#short mikell freaks me out

[twig-the-edgelord]

POV you’ve insulted Jack at the Clementine family reunion (he is one of the very few they all like)

[marcobedseki]

below the cut is a completely self indulgent football fic written champagne drunk in the middle of the night. you probably don’t want to read it, but if you’re grace, you need to read it <3

title: confusion

aka in which aubameyang and lacazette have a real hard time understanding how a certain relationship between their teammates works

kieran steps into the dressing room after he’s finally done talking with mikel on the side of the pitch. mikel’s wanted to talk a lot with him recently, and kieran gets it, mikel’s concerned about him now that he’s back training with everyone. mikel wants to make sure he’s doing it safely and that he won’t work himself too hard and risk getting injured again, and kieran appreciates it, even if it’s sometimes annoying to go through the same stuff after pretty much every training session.

 

when kieran looks around in the dressing room, he can immediately see that most of the guys have already left. the only remaining ones are hector, auba and willian. willian is ready to leave though, and he only nods at kieran before he throws his bag over his shoulder and leaves with his phone in hand. auba’s also looking ready to leave, but he’s still sitting down, completely enthralled with his phone. he’s got his headphones on and he’s frantically texting someone, and kieran’s pretty sure auba hasn’t even noticed his arrival. hector on the other hand isn’t on his phone, instead he looks like he’s sleeping. he’s lying down on the dressing room bench, using his bag as a rather uncomfortable looking pillow. he doesn’t open his eyes even when kieran gets closer, and for a second kieran thinks that maybe this idiot really has decided to take a nap in their dressing room against better judgement. but then kieran pokes at his knee ever so lightly, and hector’s face immediately breaks into a smile and he peers up at kieran. 

 

”’ey, get up from t’ere, old man”, kieran tells hector, smile playing on his lips as well. 

 

”bro, you’re like 2 years younger than me, stop calling me an old man”, hector pouts. ”i don’t wanna get up, i’m sleepy, you know. sit somewhere else since you took so long to get here.”

 

kieran raises his eyebrows. “it’s not like you had to wait here for me to finish my daily ‘we need to talk’ -session with mikel. right now i’m starting to feel like that even auba was more eager about me getting ‘ere, even though he didn’t even notice my whole existence…”

 

hector’s pout deepens. he’s quickly getting up from his horizontal position, because even though he knows that kieran’s probably just messing around with him, he’s not willing to take a risk that kieran is actually about to start ignoring him and being pissy for the entire day. he mumbles a sorry to his boyfriend, who’s looking down at him with his eyebrows still raised, a slightly amused look on his face.

 

kieran’s mentally rolling his eyebrows at hector. his boyfriend is being an idiot, but then again, it’s nothing kieran should be surprised about. hector can be a handful, and kieran knows he’s easily irritated, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. he loves hector unconditionally.

 

kieran turns around and he’s about to sit on the bench now that hector’s finally sat up himself, but his attempt is cut short by strong arms coming around his waist, pulling him down to sit on a warm lap instead of the bench. kieran lets out a surprised sound, and he’s turning around faster than lightning to scowl at hector. is it already too late to take back that he loves heccy unconditionally?

 

kieran looks at hector and the amusement on his face from a few moments back is gone. but before he has time to replace it with the scowl he was planning on casting at hector, his heart’s being taken over by a warmth that can’t be characterized as anything else than adoration. and the unconditional love that kieran suddenly does not want to take back. hector’s smiling up at him with his eyes almost closed, his teeth showing and he’s hugging kieran’s twisted torso with a steady grasp. kieran’s staring at him with his mouth open, and hector knows an opportunity when he sees one, so he leans up to kiss kieran softly. it’s sweet but quick, and they both pull away after a moment.

 

“hi”, hector says to him.

 

“hey”, replies kieran.

 

they look each other in the eyes for a while before they start laughing. neither of them remembers that auba’s still in the dressing room with them. auba’s gaze is no longer locked onto his phone, but instead he is unabashedly staring at his two teammates on the other side of the room. he’s just witnessed hector pulling kieran to sit on his lap, watched them kiss and stare into each other’s eyes like there exists nothing else in the whole wide world. and now he’s figuring it’s best to leave, before he’ll get caught staring. he slips out of the dressing room as quickly and silently as he can, and when he’s out, he immediately takes out his phone again. he needs to tell alex about this.

 

---

 

laca is looking at his phone in confusion.

 

“just saw something absolutely shocking in the dressing room!!!!!!!! :000 need 2 process this for a while, i’ll tell u what it is 2morrow @ practice!!!!”, reads the message from aubameyang. laca’s not sure what the hell his friend has been smoking, but he’s definitely more than a little concerned over this kind of behaviour. he tries asking what the hell could possibly be so “absolutely shocking” that it would cause such a reaction from auba, but the only thing he gets in return is more exclamation points and reassuring that he’ll be given more information on the matter come tomorrow. he’s half sure that auba’s just fucking with him, that this absolutely shocking thing in the dressing room will literally be auba’s own used and sweaty socks on lying on the floor, but when he goes to bed at night, he can’t help but feel a little anxious.

 

---

 

despite his nightly anxiety, laca sleeps surprisingly well. he’s glad about it, since he would never admit that he’d actually lost sleep over his friend sending crackhead level messages to him during the previous day. after he gets out of bed, he makes a cup of coffee and eats a bowl of cereal - yes, he knows, it’s not a fitting breakfast for a professional footballer, but he’s allowed to be a little lazy now and then – gets dressed and gathers up his stuff before driving to their stadium. he’s running early, for once, but he’s sure he won’t be the first one warming up on the pitch anyway.

