#the peaky around! guys were quite funny

[caramelmochacrow]

well. that was something. wish i knew how to screenshot w my phone bc i would have a TON of just. everything.

im taking a break (charging my phone) then going to check the second unit story of everyone (starting w rondo and merm4id bc i am biased <3) and hopefully finish the whole thing before the anniversary.

[queenshelby]

Just Friends - Cillian Murphy Imagine

Featuring: Cillian Murphy x Reader

Warning: SMUT

Words: 5034

Foreword:

I have never written anything for an actual person. For my own comfort, I will not be referring to Cillian’s actual family and, instead, I have created two small biographies for the Reader and Cillian.

Biography:

The Reader:

The Reader is 24 years old and recently moved to Dublin with her 5 year old son, Max in order to take up a fantastic job offer.

Max’s father isn’t interested in a relationship with his son and separated from the Reader pretty much as soon as she found out that she was pregnant. 

The Reader is a novelist and editor for the Irish Times. 

The Reader’s interests include books, listening to records, theatre and attending live music gigs. 

The Reader has a close relationship with her grandmother who is 65 years old and a writer herself. She also lives in Dublin with her second husband, who is originally from Galway.

 Cillian: 

Cillian is 42 years old in this story. He is divorced from his wife Siobhan and has two kids, Charlie (6) and Hendricks (8).

He lives in a town house in Dublin and shares custody.

In this story, he finished filming Season 4 of Peaky Blinders about three months ago, which is when the Reader first met him.

---------------------------

JUST FRIENDS

Three and a half months ago you moved to Dublin to take a position as editor at the Irish Times. Initially, the move was daunting to you as you were a single mother and moving your son to a different preschool concerned you.

Fortunately, your grandmother was living in Dublin as well and offered to help you with looking after your son, Max. She was a retired novelist herself and you always had a close relationship with her. Having her around was a blessing.

Over the years, you also met some Irish writers and established good relationships with them. Therefore, finding friends in Dublin was not an issue.

One of your best friends was a play writer from London and was working in Ireland at the time, promoting her theatre play called ‘Blessings’. She introduced you to a bunch of people, most of which were working in the entertainment industry in some way or another.

Whilst all of your new found friends were a fair bit older than you, you related to them. You had interests in common and most of them had children, just like you. They understood that sometimes plans had to be cancelled and flexibility was limited. Having children is a commitment which many of your younger friends didn’t understand. You weren’t interested in late nights because a young child meant early mornings. For this reason, you would much rather attend a dinner and board game night as a opposed to a night club.

And this is how you met a very interesting man named Cillian. Three months ago, your friend Orla invited you to a board game night with a couple of her friends. Cillian was pretty much the only other single person in attendance and, since this was a board game that had to be played in teams of two, you and Cillian were paired up with him.

He was funny and smart and very attractive. You had a good time that night and even won the game with your combined knowledge of random trivial facts.

He was a fun person to be around and you had several common interests.

Over the next few months, you spent a fair bit of time together, mostly with other friends but sometimes alone when your friends were doing things as couples with their partners.

Just recently, you went record shopping together and the weekend before last you and another friend of yours would take all of your kids to Dublin Zoo for the day. Your son Max developed a great friendship with Cillian’s youngest son Charlie. Playdates were a common occurrence.

While both of you separately explored the dating world, you really enjoyed Cillian’s company as a friend and he enjoyed yours and you would often chat about the mishaps you encountered and laugh about them. Dates gone wrong was one of your favourite topics.

The last relationship Cillian had was with a co-worker, which was far from ideal. They’ve met on set of one of his movies about a year after he divorced from his wife, but things didn’t go as planned and the relationship didn’t last. It ended about four months ago, being just one month before you met.

The last relationship you had was over a year ago and it also didn’t last as your boyfriend couldn’t deal with the fact that you were a single mum and that your son always came first.

For Valentines Day this year, your friends set up dates for each of you. It was disastrous. Neither of you were interested in committing at this point and you both were rather flustered about your friends’ efforts after you both had told them not to bother.

You were happy singles.

Theatre Night

As happy singles, you decided to go and see your friend’s new play ‘Blessings’ with some of your other friends on the night you all managed to be child free for once. It took a while to organise but was worth the effort.

‘Hi Max, how was preschool?’ Cillian asked as he opened the door to your townhouse for Cillian while you were in the bathroom, putting up your hair.

Max met Cillian numerous times and got along with him very well. After all, Cillian had a son the same age as Max.

‘Good. Do you want me to show you what I made?’ Max asked while you waived at Cillian from the bathroom.

‘Absolutely, show me’ Cillian said with a smile as he followed Max into the living room.

‘Look’ Max said as he held up two paintings.

‘Wow, is that a T-Rex?’ Cillian asked, causing Max to nod with excitement.

‘That’s very cool…he looks super scary’ Cillian added just as there was another knock on the door.

It was your grandmother who was here to pick up Max for his sleepover at her house.

You opened the door and asked Max to get his bag from the living room which you had packed for him earlier.

‘Nan, this is my friend Cillian’ you said as you introduced Cillian to your grandmother.

‘Hello Cillian, I am Margot. I loved Grief is a Thing with Feathers. It was such an intense play’ she said, knowing right away who he was despite the fact that you had never mentioned him to her before.

‘Thank you Margot and I loved By The Sea, it was a fantastic book’ Cillian responded. He read the book after you told him about your grandmother. Your writing style was very similar to hers and he always loved a good book.

‘Oh thank you very much. Now Max, are you ready?’ your grandmother asked.

Max was ready and you said goodbye, giving him a big hug and thanking your grandmother for looking after him for the night.

While Cillian waited in the living room, you finished your make up and slipped on your shoes.

‘Thank you for picking me up. I really have no idea where this place is’ you said as you grabbed your bag and the two of you were heading out of the door.

‘Any time Y/N, it isn’t far from here actually’ Cillian said.

As you were walking to the Arthouse Theatre you talked about all sorts of things, music, childcare and books.

It was a cold night in Dublin and you were probably underdressed for the occasion.

At the Arthouse Theatre you met up with another two friends of yours. They were both married, to each other, and shared three children. Luckily for them, they had a baby sitter that night.

The play was amazing and you all enjoyed it with a few glasses of wine which were served at the theatre. Cillian had good taste when it came to wine and you usually sought his guidance on what to order.

After you left the theatre, you felt awfully hungry. You hadn’t eaten dinner that night.

‘I am starving, is anyone else up for Pizza?’ you asked your three friends, including Cillian

‘We would love to, but only have a baby sitter until 9pm, sorry’ Amanda said, explaining that she and her husband had to head home fairly soon.

‘What about you Cilly?’ you asked.

‘I would love some Pizza, let’s go to Pizzinis’ he said.

Both you and Cillian said goodbye to your friends and made your way to Pizzinis.

As usual, it was packed and there were no table available.

‘Wanna grab them take away and go back to my place? I’ve got wine and you can show me this new album you were talking about earlier’ you said.

‘Sounds good, let’s do that’ Cillian said before ordering two pizzas.

More than Friends

You arrived at your apartment about 30 minutes later and Cillian put on some music. He found this new Irish band he liked and you were really keen to hear them.

‘Hmm Indie…I like it’ you said as he connected his i-phone to your speakers.

‘Wine?’ you asked as you grabbed a bottle of wine from the shelf.

‘Yes please and thanks’ Cillian said as he put the pizzas on the table.

‘I was meant to ask you, how was your Valentine’s date?’ Cillian asked before taking the first bite of the pizza.

‘Oh god, don’t remind me on it please’ you said with a laugh.

‘That good ey? What happened?’ Cillian laughed.

‘He was weird. He basically left after I told him about Max’ you responded.

‘I think that sometimes guys your age might be a bit freaked out by the fact that you have child. I can’t say that I blame them. I couldn’t imagine myself becoming a step father when I was in my 20s’ Cillian said.

‘He was 32’ you responded.

‘Well maybe he was just weird and you are just unlucky when it comes to dating’ Cillian laughed.

‘Yeah, maybe…I am just over dating’ you said…’What about your date?’ you asked.

‘Pretty average. I mean she was nice but had no sense of humour’ Cillian said.

‘Oh what, wait…she didn’t laugh at your Irish jokes?’ you laughed.

‘Outrageous I know. I mean how could she not?’ Cillian joked.

‘Here is to failed dates’ you said as you held up your wine glass for a toast.

‘To failed dates’ Cillian responded with smile.

Over the next hour or so, Cillian and you finished both pizzas and talked about books, including the book you were currently writing, music and embarrassing things your kids had done.

Quite music was playing in the background by then while you talked and laughed together until Cillian brought up a specific book he had read recently, written by a writer named J A Hanson, which he said reminded him on you in a way.

‘I have read all of her books and I really wish I could write romance as well as her’ you said.

‘Her books aren’t exactly romantic’ Cillian responded.

‘Her storylines aren’t romantic, but the character she uses in all of her books involves herself romantically with several other characters throughout the series. The way she writes makes you relate to the character even in these intimate moments’ you explained.

‘She is 60 and probably speaking from experience. I have read in a paper a few months back that she had quite an interesting and adventurous youth in the 70s and 80s’ Cillian said.

‘Free Love…Yeah, I have read this too’ you laughed. ‘Perhaps I just need some inspiration to get over my block, otherwise I will never finish this damn novel’ you said as you poured yourself some more wine.

‘You don’t have to answer this, but when was the last time that…?’ Cillian asked and, before he could finish his question, you interrupted him.

‘That I had sex? Gosh…well over a year ago’ you responded, causing Cillian’s chin to drop.

‘Over a year? Seriously? I mean, surely, a woman like you would get plenty of offers…’ Cillian said, not knowing what else to tell you.

‘A woman like me? What do you mean by that Cilly?’ you asked with a slight giggle.

‘Well, you are attractive, smart and funny. You would get a fair bit of interest’ Cillian responded.

‘So, you think I am attractive?’ you asked with a smirk, causing Cillian to choke slightly on his wine. He regretted what he had said almost instantly, causing awkwardness between you.

‘Well yeah, I think you are an attractive woman’ Cillian said quietly. ‘In a totally objective way of course’ he added, while, just in this moment, you observed his facial expressions.

You observed him drop his eyes to your lips as he said it, and then lower to the place where your shirt opens at the collar, the buttons undone to below your collarbone.

He pressed his lips together. ‘I think I should probably get go…’ he said, and, before he could finish his sentence, you leaned in and kissed him suddenly, like the peck you give a boy you like on the school bus the second before you jump up and get off – a brief bravery without a plan.

He was caught by surprise.

‘Y/N’ he said and, before he could say something else, you apologised to him for what just happened.

‘I am sorry Cilly, I don’t know what just came over me’ you said.

‘It’s alright, I shouldn’t have said what I said. It was inappropriate’ Cillian said.

But, with Cillian’s response, you couldn’t leave it alone and asked ‘So, you don’t think that I am attractive?’ you asked, giggling slightly with some embarrassment.

‘Any man who thinks that you aren’t attractive is clearly blind. But, with that being said, it doesn’t matter what I think, you are 18 years younger than me and it would be wrong for us to take this further. Despite, I don’t want to fuck up our friendship’ Cillian said calmly.

You didn’t know what to say to his comment and, instead of using any words, you ran your hand gently over the side of his perfect face while biting your lip.

‘Just one kiss between friends then, we can blame the red wine after’ you whispered as a comfortable hot feeling washed over you. You felt some sort of attraction towards Cillian since the moment you met him, but didn’t want to admit it to yourself, let alone to him.

‘I don’t know Y/N’ Cillian said as you leaned closer towards him and pressed your lips onto his. You knew he was reluctant but he didn’t push you away.

To the contrary, as you kissed him, his hand came up in a rush to the back of your neck, pulling you in closer. Within seconds, his tongue slipped between your lips, whispering over your teeth and began dancing with your tongue.

You noticed the brush of his stubble on your cheek, the press of his lips on yours and the way his mouth tasted, a mix of minty gum and red wine.

It shouldn’t have been so hot, but it was. The taste of him, the smell and flavour, and it made you whimper in your throat. You knew this was one off and you didn’t want this moment to end.

‘Are you ok?’ he asked after he pulled back a little and paused. He was scanning your eyes and there was a cautious considering from his side. You could tell that he was surprised about what had just happened.

‘Yeah, you?’ you said as you couldn’t help yourself but stare into his baby blue eyes.

‘Yes’ he said as he cleared his throat slightly.

There was an awkward silence in the room and you couldn’t stand it.

You build up all of your courage again and leaned over him, pressing your lips onto his once more.

Cillian didn’t hesitate then.

His tongue slipped right back into the same spot than before, before his lips then moved over your face and down to your neck, leaving gentle bites and kisses.

Cillian’s hands were busy touching you at the same time his lips were trailing over your neck.

One of his hands was in your hair at the back of your head while his other hand was moving down to press the small of your back so that your body was pulled forward into his.

As you were exchanging passionate kisses, you could feel the shape of him, the firmness of his body against yours, your legs pressing into his and his chest pressing into your breasts. You could also feel his erection through his jeans, hard as anything, rigid and warm against your tummy.

By this time, you wanted more than just kisses.

‘Sleep with me, just that once’ you whispered.

‘I can’t Y/N, you are 24, it is not right’ Cillian said pulling away from you.

‘It’s just sex Cilly, I am old enough for that’ you laughed.

‘Yes, but I don’t want this to ruin our friendship’ Cillian said.

‘It won’t. There are no strings attached, it’s just sex. Unless you don’t want me’ you responded. ‘Although I think you do’ you giggled as you ran your hand over his pants, feeling his erection.

Your comment made Cillian chuckle.

‘This is a one off, alright?’ Cillian asked, causing you to nod.

‘One off…and it stays our little secret’ you said before smashing your lips back onto his for another minute or two.

After you exchanged more passionate kisses you stood up.

‘Common, I show you my bedroom’ you said cheekily, taking his hand and guiding him towards the bed.

‘Can you help me with this please’ you asked, turning around to face the bed. Your back was now facing Cillian and you pulled your hair aside so that he can open the zipper of your dress.

Cillian unzipped your dress carefully, exposing your black lace underwear.

As you pushed your dress down onto the floor, Cillian began kissing your back and neck, while running his hands over your breasts and stomach, all the way down in between your legs.

You let out a brief moan before turning around to face him and help him pull his t-shirt over his head, exposing his perfectly shaped biceps.

Looking into his eyes, your hand glided gracefully, for once, past Cillian’s belt buckle and into the holy crevice of his Calvin Klein briefs. His cock was hard and ready.

You moved it between my your slowly, relishing his obvious eagerness.

You used the other hand to unbuckle his belt and unzip his jeans, shortly after which he pushed them down to the floor while your other hand never left his warm and hard cock.

After the jeans came off, Cillian pressed his lips back onto yours while using his skilled hands to unclip the back of your bra. The bra also landed on the floor within seconds.

‘Lie down’ he whispered into your ear. You obliged and crawled onto the bed, facing him.

He loomed over you, climbing on to the bed as you scooted backwards further so that he could straddle your hips while you pushed up against him, wanting the rub and friction against you.

Cillian kissed you passionately as one of his hands moved in between your legs.

He could feel your body tensing up as he ran his fingers over the top of your panties

After all, he knew that it had been a while since you’ve been with anyone. He knew to take it slow and give you some reassurance.

‘Just relax’ he whispered into your ear with his thick Irish accent as he edged his fingers over the lace of your panties, his hand leisurely rubbing up and down the length of your squirming crotch, until he pulled your underwear aside and slipped two fingers inside of you.

You could feel your mouth widen and a loud moan escaped you as he teased the full mound of your clit. The stroke of his thumb was purposeful and steady on your firm, dripping pulse while his fingers plunged in and out of you, sinking further and further.

You held onto him tightly as the slipperiness he found made it easy for him to penetrate you with his fingers. You were so wet.

You shuddered at the pattern, shocked to find it could still stun you, unlocking newfound levels of moisture and desire, even when you began to meet the repetition of his thrusts. You naturally tilted and buckled beneath him.

As he was pushing his fingers in and out of you, he trailed kisses down your neck while your hands clutched at his shoulders, scratched down his back, held him tighter to you as I screamed into his skin.

Cillian’s breath grew more desperate and rugged.

‘It seems like we should take these off’ he said, causing you to nod with anticipation.

‘Don’t move’ Cillian ordered as he lowered himself on the bed while removing your lace undies.

Within seconds, Cillian’s lips were an inch away from your crotch, where he painted your inner thigh with tiny and soft kisses.

Cillian pushed your legs apart gently and you knew what would be next. You have read about this many times but this was the first time any man had gone down on you before and you were nervously biting your lip.

You tried hard to relax as Cillian’s lips finally reached your entrance, tasting the evidence of how much you wanted him.

‘Oh god, fuck’ you moaned as his head dove between your legs. His tongue prodded you softly, short licks against your clit.

Instantly, all restraint and reservations you had vanished. You were relaxed completely as his tongue danced and writhed inside of you.

With each skillful stroke, your thighs clenched. But you still needed more and he read you just right; he didn’t stop as you pushed yourself up the bed. Instead, he held you steady, causing you to look down at him and watching his eyes widen as they met yours, reacting to the rush of your wetness.

‘Cillian, oh god…you need to stop, I am so close’ you moaned, not wanting it to be over. You never came more than once so you wanted to feel him inside of you first.

‘That’s good, just let go’ Cillian said quietly with a grin before he continued and slid two fingers back inside of you while whirling his tongue over your clit.

You couldn’t hold on any longer, no matter how hard you tried. Your exhales began to emerge as deepening sighs and you leaned my head back and lived out the fantasy that had flashed through your mind all along.

‘Oh god Cillian’ you moaned as your back arched and a rush of ecstasy flew through your body. You grabbed onto Cillian’s hair as he sucked every drip from you as your orgasm flooded your body.

As you came down from your orgasm, Cillian shuffled himself back up the bed, kissing you passionately.

You could taste yourself on his lips and you were ready for more.

‘I want to feel you’ you whispered after your lips drifted apart and while reaching for Cillian’s hard cock.

‘Do you have a condom?’ he asked, causing you to nod. You had purchased some before your Valentine’s Date, just in case you needed them.

You reached for the bedside table and opened the pack of condoms, handing one to Cillian.

Cillian was quick to get rid of his briefs and put on the condom, before positioning himself on top of you, in between your legs.

He shuddered a great rushing gasp of breath as he entered you. He couldn’t believe how good you felt, so tight.

