#then tried to get on third bus only to find out they moved the stop several streets over which i cant walk

[agayconcept]

.

[eggyrocks]

bruised bonus -> six years back

m.list

♪ now playing: pride by kendrick lamar ♪

Her sneakers squeak against the hard linoleum floor as she sprints through the gymnasium, out of breath and the layer of sweat on her skin turned cold.

The evidence of her lost match is all over her: fresh, smudged blood leaving a trail from her nose to the bottom of her chin, her hands and fingers meticulously wrapped in white cotton, her hair disheveled and knotted. It was only on the bus ride from the ring to the gym that she was able to get her gloves off and stuff them into the depths of her bag.

She'll have time to wash the loss off of her later. For now, she sprints through the stands, down concrete stairs, ignoring the cheers and chants of each team's supporters. She only stops when she rams into the edge of the stands at the bottom of the stairs, hands bracing the barrier in front of her.

At once, her eyes find Iwaizumi on the court, and it's only then that she stops to catch her breath. The back of her hand swipes under her nose, wiping away a trickle of blood and smudging it along bumpy edge of her arm wrap. They're at the start of the third set.

She made it. Chest still heaving, she smiles at the realization. She didn't miss it.

She settles there, dropping her bag beside her feet and leaning over the edge to watch closer. Volleyball's not her area of expertise, no matter how many times Oikawa tries to explain it to her. It moves too quickly for her to keep track of, and she can't differentiate the genius plays from the normal ones.

But she loves to watch Iwaizumi play.

He plays volleyball the way that she boxes: heavy, forceful, head-on. Though Iwaizumi does tend to be the more deliberate, level-headed athlete. She watches him spike the ball, and it reverbs against the ground in a way that makes her flinch.

Iwaizumi plays in a way that's reliable and intentional. She can fight irrationally and erratically.

Her eyes trail Iwaizumi as he moves throughout the court. She doesn't follow the ball or its path; she stays fixated on her best friend.

In any other game, she’d call out to him. Yell his name at the top of her lungs and let it be known to him that she’s there. But there’s a deep concentration etched into his features, and she doesn’t want to be the one to break it.

Oikawa would kill her.

A few odd looks are tossed in her direction between volleys, people eyeing the bright red shorts and arm wraps and fresh, blossoming bruises. She doesn't really notice. Her time at these games is usually spent talking to whoever’s around her: charming parents of students she’s never formally met, gossiping with Oikawa’s cute fans and telling them the most embarrassing stories she could think of from when they were younger, provoking supporters of opposing teams. But today, her sole focus is on the game before her.

The game progresses, tight and unyielding. She notices halfway through the set the way that she bites down on her lip and tenses each time the ball drifts over to their side of the court. It makes her heart sink when the ball slams to the ground, when they’re blocked, when they dive for a ball that bounces against the ground right in front of them. She finds herself yelling in encouragement without meaning to at every receive, serve, and spike done well.

She doesn’t think she’s seen a game like this one, the grip on the railing in front of her making her knuckles go white. Iwaizumi dives to the ground to retrieve a ball, both desperate and ferocious, and she thinks of his words to her the night before.

I just don’t want this to be it. I don’t want it to be over.

The scores creep up. The ball falls right in front of Oikawa’s face. “Shit,” she mumbles under breath, mouth feeling dry.

It doesn’t matter if she lost today. She’ll get to fight again. More than anything, she wants this win for them. She doesn’t want this to be it for him.

The game continues. Everything seems louder and faster when it does. She watches in a nervous fascination as things occur too quickly for her comprehension. And now she’s transfixed by the back and forth. An exclamation of curses leaves her lips as Oikawa slams into a table, out of bounds, and sets the ball back over to Iwaizumi. Her heartbeat is in her throat as she tries desperately to follow, and she blinks, and then, the ball drops.

And it takes her a second to realize what that means.  

Oikawa spots her first, waiting in the hallways outside of the gym, dragging his feet and cursing to himself. He rolls his eyes at the spot of her. “Oh great, you were here to see us lose. How wonderful,” he spits out, voice drenched in agitation.

She doesn’t take it personally. Oikawa’s always like this when he loses. “You played good, Kawa,” she comments, meaning it, but not wanting to say anything further to upset him.

He scoffs, and eyes the now dried blood that stains her face. “Hope you lost too,” he snarks.

“I did,” she shrugs. “She kicked my ass.”

“Well, that makes me feel a little better,” Oikawa mumbles, and then looks over his shoulder behind him. “Your boyfriend got held up by Yuda, should be out in a second.”

The loss is so fresh for him, she decides not to bother correcting him. Oikawa can have this one. She gives him a firm pat on the shoulder that’s meant to be affectionate, but it jerks him forwards harshly. He gives her one last lingering look of annoyance before he steps away.

Iwaizumi isn’t far behind. He turns the corner and spots her, straightening up at the sight of her. “Hey,” he greets, stepping in front of her. Iwaizumi raises a knuckle and gently knocks it against the hollow of her cheek. “Couldn’t at least wash your face before you came?”

“Didn’t wanna miss anymore than I had to,” she tells him. “You played well, Haji.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he counters, brow furrowed. He keeps his gaze fixed on her busted lip and bruised jawline. “We still lost.”

“Who cares? I lost too. Everyone loses,” she tells him, but she doesn’t really believe it. She knows it matters to him. She knows that he’ll care no matter what she says.

“I missed that last one,” he states. “If I had gotten it then maybe-“

“You play a team sport, Haji,” she cuts him off. “Don’t shoulder the entire loss because of one spike that didn’t score. You still played in a way you should be proud of.”

Iwaizumi raises his hand and cups it around the back of her head, rustling her hair and knotting it up even worse. “You sound like Oikawa, you jerk,” he teases lightly, and uses that hand to pull her into his chest. Automatically, her arms wrap loosely around his waist. “Thanks for coming,” he says, resting his chin on the top of her head. “Sorry you lost your match. I was hoping at least one of us would’ve won.”  

Just slightly, he goes limp against her, like he’s finally able to release all of the tension that’s built up and kept him going. Her arms snake tighter around him, letting him know that she’s there to hold him up, if he needs her to.

She almost tells him that she would’ve rather he won than her, but she doesn’t it. She knows him well enough to know that it would just piss him off more. “Yeah. I should kick everyone on Karasuno’s ass to make up for it.”

Iwaizumi chuckles lightly against her. “Yeah, that I’d like to see.” He lets go of her then, and he takes a step back to give her a strained, small smile. “I gotta go soon. You’ll be around tonight?”

She knows what he means when he asks that. It’s the same routine they always have after a loss. Iwaizumi can’t be alone with his thoughts. He’ll start to blame himself and his thoughts will spiral. So she’s taken to sneaking in through his window in the middle of the night to distract him. Just to make sure he’s not alone.

“Yeah,” she confirms with a slight smile of her own. “I’ll be around. Just text me.”

He nods and lifts his hand to rustle the top of her hair, again. And even though he keeps the smile on his face, she can the frustration in his eyes and way he struggles to maintain it. “See you later.”

And it’s just past midnight when she gets the text from him. She’s already on her bike, on her way there when it vibrates in her pocket. The way she fights can be irrational and erratic. She rushes into it and she gets too hot too fast. That’s why she loses matches. In the ring, she’s not consistent. She’s not reliable. She’s not dependable.

But as the wind whips her hair as she flies down the street, she takes some comfort in knowing that she’s capable of it. She can be like Iwaizumi when he’s on the court. If not in the ring, then she can be like that for him, when he needs her to be.

an: childhood friends to lovers is such an important trope to me but whenever i write it cannot help but write tons and tons of backstory because there is NOTHING i love more than character/relationship development over time and exploring relationship dynamics so expect more of this tbh. currently planning little flashback chapters every five chapters or so. unless everyone hates this. then it never happened.

taglist: @wyrcan @thechaosoflonging @publicbathroompanic @bedeater @rottingt1tz @rintarawr @deluluforcarlos55 @ahseyy @localgaytrainwreck @cherrypieyourface @baskin-robinhoods @polish-cereal @iheartamora @ferntv @eclecticeggknightpsychic @httpakkeiji @does-directions @pinkiscool @hikikaimar @needtoloveoutloud @iheartpinky @makkir0ll @cr4yolaas @k8nicole @cannibalsrider @bookworm-center @causenessus @frootloopscos @0moonii @ekeio @milkwithspicyicecubes @michivrse @phoenix-eclipses @rinthegoose69 @melancholy-nightmares @kottonkndyy @hermaeusmorax (complete this form to be added, it is the only way to be added)

[slafkovskys]

neeeed more possessive quinn and angel thots pls

luke was going because a good percentage of his friends were still going to umich and he had only left a few months before, so spotting him on the sidelines at one of the first football games of the season wouldn’t be weird. jack was going because luke was going and because she had promised to get him to a darty while he was on campus. jack would never turn down a good party.

quinn, however, had said no when she pouted her lips at him in the kitchen upon finding out he was the only one not going. he said no again as he busied himself on his phone beside her in the nail salon and she batted her eyelashes towards him as her tech made the intricate design he had chosen on her fingernails. he said no for a third time when she was between his legs. he was stronger than his brothers, she couldn’t just ask him to do whatever she wanted while he was a little cum dumb and get her way. they both knew that.

it’s when she’s modeling her game day outfits for them in the living room that he caves. her prancing around in a navy blue cheer skirt that barely covered her ass and a white tank top with a maize-colored m in the center has him feeling something. the last time that quinn remembers feeling like this, this pang in his chest, the twisting in his stomach, is when he was ten and luke was six and his youngest brother stole his favorite action figure out of his room.

he remembers seeing it sticking out of luke’s backpack as they were walking to the bus stop and ripping it away, yelling something about it being his because it was. luke had no right to take something that was so obviously his (going through a toy story phase months before, he scratched his name on the sole of the toy’s boot so there’d be no question) and now here he was, almost twenty-four years old and watching the girl he shares with his brothers strut around their living room in little outfits with his alma mater plastered on them.

he watches as jack tries to slip a hand up her skirt and she shoves his hand away while luke watches bemused, “see, angel, i’m just showing you why you need to be careful about bending over when we go out-”

“it’s a good thing we’ll all be there, then,” quinn clears his throat and her head whips around to look at him. “y’know, to make sure nobody tries anything and you get to wear your cute outfits.”

she squeals and bounds over, straddling his legs easily. his hands go to grip onto the back of her thighs as she presses a quick kiss to his lips, “oh, thank you quinny! it’s going to be so much fun!”

fun was absolutely the last thing that quinn was having.

she had made good on her promise of dragging them to a darty and he felt so out of his element. it had been over four years since quinn had been a student at the university, everyone he knew (with the exception of her) had long graduated and moved on with their lives.

luke had cliqued off with dylan, ethan, and everyone else from his year. jack had gone off with brisson somewhere and he was really hoping that wasn’t him he saw in line for the mechanical bull. quinn had been attempting to make himself invisible as he also balanced keeping her in his sights. he was always aware of her, even more so that they were in somebody's crowded backyard and she was likely immune to the eyes on her as she downed another seltzer.

there’s one guy, tall and unnaturally blonde, who had been watching her similar to how a predator watches prey. quinn stands up a lot straighter when the kid steps away from his friends at the same time that she does and he watches with narrowed eyes as she finds her way into luke’s arms. the guy stops in his tracks and his shoulders fall and quinn can’t help the smug smile that graces his lips.

he watches as she turns in luke’s arms, his brother’s hands a light weight on her stomach as she holds onto his wrist, as her eyes search the crowd for something, for someone. her eyes land on him and he sends a quick to finger wave to which she pouts. she uses the hand that wasn’t holding onto luke to beckon him over and he goes easily, leaving nico mid-conversation about some golf trip he was trying to pitch to his other clients.

“quinny,” she whines and he knows she’s tipsy. luke doesn’t say anything, only sparing his brother a glance as he approaches and loosening his grip on their girl when he realizes it’s only him before turning his attention back to mark, “what’s wrong?”

he shakes his head, “nothing-”

“it is,” she interrupts and he raises an eyebrow, “you’ve got you’re annoyed face on. c’mon, tell me.”

he wants so badly to reach out and touch her, pull her out of luke’s arms and into his just so everyone at this party knows that she’s his too, but he can’t. instead, he sighs, “it’s nothing that you need to worry about, angel. just have fun. do you want another drink?”

“i want you to tell me the truth, quinn.”

and she never called any of them by their names. it was always quinny, jacky, lukey, or some pet name. she only did that when she was mad or annoyed and he could tell that she was over him not telling her what was making him have such a sour expression. she narrowed his eyes and he sips his beer before giving into the girl, “there’s a guy that won’t stop staring at you. it’s pissing me off.”

“you’re jealous?” she sends him a playful grin and his mouth is back to being set in a hard line. she shakes it off and leans back into luke’s chest, humming at the feeling of the boy’s thumb hooking into the waistband of her skirt, “where is he?”

“over by the bouncy castle.”

“over by the- oh my god. tripp?” she looked at him like he was crazy, “he’s in my creative writing class! he’s really nice and we help each other out with assignments and things.”

“oh, he’s nice?” there’s venom coating the word as he says it, “does he know that you have a boyfriend?”

“yes, he knows that i have a boyfriend, quinny,” she rolls her eyes before something switches, “but you know what he doesn’t know?”

quinn raises an eyebrow at the almost teasing grin that stretches across her lips. she taps at luke’s arm and they immediately fall, setting her free. she closes the couple foot gap between them and quinn’s eyes go wide as she smooths her hands down his chest. he warns, “angel-”

“he doesn’t know that i have two other boyfriends, too, and that’s not fair,” her lips fall to that signature pout as she grabs onto his hands and places them so suggestively on her ass. quinn can feel the end of that stupid skirt against his fingertips as her breath fans over his jaw, “it’s okay to be jealous, quinny. i’m just as much yours as i am luke’s or jack’s.”

“we’re in public,” quinn’s jaw clicks as she presses her lips to his neck. they had never done anything like this outside of the privacy of the lake house and god, was quinn’s brain going to short-circuit any minute. luke’s not even paying attention to the two of them, but he catches dylan sparing them a glance and when his eyes find quinn’s he quickly looks away.

“i know. i’m letting tripp know that my boys take care of me,” she leans her body more into his and it’s like muscle memory when his fingers grasp her ass cheek. he knows his thumb is resting right over the red ink that reads ‘bite me’ as she giggles, “he’s watching us.”

quinn smirks when luke finally looks at them and where quinn’s hand is. he nods, raising his drink to his brother before pointing something out to ethan. quinn’s chest rumbles as she grabs onto his shirt, wondering how long they could disappear without anyone noticing before the game started, “good.”

[avonne-writes]

Angel AU drabble

A lot of people asked about this AU, so here's a little drabble to hold you over until I can start writing this story 😇 Read the premise here

Invisible to the human eye, Gale follows his ward everywhere he goes. After a few years of careful guidance, humans tend to become more independent, and then he has time to pick up a second or even a third case, but John is a rescue. He’s going to need all of Gale's attention for a much longer time if his soul is to be saved. It’s exciting to be challenged with such a difficult ward. Neglected by an incompetent guardian - who's now demoted to administrator - he went down the path towards Hell. Gale's priority is to guide him back. His second, more personal goal is to make him happy too. They’ll have to see how John manages, but Gale will do his best.

Currently, they're on a dirty bus that coughs a trail of smoke as it chugs on towards the most dangerous neighbourhoods of the city. Gale tried to discourage John from boarding the repulsive vehicle, but his suggestion was ignored. It’s only their first day though - Gale just has to find the right technique to get through the wounded exterior of his soul. For now, he just settles down beside John and radiates an aura that keeps people from sitting next to him. He can tell that a stranger's closeness would distress John.

There are earbuds in John's ears. Gale examines them curiously, leaning in real close to see the emotions flickering through John's mind as he listens to the music. Human music has always fascinated Gale. He used to wonder if humans were trying to find the tunes of Heaven, but he knows that's not the case ever since he discovered rap music. He wants to learn John's musical taste. It could come in handy if Gale wants to influence his mood in the future.

The bus rolls to a stop, and John moves to get off. Again, Gale tries to hold him back. This isn’t a good place - he can already see the stains of malice peeling off the walls of a house by the bus stop, like a black, rotten layer of skin. He knocks a woman's suitcase over and makes a backpacker move to block John's way, but John is determined. He shoulders his way out of there and gets off the bus.