 

laca’s walking calmly towards their dressing room, and he can hear kieran and martin’s voices echoing in the hallway. it sounds like they’re laughing over something that laca couldn’t understand even if he tried. laca doesn’t think of himself as being too old, he’s less than 10 years older than tierney and ødegaard, but damn… he’s sure he wasn’t as loud as those two when he was their age. and he sure as hell wasn’t looking at memes or tiktoks, or whatever the hell the kids were into these days.

 

when laca gets closer to the dressing room, the sounds of his younger teammates have suspiciously quieted down. he slows down his pace and sneaks up to the dressing room’s door. he peeks in, and boy, there’s nothing that could have prepared him for what he sees inside the room. suddenly auba’s cryptic messages make sense, and he feels his soul ascend to an entirely different plane of existence. kieran’s holding martin against the wall in a way that laca’s sure he’s only seen in hollywood movies, and the boys are kissing so that laca feels a need to check his phone, just to make sure that the time’s still 9am instead of 9pm. he steps away from the doorframe and takes a deep breath. he looks back to the direction from which he just came, and to his luck he sees david in the distance. he shouts a good morning to his other teammate way louder than is necessary, earns a happy smile and a good morning to you too in return, and he hopes it’s enough to get the younger guys step away from each other in the dressing room.

 

---

 

laca sees auba 15 minutes later on the pitch. he all but runs to his friend, not bothering to greet him, but instead gesturing him to start telling about his mysterious messages from the day before. he knows now what auba’s about to tell him, he’s seen it himself too, but he wants, no, he needs to hear auba say it out loud.

 

auba knows instantly what laca’s getting at with his frantic gestures. he places a hand on laca’s shoulder and starts with a serious tone.

 

“i need you to promise you won’t freak the fuck out when i tell you what it is that i saw”, he begins. “it’s about kieran.”

 

laca nods impatiently.

 

“yesterday after practice, i was chilling in the dressing room, listening to some beats and texting friends and stuff. you had left already, and so had most of the others as well. but there i was, with a few other guys still, and then kieran comes into the room. i don’t know, but i’m pretty sure he didn’t even notice me, because bro…”, auba’s taking a dramatic pause, he’s looking down at the ground and shaking his head, as if he’s gathering himself up to tell the rest of his story.

 

laca can’t take it. auba’s being a dick. it’s not *that* dramatic, and laca absolutely just wants auba to get it over with, so he can confirm that he wasn’t actually hallucinating the scene that he saw before his eyes just now.

 

“yeah yeah yeah, you were there in the dressing room being addicted to your phone like a 15 year old is, and then kieran comes in there and martin’s there too and then they start making out and then you’re shocked and then you decide to send me the most ominous messages in the history of the world, is that what you’re trying to say here?!”, laca helpfully finishes auba’s story.

 

auba looks up at him with wide eyes, and he’s just about to start nodding, when he realizes something is definitely off about what laca just told him.

 

“wait what? what’s martin got to do with any of this?”, he asks confusedly.

 

“wait what yourself? what’s martin NOT got to do with all of this?”, asks laca back, even more confused than his friend.

 

auba’s squinting at him now, he’s tilting his head to the side and he looks like laca’s just told him that he doesn’t think that auba’s the best forward in the history of football – which would be a terribly wrong and a horribly atrocious claim.

 

“bro, i don’t know what the hell you’re on about, but yesterday in the dressing room, there was me, hector and kieran. and also willian but he left when kieran came in so he doesn’t count. and hector made kieran sit in his lap and then they kissed. and i think that’s pretty fucking shocking!”, auba finally finishes his story.

 

now laca’s definitely not sure if he actually saw what he thinks he saw when he came to the stadium.

 

“bro”, he starts as well. “this morning i came here and i’m here pretty much all alone, but then i hear shouting from our dressing room, and it’s kieran and martin’s voices that i hear, right? and then i go closer, and i see them making out there like there’s no tomorrow! and you’re telling me that you’ve also seen kieran being way more than friendly with hector just yesterday?!?”

 

auba’s jaw has just dropped down so hard, that if they were in a comic, it would be on the floor right now. laca continues talking.

 

“ok so now that i think about it, what you just told me makes sense. i mean, you’ve got to be lying to me if you try to tell me you haven’t thought about hector and kieran being together at least once. they’ve always been… like… that, you know”, laca’s frantically gesturing with his hands again. “but does this mean that kieran’s cheating on him with martin?”

 

“or is he cheating on martin with hector?”, adds auba.

 

laca shakes his head. he doesn’t know anything right now, except that he and auba really need to start investigating.

 

---

 

they practice. they run around on the pitch, they kick some balls, they have a few laughs, and while they do all this, they keep a steady eye on all three of the younger men, who have managed to raise a legion of questions in both lacazette and aubameyang. none of them act in ways that differ from the norm, and laca and auba aren’t sure how they should feel about it. they make a deal to stay at the stadium for as long as possible, just for a chance to see if there’s anything else of importance happening that could help them draw some conclusions on what the hell is going on with their teammates.

 

they change their clothes, joke around with pepe and david, share some music recommendations with the other guys, and watch as the players start to leave. soon enough, there’s only them, hector, martin and kieran left. they’re all engaged in a chill conversation, but laca and auba are both mentally on their toes, and they’re staring at the younger boys so intently that they must feel a little uneasy. none of them says anything though. all of them are acting pretty normally, although seeing hector not be able to keep his hands away from kieran definitely comes with some extra connotations now. only when kieran excuses himself and heads for the door, do laca and auba relax for a bit. martin and hector aren’t acting weird towards each other, which is probably a good thing. that must mean that neither of them knows that kieran has also been with the other one, right?

 

laca nudges auba’s shoulder and asks in french if they should leave. auba answers yes. they bid their goodbyes to hector and martin, and they head out the door. auba’s actually ready to leave, he’s starting to head down the hallway, but laca stops him with his arm. auba looks at him questioningly, and laca just nods towards the dressing room. they need to see what the two will do now that they’re being left alone.

