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devondespresso · 10 months

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15 Questions 15 Mutuals

tagged by the lovely @blushweddinggowns

1. are you named after anyone? Yes! my legal name came from a nickname my mother used for her sister and Devon is actually the name of one of my cool older cousins. My sibling suggested it one day and we were like “yo thats like a cool older brother name” and it didn’t occur to us until later just how biased that opinion was

2.when was the last time you cried? uh good question. its not like it was super long ago i just have a terrible basic memory. i think it was reading a fic? pretty sure i shed a tear or two reading the epilogue for Smoke Oh The Water on ao3

3. do you have kids? no im 18. but also no if i was 40. im terrified of fucking up another human. maybe eventually ill foster older teens with my future wife. who knows

4. do you use sarcasm a lot? not intentionally, i have this habit of saying “oh joy” when someone tells me about something sucky that has or will happen because i dont really know what to do in that situation. so it feels like an “aw that sucks :(” but with the casual tone that lets them lead the conversation about it

5. what sports do you/have you played? i think i did cheer in like preschool, I did archery in middle school, and took weightlifting in high school. i’ve also done yoga on and off since summer of 2018 and i know its not a sport but no one talks about it outside of Instagram fitness girlies and im sick of this disrespect (/j)

6. whats the first thing you notice about people? first probably outfit/aesthetic, next is how they speak. tone and word choice and what they says about what they think about whatever they're saying. i have the irl subtext radar and all that does is make me cry easier rip

7. what’s your eye color? hazel?? brown? your guess is as good as mine bestie

8. scary movies or happy endings? happy endings. my imagination will convince me of the wildest shit if given the slightest bit of inspiration

9. any special talents? uhhhhhhh im pretty proud of my weird mobility skills? like ive got good balance and coordination (usually). i can put on pants one-handed? i can open doors and flick light switches with my feet? im good at climbing shit?

10. where were you born? what are you a cop /j (deep south, red state)

11. What are your hobbies? i like yoga and calisthenics and improvised dancing. i love screenwriting and film and im finally giving fanfic writing a shot! i also just like making shit like sewing and customizing figures and making little scenes out of displays

12. do you have any pets? yes my cat his name is mittens aka goose boy aka bagel boy aka wiggle man aka bogus aka bingus aka chicken aka little baby man aka loafus aka mr meow meow aka moafus aka doodle boy aka squirmy wormy aka- *gunshots*

13. how tall are you? 5′3? again your guess is as good as mine

14. favorite subject in school? theatre. i dont get to be normal. if were talking like. regular subjects then it depends on the teacher. i had an english teacher that let me do a book report on a manga. i owe her everything.

15. dream job? in an ideal world id be a screenwriter and director. but the world isnt ideal its actually sexist and homophobic and ableist and shit so i doubt id get there rn. its the gen z depression.

i sincerely dont know if i actually have 15 mutuals (statistics say yes, anxiety says no) and im nervous about tagging usually because i dont want to assume connections are closer than they actually are AND ive convinced myself i keep tagging the same mutuals too much lately AND its 2 am and i work in the morning so no tags tonight but mutuals if you want to then consider yourself tagged! and feel free to @ me in your list (tags or “tagged by“) if you want to!

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gendice · 6 years

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(1) oh honey I feel your struggle. I'm a writer in this fandom too and like... I KNOW my stuff is good. I know it. And I have spent MONTHS on fics before only to post them to a lukewarm reception. It sucks because there are so many factors. So many! Posting time vs timezones, how many followers you have, the off chance of a popular blog reblogging it.. etc. And the most frustrating thing is sometimes I'll get a good reception on one website but NONE on another site, for the exact same fic!

