#nicest guy in the world and his teammates who are ready to get in a brawl for him

[tiger-balm]

everyone be nice to joey or else | leafs @ capitals | march 20th 2024

[luvgavii]

top of the world - (pg6)

request: Gavi having a crush on model reader and all the wags &guys know and they help him get w her (sometime like that)

summary: gavi has a hard time telling you how he feels, but one night his teammates and their wives and girlfriends help the two of you out.

Your decision to move from your country to Barcelona came rather as a surprise to your friends, family and yourself. You didn't have anyone there, and moving there would mean you would be all alone in the Catalan city, and while the fresh beginning sounded good, you were terrified. But you knew what this meant for your modelling career, and being a model in your hometown paid much less than the one you got offered in Barcelona. So you accepted it, and you were on the plane to Barcelona with no second thoughts.

While the months passed as a blur and you were killing the runways, you started gaining a bigger audience, brands asking for you to promote their stuff on your Instagram stories, celebrities sliding into your DMs, and soon you were living the life you always wanted to live.

You were gorgeous, but you were humble and kind, which was the reason you were so liked by everyone, and you formed your own little friend group quite quickly.

The person you would call your best friend was Natalia, she had moved to Barcelona with her husband when he joined FC Barcelona, and you two became inseparable quickly. She invited you to many games to watch her husband play with her, always telling you about Raphinha's single teammates.

And while Natalia knew what she was doing, you grew rather interested in the young Pablo Gavi, who was by far the most attractive, gorgeous person you have met while your stay in Barcelona.

You two hung out a few times, and he always made you laugh. You loved how he always knew what to say to you. When he started liking and commenting on your social media posts, everyone started posting about it, and surely a rumor started going around that you and Pablo Gavi are in a relationship.

You and Gavi laughed about it, but neither of you shut those rumors down because you both liked the idea of dating each other, though, neither of you admitted it to the other.

When his team mates asked him about it one day in the locker room after practice, Pablo came clean about his crush on you, but begged them not to mention it around you, because he was still shy and didn't want them to ruin it, as he was planning on asking you out soon.

Raphinha told Natalia, obviously, and Natalia knew about your crush on Gavi, but she decided not to tell you anything her husband had told her, because she thought Gavi would ask you out soon, like he said.

The days turned into weeks, and they were all growing impatient about Gavi asking you out. Ansu, Ferran, and Pedri tried talking to Pablo and shake some sense into him so he would finally do it, but he kept telling them he wasn't ready, as he didn't want to ruin your friendship.

"Cálllense chicos, ni siquiera sé si ella siente lo mismo." Pablo said frustrated, he was getting stressed out and he wanted the moment he asked you out to be perfect. Shut up guys, I don't even know if she feels the same way.

"Hermano, todo el mundo sabe que lo hace. ¿has visto la forma en que te mira?" Pedri said shaking him by the shoulders, while Ferran slapped him across the head. Brother, everyone knows she does. Have you seen the way she looks at you?

One night you invited some people over for a party, celebrating a new collaboration in your career, and among the people you invited were the Barcelona players whom you've grown quite close with, and their girlfriends and/or wives.

Not to mention that Robert Lewandowski and his wife Anna came too. Anna was the nicest woman you've ever met, but how could you admit to her that you and your friends fangirled over her husband?

You were chatting with Frenkie de Jong's girlfriend, Mikky, Natalia and Ferran's girlfriend, Sira, when your eyes met the familiar brown eyes across the room, Gavi sending you a small wave, which you returned in the form of a smile.

Mikky followed your eyes, giggling and dramatically sighing when she saw who you were looking at.

"Could you two spare us the agony and just get together already?" Mikky asked you sipping on her homemade cocktail.

"I don't wanna force this guys, if it's meant to happen, it will." You told the three girls who were starting to grow impatient. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go to the restroom."

You went to the bathroom upstairs, and while you were coming back, you stopped on the stairs when you noticed Mikky whispering something to Sira, who then went to Pedri to whisper something, Pedri whispered to Frenkie, and Frenkie to Robert.

'What are these little shits planning.' You thought to yourself, a thought you shook away as soon as another sip of alcohol got to your lips.

You were looking for Gavi when you felt a presence next to you. Turning your head and hoping to meet Gavi's eyes, you instead see Natalia.

"Hey, remember at the last match we went to, it started raining and I offered you my hoodie so you don't get wet?" Natalia asked you directly, but you knew there was something off.

"Yes, Taia? What are you-" You started saying confused but Natalia cut you off.

"Yeah, well, I need it back. Like right now. Could you get it for me?" She asked, her face serious, but there was a twinkle in her eyes that told you there was a lot more to this.

"Taia, right now? In the middle of the party?" You didn't even remember where you put it, you knew it was in the dresser in your room, but it was such a mess that it would take ages for you to find it.

Natalia gave you the best puppy dog eyes she could master, and you sighed while going to your room, your best friend screaming a "Thank you!" over the loud music.

You sat on the ground in front of your dresser, starting to take out your hoodies one by one, looking for the one that belonged to your best friend.

The door to your room opened and closed again, someone making his way inside.

"Hey, Y/N, Robert told me he left his coat in here, have you seen it?" You heard Pablo's funny English accent. You turned around to face him and saw him sitting on your bed with his signature smile.

"His coat? In my bedroom?" You asked confused. "What would Lewandowski's coat do in my bed-" And just as you were planning to finish the sentence, the realization hit you, this is what they were planning. The Barcelona players, their WAGs, your friends, set you up.

You sat next to Pablo on your bed, and told him what your friends planned to lead up to this. You two laughed, your annoyance disappearing when you saw his eyes shining while laughing.

"I'm glad they sat us up though, I was worried I wouldn't get to hang out with you at all tonight." Gavi said putting his hand around your waist and pulling your body closer to his.

His action caught you off guard, but you didn't complain, after all, you were waiting for this to happen. So why not flirt back?

"At all? C'mon Pablito, you know I would come look for you." You smiled at him and he returned it.

Pablo Gavi's eyes moved from your eyes to your lips, back to your eyes and back to your lips.

"I hope you've mastered your Spanish, porque me gustaría mucho besarte ahora mismo." He said in a low voice, but you heard and understood. Because I would really like to kiss you right now.

Without wasting another moment, you kissed him like your life depended on it. Your lips moving against his lips so perfectly as if you were made for each other. It was a kiss that was so full of love and eagerness, both of you wanting this for too long. A kiss so simple has turned into a make out session when Gavi deepened the kiss, cupping your cheek and pulling you closer to him as if he was scared you would disappear.

After a while that still seemed too soon for you, you pulled away, holding your forehead against his. You both knew in that moment you were his girl, but then again, you always were even if things were unofficial between you and the football player.

"We should go back before they thing we're fucking in here." You giggled while getting up from the bed, holding your hand out for your now boyfriend to grab.

"Would it be so bad if we actually were?" Gavi laughed and interlocked his fingers with yours while you lead him out of the bedroom.

Just as you opened the door, Mikky and Natalia almost fell in, they were very clearly evesdropping, the others were behind them, looking just as excited as the two nosy girls.

"This is so mature of you guys." You laughed, eyeing them all.

"Can't blame us for wanting to see your love bloom." Anna said, holding her husband by the arm.

"So are you guys dating?" Ferran asked you, like a little kid asking his mom for candy.

"Yes, we are." Said Gavi looking at you lovingly, his teammates cheering and clapping, all the girls hugging you while screaming excitedly. "Wait a second." Gavi said and everyone stopped, including you. "Did you listen to us make out?" He said specifically looking at Mikky and Natalia.

"Ew, gross." You said but you all bursted out laughing, going back downstairs to drink and celebrate your new relationship.

Dancing with your boyfriend, who was always kissing either your lips, cheek or neck, you looked at him. "How are you feeling?" You asked Pablo.

Gavi gave you another kiss before replying. "Like I'm on the top of the world."

[broadstbroskis]

the wedding date | morgan rielly

a/n: well first things first, i’m gonna give a shoutout to myself, because i started this fucking thing back in august and it’s finally completed (that’s right, it took me 7 months to write just under 5k, shhh, it finally came together). 

anyway, since i started this back in august, you can tell i’ve had this idea for a while. it’s morphed and changed a bit but the basic premise has stayed the same- you go home with morgan for a wedding and everyone thinks that you’re the girl he’s been dating for the last few years- so i hope you all enjoy! (also i’m sorry i suck at titles but like i’m not)

a special shoutout to these lovely people who have listened to me whine about this at any point over the last SEVEN MONTHS and some fellow mo lovers because you’re all amazing and i love you, @denis-scorianov, @brockadoodles, @danglesnipecelly, @laurenairay, @hockeyboysiguess

-----

When Morgan approaches you, with what you’ll later learn is only his first attempt to ask you something, you don’t even give him the chance, really. “Hey, what are you doing this summer?”

“Not you.” You quip back, grinning cheekily, ignoring the barks of laughter from Matthews and Marner beside him.

“Haha.” Morgan deadpans, but it’s busy that night at the bar, Saturday night after a Leafs win, and you’ve really got to get back to work now that you’ve finished serving them, so you’re already walking away from him.

The second time it happens is a Friday night, a few weeks later, when you’re out with some friends for the first time all semester. It’s late enough that you’re feeling just on the right side of tipsy, you’re drunk enough that you know you’re going to go home with the guy you shouldn’t, and you’re okay with both of those things. 

At least, tonight you are. Tomorrow morning will be a different story.

And then, Morgan stops you at the bar. “Hey.”

“Hey!” You grin back...and then it slowly fades as he just hems and haws. “What’s up?”

“I-” He blows out a frustrated groan.

Your eyebrows raise. You’ve known Morgan for years now, since his first season with Leafs had been right about when you started working at the bar for some extra cash after realizing just how expensive school was getting and grad school would be beyond that. You’re not sure you’ve ever seen him at such a loss for words. “Alright, well if you can’t think of it now, get back to me later, okay?”

“Wait-” He says, so you give him a minute or two, but there’s still nothing.

“Ok, I love you, but this is my one night out before my dissertation is due later this spring.” You tell him, reaching out for a hug. “You have my number and you know where to find me.”

“Ok.” Morgan smiles a little. “Have fun tonight.” And then you slink away from him, back in the direction of your friends, ready to let loose one last time before the craziness sets in.

The night that Morgan finally gets his question out is a quiet one in the middle of the week. He settles himself into the corner, doing his best to be discrete with a hat covering his face. By the time you and your coworker get everyone settled with drinks and you make your way over to him, he’s caught the attention of one older man, who immediately walks back to his girlfriend when you arrive at Morgan’s section of the bar.

“Well finally.” He’s free of all teammates, a rarity but not unheard of, especially this late in the season. “What’s a guy gotta do to get some service around here?”

“Oh sorry!” You tease. “Did I interrupt something here? Did you want me to call that guy back up so you guys could finish up?”

He flattens you with a look. “Don’t you dare.”

You giggle, leaning down against the bar in front of him. You know how much he loves the Toronto fanbase, but as playoffs approach, the fans are becoming more vocal and more forward with their thoughts. “You want another drink?”

He looks down at his glass, contemplates for a minute, and then nods, so you return quickly with a new beer for him and then smile as you watch him take a large gulp of it. “So what’s new?”

“Ehh loaded question.” He says cryptically. You give him a look. “But hey, you’re here on a Wednesday! You done with your...dissertation?” He trails off hesitantly, smiling at himself when you nod.

“Yup. I should know next week if I’m all clear.”

“And then?” He prompts.

“And then you can call me doctor, asshole.” You tease.

“I mean, Dr. Asshole isn’t what I would have gone with as my first choice, but if that’s what you want…”

“Morgan!” You laugh, ducking your head at the lame joke.

He’s grinning when you meet his eyes again, pleased as always that he could make someone laugh. “But seriously, that’s awesome! I’m excited for you.”

“Thanks.” You grin.

“What’s your next step then?”

“Umm I get to start researching infectious diseases for money.” You tell him excitedly, since you’d accepted a job with the University of Toronto’s medical research facilities. “But it doesn’t start until August.”

You’d expected Morgan to tease you about your excitement of infectious disease-something he and his teammates (among many other people you know) have done multiple times before-but instead, he perks up and says, “So you’d be free, on say, the weekend of July 8th?”

“Why?” You ask suspiciously. Experience has told you not to immediately say yes to this.

Morgan sighs. “Look. I need a date for a wedding back home that weekend.”

“And I’m the best you could come up with?”

“Best?” Morgan repeats. “You are funny, you’re pretty, you’re a doctor, all of which, frankly, puts you well out my league.”

“You’re not wrong.” You agree cheerfully, which puts the smile back on Morgan’s face, as you’d hoped. “But that doesn’t explain why you’d need a date to this wedding.”

The smile fades quickly and you wince. “I was supposed to go with Laura.”

You frown. “What happened to Laura?” Last you’d heard, the two of them were solid. Really solid. Headed for a wedding themselves, solid.

“She wasn’t who I thought she was.” He says flatly.

You wince. “I’m sorry, Mo.”

He shrugs. “It’s over and done with now.” You send him a reassuring smile. “So will you come?”

Well, there’s really no way you can say no now and not feel like an asshole. “Sure.”

The grin returns to his face. “Knew you’d come through for me.”

-----

Morgan rolls up to the airport in Vancouver to pick you up in a very fancy looking Jeep, a far cry from the sporty Porsche he drives in Toronto, and you call him out on it immediately. “I see how it is. You go home and you’re a fancy country boy, not a fancy city boy?”

He laughs. “Fuck off.”

“Gladly.” You tell him, grinning teasingly. “Drop me off at departures, will ya?”

His tone immediately turns serious. “Thank you. Seriously. Thanks for coming.”

Your smile remains on your face, still beaming over at him. “It was nothing, Mo.” It wasn’t, really, and you both know it. You’d quit your bar job a couple weeks early because of this, but you were happy to do this for him. He’d been down about Laura, down about being bounced from the playoffs again. This spring had been rough on him and you were more than happy to do your part to cheer up one of your closest friends.

Morgan hmms, in a way like he’s pretending to be casual about it, but he changes the subject as he switches lanes to pull onto the highway.

-----

Morgan has a whole itinerary for the next few days, prior to the wedding, but promises he’ll take you around to some of his favorite spots before you leave late next week. A quiet night tonight, dinner with his parents and brother tomorrow, and then the wedding stuff began the following day.

Much like his fancy Jeep, his fancy house in Vancouver is also nothing like the condo he owns in Toronto. You wouldn’t go so far as to say that his condo is...edgy, but it’s pretty modern? The house here in Vancouver is larger, sure, but reminds you a lot of the house you grew up in...or well, a larger and fancier version of it.

“Gonna give me a tour?” You turn to Morgan, who’s standing next to you almost awkwardly, as you look up at the beautiful house in front of you. Your bags are still in his hands, and you nudge his arm playfully, reaching for one, but he won’t let you grab it, smiling back at you as he starts to lead you in.

The inside is just as nice, and even though it’s clear that his mom and interior decorator have done a lot of work on it, there’s still a lot of Mo touches too. Each one makes you smile, the ones he points out in his tour and the ones that he doesn’t, until he finally leads you upstairs, dropping your things in one of the spare rooms. “Did I-“

“If the next words out of your mouth are say thank you, I’m walking out of this house.” You warn him.

“-ask what you want to do for dinner tonight?” Morgan finishes lamely and you laugh.

“That sushi place you always hype up?”

Morgan smiles. “Anything you want.” He says, and then, instead of the thank you that you know he wants to say, he pulls you in for a hug and squeezes tightly, before letting go. “Change and we’ll go?”

“Shower, change, and we’ll go.” You correct, dying to get the feel of airplane off you. “45 minutes.”

Morgan looks at you knowingly. “Sure, uh huh.” He says, nodding like he knows it’ll be much closer to an hour, an hour and fifteen, and you laugh, shoving at his shoulder before he makes you want to stretch it out to an hour and a half on purpose.

-----

Morgan’s parents might be the nicest people in the world, but they’re also a little...odd? Like, you’re not trying to be mean, because just like Morgan, they truly are the absolute sweetest, but, like, they just keep smiling at you with this knowing smile, like they know something that you don’t and it’s just...weird.

But they welcome you with open arms, when the two of you show up to dinner on your second night in town, hugging you just as tightly as they hug their own son, maybe even tighter than they hug the son who still lives in the same province as them. 

“We’re so excited to finally meet you!” Morgan’s mom gushes, once you get settled in their kitchen with a glass of wine, which at least explains the weirdness a little. “

“You guys too.” You admit. You’ve heard so much about them, his parents and brother, over the years of friendship with Morgan; it’s nice to finally put faces to names, to stories. “Thanks for having me tonight.” Next to you, Morgan nudges you, a grin on his face. You can practically hear him. Stop saying thank you, like you’ve been saying to him for the past day. 

“Oh stop!” She says, practically in time with his nudge. “Morgan tells us you’re a doctor now!” It’s said with pride, like you may as well be one of her own children who’s done something great.

“Yeah!” You smile, swirling the wine around a little, and then, because you don’t want there to be any confusion. “Not that kind of doctor; you should still call 911 if something happens.”

His dad laughs and his mom beams. “What kind of doctor then?” His dad asks, and you spend a while talking with his parents about epidemiology and your dissertation- his mom, it turns out, works in a similar field, and it isn’t long before the two of you are rolling your eyes about some research that just came out.

“What?” You ask Morgan, laughing, when your conversation breaks out, and she has to go check on dinner, at his dad’s request, before he burns it all entirely.

“I just forgot how excited you get about infectious diseases.”

“Can’t believe you’ve been out here this whole time knowing that your mom and I both exist and haven’t introduced us.” You announce. “The rudeness, the hearsay.”

“I don’t think that’s how that word’s used.” Morgan cackles.

“Oh, sorry, are you a doctor?”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with knowing how that word is used!” He protests, laughing.

You ignore him. “If you even think of keeping her from me when they come to Toronto…”

He wraps his arm around your shoulders and squeezes. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

-----

“Are you ready yet?” Morgan calls, and you take one last look in the mirror on the wall, smoothing the pleats in your dress. “We’re going to be late!”

“But it’s gonna be worth it!” You sing-song as you descend the stairs to meet him in the living room.

“Is it ev-” He cuts off abruptly, eyes wide and swallowing visibly as he cuts off. “Wow, okay then.”

“Worth it.” You wink at him, brushing past him to grab your purse. 

Morgan’s laughing as he picks up his keys, this soft and gentle thing that you can’t help but smile at. “Yeah, I should’ve known it would be.”

“You’ll know better for tomorrow!” You tease, and breeze past him to get in the car.

The ride to his cousin’s rehearsal dinner isn’t far, spent mostly laughing as you keep switching the station from anything Morgan changes it back to. By the time you arrive at the restaurant, you’re both giggling as you enter, flagged down almost immediately by Morgan’s mom.

“Look at you two!” She gushes.

“Mom.” Morgan says dryly. “Come on.”

She smiles at him indulgently. “Make sure you say hi to your cousin.” 

“Yeah, of course.” Morgan nods, grabbing your hand to pull you away. “Just after we hit the bar.” He mutters and you giggle.

His cousin, the bride, and her husband-to-be seem to have the same idea, and it’s just as you’re turning away, wine glasses in hand, that you nearly run into them.

“Oh!” Ashley beams excitedly, once Morgan introduces you. “Hi!”

“Congratulations!” You return the excitement. She’s so bubbly and bright; it’s easy to do, even though you don’t know her. “You guys look so great tonight; you’re going blow us all away tomorrow.”

“She’s going to blow me away tomorrow.” Dylan jokes, but you can tell by the twinkle in his eye that he’s entirely serious.

“Oh stop.” Ashley knocks his arm. “And you too,” She gestures at you. “You look amazing! How’d you do your hair like that?”

“This?” She nods and you walk her through it quickly; it’s a look that’s so much more simple than it looks and she’s gasping by the time you’re done. 

“Ok, mhmm.” She nods. “I’m getting your number from Morgan later so you can go over that with me again because I’m definitely going to forget.”

Morgan flicks a piece of your hair. “It’s a hairstyle, what could you possibly forget?”

You and Ashley exchange a look. “I got you.” You reassure her as you both laugh at him.

“Men, honestly.” She shakes her head, as Morgan and Dylan protest, but then before you and Ashley can talk any more, she and Dylan are being called away, and there’s promises for you all to catch up tomorrow at the wedding.

“You can’t have her phone number unless you promise not to talk about me.” Morgan says.

“Fat chance.” You tell him. “But nice try.”

From there, you start making your way back to his parents, stopping off to chat quickly with relatives he recognizes (and once, ducking purposefully into a small crowd to avoid an aunt he doesn’t want to see). You feel like it shouldn’t be surprising how nice his family is, given how genuine Morgan is, but each person you meet welcomes you so warmly, with kind words and open arms. 

“You must talk about me a lot.” You tease, as you two start making your way to your table.

Morgan shrugs. “More than I’d realized apparently.” You cackle and he laughs; it’s familiar and easy, but then you’re easily distracted by the appetizers coming to the table and fighting Morgan for extra of your favorites-also familiar and easy.

-----

It’s another morning of Morgan waiting impatiently for you, being rewarded with his gaping jaw dropped, and teasing him the entire ride to the wedding, before he easily gets his revenge when you tear up at the ceremony.

“You don’t even know these people!” He nudges you forward toward his cousin in the reception line right after the ceremony. “And you’re going to cry like that?”

“It was a beautiful ceremony!” You defend. You’d been right yesterday; Ashley had easily blown everyone away from the moment she’d entered the room. Their vows were incredible; you didn’t understand how anyone wasn’t crying.

Morgan snickers, nudging you forward again. “God, what do you do at weddings you actually know the people at?” He pauses as you both step closer another, like the idea has just come to him. “Oh man, what are going to do at your own wedding?”

“Bawl my eyes out, obviously.” You say dryly. “Tell my future husband to bring tissues.” You move up, next in line for Ashley and Dylan. “You clearly didn’t get the message.”

“What’d you do?” Ashley pokes him; you guess whoever was in front of you was a guest she didn’t know all that well because they’ve moved along pretty quickly.

“Me? I’d never.” Morgan says innocently, ducking down to kiss her cheek.

“I’m just giving him a hard time.” You agree and she grins, shocking you when she pulls you in for a hug. 

“He probably deserves it.” She says cheerfully.

“Wow, I see family loyalty goes a long way here, huh.” Morgan deadpans.

Ashley gives him a look. “Not for much longer, I guess, though?” She nudges him.

“Oh I see how it is, you’ve been married for all of five minutes and suddenly Dylan’s family is better than ours?” Morgan teases.

Ashley blinks. “That is...not how I meant that at all.” She says, but before she can say anything else to you, the couple behind the two of you starts sighing impatiently, and you all realize how long you’ve been talking for. You quickly congratulate her and then move along to Dylan as well, before stepping out of line and moving towards the reception area.

The bridal party was quick to get the reception started after the ceremony, so when you and Morgan make your way over, there’s already a decent sized group chatting and drinking. You both grab drinks from the bar and make your way to a group of his cousins, chatting for a while and laughing along as they’re sure to include you in all of their jokes.

When it comes time to start making your way to your table for dinner, you excuse yourself to the bathroom quickly, running into Morgan’s grandmother when you’re there, who had the same idea as you it seems.

She lights up when she sees you fixing your hair in the mirror, stepping up to wash her hands. “It looks great.” She assures you and you smile, thanking her. “Are you having a good time?”

You nod, following her out so the two of you can make your way back to the reception. “Such a good time! Everyone’s been amazing and Ashley and Dylan are beautiful; it’s been a great weekend!”

“It’ll be great to be all be here again,” Morgan’s grandmother smiles at you and you return it politely. “Next summer.” She adds, like an afterthought, and you shrug. She’d know better than you what the upcoming engagements look like. You can barely remember the names of the people you’re seated with tonight.

