#so yeah yet to have a birthday where i don't end up in tears :')

[solomon-tozer]

.

[eternalsams]

The Olive Theory ⇴ J.Seresin

pairing: Jake Seresin x fem!reader

warning/content: this is a Soulmates!AU, bit of angst but quickly replaced by fluff, they're so in love it makes me sick, young!Hangman (in his early twenties), naval academy inaccuracies

summary: In a world where you learn a detail about your soulmate on each of your birthdays, you think you found your pair years ago but you're completely caught off guard on your 24st birthday.

word count: 1.6k

a/n: English isn't my first language so please take that into consideration.

masterlist

You were twirling the phone cord around your finger, giggling at something Jake said at the other end. Your gaze was fixed on the ceiling but all your attention was to the man speaking to you. Jake had to leave Texas a few months ago for the Navy Academy after you both graduated at the Austin University. "When's the next time you're coming home?" You asked, kicking your legs in the air. Jake smiled, even though you couldn't see him, and he shook his head. "I don't know sweetheart..." Oh, but he knew. "Probably for the holidays." You tried not to sound too disappointed when you responded. "That's great. I can't wait to see you." You let your legs fall back down on the couch and straightened up. "I hope you're having fun." You smiled softly. "I am, it's great. I can't fly a jet yet, but they have us do some pilot shit in a simulator. It's not the same feeling but I love it!" You smile even more at the excitement in his voice, the distance was hard but knowing he was in his element made it worth it.

"What are you planning for tomorrow?" He then asked. Tomorrow you would celebrate your 24th birthday, but you didn't have the mood to celebrate anything without Jake. He hadn't missed a single birthday for 7 years and tomorrow would be the first one you spend apart. "I don't know yet... My mom wants us to go see a movie but I'm not really feeling like it..." You rubbed a hand on your face, trying to contain the tears for spilling. "Y/n..." You heard Jake sigh. "I know, I know. But I just miss you so much..." You murmured. "I miss you too, sweetheart..." He responded and the line was silent for a moment. You thought he had hung up before you heard his voice again. "You're ready to learn something new about me?" He said with a certain tease in his voice. Oh yeah, you almost forgot about that. Tomorrow you would find an envelop in your mailbox, containing a small detail about your soulmates. You knew Jake was yours, every year all the letters you got matched perfectly with him, and his with you.

"I'm pretty sure it's gonna say that you'd wet your bed until you were 8." You laughed heartedly. "Hey! It happened once and it's because I was sick! I knew I shouldn't introduce you to my mom in the first place..." You laughed even more and the melancholy you felt a minute ago disappeared. That was the thing about Jake, he always managed to bring a smile on your face. "Alright, sweetheart. I'm gonna have to go. I gotta get up early tomorrow, I'm gonna see my first jet up close." He said excitedly, making your smile widen. "Okay, cowboy. Have fun tomorrow, I'll text you whatever stupid thing I learn about you." You heard Jake laugh and you exchanged 'I love you's before hanging up. You sighed and rubbed your eyes, wiping away the tears forming in the corners.

You woke up the next morning with a smile on your face, you threw your legs out of the bed, slipped on your slippers and ran to your mailbox. You grabbed the envelop and ran back inside. You softly chuckled, anticipating whatever you're gonna learn about Jake. You silently wished it would be something embarrassing so you could have a good laugh but when you read the words on the letter, your smile immediately fell. They love olives. No, it couldn't be. Jake didn't like olives, he always gave you his. On pizzas, in salads. You've never seen him eat a single one olive since you've met him. You stayed frozen for what seemed hours before you heard knocks on your door. You knew it was your mom, and seconds after, the front door opened and you could hear your mother's voice. She joined you in the kitchen and stopped in her tracks when she saw you. "What's wrong, baby?" Your gaze stay focused on the wooden table and you gave her the letter. You didn't trust your voice from quivering if you spoke right now. She read the words and dropped the letter on the table before wrapping her arms around your shoulders. "Oh, honey... It's gonna be okay..." Jake wasn't your soulmate. You just couldn't believe it, everything was going perfect with him, even if the distance made it hard, you really thought you found your pair with him. But you were destined to be with someone else, someone who loved olives. And Jake was destined to be with another person.

Jealousy and anger took over your body and you ripped the letter and envelop to pieces. You knew you didn't have to follow what the letters told you, you could stay with Jake and everything would be fine for the both of you. But now that you knew he wasn't your soulmate, you would always think about that other person he would be happier with. You couldn't think about being happier than with Jake but you really didn't want to think about Jake being happier with someone else and leaving you for someone better than you. You then stayed home with your mom, forgetting about the movie and whatever you guys planned for your birthday. From time to time, you'd find yourself crying silently and then quickly wiping the tears to give a reassuring smile to your mom. That until you heard the doorbell ring. You were curled up on your couch, hugging a pillow and wrapped up in a blanket Jake got you last winter. Your mom got up and went to answer the front door, murmuring something before you heard the door close.

"Sweetheart?" Your head immediately raised at the sound of that voice and your eyes widened. "Jake? What are you doing here?" You straightened up and got up from the couch, dropping the pillow and the blanket on the floor. "I'll leave you two alone. Call me if you need anything, okay?" Your mom said before kissing your cheek and then Jake's before leaving the house. "Jake, what are you doing here? I thought you had class..." You asked with glassy eyes, your voice breaking and betraying your mental state. Your boyfriend dropped his duffle bag on the floor and reached for you, wrapping his arms tightly around you. "I wanted to surprise you. What's wrong? Did you learn something so embarrassing you don't wanna be with me anymore?" He tried to joke but the reality caught you and the smile he wanted to see appear on your face never showed up. That's when he knew something was very wrong. "Okay, let's sit down for a bit and you'll tell me everything, okay? Just calm down and breathe deeply." You both sat down on the couch and you curled up against him, listening to his heartbeat and timing your breathing with his. He was rubbing your back the whole time, kissing the top of your head and whispering reassuring words into your ear.

Once you calmed down and pulled away from him and looked into his eyes. "You're not the one I'm supposed to be with..." You murmured and he froze. He looked like a kicked puppy and you hated yourself for being the one responsible for how sad he looked. "What...? No. That's not possible, everything matched." He ran his fingers into his hair as he got up from the couch and paced around the living room. "What did it say? Where's the envelop? I wanna see." He looked back at you with incredulous eyes. "I shred it to pieces... It said..." You calmed your voice and took a deep breath. "It said my soulmate loves olives." You looked down at your hands on your lap and heard Jake chuckle. You frowned and looked up at him with confusion written all over your face. "This is not funny, Jake." You almost felt offended he would laugh about something like this. The soon-to-be-pilot stopped laughing and sat back down next to you, taking your hands in his. "I'm sorry, it's not. It's not funny. It's just that... I am your soulmate." He said with a soft smile. "Jake, no-" But before you could keep talking, he stopped you, placing his fingers on your lips. "No, I am your soulmate, Y/n. I love olives, I do." You frowned and took his hand, pulling it away from your mouth. "What? But..." You really didn't understand what was happening...

"You remember our first date in high school?" Of course you remembered, you skipped your last class of the morning to go get pizza and go to the park next to your high school. You shared one pizza and that's when you learned Jake didn't like olives. Well, apparently he did. You nodded and stayed silent, waiting for his explanation. "When you took that first bite into the pizza, I asked you if you liked olives. But not because I didn't like them, it was because I saw how much you loved them. I wanted to make you happy and I did. You were so excited to get my olives as well as yours. I just never told you so you didn't feel bad for stealing my olives." He explained and you let out a deep sigh. You felt your eyes water and you threw yourself in Jake's arms, embracing him tightly. "So we're still soulmates...?" You asked in the crook of his neck. "As long as you'd let me." He kissed the spot just between your neck and your shoulder before pulling away and looking straight into his eyes. "Happy birthday, Sweetheart..." He gently smiled and you giggled before kissing him deeply.

[romanoffsbish]

Love is a Learning Curve

Past! Kate Bishop x GN!R

Yelena Belova x GN!R

Love is a Dagger (P1)

The long awaited P2 I was never going to give, but people wanted closure to the angst I guess 😂 | WC: 3,638

Kate woke up with a start, her body flopped back into the mattress regretfully, her arm covered her eyes to lessen the throbbing ache in her head. The blinds being open the root of the issue as the sun permeated into her already sensitive eyes. Drinking the night away was once an easy feat for the archer, but the closer she gets to the middle of her twenties the more she'd noticed it's losing its flair for fun.

——

Stumbling ungraciously out of bed she made her way to the bathroom and made herself a bit more human by taking a shower and getting dressed for work. Then she made her way downstairs to find nothing to eat, it threw her off because normally you'd have filled her up a thermos, and made her something to go, but she only shrugs, and rushes out the door to make sure she now had time to stop for a bite.

It wasn't all that strange an occurrence, on the rare occasion you did miss the opportunity to prepare her for her day, so she thought nothing of it, you were likely running late, and she assumed that had something to do with her partying last night so she didn't mind at all.

Her day flew by without any messages from you either, but she never checked them much anyway so she didn't notice. It wasn't until her phone rang on her way out of the office that she knew something must've been up.

"Hello?" she answered with slight hesitation, unsure on as to why the blonde was exactly calling her. "Kate Bishop, it's Yelena."

"Hey, yeah what can I do for you Yelena?"

"Are you coming to pick up Lucky?"

Kate's brows furrowed, because yes, technically Friday was her day to collect the dog from Belova's Doggy Daycare, but usually you just willingly picked up her slack. "Where's Y/N?"

The question was more so a thought she was having that ended up directed at Yelena, who simply cleared her throat, a sure sign that she knew something was up, but didn't wish to say.

"Yelena..." she was more desperate this time, and the blonde sighed, "Told me they were not going to be able to pick him up today, but I saw some suitcases and boxes in their car Kate."

"Oh."

"Yeah, they said today was your day to get him, but I guess it must've just slipped your mind," Yelena said with a nervous chuckle to follow, it was clear as day to the blonde that you just left your mutual friend without so much as a word shared, and though a part of her is rooting for you for finally putting yourself first for once, the other feels bad for the raven haired girl who's likely biting back tears at the news.

"Here, how about I take him home with me tonight. It's been awhile since him and Fanny had a playdate anyways."

"Thanks Lena, I'll get him in the morning."

That night Kate ordered in, and nursed a bottle of red wine until the buzz lulled her to sleep. When she awoke the following morning to find you'd yet to return her rose colored glasses fell.

Her strained eyes began to study the living room, and as she took it in she found any piece of you she once had was gone. All that had remained was a cherished framed photo of you, her and Lucky at Fanny's first birthday party.

Kate was racking her brain for a reason, anything she could come up with besides the glaring truth that she just didn't want to face. For the last year she'd been taking your love for granted, and it's true what they say: you don't know what you have until it's gone, and now she's just meant to live on like you don't exist.

The note you hid in your dresser drawer said just that when she stumbled up to your room.

"Dear Kit-Kat,

I'm sorry I couldn't face you, but it's best for us that I left without a trace. There's nothing left for us, you don't love me anymore, and I have held on to delusion for as long as I am willing.

If I had approached you I know you'd have tried to tell me I was wrong, that you did still love me, because your heart is too soft, and I would've clung to that hope until it failed me.

Love is a perilous thing really; I don't regret our journey, but I do regret staying this long. It's about time I set off to find what's out there for a loner like me, and for that reason I have disconnected my phone and gone off the grid.

I'll love you forever Kit-Kat, and I hope you are able to find someone who makes you happy, and who'll share their last slice with Lucky."

Kate's tears soaked through the crumpled paper, messy lines of blue ink began to run, distorting the message of half truths. Reading it hurt her tremendously, seeing that she'd made you believe she'd been stringing you along out of obligation, and not out of love was hard to read. It wasn't true, right? She loved you with all of her heart, but yet she took your presence for granted, and now she's all alone.

You actually left her (Just like she'd left you).

—

The archer had been neglecting her work for months as she scoured all over the city for you. Nothing was available to help her. You were apparently an expert at disappearing, because there wasn't a single trace of you anywhere.

It was pathetic really, she ran the most well known security and surveillance company around and yet she couldn't track you down.

With time, Kate realized that you were right.

The love she had for you faded until it was nothing more than words you say to protect the others feelings, but it also hadn't completely died. Kate was desperate to find you, to atone for all that she'd done to you by using you as her personal assistant instead of her lover.

Even if she lost touch with you, she knew that what she did likely distorted your view on love. The girl couldn't live with herself if she just left you to think that love is only a hopeless cause.

When things were young, and fresh it was like magic, and she wanted you to remember that. To look passed her betrayal, and the feelings of inadequacy she left behind in the hollowed heart that hardly beat in your chest anymore.

She needed you to know that her love for you might’ve devolved into the platonic, as is the case when people grow, but it’s still there In enough of a capacity that she won’t give up.

Kate was a mess, and in a way you were too.

You thought that getting a cottage out in the beautiful countryside of Norway was the way to go. Far away from the life you once lived, and the perfect place to enjoy your solitude. Then the loneliness set in against your will, and so you'd set off to find a furry companion.

At the shelter you saw a young pup that'd taken a liking to the elderly cat. He'd yap in her ear, and she'd purr in response, it was clear her ears were not functioning well anymore. You decided two for the price of one was great.

Simon showered you with love and affection whenever you entered the home, even if you'd only stepped out to get the mail. Then Posey, when she felt like jumping, would meet you in bed to cuddle and purr against your chest.

It worked, but only as a mask for the problem at hand really. Your foolish heart longed for a love like you'd once known. One full of passion and joy over the loveless mess it had become.

Still, you persisted and lived as if nothing was wrong. That was until Yelena had found you, and damn near broke your door off it's hinges.

"Y/N Y/L/N!" She shouted loud enough that you'd left the security of your room, blanket around your shoulders as you'd just woken up at her unexpected, rather rude interruption.

"How did you find me?" You groaned, and she ignored your question, opting to scour through your cabinets until she found some glasses. “Better yet, how did you even get inside?”

Yelena barked a laugh, insinuating that your question was ridiculous. Then she briskly swung her arm around and handed you a glass that was far too full of booze for a morning sip.

"It's nice to see you too, now drink the vodka, we have lots to discuss my dear old friend."

Yelena told you all about Kate's demise, and it broke your heart into pieces thinking she was actually this torn up about your departure. Then you remembered she relied on you to change her clothes some nights and the ache from being used had returned even stronger.

"If that's all, I think you should be going."

“Y/N, she wants you to come home.”

“This is my home Yelena, the only one I’ve ever known. Feel free to tell her that when you go back and offer her my location. Now go.”

You were being harsh with her, you knew that and most of you regretted it, but you also felt like you were being backed into a corner. As if Kate’s problems were always going to be yours.

“I understand leaving her, you deserved better, we all told you that.” Yelena pondered aloud, her voice uncharacteristically small. “But leaving all together? That was hard to stomach, I lost both of my closest friends in the blink. You off grid, and Kate to her grief. When is it enough passed on pain for you to forgive her?”

You went to lash out, to try and get her to see it from your end, but then you saw her hand shake as she gulped down the rest of her bitter vice without ever looking up. Not that she needed to, you could hear the sniffle she failed to cover up with the scuffing of her boots.

“I didn’t think I would be missed,” you softly admitted, your ties to Yelena, and the rest were through the connection of Kate. Never a part, only ever an extension of the friend group.

Or at least that’s what you had always thought.

“I felt your absence immediately,” she voiced though her voice quivered. “Your visit at the kennel every day was what made me smile.”

“I-.”

“There was no more happiness with you gone.”

The way she spoke made your heart warm with an affection you felt was foreign for her. There had never been any indication that she wanted you, or that you meant that much to her before.

“Yelena, what are you doing?” You stumbled back into the wall when you saw her rise to her feet faster than necessary. Her body out of her control, and under the influence of alcohol led her to stumble until she caged your body in.

“I wanted you first.” You were shocked to see the honesty in her eyes, booze goggles or not she was being sincere and you felt an urge to kiss her lips as they pouted familiarly. It was a common expression of hers whenever you’d have to go, you always thought it was for Lucky since she loved the retriever so much, but a part of you always wondered if it meant more.

But you had Kate… Even now, you had her to consider. “Lena, w-we can’t,” you stuttered as her cold hand held your face. “I understand.”

Before she could pull away with her wrong assumptions you wrapped your arms around her waist and buried your face into the crook of her neck. Yelena would never deny you comfort, not even when you just shattered her heart, so she hugged you back rather tightly.

“You’re going to be okay Y/N,” she whispered in her thick Russian accent, and your hammering heart felt like it was about to burst at the offered tenderness. “I’m here for you.”

You pulled away and cupped her cheeks with a teary smile, eyes shining with appreciation. Your lips pressed to her cheeks, and she looked at you utterly confused when your eyes met.

“I was saying, we can’t do this… yet.” Yelena’s eyes went wide and you kept your smile. “I can’t let you kiss me when I’m still trying to forgive Kate, it wouldn’t be fair to any of us.” Yelena’s heart beamed, the notion that all you felt for Kate now was a tainted love in need of a life altering cleansing made her hopeful.

“So you’ll come home?” You shook your head and wore a broken smile, fear encasing your heart as you realized you couldn’t do that. “I’ve built a life here Lena, I have space for you, but I can’t return to the stagnation of the states.”

“No, I know that,” Yelena refuted. “I just mean to make the amends with Kate Bishop, and to collect my things and Fanny who’s at Kate’s.”

“Does she know you’re here?” She shook her head. “No, but I think she knows deep down.”

“What about the kennel?” Yelena shrugged, and smiled wide. “I’ve got nothing in the states worth living for if you’re not by my side.”

“Then I will agree to a half day in New York.”

Yelena squealed and you cupped your ears while glaring in her direction playfully.

“I’ll be back for you in the morning then Y/N! We have Tony’s private jet, and Happy’s at the hotel I’m going to be staying at tonight.”

“You’ll do no such thing, I have a guest room. I’ll just have to clean it of the cat hair since I don’t usually have other humans over.”

“You sound like you’re an alien,” she laughed, then began to head to the door to collect her bag, and that’s when it dawned on you. “How’d you find me?” Yelena stood in the doorway with a knowing smirk on her face, and tossed her thumb backwards to the people outside.

“I guess we’re sharing a bed then,” you mused while waving back to the grinning redheads. Of course, she involved the FBI’s hottest couple.

—

The following morning came with butterflies fluttering beneath the pads of fingertips that lightly pressed into the skin that your crumpled up night shirt had left exposed. Yelena’s body was pressed into yours so tight you were sure there’d be a layer of sweat amongst the fabric.

“Good morning pretty one,” Yelena rasped, her voice thick with sleep, and Russian inflections. The butterflies must’ve began a rave because you could hardly focus on anything but the way that her simple words made your stomach flip. “Goor morning darling, are you hungry?”

“I’ll make breakfast,” she announced, body scrambling for the door, but fortunately for the sake of your cottage Wanda was there with a teasing smile and greasy spatula. “No need Miss. burns houses down while making eggs.”

“It was one time!” Natasha snorted from a far away room, “Yeah, one time too many! Mama was so mad about it that she moved back to Russia the second you turned eighteen.”

Yelena turned back towards you and ran into your open arms. You could feel her pout against your skin, and for a second you were imagining her firmly kissing the skin instead.

“They are so mean. I am happy to leave.”

“We’ll visit them,” you answered the silent question, as sarcastic as she was, you knew that her sisterly love for Natasha was unbreakable. The same could be said in reverse, those two have been inseparable since you first met them.

“Okay, thank you.” You ran a hand up and down her back for a few seconds, then the sound of your rumbling tummy brought you both to the dining area where the food was still piping hot. “You two could move in as well.”

Natasha threw you a glance that said she’d do it in a heartbeat, but Wanda was less inclined seeing as their kids, and Pietro were in the city.

“We’ll visit, I promise,” was all she offered, then silence followed as you all got ready to go, and made your way to the airport. Once on the jet you chose to lean against the blonde, and take a nap to silence the screams of your mind.

At the airport you hugged the couple goodbye, and let Natasha threaten you as any good big sister would when you were taking her little sister across borders after one day of being sort of involved. The redhead knew that she could trust you, it’s not like you were strangers, but she was also the one who once held a crying Yelena when you fled the country, and once prior when Kate asked you to be hers first.

Once the lot of you parted ways Yelena drove you over to Kate’s. You told her to go get her stuff, and though she was hesitant she knew you had to do this part all on your own.

