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whimsicallyenchantedrose · 2 years

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Christmas Reruns: Day 22—Under the Mistletoe

Rating: G

Word Count: 2140

Other chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Notes: This story was written for my “Christmas with Captain Swan” collection in 2020.

2x4 Canon divergence

Emma looked around her, feeling her frustration rise. This room was massive, and it was filled floor to ceiling with junk. Finding one lousy compass was going to take forever.

She didn’t have forever; she needed to get back to Henry. Now.

She turned to ask Hook where he thought they should start their search, only to find him fingering a gold coin, bringing it to his nose and then turning it over and over in his hand.

“They hoarded all of their greatest stolen treasures in here. Piles of jewels and every room filled with coins,” he said.

She rolled her eyes. Great. She should have known bringing a freaking pirate on a treasure hunt would be a mistake. It would be like bringing a kid to a candy store and then telling him to focus.

“Let’s get to it, the compass,” she said brusquely.

He shot her a rakish grin, and totally against her will, her stomach swooped. Bad enough she was stuck on this adventure with a pirate. Why’d her body have to betray her too? Of course the real Captain Hook was hot as hell, because of course he was. That’s just the way her luck ran.

“What’s your rush?” he asked languidly, continuing to eye the treasure around him.

That snapped her out of whatever hormonal response she was having to him. She was so not in the mood for his nonsense.

“How long do you think magic knockout powder lasts?”

“I’ve no clue.”

“That’s my rush.”

He smiled at her again, this one looking less flirtatious and more genuine. Setting the gold piece back on the pile, he strode forward with purpose. “Too right, lass. Come; everything we need is right in front of us.”

They hadn’t been searching for ten minutes before Emma’s frustration bubbled up again. Not only was this stupid giant’s treasure room filled to capacity, it was also a total wreck. This search was going to last forever.

“They kill all the giant housekeepers too?” she asked. “Where we gonna find a compass in all this mess?”

He winked at her, and her traitor of a stomach swooped again.

“By looking. Start searching.”

For an hour they searched in silence, and Emma had to give it to Hook. He really was a help in this endeavor. He was systematic in his search, picking a pile of junk, looking through each item, and then stacking it neatly before moving on to his next pile.

His presence was unsettling, though. It was…too much. He made her feel things, and not just the typical “wow, this guy is hot and I’m not gonna lie; I want to do something about it” feelings. Those she could handle. What she couldn’t handle was this totally illogical feeling that they understood each other, that in some weird way they were the same.

She’d been burned before when she succumbed to feelings. She wasn’t doing it again. Once burned twice shy and all that.

Emma groaned softly under her breath. She wasn’t doing this–not the feelings, not the thinking, not even the never-to-be-resolved sexual tension. She was up here for one reason and one reason only: to find the damn compass and get back to her kid.

Probably best if she put some distance between her and Hook. Moving to the other side of the room, Emma, began sifting through a dusty pile of what appeared to be decorations–candles, brightly colored bows, streamers, and in the back–was that a Christmas tree?

“You guys have Christmas here in the Enchanted Forest?” Emma called over to Hook.

He stopped what he was doing and ambled over in her direction. “Of course we have Christmas, Swan.” She could hear the smile in his voice. It made him seem younger somehow, more innocent. “Some of my best memories as a lad involve Christmas morning.”

“Yeah well our giant seemed to go all out for it,” Emma said. “Take a look at that tree! I didn’t even know they grew them that tall.”

He looked in the direction she was pointing, and then his expression changed to one of concern. “Swan be careful! Look out for–”

He reached her side, and she suddenly heard a sound like the tinkling of bells. A fine mist of dust smelling faintly of evergreen settled over both of them.

“–mistletoe,” he finished dryly.

Emma looked up to see that, of course, there was a healthy sprig of the stupid weed directly above her and Hook. She rolled her eyes, moving to brush past him.

“Well, shall we get this over with then?” he asked.

She scoffed. “Good try Hook, but I didn’t come up here to make out with a hot pirate.”

His grin turned wicked. “A hot pirate, am I?”

She felt her face flame in spite of herself. What was it about this man that made her feel like a teenager with a crush?

“You know what you look like,” she said, giving him a wide berth and moving on to the next pile. “I’m not stroking your ego…or any other part of you.”

She expected another round of innuendo, but instead, he stepped in front of her, stopping her searching with a hand to her arm and a concerned look on his face. “You can’t seriously be thinking of ignoring what just happened. You know full well that mistletoe can’t be ignored.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, hands going to her hips.

“Don’t tell me you don’t have mistletoe in the Land Without Magic!”

She growled. “Yeah, obviously we do. Stupid weed and even stupider tradition.”

“It’s far more than a tradition in this land, Swan,” he said. “It’s a deadly poison. The couple who is caught below it’s tendrils is cursed, the only antidote being a kiss.”

“Seriously?” she asked, feeling her ire growing. They had a job to do and all he wanted to do was hit on her. It was getting old. Really, really old.

“No one born and bred in the Enchanted Forest would joke about mistletoe,” he insisted. She had to give it to him; she couldn’t detect a single lie in what he was saying. He really believed this crap.

“Okay, fine, I’ll bite,” she said, “what exactly happens to a couple if they refuse to kiss?”

“They slowly go completely mad,” he said simply. “Most infirmaries in this land have an entire ward dedicated to mistletoe poisoning.”

Now that he mentioned it….she did have this strange urge to kiss him. What would it be like? Would he be a good kisser? He looked like he’d be a good kisser. For a moment Emma was tempted to give in, to find out the answer to those questions for herself.

But then reality reasserted itself. She’d only given them ten hours before Mulan would cut down the beanstalk and strand them up here forever. Turning away, she began searching again.

“Look, I don’t know if that mistletoe poison story works on other women,” Emma said, “but I’m not falling for it, and I’m not wasting anymore of our time on this stupid conversation. And if you even think about trying to steal a kiss–”

He stepped in front of her, looking absolutely sincere. “Swan, I’ve never once forced my attentions upon a woman, and I don’t intend to start now. I simply warn you that the longer we delay the inevitable, the more uncomfortable we’ll both become.”

“Yeah, well I’ll take my chances.”

Within a quarter of an hour, Emma was starting to rethink her stance. His story about mistletoe poison was ridiculous, of course it was, but she had to admit–whether it was due to the power of suggestion or something else–her urge to kiss him hadn’t gone away.

If anything it had grown.

Her heart began pounding, her palms becoming sweaty, her breathing fast and shallow. More than once she considered just doing it, just getting it out of her system once and for all, but something stopped her.

She knew, could feel it deep within her soul that a kiss with Hook would be no simple matter. She’d kissed–and done far more with–several hot guys in her life, and it had never been more than a quick scratch of an itch, but she was drawn to Hook, almost as though he were a black hole and she was approaching the event horizon. A kiss would change everything, and she didn’t know if she’d be able to come back from it.

Emma took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She would not lose control; she would not give in. Best she focus all her energy on the search.

Of course that would have been a lot easier if Hook wasn’t searching right beside her.

“Did you know that there is one more tradition regarding mistletoe?” Hook asked, his voice tight as though he were gritting his teeth.

“Yeah? What’s that?” she asked in spite of herself.

“Oftentimes couples seek it out in order to determine if they are soulmates,” he continued.

“Soulmates? Really?”

“Aye,” he nodded before turning back to his pile of junk. “It’s said that if two people are soulmates, when they kiss under the influence of mistletoe poison they get a glimpse of their future and then promptly forget it–any of it–ever happened.”

“Convenient,” she deadpanned.

He looked as though he wanted to say more but resolutely shut his mouth, and the two of them returned to the task at hand.

After half an hour, the desire to kiss him had gone from uncomfortable to almost painful. After an hour it was close to unbearable. After Emma caught herself standing stalk still and imagining a full on makeout session with Hook, she finally gave up.

She was wasting precious time that they didn’t have. Maybe he was right after all. Maybe they needed to just get this stupid kiss out of the way so they could get on with their search. Hardly believing what she was about to do, she walked purposely toward Hook and tapped him on the shoulder.

When he turned toward her, she stood on tiptoe and kissed the living hell out of him. It was obvious she’d shocked him by the way he stiffened as her lips made contact.

But he recovered quickly, and soon he was kissing her back just as fervently as she was kissing him.

She’d meant it to be a quick peck, just a way to disperse the “poison”, but once she started kissing him, she couldn’t stop, tugging on his collar, running a hand through his hair, turning her head to deepen the kiss. When the kiss started to slow, to turn into something soft and gentle and thorough, rather than quick and hot, Emma finally forced herself to pull away.

She looked into his thoroughly gobsmacked eyes, and suddenly her vision blurred. In her mind’s eye she saw herself. She was wearing a white dress, her hair in soft waves around her shoulders. She was in some sort of castle’s great room or something.

It looked like Mary Margaret was about to put a crown on Regina’s head.

What the hell?

Emma looked more closely at the scene, and her heart began to pound. She wasn’t alone. She held a baby in her arms and beside her stood Hook. He had his arm around her, and he peered down at the baby with such love it brought tears to her eyes.

Emma gasped, coming out of the trance or whatever that was to find herself once more looking at Hook in the giant’s treasure room. Suddenly there was a burst of light, like some sort of rainbow tinted shockwave, and she shook her head as the memories quickly fled.

She shook her head, looking around them. Had something just happened?

Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath, realizing the almost unbearable urge to kiss Hook had finally gone away.

She scoffed. Mistletoe poison her ass. She should have known Hook was just trying to get into her pants.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Killian watched as Emma went back to searching with renewed vigor, but for a long moment he found himself rooted to the spot. The fact that he and Emma had been caught under the mistletoe was indisputable and yet his desire to kiss her was no greater than the normal pull of a hot-blooded man to a beautiful woman.

It could mean only one thing.

They’d succumbed to the mistletoe and been proven soulmates.

“Hook get your ass in gear!” she growled at him. “This stupid room isn’t going to search itself!”

Killian shook his head and went back to the task at hand. This was quite the development. Maybe–maybe after his revenge was accomplished, there was hope for a life after all.

NEXT CHAPTER-->

#cs ff #captain swan fanfiction #christmas reruns 2022 #my fanfiction

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silverstar15 · 2 years

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I posted 14,199 times in 2022

22 posts created (0%)

14,177 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@celestial-citrus

@shenzi-hemlock

@bluebellwren

@/insomniarama

@/avesblues2

I tagged 7,893 of my posts in 2022

Only 44% of my posts had no tags

#a dyad in the queue - 2,520 posts

#art - 1,067 posts

#star wars - 1,003 posts

#queue looks like starlight - 873 posts

#asoiaf - 608 posts

#rwby - 540 posts

#bnha - 287 posts

#arya stark - 245 posts

#lotr - 241 posts

#stranger things - 230 posts

Longest Tag: 116 characters

#the morally had the right idea but executed it in such a horrific way that you don’t want to outright side with them

My Top Posts in 2022:

Freeze! ✧ ─=≡Σ((( つ•̀ω•́)つ You’re under arrest for being so lovely. Copy this message to 10 other blogs that you think are beautiful and deserve it. Keep the game going and make others feel beautiful!

Thank you !!!

2 notes - Posted June 11, 2022

For the ask game, I see Ben Solo on my dash and I know it's you lollll

lol that sounds right

2 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

What's your favorite star wars movie? I've realized I don't know and if I really had to guess maybe The Force Awakens or Rogue One...?

Actually it’s The Last Jedi!

I did really like both tfa and rogue one when i first saw them. but when i saw tlj i really got hooked into sw as a whole. i could gush about that movie all day 🤍

What’re your faves?

4 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

ok what kind of farm do you want? animals or lots of fruits and veggies?

Ok so I’m more inclined towards having a garden but while doing my research and with how crazy expensive food is atm I would definitely have chickens, goats, and honey bees with working dogs and barn cats. Having other animals like cows, guineas, and turkeys would be awesome but that would depend on the size of the farm itself.

Lol I started rambling but yeah growing fruit/veggies would be priority.

How about you?

4 notes - Posted February 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Comfort Things

Tagged by @/callthedarknessdown <3

Comfort Movie(s): Whisper of the Heart, Pride and Prejudice (2005), La Belle et la Bête (2014), Emma (2020), Matilda, & The Dark Crystal,

Comfort Food(s): Pineapple fried rice, chili beans, chocolate malt, fried apples, strawberry pie, & homemade mac n cheese.

Comfort Clothing(s): Lol any of my sweat pants / old t-shirts combo's

Comfort Song(s): Right now its the ENTIRE soundtrack in belle (2021) 😭

Comfort Book(s): Howl's moving castle by Diana Wynne Jones, The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, & The Chronicles of Narnia Series by C.S. Lewis

Comfort Game(s): TES: Oblivion, The Sims 2, Stardew Valley, Portal 2, & Fallout 3.

tagging (if you want!): @/skynapple, @/celestial-citrus, @/bluebellwren, @/celinou, @/shenzi-hemlock, @/fairytale-lights, and anyone else who wants to do this

15 notes - Posted September 26, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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thefunniestguy · 2 years

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ohh uhm,,, got any thoughts about tpn in general? Like I said I’ve only seen s1 of the anime but I’d love to her ear thoughts about any part of it if you have some!

