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illiterateaffairs · 10 months

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behind the scenes chapter three | friends with professional benefits

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pairing: jamie tartt x actress!reader (ted lasso)

rating: T

word count: 3,410

summary: you and jamie get to know each other. let the games begin.

a/n: this is coming out later than i had planned but i hope it was worth the wait! going to be less busy this coming weekend so hope to share more soon and get a lot of chapters in the queue for you all <3

Five days. It had been five days since you and Jamie agreed on your plan to fake date in front of the entire world. And although you didn’t regret the idea - yet - you’d still had enough time to overthink and suddenly become very nervous about things going wrong.

You hadn’t seen Jamie since your conversation in the café, but you had various text exchanges throughout the week. At some point Jamie had asked you what your contact name was for him.

what do you mean? it's your name. jamie.

just jamie?

what else would it be?

you’ve gotta add emojis luv if someone sees your phone it's gotta look like i’m ur boyfriend. mine says ur name with like 5 hearts

That’s when you realized you needed to be more thorough than you thought.

Which is precisely why Jamie was coming over to your flat today. Sure you’d known you needed to get together sooner or later to talk through the plan as a whole, but today you were armed with a checklist of things to cover.

You’d also talked things over with Margot earlier in the week. And Harry. But that conversation had been a lot more cut and dry. He was over the moon you were doing this, and sent you an email with own list of requirements. It basically started and ended with: be a couple in PUBLIC.

With Margot, she’d repeatedly asked if you were sure about the whole thing. You’d told her over and over again that, yes, you had never been more sure of anything in your life. Though by the fourth reassurance, you weren’t sure how convincing you sounded.

Either way, you were committed to this and dammit if you weren’t going to see this through. This was just another role you had to play. It’s what you did best.

From your spot on your coach, you nearly fall off of it when there’s a knock on your door.

Jamie.

Its go time.

You put your laptop down on the coffee table and jog over to the front door. Pulling it open, you’re actually surprised to see Jamie standing on your doorstep holding a bouquet of flowers.

You squint, “Are those for me?”

Jamie scoffs, “No, they’re for your elderly neighbor I just passed. I’m hoping you can introduce me.” You roll your eyes but give him a smile, “Of course they’re for you. We have to make this look convincing right?”

“Jamie, there’s nobody else here.”

“Okay, but what about paparazzi? One could be lurking about and catching me visiting your flat would be the perfect kickstart to this whole thing.”

You chuckle, “I doubt there’s any photographers around here.” Still you look around behind him, and after seeing no one, you pull him into your apartment and shut the door.

“Still, you know Google Earth. Always taking pics,” Jamie jokes, laughing to himself as he steps further into your living room.

You stop in your place before you follow him, “Did you just quote Parks and Rec?”

Jamie spins around, “You understood that reference?”

You laugh in disbelief, “Of course. It's one of my favorite shows.”

“Same,” he smiles, “Used to watch it with my Mum all the time in high school.”

“I love that,” you smile back, closing the gap between the two of you so you can take the flowers from his hands, “These are pretty by the way. Let me go put them in a vase but feel free to make yourself at home.”

You’re quick to fill up a vase in your kitchen, leaving the flowers on the counter, but are surprised to return to Jamie still standing in the middle of your living room, looking around.

“This place doesn’t seem very you,” he comments as you return, plopping down on the couch.

“How would you know? You just met me,” you ask teasingly.

“Well, that’s the point of today isn’t it,” Jamie teases back, joining you on the couch, “Still, it seems very posh and you seem a lot more chill.”

You nod, “Well, I’m just renting this place while I’m here so not much of it is mine. I’m thinking about decorating it a bit to make it more homey.”

“Well if you need any recommendations for places to look, I know some stores that have cool shit.”

“I may have to take you up on that.”

You lean forward and grab your laptop again. You glance over the excel sheet you had open and try to figure out where to start.

“What you lookin’ at over there?” Jamie asks curiously, trying to peak over.

“I want a way to keep track of all the things we need to figure out like our cover story and just things we need to know about each other,” You explain, turning your computer towards him.

His eyes widen at the very detailed and colored coded document you had laid out. “Wow, that’s…intense.”

You chuckle, “Yeah, I may be a creative but I am very Type A. I also don’t want to fuck this up so I think it would nice to have a place to keep track of everything. I can email this to you if you want? Or ooh! I can upload it to Google Drive so we can both edit it.”

Jamie shakes his head, but there’s a small smile on his face, “Sure. Where should we start, Boss?”

“Well, I feel like the most obvious thing we need to cover is how did we meet? How did we get together?”

Jamie’s thoughtful for a second before shrugging, “I feel like we could use how we actually met, you know? It’s realistic because it's actually real. And keeps it simple. We ran into each other and got coffee, or hot chocolate, as some may prefer.”

“Nice, you remember my preferred beverage,” you smile as you start typing in the doc, “Who asked who out? Did we do it that day?”

“You asked to exchange numbers, but I reached out a couple days later. Maybe we went on our first date last weekend?”

You nod thoughtfully, “That works.”

“It would’ve had to have been Friday, though,” he adds, “I had a match Saturday afternoon and told Keeley about seeing someone that night.”

You bite the inside of your cheek, “I filmed late on Friday night.”

Jamie shrugs, “I could’ve waited up for you. Got drinks at a bar?”

Your lips quirk up at the thoughtfulness - even though it was made up.

“Okay,” you continue filling out your spreadsheet, “I have a list of things that one might normally know about a significant other, but since our “relationship” is so new, I think we only need to cover what you would on a first date.”

Jamie’s eyebrows furrow, “Like…what?”

You glance up at him, “What? Jamie Tartt’s never been on a date before?”

He laughs awkwardly, “I’ve obviously been on dates. But we didn’t really do a lot of talking.”

You roll your eyes, “Oh lovely. Alrighty, then, let's just focus on what normal people do the first time they’re getting to know someone.”

“Fine,” Jamie sighs, “Hit me.”

“What’s your…favorite color?”

“Seriously?”

“What?” you laugh, “It's a completely normal question.”

“Yeah, for five year-olds,” he frowns, crossing his arms.

“Come on, you’re seriously going to sit here and tell me you don’t have a favorite color?”

“I dunno,” he shakes his head looking around, “Maybe, blue?”

“Blue? Come on, that’s such a boy answer,” you mock.

“Well, I am a boy if you haven’t noticed,” Jamie throws back defensively, “Its my favorite color your asking, is it not?”

You bite your lip to keep from laughing, amused by how seriously he’s taking this, “It is. Why blue then?”

He shrugs, “Dunno. It’s one of Richmond’s colors. Was a Man City color, which is the team I used to play for and my hometown team. I remember my mum wearing it a lot growing up.”

A genuine smile starts to form on your face as you listen to him ramble. It was the second time he’d brought up his mom. “Are you and your mom really close?”

He turns to you, a little taken back, “You ask about parents on a first date?”

You shrug one shoulder, “If it's going well.”

Jamie has to turn back away from you so he doesn’t do something stupid like blush. He decides to focus on answering your question. “We are. She’s sort of like...my rock, I guess? She’s actually the one who got me into football.”

You nod, listening intently, “And your dad?”

You notice Jamie tense slightly, but he turns back to you with a half smile, “Our relationship’s a bit complicated. Maybe that’s more of a story for a fifth date or something.”

You give him a kind smile, “That’s fair.” And then you turn back to your laptop screen.

