#oh and she's completely aware of the fact that now she fucked up big time

[jeannetheblonde]

I love to see myself represented in Star Wars: unnecessarily sarcastic, having close to non self-preservation skills, making Bad Choices™ on main, just being an overall mess and always choosing the least appropriate reaction to any situation, mostly threating ones. yes, I'm looking at you, Sabine.

[dumpywrites]

Two Days - Jungkook

Summary: He just wants you to give him two days. He'll take you on a few dates and you'll decided if you actually like him? Or not?

Genre/tags: mostly fluff, tiny bit of angst, friends to lovers, biker jungkook, jungkook is a goofball and a simp! :)

Pairing: Jungkook x she/her reader

a/n: this is my first ever bts/jk fic, I'm just trying this out since i have some days off from work, hope y'all like it <3

“Please?”

“No.” 

“You’re missing out.” 

“Jungkook, we’re literally in a Burger King.”

You heard the man playfully saying, “Yes, and?” in a singing tone. All you could do was rolling your eyes in reply. Jeon Jungkook, this guy who had been begging you for his so-called masterplan that he called, “trial date” for weeks, was now yet again begging you for a chance.

You could not exactly pinpoint when it actually began. He was shy the first time you met. You had known the rest of the boys ever since you met Yoongi at an art class. The cold looking guy who was surprisingly friendly and soft-hearted, later on introduced you to the rest of the guys. Jungkook was introduced almost a year later into befriending the group. He was a guy who went to the same gym as Namjoon. They became friends ever since he offered Namjoon a ride one time. 

Being the youngest amongst the guys and also the latest you got to meet, you would think that his shyness would linger at least a little bit longer. Then again, if you really think about it, he probably only stayed quiet and shy on the first meeting. 

The idea of both of you together was never mentioned until recently. Namjoon was the one who started calling out Jungkook’s odd behavior towards you, but the nail on the coffin was when you all got drunk at Jimin’s house that one time. 

It was Jimin’s birthday and truthfully, you knew the guy was loaded rich, but you did not know he was rich with capital R. The selection of bottles in his house was pretty much unlimited from the ones you like to the ones you couldn’t even name. It was five hours into all the celebration and you all were blurting nonsense. You were tipsy, but still aware cause for some reason you were winning all the games that night and got to drink less. But Jungkook on the other hand, who was usually winning everything, was getting pissy cause he kept coming second after you. 

“This is unbelievable.” Jungkook groaned, casually throwing the boardgame cards on the table. 

“You just have a soft spot for her.” Jin shrugged. 

“I do not! I just have a crush on her.” Jungkook retorted back, as if his sentence made any sense. 

You heard Hoseok voiced a small “oh” with his usual judgy expression, and the rest were silent for a second, including you. 

“I mean…” Jungkook tried to correct himself but stopped mid-way, trying to make up words in his already drunk mind. His eyes went back and forth to everyone before he scoffed. “You all act so surprised, as if you didn’t tease me everyday right after the first time I met Y/N.” 

When the room was still silent, Jungkook realized he fucked up, his blurry mind completely ignored the fact that you, the subject of this topic, was in fact also in the room. 

“Shit.” Was all he muttered before he excused himself to the bathroom, and did not come out for twenty minutes. 

When he was done, everyone had decided to wrap it up due to the awkwardness and the absence of Jungkook himself. He found Taehyung and Jin sleeping on both sides of Jimin’s big couch, and a small smile formed on his lips, shaking his head over the dumb expression they had in their sleep. His stomach soon flipped right after he saw you on the kitchen, making yourself a cup of instant noodle. 

“Oh, hey.” You greeted awkwardly. “I got hungry from all that drinking.” You shyly mentioned. 

Jungkook only nodded and took a seat on one of the dinning chairs. 

“You want some?” You offered, trying to break the ice. 

“Y/N stop.” His eyes widened once he realized how bad that sounded. “I mean… I didn’t mean it like that?” He chuckled dryly, it was more of a statement rather than a question. 

When you kept quiet but sat down next to him regardless, and ate your noodles, he decided you were at least comfortable enough to hear him talk. “This whole huge crush on you thingy… that’s not gonna ruin our friendship or anything, right? If you’re uncomfortable I’ll just stop showing up when you’re around for a—”

“What?! No! Jungkook, I’m not uncomfortable.” You sighed. “I’m just a bit surprised, I guess.”

“Why though?” He asked innocently, his big doe eyes looking straight at you, making you slightly nervous. 

“It’s just… you do realize you’re quite popular right?”

“What’s that gotta do with this situation?”

“I thought I wasn’t your type.” 

“You don’t get to decide that.”

That was the last civil conversation you had with him until he decided it was a good idea to cling to you almost every single day, pestering on the idea of this whole trial dating. Everyone other than Yoongi, who was neutral (read: don't really care enough to actually voice an opinion at the moment), was pretty much on board with his plan. You being single for a year now definitely did not help your case. They kept saying that you needed to lit up your dating engine again, so it wouldn’t be rusty. 

It was not that you did not find Jungkook attractive. Heck, he was one of the most attractive person you had ever laid your eyes on. It was just, weird? He felt like a brother, the same as the rest of the boys. If you didn’t treat any of them different, then you should not with Jungkook either, right?

“Have you maybe considered that maybe she’s tired of your bullshit?” Yoongi blurted with a blank expression, as he continue to munch on his burger. 

“It’s only been two weeks.” Jungkook protested. “Besides, you never know 'till you try, right?” He winked at you. 

You rolled your eyes. “I’m good, Kookie.” You pinched his cheeks, a little bit too hard. 

“H-hey!” He pouted, his cheeks forming even rounder. “Two days! Two days!” He suddenly shouted. 

“Oh boy…” Hoseok side-eyed the rest of you, clearly done with the younger one. 

“Give me two days, Y/N!” He said with his two fingers right in front of your face. “You don’t have plans this weekend, right?”

“Hey, maybe—“ Namjoon didn’t even get to finish his sentence before the lad interrupted. 

“I’ll take you on two dates and then you can decide afterwards.” He grinned, as if that was the most brilliant thing he had ever thought of. “If you still don’t like me after that then I will gracefully back off.” He threw his hands in the air. 

“You promise?” You suddenly spoke, after being silent for a while. 

“Wait, you’re actually considering—“ Jin stood up from his seat, almost knocking his table. 

Jungkook hurriedly covered Jin’s mouth, not letting yet another man finish his sentence again. “I promise!” He saluted, grinning so hard his cheeks almost hurt. 

“Are you really sure?” Yoongi whispered to you. 

You only shrugged. Truthfully, you were not sure either. But at this point, you just wanted Jungkook to get over his girl hyperfixation of the month. Which was, you. 

You just did not buy the story of him being head over heels on you since day one. As if he didn’t look like a Greek god himself? As if you did not know how women and even men would kill just to get a taste of him. You just wanted him to get it over with, so he can realize how weird the whole idea was and went back to being the goofball friend you once knew. 

—

Right, so.

Now here you were, basically having a mini dress-up montage moment, picking an outfit for your cinema date. Even after spending almost an hour getting ready you ended up with just wearing your usual crop top and baggy jeans, hoping it will be fine. Clearly you didn’t wanna seem like a try-hard. It was just Jungkook. He had seen you with pajamas and you didn’t hear him complain, so there shouldn’t be a problem. Why did you even go through the trouble to pick an outfit? You wondered yourself. 

Ten minutes later and Jungkook was already ringing your phone. 

“I’m at your lobby!” He exclaimed loudly over the phone. 

“You’re early.”

“Just can’t wait to see you.” You could not see his face, but you knew he was grinning like an idiot. “Hurry down! Oh, and bring your jacket.”

You didn’t expect him to came with a motorbike. A huge one not to mention. Something stirred in your stomach for a millisecond seeing him in a leather jacket. 

He took a spare helmet and innocently handed it to you. “Gotta make sure my girl is safe.” He sheepishly said. 

You tried your best to ignore the nickname, and spoke. “I didn’t know you ride a motorcycle.” You said, taking the helmet he gave in your hands. 

“I’m just too lazy to drive sometimes so I just lift on Hobi’s car.” He shrugged. “Why? Are you scared?” He teased. 

“Of course not.” You said and put on the helmet. You did not miss his small snickers when you struggle to hop on his Harley, having to grab him by his shoulders. 

“Okay, just wanna let you know, I drive like suuuuuper fast. So, you have to hug me to be safe!” He giggled. 

You rolled your eyes, even if he couldn’t see. “I’m just gonna head back upstairs...”

“Don’t be such a sourpuss.” He chuckled. “I’m a good driver, Namjoon approved! But you can grab onto my jacket if you want.” 

—

The movie was great. 

And that was a lie, cause truth to be told, you could barely focus on the plot. Every time you caught a glimpse of the boy next to you, his eyes were already looking at you. While it was true that you had not been dating for quite some time, you could feel your spidey-sense tingling, as if you were to turn your head towards him, something would happen. Thinking about it was not exactly the best thing for you.

“We’re getting ice cream.” Jungkook cheerfully said, as you both walked out the cinema. 

“That’s not a question?” You couldn’t help but to smile at the silliness. 

“Not a chance I’m letting you go home yet.” 

“Is this a date or a kidnapping?” 

“Could be both if you want.” He laughed. “So…” He cutely put his hands in his pockets as you walked. 

“So?”

“So… how’s life?” 

“You did not just ask me that.” You laughed.

“What? I’m just trying to make actual conversation!” He laughed as well, but later on his expression softened. “You seemed down these past couple of days though?” 

You tilted your head slightly. You didn’t think he would notice. 

“You… noticed?”

“Of course I did!” He grinned, patting his chest proudly. “You didn’t talk that much at our last movie night at Taehyung’s. You usually love to debate after watching a movie.” He chuckled. "The fact that you're not even starting a discussion right now, is lowkey concerning."

That was because of an entirely different thing, but you chose not to say. “I haven't even told Yoongi.” 

“Even if you tell him, he wouldn’t tell anyone either, so what’s your point?” 

“That’s fair.” You broke a small smile. 

“What happened?” He stopped mid-track, suddenly losing a bit of confidence in his speaking tone. “I mean, only if you’re comfortable enough to tell me…”

Your expression softened. “It’s a bit stupid…”

“It’s okay, I’ll listen!” He nodded towards you. “I’ll just quickly grab those ice cream and we’ll sit down somewhere?” 

Minutes later he came back with two ice creams and a big stupid grin plastered on his face as usual. “Here you go, let’s sit down on that bench.”

You nodded and thanked him before following him to the bench. 

“Come sit close to me!” He patted right next to him. When you only looked at him blankly. He added, “Please?”

You sat down close to him but left a bit of space enough so that your shoulders wouldn’t touch. 

“Are you cold?” 

“Uh… no.”

“Okay, good.” He smiled and took a big bite of his ice cream. “So, do you still wanna tell me? Or we could also just sit and talk shit about Jin while we eat ice cream if you don’t want!”

You smiled. Looking into his eyes, you could feel his sincerity. It could be just you, but you felt somewhat… safe. 

“I used to date this one guy… We dated for three months before I ended things with him.” 

You looked up to Jungkook, expecting to see a negative expression but he remained silent, only nodding to signal you to continue. 

“To be fair we haven’t been in touch for almost a year, but he suddenly called me. He was drunk and said a bunch of nonsense. I still replied at first, cause I was worried for his safety. But after I found out he was drunk at home, I bid my goodbye. Then he suddenly said…” You took a deep breath. “He said that I’m a 4.5 with a bitch attitude and being picky won’t help me.” You broke into a sad grin. “It’s stupid, I know—“

“Who is this fucker? Can I beat the shit outta him? How come I’ve never heard about this?!”

“Probably cause this is how you react.” You chuckled. “It had me quite bothered for quite sometime, maybe the fact that I also haven’t dated in a while adds to it, but I guess I feel somewhat better now.” 

“So that’s why you said you thought you weren’t my type?” 

“Huh?”

“That fucker needs to get his eyes and brain checked.” He shook his head. “You know, it’s fine to not want to settle for less.” He said as he looked at the sun setting in the sky. “He’s just butthurt you don’t want him back.” 

You stayed silent but nodded.

“His dick’s probably small anyway.” When you slapped his arm, he laughed. “What? Am I wrong? Why did you even break up with him?”

“He's sexist!”

“And his dick is small.” He followed. 

“Jungkook!” You began to laugh as well. 

“You know you’re easily a ten, but I’ll give a nine for now.” He said, pretending to be serious with rubbing his chin and squinting his eyes. 

“Why? What deduct the one point?”

“Cause you haven’t like me back yet.” 

“God, make that at least five points then, I hate you.” You rolled your eyes, but laughed. 

He smiled softly. “Feeling better?” 

“Well, I guess? But now my ice cream's all melty.” You pouted, trying to lick some that was melting down the cone. 

“That’s why you eat fast like me.” He proudly said. 

“And have stomach problem? No thanks.”

“Here let me just…” He licked a stripe from your cone and took a big bite. “There.”

You were taken aback. So stunned that you could only blink a few times at him. 

“What? Don’t tell me that turned you on?” He smirked. 

“You… Jungkook, that’s gross!” You whined, which only resulted in his laughter. 

—

The next day Jungkook wanted a full day date. Boy kept saying that he wanted fair chance since it was his last day. He already planned a list of things both of you would do and all, and the first being eating brunch with you. 

“Do you really have to come this early?” You complained as you opened your apartment door for the guy. 

When the said guy sheepishly didn’t move and enter, you raised one of your eyebrows. His hands were behind his back, clearly holding something, and you can see both of his arms flexed, seemingly grasping something tightly. You were searching for his boyish grin, but his expression seemed worried instead. 

“I got you flowers.” He said, sounding discouraged. 

“Oh?” You replied, but wondered why he just kept standing and not move. 

“I found out last minute that you don’t like flowers…” He frowned. “Yoongi told me in the group chat after I got too excited and sent them a pic of the flowers I got you.”

He looked like a lost puppy, and suddenly you had the urge to hug him to ease all his pain away. You stopped yourself before the impulse got the best of you and you grabbed him by the forearm, dragging him inside and closing the door. 

“You can’t stay in that position the whole day, you have to hand me the flowers.” You folded your arms, trying to hold in a chuckle. 

“But you don’t like them!”

“I haven’t even seen them.”

He finally moved his hands and revealed a small bouquet of fresh daisies. It was a simple bouquet, nothing too extravagant with a brown wrapping paper. It somehow reminded you of his smile and how radiant he looked when he did so. Yes, you did not like flowers, they were unpractical, it felt like an unnecessary addition, a waste of space. But somehow you like it. It made you feel all warm and fuzzy and it was very pleasant. It made you wanna accept it with open arms. Truthfully, the description did not really feel like it was describing flowers anymore, but you decided to not further ponder on it. 

“Thank you.” You took the flowers and sniffed it, before setting it down on your table. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t know, I feel so dumb cause everyone knew already and—“

“Hey, we’ve only known each other for three months.” You assured. “Besides, it’s really not much of a big deal, I actually like them.” 

“You do???”

“Yeah, they look pretty. I don’t know how long I can keep them looking like that though.” 

“Oh my god…” He exhaled deeply. “I was so worried it would be a deal breaker or something. I was literally shaking!”

He laughed and showed his right hand in front of you, it was shaking slightly. You didn’t know why he laughed at it, you didn’t find it funny. 

“It happens sometimes when I’m nervous.” He chuckled. 

Instead of saying something, you took his hand into yours just by intuitive. It was impulsive, but you let go before he had the chance to intertwine his fingers with yours. He didn’t comment on your behavior, but a smile was still on his face as he waited for you to grab your things to go. 

The brunch was on this small cafe near your place. You insisted on paying this time, since he paid for yesterday. The brunch was spent with him trying to sneakily hold your hand, but failed every single time. 

Next activity on the list was buying clothes together. As cringey as that sounded, and you even almost opposed the idea, Jungkook said that he needed to buy new outfit and he wanted to hear your feedback. Plus, some of his clothes barely fit him anymore since he decided to become a gym rat. 

“You actually look great in those skirt.” 

“You’re joking.” You denied, but twirled around in front of the mirror anyway, while trying to convince yourself that you didn’t need the purchase. 

“I’ll buy them for you if you won’t.” 

“We didn’t have all those money-saving talk with Namjoon only for you to say that.” You folded your arms. 

“Oh come on, you look great!” He pointed to you and his lips forming into a small pout. “Besides, we’re on a date today so I think that’s a pretty good excuse.” 

“I thought we are here to help you buy some clothes, not buy me skirt that I probably won’t wear that often.” 

“Let me spoil you for once… please?” He begged, eyes all sparkly. His lips shined along with his two lip piercings. 

“Alright, fine... I’ll get the skirt, but!” You eyed him. “Only if you buy that straight-cut jeans you just tried before.”

“Deal.”

“That’s it? You’re not gonna argue on how those aren’t on trend anymore?” You raised an eyebrow. 