The unfortunate thing is that’s just kinda .. how it is. It blows dude like fandom artists don’t really have to face that? The barrier to entry for them is so much lower I think. I’ve been writing for a very long time and I’ve sort of come to terms now with the fact that sometimes a story is just only going to get so many likes/comments/etc. Even when I think it deserves more or even when I feel like I haven’t gotten back nearly as much as I poured into it in the end I just try to remember that I’m writing for me more than anyone else. Everything I write makes me a better writer, so even if I post a fic and it only gets half the notes I’d hoped for, I’m still glad to have written it and put it out there. I’m still glad for the people who did read it and love it. I’m not trying to be preachy or anything, its just hard watching you struggle over something I’ve also struggled with for so very very long :/

Even established writers struggle with this! Like, I have a fic on ao3 that’s got 1000+ kudos and yet the Tumblr post for it slipped completely under the radar with few notes. You just can’t predict the whims of the internet sometimes. The only thing you can do when you’re sad about the reception of a story is to keep writing. The more you write the bigger you audience grows!! It’s the only constant that’s stayed with me from fandom to fandom. If you just keep writing, the readers will come.

sorry for the wall of text!! I really thought your story was lovely, and had a unique style to it. I hope you keep on writing no matter what, from one writer to another. Don’t be discouraged :)

hhhh h h ok i don’t want to discredit artists bc i know they spend a lot of time and effort on their works too but i think it’s easier for them to get notes/reception bc their works are visual and people can see what it is at a glance and decide whether they like it or not instead of having to spend actual time reading a bunch of words lol

but anyway you’re right and logically i DO know there are plenty of factors to how well a fic will be received but also i can’t help but worry that it’s my fault that they’re doing so poorly?? i worry that the content that im putting out isn’t what people want to see which is the reason why my fics do so badly and, idk, i want to know what im doing wrong and what i can do to make it better but i just can’t? im not trying to say that my fics are better than those that get more hits/kudos but i can’t help it when i look at some more popular fics and i try to study them but i dont get what people like about them so much?? sorry this just makes me sound like a jackass but it’s probably just personal preference and mine being so different from the majority of the fandom’s which is also why i can’t write stuff that people like

god i know everyone says that you should write for yourself and part of me does which is why i stick so closely to the style that i do but also it’s just,, numbers in the form of hits/kudos/notes serve as affirmation that my stuff is good, and it’s the only thing my flimsy-ass self esteem can rely on because i absolute hate hate h a t e the stuff that i make sometimes and i doubt myself so much all the time so when i see that a fic does well, it tells me that hey this isnt so bad, but when i see a fic flop it’s like, confirmation that my stuff stinks big time which is. its a sucky feeling. i know it’s not good to have that kind of mentality but it’s just the way that i am??? lets be real here like i can say in confidence that im a thirsty bitch and i do want people to read and like and kudos my stuff and my self esteem gets kicked repeatedly every time my fics flop so. h yea h

honestly if it werent for my followers on here (sorry 2 everyone) and me shoving my fics in their faces i probably wont even get more than 100 hits on my fics lol and i feel kind of bad bc a part of me wants to deserve the hits and kudos that i get instead of having them just bc i kept yelling at my followers about my fics (i kind of feel like those people who would hold up the news and yell hear ye in medieval times or whatever) but. idk im conflicted cos i know this is one kind-of efficient way to get people to notice my fics. but part of me feels Bad when i do so too but idk. its also bc of this that i refuse to tag people or ask them directly to rb my fic posts bc i’d feel really guilty and ashamed and i don’t want to use people in that way?? and i’m not close friends with a lot of people on here either especially popular content creators so honestly i don’t think a lot of writers/blogs with large followings would rb my fic posts either so basically im just fucking myself over lol

god sorry im ranting and i know i don’t technically have a right to bitch so much since as i’ve said before 1) my stuff isn’t as good as some other people who i know face this same problem and honestly deserve so much more attention for their works and 2) i havent even been writing for that long so i really am not allowed to complain but hh h h idk i just get super frustrated over this i cant help it