You knocked on the familiar door, it was a hair too light as your fist had stalled mid thrust. It still managed to gather the woman’s attention though because it swung open before you could even begin to knock again. Kate’s body crashed into yours, and you reflexively caught her and held her as she cried loudly into your chest.

Without a moment’s hesitation you brought your conjoined bodies back over her threshold and guided her onto her couch. Kate wanted to hold on, but you left no room for her to try. A moment of comfort was all you could spare, and she knew it was selfish to expect more.

It was silent, Kate stared at you as you sat in the recliner you’d had to swipe debris from.

“I’m sorry.” You pursed your lips, humming a low tune as you absorbed her empty words.

“For who?” Kate flinched at your response, it’d been ages since she last heard your voice, and the chill it carried now was heartbreaking.

“You,” her lower lip trembled, and your anger softened a smidge at her obvious remorse.

“If I’d realized what I was doing, I wouldn’t have ever let it get so far that you felt like you had to run away from your entire life.”

“I didn’t run away from my life, I happily left yours Kate. Nothing about tending to your every whim was a life I ever dreamed up. Did you ever consider that the only thing I was running away from was you? That life with you had become so difficult that I had no choice but to drop off the face of the Earth and retire?”

“You are making it seem like I ordered you around,” she bit back, a bit offended by the animosity you’re throwing. “You willing fell into a role that never should’ve been. You were my partner, I know what I did was fucked up, but I would never have hurt you on purpose. Let’s not forget that you never said anything. Just left me a note one day and vanished.”

Silence fell as you were faced with the other side of the truth. You stayed and lived with the hurt of being forgotten, but in another turn you never fought to be seen either. Literally, there was never even a discussion, you just handled business separately, and cared for her wholly.

A relationship without communication is nothing more than two bodies out of sync.

“You’re right,” your tense shoulders deflated, and tears that fell from your eyes were wiped away by a gruff tongue trying to comfort you. “Hey Lucky boy, how have you been?”

“He misses you.”

You pet him for a very long time, trying your best to calm your nerves before you were to face her again in the less tumultuous light.

“I still love you Y/N, no longer romantically, but there’s still so much of me that loves you.”

Her words of a love never lost were actually comforting, hitting a nerve that very well would’ve been catastrophic just a day prior.

“I’ll love you forever Kit,” you gazed into her eyes, and smiled warmly, “You taught me so much, and when it was good there was no questioning that love had a purpose in life. I hope you find someone worth remembering.”

With your peace found you stood up, and, and pulled her into a strong embrace. The two of you swayed for a few seconds, then you pulled away and headed for the door.

“I’ll never forget you Y/N, I’m sorry I ever did.”

Kate watched as you picked up a green leash, and her mind caught up fast. “I hope you two are happy together. Invite me to the wedding please, I wouldn’t want to miss such a joy.”

You smiled to yourself while hooking the leash to Fanny, and left the apartment with a final lighthearted comment. “I’ll try not to forget.”

Kate smiled too, and fell back onto her couch.

There’s no one right way to love someone else, but you both knew that near the end of things you only loved the other in shades of wrong. As you drove back to the airport, your hand in another’s you realized that giving up was never the answer, but at the time it was necessary.

Love is a twisted game, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win, but no matter what, either outcome came with a journey of life lessons.

——

[lokisprettygirl]

Under his influence (Post Avengers! Loki x female reader)

Read chapter 4 here // Series Masterlist

Chapter 5

Summary : The cuddle streak is broken by the end of your 30th birthday.

Warning: mention of drinking, sweet loki is sweet, short chapter (3k words)

In the morning you again woke up before him. Thank the gods. This has been going on for a week now, you had decided to put a stop to it like three nights ago but that obviously didn't work. You sneaked out of his embrace slowly and tiptoed towards the bathroom as if you were doing the walk of shame. Why did you always feel like such a sinner in the morning?

"It's just cuddles..be a mature adult about this" you mumbled to yourself. Well mature adults don't cuddle their mature friends. Also you shouldn't be cuddling men who existed even before the 19th century.

It was your birthday tomorrow, the day you have been dreading since your last birthday, the awful 30th, you were officially going to step out of your 20s with nothing to boot about. Nothing you ever did in life had made you proud of yourself.

For once you managed to leave the apartment without bumping into him, though why did he have to look so good when he was in deep sleep?

"So your place tomorrow? We are excited" Lyla squealed and you gave her a smile. Her and a bunch of other colleagues at the gym invited themselves to your birthday party that you didn't want to have in the first place.

"Yeah okay I'll see you tomorrow" as if you had any other options.

As you went home, he was folding your laundry, he was such a good roommate that you'd often forget that he wasn't your roommate. However as soon as he grabbed your grandma panties you snatched it out of his hand with the speed of the lightening.

"It's just a piece of fabric" he let out a hearty laugh so you glared at him.

"It's …intimate" So are the spooning sessions at night but he didn't see you complaining about them. None of you mentioned anything about them cuddles in the light of the day and it was starting to rub him in a certain way. A part of him was relieved because he wasn't sure if he was up for that conversation just yet, he didn't even know how you perceived him, was he just a friend? Only a friend?

"So big day tomorrow, are we having a celebration?" you sighed as he said that. You felt anxious telling him that he'd have to stay invisible tomorrow when your co-workers would come, it was one thing to introduce him to the family but you didn't want to put him at more risk. What if you get drunk and mess up or he does the whole magicky thing out of nowhere. You didn't want him to get caught, what would they do to him if he was to get caught? Would they hurt him? The thought made you want to cuddle him again.

"Uhhh actually my coworkers will be coming. I guess people really do like free drinks huh?" He chuckled as you said that

"So I'm assuming you won't be requiring my presence here?"

God he made everything easy, he just always knew what to say

"Loki, I want you here, you're my friend. It's just I don't want to put your life at risk, there would be several people, pictures will be taken and shared on Facebook or something, I'm sure Tony Stark must have the high technology where they can trace you with your face print or something right?" He continued to smile as you blabbed incoherently.

"I suppose so"

"I'm sorry" your eyes teared up so he walked towards you. He was wearing that cute blue shirt you had gotten for him. The color really popped his eyes, it also contrasted with his light pale skin so well.

"You don't have to apologize my darling, we will celebrate afterwards if you'd be open to that"

"Of Course.. ofcourse"

"This is your home, I don't ever want you to feel burdened by my presence "

"You never burden me Loki, I love living with you" his brows wiggled as you said that "I meant I like it..just a healthy amount" you chuckled as you walked away to put the stack of clothes in the closet. You wanted to die at the moment, actually dying while still in your 20s didn't sound so bad "It's not like I'm obsessed with you or anything " you mumbled but he only gave you his signature smile in response.

"How are you feeling?" He asked you, making you sigh deeply

"Well I'm bummed for sure. I mean I'll never get to be in my twenties again you know? The ship has sailed, the boats have..uhh boated. I don't know." The boat has bailed would have rhymed better but nope "Did you feel this way when you turned uhhh I don't know.. seven hundred" Your voice got lower and then higher by the end of the sentence, sometimes it was hard to grasp that he indeed was more than a thousand years old.

"Well in Asgard the numbers barely hold any value. It is the intelligence that's of significance when determining whether or not a man has matured completely, we grow up in phases, numbers are just that..numbers"

"Huhh. So are you a fully matured grown up?" You asked him and he chuckled

"Merely a few years back I thought that the mass extinction of my own kind would finally gain me the approval of Odin so I believe the answer would be no"

He smiled but you could tell that part of his life really affected him. Of Course it did, you couldn't imagine this soft sweet baby hurting someone, let alone hurting his own kind so cruelly, but then you also didn't know what he was going through, maybe he snapped and had enough, you always felt you'd snap someday too and become a villain that's hungry for revenge. But then you always allowed the karma to do its thing, and also because you were too lazy to become an actual villain. It was too much thinking. You walked towards him and hugged him to comfort him

"Well I'm sure you have outgrown that phase of yours now because the man that i know here.. my sweet friend–" Again with the friend he thought "He's pretty amazing" Well pretty and amazing you thought.

"So are you princess" your face got warm at the pet name so you took a step away from him.

Did he just call you a princess? You would barely qualify as a peasant on Asgard.

"I'll go shower and we can eat"

You did the routine- Shower, eat, brush teeth, sleep in separate beds and then one of the two would crawl in the other's bed depending on the mood.

It was his turn today, as the clock hit 12 he crawled into your bed and snuggled into you. Before you could say anything he greeted you,

"Happy Birthday Princess" a birthday wish has never sounded so sweet

"Thank you Loki" you smiled as you hooked your arm around him "This is not as bad as I thought it would be, you being here is helping though" he chuckled as you said that "I'm not joking, i really would have been a crying mess right now if you weren't here"

"Even if I wasn't here at this moment, I think I would have find you sooner or later"

"No you wouldn't have, it was pure luck"

"I do not think something so frivolous such as luck brought me to you, that tesseract has a mind of its own, the cube wanted me here"

"Isn't it called mind stone? "

"No it's the space one..what I'm trying to convey is that perhaps our paths were destined to collide"

"You're very cute" he smiled as you said that he has never been called cute before, that word was only used for small little creatures on Asgard and not gods like him "Can I ask you a question?" You mumbled so he hummed in response.

"Are you always this cold because you're a frost god?" A frost god? He was just a giant monster.

"Yes. I can manipulate my temperature though, would you like me to go warm?"

"Would it be uncomfortable for you?"

"Just a little, nothing I can not bear"

"Mmmm then i don't want it Loki, besides i am enjoying this, perfect for summers " you chuckled as you finished your sentence, you didn't want to get so completely obvious with your crush on him. You had no idea how much your sweet words and your care for him has affected him though, someone cared about his comfort and that wasn't something he was used to having.

Next day once you got all dolled up for the party he couldn't stop staring at you, the dress you had on made you look different, he thoroughly enjoyed you being in your pajamas but this wasn't too bad either.

He wanted to give you a little something before your friends would arrive so he sat down with you on the sofa.

"I was so rattled all night because I couldn't choose what I wanted to give you as a present –"

"Loki you don't have to do that" you placed your hand on his so he looked down and it immediately made you pull back.

"I know I don't necessarily have to, I just really wanted to" you smiled as he said that "There were plenty of things I could have given you that probably would have been more suitable for a lady like you, however–" his eyes teared up and so did yours, the softness in his voice remained undefeated, you didn't even need a gift anymore, this was enough. He waved his fingers and there was a small gift box in his hand, wrapped in a pretty paper and bunch of golden flowers, he passed it to you so you started to unwrap it

"I believed you'd rather want something sentimental and personal, something that would make you think of me" When he's not there he thought. As you opened the box, you found a knife in there, it was a knife polished in pure gold, the handle made from the finest oak, it had your name on it and there was a small birthday wish engraved on the blade,

"If you ever find yourself trapped by the twisted paths of uncertainties, remember that you can always cut through and make a new one, Loki"

"Loki–" you could hardly whisper his name and then it suddenly hit you, it wasn't any ordinary knife, it was the knife you had thrown at him on the first day, you recognised the blade, he had just molded it to make it look extraordinary "Ohhh god–" you looked at him, your eyes filled with several little emotions and then you hugged him as tightly as you could,

"Loki..This--" your breath hitched in your chest, making it almost impossible to talk to him "This is the most thoughtful gift i have ever received..thank you" he grabbed your hand and placed a small kiss, the look on your face made him feel content.

"Thank you lo ..thank you so much" you hugged him for a good minute before you pulled away, at night it didn't matter because the sleep always got you but rest of the times holding him for such a long time only made your thoughts spiral.

Unfortunately you didn't have much time because your colleagues would be here soon.

"Sooo ..just curious, what were the other things you could have gifted me" you questioned him and it made him chuckle.

"Jewels Perhaps"

"Yeahh I'm not into jewels sooo" you smiled and it made him smile too. He knew you'd appreciate something that held a sentimental value "Ummm okay I was wondering if people can still touch you if you're invisible?"

"Yes, I am indeed tangible but do not worry I'll just hide in my vault "

"What?"

"Its spacious "

"Nooo noo no Loki, I can't..i would like it if you're here..with me" you smiled and he returned it.

"Alright "

He disappeared as soon as he heard the door buzzing, it felt weird to not see him and you really really wanted to see him. But knowing that he was there made you feel slightly better. As you opened the door, Lyla hugged you and Loki glared at her, this woman kept calling you chubby, he didn't like her already. There were two other ladies and three men, he kept his eyes on this particular guy, his name that he learned was Chase, he couldn't stop flirting with you even though you didn't seem interested or maybe that was his wishful thinking.

You went into the kitchen as you made them all sit down in the living room which was basically just a few feet away. Loki has graciously offered you a bunch of chairs and a table for the party. He was like a genie, he was exactly like a Genie.

One of the guys turned the tv on , giving you the headache already.

"Guys look ..look.. queen of Asgard is on tv" you ran into the living room as he said that. Queen of Asgard as in Frigga? What was she doing here?

"Loki, my son, wherever you are please return to me, I can not lose you again, enough of the jesting, your father has given me his word that there will be no consequences, please return, your family awaits your presence"

Loki had told you about her, from what he had shared you knew she was that one person he really loved and cared for. What did she mean by losing him again? Loki never shared what had really happened after his fight with Thor all those years back in Asgard.

"Come on it's a party..shut it off" Lyla whined as she sipped on her drink. You looked around in worry as you couldn't spot Loki but you knew he was watching.

"Man i wonder where that murderer bastard is" Steven, one of the guys said

"Mind your language you hear me?" You defended loki immediately,

"He's right though..a criminal like him rolling around freely isn't good for us" Stacy said and you rolled your eyes. What did they even know about him? You did, and he wasn't as evil as he should have been after everything he has been through, you knew he didn't attack NYC on his own, he was compelled and forced to do it.

You looked behind and you could see the bathroom door opening and closing so you went in there and locked the door.

"Loki are you–" before you could finish your word he had you pressed against the door with his palm right over your mouth, you looked right up into his eyes as he appeared, he was in his Asgardian clothing, a long black tunic with matching trouser, the color looked the best on him, it complimented his raven hair.

"They can hear you" he whispered quietly so you nodded, as he took a step back you breathed in deeply, the proximity always messed up your brain. All you could think about was kissing him and then him picking you up to place you down on the sink while you two would make out

"Your mother–"

"It's just so typical of Thor to involve our mother in between our quarrels" he mumbled in frustration.

"Well it's more than just a quarrel" you chuckled so he gave you a smile "She said that..there will be no consequences –"

"She's lying ofcourse "

"But she won't lie to you would she?" He chuckled again but his eyes had gotten teary this time, you squeezed your eyes shut as you remembered that she had lied to him about his heritage all his life.

"Are you okay?" You whispered so he nodded.

"Go enjoy the celebration darling, I'm absolutely alright I promise " you nodded as he said that. Maybe he just wanted to be alone.

You went back to the living room but you couldn't stop thinking about him, he seemed troubled and you wanted to hug him as tightly as you could.

Once everyone left and you couldn't have been more grateful that they did, you called out for him, he clicked his fingers and there he was, on your bed, reading his book.

"Are you okay?" You asked him so he hummed

"Are you?"

"I'm fine..a bit drunk but fine"

You gulped so he nodded.

"So that's your mom huh"

"Adoptive mother, I never even met my birth mother " he answered as he flipped the page of the book.

"Ohhh .. ummm.. soo.. do you want to celebrate my birthday..ummm there's a cake, I think you'll like it" you walked towards the kitchen and he sighed. He put the book down and followed you, his mood had turned sour but he really didn't want to upset you. He also really wanted to kiss you right now.

"Ummm so Chase asked me out on a date" he crossed his arms as you told him. That boar wanted to romance you? He didn't deserve a woman like you. Nobody did. He didn't think midgardian men possessed the heart to value a lady such as you.

"So you'd court this man?"

"I uhhh–" what were you supposed to say? You just wanted to see his reaction, you weren't sure this is the reaction you wanted. You wanted him to get jealous

"What should I do?" You questioned him like a moron and he snickered. Did he just snicker? Was he upset?

"I'm no one to make that sort of decisions for you darling"

"Well..Perhaps one date won't kill me" you mumbled. You really were picking up his lingos.

"Yeah, perhaps " Did he just use the word yeah?

"Okay ummm here's the cake " you passed him the plate so he took it. He couldn't stop you from courting other people if you wanted to, he wasn't your significant other afterall, he was just a friend, probably not even that. He was just the burden.

That night he didn't approach you for cuddling because he figured you'd rather cuddle this new man, you didn't either because you thought he didn't want to do it anymore.

Did you just ruin the cuddling arrangement by opening your big mouth? You weren't even into this Chase guy. You'd tell Chase tomorrow that you weren't into him, you weren't going to do what other people had done to you. It was deceiving.

Well that was the plan you had made before sleeping but an argument happened and for some reason you ended up on this date anyways. And Loki was definitely bitter about it. Extremely bitter.

😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳

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[everythingne]

Out Of The Woods, 6 (ls2)

Logan and Dhanishka finally have the necessary breakthrough, Olivia delivers some bad news that Dhanishka already has a backup plan for. Logan just has a really good time at the end.

warnings/notes: panic attack in the beginning, mentions of alcohol, i don’t really think much else? ok i KNOW viscaal is an actual dude but like. i forgot. so just imagine he has a brother or smthn idk. bit shorter but hey. this is for logan bc fuck williams man

(series masterlist) (ch 7)

-

“Isa!”

I, despite my best efforts, cannot get a solid breath in. Someone's hands are on my face, trying to rouse me from whatever's got my eyes squeezed shut. I gasp again and they're brushing tears off of my cheeks. When I hold my breath, choking on an inhale, the voice is panicked, telling me to breathe. Then blowing a gust of air on my face.

Somehow the air is what snaps my eyes open.

"Christ, Isa." Logan's saying, holding a phone to his ear as he presses my hair down with one hand, "hey, hey, it's okay..."

"Lo-Logan?" I rasp and he nods, a tiny, worried smile crossing his face as he turns to the phone and speaks in a hushed tone.

"I've got her, thanks Anya. I'll text you when I get her in bed."

When he puts his phone down, he hands me a water bottle but holds the bottom of it as I take small slow sips and try not to burst into tears yet again. He doesn't say anything, not even when I lower my hand from where it's been resting over his thudding heart.

"You called my sister?" I ask and he pauses, before nodding.

"Yeah. I figured Anya would know how to help you out of a panic attack." He says and I nearly choke on my water.

"I had a panic attack?" I ask and he stills, before he is everything around me. His hands are gentle, tucking me against his chest, one hand carding through my hair as the other holds me tight.

“Oh, Isa—“ He murmurs into my hair. I whisper out confusion, I had a panic attack? I never have panic attacks? Is that why I blacked out? When did he get here?

“Oh, Isa, I’m so sorry they’ve turned you into me.” Logan presses his hands to either side of my face, lifting me back so I can look at him. I remember how a week ago I was afraid of loving him, how I was terrified I'd lose him, and yet here he was as stubborn and comforting as always. As he had been in China. As he had been in Miami. As he now was in Imola.

"I can't do this Logan." I hiccup, letting him bring me into his arms once more, kisses trailing my forehead as he keeps me locked in tight, "I can't take another day of this comparing bullshit! They hate me, all of them in Ferrari. I don't even know if I still have Charles, and they keep pushing and pushing and I just wanna be good!"

"You are good. You are so good." He murmurs, "You're doing better than I did my first season. I had panic attacks almost every race, I still have them sometimes."

When I look at him in disbelief he sighs, "the difference between us is that you have Ferrari and I have Williams. Alex and I are actually cared for within Williams. They care about our health, our wellbeing. Ferrari always has and always will put you below Charles because he's the predestined or whatever. It's stupid. It's what drove Carlos out according to Oscar, who heard it from Lando so who knows--but my point still stands."

I sniffle, nodding, wiping at my face and huffing when I realize I had cried. Logan convinces me to swap seats with him, and he drives us back to the hotel. He follows the same procedures as he had with my migraine and we settle in to watch Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara-- one of my favorite Bollywood movies I'd forced him to watch with me before. Surprisingly, he remembers a lot of it and then embarrassedly admits,

"We watched it on your birthday every year, I kept up the tradition. Even though Dalton thought it was stupid I did that."

I can't help but kiss him then, fully of my own decision and his hands comes to my waist as he pulls me down to slot against him. I throw my right leg over when he bites my lip, groaning in the back of my throat. The Señorita scene is playing from his laptop, Hrithik Roshan is dancing his heart out, Logan's lips are soft against mine.

