#so i am just putting it all in the tags. Maybe I will stop if anyone thinks dot posts are too annoying.

[fxckadoodledoomunson]

A Heart Divided -3-

Previous

|3| The mermaid’s wrath…

Summary: The truth about your sister and Eddie comes to light, leading your parents to make a decision. And on the day of the semifinal, Eddie gives you a piece of his mind.

Warnings: Swearing, blood, slight mention of sex but no smut, Eddie Jason and Andy being dicks, fat shaming.

Tagged: @somethingvicked @ali-r3n @mirandasidefics @mewchiili @erisdogwood @hufflepuffobsessedwithmarvel @yourdailymemedelivery @pretendthisnameisclever

You rode as fast as you could, unaware that you left your bag behind at Steve’s. You were unsure why your father wanted you home immediately. But you figured that it had to be something to do with your sister. As soon as you arrived at your house, you got off your bike and you rushed to the front door, swinging it open. As soon as you shut the door behind you, you shouted, “I’m home.”

You walked through the living room, as you asked, “Why did you need back so…quickly?”

You stopped, as you saw your father holding your sister’s broken radio while your mother was on the sofa, comforting your sister, who you could see, was putting on the crocodile tears. Your father approached you, as he lifted the radio in front of you. “I need you to be honest with us,” he sternly said, before asking you. “Did you break your sister’s radio?”

Before you could even answer, your sister sniffled, “Don’t know why you’re asking her, Daddy. She’s only going to deny it.”

As your mother comforted her, you crossed your arms, confessing, “Yes, I did.”

Your father gave you a stern look, while your mother who was still cuddling your sister, as she asked, “Why would you do that? What gave you the right to do break something that brings happiness to your sister? You know that she loved that radio.”

Your blood started to boil, disgusted at your mother’s words. Before you knew it, you blew up. “Why? Why?!”

Your parents flinched at your wrath. In their eyes, you were mild, hardly getting mad at anything. But in that moment, all they could see was just an angry teenager.

“Maybe if she and Eddie weren’t being inconsiderate arseholes, making things hard for me by fooling around when I’m trying to study and practice for the swimming competition, and-“

“Whoa!” Your father exclaimed, raising his hand for you to stop, before turning to your sister, before asking her, “Eddie? As in Eddie Munson? The boy your sister’s been tutoring?”

“Oh! Don’t be absurd,” your mother interjected. “She wouldn’t-“

Suddenly, you heard the door knocking. Your father pointed at you and your sister, as he sternly said, “We’re not finished.”

He stomped to the door and opened it, to find Laura Cunningham standing outside.

“Laura, what brings you here?” He asked.

Without asking your father’s permission, Laura stormed inside. “I need to speak to your wife,” she announced, as stomped into the living room.

“Not interrupting anything, am I?” She asked.

Your mother mentioned to her that you had broken your sister’s radio, before mentioning your sister and Eddie’s relationship.

“I mean, have you heard anything more absurd?” Your mother nervously laughed, before her laughter died down, as she met Laura’s glare.

“Actually I have,” Laura spoke, before revealing. “You see, I went to see Mrs Banks earlier for coffee and a chat about her son’s sermon, and she told me what she had witnessed.”

Your sister lowered her gaze to the ground, as your parents attentively listened to what Laura was saying, mentioning that not only Mrs Banks saw you break your sister’s radio, but also mentioned what she and Eddie had gotten up to after you left.

Laura pointed her finger at your sister, as she told her, “You should be ashamed of yourself, young lady. I’m only thankful that my son wasn’t home to hear you doing all sorts.”

Laura shuddered, when your father turned to your sister, and gave her a stern look, as he asked, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Your sister looked up at him, before shifting her gaze to you, giving you a sly smirk. She then turned to your father and Laura, and confessed, “Yes, Eddie and I have been seeing each other ever since spring break. And we did it…a lot.”

Your parents gasped, as Laura looked like she was going to have a heart attack. Your mother went to check on Laura who retaliated, “Don’t. Just know that you and your family are no longer welcome to our home. Not until you turn away from sin.”

As your parents pleaded and apologised to their neighbour, you turned to your sister who was still looking smug, before angrily rushing upstairs to your room, your father called out to you, as he followed you only to have the door slammed shut in his face when he heard another knock on the door. As he stomped down the stairs, your father groaned, “Who is it this time? Devil worshippers?!”

He opened the door to find Steve standing outside.

“Oh, hello Steve,” your father greeted him.

As Steve greeted your father, he overheard your mother, your sister and Laura arguing, before asking, “Is this a bad time?”

Your father stepped out and closed the door behind him, drowning out the arguments. “What brings you here?” He asked.

Steve lifted up your bag, handed it over to him, letting him know that you left it behind.

“Oh, thank you very much,” your father replied. “I’ll pass it back to her.”

Just as your father was about to go back inside when Steve asked him, “Also, could you let her know that if she needs more practice that she’s welcome to come to my place again?”

Your father gave him a small smile, before telling him, “I will do.”

After saying goodbye, your father stepped back inside, leaving Steve to go back to his car when Chrissy approached him.

“Hey,” she greeted him, as she crossed her arms.

“Hey,” Steve replied, as he leaned against his car door.

“I take it that my mom’s still in there?”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows when Chrissy mentioned that the pastor’s mother saw Eddie with your sister earlier and snitched on them to her mother, as she looked up at one of the upstairs windows, before commenting that she hoped that you were okay.

“Well,” Steve shrugged, as he replied, “She was still down about Eddie and her sister when I spoke to her earlier.”

Chrissy shook her head, as she told him, “There’s definitely more going on than what we know. I mean, her sister was never nice to a lot of people. When I first joined the cheer squad, she always teased me for being too short for cheer.”

“She may be hot, but she was always a bitch. She makes Carol Perkins look like Snow White.”

Chrissy stifled her giggle as Steve lightly chuckled, “Well she does. But I get what you mean.” Steve leaned his head back, as he asked, “ I mean, how could Munson fall for someone like her sister who wouldn’t have look at him twice at high school?”

Chrissy nodded, as she told him that you had always been nice to him even before you began tutoring him. “My heart broke for her when she admitted that she liked him,” she confessed, making Steve move his head forward, facing Chrissy.

“I figured that she had a thing for him, even before the whole situation,” Steve revealed, as he looked down at the ground. “Unrequited love sucks.”

As Chrissy stood beside him, and leaned against his car, she asked, “Do you like her?”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows, as he turned to her when she asked if he liked you.

“Uh…no!” Steve retorted , as he raised his hands. “I do like her, but definitely not in that way.”

“Oh,” a surprised Chrissy exclaimed. “I thought you…”

“Definitely not. I’ve always thought of her as a sister, and the feelings are mutual.” Steve let out a chuckle for a few seconds before hearing the door open.

It was Laura.

As she stomped on the pavement, she turned to her daughter and sternly said, “Chrissy, come inside. That family is no longer welcome in our home.”

A confused Chrissy turned to Steve, as she silently walked away when Steve called out, “I’ll see you around, Chrissy.”

Chrissy turned her head, giving him a small smile, before turning away as she followed her mother.

Meanwhile, you were sitting on your bed in your pyjamas, drying your hair with a towel when you heard a knock on your door.

You didn’t answer at first, thinking that it was your sister standing outside. But then, you heard your father’s voice, “It’s only me, pumpkin.”

You huffed, before telling him to come in. As soon as he opened the door, your father lifted your bag, as he said, “That Harrington boy said that you left it at his place.”

You couldn’t believe that you left your bag behind. As he handed it to you, he assured you, “Don’t worry, I made sure that your sister didn’t peak inside.”

You softly thanked him, when your father sat on the bed beside you, before he asked, “Do you want to talk about it? About your sister and Eddie?”

You shook your head, trying to fight the tears. You could tell Steve and Chrissy about your feelings, but sadly, you couldn’t do the same with your family.

Your father sighed, before informing you, “Listen, I thought I should let you know first, as you knew Eddie before their relationship. I’m planning to invite Eddie and his uncle over for dinner tomorrow night.”

You lifted your head and swiftly turned it, as you were about to protest against the idea when your father mentioned, “Since the relationship’s out in the open, we might as well do it. Besides, I want to hear Wayne’s thoughts about it. But if it makes you uncomfortable, then I won’t-“

You shook your head, as you blankly told him, “Do it. It would happen sooner than later, so invite them over.”

You didn’t want it to happen, but like your father, you wanted to know Wayne’s input on the relationship. It was wishful thinking, but you hoped that maybe by tomorrow night, Eddie will change his mind about dating your sister.

“No way. Are you serious?” Chrissy asked you the next day after you told her that your father had invited Eddie and Wayne over for dinner.

“I wish I wasn’t,” you replied, as you and her were sitting on the bleachers, as you watched the first two groups play volleyball. “There’s no way I can go through with it.”

“You’ll be fine,” Chrissy assured you, as she squeezed your hand. “And you said that his uncle’s coming, so maybe Eddie will have to behave himself in front of him.”

