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#i’m only gonna tag a couple things to not clog up tags
rouette-7 · 2 years
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Just a sketch, but it’ll end up a decently large piece. Anyways, I just really like how she looks so far, even if it is just the sketching phase 🥰
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chirpsythismorning · 2 years
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I just wanna talk about this quick and then I’ll shut up forever.
I HATE byler kiss manips (not talking about fan-art, I’m talking about photoshopped byler edits using milkvan scenes). I hate them with a burning passion. The only exception to this would be when bylers use them as a response to homophobic anon asks... now that’s funny. But that’s it 🤣
Like I get it. It’s mostly all a big joke, but it’s just cringy to me..? And weird?? Why can’t we wait for the real thing???
AND YET! AND YET!… Even though I’m kind of contradicting myself by making this post in the first place, I honestly don’t see much value in confronting fans who do this or staging a whole call out about how it makes me personally feel uncomfortable for reasons x y z.
Because that’s just me. I’m sure there are some fans who agree with me and I’m sure there are plenty who don’t. But still, I don’t see the point in policing anyone that disagrees with me on this, to make them feel bad for engaging in fandom differently than me, to make a big spectacle about how it upsets me, bc the reality is, nuance exists!!!
While there are some people out there with horrible, even offensive or concerning takes, not every single disagreement of opinion needs to be put on blast as if that person is bad for whatever point they’re trying to make. Because now suddenly everyone is giving their two cents, clogging the tag to the point where no one can escape it. Now we’re all uncomfortable. Who is that helping?? No one!
So if you’re like me and there’s certain things that make you uncomfortable, no matter how small or even major, BLOCK.
Maybe you are just like me and you give someone a few chances, only to finally block them after one too many posts that are just 😬
Or maybe you block right away the moment you see something you didn’t want to and don’t want to risk seeing again.
I just hate this tendency fandoms (it’s all fandoms, not just st or byler) have to attribute one or even a couple hundreds of fans opinions, to the entire fandom… and then project that onto the rest of us like “IF YOU THINK THIS! YOU ARE BAD!” Like be real, there are hundreds of thousands of us, exponentially chances are there are gonna be a great deal of people you won’t agree with. That doesn’t mean we have to ruin this space for everyone.
I really don’t want to do this again, bc like I said, im basically contributing to the very thing I hate. I hate that I feel this need to voice my feelings on something everyone is already talking about, and now i’m also taking away from the aspects of fandom that can be fun and welcoming and worthwhile.
It’s just unfortunate how all fandoms put themselves in this situation. We allow one or a few to control the vibe of the tag and suddenly you can’t find theories or headcanons or just fun banter between fans. All you see is virtue signaling and people trying to find someone to blame. And then we wonder why fandoms fizzle out with resentment. Because we ruin it for ourselves. We turn on each other for the sake of being right. And it just sucks.
At the end of the day, everyone has the right to say how they feel. By all means, that is your choice and you can do whatever feels right to you. But just know that not everyone is going to agree. And that’s not always a bad thing. And even if and when it is, we don’t have to make it EVERYONES business.
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dragonindigo245 · 3 years
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Official post for my orange side theory
AND NO IT IS NOT WRATH OR ANGER
WARNING: Spoilers for Working Through Intrusive Thoughts. I'm not gonna bother adding the spoiler tag to this post because all the spoilers are going to be under the read more.
Also this post is long so be warned.
Back in early August of 2020 I came up with an orange side theory I have stuck with for a long time. I always found the orange side theory of wrath/anger to be odd, seeing as anger is an emotion not a personality trait, and therefore made an effort to try and discover what I can see the orange side being. In light of the fandoms response to the latest asides saying that orange being wrath is "now canon", I figured it was time to bring it back, along with new points and explanations.
What is the orange side exactly? The answer is simple. He might not be this exactly, but orange is naivety, irrationality, or the inability to see logic clearly.
This started when I made the connection to the dark sides being complete opposites to one another. For example, Janus and Patton are opposite ends of the moral spectrum, Roman and Remus are opposite ends of the creative spectrum, and Logan himself is on the functionality/rationality spectrum. The opposite end would be something like naivety or irrationality.
After that post, I made another a couple of months ago with 3 main points, the first being the opposite ends point. The other two points are just as important.
Point 2: It ties into the 3 monkeys theory
The recent episode confirmed the 3 monkeys theory, further solidifying this point. In case you live under a rock or are new to the Sanders Sides theories, the 3 monkeys theory is based on the whole "See no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil" thing. The dark sides all have powers relating to each of these.
Janus has the ability to mute the sides (speak no evil), Remus has the ability to muffle the sides (hear no evil), and Orange has the ability to... make... their eyes pretty? I'm sure that we will get an actual explanation on how he influenced Logan in the future lol. Regardless, orange is definitely see no evil.
Now you may be asking, Indigo, how does this tie into irrationality?
Do you know what irrationality is? The inability to SEE the world clearly or to SEE reason or logic. Irrationality blinds you to reason itself. It makes sense, seeing as emotions are illogical and orange clearly did something to push Logan to an outburst. When orange provided his influence, Logan's eyes glowed orange, indicating he lost the ability to see purely logically. While, yes, orange did this with anger as a vessel, irrationality takes many forms.
Point 3: Color symbolism
Something that is frequently overlooked when fanders make theories about the sides is that each side ties into their color scheme in some way. Roman being red ties into him functioning as Thomas' romantic side, Patton's light blue tying into his gentle nature and trustworthiness, etc.
Orange is a color that is tied to joy and youth. Being naïve to the world around you crumbling down will often make you happier. While some naivety is great and can make you happy, in large doses it is a threat to your well being.
Point 3.5: How is this connection accurate?
A great deal of the plot in this episode, especially the endcard, showcases this irrational blindness to all of the issues the sides are having with each other. Throughout the episode, Logan keeps having to sacrifice his plan to help Thomas and then once Nico calls Thomas, Thomas doesn't know how hard it hurts Logan to once again be brushed off. In the endcard, Patton and Roman tell Logan that this is more important, not realizing how rejected Logan feels.
This isn't just happening with Logan either. Patton and Virgil have had some rising tension as of late as well. This is showcased the most clearly in this video when Virgil snaps at Patton and says "Oh thank goodness. You're giving him permission." sarcastically. Patton takes this as "I didn't know you would give him permission" whereas Virgil was meaning "He doesn't need your permission to feel good about this". Furthermore, each of the light sides have argued with each other individually in different episodes except for Virgil and Patton.
With Janus recently being more accepted, Remus appearing and hurting everyone, and the tension each of the main sides have... it's all going to fall apart. Nobody but the dark sides seem to notice this tension, not even Thomas. Why? Because they are being naïve. The orange side is either keeping them blissfully unaware or the very fact they are unaware is giving the orange side power.
What is the new point you mentioned?
This video with the orange side really got my gears turning. I began making connections that otherwise I didn't have the ability to make, or never happened to think of. The fact my theory has managed to hold up in a heavy orange side lore video only solidifies my confidence in this.
Point 4: The dark sides revolve around the truth
This theory is a little more of a stretch but if I'm right, then this is all the evidence I really need to confirm that orange is irrationality.
Janus is essentially the ring leader of the dark sides. He keeps them hidden until Thomas wants to be aware of them, with the potential exception of Virgil who we don't know when he was revealed to Thomas. However, each dark side has something in common besides witty remarks. They all center around the truth.
Janus and Remus are easier to figure out, seeing as Janus is literally the embodiment of lies and Remus has multiple times where it is obvious he provides the unfortunate truth. Remus being the bringer of truth is showcased multiple times, which I will only bullet point because this post is more-so about orange than him.
His line of "I would never hide anything from you."
Janus bit in Forbidden Fruit that goes "No longer will you deceive yourself about the ugliness within you."
Logan admitting Remus can help Thomas in his own way
Virgil on the other hand is harder. Unlike the other two, Virgil represents a completely different angle of this "truth theme". Virgil represents the fear of both the truth and the unknown. Why would Janus even need to even repress the dark sides in the first place if Thomas wasn't afraid of the truth that they were apart of him? Why would Thomas had admitted he didn't want there to be more dark sides after he asks if there were more of them if it were not fear he had more unwanted parts of him and fear of not knowing what they were?
Virgil knows Thomas' fears. This would have made admitting he was a dark side such a hard feat. If he felt Thomas was chill with the dark sides, Virgil could have instantly told Thomas he was in fact one of them. In a way, this makes Virgil the perfect bridge between the light and dark sides. The dark sides provide Thomas with the truth he needs or wants, and the light sides figure out how to handle it.
Point 4.5: What does this have to do with orange?
Orange would keep Thomas from the truth. While, yes, this is the exact same thing Janus does, Orange would do it another way. Janus makes Thomas unaware of the truth he KNOWS. Unconsciously, Thomas still knows what Janus hides. This makes it entirely different from how naivety works. Naivety would keep him from ever learning the information in the first place.
Furthermore, we saw that orange is potentially connected to Janus in some way. The very last thing we see in Working Through Intrusive Thoughts is the flash from Janus' eyes, to oranges eyes. This could be a slight hint at Janus and Oranges functions not being so far apart.
Or the writers just thought it would look neat. That too.
Is Logan the orange side?
I can say with almost 100% certainty the answer is no. We saw before each sides introduction, they manifested themselves in the other sides.
Janus silenced Roman in Accepting Anxiety Part 2, Remus manifested in Roman by giving him random unwanted outbursts (like the naked Aunt Patty line that Roman said he didn't know where it came from in the Christmas episode), and therefore it follows orange is manifesting in his own way.
Furthermore, Logan is not the type of character to turn evil. He has outbursts and is being beaten down but he would never snap for good. If anything, we have seen from Putting Others First that he would only appear as needed if he felt ignored.
Logan is not one to let his emotions make irrational decisions for long, and he almost always goes to make up for his mistakes the moment they happen. He always has Thomas' best interests at heart and has witnessed Virgil realizing force is not the way to go about it.
It makes no sense for his character and there is no reason for it to happen narratively.
Please note that this post is simply a theory and I do not wish to start arguments about if I am right or not. If you are going to provide counterclaims, please do so respectfully and do not clog my notes with your own essay. Thank you!
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iamkayleee · 3 years
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psa for new writers coming to ao3:
(this is in no way meant to be rude but more helpful and informative because ao3 works much differently than other fan fiction sites)
i’ve noticed a large influx of of new works on ao3 (particularly in the dream smp fandom) over the last few months. this is awesome i love new content and i love that people want to share their writing with others, however i’ve seen a couple of things that’ve really been bothering me and other (for lack of a better word) veteran ao3 users and i wanted to address it and explain why it bugs us so much
- untagged wips: the biggest thing i’ve noticed is authors tagging their incomplete chaptered fics as complete. many people including myself try not to read wips because they’re so often abandoned, so we filter them out when searching for things to read, but it leaves this feature kinda useless when nearly every other fic in the tag is an incomplete tagged incorrectly. i think a lot of this comes from using the export from wattpad feature which automatically sorts it as complete. so please just check to make sure.
- tagging system: another thing is not using the correct tags, i’m all for a little joke in the tags cos they’re usually pretty funny but something that separates ao3 from other sites is their universal tagging feature. it not only helps readers understand the content of the fic but it also helps the writers get more hits because the fic is made more “searchable”. please tag your crack, canons, aus, sad endings, dead doves, etc (the sites an archive guys i know were nagging but this is the point of ao3)
- drabbles vs oneshots: this ones a little nitpicky i know, but a drabble is 999 words and under while a one shot is 1k+ (edit: my bad, drabbles are defined as 100 words exactly, tho i feel like it still stands that most oneshots aren’t gonna be under 1k words though there’s no clear agreed upon length, i could get into short stories and novelletes but honestly i’m fine with it all being called a oneshot as long is it’s a story and not a plot bunny or a head cannon)
- warnings: this shouldn’t even have to be said but please for the love of god tag major character death, under age, and non/dub con, also if your fic is mature don’t tag it as general audience just because that’s the default
- posting things that aren’t fics: i know you want to get your art out there but ao3 is for writing. this also goes for pod fics and ideas that you’ve had and maybe want to write a fic for later. keep it in the drafts, because it clogs up the completed tags.
if you have any questions or other things you wanted to address feel free to add it in the notes or message me. i know this seems trivial but ao3s special to a lot of us and i want to help others learn the etiquette of it because it’s a big jump from wattpad and fan fiction.net. keep on writing guys!
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lazarus-lazuli · 3 years
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Loki and Sylvie aren’t endgame and here’s why:
(SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 4 OBVIOUSLY)
The TL;DR version: The director herself confirmed that their relationship is not going to be romantic. I could literally just leave it at that. Please calm down and stop clogging the tag with outraged posts about something that’s not even happening, thank you.
But I also want to argue that the episode itself makes it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that they’re not gonna be a couple. Hit the read more to learn why I think that. Or don’t, honestly the fact the director confirmed this should be enough to assuage you, I’m just actively choosing to be annoying at this point.
If you pay attention to the text of the episode, it’s pretty clear that no, Loki and Sylvie aren’t getting together. Heteronormativity in media may have corrupted us enough to jump to that conclusion (because in most shows a man and woman interacting for five or more minutes in a meaningful way = romance), but I don’t think that was the writers’ intention. Hell, if anything, the episode makes a stronger argument for Mobius and Loki getting together which I’ll touch on a bit as well. And while I do ship them I don’t think they’ll be endgame either since Disney is incredibly fucking homophobic and we’re lucky we even got bi Loki; the Pacific Ocean will be a desert before we get to see him with another man. 
So a few ways the episode told us that Sylvie and Loki aren’t gonna get together:
1) Ravonna and Mobius have a VERY important conversation in her office, not just in the sense of Mobius realizing “Oh shit I’ve been lied to”, but in the sense that she talks about their relationship. She makes a point to define their relationship as a friendship several times, while also making it clear that they have a deep emotional connection to each other - one that transcends time and space. It’s a type of relationship that often gets skewed as romantic when we’re talking about tropes, but no, in their case it’s set in stone that their relationship is completely platonic. Character wise the whole thing gets thrown away since she was very much onto him and proceeds to stab him in the back minutes later, but writing wise it was a very important point they were trying to make to the audience. Like, it was important both in universe and for the audience but for different reasons, if that makes sense. Since they established this strong connection between Loki and Sylvie at the very beginning of the episode - strong enough to cause a fucking Nexus Event - they also wanted to sprinkle in the idea that a strong connection does not necessarily equal a romantic one.
2) The main thing people took away from the conversation between Loki and Mobius was that Mobius was jealous - which, yeah, that’s valid and I agree. I mean he was deadass acting like a scorned boyfriend who just caught his partner cheating on him. But another big takeaway that people need was not only did the show itself confirm that Sylvie x Loki is gross (I mean for God’s sake they’re the exact same person; Sylvie was literally confirmed to just be the AFAB version of him IN THE COLD OPENING), but the whole idea of them being together all came from Mobius. All we know is that Loki cares for her - the feelings he’s experiencing are confusing for him because he’s a loner who hasn’t had any friends at all until Mobius and her came along. The one who’s defining those feelings by insisting they must be romantic is Mobius. This is to get under Loki’s skin because he is jealous. Loki never once gives into the idea of their relationship being romantic, even when Mobius lies about Sylvie being pruned just to get a reaction. Loki may not know EXACTLY how he feels since it’s all new to him, but even he’s not obtuse enough to think that he’s actually falling in love with himself. Mobius is just angry at Loki in this scene for multiple reasons, thus all of the romantic interpretation falls on his shoulders. He’s literally just jumping to conclusions. 
Also when he says Sylvie got pruned Loki just gets visibly upset for a moment, but when Mobius himself gets pruned Loki CRIES and is fucked up about it to the point that even Sylvie picks up on it. So make of that what you will (I will make of that that Loki and Mobius are IN LOVE). 
3) Final point: people got REALLY IN THEIR FEELINGS about the scene where Loki tries to confess to Sylvie. And yeah at first glance, it is somewhat set up like a romantic scene - someone actually posted “what in the Y/N x Loki is this” and honestly I had to laugh at that one because I agree it kind of has that vibe, especially since he starts the whole thing off by saying he’s new to feeling the way he does. But based on everything we know about them and everything that happened up until that point of the episode, LOKI IS VERY MUCH NOT ABOUT TO CONFESS HIS UNDYING LOVE FOR HER. His feelings for sure, but not necessarily romantic ones. He even has his hands on her shoulders - a gesture of affection, but not one that can be read as exclusively romantic. He’s just grabbing her attention, holding her there (since she does seem freaked out - maybe in her mind she thinks he’s about to confess his love, which is actually pretty funny). While there may be a misunderstanding on the part of the characters, I think the text itself makes it pretty clear that no, Loki is not in love with this woman. He ultimately just wants to tell her he cares about her and wants to stick with her through whatever happens; that they’ll make it through together. If you’re cynical you can be like “It was at the very least set up to LOOK romantic to bait the audience” and yeah, I see it too. That’s completely possible. Granted, instead of baiting people with a “OOO, what’s he gonna say?!”, it more so rubbed salt in the wounds of the people who have been queerbaited by TV shows in the past because all they could see was “Bi Man Falls for His Female Self Then Dies” which is bad so I can’t blame them for being upset. But given the context of the show it’s also very much not what happened. 
