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theprologues · 3 years

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SUBMISSION - Grammys performance symbolism, part two

So, with those reservations safely out of the way, and a warning to readers NOT to hurt themselves by getting their hopes up again …

What aspects of Taylor’s Grammy’s performance made me think there might be light at the end of the tunnel for Kaylor?

First, Taylor’s blue and gold performance dress. “Deep blue but you painted me golden” is a line from Dancing With Our Hands Tied, a song that is widely assumed to be about the night of Kissgate. It’s a song where Taylor talks about how miserable (“deep blue”) she was after the collapse of her relationship with Diana and her public reputation in 2013. She describes how her new lover, Karlie, brought her back to life and lit her up with the glow of a new, true love. She painted her golden. But then they were caught in an intimate moment at Kissgate, and Taylor panicked. Her fears and anxieties threatened to drown her, and though she and her new lover tried to dance through the catastrophe, they eventually came to realize they were doing so with their hands tied. They had no hope of swimming to the surface together and breaking free. They could only have done so if Taylor had stood firm and owned their love in the moment, instead of setting in motion the bearding contracts that would change everything. (This is what she means when she says that “if I could dance with you again”, she would “kiss” and “hold” her lover, instead of presumably backing away. If she could do the moment over, she would claim Karlie as her lover, and hold her hand for the world to see, through hell or high water.)

Though it’s a depressing motif in DWOHT, Taylor has, interestingly, returned to this imagery of a golden tie several times in other songs, painting it in a much more positive light. Most recently, the Willow music video explores this, visually representing the “single thread of gold that tied me to you” which Taylor sings about in Invisible String. Both IS and Willow are happy songs, which describe their lovers as being tied together by fate. “Wherever you go, I’ll follow,” Taylor sings in Willow. In DWOHT, the lovers followed each other to a place of deepest blue. The bottom of the ocean, under the waves, where they couldn’t breathe. In Willow they follow each other to freedom.

That freedom is represented in the Willow music video by the open cabin door the lovers step through at the end of the video. Taylor incorporates this door into the Willow section of her Grammy’s performance, performing first in the open doorway and then stepping through it to perform with her band out in the open.

But returning to the blue and gold dress. This is not only a very Karlie motif which keeps recurring in her art (often to postitve effect). It’s also a representation of Taylor finding happiness WITHIN the closet. It’s talking about how her partner’s love helps her to bear the depression being in the closet, and fearing exposure, causes her. The fact that Taylor chooses to wear this dress throughout her performance, with no costume changes, suggests a) she is still in the closet, and b) she is still with Karlie, and still considers her love to be such a lifeline.

If Toe was real and Taylor was happy with him, she could have chosen to wear an all-gold dress for the occasion. If Kaylor was over and she had decided to return to the closet, she could have communicated that by wearing all blue. If Kaylor was over and so far in the past she had moved on with someone new, there was no need to evoke the motif at all. She could simply have laid claim to another color, or worn another prairie type dress to fit the aesthetic. And yet, she didn’t. Why not, if not to communicate what I said above?

What else is worth considering, in Taylor’s medley? Well, there’s the cabin setting. Taylor and Karlie famously took a trip to Big Sur forest and stayed in a cabin together in 2014, where Karlie was the first person to hear 1989 in full. They took many photos on the trip, including one captioned with “on the way home” (a lyric from You Are In Love, which talks about hearing love in the silence) and one of the two of them looking up at a fallen tree. A VERY similar looking tree appears in the Cardigan music video, and the slanted, moss-covered roof Taylor opens the medley lying on also looks a lot like this tree. Again, curious that she would call back to this if she and Karlie have separated.

Moving on. Taylor opens the medley singing on the roof, looking straight up into the camera. When we pull back we see the stage around set to that of a starry night. Taylor is thus cast as the romantic, the star-gazer. She also calls back to another lyric Kaylors have previously tied to Karlie - “up on the roof with a schoolgirl crush”. It’s been repeatedly tied to Karlie and Taylor’s attendance at the Victoria Secret show after-party. Again, why evoke imagery so tied to the early, happy days of this relationship?

We then move through a progression of events that sees her hiding inside with friends, before eventually stepping out into the light. That all reads like a visual interpretation of her relationship with Karlie, from her early loneliness and lovestruck dreaming, to the happiness she finds within her little hideaway, to her eventual decision to step out of it and claim her lover. The medley ends on a repetition of “that’s my man”, seemingly hinting that Taylor’s freedom is tied up in her ability to finally say those words.

