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imaginespazzi · 2 months

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Part 1: Don't Be A Stranger

Masterlist - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

But if (my) world was ending, you'd come over right?

(In which UCLA anon's roman empire became this writer's roman empire and we've finally reached the beginning)

Pairing: Paige Bueckers X Azzi Fudd

Themes: Angst, Pining, Hurt/Comfort and a little bit of Fluff

Words: 8.4 K (other parts will be shorter....maybe)

TW: Swearing, Alcohol, Injuries, Alludes to Sexual Content

A/N: Hello my lovelies <3 Gonna keep this as short and sweet as possible but we've finally, finally gotten to the UCLA fic. A huge shout out to UCLA anon, because this is their master idea. Couple of things, I've never been to LA or UCLA and therefore some things are out of whack. The timeline is also a little out of whack but I swear I will try to keep it as consistent as possible. In the mean time, just ignore some of the inconsistencies pretty please. As always, feel free to let me know what's bad, what's good and what else you'd like to see. I hope y'all enjoy this first part and let's get another W today!

August 2021

where are you

i literally have to be at the airport in an hour paige where are you

dude

are you on your way?

you better be driving and that’s why you’re not answering

PAIGE

i’m sorry about last night i shouldn’t have said that

but you said a lot of shit too so call it even?

this isn’t funny where are you?

i have to leave in 15 mins

are you actually not coming?

wtf????

this is actually bullshit

get over yourself bueckers

wow

fuck you

just landed

thought you might like to know

sorry my plane didn’t crash i guess

September 2021

dude enough okay

can you just call me back??

i just wanna talk

i know you're mad i get it but i miss you

November 2021

hi i’mma be in dc over christmas

nvm

idk why i’m trying again

maybe i should block you

this is kinda pathetic of me what the fuck

December 2021

i thought i saw you today but idk

couldn’t have been you cause if it was

would you really not even say hi?

i’m done trying paige

merry christmas i guess

March 2022

i misz you

lyke a wot

love uuuuu pppppp

even if ur a bwtich

pkese pick up

ignore that

people drunk text exes apparently i drunk text you

wait

i don’t need to tell you that

you already ignore it all anyways

August 2022

i heard about the acl

i’m sorry

idk if it means anything, but if you wanna talk

nvm

***

September 2022

When the doorbell rings, on a quiet Thursday afternoon during a rare moment of alone time, Paige expects it to be a lot of people. One of her parents deciding that they actually weren’t going to leave her alone. Someone else in her family showing up out of the blue to provide comfort. Maybe one of her teammates popping up to keep her entertained. She even thinks it might be some random fan who got too invested and figured out the address for her air BnB. It’s the saddest testament to how broken they are, that the idea of it being Azzi Fudd standing outside her door, never once crosses her mind. But there she is, when Paige opens the door, dressed in ripped jean shorts and a light blue tank top, the girl that had been her best friend, and maybe a little bit more.

Silence stretches between them as Azzi fidgets with her hands and Paige continues to stoically stare at her. It’s been almost a year since they’ve seen each other, even longer since they’d last shared a happy smile. And you’d have to go back to before she’d told her about her future plans, to find the last time Azzi had properly looked Paige in the eyes.

“Hi,” Azzi says finally, mustering up a small smile. Paige doesn’t know if hearing that voice, soft and subdued but still so familiar, fixes a crack or breaks her heart even further. She wills herself to be polite in response, to match Azzi’s polite greeting with a greeting of her own. But there’s clear discord between her mouth and her head, because her words are harsh and hollowed.

“What are you doing here?”

Azzi swallows, smile disappearing as she immediately digs her fingernails into her palms and Paige feels the guilt settle into her stomach. It’s like the night before all over again. If she closes her eyes, Paige can still hear her voice loudly echoing in Azzi’s childhood bedroom. She can hear the angry words that she’d hurled at her best friend, each one like a well-aimed arrow piercing the other’s girl's heart and tearing into Paige’s own soul. Some would call what she’d done self-preservation. She’d call it her biggest mistake.

“I um-,” Azzi sucks in her bottom lip, “I was in the area and thought, maybe I’d check in.”

“How did you even know where I was?” Paige hates how cold and accusatory her voice sounds. It’s a version of herself she doesn’t quite know how to deal with, one that hasn’t ever appeared for anyone other than the girl in front of her, “I know I didn’t tell you.”

Any semblance of calm is gone from Azzi’s face, as she seems to realise that she’s not going to be getting any cordiality from her old friend.

“And we’re off to a great start,” she mutters under her breath before replying to Paige’s exact question, “no you didn’t. Your dad-”

“You talked to my dad?”

“Yeah. I mean you know Drew looks up to Jon and José so much and they still talk and stuff and he came over- Drew I mean- and then your dad was there and we just got to talking and you came up and yeah. He told me and well I live here, kinda, so I thought- well I thought maybe you’d like some company?”

As Azzi’s rambling explanation comes to an end, Paige doesn’t miss the tinge of hopefulness in her voice at the last bit. The younger girl shuffles her feet, as she stares at the blonde expectantly.

“I don’t-” Paige struggles to draw in a breath as the voices in her head argue, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Her words are met with silence as Azzi stares at her blankly.

“I- you,” she blinks rapidly, clearly at a loss for what to say at the blatant rejection, “I can’t come in?”

“It’s just- I’ve had a lot of people visit you know,” Paige bullshits, suddenly feeling very exhausted, “and my family were here a couple days and my friends are coming soon and-”

“And I’m neither of those things,” Azzi says, her tone low and breathy.

“That’s not what-”

“It is,” Azzi closes her eyes for a brief second, when she opens them, the flash of hurt in them feels like a dagger through Paige’s chest, “it is like that and it is what you meant and it’s- it’s fine.”

“Az-” Paige chokes out, feeling her lungs collapse when the other girl moves to leave, “please,” and she’s not even sure she’s asking for, but it’s not this. It’s never been this.

Azzi stops and when she turns back around, there’s a determined look on her face.

“I just-” she rubs her face, composing herself before focusing her eyes on Paige, “you’re the strongest person I know. And you’re going to come back from this, better than ever. I know it. The whole world knows it. Because you’re Paige Bueckers. You’re something else. You’re the hardest worker, you’re just- you’re the best.”

“You don’t-”

“Just- just let me finish okay and then, then I’ll go or whatever but Paige, you’re all of those things you know? Strong, brave, the best fucking player- but, it’s also okay if sometimes-, if sometimes you aren’t. It’s okay because this- this is hard, I know it is. So if sometimes you’re not strong or-, or brave- or not feeling like working hard- it’s okay. And if there are moments where you- where you want to give up, that’s okay too. It doesn’t make you- it doesn’t make you any less than what you are. It just makes you human, and it’s okay you know- to be human. It’s okay if- if you hurt and it’s okay if you’re not okay. It’s- it’s okay.”

The two girls stare at each other, eyes shining with tears, as Paige let’s Azzi’s words wash over her. She’s been told a lot of platitudes about her injury, from her coaches to her teammates to her family. And she knows she has plenty of people in her corner, who root for her and who genuinely do believe she’ll have the greatest comeback ever. But the motivational speeches get draining after a while and all she’s wanted to do for the last couple of weeks is wallow. Then she felt guilty about wallowing, that little voice in her head yelling at her to be productive and work on getting back to herself because that’s what everybody expected. Paige hadn’t even realised how badly she needed someone to give her permission to not be okay, not until the only person who’d ever known that part of her, had finally said the words she so desperately needed to hear.

The thing is, when she was younger, Paige used to keep everything bottled inside. She’d always been hyper aware of her privilege and her problems had always just seemed so insignificant in front of her parents’ or her friends. So she’d kept them to herself, trapping herself in a web of her own burdens that sometimes threatened to strangle her. And then she’d met a girl at a USA basketball camp when she was 15, a girl who had gently flicked her fingers and Paige’s walls had fallen like dominoes. She hadn’t even known she was drowning, until Azzi had shown up with a lifeboat.

“I just-,” Azzi breaks Paige out of her trance by breaking the eye contact between them, “I didn’t know if anybody had said that to you yet and I just- I wanted you to hear it.”

In the span of a minute, a thousand and one phrases take birth in Paige’s mind and then die on the tip of her tongue. She opens and closes her mouth, trying to express even one of the myriad of emotions that are swirling like a tornado in her brain. But nothing comes out except a litany of incomprehensible noises. And Azzi seems to find the wrong answer in the silence, giving the blonde a timid nod.

“Take care of yourself P,” her voice catches on the familiar nickname, as she shoots Paige a sad smile, before beginning to walk away. When Azzi chose UCLA, she’d lit Paige's heart on fire. So, Paige had drowned their friendship. And while all this time Azzi has struggled to breathe, Paige has burned but god, is she so fucking tired of it.

“Fuck, Azzi wait,” Paige curses, hobbling to catch up to the brunette, who stops with a sigh but doesn’t make a move to return. Stubborn as always, Paige thinks, continuing her way over. When she does catch up, she’s not fully sure what to say and so, “I uh- I’m out of milk.”

Azzi raises her eyebrows in question, crossing her arms protectively around her chest.

“I can’t drive,” Paige explains slowly, “or walk obviously.”

Realisation dawns on Azzi’s face, “you’re asking me to drive you to the grocery store?”

“I guess,” Paige shrugs, trying to be nonchalant.

“Seems like the kind of favour someone asks of their family, or their friends,” Azzi emphasises bitterly, never one to let go of an opportunity for sarcasm.

Paige flinches, “right, I kinda deserved that one.”

She gets a raised eyebrow in response that very much says “ya think?”

“I’m trying here,” she says quietly, and Azzi’s hard demeanour softens, “I’m raising a white flag Az, calling a truce or whatever but it kinda needs to go both ways.”

“What do you think me coming here was supposed to be?” the younger girl says exasperatedly, but she’s smiling again. It’s the third one Paige has gotten out of her today, and finally, she smiles back. They look a little foolish, standing in the apartment hallway, cheshire-cat-grinning at each other like idiots, but it feels like something has clicked into place again.

“I’ll go grab my wallet, you go heat up the car.”

“It’s like 110 degrees dude.”

“Bro shut up, you know what I mean,” Paige huffs and when it makes Azzi laugh, she feels like she’s floating. It’s not as if she hasn’t been happy in a year because won’t you look at that, her world did keep turning after that one decision. But this is different. She feels airy and light, like she could jump off a cliff and fly instead of fall.

“Well hurry up, I have things to do outside of just being your chauffeur.”

“Poor passenger princess, how the roles have reversed,” Paige mocks and it earns her an ever so familiar fond eye roll and for the first time in a year, she feels free.

***

When she gets downstairs, Azzi’s leaning against her car door, a pair of sunglasses shielding her eyes. The hot California sun shines brightly against her tan skin, and Paige’s heart stutters because fuck, Azzi is golden. She looks every bit reminiscent of the girl Paige still has memorised and yet, every bit the promise of a girl Paige wants to learn by heart.

“Nice car,” Paige smirks, alerting the younger girl of her presence.

“It does the job,” Azzi says, looking up with a smile of her own, opening the passenger door for Paige to get in, “not all of us are raking in NIL deals to get the big guns, but we make do.”

“Steph Curry brand ambassador say what now?” the blonde girl teases as she slides into the car. When she looks up, Azzi’s frozen in place, “what?”

“Nothing I just-” she’s wearing sunglasses, but Paige knows Azzi's trying to avert her gaze, “I’m kinda surprised you know that.”

It’s Paige’s turn to look away, their newfound comfort giving away to that old awkwardness, “I keep up with most basketball news.”

To Azzi’s credit she doesn’t push. Instead, she makes her way into the driver seat without another sound. She’s about to connect her phone to the aux but Paige beats her to it.

“Hey,” Azzi squeals, making grabby hands, “my car, my rules, my music.”

“Nuh-uh injury privileges,” Paige gloats, sticking out her tongue.

“That’s not a thing.”

“Is too.”

“Fine, we’ll listen to your crap music.”

“I resent that,” Paige retorts, as Drake blasts through the speakers. The sound of it makes Azzi groan, and she dramatically bangs her head against the steering wheel. Paige spends the rest of the car ride singing at the top of her lungs. Azzi spends the rest of the car ride alternating between shaking her head and joining in with the singing. It’s like they’re back in 2020 all over again, back before they found themselves in the whirlwind of life, back when they were just Paige and Azzi.

***

Their trip inside the grocery store takes less time than the ride to get there, even if Paige takes her time dilly-dallying in the dairy section, pretending she’s going to get anything other than just regular milk. She’s overly conscious of the fact that their time together might be coming to an end, that this time she might actually have to deal with saying goodbye. But she’s not ready to go back to missing Azzi just yet.

“Maybe you can show me your dorm,” she says quietly, once they're both back in the car, playing with the hem of her shirt. Beside her, Azzi draws in a sharp intake of breath, clearly not having expected Paige to want that of all things. In all honesty, the idea of stepping into the world that had stolen Azzi from her is not all that appealing to Paige but she wants to hold onto this moment just a little bit longer.

“You wanna see my dorm?”

“A chance to see how the non-blue blood peasants live? I’d never pass it up.”

“Non blue blood,” Azzi scoffs, "Ever heard of John Wooden?”

“I was talking about women’s basketball but yeah I have heard of him. I won the award last year. Over you,” Paige smirks, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Not everyone’s a phenom their freshman year,” Azzi retorts fondly, unable to mask the hint of pride in her voice.

“Well we’ll see this year-” Paige stops herself, cold seeping into her lungs, as she remembers why she’s in the stupid state of California in the first place. The lighthearted mood in the car goes tumbling out the window as her words hang like a dagger in the air.

“Paige,” Azzi whispers, trying to wrap that one syllable in comfort. She reaches out to touch the blonde’s shoulder but must think better of it because her hand hovers mid-air for a second, before she pulls it back. Paige is suddenly hyper aware of the fact they haven’t touched yet. It’s a reminder of the fact that whatever progress they’ve made today, there’s still so much they haven’t even begun to unpack.

“It’s fine,” Paige’s voice is steely, “just drive.”

Azzi opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, before simply nodding and starting the ignition. She’s clearly holding back and Paige doesn’t know how to feel about it. There’s a part of her that wants Azzi to push her to talk like she would before, but there's another part of her that knows this new rope they’re trying to string between them is fragile.

They ride in silence to Azzi’s apartment, both of them too caught up in their own thoughts to bother with music this time. As the UCLA campus nears, Paige can’t help but hate it just a little bit. She’s aware she’s being petty. Acting like Storrs, Connecticut is some hub of beauty is probably a stretch of the imagination for anyone but she’s determined to dislike this place out of principle.

“Hmm not too shabby but like where’s the fucking cows?” Paige jokes, as the car comes to a stop in front of Azzi’s apartment building. She steps out gingerly, pretending to inspect her surroundings, making tsk-tsk noises at the most random things.

“I’ve seen your apartment Bueckers, don’t even try,” Azzi retorts.

It shouldn’t surprise Paige to see one of Azzi’s teammates when they enter her living room. It’s just like UConn really in the sense that there’s always someone there when you walk in but something about seeing Charisma Osborne just chilling in Azzi’s space suddenly makes it more real that the younger girl is definitely a UCLA Bruin.

“Oh,” Charisma gives Paige a once-over, clearly not having expected to see her, “hi Paige.”

Paige waves, shuffling her weight on her crutches, unsure what to say. It’s not like she doesn’t know Charisma, they’ve literally won a gold medal together for USA basketball. She’s even met the girl a couple of times after and she likes her, she does. But her bitter brain is focused on the fact that this is one of those girls who had gotten Azzi as their teammate, one of the girls who got to see Azzi everyday. All things Paige had not gotten.

“You didn’t tell me you were bringing company Az,” Charisma says pointedly, looking at Azzi and Paige bristles at the use of the nickname. She’s being all sorts of ridiculous but at least she’s self-aware of it.

“Last minute decisions,” Azzi replies airily. The two girls lock eyes and Paige can tell they’re having some sort of unspoken conversation and now the green-eyed envy monster is out in full force.

“I insisted on seeing her dorm,” she says finally, breaking into whatever staring competition the two UCLA guards are having.

“It’s not a problem,” Charisma reassures, standing up from her position on the couch, and coming over to give Paige a tentative hug, “I just didn’t know you were coming. But it’s good to see you, Paige.”

“Yeah,” Paige tries to muster up a proper smile as she leans in to return the hug but it comes out more like a grimace, “you too.”

“We’re gonna go chill in my room,” Azzi says, beckoning to one of the doors in the hallways and Paige obediently follows her, waving a half-hearted goodbye to Charisma. She’s secretly pleased to have Azzi back to herself.