OUUUH i have so many thoughts ,,, ALSO thank you for sending this in , youre so great /gen /p

(also sorry for typos , my brain and hands r not connecting /hj /lh)

I think i’ve said this before , but ,, in all honesty , season 1 of the anime is probably the best TPN was , both in regards to the anime and the manga . i don’t know if i even have the words to explain whyy i love the first season so much , but i’ll sure as heck try :]c

I think ,,, aside from loving the style , aside from the pretty backgrounds , and aside from the soundtrack that i listened to on repeat during the pandemic bc i had to have background music without words but i’m too picky for most instrumentals-- AHEM -- i think the tone set was INCREDIBLE . and soooo very well done

All the elements of that first season came together to form ,,, mostly , one tone , that fluctuated a bit . “helplessness” mixing with “determination” . AND with each fluctuation in tone , when you think about it , it was undoubtedly the intention -- but the fact that they pulled if off so well ,,, is incredible. For example , the determination when the fullscore trio did their plans to help norman escape -- versus the utter hopelessness it makes YOU feel (alongside the characters) when norman becomes aware of the pit between the wall and the forest. That moment -- the expressions, reactions, words and lack thereof -- sort of emmerse you, and make you put yourself in the shoes of those kids. 11 years old, being farmed like animals, their plans of escape crumbling right in front of them , being completely unable to help their best friend escape what had to be certain death !!!

ALSO IN GENERAL ,,,, i really love the characters relationships with each other . manga-only characters included , it's just all neat and imo thoroughly thought into . be it norman's admiration for emma , or emma's ability to rely on phil , or yuugo's relationship with the little kids!!!!! it's all primarily sweet , and i adore the familial aspects of it all !!!!

It’s been a while since i’ve read the manga ,, i think i started to catch up in 2019, and read it practically religiously until it completed in 2020 ,, i’m also not fresh on season 2 , since that was released in 2021 , but i also watched that practically religiously (despite wearing a “?????” expression for the majority of it /lh) . I think ,,,, from what i remember , the manga was good up until ??? like, chapter 110, something like that. The Goldy Pond arc was great !!!!! The characters are all really well written ,,,, despite there being like , well over 30 characters overall , they each have good , distinct personalities !!! Goldy Pond, and up until the death of several bigger supporting characters, it was all really well-written, well-executed, etc!!! I think ,,, in my opinion, the death of the two father figures, was ,,,, unnecessary , and used to ,,, i don’t even know . used to make the reader feel emotions ?? i don’t remember clearly , like i said , but i think i recall having this opinion from the moment i read their deaths. Which YEAH it was sad, i cried, and there’s even a scene directly afterward that was (putting the rushed and unnecessary) deaths aside really really good . but , after that ,,,, i think i felt the writing was ?? ,, not executed well ,,, ? the plot is overall super interesting, and ultimately i can’t recall exactly how some things were executed, but i disliked the execution. ESPECAILLY imo of the very end. It felt like ,,, it wasn’t thought-through, and made sort of ,,, reaches ?? to make us feel sad , and to give us a more bittersweet-leaning-bitter ending… ?? which i’m all for bittersweet endings , but just ,,,,,, it could have been done so much better , and even with a completely different plot , and still kept the bittersweetness ,,

#i also feel strongly about yuugo's character . and emmas normans and ray's character development #GOSH do i feel strongly about their character development ...#FLYNN NEEDS TO WATCH THE LIVE MOVIE WITH ME .... i need to watch it but god knows i don't know if i can do it alone without exploding into #a million tiny pieces of thoughts and opinions HAHAH /j /lh

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yesterdayiwrote · 2 years

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Yo Emma thank you for writing down exactly my thoughts on Ferrari, Carlos and Charles! I know everyone speaks highly of Charles and takes him into high consideration (see Vettel too etc) and he IS a great clean driver that is also a great pole maker… but… I don’t know. There is something that feels is missing too for him to be WDC material tbh. While this is bit silly discourse, because given a car like say, the 2020 Mercedes, many mid drivers would probably manage to win a WDC or at least compete to get it, I still feel there is something about Charles that makes me believe he’s still no ready to get one. For now, at least. Not even mentioning Carlos because, sorry, but Carlos is like Checo to me, and that means nr2 driver. We’re probably gonna get cooked for this take by Charles and Carlos fans but unless time and the car itself prove us wrong… yeah, that is how I feel. And Ferrari has still a long way to go even after dropping Mattia and Rueda and getting Fred, tbh.

I think Charles still makes a lot of silly mistakes. Not always of his own making entirely but still a fair amount. And sure most drivers make silly mistakes from time to time even the best still do, but he’s had quite a few hefty practice crashes and that’s never great for a team.

Carlos has made some good career moves. He seems pretty reliable as a driver but… idk I feel like as he gets older more and more people are writing off his chance of being a WDC.

Statistically most of these drivers will never be WDC’s, especially these days where teams dominate for so long and stick with the same driver pairings too. There’s only been 5 different WDCs in the last 15 Drivers Championships… Think how many different drivers there’s been in that time! Even drivers I love who I want to see get WDC’s or the ones who feel like they should be future Champions, I’m more and more feeling like it just might never happen due to circumstances

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bettycanavosio · 2 years

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i just think frankie needs a girlfriend who’ll watch period dramas with her

#i volunteer as tribute !!!!!!!!#yeah i’m thinking about emma (2020)#but there’s a little women (1949)#and pride and prejudice (1940)#couldn’t tell you if they’re any good i’ll update #it is a movie day today 🕺🏻#francesca scaletta #s

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sleepyowlwrites · 2 years

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find the word tag CCCLI

your complimentary music rec is Icarus by Emma Blackery. @diphthongsfordays

still (meta-portal rewrite)

"yeah I'm actually probably in trouble now," Kevin laughs nervously, close to falling off his own chair because he's still squirming around.

Sunwoo pushes him off the edge and Jisung asks, "why are you in trouble?"

"well, Chanhee hired me to kill Eric but since I'm not gonna do that, I figure he might wanna kill me when he figures that out. but it's okay. I've been in this kind of spot before. I'll manage." Kevin smiles shakily at Eric.

our little prince peeks around Sunwoo and says, "aw, man, of course you don't have to kill me if you don't want to," because he doesn't have a lot of brains but he's got the spirit.

Sunwoo pinches his arm. "that is an assassin!"

proud (city story)

“You know,” Jet says more normally, “There are plenty of things worth getting angry about.”

“Yes,” Copper says, firm again, “but not about whether or not you have feelings. Of course you do, you’re human. So just feel them and get on with your life.”

“Easier said than done.” Jet lets go of Copper’s hands and gathers up the mugs, standing. “That’s a lot of work.”

Copper pushes himself up and wraps his arms around Jet, who is slightly helpless since his hands are full. “Yes. It is. And it never stops. We’re always working on ourselves. And you’ve already started, I think. And I’m proud of you for that.”

floor (good friend, 2022)

This is the fourth day in a row. Kim is sprawled on the floor, his guitar in its case beside him, music sheets spread out around him, and a bowl of pear slices perched on his knee. Kinn pauses in his work to exchange meaningful glances with Tankhun, but then the eldest just sticks his chin out in a very clear gesture of “you deal with this” before leaving to do whatever he does all day. Arm and Pol follow him dutifully, and, in a rather blatant display of “has spent far too much time around Tankhun,” Pol actually gives him two thumbs up before closing the door behind him.

Kinn wants to be mad about the informality of it, but today already doesn’t make sense, so why have some silent encouragement from a bodyguard he never speaks to otherwise?

“I don’t have anything to say,” Kim says in the ensuing silence.

strong (the sleepy stash, 2020)

Look inside again, look deeper still Where flowers bloom on staircase rails Where curtains draw at break of dawn Where hands are fixed and faces drawn My house was burning But my home stands strong

inside, outside, upside-down, rightside-up? BONUS: young, yearn. @did-i-do-this-write @zoya-writes @nikkywrites @poore-choice-of-words @enchanted-lightning-aes OR ANYBODY

#find the word tag #searching circle

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randomoranges · 2 years

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heeeyyyy

remember when i wrote things?

i got this silly little idea while on vacay and thinking back to the awks moments betwn the new friendship and the “oh ok were getting back together cool” stage. this takes place during that time étienne visits ed in 2019 from @quatschmachen arc and then a cute little post 2020/20xx bit bcs why not lol

im so rusty lamao hello

also this is strictly from ets pov so like who knows what ed is thinking lol

Paint Speckled Hands

August 2019

Étienne’s busy sending Emma a message, when he feels a weight on his right hand. It’s warm and presses down on the top of his hand, before his pinky is being lifted.

He puts his phone down in time to notice Edward carefully examining his hand, as if suddenly fascinated by it. Étienne has little to no idea what has just taken over his friend and his initial reflex is to pull away, but Edward leans in closer to his space and brings his hand closer to his face.

“Pray do tell, what exactly are you doing?” He manages to ask, surprised he hasn’t yanked his hand back to the safety of the table, or better yet, underneath his thigh where no one can observe it. He knows what his hands look like and he has no idea what is that has caught Edward’s attention, but it’s – too much.

“Your hands,” His friend starts, a small amused type of smile gracing his features as he goes on, “They’re speckled with paint.” He states, as if the most obvious and fascinating thing in the world.

This time, Étienne does take his hand away and he carefully hides it in the confines of the other, suddenly self-conscious. “Yeah? So? It’s not as if it’s fresh paint. I’m not going to dirty your walls or your furniture.”

It comes out a little harsher than he would have liked, but he feels a little unsure and unmoored by Edward’s comment and action. It’s – not as if Edward doesn’t know of his painting hobby. Edward might be one of the few people who knows about his painting hobby, but – this isn’t the same Edward who would crash at his for days on end. His friendship with Edward is new now and his friend is – more put together. Has a stable, loving relationship and is different.

Or – Étienne hasn’t really figured out where he stands with Edward and everything is tentative and new again and he doesn’t want to fuck it up. He hates it as much as he’s entirely thankful that he has this. It’s better than nothing and he dares to hope that with time, the easy friendship he’d once had with Edward would return. It doesn’t matter if Edward never wants to sleep with him ever again. He respects that. Respects the fact that Edward moved on and he knows that with the proper time, he’ll move on as well. The friendship is what matters, but if Edward casually reaches out for his hand out of the blues to tenderly examine it, he may need a moment’s warning, is all.

“I know that, silly.” Edward says with an easy sort of grin that settles his nerves a little. He hasn’t done anything wrong (yet) and Edward isn’t mad at him (yet). “I haven’t seen them this speckled in ages, is all.” Edward grows quiet and pensive and Étienne wonders what memory has taken over his mind or what thought has unravelled itself for him to consider.

“Yeah, well, we didn’t really see each other for a while and I wasn’t really painting either.” It’s still a touch too defensive, but either Edward doesn’t pick up on it, or his friend lets it slide for now.

He doesn’t know what’s made him so self conscious about his hands, but he has an inkling it has to do with the fact that he’s kept his painting to himself for so long. (Okay, he knows it’s precisely because of that and because he doesn’t want anyone to comment or mock him for it, but he needs to remember that Edward had always known and Edward had never judged him for it. Hell, he’d gifted his friend with a painting just recently. (The fact that said painting is still up in the living room is a thought to examine later.))

“You started painting again?” Edward looks genuinely pleasantly surprised and there’s something hopeful about the expression on his face. Étienne looks away from him for a moment, conveniently ignoring the way his heart skips a beat and instead he shrugs his shoulders in a noncommittal gesture.

He doesn’t know why he’s so dodgy about his hobbies, or what prompted him to keep them so close to his heart, but somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice reminds him that Edward is his friend and Edward, despite their fallout, never judged him for the things he liked. Therefore, if they’re meant to be mending their friendship, he supposes he can offer a better answer, before Edward decides that he’s had enough of Étienne’s whatever and ends the conversation.

“I mean, yeah, on and off,” He pauses, knowing full well this answer isn’t any better, but he also doesn’t want to bore Edward with all the details. “I’ve also been doing murals, sometimes.” He’s surprised by how easily he says that and hopes he won’t come to regret it.

Edward, luckily, looks delightfully surprised by this new information and pulls the seat beside him to sit. “No way! What gives, Maisonneuve? I thought your art was a private thing no one could ever see ever.” The tease is gentle, but Étienne rolls his eyes, remembering full well the number of times he’d told Edward those very words.

“A friend asked me to help with their mural a few years back. I liked it and then got a chance to work on one. Plus, it’s not permanent. The mural either gets painted over a few years later, or time has a go of it. It’s a good compromise.” He watches for Edward’s reaction over his glasses and his friend doesn’t disappoint.

“That’s so cool! You never told me,” He scolds gently, “D’you have any pictures of the murals?”

Of course, Edward wants to see. Edward has always wanted to see his art. Étienne recalls those first few times, years and decades ago, when Edward had found one of his sketchbooks and had near demanded to see. Étienne had let him, if a little reluctantly, and Edward had been intrigued in the art, but had never been mean about it. His questions had always been honest and sincere and Étienne had never minded giving him explanations.

It’s nice to know that some things, despite everything, have not changed.

“I never told you, because it never came up, but if you give a moment, I can look on my phone.”

Edward is delighted and the distraction of looking on his phone buys him some time to calm his erratic beating heart and take a few grounding breaths. He eventually finds the photos he’s looking for and hands his phone over to Edward. He doesn’t look while his friend peruses the photos and instead takes another look at his paint speckled hands. It’s not that he’s afraid, but there’s just too much going on and he hadn’t been expecting any of this. This is both very similar to before and at the same completely new. He has no script for this and thus, finds his footing uneven.

