#would evan believe that mike would just sit still and let it happen?

[and-stir-the-stars]

dream theory au sister location out here implying that Evan thinks it's normal for siblings to hurt each other. mike hurts evan, so in Evan's mind, ofc Liz would hurt Mike when they see each other again

[optimistic-dinosaur-nacho]

Dinner With Your Family

We’re gonna try something new here. I will do multiple characters of Chris Evans and see what they’ll all do in a certain situation.

Warnings: Language, Alcohol Use, Drug Use, Vomiting Mentions, Nose bleed

Summary: How would they react to meeting your family for the first time? Would it be a good experience or a bad one.

Characters: Chris Evans, Steve Rogers, Colin Shea, Ransom Drysdale, Ari Levinson, Jake Jensen, Mike Weiss, Andy Barber, Paul Diskant, Frank Adler, and Johnny Storm.

Chris Evans

Chris is always an outgoing guy. Asking him to meet your parents for the first time, he’s always going to have a good impression no matter what. Your way over there Chris is nervous but excited to meet your parents. Your parents heard so much about him and never thought you’d go for someone like him. He doesn’t dress too much, if your family is just outgoing as he is, he’ll wear a casual flannel shirt, sweater or a Henley. He could kill with looks in just anything he wears. He greets your parents with a handshake and when he gets comfortable he’ll give them a hug. Already your parents are liking him.

He’s the type to talk for hours. He’s got your parents laughing, if you have a dog, he’s going to secretly slip your dog some food under the table and while talking, he’ll give your pooch some scratches on the head. If you have little siblings, he’s willing to give them details on his films and they all are amazed by it. If you have an older sibling, well they get their thoughts and opinions on him. So hopefully Chris gets a good impression from them.

Your parents want to know how he is around you. He gives them everything he loved doing with you, what you two do outside of filming. Walking Dodger, watch movies and go out every now and then. You can tell your parents approve this man and trust him. If you’re close with your family, Chris would invite them on the red carpet if you were his date to the premieres. The dinner goes well, he comments on the food like he was eating at a five-star restaurant. Your mom is flattered by that. 

And when you two leave, he gives them hugs and shakes your dad’s hand. And your parents beg for another dinner with him.

.

Steve Rogers

You all know how Steve is around people who can easily judge you quick enough if you’re not polite. Meeting your parents is something he is going to expect soon. It’s probably amazing if your parents met your boyfriend back in 1940s, you’ve heard stories about your boyfriend from your parents. It’s a little strange to date someone who is almost around your parents age but still looks young from being frozen for 70 years. He’s going to be nice around them.

He doesn’t feel nervous or that he doesn’t show it in his face a lot. When you get to the house, Steve greets them with a grin and a handshake. What he’s wearing could be a buttoned up shirt and nice pants. Now once in front of your parents, you can tell he’s instantly nervous and shy. 

For a soldier who’s met millions of fans and people, this might have been a fear for him. You reassure him with a hand slipping into his and you sit at the table. Your dad is the one who asks about his time in the project and who he was before Captain America. Steve gives out the good parts, but he leaves out the bullying knowing some might know from the memorial at the museum. Your mom is instant to liking Steve, though she gets scared of you riding the motorcycle with him. It’s not him that she doesn’t trust, but Steve reassures her he’s got you.

If you’re an Avenger, there wouldn’t be much of a problem. But being a city girl who lives in an apartment, your parents would worry what could happen to you. Steve always keeps you secret and that’s a promise made from Nick Fury. Your information were well-hidden and no one was able to find your address or name. Steve made sure of that. 

The dinner went well and Steve is relieved on how your parents really trusted him and never said anything he didn’t want to talk about. He gives them a last goodbye handshake and leaves to take you back to your apartment. 

.

Colin Shea

Colin Shea is very shameless. Let’s say your parents first impression and encounter didn’t go so well. The first time they met him was just at the wrong time and place. Before you started dating Colin, you and him were mostly hooking up at the time. It was a one time thing and he always walks in your apartment like he owned it. 

Without your parents knowing, you two go out and get sandwiches and walk by the harbor. The first encounter your parents had with him was when you invited them over to show off your apartment. They always wondered where you lived and they found your apartment very neat and spatial. So when you began to leave to go out with your parents for lunch, you open the door to a naked neighbor with a towel over his “hooha” what your mother said.

“Afternoon, neighbor,” Colin greets. Your parents stand behind you, gawking at your neighbor in, you couldn’t guess what they were thinking at that moment. He picks up his newspaper and waves nonchalantly at your parents. “Hi.” You excuse your parents to the car and you silently scold him. “Those were my parents.”

“Looks like we both came out at the wrong time.”

“Yeah. I guess we did. Next time, have a pair of underwear on.” So when dating him officially, you told your parents about him. Sure your dad didn’t approve someone who basically showed off his junk in front of them but your mom could help but talk about during your talk with them about Colin. So when Colin came over, he greeted them and apologized with a large grin on his face. The dinner went well, Colin didn’t say much about you two hooking up, he said you were neighbors for a while and he one day asked you out.

Him making eye contact with a sandwich and then making out with it was something a 5 year old would do, but being in front of your parents he kept that child-self out of the picture. He joked when he wanted to and you all enjoyed the dinner altogether. Colin then takes you both back to your apartment. “That’s was great.”

“Really?” You asked.

Colin nods, “I think we should do it again sometime.” You stop at your door and grinned up at him. “This time can you keep your clothes on?” Colin smirks and steps closer to you, caging you to your door. He reaches over and opens your door with a swift swing, before his hands grab your waist and his lips crash onto yours, pushing you through your own apartment.

.

Ransom Drysdale

When you told your parents you were dating a well-known Author’s grandson and they didn’t accept that their family is basically wealthier than them. They didn’t hear much about Ransom but they knew how the family could get with all that money piling up. Your parents asked you once to invite Ransom over for dinner and when you asked Ransom-

“No.”

You only told your parents you both were busy. Sure, your parents knew Ransom wouldn’t see them. He already knew how much of an asshole he was, everyone can judge him with a snap of their fingers. You tried so many times to convince Ransom to just do this dinner and that it was never like him and his family. Only two damn people who are sweeter than his family and he never agreed. He always added, “I’m busy,” or “I rather spend time with you.” Bullshit. 

He buys you clothes, jewelry, and gives you money if that’s what shuts you up to leave him alone. You’re nothing but some unlucky token to him, but he showed you love in different ways just not the one you’d expect from him. Sure his hand slipping around your waist, or the way when he nonchalantly slips his coat over your shoulders and guides you to the car, that was some sign of love from him.

When you finally asked him one last time, he agreed. And it wasn’t some calm ‘yes’ it was something more harsh and annoyed. And it wasn’t a yes.

“Fine.”

So, when Ransom drove to your family’s house, he kept his hand on your thigh. His glasses covering his eyes and his brown coat hugging him barely as he drove up to your home. Ransom doesn’t give your parents a handshake or anything. They’re either occupied around your waist or in your hand. Your dad watches him closely throughout the whole dinner. 

Your mother is one asking questions on what he does and how he met you. A jobless asshole who’s family is like some Kardashian show that he finds entertaining to watch or start. Ransom tries to keep his answers short as possible. For a guy who talks a lot of shit, he doesn’t seem to talk much in front of your parents.

The food happens to be good for him and when you two leave, he’s already in the car waiting for you to say goodbye to your parents and apologize for whatever behavior they didn’t like or expect. So when you got in the car, you didn’t say anything to Ransom on your way back home.

Later on, you two pull up in his driveway and Ransom turns off the car, sighing softly. “Dinner was nice.” When you turn to look at him and reply, he jumps out of the car and clenches his keys in his palm. With a soft grin, you step out and follow him inside. With that good sign of success from Ransom. You gifted him a good night.

.

Ari Levinson

Ari can accept to do anything if it’s something to make you happy. Believe it or not, you two worked on a mission project in Ethiopia and you two happened to be together at the end of it. Being a fake couple from the start, it went well but not until you both caught feelings for each other.  (You even caught him looking at you during your tans on the beach)

So asking Ari to see your parents, he accepted it with no question. 

Ari did his best to dress nice with the blue button up and pants. His long hair making waves to the back and curl at the ends of his strands. Not going to lie, you liked his hair like that. 

When your parents meet him, he’s the first to greet them. Saying his name and everything. Your mother once called him handsome and sometimes ‘One hunk of a man’ you always playfully smack her arm to cut it out while your father lightly scolds at her. Ari tells the stories about your time in Ethiopia, staying at a hotel by the beach side, doing yoga and sea diving. He left out the dangerous parts when you both got stuck in a small cell with million other people. And you had to treat his eye when his friend Sam and him got into a fight. Or when he tried to defend you with a butter knife from Colonel Ahmed.

Your parents are liking him, interested in his travels and them knowing about his daughter, they didn’t go deep into who his wife was and why they split up. You met his daughter a couple times and she was quiet but you managed to get her to talk to you which was a good relief. His ex-wife got along with you as well, you just never got to hang with them for long.

Maybe once you babysat his daughter and you had a blast. Your mom then asked for grandkids and you all either laughed or shouted out her name to stop. Ari couldn’t help but grin. “What? I’ve been waiting for 10 years.”

“You’re going to have to wait for another 10 then.” 

.

Jake Jensen

You and Jensen were something else. He was the most childish in the relationship but you just didn’t seem to get bored of him. For a guy who owns a hummer, not many of them can be as attractive as Jensen. Some can be assholes and Jensen didn’t take the cut sometimes. When he first found out when you talked about dinner with your parents, he already started to ask questions.

“What did you tell them?” “The good stuff?”

Your parents didn’t know about his job being on a Elite team of commandos, by your agreement, you told them of Jensen working at BestBuy. To your parents, your job was way “better” than Jensen’s job. When meeting your parents, Jensen didn’t bother to wear something nice. Either a t-shirt of his favorite soccer team (Petunias) or a sleeve-less shirt. Your parents were fond of the tattoos but your dad liked the one with the bull and you were lucky they didn’t say anything else about how bad tattoos were.

Jensen almost exposed himself during the talks. You knew about his missions and he almost gave those way when your mom asked if he traveled a lot. Jensen tried to be funny most of the time and sometimes has serious talk to your father about jobs or technician things. Your mom eventually asked if he could help with their computer and you felt embarrassed by that but Jensen took no hesitation into helping. 

So after dinner, Jensen helped your parents with whatever they had a problem with and said goodbye to them, leaving the house with you. Jensen sighs happily, “I think they like me.”

“Obviously.” 

.

Mike Weiss

Mike might have been a struggle to get out of the house to meet people. Especially your parents. There are two outcomes for this man and I’ll give them both. You’ve met Mike during his times through drug use. You’ve met him many times in the bathroom, throwing up to get him away from drugs in order to be with you. You knew it’d take time but there are moments where he desperately needed it to not stop.

When you asked him to have dinner with your parents, he couldn’t say no. You didn’t want to tell your parents that your boyfriend was a drug user. If you did, your parents would instantly think he’d be more harsher on you. Mike would never be harsh. Never in your life had he ever laid a hand on you. You both tried to be patient with one another and you two managed to stay together.

So when he came to the house along with you, he sniffled harshly and you rubbed his back to reassure him. 

He greeted your mother first and then shook hands with your dad. Your dad comments on his grip and Mike grins, nodding once. During the dinner, Mike told about where he was from and that he was a injury lawyer. You as his assistant was something your parents didn’t question about. As his girlfriend or not, you’re always there for him to make sure he reaches certain places. But when you’re not there, he doesn’t attend those things and you have to deal with them yourself.

Halfway through the dinner, he excuses himself to the bathroom. “Mike is very nice. How is it for you guys?” Your mother asks, you swallowed hard on your food and nodded. “He’s good. We’ve been thinking on getting a nice place to stay so...” Your mom nods. Minutes later, Mike comes in and audibly sniffs hard but your parents don’t pay much mind to it.

You were lucky to watch him every second because a couple more minutes into talking, you notice his nose bleed and you instantly reached up to his face with a napkin and he cleans his nose off. 

Now a different story if Mike had be doing rehab a while ago, it would go like this. You’ve noticed how good he’s been doing to stay away from the pills and drugs he’s been doing for years. Mike always made sure he stayed away from alcohol which tends to happen to some drug addicts to do. So when he meets your parents, he’s polite as possible. A shake to the hand and a gentle grin. The dinner goes well and he does whatever he can to answer questions.

His leg bounces up and down, so you would always place your hand over his knee to reassure him. Trying his hardest to stand up straight, he feels your warmth and calms himself down. Your parents don’t notice. And Mike doesn’t excuse himself to the bathroom, he’s talking to your mother about the things you and him would do if you guys got married. Which was going to come soon.

And after that dinner, Mike turns to you. “They’re nice.”

“They really like you, Mike.” 

He grins.

.

Andy Barber

When you two first met, you weren’t even adults at the time. High school sweethearts was some kind of dream for you, to meet someone who stood by your side since you were and have him take your hand in marriage. There is no doubt he got along with your parents. At the age of 18 is when he met them for the first time. Your prom night was something and he stood awkwardly in the living room with your dad.

But for Andy, we aren’t going to discuss his first dinner with them. Just after your marriage, you always visited your parents during the holidays. Even if it meant to fly/drive over. From their first dinner, it ended well. Andy had gotten more comfortable with your parents and always told them stories of being a lawyer. Your mom always called him her son-in-law from the first she saw him. He never disappoint them with a smile.

So visiting them on the holidays, he never refuses to go. He loves your parents and you two even named your first child after your mom/dad. So bringing along your family to your parents house, you were happy to have them over. 

Thanksgiving was your favorite get-together with your parents. Especially if your mom and dad are great cooks. 

You both talk about your jobs in Newton, even talking about your daughter/son trying out a sport or club in their school. Your parents found the time to play board games. Your kid always loved playing Othello. Andy and your dad were having beer while you had water and your mother had wine. Everyone were laughing and having a good time. Till Andy looks over to you and grins. 

You smile back and turn to your parents, “Mom, dad.”

“Hm?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“WHAT!”

And after dinner was finished, Andy was polite to help your parents with the dishes. And you guys had a grand time.

.

Paul Diskant

Paul wasn’t exactly free most of the time. Sure, he’d come home after a long day in the department working on cases. A dangerous job to be walking around with a gun clasped onto your hip and a badge you show off to dangerous people. You found him once in a hospital, getting shot in the hip and nowadays, lying in bed, you always feel that rough scar on his hip. 

Him meeting your parents was easy. But when you told them the first time that he was a detective, they feared what might occur to him or you. They worried if you had kids and he happened to end up in a hospital dead and leave you alone. 

You trusted Paul enough to be careful in the city of Los Angeles. As a nurse, you treated him once and silently scolded him about the decision he made. 

So for his promise, he made sure everything he did was not involving rough places and people. Took murder cases of homicides that were just easy to solve. He worked alongside Tom and he felt like an older brother to Paul. Tom made sure, your boy was safe.

The day you made him meet your parents, he greets them with a handshake and once you all sit at the table, your dad goes in for the questions and asks about what he was working on at the department. Your mom somewhat gasped at every story that could’ve been really bad for Paul and that one time you had to treat him at the hospital. But once you cut in to talk about your lives at home and listen to what your parents did over the years, they got to know Paul more and so did he. 

The dinner went swell and when you two left, Paul never wasted time to pull you into the house.

.

Frank Adler

Being a simple guy who works on boats from day to night, he was hesitant to meet your parents. From the first time you two met, it was when you moved into the small homes and Mary was the one who brought you two to meet. From the moment he heard your voice, his head shot up in surprise and expected to see an angel. Instead he saw a Goddess. Your smile was so welcoming, he stuttered every word to saw hi. 

Over the months as your neighbor, he always watched you from the kitchen window to see you talk to Roberta. Dating him for what felt like a eternity, you asked him to meet your parents and have dinner. He was already nervous even though the dinner was not till another week. 

At the time, he asked Roberta if she could watch Mary for the night till he comes back. Roberta reassures him not to worry and just relax. He took her advice and got ready. You fixed his hair since he wasn’t so sure how he wanted to look for them. You grinned softly and pecked his lips softly. You grip his shirt in your fist and looked up at him. “Were you working on the boat?”

“No.” You could smell the oil off his shirt so you forced him to change and made your way to your parents house. They greeted him with a gentle smile. They expected someone more of on the rich side. Only to hear that he raises his niece and has custody of her, telling them about how gifted she is. They were already liking him just on how he was with the little girl he mentioned.   

They never asked about where he worked and so you were comfortable throughout the whole dinner. Your dad was invested with boats as well, so Frank and him spoke about them for the rest of the dinner and thought about going on a boat ride in the yacht your father owned.

And Frank walked out of the house with a small smile on his face.

.

Johnny Storm

Last but not least. Johnny is the child-type to be at a dinner. Moments where he’s not serious and could go on and on about his lifestyle. It’s one thing for a super-soldier to go to your parents house. But someone who can light in flames was something you couldn’t quite imagine to be visiting your parents.

Before, Johnny was just an ordinary playboy. Goes out to party and drinks. Just like Ransom but less of an asshole, he gets a little too cocky. His style of clothing was always the 2000 look. A plain t-shirt with a suit jacket and pants. Your mom was the one who was worried. When you told them he was one of the Fantastic Four, they assumed it was Reed first.

“Isn’t he married?”

“It’s not Reed, dad.”

“The thing?”

“That’s my best friend, mom. But no.” Then in an instant, they knew it was the underwear model, boy with twinkle toes and lights up like the sun. Johnny was prepared to meet them. But not prepared in a professional way. His handshakes were less adult, the vigorous handshake from a 5-year-old. You were sure he lightly singed your father’s hand. 

His flirting way got the best of him. His smirks and winks always captured by your parents, you basically hid your face behind a napkin. Even with a boyfriend who rides a motorcycle and is basically a dare-devil, he could do anything for a bet. Your mother never liked men like that. Your father was kind of the opposite. But Johnny seemed to give them the wrong idea. 

Johnny’s way of sending flowers to you, finds the time to spend his day with you. Even reassures them that you’re protected. The dinner continued to go well and Johnny became a gentleman at the end and helped clean up. You never saw this side of him but it warmed your heart in a way.

His wink caught your attention when you watched him follow after your mom to the kitchen and you blushed shyly. 

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[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 10

A/N:  The response to last chapter was so amazing and I have been LOVING answering your anons and comment questions!  I hope this chapter brings some much needed, uh, happiness to your lives.  We’re seeing them get closer and closer..........😊

November 19th, 2019

Aberdeen Bloom was eating Doritos straight out of the bag.  

It was a Tuesday night, and she was on the couch with Minerva in her lap and Kasha beside her watching TV.  The Leafs had lost to Las Vegas 4-2, and Aberdeen was ready to call it an early night – if only so she could put a facemask on before she went to bed.  She didn’t have to be in the office tomorrow until about 10, which meant that she could sleep in.  Plus, her eyes hurt.  She’d been reading like a mad woman during all her days off, researching everything she could and trying to learn the history of the Maple Leafs: all the different players, the eras, the iconic moments, the not-so-iconic moments – everything.  It was a lot to learn, but she knew that the second she typed the words into the Google search bar.  She also knew she wouldn’t learn everything in four days, but alas, she was trying.  She was doing what she knew she had in her.  She was trying.  

Kasha snuck one last Dorito before she rolled up the bag and put it back in the designated “snack” cupboard in their kitchen.  They folded up the blanket, fluffed the pillows on the small couch, and made sure Minerva had some food and water in her bowl before closing the curtains and retreating to their bedrooms.  Minerva hopped onto Aberdeen’s bed, and she scratched behind Minerva’s ears which she knew she liked before changing into her pajamas and going to her washroom to wash her face.  

“Do you mind if I phone Evan?” Kasha called out from her bedroom.  “I won’t be too loud, I promise.”

“Go for it!” Aberdeen said, truly not minding.  She’d hear a few mumbles at most – nothing more – and she knew because Kasha did this often.  It was sweet, and they were cute, and Aberdeen honestly didn’t mind.  Kasha’s dad still didn’t know, which meant they were in their own world, which was nice.  She and Kasha were still harbouring secrets for each other, as they always would.

Minerva meowed when she came back in the room.  Aberdeen sat on her bed and cradled her in her arms for a few minutes, scratching and kissing her all over.  Just as she was about to shut off her light and tuck herself into bed, her phone began to ring.  She looked over to see Brendan’s name flashing across the screen.  

She froze.  Brendan never called this late.  She picked up immediately.  “Good evening Mr. Shanahan,” she greeted him.

“You need to be ready in half an hour with a suitcase packed for four days,” he said, his voice stern but sounding somewhat preoccupied.

Aberdeen stood up immediately.  “Oh, okay.  Of course.  Um, why?” she asked.

“We’re taking a red eye to Phoenix.”

She felt like throwing up.  That had to mean something was wrong with the team.  A player was injured, or being traded, or maybe demoted?  What if it had something to do with Kyle?  What if it was about John?  Was his captaincy at risk because they had only won two games in regulation in the past sixteen games?  “Okay.  No problem.”

“I’ll be there with Lou in half an hour.  Tell nobody,” he said before he hung up the phone abruptly.  

Aberdeen began to freak out.  She changed into a pair of clothes and threw her suitcase onto her bed, Minerva meowing at her and watching as she stuffed outfits into her suitcase.  Minerva even tried climbing into the suitcase a few times, which made Aberdeen sad – all she wanted to be doing was cuddling with her cat, not thinking about the Leafs.  She grabbed her travel bags that had her toiletries and travel-sized skincare and makeup products and threw them in as well.  When she was finished, she zipped it up.  She took a deep breath.

Minerva meowed.

“I’m sorry baby,” she whispered, scratching behind Minerva’s ears again.  She grabbed her credentials off her dresser and put them around her neck.  

She exited her room and knocked softly on Kasha’s door.  “Give me a second,” Aberdeen could hear her say to Evan.  “Come in.”  Aberdeen opened the door, popping in about half way.  Kasha immediately saw that Aberdeen was wearing regular clothes.  The look of worry on Aberdeen’s face was a tell-tale sign something was wrong.  She put her phone against her chest.  “Oh my God Aberdeen, what’s wrong?”

“I’m taking a red-eye to Phoenix,” she whispered, making sure Evan wouldn’t be able to hear her through the phone.  Not that he’d say anything.  “Something’s happening.”

“What’s happening?” Kasha asked, her eyes wide.

“I don’t know.  Brendan hasn’t told me.  But this is very unexpected and I’ve just had to pack for four days which means I’ll be in Colorado too.  I’ll be back Sunday.  But can you please watch Minerva?  I know you weren’t supposed—”

“Aberdeen, of course, it’s not even a question,” Kasha said.  

“You can’t tell anyone I’m going,” Aberdeen said.  “I don’t know what’s happening, but you can’t say a word.”

“No no, of course not,” Kasha shook her head.  “Can you at least text me when you land?  So I know you’re safe?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Aberdeen nodded, her mind running a mile a minute.  What if it was William?  What if it was Jason?  “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, Aberdeen.  This is your job now,” Kasha said.  “I’ll take care of Minerva, don’t worry.”