The room is nothing out of the ordinary except it has Azzi all over it. She’s in the pink comforter that is thrown haphazardly over a clearly not made bed. She’s in the unicorn plushies laid delicately over a dark blue couch. She’s in the little flower stickers that outline the mirror on the far side of the room. There’s a wall dedicated solely to pictures and fairy lights on one side and Paige is immediately drawn to it. A familiar ache reverberates in her chest as her eyes flicker over the pictures of Azzi’s family. She’s missed them. Then there’s the photographs of Azzi in her UCLA uniform, her teammates surrounding her and Paige has to resist the dangerous urge to rip those off the wall. Be happy for her happiness, the logical part of her brain yells, not seeming to realise she’d left any chance of that in the dirt a year ago. As she tears her eyes away from those offending pictures, they land instead on a whole other set of photographs and she feels her heart catch in her throat.

It’s a set of three images of her and Azzi, taken at various moments. Paige brushes her thumb against the one of the two of them with their arms around each other at the Minnesota state fair. Azzi’s beaming at the camera and Paige is beaming at Azzi. They look so young, so naive, so happy.

“I’m on your wall,” Paige breathes out, turning to face her best friend, “Fuck, I’m on you wall.”

“Of course you are,” Azzi affirms, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world but she shuffles nervously, giving away the reality behind her stable demeanour.

“I never answered your texts. I didn’t call you back,” Paige lists quietly as the first tear falls from her eyes; she’s been holding them back all day, “and I’m on your fucking wall.”

Azzi looks away, unsure how to deal with the fact that apparently they’re no longer tip-toeing around the past. She doesn’t know how to tell the blonde that there had never really been a second thought about whether or not those photos were going up on the wall.

“Doesn’t matter,” she shrugs finally, “you’re my best friend. You’re always gonna be my best friend. Ride or die right?”

“Ride or die,” Paige repeats in a whisper before she all but throws herself at Azzi, practically moulding herself into the younger girl’s body. Caught off guard, Azzi stiffens for a second, before relaxing into it. It’s late outside and the sun has set, but in this moment, the world shines the brightest it has in a year as two stubborn girls finally find their way home to each other.

***

That night, Azzi asks her tentatively if she wants to stay over and of course Paige agrees. Lying awake next to a familiar stranger, she lets herself finally remember the day things had first started unravelling.

November 2020

“You’ll probably get one of the upstairs apartments, so we probably won’t actually be living together which is good because can you imagine if I had to see your goofy ass 24/7?” Paige puts a dramatic hand to her forehead, as she leads Azzi into her room.

She’s too caught up in her excitement having Azzi at UConn, and planning what’ll happen next year, to notice that the girl in question isn’t participating at all in her enthusiasm. Paige has been waiting for what feels like a year (in reality it’s only been a few months) to finally have her best friend come visit. The minute the car had pulled up, she’d taken it upon herself to start her sales pitch all over again, missing the sympathetic smiles she’d gotten from the rest of the Fudd family as she pulled Azzi away to show her the glories of the campus.

“Did you see my assist to Christyn today?” Paige gloats, falling onto her bed with a smirk.

“It was pretty great,” Azzi concedes.

“It was fucking perfect thank you very much. I set her up perfectly, exactly how she likes it.”

“Right.”

“And then did you see how excited the team was for her? For everyone? Never gonna find a greater group of girls.”

“They seem wonderful P.”

Paige furrows her eyebrows as she catches Azzi still lingering by the door instead of joining her on the bed. The brunette fidgets with the sleeve of her sweater, chewing on her lips.

“Are you allergic to my bed?” Paige waits for some smartass response. When she doesn’t get one, she frowns, instincts going haywire, “Az, you good?”

“I- '' Azzi looks away, swallowing nervously, “I need to tell you something and I- I’m not sure how you’re gonna react.”

“You get a boyfriend or a girlfriend or something in the last few months that I don’t know about?” She says it light-heartedly enough, but the thought of it sends a sharp sting through Paige’s heart. In hindsight, she thinks maybe she could have dealt with it having been that.

“What? No. Just- just don’t- dont take it personally okay. Like you can be upset about it but- but don’t hold it against me yeah? My parents- they said- they said you’d get it. You’d be upset but you’d- you’d get it because you- you get me right?”

Paige’s chest hammers as she watches the younger girl draw in a deep breath, “you’re scaring the shit out of me right now.”

“I’mcommittingtoUCLA” Azzi says all in one breath, the words blending together.

She’s sure she’s heard it wrong. There’s no way. After all this time, after all their conversations, all the pitches, how hard she had worked, there was no way this was going to be the end to all of Paige’s efforts.

“What?” she whispers, crossing her fingers that she has in fact misheard.

When Azzi averts her eyes, she knows she hasn’t, “I’m committing to UCLA.”

The first time Paige and Azzi met was somewhat awkward, what with Azzi’s shyness and Paige being slightly overeager to make a new friend. When they’d become bus buddies, they’d progressed to being casual acquaintances who could small talk and share smiles. And then the flight back to Minnesota happened and everything had changed. Every moment after was filled with conversation or laughs or a comfortable silence. Until this one, where the sudden silence between them foreshadows an ominous future.

“Say something,” Azzi says finally, her voice shaking.

Paige stares at her for a second before, “you named your dog Stewie.”

“What?”

“You named your dog Stewie. After Breanna Stewart who played at UConn. It’s not-” Paige wracks her brain, hands flying animatedly “it’s not Meyers or something, after someone who played at fucking UCLA. You named your dog after a UConn great. How are you going to take him to UCLA with you?”

Azzi stares at her, clearly not having expected that level of questioning of all things. Who could blame her when Paige herself feels a little insane.

“This is a joke right? You’re fucking with me? Ha ha ha very funny,” she claps deliriously, “hilarious prank seriously, like hats off you’ve outdone yourself but enough okay? Say sike right fucking now.”

Azzi makes a strangled noise, “it’s not a joke Paige. That’s- that’s my decision.”

“Then change it,” Paige yells, catapulting off the bed.

“Paige-”

“Have you told UCLA yet?”

“I wanted to tell my family and you first.”

“Oh wow, how kind of you. How fucking generous of you to do that Azzi,” Paige bites back sarcastically and Azzi flinches.

In a flash, Paige’s expression goes from angry to desperate, “you still have time to change your mind . Please just- just think about it again okay? You still have so much time and you know what, stay here for a couple more days. Spend time with the team, with the coaches, with me and you’ll see-. UCLA just sounds nice you know? California, the sun, I get it, of course it’s tempting. But just- just stay here okay? And you’ll see this is where you belong,” she leaves the, with me, unsaid.

“Paige,” Azzi’s voice cracks. She takes a step toward her and then pauses. It’s the first time in a long time that Azzi’s hesitated when it comes to Paige. It won’t be the last. And when she looks at Paige through her long eyelashes, tears threatening to fall from her dark brown eyes, Paige knows she’s lost.

“No,” she’s pacing now, chest heaving up and down in a combination of frustration, anger and misery, “this is not fucking happening. We’re not doing this. I made you a whole recruitment video. Did you watch it? Do you know how long it took me to make it? Has the last year been a fucking joke to you?”

“Of course not-”

“Don’t even. Because clearly- clearly it has. Must’ve been hilarious watching me beg and plead with you when you already fucking knew you were going to committ somewhere else.”

“That’s not fair,” Azzi’s voice rises at the accusation, “I had no idea where I was going until a couple of weeks ago. You can’t seriously think that low of me.”

“Not fair? You know what’s not fair, Azzi? We’ve been talking about playing together, about finally being on the same team, the same fucking state, for years. What’s not fair is you throwing all of that away on a whim.”

“I’m not committing to UCLA on a whim. This is my whole future we’re talking about. You don’t even know how much thought I’ve put into it. And I’m choosing what’s best for me. You can’t hold that against me Paige. You can’t.”

They stand on opposite sides of the room, taking in harsh staggered breaths and glaring at each other. The tension in the room is electric as the string connecting them frays. Paige and Azzi bicker, they don’t argue. Or at least, that’s how it used to be.

“Az?” their stare down is broken by a knock on the door as Katie Fudd lets herself in. Immediately, as she stares between her daughter and the girl who’d become just as important, Katie knows what has happened, “we’re going back to the air BnB, are you staying here?”

The answer should be obvious, like it used to be. Of course she would stay here. It was meant to be a no-brainer. But before Azzi can say that, Paige intervenes and the string snaps.

“She’s going with you,” the blonde says firmly, before turning her back. She won’t let Azzi see the tears, she won’t. For her part, the brunette stares at Paige’s back silently for a couple of seconds, before a mask of determination slips on.

“Fine. If that’s what you fucking want,” Azzi sneers before brushing past her mom, eager to get away and hide her own tears.

When Paige turns back around, Katie is already looking at her. The older woman walks the length of the room and pulls the younger girl into a hug that she readily melts into. Paige sniffles as Azzi’s mom soothingly rubs her back.

“We’re driving back tomorrow morning,” Katie whispers quietly into Paige’s hair, “I know you’re mad sweetheart but come say goodbye okay?”

And she does. She shows up with only half an hour or so remaining before Azzi leaves, but Paige shows up. They hug stiffly, exchanging maybe a sentence or two but in that moment it’s enough. They’ll call later when Azzi gets home and it’ll be awkward for a little bit but they’ll break through. They’ll figure out a way to go on without having to talk about the “big thing”. They’ll hold on as long as they can, until they can’t anymore.

***

September 2022

After the night Paige stays over at Azzi’s apartment, they're attached at the hip for the next few weeks, just like old times. They’ve fallen into a routine of sorts. Azzi shows up without fail every day after practice to pick Paige up from her rehab, and then the rest of the younger girl’s time is Paige’s. The first time she’d seen the brunette leaning casually against her car, Paige had had to stop herself from jumping into her arms. She’d played it as nonchalant as possible, joking about Azzi being stalker, but inside, she could feel it again, the dangerously familiar tap of this is all I’ll ever need.

On days Paige doesn’t have rehab, Azzi still shows up right on time on her doorstep with a board game or food or something. It’s gotten to the point where every time the doorbell rings, Paige opens it expecting Azzi. The couple times it’s not, she tries and fails to hide the disappointment on her face. It earns her an eye roll from the delivery guy but it’s worth it for the laugh it elicits from Azzi when she tells her the story. They fall back together as if they’d never fallen apart. And what’s more terrifying than finding out that she’d never truly gotten over old Azzi, is realising how easy it would be to fall in love with new Azzi.

When Caroline, Nika and Piath come to visit the weekend after, all three of them can immediately tell that something's changed. Their teammate seems lighter, as if she’s finally found a sense of calm. But their incessant prodding and raised eyebrows are only met with shrugs from a tight-lipped Paige. It isn’t until Azzi calls, and Nika snatches the phone out of Paige’s hands, gasping at the callerID, that they finally figure out why their point guard has a new kick in her step.

“You should invite her out with us tonight,” Caroline is the first to speak, giving Paige an encouraging smile.

“Carol,” Nika hisses, “we can’t just invite the enemy.”

“She’s not the enemy,” Paige defends immediately, “we don’t even have a rivalry with UCLA.”

Nika scoffs indignantly, “of course she is. She picked a different school over us. Over UConn! That’s weird. Who even does that?”

“Lots of people do,” Caroline, who occasionally texts Azzi (albeit she’s kept that somewhat of a secret), supplies helpfully, shrugging when the Croatian glares at her.

Piath nudges Paige when she notices the other girl has gone quiet, “ignore Nika. She doesn’t mean it, you know that. If you wanna invite her, invite her.”

And she does, she wants to so badly. It’s insane really because it hasn’t even been a full day since they’d last seen each other but Paige swears something inside her has been missing since. There’s something awfully terrifying about letting Azzi back into the UConn version of her world, the world that the younger girl had once rejected. Still, if they’re going to try this again, she supposes sooner or later, it’ll have to happen.

“Put her on speaker,” Nika orders when Paige grabs her phone back from her.

“Nika,” Caroline, younger only by age, warns, pulling the other girl away, “we’re supposed to be cheering her up, not making life harder.”

Azzi answers on the third ring, her voice teasing “miss me already?”

Yes, Paige thinks, sometimes I think I miss you even when you’re right here next to me, sometimes I think I’ll miss you forever. But she doesn’t say any of that.

“Not a chance,” she scoffs instead, “besides you called me first.”

“Butt dial.”

“Mmmhmm I’m sure.”

“Shut up,” Azzi laughs and Paige is glad her teammates aren’t here to see the goofy grin that appears on her face at the sound of it, “I just wanted to see if we were doing something tonight?”

“Yeah- umm- you remember I told you about the girls coming down this weekend. They- uh- they wanted to go out tonight and uh- you could come along?”

There’s a pause on the other end and Paige knows Azzi’s going through the same thought process as her.

“I don’t wanna intrude on your time with your team P-”

“You wouldn’t be intruding,” Paige cuts in immediately and although she figured her teammates were definitely eavesdropping, Nika cursing about her being “pussywhipped” followed by in-sync shushing from Piath and Caroline, gives them away.

On the other end of the line, Azzi’s quiet again, “it’s okay P, you go have fun with your friends. We don’t have to spend every night together. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

What she doesn’t say is that maybe they need to learn how to live like that again, how to live apart again. Paige is almost done with the LA part of her rehab, something both of them are still in denial about. It’s only a matter of time before they return back to their two separate worlds and neither of them are sure they’ve managed to repair their friendship enough to not slip back into their foolishness again.

“But I wanna see you tonight,” Paige whines, her tone teetering on the edge of sounding like a desperate girlfriend, “please.”

“Paige-”

“Pleaseeeeeee. I’m literally injured and begging Az, it’d be mean to say no.”

“What does your injury even have to do with any of this?” Azzi sighs exasperatedly, “but yeah okay fine calm down Bueckers. Send me an address, I’ll be there.”

“You don’t wanna come pregame here?”

“Dude, let's not push it, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah okay see you,” Paige pauses, “hey Az?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m really happy you’re coming tonight.”

“I’m really happy you’re happy P.”

***

Azzi Fudd is a menace. See, people often get fooled by her soft-spoken nature and shy demeanour, but Paige has been around her long enough to know the truth. In the beginning it was the witty quips the younger girl always had ready whenever they were having some ridiculous argument. After that, it was the direct pranks that wreaked havoc on Paige’s life. But tonight, in Paige’s opinion, tonight is Azzi’s worst offence. She had to have done it on purpose, had to have known the sheer effect it would have on Paige to see her dressed like that. The red criss-cross tank top fits her like a mould and the way her ripped jeans shorts cling to her hips leaves little to the imagination. Her diamond belly button piercing shines against her skin, taunting Paige. She wants to touch, she wants to feel, she wants to do all the unspeakable things in her mind but she’s forced to just watch.

What she hates most though, is that everybody else is watching too. Since Azzi’s walked into the club, Paige has had to fight the urge to strangle every stranger who had given her best friend an appraising once-over. Some of them let their eyes linger long enough to give her time to plot out the perfect murder strategy (it’s the only way she can stop herself from actually committing a crime tonight). And, as Azzi dances with Caroline, hips swaying to the beat and holding the other girl a little closely, Paige has the irrational urge to hit sweet, kind Caroline of all people.

The thing is, Azzi’s been a little too attached to Caroline since she got here in Paige’s opinion. And she gets it. Piath, bless her soul, is trying but has always been a little awkward around new people. Nika is definitely not trying, loyally holding onto a grudge on behalf of Paige. Which leaves Caroline, who’s already familiar territory and the younger girl has grasped onto her like a lifeline. But enough is enough Paige decides, as she slips out of her seat with a determined look. Smoothly, she cuts right in between Caroline and Azzi.

“Nika’s a little wasted and I don’t want to deal with,” it’s a blatant lie but Paige knows appealing to Caroline’s more motherly instincts will get her what she wants. She gets a raised eyebrow in return, her teammate clearly catching her ruse because Nika looks visibly fine. But it works anyway and Paige gets Azzi to herself. She reaches for the other girl’s hand, twirling her just so she can hear that stupid silly laugh, and then pulling her back so she’s facing Paige.

“You having fun?”

“Always have fun with you P,” Azzi replies. She’s clearly tipsy but there’s no hint of insincerity in her voice. It makes Paige’s breath hitch.

“Yeah?” she whispers, taking a step closer, “more than with Carol?”

Azzi giggles, “more than anyone.”

The song in the club changes and as the crowd adjusts to it, someone jostles Azzi and immediately Paige grabs at her hips to steady her. As she finds her balance, Azzi’s giggles subside, realising just how close she is to the blonde now. They’re stuck in slow motion as the world dances around them. The combination of adrenaline and alcohol pumping through her veins is what convinces Paige to test the limits. One hand still squeezing at Azzi’s bare waist, revelling in finally getting to touch, she brings up her thumb to trace around Azzi’s lips. The younger girl gulps, but when she doesn’t try to move away, confidence pulses through Paige. Her heart is beating frantically out of her chest, years and years of want and need that she’d shoved as far away as possible, desperately fighting to get to the surface.