“What about you?” Jamie asks after a beat.

You look up with raised eyebrows, “Me? My favorite color is yellow.”

Jamie chuckles, “Noted. But no, I meant, what's your relationship with your parents like?”

“Oh!” you chuckle lightly with him, “My mom is the best. Feels like she might get along with yours; she’s the reason I’m an actor.” Jamie’s smile grows, “She did literally everything in the world to support me even though she was a single mother. I never knew my dad though. He left my mom before I was born so he’s never been around.”

“Oh, that sucks, I’m sorry,” Jamie says softly.

“It’s fine. I don’t know him. And from the brief things my mom has said, its probably for the best. And honestly it's okay. Mom’s been more than enough on her own.”

Jamie nods, the smile back on his face. “Okay, anything else you got on that list besides colors and parents?”

“Oh, I have plenty,” you chuckle, “But feel free to ask me anything of your own?”

“Hmm,” Jamie thinks for a second, “What's your favorite flower?”

You look up, amused, “My favorite flower?”

“Yeah. You know that way I can be more specific next time I get you some,”

You once again have to bite back a smile, “Uh, I would say daisies are my favorite flower.” Jamie nods, committing the information to memory, “What about you?”

“Me?” you nod and Jamie doesn’t even hesitate, “I think lilies are nice.”

“Lillies are nice,” you agree, typing it into the doc.

That’s how you spend the next hour or so, asking one another trivia about each other and inputting it into the doc for ease of studying later. You learn about each others childhood pets and the careers you wanted when you were five. You learn each other's favorite foods, stores, bands, as well as the little things you hated. You learned more about his teammates, particularly those closest to him like Sam, Isaac, Colin and Dani. In turn you told him about how Margot was more like a sister to you even if she was technically your employee, as well as your childhood next door neighbor Katie who was still your best friend today.

You only realize you’d been talking for so long when your stomach lets out a growl, and Jamie doesn’t even pretend to courteously not hear it when he lets out a belly laugh.

“Leave me alone, it actually is almost dinner time, dude,” you defend, even though you find yourself laughing along with him.

“Fair point,” he amends when he catches his breath, “Do you want to order in?”

You don’t even protest the idea of prolonging your time together, thoroughly enjoying getting to know him, “Sure. I can order a pizza.”

You start searching local pizza places into Google, when you remember another item of business you had on your list.

“Ooh, that packet on the coffee table is for you.” you nod in the direction of said stack of papers.

Jamie sits up, intrigued by the mysterious document, and picks it up. He squints at the weird legalese, “Is this…a contract?” You nod, “What, you don’t trust me or something?”

“No, it's not that, it's just standard,” you shrug, “It's more or less just to appease my publicist and the like.” Jamie still looks unsure, so you sit up and start flipping pages of the document for him, “Looks, its no big deal. I already signed it myself. It just states we can’t tell anyone about this. Besides, the NDA expires in 5 years anyway. So by that time, I’ll have an Oscar and you’ll be a washed up football player, and no one will believe you if you said anything.”

Jamie huffs, “I want to be offended by that, but you called it football so I’ll accept it.”

You smirk, “See, I’m a fast learner.” Then you settle back into your spot on the couch and carry on ordering pizza.

Jamie looks over the packet again, before siding it was no use tonight, “You mind if I look this over and get it back to you in a few days?”

You nod, “Of course.”

“And your publicist knows? I mean obviously. And assuming Margot knows? Have you told anyone else?” he asks.

“Nope, that’s all,” You answer, “I get it if you want someone to confide in, but I figure the tighter we keep the circle, the better, right?” Jamie nods, “I mean have you told your publicist or professional team?”

Jamie laughs humorlessly, “My publicist is my ex, Keeley.”

You once again look up at him with your mouth agape, “Nooo, how does that happen?”

Jamie shakes his head, “Not intentionally. She took over the club’s PR before I came back to the team and I guess I never thought to find someone else. We became friends, genuine friends, but then everything got tangled up again a few months ago. And yeah. Here we are.”

You look at him for a few seconds before you let out a deep breath, “Well, that all sounds fun. A real incestuous family you got going on over there at AFC Richmond huh?”

Jamie can’t help but laugh along with you, “Yeah, look what you’re marrying into.”

You chuckle, but weirdly you feel your stomach flip at his phrasing. You brush right past it in order to collect his pizza preferences. As you finalize submitting the order, Jamie starts over analyzing your apartment again. This time he’s a bit more nosy and pulls open some of the coffee table drawers. He gasps when he pulls open the second one.

“No way. Please tell me this is yours and it didn’t just come with the place.”

When you look up, he’s holding up a Mario Kart game cover.

You scoff, “Of course that’s mine.”

“I haven’t played this in ages,” Jamie says, studying the back cover.

Another smile plays at your lips. You nod at the TV in front of you, “I can hook up my Switch if you want. It’s been a while since I’ve played with someone other than myself.”

Jamie looks up at you, an excited grin forming on his face. “You’re fucking on.”

And so you spend the next hour competing against Jamie in various Mario Kart races. You play as Toad, naturally. Jamie plays as Princess Peach which makes you laugh. In between rounds, you munch on pizza and breadsticks. You also manage to get to know each other more, and set up ground rules for your charade even as you trash talk one another.

“I feel like the most important is PDA,” you state, somehow managing to focus on not falling off rainbow road while also talking strategy.

“Well, we’ve obviously got to do some of it,” Jamie comments, cursing as he gets hit with a shell, “It would look weird if we didn’t sometimes.”

“Sure, but we’ve gotta have some boundaries. We can’t just be kissing each other willy-nilly.”

Jamie chuckles, “Well, yeah, consent is key.”

Your lips quirk, “I’m completely fine with small things like hugs and hand holding whenever it seems fit.”

“Okay, cool, yeah,” Jamie nods, “And if you’re fine with it, kisses on the cheek are pretty innocent.”

“Yeah,” you nod, swerving to avoid a banana, “But actual kissing…”

Neither of you know how to finish that sentence. However, your race comes to an end. This time you get away with first place, Jamie in second, which you’d be switching between throughout the evening. Without gameplay to distract you, you have to make a decision.

“Maybe we just take it as it comes?” you suggest slowly, “I mean, couples kiss right? So if it feels right in the moment, it's not a big deal for a peck here and there?”

“Yeah,” Jamie agrees, “And if there’s ever a time we need to make a show of it, we check in with each other. Either beforehand, or if its in the moment, we give each other a signal.”

“A signal?”

“Yeah, like we blink twice or something.”

You nod, “Blink twice. Okay. And if we’re ever uncomfortable with something, we just have to communicate with each other, right?”

“Right.” Jamie nods. After a beat, he extends his hand, “Looks like we’re doing this.”

You chuckle, but shake his hand none the less, “We’re doing this.”

You exchange smiles. Now that the sun has gone down, Jamie decides its probably time to head out for the night, feeling like you’d accomplished a lot over the course of the evening.

As you walk him to your door, you ask one last question, “There was actually one more thing I wanted to ask. If you’re free Thursday night, do you want to come to an event with me? Isabel Mercer’s new movie is premiering, and since she’s dating my costar the whole cast is going. Figure it might be a good place to make a public debut?”

Jamie smirks, “A movie premiere? You should have started with that.”

You snort, “Yeah, well, I had to make sure this mock-date went well first.”

