#nates mandatory mention | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sublimecatgalaxy · 3 years

Text

la vie en rose: Part 7 (of many)

-Pairing: Fezco (Euphoria) x reader

-Summary: Holy crap, so much happens. Reader has a bad trip, Ashtray almost gets some action, protective!Fez (extremely), and, uh, well, cliffhanger. Fez finds out about her dad.

-Warnings: Swearing, injury, addiction, sexy smoochin', ANGST, heavy drug use, mentions of abuse, reader's asshole of a dad. I feel like me saying cliffhanger as a warning is now mandatory.

-Word Count: 7.4k

IMPORTANT A/N: I'm back with more. This part, a lot happens. Also, see you guys after tonights episode! I'm so excited to see your guys opinions and rants. I just wanted to also put a warning or put this out there so you are all aware. I used to, and still do, struggle with drug abuse and dependency. I do attend NA meetings and work to maintain my sobriety. All of the situations where the reader is doing drugs, it is me speaking from personal experience and is very personal and near and dear to my heart. With that being said, there is HEAVY drug use in this chapter. Please be kind.

Masterlist

Playlist Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Weeks passed, the ever present tension between Fez and I fizzling out as we learned to be in each other's presence without wanting to jump each other. Rue and Jules haven’t picked up on anything, they’re completely oblivious to the extreme sexual tension invading any room that we’re in together. The only ones who seem to know anything are Ashtray, Nate and Sienna. Sienna can’t seem to shut up about Fez and I, especially since the night of my birthday. I think it’s exciting for her to be able to see me happy and excited about something.

With every passing day, the urge to ask him when is an appropriate time for us to be together grows.

And the thought of him also counting down days doesn’t help.

“Hey you good?” Rue asks, bumping into my shoulder as Gia and Sienna walk in front of us. The sun sets on the street in front of us, the shadow of the shop becoming more present as it gets darker. I nod, sending her a reassuring smile as I look up at the sky, the pinky purple color filling me with comfort. “I wonder what Ash is gonna have to offer me today.” She grins, her ever present drug issue sparking no worries to those around her. We’ve been trying our best to keep her on a pretty tight leash, especially since I learned of her OD last summer. Fez is away of the amount she can have and buy. And if he’s aware of it, I’m sure Ashtray is too.

Gia and Sienna giggle to each other, stepping up onto the platform before sitting their butts down on the concrete. The cool air of November runs through my bones, making me pull my hoodie string tighter around my face. Rue opens the door slowly, the ring of the bell startling me as I step into the small room. Ash sits behind the counter, rolling his eyes at Rue.

“Really? You back already, bitch?” He asks, clicking his tongue as he shakes his head at her. Does that mean she was here recently? Why hasn’t anyone asked the obvious question in the room; where does she get the money to sustain her obvious problem? Looking at me, Ashtray sends me a wink before looking past us. “Aye yo, Fez! Yo girls is here!” He yells and my cheeks heat up, looking to the ground as Fez enters the room from the back. Patting Rue on the back, his eyes don’t leave me as he sits behind the counter next to Ash. “Whatchu gals want?” Ash asks, unamused as he sits back against his stool. Looking up, a smile on my face, Fez sends me a sly wink. I giggle, shoving Rue as she steps up to the counter. She clears her throat, digging in her back pocket as she sighs.

“We want LSD.” Rue slaps money down on the counter and I snicker, leaning against the cool doors of the cooler. There was probably a smoother way that she could’ve gone about that. Maybe with a please or thank you would’ve helped. “Please.” There it is. Fez’s eyebrows raise, his eyes darting from Rue to me. His eyebrows are pulled together, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. Anger maybe? Disappointment maybe? “We have money, we want a fun ass trip.” She grins, reaching back to me to highfive me. I giggle, watching as Rue continues bouncing on her heels. She looks back to me, her eyebrows raised as she looks for back up.

“You,” Ash looks at me, his face shocked, “want LSD?” He squeaks and I nod quickly with a shrug, watching as the boy turns to his brother. They share a quick moment, a whole conversation happening behind their eyes. “Nah.” Ashtray shakes his head, Rue’s jaw dropping as she turns to me, unsure of what to do. My face twists up in confusion as I step up to the counter, resting my arms against the counter. Reaching in my pocket, I pull out another fifty dollar bill, slapping it in front of the kid.

“You give us drugs, I give you twice as much of what it’s worth, and,” I pause, thinking for a moment before snorting, “I’ll show you my tits.” I offer, Rue chuckling next to me as Ash’s face becomes beat red. Knowing I had won, I shrug slightly, my eyes flickering up to Fez who’s jaw is angled and tense. Jealous?

“Deal.” Ash snorts without a second thought, reaching under the bar and pulling out two pouches of pills, containing two pills each. Licking my lips, I grin at Rue who does a victory dance, just happy that we’ve won in the first place. But before we can celebrate, Fez places his hand on the pills before Rue and I can take them, his face unamused.

“You’re not taking these.” Fez looks at me, his eyes stern and unwavering. Are you asking or telling? I pout at him, my bottom lip jutting out as he shakes his head at me. “Don’t look at me like that, mamas. You’re not taking these.” He repeats, Rue looking between us, her eyebrows furrowed as I huff. “Don’t pout.” He points at me, slipping the pills off the counter as he looks to Rue. “Stop trying to turn her over to the dark side, yo. She don’t fuck with that shit.” He reprimands, annoyed in the first place that she would come in here with me and ask for something as crazy as a hallucinogenic.

“But dude,” Ash pouts, reaching over to punch Fez on the arm, “I wanted to see tits. Give them the pills, yo!” He yells and Fez rolls his eyes, shaking his head. Standing my ground, I fold my arms over my chest in defiance.

“Fez.” I huff, gaining his attention. His blue eyes flicker over to me, unruly and annoyed. “Give me the drugs so I can show your little brother what a good pair of boobs looks like. Look at him!” Fez scoffs, rolling his eyes, looking at Ash who pouts like a baby, his eyes wide and pitiful. Rue chuckles loudly, clapping her hands as she watches the scene go down. Making his way around the counter, Fez steps directly past Rue and stands in front of me in just moments. His chest heaves up and down as his jaw clenches.

“I told you to go easy on me, woman. This ain’t easy.” He whispers, his eyes flickering down to look at my lips as he seethes.

"I'm not actually going to show him my tits Fez, he's a kid. Work with me here." I hiss, his face relaxing a bit. I raise my eyebrows at him, trying my best to convince him.

“Ya know what, fine.” Reaching in his pocket, he pulls out the baggies. Grabbing my hand, he places the baggies in my palm as he turns to Rue. “But you’re takin’ that shit here and I’m watching you two.” He orders and Rue pouts, throwing her head back as she groans loudly. “Shut it, you.” He looks to her, not leaving his spot in front of me. “Ash, go walk their sister’s home.” He demands and Ash pouts, looking at me for help. Sending him a shrug, Fez looks back at Ashtray after a few moments of defiant silence. “No tits, go.” Fez points at the door, before looking back at me, his head tilted. Moments later, we watch the teens leave the front of the store, making their way down the street. Rue reaches past Fez, grabbing the pills from my hands as she runs into the back room, leaving Fez and I alone.

“Why? You jealous?” I ask quietly, going on my tippy toes to get to his level. He chuckles sheepishly, shaking his head as he opens the door for me to follow Rue.

“Get yo cute ass back there.” Grabbing my upper arm, I giggle as he pushes me back towards their dealing room. The lights dim as I make my way further back, Rue sitting on a beanbag, looking at the pills in her hands. “You two both take one and sit yo asses down.” He sits down on the desk, watching as I sit down on the beanbag next to Rue, taking a pill from her. Giggling loudly, I take one of the baggies, opening it up. Peeking up at Fez, he holds his breath nervously as Rue downs one of them quickly, whistling along to the music as her body absorbs the substance. His eyes lock with mine, his eyelashes fluttering as he blinks slowly, nodding toward the pill.

“You’re not gonna take advantage of me when I’m all high and hanging off you right?” I tease him, listening to Rue giggle, her hand coming over to slap my thigh. Fez tilts his head at me, his eyebrows raised.

“Behave, ma.” He whispers, watching as I take the tablet out of the bag, placing it on my tongue and swallowing it. “So, got any questions?” He asks, looking between the two of us and we cuddle up together, our legs intertwined.

“What are the effects?” I ask quietly, closing my eyes as anxiety ripples through my body.

“Uh,” he pauses, looking up at the ceiling as he ponders, “dilation of pupils, hallucinations, confusion, headaches, nausea, irregular or fast heartbeat, fever, increase in breathing, vomiting, sweating or chills.” He rattles off, my eyebrows widening as I look over at him. “Regretting it yet?” He asks with a ‘told you so’ smile. I shake my head proudly at him, looking at Rue who seems to be asleep. “I won’t let shit happen to ya. You’ll be fine.” He reassures, giving me a slight nod as he makes his way to sit down next to me. “Lemme know if you’re feeling shitty, though.” He asks and I nod, reaching under my shirt to reveal the gold chain around my neck. He grins, looking away from me bashfully. “Shit.” He chuckles, rubbing his face with his hands as my fingers play with the dainty piece.

“I like it a lot.” I smile, my legs swaying back and forth in front of me as I gaze at him, him looking right back. Glancing at Rue, her snores now very present, I giggle quietly. “Is she just gonna sleep through the whole thing?” I ask and he nods, knowing his friend better than anyone. “So just us, huh?” I ask, my voice timid as he gives me a warning glance. “I didn’t say anything!” I giggle, holding my hands up in surrender as he huffs.

“Ash will be back soon.” He shrugs simply and I nod, understanding what he means. “You should start to feel it within the next half an hour.” He tells me, his foot bumping against mine as he plays with the strings on his hoodie.

And boy did it kick in.

My body feels as if it has an internal vibration going on, my legs twitching uncomfortably. I groan, looking at Rue who continues to sleep, not fazed at all by the heavy drug coursing through her system. Fez’s gaze goes from his phone to me as I groan again, his eyes widening in concern. Before I can explain what’s happening, he notices the twitching in my legs, the uncontrollable movements driving me crazy. Giving me a slight laugh, he moves himself so he can sit against the wall directly next to me, placing my legs in his lap.

“Just look at me.” He whispers, his voice seemingly ten times louder than usual. The buzzing of the cooler bounces off the inside of my head, my eyes closing as I wince. “Whatchu feeling?” He asks quietly, noticing my censoring issues as his hands soothe over my twitching muscles in my bare legs. My mouth dries, the saliva drying up as soon as my lips part.

“Loud, uh, I feel like everything is breathing a-and I’m shaky.” I whisper, my eyes closing as a wave of nausea rolls over me, my forehead dripping in sweat. “I feel jittery but tired at the same time. Like I want to close my eyes but if I do, I’ll be aware of what every single thing my body is doing. Like I’m no longer on autopilot anymore.” I explain further, my voice slurred and he nods, reaching over to tug me off of the bean bag, my arms limp next to me.

“Come ‘ere.” He mutters, pulling me to his side as he wraps an arm around my shoulder. Keeping my legs across his lap, I cuddle up to him, the sound of his heart beat comforting me. “I wanna warn you though, this ain’t the worst part.” He whispers, his hand rubbing up and down my back, chills running down my spine. I take a deep breath, trying to stay calm as his words ignite fear in me. “Whaddya need?” He questions quietly, his lips brushing against my temple as I groan once more, seemingly not in control of it. Hearing someone enter the room, I look up to see Ash standing over us chuckling. “She’s havin’ a bad trip, punk, don’t make fun ‘a her.” Fez orders and I hear a small ‘sorry’ come from the kid above us, watching as he sits down across the room. The boys talk for at least ten minutes, my mind and the distortions that my mind is creating make this experience even more uncomfortable for me. Swirls of light and color swim around the room, every time I move my eyes, another beam of light comes across my vision. Closing my eyes, I attempt to make it go away but instead, the visions are even more vivid.

“Fez.” I whimper, sitting up abruptly as I press my palms into my eyes. He follows me, his hand on my back as he gently presses a kiss to the side of my head. “I’m such a pussy.” I groan as the boys laugh quietly at my insult. The colors of the room all swarm together as I open my eyes, squinting as I turn to look at Fez. His freckles stick out more than usual, the site of them actually managing to calm me down a bit.

“You countin’ my freckles, kid?” He asks with a small chuckle, watching as I nod, leaning back down as he holds me gently in his lap. “Alright, whatever helps ya.” He laughs, looking up to Ash who just snickers.

“Pipe down, asswipe, you didn’t see my tits.” I call out to Ash who, just by Fez’s shocked expression at me, must be pouting. My words seem delayed in my mind, the action of the words leaving my mind to leave my lips is a slower process than I thought.“And they’re so great, so your loss.” I mutter, my eyelids feeling heavier than normal as I tuck my head into Fez’s strong shoulder. He gently runs a hand through my hair, minutes passing by as if they were hours. Enjoying his arms around me, I try my best to sink into the feeling.

“You okay? You been quiet for like twenty minutes straight, man.” I hear a voice above me ask and I open my eyes to see Fez peering down at me, his eyes full of concern. Smiling softly, I reach my hand up, my finger landing on his nose as I giggle. “Alright, she’s okay now.” He chuckles, moving to set me down but I shake my head, making noises of defiance. Gripping onto his shirt, I tuck my head back into his shoulder, humming happily. “Alright.” He whispers, tugging me into his lap as I curl up even more.

“I feel like I’m flying and dying at the same time.” I giggle into his shirt, feeling him chuckle underneath me. “You smell really good.” I lean back, looking up at him, my face tingly as he blushes gently under the dim light. Seeing Ash walk by us and out of the room, I smile up at Fez. My fingers come up once more, linking around the chain that’s around his neck. Toying with it, he watches me intently as the world swirls and spins around me.

“You’re hella fine.” He whispers, his large hand running up and down my side. “I told you to go easy on me, to behave.” He whispers, pointing out that I’m obviously doing neither of those things. “You just can’t listen, huh?” He chuckles as I roll my eyes sassily at his remark.

“Daddy issues; It makes me have issues with authority.” I wink, continuing to twirl the chain between my fingers as his eyebrows raise. “Oh did me going for guys who are three plus years older than me and the fact that I’m pretty angry all the time not give it away?” I ask, my eyes closing as I crane my head to look at Rue. Sound asleep. Lucky bitch. He snorts, moving me so I lay back, my head gently resting on the bean bag. My body is still mainly in his lap, my legs curled up.

“What’s your daddy gotta say about these issues?” He asks teasingly but I shrug, frowning.

“Probably doesn’t even know what time of day it is, let alone how old I am.” I snort genuinely as his eyebrows pull together in confusion. Fuck, too much info. “Sorry,” I whisper, his eyes watching me as I find the right words to say to deflect this conversation, “‘sober’ me wouldn’t be okay with ‘high’ me giving out this sorta info to someone who isn’t going down on me on a regular basis.” I shrug, feeling him tense up beneath me, his head thumping against the wall behind him as his eyes close in a laugh. Watching him, the drugs somehow enhancing every move he makes, I grin. His chest rises and falls quickly, his eyelashes bouncing against his cheek as he blinks rapidly. We sit in silence for a moment, the sexual tension making the room twenty degrees hotter as I smirk, my lip tucked between my teeth.

“You mean as fuck, you know that?” He whispers breathlessly and I chuckle, sitting up the best I can to maintain eye contact. He gulps, shaking his head at me. “I told you to be patient. Here you are, though.” He reaches up gently brushing some hair off of my cheekbone, his fingertips trailing against my skin. My skin burns in the wake, a thin sheen of sweat covers my body. He looks between both of my eyes, shaking his head slightly. “You mean.” He whispers and I smile happily, just happy to be this close to him. “What? Why you smiling so much, huh?” He chuckles softly and I shrug, leaning forward to rest my head against his shoulder, wrapping my arms around his arm, humming quietly.

“You just always take care of me.” I whisper, my words slurring together as my head pounds. He hums in acknowledgement, his thumb rubbing circles into my calf. We sit in silence for a few moments, the let down of my high slowly but surely fading. “I’m starting to feel more normal.” I mutter, Fez tilting his head to look down at me, a small smile on his lips.

“Good, cool.” He responds simply, nodding as his hands continue to rub up and down my leg. Sitting up, I rub my eyes gently, yawning. I turn to see Rue, her eyes flickering open as she looks at Fez and I. She smiles contently, nodding at the both of us.

“Y’all are so cute.” She whispers, a blush covering my face as I slide off of Fezco’s lap and onto the ground next to him. “How was your high, Y/n?” The tired girl asks me as she sits up, her legs stretched out in front of her.

“Rough. Fez helped though.” Sending her a smile, I feel Fez shift next to me. He stands up abruptly, his head turning to listen to whatever is going on in the store. When I hear the yelling, Fez looks at me, giving me a warning but Rue and I are already standing, making our way through the alley and into the store. Fez pushes past us as I see who Ash is fighting with. When his eyes connect with mine, I let out a loud scoff, catching the attention of everyone in the room. Fez looks at me, confused, his hand reaching under the counter for the gun when I shake my head. He gives me a confused look, almost saying ‘why not?’.

“Oh shit.” Rue mutters, backing herself up behind the counter and behind Fez as I step further into the store. When my father sees me, his eyebrows pull together bitterly, a sneer dancing on his chapped lips. He claps his hands, leaning against the counter as he waits for me to talk.

“What’re you doing here, dad?” I ask, my arms crossed over my chest as my dad looks down at me, towering over me by at least a foot. He rolls his eyes, looking at Fez and then to me. “Get out.” I point at the door but as my arm crosses in front of him, he grabs my wrist in his fingers, gripping me tightly. I cry out, ripping my hand away from him as anger bubbles in my system. The room still rocking a bit, I let out a bitter laugh, feeling the tension from Fez as he steps behind me, his hand on my back.

“You dress like a whore and now you hang out with drug dealers?” He hisses, his eyes glazed over from the copious amounts of alcohol that he must’ve taken in today. His words slap me across the face and I huff, looking down at the floor. “Never thought of you being a groupie for a gangbanger, but then again, you’re just like your mother.” Without thinking, my hand lifts up, my clenched fist busting across my fathers face. His frail body falls to the ground as I follow him, my fists pounding against whatever I can hit. Hearing Rue’s screams and Fez’s grunts as he tries to pull me off of my father, tears flow freely from my face. My fathers hands claw at my face, trying to fight me off but I just close my eyes. I thought I was winning, that is until he raises his hand, wrapping his fingers around my neck as he shoves me against the wall. My head slams against the concrete wall, tears filling my eyes as my ears ring. I watch through blurry eyes as Fez and Ash peel my father off the floor, throwing him out the door as Rue locks the back door. Hugging my knees to my chest, my throat screams in pain, my pain whimpers barely leaving my throat. Surprisingly, this isn’t the worst thing he’s done to me.

“What the fuck was that?” Rue screams, kneeling down in front of me, her hand on my knee as I thrash uncomfortably. “Oh my god.” She whispers, gently reaching up to cup my cheek as I look at her. Her eyes water as she looks at me, her eyes scared and jaw dropped. “F-Fez!” She calls out through a stutter, my heavy eyes fluttering shut as the commotion continues in the small room.

“Oh god.” I hear Ash mutter, and I open my eyes to see him covering his mouth, taking a step back until his back hits the counter. Quickly, Fez falls to the ground in front of me, his eyes wide and worried as his hands cover over my shaking body. “Fez.” Ash mutters and Fez shakes the boy off, turning to Rue.

“Get outta here. Get Ash out of here.” He whispers to her, my mind fuzzy and confused as Rue stands up, tears streaming down her cheeks as Ash rushes from the building. I want to ask what’s wrong, why he’s so panicking. He’s seen people injured, even at his hand. “Hey.” He whispers, his head dipping to catch my fuzzy gaze. “You’ll be okay.” He whispers, bile rising in my throat as he looks over my frame. “We’re gonna get you outta here.”

When we arrive at Fez’s apartment, I’m half unconscious.

I’m not even sure how I managed to get into the car in the first place, or on his couch. All I know is that I’m wrapped in a thick blanket, Fez kneeling on the floor in front of me with a first aid kit to his side. His flat is small, it has a seventies vibe and the lights are dim as I shiver. His nervous glances and silence continue to make me even more nervous. Even throughout the whole process of him cleaning up the scratches and cuts on my face, he doesn’t say a word. Was he mad at me?

“Say something.” I croak out, my throat hurting worse than it did moments ago. He bites his bottom lip, taking a deep breath as he looks over my face. “He wasn’t always like this.” I whisper, reaching forward to gently place my hand on his cheek, catching his attention. He shakes his head, standing up as he removes my hand from his skin. Feeling rejected, I fold in on myself, tears leaving my eyes again. So fucking fragile, aren’t I? “Fine. If you’re not going to talk to me, I’m going home.” I throw the blanket off of my shoulders as Fez stares down at me, his eyes angry. I stand up carefully, my legs wobbling beneath me as I crane my neck, my eyes watering at the pain. I pick my purse up off of the floor, making my way past him and towards the door.

“Stop.” He mutters, following closely in my footsteps. Before I can open the door completely, his hands force it shut. His nose brushes against my hair, his quiet, annoyed sighs are the only thing I hear. I feel a hand on my hip, my head leaning forward to rest on the door. “Does he do that shit a lot? To you or your sis?” He asks quietly and I can tell it’s taking everything in him to not leave right now with a gun and hunt him down. I gulp, my throat hurting as I answer.

“Yeah, it’s not the first time, nor the last.” I whisper, sniffling loudly as my eyes trace the cracks at the door in front of me. Fez huffs, gently spinning me around so he can look down at me. “There’s a lot of shit you don’t know about me.” I mutter up at him, his eyebrows pulling together as he shakes his head. “There’s a lot of things I don’t know about you. We all have those things we don’t tell people.” I huff, explaining why he didn’t need to know the deep, dark details. “I don’t need to give you any more reasons to avoid me or never be with me.” I scoff, my eyes teary as I stare at our shoes, watching as he shifts his weight nervously. He ponders for a moment, shaking his head as he chokes out his words.

“Mamas,” he whispers, squeezing my hip gently as he continues, “I deal to him.” He confesses, ashamed as I look up at him, my heart beating crazy against my chest. I deal to him, what the fuck is that supposed to mean- oh. “I didn’t know he was your dad.” He shakes his head, trying to explain but I laugh bitterly, reaching up to cover my face with my hands. I’m so goddamn stupid. He takes a step back from me, his hands resting behind his head as he watches me process the information he tossed on me. Realization punches me in the face, realizing this is why my father has been so distant lately, so cruel and mean towards Sienna and I. I shake my head, pointing my finger at him.

“You were right.” I mutter, watching as he stops shifting, his eyes confused. “There’s a line. And we crossed it.” I choke out, my body trembling as his face drops. He shakes his head quickly, marching up to me as he continues to shake his head, his eyes closing. “We crossed a line, and I got too attached and-” My words get caught in my throat as my chest aches, knowing full well that I don’t believe my own words. Fez’s hands wrap around my waist, pulling me to him as his breathing shakes.

“No, you’re not too attached.” He whispers, trying to talk me out of my own words. My hands hover over his back, knowing that if I hug him, I’ll be done for. Tugging me closer to his body, my heart breaks at his worried gasps. Worried that he lost me completely. “Don’t say that, don’t. I wasn’t right, I’m never right. I don’t give a shit about the line’s, boundaries, fuck them.” He pulls back, his hands not leaving my hips as he stares down at me, his eyes teary. “I’m sorry. I’m so goddamn sorry, Y/n.” He whispers, my bottom lip trembling at his frantic apologies. “Let me make it up to you, please. I’ll do anything.” He offers, his face resembling a kicked puppy as I whimper.

