try. So, it was with some shock, two weeks into their break from Nevermore, that Xavier’s phone buzzed on his nightstand. In which, Wednesday discovers her cell phone camera, though only filtered through a black and white lens and Xavier finds himself even more under her spell as a darker side of him begins to seep through his well maintained façade.

Why you should read: I'm always a fan of a good Post S1 fic and if you can give it to me in a Xavier pov then I'm probably going to love you forever. This one was really really fun - deals with Wednesday's stalker - and has a bit of that Dark!Xavier that Ajax mentioned in S1.

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In the night, I dream of woe so true by @sebikitcat (Wavier - G 7/7)

Summary: “Wednesday? What are you doing in my art studio?” It’s a stupid question, she decides. “What are you doing in my dream?” A more relevant counter. “Your dream? I thought this was my dream. Wait, are we dreaming?” Or the one where Wednesday finds herself unwittingly sharing dreams with Xavier over break. Fluff ensues.

Why you should read: SHARED DREAMING! And it's SO FLUFFY - it's the epitome of Agnes Gru squishing her fluffy unicorn. I love it.

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dark doo wop (series) by @donutcats (Wavier- G - 3 fics)

Summary: It’s the way she texts him first, only a few short days after everyone has cleared out of Nevermore; and really he wasn’t even expecting that. It was meant to be a joke, adding his number and saying he’d settle for a text. But there it is. A new text from Wednesday Addams.  A simple picture of a dark and eerie fatalistic painting torn to shreds. ‘I believe some paintings are improved by the act of destroying them,’ reads the text sent directly after the picture, ‘which you should definitely take note of.’ 

Why you should read: Again - I LOVE post S1 fics where we get to speculate how Wednesday navigates modern technology and communication with Xavier. The stories are short so you can read them all in one go. Do it!

ANYWAY - I'm always looking for new fic recommendations, so if you have any stories you think I'll love (whether you wrote them or your friend wrote them or you came upon them accidentally), please drop me a line or send me a dm. I've found SO many awesome fics through recommendations from others. I'll read almost any pairing and any fandom. Shoot me a link!🖤

(lastly- I'm a little bit in love with this gif of Xavier waving - and I've been purposely flooding my dashboard with Percy for reasons - so the wave might become a theme for my year).

Anyway -👋🏼 Hiya -I'm happy you're here! I hope you have a wonderful April and I'll see you back here in a few weeks! Happy reading! 🖤

[kylewalker-peters]

eleanor i am both confused and obsessed w the current F1 drama can you please,, as they say,, explain it in football terms for me

okay so let's do:

spurs - mclaren, chelsea - alpine (two girlies very much having a mid off in the top 4 just like alpine and mcalren are having a mid off at the top of the midfield)

united - aston - united probably promise all their new signings they will be winning and back at the top of the league in no time with their Vision and Funding and aston seem to promise their world champion drivers the same thing... this never happens

okay so it's just before the transfer window and an old man at united retires and everyone's like wow who is united going to transfer in to replace them. one the first day of the transfer window it's announced that it's old man number 2 from Chelsea to everyone's surprise. the owners of Chelsea end up being the most surprised and tommy t comes out and is like well we learnt about this with everyone else we thought they were staying at the club. this in itself is very funny.

so at the end of day 1 united have completed their transfer window and Chelsea is like well shit we gotta sign a player.

LUCKILY they have a brilliant young talent coming through the ranks that just missed out on the first team last season because of said old man who has now left. so if you're chelsea you're like sick and brilliant and amazing our problem is immediately solved we just shove this kid into the team. EVERYONE also assumes said young kid is going to sign btw, so much so that when united signed chelsea's old man everyone spent more time talking about how the starboy was going to get called up. the thing is.... mr youth product had believed, just like Chelsea, that old man number 2 would be staying at the club so had made plans to go elsewhere and is rumoured to have some sort of deal in place with spurs. chelsea panic and say ah fuck it we cant lose this starboy let's drop the announcement he's staying with us (and starboy's manager is Australian and maybe in Australia so we'll drop it while Australians are sleeping.... australian man was in England and NOT sleeping apparently).

so at the mid point of day 2 united have completed their transfer window and Chelsea believe they have completed theirs by dropping this little bombshell. HOWEVER, over at spurs and they have a player that's been underperforming (that metaphor hits a bit close to home actually) and they want him GONE. even though said player (we'll say janssen) and the manager have publicly said they'll still be here next season the manager/club is OPENLY shopping and signing every lanky brunette dude they can find despite not having any space for them. spurs are already somewhat in a legal battle with an American team for trying to sign their player when he was already legally not able to join and they don't want another one on their hands in their own backyard. but fabrizio has already tweeted "young chelsea dude to spurs almost here we go!" and everyone loses their minds.

so chelsea have put their tweet up confirming starboy BUT then starboy comes on twitter and says it was announced without his consent, that he'd signed nothing, and not just that he wasn't currently going to be playing for Chelsea but that he wouldn't be playing for Chelsea that season PERIOD actively removing himself from the ONE confirmed opportunity he had to play football that season. and spurs are like welp.... that looks like a mess... and so unlike with the MLS situation they haven't claimed/announced/said anything about signing the starboy. so starboy has gone from a guaranteed starting 11 position to nothing all over again.

so by the end of DAY TWO of the transfer window:

united: fine, happy, thriving, unbothered

chelsea: think they are fine because legally starboy doesn't have a leg to stand on. they provided the clauses in his "reserve squad" contract and they can make starboy a first team player instantly

spurs: seen as the dickhead of the league cant lie. already fucking up across the pond and now it looks like they have all the grace and decorum of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on. BARE IN MIND said flop of the year is STILL playing at the club, they haven't been fired or anything, this has all gone on behind their backs and is now being made public...

[artzee-bee]

Partner? | Rory Keaner x reader

Fandom: My babysitter’s a vampire

Request: “ Could you please write something for Rory from My Babysitters a Vampire? Where like Rory tells Benny and Ethan who hes dating and they think hes joking until they meet his partner (Btw if you could use gender neutral pronouns that would be amazing!)”