However, once more, he shouldn’t have worried, for Edward is nothing but expressive as he looks at the photos. He has more questions than Étienne has answers to, and as they go through each documented mural, Étienne finds himself slowly relaxing, comforted by Edward’s genuine curiosity and the grounding weight of Edward’s hand on his own.

“D’you think,” Edward starts and then pauses, moments later, “You could show some of them to me? If they’re still around? Next time I’m in town?”

If Étienne didn’t know better, he would say that Edward sounds a little shy and hesitant, but Étienne’s surprise at the question takes over instead. He blinks slowly, making sure he understood correctly, before he gives a tentative nod.

Edward’s bright smile is all he needs for now.

August 20XX

Étienne’s busy sending Emma a message, when he feels a weight on his right hand. It’s warm and presses down on the top of his hand, before his pinky is being lifted.

He puts his phone down in time to notice Edward carefully examining his hand, as if suddenly fascinated by it. Étienne has little to no idea what has just taken over his boyfriend and his initial reflex is to pull away, but Edward leans in to his space and brings his hand closer to his face, pressing a gentle kiss to his knuckles.

Étienne grins and watches on ever so fond, “Pray do tell, what exactly are you doing?” He manages to ask, despite enjoying the sudden attention.

“Your hands,” His boyfriend starts, a small amused type of smile graces his features as he goes on, kissing each finger in turn, “They’re speckled with paint.” Edward says, utterly endeared, as if it’s the most normal of observations.

Étienne laughs and pulls Edward close, enjoying the warmth of his body so close to his own, “That’s usually what happens when someone paints.”

Edward links their hands together, never letting go of Étienne’s speckled hand and holds it close and closer still. “I know, and it’s a wonderful thing.”

FIN

#pc: montreal #pc: edmonton #edward murphy #étienne maisonneuve #fic #projocanondoko

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ladyblogger-margie · 3 years

Text

Jane Austen Movie Night

Pairing: Marcus Pike (The Mentalist) x GN!Reader

Summary: Hiding your feelings for your best friend Marcus Pike is difficult during your weekly movie night.

Warnings: None, just fluff.

Word Count: 1220

Prompt: “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more”

a/n: I really liked the 2020 Emma. movie and that one line makes me swoon every time, and so does Marcus Pike.

MY MASTERLIST

Marcus opened the door mere seconds after you knocked. He smiled first at you and then at the pizza box and the six-pack of beers in your hand.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he said to you and your heart fluttered. You ignored the faint heat in your cheeks and tried to push down the feelings you had for your best friend away and ignore them as you should.

You met FBI agent Marcus Pike at a gallery at random a couple of years ago. He was there for pleasure, not work for a change, and you had been there on a truly terrible first date. Your date was somehow both incredibly boring and incredibly condescending all at once. Marcus had swooped in to save you and correct the boring misinformation your date was spouting.

Thankfully, Marcus had pretended to be an old friend and your date didn’t put up too much of a fight about his presence. You and Marcus didn’t even notice your date had left until he was long gone. The two of you finished the tour together and have been friends ever since.

Since then, Marcus has grown to become one of your closest friends, actually your best friend. He was such an easy guy to be around. He liked the same movies you did, and was comfortable in casual and fancier situations.

Was it any surprise that you had fallen head over heels for a man this sweet?

Though you also knew him well enough to know he wasn’t perfect, but that’s how you knew for sure you guys were close - he let you see his flaws too.

He could be intense to a point where it was intimidating. His sincerity sometimes was so overwhelming it felt suffocating. He also carried with him some abandonment issues that led him to some jealousy and while that was understandable based on his history, it could also be taxing.

His unfortunate relationship history was the biggest reason you had never said anything to him about your feelings for him. He had told you numerous times that just how important to him your friendship was to him, how the stability of you in his life was something vital that he had grown dependent on. You couldn’t risk being another person who tore his life apart, not when being his friend was a true joy all its own.

So, there you were at your weekly movie night at Marcus’ apartment with pizza and beer and completely, silently in love with your best friend.

It was your turn to pick the movie this week and you were scrolling through one of his many streaming services looking for something interesting. You stopped over the latest adaptation of Emma.

“What do you think?” you asked him, gesturing to the screen.

“Jane Austen in pastels? Sounds delightful,” he replied as he handed you a beer.

“Perfect,” you replied, hitting play.

The movie started and you both dive headfirst into the pizza in front of you, not worrying about good manners at all.

Marcus scooped up the dipping sauce and leaned back to get comfortable.

“Hey!” you said, reaching out for the sauce.

“It’s not my fault you only picked up one sauce,” he explained, feigning innocence.

You scurried across the couch and huddled in close to him.

“Fine, I guess I’ll just have to hover and share,” you explained, actually thankful for the excuse to be near him. Your mouth was watering, and you were pretty sure it wasn’t just from the fresh pizza scent.

Marcus smiled softly at you before he said, “That’s just fine.”

You two worked through the pizza quickly, both leaning back with your second beers in hand. After finishing the pizza you didn’t both move back to your side of the couch, choosing instead to stay entangled with Marcus. It wasn’t the first time you had curled up with Marcus during movie night, but it was the first time it happened during a movie that wasn’t a horror film.

You watched the pastel colors dance across the screen, but felt your attention pulled more by the man next to you than the actors on the screen. Though you’ve read the book before, and this wasn’t the first film adaptation of it you’ve seen which helped you follow the story through your distraction.

Marcus clearly also had a familiarity with the material, he would laugh a second before the joke landed, or whisper a line alongside the actors on screen. He pulled you closer to him as he laughed, and the action seemed accidental and unconscious, but you didn’t point it out, afraid it would cause him to let you go.

As the film approached it’s romantic climax, you felt Marcus freeze around you. You couldn’t understand why.

On screen you heard Mr. Knightley say, “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more,” and Marcus brushed his thumb across the exposed flesh of your forearm and your breath caught in your chest. You realized Marcus was holding his breath as you covered his hand with yours.

“I like this movie,” you said in a whisper.

“Yeah, me too,” he replied with a breathy voice.

“Austen knew something about love, huh?” was all you could think to say.

“Mr. Knightley speaks the truth,” Marcus said, his hand travelling to your waist and turning you to face him, “It would be easier to talk about feelings if they weren’t so all consuming.”

You turned into him, bringing your gaze to meet his warm brown eyes and you felt your heart racing in your chest.

“What feelings are those?” you ask him, desperate for the answer you never let yourself wish for.

He pushed his lips against yours firmly, desperate with need and a complete lack of self-restraint.

It didn’t take you any time at all to react. You threw your leg over him and straddled his waist, wrapping your hands around his neck and grabbing fistfulls of his soft, brown hair in your hands and pulling.

He broke the kiss for a moment to just look at you and positively beamed at him.

“I’m sorry, we don’t-” he started to say, but you cut him off with a kiss.

“Marcus,” you said, pulling away, “Trust me, I want this.”

He smiled at you like a man seeing the stars for the first time and pulled you back to him for another kiss. He gripped your hips so tightly it locked you in place, but that was fine by you - there was nowhere else in the world you’d rather be than sitting in his lap and kissing Marcus Pike.

The movie ended in the background, but neither of you paid any attention. Instead you spent the rest of the night holding each other, kissing, and just smiling uncontrollably.

When you started to yawn, Marcus offered you some clean, cozy pyjamas and offered to bunk out on the couch so you could take his bed.

“I don’t want to assume anything,” he said, ever the gentleman.

“Come to bed with me, Marcus,” you said, leading him to his bedroom.

Falling asleep in his arms was better than anything you could have ever imagined, and you knew it wouldn’t be the last time you spent a night like this.

Birthday Challenge Masterlist

Tags: @autumnleaves1991-blog

#marcus pike #marcus pike x gn!reader #the mentalist #pedro pascal #birthday challenge

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raysofcrosby · 3 years

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Can we maybe get a sneak peak of the next chapter????

of course 🥰💛

“No, that’s not how that works,” she laughed, shaking her head. “And Moira didn’t tell me not to date, she just...she suggested that maybe before pursuing anything with anyone, that I should take the time to really try and understand why I did what I did in the terms of why I broke up with you and then chose to date when I wasn’t ready.”

“Hm, okay,” Matt nodded, crossing his arms.

“Okay?” She asked, turning towards him and holding the blankets closer to her chest. “That’s it? Just...okay?”

“Yeah? I mean, I’m not going to tell you or ask you to ruin whatever progress you’ve made since you started seeing your therapist, just because I want us to be together officially.” He shrugged, reaching out and tucking some hair behind her left ear. “So, I’ll just wait and whenever you’re ready to make it official, all you have to do is say so and I’m down.”

“I don’t…” she spoke softly as she furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head slightly. “I can’t ask you to do that, Matt. I don’t know how long it’ll take and–”

“Good thing you don’t have to,” he smiled, cradling her face with both of his hands. “And I’m willing to wait for however long it takes, because I want you. Just like I told you…it’s always been you I want my future with. Nobody else.”

Caroline nodded, looking at him. “I promise I’ll try my best to figure it all out so you don’t have to wait long.”

“Don’t rush it, Care,” he said, leaning in and kissing her before resting his forehead against hers and looking at her. “Take care of yourself first, put yourself first. I’ve got E, we’ve got our parents to help if there’s anything serious and you’ve got E and me if you ever need anything. Just, take your time and do what you need to do because I’m not going anywhere.”

She reached up and cupped the right side of his face, leaning in and kissing him, pushing herself into him and lying him back against the bed. Her left hand dropped the comforter and moved to the left side of his head as she straddled over him, deepening the kiss.

Matt started to laugh once she started to kiss down his jaw, leaning his head away and looking at her. “Now who’s the insatiable one?”

Caroline rolled her eyes, resting her forearms on his chest and propping her chin down on top of them. “Can you blame me? Not only have you given me the best sex since well, since 2015, but you’re being sweet and saying all these things.” She reached up, brushing her thumb beneath his eye, wiping away an eyelash and holding it up between them, smiling. “Make a wish.”

Matt sat up, his right arm wrapped around her waist as he closed his eyes for a few moments before opening them and blowing the eyelash off of her thumb. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I wished for, Miss nosey?” He mumbled, leaning into her palm as she cupped the left side of his face again.

She shook her head, a small smile on her face. “I think I’ve already got a good idea.” She leaned in, kissing him again, and again, and again until she felt out of breath and needed to pull away. “We should probably get ready.”

“What time is it?” He asked, pressing his lips against hers again.

She leaned over and reached for his phone since it was closer and tapped the screen, Matt’s background lighting up to show a picture of the three of them from Matt and Ethan’s birthday when they were at Brady’s game. It was when their entire family group went down to the ice for warm ups– which is most likely how Matt had even been spotted by the media in the first place– and Keith had told the three of them to turn around so he could take a picture. Ethan had yet to get his nachos, but had finessed Andrew out of buying him a bag of cotton candy, so he was trying to hide the bag behind him as he smiled, leaning back against Matt and Caroline who were both leaned in towards Ethan and against the glass, smiling too. She remembered this moment, because not even a single second after they took the picture, Brady had shot a puck at the glass, breaking up the peaceful moment and laughing about it soon after.

“6:45,” she said, turning the phone towards him. “Since when has this been your background?”

He held his hand over hers, never taking the phone from her as he laughed. “Since we took it,” he replied, shrugging. “Better than the one of me, Johnny and Gio at the All-Star game last year.”

“Speaking of,” she replied, putting the phone down onto the side table. “Are you sad you missed out on that? I know that's the first one you’ve missed since 2020.”

“Oh you do, hm?” He smiled, fanning his fingers over her hips. “But no, it’s fine. There’s always next year,” he shrugged. “Besides, it’ll be more fun next year than any of the last ones.”

“Why?” She asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Because I’ll get to bring E with me, like how my Dad would bring Brady and I when we were younger and then Taryn when she was old enough. Don’t you remember how fun it was when you went that one year? What was it? 2004?”

“Mhhm, I also remember you and Brady leaving me behind in the hallway because you saw Mark Messier and you grabbed Brady’s hand and Brady couldn’t grab mine because you were dragging him off and your Mom thought I was with you cause she saw you guys running off, so she tried to catch up.” She laughed, looking down at him. “I had no idea who any of those people were, so I just stood there crying in the hallway because you guys left, I didn’t know where your Dad was and I was six.”

“What?” Matt laughed, shaking his head. “Nuh uh, that’s not what happened.”

“That’s exactly what happened,” she replied, nodding. “You guys left me, and the only reason why anyone knew where to take me was because some player saw that I had the Tkachuk all-star game jersey on and took me to where your Dad was.”

“Oh shit,” Matt laughed, leaning his head back. “I do remember that! Because Mom asked where you were when we were getting ready to take the picture and then right after Mom took our picture, we went back to the locker room and you were sitting in Marleau’s locker and he and his wife were comforting you because Dad had to do an interview.” Matt’s laughter faded out as he sighed. “Yeah, I remember getting the disappointed look for that one. But sorry, it was Mark Messier.”

She rolled her eyes, taking a deep breath and exhaling. “Yeah, yeah, well whatever you do, don’t lose our kid please.”