 

laca does the same he did in the morning. he sneaks up to the doorframe, and peeks ever so carefully in. auba does the same. they’re both completely aware of how suspicious they must look, but they pray that if someone were to see them, they would just think that the men were trying to pull a weird prank on their teammates or something similar to that.

 

they can’t see much from their lurking angle besides martin’s side, but at least it’s better than nothing. luckily they can also hear whatever it is that might be said between martin and hector. hector is unsurprisingly the one whose voice they get to listen to. auba and laca have theorized many times in the past that hector probably has a gene that prevents him from shutting up for more than 3 minutes at a time. he’s always talking to someone, and if there’s no one to talk to, he talks to himself. laca thinks it would be scary, if it wasn’t also pretty damn impressive at the same time. laca’s more of the type to have difficulties in finding words to say whenever he’s talking to someone else than auba, but hector’s the polar opposite of that.

 

today’s, or more like this minute’s, topic for hector seems to be food. he’s going on and on about some new amazing low carb vegan food that he just recently discovered, and neither laca nor auba is sure whether or not martin’s listening to a word he’s saying, deducing by how quiet he’s being. hector doesn’t seem to mind.

 

so far it would seem that nothing is out of the ordinary between the two inside the room, and auba’s about to suggest that they could actually leave now, but just then they hear hector saying “come here” to martin. auba can literally feel how laca starts thinking about the context in which this is meant. is it “come here” as in a) hector’s going to show martin an epic meme, or “come here” as in b) hector’s going to fucking murder martin for making out with his boyfriend?

 

soon it appears that this come here was neither of these things, unless memes and murders have changed form since the time when laca and auba last saw them in action (legal note: laca and auba have not seen murders in action. but they feel like they have a pretty good grasp on what they do look and sound like). auba can’t fucking believe his ears when he hears the unmistakable sound of kissing in the air. laca’s in the same boat with him. they look at each other for a second, and they don’t need to exchange words to decide that they’re going to look a little further into the room and risk getting caught lurking.

 

the fear of getting caught lurking turns out to be an irrational one, because both hector and martin have got their eyes closed and yeah – they’re kissing each other. auba sees immediately that hector’s kissing martin the same way he was kissing kieran yesterday, and now he’s more confused than he’s ever been before. he looks at laca and he knows that once again, laca’s in the same boat with him again. they look at each other and agree wordlessly that now it is finally time to leave this building.

 

---

 

“i can’t fucking believe that kieran’s cheating on hector with martin but that hector’s also cheating on kieran with martin!”, auba almost shouts with desperation in his voice.

 

“me neither! but we still don’t even know if kieran’s cheating on hector or if he’s cheating on martin!”, continues laca.

 

“what the fuck are they doing?!?”

 

“do i look like i know what they’re doing?! the only thing i know is that these boys have gotten themselves tangled in something that’s literally the most fucking complicated love triangle ever”, laca sighs in exasperation. he’s pretty sure that there’s a logical explanation to all this, somewhere, but he and auba just really can’t seem to find it.

 

“bro, i’m so confused right now”, groans auba. “like, i’m confused for personal reasons, but should i start to worry about the team dynamics and ethics and shit like that now too?”

 

“i don’t know man, i really don’t. go ask mikel about that.”

 

“like hell i’ll talk to him about this! what would i tell him? yeah me and alex have been invading our teammates’ privacy and now we’re pretty sure they’re all cheating on each other, *with* each other but we don’t even know how it’s possible, so what does that mean in terms of our team’s ethical ground?”

 

“man, shut up! you’re making it sound way worse than it is!”

 

auba groans again. “you know what? we’re going to find out just how bad this is. and we’re gonna find out what the hell is really going on.”

 

laca nods.

 

“ok, we’ve got a match tomorrow. i’m now gonna send them all a message to come meet up with us after it. we can meet here at your house. it’s easiest.”

 

laca’s about to protest, but then he decides against it.

 

“ok so… hi, me and laca… have… something… that we really… need to… talk about… to you… guys…”, auba narrates out loud the message he’s now writing to send kieran, hector and martin.

 

“do you really think they’ll come? like, isn’t that literally *the* most ominous thing you could send them? if i got a message like that from you, i-“, laca gets cut off by auba.


“if you got a message like this from me, you’d immediately arrange the rest of your life so that you would have a completely free spot in your day for you to meet me”, auba says.

 

and laca can’t really argue, because even though it sounds bad, it’s entirely true.

 

---

 

come tomorrow, and auba’s received concerned messages from the younger men agreeing to meet him and lacazette at the latter man’s house after the match. auba realizes that they must actually be confused about the message he’s sent to them, and they’re probably expecting something else entirely than aubameyang straight up asking them who’s cheating on who and why.

 

when the team gets together for the match, all of the three guys come up to him individually and ask if everything’s ok. he just pretty much dismisses them and tells them that “we’ll talk about it later tonight”. in hindsight, that’s really not something that would make any of them feel like everything’s ok.

 

come night, and the match is over. auba and laca have beelined their way to laca’s house as fast as it’s been possible for them to leave the stadium, and now they’re just waiting for the culprits of this confusing situation to arrive. just as laca’s about to start complaining about how they’re never going to show up, there’s a knock on the door. laca’s not sure if he’s the one who should open the door, because even though this is his house, it’s aubameyang who wanted to arrange this meeting of the century. (laca ends up being the one who does open the door.)

 

kieran, hector and martin are all looking quite miserable and tired behind the door. it’s understandable: the match wasn’t their best, it’s getting late, and they have no actual idea on why they’ve been summoned here today. laca’s feeling a little bad for them, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t interested in the outcome of this evening.

