#pepsi will train driver???

[itstimeforstarwars]

I now understand the working for retail store to working for their vendors pipeline.

[pepsiwriteswords]

Hihihi! Took me more than a week, I'm sorryyy, but I'm here with prompt(s)!

For Disconnected, cause I'm writing and rereading old letters and I now have Anaya brainrot. 👍 And I actually realize I have no clue how to write prompts so… Umm… Hope this is something..?

How would Anaya feel about AIs like Cortana or Ciri? And/or if there are true commercial AIs in her world, how would she treat them?

Also, a more open ended prompt if it's better

Highway feelings for any character

Alright, diving back to letter writing!

<3

Mara!! Time is fake, it's all good. Also it took me like, a week to actually work on answering this (& I still haven't even started my letter back to you >.>) & it sat in my drafts for like, 2 more still incomplete, so I cannot throw stones, here. xP Mostly I'm just amused that I got your letters & this ask on the same day. xD

(For the record, though, I fully intend to work on my letter to you soon - I am just Tired Always & also we're moving so. Might be a minute!)

(idk how to write prompts either. mad respect for the people behind all those prompt accounts bc omg.)

Ooh, the cyborg android daughter!! Also the fact that I have apparently talked enough about any of my characters for anyone other than myself to have character-specific brainrot is just. Thank you. :)

Now, android daughter & AI!

Hmm. I honestly have no idea & that might partially be bc I don't have an iphone to ask Siri a couple questions to see how she responds & I don't use & have never used Cortana/Bixby/the Google assistant on any phone or computer I've ever owned.

No, wait, I guess I have one thing: I think she'd mostly be confused by them? Not necessarily their purpose or anything like that, but by the fact that like. Humans made an AI that could answer questions & like. Use google for them, then just. Stopped there. Like, in a world where Anaya exists & might not be that unique a creation, the existence of AIs that are still programmed to have like, 3 ways of responding to a question would be ... baffling to her, I think. Like, you ask Siri a question, you get 'sorry, I don't understand, please try again', 'here is every article google brings up when you search that' & sometimes she just tells you. Yeah, she has a couple somewhat snarky or sassy answers for like, zero divided by zero or whatever, but when you ask her those questions, it's always the same answer, word for word. Anaya would just be wondering what the point of that is, when clearly humans have figured out the answer to real, actual, can-identify-themselves-in-a-mirror AI coding/programming/whatever the appropriate word is there. Of course, she'd still be polite when she talked to them. Manners, after all. & there'd probably still be some sort of like. Feeling of kinship there.

Kind of a bonus answer: This question has made me realize that Disconnected & Distant Light could actually take place at the same time (& possibly at least one shared location -- there is nothing in my worldbuilding so far that states Anaya & co are on Earth...) & there's an AI character in Distant Light. And I think Anaya & Test would get along fantastically. (I really don't know that much about Test, & honestly, brain has not been on enough to work out how Anaya being an android might change her character. >.> It's just. Vibes. Snarky AI who has been very not-sheltered meets a snarky-but-fairly-naive android who's been both incredibly sheltered & like. Y'know. Subject to Gideon's terrible-awful-rich-mad-scientist energy for ... idk how long yet. Also just. Anaya, chose her name, covering herself in she/her pronoun pins & bi pride stuff & Test_0374, let the human that built it choose its name, knows about human sexualities & Gender Stuff but has no interest in partaking itself, has stuck with it/its pronouns the whole time it's been active ... Just. I forsee some great interactions. xP

And okay! I give! The universe doesn't want me to write right now! Once I actually thought about that second prompt for a minute, my brain was like, 'yes, I can vibe with that' & gave me ideas for like. The Black Witch & Styx. Can I put any of those into actual words, though? Nope! Quinn & Blair were gonna have a conversation about magic & the shitty things that happened to them when they were kids & their separation. And Victor was gonna meet Styx & text Natacha & it was maybe gonna be like, the beginning of that story but.

-_- I miss writing. But I also want to stop holding this hostage in my drafts so. Um.

I'm gonna tuck that highway feelings in a mental back pocket & maybe start trying to work on Styx & TBW, though.

[pha55ed]

Diet Pepsi || F2

type :: smut! tw/cw :: size kink (ollie), corruption (paul), fem!reader (all) contains :: ollie, paul, pepe, zane summary :: certain kinks that the drivers have, - "break all the rules 'til we get caught" diet pepsi - addison rae (my first smut on this acc!)

request :: i desperately need a paul fic based on diet pepsi by addison rae i dont know why i js think its such a perfect combination 🤧 also maybe bed chem by sabrina carpenter is also perfect for him - 🧸 (thank u for the request! i love ovulation songs LOL)

f1 masterlist || f2 masterlist || more here!

Ollie Bearman | 87 size kink

He's aware that he's bigger than most people, but he loves comparing how much smaller you are to him. Hand sizes, height, weight, anything. It makes him so happy to know that he's stronger than you, it makes him feel so masculine and protective.

It's a bit rude, but honestly he doesn't care - he loves treating you like a rag doll. Using one hand to pin both of your hands down above your head so he can use you without you clawing at his back. Easily separating your thighs from each other with his strength even if you try to close them. Or his favorite, simply lifting you up into the air and fucking you while standing up - gripping your waist with two hands and lifting you up and down on him with such ease.

But don't worry, after being so mean to you he's gentle at the end. Cuddling you in his arms, he's always going to be the big spoon. Brushing your hair to the side and cupping your face, telling you that you did amazing even though you were a pillow princess.

Paul Aron | 17 corruption

There's just something about ruining your innocent image. It doesn't matter if you're a virgin or not, but the way that you're perceived by the public being so different from how he sees you. The media sees you as a sweet and quiet person, more reserved than others.

Yet he sees you in ways no one else is allowed to. And he loves that, he loves knowing that he's ruining your image, he's the one making you act so out of character.

Wearing things like a cute sweater, innocent skirts, and bows in your hair make him go crazy. He doesn't want you to take them off, he'd rather fuck you while wearing those so he can see this sweet girl get her brains fucked out.

Pepe Marti | 21 cock warming (lwk edging but it depends)

He's a busy guy with a lot of training to do. So the best way to stay close together is to simply just cock warm, it makes perfect sense. You sit on his lap, his dick in you, while he stim races for hours on ends. His bare chest is so warm and comfortable, you can't help but try to fall asleep.

But you're never able to, because the second he crashes or finishes his race - he relieves his feelings onto you. Thrusting into you by surprise, going at a rapid and fast pace. He'll only stop once he's over his anger or the next race loads in.

And once it does, he stops instantly and locks into his race. So you're left there, edged and overstimulated from the past times you've came all over him. It's confusing in your guts, but it's better to feel full than empty.

Zane Maloney | 05 overstimulation

Being a racer requires being an adrenaline junkie and good health. Perfect for you, since you get the honors of having your brains get fucked out by Zane every time he's free. He loves using all his energy and pent up anger on you. He'll spend hours fucking you without him even cumming once, to make sure that you get the best experience.

But it's never boring, as if could be with him. He loves trying new positions and adding different stimulations for you. Reverse cowgirl, doggy style, 69, every position ever made has been tried by Zane and you. Every single sex toy has also been tried by Zane and you, no matter how odd or weird.

Not only is it a good way for him to get his energy out, but he's also just a curious person. Seeing you react to certain touches, hearing you moan just a bit louder, all of it is worth it to him. It makes him so happy to know that he's making you feel good. He doesn't even care how long he has to wait till he finally cums, because any time with you is good time.

(Zane is deadass so cute like omg, why have I never looked at him??? he has tattoos? listens to podcasts for fun?? loves the US and the diverse culture??? the cutest fucking gummy smile I've ever seen????? I love him now)

f1 masterlist || f2 masterlist || more here!

[spiceynoodls]

Okay so like, Mystery Inc. is a club they started in middle school when Shaggy moved into Coolsville. They originally just read mystery novels and talked about famous mysteries and stuff, but when they got in high school they started solving mysteries. They’re around 16-18 (Shaggy being the youngest and Fred being the oldest).

They have sleepovers all the time, to the point where Daphne has clothes for all of them at her house, and they’ll jump between everyone’s houses all the time. They all call Shaggy’s grandma “Gran” and she helps them with schoolwork.

Daphne is mega rich, and super popular. She knows everyone at school and most people in town because her parents are both very social, and she takes after them. They have most meetings in her bedroom with Little Bites and Pepsi, provided by Shaggy & Fred. Daphne is super kind to everyone and strongly believes that everyone should be treated with the same respect, but she doesn’t tolerate bullying and will stand up for anyone. She likes to do Shaggy’s hair because she has trouble doing her own and Velma’s is too short to do much. She paints Velma’s nails, though.

Velma lives with her dad, and she spends most of her time either with him or Daphne. They’ve been best friends since the third grade when Daphne gave Velma a pudding cup after she tripped and scraped her knee. She’s a mega nerd when it comes to ghosts, even though she’s dead afraid of them. Velma gets annoyed easily, but she’s never mean. She’s very picky, only Daphne can get her to try new foods, and Velma usually loves them. Velma’s the only person who gets to make fun of her friends, and she has gotten in a fist fight because some kid made fun of Fred for saying he liked Taylor Swift.

Shaggy is the most pure innocent child ever, he can do no wrong. He’s good at doing things accidentally. Secret passage? Found. Spooky riddle? Solved. Multiple choice quiz he didn’t study for? Aced. He somehow always has food, and is an expert is all things mysterious. He has a backpack that has the most random stuff in it. Velma will be like “If only I had this random thing.” And Shaggy will pull it out like “This random thing?” Scooby is his new puppy he just loves so much, and he brings Scooby everywhere- except school, for obvious reasons- and Scooby is surprisingly well trained. He moved to Coolsville in the seventh grade right next door to Fred and across the street from Daphne. He and Fred are like brothers, they’re always together and aren’t shy when it comes to showing affection for one another. Even without a job, Shaggy always has spending money. Nobody knows how.

Fred, the aromantic king, chugs the respect woman juice, treats everyone he meets with respect, respects his friends boundaries like no man ever has. He’s a straight-A honor roll student with way too much free time. He’s not really educated when it comes to ghosts and ghouls, but he loves watching Velma and Shaggy launch into monologues about all the spooky things. He’s known Daphne since they were both babies, since their parents are friends. Fred can make a MEAN potato casserole, and cleans for fun. FOR. FUN. As the only Mystery Inc. member with a license, Fred is everyone’s personal driver and often does fast-food runs for the gang. Everyone insists on paying for the food and the gas, even though Fred feels like he doesn’t need them to. He appreciates the gesture, though.

Okay feel free to judge me harshly because I threw this together just now in the past 15 minutes. Have a good day/night!

Scooby Dooby Doo!