And hey, I’m just as affected by queerbaiting - I was a Magician’s fan for fuck’s sake. I know queerbaiting when I see it and as far as I’m concerned, if there’s any queerbaiting in this show, it is NOT coming from the interpretation of Loki literally wanting to fuck himself. We will be donning our clown wigs and big red noses for a different reason (that reason involving Disney being Disney). If you’re choosing to be optimistic about the possibility of Loki and Mobius getting together, I fucking commend you and hope you’re right. It would be really amazing and satisfying if they did. I’m not holding my breath, though. Sadly just because Loki x Sylvie won’t be a thing doesn’t mean Loki x Mobius will be, either.
Anyway, I hope this explanation helped to clear up the fact that no, Marvel is not advocating for selfcest and never was. This isn’t Johnny Test. I think it’s good to be critical of Disney and Marvel because they’re both very flawed, but that requires actually watching the content instead of making surface level assumptions based on what you saw at first glance, you know?
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em0avacado · 3 years
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I’m Not Worried - Ezekiel Reyes
trigger warning : none. maybe mentions of sex?
word count : 800 and sum words.
gif credits where it’s due
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“See my man would never let me wear something like that out.” your drunk friend slurred her words. Furrowing together your brows, you glanced towards her with a raised eyebrow. It was a Friday night after a particularly difficult week, and youd taken your friends out to the clubhouse where a party was currently raging through its four walls, and the lot around it. Sweaty bodies clogged the grounds, horny couples, even situationally, took up seats and corners, trying to get away with the nastiest of activities, getting off on the crowd surrounding them and one another. The smell of booze filtered through the air, smoke floating in the air in clouds. Your brain was fuzzy, and you had a hard time understanding what she meant.
“Why would you let a man tell you what you can, and cannot wear?” you asked, tilting your head to the side, your eyes squinted at her. What you wore was simple, you didn’t dress up often at all, neither was it something you particularly had occasions for. But you were hot, and you were confident in who you were, in your body, and even IF you weren’t, no one had to know, and absolutely NO ONE, not even your boyfriend, had a right to tell you what to dress like. Your simple black dress hugged you where you wanted it to, making your body stand out, you wore a flannel that belonged to Ezekiel, a navy blue and black one, on multiple occasions had her told you that it was YOUR colour, and no one rocked it like you did. Empowering you further more, if there was one thing that Ez did that none of your ex’s had, it was boosting your confidence.
“Well he says i shouldn’t dress like a slut, that my body is his temple.” she confessed, you weren’t able to pick up the look that clouded her face.
“What the fuck?” you asked, feeling enraged by he obvious strains your friends boy toy had on her. Sitting up more, you brought your hands out in front of you, like you were holding something down. “first of all, you’re not an object, you can’t be owned, second, slut shaming? your own girl? in 2021?” you felt yourself getting louder, your friends eyes widened, she knew what the expression on your face meant, which made her immediately regret bringing it up. “I just know it’s small, he acts like it’s small.” You stood up, hand against your chin as you got to thinking “YOUR body? is HIS temple? HIS? girl - if you don’t d-“
“you say that like you don’t fuck my brother and scream ‘this pussy is yours ezekiel! yes!’ “ interrupted Angel, mocking your moans, making his voice high pitched, making faces at you. You reeled back your hand and balled it, punching him in the shoulder before flipping him off.
“Fuck off, Reyes.” you rolled your eyes, shaking your head at him, glancing back to your friend who was a mess of giggles, making big button eyes at your boyfriends older brother, which gave you an idea. You’d have to set the two up the moment you talked her into dumping that boyfriend of here.
“Jesus fuck you ragingly prolapsed asshole.” he hissed, rubbing the spot on his arm you just punched.
Gilly, who you didn’t even know was around, snorted so hard beer came shooting out his nose, and you started cackling hard. That’s when you spotted Ez heading over, feeling his muscular arm drop around your shoulders and you glanced up at him with a small smile, pecking his cheek quickly.
“Whys Gilly a gusher?” he asked.
“He’s laughing at my pain.” said Angel, his hand still over his arm. “She HIT me! Really hard! And I think my arms gonna fall off, man, if I lose my arm I can’t ride! Then how am I gonna get girls?!” he asked in a panic, his brother sighing at his dramatics.
“You’ll survive.” Ez rolled his eyes.
“But what if I don’t?!” he asked frantically, and you slapped your palm to your head. “Then I’ll have to live with you forever, I’ll be weirdly cool uncle Angel that lives in the basement and only comes up when the kids are at school, and I’ll walk in when y’all make baby number thirteen!!” he started fake hyperventilating, fanning himself.
“th- are we old school mormons now?” you asked, furrowing your brows. “i don’t know how my hips will hold with thirteen babies..” you confessed, and everyone started laughing. “Angel.” you started again. “If you do lose your arm, don’t worry, you can live with us, and there won’t be kids, we’ll have our hands full with you.” you said, genuinely, too.
“okay..” he sighed softly, making doe eyes “that’ll be okay.”
Queue your eye roll.
“anyways.” you sighed, turning to Ez. “Baby.” catching his attention. “Why don’t you tell me what to wear?” you asked, your friends attention on you too, you wanted her to see how an actual man would respond to something like that.
“You mean other than you beating my ass for trying to tell you what to do?” he asked rhetorically, you nodded and bid silently for him to continue. “Cause I can fight.” he shrugged simply.
tag list :
@queenbeered
@mayans-sauce
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a-cupof-jo · 3 years
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Set Up My Heart Pt. 3
Pt.2 - Pt.3 - Pt.4
College volleyball player!Johnny Suh x reader
Rivals-to-lovers
Fluff and angst
Synopsis: Ever since that fateful day Sophomore year of high school, Johnny Suh had been an insufferable thorn in your side. Once you made it to college you thought the two of you would never have to see each other again. That is, until a sudden school transfer has the entire university buzzing.
~~
“You know, I still don’t think that your highschool troubles are because of Johnny,” Chohee plopped down on the couch next to you.  “You know that most highschool kids are awkward messes that always feel like the world is against them.”
“Of course I know that, but for me the world took the human form of Johnny Suh,” you try to reason.
“Y/n,” Chohee shook her head. “Okay, so maybe, just maybe, he did somehow make your highschool years worse than they should have been. Do you think that maybe you can move past that? It’s been a couple of years. You’ve both grown up and matured.”
You scoff, “I know that you always look at the good side of people, but there is no way Johnny could be a decent person. Did I tell you about the time he put glitter down his homeroom teacher’s vents? They had to bring in an HVAC guy to clean it out cause it got so clogged that the fire alarms kept going off.”
“But did anyone get hurt?” Chohee tugged the coffee table closer to her, “I mean it seems like it was a harmless, yet expensive, prank.”
Huffing you turn to your laptop, “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“And I am,” she rested a hand on your shoulder. “But Johnny doesn’t seem like a bad guy. Even though he embarrassed you in front of some of your high school, doesn’t mean he intentionally meant to.”
“You know, I don’t wanna talk about this anymore,” you clicked to the assignments you have due next.
“Y/n, you can’t be upset with Chohee. We don’t know what Johnny or you were like in highschool. We don’t know what his intentions were or why you were picked on, but we are trying to look at this from a neutral perspective.” Desiree turned to look at you from the kitchen table. “Besides, what about Jungwoo? He’s living with the dude. That means that he at least thinks Johnny’s decent enough to live with him.”
You frown, “Jungwoo can be…naive, but he generally has a good read on people. What if-” you gasp. “What if Johnny has secretly paid him off and is keeping him hostage. He can’t say anything then and Johnny certainly has enough money for it.”
“What about Jaehyun then,” Chohee questions.
“They’re in on it together. They have secretly captured Jungwoo and held him hostage so they could get closer to me. Only then could Johnny continue to make my life a living hell,” you stand up from the couch.
“Y/n,” you look down at Chohee. “You need help.”
Desiree snorted before the two burst out laughing, “Seriously, I bet you’re never gonna see him. Campus is big enough that you’re never gonna cross paths.”
“I might never see him, but I know he’s here. That’s enough to bug me,” you sighed as you went back to your laptop.
Chohee huffed, “You’re impossible.”
“You love me anyway,” you bat your eyes at her.
Desiree gwaffed at you, “You wish.”
You stuck stuck your tongue at her before laughing. You sombered as you looked down at your assignment, “I know that this seems immature, and that you guys think I should let go of the past.” You felt your eyes burn and wiped at them, “You just don’t realize how much of my high school career was controlled by Johnny. I had to regain my reputation and I… felt like I had to prove to him, to myself that I…” you sighed feeling ridiculous, “Every second I was in that gym I had to fight for my position to show my coaches and teammates that I was worthy of being on that team. It took one game for all that effort to go down the drain. My coach never liked me and used my team’s loss to Johnny and the boy’s team as a way to move me back to junior varsity, even then I rarely played.”
“Oh, y/n,” Desiree sat down next to you. “I’m so sorry you felt that way and that your coach was a dick, but that doesn’t mean that all of this was Johnny’s fault. He was just a scapegoat for your coach.”
“It’s not just that!” You stood from the couch, “He did so many other things. Taunted me, made fun of me, even gave me a stupid nickname, ‘raining y/n’, that doesn’t even rhyme!”
“Y/n,” Chohee rested her hand on your shoulder. “Just because he-”
“No!” You rip away from her. “You guys keep justifying his actions or make it seem like he wasn’t a part of the problem. You don’t even know him. You don’t know what he did to me and you’re not trying to understand why I’m so upset. No, don’t try to defend yourself right now. I’m done talking about this.” You slammed your door as you walked out of the apartment. Not catching the startled look of Jungwoo as you stomped past him and onto the sidewalk.
Jungwoo stepped up to your apartment door, his hand hanging for a second before giving a light knock. Chohee threw open the door, “Y/n we- Oh, Jungwoo. Did you see y/n just now?”
He gave a sheepish nod, “I did. She looked upset.” He looked toward the sidewalk, “I just wanted to return the cookie dish from earlier. The guys and I loved them.”
Chohee smiled as she took the plate, “Thanks, it was mostly y/n. Desiree and I were just her sous chefs.”
“I don’t think that’s right,” Jungwoo paused as Chohee shrugged. “Anyway, Y/n’s… blowup didn’t happen to be because of Johnny, did it? Cause Johnny has been in a pissy mood all day and I really didn’t think this ‘’rivalry’ between them was going to be such a big deal.”
“Y/n is upset with me and Des. She thinks that we support Johnny over her. We’ve been trying to understand her story, but a lot of the details are blurred,” Chohee sighed.
“Jae and I have been dealing with the same thing. Johnny keeps saying that it’s all her own fault and that he did nothing wrong,” Jungwoo scrubbed a hand down his face. “I think they should just talk about this. Whatever happened to them in high school has festered for too long. They are both adults and need to move past this.”
“I don’t know,” Chohee wavered. “I think this is more than just leftover resentment. Y/n has so much hatred for Johnny and her explanation just doesn’t all add up.”
Jungwoo pursed his lips, “There’s nothing we can do for them right now. Neither of them will see reason. I just don’t want this to come between Y/n and I’s friendship.”
“I’m sure it won’t,” Chohee placed a hand on his shoulder. “Y/n can separate her feelings for Johnny with your guy’s relationship.”
Jungwoo hesitated before whispering, “Is that why she ran out on you?” He gave her a sad look as Chohee gasped. “I’m sorry, but I think it’s too soon to say whether or not people are going to be hurt. I’m…gonna go now. Have Y/n text me when she gets back.” Jungwoo turned head down and walked down to his apartment.
~~
Tag List: @lanadreamie @beyond-gethsemane @michplusb @qianinterprises @stayctday @jaxminskale @nanascupid
~~
*Repost from previous blog*
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c-c-cherry · 4 years
Note
What's the most embarrassing thing each of the Bucci gang has done/has had happen to them?
Ok I took WAY too long on this but I loved this question so much and it was so fun coming up with these. Special thanks to my girl @jjadegreen for helping me!!
**This isn’t NSFW but I’d say its teen and up just because of some of the stuff talked about hehe**
______________________
Mista
-Pre-canon Mista was a bit sick one night so Bruno made him stay home while they all went on this one mission
-So naturally he’s like “HELL YEAH HOME ALONE”
-Bruno forgets his wallet and had to come back a little while later to get it and walks in on him wearing the following:
One of Abbacchio’s signature goth dress robe thing
Like 12 of Bruno’s barrettes all sticking to the top of his head
Fugo’s tie
Narancia’s bandana
All while BLASTING K-Pop at full volume in the living room. And our man is INTO IT. This isn’t just some radio coincidence shit, he was SCREAMING the lyrics. He owns the CDs.
-Bucciarati LOSES IT. Mista has never been so mortified in his life and Bruno has never laughed so hard in his life.
-He promises not to tell the rest of the gang but tells him it’s officially blackmail material
-They never speak of it again but at Christmas Mista opens Bruno’s gift and it's a brand new K-pop CD and everyone thinks its just a gag gift but like
-He definitely listens to it later alone in his room
Bucciarati
Bruno Bucciarati does not get drunk for two main reasons:
He blacks out every time
He’s an absolute lightweight
-The last time Bruno got absolutely piss drunk, he was with Abbacchio and it wasn’t even funny. It was just surreal because Bucciarati never lets himself go to such an extent
-For whatever reason Bruno is like “hey I never drink we should go to the bar or something” after a successful mission
-Even though the legal age of drinking is technically 16 in Italy they leave “the kids” home to watch mean girls or some shit
-Mista tags along too because he’s worried Bruno will get drunk and spill about the unfortunate “K-pop incident”
-My man Bruno drank like two beers and was immediately GONE like he got up and got lost in the bar after way too many drinks and ran into a drag Queen with Abbacchio’s hair
-Said drag queen became Bruno Bucciarati’s new drinking buddy
-He stumbles over to the karaoke contest and gets onstage and grabs the shitty bar mic and screams “THIS GOES OUT TO LEONE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH MWUA TWO YEARS HONEY~” and Mista is just like 👁👄👁
-Because uhhh they have literally been together for two years but everyone in the gang just thinks its a weird on/off thing because they never talk about it
-He sings dancing queen because its by ABBA and both Leone and Mista are fucking screaming with laughter and Abbacchio is filming the entire goddamn thing
-He buys the entire bar drinks they all love him so much
-Afterwards Leone tries to get them home so he leaves them outside while he takes a piss and when he walks back out THEY ARE GONE.
-Mista thought it would be a perfect time for them to get tattoos because his fucking capo is drunk off his ass and there is no better time
-Mista gets these two giant smoking guns on his back and his ass is in SO MUCH PAIN afterward that he leaves Bruno alone while he’s picking out his tattoo to get ice cream
-When he comes back Bruno has a tattoo ON HIS LEFT FOOT THAT SAYS “Never don’t give up.” The tattoo people tried to correct him but he insisted
-Abba finds them and is just like “jesus god” and takes them all to a hotel because there is no way in hell he’s taking them back home like this
-The next morning Bruno remembers absolutely NOTHING and as the gang admires Mista’s giant tattoo they ask if Bruno got one too and he’s like “god no I’m not that irresponsible”
-As soon as they’re alone Abba’s like “you got one on the bottom of your foot” and you can just see the moment Bucciarati’s soul leaves his body
Fugo
-Ok so if y’all didn’t know Fugo literally canonically wears a thong
-This isn’t sexualizing him (also I am indeed a minor don’t harass me) it's just a fact of life. You do you Fugo.
-So he sneaks out of the house once in a while and goes shopping for them cause our man’s gotta live, you know?
-He pops in the underwear store one day and you wanna know who he fucking passes by in the lingerie section?
-Bruno fucking Bucciarati.
-Which isn’t exactly a surprise considering he’s wearing visible lingerie in his tiddy window outfit but like
-That’s like running into your dad at femboy hooters
-Much to his dismay, the man spots him immediately and there’s just this...awkward silence as Fugo is holding this shopping basket of underwear and Bruno is holding the raunchiest piece of clothing he’s ever seen in his life
-They never talk about it again. Fugo finds a different store.