 

laca and auba both tell them to get in, tell them to sit down wherever they want to. they all navigate towards laca’s sofa. they sit down in literal unison, and they sit in the same formation as they do in the dressing room. hector on the right, kieran in the middle, martin on the left. laca and auba stand in front of them. they’re both looking a little scary, and the atmosphere in the house is anxiety-inducing. even hector’s quiet.

 

the silence in the house is broken down by kieran. “so, why are we ‘ere? what’s it that you’ve done now, don’t tell me you’ve gone get yerselves mixed up in organized crime or some other shite like that.”

 

everyone chuckles a bit at that. but auba quickly recovers. “no, i think it’s time for you to tell me what it is it that *you* have done now.”

 

kieran’s looking quite a bit confused, and so are hector and martin as well.

 

“yeah, we’ve seen you together with both of your friends there!”, laca continues.

 

“actually, we’ve seen all of you being way more than friends together these past few days, every time in different pairings. and to be honest, we’re fucking concerned over this whole team! it can’t work with you all cheating on each other with each other, that’s not good for our morale”, auba starts explaining.

 

both laca and auba expect some frantic reactions from the guys in front of them, but what they get instead are three of the blankest stares they’ve ever had the (dis)pleasure of seeing in their lives. martin’s blushing a little though, he might be a little embarrassed, but hector and kieran look like they could be straight from ‘the office’ with the way they’re staring at laca and auba like they’re cameras.

 

“alright… so is there any other breaking news you two might want to share with us?”, asks hector.

 

the seriousness of auba and laca is quickly turning back into a confusion powered by a thousand suns.

 

“it’s never crossed yer big brains that maybe t’ere’s no-one cheating on anyone, that this is just a completely consensual threeway relationship?”, inquires kieran.

 

it’s martin’s turn to open his mouth as well. “yeah, i mean… kieran and hector have been together like ages already but… i’m here too now.”

 

laca and auba are now staring at each other, in search of some emotional support. this is not going the way they expected. not that they were really sure what it is that they were expecting in the first place.

 

“oh”, starts auba.

 

“yeah”, continues laca.

 

“uh.”

 

“i mean.”

 

“i guess we’re…”

 

“we’re sorry”, both of them say in unison. that seems like a lame thing to say, but they don’t have a lot of options currently, do they.

 

there’s this heavy silence hanging in the air again, until hector starts laughing, and soon it’s joined by both kieran and martin as well. laca and auba can’t bring themselves to join in, they’re too dumbfounded and maybe a little embarrassed as well. they just alternate between staring at each other and the three men on the sofa.

 

after hector’s stopped laughing for the most part, he puts one of his hand’s on kieran’s thigh. “i’m sorry guys, but i’ve honestly got to ask you… are you for real, that you’ve really seen me and kieran being more than just friendly for the first time only a few days ago?”

 

”yeah, i mean... we get that you might not have seen either of us be with martin before… but are you dimwits honestly suggesting that you literally saw me ‘nd heccy kissing for the first time like two days ago?”, kieran joins in on the questioning.

 

martin’s laughing next to them.

 

laca and auba are too scared to confirm or deny these questions. they just turn to look at each other yet again.

 

“uh so.. how long is it that you two have been together? no offense to martin but… you and hector? how long have you been… involved… with each other?”, auba manages to ask after a while.

 

“since 2019”, answers kieran.

 

“yeah, august 2019, to be more specific”, adds hector, turning to smile at kieran.

 

laca feels a bit like fainting. how is it possible that both him and auba have been so blind for so long? by the looks of whatever is it that’s going on before his eyes, it’s not like they have been trying to hide their relationship either.

 

“and martin here, he’s been with us… well, not too long actually. but we would do anything for him, wouldn’t we?”, hector continues. kieran nods in agreement, and martin’s blushing again.

 

auba is nodding slowly, clearly trying to come to terms with all this new information that’s being presented to him.

 

“so… are we the only ones who didn’t know that you were having this… triangular relationship going on?”, laca asks after yet another moment of silence has passed.

 

“you were not merely the only ones who didn’t know about this relationship, but you were also the only ones who couldn’t ‘ave just asked about this stuff normally – instead you had to summon us all into laca’s house for a meeting that sounded more serious than getting individually called to have a conversation with mikel”, kieran elaborates to his teammate.

 

laca facepalms.

 

auba just keeps on nodding.

 

and for the next few weeks, there’s no one at arsenal fc who wouldn’t want to make a joke about either aubameyang’s or lacazette’s observational skills at any given time.

[brokehorrorfan]

Blu-ray Review: Watch Me When I Kill

Watch Me When I Kill is a relatively obscure Italian giallo film from 1977, but it delivers on all the staples that make the subgenre so enjoyable: a well-plotted mystery, violent death scenes, stylish camerawork, and a progressive rock score. It also boasts a verbose yet tantalizing title in all territories; it's also known as The Cat with the Jade Eyes (Italy), The Cat’s Victims (UK), Terror in the Lagoon (France), and The Vote of Death (Germany).

The murder-mystery is set into motion when nightclub dancer Mara (Paola Tedesco, Battle of the Amazons) witnesses a killer fleeing a crime scene. Believing that she's intended to be his next victim, Mara moves in with her boyfriend, Lukas (Corrado Pani, Rocco and His Brothers), for safety. Bodies continue to turn up as they race to determine the ruthless murderer's identity.

Watch Me When I Kill is comparable to - and some might even argue derivative of - Dario Argento's giallo work circa Deep Red. The film's stalking scenes, of which there are several, are masterful. Director Antonio Bido (Bloodstained Shadow) sets voyeuristic point-of-view shots by cinematographer Mario Vulpiani (Castle Freak) to propulsive prog rock instrumentation.