Pushing herself closer, so their chests are now pressed to each other and Azzi’s hands have no choice but to latch onto her biceps, Paige places a delicate, teasing kiss to the corner of Azzi’s lips. She wishes she could record the whine it elicits and listen to it on loop for hours. Smirking, she moves to place another one on the other side, this time pressing her lips a little harder, a little longer. Azzi’s eyes are closed shut, hands gripping onto Paige so tightly, she knows there’ll be a mark on her biceps tomorrow. She cups Azzi’s face with both hands now, her own eyes shutting involuntarily, as she finally, finally brushes their lips together.

This time, the strangled noise that leaves Azzi’s throat, is one Paige wishes she could forget as the younger girl rips herself away from Paige, the force of it creating almost a foot of distance between them. It doesn’t take long for the familiar sting of rejection to make itself home in her heart. Azzi’s eyes are brimming with tears as she manically shakes her head. Without a word, she rushes through the crowd, making a beeline for the exit, leaving Paige confused and craving for another taste.

***

It takes Paige a second to gather her thoughts before following the brunette. She ignores the confused glances from her teammates, making some bullshit excuse about fresh air as she fights her way outside. When she gets there, Azzi’s leaning against the wall, eyes closed as she takes in long deep breaths.

“That’s not usually how girls react when I try to kiss them,” Paige says after a second, trying to make light of the situation, even if her heart is heavy with anxiety.

It’s the wrong thing to say because Azzi scoffs, “you kiss a lot of girls don’t you.”

“Yeah and most of them kiss me back,” Paige bites back.

She’s taken aback by the fire in the darker-skinned girl’s eyes as Azzi finally opens them, heaving herself off the wall.

“I won’t be one of your groupies Paige. I won’t be one of your desperate one night stands. I won’t be just some other hookup. I won’t!”

Frankly she’s a little offended Azzi would even think that of her. She’s aware of her reputation. In fact she’d probably fed into it a little bit, exaggerating her escapades to Azzi on the phone her freshman year, when they had been on the verge of combusing and she’d been desperate to get a rise out of the younger girl. Last year though, last year was different. But Azzi doesn’t know that.

“I don’t want you to be any of that,” she replies feebly.

“Then what, do you want me to be?” Azzi’s voice rises with each syllable.

Paige stutters, the words getting stuck in her throat. The truth is she wants Azzi to be everything. The truth is, Azzi already is everything. Except there’s too much between them and she just can’t say it. They stand in silence until Azzi finally breaks it.

“I think these last few weeks of summer might have been the best of my life,” she says miserably, “and that might be the worst thing ever you know? Because it’s not real. You’re gonna go back to your world and you’ll- you’ll stop replying to my texts and you’ll stop- you’ll stop calling me and I- I don’t know if I can do that again.”

“That’s an awful lot of assumptions you’re making about me,” Paige is on defensive mode now, feeling a fight brewing.

“Because that’s what happened. Go back through your fucking phone Paige. Look at all the times I tried. And all the times you never did. You just- you cut me out Paige.”

“That’s not fair. You chose fucking UCLA. Over me.”

“No,” Azzi corrects immediately, anger seeping into her tone, “I chose UCLA over UConn. You made it about yourself.”

Paige swallows back a bitter response in favour of trying to prevent a full-fledged argument, “okay, okay let’s not- let’s not do this okay. It’ll be better this time- I- I won’t ignore your calls or texts or you okay? Just- can we just go back inside please?”

“That’s the thing,” Azzi’s anger is gone, replaced by a sad wistful smile, “I don’t know if I believe that you will,” a single tear rolls down her cheek, “I- I don’t fully trust you and you haven’t fully forgiven me. So where do we go from here?”

It’s a lie what they say about the truth setting you free, Paige thinks as Azzi’s words squeeze at her heart, because all it’s done is unleash shackles of despair that holds them both hostage. It had been easy the last couple of weeks, to pretend the last year had never happened. It had been easy for Paige to pretend that she was over what happened, to ignore the part of her brain that still felt so utterly betrayed.

“Azzi, what are you saying? You don’t- you don’t wanna be friends?” Paige feels nauseous even saying it.

“No I-” Azzi chews at her bottom lip, “I’m saying this- us- we’re too fragile to complicate even more. I barely- fuck- Paige, I barely survived losing my best friend. I don’t think I could survive losing something more.”

The worst thing about it all, is that it makes sense. And really, Paige doesn’t know what she’d expected to happen if Azzi hadn’t pulled away when she did. They’d kiss, maybe give in and do more and then what? Shake hands and walk away? Or make false promises that would ultimately lead to resentment? No, Years and years of something deserved better than either of those masochistic endings. It makes sense, it does but it doesn’t mean Paige has to like it.

In front of her, all the fight evaporates from Azzi’s body, as the younger girl leans back against the brick wall of the club, sliding down and pulling her knees to her chest. She looks every bit as miserable as Paige feels and all the blonde wants to do is wipe away the stress lines creasing against the younger girl’s beautiful phase. She moves to sit down next to her best friend, shuffling so their shoulders are pressed together and intertwines their fingers together. A sigh of relief escapes her when Azzi doesn’t immediately pull away. Instead, she squeezes their hands tighter, as if she’s scared that if she lets go, Paige will disappear.

“You didn’t lose me you know,” Paige says softly after a second, nudging Azzi’s shoulder when the other girl lets out a noise of protest, “I know, I know it feels like you did. It felt like that to me too except- every time something good or bad happened to me, I heard your voice or- or maybe I just really wanted too. We got lost a little bit but I didn’t- I didn’t lose you and you didn’t lose me. There’s a difference. I don’t think we could ever lose each other like that. Not really.”

When Azzi turns to look at her, the golden glow of the street lights illuminate the emotions in her eyes. She gives Paige a soft smile, “well Bueckers, if basketball doesn’t work out, maybe you have a future in poetry.”

“I could do whatever I wanted,” except what I want to do the most.

It doesn’t take long for the Uber Azzi’s already called to start pulling up and that familiar ache of longing creeps into Paige’s spine. She knows tonight isn’t their final goodbye; they still have a couple more days. But those days will be spent ignoring and pretending, unlike tonight and the firm grip they have on reality. They rise off of the cold pavement together, dusting themselves off. It takes a second of awkward glances before they’re surging into each other’s arms, squeezing each other so tightly that it’s hard to breathe. Paige wills herself not to cry, hiding her face in the crook of Azzi’s neck.

“We’ll be okay,” she whispers, unsure if it’s more for her benefit or Azzi’s.

The unwanted beep of a car is the only reason they reluctantly pull away, hurriedly wiping away unshed tears, they pretend the other can’t see. Azzi musters up a brave smile, before slowly moving away and it takes everything in Paige not to crumble and begs her to stay. Azzi’s halfway to the car when she turns back and it feels like Paige can breathe again. The brunette’s face is conflicted for a second before turning determined, as she starts walking back up.

“Az-”

Paige’s confusion is stifled as Azzi fists her shirt, pulling her into a searing kiss. It’s desperate and needy and it’s only a few seconds before the dark-haired girl is pulling away again, but it sets Paige’s entire world off balance.

“I just-” Azzi’s breathing is rapid and uneven, “I’ve wanted to do that since I was fifteen and- just- fuck- I just-,” she blinks up at Paige, “I hate- I hate leaving things unfinished and for fucks sake if you don’t call me back this time Bueckers- just- don’t be a stranger.”

Paige doesn’t get time to answer, she doesn’t think she could even if she did, because Azzi scurries away almost immediately. She stops when she gets to the car, turning back to give Paige one final look, a look that will haunt Paige forever, before getting into the backseat. As Paige watches the back of Azzi’s uber gets smaller and smaller, her tongue darts across her lips as she tries to memorise the faintest taste of Azzi’s strawberry-flavoured lipstick. And she knows, she’s so utterly and completely and terribly fucked.

#pazzi #paige bueckers #azzi fudd #wcbb

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mrsshabana · 1 year

Text

♥CW: 18+ MDNI, smut, noncon, dubcon, blackmail, manipulation, creampie, unprotected sex

♥AN: This is a birthday gift for my wonderful friend, @gyusimp! If you haven't wished her a happy birthday, please do so! I made this devious fic for you, so I hope you enjoy! (*/ω＼*)

♥WC: 3,657 Part 2

It was a shame that your family decided to move to a new city during your senior year. It was already stressful enough that you had to prepare for college, but now you had to worry about entrance exams and getting accepted into a prestigious university. At least you were finally starting to make friends.

The cheer captain had invited you over to her house after school. You were on a mission to be as friendly to her as possible so you could make it on the team, even though she was a bitch. In order to be accepted to this university, you had to participate in lots of extracurricular activities. And since you were in cheer at your last school, you were determined to join the team at your new school too.

So that brings you here. To the doorstep of Ume Shabana. Her house is huge and way nicer than yours.

You hesitantly ring the doorbell.

After a minute there’s no answer so you send her a text.

You consider just leaving before he can open the door, but decide against it. You could kiss the cheer team goodbye if you did something like that. Plus it’d be pretty rude. You don’t know him but he could be a really sweet guy for all you know.

After you anxiously wait for a few minutes that seem more like an eternity, the door slowly opens.

You look up to see the face of who you presume is Ume’s brother. He’s significantly taller than you, and is sporting an agitated expression. He has scraggly long black hair that covers most of his face. Frowning at you with a scowl, showing his slightly crooked teeth. You try not to stare, but you can’t help but notice the large ink-like marks scattered across his face.

His vibrant blue eyes shamelessly follow every curve of your body, stopping at your thighs peeking from beneath your skirt.

“Hello,” you say awkwardly moving your bag in front of your skirt, blocking his perverted gaze, “I’m-”

“Yeah yeah I know who you are,” he interrupts and holds the front door open for you, “You gonna come in or what?”

“Oh, sorry. Of course,” you hesitantly step inside. The foyer is huge, with a giant chandelier hanging in front of an elegant staircase. You had no idea that the Shabana family had so much money…

The tall man nonchalantly starts walking up the stairs, and you blindly follow him. It’s not like there’s much else you can do. For all you know, he’s the only one here and apparently it was your duty to keep Ume’s ‘lonely’ brother company.

You continue following him as he walks through the upstairs hall. It’s filled with picture frames of the siblings, they must be very close. In one photo there is a tall man with platinum hair, maybe he’s their dad?

“Um, what’s your name?” you break the uncomfortable silence.

“Huh?” he turns around and looks at you like you're some kind of idiot. He scoffs, “Gyutaro.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Gyutaro,” you say sweetly, trying to make this less weird. He only clicks his tongue in response. Well, now you know why her brother was so lonely. He seems like an asshole. No wonder she dumped you on him, she probably didn’t want to deal with him herself. That’s the first thought that comes to your mind anyway, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. There was a very specific reason why Ume was having you hang out with her brother. Because she loves him, it’s as simple as that. She wanted to give him something pretty to play with…

Gyutaro opens a door to what you can only assume to be his bedroom. It doesn’t smell bad per se, but doesn’t smell good either. There are a few articles of clothing thrown on the floor, along with empty monster cans and containers from chinese takeout. It looks just about how you would expect a college boys room to look like. Or at least you assume he’s in college, by the textbooks laying on his desk. Plus you’ve never seen him at your school so he must be Ume’s older brother by the looks of it.

Something deep within your gut in telling you that this is a bad idea. And that feeling only intensifies when Gyutaro locks the door behind you.

Gyutaro ignores the panicked expression on your face, leisurely walking over to sit on the edge of his bed.

“Oi, you just gonna stand there lookin’ like an idiot?” he says with a disgusting condescending smirk on his face.

“I um…” you look around nervously as you slowly step closer to him. What does he expect you to do? All Ume had told you was to keep him company, it’s not like she gave you specific instructions on how to do so.

“Do you go to university?” you ask shyly as you stand in front of him. Trying your hardest to be polite and start some kind of friendly conversation.

“Don’t ask stupid fucking questions,” he snaps as he quickly slides a hand up your skirt and gives your ass a harsh squeeze.

“Hey!” you shout and try to back away from him. But Gyutaro puts his other hand on the small of your back, and pulls you onto the bed with him. Falling right in his lap.

“What’re you doing?!” you yelp as he continues to knead the soft flesh of your ass with his rough hands.

“Ume said you were coming over to keep me company. So fucking keep me company,” he smirks, holding you in place on top of him.

You squirm in a pathetic attempt to wiggle out of his grasp.”S-stop! I never told her that I’d do this!”

“Pretty girls like you are used to sitting on guys' laps, right? So be a good little slut for me, eh?” he growls, his tone starting to sound a bit agitated.

“No! I-I don’t do stuff like this… I’ve never…” you look away and blush. Ashamed to admit to this incel that you’re still a virgin.

“Oh?” he quirks an eyebrow and to your surprise softens his grip.

For a split second you think that maybe your admission has gained some sympathy from him. But instead of letting you go, he starts laughing. The rasp in his voice mixed with the hysteric cackling makes your blood run cold.

“That’s perfect,” he says through his laughter, “I’m gonna have so much fun tainting you…” he leans in closer, his lips grazing against your ear as he whispers, “You’re all mine Y/N.”

There’s no way you're letting this freak have his way with you. You were saving yourself for your future college boyfriend. Even if it was only a fantasy, you had it all planned out! You were going to meet a nice boy in college and once you became his girlfriend, you inevitably have a romantic night together and happily ever after!

You dreamt of losing your virginity to a sweet, handsome guy. Not this fucking weirdo, incel, creep!

Forcefully pushing his chest, you rip yourself away from his grasp. “I’m leaving! You fucking creep!”

With a shit-eating grin on his face, Gyutaro doesn’t even try to stop you. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“What?” turning back to look at him, you aren’t sure what he’s insinuating but you don’t like where this is going.

“I wonder if you’d still make it on the cheer team if my sister found out how rudely you treated her dear brother?” his cold blue eyes shoot straight to your core. Telling you that he isn’t bluffing.

He stands up and walks towards you. Tears threaten to fall from your eyes as he traps you against the wall, “But imagine how happy she’d be if I told her how sweet you were to me? She’d have to let you on the team.”

Is he blackmailing you right now? The cheer team is not worth being raped by this guy. But then again, your college admission may depend on it. And the trajectory of your future depends on if you get accepted to that school…

Seeing that you aren’t quite convinced, he continues, “My little sister does everything that I ask, you know? She’d do anything to make me happy, so if you play nice I’ll return the favor…”

He leans forward, and you can feel the smirk on his face as he begins kissing your neck. Not waiting for you to agree to his terms, he already knows that you don’t have much choice.

Gyutaro slithers a hand under your shirt, and starts to roughly squeeze your breast through your bra.

You just let him have his way with you, there’s no point in fighting. It’s just sex, and it’s just one time so how bad could it be? Besides, it’s obvious that he’s a virgin so lucky for you this should be quick.

“F-fine…” you sigh in defeat.

Gyutaro pulls away from your neck and bites his bottom lip, “Good girl.”

He leads you back to the bed, pushing you down and crawling on top of you. Wasting no time, Gyutaro pulls down his pants, releasing his spotted dick. It’s bigger than you would have liked, especially for your first time because you have a feeling that he’s not going to be gentle with you.

“Take off your clothes,” he grunts as he starts stroking his throbbing length. Already dripping pre-cum as he watches you remove your clothes.

You shyly unclasp your bra and cover your chest with your arms. You’re too shy to take off your panties, ashamed to show him how your body is reacting to him, you squeeze your thighs together.

“C’mon, don’t be so shy,” he coos as he gently spreads your legs and slowly removes your panties. Enamored by the wet string of your arousal sticking to your panties as he slides them off. You avert your gaze, ashamed to present your body to him. It’s not like you give a shit about what he thinks about your body, but you do have a few insecurities.

Gyutaro throws your panties to the side before crawling back on top of you, making himself comfortable between your legs. Hovering over you, he takes a moment to admire your body. “Fuck… your body’s so perfect.”

You can’t help but blush. You may hate his guts right now, but you can’t deny that hearing him complement your body made you feel a little bit better.

He stares at you with lust filled eyes. He can’t believe that you’re going to let him fuck you. No girl has ever let him get this close, especially not a girl as gorgeous as you.

Ume ditching you to hang out with her brother was no mistake. Gyutaro had first seen you a week ago when he was picking his sister up from school. You were the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen, the kind of girl who’s physical description he types into porn hub every night. And seeing how sweetly you treated his sister only made him want you more.

Gyutaro never asks for anything, so when he asked his sister if she could set up a way for him to hang out with you, she happily obliged. Ume really didn’t give a shit about you at all. Only using you as a toy to gift to her lonely brother.