“I’d say it went very well, wouldn’t you?” Jamie smiles, “I think we’ve got this shit in the bag.”

You laugh, “So I guess that means you’re in?”

Jamie does a half bow, “I would be honored.”

“Good, because I hate going to these things. I need someone to suffer through it with me.”

Jamie fake-pouts, “Don’t try to make this sound less fun for me.”

You shake your head, and you make your voice really high as you reply, “Don’t worry, it’ll be great!”

Jamie tsks, “You’re gonna have to be better than that when we’re trying to convince the whole world we’re madly in love.”

“Yeah, yeah, get out of here,” You tease, opening your front door and gently shoving him towards it.

Jamie turns to you with a smile, “Good night, girlfriend.”

You resist the urge to roll your eyes and give him a smile of your own, “Good night, boyfriend.”

Before you can process what he’s doing, he’s leaning in to press a quick kiss to your cheek. Before he completely pulls away, he whispers in your ear, “Google Earth.” He gives you once last smirk before jogging down the steps.

You shake your head as you lock up. This was certainly going to be an experience these next three months.

You flop back down on your couch to review your notes from the evening. After reading through for a few minutes, you remember you hadn’t checked your phone the entire time he was there. Aside from a couple emails and a text from your mom, you didn’t have much since it was a Saturday. However, you also have 2 texts from Margot. The first you had missed from earlier this afternoon, which was a link to tweet from an updates account about you. The tweet contained pictures of Jamie arriving at your flat earlier that day. The second had been sent minutes ago, including a tweet from the same account, this time with pictures of Jamie leaving literally ten minutes ago.

The devil works hard, but paparazzi and stans work harder.

You also realize that Jamie had been right. That smug bastard.

You couldn’t be too annoyed though. The comments under the tweets, even the most recent, were filled with people surprised yet supportive of your coupling. A few even conceding that you did look cute in a relationship. You smile to yourself as you scroll through.

Shit. This was going to work.

a/n: can’t wait to hear what you guys think!!! :))))))

taglist: @respondingtoshowerthoughts-blog @royalestrellas @loveslide @torpedo-belly @skewedcherries @littlemisssunshine192 @hopefulromances @breakmyheartlater @ohpuckyeah @alipap3 @meg-ro @rexorangecouny @pythagothug @bonesbonesetc @xxenia14 @rockchickrebel @thatonedogwithablog @percysaidnever @msjb2002 @loveforaugust @dicgohargreeves @whimsical-roasting @gcidrvsh @lightninginab0ttle it wouldn’t let me tag the last couple of you, but i will keep trying <3

#jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt imagine #jamie tartt fanfiction #jamie tartt x f!reader #jamie tartt x female reader #ted lasso fanfic #ted lasso fanfiction #mine #my writing #behind the scenes series

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agoodfictitle-shadowban · 6 months

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From Vormir, With Love - Part 7

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Tags: strangers to lovers, love in space angst on earth, slavery mention, alien abduction, post Endgame, survivor guilt, suicide ideations, will add as we go on

Summary: As you're being chased you crash on Vormir. So far, so bad. But things take a turn when you come face to face with a marooned Black Widow.

Word count: 2k

A/n: this is a short chapter but it's worth it

After the short conversation you had with Natasha, it feels insensitive to bring up how you felt to her. You don't want to put her in a position where she ever thinks she could lose your newfound bond. So you just suck it up. You welcome every small touch and every gesture, the simple hand at the small of your back to the cuddles in bed as you are falling asleep. It's both your personal hell and heaven wrapped into one. It leaves you feeling confused, but happy with the proximity you share. And that is of course until the barbecue comes.

That week-end is luckily a beautiful one; you can wear anything from a summer dress to a simple short and t-shirt. As you're dressing, you realize Natasha is coming as your date. Of course you already knew, but now that it's D Day, it's really hitting you and you start to panic slightly. All your questions without answers come back to you. Why did she offer when there was no need for a date, what did she mean by it, is she truly your date, what does it mean for your relationship? The questions swirl around until you're sitting at the edge of the bed you've been using, a panic attack ready to swallow you at any time. But before it can hit, someone is knocking at your door and not waiting for an answer to come in. There, standing in front of you, is Tim, in all his feline grace, looking fabulous in his relaxed outfit, but also about to shatter into pieces. You're immediately alert to his state and put aside what you're going through.

"I can't go to your… bar-beuh-queue. I can't."

"Wait, what? Why not. You seemed really excited at the prospect of free meat." You pat the spot next to you so he would sit down instead of pacing around. He immediately sits and the bed cracks slightly under him.

"And I was but you also said there were going to be many humans."

"Yes? But you've been fine here so far."

"It's not the same!" He roars at you and you frown. He sheepishly looks at his paws. "Sorry."

You shake your head. "You'll be fine. If anything they'll love you. Believe me. Plus you won't be alone there, and you can hide in my childhood bedroom." It couldn't be worse than when you came out anyway. Good thing your relationship with your parents had had time to heal before you got abducted.

"You promise?"

You nod.

"I promise."

"Thank you."

"Oh, I should thank you. I was having my own meltdown before you arrived." You laugh it off, but his curious glance has you sighing before you explain. "I'm just not sure where I stand with Natasha."

"Next to each other?" He asks, not really understanding your doubts. He makes it sound so easy. "You're mate, yes?"

"I… don't really know. We haven't discussed that."

"No discussion necessary. I can smell it. Your scents intertwined."

This makes you smile. Not only does he make it sound easy, he also makes it sound true. Somehow it appeases you for when you'll have that discussion with Natasha.

"Not how it works with humans, but I'll keep that in mind. Now come on. It's time to go."

He nods, and the bed creaks even when you stand up now.

You're finally ready to face the day.

It takes two cars to bring everyone to your parents' place, and a good five seconds for your mother to realize she invited aliens into her house.

"You should have told me!" She whispers to you frantically. "I would have researched what they eat and made it!"

"First, that's sweet, second, do you think there is a website out there with aliens recipes?" You ask, on the verge of laughing uncontrollably.

"There isn't?!"

"I doubt it."

And from there, she makes it a goal to get recipes from your new friends.

"Your mom seems very special," comments a deeply amused Natasha while you show her the way to the garden with everyone else. "Not as terrifying as you painted her."

"That's because she doesn't know you came as my date yet," you smile teasingly, your heart ready to burst when you say it out loud. Not that you have the time to explore the meaning of it all as you enter the garden where half your family awaits all of you. The event quickly takes over you and you go socialize with everyone, people you haven't seen in the past five years, some still looking the same and some looking older. The barbecue quickly turns into a celebration of all the people who came back, and you get a few drinks pushed into your hands without needing to ask for them. Before you know it, your head is light with happiness and alcohol, and you're sitting next to Natasha having the time of your life, your hand lazily dropped around her shoulders. She's clearly comfortable with the contact, even leaning into it as you talk with one of your now almost adult cousins about your adventures in space.

"I need to go to the restroom, I'll be right back," she whispers in your ear at some point and you nod, eyes on her as she leaves.

"You're super lucky!" Your cousin exclaims, and you look back at them with a tilt of the head in questioning. "She's a superhero, so I never imagined she'd date anyone but she seems super sweet."

You blink once, twice, and it finally dawns on you. Your cousin thinks Natasha is your girlfriend. "Oh, you think that… I mean. We're not– she's not–" you fumble and your cousin gets the message.

"Are you sure?" They ask, confused.

