#if only for the night

[bebepac]

The Moments In Between

I am participating in @choicesflashfics prompt : “I don’t have a date, so would you ... maybe want to be my plus one?” will appear in bold 

I am also participating in @choiceschallenge-may2023 for falling in love.

Letting you know now, this story is probably the most canon I have written. This is not my OG Riley and Liam  and in this universe Liam and Riley did not spend the night together as all my other headcanon stories have them.  Liam has kept his emotional distance like canon.....which has invited the opportunity for Drake to make an appearance.  

This could be seen as a prequel to  If Only for the Night

The Book:  TRR Pairings:  Riley x Drake? Warnings and Ratings:  None! Word Count: 1121 Summary:  Riley meets Drake in the Lythikos wine cellar for a drink Song Inspiration:  That Don’t Impress Me Much by Shania Twain

A/N: I’m sure this title has been used in fics before, so hopefully no one is offended by it, but I’m taking it from the Canon diamond scene. 

AN2:  This story actually came to my mind because of a conversation I had with @angelasscribbles as we were talking about Drake. I had thought then, that conversation would not give me any writing ideas, but SURPRISE!

Original post:  05.27.23 at 9:31PM  EST. 

To be honest, I wasn’t even surprised about how the trip was going being in Lythikos for Olivia’s tribute to Prince Liam.  The room she put me in was basically a refurbished broom closet, dinner was served to my table cold with portions of the entree missing.  

But what struck me and what did surprise me is that Liam didn’t notice, and never checked up on us, supposedly his true blue friends were all sitting at the neglected table and he didn’t even glance in our direction the whole evening.  

And not to mention….the kiss. He let her kiss him in front of the whole court. He genuinely appeared surprised when it happened, but everyone at the table, all their eyes were trained on me for a response.  I mean honestly, what could I say?  

Prince Liam is not my boyfriend, I’m a suitor in this game we’re all playing.  I am competing for a man that at this point has no true allegiance to me.

Nonchalantly I shrugged my shoulders.  “She went for it.  You know, she doesn’t usually get this much individual time with the Prince, so I can’t fault her for shooting her shot.”  

“You’re a lot calmer than I thought you would be, Brooks.”  

“I mean, these so-called 'noble' royals have been showing me who they are this whole time, I’d be a fool not to believe them.”  

“You deserve a drink Brooks,  meet up with me later, and we’ll find where the good stuff you like is stored in this keep.”  

“I really might have to take you up on that.”  

Liam finally cornered me for a brief moment, as I stood on the balcony letting the cool wind in a way revitalize me.  

“Are you angry with me for what happened?”

“No.”  

“I thought you might be.”  

“How can I Liam? you haven’t so much as stated any intentions you have for me, or of any feelings for me because you say, you can’t.  You have a duty to your people and I get that.  But don’t forget, all of us are “your people, and we are getting mistreated by some of these people that are supposed to be the “Nobility.”

“I heard about what happened to you all with your meals by the waitstaff, it’s very unfortunate.”

“You mean what they were told to do to us  by the Duchess of the Keep?”

Liam took his hands in mine.

“Let me make it up to you. Come meet me tonight.  My room has the most beautiful view of the Lythikos landscape and a wonderful hot tub that I have yet to want to use, but would love to enjoy it with you.”

Seriously Liam? That don’t impress me much. 

 I thought in my head.

“It’s been a really long day Liam.”  

Liam frowned for a moment.  His smile returned as he kissed my hand.  

“I promise you it will be relaxing, and I’ll keep my hands to myself, that is unless you want a massage.”

I felt my resolve wavering for a moment but then it recharged when I remembered all the bad treatment I had experienced while visiting in Lythikos thanks to the Scarlett Duchess herself.

“I’ll wait for you just the same.”  

“If I’m not too tired by the end of these festivities, I’ll definitely meet you.”

My mind  was already made up as I walked away from him.

That evening when I made it back to the cupboard under the stairs that was my room,  I freshened up a bit, and changed my clothes.  I had more than one choice and I had decided how I wanted to spend my evening.

And I feel like I made the right decision as when he turned around he genuinely looked surprised to see me.  

“Hey! I don’t have a date, so would you maybe want to be my plus one?”

“Brooks!  I didn’t think you would show.  I had heard Liam had invited you…”

“I could use that drink more, it’s been a helluva day.  This is how the working class unwinds, not in hot tubs and seeing glorious views of the Lythikos backcountry. If we’re being totally honest, the Lythikos backcountry can kiss my rounded backside.”  

Drake laughed.

“I hear that.  Sounds like you’re ready to start popping some bottles?”  

“Hell yeah I am!”  

I started going through the bottles of Wine in the cellar, when I noticed Drake wasn’t doing the same.  

“Aren’t you going to pick some too?”

“Naw, I brought my stash. This was more about you, I know today was a rough day for you.”  

Drake produced a silver and black flask with the Cordonian Crest on it.  

“I mean not really, people have been showing me their true colors since I got here.  And Liam, can’t be who he was when he was in New York here, at least not in public. So is that Whiskey? The third Level of your food group pyramid?”

“Hey if that’s the third level, what are the first two?”

“Isn’t it obvious?  Meat  is level one, Potatoes are level two.”

“You get me Brooks, and yes it’s Whiskey.”  

“So are you sharing that?”

“I can.  You know you’re really a lot different than I thought you were when we all first met in New York.”

“You should know not to judge a book by its cover Drake, as much as the Nobility of Cordonia are constantly judging you here.”  

“You’re different.”  

“No, I’m the same, you just didn’t see me for who I truly was before, and now you’re finally getting a glimpse.”  

Was Drake Walker blushing, and why was he staring at me that way?

