#zach hadel x reader

[bunnyychi]

A Quarter to Something

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x gn!Reader

Warnings: Depression; Burnout; Mentions of Alcohol; Drug use (weed); Angst with happy ending

A/N: Song fic spotted! I guess you could count this as a vent fic? It's a little all over the place but I still hope you enjoy! (Translated lyrics are at the bottom ^^)

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

It was okay that no one noticed that you weren’t doing alright. 

At least that’s what you kept telling yourself.

You didn’t want to bother them, where were you even supposed to start? Most of the stress that had befallen you was due to your own procrastination anyway. If you were just a little more ambitious- no. 

You WERE ambitious. 

The problem wasn’t a lack of motivation for the matter. But then again, you couldn’t figure out what the actual issue was. 

“Alright, I’m tired as fuck. Think I’m gonna head home.” 

Chris’ voice snapped you out of your spiraling thoughts. A quick glance at the monitor nearest to you told you that they stopped recording. 

You weren’t an active part of any of the episodes. More so taking the role of a regular viewer that just happened to also be in the room and occasionally joining in on the conversations. 

No one forced you to be a part of the channel but you liked just spending time with your friends in this way. Especially if, like today, Tomar, Chris and Zach were playing a horror game. The tension in the room and the nervous jokes or Chris’ attempts at spooking Zach were able to take your mind for a little vacation. Away from all the deadlines and responsibilities. They seemed to melt away in the dark of the room and the soft couch. 

For the most part at least. 

“Sure, me too, I think. (Y/n), you need a ride?” Tomar stretched after standing up. The session today had been going on for like 8 hours. So naturally his back made a sound which caused everyone to collectively ask if he was alright. 

“Uh, no I think I’m gonna stay a little longer. Don’t really wanna go home into my cold room.” 

This year’s winter had been surprisingly tough and of course right when you needed it the most, your heater malfunctioned. The worst part is that your landlord was on vacation and like landlords often are, he didn’t want you to call a professional and would rather look at the issue himself. “That’d just be additional costs that aren’t necessary.”. With an eye roll and a shiver you had turned off your phone after he sent you that message. 

So that is why you spent the majority of your time at the office. That and the fact that you didn’t feel like being alone. 

“Alright then.” 

And with that, Chris and Tomar said their goodbyes.

Left were you and Zach. A comfortable silence filled the room as he turned off the game consoles and put everything away as neatly as possible. Meanwhile you stayed on the couch, watching him intently. As if him tidying up was anything special. 

“You know, I could take a look at your heater.” 

“Huh?” 

His back was turned to you as he made his offer. You could only make out his silhouette in the dim moonlight that now flooded the room after Zach opened the curtains and opened the windows for a bit. The air in here was probably horrible now that you thought about it. 

“Your heater. I mean, I’m no electrician or whatever the fuck you call the guys that fix heaters but the internet is free so…” 

You laughed a little at his ramblings.

“As much as I’d appreciate it, you’d have to look at the whole unit. It’s not just mine that’s broken.” 

“Oh” 

Again, silence. Although now it was a little more awkward since Zach had already put everything away. Leaving him to awkwardly stand in the room, looking straight at you. Who was awkwardly sitting on the couch. 

He looked kind of pretty like this. 

“Uh, you wanna like, smoke something?” 

“Gods, yes.” 

And with that you both left the recording room and opted for the shared kitchen and living room. 

You sat down again on one of the black bar stools, waiting for Zach to get his bearings. It had been a long time since you two smoked together. Not just a long time ago.. Almost half a year. 

The realization hit you like a truck. Has it really been that long? 

“Alright, you want me to roll one for you?” You just nodded. He stood across from you now, getting busy with the joints while you still pondered over what else you had neglected. This whole train of thought seemed surreal although not extraordinary. Most days did feel like a blur after some time. 

“Here you go.” He handed the joint to you and you absentmindedly took it from him and put it between your lips. 

Your head felt empty as you watched him take the lighter that was on the counter and bring it up to you. 

His gaze was unwavering as he lit up the joint, you stared right back at him. A strange melancholy washing over you. 

Why did you suddenly have to feel this way? Nothing really changed. Sure, university did get harder sometimes but that wasn’t anything new. Why did you suddenly buckle under familiar pressure?

A shiver ran through your body. Even though the heater in the office worked, it was still cold. The snow outside becoming a visual representation of that very feeling. 

Suddenly, Zach sighed, pulling you back to reality. 

“What the fuck is going on (y/n)?” He sounded angry. Why did he sound angry? Did you do something? 

Of course he was angry. You hadn’t spent time like this together for half a year and now you’re pretending like nothing is wrong. He probably felt like you were just avoiding him. 

Tears started to form in your eyes. Why did you always have to mess everything up? Even your friendships you couldn’t properly care for. It wasn’t enough that you were on the verge of missing a dozen deadlines, you also had to push away everyone around you that supported you. 

“Hey? Fuck I didn’t mean to- what’s going on?” 

His hand was now gripping your arm that was laying on the counter, softly caressing the skin with his thumb while his other hand still held the joint. 

You didn’t even notice that you started crying. Frantically you tried to wipe away the tears that were running down your face with the side of your hand that was free. 

“You can talk to me, you know? I’m sorry I sounded like a douche just now.” 

His thumb never stopped gently going back and forth on your arm. He patiently looked at you and waited for your sobs to quiet down. Waiting for you to be able to speak. 

“I’m sorry..” 

It was barely audible but it was enough for another wave of sobs to start. 

“Shh, shh it’s fine I’m- uhm, just, try to breathe.” 

You felt horrible for doing this to him. Overwhelming him and dumping this breakdown onto him while he probably just wanted to have a chill session with the two of you. Why couldn’t you just leave things as they are? 

“I just- I hate that I feel so empty.” You said, taking a shaky breath. Your eyes were averting his. 

Zach’s hand left your arm and that is when you finally looked up again. He walked around the counter to sit beside you, his body turned to you and his hand finding your again. Touching it lightly, asking you to keep going. 

“All this university stuff-” you gulped down another sob. “And I haven’t been handing in work for so long, I think I’m failing so hard right now.” 

You took an unsure hit from your still burning joint, hoping it would ease the feelings if only for a little bit. 

Zach nodded carefully. “Can I help you with anything? I’m no scholar but maybe if you-”

“No, it’s not that I have difficulties understanding or doing any of the work, it's just that I- I can’t.” You cut him off. Maybe it was rude but you didn’t want him to waste any energy in trying to help you when he couldn’t.

“And I have so many messages from professors and whatnot that are asking me why I haven’t handed something in or why I am so late with everything but I can’t even answer them.”

Zach nodded again, his brows furrowed in an expression of deep concern. 

“And the worst part is, I can’t even bring myself to care.” You finished, tears forming once again. 

You had no idea if it was burnout or just seasonal depression or both at the same time but it was bad. You felt so empty inside for such a long time that you didn’t even realize how bad you were hurting. 

The sudden breakdown in front of one of your friends was the thing that now made you realize how bad you actually were. 

For the first time in half a year, you felt something. Even if it was hurt, you were thankful. 

“I’m sorry.. I can’t do much to help you then.. If it makes you feel any better though, I noticed.” 

You looked up at him and his eyes were meeting yours in a way which was almost too much to bear. “Don’t think I didn't care or just chose to ignore you. I see how you come in here. How every interaction just feels like I’m talking to a shell or a husk or whatever. I just- I didn’t know if you wanted to speak about it at all.” 

Now it was his turn to look away. 

“You know, I think you’ve just been trying too much. You always try to put like 200% into anything when even 50% would be more than enough.” 

It wasn’t funny but it made you chuckle and you could see the little smile which tugged at the corners of his mouth once he heard you. 

“I’m sorry I came onto you this strongly before. I just missed you.” 

His eyes met yours again and in that moment something clicked. 

“Zach?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Can I do something?” 

He nodded with a confused expression. 

You slowly leant forward until your lips met his cheek, giving him a small kiss. It was an innocent gesture. The fact that he sat here with you and listened was enough. That is what you had needed for so long and even if it wouldn’t magically solve all of your problems, the fact that there was someone like him that you could turn to, made everything much more bearable. 

You noticed the blush that crept onto his face, but you only smiled. 

After a second of silence he spoke up. 

“Fucking- gay ass interaction.” He huffed, causing both of you to giggle. 

You sat there for a little longer, the conversation shifting from one topic to another as you finished the first joints. 

Throughout the evening you found yourself actually laughing. And not a forced or pitiful one but actually having the urge to laugh out loud. 

You were glad that the high resulted in a giggly one and not circling back around to a melancholy horror trip. 

“Fuck dude that’s- no that’s actually so horrible.” You were trying to catch your breath, your body bending over as you were laughing. 

“Well- I wasn’t popular I guess, drinking alone wasn’t so bad though.” 

Your hand found its way to Zach’s leg, trying to stabilize yourself while also trying to show empathy after the heartbreaking story of his 16th birthday. 

“If I had known you back then I would have come!” 

“No! Now that would have been sad, imagine inviting like seven people and only one shows up, that's even worse than no one being there.” He was also giggling at the thought. 

“Thank you though, I would have shared my bottle that I wasn’t legally allowed to drink.” 

“What a gentleman.” You feigned, raising your brows at him. 

Zach then stood up, preparing to roll two new joints for the two of you. 

As he stood there, you couldn’t help but stare at him. 

The shirt that he was wearing was unbuttoned at the top, showing way too much of his chest for your gaze to be an innocent one. You rested your chin on your hand as you continued watching him. 

“What?” His fingers were still busy rolling as he questioned you. The slight smile on his face as he spoke looked way too good on him.

“Hm?” Your eyes shot up from his collarbones up to his face, a smug expression now adorning it. 

“See something you like?.” He grinned at you.

Fucker. 

You snatched the second joint from his hands, earning an amused ‘hey’ from Zach. Quickly lighting that one as well, you tried to block out all of the images that suddenly flooded your head. What a weird thing to think about a friend. 

“I know it’s freezing like a bitch out there but do you wanna go outside?”

He almost sounded like a child when he asked that. And who were you to deny him that excitement? 

Both of you quickly put on your winter clothes. The emphasis was on ‘tried’ because the both of you were not smart enough to make the process easier by simply putting aside the joints. 

As the both of you stepped out on the snowy balcony, you were immediately met with a biting cold. Climate change didn’t come to play it seems. 

“Holy shit- when did we go back to my place?” You joked, rubbing your hands together in an attempt to create some minimal warmth. 

“I wish you were joking but I genuinely believe you.” Zach laughed but was immediately distracted by the condensation when he spoke. 

You stepped over to the edge, arms resting on the railing and looking out into the street. The snow looked really soft in the dim light. 

Zach came up right beside you, out of you peripheral vision you saw his face turning to you and him taking another hit from his joint. You didn’t pay any mind to it until you felt him blowing the smoke right back at your face. 

“Eh! Fuck you man.” You laughed and returned the gesture, causing his head to jerk back and giggling at you. 

You had definitely missed this. Although the atmosphere was different now that it was winter. Usually in summer, Zach and you would sit on the balcony for hours, Adam joining in 99% of the time. Now though, with the silence brought by the dead of night and the noise dampening snow it felt a lot more.. intimate. 

“Thank you for opening up to me by the way. It means a lot.” 

You nodded, a quiet ‘thank you for listening’ leaving your shivering lips. 

Again, you saw Zach’s head turning to you. 

“I swear to god, if you blow more smoke into my face I will throw an entire snowball into yours.” You giggled, your gaze still lingering on the snow-covered streets beneath you. 

“I didn’t wanna do that.” “Yeah right.” 

You could see his smile.

You couldn’t help but blush. 