You felt him push into you then, slowly and carefully, filling you completely.  

‘Cillian’ you moaned as you held onto him tightly as he slowly began to move.

With every thrust, you gasped, whimpered, soft mewling noises, begging for more.

You felt him all the way to your belly button and screamed out with pleasure, your hands taking the heat as he thrusted fast and deep.

As he picked up his pace, you got louder, groans becoming moans becoming shouts, and the bed frame thumped against the wall, louder and faster and louder and faster.

‘Oh god, don’t stop’ you moaned, his skin slapping against yours.

‘You are so beautiful’ Cillian said in between his moans before pulling out of you slowly and lifting up your legs above his shoulders.

He knew exactly that, this way, he would be reaching your g-spot while he was fucking you.

You were slightly surprised by this position but were flexible enough to run with it.

As he entered you again slowly, you let out a loud moan.

‘Fuck’ you moaned in between the high-pitched noises that escaped you.

‘Does this feel alright?’ Cillian asked, wanting to ensure that you are comfortable.

You nodded eagerly and whimpered a shaky ‘yes’ as he continued to thrust into you. He was right at your g-spot and you could barely control yourself.

He slowly picked up the speed and you could feel another orgasm coming on as the tip of his cock kept hitting your g-spot over and over again.

‘Cillian, oh my god, don’t stop…’ you moaned as you held onto his arms tightly.

You began to shake heavily as your orgasm washed over you and tears of joy escaped your eyes.

‘Fuck, Y/N’ Cillian groaned loudly as he felt your walls tightening around him. The sensation coupled with the sounds you were making sent him over the edge and he almost came in sync with you.

As soon as he came, you released your legs from his shoulders and he collapsed on top of you, kissing you passionately.

You could still feel Cillian pulsing inside you when the sudden oddness of what you had done washed over you.

‘Are we ok?’ Cillian asked as he slowly pulled out of you and removed the condom, disposing of it discreetly.

‘I think so’ you said shyly.

‘Good…because I really enjoyed this’ Cillian said as he ran one of his hands over your cheek gently.

‘Me too…plus, I’ve got some inspiration for my book now’ you said cheekily.

‘I am glad to having been of assistance. Make sure you credit me in the end notes’ Cillian said jokingly.

‘Hmm, if I did, it may become a best seller…Sex Scene Inspired by Cillian Murphy’ you said with laughter, causing Cillian to laugh also.

‘I should better get home’ Cillian said as he was playing with your hair. He really didn’t want to leave, but he felt as though it was inappropriate for him to stay the night.

‘You can stay here if you like…’ you offered, but Cillian declined.

After all, this was supposed to be a one off. You are nothing more than friends, or are you?

You accepted Cillian’s decision to leave and weren’t upset by it. You enjoyed your time with Cillian and slept well that night, snugging up in the doona which smelled like his aftershave.

Finishing the Book

The next morning, you got up early to begin writing the intimate chapter of your book. This was the chapter you had struggled with for a while and you finally felt comfortable writing it. If readers would know that, in this particular scene of your book, you were basically reliving your night with your friend, Cillian Murphy, that would be scandalous.

So, you decided to make sure that no one would ever find out about your little adventure.

Unfortunately for you, your grandma seemed to have a good sense of what was going on.

She was on time as usual and dropped Max back at your house at 10am.

‘Had a good night my dear? I can see you are working on your book.’ She said.

‘Yes nan, the play last night was lovely. It has given me some inspiration’ you said.

‘The play has given you some inspiration to write about orgasms?’ your grandmother asked with laughter as she read the screen on your lap top.

‘Nan! Oh my god, don’t read what I am writing’ you said with embarrassment.

‘Oh dear, it’s alright. Believe it or not, I used to write novels myself with a little hint of filth now and then. But, somehow, I don’t think that it was the play that gave you the inspiration to write this little naughty chapter. By looking at the bruises on your neck, perhaps it was your friend Mr Murphy who gave you this inspiration?’ your grandmother said with sarcasm.

‘Nan, no Jesus, please’ you said as your face became flushed.

‘Don’t be embarrassed dear’ your grandmother said. ‘It is good for you. I mean, he is handsome and I saw the way you looked at him yesterday evening…and the way he looked at you’ your grandmother continued.

‘There is nothing between us nan, we are just friends’ you explained with total embarrassment.

‘Alright dear, whatever you say’ your grandmother said, not believing a single word that came out of your mouth.

‘I better go, I have lunch with Alma later… I love you my dear’ your grandmother said before heading out of the door.

‘Love you too nan’ you said.

 WHO WANTS A SECOND PART OF THIS?

[thomotomo]

the peaky blinders oblivious to male reader practically turning the garrison into a gay bar, despite coming out to the family on many occasions — and the Shelbys just assuming he worked/grew up with a lot of people??

The Garrison Gay Pub

A/N: Heya! I really liked this request, though I struggled to write it :/ I hope you’ll enjoy reading it anyway!

Shelby! Male Reader x OMCs

Words: 1.3k

Rating: T (sexual innuendos very fast)

Being a member of the Shelby family had inconvenient, like the risk of getting kidnapped for a ransom but it had also a lot of advantages, like easily get away with something illegal just by your name and the signature clothing of your family. Even though you weren’t very much involved in the dirty family business you were spending a lot of time at The Garrison working alongside your older brother Arthur and keeping the bar when he left to go outside.

Again you were a lucky one, you had originally came out, extremely nervous in fear of getting thrown out or murdered on the spot, instead they accepted you with open arms and you were relieved. Until the night you brought a lad back into the house, you were pretty sure everyone had left and you were heavily making out on the top of a table, it was Tommy who find you and he had looked between you and the blonde-haired guy with something more akin to confusion than anything, until he seemed to suddenly remember which way you swayed and had left mumbling “You can go back to what you were doing.”

It had completely killed the mood but you couldn’t help but laugh at what just happened and the poor boy that was still not decent looked completely lost and a tad hurt by your laugh.

It wasn’t the first and only time it had happened and even if at first it was funny, but with every time it happened you were the one getting surprised, it seemed they easily forgot your coming out, not that you really minded, but in the sense that it always made them stop for a few awkward moments whenever they found you with a guy which broke the mood each time.

One night, after reading an article about a gay bar getting burned and how people inside either burned alive or were beaten up as they were trying to escape, which made you decide that you could do something for the people of the same “unusual” attraction to help/protect them by creating a space they could go to without any fear. You had talked to you latest conquest about it, telling him to talk to people like you to tell them to come to The Garrison the next day.

You had everything planned, Arthur had left you alone to work the next day considering he had a lot of things to do with Tommy (understand here rackets) you had free reign over The Garrison.

You had everything planned, even in case the police would show up uninvited. You spend the day working so everything would be ready for the night to come. The day had been going too slowly for your taste as you’ve been quite excited about tonight and couldn’t wait for the day to end up so you tried to entertain yourself with the clients that were coming and going.

At 8pm the guy you had brought back home yesterday night walked in with a smile and came straight to the bar where you were cleaning some glasses.

“Hey. I told some of my friends about this place, you sure the scorchers won’t come here?”

“Don’t worry about them they’ll leave us alone. And if any arseholes come around and insults us well let’s say they’ll regret it quickly.”

He nodded and asked for a drink which you served to him with a wink. Both of you stayed here, discussing as slowly the room was filled with people. Each new customer that was here for the “other sexualities” first event got a free drink to start the night.

As the hours passed it seemed that the words got on to a lot of homosexuals persons. You felt proud behind the bar, observing everybody feeling free for the night.

Two lesbians were making out in a corner and dark-haired dude flirted with another one. You could feel how everyone was relaxed and it made you completely proud and a soft smile slipped on your face as you looked around.

////

After a harsh day Arthur had decided to come to the Garrison, he still had a bit of blood on his cheek but he didn’t care, he really needed a drink.

He stepped inside the bar, ignoring all the hustle around him and going straight for the bar, sitting down and taking off his hat. Immediately a whisky ended up in front of him, he looked up and met your eyes, you were harbouring a grin and he couldn’t help but feel the corner of his lips rises against his will.

“Thanks brother.”

“You’re welcome, you seem to have had a long day!”

“Yeah you could say that…”, he replied, gulping his drink in one go before taking a look around, “There’s a lot of people, that’s good.”

You sighed in relief internally, everyone included you had took a deep breath, looking quite worried as he walked in the bar but he ignored all the people around both of you and quickly enough the atmosphere came back to what it was before, everyone relaxing again.

You stayed up until the early hours of the morning, serving people and discussing with them, though you mainly kept company to Arthur until he left and he didn’t seemed to care about the people around who didn’t seemed to fit the usual population he was around.

At around 4am the bar was empty and Arthur had since long been gone home. You made the patrons that were still here leave and then cleaned it before closing everything.

You stretched, breathing the smell of the early morning which always put you in a good mood, tonight even more as the night was a success, you felt extraordinarily happy that it worked the way you wanted, nobody came and questioned you about it, not even the police.

You walked back home, humming “Dance of the Knights” (yeah anachronistic but I’m obsessed with this song atm). You quietly slipped inside the family house, going to your bedroom, taking off your clothes and then slipping in the warmth of your bed, immediately falling asleep.

The next night, in the midst of all the gay people having fun your mother accompanied by Arthur walked in the bar, looking around a bit surprised. They sat to their usual seats, on a couch in a corner and waited for you to come and asks them for their drinks, observing you  easily interacting with everybody with a grin on your face.

“Well kid you seem to know a lot of people.”

“Yeah, I’ve met a few of them and they brought their friends so I met them and everyone is nice.”

“Good, good.”

They asked for their drinks, you quickly made them and served them. Close from their spot you spotted a gay couple heavily making out, you noticed Arthur’s head went in their direction but he seemed to either ignore them or plainly not see them.

You stopped watching them, acting as if they were normal clients and not your family, they didn’t react much so you decided to concentrate on flirting with the pretty redhead dude in front of you, winking at him.

The night went great, your mother and older brother didn’t stay for too long before leaving to do their things as you stayed with Theo, a guy whom your family hired to help you as Arthur now worked more on the street than at The Garrison.

////

Over the next few weeks The Garrison became a prominent safe place for gay people and even though some weird people could be find around it just to take out on “fags” and “dykes” you always took care of showing they shouldn’t mess with the people in here (nor the family owning the bar).

Your family often came around to discuss business and they hadn’t noticed anything, you supposed it was because they worked hard and didn’t have time to really think about it or because you were bringing a lot of clients and money to the bar.

Either way it seemed to be good “deal” for everyone and you clearly weren’t going to complain about it.

________________

A/N: Heya! I hope you enjoyed it, as you can see it seems a bit inachieved, I had no ideas on how to end up this story (and I’m a mess atm so it doesn’t help)

Anyway if you enjoyed the story don’t hesitate to reblog and leave a comment! You can also support my writing by leaving a tip on my Kofi! Love y’all <3

[setaripendragon]

Little Sallyanne

Hi, I'm back! Sorry for the long absence, but RL sucks, and I haven't been writing much of anything I'd be willing to share lately. Except it's now Camp NaNo, and I wrote this in a frenzy instead of working on my NaNo project, of fucking course XD It's a Peaky Blinders fanfic, because that seems to be my go-to comfort-fandom at the moment for some reason??? What if Tommy went looking for Polly's children sometime during the first season, and he found Sally-Anna-Sallyanne-whatever-her-name-is-does-anyone-know before she died? WARNING: It doesn't come up overly explicitly in the fic, but it is Very Important for you to know that Sally was a child when she was deported, and this little ficlet was, in large part, inspired by a couple of articles I read about the truly horrific circumstances deported children ended up in around that time. This Sally is a deeply traumatised thirteen-year-old survivor of both sexual and physical abuse. (And Tommy knows this, knows it was done to her by the people she was given to because the government deemed his Aunt 'not fit' to care for children, and he is half a world and a month of travel away from being able to exact revenge.) If that might upset you, this may not be the fic for you. Please proceed with caution, if you decide to proceed at all. (Also, jsyk, when writing Sally in this fic, I was picturing the actress who played Lyra in the His Dark Materials series, because I swear, she looks a bit like Ada (and also Polly was the voice of her dad's daemon).)

The train rattles and clacks its way along the tracks, and Sally resists the urge to hold her breath. She hadn’t believed it when the guy in the flat-cap loitering by the Home’s fence said he was there to take her home, and she still hadn’t believed it even when she was fleeing into the night on his heels with a fire blooming out of her bedroom window behind her, and she still hadn’t believed it when instead of turning out just like every other adult there he put her on a ferry back to England under a fake name. Now, here she is on a train back to Birmingham, after ten years of trying to get here, and she’s still not quite sure she believes it.

She turns her passport over in her fingers, and looks at the name above her picture again. Miss Salima Elizabeth Shelby, it says. That’s her mother’s maiden name, she knows. She remembers. Everything from before being fostered is fuzzy, but she’s clung to what she does remember fiercely, because mostly what she remembers is being loved. She remembers her mother, her dark hair and warm voice, and she remembers her brother, mostly how funny it was to put mud down the back of his shirt and make him yell, and she remembers her aunt, with her piercing eyes and her secretive smiles.

She’s desperately glad that whoever that guy was, he thought to use her mother’s maiden name for this, because she knows she can’t be Anna Gray anymore. Even though no one’s called her Anna Gray for ten years, it’s who she’s been in her heart. Anna Sarah Gray, her mother’s little Sallyanne, no matter how many other names she’s been given. None of them were her, were hers.

But Anna Sarah Gray was deported, and she’ll be deported again if anyone finds out she’s in England again. And she’ll die before she goes back there. She’ll kill anyone who tries to fucking send her back there. So, she needs a new name, and it was a kindness, a bewildering, unexpected kindness, for that name to be one that has pieces of her already in it. Sally Shelby is a name she can fit herself into, can make her own.

The train screeches a warning as it starts to break, and Sally looks up sharply. Outside the window, she can see the sign that reads ‘Birmingham’ outside, and she stares at it until the train drifts to a stop, and then she pinches herself. It hurts, so she’s not dreaming.

She’s not dreaming. This is real.

She hasn’t cried since she was five years old, but now she feels her eyes sting. Furious with herself, she knuckles at her eye and jerks to her feet, snatching up her case and bolting for the door, not caring who she elbows or kicks on her way. She’s been fighting for this moment for ten years, she’s not going to waste another fucking second dithering about having feelings when she could be getting one step closer to her real family.

“Oi!” someone shouts after her as she swings her suitcase into his knee to get them to move out of the train car’s door. “You little-!” they holler, but Sally’s already hopping down onto the platform, and looking around, getting her bearings and trying to remember where she needs to go.

A large hand grabs her arm, and something that’s kind of like panic, and kind of like rage lights her up inside until she can barely see straight, and she brings her suitcase around again but the guy is ready for it this time, and he blocks it with his arm. “Shit! You watch what you’re doing, girl, or-”

Sally bites him on the arm, since her suitcase isn’t working as a bludgeon anymore. The man yells in shock and pain, and a smack catches her in the side of her head, but she only digs her teeth in harder, until she can taste blood. He lets go of her arm, but his other hand grabs her hair, trying to shake her loose.

And then she’s being let go, because the guy that grabbed her has been slammed back into the train, his heels slipping on the edge of the platform, and there’s blood streaming down his face from a cut that goes right through one eye. The man that’s pinning him there raises a blood-stained cap in the hand that isn’t fisted in the other guy’s shirt, and slashes it across the other eye. Blood spills.

“You’re fucking lucky,” the guy with the murder cap in his hand snarls, “that I’m only taking your fucking eyes. If you ever touch her again, I’ll cut off your fucking cock and make you eat it before you bleed out. Am I making myself perfectly fucking clear?”

“Y-yessir,” the other guy whimpers.

Murder cap guy nods once, and releases him with a shove that sends the bleeding guy staggering down the platform and vanishing into the crowd within moments. Murder cap guy takes a breath, sets his fucking amazing cap back on his head, and only then turns to face Sally.

Oh. Those eyes are just like Aunt Marra’s. Sally remembers that piercing, unearthly blue. “Yeh alrigh’, Sally?” the man who has to be her cousin asks, as if there isn’t blood splattered all over his cap, and he didn’t just blind a man just for touching her.

“Can I have one?” Sally blurts out before she can think of anything smarter to say.

Her cousin, she’s not sure which one, the older ones all kind of just blurred together in her memory, looks taken-aback for a moment, before he smiles. It’s a crooked little thing, and more than a bit mean, but Sally doesn’t mind. “I think that can be arranged,” he agrees, tipping his bloody cap to her.

Sally grins, fierce and feral and eager.

“Do you remember me?” Her cousin asks as he tucks his hands into his pockets.

“You’re my cousin,” Sally says, because that much she does remember.

Her cousin tips his head in acknowledgement, but what he says is, “Half-brother,” with a nod towards her hand. She looks down, and sees her passport still clutched there, and remembers that she’s not Anna Gray anymore. She’s Sally Shelby.

“Right,” Sally agrees. “Half-brother. Mikey’s my cousin.”

“Tha’s right,” her new half-brother confirms, smiling that crooked smile again. “I’m Tommy.”

The name sparks a memory, and Sally brightens. “You used to play horses with me!” she exclaims, remembering being carted around on Tommy’s shoulders, and yanking on his hair to make him go whichever way she pleased.

Tommy’s crooked smile becomes a crooked grin. “That was me,” he confirms. He hesitates a moment, then holds out a hand to her. “Come on, the rest of the family’s waiting for us back at The Garrison.”

Sally thinks it would probably be safe to take his hand, but it doesn’t feel safe, so she doesn’t. She just hefts her suitcase and looks at Tommy expectantly, making it clear she’s ready to go without touching him. He nods to her, accepting her choice, and sticks his hand back in his pocket as he turns and heads for the exit. Sally hurries a little to catch up, then falls into step beside him.

“Aren’t you going to get in trouble or something?” Sally asks as the crowd parts to let them through.

“Not in this neighbourhood,” Tommy replies blithely. “Anyone ‘ere gives you any trouble, you just tell ‘em your name, you tell ‘em you’re a Shelby, and they’ll know better than to mess with you,” he promises. It’s a nice promise, and Sally almost believes it, after the way he said hello. She believes it more and more, as people keep giving them both a wide berth as they make for the street; him with his blood-stained cap, and her with blood on her teeth, side-by-side and ready to fight the world.