Pronouns: they/ them

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: None

~~~

Rory assumed that a ‘guys night’ at Morgan’s would be the perfect place to break the news of his new relationship to his friends. He was excited to tell them about his new favorite person in the world, who just so happened to also be his lover. Sometimes, he still couldn’t believe his luck! 

Rory knew it would be a big surprise but he didn’t exactly expect his 2 best friends to start laughing uncontrollably

“I’m serious guys!”

“Dude, calm down. We don’t have girlfriends either, you don’t have to make things up.” Ethan said, trying to sound reassuring. Meanwhile, Benny was wiping invisible tears at the corners of his eyes

“But I AM dating someone!”

“On sims?”

“Nah, I think he’s had a dream about that witch from his comic again”

“I’m talking about a real person from our school!” while others would have been fuming at all the teasing jokes Benny and Ethan were making, Rory couldn’t care less. He somewhat understood where they were coming from, he didn’t expect to get in a relationship anytime soon either and yet, you walked into his life when he least expected you

“So what’s their name?” Benny asked, finally going back to his more serious self, even though his face was still red from laughter.

“Y/N Y/L/N”

“Never heard of them” Ethan said quickly

“Yeah, cause they’re not part of your stupid laser chess club”

Ethan and Benny both looked up at their friend, amused

“Well, are they part of any club?”

“They’re actually on the soccer team! Nothing that you two would be familiar with!” Both boys burst into laughter

“Ok, so you mean to tell me” Benny started “ That you charmed one of the fine folks on the soccer team with your...what? Your vampire puns?”

“Or your obsession for crappy horror movies?

“For your information, it was my good looks and top tier personality”

Benny suppressed a laugh while Ethan got up and left the room

“Course it was” he added on his way out, with a giggle

“You’ll see monday!”

“ I mean” Benny said, raising his glass of orange juice, as if he was giving a toast “I can barely wait!”

The weekend passed by quickly. For you, it had been a very busy one, spent at your desk, catching up on all the homework and assignments you put off for far too long. It got to the point where the idea of a normal and unexciting day at school felt like a relief after the hectic hell you lived through.

Rory was waiting for you at the bus station, just as he had promised last night during your video call.

“Hi love!” he greeted you enthusiastically once you got off the bus. He pulled you in a tight hug and swayed you from side to side. Everytime he hugged you, he made it feel like you hadn’t seen each other in forever. He would wrap his strong arms around your waist and pull you to his chest, leaving you almost breathless, but you didn’t complain. It was one of the many ways he loved to show affection.

He laced his fingers with yours and led you on the short walk to school. He told you about his weekend and about how he wanted you to meet his friends, which made you very nervous. 

“Don’t worry” Rory said, reassuringly, “You are like, 10 times cooler than both of them combined!” you laughed at his silly joke. It did make you feel better. Rory always made you feel better.

Once inside, Rory dragged you though the sea of students, until finally he reached 2 brunette boys. One of them was taking books out of his locker and stuffing them into his bag, while the other one seemed to be waiting for him to get done.

“Guys, check this out! I told you I had a lover!” your face turned red at how loud and obvious your boyfriend was acting but you were slowly growing used to these kinds of things with him. The 2 boys in front of you looked shocked above all else. They shared one look, as if to say “You're seeing this too, right?” before glancing back at you

“Hi! I’m Y/N!” you said, reaching out your hand to the boy with the school bag

“I’m Ethan” he shook your hand lightly

“And I’m Benny'' the other boy said, reaching out his own hand for you to shake. As you shook his hand, he looked at you curiously, as if he wasn’t sure if you were just a product of his imagination

“Nice to meet you guys!” 

“So you are Rory’s partner?” Ethan asked in an innocent voice

“Yeah!”

“Like, romantic partner? Not just a video game partner!” Benny asked, making you laugh

“Romantic partner”

“Ha! Told you!” Rory waved his arms in their face, enjoying this little victory. 

The bell rang immediately after and you were forced to say goodbye and leave for your first class. You kissed Rory’s cheek quickly, promising him you’ll see eachother again at lunch. The last thing you heard before turning the corner was Benny’s voice

“I can’t believe you got a relationship before me!”

[s-brant]

Cherry Bowl (3/8)

(gif: @kiekiecarrera) (PART TWO) (PART FOUR) (SERIES MASTERLIST)

Summary: When Kie cancels their plans together, Y/N asks JJ on a date to the Cherry Bowl Drive-In. Unsure of how to navigate his first ever date, JJ seeks out advice. Unfortunately, the night doesn’t go as planned, and both parties are left shaken by miscommunication.

Word Count: 10.6k

Warnings: Smut, public sex/exhibitionism, sexual choking, angst, depictions of mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, and implied/referenced abuse.

A/N: Welcome back to Tokens! Slight trouble in paradise is brewing for these two lovers, so buckle up and read because it’s gonna be a rollercoster for a little while after what happens in this chapter. I hope you all like it, and if you did, feedback is very appreciated. Have fun!

"I'm just saying that oatmeal raisin is superior to chocolate chip, why is that such an egregious crime, Kie?"

The lunch room is filled to the brim with students going to town on questionably cooked frozen foods, soggy tater tots, and sugary drinks from the vending machines despite the Obama-era posters on the walls advocating for healthier school lunches that never seemed to make their way to Kildare County High. The extent of their healthy lunches extended to a serving of overcooked canned green beans served with the worst slice of doughy pizza known to human kind, so it was sort of contradictory.

Y/N sits across the table from Pope and JJ, the latter of which being the one who launched into a full-fledged debate with Kiara about which type of cookie was better.

The clear cling wrap sits, unfolded, on the table with one of her stickers neatly placed on the back of it. As consolation for his epic loss yesterday at the beach, she paid an extra .75 cents to get him it when she arrived first to their shared lunch period—one of only two class periods they have together, the other being gym. He was still in line when she peeled a surfboard sticker off of her sheet and placed it at the center of the wrapped up cookie as if to remind him of her triumph over him in the waves.

"Thanks, hot stuff," he said, voice somewhat quieter despite the fact that hardly anyone was in the cafeteria with them. Then his smile dropped into an deadpan expression as soon as he saw her choice of sticker and looked back up at her. "You're never gonna let me live that one down, are you?"

"Never in a million years. I'll be gloating about it until I'm elderly."

"That's my girl."

The sound of the constant chatter surrounding them from at least two hundred other people drowns out the memories of yesterday that threaten to haunt her when she watches him debate with Kie. The mere recollection of their night in the back of the van has her reaching to pull the collar of her cropped tee up to assure that the hickeys remain hidden on instinct, and he catches the action out of the corner of his eye. It has him fighting a smile.

Kie quips, "Maybe on another planet, but, here, I think we can all agree chocolate chip is better, right Y/N?"

Y/N's eyes widen around a forkful of mushy "green beans" at the sound of her name being said bringing her from the depths of her memories.

Usually, she's quick to jump in and give her two cents on whatever stupid back and forth they're all having, but her mind was elsewhere. Unbeknownst to Kie and Pope, she was mentally reliving every second of getting fucked in the van last night, so her attention to detail when it comes to the Chocolate Chip vs Oatmeal Raisin case isn't all too sharp.

"Uhhh," she stops for a second, looking at the half eaten chocolate chip cookie in Kie's hand, "If I say chocolate chip is better, can I get a piece of it?"

Kie's face lights up at her words, and she's already pulling off a generous chunk of the baked good to hand off to her. The sound of a certain someone whose lap Y/N's legs are outstretched onto from beneath the table scoffing distracts her from the first bite.

"I know you prefer oatmeal raisin, you traitor," JJ says.

Their brunette friend's brows scrunch.

"Why is she a traitor?"

They try to keep from making any faces or giving anything away, but Y/N has to stifle the sound of her choking on her mouthful of cookie at the question. You'd think one of them came out and asked if they were dating or something with how she reacts, and she feels JJ squeeze her ankle in a non-verbal way of telling her to hold it together. It was her idea in the first place, yet he's a lot smoother with keeping it under the radar.

Under it all, the aspect of keeping it a secret does unnerve him to a degree. He doesn't think he'd be brave enough to communicate it, especially not when their relationship remains undefined, but the darker side of his mind wonders...

He shrugs, saying, "Cause we were friends first. Duh. Other than John B, I've known her the longest."

None of them stop to acknowledge the identical aches in their hearts at the mentioning of his name. They skip right over it like it never happened. After the funeral a few days ago, they've filled their quota on mushy-gushy sad talk for the next week and a half.

The real reason is something far more complicated than him having a claim staked on her loyalty through having the longest friendship. It's something tied up in days of slowly getting pulled into one another's worlds like the tug of gravity itself, in how he has to refrain from slipping his arm around her waist in the hallway or kissing her goodbye after a sleepover at the Chateau. But until she gives him the go-ahead, he won't let it slip to anyone.

Pope speaks up from beside him, "You literally met her twenty minutes before we did."

"Still counts. Technically, I did meet her first, so her betraying Team Oatmeal Raisin is enough to be tried for treason in Pogue Court."

"Pogue Court isn't a thing."

He crosses his arms after he pops the rest of the cookie into his mouth.

"It is now. You can be tried for treason for breaking the rules. Rule number one is that all Pogues have to admit oatmeal raisin is superior."

He's about to ball up the cling wrap to throw away later when the surfboard sticker catches his attention again. It's the same color as his board, which he'd like to think is a result of her being an evil mastermind that went out to get this sticker sheet for the sole purpose of teasing him, but he's the one who got her the sheet as a gift for her birthday, so he knows it was pure coincidence.

Last second, he peels the sticker away from the cling wrap and looks down to place it over the top of her yellow converse that were once a vibrant, paler color when Big John got them for her, but have since turned into an ugly mustard/dirt-dusted color they heckle her over.

"What are the other rules?" Y/N asks.

One of the hands holding onto where her feet are casually planted in his lap, something that they've done long enough that their friends won't see it as anything odd, slides down to caress the stretch of skin beneath the frayed hem of her dark jeans. Something she didn't know about him before whatever it is they have together started was that he constantly needs to be touching her. She can't say she doesn't love it though.

Pope answers, "The oatmeal raisin rule is not official"—a pointed glance at JJ—"But I'd assume the rest of the rules of Pogue Court would be no lying and no macking."

"So, basically you two break almost every rule except the oatmeal raisin one, and I lie," JJ says and turns to look at her, "How does it feel to be better than everyone, Y/N?"

"Pretty good, not gonna lie."

