#nadine is cool

[your-penthouse-in-the-sky]

I was trying so hard to find a picture that wasn’t ITW or one of our friends -miles

bro wanted to partner on the sequel to omelette so bad… he turned into an egg

[wefindourselves]

Listen/purchase: The Olive Tape

The Olive Tape is a collection of new, exclusive songs & poems by 24 artists, compiled to raise funds for humanitarian aid in Palestine.

All proceeds will go to the PCRF and Anera. As of this moment, the IOF’s current assault on Rafah leaves a staggering population of over a million Palestinians trapped with nowhere to go. There’s never been a better time to give your support to notable foundations with proven track records in the area.

This tape was produced by a group of artists who care deeply and some of whom are tied personally to the occupation of Palestine.

If you have the time, at least listen give it a listen.

[randombrainworm]

i would literally give all of my money for D20 to make a All Black Cast season (Lou, Ify, Aabria, Danielle, Rashawn, whoever else they could bring into the dome) set in a world of/inspired by Wagadu Chronicles

[derelictdumbass]

thoughts on soulmate AUs? bc I'd love to share my favorite soulmate AUs with you ahsjjs

My thoughts on soulmate AUs are vast and abundant,, aka for my ships I like them but done in a very certain way and for other people's ships I think they're all fun funky and cool however they do 'em <3 Please share your fave ones with me I will eat them 💜💜

[dumbthink]

wait. actual last post before i go nap. nadine and roderick from diary of a wimpy kid

[queerpuff]

omg sorry about my last post i didn't think it would make people freak out. we haven't gotten official confirmation that we're getting another chlodine game but it's now looking VERY likely and let me explain why

so we knew that Naughty Dog had a deal with Sony Bend studios to co-dev an uncharted spin off title and that they pulled out etc etc

well with the news of sony now creating an internal studio to co-develop another project with naughty dog, it's been released that they're going to be working on a 'beloved franchise' of theirs...!!!

its unlikely to be TLOU as we know naughty dog are actively developing the multiplayer right now and i doubt they'd start work on tlou3 already

it's not crash bandicoot as they've passed along the rights to that franchise to a different studio

it's either jak and daxter OR uncharted. it's unlikely to be jak (i'll eat my words if it is lmao) just bc it doesn't really fit the direction they want to take naughty dog in.....

so this kinda leaves us with one other option which is UNCHARTED!! plus with the tom holland film out i think they'll want to keep plugging away at the franchise so it would make sense for them.

couple this with the fact that they left the lost legacy so open ended, kind of hinting at a future for chloe x nadine, it's looking SO likely that we're going to get another game with them both :')

[nadinehunt]

why is this nadine

[derelictheretic]

what if I made dean's alt face claim c.ole s.prouse,, what then,,

[thxemazingem]

@downspirals​ because Em and I missed Nadine

“Heyyyy! Nadine,” Em saunters over, sporting finger guns. “Sooo... Weird question, uh- I know you enjoy chaos as much as I do. Just heard that my neighbors’ chickens all got loose and was wondering if you’d like to help catch them. Or we could watch and laugh at everyone else trying to catch the chickens.”

[your-penthouse-in-the-sky]

Real proof of @lesbianjakewheeler bullying me

Red = Nadine

Blue = Our other friend

Purple = Me

guys he’s attractive and silly ☹️☹️

[maxellminidisc]

Speaking of my lesbian friends from high school who loved reading yaoi, those two would make so much fun of me having a crush on this skater boy pothead, that at one point one of them drew me a manga style parody portrait of him in a Zoro-esque get up and I still have that shit in a binder somewhere sksmdmfkfk

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

BORIS JOHNSON RESIGNS AS MP. Thoughts? The people howl for a new update to the Big Dog the Clown saga.

Yes this was not on my personal bingo card; my most recent Big Dog event was that a friend of mine works for air traffic control and recently had to delay BoJo's holiday flight by four hours, and on being told that this particular plane had to be prioritised for a runway slot because it contained an Important Clown promptly pushed it to the bottom of the priority list. Lol. And then all this! What larks.

Okay not a lot of detail yet still but LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE EVENTS OF 9TH JUNE, 2023 and you know what? It's been a while. Let's do it properly.