He pulls back.

"What are we doing?" He whispers, pausing Netflix by closing his laptop and leaving us in the soft ambient glow of Imola from the half curtained windows.

"What do you mean?" I say, because I know theres more weight behind his words. He just laughs when I press a kiss to his forehead, his arm secure around my waist like he never wants to let me go. I don't want him to.

"Do you love me?" Its so vulnerable it makes me stop and he brings his hand to my throat, but just to dance his finger tips along the side of my jaw until he takes my chin in his hand and pull me a bit closer.

"Because I've always loved you in the way soulmates love each other, but I think you love me like I'm just a casual fuck."

"If you always loved me like that why'd you break up with me?" I ask and Logan sighs, letting go of my chin to place his hand on one of my thighs, the right one I had thrown over his torso when the kisses got a bit more than playful.

Logan takes a long moment to answer, like he's picking each word with the upmost care, but he just says, "I was scared."

"Scared?"

"Of you. Of racing. Of everything." He sighs and I go to slide off his lap when his fingers dig in, keeping me rooted in my seat. Just like earlier, when he was calming me in the car, just like when he had eased my migraine. He needed me.

I card my hands through his hair, being them to his shoulders and smooth the tenseness I can feel. He closes his eyes, leaning his head back as he just lets everything finally break and he hands my his heart once more.

This time, I cradle it to my chest, trying to heal it while his heart tries to smooth out the sharp edges of mine.

"I had been doing so well. I had everything in my finger tips, just within reach and then... fucking Trident rips it out from underneath my feet. I didn't know what to do, and as far as I was concerned, you were just as guilty as everyone else. I... I needed control."

I had been right when I guessed that?

"And control was breaking up with me because it was a decision you could make without having to consult anyone else?" I say and he nods.

"I regretted it every day after. There were so many times my mom had to stop Dalton from calling you or Anya." A light smile crosses his lips and I giggle, taking the hint of his slight pursed lips to press a gentle kiss to them.

"Anya was so mad at you when we broke up, she told me she was gonna go to BWT and cut your brakes." I murmur against his lips and he starts to laugh, his hands slide up to rest along my ribs as he smiles against my lips and innocent pecks.

"I wouldn't have been mad if she had. I beat myself up over it for weeks." Logan shrugged, "but uhm... I talked with Viscaal last week. He was at the race for some sponsorship thing and he stopped to congratulate me on my placement. I asked him of you were involved and he and I talked about the crash for a long time."

"And?"

"And he convinced me you weren't."

The conversation hadn't been easy. Viscaal was sort of up in arms about the idea of even discussing it with Logan, but once let in on the PR nightmare the two were going through... he relented. But he wasn't easy on Logan, he hadn't been the whole time they stood in the blistering sun over the track.

"She literally was inconsolable, how do you think she had anything to do with it?" James Viscaal had said to Logan, eyes narrowing underneath his Formula E cap, "You seriously think Dubey had anything to do with it? She'd rather hurt herself than hurt you."

"I just... I can't shake the feeling--"

"Well you better figure out how, Sargeant, or you're gonna lose a perfectly good girl."

Logan sighs as he replays the conversation two or three times, then gnaws the inside of his lip before saying, "Sorry for saying that shit to you, about not trusting you... it was childish."

"I said stupid shit too, I'm sorry." I say and he presses a more firm kiss to my lips.

"Consider that an apology accepted." He says and I smile,

"Guess I'll have to keep apologizing--" I'm cut off when he sits up abruptly, pulling me to his chest just to lay me on my back under him as he cages me beneath him.

My phone vibrates. A few missed calls from Charles. I ignore him in favor of kissing my boyfriend.

I'll tell him I was sleeping.

-

Monaco is the race for publicity. Everyone knew Monaco, and if they didn't, they just didn't know it was called Monaco. I'm snuck into Williams the day before practice, when it's mostly just vendors setting up and some meetings happening in each paddock. I'm led by Logan to a back office, where I meet with two women, and JAmes Vowles.

Who... is sitting in on the PR meeting for some reason?

The woman who leads Logan's PR is named Astrid Marina, and while I fight to figure out while that name is familiar, Logan idly pokes at my leg. I look over to read what he's showing me and groan internally.

'Ferrari and Williams in talks over suing Sky News reporter Anthony Davis for blackmailing and harassment.'

"Too much is happening this season, I don't even wanna bother." I complain and Logan nods, coaxing me to rest against him as I yawn. It's been a long week of harrowing, exhausting training with Charles. Ferrari gives me no reprieve and as I work to show them I am a capable driver, they still beat me down. Still say Charles is better. It's grown to be annoying for both me and the Monegasque, and something we bond over now in the late hours between a bottle of wine.

"How has your season been with Ferrari so far, Dhanishka?" James asks and I give him a cordial answer that has him raising an eyebrow in question as he says, "Logan's told me otherwise."

I whack Logan's arm, making the Floridian laugh as he raises his hands in defense of his actions. Something in James' eyes tells me it’s alright to say, so I do.

"It's been a terrible time if I'm honest," I sigh, "Charles is praised, I'm ignored and blamed for every mistake, they barely talk to me on radios so I kinda have to figure it all out myself, I'm hardly given real strategy and kinda just make it up myself as I go."

"And with all of that you still place in the top ten every race, and have podiumed twice. That's an incredible feat, Miss Dubey, you should be very proud of yourself."

Somehow, James saying that to me makes it all click that, yeah, it was an incredible feat.

"Alright, Jasmine is here so lets get started." Astrid settles in her seat in front of us and Logan and I sit back up from our lazing positions as Jasmine--my PR manager of several years, takes her own seat next to Astrid. James leans back in his seat as well, taking on a more observing role to this. I wonder if its because he's worried about this, or if Olivia and Lando have told him to keep an eye on it. Not that they knew who Logan's manager was, as far as I was aware.

Jasmine shuffles her papers a bit before asking, "How are you both feeling? You're almost tied for points this season."

"Feeling pretty optimistic." Logan smiles softly in greeting to her, "The car has been preforming well and I've been doing better than where I started last year."

"I'd be a lot better is my damn car worked half the time." I mutter in complaint, making Logan laugh softly as he squeezes my knee.

"I'm glad you both are feeling better." Astrid smiles, "but lets not take up too much time here for small talk, you both have busy days tomorrow."

Yay. Qualifying.

"Dhanishka, social media is your forte here. Keep posting, keep promoting the relationship. You've been doing a fine job with that. Public appearances have been fine, though I've noticed a bit of tension? Is there anything we want to confirm or ask about..?"

"How long is this going on for?" Logan asks and I feel a weird pain settle in my chest. Why did he care?

"Uhm... well..." Jasmine hums, "I'd say you guys can decide when to call it off. Astrid wanted to make sure that, unlike with Lando and Olivia previously, you both have complete control of this situation."

"Oh, Dhanishka, work on befriending some of the WAGs. I know you and Olivia are decently close, but befriending the Lily's or even Carmen would be a good look." Astrid says and I nod, opening my phone to follow them on Instagram. I was already close with Lily Zneimer, she just needed to come to a race other than Australia.

"Logan, we need you to start posting Dhanishka as well." Astrid says and Jasmine nods softly, looking like she's a bit uncomfortable by how strict Astrid is being.

"Yeah, got it." Logan nods. Theres a few more formalities, some publicity things they want us to do and a joint 'couples trivia' gave they want us to play with a bunch of the drivers before the next race on the calendar.

We're dismissed with the promise of posting each other more on social media.

"Lets go to dinner tonight." He says, taking my hand in his and kissing the back of it. I smile and bump his shoulder with mine.

"Alright." I smile, its easy to be in love with Logan and he threads out fingers together and presses a soft kiss to the back of my hand.

Before I can leave though, James speaks, "Jasmine, Dhanishka, can we speak privately? I have Dhanishka's manager Lucille inside my office already.

And I nod, and follow James into his office after a quick goodbye kiss from Logan with his playful grin to match.

-

dhanishkadubey made a new post!

liked by alexalbon, lilymhe, lilyzneimer, and 459k others...

dhanishkadubey: the muse and her artist 💙🩵

tagged: logansargeant

lilymhe: blue suits u sooo much wow

logansargeant: sei incredibilmente bella (i think.)

⤷ charlesleclerc: you think right?? wtf??

user1: MY PARENTS. PARENNNTTSSSS.

logansargeant: you in blue... woof or whatever. xx

anyadubey: blue has ALWAYS been ur color.

user2: dhanishka in blue?? williams dhanishka?? please james vowles.

williamsracing: wow. logan better know how to fight.

⤷ logansargeant: which intern is this i have WORDS.

⤷ williamsracing: LOL CATCH ME FIRST FLORIDA MAN !!!

landonorris: LOGAN TOOK THESE???

⤷ dhanishkadubey: hes an artist ✨

user3: oh to be someones muse...

-

I'm walking through the apartment building Lando had sent me the address for ages ago. Logan's hand is firmly tucked in mine as he idly talks about the desserts we'd brought for the little dinner we're all having tonight. Olivia had invited over quite a few people, her family (consisting of Oscar and Lily, Ophelia and her wife Rosalind, and Oaklynn), Lando's siblings, (sisters Cisca and Flo, brother Oliver with his wife Savannah and their daughters Mila and Athena), Max, Kelly, and Penelope, Alex and Lily, Charles, and me and Logan. It was some sort of dinner party, and due to Logan's training running a bit long we were late.

Which, wasn't surprising.

Olivia said they'd be out on the balcony, so we let ourselves into the spacious apartment. Logan helping me with my shoes while I joke about balancing the three plates, but Charles cursing in Italian sharply makes us both freeze.

"Relax." Olivia scolds, almost like a mother, "she's gonna be fine, I've been in talks with multiple teams and--"

"They're just dropping her?! For Lewis? She's been beating him every damn race save for Australia!" Charles all but roars and I can hear the balcony door slam. Logan tenses, his jaw setting firmly and he tries to coax me back outside but I'm stubborn, I won't move until I know whats wrong. But I have a gut feeling I already know.

"Charles, calm down," Olivia tries again and then there's an overlap of a few voices I can't fight through.

"It's nothing set in stone! Relax!" Max's voice chimes above everyone else's and the room quiets as a soft sigh escapes Logan's mouth. He draws his arm across my back and hushes me softly, pressing a kiss to my hairline.

"Checo's moving to Formula E. I'm taking his spot next season, or I'll go to RB if they choose to move Daniel instead." Alex says softly, "which means Red Bull is set for next season regardless. Mercedes is taking Carlos to race with George, so they're set as well."

"McLaren's got me and Lando, so they're set. Neither Haas or Aston Martin are gonna change." Oscar sighs, "safe bet that Alpine and Sauber will stay the same too."

Max asks, "Is Logan staying with Williams?"

"Can we stop talking about this, they'll be here soon. Dhanishka doesn't even know yet." Olivia complains, "I don't know why you're all so surprised when Ferrari's been treating her like shit! They could care less if she's dead or alive on that track as long as Charles comes out on top. Plus, the FIA is going to investigate them for malpractice."

"Oh, actually?" Lando hums and I hear Charles confirm, and I bury my head against Logan's chest where I can hear his heart pounding. I'm trying to fight back the sense of dread forming in my gut.

"I know Logan's been trying to get her to talk with James." Alex says softly, "As far as I'm aware, Williams is resigning him with the second seat open."

Logan's grip tightens when he realizes I've figured it out and I push past him to enter the main room of the Piastri-Norris apartment. The warm Monaco air feels unwelcome as it floats in from the open balcony door where I can see the kids are being preoccupied from the inside argument. But inside, all the drivers plus Olivia stare at me like I'm not supposed to be there. And then theres movement and--

"Dhaniska!" Olivia's voice chimes and the Aussie to wrap me up tight in her arms, "Oh, honey."

"They're dropping me?" I hate the way my voice sounds so broken and despite what I want, Olivia nods.

"Last week I got both Daniel's and Alex's data from last season to sift through to help the Red Bull team figure out which driver we want next season." She starts to explain, running her fingers through my hair, "I knew some big changes were happening when we also got files for Lewis and Fernando. But.. Lewis just announced he was racing with Ferrari next season, while Charles was here. No one knew except Lewis and Vasseur. I-I can try and get you with some other teams but--"

"Olivia, I love you truly, but that's not your job." I say softly, squeezing her forearms, "A-and besides, I... I might've made a contingency plan."

The whole room pauses.

"Huh?" Logan says, tightening his grip on my wrist and I laugh. It's so stupid, how he thought his and Alex's little plan to have me replace the latter Thai driver would've gone overlooked by James. Who bit down at the chance to have me.

James pulled me and Jasmine into his office, my manager Lucie already inside. When I give a confused look, both women are motioning for me to sit in the middle of three chairs. Lucie on my left, Jasmine on my right. When I do, James takes a seat at his desk and hands me a file in the beautiful William's blue. The logo stamped on front, with words written under that make my heart pause.

'DUBEY CONTRACT DRAFT 1 - 2025'

"Dhanishka." Lucie starts, placing a reassuring hand on my knee as she sets down an identical folder, "Ferrari isn't going to renew your contract next year. I've known since Miami. Lewis is coming to race for them instead, which I thought I'd be more surprised about, but it is close to his retirement I suppose."

"He did always say he'd retire in a Ferrari." James nods, and the conversation continues, still led by Lucie.

"So, I've been in talks with almost every team--thanks to Olivia, who has an almost... deus ex machina power within F1. She got me write up contracts from Mercedes, Alpine, RB, and Stake... but they've all backed out."

James, taking this as his cue, sits forward, "Williams is going to need a driver next year. Alex is moving to one of the Red Bull teams. We'll be resigning Logan."

"Me?" I ask, "you seriously want me? The girl who almost destroyed one of your drivers PR?"

"PR is repairable," James waves a hand, "Your skill on the track is something I can relate to a young Alonso or even someone like Senna or Vettel. It's talent like yours, Charles' and Max's we wont get again soon. To podium on your first race, to stay consistently in the top ten with no support? That's unheard of."

"Williams is offering a three year contract." Lucie says and I finally thumb open the folder and stare down at it. The weight of it all becomes real when I see it all printed out.

James stands to leave as he says, "I'll leave you to speak in private."

So I can’t hide my smile as I announce, "You are looking at the second seat for Williams in 2025!"

I don’t think in my time of knowing Logan had he ever hugged me as tight as this. I can’t help but laugh as his chest presses to my back, his lips finding my cheek and undoubtedly smudging my makeup. I can’t find it in me to care.

Alex decides to make a show of giving me his seat (which includes him physically handing me a chair) and when I turn to hug Olivia and Lando in celebration, Olivia whispers to me, “I knew you guys would figure it out.”

Charles just about squeezes the life out of me with his hug, thanking me for driving with him, and I thank him for teaching me. I know later on we’ll have a more in depth conversation but for now he allows me to celebrate with Logan’s arm tucked firmly around my waist.

Kelly ends up pouring us all shots to celebrate, and when I smidge my lipstick drinking various glasses of champagne and other drinks, Logan fishes my compact and my lipstick out of my purse.

It feels full circle to have him hold the mirror while I fix myself up.

-

logansargeant made a new post!

liked by dhaniskadubey, oscarpiastri, alexalbon, and 345k others...

logansargeant: heres to second chances 💙

dhanishkadubey: AAAA MERI JAANNN <333

- logansargeant: MERI JAAN????

- dhanishkadubey: YEAH U FUCKING COLONIZER. MERI JAAN.

sebvettel: looking good rookies 👍🏻

user1: dhanishka in blue pls be a sign. pls.

dhanishkadubey: i am going to kiss u on the mouth

user2: the girlfriend effect on logans insta shut upp

oscarpiastri: loganishka since day 1

- dhanishkadubey: LOGANISHKA. IS THAT OUR SHIP NAME SHUT UP!!!

-

f1 made a new post!

liked by anyadubey, charlesleclerc, danielricciardo, and 783k others…

f1: Admist the starting investigation into malpractice within Ferrari's team following @ dhanishkadubey ‘s treatment over the past few months, Dubey released a statement about leaving the team.

“Ferrari was a dream, but the reality of Ferrari is that we are not compatible. I will continue to give my best performance for the team, wish them the best of luck next season, and send my love to the tifosi. Thank you for welcoming me.” - Dubey via Twitter this morning.

comments have been disabled for this post!

--

taglist (open, and thank you to those on it now!)

@chasing-liberosis @justsomejess @struggling-with-delia @daemyratwst

[basketballanonsblog]

Happy birthday, Jihyo! The efforts you always put in all that you do are admiralable. Thank you for being the best leader. You're the glue that helps TWICE stick together 🎊🧡

I can't believe it's been a year since I wrote this for her birthday and @zyonamourolls

I'll be posting the rest of this AU over the next couple of weeks

Synopsis: After a lifetime of waiting, you finally found her again. (TW: slight violence and brief mention of blood. Flashbacks are in italics)

Finally found

"Get away from her!" Jihyo stood in between the man and woman whom he decided to target.

"Well, look what we have here, a mighty hero. You shouldn't interfere in things that don't concern you."

He tried to get to the other woman, but Jihyo fought him.

Where are you, my love? I need you.

"Run. Now!" She urged the other, who did what she was told. Before she could notice, he had pulled out a knife, gravely injuring her.

That was his first and last mistake.

The sky rumbled and flashed with thunder and lightning.

"Jihyo!"

The man was suddenly grabbed from behind and thrown against the wall with great force, knocking him unconscious. You'd deal with him later.

"No, no, no."

You rushed to her, bringing Jihyo as close as possible without aggravating her wound. Inspecting and putting pressure on it, you knew it was fatal based on the amount of blood she was losing.

"I'm here now, love. I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner. I'm going to get you help." You got ready to fly, but she weakly grasped your arm.

"I'm not going to make it, y/n."

"Don't say that. It's not too late." Your voice quivered, but she smiled at you.

"Shhh. It's okay, y/n. Our time together in this lifetime may have been cut short, but I know you'll find me again in the next."

Jihyo kissed you before wiping your tears as best she can.

"I love you, my angel."

"I love you."

She continued smiling as her eyes fluttered shut and she went limp.

"Jihyo?...Jihyo!"

No response.

You desperately sobbed, gently rocking her body.

"No, please, please. Please. Come back to me, don't leave me."

The heavens opened, but you shielded her with your wings. The unrelenting rainfall coincides with your grief and tears.

~◇~

Jihyo shot upright in a sweat, trying to catch her breath. She's been having quick snippets of the same dream almost every night. But this, this was more vivid.

"So much for not waking up early on my day off." She mumbled to herself as she walked into the kitchen, which contained one occupant.

"You had that dream didn’t you?" Mina was the only one she had told, only because she had overheard Jihyo talking in her sleep.

"Yeah. But this time it was different, more detailed." She explained her dream, and Mina looked pensive at the end of it.

"What's your opinion on the theory of being reborn?"

"Huh?"

"You know, people contemplate whether or not soulmates and reincarnation exist. Based on the amount of detail, maybe this dream is from a past life of yours."

Jihyo looked at her, bewildered.

"Yeah um I think you might have been watching too many romance dramas...or too busy pining over Chaeyoung."

"Unnie!"

~◇~

Trudging through your apartment, you collapsed onto your bed. Another shift at the hospital was completed. Being the chief obstetrician brought feelings of purpose, and it was rewarding, helping life come into the world; but it could be exhausting. Especially when complications arise.

You considered whether to go flying around for fresh air. At the thought, your wings sprung out, but in the end, you decided to have a nap.

"Sorry." Your wings tucked themselves back in as you closed your eyes.

Not even half an hour after falling asleep, you were abruptly woken by the sound of music blasting throughout the place. Considering that you lived alone, you knew who it was.

Curse your sibling.

You stormed to the living room, yelling.

"Lucifer! Can you please turn -" You went from irritated to breathless at the sound of a familiar yet foreign voice. A voice you hadn't heard in nearly a century.

"Who- who is that?"

"They're TWICE, a K-pop group."

"The one singing a moment ago, what's her name?"

"Oh, that's the leader, Park Jihyo."

You had to sit down before your legs gave in. The shock was so great that Lucifer had to shout your name a number of times in order for you to snap out of it.

"Brother. It's her."

He stared at you, confused, until his eyes widened as it clicked.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go to her!"

"Yeah, because they're just going to let me waltz in and talk to a famous idol." You quipped sarcastically.