Outside, the night greets him with a chill and cruel blows of the wind. John's bruised face hurts as he squints against it. As he takes off towards an alleyway, Gale makes that wind stronger, even though his own nose wrinkles at the smell of depravity it blows out from the direction they're headed.

"Why don’t you go back home? You could take a hot shower there." He tells John gently. If he talks to John from the ethereal plane, his words form suggestions in John's mind, ideas that he thinks are his own. It's the easiest tool to use. Humans usually go along with what they call their sixth sense. And indeed, John stops. But a moment later, he squares his shoulders and resumes his steps.

Gale frowns. He has to step up his game.

They enter an establishment that Gale identifies as a nightclub. A shady one. Spilled drinks sticky on the floor, cigarette smoke, knives tucked into pockets, unprotected sex in the putrid bathroom. Gale can hear, see and smell it all as he traces John's steps, but his senses also reach beyond that. The place is swarming with demons and malicious spirits. Their waste litters the ethereal plane and clings to Gale's feet until he blasts it off in disgust.

His feathers ruffle. Behind him, his wings move from their relaxed position to a casual back-shield. He doubts that the slimy creatures cowering from him in the corners would attack him, but it never hurts to be cautious. As it is, the sea of demons threaded through the dancing human crowd parts for him, hissing at his light. His lower ranking siblings, those few who had the strength to brave this place, all seem to breathe a sigh of relief when he nods at them in greeting.

"Sir." They say as he passes.

"Keep up the good work." He replies calmly.

John doesn’t stop on the dance floor, so he doesn’t linger either, no matter how much fun it is to see the cowardly demons skitter, scared that he might smite them. He follows John to the back of the club, then out into the alley behind it.

There, they wait. It’s raining. Water soaks through John's hoodie. The residue of malevolent beings falls from the sky with every raindrop. Soon enough, Gale’s brushing its black soot off his wings. His iridescent white feathers contrast harshly with it.

"You don’t want to do this." He tells John. "Come on, why don't we get out of here?"

As if in reply, John mutters to himself. "The fuck am I doing here."

Gale smiles. "You don’t belong here."

He can feel the ideas battling in John's head, and he tastes the sweet scent of a step in the right direction, but suddenly, in a sharp twist, John's thoughts plummet into despair. Unpleasant memories swirl in his mind. "Right where I belong."

Gale's wings twitch. This won't be easy. They have a long road ahead of them, don't they?

[berenwrites]

Always and Forever - Stranger Things - Steddie - G

Rating: G | cw: none | tags: fluff, very light angst, Corroded Coffin, rockstars, touring

Prompt: Love is going out of your way to do something you know will make them happy (@forgottenkanji)

A/N: Written for @steddielovemonth day 29. Sorry I disappeared from this challenge halfway through. We lost one of our kitties (she was 14 ½) and I just kind of lost the impetus, but I figured I had to write something for the last day at least. No beta today because it was a last minute thing.

Also on AO3 soon | All My Other Stranger Things Fic

Always and Forever: Love Finds a Way

Steve stared at the phone for a long time after he put it down with the usual ‘I love you’. He spoke to Eddie every day after he got home and before Eddie was due on stage with the rest of Corroded Coffin. The three-month tour was nearly over, and it had done so much for the band’s popularity. Usually, Eddie sounded excited on the phone, even though he professed to miss Steve as much as Steve missed him.

Tonight, hadn’t been like that.

All Steve had been able to hear was the strain in Eddie’s voice. Oh, Eddie had tried to cover it with his usual exuberance, but Steve knew his boyfriend far too well. Something was wrong.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he picked up the phone again. He rang through to the band’s hotel, but this time he asked for a different room number.

“Hello,” came the rather disgruntled answer after a couple of rings.

“Gareth, what’s wrong with Eddie?” Steve asked without beating around the bus.

“Steve?” Gareth asked, although Steve was pretty sure it was just a stall.

“Gareth,” Steve said in a tone that usually had the not-kids-anymore kids jumping to do whatever he was telling them to.

There was a sigh from the other end.

“He’s having nightmares again,” Gareth finally said after a few moments silence.

“What? Why?” Steve asked.

“There was an incident at one of the venues,” Gareth revealed. “Nothing major, just some fans managed to get backstage and thought it would be hilarious to try and scare the big bad metal band. They had these demon masks and party poppers and hid in the green room. Security got rid of them, but it spooked all of us a bit.”

“If I ever get my hands on those assholes, I will fucking kill them,” Steve growled out, mind jumping to the nail bat he still kept under the bed.

The Upside Down was closed off, there hadn’t been any trouble for three years, but he could never quite shake the need to have a weapon to hand. He could only imagine what it was like for Eddie on tour in strange places. After all, Eddie had nearly died.

“They were just stupid kids,” Gareth did his best to sound soothing, but Steve was pretty sure they were actually in agreement.

“Why didn’t he mention it to me?” Steve asked.

“Probably because he didn’t want to worry you,” Gareth replied. “We’ll make sure he’s okay, Steve,” Gareth promised. “We love him too.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Thanks. Don’t tell him I called, okay? He’ll only worry about me worrying.”

“No problem,” Gareth replied. “Sorry, I have to go, the van’s waiting downstairs.”

“Knock ‘em dead,” Steve replied, “and thanks again.”

“See you in a couple of weeks,” Gareth said, and the line clicked off.

Putting the receiver back in the cradle, Steve stared at the phone for a little while longer. It was as he picked it up for the third time, he realised he had made the decision before he had even put it down the first time.

He didn’t stop moving until he was in sitting on the plane. He’d let Robin and Dustin know he was going and asked them to pass on the information. Robin had told him to ‘go get his man’. He’d packed a bag and called a taxi to the airport, barely pausing to make sure he had anything but his wallet. Luckily the girl on the ticket desk had taken pity on him and found him a not completely terrible flight across the country. Staring out the window, all he could think about was Eddie.

By the time he reached the hotel it was the early hours of the morning. He didn’t need to ask reception because he already knew the room number, so he headed straight up. When he stepped out on the right floor a guy in a black suit lurking in the shadows gave him a look. Apparently, someone was taking security seriously now. Corroded Coffin was what some publications liked to call an over-night sensation, even though they had been working hard for several years that didn’t seem to count. You couldn’t turn on a rock station without them coming up. They deserved to be looked after.

Also apparently, someone had briefed the security guy well, because he glared at Steve for a few moments and then appeared to relax. How security knew what he looked like he decided not to ask.

Walking quickly along the hall he got to Eddie’s door. The first thing he noticed was the sound of an acoustic guitar. Not really a surprise after what Gareth had told him. When Eddie couldn’t sleep, he always retreated to his music.

Lifting his hand, Steve knocked.

The guitar playing stopped.

Steve knocked again when no one answered the door.

A second later, the door was yanked inwards, and Eddie was staring at him as if he didn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

“Steve,” Eddie said, eyes big and round.

“Hi,” he replied and gave Eddie a little wave.

“Am I dreaming?” Eddie asked and sounded just a little afraid Steve wasn’t real.

“Nope,” he said, reaching out and touching the side of Eddie’s face.

Eddie almost clocked himself on the side of the head with his guitar, clearly forgetting he was holding it as he tried to cover Steve’s hand with his own. At which point, Steve took the guitar and gently shepherded Eddie back into the room. Once the door was closed, he put the guitar down, dropped his own bag and crowded into Eddie’s personal space.

“Missed you,” he said, taking Eddie’s face in his hands.

The were dark circles under Eddie’s eyes and his skin was pale, but he was just a beautiful to Steve as always.

“Missed you too,” Eddie replied, a tiny smile quirking his lips as he drank Steve in with his eyes. “How?”

“Need you to be happy, Eds,” he said, leaning forward so their foreheads were touching. “That’s all that matters.”

“But…”

“No buts,” he interrupted. “Need to hold you and chase the nightmares away.”

“Who told you?” Eddie asked, but there was no heat to his tone even as he wound his arms around Steve.

“Twisted Gareth’s arm,” Steve confessed, wrapping Eddie in a tight embrace. “Knew something was wrong on the phone earlier.”

“Not as good an actor as I think I am, huh?” Eddie said into his shirt.

“Only to me,” Steve assured him, “and well probably Wayne.”

That startled a laugh out of Eddie, but he didn’t move from his position in Steve’s arms.

“God I love you,” Eddie said.

“Me too,” Steve replied, “always and forever.”

When Eddie had gone off on tour it had seemed like such a big thing, the first reality of the rockstar lifestyle. Steve had worried it would pull them apart, but what he’d realised during the earlier phone call, was it was all irrelevant. All the mattered to him was Eddie. Everything else was just details to be worked out.

He didn’t have a plan. Hadn’t had more than the sure and certain knowledge he needed to get to Eddie. He would work out what to do next when he woke up in the morning with Eddie in his arms. That was the important part.

All My Other Stranger Things Fic

[ellethespaceunicorn]

Don’t Take My Sunshine Away, Part I

Title: Don’t Take My Sunshine Away, Part I

Rating: Explicit, 18+, Minors - DNI

Pairing: Lloyd Hansen x Reader (Sunshine)

Fandom: The Gray Man

Word Count: 2.5K

Series Summary: You lived your life on a schedule. Everything is planned out from sunrise to sunset. But what happens when you go out on a limb and out of your comfort zone? Will it have dire consequences?

Chapter Summary: You’d agreed to meet someone from the internet and you find yourself tied up in a basement. 

Warnings: dark fic!, attempted mugging, drugging, abduction, suspension bondage, Murder Daddy™️, oral sex (m receiving), dub-con, non-con, unprotected p-in-v sex, knife play, biting, blood play

A/N: I had an idea about Lloyd Hansen. Here is that idea. I haven’t written for Chris Evans’ character since Steve Rogers pre-Infinity War so this was an exercise and a half! Also, many many many thanks to @peyton-warren and @raccoon-eyed-rebel for helping me entertain Lloyd and for helping me to not lose my mind whilst writing this. Unbeta’d, we die like people who tried their best. 

Dividers by: @firefly-graphics 

Support/Reblog banner by me

Cover Art: by me

Spotify Playlist is here. 

Series Masterlist

My Masterlist

It’s just your luck, honestly.

You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The place was a dark street. The time was 9:03 pm.

Well, technically you could blame your Tinder date for this. He didn’t fucking show up and he didn’t respond to your texts or calls. Like he just disappeared off the face of the Earth. You ended up waiting for an hour and decided to just pay for your third cup of coffee and leave.

Luckily for you, the buses were still running and there was a stop just across the street from the diner. You climb off your stool at the counter and exit through a particularly noisy door. It alerts some guys down the street and they turn to look at you before turning back to each other. Your sigh of relief is reversed when you get across the street and hear one of them shouting at you before moving closer.

You check the bus schedule that hangs in the bus shelter. You only have to wait for five minutes for safety. 

What could go wrong?

“Hey baby, can I have your number?” The overwhelmingly strong skunky smell of bad weed hits your nasal passage and you gag. “Oh, what? I’m disgusting to you? Stuck up, bitch!”

“Look, I’m just trying to get home. I don’t want any trouble.” Your hand went to your pocket where you had your safety keychain on your keyring.

“Too fucking bad because you just landed yourself in trouble, cunt,” Three long strides and he has you in his grip, pulling you behind the bus shelter into the empty alleyway. He pushes you onto the wet pavement and is on top of you in seconds. He watches as you open your mouth to scream and he clamps a hand around your throat, cutting you off. “Who do you think is coming for you, unlucky bi–”

“What the fuck…hey!” A voice is coming from the street and getting closer.

Your attacker is being pulled off of you and it’s so dark in the alley that you can’t fully see who grabbed him. You see a dark blur and you hear sounds of a struggle before a strong pair of hands is helping you up. 

“Are you ok, Miss?” You’re being ushered down the alley to the only lit streetlight. The more you walk under its glow, you notice the man who saved you. Your eyes are drawn to the push broom on his lip first, then to his slicked-back hair, and finally to his dramatically-patterned polo and pastel chino pants.

“Yeah, I’m fine…I think. Thanks.” You reach out your hand to touch his where it lingers on your arm. He doesn’t attempt to remove his hand, even after you squeeze it with yours quickly.

“No problem, why don’t I take you home? My car’s just around the corner here.” He does attempt to pull you towards the street. You know better than to let anyone take you to a second location, so you put your hand up with a smile.

“That’s quite alright. I’ll just wait for the bus if you don’t mind.” You try and remove your arm from his hand but his grip on you gets tighter.

“Let me at least walk you back to the bus stop?”

“I’ll be fine, I promise.” You try to turn away and he pulls you closer to him.

“Why did you have to make this difficult, Sunshine?” His angry growl is quiet but no less intimidating.

“I’m sorry, wha–” You don’t get to finish as you feel a sharp prick in your bicep. Looking down, you see a syringe sticking out of your skin. You go to pull out the needle but darkness fades into your eyesight and you slip off into the void.

You awake to a pounding in your head. Your arms are sore. Your legs are numb. And you can feel the stiff presence of duct tape over your mouth. Opening your eyes, you try to raise your hand to shield your eyes from the sudden brightness but you realize your arms and legs have been immobilized.

Looking around, you see that you’re suspended about three feet above the ground in some pretty elaborate rope bindings. Your wrists are crossed against your bare chest. Your left leg is being held up straight, while your right leg is only supported by two lengths of rope on your thigh, leaving your foot to dangle which means your pussy is on full display. 

You hear a door open and two sets of footsteps walk down the stairs. As the steps get closer, you hear two voices as well. 

“...didn’t have to punch me so fucking hard!”

“Yeah? Well maybe if you didn’t have your slimy hands all over my things, I wouldn’t have had to bruise your fucking spleen. Don’t be such a pussy, Dougherty!”

 “Fuck you, Hansen.”

“Don’t be sad I have a new plaything and you don’t.”

“Yeah. Just don’t wreck this one like that last girl.”

You struggle in the ropes and try and grunt loudly through the duct tape and the metal anchor that holds the rope loudly jostles. You pick your head up and look to your right as the men come into view.

As you recognize the man who had you on the ground, you couldn’t believe your eyes when you saw the geometric-patterned polo-wearing man who tried to “save” you. 

“I’m so glad you’re awake. I know you must have a lot of questions. But, you’re gonna listen first,” He walks until he can grab onto the ropes that hold you up. Looking down at you, he smiles sweetly. He begins to swing you toward him, letting go and watching as you swing back and forth, “Now, my name is Lloyd Hansen, but you are to call me Sir. You now belong to me. From every thought you have to every step you take. I own all of it. You may be wondering why I chose you of all people. Well, it had to be you, Sunshine. You’re the one.”

You are at his mercy as his hands grope at your tits and he pinches your nipples. You turn your head to look away but he just grabs you by the chin and makes you look at him.

“Now, Sunshine, you take what Sir gives you and you are appreciative. Trust me, this will all make sense later. But for now, I think it’s time I claim what’s mine.” He stalks over to your legs, standing between them. He places a kiss on your left ankle as he grabs at your right thigh. Pulling your core flush with his clothed hardness, you can feel exactly how excited he is to own you.

“I’d hate to interrupt, but–”

“But yet, you are interrupting. What?” Lloyd says as he trails kisses down your calf, his mustache tickling you as he moves.

“Well, I just…you said you would pay me. And I don’t really wanna stay around for whatever this is, honestly.” 

Lloyd finally turns his head to the other man in the room before patting your leg, “I’ll be right back, Sunshine. Don’t you go anywhere, ok?”

Fucking asshole.

Pulling out a wad of cash from his pocket, Lloyd starts counting bills, “So what do you say to…a hundred bucks?”

“I say fuck you if you think I’m taking less than half a yard. Shit, I didn’t even get to fu–”

The pop of a gunshot cuts through not only his sentence but also his left eye. You watch as Lloyd pockets the money and turns back to you with a smile.

“Fuck, ok. I didn’t plan on shooting him in front of you. But…well, I did,” He caresses your cheek before ripping off the tape from your mouth. He tilts his head and raises his eyebrows, expectantly waiting for you to speak.

“What do you want from me?” Your wrists hurt from struggling against the ropes.

“Oh, Sunshine. I want everything from you…eventually. But for now, I want to use your mouth.” He unbuttons and unzips his pants, “Those fucking lips of yours look so delectable.” He traces your bottom lip with his thumb and you debate biting it. Then, you remember the dead guy in the room.

Just comply. He won’t have to hurt you if you comply.

You clear your throat to get Lloyd to look at you. “Um…S-Sir?”

“Look at you calling me Sir already like a good girl,” He beams, looking down at you and holding your face in his murderous hand, “What do you want to ask me?”