[scnnenhungriger]

NAME: June Harlow NICKNAME(S): JJ, JuJu, J, golden boy AGE: twenty-six SPECIES: demigod SEX: cis male NATIONALITY: us american PARENTS: Atticus Harlow and the Greek Goddess Artemis Aelia Harlow and the Greek God Apollo INTERESTS: archery, music, playing the e-guitar, hooking up, hunting, fighting, training PROFESSION: hunter (he hunts magical creatures), bounty hunter in the mundane world (both for cash, obviously) BODY TYPE: well-built, athletic, healthy looking EYES: clear ocean blue eyes, thick dark blond eyelashes HAIR: gold blond thick, wavy hair SKIN: tanned, sun-kissed skin | scars; a small scar on the corner of his lip, a bunch across his back, most prominent ones: a thin, short scar on his chest (right on top of his heart) , a deeper, thicker one on his left shoulder blade | marks: a small mole on his left pinky, an arrow shaped birth mark on the back of his neck FACE: sharp jawline/cheekbones, straight nose (freckles over the bridge), plump lips (cupid bow) POSTURE: always (overly) confident, like he's towering over everyone | nonchalant HEIGHT: 196 cm VOICE: warm and soothing, like a sunbeam | husky and alluring (especially when he flirts or when he wants to have his way/when he's threatening someone) SIGNATURE OUTFIT: denim jeans and a plain white shirt with black vans, he's always wearing gold jewerly (in his ears, on his fingers, around his neck and on his wrist) | leather jacket and boots | it varies, he likes to stand out SIGNIFICANT OTHer: none (maybe Icarus once, his best friend, but he was killed) COMPANIONS: his shadow wolf, Skiá STRENGTHS: heightened senses, excellent hand to hand combat, tracking, pro in using bow and arrow (weapons in general), pissing aaron of (@fluchtanz), charming, ambitious WEAKNESSES: abandonment issues, trust issues, mommy issues, attachment issues, impulsive, impatient, greedy FRUITS: lots (he loves fruits) | grapes, kaki, mango COLORS: gold, earth tones, denim blue, black, forest green, SMOKES: yes DRUGS: no DRINKS: water, whisky, pepsi , beer, ice tea DRIVER'S LICENSE: yes 

tagged by: @fluchtanz

[themarketinsights]

Sports Sponsorship Market Unidentified Segments – The Biggest Opportunity Of 2023

Latest released the research study on Global Sports Sponsorship Market, offers a detailed overview of the factors influencing the global business scope. Sports Sponsorship Market research report shows the latest market insights, current situation analysis with upcoming trends and breakdown of the products and services. The report provides key statistics on the market status, size, share, growth factors of the Sports Sponsorship The study covers emerging player’s data, including: competitive landscape, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are Nike (United States), Pepsi (United States), Adidas (Germany), The Coca-Cola Company (United States), Rolex (United Kingdom), State Farm (United States), Castrol (United Kingdom), Puma (Germany), Samsung (South Korea), Red Bull (Austria),

Free Sample Report + All Related Graphs & Charts @: https://www.advancemarketanalytics.com/sample-report/104499-global-sports-sponsorship-market?utm_source=Organic&utm_medium=Vinay

Sports Sponsorship Market Definition:

Sports sponsorship is an impactful and powerful marketing technique. It consists of the association between a sponsor company and a sponsee. The main goal of this partnership depends on the party of the equation. Sports sponsorship is beneficial for the sports and their players as well as sponsors.

Market Trend:

Need for the Players Comfort

Athletes focus more on the Training and Production of their Sports and Reduce Stress

Market Drivers:

Increasing Audience in Sports Matches

Rapidly growing Sports Events

Market Opportunities:

Growing Sports Industry over the Globe can create Opportunities for the Market Growth

The Global Sports Sponsorship Market segments and Market Data Break Down are illuminated below:

by Type (Individual Sponsorship, Team Sponsorship, Association Sponsorship, Event Sponsorship, Others), Application (Professional Sports, School Sports, International Sports, Others), End-Use Verticals (Individual Players, Sport Teams, Others), Offerings (Provides Access, Guarantees Engagement, Generates Exposure, Others)

Region Included are: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Oceania, South America, Middle East & Africa

Country Level Break-Up: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, South Africa, Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany, United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Turkey, Russia, France, Poland, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, India, Australia and New Zealand etc.

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Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product Objective of Study and Research Scope the Sports Sponsorship market

Chapter 2: Exclusive Summary – the basic information of the Sports Sponsorship Market.

Chapter 3: Displayingthe Market Dynamics- Drivers, Trends and Challenges of the Sports Sponsorship

Chapter 4: Presenting the Sports Sponsorship Market Factor Analysis Porters Five Forces, Supply/Value Chain, PESTEL analysis, Market Entropy, Patent/Trademark Analysis.

Chapter 5: Displaying market size by Type, End User and Region 2015-2020

Chapter 6: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the Sports Sponsorship market which consists of its Competitive Landscape, Peer Group Analysis, BCG Matrix & Company Profile

Chapter 7: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by manufacturers with revenue share and sales by key countries (2021-2026).

Chapter 8 & 9: Displaying the Appendix, Methodology and Data Source

Finally, Sports Sponsorship Market is a valuable source of guidance for individuals and companies in decision framework.

Data Sources & Methodology The primary sources involves the industry experts from the Global Sports Sponsorship Market including the management organizations, processing organizations, analytics service providers of the industry’s value chain. All primary sources were interviewed to gather and authenticate qualitative & quantitative information and determine the future prospects.

In the extensive primary research process undertaken for this study, the primary sources – Postal Surveys, telephone, Online & Face-to-Face Survey were considered to obtain and verify both qualitative and quantitative aspects of this research study. When it comes to secondary sources Company's Annual reports, press Releases, Websites, Investor Presentation, Conference Call transcripts, Webinar, Journals, Regulators, National Customs and Industry Associations were given primary weight-age.

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Contact Us:

Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager) AMA Research & Media LLP Unit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJ New Jersey USA – 08837

[survey--s]

664.

Have you had more hot or cold drinks today? An equal number of both - two coffees, a glass of juice and a Pepsi.

What's a name you like that's similar to yours? Nicole.

Where did you get the last plate/bowl you ate with from? Uh, it's from ASDA I think.

How's your mental health today? Pretty great because it's the weekend.

What bands and artists did you listen to when you were a teenager? Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Panic! At The Disco, Funeral for a Friend, Hawthorne Heights - then I did a total 180 and started listening to stuff like Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, Nerina Pallot and Imogen Heap.

Do your feelings get hurt easily? Not really.

What sort of restaurant did you last eat at? It's a vegetarian/Italian place.

Do you have a friend who's always sending you TikTok videos? Do you actually watch them? Yeah, they're always cat, beagle or horse related lol. I do watch them for the most part, but they're normally ones I've already seen.

Have you ever seen a cougar in the wild? No, but I remember staying at a resort in Canada that had hiking trails and there were loads of warning signs about what to do if you saw a Cougar.

Will you attend a wedding in the next 3 months? No.

Are you good at following instructions? It depends, but generally yes.

What's your backyard or outdoor area like? It's fine - the walls need painting and I want to get it cat-proofed at some point too.

Do you like your boss? (or your last boss if you don't currently have one) I work for myself. I liked my previous boss on a personal level - he was a lovely person but an absolutely awful manager. He had clear favourites and was way too easily influenced by wanting to be popular.

When was the last time you took a selfie? I took one with the cat last week lol.

What did you have for breakfast yesterday? Peanut butter and banana on toast, coffee, fruit juice.

What do you do to entertain yourself on a long flight or journey? I use the in-flight entertainment mostly. If I'm on a train I'd just use the WiFI to mess about. In cars I mostly sleep or talk to the driver.

Where are you right now? On the sofa under a cosy blanket, watching Harry Potter.

Have you ever done a hearing test? No, I don't think so.

Do you hate small talk? It depends. I'm happy to chat to people I meet walking the dogs or something but I hate small talk in shops.

What's the hottest temperature your current town/city has ever had? I have no idea, probably mid-thirties? It got to about 33 or something last summer, anyway.

What programs/applications do you currently have open on the device you're using right now? Just Chrome.

How many steps per day do you do, generally? On work days, around 18k. On weekends, maybe 200 lol.

Have you had any snacks today? Yeah, I had an apple with peanut butter and some crisps.

Did you have any exchange students at your high school or university and did you become friends with them? Yeah, we had loads at school. I was friends with a few of them - they were mostly from Germany or Hong Kong. One of the girls from Hong Kong used to stay and have sleepovers with us quite a lot.

What's the next thing you'll tick off your to-do list? I have nothng that really needs doing today? Oh, I guess giving the dog his medication as there'll be fireworks this evening.

Have you ever had a chia pet? I have no idea what that is.

What's your favourite sandwich filling? Prawn mayonnaise, or brie, grape and cranberry. A good old bacon or sausage sandwich is nice too.

Do you have any nieces or nephews? Not biological ones.

What was the last reason you saw a doctor? To get a sick note from work.

Do you use light mode or dark mode on your phone? Dark. Light mode looks really weird to me now.

[theitalianconnection]

Taylor Swift by Hugh-Behm Steinberg

You’re in love; it’s great, you swipe on your phone and order: the next day a Taylor Swift clone shows up at your house. It’s not awkward, it’s everything you want. She knows all her songs, and she sings them just for you. When you put your Taylor Swift to bed (early, you got a big day tomorrow) you peek over the fence into the Rosenblatt’s yard, and the lights are blazing. Your best friend Tina has three Taylor Swifts swimming in her pool. She has a miniature Taylor Swift she keeps on a perch, a Taylor Swift with wings. You’re so jealous. She’s not even paying attention to them, she’s too busy having sex with her other Taylor Swifts, they’re so fucking loud it’s disgusting. You hate Taylor Swift.

So you wake up your Taylor Swift and put her to work doing your chores. Why are you being so mean to me she asks you, but you won’t look her in the eye. Instead you ask your mom for an advance on your allowance now that all the chores are done, and with the money you get three more Taylor Swifts. When they arrive you make them do nothing but cardio and kickboxing training for weeks on end. And steroids. They look all sweaty and hard and sexy but, unlike some people, you know all about delayed gratification. You make your Taylor Swifts sleep in separate crates.

You call your best friend Tina and say wouldn’t it be great to have a Taylor Swift party? We could bring all our Taylor Swifts, drink Diet Pepsi and smoke pot. Tina says that sounds like fun; let’s do it this weekend, my parents will be gone all weekend.

Saturday, you let one of your pumped up quivering Taylor Swifts ring the doorbell and who answers but Taylor Swift. Come on in, we’re all by the pool. By the pool all of Tina’s Taylor Swifts are naked, getting tan, they all look so sweet and lazy. They’re drinking Diet Pepsi while Tina is lighting an apple bong. So, she says, passing you the apple, what shall we do with all these Taylor Swifts?

You look at her, she’s just glowing, you’ve never wanted to be with anyone else but her in your entire life. And there goes your plan to have all your Taylor Swifts beat the crap out of all her Taylor Swifts. Let’s go to your room, you tell her. There’s something I want to show you.

A little later, the Taylor Swifts smile as they hear the two of you. The one with wings stretches and practices her nightingale routine. She knows that one day the real Taylor Swift will see the videos she uploaded, and the videos will be so beautiful, so perfect, that the real Taylor Swift will send her limo driver to pick her up and take her to the real Taylor Swift’s tower in New York City, where at last she too will be loved.

[britalkstoomuch]

Frito Lay - Topeka, Kansas on STRIKE

Just wanted to post this so more people know... While the workers on STRIKE I am not supporting them, or PEPSI.

The following was an open letter in the news after Frito Lay's response that the vote to go on strike was "shocking."

“Dear Frito-Lay, So you are "shocked" that your employees voted to strike for the first time at this plant. I'm shocked you are so out of touch with your employees you didn't see this coming. This storm has been brewing for years. It began when you started giving lump sums instead of raises, when you lowered wages for new hires coming in, when you supported an iron-fisted management that has created a toxic work environment.

Here are a few examples: • Making us work in dense smoke and fumes during and after a fire because as you stated, "It's just smoke." • When a co-worker collapsed and died, you had us move the body and put in another co-worker to keep the line going. •Forced overtime, toxic work environment among allegations from Frito-Lay workers • During the COVID-19 lockdown, a co-worker's father passed away in another state. You told her since there wasn't a funeral she didn't qualify for bereavement time. She had to take off two of her own days to grieve. • We worked during the entire COVID-19 quarantine while office personnel worked from home. We didn't get hazard pay, bonuses, rewards or recognition.