“Fez, I’ve been waiting for almost two years. For you.” I tilt my head at him and he nods, knowing full well.

“And I haven’t?” He asks, his eyebrows furrowed and a frown on his lips. “You act like you’re the only one waitin’, like I just like the chase or some shit. ” He scoffs, shaking his head as he reaches up to cup my cheeks in his hands, the sting of my cheeks distracting me from his sad eyes. “I need you, l-like I need air. I am so stupid for you, woman.” He fumbles, his eyes closing as he rests his forehead against mine.

“I don’t want you to get in trouble.” I explain and he nods, understanding. “I just feel like this stupid child who’s got a school girl crush on someone who doesn’t even know she exists sometimes.” I add and he shakes his head, laughing under his breath at my ‘silly’ words.

“You’re not the only one waiting..” He trails off, biting his lip nervously. “Waiting to kiss you, to hold you, to- shit.” He takes a deep breath, his head falling onto my shoulder as he hugs me tightly. “I’m sorry, I’ll tell Ash to tell your dad to get lost next time, I won’t put up with him coming in and asking for shit and I won’t let him hurt you.” He promises quietly, my heart finally giving in as I wrap my arms around his neck. “You told me you was gonna go easy on me and you haven’t. We can’t get in trouble. Can’t have people asking questions.” I nod, my hands balling up his shirt in my fists. “But you are no secret to me. That’s why I gotta wait, why I can’t even give in to you now. Because once you’re mine,” he pauses, lifting his head for his eyes to meet mine, “everyone is gonna fucking know.” He chuckles tearily as I roll my eyes playfully at him. “Just some time to make it seem like I wasn’t just waiting for you to turn 18. No being alone with each other, no looking at me with those eyes you give me.” He bumps my nose with his, reaching up to brush my tears off of my cheeks. I pout, trying my best to bat my lashes at him. He snorts, rolling his eyes. “But you gotta put up with it if I gotta. I won’t stop being territorial though, and I won’t hesitate to beat the shit outta anyone who hurts you. That’s just me, feelings or not involved, ya know?” I giggle breathlessly, feeling him remove his hands from my cheeks as he takes a step back. He looks at me from a few feet away, his eyes conflicted as I smile at him softly. We stand in silence for a few minutes, the buzz of the fridge the only noise filling the room. Nervously, I tug my lip between my teeth, making Fez’s eyebrows raise in temptation. “Fuck.” He mutters, reaching forward to grab my hand in his, pulling me against his chest. He quickly captures my lips with his, a quiet gasp leaving my lips as he hums, his hands resting on my lower back, mine winding around his neck to pull him even closer to me. My nails scrape against his scalp, a quiet moan leaving his lips as he backs me up, my back hitting the wall abruptly. My head spins as I grin, parting my lips gently to deepen the kiss. Taking me by surprise, and taking the wind from my lungs, his tongue gently brushes against my bottom lip. His hands wander my back and my hips, one trailing down to the dip of my ass. He gently pecks my lips a few times before pulling away from me, my lips following his. Before he can go to speak, I shake my head.

“Just shut up, stop thinking and kiss me.” He looks shocked at my words, a small laugh leaving his lips as I tug him back into a hungry kiss. The weight of the last few years leaves my shoulders as I grin. He groans quietly as my hands travel down his chest, and down his abdomen, resting on the top of his belt. Gasping, he pulls back, looking down at my wandering hands as I giggle devilishly.

“You’re mine, whether or not you can be yet.” He pulls back, his ocean eyes not leaving mine as he grins. “But you gotta behave, and I mean it this time.” He repeats sternly, my eyebrows raising in protest. “Okay?” He steps back, holding his pinky out and my heart warms at the childish promise. Pouting playfully, I wrap my pinky around his, my heart beating happily. “Okay.” He huffs quietly, leaning against the fridge as I look to the ground, my head swimming with happy thoughts, the taste of weed still on my lips. “Oh and you and Sienna are moving in with Ash and I.” He adds quickly, catching me off guard as I look at him, confused. Before I can protest, he speaks up again.``If I see your dad again or you crying cuz of him, I’m putting a bullet ‘tween his eyes.” He replies simply, his eyes dark as he watches me move towards the kitchen, my teeth gnawing on my lip. “So text her, tell her to pack her shit up and we’ll head over later. Her and Ash will get along, right?” He asks but I’m still shocked at his offer, or demand. I nod, still taken by surprise. “Don’t act so shocked, ma. You know I’d do anythin’ for the people I care ‘bout.” He smiles softly and I grin, looking down at the phone in my hands, nodding.

Me Pack up your stuff okay? All of it. We’re getting out of that hellhole.

I text her simply, shoving my phone in my pocket as I look back up at Fez. He’s sifting through the fridge, his fingers bouncing against the plastic of the handle.

“We should probably grab food before we get her.” He chuckles sheepishly and stands up to close the door, looking around the apartment. “I’ll get Ash to hide all the sus things here so your sis stays safe and ignorant.” He adds and I let out a nervous laugh, thankful that he thought of that before anything happened. “There’s probably something I should show you, alright?” He offers, motioning for me to follow him closely. He leads me down the hallway, the pictures of him and Ash and a woman lining the hallway as he stops in front of a door. He hesitates, sneaking a glance at me before opening the door, holding it open for me to look inside.

An older woman lays lifelessly in a hospital type bed, pills scattered around her on her bedside table. My face flushes, confusion filling my mind as I ponder why she’s here and who she is.

“My gram.” He whispers, his hand resting on my back as he continues. “Not really sure what happened. She was a spitfire one day and the next, like this.” He explains quietly as I watch her chest rise and fall rhythmically, suddenly feeling terrible for Fez and Ash. I never knew. I always wondered how he managed to get an apartment being in the business that he is and because he didn’t have legal custody over Ash, I always wondered how his living situation worked. Now it makes sense.

“Fez, I’m so sorry.” I whisper, looking up at him as he sends me a small smile. “I’ll help in any way I can.” I offer, not sure what else I can offer him, especially if I’m going to be living with him under the same roof as her. He nods gently, reaching forward to shut the door, back us up as he continues to lead me down the hallway.

“We have an extra room, I can always kick Ash outta his room if you guys want-” I shake my head, placing my hand on his arm as stops walking. I try my best to convey that he doesn’t have to do this, but he just looks down at me with a sigh. “Jus’ let me do this for you, alright? You guys have had it rough. Lemme take care ‘a you.” He whispers, both of us hearing my phone buzz in my pocket. Opening it, I swipe to see Sienna’s message, smiling at her response.

Sens :) Don’t tell me we’re living with your sugar daddy? Cuz if we are, I’m gonna need a refill on my anti anxieties to keep up with your freakouts.

Actually, maybe you’ll leave me alone if you’re distracted ;)

Giggling loudly at her antics, I hand the phone to Fez as he reads over the message. A light blush covers his cheekbones, shoving the phone back into my hands as he chuckles nervously. He avoids my gaze, nervous, sheepish chuckles leaving his lips.

“So you talk about me?” He asks as he opens the door to his right, guiding me into the dark room as he flicks on the light. I grin at him, nodding as I look around the room. It’s simple, a queen bed in the middle and a few pieces of furniture. “There’s a bathroom in there.” He points to the furthest door against the wall and I nod, smiling as I look around the homey room. “It okay?” He asks quietly, rubbing the back of his neck gently as I look around. Making my way into the room, I throw myself onto the bed with a giggle as he watches me. He leans against the doorframe as I nod happily.

“It’s perfect, sweetheart.” I whisper, looking up at the ceiling as he comes to sit down next to me.

“Shit, yo.” He whispers with a laugh, his hand gently splaying over my thigh. I gaze at him, looking between his cute face and the strong hand that is gripping my thigh, I grin. He frowns though as I bat it off. He huffs, falling back on the bed to lay next to me. Turning my head to look at him, now realizing how many freckles he has under this light, his eyelashes casting a pretty shadow on his cheeks. “Having you under the same roof, calling me cute names is not gonna to be easy on me. Imma have a heart attack by the end of this.” He laughs, his chest rumbling as he runs a hand over his tired face.

“It’ll be okay. I’ll try my best to close the door all the way when I’m changing.” I snort, watching as he rolls his eyes playfully at me. “Thank you. For taking care of me and Sens.” I whisper, reaching over to take his hand gently in mine as he smiles.

“You my family. I take care of family.” He whispers, his voice soft and it melts my heart. “How’s your neck?” He asks, his eyes trailing down as he gently reaches over, his finger hooking under my chin to lift my head. “It’s nasty lookin. I’m just proud that you got a lotta good hits in.” His fingers gently trail over my neck as I close my eyes, the feeling warming me to my core. “I wanted to kill him the minute he touched you.” He grits, his jaw tense as he gazes softly at me. For some reason those words start a fire in me, his lips drawing me in again. This is going to be the longest wait of my life.

“It’s okay.” I whisper, watching as Fez lifts our hands up, his eyes trailing over the bruises that line my wrist. “Fez, I’m okay.” I repeat, taking his attention away from my wrist. I can tell that he’s angry beyond belief but he’s trying his best to keep it inside so as to not to freak me out. Such a softy. “He mostly does it to me. He’s only thrown a glass at Sienna and that was years ago. I take it so she doesn’t. You get that, I know you do. I know you’d do the same for Ash.” He nods, biting the inside of his cheek knowing that I’m right. Feeling my phone buzz, I huff, reaching in my pocket to open it.

Nate :D Hey, Rue told me what happened at the shop, you all good? I’ll kill that douchebag.

As long as you're with Fez or Jules, I’ll let it go.

“It’s Nate, just checking up on me.” I hand the phone to Fez, his eyebrows pulling together in confusion at my offer. “You hate Nate. Nate and I are friends. I wanna show you he’s no threat.” I shrug gently and he pauses, looking at me with a shocked expression. Suddenly he breaks out in a grin, taking the phone from me, reading over the message. He nods appreciatively, pondering for a moment before handing the device back to me. “I don’t hide things. I mean, not stupid stuff like that anyways.” I chuckle, quickly sending a response back to Nate.

Me I’m okay. I promise. Sienna and I are gonna stay with Fez and Ash for the foreseeable future. I’ll keep you updated. Promise.

“For as big of an asshole that he is to everyone else, I’m happy he’s not like that to you.” Fez mutters quietly, a bashful blush on his cheeks as he gazes up at the ceiling. “Now no one will fuck wit’ you. Between Nate and I- Yeesh.” He laughs and I grin, sitting up on the bed as I look back at him happily.

Hours later, Fez drives down my street, one hand on the steering wheel, the other firmly planted behind my head. Our plan was to get in and out without the confrontation that I’m sure is going to happen anyways. It’s a toss up with my father. Sometimes he’s too drunk to even form words, but sometimes he’s just angry. Nerves swarm my head as we approach the corner that my house sits on, my leg bouncing up and down nervously. Fezco’s hand moves, gently setting it on top of my jittery thigh.

“He’s not gonna touch you.” He grits, adjusting himself as he grips the steering wheel tighter. I look out the window, the dark sky growing even more ominous as I see someone sitting outside of my house. The scene outside my small suburban house is shocking. Bile rises in my throat as I unbuckle, hearing Fez curse under his breath. Things, clothes and miscellaneous items, are thrown all over the lawn and as we get closer, I see Sienna, her face in her hands. The door is wide open, and it’s quiet. Before Fez can even park across the street, I’m out of the car, marching up to the lawn. Sienna looks up, hearing the car door slam behind me, her eyes red and sad. Her curly hair is disheveled as she wipes her face with her trembling hands.

“What did he do?”

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

A/n: My dudes, I am so sorry to leave it off like this. I like to watch you guys squirm. I really do. Let me know in the comments if the tags are working properly now. I think they weren't in the past.

Also, if I fulfill my requests for non-Euphoria characters that I write for, do you think that'll gain me more views/followers? This is only my third day on tumblr (with this account) and I have no clue how this all works still lol.

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

Taglist: @bubblebuttwade @rafelover2405 @leslienjazzy @sorceresss @alex--awesome--22 @grxnde-dwt @bunnietoof @niyamar1e @serialghost @plantlungs @akaliltimmytim @lilaalouuxx @distantsighs @poohkie90 @tsukishimawhore @peter-maximoffs @szlaco @jjsredhat @spinkspanther @taysirene

#euphoria series #fez #fezco #elliot euphoria #rue bennett x reader #fezco x reader #fez x reader

422 notes · View notes

fiction-boys-rule · 4 years

Text

Imagine...being single on Valentines Day and the Leverage team set you up on a date with Eliot.

Pairing: Eliot/(Y/N)

Warnings: alcohol consumption, fluff

Word Count: 4,615

Second post this week, I’m on a roll! Been feeling Eliot very much, and once this idea came into my head, I had to write it. Happy Valentines Day, and remember you can celebrate any and all forms of love. Hope you enjoy :)

As you open the door, you are blinded with red. Literally. Bright red decorations hanging across the ceiling, roses on every blank surface, balloons taking up the space the furniture doesn’t, and varied pastries and snacks themed with pink or red.

“What the hell?” You mumble, walking slowly into the apartment.

You close the door softly and run your fingertips over the rose petals of a bouquet. Then it hits you.

Today’s the 14th. February. Valentine's Day. Oh no.

You should have stayed home instead of offering to work the pub today.

’Why did you have to be so nice? Did Nate even say thank you?’ You reprimand yourself.

“Ah, finally, you’re here.” Sophie says.

You turn and see her standing by the couch, wearing a stunning red dress and gazing at you with an eager look. You’re getting a bad feeling about whatever is going on.

“Hi?”

“I apologize for Parker’s antics. She seems to have taken advantage of Nate’s approval. This is all a bit over the top, isn’t it?”

You stare at her with what must be a confused and lost look because she just smiles and motions for you to sit on the couch. You walk over reluctantly and sit, fidgeting uncomfortably. She sits and smiles, taking your hand in hers.

“I am very proud of who you have become while being with us. We don’t say if often, but we do appreciate you. Nate also appreciates you. Though he can’t seem to get it through his thick skull how much he needs you. I trust you very much and I know you won’t let me down. You look lovely today, by the way.”

You look down after trying to process her vague statements and suddenly curse yourself for listening to stupid Nate’s ‘recommendation/mandatory orders’.

‘Wear red. Go with the theme of today.’, his text had read.

You hadn’t really known what he had meant and since you weren’t exactly one to look forward to this holiday, the ‘theme’ he had mentioned had gone completely over your head. You had picked a simple dark red dress that had your specific likings, down to the length and skin it showed that made you infinitely comfortable and confident in it. It even has pockets!

“Uh, thanks? You look good too. But I’m kind of confused with-”

“Don’t you worry, darling. You will do great. I know you will. Now all you have to do is trust the process and be true to yourself. Be confident in the way I know you are. Don’t hold back and be honest about your feelings. Fear holds us back. Don’t let it control you.”

“Okay? But Sophie-”

“Ah ah, it will be fine. All will be explained soon enough. Don’t let me down, darling.”

She kisses your cheek and suddenly stands. You try to walk but she holds a finger up as she walks to the door. She opens it and the rest of the team are standing on the other side. They walk in, staring at you.

‘What the hell is going on?’ you think.

Parker and Hardison have curious looks on their faces and Nate looks smug as ever.

“We’re all going out tonight on our own little adventures as pairs but don’t worry, you’re not missing out on anything. We’re all counting on you.”

“Sophie, what the hell-”

“Hardison, when I told you to grab a box, it wasn’t a suggestion!”

You hear Eliot yelling before he comes into view. He stops walking and glances around the room.

“You weren’t kidding about the party. Where are you going?”

He looks over at the four of them and they just smirk at him. It all happens so quick. Parker and Hardison grab him, pulling him into the apartment. He struggles to resist with the boxes in his hand. All of a sudden, the door is closed and a lock clicks.

“First drawer on the left below the TV!” Parker yells.

You hear them burst into laughter and their footsteps fade.

Eliot stares at the door a moment before turning back to you. His face matches your thoughts: ‘What the hell just happened?’

“Did you have anythin’ to do with this?” he grumbles, setting the box down.

“No! I was just supposed to come for my shift today but then Nate told me to come upstairs first. What did they tell you?”

“They just said there was a mandatory team meeting today and to bring boxes in from the van. What the hell is goin’ on?”

You walk over to the TV and open the drawer Parker had mentioned. Eliot walks over and you see an envelope with hearts all over it addressed to Eliot and you. Well, at least that’s what you think it means. It only says: To the Two Lovebirds, Love Sophie & Parker.

You frown over at Eliot and find him giving you the same look.

“I don’t have the patience for their little jokes today, man.” he grumbles, going and sitting on the couch.

You open the envelope and start reading the letter inside.

“You both must be very confused about what’s going on, but trust all will be explained soon. We have big plans for you both today and wish you well on your journey of love. Don’t let us down.”

“Are they playin’ cupid or somethin’?”

“Um, I think so. It says we have to stay the whole day in here and if we try to escape we’ll face the consequences.”

“What the hell is this? I ain’t a hostage!”

“Don’t try to break the door down. If you do, you’ll owe Hardison a new van because that’s how much that high security door cost. We are watching your every move, so don’t do anything you don’t want us to see. We can hear and see everything. Have fun and if you succeed, feelings will be revealed and a happy ending will be your reward.”

“Happy ending?”

You suddenly realize what Sophie means and your stomach drops. Why did you ever tell her about your stupid crush on Eliot? Why is she so confident he’ll like you back? She is literally going to make you be so embarrassed and get rejected in the worst way possible: being stuck in an apartment with him and working with him. You could strangle her right now.

“Um, Eliot?”

“Man, I just wanted a cold beer today and to maybe cook a nice meal.”

“Eliot?”

“I’m goin’ to kill Hardison when I see him. I’m goin’ to hit him so hard his ancestors hurt!”

“Um, Eliot?”

“What?”

“I think we just got set up on a date by the team.”

Two Weeks Earlier…

“Really?” Parker exclaims.

“I’m telling you, it’s a great idea. They both like each other, we will just push the natural cycle of love a little faster. Who are we to get in the way of love?”

“What are you two up to now?” Nate grumbles, walking into the apartment.

“Do you think Eliot likes Y/N?” Parker asks.

Nate stops walking and almost chokes on his drink.

“What?”

“Oh come on, Nate. Haven’t you seen the way he looks at her? How he treats her? She’s the only woman in his world. But they’re both stubborn and afraid to make a move. I just want to move it along.”

“Well, what if they don’t? You can’t be sure-”

“Well I know she does. But you know her. She’s never going to tell him. We have to do something, Nate.”

“Sophie, can you just take a back seat for once? Let the man build up the courage. I mean come on, we never wanted dating to be a thing in the team.”

“Yeah and look what happened.” Hardison mumbles, tinkering with his new system.

Nate rubs his face, sitting down.

“Unplanned things happen. Look, maybe they like being single, or they aren’t ready-”

“Well, why don’t we find out?” Sophie interrupts.

“What? How? Eliot is never going to tell you.”

“Well, I know Y/N has feelings for him. I also know he would never lie to her.”

“Here we go.” Nate mumbles, leaning back on the couch with an annoyed look on his face.

“We cannot let both of them be single and unacquainted with their love for each other! That is a tragedy! We have to do something! Aren’t we their friends?”

“And how would we do that?” Hardison mumbles.

“What do we get out of it, Sophie? Another couple in the team and more risk. Maybe Eliot and her losing their focus. I can’t have that. We can’t have that.”

“A bet, perhaps?” Sophie smiles.

“A bet?” Hardison asks.

“That way we all have something to gain from this.”

Nate grumbles, shaking his head.

“Parker and me will bet on their love succeeding.” Sophie says.

“I am very confident in this little scheme of yours failing.” Nate says.

“Hardison?”

“I'm going to go with Nate for this one. Eliot doesn’t seem like the type to hold back his stupid charm.”Hardison says.

“Alright. What are each of you willing to lose as punishment for losing the bet?”

“I’ve always wanted to see what you store in that little storage unit of yours.” Nate says.

“My prized possessions?”

“Yeah, and if you lose, Hardison and me get to each take five things from it.”

“Five?” Sophie exclaims.

“If you’re that confident in the power of love.” Nate says.

“Fine. Alright, I can do that. What about you, Parker?”

“I think she shouldn’t be allowed to sleep with her bunny for a month.” Hardison smirks.

“A month? Without my bunny?” Parker whines.

“Or any other stuffed animal you have.”

“Trust the process, Parker.” Sophie mumbles to her.

She looks over to her and sighs, nodding reluctantly.

Hardison smirks, continuing his tinkering.

Parker looks at his system and smirks evilly, “I want to be able to play games on your new system for a month.”

He whips around and glares at her.

“What? On the new system? This took me six months to make!”

“Well, you’re so confident, right?” Sophie says.

He looks between them, panicking.

“But, but I just-”

“Are you going to do it or not?”

He sighs, looking back at his system.

“Fine. But can there be a time limit per day? It overheats, and-”

“Fine, two hours.” Sophie says, smiling at a frustrated Hardison.

“Fine! Fine. But if you break it-”

“What about you, Nate?” Sophie and the rest of them look over at him.

“He has to stop drinking for a month!” Parker yells.

“A month?! That’s ridiculous-” Nate protests.

“Oh come on, you’re the one who doesn’t think it will work.” Hardison says.

Nate looks between them before sighing and standing.

“This is ridiculous. A month. A whole month. Alright, okay. You’ve got your deal.”

They all laugh.

“Well, I see many benefits to this little bet.” Sophie says.

“I get to see what you hide away. I need more decoration, anyway. And I think you have great taste, Sophie.” Hardison says.

“I get to play video games and annoy Hardison!” Parker yells cheerily.

“I get to see the beginnings of love.” Sophie says.

“And sober Nate.” Hardison says.

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Parker asks.

Nate grumbles incoherently, opening another bottle and serving himself.

“Oh darling, I forgot to mention that to set the mood, I’m going to have to get decorations, and their favorite meals and pastries.”

“Cake!” Parker yells.

“Yes, and lots of roses, and-”

“Just use my card.” Nate grumbles before slamming his office door shut.

They all burst into laughter, their new plan ready to be set into motion.

Present Time

“I can’t believe this.” you mumble, sitting on the couch next to Eliot.

Part of you feels betrayed by Sophie, but the other part of you feels strangely anxious and excited. She has to have some sort of confidence in him having some sort of interest in you. Right?

“Alright, so now what? We just stay in here all day?” Eliot protests.

“First activity of the day, preparing a meal. Who can nurture love when they are on an empty stomach? Using the ingredients in the fridge provided, prepare a meal to enjoy together and get to know each other more.”

“They better have gotten good stuff and not left a bunch of crap to cook with.”

“Well, at least you get to cook your nice meal?” you ask nervously.

Eliot looks over at you, smiling slightly.

“I guess. And I’ll be honest, you’re the person I’d rather be locked in an apartment with instead of any of the others.”

“They can hear you, you know.”

“I know.” he grumbles.

You laugh, smiling.

“Well, we might as well make the best of our time here. Not like we’re going anywhere. I hope you didn’t have a date planned for later today.” you joke.

“I did, actually.” Eliot says, standing.

Your heart skips a beat and your smile falters. Of course he did. Why were you stupid enough to think he would confess his feelings right away?

“With my couch and a nice cold beer. Can’t get much better than that. Come on. Let’s see what crap they left us.”

He walks to the kitchen and your smile returns. You walk over and sit on a stool, reading again.

“Before starting, look in a box located to the right of the fridge. In there, you will find two necessary things needed for your cooking.”