“You’re cold.” He stated, his deadpan delivery causing you to chuckle. 

“No shit, sherlock. Got any more wise words of wisdom?” Now you turned to him, a challenging look on your face. 

“Hold your horses there buddy, just wanted to ask if you wanted to come closer.” 

He removed the hand which wasn’t holding his joint from his jacket’s pocket, slightly lifting his arm- inviting you. 

And there it was again, that dumb smug grin that made you instinctively look away in embarrassment. 

“C’mon, I know you’re freezing to death right now.” 

Fucker.

You sighed internally. You knew that you didn’t have to. You could just ask to go back inside but the choice didn’t really matter. Cause you didn’t want to have the choice.

Without a word you stepped closer to him. Probably the closest that you ever were to him now that you thought about it. 

His arms rested on your shoulder and pulled you closer into him. Hopefully he couldn’t hear your heart because you felt like it was gonna jump right out and strangle him in a fit of emotional overload. 

It got quiet again and you felt warmer. His smell was intoxicating and as you took the last hit off of your joint you let out a sigh to which Zach looked down at you. 

“I like you.” 

You forced yourself to look up at him. You swore that you felt him trying to pull you even closer to him when your eyes met. 

Maybe it would be okay. Maybe if he stayed with you it would get better. 

“I like you too.” 

He smiled down at you. No matter how long it would take for you to feel better he’d be there and he’d listen. 

You didn’t kiss that night.

Because all that mattered was that you and him stood there, losing yourself in the moment.

 For once willingly losing the concept of time as the clock struck a quarter to something. 

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

(Translated by me so it's rough)

It’s a marvel

How the birds

Sit there on the power line

It surely is a miracle

But somehow 

It doesn’t really matter

It’s scandalous

That they’re tearing down the house right here

It surely is a disgrace

But what was here to begin with anyway?

A city demonstrates

But I don’t care

Everything passes by me

I am the epitome of boredom

The only thing I know

Is that I can’t stand myself when I’m alone

A warm breeze blows

It gently lies down on your forehead

A warm breeze blows

Blows through your window at night

And somehow

I wish that I could be that

But it’s all over

I am the epitome of boredom

The only thing I know

Is that I can’t stand myself when I’m alone

When I was at your place 

For the very first time

We laid there on the carpet

It was a quarter to something

I can’t remember how it happened

But from then on, nothing else mattered

And now it’s all over

I am the epitome of boredom

A glance at your eyes is all it takes

And I can’t stand myself when I’m alone

[bunnyychi]

A Heartstruck Collision

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: None

A/N: This is gonna be a slow burn fanfiction and Zach won't show up til some chapters in so I hope you can have a little patience for me :> This is super self indulgent btw as you can see from me making Game Grumps an intrinsic part of the story

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Living in L.A was.. different, to say the least.

Don't get it confused, it wasn't horrible but it certainly was a different experience from what you had known of a “normal life” up until that point.

If you had to use just three words to sum it up, you'd probably say: loud, busy but fun.

You had moved there a few weeks ago after landing a job as an animator at the Game Grumps Company. Your bosses, Arin Hanson And Daniel Avidan, had, after years of only talking about it and never acting on it, started working on an animated Series called “Game Gyaru”.

The ad hadn't just drawn you in because you had been a fan of them for many years, but also because of the style that they were going for. 90's anime with all the good stuff: Magical Girl Transformation, feel good humor and beautiful sparkly, saturated images.

Not only the job offer was great in and of itself but the pay you were about to receive would definitely make up for some of the left over student debt as well as the fact that your apartment was being paid for you by Arin or rather, his company.

They say “never meet your heroes” but in this particular case, you might've just gotten extremely lucky.

You had your first meeting with the Grumps just a week ago. It hadn't been anything special. A few awkward handshakes, tripping over your own words and an introduction to your new workspace (which featured one of the most expensive and fancy drawing tablets you had ever seen by the way) and of course, a brief meeting with your future colleagues. Well- a brief meeting with their names so to speak.

Apparently Ross O'Donovan, which you had been following as well, would be working on the project alongside you in addition to some other names that you haven't had a face in mind to connect them with.

They were most likely cut from the same cloth as you, other kids who just graduated from an art school that totally drained them and that have been begging for a stable job and finally getting a chance to put their degree to something useful.

As you had gotten home after your first day there, it had felt surreal. It still did even a week later and the mere thought of what your younger self would say if they saw you working under their favorite content creators was definitely tripping you up (hence the periodical screeches you had let loose whenever you thought about the matter at hand)

Much to your dismay though, all of the excitement for your new job was not enough to get you to finally properly move into your home. There were still about a dozen boxes standing around, just waiting for you to finally confront all of the useless stuff you had bought and acquired over the years.

Then again, you justified the leftover boxes by saying that you had already unpacked all of the very important stuff like dishes or clothes and yet you knew that someday you would have to face the consequences of your own procrastination.

“Did you just move in?”

“Oh no I uh.. I've been living here for a year now”

You could already hear the conversation happening in real time if there ever came a moment where you invited someone over.

‘Not today though” you thought, a sleepy yawn accompanying It. The last few days had been spent wandering around L.A or doodling various characters to try and get yourself in the right headspace for the coming months. An Art-Block would definitely be the worst thing that could happen right now so drinking in the entirety of a new city should hopefully keep your inspiration going.

Deciding to wrap up for today though, you finished your glass of water and closed your sketchbook, letting the pen collide with the hardcover of the book.

The apartment wasn't really big, yet that was absolutely fine. It meant that keeping the place clean was going to be significantly easier and the chances of losing your keys or important letters sank by at least 5%.

Just as you closed your bedroom door behind you, your phone vibrated in your pocket.

>>Hey there! Arin wanted to text you himself about tomorrow but he got kinda caught up so I just wanna make sure you're ready for tomorrow? :D<<

The text you had gotten was from Ally. She often aided Dan and Arin with their endeavors and all of their projects so it was no surprise that she also assisted with this one. Your encounter with her last week had been quite short lived yet her welcoming personality had you immediately feeling like this was going to be a comfortable working environment and one of the first things she had said to you was:

“And if there is anything you need, you can always come to me, I've got an ear for everyone”.

If that wasn’t the sweetest first thing you had ever heard while being somewhere completely new, you didn't know what was.

>>Hi :) Yeah I'm good, a little nervous but I'm sure I'll manage o7<<

You threw the phone onto your bed, pulling out your pajamas and putting them on, another vibration from your phone telling you that Ally had probably responded.

>>Oh yeah I totally get that dw! Just for your own peace of mind though, you really don't gotta get caught up with putting on a show or acting super professional, we're all friends here :D<<

You couldn't help but smile at that message. That interaction alone contradicted everything that you had heard about working life. Your parents and teachers had done a great job with the whole “that won't fly later in life” and yet here you were, using emoticons while speaking with one of your superiors.

Part of you was excited to rub it in their faces the next time you would call and yet you knew that they probably wouldn't look at animation as being a serious job. At least not if you weren't working for an actual company that had their shows playing on public tv.

Even though it was a sad thing to think about, they'd probably be more impressed if you were working on Family Guy.

With a tired sigh you plopped down on your bed, the slatted frame squeaking beneath your weight.

You contemplated for a second about whether or not you should cover yourself with your blanket. Another aspect that needed adjusting was the heat.

Luckily your apartment had air conditioning but you didn't want it running the whole time. Just because someone was paying for your place didn't mean that you had to max out every cost as much as possible.

Before drifting off to sleep, you decided on the old “one leg covered and one not”, using your body's built-in AC system (which actually worked quite well).

As you slowly succumbed to your own tiredness, your head was filled with all kinds of different images. Some were familiar, clearly influenced by the events of the past days but there were some which didn't quite fit into any picture.

You had met one of your, up until now unknown, colleagues. His face was obscured, your mind clearly leaving out the one part which would make it realistic.

You couldn't really make out what the conversation was about, only the feeling of butterflies to indicate what it was about.

Your hands had touched briefly as he took the pen from your hands, leaning over your shoulder from where you were sitting at your desk. You swore that your body actually started to heat up from what was just a random dream.

He was correcting your drawing a little and then he looked at you, his face so close to yours now and even though he had no face you just knew that he was smiling at you, his gaze softly looking at your lips and back into your eyes.

Gently, he put the pen down onto your desk while you were slowly closing the distance between you.

You felt his breath on your skin, his lips ghosting over yours, almost, finally touching-

“Ughhh what the fuuuck…”

Alright, your first paycheck would buy you an alarm that doesn't sound like an army drill.

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you slowly sat up in your bed. Motivation to start your job wasn’t necessarily the issue, of that you had enough. Sadly though, your sleep schedule had a mind of it’s own. Still remembering all the nights you had spent up and working on your portfolio only for some company that ended up using the Chairman’s son (who had no degree or any creative abilities whatsoever) to design their new bougie logo.

Some might say that there was bitterness attached to memories such as those.

Deciding that huffing and puffing over previous job opportunities wouldn’t get you out of bed though, you finally stood up. Immediately regretting it as you felt your head spin from the sudden movement.

Maybe a little less motivation?

You slowly made your way toward the small kitchen, coffee being the only thing on your mind when it came to the matter of waking up. As you waited for the old machine to get started, you went back into your bedroom. Opening the wardrobe and looking at it. Contemplating.

You wanted to seem put together but also not too much - didn’t want to set expectations that you would only be able to hold up for a week maximum.

A simple t-shirt and jeans. Yeah, that is business casual, right?

In a way you felt stupid for even having to think about the whole thing. It would most likely be no issue if you showed up in sweatpants and a tank top for your whole time being there, as long as your work was good nothing else mattered.

Especially working as an animator, you had learned from personal experience that after 30 minutes your body seemed to magically shift into the most absurd positions anyway. So better be comfortable than not.

After donning on the not so carefully planned outfit, you walked back to your now steaming coffee. One look at the watch on our wrist told you that you had about 20 minutes left. Downing the beverage in a span of time that would definitely result in stomach issues, you opted for the bathroom. The mantra here was the same as with the clothes: Not too much but not too little.

***

The office was nicely cooled, a stark contrast to the humidity outside. You already heard many unfamiliar voices coming from your workspace, nervousness bubbling up inside you. ‘What are these other people like?Would they be way better at this whole stuff?’ Would they fire you if they saw that the others were more qualified? Usually you wouldn’t talk so negatively about the degree that you had worked so hard to get and yet in moments like these you always felt so inferior.

“Yeah, (y/n) should be here any minute now as well.”

As you heard Ally’s voice, you took one last deep breath. ‘It’ll be fine, just play it cool. You’ve come this far’

Turning the corner to the animator’s space, you were met with three unfamiliar faces. They weren’t scary looking or anything, the whole scene itself just felt comical and intimidating. As if you had been intruding on something even though they had been waiting specifically on you.

“Hey, sorry, hope I’m not late or anything?” You glanced at your watch once agin. Just on time.

“Oh no, we all showed up more or less right now so nothing to worry about!” Ally showed you a sympathetic smile to which you couldn't help but reply with one of your own.

The introductions luckily went by quite fast, leaving little room for any awkward silences that you always dreaded when it came to meeting new people.

For one, there was Hayley who seemed to come straight out of the hipster era from the 2000’s. She had long blonde hair that went far past her shoulders and was contrasted starkly by the red beanie which she had pulled halfway over her head so that a lot of the fabric was casually hanging down at the back of her head. It was already clear as she introduced herself that she was an energetic type of person. That and the fact that she had been living in L.A for 3 years now, definitely made you feel a little inferior, even though she seemed friendly.