[hello-yue-here]

thank you @chiptrillino for tagging me in a wip game!

not quite sure what the rules are but based off of your AMAZING POST OF ART WIPS (check it out here yall chip is so talented) ive decided to just share some parts of my writing wips that i rlly like because i cannot draw whatsoever lmao

enjoy some lil snippets hehe

from heart don't stand a chance:

"Zuko couldn’t get over her eyes. She was looking past the camera towards the man who took it. Zuko could see clear as day the love she held for Sokka in her gaze.

It was a perfect moment that Sokka had captured. No wonder held it with him at all times. If someone had looked at Zuko like that, he’d never want to see anything again.

As he took in the photograph, Sokka sat next to him in silence. His hand was clutching the ring around his neck again in his fist, pressing it close to his mouth as he peered over Zuko’s shoulder to look. Zuko turned to him to compliment the picture and saw a sad fondness lingering in his eyes."

this is a scene i wrote a while ago thats gonna appear in a much later chapter. but yeah. more yue angst for you guys im so sorry.

from i love you (and that's all i really know):

"Mister Sokka," a little voice wishpered in his ear as he felt tiny pokes on his cheek, "Wake up Mister Sokka."

"Good morning to you too Izumi," Sokka responded wearily as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked towards the little girl who was standing on her tippy toes to see over the edge of the bed and poke his face until he rose.

She smiled at him once she realized he was awake.

"Can we have pancakes?" She asked shyly, hiding her mouth just below the edge of the bed as she looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

That look was going to be dangerous for him later on, he could aready tell.

"Sure thing, Izumi, just let me sleep for five more minutes, mkay?" He asked as he shut his eyes again. He was exhausted from last nights events, and the sun had barely risen. How did Zuko do this?"

this is a scene from the next chapter of this fic. so much sokka and izumi bonding you guys are gonna explode hehehe.

from cherry (the mailee fic i wont shut up about that is now a whopping 19 pages):

"Mai never had to guess with Ty Lee. She always knew when Ty Lee was happy about something because she would use an obnoxious amount of exclamation points. She would send gifs of people or cartoons making outlandish expressions whenever she wanted to react to Mai’s text with a specific facial expression. Sometimes Ty Lee would even send voice memos whenever her thoughts became too long, or she got too excited about a story that her fingers couldn’t type as fast as she could speak."

hehe i love mailee.

from yours (the mailee sorority fic that i promise i did not forget about):

"Mai lifted her head off the pillow again and met Zuko’s eyes. She studied his impassive expression, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. He did seem like he missed Mai and Azula, so maybe he did really just want to catch up with them.

But Mai wasn’t going to give up a golden opportunity like this.

“Tell us everything about the boy toy as well and you’ve got yourself a deal,” Mai said.

Zuko rolled his eyes and sighed, “Ugh, fine. And his name is Sokka by the way.”

“Nuance. You also have to wake up Azula.”

“No chance in hell,” Zuko scoffed, “You’re the roommate and her fellow ‘pong princess,’ wake-up duty is all yours.”

“If she murders me, it’s your fault. She’s a bitch when she’s hungover.”

“Whatever you say, Mai,” Zuko grinned before returning back to his phone."

i have decided that zuko is a little shit for this fic and no one can stop me.

from Where'd All the Time Go? (the yuekka fic that i have severe writers block with that i also promis i have not forgotten about):

"“Sokka I really think you need to take a moment and-”

“I am fine Aang, I don’t have time for a feelings talk right now. Right now I need to find the fucking chief of this damn place.” His words came out harsher than he meant, but he didn’t have the time to dwell on that.

Before Sokka could run off again to continue his search, a hand grabbed his arm. One of Arnook’s advisors, Malina, had started dragging him towards the podium.

“Do you not realize how late you are for this Sokka? The ceremony was supposed to begin with your speech nearly an hour ago-” she hissed at him as she pulled him along through the crowd.

“Malina I’m sorry but I really need to speak with Arnook it is urgent-”

“This damn speech of yours is what’s urgent right now Sokka, you can speak with Arnook later but the guests are getting antsy so you need to give your speech right. Now.”

“But-”

“Now.”

Maline shoved Sokka towards the podium and suddenly all eyes were on him. Every guest in attendance had their focus solely on Sokka."

homeboy is stressed in this scene. things are slowly going to shit in this chapter. i promise i will update this before the end of the year. i swear. im so sorry.

from a currently untitled jetko/sukka boiling rock fic:

"“Oh good, you survived after all,” She said in a mocking tone.

Jet didn’t answer. He knew anything he said would be used against him. He didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know what was happening. But he would be damned if he showed that weakness in front of the fire nation.

“I was told you were more talkative than this,” the girl mused. There was something familiar about her, “my informants were very detailed when discussing your little teashop romance.”

I knew it. Jet snarled in his mind, That bastard betrayed me."

i want this fic to be a little darker but idk how good i am at writing darker fics because i love fluff and humor too much. this could be good angst practice for me.

from a toph and sokka fic that i wrote a while back to help me cope w some shit that i dont know if ill ever post:

"“Sokka? Are you still there?” Toph asked, the slightest hint of concern began to slip into their voice

“Tell me a story,” he was trembling. Despite all of his efforts to sound calm, he knew his voice came out trembling and scratchy and pathetic-

“Is everything okay? You don’t sound too hot,” Toph said through the phone.

Breathe, Sokka, breathe. You don’t want them to be worried, you just need to calm down.

“Please, Toph, I just,” he said through shaky breaths that weren’t nearly deep enough for him to be getting enough oxygen, “I just need a distraction. I just need to hear your voice okay?”"

nonbinary toph anyone?

from a 10 things i hate about you kataang and zukka au:

"“What? Something on my face?” the guy asked deadpanned. He rubbed at his scar as if he were wiping off a smudge of mustard, and Aang’s face went pale.

“Stop scaring the sophomores Zuko, this one’s new. He won’t get your… humor… just yet,” Ms. Wu said as she waved Aang off again.

“I’m hurt that you’d imply I’m not funny, Wu. I’m hilarious,” the senior, Zuko, said as he walked past Aang.

Aang let out a sigh of relief knowing that this Zuko guy didn’t seem all that offended by his awkwardness, and darted out of the room."

zuko is a little shit part 2. the amount of sarcasm i have dripping off of heath ledger zuko is glorious. let zuko be a little shit. i havent added to this in months but when i finish some of my other wips i cant wait to get back to this.

i have more wips and drafts saved but none of them have anything juicy or funny or interesting yet because all of them are like less than three pages so far

but yeah, heres a good chunk of sneaky peakys from my wips!

I hope you liked them!

anyone who wants to do this can totally go for it. imma tag @ambykinns @lumities and @flowers-inthepieshop (only if you all want too!!) because this was fun :)

[maneskinrollercoaster]

~ And All That For a Lighter ~

Pairing: Damiano David x Naomi (fictional character)

Word count: 3035

Warnings: none

Summary: Naomi meets Damiano in a café for the first time.

Naomi entered the café all soaked, her cheeks red from running and her hair messy and wet from the rain. It was pouring outside which was the thing she despised the most. Surprisingly tho she felt good. Fresh. She loved walking around Rome in the morning and for the first time in her life she admired this rainy weather. Little drops of water flowed over her cheek. Her life was a big mess and you could say she needed something new.

When a month ago she found her boyfriend cheating with her best friend she felt like her whole life collapsed. That’s when she decided to change something. Start a new life. She started admiring things she’s never liked before, she started dressing differently, she became more confident in her own body. She even started working out which was the most unexpected thing since physical education was her least favorite subject in high school.

Naomi always thought love was the most essential part of everyone’s life, but a sight of Alessandro having fun in their bed with Sofia made her hate love more than anything. She decided to move on and live life completely and only for herself.

- Buongiorno Joey - she said reaching the bartender standing behind the counter.

- Buongiorno piccola, what can I get for you?

- One espresso please, and one brownie - the bartender nodded and started preparing her order.

She decided to sit down since she would probably spend a lot of time working on her laptop and enjoying this rainy morning. The inside of café was warm and welcoming, comfortable couches, puffy pillows and a lot of plants. She visited this café every day for the past two weeks and she found herself enjoying this place maybe even more than her new flat.

Naomi went to sit in the corner on a cozy red couch. She took off her soaked jacket and pulled out her laptop with a couple of notebooks. She was a student of economy and since she had to find herself some more things to do she decided to actually try harder to have a better degree at her college. She wasn’t so fond of the direction she chose but she knew it’s gonna bring her a prosperous life. In fact her favorite thing in the world was art. She started painting when she was 8 years old. Since then she really enjoyed staying all day alone in her room painting everything she could, from beautiful portraits to mesmerizing landscapes. She had a huge talent but she was too afraid to chase her dreams.

When she met Alessandro he quickly bashed her ideas of becoming a professional painter, saying that it’s not something she will build her life on and that she will be only wasting her time. She was mad at him for a couple of days but then she quit her painting dream and chose economy for her main subject.

- Ecco a te, one coffee and one brownie - said Joey bringing her order to the table and putting it right in front of her.

- Grazie mille - Naomi answered and smiled to him.

She took a sip of coffee and smiled. It was delicious. That was another reason why she kept coming back here every day. They made the best coffee she’s ever drunk.

Two hours passed and Naomi was still working on her assignment she was supposed to give in till next Monday. It was about lunch time so she decided she will pack her things in an hour and she will go find a place to eat something. She took the last sip of the coffee and finished her first task when someone pulled her out of her little trans.

- Ah shit! I’m all wet! - she heard someone saying and moment later she saw a guy reaching the bartender.

He was tall and had slightly longer, dark brown hair. She could only see his profile but only that was enough for her to admit that he was really handsome. He was wearing black trousers, black Dr. Martens, white tank top and an oversized black jacket. He looked good and Naomi couldn’t take her eyes off of him.

- Damiano! It’s so good to see you man! - Joey said and shook hands with the new guy.

Damiano. The name really suit him. Naomi didn’t take her eyes off him even once.

- Ciao, ciao, Joey! - his voice was attractive as well. Raspy and deep but really calm.

Naomi didn’t know what was happening. Usually she didn’t pay attention to any guys after Alessandro but he was different. He looked edgy and bold but he seemed nice too. She was staring at him. And not in a polite way. She was literally eyeing him from up and down and she didn’t even realize.

- Give me an espresso man, I’m so tired, I just woke up. Yesterday we had so much fun. Victoria came up with this new idea of the song and we all stayed up late till 4 am trying to figure out how to pull it up together. - Damiano said.

So he’s into music. Nice. Naomi was still staring at him so rudely but she didn’t care at this point. Music is also art - she thought and smiled slightly not letting go of his person.

- Typical you, Dam, you’ve never slept a full night, did you? - Joey said and they both laughed.

- Do you have a lighter maybe? I forgot mine. - Damiano said and started searching his pockets.

- I don’t man, sorry. Let me make your order. Anything else for you?

- No, no that’s all. I’m gonna go search for a lighter and I’ll be back.

He turned around searching for people but at this time the café was empty. Only Naomi sitting in the corner. He started walking towards her. Oh shit, he’s coming here, stop staring, stop staring, stop staring - Naomi thought and looked at her laptop trying to pretend that’s she didn’t just checked him out for 10 minutes straight.

- Scusi, I’m.. - he reached her table and started speaking but stopped when she looked at him. - I’m sorry to interrupt but do you have a lighter maybe? - he said after a second.

- No, I’m sorry. I don’t smoke. - Naomi blushed and smiled lightly.

- Okey, grazie. - he smiled and started walking away.

- But there’s a store at the corner, I think they might have some. - Naomi said

- Grazie, grazie. - he laughed slightly and waved at her.

Naomi went back to her tasks still blushing not knowing why. 15 minutes passed and Damiano entered the café again carrying two bags. He came up to Naomi smiling.

- I uh.. Sorry to interrupt again but.. Do you want to maybe eat lunch with me? I just thought that it’s lunch time and you’re sitting here alone and since you helped me with the lighter.. - he couldn’t stop speaking and Naomi blushed again laughing. He looked a bit nervous.

- Of course, I would love to eat lunch with you. - she said interrupting him.

- I’m Damiano - he said pulling out his hand.

- Naomi - she said and grabbed his hand to shake it but he turned it and kissed the top of her palm.

She felt something weird in her stomach, like butterflies but she pushed them aside and only smiled to him. Damiano sat on the couch opposite Naomi and put two bags on the table.

- I didn’t know what you like, obviously because I don’t know you, yeah very clever Dam, whatever.. - he started speaking and Naomi couldn’t stop but laugh at him loudly

- Don’t worry, I’m not a peaky eater - she said sending him a reassuring smile.

- Alright, well, I ordered pasta with shrimps and some pesto and cherry tomatoes. - he said taking out the box with food from the bag. - I also got you a cherry smoothie but we can switch if you’d like.

- Wow, and that all for a lighter? You really didn’t have to. But thank you so much, I was about to go for lunch anyways. - she said grabbing the box that he handed her.

- Yes well, you’re really beautiful.. I mean, no.. I mean you are beautiful but I just wanted to say that you’re really nice and yeah I don’t know I just thought you might like to eat something.. Not that you look like you’re starving but yeah..

- Heyyy, thank you, really, that’s so nice of you. - she said smiling widely.

Naomi took the first bite of her pasta and it was delicious. She remembered her grandmother cooking shrimps every Saturday and all her family gathering together for a family dinner in the garden. It tasted just the same.

They ate everything and after two hours of talking and laughing and getting to know each other it was time for Joey to close the café. Naomi stood up and packed her things, said goodbye to Joey and together with Damiano they stepped out of the café. It stopped raining and instead there was a full sun and a fresh breeze.

- So what are you gonna do now? - he asked standing in front of her.

- Umm.. I think I’m just gonna go back to my flat, make myself some snacks and watch Netflix till I fall asleep - Naomi laughed.

- Alright well, do you mind if I walk you home? - Damiano asked steeping a bit closer to her.

- Sure, why not, we can take a walk.

That day Damiano walked Naomi to her house and they exchanged numbers, planning to meet again. He kissed her cheek for goodbye and squeezed her hand and Naomi has never felt like that in a long time. She was happy and Damiano, even tho she met him today, made her feel really good. Naomi couldn’t sleep that night still thinking of him and wondering why she felt so different around him.

*3 months later*

- What do you mean you don’t like Star Wars! - Damiano shouted to Naomi while they both walked towards the beach where they were supposed to watch sunset and have a little picnic.

Since the day they met they spent almost every day together. Damiano surprised her with multiple occasions to go out together, either for lunch or dinner or even breakfast when he woke up earlier than usual. He found himself falling for her. In fact he realized he fell for her the day he first laid his eyes on her. He found her funny, spontaneous and really kind and caring. When she told him about her painting dream he was so shocked she gave up, that he argued with her till he convinced her to chase the dream even if she thought it was too late. Naomi really enjoyed his company, he made her feel really happy and safe and most importantly - loved. She knew she developed some feelings and she didn’t want to admit it but at the back of her head she knew she fell in love. He made her laugh and supported her when she was having bad moments. He became her best friend at some point. Both of them were taking things a bit slower tho, they were both afraid, broken-hearted after rough ended relationships.

- I just don’t, I don’t understand how they made so many movies out of such a lame plot. - she said defending herself.

- How can you even say that! The plot is amazing! The space action scenes, come on! - he said offended but smiling.

- Yeah I just don’t see the point of filming it, that’s all.

- I don’t know how Victoria can still be friends with you, we’re both huge fans of Star Wars! You’re lucky I like you - Damiano started laughing and put his arm around Naomi’s shoulders.

She got to meet Victoria, Ethan and Thomas. Bassist, drummer and guitarist of their band Måneskin. Naomi wasn’t really into music so she didn’t really know them and didn’t know they’re pretty known here in Italy. Victoria was the kindest person Naomi could ever see. When her and Damiano stepped into the studio where they were recording, Vic was the first to reach out to her. She hugged her tightly and was clearly really happy to meet her. She then introduced Thomas and Ethan to her. Thomas started joking around that Damiano finally found himself a girlfriend and Ethan was really polite, he kissed Naomi’s hand and hugged her too, smiling really kindly. They were all so nice. They started inviting her over for dinners or just to hang out by the pool. She also listened to them playing and recording their new songs. Damiano told them that she wanted to be a painter and they all started reassuring her even more, that chasing her dream is the best thing for her and that she should never give up. Naomi really felt like she finally found her place.

Naomi and Damiano reached the beach, they put the blanket on the sand, put out all the food from the basket and they sat opposite each other. They were both smiling widely and chatting about everything. They drank some wine, ate some pasta and then they sat next to each other admiring the sunset.

- I really like you, you know? - Damiano said glancing at Naomi. - And I mean, I like you a lot. You’re really an amazing person with so much talent and you’re just so caring and loving. You really make me happy. - he said not taking his eyes off of her.

- Dami.. - Naomi started but she was interrupted.

- What I want to say is.. - he took her hands - I fell in love with you Naomi. I fell for you hard and I’m pretty sure since the day I saw you at that café. I care about you so much and any time with you is my favorite time in the world. So if you want to.. We could try, you know.. Being together, like, in a relationship. - he said in one breathe.

Naomi was speechless, her stomach was squeezing and she felt her cheeks turning red. She never would have though that someone will make her feel like this again. She knew that he cares for her but she didn’t know that he would feel the same way she felt about him.

- Dami.. Of course I do want to try, you make me the happiest, and honestly I didn’t know you feel the same way, that’s why I didn’t say anything. And also because.. - Naomi wanted to tell him about Alessandro but she was scared that Damiano will back off, saying that he will give her time.

- What’s wrong, bella? - he said gently squeezing her hand.

- I was in a relationship before. His name was Alessandro and we met before I started college. We were together for 3 years and everything was going just fine. But then.. One day when I came back home earlier than usual I found him cheating with my best friend, Sofia. Since then I just decided to not get into any relationship and live only for myself because I was too afraid to get hurt again - Naomi said looking down at their intertwined hands.

- Oh bella.. - Damiano pulled her into a tight hug.

He stroked her back and her hair and he was whispering to her ear. A single tear fell down her cheek but not because she was hurt but because of how gentle and caring Damiano was. He hugged her and made her feel better and she couldn’t find herself with anyone else right now than with him. He pulled away, looked into her eyes and smiled slightly.

- I was in a relationship too a while ago. It turned out we didn’t match and our life goals and perspectives were so different that we decided to end things. Maybe it wasn’t as harsh as your breakup but I felt awful for at least a month. I didn’t go out of my room and I lost all will to write music. Victoria brought me food every day but I just didn’t want to eat. But it all passed.. Listen, if you need more time it’s all good, I’ll give you space and I’ll wait till you’re ready.