***

Aberdeen waited in the condo lobby for the town car.  When she saw it pull up, she began walking towards it, pulling her suitcase behind her.  Lou got out and loaded it in the trunk for her, and she opened the back door to sit in her usual seat.  

Brendan was, of course, already there, in a pair of slacks and a comfortable looking sweater.  “Hi Mr. Shanahan,” she said, putting on her seatbelt.  It was then and only then that she noticed another presence in the front seat.  Usually, of course, it was just her and Brendan.  

“Aberdeen, the only people who know the following information I’m about to tell you are Larry, Kyle, myself, and Lou,” he began.  She nodded her head, not believing she was privy to this information before so many other people just by virtue of having to travel with Brendan.  She glanced over quickly to the man in the front seat.  She saw a familiar face smiling back at her.  “You know Sheldon Keefe,” Brendan said as he noticed them looking at each other.

“Of course,” she said.  He was head coach of the Marlies.  He was around often.  Had multiple meetings with Brendan throughout her time working there.  

“Well, he’s the new head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

***

November 20th, 2019

After boarding the MLSE private jet – not first class on a commercial flight, not even another chartered flight, the MLSE private jet – and everyone sleeping most of the way to Phoenix, they landed and immediately checked into the same hotel as the team without telling a single soul.  Everyone went straight to bed but were notified by Brendan that they had to “lay low” for the next day and would be leaving for the arena, where the team would hold their practice, at 1:30pm.  Aberdeen barely slept, and had to stay cooped up in her room so nobody would see her and know Brendan arrived.  It was torture.  

When she arrived at the arena with Brendan and Sheldon, Brendan told her to sit in the stands and wait.  That’s when she got really nervous, because she knew he was prepping himself to fire Mike Babcock right after the practice, even though it was going on as they spoke.  But she did as she was told, sitting and clutching her iPad in her lap so hard her knuckles were white.  

She noticed William first, of course, his blonde hair peeking through his helmet, as he kneeled on one knee in front of Mike Babcock as he addressed the team.  John, Jason, Auston, Tyson – they were all there, and she picked them out one by one.  Everybody was facing away from her, looking at the whiteboard.  Her leg bobbed up and down uncontrollably.  In a mere, what, thirty minutes, they wouldn’t even have to listen to him anymore.

When the team stood up and did some last-minute drills, Aberdeen noticed Kasperi look in her direction.  William was skating over to him, and when he stopped in front of him, William did a double take.  Her heart fluttered at the moment she knew he realized it was her.  He would have almost missed his cue for the drill if Kasperi didn’t tap him.  When he was finished the set-up drill and skated back to his place, he looked in her direction again, transfixed.  

That was when her phone buzzed.  She took it out and saw a series of texts coming through from Brendan.  

Kyle will be texting you soon.  Please go into the locker room with him while he speaks to the team about the coaching change.  Sheldon will be there too.  Let me know how it goes, as I will be speaking to Mike.  

When we release the announcement expect crazy media.  I will speak to them.  Kyle will not.  If Kyle is not done speaking to the team by the time the announcement is sent out and media comes in, don’t worry.  Stay with Kyle.

I think the team will appreciate seeing your friendly face when this comes down.

You will have to help set up for a media press conference tomorrow but the Coyotes will also provide help.  Me Kyle & Sheldon.

Thank you for not leaking.

By the time she looked up from her phone, half of the team was already down the tunnel.  John, Morgan, and Auston had stayed out to speak with Mike a little bit more, but she took that as her cue to leave the stands and at least start making her way towards the locker room.  She knew the team probably had to undress, shower, and change into their regular clothes before Kyle said anything to them, but she was so anxious she couldn’t help it.

Another buzz from her phone.  This time, when she looked at it, ‘Head Empty’ showed – the name she put for William, so nobody would know it was him.

why are u here?

She had to resist every urge in her to reply.  She couldn’t.  Brendan had sworn her to secrecy, and had already thanked her for that secrecy.  If she typed even one word, William would know what was going on.  So she ignored him.

whats going on minskatt?

is everything ok?

pls answer me minskatt. what is happening

can i come see u?  where are u?

She put her phone on silent.  She couldn’t take it.  She held in every emotion she had as she walked through the arena and hallways, flashing every worker her credentials, before finally arriving at the visiting team’s area.  She walked through the doorway and saw Kyle.  He smiled and waved her over.  

“Thanks for coming,” he said as she approached him, still clutching the iPad to her chest.  

“Yeah, of course.  No problem.”

“You know Aberdeen, Brendan trusts you,” he said.  He could tell she was nervous by how white her knuckles were.  He thought that maybe saying that would put her at ease.  “That he made you come on this trip – that he made you privy to the information before a lot of other people…that says a lot.”

Aberdeen shrugged her shoulders.  She wasn’t so sure.  “I’m just doing my job Kyle.  He told me to be packed in thirty minutes and I was packed in thirty minutes.”

“But you didn’t leak it.”

Aberdeen furrowed her brows.  “I…why would I leak it?” she asked.  It was the most absurd concept to her.  “I would never do something like that. He thanked me for not leaking it too—”

“I know,” Kyle smiled slightly.

“But why?” she asked again.  “There’s nothing in it for me.”

“Really?  It’s interesting you see it that way,” Kyle said.  “You could have sold that information to any newspaper or reporter and they would have offered you a job.  A chance to write, which is apparently what you want to do, according to Brendan at least.  But you didn’t.”

Aberdeen hadn’t even considered that.  Sell the information for a writing gig at a national newspaper?  She didn’t even know the opportunity was there, truthfully.  What it revealed to her more than anything was that others had done it before – betrayed the team in some way.  She couldn’t even consider it.  She shook her head.  “This is my job,” she said, her voice small.  “I would never burn this bridge.  I’d never sell Brendan or the team out like that for personal gain.”

Kyle smiled.  “I’m going to chock it up to the fact that you’re young,” he said.  “You’re only twenty-one, Aberdeen.  This city is rife with opportunity for people who take advantage of others.  But you’re not like that – at least yet.”

“I’d never take advantage of someone.”  

Kyle smiled.  “Good.  I like a person with conviction.”  His eyes left hers as he noticed someone walking behind her.  He nodded his head at whoever it was.  “You ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

He opened the door for her, ushering her into the locker room.  As she turned a corner, she saw all the guys sitting at their stalls.  Quite a few of them noticed her come in and looked shocked.  When they saw Kyle follow behind her, they knew something was up.  

“Hey guys,” Kyle began, addressing the room.  “I know John let you know you all needed to stay back.  It’s because I need to speak to you guys.”  Aberdeen looked to her left and saw Sheldon lurking in the shadows.  He smiled at her and she smiled back.  “I want us to have a long, constructive conversation before you guys go back out there…because when you do, there’s going to be a big change,” Kyle continued.  A lot of the guys looked confused.  “That change being…well…Mike Babcock has been relieved of his coaching duties with our club,” he announced.  She watched as some of their jaws dropped.  “And your new head coach is someone many of you know very well – Sheldon Keefe.”

When Sheldon walked into the room and stood beside Kyle, the team broke out into a round of applause.  Guys like Zach, Travis, and Andreas were smiling and clapping for him so Aberdeen could only assume that they had played for him on the Marlies.  Jason seemed extremely happy.  Tyson looked like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders.  

She watched William.  She couldn’t tell what he was feeling.

***

November 21st, 2019

It was William who texted Aberdeen first that night, when they got back to the hotel after the game.  im coming over and u cant stop me.  At least he gave her warning this time so she didn’t have a sheet mask on and her hair wrapped in a towel.  When she heard the lightest knock on her door, against all her better judgement, she ran over and opened it.  

William slipped into her room, wearing trackpants and a Gucci t-shirt that probably cost more than her last paycheque.  She closed the door and locked it before turning around to face him.  “Hi,” she said, her breath caught in her throat.  Here he was, in her hotel room…again.

“Why didn’t you answer my texts after practice?” he asked, getting right into it, not bothering with pleasantries.  

“Will, I couldn’t,” she said.  “I knew but I couldn’t say anything.  I couldn’t risk it.  Brendan swore me to secrecy.  I was on my couch eating Doritos, and then one hour later I was on the MLSE private jet on my way here.  I still can’t believe I am here.”

William nodded his head.  He broke eye contact with her as he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.  “I’m sorry.  I was just – I was just so worried when I saw you.  I mean I was happy, don’t get me wrong, but you know.”

“Yeah.”  She looked at him, lost in his own thoughts.  There was a moment of silence because, Aberdeen thought, he was still processing everything that happened today – and that didn’t include the game they won.  A good start for a new coach, she thought.  “Will?”

“Yes minskatt?”

“How are you feeling about everything?”

He let out a long breath – one he didn’t know he was holding in – as he pushed himself further onto the bed.  He rubbed his face with his hands as she moved to sit on the opposite side of the bed cross-legged.  “I don’t even know minskatt,” he finally admitted.

“I mean…I don’t mean to tell you what to think, but there must be some…I don’t know…relief,” she said cautiously.

He looked over at her, smiling slightly.  “Yeah.  Relief.”

“Because, you know…the backhanded compliments.  You don’t have to take his shit anymore.  You have a coach now who actually, like, values you and your skill and doesn’t throw you under the bus all the time,” she clarified.

“Yeah, I guess.  Conflicted that I feel relief, though.”

It was glaringly obvious that he didn’t want to talk about it – well, that, or he really didn’t know what to feel about it all.  He was hard to read; he didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve like she did most of the time.  And she didn’t know whether to blame him, the time of night they were having this conversation, or something else.  “Will—”

“Minskatt—”

“Can you just like…talk to me, please?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper.  She didn’t even look at him; she looked down and fiddled with the rings on her fingers nervously instead.  “I just want to make sure you’re okay, Will.”

His hand reached out and grabbed hers in her lap, making her stop fiddling with her rings.  Her skin felt like it was on fire as she looked up at him as he rubbed his thumb quickly over the back of her hand.  Her mind quickly flashed back to the first night they were together in her bed – how electrifying his touch was then, too.  Nothing had changed.  “I’ll be fine, minskatt.  You don’t have to worry about me,” he said, shifting to lie down on his side with her hand still in his.  

But she did.  That was her problem.  She was getting herself deeper into this mess even though she knew she had to get out.  Like, he wasn’t even supposed to be here, yet here he was.  Never mind just being in her hotel room – now he was on her bed.  Lying down.  “Will—”

“There’s been a lot of change in my life already, minskatt.  This is nothing,” he smirked, letting go of her hand.  

She knew that.  She remembered what he told her about his family moving around a lot.  It seemed like the only thing constant for him was change.  She thought maybe his long-term contract brought an end to that, but there were so many other variables in hockey she constantly forgot about.  “So long as you’re alright,” she said.  

“You know what would make it more alright?”

“What?”

“If you tell me how freaked out you were stepping onto that private jet for the first time,” he smiled.

Aberdeen started to giggle uncontrollably.  She shielded her face in her hands and shook her head, hearing William’s infectious laugh.  “Don’t even get me started.”

“Come on!” he beckoned.  

“It was torture.”

“Torture?”

“I’m not used to all that, Will,” she said, finding herself lying down on her side to face him.  She probably shouldn’t have.  “Like obviously it was nice – don’t get me wrong.  Beautiful.  But it was all so…crazy.”

“Crazy?” he just kept repeating her words.  

“Not all of us are accustomed to Gucci t-shirts and private jets,” she chastised.  “God, Will.  Sometimes I feel like the theme song to Murder, She Wrote is just playing in your head on a constant loop.”

“What’s it sound like?”

“Oh my God,” she mumbled, pulling her phone out from charging and opening the YouTube app to find the song.  She played it out loud for William, and the more the theme played, the harder William laughed.  His eyes crinkled and his smile stretched across his face; her eyes crinkled at the sound of his ridiculous laugh.  More than anything, she was just happy that he was laughing after everything that had happened.  

Will shoved his face into the pillow as he continued to laugh, the song ending not long after.  “Nobody roasts me quite like you do, Aberdeen.”

She thought about the list of the things she’d say he looked like whenever he asked “What do you think?” when he walked in with his game-day suit on, her most recent being, “You look like a medium pepperoni pizza with garlic dipping sauce.”  The guys got a kick out of that one when they heard about it.  Kasperi was even recording them all in the notes app on his phone.  “You love it,” she said without thinking.

“Of course I do,” he mumbled, his dumb smile still on his face.  “Tell me something Aberdeen.”

“What?”

He stretched out his hand again, one of them gliding over the skin near her elbow.  “What do your tattoos mean?”

It was her turn to shove her face into the pillow.  She knew this would come up one day, and truth be told, she wondered why it didn’t happen earlier.  “It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got a lot of time.”

He did?  That was news to her.  It was late at night and he was in her hotel room instead of his own.  “This one…” she began, pointing to the first, “‘to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield’…it’s the last line of one of my favourite poems, Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  Do you know it?”

“No.”

“Well, it's a good poem.  You should read it,” she quipped.  “It’s about, like, the need of going forward, despite challenges, despite tragedy, despite anything.  About being strong in will, pushing forward relentlessly.  You know…persistence.  Never facing life passively.  It’s an attitude that I want to have in my life too.  An attitude I want to try to embody every day.”

William’s warm smile made her nervous.  “And you’re other one?”

She paused.  “That one’s even more personal.”

“Tell me.”

“Do you promise not to laugh?”

“Of course.”

She paused.  “This one is from Seneca.  He’s a Roman philosopher.  ‘We are waves of the same sea’.  It’s…my family,” she began.  “Mom is Scottish but grew up in Northern Ireland, and my dad is from Iran.  And if you know anything about the history of those two countries, it’s, like, focused on people’s apparent differences with each other creating conflict.  But in Canada, when they met, despite the cultural differences, they came together.  So like, we’re all waves, but at the end of the day…we’re part of the same sea.  We’re in this together,” she explained, embarrassed.  “I don’t know.  I just thought it was beautiful.  We can have all these differences, but at the end of the day we’re part of the same sea.”

The look on William’s face was one of pure adoration.  He was biting him bottom lip trying to suppress a huge smile, and his eyes so blue and dewy-looking she thought she would faint if she looked at them any longer.  “What’s wrong?” she asked.  Maybe he thought the whole explanation was stupid.

“You’re just so adorable, minskatt,” he said, not trying to hide his smile anymore.  “I could listen to you talk for hours.  Sometimes I even just imagine you talking so I can hear your voice.”

“You do?  Really?”

“Aberdeen…I think about you when I’m not even thinking.”

Her heart stopped beating.  She felt a rush of blood warm her cheeks as she pushed her face into the pillow again.  God, he was really going there, wasn’t he?  As they were laying in the same bed together.  “You can’t just say stuff like that to me and think I’m gonna react normally.”

“I know,” he said.  She shot him a look.  “Aberdeen.  I could listen to you talk all day and night.  I’m serious.  And besides, who was Ulysses or Alfred, Lord Tennyson anyway?”

“You don’t know?!” she asked, flabbergasted.  

William shook his head.  Aberdeen began talking, and he began listening.  And to William, all was right in the world.  

***

November 22nd, 2019

When Aberdeen awoke sometime the next morning, her body still felt tired and fatigued.  She knew the day before was long and tedious with the press conference and the game, but she thought sleep would rejuvenate her.  Apparently not.  She brought her hand up with her watch and took a look at the time.  It was still only 6:30am, so no wonder she felt the way she did.  Why in the hell was she waking up now?  

She sighed.  

Then something moved out of her corner of her eye.  A body.  On her bed.

As if on cue, everything from last night came flooding back into her mind.  William coming over to her room.  Talking about Mike Babcock’s firing and how he felt.  Talking about her tattoos and what they meant.  “Sometimes I even just imagine you talking so I can hear your voice.” “I think about you when I’m not even thinking.”  Then he’d asked who Ulysses and Alfred, Lord Tennyson were and she’d fucking taken the bait hook, line, and sinker so easily.  They had ended up talking for so long they just fell asleep.  Together.  In the same bed.

Oh my fucking God.

She looked at how peaceful his face looked.  God, he was fucking beautiful.  Just…beautiful.  But he couldn’t be here.  He shouldn’t have been here in the first place.  It went against everything.  “Will…” she said softly, hoping he’d wake up.  He didn’t.  “Will,” she said more forcefully.

“Hmph?” he grumbled.

“Will, you have to go.”

He furrowed his brows at the sound of her voice, obviously not expecting it.  He opened his eyes slowly, only to see her staring back at him.  “Minskatt?”  

“Will, it’s 6:30, you have to go back to your room,” she whispered.

He looked around, realizing just like she did what had happened.  “I don’t want to.”

“I know you don’t want to but you have to go before everyone starts waking up,” she reasoned.  “If anyone catches you walking out of my room Brendan will have my head on a spit.”

He took her words into consideration before nodding his head and getting up slowly.  He looked at the time before running his fingers through his hair.  He looked back at her as she lay in the bed looking at him.  “I’ll see you at breakfast, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she nodded her head.  

“Good,” he said as he got up, making his way over to the door.  “I’ll see you in a bit.”

When the door closed behind him, Aberdeen sighed and brought her hands up to cover her eyes.

She was fucked.  

[yerwizardharry]

a little buddie ficlet idea stolen from a mike and harvey fic called ‘A Condition of Happiness’ by eadunne2. if you ship marvey go read that because it’s far superior to what I’ve written. i’m not a fic writer - nor do i intend to be - so pls don’t be too harsh. enjoy!

~

“Hey, I was drinking that!”

Eddie hides his grin behind the mug and moves to sit at the table occupied by Chim and Hen, who are both chuckling at Buck’s disgruntled expression.

“I don’t know why you still bother protesting Buck”, Bobby comments as he’s passing through the kitchen, “he does it every single morning.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry Buckaroo, but I think it might be time to accept defeat. Not that you ever put up much of a fight anyway. Wonder why that is.” Hen agrees, smirking.

Buck darts forward attempting to steal the last piece of bacon off the side of her plate but instead stumbles towards the floor and has to catch himself on the table before he winds up with yet another concussion. He whips around just in time to see Chimney retract his leg back underneath the table, an expression of innocence etched upon his face.

“Hey!” Buck yells, turning to grab a cushion from the couch and lobbing it towards Chim and Hen in retaliation.

“Every morning…” Bobby mutters, moving to intercept childish fight that’s about to take place.

Eddie just smiles, content to sit back and watch the chaos unfold. He takes a large gulp of Bucks coffee and sighs happily. It’s perfect as always - sugary sweet with only a splash of milk.

~

A few months later, with their days off coinciding and Chris at his Abeulas, Buck and Eddie are enjoying a rare, adults only, movie night. They’re both sat on the couch, shoulders pressed together and eyes on the tv when they hear a key in the lock. Maddie bustles into Bucks apartment dropping a bunch of his things on the kitchen island, ranting about not wanting piles of her baby brothers belongings cluttering up her and Chims new house. Buck and Eddie, both exhausted from four night shifts in a row, are too sleepy and comfortable pressed against each other to be paying too much attention.

“I’ve got to get back. Chims cooking dinner but no more forgetting all your stuff at my place okay baby bro?”, Maddie says fondly, ruffling Bucks hair and earning a slap on the arm for her trouble. Eddie chuckles at them both. Maddie flashes him a smile before turning to leave. On her way towards the front door, Maddie swipes Buck’s coffee mug and takes a quick sip.

“Gross!”, she splutters, "Buck why the hell is that so sweet? I know for a fact that we both prefer our coffee as black and strong as possible.”

Buck freezes, his mouth opening and closing, gaze shifting guiltily between his sister and Eddie.

“I...It’s not-I like any kind of coffee Mads, c'mon.”

Maddie rolls her eyes, exasperated. “Buck. You spent an entire car journey the other day trying to convince Chim that black coffee is superior and, i quote, any other type doesn’t even deserve to be called coffee . I distinctly remember because i considered driving right off the road just to put us all out of our misery.”

“Very funny Mads. Feel free to leave at any time.”

Maddie looks towards Eddie for support but finds the other man has his eyes trained on Buck, seemingly lost in though. She looks back towards her brother who has begun to fidget uncomfortably in the ensuing silence, gaze landing everywhere except his best friend.

Fighting down a laugh, Maddie sends her brother a wink and moves once more towards the front door.

“I’ll leave you boys to it.”

The sound of the door clicking shut echoes through the silent apartment.

Buck tenses.

~

"Look, I don’t really like-"

“But whenever I steal your-"

“-sweet coffee-"

“-why would you do that?"

A series of emotions flicker across Bucks face, like he’s thinking of laughing it off or making an excuse but in the end he turns to stare out of the window, shoulders slumped, hand rubbing absently over the left side of his chest.

“It’s a condition of happiness”, Buck sighs faintly. “Y’know. Heinlein.”

Eddie shifts towards Buck on the couch, brow furrowed in confusion. “What? Strangers in a Strange Land? Buck-“

Buck curls in on himself defensively. “F-forget it. Lets just pretend this conversation never happened. It’s dumb. Hey! Would you look at the time, it’s been hours. You should probably go pick up Chris from Abuela’s-“

But Eddie isn’t paying attention to Bucks rambling because it’s finally clicked and his mouth drops open in shock.

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own”, Eddie recites softly.

Buck sucks in a sharp breath and blushes all the way up to the tips of his ears. He’s a deer in headlights. Chest rising and falling rapidly and wide blue eyes unable to look anywhere except Eddies softening face. As the silence stretches on, Buck squeezes his eyes shut and braces for rejection. For the possibility that he’s about to lose, not only his best friend, but also an amazing kid he’s come to love as his own, all because of one stupid slip of the tongue.

Eddie’s heart breaks and swells simultaneously. He can’t believe he’s going to get this. This beautiful, kind man who cares more than anyone he’s ever met and wears his every emotion for all to see. Eddie brings a hand up to cup Buck’s face in his palm, thumb wiping away a stray tear. Bucks’s eyes flutter open.

“Evan, in those interactions, it isn’t the coffee that makes me happy.”

“No?” Buck whispers hopefully.

Eddie smiles tenderly and lifts his other hand to card through Buck’s hair, tugging him closer until their faces are just inches apart.

“No.” Eddie purrs, breath fanning across Bucks already tingling lips. He watches, mesmerised, as Bucks tongue flicks across the lower one.

“Eddie, please.”

After years of straining, the dam breaks. Eddie yanks Buck across the remaining distance, crashing their lips together. Buck whimpers desperately and crawls onto Eddies lap, hands roaming frantically across his body unwilling to settle in one place. Kissing Eddie is passion and fire and everything that’s described in those trashy romance novels Buck knows Eddie loves but vehemently denies ever having read. But most importantly it feels like finally coming home.

Eddie’s thumbs trace soothing circles on buck’s waist as their kisses begin to slow and with one last kiss to buck’s nose Eddie pulls back. Once he gets a clear look at bucks face though, Eddies blissful expression immediately melts into one of alarm.

“Querido? Why are you crying?”

Buck just smiles brightly and brushes a finger across Eddie’s cheekbone.

“I’m happy.”

Eddie lifts Bucks finger from his face and presses a kiss to the back of his hand.

“Well that’s lucky. Because it’s a condition of happiness for me too."

[mysweetestcreature]

Tomorrow Never Knows (President!Harry) Chapter 3: Bloom

(Banner by the wonderful noblewomankat!)