Abbacchio
-The most mortifying moment Abbacchio can live to remember is the first time he told Bucciarati that he loved him
-Pre-canon, our man is NOT having a vibing time
-He gets absolutely wasted with while Bruno’s at his apartment
-He’s the most miserable drunk, so he’s just fucking sobbing and Bucci is sitting there trying to console him and Abbacchio just looks up at him with tears streaking down his face and says “I’m in love with you” and the look on Bruno’s face just makes him feel even more miserable
-The entire night he keeps blubbering about how much he loves him and how much he means to him and how beautiful he is and the entire time Bruno is doing that thing where he tries to cover his face with his hand because our man is mega FLUSTERED up in here
-When he wakes up he remembers EVERYTHING and he wished he didn’t because then maybe he would be able to say that he didn’t mean it
-Bruno is surprisingly just like “Did you really mean it?” and he can’t lie so he just tells the truth and he’s just nonchalantly like “me too”
-Bruno thinks it’ll be a nice wedding story and Abbacchio no longer wants to live on this planet
Narancia
-Mista and Narancia are vibing in the living room one night and Nara tells Mista to grab his gameboy from upstairs
-He says its under his pillow (or else Bruno will take it away every night hehe)
-But you wanna know what else is under Narancia’s pillow? His Diary. No, it’s not a journal or just a blank book, Mista finds a book titled DIARY.
-And the shit in there is priceless.
“Bucciarati is sooo cool. I tried cutting my hair like his, but it didn’t really work. I think I gotta wear this hat for the next couple weeks. Shit. Fuck. If someone takes it off, I’m so fucked.”
“I clogged up the toilet yesterday and was too scared to tell Abba, so I just flushed it again but then the water wouldn’t stop flooding everywhere so I used Aerosmith to explode the toilet and told Abba that it was a stand attack. He believed me. If ANYONE ever finds out, I’m dead.”
“HOLY SHIT. I swallowed a tide pod yesterday and freaked out so I made Giorno turn it into a grape in my stomach with his stand. I almost DIED. But I didn’t so I’m over it. If Giorno ever tells anyone, I’ll kill him.”
-Narancia realizes about ten minutes after Mista left that HOLY SHIT HIS DIARY
-he finds Mista three quarters way through it and gives him $50 not to tell anyone about it.
-The shame never leaves, though
Trish
-Jade gave me a cute headcanon that Trish’s mom was still only teaching her how to properly put on makeup before she died (it's not like there was youtube or anything to teach her either) so our girl Trish only knows the basics
-She puts on lip gloss and blush and mascara and stuff but she’s never even TOUCHED eyeliner and rarely puts on eyeshadow. She doesn’t even wear concealer most of the time (she honestly doesn’t even need to, her skin is baby soft smooth)
-So long story short she kind of misses her mom and remembers how her mom was going to teach her a smokey eye before she died and is determined to teach it to herself now
-So she pulls a little heist and snatches some of Abbacchio’s makeup while they’re all out doing stuff
-She was not prepared for how heavy this shit was. She was used to the lighter, more natural stuff but Abba’s makeup is EXTREME.
-All of his stuff is waterproof so it doesn’t wash off while he’s crying at 3am and it’s just this—dark, heavy stuff.
-She actually hasn’t used a thick, real tube of lipstick before, only those little gloss tubes with the stick because she has smaller lips so when she crouches over with a small makeup mirror in fear of anyone somehow walking in on her and smears Abbacchio’s thick, dark purple lipstick on her lips, she knew she was absolutely fucked. She has no idea how to do this shit, especially not with dark, heavy goth makeup
-The smokey eye does not work. It’s just smeared eyeshadow EVERYWHERE, it looks like she has two giant, awful, black eyes and her first attempt at eyeliner was just—unspeakably horrible
-She has no idea where to start so she just puts on way too much of absolutely everything and immediately regrets it the moment she looks at herself in the bathroom mirror
-Abba comes home early and immediately realizes that some of his makeup is gone and he knows it has to be Trish
-He walks upstairs to confront her but just hears loud, ugly sobbing coming from her room and bursts in only to find her desperately trying to wipe off layers of caked-on water-proof makeup and absolutely failing
-The two of them spend all night taking it off all while Trish is still crying teary apologies to him
-To add in some wholesome Dadbacchio, he teaches her how to properly put everything on the next day <3
Giorno
-Some people forget that as a 15 year old, Giorno sometimes has absolutely no impulse control
-So when Polnareff tells him that he’s the spitting image of his evil, murderous, vampire dad he’s immediately like “haha well I’m gonna go dye my hair now”
-Everyone had something to do that day/night so Giorno waltzes over to the nearest drug store and grabs one of those at-home dying kits (he got dark green cause he thought it would look cool with his new outfit)
-He gets home and has absolutely no idea what he’s doing so he just thinks it’ll work out somehow
-Soooo yeah he does NOT put it in properly at all, he just kind of takes the shit and slathers it all over his hair and doesn’t do his roots and doesn’t put it up and leaves it dripping down his back and stuff and his stupid ass FALLS ASLEEP with the hair dye in
-He wakes up and the sheets are this really awful light green colour but he doesn’t pay any mind to it
-He looks in the mirror and from the front it actually looks good and he gets all excited and decides to wash it out
-When he gets out of the shower it’s this awful disgusting light light ugly green and he almost cries. Almost.
-It looks like someone dunked him in that Nickelodeon slime and he looks at the package and it says the dye will stay in for at least 3 weeks and there aRE TEARY EYES
-He spends the next hour in the shower trying to wash it out. It does not wash out.
-Utterly defeated with his hair matted and donuts practically falling apart, he stumbles over to his room and tries to wash the sheets covered in slime-coloured hair dye which *surprise!!!* doesn’t wash out either!
-He must dispose of the evidence, but of COURSE they’re out of garbage bags so he shoves all the dye kit stuff and the sheets into a mafia body bag and chucks it by the garbage can outside without a single thought
-Which he SHOULD have had a single thought about it, because when they get home and Narancia spots the body bag he’s like “holy shit guys I think Giorno killed someone while we were out”
-So they all panically pop into the house and cautiously try to find Giorno. Fugo finally finds him pacing around his room in the dark and when he flicks on the lights HO-LY SHIT.
-Fugo obviously bursts out into laughter and Bruno books it up the stairs and also starts cackling and Narancia is like “OH MY GOD YOU KILLED SOMEONE LOOKING LIKE THAT?!” and Giorno has to explain to them that the body bag is filled with stained bedsheets (much to his embarrassment)
-Abbacchio takes so many pictures and Giorno is having a nervous breakdown because he cannot live with his hair looking like this
-Bruno makes Abba fix it the next morning and he loves every second of Giorno’s mortification
-The pictures Abbacchio took of that night are framed next to the pictures of Bruno’s wasted karaoke night in his room
______________________
Thank you for the ask, anon!! I’m absolutely exhausted now haha so I’ll scroll through the rest of the asks when I wake up!!
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bakibakini · 4 years
Text
if this doesn’t show up in the tags too i’m gonna !! : ) ) also yes taking this from my old blog inbox sO SEND ME REQUESTS COWARDZZ
anonymous asked : May i request a few headcanons of bruno comforting someone whos experincing loneliness? (Can be platonic or romantic tbh i dont mind either way.) I apprechiate it please amd thank you ^^ also have a good day!!
✦ bruno buccellati comforting his s/o who’s experiencing loneliness ✦ headcanons
pairing : bruno buccellati x gn ! reader
genre : fluff , angst , comfort
notes : this one’s just soo cute !! & tbh even tho i’m surrounded by people i feel lonely very often so i felt it & i’d definitely love it if best mom comforted me ,, i hope ur still out there somewhere nonnie ily <3 i chose the romantic option btw !!
✧˖*°࿐
bruno buccellati : 
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it was hard ; no matter how many people surrounded you , deep down you couldn’t help but feel so alone . meeting up with the few people you were friends with helped push that feeling back when you were out and about , but coming back to your lonely home made all of your insecurities creep back up . 
you could go out with your friends every day for all you cared , but it still felt like you hardly had any sort of connection with them . sitting in your home while watching tv only solidified that feeling . was there really no one in this life that was meant for you ? 
and then you met him . bruno buccellati , who was known by many passersby as a helpful man overall . it seemed like he was there whenever anyone needed a helping hand and you were no exception ; he had prevented you from getting completely soaked in the pouring rain by holding up an umbrella over your shivering figure , successfully shielding you , but also damning himself to stand under the rain . still , his eyes held nothing but good intent and it made you feel warm despite how cold it was . the long - forgotten feeling came as a welcome surprise . 
you were a little socially inept , you had to admit , but you still managed to convince him to get underneath the umbrella with you , even if that meant you had to huddle together like a couple of penguins . even so , you noticed that his shoulder that wasn’t next to yours wasn’t fully under the umbrella . you were far too embarrassed to say anything , so you kept trekking on . 
after he walked you home , you practically begged him to let you take him out for a coffee in return for endangering his health like this . he reluctantly agreed with a chuckle and you reveled in the fact that your life had gotten a little more interesting , if only for a moment .
you had no idea why he chose to keep in touch with you after your little coffee meeting , but you were grateful . he exuded such a comforting presence that made you feel like this was it ; the genuine connection you’ve been craving for so long . 
so of course you had to go in and ruin it , blurt out that you have feelings for him out of the blue . you were nothing but a delusional idiot --
imagine your surprise when he told you he had fallen for you too . you were about to rejoice for your successful confession , but it was then that he also confessed to you that he was a part of the mafia , involved in dangerous ordeals that could put you in danger just by mere association , not to mention the missions he had to attend . you didn’t care though , you weren’t about to let go of this warmth that graced your life , you didn’t want to be alone again . 
but now , with your feelings out in the open , his missions became unbearable , the sinking feeling of loneliness growing bigger and bigger each day he was away , especially without the guarantee he’d be back safe and sound . you never told him about just how lonely you felt , even when around people , not wanting to burden him further , so you supposed he wasn’t to blame for not contacting you much throughout his mission , but it still felt horrid . 
and today was especially bad . it had been , what , a month now ? with hardly any word to boot . and it wasn’t just loneliness that came to greet you , all your other insecurities came hurdling at you at the same exact time .
you aren’t good enough , a disgusting excuse for a human , with nothing to offer to the world . no wonder you’re alone , all you do was act selfish with how much love you require from bruno , without giving anything in return . 
it was only a matter of minutes before you’re reduced to a crying mess on your bedroom floor . through your desperate wails , you hardly hear the footsteps , hardly feel the gentle touch that only barely manages to snap you out of it . 
are you dreaming ? or is it really him ? 
you don’t have to wonder for much longer , because you’re pulled into bruno’s chest without a second thought , head now resting in a frail manner against him . you’d been craving this touch , but even with it , you still couldn’t help but feel completely alone and detached . after all , how long would it really be before he up and left ? 
you manage to calm down a little in ten or so minutes , hiccuping here and there , but at least your bawling had come to a full stop . bruno , hesitant to ask if you’re alright , opted to rub soothing circles on the small of your back . 
“ i - i don’t understand ... ” you mutter , gasping for air after each little word . “ y - you’re here , s - so why do i still feel s - so lonely -- ”
oh . 
it clicks for him . your longing gazes , the way you cling to him at night , as if he’s going to leave you , how your playful pout every time he’s about to leave seems off due to the way you soon cast your head downwards . he wasn’t sure what happened to you to push you towards feeling so alone in the world , but at the moment he could only blame himself . he had to leave , it was inevitable , but he could’ve at least put some effort into contacting you , even if it was brief . 
“ y/n , i’m sorry , i - ”
“ what are y - you sorry for , i’m just being stupid , and selfish , and i don’t deserve y - ”
“ tesoro , look at me . ” he says gently and pulls away , tilting your chin upwards with his hand . his heart sinks at the sight of stray tears rolling down your reddened cheeks . “ you don’t need to apologize , i should’ve noticed . i’ll try better for you from now on , i promise . ”
you want to argue , to tell him that he doesn’t have to do all these things for you , but the way he looks at you with such softness and conviction makes your throat clog all over again , even more tears threatening to spill . this feeling ... isn’t it love ? 
“ i love you. ” he confirms for you and it’s the first time he’s said it too . he kisses your forehead . “ you’re perfect . ” then he plants his lips against your cheek . “ you’re perfect for me , so don’t ever think i’ll leave you - ” then your other cheek . “ - even if it’s hard , alright ? ”
he leans his forehead against yours , peering in your glossy eyes intently . “ please remember that you’re not alone anymore . ”
that does you in . you try to keep it in this time , but you can’t help it and the tears spill without a moment to spare . you’re back to being nestled in his chest as he whispers just how much he loves you . 
after that little ordeal , he does his best to show that he loves you every day . not just that , but he also takes the time to introduce you to his team in hopes it’ll help you get out of your shell and make friends . he didn’t mind you depending on him , but he didn’t want you to grow too dependent , because that’d be unhealthy for you . 
still , even if you do get out of your shell a little bit more and manage to bond with others , he leaves little notes for you every time he leaves and tries to text you whenever he can . 
he hopes that someday you’ll be able to be completely happy and free from your ails . 
✧˖*°࿐
OOF I POPPED OFF RIGHT -- 
( jjba / bruno ) tag list : comment to be added babess !
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Text
The Treatment of Captain Syverson-Chapter Eight: Heat/Ice
Pairing: Captain “Sy” Syverson x OFC (Shane Benton)
Summary: Playing hooky leads to more delicious food (Sy cooks! Swoon!), some deep conversation, and new revelations about Shane’s past.
What? You’re behind? Don’t worry! CLICK ME to catch up before reading this chapter!
Word Count: 2.5k
Warnings:  Language, mature themes, more food sluttiness, shameless nerd speak, unfettered and shameless sappiness.
Author’s Note: So, guys, I’m sorry. I really wanted to get this chapter to you Sunday. Life has just been a bit disheartening of late. Between being upset over some personal turmoil some friends are going through (two of my oldest friends are getting a divorce!) and coming home from work utterly exhausted on all possible levels, it’s been hard to write about lovey dovey things. As I said in my recent reblog of my masterlist, though, I’m working on some prologues, one for each character. I don’t plan on them being terribly long, but I want you guys to have some more back story.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism.
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@oddsnendsfanfics
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Hope I’m not forgetting anyone! If you want to be notified when I post a new chapter or work, I’ll be happy to add you to my tag list! Stricken blogs are getting personal messages from me when a new chapter is uploaded because Tumblr’s faulty tagging system will not stand in the way of me delivering what the people want!(?) lol! (Although…their lackadaisical notification system might…sorry for that. I have no control. lol!)
It was hard to feel guilty for calling out of work for the afternoon under false pretenses when she was curled up on the sectional in Sy’s “nerd lair” with his head in her lap as they watched John Wick on the massive TV he had down there.
“You mean to tell me we watched the entire Bourne franchise upstairs on that…that iPod Touch, by comparison, when we could have watched down here on this majestic monolith!? In what is essentially a theater!?” She’d asked immediately, derailing the grand tour of the museum of things she would soon find amazing.
“Hey, I haven’t been coming down here a whole lot since I hurt my knee. Stairs haven't exactly been easy or, ya know, possible. I had my gaming computer down here for weeks, too, couldn't do a damn thing about it, because I didn't trust a'one of my buddies or my neighbors to haul her up the stairs for me. Leia's a custom machine worth thousands a' dollars. If she's getting' broke, it's all gonna be on me."
"You named your gaming computer? Leia?" So many emotions were flooding her. Adoration, sympathy, lust, and just a sheer need to squeeze the bejeezus out of him.
"Yeah, it's a common thing. And…not to be that guy, but…you do know who Leia is, right?
"If by Leia, you mean Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan, true daughter of Darth Vader, adopted by Bail Organa at birth, sister of Luke Skywalker, hero of the Rebellion against the Empire?"
"Hey, I thought you wanted to take things slow, sunshine." he pulled her close, flush with his body. "Then you go talkin' all sexy to me like that." he lingered at her cheek with light kisses.
"Well, you did the same with your baseball talk the other night." she moaned into the contact with relish.
"I can't help it if certain sports terms have made their way into everyday speech. Your…exposition there, about my boyhood crush was intentional."
"You had a crush on Leia?" he nodded, shyly. "I had a crush on Han! Heck with Cap and Widow, THERE'S our couple's costume for next Halloween!" she said, excitedly!
"Oh, I didn't know you were talking about costumes for public use." he said, a naughty smirk in his eye.
"Stop it, you. Finish your tour. I want that soup on the stove." she said, patting her tummy.
He showed her the various memorabilia he'd procured over the years. Posters from a few of her favorites, and a few others that she recognized but wasn't as excited about. Die Cast models of several famous film vessels and vehicles, and a "life size" LEGO R2-D2 which would have had her salivating even if she hadn't been hungry. Apparently it took him almost a month to assemble the droid, but he did it all by himself.
"Aww…I wish I could have helped." she lamented.
"Maybe I'll pick up the Death Star and we can do that one together."
She nodded excitedly, eyes wide, rubbing her hands together in front of her chin with greed.
"Okay, little mouse." he chuckled. "Let's fill that belly and start this movie."
They filled massive bowls with generous portions and took the crackers down stairs so they could start the marathon. If they wanted to get through all three films tonight, they'd best get started.
They were both fairly quick eaters out of habit given her often truncated lunch breaks and his typical ten minutes in the mess hall. Even savoring the delicious creamy, cheesy concoction, as she tried to do, it was hard to slow down on. It did give her something to focus on during the first, emotionally devastating part of the film though. Once she finished, she expressed a final  groan of delight and thanked Sy, kissing him on his cheek as she held the other. She felt the smile bloom across his face as she prolonged the contact.