“Are you going to kill me, Sir?” You couldn’t stop the fat tears from falling as you blink up at his face. You watched as his smile fell and he crouches to bring his face to your eye level.

“I would love to tell you that I won’t kill you, Sunshine. But it really all depends on you. If you don’t give me a reason to kill you, I won’t kill you. It’s as simple as that, Sunshine.”

You feel your eyes glaze over as you thought about what Lloyd had said. You didn’t want to give him a reason to kill you. You also know that there was no one coming to save you. You had no family, no friends, no roommates. You had lived a solitary life. 

The sound of Lloyd clearing his throat brought you back to reality.

“Use my mouth, Sir.” 

No sooner does the half-sultry half-terrified sentence leave your mouth, than Lloyd is reaching into his chinos to pull out his fat dick as he walks around you. You tilt your head back and are met with his impressive package. Eight inches of veiny length in your face suddenly is a lot to handle. As he strokes himself, he makes sure to keep it just out of reach. You hate yourself for licking your lips and following his hand with your eyes.

He positions his dick slightly over your mouth and squeezes his length from base to tip so that a dribble of pre-cum hits your lips. You snake your tongue out to taste him, the salty bitter taste you expect turns out to be almost sweet. Why couldn’t he just taste terrible?

“Open up, Sunshine.” He steps closer to you as you part your lips. He doesn’t stop pushing in until you feel his balls touch your nose. You close your lips around him and breathe through your nostrils. 

Inhaling deeply, you’re hit with the familiar scent of sweetness mixed with musk—sort of Earthy. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say it was African black soap. You knew the smell very well, you used the body wash every day.

“Fuuuuck, baby. Gonna fuck this throat.” He wraps his large hands around your throat as he pulls out slowly, leaving just the tip before he slams back in making you gag. 

He starts a steady rhythm and soon his balls are slapping you in the face. You can deny it all you want, but the way he fits perfectly in your mouth is obvious. The way your hands clench into fists and unclench denotes the urge to grab him and pull him deeper. 

One of his hands moves from your throat to your tits. Pinching your nipples and groping the soft flesh must not be enough because soon he is slapping at your breasts, getting you to grunt around his dick. The groan that leaves him is so sinful, you wish you could squeeze your thighs together.

But you don’t have time to worry about that because Lloyd is pulling out of your mouth. A string of saliva connects you until he steps back. You try to follow him with your mouth but he’s out of reach too soon.

“Sir?” You don’t like the air of desperation in your voice when you speak. You watch as he moves to the other end of your body and you soon feel his hand roam from your thigh to your pussy.

In one swift motion, Lloyd is inside your cunt. With the grip his hands have on your hips, you know it’s going to hurt tomorrow. But, that’s a later problem because Sir is fucking you like he hates you. You should hate this, but you don’t. At least not yet.

“Fuck, Sunshine…knew your pussy was gonna feel good but DAMN!” 

You can’t help the slew of sounds that escapes your mouth as he fucks you. The last of which sort of sounded like “Hnnnngg”. You feel as if you are going to explode at any minute but a spike of fear hits you as you think about where Lloyd is going to finish. You’re not on birth control. The speed of his thrusts picks up and you can feel him swell inside you. Fuck it.

“Sir, cum with me!”

“Fuck fuck fuck fuuuuuuuuuuck…” Lloyd latches onto your stretched left leg with his teeth, leaving behind deep and angry bite marks as he empties inside you. Pulling out, he watches his spend leak from you, righting his pants.

You are in a state of bliss so deep that you barely register as Lloyd bites into your right thigh enough to break the skin in a few places. But you can feel the sting of his butterfly knife as it moves over your skin.  The letters “LH” well with blood on your leg as silent fat tears roll down your face.  

“Now you can wear my bite mark like the badge of honor that it is. And when that fades, you’ll still have my initials so you can be returned to me if you are ever lost. I don’t plan on losing you, so you better not plan on getting lost, Sunshine.”

“I don’t want to get lost, Sir. I like it here with you.” The tremble in your voice doesn’t hide your fear, and part of you doesn’t want it to. You want him to know he doesn’t have to worry about losing you somehow.

“Think you can behave for a bath and a meal? I’ll have to supervise the bath, of course. And we’d be eating together. Unless you like being hungry, in your own filth with my cum dripping out of you all night. What do you say?” Lloyd offers, the fingers of one hand ghosting over his initials on your thigh.

“Would I still have to be tied up, Sir?” So many questions you could have asked, but you picked this one. 

Maybe if your hands were free, you could…do what? Fight him? Pick a lock? 

No, just comply. You can do this. 

“You won’t be tied up, but I do have a gift for you upstairs. But you can only have it if you’re a good girl. Are you gonna be a good girl, Sunshine?” While he spoke, he dragged a fingernail from your thigh to your upper torso as he walked around your body to your head.

“I’ll be a good girl for you, Sir. I promise.” The words on your tongue felt both foreign and familiar. Almost like you weren’t afraid for him to hurt you. 

You were afraid that he wouldn’t. And that scared you more than anything. 

Part II

A/N: There will be more of this. I’ve never written for Lloyd before but I enjoyed him as the little devil on my shoulder.

@raccoon-eyed-rebel @peyton-warren

If you would like to be tagged in the next installment, lemme know 🫣

[eclipseiz]

Commander ﹒⪩⪨﹒

pairing- phillip graves x reader

(♡ synopsis)- a mission results in you getting hurt, but also with commander graves head between your legs

warnings- "who did this to you" trope, established relationship, oral (fem receiving), dirty talk, fingering

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Charging back into base you shoved pass the lingering soldiers who's gazes were glued to you.

Weather it was because you were the 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 woman on base or because it looked like you were hit by a bus. Your hair that was normally thrown back in a tight bun was sticking up at all different angles. Your dress has a tear up the side that was being held closed by your hand and the star of the show was the deep purple bruise that imprinted on the side of your face. Sending you into a drug house acting like a prostitute had to be the worst plan in history

"L.T hold on" you heard Soap yell from behind you but you kept moving forward not bothering to stop your journey to the bathroom to wash up before crashing in bed.

You felt a hand grip your arm making you whip around and lock eyes with the mohawk wearing man, "What in gods name do you need right now? Wasn't sending me into El Sin Nombre's house 𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚍 may I add enough?!"

He quickly dropped your arm, "Were sorry L.T we didn't know it would escalate that quick." he said solemnly.

You scoffed shaking your head and rolling your tongue against your cheek, "It wasn't on you Soap. Its on the idiots that sent me in their and didn't proceed to have my back." you patted his shoulder before stepping back. "I'm gonna clean up and get some rest, tell the others I do not want to be bothered unless someone's getting dying."

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

Stepping out of the steamy shower you quickly dried off before walking to the mirror assessing the purple marking around your cheek.

Hearing the door click open you quickly turned around to yell at whoever was charging into an occupied bathroom but cut yourself seeing it was Phillip.

"I heard you got hurt." he said before stopping infront of you and bringing his fingers to your chin to turn your head. "W𝗁𝗈 𝖽𝗂𝖽 this 𝗍𝗈 𝗒𝗈𝗎?" he asked between clenched teeth.

You brought your hand to his chest rubbing down the hard abs underneath his muscle shirt, "I was told to go into a back hallway to find an entrance to the third floor. Ghost said he was watching but he must have gotten distracted because a Cartel member cornered me in and tried to make advances on me." You sighed. "When I rejected him he backhanded me. I got the knife I had on my thigh and killed him."

He tensed under your hands, "Are you okay?" he asked slowly watching for any reaction on your face.

"Coudn't be better. Would just love to take a nap." You stepped back towards the door to your bedroom, "Wanna join?"

Phillip didn't skip a beat in following after you and sitting on the bed, watching as you dropped the towel covering your naked body. You went to reach for pants and a shirt but he stopped you, "Don't bother with that, come lay down baby."

You smirked as you walked to the side of your bed and crawled over to him, "Why's that?"

"Lay down and I'll show you." as you moved onto your back he moved onto his stomach, his breath hitting your hot core, "Aw look, my pretty girl already soaked." he rubbed your juices around your lips before moving up to your clit.

"P-please." you gasped out, hand coming down to grip his cropped brown hair.

He chuckled before lapping at your clit while pushing the tips of his fingers into your entrance. Your head hit the back of the pillow as you moaned out a dreamy sigh. Noticing you already chasing your high he pushed his finger the rest of the way in, curling them to hit your g-spot at the perfect angle.

You had only been in this position for 3 minutes and he already had you a panting mess, "Make me come Commander. Please."

He perked up at the use of his title flicking his tongue faster, "Cmon Baby, Cmon Baby, Cmon Baby." He whispered agaisnt your puffy clit.

You came with a earth crushing moan, your body tensing and your hands pushing Phillips head further into your core, "Holy Shit." you sighed out as he moved back up your body giving you a passionate kiss before moving off the bed.

"Sleep well baby, Ill be back in a little bit." the Commander said before tucking the blankets over and turning the light off.

Lets just say Ghost got his ass handed to him that night.

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

[autisticlancemcclain]

The first time Keith sees the boy is a brief flash of eye contact through the classroom door before he’d averted his eyes and looked away. Keith glances around the room to see if anyone else had noticed the boy, but he seems to be the only one, so he dismisses it. Probably just someone from another grade going to the washroom or something.

The second time he sees the boy is thirty-two minutes later, when he knocks on the door. Miss Dindial opens the door, ushering him in, and then asks him why he’s come to visit.

“To come to class,” he says simply, hooking his thumbs on his backpack straps. Keith thinks that it’s strange that he still has it on him, since they were a couple hours into the day already. First recess has even passed.

“I have all my students already,” Miss Dindial responds with a furrowed brow. “I think there might have been a mix up.”

“This is the fourth grade class, right?” the boy clarifies, brown eyes wide and a little nervous. “I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t find it earlier. That’s why I’m late.”

Keith thinks back to the way the boy had walked past the classroom earlier. He tries to remember the boy’s expression, but his mind comes up blank.

“It might be best if you just stay here until I get this sorted with the office,” Miss Dindial decided. “Until then, you can grab a seat — oh, I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t get your name!”

“I’m Leandro Agustín Nuñez Carmen Esposita-McClain. But you can call me Lance.”

Ha. L-A-N-C-E. Keith has never met someone who’s name is an acronym before.

Miss Dindal blinks. Then she smiles, eyebrow raising. “Clever. Now go on ahead and sit down, Lance. You can put your bag by your chair. Right now we’re discussing class rules for this year — you haven’t missed much. Now —”

Keith stops listening, going back to staring out the window. Every so often, he glances three rows over to where the boy — Lance —has chosen to sit, watching him diligently writing on a piece of paper. Keith wonders if he’s really taking notes. He doesn’t know any other fourth graders who take notes. He wonders if Lance is one of those brainy, know-it-all teacher’s pets who tattles all the time.

Something tells him he isn’t.

Lance looks up, catching Keith staring. Keith flushes and looks away. He chances another peek, several minutes later, only to find Lance still looking at him. He smiles, wiggling his fingers in a little wave, then goes back to writing. Keith wonders what that means.

When the lunch recess bell finally rings, he scrambles out like everyone else. He looks for Lance on the playground, but doesn’t see him anywhere. He doesn’t see the boy for the rest of the day, actually.

———

The third time he sees the boy is on the bus the next day.

Keith is the first person on the bus, then a group of eighth-graders who pat him on the head before they go sit at the back. After them, usually, is Ethan from sixth grade. He’s a butthead who always starts fights when no one’s looking and then gets Keith in trouble for it later. Keith hates him. But instead of turning left on Ethan’s street, today, the bus turns right, onto an unpaved road leading to the more rural areas. Keith’s never been down there before.

The bus goes down the road for ten minutes before stopping at an old, run-down house, paint peeling around the edges. It’s the new boy — Lance — who waits at the curb, nervously picking at the ratty sleeve of his shirt. He boards the bus with his head down, mumbling a thanks to the driver before glancing up to find a seat.

When he makes eye contact with Keith, his whole face lights up. He waves excitedly, moving forward, put he pauses suddenly before he sits down, suddenly shy and unsure.

“Um. Hello. I’m in your class, my name’s —”

The bus lurches forward, sending Lance tumbling, right on top of Keith, squishing him into the window.

“Oof,” Keith exhales, but doesn’t shove Lance off of him. He’s not sure why. That would be his usual move.

“Sorry! Dios, I’m so sorry!” Lance squeaks, scrambling up. He kneels on the seat next to Keith, but doesn’t go to a different seat. This pleases Keith, for some reason.

“‘S’okay,” he assures. “You’re basically a feather, anyway.”

Lance giggles, some of the nervousness leaving his posture. Keith thinks that he’d like to make it all go away.

“I’m Lance,” he says sticking out his hand.

“I know,” Keith replies, shaking it.

Lance laughs again, and Keith finds himself grinning.

“I know you know, I saw you smile when I introduced myself yesterday. You have a nice smile. I just introduced myself again because I want to know your name.”

Keith’s ears turn red. Oh.

“Keith,” he blurts out. He’s not sure if he’s more embarrassed about the smile comment or the fact that he forgot to introduce himself, but Lance doesn’t seem to mind.

“That’s a cool name. I’ve never heard it before. Keith.” He puts a lot of emphasis on the ‘ee’ sound, cutting the ‘th’ short so it almost sounds like a ‘t’. Keith likes the way he says it.

“I moved from Cuba earlier this year —“ that explains the accent — “so everything here is kind of strange. English is a very weird language. Why are so many of the words the same? I do not understand it.”

“You don’t seem to have much trouble with it,” Keith observes.

“That’s because I’m smart,” Lance says, but it’s more of a statement of fact. The sky is often blue, the ocean is salty, Lance-from-Cuba is smart. Keith thinks his confidence is admirable. He wonders if public school will crush it to death.

He hopes not.

“Plus, Cuban schools start in August and end in May, so we moved here in May and I had more months to learn it. I was lonely, though.” Lance frowns. Keith wonders what he can do to make him smile again.”

“Why were you lonely?” he asks hesitantly.

“I left all my friends in Cuba, and all the other kids were in school all day, so I haven’t had the chance to make any friends yet. Except for you, of course.” Lance’s face gets unsure again, and he looks at Keith shyly. “If that’s okay with you.”

Keith nods frantically. He’s never had a friend before, and he likes Lance. He’d like to be his friend.

“Great!” Lance chirps, smiling his sunny smile again. Keith can’t help but smile back — it’s almost like Lance’s smiles are contagious. “I’ve never had a friend with a mullet before! I like it, though. You look cool.”

The two of them chat for the rest of the ride — well, mostly Lance. He’s a bit of a motormouth, but Keith doesn’t mind. It means he doesn’t have to talk as much. And Ethan doesn’t bother him when he sees Keith’s not alone, so that’s a bonus.

———

The fourth time he sees Lance is the next day. Lance sits with him, again, and they talk until school. They hang out a recess, too. Keith notices that although Lance never runs out of things to say to him, he’s kinda shy around everyone else. Quiet. Gets stressed if too many people are talking to him, and the screaming that’s a constant on the playground makes him wince. They take to playing make-believe on the field a distance away from the playground — they’re currently playing space defenders.

The next two days are the weekend, so Keith doesn’t see Lance at all. He stays at the group home he’s currently staying in, reading quietly in the tree in the backyard until his foster mother calls him in for bedtime

The fifth time he sees Lance is on Monday, and it’s not much different from Friday. Lance sits with him on the bus and talks his ear off until they get to school, and then they play together every recess. Lance even helps Keith during math, which he appreciates. He finds out Lance is very good with numbers. He has the multiplication table memorized up to fifteen, which Keith thinks is crazy, but Lance admits he can only do that because his dad makes him write them out every day after school.

The sixth time he sees Lance is the day after that, again, on the bus. This time, when Ethan boards after Lance, he doesn’t sneer at Keith and go to to the back with the other older kids. He seats in the seat directly behind them. Keith tenses immediately.

“What’s wrong?” Lance whispers.

“Nothing,” Keith replies tersely. He doesn’t know how to explain the situation to Lance, and besides, there’s not much Lance can do anyway.

Ethan, unfortunately, notices Keith’s tension, and laughs meanly. “Aw, Oliver Twist,” he mocks, “you didn’t think I forgot about you, didja? C’mon now, I’m not like your mommy. I won’t ditch ya. We have lots more time together, isn’t that right, Keith?”

