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#:0 what if they got a wheel!
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This is long. At the risk of making things more awkward for myself, here’s venting and trying to organize some thoughts. Attempted metaphors and similes for the state of my fanfic experiences. Heads up: insecurities, doubt, and the like.
My experience on here is like being at a bar or a party with several people. Everyone is there for basically the same thing and having a nice enough time. I’m having a great time even! There’s people I know and there’s talk of what we enjoy or what’s new. After laughing along with others or listening intently, I finally think of something witty or insightful of my own to contribute, so I build up the courage to share. I wait for a lull or opportune moment…
And I share! Sometimes it’s blurted out, sometimes it’s mulled over. Still, I know what I say is worth sharing. I know without a doubt that I am clever and creative. I’m humble enough to know I might flub my words or it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. I try to speak up loud enough, I even repeat myself once or twice if needed.
Sometimes there’s that person or two or more who was nearby and heard me and are so glad I shared. We don’t even need to suddenly become bosom buddies for us to appreciate eachother. They might draw others’ attention back to me or have a nice, brief interaction with me.
But often times, either of two things happen: nobody else hears me or they hear me and just look at me. Some of them are people who I’ve been listening to the whole party. With the first, I can attempt to speak up louder, see who or what’s grabbing their attention, wait and try later, or save face by keeping it to myself.
Now when people hear me and just look at me? Maybe they smile a bit but whether it’s one of politeness or sarcasm or mild appreciation, who knows. There’s no booing or murmurs, no glares or quirked eyebrows, no criticism. However, there’s also no poorly muffled laughs, no looks of rapt attention, no shoulder bumps, nothing to encourage me to continue either. They’ve shown that they heard me speak, but I still don’t know anything more from them. Likes? Dislikes? I’m no mind reader. They seemed to welcome my attention to them earlier when they were the story teller.
So I go back to idle visiting and listening, which I still enjoy. I’ll think of things to say, sure, but I put myself out there less and less. Because why speak just to hear yourself talk? And now I’m taking everything in, but there’s less of an outlet. Then I have a harder time being cheerful for others, including the ones who’ve stuck with me. And I know I better leave before I fade into the background.
———
I enjoy sharing parts of myself for engagement and attention, and my writing is a small part of me. But I feel so embarrassed and naive, that I want to take back everything I’ve written. I must’ve misread the audience or expected too much. Maybe what I said was too niche and I could’ve kept that for myself to be amused by. I’ve deleted games and prompts I’ve reblogged because how pitiful it is to see that with no answered asks following it.
My experience, and other people’s too, has been more stagnate (people with 5x, 10x the notes I get are feeling the decrease in engagement) when I yearn for it to be dynamic. To have pleasant exchanges about any assortment of topics. To visit about characters and stories and ideas, or have a quick simple interactions to say yeah, we both see this or here’s something this reminds me or how did you come up with that? or imagine if X thing happened, what then?
I try to adjust my approach to fit the medium: use specific tags, use tag lists, post teasers, self-reblog, cross post to another site, share positivity and show appreciation. I remember authors so I can check their blogs for updates, instead of waiting for the updates to come to me. I’ve played the ask games and submitted requests. I try to share milestone and writing celebration posts when I see them. Let’s be vulnerable and show more of my personality, I think as I share another game or teaser or read fics of different characters, maybe I’ll seem more approachable.
Being a hypocrite is not where it’s at, I have reblogged tons of fics and shared my genuine reactions because I’ve enjoyed doing it. That’s why I made this blog in the first place: read and share and be a silly fan of whoever. Writing was an after thought. Both are fun, rewarding ways to connect with others, explore characters, and challenge and express myself.
But I sense that there’s an imbalance between the level of what I’m giving and what I’m receiving within this community, and my expectations for both. And I’ve been setting myself up for disappointment. Now I know there’s more than one way to engage with fics and community. It’s not as strictly transactional as I did xyz for you this many times, now you better match that. That’s unfair and unrealistic. It’s reciprocation that’s on my mind.
I’m pouring from a cup that occasionally gets filled, and often partially at that. It’s gotten harder to enjoy myself and to give generous pours to others. I feel like holding my cup upright and trying to take back what’s already been poured.
It’s apparent to me now more than ever that people just don’t notice the things that I notice. They don’t operate or remember or interact how I do. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but adjusting to that is kicking my butt. I am so weary of swinging and missing, of holding out hope.
I’m unsure what this (any of what I just said) means for my fic experience or future of it, but it was churning in my mind for a long, long while. This is one way for me to work through what I’ve been feeling lately. Many people are feeling disheartened and burnt out. I’m sad that I feel the need to rein in my enthusiasm when I’ve never even had that thought in all my years on this site.
….
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BG3 Characters Safest Driver Headcanons
I've been thinking about that poll from months ago way too much, so I've pulled this from my drafts. In this essay, I will explain why Boo is the best driver. Astarion: Terrible. Absolutely terrible driver. He is doing his makeup with the visor down, looking at the mirror more than the road. Suspend your disbelief, he's driving in this universe. He can use mirrors. ♥ You have to grab the steering wheel, regularly. Without warning, the man twists around to find his purse in the back seat because he wants a different eyeliner than what he grabbed. You are on aux duty. He hates everything you've picked. 2/10, he lawyered his way into that license Gale: You would think he would be safe, but then you remember that Gale didn't pay attention in boring classes. And how hard could driving really be?? The man knows how to drive perfectly textbook. He also thinks he knows how to do it better than everyone else. He does not adapt well to poor drivers. The roads are full of poor drivers. He is yeling "Zipper!" at the merging traffic. You spend five minutes in the parking lot so he can find just the right song for the trip.
6/10, you will probably not die Halsin: The man drives slow, I'm sorry. He's fuel efficient as you can get with the windows down. He pulls over and stops traffic for ducks crossing the road, no matter what the current road conditions are. He stops to show you the new tree the neighbor got. He is a Yellowstone Park tourist. He wants to show you the world, one traffic-stopping mid-road parking job at a time. There is no music, we are listening to nature today. 4/10, you will be rear-ended with him and not the way most people want Jaheira: I stand by what I said last time: Jaheira reminds me of so many older women I know. She drives like she wants someone to start shit with her. She's so conditioned by having 5 kids fighting in the backseat at all times that every time she's behind the wheel she's having Vietnam-level flashbacks. Her blood is pumping in her ears. There is no road, there is only the red of her vision. She won't start the road rage incident directly, but by god, she will end it. (You tried to ask about music, but the look she gave you when asked killed the question.) 5/10, you make it to your destination intact. But at what cost? Your pants are a different color at the end of the trip than they were at the beginning. Karlach: Karlach is talking with her hands while she drives. She's fiddling with the radio constantly. You've blown four red lights. Three of them were the same red light because she took a wrong turn. She will not use GPS, she's got the vibe of where she's going. She was trying to show you something on her phone at the same time. It cannot wait. It was so good you have to see it right now. The tunes are so loud she hasn't heard the sirens behind her. 4/10, the tunes almost make up for it Lae'zel: You are helping her check her mirror distance before you get in the car. You are buckled in before the car even starts. You are not allowed to touch the light in the car if it is dark out. She was taught that it's illegal to have on at night and she takes that shit seriously. You are on blindspot-watching duty at all times. You're not allowed to have music on the in car, it is a distraction. 7/10, we are efficient, but we are miserable Minsc: Minsc cannot drive. Minsc was meant to drive today, but Minsc got into the wrong seat. We are all relieved. Jaheira trained him wrong on purpose and will kill you if you correct him. 0/10, don't even try. He will survive the accident, you will not. Minthara: Minthara, light of my life. She is gremlin cackling and riding bumpers the whole time. People are pulling off constantly to get away from her. You are white-knuckling in the passenger seat and are too afraid to let go of the bitch-bar. You pray her airbags are up to date because your life has not stopped flashing before your eyes since you got onto the road. We are exclusively listening to The Flight of the Valkyries. 7/10, it is shockingly efficient when no one else is on the road anymore
Shadowheart: I have been in many a 'Shadowhearts' car. The car is more of a problem than she is. She drives the type of car that makes people go, "You live like this?" She drives a manual. She was not trained to drive a manual. Almost every single dash light is on, the ones that aren't had their bulbs die out years ago. We don't know how old that trash is, but it lives here now. She has one of those cassette players that has to hook into your phone to come out the speakers. Good luck finding the right adaptor in the mess. 4/10, girl get your shit together Wyll: Wyll is the best driver, hands down...when he is alone. Like all things in his life, his greatest flaw is being too polite. He turns his whole fucking head to look at you when you talk because that is the polite thing to do. The road is secondary to how important your conversation and companionship are to him. And you can't not talk him! He's asking you genuine questions about your day because he's interested. You get to listen to whatever you want and he's totally down for it even if it's not normally his thing. He'll find something he likes about it. Alone: 100/10, he somehow makes everyone better drivers by just being on the road With you: 5/10, Wyll, please, look at the road. ;_;
Boo: My eyes are closed. It's better this way. We made it there in record time. I don't know how it happened. I don't need to know how it happened. ?/10, it's best if you don't think about it
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fangirl-dot-com · 3 months
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Chapter 22 - This Was Not the Spa I was Looking For
Uuuhhh, I don't even know what this was. I had an idea and then this other idea fought the first one and won? so, it's completely different than what I had in mind, but ya know what? its written and done.
There is slight SLIGHT angst, but everything is good in the end :)
so sorry for the delay - will be updating a lot this weekend!
like always comments, questions, concerns, messages in my inbox, reblogs, and likes are always appreciated! Love you all and enjoy :D
Budapest Not Included
Champions Standings 
Max Verstappen – 284 points 
Charles Leclerc – 227 points 
Lando Norris – 189 points 
Y/n L/n – 163 points 
Carlos Sainz – 112 points 
Oscar Piastri – 91 points 
Lewis Hamilton – 83 points 
Alex Albon – 44 points 
Fernando Alonso – 41 points 
George Russell – 40 points 
Logan Sargeant – 30 points 
Daniel Ricciardo – 23 points
Lance Stroll – 15 points 
Pierre Gasly – 12 points 
Yuki Tsunoda – 8 points 
Valtteri Bottas – 1 point 
Nico Hulkenberg 
Kevin Magnussen 
Zhou Guanyu 
Esteban Ocon 
Constructors Standings 
Red Bull – 447 points 
Ferrari – 339 points 
McLaren – 280 points 
Mercedes – 123 points 
Williams – 74 points 
Aston Martin – 56 points 
Alpha Tauri – 31 points 
Alpine – 12 points 
Alpha Romeo – 1 point 
HAAS – 0 points 
f1 has posted
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f1 Y/n L/n and Max Verstappen are out of the Belgium Grand Prix after the Red Bull of Verstappen hit the back of L/n. The latter skidded across the track before rolling over. L/n will be looked over at the medical site, especially after her last DNF back in Japan.
liked by y/n.nation, maxverSTOPpen, orange_army, and 802,394 others
max_and_rookie nah man, I like max but that was seriously his fault
y/n_on_top y/n had the priority to make way for him to win. he just ruined both of their races
max_all_the_way y/n should have just let him keep going tho?
redbullcan no she shouldn't cause Red Bull gave the 2-1 strategy, putting priority for the second car
maxiel333 I fear this is Azerbaijan 2018 all over again
f1fan well there goes that amazing teammate bond. great job max, what is this, 7 teammates? bout to be 8
Once again, you were hanging upside down, in the rain. But thankfully, this time you were conscious and talking. 
You pressed the button that immediately went to your panicking race engineer. 
“I’m fine Mitch. Stupid rain. This was definitely not the Spa I was looking forward to. You tell my asshole of a teammate that he owes me.” 
You switched your radio off before Mitch could reply. You were fuming as the marshals were trying to get you out once again. Your race suit was becoming wetter and wetter by the minute. Your back ached as you tried to move. 
So, how did this all happen? 
You had been able to get around Max, per team request to make way on the track that was a little less rainy. Apparently, Max thought that you were trying to get the jump on him and completely rammed the back of your RB20, sending you flying. It was definitely a mirror reflection of Azerbaijan 2018. 
How you ended up rolled over once again, you didn’t know. Maybe your car just didn’t have great balance when it came to kerbs and getting rear-ended. 
In a few minutes, the marshals were able to get you out. As you stretched when you got out, your eyes landed on Max’s RB20 with its nose crumpled and wheel hanging off. You smirked under your helmet. 
“Serves him right.” 
You two were doing amazing that weekend. Max had gotten pole once again, and you were right behind him. Except that Charles was so close behind Max most of the race. Mitch had given you the 2-1 and had told you that GP had also given the Dutchman the same order. 
There was still time for you to have given the position back, but you were quicker on the slicks. You could have easily brought home another 1-2 race. 
But now Charles would probably get his third win of the season because Max was too selfish. 
You watched as he climbed out of his own cockpit and your blood began to boil. He not only ruined his race, but yours as well. Your arms were crossed as you stood in the rain. Replays of the wreck were playing on the big screens, just for your enjoyment. 
The longer you watched, the angrier you got. 
A push to your arm brought your eyes from the big screen to the Dutch driver. 
“The fuck was that?” he angrily questioned. 
Your eyebrow raised under your helmet. Although you were shorter, you knew how to throw your weight around. So, you shoved his shoulder back. 
“Me? The fuck was that with you Max. I was given priority! This was your fault!” you shouted, earning looks from the marshals around the two of you. 
Max just glared. “My fault? That was clearly a rookie mistake.” 
He pushed you again. 
You let out a dark chuckle. “Rookie mistake? No Max. That was a you mistake.” 
Your pointer finger dug into his chest, earning you another shove. One that sent you to the ground. You were now down, looking up at Max as he glared down at you. Tears welled up in your eyes as you watched him stalk away. 
A marshal was quick to help you to your feet. Max didn’t ride back with you to the paddock and walked the entire way. You, however, took advantage of the ride back and immediately tried to hide inside your drivers room when you got back. You kept your helmet on the entire time and wanted to refuse to go to the medical room. Mitch was adamant about you going since the last time you were bruised pretty badly. 
She made sure it was quick: just a check over. After, your race engineer left you to yourself. While you undressed and peeled off your wet race suit, your mind started swimming. 
Feelings of guilt and anxiety were building in your core. Soon, you were beginning to sob as you sat on your little bed. Really, all you wanted to do was curl up and sleep, preferably with your boyfriend, who was all the way in the Ferrari garage. 
Your sobs quieted down as your eyes began to droop. Taking a nap right now seemed to be a good choice as you lied down on the small bed, curling up in a ball. A nap would keep you safe from whatever was going on. You didn’t have to deal with anything if you were asleep. 
Right as you were falling asleep, Max had just gotten back to the garage. His helmet was in his hands and his eyes were to the floor, missing the disapproving looks from everyone. On the way back, he had time to think about what he had done. 
Yes, he knew that you were given priority, but didn’t know exactly why. You didn’t seem faster on the slicks or were gaining. He didn’t expect you to go around him like that. And now looking back, he could see that you were making a way for him by getting rid of some water on the track so he could get more grip. 
What he didn’t expect was a shove to the back and a punch to the face. He barely had time to turn around before he landed on his ass on the concrete of the garage. He was so taken back that he really couldn’t understand what was going on. 
All he knew was that his face hurt, his ass hurt, and his pride hurt. 
How could he have done that to you? 
When he got his bearings, he finally saw a certain Monegasque be held back from jumping on him. Spits of French and English were thrown at him, and he deserved it. Once he was back on his feet, Arthur took two handfuls of his race suit and pulled him down. 
There was hardly a height difference, but right now Arthur looked a lot bigger than Max did. 
Arthur leaned close to Max’s face. 
“How dare you? You know that she would do anything for you and what do you do to thank her? You push her down. You break her down. You blame her for your mistake.”
Silence was all that Max could offer. 
Arthur scoffed as he let go. 
“You’re no better than her parents.” 
With that, he left and walked toward your room. He harshly pushed the door open, only to find you sound asleep, oblivious to the world outside. Arthur turned off the lights before gently climbing into your bed. He didn’t know how the two of you had fit, but you did. 
He guessed that you must have sensed him as you turned over and dug your head into his neck almost immediately. Arthur pulled out his phone before googling flights back to Monaco, back to home. He’d keep you in his pocket if he had anything to do it. 
Race Results: 
Charles Leclerc – 25 points 
Carlos Sainz – 18 points 
Oscar Piastri – 16 points (fastest lap) 
Valtteri Bottas – 12 points 
Lewis Hamilton – 10 points 
George Russell – 8 points 
Fernando Alonso – 6 points 
Alex Albon – 4 points 
Logan Sargeant – 2 point 
Zhou Guanyu – 1 point (highest placing this season) 
Lando Norris (spun out on last lap and barely missed the points) 
Daniel Ricciardo 
Yuki Tsunoda 
Kevin Magnussen (highest placing this season)
Nico Hulkenberg (highest placing this season) 
Pierre Gasly 
Esteban Ocon 
Lance Stroll 
Y/n L/n – DNF 
Max Verstappen – DNF 
Champions Standings: 
Max Verstappen – 284 points
Charles Leclerc – 252 points 
Lando Norris – 189 points 
Y/n L/n – 163 points 
Carlos Sainz – 130 points 
Oscar Piastri – 107 points 
Lewis Hamilton – 93 points 
George Russell – 48 points 
Alex Albon – 48 points 
Fernando Alonso – 45 points 
Logan Sargeant – 32 points 
Daniel Ricciardo – 23 points 
Lance Stroll – 15 points 
Pierre Gasly - 12 points 
Valtteri Bottas – 13 points 
Yuki Tsunoda – 8 points
Zhou Guanyu – 1 point 
Nico Hulkenberg 
Kevin Magnussen 
Esteban Ocon 
Constructors Standings
Red Bull – 447 points 
Ferrari – 382 points 
McLaren – 270 points 
Mercedes – 141 points 
Williams – 80 points 
Aston Martin – 60 points 
Alpha Tauri – 31 points 
Alpha Romeo – 14 points 
Alpine – 12 points 
Haas – 0 points 
Max had gotten a long talking to after everything was over. Christian probably screamed at him for over an hour, plus what GP and then what Mitch had to say after. He had wanted to apologize beforehand, but it seemed as though Arthur didn’t wat Max near you within a 25 foot radius. 
And when the Dutchman thought he could speak to you at the hotel, he had to find out the hard way that you had left that afternoon to go back to Monaco before the second Italian Grand Prix. Max huffed as he thought over what he should do. 
Just as you had anxiety and guilt about the incident, Max dubbed his as 10 times worse. This was it. In the past, everyone told him that he always messed up teammates for other drivers. That’s why Daniil didn’t work out, or Carlos, or Daniel, or Pierre, or Alex, or Checo. One way or another, Max always fucked it up. 
Well, that’s what his mind was telling him. 
And he didn’t want you to just be another name to the list. 
So with phone in hand, and pilot on call, he made the executive decision to fly back to Monaco. He knew exactly where your apartment was, since you gave me the address when you first moved in and a key for emergencies. 
When he landed, he went straight to the grocery store. Knowing that you had the cooking skills of Arthur and Charles combined and the pickiness of Lando amplified, he guessed that you and Arthur probably haven’t had dinner yet. So, he grabbed ingredients to make pizza. Simple enough. 
He drove to your flat and was suddenly enveloped with fear. He hit his head on the steering wheel once he parked. 
“I’m so stupid,” he whispered to himself as he gazed at the lights on in the windows. His head was still on the wheel as he turned to look down. What he failed to notice was you looking through the window. 
“Cheri? Is everything alright?” you heard Arthur call out from the kitchen. You two had just burnt some pasta while trying to make dinner. You gazed down at the familiar car parked in front. 
“Cheri?” 
Now Arthur was close, also looking out the window. 
“It’s Max.” 
The Monegasque scoffed. “What’s he doing here?” 
You hummed. “He’s probably wanting to apologize. I know what he’s like. Thur, he didn’t mean it.” 
Arthur’s eyes changed from cold to understanding. He had heard enough stories from his own brother along with gossip in the paddock about Max’s childhood (or lack thereof). 
He huffed once before saying, “Go to him and then invite him up.” 
He watched as your eyes lit up, before you placed a kiss on his lips. A smile formed on his lips as he watched you slide shoes on and go out the door. Arthur turned back to the kitchen. He guessed he needed to clean up before you invited thee Max Verstappen into the house. 
Max was so caught in his head that he missed you peering in. Only when you slightly knocked on the door, did he jump. He accidentally pressed the horn, making it echo down the empty road. He quickly unlocked the door, which let you slip in. 
His blue eyes gazed into yours before he started to cry. You looked at him with a frown on your face as he tried to desperately wipe his tears. He took many harsh inhales, trying to get his emotions under control. 
Max expected you to yell, scream, and hit at him. Yet, you gently placed a hand on his back and started to comfort him, like he’s done many times before. 
You let him cry and cry until he was ready to talk. 
“I’m such an asshole,” was the first thing that escaped his lips after his sobs started to break. 
You chuckled. “I could have told you that.” 
Max’s lips curved upwards in a small smile before going straight once again. He took another shuddering breath before continuing. 
“I don’t want to repeat the past. I am so sorry for what I did to you, that was unfair of me. I wanted to apologize before you left, but I was too late. And I didn’t want to end today without apologizing to you. Because I don’t want you to be another teammate that I failed.” 
He turned to you, eyes still glossy with leftover tears. 
You leaned to give him a hug across the dash, one that he was thankful for. 
He was the first one to part, still wiping at his eyes. You only gazed at him with compassion. When he was done sniffling, you started to talk. 
“Max, look at me please?” 
He turned his head so his bloodshot blue eyes could look at you. He looked utterly exhausted and your heart broke. If he was anything like you, you knew how much guilt he was carrying. 
“You’re not, we’re not, going to repeat the past. I just need you to understand that I am your team player. And when I’m given a team order, I will follow it every time.” 
Max’s head nodded in agreement. 
“I’m sorry.” 
“I already forgave you before I left the paddock. I heard Christian yelling at you.” 
A snort left his nose. “It was probably for the best.” 
The car was filled with a comfortable silence before Max broke it. 
“Did you and Arthur have dinner yet?” 
“Max. What do you think?” 
“I’m going to take that as a no. Good think I bought groceries. Seriously, I am getting you and the Leclercs cooking lessons for Christmas.” 
“I’m not that bad.” 
“You almost burnt down my entire kitchen.” 
“Not on purpose.”  
y/n.89 has posted
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y/n.89 have pizza, teammate, and bestie - will travel
liked by maxverstappen1, arthur_leclerc, logansargeant, and 90,294 others
y/n&co guys I was super worried but now I'm perfectly fine
rookie+maxie guys I truly believe that y/n is going to stay his teammate for as long as possible
best_duo frfr - no one has been on his level and he finally has a teammate that can keep up with him
y/n.nation generational talent right there
maxverstappen1 glad I could feed you two
y/n.89 we would have been fine on our own maxverstappen1 sure, after you burnt your food and almost set your apartment on fire y/n.89 hey, Arthur was there too? arthur_leclerc what is with this slander?????
f1_fan guys guys guys, it's the Dutch Grand Prix and then MONZA hello?????
true_tifosi I know I want to see Charles win again, but y/n deserves something
dutch_anthem_on_repeat time for MAX MAX MAX SUPER MAX
orange_army we are ready with flags and capes, bring it on Netherlands!!
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kaleldobrev · 7 months
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Comfortable?
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Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem!Reader
Summary: Falling asleep in Dean's lap while he's driving
Word Count: 516
Warnings: None, honestly just pure fluff
Authors Note: Takes place pre-season one | Would anyone be up for a pre-season series with reader and Dean? Been really in the mood to write a little something | If you liked this, don’t forget to like & reblog. I really appreciate it! Feedback is always welcome ♡
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You didn't know what it was about Baby that had made you feel so safe and secure, but each and every time you stepped foot inside of her, all anxiety and fear that you once had would quickly wash away. She wasn't a quiet vehicle by any means. The engine roared, and sometimes she would bump a little more prominently on certain roads, the sound of legos would rattle when the AC or heat would be turned on, and Dean would always have some type of cassette playing even if you were attempting to get even a wink of sleep.
The more you thought about it, maybe it wasn't Baby who had made you feel safe and secure, but it was the man that drove her.
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As Dean drove along the highway, there were no cars in sight. The only kind of light for miles were the headlights of Baby; not even streetlamps. Metallica was playing softly on the radio, as Dean lowered the volume so the two of you could talk without yelling over the music. But the conversation didn't last long as you felt your eyes starting to grow heavy.
You wanted to try and stay up so you could continue talking to Dean, but the tiredness that you were feeling was starting to take over more and more. Letting out a small yawn, you pressed your back to the passenger side door and crossed your arms, trying to get into a comfortable position. "Gonna sleep on me?" Dean asked, briefly looking at you before looking back at the road again.
"Unfortunately, yes," you confirmed. "I just feel exhausted all of a sudden," you said.
"Want your blanket? It's still laid out from earlier," Dean said winking. You looked at him, not responding to his comment as you were too tired. Usually, you'd give him some kind of sassy remark, or tease him, but instead, you simply just leaned into the back seat, grabbing the blanket Dean had placed neatly before the two of you had sex a few hours prior.
Taking the blanket you wrapped it around yourself, and tried your best to get comfortable, but you found yourself shifting way too much. "Come here," Dean said, gesturing for you to lay down.
"You sure? Won't be distracting?" You asked.
He shook his head. "Not at all," he reassured. "Now come here. I want you to be comfortable. We got a long drive."
"Okay," you said, before shifting positions. You placed your head in Dean's lap, while the soles of your boots pressed up against the passenger side door. When you looked up briefly, your boyfriend was slightly grinning. "Comfortable?" You asked.
"I should be the one asking you that," he said, letting out a small chuckle. "But yes, I am comfortable. Are you?"
"Yeah," you replied. "Wake me up if we stop okay?"
"Sure thing Sweetheart," he said, his free hand that was currently not on the wheel started stroking your hair gently; your eyes starting to flutter closed. "Goodnight Sweetheart."
"Goodnight Dean," you smiled before feeling yourself drifting off to sleep.
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me-loving-woso · 5 months
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Beach days, new teammates and love confessions
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After literally months I am back. This is part 2 of Bruises Apologises and Cookies? It’s 15 k and probably I’ll make also a part 3 cause I am now invested in the story. Let me know if I should go on.
The season ending was a very bittersweet moment for you. From one point of view, you really didn't want to leave your club when they had given you so much.
The fans loved you, your teammates had become family, and the stadium was a second home for you. But you knew that you had to move for your career to flourish and make you reach your full potential.
The last game you played was the final of the Coppa Italia against Juventus. Your captain gave you the armband to lead your team one last time, and you were trying to hold off the emotions welling up. You almost felt like you were betraying the team in a sense. Still, you knew it was only an impression, as everyone was spurring you to go to Barcelona. They only wanted what was best for you. 
You won 1-0 in that game, with your goal making the difference. Your teammates made you lift the cup and shed one or two tears. You gave a small farewell speech, and then, for the last time, you rounded your little stadium, where you'd play all of your matches with the team, and said goodbye to your teammates and the fans.
Your mind went on autopilot after that. You pushed away all of your sad feelings in the locker room and in the car to go back home. At home, there you broke down. It was really over. The team, the club that had given you so much, was not your team anymore. And a new adventure was about to start. 
-
The following day, you fled to Eindhoven with some of your friends from the National Team to see the Champions League final. You had promised Mapi that you would be there and also because you were there to meet the coach of Barcelona to finalize the contract with the club.
As soon as you land in Eindhoven, you text Alexia, telling her you have just landed. Your relationship with her had been highly confusing since she welcomed you into her home after the defeat against your team. Something between the two of you had shifted.
She took care of you and made you feel safe in her arms. It had been a long time since you felt like being with her was just casual, on your part at least. Maybe she was just being polite and not actually caring more than necessary. Yet, you would text or call almost daily to talk about your days or just football. She was the first person you told about your move to Barça and she couldn't have been more supportive. 
As you texted her at the airport, she told you that you wouldn't see each other before the game because she was stuck in media duties. Still, she informed your friend and soon-to-be teammate that you had landed, so at least you would get to see Mapi.
As soon as you left your suitcase in the hotel, you got to the bar where you told her you would meet her.