Jackson, a tall brunette guy whose style was very normal (in a good way), had also been living here with his girlfriend for about one and a half years now. The way he talked and the ease with which he spoke made him appear confident and yet there was something very humble about him. Perhaps a sort of ‘gentle giant’?

Lastly, there was Raphael. He came over to the USA all the way from France and although his english was as good as that of any foreigner who dismissively says that their “english wouldn't be very good” (which was the universal sign of their english surpassing even shakespeare), he still had a french accent which drew everyone in as he was talking. It sounded so much more fancy even though it was just a regular introduction. His hair was tightly coiled at the top and what especially stood out about Raphael was the white tattoo on his right forearm. The white ink stood out like it was some magic seal and depicted a moth breaking out from its cocoon, one wing already free'd.

Out of the other two, he was the most timid one and the only one that felt like he felt as out of place as you did.

“Alright, now that all of us are here, I just wanna make sure that all of you got the mail about the concept for the Pilot?”

Everyone agreed in a half-unison “yeah”.

The Idea for the Pilot was quite simple in and of itself. It was no secret that the whole series was heavily inspired by shows like Sailor Moon or Cowboy Bebop which is why it was set in a sci-fi world which still felt all retro-y. The episode was supposed to start with a little sequence in which Arina was playing an arcade game in their little spaceship and of course, she was losing and punching the machine. Then, Daniella was supposed to come into frame and tell her, in typical Dan-fashion, that it was alright to which they’d have a little banter.

Afterwards, the actual story of the series was supposed to begin. Their superior, a man who coincidentally had a lot of similarities to Barack Obama, informs them about a mission. A woman apparently paged them because her son was acting strange.

The whole episode basically forms about one bit where Arin pretended to be a monkey child called Franklin that was out of control. With the crucial detail that this behavior was caused by some cursed jewelry. The Pilot should end by Arina and Daniella stopping the main villain's henchman who was hexing said jewelry - meeting the big bad guy in the end as well. Typical foreshadowing.

After the brief recap of what was about to happen, all of you sat down on your desks, getting comfortable with the new equipment. Since Arin and Dan had already evaluated some of your concept art and decided upon which would be the best way to start, it was basically just piecing together the puzzle. Well, a puzzle which had to be drawn up and then cleaned multiple times but still.

After a while of experimenting and Jackson and Hayley actually getting somewhere with their segments, Ross also entered the office.

“Sorry I’m late everyone, I had to work on this other thing as well. I'll try to be on time in the future.”

All four of you reassured him immediately, partly also because you all had immense respect for the guy and his abilities.

“What have you gotten so far?”

“Me and Hayley just finished sketching up like three frames of our scenes.”

Ross nodded, trying to see where he could fit into the picture.

“You guys are still getting used to the program?”

His gaze fell onto Raphael and you who could only reply with a sheepish smile in return.

Was it bad that you weren't working as fast?

“If we have to hurry up you can tell us, it's just like new and all. I for one never worked on an actual series up until now.” Raphael spoke up, his accent naturally swallowing up certain letters.

Ross immediately put up his hands:

“Oh no, no, all good! I just wanted to check where everyone was at.”

He scratched his chin, seemingly in thought.

“Okay, this might sound super stuck up and shit but should I maybe take on the role of director? If I remember correctly from your portfolios, none of you have worked on a series so far, which isn't a bad thing-” he hastily added in between.

“I'm just saying cause I've been here the longest as well. Might make things a tad bit easier for all of us.”

It really didn't sound arrogant, it was just the truth after all. No one opposed the idea of having someone as an actual director, seeing that it would probably help the entire flow of the team in the future.

After a brief discussion of how the program worked and how to approach the whole project in the best way, the tension that had been present in the room before practically dissolved immediately.

Ross, having worked with multiple animators already, was definitely educated in how to make beginners feel alright with their abilities and there was a silent aura of thankfulness surrounding all four of you as you continued to work.

***

“Whew, good job everyone! Holy shit that is like so much for one day!” Ross looked at your screens with an astounded expression.

Very much exhausted from concentrating and your hand having cramped up like five times today, you finally stretched. It was one of those that made you feel dizzy and like you were ascending into another plane of existence.

“Do you guys have any plans now?” Ross asked, cracking his fingers one by one.

“Nope, not really. Well, aside from sleeping.” Hayley let out a breathy laugh and got up from her chair.

“I’d invite you guys out for a drink if you want to, some team building and what not.”

That offer would definitely not be turned down.

Ross had mentioned a pub that was actually in walking distance (a miracle from what you knew of American cities). And so, after telling Arin that you'd be finished for today, you guys made your way over there.

The conversations were held light, except for Jackson who saw this as a great opportunity to shower Ross in compliments about his works. The Australian seemed to be slightly overwhelmed by the onslaught of support but he hid it quite gracefully.

You stayed behind everyone as you walked, your social battery needing to be refilled a little before entering a place where conversation was inevitable. You weren't opposed to social interaction, you pretty much appreciated it and realized that you needed it and yet being in a new environment with what were basically just strangers (no matter how famous they were online), was absolutely draining.

As you entered the bar, you were immediately hit with the smell of alcohol and sweat. It wasn’t irritatingly strong but it was recognizable by everyone as you entered, faces twisting for just a split second.

Ross sauntered over to the counter, it was clear that he knew the barkeeper behind it. She vaguely gestured to a corner of the establishment, a little round booth where you were supposed to sit down.

You were leaning back against the soft cushioning off the wall, stretching your legs beneath the round table. The bar looked quite nice, you had to admit.

The whole place looked like it came straight out of another century but not worn out or scuffed. No, it looked fairly well looked after and it seemed that there was definitely no shortage of customers. If anything, you had gotten lucky that Ross had connections or otherwise the plans of a drink after work would have been quickly snuffed out.

The conversations started flowing once again after everyone had gotten their drinks. You mostly decided to listen, chiming in here and there if you had anything in mind that you thought would contribute nicely to the conversation. Otherwise you just sipped on your beverage from time to time, letting the alcohol relax you a little bit more, your fingers still hurting a bit from the way you were holding the pen the entire day.

“Yeah, my parents weren’t really happy with me moving across the entire world.” Raphael confessed, a look of guilt on his face. “I can imagine, you gotta tell us what it’s like in France, I’ve always wanted to go!” Hayley exclaimed, interest clear in her voice.

“It’s not super special, although the cities look nicer, no offense!” Raphael giggled. That you had to agree with. The beach was about the nicest thing in L.A that you had seen so far. Not to mention, walkable cities, who?

“I’ve been to europe once and yeah, it’s like entirely different with how the streets are and all-”

“Ross?”

You all looked up to the voice that interrupted the conversation.

“Oh Chris, what the fuck? What are you doing here?”

Ross got up and hugged the guy whose name apparently was Chris. Could that be the guy from DoodleDoods back then? You remember enjoying the creepy things he used to draw up seemingly on the spot. Didn’t he also have a gaming channel? What was the name again? Oney or something?

“I wanted to come here with Lyle but I think the fucker forgot or something cause I can’t find him anywhere.” He half laughed, he didn’t seem to actually be bitter about it.

“Aw that sucks, well yeah I’m here with my new animation team!” He excitedly pointed toward the four of you now awkwardly sitting in the booth. You gave a little wave to Chris who showed me a little smile in return.

“Animation- oh yeah right! The Game Gyaru thing I remember.” Ross nodded.

“Yup, that’s Raphael, Hayley right next to him and there are Jackson and (y/n)”

“Awesome, nice to meet you, I’m Chris!”

“Wait, you do OneyPlays right?” Jackson spoke up to which Chris threw up his hands in a gesture of feigned defeat. “You got me.”

After another minute of standing around had passed, Chris decided to simply sit down along with all of you, Lyle wouldn’t be showing up anymore anyway - his own words.

What surprised you about him was that talking to him felt very.. normal.

With the Grumps for example there was this feeling of “Oh my god they are internet legends” and although they were just regular everyday people, it still felt surreal talking to them.

The atmosphere in the bar was casual, like you couldn’t make any mistakes and as everyone was agitated in conversation, you realized that living here and working with all of them might actually turn out to be a really fun experience.

[bunnyychi]

A Heartstruck Collision - CH3

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: None

A/N: Wanted to post this way earlier but oh well- This Chapter features a little more coworkers and a little introduction to Zach

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

You had survived the 30 minute walk to the office, albeit you ran out of breath in an embarrassingly short amount of time, you’d just blame the hot california air for that though. 

You were on your first break as of now, another few frames already finished and Raphael already started to clean up the first few opening frames to get a look at how it would turn out. 

Just as you were about to take a sip from your coffee, you were startled by a voice coming from behind you.

“How are my favorite animators doing!?” Luckily you didn't spill the hot liquid over yourself. You turned around to watch Arin lean over Hayley’s shoulder. “Whoaaa, Arina looks so good dude!” Ross was laughing at that, of course that’s what Arin would pay attention to most. 

“Damn, you guys are working crazy hard on this.” Dan seemingly appeared out of nowhere, the cup of coffee now tightly clutched in your hands. God, they seemed like entities that just popped up whenever. 

Ross suddenly jumped up from his seat: “Oh by the way, good that you guys are here now.” Arin and Dan’s heads shot up immediately. “So yesterday we bumped into Chris and he made the suggestion that we could maybe make a deal with Adult Swim in terms of where to stream the show.” 

“What do you mean?” It was funny seeing Arin go into Business mode. His whole demeanor switched up and you once again realized that while yes, he was the funny internet video game boy, he was also your boss now and the owner of quite a big company. 

“Cause’ Netflix takes everything from their creators.” Ross argued.

“And Zach and Michael made Smiling friends on Adult Swim and they never had any complaints.” He continued, Arin furrowed his brow. 

“Well I guess you’re right but like- we can’t just call 'em up and ask about it, I’d have to do meetings and tell them about the premise and ughh..” Arin groaned. Not the kind of groan which wanted to shut you down but rather one that just acknowledged how annoying the process would be.

“But we did all that with Netflix already, just didn’t file a contract yet.” Dan looked over at Arin, his voice was positive as usual. “Yeah but I’d have to do it all over again.” He whined, earning a sarcastic eye roll from Dan. “I mean we can help out as well you know..” Hayley chimed in. 

“That’s true I suppose, I’ll give you guys an update as soon as possible alright? Did Chris say anything about talking to Zach?” 

Ross nodded.

“Who is that Zach guy by the way?” You turned around to Dan who was now sitting on the corner of your desk. 

“Oh he’s like a friend. Maybe Psychicpebbles rings any bells?” You slowly shook your head, raking through your brain to possibly find a file labeled something similar. 

“He’s so fucking funny dude.” Arin said, stepping closer to you to get a look at your screen as well. “Also he has a very interesting manner of speech.” 

Dan laughed at that statement. “Yeah he has like this super nasally voice, the guy’s awesome.” 

You let out a breathy laugh. The kind of uncertain laugh that was only used when you weren’t sure about something but everyone else was apparently getting a joke. 

“And he made, what was it called? Smiling Friends?” “Yep.” 

Smiling friends..

Yeah that you had heard before. You even vaguely remember to have briefly scrolled past it yesterday. If your memory wasn’t betraying you that is. 

“Is ist popular?” You felt rude asking that question yet it was more or less meant in a way for yourself to evaluate whether or not you were actually familiar with the entire L.A. scene.

“I'd say so.” Dan answered with a shrug. Popularity wasn't really something that mattered to him, as far as you knew from his band and what he has said on Game Grumps on many occasions. 

You leant back in your chair, the drawing you had made yesterday night popping into your mind. 

Could this be counted as a weird obsession? You'd hope not, after all you were more curious than anything to find out who this Zach guy was. 