He thought for a moment before looking cheerful.

"Leave it with me, sis. I'll handle it."

He threw you a wink, making you grimace. Things with Lucifer can go haywire but at this point, you'd try almost anything.

-×-

Another day, another shift. You were getting ready to help one of your patients until...

"Y/n!" Lucifer appeared beside you, with a stupid grin on his face.

"Oh for the love of- what the hell are you doing here?"

"Can't a guy visit his sister?"

"Not at work, especially when she's prepping to deliver a baby." You walked away, but he grabbed your arm.

"Wait. At least hear me out."

"Fine. Ten seconds, go."

"I got us tickets to see TWICE, and I managed to charm the staff to let us meet the members. You can reunite with her, y/n."

"I..."

So many emotions swirled within. You almost cried then and there. You were fortunate to have a sibling like him. Not that you would ever say it out loud. His ego was already big enough.

"You could've at least waited until I got home to drop this bombshell. Goodness knows you barge into my apartment whenever you damn well, please."

Walking away once more, your heart was racing. Lucifer just found it hilarious.

"You're welcome, sis!"

~◇~

The concert began not long after you had sat down but you were still restless.

Until you saw Jihyo.

Oh, how you had missed her. How you managed to wait this long, you'd never know.

"Are you okay?" Lucifer whispered.

"I'm fine."

"But you're crying." Huh. You didn't even realise.

"It's just a lot to process right now, but I promise I'm alright." No further words were exchanged; not that you could talk anyway. Especially when you kept your eyes on Jihyo the entire time.

You never did stop crying throughout the concert.

Seeing her so energetic, finding joy and happiness in performing with the members. That's all you wanted for her, to find passion in life.

On Jihyo's side, there was something different in the air tonight, besides the usual bursts of excitement they get. She felt compelled to keep looking at a certain section of the audience but could not figure out why.

Almost as if she was being drawn in.

The thought kept nagging in the back of her head, but was brushed away because in the blink of an eye, the concert was over.

~◇~

The members waited patiently for the people who their manager said had wanted to meet them.

Lucifer walked in alone, greeting them respectfully.

"Hello, I'm Lucifer. I'm here with my sister, who should be here soon."

You had gone to the bathroom to freshen up before you reunited with the love of your life. So your brother covered for you, making small talk to pass the time.

But you were taking too long, and idols could only give so much of their time. Their manager informed them it was time to go.

"No, wait! Please, my sister has been waiting for so long to meet you. I'll get her."

"Fine. Five minutes." He bolted out of the room, searching.

Lucifer found you curled up, outside the bathroom. As your younger brother, he always looked up to you; for him, it was unnerving seeing you look so... small.

"Y/n, what's wrong?" He sat beside you.

"Lucifer. I can't do it. How can I face her after what happened? I know she doesn't remember, but I don't deserve to meet her again. Jihyo is better off without me."

"No." He looked at you seriously, with a frown.

"What?"

"Don't make that decision for her. She made her choices back then, so let her make the choice now, whether or not she wants you in her life."

He gave you his handkerchief to dry your eyes.

"I know the past still hurts you. But don't let it make you so afraid that you would let her slip away again. Having another chance like this is nothing short of a miracle. Don't waste it."

You looked to him in awe.

"Who knew the devil could be so wise?"

Lucifer smirked and shrugged, then stood, offering a hand to pull you up.

"So what's it gonna be, y/n?"

~x~

Their manager glanced at her watch, sighing.

"We need to go." They all got ready to leave when the door abruptly slammed open; you and Lucifer stormed in, out of breath from running there.

"We're here!"

Jihyo's jaw dropped. It's you. The girl from her dreams.

You bowed, half in greeting and half in apology.

"Hi everyone! Forgive me for making you wait. I'm - "

"Y/n." She finished your sentence before she could stop herself.

Everyone including you, looked at Jihyo in shock and making her flustered.

"You know her, unnie?" Tzuyu asked.

"No, but -"

"How did you know her name?" Dahyun chimed in this time.

"Well..." How was she going to explain to her members that she's been dreaming of this stranger, that your name was engraved in her heart and mind.

That you were the person she's been unknowingly yearning for for months.

"Lucky guess, I suppose! People always say I look like a y/n." Not really, but you didn't want her to feel embarrassed.

Jihyo looked at you with relieved gratitude, and you smiled shyly in return.

She stepped forward, offering a hand shake, which you gladly accepted.

"Hello y/n."

"Hello Jihyo."

And as for you, your lost and troubled heart was finally at ease; for it had found its way back home.

~◇~

"You have some nerve asking me that. Especially after what you've done." You stood, drenched from the rain, bruises and minute traces of blood on your knuckles, before God himself, your father.

Pleading with him to bring Jihyo back.

"This is an outlandish request, even for you y/n. You are not the first or last person to lose someone. I can not outright bend the rules for you, regardless of the fact you are my child."

Your hands clenched, tears flowing while you dropped to your knees, head bowed.

"Then turn me human." You begged.

"Excuse me, you want me to what?"

"Turn me human. Everything is meaningless without her."

"You would really give up your birthright for her?"

"Yes." You answered too quickly for your father's liking. The way he stormed off was evidence of this.

But you stopped caring the moment you lost her.

He had returned a few hours later, much calmer after talking with your mother about the situation. Although, he didn't expect you to still be kneeling where he left you.

He mimicked you, going down to your level, that you may talk face to face.

"This human, she means that much to you?" He asked gently. You nodded tiredly.

"Father, I love her. I do not wish to live in a world where she doesn't exist."

He had never heard you sound so broken. Even if he had high expectations for you, you were still his firstborn. What kind of parent would want to see their child in pain?

He sighed in defeat and conceded, placing a hand on your shoulder.

"Okay."

~x~

You sat in front of her gravestone, fingers tracing the surface, where Jihyo's name was carved.

"Sorry I'm late, my love, Lucifer keeps dragging me into his outlandish schemes. He says it's because I'm the only sibling willing to put up with his antics, but I think he's just trying to cheer me up. He won't admit it, though, stubborn man. He would've liked you, I wish I didn't wait to introduce you. It was me being selfish and wanting to keep you far away from the dysfunctional circus that is my family."

You laughed almost bitterly while wiping your eyes.

"I miss you Jihyo, but please wait for me amor. Even if I have to spend the entirety of my existence looking, you have my word that in another life, I will find you again."

[daechishiya]

I missed you - Tatta x Reader

Tatta x fem!reader

Words: 1044

SFW

Author note: Hi! It's my first one shot so I hope it's gonna be great. I did Tatta because I don't see much about him? So yeah, a Tatta one shot! Also, English is not my mother tongue so I apologize for any mistakes. Have fun reading :)

Your harsh breath hit the wall, as tears were streaming down your face. A trail of blood appeared on your face when you wiped your tears with the back of your right hand. You just couldn't believe what just happened. These people were dead. No. You killed these people. But what else were you supposed to do? It was them or you, and you wouldn't permit yourself to die.

You took a deep breath while sliding along the wall. You sat on the floor, without stopping crying. Your shaking left hand hold the card representing the 2 of hearts. It was your first time in a heart game, and you already didn't want a second time.

Before this game, you have participated to a club and diamond one. You have already seen people die, and none of them have ever been a friend or even an acquaintance. It was hard, but not as hard as killing them yourself.

You bring your knees close to your chest in order to put your forehead on them. You closed your eyes and pinched your lips together in a thin line. Slowly, your right hand took a hold on the pendant of your necklace. You hated every single things of this place, but you couldn't die.

"Tatta... where are you?" You murmured in a shaky sigh.

No, you couldn't die before knowing if your boyfriend was participating at those games. And if he did, you had to know if everything was alright for him.

♤♡◇♧

Weird. Fun. Life escaping. You had no idea of what words you could use to describe the place where you arrived yesterday. They call it the Beach. People seemed so carefree, just like there wasn't the death ready to knock at their door at anytime.

You didn't even know what to do now that you were here. You're supposed to enjoy yourself, having fun. But instead you were just sitting on a deck chair, now wearing a bath suit since they didn't allowed you to keep your other clothes, and looking at people jumping in pool while screaming.

A shadow suddenly appeared on you. You turned your head and saw a man you didn't know. He had a confident smile on his lips as he was slightly putting his bath suit to let appear a V at his abs. You gave him an akward smile, just wanting him to leave.

"Hey there" he said on a smug tone.

"Hi..."

He didn't seem to catch that you didn't want to talk to him since he decided to sit on the deck chair next to yours. He 'unintentionally' let his knees brush yours.

"So, what's your name?" He asked without loosing his smile. You swore you could have thrown up when his tongue went on his bottom lips in a 'seductive' manner.

"[Name]" you blankly answered.

"A pretty name for a pretty girl," he commented.

"Thanks" you said while looking around you.

Even with this move, he didn't leave this deck chair and kept talking to you. You tried everything for him to leave, but yet he decided he wouldn't.

"Where did you get it?" He asked while taking your pendant between his thumb and his forefinger.

"My boyfriend offered it to me for my birthday " you answered dryly while moving his hand. He had a chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"I don't see a boyfriend" he answered with a cocky smile. "But I understand why you were so shy. Don't worry, he'll  never know about that." He continued. "Well, if he ever come around here, we'll have to tell him how you leave him for me because I'm better than him in every domain."

"Shut up, asshole" you sigh while getting up. "Now, goodbye" You ended while walking away.

Still, you stopped in your track when you saw a familiar face. A knot formed in your throat. You let out a nervous laugh before quickly walking toward the source of your laugh.

"Tatta!" You uncontrollably exclaimed.

He had a jolt as he turned around. You immediately hold him in your arms, making him take a few steps back because of your speed. When you pull away, a smile took place on your face. It took a few seconds for Tatta to realize it was you in front of him, his sweet and supportive girlfriend.

"[Name]" he said with a smile, his hands on your waist. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"So do I!" you laughed in the happiness of finally seeing him again. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too" he said with a sweet voice.

You let go of Tatta's shoulders when you heard footsteps coming forward the both of you, Tatta doing the same for your waist. It was the same guy that talked to you on the deck chair.

"Ah, honey. You found a friend?" He asked you glancing at Tatta. Your boyfriend was taken aback, so his eyebrows raised for a second. "I'm happy that my girl found a friend of her" he continued with a tap on Tatta's shoulder.

"Actually, I just found my boyfriend" you corrected him, pointing your pendant. "My actual boyfriend, not a random dude acting like my boyfriend"

The guy raised an eyebrow with a chuckle. "So you prefer a little coward like him instead of me?"

"He's way better than you, don't doubt on that" you said with a sarcastic smile. "In every domain" you continued, imitating the guy.

Tatta had a slight blush on his cheeks, thinking about what kind of domain you were talking about. "I am better" he agreed with hesitation, intertwining his little finger with yours.

The guy scoffed before leaving, without forgetting to give Tatta a disdainful look. Tatta then sigh as if he was holding his breath for hours. You turned to him, rolling your eyes because of the guy's attitude. But everything about him was behind you when your eyes met Tatta's.

"You're so much better than him" you said before giving a peck on his lips.

He had a huge smile on his face, the smile that made your heart melt of sweetness. And as hard as the life ine the Bordland was, you felt already better just by being by your boyfriend's side.

THE END

[ilovewriting06]

Hello, sorry for my poorly written English, it is not my first language. I don't know if the applications (orders) are still open, but it was in case you could do a one shot Steve Mcgarrett where he forgets his anniversary and makes his girlfriend feel bad, and that in the end everything ends well?. I really enjoy your writing, so if you can't do it I won't take it badly. Thanks a lot!❤️‍🔥

I groan when my peaceful sleep is disturbed by the constant ringing of my beloved boyfriend’s phone, “Steveeee, answer the damn phone.” He grunts but rolls over and answers the phone, “McGarrett….yeah no problem I’m free to help I have nothing else to do today.” My eyes widen as the words leave his mouth, did I get the day wrong, I grab my phone and check the date, nope today is most definitely our anniversary. I roll over and glare at him and he looks at me with a confused face while still talking to someone on the other end of the phone.

When he hangs up he looks at me, “I gotta go help Chin.” I stare at him blankly and he furrows his eyebrows, “Do you want to come with me?” I huff and get out of bed searching for my clothes that had been thrown all around last night. I pulled on my shorts and shirt as Steve got out of bed. He grabbed my hips and asked, “Are you okay?” I push him away more hurt than angry, “Yeah, I’m fine, go have fun with Chin. I’m gonna go to Y/F/N’s.”

I head downstairs and slip on my shoes as Steve follows close behind with confusion written all over his face. I grab my keys and peck his cheek and walk out the door with a quick bye, I didn’t even say I love you.

I get in my car and drive to Y/F/N’s and knock on the door when I get there. The door swings open to reveal a smiling Y/F/N, “Hey Y/N/N, what’s up?” I walk in as she steps to the side and I walk straight to the kitchen and grab a wine glass and a bottle of wine which is swiftly pulled out of my hand, “Heck no! It’s ten in the morning what on earth are you doing!?”

I grab it back and poor a glass while emotionlessly saying, “He forgot.” She furrows her eyebrows as I take a gulp of my wine, “Who forgot what?” I sigh before slamming my glass down, “Steve. He forgot our anniversary and went to help Chin with some small side case not to mention he forgot Valentine’s Day and more importantly my birthday. Y/F/N he forgot my birthday! And when he remembered he felt bad and said he wouldn’t forget anything else and yet here we are. I mentioned it less than a week ago. And he still forgot.” When I’m done ranting I wipe the tears slipping down my face that I didn’t notice while I was yelling. Y/F/N hugged me and rubbed my back, “Oh Y/N/N.” I whimper a little, “Do you think he still loves me?” Y/F/N pulled away with an are you serious look, “Girl. He looks at you like you’re the sun and the moon. The man loves you more than his gun, and that’s saying somethin’.” I chuckle but pout as she takes the glass and sets it beside the wine on the counter.

She grabs my hand and guides me to her couch before sitting cross legged beside me and pats my leg, “I think it’s time me and you have a good ol’ girls talk.” I sigh knowing this is more of a ‘give me the run down’ than a girls chat, “Okay.” She smiles, “Alright I need details just to be sure he’s still the one.” I look at her amused, “Ten seconds ago you were saying he was the love of my life.” She puckers her lips in thought and I laugh knowing she just wants inside details because we haven’t hung out much lately, “Okay, ask away.”

She smiles and shifts in joy, “Okay! First question and also the most important, how is the sex? The guys hot as fuck so I have to know how good he is in the sheets.” I blush as I feel my body light on fire at the thought of last night and I here Y/F/N, “Ooooo that blush says he’s one hell of a lover, if ya know what I mean.” I blush and nod and she smirks, “Oh my God, marks, something tells me he marks the shit out of you.” I blush even more but instead of answering I brush my hair away from my neck and lift my shirt to right below my boobs and I see Y/F/N’s eyes widen and jaw slack, “Holy shit. That man has got a mouth and a mean possessive streak.” I smile and nod, “Yes he does but dear God that man knows how to use his mouth, his hands, and his above average dick.”

Y/F/N sighs, “Y/N.” Her voice turned serious and I looked at her as she continued, “Don’t give up on him, he forgets a couple important days,” I throw her a look and she huffs, “okay, a lot of important days, but he loves you, a whole fucking lot and I guarantee you he’ll realize before the days over.”

I force a smile and look down, “I’m not giving up on him, I physically and emotionally can’t. I just need to know he’s not giving up on me. He’s been hurt so many times before that he’s skeptic. It’s like he’s not giving me all of him, almost like he’s holding parts of him back. And I feel like those parts are some of the sweetest yet most damaged and broken parts that there are to him.” Y/F/N lays her hand on my shoulder in comfort, “You don’t know that.” I wipe a tear that somehow escaped before shaking my head, “No, I do. I see it, everyday when the day is over his eyes are filled with hurt and pain and he won’t open up to me. I’ve tried but he swears he’s fine or ends in a fight. I just want him to trust me.” “He does Y/N.” I shake my head, “Not fully. He doesn’t trust anyone fully.”

After an hour of watching The Vampire Diaries Y/F/N stood up and stretched, “Alright, I gotta go run some errands.” I nod and lay fully across the couch and I continue watching tv.

Steve’s POV

After Y/N left I got ready and headed to headquarters while thinking of what the fuck I did wrong. When I get to HQ I walk in and join Chin, Danny, and Kono at the computer. They look at me in question but move on as I make it obvious I’m not going to talk.

After a little more than an hour Danny comes to me and motions me to come into my office. When we get inside and the door closes he looks at me and crosses his arm, “Okay, what’s wrong?” I sigh knowing that I can’t get away without telling him, “I don’t know. When I was on the phone with Chin Y/N checked her phone and started glaring at me and then she was snippy and left without even saying I love you.” Danny looked at me in question, “What did you do?” I rub my nose and throw my head back and groan, “I don’t know, that’s the point.” Danny sighs and nods his head, “You forgot something.”

“I did not.” He looks at me with an are you serious look, “Steve, I guarantee you you did. You forgot valentines da-,” He gets cut off by Y/F/N busting through the door, “Rambo you big idiot.” I roll my eyes at the nickname she gave me after we first met, “What are you doing here?”

She walks to stand beside me and smacks the back of my head, “Reminding you of what today is.” Danny looks at me and hums, “Told you.” I shoot a glare at him as Y/F/N smiles at him before shooting dagger at me, “It’s your anniversary dip shit.” My eyes widen as I grab my phone and check the date, “Shit, shit, shit, shit, FUCK!”

They look at me as I go to run out the door but I’m stopped by a hand grabbing my arm. I turn around to see Y/F/N with eager and worried eyes, “I need to talk to you,” she glances at Danny before continuing, “alone.” I furrow my brows and motion Danny to leave. He hesitates for a second before leaving.

I turn to Y/F/N, “No offense Y/F/N but I have one hell of an apology to plan.” She nods slightly, “She doesn’t need an apology to forgive you, but she does need something.” I tilt my head in question but she continues, “She wants you Steve, all of you. She knows you’re holding back and it’s killing her that she can’t help you.” I release a heavy breath, “She doesn’t need that, I don’t need her to fix me. It will just make her more wary about being with me.” Y/F/N took an aggravated breath before huffing, “Yes. She does, and she doesn’t want to fix you, she wants to know you and love you.” I head towards the door a little angry but my heart drops at the words that leave Y/F/N’s lips, “She thinks you don’t love her!” I turn around as a broken, “What?” Leaves my mouth.

Y/F/N sighs, “She came to the house this morning upset, as she has the right to be, but we started talking and she’s worried that you don’t love her, because you’re hiding yourself from her.”

“I’m not hiding myself from her, she knows me!”

“Not all of you! And she thinks you’re going to dump her.”

I shake my head, “I’m not, I can’t, I won’t ever leave her.”

Y/F/N looks at me angry, “Then for the love of God give your all to her because I promise if you don’t there won’t be another anniversary!”

I swallowed before nodding and making a decision.

Y/N’s POV

I sigh checking my phone to see no new notifications and sit up. I don’t know what to feel I want to be mad but I can’t, I think I’m more disappointed than anything. I jump slightly as my phone rings. I glance at it to see Steve’s smiling face displayed on my screen. I grab it and quickly answer, “Hello?” I hear him take a deep breath, “Can you come home? I need to tell you something.” I sigh at his words before agreeing and hanging up.

When I get home I take a deep breath before walking through the door to see Steve sitting on the couch deep in thought, “Steve?” He glances up and smiles a forced smile causing my heart to race as I think the worst. I shuffle to sit beside him and place a hand on his bouncing knee, “What’s wrong?” He sighs and rubs his hands together before shifting to face me and grab my hands. I look down at our hands and back up confused, “I’m not going to lie I forgot…again and I’m sorry. I really truly am, but when I was reminded of what today is something else was brought to my attention.” I suck in a breath of air and sigh, “Y/F/N?” He nods, “Now I’m going to give you what you need and what I want to give you, I’ve just been to scared to tell anyone, especially the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.” I nod as hope fills my chest that he’s going to give me his all and he continues, “I love you and I trust you. I trust you more than half the people I’ve known throughout my life. I have hidden stuff from you but I thought you couldn’t handle it, but I realize now that I was the one that couldn’t handle the thought of you leaving when you saw who I really was.” I could see the nervousness dancing in his eyes and I scoot closer and hold his hands a little tighter while nodding with a comforting smile, “I’m not going to leave, you could tell me you’ve killed a million men and I still wouldn’t leave I would just help you become a better villain.” He chuckled and I smiled as he relaxed a little, “My ability to trust people was broken at a young age. Doris died, so I thought, and then dad sent Mary and I away and at the time it seemed like the most untrustworthy thing that could have happened to me, so I quit trusting people thinking it would protect me. The first people I let in after that was Joe, Catherine, and Freddy, and when Freddy died I went through more pain than I could have ever imagined, and then dad died. So, I shut myself off again. Catherine and I had been on and off before all that but she broke my trust over and over again, promising to stay and then leaving the first chance she got, and I kept letting her in. Eventually I ended it for good because I couldn’t take it anymore and closed myself off from everyone. And then right when I was close to opening up, it wasn’t long after I met you, I learned that Doris was still alive and that Joe had been lying to me about it for years. That’s why I don’t trust everybody and why I don’t open up to anybody but I’m opening up to you because you have proved time and time again that you of all people deserve to know me, broken pieces and all. And I know I’m broken and I don’t want you to think you have to fix me.”