And you were proving to be the best gift he’d ever received.

Gyutaro brings the tip of his dick to your slick folds, collecting your wetness on his tip. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to be gentle,” he whispers as he crashes his lips to yours for a passionate kiss. Slipping his tongue past your lips, groaning deeply.

You feel so empty. Trying to detach yourself from the situation, you close your eyes and start making a list about how amazing your life will be once you make the cheer team and get accepted into your dream school. In an attempt to convince yourself that this is worth it.

Your thoughts are disrupted by a sharp pain shooting through your core.

“Ow!” you yelp as Gyutaro pushes his thick tip into you.

“Shhh,” he coos, “this’s the worst part, it’ll feel better soon.” Pushing himself further into you, it indeed does not get better.

Your body resists him, and he has to forcefully sink himself into you to get deeper. You hold his hips back in an attempt to stop him but he’s much stronger than you and just ignores your protests, pushing forward until he’s balls deep in your tight pussy.

“Goddammit,” he groans, “you’re so fucking tight.”

To your surprise, Gyutaro keeps his promise. He slowly starts moving his hips, your walls squeezing him tightly.

It hurts so bad. The only thing you can do is squeeze your eyes shut and pray that this will end soon.

“Hey,” Gyutaro snaps as he grabs your cheeks and forces you to look at him, “Don’t pretend like you don’t like this.”

Gyutaro grunts and starts speeding up his thrusts, “Your slutty little pussy is so greedy for my cock -fuck- I know you love it.” You wrap your arms around his shoulders to ground yourself, as his thrusts are getting too violent.

Tears fall down your cheeks. The feeling of his hard cock sliding in and out of you is too much. There’s too much pain and too much pleasure. But you aren’t the only one getting overwhelmed. Gyutaro stops thrusting, looming over you.

“Where-where does it feel good?” he asks through shaky breaths.

“What?” Since when does he care about whether you feel good or not? You were under the impression that this was all about him.

Gyutaro frowns, “Where do you want me to touch you?” he starts rubbing his thumb around your clit, “Somewhere around here right?”

“Y-yeah,” you say shyly, gently guiding his fingers to your sensitive nub, “right here feels good…”

Gyutaro nods, and starts rubbing circles into your clit with his thumb as he slowly starts thrusting again. He has to take it slow or else he’s going to cum already. And to your surprise he’s actually trying to make you orgasm. He really couldn’t care less if you came or not, but he’s hoping that if you do then you might grow some kind of attachment to him.

He rubs faster, and when he feels you tighten around him he starts thrusting harder. The tip of his cock hitting your cervix. Being stretched so much for your first time really hurts, but you can’t deny that it also feels good. Having never had something reach so deep inside of you, your body is extra receptive to him.

It’s overwhelming and your body reacts on its own. You try to hold it back, but you can’t contain the moan that escapes your lips as you cum all over his dick. Your walls fluttering around him, milking him dry as he spills inside of you.

A disgusting, raspy moan leaves him as his hips still. Dick twitching inside of you as he fills you up with the most intense orgasm he’s ever had.

With heavy breaths, Gyutaro slowly pulls out of you. He holds your legs apart so he can watch his cum leak out of you, noticing that it's slightly pink. So you really were a virgin huh? He thought you were bluffing to try to gain his sympathy, but it looks like you were telling the truth.

“You-you didn’t pull out?!” you say panicked once the haze of your orgasm fades.

“Calm down,” he murmurs, “I’ll pay for some plan B.”

He pulls up his pants and rummages around his pocket, pulling out his wallet and handing you a $100 bill. You know it doesn’t cost that much, but you’re not going to tell him that.

Pocketing the cash, all you can think about is that this awful experience is finally over. So you hastily put your clothes back on. Looking around for your panties, they’re nowhere to be seen. That fucker must’ve took them. Oh well, it’s not worth staying here a second longer so you let it slide.

Gyutaro just sits there on his bed, lazily watching you dress. After you put your shirt on he grabs your wrist a little too tightly.

“You’re my girlfriend now, got it?”

“What?!” you pull your arm out of his grasp, “No, fuck that. I did what you asked, ok? That was our agreement!”

Gyutaro rolls his eyes, “Whatever.”

He doesn’t stop you as you unlock his door and leave, not looking back at the man that just took your virginity. Hopefully after this you’ll never have to see him again and you can go on with your life on the cheer team.

The next day you anxiously wait for Ume after class. You can’t wait for her to tell you that she’s going to let you on the team! Last night when you got home you were in the shower for two hours trying to scrub off her brother’s germs. You feel dirty. Tainted. But that’s behind you now. You won’t ever have to see that creep again and you can just pretend like it never happened. But that nagging pain between your legs keeps reminding you…

“Oh, hey,” Ume turns the corner to come face to face with you. She hands you her backpack, it’s become routine that you carry it for her. “How was it hanging out with my brother?”

“Wait, he didn’t tell you?”

“No? Why? Did something happen?” she quirks an eyebrow in confusion.

Well yeah a lot happened, but you can’t quite tell her that. You can’t believe that her brother didn’t put in a good word for you after you let him cum inside of you! Goddammit, at least he didn’t tell her anything bad.

“Well kinda… um, he was just really cool. I like your brother a lot,” you fake a smile.

“Really?” Ume says in disbelief. No one likes her brother so this is weird. Maybe he decided to be nice for once since you’re his crush. That’s the only way that she can reason it. “Hmph, well I’m glad you two got along.”

You continue following her out the building, “So um about the cheer team-” you start but are interrupted by an unholy sight.

Gyutaro is leaning on his motorcycle, staring straight at you. A vile smirk plastered across his face.

“Onii-chan!” Ume squeals as she runs up to him, wrapping her arms around him. She sees him everyday but always gets excited to greet her dear brother. Gyutaro returns the embrace before redirecting his attention to you.

He slowly approaches you, “Hey Y/N.”

“H-hi Gyutaro…” your eyes go wide and you have to force yourself to stay put. Your entire body is begging you to run away from him, but you can’t. Not after you’ve sacrificed so much to get this far, you have to keep up the act in front of his sister.

He’s right in front of you, looking down at you like you’re a piece of meat. He leans forward and wraps his arms around you. Fuck, you want to cry. Feeling his skin touch yours again is bringing back all of the disgusting details from last night that you tried so desperately to forget. But you force yourself to hug him back.

All the while, Ume is just staring at you, confused as hell. Her brother is never this friendly towards anyone but her. “What’s going on Onii-chan?”

Gyutaro pulls away from the hug to face his sister, “Oh, I didn’t tell you?” he wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you closer to him, “We’re dating.”

“What?!” you and Ume say in unison.

“Don’t be so shy babe,” Gyutaro kisses your forehead, “It’s just my sister, she’s cool with it. Right Ume?”

“R-right. Of course! I’m so happy for you brother,” Ume clasps her hands excitedly. It’s a bit strange to her, but she’s happy nonetheless. She wants more than anything for her brother to be happy, so this is great news.

You just stand there wide eyed. Unable to believe that you’re letting him manipulate you like this. The audacity of this guy! Since you let him fuck you, he feels like he owns you now! But you can’t say anything, you just have to keep pretending that this is consensual. Because you know that if you stand up for yourself, the cheer team won’t be an option for you anymore. And on top of that, Ume will make your life a living hell. She’s the most popular girl in school, you’ve seen how she can ruin someone's reputation in the blink of an eye and you cannot afford that. Not right now.

“So, Y/N was telling me that she wanted to be on the cheer team,” Gyutaro smiles sweetly at you, then looks back at his sister.

“Right, well we are having tryouts on Friday. So-” Ume says before she’s interrupted by Gyutaro.

“No no no, she doesn’t need tryouts. You can just put her on the team. You’d do that for me, wouldn’t you?”

“Well. I guess so,” Ume says nervously, “If that’s what you want brother, then I can do that for you.”

Gyutaro releases you from his grip and walks over to Ume, patting her head. “Thanks sis.” He nonchalantly gets on his bike and motions for his sister to join him, acting too normal.

“See you later, babe,” he winks at you before driving away.

Later that night you receive a text from an unknown number.

Happy Birthday! I know we both like when Gyutaro is a bit toxic, so I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

#gyutaro #gyutaro shabana #gyutaro smut #gyutaro x reader #gyutaro x y/n #demon slayer smut #kny smut #happy birthday #modern au #toxic relationship

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vampzxi · 1 year

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𝚑𝚒𝚐𝚑 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕!𝚜𝚑𝚞𝚛𝚒 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚜

another filler bc the shuriri fic is almost done! 😭 i’m sorry for the lag ive just had writers block. but i saw @inmyheadimobsessed ‘s post abt shuri being a silly jokester and that’s what inspired this :3

highschool!riri headcanons here!

taglist!: @letitias-fav @inmyheadimobsessed @pinkwright @abenomeiiii @generallysapphic @shuriszn @la-reine-insane @unknownpisces002 (ask to be added!) (sorry if i forgot you, just remind me!! i’m absent minded as fuck 😭)

academic

・❥・top of her class, obviously

・❥・probably tutors on the side

・❥・argues with teachers if they get something slightly incorrect

・❥・gets finished with her work early and bothers other people in class

・❥・gets in trouble for bothering people but everyone loves her stupid jokes

・❥・plays pranks on the teacher during test day

・❥・turns in her work late because she either forgets to or she’s too focused on making it perfect

・❥・hates group work and always bribes her partners into just letting them doing it herself so they get a good grade

・❥・mutters to herself while working, slightly pissing off the people around her

・❥・favorite subject is science and she wastes class time by ranting to her teacher about science

・❥・spends more time at school than she does at home

・❥・huge procrastinator

・❥・messy notes

・❥・doesn’t show her work, much to the dismay of her teachers

・❥・doesn’t bother to raise her hand in class

・❥・willingly shares her notes with anyone…for a price of course

social

・❥・jokester, rarely takes anything seriously unless it’s about her schoolwork

・❥・chronic class skipper, only attends if she feels it’s necessary

・❥・dabbles in the za 🍃 but not a stoner. just in social situations really

・❥・hopeless romantic but very awkward. she’ll gush to her friends about a girl but clam up when she actually talks to her crush

・❥・makes sex jokes. a lot. maybe too much.

・❥・has a burner tiktok account where she trolls people

・❥・loves parties but gets overstimulated really quickly

・❥・loves kids and will babysit for anyone. she makes little trinkets for each of the kids she watches

・❥・robotics club team captain

・❥・terrible at sports but loves to run. tried track and field in her freshman year

・❥・throws on sweatpants or a tracksuit whenever she wakes up

・❥・refuses to eat school lunch, will go off-campus with riri to eat

・❥・does everything with riri, literally attached to the hip

・❥・cat lover

・❥・video game nerd, favorite games include mortal kombat and smash bros

・❥・fidgeter

・❥・dislikes traditionally girly things, but loves jewelry and chains

・❥・guilty pleasure is hyper-pop music, but will deny it if anyone asks

romantic

・❥・if you do have a crush on her, good luck, bc she’ll be too oblivious to notice ☠️

・❥・her love language is touch, she’ll absentmindedly fidget with your hair or tap her fingers on your leg

・❥・knarly morning breath.

・❥・cant cook for shit so she relies on you for food

・❥・favorite date place is escape rooms or fairs/arcades

・❥・terrible road rage, so you’re usually in charge of transportation ☠️

・❥・leaves cute notes in your locker or texts them to you through the day

・❥・will blow your phone up with memes (usually dad jokes but you laugh at them bc it’s shuri…)

・❥・very possessive

・❥・offers to do your work for you multiple times, but the teachers know her so well that they can tell if she did someone else’s work

・❥・stupid flirty jokes that aren’t funny but they make you laugh anyways

・❥・very one-track minded, so sometimes she’ll forget to text you back. she makes it up to you in other ways

・❥・gets unreasonably upset if you start watching something without her

・❥・has a tongue piercing 🤫

・❥・posts you on her story/insta a lot, maybe too much. but she loves you too much to not show you off

・❥・very tender headed, will not let anyone but you style her hair

・❥・has a million alarms that she sleeps through, so you have to borderline punch her every morning to wake her up (heavy sleeper)

・❥・little spoon

・❥・favorite place to kiss you is under your ear or forehead

this was lowk so much fun to make ngl. i might do one for riri :3 thanks for reading! (shuriri fic is still on the works don’t worry) leave your headcanons in the replies or reblogs!

#black panther wakanda forever #shuriri #black panther #wakanda forever #dizzywrites #shuri fluff #princess shuri #letitia wright shuri #shuri #shuri black panther #shuri udaku #shuri x reader #shuri headcanon #highschool shuri #marvel black panther #riri williams

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snek-panini · 6 months

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Happy Halloween! Have a book:

This is Siren's Song by @kedreeva (Hi! I asked to bind your fic months ago, sorry it took so long XD). It's an incredible Good Omens siren AU, which needs no introduction from me but it gets one anyway. It's one of the most in-character fics I've ever read, tackles a lot of the most resonant themes of the original (love in the context of aromanticism and asexuality, human labels in the context of non-human perspective), and has incredible world-building. Later parts of the fic always make me cry but they're good tears. You'll see. When I first learned that fanbinding was a thing and started looking into how to do it, this was one of the first fics I thought of. It just took me a while to learn the skills I needed before I could do it.

More pics and process talk under the cut!

So the cover up there is black faux leather and momi paper that I bought...about two years ago? And just kept on hand till I was ready to do this project. This is the first time I've worked with it and it was fairly nice, though harder to get a nice crease into than lokta or chiyogami. It felt very fragile when I was handling it but I didn't have any issues with tearing or glue bleed-through like I thought I might. It did bleed some color when I got it damp with the glue, and it took way longer to dry than normal, but once that was done it's been fine. Which is nice because I have a lot left over, so it'll probably be making many future appearances in my binds.

Look! It's rounded! I got a backing setup recently and this is my first time using it. It was Very Hard and I am not very good at it yet. But I think it looks pretty good for a first attempt, and there was really no other way to mitigate the spine swell on this one. I used a thick paper so I've got a thick book. I also tried something new with the case, though it isn't visible. Usually I make the text block and the case separately and then attach them as the last step, but for this one I actually built the case around the text. Like, boards attached to mull/tapes (sandwiched between thinner boards, with grooves cut for them so there are no bulges), then covered with momi, then leather corners and spine, then paste down the endpaper. It's got an oxford hollow, too! The tapes and mull actually wrap around the outside of the boards instead of the inside like I've done before. Endpapers are my favorite feather chiyogami. Combined with the marbled momi they make for a very opulent look, and I had just barely enough to do this. Like, down to the millimeter. I had to trim the edges and then glue the endpapers after to be sure they were right. I'm glad they were, because I didn't have a backup plan. Handmade endbands, colors picked to match the cover. Also, last note, I got the corner bits right for the first time. Measured properly, with no weird pointy bits that come out at funny angles. Very proud.

Title page and bookmark/interior shot. Did you know that some basic fonts in MS Word look different when you use a huge font size? Because I didn't until I made this title page. That's Parchment for the title, and it only gets those swirly bits around the capital letters if you take it to 26pt or higher (I used 72 here). Now I wonder if any of the other fonts have easter eggs in them like that. The ribbon is very fancy, to go along with the rich endpaper/cover combo. I think it's pretty appropriate for a mythological golden age of piracy story, as are the text ornaments:

Chapter header image, chapter end image, and section break image. It was a very image-heavy typeset. I was originally planning to only have a header and a section break, but I couldn't decide whether I liked the ships or the book/shell/feather better, and they both suited the story so well that I just went with both. Again, opulent, but I think it fits. All the images came from rawpixel, all I did was resize them.

There was a small error in the trimming process. Comes of having to calculate so closely the exact amount you can trim off, that you have to trim off so your slightly-too-small endpapers fit. I think something got misaligned when I poked the sewing holes because only the first signature is like this. The rest of the book has a more appropriately-sized margin between the page number and the edge. I got very lucky here, and I know it, and I'm never cutting it this close (lol) again. Next time we just order another sheet of chiyogami.

And that's it! I have one author's copy and one new bind in progress right now (that's taking a while because I'm learning more new stuff for it), and then I have two Christmas gift books to do, so it might be a bit before I have another book to share.

#bookbinding #fanbinding #snek makes books #good omens #fic rec #this one was months in the making #maybe years if you consider i bought the momi in 2021 #long before i started working on the typeset #i love it so much though #when i was done i wanted to carry it around all day and show it to people #like a kid who wants you to put their drawing on the fridge

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doc-pickles · 3 months

Text

sent to save me | sidney crosby (ch. 5)

series masterlist

summary: sid and vivie get to know each other

warnings: none :)

author’s note: hi friends! so sorry this took FOREVER to write. i had a huge case of writers block but I'm back at it. hope y'all enjoy!

xoxo

nina

“Uncle Sid, Uncle Sid! Vivie is coming over today,” Sidney has barely stepped through the door of the Malkin household before Nikita is excitedly bouncing in front of him. “And her mommy is coming too!”