"I mean, she came here as my date but it doesn't mean, you know."

Your cousin stares blankly at you. "Dude. Does she know? Do you know? Because you were acting really close."

Your cousin was on your case now too? You thought only June noticed your infatuation but apparently anyone in the vicinity could see it if even your cousin did. You decide to extract yourself from the situation and stand up.

"You know what, she's taking really long so I'm just gonna go check on her."

"Sure buddy," your cousin chuckles with no respect.

You quickly make your way towards the house and once inside, you take a deep breath. That sure was a callout. You decide to forget about it and focus on what you came to do, looking for Natasha. You go to the first floor bathroom and knock on the door, only for it to open on your surprised uncle.

"It's free, but I would wait if I were you," he tells you before he leaves. You wrinkle your nose. Ew.

You take a few steps back and wonder where Natasha could be. She probably went to look for another bathroom, which would be upstairs. When you arrive on the second floor, you quickly notice that the door to your bedroom is open. You frown, before you approach the room when you see a shadow moving inside.

On your guard, you take a peek before you enter the room, only to breathe a sigh of relief. A very short one when you realize that Natasha is in your childhood bedroom. You push the door slightly more to finally enter the room.

"Unless I'm sorely mistaken, this isn't a restroom," you point out with derision. She rolls her eyes and smirks, focusing on you instead of the photographs on the wall.

"It isn't, but my instincts kept telling me I might find some treasure here." She grabs one of the photos and shows it to you. "And I was right!"

It's an old picture of when you were a kid wearing a mismatched outfit with some old friend. You groan and try to snatch the picture out of her fingers, with no success. Between the alcohol and Natasha being a super spy, you stand no chance. Still, you're not giving up. You corner Natasha against your bed, and before you know it, you both fall over on top of it. On top of her.

Your first reflex is to apologize, but the words stay stuck in your throat when you notice how close to her face yours is. Your eyes are focused on hers, the blue entrancing you, until her breath on your lips brings another reality to you.

"I– huh– I'm sorry," you vaguely manage before you feel her hand caress your arm up to the nap of your neck.

"Why don't you show me exactly how sorry you are?" She proposes in a sultry voice and your heart stops, your breathing suddenly hard, and harder even when her other hand navigates between the both of you to find your belly.

Your brain completely stops and leaves you only with your screaming instincts, and her command. So you finally do something you wanted to do for a long, long time, and lean closer until your lips connect. As it happens, it feels like a wave of relief courses through you, like the last five years were worth it to be able to kiss Natasha, and more importantly, have her kiss you back.

The hand on your neck grip grows stronger as your kiss gets more passionate. You tilt your head further when you feel her tongue pass over your lips in demand and give her access without an ounce of hesitation. It feels good when your tongues meet in your mouth in a precise dance that leads you to moan, and again when her other hand caresses the back of your thigh, up to your ass. She gives it a squeeze that makes you melt. Something she takes advantage of. With a simple twist of her hips, she exchanges your positions so she can be on top of you. You look up at her in awe at her beauty, at the cascading red and blonde hair, at her bright eyes and swollen lips.

"I've wanted to do that for so long," she states as she admires you too - you can see it in the way her eyes seem to caress your skin, trace your features, and get lost in your eyes.

"Me too," you admit with no shame whatsoever, her lips growing in a gorgeous smile. You lean up to give her a quick kiss. "But we need to go back, before they send someone to find us."

She gives you a quick kiss in turn, one that makes you long for more, but you restrain yourself while she stands up. You sit up in turn and adjust your clothes quickly so no one can suspect what just happened. As you do so, you notice Natasha stopped in her tracks to check her phone and concern is plastered on her face. She turns to you.

"We need to go."

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha x reader #natasha #fvwl #natasha imagine #idk how to tag

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anonymouspuzzler · 2 years

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oh baby it's Foofy Fiday (note: i have absolutely no idea what day this will queue up.) more thanks to @incorrectbugsnaxquotes for many of these prompts as well!

(alt text/image IDs below the cut!)

[Image 1 ID: Doodle page with various drawings of Floofty, including: - A three-panel comic with first, Floofty handing a wax-sealed envelope to Shelda. Second panel is Shelda, looking confused, opening the letter, and third, a POV of the letter reading simply, "bitch. Respectfully, -- Floofty F. Fizzlebean". - A very simplified drawing of Floofty smirking and sitting on the ground, legs out, with an arrow pointing to them reading "la creatura". - A sketch of a silhouetted Floofty, goggles glowing, walking along the beach with their pegleg and a severed leg clearly in one hand. - Floofty gesturing to a closed chemical cabinet with a sign reading "GENDER. CAUTION! HIGHLY TOXIC" - A meme recreation of Floofty holding up a flask with text reading "FINALLY. GENDER FLUID" - Floofty, grimacing and gesturing with one hand, saying, "I've come to make an announcement. Snorpington's a punk-*ss b*tch," - The X-Files "I WANT TO BELIEVE" poster, but the UFO has been replaced with a drawing of a T-posing Floofty floating at a slight angle into the sky.]

[Image 2 ID: A 4-panel comic of Filbo and Floofty. In the first panel, Floofty is sitting at a bar sipping from a cup, looking annoyed as a dancing Filbo backs into them with a smile. Filbo says, "Hey! Can I have a sip of your water?" and Floofty replies, "It isn't water." In the second panel, Filbo has turned around to wink and do finger guns at Floofty, saying, "Snax juice!! I like your style!" Floofty, glaring, responds, "It's vinegar." In the third panel, Filbo, still frozen in finger-guns position, looks on in horror and Floofty, still glaring, takes a slow sip from the cup. In the fourth panel, Filbo, horrified, says "...what?" and Floofty replies simply, "It's vinegar, plebian."]

[Image 3 ID: A 3-panel comic of Triffany and Floofty. In the first, Triffany, grinning and holding a stack of papers with one arm, extends the other to Floofty while saying, "Good job, Floofty!" Floofty, taking the item with one hand, says, "You're giving me a sticker?" In the second panel, Triffany, still grinning and gesturing with one pointer finger, says, "Not just a sticker! It has a kitten saying 'Me-WOW!'" Floofty, staring down at the sticker looking nonplussed, replies, "I'm not a kindergartener." In the third, Triffany, looking disappointed, leans down and reaches out saying, "Okay, I'll take it back." Floofty, glaring and holding the sticker in both hands, whirls away while saying, "I earned this, back off."]

[Image 4 ID: A two-panel comic of Floofty and Shelda. Shelda, sitting on a log, eyes closed and hands clutched over her heart, says, "I never considered you an enemy." Floofty, sitting on a separate log with a book in one hand and leaning their head on the other, doesn't even look up as they respond "I never considered you at all." In the second panel, Floofty continues reading and not acknowledging Shelda, who has placed both hands on her knees and says in disbelief, "Now that's just hurtful".]

[Image 5 ID: A drawing of Floofty recreating a scene from It's Always Sunny. They are grinning wildly, one hand pumping a fist and the other holding a whiteboard marker, moving so quickly they're motion-blurred. Behind them a whiteboard reads in all caps "MURDER".]