You look up from the paper, seeing Eliot looking with disgust at two pink aprons, filled with bright red hearts. One says ‘Hers’, and the other says ‘His’, with arrows pointing at each other. You can’t help but burst out laughing, seeing Sophie’s ridiculous ideas.

“Do we really have to wear these?” he grumbles.

“Yes, unless you want to see what kind of ‘consequences’ they have in mind.”

You take one, putting it on and smiling at Eliot’s obvious level of discomfort.

“Next, begin your cooking and remember, food is best when made and served with love.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Eliot opens the fridge and soon forms an idea for a meal.

You are chopping up vegetables for a salad and your eyes wander over to him as he delicately cuts and cooks the rest of the food. His eyes are meticulous and hands precise. He obviously loves cooking and is great at it.

“Do you cook much?” he suddenly asks.

You continue cutting.

“No, not much. No one ever taught me. You’d be the first. What-”

His arms surround you and his hands go over yours.

“Hold it like this. Less chance of cuttin’ yourself and it’ll be done faster.”

“Oh, okay.” you whisper, following his directions.

His body warmth comforts your back and you hear low sounds of approval as he watches you do what he told you.

“Good girl.” he praises before going back to the other side of the counter.

Butterflies form in your stomach and you almost cut yourself.

‘Get a hold of yourself, Y/N.’ you think.

Afterwards, he leads you to the very decorated dining table and makes you sit. He sets a bottle of wine down and serves you. He goes back over and serves two plates and brings them over. You almost laugh at the sight of him wearing the apron. He sits down and you mumble a ‘thanks’ before taking a sip of water. He smiles at you and motions for you to take a bite. You do, and you can’t help but nod your head vigorously and have another bite.

“This is so good, Eliot. Oh my gosh.”

“It’s because you helped.”

“Oh, please.”

You both clink your glasses and have a sip of wine, eating in comfortable silence.

“I didn’t get to uh, tell you before. You know, with all this stuff. You look good today, Y/N.”

You blush, looking down and hiding your face with your glass but not drinking anything. After a moment, you reluctantly meet his eyes again.

“Uh, thank you. You do too, by the way.”

He smiles and your heart beats faster. After you have eaten and cleaned the kitchen, you grab the paper again. Eliot rips rather hastily at his apron and throws it on a chair. You giggle and watch as he rolls his eyes. You take your apron off too and run a hand through your hair. You sit on the couch and start reading.

“Hopefully your meal has satisfied part of your inner hunger. Now, it is time to play a game. If you tell the truth, there will be no punishment. But if you do not, a punishment awaits. Grab the box below the bar and look in the box for further instruction.”

Eliot grabs it and walks over, sitting beside you. You open it and grab the paper on the top.

“Time for a drinking game. There will be a series of questions you will be asked from a stack of cards labeled with each of your names. Ask the person the question and if they don’t wish to answer, then they have to take a shot.”

You look away from the paper and see the cards set out on the table with a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses.

“Not my drink of choice, but I’m guessin’ that’s the point.”

“Before you start, there are two accessories needed to play this game. Look in the bottom of the box and once you have put them on, you can start.”

Eliot pulls out two red headbands with bright pink hearts at the top. You laugh loudly, seeing as Eliot’s face scrunches up as he stares at them in his hands.

“I ain’t puttin’ this damn thing on.”

“Oh come on, Eliot! The faster we do this, the faster we can leave! What’s the point of just sitting around and doing nothing? Let’s have some fun. Liven up your wardrobe a little bit.”

“No way in hell.”

“Eliot, do it for me? Please?”

His eyes stare at you with a curious look in them. He is reluctant, but eventually he gives in and puts it on. You try not to laugh at him again as you put yours on.

“There. Matching!” you say happily.

“You look cute, I just look stupid.” he groans.

You blush at his compliment and giggle. He rolls his eyes and hands you your stack of cards.

“Let’s just start.” he mumbles.

The questions start off pretty innocently and at one point, you’re wondering what the whole point was of this game. But suddenly, you’re reminded of Sophie’s wit.

“Have you ever had a crush on a colleague?” Eliot asks.

You blush and quickly look over at your shot glass.

“You’re gonna chicken out now?” he teases.

“No! Okay um, yes.”

“When?”

“It doesn't ask anything besides yes or no! You’re cheating!”

Eliot laughs, making you glare playfully at him.

“Okay, you go next.” he says, taking a drink of his beer.

“Okay, um. What kind of underwear do you wear?”

You burst out laughing as Eliot coughs.

“Are you gonna take a drink?” you ask shyly.

“What, you really want me to give you and the cameras a show? I ain’t lettin’ Hardison see anythin’. He’s already seein’ me wear this stupid thing on my head.”

“Yeah, I think Parker wrote that one.”

Eliot serves his shot and drinks it, grimacing slightly.

“Okay, you next.”

He takes a card and looks between it and you a few times. He clears his throat.

“Uh, what does your dream first date look like?”

You are taken aback by the question and you actually start thinking about it for the first time in a while. Dating hasn’t been a priority for you, especially lately.

“Well, I like quality time. So going out to eat, or taking a walk somewhere. Showing them something I really like, like my favorite film or talking to them about my favorite book. I think a night in would also be really nice.”

You look up and his eyes have a soft look in them. He smiles slightly and clears his throat as he looks away and sets the card down.

‘Damn it Sophie, your plan is working.’

“Okay, next. What’s the dirtiest text you’ve ever sent?”

You both burst out laughing at the change of mood. He shakes his head and genuinely looks embarrassed.

“No, absolutely not. Not goin’ there. Give me the damn bottle.”

You are still laughing as he takes the shot.

“Wow, not even a hint. Was it really that dirty?”

“Next question. What don’t you like about me?”

“Nothing.” you answer quickly, watching as his eyes snap up to yours. You curse yourself as you realize you let your thoughts get the best of you.

“Well, um. I mean, I can’t think of anything. Right now. Um, I don’t know you that well, I don’t think.”

He nods and sets the card down. Shit. You didn’t mean to offend him.

“Sorry. I think that’s the shot talking.”

“Yeah, you’ve only had one.”

You both laugh and you appreciate how it lifts the mood of the room.

“Alright. Um, would you ever kiss me?”

Eliot looks at you, a small look of discomfort on his face. His eyes soften, gazing at you.

“Are you going to drink? You can, you know.”

You laugh lightly to fill the uncomfortable silence in the room.

“Yeah, I would.”

“You would?” your heart starts beating faster.

“Yeah, sweetheart. I would.”

You stare at him, starting to smile.

“I think that’s the tequila talking for you.” you smirk.

“I don’t know, maybe.”

You both smile and you look down only to find that your cards are finished.

“Is that it?”

“Guess so. About time. Don’t know how many more shots or damn questions I could handle.”

“Yeah, I know. You’re getting pretty red, Spencer.”

He glares over at you as you bite your lip and hold back a smile. You grab the paper again.

“Congratulations on getting to know each other better. Now there is one last stage of today’s date. In a box in the bathroom, you’ll find accessories to use for your move night. You can eat the snacks throughout the apartment. Enjoy.”

Eliot stands and comes back with a box. You open it and the laughter makes its way out of you before you can stop it. Eliot frowns at you before he looks inside and he suddenly sighs and puts his face in his hands.

“Now you have found your matching onesies for tonight’s movie night. Enjoy your snacks and we hope you are comfortable. Again, we can watch you with the cameras so keep it PG-13.”

You laugh again as you pull them out. Sophie has picked one of your favorite animals and Eliot got a dinosaur onesie.

“Well, let’s go put these on, I guess.”

“They’re lucky I’ve been drinkin’ enough for this.” he grumbles before getting up and taking his onesie with him.

A few minutes later and you have both changed and picked a movie to watch together. All the snacks are on the coffee table and more pillows have been added to the couch. You don’t remember doing that.

“Do you think we’re livin’ up to their expectations?”

He looks funny holding his beer bottle with the top of the onesie over his head. He looks cute. How does he look cute? Oh gosh. You just shrug.

“Maybe. But we’re still here, so I guess.”

He nods slowly and takes another drink of his beer.

You shiver as the room gets colder and cuddle closer into the pillows. Eliot notices and watches as you struggle to find warmth.

“Damn Hardison must have turned the air conditionin’ on.” he grumbles.

You glare at the cameras, knowing what they’re up to.

“Here.” Eliot hands you a shot and you frown over at him.

“It’ll warm you up. Plus, it’s no fair I’m more buzzed than you are.”

You roll your eyes but take the shot anyway. You clear your throat and he takes it from you.

“Come ‘ere.” he grumbles, patting the spot next to him on the couch.

“You do know what they’re doing, right?”

“Are you cold or not?” he asks, looking lazily over at you.

Sighing, you make your way over and you tense as his hand surrounds your shoulders. He finishes his beer and lays back again. You start the movie and find comfort in his warmth. He pulls a blanket over you and hands you a bag of your favorite snack.

“How-”

“Movie’s startin’ sweetheart.”

You smile and appreciate his thoughtfulness. After the movie is done, several empty bags and containers take up the coffee table. You both have a short discussion about the movie before you fall into silence again.

You glance at your phone, “Damn, it’s almost midnight.”

As if on cue, you yawn and look back at Eliot.

“You know, I never thought I would actually enjoy today. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Even if I had to wear these stupid things.”

You laugh and nod.

“Yeah, I had a great time. I hadn’t really talked one on one with you before. It was nice. Thank you for cooking. Thanks for not running out of here, too.”

You both laugh and his gaze turns serious.

“You know, I was bein’ serious about what I told you. I know Sophie isn’t one to do these things without a good reason to.”

He doesn’t have to tell you what he’s talking about for you to know.

“I know.”

His hand is on your thigh and you bite your lip.

“The question is would you?” he mumbles slowly.

You only take a second to think before you gather all the courage inside of you and respond. All the months of you keeping your secrets and feelings inside suddenly come spilling out in one word.

“Yes.”

Eliot slowly leans forward. His eyes glance down to your lips and you both close your eyes as he gently kisses you. Your hand goes to his neck as his other hand pulls you closer. You’re so close to each other, and it’s better than you could have imagined. He pulls away and smiles down at you.

“Never thought I would do it like this, but I’m still glad I did. I might not kill Hardison, after all.”

You both laugh softly before he kisses you again, even more gently. Eventually, you both pull away and end up falling asleep together in each other’s arms. In his embrace, it feels as though nothing can beat the feeling. You wonder why the hell you waited so long to make a move. You thought you would strangle Sophie after this little stunt of hers. But now all you want to do is hug her.

Unbeknownst to you, the rest of the team has been in the van for the past hour watching the developments.

“My system. My poor system! I’m sorry, baby!” Hardison cries out, leaning his head on the desk.

They all roll their eyes. Parker cheers and claps her hands, laughing.

“I promise I’ll take good care of it. What kind of games can I play?” she asks eagerly.

Sophie smirks over at Nate. He slowly looks over at her, a look of disappointment on his face.

“I hope you liked your gift.” she says.

“You bought me a bottle of whiskey.”

“I know, darling. And I hope you absolutely love it.”

Nate groans, leaning back and cursing why he ever thought this was a good idea.

Sophie had stolen love all right, and Nate had secretly never been prouder.

#eliot spencer #eliot spencer x reader #eliot spencer imagine #leverage #eliot leverage

162 notes · View notes

disasterfandoms · 3 years

Text

After Action Argument, Part 3 || A Trent Sawyer and Full Metal Story

This is Part 3 of this story. This is part 1 and this is part 2.

Co-written with @bravo-four-seal-team

A/N: hi I love all of these characters and I’m hyped to continue writing for this series! For those who are not aware, this story is the first story in a series I’m making on AO3 called “The Medic and The Rambunctious Brothers.” This story contains an OC named Amelia Carter, who is full metal’s sister and Trent’s girlfriend. A second OC, named Ashley Sawyer, is mentioned in passing. This story is missing scenes and continuance of the episodes 2x21 and 2x22.

TW: talk of deployment, talk of bombings, talk of therapy, talk of suicidal ideations

Taglist: @twentydavid @rebelwrites @mrsmarvelous1995 @chibsytelford @jayhalsteadfan-2417 @supervalcsi @galaxysanduniversesinmymind @jasonbabymama @a-kate3 @velvetcardiganbucky @itsonautopilot @pinkrockstar19 @softi92 @abby-splace @innerpaperexpertcloud @madhare0512 @iris-oaklee-carter-911oc @kobababy @i-love-scott-mccall

Join The taglist!

Has Trent ever mentioned how much he hates going to talk to his boss? He wished this could have waited until he was less exhausted, but there he was, walking through the corridors of the base’s main building.

Blackburn was already waiting for him as he reached the Commander’s office, signaling him to come in before he could even knock. Blackburn looked exhausted as well, and he couldn’t blame him, two long, chaotic missions after a bad deployment has left everyone wrecked.

“Close the door,” Blackburn ordered, and motioned for Trent to sit. Trent did as ordered, wincing as his body rejected most forms of movement. He really needed to take a hot shower and some painkillers when he gets home.

“Wanna tell me what’s goin’ on with you?” Blackburn asked, and was almost annoyed at the perplexed look Trent had on his face when he asked.

“Nothing is going on with me, Blackburn. I made a decision to put my team above myself, and I’d choose it all over again. Metal’s just worrying too much.” Trent tried to explain it off, he didn't want to have to talk to his commanding officer about everything that’s happened in the past year. Unbeknownst to him, he just made the situation worse.

“If Metal’s concerned about you, then something serious must have happened. The world must be ending, the apocalypse is coming, something. You’re not fine, as Metal’s not capable of human emotions unless absolutely necessary.” Trent nearly rolled his eyes at that, damn Metal and his mask.

“Metal has more feelings than he lets on. He’s just worried about facing his sister if I go get myself injured or killed. He would have done the same thing,” Trent insisted, standing his ground that nothing was wrong. There was, of course, but he wasn’t letting anyone know that.

“For good reason, Amelia would have all of our heads on spikes if something happened to you. I’m not convinced you’re okay, at all. You look like hell, Metal’s concerned about you, and now so is the rest of the team.”

“I’m fine. I just want to go home and be in my own bed, and talk to my girlfriend.” Trent continued to insist.

Eric shook his head, sighing, “Ordering mandatory therapy for you.”

That pissed Trent off.

“Why?! I told you I’m fine! How long?” He shot off his questions and displeasure in a rapid fashion. He rubbed his face with one of his hands, the other still on his hip. Honestly, can’t they just leave him alone?

“Until they feel like they can sign off. Dismissed,” Blackburn said firmly, shooing the operative out of his office so he can pack up and go home to his wife.

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

Trent goes out to the car, kissing Amelia on her head, and stealing the keys from her. They went to the diner they go to after every deployment, then drop off Metal at his home to his cats, and, unbeknownst to the couple, Trent’s sister Ashley.

The ride to their home was silent, with neither of them knowing truly what to say. They only moved in a couple weeks before this deployment, although if you had asked anyone else they would have told you they lived together for years, as Amelia never stayed in her apartment unless Trent was spun up.

They go to the home, a two-floor, three bedroom and two and a half bath craftsman style house with cream colored siding. They head up the stone steps to the blue front door, Amelia holding the door open as he carries his bags in.

She gives him space to shower and get familiar with his environment again, having been gone for three months caused him to have to readjust to his surroundings, even though almost everything is the same as he left it.

He got out, putting on a pair of athletic shorts and his favorite t-shirt before making his way back downstairs, towards the grey couch. He sat down and sighed, his mind racing with the thoughts and memories of deployment.

Amelia didn’t mean to scare him, she really didn’t, she was bringing him a cup of steaming hot coffee that he always enjoys when he’s home. He was lost in thought, not seeing the short figure coming for him before she spoke, “T, coffee,” causing him to jump.

The sudden action caused her to jump as well, the hot liquid from the two mugs spilling all over her petite hands. She cursed in pain, quickly sitting down the mugs before going to the kitchen to run them under cold water.

He cursed internally, not moving from his spot. She’s just another victim to you, Sawyer he thought to himself, the feelings of worthlessness and guilt crashing through him. She came back a few minutes later, her honey brown hair tied up in a bun to keep it out of her face. Her blue eyes were filled with worry, he could tell she wanted to ask about it, but she wouldn’t, she never does.

He grabbed her gently, pulling her into his lap, just wanting to hold her. The sweet smell of lavender filling his senses, he always felt at home with her with him. “Funeral tomorrow,” he muttered, closing his eyes as her manicured nails played with his hair.

Amelia nodded sadly, she had heard about Brett Swann. She kissed his forehead, not needing to say a word. She was just glad he was home, safe in their living room. “Want me to go with you?” she asked quietly, looking at the scratches on his face.

Trent shook his head, “Don’t have to,” he muttered, leaning into her touch. He just wanted to go to bed, to hold her and keep her safe from the ugliness of this life he lead.

Amelia nodded, kissing his forehead before saying, “That’s okay, love. Want to go to bed?” She waits for him to nod, before standing up, smiling as he took her hand. She lead him up to the bedroom, taking off her clothing, leaving only her bright colored underwear on her sun-kissed body. She crawled under the covers, meeting him halfway in the middle. He pulls her into him, kissing her neck before turning off the light, holding onto her as if she’ll keep the nightmares, the self-loathing, the thoughts of wanting to die away from him.

“Hey, T?” She asked quietly, half-asleep in his arms, where she’s always felt so safe. She felt him tighten his embrace a little, causing her body to be right up against his.

“Yeah?” he whispered, her voice breaking up the demons already clogging his mind tonight. Flashbacks of Clay laying there in the street, of Metal and him fighting, of the landmine incident all plague him, as well as Nate’s death and Adam’s eyes glossing over in Mumbai.

“I’m glad you’re home,” she said innocently, kissing his hand as she feels him kiss her head. She doesn’t know what’s causing him pain, but she hopes he realized that he wasn’t alone.

He was never alone.

#Trent sawyer x Amelia Carter #seal team #seal team story #seal team series #trent sawyer #scott full metal carter #eric blackburn #ashley sawyer #amelia carter

36 notes · View notes

hockeylvr59 · 4 years

Text

Honest Love || Cale Makar

Requested: [ ] yes [x] no

Authors Note: And we’re off...What better way to celebrate this man’s birthday than with the first chapter of the sequel??? We’re backtracking a little bit to cover the gap I purposely created so this picks up right after part 24 of Secret Love. We’re going to see a little more of Cale’s POV here in the sequel (***** will be your signal of a switch in viewpoints) and I hope you enjoy that additional insight into this relationship that I am head over heels in love with. Quick shoutout to @nazdaddy for the necklace jewelry concept...it didn’t get used before but I didn’t forget about it. I think that’s all I’ve got...let me know what you think.