7.15am

Another day dawns in the reign of evil Grand Vizier-turned-PM Rishi Sunak. He's a very boring flavour of evil, tbh. Say what you will about Johnson, but at least there was spectacle and showmanship to his clownshow. Something for the children to boo and hiss. An animate ham in a villain's wig, something to really enjoy as you sit back, relax, and savour a tall, cool glass of schadenfreude.

By contrast Rishi just gets sycophants - who are no less ridiculous, but far more grey and boring - who pretend he's a tech bro because "he understands AI" and they think that will make him a visionary and a man of the future and maybe some sort of Elon Musk figure, because that's obviously a smashing template to be copied in a leader of a country.

This briefing was presumably drafted using ChatGPT.

Anyway, this is what we thought the day would be: another dreary overcast washout, livened up by Downing Street's latest attempt at making Sunak seem like a good idea to stave off the hulking spectre of Labour's inevitable GE win next year. How trite. How tedious. How mediocre.

What a shame it would be if... something were to liven it up.

8.39 am

Fun fact!

When a PM's term ends, as their last act in office, they get to present an Honours List. This means they write a list of all the people they reckon have been Jolly Good Sorts who have done Good Clowning and Supported The Community, and nominate those people for honours. Honours here can be anything from an MBE/OBE etc, to a Damehood/Knighthood, all the way up to entering the Peerage i.e. becoming a Lord. Traditionally, people have been fairly reasonable with these lists. Apart from anything else, the outgoing PM can only write the list - the new Prime Minister has to sign off on it, and it's usually the case, of course, that PMs are deposed by the opposition party.

Why am I mentioning this? Well: Boris, you see, has now presented his list to Sunak to validate. You may be unsurprised to learn that it contains quite a lot of clowns.

Another fun fact!

If a sitting MP is given a Peerage, they cannot continue to be an MP. MPs are elected. Lords are not. So an MP offered a lordship right now would have to stand down if they accepted, triggering a by-election in their seat that... well. That anyone could win, couldn't they? Ordinarily. Except Labour's shadow is growing, isn't it? I don't suppose Sunak would be all that happy about losing, for example, any Tory MPs nominated for a peerage right now.

What fun facts.

At 8.39am, Politics UK reveals an as-yet-unverified report that Nadine Dorries and Alok Sharma have been removed from Boris Johnson's honours list, and will go back to vetting.

(They also reveal that Big Dog's dad has been removed from the list, because nominating your dad for a Peerage is "inappropriate". Sorry, Bigger Dog. Apparently even corrupt ghoul Rishi Sunak has a limit to what open corruption he will allow, which is news to us all, most of all Rishi.)

10.41am

Nadine Dorries decides she will play to her strengths, and appear on TV to do some Public Speaking, which always goes well for her of course.

Nothing, let's remember, has been confirmed yet at all. But she's here to put people's minds at ease! No power-hungry status-chasing pink maniac, she! She is very clear in her aims.

“The last thing I would want to do would be to cause a by-election in my constituency.”

Quite right, Nadine. That would be disastrous.

11.20am

Oh, it’s Tory think tank NRG’s conference in Doncaster today.  Gideon George Osborne, pig-stupid former Grand Vizier and idiot fail-heir to David "pig-fucker" Cameron, gives a speech.  Let's see some quotes!

On the Tories’ choices of chancellors since he personally fell on his sword over Brexit left the role:

“You can see when the partnership doesn’t work. The government's paralysed and the politics is terrible.”

Fair, but also you are a government, George.

On Tories who attack the civil service:

“We’re in charge of our country’s destiny. We should stop blaming others if we don’t get things right." 

... right. But you just... Uh.

On Tory culture warriors:

“It’s really important that the Conservative Party is excited about the country we aspire to lead… and doesn’t get in to ‘we’re against all these groups of people’. We’re the inclusive people.”

Well, points for clearing that absurdly low bar, I guess. Christ, I cannot BELIEVE Suella Braverman is making George fucking Osborne look good-by-comparison.

1pm

Ooh. Nadine's attempts to put minds at ease have inexplicably not worked, can't think why not. She's such a reassuring and charismatic speaker normally.