#anon #answers #sorry i am RANTING again #i know i should change my mindset but this isnt just my mindset for writing.#its a regular mindset thats been with me since i first created content for anything and its just that now its been carried over to writing #i want to change but i literally dont have confidence in anything that i do #anyway thank you so much for your kind words regardless and i really appreciate you sending this and trying to help <3

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lesbiansirius · 7 years

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mutual(s) pining

a work brought to you by bunfox productions, aka yours truly and @lesbianremus! you can also read it on ao3, right here. big thanks to the lovely @nachodiablo who looked it over for us!

this is a prompt fill for the weekly prompt at @introvert-club. this week it was “internet crush”. anyone is welcome to participate, and use the tag #wolfstar introvert prompt for us to see! enjoy :)

Some days, scrolling Tumblr is pretty boring. A flower, a transparent backpack, a dejected joke about depression, a dead Soundcloud link, nothing to inspire. Sirius is hunched over their laptop, watching the screen with their chin resting on their hand. A long discourse post they can’t be arsed to read, gifs from a show they don’t watch, and then.

Inspiration strikes.

It strikes in the form of two selfies. The person in them is standing in a sunny garden, curls spilling out from under a snapback, and smiling with their eyes closed. You can see lilacs blooming in the background. The person has freckles and a t-shirt with a whale on it, featuring the text “I’m a little overWHALEmed”. Same, Sirius thinks.

They click follow without even looking at the blog.

Remus squints at the tiny, seemingly innocuous, line of text on her dashboard. It’s sandwiched between a masterpost of transfeminine resources Lily’s reblogged (tagged #dead useful tbh #remus i told u joining tumblr wld be worth it) and a post from one of Lily’s friends about how Glinda the Good Witch is trans agenda (shows up at the beginning of Act 2 with a new name).

padfoot has started following you

Who the fuck is padfoot?

Remus quickly opens a new chat, typing in Lily’s url. She had made Lily show her how to do this chat business first, after changing the aesthetically horrifying default blog layout.

do u kno a padfoot

Lily, eternally both awake and online, replies immediately.

wtf is a padfoot

oooh hang on actually i think i do

???

ya they’re one of my mutuals. mostly posts vids of them singing and reblogs pics of animals, iirc

why are they following me??? i don't want to be followed!!

remus chill ffs. it’s not like stalking. they just see ur posts

i dont even have any posts! well except those pics marlene took that u INSISTED i put up here

ur welcome. i bet they think ur hot ;) ;)

hilarious.

remus when will u accept ur cute n give the people what they want!! (more selfies)

im unfollowing u

my dash would be more appealing w just the staff blog posts

im ignoring ur paltry attempts at threats. also, i just went and looked and ya i had the right person. u should check out their vids

why

its polite 2 at least LOOK at someone's blog if they follow u!! honestly remus my 86 yr old grandma is more social media savvy than u

Remus chooses not to reply to that. She does click on padfoot’s blog, though. Not because Lily suggested it, just because she’s curious. What about some boring pictures of her in a garden screamed ‘good content’ to this stranger? Maybe they’re really fond of lilacs, or something.

“What the fuck?” Remus says, glaring at the still shots of the youtube videos embedded on the page in front of her. Whoever padfoot is, they’re apparently unfairly attractive. Remus clicks play on the first video, half-hoping they’re an appalling singer to make up for the ridiculously good looks.

Two hours later, Remus’ phone buzzes, jolting her out of her Tumblr coma and back into reality.

did u die? Lily wants to know. Remus calls her.

“Why would you assume I’m dead?”

“I’ve been knocking on your door for the past ten minutes, asshole.”

“Oh,” Remus looks guiltily down at the headphones she’d put on three videos in.

“Well come open the door,” Lily gripes. “We’re late.”

“Can we be late for a thing that we scheduled between the two of us?” Remus points out, as Lily tugs her down the stairs. “You barely even gave me time to put on proper clothes,” she complains.