“I was gonna buy them anyways. You were practically drooling when I showed you.” He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows playfully at you. “Kinda was just waiting for you to admit it…”

You only rolled your eyes, but you couldn’t open your lips to deny his words either. 

After you changed back into your clothes and Jungkook paid for the purchases, he went back to you with a sly grin on his face and you immediately suspected something. He came back with a pair of matching string bracelet. 

“You can just not wear them later if you don’t want to, but let me be delusional for today, okay?”

You both left the store after you let him put the bracelet on your wrist. 

Next in line was spending time on a local amusement park. It was nothing too extreme, just a small carnival that has a few rides and snack booths. The guy kept insisting that you both should take a picture when the sun set. 

“Cotton candy!” Jungkook sprinted to the booth like a hungry kid, his laughter could be heard even as him getting far from where you were standing. 

You shook your head, smiling to yourself as you walked to his direction. 

“Pink, blue, or green?” 

“Blue, maybe?”

“Alright.” He grinned and paid the seller as they handed the blue cotton candy stick. “Why blue though?” 

“Dunno, just kinda matches your outfit.”

“Sweetheart, I’m wearing jeans and a plain white t-shirt.” He giggled. 

Which should be a crime! Cause who even looks that good in a basic white t-shirt??? You thought to yourself. “Your jeans, I guess..?”

“If you say so.” He chuckled. “Wanna ride the ferris wheel?”

“Being in a such small space with you sounds dangerous.” 

“I’ll protect you, babe.” He winked. 

“The danger is you, babe.” You mocked. 

He smirked, clearly amused. “Well, at least I got you to call me babe, that’s a win for me.” 

“You’re anno— hmph!” He stuffed a ball of cotton candy in your mouth, laughing continuously at the sight. 

After wandering around for a while and finishing the cotton candy, Jungkook dragged you to the shooting game. You refused, saying how you never really win these kind of games, but knowing him, losing was never really his thing. You saw how big the main prize was and you know Jungkook, you knew his ego, you knew damn well that was what he was aiming. 

“If you’re aiming for that giant teddy bear, don’t. We can’t carry that thing around...”

“You can’t tell me what to do.” He didn’t listen and instead paid for the game tickets. 

“We can’t carry that in your motorcycle, that’s like another passenger!”

“Just watch me.” He smirked, already aiming with the toy gun. 

You rolled your eyes, there’s really no telling him on this. “Fine, whatever.” 

After just two shots, you hear him jump in celebration, fist in the air and the staff rang the bell for him winning the price. You were ready to complain, but the staff handed you a small frog plushie instead. You looked at Jungkook and saw his boyish grin, his eyes almost turned into crescents. You looked back at the plushie in your hands and couldn’t lie to yourself, it was very adorable. 

“You didn’t aim for the grand prize?”

“You told me not to.” He shrugged. “Plus, you like frogs, right?”

“Well…” 

“I wished I took a picture of your expression when they handed you the plushie.” He laughed, a soft blush decorating his cheeks. 

You finally agreed to ride the ferris wheel with him. The park was going to close in an hour anyway, and you thought why not, it wouldn’t hurt anyone to go for one ride. 

You sat across him, hugging the frog plushie on your lap. It was silent for the first few minutes, but it was comfortable, not awkward. You were just looking at the view from above and silently admiring it. 

“Did you have fun?” He asked. Suddenly your attention went back to him and his smile. 

“Well, yeah… I did.” You nodded. “Thanks.” 

“Don’t thank me, I had fun too.” He smiled. “Everything’s fun with you though so I may be biased…” 

You didn’t really know what to say to counter his words. You just smiled and went back to looking at the window. 

“Mind if I sit next to you?”

“Uh… sure. Just be careful, you might tilt the cart.” 

Jungkook carefully moved to sit next to you. He muttered a small “phew” as he sat down. “Wow, the view’s better here.” He said, looking straight at you. 

“What do you mean? How—” And then it clicked to you. “Oh my god… shut up!” You hit his arm, and he laughed. 

“Take my compliment for once!” 

“Never.” You stuck your tongue out. 

The ride soon came to an end. You remembered that you promised Jungkook to take a picture with the sunset, but out of nowhere it started to rain. Although it was just small drizzle, it’s hard to take picture and avoid getting soaked at the same time. You both ran to the nearest sheltered place, with Jungkook’s leather jacket covering both of you. 

You said your sorry about his now wet jacket, but the boy did not seem to be bothered, as you can see how bright and happy he was, just from running with you under the rain. You sighed, but an idea came to you as soon as you saw a photo booth machine, not far from where you were standing. 

“Do you… maybe wanna do that instead?”

“Photobooth?” He looked at you, as if he couldn’t believe your words. 

“Why? You don’t want to?”

“No! I want to!” He said, almost too quickly. “But it’s just weird that you suggest it. But it’s a good weird!” He chuckled. 

“I promised you a picture, so we’re getting a picture.” 

“Aww.” Jungkook pout his lips in a kissy way, teasing you. 

“Let’s go before I regret it.” You dragged him inside the booth. 

The first pose you playfully put peace signs behind Jungkook’s head, giving him bunny ears, while he only stuck out his tongue. The second one, Jungkook made a love sign with both of his hands, and you surprised him with a middle finger, which he yelled at you afterwards, but couldn’t really continue to complain as the countdown for the next photo were already starting. 

Since Jungkook spent at least three and a half seconds with his protest, you both were panicking for the last picture, running out of ideas. As the countdown stating two, he suddenly pulled you closer and leaned on your shoulder. The shutter flashed and the photo was taken. You were still in awe and couldn’t process what just happened. You only followed when you saw Jungkook making his way out from the booth to collect the picture. 

The guy giggled like a highschool boy, taking the printed photos, then giving one copy to you. You stared at the last picture, how genuine Jungkook’s smile when he leaned on your shoulder, while you had your eyes widened in surprise. You felt your face heating in embarrassment. 

“Ugh… can we just cut out the last picture?” 

“I was thinking the same thing, I’m putting it on my wallet!” He said, eyes still looking up and down on the set of photos. 

When you only looked at him in disbelief, he uttered a small “what?”, and laughed. 

Both of you ended up eating some cups of ramen in a nearby convenience store, as you wait for the rain to stop pouring. He took you home right after, insisting on waking you to your door. 

“Take care of little Kookie for me, yeah?” He said, pointing at your frog plushie, as you stopped at your unit’s front door. 

“Why is he named after you?” You chuckled. 

“I’m his father!” He pretended to be offended.

“Well, say bye to your papa now, little Kookie.” You waved the plushie’s small hand to him. 

Jungkook felt his heart somersault. He turned away for a second, covering his mouth. He cleared his throat. “Well, uh… thank you again, for today…”

“Yeah! Thank you too…” You chewed your inner lips, hugging your plushie close. 

“I uh…” He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. “I just wanna let you know that what I said to you… about deciding whether you like me or not after the dates… I was just saying stuff. I don’t wanna pressure you into deciding your feelings for me or anything, I genuinely just wanna spend some time with you, and I’m thankful for your time.” 

You nodded, smiling at him. Your eyes locked with each other for a quick second. Your heart skipped a beat. Maybe it was the moonlight, or the lamp in front of your door that you recently just got replaced. Either way, you could see the stars in Jungkook’s eyes and his skin glowed, but so did his lips. They were practically sparkling and glossy, you wondered if he had put any lip balm over it. For a moment, your attention stopped at his lips, just wondering how it would feel against yours. Would it be soft? Would you feel the cold metal of his lip piercing against your skin? 

The man in front of you seemed to be lost in his thoughts as well. You swore you saw his eyes darted to your lips for a quick glance, before coming back to your eyes. Just when he leaned down a bit to your height level… 

You froze. What was that? You felt your stomach turned, you couldn’t exactly point out whether it was due to nervousness, or if you were simply just afraid. You took a step back and your back almost hit the front door.

“You should head back, it could rain again soon…” You said, looking away. 

“Oh.” There was disappointment in his voice. “Okay then… bye.” He waved to you awkwardly and walked away. 

As you see his figure walking away, you went inside your apartment and closed the door behind you. Sitting down on your sofa, you put your hand over your chest. Funny how your heart was still beating so fast. You were panicking, feeling everything all at once. Nervousness, excitement, curiosity, but mostly fright. The unknown territory was making you scared. The new feelings you were feeling, you didn’t even know if it would be okay to feel it. 

Still laying down on your sofa, you took your phone and dialed your best friend. 

“You called.” You heard Yoongi’s voice from the other line. 

“Why are you saying it like that.” 

“You only call when you’re stressing over something, otherwise, you only text.” 

You hate how smart and observant your friend was sometimes. “I think I feel something for Jungkook.” 

“Isn’t that… I don’t know, good?” 

“I don’t know… it just hit me like a truck, okay? One minute I wanna punch that stupid grin out of his face, the next thing I know, his lips looked so shiny and he got me wondering if his piercings would feel cold against my lips.” 

“Okay, wow.” Yoongi said in amusement. “Care to elaborate?”

“What if I’m just… super horny or something? I mean I haven’t been with anyone for like god knows how long now, and I could just be desperate and Jungkook is good looking, extremely good looking may I add, and—“

“Okay, okay… Y/N, pause for a second.” Yoongi sighed. “So you think you might be just horny and you feel bad for it?”

“Of course I feel bad! I don’t wanna use Jungkook like that! Just because he has this stupid crush on me, doesn’t mean I can do whatever I want with him. I’m not that kind of person!” You exclaimed, the volume of your voice getting slightly higher. 

“Tell me, how do you feel after the dates? Did you enjoy it?”

“Well yeah, I had a great time actually. I didn’t expect Jungkook to be that caring, and he’s actually very good at initiating conversation…” You wondered what else you could point out. 

“During that time, did Jungkook mention or do anything sexual?” 

“N-no! Of course not! Yoongi, do you take me as the fuck-on-the-first-date kind of person???” You said, slightly offended.

“So you like him.” He stated casually. 

“I’m sorry?”

“You caught feelings. Just admit that Jungkook has officially win you over.”

“I… what…” 

“I knew it. I shouldn’t have let you go on those dates, now both of you are gonna be so gross when we hang out...” You heard your friend groaned. 

“I like him?” You asked, more to yourself rather than to your best friend. 

“Maybe you should call Jungkook instead and tell him.”

You widened your eyes in horror. “No way, that guy only has a crush on me, it’s more of a hyperfixation, like I’m his girl of the month or something. I’m sure it’s not like how you think it is.”

“You should ask him yourself instead of making assumptions, just saying. And you know…” Yoongi paused for a second before continuing. “I think that kid is actually a good person, despite how dumb and annoying he looks.” When he got no respond from you, he spoke again. “Alright, I’ll leave you with your thoughts, just make sure you’ll talk with him about this, okay? Take care, Y/N.” 

Yoongi hang up the call while you were still sitting down, expression blank, staring at the wall in front of you. 

—

Jungkook didn’t text you at all after the date. Not like you text each other regularly, but you lowkey expected him to after. You wanted to call him, or at least text him. You wanted to say how you feel but you were again, scared. You began to think if you were reading it wrong. He was popular, you wondered if he just acted like that to everyone, if you were catching feelings, while he just wanted to hang out and have a bit of fun. After all, he never really explicitly said that he had feelings for you, all you knew that he admitted his giant crush for you while being under the influence of alcohol. 

You never hear from Jungkook again until the next week. Hoseok invited you all to game night over his place. You wanted so badly to bail and fake being sick, but Yoongi picked you up, basically forcing you to come and face your problem like an actual adult.

With all these new and mixed emotions that you were still getting used to, the thought of seeing Jungkook in person sounded so overwhelming. He would probably just act like how he usually would, because of course, why wouldn’t he. After all you were the one who suddenly took a weird turn.

“Finally!” Hoseok shouted, as he opened the door for both of you and Yoongi. 

“Come on, switch with Namjoon, he sucks!” Jin spoke while his eyes still not leaving the TV screen and his fingers loud against the controller. 

They were playing Tekken 8 on Hoseok’s Playstation. You saw how Namjoon was basically getting his ass kicked, playing as a Panda character, while Jin quickly leading himself towards victory using the character that coincidentally has the same name as him. 

Jin Kazama wins. 

The oldest one screamed happily, while Namjoon’s protests and excuses could be heard very loudly. Everyone laughed at the two, so it was easy to spot the one who didn’t laugh as much, whose expression didn’t hold that much excitement, sitting on the edge of the sofa just playing with his phone instead. 

“Y/N, come on!” Jin patted the on the carpet to the now empty seat next to him, since Namjoon already excused himself to get more popsicles from the fridge. 

You followed and sat down next to Jin on the carpet, which was directly in front of Jungkook, who was slouching on the couch. 

Sitting down quietly, you took the controller and beginning to scroll through the rooster of characters. You chose the character named Lili, while Jin stayed with his current main. 

When you beat Jin and the sound of your friends cheering loudly was heard, you began to feel a little bit relaxed, at the very least you could forget for a moment about your situation with Jungkook. That was until, you heard Yoongi spoke. 

“Jungkook, your turn.” 

You immediately turned your head towards your best friend, eyeing him straight. How could he betray you like this was beyond you. 

“Nah, you play I’m not really in the mood.” He rejected politely.

Your eyes went back to the screen because you refuse to see Jungkook’s expression. You pretended to busy yourself pressing the dpad button up and down on the character choices. 

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard Jungkook refusing a match.” Taehyung said while munching on his potato chips. 

“Yeah, that’s so unlike you, man!” Hobi joined. “Come on, we all know you’re good, but Y/N doesn’t know that yet!” He added. 

A small groan came out from Jungkook’s mouth before he stood up, and once again everyone cheered. Jin stood to switch seats with him. The man locked his eyes with you once, before sitting down and picking up the controller in his hand. He didn’t take too long picking a character. His choice landed on a boxer character. 

The match went quietly with only the sound of the video game from the speaker. Your friends behind you somehow went silent as well, and the atmosphere in the room became very tense. 

“Is it just me or it kinda feels like they’re actually fighting with each other…” Jin whispered to Hoseok who was sitting next to him. Hoseok only signaled with his hand shaking next to his neck to cut it out, while the rest only widened their eyes and try their best not to make any comment. 

You pretended like you did not hear any of it and kept mashing the controller buttons. The milliseconds of your attention being taken away from the game gave your opponent a leaway to break your combo and finally beating down your character. 

Steve Fox wins. 

“All right, Yoongi you switch with me, I’m gonna go get some air.” You excused yourself and headed to the balcony, closing the door behind you. 

Technically it was not a lie. It just got a bit stuffy with eight people inside an apartment living room. Especially when the guy you suddenly had feelings for was in the equation as well. 

You searched your back pocket for your pod and cursed silently when it was nowhere inside your jeans pocket. 

“Looking for your vape?” Jungkook entered the balcony uninvited, wiggling your small disposable vape pod in front of you. But when you were about to take it from him, he withdrew his hand. “I thought you’ve stopped.”

“I did. I only do it when I’m nervous. That’s why it’s a disposable.” You said weakly. 

“I noticed.” He replied in a monotone, now pocketing the pod inside his pants, refusing to give it to you. 

“You smoke, don’t act all high.” You retorted. 

“Well, have you seen me smoke these past few weeks?” 

“No, actually… yeah, now that I think of it, you didn’t even smoke once when we went out—“ You stopped when the memories of your date went through your head. “Jungkook, about that…” You bit your lips, nervously facing him. 

He also turned his body to your direction, looking at you directly. “I’m sorry.” He suddenly said. 

“Huh? For what?” 

“I feel like I’ve pressured you into something you don’t actually want. I’ve been thinking and re-thinking about it the past few days and it drives me crazy. I may have feelings for you, but that doesn’t give me the right to drag you along to do stuff with me just because you enjoyed spending time with me as a friend.”

“Wait, Jungkook, I don’t feel that way!”

“I know! That’s why I apologize—“

“No! I mean, I didn’t feel like you dragged me along or anything. I genuinely enjoyed our date and…” You looked away, taking a deep breath before continuing. “If I’m not reading it wrong, you’re saying you truly have feelings for me?” 

“Isn’t that obvious already?” 

“Well, I thought I was just your girl obsession of the week or something… You have celebrity crushes left and right, okay?! Hell, you even had a crush on Namjoon at one point!!!” 

“The Namjoon crush was a joke. Man just got some nice thighs and I was just admiring it.” He defended. 

You took another deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry as well… the emotions were all just come clashing to me at once and I just told you to go home instead of dealing with it.” 

“But, you rejected my kiss...” He said with a weak voice, you almost didn’t catch it. 

“Cause I haven’t figured out what I want yet. I thought I was just so touch deprived that your lips looked inviting that day.” You admitted while cursing yourself secretly inside your mind. That was lowkey embarrassing. 

“Try being me, your lips look inviting every single day!” He exclaimed, his mood now seemed to be improving. 

“Be serious.” You hit his sides. He muttered an “ow” but you doubted it even hurt the slightest bit. 