They were about halfway through the movie, a big fight scene in a night club, when something dark and grim hit Shane in the chest. Watching Keanu Reeves pretend to beat up and kill all of these actors and stunt men, it occurred to her that the man with his head resting gently on her lap, long body taking up the rest of that side of the sectional, had fought and killed. The man letting her play her fingers through his hair and beard had shot and blown up people. He was told to do it. Ordered to do it. But even though he was doing it lawfully and by military order, as far as she knew, it was still his job…at least some of the time. She knew that was an oversimplification of the function of the armed forces, but…sometimes, it was an apt description.
She had never thought of Sy like that before. Someone other than the strong but gentle teddy bear that had come to be such a comforting presence in her life. She needed that, after all she'd been through…she tried not to think about the hurt of her last relationship. She hadn't discussed it with Sy. It was history. Ancient history. But she was, after all, a believer in the fact that those who knew nothing of the past were doomed to repeat it. She'd tell him…one day. Everything that Elliott had done to her…had put her through. But not tonight. Suddenly, she thought being on the arm of a soldier, someone who'd lived the kind of life that Captain Logan Syverson had lived, might make her feel more safe than she had in ages.
"You're awful quiet, sunshine." he said, cracking a beer open and handing it to her before doing the same for himself and sitting down with his thick arm around her.
"Just…trying to be respectful of the movie experience. You know." she smirked at him as the menu music to the second movie played.
"It ain't that. I know this is still new, what we're doin', but I've watched enough movies with ya over the last few weeks to know that you don't keep quiet for a full length feature." Shane worried the tab on her cold Miller Lite. She wasn't sure how to bring this forward. "Spill it, sweetheart. What's eatin' ya?"
"What…what do you think about when you're watching movies like this, Sy?"
"Guess, same as anybody. How awesome the fighting and driving is. Wondering when Keanu got to be a badass. And if there's really an underground society of assassins. Why, hon?"
"I, umm, I only wondered if it…it doesn't make you miss…your job?"
The smile he gave her was both bemused and amused. "Come 'ere." he prompted her to lean her head into him, and sat his beer down on the buffet behind the couch so he could better hold her. "Do we need to go over the function of a captain of the Army of These United States? Because as flattered as I am that you think so highly of me, I'm no John Wick, nor do I know anyone like John Wick. Or five guys that would make one John Wick. Ten guys. Maybe twenty."
"The fighting doesn't bring anything back?" she smoothed the creases in his shorts as she tried not to act like she was over thinking his past.
"That fightin’s…it's like dancing. It's choreographed, precise, and the outcome is predetermined. Real fights are the exact opposite. They're chaos, unpredictable, and the right guys don't always win. Trust me, I've seen a lot of them go south in a big way." they both let a moment of silence pass before Sy broke it. "What’re ya really askin’, Shane?"
She wanted to ask so many things. The questions seemed to clog the ventricles of her brain like leaves in a rain gutter. Bottlenecked traffic.
"I just…couldn't help but think…about things you must have had to do when…when you were active, and I just…if you need to talk about anything, I'm here." She imagined that taking someone's life, no matter how personal or impersonal the act itself seemed on the surface, would create some level of emotional scarring.
“Oh, sweetheart." he kissed the top of her head, making her feel as warm and cozy as the soup had…perhaps more so. "You are important to me for so many reasons. You've shown me how to smile again. Laugh. Real, genuine happiness. No sarcastic shit like I had to use on my men in my squad. But although I'd feel comfortable talkin' to ya 'bout near anything, there's a counselor on the base who's specifically trained to help guys like me. Who've seen what I've seen and been through…similar situations. He makes sure I don't feel like less of a man for what happened to me. You make me feel…like more than a man…something stronger than I thought possible."
She was straining hard to corral the tears within her waterline, but they broke free when he squeezed her tightly to him with both of his massive arms.
"So…that HEP I gave you is working?" she laughed, knowing full well that his home exercise program had no bearing on the strength he meant.
"Come on, Shane." he raised an eyebrow at her, challenging her to see herself the way he saw her. "Them handouts you give me don't mean a hill o' beans in this conversation and you know it. The way you hold yourself, speak to others. There is so much quiet strength in your kindness that comes right out of your beautiful little heart. Some days I'll see you working with kids, if I get in early, and I know they annoy you and freak you out, but you never let that show." He looked into her eyes, misty from emotion, and he wiped away the tears from her cheeks. "I'll never be able to explain it right, the way you inspire me to be a better and stronger man. And my heart just breaks to hear you put yourself down. And don't say you're just kidding, because I know you think you are, but behind every one of those jokes is a truth, at least as you see it." He'd seen her make to argue and knew her tactic before she had attempted it. "Give yourself some credit, Shane."
"I'm too busy blaming myself for the bad stuff to give myself credit for anything good." she sniffed. "You're the first guy I've…I've been involved with that's acted like I was worth anything more than a meal ticket. Someone who was only suitable for enough sex to make it an official relationship just so they could have a place to live, and do whatever quasi-job was a thing. First serious boyfriend was a freelance writer, but he never seemed to be writing. Then there was the guy with the internet start-up…but he could never tell me in a satisfactory way what the company actually did…so that was brief."
He seemed to know she was bracing for something big. Something difficult. He gave her silence and stroked her shoulder in encouragement to continue. She took one of her deepest ever breaths.
"Then came Elliott. Elliott Thomas. My last boyfriend. The worst of them all. Most useless and greatest offender. I ignored all of the signs, of course. He had a YouTube channel and an Instagram that he was trying to gain followers on and become a so-called "influencer." she rolled her eyes. "He had no life skills. He had a bit of an eye for photography and he could find humor in uncommon places, which he thought made him insta-famous and vlog-worthy."
"I hate him already." Sy growled.
"Well, maybe I shouldn't tell you the rest, then." he asked her to go on. "He always seemed to find these ways to cheat on me and lie to me that I couldn't quite prove, but I was just certain of. But I just…I didn't want to believe it. I wanted THAT one to work. Well. I came home one night after work, and he had another girl in our bedroom. I told him he had until the next day when I got home to leave. Things got a little physical, but I can hold my own." she said, proudly, "and I bolted with my purse. I stayed with Heather, our evening secretary, and we hashed it out, and got a little blitzed on moscato, and cried together."
"Wow."
"He was gone the next day. All I heard from my landlord was, 'you shouldn't be hearing from him anytime soon.' so I guess he had his cop buddies send him a message. He blocked me on all social media and I haven't heard a peep from him since. That was five years ago."
"What a scum bag." he stated, obviously.
"Yeah, I haven't been able to really think about a relationship since then…until…" she let the word hang there, knowing they both knew what the end of the sentence was. "Until I met you." Drifting unsaid in the ether of the unspoken.
"It's been a long time for me too. I mean…I haven't quite been a monk, but I haven't…I haven't cared for a girl since…actually, I've never felt this way about anyone."
"I didn't mean to unpack all of that tonight when we're only a third of the way through our marathon. I really wasn't even going to bring it up at all. It's just…been on my mind. Ya know. I once heard a very poignant parable about keeping your mouth shut if you're warm and happy. I was attempting to do that." she chuckled.
"Yeah, but we need to be able to open up to people in this life. Keeping a bottle stopped under pressure ain't no good for the bottle. Or what's inside."
"Such wisdom. You know just what to say to me." she grinned into him.
"Just seen what keeping yourself closed off can do to a person. And the people they love."
Love…there was that word in the air. Not officially said, but felt in all ways. They held each other close as the opening to the second movie played.
Up Next: Chapter Nine-Group Therapy
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ridasverkisto · 4 years
Note
who are your top ten black clover characters and ships (romantic, platonic)? talk about them!
Oooooooh. This is gonna be a long one so buckle in. I’m also splitting the answer into two—so this is top ten ships, and I’ll do top ten characters in a separate post, because this is long. 😅
Before I get going, I’m just going to say this is in no particular order—I’m listing them in the order they come to mind, as I love all of these pairings for different reasons so it’s hard for me to rank them. I’ll also preface that for most of my pairings it usually doesn’t matter much to me whether it’s romantic or platonic, so long as they’re not. Y’know. Actual siblings/family/etc. Also for the purposes of this ask, I’m leaving out stuff like...the Black Bulls as a platonic ship tag. They’re found family, it’s sort of a given, so this isn’t going to focus on that. And before anyone asks, yes, I have crackships. I am not apologizing.
[If this needs a page break to keep from clogging tags lmk, btw]
1. Magna/Luck (and/or Magna & Luck, it’s the same to me)
What can I say? I’m a sucker for two dumbass best friends who share a brain cell living their best lives. Their dynamic is fun and interesting—Luck literally views Magna as fun and interesting and he loves bothering him because of how he reacts, while Magna started out hating it but grew incredibly fond of Luck’s antics.
They’re dumbasses, but they’re loveable dumbasses who bring out both the best and worst in each other, and I just love the way they interact. It’s great and I love them both so much 💕
2. Finral & Langris
Okay okay so. I know there’s baggage here, because Langris is an entitled little asshole trashbaby, but hear me out. Finral gets to be an older brother, exasperated with Langris and trying super hard to be a good sibling, while Langris is still a trashbaby but a softer one. Like.
They are Peak Sibling Energy, because I can see Langris insulting Finral because “polite interaction with my loser brother, how tf?” But the moment someone else tries to insult Finral, Langris gets annoyed. It’s the younger sibling Rights, only the sibling gets to insult the other siblings and if you try to get in on that fuck you. Meanwhile, Finral learns to be the responsible older sibling to Langris, and steps into being more responsible in other parts of his life while repairing his relationship with Langris.
Not going to lie, a lot of my love for this ship is because I’m probably projecting my own relationship with my own brother onto them to some extent, and my love for proper Sibling Energy has no bounds because that shit’s hilarious when done right.
Let Finral and Langris develop the weird half-unspoken language of siblings, let them reference embarrassing things and blackmail each other over stupid shit like “who’s going to go refill the teapot” or something!! Let them be petty and loving and protective as they learn to be siblings again, because growth!!!!
3. Julius & Yami & William
Why yes, I am a polyshipper. But mostly what I really like about this one is the history and the dynamics between the three of them.
On the one hand you have Julius, who’s hugely respected by the other two, basically mentored/parented them both, and loves them both a hell of a lot. (You can’t look at the way Julius looks at Yami and William and tell me that’s not love, fuck you)
On another, you have Yami; he’s the outcast, loner, stranger in a strange land who was given a support system and place to belong by Julius. He also struggles to understand the less forthright William, and is fiercely loyal. Like. This man loves and respects Julius so fucking much, and it’s shown through such small gestures, it’s amazing.
And finally, there’s William—who couldn’t chose between Julius and Patry, yeah. Who’s a coward and a troll and hides behind his words and masks, but has made the choice to atone for his mistakes. He feels a lot, and is so clearly trying to be better it hurts.
The way the three of them interact has a lot of history and intricacy behind it, and even with current events in the series, I really really love their relationship with each other. This isn’t a ship I love for fluff, but for the tension and aching weight of history and growing up that lies heavy on it. It’s got this lovely sort of pain to it that feels like nostalgia in the summer heat, knowing nothing is ever going to be like it was once and still deciding to hold onto what you have with both hands.
I never said I ship for fluff and romance—I’m here for dynamics, and these three have amazing dynamics. (I will note for this one that it’s one that I can’t see as romantic at all. Not the least bc Julius was literally in his twenties when Yami and William were like 15, bc ~fuck that shit~)
4. William/Dorothy/Rhya
Is this a crackship? Yes!
Have these characters barely if ever interacted on screen? Yes!
Am I probably the only person who thought of this ship and wants to see content for it? Yes!
Do I give a fuck? No!
Not gonna lie, I know this is a crackship of massive proportions. But I’m here for the dynamics and the dynamics here have the potential to just be so damn cathartic, okay?
If I go on a deep tangent about this ship it’ll end up being an entire essay, so that can wait for another day, so I’ll just...give you this: these three have a lot to give each other to challenge and help each other grow. There’s a lot of potential, and tension, and catharsis here. The contrasts and dynamics between the three of them would be interesting and immensely entertaining.
I’ll also shamelessly admit that a good portion of this is also fueled by my personal head canons of William being a trans guy, Dorothy being feminine presenting nb, and Rhya just straight up being pan and attracted to strong people. What can I say? I know what I like lmao 😂
5. Yuno & Asta
I’m a sucker for good friendly rivalries. Especially ones full of so much mutual respect!!! Like, they both respect each other and care so fucking much is amazing ❤️
And don’t get me wrong, I get the people that ship them romantically and I’ll read it; but I see their relationship as more sibling rivalry/platonic than anything else.
You can’t look at Yuno being a Dramatic Bitch to get on Asta’s nerves and tell me that’s not Peak Sibling Energy, because I tell you I have done the exact same to my own brother. Let them be dorks and friends and brothers, bc it WORKS.
6. Rill/Charmy/Langris
Yes, yes this is another crackship. No, I do not care! And yes, i am aware it will very likely never be canon.
I just really like the image of Langris being reluctantly folded into the dynamic of two cinnamon rolls who could probably flatten him if they really wanted to. And Langris slowly coming to the realization that he actually really likes them and cares for them, even if he is a bit tsun-tsun about expressing it sometimes.
Plus, y’know, Rill and Charmy won’t indulge his asshole-ier behaviors, and if he pisses Charmy off he’s very likely to get his ass kicked.
I can’t really explain it more than that other than I just really really like the dynamics with this trio and I hold it very close to my heart 💕
7. Finral & Vanessa
Let them be friends!!! Let them be platonic best friends!!!! I love their dynamic, esp if you expand on it and take a look at how Finral and Vanessa can play off of each other. BEST FRIENDS.
8. David & Letoile
I know everyone likes to think of them as the chaotic one and the no-nonsense one, but consider: Letoile getting wrapped up in David’s shenanigans bc they’re just as ride or die as Magna and Luck are. Everyone thinks of her as the other holder of the Golden Dawn’s self restraint, and she sort of is, but her standards of what should be restrained is very different from Klaus’s.
9. Julius & Marx (can also be Julius/Marx, but only prior to the whole deaging thing)
Wholesome ship! It’s already obvious that they care about each other a lot in canon, so let that be expanded upon and developed more. It also adds the fun bit that the issues with Julius running away from his paperwork become even more comical with the added context. It starts to feel less like a subordinate yelling at their commandeer and more like an old married couple or something 😂
10. Leopold & Asta & Yuno & Noelle
Three competitive dumbasses and the exasperated one who makes it worse. I love them all and I think they make the best fucking quad friend group;; let them be friends, please. Please. Just the shenanigans they would get into makes me cackle with glee.
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thecassadilla · 4 years
Text
Change of Pace - Chapter 2
Pairing: Kristanna
Chapter 2 on AO3 
Chapter 1
Word Count: 3,332
Summary: With her sister’s blessing, Anna takes a step back from her royal duties and finds herself working for a ski resort nestled in the mountains. A chance encounter with the resort’s maintenance technician leads them down an unexpected path, as they must work together to plan the resort’s annual ball - and maybe fall in love in the process.
Author’s Note: Hi everyone! Sorry to leave you all with a cliffhanger last week! This chapter picks up on the same day but from a different perspective ;). I’m thinking I’m gonna update on Tuesdays every week if that’s cool? Or should I try to update more often? Also, if you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoy the holiday safely! Sorry for all the asterisked words - tumblr likes to censor and remove posts from tags if they have “bad” words in them, but the uncensored version is on AO3. Enjoy!!!
There were very fews words that Kristoff Bjorgman would use to describe his life; miserable, mundane, ordinary. From the minute he woke up in the morning until the minute he went to bed at night, he wished he were someone or somewhere else.
Nobody stayed in Valley of the Living Rock - often shortened to Valley - if they could help it. The main draw to the area was Valley Ski Resort, which was nestled in the mountains. For decades, the town flourished during the winter months, but suffered as warm weather drew near due to the resort’s influence. Most of the people who stayed in town year round lived above their means, as it was difficult to find and keep work when the money practically dried up in the summertime. That all changed when the resort began to expand - adding amenities such as a pool, archery, horseback riding, and a multitude of events that attracted people during the hottest months of the year.
After the resort expanded, the local government decided to put money into the town itself, enticing visitors to venture away from the resort during their visits and see what the town had to offer. Tourists began to appreciate Valley itself as a picturesque, quaint town they could visit during their stay at the resort, and money began to pour into the local economy. Deciding to take full advantage, the decision was made for the main street to be transformed to a “Winter Wonderland,” with the storefronts adorning themselves with string lights, wreaths, and pine garland in the colder months. Business boomed and as the years went on, more and more people came to visit.