#Anonymous Puzzler art #bugsnax #floofty fizzlebean #bugsnax spoilers #fun fact! casey mongillo themself has a copy of the I WANT TO BELIEVE as a print #one of my buddies was like hey i'm going to a con where they're signing you want anything? and i panicked and sent That Specific Drawing.#apparently it got a laugh though. so i have not brought shame to myself and my family just yet #bugsnax shelda #filbo fiddlepie #triffany lottablog #bugsnax character tags are so fun.#tw for implied amputation/dismemberment and i suppose for references to drinking/alcohol #and also for censored cursing #just in case! i know there's some youngin's in the bugsnax fandom. best to be safe

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absolutebloodychaos · 6 months

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Melbourne 23/11/23

I've seen these all over Tumblr before and now that I actually went to a gig for a band I follow on here, thought I might as well right down my experience of the show so...

Thoughts from the show

Me and my bestie got to the venue and started queuing at about 3:30-3:45 or something and we were in the first like a hundred or so in the queue (we did not mean to queue that early, we were going to go after school had finished - so like 4 or 5, but we got let out at lunch cause of final year 10 exams so...)

Made a bestie in the line who was great and who we stayed with throughout the gig, gonna love them forever❤️

The sun was shining directly down on us so like next time I am making sure to bring an umbrella or something as it was super fucking glary (it wasn't unbearable though which was good).

Bought merch, the Victoria Is My Girlfriend tank top and the grey t-shirt with the pink picture which are both so slay.

The doors opened at 7:30 and we got in some time between then and like 7:40, we had to fast walk to our gates which was fun but then by the time we got to the floor we were only like five people from the front or something.

Made another bestie while waiting for the gig to start who was very tall and basically became like a guardian angel for me and my friend, they had been to a bunch of moshes before and stuff and ended up keeping track of us the whole time which was fun.

There were two girls in front of us doing coke while waiting for the show, they offered me some and I did not know how to feel about it.

Damiano was SO FUCKING HOT IN PERSON I SWEAR TO GOD!!!!!!! I am never going to shut up about how fucking FINE that man is. He was sweaty and so damn sexy and his voice was flawless and I strangely got the gut urge to lick him which is something I've never had before.

Vic CAME INTO THE CROWD during one of the songs (sorry I couldn't remember which one, I was very distracted), stood less than a foot away from me, close enough that I could see that she is shorter than me which I did not realise, and she made DIRECT FUCKING EYE CONTACT WITH ME I AM NOT OKAY!!!!! This was the first of FIVE TIMES that this happened, I am never recovering and she is fucking GORGEOUS in person.

Thomas was so slay up close (and I mean up close, we were so close that I could pick out his individual moustache hairs I swear), he's a fantastic guitar player, he had a couple of solos but the main one was the big one he did at the start of the encore, I also made eye-contact with him once as he was directly in front of us for like the entire gig.

I also locked eyes with Damiano THREE TIMES, he also looked at my friend, I swear to god that man is so sexy I want to die.

Ethan's hair looked fucking MAJESTIC in person, he is such a fucking amazing drummer I SWEAR.

I took my shirt off somewhere in Valentine I think as it was too fucking hot, but then I had the best time just bopping around in my bra.

Damiano, Vic and Thomas all crowd surfed, sadly not near me, but it was fucking awesome.

They did Trastavere and Are You Gonna Be My Girl acoustic on a little stage at the other side of the stadium, I couldn't see that very well but it sounded AMAZING.

Ethan and Vic did a fucking amazing solo while Thomas and Damiano were coming back across the stadium, I think the song after that was IWBYS.

Damiano's shirt at the start was HOT - only buttoned up at his waist, but him shirtless in person killed me.

Vic's outfit was so fucking sexy I swear to god (and I got to see it up close, AAAAAAAAAA).

Ethan started off the show in a suit, then went to just a shirt, and then just a tie, and my god that man is attractive.

Damiano had an Italian flag at multiple times and it was so slay, at one point he got everyone in the crowd who was Italian to put their hands up.

The encore was The Loneliest and IWBYS, someone made Vic laugh during IWBYS and it was the cutest thing ever, she was like right in front of us for that.

In the encore I couldn't choose who to look at as I had Damiano on my left and Vic on my right and I felt weirdly like this was some kind of metaphor for my sexuality turmoil but it was amazing.

I am fully in love with Damiano's hair again, now that I've seen it in person I promise I will never doubt again.

They did all of the new songs from Rush! (Are U Coming?) and they were AMAZING!!!!!!

It is morning now, I only got five hours of sleep or less, the ringing in my ears has only slightly disappeared, my throat is going to hate me all of today, but it was so fucking worth it.

#måneskin #damiano david #victoria de angelis #thomas raggi #ethan torchio #melbourne #loud kids tour

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j4y-lvr · 1 year

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ADOR U! … nishimura riki

SYNOPSIS. a silly dare led niki to attempt to be your silly boy

GENRE. fluff, crack, some angst

PAIRING. danceteamleader!niki x teammember!fem!reader ft. enhypen, newjeans

WARNINGS. unhinged and maybe its cringe since i explained the moves to the placement of their feet, im sorry-😭, jungwon says niki got no rizz, lowercase intended, tba

WORD COUNT. 9.2k (ranges from 1-2k per chapter i think)

NOTE. idk where the idea came from but yeah nwjns yk. this is my wack attempt at slowburn (not really) and specifically targeted at my bsf😘🤞

now playing:ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ılllı

ㅤㅤ ㅤ no artist

0:00 ─●──────── -0:00

ㅤ⇆ㅤ◁◁ ▐ ▌ ▷▷ㅤ ↻

ㅤㅤㅤ ☰ queue

▷ 0 0 1 . . . a t t e n t i o nㅤ♡

ㅤ“the last thing i want is attention,”

ㅤwc_1.2k

ㅤrelease :: 31st december

▷ 0 0 2 . . . h y p e b o yㅤ♡

ㅤ“listen, he's not that bad,”

ㅤwc_1.2k

ㅤrelease :: 1st january

▷ 0 0 3 . . . c o o k i eㅤ♡

ㅤ“its the grey area between friends and something more.”

ㅤwc_1.7k

ㅤrelease :: 2nd january

▷ 0 0 4 . . . h u r tㅤ♡

ㅤ“cause' i'm not gonna be the one to get hurt by his stupid games,”

ㅤwc_1.5k

ㅤrelease :: 8th january

▷ 0 0 5 . . .d i t t oㅤ♡

ㅤ“i got nothing to lose,”

ㅤwc_1.6k

ㅤrelease :: 14th january

▷ 0 0 6 . . .o m gㅤ♡

ㅤ“they keep asking me, 'who is he?'"

ㅤwc_1.8k

ㅤrelease :: 23rd january

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yeehawnatalie · 2 years

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Let’s talk about what went wrong with Taylor Swift Presale today. By now, you should all (hopefully) be aware that today, November 15th, was the start of a war declaration for all swifties. I myself was fortunate to get tickets, but thousands upon thousands of other die hard taylor fans were not. There are quite a few things that went wrong, and I hope to make this post cover as many as I am knowledgeable about so that in the case of future panic, concert ticket buyers can navigate the absolute hellscape that is ticketmaster. Fair warning: this post is long and winded, read at your own risk…. Screenshots will be included

Ticketmaster placed all sales on the same day with only a 1 hour buffer

In all their genius and ingenuity, TM decided to place all 52 presales (not including cap 1) on the same day. with a one. hour. buffer. If you’ve been on Twitter, you’ve seen the panic and anger from all pre-sale goers (myself included) East coast encountered many crashes and 504 bad gateway errors, not even including the “code not working” errors that eventually caused all queues to be placed on hold for over 3 hours… People couldn’t even get into waiting rooms due to site overload. Around 1 hour after this, TM told us to join using the code from our texts, but recommended using a laptop or desktop device… make it make sense? It was not any better in Central nation however. Upon joining the queue, I found myself to be behind nearly 5k people while my mom (who had gotten a code too and was trying incase my night was sold out) was behind nearly 22k people. Within 5 minutes of the queue opening, it was paused. There was no communication at all from TM for about an hour to an hour and a half. Twitter was flooded with people panicking that their codes weren’t working and the lines weren’t moving. I sat there for 4 hours until TM posted the following image.