But the rumour is now FLYING about that Nadine has indeed been dropped from the honours list, and specifically because Sunak wants to avoid a by-election that will lose him more seats at a time when he is desperate for even a mat on the floor as long as it's blue.

Sorry, Nads. Still; this morning you were very clear that the constituency comes first, so I suppose that's okay. The priority now is that she MUST stay in position, so the Tories can keep their numbers steady. It is VITAL she remains an MP. Let's remember her exact words!

“The last thing I would want to do would be to cause a by-election in my constituency.”

3.45pm

Nadine Dorries tweets her resignation.

The last thing she does as an MP is indeed to cause a by-election in her constituency.

3.50pm

Except this is Nadine Dorries we're talking about. She's found some flashy balls to juggle, look, and a boy to pour custard down her trousers.

Not five minutes after dropping the bombshell, she deletes the last tweet announcing her resignation, and tweets a new one.

The new tweet says, “it is now time for another to take the reins” as the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire.

The original tweet said, “it is now time for someone younger to take the reins.”

*

On Talk TV, Dorries says that "something significant did happen to change my mind", but doesn’t elaborate.

3.56pm

The whispers are whispering. The rumours are rumouring. The knives are sharpening.

Nadine's now-former seat is Mid-Bedfordshire, and has been Tory since 1929; a safe seat, which certainly explains how Nadine fucking Dorries managed to hold it for as long as she did.

An MP on the right of the Tory party says that if the Tories lose the Mid Bedfordshire by-election, it’ll open questions about Rishi Sunak's leadership CLOWNFALL 3: REVENGE OF BIG DOG LET'S GOOOOOO

3.57pm

Nadine Dorries is removed from the WhatsApp group.

I would love to know who leaked that image. I really should not have that image. Ah well. Now you do too.

4.12pm

Good tweet alert!

5.08pm

Phew! What a day. Let's see how Rishi's getting on.

He approves the rest of BoJo's honours list. Shall we take a look at our newly-honoured citizens? Shall we see what familiar names crop up?

Honours for staff at centre of Partygate Jack Doyle, Rosie Bate-Williams and Shelly Williams-Walker (and a lot of other terrible and disgraced people who were loyal to Johnson, and some of Carrie Antoinette’s friends).

Damehoods for Andrea Jenkyns and Priti Patel.

Knighthoods for Jacob Rees-Mogg, Conor Burns, and Michael Fabricant.

An OBE for Kelly Jo Dodge, Parliamentary hairdresser.

Also honours for Ben Houchen, currently at the heart of a media storm about dodgy property deals.  His huge regeneration project in Teesside is subject to a government investigation regarding the governance, finance and value for money.

*

(Interesting point – Tory MPs Allister Jack and Nigel Adams were offered peerages, but decided to wait, since accepting now would trigger by-elections.

Why were they offered at all, do you think?)

*

So … this means Michael Fabricant is now Sir Michael Fabricant.  Like, actually.  Genuinely.

Nice one, Rishi. Thank goodness you understand AIs.

5.44pm

The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar - journalist who brought down Big Dog one Partygate reveal at a time - tweets her guide to he honours list:

Martin Reynolds, former PPS, invited 200 officials to drinks in Downing St garden.  He told officials to "bring your own booze", later adding: "We seem to have got away with it".

Shelley Williams-Walker, getting a Damehood, was No 10 head of opps & now runs his office.  At No 10 party the night before Prince Philip's funeral she was dubbed "DJ SWW" for her banger playlist.

Jack Doyle & Rosie Bate-Williams, who get OBEs, were press spox who repeatedly denied the parties happened

Dan Rosenfield, who gets a peerage, quit in mass exodus of senior No 10 staff as anger over Partygate grew.  Former chief of staff faced reports he was among senior Downing Street officials who attended a Christmas quiz when restrictions were in place.

Shaun Bailey, who ran unsuccessfully for London mayor, gets a peerage, and Ben Mallett, a close friend of Carrie Antoinette's who ran Zac Goldsmith’s disastrous mayoral campaign, gets an OBE. Both are in this picture of a lockdown-flouting party at CCHQ:

What a sea of punchable faces.