“If Morgan brings me back then.” You throw her a finger gun and she laughs-loudly.

“Oh, you’re a trip!” She nudges you gently, laughing. “Such a doll. Let’s get another glass of wine together before we go back, shall we?”

“I will never say no to that.” You’re pretty sure you still have a couple minutes to spare before you need to sit down. 

His grandmother links arms with you. “My kinda gal.” She beams and her smile is contagious, just like Morgan’s is when he’s really happy, so it’s not hard to grin along with her as she tugs you along for another glass of rosé.

-----

The evening’s winding down- the wedding long over and the after party beginning to do so as well. Almost all of the older relatives have made their way home or to their hotel rooms but there’s a few sloppy cousins and friends still going hard (you’ve got some serious concerns how the one groomsman is even going to make it upstairs). Ashley and Dylan keep stealing glances at each other, like they’re wondering if it’s late enough for them to sneak away yet, but each time they look like they’re going to, someone calls for another toast.

Morgan nudges you. “Hey.” He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a couple cigars. “Outside with me?”

You think about it for a second. Usually, you love a good cigar-and you’re sure that Morgan’s managed to acquire a good one- but tonight? “Not really in the mood, but I’ll come out.”

He grins, a little crooked, and offers his hand to help you up from the couch the two of you have been sitting on. Outside, the weather is beautiful, one of those crystal clear nights with a light breeze where you feel like you could be outside for hours. He lights the cigar while you continue to sip at your wine, the two of you standing in comfortable silence, until the door opens again.

“Cigars without me?” His brother grumbles. “I see how it is now.”

“Yup, just left you behind on purpose.” Morgan says shamelessly, but he’s already pulling the spare out of his pocket and handing it over.

“Unsurprising.”

“Yeah?” Morgan asks, amusedly. “Why’s that?” 

His brother gives him a look, and then, when Morgan doesn’t react, looks over at you, but you just shrug. “Just promise you won’t forget about me once you pop the question.”

You choke on your drink; Morgan looks just as shocked, the cigar halfway to his mouth. “What?” He says finally.

For the first time, his brother looks unsure. “I think...we all just thought...once you brought her home, that was the only thing holding you back?”

“Oh my god.” Morgan says breathlessly.

“I’m not-” You add helplessly. “We’re not-”

“Oh.” His brother winces. “Wait, so you’re not…” He trails off and the silence between the three of you becomes so thick it’s almost palpable. You don’t know what to do, what to say. What he even means. “You’re not together?” He says finally, sounding like he’d rather be anywhere else, doing anything else.

You can relate. You shake your head slowly, notice Morgan’s doing the same out of the corner of your eye.

“Um.” His brother continues. “And-and you haven’t been-together?” Another head shake. “Wow. A lot of people are going to be very disappointed.”

“A lot of people?” Morgan repeats. “Who...who all thinks this?” But you don’t need an answer to know and apparently, he doesn’t either. The silence thickens somehow; you didn’t think it was possible. 

“Um.” His brother’s already backing away, even as he speaks. “I’m gonna go now. Before I say anything else to make this worse.”

He’s gone before you can tell him you’re not sure that’s possible, leaving you and Morgan in the loudest silence you’ve ever experienced. 

It’s abundantly clear Morgan feels it too, from the way he won’t even meet your eyes, will barely even look at you, actually. And there’s so much to say here, but well, “You never brought Laura to meet your family? Never let them meet her at home?” Apparently, they really weren’t as serious as you’d thought.

Morgan laughs hollowly, finally meeting your eyes. “That probably should have been a clue, huh?”

“A little bit of a red flag.” You agree. It’d been how many years? Morgan’s tight with his family, that much you knew before you’d come out here and only became clearer as you met them. “Why...why didn’t you ever introduce them?”

Morgan sighs. “I think-I always knew something wasn’t right. And I just didn’t want to admit it?” He sighs again. “I shouldn’t have brought you into this.”

“You didn’t know.” You tell him gently. “And I wanted to come.” You remind him. “I was happy to!” You pause for a second. “I was happy to come across the country to a wedding with you and your family with barely a second thought. So maybe we both need to re-examine what happened here this weekend.”

“Maybe we don’t.” Morgan says simply.

“What?” You frown, confused.

“You were happy to fly across the country for a wedding with me and my family.” Morgan repeats, with a small smile on his face. “And then you come here and meet my entire family, and they think I’m ready to propose to you, because you're the girl they hear me talk about all the time.” Your jaw drops-is he saying...what you think he’s saying-and his smile grows into a grin. “I think this thing between us has been more than either of us have been able to admit because we’ve had other things going on- school or hockey or-”

“Other girlfriends?” You supply teasingly, when he trails off, like he’s afraid to mention her name.

He nods. “There’ve been other boyfriends, too.” He nudges you, just as teasing.

“There have.” You admit, because it’s not a lie, but none of them have ever worked out, for a variety of reasons, but you can’t help but think, that now that he’s mentioning it, Morgan might have been a part of those other reasons.

He’s back to smiling again when he continues, leaning against you slightly. “I think we owe it to ourselves to see what we could be.”

You lean back against him. “You do, do you?”

“I do.” He nods.

“Little early for that, don’t you think?” It takes a second for your joke to land, but once it does, he cracks up and it brings a smile to your face. 

“We are at a wedding.” He grins, nudging you playfully. “Who knows, maybe someday it’ll be ours?”

-----

a bit in the future

It’s one of those beautiful sunny days where the sun is shining with a light breeze where you feel like you could be outside for hours. 

Unfortunately, you’ve got a huge project due at the end of the week, so while Morgan’s been enjoying the lake all day, you’ve been sitting at a table on the dock, staring at your laptop, tapping away at your keyboard, and ignoring his increasingly annoying calls for attention.

It’s harder to ignore when he comes up next to you, wrapping his wet arms around your shoulders. “Morgan.” You try to shake him off. “Come on, gimme like ten minutes and then I’ll come in.”

“Promise?” He asks.

“Yes.” You say because if you can get this one last thing done you’ll be ahead of your goal for the day.

It works; Morgan sits down next to you quietly, scrolling through his phone for a bit, and then, jumps up and runs inside the cabin, and you jump on the opportunity of quiet to get ahead even further, losing yourself in your next bit of project.

“Hey,” Morgan says casually, and it scares you a bit, his return far quieter than he’s been all day. “What are you doing the weekend of July 8th?”

“I don’t know, that’s like a year away!.” You snap, turning to tell him to stop annoying you, only for your jaw to drop when you see him down on one knee.

“Want to get married then?” He says, a twinkle in his eye and a grin on his face, like he’s been waiting for this reaction, like it was everything and more.

“Oh my god! Are you serious?” He slips his hand into his pocket and pulls out a ring; you gasp. “Morgan!”

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes, oh my god, yes!” Your computer long forgotten in the face of an engagement ring, you throw yourself at Morgan, who catches you easily, like he was prepared for this. He probably was. He knows you better than anyone; he’s your best friend and so much more. He barely manages to slip the ring on your finger before you’re kissing him. “I love you!”

“I love you, too.” He grins. “Are you sure you’re ready to take this jump with me?”

“Of course!” You beam, but it hits you just a minute too late. He’s already jumping in the water. “You’re the worst.” You sputter out at him, purposefully spitting lake water at his face. 

He doesn’t even look like he minds. “For better or worse.” He grins.

“That’s not what that’s referring to!” You splash him and he splashes back but before it can devolve into a full on splash attack, he’s pulling you into his arms.

“I mean it though.” He says, kissing you again. “And I’ll tell you again, next summer, at our wedding.”

Our wedding. The words sound almost unreal, too good to be true. “I’ll be the one in white.” You promise. “Or, well, maybe ivory.” You say and it’s hard to kiss Morgan then when he’s laughing so hard.

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 15

TW: mentions of sexual harassment

December 30th, 2019

Aberdeen Bloom was ready for 2020.

She had to get through a game against Minnesota first, but she was excited nonetheless.  And she checked the weather in Winnipeg and saw that it was -20°C, but she tried to remain excited.  Even if she was going to freeze her ass off.

As she climbed the stairs up to the charter plane behind Brendan, she took one look back at the tarmac, at the sun setting behind them.  She was going to miss Toronto.  This would be the first time ever that she’d spend the new year outside of the city, outside of the country.  She figured Minnesota was the closest thing she could get to Canada – everybody always said how alike they were – but it, of course, wasn’t the same.  Kasha and Siena were going to a party hosted by Masani, and most of Aberdeen’s friends would be there too.  Except her.  Because she’d be at a hotel in Minnesota, ringing in the new year alone.  

Aberdeen would at least be able to FaceTime them.  Hopefully.

When she put her carry-on in the overhead compartment, she looked down the plane to see William finishing doing the same and taking off his jacket.  He looked over at her.  Subconsciously, she raised her hand to fix her hair.  He saw the ring on her finger flash in the poor airplane light.  He looked away to bite his lip and smile.  It was his go-to reaction when he saw it on her finger in New Jersey the first time – he’d actually walked away when he saw it because it was too much for him to bear.  When he saw it again, back in Toronto on Saturday against the Rangers, he’d had the same reaction.  Now, at least, he wasn’t as bashful about it.  He didn’t turn red and have to walk away.  

But none of that mattered now.  She was too sullen and too sad to have it really get to her like it usually would.  For the first time since she started working for Brendan, she desperately didn’t want to go anywhere.  She wanted to stay in Toronto.  She wanted to go to Masani’s house party.  She wanted to drink cocktails with Siena and Kasha, and she wanted to drink champagne at midnight surrounded by all her friends.  She wanted to go to her parents’ house on New Year’s Day and hug them and hug Camden.  

But she couldn’t.

“Is this your first time out of the city for New Year’s?” Brendan asked, interrupting her thoughts as he put his bag in the overhead compartment.  

“Yeah,” she nodded her head, her attention completely away from William now, who she knew was probably still looking at her, or at least in her general direction.

“First time you won’t see your family?”

She nodded again.  “I’m trying not to think about it.”

“Hmph…” Brendan nodded knowingly.  “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

Aberdeen slipped into her seat on the plane.  She watched Brendan slip into his own seat in front of her before he took out his iPad.  Through the crack between the seats, she saw him open Netflix.  She knew that meant she wouldn’t be bothered, so she stuck her headphones in her ears and settled in.  

When the plane took off, she had to close her window.  If she didn’t, she knew she’d cry, unable to say goodbye to the city she wished she could celebrate in. 

***

December 31st, 2019

Aberdeen was lucky that it was an early game.  It meant she could go back into her hotel room and FaceTime Siena and Kasha while they were at the party and pretend she was there too.

The team had gotten in late last night and immediately checked into the hotel and went to bed.  After a quick morning skate and hanging out at the arena, Aberdeen was running something for Brendan as she walked inside the locker room.  By this point, the team was comfortable with her presence, and no-one batted an eye.  Even she was comfortable – a complete turnaround from her first day when she basically slammed herself into a door twice because she saw them in tight workout gear.  They could be topless now and she wouldn’t even notice.  What had her life become?  

When she finished speaking to Dave Hakstol on behalf of Brendan, she was ready to leave.  That was, until—

“You,” Jason said sternly as he marched towards her from across the room.  “You get over here now,” he grabbed her arm and led her out of the room, into a part of the hallway where he could speak to her without anyone interrupting.  

“What’s this about?” Aberdeen asked.

“What’s this I hear about Ethan Baker?” Jason asked.

She froze in her spot.  She didn’t expect to have to deal with this now.  “Oh.  That.”

“Aberdeen, what the fuck?” he asked, his tone as serious as she’d ever heard it.  “William and Pierre told us after morning skate that he was fired for sexually harassing you before Christmas.  Pierre could barely speak he was still so angry.”

“He was fired for sexually harassing me,” she confirmed.

“What the fuck happened?”

“He uh…he felt me up in the staff kitchen before Christmas.  Pierre walked in on the tail end of it.  Thankfully.”

“He what?!” Jason was absolutely livid.  Aberdeen had never seen him this angry.  He wasn’t punching walls (Jason didn’t punch walls), but she could tell the anger was boiling within him.  “What do you mean he felt you up?”

“Do I really have to go into detail?” she asked, uncomfortable with revealing anything more.  “He’s gone now, that’s all that matters.”

“And Pierre and William tell us he was making you uncomfortable for a while?” Jason continued.  At that point, Aberdeen couldn’t look him in the eye anymore.  She knew William would tell them about the assault, but she didn’t know he’d tell them absolutely everything.  She didn’t want to have to tell Jason – old, wise, sensible Jason – what she told William on Christmas.  She knew he’d be so disappointed in her, and the absolute last thing she wanted in the world was for Jason Spezza to be disappointed in her.  “Aberdeen, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Jason…”

“Aberdeen.”

“I didn’t…listen, I just didn’t think it was worth the trouble.  I knew at the beginning he was just hazing me or whatever because I was the new girl.  But the more inappropriate it got, the more I just…I don’t know, I didn’t think I was worth the hassle—”

“William said he called you a piggy one day,” Jason said.  “How is that not worth the hassle?”  Aberdeen stayed silent.  At her silence, Jason became even more frustrated.  “Aberdeen, you need to know how valued you are as a member of the team.”

“I’m not a Leaf, Jason.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he was stern.  “The whole locker room is ready to find him and rip out his throat.  How could you even think that we wouldn’t have done anything if you came to one of us?”

“I did,” she whispered, immediately regretting it.

“What?”

“I said I did,” she said louder.  She took a deep breath.  “William found me one day trying to move hockey bags by myself because Ethan said I needed to do it.  He told Mike about it, but Mike decided not to pursue it any further or take it to Brendan.”

Jason looked like a mix between being unable to believe the words that were coming out of her mouth and looking like he was ready to blow a gasket.  “Why am I not surprised?” he mumbled through gritted teeth.  

Aberdeen shrugged.  After what came out about Mike after he got fired, she wasn’t exactly surprised either.  And after what he did to Jason on the season opener, she really wasn’t surprised.  He probably thought she deserved it for all she knew, being the rookie and all.  “It’s over now, Jason.  I want to put it past me.  And I appreciate you coming up to me – seriously, thank you – but I think you can understand why I don’t want to do talk about it anymore.”

As she moved to turn away from him, she felt him grab her elbow gently one last time.  “Just…listen to me.  Before you go,” he said.  “If anybody, ever, in any capacity, makes you feel uncomfortable whatsoever, you tell one of us.”

“I will,” she smiled, turning again to walk away.  

“Even if it is one of us.”

Aberdeen stopped.  She looked over her shoulder and back at him, seeing him standing in his Leafs hoodie and staring directly at her.  There was conviction in his voice.  Principle.  Morality.  She knew he was dead serious.

She nodded her head.  

***

Catering had prepared a rosé pasta, some chicken, fresh vegetables, and a hearty soup for the team to consume before the game.  Aberdeen took a large bowl of the cream of broccoli soup and brought it to her table, where she sat alone.  Only some of the team had filtered in so far – it was mostly the equipment and coaching staff.  She ate her soup in peace while she scrolled through her phone.

That was, until—

“Hey,” she heard Morgan’s voice.  When she looked up, he was already setting his plate of food down on the table at the seat right beside her.  From behind him, John Tavares appeared, setting his plate down beside Morgan’s.  

“Hi guys,” she smiled.  It would have looked like a slight ambush, but Morgan and John had to be the nicest guys in the league.  Morgan was practically her Uber driver, for heaven’s sake.  “How are you?”

“We’re fine,” John answered politely.

“What about you?” Morgan asked.

The inflex in his tone was telling.  “I’m fine…”

“Listen,” John just got right into it.  There was no point of beating around the bush.  “William and Pierre told us what happened—”

“You’re not sticking to the script, John,” Morgan grumbled.

“Your script was horrible, Morgan.”

“We agreed on the script.”

“We didn’t agree on anything.”

“Because you insist on the script being written by William fucking Shakespeare—"

Aberdeen couldn’t help but snort.  Besides being the nicest guys in the league, the other thing she could count on them for was making her laugh.  “Guys – it’s fine – Jason already spoke to me about it too—”

“Noooo no no, we’re not letting you off that easy,” Morgan shook his head.  “He’s the captain and I’m one of the alternates.  We have to get to the bottom of this.”

Aberdeen gave the boys a look, waiting for them to proceed.  She wondered how deep they would go with their grilling.  She wondered if they’d get as mad as Jason did, even if more people, teammates included, were filing into the dining room now.  “I’m not here to pry, Aberdeen.  I don’t want to know the details because I’m sure you don’t want to relive them,” John said.  “I just…more than anything, I just want to know why you didn’t say anything.  Like, why you didn’t approach me, or Morgan, or any of the other guys about how uncomfortable he made you.”

Aberdeen sighed.  She knew she’d have to go through the same things she told Jason.  “I just didn’t think that it was worth the big hassle.  I knew at the beginning he was just hazing me or whatever because I was the newbie.  As it got worse, I just…didn’t want to make a big deal.  I know that sounds horrible.  Believe me.”

“You should have made it a big deal,” Morgan said.

“I know.  I know that now,” Aberdeen nodded her head.  “And…uh, for what it’s worth, William sort of caught him once, so to speak, and he tried to talk to Mike about it, but Mike didn’t take it any further.”

“Babcock?” John asked.

“The one and only.”

Morgan and John shot each other a knowing look.  It’s as if everyone knew – that they held out hope he would have done the right thing, but knowing he ultimately wouldn’t.  It was Morgan that looked at Aberdeen first.  “Did anyone ever tell you what happened to Bee?” he asked.

Aberdeen shook her head.  She had no clue where this was leading to.  “No…”

Morgan took a deep breath.  “Bee grew up with an alcoholic mother,” he began, setting the tone of the conversation with those words.  “She fought to have herself legally emancipated from her at sixteen, and she never saw her after that.  At the end of January – near All Star Weekend, actually – it’ll be a year since Bee’s mom passed away.  Bee grew up in rooming houses, homeless shelters, all that.”

“Wow,” Aberdeen was legitimately shocked at what Morgan was telling her.  “I didn’t know any of that.”

“When we started dating, she started to get these messages accusing me of being her sugar daddy and all that.  Trapping me.  Just really stupid stuff,” Morgan recounted.  “But as time went on, the messages started becoming worse.  They started targeting her weight.  They started targeting her personality, her character.  Why we were together.  After…” he paused, collecting his emotions, “after Zach’s wedding last summer, and a video was posted to Snapchat of her and Freddie and Tyler Ennis having fun, someone had the audacity to call her the team cum bucket.  It got to her, a lot.  A lot.  But Bee always stayed silent about it.  She took this stance of having a dignified silence.”

From beside him, John nodded his head.  “Then one day, Bee, Aryne, and Bee’s best friend Angie were having dinner when a group of girls that knew Kappy’s ex approached them.  It…” John paused, having to collect his emotions as well as he retold the story.  He shook his head.  “They somehow learned that Bee’s mom had died due to her alcoholism, and brought it up as a point of gossip.  It wrecked Bee.  Just completely…” he looked over to Morgan, who was shaking his head.  He still didn’t like thinking about it.  “Lawyers almost got involved, social media managers…Bee had to make a super private Instagram account.  She even came out with a statement on the public one she has now about the whole thing.”

Aberdeen couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  “Holy shit,” was all she could say.  She felt horrible knowing that Bee had gone through something so terrible.  She’d always been nothing but an absolute sweetheart to Aberdeen whenever she and Morgan drove her home and whenever Aberdeen saw her at Scotiabank Arena.  To think that a group of girls had done that to her was appalling.  “I’m—I’m really sorry that happened to you guys,” she told Morgan.

“John offered to get lawyers involved.  Good lawyers.  And I’d do anything for Bee, so you know I was ready to burn the entire city down,” Morgan said.  Aberdeen knew.  She could tell just by the way he looked at her when they were in the car together driving her home that Morgan would move entire oceans for Bee.

“When Bee and I talked about it on the phone, I told her that one of the risks of being quiet is that other people can fill your silence, and you can’t let them fill your silence,” John explained.  “And that’s what I’m going to tell you too, Aberdeen.  The risk of being quiet is that other people can fill your silence.  Don’t let them fill your silence.”

The words hit Aberdeen like a ton of bricks.  She knew exactly what John meant.  She could no longer stay silent about things and be “just” Brendan’s executive assistant, the girl in the shadows willing to do anything for her boss but not willing to speak up about things.  She had to be better.  She had to be stronger, fiercer.  She had to use her voice.  “Thanks, guys.”

“And if anyone ever makes you feel uncomfortable, you come tell one of us and we’ll take care of it,” Morgan affirmed.

Aberdeen nodded her head.  “I will.”

***

The Leafs won 4-1, thankfully ending the decade on a good note.  William scored.  Not that she cared.  The game even ended at 7:30, which meant after media, everybody was on the bus to get back to the hotel by 8:15.  The guys didn’t mess around – they wanted out of the arena quick.  She was sure that a lot of them were going to do what she was planning on doing: FaceTiming friends and family back home.  She knew for a fact that a lot of the girls were at a party together.  And she knew for a fact the party Masani was throwing was already happening because of the time difference.  She couldn’t wait to bundle up in her room and call Siena.  

That was, until—

“Alright, you all get one hour to get all shiny and new before the bus leaves again,” Brendan announced.  He looked down at Aberdeen.  “Including you,” he added, before walking off the bus.

She furrowed her brows.  “What’s going on?”

“My boy Boeser recommended Murray’s Steakhouse for a New Year’s team dinner,” Auston said as he stood up from his seat, just across the aisle and two seats down from her seat at the front of the bus.  “Best steaks in the city.  So get a move on.”

She couldn’t believe it.  Brendan hadn’t told her about a thing.  He didn’t even tell her to pack an extra outfit.  So now she was going to be stuck wearing work clothes to the best steakhouse in the city on New Years surrounded by the Maple Leafs.  She was going to kill him.  

So she showered.  And she did her hair.  And she put on some makeup.  And she tried to put together an outfit.  And when she went back down to the lobby to see almost everyone already waiting and ready to go, she beelined towards Jason who was looking down at his phone.  “Did you know about the dinner?” she asked, scaring him slightly.

“We had a hunch,” he shrugged his shoulders.  “Why?  You didn’t?”

“No.”

“I thought you would have made all the arrangements.  I mean, no offence.”

“None taken,” she said, looking around briefly.  She saw Kasperi exit the elevator, followed by William.  She looked away quickly, focusing her attention back to Jason.  “What are Jen and the girls up to tonight?”

“Are you asking me because you genuinely care or because you want to take your mind off Willy?” Jason smirked, who had followed her line of sight.  

“Shut up, Jason.”

“Hey,” Kasperi’s voice interrupted their little chat as he and William showed up beside them.  Aberdeen smiled politely at them but Jason still had a cheeky grin on his face.  “You guys ready for some tomahawk steaks?”

“I prefer filets,” Aberdeen said.

“Hmm,” Kasper smirked.  “Like Willy.”

Aberdeen sneered at Kasperi, but William’s grew a bit of a smirk.  “How do I look, Aberdeen?”

She shook her head.  “You look like you should have had the starring role in Mamma Mia.”

Jason and Kasperi snorted.  Kasperi even took out his phone to write down the insult in his notes – he’d been keeping a record of all of them since the beginning.  William smiled too, shaking his head slightly.  “Well, it does have Abba in it,” he commented.

“Exactly what Swedes are known for.”

“Not Ikea or our hockey players?”

“Definitely Ikea, not your hockey players.”

“Ouch, Aberdeen,” William brought his hand up to his heart, pretending to be heartbroken.  Kappy rolled his eyes at William.  