“We said pub at five. It’s not my fault you weren’t ready.”

“Actually,” Remus says with a self-righteous sniff, “it was. You’re the one who told me to check out padfoot’s blog.”

Lily pauses, looking over at Remus.

“Yeah, three hours ago.”

“Two and a half,” Remus mutters.

“Wow,” Lily smirks. “I knew they’d be your type.”

“Shut up,” Remus grumbles. “We’re going to be late for Weekly Lion’s Den Bitch & Moan.”

“I thought it was impossible to be late for something we scheduled between the two of us,” Lily says mockingly.

Remus walks off without her, ignoring the sound of Lily’s cackles following her down the street.

Sirius straightens up from the computer and looks for James. He’s in downward dog position in the kitchen area, because of course.

“Hey,” they say, “quick question.”

“I’ve told you a million times not to interrupt me while my arse is reaching for the sky.” James sounds a little strained, but he still manages to get in a sigh.

Sirius groans. “This is important!”

“More important than my spiritual health?” But James walks slowly into a forward fold, and Sirius waits for him to get upright, one vertebrae at a time. They tap their fingers against their laptop.

James reaches his hands up towards the sun – or in this case, the orange plastic lamp in their kitchen – then finally gives Sirius attention.

“Okay, what’s the quick question?”

“How long should you be mutuals with someone before casually striking up a friendship?” It’s probably not causal to even ask that literally two minutes after the person follows you back, but whatever.

James rolls up his mat and chuckles. “You’re talking to me, literally the least casual person this side of the equator.”

Sirius frowns. They’re used to James always giving advice. Admittedly, sometimes it’s bad advice, but nonetheless.

“You mean I have to use my own judgment? Eh.”

“When I’m your manager you’ll never have to do that,” James jokes.

Sirius doesn’t reply; they’re actually checking out the pretty stranger’s blog now. The title is ‘why are they forcing me to have a title’ and the bio just says ‘she/her’. The pictures are the only thing on the blog. Well, that didn’t exactly help. Tumblr friendships are usually based on mutual interest. Maybe they could strike up a conversation about lilacs?

“Okay, well, thanks for nothing,” they tell James. “I have nothing to go on, my crops are dying, and I haven’t even posted a video in a week.”

“But your crop tops are fine.” James winks and slumps down next to Sirius, looking over their shoulder at the mysterious whale person. “Wow, pretty.”

“I know! The only good thing on Tumblr today. I need more!”

“You need chill,” James says firmly. “Wanna go to the pub?”

Sirius closes the laptop decisively. “Always.”

“Let me change, I’ll be ready in a few.” James gets up, giving Sirius an unnecessarily detailed view of his ass in yoga pants. “And you should put on one of those crop tops.”

“But remember the last time you went out in yoga pants.” Sirius grins. “Worked out well, didn’t it?”

James shakes his head. “Not tonight, honey, I’m tired.”

“It’s hard work being popular.” Sirius shrugs.

They do take James’ advice to change into a crop top, because even if James isn’t up to being hit on, Sirius could use the validation. And they look fucking awesome in a crop top and fishnets.

It’s just a few days after payday, and the time of day when people are off work, so they only barely manage to get the last free booth. Sirius sits down on the edge of the sofa, strategically placing one leg over the other so they’re visible to the people who pass by. It might not be a whale pun or lilacs, but Sirius’ legs rarely fail them.

James returns with an ale for Sirius and his own awful lager with cordial in it. The pink makes it look pretty, but that’s its only redeeming feature in Sirius’ opinion. James sighs happily when he takes the first sip, though.

“Did I tell you about that movie I found the other day? It’s like a comedy about vampires and werewolves, it’s amazing.”

Sirius listens to James try to explain it, and they then spend a considerable amount of time discussing various vampire questions. Do they get boners, and how? Can vampires be vegan? Are there vampires working night jobs that no one knows about?