7.58pm

But we've been so focused on Nadine! She's fucked up her juggling, look, but she's sliding around on the rollerskates, ever so distracting. But here's the thing, Tumblrs, here's the thing:

Among all of this, what's the Chief Clown doing?

The Privilege Committee reveals in their draft report that Boris Johnson misled Parliament, and recommends a sanction of more than 10 days.

Does that sound too little? Are you wishing it were smething more meaningful? Let me help put it in context.

This sanction would be enough to trigger a by-election in Johnson’s seat.

8.02pm

Boris Johnson

QUITS

as an MP

The committee said Johson had “impugned the integrity” of the House of Commons. Fascinating! I didn't know its honour had ever been pugned.

He accuses the inquiry of trying to “drive me out”!!!!

"It is very sad to be leaving parliament - at least for now - but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias".

Worth noting that the committee has a Conservative majority, mind. But you mustn't let things like facts get in the way of your feelings, BlowJo. You never have as a politician. Nor as a journalist, come to that.

(Also SIDE NOTE – “at least for now”??  What are you planning, Big Dog??  I suppose Nadine is leaving an empty seat...)

8.41pm

Christopher Hope of the Daily Telegraph reports he’s heard rumours of a THIRD Tory MP potentially resigning – and another Johnson loyalist at that. Lol. Trololol. Lmao, even. Perhaps rofl.

11.43pm

And finally, the day is wrapped up with the Guardian revealing their front cover for the following day:

Big Dog is OUT, hot trans bloke is IN.

Not a bad finish.

[derelictdumbass]

Anyway happier post I ordered one of those tank top binders bc normal ones don't do the job for moi

[lewisvinga]

real reconoce real ! | carlos sainz x fem! football player! reader!

summary; everyone knew carlos is a huge madridista, nobody ever expected for him to date one of their female players

fc; athenea + girls from pinterest

note; idk how to explain it but ‘crack’ is like slang for cool😭 but carlos being a madridista is everything to me

masterlist !

liked by yourusername, charles_leclerc and 1,039,937 others!

carlossainz55: fue un placer a ver el nuevo estadio santiago bernabéu, muchísimas gracias ! hala madrid!🤍 [it was a pleasure to see the new santiago bernabeu stadium, thank you very much!]

tagged; realmadrid

vinijr: fue en placer, smooth operator 😎🌶️[it was a pleasure]

carlossainz55: igualmente, nuestro 7! [likewise, our 7]

username: madridista carlos is everything

username: as a culer, i love carlos

charles_leclerc: oh i wish to see your reaction 😂

yourusername: never seen a man so excited before 🤣

yourusername: nice jersey!

carlossainz55: it’s gorgeous, right?

camavinga: 🔥

username: historia que ti hiciste historia por hacerrr

username: mr smooth operator 😎😎

liked by carlossainz55, judebellingham, and 596,927 others!

yourusername: otra victoria en casa! hala madrid! 🤍 [another victory at home]

tagged; realmadridfem

judebellingham: crackkkkk

liked by yourusername

carlossainz55: nuestra potm 😎 [our player of the match]

yourusername: ya tu sabes 😁 [you already know]

username: porque nadine resiste tus ganas de vencerrr

username: my goat

username: prettiest ever

username: y’all seeing carlos sainz in her likes 👀👀

username: and comments 😫

username: jude bellingham commented??

username: duh he’s a real madrid player and he’s supporting their women’s team silly

liked by yourusername, charles_leclerc, and 1,204,927 others!

carlossainz55: G R A Z I E 🇮🇹❤️

tagged; scuderiaferrari

yourusername: que crackkk🌶️

carlossainz55: 😎

username: p3! you make all of us proud

username: forza ferrari!

charles_leclerc: great day for ferrari!

username: hey siri, play smooth operator!

username: vamos!!!

username: 👏 👏

username: bien hecho!! ❤️❤️ [well done]

username: y/n commenting, i am connecting the dots

username: you aren’t connecting anything

scuderiaferrari: ❤️❤️

liked by carlossainz55, vinijr, and 602,938 others!