He keeps caressing little circles and tracing up and down her skin beneath the flared out pant leg of her jeans while he swipes his phone off of the table top without attracting the attention of their friends, who continue on to a new topic. She isn't too focused on what it is. She only picks up that it has something to do with a class they're in that's more advanced that hers, so she promptly checks out of the conversation.

Ever since John B died, she hasn't been performing too well in school. She tries, truly tries, but her mind outright refuses to absorb any of the information. When she reads her assigned reading, she hovers over the same paragraphs over and over until she shuts the book in a huff and hides it in her backpack again. Losing someone you love has a surprising amount of side effects.

Her phone buzzing in her hand brings her away from the impending cloud of doom that often accompanies any thoughts of John B, and when she taps in her passcode, her brother's birthday, a message bubble appears with a banner displaying JJ's contact name.

JJ (Derogatory) ur a good liar. prob could've fooled me if i weren't the one macking on u

Their eyes meet for a second across the table, then he watches her thumbs move to type a response.

Kief Princess Little do they know I break every rule now that I've switched sides on the cookie debate. Kinda impressive ngl.

JJ (Derogatory) triple threat, baby

JJ (Derogatory) thanks for the cookie btw

She smiles to herself, so wrapped up in their own world that she doesn't notice everyone in the room starting to pack up their stuff in anticipation of the bell that is due to ring any second now.

Kief Princess Had to repay you for last night somehow ;)

When she glances up to see his reaction, she watches his chest rise with a particularly large inhale, and he chews on the inside of his lip in thought.

JJ (Derogatory) strategically bringing up last night so i'm turned on in physics? ur an evil mastermind

Kief Princess I try.

Kief Princess Apparently whooping your sorry ass at surfing isn't the only thing I'm good at.

She hears him scoff.

JJ (Derogatory) first of all, ouch. second, u barely beat me

Kief Princess I'm happy to challenge you to a rematch. I have plans with Kie tonight, so I can't till this weekend. All it'll prove is that I am the rightful winner, but we knew that already.

JJ (Derogatory) what r the stakes this time

Kief Princess No sexual favors. If you beat me (fat chance) I'll formally rejoin team oatmeal raisin.

JJ (Derogatory) :( sex makes it more fun but i still accept those conditions

JJ (Derogatory) team oatmeal raisin needs u, even if ur a traitor

Kief Princess Why bet sexual favors if you're just gonna fuck me after anyway?

JJ (Derogatory) good point

The sound of the bell ringing echoes through the cafeteria, and they both pop their heads up from their phone screens to see everyone, including Pope and Kie, already packed up and raising from their seats to scurry off in the direction of their next classes. Meanwhile, their stuff is all bestrewn across the table, particularly JJ's belongings.

The sight of Kie walking away makes Y/N ask after her, "We're still on for tonight, right?

She stops with Pope's hand interwoven in hers. The look on her face when she turns would make you think she got caught doing something she wasn't meant to. Something like forgetting about the plans they made last week to watch Fear Street together. The Cherry Bowl Drive-In is premiering the first two movies as a double feature for the horror movie buffs of Kildare, so they decided to get tickets. Kiara shares a fondness of horror movies with her. Since gory movies make the boys squirm, though JJ pretends they don't, it's their own thing.

"Actually, Pope and I were gonna go to the beach. I'm sorry."

JJ knows she's more upset about it than she lets on, but Y/N simply gives the pair a smile that doesn't reach the eyes.

The sound of JJ behind her makes them laugh on their way out, diffusing the minor tension lingering in the air from the awkward encounter, "Use protection!"

After their friends offer them a goodbye, they gather their stuff quite leisurely, not really caring about being late.

It's something they've talked about before here or there: her feelings surrounding Kiara and Pope's sudden relationship. It's not as if she harbors any ill feelings for them, she doesn't, but the ripple effects of their pairing on the group, and more importantly the girls' own friendship, couldn't be clearer from her perspective. Between the missed hangouts, forgotten plans, and the convenient way she never seems to have time to hang out with her and JJ unless Pope is there too, it's been building up for a month now.

What makes it sting the most is how close her and Kie used to be. They didn't hit it off immediately the way she and JJ did as children until her thirteenth birthday when no one she invited showed up to the party Big John helped her set up in the yard of the Chateau.

She was the one who rallied the boys together to walk to ask their school friends from the year above to come hang out for an hour or two, promising a slice of the wonky-looking but delicious strawberry cake her and John B spent the morning crafting together. She can remember the sound of their high-pitched laughs and the cloud of flour that hung in the kitchen when they high-fived over the finished product like it was yesterday. In her heart, it was yesterday.

That night was when she fell in love with her friends, and that was when she first knew Kiara was her best friend. They wove friendship bracelets on each other that night and wore them for years until they withered away. No one had ever done something like that for her before. Not even JJ.

"You okay?"

Feeling his hand on her arm, slipping down to take her hand for a moment in the seclusion of the empty cafeteria, makes her glance up at him with a distinct sorrow washed over her features.

You know what? Screw this. Why should she be torn up over Kie and let it ruin her excitement for the double feature tonight? There's no way in hell she's letting her best friend ditching her for her boyfriend get in the way of her plans.

"Do you wanna go on a date tonight?" she asks him abruptly, then adds, "To the Cherry Bowl with me instead of Kie?"

The question sparks a pause in his mind, a halt of hesitation in which he worries about her avoiding having to answer what he asked, but he attempts to play it cool and not fuss over her outwardly. There have been times where being treated like that has made her feel suffocated, so he doesn't want to risk it. When she's ready, she'll talk about it, and if she takes too long and buries her feelings, then he'll intervene. For now, he tries to keep his face neutral despite the frown tempting his lips at her disappointment.

JJ looks around once more before throwing his arm around her shoulder to walk her out.

"You bet your ass I do."

What is a person supposed to act like on their first date that's not actually a date cause everything between them is the same, but kinda is a date because they called it one? If you ever find out, please find JJ and tell him because he has no clue.

Pope wasn't too much help in the Instagram group chat he made for it seeing as his and Kie's relationship is too fresh, John B isn't even alive, so he's out of service for advice unless there's Ouija Board he can borrow, and, thankfully, Kiara was his savior.

Their phones began blowing up as soon as he reached his class after lunch period ended. He couldn't under any circumstances let it be known that this mystery girl he had a date with was their friend, but thankfully Y/N already had the alibi of going to the Drive-In alone. All he had to do was make up a fake date scenario and get basic advice.

danknugstickiestickies added kiara-c and popeheyward to the groupchat

danknugstickiestickies named the group HELP ME

danknugstickiestickies i have a date with this chick i met on the beach when i was out with y/n last week. i need ur advice

His phone screen lit up with the notification that both of his friends were typing, signified with the three dot symbol bouncing in the bottom left corner as he thought it through. They couldn't possibly figure it out, right? They'd been careful, he'd been respectful of her wishes, and they'd been too busy together to notice anything new with them. He figured it would work. It was a risk, sure, but it was worth it to him. He didn't want to fuck this up with her.

Knowing her, she probably wouldn’t even treat it differently than any of their other hang outs. It's not like they haven't been romantic or sexual with each other. They've done everything but go out on an actual date, so why was he nervous?

kiara-c ummmm

popeheyward Yeah, I'm gonna need you to ELABORATE!!

kiara-c did hell freeze over? since when does jj maybank go out on dates??

danknugstickiestickies renamed the group hell froze over

kiara-c very funny, I'm laughing so hard 😐

popeheyward Do we know her?

danknugstickiestickies don't think u do. she moved here last week and hasn't enrolled in school yet. her name's steph

popeheyward What about Y/N though?

kiara-c ^^

JJ's chest muscles tightened with the question prompting a rush of anxiety that made his breathing feel slightly harder. He glanced up at his Physics teacher, who was essentially dozing off behind his desk with his hand in a bag of chips and an educational video on the projector as an excuse to not teach, and looked back down at his phone without the added stress of possibly getting his phone confiscated.

Pope's message might as well have been a sucker punch. Forget butterflies, he set a wasp’s nest loose inside of his stomach to tie it into knots and flip it every which way. His neglected textbook served as a prop for his phone to lean on as he set it down to think.

Did they know? As far as he was aware, they were getting away with it. No evidence, concrete or circumstantial, was there to prove it. At least the stress of the situation killed any chance of him being turned on by her reminder of last night in their messages. This shit was boner repellant of the highest degree.

He played stupid. Better to let them volunteer whatever information they had before he went in saying anything incriminating that they didn't already know. If anything would sour the experience of their first date, it would be him accidentally making their strange in-between relationship public behind her back.

danknugstickiestickies ?? what do u mean

Three dots bounced in the bottom left corner of his slightly cracked phone screen.

popeheyward ...

kiara-c I mean, you don't see it?

danknugstickiestickies see what

popeheyward I guess we were wrong, but all of us always thought you two had some feelings going on.

"You don't say?" JJ murmured sarcastically to himself under his breath. "Never crossed my mind, Pope."

danknugstickiestickies bro that's jb's little sister

kiara-c so?

danknugstickiestickies forbidden fruit? making john b roll over in his grave? do those ring a bell or am i speaking in tongues

He was already a proficient liar in real life, but, fuck, it was easy in text messages. There's no chance at deciphering facial expression or tone, just a plain message with no room to budge. Thank God he didn't do this in person with them. He could've survived, but it wouldn't have been as quick and painless as the group chat was.

kiara-c jeez, sorry

Pope didn't voice it, but he noticed something.

He looked up from his phone and stared off at the wall in thought in his AP European History class. It piqued his interest that JJ simply said she was off limits, forbidden fruit as he put it, but did not outright deny having feelings for her. In fact, he didn't even address the question. He made excuses for why he shouldn't have feelings for her, but he never said he didn't have feelings for her.

Kie did not notice. Not because she wasn't smart enough to either, but because she was too busy hiding her phone behind her backpack to think too deeply about it. Her teacher was one of those teachers that would flip shit if they saw a cell phone turned off and faced down on the desk, let alone being used by a student during a lesson.

In his classroom across the hallway, JJ bounced his leg up and down beneath his desk in an absentminded urge to release the built up energy the anxiety produced in an over abundance.

popeheyward Our bad then. Even John B thought y'all were sus lmao.