Their stomach is hurting from laughing by the time Sirius gets up to get a second round. When they get back, James isn’t alone.

Remus pushes the door open to The Drunk Carnation, holding it politely for Lily, in spite of what a pain she’s being today. It is Lily’s turn to buy the drinks, which cheers Remus up slightly. At least if she’s going to be mocked she can do it over some semi-expensive alcohol.

Once they’re seated, Remus quickly changes the subject away from Tumblr.

“So how’s your acting class going?”

“Pretty well,” Lily says, sipping at her Seven and Seven. “That creep still won’t stop asking me out.”

“I thought you were going to ask the cute clumsy one to pretend to be your boyfriend?”

Lily shrugs.

“I still might. It’s sort of hilarious watching him work up the nerve to talk to me, though. I’m not sure if I want to put him out of his misery yet.”

“You’re a cruel woman, Lily Evans.”

“Anyway,” Lily says, shrugging off what she probably considers a compliment, “you aren’t getting off that easy. What did you think of padfoot?”

Remus groans, dropping her forehead onto the table and nearly tipping over her can of PBR.

“They’re fine,” she grumbles.

“Someone’s got a crush,” Lily sing-songs. “Hang on.” Her tone of voice changes slightly, and Remus looks up, following her line of sight. She recognizes when Lily’s ‘cute person’ radar is going off. “Weirdly,” Lily continues, looking back at Remus, “that’s him. They guy from acting class.”

“Oh,” Remus frowns. “The creepy one or the one you’ve set your cap for?”

Lily snorts.

“The latter, Jane Austen.” Remus smiles over the top of her beer, but doesn’t reply. Lily looks oddly hesitant for a moment, before her expression clears. “We’re going to go say hi,” she says firmly. Remus groans, but let’s Lily tug her to her feet. “Oh stop moaning,” Lily says.

“I thought this was a dedicated romance-free evening,” Remus says self-righteously.

“It’s just a hello.” Lily strikes a pose as soon as they’re alongside the table, cocking one hip and tilting her head flirtatiously. “James. Fancy seeing you here.”

The man at the table starts slightly, looking up from his phone. He widens his eyes and nearly drops the poor phone into his drink.

“Lily? Oh. Wow, hi. Hello.” Remus stifles a smile as James glances over at her. “Erm,” he says, getting awkwardly to his feet and holding out a hand. “I’m James.”

“Remus.”

“Nice to meet you,” James says politely, before his eyes drift inevitably back over to Lily. “Would you two like to sit?”

Lily looks over at Remus, raising an eyebrow. Remus sighs inwardly, resigning herself to a dull evening of playing third wheel. She knows Lily will go back to their table without protest if Remus asks her to, but she can also see that Lily is more interested in James than her conversation about him had let on.

“Sure,” Remus says, sliding into one side of the booth. She sits on the end, so Lily and James are forced to sit next to each other. Lily grins at her from across the table, and James looks to be a strange combination of thrilled and alarmed.

Remus is just trying to think of a way to excuse herself to give the two of them some time to talk, when someone else approaches the booth.

“I leave for two minutes and you’ve already replaced me,” the person says, heaving a dramatic sigh. Remus just barely manages not to jerk up her head, but she’s staring so intently at her beer that it’s possible she looks like some sort of deranged beer label design student.

Oh no, Remus thinks. I recognize that voice. James is babbling out some kind of protest and Remus’ stomach clenches up. Have we interrupted some kind of date?

Fortunately, Lily quickly takes charge.

“You’re too late. He’s mine now,” she says with a grin. James looks like he’s struggling not to combust on the spot, and Remus stifles a laugh. She’s grateful Lily’s given her a moment to get her equilibrium back. The stranger, padfoot, Remus’ brain helpfully supplies, slides into the booth next to Remus. She turns, friendly expression carefully propped up on her face, and smiles.

“Hello. I’m Remus. The extremely rude one across the way is Lily.”