"Soo, what are you doing in the summer?" You ask her while you are both eating some way too unhealthy burgers.
"Ingrid and I thought about going to Ibiza for a week; why?"
"Would you like to come to Italy for a few days?" You offer her, every year, you booked this tiny house for the whole summer in Praiano, near an abandoned beach. You thought it was a total steal for how much you had paid for it. You usually would go there with friends or family for a few weeks. It was really your favorite place to be.
"I would love to come, but I don't want you to third-wheel us." You chuckle. 
"What makes you say I'm not inviting anyone else?" You smirked suggestively, making her understand what you were insinuating.
"So you finally made it official?" You had asked Alexia to join you for the holidays the last time you saw her when she told you that she had never actually been to Italy if not for a match, you said it was unacceptable, so you offered yourself as a tour guide.
A week or so later, you realize that spending more than a day together would be a bad idea for fear of spilling out your deep, confused, and embarrassing feelings for her. So you decided to invite Mapi along.
"Again. We. Are. Not. Dating." You repeat to her for the millionth time, frankly also trying to convince yourself.
"So you are not going on holiday with her."
"Yes, I am. As friends." You explain, trying to find the right words.
"Only friends?"
"Well, with also some other benefits." Her face turns into a disgusted look. "What?"
"You are talking about my captain, it's weird." Frankly, she will be your skipper too, which meant that you were banging your boss? That was a thought for the future you.
"I really hope you would like to join us if you have nothing better to do." You really hoped she would say yes because you had planned to tell her you were joining Barcelona there.
"I'll talk to Ingrid about it, but you know I can't say no to Italy."
As you return to the hotel, you have a drink with your friends, and then you excuse yourself to go to bed when you hear your phone buzz.
Your Favourite Kickboxer ;)
'You up?'
'Yes, Why are you not asleep? It's late, and tomorrow you have a big game.' You reply.
'Just the nerves are getting to me. Last year with Lyon, we got demolished; I don't want it to happen again. It was difficult to keep the team united after such a loss, and I don't want to disappoint the fans.'
'Can I call you?' She sends another text.
You quickly start a video call, and she immediately picks up.
"Hey, cariño."
"Hey, Ale." You both smile dumbly at each other for a couple of seconds, but then you get interrupted by one of her yawns.
"You need some sleep, piccola, or you will be tired tomorrow. And as for the Lyon thing, you cannot predict the score tomorrow; you just can control how you play and try your best to motivate your team to be the best version of themselves. Lead them to glory, and give it your all. You won't have any regrets if you give everything on the pitch." You try to make her feel better, even though you know she will be stuck in her head all night.
"I'll try my best."
"And the least you could do, after ditching me tonight, is to score a goal for me tomorrow. It's the least." You tease her, making her smile.
"Asking for a goal in a Champions final? You know you are a very hard girl to satisfy, right?" She chuckles, making you feel relieved that you were able to make her feel a little better.
"You would be the expert on that, right?" You smirk suggestively, making her raise an eyebrow.
"Oh, I definitely am." She replies confidently.
"Go to sleep, piccola mia; tomorrow is a big day for you."
"Goodnight, cariño."
"Buonanotte, Ale."
-
The morning after you woke up, you quickly texted Alexia for good luck. 
As soon as you got to the stadium, the tension was palpable, especially when in the first half Barcelona was down 2-0. You were getting extremely nervous and anxious. Your teammates, who were watching the game with you, noticed that. You were biting your nails to the skin. You didn't want them to lose, but if a team could turn around a 2-0, it was going to Barça, or at least you hoped so.
As soon as you saw the players come on the pitch for the second half, they all held an expression you couldn't understand. A mix of determination and hunger, especially Alexia.
The second half started, and not two minutes after, your woman bagged the first goal of the remontada. She ran to her fans, looking at you, making your initial with her hands, making all of your organs flip, fully blushing at the gesture. You really thought that she didn't take seriously what you said the day before. 
As soon as she made that gesture, your now ex-teammates, watching the game with you, noticed what had happened and put the dots together.
"It's her, isn't she?" Linari asks you, wearing a shocked expression.
"What?"
"The girl from Barça that you are seeing. It's Alexia Putellas?" You chuckle, turning around to see the game, making her understand she was right. You weren't denying it anymore.
Not even two minutes later, Alexia scores a header, making the score a draw. She ran up to the side of the field, making your initials again and then celebrating with a little bow.
Barcelona was finally on track, and you could see that the intensity was getting much higher than it was before. Alexia played some of her best football in that second half. The game found an advantage with Rölfo when she scored the match's final goal and game-winner.
You saw her lift the trophy, making your heart grow a thousand times bigger on how much you were proud of her.
Then Mapi came to you, and you hugged her, congratulating her. You mingled in the stadium for a little while and finally left to the parking lot. You wanted to see Alexia but knew she needed to focus on celebrating and her teammates. You could text her later when she had the time to reply.
.
Your Favourite Kickboxer ;)
'Meet me in the hallway at the stadium?'
You quickly excuse yourself from your friends and sneak inside the stadium again. As you were walking down the hallways to find her, you felt two hands sneak up on you, making you turn around.
She quickly picked you up from the air, giving you a bone-crushing hug.
"I'm so proud of you, Ale!" You say, nearly tearing up.
She puts you down, turns her head to look at her surroundings, and then kisses you quickly, catching you completely off guard. "I have to return to Barcelona now, but I couldn't leave without seeing you." She says excitedly, you had never seen her this happy.
"You did it! You scored two goals. You are champions once again! I'm so fucking proud of you, Ale!" 
"Did you see! I did your initials. Two goals for you, cariño! I probably wouldn't have won the trophy if it wasn't for you." She places her hands on your cheeks, smiling.
"I didn't do anything. It's all on you. I just gave you a little reassurance."
"You don't give yourself enough credit. I have to go now! I have a trophy to bring back to Barcelona. I'll see you in two weeks, cariño." She gives you a quick peck on the lips and then leaves for the dressing room.
The next day, your Instagram was swarmed by pictures of her celebration and a video of the team that was clearly hungover Alexia included, which made you chuckle.
-
That day, you were leaving for Praiano with some of your closest friends from the Roma team. You had invited them to spend the last days in Italy with you before you moved to Barcelona.
The club announced your signing in the middle of the transfer season so as not to overshadow your signing for the Champion's League win; you thought it was totally unnecessary, but LaPorta wanted to give you a 'proper welcome.'
The day of your announcement coincided with the day Mapi would arrive in Italy. You really wanted to be the one telling her that you would be joining her team, so you talked to Ingrid, begging her to not make your friend open her phone for that day. They would stay with you for five days before leaving for Norway. In contrast, Alexia would remain with you for the whole week, which was something that you were looking forward to some alone time with her. Still, you were also nervous about being alone with her in fear of blurting out your surely unrequited feelings for her.
As soon as her flight landed, you went to pick her up, 
She was wearing some Barça shorts and a baggy t-shirt, wearing a messy bun, and walking towards you. As soon as she was close enough, you ran up to her and hugged her, which she soon reciprocated, picking you up from the air.
"Hey, cariño."
"Hi, champion." She put you down, buried her head in the crook of your neck, and placed a small kiss there.
Then you took her suitcase, grabbed her hand and led her outside the airport. As soon as you get into the car, she takes your hand again and never returns it for the rest of the trip.
"How was the flight?" 
"It was good, though nobody speaks Spanish here; they just add the S to the end of every word in Italian. It's so annoying." She pouts cutely.
"Welcome to Italy."
"So, is Mapi already here?"
"No, they are coming tomorrow morning; they had an issue with the plane tickets."
"So we are alone tonight?" She grins suggestively while you quickly nod at her before focusing back on the road. "So, what are the plans for tonight?"
"It depends on how tired you are." She had just had a whole week celebrating with her teammates, and you could understand if she wanted a relaxed night in. You turn around to see her expression, a mix between a smirk and a suggestive glare. "Oh my god, woman! I didn't mean it like that! I'm more than just a body." You remark jokingly as if you weren't thinking about the same thing as her. 
"I know. I love your body." She kisses the back of your hand. "Just as much as I love what it's inside here." She lightly taps your temple, making you slightly blush at her compliment. "SO, what are the plans for tonight?"
"If you are up to it, I wanted to take you out to dinner; since you say that Spanish food is better than Italian, I want to prove you wrong. And if you still have some energy, we can go for a walk later; I can show you around the city."
"I'm good for anything you want to."
-
As soon as you get to the house, Alexia's eyes widen.
"Oh wow, this is beautiful." She opens her mouth in wonder. 
"Wait until you see the beach!"
You stop the car and take her suitcase inside the house while she is toeing behind you. You take her outside to see the small private beach.
"How did you find this place?" She marvels, still looking at the clear water in front of her.
"We used to come here when I was little; I've actually started saving up money to buy this place. The owner loves me and has no kids, so he is okay with me buying it."
 She turns to you, taking you by your sides. "Thank you for bringing me here."
"No problem."
"Now, can you show me the room? I would like to change clothes."
You grab her hand and take her inside the tiny house. "I'm sorry it's a little messy." You still had some bottles of wine opened and some glasses on the table from the previous night. "My friends left this morning, and I still didn't have time to clean up."
"If that is messy for you, you don't want to come to my house during the holiday season." She lightly jokes.
You take her to one of the spare rooms, where she places her suitcase on top of the bed, and then she quickly looks at her surroundings, confused.
"Is this your room? Because I don't see your stuff in here."
"No, my room is over there." You point at the end of the hallway. 
"Just take me to your room; we are going to sleep on the same bed anyway." She says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Well, I thought that you might want your own space."
"You have to stop being so accommodating. If I wanted my space, I would've stayed at home. I came here because I wanted to be with you. So stop being so cautious around me and take me to your room." She says, using her commanding voice that she only used on certain occasions, which she knew had an effect on you. 
You take her to your room, which is the best room in the house. It was the biggest and had a great sea view outside the window.
You leave to make her change while you go in the living room.
-
She wore shorts, her bikini, and an open button-down shirt when she returned. You chuckled when you looked at her; she was really feeling the beach mood. 
"Let's go outside!" She says excitedly.
"Wait, I still have to finish cleaning up, and then I have to go upstairs and finish some other stuff. I'll be there in a couple of minutes." You tell her you really wanted everything to be perfect for this week. 
"Nope." 
"What, sorry?"
"You are on holiday, so stop trying to make everything perfect; it's already perfect as it is, and come outside with me." She insists, making you giggle at her stubbornness.
"But-"
"No buts. You deserve to relax just as much as I do." She quickly approaches you, grabs you by the waist, and drags you outside.
"Alexia!" 
She puts you down on your small patio when you get outside. She places your hands on your cheeks. "Now, let me do something I've wanted to do for two weeks. Can I kiss you?" 
"You really don't have to ask anymore." You reply, standing up on your tippy toes to kiss her. It was slow and soft, and you could feel her smile through the kiss. She picks you up, and you can feel her begin moving. You needed to find out where she was going and why. But you were too caught up in her to understand what was happening. Then you hear some splashes and the sound of the waves. You break the kiss and look around: she brought you into the water, and she was wearing a mischievous smirk. 
"Alexia, don't you dare!" You warn her. She was trying to throw you into the water. She responds to you by chuckling and releasing her grip from your body, making you wrap your legs even tighter to not fall down to the water. "Alexia, come on, I still have clothes on." You tried to convince her, but she looked like she didn't care. So she began tickling you on your sides, which she knew was your ticklish spot. You tried to squirm from her touch, but you lost balance and fell in the water while the woman beside you, still standing, started laughing. 
“Tua madre in carriola!” You exclaim, slightly irritated that you had all your clothes drenched in water, but you couldn't fully care when there she was. You have never seen her as carefree and happy as now. You felt blessed that she was here, right now, with you, being like this, trying to make you finally relax and enjoy some vacation when it was nearly impossible, as you'd always stress about something. 
"You know that I didn't understand anything you said, right? Only something about my mom." She chuckles. You quickly go underwater and grab her legs, making her fall into the water.
"Tu puta madre!"
"See! At least I didn't call your mom a bitch." You tease her while she fixes her wet hair. "And this is payback!" You finish, crossing your arms and wearing a proud smirk. You see her expression change from irritation to determination while swimming towards you. She picked you up and threw you with her in the water, and that is how you spent your afternoon. Stolen kisses, laughs, and a whole lot of competitiveness. Honestly, you couldn't ask for more. 
After the both of you had calmed down after laughing and playfully fighting in the water, you swam to her. You made her wrap her legs around your waist while she was stabling herself, putting your hands on your shoulders.
"What are you doing?"
"Well, you always pick me up from the ground; we can switch roles occasionally." You tell her, lightly rubbing her thighs; you really missed having her close to you.
She replies by giving you a soft kiss, then begins to look at you, smiling.
"What?" You ask her, feeling yourself combust at the intense eye contact.
"I just really missed your face, cariño." She says, peppering feathery kisses all over your face. 
How dare she say stuff like that when you try your best to keep inside your confusing and strong feelings for her. 
"I missed you too, piccola." You blurt out, kissing her jaw, holding her a little tighter. You really didn't want to let her go. You had created this little bubble in which the both of you were enjoying each other's presence, not caring about what you were to each other, but just having fun with no constraints and being in each other's company. 
"I think we should get inside." And the bubble popped.
You get inside the house with your clothes soaked and take turns to shower. It had been more than six months since the last time you were able to touch her, and you felt your body yearn for her. Yes, you had kissed, but nothing more than that.
You took her out to dinner in a small place near the city.
You really needed help to differentiate this dinner from a date. It had everything that a date would entail. Good food, subtle and not-so-subtle flirting, and great banter. The subtle touches under the table or the shared knowing glance made your heart skip a beat. This dinner felt like a date, but you knew it wasn't. And that made you feel a sort of uncomfortableness that wasn't easy to set aside to fully enjoy your night with her.
As soon as you finished eating, you took her for a walk around the city, and you would tell her anecdotes of what you did in those places you were walking by when you were a child. 
You arrive at a park, and you both sit down on the swings. 
"You know, this is actually where I had my first kiss." She turns to look at you, wearing a curious grin.
"Here? In this park?" 
"Yeah. It was here. Actually, on this swing."
"Now you have to explain." She asks you curiously.
"Well, I was thirteen. We were a group of five kids, and we would come here every afternoon to have fun and play with the ball. I remember this boy always looking at me, and one day, we were alone at the park. I was on the swing; he made me close my eyes, gave me a flower, and kissed me."
"Oh my god, it's so cute!"
"No, it wasn't. It was very weird. But I think it was just me who didn't want to be handed a rose by a boy, much rather a girl. But that would be a problem for a future 14-year-old me. In hindsight, I think that it should have been the first clue of me liking girls." You chuckle, reminiscing about that young boy who made you realize that kissing boys was disgusting.
"Turn around." You see her standing up with a determined grin.
"What?"
"Just indulge me. Turn around." You turn around, your body closing your eyes expectantly.
"Okay, you can look now." You turn to face her and see a daisy in her hand.
"Well, this might not be a rose. But it is a flower." She hands you the flower shyly, making you chuckle lightly at her cuteness. 
"And you are a girl and not a boy." You state.
"So, can I kiss you? I'll ask because I don't think that poor boy asked you."
"Nah, he didn't. But as I told you before, you no longer have to ask."
"Kissing you shouldn't be something you can take for granted." She replies, leaning into you and weighing the swing's chains.
After more than thirteen years, you recreate your first kiss. And this time, it feels right. It was as if you were meant to recreate it with someone who mattered, who would make you feel excited and nervous about how the little boy felt when he was kissing you. And you felt the same way with her, and every time you kissed her, 
As soon as she breaks off the quick kiss, you remark, "I think you are a better kisser than that poor boy."
"I mean, I'd hope. I'm 29. He was your age."
"Don't get too cocky now. You were slightly better." You tease her. Making her lean into you and give you a searing kiss so that you'd know for sure that if you weren't sat on that swing, probably your knees would give out. It had an intensity that seemed out of place for being in a children's park. But neither of you seemed to care. It was dawn, the playground was abandoned, and you missed kissing her.
And most certainly she was just getting competitive because you told her she was slightly better at kissing than a thirteen-year-old. She wanted to wipe away any doubt about her kissing skills.
She breaks the kiss by lightly biting your lower lip, making you feel all hazy.
"Just slightly better?" She smirks proudly.
You didn't hear a word she said, as you were too busy falling down from the high she had just given you to actually understand words spoken to you in a different language by one of the hottest women you have ever seen. "What did you say?"
"I'll take that as a no." She lightly chuckles, taking your hand and walking to the park exit.
"Let's go home." She whispers, placing a small kiss on your temple.
The walk back to your holiday home was on autopilot. She took the lead on the conversation, asking you questions about the week's plans with your other two friends. As soon as you get home, you go to your small kitchen to get a glass of water while she toes behind you. As soon as you finish drinking, she comes closer to you, putting her hands on your waist and making you retreat until you hit the kitchen counter.
"Thank you for tonight. I really had fun." She smiles earnestly.
"I'm glad that you like it here."
"Oh, I love it here. Even though I think that the people in this place have an average age of 72." She jokes
"Nah, 75. In fact, there is only one kid in the whole town. And the father is actually the boy of the kiss in the park."
"Well, at least he moved on."
"Yeah, it was very tough for him, but eventually, after a very long time, he found love again. But again, how could you ever move on from someone like me." You joke. 
"I don't know. Well, nearly after a year, I'm still here, so something right you must be doing." She teases you.
"Or maybe you just can't find better." You raise an eyebrow suggestively.
"I don't think there is better to find, honestly." Her gaze softens as she says those words, making you blush, hiding your face by placing your forehead on her chest, hiding from her. She pulls her hands away from your waist and puts them on your cheeks to try to move your head from her to see your face. "What?" She asks. 
"You have to stop saying things like that."
"Why? I mean it." She reassures you.
"I- You know why." You try to make her understand, not fully saying out loud feelings; try to make her understand them instead without fully exposing yourself.
"I'd rather you say it."
You take a deep breath. "Alexia, do you want to go on-" Your phone rings and you look from your watch to who is calling you "I have to take this."
You squirm away from her touch and leave to go outside. 
"Pronto, Emma. Tutto bene?" It was your best friend whom you hadn't seen in a year and a half. She never called without asking you beforehand, so you thought it was pretty important.
"Si, tutto bene. Ti devo dire una cosa.” She replies excitedly, making you release a sigh of relief that nothing bad had happened.
Ten minutes later, you come back to Alexia wearing one of your biggest smiles.
"Is everything okay?" She asks, still waiting for you in the same spot as you left her.
"More than okay!" You reply excitedly, walking quickly to her. "My best friend is getting married, and I'll be the maid of honor." You place your hands on her shoulders, then slowly move them to her neck, lightly playing with her hair. "Now, where were we?" You knew exactly how you left her; you were about to blurt out your feelings for her, but you decided to ignore the problem and not dwell on it too much. Instead, you kissed her. The kissing led to something else, and for the first time in more than six months, time froze, and you were back again in her arms.
-
The next morning, you wake up to the alarm with hair on your face and an arm holding you down. You had a headache and clearly were sleep-deprived. You open your phone and look at the time. It's 10 AM. 
"Fuck!" You sit up, making the woman on your side slowly wake up. "Alexia, wake up. We are late; we should've been in the car by now."
You say, rushing out of your bed to quickly change. You had promised Mapi that you would drive her to your house from the airport because you thought it would be a waste of money to book a taxi when you had a perfectly functioning car that could drive you anywhere.
In five minutes, you were able to dress, brush your teeth, and get in the car. Thankfully, you remembered to shower the night before, so you didn't have to do it in the morning; you felt bad for Alexia, as you could see that she wasn't used to this level of rushedness, that you were more than used to as you always tended to sleep in, and eventually have to rush to get in time to train or to games.
You closed the door to the house while Alexia was still halfway done putting her shirt on. As soon as the both of you got into the car and slammed the door, you looked at each other and started laughing.
"Okay, those were the quickest five minutes of my life." She says while catching her breath.
"We totally overslept, and we are totally going to be late." You chuckle, starting the engine of your car.
"We can always say that we found traffic." She offers.
You definitely and not-so-subtly speed to the airport and then quickly call your friend to tell her that you are finally at the airport.
"I'm really sorry. We found traffic on the way here." You tell Mapi while you go to hug her and Ingrid. As your friend goes to hug Alexia, you turn to Ingrid and whisper, "Did she already open her Instagram?" You were trying to hold off her discovering that you were a Barça player; you really wanted to tell her, and that day would be the day that Barcelona would announce your signing.
"No, she didn't, but I can't hold off her phone for long." She replies, breaking off the hug and going to Mapi's side and beginning to catch up on her life and yours. 
"Oh my God, I forgot to tell you! Emma is getting married!"
"No way! She's finally settled down?!" Everyone who knew the both of you always thought that you would be the first one to marry, as Emma has always been the hot mess between the two of you, afraid of commitment. "Is she marrying the same guy from college?" She asks you.
"Yep." You turn around to look at Alexia and Ingrid, and then you explain. "When I was in college when I met Kate, my ex, Emma met this guy who studied economics and finance at our same university. They got together way before Kate and I. He's so dumb. I love him so much. They are perfect for each other."
You turn again to face your tattooed friend, "Wait, is that a hickey?" Her face is adorned with a knowing smirk while pointing at your neck, making you subconsciously hide it with your hand.
"No, it's not! It's a bruise." You try to explain, mentally trying to remember to scold Alexia as soon as you got her alone.
"It's so not!" She chuckles, surprised, making you turn around to glance angrily at Alexia, who replies with an innocent smile. "Is that the reason why you were late?"
"No! We found traffic on the way here, as I told you before."
"Yes!" Alexia casually backs you up, making your other two friends understand it was a lie.
As soon as you get into the car, Mapi is about to take out her phone to put music on when you stop her, saying that only the passenger in the front, Alexia, could put the music on, which was a lie, but you really didn't want her to see her phone. 
-
As soon as you got home, the couple went to their room to unpack the suitcase while you and Alexia put on your bathing suit and went outside to the beach to sunbathe. You were reading some book, trying to focus on the words of the book rather than the woman who was lying half-naked on your right. Which was getting increasingly more difficult whenever she would move or place soft caresses on your back, trying to get your attention.
"Hey." You turn to look at her.
"Hey, cariño. I'm sorry for the hickey. I got a little carried away yesterday night." She apologizes shyly, making you forgive her in the blink of an eye.
"Don't worry about it." You come closer to her, placing a hand on her chest, and give her a small kiss. You brush your noses together and tell each other sweet nothings, creating a small bubble that neither of you wants to pop. "I know that I'm a person who doesn't express much of her feelings vocally, but I just wanted to say that I'm really glad that you are here with me."
"Honestly, there is no place I'd rather be, cariño. By your side is where I am the happiest."
You move your lips closer to her, about to kiss her, when you hear the door of the house open and see your friends coming outside. You make your forehead fall on her shoulder while you feel her sigh displeased. You slowly move away from her and sit up.
"I'm still not used to seeing this." Your friend says while pointing at the both of you, making her girlfriend roll her eyes at her.
You spend the morning in your small private beach playing card games and catching up with each other. 
-
In the afternoon, it was when the club would announce your signing, so you decided to tell her at that moment. You had brought your Barcelona shirt to be able to announce it away from Barcelona. You told the club that you wouldn't be able to fly to Barcelona for your signing because you had already booked your holidays, so you did all the photoshoots and signing beforehand.
The first hours of the afternoon had always been the hottest, so you all decided to come inside and plan together your four days ahead. 
You go to your room and retrieve the Barça shirt. Then you leave to go to your living room. "Oh, and by the way, I decided on my future club." You say casually, sitting down on the couch next to Alexia, facing Mapi.
"You are renewing with Roma, right?" She asks curiously. "I heard some rumors saying that they offered you a big contract."
"Yeah, they did offer me a huge contract. But I decided to leave; check your phone." You look at the time on your watch. "I think they just made the announcement." You tell her excitedly. 
She quickly checks her phone, then turns to look at you smiling. "You'll be a Barça player?" You slowly nod, taking out the shirt with your name on it and showing it to her.
"I wanted to be the one who told you; that's why Ingrid never let you use your phone today." You say while standing up to hug her.
"I'm so happy! We can finally win the Champions League together! Like we always dreamed about!" She says excitedly, looking at the shirt. "Have you already decided on the number? I know that yours has always been the 16."
"I don't care, honestly. I'm just glad to be a Barcelona player. Plus, Rölfo already has the 16. I don't want her to change numbers for me."
"It's already settled, cariñ- Y/n." Alexia interjects, making you turn to look at her. "I know how much the number means to you, and Frido already wanted to change the number to 18, so I asked her if she wanted to make the swap. If you want it, you'll have the 16."
"Ale, there was no need to do that!" You felt your heart explode with affection at the thought that she would do this for you without even asking her or talking about it.
"I know. But I wanted to." You lock eyes, and for a moment, it is as if you are the only one in the room. "Now, do you want me to take a picture of you for the announcement?"
You posted on your Instagram a picture of you and your friend holding your Barça announcement shirt, with the caption: 'Reunited with this one.'
The rest of the week passed in a blur, from boat trips to visiting nearby cities and loads of food; you finally felt at peace and ready for your new adventure in Barcelona.
-
You would stay one last week in Italy with your family to finish packing up, and then you would leave for Barcelona. You found a beautiful apartment near the training grounds, and it had everything you dreamed of. Huge kitchen, a small garden, and a great view of the city.
Everything felt perfect. Alexia was going to pick you up from the airport, you thought it was unnecessary and a waste if her time, but then you gave in, wanting to see more of the woman who had been on your mind ever since that week in Italy, maybe even from before.
As soon as you landed, you got the terrible news from your landlord that a pipe from your apartment had just exploded, which meant that for more than a week, you would be homeless.
As you walk sadly to the exit of the airport, you find Alexia smiling at you as soon as she sees you, but then, as soon as she sees your expression, her smile fades into an expression of worry. You go to hug her, circling your arms on her waist. "Are you okay, cariño?" She asks worriedly.
You bury your head in her shirt, feeling the warmth and comfort she is exuding and taking it all in.
"A pipe from my new apartment just exploded. I am homeless for a week, and I need to find a hotel not too far from the training grounds."
"We'll find a solution together. Now let's go to the car and go home." She takes one of your suitcases, puts her arm on your shoulder, and pulls you close to her, dragging you to her Cupra.
As you enter the car, you melt into the car seat, taking Alexia's hand and giving it a couple of kisses. She turned on the engine of the car and proceeded to leave the infinite parking area of the Barcelona airport. 
"If it's not a problem, you can always stay with me." She offered when you asked her if she knew any hotels near the training grounds. "Because I really don't think you'd want a week of Mapi and Ingrid together." She jokes, clearly making a point, because as much as you love both girls, they are disgustingly in love, and being around them made you feel miserable with your current situation with Alexia.
"Ale, I don't want to intrude. You need your space, and until I'm settled in, I'll take up a lot of it. And I don't want you to feel like you have to because you stayed in my home during the holidays," You say.
"I'm not offering because I feel some sort of obligation. I'm offering because I care about you, and I'd hate for you to be stuck in a hotel when you can simply stay at my place."
"Are you sure?" 
She chuckles at your stubbornness, "Yes, I'm sure, cariño. But I do have one condition that I cannot overrule." She becomes immediately serious, making you unconsciously sit up. "You have to bake me those darn cookies." Her condition makes you chuckle. "I want to bring them to my mamá."
"I'll bake you all the cookies you want, piccola mia." 
.
You get to her home, and as soon as she opens the door, you are met with a ball of fur asking for your attention, which you gladly give to her.
That evening, you baked your cookies together, fully knowing that the next day would be your first day of training, so it acted more as a stress relief rather than something you were doing for someone else. Which wasn't a problem for you, as it had always been your love language, acts of service, and cooking for other people. But strangely enough, you weren't feeling at all that anxious, and most certainly, even if you wouldn't admit it to yourself, it was Alexia's merit.
Her presence seemed to ground you and anchor you to the real world, not making you overthink or go in a spiral of intrusive and not good thoughts.