Geno appears behind Nikita, looking not the least bit ashamed that his son had accosted his best friend, “Niki, too loud. Eva is sleeping and mama won’t be happy if she wake up again.”

Nikita mumbles out an apology as he drags Sid into the kitchen. His coloring book and markers are set up on the island and Anna is puttering around getting things ready for lunch. She stops to press a kiss to Sid’s cheek and say hello before she goes back to cooking.

“How you feeling,” Geno asks as Sid takes the seat next to Nikita. “About Annie?”

“Good, fine,” Sid swallows thickly and keeps his eyes locked on his hands. “We, uh, talked last week. And we’ve texted a bit. She sends me pictures of Vivie. So it’s going… It’s going good.”

We also had sex four times in one night and I think I died, Sid adds silently.

“Look Sid, I know it hard after what Annie did, but you have new chance with Vivie,” Geno squeezes Sid’s shoulder just as the doorbell rings. “Your girls are here.”

Your girls.

Sidney scoffs at the idea that Annie could be his again but Vivie… Vivie was kind of his wasn’t she?

“Niki!”

“Vivie!”

Vivie and Nikita appear in the living room, a mess of giggles and stomping feet. Sid can feel his heart skip a beat as he takes in his godson and daughter, both enamored with each other.

When he tears his eyes away from the duo Sidney locks eyes with Annie who’s chatting with Anna. She stutters her words for a moment before waving at him and turning back to her conversation.

“Still got it even though you’re old man,” Geno chuckles and nudges Sid in the side. “Niki, Vivie! Come help Sid and me with grill. I give you candy before dinner.”

Vivie and Nikita’s excitement drowned out both Annie and Anna’s protests, leaving Geno to flash his wife a smirk as he leads the kids out to the backyard.

Sid has just gone to grab the burgers on the counter when Annie approaches him. Anna is nowhere to be found as Annie stares up at Sid with those wide green eyes he fell in love with.

“Hi,” Annie breathes out, Sid returning the greeting. “Listen… I want you to get to know Vivie but what happened between us last week was…”

“A mistake?” Sidney provides.

“No,” Annie smiles up at Sid, pausing before she’s reaching up and cupping his cheek tenderly. “Nothing with you could ever be a mistake. Maybe just… A lapse in judgment? Anyways, I think for right now we both just need to keep our focus on Vivie and take things slowly with her.”

Sid nods, but Annie’s hand pressed to his cheek is fogging his brain as he stares at her, “Yeah I… Yes you’re right. Vivie comes first.”

Annie nods and takes a step back and suddenly Sid’s cheek feels cold, like Annie’s hand had sparked something beneath his skin. He shakes the feeling off quickly and gestures towards the slider to the backyard.

“Gotta go help G,” Sid nods towards his friend who’s trying to start up the grill. “I, uh, yeah… Yeah…”

Sidney quickly escapes out the door, avoiding what had turned into an awkward conversation with Annie. He almost runs straight into Geno, who’s grinning broadly at him.

“You talking up Annie? Convince her you Prince Charming?” Geno teases, causing Sid to roll his eyes. “Gimme burgers, you useless. Go entertain kids.”

With a quick burger handoff Sidney is headed towards the play structure where Nikita and Vivie are chattering excitedly about everything and nothing. When they spot Sid both kids grin excitedly, as if they were waiting for him.

“Uncle Sid can you tell us the story about when you broke a window,” Nikita smiles at Sidney with a look he’s clearly learned from his father. “It’s my favorite.”

Sid rolls his eyes as he approaches the play structure where the kids are perched at the top, legs swinging as they sit side by side.

“I should’ve never told you that story, your dad is gonna have my head when you break one of his windows one day,” Sid ruffles Nikita’s hair before continuing. “I was probably about 10 and I was trying to teach my sister Taylor the best way to hit a puck.”

Vivie gasps and turns to Sidney, “Taylor is my middle name! I have an Auntie Taylor but I never met her before.”

The air around Sidney feels thin as he stares at Vivienne, his daughter, who shares his big eyes and his chin and looks so much like Taylor he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the moment. Instead he steels himself and takes a deep breath before nodding and continuing on with his story.

“So I showed her how I hit the puck and mine landed right in the goal. And then she swung it so wildly that it flew over the goal and smashed a window,” Vivie and Nikita burst into fits of giggles as Sidney retells the story. “My mom was not happy with me.”

“But you weren’t the one that hit the puck,” Vivie’s brows furrow as she looks at Sid. “Why’d you get in trouble?”

“Because I knew I wasn’t supposed to practice slap shots facing the house,” Sid grins. “But I did it anyway.”

Vivie laughs and rolls her eyes, “You’re so silly Sid.”

His name rolling off Vivie’s lips has Sidney holding back the urge to rush forward and pull her into his chest. But Annie had asked that they take things slow and he wasn’t about to get on her bad side.

“Annie what do you like to do for fun,” Sid asks as he watches the kids color the wooden play structure with colorful chalk. “Nikita told me you went to science camp with him.”

Vivie thinks for a moment, tongue sticking out slightly in a way that reminded him of Annie, “I like to color and read lots of books and play with my Barbies and sometimes my mommy takes me ice skating. I asked if I could do the dancing skating class like Mia in my class at school but mommy said it was too expensive. So we just go to the rink and watch the skaters in the pretty outfits instead.”

Sid nods but his mind is already working, his gut twisting with a mix of guilt and sadness. Was Annie struggling financially? Didn’t she know she could come to him?

She would’ve had to tell you about Vivie first.

The thought leaves his mind as quickly as it had appeared. While he doesn’t understand it fully Sid’s already decided that being angry with Annie about keeping Vivie from him would do more harm than good in the long run.

“That sounds like a lot of fun, maybe I’ll take you and Nikita to the rink sometime,” Vivie’s eyes light up at Sidney’s words, a beaming smile on her face. “Sound good?”

“Yes yes yes! That would be so cool,” Vivie nearly shrieks and Sid has to hold back his laughter. “Nikita you have the coolest uncle ever!”

The praise warms Sidney’s heart and he thinks he’ll never forget this moment.

“Hey.”

Annie is washing off plates in the kitchen when Sid gets her alone. They’ve been surrounded by the kids and Geno and Anna all afternoon, but now he has the chance to speak with her openly.

“Hi,” Annie gives him a small smile as she places the last plate in the dishwasher. “What’s wrong?”

“Why would something be wrong?”

Annie brings her fingers up to Sid’s forehead, softly brushing against his eyebrows, “You’ve had your eyebrows scrunched for the past 30 minutes, that’s your giveaway when something is worrying you.”

Sid sighs at the way Annie still knows him so well even after all their time apart, “Vivie was saying she wanted to take figure skating lessons.”

Annie’s face immediately falls, her hand leaving Sid’s face as she turns back to the sink, “Sidney-“

“You could’ve come to me at any time,” his voice has taken on an exasperated tone. “Annie, I would’ve helped you if you told me.”

There’s a pause as Annie braces her hands on the counter and takes a slow breath, “I can take care of Vivie just fine.”

“I never said you couldn’t,” Sid insists. “You’ve done an amazing job on your own. But I’m here now and I want to help you anyway that I can.”

“You want to help Vivie.”

“And you too Annie,” Sid’s voice is soft as he cups Annie’s chin to get her to look at him. “I want to help both of you. I’m not leaving or backing out of this, I’m all in.”

Annie blinks a few times before she nods and lets out a shaky breath, “I trust you Sid.”

“Thank you,” without thinking Sidney leans down and presses a gentle kiss to Annie’s forehead. “I need to get Vivie on the ice so I can send pictures to my mom.”

#sidney crosby #sidney crosby fanfic #sidney crosby fic #sidney crosby imagine #hockey fanfic #hockey fic #nhl fanfic #nhl fic #nina writes

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thebucketpail · 11 months

Text

When You Accidentally Kill a Clown Pt. 7

Pt.1 prev ao3

Jason (cute guy from library): Hey you mentioned that you like Astronomy right?

: Yeah! It's one of my favorite topics. Why?

Jason (cute guy from the library): well, it's just that, the Gotham planetarium is holding a special event this Saturday for a special comet or something, and I was wondering if you wanted to go? Here are the details:

[Open Attachment]

: !!! I would love to! That sounds like so much fun!

Jason (cute guy from the library): great! I'll pick you up at 6 on Saturday then? Or would you rather meet me there?

: I wouldn't mind if you picked me up :o

Jason (cute guy front he library): Awesome! I can't wait.

: me neither! This is gonna be so much fun! I'll see you then!

“Hey Danny,” Anne called from her place leaning against the counter. “Who’re you smiling at?” she asked with a smirk, " a cute girl?"

"Heh, not exactly," Danny responded, one hand moving to rub at his neck.

Anne raised one eyebrow. "A cute guy then?" Evidently she took the blush rising in his cheeks as a yes. "Ooooh what's his name? How'd you meet? Tell me everything."

Danny couldn't help but smile as he responded, if a bit stuttery, "Oh, uh, his name is Jason. I met him at the library the other day, he uh- he caught me when I tripped," he said, blushing. Anne just nodded.

"Know anything much about him yet?"

"Yeah! He's really into classic literature and he must workout or something because his biceps are huge and-" Anne cut him off as the bell at the door chimed and she had to take care of the customer. Once they ordered she gestured for Danny to continue.

"He sounds really great, you have any plans?" She asked.

"Yeah actually, we're going to the planetarium this Saturday. And it's really cool because I haven't been able to go properly stargazing since I moved here, but he offered cause he found out how into Astronomy and stuff I am." Of course there was that once he had tried flying above the smog of Gotham to see the stars, but it was like it just went on and on. Then of course when he had finally managed to get past the cloud cover he had almost gotten run over by a plane. Danny hadn't attempted since.

And it was really sweet of Jason to have suggested it. In fact Danny didn't even remember mentioning stargazing all that much In the first place. They had been texting basically non stop for a couple days now so maybe it was an off hand comment, but he had been sure to spare the man from any major info dumping so as not to scare him off. Although it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway considering how big of a dork Jason turned out to be.

Danny was pulled from his musings by a short string of curses followed by a loud thump. "Work you fucker dammit-"

"You need help with that?" He asked. Anne looked up from the espresso machine she was practically wrestling with, looking like she was mere seconds away from sending it through the window.

"Sorry, it's been acting up all day, I think it's jammed or something," she replied, moving out of the way as Danny scooted behind the counter. " I don't really know what you could do, but be careful its still kind of hot" she trailed off as he began disassembling the machine. Gaping a bit when he touched the peices that should be burning his hand off with no more than a second glance.

"Got it," he said after a few minutes, "Your group head is blocked- here I'll clean it out. But otherwise it should be fine. I would keep an eye on the thermal fuse though, it's looking near to the end of its life expectancy, and that could be a problem later." Anne looked practically awestruck as Danny reassembled the machine and started another batch of coffee with ease. Within minutes it was humming.

"How'd you do that?" She asked as he slipped back to his stool on the other side of the counter.

"Oh, uh, my friends Sam had an espresso machine just like that. She used to let me take it apart because it would annoy her parents and I wanted to see how it worked."

In lieu of answering Anne just nodded as she took in the information and went back to preparing the customer's order. The two fell into companionable silence as she set about cleaning behind the bar, and Danny delved into his chemistry homework.

About 20 minutes later a steaming cup of hot coco, topped with a mountian of cream and chocolate shavings, slid across the bar toward Danny. He looked up at Anne who gave him a small smile as she turned back to cleaning.

"Thanks,"

"Yeah well, you fixed this temperamental beast, I figured you deserved it," she said, jabbing a thumb toward the espresso machine.

"Thanks anyway,"

They lapsed back into silence for a few more hours. By now the hot coco had been throughly drained, the mug long since cleaned and put away. Everyone except for Danny had long gone and Anne was flipping the sign on the door.

"Alright dude, I have to kick you out at some point."

"Awwwww do you have too?" Danny groaned but began packing his things anyway.

"Yup," she said, popping the p, " its closing time and my shift is over.

"Damn, and I thought we were friends," that just made Anne roll her eyes and snort.

"I was technically supposed to close half an hour ago, you're lucky I let you stay this long," she retorted.

"Yeah yeah," Danny said, lacing sarcasm into voice. "You good to head home by yourself?" He asked a bit more genuinely.

"Mhm, I'm just around the block, you?"

"Yeah I'm good, see you tomorrow."

"Ditto, and good luck on your date," she said, ushering him out the door.

Danny watched his friend leave until she turned the corner two blocks down because you can never be too cautious in Gotham, even if the girl was born and raised here. Content that she could get home safe, he turned and began the trek back to his dorm, keeping his heightened senses on high alert. It was almost one in the morning which meant most of Gotham’s nightlife was still buzzing around the streets, however that did nothing to calm his nerves as the familiar feeling of being watched began to prickle at his skin.

Danny was still ten minutes away from his building when a strangled gasp caught in his throat. 'Oh what is it now?' He thought, turning to scan his surroundings mostly for a certain hooded crime lord. And sure enough, the man himself jumped off a nearby fire escape to land in front of the half-ghost.

"Hood," he greeted as the man attempted

to pull him toward a nearby alley. Danny didn't budge, instead he folded his arms and lifted an eyebrow. Honestly Red Hood wasn't all that scary when your blood isn't pumped full of adrenaline, beside what could the guy really do to Danny? Shoot him? Like that would do anything. It was honestly laughable how he had been so scared of the man. Besides after two weeks of being followed around by the guy, Danny was kind of over the whole 'oh Ancients he's a crime lord who can and will shatter my kneecaps' thing,

"Finally work up the courage to talk to me rather than stalk me from afar?" He asked with an amused lilt to his voice.

At that remark Hood gave up trying to move the half ghost and instead settled into his on defensive position, mirroring Danny.

"I wasn't scared of talking to you," he said, exasperation clear in his voice despite the modulator. "Besides I need to warn you about something important."

Danny only raised his eyebrow higher, sounding entirely unconcerned as he spoke, "Oh so you're not even denying the stalker allegations?" He snorted. and after choking on frozen air because of him every single day, Danny may have been a little spiteful. Suffice to say, it felt nice watching the vigilante splutter a bit before responding.

"How did you-? Fuck whatever it doesn't matter," Hood muttered, " I just wanted to let you know that Bats is looking into you." Yeah, Danny had expected this. Albeit a bit sooner, but still.

"And?" He gestured for Hood to continue

"And. He's planning on visiting your dorm tonight so I thought i'd give you a heads up." He huffed.

"Well, thanks I guess?" Danny said, shifting his weight to his heels. Hood didn't say anything else so Danny filled the silence instead. "Well ,if that's all, i'm going to, y'know, go home. These street aren't really safe at night. Might run into a mob boss or get mugged or something"

It didn't take much longer for Danny to get to his dorm. Tristan was supposed to be gone for the night so it was the perfect time, if any, for a confrontation with the bat himself. 'Alright, lets get this over with' He thought as he locked the door.