Before she could respond, Brendan’s boisterous voice could be heard getting off of the elevator.  He was with Sheldon, who looked equally as happy as Brendan to be going out.  She wondered why others weren’t as pouty as she was about all of this – all she wanted to do, still, was FaceTime with Siena and her friends and pretend she was back in Toronto.  That was, until, she remembered that the team was their family too, almost as much as their real family.  These guys were on the road almost as often as they were home, and that although they had families at home, or wives, or girlfriends, their teammates were as much family as their actual family.  And somehow, someway, she had become a factor in that ‘family’ – she was a member, she was a willing participant, she was a constant presence in their life with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

More than anything, she was very lucky.  She needed to remember that.  Despite being away from her family in friends, she was still a very lucky girl.

At the restaurant, they got led to a private room with a few TVs and everything done up with banners, streamers, and party hats and favours.  There were two long tables, and Brendan commandeered one of them, sitting at the head, while John commandeered the other, sitting at the head as well.  She shuffled in with everyone else, looking down at her phone to see if Siena or Kasha had texted, and before she knew it, she was sandwiched in between Jason and Morgan, will William opposite her space at the table, sandwiched between Kasperi and Pierre Engvall.

She probably shouldn’t be here.  She should probably be at Brendan’s table, with Sheldon and the coaching staff and the equipment guys and— “I think I should go to the other ta—”

“Sit,” Jason instructed her, calmly but firmly.  “You need to stop being so nervous all the time.  Brendan doesn’t care where you sit.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Positive.  Especially if you’re sitting next to me.”

Aberdeen acquiesced.  He was probably lying, but he would be the one to deal with it later if he was and Brendan had a problem with it.  She settled in, looking down at the menu and ordering a filet with a lobster tail and a side of mashed potatoes and asparagus.  If she was going to be here, she was going to go all out.  

The dinner was nice.  Brendan and John gave short but sweet speeches as everyone got their meals, and the conversation that followed was lively, fun, and animated.  William seemed to be on his best behaviour, but throughout the dinner she could feel his leg brush up against hers under the table.  She’d shoot him a look every time; he’d just make eyes with her and smile.  A lot of the guys were reflecting on the year, some even on the entire decade – where they had been at the beginning versus where they are now – and it made Aberdeen think about her year and her decade too.  At the beginning, she was in elementary school; at the end, she was working for the Toronto Maple Leafs.  In between, she’d had a horde of stupid crushes, a couple of ex-boyfriends, listened to good music, gotten her licence, gotten published, moved out, cried about bad grades, cried about good grades, graduated, and got her first real ‘big girl’ job.  She had a lot to be proud of.  She had a lot left to do, but still a lot to still be proud of.

When dinner was over and the guys were just shooting the shit at the table or around the room, Aberdeen took the opportunity to go to a quiet hallway outside of the party room so she could call Siena.  It was 10:30 in Minneapolis, which meant it was 11:30 in Toronto, and Aberdeen wanted to talk to her before midnight, before all the champagne, and before Siena got too drunk.  

The first call didn’t go through.  The second call dropped.  Aberdeen got nervous.  What if the lines were already too busy?  What if she wouldn’t be able to speak to Siena?  The fear began to kick in.  She moved down the hallway, closer to a window, hoping it would help.  The third call dropped again, and so did the fourth.  Aberdeen could feel her chest tightening.  She tried one more time.  She was about to give up hope and cry for the rest of the night.  But then the screen changed, and it froze for a second.  And then —

“Aberdeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!” Siena cooed happily into the phone, finally appearing on the screen with a giant smile on her face.  “How are you?  Where are you guys tonight?”

“I’m fine.  We’re at some steakhouse in Minneapolis.  How’s the party?” she asked.

“It’s soooo good.  See for yourself!” she exclaimed, flipping the phone towards everyone at the party.  Siena screamed that it was Aberdeen and all her friends came rushing to the screen – Kasha and Evan were waving and blowing kisses, Masani was clinking her glass towards the screen, and so many of her other friends were waving and screaming sentiments like ‘Wish you were here!’  It made Aberdeen emotional to say the least.  It was where she wanted to be more than anything.  When that was all done with, Siena focused the screen back on herself.  “One of Masani’s friends is a bartender and he’s been making us drinks all night.  He made this killer punch too.  Everybody’s here.  Everybody.  It’s so fun.”

Aberdeen could feel her cheeks flush.  “I wish I was there,” she said, trying not to make her voice crack.  “I wish I was there so bad.”

“You’re spending New Year’s Eve with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Aberdeen.  It can’t be that bad,” Siena quipped.

“It’s not.  It’s not bad at all,” Aberdeen said.  Her voice ended up cracking – so much for trying to hide her emotion.  She knew she probably sounded ungrateful at this point, but she didn’t really care.  She’d been bottling it up all day, and she needed to let it out.  “It’s great being with them.  It is.  But I just…I just wish I was spending it at home with you and everyone else.”

Siena could hear the emotion apparent in Aberdeen’s voice.  Aberdeen watched as Siena walked down a hallway and locked herself in a washroom so she could hear her better and really get to the bottom of things.  “Aberdeen, talk to me,” she said as she sat on the toilet.  “What’s wrong?  What’s going on?”

“I just…I miss home.  I miss Toronto.  I miss mom and dad,” Aberdeen admitted.  “I miss being with them and I miss them roasting me all the time, and I miss dad asking us to text him when we get to the party, and I miss mom telling us to call her if we need a ride back home, and I miss…I miss everything about not being home and not celebrating at home.”

“But we’ve spent New Year’s with friends since university…”

Aberdeen shook her head, the stray tears finally falling down her cheek slowly.  “I know, but I was always…home.  In Toronto.  I’d come home and mom and dad would still be up and I’d get to hug them, and the next morning I’d get to hug Cam, and I can’t do that.  I’m in a different country.  It just feels weird and I don’t like it.  I’m not trying to sound ungrateful.  I’m just saying I don’t like it.”

“Aberdeen…” Siena sympathized with her sister.  “It’ll be okay.”

“Will it, though?”

“Yes it will,” Siena affirmed.  “It’s only one New Year’s.  You’ll be able to see mom and dad when you get home, and I promise you it’ll be okay.  They’re going to give you those really long hugs that you like so much.  And this – Aberdeen, it’s one house party with friends that you’re missing, but it’s not like this one is the last one we’re ever going to go to.  We’re going to have plenty more together.    I’ll have to hold your hair back as you puke in a toilet a few more times, I’m sure of it.”

Aberdeen couldn’t help but smile slightly, wiping away the tears.  Siena did have to hold her hair back before, and she was sure she’d make her sister do it again.  She was such a mess.  If it wasn’t evident by the situation she found herself in with William, that definitely helped proved the case.  “I love you, Siena,” Aberdeen said, meaning every word.  She told her sister often, but she meant it every time she said it.  “I love you and I miss you.”

“I love you too, Aberdeen,” Siena smiled.  “When you get back from Winnipeg, we’ll spend all the time in the world together until I have to go back to Ottawa.  Get back to your party, okay?  I’m sure William is looking for you anyway.”

“Shut up,” Aberdeen shook her head, but she couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her face.  “I love you.  I miss you.  Happy New Year.”

“I love you too.  Happy New Year, Aberdeen.  All your wildest wishes are going to come true.”

Aberdeen waited until Siena hung up before she locked her screen.  She slid down the wall and sat on the floor, her knees up against her chest as she shoved her phone between her legs.  She needed free hands to wipe the tears on her cheeks away.  She took a few deep breaths, trying to compose herself, fiddling with the rings she wore as she thought about everything.  Was she being a big baby?  Yes.  Did she care?  No.  She missed her family.  She even missed her annoying little brother.  People always told her holidays would be the worst, and they were right.

She looked down at her hands.  The ring William gave her stared back at her as she fiddled with it, its golden hue shining in the minimal lighting.  She took a deep breath.

“There you are.”

She looked up.  Of course, William was creeping through the door and the other end of the hallway.  He closed the door behind him and began walking towards her.  She didn’t know how long she’d been missing for, and she didn’t really care.  “What are you doing in here?” he asked as he got closer.  When he got close enough, even in the minimal lighting, he could see her ever-so-slightly red eyes.  “Are you crying?” he asked worriedly.

“I was,” she admitted.  There was no point in hiding it.

“Why, minskatt?”

She shook her head slightly.  “I just miss my family.  Being away from them on New Year’s is harder than I thought and I’m just handling it horribly.  Like a big baby, really.”

“You’re allowed to handle it like a big baby,” William shrugged his shoulders.  “I cried the first time I had to spend a holiday away from my family, too.  We’ve all done it.”

“Does it get any better?  Easier?” she asked.

He didn’t want to lie to her; the last thing he wanted to do was lie to her, but he didn’t want to make her cry, either.  “…No,” he was honest.  “It doesn’t get better, but it gets easier.  You learn how to deal with it.”

“Good to know,” she nodded absent-mindedly before pushing herself up to stand on her feet.  

When she faced him, he reached out and grabbed her hand, the one with his gifted ring on it.  She didn’t flinch away.  He hated seeing her so emotional.  “What can I do to make you feel better?” he asked.  He’d walk to Mars if he needed to.

She shrugged her shoulders.  “Nothing.  It’s fine.”  

“You want me to sing and dance along to Abba?” he asked.  It made her smirk.  “You wanna kick a soccer ball into Kappy’s face?” he asked.  It made her smile with her teeth.  “You want me to go to Costco and get you a hot dog?” he asked.  It made her snort.  

“You’re the worst, Will,” she mumbled through her smile.  She rubbed her thumb along the back of his hand briefly before pulling her hand away.

“You want me to kiss you?”

She didn’t respond.  But the smile on her face didn’t fade.  He only saw the look in her eyes, the look of temptation, of regret, of wanting, of needing, of resisting, of refusing, all in one.  The door opened again on the other side, Kasperi popped his head through.  “Don’t you guys want to watch BTS perform in Times Square?” he asked.  “Get back in here.  Actually, Aberdeen, you should probably come first.  Willy can stay in here until the ball drops.”

When she rejoined the party, the antics of all the guys kept her spirits up and almost, almost made her forget about crying and missing home.  There was dessert, someone suggested a game of pin the tail on the donkey (which was impossible), and there was, of course, what was on TV.  When it was nearing only five minutes until the New Year, the champagne was poured and everybody started huddling close to the biggest TV.  Pierre handed her a champagne flute.  Jason wrapped his arm around her shoulders.  

William wrapped his arm around her waist.  

When the clock struck midnight, Aberdeen watched as Brendan kissed the bald head of one of the equipment guys.  After downing the champagne flutes, everyone began hugging one another, wishing each other a Happy New Year.

William’s arm was still wrapped around her waist when he looked down at her.  “Happy New Year, minskatt,” he smiled down at her, a flicker of love in his eye. 

“Happy New Year, Willy.”

***

Alone in her hotel room, Aberdeen had washed off her makeup and repacked her clothes into her suitcase, ready to leave tomorrow for Winnipeg.  She was in her pajamas when she heard her phone buzz from the side table, where it lay charging.  

im coming minskatt. open ur door

The lightest knock followed.  She opened her door and William slipped in.  At this point, she wasn’t even angry.  She wasn’t worried.  She wasn’t…anything.  She had accepted that William Nylander was going to show up at her hotel room in the middle of the night more than once.  It was a fact of her life now.  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I’m here to give you your New Year’s kiss.”

Before Aberdeen could say anything, William took a step towards her, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her.  It was soft, not too overpowering or greedy, and reminded Aberdeen of how she kissed him in her bedroom on Christmas.  She didn’t pull away.  She let him kiss her and she liked it.  She liked it more than anything in the world.

When he pulled away, it was only slightly; only enough to look her in the eyes to make sure what he did was okay.  When she pulled him back in, he got his answer.  And as Aberdeen deepened the kiss, and as William wrapped his arms around her waist and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, they both knew it was wrong, so wrong, but that it felt right, so right.  

[askdjphantasmagloria]

Smooth Operator (Rewritten)

So, yeah. I decided to rewrite Smooth Operator because I didn’t like how it was written. Here’s how I think it should’ve played out. I hope you like it!

╔═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╗

It was dark, cold, and frightful. A lock of red hair whooshes by as a hooded figure rushes through the bushes. They had just had an encounter with a terrifying creature and they were trying to get out of the forest as fast as they could. Little did they know that they would soon stumble upon Queen Poppy and the other TrollsTopians, who were getting ready to play a wonderful round of Glitter Ball.

“Ok, for my team, my third first pick will be... Dante!” Poppy smiled as she pointed towards the Classical ambassador. Honored to be chosen, Dante smiled and bowed to the crowd before floating over to join the queen and the rest of her teammates.

The hooded figure then heard the voices and began to creep closer, their eyes squinting as they tried to remain mysterious. Slowly lifting up their hood, a scarlet red mustache began to appear...

Val Thundershock was also on the Glitter Ball field, assembling her team for the game to come. But then she took notice of the mysterious troll in the shadows and, like always, began to be suspicious. Who was this troll? What did they want? Were they a threat to the society that she and the other ambassadors worked hard to build up? “And my fourth first pick will be... the mysterious figure in the shadows.” She concluded, motioning to the figure. Confused, everybody turned around to look at the stranger that had been eavesdropping on their conversations. Knowing they had been spotted, the troll stepped forward and slowly took off their hood to reveal... my word! It was the seductive siren, the sultry-silked, the devilishly divine god of romance himself... Chaz Deveaux!

Chaz calmly smiled at the crowd, seemingly not alarmed at all by the fact that his cover was just blown by a keenly-eyed Val. Why should he be afraid? He knew what TrollsTopia was all about due to the fliers that Poppy had sent out a few weeks ago. This was finally his chance to find a family! People who would accept him for who he was! No more running, no more hiding, no more drowning in a sea of loneliness and resentment due to his ex-boyfriend dumping him for something that he couldn’t control. It all ended today.

The crowd gasped along with Poppy, who couldn’t believe that one of the bounty hunters whom she had encountered back when Queen Barb had her famous world tour managed to find their way into her beloved city! “Chaz? The Smooth Jazz troll?” She asked, in complete disbelief.

“That’s my name, darling.” Chaz calmly responded, raising an eyebrow in a curious manner. “Why are you so surprised? Was it not you who summoned me with this flier?” He asked, pulling out the piece of paper. Poppy gently took it from his hands, giving it a thorough read before her face lit up with glee. “Oh, you found it! I was worried that we’d have to use one of our scouts to track you down ourselves, but this is way easier! Yes, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something. Our city is expanding but I’ve noticed a lack in diversity of music. I was wondering if maybe... you would like to join our entourage? Come live with us in TrollsTopia, Chaz!” Poppy smiled, her eyes sparkling.

Val, extremely confused by Poppy’s optimism, got in between the two of them and looked the pink cupcake-lover in the eye. “Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Poppy, aren’t you going to tell us who this is? Where did he come from, what’s with his hair, and why does he have two tigers following him around?” She asked, motioning to the two tigers that were sitting besides Chaz.

“I am Chaz Deveaux. I’m half-Classical and half-Pop. My hair is naturally like this, but I do make my own conditioners, shampoos, and lotions out of natural ingredients such as Gigglefruit juice and Sparkle Berries. Also, when you say tigers, you mean Saturn and Jupiter? These are my pet tigers. They’re the only thing I have left of my tribe after... the war. Everybody I knew and loved was stolen from me. Everybody who was still alive, died shortly after. I’m the only survivor...” Chaz explained, tears coming to his eyes as he talked about his life story.

“Aww, you poor thing! What an ordeal...” Poppy frowned. She couldn’t believe that any troll would have to go through such a thing. Let alone a guy who was seemingly so sweet and charming on the outside.

“I’m sorry... talking about it gets me all emotional. Yes, I would love to join TrollsTopia. Wherever shall I stay? You didn’t exactly mention a Smooth Jazz section in your poster the last time I checked and while I would love to reside in Classical Crest or just stay with you Pop trolls, none of those areas properly reflect... me. I need something genuine.” Chaz mentioned, brushing a lock of his hair to the side.

“Ah, yes. We don’t really have a place like that at the moment... but thankfully, my ambassadors and I are known for acting on a whim. Give us about an hour, and we’ll surprise you!” Poppy smiled, gathering the ambassadors and leading them away.

One hour later...

Poppy led Chaz along the grassy path as carefully as she could. The former bounty Hunter was blindfolded and as shown from her experience with the Trolls’ piñata festivities, being blindfolded could pose a bit of a threat to everyday life due to the one who’s eyes are being covered losing their sense of sight and therefore not being able to see what they’re doing or where they’re stepping. “A little farther. A little farther! Listen, Chaz, it breaks our hearts that you don’t feel like you belong. So, we’ve been working on a solution! I called up Barb and asked her if we could use that tiny little beach that she was going to give you back when you were hunting us down, and she said yes! If you would just stand right here...” she said, before stretching out her arms to reveal Chaz’s new home. “TADA!”

Chaz opened his eyes and gasped, his face lighting up with nothing but pure joy at the sight of his house. It was gorgeous. A beach condo made entirely out of what seemed to be marble was waiting for him along the beautiful sands of TrollsTopia’s beach. He could see everything, including the ocean stretching over the horizon. Tears began to well up in his eyes. “Poppy... it’s- it’s beautiful. Thank you...” he whispered, smiling softly.

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet! Come on, let’s go inside!” Poppy giggled, opening the door. Once they were inside, Chaz could immediately see the luxury. A grand fireplace with a picture of him mounted over it, a soft and cuddly fur rug that was just perfect for him to swoon somebody over, comfortable plush chairs that came with built-in cup holders for the jazz troll to hold his many cups of grape wine, a grand kitchen for him to prepare his meals with only the finest ingredients (courtesy of Classical Crest), a deluxe bathroom with everything a troll needs to keep themselves tidy, and a bedroom that was all romantic-themed.

“Wow... thank you, Poppy. I know I haven’t exactly been the best to you during Queen Barb’s world tour, but I was only doing what she said because I didn’t want my music to die out! If she didn’t offer that tiny little island, I would have never even helped her in the first place!” Chaz sighed, facepalming.

“Aww, it’s ok, Chaz! You’ll always have a family here. Your days of being alone are over. Bygones are bygones. After all, my people aren’t exactly squeaky clean either. We all have our flaws. Nobody’s perfect.” Poppy comforted Chaz, giving him a hug. As he hugged back though, Poppy began to internally cringe. She didn’t REALLY believe that Chaz had changed from World Tour! How could somebody who used to EAT other trolls change in the blink of an eye?! Surely he had to be faking it!

The next day...

Chaz was a little crushed, but then he shook his head and smiled. “That’s alright... I suppose I could get used to the new paint job. It does look kind of pretty...” he laughed, trying to remain positive about the situation like he always has. He then gasped as he saw his beautiful beach littered with spray cans and other garbage. “AH! My beach...” he frowned, his heart dropping another few feet.

“Sorry, Mr. Chaz. Queen Poppy never implemented a trash disposal system, so we had no choice but to dump all of our things here. I hope you don’t mind.” Priscilla piped up, the children leaving back to their pods. After that whole mess was dealt with, Chaz decided that maybe a trip into town would make him feel better. He waved hello to any trolls that would walk by, but they all seemed... scared of him. Some would nervously wave back while others would scream and run away. He then overheard a few Classical trolls speaking to each other about Chaz’s music. “Have you ever heard anything so repulsive? Smooth jazz... what a disgrace to our genre. It’s barely a step above lounge music!” One of them said.

“Pip pip to that!” Another one agreed. “The way he obsesses over his appearance is... nasty, to put it the nicest.” A techno troll whispered. Chaz couldn’t believe it. Nobody really liked him. They were only pretending to be nice to him because Poppy said so! Now Chaz didn’t feel positive anymore. Why should he? He was in a world where it didn’t matter what he did. Everyone would always see him as a savage.

“Hey, Chaz! Are you enjoying your stay in TrollsTopia?” Poppy asked, completely oblivious to the situation. A new feeling began to bubble up in Chaz’s chest. All he could see was red. He was tired of being mistreated. It was time to fight back. “That’s it... I have had enough... enough of the stupid pranks! Enough of the mockery! AND MOST OF ALL ENOUGH OF YOU, POPPY!” Chaz growled, letting his frustration and anger merge together as his hair began flowing like a siren’s hair would when she was angry. His hair began to move like tentacles, grabbing the trolls that were around him and holding them up against a nearby rock.

“Chaz! What are you doing?!” Poppy asked, squirming in an attempt to get free. “You think I’m an idiot? I know how you guys REALLY feel about me. All I ever wanted was to be accepted. I just wanted to be loved! But you guys keep treating me like garbage... all because of something I can’t control. If you want a monster so badly, then by all that’s Trolly, I’ll be that monster!” He growled, using his hair to thrash the trolls around.

“Yo, yo, yo! I finally found the red velvet blanket, guys! Would you believe this was the last one on the shelf? What a lucky break!” Synth cheered as he walked in. He gasped, dropping his gift as he saw what was going on. “WHAT THE BARNACLES IS GOING ON HERE?!” He yelled, feeling scared and confused. Chaz turned around, smiling evilly. “Another one? No problem. I can take another.” He laughed, before he began to play his saxophone again.

Surprisingly, Synth was not affected whatsoever! “Uh... what?” He asked, tilting his head before leaning in closer to hear Chaz’s music better. But no matter how much Chaz played, Synth was simply too oblivious to be hypnotized! He smiled at him, placing his hands at his hips. “Cool music, bro! Lemme show you how I play now!” He said, a techno beat beginning to play as water shot up from the ground. Synth formed it into a gigantic water orb and shot it at Chaz, trapping the smooth jazz troll in a ball of sick beats. The ball then collapsed, sending Chaz flying into the distance. The smooth jazz troll tried to launch himself back to Synth to land a punch, but the water had made his hair unable to stretch. Saturn and Jupiter, seeing their master rocket into the sky, emerged from their hiding spots to chase after him. Synth had just saved all of TrollsTopia from Chaz’s rage.

As she caught her breath, Poppy engulfed Synth in a huge hug. “SYNTH! Thank goodness! That was amazing, how did you do that?” She asked. Her eyes lighting up with joy. “You mean that giant orb thing? Oh, I was born with those sorts of powers. I wonder why the music had no effect on me...” Synth thought, before Meadow’s shiny new flower caught his attention. “GIRL! You shine like a glowstick! I could stare at you for hours!” He laughed, swimming towards her as Poppy shook her head and smiled.

“Classic Synth...”

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of TrollsTopia, Chaz fell into an area that was surrounded by marshmallow potatoes... Marshtatoes? He groaned, dusting himself off as he looked upwards. A sinister grin illuminated in the dark, an adorably high-pitched voice ringing out in the silence. “Well hello there... what brings a handsome guy like you to a place like this?” It asked.

“Ugh, I’m glad you asked. I just got kicked out by a walking fish stick. Who are you, anyway?” Chaz asked, raising an eyebrow. From the shadows emerged the mistress of mischief herself, Marshtato Mary. “Me? Call me Mary. And you, my devilishly handsome disciple, may just be the key to helping me get my revenge on those filthy little elves.” She smiled.

“Revenge, you say? Well then...” Chaz smirked, walking closer to her.

“I’d love to join your cause.”