Maybe you should look up Chris’ channel? Nope, that would definitely feel like stalking. But then again, you wondered, why? It’s a public channel, probably a big one as well. 

Grabbing the pen from where you had left it, you just decided to get on with it and simply wait until you met him, if you even did. 

Dan stayed next to you, intrigued about the process and so you distracted your mind by drawing and explaining everything to him in grave detail, which he attentively listened to, occasionally asking questions. 

*** 

You were happy with your work today. if it weren't for Ross’ fear of all of you getting a burnout you would have continued for another three hours at least. 

“Hey (y/n)!” 

You turned around, bag already slung over your shoulder. 

“Oh, you were about to go home now?” 

Hayley held a deck of cards in her right hand. 

“Uh I mean yeah, what's up?” 

“Thought we could play a game of cards real quick?” 

Raphael peeked up behind her, sitting at the little coffee table adjacent to your workspace. 

‘Why not?’ you thought and shrugged. You put the bag down beside you and sat next ro Raphael. As Ross had said before: Team Building and stuff. 

***

Raphael had won three out of three rounds and Hayley was growing frustrated. What was especially amusing though was to see the otherwise shy guy gain more and more confidence with every good card he put down. Then again, watching Hayley bite her lip excessively while trying to figure out what cards you both had was equally funny. 

“I give up.” She said dramatically, throwing her hand open onto the table. 

“Does the fact that the French made these cards give you some kind of buff?” she groaned into her hands, earning a laugh from Raphael. 

“Nope, just got luck on my side.” 

You were truly happy about the fact that you had basically landed a jackpot with these coworkers. The conversations that had started up while you had been playing didn't feel forced, not like anyone was trying to force themselves to get along. 

“(y/n)?” Hayley spoke up again. “Hmmm?” 

You had been absentmindedly shuffling the cards through your hands, one falling down as Hayley startled you. 

“You just moved to L.A. right?” You nodded with a strained noise as you tried to reach for the card which had fallen under the table, hair falling into your face. 

“We could go to this cat café that opened up! it shouldn't be too far away from here I think. We could go next Thursday, I should be free by then!” 

You had finally found it, victoriously you held it up before putting it in a random spot in the deck. 

“Sure, I'd love to!” 

A cat café did sound nice. The town next to where you grew up had one but you had only gonewent there like two times before they had to close up. The cats had been very cuddly though. 

“I have an appointment on that day..” Raphael said with a disappointed tone, seemingly sad about his own schedule. 

“Well then it's a girls date- we can go there again though.” 

The ease with which Hayley said all that was truly baffling to you. If you had been in her place you would probably have tried to make ends meet immediately which would have just resulted in an unoriented mess where you would never end up going anyway. 

Raphael agreed to your plans and then was quick to be on his way home. You and Hayley stayed behind for just a little, saying bye to everyone that was still left along with the two of you. 

You were happy to finally drive your car back home this evening and fell asleep with the thought of a nice day of getting to know L.A. next week.

[bunnyychi]

Next chapter coming this friday 6pm CET :D

(Also, I plan on re-writing the fic for male readers as well but that will obviously take some time. The reason i wanna do this is because I have found that a lot of people in this fandom identify as men/male and I wanna make them feel welcomed on my blog as well as everyone else :3)

[bunnyychi]

A Heartstruck Collision - CH5

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: Getting hit by a door?

A/N: /

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

One second you were having biscuits and tea with Shrek on the coast of Chile, the other you were frantically shooting up from your sleep and looking at your alarm clock in pure terror. 

It had been 2 hours since you were supposed to come in for work. Especially today where all of you wanted to start on the special effects. You had even said you’d come in EARLIER today to show Jackson how it’s done since he was a little worries about not being able to help much. 

Frantically you padded after your phone. When finally having found it, you were immediately met by the notifications of 5 missed calls from Hayley and Jackson. 

"Damnit!"

Quickly, you threw on whatever you could grab first out of your closet and speedily brushed your teeth and combed your hair. 

As you sprinted down the stairs to get to your car, you decided to call back so the others would know you were on your way, finally. 

“Hello?” You could hear Hayley’s voice through the speaker. 

“Hey!” 

“Girl, where are you?” 

You slammed the car door shut, maybe a little harsher than needed.

“Uh well, on my way. I’m so sorry I forgot to set my alarm, I guess!” 

You heard laughing on the other line, in any other situation you would have been confused but now you were just relieved. It was obvious you wouldn’t get fired over one mishap but still, the thought of your coworkers and friends being mad at you wasn’t nice. 

“Someone was getting their beauty sleep. Well it’s no problem so don’t worry. Now put the phone down so you can drive.”

The last bit made you let out a nervous chuckle before hanging up with a swift ‘bye’.

***

Even if you being late was apparently not all that bad, you still hurried across the parking lot and toward the Grumps office, your bag clutched to your side. 

Already thinking about how you were gonna apologize to Arin and Dan, you were just about to reach for the handle on the door when suddenly- 

THUNK

A deep throbbing that seemed to run through your entire head and body slowly spread and overwhelmed all your other senses. 

It was as if a truck had driven right through you, so loud was the beeping in your ears. 

For a while you just sat there, your limbs not quite under your control yet and a muffled voice appeared somewhere far away:

“Oh sh t, Ar uo  kay?”

Your hand was mindlessly rubbing the aching spot on your head, your pupils flooding with light once again as you opened your eyes a little. 

“Hello? Can you hear me?” 

Someone seemed to be kneeling in front of you although you weren’t quite able to see them right. 

"Huh? Oh yeah, I’m- I’m good.” 

Slowly you tried to get up, the man in front of you was eager to help, yet you payed it no mind. 

You didn’t want to be any more late after all, much less facing up the shame of just being hit by a door like some slapstick comedy movie. 

With a strained “don’t worry..” you made your way inside, not looking back to whoever accidentally slammed you right then and there, your face red with embarrassment and the ongoing throbbing in the inside of your skull.

As you stepped into the animator’s office, you were immediately met with 5 people looking up at you. 

“Hey everyone! Sorry for being late!” 

Ross was the first to speak up, greeting you with a lopsided smile. “All good, you look a little scattered there though..” 

As if on instinct, your hands went up to smooth down your hair and to fix your shirt and bag on your shoulder. 

You sat down on your desk, sighing when the ache got worse again for a second. 

“Yeah I got hit by the door on my way in..” you mumbled under your breath. All of a sudden, you heard someone let out a hearty laugh somewhere behind you, making you turn around to see Chris on the couch. “Oh shit, that didn’t happen to be Zach by coincidence right?” He said, trying to calm himself down. 

Zach.

Was that the guy who was kneeling in front of you just a few seconds ago? You had been wondering about him, even watched the first episode of Smiling friends a while ago. 

You remember being truly taken aback by it. The humor was so relatable but unlike anything else you had ever seen. It felt like someone had taken all the uncomfortable human nature and combined it into one show which acted almost like a reflection of how everyone truly was on the inside. 

Alright, maybe that was a tad bit overanalyzed but still, the humor was fresh and new and the voices made you laugh more than you wanted to admit. Usually these typical “funny voices” were low hanging fruit when it came to comedy but these ones felt genuine. Almost like someone actually talked like that. 

Now that you thought about it, the voice from outside the office sounded vaguely similar to that of Charlie in the show.. but there was no way he put on that voice when trying to apologize for hitting you with a door?

“Uhm, I don’t know to be honest, didn’t get a look at his face.” you said, growing a little flustered. 

“What an asshole!” Chris laughed again.

“But he apologized right?” You frantically nodded before starting up your PC and finally being able to help your coworkers. 

The hurting should hopefully stop in a few minutes.

***

“Ughh…” A strained groan left you for what felt like the 100th time today. No matter how much coffee you drank or how long you sat in fron of your screen, you couldn’t properly concentrate on anything. Not to mention that you felt like throwing up for about half an hour now. 

Did you eat something wrong? Why were you feeling like this? You didn’t think it could still be from the door all those hours ago. You had been hurt more badly before and didn’t feel this bad..

Your gaze was redirected by something being set down in your peripheral vision. A bowl with fresh strawberries topped with a slight layer of sugar was sat down on your desk by Chris who was warmly smiling down at you. 

The reason he was here in the office today was unknown to you, you guessed that he just felt bored. 

“Doing alright there?” 

You shrugged and invited yourself to take one of the sweet fruits he had just brought you. 

“My head hurts like hell, it’s a little worrying to be honest.” a breathy laugh escaped your lips, not really being as worried as you just said. It was gonna pass like anything else right?

When Chris didn’t answer you, you looked up at him again, he was staring right back at you with slightly widened eyes and his mouth a little opened. 

“You didn’t get a concussion right?” 

Your heart sank into your stomach. That would just be the thing you’d need now. 

“Uh..” rubbing your head a little softer now, your gaze trailed away from Chris. 

“I- I mean, could be I suppose.” 

Immediately, Chris motioned for you to stand up and guided you over to the couch where he suggested, or well, rather told you, to lay down for a bit, having propped multiple pillows to support your head as quickly as possible. 

Had it not been for the horrible nausea, you might have told him how sweet that actually was. You guys didn’t know each other so you definitely wouldn’t take his care for granted. 

Somewhere in between, he had told you that he’d get Arin and tell him about how you were feeling which you just nodded off absentmindedly, closing your eyes and trying to focus on not throwing up. 

Before you knew it, Arin was kneeling beside you, phone in his hand. 

“Okay, I’m gonna call an ambulance now cause I don't wanna risk you actually having a concussion and not treating it right away.” 

The dizziness made it hard for you to listen but you got the essentials. The bills you’d have to pay were already pushing aside all the worry about your wellbeing. 

“Don’t wanna end up like Matt at Creatorclash..” you heard Chris mumble in the background, a small chuckle leaving your lips. A friend had shown you his fight a while back. Poor guy. 

“Okay, so an ambulance is gonna be here any minute now. And don’t worry about any costs, I’ll take ‘em.” 

Your head had stopped spinning for a second, allowing you to sit up a little. 

“That’s really nice of you Arin, thanks..” He was your boss and you did get hurt at work so in a way that is what he had to do anyway. It was still a nice gesture. 

“Yeah, and I’m gonna tell Zach that he has to make it up to you. That boy got a swing to his doors that I didn’t expect!” Chris spoke up once again, giving you a slightly slanted smile, which you tried to return to the best of your abilities. 

Arin was right, the ambulance had arrived quite fast. You just hoped it stayed a minor concussion and that you wouldn’t be knocked out for months…

[bunnyychi]

New Chapter for my Zach fic out now!

(It has only been a month.. or two.. or three)

[bunnyychi]

A Heartstruck Collision - CH2

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: Alcohol consumption and a weird hypothetical

A/N: Zach is mentioned for the first time let's goooo

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

“Ughh, that is disgusting dude..” Ross closed his eyes, trying to shield his mind's eye from what Chris had just said. 

“Hey don’t shoot the messenger, I’m only re-telling what Zach asked me!” Chris said with a fit of giggles accompanying it. 

“Yeah but that’s like- No dude, I wouldn’t!” Another giggle from Chris who now looked over at you:

“Alright, (y/n) what do you think?” You really tried to ponder over the hypothetical but the alcohol in your bloodstream was telling you that ‘yes, and’ couldn’t be the answer to everything. “No, I wouldn’t!” 

The hypothetical stated that if you were alone in the world and the only other person was a relative, whether or not you’d sleep with them to save the human race. Nope, there was truly no comeback to counter this one.

“I’m still not convinced that Zach isn’t a social experiment.” Ross said, rubbing his eyes. You didn’t know who the guy was but apparently he had more of these theoretical situations which he regularly posed as questions to his friends. 