“So now you’ve figured out what you want?” His doe eyes looking at you directly. 

“I’m getting there… I guess.” You broke the eye contact, it was a bit too much for you and suddenly you felt a bit sweaty. “But I think I like you too.” 

“Say that again while looking at me.” 

“Hell no.” You suddenly covered your face with both of your hands. 

“Please?” He grabbed your wrists, softly trying to prey open your hands. “I just want to have the visual memory of it captured in my brain.”

When you finally loosened your grip, he took his chance and held both of your hands in his. He grabbed them for a few seconds, intertwining his fingers with yours, before letting them go. He traced his fingers along your right wrist where you wore the bracelet that he got you, the one he got matching with his, and then moved his hands up to cup your face. The entire time he did all that, you could actually feel the shakiness in his hands, and it melted your heart. 

“Can I?”

You nodded and he did not waste any second before dipping in and closing the gap between you. 

Oh boy you were right, his piercings did feel cold against your lips, but that was only for a quick second before everything felt warm and soft, and your mind became blurry. You were moving your lips against his carefully, afraid to accidentally hurt him by his piercing, but instead earned a small bite on your bottom lip from Jungkook. You gasped and pulled away, hitting his chest. Since when were you in his embrace? That you did not know. 

“We gotta head back now or they’ll get suspicious.”

He giggled and kissed your forehead. “They’re already suspicious, babe.” 

“Still, we gotta head back…”

“You guys done making out?! We’re hungry!!!” You heard Jimin shouted from inside the apartment. 

Jungkook and you looked at each other with widened eyes, before laughing in unison. He pecked you on the lips one more time before running back inside with you, holding hands. 

Thank you for reading! 🌸

[onceuponaoneshotfanfic]

Something There (Chapter 2)

7.1k words Roy Kent x Reader Warnings: Language, enemies-to-lovers, some sexual references, Roy still not being excited about women's sports, childish arguments between adults who clearly want each other

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Roy threw his bag over his shoulder with a loud groan. Much to his annoyance, he had to start his day by parking on the far side of the lot; there were way more cars than he was used to, especially this early, and he didn’t recognize any of them. Whatever. Maybe Rebecca had some publicity event he’d forgotten about. Wouldn’t be the first time.

He walked into the Dog Track, only vaguely aware of the palatable excitement buzzing in the air as he went down the hall. It wasn’t unusual for him to only nod to people as he passed by instead of stopping to say hello, so that’s what he did, a bit creeped out by the wide smiles on people’s faces as they chattered in hushed tones. Weird.

The reason for the cars and the excitement finally smacked him in the face when he walked opened the door the changing room and found it full of women in sports bras, most of whom only offered him passing glances as they chattered animatedly to one another.

“Oh shit.”

Roy picked up his pace and hurried into his office, noticing its closed blinds and Nate very intentionally focusing on the white board by Roy’s desk. Without quite knowing why, Roy kept walking until he found himself standing in the Whippets’ office.

The American manager, dressed today in leggings and a Whippets jacket (still looking stupidly pretty, which Roy did his best to ignore), looked up from her heavy conversation with Lucas, eyebrow arched. “What’s up with you?”

Roy made a face, not enjoying the mocking tone in her voice. Or the fact that she was speaking to him at all. “Fuck d’you mean?”

Clearly stifling a giggle, she shrugged. “Well, you just charged into my office looking so red in the face it’s almost concerning. Do I need to call you a doctor or something?”

His eyebrows furrowed further. “There’s women changing in the- in the-”

“Changing room,” she finished for him, nodding emphatically. “That’s kind of what it’s for.”

“But it’s women.” Roy knew he sounded stupid as soon as the words left his mouth.

Her amused eyes darted to Lucas before refocusing on Roy. “Well, yeah. I manage a women’s team. Sorry if that wasn’t clear,” she snarked.

He blinked a few times, the warmth in his face growing from annoyance. “Well, you guys should fucking tell us when your team is using shit. Make a schedule or some shit. That way we know what the fuck’s going on.”

She stared at him coolly. “There is a schedule. Coach Beard made it.” Condescension dripped from her voice, letting Roy know she really didn’t have the patience for him.

Right. Roy had gotten a group email from Beard and had, of course, ignored it. He really needed to get his shit together.

When Roy didn’t respond, she continued, her expression completely icy now. “Huh. Every coach I’ve ever known has always made sure they knew what was going on in their club.” She turned to Lucas. “Is this a British thing?”

The assistant coach shrugged and pretended to start typing on his computer. He was staying the fuck out of whatever this was. Smart man.

Roy cleared his throat, feeling like he was losing a game he hadn’t signed up for. ““Well, I mean, I don’t want them to be uncom-”

 “Coach Kent, I have had mostly male coaches for most of my career. Wearing a sports bra in front of men is not a big deal to any of these women. Just like being shirtless in front of me isn’t a big deal to your guys.” She spoke slowly, as if to a child.

He fucking hated it. “Just don’t want my guys making them uncomfortable,” he mumbled, no longer able to look her in the eye.

Her eyes narrowed as she brought herself to her full height and closed the space between them, bringing her face close to his, so close that if he leaned forward just a centimeter their noses would touch. “If they’re planning on making my team uncomfortable, then that’s a Roy Kent problem. If you can’t keep your team in check and make sure they act right, then you need to figure your shit out. Lucas, you’ve shared changing rooms with women’s teams before. Ever seen it be a problem?”

The coach, who was clearly listening with great interest, kept his eyes on the computer screen. “Nope.”

“Didn’t think so.” She turned back to Roy. “I’ll go ahead and assume you weren’t the one who left the lovely little notes in the lockers for us then.”

“That was Isaac’s idea.” Coach Beard appeared in the door that led out to the hall. The door Roy wished he’d used that morning.

“Good morning, Coach,” she greeted, her voice suddenly pleasant. “Isaac… McAdoo, right? He’s your captain?”

Beard nodded. “He thought it would be nice to leave a little something, let the ladies know they’re very welcome here at Nelson Road.” He gave Roy a pointed look before continuing. “They stayed after practice yesterday to write the notes and tidy up the lockers. It was Sam’s idea to get the water bottles.”

The way her face lit up made Roy’s stupid heart skip a beat. “Oh! Those are great. Make sure to thank the guys for us.” She turned to Roy, all friendliness gone. “Your players got these for us.” She pointed to the blue water bottle on her desk, the Whippets’ logo prominent. “They’re pretty nice guys. Must’ve learned from Nate and Beard.”

Ouch. With a scoff, Roy rolled his eyes. “Well-”

She looked at the nonexistent watch on her wrist. “Oop, would you look at that. Time for the W.F.C. Richmond’s first ever practice.” She glared at Roy. “Excuse me, gentlemen.”

Roy had to forcibly stop himself from watching her as she sauntered out of the offices, calling for her team to head out to the pitch.

Coach Lucas patted Roy on the shoulder as he followed suit. “There’s no winning against her once she gets going. Trust me,” he chuckled, shaking his head.

Roy grunted, mouth in a straight line, pretending like he wasn’t focusing on getting his heartrate back to normal. Coach Beard looked thoroughly amused as Roy stayed still as a statue, waiting to hear total silence from the changing room before sulking back to his own office, where Nate quickly pretended to look busy and not like he’d been eavesdropping.

Beard’s eyes remained on Roy. “Boy, she knows how to push your buttons,” he mused.

“Does not,” Roy grumbled, feeling a bit like a schoolboy being badgered by his friends. He dropped into his chair, giving it a little spin from side to side, arms crossed stubbornly. “I don’t have fucking buttons.”

~

Lucas and I stood shoulder to shoulder as we watched the Whippets scrimmage. Under my sunglasses, my eyes were wide with joy. They were good, so good. When we signed these women, we knew there was going to be a lot of talent on this squad. But we could only dream of the chemistry we were already seeing on day one.

“Shit, can you imagine once they’re actually used to each other?” As always, Lucas was reading my mind.

I nodded. “Un. Fucking. Stoppable.” We bumped fists and knocked our hips into each other, a gesture we’d started doing when he was my coach in college. A gesture I knew we’d be making a lot this season.

“Oi!”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was shouting and who they were shouting at. With a groan, I turned around. Sure enough, Roy Kent was heading towards Lucas and I, looking ready for a fight. At this point, I wasn’t sure his face was capable of any other expression.

“Yeah, Coach Kent?” I pulled down my sunglasses, glaring at him from over the top, not giving a shit about professionalism or sharing or any of the other things I had promised Rebecca I’d be totally capable of.

Now standing in front of us, he nodded towards my scrimmage. “We need the pitch.”                                   

I glanced at my phone. Sure enough, it was just past time for us to give up the field so the men could use it. Dammit.

Now, if it was Beard or Nate who had come out and asked us to give up the pitch, I would have gladly done so, and would have easily apologized. But because it was Roy Kent who was demanding that we move, my heels dug in all on their own.

“We’re almost done,” I answered breezily, as if he really didn’t matter to me. Which he didn’t.

“Oh no.” He stared at me indignantly. “You made a big fucking deal about there being a fucking schedule. I’m just following it.” He turned to the pitch, where my players continued their scrimmage. “Whistle!” A few women stopped, their faces perplexed. “Get off the fucking pitch!”

My vision went red. “Hey!” I grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face me. “You don’t fucking tell my team what to do!” I blew my whistle. “Keep going!” When play resumed, I looked back at Roy, whose face was nearly purple. “Roy Kent, don’t you ever tell my squad what to do, you fucking hear me?” My hands were balled into fists at my side. “If I were a man-”

Roy rolled his eyes. “Oh, fuck that. You and I both know that this has nothing to do with you being a woman and has everything to do with us needing the fucking pitch. So, knock off with your feminism for a fucking minute.”

He was right. I knew deep down that he was right. But something about the way he looked at me just lit a fire that I didn’t know if I could control. There was no way I could let him win.

I folded my arms and blew some loose hair out of my face. “You could try please,” I grumbled, knowing I looked like a pouting teenager and not a professional soccer coach.

His eyebrows flew up. “I’m sorry? You want me to say please? When it’s my turn on the pitch? Are you fucking joking?”

“Beard and Nate would have said please.”

His eyes narrowed, an unwilling acknowledgement that I was completely correct. “Fine.” He gritted his teeth. “Please.”

Every ounce of coldness returned to my body. “There, was that so hard?” I purred mockingly.

Before Roy could respond- probably something involving the word fuck- Lucas brought his whistle to his lips and blew it hard. “Alright ladies, let’s go! Bring it in!” He looked at the two of us, eyebrows raised. “If you two are still flirting, I’m going to take these gals to the weight room, cool?”

“Fuck off,” Roy and I scoffed in unison.

Once Lucas stopped laughing his ass off, we headed to the weight room and got our players started on their workouts. Finally, I turned to Lucas, who was still grinning.

“We weren’t flirting.” My tone was flat, blunt.

Lucas snorted. “Oh, you were totally flirting. So was he, to be fair.” He shrugged. “You could definitely do worse than Roy Kent, I’ll give you that. Man’s a legend. And still pretty hot.”

“Can’t stand that man,” I mumbled, wondering if I was trying to convince Lucas or myself. “He’s the fucking worst.”

“Then have some really passionate hate sex,” Lucas suggested, waggling his eyebrows. “Do something to take care of that tension between you two.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You know, in some cultures, this is sexual harassment.”

“And in some cultures,” Lucas countered, “the way you look at Roy Kent would mean you have to marry him.”

~

Roy sighed as he leaned back in the chair in Doctor Sharon’s office. It had been a full week of sharing Nelson Road with the fucking Whippets. Of sharing it with her. And Roy felt like he’d aged an entire decade in that time.

They glared at each other in place of a greeting. They had shouting matches on the pitch. They muttered swear words at each other in the weight room. They rolled their eyes whenever the other was mentioned. And on more than one occasion, they got in each other’s faces, noses almost touching, lips way too close for Roy’s comfort.

He knew better. He fucking knew better. He hadn’t spent all that time with Ronald fucking McDonald for nothing. He’d grown and changed and become a better man. He’d learned to control the rage that thundered in his chest and to use it constructively. He’d become friends with Jamie Tartt of all people. Fuck, he even met with Dr. Sharon once a month. And yet here was this Yank, with her leggings and red lipstick and cocky grin, coming in and undoing all of it.

Roy closed his eyes as he listened to Doctor Sharon settle at her desk after closing the door. There was no way she hadn’t heard about what was going on between the two managers; everyone at the Dog Track knew what was happening, despite the assistant coaches’ combined efforts to keep things under control. He was surprised they hadn’t gotten called into Rebecca’s office to be properly shouted at like the children they were.

“You seem tired, Roy.” Doctor Sharon’s gentle voice made his eyes snap open. “Everything alright?”

He grunted, crossing his arms. No use dancing around things. “It’s the new women’s team,” he grumbled. “Their manager and I….” He glanced up at the ceiling, as if it held the right words to describe the white-hot rage he felt every time he looked at her. “…. Don’t get along.”

Doctor Sharon nodded. “I’ve heard.”

She didn’t say anything else, so Roy went on. “She’s just really fucking infuriating, y’know? All cocky and full of herself. Acts entitled to the pitch and the weight room and the changing room. And of course, Beard and fucking Nate like her and the fellas all act like she’s God’s gift to football. Just because she’s won a couple of trophies.”

“Was all of this your first impression of her?” Doctor Sharon asked after a moment.

Roy squirmed a little. “Well, I mean I met her at a club actually,” he admitted. “Right before she started working here. And I didn’t know who she was. And I made a comment implying that she wanted to flirt with me for attention, because I’m, well, me.” Fuck, he felt insufferable saying that part out loud. “And then I came into work and- fuck- there she is. Fucking stuck up as hell.” He shrugged. “And she’s shit at sharing,” he mumbled.

“Hmm.” Doctor Sharon looked thoughtful for a moment. “Have you thought about what it’s like for her right now?”

Her voice always calmed him down. “How d’you mean?”

She looked him straight in the eye. He liked that about her. “Well, she’s just given up her entire life to move here, where she knows literally one person, and she’s got a lot of responsibility on her shoulders to lead a football team that doesn’t know her yet. Sounds a bit like someone else we know, hmm?”

Roy shook his head. “No. She’s nothing like him. She’s arrogant and conceited and cocky and-”

“That sounds like the way you describe yourself at that age,” Doctor Sharon mused. Roy simply grunted, so she continued. “And, like her, you know what it’s like to suddenly be away from home and everyone you love, don’t you?”

He thought way back, to when he was a child, his grandad dropping him off with his blankie. “I was a fucking kid,” he argued. “That was different.”

Doctor Sharon shook her head. “We don’t compare baggage, remember?”

Roy nodded in defeat. “Fuck. Sorry. I know.” He fiddled with the zipper on his jacket. “’m just really fucking annoyed about sharing Nelson Road,” he mumbled, hoping to change the topic a little.

Apparently, Doctor Sharon was going to let him. “Why is that?”

“Because it’s ours,” he said simply. “We finally got into a rhythm, you know? Lasso came in and turned everything upside down, turns me upside down, then he fucking left. And then Rebecca decides to put me in charge.” Roy shook his head. “And I get one fucking year to figure out how to be a manager before she brings in an entirely new team? It’s just a lot.”

Doctor Sharon nodded sympathetically. “That is a lot of change in a short time,” she affirmed. “How can we deal with that?”

Roy felt good as he walked out of Doctor Sharon’s office at the end of their hour. They’d discussed how Roy could cope with all the stress, about the things he could control to feel like he wasn’t helpless against all this change, and even some conflict resolution strategies she wanted him to try. Maybe he didn’t have to be an absolute prick about all this.

Of course, those thoughts went out the window when Roy turned a corner and saw George Willows. Everyone thought Roy had hated Trent Crimm, but George Willows was a whole other story. He was Roy’s least favorite journalist, to the point where the man didn’t even come to the Greyhounds’ press conferences due to the high chances of being screamed at.

And who should Willows be chatting with in a particularly friendly-looking manner, looking more like two flirting teenagers than professionals?

“Oi.” Roy furrowed his brow, keeping his eye on George, avoiding looking at a certain pretty American. “Fuck are you doing here?”

“We have an interview,” Coach Buck pipped up, scowling at Roy. “Did you need something, Coach Kent?”

She always sounded like she was spitting out his name.

Roy nodded. “Yeah. I need this prick-” He pointed to George. “-to get the fuck out of here before I escort him out myself.”

Before she could retort, George put his hands in front of himself defensively. “Hey, I’m not here for the Greyhounds, Roy. Just a little fluff piece on the Whippets and their new coach.” He smiled down at the manager when he mentioned her. “Help the people of Richmond know just how lucky they are to have her.”

The beaming smile on her face, aimed completely at George Willows, made Roy’s chest go painfully tight.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh fuck off,” he groaned. “Honestly, they couldn’t have sent literally anyone else? What, it’s so hard to find someone to yammer off questions and hold a fucking tape recorder?”