• We worked through the deep freeze struggling keep warm and everything running, getting forced over and into the weekend again, while an upper manager received a recognition award for "his dedication to come in on his weekend to keep our plant running." • How you fill our warehouse with carts of cardboard and product blocking walkways, exits and work areas. When we point out it's not safe, you shrug your shoulders and say, "It's push week." • How you bring in inexperienced temporary drivers leading to two injuries, one of them major, and numerous accidents, including a hit to a major structure beam, bending it and damaging the forklift. • The fact you offer paternity leave to all employees except those at union plants. • Your negotiator told us that it isn't that Frito-Lay can't afford to give us raises, it's that he is there to protect the stockholder investments. Meanwhile you have held down our wages year after year by refusing to give us cost-of-living raises. One classification got a total of 20 cents in a decade. We no longer offer competitive wages to balance the stress of unpredictable long hours — 12-hour days, seven days a week.

The contract you offered actually covered two years, only one of which gave a 41-cent raise and you bragged that it's the highest raise you've given in years.

You have no problem paying for the drug tests, background checks, orientation and training for 350-plus employees that you hired and lost this past year. You fly in temporary workers, paying for hotel rooms, car rentals, wages, food and more — training for people who have no investment here.

But you have a problem giving decent living wages to keep loyal employees, already trained, already here. You were a fool to not do more to keep your employees from walking out that door because many are never coming back, not with a job market so rich right now.

After numerous informational pickets and contract offers that we voted down, you said: "That's it! Take it or leave it!" So it was time to do a strike vote.

First, you allowed us time off to vote if we signed a sheet. Then at the last minute, you took down those sheets and said no one is allowed time off to vote.

Your threats and bully tactics only fuel our fire. You have pushed us into a corner and we came out swinging.

And now you're "shocked"?” Cherie Renfro

You can support by boycotting these products. Support unions, fair wages, and good working conditions!

[swiftgronmasterpost]

GRYLES!!!

Rebuilding the Gryles Timeline expertly crafted here because I’m always afraid of broken links and people going private and losing data.

Not only is there a ton of great evidence that these guys were dating such as Harry leaving Nick’s place in the morning wearing the same clothes as he’d worn the night before, I’ve also got a friend who works in the UK music industry and she did tell me these guys did date.  Nick is 100% out as gay so it really does all add up.

Gryles very obviously takes place during Haylor, debunking Harry as the 1989 muse, and if it’s not Harry you do have to wonder... who with green eyes and an obsession with Alice and Wonderland was heavily featured in Taylor’s life and then disappeared before 1989 - a breakup album about someone with green eyes who seems to relate to Alice in Wonderland drops?

You get it.

Anyway here’s Gryles:

This is a little game I like to call "let's talk about Nick/Harry dates and how they line up with Harry leaving and entering the country".

06. February 5th 2012 - Harry and Nick go to a Super Bowl party together.

One Direction in Sweden February 12th - 14th. (Came home by train on the 14th.)

07. February 14, 2012 - VALENTINE'S DAY!

08. February 18, 2012 - Stella McCartney Fashion show with Nick's mom.

09. February 21, 2012 - Brit Awards!

10. February 22, 2012 - They attend a party together. (Nick might have been DJing?)

11. February 23, 2012 - Harry spotted leaving Nick Grimshaw's flat in the same outfit he was wearing the night before.

The morning of February 23rd One Direction flies to the US for their tour and doesn't return to the UK until April 24th, 2012.

This trip is supposedly where Haylor 1.0 happens.  Harry supposedly meets Taylor at the KCA’s on March 31 and they fall for one another.  Taylor supposedly goes to NYC to be with Harry (even though she spends the whole time with Dianna) during the first week of April.  Then they supposedly enter into a long distance relationship that is broken up because Harry was seen out with another girl.

All the while the last thing Harry does before he leaves the UK is spend the night with Nick and then the first thing he does is goes back to him.

Yeah, I’m not buying Haylor 1.0 it seems pretty clear to me that Taylor wanted to pin I Knew You Were Trouble on Harry as a big pop anthem to support her transition to pop.  I think it’s even possible they faked Harry being spotted out with that girl or perhaps he and Nick had some kind of agreement.  I’m not saying Gryles was always exclusive (they may have been), but regardless I don’t see Red era Taylor being cool enough to share her boyfriend with a man.

12. April 25, 2012 - Nick and Harry out together the morning after he returned.

Harry also calls into Nick's radio show on the 25th and confirms that the first thing he did upon returning on the 24th was meet up with Nick and Matt Fincham for drinks so one can theorize he probably crashed w/ Nick that night.

Harry goes to LA by himself on May 1st and returns to the UK on the 5th.

May 5th, 2012 - Harry out with Annie Mac and Nick. (Thanks to my anon for clueing me into this little gem of information.)

13. May 7th, 2012 - Harry and Nick out with friends

One Direction goes to Sweden from May 10th to May 16th.

14. May 17, 2012 - The Sun reports Harry driving Nick to work.

Also out shopping together

15. May 19, 2012 - Nick posts a picture to his instragram from the Kanye West/Jay Z show at the O2.

Who cares right? So he went to see a show. But then.

Hey guess what happened the very next day? One Direction flew to Boston on May 20th, 2012 to start their summer tour in the U.S. They're gone from the 20th to July 3rd.

16. July 5, 2012 - Nick and Harry attend the launch of Tinie Tempah's shoes line.

There's some downtime and vacation time here where Harry disappears for a week while Louis is France w/ Eleanor, Niall goes to Spain, Liam and Danielle are on vacation, etc and then One Direction goes back to work July 11th recording and doing photo shoots.

17. July 19, 2012 - Harry goes out with Nick and Aimee and tweets this.

18. August 10, 2012 - Harry attends Nick's 28th birthday party at La Bodega Negra.

Pregaming before the party!

Outside La Bodega Negra

19. August 11, 2012 - Primrose Hill picnic

20. August 20, 2012 - One Direction visit Nick at BBCR1 to announce their headlining of the BBC Radio 1 Teen Choice Awards.

21. August 25, 2012 -

Nick and Harry go to lunch. (Would also like to point out that they are switching places and that Harry is going to the driver's side of Nick's car :333)

and then to Reading Festival

then Nick accompanies Harry to Liam's party at Funky Buddha

and then they leave together and go see Rita Ora at G.A.Y.

22. August 26, 2012 - The morning after, Nick tweets a shot of his hangover breakfast from Harry's Range Rover (Nick owns a Mercedes).

then a lunch date with several people

They spend this entire day together and this is the day the pics of them in the grocery store  are taken where Nick buys Harry a banana, etc

and then Harry drops Nick off for his nighttime show and picks him up again to take him to/stay with him while Nick DJs at Wonderland nightclub.

(Although, lbr. Given what we learn from Nick's final nighttime show about how often Harry hung around the studio, he probably never left.)

Wonderland! (the only time that fucking song has any bearing on Harry and he’s off being a MLM king)

23. August 28, 2012 - Leaving Nick's flat

spotted in the studio w/ Nick at BBCR1

24. August 30, 2012 - Harry films the Breakfast Show advert for Nick's #Team Grimmy commercial and then they go to Mahiki Club that night.

25. August 31, 2012 - Harry goes with Nick to his DJ gig at Paradise

and then to karaoke afterward

The lo and behold One Direction flies to Florida the very next day to film their Pepsi commercial. They're gone until September 11th.

on September 6, 2012 Taylor has Sushi with Ed and Harry in LA supposedly signaling the start of Haylor 2.0 as if Harry is not fully boyfriends with Nick.

26. September 12, 2012 - Nick's final nighttime show. (this was a gif of them being cute and playing around but I was too lazy to bring it over, you get it they’re touchy, flirty, and playful):

Nick and Aimee go on vacation together from the 14th to the 18th.

27. September 18, 2012 - This dude says he spotted Harry Styles waiting in arrivals at the airport while waiting for his sister's flight to arrive insinuating perhaps Harry was traveling with Nick and Aimee:

28. September 20, 2012 - iTunes Festival where One Direction was interviewed by Nick and Annie Mac

29. Harry calls into Nick's first Breakfast Show on September 25, 2012. Then they meet up after to see Perks of Being a Wallflower together. I can't find the tweets from the ladies who saw them there, but Nick and Emma Watson confirm later that Harry was indeed there.

30. September 29, 2012 - Spotted at Waitrose together and then the following morning Nick regales his listeners with the tale of a Spinach pie he made for a ~friend~.

31. October 5th (or 6th?), 2012 - Preparation for Ladz FM

But also on October 5th, Taylor is on Nick’s show:

32. October 6, 2012 - Ladz FM

Supposedly on this show Nick gives Harry hell for Taylor, the Haylor timeline I like puts it this way:

“One Direction and Harry make an appearance on Nick’s show the following day, and they talk about Taylor on-air for 4 minutes straight. Nick teases Harry by saying “Ol’ Swiftyyyy” over and over again when she is brought up in the conversation.” Yup that’s right, Nick was giving his own boyfriend shit about his fake girlfriend 😭😭😭 this is why I fuck w Nick’s energy.

then they went for lunch in notting hill (no Taylor? why not Harry aren’t you so happy to be back with her and in love w her?)

33. October 7, 2012 - BBC Teen Choice Awards

One Direction doing promotion for the new album.

Paris - October 11, 2012

Ireland - October 12, 2012

Manchester - October 16, 2012

Leeds - October 17, 2012

34. October 19, 2012 - Lunch in London

October 31 - One Direction in Spain

Early November One Direction goes to the US for Ellen, X Factor USA, and The Today Show. After The Today Show Harry flies to LA while the rest of One Direction goes back to London. Harry writes a song with the lead singer of Snow Patrol and rumors start flying about him hooking up with Taylor Swift.

Harry arrives back in London on November 16, 2012.

35. November 16, 2012 - Children in Need benefit concert

November 30th One Direction goes back to the U.S. for one off shows and MSG show. Haylor happens.

Harry returns to London on December 8th via Taylor's private jet and plays the Jingle Ball with the rest of One Direction. Harry and Taylor tour the UK together until December 15th when Taylor leaves for France.  Meanwhile Dianna heads out on a mystery 14 hour long flight on December 14th.

36. December 16, 2012 - Roast Dinner!

One Direction returns to the U.S. for the X Factor USA finale. Harry stays in the U.S. and goes on a ski vacation with Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez.

He returns to the UK on December 24th.

37. December 25, 2012 - Late night Christmas leftovers. (Yes they’re spending Christmas together, that’s boyfriend behavior!)

Harry and Nick both leave London on the 29th (Nick for Puerto Rico and Harry for NYC) Harry spends New Years with Taylor and Nick spends New Years with Pixie, Aimee, and the rest of the hipster crew. Harry and Taylor then fly to Gorda British Virgin Islands where they are supposed to vacation until the 7th. Taylor leaves on the 4th and Harry goes to Necker Island alone. Tabloids say Harry and Taylor have broken up.

And that’s it for Haylor!

Harry arrives back in the UK on January 8th

38. January 8, 2013 - Sushi lunch date! (tweet confirming nick was also there.)

and harry with the girl who tweeted it.

39. January 10, 2013 - Tinie Tempah's GQ dinner.

The party was for people on the British GQ best dressed list (Nick was on it. Harry was not.)

Jessie J puts a picture of the table cards from her table on instagram. Harry doesn't have one which, you know. I'll just be here imagining him as Nick's + 1.

One Direction fly to Ghana on the 12th or 13th and return on the 15th. On the 16th Harry calls into Grimmy’s show to talk about how Fincham DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A MEMBER OF ONE DIRECTION. Finchy asks Harry when he’s back and Harry says “in a couple of days”. (Small side note here that I don’t think Finchy and Harry are at the level of friends where they keep track of one another’s schedules so the only way Finchy could have known that Harry was heading back out of town to Japan that very day is if Nick told him.)

One Direction in Japan from January 16th to the 20th.