Gif Credit: @samgirard

Warnings: cursing

Word Count: 3,385

~~~~~~~~~~~

It was shortly after noon when you pulled into the parking lot of the Avs practice facility. You were tired but beyond relieved to have finally reached Denver after a combined sixteen hours in the car over the past two days. Climbing out of the car you stretched, grateful that you had less than half an hour driving left in you after your little detour.

Walking down the hallways of the practice rink, you smiled at the sound of skates on ice as they slowly grew louder. Having been given directions, it wasn’t long before you found yourself standing at the end of the hallway right beside the benches. For a few minutes, you watched the players perform an offensive drill, quickly spotting your boyfriend moving across the ice.

Thankfully, it wasn’t long before he spotted you as well and after finishing the drill, he skated over, reaching into the bench area. Finding what he was looking for, he continued along, greeting you with a quick kiss as he dropped the item into your open hand.

“Talk later.” He promised, stealing one more quick kiss before skating away to the sound of his teammates’ chirps.

“Hey, Makar...if you wanted a kiss all you had to do was ask.” EJ ribbed, shoving Cale gently.

“Yeah...pay attention.” Nate teased. “I know we’re not as pretty as your girl but…”

“Don’t tell me you dragged her down here just to help you settle in,” Gabe stated, leaning on his stick as he shook his head at the former rookie.

“Fuck off.” Cale groaned peeking over at you. “I had to get her an apartment key okay. You know...so she can actually move in.” Even from across the rink you could see that his cheeks were flushed and his dimples were on full display as he spoke. His words caused whoops to spill from his teammates’ lips and after watching Cale jostle with them for a few minutes, you shook your head before finally heading back out to the car.

By the time you pulled into the underground lot of Cale’s…your building, you were ready to go upstairs and just crawl into bed for a nap. Gathering up your purse, overnight bag, and one of the smaller boxes, you locked the car and headed upstairs, letting yourself inside the apartment you now shared with your boyfriend.

As you turned to head into the main living area, your eyes immediately landed on the ‘welcome home’ banner hanging above the island. Beneath it, a beautiful bouquet of roses was placed next to a bottle of your favorite wine and a small box. Setting your things down, you pulled the small card out of the bouquet, your eyes taking in Cale’s scratchy writing.

Welcome home beautiful.

I love you and am so grateful you agreed to move in with me.

Cale

Again...Cale was just too much and you hadn’t even opened the small box yet. Gingerly picking it up, you cracked the lid open and your eyes went wide. Inside was a teardrop-shaped pendant with a practically flawless opal surrounded by tiny diamonds. This was way way too much but you knew Cale would refuse to take it back. He’d insist that you were doing so much for him that you deserved to be spoiled a little. And it didn’t pass your notice that he’d picked an opal...his birthstone.

Popping the bottle of wine in the fridge, you gathered up the necklace along with your overnight bag and the box and made your way through to the bedroom. There you found post-its attached to all of the drawers Cale had emptied for you, including one of the two bedside tables. Even though he’d only been in town for a day and a half longer, he’d already gone to great lengths to ensure that you were able to transition into the space as easily as possible.

Unpacking the few items you’d already brought up, you settled onto the couch for a few minutes just needing to take a breath. This was big...and it would take some time before this place felt like your own. Dozing off, you jolted awake at the sound of the apartment door hitting the doorstop.

“Hey sweetheart, I dragged Josty with me to come help unload boxes and Calvy tagged along...where are your car keys?” When Cale finally appeared in front of you he clearly noticed your groggy state and immediately the volume of his voice dropped. “Sorry...I woke you didn’t I?”

“Guess I dozed off.” You admitted, blinking a few times and yawning as you pushed yourself to your feet. “Keys are on the island.” You declared, pointing in their general direction.

“Hi.” Cale grinned, kissing you again before pulling away to snatch the keys. “Don’t worry about lifting a finger, we’ve got the rest.” He insisted.

A few minutes later, the three men were dropping boxes off in the living room while you stood looking out the window, taking in your new surroundings.

“Thanks, guys,” You declared, looking back over your shoulder.

“No worries.” Tyson insisted. “I live in the building anyway so it’s not really out of my way at all.”

“And I wanted to meet the woman Cale can’t shut up about.” Matt declared, offering his hand out to shake. “Courtney and I would love to have you and Cale over for dinner sometime next week, I know she’s looking forward to meeting you as well.”

“That would be great.” You agreed. You knew how close Cale had become with the Calvert’s during those first two playoff series and as much as they were looking forward to meeting you, you were looking forward to meeting them.

“Well, we’ll let you get settled in, Cale explained that you’ve spent most of the last two days in the car, so I’m sure you just want to get unpacked and spend some time with him. We’ll see you at the team cookout tomorrow.” Matt declared and your eyes went wide at the end of his statement. As you looked over at Cale, Matt tugged Tyson out of the apartment, an unintelligible mumble falling from the younger man’s mouth as they went.

“Yeah...uh...didn’t get the chance to mention that yet.” Cale declared rubbing his hand along the back of his neck. “Mel and Gabe are having everyone over tomorrow. Mandatory start of the season thing.”

“We’re diving straight into things aren’t we?” You whispered to yourself, taking a deep breath.

“I’m sorry.” Cale murmured. “You don’t have to go if you aren’t feeling up to it, I know everyone would understand.”

“Cale it’s fine.” You insisted. “Just caught me a little off guard. It’ll be nice to meet everyone right away.” Cale eyed you skeptically before moving closer, his hands settling onto your hips.

“If you're sure.” He breathed. “Now can we say a proper hello? I missed you, hopefully the drive wasn’t too bad.”

“It was okay.” You shrugged. “Long.” Trailing your hands up to the back of his neck, you pulled him into a kiss that lingered, your body relaxing immediately under his touch. “How about we let these boxes sit for now and you come take a nap with me?” You suggested, a soft shriek spilling forth as Cale scooped you up and carried you into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him.

“A nap it is.” He agreed, laying you down before toeing off his shoes and sliding under the covers beside you. The moment his warm hand slid along your bare hip, you felt your eyes fall shut, sleep taking over quickly. The bed may be different, but sleeping beside Cale...that was home.

________

Having spent most of the previous night in bed with Cale, you didn’t have the opportunity to touch the boxes until the following morning. Unpacking led to stressing over what to wear to this cookout and before you knew it Cale was tossing a t-shirt and shorts at you insisting that anything you wore would be perfect.

The driveway at the Landeskog residence was empty when Cale pulled in 45 minutes later and you looked over at him.

“How early are we?” You questioned, knowing smirk on your lips.

“Fifteen...maybe twenty minutes.” Cale replied, sheepishly. Flicking his shoulder, you climbed out of the car.

“My punctual boyfriend.” You declared, following after Cale as he headed up the front path, knocking on the door. It only took a minute for Gabe to answer and when he did he immediately seemed relieved by your early arrival.

“Great timing...I need help with…” You had barely stepped foot in the house before Gabe was pulling Cale away, his voice falling off. Assuming, probably correctly, that you weren’t getting your boyfriend back any time soon, you continued through the house finding Mel in the kitchen.

“So Cale doesn’t know how to not be early, and Gabe already stole him so is there anything I can help with?” You questioned, your hands tucked into your pockets as you waited to draw Mel’s attention.

“Oh my god!” Mel declared, immediately stopping what she was doing. “First...I am so happy you’re here. When Gabe said Cale had asked you to move to Denver I was over the moon.” Rinsing and drying her hands, Mel immediately came to wrap you in a quick hug. “Second...would you mind watching Linnea...she’s starting to get a little restless I think.”

You’d somehow completely missed the playpen in the corner with Linnea in it, the infant attempting to pull herself to her feet as she whined for attention.

“Of course.” You agreed. “Not a problem at all.” Seeing Zoey laying on the floor with a ball beside her, you moved closer to the playpen. “Hey Linnea...why don’t we go outside and throw a ball for Zoey.” Your tone softened as you talked to the baby girl, but not to the extent that it would be considered ‘baby talk’.

With Linnea smiling her mostly toothless grin up at you, you lifted her out of the playpen and onto your hip.

“C’mon Zoey. Let’s go outside.” You declared, smiling back at Mel as she mouthed a grateful ‘thank you’. After sliding through the backdoor, you headed down the porch steps and into the grass, settling yourself down on the ground, Linnea between your thighs. As you helped Linnea throw the ball for Zoey, it was easy to lose yourself in the sound of Zoey’s playful prance and Linnea’s sweet giggle.

*****

Cale grunted softly as he adjusted the cooler in his arms to open the back gate of his captain’s yard. Of course Gabe didn’t do this the easy way...no he had to fill the coolers with ice and drinks before moving them into the backyard. There was definitely a lapse in common sense there.

As the gate swung open, Cale froze in place, his eyes taking in the sight across the yard. He was jolted forward when Gabe bumped into him from behind but not even that could pull his eyes away.

“Dude...what the hell?” Gabe mumbled. “Oh…”

Cale could feel the heat flooding his cheeks as his heart started racing like he’d just skated a dozen laps. Just when he thought Y/N couldn’t possibly become more attractive to him she went and proved him wrong. Because there she was, dressed in the clothes he had picked with the necklace and bracelet he’d given her resting against her skin. Her hands were wrapped around his captain’s daughter’s hips as Linnea giggled loudly, bouncing up and down on her chubby little legs. The way she held the baby, the way she spoke softly to Linnea, the way Linnea reacted to her presence...it made Cale’s throat go dry and stole the breath from his lungs.

It had been four months since they’d talked about kids, four months since he’d really thought about having kids. Cale knew that it was absolutely something he wanted someday and that she was the only person he wanted to have kids with. But now...now ‘someday’ seemed too far away. Now...for the first time he didn’t have to imagine what Y/N would be like as a mom and a part of him was screaming loudly that that was what he wanted...no needed. Now he knew without question that as soon as he put a ring on her finger he was going to also try and put a baby in her belly. His baby. Their baby.

“If you’re going to stand there staring at her...maybe at least move so you aren’t blocking the gate.” Gabe’s chuckle snapped Cale from his daze and his cheeks flushed further as he moved just a step forward, his eyes landing back on his girlfriend as she cradled Linnea against her shoulder, her hand rubbing up and down the baby’s back.

“Should we tell Joe to prep the ELCs for those mini Makars you’re gonna have her popping out soon?” Gabe teased, knowing look on his face. Suddenly, the weight of the cooler and the way his muscles were straining registered again and Cale moved to set it down near the porch steps. When he didn’t react to Gabe’s statement, the captain’s face turned serious. “Wait seriously...you’re actually thinking about it.” Gabe murmured softly.

“Thinking about what?” EJ’s booming voice asked as he and Nate came in through the back gate.

“Calesy here is thinking about knocking his girlfriend up.” Gabe replied, looking over his shoulder to where Y/N had disappeared with Linnea just a moment before. Sounds of disbelief fell from his teammates’ mouths and Cale rubbed at the back of his neck shrugging.

“It’s not like we haven’t talked about it before.” He admitted.

“You’re what...four months in and you’ve talked about kids?” Nate prompted.

“We talked about them the day we got together. It’s not like we were strangers guys.” Cale defended, shoving his hands in his pockets. “So yeah I’m thinking about it. She’s spent most of her life waiting for me...I don’t want to make her wait too long. Maybe we’ll start trying come end of the season.”

“Well look at you growing up.” Gabe declared. “She’s the one isn’t she? You’re way more confident than when we last saw you.”

“She’s absolutely the one.” Cale agreed. “Now what else did you need help with?” No one fought him as Cale changed the subject and headed back toward the garage, making a mental note to get better at masking his expressions when it came to his feelings for Y/N.

*****

You’d laid Linnea down for a nap after she’d fallen asleep on you outside and then had been promptly pulled into a house tour by Mel since you hadn’t seen it before. By the time you made your way back outside with a glass of wine in hand, you found Cale sitting at the table on the patio, a beer in hand as he listened to the guys share stories of their summers.

Sliding your palm down along his chest, you leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek.

“Linnea wants you to know you have good taste in jewelry.” You whispered softly, smiling as his head tilted up to look at you, his eyebrows raised. “She liked the way the sun reflected off of my necklace. She fiddled with it until she zonked out.” Cale’s hum of approval and recognition was soft as he scooted back, seamlessly pulling you down onto his lap.

There you stayed, Cale’s chin on your shoulder as more and more of Cale’s teammates and their families arrived. As soon as the Calverts arrived, Cale was immediately summoned by Kasey to play and you watched as your boyfriend chased after the four-year-old. This was the first time you had seen him with kids in quite awhile and it only reaffirmed how great of a dad he would be when he decided he was ready to take that step.

Having finished your glass of wine, you moved to take it inside so that it didn’t get broken. As you reached the kitchen, you saw Mel and one of the other women fawning over something on a cell phone.

“Oh, Y/N, perfect timing.” Mel declared. “There’s something I think you should see.”

You took the phone from her, pressing play on a video. Mel must have snuck outside earlier without you noticing because you watched as Zoey trotted over with a ball before racing off again as Linnea tossed it for her. Hearing yourself praise Linnea for her strong throw was slightly odd but as the camera followed Zoey as she chased the ball your eyes fell to the background. Cale was standing there with a cooler in his hands and even with the focus slightly blurred you could see that his cheeks were flushed and the expression on his face was one that was unfamiliar to you.

Handing the phone back, your mind raced, trying to figure out what Cale had been thinking. There were bits and pieces of emotions you recognized: love, awe, joy; but all together it added up to something unreadable.

“Should we uh...be expecting any more big changes in Cale’s off-ice life soon?” The other woman questioned, an almost knowing look on her face. Your brain finally placed her as Matt’s wife Courtney but it wasn’t quite fast enough to pick up on what she could possibly be referring to.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” You deflected.

“You mean it doesn’t look like he wants to get you pregnant as soon as possible?” Mel chimed in. “Because that’s all I see. Cale saw you with my baby and he gets that look on his face...he wants to make you a mom, no doubt in my mind.” Swallowing hard, you moved to finally set your glass in the sink.

“He’s not ready for kids yet. We’ve talked about it.” You explained. “We’re just focused on us right now. We’ve only been together for a few months.” Thankfully, one of the guys walked into the kitchen allowing you to slip back outside. You’d planned on grabbing a water but after that conversation you definitely needed something a little bit stronger. Flopping down on the steps with a wine cooler in hand, you watched as Cale played spike ball with Tyson, Nate, and Burky. Immediately your conversation back in May came to mind and you thought about how Cale had said he didn’t think he’d be so scared about having a baby if the situation was right. That didn’t mean he wanted kids in the short-term or that he was even ready to start thinking about it. But then again...you hadn’t been able to place the look on his face which was abnormal so maybe there was a grain of truth to Mel and Courtney’s presumptions.

“You look puzzled...everything okay?” Cale’s smooth voice pulled you out of the rabbit hole you’d found yourself in and you looked up at him amazed at how one look settled all of the uneasiness inside you. Cale would let you know whether he wanted kids when he was ready, there was no need to dwell or worry about it now. Kissing him gently, you nodded, letting him pull you up onto your feet.

“Everything is good.” You assured him. “Just needed a minute.” With Cale’s hand rubbing against your lower back you let him convince you to go get your asses kicked by Sam Girard and his girlfriend at cornhole. It was fun, especially when you made Sam throw backward because he was just too good otherwise.

By the time you finished your best of three series, the food was ready and you made up a plate, settling in beside Cale on the steps as you ate. After dinner the two of you bowed out because your eyes had started to droop from fatigue. Though the guys chirped him, Cale kept his focus on you until you had slipped into the passenger seat of the car.

Adjusting to life in Denver was going to take some time for sure. But you were confident it would be worth it because Cale was definitely worth it.

Welcome Home Gifts:

Cookout Outfit:

#cale makar #cale makar imagine #colorado avalanche #colorado avalanche imagine #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #hockey imagines #hockey imagine #cavalanche #039

179 notes · View notes

olicitybishop-clairmont · 3 years

Text

The Flash: Armageddon Part 1

So. Definitely NOT a crossover. Instead of different shows over a night or two, this is taking over the first five episodes of The Flash’s season 8 and everyone else is popping into the episodes like Ray popped into Barry and Iris’s apartment. I didn’t get a chance to liveblog, but here are my thoughts.

- Killer Frost is secretly a hopeless romantic and I have a headcanon that she makes Caitlin watch nothing but romcoms and Hallmark movies.

- That was the first mention of Ronnie in a LONG time

- Iris’s hair is GORGEOUS. They definitely added some more red in it and Candice Patton looks amazing with it.

- HI CASSANDRA FROM THE LIBRARIANS!!

- I am HERE for Iris becoming Central City’s version of Cat Grant. From a self run blog to her own Media company with her own podcast?! You go girl!!!

Headcanon: Eventually Iris and Cat meet and they bond about knowing everyone’s secret identities and the exclusive interviews they’ve done.

- HI RAY!! So cute that you’re still with Nora. That green smoothie does NOT look appetizing. Also, your total mancrush on Nate is still SO obvious.

“I thought he could shrink things.”

- And we bring back the Royal Flush Gang, all of whom use far too many card puns. Give it a rest.

- Chester is such a NERD.

- I would have thought I would see a little more geeking out from Ray with all the science and tech.

- With all their supposed qualifications, no wonder those journalists aren’t listening to you, Allegra. Come on, where’s that backbone I know you have? Iris doesn’t put her faith in just anybody to run the day to day of her company.

- No matter who stops by on which show, all the heroes have to give each other sage advice. It’s mandatory.

“If you want something that doesn’t exist, invent it.”

“Just show him who you really are.”

- Okay, I have no clue who Despero is.

- So Flash caused Armageddon? How?! I know when Mia, William and Connor were brought back in time they came from Star City in 2040, but I don’t remember what time Nora and Bart came from. Apparently Armageddon happens in 2031...

- Kryptonians and Kryptonite and a call to Alex in National City. I know Alex is stopping by but it’s too bad Supergirl is already over.

- I would really like to see Ray and Chester working together with the Nonprofit named after Chester’s dad. Maybe SmoakTech can donate some funds or get in on the program. Felicity would definitely be in to something like that.

- So I know this is supposed to be a five episode event, but episode 1 seemed a little slow to build. Also, I know we’re 8 seasons in, but I was not feeling all that much from Grant. Do we think the Flash might bow out after season 8? I mean, he did just have a kid, didn’t he?

Hopefully I’ll be able to liveblog next week otherwise I’ll do another one of these. See you then!

#the flash #the flash armageddon #the flash Armageddon part 1 #the flash 8x01 #the flash spoilers #arrow #supergirl #dc legends of tomorrow #black lightning

8 notes · View notes

rottenwoodandwiltedsunflowers · 3 years

Note

Will you be attending The Witches Ball this weekend? I’m unable to attend this time unfortunately but I’m hoping the will be videos and lots of reports from those who are going.

Funny you should mention it. We did manage to escape to the McKittrick on Friday and Saturday and in typical fashion, Waffle took a bunch of Witches' Ball Halloween party videos including all three ballroom performances and is uploading them to our YouTube channel right now. More will appear over the coming days, but there's plenty to get you started already on our YouTube Channel! It was a damn good time!

After clearing the vaccine and mandatory test requirement, guests could enter through the maze. (On Friday, guests could also enter directly to the hotel lobby from the stairs, but that was closed off to try to improve flow for the weekend parties.) On Friday night, all the party floors were open at the top of the party--ballroom plus mezzanine, lobby, Manderley, and 4th floor. On Sat and Sun, the typical Manderley and lobby were open at entry time and the rest opened later. In the Manderley, there was live music as always, MK Groove with various singers including Julia Haltigan, Lisa McQuade; Karen Marie and her band; and the Villians. The hotel lobby had a DJ (DJ A-Ball on Fri, don't know other nights) and live burlesque dancers all night (Lily Ockwell, Kelly Todd, Kelsey Connolly, Ernesto Breton, Doug Burkhardt, Elias Rosa) dancing on the hotel lobby desk. There were three ballrooms starring Mallory Gracenin, Ashley Robicheaux, Joy-Marie Thompson, Ruth Howard, Zack McNally, Jacob Guzman (and one unknown special guest). There were also tireless, gorgeous go-go dancers between numbers: Evan Fisk, Jamal Abrams, Kayla Farrish, and Marissa Maislen. The fourth floor had durational performances by Camara McLaughlin, Stephanie Jean Lane, Morgan Doelp, Marc Cardarelli, Andy Talen, and Mitchell Winter and more go-go/burlesque/um....just really good dancing in the rep bar (if you happened to catch the light at the right time) by Nate Carter, Marija Obradovic, Aliza Russell, Emily Oldak.

Of course, none of this would be possible without Austin Goodwin, who gave us the gift of this nostalgic, beautiful, debaucherous gathering of old and new friends.

Check out the videos we have up now. We know it's not the same as going in the flesh, but hope it helps tide you over until you can safely get back to the grand hotel. We'll keep uploading more in the near future! (There are a LOT.) The link is in the notes to keep this post visible on the tag. :)

#sleep no more nyc #mckittrick hotel #witches ball #mckittrick halloween #the mckittrick hotel #sleepnomore #sleep no more

14 notes · View notes

mellowasinyellow · 3 years

Text

100daysofwriting - Day 1

So I thought for the first day I might just briefly outline all of the WIPs I have actually made a start on and that might help me to decide where I want to focus some energy. I have some for Katniss/Peeta in THG fandom and some for Natasha/Clint in the MCU.

Everlark

folklore series - so I started this series of fics inspired by songs from Taylor Swift's album folklore because honestly those songs just immediately bring to mind so many scenarios that made me think of Katniss and Peeta. I made a start on chapters based on peace, my tears ricochet, invisible string, this is me trying, and mad woman. I also have a bit of an outline for continuing the story that was started in 'the 1'.

I've had this one WIP ongoing since about 2015(?) which is a bit of a monster that has grown beyond me but basically it involves Katniss and Gale being raised in the Capitol in relative poverty after their fathers are conscripted into the peacekeepers because of traitorous activity. Mrs Everdeen is still from 12 but was moved to the Captiol to be married (this part is sketchy) and she still had a little childhood romance with Mr Mellark. Peeta gets reaped and Mrs Everdeen reacts to this as he looks like his father. Katniss gets a crush on him as she watches him prepare for the games. She hates herself for it but finds herself checking up on how he is doing even during non-mandatory viewing.

Arranged Marriage - I feel like this is such a cliche for thg fandom, but I just imagined my own way that the pairings happen but I'm so bad at writing slow burn so this will probably never materialise, but if you want a semi-decent thought out pairing/arranged marriage system I would be happy to lend you mine.

Miscarriage fic - I will never post this, but it's in my WIP folder. It's full of nasty feelings that feel a little better when they are written about.

Modern AU Pandemic Quarantine! - ofc, this is essential. Katniss and Peeta end up as the only people not to move home from their dorm for the quarantine. Slow burn that I can't fucking write should ensue.

Canon Pandemic Quarantine AU - pandemic a few years after the end of the war forces Katniss to admit she wants Peeta as more than a friend with whom she hunts, bakes, rebuilds the district. Cue sexy pandemic times and a resentful Haymitch that keeps accidentally breaking the rules.

Divorced but co-parenting Everlark - obviously finding their way back together

Another classic of their children being reaped and dying - I don't know why I write things this depressing. They just tend to come out in one big rush and then I never address them again.

Real weird teen pregnancy modern day AU - don't know where it's going or why...

Modern day AU dead Prim - Peeta and Katniss just met each other through mutual friends and are kind of flirting. Peeta is a bit infatuated. Katniss stops going to mutual friend parties and he finds out it's because her sister died. Instead of staying away he gets tangled up in her grief and does all sorts of practical things while Katniss wallows. Also it's E rated but not that much fun... can't entirely explain where this one came from either...

Single Parent AU where Finnick and Annie play match maker. Probably my fave Everlark in the works but it's another one that has grown so big for the 20 minutes I can dedicate to it each week.

Clintasha

Red Room Take Down - Nat and Clint are retired and living a quiet family life with their child. SHIELD appears asking for Nat's help in taking down the red room and dealing with the fall out, specifically what to do with the girls that they get out. Nat is torn but chooses to go. Chaos ensues with the 'rescued' girls. I need to actually develop some OCs a little if I ever want this to be good but tbh the pending Black Widow movie is kind of holding me back on this one too because I hope we find out more about the red room.

So I have a weird habit of writing from Lila Barton's POV. I can't explain it. I have AoU and like to pretend it never happened but anyway I have a WIP about Lila detailing the collapse of her parents' marriage after Clint retires and he and Laura actually have to spend time together without Natasha. She then goes on to describe the custody settlement and her utter joy that Auntie Nat sleepovers with them at her dad's place. She feels utterly betrayed when she finds out they are getting engaged.

Fluffy AU - Clint and Natasha in an established relationship with a son born between infinity war and endgame. Natasha still sacrifices on Vormir, but Steve gets her back no bother and it's so nice and happy and fluffy and Clint and Natasha are together and they have a son who has both parents back and Steve gets to make all this happen and he is so happy too and they have a barbecue and go swimming in a lake and clint/natasha have private time, and their kid wants to be captain america, and did I mention how HAPPY everyone is?

Another fic similar to the above just about everyone being so HAPPY. Endgame reverses the snap and instead of weird farm family coming back Clint and Natasha get their daughter back and it's just a cute moment about her reappearance and their race back to the spot she disintegrated from. (Steve/Bucky go to Vormir and Steve is sacrificed, but that fucker CHOSE to leave).