“Cheers,” Lily says, sipping her drink.

“Sirius,” padfoot says with a grin, holding out a hand. Remus shakes it, trying not to look terribly star-struck.

I can be chill about this, she tells herself firmly. A tiny voice in the back of her mind is screaming that’s a GIANT lie, Lupin. Sirius is even cuter in person and they’re right there, nearly touching her and they smell really nice and it’s horribly distracting. She can’t even escape to the bar to get her head together because Sirius has just brought new drinks and Remus is now trapped against the wall.

“So,” she says a bit desperately, “how do you two know each other?”

Lily, who has apparently decided she’s fulfilled her helpfulness quotient for the year, just smirks at Remus over her drink and lets her flounder.

“How don’t we know each other?” Sirius waggles their eyebrows and grins. They then want to punch their own face.

James laughs nervously and glances at Lily. She is pretty, but he’s pathetic. Unlike Sirius, who’s the epitome of coolness right about now.

Remus looks a little pink. It’s adorable. “Oh, were you on a–”

“I beg you not to finish that sentence,” James cuts in. “Sirius is just being a dick. We know each other from school, way back.”

“Clearly this school thing is the way to meet people,” Remus says. Sirius laughs, possibly more than the joke warrants.

But Remus is wearing another t-shirt with whales, and is so beautiful, and Sirius feels like bursting into song. They’re lucky Remus and Lily didn’t turn up after a couple more beers.

“I like your shirt,” they say and nod towards Remus’ chest.

Remus looks down on her beer and giggles. “Whale whale whale,” she says, then looks up. “Get it?”

Lily groans on the other side of the table, but Sirius laughs again. They can’t seem to help it. This person is their kryptonite. “That’s funny. Do you have more of these?”

Remus tells them about the overWHALEmed t-shirt and Sirius pretends not to already know about it. James casts a smug glance at Sirius every now and then, but he looks too nervous himself to be gloating.

“What do you do for fun?” Remus asks, turned to Sirius, her leg almost touching their skin through the fishnets.

“I like singing,” Sirius says. “But it’s not too serious.”

“Ha–” Remus starts, and Sirius groans and buries their head in their arms. “Sorry,” Remus adds quickly. “I’m sure you get that a lot.”

“You have no idea.” Sirius lifts their head again and smiles. “Anyway. What do you like?”

Remus hesitates. “I write,” she says. “But nothing too– er, consequential.”

“Nice save.” Sirius braves nudging her arm with their elbow, and Remus looks at them and smiles.

Sirius doesn’t want to look away. Remus smiles like she’s holding back a much bigger smile, giving the impression that there’s just too much sunshine in her to contain. Sirius spills over.

“I followed you on Tumblr earlier today,” they blurt out. “I liked your selfies.”

Remus goes red. That was the last reaction Sirius had anticipated, but it’s not terrible. “I know,” she admits. “I don’t understand why, though.”

Because you’re beautiful. “They were very aesthetically pleasing pictures,” Sirius improvises. “I was so uninspired and then I saw them and it was good content, what can I say.”

Remus is shaking her head. “Not as good as your singing.”

“You checked out my blog?” At this point, the point where their arms are touching feels like burning, but it’d be weird to move now. Also, Sirius doesn’t want to.

“I don’t have more than ten followers, of course I get curious,” Remus says defensively. She’s not moving her arm, either.

“Really?!” Tumblr really is a hellsite. Remus, no more than ten followers? Atrocious.

“Yes?” Remus looks puzzled.

“You don’t want more?” Sirius is grappling with this concept.

“Not really.” Remus shrugs. “Anyway, I listened to a bunch of your songs, and I really liked them. You should be the one with more followers.”

“Thank you.” Sirius doesn’t know what else to say.

Lily clears her throat. “Excuse me for interrupting what I’m sure would have been an incredibly drawn out flirting process, but I’d like my best friend back, so if you could just exchange numbers now that’d be great.”