You loved how, even though she didn't know how to bake, she would try her best to do whatever you wanted her to do, making you grin at her concentrated looks whenever she didn't understand something. 
-
As you went to bed that night, you were cuddling up in Alexia's bed.
"So, are you excited about tomorrow?" She asks you.
"I am a little nervous, but yes, I'm very excited. I'm finally playing for my dream club, and honestly, I couldn't be asking for more. But I do have a question, though: Do you know how many people know about us on the team?"
"Mapi has been a good friend, but for now, only she and Ingrid know. But if you are asking me if I'll treat you differently than what I've been doing now, the answer is no. Of course, I'll not be kissing you because we are at work, but I'll never avoid you."
"You'll have plenty of time to kiss me on other occasions then." You give her a small peck on the lips and go back to your previous position, falling asleep in her arms, looking forward to the next day.
-
The next day, you have breakfast together and then leave for the training grounds. As soon as you get there, Alexia goes in for training, whereas you go and meet all the training staff and Jonatan Giraldez. You were nervous, as you always hated to meet new coaches.
"Hey, Mister."
"Hey, Y/n. I'm so glad to finally have you on my team. It has been two years now that you have been my number 6 choice. I hope we can work well together." He says, shaking your hand, making you blush lightly at the compliment. 
"I will do my best to be the best player I can be." You say.
"I'm sure you will. Now, before going to train and meet your future teammates, even though I know you already know some of them, you unfortunately have some media to attend to."
He accompanies you to a room full of interviewers from Barça TV and some other places, and the interviews begin.
"Hello, Y/n Y/ln. May I ask you some questions?" He asks politely, and you slightly nod.
"Welcome to Barcelona; what made you decide to leave your former club to join Barcelona?"
"Barça has always been my dream club, ever since I was a child. I remember that my uncle wanted me to become an Inter fan, whereas my other one wanted me to become a Milan fan, but as soon as I saw Barcelona play, I was completely taken by their style of play, and it was this club and Messi, that made me fall in love with the sport, so I will always be forever grateful to this club, for giving me this opportunity."
"Y/n, you have the impossible task of replacing one of the best CDMs in the world, Keira Walsh, who had just returned to her childhood club, Man City, with Lucy Bronze; how do you think you will fit that role?"
"Woah, huge question." You lightly joke, earning chuckles from the interviewer. "I think Walsh is one of the best CDMs in the world right now, if not the best. It's not going to be an easy task to 'replace' a player like her, if we can say that. But I'll give it my all to this team, and even if I won't be the best 6 in the world, I'll definitely be the best version of myself to play for this historic team. It's my dream."
"Who are you most excited to play with?"
"Of course, Mapi. We played together during our Atletico days, and I always thought that we worked very well together. But honestly, all of them, I'm really excited to play in midfield with Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas and one of the most underrated players of all time, Patri Guijarro."
"How do you feel about playing with Alexia Putellas, given the circumstances of your previous encounters?" You furrow your eyebrows at the question.
"You mean, given that the last time we played against each other, she nearly broke my nose?" You say lightheartedly, making the people understand that you weren't holding any grudge against her.
The English interviewer quickly nods. "As I said in previous interviews, I think Alexia is a great player and a great person, both on and off the pitch. She will be my new skipper, and I couldn't ask for anyone better. In our previous encounters, I think we were just unfortunate, and when you play with a person who is physically bigger and stronger than you, injuries may happen. But I don't hold any type of grudge against her; in fact, we actually joked about the fact that if she weren't a football player, she could definitely be a kickboxer."
"And that is all for today; thank you, Y/n."
"Thank you all for being here and Visca el Barça."
-
You quickly exit the room and speed walk to the changing rooms to get ready for your first training with the team. As soon as you put on the shirt, you immediately touch the badge of your new team and automatically smile. You had finally made it, and you couldn't be happier.
You put on your cleats and go outside to talk to your coach. All the other girls were making rondos or juggling with the ball, making you feel a little bit like a fish out of the sea. For a slight moment, you were slightly regretting coming to Barcelona but you knew that it was just your mind playing tricks on you and that you deserved to be there just as much as the girls who were already training.
"So, coach, do you want me to run a few laps or do some drills with the ball?" You tell him, feeling ready to do anything, even running, jumping up and down from your standing position.
"Oh no." He chuckles. "I don't know if you do this in Italy, but here at Barcelona, for every new player, we do the guard of honor." 
"Oh no, we don't have to." You say shyly, not wanting to be at the center of attention.
"Oh yeah, it's tradition." He spurs you on, making you go with him on the pitch to your new teammates.
"Girls!" He screams, making all of them turn around. "As you already know, Y/n will be our new 16, so take care of her and make her feel at home!" He says, making you awkwardly wave at your teammates, embarrassed. Mapi walks excitedly to you and gives you a hug. 
"Is your coach always like this?" You ask her, still embarrassed.
"Yep, get used to it."
"I will never get used to wearing these colors," you say, putting your hand on your badge.
"You deserve it more than anyone." She leads you to your teammates, and one by one, you get introduced to them, even though you already knew most of them, never leaving your side, for which you were eternally grateful to her. You leave Alexia for last, and she gives you a quick hug and a reassuring look, which is what you need to finally ground yourself.
They all line up to give you the guard of honor, which you try to make them not do, but Mapi basically pushes you to run, feeling all the smacks on your back as you are running. The training was great after that. You managed to talk and get to know everyone, and everyone was so nice to you.
The intensity, though, was something that you had never experienced before. The Barça rhythms were definitely higher than the ones from Roma, but you weren't the one who would give up that easily, overworking your body, trying to prove yourself to the coach.
You were on a water break, trying to catch your breath, putting your hands on your knees, straightening your back. You feel a hand at the back of your neck lightly squeezing, asking for your attention. You immediately recognize her touch, even though you didn't see her. You turn around to look at her, and you are met with a worried look.
“Are you okay, cariñ- Y/n?“
"So good." You say breathlessly. "I just have to get used to this much running, that's all."
"Do you want me to talk to the coach?" 
"I don't need any special treatment, Alexia." You squirm away from her and jump on Mapi's back, interrupting her from some conversation she was having with Pina and Patri. You felt bad about leaving Alexia like that, so coldly, but then again, you always hated when people were concerned about your physical health or were just trying to help; it made you vulnerable, and you hated that. You immediately regretted how you talked to Alexia and decided that after practice, you would apologize to her.
When practice ended, you were exhausted but still very happy. Alexia was practicing free kicks as everyone left to change.
"Piccola mia, I'm really sorry about how I replied to you today." You say regretfully, placing your hand on her back, making her turn to you.
"I wasn't trying to give you any special treatment, Y/n." What happened to cariño? "I am your captain; if you feel bad or worn out, it's my responsibility to help you." She replies sadly, playing with the ball on her feet.
"I know. And I'm sorry. I just hate when people are worried about me. It makes me feel vulnerable. And I know you were just worried, so I'm really sorry."
"I know you are. Come here and give me a proper hug." She opens her arms for you, which you gladly take, and circle your arms around her waist, putting your head on her chest. Those types of hugs with her were your favorite hugs.
"Now, are you ready for the initiation?" 
You break off the hug and look at her, puzzled. "What initiation? Mapi never told me anything."
"Well, it's more like a team bonding get-together with karaoke."
"So I have to sing? Will you sing too?"
"I am not singing, but you are a newbie, so you have to." She explains as if she were stating the obvious.
"The hell I am not."
"The hell you are." She chuckles.
"I do love music, but I do not sing. When I am sober, at least."
"You kinda have to; it's a tradition. Everyone has done it. It's about shedding any fear of embarrassment."
"But Ale-"
"Nope, it's settled." You sigh at her words and then leave to go to the dressing room.
“Goodbye capitana.”
“Goodbye cariño.”
-
In the meantime, Mapi and Patri were watching your interaction with Ale from afar.
"I've never seen Alexia this… soft? It feels weird." Patri states to her friend.
"Who? Alexia and Y/n?" Mapi asks dumbly, trying not to give out any details. 
"I never specified Y/n." She raises an eyebrow. "Wait. Do you know something?" The midfielder's face turns into a wide smirk.
"I don't have anything to say to you that I should say." 
"So you have something for me that you shouldn't say?" She asks, flipping the situation.
"Stop using wordy sentences to make me confused."
"You didn't reply to my question. Are they dating? Wait, is she the girl we all thought a couple of months ago fucked her?"
"I don't know anything! If you are really that curious, go and ask her!" Your friend replies defensively, really trying not to spill any secrets.
At that moment, you walked through the door and saw your friend, "You didn't tell me I had to sing?! Oh hey, Patri." You turn around to your new teammates happily waving at her, and then you go back to point your finger angrily at your friend.
"Oh, come on! How bad it could be! You were in a band, after all." She says
"You were in a band?" Patri asks curiously.
"I had a really dark past.." You explain quickly and dramatically. "Plus, you know well I didn't sing!"
"Oh, come on. Don't be too dramatic. I'll get you a couple of drinks, then you'll sing something, and that's that."
.
That evening, you were exhausted from your training, so you decided to have a power nap in Alexia's house, which she gladly joined you in. After a couple of hours, you were ready to go and left for the pub, where you would meet the girls from the team.
As soon as you get there, you leave Alexia to go to Mapi and mingle with some of the Spanish girls in that group, Ona, Aitana, Pina, and Patri. While Alexia went to talk to the older girls and her friends from the national team. Some hours in the night passed, and you were really glad that you were getting along with everybody from the team.
At first, you were very shy with them, but thankfully, Mapi, and in some instances Alexia, helped you a little to open up and make your teammates able to get to know you. Some girls were drinking, but you decided not to, and many of them started off the karaoke, making you sometimes laugh at their stupidity, whereas in others, you would clap at them. 
You knew that your turn was coming when you saw Mapi run to another room and come out with a guitar in her hand, making you roll her eyes at her, completely understanding her intentions. You used to play the guitar when you were younger, and you actually were quite good at it. But you hadn't played in so long, and as the hype woman your best friend was and the fact that she loved embarrassing you, fully knowing you hated being the center of attention, she brought a guitar just for everybody to see and ask you about it.
She handed it to you, making you chuckle at her sarcastically, but she was wearing this proud smirk, which showed that she wasn't doing this just to make you uncomfortable and tease but also to show you off, which you thought was very unnecessary.
You open the guitar case, and you see a beautiful acoustic guitar.
"Where did you get this? Did you steal it?" You joke, admiring the guitar.
"The guy behind the bar recognized us and gave me the guitar."
"Do you play the guitar, Y/n?" Ona asks you curiously, making you turn your head around the table.
"Well, I used to play it; I haven't played in a very long time." You say while you pick it up and run the strings through your hands. You stopped playing the guitar when you left for Chelsea. Usually, music was your happy place, but when you moved out from Spain and broke up with Kate, your love for the instrument dissipated, and you wouldn't bring yourself to do something that you enjoyed so much.
"You should play something for us," Patri adds excitedly. 
"Oh no." You reply shyly, putting away the guitar. "I haven't played in so long, plus I don't think I remember much, and I really don't want to embarrass myself." You chuckle nervously, hoping that they will let it go. In the meantime, the guitar thing caught some attention, so now, not only was your table waiting for you to play something, but everyone in your group and some other clients in the pub were waiting for you to play something.
"Oh nonsense, you know that you have to perform; if you don't play the guitar, you'll have to sing. So you decide…" Mapi spurs you on. You take a deep breath and move your chair to the little stage where the people would normally sing karaoke. You quickly tune the guitar, and then you finally feel all the eyes on you.
"Okay, if I get some notes wrong, please don't laugh at me." You look at Alexia one last time, who is somehow sitting with Mapi now, and she gives you a reassuring smile.
So you begin playing one of your favorite songs on the guitar; every time you play it, it reminds you of when life was fun and simple. Whenever you played it, you would get lost in the music and daydream of what those sounds elicit. (If you want to hear it, it's 'Mutter' from Rob Scallon, the live version)
As soon as you start playing, your tattooed friends turn to Alexia.
"Good luck, my friend." She pats her back ironically.
"What, why?" Alexia whispers, still trying to give you her full undivided attention.
"If she still plays like she played years ago, she has this way of conveying many emotions. Either they are sad or happy; whenever she plays something, she amplifies it by a thousand. The song that she is about to play is going to hit you like a ton of bricks, believe me."
The song begins slowly, but then it gets faster and fuller. It made you regret to decide this piece after not playing in so long, but you loved it, and honestly, you really wanted to show off a little to your teammates and, most definitely, to Alexia. Thankfully, this worry of making mistakes was quickly forgotten when you began getting lost in the music. You really missed being able to play and express yourself in this way.
As soon as you finish the song with the last chord, you don't dare to look at your teammates; only when you hear the claps do you lightly blush and turn your gaze around the room, searching for those beautiful eyes that have the capacity to render you hopeless, but you couldn't see her, nor your friend for that matter.
-
Your performance was nearly finished, and Alexia never took her eyes off you; she thought that what Mapi said was right; your performance hit her like a ton of bricks, but more than anything, it brought out a huge realization that Alexia could quite withstand, so she left, to go to the bathroom, trying to get some space. Mapi quickly followed her friend, and as soon as they were inside the small room, the defender turned to pacing Alexia.
"Woahh, hey, calm down. What happened?" She asks the midfielder, placing her hands on her shoulders, trying to stop her from walking around the room.
She takes a deep breath, "Mapi, I have a problem. A huge one."
"Okay, tell me what it is; I know that we can find a solution to it." Her shorter friend reassures her, clearly shocked to see her captain in this state.
"I don't think we can. I just realized that I am in love with her." She says, putting her hands on her face.
"Who?" 
"Who? Mapi really? Lady Gaga. No Y/n, you idiot."
"Sorry, I just wanted to check. But why is it such a problem?"
"Because we decided not to have anything serious, and I really don't want to get rejected when I was the one that continuously pointed out that we weren't dating whenever someone asked."
"I think she feels the same. No. I know that she feels the same. Gosh, I spent five days with you two alone in a house; I can understand when two of my best friends are in love with each other. Eyes don't lie. And don't you dare tell that you haven't been already acting like a couple for at least 6 months now!"
"Do you really think that?"
"I know that. Just tell her how you feel. You won't lo-"
You open the door to the bathroom, searching for Alexia. She had been missing for a couple of minutes now, so you were a little worried that she might have been sick.
"Oh, here you are! I thought you left or you were sick!" You say happily when you finally find Alexia and Mapi, but then you notice something wrong with her, as if she was shaken up. "Wait, are you okay?" You asked, worried, coming closer to her.
"I'm okay, cariño." She reassures you, and then her expression changes into something happier and more proud. "I didn't know you were so good at playing the guitar!" 
"I was better a long time ago. I haven't played in years, but this woman here." You point at Mapi quickly, "Can't mind her own business."
"Thankfully, she didn't; I know for sure you wouldn't have told me that you are good at playing an instrument."
"I would have told you!" You cross your arms, pouting.
"No, you wouldn't." She shakes her head, smiling, while Mapi nods, backing her up. "You'd hate for anybody to know that you are good at something, just in fear of being at the center of the attention." She explains, making you blink twice. It felt as if you were an open book for her to read and understand you perfectly.
"Get out of my head." You remark shyly, earning from her a chuckle. "So you liked the song?" You ask shyly and insecurely.
She gently places her hands on your cheeks, gently caressing them to give you some reassurance. "I loved it; you are a wonderful guitar player, cariño."
"Thank you." You lightly blush. For a moment, you forget that Mapi is in the same room as the two of you because you place your finger on your lips to silently ask her to kiss you. Which she gladly does, feeling her smile against your lips
"I'm still here, you know!" Mapi interrupts you from your little moment, irritated. "Bleah, I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing this." You raise your middle finger at her, still kissing Alexia, fully starting to make out with her. You hear the door shut, making you temporarily pull away from her to look behind you, then resuming back to kissing her.
Five minutes later, you both decide to go back to your teammates, but as the night progresses, you feel yourself getting more and more tired, making all of your clinginess appear. You would orbit around Alexia more, trying to find some physical comfort in her presence, even though you really didn't want to show off your 'relationship' with her.
She noticed this almost immediately, so when you were passing by her, in a swift movement, she wraps her arms around your waist and dragged you to her lap; you stumble a little, trying to balance yourself, placing your arm on her shoulder, 
"Are you tired?" She whispers in your ear as if you were the only two people in the room.
"Yes, I am a little. How did you know?"
"I have already seen you tired many times, cariño. You are very touchy when you are tired." You subconsciously move away from her, but she keeps you in place firmly. "Don't move away; I love this side of you."
At first, your new teammates gave the both of you a surprised look, but nobody would dare to say anything besides Mapi, obviously, who sent you from across the room a knowing look, but you couldn't bring yourself to care. 
By the end of the night, you had played some more guitar as some of your teammates wanted to sing some more songs. But after a couple more hours, you were exhausted, and when Alexia noticed it, she decided to bring you home to sleep.
-
That morning, when you woke up, everything in your body ached somehow. You really had to get used to Barcelona's rhythms. The bed was empty, so you figured that Alexia was making breakfast, so you painfully make it to Alexia's kitchen wearing one of her big shirts and some shorts you found along the way to the kitchen, which were scattered the night before trying to get to the bedroom. She was making coffee the way you liked it, with the moka instead of using her Nespresso machine 'that she loves so much,' which made you smile at her attentiveness. As soon as you walk into her kitchen, she turns around and walks towards you, giving you a small kiss on the lips.
“Good morning, cariño. Did you sleep well?" She turns to her kitchen again, rummaging through the cabinet on top of her stove.
"I slept really well. What are you doing?" You ask her curiously, leaning on the kitchen countertop and peaking.
"So I found out that my mom had a moka in her kitchen all this time, and I didn't even notice it! So I asked her if I could borrow it since I know you prefer this coffee to the machine." She says while putting the coffee maker on the stove.
"Ale, you shouldn't have done that! I would've gladly drank whichever one you had; you didn't have to go through such trouble for me." You lightly slap her shoulder.
"I didn't go through any trouble. I just wanted to make you feel at home."
Before saying something that you most probably regret, aka replying with But you are my home. You dragged her to your height, kissed her to show all of your gratitude, and whispered a small thank you. When the coffee was ready, you both sat down on her small table and had breakfast.
You were talking about some media stuff you were going to do in the afternoon when you heard a knock on the door. Alexia looks at you confused, not expecting anybody, and she leaves with Nana in tow; as she opens the door, you hear Alexia talking to a woman who has a very similar voice to hers, and then you hear her scream, "No, Alba, no!" 
You see the woman enter the kitchen with Alexia chasing after her as if she didn't want her to meet you.
"Hello, my name is Alba. I'm Alexia's sister." You suddenly widen your eyes, shocked. She offers you her hand to shake, and you stand up.
"Hi, I'm Y/N." You shake her hand and offer her a shy smile, subconsciously searching for Alexia to help you out with this unexpected visit.
"I know who you are; my sister nearly broke your nose. By the way, I want to apologize on her behalf; she never had proper manners." 
"Alba!" Alexia screams, exasperated, while you release a light chuckle.
"Don't worry, she has already apologized. But yes, she has to work on her manners." You wink at Alexia, making her roll your eyes at you.
"Since when are you guys dating?" She asks curiously, earning another frustrated scream from Alexia.
"Oh no. We are not dating; she is just helping me out because a pipe exploded in my apartment." You reassure her while she stares at you confused, then lowers her gaze,
"So you give your clothes to all of your guests?" Alba asks her sister ironically, making you slightly blush.
"Well, I- I," The older sister stutters, making the other draw conclusions by herself. 
"So you are dating."
"It's complicated." She says. "Is there any particular reason why you are here?"
"I forgot my sweater here last week, and I need it back. But I can come at another time."
"No, I'll get it for you." She disappears into the house, leaving you and Alba in an awkward silence.
Thankfully, Alexia comes back thirty seconds later, 
"So you should come to dinner at mom's house sometime. She would love to meet your new 'roommate.'" She teases her older sister, clearly trying to irritate her.
"Well, then, you should invite Alexandre too since you live at his house more than you live at your own house." She replies sarcastically.
"I thought we reached an agreement to never talk about Alexandre ever again after the incident."
"By incident, she means when I caught them fucking in the bathroom during the semi-finals against Chelsea last year." She explains to you, clearly trying to irritate her sister, making you feel like you are getting way too much information on their dynamics in one sitting.
"Let me guess: when she saw you, she made some sarcastic remark, rolled her eyes, and left, right?" You joke, clearly imagining the scene.
"That's exactly it! Always rolling her eyes at people. So annoying! Finally, someone who gets it!"
"Uggghh." Alexia sighs and rolls her eyes at you both.
"See! She just did it again!" 
"I don't like this coalition between the two of you." She lightly pouts.
"It's not a coalition when we are simply just stating the truth!" You lightly tease her, earning an approving nod from Alexia's sister.
"I hate you both!" She exclaims, fully knowing that she was just lying.
"No, you don't." Then you turn to Alba, "It was nice meeting you; I hope we'll see each other soon. I have to get changed for practice." You leave the two sisters while you get ready for training.
After a couple of minutes, Alexia entered your now shared room; you turned to her and placed your hands on her shoulders.
"So you met my sister…"
"She's very nice; I hope I made a good impression." You say insecurely.
"You made a great impression, cariño. I'm just really sorry that you had to meet her in these circumstances. Not to put pressure on you, but my sister can't keep a secret, and she'll definitely tell my mom about you."
"What a way to not put pressure on me." You chuckle nervously.
"Don't worry. I will handle everything, okay?" She gives you a small peck. "Now, are you ready?"
Training that day was even more intense than the day before, with the exception that you were finding so many link-ups with your new teammates. Sometimes, you would forget that you weren't training anymore with your old teammates, that if you passed the ball to the right, you would find Giugliano without looking, or that Linari was right behind you, ready for a pass if you needed it. 
Now, you had different teammates, and your body had to get used to it. 
Being back on the pitch with Mapi had been so exciting. Both of your styles of play evolved so much that how you played at Atletico didn't matter anymore. She loved playing with the ball, so you'd expect more passes from her than before.
What really changed everything for you were the players up front. Playing behind Alexia and Aitana was something that didn't happen every day. The best way for them to express themselves was if you were able to cover defensively for them, which you were doing gladly. Adapting to their style of play was not simple; they played on short and fast passes and opted less for long passes, which were your specialty. 
You were practicing on free kicks, which you thought you were pretty good at. You didn't know why, but you were able to curve the ball perfectly, making the goalkeepers go crazy.
You were in a team with Mapi against Alexia and Graham Hansen, whom you were unceremoniously obsessed with her football skills.
It was your turn to shoot your first free-kick. Paños was on goal, and she was eying the ball. You go for the kick and curve the ball perfectly; the goalkeeper didn't even move because she thought it would be going out. It hit a top bin, and it was in. You throw your hand in the air competitively. "Dajeee!"
"That was a great curved ball! Where did you learn that?" Mapi asked, shocked, as she had never seen you take a free kick like that before.
You shake your shoulders nonchalantly while Caro asks you, "What are your free kick stats?"
"Like all time or just last season?" You ask shyly.
"All the time."
"Well, since I played for Roma, I was usually the one who took free kicks. I guess out of fifty-one direct free kicks, I scored forty-seven if I remember correctly." 
"Wait, really?" Alexia asks you, shocked.
"Well, I love taking free kicks, and I practice a lot on them."
"That's not normal, Y/n; that's a really high conversion rate. I don't understand why I just heard about this!" Your friend tells you.
"I don't know, I just love taking them." You shrug your shoulders. "Plus, when I go for a curved ball, I don't know how, but I do it in a way that is almost impossible to predict."
"You can do a knuckleball too?"
"I'm not that good at that." They move the ball to the place and offer you to kick it. You hit the ball hard, and it goes for the post, then bounces off the other and goes in.
You scrunch your nose, dissatisfied, getting a new ball for another free kick, while your teammates look at you, shocked.
You turn to look at them, "What? 
"Well, now we have to change teams, or it's going to get too easy for you guys!" Alexia says competitively.
"Oh, hell no! Now it's too late; we already decided on the teams!" Mapi says.
"Well, let Y/n decide." Ale crosses her arms, looking at you. "Do you want to swap teams and be with me, who is currently hosting you in my home, or that woman over there?" She points disgusted Mapi.
"Well, I-"You try to talk. 
"Of course, she's going to choose me! I've known her for more than seven years!" They kept on bickering while you and Caro just stared at them, chuckling. 
"You know? I think I'm actually switching teams." You raise an eyebrow, smirking. 
"You made the right decision," Alexia says proudly. She walks to you to get on your side.
"That's arrogant to assume that I would switch teams with you, Alexia." You give her a smirk and walk to Caro's side, leaving Mapi and Alexia next to each other. "Caro and I are going to destroy you!"
And so you did. After another twenty minutes, you finally leave the pitch and get home with Alexia. Once again, you were exhausted, but you were very happy that you were able to get along with your new teammates.
As soon as you get home, you throw yourself to the couch while Nala jumps on top of you for cuddles, which you gladly give her.
Alexia was still pouting because she lost the free-kick competition. "Oh, come on, you can't be still mad!"
"I'm not mad."
"Well, it's not every day that you get to be on the same team as Caroline Graham Hansen. You know how much I am obsessed with her football skills."
"Well, then, why don't you go and ask her if you could crash at her place."
You sit right up and drag her by the shirt to you. "Are you jealous, piccola?"
"No, I am not! Why would I ever be! Caro is in a relationship with Marta. Plus, I am the one that has two Ballon d'Or." She says, trying to convince you.
"I know. You are the best of the best. I had to basically seduce you so that my team could have a chance against you. And you don't have to worry about anyone. There is no one else." The last words unconsciously slip out of your mouth, making you mentally curse at yourself.
"There is no one else for me either. Y/n, I have to tell you something." You nod at her while placing your arms on her shoulders.
"I'm in lo-"The phone rings again. This time, it is Alexia's phone. She goes to look at it. "It's my agent. I really need to take this."
After thirty minutes, she comes back looking stressed out.
"What was the call about, that made you go on the phone for thirty minutes?" You ask curiously.
"Oh no, I was also on the phone with my mom; that's why I was out for so long."
"Is everything okay at home?"
"Everything is great!" You could see that something was up. "But you know when I told you that my mom found out about you-us?"
"No? I thought that she still didn't know."
"Well, now she does. AndsheinvitedusfordinnerandIdidn'tknowwhethertotellyoubecauseIdon'tknowifyouwanttocome."
"What, sorry? I know you have this cute little habit of talking fast when you are nervous, but remember that I am not Spanish."
"Sorry." She takes a deep breath. "My mom invited us for dinner. You can totally say no, but-"
"I would love to come to dinner, Alexia. You didn't have to be that nervous." You give her a small peck on the lips. "Tell her I will bring the dessert."
-
"So, are you ready to finally meet your mother-in-law this afternoon?" Mapi asks you while you leave for morning training together. Finally, your home was fixed from the pipe, and you were able to finally live there. There was still a lot of work to do as you had to basically furnish the apartment, which had been really hard, especially when you were away for most of the day.
Thankfully, Mapi offered to help build a table that you had bought from Ikea in your living room, so with some help, your home was starting to take shape.
"She is not my mother-in-law. I am not currently in a relationship."
"I still don't understand why you can't tell her how you feel."
"Fear of rejection. Or fear that it's going to turn out like my previous relationship. Fear of being just delusional or fear of-"
"Okay, you have made your point! I just feel like you should; maybe you'll find out that she feels the same."
"Yeah, right. As if someone like her could fall for someone like me. She's way out of my league. But anyway, you have met Alexia's sister and mom, how are they? Do you have any tips?"
"They are going to love you. Just be yourself."
"That's not helping, Mapi." You chuckle.
"Ugh, just be polite and show that you genuinely care for Alexia. They are very protective of her. Don't show off, and don't be too shy. But I really don't think you are going to have a problem doing all that."
As soon as you went home, you quickly got ready in your desolate apartment; as soon as you were done, Alexia texted you.
Your Favorite Kickboxer ;)
I'll be here in 5 minutes.
The nerves were kinda getting to you, so you paced around your empty living room until Alexia came knocking at your door. As soon as she saw you, she quickly gave you a hug and pecked your lips. 
"Hey, Cariño, are you ready?"