I'm not going to count this as a time they were together because I have no hard evidence, but the night of January 20th Harry was spotted in a grocery store buying wine and Annie Mac mentions on her show that Nick ditched coming over for dinner that evening to have a friend round to his house instead. We assume it was Harry, but w/o actual proof I don't want to say it concretely.

40. January 21, 2013 - Baking for Radio 1! (Tweet confirming the friend was Harry.)

Nick tells this story the morning of the 22nd about how he forgot he had to bake, so he got up from bed, went to the store for supplies, and forgot eggs. So, he texted his friend who was coming over to bring eggs and then Nick baked while his friend yelled at him to add more butter.

41. January 22, 2013 - Watching Great British Bake Off

Do what you will with this one. Obviously there is not definite way to tell if this is Harry or not, but given the evidence of the amount of time they spend together that has been laid forth thus far, I feel comfortable saying those are indeed Harry's legs.

42. January 31, 2013 - Out for Harry's birthday at La Bodega Negra (the same place they celebrated Nick's birthday.)

Nick also went to Groucho Club afterward with Harry and mentioned on his show this morning that he hadn't slept at all. (He was still wearing the same outfit.)

43. February 1, 2013 - Aimee tweets about being in the car with Nick en route to play Laser Quest. (Can't imagine who they might be playing with.)

Nick tweeted this :)

Never

Getting

Over

This

February 19, 2013 - PreBrit Awards Dinner Hosted by Nick!

THEIR SMILEY LITTLE FACES. :3

Legit SHARING A TAXI ON THE WAY HOME

2/20/13 - At the Brit Awards together!

Leaving an after party!

taking a cab to Nick's house so Nick can change for work

hands hands hands

At Nick's flat

 2/21/13 - On The Breakfast show the morning after the Brits!

Harry on The Breakfast Show!

2/23/2013 - Nick attends One Direction's first show at the O2 in London

THE DROUGHT IS OVER!!!

8/21/2013 - Nick interviews Harry, Zayn, and Liam for TBS

Then Nick and Harry hook up later for dinner.

September 12, 2013

Harry gets off the plane from LAX, gets on the tube and meets Nick at an Elton John concert

Harry and Nick's dad at the concert, posted to Nick's instagram.

September 13, 2013

This person says they saw nick and Harry at Apartment 58 (members only club) together

https://twitter.com/LightbownL/status/378610145271771136

But, Sadie Frost also posted a picture of her and Nick getting ready to go out for LFW with no mention of Harry, so the tweet could be false facts.

But then! September 14, 2013

Sadie posts this picture of Nick sleeping on her sofa

Followed by this picture of Harry posing with her daughter

And then Nick and Harry went to Henry Hollands show at LFW together

Then to a pub with Gemma, Kelly Osborn and others

Then to dinner with James Corden and his wife

September 15, 2013

September 17, 2013 - Fashion Show East in London

November 9, 2013 - Breakfast with Anne and Robin at the Wolseley.

So Anne tweeted this in the morning. You can see the Wolseley logo at the top of the plate.

Then this girl got a pic with Harry at the Wolseley during his breakfast with Anne and Robin.

and she confirmed that Nick was eating with them https://twitter.com/alexandra_imper/status/400204985222193152

Then off to Selfridges to shop!

At Alexa Chung's birthday party!

November 10, 2013 - Ladz instagram and Aimee Phillips birthday party!

LADZ VIDEO!

November 30, 2013

Harry playing with Puppy at Nick's house.

Poppy Delevingne's hen party!

Leaving Groucho club.

December 1, 2013

Primrose Hill lighting ceremony!

Nick with Daisy Lowe and his dad!

Then this girl met Nick

https://twitter.com/rpcheald/status/407224559687852032/photo/1

and saw Harry

https://twitter.com/rpcheald/status/407209332858552320

Class of '92 movie premiere

Nick and his dad on the red carpet

Harry meeting Beckham!

December 4, 2013 - London Fashion Awards

February 17, 2014 - Taking a random taxi ride?????

and leaving Nick's flat

March 29, 2014

Sleepover at Harry's house!

Nick posted this on instagram

http://instagram.com/p/mHpTBdPJyt/

At the time we weren't sure it was Harry's drive but...

https://twitter.com/cuppanarryx/status/481310537817399296/photo/1

Hiya, doggie.

Also Nick's tweet from the morning after just because.

https://twitter.com/grimmers/status/449814322399940609

May 24, 2014 - Radio 1's Big Weekend

May 28, 2014 - Barry's BC London

And link to post about the other tweets x

June 8, 2014

Nick attends One Directions show at Wembley Stadium.

June 12, 2014

Harry at Nick driving around London in a Ferrari.

and another tweet about the Ferarri sighting.

https://twitter.com/ItsJustMikey/status/477133631602065408

Then later that evening Harry went to Nick's for his World Cup barbecue and fans took pics with Harry outside Nick's house.

[pepsisandcandycigs]

PART ONE

it’s been a little over a month, but i’m finally getting the opportunity to post. & this is only part 1 because I have a ton to say.

last month i had the opportunity to fly to tulsa to meet tommy howell at the outsiders house. to say it was a dream come true - though cliche, i know - is a vast understatement.

i was supposed to go with my mother; she was the one who bought me my first copy of the book. she & our cousin, when they were fourteen in the 80’s, fell in love with the novel & film. it was something we’ve always shared. but unfortunately, at the last minute, she couldn’t make it. so i made the trip with my boyfriend, who turned out to be more excited about the experience than he had originally led on.

we flew up to tulsa on august 7th. the minute we touched the tarmac i felt an overwhelming urge to cry. tulsa has always been such a special place to me because of this story, and i never get to visit as often as i would like. first, we had our lyft driver take us to the gas station dally robs in the film. we picked up cigarettes & as a personal tradition, a pepsi. you know why. our driver then told us he remembers when they were filming the movie. no personal anecdotes, but it was still a special little acknowledgment.

we got to the museum about an hour before the gates were to open for the event, so we thankfully got to tour the house as well. but not before we hit the gift shop. and while i was trying to pay for my merchandise, lo and behold, tommy walks in. he started talking about soda’s DX shirt that was on display in the shop. i turned to the volunteer helping me at the register and said, “i’m so sorry. how am i supposed to focus on paying when tommy howell is right behind me?”

we headed inside then. it was my first time being there since the museum had officially opened. and honestly? i was extremely speechless. i hadn’t thought i would be, but it was increasingly hard to keep my cool. every volunteer was so kind, so knowledgeable, so enthusiastic. i was overjoyed to be in a place with people who loved the outsiders just as much as I always have. it was so nice to nerd out. it was relieving, honestly. people at home just don’t quite understand, you know?

i must have taken a million photos at ponyboy’s desk. he has always been the one fictional character i can relate to the most. i read the book for the first time when i was fourteen, and though i’m 22 now and some things have changed, at heart i’m still the little sunset loving greaser.

we spoke with a volunteer named amy about her experience being an extra in the film. she even stopped mid conversation to acknowledge the train rolling by in the distance. something that filled my heart, because i too, had the exact same thought.

it was incredibly surreal to see the house in person, it was much smaller than it seemed in the film. to be expected, of course, but still an interesting note. if i had to pick a favorite room it would probably be the kitchen/hallway to pony & soda’s room. we then had the living room to ourselves for a moment, and took advantage by taking photos on the couch & recreating the famous still of two-bit sitting on the floor with beer and cake for breakfast (though i felt so incredibly awkward in that moment and the photo SHOWS it).

i was still rattled with awe as we exited the house, so as soon as my boots hit the sidewalk i lit a cigarette. a kool, of course. and since we had time before the gates officially opened, i took my boyfriend, dylan, on a walk down the street to crutchfield park. we were melting underneath the summer sun, but i still showed him all the important spots, including my favorite, jasper street. as we began our walk back to the house, i accidentally kicked part of a broken beer bottle into the street. i bent down to pick it up explaining, “i don’t want anyone to get a flat tire.” and then it struck me that my actions paralleled one of my favorite ponyboy scenes in the book; right after he busts the bottle at the end to scare off a few Socs.

“‘what in the world are you doing?’ two-bit’s voice broke into my thoughts. i looked up at him. ‘picking up the glass.’ he stared at me for a second, then grinned. ‘you little sonofagun,’ he said in a relieved voice. i didn’t know what he was talking about, so i just went on picking up the glass from the bottle end and put it in a trash can. i didn’t want anyone to get a flat tire.’”

[trvelyans-archive]

something to look forward to

mari wiseman x gray black. 4k words.

Is there a piece of popcorn in your hair?

“Mari, are you listening?”

You snap to attention, finally glancing away from the mirror in the bathroom and rolling your eyes. “Yes, Dad, I’m listening,” you reply, holding your phone between your shoulder and your ear while you tug your boots on. “You must not be, though, because I’ve reminded you more than once that it’s only a ten-minute walk to the train station and that I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“I should just come and get you,” Nick says. It’s past midnight now – you had to stay after your shift ended, cleaning up a puddle of Pepsi on the floor that you found accidentally after kneeling down to grab some popcorn from under the seats – and no matter what you say, he insists that you’re going to run into trouble on the way home (even though you have the grumpiest face in the Chicago area – probably all of Illinois – and there’s probably very few people who would approach you because of it without even starting to consider the whole mind-blind thing). “Did you at least bring a hat?”

You pause. “Yes?”

“Mari –“

“Nick, it’s minus ten.” You zip up your jacket and straighten, reaching to grab your phone to make sure it doesn’t topple to the ground while you swing your bag over your shoulder. “That’s nothing.”

“Alright,” he concedes, sensing that you’re not going to budge. “But… call me if you see anyone acting - I don’t know, suspicious, okay?”

“Don’t you worry enough at work?” you ask, reaching for the bathroom door and pulling it open. “Don’t you get tired of it?”

“Button.” You can hear a smile in his voice. “I never get tired of you.”

You nod at the co-worker by the ticket booth as you wander through the lobby, your boots squeaking loudly against the floor. You don’t know how they didn’t dry in the eight hours they spent sitting in your locker – they’re still as wet as they were when you got here earlier today. Well, yesterday, technically.

Jesus, you’re tired. He should be more worried about you falling asleep on the train than he should be about you getting mugged.

Before you push open the front doors of the theatre, you pause and heave a sigh, remembering that he’s still waiting on the other end of the line. “I’ll call you if I see anyone acting suspicious,” you promise, hoping that you sound sincere. And you are sincere – even you don’t want to die by a mugging-gone-wrong. “And once I get on the train.”

“And once you get off the train.”

That gets a laugh out of you – not an entirely frustrated one, either, which is a feat to behold, at this hour and after this much badgering. While he can just tune into your thoughts whenever he wants to hear whether or not they’re ‘ah, that customer sucked’ or ‘ah, I’m being actively murdered’, sometimes – especially now that you’re an adult with a part-time job – he likes to let you pretend that you have some semblance of privacy (even though you really don’t). “Alright, before and after I get on the train,” you repeat. “Anything else?”

“Nope. Be safe, okay, Button?”

“Will do. Bye.”

“Love you,” Nick replies. “Bye.”

The call clicks off before you have a chance to say ‘love you’ back, and after spending thirty seconds deliberating whether or not you want to call him again to do so, you decide against it and brace yourself before pushing out into the night.

Thankfully, it’s snowing outside, and you take a minute to tilt your head back and let the snow hit your face. Most people might complain, but you like the snow. It makes everything in the city look pretty… dreamlike, almost. Still, after breaking yourself out of your reverie, you sigh and stuff your phone in your pocket, regrettably beginning to feel the tips of your nose and ears getting cold already. It’s minus ten, you remind yourself, gritting your teeth and dragging your boot-heavy feet down the sidewalk. And you’ve survived worse. Worse weather, and…

Well, worse.