Naomi was silent for a couple of seconds. In her head there was a battle. She wanted to let go of bad memories and trust Damiano completely, start a relationship with him, but on the other hand she was scared to get hurt again.

- No Dami. I don’t need time, I know what I want and I know how you make me feel and that’s why I want to try. - Naomi said hugging him tightly.

She knew she just overcame her fear and she felt free. Like a huge stone fell off of her heart. She felt amazing and she wanted to live this moment as long as she could. Damiano pulled away and cupped her cheek with his hand. He pulled her closer and she could feel his breath on her face. Slowly, but slightly Damiano leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. Naomi touched his cheek and pulled him even closer. And then they both intertwined their lips in a gentle, yet passionate kiss.

Naomi felt her stomach squeezing when Damiano put his hand on her back. It was their first kiss and the sunset was almost turning into the night. They pulled away after seconds and smiled widely at each other.

- I promise, I’ll always take care of you. - Damiano said leaning his forehead against hers.

- Always. - Naomi said grabbing his hand and intertwining their fingers together.

That’s when they both knew that they found soulmates in each other.

[hughiecampbelle]

Avengers Preference: How They Play Animal Crossing

A/N: This is only the original members, but I can expand it to more characters/fandoms if y'all like this as much as the Peaky Blinders version :D 💕

Tony time travels like it's his job. He can't stand waiting for the trees and flowers to grow or for his house to expand. He also can't help how curious he gets when new seasons are introduced. It always comes with new bugs, new fish, etc. He does have a soft spot for the spring when the cherry blossoms appear. Loves watching his little guy run around. Can't stand the small talk with his residents nor can he stand the daily announcements. If he could skip over all of it, he would. Definitely designs clothes to look like the Iron Man suit. Morgan visits his island often from her own game. He leaves as many gifts as she can carry.

Steve definitely gets apples as his fruit. He loves when it rains and the snails come out. They are his favorite thing to catch and has a collection. Names all of them, as well, like they’re his pets. Has no idea how to decorate his home, so it kinda looks like rooms filled with the most random stuff. Still, he tries his best. Secretly gets help from Natasha, who turns his mess into something nice and coherent. He still doesn’t quite understand the point of it all, but he enjoys playing regardless. Enjoys getting the season diy’s, especially the fall ones. Something about the acorns just makes him smile. Tries to talk to all of his neighbors as much as possible. He likes getting to know them and surprise them with things they might like. Everyone makes fun of him when he gets stung by wasps because they’re the one bug he absolutely sucks at catching. 

Natasha seeks out tarantula island. Like Steve with his snails, he brings some home and names them. Adores Cherry and Lucky. They are her favorite residents. Brags about getting rare islanders no one else can seem to find, let along get to move in. Gets a little too competitive when it comes to the games or when other characters show up, like the fishing competition or catching bugs. She knows she’s the best at it, the game is just slow. Does need to walk away from her console, especially if the fish are being tricky and hard to catch. Will swear at Tom Nook or at Redd if he’s sold her art that’s not authentic. Spends a lot of time wishing on stars, looking for shooting stars every night. She get’s really excited when the zodiac stars show up on the beaches. The magic wand is her favorite diy. Names outfits after her teammates without telling them. 

Clint has a purple roof, purple mailbox, purple everything. Even Little Clint is dressed in purple. Searches every day for a bow and arrow either at Nooks Cranny or with the Able sisters. His kids definitely run his island. He's lucky if he can play for a little while after they've gone to bed. Loves fishing especially. It’s quite calming, and he can’t help but get excited when he catches something new or rare. Proudly shows them off. Thinks Blathers talks too much, though he doesn’t have the heart to decline his offer about sharing information. Hates all the bugs, especially the ones that fly. Can never catch them. Secretly an expert on hybrid flowers and finding all the fruits. Is always willing to share them with his friends, especially Nat. No one knows what his native fruit is because he has plenty of each. Will take that secret to the grave if his kids don’t say it first. 

Bruce likes requesting songs from K.K. Slider. He loves watching the credits roll by and the music play, finding it really relaxing. Turns into an absolute nerd when he digs up fossils. Tells everyone about them, showing off his collection. Blathers is his best friend. The two have a lot in common and even though Bruce knows all the facts, he still listens anyways. Sometimes Tony will go in and make his characters skin green/pants purple. Bruce thinks it’s funny though, and Hulk never seems to mind. Sometimes he even keeps it, only changing it so Tony can go in and change it back. Especially loves when Leif visits. Not only does he love the pumpkin starts and holly bushes, but collecting the weeds is quite calming, and he can make a profit. Finds a lot of the mundane tasks enjoyable. 

Thor got peaches. He loves time traveling to his birthday and celebrating that. Wishes they could have the party all day long. Get’s really excited when he gets gifts and packages from “Mom”, too. Puts all of her gifts on display, as if they were his own mothers. Of course the rain and thunderstorms are his favorite kind of weather Absolutely hates when residents want to move off his island. Though he doesn’t want them to go, he knows it’s not right to keep them at a place they don’t want to be. Visits them before they move away, and probably would never forgive himself if he didn’t. Gets emotionally attached to each and every one of them, taking as many pictures with them as possible. Named his island Asgard 100%. Talks back to the game even though he’s reminded daily that they can’t hear him. Enjoys getting reactions as well. His favorites are the happy ones. Happiest of all when his teammates visit him by surprise. 

[deepdonutkid]

Can I ask for multiple character break downs?👀

Well if I can, then would you please do one for Ada and one for Tommy and one for John

But if only one has to be done, then you can choose any one of these.

Thanks! <3

Thanks for the ask! 💞

Ada Thorne nee Shelby

How I feel about this character

Just love for her! She is adorable, strong, fierce, absolutely amazing! Ada and Polly are the best developed female character on the show. Mainly, because Tommy can’t fuck them, so they can’t be reduced to his love interest, which is such a good thing, because I love strong women. Makes me weak in my knees.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Freddie Thorne, Ben Younger, Jessie Eden, because Ada is bi, she just gives off that vibe, u know.

Somehow I prefer to read stuff with a female reader for her, more than a male reader for her. Because it’s either Freddie x Ada for me or Ada x female reader.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Lizzie, Polly, Ada and Linda are an amazing combination! She and Tommy have an interesting dynamic as well! I would have loved to see more John and Ada interactions, because they have not such a big age gap inbetween, so I think they are close. Especially after Ada got her child and John got married with Esme. Oh, Ada and Esme would have sooo much fun together. Esme would be like the sister Ada never had.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I think her character changed a lot between season 1 and 2, because of Freddie’s death and also after she joined the business again. Sometimes when I make memes or the alignment charts, I have two icons for her, one from first season and one from third season, because I think she is one of the characters who changed the most through the series. First season Ada would do a lot of things different and more naive than third season Ada. Mainly, because she still believed in communism in season 1 and she somehow lost her faith after losing Freddie. Which is super understandable tho.

She acutally becomes wiser with age... unlike her brothers, who just do the same shit over and over again.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wished Ben hadn’t died, because they kill her lovers even fast than Tommys. WTF, right?

On the other hand I wished Ada talked some sense into Jessie, to NOT SLEEP WITH TOMMY THE WHORE SHELBY! Because Ada knows her brother very well and I think she genuinely liked Jessie, or she liked her enough to save her from the pain of being Tommy’s toy or pleasure doll.

And I’m still bitter about the way they killed of Freddie... but more about that later...

Tommy Shelby

How I feel about this character

Relationship status: It’s complicated!

Yes, well, I ramble about Tommy’s shit a lot. I know! He is still an intersting character and it’s so tempting to think about his actions in certain situations, but if I would meet him as a person- I would hate him from the bottom of my heart! <3

He is such an asshole all the time and when I first watched the show, I forgave him a lot he did to his siblings, because I was caught up with his good looks and the presentation of him being the good guy who does bad things to survive. But I spend some time to think about his actions and I noticed, he is an awful human being... to Polly, to his siblings, to his lover and actually to everyone. He might think he does all those mean things to archive a bigger goal, but he is just a gambling addict who can’t stop taking risks he isn’t even prepared for.

Shitty things Tommy has done over time:

Forcing his brother to marry somebody, John didn’t even know at that time, to end a feud, Tommy had started himself and only when it was in his favour to end it, he used John as pawn, so he could archive his plan. HOW FUCKED UP WAS THAT? Nobody seems to talk about this. It was fucking awful! And the way he did it was horrible to! Tommy said nothing to John until the very last moment, when they were already surrounded by enemies, so John couldn’t said no. It also shows, that Tommy thinks he is above his siblings. Tommy thought John wasn’t capable of chosing a wife for himself, so Tommy did that for him too. Even when John didn’t ask for this at all!

Destroying Ada’s relationship with Freddie and chasing his best friend out of town, just because... TOMMY WAS AGAINGST HIS SISTER HAVING A RELATIONSHIP. and yet he proclaimes to listen to woman and to give them a fair change. Maybe just not for our dear Ada!

Destroying Arthur’s marriage, because he kept dragging Arthur into shit, he wasn’t mentally stable enough for. Putting thoughts of rejecting Linda into Arthur’s head, by talking bad about Linda and making jokes about her any given time.

Sleeping with Lizzie over and over again, even when he knew she loved him and when she tried to get over him by dating someone new, he made the order to burn down the pub of Angel, humilated his family, and have him killed later.

Sleeping with Jessie, so he could use her

Humiliate Polly, when she was at her lowest, after Rueben had left her

Drag Michael into the illegal business after Polly begged him not to

Dragging Finn into all this shit after John died, because John wasn’t avaiable anymore

Calling Grace a whore, when they first met

Paying Lizzie in his head, even after she stopped being a sex worker

Helping a fascist

I could go on for a while, but you see my point here!

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Nobody! I want to see him miserable and alone! Honestly I’m never going to read all these soft!Tommy fics or whatever, because they really don’t interest me. I don’t want to see him happy.

But go have fun people and write and read whatever you want!

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Tommy and Lizzie, because they have a sexual relationship, which is not based on romance and I love this sad and depressing dynamic between them. It’s so interesting to write and read about.

Tommy and Ada are great in the show. I love their talks and Ada actually points out when Tommy is acting like a douche again.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I have a lot... where should I start?

I get so annoyed, when I see Tommy shown as a twink, because the actor is just 1,70m... which is not small to me. I know a lot of men around that height and I think they are average and not small. Also a lot of men feel bad for not being tall enough, because everywhere in our society it’s normal to have a tall man and a small woman. And the way tall man or small man are sexualized in this alpha/omega thing or in a top/bottom dynamic is so... meh. It’s really uncomfortable to see how people try to push the patriarchal man-woman dynamic into same-sex relationships.

Tommy is a class traitor and a horrible husband.

Man, I could rant for hours, but I stop right here. Just remember, please don’t feel attacked, I don’t mean to attack you. Even if you write or draw... whatever with Tommy, I would never say something bad about this. Enjoy creating Tommy content, I will love to ignore it!

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I was so disappointed when they killed Freddie, because those two could have had an interesting and compelling relationship. Freddie could have been a great frenemie. I put this here and on on Ada, because their marriage wouldn’t changed the plot as much as Freddies and Tommys friendship. Tommy would have been a way better person, if Freddie was around.

John Shelby

How I feel about this character

MY HUSBAND! I love him and he has never done anything wrong in his life.

Nah, John has many faults, but I still adore him as a character, because his faults are actually making the plot more interesting. I also read, that he and Tommy fight a lot, because John is more moral and has way more integrity than his older brother. It was just hinted in the show, but I love this side fact and I will base my whole characterisation this.

I love to write, draw and read stuff with him. He is my favorite character from Peaky blinders and my love will never die, even though he did.

Funny tho, when I first watched PB, I adored Tommy and was annoyed by John, but as I rewatched it I changed my mind about those two.

He had so much potential and I would spend all my money, which is not much, but the devotions counts, to see a spin-off with just John and his army of children.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Esme, because they are sooo cute together!

My OFC, because I love writing them.

Any reader, because I’m a sucker for John.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

All kinds of interactions with other characters and John are great! My favorite is John and Ada to be honest. But here are other dynamics I adore as well:

John & Polly, (she would help him a lot with the kids)

John & Arthur (they come to the garrison to drink and play cards, they talk a lot about their problems, deep bond here)

John & Tommy (in my head they are always fighting)

John & Lizzie, because they have a great friendship, and they helped each other a lot. She spend time with the kids and he gave her financial support, so she would quit her job, which she didn’t do, because she feared being all alone again, and she has trust issues) (I’m actually writing a fic about these two)

John & his kids (I’m soft for dad!John)

John & Michael (especially in season three, because John seems to be jealous of Michael)

My unpopular opinion about this character

John is not completely stupid. Well, he is certainly not smart, but he works in the betting shop, and Arthur does not, or not really, because Arthur is bad at math... John at least knows his numbers. And also Tommy chose him to be the legal bookie over the others, so John must do a good job there. He just never got a degree or something similar like Michael. Which is also a reason, why John seems to be bitter about Michael joining the business. Michael was put in a higher position than he did.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

This one is obvious... John should have survived.

[zodiyack]

Changes Nothing

Requested by anon: I saw you write posts with male readers, so I was hoping you’d write this idea: Tommy Shelby’s son being gay??? I’d love to see what you come up with, i fucking love your writing!!!! 😘😘😘

Pairing: Thomas Shelby + Son!Shelby!Reader, Shelby + Gray Family + Nephew!Shelby!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, fluff, ADA BEING THE BEST AS USUAL, mention of homophobia, indications of smut, slight angst, I think that’s it

Words: 1699

Key: 'Cause I’m too lazy to think of a name, B/n = boy’s name or boyfriend’s name

Taglist: @matth1w​, @redspaceace​, @simonsbluee​, @peakysputain​, @fandom-puff​

Masterlist | Peaky Blinders Masterlist

Y/n Shelby, the son of Thomas Shelby, was a person who kept to himself. It intrigued many residents of Small Heath, but few were lucky to learn why. His family didn’t even know, but they were to find out soon enough, one way or another.

He was handsome, smart, kind, practically had all of the young women wrapped around his finger. Only eighteen but brave enough to take on the world himself. It was a wonder to almost everyone how the Y/n Shelby had yet to find himself a woman.

The truth was, Y/n had an attraction to people the same sex as himself. And male on male relationships weren’t something a lot of people accepted, so Y/n kept his secret with his social life; if he didn’t talk to a whole lot of people, he didn’t have many people to tell.

Of course, it couldn’t have been that easy. He knew that. His whole family taught him that. When something seems to easy, there’s bound to be a price for it’s doing.

Steal a car with no distraction or extra people required? Someone’ll find out soon. That or, you’ll crash or something. Why? Because there is always, always, a price.

No price had shown up so far, and it was making Y/n nervous, anxious even. Y/n had a lover now, for months, and they were doing alright. No one found out, no one hurt them, it was completely fine. But they’d both be lying if they said neither of them was worried.

They hadn’t even came out to their families! Y/n was the one with the most to lost in this situation, the most to be scared about. What if-

“Y/n?” Tommy snapped his son out of his trance-like-state. “I’ll be going somewhere with your uncles. Here’s some money,” he dropped said money into his hand, “ask Pol if you need anything. I’ll call you when I get to where I need to be, alright?”

“Yes sir, I understand.” Y/n smiled at his father, gripping the money tightly. He walked over and gave him a hug, “Bye, dad.”

“Goodbye, son. I’ll call you, so be ready!” Tom was running out the door, yelling to his oldest child as he approached the car. The two waved to each other until the car took off.

Right after the vehicle was out of sight, Y/n raced to the phone, dialing the one number he’d been waiting all week to call. “Y/n?” The voice of his beloved came through.

“B/n! Is he gone?”

“Yes, he’ll be gone for a while. Can you come over?” They talked for a few minutes, speeding through their conversation with excitement. He was eager to have his lover over after not being able to for so long. It was almost a full two months since they’d been together, the lack of intimacy being no exception.

So there they were, together after a small, quick, phone-call. In bed, lying with limbs tangled together, sweat slick on their bodies, a vulnerable moment for the two. A vulnerable sight to walk in on. And unfortunately, that’s just what happened.

Polly was just checking on Y/n, as he didn’t answer the phone like he’d promised. Tommy called her with worry, begging her to make sure his boy was okay. She argued, “he’s an adult now,” but he continued begging and begging, just needing to know his son was okay.

Opening the door to Y/n’s room, Polly released a gasp, widening her eyes upon the sight she had been greeted with. The two were covered, thankfully, but still found in the same bed, very obviously naked.

“P-Pol it’s not what it- um... it’s not what it looks-”

“I think it is what it looks like, Y/n. And I think your guest should leave so you can explain to your father that this is why you missed his call when he returns.” Her eyes were still wider than Y/n had ever seen them and her breathing was off due to the unintentional scare.

Y/n clasped his hands over his face. “Fuck...” He’d forgotten about the call.

“S-sorry.” B/n kept his head down as he slid his trousers on, grabbing the rest of his clothes when he got off the bed, and ran past Polly to get to the front door.

“Pol-”

“No. Don’t ‘Pol’ me right now. This is... you have no idea how.. how... how frightened your father was when you didn’t pick up! He demanded I come to check on you and this is what I see!”

“Are you ashamed?”

Polly blinked. “What?”

“Are you ashamed of me? Your great-nephew being a homosexual?”

“I-” She inhaled sharply, “I’m more disappointed in the fact that you didn’t trust us enough to let us know. Aside from that, I can’t think right now. Meet us in the family room when Tom arrives.” Polly closed the door behind herself, walking down to the same room she spoke of.

Y/n sighed, his head hitting the bed behind him with a soft ‘thud’. How was he going to explain this to his father?

“So, Pol says you have something to tell us.” Tommy sat down, confused due to his lack of information on the matter.

“I um...”

Polly, from the seat next to Y/n, rested her hand over Y/n’s. “You don’t have to tell them about that quite yet. Do that on your own time. For now, just explain the reason why you missed the call however you please, alright?” She whispered into his ear, expressing her change of heart since the last few hours.

“No...I have to.” He smiled at his great-aunt. “The secret’s out anyways.”

“What secret are you talking about, Y/n?” Thomas furrowed his eyebrows, laced with uncertainty.

“Well...I missed your call because I had someone over-”

“Your boy’s finally done it!” Arthur cheered, raising his drink with John, the two chaotically drunk as always. “See, Tom, told you it couldn’t’ve been bad!”