***

Masterlist

***

Monday, September 22, 2008

        Monday morning comes quicker than expected, but for Y/n, it couldn’t have come soon enough. All weekend the only thing she could think about was how Harry had been so close –– literally so close –– to kissing her in her living room. How she pretended to be calm in front of her family all weekend utterly baffles her. 

       The last time she’d had a crush so tremendous had been in the summer after sixth grade when her mom had signed them up for a mother-daughter cooking class, and one of the mom’s had brought her son by mistake. He was a year older and could make the most delicious Pad Thai in all of Central Jersey. Even then, however; she had never felt all these butterflies in her tummy that would consistently flutter about when Harry just so much as looked at her.

       She arrives on campus a little earlier than usual, probably because she’d woken up so excited to get ready for the day. Her dad had been terribly confused to find her sitting on the countertop, all dressed and ready to be dropped off on his way to work (she’d even packed him his favorite lunch as a bribe). 

       As of now, it’s just her and the breeze that gently lifts the strands of her relaxed hair. The school looks so pretty at this hour, with the birds chirping happily in their nests, and the cute little woodland creatures that are usually hidden away in the bushes, roaming freely across the lawn. Only a few other students join her at this hour, but they’re all stowed away in the building, taking this breathtaking scene for granted. She breathes it all in and allows for her head to fall against the bench’s backrest. 

       “Hey.” The sudden hum of his deep voice startles her, and her head snaps up to find him standing right in front of her and looking like he’d just stepped off the cover of some teen magazine that she skims through while in line at Shop Rite. 

       “Hi,” she tries her best, but she can’t help the wide smile that dresses over her features. She signals down to the empty spot beside her. He gladly accepts it, dropping his bookbag on the grass and plopping down next to her. Her thumbs fiddle with each other in her lap, as she sucks on her top front teeth before speaking up again. “How was your weekend?” 

       “It was fine,” he answers simply.

       “Do anything fun?”

       “Eh.”

       The words bounce around in her mouth with the undeniable need to talk about last Friday. But he’s being far too detached in his manner of speaking, that she wonders how she’ll ever go about starting up such an important –– yes, she’s labelling it as a top priority –– conversation. She supposes that it is the beginning of the week, and maybe now that she’s had a better look at him he does appear a tad tired, judging from the bags under his eyelids and the way he suppresses a long yawn into his sleeve. Still, though! How is she going to accumulate confidence when he’s barely alive enough to respond?

       He turns to look at her. “Yours?”

       She stares intently at him. “Terrible! So stupidly terrible! It was so damn hard because all I could think about was how you almost kissed me but didn’t because my little brother interrupted us and totally hogged your attention for the rest of the afternoon! And now all I want to do is talk about it because I may or may not like you as more than a friend! AGH!” It’s what she’s dying to tell him, but rather she blinks her eyes before letting her head falter in defeat.

        “It was fine.” 

***

       “He did what!?” Maxxie nearly falls over in his seat at the reception of the news.

       “Will you hush up!” Y/n shushes, smacking him in the face with her three-subject Biology notebook (she thought it’d be more impactful than a flimsy folder). “Besides, nothing happened.” And yet she so badly wishes that weren’t the case because at least it wouldn’t have trapped her in such a spot of complete unknowing.

       “It’s true,” Cici inserts, leaning in from the adjacent side of the lab table. “She told me when she picked me up after I climbed out the window at Café Agira.” 

       Maxxie stares at Cici with the most baffled expression. “You-... You know what? I’m not even gonna ask,” he talks at her before turning back to Y/n. “You on the other hand, I am very interested in learning about this thing between you and our local Brit.” 

       She sighs, dropping her cheek in her palm and tracing nonsensical images onto the surface of the table with her pointer. “I was gonna talk to him about it before homeroom, but I don’t know...he seemed really out of it.” Her eyes shut with grievance. “What if he regrets it? Is that why he’s being all distant?” After all, she’d been a bit emotional, and he’d been there to comfort her. It’s a scene out of over a dozen films.

       Both her friends give each other a knowing look before hopping their stools closer to the middle. Cici envelops her in a tight hug. “You, my friend, need to be more confident,” she says softly, playing with the ends of hair. “Tell her what you know, Max.”

       Y/n glances at the blonde as he leans in to join the huddle. “Okay, so I heard from Evan, who heard from Jake, who heard from Kara, who heard from Lori, who heard from Bailey, who heard from Rishav, who heard from his sister Aavani, who is dating Angelo, who heard from Mike, who heard from Trish, who heard from Brent, who is on the football team with Harry...” He pauses, gasping for air after such a difficult and trying verbal marathon. “...and he heard Harry going on about how he’s really into this girl he’s friends with.”

       They’d expected this to lift her spirits up, but instead she lets out another dismal sigh. “Harry’s friends with a lot of girls. Remember last week when those girls from his English class made him sit with them? He could be talking about anyone.” 

       Cici glares over her head, nostrils flaring angrily for Maxxie to fix this slump of a mood their best friend is trapped in. 

***

       The next time Harry sees her is in History class, and he’d spent all of US Politics trying to formulate cohesive thoughts that he hoped would process into audible words. This morning had been a bit off for him, he realized that as soon as they had parted ways towards their respective homerooms. He hadn’t meant to be so standoffish, but he had an extra early practice and by the time he saw her, he was already thoroughly exhausted and wanting nothing more than to curl up somewhere and take a long nap. 

       Now he’s had time to rejuvenate and collect himself into something he’ll actually be able to present to her. Hopefully she doesn’t think any less of him, or change her opinion based on one measly fail of an encounter. He remains positive because he’s really been meaning to talk to her about a couple days ago, how he had come within centimeters of pressing his lips to hers because he really couldn’t hold back any longer. She’s just so cute and sweet and funny, and overall he just loves being around her. And okay, he’d meant to text or call her to say just that, but couldn’t figure out how to organize his scattered brain into something relatively sensible. He won’t deny that she has this power over him that he can’t quite describe, let alone express through his seemingly fading vernacular. 

       She walks in, making sure to greet Mr. Noone with a smile and a bag full of another delicious dessert. He tries to listen in as she makes conversation, which soon turns into her hounding the elderly man for yet another one of her Tupperware containers. “I’m pretty sure you have five now! At least give me three of those back. Dad had nowhere to put our leftovers last night!” he hears her whine. The way she pouts her lips and huffs as she stomps away is undeniably one of the cutest things she does –– he thinks so, at least.

       When she’s within close proximity, he sits up straight in his chair and pushes back his mop of brown curls away from his eyes.  “About this morning,” he starts slowly, finding his rhythm with his tongue. “I was so drained from practice and literally I thought I was gonna pass out...”

       “It’s fine, no big deal,” she says curtly, setting her stuff down and taking her seat without so much as peeking an eye his way.  

       His mouth curls to the side. He’s by no means an expert on women, but if living his whole life with his mum and sister had taught him anything, he’d have to be completely daft to actually believe that she’s completely dandy. “No, it’s not. You’re mad at me.” He places his arm around her chair and shifts closer. “I’m sorry..” he pouts, the side hand brushing slightly over her back where he knows she’s ticklish, but she doesn’t even flinch. “C’mon, at least look at me. I don’t like it when you’re mad at me.” 

       She keeps her eyes set on her lap. “Harry, I said-” But she stops when the shadow of a figure looms over their table, and they both peer up hesitantly to meet Mr. Noone towering above them. 

       “If you two could postpone this lovers quarrel until after my class, that’d be most appreciated.”

***

       After class, Harry follows their history teacher’s advice, and chases after Y/n as she squeezes her way through the pile of students to escape. She takes solace, however, in the knowledge that she can hide away in the library or the Home Ec. Room for the next fifty-five minutes and won’t have to talk to him until lunch time. And yet, she groans inwardly when she hears her name being echoed in the crowded corridor, accompanied by his hasty footsteps that as the push off the floor with each brisk stride.

       “Y/n!” he wheezes, finally catching up to her. She gives in, feeling a slight pang of guilt (emphasis on slight) run through her, and pivots on her heel. “Christ, you walk fast.” He hoists himself up, using his knees as support as he takes in a few deep breaths through his nostrils.

       “Don’t you have class?” she tuts, crossing her arms and stomping the toe of her shoe in utter annoyance. 

       “Not until you accept my apology.”

       She throws her hands up in the air. “And I keep telling you that everything is fine! So, please get your butt up to Debate or else you’ll be marked as tardy and I don’t want you to be late because of me.” 

        A smirk finds its way to his lips. “At least I know you care,” he cheeks, nudging her gently with his elbow. He can see how she fights off a grin as she turns her head as afar as it can go. No matter how hard she tries to hide it, he still manages to bring it out of her. “There it is!”

       “I just don’t want that on my conscience,” she snoots, but she knows how unconvincing this whole charade is. He slings an arm around her before she can even come up with another thing to say as if it was the most natural thing. She looks at where his veiny hand comes through the other side, poking through the slope of her neck and lazily hanging off her shoulder. “Um, hello?” she gawks, but instead of answering, he leads her down the hall and towards the tunnel to the next the building. “At least tell me where we’re going.”

       “You’re gonna teach me how to bake!” 

       “But what about-” 

       He cuts her off with two fingers pressed to her lips, simply shaking his head as he holds the door open. What’s more annoying is that she likes how this feel, and how oddly organic it is for their footsteps to sync up like a well-oiled machine. And please, someone stop her from wanting to stay like this for longer or thinking about how cold she’ll be once this protective belt disappears.

***

Saturday, September 27, 2008

       It’s been a little over a week since Harry had come over to study, and in that week, they still haven’t opened up on the subject. And to be quite frank, it’s been driving Y/n absolutely bonkers! She still doesn’t know where this puts them, or whether she’s looking too far into the situation and she should save herself the embarrassment and forget anything had ever happened.  

       Right now, it’s about ten in the morning, and Y/n is still lying in bed trying to figure out these pesky feelings. On a typical Saturday morning she would have already whipped up some breakfast for her family, but now she can barely focus on anything but checking if he’s sent her a new text. 

       A knock on the door brings her out of it, and she answers back in an aloof tone. “Come in.” Her eyes lazily flick over in its direction as the hinges begin to squeak. When the person pokes his head in, the look on his face is already too much for her handle in this state. She pulls the covers over her head to hide herself.

       “Hi, Dad! Good Morning, Dad! How’re you doing today, Dad?” he mocks, striding further into the room. “I bet that’s what other parents get.” She feels the bed dip in by her feet. “Alright, kid. Time to join us in the world of the living.” Very slowly does she feel her blanket being stripped away, until the light from her suddenly exposed window burns brightly on her pupils. “Or else your mom is going to have to come up here, and she’s a lot stronger than I am.”

       “Dad, please,” she whines, and battles him out in a game of tug-of-war for her sheets. “I’m having a crisis here!” 

       “You’re fourteen,” he deadpans. No one could have ever prepared him for the task of having to raise a teenager, he lets his wife know that every morning when he wakes up. In fact, he calls the theme of their little morning chats “complaining rigorously about parenting” or C. R. A. P. as he so fondly refers to it as. Liv isn’t too keen on the acronym, and she lets him know that every single time. 

       “You’re a boy, right?” she suddenly asks, and she sits up and hugs her knees tightly to her chest.

       Jeremy scoffs loudly. “Who’s to say?” But his daughter stares at him with an unwavering seriousness that he swears she must get from her mother because he can barely intimidate his son into taking a bath. Curse Olivia’s prominent genes! “Okay, fine. Yes. Happy?”

       “Very,” she smirks, inching closer, but her demeanor soon switches to a less playful glow. “How do you know if a boy likes you? Like really likes you.” She rests the side of her face on her bended knees and closes her eyes. 

       “I don’t think I understand the question.” 

       “Of course, you don’t, honey.”  

       Olivia waltzes in with a basket of freshly washed and folded clothes balanced on her hip and a warm bagel in the other hand. “You can leave now. I got this,” she tells her husband, shooing him out the door. 

        “Oh, thank god!” he sighs out in relief and runs out the room, but not without giving his wife a tender kiss on the cheek and a wishful “good luck!”

        That leaves both women to sort it all out on their own. Olivia sets everything down before taking Jeremy’s place on the bed. She breathes in deeply and exhales with a warm smile. 

        “So, who’re we talking about?” 

        “Remember that boy who came over last week?”

        It takes a good minute for Olivia to track back to such a long time ago (this last week had been so busy at the clinic so she tends to let other irrelevant details slip her mind), before nodding her head when she finally remembers. “You mean Harry, right? He was such a sweet boy, and so good with Mason, too!” she gushes, clapping her hands as she recalls the kind British boy. Y/n gives her a look, and she soon realizes what this is all about. “Oh, my baby.” And she brings her daughter in for a big hug. 

        “I don’t know what to do,” Y/n mutters into her shirt. “Every time I think I’m going to tell him, I end up chickening out. I hate it!” All the pent-up frustration that had been building up for exactly a week is now coming into light. “Mom, I really like him, like really like Harry. And I don’t know what I’m going to do because he’s all I can think about and it’s literally making me lose my mind!”

        “Why is that?” Olivia asks, stroking over the length of her hair. 

        “Because...” Y/n starts, taking a pause. “Because he tried to kiss me, but it didn’t happen, and we haven’t talked about it since. And now I’m scared that it was just an ‘in the moment’ thing and he probably doesn’t feel the same way and I’m getting my hopes up over absolutely nothing.”

        Liv takes Y/n by the shoulders to face her directly. “First of all, breathe.” She guides her through some breathing exercises to get her elevated heart rate back to normal. “Second...but what if he does feel the same way? Isn’t knowing for sure better than not taking a chance at all?” 

***

Thursday, October 2, 2008

       Harry is just about done and ready to head out when he feels a tap on his shoulder. 

       “Hi, Harry!” Zoey greets cheerfully, twirling her skirt as she twists her hips. 

       “Hey,” he nods as he stuffs his copy of The Scarlet Letter in his bag. He looks left and right to find that it’s only them two left in the hall. It didn’t even occur to him how late he’d stayed back to talk to Miss Arelleno about an upcoming book report because he wanted to make sure that his choice of literature would be appropriate to present on. (Luckily, it was! And he had already managed to outline all the key points he was going to accentuate on.)

        “I was actually hoping I’d find you here,” she admits, leaning against his locker door. 

        “Yeah?” Harry replies, but honestly, he’s barely paying attention because for some reason he can’t seem to find his house keys in his pockets. If he doesn’t find them, he’s absolutely fucked because Gemma doesn’t get home until tonight and Anne is out of town on business. “Sorry, I’m...” Aha! He’d forgotten that he’d placed them –– along with his phone –– in his cardigan pocket before football practice. “What were you saying?” He’s much more attentive this time around.

         She steps closer to him. “I was wondering if you wanted to check out this new diner with me? It’s called Ruben’s and I heard their milkshakes are supposed to be amazing! Plus...” she starts, looking up at him through her long lashes. “The big game is tomorrow and I thought I could help you relax.” 

        “Um...” Harry purses his lips together. “I’m actually going there with Y/n,” he says with a faint blush. “You’re welcome to join us, if you’d like?” 

       A tight smile replaces the flirtatious one she’d been sporting this whole time. She backs away, placing her hands firmly on her hips with displeasure. “No, I wouldn’t want to intrude,” she grits out. 

       He stares down at his watch, his eyes growing wide when he realizes he’s already two minutes late. “Oh, okay” he loosely responds. “Hey, I have to get going, but I’ll see you around.” And he starts jogging down the corridor towards the library where he and Y/n had agreed to meet.

***

Friday, October 3, 2008

       The game against Pleasant Valley has finally arrived. The entire school must be in attendance, as the screams and chants coming from outside are almost deafening. Harry sits on the bench in the locker room as he makes sure his cleats are tied nice and tight. To say he’s nervous may be an understatement. If his time at Ashwood has taught him anything, it’s that they really, really hate Pleasant Valley with a passion to burn a million candles. Just the other day, Coach Davis had given him a very thorough history lesson about the ongoing feud, ending it by begging him to lead them to a victory or else their pride as a school would cease to exist. No pressure, right?

       “Styles!” He turns around to see Coach Davis standing right behind him with his arms crossed and face as serious as can be. “You have a visitor outside,” he says, signaling towards the door. 

       “Who?” he asks thoughtfully. 

       “Heck if I know. Some cheerleader.” 

       Harry’s eyes widen, and a relieved grin washes over his features. He ignores the cackles from his teammates, including teasing about him getting a pre-game reward in an empty classroom. The coach looks at him pointedly, as to say he better make this meeting quick or there would certainly be hell to pay. Harry gulps, slowly slipping off the bench before making a break for the exit.

       When he pushes his way out, there she is standing in midst of the trophy case lighting. He takes a moment to appreciate how angelic she is with her hair pulled back in a braid, and how completely and utterly adorable she looks with the double-knit crossover jacket that embodies her upper frame. She glimpses up, and immediately he feels all the tenseness in his body wash away because she really might be his all-in-one remedy for just about anything. And fuck, he really wishes he could tell her that and all else that’s been simmering inside of him.  

       “Hey there, Mr. Quarterback.” 

       “Come to wish me luck?”

       She cocks her head to the side and simpers at him. “Something like that.” 

       Harry laughs, his shoulders jittering underneath all the padding. Then he takes the first step forward. “Well I’m happy you’re here,” he says. He moves another inch towards her. Reaching out, he grazes the top of her forearm with the pads of his fingers, letting his hand drop down its length until it dares to engulf the back of her open fist. A blush creeps up his neck, and he’s thankful that the hallway is dimly lit this time of night, or else she’d see how completely swept he is just by holding her. 

       And yet, he’s not the only one. Her mind has to remind her heart how to function, but the way he’s looking at her leaves everything a haze. “There’s something I need to tell you,” she confesses, suddenly remembering why it is she’s here. His digits fill the spaces between hers as his thumb encouragingly rubs over the back of hand. It’s pleasantly warm and soft, and she wouldn’t mind if they were to stand there into next week. He prods her to continue, the side of his mouth tugging up and his dimple carving in so exquisitely. She inhales deeply through her nose. 

       “Harry, I-”

       “Styles!” 

       She bites on her bottom lip when Coach Davis appears at the door with his whistle held between his gritted teeth. In no way does he look amused by the fact that one of his key players isn’t inside prepping with the rest of the team. 

       “I’ll be there in a sec, Coach,” Harry yells over his shoulder. He rolls his eyes when he turns back to her. “Sorry, he’s just going through it right now,” he chuckles, shaking his head. “What were you saying?” He squeezes her hand. 

       “I, um...” She looks past him, and the burly individual still stands there so menacingly. He clears his voice and makes a show out of staring at the time on his watch. “You know what,” she gulps. “I’ll just tell you later.” She tries her best to hide her disappointment. 

       “You sure? I mean I have a few more minutes until-”

       “Styles!” 

       Who knew one man could be so impatient? (Oh, wait...) Y/n nods robotically. “I’m sure.” So much for that. 

       A smile suddenly creeps back to her face when a thought lights up in her head. “Here,” she starts, but he begins to frown when she pulls her hand from his grasp. However, his mouth soon becomes a barren stage when she sets both her palms upon his chest, using him as a pillar to lift herself up onto her toes. Without warning, her lips press gently to his cheek. They’re soft and plushy, and everything he imagined they’d be. If he couldn’t feel Davis’ eyes burning holes in the back of his head, he’d be sure this was all a dream. “Win this one for me, and I’ll tell you.” And with that, she falls back flat on her feet, letting her arms fall from his body as she backs away. 

       It takes everything in him to resist the urge to follow her. As soon as her figure disappears into the dark of the hallway, he allows himself to be dragged back into the locker room, his limbs feeling like complete jelly. 

***

       “Where’ve you been?” Cici asks her when she joins the rest of the cheerleaders on the field. She had excused herself to use the restroom over fifteen minutes ago, and now here she is looking as though she’d won a grand raffle. 

       Y/n doesn’t answer, however; she fails miserably to hide even an ounce of her excitement. Despite still not having told him, she hopes that the kiss to cheek will give him even just the slightest hint about her feelings for him. In that moment, she had felt courageous, and now that exuberance is still bursting within her. She sits down and starts with some simple hamstring stretches, while the corners of her mouth still remain turned up. 

       “Oh my god, did you finally tell him?” Cici screams. “What did he say? Holy crap!” 

       “I wasn’t able to, no,” Y/n hums.

       “Then why do you look so happy?”

       Before she can answer, another voice beats her to it. “Yeah, Y/n. Why so happy?” Zoey pushes past a some of the cheerleaders, each sway of her hips greatly emphasized as she walks. “Excited to see Harry lead the team to victory?” she taunts. “Doesn’t he just look amazing in his uniform? Like literally so hot.” She lifts her curled hair away from her neck, and exaggerates as she fans herself. The two minions behind her begin to snigger. 

       Cici resists the urge to smack her in the face, just looking at her makes the blood in her veins boil violently. 

       Although, Y/n remains close-lipped and shrugs without interest at the girl because at this point, she isn’t worth wasting a breath on. She continues with her warmup, not even bothering to look up. Cici smirks on her behalf, waving her hand to send her away. “Why don’t you crawl back to whatever toxic pit you came from, hm?” she mocks. “Buh-bye, now!” Zoey rolls her eyes, snapping her fingers in the air signaling for her two shadows to retreat. “I swear to God, I could honestly strangle her,” Cici exasperates, falling to the ground to joining her. 

       “Don’t worry about her too much, she just wants attention.” Not even Zoey can ruin her mood tonight. 

       A few minutes later, their coach is having them get in position to start their routine for when the football team runs out onto the field. 

***

        “With only ten seconds left on the clock, the Ashwood Eagles need one last touchdown to beat the Pleasant Valley Lions.”

        There are only nine yards separating them and a claimed victory. 

        Ashwood takes their last timeout of the game, and the boys huddle to discuss this crucial next move. Everyone is exhausted, it’s evident by both the sweat on their faces and the way their movements aren’t as aggressive as they were in the beginning. But they can’t give up. With only one touchdown needed to guarantee a win, they need to tough it out for one final play. 

        “They’ve got me, and Adrian guarded,” one of the wide receivers, Brent tells them. “And with Clint out, we’re gonna need a new play.” 

        The captain, Connor, turns to Harry. “Styles, what do you think?” The rest of the team follows suite, and all eyes are on him. 

        Harry looks at each of their faces, his breathing becoming quicker and less calculated as he feels the pressure of the countdown begin to set in. A single touchdown is all that separates them from the quarterfinals, from bragging rights for beating their worst competitor, and finally...

        On the sidelines, the cheerleaders cheer them on without falter, with intricate moves that display both agility and overall school spirit. But only one holds his attention. He smiles brightly when their eyes meet. Her lips wrap around words of encouragement. You can do it! And it’s accompanied by a kiss in the wind. With that, he can feel power begin to sting in his fingertips and that last push to get his head back in the game. After this is all over, nothing is going to stop him from getting to her. 

       “Okay, so here’s what we’re gonna do.”  

***

        The crowd becomes silent once time-in is called. 

        At the nine-yard line, Harry shout the play to his teammates, patting his own helmet to finish it off. He prepares himself for when the center snaps the ball back. 