“What? You’re not coming too? Chaperone and take pictures? See me in all of my all-star glory?” He frowned, sticking out his bottom lip.

“Oh...I mean, if you want me to go, I will.” She replied, shrugging. “I didn’t think you’d want me to, considering who knows what our relationship will be by then. We could still be just friends.”

“I don’t care about that,” he replied, shaking his head. “I want you and Ethan there. Plus, Emma will probably be there too so you’ll have a friend. Not to mention my parents will probably want to go...but I just really want you and Ethan there.”

Caroline laid down against him, wrapping her arms around his neck and feeling the cool fabric of the pillow against them as she closed her eyes and kissed him softly. Matt exhaled as his arms wrapped around her, holding her against them before they pulled apart, Caroline resting the right side of her face against his chest, hearing his heart beat against it and Matt pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“We really should get ready,” she replied, her fingers playing with the nape of his neck. “There’s no telling when Ethan will wake up and try to come wandering in here.”

“Also speaking of Ethan...when should we tell him that we’re...thinking about this? Or should we keep it on the downlow until we’re even sure anything is going to happen?” Matt asked, reaching behind her and taking the blankets off of them, their naked bodies exposed to the room temperature.

“Maybe we should wait,” she said, kissing him one more time before pushing herself off of him and getting out of bed, turning around and grabbing his hands to pull him out of bed. “That way he’s not constantly badgering about it.”

“Mhhm,” Matt replied, getting out of bed and wrapping his arms around her again just as she turned around and placed his chin in the crook of her shoulder. “Because then you know what comes next? Him badgering about when we’re getting married, when we’re going to have another baby and on and on and on,” he said, blowing a raspberry into her neck, causing her to try and wiggle away from him.

“Sh, don’t make any excess noise, we don’t even know if he’s asleep,” she replied, lightly smacking his arm as they both walked into the bathroom.

Caroline walked ahead towards the shower while Matt closed the sliding bathroom door, locking it in case Ethan happened to make his way through the locked bedroom door. He walked back towards her, just as she set down their towels before opening the glass door and he followed her into the shower. He closed the door behind him and hung back towards the back of the shower, smiling to himself as he watched Caroline keep her back towards him as she reached forward to feel the temperature of the water, bringing her hand back towards her and hugging herself as she turned around, a sheepish smile on her face.

“It’s a little cold,” she laughed, walking towards him. “Guess we should’ve waited a little longer.”

Matt opened his arms, still smiling. “I’m willing to keep you for until it warms up. A burden I’m willing to sacrifice that.”

She rolled her eyes, walking into his arms and wrapping hers around his waist as she propped her chin up onto his chest, looking up at him. “Is it possible for me to already miss you when you haven’t even left yet?” She whispered, a frown on her face.

He brought his hands up to the sides of her face, brushing his thumbs along her cheekbones, nodding. “Yeah,” his Adam’s apple bobbed as he tried not to think about how his days back in Calgary would differs so much from his routine the last six months. “It’s definitely possible.”

#anon #answered #wltay

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suchdeceitfullnessandsuavity · 4 years

Text

Thoughts on The Prom! (SPOILERS)

I present the thoughts that popped into my head as I was watching The Prom.

Let's go:

- I like it!

- James Corden as Barry isn't as offensive as I thought it would be based on what I had read previously, it was still uncomfy though. I do think that there are plenty of gay actors who could have done this role just as well and who are just as well known as James Corden.

- MERYL STREEP.

- I read a post earlier where someone pointed out that it looks very questionable that a bunch of white people turn up in a racially diverse area and to try and educate the local population. I don't think this is what they were going for intentionally for but yeah I did see it.

- MERYL STREEP.

- Keegan-Michael Key has a great voice.

- Jo Ellen Pellman (Emma) also has a lovely voice.

- I would have liked some better Fosse dancing for a Fosse number - loved it anyway though!

- Barry giving a speech about his struggle as a gay man is kind of uncomfy coming from a straight man who (as far as I'm aware) hasn't experienced anything like that.

- Let's not talk about James Corden's accent.

- When You're Alyssa Greene is a 10.

- NO I DID NOT WANT THAT TO HAPPEN. FIX. IT. PLEASE.

- Love Thy Neighbour was a tonic I didn't know I needed.

- Barry's song would mean more if James Corden was LGBT+

- Baso a summary of the whole Barry storyline: it would mean more if James Corden was LGBT+, and in a story about gay acceptance it would be preferable to have LGBT+ actors playing LGBT+ roles. That being said, we see it all the time in shows like Gentleman Jack (which seems different somehow in my brain, idk why).

Overall summary:

I mean, I loved it! It is a flawed film in many aspects (as most films are) but it was a feel-good film and I needed it in 2020. I really enjoyed the performances by Keegan-Michael Key, Arianna DeBose, Jo Ellen Pellman, and, of course Andrew Rannells and MERYL. I recommend watching it if you need some classic Broadway fun!

#the prom #the prom spoilers #the prom movie #prom netflix #meryl streep #James corden #Andrew rannells #keegan michael key #Arianna deBose #LGBT+#musical theatre #Nicole kidman #kerry washington

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just-like-playing-tag · 4 years

Note

omg i haven't watched the first episode of the new season yet but it looks like it ends with emma being rescued by mujika??? that seems like, kinda crazy to be in the first episode so i'm wondering what your thoughts are on pacing and what you think the rest of the season will look like, bc now i'm wondering if they're trying to end the anime with this season which would really surprise me.

Yeah the episode ends that way indeed!!! If you find the time you should really give it a watch honey, it was a very entertaining first episode!!! And seeing Musica animated was a blessing :DD

Don't forget to let me know if you liked it if you do!!!

I do agree, it was crazy to have Musica already in the first episode. Until the very last moment before the anime came out, I thought we wouldn't have seen bunkerman this season. In that scenario, the whole season would have been solely about the kids' adventures in the promised forest; yet here goes most of that arc, and just with the first episode!! What had me believe we wouldn't have been seeing bunkerman is the fact that his VA hadn't been announced (and hasn't yet)- which seemed extremely odd to me, but maybe that's just how anime works? I'm not used to watching anime as they come out, so it might just be a common thing I'm not used to.

In any case, the pacing of the first episode was so fast!! It kinda caught me by surprise- or at least I was hoping real hard they wouldn't have gone for that ¯\_(╥﹏╥)_/¯

You see, what I'm personally looking for from the anime is more children content: give me all the younger children filler episodes; give me Ray adapting to a life he never thought he would have lasted long enough to live; give me Emma's interior conflict born from killing other living beings; give me all the Gilda and Don content!!! That's my personal preference. Then, to see that many chapters fly by just like that was... Kinda underwhelming I guess. The thing is, I do get it in a way? A lot of anime onlys have excitedly awaited for the new season to come out; Having the pace slowed down with wholesome children scenes probably isn't what most people were hoping for... That's why - though I personally despise it - I eventually came to the conclusion that cutting the snakes of Alvapinera scene made sense: we already had a debatably boring first ten minutes, with the focus on the children adapting to the forest and deciding their next moves; even with that not being my personal preference, I understand the choice of the creative team to keep vivid the action rather than slowing it down with the snakes scene, which gave, although ultimately deadly, a calm and apparently safe place that gave the children a break from the dangers of the surface. I can only say that I'm hopeful they won't keep rushing things in the next episodes as well: the last arcs of the manga were already hella rushed, please don't give us a rushed anime as well. I'd much rather have more filler episodes than several arcs packed in eleven episodes, even at the cost to wait another year to get to Goldy Pond (╥﹏╥)

Ok now to the hot matter: how much of the manga is the second season going to cover. I've spent the last two days trying to put down, considering the pacing of the first episode, what the next ten episodes will cover; this is what I came up with:

I initially didn't intend to post this so it's probably not very easy to read; to summarize, here is the chapters that I'm guessing the various episodes are going to cover:

Episode 1: chapters 38-45

Episode 2: chapters 46-52

Episode 3: chapters 53-60

Episode 4: chapters 61-64

Episode 5: chapters 65-68

Episode 6: chapters 69-73

Episode 7: chapters 74-73

Episode 8, 9: chapters 77-86

Episode 10: chapters 87-82

Episode 11: chapters 93-95 OR 93-97

As you can see, based on the first episode, I'd say the second season will end either with the destruction of GP or with the children getting ready to go search for Cuvitidala.

Now, this is more or less what the second season of the anime will cover if 1) as I said, it will maintain a constant pace to what was shown in the first episode and 2) it will follow the manga as it did in the first season.

It's impossible to tell for sure if the anime will mantain the same pace through the whole thing. But, about the second point, I'm pretty sure the anime won't follow that much the manga storyline as it did for the first season? In the interviews they've repeatedly stated this season will contain more changes; Shirai is listed in doing series composition in the credits (differently from the first season, where he was only credited as author of the source material), and we know Demizu has collaborated to create new designs for the anime. For how I'm interpreting things, even though the first episode strictly followed the course of the manga, in the next episodes the plot is likely to take an entirely different route. The plot course might change, for example, after the kids have separated from Musica and Sonju, or when Emma, Ray and bunkerman are leaving the shelter. I think there's a lot of openings for them to intervene with changes.

Do I think this is going to be the last season? Mmh, I find it unlikely. The audience, and especially the Japanese audience, loves Norman, and since I predict him not having much space in this season, he will probably come back to be a main character in the next ones. Besides, The Promised Neverland is ranked as being the 10th Best-Selling Media Franchise in Japan for 2020, so they'll probably (hopefully) want to keep it going as long as they can.

#tpn #the promised neverland #tpn s2 #tpn manga spoilers #people asks me stuff #mine #Thank you for asking!!#Sorry for the late answer but this gave me a lot to think ahah #Anyway had to make it before the new episode so I can be proved wrong completely lmao

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sincerelyqueers · 3 years

Text

Media Review - Shiva Baby (2020, U.S./Canada)

Shiva Baby is a 2020 comedy film, a U.S. and Canada co-production, directed by Emma Seligman. Wikipedia’s summary reads, “The film stars Danielle, a directionless young bisexual Jewish woman who attends a shiva with her family. Other attendees include her successful ex-girlfriend Maya, and her sugar daddy Max with his wife Kim and their screaming baby.”

Note: this conversation contains spoilers for the entire movie.

Mirrored from our Wordpress site.

OK, so I was the one that suggested this movie, since I thought it’d be nice to do something that was more Myriam’s wheelhouse after doing that very Taiwanese movie last time. They were Ashkenazi Jewish folks, but, hey, the director was bisexual! Close enough, right?

…And now I’m not sure if I should apologize for that assumption or not LOL.

Myriam

HA well, I have been searching for a Sephardi movie for so long and I’ve decided that it simply does not exist. So, yes, close enough!

LOL Well, the question is: did you enjoy this movie? Especially taking into consideration how much joint screaming we did while watching it, ahahaha.

Myriam

Well, haha! Good question. No.

Let me explain LOL! I enjoyed the sentiment, but, the whole thing just felt like an elaborate joke where you were like “yeah, this is what’s going to happen. this thing that makes sense.” Then she follows max into the bathroom and… chaos ensues.

We’re already jumping to Max-in-the-bathroom shenanigans? LOL

Myriam

You make a good point, we should start at the beginning. Max in the bedroom.

(Caption: Danielle and Max, her sugar daddy, in an apartment in Soho that she later learns is actually owned by Max’s wife. Yikes.)

My first notes were, “Why does this sex scene sound so fake?”

Is Max a bad lay? Did she have to fake her orgasm? Discuss.

Myriam

LOL!

I agree, very much. But I think all sex scenes sound fake, purely because they are never not off putting to me.

Oh, yes, completely agree.

#justacethings, or something, I guess LOL.

Myriam

LOL! Yes! Two aces discussing a sex scene, and I don’t think the results are surprising.

So, max is out the way (for now)

What about our main character? Thoughts on her?

Danielle? I’m not sure.

I think most of my thoughts about her sum up to, “Wow, she has bad taste in romantic partners.”

Max, her sugar daddy, is cheating on his (actually very nice!) wife, and her ex-girlfriend Maya is really mean and dismissive. Like… why?

Myriam

Ha!

My thoughts on her are very… Okay, forgive me for saying this, but I think almost every character in this movie is a Jewish stereotype.

Ooh, want to expand on that? We’ve already talked a bit while watching the movie about how most of the Jewish stuff in the movie flew over my head LOL.

Now I know how you felt last movie!

Myriam

Haha! Well, I’ll go in order of character.

Danielle feels sort of like the stereotypical secular jewish daughter that's family is somewhat disappointed in. (Oh hey, like me! /j)

Danielle’s mom (and dad, by association). One of my favorite characters, honestly. But I’ve never been a fan of the “nagging jewish mom” and “griping jewish dad” stereotypes.

Max’s wife. (And by association, Max). Not so much a jewish stereotype so much as a stereotype jews have about goyim. It’s literally said in the movie that she’s a “shiksa princess.” Also one of my favorite characters.

These are the first ones that come to mind, but this feels like a common theme throughout.

This is also why I compared it to Unorthodox, in the sense of it being sort of a stretch for goyim to be able to understand some of the nuances here. I think all of these things are ok to have jokingly, but like you said, during the movie, to someone without context it just seemed like a really anxiety filled movie when to me it was hilarious.

LOL yeah! I thought the panic attack sequences with Danielle were done really well in the movie, with the way the audio cues worked, but those were the only moments I really “understood”, and so they were what I was left with, since I got none of the jokes!