Since when was that a known fact? Could he tell? Did he talk to Pope about him and Y/N before he died? Either way, it wasn't the time to pry about it.

kiara-c yeah you guys honestly could've fooled me if you wanted to

danknugstickiestickies well thank u, glad ur invested in our friendship but

danknugstickiestickies please help, i have no fucking clue how to act on a date and this girl is too cool for me to screw this up

That was when they finally dropped the interrogation session and started offering up tips. The best ones came from Kie, which made sense to him since women are more likely to know what other women like than two dudes who share one collective brain cell and never had real relationships.

Rule One: Be ready to pick her up five minutes early.

He wasn't ready to pick her up five minutes early. His bike broke down by the time he made it halfway down his street, so he had to push it back up the road and into the yard before setting off on foot to reach the Chateau quickly enough. And by quickly enough, it means he got there five minutes late, not early.

Rule Two: Compliment her after you get in the car.

She tossed him the keys to the Twinkie from across the hood, not giving him the chance to open the door for her, and it wasn't until they were setting off down the road that he remembered the next piece of advice he was given.

Side-eyeing her in his peripheral vision, he tried to find something to compliment her on specifically rather than the general compliments about her being pretty that she never fully believes when he says them. He was intending to say something about the skirt she had on, but when he chanced a glance over at her, she caught him and asked—

"What is it?"

Sent into panic mode, JJ blurted out instead, "I like your shoes."

He could've bashed his face against the steering wheel twenty times right then and there at the utter absence of reaction on her part for the next few uncomfortable seconds. It wasn't that it was a bad compliment. She appreciates any compliments at all...but her shoes were hidden from his view. Not to mention, they were the dirty, mustard yellow converse that the Pogues bash on a daily basis.

She laughed, lifting her leg to expose the sneaker on her right foot, and asked, "These? Dude, you roast me for these all the time. You and John B said they look like Big Bird shit on them."

The skin on the apples of his cheeks scorched hot with embarrassment, and he was never so glad that the overhead lights in the van were burnt out until that moment. He would've died on the spot if she saw him blush like that, face flushed pinker than sunburn. All he could do to save himself was murmur something about the color growing on him and keep driving in the direction of the theater with his hands white-knuckling the steering wheel he fantasized about banging his face into.

Rule Three: Insist on picking up the check.

In this case, it meant insist on buying the popcorn and drinks, and he miraculously managed to drop his wallet somewhere along the way when he ran over to the Chateau, so when he stepped up to the makeshift concession stand with her standing at his side, he felt around for his wallet in his jeans to no avail.

His thoughts echoed back to him, You gotta be fucking kidding me. Seriously? Is this actually happening right now?

"JJ, it's honestly fine," she said softly as he leaned over to search back of the Twinkie for the wallet. "We can look for it on your street right now if you want. It has your ID and stuff, you don't want a stranger to have that. We don't need to stay—"

It took all of his control to not shout it in reaction when he said, "No way. You've been waiting for this, and Kie ditched you, so I ain't ditching you too. We're staying."

His wallet could go kick rocks.

He came too far to be dragged down by the old leathery piece of shit anyway. Would he go out and search for it tirelessly the second the date ended? Hell yeah, that fucker had twenty dollars and his debit card in it, but he couldn't bear the thought of abandoning her or ruining her anticipated movie night by taking her out to search the streets with their phone flashlights for a wallet they might not find. He'd wait till the movies ended, take her home, then haul ass around the Cut searching for it after.

Thankfully, he found a couple bucks crumbled up in his front pocket while she scavenged for coins in the glove compartment, and they came up with enough to buy a water bottle and small popcorn to share together.

Rule Four: Don't have sex on the first date.

And it may sound easy enough to not act like a complete Neanderthal for the length of two movies, but the girl makes it pretty damn difficult if he's to say so himself.

That's what led him here, laying in the back of the sideways-parked Twinkie in the farthest corner of the outdoor theater with her practically on top of him. In any other instance, he wouldn't be opposed in the slightest, but with the cursed fourth rule in mind, he isn't too thrilled with the feeling of her hand rubbing up and down his thigh.

It isn't even meant to be sexual. They're constantly touching one another this way. She'll even slip her hands up under his shirt just to feel the warmth of his skin or when he asks her if she can get an itch on a part of his back he can't reach, but for some reason his brain is short circuiting right now.

The thing is, when Kie and Pope said he shouldn't do it on the first date, they meant it for his and Steph's made up circumstances, not his and Y/N's full-blown relationship without labels. When you've had sex with someone as many times as they have with each other, the hesitancy on the "first date" is nonexistent. It doesn't matter. But JJ, trying to follow the advice given to him to the letter for the sake of being the date she deserves, doesn't think about it that way.

It shouldn't be this nerve-wracking. They've been best friends since they were children, they've been flirting since they found out what basic attraction was in the first place, and they've been forming this relationship ever since John B died. Why can't he relax? Why is this so different compared to how easy it felt between them yesterday on the beach or today at lunch?

Rule Five: Be yourself.

It takes him another few moments of laying here with her before he realizes quite abruptly what went wrong in a quick flash of a thought that brings the fifth rule back to him. The problem wasn't the bike, or the weird compliment about her Big Bird sneakers, or the lost wallet.

The problem is him. The problem is that he's trying way too hard to make this something it isn't. The part about them that he adores so dearly is how they never have to try when they're together. With any other girl or guy, they'd have to fake something or act a certain way, yet when they're together, they can simply exist and everything is runs smoothly. That's not to say they don't disagree or bump heads, they do, but short of those outlier moments, it's easier than anything else they do in life.

His eyes flicker away from the screen for the first time since the movie began, which, by the way, is gruesome enough at times that he had to divert his eyes to prevent himself from seeing it happen. They land on where she lays, completely content with the night in spite of its mishaps, with her head propped up on the pillows they brought from the Chateau.

He wonders if she can tell he's acting differently. Surely she must notice. She's the type of person that typically never misses a thing, perfect for the gold hunt they went on in the summer with picking up the clues and helping her brother unravel the mystery, so maybe she noticed how flustered this date has him. Does it bother her? Does he bother her?

With a confirming glance back up at the movie to see nothing important happening, he can't fight the urge to speak anymore.

"Can I tell you something?"

His voice appearing through the darkness of the shut off van after spending the past half hour in complete silence makes her jolt at first before realizing who it was. Though she loves horror movies, she can't claim to not be affected by them. The night she falls asleep after watching one, she often finds herself compelled to turn a light on and keep her feet from dangling off the edge of the bed. It's worth the fear, though.

When she turns to look at JJ, there's a warm smile on her face. She's cuddled into his side with a hand placed casually atop his thigh, caressing with no purpose or intent, and her movement halts when the light from the movie on the projector allows her to see the expression on his face.

Anxiety has become an increasingly significant presence in his life with the recent events in mind; John B and Sarah, the four-hundred million dollars they lost out on, and dodging his father whenever he sneaks home to switch out the backpack of clothes and personal belongings he keeps at the Routledge house.

It manifests itself in jittery nerves, stomach pains, shortness of breath, and, at worst, panic attacks striking either at random or in response to a specific trigger. It's one of the few things he still tries to hide from her, and she tries not to push him too hard with opening up about it.

She abandons the movie for the time being and rolls onto her side to face him, upper body propped up on her elbow as she examines his face with downturned features.

"Of course," she says.

The words left unsaid are, "You can tell me anything. Whenever you need someone to listen, or to talk to about shit, you can tell me." He's heard her say it enough that he doesn't need to hear it now to know it's true.

There's a pause, then—

"I feel like I fucked this entire date up," he starts to ramble and cuts her off before she can think about saying what she wants to, "and I know it's okay to you. You have way too high of a tolerance for my bullshit, and I've been trying so hard to make this perfect, but all that did was screw it up."

She's left quiet for a second, taking it all in.

Maybe if he hadn't been so anxious about it, he would've realized what was wrong with his bike when he rode it home from school, or he would've noticed his wallet fall out of his pocket. The point is, he wishes he hadn't let the label attached to this freak him out so much. He isn't sure why it does, but it does.

But she doesn't do what he expects. She isn't drowning him in reassurances and, "It's okay's" because she knows he doesn't care for them much. When he, the most stubborn person she knows, apologizes for something he did, he doesn't want it to turn into the person accepting the apology coddling him.

Y/N sighs.

"Is that why you've been acting so different all night? I scared you with the whole ‘date’ thing, didn't I? It doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to be."

What she doesn't know is that he wants it to be a date. He wants it to be a date so badly, he risked Pope and Kie finding them out for the sake of getting some proper advice on it, and now he's caught up in the same game of tug and war in his mind that always occurs when he wants to tell her the truth about his feelings for her.

Part of him doesn't understand why he doesn't outright say it. With every other girl he once showed interest in, he had no issues in letting them know he wanted them, but this is different. This isn't simply wanting someone, he thinks he's fallen for her. But whenever he says he's gonna grow a pair and tell her after all this time, he chokes. Involuntarily, he's reminded of his parents. Other than his friends saying it platonically, the only people to tell him they loved him were them, and with how they treated him, he sure as hell doesn't think that is love.

From his dad's brutal physical abuse to his mom's abandonment, he's too timid to tell her he loves her because of what could happen if she loves him back. Everyone else that has said that to him has either hurt him, died like John B did, or abandoned him.

He won't let that happen with him and Y/N. What they have, albeit undefined and codependent, is safe. It's the only thing he has left. Maybe it isn't right, and maybe he should open up about it to communicate the correct way, but somewhere in the misshapen logic of his mind, he correlates love to abandonment. And he doesn't want that to happen with her.