Absolutely ridiculous. There was little to no communication about known issues or why TM couldn’t get their sh*t together in the span of 4 hours. Keep in mind I waited almost 6 hours to get tickets and others waited even longer. Stadiums were completely sold out in some cases with no update in the queue lines.

Boosts were not recognized/supported

Towards the bottom of this section I have attached a screenshot of a twitter thread discussing this. I personally feel this rumor may have some truth to it. I had no boosts, have never bought merch, and was relatively high in the line. However, I have yet to see a loverfest ticket holder who had a high place in line. The theory is that TM placed the boost holders at the end of the queue. Why? The ongoing theory is that it is for profit - TM is notorious for scalping and ripping off buyers, and it does not surprise me in the slightest that they would do this thinking that all the more dedicated swifties would be willing to spend more $$$ than the “locals.” There is a ton of outrage rn due to this. What was the point of the boosts if they didn’t work? Many boosted fans did not get any tickets as pre-sale sold out quickly.

UPDATE 11/16

Apparently this rumor has been confirmed from TM. See the attached picture. Seems that TM is having trouble keeping all their information consistent. Makes me wonder what exactly the boosts and loverfest did bc they defiantly did not help people get presale codes or ahead in the queue….

Dynamic Pricing + VIP packages

This is a concert lovers greatest enemy. We’ve all heard about how Ed Sheeran opted out of this, and we thought Taylor did as well…. until we walked into the gates of hell. It is still unclear if dynamic pricing is confirmed, but the prices across stadiums and pre-sale times is insane. I paid 299+fees for an 8th row lower bowl while one of my friends paid 400 for a 10th row and another only 250 for a floor ticket. There is absolutely no reason this should exist. Not only does this not detour scalpers, it simply makes the concert less accessible to people who ACTUALLY want to go. Not to mention the insane number of VIP packages available. IMO VIP should be something you add on after, not sold as an individual seat. The prices for floor VIP were 800+ for houston, and when I went to check about 2 hours after getting my tickets, they were one of the last things to be sold. These VIP packages had no communication before presale, and limited the number of good seating for people who simply wanted to watch the concert.

Weird error messages

This was a MAJOR problem during the presale that I haven’t seen many people talking about. I’ve attached a picture of my own error below. After finally getting through to purchase tickets, I found two amazing floor seats within my price range and immediately took them only to be met with the error below. I was literally freaking out while my mom kept on trying different tickets to no avail. I finally found someone on Twitter with the same issue who said they cleared cache and cookies and it worked. Luckily, I was able to do this, reenter my code, and get tickets (although not the amazing floor ones I had in my hand previously) TM has still not replied to my questions about the error messages, and it seems that more people are coming out with the same issue I encountered. I know TM was trying to prevent bots, but someone like me who has a verified email, phone, and clearly residential email handle should not have been flagged and given this code (still don’t know why tf I got it?) Some people are speculating these errors were to limit ticket buyers to cover up TM errors in calculating how many presale tickets were available.

Lack of support and ability to contact support

As I briefly mentioned earlier, I was not helped at all by TM support. There is no easily accessible number to call TM support, and even if there were, there is no guarantee they would pick up in time. Frankly, I was absolutely infuriated with how TM handled this. The lack of texts being sent, emails being sent late into the night with no waitlists in sight, no communication on how presale was going to work. Everyone was told completely different things and no one had any idea what was going on. Add this onto cap 1 presale being pushed back to tomorrow, this is going to make a lot of people really mad. I’ve heard of peoples cards not going through, codes declining, constant ticket disappearing, getting kicked to the back of queue, TM just dropping them - it’s a nightmare. Seriously, just look up some trending Taylor Swift tags on tiktok or twitter rn… And frankly, twitters TM support is just not helpful - the below twitter user received two completely different answers when asking about how codes can be used for different nights.

I sent TM support a message nearly 48 hours ago and still have no received a response - curious as to why, but I’m not entirely surprised. Haven’t heard too much about the situation over on seatgeek.

No Reputation Style Boosts

This is another speculation, but many swifties have said TM wouldn’t allow another reputation boost style system due to the low level of scalper activity during this sale. These boosts worked insanely well to get actual fans on the sale (unlike the verified fans) and it is inferenced that bc TM makes a lot of their money from resales and scalpers, they were against using this method for a popular artist like Taylor. This style of boost could have greatly benefited people who weren’t going to resell tickets, but because of cooperate greed TM has not allowed anyone to use it again.

Insane scalper prices

Literally what is says. 50k for a SINGLE floor ticket is just not it. don’t buy the resell tickets, wait it out for people to sell them at a slightly above face value. They knew people want this tour, and they’re taking advantage of that. How did so many tickets disappear and magically show up on stub hub during the queue pause? (hmmm I wonder it’s almost like that’s TM whole business model) This image is from chicago alone…. and look how many tickets are already here.

“Unprecedented” demand

*sigh* TM you were literally the ones who sent out the presale codes…. you cannot call this “unprecedented” when you literally knew the exact number of people who would be trying to get tickets. These overpriced service fees do what exactly? pay developers to pause queues and not send updates ever? People skipped work and school to buy these tickets and because of your oversight, they lost time and money and may have to miss more tomorrow to participate in Cap 1 presale. There is no other option for this volume of tickets being sold. Taylor has no option but to use this trashy, overpriced site to sell tickets to her loyal fans.

Overall, I am incredibly grateful to have even gotten a presale code. This is of no fault to Taylor or Taylor Nation - the blame lyes only on Ticketmaster. These past 48 hours have been brutal, and I know everyone is frustrated and mad at the shit show that happened today. I’m just asking any and all swifties to put your anger on TM not Taylor. She’s going to have a rough time responding to this, and I think we should make it as easy as possible for her. But most importantly, we need to hold TM accountable, there’s a reason monopoly is americas most hated game. Hopefully someone can crack down on this, but at the end of the day the only thing we can do is continue to support Taylor. Please let me know if there’s anything you think I should add to this post or want added. Thank you and I hope everyone recovers from today. <3

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journcys-archived · 10 months

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—EMERGENCY COMMISISONS.

So uh, hi guys! While I sold at a convention this past weekend and did pretty okay, most of that money went towards a few bills, paying for my table. Ect. I’m actually still behind on some bills and wasn’t able to pay for everything. I also won’t have enough for groceries tomorrow either.

I do have a queue right now, but starting next week I will be hunkering down on commissions. Most of my spare time will be working on commission work so activity may be slow.

I live as a single income home right now and my partner is having a hard time finding work, so sometimes things like this come up where we don’t have enough money for stuff.

If I can maybe *somehow* get $100-$200 by tomorrow, I can pay for groceries to last us until next pay day. I am even slicing my prices in order to get more to my queue.