Keith grits his teeth, pressing back the tears burning hotly at his eyes. He’s over the stupid Oliver Twist jokes – Ethan uses them so much they’re boring, now – but he’s embarrassed that he made them in front of Lance. In front of his new friend.

Through the blur of his watery eyes, Keith sees a small hand clench, feels Lance shift as he turns around the face the bully.

“Leave Keith alone,” he hisses.

“Ooooh, Keith!” Ethan laughs, “got your boyfriend protecting you now? Guess you really are a KoGAYne! Ha! Do your foster brothers know you’re a f—”

There’s the heavy thud noise of skin hitting skin, and the sickening sound of a bone crunching. Ethan screams, and the bus lurches to a stop. Keith whips around, eyes wide, only to find Lance glaring down at Ethan, knuckles split and red.

“My nose!” Ethan screams. “The little freak broke my nose!”

The bus driver storms down the aisle, demanding an explanation, and Ethan cries a made-up sob story about how he was just minding his business when the weirdo new kid came out of nowhere and decked him in the face ‘to show who’s boss around here’.

Keith snorts quietly. Yeah, right. Lance is no more a bully than fly to the moon — yesterday, he saw a worm dried up on the pavement and cried so hard Keith was worried he’d throw up. He’d insisted they have a funeral for it.

Regardless, the bus driver believes Ethan, and yanks Lance by the arm to the seat behind her. Keith stares after him with wide eyes, worried, but Lance shrugs and shoots him a wink.

Keith doesn’t see him for the rest of the school day, or the day after that.

———

The seventh time he sees Lance he is relieved. Lance strolls down the middle aisle of the bus, plopping down next to Keith. There are four Hello Kitty bandages on his left hand.

“What happened?” Keith whispers.

Lance grins. “I got suspended, and I’m grounded for two weeks, but that’s it.”

Keith stares at him, a little awed. “You got grounded? For me?”

“Of course!” Lance assures. “You’re my friend! I wasn’t gonna let that butthead say those mean things about you. You’re too cool for him, anyway.”

Keith stops counting after that.

[misc-obeyme]

I'm torn between going in order of scenes or just rambling about whichever scene I can't stop thinking about, but right now this is what happens next lol

Mammon who feels like he's dreaming, and almost trips over his own feet when he turns around to start making my drink. His heart feels like it's beating faster than after he told Lucifer he bought a building and had to run away from the incoming lecture.

(I didn't think about the logistics of Mammon being the only one working there, and what the menu would be like. Pastries I feel last a lot longer, but simple stuff like egg/bacon/cheese sandwiches should be fine if prepped in the morning?? Mammon just heats them up. There's that, with other variations containing ham, no cheese, no egg, etc. )

Mammon is questioning life, because he didn't know that Solomon and I know each other. Because what are the chances !! The world is big and vast, so why are the three of them intertwined in each other's lives? He's half listening to me reiterating the bus situation to Solomon, who's finding it way too amusing.

He sneaks a glance, and tries very hard to ignore how cute Solomon looks when he's laughing. His eyes squeezed shut and a hand pressed to his forehead. And how I am moving my hands around animatedly as I talk, never able to keep them still. Always fiddling and fidgeting. His thoughts are interrupted by the beeping of the mini oven.

Mammon sets down a plate in front of me, with my usual croissant and sandwich, and a cup of hot coffee. I pause mid sentence, staring at the cup, then up at Mammon, and back again with utter confusion. I bite my lip to keep from laughing, because that's how I react when nervous, and thank Mammon while uncapping the lid to blow on the coffee.

"What? What's with that face?" "*coughs to stifle laughter* Nothing. Everything is great. I'm just gonna... Enjoy my hot coffee." "Does Mammon also know your order by heart and have it ready when you come in?" "I already told ya, I don't know anyone's order! I don't keep track of nothin'!" "Oh yeah, he already knows my order. I always text him when I'm on my way, and he always has it ready in a container to go because I take it to work. Sometimes he draws a smiley face or a music note and-" "Q-Quit tellin' him lies about what I do for ya, or I won't do it anymore!" "Aw, how come you don't draw on my orders, Mammon? Am I not a special regular too?" "What? Special?! I didn't say anyone was- *gets interrupted by someone walking up to the counter* this isn't over, ya hear?!"

"So, what was with the look you gave Mammon?" "Hm? Oh! Um... He made my drink hot instead of cold like I always get. I only get it cold because I don't have the patience or time to wait for it to cool. But I didn't have the heart to tell him, I didn't want to have him remake it when I'd enjoy it all the same." "Well, you have plenty of time now, right? There's no customers waiting for you. The record shop can wait for you to enjoy yourself. What are the chances of us all being here?" "What? Like fate? You think it's fate today happened?" "Can't a man believe in the magic of life?" "What are the two of you yapping about? How amazing my coffee is, right?"

I think it'd be funny if Solomon was cramming for a math exam. I can imagine Mammon blurting the answer out after glancing at the problem, and both Solomon and I are looking at him like he has a third head. Mammon starts explaining how he solved it and trying to walk us through it. Solomon is both confused and fascinated, meanwhile I'm intrigued but also getting flustered over Mammon being good at math. I am good at math (algebra specifically), but not geometry (or calculus)!! Geometry ruined my life.

The three of us getting lost in conversation, Mammon occasionally having to make orders. We all lose track of time, sometimes going on tangents to random topics. Maybe explaining to each other how we know each other. More math problems. Solomon mentioning he's stuck on a piece/score he can't complete, and had to take a break by focusing on something else. Also, that he can only spend so much time with the piano at school because of limited hours, his keyboard at his apartment can only help so much (ehehe, plot setup)

anyway, we lose track of time, with Mammon closing shop 40 minutes late. Solomon and Mammon exchanging numbers (I already had both of theirs), and we make a group chat because Solomon suggested we should hang out outside of the cafe (I HAVE GROUP CHAT NAME IDEAS)

The record shop ends up closed an extra day because I fell behind in my schedule. And it's not until Mammon is cleaning up, and me and Solomon have both left that he gets a text from me. 'Hot coffee ain't so bad after all :)' Mammon is staring at his phone, trying to decipher the message, and promptly yells into his apron after realizing he fucked up. Poor Mammon. OKAY IM DONE 😭 i am having too much fun i swear

- ✨ anon

OMG. I actually feel bad for Mammon, what an absolute cutie lol. Getting ganged up on by his two love interests and then realizing later that he messed up the coffee adlkfdjsfj

You had better be saving this somewhere other than my ask box, ✨ anon! That dialogue is excellent. They feel so in character, I love it!!

And of course I love Mammon being a whiz at math. Like without realizing it, too. I'm so terrible at math, I find it very impressive when people can do math in their heads.

(One could argue that there is math in music but I would rather die than think about that too deeply. I can just feel rhythms I don't need to count beats or think about metronomes or tempos thanks.)

I need to know the group chat name. Or the ideas for it! Only if you wish to divulge them, that is!

Thank you for bringing this story to me, it's like getting a little fic update in my ask box lol!!

[grimmbitty]

Okay guys here’s my writing sample for my current work in progress!

└── ⋆⋅⚡️⋅⋆ ──┘

Shazam: City of Brotherly Love

Chapter one: Work in Progress

(Revision: fight scene fix & grammar fix )

It was an early autumn day. The kind of day where the wind was cool and brisk, but the sun covered everything with a subtle warmth that I could feel against my skin. I was intermixed in the small crowd that was my new foster siblings as we walked down the block, on our way to school. It was my first day at Fawcett High, my second day at the Vasquez house, and my third time getting reassigned to a new home this year.

I’ve done a lot of moving around, especially these past few years, but I don’t let that stuff get to me. I am so close to actually finding my mom this time around. I’m just really hoping the kids in this group home actually leave my stuff alone. I always keep the most important things in my backpack anyways, because I get tired of people rummaging through my belongings when I'm not looking.

As Freddy and Mary talked amongst themselves, the youngest kid in the group home was most excited to give me a tour. Her name was Darla, and it was the easiest to remember because she wrote it on a banner she hung on the wall, over the bed I was sleeping in this past weekend.

She talked the entire time. And I felt kinda bad that she was wasting her breath, because I was only half listening anyways, tuning in and out of her descriptions as we made our way into the school. It was a very familiar scene. A sea of a thousand faces passing by. People talking, people screaming, people jumping, hugging, and twirling each other around as if they didn’t just see each other yesterday.

Darla’s voice pulled me back out of my train of thought. “And here’s the main hallway. This school is pretty big so if you get lost, there's a map over there. But I think for today I could walk you to your first class just in case.”

Freddy cut into the conversation , “Hey, I think he’s got it from here, D. I know you’re excited for him to have his first day at Fawcett, but let’s just give him a little room to breathe for now.”

As we made our way over to their lockers, Darla went with Mary and stopped at her locker first. I continued walking down the hall following Freddy’s lead as we made our way to his locker. He looked over at me with a hint of concern in his eye. I felt his gaze look me up and down quickly before taking a step closer. “Hey dude, you’re okay, right? I know this is a lot for one morning.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose while I took a second to think. Doing the whole “new foster kid” thing at almost every school in West Philly didn’t really phase me, but I was pissed that I got reassigned to a group home on the other side of town. I knew getting caught was going to be a major setback and I still had a lot of work to do if I was gonna keep trying to find mom. Not to mention I already spent what little money I had on bus passes and subway tokens.

I look back at Freddy, “Yeah, I’m fine.” I let myself fall back onto the lockers to lean on them as we continue talking.

“Don’t worry. I know new faces, new school, new home. It’s a lot. I get it, but I genuinely think once you kinda get the feel for things around here you’re gonna fit in perfectly.”

“Everyone says that, Freddy.” I look off to the side, avoiding eye contact as he shoots me an abrupt look of confusion, tilting his head to one side as he furrowed his eyebrows, seemingly at a loss for words.

“Look. I don’t mean to be a dick but, I don’t plan on staying here for long. I'm sure you guys are lovely, but I already have a family. I already have a mom. They’re out there, looking for me. I know it.”

Freddy let out a small sigh. “Billy, look. I know this shit sucks, hard. Everyone in this house has done their fair share of running away too. We’ve all tried it at least once. But, you should at least give this place a chance.”

I lightly scoffed at the idea. “Yeah, well whatever, I guess.”

“Listen I know I can’t stop you if you’ve already got your mind set on looking for your mom. But, just between us, I would just try to settle down somewhere until you age out of the system so you can at least keep a roof over your head.” I could see his expression grow more concerned as he spoke. “I just don’t want you to run out of places you can fall back on.”

As I opened my mouth to reply, I was interrupted by the loud crash that was two upperclassmen barging down the hall. To my unfortunate surprise they slam open the locker door next to Freddy, nearly crushing his hand in the process. Freddy scoffed, annoyed as we saw them jam wads of crumpled papers into their lockers.

“Hey Freeman, you wanna keep your crutches to yourself bro?” One of the guys said as he pushed Freddy’s crutch with his shoe.

“Seriously man, how many peoples toes do you smash with that thing in a day?”

Freddy took a step back. “Dude, I was here first, and I was almost done anyways. What’s your problem?”

Both of the upperclassmen started to smirk at each other in amusement. “It was just a joke man, you don’t have to be so soft all the time.” Then he pushed Freddy backwards into me and I felt the weight of his body hit me like a bag of sand. I helped him regain his balance so he didn’t get the chance to fully hit the ground. But these douchebags were seriously just okay with doing this?

“Freddy, who the hell are these guys?” I whisper to him as I hear Mary shout in the distance. Slamming her locker and starting to yell at them as she stomps over.

Freddy says, “They’re the Bryers. Most annoying dudes in school.” He rolls his eyes. “They’re both technically in my grade but one of them is a super senior, so he should’ve already graduated by now.”

“Yeah, that guy who shoved you looks like he’s pushing thirty. He should probably worry more about figuring out his plans for retirement instead of being a dick.”

Freddy covers his mouth with his free hand as we both start to giggle to ourselves. Then as we regain our chill we start to tune back into Mary’s scolding. “And another thing, literally half the things you guys say aren’t even “jokes”. They’re just shallow insults you guys laugh after saying because you guys are assholes.”

Freddy seemed a little taken aback by Mary calling someone an asshole, especially since Darla was standing only a few feet away.

“You guys need to grow up. You’re not funny, no one here likes you, and you guys need to learn to keep your hands to yourself and leave people alone!”

I started to wince a bit at the scenario playing before me. I could tell that Mary was pissed, and that she meant every word she said. She was standing up for her brother, and I respect that. But, after every word the Bryers just smiled and giggled to each other more and more. They didn’t care about anything she was saying, they were just getting entertainment out of the fact that she was so mad her face was turning red.

They continued to take turns taunting. One of them jumped back into the conversation, “What are you gonna do about it Bromfield? Give me a lecture? Send me to my room? Mary please, you’re such a baby. Just because you like to boss people around all day and play pretend mom for your fake siblings doesn’t actually make you the boss of anyone. It just makes you look like a massive dork.”

Mary recoiled in disbelief. Any red in her cheeks that she lost catching her breath in the passing moments came back twofold.

I spoke up from behind Mary as she whipped her head around, almost seemingly like she forgot that Freddy and I were witnessing these boneheads too. “You guys are being total assholes for no reason.”

The brothers pushed Mary out of the way and walked over to me and Freddy. Their faces etched with both disgust and confusion. “ I don’t know who this guy is, but let’s get one thing straight. We weren’t being assholes, you guys are just babies. Do none of you guys know what a joke is or are you guys just soft or something?”

“At least I’m not soft in the head, like you two are.”

Freddy shot me an alarmed side eye as the brothers talked amongst each other. Under their breath I could hear one of them say. “Did you just call us stupid?” He said as he shoved me with annoyance.

“Get your gross-ass hands off of me!” I fired back as I shoved the younger brother into his older brother as a taste of his own medicine.

Then they both started to walk closer to me, their figures blocking out the lights in the hall as the smell of body odor and old milk started to creep into my nose. I took a step back to try and preserve my personal space.

“We’re not soft in the skull, dipshit. But you might be.” One of the brothers said as he grabbed my head and slammed it into the wall of lockers behind me.

A sharp jolt of pain shot through every inch of my skull as I grabbed the back of my head in sudden agony. I accidentally let out a small yelp as the feeling erupted through all my nerves. Overwhelming me before I could even process what just happened.

The loud crash of the lockers made everyone in the hall start to look in our direction.Their faces slightly blurred as a sudden wave of dizziness tuned out the shouts of the growing crowd. It was time to go. I ducked under one of the brothers arms and tried to make a break for the exit, only making it two steps before I was yanked backwards by the hood of my jacket.

I tried to squirm around to break free, trying to focus more on escaping than landing any hits, but I was hardly able to keep my feet on the ground. The younger brother put his arms underneath both of my armpits, locking me into place and forcing both of my arms out to the side. Leaving me in an extremely unfavorable position to win this fight.

The older of the two brothers started to roll up his sleeve as he stomped closer to me, winding up his fist to punch me as hard as he could. The faint sounds of Freddy and Mary shouting at them to stop faded into the distance as I saw his fist come hurtling towards me.

I had only seconds before I was either about to lose either some of my teeth or some of my breakfast. So I had to think fast. As the younger of the two brothers was still struggling to hold me still I reflexively ducked just in time to hear the *click* of his brother’s knuckles colliding full force into his jaw.

The feeling of the icy cold floor was an immediate taste of relief that I never thought I’d feel as I got up and started to make a run for it. The bell for first period rang throughout the halls as I saw a flock of adults running over to the Bryers. I escaped and made my way out the front two doors. As I sprinted out to the sidewalk I heard the Bryers burst out of the school’s front doors right behind me, cussing me out as they began to chase after me.

Not the best first day I’ve ever had, but definitely one of the most entertaining ones.

End.

[palettepainter]

If Zoot’s cousins visited the muppets who would they get along with outside of the band?