There are two sides of him at battle inside his mind. One side, the side that wants to do right by their relationship and actually communicate his feelings for once in his life, wants him to tell her everything. The other side, the side that responds based on the history of his past, wants him to hide it all.

"Will you be mad at me if we don't call it a date?" he asks.

She shakes her head.

The heavy sensation inside of JJ's chest nears a point of vitriolic violence against him as he starts to realize what he's doing to her, clearly letting her down, but he can't stop himself. Like a passive witness watching himself from outside of his body, the instantaneous trauma response to the sudden confrontation of his true feelings for her guides his actions without his permission. It shuts down any protest he has.

The sound of the movie fills the gap of silence between them the entire time. It’s a variety of bloodcurdling screams and disgusting sounds that would've made him gag if he weren't as distracted.

They can make out each other's faces through the darkness, but barely. It takes a flash of bright color from the film or a nearby car's lights turning on for them to fully see one another. Without the other knowing, they both put masks of calm and collected coolness on their faces despite the feelings raging beneath the surface—more so on his part than hers.

"Maybe," he says, pausing, "we should just keep things the way they've been."

As soon as the words leave his mouth, a soul-crushing amount of disappointment weighs her down. She said it was fine if he doesn't want it to be a date—and it is, she would never hold it against him—but that doesn't mean it can't hurt her. Things have been going so well, she almost thought...If tonight went well, she was thinking about no longer keeping it a secret, but if he said he wants things to stay the same, then maybe he isn't as ready for it as she is?

Meanwhile, JJ is on another page entirely.

She's embarrassed of being with you, a familiar voice in the back of his head croons. She's gonna leave just like everyone else does. If she doesn't even wanna tell your friends, why should you pretend you're dating?

The internal comments are the type that cause him to physically grimace when he's alone. Intrusive thoughts are just that: intrusive.

Sneaking into the guarded sanctuary of a person's mind, they set out to convince them the opposite of their reality. The only thing is, where most people's minds are guarded sanctuaries with walls of impregnable defense, his mind is the equivalent of a fortress blown to smithereens. The castle walls lay in rubble, the guards no where to be seen, and the path for these thoughts to slip past and straight to the vulnerability of his mind is left wide open.

In the privacy of his room, these thoughts attack him the most at night when he tries to fall asleep—when things get too quiet. With nobody around, when they get this bad there's nothing he can do except break down. It builds from the mere anxiety of attempting to force the thoughts away to full-blown panic attack mode. The more he resists them, the more aggressive they become. He'll gasp for air with tears streaming down his face, hitting his head with the heel of his hand as if that'd do something to stop his relentless mind.

But he can't afford to react in front of her, so the extent of his reaction is a subtle twitch of his face that she cannot see in the momentary darkness before the movie switches to another scene a second later. In a way, it does make the thoughts go away to have her here preventing him from spiraling alone. Having to focus on her keeps his mind away for moments at a time until the thoughts ease their grip on him.

When she hasn't answered for a while, he asks, terrified that he did something bad, "Are we good?"

The question seems to wake her up, snapping her out of the lonely direction her thoughts went into when he "rejected" her. It takes every bit of common sense she has left to force herself to understand that this doesn't mean he doesn't want her. He does, and not calling this a date doesn't mean they won't be together in the way they have been since John B's death, but she isn't perfect. She gets as unsure and insecure as he does.

As if the cloud of doom was lifted off of her, she makes her face lighten where she lays on her side next to him. Seeing this expression makes his chest feel less heavy, and he could let out a sigh of relief at the realization that he didn't break her heart and stomp on it. He should've known. Y/N is the sweetest person he knows, so she never would've flipped shit over him not wanting to label this as a date. That's not how she is.

And he's partly right. It isn't how she is. She would never hold it against him if he didn't want something further with her since she got herself into this position by pursuing him with his reputation with girls in mind, but she can't ignore it. Whether she wants it to or not, it had its affect on her as soon as he said it.

She leans in to kiss him, their lips meeting in the middle with the faint taste of popcorn salt mingling at the soft peck.

When she pulls away, she brushes the hair back from his face and says, "Don't worry. Nothing can change how I feel about you."

She has no clue what it feels like to hear that from her.

Despite the turmoil they unknowingly share beneath the surface due to this conversation, he could cry hearing her say it. It doesn't feel real to him that she feels the same way he does about her, because nothing could change how he feels about her either. That’s why he manages to work up the courage to repeat it back to her, and, for now, this is the closest he's physically capable of coming to telling her the truth.

"Ditto," he says.

It isn't what she wanted, but it's close enough, and if she dwells on this any longer, she might start getting too emotional and let the urge to tear up become too strong. Why does she have to be this sensitive? It's no secret that it's remarkably easy to make her cry, but this is insane to her. When all of this began with him, she didn't give a shit about him not wanting a label. She understood him, and she understood that he doesn't do this kind of thing, so why has it changed? Why doesn't she want to keep it a secret anymore? Why does she want this to be a date when she knows he doesn't want it to be?

Pulled by an invisible string back to him to silence her mind, she leans in to kiss him again with a hand cupping the back of his neck to guide him the rest of the way to her.

It shouldn't be laced with any sexual intention. She should be kissing him simply because she wants to, and, in a way, she is. Their kisses and touches are never lacking the motivation that is their underlying connection and mutual feelings for one another, but this is not the same. As he kisses her back with as much confidence and passion as always, she is reeling from the conversation that reminded her too much of a breakup.

It takes another minute of this for the kiss to heat up, their breathing becoming shallower in the moments they part to inhale, and she is undeniably the one instigating when she officially crosses the line between casual and sexual by crawling onto his lap. It's not hard for him to pick up on when their innocent moments take a turn. She's easy to read in that regard, and this has happened a multitude of times with them, so the shift of a mini make out session turning into something more is nothing out of the ordinary for them.

If he knew how shaken she is on the inside, he'd never want this. And the same would go for her if she knew what he was thinking before this. Neither of them wants to admit what they're feeling.

With her legs seated on either side of his hips, she kisses him like it's the last time she'll ever get the opportunity to. Her hands wander wherever they can, pulling at his shirt and feeling him up as his hands guide her hips to move against his in a steady grinding that she has no issue partaking in. It's an eagerness he hasn't seen from her in weeks. She's never un-excited when it comes to being physical with him either, but this is another level. The last time a girl was all over him like this, it was desperate touron at a party a few months ago.

In the span of time it takes her to glance over her shoulder to see if anyone could see them and reach to pull her skirt up until it bunches around her hips—no one can see them, by the way, since they got here late and were forced to cram the van into the back corner of the lot with no street lights illuminating the path—his brows raise at her presumptuous behavior. Not that he's one to complain, however, seeing as he's typically the one doing what she is.

Their next kiss clashes their teeth hard enough to make them wince, but he loves it. It makes him smirk into her parted mouth, alive with both the feeling her reassurance provided and the fuzzy-headed high that often finds him when they're together in this way. Incomparable to past flings or the high related to any drugs, she is the peak of everything to him. It's no contest.

His chest stutters against hers with a bout of amused laughter, asking within a brief pause in what feels like the most JJ thing he's said this awkward night, "Two for two in the Twinkie. What's gotten into you?"

Y/N's hand dips between where their bodies move together to unclasp the closed buckle of his belt in one smooth motion that has it falling apart with a clinking noise.

Her features are set with a look that tells him she means business. Whatever it is that sparked this, he wonders how the fuck to make it happen again another time. She's begged for it before, but never taken control so dominantly, and he can't deny what the role reversal does to him. The evidence is obvious in the distinct hardness she feels pressing up against the hand undoing his jeans.

"I was hoping it'd be you," she says, voice breathless and airy from the constant contact in a way that makes it ten times hotter for him.

If there were any chance of him not being in the mood prior to this, which wasn't the case anyway, it's gone now. He never wants to hear her say she doesn't deliberately try to tease him ever again.

He doesn't need to be told twice.

JJ surges forward to capture her mouth with his, this time with no intention of pulling away to breathe or speak again. No, he'll let himself get lightheaded and dizzy if it means he can stay with her for as long as possible.

With the circumstances of it all, them being visible to someone if they happened to pass by the open door of the van, they move at a pace quicker than usual. She's immediately helping him shimmy his jeans and underwear far enough down his hips to free his dick from the confines of his clothes, making him sigh out a breath of relief when her hand brushes against him in the process.

There's no opportunity to slow down, it has exploded into a full-throttle speed race that neither of them can halt.

His hand blindly flies out beside him to grope the floor of the van for the set of keys he tossed carelessly to the side once the movie started, eyes shut in the midst of the hot, messy kiss they share. His fingers find the fabric of one of the blankets they brought in case they got cold, then drifts again and lands on her Big Bird sneakers until he feels the sharp metal of her keys meet his calloused palm.

After the events of last summer, she bought a switch blade to keep on her key ring alongside the keys to the van, HMS Pogue, and Chateau. She may not like violence or weapons, seeing as she was a skeptic of JJ keeping the gun alongside her friends, but she saw it necessary. Between Rafe, Topper, and Kelce, how could she leave the safety of her and her friends up to chance knowing what some of the kooks did to them not long ago? What happened to Pope on the golf course alone was enough to make her skin crawl.

Right now, though, the knife flips out from the pressure of his thumb pushing the button to release it. He holds it out away from her at first to assure it doesn't nick her in the process, then uses his other hand to tug the side of her panties that hugs her hip far out enough to press the sharp side of the blade onto the inside of it.

She can hardly believe what she's watching as JJ cuts the delicate maroon underthings from her body as if he were doing something so normal, like it's something he's done before. Her forehead is pressed against his, her mouth parted both in shock and in a need to pant for oxygen, and she watches the knife ruin her favorite panties. The stitches come apart with a satisfying ripping noise that can hardly be heard over the sound of people reacting to the movie in the background.