"So ready! You don't even know!" You fake out.
"Okay, yeah. You have to work on your lying skills. What's up? You don't have to come if you don't want to." She says calmly.
"It's not that Ale. I'm just nervous. I haven't met the mom and sister of a girl I am seeing since my ex. I'm just nervous, that's it."
"They'll love you, believe me. Now, take a deep breath; everything will be fine. We will go to my mom's for lunch, and she will show you some of my baby pictures, trying to embarrass me, and my sister will do the same. Then we'll get back home, cuddle up on the couch, and watch some of your sappy movies, okay?" You slowly nod, feeling a slight motivation through her words. "Now are you ready, cariño?"
You slightly nod, and she leads you to her car, but before that, you stop her and gently kiss her lips. "Thank you. You know I really, really like you?" You tell her.
"I really, really like you too."
-
You get to Alexia's mom's house, and the first thing she does is go up and hug you. You were taken by surprise, but after a second of shock, you quickly reciprocated.
"You must be Y/n, right?"
"Yes, it's me. You have a lovely house."
She takes you into the living room, and then she quickly disappears into the kitchen while Alba appears out of her room to see you.
You lightly chat with her until Alexia's mom screams for the two girls to come and help her; they quickly get into the small kitchen, clearly not knowing what to do.
"Do you need help, Eli?" You ask shyly.
"Oh no, you are the guest." She says, gently smacking your hands away from the pan you were stirring.
"Oh really, it's no biggie. I love cooking, plus I know how much Ale is a disaster in the kitchen. I can help if you like." You offer politely.
"For your information, I am a great cook," Alexia says, slightly offended. Neither her sister nor her own mother backed her up. All knowing how bad she was, making you chuckle. 
"Don't worry, mija, you have some great qualities too." Her mom lightly teases Alexia, making her pout cutely.
As soon as lunch was ready, you helped set up the table, and you sat down.
"So, Y/n, how do you like Barcelona?"
"Oh, I love it here. I just had a minor slip-up with my apartment, but now everything is fixed."
"You are from Italy, right? Because I don't hear any accent." Her mom asks curiously.
"Well, I lived in Spain for a long time before moving clubs. I played for Atletico Madrid with Mapi."
"So you must be happy having her back as your teammate."
"I'm really glad. Plus, Barcelona has always been my dream club."
"Is it difficult being away from home?"
"Well, I left my home in Italy when I was really young; I left to study in the USA."
"Oh wow, what did you study there?" Alba asks you.
"I studied physiotherapy."
"So when you retire from football, you could become a therapist for Barcelona or some other football club," Alexia suggests.
"Well, I could, but I actually work with prosthesis. I studied to help people who have lost their limbs to build them prosthesis."
"I didn't know that!" Ale tells you, shocked but also proud.
-
Lunch proceeded great. Ale's mom and Alba were just like Mapi pictured them. Fiercely loyal and protective of one another. You really hoped that you made a good impression because even though you weren't in an actual relationship with Alexia, meeting her family felt like a huge step, and you'd hate for them to not feel like Ale made the right decision by seeing each other.
What you really liked, though, was the fact that you could see how much Alexia was being herself around her family. She didn't have her walls up, nor did she have to keep up with her duties as the captain. She was just herself, and you were lucky enough to be able to experience it and be part of her inner circle.
As soon as lunch was finished, you stood up to help Ale's mom clean up the table, and then you brought the dessert that you had made for the occasion.
"I didn't have much time to prepare something fancier; my kitchen is still a mess."
"You didn't have to prepare anything!" Ale's mom replies while she cuts open the cake you had stress baked for the occasion.
"My parents always taught me to never walk into a home as a guest empty-handed." You simply reply. "And really, it's nothing. I love baking, so actually, you gave me an excuse to make something."
"You know, Y/n, out of all of the girls that Alexia has brought home, you might be the nicest." You turn your head down, blushing, while Alexia, embarrassed, calls out her mother.
"Well, I think that just the fact that you are here means a lot. You know, Y/n, Alexia had a very bumpy love life." Alba calls her sister out, making Alexia send her a death glare.
You were too curious now, "I wanna hear all the details." You rub your hands, waiting for Alba to fill you in.
"Well, Alexia had many situationships that ended rather quickly." 
"Alba!" Alexia warns her.
"One lasted two weeks I think, with this nice girl. For the record, she was really nice. The poor girl had the misfortune to be a cat person. Nana didn't like her, so she stopped seeing her."
"For the record, I don't regret it! My Nala is my best matchmaker, and I could never be in a relationship with someone who doesn't like my dog, who's currently living with me."
You chuckle lightly at her, "Thankfully, Nala likes me, or else, I wouldn't have lasted even a day." You tease Alexia, remembering how you met the small dog when you first hooked up with her, how Nala would try to get her owner's attention, but she was too busy on you to actually care.
"Well, thankfully, you are also a Barça fan because my sister left a fucking date because they were a Madrid fan."
"Okay, it did not go like that." Ale tries to explain herself, but she is soon cut off by her sister again.
"You told her that you played football, and she made a small comment about how she slightly preferred Madrid to Barcelona."
"She wanted me to go to the Bernabeu with her." She pauses. "On the Madrid section!"
"Poor girl, you turned down a girl just because of her club preference?" You chuckled at her stubbornness.
"She was also very annoying." 
"How many dates did you go with the Madritista?" You ask her.
"One." You all burst out laughing.
"The next girl instead, more than a situationship, was a failed date. She was a friend of a friend of mine, and after the date, Ale called me and I asked how the date went, and she replied that she thought that the girl was amazing, but she didn't like the outfit, so it wouldn't work." Alba chuckles hard, making you shake your head teasingly at Alexia.
"In my defense, she was amazing, but the outfit was too distracting, so much so that it felt like our personalities wouldn't go together."
"You got all that by an outfit?" You ask her incredulously.
"Yes." She states bluntly making you playfully shake your head at her.
-
By the time lunch was finished, you were about to leave.
"It was lovely meeting the both of you. I really hope I'll see you soon." You go to hug the two women and then leave to go to the car, waiting for Alexia to say the final goodbye.
When Ale gets into the car, she sits in the driver's seat, takes your hand, and kisses it.
"Thank you for coming." 
"Thank you, for inviting me. Now let's go home; we have a couch to build."
As you get home, Ale quickly gets ready to build your Ikea couch while you take some of your most valuable stuff, like family pictures or small trinkets that hide memories that you will forever treasure. 
You were unpacking the first ball they gave you when you scored your first hat trick, then you moved to a larger box, and you soon felt overwhelmed by how much stuff you had to unpack, making you slightly regret your life choices. 
Alexia was still on the floor trying to build up your couch when she suddenly resurfaced clumsily. 
"Why are those instructions so difficult? I just feel like Ikea should be better at making them. I should ask Frido." She complains to herself, making you chuckle from across the room. 
As you looked at her while she was building your couch, without anything in return, just simply to make you feel more at home, a warm feeling spread through your chest.
You just smiled. Smiled at the woman who came out of nowhere and turned your life around. Smiled at the woman who had taken your heart without you noticing it. And then you realize that maybe what you had with Alexia right now wasn't enough for you. You wanted more. Because those feelings that you had slowly built over time weren't avoidable anymore. What you had with her wasn't enough, and you realized that you couldn't pretend anymore that you were okay with it. 
You needed to be alone, to think, to prepare yourself. Just her being in the same house as you was just too much. You were feeling too much. Feeling too much for her.
So you quickly stood up, crossing your arms, unconsciously wanting to close yourself off as much as possible.
"Ale, I need you to get out."
She turns towards you and sees how much you were shaken. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything is good. I just need you to leave, please." You try to be as convincing as possible. 
"Everything is not good. You are not good. Tell me what's wrong." She rubs your shoulders soothingly in worry.
You don't know why, but your mind figured that it would be best if you'd just rip the bandaid off.
"Ale, I think we have a problem." You take a deep breath. "I think I'm in love with you."
There was no turning back now. You could take your words back, so you waited patiently as her brows furrowed and then quickly fixed in a soft expression.
"I think we have two problems then. Because I think I am in love with you too."
665 notes · View notes
brilium · 7 months
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❥ K I N K T O B E R 2 0 2 3
Masterlist
➽──────────❥
❥ DAY 6. Cheating! with Gojo Satoru
Summary. Your boyfriend, hated by all your friends, turns you down again on a dinner that you planned for weeks and Satoru shows up at a bar to wash away all your worries like he always does.
Content Warning. Fem! reader, no use of Y/N, all characters are adults, smut, fingering, masturbation (f. recieving), vaginal sex, cheating, Satoru calls her slut one time but it's more praising, mirror sex.
Word count. 3,203
MINORS OR AGELESS BLOGS DO NOT INTERACT !!
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“Sorry, babe. I’ll make sure to make it up for you next time, okay?”
You sigh, throwing your phone inside your bag and standing up to leave the fancy restaurant with the sound of your heels echoing through the sound of the soft jazz music.
On the way back to your car, the only thought in your mind is all the times when your friends have told you that your boyfriend is an idiot that only stays with you for comfort. You always try to excuse him, but why? 
Do you even still love him?
Thinking about it is more hurtful than being turned down by him on the dinner that you planned for your anniversary, while you try to hold the tears hiding your face on the steering wheel, you make a decision.
You bought this pretty dress only for this night, to surprise him with a new dress. You looked for tutorials to get a pretty makeup on that’d make you look stunning. And you are, so it would be such a lame to waste this night crying over an idiot who can’t keep his word with you.
That’s what you thought in your car, getting excited for a wild night as you drive to the nearest night club and you get inside to get drunk and make out with a stranger. But, your moral betrays you once you get your drink and realize that your adrenaline got you thinking about cheating.
Does he really deserve it?
I mean, he's not that bad as a boyfriend. He at least remembered about sending me a message to say that he couldn’t come to our date, right?
Opposite to what was supposed to happen, the rush of thoughts running in your head makes you feel a little guilty after taking some more drinks. You put the money harshly on the bar and turn to leave, but a familiar voice calling your name makes you turn back to it.
“I didn’t think of finding you here, precious!” Satoru’s voice calls you, raising his tone to let you hear him through the loud sound of the music. “Weren’t you stressed all week planning a hookup or something for tonight?”.
You frown, looking at him with annoyance as you roll your eyes.
“It wasn’t a hookup! It was dinner!” You raise your tone too, but he makes a gesture to his ear, pointing that he didn’t hear you correctly. You lean closer to his side, trying to resume it and be clear “My boyfriend couldn’t make it!”
He laughs, leaning his head to the side to smile at you. His cheeks are slightly pink and he seems a little more relaxed than other times, it could be a mistake of your eyes thanks to the lights moving and flickering, but you get the hint that his pupils might be even a little dilated.
“I thought that you’d dump him sooner or later!”
“You wish. I haven’t broken up with him!” You protest, hitting his chest softly and rolling your eyes as you take the last remains on your glass on the bar in one sip. You thought of leaving, but Satoru always makes his way to bring up a smile to you everytime that your boyfriend disappoints you.
Satoru clicks his tongue, stepping closer to you and leaning down a little to speak closer to your ear. There are so many things around you both in this club; music, lights, people and the vibrations of the music resonating, but even through all that, Satoru’s breath makes your skin shiver when he speaks.
“I could make this night better for you, If you want”.
Your eyebrows frown, leaning a little to the side to look at him with a chuckle. But all your playfulness goes away when his face is still closer to yours, looking at you with expectation and a little smile on his mouth.
“How are you planning to do that?” The answer from your mouth comes out in a soft whisper, so soft that it’s impossible that Satoru heard it with the loud music playing. But he clearly knows that, if it were the opposite, you would have laughed and leaned back, but you didn't.
So, when he leans closer and closer to your face, with his lips barely touching yours is when you finally give up. His cologne has combined with a faint smell of smoke and his lips are slightly opened, waiting for you to take the final step, to take the decision of cheating on your boyfriend.
Should I call him and tell him that I felt hurt? 
Your hand goes up through his body to grab the back of his neck.
He might feel sorry and make time for me if I tell him.
The possibility crosses your mind as your head tilts to the side to have a better angle with Satoru’s face.
But.
Will he be able to give me the same satisfaction as Satoru? 
It's the final thought that you have before his lips start to devour yours, skipping the "innocent kiss" part and immediately grabbing your waist to bring you closer.
You don't know when or how, but your hands are hugging his neck to bring him down to your lips, taking quick breaks between kisses to grab some fresh air and get back to him again. He's holding you with such strength like you might escape from him, but there's no better place in the world right now than being here, kissing him and forgetting about everything. 
His hands go down from your waist to your hips, reaching finally your ass to give it a squeeze that makes you pull back from the kiss to moan softly. Satoru takes the chance to kiss down your jaw and neck, sucking on your skin without a second thought to let a purple bruise grow on you.
The braces of your dress start to fall down while he keeps kissing and marking, his knee holds you between your legs to keep you standing as he rubs the clothed cunt with his bone. You can only moan and grab his hair between your fingers, too aroused to do anything.
There's a lot of people, people too lost on their fun or alcohol to care about you both making out in the bar, they don't even know that you have a boyfriend. But you still hold his hair tightly to bring him up, he moans in a tiny laugh when you pull him, getting turned on by any simple action from you.
“N–Not…”
Satoru sighs, about to let you go but you hold him tight before keep talking.
"S–Satoru…" He looks down at you, staring between your lips and your eyes like he's hypnotized. "Not here".
A bright smirk grows on his face as he answers a clear "I got you" before grabbing your hand to sneak away through the people and get you both inside the bathrooms of the club. To your luck, it was empty and he took the opportunity to quickly close the door with a key.
"Why do you have the keys of the bathrooms?" You ask, still dizzy from the makeout and rush.
"Yaga won’t notice that I grabbed them." he winks at you and walks closer to you to caress firmly from your thighs to your waist, slowly lifting your dress. You let out a soft whimper when his nails scratch softly on your skin. "Are you feeling doubtful?”
You open your mouth to answer, but a moan comes out before you can say anything when his hand has already reached your clothed cunt while the other harshly pulls down the top of your dress to let out your breasts, you startle at the soft sound of a rip as Satoru laughs softly as his face hides on the crook of your neck to keep kissing and marking your skin.
“Fuck, Satoru— This dress was expensive!” Despite your whine, you shout your eyes to ignore how sensitive you are by the friction of his shirt on your nipples. Every movement resonates on the echo of the bathrooms, being the total opposite to the rowdy club.
“I’ll buy you a new one, don’t worry” He whispers beside your ear and you feel your legs getting weak again, so you bring a hand down between his legs on the bugle on his pants to squeeze him up and down. 
Satoru lets out a broken moan on your clavicle that sounds like heaven thanks to the echo. 
The vibrations coming from your bag start to distract you, but there’s nothing that could care you more than Satoru’s hand rubbing your clit above your underwear. 
You try to grab out the phone to stop the buzzing but it's hard to get focused right now, so you throw the small bag on the counter of the bathroom to hold his hair tightly and start to grind your hips on his hand.
Satoru loves how desperate you are, stopping the movement of his hand between your thighs suddenly. You whine in protest but he turns you on your spot quickly to have you looking at your both reflects on the mirror.
The reflection of your sweaty and half naked body makes you feel a little nervous, but Satoru quickly pushes that thought away as he looks directly at your eyes on the reflection while he keeps kissing down your shoulders, the deep gaze on you and the sensation of his hard crotch grinding on your ass makes you feel the most desired you ever felt on months. 
His hand returns down and puts aside your panties to slide inside the tip of two of his fingers inside your wet cunt, your body shakes at the action, holding the counter with one hand while the other holds his hand between your legs by instinct. Satoru immediately pulls out his fingers and you protest, again.
“W–What? Why did you stop?” Your voice comes out shaky, turning your head back slightly to look at his face.
“It’s not fun if you aren’t looking too.” Satoru pouts on your shoulder, returning the tip of his fingers to your entrance to lubricate them with the wetness around your folds. “Let’s enjoy the show together, okay?”
As his fingers slowly start to push inside you, you rest your head on his shoulder, trying to keep your gaze with half opened eyes on the mirror as he is fingering you and the other hand squeezes your breasts, pinching the nipples between his nails and making you squirm on him. All the movement of your body makes the grinding on his erection get more persistent, causing you both to moan and groan as his fingers keep digging and curling on your folds.
Moans and wet sounds resonate thanks to the echo of the bathrooms, echoing louder when your orgasm starts to get closer.
“Sa–Satoru… D–Don’t stop” You moan, almost crying of pleasure when his palm starts to rub harder on your swollen clit when his movements get a faster peace and spreading your juices all around your cunt. “I–I’m gonna cum!”
“Yeah? Are you gonna cum by the fingers of someone who’s not your boyfriend?” His voice is raspy, struggling to answer through his hard breathing.
It’s embarrassing, but you nod desperately, grinding harder on his hand and squeezing one of your breasts while the other holds his hair for support to not fall off because of the big orgasm coming.
“Yes! Yes and I l–love it!”
Satoru laughs shakily, curling his fingers and kissing your neck as he answers.
“Cum all over my fingers, darling. You won it.” He orders, and you cum almost instantly in a loud cry. All your squirming and shaking during the explosion of your orgasm makes you stop looking at the mirror, but fortunately this time he decides to enjoy the show by himself.
Satoru waits patiently for you to stop spasming to let you ride the orgasm as long as you can, trembling and standing up just because of his hold on your body. He pulls out his fingers to grab your hips and you whine breathless.
“Don’t whine, you look like you ran a marathon. One where you arrived at the last.” He teases, resting his head beside you with a smirk.
“S–Shut up.” You hiss, pushing your ass back to feel him and make him groan. “Wait until I make you cum next”.
He moans heavenly again, resting his forehead on your shoulder and struggling to speak with your movements, but not making a movement to stop you.
“I don’t want you to blame me for cheating on your dear boyfriend, y’know?” 
You roll your eyes, moving a little from his hold to lift the back of your dress to leave it hanging on your waist and pull down your panties. You hold the porcelain counter to arch your back better and jiggle your ass for him.
“So you want to lose the opportunity to do it raw?” 
Those words are heavy. 
You don’t even let your boyfriend cum inside, you use birth control but still you ask him to use a condom. You don’t even bother to blame the few shots you drank, you know that he gave you the best orgasm in two years since you started dating your partner. Right now, you don't even care if he rips in two halves the expensive dress that may be covered in sweat by now.
Satoru bites hard on his lip, looking everywhere but your tempting ass in sight for him. Now he’s the one doubting, but it doesn't last long before you hear the sound of his belt tinkling and feel his hands squeezing your butt to spread it.
He looks at your wet folds, dripping down the remains of your cum on your thighs, he grabs the base of his hard cock and rubs it on your entrance. 
"God— Baby" He hisses when the red tip starts to slide inside you and is received by your gummy walls already tightening. You moan sharply when he starts to push and let you feel his hard veins "You’re so fucking tight. So hot."
You moan sharply without any doubt anymore as his length makes his way inside you. Even if you can't see him, you feel the slight curvature of his cock pushing more and more on your G-Spot.
"I haven't had a good fuck in some time." The words come out in a breath once he has finally pushes all inside, his hands grab your hips firmly before he starts thrusting with a slow rhythm.
After the first orgasm, you’re still sensitive with any touch of his skin on yours.
"I guess I can fix that." He laughs, starting to send thrusts that make your ass jiggle slightly by the hit. Satoru's patience seems to blow away once you start to push back for more.
"Please… Ruin me, please" you fix your gaze again on the mirror, loving how Satoru seems almost hypnotized by your ass recoil while you get a view of your tits hanging side to side from his thrusts. "Make me feel guilty for enjoying another man's cock so much".
"Fuck— You're such a dirty girl, huh?" Satoru finally starts to send harder thrusts that resonate loudly, not enough with the sound of  his hips hitting your ass, his hand sends a slap on it, making you moan in a broken voice "A slut so fucking needy for a good cock, yeah?"
“Yes—! Yes I–I am” You nod, too cock drunk by how he keeps hitting on the weak spot on your gummy walls.
He laughs shakily and grabs your neck to bring your back against his chest, his hand holding your neck as the other crosses around your stomach to hold your cunt close to his thrusts.
It's hard to look at the reflection with the small tears forming on your eyes since this position gives his curve a better angle to get you crying his name. Your hands just can hang on your sides as your body receives all his hard thrusts. 
Satoru also looks at the reflection with his lips half opened and keeping his gaze on your numb body. When your insides start to tighten around him on the advice of your second orgasm approaching Satoru bends again your body closer to the counter. 
His hand grabs one of your thighs to put it on the counter and push your face against the mirror, his cock slams harder than before inside you as your body smashes violently on the mirror while your orgasm hits you screaming his name.
"Fuck— You're a fucking angel, gorgeous" Satoru keeps thrusting hard and messy until, in a hard thrust, you feel a warm start to fill your aching cunt.
You breathe heavy against the mirror, leaving a spot of mist on it while your whole body trembles while Satoru keeps thrusting inside you to push his cum further as the music of the club sounds like it's far away from you.
You both stay like that for a little, trying to put your heartbeats again on a stable rhythm. 
Satoru gently seats you on the counter when he pulls out and notices the weakness on your body. You blush softly, mumbling a soft 'Thanks' with your dry throat.
"No round two, then?" He jokes, fixing his pants and grabbing some paper towels from the dispenser.
"You look as fucked out as me, Satoru" you laugh softly, pointing at his flushed cheeks and sweaty forehead. He approaches near you to clean you with the paper towels you startle, pushing him immediately "Wait— What are you doing!?"
"Cleaning you up?" He asks with an skeptical tone "I know that anyone has ever cummed inside you and you don't know that, but—"
"I've done it like this before, Satoru".
Satoru only answers a soft "Oh" that is followed by a wide grin, his hand gives your thigh a small squeeze that makes you jump on your spot slightly.
"So you've been naughty before, huh?"
"Shut up, Satoru" you look away from him, pulling closer your bag to give it to him "I have some tissues here, use them. I don't trust in those paper towels".
"We literally just had sex in here" he protests, but still grumbles around your small bag to look for the tissues, but suddenly stops the movement when he notices something.
Instead of grabbing your tissues, Satoru brings out your phone and shows you a screen of a call in progress with your boyfriend.
You quickly grab the phone and put it on speaker, hoping that he answered with the phone still on his jeans.
"Hello?"
"Fuck off". You hear his voice and then the finished call sound comes.
You don't even feel bad or guilty after finding out that he maybe heard you fucking with another man, you just look at the phone surprised by all the things that happened so quickly. 
After some seconds, you feel again Satoru squeezing your thighs and you look up from your phone at his smirk looking at you with wide eyes.
"So… Are you single now?"
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moonkissedvisions · 2 months
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𝖄𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝕿𝖆𝖗𝖔𝖙 𝖇𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖍 𝖈𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖘 ☾
UNVEIL THE CORE ESSENCE OF YOUR BEING, PERSONALITY, AND PURPOSE WITH TAROT CARDS
Introduction:
We understand all Tarot cards as symbols. They essentially represent different aspects of our lives that reside in our souls and our subconscious minds. When we read Tarot cards, we are reading our energy, we are intuitively looking at our subconscious. We think of them as a mirror that reflects the multiple dimensions of our spirit to help us understand situations much better, and make our life more conscious and meaningful.
What are Tarot birth cards?
Tarot birth cards are symbols that shape our identity and lives from the moment we are born. They are our essence, an energy imprint, or even a map - like a birth chart but for Tarot cards- that can unlock a new understanding of ourselves, and all the potential of our life purpose.
Each of us has a pair of Major Arcana cards that represent our core self, so today I decided to explain all combinations. I explained the cards separately so you can combine them and see intuitively how they play out in your life.
Also, be noted that I only explain the "light" manifestation of each of them. So for example, if it says "selfless" the shadow aspect/backward expression of them is the opposite, "selfish". Or if it says "truth-seeker" its shadow would be "know-it-all". If you are curious about the shadow aspect of your birth cards or anything about them you can send me a question and I'll be happy to help.
Hey, don't forget to check out the awesome video link at the end of the post! It's worth watching if you want to dive deeper into the topic. Have a great time exploring!
Now let´s calculate yours!
and hope you enjoy it *:・゚✧*:・゚✧
How do I calculate mine?
The easiest way for me is to use the same method that we use to calculate our Life path number in numerology:
We add each digit of our birth date
m+m+d+d+y+y+y+y
Example: 11/22/1989
1+1+2+2+1+9+8+9= 33
2. We reduce it
3+3= 6
6 is The Lovers and The Devil (6 and 15).
As you can see, we got a pair of numbers that corresponds to a pair of Major Arcana cards.
important: IF YOU GET A 19, YOU HAVE TO REDUCE IT TWICE AND YOU´LL GET 3 MAJOR ARCANA: 19 (The Sun) -> 1+9=10 (The Wheel of Fortune) -> 1+0=1 (The Magician).
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.
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1 and 10: The Magician, The Wheel of Fortune
The Magician: This energy has the ability to manifest anything. Your essence is skilled, cunning, tricky, scheming. You posses autonomy and initiative. You are an independent thinker. You have a great potential, but you also put in the work and have a lot of fun in the process. You are diplomatic and you reject bias. Entrepreneur. Self-motivated. You are honest and direct.
The Wheel of Fortune: You are lucky or at least, you know how to feel lucky to attract blessings. You understand the cycles of life and therefore you have the ability to co-create with the Universe intelligently. You often get surprised by the events in your life. You know how to use opportunities in your favor. Manifesting is something that you probably did consciously since young.
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19: The Sun (ALSO READ 1 AND 10)!
Adding to 1 and 10 cards, The Sun supplies your soul of creativity, popularity, happiness, honesty, harmony and serenity. You are a good friend. You are loyal and bring harmony, love and satisfaction to everyone´s lives. You are a leader, a celebrity, and people look up to you.
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2 and 11: The High Priestess, Justice
The High Priestess: You are sensitive and wise. You are aware of the subtle, small details. You are able to find the point of unity, the basics of the Universe, and you understand how everything is connected. You are intuitive, compassionate, and loving. You excel at anything related to the occult, the mysteries of the Universe and human psyche, and anything related to relationships, unions, and secrets.
Justice: You are unbiased, rational, harmonious. You know what´s right and what´s wrong and trust in natural order and the balance of things. You value truth more than anyone else. You are good with law, philosophy, and karma.
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2 and 20: The High Priestess, Judgment
Same qualities above for the High Priestess, combined with Judgment.
Judgment: The Judgment card adds in to the HP themes of awakening, spirituality, renovation. You may be someone who questions the status quo and the established norms and structures. You have the calling to awaken other people so you can rebuild and improve the system. You could connect to different dimensions and be a medium or have psychic abilities. You are otherworldly. You are also highly empathetic and sensitive.
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3 and 12: The Empress, The Hanged Man
The Empress: You enjoy helping other people, creating, and giving birth to something. You embody kindness, intelligence, expressiveness, communication and abundance. You are dynamic and could be good at doing many things, you likely do all at the same time. You are good at communicating your ideas with others and you give others creative insights.
The Hanged Man: You are artistic, original, altruistic and idealistic. You see the world from a different perspective and you always contribute with clever ideas. You are witty and have the potential to become a genius. You are generous.
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3 and 21: The Empress, The World
Here the qualities of the Empress are combined with those of The World card, so your creativity results in perfection, success, wholeness, finding your place in the world, feeling and being rewarded, self-realization. You are someone generous who help people with their creations and you make them realize their special place in the world as well. You are greatly admired. You are positive about people and life.
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4 and 13 : The Emperor, Death
The Emperor: You are gifted with stability, strength, structure and practicality. You are powerful, hard-working and generous. You have integrity and good morals. You protect what needs protection and give structure and functionality to things. You are methodical and pragmatic.
Death: Death combined with the Emperor can reestructure and make radical changes to the world. You know when things need to die and be rebirthed in new forms. You can transform the world with authority, integrity and diligency.
In case you got 4 and 22, The 22 can be considered The Fool. You can either consider the Fool along with The Emperor and Death, or only read the explanation above and dismiss it. If you choose to consider the Fool, read below:
The Fool: I picture it as if you were the Emperor but with a good sense of humor, carefree, crazy, not making sense at times, chaotic, and extravagant. It makes me think of "dad jokes". You do not take anything too seriously. You restructured things spontaneously and the result may not make a lot of sense. Or it could be that you make more of a freedom-oriented restructure/change. You are an innocent and energetic leader. Maybe you don´t even understand why people may see you as a leader or follow you, because you don´t even take yourself seriously and are very disorganized, lol.