You sigh a second time like a melodramatic dog that hasn’t yet been fed by its owner and glance up just in time for you to notice a man wandering down the sidewalk towards you. Late forties or so, with a leather jacket and slicked back hair – is he a mobster? He walks like a mobster, at least ones that you’ve seen in movies, and – it’s Chicago. He could very well be a mobster.

Should you call Nick?

You opt not to this time, but tighten your fingers around your phone anyway and hold your breath as he gets closer and closer, close enough that you’d probably be able to pick him out of a line-up if he tries anything, and then, in the span of about two seconds, he walks directly past you without even looking over, leaving you shaking in your boots for more than one reason and sufficiently not-mugged. (No word on whether or not you’re sufficiently not-frostbitten, though.) You’re almost disappointed – do you not look put-together enough to at least try mugging? – and then you remember that going unnoticed by as many people as possible is something you usually like, so you let your phone fall to the bottom of your pocket and keep walking. A little faster, this time, though - just to be safe.

Which is good, because it hasn’t even been a full minute when you hear footsteps behind you – quick, careful footsteps, too close for you to run away from.

Oh, well. It was good while it lasted.

“Mari?”

You frown and turn around – sure enough, Grayson Black is standing behind you, a package of toilet paper stuffed under one arm and a paper grocery bag hanging from his opposite hand, his golden-brown hair tucked beneath what looks like a hand-knit toque.

Great. Just your luck. He looks like he stepped out of a Whole Foods advertisement and you’re wearing a coat that’s about three winters old and smell like stale popcorn that someone put way too much butter on.

“Hey, Gray.” You smile at him, trying to pretend that you hadn’t convinced yourself you were within an inch of imminent death. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh – just walking home from the store.” He frowns. “What are you doing here?”

“Work,” you say, pointing to the theatre down the block. Grayson follows your finger and then sighs.

“Right.” He turns back to you. “Sorry, Nick told me you were working, I was just… surprised to see you out so late.”

“It’s okay,” you reply. It’s not like you have any friends to go clubbing with, so you can understand his confusion. “Uh – okay, well… See you later?”

“Are you going to the station?” he asks. Why is he still frowning?

You nod. “Yeah.”

“I’ll walk you,” Gray offers.

“I – what?” You shake your head. “No, it’s fine.”

“And it’s late.” He takes a step closer, but not close enough to break the unspoken barrier between you. “Besides… Nick will kill me if he finds out we ran into each other and I didn’t walk you.”

Of course he’s only offering for Nick’s sake. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I won’t tell him.”

“Mari.” God, the way he says your name is a prime example of why every girl in Illinois has a poster of him of their bedroom wall. “Can you let me walk you to the train station?”

You stare at him for a second, sticking your tongue against the inside of your cheek to stop yourself from smiling too wide. “Okay, yeah, sure. When you ask so nicely.”

He laughs and moves closer until you walk side-by-side with the usual distance between you, though it feels much bigger tonight – actually, considering his arm is sticking out half a foot farther than it does most of the time because of the package of toilet paper stuck under it, the gap probably is bigger than usual. You glance around at the street while you walk, listening to the crunch of snow under your boots and the gentle hum of passing cars. God, you’d kill to be in a nice, warm car right now – you should’ve taken a cab.

Actually, no, you’re glad you didn’t. You’re probably safer (and happier) on the street with Gray than you are with a potential Ment cab driver.

“So.” You turn to Gray, and he turns to look at you before you even say anything. “Another late night run for Arizona?”

He laughs again, and you try not to let yourself feel too pleased with yourself about it, because he could just be doing it to be polite, right? “No, not this time,” he answers. “Just some… ah… dish soap. I’ve been out for a week, and…” He grimaces, and you get the sense he’d reach up to scratch the back of his head if he had a free hand. “I finally ran out of plastic cutlery tonight after dinner.”

“Mmm… Well, that’s a good reason for a midnight run to the grocery store if I’ve ever heard one.”

“Of course, a couple cans of Arizona just so happened to fall into my basket, and – it would be rude of me to say no...”

“Yeah, yeah, totally.” You smile. “That’d be downright heretical, and Fortitude has a reputation to keep.”

Gray laughs, louder this time, and you feel your smile widen. “Anyway, enough about me,” he says. “How was work?”

“Ah… it was okay.” You shrug absently, feeling his eyes on you while you do (even though he should be looking at the ground so he doesn’t slip on a patch of ice and fall on his ass). “Had to stay late and clean up, which was gross, but… According to Nick, I have some cookies waiting for me when I get home, so that’s nice.”

“Something to look forward to,” Gray agrees, nodding.

As if anything compares to this. 

“Yeah,” you say. “Something to look forward to for sure.”

“Are you getting excited for the Academy?”

You cringe. As thrilled as you were to get accepted into Aeon, the prospect of finally starting there is nowhere near as thrilling. Though it’ll be nice to have classmates that are strictly non-Ments – at least when you’re not working with Sally’s class – the idea of being back in any kind of school isn’t… well, that isn’t something to look forward to. Still… “Yeah, kinda,” you answer. “Not ready to go back to school, I think, but I also don’t want to be scraping gum out from underneath movie theatre seats for the rest of my life.”

He makes a face. “That sounds… gross.”

“Yeah,” you reply. “It is. But I’ve snuck into a couple movies so far and watched them for free, so… it’s an okay trade-off, I think.”

“Sounds like it,” Gray muses. He turns to you. “You’re really not excited to go to Aeon?”

“I said kinda!” you protest.

He smiles. “You shouldn’t be nervous, Mari.”

You’re the one to make a face this time. “Who said I was nervous?”

“No one had to.” He angles his head in your direction like he’s sharing a secret. “I can tell.”

“And Nick told you.”

“Nick… may have mentioned it.”

“I’m not nervous.” You’re lying, of course, because you’re nervous about everything. Right now, only half of your brain is tuned into the conversation because the other half is nervous that you’re going to slip on the ice and break your neck, which would both be not hot and so embarrassing that you’d have to write off your friendship with Gray entirely for the rest of your life and become a full-time hermit whenever he comes over for dinner. “I just… I don’t know…” You kick a block of ice and watch it skitter through the fresh snow in front of you. “I don’t want to disappoint Nick.”

“You could never disappoint him,” Gray responds. “You’re brilliant.”

“Psh. Not even Nick could get away with saying that.”

“He didn’t.” Gray adjusts his grip on the package of toilet paper. “I mean, I’m sure he thinks it. I meant that… I meant that I think you’re brilliant.”

Sure, that could be a really cute compliment Gray gave you, but you’re probably just being too optimistic, right? Like – sure, he’s nice to you and brought flowers to your graduation ceremony and sure, he gave you that cute teddy bear for Christmas and sure, he once brought over a 6-pack of Dr. Pepper for dinner because you were having a bad day and he knows it’s your favourite, but… “Gray,” you sigh. “British people say everything is brilliant.”

He laughs. You can’t tell if his cheeks are pink because of how cold it is out or – well, for other reasons that are so impossible that you don’t let yourself continue that train of thought. “That’s true,” he says. “But I mean it. From the bottom of my heart.”

You don’t know what to say to that, but you don’t say anything. Thankfully, you don’t think Gray seems to mind, because he doesn’t say anything else, either.

There’s a crosswalk coming up, and even though no cars are coming and you could easily get away with some perfectly safe jaywalking, you stop and press the button (ha) anyway and wait for the light to turn, figuring you don’t want to risk it if Gray wants to report anything back to Nick. (Because Nick could very well assume that you jaywalking is something to be grievously concerned about.) Although, on second thought, you’re not sure Gray’s paying very much attention right now – he’s glancing across the street with his eyebrows furrowed, a distant look in his eyes. He must be thinking hard about something, so you elect not to interrupt him.

Now that there’s a lull in conversation, you find your eyelids beginning to flutter. You stayed up late last night after falling down a Wikipedia rabbit hole – that’s why you shouldn’t watch documentaries at three in the morning, you think to yourself - and Nick had to wake you up at noon to make sure that you weren’t late for your shift, so… Yeah, falling asleep on the train sounds like a pretty likely scenario.

Gray shifts his weight back and forth from one foot to the other and once again adjusts his grip on the toilet paper package – as he does, though, it topples out of his grasp and lands perfectly in between your feet with a soft, snowy thump. You bend down to grab it the same time Gray does, of course, because you’re the two most awkward people in the world, and there’s a three-second pause before you finally reach for the toilet paper and scoop it into your arms because it would be too awkward now not to.

“Don’t worry, I can take it,” you say before he can protest. “You have your… uh…” You gesture to his bag. “Hand full, anyway.”

He tries to protest anyway. “Mari, let me –“

“No, it’s okay.” You smile pleasantly at him. “You’re walking me, so I can… you know… take one for the team.”

He deliberates for a second before nodding – you think he might only do that because the crosswalk light has started beeping at you. “Okay,” he says. “Thanks.”

“Of course.”

The snow is starting to lighten up, now – you can see the train station in the distance. It’s still a few blocks away, which means you more than enough time to make a sufficient fool of yourself. (Or perhaps, continuing the theme of the rest of the night, a not-fool of yourself?) “You know, uh, if you think I’m so brilliant…” You’d put air quotes around it if your fingers weren’t too cold. “Maybe we should have a Scrabble rematch soon?”

You, Nick, and Gray ended up playing a round last time Gray came over for dinner, but Nick stopped halfway through because he was getting bored and decided to go try mixing a new drink instead. Usually you would’ve complained – you like to wipe the literal board with him whenever you can – but it was hard to complain when you were sitting across the coffee table from Gray and splitting a plate of cookies like a couple of little kids. (It’s hard not to feel like a kid around Gray – shy and long-limbed and awkward. Like Bambi, but less cute because you’re a human and also, just generally, not cute.) “I still can’t believe you beat me...”

“Is now a bad time to remind you that I was my school’s valedictorian?”

“Yes, it’s a terrible time,” you reply, watching Gray grin out of the corner of your eye. “English was one of my best classes! I’m supposed to be good at Scrabble.”

“Well… maybe you’ll be better during our rematch.”

Okay. Keep it cool, Mari.

It only sort of sounds like you’re arranging a date with the love of your life and he’s not even taking a couple seconds to be weird about it.

“Oh, I will be better,” you say. “That’s a promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that. Do you work tomorrow?” He sniffles – he must be cold. This is what he gets for wasting his night walking you to the station instead of going back to his nice, warm apartment. “Maybe I could pick you up after your shift and train with you back to your house.”

“Oh, uh –“ You clear your throat. “Yeah, I work tomorrow! I think I get off at six?”

“Okay, great. Just let me know if – erm, that changes or… something.”

“Yeah, I will,” you reply, a little taken aback.

What in the world is happening?

Did you actually get stabbed by that maybe-mobster, and awkwardly making plans to play Scrabble with Grayson Black is your purgatory?

“Uh… I just – I hope I remember to tell Nick,” you comment. “Not that he’s ever bad when you show up on our doorstep unannounced and ask for dinner…”

“I – I don’t ask,” Gray stammers, “he offers before I can even get a word in, and – and I say yes because it would be rude not to!”

“Mmm… sure.” You shake your head fondly. “You’d probably eat Nick’s dinners every night if you could.”

“Yes, but for the company,” he says, smiling. “Not for the dinner.”

“Not entirely for the dinner.”

He laughs. “Alright, you got me. Not entirely for the dinner. But…” Clearing his throat, he adds, “Mostly for the company.”

You can’t exactly disagree. Nick could serve you a plate with nothing more than an uncooked chicken breast on it and you wouldn’t even care as long as Gray was there to get salmonella with you.