At this point, the bar was practically empty. Hayley and Raphael had left about an hour ago and if you were honest, you were growing quite tired as well. 

“By the way, what was that about Game Gyaru? Like where is it gonna be streaming?” 

Chris asked, clearly suppressing a yawn himself. 

Ross, Jackson and you looked at each other, Jackson just shrugged and returned the focus to his drink. “Well I guess for now the plan was to have the Pilot air on youtube and then i dunno, I think Arin said something about having talked with Netflix?” Ross frowned, not entirely sure if he was right about the thing. 

You nodded along, that was about what was written in the mails that went around.  

“Ugh but Netflix sucks with this kinda stuff. You won't even get any profit off of those media vampires.” Chris stated, the alcohol definitely turned him more confrontational. 

“Well what do you propose we should do then?” You asked.

“I mean, adult swim is like pretty fucking good with their creators. My friends also have a series on there and they never complained about anything.” 

Ross suddenly appeared to be in thought, Jackson had also perked up again. 

“Welp, anyway I think I'm gonna head home, tired as hell.” Chris stood up, you copied. Going home was definitely in order now. 

“We should talk to Arin about reaching out to Adult Swim, might be a good idea.” 

You agreed absentmindedly but that was a thought for tomorrow. 

Chris and you walked outside, the air hitting your lungs in a weird way. 

“Aw fuck..” you whispered. 

“Huh?” 

You truly were smart sometimes. Drinking alcohol when you still had to drive home. It was a short drive, yes, but still a bad idea. 

“I just realized I still gotta drive home, guess walking for 30 minutes is gonna sober me up nicely.” you let out a laugh realizing that getting angry about the situation wouldn't solve it regardless.  

“Oh shit, yeah you're right.” 

Chris probably wanted to go home but with your confession, he probably felt bad or that it would be awkward if he left now. Instead he put a hand on your shoulder, lightly tapping it with an apologetic smile. 

“I know we don't know each other but I could walk you home? Just for safety and all that. Or maybe Ross and Jack-” 

"Chriiis!" 

A car pulled up and stopped right in front of the bar. There was no traffic going on so there was no urgency to find a parking spot. 

“Lyle you son of a bitch- you're like what-” Chris looked at his phone. 

“1 ½ hours late! You stood me up man..” 

“Oh shit really?” The guy inside the car seemingly looked at the time and then started laughing. 

“Holy fuck I’m sorry!” He wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. Talk about time management. 

“You could drive us home though, that's (y/n) by the way. We've both got alcohol in our system so we need a ride.” 

Part of you wanted to protest, you didn't want to be a bother on your first day of meeting all of these people. The rational part of your brain decided against it though, Chris surely wouldn't have made the offer if he thought it would be a burden. And Lyle also seemed like a sweet guy. 

Without wasting much time, the both of you got into his black car. 

Quickly you gave Lyle your address to which he thankfully replied with a: “No problemo.”

The smile was apparent in his tone of voice. 

The car ride went by in a comfortable silence, Chris here and there talked about who you were and about the Game Gyaru Series, saying he'll talk to Zach about it, the guy who was still faceless in your head. You wondered if you'd ever get to fill in that gap.

***

You waved them goodbye as you got out of the car, having thanked Lyle about a hundred times already to which he simply replied with a genuine smile. 

Waddling over to the apartment complex, you realized that they drove off only when you had actually entered the place, ‘how nice’ you thought as you walked up the stairs. 

When you entered your apartment, the first thing you did was throw your shoes to the side and drop down on the couch. Although you had been tired and ready to sleep for the entire duration of the drive, now you felt more awake than ever. You groaned, thinking about how you had to walk to work tomorrow and quickly grabbed the remote, trying not to dwell on it for too long. 

“What did he say the show was called?” You mumbled to yourself, clicking through the shows presented on your smart tv. Did Chris even say what it was called? That guy, Zach, made the show, that was all you knew. No last name and no face. Exhausted, you turned the tv off again and slumped over to your desk. 

It was one of those weird states of mind where your body was tired and ready to collapse and yet your mind had that last little ounce of ‘can't sleep’ which could keep you up for who knows how long. 

Perhaps doodling a little might help tiring your mind? Pinterest was opened multiple times and closed just as many times. Nothing you were in the mood for was showing up on your front page and you didn't have any ideas on what to search up for inspiration. 

Maybe draw the evening? 

And that is what you did. You tried your best to draw a little sketch of Ross, Jackson, Chris and you in the booth. Jackson's head was resting on the table, at that point he had been very out of it. Meanwhile Ross and you were arguing with Chris about the strange hypothetical. A little speech bubble coming from Chris, a man whose face was replaced by a question mark was in it. 

Maybe it hadn't been your best drawing but it definitely was a fun addition to your sketchbook. 

Finally feeling tired enough, you slumped over to your bed, practically falling into it after setting your alarm for an hour earlier.

[bunnyychi]

Lyle Rath Core

[bunnyychi]

post that zach fic !!

You asked and I shall deliver! <3

(Hopefully tomorrow)

[bunnyychi]

Got a multichapter Zach Hadel X Reader fic in the drafts.. c.c

should I post it?

[bunnyychi]

A Heartstruck Collision - CH4

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: None

A/N: something something foreshadowing

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

As you turned off your computer for the day, a wave of pure contempt hit you. 

It had now been a full week since you were an employee at the Grumps Office and so far, your hopes for staying here had been uplifted every day. 

Truly, it was an entirely different job compared to all the others you had in your past. Especially the atmosphere in the morning was wildly more welcoming than you had ever experienced before, not to mention the praise that Arin and Dan never forgot to drop when they walked past your desk and glanced at your screen. 

Hayley would already be waiting outside at her car for you so you decided to waste no time in packing your bag, turning off the light, and heading out into the blazing California sun which made you squint your eyes together. 

“You ready to cuddle some of the cutest cats you have ever seen?!” 

Hayley exclaimed with excitement as you both entered her bright red Hyundai. Not necessarily your taste but at least the car wouldn’t heat up quite as much.

“Hell yeah” The smile that had unbeknownst to you carved itself onto your face was not lost in your words and Hayles couldn't help but giggle. 

It was surprisingly easy to make friends with all of these people, you thought to yourself. 

Usually the whole ordeal would go quite differently. A lot of awkward small talk, followed by even more awkward silence and stares while you and the other person tried to figure out whether or not to actually be yourselves now or rather play it safe and just conjure up a personality on the spot. 

In the Office though, you had the feeling that no one was afraid to let others see who you were. Rather, if there were ever a case in which someone wouldn’t accept you as you were, that person would just be considered an ass and you couldn’t help but think that that probably stems from the employers themselves. 

Both Arin and Dan have always been themselves and although that could also sometimes be the cause for misunderstandings and weird parasocial fans, they never backed down from who they were. 

That was probably also the case for Oneyplays, you thought as you watched the cars next to you at the red light. Perhaps even more so than for Gamegrumps. From what you had seen they definitely never tried to beat the “weird kid allegations”. 

You stifled a giggle as you thought back to the first time you had met Chris and he had posed that hypothetical to you.

 It was rare to find people who were so openly themselves.

You thought back to your days in school now, the chain of thoughts not making any attempts to stop anytime soon. 

It had not been easy making friends, especially in an academic place that isn’t a university. All of these popular kids made it hard for others to be themselves. Either you didn’t have the right clothes or if you did have the right clothes and the money and whatnot they’d still look at you as if you were scum on this earth, not worthy of anything. 

“Okayy, here we are, you alright there?” 

Hayley had parked and both of you got out of the cherry-colored vehicle. 

“Oh yeah, was just thinking about how cruel kids can be.” You answered, a lopsided smile adorning your lips. 

“Preach. And here I thought my driving was making you disassociate.” She laughed and walked around the car to get to your side. 

You took a playful glance to the parking space and put on a critical face. 

“Well I mean.. I have certainly seen better parallel-parkers” 

She looked at you for a second before sarcastically remarking that you might as well walk home, making both of you giggle as you walked into the little cafe.

***

The place was definitely nicer than you expected from.. well, anything in corporate L.A. 

It almost felt like you had walked into a tiny corner shop in France with how rustic and green everything looked. 

All the windows had beautiful green satin drapes on either side of them, as well as plants on nearly every window sill and corner. As if they had to reach a certain maximum. 

The furniture was somehow chaotic but also fitted neatly together in a strange way. 

None of the seats, tables or couches were from the same material or type.

Seemingly someone took a day-trip through vinted. 

The thing that amused you the most though, were the walls. Nearly every inch was plastered with classical paintings, only that all characters in it had been replaced with cats. 

The girl with the pearl earring was now a cute albino cat with a fish bone earring, and looked mysteriously toward the onlooker. 

One section of the wall had a sign above which read “little artist’s corner” and was a space where kids could draw anything and everything onto the wall. Parents must love going here, you thought to yourself with a smile. 

Even now a little girl was sitting there, wholly focused on the sausage-like creature she was currently creating on the white canvas. 

Hayley navigated the two of you to a free seat at the window, where one cat was happily relaxing in the sun shining through the glass. 

The both of your couldn’t contain a little squeak of adoration as it turned on its back and looked at you expectantly. 

Just as you were about to give in and reach out to the fluffy fur at its belly, you were stopped by someone sharply sucking in the air through their teeth. 

“Ohhh, careful there, that’s his tactic.” You turned around to look into the face of who you recognized as your waiter.. Contrary to the first critical sound he made, his smile was radiating pure positivity. You questioningly tilted your head a little, which made him chuckle. 

“That’s Pudding, he is usually quite friendly, as you can see-” He gestured to the slow-blinking cat. “And he always shows customers his belly but as soon as they touch him he just goes absolutely crazy and wants to play, just saying, in case you don’t wanna get scratched.” 

Hayley laughed, “Well thanks for telling us, he is very convincing though.” She glanced at the little orange furball. 

“Yep, a little menace! What can I get you two charming ladies?” The compliment made the two of you smile bashfully. You let Hayley order a dish and drink for you, since you rather felt like petting the cats than to study a menu and then again, she probably also had good taste. 

As the food and drinks arrived you let out a delighted sigh as you saw the little paw print-latte art.

***

The conversations went from one place to another. Work, and how you both got to where you are now, to childhood memories and places you’ve been. You especially enjoyed watching the kids-wall be filled with more little drawings, it reminded you of how easy creating something was as a child. Where it was truly about just doing something rather than how well you were doing it. In a way, you envied some of the children that drew here. 

“By the way, I never asked, do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, or partner, or whatever.” Hayley stumbled through her words, an apologetic smile on her lips which you simply laughed off. 

You didn’t. It wasn’t really a sensitive topic or something you were embarrassed about so the question posed no issue to you. 

“Uh, nope.” “Whaaat? Why?” It felt a little nice to hear Hayley be actually in shock about your answer. 

“I have exes if that helps.” You and the girl in front of you giggled. 

“Well, what are you searching for then?” She jokingly glanced at the waiter from before.

You sighed. “Well, I don’t know, really. I feel like I’m a liability to that in some way.” You laughed. 

“Why would you say that?” Hayley got serious all of a sudden, making your realize that what you had said might come across as really insecure. 

“No I don’t mean that in like an ‘I hate myself way’” You said with a laugh. 

“I’m just saying that I really want someone I can actually have interesting conversations with. Someone who has a real personality and doesn’t just let themselves be influenced by whatever is in their algorithm right now.” You let your spoon clink the inside of your cup multiple times. 

Hayley nodded in thought. “Yeah, no I get that! Someone who has a life.” 

The way she said it was sort of amusing but it rang true. Especially now that you were so far away from home you actually had the chance of meeting people that weren’t from your school or at best, the town next to yours. Someone who actually lived a different life and had their own experiences to share. 