This is another one that has just grown bigger than my brain. it's based off the idea that Natasha helped with coordinating fosterings during the blip time. Clint loses his mind when he loses his family and crashes in BedStuy but finds a neighbour girl (Kate Bishop) who is fending for herself in post-apocalyptic Brooklyn. He helps her out and tries to get children's services involved but it has collapsed. Finds out Natasha is the one getting everything in order. He gets in touch. She's at the end of her tether and asks why he can't keep looking after her. In the end he does and she ends up getting involved and all three get overly attached to each other. I haven't got as far as the events of endgame and idk what's going to happen. It might be tragic.

Pregnant Natasha but nobody knows what is wrong with her because they don't even suspect her being pregnant is possible. Just a real vivid description of the early unpleasant pregnancy symptoms.

Another absolute monster - Sort of canon compliant to begin with aside from before the farm family disappear. Clint and Laura are in the middle of separating and tensions are running quite high at the farm. Snap happens. Nat and Clint accidentally run into each other while both a bit low during the blip and get drunk and share home truths. Begin working together from HQ and both get a little less sad. He convinces her she doesn't have to be responsible for the world's fate every moment of every day. Clint has a break down at Morgan's 1st birthday and realises that things will have to change. Nat has this realisation later. They begin sleeping together. Accidental pregnancy. More feelings come out between them. They enter a more conventional relationship and have baby. Baby is really hard work (colic) and they struggle with comparisons and feelings of inadequacy. Pepper helps them to identify the colic and improves everything greatly. Happy times with baby while also running the avengers. Opportunity to reverse snap. Some good scenes between Nat and Tony. A big conversation between Nat and Clint about what it will mean. Steve and Nat end up going to Vormir together. Nat is obviously about to commit suicide. Steve over powers her and gives her a pep talk about the situation she is running away from and how to deal with it. He self-sacrifices. Clint goes back to farm fam and Natasha goes back to BedStuy with baby. Clint has to tell Laura and then the kids about the last 5 years and their new siblings. Nate is super into it. Cooper is a bit aloof and cynical. Lila is confused. Laura is quietly seething. Clint helps put the farm back together about 5 years of neglect and the kids meet baby. Family gets happier. Laura and Nat eventually meet again and it's civil/friendly.

My own version of what happened in Budapest.

The Call - inspired by a post here on tumblr. Nat calls Clint as she bleeds out. Just needs a beta reader and then I would consider publishing.

AoU reimagined but with Clintasha - I'm not sure where this one is going it's like a massive spider web right now with lots of ideas shooting off, but basically it is inspired by this post and just involves a lot of hoodwinking the other avengers.

Accidental Baby Acquisition - Natasha becomes Yelena's child's legal guardian after Yelena gets taken out. Natasha and Yelena are estranged at this point and Natasha things the whole thing is a trap and brings Clint along. He is surprisingly good with the baby so she ropes him in to teach her. The three of them end up bonding.

5 times there's only 1 bed + 1 time they choose to sleep in the same bed.

non-superhero AU Clint and Nat both think they have adopted a stay cat but actually the cat has owners and just likes strokes and eats a lot so has many 'families'. They get into an argument over which of them the cat belongs to only to find out the cat has owners and they are moving away. They decide to adopt a cat between them as both are not hope that much and the shelter refused them as single people. Slow burn ensues, which I am shit at writing.

#100daysofwriting #everlark #clintasha #thg #mcu #clintasha fanfic #clintasha fanfiction #clintasha fic #everlark fic #everlark fanfic #everlark fanfiction #natasha romanoff #clint barton #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark

17 notes · View notes

nachohypno · 4 years

Text

Nate and Dave Ch. 5

Dave’s POV

I woke up on the floor, next to my bed.

I got up and admired my beautiful soulmate for a bit, before checking the time on my phone. Early, that’s good.

I placed a kiss on Nate’s forehead, as the sleepy bro faced the ceiling. I was still amazed with how this all started.

I was just walking around the corridor at school, when this really good smell hits my nose. My nose never failed me, and I was hoping to see what that was. It was something I never smelled before, not even pancakes were that good. (And I loved pancakes!).

I started following that smell, like it was the most important thing in the world. It was calling to me; I just knew it.

Seconds later, I was in front of this guy I’ve never talked to, but I’ve seen him in my class. He was one of Sammy’s dorky friends. I knew Sammy, the whole team knew Sammy. He’s the student council’s president, and he was used to hanging out with everyone.

After confirming that the smell came from him, a sudden realization went through my entire body.

He was my soulmate.

At the moment, I felt blissful. And I still felt like that every moment I spend with him.

It wasn’t long afterwards after I had to spill the beans about my true nature as a werewolf. He ordered me to tell the truth, and I had to happily do so. Made everything easier, of course.

My bro has been really cool since the first time we’ve met.

I smiled as I gave my love another glance, before walking to the bathroom.

I looked at myself on the mirror. Killer body. Big pecs, great abs.

‘I’m soooo handsome’ I thought, smiling and winking at my reflection, while bouncing my pecs for a few seconds.

I looked at the leather bowser collar around my neck. It felt good to wear, it was a gift from Nate. It only made me love him even more.

It reminded me that I’m his good puppy boy.

You see, I would be pretty mad if someone mocked me about me being a werewolf. But… this was Nate I’m talking about, I just wanted to be on my knees in front of him, waiting to serve and obey him as my lovely soulmate.

So, if he wanted me to be a good puppy boy, then hell, I’m a good puppy boy.

I was still excited after last night’s full moon. The mandatory transformation lasted only for the night, but I still felt its effects on my personality. Those usually lasted a few hours after the night was over, but nothing I couldn’t handle.

I washed my teeth and tidied my short hair. I liked to look good and hot!

When I finished, and as much as it hurt me to do this… I had to wake up Nate. We had to go to school together, and I knew my love wouldn’t like arriving late, so it would be good for me to arrive a bit earlier today so he can make it in time.

I walked up to the bed and leaned in, I placed my hand in his shoulder and softly shook him a few times. “Nate… Hey Nate, time to wake up, bro” I whispered, trying to be as gentle as possible.

He opened his eyes slowly, and rubbed them a bit before saying “Hmm…? What time is it…?”

I checked my phone. “6 am, we have a while before having to go. And I hear mom is downstairs preparing breakfast” I said, smelling the pancakes. Pops must have told mom about my soulmate, or at least that we had a guest.

Nate just took a moment to fully wake up, before sitting on the bed. “Hmm…” He looked so cute. Sleepy, a bit confused, covered in my bed sheets. I loved him so much. “That smells so good…” He mumbled.

I smiled, before leaning in to give him a kiss. I was used to kissing roughly, to assert my dominance with my girl, but… I couldn’t do that with Nate, I wanted to be gentle and careful with him. He kissed me back, and I knew he enjoyed it. I’m a pretty amazing kisser.

Even if he doesn’t feel the same about me. Even if he doesn’t love me like I love him, I wanted to prove him that I’m a good soulmate.

I reluctantly broke the kiss. As much as I’d like to jump back in bed and be with him, I knew he’d hate being late for school. I noticed I was still on my underwear, so I walked over to my dresser and grabbed some jeans and a plain colored fitted tee, finishing the hot guy look with my always-needed varsity jacket.

My love decided to get up after a bit, and changed his clothes for the ones he grabbed at his house before we came here. It was a good opportunity to see him on his underwear, so cute and sexy.

Before we went downstairs, I took off my bowser collar and putted it back in my school bag again. Mom and Pops would probably not like that detail, but I loved it.

“Ready?” I asked him, ruffling his hair a bit.

He nodded, a bit dazedly. “I’m still a bit sleepy, but that helps with the anxiety” He yawned “…Less inhibitions, I guess”

I smiled. I was lowkey hoping that he would actually want to stay home, order me to transform and just jerk off together like we’ve did a few days ago. I would be so happy to do that.

I shook my head, seems like I lost myself in fantasy again!

I opened the door and we went downstairs together. I was right, mom was making pancakes!

“Look who’s finally up…” She mumbled, before flipping the current pancake with mastery. I spent half of my childhood eating pancakes, she’s pretty much an expert by now. “Why don’t you get ready, guys? Just this one and the pancake towers will be ready”

I noticed Nate froze in place, but I grabbed his hand and crossed our fingers together. I couldn’t tell if that helped him, but it was surely helping me. We walked together to the table and sat down next to each other. I gave him a reassuring smile and he returned it.

As we sat down, mom left two plates with a tower of five pancakes each. Mom was a really great woman. Unlike me and pops, she had dark brown hair, but I got her blue eyes. She always seemed happy and caring about everyone.

As she left a bottle of maple syrup in front of us, she gave Nate a sweet smile before presenting herself “Adam told me about you already, I’m Sandy Walker, Dave’s mom”

He nodded, shivering a bit. He had this weird thing where he gets nervous about everything, I noticed it since day one. “Nate Hall… Dave’s friend” He mumbled, trying to return the smile.

“He’s my soulmate” I said, assuming that pops already told her everything.

And I was right, apparently. “I know, your dad explained everything” She walked around the table to hug me “I’m so happy for you, David!” She said as she hugged me tightly. It wasn’t a problem, I was used to tight hugs, but Nate was a lot more delicate than I was so I hoped that she could control her strength.

I was pretty nervous though, and I was glad my parents weren’t mentioning any of it. I’m talking about my girlfriend, Leslie.

“So, you’re okay with it?” I asked her, and looked over at Nate. He just looked down at his plate, barely moving.

“I can’t say I’m amused by the concept of soulmates, if I’m being honest” She said, with a bit of disgust in her voice. But it disappeared as soon as she continued speaking. “But you seem pretty happy, and Nate, you shouldn’t be nervous. Nothing bad is going to happen, honey” She finished, with a sweet voice.

Like trying to reassure him that he’s safe with us, or more specifically, me.

Nate returned the smile, and mumbled a “T-Thankyou”. I assumed his nervousness would fade away over time, it was a new thing for the two of us.

Leslie has met my parents already, but she hadn’t visited a lot since. They liked her, and she liked them, but I never thought it would be too important to have her around a lot at my house. Unless it was to have sex! I never miss a good chance when the house is empty!

You can’t invite a lot of people to fuck when your parents have heightened senses, and can hear you from the living room.

Mom asked Nate about himself. Like his hobbies and stuff like that, but the poor guy didn’t know what to answer. “I like… playing videogames. S-Sorry, I’m more of an introvert, normally”

Mom laid his back on the wall and took a sip of his coffee, looking at him “It’s okay. My best friend is an introvert too and I know I shouldn’t push some subjects with her.” She said, quite chilled. She was trying to put some comfort in her words, to make Nate less nervous, but it didn’t seem to work with Nate. “But, you can ask for more pancakes if you want”

“Oh, I do! I want more pancakes!” I said. Pancakes are my favorite thing in the world, only surpassed by my beautiful Nate!

“Oh no, not for you. You get more aggressive when you have a sugar rush, and I don’t care if your principal shrugs it off. I won’t support that kind of behavior from my son!”

I rolled my eyes as she took the last sip of her coffee and walked back into the kitchen, as I went back to enjoying my remaining pancakes. I looked over at Nate, and noticed he was looking at me too.

I offered my hand to him, and he put his (Which was noticeable smaller than mine) on top of mine. We crossed our fingers and I smiled at him.

“I love you” I mumbled, but Nate remained silent and blushed.

After breakfast was over, we went to my room and grabbed our bags. I pulled him in for a kiss before we left the room again, and he seemed to enjoy it a lot, placing his arms around my neck as I grabbed the back of his head with my hand.

We broke the kiss, and continued on our way.

----

We both remained silent as I drove to school.

He looked at me and tried to break the silence with a “So… what do you think?”

“Hmm?” I mumbled, looking at the driving mirror.

“About your parents, do you think… they like me?” He looked down at his crossed hands as he said that. I could tell he was nervous -again- as he waited for my answer.

“They loved you, I guess” I said with a shrug as I turned the car to the left, almost arriving to school. “I mean, they were a lot more judgmental with Leslie, so given their reaction I’d like to think that they actually liked you”

I looked at him and noticed a small smile on his face. Damn, I really, really loved this guy. Even his smell was amazing, which I could feel from across a school corridor. Calling out to me, telling me to go near my love and place my arm around his shoulder or grab his hand and walk together.

“Dave?” He said, looking up at me.

“Yeah, bro?” We were about to arrive when he shot his request. But I felt it more like an order.

Not really, though. He requested it, but his wish was my command, so I had to comply with anything he wanted. I loved it.

“May I ask… Remember what we chatted about yesterday?” I gave him a nod, before he continued “Well… Could you apologize to him? To the guy, I mean”

My stomach sank.

But… he was right. If I wanted Nate to trust me, I had to be a better person. That would be a good start. Besides, I was going to do it anyway, because of my urge to obey him. My soulmate was so caring for others, it made me love him even more (If that’s possible!).

I stopped the car on the school’s parking, and gave him a nod “Sure, bro. I’ll apologize to Liam as soon as I see him, alright?”

He smiled at me, and I leaned in to kiss him. So good… I’ll miss this during the following hours.

I broke the kiss and grabbed our bags from the back seats. I gave him his bag before leaving the car, and locking it down with my key.

Nate and I separated before entering school. I wanted to kiss him, so badly. But, that would give us away, and I’m supposed to be a loyal boyfriend to my girl.

I’m supposed to.

It was kind of weird for me to arrive at this time, I usually arrive two minutes before having to enter my class, to be the least amount of time possible in this hellhole.

As I walked to my locker, I noticed Liam (The nerd that usually did the football team’s essays. We liked to keep him in check, to remind him of his place.) But as soon as I saw him, I felt… bad?

It was something weird. I gave it some thought before realizing it. Nate told me to apologize to him, and I wanted to do whatever Nate told me to do. I love Nate, he’s amazing and so caring about everyone. He’s truly a wonderful bro.

I walked up to the nerdy guy, as he stood straight with his head down. We had him really well trained to give respect to his superiors, heh.

…That’s bad. I felt worse now.

“Hey, Liam?” I said, trying to give him a friendly tone, but that would probably scare him more. I liked to use friendly tones when I’m about to beat up someone.

“Y-yes… s-sir?” He asked, without moving even a single inch. He was probably paralyzed by fear.

I swallowed some saliva, before resuming “I wanted to say that… I’m sorry about… well, everything I’ve done to you”

He slowly lifted his head to look at me. A really confused expression on his face, as he quickly looked back down. “I’ve realized I’ve been awful with you, and I’m really sorry about that” I continued.

What would Nate do in my position? “Uh… And you can also stop doing my essays. If I want to be someone in life, I can’t expect everyone to do my job for me, bruh” I told him, patting his shoulder in a friendly way.

Liam remained silent, as I removed my hand from his shoulder. He gave a nervous nod and mumbled “T-t-thank… Thank you, sir” Poor guy, he was probably too afraid of me to think it was a real apology.

But, I did as I was told, and that felt amazing. I couldn’t help but smile as I walked away and resumed my way towards my locker. I don’t know what I’m going to do there, since my teammates wouldn’t arrive until a few minutes later.

I reached my locker and just… laid there, thinking about what just happened. ‘I’m really an asshole’ I thought. I’ve never been able to see it, until I noticed my soulmate was afraid of me.

I thought I was fine, acting like I own the place. Not because of my werewolf powers, that’s just a plus of the job. My pops always wanted me to be respected, and to make me stand up for myself. I guess I did that… way too well.

I rubbed my face, as I noticed my teammates coming from the other half of the corridor. We slapped hands, as they noticed I arrived earlier than usually. We liked to arrive at the same time, to seem stronger as we passed by.

I greeted my teammates one by one as we slapped hands.

“Bro, why so early?” Asked one.

I shrugged, as I leaned back on the locker “No reason, just… couldn’t sleep last night, and didn’t find anything better to do. Catch my drift, bro?” I faked a yawn after that. I looked over at the other half of the corridor, noticing Nate greeting his friends.

“Hell yeah, bro. It sucks when it happens-” I stopped paying attention. Leslie entered the school.

Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck, what am I going to do? Was I going to just… break up with her?

“Hey Dave!” She said, as she noticed me. I would usually pull her in for a kiss, to show off my hot girlfriend to the rest of my teammates, but today… that urge was gone. If it were Nate, I would do it, but I saw Leslie as my friend now, not my girlfriend anymore.

“Hey Lee… How’s it going?” I answered. She smiled, like she always does. She’d always been a cheerful girl, happy all the time and trying to make everyone feel better. It hurt me a bit what I was about to do. Before she could answer, I asked “Can we have a chat? In private?”

She seemed confused, but nodded “Sure? Is everything alright, Davey?” She placed a hand on my cheek. The vultures that I call teammates seemed interested in our conversation, but tried to pass it off making fake chat about football.

That’s why I wanted to talk in private. I pointed to a nearby door, and she nodded in agreement “Right, let’s go” she mumbled, grabbing my hand as we walked together.

I entered the janitor’s closet with Leslie. Just like we liked to do when I wanted to make out with her at school.

Brown hair, with a few pinks streaks here and there that fitted nicely in the ponytail she liked to have. She wore her reading glasses and a turtleneck sweater, with black leggings.

You could think that she’s a nerdy girl, but she’s actually one of the hottest cheerleaders in school. It was kind of natural for us to be together.

I felt bad about this, she didn’t deserve it at all. But thinking about my real soulmate… it kinda fogged my mind for a second, as I imagined me and Nate together.

I shook my head, and noticed she was talking to me. “Dave, what do you want to talk about? We have to enter class in a few minutes and-“

“I want to break up with you” I interrupted her, after gathering the nerve to actually say it. I felt awful, and I could she didn’t expect it. It was like I just dumped a bucket of cold water on her.

Her face showed some disgust, “Yeah, well I don’t have the time for this” But, before she could run away crying or something like that, I used my secret move. I thought about this during the whole day, and I wasn’t sure if it would work, but here I go.

“Wait… I’m gay” It kinda wasn’t true, I’m not gay. I’m just in love with Nate, I don’t like dudes. I love Nate, does that mean I’m Natesexual?

Her expression of confusion and anger vanished as a little smile appeared. She’s one of those persons who fight for LGBT rights and etc., so I really hoped she would not feel bad.

“…Really?” She asked, and I gave her a nod. She came forward and gave me a hug. “Alright, I can’t get in the way of love, I guess… I feel bad, but I’m still happy you decided to explore your sexuality. It would have been nice if you told me before about it, it could have lightened the blow…”

“I-I know, Lee. But you know me, I didn’t know what my mates would say about it if they found out”

She nodded, apparently understanding everything. “So… the rumors are true? You and that guy… Nate? I’ve been trying to ignore them all week. Telling myself that ‘Dave can’t be gay, he hunts gay guys down at the corridors!’ –Not saying I approve that but it’s impossible to make you change your mind-”

Huh, fucking high school. Rumors fly around here like crazy, you can’t get your guard down for a second that people start talking about ya.

I nodded, it was pointless to hide it for long. I wanted to date Nate, anyway, she would find out sooner or later.

She always tried to stop me from bullying nerds around, trying to appeal to my soft side. She managed to, a few times. But I’m not some pussy, I get my own shit together and do stuff on my own.

I looked down at my feet, like some child who misbehaved. It wasn’t her fault at all, the soulmate bond is part of my nature, and there’s nothing I could do (or would do) about it. I just love Nate now, simple as that.

“Can we still be friends?” I asked her. Not loving her in a romantic way doesn’t mean that she’s not a great person I’d like to have around.

“Hey, don’t feel bad. I totally get it, and I’d be happy to still be your friend, Davey” She kissed my cheek, in a friendly way, and hugged me again. “I won’t say anything until you’re ready to do it yourself, you can trust me. As for the breakup… I’ll make something up, alpha guy” She finished with a wink, before heading outside.

I’ve always thought about telling her about the werewolf thing, but decided it would only cause trouble. I’ve only told Nate because he told me to spill the beans about what happened, otherwise he wouldn’t have found out either.

I stood there a few minutes, smiling to myself. She really was amazing, although that didn’t stop me from feeling bad for having to breakup with my girlfriend, but I wasn’t going to cry over it.

Crying’s for pussies.

I went out of the janitor’s closet and looked around. Everyone was already heading in for class, so I just went to my class and hoped my teammates weren’t going to start asking shit. Maybe I should sit with Nate again today?

----

Sadly, I didn’t manage to sit with Nate. I was tempted to make his partner leave his side so I could sit, but I was trying to make Nate feel alright around me, so that was out of the question.

After science class, we had PE class together today. Needless to say, my favorite class.

I remained around my fellow teammates. As I mentioned before, I was the alpha of my team. The leader, you could say. I still remember quite vividly when I walked in the locker room after football practice and ordered Butch to never mess around with Nate again.

He laughed at my face, and that was one of the worst mistakes he could have made in his life. A well thrown punch at the belly would have sent the message correctly, but he knew what was coming. Another threat with me raising my fist was enough for him to beg for mercy.

Never mess around with the alpha wolf in campus.

We were still good, we’re bros after all. I made a request, and he tried to mock me about it, but we had to keep ourselves cool. We had an image to maintain, although I kinda forgot about that when I grabbed Lucas’ hair and pushed him against a locker in the middle of a crowded corridor.

Nobody mocks my love. Nobody.

Speaking of which, he was at the other half of the gym.

A big, roofed place with some bleachers at the sides. This is where the basketball games are held, but honestly, I preferred the football field.

But the coach wanted us to do some sets of exercises. Nothing I couldn’t handle.

Before we actually started, I noticed Nate and his friends were looking at my direction, so I decided to play dumb and try to eavesdrop.

I grabbed the mat beneath me, positioned in a better way so my ear would point to Nate and his friends, then focused on them as I started with the sets of crunches the coach told me and a few classmates to do. It was a rotational circuit, I loved these.

“-whole school has been talking about Dave apparently hanging out with you at breaks. What’s up with that, dude?” Asked Sammy, the guy I mentioned before. Sammy… he’s alright, I guess. He’s not a nerd, nor a fag. We like to mock him by calling him Sammy, just because he doesn’t like it.

He’s one of those guys who want to get a perfect life, perfect grades, the perfect chick, etc. A golden boy, but he doesn’t play sports, he just acknowledges our superiority and tries to not piss us off, in exchange for our support on his campaign as student council’s president.

We had a kinda deal with him for that, ‘Our votes for his campaign in exchange of more funds for the extracurricular activities, but with a big focus on football and cheerleading’. Hell yeah, we accepted.

The third wheel of the group was Dick, Sammy’s best friend. Dick is cool, he was going to join the team but got turned off by our masculinity. Whatever, if he can’t handle us, it’s his problem.

He ended up joining the baseball team, but barely hangs out with his teammates. He prefers his lil’ group of friends. Not my problem if he wants to be a weirdo, though.

“Uh… Dave’s just… I don’t know what you want me to tell you, maybe he decided to change for the better? You could ask him if you want to know” My bro tried to be dismissive of the conversation, like not wanting to push the subject forward.

“I know, Nate. But defending you against Butch and Lucas at the bathroom? And a few days afterwards he tries to apologize to Liam? People speaks, man-“

“I think you’re just worried that lil’ Nate here might have something going on with the big bully Dave, bro. Leave the guy be, he’s not gettin’ hurt or anything” Huh, thanks Dick. You would make a good teammate, now that I think of it. “But, if he tries to hurt you, I don’t care if he’s bigger or stronger than me. I can grab a baseball bat and leave him without children, a’ight?”

Nate shivered at the thought, and I frowned. Who does this moron think he is to speak about me like that?

“If you get caught by violence and fighting one of the principal’s favorite jocks, you’ll most likely get expelled. I would be careful if I were you, man” Sammy told him, saying the absolute truth.

“Guys” Nate finally spoke up. “I’m alright. He hasn’t tried to hurt or threaten me, he just acted friendly with me and I really appreciate that for once” My love explained, I gave a soft sigh of relief as I heard him talk. “And now, we have to climb this damn rope. Who made up these awful exercises? Satan?”

I chuckled, and Butch noticed me as we continued with our crunches “Bro, what are you laughing at?”

I shook my head “Nothin’, just a meme I thought about” I looked across the gym and noticed Nate started climbing up the rope. I always liked that exercise, it was pretty easy. But I could see why he didn’t like it.

He struggled A LOT to hold on to the rope and not fall down. He wasn’t the most athletic guy, and I wondered how he managed to remain so skinny. A worried look crossed my face as he seemed about to fall down a few times, but I tried to reassure myself that his friends at the floor would catch him if anything happened.

After a bit, a few of the guys around me started looking at him and mumbling something, as they took a break from their sets of crunches. And as soon as I noticed it, Nate seemed to noticed it too.

He looked at my direction, then at the guys lying beside me as they looked back at him and chuckled. His face did a 180° from focused on climbing to completely terrified. My friends weren’t saying anything hurtful, though. They were just staring, but Nate didn’t know that. He probably thought they were mocking him.

But instead of falling down, he just stopped hanging as tightly and slid down the rope. That probably hurt, but he seemed alright. Dick started climbing the rope after him as my soulmate just took a break at the bleachers and drank some water.

I was tempted to go near him, and I did. I got up from my mat and just jogged over to his side, sitting beside him on the bleachers.

He had a surprised look, seeing me near him during class. “Hey?” He asked, as he looked for his bottle of water in his bag.

“Hey, how’s it hanging?” Oh fuck, I shouldn’t have said that after he almost fell from the rope.

“Uh… sort of good, I guess. What brings you to my lair?” He said, rising his hands like some kind of overlord showing off his base. I rolled my eyes, such a nerd.

And I loved him so much.

“Just wanted to spend some time with my bro” I said, patting his back softly to avoid hurting him. I’ve been thinking about controlling my strength around him, since I could easily hurt him if I wasn’t careful enough. And hurting my soulmate was the last thing I could ever want.

Nate remained silent, just looking over at the other guys as he drank his water.

“What happened over there? Got nervous, bro?” I asked,