        “HIKE!”

        The sight of time depleting becomes harder to watch. Richardson snaps the football between his legs, and Harry catches it with ease. The Lions rush towards them, clashing with their defensive line in an almost violent opposition. All hope fades with each one of the receivers being heavily blocked from range. Coach Davis screams at the top of his lungs, calling for Harry to do something as the final five seconds dwindle down. 

        Like slow motion, Harry dashes down the remaining length of the field. The cold October air hitting his cheeks as he runs as fast as his legs can afford. All the shouting coming from around him fades from his ears. He dodges those who rush towards him, leaping over a defensive tackle like his life depends on it. 

        “THAT’S A TOUCHDOWN FOR ASHWOOD!”

        Harry throws the football to the ground. He screams in triumph, tearing the helmet away from his head and letting the breeze brush away the beads of sweat as they fall from the tips of his tussled hair. The team comes at him like a stampede, each member holding the same charged enthusiasm as his own. 

        At this moment, he feels invincible. The adrenaline still flowing vigorously through his veins as he basks in this victory. Everyone runs onto the field, all the coaches, benched players, and all else present on the sidelines. 

***

        Y/n tries to squeeze her way through a sea of excitable fans to get to him.

        This is it. He had won the game just as she had asked of him. Now she’s left with no choice but to finally confess all that she’s been wanting to say. Everything she feels and all that’s been winding her head are finally going to be put out in the open, just as her mom had advised her when they had their heart-to-heart. And for once, she isn’t nervous that she’ll panic or recoil because she’s positive that these feelings are real, that he’s real, and what they have has the potential to become something wonderful. There’s absolutely no reason for her to believe otherwise. It all excites her to the very core, and the closer she gets to reaching him, the more she feels these tingling nerves come alive. 

        “Harry!” she shouts for him as loudly as she can but even then, she’s still too far for him to hear her. To make things more difficult, two football players nearly sandwich her when they come together to bump shoulders with such alarming force. She pushes her way through the pair, her breath catching in her throat when she sees the back of his jersey. 

        When she gets within a closer radius, he finally hears her voice call his name. A smile that reaches his eyes dawns upon him when he turns around and sees her standing just a short distance away. She feels her heart race as she slows her pace to a steady walk. 

        Out of nowhere, a wave of auburn locks cuts in front of her in those last remaining steps. Y/n is brought to a sudden stop as she tries to avoid colliding with the her back. She leans to the side to see Harry staring at the girl with furrowed brows. A smirk comes from over the girl’s shoulder before she turns to come face to face with the quarterback.

        Zoey takes either side of Harry’s face in her hands and pulls him down, and their lips meet halfway. 

        And Y/n’s beating heart stops. ***

[cevanstorytime]

America’s Sass

Chapter 3

The trivia assistant came to our table and passed out the papers and pencils. Chris snatched ours and looked at me excitedly. “What’s our name?”

“Uhhh.” Was all I could get out. I stared at him blankly.

“America’s ass!” Mike yelled from across the table, but drunk me heard “America’s Sass” which made perfect sense.

“He is very sassy,” I said wiggling my eyebrows at him.

“Hey, hey, hey! I’m the sassy one?! I’ve gotten a lotta lip from you today little lady.” He said wagging his finger at me.

“See? Sassy.” I said looking at his friends.

“Hmm.” He looked me over for a minute. “Maaaybe you’re right, but just so you know, I’m not alone in sassy town.”

“But you are the mayor.” I winked at him as he gasped and put a hand to his chest in mock shock.

He scribbled America’s Sass in the top corner of the paper, put the pencil down and finished the beer sitting in front of him. He motioned to the bartender to bring another round.

By now I had lost count of how many drinks I’d had, but I was feeling very relaxed. “Listen, you get too many drinks in me and I’ll be useless as far as trivia goes.” I told him, but he didn’t believe me. He scrunched his face up and made a pssh sound.

“Are you sure it’s not the opposite?” He teased as he nudged me with his shoulder.

The server arrived and placed our drinks on the table just as the trivia host started the game. Chris turned his hat backward in what I assume was an attempt to look serious, but it just looked adorable. “Alright! Everybody ready? Got your team names on the top of your paper? Alright. Here we go. Question number one. What kind of person shall not be honored on a US postal stamp, according to the US postal service and the Citizen’s Stamp Advisory Committee?”

Chris and I turned to each other and in unison whispered “a living person.” Chris made a fist and hissed “Yessss. Mmm! I knew it!” He quickly wrote the answer down then put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed me.

“Question two! In what city is Jim Morrison buried?”

I turned and whispered “Paris” in his ear. I’m pretty sure I saw his ear twitch, and then we were face to face, mere inches apart. My heart jumped into my throat. His must have too because I saw him swallow hard. His eyes darted to my lips.

“You need some water over there?” Joey asked. I turned away from Chris, my face crimson I’m sure.

He was still looking at me when he answered “nope, we’re good.” He finally turned away from me but turned his gaze to Mike as he picked up his beer and took a long swig.

We continued kicking ass through the first two rounds. And in those rounds, we had another two rounds of drinks. I was drunk, Chris was drunk, and it was beginning to feel like I had known these people forever. A warm comfy haze settled over me, and Chris was getting closer than I thought humanly possible, but I wasn’t going to object. I took my blazer off, as the closeness and the alcohol turned me into a human furnace. He kept his arm around my shoulder and would pull me close and talk in my ear. I could still smell his cologne, but now he had a slightly bitter smell from all the beer he’d consumed.

After I answered one question fairly quickly he brushed my hair behind my shoulder and whispered “you’re so fuckin smart.” I felt his beard brush my neck, which set off goosebumps from my head to my toes. His hand trailed down my arm and over my forearm. He took notice of the goosebumps and looked at me startled. “Are you cold?”

I shook my head slowly. “Nope. I’m fine.”

A smile crept over his face as he rubbed my arm in an attempt to warm me up. “You sure?” I nodded and managed to get mm hmmm out. To which his response was “Hmm. Wonder why you’re covered in goosebumps?”

“I don’t ...I don’t know...hmm. Am I? Maybe I’m under the vent? I’m fine..I uh. I don’t know why...I have..what?”

“Akala.” He said softly. I looked at him confused.

“What does jungle book have to do with this? I mean I love the original, and the remake was good but wha...”

“It’s the answer to the question. You have the pencil. Write it down. A-K-A”

“I know how to spell Akala ass.” I turned to the paper and wrote it down as he giggled. “I didn’t even hear the question. I would have got it.” I mumbled, my mouth twitching into a crooked smile.

“Uh-huh. What happened? Why didn’t you hear it?”

I turned my hands up in an I don’t know gesture which made Chris laugh hard, his hand flying up to his chest involuntarily. Which set me off in a fit of giggles.

“What’s going on over there?” Tara asked. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” He answered. “She’s a funny woman.” I rolled my eyes as he laughed some more.

“Ok! 15-minute intermission!” The host announced.

“I’m going to go get some fresh air. Would you ladies like to join me?” Theresa asked.

“Yes!” I answered a little too quickly. I hopped up and followed her out the front entrance to the sidewalk, Tara close behind.

“Thanks for coming out with me! It was getting too stuffy in there.” Theresa said.

“I’m glad to hear it wasn’t just me. I thought it was just because I had so much to drink.” I snickered. “I haven’t hung out at a bar like this in a looong time.”

“Well, we’re here every Tuesday! You should join us! This has been a lot of fun tonight. I’m glad Chris found you.” Tara smiled warmly at me. “He’s been in a funk for a while, I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to snap out of it. And then he called me and told me he might have someone to bring tonight! I got so excited. He hasn’t brought someone to trivia in ages. Like I’m talking over a year.”

“He has been really busy this year though,” Theresa added.

“That’s really sweet, but I doubt it had anything to do with me. We literally met this morning, for like twenty minutes.” I responded a little confused. There’s no way he was happy because of me. “And honestly when we met this morning he was very quiet and reserved compared to this.” I swung my arm motioning to the bar. Both the girls just shrugged.

“I’m just saying... it’s nice to see him...hopeful... again.” My eyes shifted from Theresa to Tara, and back to Theresa.

“Why do you think he’s been so down?” I asked

“Well, he’s always so busy with work, and when he comes home he’s surrounded...by us...and our other friends, who are all in these,” she inserted air quotes here, “normal lives. And he’s single...and, well I think he feels like he’s missing out, or left behind or something.” Tara explained.

“Like the odd man out.” Theresa confirmed.

“Ah. I see.” I said slowly. “Well, like I said, we literally just met today. So...I’m just...I mean, how could you not like him, but I don’t want to rush anything. We’ll just see what happens.”

“Yeah! Of course! I didn’t mean to suggest that ...” the door to the bar swung open and the guys all came lumbering out.

“What do we have here?” Ryan asked. “What were you ladies discussing?” He prodded.

“Nothing!” Theresa replied. “We were just telling Brie that we’re here every Tuesday pretty much and that she should join us! Ooh! Let’s swap numbers before we forget! And that way if you need any help or if you’re like looking for a doctor or a hairdresser... or you just want to hang out!”

“That would be fantastic! Thank you so much!” I responded. Genuinely grateful for having met these people. All the fear and doubt I had felt about moving had seemed to vanish tonight and I could begin to see the start of my new life forming. We chatted for a few more minutes before heading back inside to finish up the trivia game.

Chris held his hands out for a double high five as I walked past him through the door. I smacked both his hands, which then swung down and smacked both of my ass cheeks like I was a football player. It took me by surprise, causing me to do a little jump through the doorway and then stop dead in my tracks. I slowly turned towards him and saw him standing in the door frame with a look of total shock, both hands over his mouth. He reached out in front of himself palms up and spoke, “I am..soooooo so sorry. It’s a habit and I wasn’t thinking, and I apologize sincerely. I’m such an idiot.” His hands were now over his heart and his face had blanched white. I looked from him to Joey, who was holding the door open. Joey’s eyes were as big as plates and his mouth was hanging open in a half-smile, half shocked look. Like he was about to start laughing but wanted to see my reaction first.

I busted out laughing so hard that almost everyone in the bar turned to see what was happening. “Your face!!!” I yelled between guffaws. “Oh my god your face!” I couldn’t get my shit together. I was doubled over in laughter as Chris let out an uncomfortable “ha...haha.”

“Oooh man.” I wiped tears from my eyes as the guys started to walk towards me. “It’s fine Evans! Good lord!” His shoulders and face relaxed again which sent me into more fits of giggles. “Oh shit. My sides hurt! Let's go win this shit. Do you want another drink?” I laughed, elbowing him in his side.

“I’ll get it.” He responded. I slid into the booth and looked over towards the bar just in time to see him down a shot. The bartender slid two glasses towards him. Chris nodded his thanks then picked up the glasses, joining us at the booth. I stood up, letting him slide back into the booth.

“I don’t get a shot?” I teased as he passed me.

“I needed something to ease my nerves.” He looked at me apologetically.

I clicked my tongue at him. “Don’t be ridiculous. I kinda liked it.” I winked at him as he handed me my glass. We slid back into the booth and back into the effortless comfort that had enveloped the table before.

Chris and I dominated the second half of the game and were tied with another team for first place. There was a tie-breaker question, and the category was music. “Remember what I told you this morning?” I asked. He grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

“I’m so ready for this massage I can already feel it. Do you want the mani/pedi or the facial?”

“Uh, mani/pedi. What kind of question is that?” I answered, making him chuckle.

“You got this. It’s all you.” He rubbed my shoulders like I was a boxer getting ready to step in the ring, and he was my super supportive coach.

“Alright, for the tie-breaker I’m going to play 3 seconds of a song. You must give me the name of the song. The name of the band, and the name of the album it was on.” The other team groaned loudly. I rubbed my hands together in excitement. The clip started and I immediately knew what it was. My head snapped towards Chris. We wore matching expressions of excitement. He too knew the song.

“Do you know the album name?” He asked.

“Do I know the album name?” I scoffed. “OF COURSE!”

“Well WRITE!!” He was excitedly smacking the paper.

I scribbled furiously Don’t stop me now, Queen, Jazz. I folded the paper and ran to the stage handing it to the host.

“Alright, we have America’s Sass’s answer. Fifteen seconds left for the Lil’ Sebastians to answer.” They were writing fast, and I started to worry. They finally brought their paper to the host. I couldn’t tell if they were confident or not, but I at least knew we had the right answer.

“Alright. The correct answer is queen, both teams got that right. The song title is Don’t Stop Me Now, both teams got that right.” Chris’s hand was on my knee squeezing hard. Like the fate of the world depended on the last answer. “America’s Sass wrote Jazz for the album, Lil’ Sebastians wrote A Day at the Races.” Long dramatic pause.

“We got it!” Chris hummed in my ear.

“The correct answer is... Jazz! America’s Sass wins!” The host pointed towards our booth. Chris shot both arms in the air and then grabbed my head, planting a big kiss on my cheek.

“I knew you had it!” He said before planting a second kiss on my other cheek. Our table was cheering so loudly that I couldn’t hear the host. The Lil Sebastians came to congratulate us, and Chris offered them a round of drinks for being such good competition. He then turned to Theresa and said, “Spa day on me momma.” She waved him off and giggled. We settled our bar tabs and slowly made our way outside.

“Where’d you park?” Chris asked me.

“Oh, I walked. It’s only a little ways away.” He eyed me closely.

“I was going to get an Uber. I shouldn’t drive. You want to share?”

“Oh, no it’s ok really. It’s nice out.”

“Then I’ll walk with you. If that’s ok.”

“Yeah. Sure! But then you have to come back to get your car.” I paused thinking. “ I can drive you back.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll Uber back and come get my car tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Absolutely.”

“Alright, it’s this way.” I said pointing over my shoulder. We said goodbye to everyone and lots of “get home safes” were exchanged, and then we were alone.

“Shall we?” He asked.

“Mm hmm.”

“Lead the way.” He held his arm out and slightly bowed as I turned and lead us down the sidewalk in a slow and leisurely manner. I had no doubt I would be seeing him again, but I didn’t want this night to end. It felt like home. We chit chatted the whole way to the house about our childhoods, and our mutual love for Disney. We had a lot in common. Like... a lot. He loved my favorite bands, which I hadn’t even expected him to have heard of. We discussed our favorite movies and tv shows...the dogs, and before I knew it we were standing in my front yard.

“I’ll just call the Uber real quick.” He said pulling out his phone.

I pushed his hand down and he looked up at me. “Do you want to come inside for a little bit?” I hesitated, “We can just hang out. Unless you need to get home. Oh,” I said realizing He probably needed to get back to his boy. “Never mind, I’m sure you need to get home to Dodger.”

“Dodger’s at my sisters.” He put his phone in his pocket. “She watches him on trivia nights because I usually stay out late.”

“Oh! Well that’s nice.”

“Yeah” he put his hands in his pockets and bounced on the balls of his feet. “I’d like to come in for a while...if you want me to.” He said after a moment of silence.

“Yes! I asked you to. Of course I do. I didn’t change my mind that fast.” He laughed at my response. I unlocked the door and let us in. Harry came bounding up to us, well, him. He kind of ignored me. Chris bent down to pet him.

“Hi buddy! Long time no see!” Harry was giving him kisses on his hands, his face, anywhere where skin was visible.

“Do you want something to drink? I have water, tea, strawberry lemonade...uh...Cheerwine.”

“Cheerwine?! Yes please.” He answered excitedly.

“A man after my own heart.” I said under my breath.

“What’s that?” He asked.

“Nothing!” I said from behind the open refrigerator door. “I’m sorry the house is a mess, I haven’t finished unpacking yet. Have a seat.” I said pointing to the sofa.

He kicked his shoes off and headed to sit down. I sat beside him with a little space between us, which Harry immediately took. I handed him his drink and sat mine on the nearest box. “Do you want to watch something? Are you hungry? I can make us a snack.”

“No, I’m fine. Thank you though. What do you want to watch?”

“Uhh I don’t know. What kind of stuff do you like? Ooh I have a bunch of rick and Morty's I haven’t watched yet. I’m behind on a lot of stuff. Have you ever watched rick and Morty? It’s fucking hilarious.” He was staring at me with his brow furrowed like I said something wrong. “What? Do you not like it? We can watch something else.”

“I fucking love rick and Morty. Put that shit on.” He went silent for a minute while I found the show.

“You alright?” I asked.

“Yeah. Yeah...I, it’s just...you’re amazing.” He said watching me for a reaction.

“Aaaaand you’re drunk.” I said shaking my head.

“No! I’m not! Maybe buzzed, but I’m definitely not drunk anymore. I’m serious, you’re really cool. I’m glad Harry found me.”

“Me too....you’re not so bad yourself .” Was my lame ass reply. “ I had a really really good time tonight.”

“Me too.”

“When are we doing our spa day?” I asked, suddenly remembering our prize.

His eyes grew wide. “Whenever you want! I’ve got a few weeks off so I’m open whenever!”

“Nice! Well, I don’t start work for another week and a half. I can call them tomorrow and see what they have open?”

“Sounds good. Just tell me when and I’ll be there.”

“Ok!” Another awkward silence passed as we just stared at each other. I couldn’t tell if I was making it up or not, but it definitely felt like something was going on underneath the surface. A sort of tension that was painful yet exciting. “I should probably let Harry out real quick.”

“Oh yeah, of course.” I stood up and Harry followed. I opened the back door and let him out, when I turned around Chris was standing less than a foot away staring at me intensely a million emotions running over his face. And then he spoke, “I’m going to kiss you now.” It sounded like he was asking permission. So I nodded quickly.

“Yeah. Do that. That’s a good...” his mouth crashed on mine before I could finish speaking. One hand went to my waist pulling me in tightly, while the other hand ran up my back and onto the back of my neck as he continued his assault on my mouth. Now both hands were in my hair, holding my head steadily in place. My hands ran up over his chest and on top of his shoulders. What I really wanted to do was climb him like a tree, but I needed to show some restraint. He pulled away and pressed his forehead to mine. He rested there for a moment before placing gentle kisses on my cheeks, then my lips, and then working his way down my neck. My head rolled back, clearing the way for his kisses. He nipped at my earlobe, which elicited an involuntary moan from me. He growled in my ear, which immediately set my skin on fire and covered it in goosebumps at the same time. He squeezed me into him again and kissed me slowly, passionately on the lips one more time before releasing me. My head fell to his chest and he placed one last sweet kiss on my forehead.

“I’m sorry.” He said quietly. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

I pulled my head away. “What?” I said confused.

“No! No that’s not what I meant. I wanted to do that. Very much. But I don’t want to rush you into anything. I’m not trying to... I don’t want you to think I’m just trying to fuck you. That’s not...ugh. I’m making a mess of this.” I put a finger over his mouth before drawing it to mine and kissing him softly.

“You’re not. That was great. I’m... i know you’re not...i mean it was kind of fast but you know what? I don’t really care. It was perfect.” He took my face in his hands again and searched my face, for what I’m not sure. He kissed me again before looking over my shoulder.

“I think someone is jealous.” I turned to see Harry standing at the door giving me the nastiest look, like I had just left him outside for days.

“Yes. But I think he’s jealous of me.” Sure enough, when I let him inside he ran straight to Chris, tail wagging, as he glared at me. “Should we go watch some Rick and Morty?”

“Yes. Absolutely.” We sat close enough that Harry couldn’t get between us this time. Chris wrapped an arm over my shoulder as I rested my head on his chest. I woke up still in the clothes I had worn the night before, laying with Chris’s arm wrapped around me and my arm draped across his chest, both of us stretched out on the couch. I looked down towards our feet to see Harry curled up in a ball. Chris yawned and stretched, then rubbed my back. “Good morning.” He said in a deeper than normal voice.

“Mmm. Good morning” I replied. “We should have watched tv in the bedroom.” I chuckled.

“That could have been dangerous.” He replied. “I might not have been able to control myself as well as I had.”

“Mmm.” I groaned. “Another time then.” A laugh rumbled through his chest, which with my head resting against it sounded even more amazing. “You hungry?”

[peacefulwriter88]

Dear Chris Evans

I had absolutely too much fun writing this. Sorry this took so long. @xgminigypsy this is exactly how I’d tell chris something important lol @im-rocking-and-rolling but I truly hope you enjoy

Dear Chris Evans,

I really can’t resistcalling you by your formal name. Probably because, even though I have only knownyou for two years, it still blows my mind when I look up from a book I’m readingor making us dinner or waking up and having you sleeping peacefully (thoughsometimes loudly when you’re really tired Mr. Snorer) beside me and I realizethat this isn’t a dream – I have this wonderful human being that I love as mypartner in crime and life. I’d like to think you’re the Clyde to my Bonnie but let’sbe real – you’re really the Mike to my Sully, the Sebastian to my Ariel.

You will humbly denythis – probably already are – but you are an incredibly special human being. Ithink that there have been very few people in my life, ever, that have shown methe tremendous amount of care, devotion, wit, humor, talent and kindness thatyou bestow the people in your life. Whether it be someone you will onlyencounter once or someone you’ve known all your life – you are such a treasurein someone’s life.

When I met you two yearsago, honestly, I had about given up on humanity. Its hard working in a serviceindustry and sometimes even more disheartening working in education – and I’mno longer in the classroom. I was tired of dating and honestly had moved out toBoston to test it out for a few months. I’m a West Coast girl and I wanted toshift my paradigm – wanted a breath of fresh air so imagine my surprise thatwhen I finally shake myself to do something, you are the gift I received inreturn.

I never thought I’dadmit this to you – normally my pride would deny me – but as this new marker inmy life has become I must give you all my honesty because not only it is whatyou deserve as my boyfriend to hear but is necessary for what our future maybring together. When you came over to me as I sat there, talking loudly tomyself in anticipation of the book I was reading in that crowded, hot asscoffee shop, I nearly shit myself when I realized Chris Evans was coming overto talk to me. You were someone I…. ok admittedly I had a wee fangirl crush onyou because your fucking handsome so that’s not fair you’re also in a plethoraof movies I’ve enjoyed watching, but also because you’re an actor I’d recentlylearn to admire. And then you’re asking what book I was reading and asking ifyou could sit with me because there were no other seats and offering me dinnerthree hours into our conversation…. I thought I was dreaming because shit likethat never happen to people in real life. Especially me, someone who wasrolling off a wave of really tough life events.

But it was and I’venever been happier for it.

Because you remind methat it’s important to be kind to others even if it’s hard to be kind toyourself in the moment. That selfless, though may not be thanked daily for it,is a worthy path to go down if it means a better outcome for someone else whomay not be in the place to be selfless for themselves. That humor is themedicine to life. That even though family and friends might drive you bloodyinsane, they also link you together. That it is also equally important to beselfish because that’s the only way you can take care of others. That competitioncan be fun, even if we are both prideful, stubborn dicks about it. That love ispossible for anyone and that we must cherish all form of it. That anxiety anddepression are just a part of dealing with the stresses that life throws atyou.

But most importantly youtaught me all this by not saying anything at it. By just finding value you in meas a friend and loving me as your girlfriend.

I hope that I too havegiven you equally something as great in our time together.