The End

╚═══*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*═══╝

[acioo]

anybody who knows anything about me will be able to tell you i spend a bunch of my time ice skating & i’ve never seen a guide on how to write a character that figure skates , so i thought i’d compile some tips & explain things , because my whole childhood i was travelling across the country to spin on ice with nothing on but a leotard & some tights , and now i have nothing but a bunch of tacky costumes and this post to show for it . this is pretty in-depth , about 2.5k words , but if you have any questions about specific aspects or want me to clarify anything , feel free to shoot me an ask . oh & a like  or reblog if you found this helpful would be sweet ! tw : injury, mental illness, eating disorders

most people that wind up as figure skaters started ridiculously young. i was probably six, but at my rink, we train kids as young as four and five. if your character has competed professionally at a state-wide level or up, they most likely started super young and have been professionally trained. figure skating is not a sport that you can do casually, most of the time. ice skating, casually, however, totally different thing. but competitive figure skating, being on a figure skating team, and the like, it’s a lot of effort, time, and discipline. in a lot of families, it’s a tradition to teach your kids to ice skate. at my rink, there’s a lot of people who come from slavic families whose parents signed them up - or athlete parents in gen. so, if your character is SUPER GOOD, they’ve put hundreds of hours of work into it, and have years of practice. it is not something you can pick up in a day, and i’d even say you have to be at it for at least two years before you get good good, and it takes a while to even become comfortable on the ice before you can start to do any kind of trick - THAT is why they start young, so by the time we’re pre-teens, we’re really, really good. the problem happens, famously, at puberty, because your balance gets knocked off, your bones are growing, and you have to basically relearn everything you know.

there are so many different types of figure skating. i specialize in singles, but i’ve done showcase and solo dance ( but both of those skills are more for me to be a well-rounded skater, not for competing ), and would sometimes be put into pairs to help learn skills and work together. you NEED to be in one of these categories for competition because they are what all comps are based upon. singles is, as you think, one single ice skater individually doing their routine. singles will do various dances, jumps, spins, etc. i won't lie, it’s hard, and really, really competitive. singles is the most competitive of all these categories. it’s usually a short program ( jumping, spinning, steps - the easier portion of competition because it’s really just a routine that you need to get down pat so you can boost your score. you will learn to do it in your sleep. ) and then a free skate ( longer than the other, it’s more complicated and difficult ). pair skating is really, really difficult, tbh, and you need a good relationship with whoever you are doing it with because there’s a lot of trust involved. it’s hard to break into pair skating because you need a partner that you’re equal to in skill and you like as a person. you guys spend a lot of time together and you need to get along. you guys need to be equally proficient at ice skating. most pairs get put together when they’re still very young. it’s very difficult to from singles to becoming a pair skater. it’s two skaters and they skate around each other, they lift each other, and move in synchronized patterns. it’s highly technical, like all figure skating, but it is more difficult because you have to keep in mind both your own feet and someone else’s. you do NOT want to bump skates with someone. at best, that is very uncomfortable. at usual/worse, you’re both about to eat shit on ice. in pair skating the partner that lifts needs SO much strength. like, so much. i’ve tried to lift fellow skaters, who are the same weight as me, and it’s near fucking impossible for me. ice skates are HEAVY and skaters have a lot of lower body muscle. we are not light people. for example, once time my team and i were out of practice and just skating around and we started playing around and i did a cartwheel on ice and i fell very hard. wiped tf out. and that’s me, trying to handle my own weight. like singles, it’s a free skate and a short program. pair skating is typically male + female ( what a sad world, i know ), but i encourage every writer to take some suspending of reality. ice dance is, basically, dancing. it’s a lot more performative than other types of skating. it’s done in pairs, but can be performed alone, in a different category called solo dance. in the nicest way possible, singles/pair skaters usually look down a bit on ice dancers because it’s a bit less technical, and doesn’t have any jumps of lifts. but ! that doesn’t mean it’s easy because it’s not. it’s rooted in ballroom dancing and they have two parts of competition: rhythm dance and free dance. fun fact: pair ice dancers scott moir and tessa virtue, who are famous to be suspected dating, are the reason we had a no dating rule at the rink. showcase ice skating is usually for some kind of platform, or in front of a large crowd. i’ve done showcase for investors for our rink. there’s usually costumes involved ( there are costumes for all competitions, but their costumes are more, like, theatre - y ), and props, and acting. it’s actually very fun to watch, but you need acting skill. theatre on ice, however, is just what it sounds like. theatre on ice is popular with children and good for ways to show off an entire team of skaters, because you can have eight to thirty skaters on the ice. they can also compete and they can go international, but they aren’t in the olympics and there aren’t many competitions for them. it’s usually just a fun way to get together with your teammates, bond, and then show off what you did.

so, competitions. super complicated, and as a writer, i suggest really glossing over them, because it’s difficult to get it down completely right. there are nonqualifying and qualifying comps. the difference is that in qualifying competitions, you’re looking to start moving up, basically, so if you qualify in the first one, you go onto the next one, then state eventually, then national, and so on. you start with regionals ( singles ) /  sectionals ( pairs and ice dancers ). then, if you succeed, you go to sectional singles / pairs + ice dance finals. the goal is to get on the national team ( i’ve watched ameatur skaters tell other rinkmates they want to compete in the olympics - it was NOT pretty ), basically. which, let me say this. it is nowhere. near. easy. like, just go into youtube and search “ yuzuru hanyu “ ( gold medal in pyeongchang olympics for mens singles ) and watch ANY of his performances. now he’s the gold medalist, right. he started at four years old. so let’s go smaller. google elsa cheng and watch one of her routines. she’s a member of the us national figure skating team. she’s fifteen. YEAH. not an easy sport. nonqualifying is more laid back and for fun, or trophies. nonqualifying is also a way to practice before you enter into qualifying. competitions are really nerve-racking. it’ll cause stress between you and your rinkmates, because more often than not you’re going against one another. you and your coach will usually spend all the prep season creating your two programs, which you will almost always repeat in every single competition you attend. i have about 20 different routines stored in the back of my head. sometimes my coach would give us exercises of coming up with a routine during a time restraint. my friend junior learned a routine that was on yuri on ice. 

for competitions you arrive, you get ready. you’re almost always wearing some kind of elaborate costume/dress leotard thingy. this is a time to start getting mentally ready, talk to your friends, and do each other’s hair and makeup. costumes are bought way ahead of time, and are usually related to the theme of your routine. you do NOT want a wardrobe malfunction. it’ll mess you up & you’ll lose precious points. your hair will most likely always be back and, more often than not, braided or in a bun. the comp will begin and you have a practice session so that you can get warmed up and ready. it’s not long. you will get the music for your program played one by one, and you rehearse - this is usually to check to make sure your music is right & to get acclimated to the ice then you get off the ice and another group will warm up. your coach can’t be on the ice whatsoever, and has to stay outside the rink. usually, competition order is done by a random draw. one by one, you will do your routine. no one but you can be on the ice. then you go off to the “ kiss and cry “ ( because you’re either about to celebrate or get your ear chewed off by an adult in a tracksuit ) where your score gets announced. then, competition continues. your warmup + when you start is not based on how you placed in the last part of the comp ( usually started with lowest ) and you perform the second routine. then, and this is usually determined by like how serious the competition you're going to, but there are trophies handed out, a podium ceremony is held, or medals or flowers are given out. my coach would always make the team pose together after competitions and go out to eat - lots of coaches hold bonding exercises esp after comps. if we did well, we could skip our 9 am practice. if we did poorly, the team meets up at a local park and runs the three-mile trail, and then they do technical corrections at the rink. after your medal/etc ceremony, you’re done. sometimes the top people will perform, but by that time you’re usually exhausted and want to sleep for a billion years ( or, if you did really well, you want to go eat 15 ihop pancakes and conquer the world ). the competition season is from august to april. this is a BASE of what happens. it’s different at different kinds of competitions and for different categories of skating, but it’s almost always something like this. offseason is for practice, rest, and fun, basically, but if you're a serious skater, by the time you’re hitting july, you’re spending more time at the rink than at home. the most well-known and the hardest competitions to qualify for are the grand prix, europeans ( european championships ), worlds ( world championships ), and the, of course, olympics.

another aspect of almost any professional sport is injury. think about any ice skating routine you’ve seen. there is no protection. you’re wearing a thin sheer leotard. you have basically knives on your feet. it’s VERY easy to get yourself beat up by ice. the ice is very hard and not very forgiving. meaning, if you hit, you hit hard. you usually are putting a lot of force into it, too, because you’re falling. don’t even get me started on the BRUISING. you will look like you have gone thru something, all the time. ice skates, which have to sharpened routinely, are, as you imagine, SHARP AS FUCK. knife shoes. i’ve been recreationally skating, because i work at a rink, and just monitoring the skaters and usually messing around with my rinkmates, and i fell, and i sliced open my thigh. i didn’t need stitches, or anything, but there was blood everywhere. very gross. ( ask abt this answered here ! ) and i wasn’t even doing anything particularly hard. and this has happened before. they WILL cut you. ankle injuries are super common. i’ve seen someone break their ankle feet away from me. i’ve twisted my left ankle five times. as for dislocations, they also happen a lot. when i was twelve, i was at the top of my figure skating career. i was qualifying to competition after competition. during a regular, normal practice, i was doing a jump i had usually aced, and i landed the wrong way and i dislocated my knee and blacked out. it’s a very disgusting injury and extremely, extremely painful. like, a good 50k in hospital bills for the surgery to fix it. i was very good and it was my favorite activity on the planet, but it was so awful that i quit. when i was fourteen, i started skating again, joined my team, etc, etc, but it was very difficult to recover from. and that’s a very common story. most people get injured and they have to stop. i know a girl who got a bunch of concussions, and wasn’t able to skate. i’ve been concussed on the ice. people tear their acls or their hip. we have a sports medic at all figure skating practices and comps. and a lot of injuries, once you hurt something, you will hurt it again because you made it weak. we are all very flexible but overuse will make your bones brittle. there’s also stress fractures and different things you can get from just overworking your muscles. shin splints, tendonitis, jumpers knee, etc. you name an overuse injury, and i’ve had it. i was one so exhausted after practice that i laid down on the ice and cried until my coach ( who i love very dearly ) gave me a bag of skittles and told me to suck it up. that’s not saying my coach is a bitch ( john mulaney vc my coach is a bitch and i like her so much ), that’s to say there is no break, no stopping. you get better, and move on, or you quit.

as-is with basically any competitive sport, if you get serious, you will probably go onto some sort of diet along with it. you want to be eating a lot of nutritional stuff ( granola bars are HOARDED in my locker room & to this day i gag at the sight of protein shakes ), anything with a lot of calcium ( because we do be breaking bones ! ), and iron. i used to eat pasta before comps ( like wayyy before not an hr or anything ) because it gives you ~energy~. you need to be eating a lot because you’re exercising a lot. gatorade is banned by my coach because it's so much sugar. you need to drink so. much. water. we all take a bunch of vitamins. usually will eat chicken / meat in general. but keep in mind, like any sport in which you are cutting things from your diet / eating specific things / etc, it can easily lead to an unhealthy relationship with food. there’s a lot of shitty mindsets you will encounter with coaches and fellow competitors about what weight a figure skater should be, and it's even worse in pair skating ( because of lifts ). when i was eleven, one of my old coaches told me that she hoped i never hit puberty because it’d fuck up my balance & when i did i cried. a fellow competitor once told me she wished she had my “ figure skater “ body ( and at this point of my life, i had very unhealthy eating habits ). another time a group of older kids made fun of how gangly i was while i was in earshot. the amt of times my coach has SCREAMED at ice skaters for making fun of / putting down fellow ice skaters is astronomical. it’s rough. a lot of figure skaters have opened up about how figure skating caused / contributed to their mental illness. it’s very easy to fall into because of how “ perfect “ you need to be. you can look up various figure skaters stories on this: adam rippon, gracie gold, and yulia vyacheslavovna - a very famous one as it was part of the reason her career ended & she was the youngest ever skating gold medalist. and i will say, personally, my unhealthy relationship with food ( that would eventually lead to lots o problems & i still feel the impact of today ) began when i was figure skating. there are other risk factors for mental illness as well because there’s so much focus on winning / losing. more than once, competitions would give me panic attacks because of the great stress.

another thing is MONEY. as fucked up as it is, you need money, or a grant, if you want to get good. you need expensive skates, costumes, travel fees, and more. my pro figure skates, not my casual ones, cost upwards of 300, and that’s low balling it. when i was ten, my parents spent upwards of 10k on figure skating. there are rink fees, there are competition fees, there are coaching fees. it adds up extremely quickly. i know a lot of skaters who stopped competing because it was just too expensive. i work for my rink by teaching classes and monitoring open skates and additional things, but if i added up every single dollar i ever made, it would be nowhere near enough to pay for everything. but the thing is, if you get really good, you can make money off of competitions, but getting there is the hard part. at one point in my life, my parents were paying $100 an hour for my private coach who i was seeing multiple days a week. figure skaters also oftentimes will take additional classes to help. my coach made the entire junior team take ballet one year. i took a ton of gymnastic classes as well to help with skating.

so, who are the kind of people that ARE figure skaters ? what do we act like ? there’s a lot of stereotypes that figure skaters are cold people. that’s not necessarily true. i would say that we are extremely competitive people. i’ve seen rinkmates get into full-blown fights during competitions. one of my best friends, who i met at my rink once i returned from my hiatus, HATED me because she knew i was competition. we are on-edge.  stakes are high and the pressure is on. a lot of us are very perfectionistic because you sort of got to be to get to our level. we can have control issues and we can become easily frustrated if we flop jumps or keep stuttering coming out of a spin. the other stereotype is that we are super delicate little flowers. probably because of the way we have to move. realistically, we’re a tactile bunch of people who would probably wind up hurting someone if we played hockey. ( another stereotype : figure skaters and hockey kids. the closest i’ve gotten to a hockey player is the one time i threatened to quick him in the nads because they came early and insisted we get off the rink. ) we all love skating and have a lot of fun while doing it. it’s dangerous, and that’s part of the thrill. speeding around the rink at extremely high speeds is, honestly, exhilirating. we love our sport and, though we can get on each other's nerves, love our rinkmates. it’s not easy, but it’s our favorite thing to do.

[twilightknight17]

Today on P5S, we’re taking a nice relaxing dip in the hot sprin--

Fukuoka, Kyushu! The plan was to keep going straight through to Kyoto, but Makoto was hurting from all the driving, so we pulled over with the intention of spending the night in a proper hotel and having a good meal. Which, of course, means ramen, because we gotta try the local ramen in each place. ^_^

Even Morgana wanted to try, though he requested that Akira blow on it, first, because “feline tongues are sensitive.”

The plan was to stay in Fukuoka until Makoto was feeling better, but Zenkichi called and basically said we had to get to Kyoto right away. So after a night of sleep, we got up the next morning, and we finally learned why Haru hasn’t been driving, despite having her license.

My wife has a lead foot.

Apparently no one but Joker and Queen ever drove the Mona Bus, because everyone but Makoto seemed extremely surprised.

Supposedly it was eight hours to Kyoto. We were there by noon.

Anyway, this old bar is apparently Zenkichi’s safe house, if anything ever goes wrong on an investigation.

He’s tracked the list of names that we found in the lab back to a politician called Jyun Owada, who was apparently a Shido supporter. This guy would benefit from changes of heart, and one of his supporters is the CEO of Madicce, Mr. Akira Konoe. They determine that Owada wouldn’t have a Jail himself, but that he’s probably getting Konoe to influence people for him. Which means that, since Sophia sensed a Jail in Osaka (that we missed because we were all screaming at Haru’s driving), it’s most likely that Konoe is a Monarch.

So my dart hit the board, I just gotta see how close to the bullseye.

Zenkichi heads to Osaka for a meeting with Konoe to try to get his keyword, and convinces the kids to stay behind. They need to rest and recover so they can be at their best for the Jail. Plus, he’s put them up in the nicest hotel in Kyoto! Which means it’s time to go to the hot springs!

The boys are having a lovely time relaxing. Even Morgana’s chilling on a rock with his tail in the water, basking in the chance to really unwind.

.......Atlus. We need to have words.

Not only was this absolutely unnecessary...

It’s the exact same scenario as P3. We’re even in the same goddamn city. If I thought Gekkoukan would be willing to spend 40K per person a night, it might as well be the same hotel.

Apparently, the boys went in right before the time switched over, and didn’t realize. And now, once again, they’re up for an unjust execution. At least Yosuke and Teddie were actually peeping in P4.

Personally, I think a better plan would have been to start yelling, “Who’s there?” as soon as the girls came in. Sneaking just makes it look like you’re up to something nefarious. It was an honest mistake. And really, trying to get out without causing a scene isn’t a heinous crime.

We don’t see who knocked over the thing that got them caught, but they do get caught. There’s no gameplay here. Defeat is inevitable. And...

The girls jump immediately to accusing them of being perverts. Never mind that they’re wet because they just got out of the damn hot spring. And the boys try to explain. They try their best. They explain that they didn’t realize the time had switched. They explain that they’d gotten locked in without noticing, because the men’s side doors lock when it switches over. “It was an accident,” Akira says, plaintively.

And Makoto looks at these boys that she’s fought alongside for over a year. The ones who risked their lives to save her and everyone more than once. The teammates that she stood beside as they shot a god and saved the entire damn world. The ones who, on this very roadtrip, stepped in to defend Haru from Natsume being a harassing jackass... And she says...

She sounds actually angry.

And she beats them up.

For an honest mistake.

I know this is a trope, but in this particular instance, it’s stupid, and it feels incredibly out of character. None of the boys deserve this, but Akira least of all. He’s your goddamn leader; he’s done more for any of you than anyone else. He’s been falsely accused of shit over and over, and now he has to deal with it from his own teammates?

For shame, Atlus. Shitty writing, especially because this event is never going to be brought up again. Was this supposed to be funny? Because in this situation, it wasn’t at all.

...now that I’m done being cranky, let’s go check how Zenkichi’s meeting in Osaka is going.

Hm. Nowhere, apparently, because Konoe’s gone for the day. Weird. Zenkichi had an appointment and everything.

Now let’s check on... well fuck.

Commissioner Kaburagi, Zenkichi’s boss, is summoned by the commissioner general and the previously mentioned Owada. This asshole is claiming to have evidence that the Phantom Thieves are behind all the changes of heart. They hacked into EMMA!

You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve, when you’re the one behind this.

.......maybe this lady is better than I thought.

She says that there’s not enough proof, and that they need to look into things more. The commissioner general counters that the Thieves are going to be tried for murder. Because apparently they killed that poor man at the Okinawa facility after they learned how to get into EMMA.

Kaburagi knows this is bullshit and wants to investigate more, but they basically tell her to do it or else. And promise that she’ll be commissioner general one day. After the current commissioner general launches his political career with the capture of the Phantom Thieves, of course. And she’s just going to follow orders. Never mind. God. I didn’t misjudge her at all.

Konoe goes on TV and announces that they’re shutting down EMMA temporarily, because the Phantom Thieves hacked it and stole personal information. He also informs everyone that they murdered one of his employees. Zenkichi and I had the same reaction, which was “WHAT?!”

Look at this asshole.

Zenkichi realizes what’s going to happen and takes off for Kyoto. Cut to that night, where there’s an entire fucking squad of police outside of the hotel in riot gear. For seven teenagers. Zenkichi shows up and basically pleads with Kaburagi to stop and think, because the real mastermind is still out there.

Kaburagi snaps back with, “You mean like with your wife?” and Zenkichi shuts up. Low blow, lady. She also points out that he seems very attached to criminals.

Before Kaburagi can have the police storm the place, Zenkichi yells for the kids to run, and gets arrested for it. The kids make it to the safe house, but when they find out about the arrest, they want to go after him. They end up agreeing to let Makoto handle that, and then we get a look at King Asshole himself.

I hate how nice this man’s office is.

And I’m kind of afraid of EMMA.

Good luck with that, though. You’d have to break them first; you can’t change the heart of someone stable enough to have a persona. Not that this fuck would know that.

God, he’s like if Shido and Maruki had a fucked-up kid. He wants his own personal team capable of entering the metaverse and changing people, to make the world ���better”. Holy fuck.

Somehow I don’t think you’re the one in the right, when you’re talking about making us a “sacrifice to bring about [your] new world order.”

So the next day, the Thieves get a text from Akane’s phone number, that basically says she’s been kidnapped. It’s clearly a trap, but they all agree that they have to go. According to the text, if they want her back, they need to come to Inari Taisha.

Also known as Fushimi Inari, the largest Inari Shrine in Japan. I’ve been there.

I have literally been right there. I have a picture:

And so the kids head into a Jail based on Fushimi Inari where the keyword is “Phantom Thieves”, and I try not to explode from sheer glee because oh boy I thought I’d have to wait a lot longer for this and also I didn’t expect it to be somewhere I know.

Eeeeeeeee~

They find Akane tied up and all go running towards her. Futaba trips, and before she can catch up, a huge cage snatches up the rest of them, because surprise, the Jail Monarch is Akane, and she’s absolutely ready to lord it over them.

Meanwhile, Zenkichi is getting beaten up in interrogation and taking it like a champ.

But it’s okay, because Makoto called in a favor. <3

Futaba managed to get back to the safe house, and Zenkichi met up with her there after Sae got him released.

So you know that bit in P5 where the phan-site poll hits 100% belief and we summoned a demon the size of a skyscraper? That’s Zenkichi right now, except he’s hitting Maximum Dad Energy and I’m pretty sure he’s going to summon his persona.

There’s a cool stealth sequence where you have to sneak by a bunch of shadows, because Zenkichi doesn’t have a persona. Futaba runs navigation for him, but it’s so funny because he... sneaks like a regular person. He doesn’t leap into cover with superhuman speeds.

It might have been cool to play Zenkichi With A Gun, but stealth mode was fun, too. XD

And then the confrontation with Akane. She gives the Thieves a choice of who wants their heart changed first, but before anyone can stupidly volunteer, Zenkichi shows up, and a few more things get revealed. Most importantly, the fact that Owada is the one who killed Zenkichi’s wife, and Zenkichi got death threats directed at Akane if he didn’t stop investigating. No fucking wonder he couldn’t solve the case. But Akane is too disillusioned to listen, because she doesn’t understand. And Zenkichi is forced to confront that at some point, he compromised his morals, telling himself he was doing it for Akane.

This line wasn’t sung, but I kind of wish it was, considering who his persona is. :P

Zenkichi admits that he might have been wrong. But he was doing it to protect the only family he had left.

“But at least I know what makes a person evil. Evil only cares about itself. It’s the mark of a man who would bring another to ruin and dare not show remorse.”

And his awakening was badass.

Shitty picture, but his literal shadow had glowing eyes while it was forming the contract. It was so cool. :D

Wolf is awesome. After beating up a whole hoard of shadows by himself, Akane got away, the Thieves were freed, and we all went back to the safe house to rest. And I swear, you take a nap for one hour, and cannot get any peace. XDDD

Thank you, darling. Now I gotta figure out what deck that’s from.

So that was today. Technically I only played for like...2 and a half hours?? But god, we hit the hot springs and everything just flung itself directly off a cliff and all I could do was hold on.

I have so many thoughts about things!!! But I need to see more first. But this has been fantastic overall.

[iridescentwinters]

you didn't deserve her

to my new friend daphy ( @eleonorasvas​ ) who came up with the idea! we haven't known each other long but i know i love you teehee <3

dallas international college for the knowledgeable.

grace thought she’d never have to hear that school name ever again when she moved to austin. until now.

all the colour drained out from her face the moment kelsey announced the arrival of the school. “they should be here by today afternoon,” the blonde said, “and they’re apparently going to have a joint practice session with our football team too.”

grace wouldn't have cared if it was the incredibly smart debate team that came over, or even just the dance team. their football team was coming, too. for a game. grace didn't have a good past with them, and neither did she ever came to accords with them, with him.

they said heartbreak and sin came in the form of everything you desired for. and that was dennis coleman. of course he was the package deal. blue eyes, killer smile, the nicest and most considerate boy you’d ever meet. he was the picture-perfect private school boy.

God, it really has been some time since she last thought of him willingly. it had been almost two years now, but the pain she went through because of him was still fresh in her mind, and probably always will be. but she was better now. maybe she never found peace with him, but she found it within herself. she was a confident and independent woman who didn't need anyone. she had daniel, whom she wanted, not needed. she had her friends who’d stick by her always. she could leave dennis and everything else that was linked to him in the past.

but, could he?