So I’ve actually thought about this and I already made a small list of characters they’d get along with! I’ll start with Liv since she works with The Muppets as the bands sparky 

Liv: 

Beauregard: While Liv is the bands sparky she kind of more or less keeps their hangout space/the bus clean out of habit. Her and Beauregard sometimes hang out. Liv also finds him a calming presence since Beauregard, intended or not, tends to dodge most of the chaos at the studio. Liv also knows Beauregard can be forgetful in a harmless way, so she hangs around to remind him his cleaning cloth is in his back pocket when he thinks he’s lost it 

Swedish Chef: Chef is one of the first people Liv meets when she goes to the studio for the first time. She felt awkward about the language barrier so after going on tour with the band a few times to places with different languages she decided to try and learn Swedish. Chef is more or less her tutor who offers her pointers when she accidentally says something incorrect 

Scooter/Walter/Skeeter: Liv was in school was Scooter and Skeeter growing up. Her and Scooter were often paired together in sport actives since both were lacking in stamina. She later meets Walter after spending some time at the studio, she was a bit intimidated by his overzealous/energetic personality but she got used to him. Skeeter isn’t at the studio but she’s Scooter brother, so she went to the same school as her and later became her girlfriend 

Rowlf: The band are frequents at the Tavern, and with Teeth being Rowlf’s best friend Liv naturally would have met him at some point. She first meets Rowlf when she gets invited to a party of sorts the crew are having after she’s finished wiring the bands set (events that take place in Hired Sparky. She later moves into the apartment above the bar and Rowlf becomes her landlord. When she’s not on tour with the band for whatever reason she babysits Newphew for Rowlf when he’s managing the bar 

Bunsen/Beaker: Liv is a nerd, Bunsen and Beaker are king nerds. I wanna write a story about how these three meet because Liv likes to help out with their experiments sometimes when Bunsen needs a third assistant to test a new invention or something. The band more often then not have to stop Liv from accidentally signing herself up to being a Guinea pig, she sometimes forgets her own safety when it comes to cool science stuff 

Zephyr-

Yolanda: Girl buddies, they probably met when Zephyr was still working on Muppets Tonight. Zee likes a bit of gossip as much as Yolanda does, so the two like to have frequent gossip sessions together when Zee comes down to visit the studio 

Teeth/Floyd/Janice: Zee spent her summers down in Louisiana with relatives, over time she became friends with Floyd, spending many sunny afternoons listening to music in the shop he worked at. Through Floyd she became friends with Teeth, while the two dated for a while they ultimately decided to mutually break up but still remain close friends. With Janice being the only girl of the band Zee extends an invite to her whenever she and her other friend go out for a girls night (Janice is one of the few who knows Clifford and Zee are dating again. They both talk about their moustaches boyfriends)

Sam: Since Zee is a teacher she obviously has some standards towards what kids should and shouldn’t be exposed too. As a teacher she tries to keep the space she holds her dance lessons in a safe space, language is strictly NOT allowed infront of the kids and she prefers to not raise her voice. Thanks to her career in teaching Zee can, to some degree, understand Sam’s pushiness to remove certain aspects of the show in fear of it being too PG for younger audiences. She tries to at least hear him out before making a judgment. 

Pepe: She met Pepe back on her days working on Muppets Tonight, maybe worked on a few sketches with him and Seymour. Pepe jokingly flirted with her off stage and Zee often rolled her eyes at his affections (not unkindly). Zee probably finds him fun to be around but has to sometimes remind him that she’s kindly not interested in anything he can offer her romantically 

Rowlf/Kermit: Since both of them have newphews she often volunteers to babysit them when either are busy. Sometimes she’ll get up and dance with them to one of Kermit’s songs or when Rowlf plays his piano. Outside of babysitting their newphews Zee also finds Rowlf and Kermit good company. They sometimes talk about their work and how shifts have been to wind down from stressful times when they meet up 

Raphael-

Janice: Spiritual, hipsters besties. Even if they’re apart a lot because of where Raph lives and Janice often touring with the band they communicate over the astral plane. Having many deep, emotional talks about plants, crystals, and social trees they’ve encountered spiritually. I imagine Janice sometimes, on the rare occasion, will vent to Raph about stuff she wouldn’t tell anybody else so Raph deeply treasures their talks 

Camilla: Raph is not apposed to having conversations with poultry. He’s just as happy to sit and chat with Camilla as he is talking with cacti, ants and stray cats. It takes him a while to decipher her clucks and bawks but he more or less understands her 90% of the time. They talk about boys together 

Sweetums: Raph simply believes that someone as big and as clumsy as Sweetums is simply a misunderstood soul. Raph will have tea with Sweetums and the two just talk about stuff, he thinks Sweetums is faithful to his name; he’s a sweetheart in his eyes 

Sam: Raph likes messing with him in a teasing way, he doesn’t mean genuine ill-will, but Sam sometimes makes it a bit too easy to mess with him 

Penny-

Piggy: Might be obvious but yeah these two get along very well. They share similar talks about fashion, beauty and fine dinning. They like to sass each other in a half-hearted playful way. Whenever they meet up it’ll either end in a fun trip shopping or a fabulous beauty battle to the death (most of the time it’s the former)

Deadly: She gets along better with Deadly then Piggy, since both are fashion designers they naturally have more in common. Penny likes to buy clothing, but she has a lot more fun thinking of all the details that went into a gorgeous dress rather then be the one wearing it. Penny is also so utterly in love with Gloria Estefan and spoils that penguin rotten. Deadly had tried to stop her but his attempts are futile, Penny is basically the fine wine auntie to Gloria (teases Deadly sometimes that he’s going soft to which he will squint at her silently) 

Yolanda: They talk shit about coworkers and clients that get on their nerves, they hit up bars together. If Penny where to get drunk, Yolanda would be one of the few who’d probably see it 

Lips/Animal: Nature and environmental bestie with Lips. They talk about preserving endangered species and ways to use recycled materials, they coe over cute animal videos and watch nature documentaries together. Lips has probably ordered clothes through Penny’s company and she gives him a discount.

Penny was at first terrified of Animal, but I like to thought it would be cute that Animal would be smitten with Penny sort of like how he is with Nora in Muppets Mayhem. Plus since Penny’s trans I thought I’d be cute if Animal got especially protective of her sometimes, and it was that that finally got Penny to warm up to him. It was basically an overnight change, one day she was terrified of him and the next she treats him like she does Gloria (prolly joked - but also kind of not joked - to Floyd if she could borrow Animal from time to time at pride parades when she has the courage to go to one)

Beauregard: I’m not too sure how these two would end up meeting but I think they’d be a cute pair. Maybe Penny had a meltdown over something right by Beauregard’s storage cupboard and he stumbles across her. Penny’s anger goes right over his head, but her annoyance at being found shifts to unease when she sees the state of disarray his cleaning cupboard is in. She ends up re-organising it and maybe from there Penny just goes to hangout with Beauregard when she needs a break 

Lazer-

Rizzo/Pepe: Drinking buddies, they talk about girls and guys they like. They’ve all probably ended up drunk together and woken up hungover in weird circumstances none of them remember how they got into

Animal: Digs his energy and is not phased by his loudness in the slightest. Lazer feels more of ease to be himself, stim and be loud around Animal because he doesn’t judge. As well as being a DJ I can picture Lazer playing the drums so him and Animal sometimes jam together, or Lazer will listen to Animal bash his drums and offer feedback (it’s very positive and encouraging everytime, Lazer just loves the energy!) 

Fozzie: He actually likes Fozzie’s jokes, doesn’t understand why some people don’t find them funny, he thinks he’s genuinely hilarious. Lazer likes to do deliberately stupid puns to mess with Penny so he and Fozzie exchange joke material and even brainstorm stuff together 

Gonzo: Lowkey Lazer is probably a huge fan of Gonzo and his stunts. I don’t know how old Gonzo is but  imagine he’s older then Lazer, and Lazer probably huge idol like respect for him. Nowadays I like to imagine Gonzo as a writer, his stunt days are behind him - but he’s still prone to dancing with danger when he gets the chance to, you can never retire from the daredevil lifestyle, as he says. Lazer did fanboy so hard when he saw Gonzo for the first time to Penny. Shaking her arm and everything while whispering stuff like “Look! Fucking LOOK! It’s Gonzo!-“ 

[spiderking-of-queens]

Chapter Eleven: Welcome to Starcourt

Summary: You learn some disheartening news about Eddie, and when you go to Steve for advice, you find his new coworker Robin instead. (Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader, 2.2k words)

Warnings: Mentions of eating.

A/N: Okay, this is also about Eddie, but I also had to introduce the reader to Robin since we’re now entering season 3 territory. She deserves her own chapter lol.

Tags: @blackbirddaredevil23​

Masterlist

June 14th, 1985

After graduation, you and Steve each got the jobs you were planning to get at the new mall. When your shifts aligned, Steve offered to drive you to and from work, but on days where you didn’t have to go in between Melvald’s and Starcourt, you took the bus. Your parents were generous enough not to kick you out of their house, but you weren’t on speaking terms and you certainly didn’t feel comfortable asking to borrow their car. You kept it in the back of your mind that the most likely reason they were actually letting you stay was so they could keep tabs on you. If you asked to borrow the car, then they would always know where you were. You couldn’t have that. 

This particular Friday morning, Steve was able to drive you to work and you spent your entire day at the theater. It was pretty dead until the evening when it got so crowded that you started to get a migraine from how fast you had to move to keep up. When the initial rush subsided and most everyone was seated in their theaters, you took a moment to sit and sketch as you rubbed your temples. Your peace was short-lived, however, when you felt the figure of another customer approach your booth. You sighed and began your spiel without stopping your drawing.  

“Hi, welcome to…”

You trailed off abruptly when you looked up to see a familiar face. It almost felt like you were seeing a ghost.

“Eddie.”

“Y/N. Hey. Did you quit your job at Melvald’s?”

“Uh, no. Just took this one on to make some extra cash. Don’t tell Mr. Melvald, though. The mall is kinda driving away all of his business. Not that you… talk to Mr. Melvald ever.”

“Actually, I have a hot date with him tonight, but don’t worry. I’ll be sure not to bring it up.”

You smiled politely at his joke, but couldn’t get past the confusion of seeing him again.

“Right. Well, uh, what movie are you planning to see?”

“The Stuff.”

“Interesting choice. You know it started, like, fifteen minutes ago, right?”

“Yeah, I know. I’m never on time for anything. It’s fine, though. I’m still waiting for somebody.”

You raised an eyebrow at this just as you were about to print his ticket.

“So… two tickets?”

“Yeah. Two.”

You nodded and looked back down to print his two tickets. You hoped to god he was only waiting for Wayne or one of his friends from Corroded Coffin. 

“You… okay?” He asked, picking up on your attitude change.

You cleared your throat, trying to buy yourself time to think of another explanation. Then you realized there was still the mystery of why you hadn’t seen him at graduation. 

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I’m just surprised to see you, I guess. I just assumed… that you would leave town after graduation.”

“Oh,” He chuckled sadly, looking down at the floor. “You’re right, I probably would have if I could. Uh, funny story, though. I didn’t actually… graduate. Again.”

You were shocked by the news, but tried to hide it. You could tell he felt ashamed by this.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s okay, it’s my fault. Maybe next year, though, right? Third time’s the charm and all that.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” You said with a reassuring smile. 

He smiled back, and then the two of you had your attention taken away from each other when someone came bounding in through the front of the theater.

“Hey, Eds! Sorry I’m late. Did you get our tickets yet?”

It was a girl. A pretty girl. Your heart dropped. 

“It’s okay, I just got here, too. I’m getting the tickets now.”

They turned to you as you were still frozen in shock, then you shook your head to free your mind from your internal torment and handed over the tickets to Eddie silently.

“Thanks,” He said in response, and handed you some cash in exchange. 

“Eddie, you don’t have to pay for me,” The girl tried to protest.

“I insist. My treat. You didn’t wanna see this movie, anyways.”

“Aw, you’re cute. Thank you,” She cooed and planted a kiss on his cheek. 

You looked away quickly but the damage had been done. Your face burned red from the warring emotions inside yourself, and Eddie noticed. 

“Uh, hey, this is Y/N by the way,” He said nervously, gesturing to you. He was trying to be polite. “We went to high school together. Y/N, this is Jo.”

“Nice to meet you,” You said quietly.

“You, too,” She replied cheerily. “Hey, tell me, what’s he like at school? I’m dying to know.”

She was nice. It made you hate her more.

“He’s, uh… charismatic. Very charismatic.”

You smiled sadly at Eddie, who smiled back at you with pursed lips. 

“She’s just being nice. She really means that I’m a massive dork,” He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“That sounds more accurate,” Jo giggled, then turned to Eddie. “Hey, we better go before we miss the entire movie.”

“Right. Thanks, Y/N. It was good to see you.”

“Good to see you, too. Hope you guys enjoy the movie.”

“I certainly won’t, but thank you. It was nice to meet you,” Jo replied, linking arms with Eddie and pulling him away towards the theater door. 

“Nice to meet you, too,” You mumbled when they had already walked away. 

You watched them until they closed the door behind themselves, hoping that Eddie would turn to look at you before he disappeared into the dark theater. He didn’t. 

When your shift ended, you hightailed it out of the theater before you would have to face Eddie and Jo again, and made your way to Scoops Ahoy to find Steve. If he really was your romantic guide for the summer, then you were desperate for his advice. When you walked in, though, you didn’t see him. Instead, you found Robin Buckley, someone you had gone to school with but had never actually gotten the opportunity to speak to. 

“Hey, Robin, right?” You asked her, unintentionally slamming your hands on the counter in a huff. She eyed you up and down inquisitively. 

“Uh, yeah. Y/N, right?”

“Yes. Hi. Is Steve here?”

“He decided to take an unscheduled break and completely abandoned me here. The man is having a serious existential crisis.”

“Great,” You groaned. “That makes two of us, then. Can I just wait here until he gets back? I really need to talk to him.”

“Sure. But only if you buy something.”

“Seriously?” You asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Sorry, I don’t make the rules.”

“Fine. I’ll get a strawberry sundae then.”

“Good choice,” She mumbled, then grabbed a bowl to get started making it. After she handed it off to you, she moved the tip jar closer to you not so subtly. “For your consideration.”

You rolled your eyes and put a dollar in the jar.

“Much appreciated,” She said with a smirk, and you walked away to wait for Steve.

You sat in the nearly empty parlor for several minutes as you ate your ice cream sadly, resting your chin in your hand as you watched the melted bits of it slide off of your spoon over and over again. Then Robin sat in front of you abruptly and you straightened in your seat in surprise. 

“Okay, you are seriously bumming me out, and clearly Steve is not going to be back for a while, so spill it. What’s wrong with you?”

“You want to hear about my problems?”

“If I can get that look off of your face, then yes. It’s like watching a puppy getting kicked over and over again,” She whined dramatically. “Please, put me out of my misery. I’m begging you.”

“It’s just… some guy. It’s stupid.”

“What did he do to you?” She asked with a groan and an eye roll. 

“Nothing. He’s just… on a date with someone who isn’t me. “Jo.” Like she’s straight out of Little Women. You know that was my favorite book as a kid? I would kill to be Jo. Stupid Jo…” You rambled, pushing your ice cream away from you angrily. 

Robin sighed and reached across the table to steal the remainder of it, shaking her head at you in disapproval as she ate a spoonful of it. 

“You’re right. That is really stupid,” She said with her mouth full. 

“Gee, thanks,” You scoffed. 

“What? Gimme a break. You are a talented, beautiful woman with a fresh high school diploma. The world is your oyster, and you’re sitting here stuffing your face with ice cream, pouting about some guy that’s too dumb to see that? It’s a tragedy. I’m sick of seeing the women in this town making themselves smaller for complete losers.”

You leaned back in your chair, taken aback by this impassioned speech. 

“Wow. Thank you? I didn’t think you’d have such a strong opinion about this.”

“Sorry. That may have been more about my own shit than yours,” She admitted, pushing the ice cream dish back towards you. 

“It’s okay. You’re right. I just can’t help it. If you knew him, you’d understand. He’s much better than most of the other guys in this town.”

“I seriously doubt that, but okay,” She mumbled. 

“It’s complicated. This is more my fault than his. I just can’t get out of my own way.”

“Well, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. You need to realize how great you are.”

“You don’t even know me,” You snorted. 

“I know of you. I know enough to know that you are seriously undervaluing yourself right now.”

She sat back in her chair, crossing her arms matter-of-factly. You raised your eyebrow at her. 

“Why are you being so aggressively kind to me?”

“I don’t know. It’s been a weird day. Having to work with Harrington has really thrown me for a loop.”

“He’s not that bad, you know. He’ll surprise you. You’ll see.”

“Well, I am very curious to know how the two of you ended up becoming so close.”

“I would tell you,” You chuckled, “But honestly, I’m not really sure of that myself.”

She nodded, then pursed her lips together as she came to a sudden realization. 

“You know, I actually thought you two were a couple until this very moment. Maybe this guy you’re upset over just assumed Steve was your boyfriend, too.”

You almost disagreed with the ridiculousness of this, but the more you thought about it, the more it made sense. 