Because…..I found outthat in 6 months, 9 days and too many hours that I honestly am too lazy tocalculate that a little piece of me and a little piece of you will be joiningus. I have never been more excited than that moment you told me, while we werelooking for couches for my place no matter, that you loved me. Will neverforget that look of pure joy and pride that twinkled in your eyes as I lookedup from the price tag and watched you back, hungover and sore from our previousnights activity.

I am so happy that I canshare in the joy you always fill me up with and continue to do so.

So get ready, Mr. Evans,because you are in stow for a long ride. Also, when I come back from thegrocery store I fully expect you to have actually picked up your things (andall of Dodgers toys) from the living room. PLEASE! Your mom and dad are comingover for dinner and you better believe I will not be cleaning up and cookingnow that I’m carrying for two (hah!)

Also, I can’t eatice-cream for the next few months sooooo that’s why you’re getting doughnutsfor dessert. Because I’ve been craving them and if I can’t have ice-cream, you can’thave ice-cream. Consider it….tribute for impregnating me.

I love you,

Y/N

P.S. ….whenever youshare with the world you better believe I am changing every social mediadescription to C.Evans 4Real Baby Mama ha ha…I’m sorry this is who life haschosen you to love and procreate with 😃

[staystrange]

So I saw Dear Evan Hansen yesterday.

It’s been a dream of mine to see this show for a long time. Before I woke up yesterday, I didn’t even know I was going. I’ve entered the lottery a million times and never won, so I figured this time would be exactly the same. I had honestly forgotten about the lottery when I randomly checked my phone at 9:00 and saw that I’d WON!! My mom has dreamed of seeing this show probably more than I have, so the two of us got on a bus that was scheduled to arrive in NYC at around 2:00 for a 3:00 show. We figured we’d have plenty of time to get to the theater, which was not far from the bus station. But, of course, we ran into crazy traffic and it got to the point where we didn’t think we’d make it on time. Like, it was 2:55 and we were still on the bus. Needless to say, I was panicking hard. When the bus finally parked, we ran for it. I’m not an athletic person at all, but I put all of the energy I had into running as fast as I possibly could through the streets of New York to get to the theater. We got there a few minutes after 3:00, and I went up to the box office, completely breathless, told the staff that I had lottery tickets, and handed over my ID. To be honest, I didn’t even expect them to give me the tickets at all because we were late. But they did, and I immediately started crying because I was so happy. Then, I didn’t expect them to let us in for act 1 because the show had already started and the tickets literally said no late entry on them. But to my surprise, the staff let us in and showed us to our standing room spots.

We made it halfway through Anybody Have a Map. I swear, it was nothing short of a miracle.

We actually had a pretty good view, way better than the people sitting in the mezzanine and balcony sections above us. I started crying out of pure happiness and gratefulness when the opening bars of Waving Through a Window played, and I honestly kept crying throughout most of the show. When I wasn’t crying, I was laughing (probably because of Will Roland) or smiling. I got a few looks from the people sitting in the back of the orchestra in front of me, but honestly, they don’t know what I went through to be there, and so what if I’m an excessively emotional person? This show hits me hard.

I never thought I’d get to see this show, but I did, and I’m so glad. Thank you to the DEH lottery and the entire cast and crew and staff. You guys are the best. I ran across the city, didn’t eat for almost twelve hours, and stood for the entire show, but gosh, all of it was worth it.

I don’t want this post to take up too much space on people’s feeds, but if you’d like to hear about my more specific thoughts on each cast member / character and my stagedoor experience, check under the cut.

I was lucky enough to see most of the original cast, with the obvious exception of Ben Platt. I also did not see the original Alana or Larry Murphy. Everyone else has been in this production since the beginning.

Taylor Trensch as Evan Hansen: Sure, he was no Ben Platt, but he did a really good job, especially considering the big shoes he had to fill. I liked the little changes in his performance from Ben’s; it made seeing live even more of a unique experience from listening to the soundtrack on repeat. He’s a great actor, seriously. He obviously had many incredible performances, but Waving Through a Window, For Forever, You Will Be Found, and Words Fail really stood out as the best ones to me. He had funny moments, adorable moments, heartbreaking moments, and everything in between, and it was all incredible to watch.

Laura Dreyfuss as Zoe Murphy: I’m a big Glee fan, so I remember when she was on the show for a little while in Season 6. She was wonderful as Zoe, and I especially loved hearing her sing Requiem. She gave such a powerful performance throughout the show, especially during that song, and it was awesome to watch. During Only Us, my heart was torn between AWW and oh no oh no oh no because of what happens next. She has great chemistry with Taylor as I’m sure she did with Ben and Noah Galvin. I also really loved her scene with Taylor at the very end in the orchard. I actually didn’t know what happened at the end of the show, so it was a pleasant surprise and a perfect ending.

Rachel Bay Jones as Heidi Hansen: Oh. My. God. Her performance blew me away. Her happy scenes with Taylor were lovely, but it was during the scenes where her character and Evan were fighting that her talent really shone. She got so into her performance, and I could truly feel it. I unfortunately missed her part of Anybody Have a Map, but her performances in Good For You and So Big / So Small were incredible, and very different, too. Good For You especially was phenomenal.

Jennifer Laura Thompson as Cynthia Murphy: Jennifer was awesome, too. She showed a whole range of emotions throughout the show, and it was really powerful to watch. I liked her interactions with Taylor and Laura, and although she didn’t have much singing by herself compared to many of the other cast members, her performances during Anybody Have a Map? and Requiem were so freaking good.

Mike Faist as Connor Murphy: I had seen tweets about how he was leaving the show pretty soon, but I didn’t realize that it was literally his last show until I looked it up. I also didn’t realize how big of a role Connor is until I saw the production. Mike was incredible during every single moment he was in; I especially loved his parts in Sincerely, Me, Disappear, and the various reprises he sings in that aren’t on the soundtrack. At the end of the show after all of the regular bows, Jennifer Laura Thompson brought out a bouquet of flowers for Mike, and he tried to run offstage; Phoenix Best had to literally pull him back onstage to make him accept them and take his final bow. He’s so shy and humble, and it was adorable. I’m so lucky I got to see him since it was literally my last chance.

Asa Somers as Larry Murphy: Even though he’s the standby, he performed incredibly well. To be honest, To Break in a Glove is my least favorite song on the soundtrack, but he performed it well. I really loved his part in Requiem and his scenes with the whole Murphy family and Evan. His character may not have had a huge part in the show, but the parts he did have were really well done.

Will Roland as Jared Kleinman: Oh my gosh, I love Will Roland. Every single time he was onstage, I laughed out loud at the many hilarious jokes and moments he had as Jared. In the second act, though, my heart broke for Jared so freaking much. I loved hearing him sing in Sincerely, Me, You Will Be Found, and Good For You; Good For You especially showed off his talent, and Sincerely, Me made me love the song so much more than I did originally. He absolutely killed it as Jared, and I’m so glad I got to see him before he leaves on June 10 to play Jeremy in Be More Chill. Speaking of Be More Chill, I didn’t really know much about Will before it was announced that he’d been cast as Jeremy, but after seeing just one scene of him performing as Jared, I knew that he’s perfect for the role of Jeremy. I could already picture it and hear it, too. He has the right voice, the right appearance, and the perfect amount of awkwardness. Seriously, I approve wholeheartedly of this casting choice, and I can’t wait to see him again as Jeremy. I still can’t believe I get to see him twice!!

Phoenix Best as Alana Beck: I honestly didn’t even realize she wasn’t the original Alana at first. She was incredible; her character is a lot like Jared in the sense that they both made me laugh and also made my heart break, but in very different ways, of course. She sang very well in You Will Be Found and Good For You and I loved watching her perform so much.

STAGEDOOR: I waited outside the stagedoor for as long as I could before security asked us all to leave, and I was lucky enough to get four autographs, which you can see in the photo above. From top left to bottom right: Mike Faist, Asa Somers, Rachel Bay Jones, and Laura Dreyfuss. They were all incredibly kind and sweet and it meant the world to me that I got to talk to them. I guess this makes Laura Dreyfuss the first Glee cast member I’ve ever met and the fourth Glee cast autograph I’ve received; if you’d told me two years ago that I’d get to meet her, I wouldn’t have believed you. She’s so lovely. I really wanted to see Will so I could tell him that he did an incredible job as Jared and that he’s going to be such a good Jeremy in Be More Chill, but unfortunately he left out the back door. I was a little bummed, but I was honestly just grateful to be there, so it was all good. Hopefully I’ll meet him when I see him again. Taylor, Jennifer, and Phoenix didn’t come out either.

Overall, I had an incredible experience seeing this show!! My theater-nerd self hasn’t been very active in a while, but my love for theater is definitely back and bigger than ever now. I’m looking forward to seeing even more shows in the future, including (HOPEFULLY) the Off-Broadway production of Be More Chill this summer : )

[messrprcngs]

* THEATRE NERD!PETER PARKER HEADCANONS .

SUMMARY : just some really cute theatre nerd!peter headcanons because i feel like if peter knew anything about musical theatre he’d be really into it PAIRING : theatre nerd!peter parker x reader WARNINGS : none, i think A/N : so this hasn’t really been edited and i may or may not switch from present-tense to past-tense like halfway through it so i’m really sorry but i hope you guys like it anyway ! and if you could send me a message if you like it ? i can be on or off anon, i just really need some encouragement right now because i have a lot of schoolwork to do and actually hearing that people like what i write takes a bit of stress away from me

- okay so i just imagine peter being like super into theatre and honestly it's just the cutest shit ever and i love and stan this concept but anyway - - you're new to midtown high, and you and michelle are, like, best friends. the two have been inseparable since birth, and have gone to the same school since preschool. so imagine your disappointment when you find out that she got accepted to midtown high, this school for geniuses that you didn't get accepted to - fast forward to the end of your freshman year, and you've finally convinced your parents to let you apply to midtown again you also may have accidentally gotten yourself into enjoying musicals, dear evan hansen specifically ( damn tumblr for introducing you to mike faist and his wonderfully amazing hair ). you were hoping for the best, but unfortunately, you were sure that the 'best' you were going to get was a letter from midtown saying something along the lines of "sorry, you didn't make it in. try again next year !" - so imagine your surprise when you get the letter from midtown in the middle of july saying that you did it. you got in - you're so excited for school to start, because even though you've only gone one school year without your michelle by your side, and even though you two saw each other practically every weekend, you missed your best friend - so now it's the very beginning of your sophomore year, and michelle's showing you around the school about half an hour before the first bell rings because a, she's your best friend, and b, she gets extra credit for doing it. even though she doesn't need the extra credit, she likes to have it anyway, for those days when she just really needs to skip school to go attend a feminist rally or a pride parade ( i see her as being like 100 % demisexual okay you can fight me on this i'll win ) - she's shown you everything except your locker so far; your classes, the cafeteria, the courtyard, the auditorium. she even shows you the fucking basement. and now your tugging her away from the chemistry lab because you only have ten minutes til class and you need to put all the extra shit you carry around in your backpack into your locker because if you don't you're sure that your back will snap in half - there are way more people in the halls now than when the two of you first got into the school. mj drags you by the sleeve of your oversized sweatshirt, towards what she says is most definitely your locker, when you suddenly stop in your tracks - there, just feet from you, is the most attractive boy you have ever seen - his hair was brown and an unruly tangle of soft curls and yeah, he was probably a little shorter than most boys your age, but did you give a shit ? the answer was no, you did fucking not - and now mj's looking at you with her eyebrow raised, before her intelligent gaze is following yours and her eyes land on peter and she knows. she fucking knows and then she's smirking so wide and she wants to laugh and you can see it out of the corner of your eye but you're too busy staring at the adorable little bean in front of you and - - and then mj's whispering in your ear, "jeez, y/n/n, drool much ?" and you nearly jump out of your skin. you want to be mad, but then she's laughing and you can't be mad at her because she's your best friend and you love her so much so instead you opt for hitting her on the arm and sending her a playful glare - "shut up !" you exclaim in a whisper, not wanting to draw the attention of mr. too cute for school. "he'll hear you !" - mj let out a breathy chuckle, before crossing her arms to stare right into your soul eyes. "so, how are you going to get past him, y/n/n ? we both know how terribly nervous you get when you have to pass people you think are exceptionally hot." - she was right. you couldn't pass by cute individuals without doing something totally embarrassing to save your own damn life. last time you had tried, you ended up in the hospital with four stitches in your lower lip and three in your chin - "i'll do what i usually do nowadays whenever i'm nervous : i'll just start singing a song from deh. i mean, it's not like he would know anything about the musical, right ? so it won't attract his attention." you nod to yourself, patting yourself on the back for coming up with such a good plan - mj opens her mouth to say something, before closing it and letting that smirk settle onto her lips again. god, did you hate that smirk - you held her gaze for a moment, looking at her warily, before turning around and marching straight forward as you began to sing a song from the dear evan hansen soundtrack; unfortunately for you, it was a song that would definitely attract attention. and you were singing it very loudly - "DEAR EVAN HANSEN, LIFE IN REHAB IS ALRIGHT," you sang. you can hear mj failing to stifle her giggles as she trails after you. "I LIKE THE YOGA, AND THE SHARING CIRCLES EVERY NIGHT" - you were passing him now, the terribly handsome boy who was still at his locker. was it just you, or did you see him turn his head in your direction from out of the corner of your eye ? - "BUT DUDE, THESE STORIES -" and that was when you heard another voice join in with yours. you look back at mj, eyebrow raised in a silent question as you continue to sing. she shook her head and points to the right of you, smirking that irritating smirk - it was him; he was the person singing along with you. your jaw drops open for half a second, before you got back to the song - "SO MANY PEOPLE END UP SUCKING DICK FOR METH !" - and your jaw stops functioning completely once jared's creepy ass laugh starts up in your head. you can't believe that he knew the song; but honestly, that just makes you like him even more - he smiles sweetly at you. "sorry if i startled you. but i just heard you singing the reprise and - well, i guess i just couldn't help myself," he apologizes, giving you a sheepish shrug. god you want to marry this adorable dork - wait, what ? - so first off, just to clarify : yes, peter is still spiderman. he is still the ultimate nerd of midtown high, and is still a chemistry whiz. he just also happens to be really into musicals and shakespeare and stuff and is really gay for michael mell and really straight for veronica sawyer. just imagine that the drama club has replaced the academic decathlon team in this au. okay, now back to the headcanons !! - "i'm peter !" he quickly adds, in response to your gaping mouth. and he sticks his hand out and waits for you to shake it, and it takes you a few seconds to process that yes, he is actually introducing himself to you, and you somehow find the strength to close your mouth. both of your hands shoot up to grasp the one he's holding out, and you manage to stammer out a "i - i'm y/n." - he gives you a smile, and it's a tad less sheepish this time. "so, you like dear evan hansen ?" - and this is when you start in on your long-ass rant about how much the musical means to you and how great it is and how you just love connor murphy and jared kleinman and alana beck with all of your nerdy little heart. and you practically completely forget that mj is even there, even though she's standing about a foot behind you two the entire time. and then the bell's ringing, and peter's asking you what your first class is, and you tell him as quickly as you can because you're hoping, just really, really hoping that you have the next class with him so that you have more time to talk about musicals during passing period. and he grins so wide when you tell him that you have ap world history for first period - the two of you head to ap world history together, and by now you've completely forgotten about mj, who watches the two of you leave with a smirk on her face. she only heads toward her own first class when the final bell rings - by the time lunch rolls around, you already know so much about peter. his favorite subject is chemistry, he has a genius level iq, he has an internship at stark industries. and he's in the drama club. he tells you that ned, the nice boy that the two of you are sitting with, is also in the drama club. ned nods along excitedly, and quickly suggests that you join the club, too - before you can say anything in response, however : "would you losers please stop trying to bring my best friend over to the dark side of the nerd moon ?" - if your guess was 'who is mj ?' then you would be correct, my friend. she's trying to look pissed but she's very clearly smirking and you think that this is the first time that you've ever seen mj fail at looking pissed when it's not solely at you - ned looks so startled and it's really funny and sad at the same time. "you have friends ??" - and now mj's actually glaring at him, and you swear that if looks could kill, ned would have dropped dead a second ago. peter looks concerned, and you don't know if it's because mj is glaring daggers at his best friend or because he knows thinks ned's hurt mj's feelings or something - "yes, i have friends, thank you very much," mj finally says, looking away from ned and rolling her eyes. "y/n/n, you aren't going to make me sit with these losers, are you ?" - you just give her an apologetic smile. she grumbles to herself for a moment, before plopping down next to you, across from ned and peter - lunch that day is spent making some pretty bad star wars puns and rapping hamilton songs, and, of course, listening to mj complain about how all of you are losers ( but you caught her smiling once or twice, and you know she enjoyed it ) - it doesn't take you very long to figure out how things work here at midtown; that meaning, you had somehow managed to befriend the two most loserest losers in the entire school ( those two losers being peter and ned, of course ). you've also found out, much to your dismay, that peter has a thing for liz allan, who not only was head of the drama club, but was also the prettiest girl at school. so much for marrying peter getting peter to like you - despite the fact that your crush's crush was head of the club, you still wanted to join; you had heard that they did a musical at the end of every year, and you really wanted to be a part of that - and so you go to beginning-or-year auditions and drag mj along with you, and you audition together, and you both get in. and you're happy, because you, ned, peter, and mj are friends now ( though you're closer with the boys than mj is. she's still pretending she doesn't like them ) and you really don't want anything else in life at the moment ( except for peter to like you instead of liz ) because you're perfectly happy the way things are - but then about a week later, peter starts acting weirder than normal, and then he's quitting the club - and then ned's starts to act odd, too. one day, and you can't help but think that it's something you did, that maybe they don't like you anymore, and despite mj trying to convince you otherwise during your lunch period, you start to really believe it - and then during gym class later that day, you hear ned saying that peter knows spiderman, queens' resident spider-themed superhero, and that gets you thinking that they didn't just start ditching you and mj because they don't like you, it's because they found someone cooler, someone who made them realize that they didn't like you. and that someone was spiderman - you and mj go to liz's party that night. she tells you that it'll be good for you, getting out of the house. says it'll keep your mind from obsessing over your 'unrequited love' for peter and your new-found hatred of spiderman - but it doesn't. it doesn't, because you see peter there, and you can tell that liz likes him, and it just makes you feel worse. and so you run out of liz's house and end up in a little corner of the front yard crying your eyes out, wishing that peter would see in you what he saw in liz - and that's how mj finds you a few hours later, except you're not crying anymore; you're passed out, snoring softly and mumbling peter's name over and over again in your sleep - fast forward a couple more weeks, and peter's joining the drama club again, just in time to for the theatre competition the club's been invited to in washington d.c. - so you hate spidey, right ? i think it'd be really great if you, like, told peter that when the drama club is at the hotel ? like maybe before liz asks peter if he wants to go down to the pool. like you knock on his and ned's door while they're still working on the suit and they have to shove everything under the bed so that you don't see it before letting you in - alternatively, they just don't let you in at all and peter opens the door and quickly steps out side and closes the door before you can see anything inside the room - and you're a little curious about it at first, but you decide to let it go, and you ask him if him and ned are alright ( "yeah, y/n/n, we're fine. you don't have to worry about us." ) and you just kind of stare into his eyes for at least thirty seconds and peter feels like you're staring down into his soul and he feels a little twinge of something but he dismisses it because the only time he's ever felt something like it is when he's with liz and no, he does not like you - and then you ask him something you've been wanting to know the answer to since you heard ned in the gym : "do you really know spiderman ?" - peter's startled, but he gives a hesitant nod, and he doesn't know why because it's not like he wants to impress you or anything, because the two of you are just friends - and then you let out a quite "oh" and his face falls because you sound disappointed and now he's disappointed anD - - "is - is that bad ?" - and you shake your head and shrug and stand there for a second before managing to get out a soft, "i don't really like spiderman. at all." - and now it's peter's turn for his face to fall because that was the last thing he had expected you to say and he wishes you hadn't said it because it makes him feel like you don't like him, and he knows it isn't like that but it is like that at the same time because him and spiderman are the same person. the only thing is that you don't know that - and he suddenly realizes that he really does like you, and he really wants to change your view of his superhero alter-ego because he can't take you disliking him, even if you didn't know it was him - and then spiderman saves you and the rest of the drama club from that elevator, and you can't decide whether you hate him more or less because on the one hand, he did save your lives, but on the other hand, he's probably so full of himself and thinks that he's just so great and you just want to punch him - so then you get back to new york ( you won the theatre competition ) and everything is kind of okay but you can't stop thinking about the conversation that you and peter had that night at the hotel, and how he looked kind of disappointed that you didn't like spiderman. you put it down to the fact that he's disappointed that one of his friends doesn't like the other ( though were the two of you really even still friends ? ) - and then a few nights after you get back, you're heading back towards your apartment complex after just stopping at the store on the way home from michelle's. and it's late but you don't mind because you've been out late in queens before and you actually really like it - and you hear a noise behind you and suddenly you're paranoid and start thinking about how you left your pepper spray at home and you wish you had it now and - - and then something human-shaped, red, and blue drops down from the lamppost above you before your eyes and you drop your groceries and let out a shriek, before the thing in front of you clamps a hand over your mouth. and that's when you realize that the thing in front of you isn't a thing, it's spiderman, and you're suddenly overcome by the urge to kick something ( preferably his head ) - after a few minutes, you hear a soft "are you going to scream ?" come from behind the mask, and you shake your head. spiderman takes his hand off your mouth, and he just stares at you for a minutes, hanging above the ground attached to his web like some kind of actual spider and it's starting to freak you out - "my friend peter parker told me you don't like me," the spider-themed hero said eventually. you can feel the heat rush to your cheeks and you suddenly wanted the ground to swallow you. sure, you didn't like him, but he was a superhero, and he could kill you in a second if he really wanted to. you just gave him a small shrug and looked away - he let out a chuckle. "i bet i can change your mind." - this, of course, piqued your interest, and you looked back up, eyebrows raised. "are you really so full of yourself that you think you can -" - it all happened too fast for you to really register but when you reached the phrase 'full of yourself,' spiderman reached up for his mask, bringing it down over his mouth, and then his nose, and his eyes, until suddenly it was peter parker hanging before you and he swung forward a little bit and then suddenly his lips are on yours and you're kissing and your eyes are wide before you melt into the kiss and reach up to cup his cheeks with your hands - don't you guys just love the wonderful spiderman upside down kisses like reall y my dudE S

[kleinmemes]

More Than A Friend (Jared Kleinman x Fem!Reader)

ok this is my first fic ever yall……… bear with me……….. wrote it right after i watched the DEH bootleg for the first time bc i was in a Jared Mood™ lmao 

ok lets do this

Summary: After Evan snapped at him, Jared is left wondering if he was right about what he said - did he really have any friends? He was sure Evan hated him right now, but the thought of (Y/N), who he knew since he was a child, hating him too hurt more than he was willing to admit. That night, in the (Y/L/N)-Kleinman family dinner, he would find out that, for the girl, he really wasn’t a friend - but more than that. 

Warnings: Bad writing?? No proof-reading at all?? OOC Jared?? Also swearing.