(Caption: The panic attack sequences in this film have this very eerie, horror music overlay as the camera zooms in on people’s faces. Very claustrophobic and well done.)

Oh, also, I don’t remember if I mentioned this to you, but this is the director’s first feature length movie.

Myriam

Oh wow! I would have not guessed that

So it makes me wonder how much of Danielle is basically just her.

Myriam

Oh yes, I think Danielle seemed like she was a very personal character. Which is why I felt bad about saying she reminded me of that stereotype haha!! This could very well be me over analyzing

No, no, I think that kind of context is good.

Like, one of the things that lowkey bothers me about this movie (and I also feel kind of bad saying this about a seemingly very personal film) is the kind of self-awareness on display.

Hm… how do I explain this… For instance, while there seems to be a lot of moments in the film where the film seems to be aware and poking fun at someone’s misogyny/bigotry/whatever, the film really doesn’t go far enough to condemn it other than just pointing it out. Or, rather, it doesn’t bother reframing it from whatever stereotype that’s on offer, instead just saying, “Haha, look at how they think this is a stereotype,” and never offering any counterpoints, if that makes sense.

Myriam

Exactly! Yes!

That kind of missing frame actually made me go, “Oh, of course this is a first film.” Because I feel like first filmmakers tend to assume their audience a bit, and miss explaining what might be, to them, very obvious things.

But, also, I just really didn’t like how everyone, including Danielle, talked about the Gender & Women’s Studies major LOL. Speaking as someone who had been a Gender & Women’s Studies major herself.

Like, the film was obviously critical of people who look down on that major, but it doesn’t actually do anything to defend it in any substantial way. And it’s pretty clear that the filmmaker has no idea what the major actually entails (it’s a social science, not a humanities, for one!) and it felt like it was there only to add conflict/spice.

It felt tokenistic, yeah, that’s the word I’m looking for LOL.

Myriam

Oh yes, for sure!

And I think this lack of critical frame is an underlying issue in most of the conflicts of the film. Like, all the biphobic comments, for instance. They’re never challenged!

Myriam

Yes! I think she briefly tried to explain that “Not all bisexual people are exploring” but gets cut off so quickly that its never mentioned again

(Caption: This argument literally does not go anywhere, since it gets interrupted for a joke.)

And this is what I mean about her assuming her audience. Since, of course, we (and her) know that these comments are shitty and biphobic, but will everyone?

Myriam

Exactly!

Oh, yeah, and the way this movie talks about babysitters. With the framing, I feel like the filmmaker looks down on babysitters, and that’s not a good look.

Also, also, a question I had was: does her parents know that she’s a sex worker, and are using babysitter as a euphemism, or do they really have no idea?

Myriam

Yes! That’s what I’m wondering too

Her mom sometimes seems very aware of it, right? But then other times, it seems like she has no idea.

Myriam

Yeah, that seems to be the case with literally everything. The parents seem so in touch at some times then five minutes later they have no idea.

Yeah, though I have to give this movie props where it’s due. The way the Jewish parents talked to each other was very relatable, haha. Constantly asking about boyfriends, jobs, the works.

Myriam

Oh yes! As much as I dislike stereotypes, sometimes I relate so much to the Jewish Parents one in particular. (Sorry mom, you’re great, I promise /j)

Ah, yes, the universal immigrant experience of parents asking you about boyfriends, jobs, and if you’re eating enough.

Myriam

YES!

Speaking of which, did you want to talk about the food? I remember you had Thoughts about the food during the movie.

Myriam

Oh I had SO many thoughts on the food.

What was the sludge that she got two scoops of before dumping back? Why did bagels get so much screen time?

(Caption: What is this mystery substance? Discuss.)

Didn’t you say that there are lots of bagels at shivas?

Though, yes, there were a lot of bagels in this movie. A lot.

Myriam

Well, sometimes! But It’s like cake at a birthday party! I don’t expect that much cake to make it into a movie about birthdays.

Hmmm, maybe they’re a symbol for something.

What do bagels symbolize?

Myriam

Also, the rude talk about her having an ED!

Oh yes, yikes.

Myriam

I think you could be right actually, I feel like maybe not bagels, but food in general, could be in relation to the talk about her having an ED.

I don’t feel like it was an accident that she put all of her food back after overhearing that.

Oh, I was just setting up for a joke about bagels being symbols for her life, since her future is like a black hole as she has no clue how to approach it.

Myriam

LOL Oh yes, I’m overanalyzing

LOL no, I am making really silly jokes in an effort to find meaning in this movie!!

I think your idea has more merit. Like if I was a filmmaker, my intentions would be yours.

(Caption: Bagel eating happens so much in this movie, and so often in close-up, that it has to be a symbol for something, right?)

Myriam

This movie felt very fake deep to be honest. It plays with some really cool themes, but it all seems very surface level? Like how she kisses Maya for no reason.

Yeah, for a moment there, I wondered if I’d understand that scene if I was allo. I literally did a double-take that made me go, “Am I confused because I’m ace??”

Myriam

Yes!! Like, same with the max and the bathroom scene.

YES. I honestly don’t understand what she sees in Max and Maya, enough to keep trying to get back together with both of them throughout the movie.

Like… Max literally cheats on his wife using his wife’s own money.

Myriam

Girl, get with Max’s wife.

She’s the real MVP

YES. Especially since Maya is, as I said, extremely mean and dismissive. Like the way she talks about Danielle’s major?? Seriously, no wonder they broke up.

And, even worse, the way she talks when she finds out Danielle’s a sex worker. Oh jeez.

Myriam

Oh yes. Maya sucks.

Yes, Maya hate brigade.

Myriam

I think Max’s wife was a little pushy at the end with the baby too. Which makes me wonder if she knew.

Yeah, the film kind of leaves it open-ended on that front.

I really wanted to see Kim slapping Max across the face and filing a divorce right then and there LOL.

Myriam

Yes same!!!

(Caption: I thought for sure this would be the moment when Max gets his just desserts, when Kim catches them speaking together in the kitchen, but nope.)

I hope they do get divorced post-movie, though, and that Max has to pay a shit ton of alimony and child support for the rest of his life.

Myriam

YES!

I would like to say though: Danielle’s hair? Spot on.

LOL, of course, can’t forget the best hair award!

Myriam

A very important factor!

I did like the scene where she was picking up the glass and kissing what I assume is a siddur/Chumash

I liked her mom comforting her afterwards. I was like, “If this movie had been about this mother-daughter relationship, I might have enjoyed it more.”

Myriam

Oh yes I agree. I love a good mother-daughter relationship.

Especially when they’re wholesome!

Yes!! There were glimmers of that here, but I feel like the film, despite being personal, also didn’t want to get too vulnerable, if you know what I mean? As in, it kept trying to diffuse any difficult moments with jokes instead of just letting it breathe.

Myriam

Oh yes, especially in the panicking scene where they mentioned israel/palestine. It got really intense but I think having the jokes thrown in there in that scene sort of ruined the moment.

(I say Israel/Palestine because that’s how they referred to it in the movie, egh)

Oh, yes, ew.

Yet another one of those bigoted moments that go unchallenged.

Myriam

Yes!

Like, I’m sure the director has actually heard people say this in real life, but, uh, that doesn’t really excuse it.

Myriam

Right, I think it’s ok to put that comment in there. But it shouldn’t just be without context? You know, like, have something that frames it as a disagreeable comment

Yes, exactly.

Myriam

Again, I think this is one of those movies so steeped in context and culture that it is almost unwatchable to goyim without someone to explain every scene LOL

LOL well thankfully I had you here to answer all my silly questions.

Like “what is shul”.

Myriam

LOL

Anyway, I think we covered most everything. Did you have anything else you want to add before we move onto ratings and final thoughts? LOL

Myriam

Moral of the story is to not trust Maya!

Wait, ratings first!

Myriam

Oh yes, yes LOL

what system did we use last time?

I just gave one rating. You gave, like, three.

So it is entirely up to you. I mean, who cares about consistency, am I right?

Myriam

I’ll make a new system. I give it a two and a half stars.

Out of 10? LOLOL.

And just one rating?

Myriam

Out of five!

So a 50%. A fail.

Or, a half-pass, if you look at it from a glass half-full perspective.

Myriam

What? 50 is MORE than passing

Not in the U.S. education system!

Well, for me… Hm… 6/10?

Myriam

Ohh, lower than the last movie! But more than half

It’s because 60% is a D-, and hence a fail, in the U.S. education system.

Myriam

Of course LOLO

Or barely a pass. Ahahaha. Depends on how nice your teacher is.

Anyway, any last thoughts?

Myriam

DON’T TRUST MAYA!

Mine is: Stop letting Maya hold your hand!! Don’t get back together with her!!

Myriam

EXACTLY!

Also, Gender & Women’s Studies is the best major. 10/10 em recommends.

You’ll never see that high a rating for any of the movies we watch! So the true moral of the story is: gender & women’s studies > movies.

(I’m joking. Maybe.)

Myriam

LOL

(Caption: feel the same way Danielle looks at this point in the movie: sick of this, and wanting Maya to go away.)

#Media review #queer #queer community #lgbtqia #lgbtq #bi #bi movie #jewish #shiva baby #shiva baby 2020 #review #movie review

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spine-buster · 4 years

Text

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 21

A/N: I’ve always wanted to write a super-tropey scene like the bar scene in this so I went ahead and did it and I LOVE IT, OKAY?! Also, if you haven’t seen, I posted Part 3 of my Elias story last Thursday. It’s linked on my Masterlist!

Also, just a quick note that I will be returning to a full-time job after Labour Day today. I have enough chapters written out that I don’t think I will have to skip a week of posting, and I organize my time wisely so that I still give myself time to write, but this is just a PSA/FYI that I may not get to your asks/canon questions super quickly like I have been over quarantine. They will still ALL be answered, though, so don’t worry about that!

Anyways, enjoy this!

February 18th, 2020

Aberdeen Bloom was dejected.

The Leafs had lost their last two games, but these felt different. They’d lost to Buffalo on Sunday 5-2, and Buffalo was one of the worst teams in the league. It didn’t even matter that there were a majority of Leaf fans in the building. Now, tonight, they’d just lost 5-2 again, but this time to Pittsburgh. She couldn’t keep her eyes off her phone, with tweet upon tweet upon tweet calling this the worst game of the season for the team. Just an absolutely awful game. No effort. No heart. No soul. One that they would have to answer for at home, since they faced them again on Thursday, but this time at home. She didn’t even like hockey and she was taking everything to heart because, well – she was part of the team now. Everybody had told her that since day one. And now, at one of the lowest points in the season, she felt that.

She couldn’t stop scrolling. Couldn’t stop reading what everybody was saying.

It was Tyson who had volunteered to drive her home tonight. Ever since Morgan broke his ankle, it was a rotation of Tyson or John. When Emma picked up Tyson, she was just as nice, but she missed Bee. She missed seeing the way Morgan looked at Bee when they were in the car, because it reminded her of how William looked at her when they were alone.

Aberdeen shuffled into the backseat of Tyson’s SUV. Tyson was in the driver’s seat, and Emma was the passenger. Everyone was silent as Tyson began driving into the city – she and Emma could tell he was dejected and mad at the game that had transpired just a few hours ago. The short flight did nothing to quell his emotions. And as Emma laid her hand on his on the gearshift, Aberdeen watched as she moved her thumb back and forth, trying to tell him that it was all okay.

“Tys…it’s not your fault,” Emma said softly, finally, after what felt like a lifetime of silence.

“Em—”

“Tyson, listen to me.”

“—Emma, please, not right now—”

His eyes flashed to hers through the rear view mirror, but Emma wouldn’t listen to him. “I know it and you know it too. The whole defence is flawed. Plus, you guys are missing Mo. It’s not just you and you know that—”

“—Emma, I really don’t want to talk about it right now—”

“—and besides, if – or should I say when – you’re traded at the deadline, none of this will matter,” she dropped a bombshell. “Everyone knows you’re unhappy and it’s not working out and that you’re much better suited to play somewhere else.”

Aberdeen felt her body stiffen at the revelation. So Tyson was unhappy. Unhappy with playing on the Leafs. She knew he wasn’t having the best season, especially considering how successful he’d been in Colorado, but she didn’t think it was that bad. He’d gotten better when Sheldon came in, but apparently that wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to make him happy. And in Aberdeen’s life, happiness was important. It was almost paramount. What you did and who you surrounded yourself with and your work should, ultimately, make you happy. Was it the same in hockey? Were hockey players allowed to be happy? Were hockey players on the Toronto Maple Leafs allowed to be happy? Or was everything just a business transaction? A long road to the ultimate success of lifting the Stanley Cup, regardless of who got hurt along the way?

Tyson let out a long sigh as he continued to drive, choosing not to answer his girlfriend or say anything else. When they got off the Gardiner and into downtown, Aberdeen was almost desperate to get out. She felt very awkward. Clearly Emma and Tyson wanted, needed to have a conversation, and she was stopping that from happening. Just by being in the backseat. She almost wanted to just tuck and roll out of the car. Tyson could return her suitcase later. She really didn’t care at this point.