Thomas studied his son, the hesitation still present on his expression. “No. Let him finish.”

“But- he just-”

“Arthur. Tommy’s right, there’s something else, I can see it too.” Ada rested her hand on her nephew’s shoulder. The look in her eyes was heartbreaking, causing Y/n’s heart to speed up faster than it already was. He couldn’t cope if he’d hurt his family, let alone his sweet aunt, the most supportive of the bunch.

“I...It wasn’t with a girl.” He waited, allowing the sentence to be processed by each person. “It was with a-”

“Another male.” Tommy looked at the ground.

“Shit...” Arthur and John stopped celebrating, sobering almost immediately if it were possible.

The three remained quiet. Silence created the worst tension Y/n had ever felt, and he had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last. Until Ada interrupted, cutting it with words like scissors.

“Could you three just get over yourselves already! Y/n has just told us something that he obviously has had a lot of trouble telling another person! Something he trusts us with, and all you do is be quiet?” She scoffed at her brothers, standing up and walking to her nephew. “Come, love.”

Sitting on his bed, Y/n told his aunt about his boyfriend. The stuff he loved about him, what he was like, how much he loved him. Ada felt special, for the first time, over joyed with how close she’d gotten to her nephew in just a few minutes.

“Ada?”

“Yes, Y/n?”

He kept his head down, similar to his father’s in the family room. “Do you think my dad hates me?”

“No... I think it’s just taking him time to process... you know? A bit hard for him to process in a couple minutes. You’re his son, someone he loves more than anything in the world, and to learn something that big... he loves you, okay?” Y/n looked at Ada, the tears starting to stream down her cheeks creating an ache in his heart.

He didn’t respond. Instead, he pulled his aunt in for a hug. When they pulled away, he thought for a second, “Do you, support me, aunt Ada? Even if my dad doesn’t?”

“Do I support you? I had a gay roommate, Y/n! ...Of course I... Your father and that man, they worked together at one point. He didn’t care that he liked men. So that’s why I have complete faith that Tom will come around. I promise, we all love you, so so much.”

“She’s not wrong.” Y/n and Ada’s heads turned towards the door. Tommy walked in, hand in his pockets and a small smile on his lips.

“How long have you been-”

“Long enough. Ada, can I please I have a moment with my son?”

She nodded, hugging Y/n one more time before standing to leave. As she walked past Thomas, she leaned next to him to whisper before she left the room completely. “If you hurt him in any way, I will not hesitate to invite him to live with me, nor will I think twice about ruining your fucking life, Tom.”

“Y/n... I admit, it’s hard to process, but your aunt is right. Yes, you’re attracted to males, sexually and romantically, and yes, it’s is a hard thing for me to think about-” 

Y/n rolled his eyes, thinking it was going to be the same old “subtly-homophobic” talk parents these days gave their gay children, but Tommy caught on quickly, “but that changes nothing. Nothing in this world could make me hate you or stop loving you. You are my son. You like men? So be it. Invite him to a family dinner next week if you’d like-”

“Wait really?”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

Y/n studied his father, smiling and hugging him tightly. Tommy’s smile returned, his arms mirroring his son’s movements and pulling his son into him.

The door creaked open, the two drunken uncles ready to say the same when they, and Polly, saw the father-son moment. The hug bringing a smile to Pol’s face as it did to Tommy and Y/n’s. She hushed her nephews as she shooed them from the room and closed the door, listening as the words left Tommy’s mouth again and again.

“This changes nothing.”

Supportive Ada comes back to defend the gays again! I love her so fucking much oh my god- anyways! How do you guys feel about a series? I know it may sound funny at first, but think about it; Ada being the cool aunt she is with her gay nephew? 

Feel free to send ideas! And speaking of sending ideas- feel free to send some requests for Elizabeth!

Also like- listen- if Ada isn’t a lesbian, bi or pan, curious, or any part of the LGBTQ+ community, she’s an ally. Like, it’s the truth- and it’s cannon

✘ Bowie

[floatinginwords]

Saved by the Devil (2/?) - Tommy Shelby

Summary: You work for Sabini now and life is manageable. Until one night when the Eden Club is turned upside down.

Paring: Tommy Shelby X fem!reader (not romantic..yet)

A/N: this chapter was alot of fun writing. Hope anyone who reads enjoys and has a good day. 

 You didn’t know which was worse being kept in an asylum against your will or working for Sabini. The day he put you in his car, you had thought the worse of the man. He questioned you thoroughly and you lied through your teeth the whole time. He was easier to read than Thomas Shelby. You could tell what he believed and didn’t which helped with whatever you needed to embellish and sell to the man. By the end of the car ride, he brought you to his club Eden. Aside from the workers who either cleaned or lounged in the back, it was empty.

“Stay here.” He commanded leaving you alone amongst strangers.

  And for 2 weeks, you stayed. The strangers soon becoming friends and acquaintances who would help feed you, cloth you, and shelter you. Nights when the Eden was officially open they allowed you to work as a waitress. Trinity, the first girl to befriend you, showed you the tricks and shortcuts around the place. Soon it was like you’ve always worked there. Until Sabini came back one morning.

“Your fathers dead.” He stated.

You wondered if Thomas Shelby had anything to do with that or coincidences were just in play.

“I’ll be honest with ya, I was gonna planning on telling him I had you. He would have wanted you alive or dead. It wouldn’t have mattered to me. Nothing against you sweetheart, its just business.”

 Your teeth grind together as you bite your tongue from saying something that would get you a bullet between the eyes.

 “But now that’s gone to shit now that your pops gone got himself killed. But now I gotta know what im gonna do with you.” He says eyeing you up and down.

 “What do you mean?” You ask, wary of his stares. 

 “Trinity tells me you handle yourself good around here,” He gestures to the club, “And I know you’ve done work for your old man. You can handle a weapon?”

 “Of course.” You say.

 “Then we’ll be in touch. Enjoy your job.” He smirks, sending shivers up your spine.

    The next year of your life was you working at the Eden club, serving and entertaining guest while dealing with people who were either drunk or high off their faces. Sometimes Sabini would need you accompany him to parties or meetings as his date. He would describe it as you being his second pair of eyes. And you would do your job as being distractingly beautiful (which was quite easy with the dresses he would send you to wear) while gathering information off allies and enemies, helping Sabini whenever the chance. It wasn’t like you had a choice in the matter. The guy was basically your boss. And you were learning to deal with him. Because most of the time he wasn’t all that bad. Except on nights when he wanted to celebrate getting blank out drunk and a bit handsy. He wouldn’t go any further than an unwanted touch on the shoulder or thigh. You feared the alcohol would make him braver but so far it hasn’t.

      Trinity and you grew closer over the year. Her being the only friend that would remain. The other growing jealous at the unwanted favoritism Sabini seemed to give you. Tonight he wasn’t here. And the Eden club was as full as ever. The band was playing its tenth loudest song in the row, not breaking a sweat. People dancing on the dance floors, snorting cocaine off of tables, making out in dark corners, and drinking like their livers could handle the poison. It was out of control. The guest yell at you from all different directions asking for all types of fucking drinks that no mind could handle.

        You bring a bottle of whiskey to one of the tables, you couldn’t remember if it was what they wanted or not. But it was not like the pair were paying attention. You could see the woman with her hand down the mans pants but the man’s sight was trained on something across the room. You rolled your eyes, ‘no man is ever satisfied’ you thought to yourself. And as you walked away you noticed another table of men staring in the exact same direction. You turn your head, searching for what you can only assume was a problem.

         It doesn’t take long for you to spot him. It would take years for to forget his face let alone those eyes. And though you hadn’t thought about him in a long time, he looked the exact same from when you both sat inside his car. He sat at table with two other men dressed similarly to him. The other two man drank and talked to each other while Thomas simply observed. He seemed to know that a bunch of eyes were all on him. You don’t know how long you were staring until his eyes meet yours. For the first time since last year he actually looks off guard for a moment. But he quickly reassess himself. You watch him as he walks up from the table heading towards you. The men watching and glaring at him don’t take their eyes off him.

“Funny seeing you here.” He says standing side by side to you. His back to the wall, eyes watching everything in front of him.

 “Were you hoping to piss off someone tonight?” You say, your filter always seeming to want to come off at the worst of time.

 “So you’ve noticed them too,” He mumbles, “What are you doing here?” He asks.

 “I work here.”

 “You know who owns this place-“

 “yes, Sabini.”

 He tilts his head to the side and furrows his brow. You shift your weight under his stare.

 “Its funny, for someone who longs for freedom you sure have a way of getting yourself trapped all the time.” He finally says drinking from his cup as if was nothing.

       A mix of hurt and anger heat up within you. You don’t meet his eyes as you try to find the words to speak. You can’t because there’s truth in his words. The silence is prolonged, you wonder why he even came to speak to you. You eye Alastair, the guy in charge when Sabini wasn’t around, heading to the table where Thomas’s friends sat. You see the men staring at the two of you looking angrier and angrier by the second.

“I think you should head back to your friends.” You walkaway before you hear what his reply.

He calls out your name but you keep going ready to busy yourself with some useless task. Trinity gives you a look as you come beside her polishing the glasses with her not saying a word. She liked to joke a lot about how much you liked to talk. Your head was almost empty with echoes of his damging words. Almost

  Were you just a bird more accustomed to a cage? You had always dreamed of travels and adventure. Love and family but it seems the path that you always end up on leads to none of that. It just leads to surviving. That’s not living.

BANG

  You flinch at the noise of the gunshot the rest of the club screaming and jumping down in fright. You see Alastair standing at the top of the stage with a double shotgun in hand. The whole club goes silent. All eyes go to where the commotion had started. Men bloody on the floor.  Thomas Shelby and his two allies standing tall.

 “Get out.” Alastair says holding his gun firmly to the men.

Trinity whispers in your ear, “They saw you talking to them.”

 “We came here not to make enemies no we came here to make new friends” Tommy says loudly. his friend with the mustache kicking the shit out of .some poor guy on the floor.

 You turn to Trinity, “It wasn’t anything serious.”

  “I don’t think it mattered. Those are the Peaky Blinders. And they just started a war in Sabini territory.”

Read Pt.3

[fangirlings-things]

Being the best friend of the Peaky Blinders headcanons

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Tommy would probably be a difficult best friend to keep in touch with

He is always deep in business so if you were not a part of the Peaky Blinders yourself, it would take long periods of time for you to see each other

When you finally managed to get together for a drink or two though, it would be as if you had never been apart at all

You would both drink and laugh, talk deep and talk light, about everyone and everything. You would want to know how were things going with his family, how were everyone and he would probably be very curious about your life also

He always has a lot on his mind, but he would not find it hard to speak to you and open up even that only for a bit, because he knew you could give him comfort even without knowing the truth behind his plans and living

He loves you with all his heart and want you to stay as far as you can from his way of life and his way of doing business. If he could, he would actually want you to stay away from him, because it would be safer. But he knows you're not letting that happen. You're too stubborn for that

One of the best memories you have together are the ones from his wedding day with Grace

It was an important day to him and you were there, getting to see the passion he had for that woman in his eyes

Later in the party at Tommy's house you drank with John, talked politics with Ada and even shared a dance with Arthur. You liked your best friend's family very much and they were quite fond of you also

As well as Arthur, Tommy asked you to make a speech and Grace was more than happy with it, she was a nice woman

You gave everything you had in those five minute speaking

Arthur is someone you would love to have around from the moment you two met

He is rough and quite stubborn, but he also has a sweetness that gets to you and makes you warm up to him quite fastly

You became best friend shortly afterwards

From there, you spend all the bloody time together

Some nights you would make bets at who can drink the most in The Garrison, which would always be an enigma to whom would be the winner

In others, you two would meet maybe at your house or his just to talk, really. Just pure, random conversation that always makes you both feel better to get through the week

Patching him up after fights would be quite common

Whenever he is overwhelmed by memories of the war and find himself in a terrible state, his brothers would go to you. They knew you were the one whom Arthur really listened to, even though they were family

In those situations you took care of him, made him talk to get it out of his chest. Hugged him tight like he needed and comforted him with gentle, affectionate words

You defend him when John laughs at his expense, even though it's all a joke

He loves you for that

You and John are a duo so powerful and bonded that you could often be seen around the betting house

You both joke at everything, really

He is a funny guy and you have a sense of humour quite easy to please, so it would be a instant match

You can often be found drunk together at The Garrison, singing and well, joking around with other people

You resemble each other in quite some aspects so it would be easy for you two to fight now and then

This fights would be hard to watch. Hard stuff would probably be said

But it wouldn't take long for one of you to apologize and you going back to normal

He invites you for all the Blinders's events, because he thinks you make everything funnier and less boring

Your favorite thing to do together is just to find a quiet place somewhere and share a smoke, in silence and peace you both rarely get to have on your rushed days

Polly doesn't trust people easily

So it would be a long while before she even considered calling you a friend

But with baby steps, good decisions and quite some patience, you manage to make her see that you can be someone that she can rely on

And she does, actually being happy for having found someone loyal and that can really be trusted without having any interests behind the simple reality said

He invites you to her house a lot

Whenever she has a fight with Michael or the boys have done something that got to her nerves or upset her, you're there to listen

She asks your opinon on a lot of things. Even things related to business, things she would not ask anyone else. You love that she trusts you completely

Your friendship is so strong that the Shelby brothers are to say at least, surprised about it

Since they were little they didn't remember Polly having such a close friendship with someone so it was quite strange to them

But you're around so much that in no time they are already greeting you and inviting you to The Garrison later in the evening

When Polly finally got Michael back after all those years, the happiness in her had made you also incredibly happy because you knew how much she missed her children

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→ requested by anon

A/N: hope you like these guys! I'm also thinking about doing a second part, that would include Ada, Michael, Isaiah and Finn. Let me know if you would like to read it xx

tag list: @sophieshelby ; @charmingvalkyrie

want to be added to this fandom's tag list? let me know

[omgrachwrites]

The Book of Love - Chapter Three

Pairing: Remus Lupin x Ravenclaw!Reader

Summary: After a breakup leaves you heartbroken and miserable, things start to change for the better when you begin exchanging notes in a library book with a mystery boy.

Warnings: fluff, mentions of sex, Jily being adorable

Words: 2285

A/N:Hope you guys enjoy this part! Please let me know what you think and let me know if you would like to be tagged! I love you all! xxx 

Chapter Three

It was always a marvel to Remus how electrifying the atmosphere was in The Great Hall on the day of the first Quidditch match of the season. You could strike a match against the tension. All four houses put aside their inter-house unity and exchanged it for inter-house rivalry. Even Y/N and Sirius were rivals today because it was Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw. James walked into The Great Hall, hand in hand with Lily, on the outside he was the picture of confidence though Remus could see through his best mate’s mask and he knew that James was absolutely bricking it.

As soon as he sat down Sirius pushed a plate of toast and a goblet of pumpkin juice towards him, Sirius didn’t look nervous but then again, he never did, “you look peaky mate, you really do need to eat something.”

James merely shook his head and he looked like he was about to throw up and he pushed his glasses up his nose, “I’m not hungry,” he sighed, “Merlin, I don’t want to let the team and the whole house down,” he rubbed a hand over his face.

Lily rubbed his arm soothingly and kissed his cheek, “you won’t let them down sweetheart, you’ve had the team training night and day. You’ll be absolutely fine.”

“Uh oh, here comes trouble,” Sirius smirked and Remus glanced up, feeling his breath get stolen away. It was Y/N.

She was wearing a blue woolly jumper and she’d sprayed one half of her hair dark blue and the other a glistening silver colour. Y/N looked beautiful in that shade of blue, so beautiful that he had to say something, “so, I guess you won’t be supporting Gryffindor today then?” he smirked.

“Wow Remus, you’re so funny,” Y/N said drily but Remus could see the smile that was itching to make its way across her face, “but thank you,” she reached up and touched her hair, “you’re spunky this morning Remus,” she giggled as she sat next to him and stole a rasher of bacon from his plate.

Remus shrugged as he smirked, “just in a good mood is all.”

Y/N rolled her eyes playfully as she gave him a dazzling smile that Remus almost imagined was reserved just for him. Though, in a flash she turned away from him to speak to Peter and he knew that it was crazy to think she had a secret smile just for him.

When it was time for the team to leave for the changing rooms Lily pulled James into a good luck kiss so passionate that Remus and his friends all exchanged awkward glances, patches of pink on their cheeks. Remus wanted to be kissed like that. Just once.

Sirius let out a low whistle as he dragged a hand through his tangled hair, “damn, I need to get me one of those,” he smirked as he looked down the length of the table for someone that would meet his requirements. Peter scoffed with a scowl and Remus shook his head in amusement.

Suddenly, Remus felt warm soft lips against his cheek in a quick but sweet kiss. With blazing cheeks and butterflies in his stomach he turned to look at the girl who was sitting to the right side of him. Y/N was grinning at him mischievously and all Remus could do was raise a questioning eyebrow, the words temporarily stolen from his throat.

“I thought that you deserved a good luck kiss too,” she shrugged nonchalantly while Remus struggled to find his voice.

“But, I’m not even playing, and besides why would you want to give your rival a good luck kiss?” the place where Y/N had kissed him burned pleasantly and he ached to touch it.

“Oh come on Remus, I’m sure no one can be rivals with you for very long, you’re far too nice,” she laughed as she took a sip of her pumpkin juice, “and you’ll need luck because your poor team are going to be simply crushed by Ravenclaw.”

Remus rolled his eyes as he grinned, “wow well, thank you for your kiss, it was much appreciated,” he willed himself not to blush as he rubbed the back of his neck. He had to ask her, the worst that she could do was say no and even if she declined, Remus knew that she wouldn’t make him feel too bad about it, “would you like to walk down to the pitch with us?” he asked as he turned round to find Peter but he wasn’t there and Lily had gone down to the pitch with James, “with me?” he chuckled.

Y/N’s pretty eyes found the table and she smiled almost shyly when she looked back up at him, “I’d like that,” she nodded and Remus could have performed a happy dance, “but of course, I’ll have to sit with my team when the game is on. Lyra would surely disown me if I didn’t.”

“Understood,” Remus beamed as he threw up his hands in defence and they walked out of The Great Hall together. Remus was so happy for this time alone with Y/N that he missed the way that Lucius Malfoy’s eyes followed them, a scowl plastered on his face.