“They use phones now, Grandad,” Jamie Tartt teased as he passed by, hair still damp from his shower. He saluted. “G’night, Coach Buck.”

“Night, Jamie!” she called, smiling at the striker. Apparently, she had a smile for everyone but Roy. Indeed, it disappeared when she glared at him. “Coach Kent, can I help you with something?”

Roy’s mouth went dry. Why the fuck did he let this woman get to him?

Since Roy wasn’t talking, she turned to George Willows. “Why don’t you head on into my office? I’ll be there in a moment.” She pointed the way to her office, all friendliness. Her frown reappeared once he was gone. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“That guy fucking sucks,” Roy said plainly. “Seriously. All of the press sucks, that guy might actually be the fucking devil.”

Her eyeroll rivalled the ones Roy was known for. “Well, if Roy Kent hates him, he must be a lovely person. Maybe even the second coming of Jesus Christ. If there’s nothing else you need to bitch about, I’d love it if you kindly fucked off, Coach Kent. I have an interview.” With that, she turned and swaggered off, with Roy trying his best to avoid watching her receding figure and ignoring the warmth in his cheeks when he failed.

~

We were coming close to the start of the season, and I felt multitudes calmer than I thought I would. My team was fantastic, and they seemed to like me as much as I liked them. Lucas and I had been working hard on our plays and were constantly trying to figure out who our captain would be; with so many strong leaders, it was a fun problem to have.

“Excellent job today, ladies!” I called out as I strolled through the locker room. “See you all in the morning!”

The players called out their goodnights as they headed to their lockers or to the showers. I smiled when I walked into the offices and saw Nate and Beard at their desks.

Coach Beard had done a good job with the schedule, no matter how much Roy Kent bitched about it; each day, the teams rotated between either starting practice an hour early or ending an hour later, so we didn’t have too much overlap in the showers and locker room. Today was our day to end late. Rebecca had said this was temporary, that hopefully she’d eventually build us our own training facility and just use Nelson Road for games, but I didn’t mind the sharing. Not with the Greyhounds, who were gracious and kind and made sure my team felt welcome. Not with Beard and Nate, who were friendly and always offering help with anything we needed as our first match quickly approached. The only problem was- well, I didn’t need to think about him right now.

“Hello, Greyhounds,” I greeted politely. “You guys all done for the day?”

Nate smiled. “Yes, all done. And you guys? Er, gals?” He paused for a moment, his face scrunched in thought. “Ladies?”

I laughed. “Gals and ladies both work just fine,” I assured him. “And yeah, we’re wrapped up.” I paused, looking at Nate thoughtfully. “Hey, could I have Lucas run some plays by you? I’ve heard you’re something of a whiz with plays and strategy.” I shot a wink in Beard’s direction. “Some people told me you’re a real wonder kid.”

Nate’s smile widened. “Oh, yes, absolutely, I’d love to help.”

Beard gave me a nod of approval as Nate jumped up to go find Lucas in our office. “That was very nice of you.”

I shrugged, taking Roy’s empty chair, not caring if he walked in and saw me in it. “Nice has nothing to do with it. We’ll take any help we can get. If Nate’s as good as you’ve said- which I’m sure he is- I hope you all don’t mind sharing that brain of his from time to time.”

“I’m fine with it. And Nate would be thrilled to help you out. Just don’t let Roy hear about it,” Beard teased. “He’s not one for sharing.”

“Especially not with me,” I hummed with an eyeroll. I wondered if I was damaging my eyesight from doing that so much lately. “Has he always been like this?”

Coach Beard looked thoughtful for a moment. “Roy… is a tough cookie,” he said carefully. “He didn’t exactly love Ted and me when we first got here. But we broke through those walls, and honestly, we’re pretty close now. He was the best man at my wedding.” He tapped his pen against his desk. “I actually thought he’d have an easier time with this whole women’s team thing, if I’m being honest.”

“Great, so it’s me he hates, not women’s sports,” I joked, earning a sympathetic half-smile from Beard. My eyes landed on a photo hanging on the wall, one of the three Greyhound coaches and another mustached man, one I knew immediately even if we’d never met. “Bet you all miss him a lot,” I mused.

A small sigh escaped Beard’s lips. “You have no idea.” His voice was the softest I’d heard it. “He’d get you and Roy all sorted out, that’s for sure.”

The tip of my nose went warm, thinking about all the shit the other coaches had dealt with over the past few weeks. “I’m really sorry about-”

Beard shook his head. “Growing pains,” he said simply. “You’re both good coaches. Both passionate about the sport. Which makes you both a little hardheaded. You’ll figure it out.” He paused. “Or Rebecca’ll fire you both.”

Despite his serious face, I laughed. “Guess that’s a good motivation to stop calling him a fucking asshole in the hallways, huh?”

Coach Beard’s smile matched mine. “Whatever works.” His phone pinged, calling his attention to it. “Gotta head out. My wife made sushi for dinner for the first time so I should probably grab some stomach medicine.” He looked at me thoughtfully. “We’ll have you over sometime. If we invite Roy, we can have a four-way screaming contest.”

A little perplexed by what he meant by that, I nodded. “Sure, Coach. Enjoy your food poisoning. Maybe tell the missus that you had some weird English food for lunch so you can blame that.”

He tapped his head. “Smart. Love it.” With a wave, he turned and went through my office, offering quick goodbyes to Nate and Lucas.

After heaving myself out of Roy’s chair, I peeked into my office. Nate and Lucas were poring over our playbook, discussing how to adjust a particular play we’d been struggling with. Both men looked up at me expectantly.

“Hey Luke, I’m going to do some running before I head home. Need to start forming good habits again. Don’t worry about me if you guys finish, I’ll just take a cab home if you’re gone.”

Lucas nodded. “No problem. See you tomorrow, Bucky.”

“Goodnight, Coach!” Nate added, his smile wide.

I walked across the room to grab my workout bag. “Later, guys!” I hollered, waving over my shoulder as I left the office.

Once I’d changed into some shorts and sports bra, I whistled as I walked to the weight room. It was well past quitting time, with most offices empty and closed up, my remaining players straggling out of the locker room to head home for the night. As I approached the weight room, I grabbed my keys to unlock it, something Rebecca had assured me I was more than welcome to do anytime, but I found the door was already cracked open.

My eyes instinctively narrowed as I looked inside. The universe was truly cruel; a shirtless Roy Kent was on one of the two treadmills, gazing at the television on the wall above him, watching… Lust Conquers All? Jamie had mentioned the show to me, bashfully explaining that he’d been on it a few seasons back. Not what I expected to see the Greyhound’s manager watching as he jogged.

Deciding not to use my voice to alert him to my presence, I let the door close loudly behind me. Roy glanced over his shoulder, grunting when he saw me. Taking that as his way of saying he wasn’t interested in a fight, I continued into the room, heading towards the lone treadmill next to his. I quickly dropped my Whippets water bottle into the cupholder and jumped onto the treadmill, setting it to a light pace.

For a while, the only sounds in the room were our feet on the treadmills and the obnoxious voices of the Lust Conquers All contestants onscreen. Not knowing what came over me, I glanced to my left at Roy. I shouldn’t have been surprised to see that he had kept in shape post-retirement; after all, wasn’t I on the treadmill trying to do the same thing? But wow, the man looked good. My eyes couldn’t resist lingering on the thick hair covering his chest. It reminded me a bit of Sean Connery in the old James Bond movies my parents used watch; those movies had given me a great appreciation for views like the one before me. Some quiet voice in the back of my head considered that, if this man didn’t drive me crazy, I’d probably be into him.

Shaking my head to clear out the ridiculous intrusive thoughts that were quickly becoming steamy, I turned my eyes back to the screen, trying to figure out which contestant was trying to sleep with which. It was weirdly comforting to see that, even across an ocean, reality trash still remained. Over the past weeks, I had clung to anything that reminded me of home; maybe I’d have to start watching Lust Conquers All as a weird way to cope with homesickness. Lucas would surely get a kick out of that. Heck, I could probably get him to join me.

When the show went to commercial break, I felt the hair on my neck prickle, as if I were being watched. Sure enough, out of the corner of my eye, I could see Roy’s gaze on me, trailing slowly down my body as I jogged on the treadmill. A flush covered every inch of my skin where his eyes dawdled, my heart going faster than it normally did when I ran. There was something eerily familiar about the way he shook his head and looked back up at the television, as if a phone commercial was the most interesting thing in the world.

We ran in silence until the show ended. Once the trailer for the next episode began, Roy turned off his treadmill and climbed down. Our eyes met for a brief moment, the contact taking place of any cheerful “goodnights” most people would have exchanged. After he grabbed his own things, he silently placed the television remote on my treadmill, not quite looking at me.

The only other thing I heard was the sound of the door clicking closed behind him as he left.

~

“Hi Roy!”

Roy paused and turned around, hand poised to open the driver’s side door. “Keeley,” he greeted, letting his hand drop to his side.

The blonde practically skipped over to him looking particularly happy. “How’s it going?”

“Fine.” He frowned. He liked Keeley; they were friends, he’d venture to say good friends, bordering on best friends. But something glinted in her eye that made Roy uneasy. “You?”

“Great, great.” She paused a moment, swaying from side to side. “I have something really fun that I’ve been working on,” Keeley hummed.

Roy felt his antenna go up in suspicion. “Uh huh.”

Keeley’s expression was that of someone who was up to something. “And I could really use your help with it, Roy.”

There it was.

“Keeley,” he growled, raising his eyebrows at her. “Can you just tell me what you need?”

She offered Roy her best don’t-you-love-me smile, as if trying to remind him that they were friends. “A photoshoot. Featuring our fabulous Richmond coaches!”

Roy threw his head back. Keeley knew better. Roy hated this kind of shit. There was no way she’d ever ask if he wanted to- oh.

“I don’t have a fucking choice, do I?” he groaned.

Wrinkling her nose, Keeley shook her head. “D’you really think I’d ask you if you didn’t have to do it?” She shrugged. “Sorry, Roy. Rebecca’s orders. So come in tomorrow looking camera-ready, alright?”

Roy took “camera-ready” pretty loosely. He came in the next morning looking like himself, just a bit dressier: black button-down shirt, black slacks, beard, scowl. Keeley didn’t look too surprised when she saw him, just smiled and dragged him to the makeup artist. As he sat in the chair, begrudgingly letting the girl put exactly one layer of mascara on him, he coughed to get Keeley’s attention.

“Where’s Nate? Beard? Or are they pretty enough without makeup?”

“What?” Keeley looked up from her phone and shook her head. “Oh, no, they’re not doing this.” She bit her lip, the fear in her eyes telling Roy she did not want to say the next words that came out of her mouth. “It’s, er, just the managers.” Her voice became itty bitty. “So, you know, just you and Coach Bucky.”

Roy threw his head back so quickly he almost got poked in the eye with the mascara. “Fuuuuuuuuuuck,” he hissed. “So not only am I missing training, not only do I have to do a fucking photoshoot, but I have to do it with her?”

As if summoned like the demon she was, the American bounded into the office Keeley had commandeered as a staging room. Roy’s breath caught in his throat; he’d been working his ass off to get so many images out of his head: the little black dress she’d been wearing at the club, the red smirk she sported in her first press conference, the shorts she wore on the treadmill. But this had to be the fucking worst.

Not only was she wearing that red lipstick that he realized was probably her signature look at this point, but her hair was down- something he’d yet to see- and wavy and framing her face in that way Roy thought only models could accomplish. She was wearing full makeup, a natural look that accentuated her attractive features. Worse, she was wearing a fucking dress, one that hugged her curves and showed off her athletic figure. Roy hated the way his heart was pounding at the sight of her.

“Fuck you look sexy as hell!” Keeley squealed, giving the coach a once-over. “Doesn’t she look great, Roy?”

Before Roy could figure out an evasive response, laughter hit his ears.

“Oh, trust me. Coach Kent probably thinks I look like some young thing trying to trick him into dancing with me. Isn’t that right, Coach?”

Giggling, Keeley shoved the far-too-pretty manager. “Oh, leave him alone. Today’s rough enough for Roy. He doesn’t love this kind of thing.”

“Is it because vampires don’t show up on camera?”

“Oi!” Roy stood up, teeth bared. “Just because you love being the center of attention and having cameras on you and getting prickish journalists to giggle at your stupid jokes doesn’t mean everyone does. Not all of us have your fucking ego that needs to be fed constantly.”

Keeley cleared her throat. “Alright you two, why don’t we take this energy out to the pitch, hmm? Time to take some pretty pictures.”

The two managers grumbled in agreement and followed Keeley out of the room, avoiding looking at each other until they were outside. In the back of his head, Roy wondered if this was Buck’s first time on the main pitch; of course, he didn’t ask. That would require actually giving a shit.

Instead, he did his best to listen as Keeley introduced to two managers to the photographer, explaining that she and Rebecca thought these promo photos would be a great way to garner more interest in the Whippets and show the Greyhounds’ support for the women’s team, and that, if these came out well, they’d do photos of both teams as well.

“Right.” The photographer, an older man Roy had met against his will a handful of times, snapped his gum and studied the managers. “Let’s do this.”

Under Keeley’s anxious supervision, the photographer directed the two gaffers onto the grass, posing them as if they were dolls and clicking away before shifting poses, a pattern Roy knew well and hated. Roy’s stomach was in knots when the photographer instructed him to look down at the pretty, pretty coach.

“Like you admire her,” he suggested.

The American snorted. “Good luck with that one,” she mumbled.

Roy sucked in a breath through his teeth. This was already a long fucking day. This wasn’t the kind of shit he’d signed up for when he came back to Richmond after his retirement. But he reminded himself that this was for Keeley and Rebecca; he’d have to do his fucking best.

So, for once, he did as he was told. Roy knew the photographer meant admiration in a professional way, as a fellow coach. But instead, Roy let himself look at her the way he’d been avoiding since her first day at Nelson Road. He took in the sight of her unabashedly, resentfully admitting to himself that the view from up close was fucking nice when he wasn’t being screamed at.

When her eyes met his, Roy felt his brain fizz out and shut down. She was too close, too pretty, too annoying, too perfect.

“Great,” the photographer called, his camera clicking away. “Think you could get a smidge closer?”

Hating the stupid knots in his stupid stomach, Roy took a step away. “Really? Want me to hold her like we’re going to a fucking dance?” he barked.

“Roy,” Keeley warned gently, eyebrows raised.

“Just take the fucking photos, Kent,” came a grumbling voice from next to him.

Roy scoffed. “Yeah, you’d love that wouldn’t you?”

A sigh escaped those red lips. “And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

He dug himself deeper, desperate to just be done with this shit already. “Just that you must be really fucking excited to have your pretty picture taken, yeah?”

Her eyes narrowed. “That is the second time you’ve said shit like that to me today. Tell me what the fuck you mean by that.”

Their voices were rising as Keeley watched in utter frustration. She’d told Rebecca that this wasn’t the best idea. But the Amazon of a woman had insisted that the two would be able to put their issues aside for something as simple as a fucking photoshoot.

“Oi!” Keeley shook her head at the two red-faced managers. “Go to Rebecca’s office. I’m done with you two and whatever weird sexual thing you’ve got happening here.” She turned to the photographer. “I’m so sorry. Let me to grab a couple players, we can get some shots for the website or something.” She looked at the frozen coaches. “Fucking go!”

~

I’d been sent to the principal’s office plenty of times as a kid. Mostly for fighting with the boys when they refused to let me play with them, or when told me I played “like a girl” (as if it were an insult), or the time a particularly stupid classmate threw mud all over my Mia Hamm jersey and I decided to give him a bloody nose. Getting in trouble for fighting with idiots was nothing new to me.

But Rebecca Welton wasn’t going to give me a detention and call my parents.

“I am not losing this job because of you,” I informed Roy as we trudged through the hallways. “I was just trying to get things over with. But oh no, you with your fucking comments about me and pictures.” I shook my head. “It’s part of the job, Kent. You might not know this, what with playing for fucking Chelsea, but publicity matters for a new club. Especially a women’s club.”I stopped and faced Roy, who mirrored my pause. “So yeah, I had more to gain from that shoot than you did. But don’t you dare fucking judge me for that. You will never understand-”

“Oi!” Rebecca’s presence filled the hallway. “Lovebirds. In my office, now.”

Hoping Roy felt as childish as I did, I looked down as I walked into Rebecca’s office. She towered over her desk and pointed silently to the chairs, ordering us to sit down without a word. We did as we were told, both of us looking defeated with our shoulders slumped and heads down.

Roy tried first. “Rebecca, I-”

“Nope.” Rebecca crossed her arms, staring firmly at the two of us.