                                                     —

“well, well, well, look at what we have here!”

daniel, jo and the team turned to face forward, only to have the shittiest teams in the world in their faces. their captain looked especially smug today.

“yeah, the world’s biggest cry baby.” daniel sniggered, as did the rest of his team. dennis’ smug look left his face for a split second, before recovering with a harsh look. “it was one time, williamsson. get over it.”

did this kid really want daniel to forget the fact that he made him cry at a football game?

before he could have a say, the other captain started speaking again. “i must say... for a public school, you guys do have some kind of standards. although, i can't speak for its team.” he flashed a smirk, and his team backed him up by laughing and coughing out words like ‘rekt’ and ‘public losers’.

“speak for yourself,” jo started, taking a step forward to be right next to daniel, “i mean, you guys have the longest name of all school history.” he paused, before continuing with a smirk. “hey, isn't your school acronym dick? how symbolic.”

daniel couldn't help but chuckle. he then went over a doubling fit when he noticed the glares jo, him and the entire team was receiving from the rival school. they really were sore private school trash, he thought.

“har de har de har, penetrator jo.” vincent, the co-captain, spoke up, and walked up to be face-to-face with him. “hey, congrats on that new girlfriend, by the way. i’d love to meet her.” he gave a cheeky smile, making jo lose his smirk and replace it with a growl.

daniel stretched his arm out in front of jo, so that he wouldn't do anything stupid while vincent taunted him. but little did he know that it was going to be him who needed restraint the moment dennis reopened his mouth.

“speaking of girlfriends!” dennis clapped his hands, “how could we forget about our very own daniel williamsson’s? the biggest playboy of all of Texas, settled down?” he faked a surprised look. “shocker!”

daniel subconsciously lay his hand back down to his side, his relaxed look turning into a suspicious one. “and what about it?” he challenged.

dennis’ eyebrow raised. “oh, so gracie-wacie never told you? about her, and me?”

fuck.

suddenly, it hit daniel. that guy grace told him about, and the private school she used to go to. both, were here. on that very field.

daniel clenched his fists. out of rage, fear, and jealousy. rage, because of the way dennis was talking. fear, that grace could leave him for this trash, and jealousy. because grace was in love with this guy.

dennis’ evil smug look became more prominent the moment he realised that he hit bullseye. “oh, so she did tell you the story, but not who it was? that won her heart? who she loved?”

“you fucking prick,” daniel gritted his teeth, already taking a step forward, “you didn't deserve her!”

before he could swing his fist at dennis, a voice broke out. “daniel!”

he would've recognised that voice from anywhere. grace. his grace. he involuntarily relaxed at the sight of her, but he was still ready to throw a punch. grace joined them down at the field. she knew something like this would happen. she knew dennis wouldn't play nice.

“gracie!” dennis suddenly didn't sound so evil anymore. he sounded like an angel, a boy in love. “i’ve missed you. so much. you don't even reply to my texts.” he pouted.

he’s been texting her? “don’t fucking call her that, y-”

grace touched his face, and the rest of his sentence died down in his throat. “hey, donald,” she whispered, “you can't let him get into your head, okay? you can't get benched because of him.”

daniel took in a deep breath. grace always calmed him down. she was his anchor.

“how fucking adorable,” dennis cooed, his tone dripping in venom, “you met someone new, gracie. but remember, you're never going to find someone like me.” he turned his head towards daniel. “and to you? have fun with my sloppy seconds.”

that’s it. that was the last straw.

“jo! guys!” grace yelled out for help, and immediately did the rest of the boys hold daniel back. it did require a lot of strength to restrain an angry daniel. “let me fucking go!” he roared, but the team didn't move. usually, they did listen to their captain, but when grace was on field, she was their captain.

grace looked back at dennis, who was proud of the disaster he cooked up. she took a step forward, towards him. daniel suddenly stopped struggling. what was she...

“you’re right. i’ll never find someone like you.” she agreed with him. dennis’ smile brightened, while daniel thought he felt something die inside.

“but that’s just the point, dennis. i never want to find someone like you ever again.” she said, and dennis went into pure shock. “i have someone who treats me the way i should be treated and loves me for who i am.” she pointed back at daniel, “he’s the complete opposite of you, and i’m glad i found someone like him, who isn't a coward to embrace who he really is. and i love him.”

dennis, along with his team, were in stunned silence. they didn't realise that grace was a changed person now, someone who stood up for herself.

daniel’s teammates let go of him, but he didn't need anymore restraint.

because all the restraint he had both physically and mentally, was from grace olsen. and she was all he needed. and maybe he wasn't her first love, but she was his, and she loved him now.

that was all that mattered.

— froy gutierrez as dennis (if you want to visualise him)

[bahamutgames]

Afterthoughts S: Definitive Edition

Game: DRAGON QUEST XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition (September 27, 2019)

Console: Xbox One (Via Xbox Game Pass)

Hey, it’s me again! It feels like it’s been forever since I last beat a big game with a lot of stuff to talk about. But the last time was actually only a month ago with New Super Lucky’s Tale. In the mean time I’ve been playing a couple of smaller games, tiny indie titles, a few fighting games. But nothing that I couldn’t summarize in a small twitter thread (which you can follow my twitter here if you want to see my art or just support me shilling my other accounts.)

Anyway! Just got done with another major RPG! After Nier Automata, I knew this was a game I really wanted to play before my Game Pass subscription expired. And after toiling away at it for the past month, I’m finally ready to give you all my thoughts on Dragon Quest 11!  As always, this isn’t meant to be review. But just a general throw up of my thoughts and feelings after beating the game, because I love talking so much. As such, this shouldn’t be taken as a serious critique of the game, and shouldn’t be expected to be well written or thought out. Please do check out the game if it interests you at all!

SPOIL WARNING FOR DRAGON QUEST 11 AHEAD! GONNA TALK ABOUT THE WHOLE PACKAGE HERE, AS A FAIR WARNING

Opening

Prior to this, the only Dragon Quest game I had played was DQ 8: Journey of the Cursed King on Nintendo 3DS. I liked it, and thought it was pretty good. But wasn’t perfect and felt a little unnecessarily tedious to get through. But when 11 came out, I saw a ton of people saying it was an amazing RPG. People I followed who weren’t really into RPGs (as far as I knew) were raving about it. So I was really interested to give it a shot myself, but didn’t have the chance until I got game pass.

Stuff I liked

Where to begin? This is a 60 hour game so there’s a lot to talk about. I think first and foremost I just wanna gush about how pretty this game is! The graphics are amazing, I love how the environments are realistic but super brightly colored and saturated, making for ton of gorgeous areas that I couldn’t stop myself from taking pictures of. And Akira Toriyama’s just being placed in these beautiful worlds look so good and amazing. Without a doubt, especially considering its more on the realistic side, this is one of the nicest looking RPGs I’ve played.

Speaking of which, I really loved the character designs. Toriyama does fantastic work that I really like with pretty much everything, but his work on RPGs always tend to be my favorites. The designs for all the main teammates looked super good and all the monsters were really cool looking too. He really knows how to design cool looking dragons, this guy just gets it. On the same not of characters, the characters are fantastic. I really love everyone on the main team (my favorite was probably Serena.) They’re all super fun and I love the way they interact and really seem like a group of good friends. It was great to see how they all interact and work together. A scene that particularly sticks out is when they all forge a new sword of light together, which was fantastic.

I also thought the story and world was cool. Similar to my thoughts on DQ8, the story is pretty simple and easy to follow, but that doesn’t take away from it. It kind of feels like a fairy tale told on a grand scale. I love the idea of the Luminary, and Serenica being reborn into twins is awesome, Erdwin’s Lantern was a cool idea. And of course, Yggdrasil being a huge ass tree flying in the sky is absolutely the best thing ever, that’s so cool. ALSO, I have to give special shoutouts to Mordegon’s Sword of Darkness, coolest thing on the entire planet, I love swords with freaky giant eyes frantically looking around on them.

Lastly, I really liked the gameplay and combat of this game. I thought the way battles are set up as still being traditional turnbased combat but with the ability to freely walk around the field and look at the arenas was awesome. And getting to walk up to teammates to see their thoughts mid battle is super cool. Of course I loved all the different spells you can learn, and all the abilities you get through level ups. A new feature in this one (at least it’s new to me) is the Pep Up state, which is also cool. Particularly because it allows for Crossover Attacks between teammates, which is always the best thing an RPG can include, but most RPGs just choose not to. But DQ11 has it in spades and it ROCKS, there’s so much cool and genuinely useful crossover moves I didn’t even get to see all of them. And a final cool piece of the battle system was the ability to actually change equipment and teammates mid battle. I’m unsure if I’ve ever played a game that allowed for this (though I know they exist) but I thought it really made it feel like you could make use of your whole team and all your equipment. Being able to change teammates and what weapons they use for appropriate strategies was super fun.

Stuff I didn’t like

And, I did really like DQ11. I think I might even like it more than 8. There’s a ton of improvements. I feel like it’s less stingy with EXP, I feel like it was all around just easier to navigate and handle. But I still had a fair amount of issues with the game. Particularly in the- say it with me if you know what’s coming- post Yggdrasil content!! Prior to Yggdrasil, the game was buttery smooth. I flew through the whole thing and loved every second of it with minimal roadblocks (as opposed to DQ8 which roadblocked me at every boss.) And by the time I reached Yggdrasil, I realized I had been playing for 30 hours and didn’t even realize it! That’s awesome and pretty impressive considering I’ve played shorter games that felt like double that.

So, the game starts to crawl a little bit before Yggdrasil in my opinion. Once you have to start looking for the orbs, the game just kinda teeters for a bit there randomly. Like, the orbs are meant to be kind of a big deal, and yet the purple and whichever one you find in the bird dungeon thing (lol) basically get no fanfare. It felt like they were forgotten about and just had to be thrown in at the last second. Now, you could argue that the whole mural thing and the bird boss were those orbs’ fanfare. But it still felt so odd to me. Then, Yggdrasil falls.

I liked the post Yggdrasil stuff, I really did. I thought it was all pretty great from a story and character point of view. And getting to see the world that was so beautiful be corrupted and filled with powerful monsters was neat. I loved Sylvando’s whole parade thing, and every one else’s was cool too. But that’s kinda it. The whole section just drags along as you play with most of your team just gone and it goes so slow. And a lot of it really felt like it could have been condensed down a bit, I mean they don’t even show you what happened to Serena. Which I guess was because of what happened to Veronica but, still?

Again, it’s good story content and I don’t necessarily want any of it removed. But damn man, it really grinds to halt. And I also felt like it got really brutal during this part for no reason, kind of out of nowhere. The skeleton spectral sentinel, Gloomivore, and Booga were MASSIVE hurdles for me to get over randomly. And it got so bad I genuinely considered dropping the game because I just didn’t have the patience. It felt like an NES game again out of nowhere. Now, I do want to blame this on maybe not use the character builder right, or something. But still it was just so annoying out of nowhere. Thankfully I found the perfect strategy of Oomphle on Hendrick, Sap on the enemy, then have Hendrick spam Unbridled Blade, which was foolproof and beat every boss after that.

Thankfully once Serena joins your team again, and everyone is there (minus one aha) the game really picks up steam again. Everything after that was a breeze and went by without any issues. I think I hit one roadblock afterwards and it was pretty easy to just grind past. So I don’t know what happened there. The only other part I have a problem with is I do feel like the game ends rather abruptly. Like, not majorly. But I wouldn’t have minded seeing more about what happens between Eleven and Gemma or something. But that’s what the post game content is for I guess!

Some other nitpicks are that, I didn’t care about the music again. I think I liked more music in this one than DQ8, but still I’d be hard pressed to actually remember any songs from this game. I’m listening to the OST as we speak and other than the battle theme, I feel like I don’t remember what they sound like at all. And that’s probably cause I hate the composer but hey what can you do? I also wish it was easier to find Metal Slimes. I know they’re meant to be rare but I would’ve appreciated some appearing in the overworld just anywhere outside of the dragon chase scene? Weird to me you have randomly encounter them on the side of other enemeis.

Outside of that, uh. I think the Tockles were SUPER tick-tocked onto the game? It seemed like they were going to be massively important, but they just weren’t? I felt like you could’ve removed them and it would have made no change. I also thought there was gonna be WAY more time travel stuff. The scenes where you see the past are some of the best imo. Meeting Chalky from the past, playing as Rab in his kingdom, helping Eleven’s dad pass on. But these don’t feel enough to name the game “Echoes of an Illusive Age” if that makes sense? It just felt like there was supposed to be way more stuff with the Tockles and Time Travel stuff that just didn’t happen. 

Now that I’m remembering it, it felt like there was TONS of stuff built up that just didn’t really go anywhere. Another big one is the whole deal with Erdwin’s lanter? Who was the guy who cut it in half? What was the deal with the lantern? Why did it fall? What was up with the dark Tockle? Wanna give any information on that? No? Okay. But if I had to guess, these all are explored heavily in the post game content, which is cool but sadly I did not have the time to play it. Maybe one day I’ll pick up a copy of the game and play through it fully.

Final Thoughts

Yeah it was good.

I am a huge fan of RPGs, but Dragon Quest just hadn’t fully clicked with me. I played 8 and liked it, but wasn’t blown away. I wouldn’t say I was blown away by this one either, but I am certainly very impressed and am eagerly anticipating whatever Dragon Quest 12 ends up being. This series is super founded in tradition (even if that tradition is detrimental to the gameplay imo?) but this game felt like a true evolution of that tradition while still holding onto it in the right ways. Are there ways to improve the game? Oh yeah, tons! But this is already a good step in the right direction. I will certainly be visiting the series more eventually (particularly 3, 4, and 5 are ones I’m curious about.) But I will probably emulate them to cheat when I run into roadblocks again.

After playing this, I also went back to play as Hero in Smash. They are still one of the best, if not my favorite character in the game. I think they are so fun and I love the randomness element that comes with them. Their stage is great too!

Also, seeing this gorgeous RPG with Akira Toriyama art in it made me REALLY want a new Blue Dragon. Like, REALLY bad. Please Microsoft if you’re listening PLEASE give us a new Blue Dragon. I don’t care what genre of RPG it is just give us a new one please I’m begging. Make it look like DQ11 and it will be the best game of all time.

Okay but enough of that. Thanks for skimming through or just letting me talk for a bit. For some reason the longer I held this one off, the less and less I felt like talking about it? Which is strange cause it’s a big game and I felt like I had tons to say during it. The only reason I even finished this and decided to post it was cause I already started it. Basically what I’m saying is that don’t be surprised if I just start making REALLY teeny tiny posts here instead of big rambles like this one.

But until then, I have work to do. I played through the Ty 2 HD remake on Switch recently and loved it all over again. I will maybe talk about that later. At the moment I’m playing Tales of Vesperia. Thanks again for putting up with me ramble about games, see you next time! Play something you love that puts you in an adventurous mood!

[cryingbilldenbrough]

here’s another request for if you ever feel up to or inspired to write it: def more of the kasplon/bichie dynamic from the other kasplon thing i requested. like just the four of them in college together interacting as couples you know? a cute dynamic, imo.

okay so the other kasplon thing is this, in case anyone missed it! also this got LONG so i’m putting the rest under a readmore

ALRIGHT the concept is that before eddie and mike starting dating, eddie knew richie

they met on the first day of freshman moving in day when richie knocked on the door of the room bill and eddie shared

he was leaning against the door jam, big glasses and a hawaiian shirt hanging off one shoulder, dumb smile on his face

“you guys wanna buy some adderall?” he asks with an air of nonchalance that eddie KNOWS is bullshit, cause the kid’s eyes look a little wild and a little scared

and man, eddie is nervous about all of this too. bill seems like a nice guy so far but he also just spent like ten minutes unpacking framed pictures of his little brother and like, eddie didn’t bring a single picture from home and he feels like he and bill have nothing in common already

because eddie ran to college to get away from something and bill seems like he might be caught in the past

(he finds out later than the little brother is Georgie and Georgie is dead and he thinks he understands bill a little better than he thought)

anyway, richie asks if they want adderall and a comeback is falling from eddie’s lips almost immediately

“i think i’d rather you take it, spaz,” and fuck man!!! that was really mean!!! he doesn’t even know this kid and he’s already insulting him in like a really ableist way and eddie is scrambling to apologize

but richie is fucking dying

he’s doubled over, wild hair covering his face, and when he straightens he’s wiping tears from his cheeks

“i like you, kid,” he says, ruffling eddie’s hair

and then he invites himself in

and that’s pretty much how freshman year goes– richie invites himself into bill and eddie’s room and sits on their beanbag chair and steals their food and plays video games with bill

sometime during second semester eddie is pretty sure they start dating

no one says anything official, but bill starts spending time out of their room and comes back with wild hair and one time even a hickey

eddie assumes it’s richie that bill’s fucking around with only because richie has gotten even more Smug than usual lately

they don’t tell him they’re dating until the school year has almost wrapped up

cause it’s time to start figuring out where they’re going to live next year

eddie’s fully willing to stay in the dorms again, because living with bill turned out to be a lot of fun!! and eddie feels like he really blossomed into a young adult this year but he’s not sure he’s like, ready to get an apartment or something

anyway, eddie goes to bill first and is like, wanna live together next year?

and bill smiles apologetically, truly sad about it, and tells eddie he already has a roommate for next year– a kid in his composition class

and eddie’s like fuck man??? i don’t have any other options??? because yeah he made friends this year but god will any of them put up with him like bill does? with the pills hogging the medicine cabinet and the hour long calls to his mom back home that leave eddie near tears every time

what’s he gonna do without bill?

bill notices his discomfort and gets real quiet and later that night richie shows up, hair wild as ever

eddie’s curled up in bed watching netflix on his laptop and he feels richie jump into bed with him, sitting on his feet

eddie takes out his headphones and richie is grinning like a loon at him

“you’re a dummy, eddie spaghetti” he says

“don’t call me–”

“wanna live with me next year?”

“…..really?”

“i mean, as long as you’re cool with me and billy Boning Down at least three times a week” and he leans over with a hand held out for bill to high five

eddie looks at his roommate and bill is smiling with pink cheeks and god DAMN IT this is how they’re coming out to eddie?????

eddie fucking hates his friends

but he accepts richie’s offer and doesn’t even really mind when richie ruffles his hair and burrows down into his comforter to watch netflix with him

so come next fall, eddie returns to college after an agonizing summer spent missing his friends and his freedom

he and richie have a room closer to downtown this year, a little bigger space and it connects to the room next door with a bathroom AND a kitchen so they can actually cook instead of eating microwaved mac and cheese

(richie still eats a fucking lot of microwave mac and cheese)

and it’s not so bad because bill is over like all the time and he and richie are a couple but they’re not like, oppressively cute all the time

although, eddie does feel a pang of jealousy whenever they do something particular couple-like, such as coming home from dates and bringing each other coffee to class and going skateboarding all saturday afternoon

eddie wants that, you know?

anyway, it’s october when eddie meets bill’s mystery roommate

mike hanlon is probably the most attractive man eddie kaspbrak has ever met????

he’s tall and broad and has the nicest fucking smile and his eyes are kind and soft and his ass is GREAT

eddie knows he plays on the school football team and eddie really wants 2 see him in football pants oH GOD

anyway, bill introduces eddie as richie’s best friend which a) OW EDDIE’S POOR HEART and b) it’s the first time eddie realizes that’s true? cause holy shit yeah richie IS eddie’s best friend???

anyway, mike is polite and kind of shy and shakes eddie’s hand in a firm but soft grasp

he compliments eddie’s shoes and then invites him to play mariokart with him and bill

mike is pretty bad and eddie is pretty good and mike cheers eddie on to beat bill, knocking his shoulder against eddie and egging him on no louder than a whisper in his ear and eddie is GONE

it takes them a while to get together, mostly because they’re both kind of convinced the other is waaaay out of their league

and richie keeps inviting eddie to go out to dinner with him and bill and when eddie shows up, mike is there too which is fine bc he fits into the group really well but like?? is this a double date??? who does eddie sit next to in the booth?? who does he share popcorn with at the movies? does he call shotgun when mike’s driving them? THIS IS NEW TERRITORY FOR EDDIE AND HE DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO PROCEED

but eventually bill pulls eddie aside and says “d-dude, you g-gotta date mike. i had to l-listen to him t-t-talk about your fuh-fuckin’ eyes for like an hour last night. d-do it for me”

and eddie is like ME? HE LIKE ME??? 

so he gathers up all his courage (which is a fucking lot bc eddie kaspbrak is a BRAVE BOY) and goes to the football game with bill and richie one saturday

eddie doesn’t really care for football, knows like nothing about the rules, but he likes going to games

it’s cold and he bundles up in a hat and a hoodie under his winter coat and he drinks a fair amount of beer at the tailgate, beer that richie keeps shoving in his mitten-covered hands

they watch the game and eddie keeps his eyes out for number 43 and mike doesn’t play a whole lot but eddie spots him a few times!!! they cheer really loudly when he makes a run with the ball, moving the team forward like forty yards and richie’s voice is hoarse from yelling

they win and eddie shuffles out of the stadium with his friends

bill and richie want to go to a party across town and eddie hangs back

“i’m gonna wait for mike” he says and richie smirks

so eddie waits in the cold for a weird amount of time, watching drunk kids stumble out of the stadium and back into the real world

“eds?” he hears and he turns to see mike, sweaty and flushed and holding a duffle bag

he’s changed into a t-shirt and sweat pants and steam rises off his hot body into the cold air. his cleats are slung over his shoulder and eddie’s breath kind of catches in his throat over how beautiful mike looks when he’s flushed and happy in the winter air

“good game” eddie chokes out, slipping his phone in his pocket “you sure did… football… well…” and he flinches cause GOD WHO SAYS THAT

“thanks, man,” mike says and GOD ITS AWKWARD because there aren’t a LOT of people around, but there’s enough that eddie worries about the scene he might cause if he leans up to kiss mike right here

he’s drawn out of his panicking by mike dropping his duffle bag to his feet and taking a step forward

he wraps his hand around eddie’s neck and the other around eddie’s back and dips his head down and he’s kissing eddie, mouth soft and pressing into eddie’s with care and ease

(he smells like a fucking locker room and eddie isn’t even that grossed out by it)

eddie lets mike’s arm around his back support him and he relaxes into it, bending his knees and closing his eyes

kissing mike is everything he dreamed of and more, like coming home after a long day and curling up into bed

they hear a wolf whistle and break apart, blushing and giddy

it was one of mike’s teammates, a defense player with a kind smile 

“fuck off ben,” mike says and leans back down to kiss the side of eddie’s mouth one more time

football saturdays turn into eddie’s favorite day of the week, despite him continuing to know NOTHING about the game

because he goes to mike’s room early in the morning and crawls into a warm bed with him, ignoring bill’s soft groan from across the room bc its FIVE A.M. GUYS, and wakes mike up with like lil kisses n stuff

mike gets dressed and goes down to the stadium and bill and eddie get ready to go down and tailgate

they meet richie, who has a cooler full of cheap beer, and they set up camp outside the stadium

richie steals all of eddie’s hand warmers and bill gets convinced to do a keg stand by the trailer next to theirs and eddie tries and fails to win a game of bag toss

they go in the stadium and get as close to the front of the student section as they can and eddie scans the players on the sidelines to find mike

he spots number 43 and waves, sticking his hand up in the air and hoping mike spots his red mitten 

mike does and takes his helmet off so eddie can see his smile, waving back and making eddie feel like the only person in the stadium

mike scores a touchdown and they win and the students storm the field and eddie gets caught up in the rush, hand slipping out of richie’s

he’s disoriented and a moment away from just slipping out of the stadium and finding his friends later when a hand catches his arm

it’s mike, helmet tucked under his arm and his pads still on

he’s fucking soaked but he’s grinning so wide that eddie can’t help but smile back crazily

mike scoops him up into a victory kiss and eddie hears richie’s wheezy laughter and bill’s chuckle behind him

he lets go of mike so bill and richie can hug and pat him on the back

richie says something dumb about trying out for football next year if it means getting to make out on the field when you score

mike blushes and punches his shoulder and bill rolls his eyes 

and eddie is so happy to have his boys in his life

send me headcanons/requests/prompts!