“Exactly. I dunno man, some of my exes just were kinda.. Immature also? I guess that’s also something I’m not fond of. At least not in a serious way. I like being silly with someone else, it’s just when you realize that their brain is literally stuck at age 12 is when it gets annoying.” 

You laughed, memories of your ex coming back into your head, involuntarily making you cringe a little. 

“100%. Like when they can’t see connections or think logically! It’s literally so frustrating. Also had to struggle with some of that before I met my boyfriend.” 

It was nice to have girls-talk like this. To your surprise, talking with Hayley wasn’t as draining as such things normally were for you. If you could, you’d spend an entire day here with her. 

“You know what? I’m gonna keep an eye out for a guy.” 

You choked a little on your drink after hearing those words. 

“Oh no, you don’t have to!” you laughed breathlessly. 

Don’t worry, I’m not gonna try and force someone onto you!” She answered reassuringly with a wink. 

***

As Hayley drove you home, you thought about if you could actually meet someone here but quickly shook your head to loosen those thoughts. 

‘He’d really need to knock me off my feet if anything.’ you thought to yourself, as you entered your living room. 

[bunnyychi]

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: OneyPlays Crew X gn!reader

Warnings: Mentions of Weed; Alcohol Consumption; Sexual Innuendos

A/N: A small little Christmas Fic that is mostly platonic! Does feature some flirting but all in good fun :)

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

“Dude be careful. Careful now… CAREFUL!”

“I am careful you annoying critter!”

THUMP

Christmas ornaments rolling over the wet floor and a wide-eyed Lyle standing on top of a shaky and rusty ladder, holding up a christmas star in one hand with the objective of putting it on the now fallen tree.

“You fucking retard oh my god!”

Oh, and Zachs screaming as he stood there with this hands at his hips, looking at Lyle like a disappointed mother after her child inevitably fucked up.

That was only one of the scenes which greeted you as you had entered the office on Christmas Eve. Not to mention Adam and Cory’s attempt at baking cookies which you could smell throughout the entire house.

“You guys need any help?” You laughed as you watched Zach pick up various ornaments. You put the presents you had brought on the couch, seeing as there was currently no tree to put them under.

“Yeah I need you to take Lyle out back and put that dumb christmas star between his eyes and through his skull.”

“Well if someone hadn’t been stressing me out the entire time, maybe I would have done a better job!”

Lyle was still standing on the ladder, looming over the fuming Zach from high up, arms crossed.

“(Y/n), can you please help with the tree for a second? I do not have the mental capacity to put up with Tribal over here..” Zach sighed and looked at you with a defeated expression.

Earning a quick laugh from you, you eventually decided to help after listening to some more of the back and forth between the boys which wouldn’t lead anywhere any time soon.

“You know what, I don’t even care, I’m just gonna help Adam and Cory in the kitchen.” Lyle huffed, stepping from the ladder and making his way out of the room.

“By the smell the cookies are burned already so you can’t do any more damage at least.” Zach spat back as he heaved the tree upright again with you. Lyle only stuck his tongue out at him in response.

Especially during the holidays it seemed as if each and every one of the boys reverted back to high schoolers. The way that they tried to “plan” everything also seemed akin to all those events that the students back at your school tried to do.

The entire building was busy, Chris was on the forefront of frantic. Checking how everyone was doing and if anyone needed any help as well as Tomar who tried to “gentle-parent” every conflict or wrongdoing that occured. Spoiler Alert:

It only worked with Adam.

And although the rooms smelt of burned cookies and wet pine needles; the Christmas atmosphere was surely building up. Everyone was wearing red and green elf caps and Ugly Christmas Sweaters™. Especially Zach’s had you giggling once you got a good look at it.

“Wow, awesome sweater you got there dude..”

He looked down on himself before looking you dead in the eye.

“Well he is my hero sooo ... you got a problem with that snowflake?”

His sweater read: “O.G. Don. Making Liberals Cry One Tweet At A Time.” And of course, a picture of a knit Donald Trump accompanying it.

You laughed at his impression. “Sure, yeah. Sorry.” “Tz, yeah I thought so.”

One by one Zach hung the fallen ornaments back on the tree and you started putting your gifts under it, earning a gasp from Zach.

“Holy shit why are some of them so big, how much did you spend?” He wanted to look at the tags, trying to spy for the one that was meant for him. You swatted his hand away quickly.

“I’m not gonna tell you how much I spent, Zach. Just be happy you’re getting anything with the way you annoyed me this year.” “Fair enough.”

You helped Zach with the decorations and the lights, accidentally spinning them around yourself as you tried to untangle the 4 metres of cable as quickly as possible. The mismatched ornaments were all over the place look-wise. Some of them were classic red and golden spheres with glitter over them. Other ones were… more explicit. Santa was definitely presenting a little more than you were used to from the Coca Cola Ads back in the day.

Zach also tried to debate you on the Sonichu ornament which he wanted to hang up right in the middle so it’d be the first thing that anyone saw when coming in. You really tried to convince him otherwise yet his argument of: “Well Christmas is all about friendships and Sonichu was Chris Chan’s best friend so you’re pretty ignorant if you want me to put him in the background” left no room for further discussion.

Once you made sure that Zach wouldn’t take a peek at any of the presents, you followed the smell of candies and burnt cookies to the kitchen where your gaze immediately found Adam who was sitting on the kitchen floor. Joint in hand, staring intensely into the oven (the light inside wasn’t even turned on).

“Oh, hey (y/n)! You wanna try the first batch?” Cory greeted you excitedly. Your eyes couldn’t help but wander from him pointing at the crumpled-ashy piles on the tray on the counter, to the apron he was wearing.

An arrow pointing upwards at his face with the subtitle: “This Guy rubs his own meat”

A Cory original it seems. He looked quite proud as he noticed your chuckle.

“Uhh- think I’ll pass..” You tried to weasel your way out of trying those science experiments. “The second batch won’t be..” “Akin to burn victims? No, I made sure of that.” Lyle chimed in from behind Cory.

“Burn Victims?” Adam gasped calmly yet with a hint of hurt. “Those are my babies all right? You guys are just judgemental..”

“Adam.” Lyle began, he stopped mixing more batter and turned to his friend on the ground. “Eating one of those would be like smoking 20 cigs at once.”

You chuckled at their little banter. You were just glad that there was no more fighting happening. Although that was probably thanks to the separation of Zach and Lyle.

“And what would be wrong with that?” Adam pouted, his eyes still fixed on the dark oven. You wondered how high he was flying already.

“Nicotine, Adam. Not weed.” Cory said before trying to pick up one of the burnt cookies which turned into something that could be compared to dust. Leaving Cory to blankly stare at his ashy hands.

“Mr Stark… I don’t feel so good.” You mumbled, earning a laugh from Adam who hadn’t even seen what you were talking about.

“By the way, where are Josh and Chris at? I saw them running around when I came in and I thought they’d be here with you guys.” You asked the three men in front of you.

“They’re in the recording room I think” Cory said, running a hand through his hair.

Just as you were about to turn around and make your way to the recording room, Adam spoke up quietly. “Noo, No! Chris and Tomar wanted to get a karaoke machine from one of Chris’ friends.”

“What, when they say that?” Befuddled, Cory looked down at Adam who’s attention was still on the oven.

“They stopped by and told us.” Cory’s gaze met yours, utter confusion apparent on both of your faces.

“How did you catch that but I didn’t?”

Adam just shrugged and took a drag of his joint. At that moment he looked like an Astronaut who experienced Zero Gravity for the first time.

“I think we can take out the second tray now and put these bad boys in.” Lyle spoke up. He held up the whisk. “Who wants to lick?”

“Don’t say it like that dude..” Adam finally got up from the ground, he looked like a toddler while doing so.

“What? I’m only offering my creamy left-over dripping liquid to someone in the room? What’s wrong with that?” A grin spread across Lyle’s face as Adam mimicked gagging at his words.

You and Cory simply laughed at the scene. “Besides, I’m sure (Y/n) would love to help me out with that.” A blush spread across your face, a nervous giggle leaving your lips as you took the whisk which Lyle handed to you with a wink. “You’re disgusting dude.” You said before trying the batter. Surprisingly enough, it actually tasted really dang good.

“That’s genuinely quite-”

“LAST CHRISTMAS I GAVE YOU MY HEART-”

Besides making you drop the whisk and probably waking the entire street, George Michael seemed to want to shatter your eardrum with those vocals.

There was a deafening silence after the sudden jumpscare.

“Sorry!” A muffled apology was shouted from the living room, causing you and Cory to double over in laughter.

“What the fuck, Zach?” Lyle wanted to seem pissed but he couldn’t help the corners of his mouth twisting upwards as he shouted back.

The Man, The Myth, The Goblin then appeared in the doorframe to the kitchen, laughing at Adam’s shocked face.

“I just wanted to set up some atmospheric music”

“Yeah and how’d that work out?” You asked as you turned around to him.

As Zach profusely apologized to specifically Adam. Lyle began to put in the third and probably final batch of cookies.

“But in my defense!” Zach raised his voice along with his finger.

“It is kinda funny how that got you like ‘WHam!’ y’know.”

The silence that followed his wordplay was even more deafening than before.

“Alright yeah I get it, fuck you guys.” And with that he turned around on his heel and back into the living room.

Soon after though you heard the rustling of keys in the hallway, announcing the last two of the bunch who were hopefully coming to stay this time.

A bunch of grunts and huffs later, you and Lyle decided to take a look at what was going on and whether or not you were about to witness some extra Christmas-loving, judging from the sounds of panting.

“Oh (y/n), Lyle, hey there!” Tomar greeted the both of you. He and Chris were currently trying to carry in the karaoke machine that had been mentioned earlier.

“Uhh, do you guys need any help with that?” Lyle said, stepping from one foot to the other.

“I mean if one of you could hold open the door so it stops spanking me that’d be great.”

Chris’ back was turned to you, and the door indeed kept wanting to close on him. You quickly got to holding it open for him.

“Oh c’mon you like getting slapped on the ass though, don’t lie.” Zach suddenly spoke up after he entered the hallway to watch the scene along with you and Lyle.

Chris let out a strained laugh. “Sure, but you can do that later, babe.” He said, his voice dropping a few octaves lower, making Zach chuckle.

As you kept standing by the door, you finally noticed the familiar sound of “Jingle bell Rock” in the background, you were impressed that it took only two tries for Zach to set up something as easy as a stereo system. Although his hard work would soon become irrelevant again because the big-ass karaoke machine was now finally inside the office and on its way to the living room.

“Whoa, great job with the tree guys!” Chris exclaimed, wiping some sweat off of his brow before taking off his jacket and scarf.

“Yeah, wait till you see the first batch of cookies.” Lyle said jokingly, nodding toward the kitchen where Adam and Cory were peeking their heads out. “The cookies look good," both of them exclaimed, almost in unison.

“I’m sure you guys did your absolute best.” Tomar gifted them a warm smile, his fatherly demeanor unmistakable in his words.

A genuine smile broke from Adam’s lips: “Thank you Tomar!” to which the other shot him a thumbs up.

Chris then got to setting up the whole machine and for some reason, everyone including you just decided to watch him quietly. There wasn’t really much to do, the tree had been set up, the cookies were cooki(e)ng and music was playing. All of that combined created a sort of awkward atmosphere with some cover of “Winter Wonderland” playing quietly in the background.

Suddenly, Chris stopped handling the cable to turn around to face the onlookers. “What the fuck are you retards doing? Booze is in my car, Jesus christ.”

Lyle was the first to run outside, you and Zach following swiftly after.

As the first opened the trunk, he let out a sound of astonishment. “Holy shit- how much does he want us to drink?”