When he pulled up outside her condo building, Aberdeen almost didn’t want until he stopped the car and put it in park to click her seatbelt off. “Hey Aberdeen,” Tyson looked at her through the rear view mirror. She paused all her movements to stare back at him through the mirror. “I uh…I’d appreciate it if you don’t mention to Brendan, uh, you know…what you heard…” he trailed off.

Aberdeen stared back at him doe-eyed. She shook her head slightly. “I don’t…I don’t tell Brendan about anything I find out about you guys. I mean I would never…” she said softly, trailing off too.

Tyson nodded, smiling slightly. “Thanks, Aberdeen.”

“Yeah, it’s no problem.”

When she got out of the car, Tyson popped the trunk so she could get her bag. After one last thank you, a polite wave, and a push of the button to get it to close, she walked into her condo building. She nodded towards the security guard before walking towards the elevators.

She wondered if William felt that same way when he played last year.

***

February 20th, 2020

“Get ‘em!” Aberdeen growled as she looked down onto the ice. “Get ‘em!!!”

Brendan chuckled as he watched Aberdeen, her hands balled up in fists as she practically hung over the box. He’d never seen her so into a hockey game before, and he didn’t know what had gotten into her. “You alright, Aberdeen?”

“Get ‘em!”

He got a kick out of it. Kyle, too, was doing one of those silent chuckles and getting redder by the second. “Aberdeen, you’re going to blow your heart out. We’re gonna need to put you on meds,” Brendan commented. “You gotta remember that you’re staying until the proofs get here. You can’t waste all your energy now.”

Aberdeen calmed down a bit, but she was still on the edge of her seat. “Sorry,” she said. She knew she was maybe taking it a bit overboard, but she couldn’t help it. After the awful game against the Penguins on Tuesday, the Leafs were dominating them right now. Freddie was playing phenomenally, Jake Muzzin had just scored to put them up 1-0, and they were getting really good chances. It’s like the team did a complete 180 from what they were. She also knew, though, that she needed to stay at the arena later tonight, because the final proofs for the St. Pats jerseys were coming and she was the one who had to sign for them and place them safely and securely in Brendan’s office to see tomorrow. She didn’t know how long she’d be up tonight, and she’d need to conserve energy.

“Don’t apologize. I just don’t want you to have a heart attack,” Brendan smiled.

With the Leafs on a powerplay, Aberdeen was like a hawk following the puck. With Tavares, Matthews, and Nylander on the ice, she was praying for a goal. And then—

“YES!!!!!” she screamed as William scored a beautiful goal, jumping up in her seat and throwing her fist in the air like she was Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club. From beside her, Brendan and Kyle stayed unnaturally calm. Aberdeen looked over at them and tried to settle back into her seat calmly. “Sorry. Again,” she said, gripping the armrests of her chair. “But how can you guys be so calm?!”

“You get used to it,” Brendan smiled.

“Well, maybe you do, Mr. Hockey Player,” Aberdeen joked.

“Especially when the camera is on you,” Kyle added.

Aberdeen’s face dropped. “Oh my God, I’m not on camera, am I?!”

Kyle shook his head, his smile spreading from ear to ear. “We’ll have to see, Aberdeen, but I don’t think so.”

The Leafs dominated the rest of game. Kasperi scored another goal only three minutes after William, and Zach scored in the third to make it 4-0. Freddie got the shutout. She knew he’d be happy about that, despite his stoic reserve. As she, Brendan, and Kyle made their way to the locker room, Aberdeen saw the media already speaking to Jake Muzzin. She knew they’d want to speak with the goal scorers too, and so when she saw William and Kasperi heading to the media room, along with John, Freddie, and Sheldon, she wasn’t surprised. It was a good game. Hopefully the media would back down a bit.

She congratulated the guys and stood on the sidelines as Brendan and Kyle spoke to some of them once the media left. By that point, some of them were dressed and ready to head home. “Hey, you want a ride?” Jason offered as he approached her, tightening his tie around his neck.

“Oh, I’m staying back, actually,” Aberdeen informed him. He looked at her skeptically. “The final proofs are coming in for your St. Pats jerseys in March and I have to receive them and put them in Brendan’s office under lock and key.”

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “Well, I can wait with you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Aberdeen, it’s fine. We can grab a bite to eat afterwards.”

“Jason, I might be here until, like, eleven.”

“So we’ll have an authentic Italian-style dinner then. All the more reason since I miss my motherland.”

“Jason—”

“Aberdeen, are you really going to say no me?”

She glared at him. It was like St. John’s all over again. Before she could open her mouth and say something else, another voice interrupted her. “Why’re you giving Jason the stink eye?” William asked as he approached them.

“I’m gonna wait with Aberdeen until the proofs come and then we’re gonna grab dinner. You in?” he asked William, but everybody already knew the answer.

William shrugged his shoulders casually, like Jason hadn’t just invited him to dinner with his own girlfriend. “I’m in.”

Aberdeen rolled her eyes. “You two are insufferable.”

“I like to think it’s part of our charm,” Jason smiled. “Let me call Jen and then we can go trash Brendan’s office.”

*** It was about 10:45 when Aberdeen, Jason, and William ended up at a small bar none of them had ever been to that served small pub-style plates. It was crowded, for some reason, even though it was a Thursday. Aberdeen quickly learned, judging by the drink specials, that it was their grand opening weekend, and tonight was their first official night open. Opening on a Thursday meant pandering to the university crowd for sure (whose pub nights usually took place on Thursdays), but this place was pretty full with an older, gruffier clientele that were seated at the bar and congregated in small groups around the open space in the centre of the room, away from the few booths against the wall. She wondered if they marketed the place wrongly, or if they just wanted to fill the place so they could say they had a successful opening.

It was a bit loud, but she, Jason, and William ate their late dinner in relative peace. They spoke about the game only for a little bit before they moved on to other topics, making it abundantly clear to Aberdeen that they didn’t want to discuss hockey at all. The food was fine, and so, too, were the beers William and Jason had, but Aberdeen’s Long Island Iced Tea had way too much rum in it so she couldn’t finish.

By the time they finished, it was almost midnight and Aberdeen was starting to feel her fatigue. They were told to pay at the bar, so they gathered their jackets. Aberdeen insisted on paying for her meal, ever going so far as to run up to the bar herself, inching between some patrons in order to pay, before William or Jason could even get out of the booth. William, however, was right behind her, ready to Jason’s meal on his card.

“H—Hey! Hey! Look what we have here! Y-You’re Wiiiilliam Nylander,” a guy, older and very clearly inebriated, slurred out as he laid his eyes on them.

“That’s me,” William gave a tight-lipped smile, standing just slight behind Aberdeen, waiting his turn to pay.

The drunk guy focused his attention on Jason now. “You. Spezza.”

“Yup.”

He turned back towards William, shaking his head. “Teams like this can’t win the Cup. Esp-p-ecially not with this guy around.”

That caught Aberdeen’s attention. She furrowed her brows as the friend of the guy, obviously just as drunk, nodded his head in agreement. “Don’t have the heart like Dougie or Wendel. All a bunch of pussies now. Especially you.”

Aberdeen pulled her card out of the reader dramatically, turning her body so she could face them head on. “What the hell is your problem? There’s no need to be rude,” she said, her voice loud and firm.

“Aberdeen, stop it,” William said loud enough for her to hear.

“Y-Y-Yyyyou shoulda just sssigned the contract, man,” the drunk man grumbled out.

Aberdeen tried again, ignoring William’s plea. “Sir, this isn’t the time or place,” she intervened, but William’s hands went straight to her waist to move her out of his way so she wasn’t standing in between them anymore.

Suddenly, it was William closer to the drunk man that Aberdeen. The drunk guy apparently didn’t like that very much. “You’re damn – you’re damn selfish! Ssssselfish and greedyyyy,” the man continued to slur drunkenly. “Seeeelfish, no good—”

“Sir—” Aberdeen showed up beside William, refusing to stand behind him.

“I oughta hurt you like you hurt the fffranchise.”

Aberdeen’s eyes widened. That was a threat if she ever heard one, and even though he was drunk, Aberdeen didn’t like the tone of his voice. “Okay sir,” she chastised. “You need to stop overreacting. We’re just here trying to pay for our meal. This is no time to be a dick.”

“You know what? Let’s just pay at the other end of the bar,” Jason said, trying to diffuse the situation as much as possible. He even started to herd William and Aberdeen away from the drunk man and down the opposite end of the bar. “You have fun with whatever whiskey you’re drinking,” he gave one last look to the man before walking away himself.

“Fuckin’ pussy!” the friend yelled loudly at William, already half way down the bar now.

Aberdeen looked back. William had grabbed her wrist and was dragging her through the crowd so she’d get to the other side with him. She watched as one of them slammed his glass down on the bar dramatically. “Willy—”

“Ignore them, Aberdeen.”

“Yeeeeeah, fuckin’ pussy! Fuckin’ lowlife! Worst Leaf on the team! Shoulda traded you back to Sweden, ya Swedish piece of shit!”

The men continued to yell obscenities and taunt William as they stood at the other end of the bar. Aberdeen stared at William as he stuck his credit card into the machine, quickly punching in his pin. “Does that happen often?” Aberdeen asked him.

“Aberdeen, don’t,” he shook his head, refusing to answer her as he pulled his card out of the machine and stuffed it back into his wallet. It was as if he didn’t want her to know; as if he wanted to protect her from learning just how awful some “fans” could be – at least to him.

“Did you pay?” Jason showed up beside them. William nodded. “Alright, then let’s get the hell out of here,” he ordered, herding them again to lead them out.

It all happened so fast that Aberdeen didn’t really know exactly that – what happened. All she knew was that she heard the guy yell from down the bar. Then she heard the breaking of glass (commonplace in bars, really) and someone else yell “Put it down!” as she, Jason, and William continued towards the door. Then another voice screamed “Watch out!” and she, Jason, and William turned their heads to look behind them.

Then it hit her.

Literally.

A glass had been thrown – obviously by one of the drunk men who had been harassing them – intended for William, but it hit Aberdeen right on the forehead instead. She staggered backwards but didn’t fall. As she brought her hand up to assess the damage, she could almost immediately feel blood dripping down the side of her eye.

“Aberdeen!” Jason screamed.

William looked over and saw the blood on Aberdeen’s hand and it dripping down the side of her face. His eyes filled with anger. Jason, who was still looking at Aberdeen, saw the look she was giving William. He whipped his head towards William, who appeared ready to murder everybody in the room. “Will—William—” Jason tried to get his attention, but to no avail.

“Ohmygodareoyouokaaaaay?!” voices began to ask as they huddled around Aberdeen, William, and Jason worriedly, forming a protective circle around them. There were so many people, so concerned and so loud asking if she was okay that Aberdeen couldn’t even respond – she was too overwhelmed and too confused to even comprehend what was going on.

That’s when the two men ran out. When most of the people in the bar were distracted trying to see if Aberdeen was okay, the men had the wherewithal to completely book it out of the bar with nobody stopping them. It was only William who noticed, screaming out a loud “HEY!” to try and get somebody’s attention to stop them, but nobody moved enough for him to get out of the scrum around Aberdeen to chase him. William focused his attention back on Aberdeen even though he could feel his cheeks flush red with anger and tears forming in his eyes. She was still holding the area above her eyebrow cautiously as the bartender waved her over. Jason and William led her towards the bar, making sure she didn’t step on any of the shattered glass that now littered the floor. The bartender was already opening the first aid kit. William heard Jason tell everyone “It’s fine, it’s fine, we don’t need your help, it’s alright, we’ll handle it, we’ll handle it.”

Aberdeen was offered a bar stool to sit on, but she turned it down. She didn’t want to be on display for everyone to see; she was already embarrassed enough as is. “You wanna go into a washroom?” the bartender asked, and Aberdeen nodded her head. He led them to the wheelchair bathroom, since there would be space for all of them, and ushered them in. “The emergency rooms are just up the street. They’ll do stitches.”

William glared at the bartender. “Aren’t you even gonna call a paramedic or something? What about the cops?” he demanded, his voice shaking from the anger he was still feeling. “Can we look at security cameras to get a face?”

“Bro, we don’t want cops or paramedics here opening night. That would kill us,” the bartender said. William couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “We don’t have cameras installed yet, either. Just clean it up and take it to emerge. It’s, like, two blocks north.”

William felt like punching the bartender square in the jaw. And he would have, too, for being so insensitive about it, if it wasn’t for Jason opening the first aid box loudly against the counter. Jason, for his part, glared at the bartender too. “You can leave now,” he growled, focusing his attention back on finding what he needed within the kit. “Useless piece of shit,” he mumbled under his breath.

Aberdeen sat on the toilet, trying to collect her thoughts and emotions. She’d gotten hit with a fucking flying glass in the middle of a bar. A glass seemingly intended for Willy, thrown by a drunk guy, but it had hit her. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. She was sure her hand was covered in blood at this point; she didn’t even want to know what her face looked like. “Did I get busted open?” she asked, even though she was well aware of the answer. She needed someone else to confirm it so this all felt real and not like a nightmare.

“Yeah,” Jason said softly. “Listen, if that dipshit isn’t gonna call the cops or paramedics, I want to clean it before we go to the walk-in. Your face has a lot of blood on it.”

Aberdeen nodded her head slightly. There was nothing else she could do, really. It wasn’t like she was going to reject any medical attention, from Jason or otherwise. “Is it gonna hurt?” she asked.

“Of course it’ll hurt, but I don’t want any of the blood to crust and dry,” he said.