You’re nearly at your stop, you realize suddenly. You’re both disappointed and relieved – disappointed because you always hate to leave Gray, but relieved because things have gone too well so far and you’re starting to get suspicious. It’s just like you always say (to yourself) – you’re not lucky. You’re incredibly unlucky. If something is going well, it means that something incredibly unwell is going to happen as soon as possible.

You pause before you reach the stairs to the train platform and turn to Gray to say goodbye.

“Well… here’s my, uh… stop.”

Gray looks at you. “Here it is,” he repeats.

“Thanks for walking me,” you say. He tilts his head, almost in question, but you continue – “You really didn’t have to.”

“Mari.”

Your breath catches in your throat, and you watch carefully as Gray raises a hand like he’s in a trance, reaching out to you like –

Like what?

Is he going to kiss you?

He blinks and the trance breaks, shattering into a thousand little pieces like a snowy sidewalk under a winter boot. “Oh, sorry,” he says softly, and you don’t miss the way he backs up a half-step. Did he really forget about the… well, everything? He never forgets. Gray drops his hand before raising it to his head again, moving it in little circles near his temple. “You have a –“

Following his movements, you reach up, and –

Of fucking course. There was popcorn in your hair the whole time! You make a note to guilt Nick about distracting you when you get home.

“Damn it.” You pull it out of your hair – how did it get so tangled in there? – and toss it onto the ground, hoping that he’s not going to call you out for littering. (Would that even count?) “Thanks.”

“Uh… you’re welcome.” Gray smiles at you again, and though it’s awkward and a little forced, it’s still a Grayson smile. “I should… let you catch your train,” he continues, running his free hand over his head before scratching the back of his neck.

“Yeah, I should let you get back to – uh – doing dishes?”

He nods, laughing. “Yeah, yeah, that sounds right.” With one last lingering look, he smiles a little wider. “Goodnight, Mari. Get home safe.”

You smile back at him, suddenly bashful. “Yeah, you too.”

Should you watch him leave? No, that’s weird, right? You stand under the streetlight and consider it for several seconds before realizing that you’ve watched him for too long already, and then you shake your head, turning to the stairs and bracing yourself to trudge through the snow that’s gathered on top of them (as if you need anything else to be unnecessarily difficult today). The platform is relatively empty when you reach it, save for a couple of teenage girls and a man in a business suit looking entirely out of place at this time of night and at this weather, and you take a seat on a bench, settling in while you wait for the train to come.

You’re much more aware of how cold it is out now that Gray’s gone – even the sweat on your hands feels like it’s going to freeze – so to distract yourself, you look around the platform for something to entertain you. You manage squint at a weird-looking piece of graffiti a few feet away from you when you hear footsteps approaching.

Sure enough, when you turn around –

“Mari,” Gray says. “I’m sorry, I forgot the –“

He points to your lap, where you’ve diligently placed his package of toilet paper.

“Oh my God, I’m sorry,” you say, picking it up and holding it out to him from one end so he can grab onto the other. “I totally forgot.”

“No, that’s alright, I forgot too,” Gray assures you, because of course he does – when is he ever anything but nice and diplomatic? Once he’s tucked the toilet paper under his arm again, he chuckles to himself and continues, “Alright. Erm… goodnight again, Mari.”

“Goodnight,” you reply.

With the toilet paper returned to him, he gives you a short, stilted wave before he turns and heads for the stairs again. You force yourself to look the other direction, making a mental note not to stare at him whenever he walks away from you.

You make a couple other mental notes on the train home, too, though it’s mostly in an effort to keep yourself awake. You definitely need to get more than four hours of sleep tonight if you have a long shift again tomorrow, especially since Gray’s coming over; you probably shouldn’t wear new jeans to work in case you run (or, more accurately, sit) into any more puddles, and you might as well bring a hat with you next time you leave the house, because there’s a spare sitting on the shoe rack near the door, anyway.

You definitely make a note to double-check your hair for pieces of someone else’s half-chewed popcorn before leaving the theatre from now on, too - then, when you think about the possibility of running into Gray outside work after all of your shifts from now on, you decide that you should probably triple-check, instead.

[pinkiepiebones]

The Ghost ARG story I wrote. My Notes app says it’s from 19 December 2018!! Run on sentences and unreality cw!!

ARG

Ghost puts out a concert DVD that when placed in a CD drive on an old computer opens an unfinished game that you brute force into giving you a phone number that you call and a man recites a rhyme and you have to research the author and find a message within the wiki page and it leads you to a train station and there is a locker there with the grucifix carved into it....

[SECTION MISSING] You meet Hideo Kojima at a diner in Deming New Mexico and he gives you a manila envelope and you say “wait was this a Death Stranding ARG” and he says “no Ghost asked me to be part of this and I was like hell yeah I love weird shit”

Inside the envelope is a note from Papa Nihil asking you to rent the 1983 Dutch horror film The Lift so you find a rental store and rent the movie and at the 47 minute mark there’s a very small editted in ghoul in the bottom left corner and when you zoom and enhance it’s holding up a note that says BEHIND YOU

and then Copia is there holding a pie

And you eat the pie and at the bottom of the pie tin are coordinates

the coordinates lead you to a high school and you find the locker of a kid with the last name forge and you have to break into that locker okay you canNOT just ask Ghost will know. So you get into the forge locker and inside the chemistry textbook is tucked a black piece of paper that reads “where did it all begin?”

So you book a flight to Linkoping

And a limo driver is there holding a sign that doesnt have your name on it, but a series of numbers. You go to the nearest vending machine and punch the numbers in. A diet cherry vanilla pepsi max rolls out and inside that bottle is a download voucher for a new Ghost single

Downloading the single begins phase 2.

Well by now roughly three years have passed and the album has been out a while and your family thinks you are most certainly kidnapped or dead but you’ve come this far the game is afoot or whatever

After downloading the single you get an email from iTunes which is somehow still around. It’s an eBook ad, but the picture for the fourth book on their list of Hottest Street Chef Biographical Recipe Books is glitched. Clearly, you must buy that book.

On page 38 there is no recipe, just a note, addressed specifically to you, asking you to attend tea in the cemetary across the street from the bookstore.

You go to the cemetary and find no tea party, but tucked inside one of the bouquets on one of the tombstones is a tea cup with the word BIBLE on the bottom

So you relisten to that cover and when you play is backwards Tobias says “wow I never expected anyone to get this far. Okay so your next clue will be at your house by the time you hear this.”

You arrive home and tear shit up looking for that dang clue. After a week of pretty much wrecking your shit you realise the clue was written in the bottom of your sock drawer! Of course! It was so simple, you skipped right over that possibility!

So now you’re flying to Italy. Your family is very sure you are dead or involved with the drugs.

At the mall in Milan is an old record store. Your clue advised you to check out mid 2000s stoner band Dandy Warhols.

You pick up the record for their second album, because almost everyone’s second outing is better than the first, and taped to it is a note. “How much further are you willing to go?” On the other side is a key and an address.

You take a taxi to this address, a ritzy crematorium. You had no idea such a thing existed.

Your key unlocks the main crematorium chamber and you pull out the drawer. Sticking out of a pile of totally not human remain ashes is another download voucher. Woo!!

This download voucher won’t work.

You’ve typed the code in seventeen times, recieving an error message each time. You wipe the slip off again, sure you removed all of the definetely not human remain ashes from it, when it hits you. It’s a phone number! You call and it’s a movie information line, but the automated voice only gives you one movie title and one time.

You find the only theatre in Milan and buy a ticket for the movie. It’s a decent popcorn flick, nothing terribly creative or memorable, but at the 56 minute mark you start catch the old “cigarette burns” in the corners, the things that told projectionists to get ready to change film reels way back when.

At the 59 movie mark the movie stops and you are shown a still image of the hallway from the Rats video. At the 63 minute mark you hear footsteps. At the 70 minute mark Sister Imperator walks into the frame and says “have you been paying attention to your watch?” The movie immediately resumes. Good thing you’re a master of this shit by now and already had the time codes written down. The numbers correspond to a library book.

You brush up on your film history and on the back page is a grucifix drawing and the word “cheese.” Your next destination is clearly Switzerland.

Or Wisconsin.

Wait, no, this book had a chapter about the “holes” in the history of nitrate film. Switzerland it is.

It should be noted that at this point about four years has passed, your family considers you dead, how do you have money to do all of this, and oh, a rival band’s evil manager has been TAILING YOU THIS WHOLE TIME AND WILL TAKE YOUR LIFE

Well not your life per se as this evil rival band manager man just wants to get the album first and use it to ruin Ghost somehow

So now you’re in Switzerland. As soon as you arrive you get a call telling you how great a cuckoo clock would be. You head to the nearest clock shop and when the little wooden bird that lives inside one decides to do it’s thing you grab the paper stuck to it’s beak

Tickets to the opera well okay

You arrive at your box seat and realise there is another reserved seat. As act one starts a ghoul arrives and sits beside you. The ghoul is wearing a top hat. When act one finishes the ghoul leaves and you’re like well shit I figured the clue was in that dang hat. But then you you take off the top hat YOU had been wearing all evening and the clue was in YOUR hat the whole time!

You order a pizza from Switerland’s only Domino’s store and tip the delivery guy the Swiss equivilent of $6.66. He nods knowingly and adds a free bottle of diet vanilla cherry pepsi max to your order. Inside the bottle is another note

“Honestly, I’m running out of ideas. None of us here ever anticipated anyone would understand my game. Meet me at the post office on Tuesday. -TF”

Tusday arrives. You also arrive at the post office. Tobias himself is standing by the greeting card display, smiling at a card depicting kittens climbing out of a birthday present. You approach cautiously. “Do you have ten dollars” he asks without looking away from the good good cat card. You immediately hand over the cash because of course. He reaches into his pin-covered messenger bag and hands you a record. You open the gatefold and start reading the liner notes, looking for clues. “No, no, game is over” Tobias says gently. “I’ll sign it for you, but, yeah... I mean, it’s been four years. Have you had breakfast? I’ll get you breakfast, my treat.”

He manages to find a French bakery here in Switzerland and you order one of every crepe dish on the menu since it’s on his dime. “This has been quite a journey for you, hasn’t it” he asks as you eat your thin frenchy pancakes.

“I bet your family misses you.”

You look up.

“They’re very worried about you.”

You realise he hasn’t ordered anything.

There are no patrons at the restaurant other than him and you.

Tobias reaches across the table and holds your syrup sticky hand (youre a messy eater).

“I need you to wake up, darling.”

You swallow your last bit of crepe and stare at him. His face is a mix of concern, sincerity, and fear.

And then he starts laughing. “I’m fucking with you!! Oh man, you were buying that? ‘Oh no, it was a coma the whole time’?! That’s the worst kind of ending!”

He wipes a tear from his eye. “Oh, the look on your face. So worth it, so worth it.”

He settles down. “But, uh, yeah. Good job winning the game.” He reaches over and takes a blueberry off your plate and pops it into his mouth. “I’ll have to make the next one trickier, eh?”

~FIN~

[audisamu]

𝘎𝘖𝘋𝘡𝘐𝘓𝘓𝘈 𝘉𝘙𝘐𝘕𝘎𝘚 𝘜𝘚 𝘛𝘖𝘎𝘌𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘙

character; iwaizumi hajime x reader

genre; fluff

wc; 1.7k

synopsis; when your local movie theatre announced that they would be running a one night only Godzilla movie marathon, you already knew you would be going with your boyfriend, Iwaizumi. What you didn’t account for was his date crashing friend who claimed he could ‘steal your man’. 

You went into your relationship with the knowledge of the odd interest your boyfriend had. When you had met him, you thought the only things you’d have to fight for his attention would be volleyball and Oikawa. You were sadly mistaken though, there was one more boss to fight before you could finally claim the status of “Iwa-chan’s favourite.” Godzilla was always present within your life. It was like you could never escape it. It had to be the worst during Iwaizumi’s birthday and Christmas. Anyone who knew him would get him something Godzilla related, gag gift or not. Even you gave in to the trend and bought him his signature Godzilla phone case.