yourusername: un fin de semana muy especial ❤️🌶️💙 [a very special weekend]

tagged; vinijr, scuderiaferrari, mercedesamgf1

vinijr: los mas rápidos 😎😎😎 [the fastest]

yourusername: obviamenteeeee💅💅 [obviously]

scuderiaferrari: pleasure to have you!!❤️🤍🤍

mercedesamgf1: thanks for joining us 🙌💙🤍

username: guys she was in the ferrari garage…

username: it’s a coincidence it has to be!

carlossainz55: mi amuleto de la suerte🍀[my lucky charm]

yourusername: ❤️🤍

username: HIS COMMWNT??

username: q linda [how pretty]

username: crackkk😝

username: my fave football players + my fave f1 teams together 😫

liked by carlossainz55, linda__caicedo11, and 789,938 others!

yourusername: real reconoce real [real recognizes real]

tagged; carlossainz55

carlossainz55: mi amor🤍 [my love]

yourusername: mi querido 🤍🤍 [my dear]

linda__caicedo11: por fin 🤣 [finally]

yourusername: waited too long!

camavinga: y/n and her madridista boyfriendddddddd

yourusername: i won the lottery 💯

username: llevo tu camisetaaaa pegada al corazónnnn

judebellingham: i like it, picasso!!

liked by yourusername!

username: HELLO??

username: i actually called this

username: awhhh

olgacarmona7: now we know the reason for your amazing performance last week🤣😂

yourusername: shhh🤫🤫

username: why are they so perfect for each other

username: guess carlos p3 and the real madrid remontada [comeback] made them hard launch their relationship 😭😭😭

username: it’s the madrid dna

liked by yourusername, landonorris, and 1,038,938 others!

carlossainz55: yo real nací y real me muero [real i was born and real i will die]

tagged; yourusername

yourusername: te quiero 🥹 [i love you]

carlossainz55: te quiero muchísimo ❤️ [i love you very much]

username: can’t even hate they’re so cute

username: i wanna be jealous but gosj lskdkd

username: madrid madrid madrid

username: hala madrid

username: y nada más

username: sitting on the highway tonight

username: i want what they have

landonorris: my parents 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️🤍🤍

yourusername: nuestro hijo 🤍 [our son]

carlossainz55: hijo????

landonorris: VAMOSSS [lets go]

alexandrasaintmleux: my ferrari girl🥹❤️ love u

yourusername: love u❤️

charles_leclerc: #betrayal

charles_leclerc: couldn’t even do a proper soft launch 🤣🤣

carlossainz55: i tried my best

username: carlos sainz dating a female player from his childhood football club is everything🥹

[sophia-sol]

Every year at about this time (...very approximately) I post a reclist of 10 short stories I particularly enjoyed reading in the last year, all of which can be read online for free. Here's the latest list, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

1. Sestu Hunts the Last Deer in Heaven - MH Cheung Beautiful and odd. A story of what happens after you've killed the gods, the unexpected realities and the things you have to live with. I love stories about after the climactic things traditional fantasy narratives are about, and this one excels!

2. If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You - John Chu Two butch Asian weightlifter dudes bonding with each other and then dating, and one of them happens to have superpowers, but the superpowers aren't the focus. This is SO charming!!

3. Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold - SB Divya This is a really cool retelling of the classic fairy tale Rumpelstiltskin from the Rumpelstiltskin character's pov, building out the world and his background and making him a sympathetic character with a specific history. Haven't seen a fairy tale retelling quite like this before and it's great! And I say that as a connoisseur of fairy tale retellings.

4. A Farce to Suit the New Girl - Rebecca Fraimow A troupe of Jewish actors in Russia, in a time of political upheaval. This story has such a good and powerful feeling of activity and forward momentum, and of the way a community supports people even if things are weird or complicated! I love every single character and how firmly they are themselves.

5. Sheri, At This Very Moment - Bianca Sayan The sacrifices you make to spend time with the ones you love - a snapshot of one brief visit together, out of two lives that only rarely get to align. Made me teary the first time I read it!

6. Spirochete - Anneke Schwob An engaging second-person pov story about possession and identity. It has such a great sense of timing! And the last line GOT me even on second read when I hypothetically knew what was coming!