“Am I gonna need stitches? I’ve never gotten stitches before.”

“Move your hand a bit and let me see,” Jason said. She moved her hand the slightest bit, too scared to move it anymore out of fear that blood would gush out like some Halloween decoration, and Jason looked up close. “Yeah, probably,” he deadpanned. William winced at the thought.

“Oh, Jesus. Is it gonna scar?”

“No. Not deep enough to scar. At least not to me,” he said. She trusted him, if only because he was a father of four and had been around the block a few times. He cleaned her face as much as he could of the blood that had streamed down. She watched as he got some alcohol and put it onto a pad, prepped a sterile gauze, and whatever else he needed. Now, are you ready?” he asked.

“I guess so,” Aberdeen braced herself. She took her hand off the injury, relieved that no blood gushed onto Jason’s shirt. “On three, okay?” she asked. Jason nodded his head. She began to count. “One…two—”

She let out a guttural scream as Jason put the rubbing alcohol on her early so she wouldn’t wince away. It fucking stung. The sound that escaped her made Will’s heart drop into the pit of his stomach. He never wanted to hear it again. When he looked over, she was writhing on the toilet seat. Even Jason’s face was pained at her screams, but he was doing what he needed to do. After doing as much as he could, he took one last look at it before putting the sterile gauze on it, grabbing Aberdeen’s hand to hold it against the cut.

“You ready to go to emerge?” Jason asked.

Tears had streamed down her face at this point. She didn’t have a good tolerance for pain. She nodded her head. “Let’s go.”

***

It was just past two in the morning before an emergency room doctor saw Aberdeen. Jason had called Jen to let her know what happened and let her know that he was going to be extra late, and William…well, William was silent. He was still red with rage as they sat in the emergency room, with Jason and Aberdeen making conversation, but he was silent. Truthfully, all Aberdeen wanted to do was hug him, hold his hand, and nestle into him, but she couldn’t. It would have made things a hundred times better, but Jason being there meant that it was impossible. She noticed William’s silence from the moment they were in the washroom at the awful place and Jason had cleaned the wound. She was hoping that he wasn’t blaming himself.

“So, Miss Bloom, what happened here?” Dr. Behari asked as she sat on the gurney, Jason and William standing near her with their arms crossed.

“Some guy at a bar threw a glass and it hit me,” Aberdeen explained simply. “I think I’m going to need stitches.”

The doctor nodded, then looked towards Jason and William. “And you’re her bodyguards?” he joked.

Jason smiled, but William didn’t. “Friends,” Jason said. “I cleaned it up a bit with rubbing alcohol at the bar, doctor. I – It was the only thing I could think to do.”

The doctor nodded, stepping closer towards Aberdeen. “Let me take a look, Miss Bloom, and I can clean it and see if you need stitches.” Aberdeen took her hand and the gauze off the cut and the doctor put on his gloves. “Aallllllright…” he mumbled as he checked it, Aberdeen wincing in pain slightly as he pressed down on it. “You’ve got no residual glass in it, which is great. All we have to do is clean it up and give you some stitches.”

The thought of stitches made Aberdeen a bit woozy. She tried not to think about what they’d have to do. “Is it a deep cut? Like is it gonna scar?” she asked.

“Not a deep cut at all,” the doctor shook his head. “I’m only putting it one layer of stitches. You’ll probably have the slightest scar once it’s all healed but it’s easily covered with makeup, and due to placement, it won’t be too noticeable.” Suddenly, the curtain that blocked off the room opened, and some supplies and medical equipment were ushered in. Jason and William looked to see everything that Dr. Behari would need laid out on the tray. “Ah! Here we go. Have you ever received stitches before, Miss Bloom?”

“No sir.”

“Think of it as me putting this beautiful masterpiece of a face back together,” he joked, causing Aberdeen and Jason to laugh. William still wasn’t laughing, and Jason took notice.

“You’re great, Doctor Behari,” Aberdeen giggled. “I’m gonna get a scar like a real hockey player now.”

“Ahhhhh, so you guys are hockey players, huh?” he gestured towards Jason and William. “I’ve stitched up a bad hockey injury once or twice in my day.”

Dr. Behari continued with what he needed to do, cleaning up the wound and making sure everything was well and prepped for the stitches. The second he picked up the needle filled with lidocaine though, to numb the area so Aberdeen wouldn’t feel the stitches as much, William became more visibly upset. For the last two hours he looked like he was about to cry, and now he just looked extremely pained, distressed at the thought of what Aberdeen had to go through.

It took Jason intervening for William to stop thinking over and over about when the glass met Aberdeen’s head; the look in her eyes and the blood on her face as she tried to stop the bleeding with her hand. “Will, can you breathe for me?” he mumbled, Aberdeen and Dr. Behari too deep in a conversation to hear them.

William started shaking his head. “He needs to be arrested. He needs to be charged with assault. We need to find him,” his voice was still trembling.

“Will, we’re not gonna find him. He ran off,” Jason tried to reason with him. “There aren’t even any cameras we can check – the manager said. We just have to let it go.”

“No. That’s not good enough,” William was persistent. “We need to—”

“Listen to me,” Jason said in a low voice, grabbing William’s forearm and turning him away from Aberdeen and the doctor. They stood right in between the hallway and the curtain sectioning off the room. “I understand this is personal for you because it’s Aberdeen, but you need to be level-headed right now, because as much as the doctor is making her laugh, she’s gonna see the stitches and probably get scared. And she’s going to be looking at you to help calm her down and tell her it will be alright.”

William stopped breathing during the first part of Jason’s sentence. He furrowed his brows, trying to brush it off, and brush off what Jason was implying. “I don’t know what you mean about this being personal for me—”

“Will, come on,” Jason interrupted him. “I’m too old to be fucked with. We all see the way that you look at her and we know you have the biggest crush imaginable on her. It’s not like it’s a fucking secret.”

“H—How do I look at her?”

“She’s the only person you ever see, Will,” Jason deadpanned. “But…beyond that. You have to remember Brendan’s gonna be asking questions tomorrow at the office. I’ll handle a majority of that but he’s going to want the story from you too and you better be on your best behaviour or else he’ll figure out your little crush and Aberdeen will be fucked. Do you understand?”

William couldn’t look Jason in the eye anymore. He bit down on his bottom lip nervously, knowing that he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. “I think he already knows…” he mumbled.

“Excuse me?”

“I think…Brendan already knows about the crush. At the Christmas party out on the ice I guess he caught me looking and he told me she can’t do anything with me until she leaves, and more importantly, I can’t do anything with her.”

Jason looked like he’d seen a ghost. “And?”

“And what?”

“Are you doing anything with her?”

Here it was. William’s first opportunity to lie outright to a teammate, a friend, a colleague, a guy that he looked up to immensely. Aberdeen had had to do it with Siena, now he’d have to do it with Jason. His girlfriend was a mere fifteen feet away and he had to deny that anything was going on. “What?! Of course not!” he said angrily.

“William I swear to fucking God—"

“Nothing is happening,” he stressed. “Jesus, Jason. How awful do you think I am? I wouldn’t do something like that to her.”

“Don’t fuck with me Willy. She’s got too bright a future for you to—”

“I know that,” William stressed. “I. Know. That. That’s why nothing has happened. That’s why it’s stayed a crush.”

“You promise me right here, right now, in the middle of this hospital while she’s getting stitches, that there’s nothing going on between you two, or so help me God, Willy—”

“There’s nothing going on between us,” William said bluntly. He saw Jason’s face relax slightly, meaning that he was buying it. “I’ve got my crush and that’s it. But there’s nothing going on between us. Nothing.”

“Woohoo! Boys!” Dr. Behari called out, interrupting their conversation. “Miss Bloom wants to hold one of your big strong hands just in case she feels anything. Any takers?”

Jason raised his eyebrows at William and gave him a look. William gave Jason one last look before walked over, stood next to Aberdeen, and offered his hand. She grabbed it without hesitation.

Jason watched.

***

February 22nd, 2020

“What in God’s name happened to your eye?” Brendan demanded as he got his first look at Aberdeen Saturday morning. In the town car, Lou had already commented on it. Now Brendan got to see it, bright and early in the morning before heading towards the office.

“It’s a long story,” Aberdeen mumbled.

“Well we’ve got a long drive to the office.”

She sighed. She recounted the events of the previous night to Brendan, from Jason and William agreeing to stay back with her, to them going to dinner, to the rude men, to the bottle throwing. Brendan looked more and more horrified as time went on, and especially angry when she got to the part with the rude men. They were essentially targeting one of his players, one of his star players, with assault; instead, that assault ended up hurting his executive assistant. And when she mentioned the no cameras and the clueless bartender, he got really angry, because there was nothing he could do either.

“And so, here we are,” Aberdeen finished. “I’m three days out from my 22nd birthday and one week out from my party and I have a giant scar on my face.”

Brendan could tell by her tone that she wasn’t necessarily upset about it, per se, but that she was more so a bit self-conscious about how it looked. “It’s not that big,” he said, trying to not make it a big deal. “The stitches will be out soon anyway. You don’t want to see some of the scars I’ve gotten. I mean…” he trailed off, pointing to the one on his top lip and the one on his chin, “yours won’t look as bad as these. Won’t end up as bad as these either.”

“You don’t think so?”

Brendan shook his head. “No chance. It’s only three stitches. Did you tell your parents?”

“Yeah, we FaceTimed so I could show them. They don’t want me in bars past sundown now,” she giggled slightly. “I’m going to have to go to my doctor before we leave for Tampa Bay to see if they can get taken out though. By then it will have been four days. The emergency room doctor said it should be okay by then.”

“I’ll call Noah and have him take a look at it once we get to the arena,” he said, referring to Dr. Noah Forman, the team’s head physician. “I’ll call Jason and Will in, too. To let me know what happened.”

Aberdeen nodded her head. It was only logical to talk to them about it to. William had been the one targeted, after all. “Are you excited for tonight?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

Brendan shrugged. “Last time we faced Carolina it was an…interesting game,” he said. “How much more interesting can it get?”

***

Aberdeen was absolutely horrified. Just absolutely fucking horrified at what was transpiring in front of her very eyes. A complete and utter collapse. Something that couldn’t be real. Something she didn’t want to be real. Something that was affecting her more than she ever thought hockey would. If Aberdeen thought that Penguins game on Tuesday was bad, this was a hundred times worse. A thousand. A million. A billion times worse.

The Leafs were losing to the Hurricanes. 6-3. And who was in net for the Carolina Hurricanes? Their emergency backup goalie, who was, somehow, also the Toronto Marlies’ Zamboni driver. Yes. The Toronto Maple Leafs were losing to a Zamboni driver. Their own Zamboni driver.

She wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Brendan had already left the box. He’d asked her not to follow him. That made her incredibly nervous, because usually when he was upset or disappointed about games, she was still following him like a little puppy. That wasn’t the case now; he clearly wanted to be alone and alone he would be, wherever he happened to be.

When the final buzzer rang, Aberdeen felt her heart rate go up even more, because it now meant that she did have to go find him. She didn’t want to be in the locker room right now. The team needed to be with their coach, and she didn’t exactly want to hear whatever was going to go down in there. She wanted to remain willfully ignorant. So instead, she began walking towards the offices, where a part of her knew Brendan would be.

She was quiet as she walked down the hallway and towards her desk. She saw Brendan’s door almost closed, and knew he was inside his office. She gathered her things, grabbed her jacket, and took a deep breath.

She knocked lightly on his office door. “Come in,” she heard him say absent-mindedly.

She pushed the door open slowly. When she revealed herself in the doorway, Brendan’s eyebrows rose slightly. He was surprised she’d come and find him. But he didn’t want her to know that. Most other personal assistants he’d had usually let him be when he did something like this. But Aberdeen was different. “Oh, there you are,” he said, his voice low as he cleared his throat. There were a few moments of silence as he thought of something to say. “We need to go over the, uh…the proofs for the St. Pats jerseys,” he held out his hand.

Aberdeen was nervous. He was a bit too calm for her liking, considering what had just happened. She knew he wouldn’t want to talk about it exactly, but still. “Okay. Um, yeah, sure. I have it right here,” she said as she began digging through her bag with all the files in it. There were so many to sort through, and she knew she was taking a while.

“By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me,” Brendan said.

She pulled the proofs out of her bag and handed them to him. He took them, a bit dramatically she thought, and opened them up. “Okay, so…they’re done. They can be sent,” he said dismissively, putting his signature at the bottom of every page of proofs.

Aberdeen was shocked, slightly. There was so much back and forth on them because they had to be perfect and now he’d just signed off on them? “They…they’re done? So I don’t need to bring them back to the artist and fetch them back tomorrow?” she began to pull out her iPad so she could change her schedule.

“Well, if you think the team is worthy of even wearing these jerseys and want to convince me to not just scrap the whole damn idea…then yes, fetch away. You’re very fetching, so go fetch,” he grumbled out with a resolute emotion of nothingness in his voice.