Other customers of the Cherry Bowl Drive-In are too glued to the screen as a beloved character is chased down, reacting in shouts when she's seized by the killer and shoved onto the table of an industrial bread slicer, so they remain wholly unnoticed.

The lace, now ripped in half, dangles on the tip of the knife when he lifts it away from her, tosses it aside, and presses the button once more to retract the blade. It clatters to the floor, but is in no way forgotten with them resuming in a desperation to keep going until they both satisfy the need clawing at them from the inside. But her sense of need is different from his, and even with the fresh memory of him with the switch blade in mind, she's still somewhere else the whole time.

Her mind is faraway, muted through layers of sadness, anger, and disappointment as he reaches between them to line himself up to her entrance. The sensation of him running his cock, hard and messy with a few drops of precome, through her dripping pussy to coat it in her slick arousal is enough to make her moan pathetically. Yet when he's about to guide himself inside of her, she stops him.

"Wait, wait, wait," she breathes out rapidly, heart pounding so hard she can feel herself pulsating between her thighs, "Condom."

They were so antsy to get to it, they almost forgot.

"Fuck," he curses under his breath, and his eyes flicker from where they were trained between their bodies to glance back and forth around the van before it hits him. "I lost my wallet..."

But right when he thinks their public rendezvous in the back of the Drive-In is over due to his unfortunate mistake, she shakes her head and slips away from her perch astride his lap to crawl over to her bag.

She fumbles with the old tote bag and plunges her arm in to sift through the hodge podge of things that are purely Y/N in nature—stickers, glitter pens, a half-eaten bag of candy, etc—for the square foil package she decided to toss in before she left just in case. She usually doesn't keep them on her because he never fails to have one, but, thankfully, she had the random instinct to bring it tonight.

The only thing to bring her out of her cloudy, malevolent storm of feelings when she settles back onto his lap with the condom wrapper ripped open for him is him saying, "So you planned this, huh?" with his mouth tipped in a familiar self-satisfied grin.

She didn't plan it. In fact, she threw herself at him the second she sensed him withdrawing from her and can't stop herself despite the fact that she constantly feels two seconds away from letting a tear slip down her cheek. If that counts as "planning it", then sure.

"Maybe so," she answers, cool, calm, and collected—the antithesis of the truth.

They usually don't lie to each other.

They're thrown right back into it without any other hiccups once he rolls the condom on, and he takes in a shaky breath at her hand wrapping around him to align their bodies up. Before she can do anything, though, he takes chance to swipe the blanket he found a moment ago and wrap it around her back to keep her covered in case they get caught.

Y/N sinks down onto his cock with her lip caught between her teeth to stifle the sound that threatens to escape. JJ, on the other hand, doesn't bother concealing the sound of the groan he makes at the sensation of having her wrapped around him like this. The tension in her entire body from the anticipation and the looming threat of being seen by someone has her squeezing him so tightly, he can't help but be a little louder than he should.

Her soft palm slaps over his mouth with enough pressure to force his groan to quiet itself, and she watches his pretty blue eyes widen in reaction to the dominant action. Who is this girl and what has she done with his sweet, submissive Y/N? Don't get him wrong, he is very turned on by it, but it's unlike her to take the lead this way. He can't figure it out.

"What's wrong, angel?" she asks in a whisper into his ear, her hand over his mouth and her hips starting to slowly rock against him, "Watch the movie."

Once the words leave her mouth, she drops her hand, just in case he wants to stop and can't say anything because she had his mouth covered, and JJ is pretty sure he's died and gone to heaven.

He doesn't watch the movie, not at all, because he's too busy watching her. For someone losing their mind internally, she does not let it show, nor does she let it distract her from what's happening. If anything, the distraction in this situation is the sex, not what's going on inside of her head.

There's a moment of adjustment and going as slowly and gently as possible while waiting for the dull pressure of feeling him inside of her to fade away, but, for the most part, she doesn't waste any time. As soon as she feels comfortable enough with the ache between her thighs giving way to a spark of pleasure when she grinds her clit down on his pubic bone, she starts to ride him at a better pace than the initial slow movements of her hips.

She raises herself up and takes him again inch by inch, enjoying the sense of fullness she gets from having to fit him in spite of the slight discomfort at first, and she could swear that he'll leave bruises in the shape of his handprints with how tightly he clutches her hips. It's all he can do to prevent himself from moaning or saying something, ever the vocal lover she's come to know.

Unless his mouth is preoccupied like it was on the beach yesterday afternoon, JJ is usually impossible to shut up, especially in this context. With him always whispering dirty things to her, whether it be praises, pet names, or plans on what he wants to do to her, she has come to find it breathtakingly hot. He could likely get away with saying something if he wanted to, but he isn't sure he wants to risk it. If he opens his mouth to spew something filthy to her, he won't trust himself not to make a louder, different kind of noise that won't fit in the with background audio the other moviegoers are listening to.

The wet sound of their bodies colliding that fills the space of the van is drowned out by the loud and violent sequence occurring on the screen far ahead of them, and hearing it makes her bounce herself on him a little harder. She's fueled on by it all, and, strangely, what happened before she practically pounced on him is the main contributor.

Similarly to the nature of his intrusive thoughts, the harder she resists the memory of how it felt when he told her he didn't want this to be a date, the more forceful it is in its return. Her eyes trail down to watch where they connect with her forehead pressed to his, then she's thrown back into the feeling of helpless disappointment and insecurity. His head tips back against the window with his bottom lip dropped open and his brows furrowed just enough to create a crease on his forehead, and she's bombarded with the look of relief on his face when he realized he didn't have to be tied down to her with a label.

It makes her want to get rougher, harder, and she doesn't even care if it'll make her sore later on. She presses herself down so far every time she slides down on his cock, her teeth draw blood on her lip with how hard she must bite it to remain quiet. The pain of her hipbones rubbing against his doesn't even matter to either of them at this point. They're both too lost in the pleasure that has begun to take control of them to care about something as minuscule as that, or the burn in her thighs from the repetitive physical strain.

She grabs his wrist and brings his hand between them, flattening hers overtop of it and pressing down on the base of her abdomen in the midst of the increasingly feverish thrusts.

"Feel you here," she murmurs to him through a quiet moan, hoping he can hear it over the movie, and pushes down on his hand for emphasis. And if the way he reacts by cursing under his breath tells her anything, it's that he picked up on it. "JJ..."

He reaches out to grab her by the throat with his free hand and tug her forward to kiss him, as if something inside of him snapped in response to her doing that. The motions of her jolting up and down throws the already messy and uncoordinated kiss off-kilter, but they don't mind. It has them separating every time she lifts up, producing this heady little head rush from from them breathing in each other's air without actually letting their mouths meet in the middle.

Though they're trying their hardest not to alert anyone outside of what's happening, it didn't occur to him until now, when his eyes catch John B's old bandana swinging back and forth where it's secured around the rear view mirror.

They're worried about moaning while the entire fucking Twinkie is rocking with their movements. Well, at least it makes good use of the corny sticker he gifted John B last year as a gag gift. He tried to peel it off after JJ snuck it onto the side window to no avail. So, now Y/N is stuck with a sticker on her car reading, "If the van's a-rockin', come on in, we like orgies," rather than the more common phrase.

It almost makes him start laughing, and he prays no one takes that shit seriously, 'cause he is never intent on sharing this breathtaking girl. Ever.

Y/N isn't anywhere near laughing like he is, in fact, she's finding it difficult to keep herself together. She feels her eyes sting with the promise of tears, and she's never felt so pathetic before. Is she seriously about to cry during sex? Is she really that girl that is so ill-equipped to handle rejection, she can't get through it without tears?

She won't cry. Perhaps if he sees how glossy her eyes have become in a rare moment of good lighting, she can blame it on the hand around her throat putting pressure on the sides of her neck.

The worst part about her being near to crying is the timing of it.

The emotion of what she feels mentally mixes with the swirling, building sensation she feels in the pit of her stomach that tells her she's close to going over the edge, and it's so overwhelming. Was she imagining that their friendship had changed? More importantly, is this all she'll ever be to him? Sex is the only thing she's sure of with him, it's the only thing that doesn't require deeper emotions, and when the ground beneath their fragile relationship felt shaky...

He can feel her starting to unravel, and he knows that he'll come before she does if he doesn't do anything now, so he decides to take control.

JJ pulls the hand he had resting on her abdomen away as though he were burned by it, wrapping his arm around her waist to steady her body against his and using the hand around her neck for leverage to thrust up into her, effectively reducing her to a teary-eyed, moaning mess atop him. They both stopped caring about making noise the second he began to fuck her like this.

She cries out in ecstasy at the sudden change in pace and depth that has him hitting all the right places. Every time he thrusts up into her, just as rough as she wished for, the tip of his cock nudges into that perfect spot inside of her that makes her incapable of silencing her moans. This time, it's JJ that puts his hand over her mouth, letting the one he had around her neck move away to keep her from alerting everyone around them of what's happening.

There's nothing she can do to stop her climax as it barrels through her in its initial sweeping wave of bliss to contrast the venomous doubts in her mind. She's never felt such conflicting, yet powerful feelings before—the intensity of the physical pleasure that makes her whine into the palm of his hand, then the part of her mind replaying every word he said in their conversation before this.

Her body is rigid and tense through it all, squeezing down around his cock with the involuntary spasms of her orgasm, and he can't help himself anymore. All it takes are a few more frantic thrusts for him to bury himself inside of her one last time and spill into the condom, uncovering her mouth so he can drown out his own groans into a kiss.

Their skin sticks to their clothes on the inside with sweat from the exertion of their actions, and he can feel her stomach tremble where it presses up against his with each undulation of her hips that meet his as he rides it out.