I do have merch that I sold at the con too ( prints, stickers, charms, buttons ). Lots of Pokémon, some original stuff, metal gear solid, twisted wonderland and street fighter. If interested in any of that stuff please DM me and I will give you pricing + shipping.

— GRAPHIC PRICING.

Promos ( 2, 3, or 4 panels ) - $15.00-$30.00 ( depending on gif or not and complexity ) FLAT FEE OF $15 T

Post Splitters - $5.00

Dash Icon - $5.00

Icon Borders - $5.00

Icon Borders + Icons - $5.00 for the border, 0.50 0.25 cents per icon ( i will put a psd and the icons in the border for you. )

Banners (Headcanons, pinned, ect) - $10 $5 for 5 banners.

Header - $10.00 $5.00

Full Package ( everything above as a deal ) - $60 $40( only includes 30-50 icons depending on resources )

—ART COMMISSIONS.

These are much slower then graphics due to my mental health. I have a lot of examples so if interested in this I can DM you examples and my pricing list—I just can’t fit all examples here and I don’t have a proper sheet.

If this isn’t possible I’d appreciate sharing this regardless. I’m desperate and it sucks. While I don’t expect handouts, I will leave my PayPal here for those who want to help but don’t want to actually purchase anything: [email protected]

#I’m so tired of being broke #I wish the job market in my city didn’t such so bad because my partner is trying SO HARD to find work and is even enrolling in school #in January but #yeah #0. — cat. | out of character.#commissions #art commissions #graphic commissions #emergency commissions

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postsofbabel · 10 months

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What this blog is

It's inspired by the library of babel. But obviously it doesn't have the same character limitations. Every so often, a randomly generated post will be posted to this blog. If I have anything to say that's not keysmash nonsense, then it will be tagged #not babel. These will be spaced out using the queue; currently 10 posts are being released a day.

Currently, the posts can be 1–4096 characters long, being compromised of any of the following characters:

possibleCharacters = ['a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x','y','z','A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z','.','?','!',',',';',':','"',"'",'(',')',' ','\n','-','_','+','=','[','{',']','}','|','<','>','`','~','#','$','%','^','&','/','–','—','*','@','0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9']

If you feel like a post needs some randomly generated text on it for whatever reason, tag me in a reblog and I'll show up eventually. probably.

(I don't condone anything the bot says. I'd be very surprised if it says anything very comprehensible, but it's a possibility it might generate a slur or whatever.)

#not babel

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slightlystupidhun · 1 year

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Skating Around Us

Summary: An Asher x Baabe Fic. Asher is a hockey player and Baabe is a figure skater. @itsdaifuku is the reason for this fic!!!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

They walked downstairs spotting Asher in the mess of hockey jocks. They found their way through the crowd, making their way over to him. It was rather crowded for that time of day, but nothing they haven’t dealt with before. When they finally found and opening they quickly moved for it. The change in pressure caused them to stumble forward into something solid.

“Hey! Falling for me already?” He said with a wink and a bright smile. They immediately looked up and met Asher’s gaze. They flushed a bright shade of red before standing up properly and fixing his shirt that they wrinkled.

“Uhm Sorry, I was just trying to find you for…ya know our date.” They gave him a soft smile.

“Woah Watch out guys! Asher’s got a date!! Clear the way!” A thick accent yelled out.

“Shut up Milo!!” Asher yelled turning pink. He reached out for Skates hand and when they finally accepted it, he led them out. Once they got to their car he walked around to the driver side and opened their door for them.

“Well aren’t you a gentleman?” They smiled at him.

“I always strive to be the best.” He chuckled shutting their door and getting in his side before they started the car. On the way he glanced over at them, the white wrap around their wrist catching his eye. “Hey what happened? You didn’t have that this morning?”

They glanced at him following his his gaze to their injured wrist. “I’m fine. Just a little bruised, and maybe tore a muscle. But Dr.Collins said it’ll be fine. Him and uh, I think I heard you call them Tank, well anyways their cute together.”

“Ok one thing at a time.” He laughed. “Do you need ice or anything? I know you said you’re fine but still.”

“Nah it’s ok, it doesn’t even hurt that bad anymore.” They answered.

“Ok, let me know if you need anything. And SECOND Tank and Collins aren’t dating, according to Tank. They said they are ‘just friends’ but no one on the team believes it. Like do you see the way he looks at them. What’s more, how they look at him?” He said eyes lighting up at the gossip.

“Yeah, they were having a couple ‘argument’ when I walked in about bedside manners and common sense. There was like a romantic kind of feel to it you know?” They smiled at him pulling into the parking lot.

“I know!! Ok ok! What is your typical order here?” He asked. They lit up quickly telling him their exact order, their absolute favorite drink, and what they get to eat along with it.

“How about you?” They asked as they got in the queue.

“Well typically I’m more of a pizza and wings kind of guy, but I love a good brown sugar late and a good sandwich.” He said as they got to the front of the line. He motioned for them to go first and whispered in their ear, “Can u order for me? Please?” They looked at him incredulously and laughed before telling the cashier their orders. He reached around from behind them and slipped his card in the reader before they could even reach for their wallet. When they looked back at him he just smiled.

“Alright, that’ll be up in just one moment.” The cashier said.

“Thanks!” They said in tandem. They then found themself a table next to the big window at the back of the shop. Outside you could see a small garden and then the sidewalk and main road. It was a cute view.

“So… You like Star Trek?” He asked then leaning forward on his elbows.

“Yeah… It’s one of my favorite movies!!” They smile at him.

“MINE TOO!” He cheered. “Ok Ok! Who said this line? ‘Insufficient facts always invite danger’” He paused pointing at them.

“Easy Spock!!” They replied crossing their arms over their chest.

“Order for Asher!” The server said.

“Be right back.” He ran off to get the order before returning moments later.

“So how long have you been playing hockey?” Skates asked their date.

“Hmm, as long as I can remember, I started when I was about six, David, our captain, his dad used to coach before he passed away. But he was the reason I got into it, actually he’s the reason most of our team got into it.” He explained.

“Ah I see, So, you’re planning on making this your profession?” They smiled at him, taking a sip from their drink.

“Well yea!! These muscles are made for hockey, what else would I do? A security gig?” He joked with them. “And how about you? How long have you been figure skating?”

“Since I was four. My parents always loved it and they wanted me to love it. I used to want to be a designer but, I ended up coming around to it.” They answered taking a bite of their food.

“Makes sense,” Asher said taking a large bite of food and a chug of his drink. “So are you skating for state championships?” He asked smiling at them.

“Yeah, ‘qualifiers’ are this weekend.” They stabbed at their food.

“You nervous?” He asked leaving them with the option to not answer.

“No, I mean yeah, I’m really nervous, like horrified I’ll blow it, but I believe in myself, so I guess it’s just a little bit.” They smiled up at him bashfully.

“Don’t worry I get it! I get nervous too! Sunday we have a match to determine whether we make it to the state finals, I really don’t want to blow it.” He smiles. “But I know that nerves are a part of it you know?” He then looks at them with a grin that sends shivers of excitement down their spine. “Besides if what I saw yesterday was anything, you’ll do great! I was really blown away.” He said it so sincerely they began to believe it themself.

“Thanks. I appreciate that. And,” they added on quickly, “If what I’ve seen from you is any representation, you are a rock star. Your destined for greatness.” They said making sparkle effects with their fingers. He smiled at them just staring into their eyes. They were so astonishing and their presence was so demanding to him. He couldn’t take his eyes away.