For Kristoff, life in Valley was bleak. Abandoned at birth, it was difficult to navigate the foster system as a small, generally “unwanted” child. He was bounced around a lot in his early years before becoming one of the lucky few who managed to find a family willing and able to foster him until adulthood. But people talked, and in small towns like his, that gossip traveled fast. By the time he made it to high school, he had hardly any friends. The only good thing that had ever happened to him - aside from his family - was his ex-girlfriend, Joslyn. She moved to Valley in their senior year of high school, and was as much of an outcast as he was. They became fast friends and eventually started a relationship. She stuck around for a few years and attended the local community college while they dated, but like everyone else who had the opportunity, she eventually moved on. The breakup was amicable and he admittedly missed her from time to time, but also understood that where she was going was bigger and better than what Valley - and he - had to offer. 
As a junior in high school, he’d managed to snag a job at Valley Ski Resort as a janitor, and then after he graduated, he took courses in plumbing, electricity, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in order to be promoted to a maintenance technician. It was a year round job with sh*tty pay, but it put food on the table and he had to take whatever he could get. On the bright side, it was a step up from cleaning bathrooms and mopping floors. There was no escaping Valley, for a person like him.
He didn’t mind the work at all, but there were few words to describe how much he loathed the hotel. The people who visited were willing to spend a fortune on the amenities, but were generally unkempt behind closed doors. He could think of several occasions where he’d nearly slipped on a used c*ndom after being called to a guest room for maintenance, or how frequently the pipes would clog because people were determined to flush non-flushable items. 
But still, he went to work everyday, and waited to go home. He did what he had to do and he hated every second of it. The only advantage of working at the resort was the employee ski pass that came along with it. He frequently spent his weekends navigating the slopes and had worked his way up to expert-level. Coasting down the side of a mountain was freeing. For those few hours, he could put aside the monotonous life that he lived and could focus on what was right in front of him. 
On this particular day, he had a sinking feeling about heading into work. He just knew that something bad was going to happen - he could feel it in his chest. He debated calling out, but because he couldn’t afford to miss a day without pay, he had to go in, bad feeling or not. The feeling only got worse as he climbed out of his car and stared at the main building in front of him.
The interior of the resort was in desperate need of an upgrade; faded, worn-out gray carpet covered the floors of the lobby area, and old-school style wood paneling laced the walls. The guest rooms in the central building remained the least expensive as a result of this, and as part of the resort’s expansion process, dozens of stand-alone cabins were built on the property. Difficult to maintain, but guests were willing to pour money into spending a week in a luxury cabin with the same amenities as a hotel but with the added benefit of a home-y feel. 
He walked in through the employee entrance, which happened to be situated right next to the lobby area but was only accessible from the outside. Down a long stretch of hall and then to the left sat the maintenance office. One of the perks of the job was that he didn’t have to wear coveralls like he did when he was a janitor; just dark-colored jeans, a company-provided shirt with the hotel’s name stitched onto the front, and work boots. He dropped his jacket in his locker, grabbed one of the work cell phones so that the front desk could reach if he was needed for a repair or other issue, and walked into the main office, where his boss, Andrew, was scrolling through his email.
“Hey, man,” he said.
The other man glanced back for a second before returning to his work. “Hey, Kristoff.”
“What’s on the agenda today?”
“Nothing crazy,” Andrew responded. “A couple of rooms complained of low water pressure, so we’ll have to check that out. It’s probably calcium buildup that’s clogging the showerheads, or a clog, or something. But aside from that, it seems like it’s going to be a pretty normal day.”
He heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank god.”
He didn’t mind working with Andrew; he was quiet and kept to himself, which Kristoff appreciated. It was easier to work with someone who didn’t waste half the day with gossip or other nonsense. Having a job was about getting work done, after all.
Andrew had a list of the rooms that had been experiencing the low water pressure from the front desk complaints, so when he finished answering his emails, they set off to figure out what exactly was happening and why it was happening. “I bet another pipe froze again.”
“This hotel is so old, do they even realize that the pipes probably have to be replaced?”
“They know, they just won’t listen,” Andrew said, shaking his head. “This is going to be a losing battle for the rest of eternity.”
Just as they made it to the first floor of guest rooms, a call came over on Andrew’s work phone. They stopped in the middle of the hallway so he could pick it up. 
“Hello, this is Andrew from maintenance,” he answered, scrunching his face up in concentration. “They said the water smelled bad? Did they say if it was a weird color or anything?...okay, we’ll look into it. Thanks.”
“Another water complaint?” Kristoff asked, once Andrew had hung up the phone.
“Yeah, something weird is going on today.”
“Probably a frozen pipe, like you said.”
They knocked on the door of the first guest on their list, and a woman answered. “Are you the maintenance guys?”
“We are ma’am. The front desk told us that your water pressure is low, do you mind if we come in and take a look?”
The woman shook her head. “I didn’t say low water pressure. I said no water pressure - as in, there’s no water, at all.”
The two men exchanged a worried glance before Andrew spoke up again. “Do you mind if we have a look?”
The woman didn’t answer, but stepped out of the way so they could walk into the room. They went into the bathroom, and attempted to turn the faucets to no avail. 
The woman was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. “Well?”
“We’re trying to figure out what’s going on, ma’am. We’re going to check in with a few more guests and the front desk will get back to you.” 
“I’m taking my family skiing, and all I have to say is that the water better be working when I get back or someone will be getting an earful from me. I did not spend all of this money to wind up in a room with no water!”
They nodded in an attempt to placate her and as soon as they made it back into the hallway, she slammed the door in their faces. 
“God, I hate this place,” Kristoff muttered.
“I don’t understand how people on vacation can be so f*cking miserable. Management will make sure they get a more expensive room on the house if there’s nothing we can do about it, so I don’t really see the point of throwing a fit.”
“I know. It’s kind of disgusting how entitled some of these people are. I understand the frustration, but don’t yell at the people who are trying to figure out what the problem is.” Kristoff shook his head. “Let’s go to the next one.”
The routine seemed to repeat itself; the rooms were occupied by extremely angry guests who were experiencing a myriad of plumbing issues - either little or no water pressure, foul smelling water, or rust-colored water.
“Something big is going on here. Bigger than just a frozen pipe,” Andrew deduced, after visiting several guests’ rooms and being called a few more times by the front desk. “I can’t figure out what it is though.”
“Do you think a pipe burst somewhere?” he suggested.
Andrew shrugged. “I can’t imagine where. There are guests in basically every area of this hotel and no one has called about a leaking ceiling. Unless it was something in the basement.”
“We should go check.”
The two men scrambled to the basement, but as cold and neglected as it was, there were no signs of water damage anywhere. Just a lot of dust and noise from the systems that were housed down there.
“I’m stumped,” Andrew admitted, throwing his hands in the air.
“It has to be somewhere in the building. None of the other buildings or lodges have complained about issues with their water, right?”
The other man skimmed the list in his hands. “Nope, just this one.”
“Are there any places that guests and employees normally wouldn’t go during the day? The lobby’s fine, the children’s center is fine...wait, what about the ballroom?” Kristoff snapped his fingers.
“Oh sh*t, we should check the ballroom,” Andrew agreed. “No one goes in there unless they’re having some kind of an event.”
“I bet that’s where we’re going to find our problem.”
They raced back up to the first floor and passed the front desk to the corner of the hotel that housed the ballroom. Andrew searched through his massive ring of keys before locating the one that unlocked the doors. 
“Holy f*ck,” Kristoff gasped, his eyes widening at the site in front of him. 
The entire room was destroyed. The ceilings had caved as a result of the massive amount of water that had pooled from the burst pipe. Nearly everything in the room had been destroyed from either the water damage or from the impact of the broken pieces of ceiling landing on it. The walls were moist, and there was a considerable amount of water remaining on the floor. 
“How the hell did no one hear this?!” Andrew bellowed.
“This...is bad,” Kristoff said, shaking his head. “This is thousands of dollars worth of damage.”
“I need to get Bonnie on the phone,” Andrew said suddenly, walking away from the scene.
Kristoff continued to stare in the meantime; the room was significantly damaged. First and foremost, the pipes would have to be replaced - immediately. They were already going to be spending a large amount of money for the repairs, and they definitely couldn’t afford to lose the income that guests would bring in by occupying the rooms in that building. They’d have to drain the water that pooled on the floor, rip out the carpet and gut the walls, throw away all of the destroyed tables and chairs. 
When Andrew came back a few minutes later, he was not happy. “Bonnie is on her way and she’s having a cow.”
“Can you blame her? This is a nightmare.”
“I need to see if I can get any of the other guys in today. They’re going to be p*ssed.”
“I’m here and I’m p*ssed,” Kristoff scoffed. “I knew I should’ve called out today.”
“Good thing you didn’t because I would’ve had to haul your a*s in anyway.”
“Yeah, right. Zach calls out once a week and no one ever does anything about it. The rest of us are forced to pick up his slack all the time - if I called out once, it wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Trust me, Zach isn’t going to be employed here for much longer.”
Bonnie finally arrived a moment later with a panicked look on her face and interrupted their conversation. “What the h*ll happened?”
“See for yourself, boss,” Andrew answered, motioning to the entrance to the ballroom.
Bonnie peered inside before staggering back and raising her hands to her face. “Oh my god.”
“The damage is severe, Bonnie. The repairs are going to be time-consuming, and you’ll have to postpone any events that they were planning on holding here,” Andrew spoke up. “Most importantly, the guests in this building have to be relocated until we can replace the pipes.”
Bonnie nodded, and for the first time that Kristoff had ever observed, she was totally speechless. In all his years of working around her, he’d never seen her so quiet.
“I’m working on getting my other guys in here,” Andrew continued. “This is not going to be an easy fix.”
“Alright,” she said, before pointing at Kristoff. “You go tell the front desk to start working on getting the guests out of this building and then come back here.”
“Yes, ma’am.” 
He couldn’t help but roll his eyes once his back was turned; this was not his job. He wasn’t an errand boy. But because he wasn’t trying to lose his job, he begrudgingly followed her instructions. Once he arrived in the lobby, approached the first person he saw at the front desk, a brunette woman with thick black eyeliner who he recognized from high school.
“Hey, you need to -”
She raised a finger, but didn’t look in his direction. “Hold on, I’m helping my guest.”
“This is important.”
“Sir, you should get in line.”
He glanced over at the line - which was long, because it was checkout time, of course - before interrupting again. “I have orders from Bonnie -”
That seemed to catch her attention. “Let me get my manager out here.” 
“Thanks.”
A few moments later, the manager appeared from a door behind the front desk. “How can I help you?”
“I work in maintenance,” Kristoff explained. “Bonnie needed me to tell you that guests can’t stay in this building for a couple of days. A pipe burst and there won’t be any water in most, if not all, of the rooms.”
The manager's eyes widened. “O-okay. What about the restrooms on this floor? Or the restaurants and the bakery?”
“We’re not sure what the situation is with those areas of the hotel.”
She nodded. “Okay, well keep me posted. There are a lot of places on this floor that require the use of water.”
“Has anyone called to complain from any of those places?”
“Not yet.”
“Well, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that they’re unaffected, but I’m sure Bonnie will be in touch soon.”
“Thank you.”
He gave her a slight nod before turning around and walking back towards the ballroom; for the first time that day, someone had actually been appreciative and not downright condescending about the situation. He was just glad that she didn’t rip him a new one like all of the guests had earlier. 
“Good, you’re back,” Bonnie said once he finally made it back to the ballroom.
“Any updates?”
“I just made contact with the people in the event planning office,” Bonnie explained. “They’re coming down now. I need you to wait out here for them, so you could tell them about the damage. The annual ball is in three months and this was their venue.”
“I should probably start clearing stuff out of there,” he insisted, hoping to remind her that he was not her personal secretary or a professional bearer of bad news. “We can’t start gutting it out until the water is drained and all of the damaged furniture is removed.”
“You need to stay right here,” Bonnie said snidely, placing a hand on his shoulder before walking away.
“Is she serious?” he wondered aloud, his mouth agape. He really was her errand boy, wasn’t he?
“Hey man, Scott and Dan are both on their way in now,” Andrew said, approaching from inside the ballroom. “Liam and Eli are outside doing snow removal. I’m trying to get in touch with a couple of the other guys, but some of them have to be in for the overnight shift. Management has to take pictures of the damage for insurance reasons before we can touch anything, but we should be able to start getting rid of the furniture later today.”
“I have to wait here and break the bad news to the event planners,” he responded bitterly. “Because I’m not the maintenance guy today, I’m her errand boy.”
Andrew shook his head. “She’s really pushing her luck. She should be the one to tell them since we warned her that the pipes would need to be replaced a long time ago and she brushed it off.”
“You know, I had a gut feeling that today would suck. Wish that I could’ve been wrong.” 
“Should’ve checked the calendar, man. It’s Friday the thirteenth.”
He scoffed. “I’m not superstitious.”
Andrew shrugged before taking a few steps backwards. “I’m just saying.”
As soon as Andrew’s back was turned, he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. It was quite the coincidence that this had all gone down on a day historically known for the bad luck it brought. He reminded himself that he didn’t believe in that stuff; this was a real life situation that had only happened because of sheer negligence from Bonnie and the other people who ran the hotel. If they had just listened from the start and had replaced the pipes when Andrew recommended they should, they wouldn’t even be in this mess. He didn’t necessarily believe in curses either, but at this point, he was convinced he’d done something wrong in life that warranted this misery. 
Until he spotted a gorgeous redhead he didn’t recognize being dragged in his direction by the half-a-head shorter lady he knew from around the hotel, and he was suddenly aware of a new sensation different from the misery and dread he was used to - a hopeful fluttering in the pit of his stomach.  
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My Best Friend’s Wedding
Billy Hargrove x Reader, Steve Harrington x Reader (One Sided), Robin Buckley x OC
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Word Count: 7,363
Warnings: Crying, heartbreak, true love!!!!!
Author’s Note: Um...hi. So, I’m back. It’s been awhile. How are you? I’m okay, little nervous to post since my last story flopped really badly, but again I’m confident in this one and that you’ll like this story. I sure do! As always, leave some comments if you like it and criticism if you don’t I like both! I love hearing what you think!
Tag List: @hotstuffhargrove @moonstruckbucky @thechickvic @alex--awesome--22 @lilmissperfectlyimperfect @so-not-hotmess @hawkeyeharrington @sunflowercandie @kaliforniacoastalteens @songforhema @spidey-pal @mickmoon @buckybarneshairpullingkink @baebee35 @myrealloveissleep @allfandomxreader
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Steve Harrington was getting married. What a douchebag thing to do. Marrying the first girl to say that she loved him. You’d been doing that for twenty-one years. And he decided to marry a girl that he hadn’t even introduced to you yet. You’d been his best friend since birth. You couldn’t believe it.
He told you on your winter break. Both of you had only been home for a few days. Steve had gone to Gary to train at their police academy and you’d gone to Indianapolis for college. You both returned home for winter break. You were hoping to enjoy a couple weeks back with your best friend. You’d planned your whole break around it. But you couldn’t even get him to leave the house for ten minutes the first week home. You hadn’t met her yet, but you’d heard her voice when you called. Steve said her name was Cathy. She sounded like she was fifteen. She literally answered the phone by saying ‘yellow?’ like a damn character in Valley Girl. What a fucking joke.
To say you were jealous was an understatement. Steve was your guy. Your best friend. Your one true love. He didn’t know that part yet, but it was obvious. You had the chemistry, you had the mutual attraction, and you had the spark, that bit of electricity Steve had been in search of since you were thirteen. You were it. But there Steve was with Cathy. He brought her to dinner. She was a freshman at Ivy Tech. She was studying nursing. She had mousy brown hair and high cheekbones. She looked like Nancy Wheeler, but with a sweeter, easier going personality. She didn’t know that Steve pissed his pants after seeing Poltergeist. She was everything Steve thought he wanted. He’d be bored of her in five years.
You pouted through that dinner and the rest of the break. Steve barely paid you any mind, he was too busy flashing his hot new soon to be trophy wife around. Her round cut diamond ring on its ugly notched yellow gold band flashing in the sunlight on her pale, milky skin making your blood boil. You just knew he bought her a new ring, his grandmother’s engagement ring was much smaller and classier than what she had on. She made him buy her a new ring. God, what a fucking bitch.
You went back to Indianapolis enraged. You flew through the small towns in your crappy car to get back home. Your roommate, Robin, made it back to your tiny apartment before you did, which meant that Billy Hargrove had his feet up on your coffee table. You let out a beleaguered sigh when you saw the soles of his dirty white tube socks waving to you from atop your psychology textbooks.
“Hargrove, feet off the books. They cost more than you do.” You groaned, dropping your army style duffle bag by your door. Billy chuckled, doing as you asked. You felt his eyes run over you, which you didn’t entirely get the point of. You looked the same, although slightly greasier from your long drive home.