---------------

Pt.8

#danny phantom #dp x dc #danny fenton #dc #dp x dc crossover #dead on main #jason todd #batman #bucket writes things #when you accidentally kill a clown #fic #mostly setup tbh #not my favourite work but itll do

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banggyu0308 · 11 months

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hey author!!! i love your works so much they’re all so good and i love the beomgyu one omg i think i’ve read it a few times now hehe 🤭 but anyways here’s my request!!

i was thinking beomgyu asking the reader to hang out with him because he’s utterly in love with them and wants to try and confess but they spend the whole day with another member (i don’t mind which!) so he gets really jealous and hides himself away because he’s really clingy and when the reader finds him sulking and asks him why he just spills that he loves them but felt insecure after today because he thought the member would be a better match so the reader shows him how much he means to them ifywim 😏😏 but i live for whimpery sub gyu who wants nothing more to be called the readers good boy i feel like gyu would have a huge praise kink 🤭

anyways hope you have an amazing day and if that wasn’t detailed enough do ask for more!! and stay healthy!! 🫶🫶🫶

i am so so so so so sorry this took almost two months i was gonna make it a whole fic but then i got so writer's blocked and im really sorry 😭❤️

warnings: idol gyu, jealous sulky gyu, praise, unprotected sex, handjob, blowjob, crying (not related to sex), yeah i made the other member yeonjun just for fun, sub gyu but he's on top, reader calls him 'gyu' and 'good boy', virgin beomgyu, mommy kink, very slight pussy eating

beomgyu who texts you so sweetly, asking if you maybe wanna hang out today, he's off of work and the first thing he thought of doing was spending time with you 🥺 a smile on your lips as you type out a response and he's at your house in 10 minutes, hugging you tight when you open the door :(( a wide grin on his face the whole ride to the dorm, asking what you want to do, a movie maybe? that'd be fun, you can cuddle and he can play with your hair and see if he can get away with a small kiss on your forehead... but of course he doesn't tell you any of this. tugging you by your hand into the dorm once you arrive, stopped in his tracks by yeonjun :(( a slight pout on his lips when his hyung gives you a hug and you giggle, and before beomgyu knows it you're off in the living room talking with yeonjun, laughing at something he says, and the bright look of enjoyment on your face makes him want to cry. of course you'd rather hang out with yeonjun... can't compare with his hyung in any way, but it's fine, maybe the three of you can watch a movie together?

beomgyu sitting awkwardly on the couch as you and yeonjun talk, his eyes on his lap, he almost wishes you'd make a move to acknowledge him :(( too sucked in to talking with yeonjun, and when you don't even notice him getting up to leave, beomgyu starts thinking that maybe that's fine... yeonjun's probably better for you anyways

sulking in his room and internally hoping you'll come and find him, tears pricking his eyes and he hides under his blanket when he realizes that's not the case, he's still there 30 minutes later when yeonjun announces he's leaving and you realize beomgyu's disappeared... wandering around the dorm to find him and checking his room... there's a beomgyu-shaped lump curled up under the blanket and you sit on the edge of the bed, voice soft as you say gyu? are you okay?

he doesn't respond but a part of the lump wiggles a bit, and you assume it's his head and he's shaking it. why not? you rub at his back lightly and he flinches, making you draw back your hand. gyu, please, tell me?

he pokes his head out of the blanket and you notice his cheeks are red, his hair messy, and there are dried tear tracks on his face. just wanted to hang out with you, love you so much, not like a friend at all but yeonjun-hyung would be so much better for you than me he admits, tears filling his eyes and streaking down his cheeks again.

your eyes widen in surprise, and your lips form a small o. gyu... i don't like yeonjun like that. at all.

but you were so good together... even laughed at all his jokes he mumbles, hiding his face again.

by this point you're so sick and tired of his moping, and you have no idea how to say what you want, so you simply lay down next to him in his bed, face across from his, place a hand on his cheek, and lean forward to brush his lips with yours. you can feel his whole body tense against you and under your other hand, his heartbeat speeds up so fast you almost giggle, using your hand on his cheek to pull him closer.

only love you like that, gyu, i promise you exhale, pressing more kisses to his lips and cheek before drawing them down his neck, biting a hickey onto the soft skin there... he doesn't even know how many times you two'd be having a conversation and your gaze would just drop to his neck, something so tempting about it. you press a kiss to his adam's apple before licking up it slowly, sucking a mark directly on it, tongue on his perfect smooth skin, and he lets out a whimper so shocking it makes you gasp before running a hand up and down the expanse of his waist... he's wearing a fitted tank top today and he looked so fuckable in it, dipping so low to expose his collarbones, your lips focusing on them instead.

your hand slips under his waistband to palm him gently. his tip is leaking precum onto his boxers, and there's already a wet splotch there when you tug down his pants, sliding your hand up and down his length once, taking him in your mouth after whispering gonna show you that, alright? show you you're the only one i want

he giggles just a little, humming the tune of blue hour before letting out a small hiss, your tongue dipping over his tip and he's already twitching in your mouth, an embarrassed flush creeping up his neck, he can't help it, you make him feel so good :((

but you stop just before he cums, tutting, saying only gonna cum once you're inside me, alright? and he nods in agreement, his eyes wide, and he half thinks you're going to ride him, but you suddenly lay on your back, tugging off your pants and spreading your legs wide for him to see... and beomgyu can hardly breathe, cunt looking so delicious, he can't help settling between your legs with a long lap at your clit before pressing his tip to your entrance, he knows what to do even if he hasn't done it before. pushing in just a little, looking at you for approval before sinking in a little more, gummy walls around his dick making his arms shake, can barely hold himself up :(( losing himself just a little when you clamp down around him, his hips twitching forwards on their own. your lips are parted silently, head leaned back in pleasure, but you gather yourself to gently rock your hips towards his, encouraging him to start thrusting in and out and a slow pace that grows more desperate when he catches your lips with his, mumbling against you am i making you feel good?

you nod, gasping shakily when he presses up against that perfect spot, eyes squeezing shut so, so good, you're doing so good, my good boy, aren't you?

his whole body shakes at the praise, little whimpers leaving his lips as he struggles to keep his pace steady, an incoherent sentence slipping out of his mouth, and you ask him to repeat himself... say it again, please n/n, say again?

and you giggle, threading your fingers through his hair mommy's good boy, aren't you, gyu?

his whimpers turn to gasps and his movements are erratic now, no pace set, just his hips hitting yours repeatedly, and a whine of mommy, mommy, 'm gonna cum, please? makes you jolt back from getting lost in your pleasure. you nod, and he pulls out to cum on your thighs, his eyes going so wide at the sight

he licks up his cum before nudging your clit with his nose, tongue lapping at your cunt until he has you shaking under him, which honestly doesn't take long... his tongue is inexperienced but he knows how to use it, dragging his tongue along your slit to capture all your arousal once you cum under him <3

once you recover, the both of you let out simultaneous giggles, and you pull him close to you, resting your head on his shoulder... he's the little spoon tonight 🤭 whispering in his ear that it's always been him for you, there's no other option in your mind, and look, he's all yours now <3

#ada answers 💌#adas hard hours #adas anons <3 #txt hard hours #txt hard thoughts #txt smut #tomorrow x together hard thoughts #tomorrow x together hard hours #tomorrow x together smut #sub beomgyu #beomgyu x reader #beomgyu hard hours #beomgyu smut #beomgyu hard thoughts

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afictionaladventure16 · 1 year

Note

I rlly like your 'taking it all in' series. U rlly know how to pull heartstrings 😭. I was wondering if you could write a short piece or something about the reader and her estranged mother where they do meet or the mother gets in contact with the reader and it's a pretty angsty moment? Idk just a thought 😌

Taking It All In (Pedro Pascal x Daughter!Reader)

Pt. III

A/N: hmmm a gif of a young pedro pascal... whatever could that mean? Anyway, thank you for your kind words! I hope you enjoy this lil angsty but fluffy Part 3!

Pedro Pascal Masterlist

Previously

Word Count: 3,936

Rice, that was all you needed. It was all your dad sent you to the store for. You didn’t understand why this man would forget the main ingredient in a dish, but then you were the same way, so you understood in some way.

You had your head down, looking at your phone, reading your last text message from your dad. You had texted him making sure that rice was all he needed, you felt like you were waiting forever for those three little dots to stop moving.

You felt the body of another person colliding against you, “Oh! Sorry!” you exclaimed as you looked up at the person. “I was so distracted with…” you trailed off as the woman you had just bumped into turned around.

“It’s alright!” It was her. Your mother. Of all places, she was right in front of you in a store you always shopped at. You wondered how many times you had been in the same room as her and didn’t even know it. “You alright?” she asks, breaking you out of your thoughts.

“Y-Yeah,” you said.

“Mom! Mom! Can I have these please?” A little girl ran up to her holding up a box of cookies. Your little sister.

“Oh, I don’t know, what do you think your father would say?”

“I think he’d say yes,” she said with a huge grin.

You had to get out of there. You placed the bag of rice on a nearby rack. She didn’t even recognize you.

You walked out of the store, you took in a deep breath as your heart pounded like a jackhammer against your ribcage. The sounds of the cars passing were washed out by your heartbeat.

You need to get home.

You began to run home, putting every little ounce of energy into your legs. Thankful that home was only a block away.

Only a block away, your thoughts traveled back.

You made it to the building, and you felt the walls begin to close in as you walked into the building. You rushed over to the elevator doors, continuously pressing the button.

You couldn’t recall hearing the elevator door ding, nor could you recall getting inside your floor.

All you heard were muffled voices, you leaned against the door. You closed your eyes, the jackhammer still at play.

Pedro had heard the door closing, he had been calling your name for the past minute but was met with no response. He walked over to the front door, only to be met with you sitting against it, eyes closed, body shaking. “Cariño, que te pasa?” He rushed over to you, kneeling down next to you. But you didn’t say a word, you broke into a sob. Pedro didn’t say anything as he pulled you into an embrace.

“I saw her,” you began to say.

“Who?”

“Mom, I saw her,” Pedro didn’t know what to say, his mind fumbled for words while his heart ached to hear one of his deepest fears. His heart was still healing, learning to mourn the loss of something that would never come true. “She didn’t even recognize me,” you sobbed.

Pedro couldn’t help but wonder if it would have been better to have lied to you. To have said that your mother never said any of those words the day you were born. Maybe to even saying that your mother was never present, would it have been easier?

Maybe it would have been easier on you, but surely it would have been more painful for him. Having to recall the day you were born and the days that followed leading up to her leaving, and then having to tell you that none of it ever happened. Like it was nothing. Like she never mattered.

Pedro looked at you, she could have never mattered, she gave him you.

It was a gloomy day, Pedro had a soft spot for gloomy days. He began movie marathons on gloomy days and he was excited to start a movie marathon with his girlfriend.

“Honey, I’m home!” Pedro yelled out as he walked into the apartment. He walked into the kitchen, putting away the snacks for later. Gabriela walked into the kitchen, holding something in her hands. Pedro wasn’t paying much attention to what she was doing, he had heard her footsteps, “I was thinking,” he began to say. “We start with Psycho and then the shinning, but I would really lik-” he stopped mid-sentence, noticing that Gabriela wasn’t even looking at him. “Gabriela, que te pasa? Por que te miras tan triste?” (What’s up, why do you look so sad) He asked as he walked over to her.

“Pedro, tengo unas noticias,” she began. (I have some news).

“Que? Is it your scholarship?” He asked, although Pedro was done with college, Gabriela was still working on her degree. She had a few more years to do to get her Ph.D.

“No, Pedro,” she said softly. She held up the little stick that was in her hand, showing the two little pink lines.

“What’s this?” He asked as he looked it over.

“I’m pregnant.”

He couldn’t believe it, he wasn’t sure if he should cry or jump for joy. Having a kid was one of his biggest dreams, it was something he had hoped to have in the future, but that was the future when he was settled in his career.

“W-what?” he asked in disbelief.

Gabriela felt tears well up in her eyes, “I’m pregnant,” she sobbed. She sat down on one of the chairs in the small dining room, “What are we going to do, Pedro?”

Pedro sat down beside her, he didn’t know. He felt like he was still a baby himself trying to figure out this god-forsaken world. It didn’t help that he had just gotten a new roommate, Oscar, who was also a struggling actor.

But he didn’t want to tell Gabriela something she didn’t want to hear, if anything Pedro felt hopeful, he could make it work. “It’s okay,” he whispered as he pulled her into an embrace, “We’re going to take it one day at a time.”

“But, Pedro, what about your career?”

Pedro held Gabriela’s face in his hands, “One day at a time, Mi Amor.” He gave her a small smile, “And whatever you decide to do, I support it.”

Gabriela placed her hand on her belly, she had always wanted to become a mother. She never imagined it would be so soon, but sometimes the best gifts came when you least expected them to.

“Pedro!” Gabriela yelled from their room.

“Yes?” He yelled back.

“It’s time,” Gabriela said from the doorway.

Pedro stopped in his tracks. Shit. Everything he once knew about what to do at this time flew out the window. He looked at Gabriela who stood at the doorway, hand on her belly, eyes widening. “A-Are you sure?”

She groaned in pain as her contractions began, “Does it look like I’m joking?” Pedro shook his head, he then quickly ran around the apartment looking for the go bag. Which Gabriela found in the closet near the front door.

“Okay!” Pedro said trying to reassure himself, “we got this!”

Gabriela felt every nerve in her body, did they really got this? She didn’t know, but at that moment she was beginning to rethink everything.

Up until that moment, everything felt like a dream and now it was beginning to really set in for her. They were about to become parents. They would no longer only be responsible for themselves but for another life and that scared the shit out of her.

Pedro drove them safely to the hospital, he was at her side at all times. He wanted to make sure she was comfortable.

“Are you still sure about this?” She asked as she laid down on the hospital bed, after minutes of being poked and prodded by nurses and doctors they finally had some time alone. It was the waiting game right now.

“What do you mean?” Pedro asked.

She sighed, “Are you still sure you want this?”

“A family?”

“All of it.”

“What are you trying to say, Gabriela?” Pedro’s heart began to race, he was excited about everything, but of course, there were moments where Gabriela was hesitant in the beginning so he learned to not get his hopes up. Yet, that was at the beginning, it was when they were both scared of the future.

Gabriela opened up her mouth to speak, but another nurse walked in before she even had the chance, “Nevermind,” she whispered.

Gabriela would never get the chance to say what she really wanted to. She would never say that she thought about adoption, but she didn’t want to give up her baby at the same time. She had felt a bond with her baby, even if she had yet to meet the baby. Nurses and doctors came and went every other minute, it was getting closer to the time for her to push.

Eventually, they took Gabriela and Pedro up to the delivery room. Pedro felt like throwing up the whole time, it was nerves he told himself, but only to himself. He didn’t dare mention any of it to Gabriela because she was going through greater pain.

“Okay, momma, we’re gonna need you to push with this next contraction, okay?”

Gabriela held onto Pedro’s hand, “Fuck,” she yelled as the contraction came. She pushed as best as she could. “Fuck you, Pedro!”

Pedro smiled, “you’re doing great, Mi Amor.” That caused Gabriela to groan in annoyance.

“You’re doing great, Gabriela!” the doctor encouraged, “We just need a few more pushes!”

Gabriela let out a deep breath, “I can’t.”

“Gabriela, mi amor, just a few more and we get our baby.”

She looked at Pedro, tears in her eyes, “I don’t want to do this,” she pleaded.

But the two of them were talking about different things and Gabriela knew that which is why she said it. She said it because she knew no one would understand what she really meant.

She cried out as another contraction came, pushing through it.

“I know, Gabriela,” Pedro said as he pushed some of her hair out of her face. “We’re almost there, okay?” he never let go of her hand, even if she wanted him to, he wouldn’t. He was blinded by love and she knew it.

Gabriela pushed through a few more contractions before the sound of crying rang out through the room. Pedro’s eyes lit up at the sight of his and Gabriela’s new baby.

“It’s a girl!” the doctor announced as he placed their new baby girl on Gabriela’s chest.

For a moment, everything Gabriela was so worried about had left.

“She’s everything,” Gabriela whispered in awe, “she’s so-”

“Beautiful,” Pedro said.

For a moment, everything felt okay.

But moments pass.

Pedro felt tears well up in his eyes, Gabriela looked up at him with a smile painted over her face, “Wanna hold her?”

He nodded before gently scooping up his baby girl in his arms, “Hi,” he whispered to the baby. “I’m your papi,” he began to say.

“Say cheese,” one of the nurses said, she held out the camera Pedro had bought for the occasion. The nurse was kind enough to take photos for them throughout the birth.

Pedro looked over at Gabriela, “she’s beautiful, just like her mother.”

Gabriela smiled softly, fading as Pedro’s attention turned towards the baby.

Pedro couldn’t keep his eyes off his baby even as the nurses took her to get checked on, he was right there watching every little thing. He was mesmerized by how two people could create such a beautiful baby.

“Y/N,” he whispered as he watched his baby sleep.

“That’s a pretty name,” Gabriela commented.

“You think so?” She nodded. “Y/N it is.”

“She needs a middle name too,” Gabriela smiled as she watched how mesmerized Pedro was. She had never seen him in such a new light. She wanted everything for him. She would give the whole world to him if she could.

As Pedro looked at his daughter, he felt like Gabriela had already given him the whole world.

Gabriela looked at the crying baby in front of her, she had heard how mothers couldn’t keep away from their babies. How they would always carry them or be near them, but all Gabriela wanted was to be away from her.

Over the past few weeks, Gabriela found it difficult to bond with the baby or to even hold her. Gabriela found it hard to be excited to be a new mother or even happy to have a healthy baby with the man she loved.

Loved. She wasn’t sure if she did anymore.

She wasn’t sure about anything, anymore.

She felt this was typical of her, once things began to become too real for her, she found a reason to leave. Life was becoming too real for her with Pedro and she was beginning to wonder when she would feel happy again.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered to herself. She held her head in her hands, and the sound of the babies crying grew louder and louder.

Pedro ran into the room, “Gabriela, mi amor,” he began as he swooped the baby up from the bassinet, “Todo esta bien?”

Gabriela looked up at Pedro in tears, “I’m tired, Pedro.”

Pedro sighed, gently rocking the baby back to sleep, “Let me take Y/N to my sisters for the day, you get some rest.”