“So,” he cleared this throat changing the conversation. “Who’s your smash main?”

——

When they got back to the rink they were greeted by Angel talking to David in front of the big glass lobby doors. They had their hand on his shoulder and a wicked grin on their face. He looked like he was over it but the way he leaned into their touch gave away something more. They ran their fingers through his hair as Asher and Skates walked back over.

“Woah sorry for interrupting.” Asher said, most definitely interrupting them. He had one hand around Skates waist and the other in his pocket. Needless to say, the date went very well. David groaned in response.

“No. You’re not interrupting anything.” He turned his head to Ash, rolling his eyes.

“Oh you ARE most definitely interrupting something, but David and I can catch up… later.” They smiled stepping away from him. The captain rolled his eyes at them. “Hey are you guys coming to watch qualifiers on Saturday?” Angel asked.

“What time? Because we’ve got practice on Saturday from 8-10 am.” Asher looked over at Angel.

“Oh My Skate is at 12:30, and theirs is at 1:30 I believe. Just the short skate for those two time slots.” Angel answered wrapping their arm around David’s. He looked at them and glared at the use of PDA in front of his teammate.

“Ok, well we’ll go to your competition, if you go to our game tomorrow.” Asher compromised looking over at Skates, hand still placed firmly around their waist.

“What time is your game?” Skates asked turning to face him.

“It’s at 9:30am right here.” He gestured to the rink behind them.

“Then it’s a deal!!” Angel piped up kissing David on the cheek before trying to steal Skates from Asher. Asher however had a strong grip on them.

“Can I kiss you goodbye?” He asked looking into their eyes. They smiled at him and nodded.

“Yeah…” with that he kissed them lightly on the cheek. It felt so domestic, normal, and perfect. Plus his lips were so soft, they would pay money to feel that again.

Then Angel whisked them away to the car, separating ways with David and Asher.

That night when the pair got home, they marked in their calendar. 9:30am Dhalia Wolves VS KPD (Keaton Pack of Dhalia).

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biggrump · 5 months

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Video Games I played in 2023 (and maybe even enjoyed)

A completely unorganized list of games I played this year that I wanted to talk about because they were great.

1. Ultrakill - My biggest time sink of the year. Found out about this game about a year ago due to FUNKe talking about it a lot. Was hooked from the first level, and after beating it I replayed several levels until I mastered the mechanics, then looked for all the secret levels, then P-ranked all of Act 1 and then the P-1 boss fight several times over (Act 2 is hard to P-rank). However enjoyment did kinda dry up for a bit after I actually got good at the game but then Hakita dropped the first part of act 3 a while ago and it started all over again. Here's hoping the last 2 chapters stick the landing and keep scratching that itch (which they probably will let's be honest)

2. Metal Gear Solid series - Played all of the games aside from 4 which couldn't run on my PC (had to watch a long play for it) and Peace Walker just cause I got distracted by other stuff. The first game didn't really resonate with me on a deeper level but its storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and 4th wall breaks are amazing, especially for the time. 2 and 3 hit far harder and are some of the best games I've ever played. I could talk for hours about every facet of 2's creativity with its meta narrative and constant questioning of reality but then I wouldn't have time to talk about other games here. Just know that it is now my favorite game ever made. 3, while not quite as crazy and predictive with its plot, is just a really good story about a small group of characters that is incredibly written and told. I also really enjoyed 5's gameplay and a lot of the more subtle storytelling, and while 4 has an utterly incomprehensible plot with tons of holes, the character writing, voice acting, and graphics are phenomenal. I want whatever Kojima smokes when he comes up with these.

3. Red Dead Online - I played this with my brother and encountered a modder on my first day. Think that really informed my take on this game because he gave me a shit ton of money and I was able to use it to get a bounty license which took up most of my time in that game. We'd just queue up a bounty mission and play some Oingo Boingo and Talking Heads while we ride, do the bounty, then watch random videos while we waited till the last minute to drop off the bounty bc of how Rockstar decided to set up the system. We also met a couple people online and overall just had a great experience bein a rootin tootin shootin cowboy. Also my guy looks doofy as fuck.

4. The Artful Escape - Impulse bought this game after I watched a vid by Jexonite where he played every game published by Annapurna because the premise seemed fun and I thought it looked cool. Turns out the game does look cool, incredible even. But the art style is kind of all this game has going for it, aside from some solid voice actors (Jason Schwartzman and Lena Headey were cool and Mark Strong was completely unrecognizable). Gameplay is basically just a walking sim that occasionally tells you to press buttons to play notes on your guitar and the story took a pretty generic turn. Has absolutely zero replay value but I did enjoy playing it.

5. BPM - The first roguelike I've ever gotten into, probably because it has a guns in it. I got all the way up to the last level then died to a low level enemy and have not gotten that far in the game since. The OST goes insanely hard though and is part of the reason why I keep coming back to it. It's also insanely addicting so be warned.

6. Hotline Miami - Probably holds the record for the game that pissed me off the most this year. An insanely fun and fast paced shooter game where your reaction timing is everything and that every nerd with a YouTube channel has already picked apart. Even though some of the AI is complete jank it is so satisfying clearing rooms in this game. The art style is also quite good and the soundtrack introduced me to a ton of new artists. Also is a strong case for environmental storytelling needing to be more prevalent in games. I can figure out what's going on I'm a smart guy.

7. Katana Zero - A very Hotline Miami inspired game aka a game with a pixelated art style and a synthwave soundtrack where the goal is to clear rooms and you die in one hit. I feel a bit more mixed about this game compared to Hotline honestly. I really liked the time slowing mechanic, the mobility, and the way you can reflect bullets with your sword. I also like how the enemy AI actually stays consistent through each run of the level, whereas with Hotline there were some enemies who could move erratically and fuck everything up even if you plan a solid route. However, I think because of how the story was told I don't think it had as much of an impact on me. I can't really remember a lot of the important details but I can remember that a lot of plot threads were left unresolved. Also, while I do like the combat a lot, I feel like it's missing the sandbox approach that Hotline had. Honestly not a game I would necessarily come back to, but if the dev made a sequel I would buy it (especially if we get to play as Dragon more he was cool as fuck). I'll also give the game props for actually having an OST unlike Hotline.

8. Undertale - What could I say about this game that hasn't already been said by the entire population of South Dakota? It is very fun and I am glad I finally took the plunge and played it. Now I just have to finish the other routes at some point lol

9. Lethal Company - I played this game with multiple friend groups and it was incredibly fun but also terrifying. If you haven't played yet, the best advice I can give is to just go in completely blind and figure shit out on your own. Also, try to actually go into the buildings instead of staying in the ship like a goo goo ga ga dingus.

Other stuff I played worth mentioning (Smaller stuff or games I revisited/haven't finished a full playthrough of):

1. A Hat in Time DLC - Played the original game late last year and loved it, but didn't get the DLC so I didn't play it for some time. Played it this year and had a blast. The Nyakuza Metro level is so detailed, you can really tell the devs poured their heart and soul into making this game look as great as it does. Made me rediscover my love for the base game.

2. Titanfall 2 - Not my first time playing it but replayed the single player on PC for the first time (played on Xbox before) and realized the characters and level design were way better than I remembered. I then started pestering everyone I knew to play it and the ones who did seem to like it too. I also popped off multiple times in the multiplayer so it was nice to have a multiplayer game that I'm good at.