You sighed, as you shifted your attention to Eddie, who was sitting in the bottom row of the bleachers, talking to Grant, who begged Eddie not to cancel Hellfire, while watching Jeff play.

“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not cancelling. It’ll just be later than usual,” Eddie told him. “Her parents want me and Wayne over for dinner.”

As soon as Eddie turned his head, you swiftly shifted your attention back to the two teams playing. Not long after, the coach blew his whistle, telling the teams to go and sit on the benches, before calling the rest of the class, including you to step to the net.

You couldn’t think of anything more awkward than being on the same team as Eddie, especially as he looking back at you before muttering to himself. Fortunately, you had Chrissy, Patrick and Aimee on your team.

However, you felt bad for Grant who was stuck on the same team as Jason, Andy and Chance along with Andy’s girlfriend, Hannah.

You could hear Robin and Vickie cheering for you while Jeff cheered for his friends before hearing the coach telling everyone to get into position, as he passed the ball to Jason. As you moved further back away from Eddie, the coach raised his hand before swiftly move it down, as he blew the whistle, letting the match commence.

As soon as Jason served the ball net, you watched the ball heading for Patrick, who smacked it towards Chrissy, who then hit it towards Aimee, who managed to smack it over the net. Grant tried to hit it over, but missed, earning a point to your team. After you gave high-fives to the girls and Patrick, you turned to Eddie, who had his arms crossed, and was about to high-five him only for you to remember that you and him were not on good terms. As you lowered your hand down, you and Eddie noticed Jason and Andy ganging up on Grant for missing the ball. “What was that, freak?” Jason sneered.

“I bet if it was a giant meatball, he would catch it,” Andy cackled.

Eddie was about to give the curly haired meat head a piece of his mind when you called out, “Hey Andy! Why don’t you quit fat shaming someone, and actually learn how to play?”

Eddie and Jeff exchanged surprised looks as they heard you defend Grant, who was unsure whether or not to thank you for sticking up for him.

Eddie turned to look at you when you quickly faced onwards. Why did she do that? He thought. I thought she…

The whistle blew, making Eddie lose his train of thoughts.

As the coach passed the ball to Aimee, Eddie shook his head as he thought, I’m sure she only said it to make herself look good.

After the whistle blew again, Aimee began to serve, hitting the ball over the net, heading towards Chance, who managed to hit it towards Jason, who then smacked the ball between you and Eddie, causing you two to collide and fall, earning the point to Jason’s team.

After you managed to pick yourself up, you stuck out your hand, offering it to Eddie, only for him to harshly smack it away, before picking himself up. You hissed as you rubbed your hand, realising that he scratched your palm when Chrissy checked if you were okay. You silently nodded, as Chrissy glared at Eddie, while Robin shook her head.

After Chance served, Patrick smacked the ball back, only for it to be hit by Hannah, who smacked it to your direction. With your hand still feeling sore, you used your other hand to hit the ball, only for it to hit the net, giving Jason’s team another point.

While the rest of the team praised you for trying, Eddie scoffed, before muttering, “Clearly doing it for attention as always.”

His words angered you. You didn’t know what you did to make him treat you like shit. You didn’t know if your sister had said or did something to make him think about you the way he did, but all you knew is that you were no longer tolerating it.

As soon as Andy smacked the ball towards you, you grabbed it, making your teammates, including Eddie, wonder what you were doing when you abruptly threw the ball square right in Eddie’s face, causing him to fall down on his back.

Everyone became shocked when they noticed blood gushing from Eddie’s nose. Jeff and Grant rushed to his side to pick him up, as Jeff asked you, “What the hell’s wrong with you?” As soon as Eddie got to his feet, he told them, “I’m fine.”

He elbowed them, as he bellowed, “I said I’m fine!”

As he wiped his bloodied nose, Eddie stomped towards you, getting up close as he growled, “You really are a fucking psycho. Your sister was right about you.”

Angered by his words, you slapped him across the face. Andy and Jason chortled at what they had witnessed when the coach blew his whistle as he approached you two and shouted, “Okay! That’s enough! You two! Principal’s office now!”

A few moments later, the two of you waited outside the principal’s office. While you had a an ice pack for one hand and a bandaid for your scratched one, Eddie held a tissue up his nostril, leaning his head back, as he muttered, “You didn’t need to be so dramatic, I was just telling you what she said.”

You turned your head, silently judging him for being a arsehole, as you told him bluntly, “You’ll make yourself choke if you tilt your head back.”

Eddie silently mocked you, when he started to choke, causing him to spit the blood out of his mouth on his shirt, which disgusted the receptionist. You immediately went to her desk and grabbed some tissues for Eddie.

“I did tell you,” you retorted, as you passed him the tissues. Eddie, who snatched the tissues off you, as he glared at you when the door opened with Higgins stepping outside, asking for you to come in. As you followed Higgins, Eddie commented something crude about you being Higgins’ pet to you when you harshly threw your ice pack on his crotch.

“Jesus,” Eddie winced, as he removed it from his crotch, placing it on the chair next to him.

After Higgins asked you to take a seat, you bluntly said, “Look, just get it over with and suspend me or expel me. Because I really don’t want to be here right now.”

Higgins looked at you with concern. You were one of the brightest students in the school, and hearing that you got into a fight with Eddie Munson, he had to think of something so that the school’s reputation wasn’t ruined.

He sighed, as he told you, “You’re one of our best students, and one of our star swimmers. It would be a shame if it was thrown away because of one bad seed, especially as the race is tomorrow.”

You wanted to tell him that Eddie wasn’t a bad seed, despite how he treated you of late and how he pushed you to throw the ball at him, causing his injury.

However, you remained silent when Higgins continued to speak, “However, given your…recent aggressive behaviour, you’ll be given a week’s detention starting from next week and I advise you to see Ms Kelly once a week for the next month.”

That’s all? I expected worse, you thought, as you watched him write a pink slip, before handing it to you, as he told you that you’re free to go. As you left, you heard Higgins say, while walking past Eddie, “Mr Munson, back here again…” As soon as you left the office, you were walking through the hallway where you were greeted by Chrissy, Robin and Vickie.

“Are you okay?” Chrissy asked.

“What happened?” Vickie asked.

“Did you get suspended?” Robin asked.

You shook your head, as you told them that you had detention from next week and you were advised to see Ms Kelly.

“To be honest, I was expecting a lot worse,” you replied, when Chrissy took your hand and checked your palm, before suggesting, “I think we should go to the nurse to get it wrapped-“

You shook your head, as you told her, “I’ll be fine.”

Suddenly, the girls’s faces fell, as Eddie marched through the hallway, glaring at your direction, as he stormed past. You and the girls watched him heading outside, as Robin asked, “Who does he think he is, treating you like shit?”

You deeply sighed, wondering about the repercussions that would follow.

Later on in the evening, your mother was preparing the dinner, while your sister was putting on her make up when your mother asked her, “Honey, can you help me set the table?”

“Mum, I’m trying to do my makeup,” she retorted before telling her to ask you instead. She then complained about not having a new dress for the dinner.

Meanwhile, you were in the living room, being lectured by your father about the earlier altercation between you and Eddie.

“You’re lucky that you didn’t get kicked out of tomorrow’s semifinal. You could’ve lost your scholarship, you do realise that?”

“Yes sir,” you responded with sincerity. Your father sighed, as he sat down next to you, before taking your injured hand, and told you, “Look, I know things have been awkward since your sister’s relationship had been brought to light, but I need you to-“

“And apologise to Eddie, I know,” you told him.

“Well, it’ll definitely show that you’re being the bigger person. But also, I want you to make sure that you’re on top of everything. You’re graduating soon, so you can’t let yourself slip up. Okay?”

You silently nodded, as your father patted your back when you heard the doorbell ring.

After your father asked you to answer it, you got up from the couch and headed to the door and opened it, finding Wayne and a bruised Eddie standing outside.

You were unsure how Wayne would greet you, given your earlier fight with Eddie. What you didn’t expect however, was Wayne smiling at you, as he opened his arms to give you a hug.

You lightly hugged him back with a puzzled expression on your face, wondering why Eddie didn’t snitch on you. After he let go, Wayne turned to Eddie, telling him to give you a hug. You turned to Wayne with confusion, before shifting your attention to Eddie who huffed, before stepping towards you and reluctantly hugged you, while Wayne shook your father’s hand. You were about to apologise to Eddie for earlier when your sister stepped out of the kitchen and rushed towards him, as she greeted him in a shrill voice, “Hi baby.”

Wayne rubbed his ear, irritated by her voice while Eddie immediately pulled away from you and went to kiss your sister, when she stopped him, telling him that she had just done her makeup.

“That hasn’t stopped me before,” Eddie lightly chuckled.

You rolled your eyes, as you headed into the kitchen where your mother asked you to help set the table, unaware that Wayne was watching you with sympathetic eyes.

All through out dinner, the adults were chatting and your sister and Eddie were flirting, while you sat there, silently fiddling with your food with your fork when Wayne said to your parents, “I must confess, when you said that Eddie’s been seeing one of your daughters, I thought it would be her.”