Words: 1829 (it was supposed to be a short fic, holy shit)

This was the last straw for him. How could Evan do that? Just straight up say that he had no friends other than him to talk to? God, he was so full of it. Jared had many friends. He had… well… (Y/N)? She was his friend… or maybe not. What if she just hung with him because of her family?

The thought hurt him more than expected. What if (Y/N) just wasn’t really his friend? He always assumed they were best pals, but what if she only saw him as the annoying family friend who she is obligated to hang out with just because of her parents? He squeezed his eyes shut. No, it couldn’t be. (Y/N) was a very direct and sincere person, if she hated him she’d say so. But the doubt still lingered in the back of Jared’s head. He couldn’t bear to think that she couldn’t stand him, in reality. The mere thought - or, more accurately, the self-assured fact - that she didn’t return his feelings already hurt him enough, just imagining that not even their friendship was a real thing was… too much. He harshly opened the front door of the Kleinman household.

“Jared, honey!” His mom immediately shouted, poking her head from the kitchen. “You’re early today! Weren’t you staying at Evan’s to do some schoolwork?”

“Yeah, not anymore.” He answered, balling his fists.

“What happened, baby?” Mrs. Kleinman worriedly asked, cleaning her hands on her apron.

“Nothing, mom.” He answered quickly, running for the stairs. “I’m going up to my room, please don’t bother me.”

“Alright, Jared…” his mom answered, with a sad tone to her voice, sensing there was something wrong with the boy. “Just don’t forget today we have family dinner with the (Y/L/N)s!”

“How could I…” he muttered o himself.

Jared entered his room and shut the door behind him. Taking a deep breath and trying to sort out his feelings, he headed towards the bed, throwing himself on it and burying his head in the pillows. Then came the tears. It wasn’t something conscious, that he decided to do in order to better deal with his feelings. The tears just came. Evan was right. Not about him only talking to the kind boy because he had no other friends, no - even though he insisted that Evan was “just a family friend”, his platonic feelings towards him were sincere. Jared always had a hard time with opening up about what he felt - when younger, he was always teased by his male classmates for being too emotional, which ended up in him masking whatever he felt, lying about the true intensity of his feelings to avoid mockery. No, what hit him hard in Evan’s words was the detail: “you have no other friends”. Besides Evan and (Y/N), did he really have any friends? He did talk to Alana sometimes. And Mike from Physics.

“God, I’m so pathetic.” he thought.

Evan was right. Besides the two family friends, he had no one. He was absolutely alone. And now, after this whole fiasco, he didn’t even know if his only two friends were really his friends.

He squeezed his eyes shut yet again, feeling the hot tears spilling all over his face.

———

(Y/N) waited on the porch of the Kleinman household alongside her parents. Family dinner nights were probably the worst thing in the world — or they would be, if it wasn’t for Jared. The thought of the dorky boy made her crack a small smile. God, she truly was developing feelings for him, wasn’t she? Turns out all the “we are going to get married someday!” jokes were not really jokes for the girl anymore. A light blush spread over her cheeks with the thought of getting married to Jared. “Gosh, a bit straightforward, no?” she thought to herself. “It’s not like he even feels the same about you. (Y/N) Kleinman does have a certain appeal to it, though…”

“Oh, welcome, friends!” The front door opened itself suddenly, revealing Mr. Kleinman and shaking (Y/N) out of her thoughts. She didn’t even hear her parents ring the doorbell.

“Come in, come in!” Mrs. Kleinman said, emerging out of the kitchen with a tray of appetizers on hand. “I got us some little snacks to get started!”

“Good, we’ve brought the wine!” her father proudly announced.

“Well, honey, it’s adult drinking time now.” Her mother winked. “Why don’t you go find Jared?”

“Oh, that would be great!” Mrs. Kleinman beamed. “He seemed kind of out of it today. Maybe you could try talking to him, (Y/N/N)? You know how he’s fond of you.”

(Y/N) blushes lightly at these words. “Alright, I’ll try…” she muttered.

“Good, he’s in his room upstairs.” Mr. Kleinman announced.

The girl ran up the stairs with practiced ease, her hair flowing behind her. Standing in front of Jared’s room, she knocked on the door lightly.

“Mom, I thought I told you to leave me alone.” she heard him weakly say, from the other side of the door. Was he… crying?

“It’s (Y/N).” She said, sweetly. “Can I come in?”

Silence. Then, after some time she heard a small, weak “No.”

“Well, fuck off, I’m going in anyway.” She announced, slightly irritated. He never tried to keep her away from him before.

“(Y/N), I swear to God—“ he stopped mid sentence as she swung the door open, sending the wheeled chair he was using to block it across the room. “… Screw the no keys rule.”

The girl smiled slightly.

“C’mon, Jared. You know we can’t take the risk of you locking yourself up in your room and jerking off all day.” She joked.

“I wish I was just jerking off right now.” He said, voice muffled by the pillows he just buried his head in.

(Y/N) closed the door softly, proceeding to sit next to him on bed.

“Your mom said you were out of it today.” She said, stroking the boy’s hair. “What’s up?”

A moment of silence. She continued to run her nimble fingers through her friend’s hair.

“(Y/N), be frank with me” Jared finally said.

“How can I be Frank if I am (Y/N)?” She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“First of all — fuck off. Second of all, this is serious.” Her smile dropped as he lifted his face off the pillows. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying, his face stained with the salty trail of the tears he shed. “Do you consider me your friend?”

Despite herself, she laughed at the question.

“What kind of worry is that, you nerd?” She giggled.

Jared’s eyes became glassy with newly formed tears.

“I knew it. You find me pathetic.” He whimpered.

“Of course not—“ Her words were interrupted by those coming like a wave from the boy besides her, who now faced her directly, tears streaming freely down his face.

“I’m just… Jared Kleinman. The family friend. The annoying. The huge pain in the ass you’re stuck with. Evan was right, I don’t have any friends. I’m a huge dick to everyone because I can’t manage to put my real feelings out there, I try too hard to be funny, I’m just a huge ass nerd full of delusions who thinks he’s way too cool.”

“Jared, that’s not true at all—“

“And then there’s you. God, there’s you. You and your pretty face, your perfect smile, you social skills, someone who is loved by everyone and doesn’t even have to try hard. You’re way out of my league. I can’t believe I thought I had any chance of even being friends with you.”

“Hold on. Did you just say I’m pretty?” (Y/N) flushed a deep red.

Jared sat there, his mouth agape, registering what he just said. Then he threw his hands up.

“Oh, fuck it. (Y/F/N), I fucking love you. I don’t even know how long ago I started feeling this, I just know I do. Everything you do is perfect and amazing, and your smile is absolutely breathtaking. You’re breathtaking. Your hair. Your eyes. Your body. God, your body. You’re always talking about how ugly and clumsy and weird you are, and all I want to do whenever you say that kind of stuff is grab your face and kiss you. Kiss you so hard, to make you stop saying these things about yourself. And because I love you so much, and want to kiss you all over. God I want to kiss you so badly—“ he didn’t have time to finish his sentence, as her lips came crashing on his.

It wasn’t a pretty kiss. His face was all messed up and wet with tears, and their noses hit each other when she slammed her face on his. But it was perfect for both of them, because at that moment, there was only them. Jared and (Y/N), nothing else mattered.

“You just kissed me.” He bluntly stated, still in shock.

“Damn right I did.” She shyly looked away. “You talked about how much you wanted to kiss me whenever I say stupid stuff about myself to shut me up. I can say the same about you. I love you, Jared. So much. You’re one of the most amazing people I know. I can’t stand to see you thinking you’re not worth it. You mean the world to me. I love you, I love you, I love you. And I don’t want you to doubt that even for a single second.” She teared up.

“(Y/N)…”

“What.”

“Can we kiss again?” He smiled weakly.

She giggled, grabbing his face again. The kiss was less messy this time, more sweet, delicate and full of passion. They pulled away after some seconds and just stayed there, lying on each other’s embrace, eventually peppering light kisses on each other’s tear-stained faces.

“I can’t believe this is actually happening.” He whispered.

“Me neither.”

“I wanted this for so long.”

“Me too.”

“This wasn’t how I imagined it would go at all.”

“Me nei— Hey, you imagined this all happening?”

“Didn’t you?”

“Well… maybe so.”

He pressed another kiss to her lips.

“I don’t want this moment to end, (Y/N).”

“Me neither, Jared.”

As if on cue, his bedroom door swung open, revealing his mom standing on the other side.

“Dinner is on the ta— Oh my.” She laughed heartily at the two teens before her.

Both of them flushed immediately.

“Mom, it’s not—“

“Mrs. Kleinman, we just—“

“It’s ok, children, take your time. We’ll be waiting downstairs.” She closed the bedroom door with a wink.

Jared and (Y/N) looked at each other, embarrassed and red faced.

“Oh my God.” The girl whispered, obviously mortified.

“It could’ve been worse…”

“Oh yeah? How so?”

“She could’ve walked on us having hot, steamy sex.”

“Jared!”

“Yeah, let’s leave that for another day.” He pecked her even redder face. “For now, we have a family dinner to attend.”

HOOOOO BOY. yeah. feedback is appreciated?? and i hope you guys liked it?? also, im taking requests if y’all want to send anything… wink wink

[aion-rsa]

The Haunting of Bly Manor Ending Explained

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The following contains spoilers for The Haunting of Bly Manor.

While many have pointed out that The Haunting of Bly Manor is not quite as scary as its predecessor, it certainly has a more satisfying conclusion. The Haunting of Hill House seemed to lose its nerve in the final hour, delivering an ending that was too saccharine and unearned. On the flipside, Bly Manor concludes its story in heart wrenching, then bitter sweet fashion, revealing the identity of the series’ mysterious narrator, detailing the fates of the 1987-set characters, and expelling the spirits of the titular manor.

Here is what really happens at the end of The Haunting of Bly Manor.

The Romance of Certain Old Clothes

Much of episode 9 “The Beast in the Jungle” is informed by the penultimate episode “The Romance of Certain Old Clothes,” a break from Bly Manor’s central story and a loose adaptation of Henry James’ short story of the same name. The episode serves as an origin for The Lady in the Lake, the spirit responsible for killing Peter Quint (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and creating the “gravity” that holds in all of the spirits misfortunate enough to die at Bly Manor. The black and white episode follows Viola (Kate Siegel) and Perdita (Katie Parker), two 19th century sisters who are left with Bly Manor after the passing of their father. Both sisters fall in love with the same man named Arthur Lloyd, but Viola, the more competitive, Type A sister, wins his hand in marriage. 

However, Viola grows ill and in the many years she lives after being diagnosed as terminal, she grows angry, resentful, and jealous of her sister for growing close to her husband. Before her death, Viola makes Arthur swear that her collection of fine gowns be saved for their daughter, believing that along with her husband, Perdita will get her hands on her prized clothing and jewelry as well. Perdita, having waited far too long to get the proper love and recognition from Viola’s husband while her sister clings to life, suffocates ailing Viola. 

Sure enough, Perdita marries Viola’s widowed husband, but their relationship goes south after Arthur squanders away their savings. At risk of losing their home, Perdita suggests that they sell the chest containing Viola’s gowns and jewelry, but it is forbidden. When Perdita opens the chest to go through the old gowns herself, Viola’s spirit kills her. Fearing the curse on the chest, Viola and Perdita’s widower throw the chest into the lake, thus creating The Lady in the Lake who sleeps, wakes, and walks over and over again, taking victims from the Bly Manor grounds. Over time, as her story and name are forgotten, Viola herself forgets who she was, what’s she’s doing, and her face begins to fade, with the anger and resentment she felt before her death being the only thing that drives her.

Dani and the Lady in the Lake

In “The Beast in the Jungle”, Dani (Victoria Pedretti) lets The Lady in the Lake into her consciousness in the same way that Peter Quint and Rebecca Jessel (Tahirah Sharif) were let into little Miles and Flora’s consciousnesses. Dani’s act of sacrifice frees the ghosts of Bly Manor, including Peter, Rebecca and Ms. Grose (T’Nia Miller), and saves Flora (Amelie Bea Smith) and Miles (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth). Dani is seemingly OK, but The Lady of the Lake is now inside of her, lying dormant like a time bomb. One of her eyes turns brown, and she can feel the anger that The Lady in the Lake harbored infecting her. She explains this to Jamie thusly:

“I have this feeling like I’m walking through the dense, overgrown jungle and I can’t really see anything except the path in front of me. But I know there’s this thing hidden. This angry, empty, lonely beast. It’s watching me. Matching my movements. Just out of sight. But I can feel it. I know it’s there. And it’s waiting. She’s waiting. And at some point, she’s going to take me.”

Dani’s feeling is eventually proven correct, but she lives a great life with Jamie before the Lady in the Lake begins wearing down her defenses. She and Jamie move back to the States, open their own flower shop, and live as spouses. However, the beast finally pulls Dani back to Bly Manor, and she assumes her place at the bottom of that icky, depressing lake. Jamie tries her best to save her, to invite her into her own consciousness, but it doesn’t work. Dani becomes the new Lady of the Lake, but never harms another soul at Bly Manor, only walking the grounds peacefully.

The Wedding

At this point, the narrator is revealed to be an older version of Jamie (played by Mike Flanagan muse Carla Gugino). It’s also suggested that those receiving the story are older versions of Flora (on her wedding day), Miles, Henry, and Owen, though it appears that they aren’t perfect analogues. For instance, the bride’s middle name is Flora and she does not have an English accent. This suggests that “Jamie” might be using the story she tells as a metaphor, populating it with figures and tragic events from her own life. When someone asks if the story is true, and if Dani’s ghost is still haunting Bly Manor, Jamie responds, “No, I suspect if you flew to England, you’d find no such place by that name.”

Perhaps losing Dani to the Lady of the Lake was a metaphor to losing her lover to a terminal illness, like in Viola’s story, dementia, like Owen’s mother, or depression. The bride seems to suggest this by relaying her fears about dying before her husband (played by The Room’s Greg Sestero), to which Jamie replies:

“Eventually, after some time, you’ll find little moments, little pieces of your life that remind you of him. And they’ll be silly and dumb, or they’ll be sad and you’ll cry for hours. But they’ll still be pieces of him. And you’ll hold them tight. It’ll be like he’s here with you. Even though he’s gone.”

But then again, if none of this story was real, why would Jamie begin and end the season by drawing a bath, cracking open her hotel room door, and sitting down and waiting for her love to exit her lake and return to her? Nothing about the events of The Haunting of Hill House suggested that the Crain family didn’t go through a traumatic, ghostly experience. And most of The Haunting of Bly Manor feels just as crushingly, heartbreakingly real. 

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In the end, whether the bride “Flora” is really Flora or whether there’s such a thing as the Lady in the Lake doesn’t change what the show is trying to communicate. Bly Manor is a love story, but it doesn’t gloss over the burden that love can be; the obligation we feel to take care of an ailing loved one, the hoops we jump through to avoid hurting those we love, the lengths lovers go to be together even under enormous stress and odds, the pain we feel over a lover’s absence or death. Jamie’s Bly Manor story could be fiction, but the pain and longing in it is real, real enough that we see Jamie at her hotel, still waiting for the spirit of her love to return.  

The post The Haunting of Bly Manor Ending Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[damnthatnoise]

Darko The Super | Of Dogs & Devils | An Interview

Hip Hop has long been about bravado, skill, and how your personality can capture and pull the listener in even further than just your skillset. There have been many an MC who’s personality sometimes outshined the lyrical prowess for better or worse, but when I sit back and think of some of my favorite MC’s growing up (Redman, Slick Rick, Kool Keith, E-40, and Del to name a few) the personality often was near cartoonish with no real effort from the MC to make it appear that way. Enter MC Darko The Super who since first coming across his music via Already Dead Tapes has oozed oddball personality, and ever evolving skills as an MC. Darko is no joke rapper though, instead he is adept at delivering some stark reality raps littered with glints of humor we often use to cope with the pain of existence. 

Fresh off delivering one of my personal favorites last year in the form of Card Tricks For Dogs, he returns with his friend Steel Tipped Dove to give us The Devil Defeated, and makes a claim as one of the indie hiphop scenes freshest, most colorful, and promising voices making music. 

You can order the digital, cassette and SUPER vinyl copies of The Devil Defeated here, as well as all Darko The Super Items. 

The Devil Defeated by Darko The Super & steel tipped dove

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Damn That Noise: Darko The Super. What’s the origin of that name and what’s it come to mean to you now? 

Darko: I think Darko The Super was my gamertag on Xbox Live before it was my official artist alias. I did two albums as Evan Darko after I seen Donnie Darko in high school. It had a big impact on adolescent me. The Super comes from another big influence on me at the time, MF Doom. My favorite song my senior year was "Dead Bent". I thought the ending of Operation Doomsday was really cool. The way it let you decide between hero or villain. I was big into vigilante justice at the time. I wanted to be like my favorite superheroes. So that's where the name came from. Nowadays it's just a name. More people know me as Darko than my real name these days, so it'd be silly to change it. Name's don't define you. It doesn't matter much to me. Though I like it. 

DTN: You’ve had a pretty prolific young career given that you’ve dropped 10+ projects since 2011, but when we were taking recently you said you’ve just now started to feel like you now know your voice. What’s changed in the last couple of years to get you to that place? 

Darko: Since 2011 I may have done nearly 100 albums. Most haven't lasted. I've deleted and erased most of my material pre 2014 from the face of the internet. (If anyone has a Loser CD, please destroy it.) I put out 10 albums in 2018 alone. All better than the previous. "Watered Down Demon Fuzz" from 2017 is the album I truly found my voice on. I listened back to "Oh, No! It's Darko" for nostalgic purposes and it seems more like a comedy album than anything, and not that good of a comedy album either. I was 18 when I made the first album I put on cd and gave to everyone at shows when I was starting to go out and perform. It was called Loser, inspired by Beck. Next cd I made was a compilation, also terrible, but somehow it's going for $75 on Discogs. I personally don't like anything prior to 2016. "Carve a Happy Face  on my Tombstone" had a few good songs. Those were transformative years. My perspective on life has changed severely. It's hard to be happy with things you create when you're not even happy with who you are. I think in finding myself, I found my voice too. Life will always be a mystery. But at least I'm more comfortable in my own skin at the moment. Therefore more comfortable in my art. 

DTN: Why erase the evidence of growth though? If anything that could show folks the rapid progression of Darko? 

Darko: I'd prefer to leave a better first impression. Maybe I'm too insecure to show people my progression. It's also just a matter of that not being the way I feel anymore as far as the way I wrote back then. 

DTN: Your style is a bit unorthodox in that you kind of dance all over the pocket of the beats, and your inflections seem to change at the drop of a hat. I know E-40 and DOOM are a couple favorites of yours but who else’s impressed a young Darko and helped give us the man we have now? Who made you say “I think this is something I want to do!!”?

Darko: Murdoc and MyGrane McNastee from Orlando, Florida were a couple of the first independent rappers I got into from watching the Wake Up Show freestyles on Youtube. They were big influences on me. From there I got into MF Doom, Madlib, and J Dilla. During the datpiff era, I got really into Charles Hamilton's mixtapes. I was a big fan of a web series around that time called Internet Celebrities. Through them I found out about Das Racist. I remember listening to them for the first time on MySpace. I saw Big Baby Gandhi in a video with them. Later on his Debut would become one of my favorite albums. I was really into going on hip hop blogs. I remember watching Open Mike Eagle rap "Qualifiers" in a laundromat and having my mind blown. He told me Serengeti was his favorite rapper which had me watching every Kenny Dennis video I could find. Dennehy became my favorite album. I got into Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire from seeing the Last Huzzah video with Das Racist, El-P, Despot, and Danny Brown. That's still my favorite posse cut. From checking out rap battles I got into Soul Khan who I remember posting about Homeboy Sandman's album The Good Sun. Blogs also got me listening to every Blu song. Her Favorite Color was something special to me. All those artists were huge in developing my approach. Nowadays my favorite rappers of all time are E-40, Serengeti, and Kool Keith

DTN: Card Tricks for Dogs feels like your most fully formed artistic statement yet and The Devil Defeated feels like the exclamation point showing folks you’re a real force. What helped bring those two records to life?

Darko: Both albums took a long time to come together, which usually isn't the case for me. I remember writing some of those Card Tricks for Dogs tracks while on vacation with my girlfriend and her family. I had tons of beats from my good friend and longtime collaborator Phil Ford aka BLKrKRT (Blacker Karat) loaded on my phone for those trips. I started it shortly after meeting Steel Tipped Dove for the first time. I released an album of his on my label and he offered to mix and master some tracks for me. So this was the first solo album of mine I let someone else do all the mixing for. I took my time with it and let it come together naturally. I believe everything happens at it's own time. As for The Devil Defeated, that album started out as a project called Contemplating Lonely Stuff, inspired by a Serengeti lyric. It was for the most part produced by Height Keech and Steel Tipped Dove. Eventually I decided to do albums with each of them separately. The album with Dove was pretty far along in the process and originally I wanted to call it "Playing Skee-Ball With Zev Love X" but we both agreed that was kinda corny and not many people would get what we were referencing. Then I heard the news of Daniel Johnston passing away, who is a hero of mine. I listened to nothing but Daniel for a few days straight and a few lyrics in particular stuck out to me. The one that landed was "The Devil Defeated" another possibility was My Yolk is Heavy. Me and Dove made over 20 songs for this album and eventually narrowed it down to the most cohesive project we could. We'll be doing a follow up of course. That's in the works now. I'm very proud of this album. My favorite track is a story I wrote based on a song called "Suzy's Face" by my favorite punk band, The Spits. I had to convince Dove on that one. There's another track I tried to convince him about too, but that will never see the light of day since I ended up agreeing with him. 

DTN: You’ve has a chance to work with a lot of interesting and well loved folks. How the hell did the tracks with Lil’B, Charles Hamilton, Denmark Vessey and others come about? 

Darko: I did an album called “Thank You BasedGod” dedicated to Lil B. I produced a track for him way back in 2014. He reached out to me after TYBG and offered to do a track together. So I sent him a couple  Steel Tipped Dove beats and he chose the one that ended up on the album. Later I saw Charles Hamilton posting about doing features. I sent him the Lil B track since that’s a dream collaboration of mine. Lil B is a big Charles Hamilton fan, and they’re both internet gurus of their eras. Charles conquered the blog era by releasing tons of free albums on his own blog, landing on all the mixtape sites. Lil B mastered social media and became a marketing genius, even transpiring music. I’m proud to say the first time they worked together was with me. As for getting Denmark Vessey on the album, he had already worked with Dove and toured with my good friends, The Difference Machine. I was the one who showed them his album Buy Muy Drugs while I was out in Atlanta for a week. That album’s my favorite of the decade. He had posted about doing features so I sent him an email and made it happen. 

DTN: You’ve released a lot of projects via Already Dead Tapes as well as starting UDDTBA. What is the connection with ADT and why start your own label? What have you learned from ADT and how has the played into how you run your label?