It was a cold but clear day and you could see right across the lack to the snow-capped mountains beyond that was usually shrouded in mist. The amber leaves of the trees in the forest made a gorgeous contrast beneath the white sky. Y/N made a little noise of delight as she took in the scenery and huddled further into her scarf.

“I love clear days like this, it makes me want to draw a landscape of it,” her voice was muffled slightly.

Remus looked at her with polite surprise on his face; he didn’t know that she liked to draw, “I didn’t know that you liked to draw Y/N.”

Y/N shrugged as she tucked a flyaway strand of her hair behind her ear and she rubbed her hands together, “yeah, I got into it over the summer because there are lots of beautiful landscapes where my grandmother lives. It’s not a big deal.”

“I think it’s wonderful,” Remus beamed at her.

“Thank you Remus, that means a lot,” she smiled gratefully.

They walked in comfortable silence until they reached the stands and they both came to a stop. Remus was reluctant to part from her and he selfishly hoped that she felt the same, “well, good luck Remus,” Y/N grinned making Remus chuckle.

“Thanks Y/N, you too.”

“Oh, my team won’t need it but thanks anyway,” she smiled cockily and she gave him a little wave as she went off to find her seat. 

Remus was left feeling a little disappointed, he was almost hoping for another kiss but he supposed that he was lucky to even get the first kiss. The young man quickly shook himself out of it as he picked his way through the buzzing crowd and found an empty seat next to Lily. She smirked at Remus but she said nothing and he narrowed his eyes at her as she turned to face the pitch again.

 As the two teams made their opening rounds of the pitch, the crowd whooped and cheered, and Remus caught a glimpse of Y/N through a cluster of blue and silver. He found himself smiling as she cheered for her team. For the majority of the game it was a very close match and the crowd were on the edge of their seats as they watched the game unfold before their eyes.

James saved some spectacular goals and it was clear that Gryffindor had benefited from their harsh training regime; they were on top form today. They were better than last year though Remus would never admit it to James, he valued his life.

As James saved his third amazing goal, Lily jumped up and screamed, “yes! That’s my boyfriend!”

Unfortunately, Ravenclaw’s defence was just as good as Gryffindors and for the first twenty minutes the score was 0-0 but the crowd seemed quite satisfied, though the same couldn’t be said for the players. Ravenclaw’s form began to falter and Gryffindor were able to score a few goals and the players zoomed around the pitch, seemingly gaining new heart.

The score was 90-30 before the Gryffindor seeker dived to catch the snitch and when the crowd realised that Gryffindor had won, the stadium was filled with ear splitting cheers and deafening boos in equal measure. Remus’ heart soared as he caught a glimpse of James’ face, he had been so worried but in the end he had led Gryffindor to victory.

“He is so getting laid tonight!” Lily yelled happily and Remus had the sneaking impression that James would be getting laid anyway.

As happy as Remus was for Gryffindor, he yearned to console Y/N.

---------------------------------------------

Excitement brewed in the pit of your stomach – it didn’t take much for you to get excited – as you tucked the Transfiguration book beneath your arm as you walked out of the library. On the first day of school when you realised that you had forgotten your textbook, you had sent a letter home so your parents could send it over.

Unfortunately, they took a week to send it over and by that time you were using the library textbook because for one you needed it and there was another reason. It was why you looked for the same book every time and why you kept on returning it. You had been communicating with a mysterious person – who you had recently found out was a boy and he was in your year – through the post it notes you had stuck on the pages. Sometimes you took the time to get to know each other but sometimes it was really random, like today.

‘Chocolate or sweets?’ at the end of his notes he always drew a little crescent moon.

You smiled down at the note as you scrawled a reply, ‘sweets, hands down. Especially sugar quills, I love eating them in potions! 7th year potions are such a drag!’ you doodled a likeness of Slughorn before you closed the book.

You looked into the hospital wing as you went past it and you stopped dead in the corridor. Sirius, James and Peter were all crowded around a bed and they were talking in such hushed voices that you were sure that someone must have been dying. Before you could think twice, your feet carried you into the room and you walked over to the boys and you saw with a jolt that it was Remus in the hospital bed, so that was why he hadn’t been in class today.

It didn’t look like he was particularly hurt, he just looked really tired and you called out before you could stop yourself. “Remus? Are you okay?” 

All four boys looked at you in alarm and a muscle fluttered in Sirius’ jaw as he looked at you with hard eyes, he almost looked angry and protective. Remus offered you a smile as he sat up in bed and winced, “I’m fine Y/N, just feeling under the weather,” his voice was short and you almost shrank back.

“We’ll see you back in the common room, mate,” Sirius told him and Remus nodded, looking warily over at you. Sirius smiled tightly as he kissed the side of your head, “see you later.”

You bit your lip as you sat down on the seat next to his bed, “I’m sorry Remus, do you want me to go? I can if you want,” you stood up to leave and Remus stopped you with a gentle hand on your arm.

“No, Y/N, please don’t go. I’m sorry for being rude, why don’t you tell me what I’ve missed today?” he smiled.

You grinned back at him, watching a trickle of blood ooze from a cut on his head, you knew that he wasn’t telling you the whole story but you didn’t mind, you grabbed a clean cloth from his bedside and began to clean up the blood, “sorry,” you muttered as Remus winced, “and for the record, I don’t think that you were rude. So, what have you missed today?” you whispered to yourself, “well we were practicing our non-verbal spells in Defence Against the Dark Arts,” Remus groaned at your words, “and in potions we were brewing a potion that would change our appearance, you know for us mere mortals that can’t change it at will,” you rolled your eyes with a smile, “Peter accidentally blew up his cauldron and Lily spent the best part of an hour trying to change my hair back from green.”

Remus laughed as he fiddled with a couple of your strands, “I have to say Y/N, that I’m sure you would pull off green pretty well.”

You rolled your eyes at his handsome teasing grin, “thanks Remus,” you laughed. For a little while, the both of you just talked as you tried to get Remus’ mind off his illness and it was working pretty well until you noticed Madam Pomfrey looking over at you, “I should probably go before I get kicked out.”

Remus’ face fell but he nodded all the same, “okay Y/N. Thanks so much for staying with me, I’ll see you later.”

You nodded as you stroked some hair off his forehead, “you’re welcome Remus, I really hope you feel better soon,” you smiled as you got up. “Oh and Y/N?” Remus asked, causing you to turn around and smile at him, “see you in Hogsmeade on Saturday?”

There was a funny fluttery feeling in your stomach that weren’t quite butterflies, “looking forward to it.”

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@hp-imagines-07​ @smiithys​ @pregnant-piggy​ @unexpectedurl​ @siriusblackspam​ @elayneblack​ @reylo-hope

[sweetcheol]

college boyfriend!sehun

—genre: fluff

—au: college, friends to lovers

—pairing: oh sehun x reader

—song to listen to while reading: fall again — klang

—word count: 2.2k

—warning(s): mentions of sex, sehunnie being the best boyfriend ever, choking on chips ??? (but it’s nothing bad, i promise)

sehun was your netflix binging partner before he was even your friend

okay ... he was your netflix binging partner before you even knew his name

you guys were in an ethics class together

and it was one of those common classes everyone in uni had to take no matter their major, so it was like 60 of you in a huge ass classroom

so you resorted to the only alternative to keeping you awake during 2 hour long, powerpoint based, boring lectures: 

yoy got the best out of your netflix subscription plan

god bless airpods bc you could just hide them with your hair and nobody ever noticed anything

except for sehun

who conveniently sat one seat to the left on the row above you

so he had the perfect view to your laptop screen

and had watched the whole fifth season of peaky blinders with you

of course he never told you bc that... that would have been kind of weird

so he just kept to himself and tried his best to keep on being your anonymous netflix partner

he had even started to buy himself some snacks to munch on during class and was truly living his best life

until you finished peaky blinders ... and were about to start watching crash landing on you

sehun just ... sehun loved that show, okay?

so when he saw the intro pop on your laptop he started choking on his shrimp chips, creating a commotion

like ... even the professor stopped talking and asked him if he was okay, causing everyone to turn around and face him

red-faced, choking him

even you, who had paused the show and turned around in your seat so quickly he thought you’d cracked your neck

and in that moment, sehun did the only thing he could think of

which in that case meant bolting straight out of the classroom coughing like a madman

and just like the concerned netflix partner classmate you were, you had walked out right after him

“yah! don’t run, let me help you!”

and tbh ... sehun had never expected to turn around and come face to face with you, holding a bottle of water for him to sip on

that alone helped him stop coughing

he reluctantly accepted the water while turning beet red in the face

so the two of you sat down on a set of stairs that were near the classroom while sehun drank his water

he was trying his best to zone you out, eyes set on the floor and only focusing on the bottle in his hand

bc that had been ... embarrassing, to say the least

and he had asked you, in the smallest voice possible to please wait until class was over to pick ur things up bc he didn’t wanna go in and then interrupt the lecture again

so you granted him his wish

and when people started piling out of the classroom, you were like well

and sehun didn’t even say anything to u before he walked back inside, took his backpack with him and walked away

so you were like ???? as you stashed your laptop in ur bag and walked back to your dorm

you didn’t see him the next class

and since the room was so big you were like wtf did he sit someplace else

you couldn’t even watch your show in peace that day bc ... what had you even done to him

the lesson after that ... you were resigned

whatever was his problem you wouldn’t mind

but then someone placed a blue thunder gatorade on your desk with a hot pink post it pasted on the cap

“spare airpod ???”

and sehun was sat on the chair next to yours, drinking from his own gatorade bottle while he waited for your response

so you fished the earbuds from your bag and extended your hand, one of them resting on your palm

sehun took it

and the two of you watched the third episode of the show together

the two of u didn’t speak much though

he’d muttered a soft “thank you” when returning the airpod when class was done and that was it

but then he sat next to you the following lesson

and the next one

and the next one

a couple of weeks after that he started giving you bags of chips and cookies alongside the gatorade

until you had finished a couple of dramas

... and the semester

the two of you were quite bummed the last day of classes

bc neither of you had seen the other one in any other classes so you were sure you weren’t in the same major

and sehun had only said “it was very nice meeting you” after the last class was over

and that was it

or u thought

until half-way through the summer, you had finally found enough willpower to clean your backpack

and had found a cute little note on the bottom of it

from none other but your cute, tall classmate

“maybe we could hang out and actually talk sometime?” alongside his phone number

and at first you were like oh a month has gone by, he won’t remember me

but then you wrote a simple “hey, it’s (y/n) from ethics”

and sehun almost ... choked once again when he read it

bc he though you just weren’t going to text him at all

and so the two of you started talking

he was very funny and easy-going, so you became friends pretty fast

you texted all through-out the summer

and ofc sehun told chanyeol, his best friend and roomate, about it

which prompted chanyeol to tease him 24/7 abt how he should just ask you out

and sehun was like “it’s not like that”

but everyone could see it was like that

so sehun was like ... okay i might

and he was like “so i was thinking ... maybe we could go to the movies”

and you were like !!!!!! red code !!!!!! alert !!!!!! oh my gOD 

bc you had been like ... crushing on him ever since the chip incident

and answered him like “yeah that’d be nice” 

a few days after you went to the movies

and were both a mess at first but the date actually turned out pretty well bc you went for dinner afterwards and everything ran out pretty smoothly

sehun was like OOOOOOH YEAH I’M UR BOYFRIEND NOW ... right after he walked you to your door

but you weren’t complaining bc you liked him a lot too

SO NOW

onto the relationship

ngl you are like low-key done with him the week after you start dating bc he is ... a little shit

like if he feels he isn’t getting enough attention he’ll go like “(y/n) that’s so unfaiiiiiiiiir”

but then he’ll start playing around with vivi and you’re standing there like okAY

and if you tell him he’ll get all sassy and go like “i knEW u just can’t live without me”

but then when you spend enough time with vivi and he starts running to you instead of sehun ... he goes like “wAIT (y/n) he’s MY son wtf”

but inside he’s like “that’s OUR son oh my god” 

gets low-key jealous of all the lead actors of the dramas you watch together

like suddenly you’ll turn around and he’s pouting 

but he forgets about it halfway through the episode

even though you two aren’t in the same class anymore he likes studying together

and is always buying snacks for your study dates

he’ll study for like 15 min and then will start pouting bc he wants kisses

wears a lot of hoodies and sweatpants but will also clean up somedays bc he wants to look nice for you

will very subtly leave his hoodies at your dorm

he thinks it’s romantiquè

and you’re very grateful for it bc he’s very tall and thus his hoodies are very cozy

you kinda want to kill him sometimes but he’s definitely the kind of guy that calls you at three am just because he wants to talk to you“i just wanted to hear your voice”

and he’s just laying in his bed smiling like a fool while you tell him about your day

you both end up constantly falling asleep over the phone but neither of you mind

and then chanyeol enters the apartment and sees him passed out on the couch with his phone in hand and your name on his screen 

it’s safe to say sehun’s not going to live it down

i don’t think he’d be a big fan of pda

so in public, you kinda only hold hands

he might give you a little kiss from time to time but that’s pretty much it

oh but in private ... he can’t keep his hands off you

and your butt

he gives the best hugs ever??? and it doesn’t help that he loves hugging you

forehead kisses

so so so many forehead kisses

definitely takes advantage of his height

for that, and for placing stuff on high places so that he has to help you on getting them down

lowkey touches your butt when he’s doing it

okay but when you’re ... doing the do

sehun’s a switch

i feel like he’d either be such a whiny sub or a very ... whiny dom (but he’d still be very soft ngl) 

(i mean he’s the spoiled maknae for a reason)

favorite thing ever is when you ride him and he can just hold your hips really tight and guide your movements so they can match his

moans so fucking loud you’re sure your entire floor can hear the two of you

i’m not sure he’d be a very kinky lover

like i feel he’d be pretty vanilla

but i mean ... he dances ... his hips can ... do things

so it’s not like it’s anything bad, you know ????

a huge fan of hickeys

but on more ... private places

like he’ll never leave one on your neck

but your chest is a completely different story

bc he doesn’t leave them so that people can see them

he leaves them so he can see them and remind himself that you’re his

that you chose him

that was really sappy

he’s a dance major

and he’s always asking you to go with him to practices

both bc he loves being with you and bc he likes it when you watch him dance

he’s a tease and we all know it

he’d run his hands over his hair and smirk all the time bc he knows you’re looking at him

sometimes he even takes off his shirt and acts like it’s just bc of the heat

and you blush so hard and he’s just like 😌

but also when he has a show or presentation or something

he gets so so so so nervous

but then he spots you in the crowd and just smile a bit bc you’re there, supporting him, and that’s all that matters

his phone background is this selfie the two of you with face masks on

you had your hair up in a bun and both of you were lounging in sweats

you had been playing around with snapchat filters and accidentally took the sweetest photo ever

so he asked you to send it to him

and he set it up as both his lock screen and his home screen

yours is a mirror selfie you took when you were watching him practice

you were taking a photo and when sehun noticed he came to give you a kiss on the cheek

and it was the sweetest thing ever

he literally sends you each and every selfie he takes

and sometimes goes like “hey does this look okay?”

and sometimes it’s more like “your boyfriend is so hot wth”

and just as he takes so many selfies so he can send them to you

he also likes taking photos with you

literally everywhere you two go

he either takes a selfie or asks someone to take a picture of you

and everyone he asks always thinks you’re the most adorable couple ever

bc the love you two have for each other is like so obviously there

and he gets so soft whenever people tell him that

even when it’s chanyeol who says it

truth is chanyeol loves you because of how happy you make sehun

he once told you when you got back home from a club

and like ... you were kinda, slightly, a little bit drunk

and hearing him say that only made you feel like you were walking on clouds even more

bc if anyone asked you to describe just how happy sehun made you ... you were sure you weren’t going to find enough words to describe the feeling

even though he usually is like hell yeah i’m a cool bf

he gets really sappy at night (and when’s drunk) 

and goes on and on about how much he loves you and he’s happy he found you

bc you always get that look in your eyes that make his heart melt

bc he’s the sweetest boyfriend ever

and it doesn’t help that he’s my ult bias bc i reallyyyyyyyy wanna date college!boyfriend sehun 🤧

[emetoandotherthings]

J = Jet Lag

A/N: I’ve been away at a conference and I’m just back, so I thought it’s about time for the next part the collab by @its-a-goddamn-heartbreak and me! You can find part one HERE (choking), part two HERE (drugged), part three HERE (seasick), and part four HERE (fever). We hope you enjoy this part just as much as the rest!  

McKenzie slumped back against the wall of his dorm room, ducking his head low so as to avoid banging it on the underneath of the top bunk. How he'd managed to draw the short straw here and end up with the bottom bunk, he didn't know - but he felt it ever more keenly here, in the land of the shorter stature. He'd already felt like a giant walking through the streets of Tokyo, and he was slightly worried about the rugby team they'd be playing - it was very possible they might flatten them all.

He hitched a grin onto his face as he clutched his iPad in his hands and tapped on the screen, listening as the ringing dial tone echoed about the empty room.

Bridie glared at her textbook. She had midterms coming up, and this particular module was absolutely refusing to be understood. She’d been banging her head against this chapter for the whole morning, and she still couldn’t answer the stretching questions at the end. Pulling her laptop towards her, she opened up a new page of notes, hoping that reorganising the information would make it sink in better. As she began typing, a little blue icon popped up in the corner of her screen. She clicked on it, her face lighting up as she waited for the connection to establish.

“Hey McKenzie!” She greeted enthusiastically. “How are you? How was Dubai? How’s Japan? Tell me everything!!”

“Hey!” He tried to inject a tone of cheeriness in his voice as Bridie’s picture pixeled into view. “Dubai was great! It was so hot though, I thought I was going to melt halfway through the game! How are you getting on?”

“I’ll bet!” Bridie exclaimed. “Did you win though?”

“Of course,” McKenzie puffed himself up slightly, then banged his head on the top bunk. “Ouch!” The iPad wobbled as he put one hand up to rub the top of his head.

Bridie sniggered. “You’re a melon… But Japan! I’m so jealous, I want to hear all about it.”

“It’s great,” he said, but he was struggling to keep his voice at that jaunty bouncy level as usual. “I feel like an absolute giant though… we went for a walk once we’d dropped our cases off here this morning, and it’s so so different to anywhere else I’ve been.”

“Arrghhh,” Bridie groaned frustratedly. “I want to go so bad! What else have you done today? Please tell me you’re going to go and experience stuff while you’re there, not just chuck a ball around a field…”

“Course!” He replied. “I think we’re going to some temples tomorrow after training, then… uh, I can’t really remember where else… but somewhere!” He rubbed his hand across his face, the cogs in his brain working slowly.