(edit): When I was writing about this combo, the new president of Argentina Javier Milei came to my mind. He talks about re-structuring the country, making economic transformations, solving the problems of the economy and poverty, and changing the country for the better. But he also has a silly personality, he's kinda funny and people make fun of him, they call him crazy, they even speculate about him having mental illnesses, and he doesn't make sense to A LOT of people. At that time I was lazy to search for his number but I just did and you know what? He is a 4 and a 22. 😳
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5 and 14: The Hierophant, Temperance
The Hierophant: You are a teacher, someone wise who shares their knowledge and wisdom. You are patient, merciful, and modest. You guide others to goodness. You respect religion, tradition and family structures with open-mindedness and flexibility. You see everything as an experience and adventure and you like exploring different philosophies without getting attached.
Temperance: You can adapt to different people, ideas and environments, and you can bring different people together with peace, harmony and respect. You have the ability to solve conflicts. This combo makes a mentor, a guru, or a coach. You are balanced in logic and emotions and you are seen as mature.
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6 and 15 (or 33): The Lovers, The Devil
The Lovers: Opposite forces, love, complements. You know how to love, not only other people but the whole Universe. You are a sensual person. You appreciate beauty, art and can excel at many different things. You are a gentle person who is good at making decisions that brings in the frequency of love to your environment. Everything you do is coded with love and passion.
The Devil: You are passionate, magnetic. You border limits. You are highly influential in whatever you do. You can control and manipulate others, which is not necessarily a bad thing, it´s just that you understand human psychology and can easily get the attention of others. With this combo you can captivate, tempt and induce lust and desire in others, so you may be working in art, music, writing, marketing, design, even animation and programming.
I also like to think of The Lovers as oxytocin and The Devil as adrenaline/dopamine. Dopamine and oxytocin together make love and bring new life into the world.
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7 and 16: The Chariot, The Tower
The Chariot: You are someone intelligent, energetic, analytic, and introspective, who fights for radical changes and the evolution of society. You are a truth-seeker. You are fearless. You challenge the status quo and strive for spiritual and material progress. You are curious and love to learn new things that can change the world for the better.
The Tower: You mercilessly and strongly destruct what doesn´t serve the evolution of society and humanity. You break the equilibrum to build a better one. You are a rebel. You know that the truth always comes to light, and you also make it happen. You show the world what they couldn´t see and that's why you could be triggering. But it´s for the good. You challenge wrong convictions, judgments and beliefs, and you completely destruct them.
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8 and 17: Strength, The Star
Strength: You are someone resilient. You know the importance of controlling your actions, impulses, thoughts, emotions and everything you do with mental strength and intelligence. You know that if you manage your own forces, you can achieve all of your goals and also help others do the same. You are very determined and optimistic. You like to work hard, not only for yourself but for others. You are an example of the word management and you like being in charge.
The Star: You give others hope and enlightment. You are inspiring. You can provide a lot of healing and regeneration. You are selfless and generous. You are strong in faith, and that way you can give others the reassurance that they need. You see the good in everything and that is what helps you get you good results and be succesful.
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9 and 18: The Hermit, The Moon
The Hermit: You are interested in seeing what others can´t see. You look through things. You are deeply intuitive and contemplative. You search for answers in yourself by being in silence, in solitude, and looking inwards at your subconscious mind. You are wise, capable of offering advice and solving problems or mysteries. You are the healer who heals yourself first. You are personally uninterested in worldly matters and detached from the material.
The Moon: You can see through illusions and imagination because you connect to the dream realm. You are a good psychoanalyst. You are good with the occult. You are attracted to the unknown. You are a researcher, a detective, a healer of the most mysterious diseases. You are deeply spiritual and adventurous.
Carl Jung had this combo as his birth cards and I think this quote from him really represents it: Who looks outside dreams (The Moon), who looks inside awakes (The Hermit). The funny thing is, I didn´t know he had them when I read it and thought about the cards, but I was sure he had to be and I searched it, lol. I also have these as my cards so...
✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿ ✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯
I hope you enjoyed this post and that it was helpful! Thank you for your support and please, keep supporting me if you like this one 🌷
video about birth cards
PAC: Messages from the Divine Feminine
PAC: Healing Messages
PAC: Your beauty
PAC: Your natural gifts
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jsprnt · 3 months
Text
Americano PT. 2 | Jude Bellingham x Reader
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What happens if two individuals who absolutely despise each other are forced to interact after unforeseen events occur?
A/N: my exam took me out and I had the longest nap of my life but here’s part two!! <3
W/C: 3.757
part one
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"No, I'm fine. You know, I get nauseous when we run around the stadium with a full stomach." I tell Luis as he offers me one of his packed sandwiches.
He hums, taking the last bite of his sandwich while observing the streets of beautiful Madrid,  looking comfortable in the passenger seat.
It was match day against Union Berlin, the first in the group stages of the Champions League. We were all pretty optimistic about it.
"Can you hand me some gum instead? It's in the glove box." I point, placing my hand back on my steering wheel as I take a left turn. The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium coming into sight.
He leans over, grabbing the blue packet of gum, quickly removing the plastic foil.
"How many pieces do you want?" He asks, crumpling the foil with his hand.
"Two please." I say, lowering the volume of the radio as we enter the staff parking lot of the stadium.
I notice him unwrapping the individual pieces of blue gum and extend my hand so he can place them in my palm. 
"Thanks." I mutter, popping them into my mouth after I manage to find a parking spot.
"When is the team arriving?" He asks as we step out to collect the camera equipment out of the trunk. I make sure to hand him his staff badge, clipping mine to my lanyard.
"Twenty minutes, I think." I say, helping him with the equipment bag. We quickly make our way towards the pitch, greeting fellow staff members. Luis sets the camera up as I check our drafts quickly.
We finally finish taking videos and pictures of the pitch after a few minutes, our staff badges hanging off our necks as we walk back inside to capture the players walking into the stadium.
"Okay, I've posted the Instagram stories. Mind if you take a look?" I ask Luis, showing him the short clips of the pitch and stadium.
"Looks fine, but you know you don't have to get it double-checked anymore. You've been doing this for a while now." He nudges me, expression reassuring.
"I know, just making sure." I say, analyzing the posts one more time. I didn't want anything to go wrong or look particularly weird, plus it would give Valeria a reason to complain about me.
We make sure to get good shots of the squad entering the stadium, following them out to warm up as well. Finally, we get to sit down when the match starts. We update the social media platforms of the club accordingly during halftime, just as planned.
So far, it was still a goalless game, prompting us to have higher expectations in the second half of the match.
Though, the second half isn't that much more climactic, but we all sit on the edge of our seats when extra time is announced. My finger hovering over the 'post' button of a 1-0 ‘X’ post.
Luis and I look at each other anxiously as we get awarded a corner. A commotion starts right before the net of Union Berlin, the ball bouncing back at first, and then GOALLL!
I practically slam the post button, the stadium erupting in cheers along with us. Finding it difficult to calm down, so we can focus on the last minutes of the game. With the assurance that we would win, Luis and I start packing our equipment quickly. It would make sure we could follow the team back into the tunnel and, of course, towards the changing room for the post-match interview.
"Who got Man Of The Match again?" I ask Luis, noticing a smirk form on his face immediately.
"It's Jude." He says, and I look at him with wide eyes, pulling an annoyed face.
"Really? Now I've got to interview him? It's going to explode his ego, like it can get any bigger..." I sigh, following Luis down the stands.
"You'll live." He mumbles, prompting me to sigh again, wishing I could speed up the next few minutes as if it were a boring Netflix show.
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"Tell him to- put his shirt on." I urge Luis, nudging his arm, my hands falling to my side when he shakes his head.
We'd both already been in the changing room, and my eyes had caught multiple half-naked
players. Prompting me to exit instantly. I didn't want to intrude when the guys were changing for obvious reasons, so I walked myself out before things became really awkward. Though, they probably didn't care, I did.
"Why does it matter?" He asks, pushing my head away from his face.
"It's distra- or just say-"
"I'm ready."
I whip my head around, my head almost colliding with a hard chest. I quickly take a step back, a smug-looking Jude looking down at me.
What the fuck was he so tall for?
"Took you long enough." I mumble, rolling my eyes. Trying to pretend he didn't scare the crap out of me.
He scoffs, the ‘Player Of The Match’ award glimmering in his hand as if he's trying to show it off to me.
"Can we just do the interview so I can stop talking to her?" He says, looking at Luis. His eyebrows raising in question.
I click my tongue in annoyance, tapping my shoe against the ground impatiently. I watch Luis nod, his hand coming up to my shoulder as he pushes me closer to Jude.
I turn my head, looking at Luis confused. I mouth a 'what the fuck?' to him, his smirk getting wider as my arm collides with Jude's. A sudden panic and disgust creeping up to me.
"Let's just do it without my face." I blurt, immediately detaching myself from Jude's side, like he's a scorching fire ready to burn me.
I feel his eyes follow me as I walk to stand behind Luis. I fight to urge to kick the back of Luis's leg for whatever that was and just request him to start filming. Glad that the mic was already attached to the camera.
"3, 2, 1.." he counts down, pressing the record button. I try to fake my uppermost enthusiasm when I ask the questions to Jude. Watching his own expression change within milliseconds. It's like he wasn't just begging for the interview to start, so he could stop talking to me.
"¡Hala Madrid! ¡Buenos Noches!" He finally exclaims, raising the award excitedly. The interview finally ending.
The two minutes felt like an eternity, and he'd probably uttered the same sentence about 50 times now.
I sigh in relief, stepping back as I watch Jude and Luis give each other a handshake. We make eye contact for a split-second, my gaze cold as he looks at me with pure arrogance plastered on his face. Walking away to join his teammates, who had already walked out of the changing room.
"Can we go now?" I ask Luis, massaging my temples. He turns around, blankly staring at me. It creeps me out for a split-second.
"What?" I ask, frowning at him, folding my arms defensively.
"Nothing. It's late, let's go." He says, walking ahead of me. I watch him walk away for a couple of seconds, trying to decipher why he gave me that look. His back almost disappearing out of my sight before I knew it.
He walks past a couple players and staff members, them having their own conversations and being loud. Notably, Ancelotti walking with them.
I curse, clicking my tongue in annoyance. I start to walk fast, trying to catch up to Luis, who, at this point, wasn't even in my line of sight.
Suddenly, I hear Ancelotti call out my name, and I turn around like a deer in headlights. Slowly starting to consider leaving Luis in the parking lot, instead of driving him home.
"Something wrong?" I ask, looking at him cautiously.
Was I in trouble?
"Come here." He says, waving his hand. I look to his right, seeing a familiar group of players glance at me. It consisting of Vini, Cama, Aurelien, and Jude, again. Them laughing and banter amongst each other.
"Can you tell your father to call me? I need to speak with him." He adds, looking at me.
I nod, my expression changing to a less confused one, before reassuring him I would tell my dad.
"Then go on, it's getting late." He says, patting my shoulder, squeezing reassuringly.
I smile at him, nodding and glancing at the guys next to him.
"Good game, guys! See you tomorrow." I say, fully in Spanish on purpose, waving and walking away as fast as I possibly can manage without looking crazy.
Luis was getting his ass left here, for sure.
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"Dad! I'm home." I sing, taking my shoes off at the door, quickly storing them away in the shoe cabinet.
"I'm in the kitchen." He shouts back, and I make my way towards him.
"What are you doing?" I ask, seeing him stand in front of the open fridge.
"Grabbing dinner to heat up. You're hungry, right?" He says, and I nod, walking over to kiss his cheek in greeting.
"I'll do it, dad. You should go rest." I say, noticing him already dressed in his pajamas. I take the Tupperware of food out of his hands, placing it on the marble island.
"How was the match?" My dad asks, leaving to sit on one of the bar stools across from me.
"Good- we won." I say, pouring the tomato soup into a small pot. Placing it on the electric stove, before turning it on.
"I saw, Jude really saved the day. Amazing signing..." He chuckles.
My dad wasn't aware of the absolute disdain we had for each other, but I wouldn't want to bother him with it.
"Yeah, I guess he did." I mutter through my teeth, stirring the soup with a spoon. Making sure I don't scratch the surface of the pot.
"Oh! Mr. Ancelotti asked if you could call him. I think it's pretty important, since he asked me..." I remember, looking up at him from the stove.
"Why didn't he just call me?"
"Maybe, because you're always busy? He probably can't get a hold of you, or your secretary forgot to tell you. Which would be- weird." I say, watching him walk away to grab his personal phone off the dinner table.
"You're really calling him now? Dad, it's like ten at night. You need to stop thinking about work."
"It's alright, we're close enough." He says, calling the man of topic as he approaches the sliding glass door to the backyard, walking out.
I scoff in disbelief, shaking my head. I should've just told him tomorrow after breakfast.
I try to push those thoughts away, finally sitting down at the dinner table, putting on a binge-worthy show on the TV across from me. Enjoying my dinner with a can of Coke.
The ending credits of the episode and my empty bowl allow my mind to wander back to the day’s events. It was the first game of many for the Champions League. No doubt, our team would go far, we had a strong team with amazing support. I just hoped traveling while also studying could be manageable, especially this year.
I decide to give my brain a break from thinking critically, taking care of the dirty dishes, and sliding the backyard door open.
"Dad?" I call out, noticing him sitting on one of the pool lounge chairs. He turns to me, motioning for me to be quiet with a finger on his lip. I nod, mouthing a 'goodnight' and wave. He mouths it back, smiling at me. I nod, turning my back and walking up the stairs.
Arriving in my bathroom, I take a quick shower and do my nighttime skincare. Feeling very refreshed when I crawl into my bed, the silk pillowcase soft underneath my head as my eyes flutter shut.
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The atmosphere today at the training center is very off.
Instead of the players looking happy and excited after their win yesterday, they look somber and tired. The vibe is gloomy, despite the sun shining brightly since early this morning.
Especially the younger guys. I didn't know what was wrong yet. They greeted me halfheartedly, unlike normally, and even Jude himself didn't give me one of his daily, annoying, egoistic looks.
I had asked around, and most other staff members told me they noticed the same, so it definitely wasn't just me making things up in my own head.
Maybe, just maybe, nosy Lina had some information.
I grab a tray, walking along the lunch buffet, and getting my food. I didn't want to bother fussing over all the options today, just opting to go for my usual. I don't forget to grab my drink, an Americano, iced this time to combat the September heat.
I look up to find Lina, my eyes finally catching her wavy, dirty blonde hair at our usual table, as I make my way towards her.
"Hey! Haven't seen you today. What's up?" I say, hugging her. I had been busy filming the recovery exercises of the players with Luis in the gym.
"Finished editing the footage you and Luis took yesterday." She says, smiling at me. Moving a lock of hair behind her pierced ear.
"Was the footage usable?" I ask, looking at my plate of food before looking back at her.
"Yeah, good as always. Posted it on YouTube already." She answers, and I turn to her after swallowing my bite of pancakes.
"Was the interview alright? Did it sound like we wanted to kill each other?"
"It was surprisingly good! You two just have that onscreen chemistry." A smile pulls at her lips, the outrageous statement causing me to freeze for a moment.
"Carolina! Don't ever say that again, please." I use her full name, giving her a look of disgust while shaking my head, horrified.
I hear her laugh mid-bite, she practically starts choking on her food. Prompting me to pat her back semi-aggressively. She finally calms down when I bring her drink up to her lips.
"Can I ask you something? It's about something completely unrelated." I say, changing the topic and looking around for any eavesdroppers.
"Go ahead." She says, clearing her throat for a moment.
"Have you noticed the younger guys- are acting a little off?" I say, choosing my words carefully, watching her eyes light up almost instantly.
She definitely knew what was up.
She nods, pulling me closer by my shoulders, and whispers into my ear.
"Apparently, last night after the match, the guys went to celebrate at a restaurant. When they dropped Jude off at his home- and I'm saying just what I have overheard. Someone tried to break into his place." She whispers, and I pull back to give her a bewildered expression.
"You're serious?" I ask, raising my brows.
"Yeah, something about his window being broken and a note being left."
"A stalker?" I ask, taking a sip of my coffee.
She nods, pulling away from me.
"That's what I've heard. Apparently, this wasn't the first time it happened, it being the second time already. The younger players probably feel bad for Jude. They've all gotten pretty close and are probably worried about his, but also their safety." She explains.
Despite the bad blood between Jude and me, I had the heart to feel a little bad for him. I had morals at the end of the day.
"Doesn't his mom live with him?" I ask, recalling what I've heard around.
"She wasn't home, thankfully."
"That's good, at least." I reply, looking away for a moment.
"He'll probably have to start a legal process.." She adds, and I return my attention back to her.
"Where did you even hear all of this?"
"A good gossiper never reveals their sources."
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"y/n, could you come here for a moment?" I hear Hugo speak. The head of PR and marketing for the club. Whom I had the opportunity to grow pretty close to last season.
I place the folders in my hand back on my desk, walking over to him curiously.
"What is it?" I ask, looking at the grey haired man. He's smiling, so it must be positive?
"I'm sure you're aware I chose you to provide content during matches, but also the match preparations this season, along with Luis."
I nod, eagerly waiting for his point to be made.
"I've seen what you and Luis put out yesterday. I'm very pleased so far, especially the interview with Jude. Feedback has been great online. Looked very nice and casual."
"Thank you, we tried our best to create the best content. I honestly couldn't have done it without Luis." I quickly say.
That was true, I don't think I could've done the interview without Luis, even though he was being a little weird about it.
Why was everyone obsessed with that interview anyway? It was just a normal, run-of-the-mill interview I did most of the time.
"Right, extend my praises to him as well. As you know, the CEO of Apple will be visiting us on Saturday. I'd like for you and Luis to capture the moment. Would you want that?"
Meeting the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook?
I would be crazy to refuse.
"Of course, I'm sure Luis would also appreciate the opportunity. Could you send us the details via email later?"
This was definitely a dream come true, especially for tech-nerd Luis. He looked up to these CEOs for inspiration all the time.
After the conversation with Hugo ends, I decide to finally clock out. I walk down the stairs, my bag slung around my arm as my eyes are glued to my phone. Wondering how Luis would react to the news.
I couldn't tell him in person since he wasn't on site at the moment. So, texting would have to suffice.
I reach the last few steps, my shoes stomping against them, finally taking a right at a corner.
Suddenly, my shoulder painfully crashes against another body. My bag falling on the floor, along with my phone which flies out of my hand.
I look up instantly, eyes locking with someone I don't recognize by name, but have definitely seen around. He's dressed in a brown T-shirt with some dark blue jeans, interesting wear for the weather today. He did look a couple years older, something like late twenties or early thirties.
I clutch onto my arm, trying to ease the pain as I start to apologize profusely. I want to be rude so bad, but I hold my words back with everything in me.
I wasn't watching where I was going, but still, he could have heard me stomp down the stairs.
"No, it's fine. It happens." He says, no actual emotions detectable in his voice. I reach down to grab my bag off the floor. Watching him bend down to grab my phone, which had landed on the floor about a meter away from me.
I stand back up, holding my bag with my unhurt arm.
"Here." He says blankly, handing me my phone. 
"Thank you." I say, grabbing the device. His cold fingers unexpectedly graze against mine, making me shudder as it creeps me, the fuck out.
I did not like whatever that was...
He was holding my phone right at its base, how did his hands even touch mine?
He looks at me for a second, his blue eyes piercing into my soul, as he then walks off, not saying another word. Leaving me standing there in confusion.
I snap out of my trance quickly, trying to forget whatever that interaction was. Finally, walking up to my car and unlocking it.
Most players and staff had left already. Recovery day was so fun, only because it meant getting off early.
After pondering for a few seconds, I decide to just visit my dad's law firm instead of going home directly. Mostly, because I hadn't been there in a while. I could see him, and work on my essay there at the same time.
Maybe, I could also convince the other lawyers there to give me feedback on my essay.
I connect my phone to the car, clicking on my current favorite playlist and increasing the volume of the speakers. Knowing my favorite songs could keep me company while I drove through the city.
I grab my own set of keys out of my bag after arriving. My dad had given it to me, so I could enter and leave the firm whenever I wanted. Giving me the freedom of not having to knock or press the intercom when I visited.
I insert the key in the keyhole of the front door, trying to twist it. I frown as the key doesn't actually twist, making me wonder if the lock was changed. I pull the key out, inserting it again, and try to twist the key.
I sigh as it doesn't work, looking around to see if anyone is staring at me. Only because I definitely looked like I was some stupid robber trying to break in, in broad daylight.
Thankfully, no one is looking my way, so I continue to struggle with the door. Mumbling some curse words in annoyance, a frown settling in between my brows.
I breathe in, inserting the key again, readjusting my grip on the doorknob as I twist the key. I push the door at the same time, the door unexpectedly flying open. My weight presses against the door as I fall inside, clutching onto the door handle for dear life. My ankle rolls painfully, and I let out a pained wince.
I hear a loud groan as I try to stabilize myself. I raise my brows confused, seeing my dad lean over to ask a guy who's cradling his head if he's alright.
I just slammed the door into a client’s face.
A mortified expression forms on my face as I realize the situation I caused. I immediately walk over to place a hand on the guys shoulder, apologizing repeatedly. My dad giving me the most disappointed look to date.
I glance over to the woman next to my dad, recognizing her within a heartbeat.
"Denise?" I ask, eyes widening in confusion. If she's here, then...
I notice my victim raise his head, a pained groan leaving him. We make sudden, unexpected eye contact. I freeze in shock and confusion, a little disgust following at the realization of who he is.
"Jude?"
"y/n?"
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mowu-moment · 2 months
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ranking food tokens by how much personally i want to eat them
- Throne of Eldraine -
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i have reason to distrust this meat pie thing, not only because of its wails of anguish but it also seems to have burst a bit in the oven. still not honestly opposed, at least the dishes are clean. 5/10.
how does one unpeel a curly banana? why are there sliced-open fruits on what appears to be a stone in the woods? where is the light coming from? i'm going to be taken by the fae and it's not even gonna taste too good while i'm at it, these things look dirty. but idk i don't mind someone else taking the wheel of my life rn. 2/10.
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again, concerns about the floor food, but at least it looks more like some deliverygirl got eaten by a wolf and dropped her basket than a trap. someone already took a bite, though, maybe i should leave it be. 4/10
i have been invited to the Goblin King's Feast and while i don't fully agree with his choices i will certainly partake. boar looks wonderful apart from the hair. 7/10
- Commander 2020 / Strixhaven Commander -
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i'm pretty sure cattails are poisonous to humans (not to mention the actual poisons in there) so i unfortunately can't oblige gyome's swamp soup. that crusty bread looks pretty nice though. i'll pick this thing apart like high school cafeteria lunch. 3/10.
- Modern Horizons 2 -
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i at least know who cooked this one, and i trust asmor a decent bit, but this is still food for demons, so maybe it's not too good for me. goddamn do i wanna know what it tastes like though. 4/10.
- Unfinity -
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i'm considering these two together. as a filthy american, i am allured by these fat-filled foods, but as a lad with a tiny stomach, i doubt i could eat enough to feel good about not wasting it. astrotorium's about excess, goddamn. the only funfair burger i've had was the best thing i had eaten in months, but it also made me ill the rest of the day. i really do want some infinity fries though, those look like the golden mean between a steak fry and a curly fry. 6/10.
- March of the Machine Commander -
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meanwhile this looks like a texture nightmare. like i respect it, i imagine it's filling and fulfilling, but i don't think i ever could eat more than a bite or two. bread looks a little worse than gyome's but only a little. 5/10.
- Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth -
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my white ass loves a charcuterie board. and i'm not going to be intimidated out of it by not eating enough, since it's all in snack-sized bits already. definitely gonna overindulge this sucker. i'm nervous about some of those spreads though. 9/10.
this looks like i'm in a dream, is it actively cooking? or still hot? i can't identify what's in that pan anyway. i'm leaving it alone out of respect. wouldn't mind a drink though. 2/10.
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this is not food. for humans. 0/10.
- Wilds of Eldraine -
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this is a king's feast i am properly intimidated by. i'm more into it than the Goblin King's, particularly that triple-layer blueberry pie or whatever that is, but i'm going to have to be as polite as possible lest i get a face full of flaming beer. 8/10
i'll probably be eaten before this can eat me, and it barely looks like food, but at least i go down with sugar in the mouth. 1/10.
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ogh. that egg looks divine. the bread looks amazing, there's a full glass, i've got like beans or mermaid tears everywhere. we've even got seasonings back there. the best damn breakfast i'll ever have. 10/10.
i would still probably eat this over nothing. there's onion, at least. i will either be hexed or violently ill, but like i could at least get it down. and maybe the witchmother is testing my strength and she'll reward me after slurping an eyeball. a convenient lie to tell myself. 2/10.
- Doctor Who Commander -
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y'know, four, i think i would like a copyrighted candy. they look sad and british, which is on point. but like it's not actively killing me like half of these. i think anyway. i don't know doctor who. 6/10.
what is this? i have no idea. custard? raw batter? giant dunkaroo? is he dipping fishsticks? it doesn't look like it's done cooking, like do we need to put it in a fryer again? i'd say it's inedible but it's not poison stew so i have to be nice. 4/10.
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get AWAY from me. this is a PERSONAL vendetta. i would rather try to eat spiderwebs. plus he's already eaten half of it. -10/10.
- Fallout Commander -
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i can't be too mean since this is literally apocalypse food. i think i prefer this over poison stew? like i recognize it at least, even if it's foul and moldy. man has to eat something. 3/10
i'm not convinced there's actual soda in here. is this just a perspective shot or is this a giant prop soda? i don't like cola anyway. again, worth it in an apocalypse i suppose. 4/10
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this soda i trust even less. it glows? does this give me magic powers in the fallout world or does it just kill me slowly? i think it'll kill me slowly anyway. i need fluid to survive in apocalypseland but damn i hate for it to come to this. 2/10.
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kostektyw · 9 months
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Detco movies rated based on how much shit gets exploded / destroyed
The Time-Bombed Skyscraper - the whole premise is about blowing up stuff, but it's shame no trains got got, 7/10
The Fourteenth Target - it's just an underwater restaurant that is pretty out of the way from anything else and we have no prior attachment to. bonus for the helicopter crash, 5/10
The Last Wizard of the Century - an entire castle does get burned down, but it's no explosion, 6/10
Captured in Her Eyes - just some regular old murder, 0/10
Countdown to Heaven - truly a 9/11 movie. point detracted for leaving the second tower intact, 8/10
The Phantom of Baker Street - the entire thing takes place in VR, so it shouldn't even count, but no one even gets their brain blown up :( 0/10
Crossroad in the Ancient Capital - somehow nothing gets bombed or destroyed? Conan tries a little arson but is unsuccessful, -1/10
Magician of the Silver Sky - a plane gets somewhat mistreated, 2/10
Strategy Above the Depths - a whole damn ship sinks, it's all very dramatic, 9/10
The Private Eyes' Requiem - despite the constant threat of exploding people, barely anything gets exploded. half a point for Kid using a gun on some windows, 1.5/10
Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure - i guess they do find that ancient pirate ship and it immediately falls apart, 5/10
Full Score of Fear - plenty of shit gets blown up including a concert hall while no one inside realizes anything's wrong. you'd think they'd have some fire warning system in place, 10/10
The Raven Chaser - sadly no explosions, but the tower gets shot at hard, and the helicopter does not end up fine, tho no actual crash on screen, 5/10
The Lost Ship in the Sky - only a research facility we don't care about gets exploded in the opening, and that airship barely gets scratched up, 4/10
Quarter of Silence - we have a train exploding out of a tunnel, a dam blown to smithereens, and an avalanche, what more could you want, 10/10
The Eleventh Striker - who can say no to some exploding stadiums, great movie for people who hate football, 8/10
Private Eye in the Distant Sea - just a rando ship at the beginning, who cares, 1/10
Dimensional Sniper - some police cars and incredibly light bombing of the tower, eh, 3/10
Sunflowers of Inferno - a cool museum gets absolutely demolished, the burning fake sunflowers are a lovely image, plus we got some proper plane mistreatment, 10/10
The Darkest Nightmare - both an explosive car crash at the beginning and a ferris wheel gets extremely destroyed, 9/10
The Crimson Love Letter - lots of explosions, and in beautiful scenery too, 10/10
Zero the Enforcer - destroying shit with a satellite is pretty imaginative, but there was not as much destruction as i hoped, 7/10
The Fist of Blue Sapphire - they're surfing on some iconic Singaporean landmarks, meanwhile an oil ship freely wrecks shit, 11/10
The Scarlet Bullet - i fully admit i have no idea what Masumi and Conan were trying to do, both the train and station ended up looking pretty rough. 10/10
The Bride of Halloween - for a movie about bombs not all that much significant shit gets destroyed, but they do go out in style at least. bonus points for covering Shibuya in goo, 9/10
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callmearcturus · 3 months
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The Video Gaming Major Arcana
The latest patron episode of Into The Aether/@intothecast asked the boys to decide a video game for every Major Arcana card. They ran out of time on it and only got 2/3s thru
my ass was like "Challenge Accepted"
0 - The Fool - Dragon Quest (The Fool is infinite potential and is at the start of a long journey. DQ as a series is a long-running, is a bedrock of the medium, and has done its own takes on everything from pokemon to minecraft, and it either did it first or did it better.)