The trunk was filled with beer, rum, mulled wine and ingredients for eggnog. There was so much that it was no surprise that none of it had fallen over, there was literally no room for anything to fall over.

You rolled up your sleeves and clapped your hands together dramatically. “Alright, let’s get this stuff inside.”

Zach let out a guttural whine as he heaved the first six pack from the trunk, over exaggerating the physical effort to a maximum.

“Stop whining or I’ll give you something to whine about.” You joked at him. Lyle was already gone with some of the wine and rum under his arms.

Zack spat back at you: “Well maybe I’d like that!”

You both looked at each other for a second, blankly staring into the other ones eyes before bursting out into laughter.

“Alright dude, c’mon let’s get this over with.”

20 minutes and a couple of back’s cracking later, all of the booze was finally inside and the karaoke machine was all set up. The fridge had also been emptied for the eggnog and beer, leaving all of the healthy stuff on the counter, unrefrigerated. Cory’s response to your worry about there being mold was simply: “nah it’ll be fine.” And who were you to argue against such a well-thought-out point. (You tried and were just met with the same response).

Soon all of you found yourselves huddled together in the living room. Adam and you taking the carpet as the others made themselves comfortable on the couch.

“Okay! Who’s gonna bless us first with their beautiful, god-given voice?” Everyone’s eyes landed on Zach who shook his head profusely. “Nu-uh, no way. I’m not gonna go first, I’m not drunk enough to embarrass myself like that!” Cory stuffed a beer into his face and Chris was expectantly looking at him. He was the only one standing, excitedly holding out the mic to his friend.

“I hate you people, all of you.” He said, but gave in eventually (after downing about half the bottle in one go.)

After Zach’s (very sentimental) performance of “Don’t stop believing”, Lyle followed with a very metal rendition of “I want it that way.” Growling his way through the song apparently.

You finally decided to get on the couch between Chris and Cory since your bones did not like the floor as much as you had hoped.

Chris laughed out loud multiple times as he listened in on Zach, Tomar and Adam who were desperately trying to get the latter to understand how the machine worked and what song he wanted to pick.

As he doubled over, his hand landed on your leg as he tried to stabilize himself.

“Sir?” You exclaimed at him in a deep voice.

He realized then where his hand actually was. The alcohol seemingly giving him drunk-courage though with how his hand was moving upwards now.

“Oh- oh I’m sorry, I didn't mean to.” He kept babbling, his hand moving further, sending you into a fit of giggles.

“Chris!” You laughed a little louder as his hand was now dangerously close to your lap.

“Sorry, sorry.” He chuckled and removed his hand, holding it up in a feigned gesture of ‘you got me’.

Just as Cory was about to ask what is taking so long with the next song, Adam suddenly spoke up loudly, pointing outside:

“Oh my god it’s snowing!”

As if you were all connected through some secret hivemind, all of your heads whipped around to the balcony.

It was actually snowing. Holy shit.

In a matter of seconds, everyone put on their jackets, boots, scarfs and hats, storming outside to marvel at such a true christmas miracle.

Zach and Adam tried to catch the flakes with their tongues almost immediately upon arriving outside.

You were astonished as you stood there. Under the streetlights, the snow seemed to dance, each little snow crystal seeming like little stars falling from the sky.

“You alright there kiddo?”

Tomar came up to you, putting a hand on your shoulder as he spoke.

“Yeah just- just really surprised is all..” You huffed, leaning into the touch of the man beside you. The temperature dropped quite quickly.

“As soon as there's enough snow for me to form a ball, y'all better run!” you heard Lyle shout from across the lot, he and Chris were trying to gather as many flakes as possible. They were really hopeful for a snowball fight.

“Me too, I reckon we enjoy the snow for now though, might be gone in like an hour.”

You nodded, following him further out.

It didn't take long for everyone to fully revert back to little kids, you included.

Shaking the snow from one person's beanie into the hair of the other or picking up a little from the ground and trying to stuff it in someone else's face. Truly, no one was safe.

The Presents had long been disregarded, almost forgotten in the Winter wonderland you now found yourself in.

Even if it was a cliché, among the merriment and laughter around you, you realized that maybe the real Christmas was the friends you made along the way

:)

[bunnyychi]

DISCLAIMER & MASTERLIST

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

This is an RPF-Account

As you can see from the heading, my account is and will feature real-person-fiction. If you have a problem with that then please leave my blog.

I will not tolerate any hate toward my work or that of others simply because they write RPF but I do want to set a couple important boundaries of what I think is acceptable with RPF and what I think is not:

PLEASE DO NOT:

Do not treat the people that are being written about like they are objects, specifically sexual objects. That means that I don't want someone to express their carnal desire to do X-Sexual-Action with X-Person. Please keep that to yourself.

Please do not engage in stalker-like behaviour with real people. Too often I see low quality zoomed in pictures of someone who didn't want to be filmed with comments that are often similar to my first point.

These people are still real people like you and me and I know, because my wattpad days have taught me, that sometimes it is easy to get lost in a crush on someone. Especially when they are actively responding to fans and putting out content.

That being said; Yes. I do plan on writing smut but I will be respectful and put warnings on NSFW chapters. I hope I do not need to explain that writing smut and objectification of someone is not the same.

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

{ ♡ = smut; ☆ = suggestive; ❀ = fluff; ☾ = angst; 🕯 = slow burn; }

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

ONESHOTS

Ryan Magee x Reader {Supermega}

❀ Red Lipstick

☆ Officer?

❀ You made me a poet

The Witcher {The Witcher/ all media)

☾ Your Voice Remains

{Kaer Morons} Brother Love

OneyPlays Crew x Reader {OneyPlays}

❀; ☆ The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Zach Hadel x Reader {OneyPlays}

☾; ❀ A Quarter to Something

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

MULTICHAPTER

Zach Hadel x Reader {OneyPlays}

🕯 A Heartstruck Collision

[moosemink]

READ THIS BLOG ♡

A Heartstruck Collision

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Masterlist

Pairing: Zach Hadel x f!Reader

Warnings: None

A/N: This is gonna be a slow burn fanfiction and Zach won't show up til some chapters in so I hope you can have a little patience for me :> This is super self indulgent btw as you can see from me making Game Grumps an intrinsic part of the story

Tags: If you wanna get tagged for the next chapters, just let me know!

‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹‧˚₊꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷‧₊˚⊹

Living in L.A was.. different, to say the least.

Don't get it confused, it wasn't horrible but it certainly was a different experience from what you had known of a “normal life” up until that point.

If you had to use just three words to sum it up, you'd probably say: loud, busy but fun.

You had moved there a few weeks ago after landing a job as an animator at the Game Grumps Company. Your bosses, Arin Hanson And Daniel Avidan, had, after years of only talking about it and never acting on it, started working on an animated Series called “Game Gyaru”.

The ad hadn't just drawn you in because you had been a fan of them for many years, but also because of the style that they were going for. 90's anime with all the good stuff: Magical Girl Transformation, feel good humor and beautiful sparkly, saturated images.

Not only the job offer was great in and of itself but the pay you were about to receive would definitely make up for some of the left over student debt as well as the fact that your apartment was being paid for you by Arin or rather, his company.

They say “never meet your heroes” but in this particular case, you might've just gotten extremely lucky.

You had your first meeting with the Grumps just a week ago. It hadn't been anything special. A few awkward handshakes, tripping over your own words and an introduction to your new workspace (which featured one of the most expensive and fancy drawing tablets you had ever seen by the way) and of course, a brief meeting with your future colleagues. Well- a brief meeting with their names so to speak.

Apparently Ross O'Donovan, which you had been following as well, would be working on the project alongside you in addition to some other names that you haven't had a face in mind to connect them with.

They were most likely cut from the same cloth as you, other kids who just graduated from an art school that totally drained them and that have been begging for a stable job and finally getting a chance to put their degree to something useful.

As you had gotten home after your first day there, it had felt surreal. It still did even a week later and the mere thought of what your younger self would say if they saw you working under their favorite content creators was definitely tripping you up (hence the periodical screeches you had let loose whenever you thought about the matter at hand)

Much to your dismay though, all of the excitement for your new job was not enough to get you to finally properly move into your home. There were still about a dozen boxes standing around, just waiting for you to finally confront all of the useless stuff you had bought and acquired over the years.

Then again, you justified the leftover boxes by saying that you had already unpacked all of the very important stuff like dishes or clothes and yet you knew that someday you would have to face the consequences of your own procrastination.

“Did you just move in?”

“Oh no I uh.. I've been living here for a year now”

You could already hear the conversation happening in real time if there ever came a moment where you invited someone over.

‘Not today though” you thought, a sleepy yawn accompanying It. The last few days had been spent wandering around L.A or doodling various characters to try and get yourself in the right headspace for the coming months. An Art-Block would definitely be the worst thing that could happen right now so drinking in the entirety of a new city should hopefully keep your inspiration going.

Deciding to wrap up for today though, you finished your glass of water and closed your sketchbook, letting the pen collide with the hardcover of the book.

The apartment wasn't really big, yet that was absolutely fine. It meant that keeping the place clean was going to be significantly easier and the chances of losing your keys or important letters sank by at least 5%.

Just as you closed your bedroom door behind you, your phone vibrated in your pocket.

>>Hey there! Arin wanted to text you himself about tomorrow but he got kinda caught up so I just wanna make sure you're ready for tomorrow? :D<<

The text you had gotten was from Ally. She often aided Dan and Arin with their endeavors and all of their projects so it was no surprise that she also assisted with this one. Your encounter with her last week had been quite short lived yet her welcoming personality had you immediately feeling like this was going to be a comfortable working environment and one of the first things she had said to you was:

“And if there is anything you need, you can always come to me, I've got an ear for everyone”.

If that wasn’t the sweetest first thing you had ever heard while being somewhere completely new, you didn't know what was.

>>Hi :) Yeah I'm good, a little nervous but I'm sure I'll manage o7<<

You threw the phone onto your bed, pulling out your pajamas and putting them on, another vibration from your phone telling you that Ally had probably responded.

>>Oh yeah I totally get that dw! Just for your own peace of mind though, you really don't gotta get caught up with putting on a show or acting super professional, we're all friends here :D<<

You couldn't help but smile at that message. That interaction alone contradicted everything that you had heard about working life. Your parents and teachers had done a great job with the whole “that won't fly later in life” and yet here you were, using emoticons while speaking with one of your superiors.

Part of you was excited to rub it in their faces the next time you would call and yet you knew that they probably wouldn't look at animation as being a serious job. At least not if you weren't working for an actual company that had their shows playing on public tv.

Even though it was a sad thing to think about, they'd probably be more impressed if you were working on Family Guy.

With a tired sigh you plopped down on your bed, the slatted frame squeaking beneath your weight.

You contemplated for a second about whether or not you should cover yourself with your blanket. Another aspect that needed adjusting was the heat.

Luckily your apartment had air conditioning but you didn't want it running the whole time. Just because someone was paying for your place didn't mean that you had to max out every cost as much as possible.

Before drifting off to sleep, you decided on the old “one leg covered and one not”, using your body's built-in AC system (which actually worked quite well).

As you slowly succumbed to your own tiredness, your head was filled with all kinds of different images. Some were familiar, clearly influenced by the events of the past days but there were some which didn't quite fit into any picture.

You had met one of your, up until now unknown, colleagues. His face was obscured, your mind clearly leaving out the one part which would make it realistic.

You couldn't really make out what the conversation was about, only the feeling of butterflies to indicate what it was about.

Your hands had touched briefly as he took the pen from your hands, leaning over your shoulder from where you were sitting at your desk. You swore that your body actually started to heat up from what was just a random dream.