When he’s done I have tears streaming down my face as I remember just how much he’s been through. I push him back a little and climb into his lap before taking his face into my hands, “You aren’t broken you’re just a little scarred, and that’s okay, because I am too.” His lip quivers as he tries to stop himself from crying but a few tears slip out. I use my thumbs to wipe away his tears before pulling him into a kiss. When I pull away I’m still grazing his lips as I mutter, “And I’ve never liked your mother.” He laughs and I pull him back into another kiss.

I sit up and set my hands on his shoulders, “Believe it or not McGarrett, this is the best anniversary gift you could have given me but now it’s time for yours.”

He tilts his head to the side in question as I slip off of his lap and run up the stairs to grab his gift. I grab the box carefully and hurry downstairs before handing it to him bouncing on the balls of my feet as he opens it.

When he sees its contents his mouth goes slack and he looks up at me with surprise in his eyes, “You didn’t!” I nod my head enthusiastically as he picks up the black watch he had been in love with for ages but believed was ‘too expensive for a hunk of metal’ although the look in his eyes said that it was more than a hunk of metal. His eyes meet mine again and I smile as he hasn’t even gotten to the best part, “Look on the back.” He furrows his eyebrows but flips the watch over and I watch as his eyes scan the words I had engraved in it ‘Every Second I Love You More- Love Y/N- 03.09.12’ the saying was something I told him a lot and the date of our anniversary was just an added touch. He stands up and swoops me into a hug causing me to squeal at the sudden action. He pulled back and pecked my lips a few times while saying, “Thank you, I love it.” I smile but it fades as he runs towards the office. He soon reappears with an envelope and hands it to me, “This is your real anniversary gift.” I furrow my eyebrows as I open the envelope and pull out two plane tickets to Greece. I scream in joy and surprise before latching onto him like my life depended on it, “I get to go to Greece!” He laughs and nods, “Yeah babe, you get to go to Greece.” I pull him in for a long passionate kiss and only pull away when my lungs are screaming for oxygen, “Thank you, for making my dreams come true.” He smiles as he realizes I don’t just mean the trip to Greece but I also mean the fact that I have someone who loves me unconditionally, something I told him seemed like a dream just weeks after we started dating.

[cherrygorilla]

Ice Pop 🍃

Aaaah, Happy Birthday, Danelle! I hope you're having a wonderful day! I honestly didn't think I'd be able to get anything done to celebrate this year with how busy I've been, and I felt terrible, but luckily being at home for the last week has given me some time on a night to whip a little something up. It's not the best, or the most exciting, but hopefully it can somewhat make up for my months of radiosilence, and bring you a little joy today. 🥰

Now, this can pretty much be considered a standalone AU one-shot, but it was supposed to be a section in the third part of ASDO - yes, I know I haven't even finished the second part yet, I'm working on it lol - however, due to changes in timelines and things, it's not going to be able to work like this anymore. Still, I wanted my idea for two certain characters meeting for the first time to have some sort of a home, even if it is no longer canon. And who knows? Maybe it'll help for their appearances in other stories haha. But yeah, if you're wondering about the context of the rehearsal it's centred around - that's what it's for 😂

Anyway, enough of my rambling! I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you have a great day however you end up celebrating! You're the best internet friend a girl could ask for, so you deserve it! Happy birthday, Danelle!! 🥳

"Ugh, she just gets prettier every time I see her."

As rubber sneaker soles met blistering asphalt, Vivien couldn't help but giggle. Swinging the door of the sky blue convertible shut, she turned to face Carrie, affectionately rolling her eyes as she saw where her gaze, and flattery was aimed. Proudly plastered across the side of Sound Stage 4 was a colossal banner advertising the newest season of Find Your Voice, decorated with the gigantic heads of eight of its core cast members. And off to the left hand side, beaming down the camera lens over the top of an advanced geometry textbook, was the very same blonde as the one standing there admiring it.

"And Miles wonders why he can't get Royce to stop calling you vain," Vivien sarcastically teased.

Reluctantly tearing her gaze from the studio's prime position billboard, Carrie settled the younger brunette with a contented smirk. "I don't care; it's true," she said, holding back a giggle of her own as she swung her car door shut. "And besides, a little self-love's healthy."

"A little?" Vivien snorted with a raised eyebrow.

Carrie didn't have a comeback for that one, instead just laughing along with the teenager as she locked up her Mustang and rounded the car to join her. Bidding the oversized version of herself a final goodbye with a proud grin and a mock salute, as a way of thanking her for her contributions to their show's ever-growing ratings, Carrie began leading Vivien out of the studio parking lot. 

Jogging a few paces to match the blonde's brisk walking pace, Vivien soon returned to scanning her surroundings like she'd just set foot in Munchkinland after a tornado. By now she had thought she was somewhat familiar with the movie world her extended family lived in, or at least the portion by the beach where they all resided. But exploring the downtown area brought that same giddy novelty of her first visit flooding back to her. It was like the whole city had a filter over it, turning up the saturation of the colours in the brickwork or shop signs, and bringing out their warmth to match the sunrays kissing the freckles up and down her arms.

Once she'd finally regained control of her childlike wonder, and had stopped gawping at the buildings lining the street they were strolling down as though they were exhibits at a science museum, her attention returned to the same question that had been plaguing her since Carrie had ushered her into the passenger seat of her car. "You know, you still haven't actually told me where we're going."

"I'm taking you to the venue."

Despite her nonchalant tone, Carrie's revelation made Vivien's breath catch in her throat. "Already?"

"Well yeah," Carrie replied, seemingly confused by the panicked squeak in the girl's voice. "I thought you'd want to get some practice in first."

Melting into a smile with a relieved sigh, Vivien let her shoulders relax and her feet be guided by the clunky, patterned platform boots parading her down Sycamore Close. Acting as a rather effective tour guide, Carrie gave her a walking tour of her and Miles' weekday stomping ground - she pointed out the mechanic shop where he worked, where their favourite sandwich shop was, which place did the best coffee, which place did the worst coffee - she even pointed out the laundrette Miles almost flooded after an unfortunate lunch-break run-in with a meatball sub, and threw in the anecdote that went along with it for good measure. There was the florist shop, the record store, the pharmacy - the whole street looked like it could have been plucked straight out of a movie set. And, in a way, Vivien supposed it had been. But as they rounded another corner, the pastel awnings and inviting smells disappeared. 

It was far from a dump; palm trees still sporadically lined the road, and storefronts held haphazard displays of their products to entice the sparse crowds of customers. But the trashbags sitting at the curbside, and the uneven sidewalk slabs, made this part of town feel a little less polished than the rest. Just as Vivien finished reading the intricate chalkboard sign hanging outside a local bookstore though, and she turned back to follow Carrie's lead, a cloud of smoke obscured her view of the path ahead.

Thankfully, the haze had dispersed by the time the girls approached, but the stench of weed that replaced it made Vivien's nostrils itch. Scrunching up her nose, she slightly quickened her pace, hoping to get to a bakery down the street that could drown out the smell before her eyes started watering. But in the seconds that followed, she didn't know what surprised her more: the fact that Carrie was acknowledged by the stoner responsible for the smoke show, or the fact that she actually stopped to talk to him.

"Heyyyy, Carrie-oke! What the hell are you doing here so early?"

 "We're down a drummer, so we need an emergency rehearsal with our stand-in," Carrie replied, a hint of amusement colouring her tone - whether that was due to the circumstances, or the fact that she sensed Vivien's utter confusion was a mystery to the brunette though.

"You lost another one? What happened? She didn't-"

"Yeah, Amber dumped him… Again."

"Fucking hell," the guy snorted, taking a quick drag on his joint and blowing the smoke out of the corner of his mouth, away from the girls, which Vivien appreciated. There was something about his entertained grin that drew her interest - or maybe it was that mischievous twinkle she spotted in his dark, albeit bleary chocolate brown eyes as he lifted his round sunglasses onto the top of his head. Either way, her intrigue towards the young man was making the weed smell more and more tolerable with each passing second. "Two drummers in four months? Is she trying to set a record or something?" he cheekily continued.

"I don't know," Carrie sighed with an eyeroll at her friend's expense. "But she definitely made the right call with that last guy; he was a total deadweight."

"Was that the coupon guy?" he checked. And once Carrie nodded her confirmation: "Oh yeah, he was a fucking moron. She can do so much better."

"Exactly," Carrie replied, throwing her head back with a hearty laugh at the brunet's earnest response. "But, yet again, her commendable level of self-respect has left us without a drummer less than eight hours before doors open. Hence the emergency rehearsal."

The deeply pensive expression, pulling the guy's eyebrows together, had Vivien biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from giggling, especially when he revealed what he'd been thinking so hard about.

"Hence…" he mumbled, through a mouthful of the BLT sandwich he'd picked up from the plate balancing precariously on the windowsill beside him. "Gnarly adverb... Respect."

Carrie just shook her head with another amused grin. "That stuff's hittin' good this morning, huh?"

"Oh yeah," he chuckled with a contented nod of approval. "You want a hit?"

Whilst the offer itself wasn't too much of a surprise to Vivien, the length of time Carrie appeared to consider it for certainly was. For a moment, she even thought she saw the blonde's arm twitch, as though instinctively moving to accept, before she caught herself and shook her head. "No, I can't-"

"Oh come on, just a little one."

Again, Carrie almost appeared convinced, before her better judgement won out. "No, I- Look, maybe later," she eventually compromised, taking a step towards the propped open, painted brown door beside them to prevent any attempts at further complaints from the stoner. "I already told you, I'm not here to just hang out. We've got to rehearse."

"We? What are you talking about? Who's-?" But as Vivien followed Carrie's lead, inching towards the doorway, she looked up to find that set of bleary brown eyes fixed on her for the first time that conversation - any traces of an end to his question completely falling out of his head the second he spotted her.

Now that she'd actually been acknowledged by the guy, Vivien took the opportunity to fully take in his appearance: fascinated by the fact that such a creature even knew Carrie, let alone spoke to her like a friend. His dark, taupe hair fell in half-hearted curls by his shoulders - more in limp waves than anything, which were pushed away from his face by the arms of the scratched, round sunglasses balanced atop his head. His scrawny frame was hidden by a baggy denim jacket that looked as though it was about four sizes too big for him, with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, and a shirt beneath patterned so intensely she couldn't look at it for long without seeing spots in her vision. Old, flared, brown trousers; scuffed, but clearly well-loved, maroon boots; and a jumbled collection of leather bracelets, fabric wristbands, and peace sign pendants completed the look - a look she could only think to dub: dishevelled bohemian. If he'd have been on the cover of a history book about the hippie movement she wouldn't have batted an eyelid. And yet here he was, standing right in front of her, looking at her as though she'd just been beamed down from a spaceship.

Apparently her very existence was all it took to stun him into silence; his brain clearly needed all the energy it could get to process what he was seeing. She could practically hear its cogs spinning on overdrive as he searched her face for some recognisable quality. And just when they were starting to sound like her old laptop loading up The Sims, he tore his gaze from her and fixed it back on Carrie.

"…Who the fuck is that?"

The genuine confusion riddling his expression amused Vivien to no end, having to catch herself before a giggle escaped her lips as Carrie, evidently more familiar with his antics, simply replied: "It's Viv."

But the explanation made absolutely no difference in that empty, freckled head. The guy still looked as lost as ever.

"It's Vivien," Carrie tried again. But when she was met with a further, if not slightly more irritated, blank stare, she let out a frustrated scoff and turned so that she was fully facing the airheaded brunet again. "Vivien O'Brian-"

"You say that like you expect me to know who she is," he cut in with an incredulous scoff of his own.

"You do know."

"Then who the fuck is it?" 

"Vivien," Carrie fired back with great exasperation - the kind that could only come from years of friendly, pent-up frustration. "She ice skates. She reads books. Miles talks about her like once a fucking week!"

Ethan's eyes lit up like a Roman candle. "Yoooo, where is Miles?" he asked, all inquiries about the brunette forgotten in an instant at the very mention of that all-important name.

But his eager grin was met with a look of disapproving disbelief. "I don't know," Carrie snapped, left floundering for an answer thanks to the stoner's inability to hold a properly structured conversation. "At work, I assume."

He looked about as satisfied with Carrie's answer as she had with his question though, tipping his head up to the sky and letting out a frustrated groan that would have given a sulking six-year-old a run for his money. "You seriously didn't bring him with you?" he checked, quirking an eyebrow at her out of the corner of his vision - clearly hoping this was just some dorky prank set-up.

"No, I don't think he gets off 'til 5," Carrie flatly fired back.

"Ughhhhh." There went that stroppy groan of frustration again. "That's fucking forever away. What am I supposed to do 'til then?"

"You could help us set up for our rehearsal," Carrie suggested with a smirk. "You know, like any respectable entertainment coordinator would."

He just rolled his eyes. "It's gonna be so boring without him though," he whined, scuffing his boot along the sidewalk as he dejectedly kicked a pebble against the side of the building.

Now it was Carrie's turn to roll her eyes as she let out an incredulous scoff. "Need I remind you, we were friends way before Miles came into the picture?" 

The stoner levelled her gaze for a beat before a knowing smile tugged his lips into that same mischievous grin from before. "Yeah, but from that point on, nothing else really mattered, did it? Let's be real," he chuckled. Despite the ribbing, and obvious penchant for a certain mechanic, there was a glint in his blood-shot eyes that revealed his fondness for the blonde after all though.

And the feeling was clearly mutual since she was still willing to continue the conversation - she couldn't even successfully stifle her smile back as she shook her head and muttered a quick: "You're such an idiot."

The brunet made no attempt to argue - in fact he let out an amused snort of agreement as he reached for the rest of his half-eaten BLT.

Seizing the opportunity to take control of the conversation again, Carrie attempted to steer it back on track with an exaggerated, "Anyway." Tugging her guest closer, and dramatically gesturing to her, she continued, "That Vivien we talk about all the time: this is her."

The guy nodded thoughtfully. "Vivien…" he mumbled through a mouthful of bread - still playing that oh-so challenging game of connect-the-dots.

"Yes, Vivien," Carrie confirmed, as though encouraging a kindergartener. "She stayed with Miles and his brothers last April."

"Mmm," he nodded, finally showing some evidence of understanding. "She's dating that other mechanic guy - the one Miles lived with for-"

"No," Carrie cut in sharply over Vivien's incredulous laughter. "That's Mick and Butchy."

"Well how the fuck am I supposed to-?"

"Viv's dating Royce," Carrie explained, cutting off his complaint before he could derail the conversation any further.

"She's dating Royce?" he questioned, half-mumbling to himself as he fought through the disbelief the new information carried. His eyebrows scrunched in incredulity, his lips curled into a sort of confused grimace- 

But then it finally clicked - the force almost popping his eyes out of his head in the process.

If the sudden change in the stoner's expression hadn't already set Vivien off to laugh harder, the sharp gasp that followed, and sent what remained of his mouthful of sandwich flying into the back of his throat, certainly did.

"Holy shit!" he eventually managed to choke out between the hacking coughs to help dislodge the piece of bread. "That was actually real?" he went on to ask once he'd caught his breath again, staring at Carrie with tear-stained eyes and a look of utter stupefaction. But she just nodded and chuckled as she handed him a bottle of water from her purse. "I thought Miles just made that up so I'd stop thinking his brother was a lame-ass," he continued, pausing to gulp down the offered water and rid himself of any remaining evidence of his mini choking fit. Holding the water bottle out to its original owner with a heavy, contemplative sigh, he levelled her gaze and lowered his voice to ask a dubious: "You're definitely sure it's real then?"

"You do know you can talk to her yourself, right?" Carrie checked, raising her eyebrow as she took back the bottle and gestured to Vivien yet again.

The guy paused, mouth slightly agape, as the realisation steadily dawned on him. Shifting his gaze to the brunette, he instead posed the question to her. "...You're actually dating Miles' brother?"

"I am indeed," she replied, smirking through poorly stifled giggles at the caricature of a guy's reactions.

"And they're definitely not paying you to say this?"

"I wish I was getting paid," Vivien snorted. "Easiest buck I'd ever make."

A thoughtful nod followed, as though impressed by the girl's honesty. And then came another bite of that BLT as he mulled over the revelation a little more. "Well, shit," he eventually settled on, with an amused smirk of his own. "Good for him… And you, I guess," he added, with a vague nod in Vivien's direction.

And then there was silence. It seemed as though he felt his role in the conversation was over now if the way he engrossed himself in inspecting the limp piece of lettuce sticking out the side of his sandwich was anything to go by. But Carrie had other ideas.

"Is that it?"

"Is what it?"

"That's all you have to say?" she raised an eyebrow and pressed.

"Well what else do you want me to do?"

But Carrie's disgruntled eye roll told Vivien she wasn't about to spell it out for him. "You have the social skills of a fucking garden snail," she muttered, before turning to the younger brunette with an almost apologetic shake of her head. "Well, since he's not gonna introduce himself - Viv, this Ethan. I had other, cooler friends I wanted you to meet first but, unfortunately fate had other plans."

Ethan still frowned despite her teasing tone. "I know you don't mean that, Cole," he protested, to which Carrie just smirked and rolled her eyes again.

Vivien felt like she was constantly on the brink of laughter watching the pair interact, caught between genuine amusement and utter disbelief. "So you two are like legitimately friends then?" she asked, feeling the need to check since her brain still didn't feel ready to process what her eyes were telling her.

Matching mischievous grins graced their faces as Ethan nodded and Carrie stifled another chuckle. "Don't look so surprised," she added after clocking the girl's reaction.

"No, I just-" Vivien floundered, struggling to articulate everything her brain was trying to process into a proper sentence. But after several failed attempts, she let her straight-to-the-point inner voice take over talking duties, with a spluttered laugh to join it. "How the hell did it happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well I just- I thought I had an idea of what your friends would be like…" Vivien trailed off, again at a loss for words.

"And this isn't it?" Carrie asked with mock-surprise as she jerked her thumb in Ethan's direction, just as he took another hit of his joint. 

"...Well, we call you Barbie for a reason," Vivien teased. "I just didn't expect Little Miss Perfect to hang out with…"

"Someone who looks like they crawled out of Fraggle Rock?" Carrie offered with a smirk that quickly set the girl off to laugh.

Luckily, Ethan started laughing along with them - but not for the same reasons. "Yooo, they call you Barbie?"

"That's what you took from that?" Carrie checked in disgruntled disbelief.

"That's so fucking good," he mumbled as another amused grin settled on his lips.

But Carrie just rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Vivien. "I swear you kids think I'm some sort of saint," she chuckled before teasingly adding, "You're not the only one who can have cool, weird friends, you know?"

"I never said I was," Vivien argued through a laugh. "I just don't know where you two could have ever crossed paths. Where did you guys meet?"

"He works on the sound for Find Your Voice and a couple of other shows on the lot. So I've known him ever since I booked the part," Carrie explained whilst Ethan worked on finishing what was left of his BLT. "He was just another part of the crew at first, but, because I talk to anyone and everyone all the time-"

"'Cause she loves the sound of her own voice," Ethan cut in through a mouthful of bacon, cheekily licking mayo off his thumb.

Carrie silenced him with a withering stare - but his lingering smirk told Vivien that he wasn't phased in the slightest. Still, Carrie was able to finish the rest of her explanation uninterrupted. "-I started to talk to him between takes, you know, since he was always there with the boom mic. And then one thing led to another, and before I knew it, he was sacking off lunch with the other tech guys to come and raid my dressing room for cookies."