My turn. “We are so sor-”

Rebecca shook her head. “Don’t want to hear that either.” She rubbed her temples gingerly. “I don’t want to hear sorry, or it’s not my fault, or we’ll be better, or any of it.” She sighed. “I knew it would be an adjustment, starting a new team and having to share the Dog Track, but what the actual fuck, you two?” She threw her arms in the air. “What? Do we need to throw you in a boxing ring? Or get you a fucking hotel room?” She pointed at me. “You are a fucking Olympic champion. You think Mia fucking Hamm acts like this? You think this is what I hired you for? To set this example to the team and all the little girls who’ll be watching you?” She turned on Roy. “And you? Jesus Christ, Roy. I am trusting you with the most important thing in my life, with my family.” Her voice cracked. “Do not make me lose another manager,” she whispered.

Roy and I exchanged shamed glances, neither of us sure what to say.

Rebecca went on. “You are both incredible coaches. I see you on that pitch. When you’re not biting each other’s heads off, you’re doing great things with your teams. Your assistant coaches adore you when they’re not having to manage whatever-” She gestured between us in exasperation. “-this is. And I really think both of our teams can have a successful season, if we can get the two of you focused.”

We both nodded earnestly; fuck, I’d marry Roy Kent if it meant making Rebecca happy.

“So, pack your bags, make sure your pets are fed, because next weekend we are all going on a team-building retreat. Whippets and Greyhounds, first annual weekend of figuring out how to fucking get along and act like adults.”

There was panic in Roy Kent’s eyes as he leaned forward. “Rebecca, we are this fucking close to the start of the season, if we’re going to win our first match-”

Rebecca raised a cool eyebrow at him. “Roy Kent, you full well this team’s philosophy about where winning lands on our list of priorities.” Roy sat back, grumbling something about Ronald McDonald. “Your teams will have opportunities to train while we’re there. I do like having a winning team, after all,” she added quickly. Rebecca raised an eyebrow, waiting for us to protest some more. “Any more questions?”

We both shook our heads like obedient children.

“Right. I’ll have Higgins send you the details and you can let your teams know.” She put on a mocking smile. “It’ll be a grand old time. You, me, the teams, the woods, and conflict-resolution training.”

“I don’t think the Greyhounds and Whippets need much of that,” I found myself saying. “They get along great.”

Rebecca’s tight grin remained. “Oh, I know. I’m hoping the two of you can learn something from them.” She gestured towards the door. “Off with you then.”

Dismissed, Roy and I stood and made our way out the door, away from Rebecca’s scrutinizing gaze. Once we were far enough away that Rebecca wouldn’t hear us, we looked at each other, all anger gone for once.

“Going to be a miserable fucking weekend,” Roy mumbled.

“Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Taglist: @callmecasey81 @ladygrey03 @puckyou-forpuckssake @royalestrellas @optimisticsandwichgladiator @reading-blogs @shineforever19 @rae4725 @burnafter-reading @her-fandom-sanctum @infinetlyforgotten @giggling-sewer-ginger @whataloadofmalarkey @agentstarkid @kingleahhh @tortilla-maria1 @geekgirl1996 @amatswimming @meg-ro @spicyraccoonlordking @spaghetti-dad187 @needlesthreadandbuttons @elissaaa @imsoluckyeverythingworksoutforme @reverieisaway @djskakakaksjsj-blog @thatonedogwithablog @allthetroubleiveseen @sunderland-6 @netflix-addict @paranormal-is-my-life @jill2629-blog @itsbuzzfeedbitch @pretzelactivist @amieinghigh @kashee-h

[alvivaarts]

About Separate Ways (Spoilers)

Wow, guys. I was super excited to get gameplay footage/input from friends about Separate Ways (too broke to own the base game myself) to put into my longfic, but aside from some super cute Luis/Ada moments, I am... dissapointed.

Capcom hire me, at least I can keep the plot consistent because what the actual fuck.

Will discuss below to avoid spoilers (much more story than gameplay, but gameplay wasn't great either), but I'm not going into insane detail save for some things. READERS BE WARNED!

I'm also specifically looking at this through the lens of my own fanfic, Simulation Swarm, which is my take on how Las Plagas works and infected!Leon (in addition, infected!Ashley and a lot of Leon's unacknowledged trauma and relationship issues throughout the game series). I was majorly excited about Separate Ways because it implied that Ada also gets infected- which I really want to still implement even if it changes a LOT of major things about the fic.

I'll go over the good stuff first. AKA, stuff I'm keeping, and not retconning.

1- Luis' characterization was still amazing. It was really nice to see his character balance out Ada's, how he's still as chipper as he can be. Additionally, it's VERY clear how much he cares for Leon and Ashley alike, and he goes out of his way to get Ada the suppressant and still respects her throughout that process. 2- Pesanta/IT/U-3's design with slightly more of a scorpion shape. That was sick! 3- The fact that Ada was aware of most of Leon's movements and a lot of what happened, and in a way was following him around and handling things he couldn't/wasn't aware of. * 4- Ada didn't help Leon into the chair, Ashley did. But that scene isn't even shown. 5- Luis and Ada def had chemistry, and it was so cute!

Well! Short list. Now for the bad stuff. AKA, shit I'm retconning/ignoring/pretending never happened (most of the DLC).

1- Ada's infection is weird as fuck. She got... shot? And infected? And then, infuriatingly (because I've spent WAY too much time thinking about the physiology of Las Plagas and researching w/ the help of others how the infection would work) PUKES UP her plagas?!?!? HELLO!? This in particular drives me insane because like. Las Plagas nests and develops behind the sternum, between the lungs, where it can attach to the nervous system along the spine. It is TOO BIG for a human body to fight against, it's growth shoving lungs out of the way is why people cough up blood. It's nowhere near the throat or stomach and clearly it's extremely well engineered/evolved for human hosts not to end up in conveniently the wrong location. And if she did puke it up, at that point, miraculously, after two days? Her intestines are fucked. She's dying of internal bleeding. I don't fucking care how much of a bad bitch Ada is because at that point Wesker wasn't gonna help her. The fuck? Capcom, know your own lore challenge. 2- We got NO backstory, not even HINTS about Ada's past and origins. Again. 3- * Seriously made Ada's character into a very flat character and removed a lot of the urgency/clear want for her to help Leon from the original DLC. Seriously, she does not gaf about anything but her mission and making it more convenient for herself. Everything she does to help Leon is sheerly coincedence- which, honest to fuck, does not line up. Especially considering she appears to completely lack empathy until... uh oh, Wesker wants to kill a bunch of people? Like sure, she has that BRIEF conversation with Leon in the boat but like... what happened to the people she has history with, the people she could've ABSOLUTELY been saving to spite Wesker and allow her to have her own motives until whoop-de-doo, uh oh, gotta stop a genocide! Be so for real. 4- Bonus: After Luis helped her and she'd made the deal to get him out, he, still dying, calls her with a warning about Krauser. It took a long time for him to die. She SHOWED UP after witnessing the fight and pretty much just... left him. Despite all of that. Which I get from a 'not fucking with canon' standpoint, but seriously. 0 effort. 5- Krauser literally fucking gets away when she fights him???? 6- Wesker keeps making appearances. For some reason. It's not even clear why, he literally just shows up to be intimidating and to threaten Ada into doing the job but like. At that point, honest to fuck, he could've done it himself? Also it was majorly hard to empathize with Ada considering we STILL KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HER OR HER MOTIVATIONS. 7- Luis has no distinct fire trauma. (Okay. Revoking this after the discussion, I just had a no media literacy moment after everything I was taking in. Luis' response was actually pretty good and honestly? Should be appreciated. Though it does bring up another point- while I love Luis, I guess I was walking in with it more being an expectation for it to be 'Ada's Story'. We didn't get that, though the Luis background was great!) 8- Ashley's interaction with Ada was a single line asking for help and Ada just. Walks off.

Anyway, everything I've seen first hand and have discussed with others has left a sour taste in my mouth. Boo, @Capcom. Good thing I can make up my own stupid little stories and pretend that none of that happened.

[sciderman]

Okay okay I see your point on how in the comics the shock alone could kill her, personally I don’t think the shock ALONE killed her. I feel like no matter what Peter did she would’ve died anyway, either she would’ve hit the ground at a high enough velocity that her bones would’ve shattered or just her skull would’ve shattered causing her to die, or (what actually happened) is Peter webbed Gwen and the force that changed her center of gravity was so strong that it broke her back and caused her to die.

But now I bring you, The Amazing Spider-man 2 movie. HEAR ME OUT HERE OKAY!! The movie is technically a canon of its own so I will be using this as reasoning 😈

In Tasm2 during Gwen’s falling sequence you can clearly see her, her eyes are open and her body is moving, her hands are out and she is reaching for Peter to save her (like he did in the first movie when he threw her out of the window while fighting Doc Connors and caught her with his web) Gwen is actively moving and if I’m not mistaken she also yells peters name during this time.

Gwen wouldn’t have died of shock here because if she actually was in shock it would’ve started the moment Harry dropped her. With this there are still only two ways she would’ve died, hit her head, or broke her back like what ended up happening. We all know either way Peter would’ve blamed himself but I argue that a third outcome could’ve happened. If Peter was just a little bit faster and if he was less focused on Harry and the clock tower I believe he actually could’ve saved Gwen instead of breaking her spine.

I KNOW YOURE MAINLY A COMIC BLOG BTW BUT I JS LOVE THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN AND NEEDED A REASON TO TALK SBT IT THANK YOU 😄😄

thank you for this delightful ask about the horrific manner of gwen stacy's death!

oh yeah no sir no question, in tasm2 peter was just too late. gwen’s head hit the ground. you hear the sound. she hit the ground. harry took it and threw it on the GROUND.

absolutely the tasm2 movie (and no way home that followed) kind of make it clear that peter underperformed. he was too slow. but. but.

but.

i think in tasm2 it's kind of more complicated. in 616 gwen is entirely passive. to the point where she is completely immobile. she isn't aware of what's going on around her. she's unconscious before the fall, she's powerless to do anything that could've prevented her demise. it's all on peter to save her.

gwen in tasm2 – she's – she's a little different.

they kind of hammer this one home. fact is, if gwen had listened to peter. she would, in all likelihood, still be alive. peter tried. he wasn't too late. he tried to prevent it, before gwen was in immediate danger. he did what he could. it wasn't enough to stop gwen, but – what else? lock her in a basement? what can he do? gwen could have made the choice to stay out of the way and stay alive. it was not all on peter. he did what he could.

so. i don't think it's fair to tasm peter to say he didn't act in time. he in fact, acted ahead of time, gwen didn't listen, gwen got herself into trouble, and, despite peter doing everything he could, he couldn't save her. that responsibility should not have been on his shoulders. gwen should've been out of the line of fire, like he tried to do. he shouldn't bear that guilt. it was not his fault. it was gwen's choice. it was gwen's.

and unlike 616 gwen, i bet we do know what tasm gwen was thinking in her last moments.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––^–––––––––––––––––––––––––

oooooh lord i fucked uuuup why did i do it to myself ohhh god gwen what have you dooooone ouuuugghhhhh one last big fuck-up way to gooo gwen no coming back from this one ouuuuuughhhhhh

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

long and short of it. andrew garfield IS NOT GUILTY of the death of gwen stacy. she did it to herself and she did it to him.

[findingnemosworld]

𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐧 - 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬

・𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲: 𝐦𝐞 ( 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢'𝐦 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐧 )

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞: 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐨 𝐢 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 ( 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 )

𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐝, 𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐟 𝐮𝐩.

𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟕

The pub was semi crowded with several people coming in to unwind after a long stressful day, amongst those people were twenty two year old Ainsley Kingston and twenty three year old Clara Santori, the two culinary arts students who had decided to step out in order to celebrate their most recent success as well celebrate Clara finally leaving her boyfriend of two years, Jadon Collins.

Ainsley was able to find an empty space, ordering two pints. " I'm so glad you woke up and left that bonehead! " she states.

Clara giggles, " Freedom does taste good! "

To say it has been difficult would be an understatement - she'd met and quickly fell in love with Jadon, an indie musician completely by chance - much to the dismay of Ainsley who advised her to let him go as the blonde was aware that he in fact, wasn't as good as he made himself out to be.

" Now, you can focus on achieving higher grades and think of the future you'll have as a top chef! " Ainsley said before giggling " Our restaurants or bakeries might end up competing, but all in good fun "

The pints were placed in front of them and Clara sighed, " I am not going to let any man distract me, no matter how talented and handsome he might be "

Ainsley lifts the pint up, " To new beginnings, better grades and most of all, no men "

Clara beams, gently clinking her glass with hers. " Cheers! "

They spend the rest of their time chatting over future holiday plans when Ainsley suddenly stopped talking, her eyes widening as though she'd seen a ghost, " Oh my lord! "

Clara frowns, " What? "

" Four Liverpool football players just walked in " Ainsley whispers.

Clara raised a brow, " I didn't know you liked football! " she exclaims.

Ainsley rolled her eyes, " My father does, I only watch it cause the players are cute " she laughs, " but seriously, look " she discreetly gestures to the booth.

Clara subtly turns around to check, the smile on her face falls and her eyes widen. " Fuck! " she blurts out.

" I know right, they're all hot! " Ainsley murmurs.

" No " Clara shakes her head before adding," Fuck as in one of them is my former high school boyfriend who dumped me for his football career "

Ainsley raised a brow, " Wait which one? "

Clara takes a big gulp of her drink before muttering, " The one with the blonde hair, who has a hair tie? he's sitting next to the ginger haired player "

Ainsley takes another look, " Wait ... is that? "

" Fernando Torres, yes? last time I checked, he was playing for Atlético Madrid " Clara groans. " I had no idea he's playing for Liverpool now "

" You should go talk to him " Ainsley shrugs before taking a gulp of her drink.

" And what do you expect me to say? 'Oh hi! remember me, the teenage girl that you said would hold you back' " Clara mimicked a cheerful tone before rolling her eyes, " There is no way I'm going there so let's finish our drinks and leave "

Ainsley shakes her head, " Whatever you say? "

She finished the last bit of her drink right after Ainsley and as they tried to slip out undetected, she stops upon hearing the all too familiar voice calling out her name. " Lara! "

Clara winces, silently cursing herself as Ainsley struggled to hide her smile; the brunette turns around to face her former lover from way back when, " Nando! Hola " she said a bit too cheerfully.

" Hola " Fernando smiles, " I thought I was dreaming when I saw you earlier, I mean ... wow, you look "

" Different, yes I am fully aware of that " Clara chuckles, " I can safely say the same to you, I mean last time I heard you were still in Atletico playing "

" Yes, but when the offer from Liverpool came, it was very difficult not to accept it! " Fernando shrugs, before turning to Ainsley. " It's nice to meet you, I'm Fernando "

" So I've heard " Ainsley smiles, " Ainsley " she turns to Clara, " I'll wait in the car ok "

Clara nods swiftly before turning to Fernando, " It was great seeing you but I have to go now " she gestures to the door.

Fernando nods, before he said. " Do you think we can meet over a cup of coffee or breakfast sometime? "

Clara halts in her steps, gnawing on her lip as she debated whether or not she should accept the offer; a few seconds had passed before she relents, nodding as she rummaged through her purse to pull out a piece of paper she had and a pen, she writes down her phone number and hands it to him. " Here, call me whenever you're free "

Fernando smiles, " I will, it was great seeing you Lara "

" You too Nando " Clara smiles back.

______________________________________________________________

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐝, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

The last thing Clara expected was to restart her life after a rather messy divorce, her former husband had been shamelessly having an affair for five years and as much as she tried her best to walk away as quietly as she can - he was more than hellbent on making things far arduous for her to the extent of forcing her to move back to Madrid and start her life once again with her adopted children, seventeen year old Atlas and eleven year old Sara.

Early on in her life, Clara had discovered her inability to have children which prompted her and her former husband to adopt, and while her husband was more than kind to both children, she couldn't fathom why he up and decided to betray her in such a foul manner yet she opts not to dwell on it, choosing to return to her roots and help her mother with the family bakery while both her children chased their dreams, mostly Atlas whom has been a part of the Atletico Youth Academy.

Clara had noticed early on just how passionate the young boy was in regards to football which fondly reminded her of Fernando, and thus, she helped him with try outs and was proud to see him flourish each time he played. Sara, on the other hand was as passionate as Clara was about bakery which thrilled the brunette as she used her passion as means for them to connect further.

On one evening, Atlas returned from training with a proud smile across his face. " I have big news! "

Clara and Sara, who were in the kitchen both smiled. " What? "

" The coaches were so impressed with me that they want me to feature in the next UEFA Youth League fixture against Bayern Munich " Atlas exclaimed.

Clara smiled widely, " I'm so proud of you " she embraced her son.

" You should have seen the looks on their faces Mamá, they said I possessed an advanced skillset that will shine in the match, I'm going to start practice tomorrow " Atlas said.

" Great job hermano " Sara said with a smile.

" Gracias hermanita " Atlas smiles.

" You are exceptional baby, so there's no doubt you'll fly even higher " Clara said, " you know what, with such big news, I say we order food tonight "

Sara cheers, " Yes! let's order from the new Italian place that opened up "

" Yeah, Ferran said they have great pizza! " Atlas nods.