“I… that’s actually a pretty good point. I never thought about it like that.”

“You’re welcome,” She said with a proud smile. 

“So… what should I do then?”

“Beats me,” She shrugged, and reached to grab another spoonful of your ice cream. You couldn’t help letting out a boisterous laugh. 

“Okay, well… thanks anyways.”

“Look, obviously I’m not good with this relationship stuff. But if you ever need to talk about anything that Steve wouldn’t understand - which I assume is actually most things - then you know where to find me. Just… don’t forget to tip,” She teased. The right side of her mouth was turned up in a half-smile, and you could tell she meant this. 

“Thanks. And if you ever need to vent about Steve being an idiot, I’m working at the theater. Stop by anytime.”

“You know I will probably most definitely have to take you up on that.” 

“I know,” You snickered. “Best of luck to you.”

You stood up to throw away your ice cream, and Robin pushed in your chairs. 

“Should I let Steve know you stopped by?” She asked as you put your jacket on. 

“Uh, sure. Thanks. Just tell him I won’t be needing a ride home, though, please. We can keep the romantic drama between the two of us. I think I got what I needed.”

“Really?” She asked, scrunching up her face in confusion. 

“Yeah. I don’t know how he could top that pep talk, to be honest. Plus I don’t want to pile onto whatever crisis he’s currently going through.”

“Well, okay. If you’re sure. I’m glad I could be of assistance.”

“You really were. Thanks. I’m glad we finally actually got to meet.”

She seemed flustered by this, but also didn’t seem to disagree. 

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Well, I’m sure I’ll see you around. Do me a favor? I know it might be difficult, but please try not to be too mean to Steve. Maybe just a little mean to keep him grounded, but not too mean. Promise?”

“Okay,” She chuckled. “Just a little mean. I promise.”

You nodded appreciatively and waved goodbye to her, then left to catch the last bus home. You listened to music on your Walkman the whole way and tried your best not to imagine what Eddie was doing on his date. 

[zipzin]

The Law of Entropy (or Wynonna Earp is Trying to Ruin my Life) - Also on AO3

Chapters: 1/6 Fandom: Wynonna Earp (TV) Rating: Teen Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Rosita Bustillos/Wynonna Earp, Rosita Bustillos & Waverly Earp, Rosita Bustillos & Jeremy Chetri Characters: Rosita Bustillos, Waverly Earp, Wynonna Earp, Nicole Haught, Jeremy Chetri Additional Tags: Crack, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Alternate Universe - No Supernatural, this is overly complicated and ridiculous, rosita just wants to be a good coworker, wynonna wants to join in on the fun, and they were ROOMMATES, extraordinary bad communication by everyon Summary: Rosita honestly had no clue that taking a bartending job at Shorty’s would have her way too invested in her coworker’s nonexistent relationship with her roommate and get embroiled in a scheme that is so stupid but just might work. And that wasn’t even mentioning the hot sister. She just wanted to get through grad school with less debt and entertain herself in this town that is way too small to have enough prospects to even warrant a Tinder.

“Your hot roommate is here.” Rosita said, delighting in the way that Waverly’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s Haught.” Waverly muttered.

Rosita waggled her eyebrows, “I know.”

Waverly rolled her eyes as she walked over to Nicole, who by the looks of it, had just finished a shift. They did this every night that Waverly worked late, where despite the fact Purgatory was smaller than some rest stops, Nicole would double check if she should swing by later and drive Waverly home to their shared apartment. It was cute, if not mind-numbingly nauseating when they stared at each other like they found the meaning of life. 

Rosita watched as Nicole gave Waverly an actual goddamn kiss onto her cheek and walked out the door.

Oh my god.

Waverly bounced back to the bar and Rosita asked, “Is your girlfriend coming back tonight?”

Waverly sputtered and her cheeks turned red, “She’s not my girlfriend!”

Rosita raised an eyebrow, “Are you ever going to ask her out?”

“Of course not! She’s my roommate!”

Rosita rolled her eyes, “So, that just means one of your bedrooms can be converted to an office or something. Extra space for free.”

“That is not how it works!” Waverly's voice grew higher in pitch, “It means it’s messy, especially since she doesn’t like me back.”

Even Jimmy, their most regular regular, chuckled at that. Rosita shot a look at Doc, but he just hid his eyes behind his hat. The coward. “Waverly, anyone can see that she likes you back. Except you.”

“She does not! I would know.”

“Would you? Do you even know what she does when she’s jealous?”

“Why would I know that?”

“Because she does it around you all the time! She tries to hide it, but it’s so obvious.”

“It isn’t! And she doesn’t do it around me!”

Yes,” Rosita sighed, “Basically anytime you get close to a person.” Rosita took a step forward, “She gets all frozen and clenches her fists until her knuckles are white, and only relaxes when you smile at her.”

“No she doesn’t!”

“She really does.” Jimmy piped up from his seat. Waverly glared at him and he held his hands up in mock surrender. “Nevermind.”

Rosita shot him a grateful look.

She had moved to Purgatory at the start of the semester, when her third sublease had been up and she knew she needed to actually find a place to live. Her last place had the worst pink and green decor that made Rosita want to puke every time she saw it. Waverly, one of her few friends at Ghost River University, had mentioned that the rent was cheap in Purgatory and that Rosita could probably get a job at the bar she worked. She had needed something since her position as a TA ended, and she was not doing that again.

Her only real possession was her car, so she had looked at the prices and couldn’t bother to look anywhere else in the city. Was the commute annoying? Yes. The bus that ran from the city and Purgatory never on time? Yes. Did everyone know each other, and the dating pool so small that Rosita had already slept with the one tolerable man? Yes.

But she was saving so much money on rent. And as a grad student in a field destined for research, she took all the savings she could. Plus, working as a bartender made way more than a TA could dream of even with the tuition reimbursements and she didn’t have to grade annoying undergrad’s shitty homework.

The people of Purgatory were certainly an acquired taste, but Rosita found herself enjoying them more every day. And for such a small town, there was a lot of drama. Not that there was anything as interesting as the absolute hopelessness of Waverly and Nicole. It had been funny at first, watching them flit around each other, and allowed her to get to know Waverly’s sister Wynonna, but now it was pathetic. And she couldn’t even imagine how the people who’d watched this from the beginning felt.

She had three more semesters at Ghost River University, and if Waverly and Nicole hadn’t talked about their feelings by then, she’d consider that a worse failure than flunking out of her degree. She didn’t think she was much of a matchmaker, and her subtle prodding hadn’t revealed any results but her mom had always said to leave things better than she’d found them.

Rosita let out a long breath as the last patron left and gave Waverly a weak smile.  Thank god that shift was over, she was pretty sure she was going to keel over and die. The only saving grace was that she didn’t have class tomorrow. Rosita looked at the front door and frowned, “Is Nicole coming back tonight?”

“No,” Waverly said quickly. Too quickly.

“Waverly,” Rosita said, “Why isn’t she coming? She always picks you up on Fridays. And she was smiling when she left.”

Waverly hid her head below the counter. “Why would that matter?”

Rosita sighed, “Waverly, for all the teasing I do I’m not going to tell her.”

“I know.” Waverly whined, “I just, I couldn’t.”

“Couldn’t?” Rosita frowned, “Couldn’t what?”

“Ask her out!”

Rosita blinked a couple times. “I wasn’t going to force you to ask her out. I mean I’d like to know when you will, just for my own peace. And the rest of Purgatory’s.”

“We’re roommates.” Waverly stressed every syllable.

“Again, so? She likes you.”

“And if she doesn’t?” Waverly’s voice was nearing hysterical, “What, she’ll avoid me? Not reup the lease when it expires?”

“Waverly-”

But Waverly was on a roll, “I don’t want her to avoid me for a few weeks. I want her to never avoid me!”

“Nicole wouldn’t do that.”

“You don’t know that.” Waverly finally looked at Rosita, “It’s not worth the risk.”

Rosita shook her head and began to stack chairs, “Just think, you could have it all, dates, hand-holding, probably mind-blowing sex.” She glanced up to see Waverly began to blush, “You guys would probably get married, have bunch of tiny red-heads running around frockling as you look at each other completely lovesick. Wynonna would be a great aunt-”

“Stop.” Waverly’s face could only be described as wistful.

“Is it worth living with that kind of regret?”

The chairs were stacked and Waverly took the broom out, “Fine, does that sound perfect? Yes!” Rosita gave herself a mental high-five, “But she’s not interested in me.”

Rosita couldn’t help it, she snorted. “Okay, here’s where you’re completely delusional.”

“How could you know?” Waverly demanded, “You’ve talked to her maybe three times.”

“I knew in the first minute.”

The first minute had been particularly memorable, it was one of her first days on the job, and Waverly had been tasked with showing her the ropes. It had gone well, until the beer tap had erupted all over Waverly’s shirt and Nicole, who had just come in, had knocked three bar stools down.

Rosita had just taken a step back and watched the two with unbelieving eyes, and later, when she finally met Wynonna, had inquired what was up.

Wynonna had set down her whiskey and sighed, “When your best friend is in need of a roommate and you recommend your sister, you don’t think they are going to fall in love with each other. Hell, I didn’t even notice until Doc asked me how long they had been dating, and at first I was a little pissed. But then, they do this shit,” She waved to where the two were playing an abysmal round of pool, “And their sexual tension makes me horny.”

“How long has this been happening?”

“Two very long years.” Wynonna sat her glass down with a thud.

“And no one’s?”

“Of course we’ve all tried! They’re the two most stubborn people I’ve ever met, Waverly won’t admit anything’s there and Nicole just stares off into space when it’s mentioned as if she’s gone deaf.” Wynonna leaned in and whispered, “We looked them in a closet one time, you know, to make them fess up, and they managed to get out of it. I still don’t know how.”

Waverly snorted, “It’s not like I haven’t tried to see if she was, you know, I live with her.”

“Okay.” Rosita, “Sure, I know you know like, 5 languages, but I’m pretty sure body isn’t one of them.”

Waverly’s mouth dropped open. “I’ll have you know that I was Head Cheerleader.”

Rosita frowned, not sure how that was relevant, and continued on her point, “I mean, what have you done besides make the poor officer all hot and bothered.”

Waverly stomped her foot like a toddler, “I’ve you know, I’ve-”

“Every time you so much as look at anyone else she gets jealous.” That wasn’t strictly true, probably wasn’t at all, but the reaction was priceless. 

Waverly sputtered, and almost knocked over the stack of chairs, “She doesn’t.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Waverly!”

“I’ll prove it to you.” Waverly’s eyes gleamed and Rosita swallowed, feeling like she’d stepped on a landmine.

“Yeah?” Her dad always said she never knew when to stop.

“Date me.”

“Uh, what?” Rosita blinked and looked around. The voice had not come from somewhere else.

“You say that Nicole gets jealous, pretend to date me.”

“Um.”

“And if she does, I’ll know, and I’ll ask her out.”

“Okay, that is an insane plan,” Rosita said, “And then what, tell her our relationship is just a joke? How would that go over well?”

“Well, no.” Waverly frowned. “We’ll just break up.”

“After a day?”

“Yes?”

Rosita sighed as she walked over to Waverly and put her hands on her shoulders. “Waverly, I love you, but I’m not letting anyone think I had a relationship for a day. That’s like a one night stand where the sex is almost good enough you’ll ignore how everything else is horrible.”

“Fine, then we’ll do it for a month.”

“A month?” Rosita choked.

“Are you in?”

Rosita felt frozen as Waverly looked sadly at the bar. She remembered Wynonna’s words, “Two very long years.” If this was going to be the thing to get them together, well.

“And at the end, when Nicole is obviously not heartbroken, you have to drop this. Forever!” Waverly added.

Rosita stared, “Fine, but I get to decide if she’s not heartbroken. You have to actually listen to me about it. Not brush it off like you usually do.”

“Fine.” Waverly grit out.

“And I get to choose my shifts for the next month.”

Waverly narrowed her eyes. “Fine.” She gritted out.

“Perfect.” Rosita grinned. “See you around, darling.”

It was a stupid plan. A horrible one. But if it meant Waverly was doing something about her feelings, then it was better than her lusting and mopeing around.

Right?

Rosita awoke to a loud banging on her door and rolled over in bed with a moan. It was Saturday. Her clock flashed 8:12 AM. She didn’t have classes today and her shift didn’t start until the evening, so why was someone interrupting the only time she got to sleep in?  

She padded out of bed as the banging grew faster, and swung open the door, not even caring that she wasn’t wearing pants, “WHAT!”

She wasn’t sure if she was more surprised that Wynonna Earp was up this early or that she was at her apartment. How did Wynonna even get this address? They’d talked like five times, not counting when Wynonna ordered drinks.

“You bitch!” Wynonna took a step forward and the next thing Rosita knew her face hurt. 

She staggered back. “What. The. Fuck.” 

“You’re dating Waverly?!”

“What?” Rosita asked, “God my coffee maker isn’t even on yet.” She whined as she rubbed her face. She couldn’t believe that Wynonna had punched her.

“Talk!” Wynonna growled, “I wake up to nine messages this morning. Nine!”

Wynonna shoved her phone in Rosita’s chest. Rosita barely caught it and she stared at the blank screen. “It’s off.” Wynonna grabbed the phone back and unlocked it and shoved it into Rosita’s face, her hand vibrating.

Rosita blinked a couple times before she could focus on the screen.

Haughtstuff (2:45am): Wynonna?

Haughtstuff (2:45am): Are you up?

Haughtstuff (2:45am): Plzzzzz

Haughtstuff (2:45am): Ok

Haughtstuff (2:45am): You’re not

Haughtstuff (2:45am): Your sister just told me she’s dating Rosita

Haughtstuff (2:45am): The other bartender

Haughtstuff (2:45am): Why didn’t you warn me!!!!

Haughtstuff (2:45am): What the hell dude

Wynonna (7:53am): wut the fuck?

Wynonna (7:53am): she didnt tell me that

“Umm,” Rosita blinked several more times and read the messages again until it faded to black.

“You know. You know that they are in love with each other.”

“Yes.”

Wynonna’s jaw dropped, “And what? You think you’ll date Waverly? What kind of masochist are you! Are you just playing with my sister!”

“SHUT UP!” Rosita massaged her temples, “WE AREN’T DATING!”

“What?”

Rosita sighed and gestured Wynonna inside, “I was baiting Waverly.”

“As we all do.”

“And she was all like Nicole’s never jealous.”

“Maybe she needs glasses?”

“So we’re arguing and she says she’s going to have to prove me wrong. And if Nicole’s jealous, then she’ll ask her out.”

“How are you going to prove it?” Wynonna demanded.

“We’re going to pretend to date,” The answer hung between them. 

“Fuck.” Wynonna said and sat down on a nearby chair. “I should probably get you some ice.”

Rosita’s glare hardened. “Yes, the kitchen’s that way.”

“She swore that she would do something about it then?”

“Yes.”

There was just the sound of the freezer being opened. “Really. Huh.”

Wynonna returned and tossed a bag of frozen peas at Rosita. “I’m just kind of amazed.”

“Well, she did. So, now we just have to show Waverly these texts.”

“No.” Wynonna said and then frowned sadly. “I wish, but Nicole would kill me, and I already know that Waverly would say some shit like,” Wynonna flung some hair over her shoulder and made her voice higher, “She was just so surprised and wants to know in case I bring Rosita over.” 

Rosita sighed, “Sounds like Waverly.”

They settled into silence until Wynonna cleared her throat and Rosita looked up to see Wynonna staring at her bare legs.

Rosita stood, “Now leave, next time you’re over here it better be with coffee and donuts.”

“As you wish.” Wynonna mocked. “And sorry, about punching you, I just.”

“Hey,” Rosita smiled, “It would be crazy if Waverly and I started dating. And a little insane. I may deserve a punch for that.”

Wynonna nodded and headed towards her door, “Didn’t think you were the type to sleep in negligee but if you have the assets you should flaunt them.”

The door shut before Rosita could find something suitable to throw.

“What happened to your face?”

Waverly’s exclamation easily cuts over the din of Shorty’s and Rosita blinks for a second before remembering that Wynonna’s punch had left a slowly growing bruise.

Several regulars looked on and Jimmy let out a whistle, “Got you good too.”

Rosita rolled her eyes, “Caught the bad end of a punch.” She answered.

Waverly looked like she was about to ask more questions, but Rosita gave her a pointed glare and she returned to stacking glasses. Rosita shrugged off her coat and stepped behind the bar.

“So?”