7. To Embody a Wildfire Starting - Iona Datt Sharma Ahhhhhh this story is so good at embodying the horrible complexities of the choices people make in the worst of situations, that good and bad and divine and evil and just plain personness can all reside in one being. Also it's about a dragon society and the revolutionary humans who tried to make everyone into dragons, and also about parent-child relationships, and also about a bunch of other things. God it's good.

8. Obsolesce - Nadine Aurora Tabing Is it really me if I don't have at least ONE story about robots in my rec lists? (actually I just went back and checked and in multiple previous years I inexplicably didn't, maybe it wasn't me writing the reclist in those years lol) ANYWAY who wants to have sad feelings about robots again! I know I always do! In a world where anyone who has a physical body instead of having their consciousness transferred is more and more obsolete, no matter if your body is human or robot, what do you hold onto? This one has a real good melancholy tone.

9. Letters from a Travelling Man - WJ Tattersdill ....does what it says on the tin. Letters to a dear friend, from a man travelling for the first time to the unfamiliar part of the world that friend comes from. I love the sense of place you get from the letters, as well as the deep and abiding importance of this friendship in both their lives. Another one I cried over!

10. Texts from the Ghost War - Alex Yuschik Another epistolary one, but this time in text messages instead of letters, and between characters who start the story antagonistically! About mech pilots in a ghost war, and making connections, and finding things to care about, even when stuff sucks. I love them!! (also, I am inescapably me, whoops, it took me until I read some fanfic of this story to realize that almost certainly the story was meant to be canonically shipping the two leads, I never notice romance unless there's anvil-sized indications.) Anyway this is a really good story!

[hunnidmilly]

crushin’ on you. |s.s|

(a/n) omg. im kinda nervous here. i wanted to try my luck at writing for solo sikoa. aye it’s wild asl when the whole damn family fine asl. im also cooking up something for jey usoooo :))). this is also inspired by @msbigredmachine ‘I still heart you’ oneshot featuring solo and nadine. complete credit to you <3. enjoy.

“it’s cool, not tryin’ to put the rush on you. i had to let you know that i got a crush on you…”

warnings: none.

parings: fluff!solo sikoa x black!reader

tagged: @cyberdejos2

“Shit!” You let out a painful groan as you almost twisted your ankle while wearing your 6 inch heels.

“You’re so damn childish.” Your best friend, Leilani, mumbled with a roll of her eyes trailing behind you as you rushed towards catering, “You a little too old for this shit, no?”

“Instead of running your motormouth, you need to be making sure he’s not near me.” You pant, nearly out of breath from your speed walking.

“Bitch, we just speedwalked all the way to the other side of the damn building away from him! He can’t fucking teleport, dammit.” Leilani responds pulling out a chair to sit down lowering her head to the table, “Why won’t you jus—“

“You think he saw me? What if he thinks I’m crazy? All he did was wave. Fuck man. Fuck!” You whine as you throw your head into your hands in embarrassment

“I hope the motherfucker does, then you can stop running away like a 6 year old child.”

“Your mother.” You mumbled out

Currently, you found yourself in a sticky situation. You were always told before you got into this business, “Don’t fall in love with your coworkers.” And here you were. Head over heels for a certain younger Samoan. Solo was practically your husband in your head at this point. You've had a crush on him since meeting him in developmental. With a handful of conversations, hanging out with your friend group, and even going out to eat, how could you not develop even the slightest of feelings for him?

While many saw him as the silent enforcer to his older cousin, Roman, he often showed you a different side when you were alone with him. When you allowed yourself to be. You could barely contain yourself around him. If it’s from falling over the damn air, to stuttering over your words, or saying the most random shit ever…you were crushin’ on him. and you had it bad.

Safe to say, you spent your nights in your hotel room with only a box of your favorite 10 piece hot wing combo, lurking on his socials, and his friends and family’s socials from a separate account than your company one.

You found it easier to just avoid him all together, to keep your little schoolgirl feelings safe. You’ve had way too many experiences of admitting your feelings for others and it went completely left. Rejection is a part of life, but that doesn’t mean it doesn't hurt. And a man like him? coming from one of the biggest wrestling families? You were nowhere near comparable. Deciding to save yourself from the embarrassment, you’d admire the Samoan from a distance…all while creating it.