"Oh come on," Ethan frowned at the light ribbing. "Don't pretend you wouldn't do the same for your mom's snickerdoodles."

"You ate crumbs out of a trash can."

"And I'd do it again," Ethan shot back with an earnestness that just made his and Carrie's sibling-like bickering even more entertaining. "You can't talk anyway; you ate that piece of pizza Miles spat out into a napkin the other week."

Ethan's accusatory frown, paired with Vivien's grimace just made Carrie's attempts at a justification even harder to come by. "Listen, I was not…" she began, eyes darting to the brunette on her left as she tried to phrase this in a way that wouldn't tarnish her reputation any further. "...of sound mind that evening. Plus, he's my boyfriend - I've tasted worse than saliva."

As if the first part of the confession hadn't shocked her enough, Vivien jerked her head back in reaction to that last line. "Eww, Carrie!"

Ethan's loud bark of laughter was a completely different response though. "Hey, I never said there was anything wrong with it," he eventually chuckled. "I'd have probably eaten it if you didn't."

"And I bet you'd have loved it too, you freak," Carrie fired back with a smirk despite her nose wrinkling in disgust.

Ethan's proud grin was all the evidence she needed to know she was right. 

Once Vivien had recovered from her future sister-in-law's nausea-inducing revelation, she was able to continue with her inquiries about the scruffy stoner she'd become so fascinated with. "Wait so you know Miles too?"

"Know him?!" Ethan squawked.

His reaction sent Carrie's eyes to the heavens as she tipped her head back in despair. "Don't get him started, Viv," she wearily warned.

But Ethan didn't even give the brunette the chance to question any further, seizing the opportunity to talk about the mechanic with both hands, and a lovestruck smile. "Miles is my soulmate; my cosmic chaperone - we're spiritually bound by the very threads of our existence."

The edges of Vivien's smirk twitched, dying to let the guffaws it was holding back free as she raised an eyebrow. "That close, huh?"

Ethan gave the girl a solemn nod. "He's the ketchup to my mustard."

"Well shit," Vivien deadpanned, matching the guy's energy perfectly. "You can't get closer than that."

Shaking her head at the pair, and the situation in general, Carrie went on to explain: "The second I brought Miles on set it was game over. He asked Ethan some dumb question about a song on the radio and he's been following him around like a bad smell ever since." 

Both physically and metaphorically.

"It was Money by the Rolling Stones, and we still say it's our song to this day, thank you very much," Ethan cagily retorted, as protective as ever over his friendship with Miles, before adding a slightly more in character: "That guitar line is gnarly."

"'Our song'?" Vivien questioned with a snort. "Are you guys gonna use it for your wedding or something?"

But the teasing remark bounced off Ethan like a rubber bullet as he mulled over the proposal with a mellow grin. "I could dig it."

Again Carrie just fondly shook her head, at both Ethan's response and Vivien's reaction. "Believe me, Viv," she went on to say. "They'd need no encouragement. I mean, you'll see it for yourself later, but they're inseparable when you get them together. Like, think of the biggest bromance you know, then times it by four…and you might be getting close."

"They're really that close?" Vivien chuckled in disbelief.

Carrie nodded intently. "They're like fucking limpets."

"I can't believe Miles has been hiding the fact he's got a best friend from me for all these years," Vivien said with cheeky incredulity. "I'm never letting him live this down. I didn't think losers like him were capable of having best friends."

"Well believe it, because he's not going anywhere," Carrie snorted. "Believe me; I've tried."

"Protest all you want, 'oke. You and I both know you'd be lost without me," Ethan said, slinging his now free arm around Carrie's shoulder and pulling her towards him, before affectionately squidging her cheeks together in a way that immediately had her trying to squirm out of his grip. 

"I'd have one hell of a mopey boyfriend, that's for sure," Carrie compromised with an affectionate roll of her eyes as she finally somewhat relaxed into the awkward embrace. "And a pretty boring social life."

"Exactly!" Ethan said, that same mischievous grin from earlier making its fateful return. "Who else would you have to go and play midnight mini golf with? And who'd you get to play ice tag with you on set?"

"Isn't it called 'freeze' tag?" Vivien teasingly questioned. "And why are you adults playing freeze tag at work?"

"Uh, we're 22, we're not dinosaurs," Carrie retorted. "And it's not 'freeze tag', it's 'ice tag': a Carrie and Ethan original."

"Well if it's not freeze tag then what is it?" Vivien laughed.

"Duuude, it's so fun!" Ethan enthused. "You've gotta sneak to one of the craft services ice buckets, grab a couple cubes, then pick your victims. If you get one down the back of their shirt - or pants - without them noticing 'til it's already down there, and without it melting, you get a point - and they then have to be the next one to go get the ice."

"The camera guys hate it," Carrie laughed. "But it makes long filming days so much more fun. We've got like half the cast and crew playing now."

"Yeah, the scoreboard in her dressing room's insane," Ethan added.

"So you've built an entire friendship around a game about ice cubes?" Vivien questioned with an amused quirk of her eyebrow.

"Pfft, no, we hang out all the time!" Ethan said.

"Yeah, believe it or not, Miles and I do voluntarily hang out with him when we're not running around after you guys," Carrie chuckled.

"To do what?" Vivien snorted.

"All sorts. We've had a few good movie nights lately 'cause we found out Ethan's got like the weirdest taste in movies ever; he's seen shit like 'Attack of the Crab Monsters', but not The Wizard of Oz."

"Well I have now, but it was fucking weird, man," came Ethan's review. "The scarecrow guy's face looked like it was melting off." Directing his next point at Vivien in particular, he departed his first bout of wisdom on her. "Not one to watch high, dudette, trust me."

"Noted," Vivien acknowledged.

"So yeah, we've had a couple of rogue movie nights if Ethan's been in charge of securing the projector reels," Carrie continued. "But other than that it's just like general, everyday stuff. At least for us, anyway. We don't really get much chance to properly plan stuff out - it kind of just happens. Like the other day, after work, Amber started trying to teach us all how to do one of her crazy yoga routines - we'd never have suggested that until we did it, but it was some of the most fun I've had in weeks."

"Yooo, I was so fucking good at it. I might get her to show me some more stuff next week; I really felt like I was tapping into something powerful with it."

"Oh it was powerful alright," Carrie acknowledged with a giggle. "Miles couldn't believe it - I haven't seen him laugh that hard since he watched you take 20 minutes to make that packet ramen."

"Look, I just have other skill sets to most people," Ethan retorted with a resigned sigh. But a fleeting memory soon had his confidence racing back. "You've gotta admit I was a key player in helping you wreck Eric's car though."

Vivien's jaw dropped to her purple sneakers. "I'm sorry, you did what now?"

The guilt was written all over Carrie's pretty little face. Knowing she had no leg to stand on if she attempted to deny it, thanks to Ethan's unending honesty, she caved with a sigh. "Ok, yeah, so we may have totaled Eric's sports car-"

"Fuck, it was so fun!" Ethan exclaimed. "Me, Amber, and Carrie went to town on that thing. And Julie-"

"Anyway," Carried quickly cut in, trying to change the topic of conversation.

But the disbelief glittering in Vivien's emerald eyes wasn't about to let her get off the hook so easily. "Oh no, I'm not going anywhere until I hear this story," she grinned eagerly.

Letting out a defeated huff, Carrie compromised. "Alright, fine, I'll tell you later. But not a word of it gets back to Miles, ok? Because he has no idea we were the ones responsible for that - and we need to keep it that way."

"Oh come on, why can't I hear it now?" Vivien asked, sticking Carrie with her classic puppy dog eyes for extra, black-mail-y effect.

But unlike her other half, Carrie wasn't so easily won over by the pleading. "Because we need to go practice," she fired back. "We've wasted enough time talking to this bozo already."

"It's not been a waste," Ethan indignantly replied. "I've had a great time."

"So have I," Vivien agreed with a chuckle. 

"And I'm very pleased for you both, but that doesn't change the fact that we need to rehearse. So hurry up and unlock the function room for us, tech boy," Carrie bossily snapped back despite her affectionate eye roll. 

"You see how she speaks to me?" Ethan snarkily muttered to Vivien as though behind the blonde's back. 

"I thought he was the sound guy for your TV show, what does that have to do with us rehearsing here?" Vivien asked, scanning the outside of the building for some sort of clue as to what the place even was.

"He is, but he's also the entertainment co-ordinator here, which means he's in charge of all the live music equipment, and the emcee for the night," Carrie explained as he stamped out the end of his joint with the toe of his boot. "So we're stuck with him all day, I'm afraid."

"I'm also your number one competition, so you'd better be fucking good," he retorted with another mischievous grin. "'Cause you've yet to beat us once."

"You've got a band too?" Vivien asked.

"Yeah - me, Miles, Donny, Rizzo and Desky. Don't let Carrie brainwash you about her bogus trio though, 'cause she can talk all she wants, but she knows she only put it together 'cause she was jealous of ours."

"You're so full of shit," Carrie retorted.

"Oh yeah? Then how come you've lost the crowd favourite vote to us every single time?" he cockily shot back. And when, for once, she didn't have a snapback at the ready: "That's what I thought. Fucking. Poser."

"Brag all you want, but we're gonna make you eat those words tonight now that we've got Viv on our side," Carrie coolly replied, sparing the brunette a smug smile.

"Oh shit, yeah," Ethan said, his competitiveness vanishing once he remembered the reason for his new friend's visit. "You're filling in as their drummer, right?"

"Yeah," Vivien confirmed, trying to hide the fact that her stomach did a backflip at the very thought. "At least that's the plan."

"Gnarly," he acknowledged with an impressed nod. "Where'd you learn to play?"

"My brother Riven taught me back when we were kids."

"Nice, you ever done any shows before or-?"

"Hello? What part of, 'we need to go practice', do you not understand?" Carrie cut in with a pointed glare in the stoner's direction.

"Uh, we're having a conversation here," Ethan countered, totally oblivious to her frustration.

"We actually have a band of our own with two of our friends that we've played a couple of shows for, yeah," Vivien carried on with a giggle at Carrie's expense.

"Oh really? No way!" Ethan exclaimed, seeming genuinely excited by the prospect.

"Yeah, and we write all our own songs."

"Seriously? That's so-"

"Guys!" Carrie tried again - one more stall away from stamping her platform go-go boot on the ground and throwing a toddler-style fit. "Come onnnn."

But yet again, Ethan wasn't bothered in the slightest by her rising irritation. In fact, he was rather irritated himself by her impatience. "Carrie - can't you see I'm talking to my new friend here? She has great knowledge to bestow, and I have much to learn - so quit interrupting; we're having bonding time. You're being rude."

"You can't pull the 'friend' card on me with Viv; she's like my little sister-" Carrie tried, but her indignant protests were drowned out by more of Ethan's senseless rambles.

"So, we'll circle back to the band thing later; I need to do some mental collage-work first, 'cause your canvas is feelin' a little blank, dudette," he began, leaning back against the brick wall and closing his eyes, as though to better visualise the 'memory version' of the brunette before him. Pressing a couple of fingers to his forehead, in an attempt to strengthen their cerebral connection, he continued, "We'll lay down some basics first. Quick-fire: name, birthday, last bone you broke."

Vivien had to bite back a laugh before responding: "Vivien O'Brian, August 22nd, and it was my wrist when I was 10."

Ethan's eyes peeled open, shining with intrigue. "No way, you've actually broken a bone?"

"Why are you so surprised? You asked," Vivien chuckled.

"'Cause most of these losers I ask don't do anything exciting enough to risk bodily harm," he snorted back, with a smug glance in Carrie's direction, relishing the steam that was practically rising from the top of her head. "How'd you break it then?"

"My skating partner dropped me," Vivien said, luckily able to look back on the memory with a more optimistic view than the other participant.

"'Skating partner'?" Ethan mused.

"Yeah, we're figure skaters - my friend Riven and I; the one who taught me to how to play the drums," she explained, catching on quickly that the more context clues she offered, the sooner they'd get to the point.

"What, like roller skating?" 

"No, ice skating," Vivien clarified with a giggle.

Ethan's eyes glazed over in understanding. "Ohhh, right. Like ice hockey."

"No, not like ice hockey," Carrie cut in with an exasperated sigh, trying to break it down as simply as she could. "Figure skating. It's like ice dancing. Think the winter olympics - lots of twirling - little dresses-"

"Ohhh, no way! You do all those crazy jumps and shit?" Ethan exclaimed - finally catching on.

"Yeah," Vivien acknowledged. "At least three times a week, usually."

"At the olympics?" he asked, genuine amazement coating every word.

"No, we're not at olympic level," she chuckled, deciding to forgo the explanation that the olympics, at most, happen 3 times a decade. "Not yet, anyway. Our coach is working us towards it though, so who knows? Maybe one day."

"Holy fuck, we're talking to a future olympian, Carrie," Ethan enthused, bumping the blonde's arm in an attempt to share the excitement with her. But when she just rolled her eyes, yet failed to hold back her smile, he continued. "Do you do other competitions and stuff though? Or do you just like practising and doing it for fun?"

"No, we compete. I've got like a whole shelf of trophies in my room," Vivien said, poorly stifling a laugh as Ethan's eyes grew wider still. "We're the reigning national champs for our age bracket."

"Woahhhh, far out, man," he breathed. "That's awesome!" Thumping Carrie's arm again, this time a touch harder to coincide with his growing excitement, he gave her another aside, "Yo, Carrie, we're talking to like a legit celebrity here." 

Vivien didn't know what she ended up laughing harder at, Ethan's genuine awe at her achievements, or Carrie's deadpan look of resignation. Those blue eyes of hers looked like they could have melted steel.

Snorting out a laugh of his own at the blonde's expression, he turned back to Vivien with a smirk. "That never gets old," he grinned, evidently well-versed in teasing Carrie about her level of fame. "Anyway, enough about her; she gets more than enough attention. What other cool, hidden talents are you hiding under those glasses?"

"I don't know, I don't think anything else really counts as a talent," Vivien downplayed. "I've taken a few archery lessons, I like going and exploring abandoned buildings-"

"Woah, woah, woah, 'abandoned buildings'?" Ethan questioned - bloodshot eyes once again sparking to life. "What the hell? You're so cool. She's so cool," he said, turning to see if Carrie was sharing in his bewilderment too. "How the fuck did you end up dating Miles' lame-ass little brother? No offence, but like-"

"Ethan," Carrie scolded.

"No, come on, not in like a mean way; he sounds great - I'd protect him with my life - but like, all I ever hear from Miles is that he fucking reads nerdy library books," he attempted to justify.

"Well I like reading too, you know," Vivien countered with a teasing smirk. 

"Yeah, but you still seem to have a life," Ethan retorted, with all the social graces of an ox. The hearty laugh Vivien let out in response soon had him back to grinning like an idiot though. "Yo, why's Miles kept us apart for so long? You're awesome - we've got such a good energy going here," he chuckled.

"Yeah, why has Miles kept us apart?" Vivien agreed, looking to Carrie for some sort of explanation.

Begrudgingly rejoining the conversation, she explained with a teasing smirk at the stoner's expense. "Because you're a terrible influence - I speak from experience. He's gonna kill me when he finds out I've introduced you two without his supervision." But then she turned her attention to the younger brunette. "And because the second you see them both together, his cover as the somewhat responsible adult looking after you kids is gonna be blown out the water."

"Oh come on, how bad can he be?" Vivien laughed.

"It's not bad, necessarily - it's just that when they're together, and you're not around, all responsibilities go out the window, and the 22 years of pent-up stupidity are unleashed," Carrie explained with a laugh of her own.

Grinning mischievously, Vivien said, "In that case, I can't wait for his shift to end."

"Yeah, which is gonna be soon if we don't hurry up and get our asses inside," Carrie said, shooting Ethan with another pointed look.

"Huh? D'you hear something, Viv?" Ethan asked his new protege, intentionally blanking the steadily seething blonde.

"Ethan, come onnnn, please," Carrie pleaded, bouncing on the balls of her feet like an impatient child. "You can continue this while we're setting up."

"Weather's pretty nice this morning, huh? Not too humid, not-"

"Fine, I'll just have to kick the door down," Carrie resigned, hiding her smirk behind his back. "I hope no one's left their guitar lying around where it could get damaged if-"

Whirling around with a look of pure horror, Ethan muttered a sombre, almost warning, "Don't even joke about that; you know she's my baby."

"You play the guitar?" Vivien questioned.

"'Play's putting it lightly; I think I can noddle away on that thing better than I can talk," Ethan snorted.

"Like that's hard," Carrie teasingly retorted before continuing. "As much stick as I've given him this morning, he is really good on that guitar," she went on to acknowledge with a genuine smile. "Riven, Miles, and Butchy can talk all they want, but they're not a patch on this guy - I think if he wasn't so mentally stunted he'd be considered some sort of prodigy or something."

"You know, you can just give me a genuine compliment," he said, frowning slightly at her friendly jab. 

"I know… I'll start when you start," she retorted with a smirk he soon reciprocated, before shaking his head and letting out another snort of laughter.

"Ok, we'll stick with this; we've got a nice thing going here, why ruin it?"

Grinning at the pair of old friends, and the way Carrie squeezed him into a hug from the side, Vivien's ever-active brain started formulating a new idea - one that would hopefully get her in the good books of both cartoon-cliches come-to-life. "Well, if you're this good on the guitar I've obviously gotta hear it for myself," she prompted, drawing the brunet's attention back to her.

"Shoot, of course, I'd love to play something with you - you know any-?" Ethan began to gush, shoving Carrie away from his side in favour of chattering away to the brunette again.

"Don't we need to get into the function room first though?" she asked, sparing a quick glance at a suddenly very excited Carrie.

"Oh shit, yeah. You shoulda just said, Viv. I'll go unlock it for us," Ethan chuckled as though the concept was entirely new - sending Carrie's eyes to the heavens again. 

But the blonde's groan of frustration was drowned out by Vivien's optimistic giggle, as she teasingly mumbled under her breath, "See? That wasn't so hard."

"You two are really gonna make me regret introducing you both, huh?" she said with a weary chuckle of her own as Ethan disappeared into the building.

"On the contrary; I think we're gonna have more fun than ever," Vivien laughed back. "I need to see more of this 'wild' side he brings out of you. First I find out you're bi. Now I find out you smoke weed and could go down for criminal damages to your ex's car with that…thing. I feel like I barely even knew you before."

Carrie just chuckled to herself at the teenager's amazement. "I did try to tell you I was more than just Miles' girlfriend."

"What else are you hiding now? Surely there can't be more," Vivien demanded. "Are you gonna introduce me to your secret three-year-old or something?"

"Eww, no," she laughed. "Just be patient, you'll find out when you're ready," she smirked with a confident mystique Vivien could only have dreamed of. "I've gotta keep at least some of the mystery alive."

Before Vivien could press the older girl for any further clues though, a bedraggled head of shoulder-length brown hair appeared in the dark doorway. "Come on, Ice Pop. It's all unlocked."

Vivien looked from Ethan to Carrie and back again, perplexed. "Ice Pop?"

"Yeah, Ice Pop," Ethan simply confirmed, with a dopey grin.

"Nicknames are kind of his thing," Carrie explained, her voice barely above a whisper as she leaned in to inform the brunette. "It's just how his little pea-brain works. And once he's settled on one for you, you're kind of stuck with it - unfortunately," she added, thinking back to the months of convincing it took to get him to stop calling her 'Coleslaw'.

"Why 'Ice Pop'?" Vivien questioned - as amused, and fascinated, by the guy's thought process as ever.

"'Cause you ice skate," he explained as though it was obvious. "And you're wearing purple - you've actually just got like a purple vibe."

"What does purple have to do with ice pops though?" she asked.

"Well the purple ones are my favourite, and you're my favourite ice skater, so…" he replied, miming the fusion of ideas with his hands for added effect. "Ice Pop."

Poorly holding back her flattered, yet still slightly amused grin, Vivien tried to protest. "You've never even seen me skate."

"Minor details," he dismissed with a wave of his hand. "You're the only one I know by name though - so, you don't have a lot of competition. But that still makes you my favourite."

All the skating talk was lost on Carrie, but there was something about the conversation that caught her attention: "The purple one's are your favourite? They taste like ass."

"Probably why they're my favourite," he snorted as Carrie just wrinkled her nose. Not wanting to delay the imminent jam session any longer, he quickly turned back to Vivien though, managing to catch her attention between her hearty laughs. "What do you say then? You like it?"