Clara makes an order than asks Atlas, " When's the match going to be? "

" Next Monday, I was honestly hesitant on accepting but Mister Torres said I reminded him of when he used to play " Atlas said.

Clara's eyes widened at the mentioning of the familiar last name, she looks at her son. " Who? "

" Mister Torres, he was recently appointed as the coach to the youth side after he came back from Japan " Atlas said. " It was so cool playing in front of him "

Clara smiles, " I'm proud of you " she strokes Atlas's cheek; ignoring the way her heart fluttered at the thought of him, it had been twelve years since she last spoke to Fernando, their last encounter happening just mere weeks before he made the shocking move to Chelsea.

" Gracias Mamá, I wouldn't have made it without you and Sara supporting me! " Atlas said.

That night, Clara had lied awake in her bed; her mind clamored by the many thoughts interlaced with one another - she didn't keep up much with his career, but had only heard tidbits from her family that knew his family, so the chances of them ever meeting again seemed slim to none up until now, it would only be a matter of time before she saw him again, given his new status as her son's coach.

______________________________________________________________

𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟕

Finding time between studies as well as football seemed rather arduous for Fernando and Clara yet they were somehow able to make it work; she'd often come and attend his matches whenever she can and he became her personal taster before she was set to deliver her assignment, and while they both agreed that their bond was strictly that of two people reconnecting as friends, the soft undertones would peak every now and then to haunt her, causing her to wonder if there was perhaps a future for the two of them

On one evening, Fernando stopped by to spend time with her before Liverpool's upcoming bout against Manchester United, she'd given him an extra set of keys to facilitate his visits, he walked in and was immediately hit by the scent of freshly baked goods with a hint of spice, following the scent to the kitchen - he is met with a distressed Clara who was surprised by seeing him, " I thought you had practice "

" I finished early! " Fernando exclaims, before asking. " Lara, are you ok? "

Clara heaves out a soft breath, " If you count me baking for the third time because there's something missing in this stupid assignment then no I'm not fine "

Fernando sighs, for as long as he had known Clara, he was well aware of her tendencies to strive for perfection; often times leading her to become distressed and disassociated with reality. " Lara! " he walks over to her, " Why don't we go out? drive around the city? "

" Nando " Clara groans, " I can't ... "

" Yes you can, your assignment is not due until a week from now, and I'm very much craving something sweet so let's go out " Fernando said.

Clara shoots him a glare to which he responded with a chuckle as he leads her to her bedroom, " You'll thank me later, now go and change please "

She relents and changes into a shirt and a pair of jeans before joining him on a drive around the city, they barely spoke as the only sound heard was that of the radio playing music, Fernando stops in front of a small café, he leads Clara to the table near the window and orders two slices of chocolate cake for them, " Look at me! " he said.

Clara looks up, " Hm "

" You're beyond gifted when it comes to food, and I'm not just saying that cause I've known you for so long, it's the truth, it's why you got this far and you'll reach even higher " Fernando said, smiling when he noticed the faint smile adorning her lips. " Besides, when you open up the first restaurant, I'll be there proudly boasting about how I've known the amazing Clara Santori since childhood "

Clara's eyes softened, " You think so? "

" I know so " Fernando takes her hand to squeeze it. " I fully believe in you "

They spend the rest of the time eating their cake slices while she asked him about his upcoming matches, " I'm nervous " he admits with a chuckle. " But I'm trying to remain hopeful, especially since the coach believes in me, Stevie believes me as well as the team "

" And I believe in you, you're glowing whenever you play and that makes me happy " Clara smiles.

Fernando smiles back before saying, " I'm really sorry for the way I hurt you Lara! " he said.

" It's fine Nando, we were just two emotional kids " Clara shrugs, " It took us a while to understand, but at least we can be friends now "

Fernando chews on his lower lip before sayin with a tentative shaky tone, " What if I don't want that? "

" What? " Clara said with a confused expression.

" Lara, spending all this time with you made me realize that I don't think I can see a future without you in it " Fernando said, " I know I'm asking for a lot but, do you think we can ... I don't know " he chuckles nervously. " Start this on a different note, because you mean the world to me "

Clara would lie if she said she hadn't thought of the prospect of starting all over with Fernando, he was always her first love and you never forget your first, and reconnecting with him these past few months had shown her just how much she missed him.

" On one condition " Clara said.

" Anything! " Fernando said.

" If by any chance, this doesn't work, we will be very honest with one another and walk away on a good note " Clara said. " I want to try this again but you have to be patient with me "

" I promise " Fernando squeezes her hand. " I'll wait for you, forever "

They end their evening with a stroll in the park and just as the weather had gotten chilly, Fernando had removed the cardigan he was wearing to place it around her before wrapping his arm around her shoulder to tug her close, and for the first time, in a really long time - she felt seen, loved, and secure.

______________________________________________________________

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐝, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

" Mamá "

Clara blinks, drawn back into reality by the sound of her daughter's voice, she turns around and smiles, " Sí, hija "

" Are you ok? " Sara asks her, " You've been acting strange since Atlas mentioned the name of his coach "

Clara sighed, she was certain that her reactions were not noticeable yet her daughter was very much perceptive in certain moments, " I'm fine hija, don't worry "

" Are you sure? cause the second Atlas mentioned name, it was like you've seen a ghost or something " Sara said.

Clara shakes her head, she did in fact see a ghost; the ghost of the past she had worked hard to bury. " Sara, I'm ok. I was just drained from work and to be fair, surprised by your brother's words, that's all there is "

Sara nods, " Ok, but if you're not feeling well, you can tell me "

Clara smiled, Sara might have been ten yet she had such an old soul. It's one of the reasons why she had felt drawn to her the first time she met her during the adoption proceedings. " I know, but don't you worry ok "

Sara nods, reaching to pull her into an embrace. " I love you Mamá "

" I love you too hija " Clara smiled, pressing a kiss to her head.

_

The following morning,

" Fernando is coaching Atlas! " Clara blurts out while she and her mother were organizing the display table, " Did you know? "

Beatrice nods, " Sí, it's all over the news, you didn't know? "

Clara shakes her head, " You know me, I barely check the news! so I was surprised "

Beatrice raised a brow, " surprised or ... something else? "

" Mamá " Clara groans.

" I'm not trying to make you feel guilty but you were the one that refused to speak to him when he tried to reach out " Beatrice said with a shrug.

" I had a very good reason " Clara said, " But it's long gone, and besides it's not like I'm going to run into him, Xavier drives Atlas home from training so that saves me the embarrassment of seeing him again "

Beatrice sighs, " Clara, hija! I think you should talk to him "

" Why? I have nothing to say, the last time we saw each other he outright said that I was holding him back, again " Clara said. " And then no more than a week later, he was seen with someone else so why should I talk to him? for all I know he could be married, and has kids so I'm going to save myself the trouble and pretend he's still off somewhere else "

__

" Who taught you how to play like this? " Fernando asks the young boy while he was helping him practice.

" My Tío, he gave me the basics and I spent the rest of the time watching old videos and trying to work my way into understanding the rest, then my mother helped me with driving me to and from several academies until I was accepted here " Atlas responds.

Fernando nods, " What about your father? "

Atlas chuckles, " He left us, me, my mother and my little sister! all because my sister and I are adopted, and in his words - he wanted actual children, my mother on the other hand gave up her dreams of becoming a restaurant owner to help me and my sister get a better life "

Fernando frowns, " Your mother was a restaurant owner? "

" She was going to be " Atlas said. " We lived in Paris for a while and when my father left, she decided that it was best for us to return here to Madrid "

No, it can't be. Fernando thinks, shaking his head before saying, " I'm glad she helped you get here, you've got a bright future Atlas "

" You think so? it's always been my dream to go professional " Atlas smiles.

" And you will, I believe in you " Fernando smiles, recalling how she used to tell him that each time he felt nervous.

" Gracias Mister, I promise I won't let you down " Atlas said.

" I know you won't " Fernando said. " Listen, why don't you invite your Mamá and sister to come and see you play in the match against Sevilla "

" Sure, I'll tell them " Atlas smiles.

______________________________________________________________

𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐥, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟏

" What am I supposed to do? " Fernando asked, feeling both confused and slightly afraid after she had convinced him to help her in the kitchen.

" Grab the piping bag " Clara giggles, before she grabbed the other one full of the icing mix.

" Ok " Fernando nods, grabbing the piping bag. " Now what? "

Clara carefully displayed the way in which he places the piping bag over the cupcake, " You slowly press and it creates a flower, see " she said.

Fernando observes her and smiles before nodding, " Ok, let's see " he tries to mimic her, " Like this? "

Clara places her piping bag and leaned closer, placing her hands over his to guide him through. " Try to go slow but not too slow " she said.

Fernando looks at her then looks back at the cupcake, smiling when it turned out quite well. " It's good "

" You're a quick learner " Clara beams.

Fernando blushed at the remark, " remember when we nearly burnt my house down because we tried to bake cookies "

Clara nods laughing, " I think your Mamá almost killed me "

" No, she loves you a lot! she was very angry when we broke up the first time " Fernando said. " And I don't blame her! "

Clara smiled, " At least we managed to find our way back to one another "

Fernando nods, placing the piping bag down on the counter, he cradled her face in his hands and pressed a long yet soft kiss to her lips, smiling against them when she let out a small moan. " Careful Lara, or else we're going to be distracted " he chuckles.

" Maybe I want to distract you " Clara giggles.

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫,

Clara had walked into their shared home, a sense of dread washed over her. " Nando! " she received no response in return, which made her frown in confusion - she looks around, finally realizing that the home was semi empty as any remnants and traces of Fernando were gone, the only thing she noticed was a paper placed on top of the kitchen counter, nervously, she grabs the paper and unfolds it to find a handwritten letter.

___

Lara,

It was hard for me to write this latter, as I have rewritten this plenty of times but I think it's best if I do this instead of telling you because I wouldn't survive seeing you cry, I'll start this by saying that I love you and that I didn't mean for this to happen but - I can't do this, I can't let myself be held back and in turn hold you back.

Chelsea had offered me a good deal, and I couldn't refuse and knowing that you have so many dreams ahead, I can't possibly live with myself knowing that you might give them all up and move to London with me, so I think it's best if we go our separate ways.

I am grateful for all the love and support you've given me but you deserve someone that'll give you the stability and love you're searching for - and I hope that find that person in the end, I don't know about you, but what I do know is that I'll keep you in my mind forever, I love you so much.

Please, don't try to contact me, it's best if we don't talk.

Love, Nando.

___

Clara had taken a moment to compose herself before she rolled up the paper and threw it in the bin, she then grabs her cellphone and dials Ainsley's number. " Hey, ... " she said, " Can I come over? Ok, I'll be on my way "

______________________________________________________________

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐝, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

It's almost as if their hearts had told them, that after such a turbulent period of time; they'd find a way to see one another again, Clara was afraid and so was Fernando - throughout the match, he'd tried his best to be focused yet ever so often, his mind would draw back to the fact that within the crowd of people in attendance to see the match was the only woman he had truly loved, and it didn't truly settle until his side had won and the parents were congratulating their boys that Atlas nearly sprints towards Clara to embrace her.

Fernando watched from where he stood, a mixture of shock and a sense of longing settled; she hadn't changed much save for her brunette locks growing in length and the presence of more lines across the corners of her eyes, her ever bright smile remained the same and it wasn't until their eyes met that her smile fell, yet not for long as it instantly appeared when she looked at Atlas.

Atlas then leads her and whom he presumed to be his younger sister towards him, " Mister, this is my Mamá Clara, and this is my younger sister Sara "

Clara's eyes were screaming as she forced a smile then extends her hand, " It's nice to meet you "

Fernando understood why she would do that, his manner of departure had hurt her more than it hurt him, he shakes her hand with a forced smile. " Likewise "

Clara turns to Atlas, " Hijo, take Sara to the car with you. I want to speak to your coach for a bit "

Atlas nods, " sure, come on Sara " he leads his younger sister away.

Clara watched them then turned to Fernando, " I want to make one thing clear, I don't know you, you don't know me and what we had before, was just an illusion. I'm going to be as civil as I can throughout this time for the sake of my son, but other than that - I am not expecting any kind of explanation, much less an apology "

" Lara " Fernando whispers.

" No " Clara raises her hand, " It's Clara, only those closest to me call me Lara "

[impulsivesuperrobin]

okay @readbyred reblogged my hatchetfield oc threat post so here we go: (i apologize in advance for how rough this is)

mallory-morgan jägerman

(“it’s just mal. that’s a whole…mouthful i never asked for.”)

general info:

- east/southeast asian american

- bisexual and genderfluid (he/she/they)

- only a month and a half younger than max (18)

- is friends with steph more than the rest of the popular kids

- is “friends” with all of the popular kids because of max, but would much rather hang out/around the nerds

- has some of the gift that mainly manifests in prophetic poetry (nighthawks fly/jägerman falls/when the hatchet swings toward us/upon who do we call?)

- dabbles in the occult, but not too seriously (tarot readings, crystals, ghost hunting but not 100% in their belief in these things)

- was adopted at age 8, definitely favored by their parents but also isn’t completely certain the jägermans didn’t just adopt them to appear more virtuous

- max is both protective and antagonistic towards them

- they’re also protective and antagonistic towards max bc they know how it is at home for him but also is totally aware how much of a dick he is to everyone else

- they also are slightly aware of the fact that they are only tolerated around the popular kids (besides steph) because they’re his sibling (“i’m a jägerman, max is the jägerman.)

- they 100% are kinda a little into richie (in a “his autistic swag and utter lack of rizz has bewitched me” sort of way)

- in timelines where miss holloway isn’t dead: works at miss retro’s

now onto them in npmd:

- sits in between richie and grace in highschool is killing me

- sings “like a jock he cliches” in literal monster pt 1 as he walks across the stage

- proper intro is in the flick-it ticket scene

- tries to get max to leave richie alone (“c’mon maxie, don’t you have better things to do with your time? you’re already gonna be late for class.”)

- rolls his eyes at kyle and jason making fun of grace but also immediately exits when max starts thirsting over her (in a “i hear enough of this at home, i’m out. cannot watch you fall on your face about this” way)

- is with steph and the cheerleaders when they’re talking about steph getting stood up by pete

- is at least a little into how intimidating steph is when threatening ruth and richie into telling her where pete is

- joins them in the boys’ bathroom, apologizes to pete on behalf of max (“as a jägerman, sorry— about your eye, and my brother, and the fact that i’m related to him.”)

- “that’s some cool kid privilege right there.” “yeah, they’re not wrong steph.”

- visible disgust at grace saying max “[strikes] lust in the souls of the innocent”

- is totally in on the plan to scare max (“he may be my brother, but maxwell jägerman is a class a fucking dickwad.”)

- “oh he hates ghosts. ever since we were kids and i convinced him one lived in the garbage disposal.”

- agrees with pete about the waylon place making them feel uneasy, but it’s more the vibe than the structure of the house

- bully the bully: “he’s just a nerd in disguise” “i know that’s right.” [i’m definitely on the max is a closeted theater kid train]

- richie: *talking film specs* mal: *disproportionately infatuated* “you know a lot about this stuff huh?”

- is genuinely happy when max gets all excited about the prank bc she can tell he’s being genuine

- total shock and denial when max falls and dies (“he-he can’t be dead! it’s maxie, he’s like invincible!”)

- goes right into humor to try to deflect (“we just murdered a football star right before the big game!” “fuck! my brother’s dead and we’re gonna lose to clivesdale?!?! this is the worst day ever.”)

- bury the bully: “this is a lot.” “yeah, even for me.”

- “it’s been…weird at home. i feel…guiltier about not feeling guilty than about what we did. that’s usually wrong right?”

- between go, go nighthawks and the locker room scene: “hey, uh, shitlips! i know you’re not supposed to talk in the mascot costume so don’t say anything. but since you’re not under constant threat of swirlies anymore, you should maybe try asking me to homecoming. after the game?”

- he gets called into the interrogation scene late but just in time to find out that richie died

- grace accuses her of telling about max (“why would i incriminate myself?”)

- “grace…what are you thinking?” “if she starts snapping again, i’m out.”

- when they dig up the black book, they feel almost physically ill (“i feel worse about this than being in the waylon place guys.”)

- “i’ll try luring max away while you guys get to the school. hopefully there’s enough of my brother in there that keeps him from killing me. at least long enough to buy you some time.”

- max throws in “you turned my own sibling against me!” when attacking steph at the school

- attends homecoming (“never thought i’d be a homecoming kinda person, but this is nice.”

[vital-spirit]

OFFSCREEN POST

A Bridge Between Worlds: Part Two | Final Part

Lucario stumbles out of the fog, breath heavy as he finally steps onto the solid earth. He made it. He didn’t turn around. He’s fine. He’s vaguely aware of the fact he had been crying for about half of the experience that was the bridge. He shouldn’t let Bingo see that. She’d ask what’s wrong, and he’d have to come up with some excuse or dodge the question.