Aberdeen stopped her movements. Okay, so he was affected by what had just happened. And he was going to let it all out now, in front of her, with no-one else around. No Kyle. No Sheldon. No team. Nobody but her. As she continued to stare at him, he couldn’t look her in the eye; he was looking everywhere in his office but her, even though she stood right across his desk from him. “You’ll need to contact PR, um…Leslie, to see what she can do to minimize the press on all this,” he continued, pursing his lips together, looking out into a void. “Another humiliating loss splashed across the Toronto Sun. I can just imagine what they’re going to write about us. The Toronto Maple Leafs lose to a Zamboni driver who works for them. The most embarrassing loss yet, and it’s under my watch. Every newspaper in this city should cut me a check for all the papers I sell for them.” He shook his head, pausing for a few moments to collect himself, and finally looked at Aberdeen. “Anyway, I don’t…I don’t really care what anybody writes about me. But the team. I just…the team. It’s just another disappointment…another let down. Another bad game. Horrible game.”

Aberdeen didn’t know what to say. She knew this was Brendan’s version of spilling his guts out to her. This loss had taken its toll on him – was going to take its toll on everyone in the organization, and he was the guy heading the entire operation. It all fell on his shoulders. And Kyle’s. But he was the overseer of it all. He put the brunt of the blame on himself – not on the players or the general manager. “Anyway, the point is…the point is…” he cleared his throat. Aberdeen could see him visually recollect himself. “The point is, we really need to get these proofs sent first thing tomorrow morning, because I’d like to see the jerseys before they get sent to the players.”

It was weird to Aberdeen how he could just switch like that – from experiencing the lowest of the low to going back to normal again. She wondered if it was a hockey thing, because Willy did it too – he would be upset after losses, especially bad ones, but it would quickly become dirt off his shoulder. She held on to her emotions and feelings much longer than them. “I’m so sorry, Brendan,” she offered. She knew there was nothing else she could say to him. “If you want me to cancel your morning tomorrow, I can.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Why would we do that?” he asked.

Aberdeen offered a tight-lipped smile. “Is there anything else I can do?” she asked.

Brendan nodded quickly. “Your job.”

***

Aberdeen called Siena the moment she was out of the office and walking home. She’d been okayed to go home by Brendan. She’d texted Will, but he wasn’t answering, so God knows what was going on in the locker room right now. She didn’t want to stay at Scotiabank Arena for that very reason. She just knew it was too much for her to handle.

She knew it was too much because she was already crying. Silent tears, but tears nonetheless. She prayed to God that Siena picked up.

“Hey,” Aberdeen finally heard her voice. “What’s up?”

“Siena…” Aberdeen’s voice was shaky. “Siena did you watch the game?”

“No, why? What’s wrong?”

Aberdeen sniffled. “I never thought I’d be crying about sports but here I am crying about the Leafs!” she blubbered out.

“Why? What happened?”

“We just had the most God awful game,” Aberdeen huffed out. “We lost to our own Zamboni driver.”

There was a pause on Siena’s end. “Aberdeen, are you drunk?”

“NO!!!” she exclaimed. “Go check the highlights or whatever. Go turn on TSN. It was humiliating. We’re going to get absolutely roasted. It’s going to be so bad and—”

“Aberdeen—Aberdeen you need to calm down,” Siena urged on the other end of the phone. “It’s not your fault, Aberdeen. And it’s not your problem. Why are you so upset about it? It’s not like you’re a part of the team.”

Aberdeen felt a punch to her heart at Siena’s words. But she was. Everyone had told her that she was – Brendan, Kyle, the guys, everyone – and she had no reason to think otherwise. It was hammered into her since the beginning. For all intents and purposes, she was a member of the team, which is why it hurt her so badly. Siena didn’t understand that. Siena didn’t understand how all the traveling together made them closer; how all the guys looked out for her – not in a patronizing way, just…in their own way – like they were her older brothers, especially after what happened at Christmas; how the word family was tossed around so often that Aberdeen really felt that this was a family in its own way, with a bunch of moving parts, often dysfunctional, but a family nonetheless. Siena didn’t understand any of it. “Yes I am,” Aberdeen said meekly, offering nothing. She couldn’t put into words what she’d just thought, and even if she could, Siena, with all her smarts, wouldn’t understand them. “I am a part of the team.”

“Just sleep on it, alright? I’m sure everybody is going to forget about it by tomorrow morning,” Siena offered, showing truly just how much she didn’t understand. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

At that exact moment, a car pulled up on the curb alongside Aberdeen. When she looked over, she saw William in the driver’s seat. He was already looking at her. “Okay, bye,” she ended the call abruptly, stuffing her phone into her coat pocket before approaching and opening the door, slipping into the passenger’s seat easily.

When Aberdeen looked over at William, he immediately noticed her red eyes. His heart tightened in his chest. “Why are you crying, minskatt?” he asked.

“How could you not be?” she asked back.

He leaned over the centre console to kiss her. “Please stop, minskatt. I can’t stand to see you cry.”

“I don’t know what to feel – what to do – I don’t know what to say to you to make you feel better about this,” she lamented.

“Shhhh shhh shhh,” William kissed her again, bringing his of his hands up to cup her face. “You don’t need to say anything.”

“Don’t I?”

William shook his head slightly. “You’re here, aren’t you?” he asked, as if that was enough. As if that’s all he needed, when really, Aberdeen knew he’d need so much more. That she would need so much more. “D’you want to come back to my place?”

Aberdeen looked William in the eye. He wasn’t asking politely. He was begging. She nodded. “Okay.”

***

Aberdeen was getting scared at how good she was getting at lying. She’d made up a stupid story about needing to stay late at the arena again for the trade deadline so Kasha would go to bed and not wait up for her. Kasha bought it. Aberdeen didn’t even know if she was staying at William’s tonight or if she’d walk into her apartment at three o’clock in the morning again, for the second time in two days.

(As if William would bring her to his apartment and then tell her to leave in the middle of the night.)

He took her to a tall, glass condo building, only about a ten minute walk from hers but closer to the south core that made him possible to practically walk to all the games if he wanted to. He held her hand firmly in his once they got out of the car and walked through the parking garage, getting on the elevator. William pushed the button for one of the top floors. Of course he’d have a penthouse.

Aberdeen was still too caught up in her own emotions to realize how big this was – every other encounter had been at her place, and now she was finally seeing his space. When he opened the door, she was pleasantly surprised at what she was greeted with. She knew it was rented, and so she half expected it to be kind of dull with no personality, but that wasn’t the case. There were touches of William everywhere in the apartment – the slight, boyish messiness just adding to it. Expensive shoes scattered at the entryway. A few plants that weren’t dead, so she figured they were fake. A giant, comfy looking couch in the main area with a massive TV that was hooked up to every gaming console known to man. And pictures. Lots and lots and lots of pictures everywhere. All of his family.

She could tell that there was a spare bedroom on one side of the apartment, and she saw a door leading to the master. William put his keys in the bowl in the middle of the kitchen island, watching her as she looked around his apartment. “So what do you think?” he asked.

“Do you miss your family on nights like this? When it’s a really bad game and really embarrassing?” Aberdeen asked, staring at a picture he had of him and him sisters together, holding them all in a giant bear hug as their smiles stretched from ear to ear.

The question caught him completely off guard. “Of course I do. I miss them all the time,” he said.

“What do you do on nights like tonight?”

“I sit on my couch and watch TV until I’m not thinking about it anymore,” William admitted. “Lately I’ve really been meaning to do it with my girlfriend.”

Aberdeen couldn’t help but smile. Even after a night like tonight, he was still flirting with her. “Do you have a change of clothes?”

They went into his bedroom – bed messy, but huge; closet overflowing, but orderly; giant floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the other skyscrapers around them – and she changed into a pair of his boxers and a t-shirt that looked Supreme-branded but instead said ‘spaghetti’. It smelled like him, thoroughly, and the second she put it on she felt like she was being hugged, even though it was about six sizes too big. They changed together, and when they were done, they made their way back to the living room and William turned on the TV, pulling her towards the big couch. He made her sit down first before kneeling down between her legs, resting his head on her stomach just beneath her breasts before wrapping his arms around her.

It was calm. It was nice. It was mindless. William was mindless as he laid there, his arms wrapped around his girlfriend in his clothes, watching TV but not really watching TV. Aberdeen was mindless as she laid there, running her fingers through William’s hair soothingly, watching TV but not really watching TV. It was a while before Aberdeen decided to speak again. “You know, it’s not healthy to not talk about it,” she said.

She felt William sigh. “You know I’m not good with words, minskatt.”

“Oh, I think that’s a lie. You’re great with words,” she said.

“No I’m not.”

“William, every author in the English language wishes they came up with the words, ‘I think about you when I’m not even thinking’, including me,” she countered.

William couldn’t help but smile. “Those words are only for you,” he said.

“I know,” she said, “but can you please give me some other words so I know that you’re okay? Because I’m worried.”

The fact that he was making her worried made him compelled to talk. That was the last thing he wanted. “I just…I just know that we’re never going to hear the end of it. And I hate that. I hate that it’s gonna be the big joke now. Because hockey isn’t a joke to me. Neither is the Leafs.” He paused and Aberdeen was silent, and he knew that silence was urging him to continue. “It happened because…it happened because they rallied around their goalie. They protected him. They had his back. And we didn’t. We just…we didn’t. And I hate it when we do that. Because I have…I have every guy in that locker room’s back. I do. But sometimes it just…” he sighed, shaking his head. “Sometimes it just doesn’t work out how I want it to.”

Aberdeen had continued to run her fingers through his hair. She nodded at the end of his speech. “I’m not going to pretend that I know what it feels like, because I don’t,” she said. “I haven’t been a fan of hockey and I don’t understand it like you do but I know how much a game like this can affect the group, especially with the media in this city. But I got emotional about it because I know how much it affects you. Even if you won’t tell me about it.”

“I don’t mean to not tell you,” William said. “I just…” he paused again, thinking if he should even say anything. “It’s that besides my dad and brother, nobody’s ever really…you know, listened. So I just stopped talking.”

Aberdeen’s heart broke. At that point, she stopped running her fingers through his hair and forced him to sit up, even though her legs were still wrapped around him, so she could look him in the eye. She thought about Mike Babcock and what he’d done to Will. She thought about all the other hockey coaches he had and wondered if they were just as bad. “Willy…” she said softly, running her thumb along his jawline and lips. “Willy, I want you to talk to me more. About hockey. About your family. About your feelings. About everything. Please. Please.”

William nodded. He understood completely what she was asking him to do, and he was going to make a concerted effort to do so, because he loved her. He loved her so much and he didn’t want to see her worrying about him. “I will, minskatt. I will, for you,” he said, kissing her quickly. He shifted them so she was straddling his body. “I just have to get used to somebody listening.”

“Willy, I’m always going to listen to you. Don’t forget that, okay?” she asked, cradling his face in her hands.

He nodded, quickly kissing her again. The words were coming now, and he couldn’t stop them. Aberdeen had that power over him. “What happened the other night at the bar was my fault,” he said.

“What?” Aberdeen’s eyes bulged out of her head dramatically. “Willy, that was not your fault at all—”

“Yes it was—”

“No it wasn’t—”

“Yes, yes it was,” he said sternly. “And I couldn’t take it. I was so mad, minskatt. I was shaking. I wasn’t able to stop it or to protect you or—”

“Willy—Willy, stop. Willy, it wasn’t your fault at all,” she repeated. “Those stupid guys were drunk.”

“But they were aiming for me. They hated me. I wish that glass would’ve hit me instead,” he said, bringing his hand up to her scar and touching it lightly.

“Don’t you dare say something like that. It was a freak accident, Willy. There was nothing either of us could do,” she said, hoping he would soon realize it.

William paused for a moment. “You’d talk to me too, right? Like you want me to talk to you?” he asked. Aberdeen nodded her head confidently. “Were you scared that night?”

Aberdeen shrugged her shoulders. “Just a little bit. But you were there. And Jason. And when I realized that, I wasn’t so scared anymore. I’ve been scared before in my life much worse and with less blood.”

William nodded. “Are you listening?”

“Yes…”

“I love you.”

Aberdeen smiled. “I love you too.”

They began kissing. Lightly, at first, and then Aberdeen couldn’t help but stick her tongue down his throat, and William couldn’t help but squeeze at the flesh of her thighs. As they made out like teenagers on his couch, Aberdeen placed her hands over his and guided them to her ass.

William giggled slightly into the kiss. “Aberdeen…” he said in a playfully accusing tone.

“I only want to remember feeling your hands there instead,” she mumbled against his lips.

William froze. Suddenly and all at once, her words hit him like shards of glass, cutting him to his very core. “I’ve been scared before in my life much worse and with less blood.” Ethan. She still thought about what happened with Ethan – she still thought about it and it affected her and it made her scared, something she hadn’t admitted to before. William felt like killing Ethan all over again right then and there, with Aberdeen sitting on his lap. What affected her wasn’t a physical wound; what affected her was something much deeper.

“Listen to me,” he said, his hand cradling her chin, thumb gliding over her lips softly as she’d done to him earlier. “Nobody is going to do that to you again, okay? Not while I’m here.”

Aberdeen nodded her head. She believed him completely.

“I mean it, Aberdeen,” he pressed.

“I know.”

“If I ever saw him on the street, I’d fucking kill him for what he did to you. For how he made you feel. And I want you to know that, like…you’re not what happened to you. You’re so much more. He was a pig who couldn’t see that but I can,” William said.

Aberdeen almost burst out into tears at his words. You’re not what happened to you. You’re so much more. She could have cried right then and there. But instead, she nodded her head before kissing William again, even more eager this time, wanting to show him just how much she appreciated him, just how much she believed him, just how much she loved him.

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