“That’s so cool! You have to take pictures for me!” Bridie demanded. She picked her laptop up, going to lie on her bed. “What about tonight? Not gonna lie, I didn’t think you’d have time to call with how you guys are always together.”

“You’ll have to watch - your snapchat is gonna get bombarded!” He smiled, leaning back against the wall; he felt overly tired, like his limbs were being weighed down. “The guys have gone out to a karaoke place, I think.”

“Oh fun!” Bridie grinned. “They do it different over there, like in private booths, and you can order food up and stuff, my dad told me.” She paused, peering curiously at McKenzie. He looked exhausted, which she guessed was to be expected, but she couldn’t tell if the pallor of his skin was real or just a trick of the light. “Why aren’t you with them? Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, yeah - I’m…” He tried to think of how to reply, forcing a smile back onto his face. “I’m just tired…” He finished lamely, hoping she’d believe him.

“I can imagine,” Bridie said gently. “They really work you hard, huh?”

“Yeah,” he nodded again; he felt a wave of tiredness and longing sweep through his body, and he wished he could have a hug from her. “How are you getting on?”

“Heh, you know,” she shrugged. “Exams are kicking my arse. I just want to run away to the countryside until they’re over. The usual.” She chewed her lip, a knot of concern forming in her belly. He really did seem worn out, his face drawn and his eyes tight. “Maybe you should have a nap Kenzie,” she suggested. “Or at least a lie down?”

“Well, I’ll be a distraction from studying any time you want,” he suggested kindly. “I tried to have a bit of a nap earlier, but it’s like, I’m tired, but I’m not tired tired, if you understand?”

“Mmmm,” Bridie hummed, looking unconvinced. “I guess.”

“Do you have any grand adventures planned for while I’m over here?” He asked, hoping he’d sound normal and interested.

“Not that I can think of…” She pondered for a second. “I think I might take the boat down to Loch Lomond once my exams have finished, but nothing major. What’s your schedule like when you get back? You free at all?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna have some… rest time,” McKenzie took a sharp intake of breath as his head gave an achy throb. “Recuperate, all that stuff, y’know?”

“Hey, you ok?” Bridie frowned down at her screen. McKenzie’s face had screwed up in what looked like pain - only for a second, but she was certain it had happened.

“Uh huh!” McKenzie replied, a little too quickly, his voice higher pitched than usual.

“Hey, no. Don't do that!” Bridie ordered sharply.

“What?” McKenzie’s eyes went wide, uncertain about being reprimanded.

“Just tell me what's wrong,” she wheedled. “You're clearly not quite right.”

“I - I…” McKenzie started, then he sighed heavily. “I don’t know…”

Bridie ran a hand through her hair. He looked really rather dejected, and she had the sudden urge to wrap her arms round him and not let go until he cheered up. Or rub his back until he fell asleep. Or… She really wasn’t sure where this was coming from - she wasn’t at all used to worrying this much. But he was six thousand miles away, and there was so little she could actually do for him. “Sorry, sorry. I’m not mad, I’m just worried. You’re looking a little peaky. If it’s not that you’re tired, are you sure you’re feeling alright?”

“I’ve felt kinda funny since the flight…” He admitted, biting his lip. “I’ve never really done long-haul before, and I just feel like I’ve been run over.”

“Ohh…,” she trailed off, unsure what to say that wouldn’t sound patronising or insincere. “Could be jet lag? Did you sleep at all last night?”

“Not… not really?” McKenzie cast his mind back to the night before; everything was such a blur, from them playing on the pitch in sweltering heat, then scrambling to get all their stuff into bags and to the airport for their onward flight to Japan. “I kinda catnapped on the plane for a bit… but we were on a bit of a high.”

“Hmmm… And you’re what, nine hours ahead? So still…-” She paused, having to count on her fingers. “Still a whole five hours ahead of Dubai I think. I’m not surprised you feel a bit run down.”

“Is it common like?” He asked. “I’d always kinda thought jet lag was a bit of a joke…”

Bridie tapped away at her keyboard, searching up the term. “Yeah, um, it’s a legit thing. For some people it’s worse than others I think, but especially bad if you travel east. Ah, here. It says: ‘Jet lag is a temporary sleep disorder that occurs when your body's biological clock is not in sync with the local time zone you are in.” So basically like, your body still thinks you’re here, and that might be what’s making you feel bad…”

McKenzie frowned slightly. “So it’s to do with sleep?” He said. “So it wouldn’t account for feeling… anything else?”

She glanced up from website she was reading. “Well, it’s not just sleep. If your...everything’s a bit out wack, so it can make you feel physically unwell too. Why?”

“It’s just…” McKenzie took a slow breath in, a cold shiver running through his body, as he looked down at the image of Bridie. “I don’t feel that great really…” He replied vaguely.

“Oh hun…” Bridie’s brow wrinkled sadly. “I’m sorry, that’s rubbish.”

McKenzie sighed, nodding his head slightly, drawing his knees up slightly closer to his chest. “I wish you were here.”

A bashful smile tugged at Bridie’s lips, and she turned away slightly, her hair obscuring her face. “Alright big guy, here’s what we’re going to do. It’s a semi-reasonable time to go to sleep over there, right?”

“Well, yeah…” McKenzie nodded again.

“Ok. Go and get yourself a glass of water, get into something comfy, and have a lie down. I’ll be right here, so if you can’t sleep it’s not a problem we can just talk, but I think you should at least give yourself a chance - and give your body a rest.”

“I’m - kinda already in my pyjamas,” McKenzie admitted, his cheeks going a little pink.

“Brilliant.” She smiled encouragingly. “Looks like we’re on the same page here then. Come on, you can’t be comfortable all hunched over like that.”

“Okay…” McKenzie tried to prop his tablet upright, so he could lie on his side and still be able to see her.

“Hey, water first,” she reminded him softly. “Even if you don’t drink the whole thing. Or you’ll wake up feeling horrible - planes really dry you out.”

“Okay bossy boots,” McKenzie chuckled slightly, reaching down the side of his bed and bringing up a water bottle, which he shook gently at the camera, before taking a swig. “Happy?”

“Yeah. Yeah I am actually. Thank you,” Bridie teased, shifting her screen so that she could revise some flashcards while they talked. “Alright, try to look a bit more like you might actually try to sleep instead of like you’re lying down because I told you to, that’d be great.”

“Why don’t you tell me about what you’re studying?” He suggested quietly. “Teach me, via face call.”

“Aha, if you want. I guarantee you’ll find it boring.” She picked the first card off the top of the pile. “So, sustainable building is important because our buildings consume up to 50% of the physical resources in their environment. Once built, they continue to be a direct cause of pollution because of the emissions produced in them or their impact on the ground.” She paused, studying his face on her screen. His eyes were drooping closed, and she felt a slight ache in her chest just looking at him; it must be so awful to be sick and so very far from home. She plucked up the next card. “Sustainable building materials must be highly durable and can incorporate different technologies, such as capturing carbon dioxide. There are other original techniques, such manufacturing concrete with recycled tyre rubber; using the mud from sewage plants for making bricks; reusing industrial waste materials such as rock, ash, mud…”

Bridie was brought out of talking by the rustle of sound, looking up at her screen she saw McKenzie had taken hold of his tablet and sat up on his bed again.

“You can’t sleep sitting up, hun,” she joked, although she felt a slight sense of consternation now that his too-pale face was more in the light. “Everything ok?”

“No,” McKenzie mumbled, wrapping his free arm around his midriff and leaning forwards slightly; he took a couple of slow deep breaths in and trying to convince himself that the burn in his chest wasn't the creep of stomach acid. “I can't lie down…”

“What’s wrong?” She pressed softly. “Can I help at all?”

“I feel…” He stifled a hiccup into his hand. “Really sick…”

“Awwh babe, I’m so sorry,” Bridie sighed. “Try to relax, I know it’s not nice.”

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “I'm - I'm sorry…” He stifled another hiccup into his hand. “Maybe I should go - let you study.”

Bridie looked doubtful. “Is there anyone there with you?”

“Nah, they've all gone out…” He shook his head minutely, and that small action seemed to compound the way he was feeling. He clapped his hand to his mouth as his stomach gave a little lurch, and he forced himself to swallow hard.

“I’m not letting you go through this by yourself,” Bridie said adamantly. “It’s bad enough that you’re so far away. Studying can wait.”

“You're… you're so lovely, y'know?” McKenzie told her, now massaging his stomach with his free hand.

“Yeah, yeah.” She brushed him off. “You’ve done this for me how many times?”

“I think - hic! - we're even…” McKenzie answered, then groaned as his stomach cramped again.

“Yeah.” Bridie replied. “Exactly.” McKenzie’s face twisted, and she felt her hands twitching; the need to make sure he was alright was like an itch under her skin. “Deep breaths Kenzie, you’re alright. You feeling really rough?”

“Yeah…” He sniffed, he could feel hot tears burning at the back of his eyes, but he didn't want to let them spill out - this was bad enough without him crying too.

“Oh Kenzie…,” she consoled him gently. “It’ll be okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

“This is a nightmare…” McKenzie muttered, shifting his leg from underneath him as it had gone to sleep.

“You’ll be fine in a couple of days,” Bridie said, uncertain whether that would be helpful to him at all. In reality, it could be over a week until he felt better, but she was sure that he wouldn’t want to hear that.

“I've got training…” He said mournfully.

“Usually people don’t get sick from jet lag, so I doubt this’ll last that long,” Bridie reassured him, although she found it a little ridiculous that he was thinking about training when he was feeling so unwell. She wondered if he’d be feeling this anxious about it if he’d come down with food poisoning or a virus. “As long as you get a good sleep tonight, it shouldn’t put a spanner in your training schedule…”

“I'll do my best…” He replied. “I am tired… just don't feel like sleeping is an option yet.”

“Are you actually going to be sick d’you think, or are you maybe just nauseous?” Bridie asked tentatively. “Because you know like, sometimes it can mess with your belly just when you’re too tired.”

“I keep getting like… weird spasms,” McKenzie said, “I don't know. I feel pretty bad…”

“Alright,” Bridie said soothingly. “We’ll see how you go then, hm? How can I help? Distraction? Bit o’ quiet?”

“I like hearing you talk…” McKenzie admitted, feeling his cheeks pinken slightly. “Just about anything…”

“Okay…,” Bridie hesitated momentarily. “Have I ever told you about the time my dad took my friends camping and Seamus got stuck up a tree?”

“No, you've not!” McKenzie replied, settling back so he was leaning against the wall again.

“Alright, so me and my dad, we used to go camping a lot,” Bridie began, settling in for a potential long afternoon of storytelling, “and a lot of my friends never really left Belfast. So when I was about seven, for my birthday, I demanded that we take them with us. Just so it wasn’t so weird that we did it, and because it was my favourite thing, I don’t know. And I think he was worried about being the only adult in charge of so many kids, but I was absolutely set on it, and he’s never really been very good at saying no to me. So he packed six of us into the car and took us out of the city to this place we used to go all the time. It had everything you know? I think that’s why we went so often. Like, there were nice places to walk, and a reservoir nearby, and a rope swing over a stream not too far out, and my personal favourite - the climbing tree.”

“I used to have a climbing tree as a kid…” McKenzie mumbled, smiling as she spoke.

“Yeah?” Bridie grinned. “Aren’t they the best?”

“Absolutely,” he agreed. There was something soothing about the rhythm of Bridie's voice.

“Yeah, so there’s this tree. And I’ve been climbing it since I could walk basically, but the boys being boys didn't believe me.” She continued her story, sensing that McKenzie wasn’t really up for much conversation. “So the little idiots decided we’d have a competition to see who could get up and down fastest.”

“Mmhmm? I tried to do that with my brother once,” McKenzie mumbled.

“Did that work out for you?” She asked drily. “Cos it definitely didn’t for them.”

“No, it didn't…”

She chuckled. “You’ll have to tell me about it sometime! Anyways, Darragh went first and he went up really fast, but coming down was harder and Orlaith cried the whole time, she was so scared. And then it was Seamus’ turn. And he went up OK, until he got nearly to the top and looked down.”

“I - um - sorry!” McKenzie had sat bolt upright; he could feel sweat trickling down the side of his face as though he’d been running at full pelt.

“Hey, you're alright,” Bridie soothed softly. “What's wrong?”

“I - I…” McKenzie bit his lip as the tears that he'd tried to hold back spilled out onto his face. “Ugh, this is so stupid.”

“Oh Kenzie…” Bridie chewed her lip, trying to find a way to comfort him and coming up empty. She was feeling a little useless, sat there on the wrong end of the call.

“Sorry, sorry,” he swiped furiously at his eyes again. “I’m sorry about this… I just don't know what to do!”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Bridie said insistently. “Sometimes you need to have a good cry, especially if you’re feeling lousy.”

“Yeah, it's just…” McKenzie sniffed. “I feel so far away.”

“I know, but I’m sure you’ll feel better soon and then you’ll enjoy being so far away! And then you’ll be home before you know it and you’ll wish you weren’t,” Bridie smiled encouragingly.

“I won't,” McKenzie said stubbornly.

“Oh you will.” Bridie rolled her eyes. “When you come back to this weather you really will.”

“I’ll get to be with you though,” he mumbled.

“You’re a sap,” Bridie chuckled. “I promise I’ll stay right here as long as you need…”

“You’re so good to me…” He smiled, then his stomach cramped again and he doubled forwards, pressing his hand to his belly. “Ugh…”

“Think I’m just about average to you to be honest,” Bridie muttered, slightly at a loss as the image in the screen bounced about with a clatter, until she was just looking at the slats of the top bunk. “You’re ok Kenzie.” She raised her voice, hoping he could still hear her. “Take some nice deep breaths for me, yeah?”

“Oouuhh…” She heard him groan. “Brrruuuaaarrpp!” The belch was low and loud across the speakers of the tablet, but it was still facing the ceiling. She winced. She really hated that he was having to deal with this by himself - that none of his teammates had stayed around or checked on him.

“Oh hun, that sounds rough,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry…”

The tablet moved, and McKenzie picked it up again, he was trembling slightly as he brought it back up. “I - I think ‘m gonna lie down again…”

Bridie nodded. She’d travelled a lot, and though she’d never had jet lag this bad - had never even met anyone who got jet lag to this extent - she was fairly certain that some rest would do him good. “Alright babe,” she said gently, pausing as it suddenly occurred to her that that wasn’t a word she’d used often. “If you can, I think it’s a good idea.”

“Yeah…” He groaned slightly as he lay down on his side, holding the tablet so half of his face was in view. “Will you still talk to me?”

“Of course! Whatever you need.”

“Thank you…” He spoke softly. “Tell me ‘bout your climbing tree?”

Bridie smiled pensively. “Okay,” she began. “Storytime. Are you sitting comfortably?” She waggled her eyebrows as she asked the question.

“As much as I can be,” he answered back, his body felt heavy as he lay there.

“Alright, where was I?” Bridie mused, trying to remember where she’d left off. “Oh yeah, Seamus. So Seamus got to near the top much quicker than Darragh, but once you get up high the branches are much thinner. And I think he must have been trying to work out whether he could get away with stopping where he was and coming back down from there, or he wanted to see how far he’d come, I don’t know to be honest. But either way, he got up there and he looked down. And then he just...froze. Like a cat. And we couldn’t see his face because he was so far away, but we could hear this noise, and we eventually realised he was crying, and being the mean kids that we were, obviously, we started poking fun. And then I guess eventually we realised he was actually stuck and we started trying to help - like, give instructions and stuff.”

“Mmmhmm?” McKenzie sniffed a little, tears were still periodically leaking out of his eyes as he listened.

“Yeah, so we’re like shouting up to him where he can put his feet, trying to get him to come down, and he just won’t move, he’s petrified. So I went up cos I knew the tree best, and I got to just underneath him and I pulled on a branch and the tree kinda swayed. Like I said, we were high up and it was all getting thinner. So the tree moves and he screams bloody murder, and the first thing he says since he got stuck there is telling me not to come higher. So I’m trying to persuade him to just move his feet down, cos it’s perfectly safe like, I do it all the time, don’t be such a baby. And I was so tempted to just grab his ankle and pull to get him moving, which in hindsight was a terrible idea and I’m glad I didn’t go through with it.”

McKenzie’s eyelids were heavy, and he struggled to keep them open as he listened to Bridie’s soothing voice; he positioned his head so his ears were free so he could hear, and he allowed his eyes to close.

Bridie smiled sympathetically as she watched him curl into his pillow, and lowered her voice slightly so that she wouldn’t keep him awake. “Well, we’re up there a bit, and at some point someone went to fetch my dad - probably Orlaith, because she’s a big sister and was responsible even back then. So my dad rocks up, and demands I come down. And then he climbed this tree, but because he was a lot bigger than any of us, he couldn’t get anywhere near Seamus because the branches wouldn’t take his weight…” She trailed off, watching McKenzie’s face closely. His eyes had drifted shut and his jaw had slackened, his lips parting slightly so that she could hear the slow, gentle puffs of air that escaped them. He looked...really young, and really vulnerable, neither of which were words she associated with him. She waited a little, just in case he wasn’t properly asleep, but he didn’t seem to notice that she’d stopped talking.

“Sleep well McKenzie,” she whispered, as she reached out to end the call.

[killitquick]

A Joke.

 Request: Can u please do 82 with Michael gray peaky blinders. 

Warnings: blood and death mentioned. 

Finn, Isiah, and Michael were drinking together down by the cut. It was a warm summers evening and the boys had a bottle of whisky between them. You were at home however writing a paper for class. You were studying to be a nurse and nothing was going to get in your way. Not even Michael Gray. This was going to be one of your last papers of the year and you wanted it to be good. So good that it would be Mindy Fabriello’s. She was dumber than a sac of hammers but somehow she managed to get by and somehow her paper seemed to be better than yours by huge margins. So you had sent Michael out to so you could just sit in silence and work in peace. 

You suppose it’s your fault for what transpired that day because you sent him away. You figured he’d go to the office and work on some business stuff for Shelby Ltd. but you were wrong. You had never thought that he would go and get dumb and dumber. 

Michael lay in the grass his hands behind his head creating a make shift pillow. His eyes were closed in blissful drunkenness and his skin soaked up the last few rays of the sun. Michael drifted in and out when he heard Finn start talking. 