Leilani and you were walking down a hall when you spotted him talking to his brother. He through a wave in your direction with a dazzling smile, expecting you to return it. Yeah, you didn’t. Quite the opposite, in fact.

You pretend as if you didn’t see him. And spun on your heel and speed walked down the opposite direction you were intending.

Even though Solo clearly saw you, see him, see you, see him.

“Stupid, you do know you’re 31 years old, right? Not 13. Just tell him you like him. What’s the worst he can do?” Leilani explains with a agitated expression coating her face

“He could say, ‘Hey, I’m not interested.’ and there goes my fuckin

dignity. Right down the drain.” You answer

“Then onto the next, girl! He’s not the only guy you’re ever going to like. He’s not the only guy who’ll rejec—“

“Reject me. I know. Save the speech, Joel Olsten. I don’t need the embarrassment that comes from that. We work together, Lei. Do you understand how awkward that would be?” You screech out slamming your hands in the table

“You knew it was going to be awkward when you started liking him. You and him have gone out before. You’re literally friends.”

“We’re friends through friends, Lei. It’s different. We’ve never gone out alone. It’s always been with other people. But he’s not the ‘enforcer’ around me. He’s just Joseph.” You sighed, beginning to feel sorry for yourself.

Leilani was right. You were a grown woman. He’s not the only guy in the world. But somehow, in front of other people, he always had a way of doing so.

One time you went out bowling with your friends a few months back, and he opened the door for you, placing his hand on your lower back, letting you enter the building before him. That entire night, he paid more than enough attention to you. Asking you about your life outside of wrestling, laughing at your jokes, and poking fun at your lack of ability to bowl. He even ordered your food for you. He ended that night by giving you a small hug.

You could still smell his cologne if you closed your eyes tightly enough.

But what if you were reading into this all wrong? He could’ve done that as a way to show he was sincerely interested in being your friend.

Late at night you always dreamed, he was crushin’ just as hard on you as you were to him. But he’s a grown man too. He would’ve said something by now if he was genuinely interested. Right?

Right?

“You need to put on your granny panties and go up to him and ask him to hang out. Bitch, you’re old. Get your ass up. Oop, just in time.” Lei suddenly smirks, her eyes moving past your head

You furrowed your eyebrows and turned in your chair to see Solo entering the catering area, his face in his phone. You admittedly felt yourself begin to shake and start to sweat. Your chest getting heavy.

“Girl, get the fuck up. You know what, actually. Solo!” Lei suddenly shouts getting his attention

“What the fuck are you doing?” You snap into her direction

“I’m deflowering your pussy ass. Either take the chance, or shut up! Hey, Solo!”

You turned around to see him making his way to your table with a smile on his face. ‘I’m going to bitch slap her so hard’ you thought in your head, glaring at Leilani.

“Wassup y’all?” Solo says as he sits in a metal chair next to you

“Hey! We’re just talking about this one’s match tonight. I was just saying we need new gear. Here, let me sho—Dammit. My phone died. I’m gonna go get my iPad; I'll be back in a jiffy.”

Your eyes nearly popped from your skull at Leilani’s words, “I’ll be back, you two. Don’t go anywhere, yeah?” She snickers at the inside joke before standing up and walking off

You bit down on your tongue as you watched her saunter off, down the hallway of the arena. opposite of her locker room, where her iPad would be.

little lying ass bitch.

“So y’all thinking about new gear? Whatchall’ thinking about?” Solo asks, moving his arm to lay against the back of your chair.

Fuck me now, “Um…y-yeah. We are. Y’know? We needa stay up to par as tag team champions.” You stutter, silently curing yourself in your head.

“Hell yea! Yall have been killing it lately out there. I remember in developmental, you’d always say how one day you were going to dominate the women's tag team division. If only little you could see yourself right now. Right?” He grins showing his teeth

He remembered that? That was a while ago.

“Yeah. She’d probably be shitting herself.” Fuck.

He chuckles to himself before facing you again, “You guys ready for backlash? I see Natalya is gearing up. Ion know. You might got some serious competition there, baby girl.”