“Yep, I can’t handle people watching me. Guess that’s why I never entered drama club” He replied, as he got up. “But it’s alright, we’re about to move on to the next exercise anyway” He smiled at me before getting up.

He looked cute when he was nervous, but seeing him happy around me was even better. It made me feel like a good soulmate, like I’m doing my job and making him feel loved and happy.

But before he returned to the group, I grabbed his hand and he turned to me. “Bro… wanna hang out after school? I have a place I’d like to show you” I said quietly, so Nate’s friends wouldn’t hear what we were talking about.

He seemed to think about it, before saying a “Uh… Okay, now I’m curious about it, but I can wait”

I smiled at him, and felt an urge to kiss him, but quickly reminded myself of where we were. “Yeah, can’t wait to show it to you, bro” I answered, and with that he resumed his walk towards his friends as they moved to a different spot for their next exercise.

Trying to concentrate amongst all the chatter in the court, I could easily eavesdrop again on what Dick and Sammy were saying as soon as Nate rejoined them. “What was that? Anything important?” One of them asked.

I noticed Nate was flustered and smiled. “I’ll… I’ll tell you later, c’mon we gotta do some push-ups”

I kept walking towards my group again, and prepared to climb the rope.

----

Classes were over for the day, and I waited for Nate at the parking lot. I sent him a message to come with me as soon as he finished with his things.

I saw Nate coming from the parking entrance, so I grabbed my keys from my pocket and unlocked the car.

“Ready to go?” I asked him as he came close enough.

He gave me a nod, with a nervous smile. “Should I ask where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise, bro. I’ll tell you if you want to know, but I’ll show ya one of my favorite places in the world”

I opened the door for him as he spoke “I think I’ll just wait and see… I don’t want to ruin the surprise” He sat on the car and closed the door, and I walked to the driver’s side and entered the car myself.

We threw our bags to the back seats and drove off, away from the school and the always-watching dumbasses.

It wasn’t a long way. The forest was quite nearby, and it had a nice –Although small- road for the cars, for those who wanted to spend an evening at the forest camping or going for a swim at the nearby lake. That was our objective.

We arrived and grabbed our bags, before getting out of the car. I locked it again, and then looked around.

The green scenery was really awesome. I could feel myself in my element already, so I tried to recognize the surroundings. A few minutes later, I noticed a few signs left by the local forest rangers to help out the visitors. From that point, the lake was easy to find.

I still felt uneasy after everything that happened today. The apologizing to the nerd stuff was alright, I was happy to do anything that Nate wanted me to do. But… breaking up with my girlfriend –even if I wasn’t in love with her anymore- was still a rough moment, and Nate never told me to do that, so I wasn’t feeling especially happy.

Being with my soulmate helped a lot, though. That blissful feeling and warmness in my chest, the light fog in my mind as I could only think of keeping him happy and safe, and listen carefully just in case he asked me to do something for him, so I could obey as soon as possible.

We walked through the forest, holding hands like a pair of normal lovers. I looked at him, as he explored everything with his gaze. He looked nervous, as always, but also kinda excited.

He noticed me staring and blushed a bit. I smiled, brought his hand to my face and gave it a gentle kiss.

“Where are we going?” He asked, as we kept walking forward, seemingly without an objective in sight.

“The forest is one of my favorite places, used to come a lot with my pops during full moons, or with my teammates after a good bro night” I explained “I know a few nice spots to spend some time together, bro”

He nodded, and remained silent as we kept going. I had an idea.

“Wait,” I said, making him stop and look at me, a bit puzzled. “Jump on my back”

“Wait, what? Are we going full-on Twilight now?” He answered, probably thinking I’m joking.

“Nah, bro. But I thought I could carry you- Never mind, it was a dumb idea” Damn it, David. Now he’ll think that you’re weird.

But, he seemed to like the idea. Nate jumped on my back and wrapped his arms around my neck, not too roughly to avoid choking me. It felt amazing, being in close contact to him. I felt useful for him.

Being with Nate was like a spiral of positive emotions, unless I did something to upset him or hurt him in any way. And because I didn’t want to hurt him, I just jogged like a regular human would do, to avoid hitting him with tree branches or stuff like that.

“Enjoying the view?” I asked him, after the first minutes jogging. I wasn’t tired, and he wasn’t heavy at all (Even when we both had our school bags on). Perks of being really strong!

“Sort of, yeah” And I was glad to hear that. I had an idea about where to go, there was this lake me and my teammates liked to go and swim. I think it would make a really romantic spot, just the two of us!

I can feel his heart beating on my back. It felt so warm. The heartbeat of my most beloved person in the whole world. It felt so special and it made me so happy as I kept on jogging. I swear I'm lifting the whole world with my back and it's the best feeling ever.

I kept going for a good while, until we reached the lake. It was more like a pound, of sorts. A little cliff could be seen at the other side of it, perfect for cannon balls or backflips!

Nate got off my back and gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for the ride” He said, still a bit nervous, but definitely more at ease about this whole date plan.

“Anytime, bro. If you ever need a soulmate to carry you, I would carry you to the ends of the earth” I said, taking a few steps closer to him and leaning in to make out. I would normally NOT say something so cheesy, but my babe deserved that and more.

His kisses were… amazing… I couldn’t get enough of him. I pulled him closer, so our bodies would be one against the other.

But, I had a better idea after a few minutes, and as much as it hurt me to do that, I had to break the kiss.

“Would you like to go and swim, bro?” I said, taking off my varsity jacket and putting it in my bag. He seemed to analyze the proposal, like he was conflicted whether on do that or not. It was the middle of the fall, but it wasn’t THAT cold yet.

“Uh… sure?” He said, a bit insecure, but giving me a nice smile. I proceeded to take off my clothes, and when he understood what was going on he did the same thing.

“We didn’t bring swimming trunks, so wanna skinny dip?” It was a kind of idea I had on the back of my mind during this whole thing. I thought about asking him to go to his house and get a swimming trunk, since I’m okay with skinny dipping and he obvious used smaller trunk sizes.

“I think… I prefer to stay in my underwear, sorry” He said, blushing. Nervous Nate… so cute and handsome. I couldn’t get hold of myself and gave him a cute smooch on the lips.

“It’s okay babe, as long as you’re comfortable it’s fine…” I did prefer to skinny dip, though. So after that, I took off my underwear and stood in front of him in all my naked glory. Even soft, my cock was a pretty good size, so I was really comfortable. “Check this out, bro”

I walked away from him, following the border of the lake as I climbed to the highest spot of the rock wall. I could see Nate still at the border, as he observed me with a worried look on his face. Aww, my love was worried about me!

As I reached my objective, I stroke a few poses for him, flexing my arms and tensing my torso for him to admire. I could feel my cock hardening a bit, thinking about Nate being proud of me as the good puppy boy I am.

That gave me an idea, I looked up at the sky and let out a loud “ARH-WOOOOOOOOOO”.

Nate clapped in awe, as he nervously looked around, but I knew there was nothing to worry about. No one would hear us in here, unless they were close. And by the looks of it, just me and Nate were around for the day.

After that, I turned around and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and jumped back, attempting to do a backflip as I fell down into the water. It was cold, but nothing I couldn’t handle, I loved swimming here with my bros.

I swam back up to the surface, and looked to Nate, still on the edge of the lake. “C’mon bro! The water is sooo good!” I told him. He gave me a nod and slowly went in. I swam to his side and before he could notice, pulled him in for another kiss.

I was tempted to try and take off his underwear, but I didn’t want to make him mad. I had to respect my love’s decision and just enjoy our time together as much as I could.

He kissed me back, as I grabbed him and he crossed his legs around me. It was something pretty comfortable, and we were still on a pretty shallow spot to make sure we could do this without sinking down.

By this point, my cock was hard and leaking. I wanted Nate to order me around so badly, but that would have to wait. This moment was pretty amazing too. Just me and the love of my life.

“…Enjoying this, bro?” I asked him. “Just the two of us?”

“I-It’s… pretty cool, yeah” He mumbled. He looked around for a bit, before getting off me, then splashed some water at me playfully.

“Oh no, you just started a water war you won’t be able to win!” I said, returning the splash at him. He went underwater to avoid me, and I tried to look out for him, having my hands ready to splash his cute face.

I heard him returning to the surface and turned around quickly, throwing a big splash at him. He laughed, and it made me happy. I was happy to see Nate wasn’t scared of me like he was at the first day. I loved him so much.

He jumped on my back again, but I could totally carry him, even when I couldn’t feel my feet touching the ground anymore. “Oh yeah?” I said, before going underwater with him on my back. I was careful enough to avoid making him swallow the water, but still rough enough to make him hold tight from my neck.

I swam a bit deeper, noticing that he wrapped his legs around me again, probably for safety. I went back to the surface and we both took a big, deep breath. Just in case, I didn’t want my babe to drown or feel fear.

“That… That was… That was really fun” He managed to say, as he recovered his breath. It was getting late, and Nate felt really cold, so I decided to swim back to the border and get out of the lake.

“You’re freezin’ bro, let’s go back home before you get sick” I told him. He took off his underwear because it was wet, and tried to squeeze the water out of it. I grabbed my gym towel from my bag and passed it to him. As he soaked himself with the towel, I took a few steps away and started to shake my body to soak.

I heard Nate chuckle, so I kept going for a bit more. After that, we’ve both got dressed again (Although my bro was going commando now, due to his wet underwear). I grabbed my varsity jacket from my bag and placed it around him. “That’ll keep ya warm, love”

I noticed him blushing, “Thanks, but I’d like you to be warm too-” He started, before I interrupted him with a kiss.

“Being with you makes me warm and happy, bro. I love you” I said, after breaking the kiss.

He blushed more before trying to look away. I was used to him not answering my “I love you”’s, and it didn’t bother me at all. Spending time with my soulmate was proof enough that he also enjoyed my company.

We finished dressing up and walked back to the car. I wrapped my arm around him, as usual. My varsity jacket looked good on him, but it was a few sizes bigger. He looked cute though, small as he was.

“My house or your house?” I asked him, as I saw my car on the distance. We didn’t talk much on the way back to the car, but he was shivering. I had to warm my love ASAP.

“M-Mom would get worried if I-I spend t-two nights away f-from home” He said, trembling from head to feet. Fuck, bad idea going for a swim on the middle of fall. “But s-she has night shift t-tonight, my house w-would be empty” He finished.

“Fuck yeah, bro. Just me and you, cuddling on your small bed?”

He gave me a little punch in the guts. It didn’t hurt, it was more playful than mean. I pulled him closer after that as we arrived at the car.

---

Nate’s POV

Dave grabbed the mug of tea and walked towards the sofa, as I kept changing the TV channels, looking for something interesting to see.

The big jock left the mug on the coffee table and sat manspreading beside me, wrapping my shoulder with his arm as I relaxed on the sofa.

Suddenly, the TV went black as a message appeared. “We interrupt the regularly scheduled program to bring you this important message” Oh, what now?

“A group of dangerous individuals, known as the Greenwood’s Runaways have been spotted on their way to Blue Liberty town. If you recognize or have interacted with any of the following suspects, don’t hesitate to call the local police department. They have been confirmed to be highly dangerous.” A few images appeared on screen, showing the faces of what seemed to be high school students from varying ages. They didn’t seem dangerous, but… off. Like they were scared.

“Hmm” I mumbled as I changed the channel. I wonder if they had something to do with supernatural stuff too. As I said, the world gives a big shift after you learn this kind of stuff exists.

“Don’t worry bro, they wouldn’t stand a chance against me. I’ll protect you if anything happens, alright?”

I remained silent though. Today has been amazing, and Dave has been really sweet with me. I could have never imagined a guy like him inviting me to a date, and I really enjoyed it, despite my nervousness.

And I think… I got to trust him a lot more than I usually would. I loved being on his back and just… holding tight as he swam deeper into the lake, then went back up at the perfect moment because I was getting breathless.

I grabbed the tea, took a big sip of it and left it back on the coffee table, before laying my head on Dave’s lap. The big werewolf started doing the same ‘purr’ he does when I scratch his ear, but I wasn’t doing anything this time. Maybe he just enjoyed being near me? It was pretty relaxing, though.

“Nate?” He asked, looking down at me.

“Hmm?”

“I broke up with Leslie today”

I looked at him, mouth opened but words weren’t able to come out. I honestly didn’t know what to say, I never wanted him to break up with his girlfriend.

I’ve actually tried to be really careful with my words, so he wouldn’t do it just because I told him to. “And… How did that go?” I was curious nonetheless.

He moved his head a bit, like trying to seem jovial. “Pretty good, I guess. I told her I’m in love with another guy, and I knew she would take it well. We decided to remain as friends, so I guess everythin’ turned out alright! Oh, and I also apologized to Liam like you asked me to!”

He seemed happy to tell me this, but I couldn’t help and feel bad for that. “I-I… I’m sorry, I’ve never wanted to make you break up with her…” But he silenced me.

“It’s not your fault, you’ve never really asked me to do so, so it was on my own free will, bro. Don’t feel bad, I wanted it. I wanted this” Dave said, looking down at me with love in his eyes. “By the way, feeling warmer yet, or should I hug you to warm you more?”

I sat up again, as Dave took the chance to put his arm around me and pull me closer. “Hey…” He mumbled, before giving me a kiss. I kissed him back, starting a very nice make out session.

I’ve got used to this. Kind of. I tried to, at least.

I definitely never expected a werewolf to fall in love with me, let alone be my soulmate. But, I’m not going to complain anymore. I’m gonna try to relax, and enjoy having a wholesome jock as my soulmate.

Dave pushed me to lay down on the couch, before getting on top of me and resuming the kissing session.

I was still covered by a sheet, but that wasn’t going to stop Dave. He sat a few seconds to take off his tee, before grabbing the sheet and throwing it to the floor.

I saw the chance, and took off my shirt too, but I felt kind of weird. Dave had an amazing body, but I’m… not as athletic as him, huh. Not a surprise, honestly.

Dave got on top of me again and started to kiss my neck, it felt really nice. Then, he started moving down, kissing my torso, one of my nips, and kept going until he reached the start of my pants.

He looked up at me, with puppy pleading eyes. “Babe… Would you like me to continue? understand if you want to wait more…” I just stared at him, not knowing what to do or say. “But I assure you, bro... I’m gonna do my best to make ya feel good” He finished the statement with a wink.

Okay, he won me with that. I tried to get the words off my chest, but couldn’t. Finally, I mumbled a really nervous. “G-Go ahead”, with a nod.

It was all he needed.

The jock sat again and pulled off my pants, revealing my underwear with my already hard cock. Kisses get me pretty hard already. I’m not really a sex expert, but foreplay is for now my favorite part with the caresses and kisses.

My cock was average, not too long but not too short either. I don’t really know what the average length is… maybe 5 inches?

Dave looked up at me again, as he pulled off my underwear slowly, my cock starting to be visible now. He took it off me and throw it to the floor too. Now I was wishing for my mom to not appear at random saying that she forgot her jacket or something like that.

I noticed the werewolf hesitantly looking at my cock. “I-It’s okay… if you don’t want to, we can get back to kissing-“

“No,” He cut me off, looking straight into my eyes with his sharp blue eyes. He gave me a smile and looked back at my cock “I do want this, just… give me a minute, alright? It’s new territory for me”

I gave him a nod, and just waited. Dave took a deep breath, and I could hear him mumbling stuff like ‘You can do it, Dave. For him, for Nate’.

Dave went closer my cock and gave it a few kisses. It felt hot and I heard myself moaning from it. I covered my face with my arms and squirmed from how good it felt.

"K-keep going", I managed to tell him and felt him shiver from my order. I heard him moan a soft reply as he continued. My breath was hot, his mouth and tongue were hot, everything felt hot in that instant.

Until… I felt an urge.

It felt right to just order him around all of a sudden. My mouth threw the first thing that came to mind.

"C-Could you… Could you t-turn into a werewolf and blow me a-already, Dave?" I said, in a dominant way I’ve never spoken to anyone before. It was a weird command, but Dave sat back as his transformation started. I wanted to try this out, how many guys can say they got their first blowjob from a werewolf?

His transformation was almost instant this time, taking only like 10 seconds rather than a few minutes.

Maybe because I ordered him to? It didn't matter, he started to blow me with more energy and it was the best feeling I've ever had before. Did blowjobs really feel this good? What have I been missing during my whole life?!

I noticed his eyes were unfocused now. I assumed they’d get like that every time I ordered something to him, since it happened a few times already.

Surprisingly enough, he didn’t touch my cock with his teeth, not even once. In fact, it felt even more amazing, like his tongue was already prepared for this.

I left him do his job without ordering anything else, because it felt amazing. I loved every second of it, and I felt pissed when I could notice myself about to cum.

Maybe he knew a few tricks already? His girlfriend could have given him blowjobs before, so that’s probably where he learned it.

Before I could warn him about it, I came in his mouth, and he happily swallowed everything even when I didn’t tell him to do so. He licked like a good puppy boy, happy to clean it all. It still felt good, just not as amazing as when I was hard, but I was sure he could get me hard again in no time.

…Wait. Better not get carried away, it was just a blowjob. Maybe I could leave the rest for another day? It was an amazing day so far, after all.

After werewolf Dave finished cleaning my cock up, I noticed he didn’t regain his consciousness just yet. He just kept facing me, eyes still unfocused and his tongue lolling out like when I scratched his hair.

Like a good puppy boy.

“Uhm…” The dominance I displayed before was kind of gone, but I liked seeing him this way. I moved and grabbed our things from the floor, then looked at him “Could you carry me to my room?”

The zoned out werewolf didn’t waste a second, and lifted me like some kind of baby, his arm carrying my back and the other arm carrying my legs. Our clothes and stuff remained on my arms, so it was alright. No clues that a blowjob ever happened here.

Dave went up the stairs, staring straight ahead with his tongue out, then entered my room. He closed the door with a swift kick, before leaving me near my bed.

Safe place now, I threw the clothes to my desk chair and locked the door. “Lay down in bed, Dave” I told him, and walked with him towards my bed. I waited until he finished laying to lay down next to him. I noticed his cock was hard, hah.

My handsome werewolf jock.

He seemed still zoned out, but his tongue was now back in his mouth. He seemed relaxed, and stoic. No expression on his face at all, just staring at the ceiling. I felt up his torso with my hand, scratching his belly. That seemed to make him purr.

“Let’s cuddle, alright?” I should wake him up, but… later. I wanted to enjoy this, I liked having him around, even if I haven’t told him that.

Dave did as I said, looking at me, then pulling me closer for a hug in bed. He was warm, and his fur was really comfortable to lay into. I loved this. I hugged him back, feeling amazing.

I… I…

“I like you” I mumbled to him, after gathering the nerve. But I assumed he couldn’t hear me in this zoned out state of his. Fuck my life, I should have woken up him before doing that.

I noticed his mouth twisting into a smile, and I smiled back at him. Handsome puppy boy…

He seemed able to hear me, after all. I was happy to see that. “Thanks Dave, for today. It was amazing”

“Uh… You’re welcome… bro…” He seemed to whisper, still sounding really blank, but that was enough.

I closed my eyes as I felt the warm of his body take over and drive me into a really nice sleep.

----

Chapter 6 is already available in my Patreon! And by pledging you also get access to other stories before they go public!

#nate and dave #mind control #straight to gay #gay hypnosis #hypnotized #brainwashing #brainwashed

29 notes · View notes

xoxo-jb-brainrot · 27 days

Text

Pran and Everett pre-Last Summer™

#xoxo droplets #pran taylor #nates mandatory mention #everett gray #xod pran #xod everett

24 notes · View notes

thistleandthorn-events · 1 year

Text

Get your bags packed and get ready for an amazing summer getaway! Stonewall Prep will be presenting a summer vacation in ICELAND July 10th-17th. The trip is mandatory for students, staff, and other chaperones. Slaves may come along if a Dominant is willing to take full and complete responsibility for them at all times.

Accommodations:

We will be staying at The Blue Lagoon Retreat Hotel in the Lagoon suites. Each two-bedroom suite has a small, private Lagoon, kitchenette, living area with a pull out couch and a King Sized bed in each bedroom. Additional amenities on site: lagoons, pools, spa, yoga, workout areas, restaurants, bar, tours (bike and helicopter), and more!

(under the cut is still IC info unless otherwise mentioned)

Room Assignments:

Suite 1: -Hiram Lodge -FP Jones

Suite 2: -Sam Evans -Danny Andrews -Noah Andrews -Owen Evans -Kurt Hummel -Buck Wilde

Suite 3: -Madeline Beiste -Nate Mantle -Oliver Smythe -Dexter Wells-Beiste -Teddy Cohen-Chang -Ryan Rhodes

Suite 4: -Gunner Rose -Maverick Vander -Javier Fogarty -Beau Rose -Alejandro Rose -Joseph Berry

Suite 5: -Oz Chang -Sebastian Smythe -Michael Chang -Matt Fabray -Ross Berry -Sky Evans

Suite 6: -Kat Sullivan -JB Jones -Hunter Clarington -Daisy Blossom -Delilah Pierce

Suite 7: -Logan Lodge -Annabeth Blossom -Archer Clarington -Kyla Clarington -Austin Fabray Suite 8: -Ivan Carvahlo -Barbie Blossom -Betty Cooper -Veronica Lodge -Charlie Fabray Itinerary: Other than when mentioned, everyone will be at the resort. July 9th: leave for airport at night, over night flight to Iceland. July 10th: Resort Day. July 11th: Volcano tours in the morning. Northern Lights tour in the evening. July 12th: Waterfall tour in the morning. July 13th: Resort Day. July 14th: Shopping day in town, night life at night (bars, clubs, etc). July 15th: Snorkeling in the afternoon. July 16th: Resort Day. July 17th: Return to Ohio

Rules:

No one is allowed to go off resort unless on an excursion

Everyone must be in their assigned rooms between the hours of 10pm - 6am.

While on excursions, everyone much be in a pair (at minimum. more per group is fine).

Points:

Points can be earned on this trip! While you're experiencing everything - take notes and pictures and develop a mood board or a collage (at least 6 pictures must be included) along with a description of each experience. Up to 100 points available, shorter (like one line) descriptions will earn less points.

OOC:

Same as always, if there are ANY plots which deviate from this itinerary, involve a lot of people, or are trigger warnings, you MUST run it by admins first. Please understand room pairings are for drama and fun, but also to try to mix people up so we're not so bubbly. TW things that need to be trigger warned, check our TW page if you're not sure. Any questions, let us know!

#tntevents #event #summer trip #summer trip 2023

1 note · View note

jay-wells-writes · 5 years

Text

In the Club (Mick Rory x Reader) (Revised)

"Well luv, as you can tell by now there is no list. See, the team and I decided that the two of you needed a bit of a push. So what better than a sex club."

Yep this request sends Reader and Mick to a sex club😏 so, that being said, there isnt alot of TWs but there is talk of exhibitionist but really thats it. Hope you all enjoy

"Please luv I am begging you. I just need you to do this for me, just this once."

Turning from the stove to look at John you could feel your heart pounding at what he asked.

"I can't believe you are asking me to go to a sex club on, couples night, with Mick, to talk to James about an up coming ritural. Why can't you do it?"

You were never one to shy away from much, but the thought of going to this club with Mick, who you were crushing on like a love sick teen, was not something you could do. Because you knew after that night Mick would know you had feelings for him. Hearing John's voice you looked up at him as he rested his arms on the counter.

"I may have been banned from the club…. But that's not important. What is important is that there has been some crazy fool meddling in the dark arts. So far they have released two demons, caused a storm, and a black out. I can't be 100 percent sure, but it has come to my attention that this person has been asking around for some items that could cause some serious damage. And although James may not know who the person is, he has a list of everything they wanted and names of others who may know. This person also has a lot of money and power so James is afraid to meet anywhere other than this club. You are the only one that knows James and he knows you, so getting the list will not be an issue."

"But there is an issue. Clubs like these are reclusive and private. They are not going to just let anyone into them."

"Oh but they will when I call and tell them to add you two to my list."

"But I thought you were banned?"

"I may be banned luv, but they will never turn away my invites. Long story and not enough time to tell it. So will you do me this, please?"

Rubbing your head you knew that this was going to come back and bite you in the ass, but knowing that others could be in danger, out weighed Mick finding out about the crush you had.

"Fine, but what about Nate or Ray, why Mick?"

"Because they will let you in, if they believe you are a couple. If one of the other two were to join you, the cover would be blown. Mick is the only one that would go in there and not be fazed by what he sees. Besides, he mentioned something about ideas for his new book."

Standing straighter you held your hand up.

"Wait. You already asked Mick about this? What would have happened if I said no?"

"But you didn't, that's all that matters. So, will you do this one thing luv?”

Knowing that you couldn’t say no to John you nod your head and say yes. Regardless of how you felt about going with Mick, seeing the smile on John’s face felt good. After giving you the details on the date and time you were meeting James, John left you to finish your dinner.

A couple nights later you were standing outside the waverider when Mick walked out. Instead of his usual outfit he was wearing a black, long sleeve button down with a pair of faded jeans. Even though he had been wearing his ever present gloves his shirt had been unbutton more than it normal and was showing a good chunk of his chest. You could feel your face turning red when you watched Mick eye you up and down and licking his lips as he walked towards you.

“Nice outfit.”

Looking down at your outfit you felt a bit out of your comfort zone, but 30 minutes before you were scheduled to leave John had pushed his way into your room, outfit in hand, and told you to put it on. That this was a high end club and even though it was not mandatory, they expected their patrons look a certain way.

“Thanks, I feel a little weird wearing this, but John recommended it.”

“Who knew London had good taste.”

Instead of saying anything more Mick placed his hand on your lower back and led you away from the Waverider.

Arriving at the club you had given your names like John had told you both, but instead of leading you into the actual club the hostess lead you both upstairs and into a restaurant style area. Looking around you saw many couples talking and sharing a light meal with one another. Each lost in the other and not paying attention to those around them. After being seated at a table, you could tell Mick was just as lost as you when you heard your name being called. Looking in that direction you saw James as he made his way towards the both of you. Pushing your chair back you were ready to stand when James waved you to stay seated. Walking up to the table he placed a quick kiss to your forehead and took the only other seat at the table.