“You don’t know my rates, kid.” He replied, wiggling his eyebrows at you. You rolled your eyes, waving a polite hello to Robin, who was watching the scene with a bemused look from the kitchen. You headed to your bedroom without another word, hoping for solace in the solitude of your private space. You felt like dying the second your knees hit the mattress. He was leaving you.  He was leaving you for a boring brunette named Cathy. He was leaving you for someone who didn’t even laugh at his jokes. The love of your life was marrying someone else. It hit you like running full force into a brick wall. Your brain felt like it was shaking in your skull, your nose crushed into your face as tears began to carve burning streams down your face and your nose turned red and stuffy. You were very aware of the fact that people were in your apartment, that if Robin was home then she’d call Beth and the three of them would probably spark up and would coming knocking on your door soon. But in that moment, you needed to cry. You needed to let go of every ill feeling that had been clogging your chest since Steve had told you of his plan.
You didn’t know how long you’d been in there for, your only sense of time being the markers of when the stereo turned on and off. When you heard a knock on your door, you didn’t move. Whoever was on the other side would just invite themselves in anyway.
“Hey, we’re going to get some food, you coming or-” Billy’s sentence came to an abrupt end when you lifted your face from the pillow, mascara streaking your cheeks. “Oh shit.” He shut the door fast. You both heard Robin yelling from behind the door for him to hurry up, but neither of you moved. Billy didn’t seem quite sure of himself, as if he didn’t know what to do now that he’d closed the door.
“I’m good, go on Hargrove.” You sighed, wiping hard at your damp and warm skin.
Billy didn’t move. “Are you gonna be okay?” he asked quietly.
“Does it look like I’m okay?” you bit back bitterly. You wished he would leave you be. Billy was the last person you wanted to see you cry, much less to be there to comfort you. He wasn’t your damn friend, you hardly knew him. He was just the guy who hung out in your living room and ate your food. He was Robin’s friend, not yours.
“What happened?” he asked, venturing closer to you.
You let out a sigh. Well, at least he wouldn’t tell Steve about this. “Harrington’s getting married.” You replied, your voice cracking. You needed a drink of water or something, crying had truly drained you.
“Isn’t he your age? You can barely drink.” He scoffed. It was almost refreshing. He seemed to not believe it as much as you did.
“Yeah, he is and he’s marrying a near stranger. They’ve only been together like eight months.” Your mouth turned up in a nauseated scowl. Billy watched your lips as they curled up in disgust. He smirked, trying to hold back a bubble of laughter. You looked so genuinely turned off by the thought, it was funny.
“So he’s an idiot. Why cry over him?” Billy asked, sitting down carefully on your bed. You pulled your legs up to your knees, wrapping your arms around them, tucking your chin behind them.
“Because he’s my idiot…” you muttered softly. Billy raised an eyebrow, egging you on. “I love him. I’ve loved him since I was ten years old…”
“Damn…” Billy breathed out.
“I know…” you replied, wiping your eyes on your long grey sleeves.
“You have awful taste.” He said. You gasped, throwing a pillow at his head. It hit with a smack, sending him falling back a bit, his big callused hands sliding back to support himself. You burst out laughing as it hit, you usually had pretty bad aim so you were shocked when it hit. You clasped a hand over your mouth, your eyes crinkling as you tried to hide your glee. Billy rolled his eyes, but his infamous smirk pulled at his lips.
“You don’t know Steve like I do!” you giggled, dodging the pillow as it came back at your head.
“And you don’t know him like I do.” Billy replied. He didn’t actually aim the pillow near your head, he knew he’d hit you square in the head and he didn’t want to hurt you. Your bedroom door flew open and Robin stood in the doorway, adjusting her leather jacket around her shoulders, the hood of her bright red hoodie poking out of the back and over the collar.
“Nerds are you coming with or are you having a sleepover? Beth and I are starving.” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest with a stern expression.   You could see Beth pulling up her long brown hair behind Robin, her emerald green fitted coat buttoned up as high as it would go and her burgundy scarf tucked into it. The weather must have turned on them, the temperature dropping again.
“Geez, yeah gimme a second.” You grabbed your lavender coloured cardigan from its place on the bed next to you and pulling it around yourself as you climbed out of bed. Billy followed behind you, shrugging as Robin raised an eyebrow at him.
From that point on, Billy became your wedding confidant. As the date was set and began to loom closer and closer, he stood by you, listening to you rant about Cathy and Steve and their fucking bliss. You were going to be a bridesmaid, Cathy asked you since Steve’s mother wouldn’t let him make you a groomsman. They were having a June wedding. It was going to happen in Carmel, in the same hall his parents had gotten married in. Steve’s parents were paying for everything, including your awful magenta taffeta nightmare. Billy listened to everything you could come up with, every awful insult you’ve come up with for Cathy. He watched you laugh, you cry, you scream at the sky. For the first time in knowing you, he genuinely felt for you.
In March, you got your invitation to the wedding, along with a note from Cathy. Apparently, all her other bridesmaids had dates and that you should bring a date too, so you wouldn’t be awkward. You wanted to strangle the girl. Billy was sitting on your couch when you walked into your apartment, dropping your heavy book bag on the floor, invitation still held in hand and mouth agape.
“Hey, what’s up?” Billy asked, flicking his gaze away from the magazine in his hands.
You looked up briefly “Shouldn’t you be in class?” Billy was in trade school. He was supposed to be learning to be an electrician. Instead, he had his dirty feet on your coffee table.
“I don’t feel ready yet. What’s that?” he pointed to the eggshell coloured expensive paper in your hands.
“Oh, just my invitation to the Harrington-Bray wedding and a lovely note from the bride herself.” You smirked, kicking off your tennis shoes before joining Billy on the couch. He immediately wrapped an arm around your shoulders and you leaned into him, resting your head on his shoulder.
“What’s she bugging you about now?” he asked, unable to hide the small, satisfied grin that pulled at his lips as you snuggled into him. He was glad that your attention was still on the invitation.
Yeah, he was utterly fucked over you. He wasn’t ashamed to admit it to himself. He would never admit it to anyone else, but he wasn’t going to pretend that he didn’t have feelings for you. He did. Sometime between finding you crying in your bedroom and now, he’d fallen head over feet into a pit of mushy gushy feelings that he hadn’t had to tackle before and he couldn’t escape. Before you, women fell into about three categories: old ladies in charge, women he could fuck, and women he wouldn’t fuck. But you didn’t fit into any category. Well, I mean you fit very neatly into the women he’d fuck category, but you were more than that. He wanted to make you happy, to help you when you’re upset and to harm anyone who hurt you, and to protect you from harm’s way. You felt precious and special to him, something he didn’t quite know how to tackle. So, he ignored it. He hoped you couldn’t feel the way his heart pounded in his chest as he looked over the invitation you held loosely in your right hand.
“Well, Cathy has informed me that all her other bridesmaids have dates and that, to not stand out, I should bring one too. Because wouldn’t it be fucking loopy if I didn’t have a damn date.” You huffed out a breath, crossing your arms over your chest.
Billy paused for a moment. Then, squeezing his eyes shut, he took a risk, his first in months. “I’ll go with you if you need a date.” He said.
You furrowed your brow “Why would you want to go? You hate Steve.” You asked.
“Well, for one thing watching Harrington make the biggest mistake of his life in a monkey suit will be pretty funny.” He said, earning a smack in the chest from you. “And for another, I want to help you out. You need a date, I’m there.”
You picked up your invitation, looking it over sceptically. “Are you sure? I mean it’s in the beginning of June, I don’t want to drag you away from your finals or anything, I don’t know when you’re done school for the year…”
“Yeah, it’s not a big deal, my exams are in a couple weeks anyway.” Billy replied with a shrug. Even if his finals were during that week, he would’ve skipped them to go with you. He wanted, no he needed to be there with you. He didn’t give two shits about Harrington, he could make mistakes whenever, but he had to be there to hold your hand when you needed him to.
“You’re gonna have to wear a monkey suit too you know.” You said with a small smirk.
“Its fine, I think mine still fits from my dad’s funeral.” He replied. You sat up, pulling a pen from the spirals of one of your forgotten notebooks and checked off the ‘plus one’ option on your invitation.
“Chicken or Steak?” you asked, checking off the chicken option for yourself. “Oh and also? You can’t laugh at me in my dumb dress. I got sent pictures of it and it’s bad. It’s really bad.”
“Steak and I won’t. I’ll be too busy laughing at everything else.” He chuckled, earning another smack in the chest from you before you checked off the plus one card Cathy’s expensive invitations had provided.
For the next two months, you did everything you could to ignore Cathy’s calls. She invited you to the bridal shower and the bachelorette party, both of which you refused with the same excuse. Steve called you twice to bitch you out. The third time he called to complain, you actually fought back.
“Y/N, can you please try with Cathy? She’s trying to be nice.” Steve groaned. You were sat on the couch, having forced Robin to turn down the radio so you could actually hear Steve on the other end. She and Beth were just making out anyway; they didn’t need to have it up so loud anyway. Hearing Debbie Gibson on top volume didn’t make anything more romantic.
“I am trying; I’m in her bridal party aren’t I? I’m coming up three days before the wedding to help her get ready. Isn’t that enough?” you tried, twirling the phone cord around your fingers.
“She was really upset that you didn’t come up for her bridal shower or her Bachelorette party.” Steve replied.
“I had exams during her bridal shower and I couldn’t afford to take the time off work for the party. I’m not rich like your families are Steve. I have rent to pay and classes to pass. If I fail, I don’t have a soft place to land like you do Steve.” That wasn’t exactly the kindest thing to say in the moment, but you were tired of this conversation. You felt like you’d been having it for weeks.
“That’s not fair, Y/N, you know that’s not how my life is.” Steve said.
“Oh really? Then why are your parents paying for your whole wedding? Why is your dad holding a job for you at his company? Why is Cathy already invited to the country club with full membership? Why does she spend her breaks at her family’s ski lodge in Aspen? Steve, you’re not as put upon as you like to act. I’m doing everything in my power to be there for you and Cathy, but my life and experiences are different than yours.”
Steve hung up without a reply, effectively ending the conversation there. You hung up the phone with a slam, crossing your arms over your chest. What a fucking jerk! He didn’t have the right to treat you like shit, especially over damn Cathy. You’d been his best friend for over a decade and you’d been trumped by a little skinny Minnie with no tits. A rich bitch with a collection of tennis skirts and preppy pastel blazers to rival Princess Diana herself. She wasn’t supposed to be his best friend, his choice for the rest of his life. That was supposed to be your job. You were supposed to be the person who made him happy, not some country clubber. And yet your place was glowing in the horizon. Behind the holy Cathy, your spotlight dimmed and left behind to wail your song alone under the ghost light. Except your song was bursting from your broken heart.
You wouldn’t stand for being left behind for some bitch named Cathy.
There was only thing to do. It was something you were avoiding doing since you were twelve years old.
Billy came to pick you up for the long journey to Carmel even though he didn’t have to be there until the sixth. You both refused to stay in Hawkins, too many bad memories there. He was staying in the same hotel as you. You were going a couple days early for your dress fitting and to tote Cathy around. But that wasn’t the reason you were nervous sitting in Billy’s leather seats. You had to find Steve once you got there.
Of course, Billy was nervous too. This trip was going to end in heartbreak. You were going to watch the love of your life marry someone else. And Billy was going to watch you cry knowing that he would never hurt you like this. He would sit there and try to not let it show how much it hurt to watch you be in pain. The ride to Hawkins was tense and silent, safe for Billy’s static filled radio switching between talk radio and the hits of the day, depending on what frequency it picked up. Neither of you try to fix it. You both were too anxious to bother.
When you arrived in Carmel, Mrs. Harrington and sweet little Cathy were at your hotel. You were whisked off to your fitting and then lunch in Carmel. You left Billy in the dust that day, forced to grapple with the town that tried to kill him twice and almost succeeded. He spent the day in his hotel room and you spent your day trying to get to Steve.
Day two was a free day, safe for the rehearsal dinner that night, beginning at the church. You were told implicitly to bring your date to the dinner, as Cathy had laid out a spot for you both at the wedding table. There you met her three other bridesmaids, her sister Jessica, her cousin Ellen, and her best friend Kelly. All three of them looked nearly identical, with matching shoulder length hair cuts and pristine white pleated tennis skirts. All their boyfriends looked the same too, with their pastel polos and white padded blazers. They all shook Billy’s hand as if it was dirty. The girls looked at the pair of you like you were white trash.
You didn’t find Steve first, Billy did. The meeting didn’t exactly go well. You’d gone to the bathroom and when you returned Billy and Steve were staring each other down with the same intensity that they did in high school. You parted them quickly, smiling at Steve sympathetically.
“What is he doing here, Y/N?” Steve asked through gritted teeth.
“He’s my date, Steve, he’s a friend of mine.” You replied simply, pushing Billy away as he tried to come back into the situation. Steve scoffed loudly, but turned away without another word. You turned to Billy quickly. “What the hell was that, dude?”
“I just came over to say hello and he got in my face!” Billy cried, pointing at his back as Steve stalked away.
“Can you just keep your chill for a day? Please? For me?” you whispered, squeezing his hand gently.
Billy’s expression softened instantly and he nodded, swallowing hard. “I’ll try.” He said.
“Thank you,” you said “I’m going to try to talk to Steve, hang tight okay?”
Billy nodded and you headed towards where you saw Steve go. He had headed out the main entrance, to where Cathy would be sent when they were ready to begin the rehearsal. You wiped your sweating palms on your royal blue skirt. You took in a deep breath through your nose and pushed open the heavy wooden doors, to find Steve Harrington practically ripping out his hair.
“Steve?” you asked quietly. He turned to look at you, his expression not changing when he saw you.
“You couldn’t have brought anyone else, could you?” he bit out, pulling his hands through his hair one more time before crossing his arms over his chest.
“He asked, I agreed. He’s not the same guy he was here.” You replied, adjusting your purse strap.
“Bullshit,” he chuckled coldly “He’s still the same douche he was a couple years ago. Nobody changes that much.”
“You did.”  Steve went to retort you, but closed his mouth without speaking a word. You pressed on “Robin trusts him, they’re pretty much best friends, and I trust him. He’s been really good to me these past few months. Been my friend while my best friend was missing in action.”
Steve was silent for a moment. “I’ve been busy, Y/N, I had to help plan a wedding.” He muttered.
“And I’m supposed to be my best friend. That doesn’t change when you get a girlfriend. You promised me that, remember? After Wheeler that was our deal. And you broke that with her.” You replied.
“Don’t call Cathy ‘her’. She’s not just some girl.” Steve snapped.
“Why didn’t you introduce me before you got engaged? You had the time, it wasn’t like you just met her. I didn’t even know that you were even seeing anyone seriously.” You replied, matching his tone.
“Because, sometimes a man likes to have his secrets! What, Hargrove over there not keeping anything from you?” Steve cried. The large church doors opened again and revealed Cathy, shuffling in her Mary-Jane’s with a shy expression.
“Honey?” she asked, drawing Steve’s attention and softening his expression instantly “We’re ready to start if you are.”
“Just, give me one second, okay sweetie?” he said, his tone softer and kinder with her. He turned to you with a less than kind expression, nodding for you to head to your group. When you didn’t move, he spoke “You should go with Cathy, go learn your job.”
You left without a word. The rest of the rehearsal went by in a blur. You were put second in line to enter the church, supposedly and were given the role of train fixer before Cathy walked into the church. You were given specific instructions on how to hold your bouquet of yellow roses and baby’s breath in front of you. You went through the walk in and then listened to the pair go over the ceremony with the pastor in charge of marrying them. Supposedly they’d written their own vows. You looked to Billy, who looked utterly bored with the other boyfriends. When the rehearsal ended, you were all told to join the Harrington’s at their home for dinner.
Steve grabbed your arm as you were leaving the church. You hung back without a word as he told Cathy to go on without him. “Look,” he began once his fiancé had passed “I’m sorry I got mad at you. I was out of line. I was just surprised when I saw you and Hargrove together. It weirded me out. But I’m okay now.”
“Look, it’s whatever, you don’t like him and that’s fine. I’m a bit tired, will you apologize to your mom to me? I’m gonna bail on the dinner.” You replied with a small shrug, wrapping your arms around yourself. It was seventy-five degrees outside but you were freezing.
“Are you sure? I don’t think it will be a big deal…” Steve said, his warm hands coming to your bare shoulder, warming your skin and melting your heart.
“Nah,” you chuckled “Besides, you don’t really want Hargrove in your house anyway, right? Just tell your mom we went home.”
Steve laughed “That’s fair,” he released your arm “I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”
“Duh, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” You elbowed him in the arm before heading off. Billy was watching from the sidewalk, hands shoved in his pockets, eyes trained on the ground. You ran up and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
“Let’s blow this pop stand.” You said with a cheeky grin.
“Where’re we going, princess?” he smirked, wrapping an arm around your waist. He usually wouldn’t do that, but then again you didn’t usually wrap yourself around him in public. He took the chance on you pulling away for a moment to hold you.
“Benny’s? If it’s still open, I guess.” You replied. The idea of Benny’s not being open anymore hit you like a truck. How much had Hawkins changed since you left?