All in all, he was a man who was obsessed with the scaly monster. You could never understand the hype but hey, if it made him happy, what were you to say? You’d only start having complaints if he started cuddling his Godzilla body pillow instead of you. 

When you saw the advertisement pop up on your Twitter line, you counted down the minutes until Iwaizumi started begging you frantically to go with him. In the end, it took him under ten minutes to be on his knees and ‘convincing’ you to go, aka bringing up the fact you’d get movie popcorn if you went. 

To be frank, you didn’t have any reservations about going in the first place. You knew how much your boyfriend would love for you to go and seeing him happy was all the reason you needed. When you could finally get a breath in between his flustered rambling, you ruffled his hair and agreed to go. 

On the day of the movie, you both woke up early. It was a Saturday morning, so neither of you had work and could sleep it fairly late. The movies would start just after five and would stretch until after midnight, so you knew it was better to dress with comfort in mind. 

Everything seemed fine when you left. You were sitting in the passenger seat and he was driving. It was usually a ten-minute drive to the theatre, so you scrolled through your phone for most of it. You started getting suspicions when you noticed that you were not going in direction of the theatre. You cast a side glance at Iwaizumi, who held no reaction at all and just kept his eyes on the road. You shrugged and figured he had made some sort of the wrong turn or thought he could take a shortcut that didn’t exist.

Unfortunately, by the time you pieced together what was happening, it was too late. It seemed the thought that this would be a date slipped your boyfriend’s mind and he thought it smart to invite his oblivious, albeit sweet, friend Oikawa. 

“Iwa-chan! I was worried you two had forgotten about me,” he walked to the car with a slight skip in his step. It reminded you of a little kid trying to waddle to their friends when they couldn’t yet stand on their own.

He slipped into the backseat of the car and leaned forward between Iwaizumi and yourself. He attempted to wrap his arms around both of your shoulders, but Iwaizumi gave him a stern look and he quickly went to sit down properly.

“Ah, finally the gang is back together. You shouldn’t keep your girlfriend from me, Iwa-chan!" You loved Oikawa’s company most days. He kept Iwaizumi on his toes and allowed you to see a different side of him. While Iwaizumi grounded Oikawa, the latter seemed to have the opposite effect. Oikawa could get Iwaizumi to loosen up more and relax. Sure, you could do so as well, but it wasn’t the same bond the two best friends had. 

You loved Oikawa’s company when you weren’t trying to have a romantic date night with Iwaizumi. You weren’t mad or anything, you were just kinda bummed that you wouldn’t be able to sneak a kiss from your boyfriend during the movie without Oikawa pointing it out or making some sort of ‘deal’ out of it. 

It took around fifteen minutes to get to the movie theatre and when you got there, Iwaizumi rushed out of the driver’s seat. You laughed under your breath and followed behind him towards the entrance. Both of you failed to notice the whining Oikawa behind you, telling you to wait up. Iwaizumi was too distracted with the thought of what movies they would play and in what order, while you were just taking up the rare sight of your boyfriend fanboying.

“Rude much. You were the one who invited me out, Iwa-chan! You should at least wait for me to get out of the car.” You thought of apologizing to Oikawa, but before you did, you noticed the mockingly playful smirk on his face. You sighed and turned back around to the building. Even after a year of dating, you still weren’t exactly accustomed to the humour the pair of best friends shared. On multiple occasions, before you got to know Iwaizumi and in turn Oikawa, you had genuinely misjudged their banter for fighting. It was only after you went to a meetup with some of their old team that you really ‘understood’ them. 

The warmth that hit you when you entered the building was a breath of fresh air, and you unzipped your jacket and put on your mask as soon as you could. You looked behind you to see the pair still ‘bickering’ between themselves, Oikawa claiming that he looked better in a mask that Iwaizumi did. You smiled at them and waited for them to catch up with you so you could get in line for tickets and popcorn. While you were still a bit irked at Iwaizumi for leading you to think this would be some romantic night, you were quick to forgiveness after seeing the look of pure joy painted on his face. 

“Three tickets for the Godzilla marathon, three medium popcorns, three medium drinks-” he paused, looking back to you and Oikawa to see what you wanted to drink. You asked for water and Oikawa told him to ‘surprise’ him- “Pepsi, seven up, and then water.” You watched Oikawa’s face contort in anger. You giggled silently along with Iwaizumi, who had a proud smirk dawning on his face. You knew the Pepsi was for him, he lived on the stuff even though he would yell at people he trained for drinking it, which meant the seven up was supposedly for Oikawa. The only problem with that was Oikawa despised seven up and any sort of sparkling water. Not that he didn’t like carbonated drinks, he just had some weird picky problem with the specific drink. Iwaizumi of course knew this and decided the few seconds of pride in his prank would outweigh Oikawa whining for the rest of the night. 

“Sometimes I wonder if you’re a sadist, Iwa-chan,” he turned to you, “I’m so sorry for you, y/n. It’s hard, isn’t it?” You blush at what Oikawa implies in his words and turn away to pick up your food and drink. While you walk away towards the theatre, you can hear Oikawa yelp and know that Iwaizumi gave him a good hit in the head. You loved Oikawa, as a friend of course, but you wondered how Iwaizumi was able to handle him for all his life. 

“They say that the movies will be going on until tomorrow. It shocks me how many movies were able to be made about one monster.” You make small talk on your way to your assigned theatre. You all find your seats easily as they’re all socially distanced and not many spaces are taken up. You settle down with Iwaizumi in the middle and you on his left, leaving Oikawa to his right. 

“If it gets scary you’ll hold me right, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa coos and sends you a wink over your boyfriend’s back. Now here was what you were expecting. You knew that Oikawa and Iwaizumi were only friends, and you that if he had to choose between Oikawa and yourself romantically, he’d pick you, but Oikawa still seemed to enjoy ‘making you jealous’ which had never worked in the slightest. 

“Sure, sure. Whatever you want.” He wasn't paying attention when he responded, but that didn’t seem to deter Oikawa, who smirked at you and winked playfully. You raised your eyebrows and went to respond, but as you did, the lights faded into darkness and the previews started playing. 

Throughout the first movie, everything was as normal. If there was an especially gory or ‘scary’ scene in the movie you’d hold on to Iwaizumi and Oikawa would do the same, earning a glare from him. As the second and third movie came around, you became impatient and went for another drink run for yourself and the boys. Oikawa begged you to get him a ‘drink that won’t poison me’ and you obliged. 

When you got back, you found Iwaizumi leaned forward in his seat and Oikawa leaning slightly onto his shoulder. You sighed and scooted past them as silently as you could. You rolled your eyes at your boyfriend who was now ignoring you for Godzilla and Oikawa of all people. 

When you finally reached the seventh movie of the night, and the last movie, it was a sight to behold. The two of them were leaning into each other on the edge of their seats, and it looked more like they were on a date than you. When the final credits rolled and the lights came back on you waited for the two to say something. It stayed quiet for a moment and you went ahead and clean up the trash. A few seconds after, you heard a high-pitched scream from Oikawa and a grunt from your boyfriend. 

You turn to see Oikawa halfway into the next row and Iwaizumi wide-eyed and looking back at you. “Why did you let me cuddle with that asshole?” he talked as if you had betrayed him in the front lines of battle and you couldn’t help let out the monstrous laugh you had been holding since the fifth movie, Shin Godzilla. 

“You know, if I knew this was going to be a date between you and Oikawa, I would have just stayed home," you tease. Iwaizumi brushes you off and turns with his garbage in hand (not including his best friend), and leaves a mentally wounded Oikawa and you still trying to contain your laughter. 

[lunaqueen]

This or That Game.

As I'm new here I just tag random people so feel free to do it or don't 😉😊

1. Dog or Cat?

2. Netflix or YouTube?

3. Phone Call or Text?

4. Toast or Eggs?

5. Cardio or Weights? Uhm I don't do sports😅

6. Facebook or Twitter?

7. Ice Cream Cone or Snow Cone?

8. Mobile Games or Console Games?

9. While walking: Music or Podcasts?

10. iOS or Android?

11. Form or Function?

12. Pop or Indie?

13. Cake or Pie?

14. Swimming or Sunbathing?

15. High-tech or Low-tech?

16. Big Party or Small Gathering?

17. New Clothes or New Phone?

18. Rich Friend or Loyal Friend?

19. Football or Basketball?

20. Work Hard or Play Hard?

21. Nice Car or Nice Home Interior?

22. What’s worse: Laundry or Dishes?

23. Jogging or Hiking? Walking xD like on a straight surface 😂

24. Bath or Shower?

25. Sneakers or Sandals?

26. Glasses or Contacts?

27. Hamburger or Taco?

28. Couch or Recliner?

29. Online Shopping or Shopping in a Store?

30. Receive: Email or Letter?

31. Passenger or Driver?

32. Tablet or Computer?

33. Most important in a partner: Intelligent or Funny?

34. Car or Truck?

35. Blue or Red?

36. Money or Free Time?

37. Amusement Park or Day at the Beach?

38. At a movie: Candy or Popcorn?

39. Pen or Pencil?

40. Toilet paper: Over or Under?

41. Cups in the cupboard: Right Side Up or Up Side Down?

42. Pancake or Waffle?

43. Coke or Pepsi? Neither

44. Coffee Cup or Thermos?

45. Blinds or Curtain?

46. Train or Plane?

47. Phone or Phablet?

48. Iced Coffee or Hot Coffee?

49. Meat or Vegetables?

50. International Vacation or a New TV?

51. Save or Spend?

52. Honesty or Other’s Feelings?

53. Coffee or Tea?

54. TV or Book?

55. Movie at Home or Movie at the Theater?

56. Ocean or Mountains?

57. Horror Movie or Comedy Movie?

58. City or Countryside?

59. Winter or Summer? Autumn 🍁

60. Mac or PC?

61. Console Gaming or PC Gaming?

62. Soup or Sandwich?

63. Card Game or Board Game?

64. Classical Art or Modern Art?

65. Beer or Wine? No alcohol

66. Camping or Binge Watching Shows at Home?

67. Working Alone or Working in a Team?

68. Dine In or Delivery?

69. Sweater or Hoodie?

70. Comic Book or Comic Strips?

71. Motorcycle or Bicycle?

72. Book or eBook?

73. When sleeping: Fan or No Fan?

74. Ninjas or Pirates?

75. TV Shows or Movies?

@pirateandsavior

@pokersnut20

@swanqueen-morrilla

@swanmillsdaily-blog

Have fun 😊

[always-and-forever-a-killjoy]

Good morning fuckers, I wrote over 2k words in twenty-four hours (and a good portion of that at ass o’clock in the morning because I was up with cats).

Title: will you drive me back/can you take me home

Wordcount: 2427

Summary: When a run goes south, Party Poison gets stuck out in Zone Five with Cherri Cola. This leads to some interesting conversations, mainly involving Kobra Kid and a lack of emotional intelligence.

Warnings: There is some very lightly implied past sexual harassment (it's only one line, but I figured I'd warn for it). Also the usual amount of swearing.

Taglist: @wishiwasthemoon-tonight @sleevesareforlosers @stressed-depressed-emo-mess @tasteofamnesia (message me, send an ask, or reblog/reply to one of my posts if you want to be added or removed)

AO3 Link

(Actual fic under the cut)

Party Poison did not like being here. 