Sirius makes a surprised exhale, and Remus moves her arm back at lightning speed. “I will murder you,” she says calmly.

Lily just smiles at her. “Sure, but let’s get drinks first.”

“I’m sorry,” Remus mutters. “May I get out?”

Sirius gets up and gives way, watching with amusement at how James tries not to die when Lily passes him in closer proximity than he could possibly have hoped to have her. They say goodbye, and Lily and Remus start walking away before Sirius finds their bearings.

“Wait!” They take a few long steps to catch up. “Actually, Remus, I’d like that number, if you want to give it to me.”

Remus raises her eyebrows and her mouth opens slightly. How she’s making “flummoxed” look hot, Sirius has no idea.

“Sure, yeah.”

Lily looks extremely smug as they exchange numbers. Sirius is not looking forward to the look on James’ face when they get back to him.

Remus gives them one last barely-contained smile before her and Lily leave, for real this time.

Sirius looks at their phone and starts laughing. Remus saved her number as ‘whale endowed’.

Yes, Sirius has definitely been struck by inspiration.

#wolfstar introvert prompt #wolfstar #trans marauders #tumblr au #bunfox productions #my fic #jamie writes lily so well i'm :')#collabing is so fun i hope yall enjoy this as much as i did lmao

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misspandalily · 7 years

Text

story - PIVOT!

A Naruto ‘Friends’ AU. I don’t own Naruto or Friends, but this was written for my love for writing and I intend on continuing this series for a long, long time. Hope you enjoy it, and please leave feedback!

AO3 | FFN

It begins, one would say, in a small ramen-house in the middle of Konoha.

The time is Spring, during which Tenten finds herself walking out of her workplace and onto sunlit streets. She purchases a green tea smoothie on her way to her friends' meeting point, beaming up at the sunshine that's peeking through sweeping skyscrapers. Her work is largely confined to the kitchen of Yakiniku Q, where she's been steadily working her way up from waitress to sous-chef over the course of four years. She likes to think that she's a hard worker with a good head on her shoulders and an expansive knowledge of the culinary arts.

By day, Tenten is an aspiring chef. By night, she specialises in the complexities of kitchen knives.

And, on the plus side, she's having dinner with this cute guy from work named Juugo, the 'Meat Guy'. He's timid and speaks softly, even though he's about as brawny as a wrestler from the heavy-duty work he does with meat. Despite the fact that they've only ever communicated in short bursts of time, and she's never really seen him without meat, Tenten likes that he's at least a hard-working person at work.

The only real issue lies behind the doors of Ichiraku's, and on the cozy little couch formation in the corner that's permanently reserved for a group of five.

"Tenten!" is the first word she hears when she steps inside, removing her trench-coat from her shoulders and revelling in the warmth of the restaurant. It's small and constantly smells like noodle soup, but it also serves the best coffee at a price that doesn't involve donating a kidney to the black market. She makes her way over to the corner and settles in between an ecstatic Lee and an arguing Neji and Naruto.

"You need to stop cooking ramen at three in the morni-"

"It's ramen!"

Neji makes a wild, sweeping gesture across the entire restaurant. "We practically live in a ramen-house."

Lee greets her and takes a sip out of her smoothie. "How was work?"

"It was great," Tenten snatches her drink from Lee's spandex-covered arm and drinks from the straw happily. "I'm having dinner with a guy from work soon."

Naruto's mouth, opened mid-argument, snaps shut as quickly as Neji's jaw drops open. "A date?"

Naruto is the first to recover, as always. "You're going on a date?"

"Yes," she replies, bristling, "And it's not a date. It's just two people going out to dinner...and not having sex."

"Still," Neji chimes in, "He's going out with you, so there has to be something wrong with him."

"How decidedly un-youthful, Neji!" Lee shakes his shiny, black bob in disappointment, "So, does he have a hump? A hump and a hairpiece?"