Darko: Already Dead Tapes taught me everything I need to know about running a record label. I met them in 2014 when I sent over my latest at the time “Oh, No! It’s Darko.” They were nice enough to release that on cassette. Soon after they invited me to play their weekend long festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I brought along ialive and we booked our first tour. Staying in Kalamazoo at the Knights Inn we recorded an album together and formed the now infamous duo The Hell Hole Store. From there we’ve played the Already Dead fest every year and I’ve released quite a few albums on Already Dead Tapes. U Don’t Deserve This Beautiful Art was grown out of wanting to support my friends and artists I admire. I brought on my best buds Steel Tipped Dove and Harvey Cliff to help me run things. Now the sky’s the limit. 

DTN: “Suzy” is life a very interesting record as is “lo-fi princess” off of The Devil Defeated. You mentioned the influence for “Suzy” came from another artists song...how’d this end up on your record and why? Also what’s the idea behind “Lo-Fi..”? 

Darko: During my commute one day I listened to The Spits first self titled album. I hadn’t played it in a while and instantly remembered why they’re the best. One song in particular stuck with me throughout that ride, “Suzy’s Face”. I decided to write a song building off of their track. Almost like taking a short story and creating a movie. I tried to describe in detail about why someone would shoot Suzy in the face at a high school dance. So that’s what I came up with. Lo-fi princess 2 is a sequel to the original from “Watered Down Demon Fuzz” both love songs to my girlfriend, Alora. I liked the phrase cos it reminded me of “Bow-tie Daddy” by Frank Zappa. Now that I think of it, an actual Lo-fi princess would be an anime babe trapped in the track art of a SoundCloud beat. We’d have to defeat the chill hop brigade to save her. 

DTN: You and iAlive have a really dope chemistry and have two very different styles but similar energies that work so well off of each other. What makes that partnership work and why’d you guys want to keep it going after the one hotel infused brainstorming session?

Card Tricks For Dogs by Darko The Super & BLKrKRT

Darko: We kept it going cos there were more hotel sessions to be had. On tour you’re on the highway with a lot of time on your hands. That’s where most of our songs and ideas come from. We set up shop where ever we’re staying and start to bring these ideas to life. The people seem to like us and we enjoy performing together. That’s what keeps the hell hole going. We survive off friendship and fun times. 

DTN: Okay sir Darko. You can only eat at two fast food places for the next year because you lost a bet. Where you going??

Darko: Obviously Taco Bell is numero uno, I’m a big Taco Bell enthusiast. Next would be Wendy’s, best fast food burgers by me, and they got those spicy nuggets. Plus I heard their salads are good too, which I would need a salad every now and then. I don’t think this is too far off from my normal diet. Worst thing that could happen is I have a heart attack. But I’m on that path anyway. Maybe I’ll start exercising. Maybe. 

DTN: What are you picking if you only have Thor and Spider-Man as costumes for Halloween?!

Darko: Spider-Man of course. I could pull off a husky Spider-Man. Family Guy made it look good. I’d need the fake muscles for Thor. Fake muscles never look good. I don’t have the luxurious hair either. 

DTN: What’s the writing process like for you?! Do you let the beat decide the direction? Do you have an idea or some lyrics written and you locate a beat that fits?

Darko: Either or. Writing always comes to me. It’s second nature. If it doesn’t come to me, I don’t write. That’s all there is to it. I only write when I’m inspired. That’s an easy way to go about it. My number one thing is creativity, I don’t wanna be complex or even an intellectual. I want my lyrics to be universally understood. 

DTN: So what’s next on the horizon for Darko The Super?

Darko: Next up I’m working on an album with skits from a comedian friend of mine. He does tons of great characters and videos as Hot Talent Buffet. I think he’s a comedic genius. I’m also working on an album sampling nothing but my favorite band 10cc, titled “Strawberry Studios Jam ‘72” and another album sampling one of my favorite songwriters, Dean Friedman. The Dean and I have a 7” record on the way with my remix of his classic “McDonald’s Girl” on the B side with the original on the A side. I have a couple other collaborative albums coming along. The artist they’re with wants me to hold off announcing it until they’re ready, but I will say it’s a dream collaboration and I’m very excited for it. 

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[supersamevans]

Unwrapping Some Presents

Tagging: Sam Evans and Kitty Wilde

Timeframe: November 5th

Location: Kitty’s Birthday Party

Notes: During spin the bottle at her birthday party, Kitty gets a very interesting present from Sam. And a necklace.

Trigger Warning: foreplay.

Kitty

At least half the party has already passed and Kitty enjoyed it a lot so far. She wasn't sure if it was a good decision to invite half the school including losers she wanted nothing to do with, but it turned out funnier that she expected - Kitty didn't wanna join glee club but loving singing and dancing it was a good opportunity to do it with the half of the school who's actually good at it. Spin the bottle game was not exactly what Kitty was planning to enjoy since there were only one boy who she was interested in kissing tonight, but somehow Quinn's arguments how fun it will be grew on Kitty and she gave up. Mason Well that one would be easy - Kitty thought, smirking before leaning to Mason to smooch him.6 novembre 2017

Sam

For being the first party he attended since his family moved to Ohio, Sam could say that things were going great. Not for the party per se, which was being fun, especially considering how glee people and football ones were able to coexist for one night without creating a slushie massacre. The hugest thought on his mind was actually the chance of being alone with Kitty for a change, something that had seemed pretty much impossible since he asked her out on meteor shower night. When spin the bottle was suggested, he couldn't help but waver a little. Knowing his reknown luck, getting the bottle to point at Kitty was going to be a mission impossible, but seeing how eager everyone was about it, he just went with the flow. He found himself staring at the bottle as Kitty spun it on the floor, his eyes darting on the Cheerio boy as the two got closer. Lucky guy he thought to himself, wondering if looks could be lethal -or maybe a little bit painful?- to some people.

Kitty

Kitty saw enough in McKinley to say glee kids could use someone having their backs and that ridiculous idea of having jocks, cheerios and glee freaks at the same time strangely worked, even if it was for one night. Feeling a bit bad about kissing Mason, Kitty still found it a bit funny that every time Sam asked her out, it ended up in him watching her kissing the other boy. Touching Mason's lips and feeling his mint breath, Kitty heard the bottle spinning again knowing without even watching that it was Sam hurrying for them to stop. Looks like I'm popular today, guess that's what birthday girl gets Kitty smiled watching Sam's bottle pointing at her and for a moment she wanted to believe it was some magic Sam created.

Sam

It was either a case of bad luck or the fact that the universe didn't want him to get closer to the girl, it was that simple. At least now it wasn't his date going weirdly but a game, it helped making the thoughts less bitter about the situation. Sam felt Mike lightly elbowing at him, which gave him the chance to get his hands on the bottle and spin it, adding a "my turn!" in a cheerful voice, before Kitty's kiss to Mason was over. It was a matter of focusing all his energies, force of will or whatever one might call that, but the bottle stopped pointing right in front of him, where Kitty was sitting. He smiled, leaning over the bottle to reach Kitty, as his stomach gave a little twist -butterflies, at the worst moment he could get a severe case of them. The game supposed to have just some sort of peck and then go back to respective seats, but it was clear the moment his lips touched the other's that it was not going to be like that. Room fell silent, or at least that's what his mind told him: music in the background turned to zero, voices were just a buzzing sound in the back of his head. It was him and Kitty: her lips and their taste, her perfume, his hands reaching up to cup her face and hold that moment for a bit longer. It felt like the feeling one got with fireworks, the same feeling of looking at them in awe and hoping it's a moment that never stops. Which, unfortunately, happened when he heard Sugar voice calling for her turn. Sam pulled away slightly, looking at Kitty's green eyes, starstruck and unable to do anything but smile and stroke lightly her cheek, before Sugar intimated him to go back to his seat so she could spin the bottle.  He got back to his spot on the floor, unable to look away from the girl in front of him.

Kitty

While Kitty had thought about them kissing for a while already, she never expected it to be like this - in front of whole school, in the middle of drunk game - knowing it's gonna be Sam's first kiss, she wanted it to be some sort of special, being a romantic guy he is, Sam probably imagined it million times and she doubted at least one of these times required spin the bottle game and glee club and Titans around. She talked herself into doing it seeing Sam's face so much closer to her than usual, saying to herself she'll make up for it later and will give him a proper first kiss experience and leaned to him touching his lips. Kitty kissed guys before, but that was something new. Wow the moment his soft lips touched hers and his hand went to grab her face, Kitty knew she doesn't wanna kiss anyone else today - even for the game, it was like little fireworks filled the room the moment their tongues touched each other. Kitty didn't even wanna think if guy lied to her about it being his first kiss or he was just naturally so good at this, but she knew she doesn't wanna stop. She quickly sent Sam"Wanna play again? My room. I give you 30 seconds" text, curious if it'd be just as good without a game or anyone around and talked everyone she needs a new drink quickly sneaking in her room, smirking as she felt Sam was grabbing her hand moments after.

Sam

The game seemed to be forgotten after that kiss. Even though their friends were still cheering on the random couples who kissed each other over the bottle, filling the room with crazy laughters, his eyes were still fixed on Kitty. It all happened in a whirlwind: first kiss, first kiss with Kitty, the text he just got. Which actually reminded him that the girl in front of him had her phone in her hands and was now getting up and saying something he didn't really grasp. He took a look at his phone, getting on his feet as soon as he saw Kitty's name on the display. 30, 29, 28- he lost count and didn't even manage to find a good excuse for going away, though Mike's smirk clearly said that he didn't have to explain himself at all.  15, 14, 13... With the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Kitty and followed her through a door. His hand grabbed hers and gently pulled her close to himself to meet her lips once again, briefly this time. He smiled as his arm laced around her waist. "3, 2, 1... here we are," he said playfully.

Kitty

It was new to see Sam being so flirty and playful, but she actually liked it a lot. "3,2,1...look at you being just at time for giving me my presents, good job, Evans" she stopped for a bit to give him a proper deep sensual kiss only pausing to grasp some air, although that moment she was ready to stop breathing just not to stop with Sam "Well this is what you can call your first kiss, I mean without anyone around and not because of the game" Fireworks didn't go anywhere and kitty was grateful they had plenty of time to go on after she gets her presents. Speaking of which, present Sam gave to her was very special, very pretty...and very Sam, she didn't know any other guy who would give her a constellation neckless. While Kitty didn't wear anything on her neck except simple chain with a cross, she wanted to put it on the moment she saw the beautiful piece. "Will you help me?"-she playfully looked at Sam over the shoulder, putting her hair up leaving him a place to do it without any hair getting stuck in the locker. She felt Sam pressing his muscular chest into her back and was ready to hear the sound of the locker getting closer but she wasn't ready for what she felt next - Sam's lips leaving soft kisses on her neck, moving slowly to her shoulder. She arched her back a little as saying him not to stop and closed her eyes for a second before murmuring "how about my second present?"

Sam

Before he had time to reply about his presents, he was surprised to see Kitty going for a deeper kiss. It was natural to tighten his grasp around her waist and keep her close, to better kiss her lips, to make her feel comfortable as he was holding her. When she pulled away, he leaned in a little bit more, though conscious that air was still well needed to go on. With an embarassed smile, eyes far from her this time, he tried to play it cool and shook his head. "If I had to say anything about it, I'd say that first one was cool but you made this one even better." And oh, how much he wanted to just lean in again and let her take his breath away once again, but his common sense striked before her could do it once again. Pulling a bit away, Sam gave her the little box containing the constellation necklace.  He'd spent two hours wondering if that gift was too much or not enough, but the look on the girl's face spoke for itself. Taking the necklace from her hand, he positioned behind her back to help with the clasp. "It's Scorpius constellation, and it's because you're a Scorpio,"  in a low voice, his fingers slowly moved on her neck. "And the curious thing is that not for everyone it's a scorpion," his words became a low whisper as the clasp went to his place and he leaned to kiss her soft skin, following the line of the shoulder, right where the strap covered her shoulder. He gently put it aside to better trail that spot of skin with slow, measured kisses. Kitty's response to that made him stop for a second, feeling her back pressed against him, so perfectly combined with him in that moment. A small smirk formed on his lips at her question, so he gently made her turn and pointed at the bowtie he had worn that night. "Thought you had noticed I've had this all night long already, waiting for you to unwrap."7 novembre 2017

Kitty

Kitty never was a big fan of bow ties, but this boy managed to be cute even with it. It was even sweet that Sam thought of something she would be able to keep after "I am impressed you don't wear an actual wrapping paper on you"-grinning, Kitty mentally thanked her dad for asking her help with ties and bow ties before and after events so Kitty knew it would only take seconds of her to get rid of it. It always was mean when Sam called her midget, but height difference between them was really big- leaning to Sam's lips the moment she got rid of bow tie, Kitty was pleased with high heels she was wearing. It was only seconds before Kitty felt Sam quickly lifted her up and pressed her back to the wall; without stopping their passionate kiss even for a second, Kitty adjusted her position placing her legs just around boy's waist noticing how perfectly they fit for each other. It was a bit scary to go further not knowing if Sam will really stop when she asks, but their not quite sober minds were out of control - Kitty didn't even remember how her fingers started unbuttoning his shirt, getting rid of it and her palms started stroking his muscular biceps and chest as they did it before million times. "Let's get to the bed, mr Present" her low voice broke the silence in the room, although Kitty was whispering it into his ear, pressing her body even closer to him before touching blonde boy's neck with her lips.

Sam

A laugh escaped from Sam's lips at her words, and he quickly shook his head. "I tried, but the result wouldn't have been that good. I'm already wrapped enough." Compared to the full hour he had spent on youtube trying to figure out how to make the perfect bowtie, Kitty's hands untied the knot in such a hot way that it made impossible not to go for a longer and more intense kiss. It came natural to him to lift the girl up and let her back rest against the wall, leaving a trail of kisses from the corner of her mouth to the neck and back to her lips, only to gently nibble the bottom one in a teasing way. As her hands were working their way through the shirt, Sam kept his hold on her, enjoying the closeness of their bodies, their heat when together, especially now that a layer of fabric went on the floor. Her whisper against his ear sent a shiver down his spine, and he nodded slightly with a soft moan at the pressure of her smooth lips against his skin. Holding her as tight as he could to not lose that closeness, he carefully set Kitty on the bed and let her lie down so he could be on top of her, propped on his elbow. With his free hand, he started stroking her body under him to reach the hem of her top. Her skin was soft and warm, so smooth under his touch, it was impossible not to taste it again with his lips by going to her collarbone and slid his fingers further under the fabric, to hold her by the hip.

Kitty

There was no way in hell it was first time Sam got intimate with a girl, Kitty would never believe it, cause boy was too sure about what to do - from being assertive firmly pressing her to the wall to gently carrying her to the bed not forgetting to leave kisses on her lips down to her neck while his hands were sliding all over her body. After what happened years ago, Kitty wasn't always okay with boys touching her more private parts but feeling Sam's palms on her butt while he was holding her felt oh so right. Hours of working out in a gym totally paid of for Sam, not only giving him a spectacular upper body but also letting him holding her with his strong biseps without even being puffed. With any other guy she'd freak out even at shirtless making out phase - as much as she seemed to be slutty, Kitty's past left a huge mark on her, but with Sam it felt so good and so natural that she was willing to go further, she even felt safe having the weight of his body on her which never happened before. Kitty closed her eyes feeling how Sam's lips went down to her collarbone while his hand pulled the top highter exposing her toned flat belly, her skin was heating under his kisses trembling when Sam went where no one else kissed her before - from her cleavage to her stomach, she was so thankful Sam didn't went too far although from the tiny noses he made and his hand grabbing her hip she could tell boy didn't mind.And it's not like her body felt any different since with every kiss going lower she felt the growing heat inside of her body signaling her how much he turns her on. Bringing him up again with their open mouth kisses, Kitty allowed his hands to slide from her bare legs to the curve of her butt before it went highter gently grabbing her breast through the clothes. There was no need for talking at all, cause even if they weren't sure what to do, their wasted bodies knew everything working so perfectly together.Placing her hands around boy's waist she was able to roll over to, finally becaming in position of control. With making few slight grinding moves as she places her legs apart she rised up to his lips, teasingly touching his tongue with her own before going deeper for a kiss. Muscules under her touches tensed reacting to her fingers sliding on his chest while girl went a little lover quickly trailing from his neck to his chest with her tongue before kissing his muscular chest putting her plump lips down his abs going lower and lower with every touch.

Sam

If someone told him that he was gonna get that kind of time with Kitty Wilde, the girl that had literally stole his thoughts and attention after what could've seemed a weird start, he wouldn't have believed it. Up until a couple of weeks ago it was impossible to imagine that the outcome of a kiss -if there could've been a kiss!- was going to be that. To be able to be close to her and way more, to kiss her, lift her up in his arms and feel the heat of her body pressed against his, to be able to look at her lying on her own bed, as beautiful as always, even when she was flustered. The fact that it was the first time he went that far with someone, not once that thought had stopped him -as if alcohol wasn't playing its part in that- it all came natural with her. With every touch he could appreciate every corner of her, getting closer to her skin and exposing it a little bit further before kissing it multiple times, tracing invisible lines on it.His hand sliding on her bare thigh, he reached the hem of the skirt but went up again, and there Kitty surprised him again placing it on her butt. He didn't waste a second to look at her or say something, but only leaned to get a kiss from her lips, catching her breath in that exact moment, as his fingers delved into her back, arched in a way that made him wanna feel again that body against his. The switch of position definitely didn't interfere with that desire, as his hands were now free to wander on her as much as she did. Sure she made it hard to do, as every touch sent a shiver to his spine that made him get tense. His hands slid again on her back, stopping on her butt and squeezing it lightly through the fabric, as if there was still space for insecurity after they threw some boundaries like that. Any possible thoughts was deleted from her kisses, a trail starting on his neck and going lower, lower and lower- making Sam moan again, his breath now shallow, eyes closed. With his body reacting like that to simple kissing, he propped himself up again to gently pull her closer, hands sliding again on her upper body, slowly and almost methodic as they stopped on her breast; and even with fabric between him and her bare skin, he still pressed his lips against her cleavage and down, like she just did, hands holding her still , tiny as she was, until he found that little spot of exposed skin, where he lingered longer.

Kitty

Sam was really different from all other guys Kitty've met through her life - she was watching him going for her for weeks without pushing her even once - he respected her boundaries and had gained her trust piece by piece over past few weeks. Maybe that's why she was so relaxed with him, knowing that the only thing that would take boy to stop is her asking once; yet she didn't wanna use any stop words until Sam goes too far - she even let him go freely to the danger zones which she never was okay with dudes touching - safety of his slow touches let her relax and forgot about bad thoughts. It only felt natural to close her eyes while they suddenly went to what was more like foreplay then just kisses- like his hand sliding on her thigh going up to her ass with only tiny fabric between them as her lips and tongue founding it's way on his warm body. While the light was off, Kitty could swear they looked messy - Sam's hair she was going through with her hands were messy, last prints of her red lipstick were supposed to stay on boy's neck and chest while she was on top of him basically in her underwear - top's strings went to the side about an hour ago and raised by Sam, top was barely closing her chest while her shirt went up to her waist as she placed her legs apart of him. Sam gave her the feeling she've been avoiding since that cursed sleepover - he turned her on crazily and it scared her. Despite having only couple of glasses of champaign, it felt like her mind was out of her body watching from aside how she arched her back feeling boy exploring every inch of her body with his lips. Right at the moment they were moving just in her cleavage with his hands so naturally went to cup her boobs - while boy didn't focused on her nipples separately she was wondering if he felt how they went hard under the fabric as his fingers slipped through it.With his lips going so close under fabric, she brought him up slowly moving their position into her sitting on top of him. "Hey hot stuff", - Kitty murmured smiling as she pressed her bare stomach into his. Her arms wrapped around his neck as she went for the kiss, allowing her to do slow grinds as they got lost in their kiss. "Hey Kitty are you ok....Jesus" - hearing Spence's voice and seeing light touched the room, Kitty opened her eyes in one moment trying to adjust the top as her best friend didn't noticed what they were doing with Sam as she was sitting on top of shirtless guy. Not being sure what to tell, Kitty noticed the grin of approval on Spencer's lips as he said "You two are amazing, keep doing whatever you were doing, imagine I was never there", closing the door before they even were able to come with any reply. Kitty rolled to lay down next to Sam as she was adjusting her clothes on it's place "Well it was a bit awkward. I guess we need to come back since people started noticing we're away" It took girl few minutes to go back to normal breathing still feeling electricity in her body as she reached out for Sam's hand, intertwining fingers with his.

Sam

With no lights in the room and the body of Kitty on his, it was like being in a dream, a dream where it was hard to wake up from.  Even though his head was light due to the alcohol, which hadn't been much at all, it was most of all her way to move on him that drove him crazy. It was irresistible. With every little expression of pleasure, the need to further and explore more of her skin with his lips was more and more urgent. His hands were still on hear breasts as his kisses went down and down, but gladly let her guide him until they could shift position and welcome her in his arms again. He pulled her so close that they could almost be one thing, skin against what remained of shifted fabric, and smiled on her lips hearing her voice. "Hey, gorgeous." She got closer as well, allowing him to wrap his arms around her hips again, following that grinding movement. He was gonna shift position again when he heard the clock click. Lights were on again and, through his clouded mind, he heard Spencer's voice as if it was far, very far. Something clicked in his mind too, because a panicked gaze went from the guy to Kitty, his mouth open to find words he really didn't have but his arms still tight around the girl.Spencer got away literally in a blink, but the magic was now gone. Kitty pulled away but stayed close. "Awkward is only the first word to describe it," he joked, his breath still shallow, but happy to hold her hand and not ready to let fo of that moment. "I know, but stay a little while?" he asked, reaching out to let her rest against him. "Just for a little while, then I promise will get back to best party of the year." They gave themselves the time to calm down a little bit, close like that, until it really looked like the right time to get away. Kitty helped him getting back his shirt, slowly buttoning it up; it was tempting, for a moment, to lean in and kiss her again, but he let her go, listening to her advice of going out a little bit after her, so that it didn't seem like they'd been there all that time. Which, if he only could've expressed his feelings as he wanted, was exactly something he would've done. Still, Sam looked at her get away with a sigh. Realization of being in too deep hit hard, even though he was really aware of that. A couple of minutes more, and he got out as well, going back to the party.

[thedenfantasyleague]

The Den Fantasy League Recap: Week Four

Gents,

It’s easy to panic. It’s easy to look at your roster and think, “How did I get here?”. The Fantasy world is one that can keep you up at night and on pins and needles waiting for a player to do something. It can also bring hope. As we know, anything can happen on a Monday night. It’s a long season, boys, so buckle up and in the words of the great thespian Will Ferrel in the critically acclaimed film Old School: let’s get it on.

El Commish v. Hank Mardukas

Fantasy football is tough and, a lot of times, very much out of your control. Right now, I’m behind E 0.4 points for the highest points allowed this season. Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw for some teams; I am everyone’s Super Bowl. Scott continued that pace of high scoring against my team this week with a typical Scott week. Devante started his week off with a bang scoring 18 without a touchdown. Then the scoring continued. Scott only had two players not in double figures and was led by big games from Lamar (24.4), Golladay (18.7), and then that buffoon Lutz got 14 points on a Sunday night to seal my coffin. As for me, my team continued to show up. A lot of that is thanks to three players: Gallman (21.8), McCoy (14.9), and my beloved Pats D (23). Other than those three, no one else on my team met their projections. Frankly, I’m done with Matt Ryan. He’s a bum. Either way, Scott’s back in the winning column and I’m back to being a dumb loser.