Evidently, not that much. The Harrington’s still lived on Pine Street and Benny’s was still open, its owner having been dead for almost seven years. You found yourself in its yellowed dining room, eating greasy burgers and fries while discussing the old days here. You weren’t friends with Billy in high school and you hardly paid him much mind, so all his stories were fresh to you. He told you all about his whoring days and his wild child moments. How he broke into the library to screw around with Diana Krass and denied breaking a window when the police came around. He was the reason the library got security cameras. You nearly died when he told you about catching Melissa Rankers and Caroline Spears writing out someone’s phone number in the boy’s locker room. A ‘For a good time call’ situation. You made him laugh his ass of when you told him it was yours and all the crazy calls you got that year from desperate boys looking for phone sex. He couldn’t top your story about how Tommy Hanson called you after his breakup with Carol and would not believe that you weren’t a phone sex operator. The fact that you knew what his sex noises were disturbed you both. You spent your evening laughing and joking with Billy.
It felt like you were hanging out with Steve. But different. You closed down Benny’s and drove around till almost five in the morning. You barely made it to bed.
You were woken up at ten by your hotel room phone ringing off the hook. Mrs. Harrington, Cathy, Ellen, Jessica, and Kelly were all here in room two thirteen. You had to join them to start getting ready. Apparently, there were mimosas. The call made you feel more exhausted than you felt when you woke up. But you went, grabbing your makeup and the robe the hotel provided, padding over to their room.
The group was rowdy. You were introduced to Cathy’s mother, who hugged you like she meant it. She seemed to have already indulged in a few mimosas before you’d even arrived. You spent your morning mostly drinking and waiting around. They only had one makeup artist and one hair stylist who were styling everyone and no one had decided on how you should look. You ended up looking like a clown, your hair too big and blown out for your face and your makeup hair too bright. And your dress was worse in person. You’d tried it on in the shop, but in natural lighting you got the full picture. Horrid satin and taffeta all the same shade of sickly magenta, with a tulle filled a-line skirt and scratchy puff sleeves and a square neckline. This dress did nothing for your chest and hips, not that your hair and makeup was helping. You pulled a bit of baby’s breath out of your bouquet and tucked it into your up-do. Apparently, you were supposed to bring your own jewellery and hair accessories, so the bit of greenery would have to suffice. You tucked your feet into the matching heels and smoothed your skirt, looking over the other bridesmaids. Jessica looked alright in the dress, but overall all four of you looked a bit like clowns.
And then, Cathy appeared. And she looked just as bad! She seemed thoroughly disappointed, but trying to hide it with a tight lipped smile. Her dress seemed to be modeled on Princess Diana’s, with its off the shoulder cream puff sleeves and sweetheart neckline, but where on Princess Diana it looked royal on Cathy it looked cheap. Her skirt seemed a bit too big to move in and the big bow on the small of her back seemed silly. She didn’t look happy with her dress, but she simply adjusted her veil and fixed her cherry red lipstick, nodding at her reflection. Her mother appeared behind her in a bright purple sparkly number with a matching jacket, complete with shoulder pads. Her eyes were misty. Clearly, this was the most beautiful sight in the world.
Your little group headed downstairs to your town cars and you headed to the church. You hoped Billy had made it to the church on time. You hoped Robin and Beth had made it into town and that no one had stopped them or shunned them for being gay. Most of all, you hoped you could hold it together through this thing.
The ceremony took a long time to start. You contemplated going to find Steve. To tell him how you feel, to convince him to run away. But something kept you right where you stood in the church’s entrance way. You couldn’t do it. You couldn’t ruin his happy day. Steve loved Cathy today. Maybe he wouldn’t tomorrow, in six months, in a year or twenty-but today he loved her. And you wanted him to be happy. So you’d shut your mouth and let him have this. But as the ceremony started and you began your walk up to him at the altar, your heart shattered. In another life, that would be you he was waiting for. But it was Cathy. You couldn’t watch them during the ceremony. You kept your eyes on Billy, who was only watching you. His steely blue eyes on yours kept you calm as tears bubbled in your eyes and emotion clogged your throat.
When it all ended, you rushed to get out of the church. Billy’s arm came around you the second he found you. He let you cry into his white dress shirt and ruin it with your makeup filled tears. He held you till your breathing evened out, then he wiped your cheeks and led you to his car.
“Did Robin make it okay?” you asked, your voice hoarse as you adjusted your skirts. Billy stood holding your door, waiting to shut you into the car. He narrowed his eyes, looking you over the same way he did when he first found you crying over Steve all those months ago.
“Is that really what you’re worried about right now?” he asked.
You smiled, your expression still watery. “No, but it’s what I’d rather think about.” You said. Billy frowned, shutting the door and walking to his own, popping it open and climbing in.
“Yeah, they made it in fine. They sat in the back and, according to Beth, they spent the whole time making fun of Cathy’s butt bow. And your dress.” He explained, turning on the engine.
“I look awful, don’t I?” you asked. You weren’t sure whether to laugh or cry, your mind was all over the place.
“No!” Billy corrected, looking into the rear view as he backed out of his spot before turning out of the parking lot. “You look like a beautiful Kool-Aid man.” You smacked him hard in the shoulder, gasping loudly. Billy laughed at this, looking you over. You really did look beautiful, despite the awful dress. Nothing could muffle your beauty.
“Your makeup…um…it ran a little bit. There are some tissues in the glove compartment…” he added, looking away. You flipped down the mirror to look yourself over. Your tears had carved black stripes down your cheeks, washing away your foundation and destroying your blush and eyeliner. You sighed, popping open the glove compartment and pulled out a handful of tissues, wetting them with your own spit and wiping away the makeup as best you could.
“Oh god, I look awful. I can’t believe I walked around like this.” You groaned, rubbing at the garish pink blush painted like rosacea on your cheeks. That makeup artist had something against you.
“You look fine, don’t worry about it. Cathy looked worse than you, her hair looked like it hurt.” Billy replied as you wiped away the bubblegum pink lipstick from your lips. Billy tried not to watch you and your puffy lips, focusing hard on the road ahead.
“I look better, now that I’m getting this shit off my face.” You replied, focusing on getting the shit brown eye shadow off your lids. Once you toned it down, you felt a bit better. They’d already taken all the pictures they needed outside the church, you didn’t need to keep up appearances now.
Billy pulled into the parking lot of the reception hall and let you out quickly. He offered you his hand before you walked in and you didn’t let it go until dinner was served. Throughout the couples making the rounds to the tables during cocktail hour and the speeches before the meal was served, you squeezed his hand whenever you felt yourself getting emotional, grounding yourself to him and to something safe. You made your rounds to Robin and Beth, who looked much better than you. They laughed at your little ensemble and made you do a full spin to really show off the skirt. They laughed far too hard at you, but Billy didn’t even chuckle. As soon as you were done, his arm came right back around you. Robin and Beth exchanged a look that you couldn’t quite interpret. You returned to your seat when dinner was served and sat through a nauseating round of the newlywed game while they served dessert. Billy made sure to distract you when the questions got too lovey-dovey, cracking jokes in your ear and, when in doubt, covering your ears.
But he couldn’t protect you from the first dance. As it turns out, Jessica fancied herself a singer and was tasked with performing the couple’s song. Steve and Cathy went to the dance floor as the slow piano intro to Elvis Presley’s I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You began to flow through the room. Jessica’s nasal voice took the lead vocals, crooning out the opening lines “Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can’t help falling in love  with you…” the song was so cliché for the wedding. You tried to mock it to keep away the emotion, but it was all too much. The tears began to fall as Cathy’s head came to Steve’s shoulder.
“Like a river flows, surely to the sea, darling so it goes; something’s were meant to be…”
Billy’s hand squeezed yours. His heart was breaking, watching you try to hold back tears as Steve and Cathy danced in their own blissful bubble. As the chorus came around again, you broke away, rushing to the nearest exit. You both knew that you couldn’t take anymore. Billy followed behind you without a second’s hesitation.
He found you in the lobby, hands crushed to your face. He wrapped his arms around your neck, pulling your back to him. “Oh, please, leave me alone Bill. I need to be alone…” you sobbed.
“I won’t leave out here to cry alone, Y/N, you’re not alone.” He replied, holding you tighter.
“I love him, Billy…” you cried, turning in his arms to press your face into his chest “Why doesn’t he love me?”
“Because…because he’s an idiot, Y/N, any man would be lucky to have you love him.” He replied, petting your hair softly. It felt stiff from hairspray, but he didn’t care. As selfish as it was, this was the best part of his day. Having you hold him like you loved him.
“What does she have that I don’t have? I’ve been there for him his whole life. And suddenly this girl is his whole world. I’ve spent so long trying to maintain a place in his life and this girl can just show up and get a spot without question.” You muttered. That felt selfish to say, but you felt as though you earned a bit of selfish thinking.
“Because Steve lives in his own world. And we just orbit it. But you? You deserve to be someone’s whole world. You deserve to be the first person someone thinks of in the morning and the last thing they think of at night. You deserve all that cheesy shit because you’re worth it.” He said quickly, pulling you away from his chest to look you in the eye. You looked so small and vulnerable in his arms.
“Why am I always trying to love someone who doesn’t give a damn about me?” you chuckled sadly, running your hands up and down the smooth material of Billy’s suit jacket.
In this moment, Billy had a choice. He could go the easy way or the hard way. Billy chose the easy way most of the time, he coasted through life without trying very often for anything. If it didn’t come easy, then he wasn’t going to work to have it. But today, for the first time since he came back the second time, he chose the hard choice.
“Y/N, watching you moon over Harrington is the single hardest thing I have done in my life, that man is an idiot,” Billy said firmly, squeezing your waist slightly to ground himself to the moment.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to burden you with all of this, I-”
“He’s an idiot for not loving you.” Billy cut you off, silencing you with a look. He looked anxious. You’d never seen him anxious before.
“He’s an idiot because you’re so easy to love. I fell in love with you two weeks after I found out about Harrington and I don’t love girls. I don’t. I didn’t think it was in my damn DNA but here you are, with your pretty eyes and your jokes and your smile and I fell for you so fast. And watching you chase after Harrington, cry over Harrington, rant and rave about that damn asshole killed me! Because he’s not worth it! Look, I don’t care if you don’t love me back, you probably don’t, but please move on from him. You deserve the world, not a stupid spot in someone else’s.”
Billy was out of breath when he finished his little speech, staring into your eyes as your tears dried and your mouth fell open.
“Your…you’re in love with me?” you asked slowly. Your mouth felt dry and arid, your heart was pounding loudly in your ears.
“Yeah, shocking I know.” Billy chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. He tried to pull away from you, but you refused to let go. Your hands came up to his cheek, stroking the skin there briefly before placing a feather light kiss on his lips, tentative and slow. You were unsure of yourself, unsure if you were even in the right mind to make this kind of choice, but all your worries melted away when your lips touched. It wasn’t the fireworks Steve had been describing for your entire adolescence, it was safe and comforting. Your heart filled with joy, you worries fell away. Suddenly, without warning, you were home. You were home in his arms and you were home on his lips. You hadn’t felt at home since Steve hugged you goodbye when you made the trek to college. But home wasn’t with Steve anymore, he had his own home with Cathy now. But home could be with Billy.
He pulled away first, pushing you back by your shoulders. “You don’t have to do this, Y/N, it’s okay I understand-”
“Billy,” you silenced him instantly “I don’t kiss anyone unless I want to. I wanted to kiss you. I want to kiss you. Look,” you sighed, scuffing the toe of your ugly wedding shoes  on the linoleum, looking up at him through your lashes. “I don’t know how I feel about anything right now, I’m not certain, but I feel safe with you. I like you. Platonically and romantically.  And all I want is to feel safe with someone. So, can we try?”
Billy looked your face over, his big callused hand coming to your cheek, wiping a stray teardrop from your lower lashes. You nuzzled into the warmth of his palm. He moved his hand to under your chin, pulling your lips to his, kissing you harder and deeper than before, wrapping his free arm around your waist, pulling you flush with him.
This was all he wanted. The moment he dreamed of. Thinking about you made him feel weak, like a pathetic child. But having you in his arms, it made him feel like it was okay to be weak. That he didn’t have to be strong all the time. You made him feel strong, even when he was acting weak and vulnerable. He felt secure with you. That wasn’t a luxury he took for granted.
The kiss awoke the last bit of feeling you were missing with him. Billy was golden haloed, bright like the sun and shining. He was solid and present, a lighthouse in a storm. He was your rock. You hadn’t realized that you’d been clinging to him until he almost disappeared. He didn’t know you like Steve, but that wasn’t a bad thing.
When Billy let you go, the smile that spread across your face was impossible to hide. Billy’s expression matched yours, a genuine smile from a guy who rarely did more than smirk. The look melted your heart even more, turning goo into pure liquid.
“Are you sure?” he asked softly.
“Are you sure? You don’t exactly do this every day.” You countered, smacking him in the chest lightly.
Billy rolled his eyes “Oh shut up, I’m trying here.” You smiled, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek.
“Come on, let’s go back in before people start asking questions. I don’t want Cathy in my business, she’s so nosey.” You grabbed his hand, squeezing it in yours.
“Oh, total Carol? I heard her and Tommy talking shit in the back about your dress. Want me to beat him up?” Billy replied, following you back into the hall.
You gasped “No!” Billy laughed loudly, shaking his head. The band had started up again and the leader asked for all the lovers in the room to join the bride and groom on the floor. “I just want to dance, alright?” Billy nodded and let you lead him onto the floor. You wrapped yourself in his arms again, placing your head on his chest and listened to his heart beat.
The day wasn’t perfect, and it certainly didn’t end the way you expected it to, but in Billy’s arms, you felt okay with how it went. You weren’t with Steve Harrington, but that wasn’t something to cry over anymore. Billy Hargrove was here to make you feel invincible again.
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ladyreapermc · 4 years
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Birthday Challenge Day 9 (1998)
Tumblr media
Requested by: @ivymiiru​
Song: One Week by Barenaked Ladies
Wordcount: 743
Warnings: Fluff
Pairing: Keanu Reeves x Reader
“SON OF A BITCH!”
Keanu flinched at the shrill sound of her voice coming from the laundry. He didn’t even know what happened, but something told him it was his fault. Her voice would only go that high when she was mad at him.
It’s been a couple of weeks since quarantine started and being constantly around each other was proving to be harder than they thought it would be.
Keanu thought they would deal with it better since in the three years they were a couple, they were always complaining about not being able to spend more time together. And when they did have time off to be with one another, they could barely take their hands off each other.
Keanu guessed it was a different context. For one, in the past, they would take time off together so they could be with one another without the demands of their respective jobs. In this quarantine, they were forced to be together while working. Well, she was working, Keanu was mostly just reviewing new projects that his agent sent him, new ideas for Company Films and, tinkering with his bikes since he couldn’t go out for rides.
Truth to be told, Keanu wasn’t in his best mood either, since he had been so excited with the new Matrix and seeing all his friends once again. Not being able to do something he loved and, on top of that, to be stuck at home was slowly driving him up the wall. Meanwhile, she seemed to be working double from home, which put her constantly on edge, souring her mood all day.
“Did you put your arch shirts in the wash?” she asked, standing at the door of the music room and Keanu hesitated, but what else was he gonna say?
“Yes?”
She let out a deep, heavy sigh and glared.
“You put your dark t-shirts with my white dress shirts…” she squeezed the bridge of her nose and shook her head. “Now I have to wash them all over again with bleach. Thanks a lot, Ke!”
Her steps thumped loudly as she stalked out of the room and it was Keanu’s turn to sigh. This was getting old fast and they needed to talk about it, but first, he needed a shower, his go-to method of distressing. The last thing he needed was for them both to be angry when they finally talked about this.
He stepped into the shower stall and rolled his eyes at the mess of hair all over the glass walls. Why couldn’t she freaking pick them up after the shower, as he did? No wonder they had clogged drains so often. Keanu huffed and cleaned them up with a bunch of toilet paper, flushing it in the toilet before finally stepping under the warm spray.
“Would it kill you the lower the seat?” she complained, slammed the offending object down and Keanu rolled his eyes again.
“Would it kill you not to use the toilet while I’m showering?”
“Nothing in there I haven’t seen, honey. Get over it,” she said with a derisive snort. “We’re out of milk because someone drank the last of it and put the empty carton back in the fridge. I’m going to the store.”
“Can’t it way until the weekend?” his patience was wearing thin.
“I was gonna bake,” her tone a little whiny and now Keanu was starting to think she was just being a brat on purpose because she didn’t usually huff and pout like that. “I need something sweet to deal destress.”
Before she could walk out of the bathroom after washing her hands, Keanu caught her by the arm, pulling her into the stall still fully clothed.
“What the…” the curse died in her throat when he caught her lips in a kiss and in seconds she was melting in his arms, the tense muscles slowly easing up as he explored her mouth, his hands traveling over the shapes of her body.
“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?” he whispered against her lips, smiling slightly.