"Yeah, I like it," she grinned, warmth spreading throughout her chest as she watched the stoner's eyes glow with appreciation.

"Sweet," he breathed, holding her gaze for a beat before beckoning her towards the wooden archway in the brickwork. "Come on then, Ice Pop. Welcome to The Grapefruit."

Following a nod of approval from Carrie, who promptly trailed behind her, Vivien let Ethan lead her through a bead curtain and into a dimly lit, oak-panelled hallway. The floor almost immediately dropped into a stairwell, lined with black and white photos of musicians, and prints of various fruits in the same assorted shades of orange, yellow, and green from the beads at the entrance.

As they descended, Vivien, as talkative as ever, especially now that she was more at ease around the guy, decided to start probing Ethan for more details. "So if I'm Ice Pop, and Carrie's Carrie-oke - does Miles have a nickname?"

"Nah, you can't improve upon perfection," Ethan sighed, grabbing the railings of the staircase and launching himself down the last four steps. "I do have a 'government name' I call him though when he needs me to talk some sense into him," he continued after landing with a thud in front of a two-way corridor.

"Which is?" Vivien prompted as they turned to the left and reached another door.

"Miles per Gallon, Miles per Hour, Miles from Anywhere - there's a couple variations," he replied as he pulled a bunch of keys from his back pocket and started working on the lock. "Just depends on my mood."

"Oh my god, I can't wait for him to get here," Vivien giggled. She didn't know what she was laughing harder at: Ethan's nicknames for her honorary big brother, or what she imagined his face would look like when he realised she now knew about them. 

"Well, in the meantime, make yourself comfy. 'Cause it sounds like you're gonna be here a while," Ethan chuckled as he pushed the door open and stepped aside to let her enter first. "Behold: your performance space for the evening."

As Vivien stepped into the room, that same surreal feeling she got the first time she set foot in the Wet Side Story world flooded through her - it felt like a dream, like everything would disappear in a puff of smoke if she touched it. But as her sneakers met scuffed, wooden floorboards, she stayed very much in one piece - as did everything else around her. The wood-panelled walls continued into what she now understood was an underground bar - but, despite the lack of sunlight, it was far from dingy. The overhead lights bathed everything in a soft, golden light, which complimented the room's colour scheme perfectly. The same shades of rust orange, mustard yellow, and olive green from the beaded curtain at the entrance clung to the upholstery and decorations - and yet brighter pops of colour, in line with the bar's citrussy namesake, made the whole room come to life. The earthy tones, mismatched furniture and clashing patterns made it feel so quintessentially 60s, but that just made Vivien love it even more - even if it did smell vaguely like stale beer. 

"Hold up, how old is she? D'you think I'm allowed to have let her in here if she's not 21?" Ethan asked Carrie as the pair followed Vivien into the function room. 

"It's not like you're gonna serve her any alcohol, she's just here to perform," Carrie said, brushing off his concern with ease. "And besides, if she wants anything she can just sneak some of mine," she added with a mischievous grin the stoner quickly shared.

"Yeah, what am I even saying? Since when did I start giving a shit about following the rules?" he snorted, pocketing his keys and crashing onto the nearest, faded leather couch.

"Alright then, Viv," Carrie continued, stepping up behind the teenager, who was still gazing around the room in wonder. And yet it wasn't until the blonde put her hands on her shoulders and steered her towards the centre of the room that she even noticed the sprawling stage - complete with mic stands, a dusty piano, several guitar amps and that all-important drum-kit. "You ready to take her for a spin?"

Vivien's first instinct told her 'absolutely not', but there was something about the warmth in Carrie's hopeful smile, and Ethan's earnest encouragements, still fresh in her mind, that gave her pause. Maybe she could do this after all; they certainly seemed to think she could. And she wasn't going to get over this stage fright without trying, so she might as well give it a go with a supportive audience - a rather unconventional, supportive audience; but one that, given her newfound fondness of the pair, and their apparent abundance of love for her in return, one that she wouldn't have traded for anything.

[callsign-joyride]

John Wayne | Chapter 1 | Rhett Abbott

Despite the mood board suggesting otherwise, my fics are size and POC inclusive.

Series masterlist | Next part

Summary: Rhett ends up in the city for a friend's wedding. You're going through a rough breakup. A meet-cute in a cafe changes both of your lives.

Every John is just the same I'm sick of their city games I crave a real wild man I'm strung out on John Wayne

Pairing: Rhett Abbott x f!reader

Content warnings: None yet

Being a journalist was fun. Tiring, but fun. Admittedly, it wasn't the best paying job. Especially for someone two years out of college, living in New York. But it was your dream job, and you ranked up fairly quickly. The summer internships and part-time jobs definitely helped you get there, but you weren't complaining. Even in the questionable apartment that you shared with someone, you were happy. 

Of course, not all good things last forever. You knew that something was off when Tyler, your boyfriend of two years, had texted you to buzz him in. 

“Hey, I'm almost done with editing. Give me a few minutes and I'm all yours,” you said as he walked in the door. The thing that was different about this situation was that he hadn't taken his shoes off by the door. It wasn't something that you or your roommate had ever stressed about, but he always took his shoes off when he came in. 

You submitted your article before closing your laptop and turning your attention toward him. The only background noise was that of the city below you. It was a particularly nice day out so you decided to work with the window slightly open. 

“I think we need to break up,” he said. It felt like time stopped. 

“Okay. Why?” You sniffled and reached for the box of tissues that were on the coffee table. There was a lump in your throat and you knew that this wasn't going to end well. 

“You’ve been so busy lately and I feel like you're kind of blowing me off. My birthday was two weeks ago and all I got from you was a text and a card.”

“With a gift card to that place in SoHo that you like so much. Two weeks ago, I had to be in D.C. for an interview. I think you might be forgetting that I have a job that, God forbid, doesn't require me to sit behind a desk for eight hours straight. I planned on taking you to that restaurant, by the way. Since I got this job, you have known that it occasionally requires travel. So you don't get to act like I'm ‘blowing you off’ when you know exactly what I do for a living. I also told you that I was going to D.C., and I know I told you because I copy and pasted that text and sent it to Rebecca-,”

“Rebecca who's in Iceland right now.”

“I don't think it matters where she is. If you're breaking up with me because I have a great job, then you can leave. I'm not going to be in a relationship with someone who isn't supportive of me and then tries to act like I'm the problem. I’ll let you know when you can pick up your stuff.”

All Tyler did in response was nod his head and leave silently. Once the door to the apartment shut, you locked it before pouring yourself a glass of wine and going to your room with your laptop. You didn't really start to cry until you called Danielle and told her about it. 

“Tomorrow is one of your work-from-home days, right?” She asked. 

“Yeah,” you managed to say through the sobs. 

“Consider going to that little cafe and doing your work there. The change of scenery might help you feel better.”

“Okay. Well now that I feel like I’ve cried what is essentially my body weight in tears, I think I'm gonna go to bed. Or at least try to.”

Danielle let out a quiet chuckle before you exchanged goodbyes and hung up the phone. You ended up taking her advice, and it helped get your mind off of things. 

It became your new “thing”, actually. It wasn't like being at the apartment on your work-from-home days was boring, but you enjoyed the environment at the cafe. Rebecca came back from Iceland about a week and a half after the breakup, and you waited a day or two before actually telling her what happened.

“That’s so ridiculous. His place isn’t even that far away! I’m so sorry. If he wanted to make it work, he would. He’s probably just jealous that you’re writing for The Times and not living in your parent’s basement.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the statement. She was right. Finding affordable housing in the city was difficult, but Tyler had a well-paying job. Maybe not well enough to live completely on his own, but well enough to move out. You had once thought about asking if he wanted to move in with you and Rebecca, but that was clearly not an option anymore.

“You don’t happen to have to work on Saturday, do you?” You asked.

“No, why?”

“I need him to come and get his stuff but I either can’t be here or I can’t be here alone when he comes by. I haven’t talked to him, but it’s not like I really want to, either.”

“I’d be happy to give him his stuff. That and then some. I kinda want to slash his tires if I’m honest.”

“That’s… Completely fair. A little irrational, but fair,” you said.

The following day was particularly gloomy. The rain had been on and off all night, with a few particularly loud rumbles of thunder waking you up. You walked into the cafe and ordered your usual before sitting down and getting to work. There were a few articles to edit and a bunch of emails to respond to. Emails that, had your boss been any different, would’ve been pointless meetings with a bunch of interns around the coffee machines. Even though you always sat facing the door, it was hard to make you lose focus. Until two guys in flannels and cowboy hats walked in. At first, you thought that you had somehow managed to drink way too much caffeine. The texts that you sent to Danielle and Rebecca didn’t help, either. Neither of them believed you until you snuck a picture of them waiting in line to order.

“Excuse me, miss? Uh, can I ask you a quick question?” One of them asked. You nodded your head and put your phone face down on the table.

“Yeah, sure,” you said.

“I’m here with my brother and we uh, we’ve never been here before. Can I ask what you’re drinking? I’m Rhett, by the way.”

You could tell that he was from out of state. None of the New York guys that you had met were ever this nice, even if it was to ask what your drink was. 

“Well, Rhett, it’s a chai latte with a shot of raspberry. I gotta warn you, though. If you don’t like sweet things, you won’t like this. It’s also not as caffeinated as coffee. Where are you from if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Oh, I’m from a small town in Wyoming. You’ve probably never heard of it, and please don’t laugh, but it’s called Wabang. I know.”

“That’s really funny. What brings you to New York?”

“One of my friends is getting married at the end of the week.”

“Oh, nice! Hey, I would love to sit and chat but it looks like your brother is getting antsy over there. Um, I can give you my number if you want?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Rhett handed you his phone and you quickly typed in your name and number. Your phone chimed while you got back to work. It was a text from Rhett to make sure that you had his number. You were surprised when he and his brother started walking over to your table with their drinks in hand.

“This seat taken?” He asked.

“No,” you said with a chuckle. Both of them sat in front of you and Rhett introduced you to his brother, Perry. 

“So, what did you get to drink?” You asked Rhett. 

“Uh, the chai with the raspberry. You have great taste, this is really good.”

“I’m glad that you like it. When’s the wedding?”

“Friday. We leave on Sunday, though.”

You smiled and nodded your head. This might be a bad idea. Actually, probably one of the worst ideas. His brother is right there! You’ve known him for twenty minutes! This could be an episode of Criminal Minds just waiting to happen.

“Would you maybe want to hang out on Saturday?” You asked. Rhett’s eyes widened and he quickly exchanged glances with Perry.

“Uh, yeah, sure. We’re gonna have to go in a few minutes but I’ll text you.”

You tried to suppress a giggle as you continued to talk to Rhett and Perry, and you couldn’t stop smiling. Once they left, you ordered a few pastries before getting your stuff and going back to your apartment. The day instantly felt brighter, and you were able to get the rest of your work done on the couch. Rebecca came home while you were watching an early season of Grey’s Anatomy, and you paused it before getting up and squealing.

“I’m guessing you talked to at least one of the cafe cowboys,” she said.

“Yes! His name is Rhett and he’s really cute. His brother was the other cowboy and he seemed nice, but I might’ve done something stupid.”

“Oh God, what did you do?”

“I kind of asked him out. We’re gonna get something figured out for Saturday, but I’m not even sure if it’s really a date. His brother was right there and it wouldn’t surprise me if he had a girlfriend in Wyoming.”

“Oh, so he’s a cowboy cowboy. Danielle and I thought that he was just some random guy in a costume.”

You laughed before heading to your room to plug in your phone and laptop. When you weren’t doing something important, you were texting Rhett. It was kind of surprising to you, considering that you had just met and you hadn’t really texted anyone for this long. You probably would’ve stayed up all night texting him if it wasn’t for the fact that you had to be in the office early the next morning.

It was one of the rare nights since the breakup that you were actually able to get to sleep peacefully.

Taglist:

@littlebadariell @cycbaby @luckyladycreator2 @idontcare-11 @blue-aconite @maverick-wingman @shawty-fenty @littlemisstopgun @rosiahills22 @katieshook02 @justanothermagicalsara @caitsymichelle13 @smoothdogsgirl @adoringsebstan @cherrycola27 @alexxavicry @mrsjaderogers @mak-32 @thefandomimagines @tallrock35 @caatheeriinee07 @bradshawseresinbabe @rosesvioletshardy

[a-reader-and-a-writer]

Made up fic title: It Was Supposed To End This Way

Thank you so much for the ask, Stacey!!! I absolutely love doing these!!! 💖

It was supposed to happen this way. You had known since your thirteenth birthday how it was all going to end, just as every other woman in your family had known for generations. It was the terrible cost you paid for your gift. You could manipulate time by slowing it down or speeding it up, see a few hours into the most probable futures, and predict others' fates. And yet, the only moment from your own future you were ever allowed to see was the unchangeable moment of your death. And that moment had come. As the H.Y.D.R.A. agent's gun swiveled in your direction, you froze. It was the same barrel you had stared down for years in your dreams, and at that moment, you knew there was nothing you could do to stop its bullet from piercing your heart. So you didn't even try. With tears streaming down your face, you closed your eyes as you saw the agent's finger tightening on the trigger. Then... BANG! PLINK! Nothing hit you. You didn't go flying back to crumple in a heap at the base of the wall. You didn't desperately gasp for your last few breaths of air as Nat and Sam rushed to your side. You didn't silently plead with your friends for help as their faces blurred and the world turned to black. You knew that it was supposed to end this way, but it hadn't. Cautiously, you peeked one eye open and gasped as you saw what had happened. Bucky was standing in a defensive stance before you, his metal arm raised directly in front of your chest where the bullet should have hit. His head snapped back to look over his shoulder, his pale blue eyes darting over you as he looked for any injuries. You gave him a shaky nod, and he turned back to the gunman. Bucky stepped forward and kicked him square in the chest-- right where his bullet would have hit you. The man went flying back and Bucky stalked after him, presumedly to make sure he didn't get back up. As soon as he had walked away, you collapsed to the ground, mere feet from where you should have been bleeding out. But it hadn't happened. You clutched at your pounding chest, as you gulped down breath after ragged breath, unable to believe that you were still alive. This wasn't possible. It was supposed to end that way. Suddenly, Bucky was kneeling at your side and he took your face between his hands, forcing you to look at him. "Doll, are you okay? Did he hurt you?" The contrasting hot and cold of his hands on your skin helped to shake you from your daze. "Bu-Bucky.... you saved me." He smiled as he brushed a strand of hair from your face. "Of course I did. I wasn't gonna let anything happen to my best girl." "No, you don't understand. I was supposed to die right then. I'd seen it happen a hundred times before. It was solidified in time by Fate." Bucky scoffed. "Yeah, well, I was supposed to have died back in 1945, so I guess Fate didn't figure on me being here to save you." Seeing you were still shaken, Bucky pulled you into his arms. "However it happened, you're safe now." You snuggled tightly against his chest and closed your eyes. Bucky was right. For the first time in years, you had no idea what the future held for you. But as long as you had Bucky with you, you knew everything would be alright.

send me a made-up fic title and i’ll tell you what i would write to go with it

[resflower]

This is the link to Burnt Into My Skin which is finally complete! And below, is an alternative ending that I wrote but ultimately decided didn't work for this story. It is however some of the fluffiest work I have ever written so I thought folks might want to take a gander. If you'd like to see where it fits in, it is the latter half of Chapter 7 in what became the finished product. Please be kind because this is an UNEDITED ROUGH DRAFT.

(Alternative Ending)

"I had a great time tonight." Adora is sitting in Catra's car, her feet hurt from dancing.

"Me too." Catra grabs her hand, lacing their fingers together as they pull up to Adora's house.

"Do you want to come to my house? We can have a night cap?" Adora suggests.

"Yeah 'Dora? A night cap? You haven't even let me kiss you yet." Catra's tone is suggestive as she waggles her eyebrows.

"I'm just not ready for the night to end." Adora admits. Catra melts into the leather car seat.

"How can you just say shit like that." Catra mutters, trying to hide the blush on her face.

"Yeah blondie let's have a night cap." They walk into Adora's house with minimal fuss.

"You can take a look around while I look for something for us to drink." Adora says as she heads towards the kitchen.

"You are going to regret giving me permission to snoop." Catra says gleefully as she theatrically opens a random drawer.

"I don't have anything to hide Cat." Adora calls from the kitchen, laughing at Catra’s antics.

Adora is rooting through her liquor cabinet looking for a fancy after dinner Micah and Angella gifted her last year when she hears Catra's voice calling for her.

"Adora is that you?" Catra's voice sounds strangled. Weird. Adora leaves the kitchen to see what has Catra upset.

Catra is standing over by some of the pictures Adora has framed on her walls. She can't imagine what would be upsetting there.

Adora peers over Catra's shoulder to see what she is looking at. She smiles at the picture of her with a baby Angel, just shy of his second birthday.

"Hmm, yeah me at the beach. That was Angel's first time. You should have seen how cute he was running about in the sand."

"Is that—that your soul mark?" She pointed to the abstract heart that looked tattooed onto her left shoulder.

"Yeah Cat. You'd never seen it before?" Adora racks her brain for a time where she actually showed Catra her soul mark and came to a blank.

"No no—I would have remembered it." Catra looks about to pass out and Adora starts to feel panicky. She doesn't want the mention of soul marks or soulmates to ruin her date with Catra.

"Cat what is it? Are you worried about my soulmate, we can talk about—"

Catra interrupts her. "Adora that's—that's my soul mark." Catra looks breathless as her eyes bore into Adora.

"You're soul mark? No Cat that's my soul mark, it's literally on me."  Catra is busy scrolling through her phone and pulls up an older picture of her and Scorpia. There on her left shoulder, an identical replica of Adora's soul mark.

"Oh. Oh Stars. So you're—you're my—?" Adora tries to catch up with what is happening.

"Yeah. I am." Catra whispers, looking up at Adora. Adora feels tears running down her face as a sob tears through her.

"Adora why are you crying? Are you disappointed? If you want me to go-" Catra's voice trembles. That snaps Adora out of it.

"No, no, no, Cat." Adora almost chants. Adora pulls Catra into a hug positively crushing Catra into her chest. "You being my soulmate is the single most fantastic thing I've ever heard." Adora feels her body shaking as she looks down at Catra.

The relief on Catra's face was palpable. "You aren't afraid?" Catra asks tentatively.

Adora shakes her head quickly. "Maybe I would have been afraid if I had known when we met. But now? How could I be afraid of my soulmate if it's you." Adora presses her forehead onto Catra's leaning down to get closer to her.

"You know, I looked for my soul mark on your shoulder the night we met." Adora confesses.

"I felt so dumb at the time, but I guess a part of me knew even then." Catra stutters a laugh. 

"You cannot possibly say something that romantic and not kiss me." Catra looks at Adora with hooded eyes.

"Kiss me then." Catra gently holds Adora's jaw and closes the distance between them.

Adora has never felt so moved by a simple kiss. It tastes like salt from their tears and something else that's uniquely Catra. It feels like she was always meant to do this with Catra, any former kiss a facsimile of the real thing. Adora sighs into the kiss.

Suddenly, Adora feels her shoulder start to warm, like a beam of welcome sunshine focused in on it.

They break apart, Catra frowning at her shoulder as she pulls up to look at it. And something incredible happened. Catra's soul mark is back on her shoulder.

Seeing her soul mark—their soul mark—on Catra's skin left Adora speechless.

"How—it was gone!" Catra is looking at her left shoulder in confusion. She glances up and her eyes catch sight of the soul mark on Adora. She looks dumbstruck.

"Wow." Catra whispers, eyes never leaving Adora.

"Yeah." Adora breathes back. Adora places a kiss on Catra's shoulder and it feels like her skin crackles under Adora’s touch. Catra's darken and her breath goes ragged.

"Adora, I'm not leaving your house tonight." Catra says as she wraps her arms around Adora's neck. Adora quickly nods and pulls Catra up by her thighs, encouraging her to wrap her legs around her.

"You aren't going anywhere." Adora agrees as she kisses Catra's jaw. She was going to kiss every inch of Catra she could reach and then some.

[wheeler-beretta-harwood]

Meant To Be (Cash Wheeler x Reader)

Chapter Fifteen

You didn't know exactly why, but you carried Cash's envelope with you at all times. No matter what you did, where you were, it was always with you. Buying groceries? Take the envelope with you. Jogging? Take the envelope with you. At the office, scheduling for the next days? Take. The. Envelope. With. You.