He pointed to you, which made you lift your head up when he continued to speak, “Then I figured maybe they finally reconciled after their fallout.”

You then heard Eddie scoff , before he retorted, “Well, he thought wrong. I’d say that I picked the right sister…” He then took your sister’s hand, making her smirk, before he muttered, “And not that psycho bitch.”

Your eyes widened, as you heard Eddie. You looked around the table, feeling embarrassed, almost at the brink of tears. Your father was about to open his mouth when Wayne sternly told Eddie, as he put down his cutlery, “Eddie, apologise to her.”

Eddie silently glared at you when Wayne told him, with a more angry tone, “Eddie, I said apologise to her.”

Eddie swiftly turned his head to his uncle and retorted, “Why should I? She’s the one who started it. Did you not hear me tell you that she almost broke my nose?”

Wayne turned your parents as he coolly asked them to excuse him, so he could talk to his nephew in private.

As soon as Wayne got up, he grabbed Eddie by the arm and dragged him out of the dining room, telling him, “I’m aware of that incident between you two, but I also know that I brought you up to have manners.”

While the pair were arguing, you sat there silently when your sister spat, “I hope you’re happy. You ruined everything.”

Your mother tried to calm her down, when your sister whined, “No! She always ruins everything for me-“

Your father told her to stop, which led to an argument between your family.

Tears streamed down your face, hearing the commotion around you when you suddenly heard a clock ticking, followed by a deep voice telling you, “She’s right…you do ruin everything…”

Unable to take it anymore, you pushed your chair back so hard that you almost broke the leg and shouted, “Stop it! Just stop it!”

The house became silent, as everyone turned to you, gaping, while your sister commented, “Gross…”

You realised that blood was dripping from your nose. As soon as you wiped it away with your sleeve, you immediately ran out of the dining room and headed to your room as your father called your name when you slammed the door behind you, before sliding down against it, as you sobbed.

“What’s going on with me?” You blubbered, unsure what was happening to you. Ever since you found out about your sister, you had been getting bad headaches, then the recurring nightmares in the past two nights, and earlier on, you heard a dark voice echoing what your sister commented, along with a nosebleed.

Back downstairs, your father apologised to Wayne and Eddie for your outburst when Wayne shook his head, as he calmly said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ve heard worse.”

“Well, at least that’s one less mouth to feed,” your sister snidely commented, which made Wayne’s blood boil, wondering what Eddie saw in her.

Instead of confronting her, Wayne took a deep breath before asking your mother where the bathroom was.

After been given the directions, Wayne went upstairs. However, he went to the door with your name on it, and knocked on it.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Dad,” you sobbed from the other side of the door. “Please leave me alone.”

“It’s me, kiddo,” Wayne called out. Not long after, you opened the door, revealing your puffy eyes.

“Wayne, I can’t tell you how sorry I am-“ you began to apologise when Wayne stopped you by hugging you.

“I understand what you’re going through,” Wayne told you, as he let go of you, before sitting on the edge of your bed. “I’ve been on the same boat myself.”

You looked at him with a confused expression, as he patted the bed, prompting you to sit next to him.

As you sat down, Wayne told you that he loved a girl who gave him the same treatment as Eddie gave you.

“She started treating me like crap for no reason after she got together with my brother. I couldn’t understand why she did it, even to this day. But I’m sure that Al said something to her put her off.”

“And, was this girl…Eddie’s mother?”

Wayne shook his head, telling you, “No, not sweet Elizabeth. She was an angel. No, this was before my brother met her. This girl’s name was Eunice. Unfortunately for her, she got her heartbroken by Al after he was seeing her best friend behind her back.”

“Oh God…” you muttered, “Well, it’s her loss I guess.”

He had let out a small chuckle, as silently gazed at him, before you began asking, “How long have you known…?”

“It wasn’t hard to tell,” Wayne lightly chuckled, as he replied. “I saw how your face lit up whenever you looked at him during your tutoring sessions.”

Meanwhile, Eddie went upstairs to find his uncle when he overheard you two talking.

“It’s just a shame that you two are no longer on good terms,” Wayne told you.

“How did know about me and Eddie?” You asked.

“I saw him and the Mayfield girl arguing about you. She saw the way he spoke to you on the first day back, and gave him grief for it.”

You sighed, before telling him, “I don’t know what I did wrong, Wayne. Before spring break, we were fine, but now everything’s gone to shit.”

Can’t believe she’s got Wayne on her side, Eddie angrily thought. But she won’t get away with it.

Eddie snuck into your sister’s room and got on all fours, as he searched under her bed when he found what he had been looking for.

“Gotcha,” he whispered, as he pulled out a diary from underneath the bed.

He tucked the diary into his inside pocket, before picking himself up from the floor. As soon as he left the bedroom, he called out Wayne’s name.

As soon as Wayne’s head popped his head out of the door, Eddie said, “I thought you were in the bathroom.”

“Oh, I was,” Wayne lied, before telling him that he was just saying goodbye to you.

“Well, we need to get going so I can get the campaign started, and introduce everyone to my girl,” Eddie told him, as he ambled towards your door.

You stood up, trying to suppress your emotions, as Wayne looked at his watch, before he said to you, “We better make a move. I’ll see you tomorrow at the race.”

You nodded, as the two men were about to leave when you called out to Eddie, who reluctantly turned around.

“I’m sorry about earlier, I should’ve controlled my anger.”

Eddie’s face softened, as he felt confused. The last thing he expected was an apology from you. However, he quickly thought you were made to apologise by your parents.

Eddie remained silent when Wayne nudged him, as he asked, “Eddie, do you have any to say to her?”

Eddie glanced at his uncle, before shifting his attention back to you. He cleared his throat, before mumbling, “Sorry…”

“Eddie?” Wayne sternly said.

Eddie sighed, before speaking up, “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have kept pushing your buttons.”

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way,” Wayne said, as he patted Eddie’s shoulder. “We better make a move.”

After saying goodbye to you, Wayne immediately went downstairs to say goodbye to the rest of the family.

You went to sit down on your bed, reaching for something in your bedside table draw when you realised that Eddie was still standing by the door. You turned to him and asked, “Was there something else?”

Eddie blankly gazed at you, before scoffing as he went back downstairs.

You huffed, as you shook your head, before grabbing your diary from your draw and started writing…

The mermaid had never been so angry in her life, until the not so valour bard had pushed her too far. Fortunately, the wise man was able to help keep the peace between the two of them for now.But how long will it be before the storm of conflict started to rage again?

The next day, almost the whole town came to see the race. You were outside the changing room, making sure that all of your hair was tucked in your cap, as thought about what happened last night when you heard someone calling your name. You turned to find Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Max approaching you. To be truthful, you were prepared for the boys to give you the same treatment as Eddie and the older boys had given you.

“We just wanted to wish you luck on the race,” Mike told you.

“Yeah, you’ll totally blow everyone away,” Dustin said, as he smiled at you.

“Oh, thanks,” you replied, feeling surprised. “I’m surprised that you guys are actually talking to me, after I’ve been avoiding you and Hellfire.”

“Well, Max told us what happened with you and Eddie,” Lucas explained.

“And what a total asshole he’s been to you lately,” Max elaborated.

“Sinclair!” You heard Jason calling Lucas, telling him to sit with him and the rest of the jocks.

After Lucas wished you good luck, he and Max went to take their seats when Dustin spoke up, “Listen, even though Mike and I are still hanging out with Eddie,” Dustin mentioned. “We know that you’re not like what he said. So whatever his problem is, I just hope that he’ll see sense.”

“Not with his new girlfriend around he won’t,” Mike mumbled.

“So, my sister actually went to the campaign then?” You asked, as you crossed your arms.

“Yeah she did,” Dustin replied. “Although, all she did was flirt with Eddie when he was supposed to be Dungeon Master.”

“He even ended the campaign early, just so he could spend more time with her,” Mike mentioned. “I hate to admit it, but since he got with her, his story telling has fallen flat. Even Gareth, Jeff and Grant agreed.”

“Is that so, Wheeler?”

You looked up to find Eddie standing behind the wary freshmen, who turned to him and started rambling when Eddie pulled them back, dragging them to the bleachers, as he told them before pushing them to the barrier, “We’ll discuss my story telling skills later.”

After the two freshmen took their seats, Eddie turned around, darkly looking at you, as he growled, “I need to talk to you.”

Before you could answer, Eddie discreetly grabbed your arm, pulling you into the changing room.

“What are you doing?” You angrily asked. “I need to be out there-“

“You might have pulled the wool over everyone else’s eyes, thinking that you’re so innocent.”

“What are you talking about?” You asked. “I don’t know what I did-“

You stopped, as Eddie pulled out the hidden diary of his jacket pocket, and held it near your face. You realised that it was identical to your own diary, but you knew that it wasn’t yours.

“Recognise this?” Eddie asked, as he moved it away, before opening it up, flipping through the pages.

“It looks like a diary,” you replied. “But whatever you think it is, it’s not-“

“Looks like I have no choice but to tutor the freak. How he’s a senior three years in a row, I’ll never know,” Eddie read aloud, which left you confused.