Speaking of Bingo, where… was she? She’d been pushed onto the Bridge first, why wasn’t she here? He can’t sense her. Where is she? He turns around, looking back to the fog. Shit. Fuck. NO! After every horrible thing he’d seen and heard on the bridge, after every single memory he’d been forced to confront, it was for nothing. Bingo was trapped in the fog. His entire plan, gone in an instant. His one chance to fix things, ruined. All because of a FUCKED UP BRIDGE. He starts to laugh. No, not laugh. Cackle. After having every choice you’ve ever made laid out in front of you followed by what is essentially your daughter now just dying and you having no clue, what the fuck else are you supposed to do? He collapses, curling in on himself as cackling turns to sobs. Everything has gone wrong in just one instant. 

“Mister Lucario, are… you okay…?”

Lucario scrambles to uncurl and look behind him, wiping away the tears. There he sees Bingo, completely fine, not even slightly stressed out by the fog. “I’m fine. I thought you didn’t make it,” he says, shakily. 

“Oh… I’m okay, Mister Lucario!” Bingo slowly steps forward, gesturing to the fog with her tail, “The Voice made sure I was safe… and that I didn’t stop or turn around.”

“Th– The voice? The voices didn’t try t’make you turn around?” Lucario asks, clearly trying to make it look like he was not just having a mental breakdown. 

The Lillipup awkwardly shook her head, attempting to not address the elephant in the room that was Lucario crying, “No. She made sure I kept goin’. And there was only one Voice.”

“Only one–” Lucario is cut off by the sound of massive wing beats as Cyclone bursts through the fog, flying overhead. As she stops flapping her wings and falls into a steady glide, the sound of a Pokemon singing becomes clear. “Rumble, tumble, great big trouble, a dark storm’s on its way! Lightning flash and thunder crash, much to the town’s dismay! So grab that horse and pull those reins, there's no time to delay~ay! Racing through the streets of town, here comes Lucinda Gray!” the voice sings. As Cyclone flies farther and farther away, the song continues, growing quieter with each word until it can no longer be heard and the Mandibuzz is a far speck on the horizon. The voice in the fog…

Part Two: Scene Complete.

A Bridge Between Worlds: Complete.

[monty-glasses-roxy]

💜

Monty and Chica

💜 (Purple heart) for a dealers choice!

Ooooo now there's loads of possibilities for these two. Chaotic siblings is a really fun one but they could also be those two friends that great each other like "GUUUURRRLLL HOW YOU DOOIN???" And romantically? Very cute! And if they hate each other? Pfft lmao Chica would kick his ass sorry Monty lovers but you don't fucking mess with an angry chicken and he's a softy anyway. I'll do a bit of all of them for fun.

First? Friends! These two are such goofballs I swear. They hang out in the water at Gator Golf a lot and are constantly getting knocked off high places with brooms by the staff. One of them shows up with a tub of glitter and now they're trying to cover the walls in it to make them shine. They're A class mess makers but with all their experience having to clean up said messes, that also makes them the best cleaners out of the Glamrocks. Monty is Chica's favourite cooking companion and they've had many a competition on who can bake the best cake. They probably have an insane amount of injokes and I can see the pair of them liking to people watch and then talk about the different people they've seen later on while they're chillin' in the water.

For their sibling dynamic? It's very much the same except you now have the pair of them rattling off dinosaur facts every two seconds. Did you know chickens are closely related to dinosaurs too? Now you do! These two are experts on the subject! As both siblings, friends or romantic partners, Chica would kill for him though. She's just the kind of person to commit atrocities for people she cares about and Monty... isn't exactly aware but he will gladly joke about it with her. He'll threaten the shit out of anyone she partners up with too, they're both generally just really cool. Besties till the end!

As romantic partners the dynamic doesn't change that much. You just have more variation in the physical affection they give each other. If these two are a thing they're the most lovestruck fools you've ever seen in your life. They'll be sat there, with their friends, zoning out, staring into space thinking about them all the damn time. I'm talking heart shaped eyes levels of affection. How would they get together? Chica would be making the first move because Monty would be so damn shy about it. It would also be pretty funny if Roxy was getting Monty gushing about Chica every time they hang out together and then Chica gushing about Monty every time they hang out and she's just sat in the middle expected to be both of their wingman's at the same time. Actually you know what? Everyone is their fucking wingmen. They have an army of wingmen. But the wingmen aren't aware of their fellow wingmen so they keep trying to set them up on their own and they keep messing each other up until they figure it out and plan one big thing to get them together. Chica still the first to say anything though. She's very much a 'do or die' kinda gal and he's very much too nervous about rejection for this. They get together and there is a Plex wide party with a banner that reads "FUCKING FINALLY" and they think it's hilarious.

Now, to go in the complete opposite direction... what if they fucking hate each other? Well that's a pain for everyone else because neither of them will ever let up on the passive aggressive comments. Not for one single moment. However, if they call a truce for even one hour, it's going to be for someone else's benefit. Roxy in tears and they're the only ones around? Call a truce. Bonnie is broken down and they need to act fast to make sure he's not too damaged for repairs? Call a truce. Missing child or a suspected kidnapper in the Plex? Call a truce. The thing is though, they both have similar senses of humour so sometimes one will do something stupid or silly and the other one will get really mad about because now they can't do it. Oh lord the competition between them would be insane. I don't think they'd ever come to blows or anything, but if they did it would uh... probably start really scary and dangerous and devolve into pathetic slap fighting.

No matter what, they could both have a really fun dynamic! I can see them both just wandering into each other's rooms unannounced and dramatically flopping on top of the other one to talk about their day and to gossip the night away. I can also see them taking their aggression out on each other in Fazerblast and this either making them both the worst players in existence or the best players ever. They're a really cool pair!

[thegempage]

alone, hunt, fear, and monster for both watchful eyes and hammerfall plsssss

oh Fuck yeah absolutely!!

context for the unfamiliar: they're both pf2e characters; watchful eyes (she/her) is my gnoll barbarian and hammerfall at high noon (or hammerfall) (any but mainly they/he) is a leshy gunslinger (as well as some fire bullshit)!

(from this ask meme)

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

watchful eyes: uhhh badly! like really badly! in fact, being abandoned and alone is her deepest fear!! jfdklsajfdskfdls she was definitely completely isolated after she was separated from her original family until she found the orcs who ended up taking her in and she never wants to go through that again. but when she's alone at home, she ends up just being... quiet. meditative, almost. tends to talk to her mentor's skull to fill the silence when it goes on a little too long.

tbh i feel like she won't sleep alone if she can help it. part of why she loves going on missions is having a convenient excuse to sleep wrapped around her friends

hammerfall: hammerfall actually.... tbh i don't think he'd mind being alone. they've spent a lot of their time either actually or functionally alone, sometimes for working reasons and sometimes for traveling reasons. there was definitely a period where he was traveling through the mana wastes all on his own and he doesn't think much of it! they act pretty similarly alone to with people -- perhaps a little more willing to divulge their gunsmithing secrets bcus no one's around to hear them and they want to talk themselves through a project, or to the project.

hunt: Who or what is your OC hunted by? A person, a feeling, a past mistake? Is your OC able to let their guard down, or are they constantly alert?

watchful eyes: watchful eyes feels like she is constantly outrunning a moment of failure, a moment where she will no longer be strong enough to protect the people she loves. if she trains hard enough, she feels like she can out pace it for longer, even if she doesn't do so with that thought consciously in mind. she's often on alert when on missions, but at home at the lodge she will turn into a big, cuddly puddle for a while.

hammerfall: hmm... i feel like, even if he doesn't realize it, hammerfall is running from what happened to Pops. they're consciously chasing new gun techniques and new skills, but some part of them knows that going home means facing the changes Pops has gone through, and continues to go through now that they've left. he doesn't know what to do about it, or if he can, but that thought's for another day, as far as he's concerned.

also, 100% always has a hand near their gun. even when among friends. there's a reason his clothes are leather but his holsters are made of his body.

fear: What is your OC's greatest fear? What do they do when confronted with it? Are they open with their fear, or do they hide it away?

watchful eyes: see above jfkdlasfjds being abandoned and alone is her deepest fear, and she tries very, very hard not to let that happen. she starts to buckle whenever it comes up, though as much as possible she pushes off that melting until she's safe again. i really don't think she'd talk about it, though, not to others, because she doesn't want them to worry unnecessarily about her! she's supposed to be a tank, after all.

hammerfall: so canonically? the answer is that they... don't have one. hammerfall grew up in a terrifying environment and is an immortal soul temporarily bound to a physical body. fire is just a thing that Lives In Him. they have no reason to fear god nor creature, because at the end of the day, this is one lifetime of many, and they're the best shot they know. i feel like this shows, tbh, esp when the people around him are experiencing Horrors™

monster: Is your OC monstrous in any way? Is there something that makes them monstrous? Are they aware of their own monstrosity? Do they accept it or reject it?

answered watchful eyes here!

hammerfall: so here's like. the thing. i honestly?? honestly?? think hammerfall is fucking unsettling to look at. like, even if they look like any other sagebrush leshy, the smoke constantly rising from their body and the way they hold themself, plus the gun and the fact that they stand like they're always ready to shoot clearly makes them an outlier. i don't think he's necessarily monstrous, but unless someone is used to dealing with magic bullshit, i think you'd struggle to be around him for very long. and that's before they open their mouth to start talking about guns or the mana wastes or their life before the current mission and make vague references to doing crime and eating meat and their six-armed Pops.

thank you so much for the ask : D!!!

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 103 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: putting up a new fence

I heard some people were surprised by the pig facts? I guess I'm being a redneck again? XD That's just stuff you learn when you grow up in the countryside.

"and their manure is great for composting." And omg, the smell of pigs is really quite something... I generally avoid going into the pig's barn at my grandparents in law's farm. Can't get that smell out of your clothes, your hair... A few years back someone in the area where I live fertilized their field with pig manure and it was dreadful... Luckily only happened once. Even the farmers around here were complaining.

"at around three or four hundred kilos" My fucking horse weighs 450 kilos. So that really, reaaaally big for a pig.

"Part of me did consider immediately trying to send it for slaughter" I wonder what would happen, if people were to eat meat from Monster Pig...?

"But as I got closer, I saw that they were scars. Shot scars, most of them, with some that looked like they might have been from spikes or axes." Nago/Okkoto?

"The first year they did it there was a lot of trash left behind we had had to clean up, but apparently someone bashed the right heads about it, since last year there was barely a cigarette stub left." Shit like this is actually a problem, there doesn't even have to be an event. Some people will just litter their trash, other people are just careless. And that trash then lands in the food for our animals.

"But instead, I felt it settle next to me, the meat of it sinking into the spaces left by my position. It was pressing up against me, and let out the most contented sound I have ever heard from a pig. The message could not have been clearer: ‘Friend’." Awww! But yeah, that farmer always fed Monster Pig. He never treated it badly. Of course Monster Pig thinks he's a friend. Until now he didn’t even do anything against it, so one could argue he’s complicit with the Fear?

"When you explained the situation, I hoped you’d have some special trick for dealing with it, but I suppose welding scrap metal around the pen and filling it with cement just about works" Our first problem being solved with concrete!

"Those pigs didn’t deserve what that thing did to them. Tearing them apart and eating them." Go vegan? Or, vegetarian would actually be enough for that. It’s something you should always be aware of when you eat meat. (Disclaimer: I'm a flexitarian. So I do still eat meat. Hell, my grandpa in law turned his pigs into delicious smoked meat...)

"Oh, and if you’re hungry, I’ve got some bacon in the freezer I’m going to cook up. ... What?" Lol. It sounded earlier like this was a transcribed statement. So Dylan Anderson did not write it down himself (because of that bit about "Oh, uh, when you’re writing this up, make it’s clear that we’re near the Marlborough Forest"). Still funny, that the transcriber would include the “What?”.

JON: "I currently have nothing to indicate where Gertrude might have travelled next, but I… I have a hunch Kurt Anderson might be able to help." He stops himself there. Was he going to say "I Know"? Still in denial about that?

KURT: “Yeah, but he didn’t say how. Told me some weird guy turned up afterwards, and she went off with him in a real hurry. So Gerry suddenly turned up with some horrible news. Can’t remember if we hear what it was exactly?

Interesting how Kurt Anderson doesn't notice he's been compelled until he gets the juicy stuff pulled out of him...

KURT: [Afraid] "What are you?!" I'm sure this hurt Jon. Now even others refer to him as... not human. He did absolutely chose to use compulsion here though. Why play investigations on hard mode if you can just cheat your way through it? And Jon later says he likes it. To be completely honest, I would use the hell out of that myself. Would probably save me a lot of nerves and time.

Jon finally puzzled together that the tunnels are a blind spot!

DAISY: "Right. So, if he’s not paying attention, and I kill you down here…" Oh man, I HATED Daisy back then.

Jon meeting up with murder cop, upon his wish alone and not because Elias told Daisy to escort Jon, heavily suspecting Elias can't watch (and therefore protect) him just so he can organize a bit of safety for the others <3

JON: "No. No. I was, I was… I was thinking. This… Section 31 unit that, that you’re a part of –" DAISY: [Insistent] "Not a unit! Just paperwork." JON: "Right but, but… what do they think about Elias?" DAISY: "Best avoided. Pretty harmless. Um, crimes involving the Institute get people sectioned, but he’s not an active threat." JON: "If we had evidence that he was an active threat, that he was killing people, he, he was the one threatening to make all of your stuff public, do you think they’d move against him?" DAISY: "… Maybe." Martin's stunt in MAG 118 is a JonMartin collaboration!

DAISY: "You sure you want to talk with that thing running?" JON: "Oh. Um, I-I… I didn’t … didn’t realise I’d turned it on." Was there ever an instance, where Jon unknowingly turned on the tape recorder himself? I think it was always the tape recorders acting on their own. Maybe Jon doubts his own mind, questioning himself if he's the one doing this? (I mean, we know that as least most of the time it's not him, it has happened plenty of time where the recorder was out of reach or Jon wasn't even there at all.) Also, since the tape recorders do work in the tunnels, it is kind of implied that the tapes are not the Eye.

@a-mag-a-day

[paper-pixies]

Me when I reblog an ask game hoping you’ll reblog it >:D I have questions about your guys for you <3

Let’s do 31 for Asylum/Bloodlust, 23 and/or 12 for Shilan, and 98 for Adriite to start :)

Oh nooo don't trick me into reblogging an ask game by putting it on your blog first....how awful.....anyway....

31. How would they describe one another? [Asylum/Bloodlust]

“Bloodlust is… well, he’s incredibly loyal to me. He may not be a complete buffoon but he certainly isn’t the brightest, and he does what I tell him with exceptional efficiency, so what more could I really ask for? He does my dirty work and cleans up the messes so that I rarely have to engage with the less savory parts of this lifestyle, knowing that I will reward him when the task is done. And yes, he may be something of an uneducated brute, but that’s exactly what I keep him for and, well, no one else is so absolutely devout as he is. He’s like my loyal hound, always obedient and eager to please, and I do love him for that. I mean, is there really any other sort of relationship worth having with a man?”

“Describe Asylum? I mean she’s a goddess, what more do you want? She does whatever she wants and gets whatever she wants and doesn’t give a shit about what anyone else tries to tell her to do. She’s fuckin’, crazy smart too, just always twenty steps ahead of everyone else, like she’s already got everyone in her spiderweb even if they don’t know it yet. She’s just in control of everything and if she’s not in control of something then it’s because it’s not important enough for her to waste her time on. She’s powerful as hell and damn scary, too. She put up with a lotta fucked up shit from people in the past and now she makes sure everyone knows they should be afraid of her. If she’s pissed at you? You’re already a dead man, doesn’t matter what you try— if you’re lucky maybe she’ll beat the shit out of you herself. She’s beautiful, just the most fucking beautiful woman to ever live, puts every topside and Midcrest bitch to shame without even trying. I swear she’s a gift from the spirits and we’re all just lucky enough to get to be alive at the same time she is.”

23. Who said "I love you" first? [Shilan]

As the one who takes most of the big steps in their relationship, Taylan said it first. And pretty soon into their relationship, too. Now that that door has been opened though, Shiloh absolutely says it more.

12. What is something their S/O does that makes them flustered? [Shilan]

Taylan doesn’t get flustered that much but despite his pacifism it does get him when Shiloh does/offers violence. Obviously, he would never want his partner to kill people ever if possible, but maybe sometimes when Shiloh says they would kill anyone who got in the way of their being together, maybe that makes Taylan a little flustered. And don’t get him started on the times Shiloh has jumped in to fight off some Forest monster or other to keep him safe.