1 - The Magician - Metroid and Zelda (The Magician is the first person the Fool meets and is a guide for the journey. The Magician is associated strongly with teaching and with tools. Metroid and Zelda both are foundational works and they revolve around gating player process through tools.)
2 - The High Priestess - FEZ (The High Priestess is another guide, but sits before the veil, keeping guard over arcane, hidden knowledge and deciding when to share the secrets of the universe. FEZ is one of the Big Games that hide under layers and layers of mystery.)
3 - The Empress - Stardew Valley (The Empress presides over growth and cultivation of her kingdom, sitting in a field with wheat in hand. SDV is chiefly about taking care of your own domain, the farm and the wider village.)
4 - The Emperor - Civilization (The Emperor is the firm hand of government and can be an important navigator in chaos but also is angered by lack of obedience and losing control. Civ is all about steering every aspect of a nation and protecting it viciously.)
5 - The Hierophant - Pokemon (The Hierophant is a cultural, societal leader that gains power from people who believe similarly but subsequently is very set in their ways. Pokemon is a huge phenomenon that unites people of all ages, but also struggles heavily with innovation and progress.)
6 - The Lovers - Journey (The Lovers aren't necessarily smoochy-smoochy, but represent a Decision, joining hands with another person and striding into the future together. It's Journey. If you know, you know.)
7 - The Chariot - Bethesda's Catalog (The Chariot is a tumultuous, potent card. They hold onto the reins of powerful beasts and drive forward, blazing a new path. But if they lose grip, everything goes to hell. Bethesda's works tend to have this incredible ambition to them, and when they hit, they HIT, but when they miss, it's dramatic.)
8 - Justice - Dark Souls (Justice is the system and its enforcement of its rules, whether they feel fair or arbitrary. I feel DS fits it well-- it relentlessly follows its own rules and is firm in them, which can either draw players in or seem cruel and unwelcoming.)
9 - The Hermit - Immortality (The Hermit is a wise person who gained specialized knowledge but through great personal sacrifice. They find it difficult to share their knowledge because they essentially traded that ability to communicate easily for the wisdom. Immortality has some deeply complicated concepts to communicate, but its methods and the basic mechanics it uses are to some people impossible to understand.)
10 - (Wheel of) Fortune - Spelunky (Fortune is the card of pure luck and the whims of fate and how you survive being caught in its spokes. Spelunky is a pure Rogue-like as opposed to a Rogue-lite and there is no knowing what the procgen will give you.)
11 - Strength - Undertale (Strength is specifically about emotional control and fortitude. It's not about slaying the lion, but holding it, keeping it from lashing out. Undertale is a game that asks the player to endure emotional struggles both against the mechanics and against their own inclinations.)
12 - The Hanged Man - Signalis (OH BOY ITS MY FAVE CARD. The thing about the Hanged Man is that it's a test, a gamble, a deal. The Hanged Man is not hung from the neck, this is not an execution, they are inverted. They choose to be inverted in the hopes of gaining some Insight into the universe, but in doing so risk madness or obsession or doom. Signalis is both a game about a protagonist going through this and also a game that will put the player through this if they aren't careful.)
13 - The Nameless Arcana - Braid (I'm not even personally a fan of Braid, but I believe it is one of the handful of Original Indie Games. The very existence and popularity of Braid and its contemporaries showed that games outside the big studios could hit big. Braid (or Cave Story for the PC crowd) altered the landscape.
14 - Temperance - Yakuza (Temperance is the melding of disparate elements that should not go together into something grand and new, and maintaining that balance. Yakuza manages to be genuine and profound not in spite of its strange mixture of tones and mechanics but because of them.)
15 - The Devil - Genshin Impact (I don't feel the need to elaborate on this one.)
16 - The Tower - Shenmue (The Tower is total upheaval and where it all comes crashing down, where ambition crumbles and brings an institution down with it. Shenmue is not solely to blame for the failure of the Dreamcast and Sega's exit from the console arena, but it contributed to it and is emblematic of that seachange.)
17 - The Star - Mass Effect (The Star is a beacon in the darkness, a distant light that indicates not so much a goal, but that the journey will continue. Mass Effect is a landmark title that maybe didn't execute on half the things it tried, strangled by its own scope, but it still showed what games could do, broadening the possibility space. It is hope for greater experiences and art.)
18 - The Moon - Metal Gear (The Moon illuminates the path through the darkness, but creates illusions in the reflections, demanding the querent move forward with care or they will go astray, go mad. Is Metal Gear really deep? Is it the closest triple-A games get to arthouse? Does it have meaning? Or is it a mess? Is it too Problematique to justify it's big ideas? Is it all just really, really stupid? Or is it genius?)
19 - The Sun - Tetris Effect (The Sun comes at the end of a long, arduous journey. It is the sigh of relief, the tears of release, the light to finally see how far you've come. Tetris Effect is the latest iteration of one of the oldest formulas ever, and it's brilliant and celebratory and invites everyone to take part in its joy.)
20 - Judgement - Pathologic (Judgement is all-seeing and all-knowing, the final tally and the reckoning. So is Pathologic. Few experiences demand so much from the player, and few games are so brutally honest in answering the player's decisions. In Pathologic, you will get what you deserve.)
21 - The World - The Outer Wilds (The beginning is the end is the beginning. Completion and totality and holistic understanding of Everything. It's gotta be Outer Wilds.)
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kaleldobrev · 7 months
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Genuinely Happy
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Pairing: Dean Winchester x Fem!Reader
Summary: You and Dean enjoy a nice car ride together while you admire how genuinely happy he looks
Word Count: 506
Warnings: Just fluff
Authors Note: A little bit of a shorter fic but I hope you all still enjoy it nonetheless | If you liked this, don’t forget to like & reblog. I really appreciate it! Feedback is always welcome ♡
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Riding in the passenger seat of Baby was one of your favorite things to do as long as Dean was the one in the driver's seat — which he usually was but you weren’t always in the passenger seat. Nine times out of ten you were designated to sitting in the back as you didn’t need as much leg room as Sam had did. Despite loving the back seat as you were able to comfortably nap and stretch out during long car rides, you cherished these moments you were able to sit in the front with the man you loved.
You turned to Dean who had one firm hand on the steering wheel while the other was resting casually on your thigh, his fingers gently tapping away to the sweet sounds of Led Zeppelin on your jeans. As he hummed away you couldn't help but smile; seeing how genuinely happy and relaxed he was in this moment. He was someone that found it hard to relax despite what he may say, there was always something on his mind. It could always be a number of things: thinking about a past hunt, thinking about past mistakes, thinking about loved ones he’s lost along the way. It didn’t really matter, but you knew regardless of what it was, it was something that he was constantly wrestling with. So, when there were moments like these where he genuinely looked happy and genuinely looked relaxed, in turn it had made you feel the same.
Dean turned to you, shooting you one of those smirky type soft smiles of his, “How’s my girl?” He asked, gently patting your thigh.
You smiled softly at the nickname. “I’m doing good,” you said, taking his hand in yours. “How’s my man doing?” Your voice was calm, even much like his was.
“Doin’ real good Sweetheart,” he replied turning back to the road. “Got Zepp on the radio, got both my babies with me,” he patted the dashboard, “and it’s a beautiful sunny day. What’s there not to be happy about?”
“Sounds like the perfect day to me,” you said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
“You know what’ll make it even better?” He asked, turning to look at you again.
“What’s that?” You asked.
"The two of us sitting on the hood of Baby, having a couple of beers while we look at the sunset in the park down the road." He took your hand and kissed the back of it before settling it back down on your lap still holding it.
You smiled at this plan, genuinely excited for it. Yes, you were always excited to spend time with Dean no matter what the activity was but you tended to cherish plans like these the most because of the normalcy of it. The two of you could pretend that there were no monsters in the world even if it was just for an hour or two. “You really are a hopeless romantic,” you commented, and Dean just grinned.
“Only for my girl,” he replied.
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Tag List: @roseblue373 @beansproutmafia @queenie32 @deanwanddamons @missy420-0 @jackles010378 @syrma-sensei @k-slla @justletmereadfanfic @mrsjenniferwinchester
If you’d like to be added to a tag list let me know!
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ellabsbitch · 1 year
Text
training wheels
pairing: ellie williams x reader
warnings: 18+ minors dni, lil possessiveness, ellie kinda stern with r ngl, she is sweet too tho trust, face slapping, fingering, dirty talk ig, idk what else
a/n: i’ve been trying to finish this for literally so long but today i had a sudden urge to finish it so here we are! i hope you enjoy n lmk what you think. also at first i was using the song “training wheels” by melanie martinez but it doesn’t match a lot but i kept the title. also kinda proofread kinda not so sorry if there’s typos.
wc: 4.1k :0
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ever since you walked into Jackson, ellie has felt an overwhelming urge to protect you. she saw how nervous you were when you were meeting everyone and it made her want to take you in her arms and never let go.
eventually, you and ellie became very close friends. the two of you hardly spent time away from each other, unless she went on patrol. nonetheless, the first thing she would do when she got back from patrol was come see you. she loved the look on your face when she surprised you when coming home early. you would practically leap into her arms and tell her how much you missed her.
ellie just loved that about you, how sweet you are. you hardly ever became angry, if anything, you were like a ray of sunshine that ellie desperately needed in her life. the way you always were tending to others and never put yourself first made that funny feeling continue to grow in ellie’s chest, the urge to take care of you.
not only were you so kind, you also were so innocent. when you went to the tipsy bison with ellie and her friends, the group cracked vulgar jokes all night that had everyone crying laughing. meanwhile, when ellie looked to you, she saw the quirk of your brow as you sat in confusion. without explaining, she rubbed the small of your back with a soft smile. she liked that you didn’t understand the crude jokes they made.
one time at one of many sleepovers, ellie was sitting on your living room couch waiting for you to finish getting ready for bed when you came downstairs in the most skimpy pair of pink shorts she had ever seen. not only that, you also adorned a nearly see-through white tank top. with a quick glance at your chest, she immediately took notice that you weren’t wearing a bra either.
ellie’s skin grew hot as she watched you walk towards her, looking like you came straight out of that playboy magazine she found awhile back when she was patrolling with dina. you stood in front of her, fingers tangled together in shyness.
“does this look okay ellie?” you said, finally uncrossing your arms, giving ellie a perfect view of the hardness peaking through the fabric of the tight tank top. ellie didn’t even get a second to retrieve the air back into her lungs before she watches as you turn around, showing off the way the shorts fall so short on your ass that it was leaving nothing to the imagination. the air must’ve made its way back to ellie because she’s sighing out as she stares as your beautiful body, at a loss for words.
“you look beautiful, sweetheart,” she gritted out, all while staring at you with so much adoration. she watches as you giggle and turn back around to jump onto the couch and cuddle up next to her.
“thank you els,” you say, looking up at her with wide eyes, having no clue what you are doing to her.
however, as much as she felt the need to protect you, she also wanted to be the one to ruin you. at sleepovers, when y’all slept settled up right against each other, she dreamt about taking you right there. she often fantasized while on patrol about how you would feel if she ever got the chance to have you, leaving her to excuse herself from her designated patrol partner to deal with her problem else where.
slowly, ellie started to cross the line of friendliness and flirting. whenever out with friends, she would find herself resting her hand on the inside of your thigh if you sat next to her (which was majority of the time). whenever she saw someone staring at you if you guys were out, ellie would pull you tightly into her side and run off the person just from her piercing glare. at your usual movie sleepovers, she led you to her lap during the movie rather than your usual spot next to her. all through the movie, ellie’s hands rubbed from the outside to the inside of your thighs, leaving you with tingles in your lower body.
more recently, ellie found herself reprimanding you when you decided you were going to act out. whenever you began to whine after ellie ended up winning in a game of “go fish”, ellie was quick to correct you with a stern pat to the side of your thigh and a simple, ���no whining” that immediately shut you up.
one night when you and her went out with dina and jesse, she watched you and dina dash to the dance floor, leaving her and jesse to talk at the bar. as jesse began rambling on about the patrolling routes, her eyes flitted from him to you every few seconds, making sure you were okay. after double-checking on you, she turns back to jesse and finds herself laughing at the impressions he makes of the people at the bar.
she’d gotten so caught up with jesse that for a moment she forgot where you went, glancing to the barstool next to her. the anxiety in her chest fades away when realization hits her as she remembers you were just dancing with dina. however, the anxiety quickly turns into anger due to the fact she wasn’t expecting to look back at you to find you dancing with one of the guys that work at the bar with Seth. though you seemed to just be having fun, the guy clearly had different intentions than you. for a moment, she watched as he pressed himself into you from behind and she swore she saw red. ellie hastily excused herself from the conversation with jesse and made a beeline to you.
you don’t notice her presence at first, that was until you felt a familiar grip around your wrist, yanking you in the same direction. whipping your head towards her, you don’t even get the chance to see her face at the rate she’s already dragging you away from the scene and out of the bar. your feet tangled together as you struggled to match her pace and after a few minutes of trying and failing to keep up with ellie, your wrist starts to feel numb and you whimper when the grip on your wrists does not let up.
hearing your whimper, her grip loosens and she stops walking all together, now turning to fully face you. finally getting a look at her face, you see a range of emotions dancing in her eyes, most notably, anger. you cower under her angry stare, diverting your eyes to your pink converse that contrast greatly next to her black pair.
the ground becomes very interesting to look at while you avoid your favorite pair of green eyes. before you get the chance to count the 5th rock you’ve started concentrating on, you feel her grip your chin, placing her thumb under your bottom lip and her index under your chin. she lifts your head back up to meet her gaze and she looks as mad as ever.
“i don’t ever wanna see you dancing with anyone like that, okay baby? promise me you won’t do that again.” she says, surprisingly soft for the way her eyes beat down onto you. without a second thought, you nod your head, heart beating out of your chest. she shakes her head, reaching her other hand up to run her fingers through your messy hair, “i need words pretty.”
you shake under her stare, attempting to swallow before responding, “no more els, i’m sorry.” her palms find your cheeks, as she cups your face between them and smiles, “good girl.” the ache between your legs, like the one you get when she touches you, returns at her words and you sigh out, leaning into her palm.
never did you question ellie’s actions, or thought of them as weird considering you two were just friends. you believed she knew what was best for you. in fact, you loved when ellie was more possessive over you. though you didn’t understand what exactly was going on between you two, you knew that ellie was the reason for the pounding between your thighs whenever she was near.
~~~~~~~~
tonight was your weekly movie night. you and ellie were currently sat on your soft couch, cuddled up next to each other watching a movie she found while on patrol the day before. with one glance at ellie, you thought you were going to die at the familiar ache that began to grow between your legs.
ellie was leaned back against the couch, legs spread out in relaxation with her arms resting on the back of the couch. her left arm was right against your back and every so often you would feel her hand dip down and rub at your shoulder. your stare doesn’t falter when she glances down at you and smiles, her eyes meet your own before she turns back toward the flashing colors exuding from the tv. the throbbing grows stronger causing your eyes to glaze over in want. you didn’t know what would stop the ache, but you knew you needed her to touch you.
trying not to make your feelings so obvious, you slowly scoot closer into her side and leaning your head on her upper body. your eyes never leave hers through your movements, though she never even looks at you. you almost whine at the lack of attention she’s giving you but you remember her expressing to you how she doesn’t like whining, she would rather talk to her than whine.
you twitch again, moving even further into her, leaving no room left between you two. at your continued movement, her head turns down towards where you’re staring up at her with a look in your eye that ellie can’t put her finger on. her arm drops from the back of the couch to wrap around your waist, holding you tightly to her.
“what is it, pretty?” she whispers, the loud movie playing in the background. ellie watches as you whimper at the compliment and her eyes drop down to see you try to subtlety squeeze your thighs together.
when she looks back up at your face, she notices you biting your lip as you stare back at her. ellie nearly groans out at the way you are looking at her, eyes glazed over in need.
as for you, her intense gaze makes you nervous, leading you to look down at your lap. ellie is quick to pull your chin back up to face her and you whine out at the physical contact. she tuts at the noise, gripping your chin a little harder.
“hey, none of that. use your words baby,” she says with a stern tone and a shake of her head. the grip she has on your chin only intensifies the want you are craving from her.
you feel your cheeks heat up at the nickname and you suddenly feel very shy. truth be told, you don’t know what is wrong so how can you tell her?. all you know is that you need ellie to make it better.
“it hurts els…” you trail off, starting to slowly move your hips. thought ellie knows exactly what ‘hurts’, she tries her best to put on her best worried expression for you.
“tell me what hurts so i can make you feel better baby,” ellie says, hand moving from your chin to the side of your face, holding your face in her palm.
you lean into the warmth of her palm and nuzzle your cheek into it. ellie smiles down at you, watching as you slowly lose your mind as the intensity of your wanting grew stronger.
you sob out to her, control being tossed out the window, “b-between my legs… it only feels better when you touch me.” with your words, you try to drag the hand that is at your waist down where you need it most.
you don’t get far as ellie is quick to snatch your hand in her iron tight grip. the pleasant look on her face disappears in seconds, now replaced with an icy glare conveniently directed straight at you.
“uh-uh, you ask me nicely to touch you,” ellie grits out at you. unfortunately for you, a whine escapes your lips causing ellie’s grip on your hand and face to tighten even more. “i’m trying to be sweet with you baby but you’re acting like a selfish brat. maybe you don’t deserve my kindness.”
crying out, you begin to beg for forgiveness. “n-no i’m sorry els i’ll be a good girl for you, please i’m sorry,” you find yourself crawling into her lap as you speak without any resistance from her side. ellie looks at you with a skeptical eye and she tilts her head slightly to the side.
“be a good girl and ask nicely for me to touch you,” she finally answers, her touch disappearing from your skin. at the loss of her warm hands on your body, you pout, neediness growing stronger.
“please els, ‘m sorry, j-just need you touch me!” you whine out to her, eyes wide as you take on the lustful gaze in her own. she stares back at you, considering your words.
absentmindedly during her consideration, you grind your core into her jean-covered lap, the thick material sending shots of pleasure to your warmth.
hit with the realization of your movements, ellie’s hands pop up and the iron grip on your hips returns shortly after she lands a heavy slap onto the side of your thigh. she holds your hips down onto her lap, the pressure stimulating your bundle of nerves. eyes now tightly shut, you cry out at the closeness, leaving her to scoff up at you. suddenly, there’s a quick slap the side of your face, whipping your face to the side.
your eyes fall shut as heat spreads across your cheek. tears leak down your reddened face, you peek back open to see those familiar green eyes pouring into youl. her fiery stare matches the harsh grip she keeps on your body, not letting up in the slightest.
“are you too fucking dumb to follow my simple directions? my little slut is so needy she can’t listen to a word i say?” her voice fills the previously silent room, apart from the panting that could be heard from the both of you. you shudder, however you fail to respond to her assertions, leaving her to mockingly coo at you, “that’s okay baby, i’ll just have to make you listen.”
an unfamiliar feeling coursed up and throughout your body at the thought of what’s to come. whether it was fear or excitement, it made you grow even more wet than you already were. in a flash, your pink pajama shorts are being ripped down your shaky body.
gasping at the sudden coolness from the air hitting the insides of your thighs, you try to close your legs to stop from shivering. before you could get your legs shut, ellie’s hands glide down to your knees where she yanks them back open to spread you out for her.
“no more hiding from me baby,” lips slowly turning up into a grin as she glances from your face down to what lies between your thighs. slowly, one of the hands that gripped the back of your knee smooths over your legs up to the waistband of your underwear, in which she runs the tips of her fingers across. her teasing causes your core to ache even more leaving you a whining mess above her. she breaks her trance when her eyes meet yours, lips breaking out into a smirk before her head dips down to leave gentle kisses on your lower abdomen.
she leaves a trail of kisses down to the top of your underwear, each one producing a new wave of chills that roll down your body. ellie pulls away for a moment admiring the whimpering mess that you’ve become before she is yanking your soaked underwear down your legs to fall on top of your forgotten pajama shorts.
still spread out on top of her, you let out a loud moan when the chill air hits your naked center. almost as if she knew, ellie’s grip on your legs tightens the second she feels your legs move to close again. another one of her smirks appears on your face and she pulls her head back up to leave a kiss on your lips, yours wet with tears due to the teasing she’s done thus far. your lips mold along with hers while her hands slip up to rub at the sides of your hips. just as the kiss gets intense, her growing more aggressive as you get more worked up, she pulls away and reaches up to cup your warm face with her rough hands.
“you still with me baby?” she quietly ask, her gaze dancing between your eyes. you immediately nod your head and close your eyes to lean back into the kiss, though you’re pulled back before you can even get close. she’s shaking her head at you when you open your eyes, the grip she has on your face tightening. “i need words sweet girl.”
“y-yes els, i’m with you,” you murmur, so entranced by her beauty that you can hardly think straight. she’s staring back at you with that same lustful look, making you squirm on her lap.
she smirks, “there’s my good girl. now why don’t you lay on the coach for me, okay baby?” once again you nod your head before remembering her previous words, then you respond with an, “okay els.”
you slide off of her lap with ease, eyes glancing toward the movie that had been long forgotten by now. a familiar rough hand reaches down to guide your face back towards the reason for your need and you find those green eyes that you adore so much staring right back at you. ellie smiles down at you, hand drifting up to brush your hair back into place from the messy movements, leaving you sighing at her soft touch. her body cages you from above and you shudder when you glance at her lean arms that stand next to your head. the hand in your hair trails back down to stroke your jaw as she gets situated on top of you.
“you just needed my help, huh pretty girl? your little cunt was aching so bad, you just needed me to make you feel better?” she pouts down at you, still stroking the side of your face. you whine at the truth behind her words, knowing she is exactly what you needed.
“yes els, need you to make it stop!” you whine out, back unknowingly arching up towards her touch. ellie can’t help but grin at the desperation of your words, the hand not occupied with your face smoothing down toward the place you need her most.
“i’ll make it better for you sweet girl, you don’t have to whine,” she says slightly giggling at your neediness. you pout at her laughs and as soon as she notices, she’s apologizing. “sorry baby, you just look so cute when you’re needy…” she states with a smile. heat rises up your neck but you can’t be bothered to cower away in embarrassment, too needy for her touch.
without further teasing, she eases her hand down to your spread legs and slowly begins to swipe up and down your slit. you cry out at the feeling, keeping your eyes trained on her concentrated expression. she glances up at your face for a moment before she starts thumbing at your clit.
“you’re so wet baby, and i’ve barely touched you. it must’ve been hurting so bad, huh?” she coos down at your pouting face. you nod quickly at her assumption, rocking your hips to meet each movement she makes on your cunt. “my sweet girl, i’ll make you feel better.”
with her words, she eases her way to your little hole, rubbing at the wetness that’s collecting there. slowly, she sinks her middle finger into her wanting hole and you can’t help but arch your back at the intrusion. you moan out at the new sensation, shuddering from the warmth that she provides you.
“e-els…” voice cracking at the slow pace she drags on, letting you get used to the new feeling. her hand at your cheek strokes your face as she peers back up at you.
“sh, sh, shhh, i got you baby, just take it for me,” she nearly moans herself, your beautiful body captivating her thoughts. her slow pace has you wanting more now that the initial pain subsides and you whine out a, “m-more please ellie!” she grins but nonetheless, slips out of you before gathering up more of your wetness to ease in her ring finger along with her middle finger.
the fullness you feel sends shots of pleasure up your body, leaving you a panting mess below her. she takes your moans of pleasure as a sign to quicken her movements, as she speeds up the attack on your aching center. ellie’s fingers pound into your cunt at an alarming pace that brings tears down your face and whimpers from your lips.
“yeah, this is just what you needed, huh baby? needed me to fuck the neediness outta ya’?” ellie groans out at the sight of the mess you’re making around her fingers. the sight only makes her fingers quicken and she find the spot that will send you over the edge if she keeps up the pace.
“y-yes needed it so bad! needed y-your fingers els,” whining out to her, feeling an overwhelming sensation take over your body. you feel something new building up lower and you welcome it with a loud cry.
“yeah just like that, sweet girl. just let go for me,” ellie replies, eyes never leaving your blown out orbs, glazed over in desire. her pace never falters, even as you’re screaming out as you near your release. you feel the new sensation start to come undone and you call out her name as you release all over her fingers. she guides you through your orgasm, free hand cradling your cheek as she whispers praises from above, and she slowly begins to ease the pace she has on your cunt. the tears don’t stop while you come down from your high, eyes staring up at ellie’s, taking in her words that leave your body shaking underneath her.
“that’s my good girl, you did so good for me. i’m so proud of you baby,” she whispers, leaning down to kiss the tears that still trickle for the corner of your eyes. once you’ve finally reached the end of your release, ellie gently slips her fingers from you and wipes her hand before reaching her hand up to join the other as she cradles your face between them. her kisses are littered across your entire face, sending you in a fit of giggle at the tickling sensation they leave behind. ellie pulls away to smile down at you, leaving one final kiss on your swollen lips. she disconnects the tender kiss to look at you once more, admiring your reddened cheeks and watery eyes.
“my beautiful girl,” she states with a soft smile that has you blushing even more. you watch as she gets up from the couch with a quick “be right back” and she disappears into the darkness. when she returns, she has a washcloth and a new pair of underwear along with some new sleep shorts for you to wear. softly, she cleans you up, quick apologies leaving her lips if she grazes a sensitive area. once she has you cleaned up, she helps you get into your new clothes before laying you back down onto the couch. ellie grabs the nearest blanket, yearning to get back to you as soon as possible, and bundles you both up underneath it. she slides in behind you and holds you in between her arms, leaving a kiss to your head when she notices your eyes drifting closed. you hear her mumble out a gentle, “rest my sweet girl,” before you fall into the most restful slumber you’ve had in weeks, between her warm embrace.
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ckret2 · 5 months
Text
Chapter 29 of human Bill Cipher will find a way out of being the Pines' prisoner or so help him, featuring:
Summerween!!!!
and also:
Henchmaniacs.
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Kryptos doesn't actually talk like that, it's just how he's currently feeling.
####
January 1, 1982
"You're late," Bill said, a bit reproachfully.
Ford gave him a surprised look. "Did we have an appointment?" He didn't remember one. He was pretty sure he'd remember an appointment with his muse, even if he'd made it in a dream.
"Pfff, appointments are for people without an eternity of time! No, I'm just used to you dreaming by midnight. It's weird for you to stay up past two when you aren't working on a project."
"I suppose it is." Ford was flattered Bill was paying close enough attention to notice his sleep habits. "I thought I'd stay up late to bring in the new year."
"The what?"
"The... new year?" What wasn't registering. How do you explain New Year's to an alien/angelic messenger? "It's when—"
"Oh, oh right." Bill waved off the rest of Ford's explanation. Several calendars and clocks spiraled in the air like a Ferris wheel in front of Bill, "Between trying to figure out whether you meant it was 0 Pop or Tishrei 1, I completely forgot about Chaos 1. You guys have too many calendars!"