“ Wouldn’t it be funny if” 

You were sitting in the living surrounded by notes, text books, and crumpled up pieces of paper. You notices the sun dipping down and sigh. You were becoming frustrated beyond belief and you had wished that Michael would come waltzing in through the door. You were hoping that he would come and take your mind off of things. At the thought of Michael you started to feel the familliar twinge of want start coursing through your veins. 

As if god himself answered your prayers you heard the door open and slam into the wall. You were confused for about a second before Isiah came running in out of breath with blood all over. 

“ It’s Micheal, he’s hurt bad” he wheezes out. 

Everything in your hands and lap drops too the floor. You stand up in a rush knocking over the coffee table sending tea all over the floor. You don’t even stop to put on shoes you just run after Isiah. You dress flows behind you as you run through Small Heath after Isiah.  When you get there you see Finn pacing also covered in blood. There’s something stick out of Michael and you can see the blood all over his creme coloured shirt you had passed him this morning. It’s all over his face and neck and you gasp at the sight.  You rush to his side and check to see if he’s breathing when he body lurches forwards. 

A scream erupts out of you and you propel yourself backwards. The sound of the boys laughter hits your ears and you catch your breath as you see Michael with a dazzling smile on his face.  You see his mouth move but you’re so confused you can’t wait hear what he’s saying. 

“ It’s just a joke baby, I swear” he laughs out. Hands clutching his sides.  

Your mouth opens and you plan to yell but all that comes out is a choked sob. The tears roll hotly down your face and you can’t contain it. You had felt everything in you stop when you saw him lying there, everything in you ran cold but you held on because you needed to. You’re training had kicked in and you went straight to work pushing down any feelings you may have had but the crisis had been averted and everything burst in you. 

The boys laughing die out as they watch you sob on the ground. Isiah quickly notices your bare and now black feet and he frowns. Finn was right it would be funny but now it wasn’t and he had felt the pit of dread start to grow in his chest. Your house wasn’t far from here and so he took off to your home to grab your shoes for you. Michael had never seen you cry and knowing he was the direct cause of it made his heart break. He thought the idea was a good one but he was also drunk.  He watched as your from crashed in on itself and he stumbled forward reaching for you. Collecting you into his arms he held you as you sobbed. 

“ Im sorry. Im so sorry” he repeats into your hair. 

Finn watches horrofied. He didn’t think it would go like this and he didn’t think he’d feel like this. He just stood there and watched as Michael tried to console you. He supposed the idea was a tad cruel and a sober Finn would have never even thought of it, but he had and it was directly his fault. Finn looked around for Isiah and saw he was running back towards the group with a pair of shoes in his hands.  

“ ‘ere, I got your shoes” you here Isiah say. 

You had stopped crying and now just sat in Michael's arms covered in red paint that in the heat of the moment look strikingly like blood. 

“ Thank you.” You say pulling them on.  

Michael took you home right then and there. You guys shared a bath cleaning all of the bright red off of your bodies, and then went to bed. Since Michael was still quite drunk he had fallen asleep quite easily with you pressed against his chest. However you couldn’t sleep you were wide awake. You had slipped downstairs and sat in the living room turning on the lights, you quickly finished your essay and tucked everything away into your school bag.  You sat in the silence and a plan formulated in your head. What happened today would not go silently in the night, oh no!  

Michael was a heavy sleeper, that he knew.  He was an even heavier sleeper when he had been drinking, usually you would wake him up with breakfast and coffee and he would sing your praise because “ damn woman you make a mean breakfast, and this coffee could bring the dead back to life” but today that didn’t happen. Michael awoke because of the sun being high in the sky flooding the bedroom with natural light. He groaned and rolled over searching for you body but couldn’t find it. He opened his eyes to see that all of your dresser drawers were left open and empty.  Immediately sitting up Michael then notices the closet door and how all of your dresses were gone too.  He jumped out of bed flying down the stairs looking for any existence of you but he couldn’t find anything. Michael was distraught he had never felt this panicked in his life, and he literally had a gun in his head once. He ran back upstairs and noticed the letter addressed to him on the night side table. 

Dear Micheal, 

After the stunt you pulled yesterday I no longer feel safe in this house. I can not be with someone who thinks a joke as cruel as that is funny.  you’ve broken my heart and I have nothing left to say but goodbye. 

xx (Y/N) 

Time stopped, it was like everything was working in slow motion now. He had no idea where you could have even gone but he knew he needed you back. He couldn’t do anything by himself. You had taken care of everything for him since you guys had started to date. How was he to survive without your love.  He pulled on pants and a random shirt and ran down the stairs. He stopped to put his shoes on but that’s the only time he did stop. He ran all the way to Polly’s house where he banged on the door with all his might. His chest was heaving his throat was burning and he could feel the familiar sting of tear right behind his eyes.  The door opens and he starts yelling for his mum. 

“ What’s wrong” Arthur asks 

“ She’s gone. She left. It’s all my fault”  Michael puffs as he makes his way into his mothers house.

 It isn’t till he gets to the parlour that he hears your laugh.  He can hear you talking with Polly and Ada about the betting shop.  He walks into the room and see you there in all of your glory. Your hair is pinned up out of your face but the sun is caught in and it makes it seem like you’re glowing. Like you have a hallow above your head. His knees are weak with need as he watches you laugh. 

“ Darling. Y-Your note” Michael says catching your attention. 

Your eyes slide up his body. His hair is in thirty different directions his shirt is un tucked and his shoes are hardly done up. You take a sip of tea letting the hot liquid slide down your throat before you respond. 

“ Oh that!” you exclaim a smile wide on your pretty face 

“ Yea that” Michael grumbles 

“ That was just a joke love”  

[i-am-too-sick]

A Fateful Encounter (2/2)

Here’s the second and final part of my collab with @nerdlycharming. This is apparently a series now because we cannot be stopped. Look for more collabs from us in the future! #sorrynotsorry

Word count: ~3000

-

Michael had nearly given up hope after four days of silence from Quinn. He worked every day during that time and had seen neither hide nor hair of his friend. The first day, he figured Quinn was just sleeping off the rest of the illness, but by the second day, he was convinced he'd done something wrong. Now, at 8 o'clock on the fourth day, he was sure he would never see Quinn again.

He was on his couch, trying and failing to read his murder mystery - he just couldn't focus. He kept thinking about how lovely he was and all the things he did that were wrong and messed things up with Quinn. He wasn't even sure if it was better to know what messed him up was not his being gay but everything else about him instead, or if that as worse.

Then, a knock on the door made him nearly jump out of his skin. “Just a minute!” He called out, voice cracking a bit. He cleared his throat and stuck his bookmark in place before going to answer his door. Though his previous trail of thought was still fresh, he had no idea whatsoever about who could be at the door.

When Michael opened the door, his face nearly collided with a large cardboard box. It teetered some, before a dusty-colored brunette poked his head around the side.

Michael hastily grabbed the box from him, unable to keep a massive grin from his face. He chuckled, “Surprise indeed, I thought I'd never hear from you again!” He turned to set the box down inside. “Come, come in! You still look like you're gonna keel over!” His tone was joking, but he was still obviously concerned.

Quinn was still smiling, even when he shook his head and stepped back out of the doorway. “We can talk later. I need to get the rest of my stuff from the van before it starts pouring.” If it wasn't one thing it was another; the sky was overcast and gray and threatening to open up at any minute. The last thing Quinn wanted was for himself and his belongings to get drenched.

“Oh!” Michael exclaimed and immediately grabbed his coat--a grey plaid jacket that was lined in a fuzzy material--and putting it on over his black t-shirt with skull design. “I'll help you!” He offered, rushing to the door to assist in any way he could. He wasn't very strong, but an extra pair of hands couldn't hurt.

“Thanks,” Quinn said, leading Michael out to the moving van. He'd rented it for today and tomorrow, just to make sure he had time to get his stuff moved. He also wanted to make sure Michael even still wanted him for a roommate, but judging by how eager he was to help, Quinn could only assume that everything was okay.

The van had a mattress and a desk and a small collection of boxes, but nothing that would take too long if they worked together. “Do you mind helping me with the heavy stuff? My old roommate helped me get it in here, but I don't think I can unload it by myself.”

“Absolutely!” Michael was enthusiastic at first but only a second later he seemed to frown a bit. “I'm not very strong though, I dunno how helpful I'll be able to be.” He hoped he could be useful but his arms had more in common with overcooked spaghetti than muscle tissue.

“We can see how it goes,” Quinn said, shrugging. He wasn't particularly strong either. He'd lifted his brother a few times, but things had been dire and he was sure his strength had come from adrenaline alone. “I think they're more awkward than actually heavy. We just need to find a good grip. Let's get the mattress first.”

With a small nod Michael agreed and set out to grab hold of the mattress. “If you don't have a bed frame, I'm pretty sure my old roommate left his?” He wasn't terribly sure but his room had had one in it already, too, but it wasn't the size of his bed. It was a twin and his was a full.

“How shall we do this? Shall I go backwards or would you like to?” He way rightly sure he cared either way, but he was worried that going backwards might make Quinn dizzy - after all he still appeared to be a bit ill or at least still rundown from it.

“I'll go backwards,” Quinn offered. “Just make sure I don't run into anything.” He was all smiles now—completely different than how he'd been a few days ago. There was still a slight ache to his muscles and he definitely wasn't in top form, but he thought it helped a lot just to be able to go outside and move around, even if the weather was anything but favorable. “Ready?”

Another small nod from Michael signaled the go ahead and they began lifting. Quinn was still stronger than Michael, even still sick as he clearly was. They struggled into the building but a large jock stopped them by the elevator.

“You guys need some help?” He asked, switching his basketball to his other hip.

Quinn seemed to become bashful around the stranger. He'd met Michael mostly by accident and hadn't really gotten around to meeting anyone else. “I'm okay, thanks,” he said, looking at Michael. “Are you holding up over there?” He didn't want to answer for Michael if his friend was truly struggling.

Struggling or not, Michael shook his head but did not speak as of yet. He didn't want to look weak at all but especially not in front of Quinn. He hated it when people thought him weak or fragile.

The jock guy shrugged and left, helping at least to make sure they could get into the elevator before the doors closed.

“You sure you're good?” Michael asked, panting a bit.

Quinn nodded. He was a little more breathless than he'd usually be, but he wasn't worried about it.

The elevator opened and they shuffled out with the mattress, Quinn doing his best to look over his shoulder to make sure he didn't run into anything or anyone.

They made it to the apartment without incident. “Can you get the door? Or do we need to set it down and regroup?” Michael was not great at moving furniture so he was pretty unsure about things. He wasn't even totally sure the bed would make the turn into the apartment.

“I think I got it, just—” Quinn leaned his back against the wall, and balanced the mattress on his knee while he struggled with the doorknob. The mattress was a lot heavier than he expected, and he was tempted to just lean it against the nearest wall and call it done. But he also didn't want to put it off another day when they could easily just take care of it now.

“Got it,” he said once the door was slightly ajar and he regained his hold on the bed. “D’you think we can set it down and maybe just slide it across the floor?”

Michael was fatigued by now too but he simply had no excuse as Quinn had. He nodded before realising Quinn couldn't see. “Yeah...that works…” He was trying to remember now how many boxes Quinn had but he just couldn't. “My floor is clean.”

Quinn nodded. He hadn't been worried about dirt so much as not being able to hold the mattress for much longer. His limbs felt funny, like they were slowly but surely taking on the consistency of jelly. At least the desk wouldn't be as awkward to carry, he told himself as they set the mattress down.

Sliding it across the floor proved to be a much easier and effective way to move the mattress and in no time they had it in his new room and nestled securely on the bed frame Michael had mentioned. “Okay, the desk is next, and then maybe half a dozen boxes. Those aren't as heavy, I promise,” Quinn added sheepishly, thinking that Michael probably hadn't expected to help him move all his stuff in when he'd offered to be his roommate. “You doing okay?”

Despite the fatigue in his arms and legs Michael was still smiling back at him. “I'm alright, it's you I'm worried about, you look a bit peaky still.” He commented with a face full of concern.

The rest of the move went smoothly until it started pouring right before they went out for the last of Quinn's belongings. He tried to convince Michael that he didn't need to come out in the rain, but his friend was having none of it, so together they sprinted back and forth from the van, splashing through puddles and being pelted by cold rain.

They were both drenched by the time they'd finished, and Quinn remained just inside the doorway, his arms wrapped around himself as he shivered, teeth chattering. His movements had grown sluggish after they'd moved the desk into his room, his breathing ragged and fatigue weighing heavily on him.

He wasn't sure whether Michael had noticed any changes in him, but he knew it would be difficult to ignore the water dripping off his clothes as he trembled against the wall. He'd quickly noticed that Michael kept the place incredibly tidy and Quinn was worried about leaving water on the floor if he crossed the hallway into his bedroom.

“I-I’ll be r-right back. I n-need to move the van,” Quinn said. He'd left it parked out by the curb, but now that they were finished, he figured he should park it properly.

Michael shook his head, “you should go take a warm shower, I'll move the van.” He didn't mention the fact that he wasn't supposed to operate machinery. It would be fine with such a short distance, right? Just as long as he didn't encounter any strobe lights?

“Then, I'll make some tea, yeah?” He offered a smile. “There's leftover pasta in the fridge too, the noodles are home made!” He seemed to be quite proud of that.

“I can't ask you to do that,” Quinn said, shaking his head and sniffling, “especially because you already helped me move all my stuff in, and now you're soaked because of me.” He pulled the keys out of his pocket, muffling a cough into his elbow. “Plus, I'm the only one on the lease and the only one allowed to drive it.” He gave Michael a sheepish smile before ducking back out into the rain, hopefully for the last time today.

Quinn might not have looked the type, especially with how he seemed to run himself to exhaustion, but he was a stickler for following the rules. He took them very seriously.

Michael figured that was probably for the best, he was never totally sure when he'd have a seizure and he always looked away when he was in a car, terrified that any form of flashing lights would cause one even though he knew it to be unlikely.

Still, he felt honourbound to follow, though, jogging to catch up. “Hey! I'll come too!” He called out. “You shouldn't have be the only one in the rain, plus, who would help if you keel over again?” He teased.

Quinn gave a lighthearted chuckle as they climbed into the van. Whether because he was cold and wet or from the move itself, he wasn't sure, but he didn't really feel so great. He was dizzy and tired and achy and cold, and for the first time that day, he began to wonder if he overdid it again.

He backed the van into the first spot he could find, and despite being eager to get back inside where it was warm, he walked through the parking lot like he was moving through a tub of molasses. Ducking his head and wearing his hood did little to protect him from the sheets of rain that continued to fall.

Michael took off his jacket and put it around Quinn. “Come on, let's get this over with and get you warmed back up.” He wasn't sure where the boundaries were yet, but he could definitely be a mother hen type regardless of the relationship.

“I think you may have overdone it a bit. You should probably take a warm shower and head right to bed.” As much as he wanted to spend more time getting to know his new friend, he knew that would be better for him.

Quinn was still shaking as they walked through the front door. He felt guilty about taking Michael's jacket and having him help him move and a whole slew of other things that Michael had done for him in the short time they'd known each other. “I just want to c-change clothes and s-sit down for a bit.”

“You really should warm up first…” Michael seemed pretty worried about him but he nodded. “It's up to you though, I can't make you shower or anything.” He chuckled awkwardly knowing he'd just done something odd. “I'll go put the kettle on.”

And with that he shuffled away quickly to the kitchen, presumably to go start the tea. He felt flustered knowing how odd he'd just been, he meant well, he really did.

If Quinn thought anything about Michael's behavior he didn't say it, instead shuffling to his new bedroom for a change of clothes. He searched through his dufflebag for something warm, finally changing into pajama pants and a sweatshirt.

He felt sluggish and weak, like he had a fever, and he was willing to bet that he did. Crossing back into the living room, he noticed Michael still standing at the kitchen. “You haven't changed? You're just as soaked as I am.”

Michael jumped, Quinn having brought him back to reality. “What? Oh uh...yeah, I was just waiting for the tea.” He gestured to two steaming mugs beside him. “They're just about done steeping.”

He carefully picked them up and brought one over to Quinn and kept hold of his own, trying to commandeer its warmth for himself as he was shivering too.

“Go ahead and watch whatever you want,” he said with a head nod toward the living room television. “I think I may go have a shower actually.” He looked terribly frozen now in the light of the living room. He sipped at his tea before setting it down on a side table and heading off towards the bathroom.

Once Quinn was alone, he got comfortable on the couch and stared down into his tea. He enjoyed having the warmth leak into his fingertips rather than actually drinking it. It was nothing against Michael's tea-making ability, though.

Quinn had done a lot of thinking about Michael over the last few days. Sometimes he had a hard time getting his friend’s image out of his head even when he tried. There was something about him, and maybe it was because he'd been so incredibly kind and helpful when Quinn had really needed it, but now Quinn couldn't help but wonder—was he developing a crush?

He stared down absently into his drink until it started to cool, wondering how this would all play out.

Michael returned after a while, also in pajamas. He smiled at Quinn after sipping at his tea. He settled easily on the opposite end of the couch and became engrossed in the show, occasionally sipping at his drink.

“How are you feeling?” He asked, breaking the relative silence.

“Not great,” Quinn answered honestly, giving a halfhearted shrug. He gave a small smile, trying to convey and reassure that he wasn't nearly as bad off as last time. “Guess it was too early to be moving furniture and traipsing around in the rain, huh?”

Michael gave a small giggle. “Guess so.” He stood up and grabbed the throw blanket from before and tossed it at Quinn, not tucking him in like before. “I hope you feel better soon. Did you get any pasta by the way?”

Quinn shook his head. “I'm not really hungry. Haven't been since the other day. Thank you, though.” He yawned, burying himself in the blanket. It wasn't weird for him to snuggle with Michael's blanket, was it? After all, his friend had given it to him to use, and he really was still cold. “You like Pokemon?” he asked curiously, eyeing the pattern on the throw.

Michael nodded sheepishly. “Yeah, I'm kinda nerdy honestly…” he admitted, blushing nearly as red as the blanket.

“What about you? What do you like?”

Quinn might have replied that he liked researching and learning, scary movies, pizza, and the color blue, but as Michael was looking over to hear his response, he noticed that Quinn had dozed off already, his head leaning back against the cushions and the blanket tucked snugly around his body. Michael smiled at this, mumbling a quick goodnight before heading to his own room and settling into a new book.

It wouldn't have been either boy's ideal first night with a new roommate, but there was nothing to be done about it now, and that just meant they had the rest of their college careers to get to know each other.