“What? What are you-?”

“I don’t know why I bother helping him. The freak should just give up and drop out.”

Before you could say anything else, Eddie flipped through the pages, before reading aloud, “Corroded Coffin, ha! What a joke! Those guys couldn’t even carry a paper bag, let alone a tune.”

He then glared at you, as he said whilst flipping the page, “Here’s another…”

He then read aloud, “Who would’ve thought that the Hellfire Club could be so dull? I would rather have my ears chopped off by Freddy Krueger than hear that dreary so called campaign again.”

You glanced at him with confusion once again, as Eddie slammed the diary shut, before waving it about, whilst asking, “Any of that ring any bells?”

“You think that I wrote that kind of shit?” You asked.

Eddie opened one of the pages, showing it to you, as he scoffed, “This is your handwriting, is it not?”

Before you could respond, Eddie read one more page to you, “Munson really thinks he’s God’s gift to women, because he can play that stupid guitar. How any woman can stand him, I’ll never know.”

He slammed the diary shut once more, as he sighed, “Now, not gonna lie… that one really hurt. Especially, as I actually liked you. And I don’t mean as a friend.”

You gaped, hearing the confession.

“You liked me?” You whispered, as a tear fell down your cheek.

“Yeah, liked, as in past tense.”

Eddie sarcastically laughed, as he put the diary back in his pocket, before telling you. “You know, I thought you were different from the other girls I’ve been with. But you’re just the same. At least your sister had the decency to show me the type of person you really are.”

You gasped, realising that your sister might be the reason for Eddie’s recent treatment towards you.

Just as Eddie was about to leave, you rushed behind him, and grabbed his hand, as called out to him, “Eddie, wait. Eddie, listen to me. You have to believe me.”

Eddie angrily turned to you, as you continued to speak, “It may look like my handwriting, but believe me, I never wrote any of that. Why would I write those things? Why would I write all that shit about you when I actually liked-?”

“Don’t!” Eddie growled. “Don’t you dare say that you actually had feelings for me. You mean nothing to me anymore.”

You silently sobbed when you heard the coach calling your name. You wiped your tears away, as you headed out of the locker room, leaving Eddie behind.

He took deep breaths, as he was about to leave when he heard a door slam open from the changing room. He then turned to find an angry Chrissy standing in her cheer outfit, clenching her fists.

Eddie’s face fell, as he glanced at her, muttering her name.

“We need to talk,” she growled, as she stomped towards him and grabbed his arm, pulling him to the fire exit door, as she said in an angry tone, “Now.”

Next

[batsplat]

so in assen 2004 comms talk about how valentino helped melandri with riding yamaha A Lot, and how they are two great friends. and indeed those two have known each other since childhood/or at least their teens right? (seen a lot of their photos w matching terrible dye jobs) but then fast forward to 2010 and melandri is going full conspiracy theorist about the freaking chair affghhhkgjk. like what happened here? is it any interesting or is it like mostly one sided bitterness from melandri or something. like that can’t really be about 2005 season for vale bc come on melandri wasn’t his main rival that year.

even if it’s not interesting feud or drama wise it is another friendship that vale had (and unlike w sete vale&melandri go way back) that eventually fell apart as a result of competing in motogp…….hm

yeah, we don't actually have a great sense of what happened there! it's funny the coldness seems to have crept in during the 2005 season specifically, because I'm very much with you here on the 'come on valentino why bother' stance - melandri was aggressively not a proper title contender that season and really not even the main on-track rival... but actually I do think this fits in rather nicely within my sete thesis, which we'll get to. the subsequent public bitterness has been entirely one-sided, with melandri occasionally saying something kinda mean-spirited about valentino in recent years and valentino... not doing any of that

anyhow, they definitely WERE close, which was hammered home not just through repeated mentions by the commentators but also when you read the columns he was dictating every race for mat oxley in his early years. here, from his 250cc days:

mugello 1998

I wasn’t so confident before Mugello because while I was at home I played football and lost, I played tennis and lost, I rode motocross and lost. The only thing I won was minicars – I am the champion! We got beaten in a five-a-side soccer match, six-one, then a friend beat me at tennis, six-one, then Marco [Melandri] beat me at motocross. I’m always fighting with Marco on motocross but he’s faster than me. I’m getting better though – at the start of the year he’d beat me by five or six seconds, now it’s only one or two. I have much fear when I ride motocross because I’m not good at flying. We don’t go crazy; it would be stupid to get hurt doing that. Motocross is great for my muscle power though. I don’t go the gym much in the summer because I want to be outside, so motocross is perfect.

paul ricard 1998

As usual, my break between Mugello and France was full of battles with my friends! First we played football and my team won on penalties. I scored the winner. I never make a mistake from the penalty spot. Next day I did motocross with Melandri and he beat me, as usual, but we had some very funny races. Then I raced with Melandri again, but with electric cars. He’s bought a Honda NSX – it’s fast. Before I left for France we raced minimoto at a track in Rimini. There were about 20 of us: me, Melandri and a load of fast, young Italian riders. We had a lot of really crazy battles. Lots of fun! I don’t think it’s dangerous because the bikes aren’t so fast, maybe 60kp/h. I had some big fights with Melandri, we hit each other all the time – BANG! BANG! BANG! – and we crashed together maybe two or three times.

madrid 1998

I’m doing motocross three times a week now to help build up strength, but Melandri is still faster than me, so I’ve started practising in secret. I get dressed into my motocross gear, then ring him to tell him we don’t need to ride today, then do a few hours riding in secret! Soon I will be faster than him! Anyway, I beat him in minimoto before we went to Jarama.

assen 1998

“Hooray, finally I am first on a 250! It was the day of the teenager at Assen, the Italian teenager! I was so happy when my friend Melandri won the 125 race, so it was fantastic to go out and win the 250. A perfect day, except Marco and me couldn’t party on Saturday night, because I flew home to celebrate with my friends, while he stayed at Assen. I guess we’ll make sure we have a beer together before Donington.

donington 1998

We had our own paddock World Cup at Donington on Thursday, which was really shit, because we played three games and lost three games. I played in the Italian team with Melandri, Boscoscuro, Scalvini, Locatelli, Borsoi and Carpani. First we played the Suzuki 500 team and lost, then we played Team Rainey and lost, and finally we played Dorna, and lost. Dorna were all Spanish and very good. But the games weren’t so much fun because the pitch was tiny and really bumpy. Last year we had the paddock World Cup at Imola on a full-size pitch, and I scored twice. Nice!

sachsenring 1998

Now we have a four-week holiday before Brno, but I’m going to spend most of my time on the beach near my home – it’s sunny and the girls are nice, that’s all I need! But I am going away for one week – a racers’ holiday with Loris Reggiani, Roberto Locatelli and Melandri. We’re going to Tunisia to mess about with jet skis and fast boats. Should be a lot of fun!

sepang 1999

The winter was fun. Usually I don’t like the winter because it’s too cold, but where I live, near the Adriatic coast, there are so many people in the summer. That didn’t used to be a problem, but now everyone recognises me, so it’s Rossi! Rossi! Rossi! all the time. I don’t like it! I spent a lot of time with my friends, as that’s when I’m happiest. We went skiing a few times, a big gang of us. Mad! Snowboarding is more fashionable nowadays but I’m faster on skis, so it’s better! Melandri came with me once, he’s my best mate in the paddock, plus Alessandro Brannetti, a new Italian 125 guy.

mugello 1999

Before Mugello I spent some time at home, riding my 250 road bike and going motocrossing. I have a new motocross bike at home, but I can’t tell you what it is, because it’s not an Aprilia! But it’s a lot of fun on the new motocross track I’ve built behind a friend’s house. I dug the ground myself with a JCB digger we hired. I have designed the track to be safe for me, because modern motocross tracks have near-vertical take-off jumps, which are very dangerous if you don’t have good control in the air. And I don’t! So I’ve built low and fast jumps which I can take in fourth or fifth gear and be safe. Big fun! I’m looking forward to racing my friend Melandri, who hasn’t been doing motocross since he broke his wrist in Malaysia.

sachsenring 1999

Now we have a four-week holiday, hooray! All I really want to do is sleep. During the break last year I went to Tunisia with a bunch of friends like Melandri, but all I want to do now is stay home and rest. My home is near a holiday resort anyway, near the Adriatic Sea, but to be honest I don’t like the sea so much. I prefer snow...”

argentina 1999

I already have some plans for the winter. The World Championship may have finished, but I already have two more races over the next few weeks. No rest yet! First is the X Race at Misano. This is a special event for GP and world Superbike riders. I’m racing go-karts, motocross and cars with [Carl] Fogarty, Melandri, Capirossi, Harada and a lot of other guys. They ran this event for the first time last year and I won it. It’s only fun of course but I want to win again because winning is always important. Then at the end of November I’m doing a car rally at Monza.

so yeah, clearly close buddies! I'm sure there's more out there about their friendship, but I've never been that invested in digging into the details lol. about the collapse of the relationship... well, there's this from the barker biography, which kinda lumps melandri into a generic section about valentino's rivals:

Marco Melandri, who had been a close friend of Rossi's for years before he started winning races in 2005, noted the same shift in attitude: 'When I started to race well with him he changed a lot. When we were growing up we were very good friends. Valentino plays games with everybody... the way he talked to the media - he tries to never say something good about you.'

in 2007, after valentino had finally lost a title fight (and was in the process of losing another), there's another oxley column where a few key figures like his teammate edwards, his rival hayden, and his crew chief jb were asked about what made valentino so good. and valentino's crew chief jb was kind enough to give his own take on the melandri dynamic:

“He only uses mind games when people make a serious challenge, then he pulls out that extra tool in his armoury, which he did with Max, with Sete and to a lesser degree with Marco. Then there’s Loris, who is also serious challenge, but there’s a different understanding between them, there’s a respect. When I first worked with Valentino he was mates with Marco. Whenever there was a dinner or a party, Marco was always there. When Marco came to MotoGP it was still fine, then when there was any sort of a challenge their friendship cooled off a bit."

and then by 2010 you get melandri be like. full yellow chair conspiracy theorist. now, he also mentions how his own celebrations were received, and we do actually have jorge himself give his review of said celebrations a few years earlier (x, x):

I don't really have a point here, I just think it's funny

whereas from valentino's side.... well, there's really not much. his autobiography goes until the end of 2004 and is published in 2005 - so if melandri was already a 'proper' rival when the book was finalised, it will have been a very recent thing... but there's literally one reference to melandri in the whole thing, and it's something generic to do with the yamaha's development. valentino himself has said pretty much fuck all about this friendship falling apart. it's a bit frustrating because... when melandri says that valentino tries never to say anything good about you in the media - look, that's probably referring to something substantive, but we don't really know what exactly valentino supposedly said. we just have to take melandri at his word.... when you go that far back, it's a lot trickier to hunt down specifics if it's not a big news story, if there's not been a major controversy

you do have this from mid 2005:

"No. I think this is not true," replied Rossi, when asked if he deliberately avoided friendships with his closest rivals. "With Melandri, when this year he start to go fast, especially the Italian journalists, try to put some bad things between us - to make fight like what happened between Biaggi and Doohan. "But I go to speak to Melandri after Shanghai, on the podium, because I say one thing and the Italian journalists they modify and say to him another thing - and also the same journalists come to me and make the same. "I know Marco from minibikes when we were friends - we've been friends for more than ten-years - so I try to keep a good relationship because I don't like a bad relationship with anybody," he insisted. "For sure I have had a bad relationship with Biaggi and Gibernau but I don't think that is the right result."

now, according to the article, there were already rumours at the time that the relationship had grown colder that year. which is mainly funny insofar as valentino had quite literally double melandri's points - and the latter still hadn't won a race. again. what's the point

which, well. I do think jb's mention of capirossi is kinda interesting, as another rival valentino had known forever and one who wasn't like. dramatically less likely than melandri to end up a serious challenger to valentino, beyond being a bit older already. jb mentions they have an "understanding", a "respect" between the two of them... it's also maybe worth bringing in what hayden, the man who had actually managed to beat him in 2006, had to say about valentino for the same oxley piece:

“I can’t say it’s just his approach that makes him good. Some guys take their racing real serious, others are really laid back, it’s whatever works for that rider. But regardless of whatever he does he definitely gets around the track fast, that’s what’s most important. “One thing I noticed when we were team-mates is that he looks like it’s fun, fun, fun, he definitely cuts up a lot, but once you’re in the garage that dude is so serious, so focused. Everything seems perfect, right down to the windscreen sticker and the colour of his boots. He doesn’t overlook anything and I think that’s a big part of it. “More than anything it’s the racer in him that makes him so strong, it’s obvious the guy wants to win. He’s got a lot of natural talent but I know a lot of guys with natural talent and it gets some guys in trouble. It’s the whole package that makes him strong: the desire, the focus, the talent. “I think sometimes maybe he’s not as laidback as he comes across. He knows what to say and when to say it to make it look like things aren’t really getting to him. He knows how to play it, on the bike and off the bike. “It’s hard to say what he’s like with mind games because I can only comment on how he’s been with me and I’ve never seen him play any games with me, especially last year when he was taking chunks out of my points lead. The guy didn’t really change, maybe he just knew that I wasn’t going to roll over. Maybe some of the guys he can break down mentally, maybe he knew it wasn’t going to get to me. “Him and JB (Jeremy Burgess) haven’t won all those titles just through his riding, they know how to play people, they know how to play their cards, when to show their hand, when not to show their hand. I don’t think he plays as many games as other guys – you don’t need to play a lot of games when you can ride like that.“ "On track sure he’s aggressive but he’s totally clean and he definitely has a lot of tactics. He knows when he wants to race just one guy, how to separate groups, how to slow down. Like Phillip Island in 2005 I was on him the whole race and he eventually saw that he wasn’t going to get away, so he slowed down, brought the next group up to us to get me caught up with them, then tried to make another break. He’s got a lot of race craft. “I’d say his biggest strength is that he can adapt. If the tyres go off and he needs to slide he can slide, when the bike need to be ridden in line he can ride in line, he can definitely adapt to situations. I can’t say there’s one area of his riding where he just kills guys. It’s not just braking or corner speed or this or that, I’d just say that when he’s in a rhythm and putting those laps down he can break a guy. Like at Jerez this year he broke Pedrosa by about half a tenth a lap, he just kept putting those laps down, riding on that edge. He doesn’t ride 95 per cent, he rides on that razor edge for a long time. “I don’t know about weaknesses, it’s hard for me to point out a guy’s weakness when he’s won all those championships. In fact I’m not going to say he’s got any weak points because I don’t need to motivate the guy! That’s why I don’t want to say anything negative, I’m a big believer in not motivating these guys anymore, that’s why I don’t talk trash.”

like, you do have to bring up the context that valentino had four title rivals in 2006 - melandri, hayden, capirossi and dani - and he really only seems to have cooled off towards one of them. I'm not saying it's melandri's fault! I think it's more... hm, it's a bit telling, isn't it? competitively, there's not really any reason for melandri to be singled out in any way. I mean, you'll note he didn't win the title - and the guy who did explicitly says he didn't think valentino was fucking with him. valentino says in 2005 that he's made an active effort to not let the melandri relationship get worse... which could be true insofar as he didn't want any drama, but clearly he did allow that friendship to grow cold. why do that? is melandri really such a threat? I feel like if valentino said something particularly egregious about melandri, we would have some kind of a record of it - but let's say he was just mildly bitchy about the guy. you'd want to take him to one side and tell him 'dude, you really needn't bother', right? like, no offence, but is THIS guy worth it?

except. well. it is a little interesting that in the immediate aftermath of 2004, valentino had another friend of his (who he had considerably more history with than his last title rival) head over to honda gresini, turn into a more serious challenger... and valentino went. 'hm, yeah, maybe let's not do that again.' whether consciously or subconsciously, he does seem to have drawn back from melandri a hell of a lot quicker than he did from sete - and let's not forget that sete was actually beating him in dramatic last lap duels, which melandri extremely did not do. now, look, of course there COULD have been some sort of private spat here that nobody involved ever talked about... or maybe valentino just decided for completely unrelated reasons he'd had enough of melandri. but isn't it just. a little noteworthy. that when it comes to the 2006 title rivals, valentino is on good terms with all of them, who he seemingly does not piss off too badly with any sort of off-track antics... except melandri. his coldest relationship is with his childhood friend. one might conclude that melandri was the one who had the most power to hurt valentino, if he had been allowed to remain close. one could argue that there the sete rivalry marked a bit of a turning point in terms of how valentino approached his rivalries, that after this point he really didn't want another rivalry that could affect him in the same way. one might point out that some of the details of the melandri rivalry sure feel like they could be used to back up this framing

all that being said. what valentino is doing here is... well, it's basically fine, isn't it. everyone and their dog agrees it's tough to remain friends with your actual close rivals. jb describes it as their friendship 'cooling off', which is also the kind of thing that can just... eventually happen with childhood friends, even when you don't have pressures of competition warping interpersonal dynamics. there's not all that much to suggest valentino was massively treating melandri differently from any of his other major rivals at the time - it's just that his prior relationship had been closer and melandri seems to have taken the shift poorly. given how little of a paper trail there is, it feels like any mind games on valentino's part were generally on the subtler side, perhaps just the occasional snide comment or insinuation or ambiguously shady line that never made it to an article we can still access nowadays. more in line with what nicky "I don't think he plays as many games as other guys" hayden is describing: how valentino knows how to play his cards without necessarily escalating it into full out war. when melandri's talking about the rivalry, at times he does seem less annoyed by anything valentino actually did than he is by the media pressure of being an italian rival of valentino's, of being subjected to a more hostile media environment tan valentino, etc etc. after a certain point, valentino was often a passive beneficiary of his own successes in that regard. it's not like he's telling the italian journalists to put extra pressure on melandri... but he's also hardly going to complain

in general, the timing of it does have a certain charm to it as useful evidence for my great big 'the sete experience changed how valentino approached his rivalries' thesis, but I'm always a tad wary of analyses that flatten valentino's rivalries and by extension valentino by treating the patterns of behaviour in each as identical. it's also worth pointing out that... well, melandri isn't exactly a neutral source here, and his 2010 great big yellow chair theory does maybe suggest his resentment was getting in the way of his judgement where valentino was concerned. in the end, people didn't enjoy melandri's celebrations as much as melandri would have liked. and at some point in 2005, valentino apparently decided he didn't like this guy's vibe any more. c'est la vie

[rowenabean]

.