But even with the added distraction of the sex, she can't rid herself of the feeling that started plaguing her as soon as things went awry. That was why he was acting weird all night. He must have been so worried about her thinking this was anything more than their typical hangouts that he couldn't bring himself to act normally.

She forces herself to look happy when they pull away from the kiss, panting, and JJ, unaware of what she's been thinking, doesn't notice the small deception.

Tag list: @gabiatthedisco

[tender-rosiey]

You are his what?!

❥— Oikawa Tooru (HQ)

❥— Fluff

❥— Edited 16 February 2021

ᴀ/ɴ: Looking back I regret ever posting this; THIS IS TRASH OH MY GOD-; This is from my wattpad rosey_lover_ btw

Before you transferred to Karasuno you were with Kageyama and Oikawa in Kitagawa Daiichi Junior school. You are really good friends with Kageyama and he truly respects you a lot.

You have been friends with Oikawa since childhood pretty much. You, Iwaizumi and Oikawa were an inseparable trio until the day you had to move to Karasuno.

Oikawa was devastated when he heard the terrible news for he had the biggest crush on you since childhood so he confessed to you and that's how it went:

It was the day before the last day of school and Oikawa was determined to confess to you so he asked you to meet him on the rooftop after classes and so you did.

When you arrived there you saw Oikawa's back facing me so you called out for him "Oikawa?" He turns quickly and hides something behind his back and says "O-O-OH HEY L/N-CHAN"

You tilt your head confused "Is something wrong" he starts swaying nervously and says " W-well I wanted to t-tell you something" You smile in hope of reassuring him because he looks so nervous.

he takes a deep breath before bursting out

"L/N-CHAN I REALLY LIKE YOU AND I ALWAYS DID SINCE WE MET YOU ALWAYS MADE ME SO HAPPY WITH THE SLIGHTEST THINGS YOU ARE SO FUN TO BE AROUND AND INCREDIBLY SWEET SO PLEASE WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME"

As he was done he squeezed his eyes shut while offering a box of chocolate and a bouquet of flowers.

You cover your mouth and start tearing up, Oikawa opens his eyes slowly and looks at you with wide eyes and says "W-WHY ARE YOU CRYING" You hug him tightly but still careful not to break the chocolate and ruin the flowers.

You smile widely and say "You have no idea how happy I am".

Oikawa smiles a genuinely happy smile and hugs back and says "Even if you are moving school I won't stop talking to you, I promise"

~Timeskip~

It was the day when Karasuno was having a practice match with Aoba Johsai.

You became the manager of the Karasuno Team along with Shimizu, Both of you got along really good and she pretty much treats you like her little sister because you are a second year. Your personality is so lovable and you get along with the boys pretty well even Tsukishima ( oya oya? Reader-chan is getting dem boys ;) ).

Moving on to after the practice match, Oikawa was standing beside the gate talking to the Karasuno boys.

You just came out of the bathroom walking to the boys seeing Tooru pointing at Tobio saying "Because I want to pulverize my dear underclassmen, setter-on-setter, in an official match".

You sigh used to your boyfriend childish antics and walk up to them and say "Tooru stop being an asshole to Tobio."

Said brunette chuckle and replied with chuckled then poses sassily and replied with "Oh come F/N-chan aren't you supposed to support your wonderful and unbelievably handsome boyfriend?"

The team looks at you speechless with wide eyes except Tobio silently for some time. Hinata was the first to break the silence.

"L/N-CHAN YOU NEVER TOLD US YOU HAD A BOYFRIEND" and Tanaka says "LET ALONE THIS GUY" with one of the most disgusted looks you have seen on his face, you chuckle and state "Guys he is not that bad, he is actually a great boyfriend also Tobio you didn't tell them?"

Yiu look curiously at him as he looks to the side and says "Well it's your personal life and I didn't want to tell them incase you were uncomfortable with them knowing..". You run to Kageyama and hug him and say "What did I do deserve to meet someone like you."

Your poor junior got a little flustered at the form of affection much to Oikawa's dismay.

So he frowns and pulls you into his arms and wraps them around me protectively and says protectively "Anyways now you know that this perfect angel is mine so you better not make a move on her or I will hit you till you break"

He then kisses your cheek as he smiles not so innocently while you chuckle at the reference. The team brushes it off  then Sugawara looks at me curiously.

"Okay but L/N why didn't you tell us about him?" You shrug and casually answer with "You never asked" Daichi chuckles and responding with "Reasonable enough.”

You hold Oikawa's hand and say "Well Guys I will walk home with Tooru if you don't mind" while scratching my cheek shyly, Suga smiles widely and raises a thumbs up then says " Its okay! Go ahead and enjoy your bfs company!"

You smile about to bid your goodbyes but Oikawa pulls you by the hand and you start walking home. Oikawa suddenly stopped which made me confused, he turns back to you looking very seriously.

"F/N-chan.." "y-yeah?"

He wraps his arms around you and pulls you close to him ever so tightly and cries out saying "I MISSED YOU SO MUCH I HATED SEEING YOU WITH THOSE KARATSUNOS" then he kept showering your face with kisses and you giggle "But at least we are gonna spend some time together now, right?"

You smile sweetly at him, as a response he grins widely and jumps excitedly and says "YES YES F/N-CHAN LETS HAVE A SLEEPOVER AND CUDDLE FOREVER"

“LETS GOOOOOO!” And so you spent the day cuddling watching movies.

copyright © 2020 tender-rosiey

do not copy or plagiarize or you will be reported

[lawfully-lonely]

my peace offering to you as a thank you (: low key based off of your submission which I’m still obsessed with! (This is not edited btw)

Blue ocean waves, clearer than she remembers, meets the shore over and over in a soothing rhythm. The smell of the sea salt in the air with the calming sound of the water brings a sense of peace for the brunette and her companion. She’s still unsure of what she should refer to him as, they’re tiptoeing the line between friends and something more; it’s driving her crazy but she also isn’t too keen on ruining their friendship. His voice brings her back down to the scene in front of them as he points out a dolphin jumping over in the distance. She smiles, letting her overrun thoughts wash away along with the waves, no sense in worrying when they were supposed to be healing their trauma together.

“This is nice, thanks for coming with me Court.”

His dazzling green eyes focus on her, with a smile so pure, she could die happy knowing it’s reserved just for her. She keeps her stare ahead so that she doesn’t do anything reckless by making a move, but he makes it hard to keep her distance when all she wants is to be closer. Her smile is genuine as she continues watching the ocean with a few seagulls basking in the sunlight right in their view.

“I wasn’t sure when you suggested it, but I’m glad I came too. This place is so different than I remember. I’m surprised this part of the island survived the explosion.”

“The best part came out unscathed, the scenery is nice and the wildlife is thriving naturally now that there isn’t a lunatic trying to run a reality show nearby.”

“Careful, you could summon him if you keep talking about him like that.”

“Nah, he’ll be behind bars for a long time. Thanks to a certain lawyer I know.”

He winks at her and she swoons, truthfully she wouldn’t have handled the case as well without his support. She had plenty of evidence as well as the other cast members involved, but Trent’s calming presence kept her settled while the trial was ongoing. She wonders how things would’ve turned out if they had been on the same team back in season one, maybe they wouldn’t have to deal with the heartache of being played on live T.V.

“I can hear you thinking from here, do you wanna talk about it?”

As usual, he knows exactly when something is bothering her. He may very well be the one person in this world who understands her more than Cate, a rare feat considering she doesn’t have the best track record at letting people in.

“It’s nothing really, I was just thinking about what would’ve happened had we been on the same team. Things might’ve turned out differently.”

“Maybe, but everything happens for a reason right? Maybe we wouldn’t have gotten as close if we started on the same team.”

“I don’t believe that for a second, we get along so well. We would’ve been inseparable. The only bad thing would’ve been betraying you to win the prize money in the end.”

“At least you think I could have made it to the final two.”

“Why wouldn’t you? The only reason why you got voted off was due to a misunderstanding and Heather’s a bitch. You and I both saw through her immediately, we wouldn’t have kept her on the team.”

“Fair point, but she’s not all that bad. We’re all friends now.”

“That’s true, you just have to knock down her walls and get to know her.”

“Remind you of anyone?”

“Shut up, Mr. Perfect Personality, some of us would rather be by ourselves than make a million friends.”

“Technically they’re fans, so they don’t count…”

At that she couldn’t help bursting out in laughter, trust him to pretend to be humble at a time like this. It’s true, since going solo, he’s gathered so many more fans than his Drama Brother days. She’s lucky he still makes time for her.

“Speaking off, don’t you have a tour to worry about? I’m surprised your manager let you take the weekend off.”

“She didn’t want me to, but I told her it was important.”

“We could’ve done this any time, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Courtney, you’re a workaholic, if we didn’t do this during your vacation, then we would never visit this place.”

“We would have eventually...”

“I guess I’m getting impatient, I didn’t want to wait anymore.”

“Wait for what?”

“How do you feel right now? Being back here. Does it bring back bad memories?”

She ponders over his question, it’s a valid concern given how hurt she was over the entire ordeal. There’s been too many times where she didn’t think she could overcome the feeling of not being good enough for anything, no matter how successful her life is. Some days are better than others, the road to recovery isn’t easy, but she’s still here and that’s all that matters.

“Strangely, I think I’m okay. I honestly haven’t even thought too much about my history with this place.”

“Does that mean you’re over what happened?”

Her gaze is downcast as she gives a melancholy smile. Her experiences here are bittersweet, but she’s slowly getting over the lingering bitter aftertaste she couldn’t let go of before. Trent’s right, everything happens for a reason, maybe this was the universe’s way to bring them together.

“I used to ignore this question every time someone brought it up, but I can honestly say that I am over it now. I understand why you wanted to come back now. To get closure.”

“It’s the next best thing right? Besides actually talking to them.”

“I don’t have anything to say to either of them, it is what it is. I’m not mad anymore, but that doesn’t mean I wanna hang out with them and pretend we’re all friends.”

He reaches over to place his hand over hers, this isn’t the first time they’ve held hands, but somehow this felt different than the previous times. She meets his eyes as he tells her how proud he is of her, she has to blink back the tears forming in her eyes. Every time he praises her like this, she gets emotional, he’s the only person on this earth who’s ever openly admitted he’s proud of her. When she decided not to write an angry letter back to her ex, graduating top of her class and a semester early in law school, winning the trial against the disgraced Host after ten months of going back and forth to the courtroom, seeking therapy after struggling by herself for so long, and right now as she chooses to let go of the pain she kept buried in her heart all those years.

“I’m really happy for you Courtney. Let’s keep moving forward together.”

They’re not quite there yet, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. Getting rid of all the baggage from past relationships to sit next to each other at the very place where they first met. They both subconsciously scoot closer together without acknowledging it, sharing space is nothing new to them. She lays her head on his shoulder the same time he wraps an arm around her waist to keep her from slipping off the rock as a wave makes a particularly big splash.