“So?” Waverly questioned.

Rosita rolled her eyes. How was she a graduate student? “So, how did telling Nicole go?”

“Oh.” Waverly’s voice was flatter than the guitar one of Rosita’s ex’s had left three years ago.

“Oh?”

“She, well, she just said congratulations and then she went to her room.”

“Okay!” Rosita said. “She probably went to cry or something.”

“What?! No she didn’t. She didn’t care at all.”

Rosita sighed. “Remember when I said you’d have to listen to me? To at least acknowledge what I said?” 

Waverly just crossed her arms, “How many times have you even talked to Nicole?”

Rosita sighed, “Fine, whatever,  have you thought about how we’re going to sell this?”

A look passed on Waverly’s face, but Rosita had no idea how to read it. “We can figure that out later, it’s not like we’re going to have to face her together yet.”

The door slammed open, “Hellloooo!” Wynonna called with a grin. Behind her a slumping Nicole walked in.

“Hi.” Waverly said faintly.

Rosita rolled her eyes and then kissed Waverly’s forehead and turned to greet the duo. Wynonna was grinning like a mad woman and Nicole just had a faint frown etched onto her face. “What can I get you two?”

“Whiskey.” Wynonna smiled. “Doubles.”

“Wynonna.” Nicole said warningly.

“Oh, Haughtshot wants triples.”

“Do not Rosita,” Nicole sighed as she looked at Wynonna’s face, “We’ll have doubles.” She mumbled out.

“And this is why you’re my best friend.” Wynonna said. “I’m telling you, the only way is to drink away the sorrows.”

“Sorrows?” Rosita said as she gave them their drinks, curling her toes to keep from laughing at Wynonna’s exaggerated wink.

“Um, it was a hard, a really hard day at work.” Nicole mumbled out and then drank half the glass in one go.

Rosita and Wynonna shared a look that had Rosita turning away before Nicole saw her grin. “Hey, Waverly.” Rosita called, “Keep an eye on Nicole and Wynonna.”

Waverly frowned at her, but wandered over. “Fine.”

As she passed, Rosita whispered in her ear, “Nicole’s having a bad day.”

Waverly transformed instantly and booked it towards the pair.

Hopeless. The pair of them. 

Why did she even try? How could Waverly not see the longing in Nicole’s eyes? Or how she looked torn between punching Rosita or crying? Or the sheer happenstance that her bad day is the day that Waverly is suddenly not single?

“Hi.” Nicole said faintly. “So that’s Rosita.”

“You remember her. You see her all the time when you pick me up.” Waverly said and pushed Nicole’s shoulder carefully.

Rosita turned around and saw Nicole looking down her body and then immediately shifting back to Rosita’s eyes, swallowing nervously. Waverly was on the side, watching Nicole carefully, while Wynonna was chuckling.

Nicole’s eyes lingered on the bruise adorning Rosita’s face, but she didn’t say anything, just took another long sip. “I’m not cleaning up after you.” Wynonna said, staring at Nicole pointedly, “You have to hold your liquor just fine.”

Rosita watched for a moment until Jimmy waved for another beer and left to the other end of the bar. They’d be fine. Probably.

Throughout the night, Rosita watched Nicole and Waverly carefully. Waverly was a little jumpy, nervous enough that she spilled a tray of drinks. Luckily, onto the floor and not someone else, but it was still ridiculous. Rosita wasn’t sure if she’d ever see Waverly spill a whole tray before. Even when she was bumped around at the height of hockey season. 

Nicole kept up at a rate faster than Wynonna, and alternated between studying Rosita and staring forlornly at Waverly. Rosita began to give Waverly little touches, a caress of her arm, brushing her hair behind her ear, and silently thanked god that they were at work and nothing more would be acceptable. Waverly seemed too skittish to even notice it was happening. Nicole stared until she was far past buzzed and then started talking loudly to Wynonna. Who was much too amused by the whole thing. 

“I’ll have another.” Nicole slurred leaning over the bar, “Actually, no I can get it myself.”

“I’m cutting you off.” Rosita said and batted away Nicole’s arms.

“Noooo.” Nicole whined. “Wynonna tell her no.”

Wynonna waved her arms, “You can trust us. I mean her. She’s the responsible one.”

“Don’t you have work tomorrow?” Rosita hoped.

“No. I’ll just be sad and hungover.”

Rosita looked around, but Waverly was on the other side of the room getting people’s orders. “Well, no more for you.”

“Rosita, you’re beautiful you know that?” Nicole said. “So damn beautiful.”

Rosita hesitated, “Um thanks.”

“You better.” Nicole waved a finger in the air, “You better treat Waverly right, okay?” Rosita nodded. “Good. Man, I wish I could hate you.” Nicole mumbled.

Rosita glared at Wynonna who wasn’t even hiding the fact that she was laughing.

“At least you’re beautiful though.” Nicole said. “Waverly!” Nicole brightened. “I was just saying that Rosita’s hot.” Nicole frowned at herself.

Rosita pointed to Wynonna, “Get her out.” And Wynonna didn’t hesitate, leaning Nicole’s arm on her shoulder and practically carrying her on the bar.

Waverly sat down on the sink, the fact that her pants were getting wet not even registering, “She likes you.”

“No,” Rosita said, “you should have heard what she said beforehand.”

“This is over.” Waverly said. “I figured it out.” Her eyes were filled with tears.

“No.” Rosita said desperately, “no.”

“You heard her!” A tear ran down her face.

“She was saying that because she felt she can’t compete.”

“Stop it!” Waverly almost shouted and Rosita was grateful that there were enough people that it was loud enough to bury their voices. “Don’t try to make me feel better.”

Rosita grabbed Waverly’s arm to prevent her from turning away. “Waverly, tell me that you aren’t this stupid.”

“I’m, I’m, not.” Waverly stuttered.

“Give this more time. She was drunk and heartbroken.”

“Yeah, for you.” Waverly’s lip trembled.

“I’ll prove that she doesn’t like me.” Rosita said, “I swear it.”

Waverly wrapped her arms around her and nodded, “Please.”

“I know when a woman is flirting with me, and that was not it.”

Waverly gave a watery chuckle, “Ok.”

“You understand, Nicole’s a lesbian, just because she’s in love with you doesn’t mean she’s blind.”

Waverly lifted her head up and stepped back, her arms dropping. “You’re sure?”

“Yes,” Rosita put her arms on either shoulder. “Now, are you ready to ask her out?”

“What?” Waverly said, “No.”

“Waverly, she got drunk, she obviously isn’t thrilled about the development. How often does she get drunk?”

Waverly ignored her question, “I’m sure she’s just worried how intrusive we’ll be and doesn’t want to worry about feeling unwelcome at her apartment.”

“Oh my god,” Rosita said, “You’re hopeless.”

“What!” Waverly cried.

“She’s obviously completely gone for you.”

“No,” Waverly straightened her spine. “It wouldn’t make sense for her to be calling you hot if I was the one she was interested in.”

“Waverly.”

“So, no, I’m definitely not asking her out.”

“You can’t quit now.”

Waverly hesitated, and then spotted someone, “We are at work, we need to work.”

Rosita watched her walk away and bit down a groan. Next to her Jimmy raised his hand, eyes sparkling with amusement, “I could use another glass.”

Rosita filled it and pushed it down with more force than strictly necessary. She crossed her arms as she waited for Waverly to return. But Waverly ignored her and started to organize glasses.

Rosita marched over, “We are not ending this on the first night, okay. This is going to work.”

“Nicole isn’t interested, we found out, it’s over.”

“No, I know that Nicole is, you’re just too blind to see it, and some little comment when she’s drunk and heartbroken means nothing.”

“She isn’t heartbroken.”

“God, how did you graduate college?”

“With honors!”

“We aren’t ending this.”

“Fine.”

“She loves you.”

“She really doesn’t.”

“Wanna bet?”

Waverly stopped and blinked a couple times. “What?”

“I can’t have you skipping out because Nicole isn’t pulling out a sword and dueling for your hand.”

“Nicole would never do that.” Waverly scoffed and Rosita raised an eyebrow.

“So, $100 that she’ll tell you to break up with me by the end of the month.”

“$100!” Waverly gaped.

“It has to be worth it.” Rosita shrugged.

“Fine.” Waverly said. “This will be the saddest $100 I’ve ever made.”

“I’ll put $15 in that she does something by the end of the week,” Jimmy called.

“Shut up Jimmy!” They both yelled, still staring at each other. Rosita held out her hand and Waverly furiously shook it.

“It’s a deal,” Waverly said.

“I can’t wait.” Rosita flounced away, “$100 and my friend’s undying happiness.”

“Ughh,” Waverly groaned, “I wish.”

“This is going to be the happiest $100 you give away.” Rosita reminded and then turned to some customers. This was going to work. It had too. She could barely deal with fifteen minutes of sad Waverly.

[staynoonaz9290]

Temptation - S2 (Ch. 15)

Where Maddie and Lila are back six months later, still managers of Stray Kids, navigating the world of incubi, and worse… Dealing with unexpected feelings

Group: Stray Kids

Pairing: Each SKZ Member/Fem! Reader (Third Person-Lila and Maddie)

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Warnings: Sexual Content (a LOT of sexual content-please don't read if this makes you uncomfortable), Sex with multiple members (at separate times), Sex-to-survive (Incubi/Succubi), Desperation, Oral Sex (M-Given/F-Given), Fingering, Language, Supernatural Love, Excessive Drinking, Crack Fic, Age Difference, Slight OOC, Slight Angst, Love Triangle

Word Count: 2,992

Main Masterlist | Stray Kids Masterlist

COMPLETE

14 | 15 | 16

“Okay guys, let’s just move into the lobby, try not to be too loud-”

Maddie was directing everyone off the airport shuttle and towards the hotel, Lila fixing the backpack on her shoulder as she headed towards the front doors with the guys.

“Wait what? Changbin, I thought we checked your bag and you had it-”

Lila stopped, turning back and watching Maddie climb into the bus once more, Hyunjin glancing over his shoulder at her and pausing, too.

There was some mumbled talking neither of them could make out, but then Maddie was popping out of the bus again, looking irritated.

“-told you it was the side pocket. That’s the best place for the charger, so you can see it-”

Hyunjin chuckled under his breath, walking away before Maddie could see him, and Lila watched a disgruntled Changbin getting off the bus behind the girl.

“The mesh of the pocket makes it hard to see.”

And Maddie groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose before laughing.

“Changbin, you’re just…”

“Awesome?”

The man was grinning, pulling the large duffle bag further up his shoulder, and she turned to him, sighing dramatically.

“Sure, yeah. Awesome.”

And that’s how Lila knew Maddie was tired.

Everyone had rushed to the airport earlier that evening, security taking longer than either of them had expected, causing them to rush to the gate.

It’d been a whirlwind of finding seats, packing away carry-ons, checking passports, and getting settled before they were in the air, flying to Japan.

When they’d landed, they immediately had to get their bags and head to the shuttle that would take them to the hotel, Maddie arranging a late night check-in to avoid any fan traffic.

Lila felt bad she wasn’t a little more involved at the moment, her mind in a haze as she moved into the hotel lobby with the guys, Maddie hanging back and thanking the bus driver before catching up.

She knew Maddie didn’t mind- the girl was usually the take charge one in their friendship anyway- but Lila still felt guilty, and also a bit disconnected from reality…

It had been about six hours since her conversation with Chan.

Glancing over at the man, she saw him holding the handle of his suitcase, fingers opening and closing around it like a nervous habit, other hand holding his phone to his ear as he spoke to someone on the other end.

Things had been so busy, that once Lila had left the studio, she hadn’t been able to talk to him since, not even sure what she could say right now.

And Chan was avoiding her a little, she could tell.

Normally, he’d be standing beside her, making small jokes under his breath or just pushing his shoulder up against hers in subtle affection. He’d offer to carry her bag or ask her what she did on the flight, and if she’s excited for tomorrow. And he would probably whisper in her ear that she should stay in his room tonight, making her blush, Chan amused by her red cheeks as Lila quickly tried to hide them-

But right now, there was nothing.

He’d been on the phone off and on or pre-occupying himself with headphones in his ears. He’d been keeping his distance a bit, eyes only flicking to her on accident it seemed, the man always quickly looking away, a small pinch between his eyebrows.

Lila could tell he was stressed; their entire conversation hadn’t gotten them anywhere, except now Chan knew she knew.

She figured at some point, she’d have to pull him aside again and tell him all the things she hadn’t managed to say before.

That this was okay, and they could work this out.

But he’d already told her he couldn’t talk about this, and it’d been clear to her that maybe he just needed some more time…

So Lila would give him that.

“You know, I was thinkin’-”

Han sat back on one of the lobby armchairs, an impish grin on his face as he spoke to Changbin.

“-now that I’m single, maybe I should find some hot girls to hit up while we’re all here.”

“Tch-”

Changbin looked up from his phone, rolling his eyes.

“-alright, dude.”

Lila laughed a little despite her distress, shaking her head.

Eunae had stayed on the team as a makeup artist for only four days after she and Han had broken up before she’d quit the job quite suddenly, and- if they were being honest- Maddie and Lila were relieved.

Neither one of them were too happy with the girl after she’d intentionally used Han.

But the man seemed to be completely over it now, back to his usual, cocky self, not bothered by Changbin’s obvious annoyance, still grinning, laughing a little himself.

Lila wasn’t sure if Maddie’s “therapy” had helped, but Han seemed a lot better.

She could see her best friend at the front counter now, two backpacks and a suitcase on the floor surrounding her. 

Jeongin was handing the older a water bottle, and she took it gratefully, looking a little shy, the man nodding at something she said before walking away. 

Lila smiled- Maddie had forgotten her water and mentioned a couple times on the bus that she was thirsty and would be getting something the second they got to the hotel. 

Jeongin must’ve gone to the vending machines when no one was watching to get her one, and Lila couldn’t get over how sweet that was.

She watched the man move towards the rest of the group, settling into a seat beside Han, and Maddie was now speaking to the hotel worker behind the counter, checking everyone in.

That was always the older’s role- paperwork, planning, appointments- while Lila kept an eye on everyone, double checking if anyone needed anything before they moved to the next task.

So, while Maddie checked them in, Lila glanced around, trying to keep her mind off Chan, who was now standing a little off to the side, texting on his phone.

“I made these oatmeal protein bombs…”

Felix was talking with Changbin, Han and Jeongin, and he reached into his bag, pulling out a square, tupperware container.

“They’re peanut butter chocolate, and I thought they might be good before we have our performance tomorrow.”

“Oh,” Changbin’s eyes lit up, watching Felix lift the lid. “Can we try one?”

Felix laughed affectionately, reaching into the container and taking out one of the treats, plopping it right in Changbin’s mouth.

They all three watched as he chewed, the man’s eyes lighting up before he was giving an enthusiastic thumbs up. 

“Can I try one, too?” Han asked quickly, turning to Felix.

Lila smiled, looking away to the other sofa where Minho, Seungmin, and Hyunjin were all sitting together, sharing an Iced Americano between the three of them. Every once in a while, Lila saw Hyunjin glance in Maddie’s direction before quickly looking away, and that made her smile, too.

Hyunjin was getting worse and worse at hiding things.

She glanced at Maddie as well, and it looked like the girl was finishing up, taking a pile of keycards from the woman behind the counter and smiling with a nod.

“Alright guys!” she exclaimed, maybe a little too loudly, Lila giggling a little as Maddie held up the keys. “We’ve got rooms, let’s go!”

They all got up together, congregating around Maddie as she handed out the keys, and Lila quickly followed suit, catching up with the rest of them.

“A jacuzzi?” she heard Maddie saying as she approached. “Uh- Oh yeah, there is one with a jacuzzi- room 104… What the-?”

Minho swiped key number 104 from the older’s hands, grinning at her.

“Thanks.”

He walked away, some of the other guys walking with him, keys already in hand, dragging their luggage and heading towards the elevators.

Lila did a headcount again before turning to Maddie.

“We’re good?”

“Yep-” the girl beamed, tucking some papers into her leggings pocket and bending down for her bags. “Everyone’s got a key, now we just gotta head upstairs.”

“Thanks bestie!”

Lila waved before catching up to Minho, Felix, Changbin and Jeongin all heading towards the elevators. She could see Maddie still gathering her things, Han, Chan, Seungmin and Hyunjin still tucking their keys into their pockets.

“You guys have everything you need?” Lila asked her group.

“Yes!” they all said in unison, Felix moving to stand next to her.