[todayisafridaynight]

any hopes for kiwami 3? like things u wanna see added or changed stuff like that

if they dont keep kiryu's goofy walk stance and the hoof-like walk sounds i dont wanna play it

[catastrxblues]

read more than 50 pages while i was outside today!!!!!!! where’s my trophy

[steakout-05]

hello i think schools giving students more work during the holidays and having assessments due during the holidays should either be illegal or at least regulated in some way. like i don't think that's ok. that is the student's downtime to take a break from working. that is THEIR free time to relax that schools are taking up with more and more work to do after the term is finished and done. students are already overworked and burnt out as is, and their weekends are already taken up by either more work, jobs or extracurricular stuff. school can be incredibly strenuous on the workload they churn out when the students are actually going to school. a stack of homework can take hours per night, and simple assignments can take weeks to finish. people can't just keep doing that all the time, they need a stress-free break with no obligations to rest their minds. that is the reason the holidays are there. they're not an excuse for schools to cram in more and more work because "they'll have more time", students need a break otherwise their brains are literally going to stop working properly. let them take time off ffs.

(the same goes for teachers. teachers shouldn't be made to constantly work during the holidays, they deserve a break too. everyone deserves a break.)

[chiistarri]

what if instead of messaging me in the middle of the night about your stupid fucking girlfriend and your stupid fucking problems with her you actually act like my fucking friend and message me like how you message everyone else in our group

[twilightarcade]

I loooove when people respond to you being mad by being mean to you. Like yeah thanks that's really improving my mood

[arcaneyouth]

i'm starting to think living with 5 other people may simply be a problem

[homosexual-fanfiction]

okay theoretically .. if you were to look at the word count for a chapter.. how many words do you think would make you say "this is too fucking long"

[lokiinmediasideblog]

.

[paperlovesadness]

Tuned into the Grammy's for a bit & it was honestly the reminder I needed on why I don't tune into these things.

Funny thing is that there's legit info out in the world on how the Oscar's work & how it has nothing to to with the movies & everything to do with the money, branding & merchandise (sent over to the members of the academy who usually do not watch the movies at all & are often v open about it 🙃) & we still somehow as a society treat it as some sort of indicator.

Haven't looked into the inner Grammy's workings too close but it's probably a twin situation.

Even 'fair' awards would be controversial in most categories -with art being so subjective. But man oh man why would we ever trust a bunch of members of an American organization made up of super-privileged & out-of-touch folks to - of all people - tell us what music is actually "the best" 🫠

[nyxi-pixie]

the most important thing abt noah coming out is that the people going 'hehe how does our fav strAIGHT frat boy play that fucking gayass so well??😱😱' had to stfu😁👍

[siryyeet]

Sometimes people annoy me so much I can't turn off coming across as passive aggressive and it always makes me feel bad

[fangirl-dot-com]

🧠Fake Amnesia

*part of the reverse trope series*

Pairing: Lando Norris x Fan!Reader Genre: Fluff/Humor/SMAU Summary: There was a saying that if you knew a celebrity existed, your chances of meeting them out and about decreased significantly. Is it true? No clue. But, you weren't about to let that stop you from finding Lando Norris in Imola.

*I am so so sorry for the very late and delayed chapter. I hope you all like it! I switched out this one to write it before the next as "Love Triangle" was supposed to come out first, but we've had a lot of Lestappen for now! But here we go!"

TAG LIST IS CLOSED

Were you a bit stupid? 

Yes. Yes you were. Did you more money than your budget allowed just to get to Imola a few days early to possibly not even find Lando? You didn’t want to talk about it. 

But right now as you perused through the local shopping area, you didn’t take the time to really dwell on your past choices. Only finding Lando could save you now. Which that seemed like a faraway dream. 

Whatever that one reddit post said about having a higher chance of meeting a celebrity if you didn’t know them was absolute bullshit. You couldn’t go back in time to stop yourself from liking a thirst trap of Lando on TikTok. And now because of that, your chances of meeting the British driver seriously decreased. 

How on earth were you supposed to find one of the most popular men alive, on a race weekend, where everyone was already looking to spot the driver in a more relaxed setting? You had no clue. But the shopping center felt like a good idea. 

You had been drawn in by one of the jewelry sections, eyes glazing over the number of zeros that followed every first number. Your heart winced at the thought of even buying one. To be honest, you didn’t even know how you got into this mall in the first place. Everyone around you was dressed in the highest European fashion. 

Your outfit wasn’t terrible per say, but it didn’t reflect the Italian area either. You were wearing some cream baggy linen pants that matched the light orange top that you had thrown on after scrambling to find a shirt. You didn’t really know exactly what shirt you were wearing, except that it was comfortable and went well with the pants. The giant number 4 on the back went completely unnoticed. Sandals adorned your feet and sunglass sat as though a crown on your head. Your cross-body bag dangled a bit against your side. 

You had just cringed once again at a price tag when your eyes landed on some brown curly hair. Your eyes followed the coils down to the face and you wanted to scream (but held it in because you were not about to get kicked out). 

There was no way that Lando Norris was standing about 10 feet away from you. 

There was no way. 

Except your hands automatically opened your phone and the twitter app popped up. You were too busy looking down at your phone, fingers moving at the speed of light, to notice that some hazel eyes had landed on your figure. 

Lando, on the other hand, wanted to sigh. Could he go one day without having to get stopped by fans? The giant 4 on your shirt seemed to mock him. Internally, he was wishing that the girl was a Max or Charles fan. 

But, he was going to be the bigger person and approach the nice looking girl before she could bring more attention to him. He decreased the space between them and tapped her shoulder, getting her attention. 

You were not expecting a tap on the shoulder. And you were definitely not expecting that tap to come from Lando Norris’s finger. 

“Can I sign something for you?” he asked. The sound of his voice must have put some type of spell on you since you felt as though you couldn’t speak. 

Lando huffed. “Please? I don’t need other people finding out that I’m here and then I’ll have to leave.” 

You blinked twice at him before you finally found your voice. “I’m sorry. Who are you exactly?” 

Stupid reddit post. 

The McLaren driver wanted to smack himself. Were you a fan? Or maybe you were wearing a papaya colored shirt that supported another person, who happened to have the same number? Or maybe if was your friend’s shirt? Or one you thrifted?

He winced. “I am so sorry. I thought. . . ” 

You shifted on your feet, brain trying to come up with an idea for what happens next. You were standing in front of thee Lando Norris. You couldn’t miss this opportunity. 

Lando watched your eyes widen and he wanted to hide. Maybe you were just shocked that it was him? 

Your eyes then squinted. “You look really familiar. Oh, I know where you’re from.” 

The Briton wanted to run and hide. This was it, you were going to start squealing, and then other people will look that way, see Lando, cause a giant crowd, and then he wouldn’t be able to do anything for the rest of the weekend. 

He was doomed. 

“You’re that actor right? From Spiderman.” 

This time, Lando blinked while staying silent. 

“No, I believe that’s Tom Holland.” 

“Oh.” 

Now it was getting awkward with the two of you just looking at each other. Which, this gave you the perfect opportunity to memorize the different shades of blue, green, and brown in his eyes. You looked to the side and chewed on you bottom lip. 

Lando looked stuck. 

“I am so sorry for interrupting your shopping,” he started out. 

You waved your hands, trying to act nonchalant. “It’s fine. Wasn’t like I could buy anything here. Way too many zeros for my liking.” 

Lando giggled at that and you internally melted. 

Time to add “got Lando Norris to giggle like a schoolgirl” on your resume. 

“Yeah. Bit too posh for me as well.” 

You raised an eyebrow. “Really? You look like you fit in a bit more than I do.” 

He rolled his eyes before huffing. “I’d rather spend time playing video games at my house instead.” 

Now this is what you could get behind. When you first started following Lando, gaming started to interest you. Because of him, you were able to meet a bunch of friends through gaming. Your notifications were specifically set up to let you know when Lando was streaming. 

Your eyes lit up with some excitement, which Lando thought was adorable. 

“I like to game too! It’s fun playing weird simulator games. Me and my friends tried this goat game one time and we couldn’t stop laughing.” 

This time, Lando’s eyes sparkled. 

“I’ve played goat simulator too with my friends! Charles . . .” he caught himself, not wanting to give out more names. “Uh my friends Carl, Alec, and Jord really liked it during the pandemic. And then we got Dax in on it too.” 