Debbie Rowe v. The Perfect Ten

Speaking of points allowed, E had a good week but still fell short of Jane’s squad. E, our two-time defending champ, is back to his sly ways: losing early and planning for a great comeback in the second half. E’s team does come with a lot of questions. E did have good performances from Prater, Texans D, and the GOAT, John Matthew Stafford. His highest performer this week was Ekeler but could this be his final point outburst of the season with the return of Gordon? Speaking of return, how much does E need Tyreek? Other than his week two outburst, OBJ has failed to reach double digits in any other game this season. Even in their blowout win this past week, OBJ was a letdown with only 2 points. Yes, 2. Where does E go from here? Jane, on the other hand, has no questions. You can tell by the looks of his roster that he’s not making any changes any time soon; and why should he? Right now, Jake’s sitting at 3-1 and had another commanding victory this week. Jake benefitted from the deep ball this week and a lot of high scoring games. His pass catchers (Evans, Kupp, and Ebron) all had great games, plus throw in the always productive McCaffrey, it was in the bag.

Professor Remus Lupin v. Fire Jarn

The game everyone this week was watching. Gabe joined me on the recap last week and guaranteed a victory over Rob. What we didn’t know was that after some long debate and spirits flying around everywhere, Gabe would make a change that no one saw coming. After three long years, Gabe relinquished day-to-day operations from his team and handed the reigns over to Professor Lupin, an expert in the dark arts. It was a gamble that paid off. Lupin waved his wand and finally, Gabe’s team was brought back to life. Led by Goff, Carson, Woods, Seahawks D, and a MASSIVE game from Chubb (36.3) sealed his victory. Rubbie is starting to take his dive a little earlier this year but we all knew he couldn’t sustain his winning ways. Rob did put an impressive start on TNF, however, that may have led to his demise as Friday was the day that Gabe handed over control of his team. Rob continued to have a good week with guys like Kerryon, Godwin, and Bears D but his other players didn’t perform up to their normal standards. Kamara disappointed and Boyd (like the Bengals) fell flat on his face on MNF. These are two interesting teams that we need to keep an eye on.

Stick With Us PVO v. Wilmore Cinderella

Imagine this: you wake up after a long night of not sleeping well and but still wake up early to go to the gym since some other fellas are joining. Sometimes you need a good morning workout. You’re done and about to go home and then JP, who scored half of your points this week, looks at you and says, “I can’t believe I have a better record than you.” I truly can’t believe it either, JP. Jarrod’s team, we can all agree, was embarrassing this week. Case got pulled with -0.5, Mecole ended up with -1.1, and only TWO players on his team met their projections (Conner, 18.5, and Washington D). He’s lucky Conner had himself a game against the Bungals on MNF to salvage any sense of respect. Dylan (who is second to last on PA this year), survived with another victory, breaking the cycle of a Dylan-win-Browns-lose rhythm. Despite having the third-lowest score of the week, he benefitted by playing our worst team this week. He was led by Fournette and his kicker. Really, that’s about it. No one else on his team met their projections and even Russ came back down to earth this week. He did leave a lot of points on his bench this week but we’ll see how Dylan’s team responds to the loss of his star RB and a key WR.

VP v. Team Timshel

Vinny was our other successful guarantee this week. It was a bold move considering Mike had yet to lose a game this season. Vinny, surprisingly, delivered. Vinny was led by huge games from Brisket (22.5) and Williams (15.6). Plus he was supplemented with big games from guys like Alshon, Hooper, and Chargers D. Vinny’s past couple of weeks have been tricky ones as he has since lost his projected QB, RB, and his WR2 in the last few weeks. This week, he showed his team could respond and bounce back. Vinny may be the only one who believed in his team these past few weeks. Mike, who was our lowest in points allowed thus far, finally met his demise for his first loss of the year. Mike, similarly to Vinny, found himself needing to make some immediate moves to cover the loss of a big player. Melvin, who has since returned, was holding out to begin the season left Mike in a sticky situation. He found good games from Gurley, Sterling, and Panthers D this week but that’s about it. Can Gordon come in and compete right away or his value diminished from the success of Ekeler? Only time can tell for both of these teams. 

Virginia Kuppcakes v. Kalabar’s Revenge

We say anything can happen on a Monday night but sometimes that anything can mean losing which is exactly what happened to Al. With his loss, Al is now our only winless team heading into Week 5. His team has shown flashes of hope here and there but this week they fell flat on their face. Josh Allen faced a tough NE D (you’re welcome) and only two players on his team met their projections: DJ (13.9) and Titans D (thanks a lot). Going into MNF, Al was pitted against JuJu (USC Trojans, Fight On) to his Mixon. If Mixon could’ve reached his projection, he could have won. That’s how bad G played as well. Some (not me) are beginning to wonder if G should focus less on Kurses and more on his team. However, G was still able to be victorious despite all of the off-the-field distractions this week. G snuck by with three players meeting their projections this week: A-Rob (7.7), Andrews (9.1), and Greg the Leg (13). His defense, RB2 (get well soon Jamaal), and WR1 combined for 1.5 points this week. Not great! What G does have going for him this week is that the calendar page turned and now we’re in Spooky Season: October. We’ll see if G gets stronger by the week as we get closer to All Hallows’ Eve.

Week Four Recap: 

Good luck everyone as we get into Week Four. As always, set your lineups accordingly. 

Your beloved Commissioner, 

Jared R. Mosqueda

[ridiculousn3sswrites]

Designer

*Tom Hiddleston x Reader

*Summary: Reader works at a costume design studio when Tom Hiddleston comes in for the initial body scan.

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of a nearly nude Hiddlesdude

A/N: Yesterday I went on a field trip to this costume design studio with my school's art club AND OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO COOL!! THEY HAD ORIGINAL LOKI HELMET PROTOTYPES AND I WAS TRYING SO HARD NOT TO FREAK OUT. Anyways, I asked the owner of the studio if he met Tom Hiddleston and if Tom was as nice as he seems, and the owner was just like 'Yeah, of course. He was really kind to everyone that was working with him.' So yeah, just needed to share that. Written by Admin R

"(Y/n), look alive. We have someone coming in for a body scan," your boss, Jose, told you tapping the table you were working at. You did a bit of everything around the studio, excluding any sculpting that was needed, so it wasn't unusual for Jose to randomly come up with new tasks for you.

"Alright, bossman. Who is it this time?" You asked, looking up from the fabrics that you were examining, your glasses nearly slipping off of your face. You'd only been working for Jose for about a year or so, and normally new hires weren't allowed near the celebrities. You were an exception since you managed to keep your cool with everyone that you met, from Evan Peters to Ben Affleck.

"Now, I know you're a big fan of his, and that's why I'm giving you this warning: don't freak out and make him uncomfortable," Jose started cautiously.

"Hey, Mike was fangirling when Conan came for his fittings," you argued slightly. Everyone in that studio was a nerd, despite what they claimed. "But I'm listening."

"It's Tom Hiddleston," he finished. You opened your mouth but no words came out. On your first day at the studio, the Loki helmets had been the first thing to catch your eye. Admittedly, when only you and Mike or one other person were in the studio, the two of you goofed around and tried on the different helmet prototypes that were laying around. Mike always took a Captain America one while you took one of the Loki ones, of course. Jose had caught the two of you once, just shaking his head as the two of you stood frozen in place. "Now, do you want to help with the scanning and everything or should I ask Mike to and send you home early?"

"No! I mean, no. It's fine, I'll help. But like, maybe keep Mike here so I don't fangirl completely?" you said, somewhat unsure of what this meant. You always had that image of Tom Hiddleston being one of the sweetest people in the world, and you refrained from asking the people around the studio that had met him what he was actually like, just in case it destroyed that illusion. Meeting him in person would be a dream come true, and you met celebrities on a pretty regular basis.

"I was planning on that anyways, but promise that you'll be on your best behavior?" Jose asked, looking you straight in the eyes.

"Yes. Honestly, I'll probably be so nervous that I won't be able to talk," you admitted, scratching the back of your head slightly.

"Okay then, he'll be here in an hour," Jose told you, walking off. "Get back to work."

"Wait, what?" you nearly yelled after him. "Drops a bombshell like that on me and expects me to go back to comparing stretchy black fabrics," you added in a mutter as you went to do exactly that.

"He's almost here, don't die," Mike teased as the two of you waited in the room with the full body scanner.

"Shut the fuck up, I am like trying not to hyperventilate," you replied with a bit of a glare, trying to ease your nervousness. "Maybe I should've taken Jose up on the offer to go home early."

"Nope, I wouldn't've let you leave. I may have hidden your keys," Mike said with a faux innocent look.

"I hate you," you deadpanned. "Give me back my keys the second that he leaves." Mike shrugged, and just as you were about to tell him off some more, Jose entered the room with someone.

"And this is (y/n) and Mike, they'll be helping with the body scan," Jose introduced the two of you, motioning with his hand as the very man you had been talking about entered the room.

"It's nice to meet you," Tom said with a smile and a wave. You froze. You were about ten feet away from one of your celebrity crushes and he was about to strip down for the body scan. You had completely forgotten about that aspect of the body scan when Jose told you who it was, your mind rushing to process what was going on as Mike and Tom were talking.

"Yeah, it's great to see you again. You remember how this goes?" Mike asked Tom as you pretended to fiddle with the computer settings.

"Definitely," Tom replied. "Do you need me to go, you know?"

"Yeah, bathroom's just over there," Mike told him. As soon as Tom left the room, Mike and Jose began talking at once.

"What the hell, you didn't even say hi! You know you want to talk to him!" Mike scolded you.

"Just act like you did when Evan started flirting with you, you didn't even tense up or anything," Jose said at the same time.

"Sorry, I told you guys that I'd freeze," you apologized as you finished with your pretend fiddling. "It's like, he's really attractive and I don't know how to deal with that." You heard the door for the bathroom open and dropped your voice to a lower volume. "I swear I'll act normal from now on."

"Alright, is everything ready?" Tom asked, walking into the room. You looked over, willing your racing heart to calm, and were met by the sight of Tom freaking Hiddleston in his underwear. 'Yeah, that's gonna be a lot harder than I thought.'

"Yup. If you'll step onto the platform here, Mr. Hiddleston. I'm assuming you know how this works?" you asked, switching on your professional mode, trying to ignore the (frankly amazing) sight stood in front of you.

"Please, call me Tom," he said, that stunning smile on his face again. "And yes, I do." You nodded, motioning over to the body scanner. Tom took position, standing with his arms held slightly out to his sides. You went to the control panel for the body scanner, Mike having taken over your spot at the computer. Ten seconds passed and then the scan was over. "Alright, great. Mike, how do those look?"

"They're looking good, (y/n)," Mike replied looking up from the screen.

"Okay, so we'll do a handheld scan on the arms just to make sure everything's good and then you'll be free to go," you said with a smile to Tom, stunned slightly to see him studying your features. You grabbed the handheld scanner from the top of the 3D printers, motioning for Tom to step off of the platform.

"I don't remember you being here when I last came, and I'm sure I'd remember such a lovely face," Tom commented nonchalantly as you passed the scanner over his arm. You shot a quick look at Mike who had the stupidest grin on his face.

"Uhm, no, I barely started working here a year ago," you told him, trying not to freak out. "But I did intern here for a bit in college a few years before that."

"I see," Tom said, nodding slightly as you finished with his other arm.

"Well, you're free to go," you told him with a bit of an awkward smile. Tom thanked you and went back to the bathroom to change, Mike running up to you the second Tom left the room.

"Dude, he was coming onto you," Mike practically chirped. "I hear wedding bells."

"Seriously? I said like four things to him," you replied with a roll of your eyes. "We need to get these scans on the computer so I can put together a full model to get printed." Mike nodded, taking the scanner from you and plugging it into the computer so he could do just that. As you were messing with the settings on one of the 3D printers, you heard a slight knock on the wall of the entrance. You looked back and saw Tom standing there somewhat sheepishly.

"Hey, (y/n), I was wondering if you'd like to get lunch with me? I'd like to know more about the woman who's working on my costume. If you're not too busy, that is," Tom said, somewhat rambling. You froze slightly again, not believing that this was happening to you.

"Let me just ask Jose," you replied, shaking yourself out of it. Tom mentioned something about waiting in the parking lot for you, but you didn't hear as you made your way to Jose's office. "Hey, can I take an early lunch and what's your policy about fraternizing with the talent?"

"Yes, and just don't get photographed by tabloids, I don't need that nonsense," Jose said, not even looking up from the designs strewn on his desk.

"Thanks, Jose! You are literally the best," you gushed as you rushed out of the building, finding Tom sitting on the bench just by the staff entrance. As the two of you went to his car, you remembered that Mike still had the keys to your own. And, oddly enough, you couldn't bring yourself to care.

[aquaevans]

Detailing Your Romance || Samchel Para

Who: Sam Evans and Rachel Berry

When: Tuesday, January 3, 1:00 pm

Where: Student Building

General Notes: Sam and Rachel meet for lunch and discuss the Syder date and other things.  No triggers.

Sam was still riding on the high of his date the night before. Everything had gone perfectly and exactly how he hoped it would go. As much as he wanted to tell his friends all about it, he had to focus on classes since it was his first day back. He was also trying to figure out how to trim down the number of clubs he had joined. It was a hard battle since he really loved all of them. But if he was going to have a job, a new boyfriend, Obex and classes, well something had to give. He figured he would use his lunchtime to figure out what to do when he got the text from Rachel about meeting up for lunch. Smiling to himself, he realized this would be a good opportunity to talk about the date and maybe decide what to do about the clubs he was in. So after setting up lunch with Rachel, he finished his class and headed to the student building to get a sandwich at the counter.

Rachel was excited for her meet up with Sam. She was excited for her friend. Ryder was a nice guy and Sam deserved someone to make him happy. So of course she wanted to know all about it. She made her way over to the student building, where she and Sam had agreed to meet. She saw him at the counter and went up to him, poking his shoulders. "Hi, Sam! How are you?" She asked excitedly.

Sam turned his head feeling the sensation on his shoulders and smiled. "Hey, Rach!" He gave her a hug upon seeing her. "Nice to see you...sober." He teased, remembering how much fun she had at the ball. "I'm doing good! My classes are going good so far. How are you? Can I interest you in one of the sandwiches here? My treat."

Rachel gave Sam a teasing glare. "Hey, I wasn't that drunk!" She said. "My classes are great as well. This semester is going to be really fun," she told him. She looked over the sandwiches and nodded. "Yeah, I could eat. You have to let me pay next we get together, though, okay?" She said before ordering.

Sam just smirked and decided not to argue with her. "Okay, whatever you say." He was glad that her first day had gone well. It was important to start off the next semester right. He was surprised he had made it through the first one with all the things they had going on. "I think so too. But busy. I'm actually considering cutting down on clubs so I have more time for things." He looked at her. "But not LNWA and Players. Ryder has already promised to drag me to meetings himself if that happened and I am too happy in Players to leave." He said with a chuckle. "Alright, it's a deal." Once she ordered, he got his sandwich and paid for them. It was just a matter of waiting for them to be made. "So what did you do yesterday for your last day of break?"

Rachel listened to Sam and nodded gratefully when he said he wasn't quitting the Players. "Good, you better not leave the Players! Your voice is too great to lose you," she told him. "But if you need to quit some clubs, you should do it. It's good to not totally overdo it," she told him. She waved at his question. "I did some rehearsal and watched movies. That's not important, though! Tell me all about you and Ryder.!"

Sam was happy that she appreciated his talents and he replied, "Thanks Rachel. I love being a part of it. Something about singing makes me feel like I can tackle anything." He could tell how excited she was to hear about what had happened on the date. He laughed and waited until they had their lunch orders before walking toward an empty table so they could sit down. "Well, I scheduled a portal to take us to Las Cabos for three hours. Then before we left, I made a really good picnic for us. Eggplant parmesan, breadsticks, pasta salad and I surprised him with chocolate pudding for dessert." He said with a smile.

Rachel grabbed their sandwiches and went to sit down at a table, listening to Sam talk about their date. "Oh, that's a very good mean! Las Cabos must have been so gorgeous. Did you two go swimming?"

Sam was nearly lost in his own thoughts as he remembered how magical the date was. It was really wonderful and they had so much fun. "It really was. The weather was nice, not too cloudy and the water was pretty cold but we swam for a little while. We even got to talk to some sea lions." He had thought that part was pretty cool. "It was just...you know it was like another level. It's amazing how you can do something that you've done before when you were just friends, but now it's even more special. It was such a good feeling to see how happy he was and to know I gave that to him."

Rachel looked at Sam fondly. "That really sounds like a nice date, Sam. You two sound like you had fun. Mike and I haven't had the chance to go on a big fancy date yet, so I can't say I'm not a bit jealous," she teased. "It sounds like you two had lots of fun though! When's your next date?" She asked.

Sam nodded happily, "We did. I know he really liked it." He had wanted everything to be perfect and it really was. It was a little strange to him that Mike and Rachel had yet had a big date, but he didn't question it. Mike was pretty busy. "I don't know yet. But I know it'll be amazing no matter what we do because we'll be together." It was all so new, exciting and amazing. Exactly what he could have hoped for.

Rachel reached over and squeezed Sam's hand. "Sam, you sound so smitten. I love that you're so happy," she said with an excited grin. "I really had no idea you felt that way about Ryder. But I guess sometimes that's just what happens? No matter what, it's good. I'm sure you two looks adorable together," she said.

Rachel *"But he better know that he has to answer to Rachel Barbra Berry if he hurts you."

Sam smiled as he explained to her how his feelings grew. "To be honest, they've been there but they haven't been in the forefront of my mind, you know? Like when he got hurt, I knew how worried and terrified I was for him. I wanted nothing more than to go take care of him myself. It's why I spent all day with him when he got out of the hospital. How much I wanted to be around him. It just finally hit me when we talked about the ball and I knew." He blushed and then laughed softly at the threat. "What is with best friends and threats? You and Santana, I swear." He rolled his eyes. "But I'm sure he knows."

Rachel clenched her jaw when Sam mentionned Santana. "Don't tell me I have anything in common with her. Did you see? She wants to fight me again! I can't stand her," she said, leaning back and crossing her arms.

Sam held his hands up in surrender. "Yes, I noticed. You two seem to still be going on about this whole who is better thing. Should I come on Saturday in case I'm needed?"

Rachel sighed and looked down. "She thinks that just because she beat me a few times it means she's better than I am! And it's not true. I have to prove myself, Sam!" She said. She bit her lip. "Maybe. I don't know. You'll end up having to heal her, anyways," she grinned.

Sam smiled and just reached over to squeeze her hand. "You're growing stronger everyday and you will do your hardest. I know it's hard, but don't let her get you down, okay?" He chuckled. "Possibly. But no matter what happens, just do your best. I think you'll be great."

Rachel smiled fondly at Sam. "I won't let her get me down. Trust me. She's the last person I will let get in my head," she said. "I'm going to win. I feel it. This is going to be good. You should come just to see Santana lose," she winked.

Sam chuckled, "I would definitely love to do that." He was a little nervous though. Rachel seemed pretty confident and he was worried how she'd take it if she lost. Hopefully he wouldn't have to find out.

Rachel grinned. "Great. I'll see you there, then," she said. "But we're not here to talk about me. You seem really happy, Sam. It's nice seeing you so happy."

Sam smiled, "Thanks Rachel." He was fine with the subject change, it was just so weird to be the focus of the conversation right now. "I can't believe I didn't see it, though. He was always right there and...I didn't see it. But now that I have him, I'm not letting go.”

Rachel smiled at Sam. "You better not let him go. When you find someone who makes you so happy, you never let them go. You and Ryder just fit. You have so much in common. I know it's really new, but we should plan a double date with you and Ryder and Mike and I! It'll be so fun!" She said excitedly.

Sam really hoped that she was right. Everything felt really perfect. "I think that would be a lot of fun. We'll figure things out once we've gotten settled with classes and everything. But I think a double date would be lots of fun!"

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, of course! Classes do come first. And I have no idea when Mike will be free, either. We'll figure something out! This is so exciting!" She said. "I know I keep saying this but I really am so happy for you, Sam."

Sam "It feels good to hear no matter if you say it 100 times." He truly was happy. "I'm glad I could talk to you about the date. It felt good to talk about it with someone. I didn't want to just keep it all in."

Rachel grinned. "You know you can always talk to me, Sam. We're best friends. I always want to hear about what's going on with you," she told him. "You better know that."

Sam smiled, "I know. I'm really lucky to have you, Rachel. All of my friends. You guys have been so amazing and sometimes I don't think I deserve you." He admitted.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Please, Sam. You're one of the kindest people I have ever met. You deserve all the friends you want," she told him.

Sam took a sip of his water before replying, "Thanks. Even if sometimes I wonder what I did to get all of you in my life, I wouldn't change any of it. You've all become so important to me and I'm just feeling like I'm in a good place."

Rachel smiled fondly at Sam. "I feel the exact same way. I was so worried about making friends when I came here but it turned out that there wasn't much to worry about. Except for... a few people, I'm so happy we all got to meet. You're like my second family."

Sam blushed, already feeling even more like this day was perfect. He was enjoying their time together and thankful that the new year was starting on such a great note. "You're like my family too, hence fondly caling you my little sister." He teased as he worked on finishing his meal. "What else is on your agenda once we finish lunch?"

Rachel grinned. "I never had any siblings. It got kind of lonely at times, not having any kids around. I'm really glad I've found a big brother in you," she said fondly. She finished her sandwich and folded the wrapper. "I have another class, then I'm probably going to rehearse for a bit. What about you?"

Sam blushed and looked down as he finished up his meal. "Thanks, Rachel. I grew up for nearly eight years before Steve was born so I was an only child for a bit, so I can relate at least for a little bit of time." He said with a grin. "But good, I'm glad I could be someone like that for you." he wiped his mouth and sipped the last of his water. "I have a club meeting and then I will spend some time figuring out the club thing. Other than that, it's an easy day thankfully."

Rachel "At least it'll be an easy day," Rachel said with a smile. "You'll figure out the clubs thing, Sam, I'm sure of it. You just have to consider the things that interest you the most and prioritize the clubs that help you focus on them, you know?"

Sam was confident that everything would work out one way or another. As busy as things had been last semester, he knew he could balance out this one as long as he stayed organized. "I appreciate the advice. I'll take it all into account, I promise." He smiled. "Thanks again for lunch. It was really great to get to hang out with you before we all got too busy."

Rachel smiled at Sam. "Anything to help my best friend. I'm just glad you're staying in the Players. It wouldn't be the same without you," she said as she stood and picked up her bag. "And thank you for buying me lunch, Sam! This was really nice. We should do it more often," she said, leaning in to hug him tightly. "Have a good day, Sam! Keep me updated on any Ryder developments, okay?" she said with a wink.

Sam stood up to he could get ready to hug her. "Me too. There's no way I could leave." He was glad he made an impact on the club and he really did like spending time there. "Of course! We definitely should make this a regular thing when we can, alright?" At Ryder's name, a content smile appeared. "I definitely will. Have a great day, Rachel."