The Argento imitation extends to the score, which could be mistaken for his frequent collaborators Goblin; particularly their landmark work on Suspiria, Deep Red, and Dawn of the Dead. The music is, in fact, credited to Trans Europa Express, a one-off group of session musicians. The band features Mauro Lusini, who went on to provide vocals on Goblin's 1982 album, Volo. It's truly a shame they didn't record more music together.

Where the film falters is in the procedural aspects, in which writer Vittorio Schiraldi positions an abundance of undeveloped characters as red herrings. But the killer's ultimate motive is an interesting - and perhaps even sympathetic - one. The death sequences aren't particularly gory or inventive, but they're mean-spirited, which match the motive. Eschewing the giallo standard of black leather, the switchblade-wielding killer dons white surgical gloves.

Watch Me When I Kill arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Synapse Films with a gorgeous 4K restoration from the original negative. It features DTS-HD MA English and 2.0 mono Italian (with English subtitles) soundtracks, plus an isolated music-only track. A bonus CD featuring Trans-Europa Express' full score is also included; it stands out as one of the more cohesive and effective giallo soundtracks under Goblin's influential shadow. The release features a reversible cover, with the Italian artwork on the other side.

Extras are led by an audio commentary with Nathaniel Thompson. The fast-talking film historian is thorough with information not only about the film and its players but also giallo cinema at large, providing valuable context. Dr. Mikel Koven, senior lecturer in film studies at the University of Worcester, provides an 11-minute "defense" of the film, which is a rather thoughtful appreciation. The original English title sequence, the U.S. trailer, a TV spot, and radio spots are also included.

Last but not least are three recent shorts written and directed by Bido: 2015's Danza Macabra, 2017's Mendelssohn Im Judischen Museum Berlin, and 2018's Marche Funebre D’une Marionette. Not only is the filmmaker still active, but he has retained his panache. Each piece has no dialogue, instead utilizing classical piano compositions to accompany a visual story. Based on the strength and resurgence of Watch Me When I Kill, coupled with these shorts that dabble in the genre (particularly Danza Macabra), it would be great to see Bido tackle another horror feature soon.

Watch Me When I Kill is available now on Blu-ray and DVD via Synapse Films.

[lazy-crow-writingblog]

Peter Parker: Crashing Your Field Trip: Chapter 5: Day 3

The morning started out like every morning has since they've been there. Peter woke up first, but instead of going to the dinning room alone this time both Doctor Strange and Mr. Stark accompanied him, only to make sure they don't have any incidents like the 2 days before.

"Take a shower and get ready, we're leaving after breakfast." Tony told him.

"Okay!" Peter called back from the bathroom.

After taking a shower Peter put on an Iron Man shirt and a pair of black shorts along with his pink sneakers. Coming out of the bathroom he caught Stephen slipping his sling ring into his jean pockets. He didn't say anything about it. The three of them went down to the dinning area and for some reason it was filled with more people then usual. Peter started scanning the room to find where his friends were sitting. While doing it that he accidentally locked eyes with Mrs. Thompson, which caused him to jump a little. He quickly looked away and kept serching before he heard his name called. Turning in the direction of the voice he saw the girl that left with T'challa the other day.

"Hey Shuri." Tony greeted her.

The 2 hug and T'challa comes up and the same thing happens.

"Ah, Peter. Good to see you again." T'challa greeted him.

"Hey T'challa." Peter greeted back.

Tony looled between the two of them. "You both know each other?" He asked.

"Yes. We met on an elevator. He's a nice boy."

"You didn't tell us about that"

"I didn't think it was that important."

"Since your here why don't you have breakfast with us? We can catch up and the children can play." T'challa said.

The child remark earned him a punch to the arm by Shuri to which he just chuckled at. Tony and Stephen agreed and T'challa and Shuri lead them to a table where another guy and 2 women sitting there. The 2 women were chatting and the guy was gorging himself on plate filled with food with another one next to him. The guy looked up and after swallowing the food in his mouth and greeted them.

"T'challa! Come and eat." He said.

They sat down and talked and joked and Shuri shared memes with Peter and the adults would stare at the 2 trying to figure out what was so funny. After a while the said their good byes to the group and left out of the hotel.

"Where are we going?" Peter asked.

"Some place you'll like." Tony said.

They took a left and went into an alleyway so Stephen could form a portal without anyone seeing them. Once the golden ring was fully open Peter could see an amusement park on the other side of it and the child-like wonder returned to his eyes again. He practically lept through the portal and bounced in place when he set foot on the concret. When Tony and Stephen came through it and the portal closed Peter had them by the arm and pulling them into the place.

"Whoa, whoa, slow your roll underoos. We gotta get out passes first." Tony informed him.

That caused Peter to stop in his tracks and let go of them.

"Oh. Ha ha, right. Which way would that be?" He asked bashfully.

Tony lead the way over to the ticket stand. When they got there Peter was greeted by his best friends, Ned and M.J.

"Pete! Hey dude, where were you this morning?" Ned asked after giving him a hug.

"Hey guys. I was having breakfast with some other peao people." As Peter finished saying that Strange walked behind him a small smile on his face.

"Oh, hi!" Ned greeted him.

"This is Dr. Strange."

Ned and M.J. said their heys and then Tony came up with three plastic like paper braclets, one of which is on his wrist already. Peter heard what could only be describe as a Ned gasp.

"Okay, got the bands, give me your arms." Tony told them.

Tony put the bracelet on them and said hello to Ned and M.J., and from the look on Ned's face he was internally freaking out, and made their way over to the get to get in. When passing by Peter saw Flash and his parents, him and them made eye contact. Flash and his mom seemed to glare at him, then squint, and the Mrs. Thompson eyes widen, probably because of Tony, all within the span of 30 seconds. Mr. Thompson smiled and wave and Peter smiled and waved back. As they entered the park it was filled with people and Peter could clearly see all the rides and he knew which one he wanted to get on first. Grabbing Tony and Stephens arm, again, he pulled them in the directions of the tea cup.