You wanted to absolutely start laughing, since you actually watched that stream live back in 2020. The cute names he gave to Charles, Alex, George, and Max were adorable. Your friends, although knowing you were watching the stream, had sent you the link and asked if you’d want to play the same simulator. Let’s just say, your laugh rivaled teapot-Charles. 

“They sound like fun,” you said, a warm tone in your voice that had Lando melting like chocolate under a hot summer’s sun. 

There was a bit of silence before Lando spoke up again. “Do you maybe, this sounds so weird, but there’s a game store farther down, would you want to join me?” 

There was no way in hell that you’d tell him no. 

You smiled up at him. “Sure! Lead the way! By the way, I’m Y/n.” 

Lando went to say something but stopped. You could tell he almost said his name, and you’d bet money on the name that was about to come out of his mouth. 

“I’m Bob.”

Bingo. 

You snorted. “You don’t look like a Bob. But what would I know?” 

The two of you laughed as you started walking farther into the shopping center. You exchanged laughs here and there, sharing stories about your lives with Lando being very vague about his day job. 

“I work as an Uber driver,” he had said after you confessed that you were now working as a part-time gamer and then part-time relator. The work was hard, but that job allowed you to spend your hard-earned money on fun things like: coming to Imola early to try to find Lando. 

Low-and-behold, you did. 

Spending the afternoon with him felt so comfortable, as if you had known each other your entire lives. And Lando, to his surprise, felt the same. After the gaming store, he even invited you to lunch. 

“You know you don’t have to do that,” you told him, but kept stride alongside him as he walked toward the small restaurants. 

He shrugged. “I know. But I like spending time with you.” 

A deep blush formed on your face as you kept walking. The bright red caused Lando to smirk just a bit. 

As you ate and made conversation, you suddenly felt the urge to use the bathroom. You quickly excused yourself and left, leaving Lando at the table along. 

He hadn’t meant to look, but your phone kept going off and his eyes just barely looked at your screen. They widened with he noticed his exact points in the season along with McLaren’s and the race schedule. And the picture of him from Miami after his first win as your lockscreen.

The Box-Box app. 

He pursed his lips for a moment, briefly feeling played. But as he sat and thought about the past few hours that he spent with you, he felt content. At any point, you could have screamed his name, asked for a picture, and ruin his shopping trip. You could have tweeted his location and hordes of people would have shown up. 

But you didn’t.  

The McLaren driver was so caught up in his head that he didn’t heard you coming. Thankfully, your screen had gone dark, still giving the effect that you “didn’t know” who he really way. 

“Everything ok Bob?” you asked as you sat back down, stealing one of his French fries from his tray. 

Lando shook his head, ridding the “betrayal” from his thoughts. 

“Just perfect. Trying to figure out who might win the Formula 1 race this weekend.” 

He wanted to smirk at you froze for just a second before leaning back just a bit, arms crossed over your chest. 

“What is that? Some type of NASCAR thing?” 

Oh, so you knew how to play. 

Luckily for Lando, so did he. 

“It’s a bit different,” he said as he took a sip of his drink. 

You were internally freaking out. 

Did he know? If he knew then he might say something. And then he’ll call his security team and get you a ban from the paddock. And you might even go to jail for stalking. Could you even go to Italian jail for that? You didn’t know and didn’t want to find out. 

However, Lando kept silent as the two of you finished your lunches. Easy conversation did flow once again when you steered it back to gaming. You had a giant smile as the two of you walked out of the shopping area. 

However, your heart dropped when you realized that the time with the Briton was coming to a quick end. Lando was feeling the same. 

You let out a sigh as you turned to look him in the eyes. “Thank you for today. I had a lot of fun! Like I said, you didn’t have to.” 

Lando scoffed. “Of course I did. I interrupted your shopping. It was the least I could do.” 

There was a lingering silence before you broke it. 

“I guess this is the end then Bob.” You held out a hand for him to shake, but he rolled his eyes and brought you into a hug. You parted after a bit and started to walk toward the little Fiat you had rented for the weekend. 

Lando felt torn until he realized he could definitely see you again. 

“Y/n! Wait!” 

You turned around to see Lando running up to you, phone out. 

“Can I have your number?” 

Yep, this is how you were going to die. Y/n L/n found dead in a parking lot after Lando Norris asked for her number. What an amazing way to go out in the end. 

You didn’t say anything, but quickly opened your phone and handed it to him, new contact ready to be filled out. The driver was smirking to himself as he filled out his information. He handed your phone back to you, only to lean down and kiss your cheek.

The familiar bright red once again filled them in as he leaned back. 

“I had a lot of fun today. Maybe I’ll see you soon?” he quietly said as he started to walk away. 

“Maybe,” you said back, biting your bottom lip after. 

Lando swore that if the two of you weren’t in the parking lot, he’d bite it for you. 

When he was a bit away, he turned back and waved at you, happy to see that you were still staring at him. But who wouldn’t stare at Lando Norris though. Definitely not you, you could stare all day long if you could. 

“Bye Y/n!”

“Bye Lando!” 

Your hands clapped over your mouth as you watched him lean back in a full laugh. You even had him hunching over in a fit of giggles. You still watched as his shoulders shake as he got into what looked to be an Uber. 

Your phone buzzed, causing you to look down at it. There was an email and a text message. One from McLaren and one from “Lando 🧡” 

“Maybe next time I can sign your shirt. I think it’s cute that you follow my points :)”

You turned around quickly, trying to see the back of your shirt in the reflection of your rental car. There it was, in all it’s glory. 

The giant-ass “4.” 

“Shit.” 

y/n_l/n has posted

y/n_y/n kinda confused about 20 guys driving around in circles. someone know what this is called?

also ran into this really cute guy. says he drives for a living. didn't know uber drivers could be hot

liked by friend1, bestie, landonorris, maxverstappen1, and 3,204 others

friend1 ayo is that the guy that you will not shut up about?

landonorris awww you don't shut up about me??

y/n_l/n STOP EXPOSING ME

bestie ok I see the appeal, can you ask someone for that brunet in the red's number??

maxverstappen1 🤺🤺🤺

y/n_l/n i think he's taken

charles_leclerc I am??

maxverstappen1 ☹️

charles_leclerc I AM TAKEN

friend2 so luckyyyyyyy

friend4 glad you had fun!

oscarpiastri I think it's called Formula 1

y/n_l/n finally someone who knows something @.landonorris you've been replaced

landonorris osc, we've talked about this

fan1 what the heck is going on

TAG LIST: @fionaschicken @myxticmoon @cherry-piee @blueberry64857959 @glitterquadricorn @lizzypiastri @sam-is-lost @spilled-coffee-cup @ilove-tswizzle @the-untamed-soul @allenajade-ite @starssfall @torchbearerkyle @judespoision @halfdeadsage @juniper-july19 @severewobblerlightdragon @thatgirlmj @gods-menace @ineedafictionalman @namgification @dark-night-sky-99 @samantha-chicago @2pagenumb @treehouse-mouse @fangirl125reader @megatrilss1885 @kagatinkita @itsjustkhaos @nikfigueiredo @awekbachira @vellicora @skepvids @sunrizef1 @stan-josie @fanficweasley @hiireadstuff @barcelonaloverf1life @c-losur3 @graciewrote @bruhhhhhhhhehhhhhhh @tallrock35 @ashy-kit @kat-s2 @minkyungseokie @lozzamez3 @leslieis-crying @adventuresofrose @lighttsoutlewis

[nocturnalcharm]

Faking It (Logan Howlett x Fem!Reader)

𐙚 prompt: charles forces you and logan to do a mission together in order to help you bond. 𐙚 cw: enemies to lovers, one bed trope, if this does well i’ll do a part 2 w smut ;) cussing, 𐙚 a/n:  thanks to everyone who's sent me req's! this wasnt a req but id already started it haha if youve sent a req ill try to get to it asap.... also so many ppl wanted to be added to a taglist but for the nsfw alphabet post i dont think it tagged like half the ppl?? so im sorry if u dont get tagged, im trying to fix it :)

18+ blog!! you are responsible for your own media consumption. if any of the above makes you uncomfortable, do not proceed.

“Professor, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“(Y/N), it’s not me you should be apologizing to. It’s your team. That’s who you both let down.” He eyes flick between you and Logan.

“I’ll go apologize to them now.” You turn to leave.

“You too Logan.” Charles says.

On this latest mission, you needed to sneak into a factory and take down all of the enemies— But you and Logan were arguing so loudly, you alerted all of the rivals, turning a few quick sneak attacks into full blown fights. No one was badly injured but you still felt horrible about it.

“This is all your fault.” You mumbled, just loud enough for Logan to hear.

“My fault? You’re kidding.” He huffs.

“Shut up.” You walk ahead of him, on the way to the common room to see your team.

Everyone was sitting there, talking amongst themselves. Once you and Logan entered, they all stopped their conversations and looked at you.

“Guys. I am so sorry about this mission.”

“I’m sorry, extremely sorry, and I apologize for my behavior.” Logan mocked your expression of regret.

“You are such a child, Logan! I’m trying to apologize!” You raised your voice.

“I am too!”