He was correcting your drawing a little and then he looked at you, his face so close to yours now and even though he had no face you just knew that he was smiling at you, his gaze softly looking at your lips and back into your eyes.

Gently, he put the pen down onto your desk while you were slowly closing the distance between you.

You felt his breath on your skin, his lips ghosting over yours, almost, finally touching-

“Ughhh what the fuuuck…”

Alright, your first paycheck would buy you an alarm that doesn't sound like an army drill.

Rubbing the sleep from your eyes, you slowly sat up in your bed. Motivation to start your job wasn’t necessarily the issue, of that you had enough. Sadly though, your sleep schedule had a mind of it’s own. Still remembering all the nights you had spent up and working on your portfolio only for some company that ended up using the Chairman’s son (who had no degree or any creative abilities whatsoever) to design their new bougie logo.

Some might say that there was bitterness attached to memories such as those.

Deciding that huffing and puffing over previous job opportunities wouldn’t get you out of bed though, you finally stood up. Immediately regretting it as you felt your head spin from the sudden movement.

Maybe a little less motivation?

You slowly made your way toward the small kitchen, coffee being the only thing on your mind when it came to the matter of waking up. As you waited for the old machine to get started, you went back into your bedroom. Opening the wardrobe and looking at it. Contemplating.

You wanted to seem put together but also not too much - didn’t want to set expectations that you would only be able to hold up for a week maximum.

A simple t-shirt and jeans. Yeah, that is business casual, right?

In a way you felt stupid for even having to think about the whole thing. It would most likely be no issue if you showed up in sweatpants and a tank top for your whole time being there, as long as your work was good nothing else mattered.

Especially working as an animator, you had learned from personal experience that after 30 minutes your body seemed to magically shift into the most absurd positions anyway. So better be comfortable than not.

After donning on the not so carefully planned outfit, you walked back to your now steaming coffee. One look at the watch on our wrist told you that you had about 20 minutes left. Downing the beverage in a span of time that would definitely result in stomach issues, you opted for the bathroom. The mantra here was the same as with the clothes: Not too much but not too little.

***

The office was nicely cooled, a stark contrast to the humidity outside. You already heard many unfamiliar voices coming from your workspace, nervousness bubbling up inside you. ‘What are these other people like?Would they be way better at this whole stuff?’ Would they fire you if they saw that the others were more qualified? Usually you wouldn’t talk so negatively about the degree that you had worked so hard to get and yet in moments like these you always felt so inferior.

“Yeah, (y/n) should be here any minute now as well.”

As you heard Ally’s voice, you took one last deep breath. ‘It’ll be fine, just play it cool. You’ve come this far’

Turning the corner to the animator’s space, you were met with three unfamiliar faces. They weren’t scary looking or anything, the whole scene itself just felt comical and intimidating. As if you had been intruding on something even though they had been waiting specifically on you.

“Hey, sorry, hope I’m not late or anything?” You glanced at your watch once agin. Just on time.

“Oh no, we all showed up more or less right now so nothing to worry about!” Ally showed you a sympathetic smile to which you couldn't help but reply with one of your own.

The introductions luckily went by quite fast, leaving little room for any awkward silences that you always dreaded when it came to meeting new people.

For one, there was Hayley who seemed to come straight out of the hipster era from the 2000’s. She had long blonde hair that went far past her shoulders and was contrasted starkly by the red beanie which she had pulled halfway over her head so that a lot of the fabric was casually hanging down at the back of her head. It was already clear as she introduced herself that she was an energetic type of person. That and the fact that she had been living in L.A for 3 years now, definitely made you feel a little inferior, even though she seemed friendly.

Jackson, a tall brunette guy whose style was very normal (in a good way), had also been living here with his girlfriend for about one and a half years now. The way he talked and the ease with which he spoke made him appear confident and yet there was something very humble about him. Perhaps a sort of ‘gentle giant’?

Lastly, there was Raphael. He came over to the USA all the way from France and although his english was as good as that of any foreigner who dismissively says that their “english wouldn't be very good” (which was the universal sign of their english surpassing even shakespeare), he still had a french accent which drew everyone in as he was talking. It sounded so much more fancy even though it was just a regular introduction. His hair was tightly coiled at the top and what especially stood out about Raphael was the white tattoo on his right forearm. The white ink stood out like it was some magic seal and depicted a moth breaking out from its cocoon, one wing already free'd.

Out of the other two, he was the most timid one and the only one that felt like he felt as out of place as you did.

“Alright, now that all of us are here, I just wanna make sure that all of you got the mail about the concept for the Pilot?”

Everyone agreed in a half-unison “yeah”.

The Idea for the Pilot was quite simple in and of itself. It was no secret that the whole series was heavily inspired by shows like Sailor Moon or Cowboy Bebop which is why it was set in a sci-fi world which still felt all retro-y. The episode was supposed to start with a little sequence in which Arina was playing an arcade game in their little spaceship and of course, she was losing and punching the machine. Then, Daniella was supposed to come into frame and tell her, in typical Dan-fashion, that it was alright to which they’d have a little banter.

Afterwards, the actual story of the series was supposed to begin. Their superior, a man who coincidentally had a lot of similarities to Barack Obama, informs them about a mission. A woman apparently paged them because her son was acting strange.

The whole episode basically forms about one bit where Arin pretended to be a monkey child called Franklin that was out of control. With the crucial detail that this behavior was caused by some cursed jewelry. The Pilot should end by Arina and Daniella stopping the main villain's henchman who was hexing said jewelry - meeting the big bad guy in the end as well. Typical foreshadowing.

After the brief recap of what was about to happen, all of you sat down on your desks, getting comfortable with the new equipment. Since Arin and Dan had already evaluated some of your concept art and decided upon which would be the best way to start, it was basically just piecing together the puzzle. Well, a puzzle which had to be drawn up and then cleaned multiple times but still.

After a while of experimenting and Jackson and Hayley actually getting somewhere with their segments, Ross also entered the office.

“Sorry I’m late everyone, I had to work on this other thing as well. I'll try to be on time in the future.”

All four of you reassured him immediately, partly also because you all had immense respect for the guy and his abilities.

“What have you gotten so far?”

“Me and Hayley just finished sketching up like three frames of our scenes.”

Ross nodded, trying to see where he could fit into the picture.

“You guys are still getting used to the program?”

His gaze fell onto Raphael and you who could only reply with a sheepish smile in return.

Was it bad that you weren't working as fast?

“If we have to hurry up you can tell us, it's just like new and all. I for one never worked on an actual series up until now.” Raphael spoke up, his accent naturally swallowing up certain letters.

Ross immediately put up his hands:

“Oh no, no, all good! I just wanted to check where everyone was at.”

He scratched his chin, seemingly in thought.

“Okay, this might sound super stuck up and shit but should I maybe take on the role of director? If I remember correctly from your portfolios, none of you have worked on a series so far, which isn't a bad thing-” he hastily added in between.

“I'm just saying cause I've been here the longest as well. Might make things a tad bit easier for all of us.”

It really didn't sound arrogant, it was just the truth after all. No one opposed the idea of having someone as an actual director, seeing that it would probably help the entire flow of the team in the future.

After a brief discussion of how the program worked and how to approach the whole project in the best way, the tension that had been present in the room before practically dissolved immediately.

Ross, having worked with multiple animators already, was definitely educated in how to make beginners feel alright with their abilities and there was a silent aura of thankfulness surrounding all four of you as you continued to work.

***

“Whew, good job everyone! Holy shit that is like so much for one day!” Ross looked at your screens with an astounded expression.

Very much exhausted from concentrating and your hand having cramped up like five times today, you finally stretched. It was one of those that made you feel dizzy and like you were ascending into another plane of existence.

“Do you guys have any plans now?” Ross asked, cracking his fingers one by one.

“Nope, not really. Well, aside from sleeping.” Hayley let out a breathy laugh and got up from her chair.

“I’d invite you guys out for a drink if you want to, some team building and what not.”

That offer would definitely not be turned down.

Ross had mentioned a pub that was actually in walking distance (a miracle from what you knew of American cities). And so, after telling Arin that you'd be finished for today, you guys made your way over there.

The conversations were held light, except for Jackson who saw this as a great opportunity to shower Ross in compliments about his works. The Australian seemed to be slightly overwhelmed by the onslaught of support but he hid it quite gracefully.

You stayed behind everyone as you walked, your social battery needing to be refilled a little before entering a place where conversation was inevitable. You weren't opposed to social interaction, you pretty much appreciated it and realized that you needed it and yet being in a new environment with what were basically just strangers (no matter how famous they were online), was absolutely draining.

As you entered the bar, you were immediately hit with the smell of alcohol and sweat. It wasn’t irritatingly strong but it was recognizable by everyone as you entered, faces twisting for just a split second.

Ross sauntered over to the counter, it was clear that he knew the barkeeper behind it. She vaguely gestured to a corner of the establishment, a little round booth where you were supposed to sit down.

You were leaning back against the soft cushioning off the wall, stretching your legs beneath the round table. The bar looked quite nice, you had to admit.

The whole place looked like it came straight out of another century but not worn out or scuffed. No, it looked fairly well looked after and it seemed that there was definitely no shortage of customers. If anything, you had gotten lucky that Ross had connections or otherwise the plans of a drink after work would have been quickly snuffed out.

The conversations started flowing once again after everyone had gotten their drinks. You mostly decided to listen, chiming in here and there if you had anything in mind that you thought would contribute nicely to the conversation. Otherwise you just sipped on your beverage from time to time, letting the alcohol relax you a little bit more, your fingers still hurting a bit from the way you were holding the pen the entire day.

“Yeah, my parents weren’t really happy with me moving across the entire world.” Raphael confessed, a look of guilt on his face. “I can imagine, you gotta tell us what it’s like in France, I’ve always wanted to go!” Hayley exclaimed, interest clear in her voice.

“It’s not super special, although the cities look nicer, no offense!” Raphael giggled. That you had to agree with. The beach was about the nicest thing in L.A that you had seen so far. Not to mention, walkable cities, who?

“I’ve been to europe once and yeah, it’s like entirely different with how the streets are and all-”

“Ross?”

You all looked up to the voice that interrupted the conversation.

“Oh Chris, what the fuck? What are you doing here?”

Ross got up and hugged the guy whose name apparently was Chris. Could that be the guy from DoodleDoods back then? You remember enjoying the creepy things he used to draw up seemingly on the spot. Didn’t he also have a gaming channel? What was the name again? Oney or something?

“I wanted to come here with Lyle but I think the fucker forgot or something cause I can’t find him anywhere.” He half laughed, he didn’t seem to actually be bitter about it.

“Aw that sucks, well yeah I’m here with my new animation team!” He excitedly pointed toward the four of you now awkwardly sitting in the booth. You gave a little wave to Chris who showed me a little smile in return.

“Animation- oh yeah right! The Game Gyaru thing I remember.” Ross nodded.

“Yup, that’s Raphael, Hayley right next to him and there are Jackson and (y/n)”

“Awesome, nice to meet you, I’m Chris!”

“Wait, you do OneyPlays right?” Jackson spoke up to which Chris threw up his hands in a gesture of feigned defeat. “You got me.”

After another minute of standing around had passed, Chris decided to simply sit down along with all of you, Lyle wouldn’t be showing up anymore anyway - his own words.

What surprised you about him was that talking to him felt very.. normal.

With the Grumps for example there was this feeling of “Oh my god they are internet legends” and although they were just regular everyday people, it still felt surreal talking to them.

The atmosphere in the bar was casual, like you couldn’t make any mistakes and as everyone was agitated in conversation, you realized that living here and working with all of them might actually turn out to be a really fun experience.