Here, being, of course, a dusty road in the middle of Zone 5, where they were currently standing, in the middle of the fucking night, watching Cherri Cola fiddle with the engine of his truck. They found the Zone poet annoying at best, and they certainly didn’t trust him, so it had taken quite a bit of convincing for them to come on this run in the first place. Just a short run with Cola, Poison. It will be easy, just a tiny trip to pick up some supplies. Cherri just needs a companion. It’s safer together, Poison. That’s what Dr. Death Defying had said back at the radio station as he talked Poison into this fucking train wreck.

The run had turned out to be neither short nor easy, filled with disasters from beginning to end. First, they had been attacked along the way, and then the neutral who had promised the supplies had attempted to backstab them. After a lot of negotiation and some mild threatening from Poison, they had been given the supplies. After that, plus fighting off a rather bold (and stupid) killjoy who tried to take their stuff (and managed to get Party’s jacket covered in fucking slime), they had finally been able to get back on the road...only for Cola’s stupid fucking truck to break down. So now Poison was stuck in Zone Five with a broken down truck and no jacket at one in the fucking morning, what was supposed to be a simple afternoon supply run having turned into a many hour slog. Frankly, they were getting pretty tired of it.

“Hey, Pepsi, any luck with the truck?”

Cherri Cola raised his head from where he was fiddling with the hood. Even in the moonlight, Poison could tell that his hair was a mess and his cheek was streaked with motor oil, disheveled as ever. “Not a bit, I’m afraid.”

“Fuck,” Poison swore. “Just what we need.”

“There is some good news, though,” Cola continued. “I think I know what’s wrong, I just don’t have the tools to fix it on me.”

“Well that’s not very helpful then.”

The other didn’t reply, busy rooting around in the glove compartment. After a minute or so, he looked up again. “Nope, not here.”

This night just got better and better. “Fuck. So now what?” 

Cherri Cola was fiddling with a handheld radio now. “Newsie isn’t far from here right now, I’m going to radio her and ask her to bring over the tools we need. Hello?”

“Cola? You good?” NewsAGoGo’s staticky voice crackled from the radio.

“Party Poison and I are stuck out in Zone Five, the truck broke down. Can you bring the full toolkit?”

There was a moment of silence from the other side, followed by “Damnit, Cola, tonight was my night off.” Poison heard a faint sigh. “Radio me your location and I’ll be there in twenty.”

They tuned Cola out as he gave Newsie the details, staring out at the desert night. Ghoul and Jet were bound to be worried if Poison didn’t get home soon. Whether Kobra would be worried was a toss-up; if he was, he certainly wouldn’t bother to tell Poison. Either way, they were supposed to be home three hours ago. Ghoul and Jet were probably already worried, come to think of it. Well, they would just have to suck it up and deal with it, since Poison had to suck it up and deal with being stuck with Cherri Cola.

Speaking of Cherri Cola, he had come over to tap them on the shoulder. “Hey, Poison, Newsie’s on her way. It’ll probably be a half hour or so, though, do you want to get back in the truck?”

Why was he so insufferably nice? “I’m fine.”

“You sure? It is pretty chilly out here, and your jacket is covered in slime, I don’t want to be bringing you back to your crew like ‘hey, Poison nearly froze to death’.” They swore Cola was grinning, although it was hard to tell in the dark.

“Fine, you’re going to be insufferable if I don’t.” 

“I’m fairly sure you already thought I was insufferable,” Cherri Cola said with a laugh, hopping back into the driver’s seat as Poison reluctantly followed him.

“Yeah, I do.”

The Zone poet glanced over at them. “I’ve always been a little curious about that- why do you hate me so much?” 

“Just curious?”

“Well, a bit hurt, yeah, but I’m hated by a surprising number of people. You get used to it.”

“I don’t see why anyone would ever hate you,” Poison snorted. “Perfect poet Cherri Cola, nicest person in the Zones.” They might have been revealing a little bit too much, but fuck it all. They were tired and done with everyone’s shit.

“But you still hate me, so I can’t be perfect.” His voice held a hint of a smile, but he dropped that as he went on. “I’m not infallible, Poison. I’m human, and I’ve done a lot of things I’m not so proud of.”

Poison actually bothered to turn and look at him this time, taking in his face in the moonlight. “You? Not proud of yourself?”

“Not everyone has your confidence.” Cola’s mouth twisted into a wry smile as he turned to face Poison. “And I have a feeling your confidence is more of a very good shield.”

They jerked away from that kind gaze. “Shut up, Pepsi.”

“As you wish.”

The silence of the desert invaded the car for a few moments more before “I always forget no one gets that reference.”

“What?” Poison eyed him suspiciously.

“It’s from an old movie D and I like; I’ve gotten in the habit of saying that instead of just ‘yes’ to a request.”

“Oh.”

“So really, I’m curious. Why do you hate me?”

“Don’t hate you, just don’t trust you,” Poison muttered. Somewhere in the distance, a coyote howled.

“Because of my past?” Cola’s eyes seemed infinitely old in that moment, shadowed by things no killjoy should have had to live through. “I won’t blame you if the answer is yes, you know. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“I don’t know shit about your past. I don’t trust you because of how much you hang around my brother.”

Cherri Cola looked more startled than anything. “Kobra? He’s a good kid.”

“So you should stay away from him, then,” Poison snapped. The peace of the desert at night was nowhere near a suitable backdrop for their anger, burning and burning in contrast to the gentle desert sky. Stupid fucking Cherri Cola and his stupid fucking gentle eyes and the stupid fucking way Kobra trusted him, practically more than Kobra trusted Poison, it seemed.

To their surprise (and irritation), Cola didn’t even seem angry. “I don’t mean to hurt your brother in the slightest. He’s just a kid who could use a friend. Reminds me a bit of myself at that age, actually. Although you do even more.”

If you had asked Party Poison at age twelve where they thought they would end up, ‘sitting in a broken-down truck in the desert listening to Cherri Cola say that they reminded him of himself’ would not have been on the list. “You really don’t want to hurt him?”

“No, of course not! Kobra is a very kind person, and I don’t want to hurt anyone if I can avoid it.” 

They scanned his face and decided he seemed sincere. Cherri Cola was many things, but a good liar he was not. “Kobes got pushed around a lot back in the city. Harassed by older kids, older people. There’s always some creepy guy who hangs around the young, handsome trans dude.”

Cola’s face was nothing short of horrified. “Destroya, no, Poison. I’ve been there, I’ve been that young trans dude. If Kobra is uncomfortable with me around, I’ll leave him alone. Is- is it okay? Has Kobra asked you to talk to me about this?”

Poison was forced to admit he hadn’t. “No, I just worry about him.” Cola’s words caught up to them. “Wait, you’re a trans guy?”

Cola cracked a small smile. “What part of my personality made you think I was cis?”

“Now that I think about it, none of it.”

“Oh, good, I would hate for that to happen again.” 

They glared at him, but they had to admit it was a little bit funny. “You’re pretty fucking bad at acting cis, but you had me fooled.”

“Ah, I’m so clever and trickster-y.”

“I don’t think that’s a word.”

Cola shrugged. “I don’t have to use real words as long as people know what I mean. But back to our original topic, is there any other reason you don’t like me hanging out with your brother?” 

Yes. “No. Just worry about how much time he spends with you.” 

“I promise I’m not that bad of an influence.” Cola’s teasing grin dropped away again as he glanced over. “I think you worry he doesn’t want to spend time with you, but that’s not true. He does, and he cares. He’s just bad at saying it, and so are you.”

“Fuck. Off,” Poison growled. Why did he always have to hit touchy subjects like that?

Cola shrugged again. “Just saying what I’ve noticed.” 

They would have gotten further pissed at him, but a cold gust of wind swept through the car, cooling their anger and making them shiver. They desperately wished their jacket didn’t have to be sitting in the back, covered in some sort of chemical-smelling slime from their run-in with that rude killjoy who turned out to be somewhat of a scientist. He had been not only a ‘scientist’ (really, a bomb maker with some chemistry knowledge) but a dick as well. Poison really wasn’t happy that Cola has stopped them from punching his face in, and especially so now that they didn’t have their jacket.

Speaking of Cola, a hand passed in front of their vision, holding a familiar green jacket, and they figured they better actually listen to what he was saying.

“-not cold anyways, and your brother would kill me if I brought back popsicle Poison instead of Party Poison.”

“I hate you.”

“I know. Take the jacket.”

Poison groaned and took it, finding it warm and quite a bit too large for them. “How fucking tall are you?”

“Hmm. Five foot nine, or about that, I’d guess? I think that was what it was, anyways.” 

“Have I mentioned that I hate you?”

“Twice already.”

Poison glared at him again, still shivering a little, but just then, Newsie’s motorcycle pulled up with a roar of engines, nearly blinding them both with the headlights. NewsAGoGo themself leaned over to yell up at the truck.

“Hey, Cola, fucker, brought your toolkit!”

“Thanks, Newsie,” Cola called back. He turned to Poison. “Seems like you won’t be stuck with me much longer, which I figure you’ll appreciate. I am insufferable, after all.”

Poison huffed a sigh. “You’re a bastard, Pepsi, you know that, right?”

“Love you too, Party Poison.”

- 

By the time Party Poison arrived home that night, it was probably around two am. Cherri Cola had driven them back to the diner, insisting that it was only fair after putting them through that terrible run. Poison could have pointed out that it was actually Dr. D who sent them with him, but it was easier to just let Cola have his way. Besides the fact that they didn’t know how they would have gotten back to the diner without his help, given that Jet had dropped them off at Dr. D’s radio station that afternoon. 

The diner was silent as they walked in, but to their surprise, Kobra Kid was awake and sitting at one of the tables. 

“Hey, Pois.”

“Hey, fuckface. What are you doing up?” They kept their voice low as so not to wake up Fun Ghoul, who was snoozing in a different booth. Xe was curled up tightly- remarkably like a cat, actually.

“Waiting for you, dumbass.” Kobra didn’t look up at them, absorbed in whatever he was working on.

Poison’s throat felt strangely tight. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I would have been fine if you didn’t.”

“Yeah, well I wanted to know you were safe. Jet did too, but I made him sleep.”

They blinked a few times, trying to ignore the burning in their throat. It must have been the dust that was making their eyes water. “Well, I’m safe and fine. Didn’t appreciate being stuck with Cola, but he’s not that insufferable.”

Kobra snorted. “Why the change of heart?” 

“Talked to him a bit,” Poison shrugged. “Still insufferably nice and a bit of a pushover, but there are worse things to be than nice.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my sibling?” Kobra actually looked up this time, not waiting for a response before he muttered “Thanks, Pois.”

“Of course, fuckface.” Poison headed towards the back of the diner, where they knew Jet would be firmly passed out on their bed, but they paused to pull Kobra into a hug first. “I love you, you bastard. Even if I don’t say it.”

“What are you, sentimental?” Kobra didn’t pull away, despite his harsh words, and Poison could hear what he didn’t (and wouldn’t) say as he threw his arms around them in return. “Also, why are you wearing Cola’s jacket?”

“Fuck, I’ll need to give that back to him tomorrow. Was cold out there, and mine is covered in slime- and in the back of Cola’s truck. Fuck.”

“You’re an airhead.”

“Fuck you.”

"Fuck you too."

Despite that, Poison didn’t pull away and neither did Kobra, until eventually they did have to let go because Poison was starting to yawn.

But when they got up, Kobra followed them to the back of the diner, pausing in front of the door to his little room. “Night, Poison.”

They shot him a tiny, tired smile. “Night, Kobra.”

Their room was dark and quiet, and for once the presence across the hall felt like warmth and security as opposed to a reminder of one more way they had failed. Poison climbed into the bed, snuggling up against Jet Star, who stirred briefly before falling back asleep. They didn’t bother to take off Cola’s jacket; it was cold in here, alright? But Jet was warm, even if the desert night was freezing, so it was only a few minutes before Poison’s exhausted eyes slid shut.