[monsterinamusicbox]

About page

You should already know this from the guidelines but it’s important to repeat it: I’m writing from Jemma’s pov, and Jemma is NOT okay. So how she reads the world is a mix of things that actually happened and how her already struggling mind perceived them, a result of the way they all piled up together: self-hatred, guilt, some actual hostility from the others and misunderstandings. Which leads to changes because this is the AU where she got bitter.  

***

NAME: Jemma Anne Simmons BIRTH DATE: September 11, 1987 ETHNICITY: Jewish GENDER: cis female ROMANTIC AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION: demi-hetero-romantic (requires a very strong bond, she has trouble reading her own feelings and distinguishing romantic love from platonic) heterosexual. RELIGION: atheist SPOKEN LANGUAGES: English, British and American Sign Languages, Italian, some Spanish, Latin. (oddly good with accents) RELATIONSHIPS: many hook ups, two failed attempts to see men for more than a couple of times (with Milton it lasted two months, that's her longest relationship). At first neglected by her mother and cared for by her father, once her potential was more clear Jemma was emotionally abused and pushed to her limits by the woman while her father was the one neglecting her due to his work; that's when she developed an exaggerated sense of responsibility/guilt. She raised her little sister, while her older brother hated her due to jealously, and she had a grandmother until 12 and the house staff try to take care of her as much as possible. INTELLIGENCE: canonically a super genius, able to have 2 PHDs when sixteen, to remember engineering-related codes years later even if she’s not an actual engineer, perform surgery and with an incredible memory especially when feelings are involved.

***

Jemma was taught by her father, as a child, to put all her troubles away, inside her music box, and she kept doing so as she grew up. All the traumas, all the anger she didn’t feel she had the right to let out, all the pain, got repressed because there were more important things to think about, because her friends were the ones'really suffering' and not her, and simply because she never learned how to process and deal with it. But the system stopped working and Jemma started feeling like a villain while simultaneously wanting to fight against the people who didn’t help her and, worse, misjudged her and the kind of dangerous person she could be.  The more she uses questionable methods and is aggressive to people, the more she convinces herself she’s lost. And the more she convinces herself she’s lost, the more she makes herself do questionable things. She has conflicting feelings about Fitz, she expects Coulson to be against her and is preemptively antagonistic with him, May and Daisy were more or less on her side so she's ready to die for them, Mack and Bobbi were nearly strangers she never got close to but who betrayed her when she already had enough of SHIELD so they are no friends, Hunter is equally a stranger but he never did anything against her or the team so she's not feeling anything special in a good or bad way for him, and she didn't get to meet any new teammate. She doesn't have the healthiest life-style, has mood swings at times, also due to sleep deprivation, and deep down is in desperate need of being told that she's fine the way she is.

 So, this is the version of her backstory for who doesn’t need a full recap of the first two seasons of aos. Long but it explains the turns her mind took to get to that darker place, I bolded parts to help you 'skip' the least important bits if you can't read too much at once: 

Jemma had PTSD as well as survivor guilt and an already exaggerate sense of guilt in general. Considered herself responsible for Fitz’s brain damage in particular and everything that came with it: for his frustration, when he got angry she took it as a personal failure, she watched him struggle to be better and suffered, she hated when she couldn't finish his sentences but also knew she was slowing down his recovery by doing things for him to keep him from being angry at himself, and felt responsible for not finding a way to make things work. She was falling apart and ran away, undercover, to save him from herself and not for her own health, which instead needed some safe and quiet and not be isolated in enemy territory to avoid getting worse.  And after coming back to the base, she finds herself isolated again, and learns that people actually assumed the worst of her, as well as talking about it with the new guys while she was gone. She was already thinking the worst of herself, and finding out that the people who tried to see the good in everyone else believed she’d be capable of abandoning her best friend because he wasn’t 'good enough' was already a bad hit. And not only she couldn’t voice her own reasons and pains because unable to communicate her feelings, but was aware that telling Fitz she had left because his recovery was slower thanks to the pressure he puts on himself to work better with her, and because she made him worse, would make Fitz feel even more guilty and ‘useless’, and do nothing good. 

She was mostly alone, once again, even if surrounded by people she knew as opposed to undercover in Hydra, and not a comfortable kind of alone. She overworked and even when repressing her emotions she had to hid to cry often. Skye was facing her own tragedies but did try to show some support and Jemma was thankful for it, but much like May who was equally impartial and close, Jemma didn’t get to see her much anymore; Bobbi was there less than two months before she turned out to be part of another faction, too little time to be nothing but just a friendly acquaintance to Jemma. Her betrayal was still anger-inducing, especially since she brought up Fitz to try to get her out of the locker room, but Jemma wasn’t trusting her with her life before either.  The real last straw after all the self-hatred, all the anger she felt for Ward, all the assumptions the others made, the isolation, the inability to fix things with Fitz, and even Trip’s death and watching Raina slaughter her team in Porto Rico with her new powers, was realizing that Fitz had hidden Skye’s powers from her, expecting her to be capable of hurting their friend. It wasn't something she'd hold against Skye, at least not with anger, because she understood Skye was scared out of her mind, but it did make her doubt Skye's trust in her. 

Jemma believed she deserved many bad things, she believed she also deserved Fitz’s anger for leaving, for being the cause of his suffering and unable to make it better. But while she’d let anyone berate her over the things she had done, she refused to accept being seen as someone who could hurt one of her best friends, especially because ‘different’. Her concern had always been alien viruses, like the one that had infected her, and Skye’s potential death, not that Skye would be ‘different’. That, and it did start to feel like everyone beside May was closer to Fitz and mostly thought of her as part of the Fitz/Simmons duo.

And that’s what brought the canon divergence, because the music box cracked, and she started feeling all the anger, the need to attack and fight, the need to defend herself, while simultaneously giving up on proving she was worth of their friendship, giving up on trying to be better, to be good, and just start letting out some bitterness, some sarcasm. She started feeling she didn’t have a place in shield anymore, and didn’t get closer to Fitz through gossip and small attempts of reconciliation before and after the attack from the other faction of SHIELD, but kept distance and animosity. She still felt she deserved the anger over being the cause of his brain damage and the suffering after, but nothing else beside that.  She was far more aggressive with the other faction of shield, but May voiced her wish to protect her and gave Jemma a bit more will to stay and fight. After all, Skye was still out there and Jemma wasn’t giving up on her either.  Upon finding out that Skye’s powers were natural for her, that she was part alien, Jemma was at peace with her change.   Later on that day she tried to kill Ward and got Bakshi instead, and even tried to get Ward to shoot her. Fitz, not knowing the details, but with good intentions told her that it was okay if she couldn’t try to kill Ward, he wasn't able to really try kill him even if he wanted to either, it just meant they weren’t like him. And Jemma pointed out that she did try to kill him and was kicking herself for failing, the next bad things Ward did were going to be her responsibility. If anything, Fitz’s comforting words were a reminder that she was, in fact, not at all like Fitz and the rest of the team. At that point, she accepted that she was more than capable of killing and felt nothing about murdering Bakshi. She was different, and if she had stayed in the team it would likely because she could bring that to the table, and dirty her hands so that people like Fitz or Skye wouldn’t have to. Do what was needed, even when technically there were other options.   But she didn’t want to stay, because the team, minus May and Skye with their vocal support, and still in Skye’s case with some doubt about Skye’s feelings, felt like a team of strangers now. And she felt she was always going to be the bad guy to them, and worse, the kind of bad guy she actually wasn’t, as opposed to the one she had embraced being. 

But just as she meant to leave, she took a curious look at the Monolith and got transported to an alien planet. It was a new kind of hell (and while she had no hold backs, no intention of dating anyone, she wasn't the nicest to Will either so 'getting together' was still sparked by the need for some sort of comfort, only one month before leaving Maveth, and she wasn't in love with himb. But naturally cared enough to want to save him), and when she came back she was surprised to learn that Fitz had fought so hard to rescue her even with the bleak turn their friendship had taken - not so surprised that the others had given up even before finishing to follow all the leads. 

At first it was heartwarming, but the disconnection between the two of them, especially with the way she had changed, more to the point, less delicate, too tired to be anything but who she felt, was all too obvious. And the bitterness grew as she realized that the rest of the team seemed to be worrying more about Fitz’s feelings over her relationship with Will and harder personality than about her wellbeing, meaning once again she was seen in terms of how Fitz would be affected by what happened to her. She also expected Fitz to be waiting for his Jemma to come back, the one he fell in love with, and

she was too angry to see things any different, just thinking about wanting to leave a soon as possible and training.  But she stayed and fought to get Will back to Earth. Sadly Will had died saving her, as she found out after being tortured by Hydra and watching Fitz almost give his life for her again. And that was all too much, she needed to leave.

Now. And due to her intention of fighting Hydra, she still had her own little reunion with Will/Hive later on.

As soon as Daisy becomes Quake, after leaving SHIELD, Jemma is of course available to have her back if Daisy hasn't been antagonist with her by then. And even if she has, Jemma is likely to try to help her because she understands Daisy's reasons, even if she herself can lose her temper at times and feel frustrated by her former team. She also tried to find them after finding out the base had 'exploded' by the end of season 4, and managed to track down agent Piper eventually, who told her they had been trapped in a virtual reality program, came back, destroyed the bad guy behind it and disappeared again. Jemma knows they can take care of themselves so that was enough to make her walk away.

How and when they meet can change depending on how we plot threads.

Generally speaking, as much as she’s now a vigilante, and she hides behind a mask of 'bad guy trying to do the right thing’, she’s still Jemma Simmons, she still wants to save people, even if it means doing some morally questionable things to do so. May and Skye in particular are family, Fitz is a bittersweet old friend/former friend, and the team can be someone she’s very bitter about. A lot depends on the take rpers have on them. She’ll keep tabs on them and show up even if not thrilled about it to help. Characters from other fandoms can find her vigilanting, training to be even more lethal, using all sort of techs we know to be part of her world to help herself, and being extremely broken and tired of being who she is, but with no idea of where to start changing things, because every time she tries to do good, people suffer or die. 

A longer version of her bio, only needed if you want more details about what happened in season 2 of aos and how Jemma took it in this AU, otherwise go ahead and skip it.

season 1

And when she’s out of her element after starting a life of adventure, traveling around the world, and sees people die, is asked to be the medical doctor she doesn’t have the right personality to be, is asked to do things above her abilities or people’s deaths will be on her, watches her new best friend Skye nearly die despite her best attempts to patch her up, is infected by an alien virus and jumps off a plane to die and not take the team down with her and is rescued at the last second, is betrayed by a dear friend who drops her and Fitz in the ocean, where Fitz, her best friend, her other half, confesses is love and then gives her the one last bit oxygen left, almost dying and brought to surface by a Jemma who then learns he suffered of major brain damage over it, she puts everything in the box and keeps trying to help. She’s angry at Ward, homicidally so, and that’s okay because he betrayed them, everyone is. 

But everything else is locked up. 

season 2

Fitz is in pieces, he’s pushing himself too hard to prove Jemma he’s still good at what he does, but at first he can’t even speak, and Jemma learns very fast that she can’t help him, that everything she does to try to make things better, is making him feel worse. And her heart can’t take this. She’s traumatized, she’s alone in taking care of him because everyone in the team has their duties and they have to rebuild SHIELD, Fitz is frustrated and isn’t healing as fast as he should, possibly because she’s there doing too much for him while simultaneously not bringing him any comfort. 

So Jemma leaves, goes undercover in Hydra, something she’s not trained for. Does horrible things, knows she’s helping them hurt people, but is also saving so many by stealing information. And she’s hopefully helping Fitz, whom she’s told is okay.

And then she comes back at the base. She finds out Fitz told people he confessed her love and she bailed for that reason, and maybe that’s not the only version, other seems to have thought, including Fitz himself, that it’s his brain damage that drove her away, the fact that he’s 'useless’ as he puts it. Skye catches her crying and reminds her it’s okay to be angry. May still believes in her. But things with Fitz are fully broken, he felt abandoned and apparently most of the team did too. 

And then Skye is mostly gone, facing her own tragedies, Coulson is busy, just like May. Bobbi is new and friendly, but Jemma has problems trusting people. Mack is on Fitz’s side, and Hunter might be too, in a way that paints her as the new, unwanted element. Jemma is a bit jealous and a bit hurt, but also understands it’s all her fault, she hurt Fitz and she has no way to fix this. 

Fitz tells her he’s leaving to work with Mack, and then Trip dies. Jemma is alone in Porto Rico while the team is back at the base, dealing with the guilt of not protecting Trip from an alien threat, and watches Raina slaughter her team of scientists and escape, changed by the same alien object that has killed Trip and might have infected Skye. She comes home to check on her, speaks of potential dangers of a virus, of how she should have eradicated alien threats. Doesn’t know Skye was changed too - it would be different with her, of course, she’s a friend, she'sd just want to keep her healthy and safe. But Skye is scared, and Fitz thinks Jemma has changed too much and can’t be trusted, so they agree not to tell her.

When Jemma finds out, when she finds out that the person who knows her so well, and who wanted to believe in Ward until the very end, believed her capable of hurting Skye, her music box cracks. Things truly can’t be fixed between them either, it’s over. 

She has so many justifications and reasons for what she’s done and said, but it’s useless as well as impossible to let them out, and the resentment is growing day by day. Jemma wants Skye to know she’s safe with her, but after Skye is gone, to learn how to deal with the changes in her body, soon enough it turns out Bobbi and Mack weren’t really loyal to Coulson and it’s a whole new mess. 

Jemma doesn’t start any reconciliation with Fitz, she’s cold and avoids him as much as possible. She still comes up with the plan to protect the toolbox and send it away with Fitz, and after that she’s more actively aggressive against the other SHIELD. May told her she was trying to protect her, and Jemma clings to that, just like she clings to the few friendly interactions she’s still has had with Skye, because everything else just reminds her that she’s different and everyone else can see it too.  In the end they are all reunited - Skye is apparently an inhuman, her life is not at risk, and Jemma is relieved and has no more questions about her powers, at least none that are scared for her life - and Jemma tries to kill Ward with a splinter bomb. Fails because Bakshi stopped her and died for it, and tries to push Ward to kill her too. Why not, she failed again and she hates him too much to be scared.  Probably sensing her change of mood when she’s back, Fitz, despite their tense relationship, attempts to comfort her reminding her that not being able to push herself to kill Ward is good, he couldn’t do it either, they are not like him.  And that, while she recognizes it as the reassurance it is, just reminds Jemma that she’s worlds away from Fitz and people like him. Because she does have it in her to kill. Because she didn’t lose any sleep over murdering Bakshi, her first kill. Because she’s capable of anything to protect her friends, people she wants to keep safe, and out of revenge as well.  She tells Fitz she did try to kill Ward, she’s kicking herself she failed. She’s not hiding that part of her, she feels it’s time to accept it, to use it. She gave up on trying to become a better person, it only brings more pain, and she’s now letting all the resentment and the clashing feelings of frustration over unfair treatment and acceptance of her role of bad person come out.  She wants to leave, go help people away from the team, go hurt other bad guys like Hydra without having people who look at her like she might kill them next, but her curiosity over the monolith takes over and she’s taken to another planet right before she quits.

While she’s not planning to date Fitz, she’s not exactly the nicest most positive person when on Maveth, and her relationship with Will still doesn’t start until the last month, from her side more of a physical comfort than love; she still cares for him, doesn’t want someone else to die for her. Sadly, once home, while she almost reconnects with Fitz, she has the chance to notice more hurtful things, such as how there were still leads and yet the rest of the team gave up on finding her alive, or how the team is more focused on Fitz’s feelings and reactions over Will and what happened to her than they are about her. She still feels like an outsider, spends her time either trying to open the portal or training even if it’s too soon.  She’s then captured by Hydra, tortured, Fitz once again sacrifices himself for her and goes to Maveth; she frees Lash to help herself, finds out he killed innocent inhumans later, then that Will has died to save her, and is officially done with SHIELD. Too many negative feelings and she can tell she’s going to direct them to the team if she doesn’t get out of there. 

As much as she’s now a vigilante, and she hides behind a mask of 'bad guy trying to do the right thing’, she’s still Jemma Simmons, she still wants to save people, even if it means doing some morally questionable things to do so. May and Skye in particular are family, Fitz is a bittersweet old friend/former friend, and the team can be someone she’s very bitter about. A lot depends on the take rpers have on them. She’ll keep tabs on them and show up even if not thrilled about it to help. Characters from other fandoms can find her vigilanting, training to be even more lethal, using all sort of techs we know to be part of her world to help herself, and being extremely broken and tired of being who she is, but with no idea of where to start changing things, because every time she tries to do good, people suffer or die. 

[scarlett-bucky-blog]

Piece By Piece

Summary: Based off the song Piece by Piece By Kelly Clarkson. Y/N s father has left her and her mother when she was just six years old. Because of that she has trust issues, now her and Bucky are dating, and every single day Bucky is proving to her that she is his everything and how much he loves her. Now that Y/N is avenger, her father wants to be apart of her life suddenly, But Y/N and the Avengers won’t be having that.

Rating: T

Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes x female Reader, Tony x (Daughter) Reader.

Warning(s): I gotta get that Angst in there! Plus Fluff

Word Count: 2k+

A/N: Song fic! Songs remind me of Bucky to muchh! Anywho Enjoy the story, I’ll soon take request so get them ideas! But bare with me, i’m just starting. Song lyrics will be in Bold, and Reader (Y/N) will be writing to her father and that will be in italics.

And all I remember is your back. Walking towards the airport leaving us all in your past.

It wasn’t an easy day for me or my mom, I was only a little girl, I didn’t understand anything at the time, all I understood was you, back towards us, suitcase in hand and walking towards the airport. I felt left behind, lost, and forgotten.

I looked up from my desk, looking around at the pictures around me, some of my mother, others of my teammates, and a few of Bucky. I took a deep breath, and got up walking towards my closet, I pulled out a box, looking through it. I pulled out a picture of him. My no good some of a-

“Hey, Doll you ready for breakfast, Tony won’t stop pestering me about you getting up and eating, so hurry up.” Bucky’s voice stop me in my tracks.

I turned and looked up at him, looking at his smiling face. I returned the gesture, and nodded.

“Of course sweetie, I be there in a sec.” I turned back to the box and picture in my hand. “Just looking through old stuff is all.”

Bucky looked down at me with curiosity, “whatcha looking through doll?” I giggled and signed. “Just some old pictures of my family.” Bucky squat down and looked at the picture in my hand.

“Who”s that?” I gulped, I never told Bucky about my no good for nothing father, it was only Tony, but the only reason was because he saw me crying my eyes out over him when I first came to the Avengers Tower.

“It’s….My father.” I said looking down at his picture. Remembering how I got this picture.

I traveled 1500 miles to see you. Begged you to want me, but you didn’t want to.

I got that picture from when I traveled to visit  you, you was in Denver, Colorado, I tried to get you to want me, tried to get you to love me. But I wasn’t good enough for you, why wasn’t I good enough?

I gave Bucky the picture, “This is my dad, I got this picture from his house.” Bucky took the picture and stared at the picture, “You went to his house? Where does he live?”

“Denver, Colorado.”

Bucky’s eyes widen, “Denver?! That's 1500 miles away from here. You really went that far for him?” I smiled and nodded, “Yeah I tried to get him to want me. But he didn’t want me.”

Bucky’s eyes fell, “I’m Sorry Doll.”

But piece by piece he collected me up off the ground, where you abandoned things.

Then I met the nicest man I’ve ever met, he picked me up where you left me, where you left everything.

He pulled me into a hug. I signed in content. “It’s okay doll i’ll be here for you, every single day.” He spoke softly to me. I smiled and nodded.

We stood up together, forgetting the box and walked out, hand in hand, to join the others for some breakfast. Once we got to the kitchen. Everyone was there eating or talking to each other. Natasha and Wanda noticed I walked in with Bucky, they both smiled and gestured me to come sit with them. I smiled and nodded.

I turned to Bucky and he smiled and nodded, knowing what I was gonna ask. I grinned and walk towards the girls.

And piece by piece he filled the holes that you burned in me at six years old and you know.

He gave me love every single day since then, cared for me when I cried over you, and I feel like he’s filling the holes you burned into me at six years old, when you left me and mom all by ourselves with no one to turn to for any sort of help. And you know, I was only six years old, I thought you was coming back but you didn’t. You never came back.

Ever since Bucky found out about my father, he made me feel much better about men, so did Tony, I feel like he’s my own dad, they both took care of me. And the smallest things they do for me made me love them more and more.

He never walks away.

When I got morning sickness for the first time, Bucky stayed by my side and helped me get through by helping me with the smallest things like getting a glass of water when I was puking my guts out.

“Doll, I got you a glass of water.” Bucky spoke softly to me as I puked my guts out into the toilet. I turned to him and gave him a small smile. “Thank you Bucky-” I quickly turned to the toilet again and went another round of death.

Bucky quickly grabbed my hair from my face with his metal hand, and pulled the hair tie from his head with his other, quickly putting my hair into a messy bun so I didn’t get puke all over my hair and have to take a shower, which I am not up for that whatsoever.

“Doll, are you gonna be okay?” Bucky asked with a worried expression. I got my face out of the toilet and grabbed the glass of water. I took a big gulp and nodded. “Yes Bucky i’m fine!” I smiled up at him. I started getting up, Bucky hurried and helped me up.

“Don’t stand up so fast darling, you’ll get nauseous again.” I nodded and walked to our bed. “What did Steve and Nat say?” Bucky took the glass from me and sat in on the night stand next to the bed.

“Steve said it’s okay for you to set this mission out, and Nat said she will cover for you. But I don’t want to leave you all alone when you are like this.”

I smiled up at him, “Honey go save the world, I’ll be perfect right here sleeping and watching Netflix, shoot they just added Moana, who’s gonna pass up Moana sweetie?” Bucky chuckled, “And besides if I need anything I’ll just bug one of the boys thats here,  you know, Tony, Clint, Bruce, Thor wouldn’t mind being bugged by a sick little human. I’ll get FRIDAY to get them for me. You have my back FRIDAY right?” “Of course Miss Y/L/N.” FRIDAY's voice spoke through out the room. Bucky signed.

“Okay, Okay just no getting out of bed got it?”

I grinned and saluted him, “Yes sir!”

He Never ask for money.

And when Bucky needed something I always tried giving him money, but he never takes it, he never even asks for money.

“Honey didn’t you say you needed a new undershirt for you suit?” I asked while digging into my purse. Me and Bucky decided to go looking around the mall. As I pulled my wallet out he stopped my hand. I looked up at him with confusion but all he did was smile. “No doll, I got money for one I don’t want to take yours.”

All I did was just smile.

He takes care of me. He loves me.

And when my morning sickness became something that happened every morning he was always there to bring me water and hold my hair back every time.

This thing became an everyday thing, which is pissing me off, and another thing is i'm late on my period! I need Nat and Wanda now.

I turned to Bucky who looked at me with worry. “Bucky dear, can you go get Nat and Wanda...Please!” That made him jump and quickly ran out the door to get the two girls.

Soon they came in. “Bucky stay outside for a second okay?” Wanda spoke to him making him more scared. “Don’t worry dear, i’m not dying just stay out there for a second okay?” Soon he agreed and sat on the edge of the bed.