°°°°

Several rides after the Tea Cups Peter was getting on one thoes rides that like to spin you while swing you much higher then Tony or Stephen would like for Peter. But there wasn't much they could do, at least without seeming like helicopters dads, when he found his decathalon team going on, which ment Ned was going on as well. While Peter waited in line Tony let Stephen know he was off to the bathroom.

"Kay, I'll be by the exit of the ride."

Stephen went to stand by the exit for the ride and saw that the 3 other parents were there too. That included Mr. And Mrs. Thompson. Mr. Thompson smiled and nodded in his direction and Stephen returned it. Mrs. Thompson glared at him and he ignored it just and just sood by the gate of the exit. It took about 2 minutes before the ride is suppose to start Mrs. Thompson gave up on her glaring fest and stomped off to somewhere. After she was out of ear shot and out of sight Mr. Thompson turned in Strange's direction.

"I'm really sorry for Karen's behavior." He said in a very apologetic tone. He seemed genuine about it.

"Do you have to apologise for her behavior often?" He asked.

"Um... Well, yeah. I promise she isn't usually like this."

"Is she like this when she doesn't get her way?"

Mr. Thompson hesitated for a bit. "Uh, yeah."

"Her attitude seems to be rubbing off on your son."

"What?"

"He's been bullying Peter for a while now. You didn't know?"

"No." Mr. Thompson looked down for a few seconds and then his face scrunched up a little. He looked up again his face back to a calm, happy expression. "I haven't introduced myself. I'm Mikel."

"Stephen."

They shook hands as Karen came back up, somehow looking more pissed then before she left. She came up and smaked Stephen's hand away from Mikel's and it stung like a bitch, it took every bit of Stephen's self control not to drop her down a portal right this second.

"Don't shake his hand." She told Stephen then turned to her husband. "I told you we don't like him."

"I don't have a problem with him. You don't like him because he yelled at you for touching his son."

She seemed shocked that he actually talked to her that way. Stephen wanted to corrected the thing about Peter being his kid, it'd be nice but that wasn't the case, when said teen jumped on his back like a toddler.

"What's up doc?" Peter joked.

Stephen walked off with the teenager on his back and found Tony maneuvering through the crowed and Tony insisting some guy was trying to pitch him an idea in the bathroom.

"Yeah, sure. Totally not because your the size of a middle schooler and got lost." Stephen teased.

Tony pouted and crosses his arms. He'll be fine.

°°°°

The rest of their time at the amusement park was filled with fun and junk food and Peter hopping off of Stephen's back only to get on Tony's and Stephen loosing sight of them. As Stephen was getting his sling ring out of his pocket Tony felt a tap on his arm followed by a voice.

"Excuse me, don't you think he's a bit to old for piggy back rides?" she asked.

Tony didn't bother turning around and instead rolled his eyes before answering.

"No, I don't think he is. He's had a long and fun day."

"But he's a teenager. He can walk."

"That's none of your business now is it?"

Tony still didn't turn around and only started to follow Stephen. He herd whoever scoff before they, what he hopes at least, walked away. When the arrived to their hotel room Tony woke Peter up and told him it was time for him to lay in his bed. The spider-teen got off of Tony's back, changed his closed and crashed into his bed. Tony and Stephen started doing the same but Stephen made the cover appear above the kid before laying down himself next to his boyfriend.

"So, what's tomorrow's agenda?" He asked and Tony wrapped his arms around his waist.

"I think it's time to show my face to the kids. Let Mrs. Thompson see what kind of kid she's dealing with."

"Will I'll be able to use my magic this time?"

"You can let the cloak visit for all I care."

The two adults fell asleep with the biggest grins on their faces. The next 3 days are going to be eventful.

[luminescencechatoyant]

summary riley preferred to be behind the camera, dean loved to flaunt in front of it.

warning mentions of anxiety attacks, domestic violence, sex an/or sexual acts (not explicit).

Word Count 2942

I dont own anything but my dog and my phone, neither of which have to d with fix. Enjoy, copywrite, disclamer blah blah x

ekayyyla, tumblr.com

Riley Mizanin was not her brother, he was confident and outgoing and the exact opposite of her. They were twins but they were the completely different. He liked being around people and Riley would avoid them whenever she could, he liked to be in front of them camera while she hid behind it, he loved attention and she loathed it.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t talk in front of strangers, leave her in a group of five and she was fine, but large crowds had her stuttering and shaking. She failed abysmally at public speaking in school, didn’t get her first boyfriend until she was eighteen and her heartbroken for the first time. She had to watch while Mike was able to to do everything she couldn’t, with ease. It broke her heart everytime she had to turn down doing something that Mikel loved to do because her anxiety couldn’t handle it.

She was sixteen when she realized she loved photography, her mother pulled out her own Polaroid camera, it no longer worked but just brushing her fingers over the old and dusty plastic had Riley smiling. When she was old enough to afford it, Riley bought herself a camera. If she couldn’t enjoy herself in fron of a camera, then she’d damn well support Mike behind it.

When she was eighteen and graduating, Riley was in front of the camera and she was freaking out before hand. Her shakes set in and she couldn’t even thank her mom for her good luck and kiss on the forehead, Mike was her saving grace once again as he dragged her by the hand across the stage and grabbed both of their diplomas, threw a smile at the crowd and pulled her off stage.

As soon as they left the stage Mike pulled her away, sat her down and made her mimic his breathing. Her hands grip at her hair and her eyes are screwed shut, she ignores every sound she fears except Mike’s voice, she ignores everything except matching his breaths. When her breathing is calm and the ringing in her ears is gone, Mike is the only face smiling down at her.