“My y/n, you look amazing tonight.”

Looking down to your lap you smiled at the older man’s words, but feeling an arm on the back of the chair you noticed that Mick had moved himself closer to you without you knowing.

“Careful James, what would Christopher say if you heard you?”

“He would tell me that I made a good pick.” James wiggled his eyebrows, but instead of looking flirtatious looked more goofy. “But enough about our loss and this man’s gain. John explain things to you?”

“He said that you had a list for us, but didn’t want to meet anywhere but here.”

“Hmm, yes well here is his list. If you two plan on staying, the rules are simple. Once down at the main bar it runs like any other type of bar. Behind curtain number one is the next step up, you could say, the music is more sensual in nature and there is a lot more foreplay, but everything is done above clothes. The following curtain after that leads to your scenes, different scenes for different tastes, but because neither of you are actual members you will not be permitted to that part of the club.”

Getting a funny feeling in your stomach you gave James a funny look.

“Why do I feel like there is more to this then you are letting on?”

"Because the team played us."

Looking over to Mick you saw that he had open the package and was reading the note in it. Before you could ask Mick handed the letter to you just as James stood up. Placing another kiss on your forehead he gave you a small smile.

"He called in a favor."

Turning his back on you James made a quick retreat back the way he came. Looking down to the letter you saw John's handwriting.

Well luv, as you can tell by now there is no list. See, the team and I decided that the two of you needed a bit of a push. So what better than a sex club.

Reaching for your glass you wished it was something stronger than water as you took a large gulp. Looking at Mick you saw that he was more relaxed and was nibbling away at the snack tray on your table.

"So I guess we should go ahead and head back to the ship."

Pouring more water into his glass Mick looked at you.

"Why?"

"Because the team is ovisously thinking something is there when something isn't and-"

"Who said there isn't? Cause I can tell you I have lost count of how many times Sara has smacked the back of my head for undressing you with my eyes."

Unsure what to say to Mick's confession you sat there staring at him for what felt like forever. Shaking your head you opened your mouth to speak.

"You like me?" Shaking your head again you began to speak before he could. "What I mean is why?"

Afraid of saying something more embarrassing you reached for your water and took a long drink. While you finally saw Mick smile for the first time ever.

"What isn't to like? I can sit here and tell you all the reasons why, but you won't believe any of it. So I say why not enjoy the night? Go down to the bar have a few drinks and see what happens. That is unless you don't want to."

Shaking your head so fast you thought you would get whiplash you smiled at Mick and took a sip of your water.

After trying to order something more than the snack tray you learned that there wasn't anything other then what was brought out. The reason being, the owners learned that sometimes the hype for coming to a sex club got to people and they would forget the simple things like eating and drinking. So they offered snack trays and water for their patrons, before they went downstairs to the actual club, but nothing heavier because a large meal doesn't sit well with some scenes.

Leaving the snack lounge you and Mick made your ways downstairs and into the club. Walking down a flight of stairs you noticed that Mick kept his hand on your lower back and slightly guided you to the bar. After helping you onto the stool, Mick slipped in behind you; his front to your back. After ordering a couple of beers you both observed the crowd and noticed that it was just like any other bar, but off to the side you saw the curtains that went to the other parts. Hearing Micks voice in your ear had you turning slightly to look at him.

"Bunch of wild wolves."

"Who? All the women I see eyeing you?"

Standing a bit straighter Mick gave you a small smile before brushing his lips against your ear.

"No, all the men eyeing you."

Pulling back Mick took a swig of his beer as he watched goosebumps run down your arms. Pulling your eyes away from his you took a look around the bar once more and realized that just like high school everyone was staring at the new kids. Reaching for your drink you took a long drag from it before Mick was tapping the bottle down.

"Slow down some."

Instead of being upset by Mick's sutle demand you found yourself intrigued by how calm he was.

"Why do I have the feeling you have been to this type of club before?"

Shrugging his shoulders Mick looked around.

"Because I have. Not one like this mind you. It was held at a person's house and there weren't as many safety precautions. So I have a general idea of the workings, I have never actually been to well established business."

"John mentioned you wanted to come for ideas on your books, but I have a feeling that isn't the case."

"Nope. I "overheard" him talking to Sara about having you swing by here and meet with James. When she asked who was coming with he said that you wouldn't need anyone else. So I butted in and told them I would take you."

"Bastards."

Holding his drink up for you to tap Mick chuckled before taking a swig. Afterwards he took your drink from your hands and placed both back on the bar. Turning back towards you Mick turned your seat so that he could slip between your legs and rest his hands on your hips.

"Real question of the night though, how far is this going tonight? Now that I have your attention, I am not giving you up. So we have all the time in the world, that being said, are we taking this slow or are we going to check out what's behind curtain number one?"

Suddenly it dawned on you that the man you have been crushing on has also been crushing on you and just admitted to wanting something more than a one night stand. To top it off he was willing to go as slow as you wanted. Instead of answering you slipped from the chair, purposely brushing up against him. Running a finger over his exposed chest you couldn't help but smile at seeing the shiver that ran over his body.

"Let's check out curtain number 1."

Walking behind the curtain you learned that there was another set of doors. Walking through them you could definitely see what James had meant when he talked about a more sensual feel. The feel of this part reminded you of a smokey bar, with the lights dimmed and the music lower. Instead of the regular bar stools and chairs, there were lounges and couches. Walking through the crowd you could see couples grinding up against each other, while others watched and rubbed themselves over their clothes. Spotting an empty lounge chair nestled back in the corner Mick placed his hand back on your lower back and led you to it. After taking a seat and placing his legs on either side of it he held his hand out for you to take. Placing your back against his chest, you rested your head next to his shoulder. One of his hands resting on the arm of the lounger while his other one drew patterns against your hip. Unsure where to place yours you set one on his knee and brought the other one up to the back of his head and started to run your fingers up and down it.

Not long after taking a seat a waitress came up and took both of drink orders. Not wanting to get to drunk you both stuck to beer. After she had walked away you both turned to the small dance floor and watched as couples slowly grinded against one another to the beat of the music.

Unsure if it was the music, drinks, Mick himself or a combination of all three, it didn't take long for Mick's touches to become more sexual. Although he never actually touched you more intimate parts the hand on your hip moved over your thigh and down your underwear line and inner thigh. Almost instantly you began to roll your hips, chasing after his hand and grinding your ass against him. Getting lost in the music and the touches neither one of you heard the voice at first.

"Excuse me." Turning to the side you saw a woman standing there, although she tried to act shy and sweet you could tell she was playing a role. "Sorry to bother you both, but I was sitting with my husband across the way and we couldn't help but notice that we have never seen either of you here before-"

Before she could continue to say anything more Mick grunted out at her.

"Don't share. Tell you husband it is a hard pass."

You could see a bit of fear in the lady's eyes at Micks bluntness but she pushed through it and got a little feisty herself.

"Well that's good cause neither does he. Really all I was going to ask was if she wanted to dance?"

Just then Ramsey's "Love Surrounds You" came on and you started to slip from Mick's arms. Reaching for the woman's hand you gave Mick a wink before following her out onto the dance floor. Almost instantly your eyes closed as you and the woman danced flushed against each other, it was like the both of you had practice dancing with one another for years the way you both moved. Before the song had even ended the woman's husband had stood up and made his way to the both of you. Giving Mick a quick nod of his head he took his wife's hand and lead her through a small door and up what looked like stairs.

Turning to Mick you made your way towards him slowly. Crawling up the end of the lounger you placed your legs over Mick's lap. Instead of reaching for you Mick placed both his hands on the arms of the lounger. Placing a hand on where Mick's shirt was open you began to grind into Micks lap to the music. If it hadn't been for Mick's cock throbbing against your core you would have thought Mick wasn't interested with you grinding against his lap; the way he had been resting and drinking his beer.

Locking eyes with Mick you lost track of the rhythm and began to roll your hips faster. Still Mick didn't move, it wasn't until you were just about to cum and had dug your nails into his chest did Mick bring a hand up to your head and pull you into a searing kiss. Pulling from the kiss you rested your head forehead against his, closing your eyes you began to pant against his lips as you came closer to cumming. Bring a hand to your breast Mick twisted your nipple and you saw stars as he swallowed your shout.

By the time you had caught your breath Mick had been staring at you with a card between his finger tips.

"This was also in the package and it says room 314. So how about we check out this room?"

Nodding your head once Mick helped you to stand and then stood himself. While your legs still shook you held onto Micks hand as he led you to the door the couple had just walked through. Lucky for you there was only a couple steps before you stood on a landing waiting for an elevator.

Once in your room Mick wasted no time stripping out of his clothes and helping you with yours. Before you knew it Mick had your back pushed into the floor to ceiling window and his mouth on your neck. When your back hit the cold it brought you back to yourself some and you realized that anyone on the street could see your ass pressed into the window. Pushing on Mick you called his name till he finally looked up at you.

“Can we move this to the bed? Grinding against you in a group of people doing the same is different then actually having sex were everyone can see you.”

“It’s two way glass.”

“What?”

Pulling back Mick turned you so that you were pressed against him and looking out the window and into the city. Keeping one hand on your neck lightly while the other moved across your stomach and downward Mick began to speak in your ear.

“The window has a film over it that acts like a two way mirror. We can see out but people on the street can’t see in. If you still want to move to the bed I am more then willing to do that, but if you would like to see what it is like having sex pressed against a window, knowing that we can see them but they can’t see us. Well I am very ok with that also.”

When Mick hadn’t heard you complaining he slowly walked you up to the glass and pressed your body to it. The coldness of it causing you gasp. Bringing his hand between your legs Mick began to move his middle finger up and down your outer lips, while his other hand came up to your breast and began to twist and pull on your nipple. When you tried to rest your head back and close your eyes Mick bit your ear lightly.

“No, keep those eyes open. I want you to look down at all those people walking the streets. Some of them knowing what goes on in this building and some of them not. With the ones that do, what do you think they do? What about the ones that live across the street? Do you think they sit in the dark and wait for someone with a exhibitionist kink to turn on the lights so that they can get their rocks off all together.

Oh sweetheart you are so wet right now. You don’t like the fact of people actually watching you, but the thought of them knowing what you are doing but not being able to see it gets you dripping.”

Just as you were about to cum Mick pulled his hand away, causing you to hit your head on the window and cry out. Even though Mick was laughing at your displeasure you allowed him to move you the way he wanted. Pushing you into the glass once more Mick clasp your hand into his and raised it above your heads. Putting his arm under your leg he lifted your leg allowing him more room to bring his hips forward. Letting go of your leg briefly Mick guided himself into your core. Given your position it took a little more force for Mick to push himself into you but when the tip of his cock was finally in, you both moaned out loudly at the stretch and tightness alike. Once Mick was fully in, he was pushing you even harder into the glass. You could feel his hips twitching, wanting to move, but he forced himself to remain still.

"Shit Sweetheart, I am not going to last. I need you to reach down and play with yourself. I want to feel you as you come on done."

Doing as Mick said you reached between the glass and yourself and began to draw circles around your clit. Instantly you felt yourself tighten around Mick and you could hear him whisper fuck as he thrusted sharply into you. Pulling out just a bit Mick thrusted his hips quickly back into you, setting a quick pace. You could feel your whole body shaking the closer you came to cumming. Mick's hand digging deep in your thigh while his other clung to yours. Brushing your clit once more had you screaming your release. Becoming even tighter around Mick caused him to thrust once more as he started to cum. Getting lost in his pleasure Mick bit into your shoulder screaming while he tore his hand away from yours and slammed it into the window.

In a haze Mick pulled away from you, causing you both to hiss as he slipped from you. Leaving you resting against the window Mick slowly made his way to the bathroom. As soon as he stepped in Mick was stepping back out and motioning you to come to him. Whining at having to move he chuckled and quietly told you "it was worth it." Finally making your way to Mick and the bathroom you took one look into the bathroom and gave a small cry. The bathroom was larger than most and sitting right in the middle was a hot tub that was silently running. Taking Mick's hand he led you to the tub, stepping down into it first he then helped you down and into his arms. Both of you moaning as the hot water hit your bodies. Instead of saying anything Mick ran his hands over your body, making sure that he didn't hurt you in anyway. Not even realizing it you had drifted off to sleep in Mick's arms.

When you had woken up you realized that Mick had carried you from the tub and into the bed. After getting up and using the bathroom you walked back into the bedroom and saw Mick had rolled onto his stomach and was watching as you walked out of the bathroom. Giving him a small smile you made your way to the bed and stood next to him. Reaching up Mick pulled you back down to the bed and under him. Moving the thin sheet from between you both, he began to roll his hips against you.

"Are you sore?"

Mick asked as he laid kisses and bites to your shoulder and collarbone.

"I am a bit."

"Guess we will have to do it this way and once we get back to the ship I will have to take the day to make it up to you."

Which he ended up doing. After making you cum two more times at the club. Mick brought you back to the ship and after loading his arms down with snacks and drinks he made sure to tell everyone he saw that there would be screams from his room and not to come investigate less they see something they don't want to.

#legend of tomorrow #mick rory x reader #mick rory

46 notes · View notes

thesavorysecret-blog · 4 years

Text

An Interview with Matt Parker of Grillbird Teriyaki on How To Start and Grow a Thriving Restaurant

Nate: Hello and welcome. You’ve found “The Savory Secret’’ where we talk to and learn lessons from founders on starting and growing a thriving restaurant. I’m your host Nate Ver Burg. Our guest on the show today is an artist and designer who had a dream of opening a restaurant, but he had a problem. He didn’t have any money. What’s worse, he opened his restaurant just months prior to the statewide COVID-19 mandatory dining room closures. Today we’re gonna learn what he did to obtain the initial money needed to start his restaurant, and whether his recession-proof planning prior to starting his business would enable them to endure the forthcoming pandemic response. Matt Parker, it’s great to have you on the show today.

Matt: Hey Nate.

Nate: Hey there. So let’s start at the beginning. Tell me a little bit about where you grew up and some of your upbringing.

Matt: Yeah, for sure. So I grew up in a little town called Half Moon Bay, which is in Northern California, just south of San Francisco, so really idyllic, wonderful town, a little beachy town. And back in the ’80s, it was just a really cool place for a kid to grow up. We had the beach. We had mountain biking. And as I got older and kind of grew up a little bit and started to form, you know, my own identity, the town, I kind of outgrew that town. So I moved to Palo Alto and went to high school out there and kind of finished off my school in Palo Alto. You know, I grew up with my grandparents as a kid and then moved back in with my mother who was a single mom and we had a great relationship and she was really supportive of me growing up and being kind of whoever I wanted to be and, you know, allowing me to sort of experiment and explore who I thought I was or wanted to be.

And so I had a pretty eclectic childhood. I was really…I tried out a lot of different things. I tried a lot of different arts. I was always involved in theater and in visual arts. And I got to…you know, I did Rocky Horror Picture Show when I was a teenager and I went to San Francisco and hung out with friends on the weekends and just got to do a lot of fun stuff that I might not have been able to do if I had a more traditional upbringing. But my mom was pretty laid back and really trusting and kind of let me be who I was. I worked, from the moment I could get a job, I worked.

So at 14, I got a job at a movie theater and loved that job and fell in love with cinema and old movie theaters. And I think that was sort of the first…my first kind of introduction into what it feels like to be taken out of reality and put into something more fantastical, I guess. And it started to, you know, heavily influence my love of design and my love of eating out and just sort of being immersed in something aesthetically different and beautiful than the real world.

And so that all kind of transitioned into me working in restaurants, going from movie theaters to then working in cafes and then into restaurants and then just sort of, you know, falling in love with the, I guess the sort of magic of dining, but also the environment. I’ve always been sort of aesthetically-guided and so I love what it felt like to eat at nice restaurants and what it felt like to be served by professional servers and what really good food played it up in a really interesting way felt like.

So that’s something from a very young age I was always inspired by. And you know, that all kind of you know, led me to go to art school, right out of high school, which didn’t really work out for me. I was a little, you know, 18 years old and I didn’t really have any stories to tell and I didn’t really know myself and I didn’t really get any good work done. So I kind of tried that out for about a year and then I moved back home and kind of went to some community colleges and of course just kept working in restaurants. And then when I was about 20, I decided I needed to leave home and grow up. And didn’t really know where I was wanting to go, but I knew I just couldn’t stay at home anymore.

So I bought a bus ticket to Seattle and came up here about 20 some odd years ago and stayed in a boarding house for a couple of months and, you know, just hit the streets every day looking for work. And finally got a job at a little cafe in Belltown, which is no longer there, but that’s kinda what started it all off, at least for me in Seattle. And then my culinary sort of journey and art journey as well.

Nate: Yeah. So tell me, like you mentioned the movie theater experience. What was it that captivated you so much?

Matt: In Palo Alto, there’s a series of vintage movie theaters. And so as soon as I turned 14 and was able to work, I got a job at one of these movie theaters. And these were landmark theaters, so they showed foreign films and independent films. And at that time I was obsessed with cinema. I was obsessed with foreign films and, you know, just unique independent cinema. And I fell in love with these old movie houses that were built in the ’20s and the ’30s. I just love the architecture. I love the feeling of being in them. I loved all the fun, the weirdo movies that they showed and it just really influenced my art and my creativity at the time. I mean, back then it was all I thought about. It’s all…I was obsessed. I was literally obsessed about movie theaters and old ones and I just loved being in those rooms.

And so when I worked, got to work for one, it was like such a great job. And I had so much fun and I got to, of course, I got to work with adults. So which I had always loved working with, you know, being around older people. So I get to work with the cool kids at the time and kind of find myself through them. I get to work in these old movie places and bop around the catacombs of these spaces and find tons of ephemera and of course just like feed my desire for film. And so films and going to bookstores and magazines, those are all like the way that I fed my creativity at the time. You know, obviously there was no internet.

So this is just how, you know, I learned to identify, you know, with myself and who I wanted to be or who I thought I wanted to be. But yeah, that was really like the escapism part of it was fantastic. I mean, back then I would think that I lived in a different time. I would consider that. I was like, I lived in my own movie of my own creation. And that was like some me, like in Paris in the 1920s, like that’s sort of how I identified at 14 years old. And yeah, it just really kind of set me on, you know, this creative path.

Nate: You know, you started to get into restaurants and things like when you moved up to Seattle. How did you take that creative mindset and start applying that into the restaurant space?

Matte: Well, I didn’t at first. I mean when I moved here I was, you know, an artist and I was a visual artist. I was a painter. But I also loved working in restaurants and I had done some restaurant work back in California. And so that’s just where I naturally fell into. And so, you know, waiting tables or busing tables back then that, you know, paid the bills. But I of course, I loved the energy of it. I loved the hours. I loved all the people you end up meeting. I loved the sort of debauchery and the chaos of it all. And it worked perfectly as a creative person because you’re just also surrounded by creative people all the time and the hours are great. You know, you’re up late, you have your days free.

So they were pretty much separate for the next 10 years. So I kind of made a move to be a creative person in Seattle. You know, I worked as an artist. I created some events and produced art events and did group shows. And then I also worked in restaurants and waited tables and just…and bopped around different restaurants over the next decade. And so they were all fairly kept separate for most of my 20s. And it wasn’t really until my early 30s that I actually merged them together after, you know, just a kind of a series of bad life choices had kind of brought me to kind of a new…kind of starting over, I guess. And part of that starting over was to kind of tap back into my creative side and merge my love of food and art together.

Nate: So what did that look like, merging those two things? Like in practical ways, like what was that all about?

Matt: Yeah, so you know, the restaurant business is, you know, it’s very fun, but it comes with a lot of consequences. And so for me, I developed a drinking problem in my 20s, and by the time I was in my early 30s, it was, you know, kind of…I pretty much exhausted all other outcomes of positivity. So I had to change my life. And so I quit drinking to end up saving, you know, my relationship with my girlfriend who’s now my wife, but at the time. And through that process of quitting drinking, not working, getting rid of all of my friends and basically self-quarantining myself at home in order to kind of break the shackles of those old habits, I kind of tapped back into this creative side that I hadn’t had in years. And that manifested into a new business where I was starting to…I did event design.

And so in the beginning, nobody really would hire me to decorate their party. They all wanted catering. So I would cater their event totally illegally. Like out of my apartment. I would just make all this food. And then on my own time and my own dime, I would do all the decorations. I designed the little menu cards and design the little tablescapes. And again, I had no money. So everything I started making was like out of folded paper and cardboard and recycled materials. And I just kept doing that. And I just, you know, in the beginning it was just one party at a time and one party a month. And I would go out and hustle for business and I’d go to friends’ little boutique shops and ask them if I could do a window display for them or I’d go to the rental company, the event rental company, and ask them if I could do a tablescape for them. And then I would do it, I’d photograph it, and then I’d send it to blogs and wait for someone to respond to it.

And so I just kept doing that. And eventually I would get hired. Eventually a friend hired me to do their birthday party and I would decorate their party. And again, I had no money and they didn’t have any money. And so everything was made out of cardboard and, you know, these…and trash basically. But one client after another, you know, started to kind of build into this little business where I started to kinda make a little bit of a name for myself and every event I would shoot it and send it off to blogs. And every once in a while, a blog would post the story and then I’d get a lot of attention and then I would kind of get on the radar of different editors of wedding magazines or whatever.

And so then I started to kind of be a little bit more enrolled and involved in the wedding industry and in the event industry. And so I started getting hired more and more. And the things that I was trying to do differently was I was trying to just create these kind of immersive, all encompassing events that were really creative and not typical sort of decor. So I always talked about how my events always kind of looked like an anthropology window display. Like they were really over the top and they were…kind of used a lot of recycled materials and that’s kinda what I did. And I did that for a good year or so.

But the thing about event work is… And also that kept me close to sort of the food world and the restaurant world. And I had done so much catering in my 20s and so much restaurant work. So it was always connected, the event world and the restaurant world were always sort of tied together and it kept me close to that world.

Nate: So all these events that you were doing, were you still being forced to cater these, like from home, like you’re talking about or did you eventually just transition that to just do the design side?

Matt: Yeah, yeah. Like within like three or four events, I stopped cooking out of my apartment and just was beginning to get hired just to do design work. So that was great. That wasn’t gonna be sustainable. And so then I, of course, I started working with caterers and working with event planners and working with others in building out these events and doing pieces if not the whole event for them. And so I did that for a little while, like a year or two years. And each time getting a little bit more attention, each time, getting a little bit more press. And it was great and it was…and I was like just cruising. I felt so good about myself, you know, I was like a year sober and I was just like so excited to be not thinking about my old self. Like I was totally rewiring myself through creativity. And that was really great.