“But you still love me,” she whispered back, arms coming around his neck.
“I do,” Keanu nodded. “But let’s not put it to the test. So, stop nagging.”
“Will you pay more attention to stuff?” she asked, eyebrow arched, and Keanu sighed.
“Yes.”
“Ok then.” She leaned closer for a new kiss. “You still have to say sorry for my shirts though.”
xxx
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staliasjeronica · 3 years
Text
Riverdale S5 Ep9 Thoughts
It’s been awhile since I’ve watched Riverdale, I’m getting bored with them going back to Varchie out of literal nowhere and I’m assuming BH will soon follow because they don’t know how to write anything else even though that’s all the show needs to be good. Look how great the show was when they were finally starting to give us Barchie…. anyways thoughts under the cut so this post doesn’t clog up the tag. Also: MANIFESTING JERONICA AND BARCHIE BYE
- Honestly a lot of people are weirded out/annoyed by the alien plot but I love aliens so I’m lowkey okay with it.
- Alice this is Riverdale you really think some bad coincidence couldn’t have happened right after Polly left the phone booth?
- Veronica stop using money for no reason PLEASE. And god more VA scenes I’m so tired of it… though somehow it fits better than them being together as teens. But we’re not forgetting how he cheated on her with Betty, still loves Betty, and is mostly just going back to Veronica because it’s “comfortable”
- TABITHA AND VERONICA SCENE!! They look so good standing near one another ugh
- … if I heard the football coach say that over the intercom I’d literally think he’s a whiny piece of shit and never go to the games in spite. What the fuck was that???
- Jughead acting like he probably wouldn’t have written a story like that kid when he was in school lol okay...
- Reggie pointing at each bulldog and calling them a loser on his way out…. what the actual fuck asdfgjkl;
- Give Veronica literally anything than plots surrounding Archie and Hiram we’re so fucking TIRED
- Veronica needs Archie to talk to Reggie about this boring football bs but will make a wager with her dad that will go against everything Archie would like… please nothing about them as a couple has changed!!! IT’S SO BAD AND BORING!!!! WE DON’T WANT THEM!!!
- We really could have had teachers!Barchie and Jeronica but noooo they’d rather cater to toxic bh and va who don’t deserve to have their boring ships that ruin their characters. Why did Riverdale get stuck with the people who can’t write to save their lives?
- Cheryl and Betty finally having an actually good conversation wow-
- VA once again in bed sigh. The only thing getting me through is that Archie seems much happier with Betty muah
- Veronica stop being cute I’m trying to hate you and Archie getting back together out of nowhere
- Betty please for once in your life stop lying… I know you’re trying to protect her but if Polly really is dead it’s gonna hurt even worse now that you gave her hope
- LERMAN LOGAN AAFJDSHKHFJDFASHJKN THAT’S HIS FUCKING NAME? BRUH-
- “The story could have alluded to stuff happening at home.” “Then you should have come to us!” yes because parents who were abusing their child totally wouldn’t say anything to throw off the teacher who’s just trying to make sure their student is okay…….. why would he go to the parents first?
- #Kangs Cheryl shh we already don’t like them together please stop… anyways Swangs and Keggie when???
- Fangs really dated Kevin for 7 years, weirded out with his bf going into the woods to hook up with strangers and only now is talking about it… and they thought they’d be able to marry and have a baby together??? damn anyways SWANGS AND KEGGIE WHEN????
- But also Fangs is so right that’s why Kevin’s angry
- Adult friends BH is literally so much better than teenage co dependent toxic wannabe detectives but also if this makes them get together, also out of nowhere, I will rip out my hair
- what kind of nick name is T-Dub………… but anyways this scene was so cute
- See adult BH and VA could have been so good if they kept romance out of it since they already milked the shit out of it for four seasons (at least three too long), because them as adults, as FRIENDS feels so good to watch.
- HIRAM BENCHES REGGIE BC HE DOESN’T WANT TO LITERALLY BREAK A CHILD’S LEGS?!?!??!? This is how we get Reggie back to the “good side” and not Beggie sighhhhhhh imagine if we had good writers
- Betty’s like “…… the mothmen……. god I literally grew up to be a real detective what is this bullshit?"
- Also instead of mothmen why not just make it all about aliens by themselves
- This proves that BH is STILL not compatible after five seasons muah I guess I can deal with boring VA as long as the worst of the worst, BH, is gonna stay dead. At least VA is hot
- That edited picture of Betty and Polly I— afsdfhfasf
- Polly deserved so much better… anyways go read my Sweet Pea x Polly drabble!!! based after the time jump :)
- Kevin please if you’re gonna painfully flirt please learn a few actually good pick up lines
- Ummmm okay first of all why did that guy not say anything about Kevin calling him hot if he was straight and not into him hitting on him? Second of all, why does Kevin always get these awful plots, and lastly, what the fuck anyways can’t wait for Fangs to find out and sick the serpents on that Shane guy bc while him and Kevin aren’t together anymore, he definitely still cares about him
- Betty once again resorting to assault……. okay…… what a gross misuse of power
- Kevin feeling ashamed of him being gay because his mom once talked about him wearing husky clothes…? God everyone on this show deserves much better plots what the fuck
- Can’t wait for Betty to be suspended for this bullshit
- I don’t think the Logan’s would like Jughead of all people helping find their son but okay
- Betty is so unstable please how did she become a detective… ahhh right the writers eat from her ass lmao
- Love that Reggie gets no shit for just suddenly switching sides
- also sigh pairing up bh and va for the millionth time. It’s interesting that everyone enjoys the show much better when literally anyone else interact
- more singing…………Cheryl you’re not in high school anymore BUT it is lowkey a bop somehow though
- I know the answer is no but V never told Archie of her dumbass wager huh
- 0 to 52………………. so how is Hiram not gonna win this. We find out he cheated in some way and is disqualified or something?
- VERONICA, REGGIE, AND TABITHA HUGGING AHHH NEW OT3 FUCKKK
- Why is Hiram so mad his team has 52 points I—
- That kiss was so boring please give us Barchie and Jeronica and stop having V go back too Archie
- THEY LEFT RIVERDALE THAT QUICKLY? damn okay
- Betty feeling bad just because her mom found out she lied… like okay I know we’re supposed to want Betty on the case but she really shouldn’t be. She’s such an awful detective. She had potential in the beginning but :/
- anyways thank fucking god it’s over that felt like a million years long of boring bullshit where is Barchie and Beggie and Jeronica and Keggie and Karchie and Swangs ugh make Riverdale interesting again PLEASE I’ve never stopped watching like this, ever…
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whats-the-story-tc · 4 years
Text
9th of October, 2020
"The One with the Cards Laid Bare"
[INCREDIBLY LONG, SORRY FOR CLOGGING THE TAG]
There were very tense energies in our classroom before V's double class. We already knew she'd cried today, we knew where she'd be working from other classes, so we all knew what would come, and it still was bad. One of the boys said he heard that she hopes we're not all angry at her and that we won't hate her for her decision. There was not an inch of anger or hatred in any of us, just heartbreak. We knew how much we'd cry seeing her leave. We were afraid of this goodbye. But it had to come eventually. The last class she'll ever teach. The last two lessons she'll ever have.
She was late. Only a couple minutes, but seeing she's always on time, or even a bit early, it was worrying. I walked outside to find her, and when I did, I saw her, coming up the stairs with two boys from the class, fresh back from lunch. Immediately as she saw me, she raised her index finger and said: "No." I didn't really understand it, until she continued: "I'm not gonna cry. I'm trying to go at least two minutes without crying." My heart was in shambles, and nothing even happened yet.
She started by telling us an e-mail is not how she wanted us to find out. She wanted to tell us herself, but not until today, probably not until the end of class, even though she's known for quite a long time she wanted to leave. She didn't tell us, because she wanted these last days not to be chaotic, so we could still focus and do our best in class. There were signs, though. And I should have known. There's one in basically every post I wrote this year. Funny thing is, when I told you about how she was with the girl from the other class and I thought something was up, it was only my gut feeling. She hadn't told them yet. Only in the last 20 minutes of that double class.
She also told us who will be replacing her, just to get the professional part quickly over with. V said she expects us to treat them fairly, even if she won't be here to check on us. We keep this promise. Most of the time, it works.
Being a teacher doesn't pay well, and here, in our country, the profession itself is not respected the way it should be. 10 years of experience in the field means nothing, she said. The new education system is horrible, unbearable, and she's had enough of feeling like she's in a toxic relationship. Not with us, with teaching. She said she used to feel very anxious when she got here, and by now I know what she hadn't told us in that moment, that she still doesn't feel good thinking about school. She has to leave for her own sake, even though she feels incredibly guilty about it. Even though she'll miss us.
She said, through tears, constantly stopping to take a deep breath and gather her thoughts, that teaching is something she was planning to do her whole life long, but she has to step back now. Even though she has "the seniors, standing before their graduation exams, [us], whom [she's] bonded with", she can't do it anymore. And when one of the girls asked her if she really did love us, she said: "Would I have stayed so long if I didn't?"
We spent long minutes in class discussing the education system, and when I said I didn't know about something that supposedly came from the weaker one of the theatre universities here at home, V was surprised that I hadn't read it. She called me a nickname again, a new one. I've been babygirl and I've been fairy bug before, but not once have I been the name that translates to "my life". Spanish speakers, it's like when you guys say mi vida to someone you love. That's what V called me. I don't remember her ever having called someone that in class.
Between classes, Bandana Friend, who was sick, joined us via video call to speak to V, as she really wanted to say goodbye, at least like this. I stood right beside V as they spoke, out of the camera's sight, unlike my classmates, constantly goofing off in the background, making both V and my friend laugh a little. As I stood there, I couldn't help but marvel at V's eyes from up close, in the light. I don't think I've ever seen a more enchanting eye colour before, and I find nearly every pair of eyes I see pretty. Seriously, I wasn't overexaggerating in any of my posts. If you once catch her eye, you won't know when to stop looking.
After a while, though, my classmates got a bit much, still during the call, and there I was, gathering bravery and doing something I've never done before. I stroked V's arm for a second or two, like I've wanted to so many times before, to show sympathy. She didn't even look at me, didn't even flinch, she probably knew who was touching her. And, seeing how unresponsive, how calm she was about it, I couldn't help but think: "Is this something I could've done this whole time?"
Before the second class with her started, Debate Friend called her a derivative of her first name (though she made sure to say Miss with it), and V just told her not to be rude. Hours pass, and V lets her (and us all, indirectly) call her by her first name, which is something we're still adapting to, but I'm rushing too far ahead, let's slow down a little.
The second class went well, she wasn't crying anymore, on the contrary. We laughed a lot, she told us her honest opinion on a lot of us, who asked her what she thinks of them, and gave advice if needed. I didn't ask. I figured that if she wants to tell me something, she will. Then a very crazy chain of events happened.
She looked like she was gonna tear up again, and I couldn't sit and watch anymore. I stood up and walked right in front of her, not daring to ask for a hug, but hoping she'll get the message with arm gestures. It took her a bit, but when she did, she couldn't help but yell something that I would translate to: "[Specs] is jumping me!". The word she used here is something usually used in a romantic or flirty context. (Translation was never my forte.) You can probably imagine the laughter, and also my face as I realise that not even on her last day could she go without sassing me at least once.
But then. Oh, then. The next thing I hear as I turn towards her is as she says: "C'mere, Little Me." and before I know it, I find myself sobbing in her arms again, and thinking about how this happened. She seemed taken aback by or uncomfortable with the comparison the last time we spoke about it in March, before the quarantine. When did she accept it, or how? Now as I re-read that post, as I'm writing this one... could the turning point have been me calling her my sister? I had so many questions, but all I could do was cry.
Class was nearing the end when I finally managed to stop sobbing and ask her one thing I've been meaning to for ages: what her tattoos mean. "How much should I go into detail?" she asked with sparkling eyes. She wasn't even surprised I knew about the two on her shoulder blades — but I was, when she motioned with her fingers she actually had three. Before telling me about them, she jokingly said something along the lines of "I'm not gonna strip for you" (as all 3 are covered by clothes), and me being me, I immediately threw my hands up, face probably red, and said: "Nononononono, obviously [not]!"
Funny thing is, the two on her shoulder blades are actually quotes from the last book she had us read, the last thing we discussed with her in class on Wednesday. So this is what she meant when she said she had personal connections to it! After she told me which parts they're from, she jokingly added "Very English teacher [of me]...", to which I just laughed and responded "Yeah, very."
By the time I'm writing this, I already had to listen to the headmaster, one of V's replacements, as he bragged about knowing of these two tattoos. Heh. That's cute. It's still 2-1 to me, sir. Not only have I seen them partially before, which you said you haven't, but I also know about the one she most definitely never told you about. And the one I'm most definitely not gonna tell you guys about. Sorry. Some things just have to stay between V and I.
"Also, no one noticed that this is the first time since I came here that I've worn a band T-shirt!" she complains to me jokingly. "Well, I was used to your graphic shirts, so I didn't think much of it," I reply. She's very enthusiastic in telling me what exactly is on it, without me even asking. This woman put on a shirt that essentially disses Christianity — in a religious school. Unbelievable. I love her.
Somewhere around that time, I asked her to let me walk with her to the teacher's lounge, Bookworm Friend convinced her to take a photo with our squad (which had basically everyone I know, my own father included, telling me we look identical), I stroked her arm again (I no longer remember what the reason was, but she still must've felt it pretty natural, seeing she didn't react), and like 3/4 of the class came to hug V goodbye. Meanwhile, another girl I've been classmates with for ages, but never particularly liked, hugged me to try and comfort me. It caught me off-guard, but I've never felt more like our class is a community.
People from other classes came to talk as she walked outside, but I waited until she was alone, and most probably so was she. She promised, likely knowing that I wanted to talk privately, so we didn't leave until it was just the two of us left.
"Come, Little Me," she said again, as we got going. She liked this phrase so much that she repeated it in English. "Mini Me." Then I found out why the English. Turns out, her native English speaker boyfriend, who she name-dropped like it's second nature, as if she's telling a story to a friend (she's so whipped for him, it's adorable), knows all about this comparison, and had a good laugh at it. He knows who I am. I was important enough to mention at home to her boyfriend, something I always wondered about but never dared to ask her. Tears.
No, really, actual tears. I've told you before, I don't support confessing love to your teachers while you're still their student (I'd wait a year after graduation if I were you), and especially if you're underage, and I myself wouldn't do it either. And I didn't. My confession was a little different. My voice breaking from tears, I told her the one thing I wanted her to know most. "This is not how I wanted to tell you, but I've never got more (in life) from anyone..." The answer? The old classic. "Come on."
"[Specs], you really need to get more self-confidence" she tells me, as that's about the only thing I still need to get me where I want to be. "I have to," I reply. And I do. I'm trying. Funny thing, self-confidence. It comes up in both the first and the last conversation we have as student and teacher.
We get up, stand at the top of the stairs. Soon it's time to go. The memories get a bit hazy here, but I'll try my best.
She tells me she expected me to react this way, and was afraid of it, seeing what happened in January. I immediately corrected her. In January, I cried because seeing my classmates hurting and my teachers clueless and lost hurt me, whereas this time, it's personal. She doesn't say anything. I think she understands. I ask her if she'll be happy in this new situation, and she says she hopes so. Only time will tell.
"I probably won't be available at a moment's notice all the time, but if you ever need me, you'll find me," she reassures me.
My English (language) teacher walks outside in that moment, and starts talking to V like I'm not even there. V and I are both a bit uncomfortable with the interruption, but the teacher seems pretty fine with it. Fucking hell, woman, insensitivity much?
Anyway. When she's gone is probably the moment we realise this is it. That this is where it's over.
She reaches out, both verbally and physically, and there we are, hugging again, both of us stroking the other's back in an effort to try and comfort the other. "You always have your friends," she tells me. "Get a good rest," she adds somewhere during that moment. Then we pull away.
I don't reach out, I don't dare to. As soon as I step out of her arms, it's her, who takes a hold of my hand. Not clinging, just a gentle, meaningful hold. I have no idea what she was saying, as I focused on the fact that we were only bloody holding hands in plain sight — and another thing.
V's eyes were red, and full of tears.
She hadn't shed a single tear for the past 20 minutes or so. Yet there she stands before me, physically still holding on to me, and crying. That was all me. And all of a sudden, I understand everything. I no longer have the guts to deny that she loved me all this time.
That's where it ends. No grandiose confessions, nothing loud, nothing overly passionate. Just a scene of two women standing hand-in-hand, showing their true colours and not holding anything back for the first time since they've met, before Miss V, the teacher, forever disappears behind a glass door.
These two women, mentioned above, are the ones who laid the foundation for two friends, two equals to meet anew. They are just getting to know each other all over again as we speak, setting the tone for something to start that could possibly last a long time. And I don't think there's anything that could feel better than that.
~ S ♡
[Every story I share here, no matter how specific I get with my wording, depicts actual events from my own life.]
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