And he'd skipped over January entirely. Wryly, Ford said, "The next time somebody asks for my input, I'll let them know you want us to use a few less."
Bill laughed. "Smart aleck." The calendars and clocks vanished. "And all you did to celebrate was stay up a little later than usual? No parties? Okay, I know you don't know anyone throwing a party—but you didn't even celebrate at a bar?" Bill ruffled his hair. "All work and no play makes Ford a dull boy!"
Ford endured the ruffling. He wasn't quite sure whether Bill was scolding him for staying up celebrating, or for not celebrating enough. "I... suppose I could celebrate in here?"
"What do you want, a fireworks show?" In the distance in Ford's mindscape, a single large firework exploded. It shifted colors, purple to yellow to green to red, before fading. "I don't think so! If you wanted fireworks, you should've gone to the show on the lake. I've got some prophecies to pass on, and I'd rather get to them this REM cycle."
By "prophecies" he probably meant a random assortment of warnings about Ford's upcoming week, which historically had varied in severity from "don't visit the lake Tuesday evening or you'll get caught in a snowstorm and die of hypothermia" to "you'd better get groceries in the morning before they sell out of your toothpaste brand." And Ford was always grateful for such messages—but now he wished he could see what sort of fantastical color-changing dream fireworks show his muse could put on. "I take it it's not a new year on your calendar."
"I don't keep track of that stuff. When you're as ancient as me, celebrating the new year is like celebrating a new hour."
Bill had so easily brushed off the implicit invitation to discuss "his" calendar. Ford wasn't surprised. Over the years of sporadic meetings with his muse, Ford had noted that Bill never shared information about where he'd come from or how he filled his time when he wasn't bestowing his wisdom—as if Bill was a thing that simply is, a muse that offered inspiration because it was made to inspire, with no history or identity outside of its role in service to humanity. He always dodged the questions gracefully.
But he never seemed bothered that Ford had asked. In fact, as long as Ford didn't pry into Bill's history and kept his inquiries comfortably shallow, Bill always seemed happy to receive personal questions. Ford had found that even when Bill talked like he was in a hurry, it was very easy to get him off track (and consequently extend his visit to two or three more dreams) by asking him about himself.
Ford wondered why that was. Was it a part of his duty—was he compelled to answer his chosen students' questions, to enlighten them on the mysteries of the universe, to help tug back the curtain of reality to reveal wonders unknown—wonders that included Bill himself? Or perhaps Bill was used to students seeing him as a source of knowledge without seeing him. Perhaps he was grateful that somebody was interested in him enough to ask.
Whatever the case—Bill clearly liked being asked about himself, and Ford liked getting his muse to stick around a little longer than planned. So rather than letting Bill get on to the prophecies he'd promised, Ford asked, "Do you ever... participate in any human holidays? After all, you've offered so much to humanity. I'm sure any of your prior protégés would have been honored to invite you as a guest to our celebrations. I would be honored." And Ford wouldn't mind having friendly company on the holidays that he'd gotten in the habit of ignoring until they shrank to nothing but a square on a calendar.
"Ha, I know you would! But no, not really," Bill said. "Don't get me wrong, it's not that I look down on your cute little local festivals. They just don't have any relevance to me! A celebration of a bountiful harvest, a prayer to get through the winter, the veneration of a local long-dead celebrity... I come from a timeless realm of divinity, sublimity, color and light! Most of your planet's holidays are about issues that don't matter to me."
"Ah. I see," Ford said. "Are there any human holidays you care about?"
Bill mulled over the question. "Maybe one or two."
####
June 22, 2013
Bill thundered down the stairs, charged into the kitchen, and announced to the Pines, "If I don't get to wear a Summerween costume I will literally die."
Without looking up from the morning paper, Ford said, "Then die."
####
It took ten minutes for Bill to bargain Ford up from "death" to permission to wear a costume—provided that it was free; that Bill agree to stay inside for the holiday without complaint (WITHOUT COMPLAINT) no matter what fun activities he heard happening outside; that Ford didn't have to do anything to help Bill obtain said costume; and that Bill take a dang shower.
Bill groaned. "Another shower already?"
"You wouldn't need so many if you didn't insist on running around in an acrylic sweater and polyester leggings in summer."
Bill knew that. That was one of the reasons he did it. It was useful for the humans to think the showers were their idea.
Bill agreed to all terms, and even volunteered to get the dang shower over with now so they could both get on with the rest of their days.
He'd never admit it, but Bill had been wanting a shower. Not for the hygiene, but for the privacy. This was the first time he'd had a door between himself and the Pines since he'd broken the shack's unicorn hair barrier.
Time to call in reinforcements.
Bill covered the mirrors, turned on the shower, undressed, stuck his head under the shower stream so that if anyone barged in on him he could use his wet hair as proof he'd been showering, and squinted through the wooden door to confirm there weren't any humans lurking nearby. Coast was clear—but wow, it hurt to bend his eye that way. He rubbed at it irritably as he set up his ring of candles again, and wasn't surprised when his fingertips came away bloody. He thought it hurt more than it had last time. He wondered how many more times he could glance into higher dimensions before this body's eyeballs gave out on him. Hopefully he wouldn't need them that long.
He drew Kryptos on the floor, lit the candles, and started muttering the chant to summon him. "Rhombus sapphirinus. Fraternitas, caritas..."
The steamy air went chill, the water pattering in the tub grew muffled, the whole world slowed and paused. For weeks, Bill's every attempt to break into the mindscape had been a futile strain; but now, instead, the mindscape surged up and swallowed him into its gray twilight, like evening embracing the land on the heels of sunlight's departure. Bill knew he wasn't awake anymore. It was working.
A force outside of Bill borrowed his throat to speak the last of the ritual—it worked!—and before his eyes, a diamond window opened into the Nightmare Realm.
####
Standing at the edge of one of the Quadrangle of Qonfusion's many perpendicular floors, arms crossed, scowling deeply, Pyronica glared at a neon-acidic cotton candy nebula light years away. "Guys," she said, "it's doing the thing again."
8 Ball, Keyhole, and Zanthar glanced away from their video game toward the nebula. Amorphous Shape peeled a few squares off a column to peer at it with Hectorgon.
"Look at this." Pyronica clapped her hands.
In the nebula, crackles of lightning-like bolts of light millions of miles long shot through the starry clouds. A noise like thunder boomed from it, rattling the Quadrangle. An ugly statue fell off a column-shaped pedestal and landed on a wall.
She clapped twice more—each time, eliciting more lightning—then gestured emphatically at the nebula. "How am I doing that!"
"Can't be you controlling it," Amorphous Shape said. "That nebula's over a dozen light years away. That light had to have happened years ago, we're just seeing it now."
Already turned back to his video game and determinedly trying to murder Keyhole, 8 Ball said, "Maybe the nebula's controlling you."
Pryonica said flatly, "You think a bunch of stars is making me clap."
"Eh. Like astrology or something."
Hectorgon said, "Could be a time loop thing."
"Could be," Amorphous Shape said thoughtfully.
Pyronica threw up her hands, which made the distant nebula's colors shift slightly. "If it's not weird butterfly effects or faster-than-light light, it's time loops. I hate this place. All it'd take is a hard sneeze to knock the whole dimension down."
She'd been saying things to such effect for the past few months. Consequently, nobody really paid much attention to the latest round of griping about the Nightmare Realm's poor maintenance, until she said, "I'm bailing on the Quadrangle. Soon as I can find a decent rock in some other dimension. Who else is coming?"
8 Ball glanced down at Pyronica from the floor with their gaming setup. "Hold on, are you serious?" He quickly had to look away as Zanthar took advantage of the distraction to attack.
"Yeah, I'm serious. I don't wanna break up the gang, but I'm sick of this dump."
Huddled on a nearby wall like an unemployed gargoyle, Paci-Fire said solemnly, "I will stay, Mother. The Quadrangle of Qonfusion is the only home I have ever known."
"Probably one of my worst life decisions," Pyronica muttered. "The Quadrangle isn't our home, it was Bill's. We're just... just..."
Ducking in from between two columns that seemed to lead to a purple-shadowed nighttime meadow, Teeth said, "Eternal couch-surfers."
"Ha! Yeah, that. Hey, where you been the past week?"
"Took a wrong turn to the bathroom. I ended up in that pocket dimension Bill grounded the electrical wiring into."
"Again?"
"I never know how many times to cross that one infinitely looping hallway!"
Pyronica gestured at Teeth. "See, this place is a complete mess. We'd be better off moving to any other dimension. And you'd like living in a real dimension if you gave it a shot, Paci!"
"No." Paci-Fire crossed his arms. "I do not want to."
"At least think about it. Wouldn't you like to live somewhere that has moons? Instead of going on a road trip to another dimension every time you want to drive a civilization to extinction?"
Keyhole muttered, "I hate those stupid road trips. They're always a zillion light years long and we never do anything fun."
"Hey!" Pyronica pointed at Keyhole. "Watch it! My kid's a lunarcide prodigy, he gets to go on as many moon-destroying trips as he wants!"
Keyhole cringed. "Right, right, sorry." 8 Ball muttered something disparaging about Keyhole's intellect, right before blowing him up for the second time.
Paci-Fire asked, "And say we were to move to a dimension with more moons. What would we do when the authorities follow us home after another successful slaughter?" A side-effect of growing up in the Henchmaniacs was that Paci-Fire regarded The Authorities as a nebulous bogeyman that was personally out to get him and all his family and friends. "Are we to lock the door and cower from them like—like cowards? Or constantly flee from one dimension to the next? No, Mother. I do not wish to live like a pariah in the dark corners of—" his lower mouth sneered around his pacifier, "civilized dimensions. There is nowhere safer for us than the Nightmare Realm."
"Sweetie, you don't have to be afraid of the authorities in other dimensions—"
"Mother! I know no fear." Paci-Fire's eyes flared a bright, dangerous red.
Pyronica playfully tugged one of his horn. "We can find a dimension as primitive as 46'\ without any interstellar cops. Like—which dimension were you from, Teeth, it doesn't even have any organized space authorities, does it?"
"Oh, yeah, pretty much every world in my galaxy was still ground bound when Bill recruited me." Teeth stepped on a column, slid off, and shuffled around it, trying to remember which side doubled as a walkway to the kitchen. "I don't really mind staying here, though. I mean yeah, we don't have a roof, or consistent walls, and the wiring's a mess. But the rent's really reasonable for a place this size in this part of the Nightmare Realm."
Hectorgon processed that. "Hold on." He lay on a wall and slid up it until he was mouth level with Teeth. "You've been paying rent?"
Teeth paused mid-column. "Wh—yeah? What's that supposed to mean?"
Pyronica bit her lip to keep from laughing, elbowed Paci-Fire, and hissed, "I thought Bill was joking about charging Teeth rent!"
Paci-Fire murmured, "Bill Cipher was always a most droll prankster."
"Who are you paying it to?" Hectorgon asked.
"I mean—I was paying it to Bill. But I dunno who took that over, so I guess, kinda... no one?"
With a mildly offended tone, Hectorgon lied, "You were supposed to give it to me now."
"Oh." Teeth shifted awkwardly. "Uh... sorry, Hect, no one told me. I don't think I've got enough on hand to cover all the..."
"It's fine, everything's been topsy-turvy since... the last few months. Just give me what you have and pay back the rest as soon as you can, okay?"
"Sure, sure, no problem. Thanks, man."
Pyronica bit her lip to keep from laughing. "All right, so Teeth is stupid enough to stay here."
"Hey!"
"But I don't see why the rest of us should be." She looked up at the trio playing games below her, then tried to remember which stupid paradox staircase led to that level. She hesitantly headed up one that looked promising. "Moving out would be worth it just to be somewhere with consistent physics!"
"I am contented with the inconsistent physics," Paci-Fire said.
"It took you fifty years longer than most kids to learn how to walk," Pyronica said. "I know you're my little genius! It's this dimension that's holding you down!" 
"Boo," Paci-Fire said sulkily.
"Paci, you don't even like the Quadrangle. Nobody does."
Amorphous Shape let out a chorus of sharp gasps. They slid around a corner and reappeared sliding from the underside of the staircase to the top, laying zigzag atop the steps to glare at Pyronica. "Excuse us."
"I'll step on you, Morph," Pyronica threatened. Amorphous Shape grudgingly slid over for her to pass. "Fine, Bill's stupid 2D groupies like the Quadrangle. But the rest of us don't."
"What's wrong with it?" Morph demanded.
"What's—?!" Pyronica gestured upward at the floor below them. "You don't see the problem with this?!"
"It's supposed to be like that. It's a shortcut." 
"It's a—!" Pyronica covered her face and suppressed a scream. "It's giving me vertigo!"
"It doesn't give us vertigo," Morph said defensively. They partially peeled off the steps to look at Hectorgon. "Does it give you vertigo?"
"No, I'm fine."
"What about you, Kryptos?"
There was no answer.
"Krypt?" Morph reluctantly peeled off the stairs entirely and hovered in the air to try to get a better view.
"He probably got sucked into The Void," Keyhole muttered, "it was vibrating this morning."
8 Ball sighed. "Why do we even have that Void?"
"Man, I dunno."
Pyronica ascended to the bottom of the stairs, sat on the arm of the gamers' couch, and said, "The point is—none of us need this place. I got by fine before joining Bill, most of you guys did too, and we can get by just fine now without squatting in his weird architecture project."
She leaned behind Keyhole and 8 Ball to poke Zanthar's arm. "Big Z, you still have worshippers in your home dimension, right? Aren't you still getting offerings?"
Zanthar shrugged noncommittally.
"They've still got legends of you, you can whip them back into shape in no time. Keyhole, you've got family—"
Without looking away from the screen, where he was losing hideously, Keyhole muttered, "I'm not moving back in with my mom."
"I'm not talking about your mom, stupid, what about your sisters?" 
Keyhole winced, though it was hard to tell whether it was from Pyronica's question or from getting killed for the third and final time. "I don't know... Bill and I were talking about them once, and I realized they're as bad as Mom was. Bill said probably the only reason they didn't treat me as bad is because they never got the opportunity—"
"Who cares what Bill said," Pyronica snapped. "Bill's dead! We don't have to listen to him anymore!"
"Hear hear," 8 Ball muttered; but he couldn't throw in anything else, lest Zanthar blow him up and win the match.
Pyronica said, "Face it: the only reason the rest of us didn't leave the Nightmare Realm millennia ago is because Bill couldn't leave."
Morph drifted through the kitchen—reaching around Teeth to grab a drink out of the fridge as they passed—and unfolded questioningly around a corner. "There you are."
Kryptos was in the rec room, lounging on Bill's stupid tacky optical illusion throne with the fabric of reality upholstery, staring out a window (or skylight, depending on your point of perspective). He grunted at Morph.
Morph said, "Bill's gonna be furious you're using his throne."
"Whatever. Z's already spilled time punch on the armrest." Kryptos pointed at the patch of reality on the armrest that was out of chronological synch with the rest of the throne.
"He's not gonna be furious," Pyronica said, shouting through the doorway that inexplicably connected to the rec room. "He's not gonna be anything because he's dead. He died. D-E-A-D."
"He's not." And suddenly Morph were in Pyronica's face, all of their polygons and lines and piercing slitted eyes circling her head like angry moons. Keyhole leaned toward 8 Ball to see the screen around them, and 8 Ball elbowed him back over. Morph said, "He can't be. If Bill was dead, the Nightmare Realm would be falling apart even faster—"
"So let's bail while we can—"
"—but it's not," they said. "If anything, its degradation is slowing down. That would be impossible if he were dead, he's instrumental to holding the Nightmare Realm together—"
"Unless he lied about that, and he was actually making everything worse," Pyronica said.
"Bill's not a liar! We have the data to prove it, we've been measuring the degradation for billennia—"
"I'm sick of your stupid measurements! It was your 'measurements' that said 46'\ was perfect to take over! Was that stupid barrier part of your measurements?!"
"That barrier was extremely localized, there's no way we could have detected—"
"The portal was right in the middle of it! How did you idiots miss it?!"
8 Ball groaned as Zanthar whittled away the last of his HP. Zanthar let out a gentle hum like the sound of an apocalyptic vacuum cleaner as the game declared him the winner.
8 Ball tossed his controller at the TV. The TV squealed in fear. "If Bill is alive, that's just another reason to get out of the Nightmare Realm! Leave before he gets back! He can play king in this dump by himself."
Paci-Fire said, "Surely, you do not mean that. Were Bill still around..."
"No! No, I do mean it! The only reason we've stayed so long is because everyone's too starstruck or too scared to ditch him! Not anymore! If his flat-brained cultists wanna wait for him, fine! But why do we all gotta stay?"
"Hey!" Hectorgon rushed in from the kitchen to snarl at 8 Ball. "Who're you calling flat, cue tip—?"
Kryptos tuned out the argument downstairs/next door as 8 Ball and Hectorgon started brawling. Who were they kidding? Nobody was leaving. Maybe 8 Ball, he'd tried to split four or five times before crawling back, but Kryptos didn't care about him anyway. Bill had always been right about him: he was too selfish to care about the rest of the gang but too stupid to make it on his own. They'd taken in losers like that before and it had never been a big loss when they left. But no one else would leave. Where would they go?
Where could they go?
Kryptos didn't care about the outerplanar Henchmaniacs' reasons for joining Bill; but the shapes were here because Bill had promised to make them a new home. He was the only one in all of reality who could do it. Kryptos was as desperate to hear from Bill as Morph and Hect were. They'd held fast to Bill's promise for a trillion years—so how could they let go of whatever thin thread of that hope remained? Who would they be if they lost it?
But in his heart, Kryptos didn't really believe Bill was out there. He'd been gone too long. And Kryptos couldn't imagine anything less catastrophic than Bill's destruction could have reversed Weirdmageddon.
Yet he was still here, and still waiting, because he didn't know what else to do. He'd stay in the Quadrangle until the whole realm finally fell apart, just in case Bill casually floated back in one day. He'd do anything they could think of to find him and bring him back.
And then Kryptos got a call from Earth.
He sighed heavily.
Calls from Earth weren't unusual. Perks of having helped found the Fishmasons: Kryptos was occasionally summoned by the Fishermen high-ranked enough to be told their organization really did know an interdimensional alien who was their de facto secret leader and presided over their most important rituals. Assuming "de facto secret leader" meant "living equivalent of a beloved sports team mascot," and "presided over" meant "got free invitations to," and "most important rituals" meant "most fun parties." But the humans liked to pretend that their little group was a lot more important and cloak-and-dagger than the social club it really was; and all the wink-wink-nudge-nudge pretending-Kryptos-was-in-charge, while silly, was also kind of flattering. You didn't get many chances to be the star of the show when you lived around a supernova like Bill.
So, Kryptos got calls from Earth from time to time—at least a handful a year—typically from a middle-aged man in a business suit trying to pretend he wasn't giddy about being the guy who'd gotten permission to pull out the candles and contact The Alien.
Kryptos was not in the mood to talk to humans. Humans were why they were in this mess. Humanity could go jump in a lake.
But it wasn't every human's fault that a handful had somehow taken out Bill. And maybe they were calling for a party. Maybe it would cheer him up.
So he sighed again, half heartedly shouted, "Guys—guys, shut up a second, I'm getting a call," and opened up a window to Earth.
His vision was filled with a brown-skinned golden-haired haunted-eyed human who, at the sight of Kryptos, gave him a relieved, face-splitting smile. "H—"
Kryptos hung up.
To reiterate: he took calls from middle-aged men in business suits. That was a naked woman crouched on the floor like an animal.
"Who was it?" Hectorgon asked.
"No one. Some woo-woo witchy type who probably dug up a leaked Fishmason ritual online."
Hectorgon laughed. "I bet it thought it could ask a 'demon' for lottery numbers."
"Sorry, sister, but that's Bill's schtick," Kryptos said. "My number is unlisted for a reason."
Kryptos wondered about Bill's human pals. Well—"pals" was a bit of a stretch—devotees and students. How often did he get calls? And now they couldn't reach him.
Stinks for them. Must be awful, reaching out to someone in another dimension for help and getting nothing back.
####
An ethereal, sourceless voice whispered in Bill's ear, "The all-knowing dream demon you're trying to reach is currently unavailable for visions and prophecies. If this is an emergency, wake up and call your nearest Masonic lodge. Otherwise, please leave your prayers or petitions after the beep." Beep.
Bill stared, jaw dropped, at the empty patch of air where Kryptos had been projecting just a moment ago. After several seconds of mute outrage, Bill said, "Kr... Kryptos. You... I swear, if you don't get back here this SECOND—"
The sheer force of his anger woke him up. His eyes fluttered open to the world of color and humidity and pattering water. He grabbed every towel he could reach, wadded them up, and screamed into them. "KRYPTOS YOU SON OF A— I KNOW YOU NEVER CHECK YOUR VOICEMAIL! AND WERE YOU ON MY THRONE, WERE YOU SITTING ON MY SPECIAL THRONE—!"
He shrieked until his lungs were empty.
####
At sixty minutes exactly, Ford knocked and opened the bathroom door. Bill stood scowling behind it.
Dryly, Ford asked, "Have a pleasant shower?"
Wet hair hanging in tangles, face flushed red, eyes even redder, Bill snapped, "Yeah. Refreshing."
####
"Mabel?"
Mabel glanced down from the stepladder at Bill, then pointedly looked away and continued taping Summerween decorations to the hallway wallpaper. "What."
"Mabel," Bill tried again, a touch more pleading. "O great Shooting Star. My hero. My one and only friend in this hostile universe. Last person who hasn't utterly forsaken me." He leaned on the wall, the back of his hand pressed to his forehead. "The sole illumination in the dark night of my accursed postmortem existence—"
Mabel grudgingly looked at Bill again. "What do you want?"
"Listen: I know I upset you at the mall, and I still need to make it up to you—I do, I do, I just haven't had a chance yet—and you're still a little mad at me, okay—buuut... can you help me make a costume." He pressed his hands together. "Please. I'll owe you one. I'll be in your debt. Just let me dress up for Summerween."
Mabel frowned at him. She frowned a little more. She said, frowning, "You're so lucky I love costumes."
####
(Next week: Summerween part 2!! Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed I'd love to hear from y'all what you think! I've been waiting to get to the Henchmaniacs for a long time. Mainly in the hopes y'all will yell at me for putting Bill through heck again.)
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luvistqrzzz · 1 year
Text
THE ACCIDENTAL POLAROID- a heeseung smau
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we took a polaroid
capture the look in your eyes
PAIRINGS- heeseung x f.reader (slight sunghoon x f.reader)
SUMMARY- Lee Heeseung doesn't believe in love at first sight but what happens when he accidentally clicks a polaroid of a girl at the local diner? A girl he can't seem to get out of his mind.
Will he be able to return you the polaroid or will love follow him along the way?
GENRE- smau with written parts, college!au, strangers to lovers, fluff, crack, angst (veryyy slight), slight love triangle
FEATURING- 02z + sunoo from enhypen, yunjin and chaewon from le sserafim, beomgyu and hueningkai from txt and yujin from ive
WARNINGS- profanity, more tba in the respective chapters
TAGLIST- closed - @yenqa @xuimhao @ddazed-lhs @astrae4 @ghostiiess @seungminstaehyun @haechansbbg @chaechae-23 @ak-aaa-li @whippedforbeomgyu @ahnneyong @ineedaherosavemeenow @jhopesucker @j-wyoung @tnyhees @liliansun @rikizm @jadeluvsenha
STATUS- completed
UPDATE SCHEDULE- whenever i can tbh </3
STARTED- 25/04/2023
ENDED- 08/06/2023
NOTE- this is purely a work of fiction and it in no means represents the idol irl. also the pictures of yn are for reference purpose only. I have no intention of copying anyone, i really apologize beforehand if the idea or plot coincides with some other smau.
A/N- this is inspired by Jonas Blue's song Polaroid (check it out asap its a bop!!) ik ik i have another smau to update but i posted this one on impulse lolol... hopefully will begin with it soon <3! omg its already midnight here i think i really need to sleep lmfao😭😭
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MOODBOARD | PLAYLIST
PROFILES- singlez+betrayer// young dumb stupid
CHAPTERS-
001- reason for my poverty
002- and i oop- (partly written::: 0.3K)
003- yunjin got brains
004- "responsible good friend" with a plot twist
005- Mr.H
006- plan failed? 100%
007- running late is not fun (partly written::: 0.2K)
008- simpsons minus the "son"
009- de-rizz someone with 0 rizz??
010- chaewon gets a happy meal (and third wheels)
011- HALF ver. - umbrella crisis
╰┈➤FULL ver.- weird feelings (partly written::: 0.2K)
012- ✨jEaLoUsY✨
013- 1/i■€h33$€♡&¿
014- Make dem moves
015- liquid courage gone wrong (written::: 0.5K)
016- smiley faced emoji
017- on read
018- FML
019- man w a mission
020- Love, Y/N ( written::: 0.47K )
021- it's like a polaroid love- FINALE- ( written::: 0.5K )
it's only a matter of time
before it starts fadin'
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Enjoyed The Accidental Polaroid? Check out another smau L♡VE THEORY set in the same universe, starring Jake ^^!!
work belongs to @/luvistqrzzz do not repost, copy or translate my work.
reblogs are appreciated
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rel124c41 · 4 months
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I FEEL SO WONDERFUL RIGHT NOW. THROUGHOUT HEAVEN AND EARTH, I ALONE AM THE HONORED ONE. vox
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
tags: blood and injury, protectiveness, strippers & strip clubs, assassination attempt, fallen angels, morality ambiguity, blood and violence, developing relationship, unresolved romantic tension, romantic gestures
word count: 6,646
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i. You are a dog.
Not in the physical presence. Your teeth were soft squares instead of cutting fangs. When you got happy, there was no tail to wag back and forth. In the placement of paws, you have two hands that experience a galaxy of motions and sensations. Truthfully, you are far more superior to a mortal canine. 
But here you are starting to learn that you could be a dog. In the not physical presence way. 
“Are there going to be schedules for when I must use the bathroom too?”
If you want to be a dog, the first lesson is to learn to wait. You must wait all day until he returns and if he is late, you must learn to wait longer. 
In a gliding stroke, you move your palm down to Vark’s first dorsal fin down to his second dorsal fin. Vark descends into dark water as you lift your wet hand out the tank. Droplets bleed off your fingernails and join back into the electronic blue. Is being a shark better than being a dog?
“Do you want an invitation? Because I feel if I did extend one to you, you would just refuse to go.”
“You cannot be so certain.”
“Why I certainly can, dear. I have actually calculated,” all electronics in the room besides his face start to spin in a rainbowing Wheel of Fortune circle and, after a beat, the three red numbers shine at you, 1, 0, 0, “that there is a hundred percent chance that you would have said no to an invitation.”
You blink your eyes which have not been closed in a long time. They burn and tear up like someone has squeezed lemon juice into them. Waterline soaking, you hum at his answer and press your cheek onto the edge of Vark’s tank.
“You cannot control where I go, Vox.”
“Come now, dear. No need to be so despondent. You would grow ill stepping into one of the sinner’s clubs. That is certain.”
“You are certain?”
“Wholly reassured. Or should I say holy? Another look at the statistics?” The rainbowing wheels start to move again.
“No, no,” you chuckle. You start piano-ing at the top of the water, hoping Vark or his hammerhead brother will come back up to the surface. Afterall, they will be your only company for the five, twelve, forty-three hours that Vox could possibly be gone. “I know that you’re right.”
“Then why the long face?”
Rearranging yourself, you finally look down from your platform. Piles of folders and paper cover the long conference table but the demon busies himself with a tablet. One claw slides and slides up the touch-screen, sometimes momentarily stopping to type something. 
The room is emptied of everyone but you two. This is how most of your time is spent in VoxTech tower — a room with only you and him. You have been in rooms with Valentino and Velvette momentarily but you are kept out of sight more often than not.
Perhaps, you reconsider, staring down at the demon, you are more caged dove rather than dog.
“I need to be out,” and you do actually pull your lips into that long face he mentioned, frowning delicately. “And I have been out before! So I see no reason that if I want to come, you restrain me from coming.” You behaved those times too: blending into the dark and simply observing as per Vox’s instructions, trying to figure out the reason for your question. 