She was always hidden in Mike’s shadow to everyone but Mike.

For their nineteenth birthday, Riley surrendered herself for one night of being in front of the cameras, only for Mike’s bright smile. For their twentieth birthday, Mike and Riley had been in two different places, the first time they’d ever celebrated a birthday apart. She’d been attending college two states over on a photographing degree and he in a wrestling school in their hometown, her loved for her camera eventually got between them until she no longer rang home, no longer travelled home to visit.

It hadn’t been expected, the calls went for hours and then less, and less until they stopped all together. Her work got so busy that she had to cancel her visits, miss her family’s reunions. She had noticed she’d cut herself from her family until she was, she had no one to blame but herself.

Her work took off, she photographed for an up and coming magazine and eventually others took notice - she photographed for Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and even did runway shoots for Victoria’s Secret shows. She’d worked so hard to push herself out of the shadow she imagined herself growing up in, tried to make a name for herself that wasn’t included with Mikes.

He was always the first to be noticed, the first to be picked for games, the first to even be born. Mike was always the first for everything, Riley didn’t usually mind because it kept her out of the spotlight but to grow up being picked second constantly weighed on her.

She hadn’t realized that the only one not including her was herself, until her fathers funeral. He’d had stage two lung cancer, it had never been serious she Riley was growing up until suddenly it was and he was gone. She dropped everything the moment she found out and booked a ticket home the next morning, her mother took one look at her standing on the steps of a house she hadn’t been inside of in years and promptly burst into tears.

Mike stood wearily at her shoulder and when Riley pulled away from her mother, he hugged her briefly. It was not a hug between two twins who hadn’t seen each other in years, it was a strained hug between strangers, it wasn’t until two days later that thing came to halt. Riley and Mike, both drunk and mourning, blamed each other for their falling out. They argued, their mother cried and their family tried to hardest to ignore their shouting from outside the house; it had ended with Riley crying that she had to make a name for herself that didn’t have Mikes twin sister tacked on to the end of it.

“You’re my sister, you were never in my shadow!” Mike screamed back at her, hand pulling at his short hair. He’d always wanted to grow I out, “You’re not thinking right, Ri.”

“I was! I always was, people knew who I was but they didn’t know me.” Riley yelled back at him, hurt and scared. “It was always to get to know you, always!”

Mike swore then and thew his glass, “You were only ever in my shadow,” he mocked, “because you wanted to be there. You couldn’t talk to people Riley, you cried and shut down. I was trying to help!”

“Then don’t.”

He looked at her then and Riley had never seen his eyes look so heart broken, “Fine.”

Riley left that night and didn’t return for another two years, when she did see her brother again it was for her mothers funeral. They didn’t talk but she met his wife briefly in the toilets, she was nice and Riley hoped he was happy.

With no living parents and a twin brother she no longer talked to, Riley threw herself back into her work and pretended she was happy. She wasn’t, she missed her brother and her mother and her dad. She missed her family and she knew it was her own fault, she drew herself away, she saw problems where there were none, she ruined her relationship with her family all by herself.

When she’s hired onto the WWE, the first thing she does is try to contact her brother. He’d changed his number since he last talked to her and she doesn’t see him until two weeks into her new job, his face is pale when he recognizes her and she left a hand to wave when he turns his back and strides away from her. It hurts but she doesn’t let it hinder her, she deserves it.

Mike ignores her for weeks, months on end and Maryse recognizes her from her mothers funeral. They go out for coffee and Riley feels guilty for unloading their family drama onto her but Maryse smiles, hugs her and tell her it will be alright, don’t give up on him yet, she tells Riley before she leaves. Riley doesn’t, she smiles and says hello to Mike whenever she sees him, its not a lot but its baby steps, she leaves old family photos her mother sent her with Maryse and eventually Mike smiles back and they talk.

They cry on each others shoulder and slowly, she becomes apart of his life once more. She meets his friends,

(John Cena! She screams inwardly the first time she meets him.)

She grows to care for Maryse, eventually adopts her as a sister and jokes around with Mike that she always wanted one. For the first time since her fathers funeral, Riley’s happy - her career is still growing by the day, her brother and her are on taking terms and she has friends.

Seth Rollins is the first for her to really click with outside of her family, he charms himself into her life, but doesn’t get further. He introduces her to Roman, whose daughter and wife are the sweetest, and then eventually introduces her to Dean Ambrose. She doesn’t have a lot of words to describe Dean Ambrose, he is his on screen persona but at the same time, he isn’t. He is an enigma rolled in sarcasm that loves to grate on Riley’s nerves.

He is all that and so much more, he is always the first at the arena with an extra hot chocolate because Riley always runs out before he get there, he is always the one to scare off creepy guys from bars. He is always the first one when Mike isn’t around to see her building panic attacks and pulls her off to a far hallway to sit in silence. She didn’t get panic attacks until she was sixteen and boys started to notice her she told him, he’d had them since he was a child and watched his father beat him mother he told her.

Seth notes the growing friendship between Dean and Riley first, he jokes about them sneaking around together and she laughs it off. It doesn’t hurt her because Dean is just a friend and she sees how happy he is talking to Renee, she’s too old to worry about school yard crushes she tells Seth.

She winces when he settles her with a sympathetic smile, “Don’t hurt yourself, Riley.

Renee notices two months later, she asks Riley with kind eyes if she’s overstepping boundaries with Dean, Riley smiles and shakes her head. She ignores the falter in her heartbeat when they announce their engagement a month after that.

"Do you like Renee?” Dean asks her three months into his engagement. They’re watching a shitty old horror movie at Riley’s flat on Vegas when he drops the question on her, he fidgets with a loose thread on her blanket.