“Lila, did you try my oatmeal protein bombs, yet?” he was already reaching into his bag to pull out the container. “They’re peanut butter chocolate.”

“I heard you talking about them,” she replied with a smile- Felix was so cute. “Can I try one now?”

“Of course-”

He seemed delighted by the idea, pulling out his tupperware and quickly prying off the lid. He handed her a treat and she ate it quickly, understanding why Changbin had been so enthusiastic when he’d tried his.

They were delicious.

“These are yummy!”

“Thank you,” Felix’s ears went slightly pink, but he didn’t look as shy as he normally did by any sort of compliment. “I found the recipe last week.”

“Felix, give me another one-”

Changbin interrupted, scooting forward with a playful grin.

“Please?”

Lila laughed, glancing back at the other half of the group. Chan was pulling his suitcase and catching up, eyes darting to hers for a moment before he was looking away, pressing his lips together.

Her stomach jolted nervously, Lila quickly turning away as well, watching Han beg Seungmin for a drink of his Americano while Hyunjin lingered behind, typing something on his phone.

Maddie was struggling a bit; she had two backpacks-one with serums and one with her own stuff- as well as a suitcase. She was trying to put one backpack on each arm while also holding the handle of her suitcase, but they kept slipping.

Lila felt bad- she didn’t realize the girl had so much- just about to go over there and help when Hyunjin looked up from his phone, glancing at her.

Then he walked over without saying a word, taking one of the backpacks that’d just fallen to the floor and slinging it onto his shoulder with his other one, walking towards the rest of the group.

Lila saw Maddie watching him- dumbfounded- her eyes darting up and down his body before she was quickly adjusting her things, running to catch up.

“Okay, sorry-”

She smiled guiltily at everyone before slapping the up button on the elevators.

“Let’s get to our rooms, shall we?”

For the next few minutes, everyone was talking over one another as they piled into two elevators, stopping at level three and quickly getting off, splitting up and heading to their rooms.

Maddie and Lila’s room was towards the end of the hallway, and Hyunjin was walking with them, stopping outside their door and dropping the backpack from his shoulder.

“There’s your bag.”

He was grinning at Maddie- almost like he was teasing her about not being able to carry it herself- and she chuckled in slight disbelief, raising her eyebrows.

“Well thank you,” she said dramatically. “How chivalrous.”

Hyunjin laughed loudly, turning around before anyone could say anything else and walking back towards his room.

Maddie watched him go, still smiling a little, and after a moment, Lila couldn’t help but giggle, plucking their keycard from the girl’s limp fingers.

“I’ll just get the door, Miss My Feelings for Hyunjin are non-existent-”

“Hey!”

They giggled as the door unlocked, both of them moving quickly inside and throwing their luggage on the bed.

Sighing together, Maddie looked at Lila, searching the features of her face.

“So… tell me how it went with Channie.”

When they’d been waiting at the airport, Lila had just enough time to tell Maddie she’d talked to Chan. She hadn’t been able to say anything else, the girls becoming too busy and all the guys too nearby, Lila not wanting them to overhear anything.

But Maddie must’ve noticed how much it was bothering her- she always did- seeming concerned as she looked at Lila.

“Well… it… didn’t go quite the way I wanted it to…”

She told Maddie everything, tripping over her words a bit. Her insides twisted all over again with the anxiety of the situation, especially when her best friend’s eyes grew wide with concern, chewing on her bottom lip…

“Basically at the end, Chan told me he couldn’t talk about it right then,” Lila finished with a sigh. “He had to take a phone call from those studio guys and I just… left.”

Maddie was contemplating this information, Lila could see it on her face, eyebrows furrowed.

“And his eyes kept turning all blue and stuff when you guys were talking?” she asked. “And he kissed you, too?”

“Yeah…” Lila replied.

“I don’t know…” Maddie hesitated. “When I talked to Han, he told me there’s this weird urge inside of them, the stronger their feelings get. That’s why it’s so dangerous for them to fall in love because it’s almost like they can’t… control it.”

“I mean… no one can control their feelings, right?”

“Right, but… for an incubus, it’s like I was saying; if he says it- even accidentally- it can bond you two together. And because of the strong urge inside of him, it might be harder and harder for him not to say it, especially with it being so blatantly brought up…”

Lila thought about Chan’s reaction to their conversation; the way his eyes were constantly flickering between blue and brown, the way he’d kissed her so passionately, contradicting his attempts to pull away-

“I think Chan is scared,” Maddie said with a frown. “He doesn’t want to just do something like that, especially because he’s not just worried about himself; he’s worried about you, too. Bonding you guys and making you pretty much responsible for him like that.”

And Lila knew this was true; Chan would be worried about that, probably more than anything else. 

Her heart warmed even despite all the stress.

“So… yeah,” her best friend shrugged a little. “I know it was hard, but I still think you did the right thing, bestie. Telling him you know was the biggest step towards you guys figuring out a plan from here. I think Chan just… needs to accept what’s happening.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Lila agreed with a small nod. “He still seems pretty conflicted.”

She knew now it was probably best for Chan to come to her; if Maddie was right and he was fighting against his own instincts, he would need to talk to her when he was ready now.

And despite the stress, Lila felt a little better; it was a good thing she’d told him what she knew.

There was a sudden knock on the door, making both girls jump before Lila was looking at the time.

10:00pm

“Did one of the guys leave for feeding?” Maddie asked, her eyebrows furrowing. “I don’t remember them saying anything.”

“I don’t know…”

Lila was closest to the door and she walked to it, peering through the peephole, surprised to see Minho on the other side.

“It’s Minho,” she told Maddie.

Then she was twisting the knob and opening the door, Minho looking up from the Cosmic Brownie he was eating, giving her a small smile.

“Hello.”

“Hi…” she laughed; his nonchalance always caught her off-guard sometimes.

“Could you possibly come to my room in about an hour?”

Lila raised an eyebrow.

“You mean, like…”

“For feeding? Yes,” Minho nodded, breaking off a piece of his brownie and handing it to her.

She took it as he kept talking.

“We’ve got those rehearsals in the morning and a performance right afterward, so I thought I’d see someone tonight,” he explained as Lila ate her bite. “But no one seems to be available like I thought they’d be.”

Lila was about to ask why he didn’t just feed earlier today like the rest of the guys, but Minho went on before she could.

“Emi is with family three hours away,” he was counting on his fingers. “Naomi is on spring break, and went on a trip; she won’t be back until next week. Ren has a boyfriend now, and Mei isn’t answering me at all…”

He trailed off, putting the rest of the brownie in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

“Might be because I haven’t texted her since we were here last year…”

Lila snorted.

“Yeah, that might’ve pissed her off…”

But Minho just shrugged.

“We had nothing to talk about.”

Then he was smiling at her again.

“Anyway… I was going to find someone tomorrow, but you know we’re booked all day.”

Lila nodded, pressing her lips together; tomorrow’s schedule was jam-packed.

There was a twinge of guilt in her stomach for some reason; maybe it just felt wrong to be having such serious conversations with Chan and his feelings for her, only to be having a discussion with Minho about meeting him in his hotel room…

But she knew this wasn’t like that; it was about feeding.

This was something Minho hadn’t foreseen- having no girl answer him back- and there was no way the man would make it through tomorrow without some kind of energy.

Lila was an emergency back-up and this was her job.

“Is that okay?”

She saw a flicker of caring on Minho’s features as he searched her face.

“Of course,” she found herself saying, nodding once. “That’s what I’m here for.”

His smile went soft, and he tilted his head a little.

“I’ve got tea. Earl Grey, right?”

Lila laughed a little, surprised he’d even remembered that.

“Yeah-”

“Great,” he crinkled the brownie wrapper in his hand, grinning at her one last time. “See you in an hour.”

 “Yeah, see you…”

And without a backwards glance, Minho was walking to his room, Lila watching him go.

To Be Continued...

14 | 15 | 16

[cocktailsfairytales]

🏒𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐑𝐁 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐀𝐋 🏒

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐥 by Andi Burns is releasing November 21st!! This is an accidental pregnancy, hockey romance you won’t want to miss!

Blogger Sign Up: https://forms.gle/9YfaqXqvwf78ma7m9

Blogger Sign Up: @wordsmithpublicity

WHAT TO EXPECT:

🥅New Adult/College

🏒Hockey Romance

🤫Secret Romance

🍼Accidental Pregnancy

Blurb:

Brick Wall is a college hockey romance with a hero who falls hard and fast for the one girl he can’t have.

JT

Life hasn’t always been easy, but things are beginning to look up. I’m the starting goalie for the BU Wolves, Coach Baylor has become the family I have always wanted as a kid, and my dream career is waiting for me. All I need to do is defend my net for the next few seasons so I can prove to the Boston Bruisers that they drafted me for a reason. That’s a pretty bright future for a man with a past like mine.

When I hit up a party with a bunch of my roommates, I never expected to fall hard. But from that night on, it’s out of my control. Maggie Baylor is the one for me, no matter how much she tries to deny it.

Just when I think we’re getting somewhere, she ghosts me. But there’s one thing Maggie doesn’t understand: I’m not letting anything or anyone—not even Coach—stand in our way.

Maggie

As a transfer student, I have one goal: finish my senior year without any drama. And, ok…I may have lost sight of that goal before the year officially started. But that’s not my fault—Hottie Gym Shorts Guy was…well, hot. And sweet. And so very talented. That’s why I bolted the next morning. I didn’t move back home to fall in lust or worse, love. I came back to Bainbridge to spend time with my Uncle Hudson and earn my degree.

Besides, there won’t be any drama because I’m never going to see him again.

Except I do. We just keep running into each other. It’s fine, though. I can resist.

Until I can’t. JT is crumbling all my defenses. I’m on the verge of letting myself fall in love, even if I know my uncle will disapprove, when two little pink lines appear. I brace myself for impact because the only thing I know about love is that it doesn’t last.

But JT doesn’t leave my side. He slays my dragons and rubs my feet and makes me reconsider everything I thought I knew.

Is this really something I can believe in, or will our world come crashing down just when we need each other the most?

***

Brick Wall is the third book in the Bainbridge U hockey series, but it can be enjoyed as a standalone. If you love a stoic hero who’ll do anything to protect the woman he loves and the family they’ve created, no matter who tries to stop him, JT Norris will melt your kindle. If you can’t resist a jaded heroine who learns to trust again, Maggie Baylor is your kinda girl. If you want all the laughs, all the feels, and every single bit of steam, and no third act break-up, then settle in with your favorite snack—Maggie recommends dark chocolate peanut butter cups—and dive into this forbidden love, surprise baby college hockey romance.

The Bainbridge Hockey Series: https://geni.us/BBHockey

Find more books by Andi Burns here: https://amzn.to/4bjWaKq

#BlurbReveal #AndiBurns #BrickWall #BainbridgeHockeySeries #SportsRomance #hockeyromance #ComingSoon #preorder #accidentalpregnancy #wordsmithpublicity

[missspringthyme]

February 8th, 2024

So before I explain today, I have to give a little context for last night. Due to not having a period in over a year, I missed the retrospectively obvious signs of what was about to happen and bled onto my sheets while I was blow drying my hair. Why was I blow drying my hair? Because I decided to make sure I showered before coming to my sister's because from what she's described, I'm not stepping foot in hers. This also meant that I didn't go to bed until past midnight even though I had an alarm set for 5am. Lovely.

Alarm goes off, I'm in hell. After a few too many snoozes, I get up and start to get ready. I've packed all my toiletries already, so I'm using my B list backup products. This includes a brand new tube of concealer that is allegedly the same shade as the one I've packed, but this is a lie. It looks clown white on my face. I decide that perhaps I could fix it with some bronzer, but I don't use it very often and the one I have in a palette I mostly use for my eyes. Now, I look like an orange. I try my best to fix what has gone wrong, but I look at my clock and see I'm running out of time. I drop third culture Australian's hairdryer in front of his door, skip breakfast, grab snacks and rush out the door. Google maps estimates that I will not get to the bus station by 7am, I still have to try.

I power walk through the cold, misty morning where the only signs of life are the bakeries. I press my feet into the ground again and again until my 30 minute walk becomes a 24 minute walk. I'm going to make it in just the nick of time. I get there and I wait and wait and wait before discovering the heist I've pulled off on myself. I put the time the bus leaves as 30 minutes earlier in my calendar so that I would get there on time. I only wish I had stopped to eat breakfast.

Bus ride is fine, I mostly sleep. Get off at Rotterdam to get my train to Utrecht and sit freezing for about an hour. I manage to get on an earlier train and sit next to a woman who smells like my grandma. Like a bathroom after someone's blowdryed their hair, a little perfumey. I haven't smelled that in a very long time and I think about it the entire train ride.

At the station I text my sister and tell her I arrived early. I lean against a railing near the turnstiles and wait for her to show up. I'm a little zoned out so she manages to scare me when she comes to say hello. She gives me options for lunch and we decide to find a restaurant in the city center because she never eats out and it's her birthday. We walk for a bit and pop into a store that I loved in Scotland. Inside, my sister finds one of those hats with a propeller on top and I take some pictures of her wearing it. She keeps saying she wants to go back and buy it. She also seems entranced by a geldautomaat that is just a yellow room filled with ATMs. She explains that it's because there's "no real banks here".

We find a little cafe that looks like it has good options, it's raining so we were looking for somewhere indoors but not too expensive. My sister doesn't like making decisions and she keeps telling me to do it for her because it's her birthday. She tries to order in dutch and doesnt do half bad, but eventually switches to english. I also find out she doesnt know what halloumi is, but we get fallafel pitas anyway, She does pay for my lunch, I'm guessing because she knows that I've not really had a ton of money because of the paying for family therapy thing, but I tell her that it's done. We talk about how and why that ended and about our family and speaking German and a bunch of other things.

We head back to go pick her bike up from the huge storage building. She's very excited to show me it, and she's talked about it repeatedly since moving here. The only empty spot we had found was a rack that was off the ground that seemed to be stuck, so I has helped her lift the bike up into it. Alas, when we retrieved the bike we discovered how to get it to slide out and down, you live and you learn

She has class today so we have to head to her campus quickly, and she offers for us to either take the tram or for me to ride on the back of her bike. I've never ridden on the back of a bike before so I go for that option. It's more difficult than I thought it would be (I was warned it was an ab work out but its actually my hip flexors that are burning), and I have to be careful with my legs because my sister keeps riding a little to close to the side of the road (she smacks me into a cone at one point). As she bikes, she point s out things we pass. Why this or that building is important or interesting, or the grocery stores that she likes best.

At her dorm, I drop off my stuff and meet the people she lives with before we go to pick up some flowers that are waiting for her at reception. The note says they're from my mom. Afterwards, she gives me a tour of her campus. I can see why she chose to go here, it suits her well, but it feels like a little bubble. Everyone here stays and lives on campus and everything she needs is a 5 minute walk away. Very American style. After she comes back from class we get ready to go out and eat dinner with a few of her friends. We go to a pizza place 15 minutes before the kitchen closes, but they still bring out a birthday tiramisu for her, which was incredibly delicious. We eat quickly and leave so that the restaurant can close. We stop and look and look at some tiles painted with chairs on the way back and I think of my insane AP lang and comp test that had the most batshit pieces of text i've ever read in my life including a long on essay on chairs and what they tell you about their owners.

Back on campus, my sister decided to take a running leap into a puddle and fell fully on her ass in the mud. Luckily, she was wearing her yellow raincoat, but her backside was still fully covered in mud. She decided the best course of action was to shower fully dressed in her concrete shower, but eventually I had to help her using the little hand held shower head. She was sad she couldn't wear her jeans anymore because she was counting on them to make a more basic top work, so I tried to help her find a different birthday outfit. Eventually she settled on something and her friends started arriving for the little get together she was having. She served chips and blue takis(?) And frantically washed cups and mugs so everyone would have a glass to drink out of. Their kitchen has a mouse so she doesn't trust any of the dishes in there.

They took photos and eventually everyone left to go to a reggaton night except for a few of her friends who brought out a cake covered in different photos of things that she likes/represent her. She thought for a moment and then blew out the candles, before begging everyone to please eat as much of the cake as they could. We then went to her campus bar, where we played some darts and danced. Initially my sister wasn't going to do this tradition where you stand on the bar and drink a cup full of shots while "its my birthday" plays in the background, but she caved and did it anyway. She also finally agreed to wear a paper party hat while we danced. Her friends kept trying to get her to dance with guy, but she was not having it. If she ever ends up dating anyone, I will be truly shocked.

We go to bed at 3 in the morning.