A strip club. More importantly, Valentino’s strip club. It was an entirely new environment and perhaps your answer could be unearthed there. It was a zenith of sin. If you pulled back all the grimy skin and maneuvered the oil-black bones, you might find a heart within it.
Go where sin is. Find what you are lacking. 
You were still so unsure what those words meant. They scrambled your brain like an electric current and you cried over the instructions more than once. Given a command, you obeyed. Now here you are in Hell.
“Please.”
Vox is unmoved by the polite word. Manners are lacking in Pentagon City but that does not necessarily mean they are missed. Still enamored with his work, Vox tuts, “that isn’t going to work on me.”
“You know I could walk out of this tower right now.”
It was entirely the truth. You never lied – an old habit that stuck with you. There were no deals tethering to stay like a leash and no blackmail that could command you to sit like a biscuit shaped treat.
“Oh yeah, and where would you go?” Vox asks, still distracted.
“Lucifer.”
That works on him. 
His claw stops scrolling on his tablet. Applying the brakes to all his motions like a car when a child runs in front of it, Vox freezes at your words. You worry that the tablet might be broken in his grip. Underhanded tactics left a rotten taste on your tongue. You watch the flat-screened demon finally set down the tablet and look at you. Rewards are a palate cleanser though.
Gracefully, you stand up on your platform and start to descend. Irritated, Vox walks around the conference table and marches in your direction. “You wouldn’t daRE.” His voice breaks off into a hurricane of sparks and distorted frequency. “You wouldn’t risk it.” 
When you two collide like an actor and actress embracing on a stage or knuckles on the offending face in a punch, Vox pushes one of those blue claws to your sternum. Enough where it hurts. You hold your face as his panic translates into frustration. 
“Two hours. I stay in the shadows.”
“Thirty minutes. If I even see your face on one of my monitors, all of your privileges are revoked.”
“Two hours. I stay in the shadows; not a single camera or person will see me.”
All of his anger bubbles up and you watch it ripple over him in a single wave of static. When the tide is done, he negotiates, “An hour and thirty minutes. And I can get you some more of the boring sweets from Franklin’s and Rosie’s.”
“Normal, non-cannibalistic ones, you mean?”
“Yes, yes, that.”
How could you refuse such a treat? You smile a cryptic smile that Vox hates.
ii. You are a dog, but not a dog that protects. 
This caused people around you strife. What is a loyal dog unless it does not show its fangs and attack its owner’s offenders? You could not move your body to kill any soul and you do not think you ever will be able to. This morality clause ruined your first impression with both Valentino and Velvette. 
Which is why the limousine feels as cramped as a rat trap. 
Hands clenched on your thighs, you try to avoid eye contact at all times. Down, your eyes observe the tiny crescents cut deeply into your palms. You are butchering your skin like a manic secretary snapping a paper-puncher into overdue documents. Hunched over like you have been scolded, you do not even give a reaction when Valentino purposefully blows red smoke a whole 150 inches so it curls around your face and up into your hair. 
Accept and learn to swallow abuse. You only have to endure this another few miles then you can teleport into the club.
Right now, you try not to focus on the words Velvette had pierced at you before you and the trio entered the limousine: “Why are we bringing rubbish to this meeting? Vox, does your pet need to follow you everywhere?” Well, those words had not been the ones to cause you to wilt. Though the entire conversation was unpleasant.
Timidly, you shifted your weight. The chauffeur was of similar deposition as you, head bent down and one hand opening the door, he too shifted his weight uneasily. He probably moved more out of restive than worry. 
“Velvette, did we not all agree that they can come and go as they please?”
The red-haired woman shimmers at the reminder. In the beginning, she advocated for tying you down with a contract, making you truly palpable to any of their whims. She shoves the shoulder of Vox and snaps her teeth in his face. “Yeah, but not on a big night like this.
“We’re making our footing as the Vees. You’re being interviewed by Katie Killjoy tonight. Valentino is debuting that spider pornstar on stage. This is a heavy social media hitter tonight. Are you really jeopardizing that so they can play Sherlock fucking Holmes?”
You would admire her for advocating for what she wants, if it did not affect your plans. 
“I have to agree. A night like this would be busy. We will not be able to keep an eye on our little angel.” Valentino flirts his teeth at you in a rising smile. You shuffle your eyes back to the pavement. Why cannot they have this conversation in the limousine – you cannot enter unless the three overlords entered first.
At the mention of that forbidden word, Vox points at a claw up at Valentino’s face. “If they want to come, they can. Can you name one incident where they have jeopardized anything?” He turns his eyes towards Velvette, challenging her in addition.
A pregnant pause hangs in the air, the two trying to rack their memory. When they turn up empty, Vox whirls on his feet in a burst of New Year's sparkling energy. “See. Trust in me.” He moves into the space that you and the chauffeur have made by the door. Not once offering you a look of acknowledgement. 
Still Velvette wants to make her displeasure known.
“They won’t protect us if something goes wrong. We provide them with protection and get what in return? Nothing?” Finally they all start piling into the limousine, a dance of limbs ending in claws and delicate legs. Demons do truly move like oil sliding into water. “There isn’t even a contract in place to ensure they won’t act out.” 
This is a complaint you have heard numerous times before. You enter last, head bowed.
Contracts, contracts, contracts. The most saccharine that any of the three Vs had been around you was when trying to rope you into a contract. Hand-feed fruits like blueberries and kiwi slices, caressed in four arms in a lover, or dissected apart by sweet nicknames. Those failures of seduction always made you amused because they repeatedly did them. Did they really think that you would fall into temptation or indulgence? 
All the gilded splendor of their offers were proven to be rusted as you already knew they all collectively wanted you on a leash. You earned trust by being benevolent. Yet, their complete faith you will never have. Honestly, you doubt the trio fully trusted each other. 
Always ready to backstab. What a sad environment to live in. The phantom pain on your spine grows heavy and itchy. Grateful that everyone has climbed into the car, you take a seat. You sit behind the divider between you and the chauffeur. A position where all three of them could keep an eye on you. Valentino takes the opposing head of the limousine, directly across you with Vox on the right and Velvette on the left. Twin cat demons slink into Valentino’s lap and an incubus throws his arm over Velvette’s shoulder. A bunny demon leans her weight into Vox’s side.
“They’re obedient, not protective,” he reminds Velvette. “We place faith in them to eventually pay our numerous favors in turn while providing exceptional protection. Think back to when we were human and put trust in people. Try to resurrect that part of you.”
Velvette huffs and steam floods out her nose. Having seemingly lost the argument, she begins to turn her attention to her phone. Merciless in her preparation for this night. The Vees are still newborn fawns in a pasture of grown deer. This is a critical stepping stone.
That was multiple turns and roads ago. Now you are waiting and waiting to arrive at the club. Valentino had already sent the tallest twin to lounge against you. All so he had a show of you squirming in discomfort. Then, Vox grew agitated and sent an electric current through the bunny demon’s ear; she too sandwiched your other side, not out provocation but protection. Not that you would protect her. So you sit like a taunt ball, fingers clenching and just wanting to teleport away.
You yank your neck away when the yellow-furred cat starts to press kisses across the thin covered larynx, afraid the taste of your skin will burn her tongue. You expect no one to say anything until –
“Valentino, call back your cat,” Vox snaps, hyperfocused on his phone. 
“Oh come now, they don’t mind~”Valentino grins slyly at you. “You don’t, right, love?” He forces a tiny pout as if your rejection of the cat demon’s affection will break his heart.
Vox sighs out in a fizzling tone. Still not looking up from his device, he instructs, “(Name), go on ahead. Remember to avoid people but cameras especially.” You do not need to be told twice, grateful for the escape. You straighten up and try to gauge the distance from the club along with a location free of people or cameras. Following the thread of allure, you think you finally find a spot until Vox interrupts.
“And (Name).”
“Yes?” You do not why but you think he sounds like he will wish you good luck.
“Only an hour and thirty minutes.”
“Of course,” your physical form disappears in a clap of gold light. Where leather had hugged the back of your spine, you fall into the embrace of sheets. Hair billows around and under you. The embrace of those two women were gone. Pink light finds you alone and lays itself over like a lover. Staring up at the ceiling, you murmur your reminder and last connection to your old life, “Find what you are lacking.” 
iii. You are a dog. You were once a stray though.
When you arrived in Hell, like everyone else, you had no home to call your own. There was no benevolent greeting man to guide and explain this discord and its system. You were equipped with nothing, bare-backed and face streaked with grime. Thrown into the den of lions, you would have to figure it out by yourself. 
You figured out one thing early on: the type of dog you were was not coveted. Standing in the middle of reds and blacks, your wide eyes watch as one then two then three citizens of Pentagon City peeled their sticker-like selves off the background of this unknown place and raced towards you, trying to kill you.
You ran until the bones in your throat hugged the last bit of oxygen out of you. Spent, you crashed into an alleyway and slept. Tomorrow, you will search like you were instructed to, tomorrow.
News spread quickly: an unknown angelic presence had fallen into Pentagon City. Not an exorcist angel – that was certain as they (you) were unarmed. Even without wings, witnesses had testified repeatedly that it was an angel that had landed. Stable on their feet, witnesses said, unlike how sinners collapsed like unwinged bugs to the brimstone below. An undeniable presence of holiness leaking from their pores. It was an angel, flightless and apparently defenseless too. Pentagon City had never been abuzz with such intense excitement before.
It made sense that the one who would find this angel would be an overlord with eyes on every street of Pentagon City, through every camera, television screen, and pinged cell-phone. 
It made no sense that this overlord would offer you a place of sanctuary when you offered nothing in return.
It made no sense that this overlord would not immediately harm or sell you out to Lucifer.
It made no sense that this overlord would look upon you so kindly.
iv. You are a dog. 
You bite.
A dog eventually does bite when provoked. In the past, under heavenly orders, you easily and proudly crunched your teeth into those who had made God upset. Being untethered to God now, you had forcibly put yourself on a muzzle. A dog must learn to act only when given orders.
This though, you agonize, sliding down from the bed, has been an awful time without orders. Sad eyes glance around the empty bedroom. You had been given an order long ago and clenched it to your heart like an asthmatic with their inhaler. At least you knew you were behaving when you were searching – which is why you glance forlorn at the room.
The bed is covered in billowing pink and white sheets, frills and all. A heart-shaped bed-frame rises up and kisses the wall. The only other object is a bare nightstand with three drawers. Should those be searched? You are starting to figure out the reason for this odd bedroom when you glance at the hued lighting of delicate crimson. 
You trail one finger on the hopefully clean blanket and start to kill the angelic presence inside of you. Flickers of it usually came when you teleported so you had to do this first and foremost.
All species released a susurrating aura of human, angelic, or demonic energy. The stronger the individual, the more consistent and powerful this spiritual humming was. In Hell, you had to learn to bottle the raging riptides of yourself until the point where you felt you could fall into comatose. Snuffing that angelic presence felt like killing yourself, lowering your heartbeat to a lethal turtle pace.
Oh, how you hated being here. Perhaps you should not have bargained when the four angels came to –
The door clicks open. You jolt and turn towards it. Laughter dies down in a trickle as you all observe and gauge each other. Two demons – one male and one female, leaning amorously into each other. You make no move to move until the male says, “Ha, two for the price of one. Looks like I picked the right room. Lucky me.” 
Your feet have never carried yourself faster before. My apologies “I was just rearranging the room for you. I’m not part of the entertainment.” You might not be hellborn or a sinner, but your naivety has long since vanished away, thanks to Vox’s guidance. “Enjoy the service,” you sing and try to slip past the pair.
“Now, now, surely I can have –” the hand going to touch you is drawn back, fingertips smoldering. 
You reel back in your angelic presence, thankfully slipping past them. You are entering a labyrinth with cameras but it is entirely better than staying in a wine room? Champagne room? Agh, whatever Valentino called them. “Enjoy the service,” a cryptic and gentle smile pulls up your lips. 
In an instant, you contort yourself to disappear into the shadows. 
To be frank, you had been searching endlessly for what God deemed you were lacking. The specifics were so hard to nail down. Emotionally, physically, mentally, monetary, company, etcetera. Was a spiritual deficiency your ailment? God had peered at you and noticed a hole.
In one frenzied night, you shoveled holes all around the outside premise of VoxTech’s tower. You dug into the dirt and tried to unground the roots of your miserable brain. Vox took your soil hands, wiped them down with a wet rag, and then employed Public Relations to cover up the incident before someone gossiped about the enigmatic holes. Another day, you ventured into Cannibal Colony on your lonesome to dissect the organs laid upon the streets, feverish in your efforts. When you did succumb to an actual fever, Vox brought medicinal products to you.
The point was, you had been trying for a very long time to find what you were lacking. Success was not coming easily. As you snake through foggy ropes of cigarette smoke and tunnel past barely dressed sinners, you worry that you might never find what you need to reconnect with God.
Condemnation had enshrouded you for quite some time. 
You dodge a security camera in the ceiling and continue on your route. 
The outline rules of tonight are that no cameras or people must interact with you. Or at least to avoid interaction with a person beyond the time where they might be able to remember the characteristics of your clothes or the shape of your features. Shifting into a darkened corner of the bar, you decide you could safely spend thirty minutes here before relocating. 
Do not order anything that is attention-catching, not too suspiciously bland or suspiciously expensive. (How well behaved you are.) You order a margarita and shift your attention towards the stage.
The horns on the gazelle-mimicking demon are gorgeous. The black ridges swooped elegantly and curled like a handcrafted blown glass-piece. Fragments of magenta light cover them. When she pirouettes, amethyst jumps to join magenta. When she dips her body, amber crawls sleepily into the raised bits of the black horns. It is a magnetizing sight that no other sinner seems to be appreciating.
Your original animosity towards sinful things had withered after such long exposure. You could not keep prejudice close to your heart forever. Beauty was in all of the created and fabricated world, you learned that it could even be found down below. 
Admiring art did not bring back your angelic status. 
You sit admiring the dancers that come and go. As they strip down to bras or boxers, you take measured sips of your margarita – not too fast nor too slow. 
Around the time you order a second one, the Vees have arrived into the club. Silently, you watch the three trickle in. Valentino strides in first with that newly contracted spider-mimicking demon on his arm. Yet in front of all of them is the cameraman of Katire Killjoy, walking backwards as the crowd parts for its sinful Wise Men. Animatedly, Killjoy is walking side by side with Valentino, lips rapid in their motions and waving her microphone, flanked by Velvette and Vox.
You squeeze your lime into the clear liquid, observing.
They move like this: in the heart of the club, talking and positioned to stand in front of the stage; towards the bar as the spider demon poses for the camera; Killjoy moves onto Vox and their interview starts; they walk down the center of the club again, and then still talking, all six (the Vees, Valentino’s new contractee, Killjoy, and her cameraman) spill into a VIP room, out of sight.
It has been thirty minutes. You leave money on the bartop and find another shadow to cloak yourself in. Avoiding cameras is a difficult task when Vox puts them on almost every inch of the places he is affiliated with. Grace is an angelic trait so you manage well enough for another thirty minutes. 
An anonymous and fleeting face to all who see you and invisible to the security footage always. When an hour has arrived, you decide to check in the VIP for what you are lacking. You snake past the bull-mimicking guards and find a corner to evanesce into. 
Shadows are comforting like enshrouding wings. They blanket your skin and sleep on top of you lightly. You lose yourself in the comfort until – huh? A gunshot – those were normal in Hell but why so incredibly close?
“Vox!”
“Fucking shit!”
“Shit shit shit!”
Your eyes snap towards the cacophony. The scene bleeds into your eyes. Where Velvette and Valentino once lounged lazily on the leather couch, they lean forward with more curses falling off their lips. Pink spider demon reels back though on his seat, one leg up as if judging if he should bolt. Katie Killjoy is in the same pose, leaning back as her cameraman freezes. She stands across from Vox – Vox – Vox –
His screen is shattered. A piercing of black lodged into the bottom right corner of his screen. Something you can visibly see through. Spindly branches of cracks drift up his face to shock eyes. A few dark, lifeless fragments fall into his open right hand. 
The assassin who shot him moves out of his own shadow and darts between Katie Killjoy and her cameraman. Imp, hellborn, relatively short but was obviously making up for it with speed. He raises his gun.
Your heart spikes. Your orders! What were your orders in a situation like this – Stay in the shadows. Stay in the shadows. Stay in the – you peel yourself off the wall like a sticker and teleport towards your G – towards Vox. It is instinctual and that worries you. The past turtle tempo of your heart crescendos. You explode into the scene with a bright gold clap.
When you arrive in the middle of the duel assassinaton attempt and interview, you are crouched on the ground, one hand pulled to the back of your spine, grasping at nothing. 
The room's atmosphere twitches and explodes. 
You had released too much of yourself and burnt half of the assassin’s face. Spiderwebs of charred flesh crawling across the left as blood leaks heavily through the cracks like a molten cake. His expression is stricken, arms wildly failing as he reels back from what had burnt him. No one has truly computed you in their mind besides Vox. Even though snowflake holes are starting to burn into the skin of Katie Killjoy and the cameraman, Vox is stunned instead of harmed. He knows that it is you he is staring down at but he cannot find it in himself to believe it.
At least, until he sees that cryptic, gentle smile on your face pointed towards the assassin, and with a panic snap of his fingers, Vox kills every electronic in Valentino’s club. 
It all moves as slow as your usual subdued heart. A symphony of glass breaking rains over the air. The camera explodes into blue bursts, happy gold fireworks snow down from the ceiling as lightbulbs pop one by one, cell-phones hum and die into blackening coal. Night colors the stage in an instant. Shrieks splatter the messy painting. 
You feel God in your ribcage, beating happily into your sternum. Your heart swells in its pace. Your soul pushes and pushes, reaching until you finally are able to grasp it.
In the nebulous, indistinguishable black, a glowing gold, pointed oval leaf lights up the scene. In a rapid move, the gold drags itself through black in one broad, crescent stroke. Losing its form and turning into a racing comet of light. As quickly as it came, it leaves. 
Hand emptied of your spear, you reach out into the black and put two fingers into the new mouth you have just ripped open in the demon’s throat. The squish of his larynx and torn muscles are warm. Like sticking your finger into a fresh loaf of bread, pleasant and heavenly. In a static current, you send yourself – the essence of your soul – into the bleeding cavern and the assassin dies. 
Flesh, bone, and skin explode in one quick burst. You leave no evidence of his existence. Incinerating him down into the ground until nothing remains but a black, smoking spill on the wood where your presence accidentally burned. 
Softly, as if dazed or sleepy, you blink open your eyes. They water gently and you blink out the burn. Hm? Father? You stumble on your feet and turn, open-mouthed from your heavy breaths, to stare at the only light source available: the monitor of Vox’s face, where he is in a similar stupor as you.
You have been with them (him, after he picked you up from the streets) for three years, eight months, and fifteen days. Not once in that expanding time had you acted out in a hostile manner. 
Croaking, you question the man, ““V̴̥͔̠̠̺̲͕͓̓ͅő̴̤̗̪͈̥̲͕̝̣͙x̷̡͍̳͕͖̙͓̭̖̩̺̞̀̓͛͋̔̕?” 
v. You are a dog. Your owner means everything to you.
Your previous owner was your Father before … before you had started to lack something. Never once did you question him. Never once did you disobey him. Never once did you have the audacity to suggest anything to him. Unlike your younger sister Sera who once openly suggested the exterminations and your older brother Lucifer who once openly suggested giving humans free will, you remained tight lipped and docile. Gabriel begged for you to propose anything – even a new species of insect for the human world.
“Start out small, insignificant. Something that won’t even cause a ripple. Please, just suggest something for this meeting; we’re worried about you.”
You did not see your ideas as mediocre rather as unnecessary ideas. As a council member, you should have openly expressed yourself but your tongue blocked your words like heavy metal bars. You saw no reason to bark, just to listen and obey.
And this saddened your Father, enough where he sent four of your brothers and sisters to – Suddenly, you stumble in both your thinking and footing, falling into bed with Vox. 
The flat-screened man groans under you, a shaken bundle of pained frequencies of varying pitches. His screen flashes an error screen and you wince in sympathy. Wildly, you search the ground for what you tripped on. With a shake, you manage to detach yourself from the tangled net of leather straps of a BDSM bondage top. Ugh, why is this the only room without cameras and devices?
With haste, you turn back to Vox who you had quickly dragged away from before Katie Killjoy could press you for questions. His breathing is glitched and uneven. His eyes are pinched in pain which worries you. Chest to chest, you lean over him and dig your hands nervously into pink and white billowing sheets by his monitor. 
“Vox? Vox?” You hesitate on shaking him because you would rather not be striked in the face. But he grew so quiet and cold when you grabbed his hand and a worm named worry is squirming around in the apple core of your stomach. “Vox? Are you okay? Answer me please.”
A dog is useless without its owner.
Gripping the sheets tighter, you rattle them and plead, “Vox, do I need to call an ambulance? Do you want Valentino or Velvette here?”
“Don’t … Don’t let either of th-th-those fuckers see me right no-ow.”
The worm in your stomach stops writhing around at the sound of his glitched yet alive voice. With a sigh of relief, you push your lips into a tight smile. “Copy that.” You are grateful that Vox is finally starting to open his eyes. It takes a few blinks until neon blue pupils are locked onto you. Your gratefulness is ripped apart when he springs up and shouts. 
“Get off me!”
Obeying, you fall off the bed. It is an entirely innocent position to you as you really have no sexual desire written in your code. To Vox however … you leaning over him, hands pinning him on both sides, and then to add whip cream to the shit-sundea, you had a knee up on the bed and your crotch resting on his leg … you sent an entirely different message into his hard-drive of a brain. Seeing the disgust in his eyes, you fall back at least two feet from him.
You two rest in ballooning silence, afraid to break it. Guilt twists your hands in painful circles. The technologized demon groans as he starts to slide up into the bed, rising up. He scans the champagne room you had brought him into and then intelligently moves to slide off the bed. 
He stumbles and his screen flashes a worrying rainbow. With a yelp, you run forward and gently push him back to his feet when his knees give in. This time you will have to disobey and refuse to let him go. You tightly grip on his left arm and scan him over.
The crack on his screen is Worry Central for you. You have yet to see an overlord injured and Vox being the first one leaves an unpleasant feeling on your tongue. That must be your angelic roots, your sympathy is a bottomless bottle that can make rivers into lakes into oceans. Softly, you stare at him as he stares back guarded. 
“You never answered my question.”
“You threw so many at me.”
“Are you okay? Do I need to call an ambulance?”
“An ambulance will attract the media’s attention. You were smart to get my attention to shut down the cameras. Someone will be able to fix me up at VoxTech.”
“But are you okay,” you press, frowning. 
“I’m fine.” His claws are tightly gripping your arm as if he is afraid you will slip through like sand. You can feel that electric pulse of his dead heart and you see the nervous white flickers breaking off the top of his antennas. 
“I am a seraphim,” you confess. You wince at your wording momentarily, “Was a seraphim. I know that you, Velvette, and Valentino had placed bets … though that was three years ago … on which type of angel I used to be. So, whoever said ‘seraphim’, um, congrats.” 
His claws relax. The needle pokes he had drawn into your flesh start to paint five, delicate, cherry colored tears down your arm. You ignore the flame of pain to gently smile at him.
“Fuck, I had thought dominion angel.”
“H-Had you?” You laugh, smile growing.
“Yeah, can we just say you are dominion if they ever ask you. There was a lot of money and contracts riding on that bet.”
“Yeah, I’ll say dominion instead of seraphim.”
“Thank you.”
You are so shocked that Vox would use any manners that you accidentally rip yourself away from him. Oh, that is not good, you realize, watching the smile you had just gotten to grow delete itself off his monitor. Simultaneously, his body also seems to jolt away from you. Floundering, you say, “Sorry, I–.” You just effectively crushed that entire milestone. 
There is a deep desperation in you to regain that short-lived kindness from Vox. He was kind sometimes. It was as rare and as brief as a shooting star.
“No, it’s fine.”
Vox banishes the atmosphere with a wave of his hand. His dismissal hurts. You blink as an awful thought dawns on you, had you been imprinting on him? Did his approval start to mean something along the way? Before you can chase the idea, he starts towards the door, a self-assured voice returning, “Well, I got a mess to clean up. The head of Public Relations will need to be called if Velvette hasn’t already done it. Ugh, that bitch Killjoy is going to be such a headache. Hypnotism should be easy though … cunt always on her phone.” He grasps the doorknob. “And Valentino’s going to bitch about the lights and those fucking tacky carpets. What a mess. Assassin should've been better at his goddamn job. And –” his voice scratches and he suddenly turns around, the blue outlined eye growing in size “-- and you’re a seraphim.”
You jump at the static in his voice. The back of your thighs met the disorganized sheets of the sex-scented bed. Should you have kept that secret – he is an overlord of Hell – that type of information is valuable even if you were a fallen seraphim – what was he going to use it for – what would he be doing with you now – is this !
“That makes Lucifer your brother?”
Should you call it off? After three years of companionship, was this the moment where you needed to run? 
“Yes.”
“Then, haven’t you gone to him? Wouldn’t he – do you think he would kill you?”
Firmly, you shake your head. “My brother and I were close. If I was to go there, I am sure that I would be provided a home but –” You had considered leaving before but – “but if I were to live with him, he would shelter me away from Hell. I was told to find something here by our Father. I need to find that before I return to Heaven.”
This Vox knew. This Valentino and Velvette knew. You were ‘sent’ to Hell to find something that you lacked. Velvette had joked a fun personality was what you were missing and Valentino had hypothesized that you were lacking a proper sex life. Vox never guessed though, thinking it boring.
None of them had faith that you would actually be returning to Heaven.
You still dream of it vividly: the day of your voluntary fall from Heaven. 
Four of your siblings were sent to severe your soul from God and end your life. Originally, even you were under the impression that you would accept it without resistance. You were a good dog. You had kneeled and accepted the order. When Sera had brought down at her claymore to cut your head from your body, instinctual will pulled you to teleport away from the swinging blade. You never expected it and neither did the four of your siblings.
To think you had a stronger will to live than to obey your Father brought you close to hysterical sobs.
With that boiling sensation under your skin, the sting of holding back tears inflaming your nose, you cut down all four of the seraphims sent to kill you. Into their red stomach, your blade had fallen and sliced. Never deep enough to kill but immobilize. You darted, leapt, swung under, jumped above, and all around danced in a hurricane of blades and thumping angelic power. Not one hit landed on your skin.
Upset that you were acting out, you stood in the aftermath and cried, “Father, how can I make you forgive me!”
“Go where sin is. Find what you are lacking, (Name).”
Cutting all six wings over your back was agonizing but it was no worse than hearing your poor little sister Sera, caterwauling after you, your name mournful on her lips as you voluntarily fell into Hell. And the closest you had felt to Heaven after three years of living in Hell was when you killed that demon this afternoon. To protect –
You risk a glance at Vox as he stares at you as if he is seeing you for the first time. “I – I just need to find what my Father said I was lacking. Lucifer would want me to stay though. I do not hold any hard feelings for my older brother and would go to him if I had to.”
“And you haven’t gone to him yet? After everything?” He talks like you are mentally impaired, disbelief surfing in his static. 
You understand what he is referring to – the abuse from Velvette and Valentino, the underhand tactics to get you roped into a contract, and the hatefulness of Vox. All of it really should have repelled you away. You should have been gone from the Vees’ resisting grip before it had driven you to kill someone, hellish or not. Though, you did kill someone for someone.
With a gentle, angelic, almost cryptic smile that only seraphims are capable of, you say, “I happen to enjoy the company I keep.”
Vox short-circuits with a grumble, appalled at the very idea of you and your inane ways. You close in towards him. He turns his face down, running a clawed hand across it. Offering up the hand that he had previously pierced, you say, “And why have I not been banished? After everything?”
He does not take your hand, staring at it incredulously, and replies, “The company … yours is exceptionally less awful than Velvette’s or Valentino’s.” He lifts up his face, red hovering over a bluish-gray screen. Anger or embarrassment probably. “Though it is troublesome.”
When he walks out the champagne room to fix the numerous plights of the night, you follow, faithful and obedient. 
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