And that year I got married and you know, I was like starting off my life with my wife and we were moving and it was just fantastic. But, you know, event work is sort of like freelancing. I mean, you just don’t really know when the next paycheck’s gonna come. It’s like months and months away. So I would work three months on a job and of course I didn’t know how to charge appropriately for it. So, you know, I’d make a little money and then I’d run out of money and then I’d wait for the next job and it would just be…it just wasn’t sustainable. I mean, I really didn’t know how to run a business at all.

So eventually through that, my wife got pregnant and we needed obviously a little bit extra money. And so I started…I got back into the game. After a few years off of restaurant work, I started working for Skillet. And Skillet obviously was that food truck in 2007 that Josh Henderson started. And by 2009, they were about to open up their first diner in Capitol Hill. So I opened that shop with that opening crew and that was a…it was a great part time job. You know, I already had, you know, a decade and a half of experience under my belt. So I came in with a handful of other people knowing how to run a restaurant and how to work that restaurant real well. And that was great. It was a really fun job. But at the same time, I started to do some graphic design for the staff.

I think it started with me doing like a business card for one of the managers. And then Josh saw it and asked me to do a flyer for one of his…some little pop up or something at the time. And so I did a flyer and then he liked it. And then I did another flyer and he liked it. And then I got this idea, I was like, oh, I think I could start to do this more. I had always done graphic design, but never really professionally. So I went to Josh and I convinced him to let me take over all the creative at Skillet. And Skillet was about…you know, it was a couple years old but had just started to kind of break through with this brick and mortar space and they had this bacon jam food line and they were thinking about opening a second store. So they were kind of like growing up. And so I convinced him to let me take over the sort of brand identity and let me kind of rework some things and clean it up and kind of make them, you know, play with the big boys a little bit more.

Of course, I had no idea what I was doing. I just would go home, learn about, you know, read about what a brand guide was and then copy that and then come back and talk to Josh and convince him that I knew what I was talking about. That’s exactly what happened. And I took over Skillet’s brand and started to kind of rework logos and you know, come up with new brand identities and new menus and just all the graphic design elements and merchandise that went along with Skillet in those first couple of years. And that kinda got me on this designer path with him. And then by the end of that year, Josh was, was like, ‘’Hey, I’m kinda done with Skillet. I’m cashing in my chips. This isn’t fun anymore and I’m gonna start a new restaurant group to tell new stories and I want you to come with me.’’

And so he grabbed me and the chef and our PR lady and the four of us basically started Huxley Wallace Collective. And he had a new business partner. And right out of the gate, we had three projects. We had three restaurants to build. First one was Westward, the second was the Hollywood Tavern. And the third was a collaboration-partnership with Cone and Steiner. And so he tells me to show up at this architecture meeting to talk about what Westward is gonna look like. And so I went…that’s basically how I started my restaurant design career is I just showed up and then learned everything I could learn about how to design a space.

And so then I designed Westward with Josh and it was so fun, you know. It was like such a labor of love and it was our first sort of flagship restaurant we were gonna be debuting with this new restaurant group. And it’s just…there’s so much energy behind it. And we had this amazing space on the waterfront and we had such a great story to tell aesthetically. And I just poured my…everything I had into that restaurant. And you know, half of it I made and designed and painted myself and the other half we had collaborated with artists on and it was so, so much fun. And then we opened Westward and it was so busy and got… It was just great energy. I love that very beginning of that space. But that’s really what kind of got me started in doing restaurant design.

Nate: Wow. And how long were you with that group building those restaurants?

Marr: I would think I was with Huxley Wallace for like five or six years. And almost to the end, in a way, they…you know, once we started building, we never stopped building. So we did 13 restaurants together in five years.

Nate Wow. That was a lot. So, and you were involved with the design side of all of those?

Matt: For sure. So, you know, and I just kept inching my way up the ladder to where I’ve learned some more things and then I would convince everyone that that’s the role I needed to be. So I kind of sort of self-proclaimed myself the creative director as a way for me to kind of oversee all creative and aesthetic decisions for the business. So not just designing the interiors and the exteriors of the restaurant and obviously working with architects to make those happen, but the uniforms, the coasters, the website, every piece of copy, every Instagram message, every ad, every tote bag. I mean, everything visual that the guest would see, including the staff, I had a say in.

Nate: Did you ever deal with that imposter syndrome of feeling like, like who am I to be doing what I’m doing? What was going on in your head at that point?

Matt: Yeah. I mean, most of everything I do is I just make it up as you go along. You know, I mean, you’re just faking it. And I would just, for so many months, there would be…I literally wouldn’t know what I was talking about. But I’d go home and learn about it and work it out, practice it, and come back the next day pretending I was an expert in it. And so I did that a lot, but then it just…but it just gets easier and, you know, it feeds off of itself. So, you know, with every event I was doing, or every little, tiny creative project or little editorial I do for a magazine or photo shoot, you know, I just would learn more and more about how to put things together and how to build events better and how to design better.

And of course, once you start building restaurants, you start working with architects and contractors and project managers and all these meetings, you know, they just inform you and you just listen and pick up on what they’re talking about. And so the next time you know how to talk the talk. And so of course every job just got easier that way. And I found, you know, I just would quickly learn about what I liked and what I didn’t like and how to make those things that I wanted happen. But I just, I always think of like my 20s as sort of being in a fog just because of kind of partying too much and just not being focused and not being the man I wanted to be and being frustrated by that. And then once I gained some clarity in my early 30s, everything got easier. You know, everything’s starting to fall into place.

You know, I started to have a family and, you know, work was working out and I just had a lot more opportunities and, you know, just, I just have better luck after I stopped screwing around. Yeah. I mean, you know, I still…you don’t really…we get older and we know some things, but, you know, we really don’t know everything. And, you know, I just had a birthday a couple of days ago and it still feels like I’m 20 years old. You know, I still feel like I have the same big questions. I’m still searching for the man I ultimately wanna be. I’m a lot farther along. I’m way more processed, but, you know, we’re still like children sometimes in our minds and we’re never satisfied with who we are. Ultimately, I think, you know, we could always be better.

I’m certainly proud of myself and I’m proud of, you know, my accomplishments and how far we’ve come. And I’m so proud of my family and my wife and everything she’s worked so hard for, for us. It’s amazing. But yeah, at the same time, it’s like, I do feel like we’re just faking it. We’re getting away with something we shouldn’t be. Like the world’s gonna catch on. They’re gonna catch on that I’m a fraud. We’re gonna see it. But I, you know, I mean, I don’t know. It’s like you just, just try to be truthful all the time and keep going and we’re…you know, be persistent. Don’t give up and just keep working it until it works.

Nate: Yup. That’s good. Well, let’s take just a moment and introduce our sponsor today. It’s a company called TableTop. Are you familiar with them, Matt?

Matt: No, I don’t think so.

Nate: Yeah. So TableTop is leading in the restaurant industry as a low-cost, easy-to-use, all-in-one front of house and back of house restaurant solution. So they include everything from POS and inventory management and supply chain, legitimate AI forecasting, automated ordering, and now a mobile ordering with TableTop ToGo. So whether your restaurant needs a commission-free mobile ordering platform that’s completely turnkey and can be set up quickly or you just want to become more profitable, TableTop empowers you to take back control of your brand and the customer experience from beginning to end. So a question for you, Matt, TableTop, they’re always developing new products to help restaurants become more profitable and solve real problems, what have you seen over your years in the restaurant space that if you had a tech team that worked on your behalf that could tackle a problem that you’ve seen, what would you have them go after first?

Matt: Yeah, I mean I think the big picture is that technology and hospitality, you know, are more intertwined now than ever and will continue to be so. As we figure out ways to meet the customer where they need to be, you know, technology is gonna be our friend and partner in that. Especially for me as somebody who’s doing a fast casual counter service, all-takeout restaurant that does online ordering and eventually delivery, you know, I’m always searching for new ways to connect with customers wherever they are, and it’s usually through their phones. And so certainly we’re in such a fun space right now where restaurants have at any scale can have access to millions of people really quickly. And, you know, thank goodness, for our mobile life.

And as we continue to be more autonomous and requiring less service but still having high expectation, you know, this is where kind of where we’re gonna need to be headed. And so for me, I’m always looking for those new platforms or channels to reach customers in really new and interesting ways that’s still…and I can still convey or I can still share the warmth, the intimacy and this passion that we have for food and sharing food together. So I think that’s definitely something that I’ve been thinking of now more than ever with corona, you have to really rethink like, what is the future of dining and you know, how are we gonna navigate this new normal moving forward. So yes, some interesting stuff going on there for sure. And it’s pretty much everything…all I’m thinking about right now

Nate: For sure. And actually right now TableTop, to address the whole COVID-19 situation is offering a 60-day trial of their mobile ordering platform. So restaurants can start accepting online orders directly commission-free. So there’s no more need for all the delivery tablets with the high commissions, whether you can put all those commissions back into your own pocket. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees, no commitments, just low-cost, easy-to-use, smart restaurant management tools to make your life easier. You can check out, TryTableTop.com and see for yourself.

So Matt, you were just talking about how you, you know, you’ve done all this in this restaurant design world and you know, obviously involved in those restaurants as they were getting going. What was it that created that spark in you to wanna go out and create your own?

Matt: Right. I mean, you know, it’s something I’ve, I think I’ve always had the dream for. I’ve have lots of dreams and lots of passions. And of course, having my own thing is something I’ve been thinking about for decades, right? But you know, I’ve always been in service to others and to other dreamers and that’s sorta how I learned, you know, how to do what I do. You know, like having a child, it’s…you never really think the timing’s right, but you do it anyways and then you just kind of push through it and find yourself on the other side, a decent parent. Same with running a business or opening a business, I mean, it’s almost like there’s never a great time. You just have to take the plunge.

And so, you know, for me, I was not working at Huxley Wallace anymore. I moved on and I had worked for a year or so for some corporation designing some retail spaces and not a big fan of that work environment. Then I was freelancing and doing a lot of freelance work and designing and doing creative strategy for entrepreneurs and other restaurant owners around town and around the country. But again, like freelance, like I was telling you before, it’s so inconsistent. And so I was like applying for jobs at, you know, corporations and nothing was really working out and I just knew I was like, this is not for me, like I am not cut out for office work. I’m getting a little old and tired to be waiting tables. So what else?

And, you know, being a creative director for a restaurant group is, you know, kind of an impossible job. Like nobody’s ever really hiring for that. I certainly invented that position for myself, so I know that it just doesn’t exist. So I didn’t really know. I was like at this place where I was like, I don’t really know what I should be doing. I don’t know how we’re gonna be making any money, but I need to get out of the house and I need a place to go. I need something to do. And so I started to think about the dozens of restaurant ideas that I’ve had and was like, well, what would a restaurant look like that doesn’t require a lot of people to work at it? It could fit into any size space. It wouldn’t cost a lot to open. What would that look like? And one of those ideas, that was teriyaki chicken. It was something that I was like, well, what is something that we all eat but we never talk about? What is a truly Seattle dish that has never really been anointed as such, but what is accessible, what is affordable? And that’s where teriyaki chicken… And who hasn’t made a move on it in years?

So that’s where I kind of landed on chicken last year and I was like, okay, I can…I think this is what I wanna do. I also had a feeling that this year we would be in a recession. And so I had no idea about a pandemic, but I did have a feeling that there might be a…2020 might be a recession year or 2021 might be a recession year. So what would a recession-proof restaurant look like? And it was small. It was under $15 a plate. It was counter service and all take out. Of course, it was in a neighborhood that didn’t have any competition or was in a food desert. It wasn’t supported by Microsoft or Amazon locations or employees.

And so that’s kind of where teriyaki chicken started to really get exciting for me. And I started to kind of start looking for spaces. And keep in mind, I have no money. I have no real savings. I’m just like dreaming at this point. But I’m dreaming and I’m looking at properties and I’m searching around the city looking for little spaces and starting to talk to my colleagues and my friends in the business and getting some support and some encouragement from them and getting some ideas.

And so we’re driving around… And I’m looking at everything outside Seattle because at this point I’m still like, I’m just done with working in Seattle. It’s not the best place to run a small business. And I’m just, I’m more and more convinced that the suburbs is like really where I should be. I need to be where there’s parking lots and where there’s mommy’s and little league teams and that kind of, that density. And I’m not gonna find it in South Lake Union. I’m not gonna find it in Capitol Hill or Belltown or any place with like really high rents and really like sort of punitive permitting and long permitting wait times and all that stuff.

So, but anyways, I live here in West Seattle and I’ve been driving around the city like I normally do, and I keep passing this building every week. And then the light bulb goes off, and I see this building that I’ve driven by hundreds and hundreds of times. And I’m like, oh, I think that might be something I can work with. So there’s this old Pizza Hut that had been vacant for almost a year and just collecting graffiti and looking pretty tired and boring, but it’s on a corner and it has a parking lot and it has an old fashioned big sign on the corner. And it’s a pretty decent sized space and there’s nothing going on and it’s surrounded by housing. So I look into it and it took me about…it took me about a week to find the owner and the broker and I finally get in touch with them and, you know, start to work out a deal. And then the next thing I know I’m like signing paperwork and looking to raise money.

Nate: Wow. So did you go to people that you knew or how did you start raising money?

Matt: Yeah, so I wrote a list down of like 33 people, friends, colleagues, family that I all thought had more money than me. And I wrote a business proposal and I built a deck, a creative deck which I was really good at making at this point because that was kind of my graphic design bread and butter. So I created a really beautiful, slick deck, sent it out, asked for, you know, asked for money and/or possible investors. And I got out of 33 people, I got 32 nos and one yes. And that one, yeah, that one yes was a substantial investment for me at the time, but it certainly was only like maybe a quarter of what I needed. But that got me started. And then the rest I just put on credit cards.

Nate: Wow, you really took the risk and just did it.

Matt: Yeah. And so that investment plus a lot of credit cards and you know, obviously it’s something I don’t recommend everyone doing, but I knew I needed to work really quickly and I knew how to build restaurants cheaply. I was already… I had done… After all these restaurants we had built, every one of them became more and more expensive. You know, it started off at…you know, they would be like million dollars and then $2 million and $3 million and then $3.5 million restaurant build outs. And those are just crazy numbers and you just…I just, at this point, I was like, I’m done with that. Like, what can we do? How can we open a restaurant for like $100,000? Like, what would that look like?

And so we certainly tried that. And you know, this space came with a walk-in cooler and a hood. And I thought I was like, great, but of course, you know, these projects just, they reveal so many more problems than you ever expected. And this was, you know, surely the case too. Like, you know, there’s so many issues and so expensive. But you know, ultimately we, you know, we got this place opened in like four months, four and a half months, and we made it happen and we did it for not a ton of money and not a lot of investors or anything like that.

So, you know, I think West Seattle is such a special community. I’ve lived here for, I don’t know, 11 years now and I love it here. And I think people who live here love it here too. And we’re all very nosy and we’re all very interested in what’s going on in our neighborhoods and when anything new comes along. So even…like right from the beginning, there was eyeballs on the project and the community knew what was happening and was anticipating it opening. So when we opened, we opened really strong and was, right out of the gate, was super busy.

And I had no idea what I was doing. Even though I’ve been doing this my whole life and I’ve been running restaurants and operating them in different capacities and different roles, there’s just…every restaurant I’ve ever opened has been…it’s just different and they’re really hard and they come with so many challenges. And this one was no different except that it was just mine. But we just kept hustling and we just kept failing and getting back up and opening again. And maybe we closed for a day or two and…oh, we closed so many times in the first couple of weeks because we would literally just run out of food and we didn’t have any…I didn’t have enough staff and I didn’t really even have a prep schedule. I didn’t have any of my recipes written down. They were all like written down on like different scraps of paper. And so every day… There was no schedule in the beginning. It was wild.

And we all just worked so many hours, like we were just here from morning, noon and night and then overnight just cooking just to keep up. And so that went on for like a month. And then sort of after that first month we were starting to…you know, I’m going through some people, like I need some better people. I’m listening to some smart people help me out here and there. So things are getting a little easier week by week, but then coronavirus starts to come down and become a much bigger deal than I certainly thought it was. But then something kind of remarkable happened, which was nothing changed.

Nate: Right. So you stayed open at that time for takeout, correct?

Matt: Yes. So we have a small dining room. It had five tables in it. Nobody really ever sat in them except just to wait for their food. So it wasn’t really even being used anyways. All of our food was already coming out in to-go ware anyways, even if you ordered it for here. So we didn’t really have to do anything. I just took those five tables and chairs out, removed the water pitcher and the tea maker and all the to-go ware and put some signs in the window and put in a, you know, a Purell machine and we got hooked up online for online order pickup, for curbside pickup. And that was it. And it was like no lapse in anything. Yeah. And so that’s been kind of how we’ve been rolling this last month and a half through the grace of God and just, you know, this community. We’ve been so fortunate to stay open and to stay steady and, you know, I get to keep nine guys employed with jobs and, you know, we get to make food every day. So all very grateful for that but I have…you know, but I think that we also checked off a series of boxes that needed to be checked off by the consumer in order for that to be an easy choice.

And so that’s kinda like where we’re at, at the moment. So from the very beginning, forming a truly neighborhood community experience was like the most important thing. And so in the very beginning, in the first three or four weeks, I would spend minutes talking to every single customer in line, just getting to know them and asking them where they’re from and are they close and all sorts of stuff. And people would wait for like 30, 40 minutes, you know, for food here and…because basically I just never stopped talking. And I did that for two reasons. One, of course I wanted to meet my customers and introduce them to me and our story and let them know that we’re neighbors too and my kid goes to their kid’s school and all that, but at the same time we were so busy that I needed to sort of slow down how fast people were ordering and give my kitchen some sense of a break in the tickets because the tickets were just coming out of the machine, dropping to the floor and it would just be like nonstop. And so people would just have to wait for forever.

So it was a little bit of a two-pronged strategy there. And I’m sure I think a couple of people got upset with that, but you know, it is what it is. And so I think that’s part of our sort of charm and one of our little secrets to our success right now is just that I just truly deeply care about people and especially the people that come to Grillbird. I’m truly interested in their lives and I want them to be fed and I wanna take care of them. And so from that perspective, it’s like it’s just super crucial that we, that Grillbird is synonymous with local and community and West Seattle neighborhoods. So that’s a huge part. I think our food is super tasty, but I also think it’s priced right. And even though folks still have to wait from time to time a little longer than they expect to, I do think it’s quick and we fall into that kind of fast casual kind of fast food, but good fast food kind of vibe that I think people are into.

Nate: Right. I think it’s pretty remarkable that you first of all had the foresight to see that there could be an economic downturn, but the fact that you designed your restaurant with that in mind and then here to have this happen and you’re still going strong in the midst of this while many other restaurants who were just business as usual, they’re…many of them are closed and obviously some are offering takeout, but they’ve seen such a huge decline. And meanwhile, you just moved a few tables away and you’ve, you know, you’ve still got your core business there. That’s pretty incredible.

Matt: Yeah, I mean it’s bittersweet for sure because, you know, some of these people are some of my closest friends and they’ve shut their restaurant down and they’ve laid off people or they’ve been laid off. So it’s not something I’m proud of in the way that I’m trying to gloat about that. It just is what it is, you know. But yeah, I don’t know. I mean it’s just a right time, right place, right sort of series of dials that were turned and believe me, some of it was intentional and some of it just happened the way it happened.

But now I’m certainly convinced more than ever that for me at least in Grillbird and the future of Grillbird or the future of any restaurant I’m doing, you know at this point it’s gonna be more like what we’re doing here. It really won’t involve tables or chairs. It’s really gonna involve fast takeout, automations, use of technology, delivery, drop off zones, kiosk, like anything that however I can meet the customer wherever they are gonna be now or in the future is what I’m interested in. And how to do that with a great experience of course, right? How do you make…how do you create a great take-home experience? Well, I’m asking myself that question right now, so I’m working on it.

Nate: Wow. So tell us those who are not in the Seattle area, how can they learn more about you and your restaurant? And those that are in the Seattle area, obviously you mentioned your West Seattle, how can they find you and when they do show up, what are your favorite couple of things in the menu they just have to try?

Matt: Sure. So you know, for those not living in Seattle, teriyaki chicken is kind of a thing here. If you’re a longterm Seattleite, you’ll see a teriyaki shop in every neighborhood, every half mile or so. They’re everywhere. There’s hundreds of them. And, you know, it’s for me it got me through my 20s when I was poor. It got me through my 30s. Now I feed my…you know, it feeds my kids. So it’s a thing that I think that we all…we’re all familiar with. It’s generally really affordable and you get a lot of food. And so you know, just like every city has a dish that makes their city, their city, I think Seattle teriyaki is specifically Seattle and it’s certainly done a certain way up here with char grilled chicken and a much sweeter teriyaki sauce and it’s lots of food for a good price.

So that’s kind of what Grillbird’s all about is great value, but also we’re doing a few things differently that others don’t. And, you know, I love the shops. I love all of those shops in town. They’re all good, they’ve all taken really good care of me. So I have nothing bad to say about those guys, but I knew that there’s a few things that we could do differently to meet the modern customer. And one of those is that our sauce is gluten-free. So it’s no big secret. We just use tamari and not soy sauce in the restaurant. So it’s wheat-free tamari and that’s what makes it gluten-free. And you know, we have gluten items on our menu. We’re not a gluten-free restaurant per se. We just happen to have quite a few options, and certainly when I’m designing new items now I’m considerate of our gluten-free and celiac community.

Our chicken is Halal-certified and we can do whatever we want. And so we have some really…I think we have some interesting stuff. Like for instance, we do a pork shoulder teriyaki, you know, which is just a slow, low braised pork shoulder that we finish with teriyaki on the grill. We also do a pot roast teriyaki. Again, another slow, low braised meat dish. Our steak, we sous vide and then grill. And so it’s a really high quality steak. We have a fried cauliflower, which is gluten-free and served with a nori ranch dressing, which I love. So I think we’re trying to stay pretty playful and just kind of doing our thing the way we do it. I wouldn’t say we’re even comparable at all to any of the regular teriyaki shops. It’s just gonna be different. You know, it’s just made by different people. I have a Western style kitchen, I mean, and that all kind of comes through. And ultimately it’s just sort of my food and my style, and I just wanna make yummy food at a decent price for neighbors. I mean that’s it.

Nate: Excellent. Well, Matt, it’s really been great to have you on today. Again, I’m gonna mention our sponsors TableTop, they’re offering a 60-day trial of their mobile ordering platform so you can start accepting online orders directly, all commission-free. Again, there’s no contracts or hidden fees or commitments. It’s just low cost, easy to use, smart restaurant management tools that’ll make your life easier. Again, you can visit TryTableTop.com to activate your 60-day trial today.

Well, Matt, it’s been so great having you on today and I really appreciate you sharing everything you have.

Matt: I really appreciate meeting you, Nate. Thank you.

Nate: Thank you again for joining us today on “The Savory Secret.’’ I’m your host, Nate Ver Burg. We invite you to click subscribe to receive all of the latest interviews from founders as we discuss lessons they’ve learned on starting and growing a thriving restaurant. Until next time, enjoy some delicious food and we’ll talk to you again real soon.

#matt parker #grillbird teriyaki #grillbird #west seattle #entrepreneurship #startup #restaurant

1 note · View note