“Can you two just stop?” Hank stood up, silencing you both. “Your attitudes have been getting in the way of every mission. If you guys can’t get along then maybe you shouldn’t be here.”

“Oh..” You didn’t know how to respond. You couldn’t believe you let your dislike for Logan get in the way of your job, so much that they thought you shouldn’t be an X-Man anymore.

They all left the room, leaving just you and Logan to culminate in your thoughts.

“I think it’s pretty obvious we’re not going to get along any time soon.” He broke the silence.

“We’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah, whatever you say.” He walked out, as you sat in the empty room.

The next day, Xavier called you and Logan into his office yet again. You were concerned, worried he might be kicking you off the team. But instead, he said he had a mission for you two.

“I need you to pose as a couple. You’ll be going to an upscale hotel in Manhattan. It’s a cover for a drug smuggling ring. You two will stay as guests in order to collect information. I need everyone that is there, guests and workers alike, to think you two are madly in love. We don’t know who could be involved, so we can’t have them think anything suspicious.”

“Professor, is that the best idea? We just blew the last mission because we couldn’t stop arguing.”

“If you two fail this mission, I will have no choice but to replace both of you. You are amazing at what you do, but your arguing affects everyone. Not just yourselves.”

“Okay. We won’t let you down.” Logan speaks up.

***

The trip to the hotel was long and frustrating. You two couldn’t agree on anything the entire time. You criticized his driving, he criticized what you put on the radio, and how loud it was. You called him an old man, which just resulted in the radio being turned off and continuing the last hour drive there in silence.

When you arrived, it was late afternoon. Logan, pretending to be your fiance, grabbed all the bags by himself and walked inside. The hotel was huge. It was upscale, classy. So fancy you were afraid to touch anything, in fear it might break.

“Hi! Checking in for Anderson.” He greeted the front desk clerk, giving his forged name. He dropped the bags on the floor and you wrapped yourself around his now-free arm, squeezing it.

“Hello, Mr. Anderson.” She smiled back, “Let’s see. You had the penthouse, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“We’re celebrating our engagement!” You beamed, holding out your hand, showing off your fake engagement ring.

“That’s lovely. Congratulations! We’ll have a bottle of champagne in your room for celebration.”

“Thank you so much!” You squeaked.

He finished the check-in process, then you headed to the top floor.

The penthouse was absolutely gorgeous. It was huge, the size of a decent apartment. Just like the lobby, you were afraid to break something.

“Wow.. This is amazing. Only time I’ll ever get to stay in a penthouse and it’s with you.” You said, as he shut the door.

“I was just thinking the same thing. Now, c’mon we gotta go to the pool. Get changed.” He handed you your bag.

You opened it, pulling out your bikini. It was the only one you had, admittedly from a few years ago. You didn’t have time anymore to relax by a pool or go swimming in the ocean, so this swimsuit had to do. It was a simple black string bikini.

You went inside the bathroom to change. Once you had your swimsuit on, you felt a little self conscious at the amount of skin showing, but figured it’d help with the whole ‘can’t keep your hands off your new fiance’ vibe you and Logan needed to exude for this mission.

You walked out of the bathroom, faking confidence you didn’t have. Logan had taken the opportunity to just change in the living space since he was alone. He was wearing black swim trunks. It was funny, it looked like you two had matched on purpose.

“Wow.” He said quietly, clearing his throat.

“What? You like what you see?” You joked at his clear uncomfortableness with seeing you in such little clothing.

“Whatever, let’s just go.” He spat, grabbing two towels, the key, and exiting the room.

The second you were out the door, you both had big smiles on your face. His arm was around you, holding your side as you headed to the pool.

It wasn’t too busy, just a few kids with their parents, and a bartender at the outdoor bar. You told him you wanted a drink, so that’s where you headed first.

“Hey, can I get two Mojitos?” Logan asked, handing him the room key “And can you just charge it to our room?”

“Of course,” He started working on the drinks immediately, while you two sat and people-watched. He finished the drinks, and gave you them and the room key back.

You said thank you as you walked off, hoping Logan would just follow. There was a small hot tub that was empty, so that’s where you went. You stepped in carefully, afraid of slipping, and sat down in the warm water.

“Really?” Logan whispered, a fake smile still adorned on his face.

“This is what couples do, Logan. And we’re a couple for this weekend. So sit down and act like you love me, sweetie.” Your grin was starting to hurt your cheeks.

He sat down across from you, and you mentally rolled your eyes. You got up, and repositioned yourself, sitting in his lap, “What part of ‘act like you love me’ are you not getting?” 

He was frozen for a moment, caught off guard but quickly acted like he was happy to have you there, to not draw suspicion. You both took sips of your drink, as you continued to nonchalantly looked around.

You two stayed at the pool for awhile, taking mental notes of the guests and employees you saw. Honestly, this hotel didn’t seem too strange. But Xavier said it was a front so you guessed that’s why it seemed so normal, for their cover.

Once your drinks were empty, and the sun had started to go down, you both decided to head back up to the room. He got out drying himself off before wrapping you up in your towel. He picked you up and carried you bridal-style to the penthouse.

“Logan!”

“What? Just acting like I love you.” He smirked.

Once inside the room, he set you down. “I’m gonna go shower.” You stated, not really knowing what to do. 

He just nodded, walking off to the kitchenette. You grabbed your bag and headed to the bathroom.

***

You mentally cursed yourself as you scrambled through your bag, searching for a pair of pajama shorts you thought you packed, but they were nowhere to be found. 

“This cannot be real.” You whispered. The only other clothes you brought were jean shorts, and you sure as hell weren’t going to sleep in those.

You pulled out your oversized sleepshirt, putting it on. The hem landed right above the middle of your thigh. It was a little shorter than the length of a nightgown, so you just hoped he wouldn’t notice. You slipped on a pair of panties, snatched up your things, and exited the bathroom.

You immediately bumped into Logan, who was standing right outside the door.

“What the fuck?” You raised your voice, annoyed. “Why are you right outside the door?”

“I was about to knock. You’ve been in there for over an hour.”

“It’s all yours!” You sassed.

You walked over to the small kitchen, and see he had already opened up the champagne. You had a glass as you sat on a barstool, writing down some notes about the people you’d observed earlier. Pouring yourself another glass, you headed over to the bed.

Just as you made yourself comfortable, Logan came out of the washroom, in just a towel. You stared at his wet torso for a moment, hypnotized.

“My eyes are up here.” He laughed.

You looked up, embarrassed.

“Forgot my clothes. Hey, wait, why are you in the bed?”

“…Because I’m the girl?”

“You're also the short one. I can’t fit on that couch.”

“Oh, c’mon. It’s a big bed. We can both fit just fine. Unless you’re nervous. Never slept with a girl before, Lo?”

He sighed, clearly not wanting to argue, before taking his clothes and escaping back to the bathroom. You silently celebrated your victory.

He came out a few moments later, turning off the lights, sliding under the blankets and getting comfortable. You both ended up facing the same direction. If he was any closer, he’d be the big spoon, but there was a few inches separating you.

You adjusted your body, and accidentally felt your ass rub against him. You went rigid from humiliation, before scooting away slightly, ignoring it since he didn’t say anything.

You tried to fall asleep, but it was difficult, for many reasons. One, you’re not used to having someone else in your bed. Two, he was breathing heavily. Three, you couldn’t stop thinking about how sexy he was.

Of course, you knew Logan was attractive, you’d thought that since the moment you first saw him. But today, probably because of the faux-gagement, the touching, the flirting, you saw him differently. He was still getting on your nerves, but the flames between you two… His body… It was unlike before.

You exhaled a breath you didn’t know you were holding. You twiddled your feet, moving around your body nervously, before unintentionally grazing your ass against his crotch again.

“Y’know, if you keep rubbing your ass against my dick, I’m gonna do something about it.” His words sounded gruff in your ear, but they gave you butterflies.

“Maybe that’s what I want.” 

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

Taglist:

@figsnpassionfruits @marcybug @sacred-holy-light @keigohawks @rockytheluver @parasiiite @iluvstrawberry @18lkpeters @daydreamin1220 @hoesformenotforyou @ninuwrites @chaoticpaintsplatter @red-jay @sweet1squash @here2bawl @silversprings-mp3 @leathargic @issylovessharks @serenewrote @jakegyllenbaalz @whore-for-marvel@cookiesandcreammoolkshake @what-did-you-just-say @demitralover @midnight036 @lanassmarty @sugarrushbell @kitomon @lysmeadows @halpin4 @rebelmarylou @jupitersiberis @ginamcflurry @dilflover-420 @blubobbi @midsommarmayqueen911 @popsickle1235 @jairmi @maxx205 @kmc217 @callmejod @bellaaa32 @suiien @whiskytoast @zeeader @jasmines-greentea @malfoys-demigod @poplottie @navs-bhat @argos-13 @marvelreadingarchive @krisslegacy @chassidypowell24 @godness-gracious13 @hpttsa @fandomsunited @sseleniaa @vampuck @veetallla @chasedbyatlantic @fluffy-anna @deaky-with-a-c