Shiloh is easy to fluster purely because they just think Taylan is so incredibly attractive, so him showing any extent of skin will pretty much do it. Which is completely just a Shiloh thing, their clan isn’t stressed about covering up and it isn’t a thing with anyone else besides Taylan, they truly just think this man is so stunning that it’s likely to instantly get them even if Tay isn’t intentionally trying to fluster them in the slightest. It took them a while to get used to seeing him without a shirt lol

98. Who would burn the world down for who? [Adriite]

Ace, easily. Pyrite has too strict of a moral code to ever allow herself to do something like that for any one person, whereas Ace has been on the brink of snapping more than once and has always been more willing to prioritize those close to him above anything and everything else. Of course, it would take quite a bit for Ace to take that path if Pyre was actually with them. Just having her around is often enough to help Ace keep himself in check, but he’s also well aware of the fact that she would absolutely despise him if he ever did anything like that for her sake.

[beholdthemem]

Y'know, I feel like even if the 1986 school year had been completely uneventful and gone off without a hitch, Chrissy still would've dumped Jason.

Not because of Eddie. Not because she discovered 'Oh, maybe I'm into girls'. Honestly, not even because of Jason himself.

I think Jason was never aware of it, but he and Chrissy's relationship had had a time limit placed on it for a while- because Chrissy's number one goal was to get the fuck out of Hawkins, and a romantic relationship was not conducive to that at all.

Part of playing a character that won't be around long while still giving them depth is to build who they are as a person off screen- who they are, what they're like, what they want. Even if half that shit never makes it to air, YOU knowing that about your character helps you portray a human being rather than a cardboard cutout. There's a personality to draw from. There's unspoken experiences that created that personality. During a brief period of time last summer when people weren't being anal worms for no goddamn reason, Chrissy's actress did a Q&A, giving us a chance to learn some of those things. Including:

(Weirdly cropped, I know, but I didn't know if the question asker would want their url included or not, and didn't wanna be rude. At any rate-)

Maybe season 5 will roll around and it'll turn out I'm wrong, but based on what we know of Laura, I really have trouble believing she would've just let Chrissy go. Chrissy's Vecna visions showed her being trapped inside that house. A recurring theme was her inability to get away.

Jason didn't know there was anything wrong in Chrissy's home life. If she was planning to leave as soon as she graduated, anyone she wanted to stay in contact with afterwards would have to be well aware why she was going, and why it needed to be a secret- loose lips sink ships. Anybody who didn't realize there was a reason not to talk about Chrissy's post-grad plans in front of Laura ran the risk of destroying of destroying her exit before she even had a chance to use it. If Jason didn't know about Laura, I don't think he knew about anything.

I do believe Chrissy cared about him. Not in a marriage/children/white-picket-fence-future kind of way, the way he seemed to think about her- but it sounded like there was some affection there. She wasn't willing to risk her safety, sanity and future to stay with him (because he seemed to have pretty positive associations with both Hawkins and the people living there, and I don't think he would've been willing to cut them off. Staying with Jason meant that no matter how many miles she ran, there would ALWAYS be an avenue for Chrissy's parents to get to her again) but she didn't want to put him through his girlfriend disappearing on him with no explanation. So... break up. If it was done early enough in the school year, it would theoretically give him enough time to heal and move on. He'd be able to pursue his life, and she'd be able to pursue hers.

Now, whether or not that ended up being how he reacted to the break up in PRACTICE is a different story. Jason is obsessive. If Chrissy dumped him, there would have to be a reason, and no matter what she told him to the contrary, I cannot see him accepting the idea that there wasn't someone else. He needs a bad guy. When something goes wrong, he needs someone to oppose. Prior to Spring Break, Chrissy might not have been in a position to see that side of him (The fact that Vecna tormented her exclusively through her parents make me think that whatever issues she and Jason may or may not have had, he never actively contributed to her trauma) but if she'd lived long enough to end their relationship, I suspect he would have made himself into a big fucking problem.

[weregreatatcrime]

Speaking of April’s father, how is April herself taking all of this?

I haven't thought too much on how the humans react to the changeling drama yet tbh. I know she's pretty cautious of Karai in general, while Casey is totally into this hot badass biker ninja chick. But then again I'm pretty sure Casey Jones is into just about anyone who can kick his ass and mood bcz that is. also my type lol

I think it would be funny if they all found out the changeling stuff in like. One Day and then just come back with a baby and a beat up Karai with no time to explain. That's so far lining up with my plans for writing the reveal, they get a lot of buildup clues but only get the final reveal right about when Karai brings Miwa back. So it's all VERY sudden and they have to explain that this stone monster is Karai and this baby is their sister Miwa and no, apparently Karai and Miwa AREN'T actually the same person but technically they are??

Depending on whether or not they know about April's own heritage though, Karai will reveal it in a heartbeat because she's NOT letting a Kraang infiltrate them. Except no, April's telling the truth, she smells like Kraang but she doesn't know Anything and ugh everything just gets more and more complicated

April and Casey are generally disregarded by Karai at first. She doesn't go out of her way to insult them or anything but she doesn't give humans much credit. She's also unsure about interacting with them. She didn't get much time in her changeling form before because she was you know, surrounded by ninja all the time and caution was very important. What interactions she had with humans while being a changeling was mostly very violent. And she is a lot stronger and tougher than humans. The turtles are tougher than them too and she still leaves Raph with bruises when they wrestle. She is Very Very Very careful with baby Miwa but also, she Feels things from Miwa, so she knows exactly how gentle she needs to be. She's just. Genuinely unsure how to interact with humans without being lethal.

She does end up respecting Casey a ridiculous amount because this idiot has so much sheer fucking balls it's admirable. Boy runs around fighting ninjas and mutants with no hesitation and zero formal training and actually manages to stand his ground. Sheer grit and survival against the odds is a good way to get a changeling's respect. At first Casey might be against her randomly attacking him for "practice" but she IS surprisingly good at helping hone the fact that he is a complete wildcard who is impossible to predict. He also thinks being a rock monster somehow made her hotter but is aware she is so far out of his league it's hysterical

April and Miwa end up kinda at odds? Karai doesn't trust the part Kraang thing and April is insulted by this. Like, come on, you're a changeling, you're literally made to infiltrate humanity and have done so. April didn't even KNOW what she was for most of her life. Karai is just like "yeah? and?? you SHOULDN'T trust me!" like. April has probably tried to reach out and be friendly for the turtles' sakes but Karai is not on board with that because why are you being nice what do you want from me

Once more of Karai's past comes to light April isn't magically "oh everything's okay now" but she puts the pieces together herself and is less offended by Karai's general distrust of everyone. They might bond later over being created by jerks who don't care about them

Also obsessed with the idea of Casey, being a big brother himself, teaching everyone how to have a baby sister when Splinter isn't there to teach them baby stuff. Here's how you hold her, don't worry babies do that, here's how you burp them, babies scratch themselves even without claws don't worry they make baby mittens for this very reason, etc

[joy-of-life88]

Lace & Leather [a Damian Priest story] 23 Don't run

Katja POV

I looked up at Damian and held my breath waiting for his response. But even after several minutes, at least it felt like minutes, he still didn't give me an answer. Instead, he stared at me with his mouth hanging open. I was already beginning to worry. Had he perhaps not heard me? Judging from his face, he did, but I could not be sure.

"Damian? Did you hear me? Do you want-" I repeated only to be interrupted by him.

"I... I heard you. It's just...it's just that I don't know how to respond." he began to stutter and my heart stumbled a few beats before tightening painfully.

"Oh... I guess I know what that means. Just forget it." I replied in a barely controlled voice as I turned to my other side so I didn't have to look at him any longer.

"Bluebell listen... you know I love you.... But this is too fast! We've only been together for two weeks. I... this... We can't do this." he stammered as he grabbed my shoulder to turn me back to face him.

I lay on my back and saw the conflict in his eyes. I knew he didn't want to hurt me, but it was already too late for that. My feelings were already hurt.

"I get it. You don't want to. Let's just pretend I didn't say anything." I mumbled as I wiped the tears from my cheek.

"How can I forget this? It's a serious fucking thing! It's just... it's complicated after everything that has happened." he replied as he tried to hold my gaze, but I avoided his eyes.

"That's the reason? You don't trust me..." I whispered.

"Kat, look, you've had a very upsetting day. And I don't think now is the best time to talk about it and make any decisions. Let's talk about it tomorrow after you've had time to calm down. It's better to let the subject rest now before we say things we can't take back," Damian replied.

Without saying a word, I turned away from him again and pulled the blanket over me as far as I could. Yet again, hot tears ran incessantly down my cheeks as I tried to sniffle as quietly as I could.

"Bluebell?" I heard D say, but decided not to answer.

I was already having a hard time not breaking down completely. When he got no reaction from me, Damian sighed deeply before I felt the bed move. He was probably going to the bathroom to get ready for bed. I heard the door close quietly and the water run. Immediately I tried to breathe deeply, but I couldn't.

When he came back I decided to pretend to sleep, but I was aware that I would probably not find any sleep that night. My thoughts were spinning far too much for that. What was I still doing here anyway? I could already hear the gossip. It was probably better not to accompany D to RAW. I didn't want the pity of the others.

First she gets knocked up and then she gets fired. Now she has nothing. She can't even provide for her daughter. She is a failure. Again and again I heard these words in my head.

Damian POV

All night I tried to figure out how to explain to my Bluebell why I couldn't just say yes. The truth was so complicated and maybe stupid to outsiders. But in my head it made sense.

First of all, after two weeks it was of course too early for such a big step. Even though we had a baby. And even though I didn't like to admit it to myself, I was a little unsure where this was leading us. I love Kat and Hazel, but we hardly knew each other. I also couldn't shake the fact that it still nagged at me to not have known about our daughter for so long. Then there was the fact that Kat was hurt and upset after the thing with Theory and Vince.

And then there was the little tugging feeling that I did mind Kat asking me. I was aware that it was old-fashioned and stupid, but I wanted to be the one who, when the time was right, asked my beloved for her hand in marriage.

At some point during the night, I did fall asleep. I was just exhausted, emotionally and physically. But when I woke up in the morning the first thing I thought of was Bluebell. I had to explain to her why I hesitated to answer her question.

With closed eyes I let my hand slide over the sheet to be able to pull Kat to me. I hoped that she had calmed down a little and would now let me. But my hand found nothing but a cold sheet and an abandoned pillow. Panicking, I opened my eyes and looked around the room. Kat was gone. I jumped out of bed and looked for Hazel, but her crib was also empty.

Immediately I noticed that all her things were gone. Nothing indicated that she had been here at all. I quickly put on a pair of sweatpants in addition to the t-shirt I wore to sleep. I slipped on my shoes and ran out of the room to the elevator. There stood my two as they waited for the elevator. Thank God I wasn't too late.

"Kat!" I shouted loudly. But she ignored me.

"Where are you going?" I wanted to know as I now stood in front of her.

"Home. I have no reason to be here anymore. Call me if you want to visit Hazel." she mumbled as she pressed the button again.

"You're not going home, Kat! You're running away! Again!" I retorted.

"I'm not running away. I just don't see any reason to stay! I've blown it. Again. I'm just making it easier for you D. You made your point." she said without looking at me as the door of the elevator opened and she was about to enter it with stroller and suitcase.

But I put myself between them so that they could not go in. Now she looked at me. Kat's eyes were swollen and red. Her gaze held so much pain that it was hard to bear.

"The only thing you're doing is being stubborn. I love you and I never said I didn't want to marry you, damn it. I just don't think it's the right time. But that's no reason to give up and run away. You know I said I wasn't going to let you get out of my life again and I meant it! Kat, you can't run every time things get tough. I don't deserve this. Hazel doesn't deserve this and you can't keep doing this to yourself!" I growled as I tried to suppress my anger.

"This will always stand between us, Damian. Tell me how we're going to recover from this?" she wanted to know.

"Well, not by running away from it. We talk about it. Like adults. We'll work it out. Come back to our room and we'll talk about it." I replied as I walked towards her to give her a hug.

Kat looked up at me and I saw tears appearing again in her beautiful eyes. I wrapped her in my arms and pressed her face to my chest as I stroked her back.

"I'm sorry, D. I'm just so overwhelmed." she whispered, sniffling.

"I know. But please don't ever forget that I'll always be there. We are a family. I love you guys." I replied as I now took her face in my hands and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I love you too." breathed Bluebell, reaching out to me.

We kissed softly and slowly until we heard a small, impatient whimper.

"I love you too, Hazelnut." said Kat softly to a kicking Hazel.

I then took the suitcase in one hand and Bluebell's hand in the other as I led my girls back in the direction of our room. We went inside and Kat took Hazel out of the stroller to snuggle with our baby. But the moment was cut short when suddenly Kat's phone rang.

"Can you take her?" she asked me and all too gladly I took our little one in my arms.

"It's Hunter!" said Bluebell as she looked at me with wide eyes.

[initiumseries]

Sorry for getting back to you so late about the Iris ask! Thanks for letting me know about her and her storylines! I wish I could say I’m glad for her and for Candice, but it just sounds all so repetitive to me too. I don’t even watch the flash, but from what I’ve read, she’s always in the position of helping Barry and that’s tiring. Does Barry even help her? Is Barry even there? It’s sad because it genuinely doesn’t seem like the case, and that makes a lot of sense with Westallen’s negative chemistry, but like the writers put them together and to me it’s been time to just fucking commit to them. It’s the last season and they have such a passionless marriage (I think they’re married?) and even I, as someone who doesn’t watch, can see that. But oh well, just give them and their shippers reasons to still ship, or something. It seems like such a downer ending for them and it’s sad because it could have at least ended with recycled romanced tropes that at least would make some people happy, haha. Fuck, this show could have been decent at best! But it just seems so dry and cold and that’s par the course unfortunately. Lastly, is there anything about the plot this season that’s interesting?

Thanks for letting me rant here! Please keep up your thoughts on the season, I love reading your thoughts!

Haha yeah they've been married a LONG time, like, since season 4 or something? It's completely dry.

The thing is, the wrote themselves into a corner. The previous showrunner made Westallen the flagship couple, and Barry pining after her while she was with Eddie was a big part of the show. And the thing is, like I said before, Westallen worked as FRIENDS. Like I don't believe this at ALL:

But I definitely believe this:

These are two people who enjoy each other's company, I can believe, in moments like this, that Barry carried a torch for her, because they look like t hey have fun together. The problem lies in their actual character development and the fact that they have ZERO romantic chemistry. And before they got together, Barry and Patty looked like this:

And Iris and Eddie looked like this:

So the show sabotaged both those relationships for an inferior ship in Westallen. And the fandom for Westallen at the time was RABID. Called me and zalrb out of our names for pointing out the complete absence of chemistry between them in favour for this shitty interracial ship. So the show doubled down on the relationship, instead of just letting go. Because if they were willing to take the risk, and seeing this:

And deciding to bail? I wouldn't have blamed them, but it would've caused a huge uproar so I get why they didn't. Instead, Iris was just relegated to being Barry's emotional support wife while everyone else got development. When the new showrunner took over, it was clear he was more interested in building Iris out away from Barry, and by then, the fandom had basically died because both showrunners were aware of the lack of chemistry, and stopped making westallen romantic. But the biggest problem with the Flash now, I think is how repetitive it's become, like you said. I mean it's 9 seasons deep and Barry's biggest foes, every season, have been some kind of speedster. After Harrison Wells, and then Zoom, enough is enough lol. They moved away from it for a bit, then came back to it again in season 8 and 9. The plot is so dogged and heavy, that their attempts at emotional development in these characters feels ham handed and like an after thought. The last episode, Joe has taken Jenna and moved to the country or suburbs or whatever, so Cecile has to go back and forth, and they get caught up in a case (with Sugarbaby of all people, iykyk), and she misses her train home. If the show was better written, and had invested in the emotionality of the characters earlier on, we'd be able to feel something for Cecile's powers messing up and her beating herself up for being a bad mom. But they sort of just...splice these emotional moments in between an unrelenting plot and it's...corny. So when Cecile has a faux breakdown at the end and the Spanish girl with the convenient light powers says just the right thing to get Cecile back on track by the end of the episode, you can't help but be like...well this is trite.

And tbh that's not just a problem with the Flash. It's a problem with all the superhero shows and movies. It's part of the reason all of them got cancelled so quickly. Arrow and the Flash were the only ones with a modicum of character building, and they held on the longest. Marvel movies are frustrating to me because it's just a CG orgy and with every director being different for every movie, what little emotional development the heroes experience goes out the window with the next installment and you feel like this is a completely new, blank, boring character held hostage to the new shitty plot of this movie. It's part of why I just want the superhero genre to die, because none of them are being handled with the level of nuance as, for ex. Black Panther. It was SUCH a departure because we got moments like this:

We're sitting in T'Challa's grief over losing his father, his lack of clarity around how to do the right thing for his people and be the King they need. So by the time we get to here:

We're INVESTED in his return. THAT'S what I wanted out of the Flash.

There are a couple decent actors on the show WASTED because it's so plot heavy and the plot isn't even engaging? It's like watching an overinflated after school special. And honestly, pigeon-holing Westallen into marriage SO early, hurt the show too. Giving is more "will they, won't they" might have drawn out the tragedy a bit longer, but that's just my opinion.

Anyway, thanks for the ask! I enjoy discussing shows like this and why they don't engage audiences like they could.