Tenten sends Lee a youthful glare and laughs. "Conjure up any dream you want, but I still have a date."

"A-ha!" Naruto shouts, almost knocking his ramen bowl over. "So it is a date."

He is met with a bemused silence, and then the doors slam open. In walks Sasuke Uchiha, his spiky hair fresh out of a '90s Japanese mens' magazine, and a miserable expression lining his face. It's pouring outside, with the onset of Spring beginning to purge out the storms of Winter. Naruto immediately waves at his long-time best friend and gestures towards the other chair in their area. Sasuke plops down onto it, throws his soaking-wet umbrella onto the table, which hurls water onto Neji's delicate face, and frowns. "Hi."

Tenten's radar turns on immediately. Her younger brother is by no means a cheerful person, but his mood has been particularly sour lately. It could have been a bad day at work, and given that it's a curatorial job, Tenten wouldn't be surprised, or it could have been the fact that his wife of four years was his ex-wife as of six months ago. "You okay, Sasuke?"

"I just feel like someone reached down my throat, grabbed my small intestine, pulled it out of my mouth, and tied it around my neck." He responds in a clipped tone, his pale complexion providing a stark contrast against the raindrops streaking down his face.

Neji, now dried and still relatively bitter, holds up a plate. "Cookie?"

Tenten rolls her eyes. "Temari moved her stuff out today."

"Ohhh," Naruto replies, his tone a little less harsher than before. The blonde man quietens down out of respect for Sasuke's broody demeanour and slurps at his ramen bowl. She hasn't known Naruto as long as she's known Neji - who'd been introduced to her by Sasuke during their college years. But she's been around Naruto long enough to see that his back is tighter than it had been minutes ago and his jaw is ever-so-slightly clenched - both signs that he's deep in thought, the existential sort.

She decides to alleviate the sudden blanket of tension by ordering a cup of coffee, black, because Sasuke doesn't like have saccharine things in his life. She spots Lee picking at the air in front of Sasuke with an exuberant expression on his face, and then sees Sasuke slapping his hand away when she comes back with a mug in her hands. "Here, drink up."

He accepts it and turns to everyone, mainly Lee. "I'll be fine. We ended on a mature note, and I hope she'll be happy." The sentence sounds robotic, almost rehearsed.

"No, you dont."

Sasuke agrees with her, his voice rising in volume until he's fuming and tomato-red. "To Hell with her."

"Look," Naruto interjects, his face free of noodles, "We get it. You're feeling a lot of pain right now. You're angry. You're hurting. You didn't know that she was a lesbian." At that, Sasuke's mouth opens angrily. Naruto stops him. "You know what the solution is?"

Neji, Tenten and Lee curiously observe Sasuke gesturing for Naruto to continue. It isn't every day that Naruto overtly displays an ability to empathise with Sasuke, however close they are.

"Strip joint! Come on, you're single now! Have some hormones." Nevermind.

"But," Sasuke grinds his teeth together like the bane of existence is Naruto, and not the ex plaguing his mind. "I don't want to be single. I want to be married again. To her."

Tenten lifts her smoothie up to her lips and exchanges glances with Neji. Sasuke's been taking his divorce as well as they'd predicted, which wasn't well at all. The door slams open again, prompting Ayame to run towards the entrance and usher a waterlogged bride into the restaurant. The group lapses into a shocked silence when the woman walks past them, hands rubbing her upper arms as she shivers uncontrollably. Tenten catches a hint of pink hair from behind the veil and narrows her eyes at the woman. Something seems oddly familiar about her.

It hits her when Neji says something mildly sarcastic and Sasuke stands up from his seat as though he's in a trance.

"Sakura?"

#naruto #naruto fanfiction #friends #au #friends au #naruhina #nejiten #sasusaku #slowburn #sasuke uchiha #tenten #neji #lee #sakura #future lgbt pairings #temari #shikamaru #fanfiction

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