“This is me relaxed, just being myself.  Not behaving like a trained dolphin for the cameras.  The moments in between where I get to be just Riley. You know, this is the most we’ve talked Walker, you’re not half bad.”  

Drake was staring at me as if he was in  some sort of trance, after a few moments he snapped out of it.  

“We should toast.  To the moments in between where we can relax and be ourselves, with no added pressure.”

He took a sip from the flask and held it out to me, right when I was about to grab it, he snatched it back.

“Pass it here, I don’t have mouth herpes or anything. Besides, the alcohol would kill the germs anyway.”

He looked to be weighing the validity of the idea in his head for a few moments and then came up to the resolution, nodding to me in agreement.

“Seems legit.”  

I held up the flask and before I drank, I smiled at Drake.

“To the moments in between.” 

[croffle-bits]

Fighting God in his own home

[allagashed]

whenever i say “screaming crying throwing up” this is what i mean

[andysanimation]

Movie with a trash little little bb girl who is a man in his 30-40s who needs a job, and has a difficult relationship with his child/sibling. Then gets a job as a night guard and everything seems fine, until the night, when the inanimate objects come to live and get quirky. But eventually understand each other and team up to stop the bigger evil.

[queerasflux]

man I wish people understood how much it sucks ass to be neurodivergent and trying to find the middle ground where people like/tolerate you. like, I'm either "boring" (trying to wait my turn in conversations, holding space for other people, taking a back seat to let others get some spotlight) or "too much" (too loud/talking too much, getting excited to share, trying to participate in group conversations/activities). No one really talks about how much of being neurodivergent is just sort of trying to make yourself palatable.

I feel like so much of my life has been spent trying to find this effortless sort of middle ground everyone else seems to automatically already know, and I'm always swinging too far one way or the other. I'm lucky to have neurodivergent friends who grok me, but goddamn I wish that I could just like, exist without the constant background script in my brain that's like "you're being too loud. You're not talking enough. you're being self-centered. you're being boring. you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong." I feel like I'm back in high school trying to make friends but stuck as the eternal "weird kid"

it's just... lonely and sucks bad.

[chloesimaginationthings]

I always forget Michael is British in the FNAF games,,

[jay-wasstuff]

Mike: is struggling financially and mentally

Vanessa: *throws his prescription medicine*

Edit: it's not just about whether Mike needed the drugs (which he didn't, i understand), it's about the fact SHE LITTERED and most likely polluted the river too.

[starlightobservatory]

Welcome

[biracy]

"Name a hobby outside of MEDIA CONSUMPTION" is the worst kind of post. It's squarely in that ever-growing genre of post where the point on its face is ideologically meaningless and entirely reliant on an audience's biased negative reaction to a certain popular online buzzword (in this case, "consuming media"). Define "media". Define "consumption". Are reading books, watching movies, and playing video games all inherently inferior hobbies for dumb babies? What about going to an art gallery? What about going to see a play? What makes those "different", if you instinctually answer "Noooo that's not the same!"? Where does creating art, or "media", fall into this equation? Why does your insistence on feeling in some way intellectually and/or morally superior than the peons who use TikTok always fall back on the idea that the only worthwhile, "real" hobbies require a certain level of physical, mental, and/or social ability and reinforce the glorification of manual labor? Why will we never Fucking be free?

[songsofwaterandnight]

Y'all are being awfully quiet about what they did to gifs on mobile...

[madootles]

dramatic eyes. dramatic lips. drama on the cheeks.

sketch

[beepborpdoodledorp]

it may be trash but it is our trash

[chloesimaginationthings]

Matpat was the only jumpscare in the FNAF movie

[littleogreboii]

i see a lot of people talk about edward being disabled in fma, but it's less often talked about how alphonse is also disabled. i think it's partially because alphonse doesn't experience physical pain like edward so for a majority of the series, he's not having any of those kind of symptoms, but he is still disabled. also because alphonse's experiences are unique. like you don't see ant walking, talking suits of armour in real life (unless they're piloted by a human being physically inside them) and in world, there are about 3 others like alphonse).

alphonse is dependent on edward's survival to function. after fighting scar for the first time, alphonse is literally in pieces. he can't walk or anything until edward is in a position to fix him. similarly his body is dependent on nutrients from edward's body. like there's the point towards the end where edward gets impaled and alphonse collapses. furthermore, these periods where alphonse collapses start to become debilitating towards the end of the series and massively alter his daily living.

also, alphonse constantly talks about how upsetting it is for him to not feel any physical sensations. yeah, he's not feeling physical pain, but he's also not feeling the warmth of a fire, the sun on his face, or the fluffiness of the cats he keeps petting. he talks a lot about not being able to eat or sleep, and how there's a lot of foods he wants to try.

there's another thing that highlighted by edward at one point. alphonse's body doesn't regenerate at all. the parts scar destroys are gone forever; edward stretches out the metal that alphonse has left to repair his body. and obviously human beings don't regrow limbs, but imagine if your skin didn't ever heal over a cut. how long would your body last?

also alphonse gets told several times that his body is great throughout the series, and he literally argues against it every time, because to him it is shit. like he is missing some of his senses just for some supposedly immortal body that isn't even immortal.

even once alphonse gets his own body back, the amount of physical therapy the boy has to go through. his body has essentially been doing nothing and only receiving what nutrients it can get from edward for years. by the end of the series, he's still using a cane as a walking aid. it's unknown whether he requires that cane for the years to come, but for at least a period of time he requires a mobility aid. I don't know enough to say what effect muscle decay from inactivity and severe malnourishment during a major portion of his teenage years would have long term.

[i-like-to-look-at-your-back]

Sleeping off