Once the door shut I turned to the girls with a panic expression. “Fucking hell! I’m having signs of pregnancy!” I whispered loudly. “Okay Y/N calm down, maybe you're just getting the flu or something.” Wanda spoke, I glared at her. “Wanda i’m getting sick….IN THE MORNING! And I’m late on my period, I think I’m pregnant.”

Nat spoke, “Okay being mean and rude is not gonna help. I’ll go pick up some pregnancy tests while you tell Bucky the news.” I sighed and nodded. Both girls left and Bucky came in.

“Whats wrong?!” I smiled softly at him.

“Bucky...I think i’m pregnant..”

I watched Bucky’s eyes widen. He pointed to himself, “I might be a….dad?” I nodded. He grinned and ran towards me and pulled me in a bear hug, spinning us around. “I’m gonna be a dad!!” I laughed “Maybe!”

Piece by Piece he restored my faith, that I man can be kind, and a Father could, Stay.

And when I found out I was pregnant with his child, he stayed, he stayed, something you never did. He restored my faith, my faith that a man can stay and become a dad.

When Nat brought back the tests, Bucky stayed with me during all of it. Waiting patiently but eager to find out if he is gonna be a Dad or not.

I took all four tests. All came out Positive. I’m having a baby...with Bucky!. I started crying tears of joy. I walked out of the bathroom where Bucky was pacing back and forth in front of the bathroom, once he noticed me he quickly walked up to me.

“So...Are we gonna be parents?” He spoke quickly. I took a deep breath and nodded with a huge smile. “Yes, Yes we are gonna be parents Buck!” Tears fell down his eyes as he pulled me into his chest for a hug.

“Oh thank you Y/N you made me the happiest guy in the world!” He cried into my hair, I balled my first into his shirt and cried into his chest, nodding “You to Buck...You to.”

He pulled from our hug and went down to my stomach. His scruff tickling my stomaching making me laugh.

“Hey there, i’m your daddy, don’t worry about your mama she will be taken care of by me, and so will you, you’ll get all the food you want. Even it’s 3 in the morning.” I laughed and rubbed my hands through his hair.

Just then our door slammed open.

Their stod Tony with the rest of the team, “Nat told us, is it true? Will I be getting and grandchild?!” Tony cried with his hand still on the door. I smiled and nodded. Everyone sighed in relief and started cheering and talking about how much stuff the baby will get.

I turned to Bucky who kept his head on my belly. “Our child is gonna get spoiled very much by their uncles and aunts.”

“Counting Grandfather!” Tony yelled, making me roll my eyes, Bucky just grinned and nodded.

And all of your words fall flat, I made something of myself and now you wanna come back.

Everything was going great, I had a healthy child growing in me, and with Bucky’s and the teams help I was doing good, Of course I had to stay off of missions of course. That wasn’t the worst part of it. The worst part was you showing up out of nowhere. Saying you want me. And need me.

I was 6 months pregnant, found out the gender and I contacted my mother about her new Granddaughter  which made her very, very happy. Which made me very happy.

I was eating in the main living room of the tower while watching Netflix. Bucky was in the kitchen making something for him to eat. As I was enjoying my ice cream, FRIDAY interrupted stating a visitor is here to see me. Making most of the team, counting Bucky to hurry to the living room.

Tony turned to me, “When does your mother come to visit?” I shook my head, “She isn’t suppose to be here this early.” We all turned to the elevator once we heard the doors opened.

But your love isn’t free, it has to be earned.

Why was you there? When have you ever decided to come visit me.

I gasped. Bucky glared at him. Tony was the first one to spoke. “Why in the hell are you here?” he grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Can’t a father visit his daughter without getting questioned?” Nat walked up to him and gave him her famous glare.

“You’re no father towards Y/N I suggest you leave now before we call security to make you leave.”

He turned towards me, his eyes fell towards my stomach. His eyes widen and gasped. “You’re pregnant?”  

What.

What…?

I got out from behind Bucky’s back, “What the hell do you mean “You’re Pregnant?” Isn’t that what you came here for? To see your granddaughter?”

He shook his head, “I didn’t know you was till I got here.”

Bucky finally spoke, “Then why are you here?”

He smiled and gestured to the tower, “When I found out you were an avenger, I didn’t believe it at the time. Like why would You,” He pointed to me, “A worthless piece of junk be an avenger? Its funny! I wanted to see for myself. And here I am.”

Back then I didn’t have anything you needed, so I was worthless.

I knew you wasn’t there to see your granddaughter, you was there because I was an avenger and you needed me. And now that i’m something and you’re nothing, you’re crawling back to me for something I didn’t have back then, but now I have it, and you want it

Bucky growled and took a huge step towards him, “How dare you talk to my wife like that!” I grabbed a hold of Bucky’s metal arm to keep him from hurting him.

“Now that she’s something and you think she’s useful, you believe she’s going to give you any help?”

He shrugged, “Well, Yeah i’m her father.”

Steve took a step towards him, “Exactly you might be her father, but you will never be her Dad.” Steve got in his face, “I suggest you leave now before things start to get ugly.”

He turned to me, “You're just gonna let them talk to me like that, to your d-” “YOU ARE NOT MY DAD!”

I was panting as I saw the shocked look on his face. “You was the one who left, not me. I tired going to you but you didn’t want me. You will never ever be my dad. Get out before I kick you out myself. You’re not getting anything from me.”

He crossed his arms, “So your just gonna keep my granddaughter away from me?”

“Now you bring her in! How much of a douchebag are you?!” Bucky yelled. “Yes we are, because you didn’t want Y/N, so you won’t get Jasmine.”

Piece by piece, I fell far from the tree, I would never leave her like you left me. And she will never have to wonder her worth, because unlike you, i’m gonna put her first, and you know.

I walked up to him, “I will never be like you, I fell far from the tree.” I pointed to myself, “I would never leave her like you left me!” I started crying. “And...she will never wonder her worth because unlike you! I will put her first!” I cried into my hands making Bucky run up to me and pulled me into a hug.

I will never be like you. And she will never be like you.

Tony finally got the security guards to “Escort” him out. I sat in the arms of Bucky crying, I finally stood up to that man. I finally feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I can breath again.

I pulled from Bucky’s grasp and looked up at him, tears of joy fell from my eyes. “Thank you so much Bucky for being here.”

Bucky wiped the tears from my eyes and smiled down at me, “You’re welcome doll, anything for you.”

He’ll never walk away, he’ll never break her heart, he’ll take care of things, he’ll love her.

After 2 years you never showed up again, and i’m glad. This will be the last time i’ll talk to you. I don’t need you. I got everything I need right here with me, and you was never apart of it.

I sat in the patio with my mom, watching my husband, Bucky play with our daughter, Jasmine.

And after 2 years Bucky is still with me, with another one on the way, Cause I know he will never walk away, never break her heart. He will take care of things...because he loves her.

“He’s a good man sweetie.” my mother spoke while drinking her tea. I smiled and nodded, she turned to look at him. “Piece by Piece….he restored our faith.” she spoke softly. I grinned.

“That a man can be kind, and a father should be great.”

[this-book-has-been-loved]

Singularity: Chapter 7

AU where instead of landing in the trash nebula, Pidge finds herself on the same planet as a certain Galra prison camp.

(Holt family reunion fic; no romantic relationships)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6

Read it on Ao3

Read it on FFN

Chapter 7: Imperium

This was it.

Much to Pidge’s chagrin, it had taken a few quintants before they were ready to go; their lions still needed to finish their repairs. So they’d spent time planning, meticulously plotting out every second of their mission, from the instant they wormholed within range, to when they blasted off to safety.

And now, it was finally happening.

All five paladins were in the cockpits of their lions, waiting in their bays, for the command to launch.

Allura’s voice sounded over the comms. “Paladins, are you all ready?”

“On your mark, Princess,” Shiro replied.

“Opening wormhole.”

And they were off.

From her position inside the Green Lion, Pidge couldn’t see what was happening outside the castle. But she felt the change in velocity as they rocketed through the wormhole, before slowing to a stop as they were spat out the other end.

“Launch!”

At Allura’s command, the paladins shot off into space.

Pidge could see the planet hanging in front of them: a mass of swirling browns and greens and golds. She took a deep breath, drinking in the sight of the planet. “Here we go,” she whispered.

She hadn’t meant for anyone to hear, but Shiro still responded. “We’ll find him, Katie,” he told her. “It’ll be fine.”

She nodded, more to herself than to Shiro. “I know.”

Green was purring, sending her paladin waves of comfort and assurance. Pidge relaxed, taking in the moment, feeling the confidence and compassion of her teammates through their paladin bond.

“Hey, guys?” she started. “I…I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your doing this for me. You’ve been so supportive, and…. It really means a lot to me. You guys are the best friends I could have asked for. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Aww, Pidge.” Hunk sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Lance commented, and she heard a smile in his voice.

She laughed dryly. “Don’t get used to it, McClain.”

“We’ve got your back, Pidge,” Keith told her.

She smiled, reveling in the warm thoughts from both her lion and her fellow paladins. She wiped at her eyes. “Thanks, guys. You’re the best.”

It wasn’t too much longer before they entered atmosphere. And once they were on planet, it was a straight shot past the mountains to get to the prison camp.

“Alright, there it is,” Shiro announced. “Let’s go!”

Scarcely had the words left his mouth when a swarm of Galra fighter ships took liftoff from the compound’s hangar, heading towards the lions, guns at the ready.

“Dodge!”

Pidge jerked her controls to the side, sending her lion spiraling out of the line of fire. “I think they’ve noticed us.”

“Well, there goes our surprise attack,” Keith muttered, shooting at the Galra fighters.

“Alright, we’re switching things up a bit. Keith, Lance: keep those aerial fighters busy,” Shiro ordered. “The rest of us are going in for landing. We’re gonna need cover.”

“Copy that!” Keith called, firing at the fighters.

“Pidge, Hunk,” Shiro continued, “follow me.”

The three of them ducked closer to the planet, zooming towards the prison camp. “They have watchtowers along the perimeter,” Pidge reported, focusing in on the closest one. “We’re gonna have to take them down if we don’t want them firing at us.”

“Alright, let’s move in.”

They circled the compound, shooting at each watchtower one by one.

“Looks like they’re clearing the yard,” Hunk relayed.

Pidge looked towards the yard, watching as the sentries herded the prisoners back inside the cell blocks. “Makes our job easier,” she replied. She shot down the last watchtower, one by the front gates. “Perimeter’s down,” she announced, landing her lion beside it. “Let’s head in.”

From behind her, Shiro flew over the compound and touched down just outside the perimeter wall, to Pidge’s left. Hunk landed on the opposite end, giving a semblance of surrounding the prison.

They didn’t even bother for any pretense of subtlety. They moved in on foot, standing in front of the gates, and Hunk simply blasted them open—and they were in.

Pidge and Shiro put their shields up, each standing a half step in front of Hunk to cover him as he fired his blaster at the sentries.

“Jeez,” Pidge muttered as she deflected their blows. “These guys have worse aim than Storm Troopers.”

Hunk laughed.

When resistance in the yard thinned out, they started to move deeper into the camp. “Hunk, start getting the prisoners out of here,” Shiro said. “Start with block A and work your way through. Pidge and I will hit the central hub and take out the warden.”

“You got it,” Hunk replied, skirting towards the buildings along the edges of the compound. “Oh!” he called back, his voice echoing over the comm link. “Pidge! Which one is he in?”

“Block G,” Pidge recited. “Cell one-three-one-two-oh.”

“On it.”

“Start with block A,” she reminded him. “It’s the closest.”

It wasn’t hard for her and Shiro to finish cleaning out the yard. And once all the sentries there were down, it was time to move into the command hub.

She could hear everyone’s voices over the comms: Hunk explaining calmly to the prisoners, Lance and Keith cheering as they took down the aerial fighters, Allura and Coran back in the castle.

Everything was going according to plan.

The doors to the central command center were shut tight.

“You know,” Pidge commented, “as much as I love the surprise sneak attack strategies, the breaking-and-blasting method is a lot of fun.”

Shiro chuckled, holding his prosthetic arm up to the scanner. “Glad you’re enjoying this.”

The door opened, and they were instantly being fired at. Pidge ducked behind her shield. Through the translucent blue projection, she could see the squadrons of sentries lined up before them like a phalanx, firing mercilessly. Behind them, cowering by his desk, was the warden. Shiro closed the doors behind them, sealing them inside with the sentries. “Skirt around the edges,” he commanded. “And be careful!” With that, he took off to the left.

Pidge took the right flank, keeping her shield up as she charged towards the robots.

She danced past them, slashing and stabbing with her bayard, shooting out the cord to entangle or trip them, shocking them to fry their hardware. Across the room, Shiro’s arm glowed a blinding purple.

When the last sentry fell, Pidge turned to the warden and smiled. “Remember me?”

He was noticeably sweating, looking around frantically, trying to plan an escape. Desperately, he looked towards the main doors, still sealed shut. He started to run.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Pidge snarled, firing her bayard. Like the last time she’d confronted him, the cord wrapped around him, coursing with electricity, sending him crashing to the ground as he cried out in pain.

This time, the shock was enough to knock him unconscious, and he collapsed.

Pidge grinned, standing up straight and deactivating her bayard. “Warden down,” she told the team.

“Great work, Pidge,” Allura told her. “We’re coming in for landing. Keith, Lance, what’s the status on those fighters?”

“Just about done, Princess,” Keith replied.

“We’ve got this covered,” Lance added.

Shiro came up behind Pidge, a few sets of electric restraints held in his hands. “In case he wakes up,” he explained, gesturing towards the form of the warden, passed out on the cold floor. They used one pair to secure his hands behind his back, and clipped another around his ankles.

“We have control over the base,” Shiro announced triumphantly.

“And that’s the last of the fighters!” Lance whooped. “Princess, we’re right behind you.”

Pidge stood still, breathing deeply as she came down from the adrenaline rush. Shiro reopened the door to the yard, and she turned to look out.

Outside the compound, the castle was coming in for a landing, followed closely by Keith and Lance.

“This was…way easier than I thought it would be,” Keith commented as they touched down.

“Yeah,” Lance agreed. “Didn’t even need to form Voltron.”

“You guys head to the yard,” Shiro told them. He glanced over at Pidge and nodded towards the command console. “Whenever you’re ready.”

She breathed in deeply, and turned on the announcement system.

She tapped the microphone. “Attention prisoners,” she said. “This is a paladin of Voltron speaking. As some of you may already know, we’re here to set you all free.” She paused, giving time for her words to sink in. “We’ve taken out the warden,” she continued triumphantly. “This is our planet now.” She keyed in a few commands on the console, letting every single cell door open. “My friends will be waiting in the yard, administering first aid and helping anyone in need of assistance. Our goal is to get each and every one of you to safety.” She smiled. “May you all be able to return home, and be reunited with those you care about.”

She turned to look through the open door, watching as hundreds of prisoners streamed out of the buildings, congregating in the yard. Allura, Lance, and Keith were all standing there, already starting to speak with the prisoners. Hunk was still making the rounds through each prison block, checking for stragglers or those who couldn’t move.

This was actually working.

This had actually worked.

She’d done it, she’d found her brother. And now, all that was left was to track down their dad—

Hunk’s voice crackled over the comms. “Pidge?”

“Hunk? What’s up?”

“You said it was cell one-three-one-two-oh, right?”

“Yeah,” she replied, a sinking feeling starting deep in her chest. “Block G. G one-three-one-two-oh.”

There was a pause, and Pidge felt tight with anxiety. After a second, Hunk spoke. “It’s empty.”

The world dropped out from beneath her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the cell is empty,” he repeated. “There’s no one here.”

She was frozen in place. “That…that can’t be right,” she said. “He was here. He has to be here!”

“Pidge, I’m sorry. I…I don’t think he’s here anymore.”

“No,” she murmured. “No, no! He has to be here!”

Shiro put a hand on her shoulder, startling her out of her frantic tunnel-vision. “Let’s check around outside,” he suggested, but she didn’t miss how his features had tightened. “He may already be out in the yard.”

Her heart had started to pound. But she followed Shiro outside into the writhing chaos.

She scanned the yard frantically. Aliens of all different shapes and sizes and colors and species were crowded there, blurring together. The retinal displays in her visor were starting to crowd her vision, and in a fit of frustration, she pulled off her helmet. She cast her gaze about desperately, trying to pick out his familiar mop of caramel-colored hair.

Nothing.

“No, no, where is he?”

Shiro was tense, and she saw his shoulders start to sag. “I’m sorry, Katie—”

“You are searching for the human?”

Pidge turned, meeting eyes with the diminutive figure who had spoken. The alien’s skin was a dark brown, and their forearms were covered in layers of deep red feathers. The alien tilted their head, blinking their startling blue catlike eyes as they met Pidge’s gaze. “He looked like you,” the alien continued, softly.

“He’s my brother,” Pidge replied, trying not to dwell on the use of past-tense. “Do you know where he is?”

The alien shook their head. “He is not here. They took him away several quintants ago, transferred him to somewhere else.”

The world was spinning. “He’s…gone?”

“I am sorry, Paladin.” The alien inclined their head, their eyes downcast.

Pidge was shaking. “No….”

Shiro reached out towards her. “Pidge—”

She pulled away from him, taking a few steps backwards. She clenched her fists. “I’m checking the prison records,” she announced, firmly replacing her helmet onto her head. She stalked back inside the command center and marched towards the console. She opened the main display, patching into the system. “Coran, are you still in the castle?”

“Ah, yes, Number Five.”

“I’m transmitting all this to you. All their data. Run it through my decryption and translation program.” With that, she started the upload process. “It has to be in here. It has to say what happened to him.”

“I’m receiving your signal,” Coran told her.

“And?”

There was a long silence, broken only by the whirr of the machines and the tapping of his fingers against the castle’s console.

At long last, he sighed. “I’m afraid he’s not here, Pidge. The records say he was transferred somewhere else, just a couple quintants ago.”

“Where? Where was he transferred to?”

“Doesn’t say.”

She didn’t want to listen to this anymore. With a frustrated scream, she pulled her helmet back off and threw it across the room in a fit of anger. It clattered to the floor, the sound echoing through the room.

There were footsteps coming from behind her, and Lance appeared by her side. “Are you okay, Pidge?”

She didn’t look at him, keeping her eyes locked on the display screen before her. “This is all my fault.”

“Pidge, that’s not—”

“It is,” she insisted. “He was here. He was here and he was okay. If I hadn’t gotten involved….” Her voice trailed off.

“Well, what else were you supposed to do?” Lance’s voice was soft. “Ignore him? Act like you’d never seen him?”

Frustrated, she ran a hand through her hair. “I—I don’t—”

“You did the right thing, Pidge. This isn’t your fault.”

She clenched her fists, pressing them against her eyes. “It sure feels like it is.”

“If you’re looking for the one you were with before,” a new voice from behind her intoned, “he’s not here.”

Pidge whirled around, looking over at the warden.

He was still lying on the ground, his arms and legs still bound—but he had woken up. He was watching her curiously, taking in her appearance, and Pidge realized that this was the first time he’d seen her without her helmet on.

She marched towards him. She grabbed the front of his armor, pulling him off the ground so that they were face-to-face. “Where is he?” she hissed. “What did you do to him?”

“We knew you’d be coming back.” He was terrified—that much was clear from his body language. But he was trying his damnedest to cover it up. “So we made the appropriate preparations.”

“What did you do to him?!”

“Just didn’t realize you’d be bringing the rest of Voltron with you.”

“Ugh!” She threw him back to the ground. “Tell me!”

Lance reached towards her hesitantly. “Pidge—”

“Stay out of this, Lance,” she snapped. “This is my brother at stake here. This is my fight.”

He put up his hands placatingly. “I know,” he assured her. “I just…want to make sure you don’t do anything you might regret.”

She turned away from him, grabbing a blaster from a fallen sentry. “I think it might be a bit too late for that,” she muttered, leveling the muzzle at the warden. “Now tell me. Where. Is. He?”

The warden stared down the muzzle of the gun. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Her grip tightened. “Try me.”

“Pidge,” Lance repeated, more forceful this time.

She kept her gaze locked on the warden. “Tell me. Where. My brother is.”

“Victory or death.”

She pulled the trigger.

Time seemed to slow down, and silence rang in her ears.

After a long moment, she breathed again. She let the blaster fall to the floor. Tears were prickling at her eyes, and she let them fall. Wordlessly, she walked to where her helmet had fallen, picking it up and putting it back on.

Lance watched her in concern. “Pidge?”

She took a deep breath, steeling herself, refusing to make eye contact. “Alright,” she muttered. “Let’s get out of here.”

The doors ahead of them slid open with a hiss. The two Galra sentries holding Matt by the arms forced him into the room, a few steps behind the Galra soldier.

They were in the main control bridge of the ship. An officer—the Commander, Matt assumed—stood in the center of the room.

The soldier leading Matt—he’d never said his name—stopped a few steps from the Commander and stood at attention. “Commander Reggar.”

“Yes?”

“We have the prisoner you requested.”

The Commander turned, looking over Matt appraisingly. His mouth curled in a triumphant smirk. “Wonderful. Put him with the other one.”

“Yes, sir. Vrepit sa.” With that, Matt was forced out of the bridge and lead roughly down the hall.

As he left, he heard Reggar shout again. “Lieutenant Blazak!”

“Yes, Commander!”

“Prison base Theta-twelve has been compromised. It’s time to initiate phase two. We must track down Voltron.”

Matt’s eyes widened. Katie.

He was taken down the hall, towards the prison block with its endless rows of cells. Put him with the other one. Who could that be?

They stopped in front a cell door, and the Galra officer placed his hand against the scanner. The door slid open, and Matt was shoved inside unceremoniously. Without another word, the officer closed the cell door, and Matt was left with its other occupant.

He froze, taking in the figure before him. “Dad?”

[sutterbabe]

#8 Auston Matthews

Hi!! I love your writing!! Can you do an Auston imagine where you guys are babysitting a teammate's kid and he kinda drops hints about how he wants kids?

I sorta changed it a little bit

I babysit this gorgeous little kid called owen and I love him so much he is the purest being on this planet. 

Song suggestion of the day: Boo by shortstraw

Song i was thinking about when writing this: Whatta man by Salt-n-pepa esp the line: ‘I think i wanna have your baby’ lmao 

If you were being honest, the best part about getting to know the wags of some of the older guys on the leafs roster was the fact that you’d get to babysit their kids. You and Auston had been together for almost five years, which simultaneously felt like forever as well as no time at all. When you’d first gotten together, you guys went out a lot more but now you weren’t so interested in the bar/party/club scene and more interested in hanging out at home with each other and doing weird adult things you never thought you’d want to do (okay, you’d gone to one winery for a wedding but still). Obviously, seeing as you guys didn’t have kids and weren’t sleeping off big nights out, you found you had a lot more free time than Auston’s teammates. Given that, you guys were happy to give families like the Bozaks a break and babysit for them. Kanon was nearing eight and the biggest ball of energy you had ever seen. So at first, when it came to babysitters, Zach had ALWAYS been favoured above you. You get it, the guy writes children's books and he’s like the nicest dude ever. Heck, if you had kids, you’d definitely want him looking after them. Then slowly but surely, Zach was high in demand and you guys got a shot at kid-watching duty. Look at you now, regulars!

To be honest, you didn’t blame most of the parents for wanting to get out every once in a while. Kids are full on. But totally worth it. You could not wait for the day you got to welcome your own baby into the world. You knew Auston loved kids, but if he wanted them.. well you assumed he wanted them eventually. With you? hopefully. In the next few years? yeah, no. Which was sad but you totally got that he wanted to figure himself out first. He’d been in the NHL for seven years and hockey was a big deal for him. You didn’t really know if he’d even thought that much about having kids.