Multiple times, you had opened it, desperate to find out what he had to say. But every time, you stopped yourself, for reasons unknown to you. With each passing day, you missed him more and more, until it became almost unbearable. A whole week had passed, and it was yet again Wednesday. As you lay in your hotel bed, you felt a sad smile spread across your lips. You were in North Carolina, and you were supposed to meet Cash's mom today...if things were still intact. She and some of his friends along with other family members were at ringside tonight. You had been excited for this day, because Cash had told you many sweet stories about his mother. And you had secretly hoped that she would've liked you...and you'd officially become a part of the family - something you craved ever since you had completely lost yours. You grabbed your phone to check the time, and your eyes fell on the envelope underneath it again. You softly ran your fingers over the white paper, and decided now was the time.

You were ready.

So you opened it and started reading...

Y/N,

I hope you will read this at some point not so far in the future. First of all, let me tell you the most important thing: I am sorry. I have messed this up, and there is no one else to blame but me. None of this is your fault, in case you were wondering. I know you always place the blame on you. But don't do it this time.

I've read the book you gave me for my birthday. It's beautiful. And I think it helped me understand us better. What we have, or had. What it could have been. What it was always supposed to be.

The silver thread in the sky that Rumo sees in the book, that eventually leads him to Rala, his one true love. I have experienced that too, with you. In the cafeteria. I may not have seen a thread, but I was drawn to you from the very beginning.

You are the end of my silver thread. My only one. Not Lindsay, not wrestling. You.

And I hope that I am at the end of your thread. If you think I am, please give me a call. Let me explain everything you don't understand yet, because I was too afraid to let you in. I can't afford to lose you, and I won't go down without a fight. Let us talk.

I miss you. Everything about you. Every place feels empty without you, everything seems to be unimportant if I can't share it with you.

Until our threads bring us together again.

- Cash

You didn't realize you were crying until you noticed the tear drops buckling the paper. You wiped your eyes a few times, and calmed yourself down, taking in deep breaths. Then, the corners of your mouth lifted up.

He had read the book. Didn't think it was cheesy. And he felt the same about the thread connecting two lovers: he pictured the two of you. Just like you did.

You re-read the letter a few times, and then took the phone in your hand. When you clicked on his name to call him, you couldn't help but smile to yourself. You missed him.

"H-hello." His voice was shaky, you could tell he was anxious.

"Hi."

Although you felt you were now ready to talk to him, you had no idea what to say. As a result, there was a long pause between the two of you, until you finally found your voice again. "I've read your letter, and it's...Let us talk in person today. After your match. Okay?"

You heard a sigh of relief on the other end before he spoke. "Okay." Then he cleared his throat, and continued. "I'll see you right after our match, so we can go somewhere private."

"Yeah, see you then." You closed your eyes, both excitement and fear consumed you now. "Bye Cash."

"See you later, Darlin." There it was again. Darlin. How you had missed it.

You didn't even realize he had hung up some time ago, as your thoughts circled about him calling you by your pet name. You longed for hearing it in person. Hopefully everything would be okay again...

------------------------------------------------

As soon as Cash hung up on you, he called Dax. He was overly excited. And scared for his life. What if he messed it up this time? What if he would not find the right words? Everything just HAD to work out this time. He wanted you back. He needed you back.

"Morning, Cash. I hope it's urgent." Right, Dax was not a morning person. His voice was raspy, and Cash could feel his annoyance through the phone.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you. I...I might need some romantic advice, and some words of encouragement. We'll talk tonight."

There was a short silence between them as Dax needed to process his best friend's words. Then he let out a hearty laughter. "Can't believe the letter worked. What did you write, man? Has never worked for me in my entire life! If you want my advice, it's simple: let her in. Tell her what's going on in your thick skull. And finally tell her you love her. She's the only person on this planet that doesn't know. You go and get your girl, Cash!"

"What if I-"

"No Cash. No but, no if, no nothing. You will get Y/N back tonight. Period. You apparently know the right things to say. Just think about the letter. What could possibly go wrong?"

Cash smiled, his friend was right. He knew what he wanted, he knew what needed to be said and done this time, and there wasn't a chance he'd let himself mess it up. "Thanks, Dax."

"Don't thank me for that. But I expect to be your best man once ya'll getting married..."

He wanted to protest, tell his friend to slow down a bit, but Dax had ended the call as soon as the words had left his mouth. So Cash sat there, still a little freaked out, and now also thinking about his friend's joke. If it was one.

-----------------------------------------

You had no idea what was going on. You just noticed the match between Proud and Powerful and FTR ended way earlier than planned. When you watched one of the monitors backstage, you saw Cash was out after a few minutes, kneeling at the side of the ring and being taken care off right there. Something had happened. Something bad. You had asked some other crew members if they knew what was going on, if he was okay, but no one could give you an answer.

You felt dizzy, like you were about to pass out. Your stomach turned as you rushed through the seemingly endless hallways backstage, until you made it to the medical rooms, hoping he'd be there and not be brought to the hospital. When you saw Dax stand in the doorframe, you let out a sigh and called out to him.

"Is he okay? What happened?!" You abruptly came to a stop in front of him, a little out of breath and uncertain of what to do next. He pulled you into a tight hug and rubbed your back. "Hey Y/N. Doc's taking care of him now. He's getting stitches. Something sliced his arm open, probably a loose hook, that's all I know." He paused for a second and looked at you. "You're really pale. No need to panic, he's gone through worse. He's gonna be alright. He asked for you though...so if you wanna go in there, he'd be really happy to see ya. Misses you like crazy." You took a step back and nodded at him before knocking at the doorframe. Before you finally entered the room, you turned back to Dax and whispered. "I miss him too." He gave you a knowing smile and nodded back at you.

Your knock on the door brought Cash out of his daze. He was exhausted, afraid of what his injury might mean for his career...and once he saw you standing there, also incredibly happy you'd shown up. "Hi Y/N." His voice was weak, as if he was afraid speaking up might scare you away.

You walked over to the stretcher he was sitting on, and thought about sitting down next to him, but decided against it. So you stood there, next to him, and soothingly put your hand on his shoulder, rubbing little circles into his skin. "How bad is it?" You asked, both Cash and Doc Sampson. The latter waited for Cash's okay so he could explain to you that the object had damaged some of his nerves and although this would not be a career-ending injury, he would feel the aftershocks of it for a long time. If everything was going well, he'd get his grip back. Eventually.

Then the doctor looked between the two of you, and dismissed himself to give you some privacy. When he was gone, you took his place in front of Cash, and weakly smiled at him, your hand on his thigh, before you repeated your question. "How bad is it, Cash?" You watched him slowly form a fist with his right hand, eyes flinching in pain. "He said I was lucky. An inch lower and all my nerves would have been cut through." He let out a puff of air. "I just don't feel very lucky recently..." Then, his eyes finally met yours. "Thank you for stopping by though. I really appreciate your concern."

He sighed heavily. "Can...can we talk now? Please?" You thought about it for a moment, unsure if this was the right time or place to discuss your relationship problems. But just as you nodded your head at him, both of you heard quite a turmoil coming from outside. Footsteps came closer and closer, and you heard a female voice. Although you didn't understand a word that was said, you could hear the sheer panic in her voice and you automatically knew that it had to be his mother. "Dax! Is he in there?!" The bald man tried his hardest to make her and all the others accompanying her stop in their tracks so the two of you could still have a moment, but he didn't stand a chance against so many people.

Cash watched in shock as you got up from your chair and told him you'd talk another time. "Darlin', please don't go. I need to talk to you. Now. I can't wait any longer. Please don't leave." He grabbed your hand and held it tight with his good hand.

Your heart skipped a beat, or multiple beats. He had said it again, and it sounded so beautiful in your ears. "We will talk, I promise. But you need to tell all these people outside that you are okay. They are worried." You explained while cupping his cheek with your free hand. "They're your family, Cash." With those words, you stepped away from him, and he let go of you. His eyes were glued to your frame as you left the room, while he whispered to himself.

"But you're my family, too."

[fourseasonsfigs]

I Have Caught You (Kiss of the Century)

The fig maker's original listing for this fig set was so wonderful I saved it (poorly machine translated, as usual):

I Have Caught You - mystery figures, wearing red and blue concert robes. The 5.3 concert was the beginning of all fate. I played the rps of the two of them, met a group of excellent and lovely friends, and did some interesting things. Occasionally, when I feel that I can't persevere, thanks to their encouragement, I can persevere all the way. It was not easy for them to catch each other.

The fig maker didn't make it easy to catch this set either - it was a small run limited to 500, and required proof of purchase of at least 164 yuan (each) of endorsements to prove support for each actor, and Gong Jun's endorsement purchase had to be after 5/4. While I had come late to the party and unfortunately never bought any of Zhehan's endorsements, I had made a donation in his honor for his birthday, which counted. For Gong Jun it was much easier since I had already bought some of his 361 products (which I really like btw, all very nice).

This is such a beautiful set - I love it so much. Of course because it's from the SHL concert, which is always an instant shot to the heart, but also it's just a delightfully done pair.

But first, a few pictures to go back down memory lane, on that first day of the concert on 5/3/2021...

HELP I'm feeling emotional! What a great night. Or you know, early morning Pacific Standard Time, it was 2000% worth getting up at 4am for.

I was going to keep going with the concert pics but I have to stop myself because Tumblr's 30 photo post limit has no remorse, and I need to save some bandwidth for these figs!

These arrived safely, thank goodness, tucked away in their polystyrene cases. I found (to my horror) that this, my most recent sea shipment, had a ton of resin figs I had forgotten to get bubble wrapped before I shipped. AND I shipped these with a literal ton (ok not that literal, but close!) of acrylic fig stands, which sure don't weigh much individually but add up when you buy 300 at a time. And when the warehouse puts the pounds and pounds of them right on top of all these figs in the box. The look on my face when I opened the box and came face to face with the sins of my youth. And I would have only have myself to blame, which is always the worst. But miracle of miracles, all these figs escaped unscathed.

Now I know I've said in the past that I can't stand to see figs cry, and I can't! But I will make an exception for this set, because tears of joy at the end of that concert was entirely acceptable and very welcome.

Their little hands! So cute.

Yes my husband just looked over at my screen where I had the enormous photo of two figs kissing up on my photo editor, and he just shook his head. I just started laughing and laughing! Yeah, I don't know how I became this person either (at my age!), but I have NO regrets! NONE.

[Side note - actually, I know exactly how I became this person. And it's this concert, together with the joint Happy Camp episode, that started launched my hyperspeed journey down the Couple Fan Junzhe road. Before this concert, I would have told you definitively, like I would have bet cold hard cash that there was no way I would ever be so crazy or this delusional. Like I've been around, you have to be pretty tough and cynical to survive in today's business world, and I'm not in the habit of believing in much of anything these days. And yet fast forward and here I am (at my age!), watching Gong Jun post vacation photos from Yunnan and swearing up and down these two are in love and married. I am the tinnest of tin hats and I have NO regrets! NONE!]

I think the hair is beautifully done - look at Lao Wen's beautiful guan (which should be gold instead of silver, but not quibbling here!).

The costumes are just beautiful here. I know fig makers despair over Wen Kexing's gorgeous red costume because it's so incredibly ornate that it's hard to replicate, but this looks wonderful.

I like the motion on the robes too, the sweep of it out behind them.

You can just barely see Zhehan's boots here, which is pretty accurate since his outfit is shorter, and given that WKX's red robes are really, really long.

Coming back around - I love the fig maker's choice to have Zhehan's eyes open and Gong Jun's closed, it's a beautiful call out to the Century Hug in the following day's concert.

Here's an extreme close ups of the beautiful costumes.

And from the top...

...and the bottom! These figs are decently stable on their white booted feet, and their interlocking hands actually holds them together really nicely.

One last close up of the Kiss of the Century!

Material: Resin, and a whole lotta love

Fig Count: 262

Scene Count: 19

Rating: Pure romance

[link back to Master Fig Index for more posts]

[gillianthecat]

that detail you mentioned is so cute, siwon closing his eyes to give daun a safe space, i love that interpretation!

i also find it super cute when they were holding hands in class, dawoon took siwon's hand to comfort him and they could have easily ended the scene there but siwon turned his hand to hold dawoon's hand back and 🥺🥺

also when siwon saw his dad and didn't know how to act so he decided to run! (maybe it's a poor reaction but i've been there) he did not run alone but took daun's hand and daun ran with him

something about that moment feels so metaphorical for their relationship

and daun asked no questions "i guess you figured it out. the person we bumped into earlier was my dad. he has his reasons. it's nothing important" (oh but it is!)

it was his birthday!!! every time i remember it was his birthday and he got to spend it with siwon and it turned out being a really special day for him. i need to sit down

and that little scene where dawoon goes to pick siwon up on his first day of filming with a cup of coffee ready for him... it might be only 30 seconds long but oh it's so sweet, i find their faces in that scene absolutely endearing

this turned out to be just a list of things i love about blueming lol i could talk about the little details in this show for hours sorry to hijack your inbox

i think i read that you liked tms2? i loved it! i think i even enjoyed it more than the first season, something about the already established relationship satisfied me deeply, we need more of it in the bl world! yeah i find it super cute watching boys fall in love but i want more of seeing them navigate that love! what did you enjoy the most about it? hope everything's going well xxx

Yes!! 🍻

You're welcome to come rave about Blueming in my inbox any day, Blueming Anon. I love everything you've said about it.

I loved To My Star 2. I can see why people didn't, it's not really a BL, and of course it's hard to see a beloved couple torn apart. But for me it really worked. I think part of that was because in the first To My Star, Seo-joon and Ji-woo never figured their shit out. So in the sequel it didn't feel like they were tearing a happy couple apart artificially just for the drama, but a natural extension of who they were and and all the things they still needed to figure out. So a similar sequel to Blueming, for example, wouldn't work because Da-woon and Si-won have a much more functional relationship by the end. A lot of the story of Blueming is them figuring out how to communicate and take care of each other, which Ji-woo and Seo-joon never do in the first To My Star. That story is primarily about them getting together, and ends when they do.

My favorite part of TMS2? It's so hard to pick! One thing I really liked about both of them was how much Seo-joon felt like a movie star to me - in the sense that it really felt like he had been warped in the way that a fundamentally good person would be warped by all the attention and lack of privacy that come with it. I don't know any movie stars myself, so I don't know if that's accurate, but it felt that way to me while watching.

A moment that comes to mind now, perhaps because I've been thinking about kisses in BL that feel very specific to the characters and their story (hi The Eclipse👋), is the scene where they're looking for the little girl. It's so revealing of both characters and their relationship at that time--Seo-joon's panic, Ji-woo's almost emotionless affect, which we see in a whole new light when he tells Seo-joon that he's only keeping it together because Seo-joon is falling apart. Their relief, falling to the ground in the middle of the road, something about that just felt so human. And then Ji-woo revealing more about himself and all his complicated feelings about Seo-joon in that one line - "How could you be so honest about everything? How can I ignore you now?" - than he has yet in either of the series. And of course the desperation and relief of their kiss and how much it felt like exes falling back into old habits in a moment of extreme emotions. And it felt well placed in the timeline of the series overall - not a kiss that would fix things, but maybe one that would shake things up enough so they could eventually be repaired.

I also loved everything about Ji-woo's ex-girlfriend Jung Sung-yoon - the character herself, how cleverly they subverted all the audience expectations of the evil interfering ex, how she and Ji-woo processed their relationship and how necessary that was for Ji-woo and Seo-joon to rebuild theirs.

Anyways, in sum, I cannot pick a favorite thing and I could write about a dozen more aspects of the series that I adored, but I will stop with those three. Thanks for giving me an excuse to think about it!

[remotespontaneouscombustion]

SPELL OUT YOUR URL WITH SONG TITLES

Tagged by @neodarkdark (ily I inflicted this evil on myself thank you for playing along with it pfff)

This took so long HELP

I'm not tagging this time around steal it from me if you want to do it. don't be like me and pick a long url.

Runaway - AURORA

And all this time I have been lyin' Oh, lyin' in secret to myself I've been putting sorrow on the farthest place on my shelf

Exhale Inhale - AURORA

Crawl beneath the earth To feel the hunger and the thirst If you could fly and be the bird Then you would see the forest burn

Machine - CaseJackal

I read social cues like inputs. What I spit out isn't formatted to read. Your concerns are efficiency, utility, what you can get out of me.

Overboard - Poets of the Fall

Have a little more of not enough More of what is less but isn't love Little of the same you're dreaming of That's enough, that's enough

The Devil is Human - AURORA

Why did you give us hearts we don't understand Like an apple in our hand that you'll never let us have? And I hear you don't like it I don't care if you don't

ERROR - niki (English Piano Arrange by Jubyphonic)

Tell me, am I breaking down? Do you know what's broken now? Even so the tears I cry Are hurting, I'm hurting Hey tell me did my words reach you? That last song I sang in my solitude The colored words that I gave you Are gone and are blurring my eyes are burning

Standstill - Poets of the Fall

It's alright, yeah, if you fall You just get up, just go on Never mind the hurt, even if you burn 'Cause it's all gonna be so much better

Plan The Escape - Son Lux

Leave the wasting world behind us We will make it out alive Leave the waiting world behind us We will not look back this time

One More Time - The Birthday Massacre

All I have is all I own A fortune of envy All I have is all I sow A lifetime of ending

Night is Faint - Eve (English Cover by Trickle)

Giving up, I'm giving Into painful sins to Put an end to all these Days I'm drowning in My heart has bloomed and withered, Let its petals cover me and I'll be free

The Milk Carton - Madilyn Mei

I think I really miss my bed Oh when, oh when will the nightmare end? I had it good, I had it good And yet I left and can't retrace my steps

Action - Nostraightanswer

(Mercifully Instrumental)

Nightmare - Set It Off

I created a monster, a beast inside my brain With nowhere to go, I'm out on my own My mind impaired Awake me from my nightmare

Enter - The Birthday Massacre

Too innocent to speak Too curious to just stare I know I made you leave But I will follow you anywhere

October Sunset - Aviators

In spite of our guilt This is how we were built So don't scare us away from the light The darkness behind it this October sunset Won't break us We'll last through the night

Unbecoming - STARSET

You found me drifted out to sea It's automatic It's telepathic, you always knew me And you laugh as I search for a harbor As you point where your halo had been But the light in your eyes has been squandered There's no angel in you in the end

Suffocate - Nostraightanswer

I don't wanna suffocate, no more But I've already hit the ocean floor Pounding in my chest, my very core I'll become the eye of my own storm

Circus Monster - CircusP (Cover by Jubyphonic)

They want to hear me, why can not he see? I want to see you, I need to see you I have to see you, what happened to you? We get up on stage, they jump to enrage Why are you not here? Why is he so near? He wants me to sing, I just can not bring – I say, "he's not you, " what else can I do?

Odd One Out - CaseJackal

In the claws of a secret, I’m not sure who made you keep it. Although the earth may conceal it through the clouds, you reveal it.

Metal Won't Burn - Aviators

When the daylight comes for me I see what I am An alloyed extension Of invisible hands And yet I risk more than The credits I earn My soul is in ashes But metal won't burn

Babylon - Barns Courtney

Dreaming and lost alone Far from your mother's home The madness in your bones It's boiling in your blood And endless sky above These deserts that you roam

Under Your Spell - The Birthday Massacre

You're the promise that degraded every hope and dream You're the whisper at the end of every hopeless scream After all the years of turning love to empty rage All you wanted was for me to help you turn the page

Soulless Creatures - AURORA

Never knew this curious head of mine Never knew what is love if kept inside Nothing but an endless, empty heart Like laying a seed within the dark

The Sailor Song - Autoheart

Should I run a million miles away From every memory of you? Let that be a lesson to me Think not with my heart but with my head But I never really had it in me Did I, did I? No I never really had it in me Did I?

IDC, I CAN'T TAKE IT - AS IT IS

Everyone is long gone Gotta wonder where you went wrong And it's hard to take your eyes off the doomsday clock When you're patient like a pipe bomb I can't take it

One More Day - yetep, RUNN

I always tell myself Just hold on for one more day Just keep moving With every step I take I feel like losing hope But I won't give up Hold on for one more day For one more day

No Saints Around - Nostraightanswer

Constellations falling down I don't fear them now The sky is dancing to the sounds I hear, so bright and cheerful now Crystalized and out of bounds A feeling crossing over town The core of kindness can be found With no saints around