Gabriela wanted more than just a day. Maybe a few days or a couple of weeks. She watched as Pedro grabbed some things for the day, it wasn’t easy to just get up and leave with a newborn.

“Thank you,” she smiled at Pedro as he planted a kiss on her cheek before leaving.

“Anything for you.”

She knew he meant it. He would do anything for her. She felt guilty for everything she had done to him and everything she will do, but she wanted to feel selfish. She wanted to feel happy. She hated feeling guilty.

She hated feeling depressed.

She had dealt with it too long and she didn’t want her daughter to see her this way.

She had to do something.

The only thing she knew to do. Leave.

Gabriela didn’t have much, to begin with, it was easy for her to pack everything in two suitcases and it didn’t take her long.

Before Gabriela left she knew she had to leave a note. She knew Pedro and their daughter deserved at least an explanation. She felt it was the least she could do.

It was almost dark when Pedro entered his apartment, “Amor,” he called out quietly as he carefully placed the baby carrier on the kitchen table. “I think mami’s asleep,” he said softly as he took the baby out of the carrier. “Let’s go see,” he said. He always spoke to the baby even if she didn’t respond, he just smiled at her as if she had.

Pedro was nervous to become a father, especially at a young age and with a challenging career, but the second he laid eyes on his baby girl he knew that he had just received the best gift in life.

Pedro walked into the bedroom, surprised to see that Gabriela wasn’t in bed. “Weird,” he said as he walked out of the bedroom. He thought that maybe Gabriela left to grab something from the store.

Before he could ponder some more, the baby in his arms began crying, “Alright, alright.” He walked over to the kitchen and began prepping a bottle of milk. He thought of himself as the fastest person to make a bottle of milk because he could do it in under a minute if he was awake enough of course.

He sat on the couch as he fed the baby. After a few minutes, the baby fell asleep. Pedro placed her in her bassinet before walking back out into the kitchen to start dinner. He opened the fridge, but something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Pedro closed the fridge and walked over to the counter where he saw a piece of paper. Pedro’s first thought was it was a note from Gabriela maybe explaining that she went to the store. For a moment, he thought it was pointless to even read it, but of course, he still did.

Pedro,

I’m sorry. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t keep acting happy when I wasn’t. I love our daughter, but she deserves a mother who wants to be a mother. A mother who is actually happy. You both deserve better. I’m sorry.

Gabriela

Pedro’s heart sank, it was like his world had just turned upside down. Was it him? Was he the reason why Gabriela was no longer happy? Did he miss the signs?

Maybe he should’ve gotten up in the middle of the night a few more times to help out or maybe he should’ve taken the baby from her so she could rest more. He thought he was doing everything he could plus more.

The baby began to cry, pulling Pedro from his thoughts. He walked over to the bedroom where the bassinet was, he couldn’t help but smile at the little one.

“‘S alright,” he whispered as he picked her up. Tears welled up in his eyes as he gently rocked his baby back to sleep. “Papi’s got you,” he whispered.

He looked over at the now empty closet, he didn’t know how he didn’t see it at first. “We’re gonna be okay,” he reassured himself, even though a part of him was hopeful that Gabriela would come back.

Pedro pushed away his thoughts. The damage was done, nothing could be reversed even if he tried so hard to.

“Fuck,” you exclaimed, earning a small glare from your dad, he didn’t really like you to get in the habit of cursing. “Sorry, I just forgot my phone at the store.”

“I’ll go get it,” he offered, knowing that you didn’t want to take your chances on running into your mother again.

“Are you sure?”

He nods, “Why don’t you find us a movie to watch, I’ll be back in a few.”

Pedro walked out of the apartment. The store wasn’t far, so it only took him a few minutes to get there.

He walked up to one of the cashiers, “Hi, my daughter was just in here and she lost her phone. It’s an iPhone with a green case, it has some stickers on it, she said she lost it near the front. She left it with a bag of rice.”

“Do you by chance know what kind of stickers?” the cashier asked.

“Yeah, um, it’s a grogu sticker and an uh- moonknight sticker, I think there might be a Bucky Barnes sticker too.” The cashier nodded before talking into the walkie.

“I have someone looking for it right now.”

Pedro nodded, “I’m gonna be right back, I’m just gonna go grab something.” Pedro walked over to the aisle where the rice was, grabbing the bag he needed for dinner before making his way back over to the front. He grabbed a couple of bars of chocolate, your favorite chocolate of course because he knew that it probably couldn’t heal your heart, but it did help.

He placed the bag of rice and bars of chocolates at the register. “Pedro?” He heard a familiar voice.

He felt frozen, unsure if he should act like he didn’t know the person or turn around and act like nothing had ever happened between the two of them. He wanted to be the bigger person, he turned around, “Gabriela.”

“Wow, you look so good, how have you been?” She asked as she looked at the man in awe. He hoped she felt regret looking at him.

“Good,” he said as he looked around, he didn’t see her kids like you had mentioned. “What about you?”

She chuckled, “could be better, this is my second trip to the store in the last fifteen minutes.” Pedro didn’t say anything as he paid for his things. Gabriela cleared her throat, “So, um… how’s Y/N? She’s what twelve?”

Pedro scoffed in disbelief, “Fourteen.”

“Sorry, it’s just been so long, you know?”

Sometimes, it was better to not be the bigger person, “Here’s that phone, mister,” an employee said as he handed Pedro the phone.

Gabriela’s eyes widen as she saw the phone, she had seen it somewhere. “I’ll see you around, Gabriela,” he said as he thanked the employee and walked out of the store with his things.

“Pedro, wait!” Gabriela ditched her items at the counter, running after Pedro. “Pedro!”

Pedro turned around, “What, Gabriela?”

Gabriela sighed, “I’m sorry.”

“A little too late for apologies.”

“She was here earlier today, wasn’t she?” Pedro remained silent, “I didn’t mean for her to-”

“To what? See you with your new family?”

“Pedro, it isn’t like that,” Gabriela tried to explain.

“Then what is it like, Gabriela? Because to us, it looks like you just replaced us for someone better.”

“Pedro, I was depressed and I didn’t know what to do.”

“You could’ve told me,” Pedro hissed. He didn’t want to be mad at her for being depressed, he was angry because she never said anything and he was angry at himself for not trying harder to notice.

“I didn’t know how! You were so happy and you were so helpful, I didn’t want you to feel like you weren’t doing enough!”

“But you did it anyway, you made us feel that way by leaving.”

“Pedro, I fucked up, I know that. I spoke to my husband,” Pedro felt tears well up in his eyes, “we want to get to know Y/N and build something.”

“No,” he hissed. “You’ve done enough.”

“I don’t think that’s for you to decide, Pedro.”

Pedro walked up to Gabriela, “Trust me, Gabriela. You’ve done enough damage and I’ll be damned to see you do any more.” Gabriela remained silent, she felt defeated as she watched Pedro walk away. She knew that she had hurt her daughter, but she felt like she could fix it, but she didn’t know how hurt her daughter really was and how sometimes things can’t really be mended.

Pedro on the other hand, had the urge to punch a wall. He hadn’t felt anger like this in a long time. “Calma,” he told himself as he walked up to the apartment door. He took in a deep breath as he wiped away any evidence of tears on his face. He walked in with a big smile on his face, “Muñeca?”

“In here,” you called out from the couch.

Pedro walked over, tossing the chocolate bars on the coffee table.

“You got me chocolate?” You asked in disbelief. Your eyes were still red and puffy.

Pedro sat down beside you, pulling you in for an embrace and kissing the top of your head, “I love you, mija.”

“I love you too,” you returned the embrace.

Throughout the years, Pedro had dealt with many dark times, some because of Gabriela and some because of his career and family issues. if there was anything that brought him out of it, it was you. You were the reason why he was so happy and content with his life.

You are his reason to continue with the trials and errors of being an actor.

You are his reason.

And he wasn’t gonna let anyone take that away from him.

Pedro Pascal Taglist: @Sophieelizabeth01 @tracysnook @cilliansangel @change-the-world-someday @graciegoeskrazy @oggystine93 @t-stark35 @twkobii @picklehat3r @welcometomyworldwithoutrules @white-wolf-buckaroo @steadydragongalaxy @rooting4theantihero @soupinasock @Ilovehotdadsandshit

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katnisspeetaprim · 9 months

Text

Slice Of Life Part 3

Summary: After the birth of your daughter, you had hoped you could have a peaceful few weeks, but the universe has other plans.

Warnings: angst, fluff, established relationship, swearing, fighting, bad relationship with parents, idol!au, baby, breastfeeding.

Word Count: 2129 M.list

Ever since you returned home from the hospital, all you wanted to do was sleep. As soon as you stepped foot in your home, it was like every ounce of energy had escaped you. Jungkook had happily told you to go rest, eager to spend time with his little girl. Plus, his parents had come down and were staying close by, just in case you needed help in the first couple weeks. As soon as your head hit the pillow, you were out like a light.

‘Y/N? Jagi...’ You were awoken a few hours later to Jungkook gently shaking your shoulder. He was stood over you with your fussing daughter in his arms. ‘I’m sorry to wake you, but I’ve tried everything and I think she’s hungry.’ He smiled apologetically as he sat beside you.

‘I should probably get up anyway. Can’t sleep forever.’ You smiled softly as you sat up, reaching for your daughter.

Jungkook helped you to rearrange your shirt so you could move So-Hee into position and help her latch.

They’d shown you at the hospital what to do when it came to breastfeeding and lucky for you, So-Hee wasn’t a fussy one when it came to latching.

‘Do- Do you want privacy?’ Jungkook asked, suddenly unsure of himself sitting next to you. You chuckled and shook your head.

‘Don’t be silly. This is perfectly natural, plus it’s nothing you haven’t seen before.’ He seemed to relax after your reassurance and situated himself next to you, leaning against the head board.

Both of you looked down to the baby in your arms. She was perfect. Jungkook gently stroked her head as she fed, playing with the fine tufts of hair on her head.

‘The guys have been texting, asking when they can come visit.’ You let out a breathy laugh.

‘Maybe give it a few days.’ Jungkook also laughed and nodded in agreement.

‘Yeah they can be loud when excited.’

The boys had ended up coming to visit in pairs over the next few days. Each of them had been wonderful and understanding that you didn’t want to be overwhelmed by all of them at once. They did bring lot’s of gifts with them though, more than you knew what to do with in your small apartment. But you guessed it was your own fault for skipping the baby shower.

Namjoon and Jin were the last two to visit.

You were all sat around the living room. Jin was currently cooing down at So-Hee in his arms and she was laughing up at him.

‘So, how you two holding up?’ Namjoon asked kindly.

‘I mean, I think we’re doing good, all things considered.’ You nodded to yourself, knowing you were doing the best you could do.

‘Yeah, plus my parents have been a huge help. I think I would have had a breakdown if I couldn’t call my mom.’ Jungkook laughed, but it was true.

There had been a few times when So-Hee was crying and neither of you could figure out why. At first you felt like a failure for calling his parents for help. If you couldn’t figure out what your child wanted, didn’t that make you a bad mom? No, o course not. It just meant you still needed time and practice.

You were all disturbed by a sudden loud knocking at the door. You looked over to Jungkook in confusion.

‘Did you invite someone else?’

‘No. I’ll see who it is.’ You nodded as he got up and disappeared down the hall. You continued your conversation with Jin and Namjoon, thinking nothing of the situation, until Jungkook didn’t come back right away.

‘I should probably see what’s keeping him.’ When you turned the corner, you saw Jungkook stood in the doorway, blocking whoever was here from view.

‘Jungkook? Who is it? He shot you a look over his shoulder, eyes hard.

‘Jagi, go back inside. I’ll sort it!’ this made your brows scrunch up and question what was happening. You stepped closer and were about to talk, when Jungkook was suddenly and roughly shoved out of the way, so much so that he stumbled slightly. Before you even knew what was happening, two people were grabbing at you.

‘Y/N! I can’t believe it!’

‘We’ve missed you so much!’ Your mouth was dry as you stared at the two people you had hoped to never see again.

‘Mom, dad. H-how did you find my address?’

‘You both need to leave.’ Jungkook was now stood behind you, glaring at your mom and step dad.

‘Oh don’t be silly! We want to see our granddaughter!.’ Your mother said in a way too cheery tone. ‘Giving birth is the only decent thing you’ve achieved recently anyway.’ Your eyes widened when she tried to walk round you. Quickly, both you and Jungkook moved to stop them from moving any further into your home.

‘You don’t get to show up here and start making demands like nothing ever happened!’ You began yelling, now enraged that they thought they had any right to see your daughter.

‘Get the hell out of my home!’ You shoved your mother back as your shouts got louder, causing Namjoon to come running and see what was happening.

‘How dare you lay hands on your mother!’ Your step dad had now also raised his voice and raised his hand as he took a step towards you. Jungkook was quick to get between the two of you and push him back.

‘That’s far enough.’

‘I just want to see my granddaughter.’ Your mother mumbled again.

‘You’ll never meet my daughter! Now get out and never contact me again!’ They both went to argue again when Namjoon stepped forward.

‘I believe they asked you to leave. If you don’t, we can always get the police involved.’ Namjoon was talking calmly. He knew just from the short interaction that both you and Jungkook were upset, so he needed to be the one to keep a level head right now.

Your parents were silent and looked between all three of you, before backing off. Your mom looked you up and down before scoffing.

‘I’m shocked you even managed to get pregnant in the first place just looking at you. Wouldn’t be surprised if you got him drunk first.' You saw red. Her condescending voice and words were enough to tip the scales. You lunged forwards, but Jungkook was quick to catch you and stop you from doing something you would regret, though he didn’t stop you from screaming at her.

‘Get the fuck out! OUT! NOW!’

‘Calm down.’ Jungkook whispered in your ear as you shrugged against him. Namjoon stepped past the two of you to usher your parents out of the house. He quickly locked the door behind them.

By now, your anger has subsided and turned into sobs as you buried your head into Jungkook’s chest.

‘How did they find me Kook?’

‘I really don’t know baby...’ He stroked your hair as he looked over to Namjoon, not really sure what to do now.

So-Hee’s cry suddenly started up, probably from being scared by the loud shouting. You pulled away and jogged back to the living room.

‘So-Hee...’ You called out, wanting nothing more than to hold your baby in that moment. You made a mental note to thank Jin later for having enough initiative to keep your daughter away from the situation.

Jungkook and Namjoon stayed back, both leaning against the walls as they composed themselves.

‘What’s going on?’ Namjoon broke the silence. Jungkook looked up to him and sighed, frustrated.

‘Y/N hasn’t spoke to her parent’s in years. I have no clue how they found our address.

‘Do you think they’ll come back?

‘I don’t know but they seemed determined.’ He trailed off. Both men just stared at each other for a moment.

‘I could help you and Y/N find a new apartment?’ Namjoon piped up with a suggestion. ‘Plus I’m sure manager Sejin could get you some security in the mean time.’ Jungkook thought it over before nodding, glum look on his face.

‘I’d have to talk to Y/N, but thank you hyung.’ Namjoon smiled and patted him on the back.

‘Anytime Kook.’ The two of them made their way back into the living room, to find Jin alone.

‘Y/N took So-Hee to your room. She looked really upset.’ Jin was confused since he didn’t know what was happening. You had just ran back in and scooped up your daughter, ignoring him when he tried to comfort you.

‘We should go hyung. I’ll explain later.’ Jungkook saw them both out, before immediately gong to find you.

‘Jagi?’ He pushed open the bedroom door and saw you sitting on the bed with your back to him, cradling your daughter. Without another word, he sat next to you and wrapped his arm around your shoulders.

‘Are you ok?’ He knew it was a silly question, but he wanted you to know he cared.

‘No. Not really.’ You spoke so quietly that he could barely hear you. He just nodded and stroked across your shoulders.

‘Hyung said he could help us find a new apartment.’ You looked at him with raised eyebrows.

‘But... I like it here...’

‘Well... Maybe it’s for the best? I mean So-Hee can’t even have a nursery here because of the space.’ It was true. You and Jungkook never moved out of your small apartment. When you started getting serious, he moved right in with you so he could get out of the dorms. It was just the two of you, so neither of you felt the need to have more space, despite having the means to do so.

‘I just don’t understand why they would turn up now.’ Jungkook didn’t have an answer for you. He’s always had a good and supportive relationship with his parents, so he can’t claim to understand your feelings.

‘If you decide you want to talk to them-‘

‘No!’ You cut him off abruptly. ‘I want them no where near our daughter!’ You came off as more harsh than you intended, but Jungkook understood.

‘Ok.’ You both sat in comfortable silence as you rocked So-Hee.

‘Can I have my own office in our new place?’ You suddenly asked, causing Jungkook to laugh.

‘Sure jagi, whatever you want.’

It had only been a few days since the incident, but your parents had made no further attempts to contact you, yet.