“What are you thinking about?” Auston asked, glancing over at you.

You glanced over at him from looking out the window as you drove and smiled softly. “Nothing.”

He smiled at that, reaching over to hold your hand as he drove. “Okay.”

You giggled at that. “You’re really cute.” you told him and you caught him flush gently at that.

“Thanks, gorgeous.” he mumbled, unable to wipe the massive smile off his face that occurred every time you complimented him. You smiled and leaned across to kiss his cheek.

“I don’t think i told you this enough, but you looked really good the other night.” you added.

“Well, I know I definitely looked like nothing compared to you.” he replied. “Did my best to clean up nicely though, didn’t want to kill your aesthetic.”

You laughed. “What aesthetic? My ‘try-not-to-fall-down-the-stairs-in-those-heels’ aesthetic?”

“No your ‘I-am-literally-the-hottest-person-on-the-planet.’ aesthetic.” Auston replied replied with a chuckle. “Besides, those shoes have me convinced that people who wear heels would survive the apocalypse.”

You laughed. “I’m not sure if that’s a good thing but I’ll take it anyway.” you informed him as he pulled into the Bozak’s driveway. You were there a little early to help keep Kanon busy while Tyler and Molly cleaned up the house before people started arriving.

Yeah so apparently adult things also included ‘casual drinks’ at people’s houses. Which was fine but like a lot of small talk so you and Auston either ended up hanging out with people’s kids (or dogs if they didn’t have kids), which you had no complaints about. Everyone didn’t seem to mind, as it at least kept the littlies occupied.

Kanon was waiting outside the front door for you, bouncing excitedly on his heels.

“Hey, bud.” Auston grinned, crouching down to greet him with their customary fist bump before Kanon was ushering you through the house to the kitchen where Tyler and Molly were getting everything ready.

“Mooomm, Auston and Y/n are here!’ Kanon announced as he dashed into the kitchen.

“Careful, buddy, no running in the kitchen remember.” Tyler said, catching his son round the chest before he could barrel into his mother.

“Okay.” Kanon replied, but all four of you knew that he’d be doing the exact same thing again within the next half an hour. 

Tyler shook his head with a chuckle as Kanon raced off to his room to get who-knows-what. “Hey,” He greeted, reaching forward to clap Auston on the back in greeting as you hugged Molly ‘hello’ and handed over the salad you’d made.

Kanon was actually pretty quiet compared to normal. He’d been at a sleepover last night so he was still pretty exhausted. 

“Wanna go see how, Kanon’s doing?” Auston suggested, after growing tired of all the small talk he was making.

“Bit eager tonight?’ you chuckled.

“Well, just want to get in as much practice as possible.” He reasoned.

“Practice?” you questioned, but Auston avoided the question, branching off from the adults and going to hang out with Kanon.

“They’re boring. All they talk about boring things.” Kanon noted when you joined him. “I don’t ever want to be an adult.”

“Well.. we’re adults...”  You started.

“But you’re cool. You’re not boring.”

“So if, you have to be an adult... you’d be a cool adult, like us?”

“I’d be a cool adult, but I wouldn’t be you.” Kanon told you pointedly.

“Who would you be? Connor McDavid?” Auston chuckled. “I wouldn’t be him, ‘cause he’s a boring adult too.” 

you elbowed Auston in the ribs gently as you hid a chuckled, rolling your eyes.

“I’d be me, but old.” Kanon told-you a matter of factly. 

You nodded in agreement. “Good plan.”

“So what makes us cool? Because I don’t wanna get boring like all the adults.” Auston said, dropping his voice to a whisper like he was being let into some big secret.

Five minutes later Kanon had make you a whole flowchart for avoiding ‘boring adult status’.

“Okay. Number one!” Kanon announced. “Are you an adult?”

“yes.” you and auston both answered simultaneously before chuckling lightly.

“Okay.” Kanon said, circling ‘addalt’ in a different coloured pen.

“Do you have children?”

‘No,” you replied as Auston said “pretend we do.”

You glanced at him and he shrugged casually. “Well, we don’t want to be boring for our kids do we? Gotta start preparing so we don’t become boring parents.”

Kanon eyed you both suspiciously. “...okay. Step one if you have children is... No Embarrassing them!”

“Okay.” you said. “Auston, you got that one?”

“Are you ready for number two?” Kanon questioned.

You both nodded.

“No having parties without other kids there. Otherwise your kids will get bored!” Kanon told Auston sternly. “And last. No talking about boring things. So don’t talk about bills or roadworks or the weather!”

“What about... work?” you asked.

“No work! You can talk about hockey and toys and movies but no work!” Kanon warned, making you nod rigourously.

“yes, of course not.”

He narrowed his eyes at you both. “But you guys don’t have a kid!”

Auston nodded. “I know. But do reckon we should? Would we be good at being cool parents?”

Kanon thought for a moment. “Yeah. Then I wouldn’t be lonely everytime all the adults come to our house. But I don’t think you would be boring adults.”

“Well, thats very important to not be boring. That’s why we wanted to ask you lots of questions, since you’re the cool expert.” Auston explained.

Kanon nodded. “That was a good idea.”

After the guests had returned home, you stayed back for a bit to help clean up.

“you alright, Y/n? Looks like there’s something on your mind.” molly noted as she glanced across from where she was picking up glasses to take inside.

You sighed. “I think Auston wants kids.”

“Why the sigh? Isn’t that a good thing?”  Molly questioned with a hint of confusion.

“Well he hasn’t like... outright ever told me he wants kids but.. some of the things he’s been saying these past few weeks... I don’t want to interpret it all wrong and get my hopes up when he isn’t ready.”

“Y/n,” Molly smiled. “Theres no harm in talking to him. “Besides, guys are weird. He’s not going to come straight out and ask you to have his baby.”

you laughed at that. “They are definitely weird.” you agreed.

“Kiddo in bed,” Auston announced as he walked into the kitchen with a grin, Tyler following by his side. “Let’s hope I have the same magic touch with our kids, huh?”

You and Molly exchanged a glance. “Subtlety is definitely not his forte.” Molly murmured, making you laugh gently.

“Well, we better head off. You ready to go, Y/n?” Auston asked.

You nodded, turning to Molly and giving her a hug goodbye. “Thank you so much for having us!”

“Oh you’re very welcome. We’ll see you at the game!”

“I can’t wait till we have that.”

“Have what?” you questioned, glancing over at Auston as you dropped your bag on the kitchen bench.

“A family.” he shrugged.

“Is that what tonight was all about?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.

He sighed defeatedly, caught in the act. He ran a hand through his hair before glancing up at you. “I really want to start a family with you, Y/n.”

you giggled. “Well you could’ve just said so.” you replied with a grin, throwing your arms round his neck and placing a gentle kiss to his nose.

[imaginingit]

seventeen as haikyuu!! characters (pt. 1)

my two worlds collide :)))) this isn’t strictly karasuno, just characters in the story that resemble the boys!

warning: spoilers ahead!! and also... i get a little. .. . .carried....away

S.Coups as Daichi Sawamura

MY TWO GRANDPAS I’M SO READY. as kind and fair leaders, daichi and seungcheol are inevitably very, very similar. in daichi’s approach with tobio and hinata when they first joined, coupled seungcheol’s way of uniting the boys to talk about their issues as frequently and fervently as possible, these two are the epitome of father material. daichi is never afraid to be vocal with the team on and off the court, and naturally is the voice of the entire team when needed. for seungcheol, despite being the youngest member in his family, was promised to debut with multiple groups time and time again, until finally he was put on hold with the rest of the seventeen boys. what this did was allow him to practice his patience and growth as a person, but as well, grow familiar and as an older brother figure for the boys as years went on. maturity aside, both of these boys are easily excitable and love it when their members are having a great time. with their relationship from their same age friends (suga and asahi, jeonghan and jisoo) to the younger guys on the team, they are an amicable sidekick and company to be around, and although they need to be serious on and off the court/camera for the sake of professionalism and victory, these two “old men” are two very dorky and clumsy guys at heart.

Jeonghan as Koshi Sugawara

THEY’RE ANGELS AND THEY FUCKING KNOW IT. but don’t be fooled. jeonghan can tend to be a little shit disturber at times cheeky at times (cheating, cheating, and more cheating) and suga sometimes does enjoy joining in on the banter with the second years, thus making them the most innocent (“wait, who me?” puppy eyes) older brothers out there. but with that aside, both are extremely caring towards the rest of the team and are undoubtedly the mother figures. sugawara, being assistant captain, knows each and every one of his teammates’ strengths and weakness, and always, always, has a sense of calm and patience, slowing the game down to his pace. despite losing his starting position to tobio when he came, he never once had a harsh attitude towards him and instead, cheered him on and did his part when he needed to step in. jeonghan is by far, the biggest mom figure in seventeen, and is extremely affectionate with everyone in the group. kind and attentive, he loves to compliment and tease his members “dino nugu aegi” and is enthusiastic in all their projects. he never seems to complain and be in a genuinely bad mood, like, ever. both are extremely reliable and have a bond with all of their members, making them both the soft, angelic, yet fun-loving members of the group. 

Joshua as Asahi Azumane

i put 95-line as the third years do you hear me sob bi ng ASAHI AND JISOO ARE BOTH SO SOFT, SOFT, SOFT, and are the kings of humility. jisoo is seriously the nicest, most soft-spoken, and easygoing person ever. he will never go out of his way to seriously boast about something nor will he claim a title as his own. we all know he’s a mama’s boy and an extremely soft person, resembling a kitten, almost. he loves to embrace his members and his bond with the 95-line is so, so precious. however, on stage, his demeanour is extremely different. he works so hard with his music and has such a determination to make sure everything is perfect, namely being the one to arrange all the acoustic versions of their songs, and making sure to monitor himself extremely closely after every recording. he works hard on his craft and does his best to benefit the team around him, being the master of humility and is undoubtedly in love with love itself. asahi, on the other hand, and a clear difference between the two, looks extremely different from how he is on the inside. being mistaken for a convict, or a third-year that had to repeat school a couple times, or a gangster, he’s 180 degrees different from his appearnce. like jisoo, he cares extremely how he is on the court and makes sure to do his absolute best to benefit his team. being the ace, he never really claimed that title as his and has a hard time believing in his abilities until the near end. he’s so precious to the team, and with his “glass heart”, he’s literally a child that needs to be protected at ALL TIME. these two are extremely soft and kind, knowing no limits to hard work and dedication at their craft to make sure their team comes out on top. 

Jun as Toru Oikawa 

pROFESSIONAL PANTY DROPPERS. literally the two biggest shits on the face of the earth. jun was the first person i matched a character with because i had no freaking doubt in my head that he was going to be oikawa. toru is damn fucking good at volleyball--and he knows it. he knows that he’s the grand king and isn’t afraid to walk around like it, even off the court. besides from being a cocky ass little shit though (jks i love my king), he’s such a good captain and is also the king of POSITIVITY. even if he makes a bad set or misplaces a serve, he has no doubt in knowing the next play will be different. you know who else is the king of positivity? WEN JUNHUI. WEN. JUN. HUI. during one fine day, when they were literally all quarantined in an island away from home and forced to give up their personal belongings for a period of time, he was such a trooper and a cheerleader for the rest of the trip there. he never failed in complimenting mingyu and his skills (literally when asked to pick 3 things to bring with him to a deserted island, he chose mingyu, mingyu, and mingyu), always helped out in various things like cooking, making freaking sashimi, starting the fire, and cleaning. but on stage.. . . BOI. he’s legit a sex machine. like not fucking kidding. he’s fucking hot and he knows it. in 17 project, one of the things the mentor told him was to work on his facial expressions, and this boy fucking did. the way he bites his lips, the way he droops his eyes, the way he walks on stage, his poise and confidence is so prevalent and is, without a doubt, a visual to be reckoned with. with oikawa, despite being one of the best u-18 setters in the country, arguably the best in his prefecture, and having the pressure that comes with it, he carries himself with such poise and confidence knowing that he fully has the ability to help his team and make them amazing. these two are confident, positive, and work extremely hard at what they do to better everyone that is relying on them and are undoubtedly panty wetters havE U SEEN OIKAWA WITH GLASSES IM DECEASED. 

Hoshi as Yu Nishinoya

NOYA M Y LOVE I LOVE YOU OSM U HC my svt bias wrecker and my haikyuu bias why do i do this to myself ffs. out of all of these matches, i think this one is the most spot-on, personality wise. noya is such a FREAKING FIRECRACKER, and is literally the second loudest character on this entire show despite having such tight competition whaddup bokuto, tanaka. he loves volleyball so. much. i’m literally not surprised if this kid sleeps with his uniform still on. but with that being said, as much as he loves it, his bond and love for his members are unparalleled. in the beginning, he refused to come back as libero if asahi wasn’t going to return, but eventually found himself too connected with volleyball to not be on the team. in every practice, he’s always testing out his moves and giving it nICKNAMES LIEK GFDIJ I LVOE YOU like fucking “ROLLING THUNDER!!!” like what even?? him, tanaka, and hinata love riling shit up and having a good time with what they do. so with soonyoung, you can tell that dance is his entire life. he said one time that he doesn’t know what his life would be without dance. soonyoung legit ALWAYS HAS ENERGY, like the members literally wake him up with “fighting!”. these characters are both extremely boisterous and friendly. noya made extremely quick friends with hinata and still initiates conversations with tsuki and tobio regardless if they’re interested or not. soonyoung, on the other hand as well, LOVES HIS UNIT SO MUCH MY HEART. on one fine day, bc minghao was sick and couldn’t really leave the house, hoshi would find things for him to do like help him peel stuff for dinner or bring him bites of the food they were making outside. chan looks up to him legit like an older brother and him and jun are the same age, making them have a brotherly, best friend-type bond. but with that being said, the second both characters step on their respective stages, everything changes. noya is such a beast, always looking to better his game as a libero, like when he figured out how to set from behind the line, or when he did the thING YOU KNOW THE THING AGAINST SHIRATORIZAWA WHEN USHIJIMA DID THE THING AND THEN NOYA DID THE THING BACK AND THEN HE DID THE THING AGAIN YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKIGN ABOUT and his entire team legitimately depends on him for receiving some of the best players in the entire country’s spikes and he never fails to back them up. with hoshi, he brings a different dynamic to the group. he choreographs everything and admits to making the most mistakes during practice because he has everyone’s dance parts in his head tell me that isn’t the purest fucking thing you’ve ever heard in your life. on stage, he’s so fuc kign h ot have you seen his stage at the boys wish concert goodbye!!!! these two have the most boisterous personalities, with abilities to befriend almost everyone. both love a sense of competition and leading the team with their athletic abilities, all the while having a true, true love for what they do. 

i’m getting so fucking carried away i’m not even sorry

Wonwoo as Tobio Kageyama

if you began to think i was going crazy, you haven’t even seen my final form cus wonwoo’s my svt bias and tobio is my haikyuu bias wrecker good luck reader my two dark hair, dark eyed beauties. rather than having the exact same personality, i think these two resemble each other in appearance, the way they carry themselves and how they are when the begin to open up. tobio has always been good, exceptional even, at volleyball. named “king of the court” before he even got to high school, he always had an immense amount of pressure on him. however, for him and wonwoo, they both get mistaken as being solely and strictly cold-hearted bastards because of their first impressions and the difficulty they have expressing themselves. kageyama was first portrayed as a cocky and hard-to-get-along-with kind of character, always to engulfed in volleyball, but that’s not the case as the series progresses. no, he doesn’t become an extremely boisterous or outgoing character, but he no longer has such a demeanour around him. you can see him visibly wanting to spend more time around his teammates and he loves. the. game. so. much. he looks to make his game the best it can possibly be every single time and all his life, hasn’t really known anything besides volleyball until karasuno came along im SOBBING. with wonwoo, his sharp features and handsome face gives off the vibe of being the cold, scary pretty face that doesn’t really want to be around others, but when seen around his members, and members like hoshi, miNGYU, jun (members that are very opposite of his shy self and can bring him out more), him and his stupid freaking jokes will always be heard. through variety shows and time spent around the boys, we get to see garden fairy wonwoo, seventeen’s main bgm provider wonwoo, and palryongjung middle school dancing machine wonwoo, and we know he isn’t, and never was the cold-hearted boy we was thought out to be. when they get onto their stages, they’re both extremely charismatic and amazing at what they do. hallucination boy wonwoo has an aura around him with his voICE and the way he feels the rhythm as a rapper that makes him so underrated, until he got a solo freaking stage that he definitely deserved. with tobio, everytime he steps on the court, his walls come down and his focus is insane. everyone fears him on the other side and would much rather have him on theirs, knowing full well how capable he is of being one of the best setters in the country. however, these two boys have a history that they both would like to forget. and although it’s tough to talk about it with wonwoo, they made mistakes in the past and were given a reputation that they would both like override. for wonwoo, it was being someone that was wholesome and capable of hate, and tobio was known to be a horrible teammate and captain, eyes set solely for victory and nothing else. but as time went on, upon meeting their members now, they have the urge to become more than what they were and use the people around them as family, bettering themselves each day as both people and at what they do. 

Woozi as Kenma Kozume

MY LITTLE KITTENS!! ok these two are also extremely similar in both looks and demeanour. while both seemingly uninterested in a lot of things and not wanting to be outrightly the center of attention, they are both extreme geniuses at what they do. kenma legit never loses his cool and doesn’t often voice his opinions. despite being like this though, he very much draws in friends that are complete??? opposite?? of??? him?? like hinata?? they have such a cute bond shoot me like as quiet, reserved, and uninterested as he may seem, he’s complimented well with people that are different from him and has an extremely kind heart on the inside. with jihoon, he doesn’t seem to care a lot abt stuff cue him beating mingyu up with a guitar cue him plotting cheol’s death everytime he makes him do aegyo but he’s so fucking cute and he DOESN’T EVEN KNOW IT. but when they’re put to work with their craft, these two are the best at it. rather than being an amazing volleyball player, and rather than being an exceptional singer, they have incredible overall sports knowledge and musicianship respectively. kenma has amazing volleyball iq and sense of the game that he always knows what he’s supposed to be doing, where he needs to go to receive a ball and how to juggle his play to make the players on his side of the court better, making up for his physique and build. with jihoon, he literally is in charge of seventeen’s success, if you really really think about it. definitely not saying that no one else puts in any work, but jihoon does the most of it when it comes to their title songs and side tracks, putting this immense pressure on him to have to do well and make sure that seventeen succeeds with the songs he writes. 90% of his time is spent in the studio and his hard work has paid off so much. as a musician, he deserves so much praise for his hard work and talent!! like he plays fucking like 52 instruments and can even rap??? like what? stan jihoon guys stan jihoon overall, these two characters, though seemingly bored and tired most of the time, are hardworkers and blend extremely well with their group, all the while being fucking underrated yet TALENTED at what they do. 

HOPE YOU ENJOY!!! :D

[investmart007]

CLEVELAND | Indians clinch third straight division title, rock Tigers

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/cleveland-indians-clinch-third-straight-division-title-rock-tigers/170676/

CLEVELAND | Indians clinch third straight division title, rock Tigers

CLEVELAND — Unchallenged for months, the Cleveland Indians clinched their third straight AL Central title with a 15-0 blowout on Saturday of the Detroit Tigers, who made four errors and managed only two hits.

Francisco Lindor and Michael Brantley connected for back-to-back homers in the first inning off Michael Fulmer (3-12), Jose Ramirez had three hits and the Indians built an 11-0 lead after two on the way to becoming the first team to clinch a division championship.

It’s the initial step toward an October when Cleveland will try to win its first World Series since 1948 — the longest drought in the majors.

After so many close calls, the Indians believe this is their year.

Cleveland’s current three-year reign in the Central is the club’s longest since winning five straight from 1995-99. The Indians became the first team this year to clinch a division and the second assured of the postseason after Boston, which will be no worse than a wild card.

Mike Clevinger (12-8) allowed one hit in six innings, and Yonder Alonso added a two-run homer as Cleveland’s offense awakened from a late-season slump.

The lone blemish for the Indians was an injury to designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, who rolled his right ankle while rounding second base in the fourth. The team said the sprain was mild, but it’s one more issue manager Terry Francona must monitor while getting his team ready for the postseason.

The Indians removed any suspense about whether they would clinch by scoring six times in the first, the outburst triggered by the shots from Lindor and Brantley off Fulmer, who was pulled after five pitches because of knee inflammation.

Lindor’s 35th homer was also the All-Star’s eighth leading off, breaking the club record he shared with Grady Sizemore (2008).

Brantley followed with his 16th homer, prompting Tigers catcher Brian McCann to wave to Detroit’s dugout to check Fulmer. The 2016 AL Rookie of the Year fell to 0-7 in his last 10 starts.

The Tigers hurt themselves by making two errors on routine grounders in the first.

Cleveland’s clinching had been a foregone conclusion.

The Indians were expected to win one of baseball’s least competitive divisions and did so with ease. They moved into first on April 21, took a double-digit lead for good on Aug. 8 and pulled away.

But while the standings show a runaway, the Indians, who have had their eyes on the upcoming postseason since blowing a 2-0 lead to the Yankees in the 2017 division series, have had their share of adversity.

There have been injuries, personal setbacks and a serious health scare that fortunately ended up being only that.

Anchored by two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, Cleveland’s pitching staff has surpassed expectations. Kluber recovered from a knee problem midway through the season and has dominated, winning 18 and ranking among the league leaders in several categories. A third Cy Young is possible, but he hasn’t had do it alone with Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer having strong seasons.

Bauer’s currently sidelined with a broken leg, and the Indians are hoping he can help in the postseason. Also, Clevinger and rookie Shane Bieber emerged as dependable starters.

The Indians’ bullpen hasn’t been nearly as steady.

While closer Cody Allen set the franchise career saves record, the right-hander’s issues — and impending free agency — forced the Indians to trade top prospect Francisco Mejia to San Diego for closer Brad Hand and reliever Adam Cimber. Also, Andrew Miller has been on the disabled list three times and the two-time All-Star has been slow to return to form.

Michael Brantley’s return following two injury-slowed seasons has been a huge boost, stabilizing an outfield in flux following injuries to Bradley Zimmer, Tyler Naquin and Lonnie Chisenhall.

The Indians addressed their precarious outfield situation by acquiring Leonys Martin in a trade, but not long after arriving he was stricken with a bacterial infection that began shutting down organs.

Martin has since recovered but his baseball future remains uncertain.

Realizing the window to end their Series drought could be closing, the Indians acquired 2015 AL MVP Josh Donaldson late last month.

His arrival at third shifted Ramirez to second and pushed Jason Kipnis to center field.

But while the Indians’ defense has a new look, the AL Central hasn’t changed.

FAREWELL, FRIEND Victor Martinez was overcome with emotion during a pregame ceremony to celebrate his years with the Indians. Detroit’s DH plans to retire following his 18th season, ending a career that began with Cleveland in 2002.

“It’s like my mom says, ‘We’ll always have that team in your heart,'” said Martinez, who spent nearly eight seasons with the Indians.

Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire and Francona have been on both sides with Martinez.

“He’s one of the reasons why I’m working for the Detroit Tigers now, instead of the old team I used to work for,” said Gardenhire, who managed Minnesota from 2002-14. “When he was here he killed us.

We couldn’t get him out.”

Francona called Martinez “one of the nicest guys in the game and one of the most professional hitters, great teammate.”

TRAINER’S ROOM Tigers: CF JaCoby Jones left with right shoulder tightness in the fourth after crashing into the center-field wall and diving for a blooper.

UP NEXT Bieber starts the series finale looking for his 11th win. Bieber’s the first Cleveland rookie to post double-digit wins since Mitch Talbot’s 10 in 2010. Francisco Liriano starts for Detroit.

By TOM WITHERS, Associated Press