Was that a pet name? Why’d he call you that? Where did he get that? How many other girls does he call that?

“W-w-well she better bring her ass then to be geared the fuck down!” You respond, slightly cursing yourself.

Solo laughs at your bashfulness and you grab a mini water bottle from the center of the table. You quickly opened it and attempted to drown it in its entirety before you began coughing.

Who swallows water the wrong way? Seriously?

“Yo! Yo! You good?” Solo perches upwards with a concern look on his face actively patting your back

Does it look like i’m fucking good? What do you think?

“Y-yeah!” You cough out still hacking your lungs

“Lemme getchu som—Hey, wait a minute.“ Solo's words were cut off as you waved your hand off and stood up to leave. Still coughing, you walked toward the exit with a frown on your face.

Once again, you fucked it up and embarrassed yourself. This time by choking on your water.

“Hey, wait. It’s oka—“ Solo's words were cut off once again as you leaned too close to the door, yanking it open resulting in hitting your head with it.

Before anyone else could see your multiple fuckups, you quickly exited the catering area. You walked as fast as you could to your locker room, clutching your head. You felt the tears in your eyes begin to form at your embarrassment. You felt sorry for yourself. A 31 year old grown ass woman, couldn’t admit to a dude that you were feeling him. The shit was pitiful to say the least.

You clutched your jacket closer to your body as you waited for your Uber Eats delivery to arrive. After a long night, you made the ‘expected’ decision to just head back to the hotel for the night. Avoiding Solo for the duration of the show. Wherever you spotted him, you made sure you weren’t. or at least well hidden. You lowered your gaze down to your phone, eyeing the unread message from Leilani.

Lei: Soooooo. You 2 lovebirds bond?

You didn’t have it in your heart to tell her the truth. Once again, you messed up. If he didn’t think you were weird before, he certainly does now.

Shaming yourself for wearing shorts, while it was chilly outside, you saw the car of your Uber Eats driver pull up. You stayed near the hotel entrance and prepared to greet him to receive your order. As the man gets out with a bag, from the corner of your eye, you couldn’t help but notice Solo beginning to walk towards you, his suitcase in tow. You quickly retrieved your bag, and headed back inside.

Not again. No, never again.

Just as you pressed the elevator button, you heard the creaking of wheels.

“Wassup?” He greets with a smile

“Hey.” You smile back up at the man

Solo's face gains a confused look. You were being short with him. while he knew you were shy. You at least attempted more of a conversation with him.

As the elevator opened, you both entered. You kept your head hung low, as you both waited to reach the floor. When the doors opened, you stepped out and quickly walked towards your room door, accepting your defeat.

“Hey, wait a second.” Solo starts, following behind you.

You were prepared to keep the conversation short and simple. Do not allow yourself to be swept away into another series of painful and embarrassing events.

“Why are you always so…different? Around me. I see you with everyone else. Leilani. The other ladies and guys. You’re yourself. But when it comes to me? You’re different. Wassup? Did I do something?”

You let out a breath as you stared up at the man. You had one shot. And here it was, right here. He was right. You weren’t normally the shy type. But dammit, you could barely form a sentence near him. Leilani was right. There were more fish in the sea. Even if this was the fish you wanted.

“Solo listen. I…I have feelings for you. Bad. I try to save my own feelings by pushing them to the side, but instead I end up looking like a fucking dumbass, every-single-time. I know what you’re going to say. And it’s cool. I’m not tryna put the rush on you. So just sav—“

You were ready to continue your ramble. Ready to explain and accept your rejection. You felt yourself being pressed against the door of your hotel room as Solo's lips combined with yours.

You dropped your bag of food onto the ground, and your arms slid around his neck. You felt yourself moan into his mouth as his tongue snaked into yours, welcoming. His arms slid around your waist, pressing your body against his. As you both tasted each other and fought for dominance, you thought back to what Leilani said. Ole ass was right.

You pulled away from Solo, keeping your arms locked around his neck. “And what if I said I was feeling you too? Then what?” He responded

“I’d be speechless.”

“Good. Save yourself from saying something crazy again.” He chuckles before diving in again for another taste of your lips against his.