Namjoon had also made good on his word, and got you in to view a pretty exclusive place in a gated community. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t a little excited to see your possible forever home.

‘She’ll be fine! Don’t worry!’ Jungkook’s mom laughed as she watched the two of you linger in the doorway.

Jungkook’s mom had gladly agreed to babysit So-Hee, whilst you both went to see your potential new apartment. This would be the first time both of you would be leaving since her birth and you were more than a little apprehensive.

‘Are you sure one of us shouldn’t stay?’ You blurted out, flustered.

‘Don’t be silly! I know how to look after a baby!’ She laughed before becoming serious. ‘And if you know who show up again, I’ll be right onto the police. The nerve of them...’ You relaxed a little, knowing that So-Hee was in good hands, but there would always be that lingering anxiety in the back of your mind.

‘Kook... This place is huge!’ You stood in the middle of the empty apartment, looking round in amazement. The real estate agent was standing to the side, looking quite pleased with herself.

‘A lot bigger than your cramped place anyway.’ He jabbed with a smirk.

‘Hey! You chose to move in with ME!’

‘It was either that or you move into the dorms!’ he retorted with a grin, knowing you would have no comeback. You loved the boys, but the thought of living with them was a grim one .

‘Sorry to interrupt, but what are we thinking?’ The real estate agent smiled over at the two of you.

You smiled softly at Jungkook and grabbed his hand.

‘I really like it.’

‘That settles it then!’ He grinned widely to you, before spinning back to the other woman, ‘We’ll take it!’

Moving in was a fast process, considering you both wanted to be out of your place ASAP. The guys had all helped you, and even the boys of TXT had extended their hand in assistance too.

You had decided that it was probably time to get new furniture, rather than moving your old beat up stuff, fresh start and all.

Now all that was left was to decorate.

A.N – So I have no idea when Jungkook moved into his current place, but this new place they have moved into is that place. The one he is currently living in as of 2023!

#bts #bts x reader #imagine #one shot #scenario #reaction #drabble #smut #angst #fluff #kim seokjin #min yoongi #jung hoseok #kim namjoon #park jimin #kim taehyung #jeon jungkook

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puckgoss · 5 days

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I can confirm how flirty Jack is. He’s extremely flirty. I didn’t even know who he was and that he had a gf. Not a hockey fan but my friend is and I just found out about these blogs so thought I’d share what happened. She was with me and told me the morning after. I wouldn’t have engaged with him if I knew who he was btw.

Ok so I was at a bar and Jack came up to me and started heavily flirting. I had no idea who he was or that he had a gf obviously I just thought he was cute bc blue eyes literally make my knees weak

We started talking about college and just life. He said he was a hockey player, idc about hockey so I figured he meant college hockey. I’m pretty sure he thought it was hilarious that I had no clue who he was considering he had a huge ego. I mean most men his age do let’s be real. Anyway we made out heavily like really heavily and he was very touchy. I was going to go home with him but my friend was really drunk so I ended up going back with her. I got his number and we were texting on the way back and then realized he had a gf and felt extremely shitty about it so I blocked him

He was also flirting with other girls very heavily. I was extremely surprised that he had a gf the next morning when my friend told me who he was. It’s very sad but these hockey players cheat all the time.

Ps. He’s an average kisser just like any man his age. Also this was in the beginning of feb btw and I live in nyc

Also sorry it’s so long

lmao 💀 tysm for sharing anon! don't apologize, i promise the detail is appreciated on here

#ask!#j. hughes #bar anon

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egophiliac · 1 year

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Hello!! I'm in love with your artstyle (especially the way you did the signature spells??? I've been looking at them for a while adsgfdfsf, they look like movie posters tbh and that's fricking cool to me. anyway!! I'm a player on the NA server (btw, I've already seen spoilers of chap 7 due to tumblr/reddit/pinterest, so yeah it's not the most spoiled I've ever been so yea) and yeah. I'm getting through the story okay but do you have any advice for people trying to get through certain events with a more limited life schedule??? Also, what are some of the differences that you notice between the english (if you see a lot of it??) and Japanese versions of the game? sorry if this was a longer ask, i tried to be simple but i wanted to tell you that I loved your art and everything just spiraled AAAAAAH

thank you! ❤️❤️❤️ I've been surprised by how many people really like my posters -- it's kind of a weird style to do fanart in, I guess, but I'm glad other people think it's cool too! :D

(gonna answer out of order because the event stuff turned into a huge block of text, sorry!)

I've seen a few of the localizations, but I don't know a lot about the Eng version, so I can't speak too much about differences. (I do think "housewarden" has a better sound to it than "dorm leader" though...they need a fancy little word to match their fancy little outfits.) I did look up the unique magic/signature spells to see if they were able to somehow work in the glossing -- I'm not even sure how you would localize that without it being super weird, so I don't blame them, but I was a little sad anyway! :( in Japanese, they're all written as Japanese phrases with the English as ruby text, and sometimes they're given a little extra meaning. like -- this is where the episode 7 spoilers I'm tagging are) the words that Mal says are "Fae of Maleficence":

but the meaning of the Japanese is "Blessing", which is a nice little "ooooh" moment given the context of it!

there isn't always an extra meaning, sometimes it's just. super literal. but my other favorite is Jack's, where what he means is "✨howl that pierces the moonlit night✨", but what he actually yells is "UNLEASH BEAST" before turning into a giant dog. what a good boy.

as for event advice (under the cut, because this was already getting long)...

speaking as someone who is 100% F2P and therefore also tends to get kind of burnt by some of these events -- the #1 most important thing is to just...make peace with not getting everyone. :') I am a collector-type person, so it definitely gets grating when I can't have all the fancy PNGs my little packrat heart desires. generally though: never do random pulls, always be saving your keys and gems between events. (once a month you can buy a 10-set from Sam for a 50 gem discount, and logging in on a character's birthday will give you a 10-set for free, so make sure to do those!). when the event info starts coming out, pick one or two cards that you really want and work specifically towards those, focusing on grinding out the items and/or using your saved-up pulls on their specific banner. and in the end, accept that it might just not be meant to be, even if you hit the 100-pull pity SSR no I'm not still bitter over fairy gala Ortho why do you ask. if the event doesn't have any cards that you really want, take it as an opportunity to save for the next one!

hoard your star fragments (the things that restore AP) -- if you're going for a card that requires grinding event items to permanently unlock, and the item is one you get from lessons, you can use star fragments to bump your AP up to 30 at a time (10 is the limit that will restore over time, but 30 is the max you can have at once). that makes for a looong lesson loop, but I usually get about 50-60 items per 30 lessons, and I just let it run in the background while doing other stuff. (usually these items are what also unlock the event story, so I'll do a huge amount of lessons first thing and then have enough to get the whole story at once. 👍) it can get really grindy, but events go on for a while so it's not usually that bad if you space it out a bit, instead of waiting until the last minute to try and get those last 600 items (cough) (cough).

if it's one of the ones where you get the item from doing a rhythmic, you get the same amount of items no matter how well you do, even if you miss every note. so you can just...tap occasionally to restart it and get the same effect. if it's a battle one, you do have to actually win to get the item, but once you figure out the sweet spot of a team setup + highest battle level where you win every time, it becomes basically the same deal.

so...yeah, tl;dr you can get away with a lot just by setting things up to run in the background and paying just enough attention to tap through some of the menus. it does require a certain amount of time to just leave your phone while still sorta-kinda paying attention to it, so it might not work for everyone, but that's the best way I've found to get through most events!

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers #twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers #i feel like i just emerged from juice hell from getting my sunset lilia #and yet here i am diving right into tuna hell for my grim #it's okay i wasn't using these ap on anything else anyway #i have gotten SUPER lucky on some of these events #like i think the only halloween card i'm missing is ace #which is nuts considering how many of those are ssrs #but then i didn't manage to get a single one of the birthday diasomnias past the first year :(#we're not going to talk about the dorm dias. we just aren't.#the gacha giveth and it taketh away

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timeofjuly · 3 months

Text

on my way home

Summary: Quinn gets a late-night text to pick the reader up from a friend's apartment. Set shortly after they moved out together.

Tags: Drug use, angst, blood mention. Nobody is having a good time here.

Read it on AO3 or read it below :)

Quinn drives to the apartment without the radio on. The roads are empty, the streetlights lit up in a long line of sickly-yellow spotlights just for her. It makes sense; it’s four thirty-six in the morning on a Wednesday. Everyone else is tucked away in bed.

Not her, though. Even before getting the four twenty-two text, she’d been awake, folded up on the couch watching late-night infomercials. Her phone had been held loosely in her hand and when it’d buzzed, she’d almost dropped it in her haste to see if it was an ‘on my way home’ message from you.

She pulls up outside of James’ apartment building, her beaten-up sedan looking right at home in front of it. The air is cool and the world outside is almost as silent as her car had been. This far into the city, there are no birds, no buzzing cicadas, no ponds to be populated with the growls and croaks of frogs, to echo through the night like the fading din of a church bell. She is so very far away from home. Not home, actually, not anymore, and that’s a good thing.

Quinn’s buzzed into the building and then takes the stairs two at a time, one hand on the rail to keep herself steady and the other keeping her cardigan wrapped securely around herself. Once outside of apartment 303, she knocks and waits.

The door open and light spills out onto her, bright like the first rays of dawn cracking over the skyline.

“Come in, Quinnie,” James says, ushering her in. His pupils are huge, black pools swallowing blue. His jaw ticks. “Sorry for texting you so late. You weren’t asleep, were you?”

“It’s okay,” she says. “I was up anyway.”

Her nose wrinkles as she tip-toes into his apartment. The place smells like old alcohol and older smoke, the kind that gets embedded in the carpets and stains the drywall yellow. He’s got incense burning on his coffee table, which just adds to the whole unpleasant affair, rather than covering anything up.

She doesn’t like James; hadn’t in high school, even when you’d done your best to make everyone get along. She likes him even less now. She’s not sure if you’re the bad influence on him or if it’s the other way around, or if you’re both just as bad as each other.

She doesn’t like the other people in his apartment, either. Ollie is splashed like watered-down paint over the couch, her eyelids closed. Her fingers twitch as Quinn passes by, but she doesn’t otherwise react.

“Hey, it’s carrot top,” says Buck, the other occupant of the room, his beady eyes trained on the television. “Thank the stars. Clean up in aisle seven, otherwise known as James’ bathroom.”

Mortification burns in her belly, and she wraps her cardigan around herself tighter.

“Shut up,” James says, flipping Buck the bird. He turns back to Quinn and does his best impression of an apologetic look. “But he’s kinda right. Your girl’s a bit of a mess.”

James takes her to the bathroom. The door is open, ceiling light pale yellow and fan humming. You’re kneeling on the grimy tile, between the wall and the toilet. You look barely awake.

“Quinn,” you say. Your voice is thick, like your nose is blocked. Which it is, Quinn guesses, going by the blood on the lower half of your face. Your nose – it doesn’t look broken, she thinks, but what does she know?

“Had a bit of a run-in with the edge of the table, didn’t we?” says James. He looks at her again, still apologetic. His handsome face looks wan beneath the stark bathroom light. “She, ah, went a little too hard and then added alcohol to the mix.”

“’M fine,” you slur, then promptly lean back over the toilet to wretch. Nothing comes out, which bodes poorly for you.

She kneels down next to you, the floor cold through the thin fabric of her pyjama pants. She brushes your sweaty hair away from your forehead and strokes your back with long, gentle brushes, until the gagging subsides. Your whole body shakes and she can feel the individual nodes of your spine through your skin.

“Should I take her to -.”

��No hospitals,” you say. You look at her with glazed, teary eyes. “No hospitals.”

“Okay,” she says.

You sigh and then close your eyes, leaning against her. Your skin burns. She gathers a wad of toilet paper and presses it under your nose, holding it there.

“You gonna be right to get her home?” James asks. He sniffs and rubs at his nose.

“I’ll be fine,” she says. What else can she say? There is no other option.

“Listen, babe…” James sighs. He steps out of the bathroom and beckons her to join him. She’s loath to leave you alone – she hates to think how long it’s been already, how long you’ve been by yourself, so sick, so lost to yourself – but she follows him all the same.

James shuts the door. “I don’t think – Look. This is awkward, but she can’t come around here anymore, okay? We’ve all talked about it. It’s nothing personal, but no one likes to see her like this. Kinda puts a damper on the whole evening, you know?”

She stares at him. Something fizzles in her chest, a cold, numbing ache. It makes her fingertips tingle. “You’ve known each other for years. She’s your friend.”

“Yeah, of course she is! We’ve always had fun together. It’s just. Well.” He clears his throat.

“She’s not fun anymore.” Her voice rings in her ears.

“Exactly,” James says, satisfied. “You get it. No hard feelings, right?”

You have known James forever. Known all of them for years. You would die for these people.

“Right.” Quinn swallows the chill down. It feels like swallowing nails, or a tooth. Sharp. Like it’ll bore through her insides and cut her open.

“Great. I’ll help you get her into the car.”

Getting you downstairs is a process. It’s a two-person job, so James comes down to the car with her, making sure that you don’t tumble down the stairs. Once you’re at the car he passes you over to Quinn and you collapse into her, hugging her tightly, your face buried into the crook of her shoulder. Your blood is sticky on her neck.

“Sorry,” you say, the point of your nose cold against her skin. “Sorry, sorry.”

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” she soothes, running a hand over your hair. She needs to unpick her fingers from the tangles.

You mumble something into her neck. For a moment, she thinks you’re going to vomit again and wonders if she should redirect you to the gutter, but then you sigh, thin and high. “Are you mad at me?” you ask, voice like a kicked dog.

“No. No, of course not. C’mon, get in the car, I’ll get you home and into bed, and we’ll have a look at your nose.”

You tumble into the car and it takes you a few tries to get your seatbelt to click.

“One more thing, Quinnie,” says James. He stares at you, curled up in the passenger seat. “Has she told you about Jesse?”

“I think so?” She hates that it sounds like a question. Hates that she knows so little about your comings-and-goings that she can’t keep track of all of your friends now. “Um, you all met him at Rendezvous a few months back, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” James rubs at the back of his neck, then looks around, almost covertly. For an absurd moment, Quinn feels like she’s part of some cheesy spy movie, alone in an empty street save the streetlights. “Look, you didn’t hear it from me, but the dude’s bad news. He’s into some shady shit and he really likes your girl.”

“She wouldn’t cheat on me,” Quinn snaps, the words whip-quick and firm with her resolve.

James screws up his face. “That’s not what I mean. ‘M just saying that – I don’t know if he just deals or something else, but he’s not a nice guy. I saw him –.” He cuts himself off and then sighs again. “It doesn’t matter. Just try and keep him away from her, yeah? Just some friendly advice.”

“Okay, thanks,” she says, feeling queasy. She’s met Jesse, only once, and he hadn’t made much of an impression. Just another one of your friends who circle like sharks around you, all wandering hands and hungry eyes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

James leaves and then it’s just you and her, the way it should be.

Quinn gets in and starts the car. The sound of the engine rouses you from whatever stupor you’d been in – you blink blearily at her, wiping a flake of dried blood away from your nose.

“Hey,” you say, voice still thick.

“Hey,” she replies. Her tone is flat, even to her own ears. She starts the car, ignoring the way her hands shake as she changes gears.

“I’m sorry,” you say again after a few minutes of driving. You’ve opened your window and have been staring into the inky night with almost preternatural stillness.

“I know.”

There’s a moment of quiet. Quinn wonders if she should put some music on, if having something to focus on will make you feel less sick.

“What are you thinking about?” you ask. The wind from the open window makes your voice sound like it’s coming through a poorly tuned radio.

“I’m thinking that you could’ve died tonight,” she says, and it’s not what she’d been thinking at all, but now that she’s spoken the words aloud the thought consumes her. You could’ve died tonight. So easily. Blow to the head, an overdose, drowning in your own vomit.

And you didn’t, but you could very well die tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, the day after that. So on, so forth. How many more texts is she going to wait up for? How many more times will you come home to her?

“I’m okay. I’m alive, see?” You grab her hand with your clammy one, ripping it from the steering wheel, and bring it up to your throat. Your pulse jumps against her feeble grip.

You’re right; you feel so very alive and there is so little keeping your blood where it should be, just a thin layer of skin.

She tears her hand away and places it back on the steering wheel. The road ahead is dark and she needs to focus.

From the corner of her eye, she watches you wipe at your crimson face with the palm of your hand and for the first time in her life, she doesn’t look at you and find you beautiful. She can’t metamorphose the gore and the sadness and the shadows under your eyes into something enthralling. There’s nothing poetic about this. There is only blood.

#silver string #quinn lawson #the electrician #Quinn/Reader #on my way home #i wrote this post mental breakdown to excise the Bad Feelings so please excuse how fucking emo this is lol

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