“You okay there Court?”

“With you Trent, always.”

Thank you so much @marshunter06 !! My Trentey heart has just exploded lol 😆. This is so incredible 💕.

[make-me-imagine]

Could you do a What If imagine for me? If not, it’s cool. Congrats btw!!

I am 5’6”, brunette with a super round face. You can look at my pfp if you need any clues. Im not a nerd but am a nerd. Does that make sense? I am super into true crime and researching new things. Reading is another hobby of mine. I am finishing up my bachelors in Criminal Justice with Psychology and hope to start a masters in Forensic Psychology. I’m starting to get back into working out. The 2 fandoms I would like are Criminal Minds and Supernatural.

Thank you!

I hope you like them! You did not mention your preference for men or women, so I hope I do not offend!

Criminal Minds:

S/O: Spencer Reid

How You Met: You met when the BAU was working on a confusing case, and they needed your expertise. You and Reid got along really well, and became friends, hanging out outside of work. And after some pressuring from Derek, he asked you on a date.

Your Relationship: Loving, and filled with a lot of deep conversation. You have similar point of views on things, and can spend hours talking about various subjects. You two are best friends and very in love.

Best-Friend: Besides Reid, you are best friends with JJ. You two get along like siblings, and know each other extremely well.

Your Role/Job: You are a Criminal and Forensic Psychologist.

Other Info: When the team is hunting for a very peculiar or hard to read suspect, you are sometimes brought in to help.

- - - - - - - -

Supernatural:

S/O: Sam Winchester.

How You Met: You met on a case in your home town. You found out something weird was going on, and ended up getting caught up in something you could never expect. You ended up being saved by Sam and Dean, and then helped them solve the case.

Your Relationship: It can be hard from time to time, with how bad the Winchesters lives can get. But you are loyal, and loving, and help Sam in any way you can. In return, he adores you so much, and protects you as best he can.

Best-Friend: Castiel. You weren't really expecting how close you'd get with Cas, but it happened pretty easily. He is grateful to your kind heart, and your intelligence intrigues him.

Your Role/Job: Ex-Psychologist; Current Hunter.

Other Info: Dean was pretty against letting you join them for a while, but after you saved their lives multiple ties, he finally gave in. After a while, you two got pretty close, and now the only time he regrets letting you stay, is when you get hurt.

xx

[kaiwritess]

Hi! Can I request a scenario where Oikawa’s ex which he left for volleyball then became a volleyball prodigy (Top one of the aces of Japan for Women’s volleyball) also who which he still loves, came to Seijoh for a practice match against their girls volleyball team whose ace is Oikawa’s current “fling” and won. During the game, Toru didn’t realize that his attention wasn’t on his “fling” but it’s on his ex making his “fling” jealous. Sorry if its random and weird, I LOVE YOUR WRITING BTW!

hi nonnie!! this is an awesome request. hopefully you dont mind, but i changed it up a bit. like instead of it being a practice match, it’s the finals of the spring tournament. thought it would give some more tension, ykwim? also, let’s pretend that y/n is a member of fukurodani. also, i wrote this so that oikawa BELIEVED y/n was trying to make him jealous, but in reality, y/n was only doing it for herself and her teammates. Y/n moved on from oikawa, and she learned her worth. She became a QUEEN (not that she wasn’t before)

Your Loss || Oikawa Tooru x Reader

Word Count: 1.5k

Summary: You’re versing Aoba Johsai’s team for the finals. But. did you really get over your ex?

Warnings: none; just a sprinkle of angst in the end

“Volleyball is my priority. You’re not.”

That was the last thing Oikawa said to you months ago before he left. You remember those words as if it happened yesterday. In the beginning, you were obviously heartbroken. Was the time you spent with him only one-sided? Did he ever love me?

All of those questions used to cloud your mind. It had even distracted you from the sport you love. Fortunately, you had a strong support system. Your friends were there for you. They got you through a difficult time.

Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Who knew that the pent up anger and frustration led you to become the second-best ace in Japan? Not only that, but you were the team captain. Now here you are, standing on the volleyball court, waiting to verse your ex’s school. This was the first time since your breakup that you were going to compete against Aoba Johsai. 

“Hey, Y/N,” a familiar voice snapped you out of your train of thought.

You smile after seeing who the voice belonged to. “Oh hey, Akaashi. Glad you could cheer us on. We all really appreciate the school spirit,” you said, motioning to the crowded bleachers.

“It’s nothing, really. Bokuto is already riling up the crowd,” he chuckled. “You know how he can be.”

Laughing alongside him, you heard your coach yell for a team huddle.

“Guess I have to go now. Wish me luck.”

Before you could walk away, you felt Akaashi’s hand grab your arm. You turned to him with wide eyes. “Oh?”

Akaashi took a deep breath. “I feel like you should know this. You know #4 on the opposite team? I think she’s their ace and captain. Anyways, Oikawa’s having a fling with her, so I think he might be coming to cheer her on. Don’t let him and #4 get to you. Good luck, Y/N.”

You stood there frozen in shock. A wave of emotions came crashing down on you. Questions like How long have they been together? Does Oikawa really like her?, and What happened to volleyball being his priority? clouded your mine. Great. Now your nerves got ten times worse.

“Thanks for telling me, “ you almost sounded sarcastic. “I have to go now. Enjoy the game.” Akaashi watched you walk towards your team. He gulped. This was either the best or worst mistake he ever made.

You didn’t listen to what the coaches were saying in the team huddle. The only thing on your mind was your goal to defeat Aoba Johsai. Demolish them to the point where the audience pities them. The team noticed your odd silence but were too nervous to say anything about it. Usually, you were the one who got the team hyped. So when they saw how quiet their captain was, it made them concerned. Ignoring all the stares, you walked up to the referee, ready to see who serves first. Most importantly, you were ready to face #4.

A brunette was walking towards you with the jersey saying #4. 

“Let’s have a good game,” you heard the ref say.

You clenched your jaw as you shook her hand. #4 leaned closer to you, only to whisper, 

“Heard you were Oikawa’s ex. He’s up on the left side of the stands cheering for me. Sucks that you're missing out on all the cute cheers he made for Aoba Johsai.”

By now, veins were popping out of your neck. Your face was bright red and you shook her hand as tight as you could.

“Let’s have a good game,” you said, dropping her hand while smiling passive-aggressively.

---

Set 1: Aoba Johsai- 20, Fukurodani- 25.

Set 2: 25 || 23

Set 3: 27 || 25

Set 4: 17 || 25

Set 5: 23 || 24

--

It was the match point of the last set. Your coach had called a time out as a way to let the team regain some of their energy. Everyone reached their physical limits. Now, it was only a battle of mental strength. You looked back to your teammates and saw them panting and crouching down. Sweat dropped from your forehead and trickled down to your neck. Surprisingly, you didn’t hear or see Oikawa even once during the match. Though, you never got the chance to even look at the crowd. There were far too many people. Perhaps #4 was lying about him showing up? No, that couldn’t be. It was the finals. Oikawa would never miss this. Your eyes trailed up to the stands, scanning for a face that was remotely similar to his. 

“No, no, no, no.” you shook your head. “We are not doing this. Come on. We have a game to win,” you scolded yourself. With one last, desperate look at the crowd, your jaw dropped. 

There he was, talking to who it seems to be Iwaizumi. 

He was staring directly at you.

“Oh my gosh,” the whistle blew, signaling the end of time out. “Curiosity did kill the cat.”

It was your turn to serve. The ball was thrown towards you, and you almost let it slip out of your hands. Your palms felt more sweaty than usual.

“Nice serve!” a teammate called out.

Taking a deep breath, you began to do your pre-serving routine. Once the whistle blew again, you got ready to serve. Right when you were about to hit the ball, a voice was heard.

“LET’S GO Y/N!!”

It threw you off so much, to the point where the ball hit the net. You turned your head around, trying to find the source of the cheer.

It was him.

It was Oikawa Tooru.

Turning back, you looked to see who was serving next.

Oh boy. It was #4.

To be honest, you were quite impressed by her serves. Although they weren’t as exact and deadly as Oikawa’s, it was still very good. It was almost as if he taught her.

If it weren’t for your teammate calling #4’s serve out, you surely would have tried to receive it. Thank goodness you didn’t. The score was now 24 || 25. Fukurodani was at match point again. 

“Nice serve! Let’s make it count!!” you yelled back at the teammate who was serving.

The serve was so strong, that even though Seijou received it, it went over to Fukurodani’s side, making it a free ball. This was your chance.

“Chance ball!” the libero announced.

“GIVE IT TO ME!” you called out as loud as you could.

It was as if time began to slow down. The loud cheers were muted. The pass was perfect. The set was perfect. Everything was perfect.

The next few moments went by faster than the speed of sound. Was it because you were in the ‘zone’? The impact of the ball left a red mark on your hand. You found yourself being hugged and jumped on by your teammates.

We won.

--

After packing all your gear, you began to walk out of the gym. A gold medal hung proudly from your neck. But before you could walk out, you saw #4 and Oikawa arguing with each other. You couldn’t tell what the conversation was about, but it surely wasn’t good. #4 turned to you and made dead eye contact. She walked towards you, and Oikawa was still standing there with his arms crossed.

“Good game. I underestimated you,” she held her hand out for you to shake.

“I guess you learned a lesson to never underestimate your opponents,” you shook her hand.

“I will beat you next time,” a small grin could be seen on both of your faces. “Oh, and by the way, you see Oikawa over there? Trust me when I say this, but he is not over you.”

The grin disappeared from your face. #4 walked away, leaving him and you standing awkwardly close to each other. 

You were going to walk away from him, but before you could do so, he called out for you.

“Y/N,” he looked more nervous than usual.

“If I were you, I would be going back to #4.”

He sighed. “She and I are done.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” you raised an eyebrow.

Oikawa’s face turned red. “Look. I just wanted to tell you something.”

“I’m all ears.”

“You played great. You surely got my attention towards you,” he smirked.

“Excuse me?”

“You played this hard to get me jealous… right?”

“You’re joking,” you scoffed.

Realizing the mistake Oikawa made, he tried to recover.

“Anyways, that’s beside the point. The point is, I was wondering if you would want to go to the local cafe together? Maybe catch up on some stuff,”

You looked at him, appalled by the words he said.

“You’re joking, right?”

“...no?”

“You don’t know how much you hurt me, Oikawa. If you did, then you wouldn’t be approaching me like this. Maybe uh, I don’t know, give me an apology?”

“Y/N…”

“I’m sorry Oikawa. I really am. But volleyball is my priority. You’re not.”

After finishing your sentence, you pushed past him, walking towards the exit. You weren’t going to let someone who hurt you try to get with you again. You learned from your past mistakes.

Oikawa watched you walk away in shock.

You’re the one that got away.

Thanks for reading!

-Kai