“Yeah, she’s a great girl.” and she is, Riley hates that she can’t hate her. “Why?”

“Is she-” he cuts himself off and smothers his face with the blanket, “We’re not moving too fast, are we?”

“You’re a grown man, Dean. If you know you’re happy and you want to do this, go for it. Damn anyone else who thinks otherwise.” He doesn’t say anything else and they go back to silently watching the movie.

Its month later when Riley hears about their split and two weeks after that when Deans find her. He finds her grinning down at her phone on top of a tech container and slaps hands down on either side of her legs, she jumps when she finds his face inches from hers.

“Up for a shitty movie night tonight? There’s an old cinema playing Frankenstein just up from here.” He asks her as he slides to the container next to her.

Riley smiles, slides her phone into her pockets an pats his shoulder, “Can’t tonight, old boy.”

He arches an eyebrow, “You never miss shitty movie night?”

Her eyes move past him and land on something further down the hall, her eyes glimmer and a blush burns over her cheeks, “I’ve got a date tonight, old boy.”

“A date -?” He trails off and notices Sheamus trailing down the hall towards them.

“Ready ta go, love?” He asks and Riley grins brightly and nods, she waves at Dean when she leaves but can’t shake the feeling of his eye burning into her back.

She enjoys her dates with Sheamus, he’s a perfect sweetheart when they go out together but the first morning he bring her hot chocolates instead of Dean breaks her heart. She doesn’t notice Dean standing in the doorway with a shaking hand and crestfallen look on his face, she does see his retreating back after he dumps the drink in the bin. When she pulls it out, her heart thuds when she read a hastily scribbled shitty movie night? with a badly drawn werewolf on the side. He doesn’t bring her coffee after that, doesn’t pull her up for a conversation in catering, he avoids her.

Sheamus can see how hurt she is and introduces her to his friends but its not the same, Mike asks her about dean in every conversation, Seth doesn’t talk to her when Dean is around and she is hurting because this is her fault.

She is happy and she knows that her happiness should always come first, Sheamus is nice and he cares for her but he doesn’t give her same thrill, the same excitement as Dean does. She tells him that she cares for him but not in the same way he wants her to, he smiles and tell he that he knows he will never be Dean.

“I don’t what you’re talking about.” She tries to deny it, she is not completely heartless.

“Its okay.” He smiles and wraps her in a hug. “I knew wha’ I was gettin’ myself into, I knew how ya felt for him before but I always had hope you’d like me like that too.”

She cries then because she had this amazing man at her side who gave up his happiness for hers and she feels completely selfish. She doesn’t deserve him.

She’s sitting in her hotel room later, ignoring the constant buzzing of her phone in favour of nursing a cold glass of wine. A shitty old horror movie is playing noiselessly across the screen but she isn’t focusing on it, her eyes are seeing but not watching.

Her hands are flicking through photos on her phone, photos of her and Mike flick through, photos of Dean and her that she’d forced him into, photos of her and Sheamus watching a game of soccer. Three great, amazing guys that only wanted to be there for her and she managed to push all three of them away; she wanted to cry, she truly did, but she don’t enough wallowing and feeling sorry for herself.

She had better things to do, her laptop was laying in front of her but her shots for Hunter weren’t due until next week. Maryses face popped up in her photos, she could always ask her out for a drink but her eyes flicked up to the time and her heart dropped, too late.

She sighed and sat up to refill her glass of wine when she was interrupted by knocking on the door. She swung the door open, is met Dean’s tired eyes before he pushed into her room, grabbed her by the wait and buried his face in her necks. His nose brushes against her neck and with Dean’s body hanging tightly, she dropped to the ground beneath them and wound her arms around his back.

“I’m sorry.” He coughed and curled his fingers into her sides, “I’m so sorry.”

“Dean, whats-?”

“I should have been happy that you were happy,” he sniffles and pulled back to look her in the eyes. He had a five o'clock shadow, bags drooping beneath his eyes and nose bright red, he looked like he’d aged ten years in a month, “I shouldn’t have avoided you.”

“Dean, its okay-!”

“Its not, don’t say it is.” He wiped his nose harshly and shuffled back more, “You deserve better than that. You told me that people leaving was your biggest fear and I did the one thing I know scared you, leaving.”

“I -” Riley’s words caught in her throat, he was right. It did scare her but she knew that she had a hand in it, she wasn’t innocent. “I should have tried to talk to you, I shouldn’t have let you pull away. I -”

“I love you.” Dean blurts and Riley watches as his cheeks flush red, “I love and I - I really want to kiss you right now. Can I?”

She nodded and his lips are on hers, rough and chapped lips presses against hers urgently like she’ll run as soon as they part. He pulls away and she doesn’t run, she throws herself at him and he catches her by the waist, lifting her easily onto his lap. His shirts pulled off and hers follows not long after, it isn’t until he leans back onto the cold tiles that they remember they’re laying on the floor. They move to the bed and he moans into her mouth, she digs her nails into his back and they come together in ecstasy.

They lay in end together afterwards with Riley sprawled across his chest humming happily as he runs his finger through her hair. The movie is still flickering through silently and the room is quiet except for the pair and the quiet humming of the AC, its calm.

“I love you too,” Riley whispers into the room, “…if you couldn’t tell.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure you moaned it loud enough for the neighbors to hear.” He says, words dripping with sarcasm, and digs his fingers into her sides.

“Dean!” She squeals and shoves him softly, he stops and drops his chin to her shoulder, smiling softly at her. “Wanna watch a shitty old movie?”

“Only if you get to stay naked.” He doesn’t leave her a chance to answer, already swinging her over his shoulder, only pausing to sling a blanket over the two of them when they settle on the couch.