What else? Well, there are the Ivy allusions. Taylor’s cabin covered in greenery can’t help but evoke the lyrics of Ivy - “my house of stone, your ivy grows, and now I’m covered in you”. Ivy is widely interpreted as a sapphic song about two women finding love despite their commitments to men. Another line in the song “he’s in the room, your opal eyes are all I wish to see, he wants what’s only yours” is alluded to in Taylor’s choice of opal jewelry on the night. What a weird thing to draw attention to, if you’re not secretly in love with a woman while parading a beard around in public. We’re also told in the song that “he” (possibly the same man, possibly another) wants to burn the house of the Ivy lovers down. Jerk just so happened to announce the baby’s birth on this night, in what felt like an attempt to undermine Taylor’s joy. Hmm. Curious.

You know what else is curious? Taylor’s choice of outfit for the Grammys red carpet. Not only is the floral dress very reminiscent of a floral ensemble Karlie wore to cover a June (pride month) issue of Spanish Vogue. (Cover subtitled, “flowers of change”.) It’s also by the designer Oscar de la Renta. Taylor and Karlie famously attended one of his shows together early on in their relationship. They sat in the front row looking very cozy, while Taylor refused to answer questions about why she was there and reportedly giggled “my publicist will be mad at me”. Hmm.

Taylor has also worn Oscar de la Renta on numerous occasions while out with Karlie, including most famously at the Met Gala. That iconic pale pink gown that she was buried in the Look What You Made Me Do music video? That was an Oscar de la Renta. There are many interpretations of the scene in the video, but it’s worth noting that Taylor is buried alive in it (which could be interpreted as a metaphor for being closeted) and that in a video all about her various revenge fantasies, she depicts herself crawling back up out of this grave. She views coming back to life and walking away from the flaming wreckage of her past with Big Machine as the ultimate revenge. At the end of the video she clips her own wings while all the past iterations of her argue amongst themselves. This would seem to suggest that she can defeat her enemies but she can’t defeat herself, because she can’t outrun her past, and until then she will always be doomed to self-sabotage. Nevertheless, this Taylor (lurking in the background bedecked in peaced-out palm tree print) is in a much better position than the Taylor who opened the video as a zombie corpse. She’s on the surface and has some hope of freedome, at last. This is a theme we see carried through in the following video, where Taylor goes one-on-one against herself and eventually breaks free.

Long story short? Taylor wearing such a floral, literally blooming dress from THIS designer, of all people, suggests she may finally be about to rise again. The aborted coming out apparently planned for the Lover era (and thus seeded during the Rep era) may finally be a go?

Again, I’m very reluctant to get people’s hopes up here. But it’s hard to look at this dress and not think of that June (Pride month) floral magazine cover. Or of the Spade riddle, “Why worry? She blooms in June.” Or of the fact that Taylor’s stunts are often loudest before the end. She acknowledged Calvin and hugged him at an awards show before he was booted out of the narrative and Tom H appeared to replace him. (Something like ten days or so after the “split”, if I remember right?) And the inconsistencies of the Toe timeline speak for themselves. There was speculation - unpopular though it was - among Kaylors in the Rep era that guessed Taylor wouldn’t come out until 2021 / 2022. It seemed a world away at the time but who knows? Maybe this was always the plan. Maybe this is all “part of the fucking story”, even the parts that seem ugly or counterproductive. A lot can change in a couple of months in Hollywood, and with Taylor in particular. By June, it’s possible we COULD be looking at a vastly different landscape. Maybe this was one last hurrah for the Toes. Many of them are just harmless fans taking Taylor at her word, after all.

Only time will tell, and I don’t blame Kaylors for checking out. This isn’t healthy, especially for those of us who are gay ourselves, and can’t help but feel a personal connection to Taylor’s journey out of the closet. We know what a big deal it would be. But for those who still want to hope … It’s just possible Taylor has a plan, and this is the dark night before the dawn.

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Pro: I added the photos and the bolded parts. Love symbolism. This was truly a spectacular performance. Awesome submission anon!!

#submission #submitted by anonymous

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haokyeom · 4 years

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all the stars | kim mingyu

ミ★ synopsis: in which you fall in love with your rival, kim mingyu.

ミ★ genre: sin of envy!mingyu, ceo!mingyu, ceo!reader, enemies to lovers!au, angst, fluff, some humor

ミ★ warnings: mentions of blood and broken glass

ミ★ word count: 8,764

ミ★ pairings: mingyu x female reader

ミ★ notes: hi guys ! it’s lila, aka, @viastro ! this is my last post for the lucky 7 collaboration </33 this one is actually so fucking long for no reason i am so sorry HAHAHA this was so exciting to be a part of even tho i kinda procrastinated and made all of the oneshots ten million years long </33 this one was really exciting to write tho. think it might be one of my favorite works along with my minghao oneshot for this collab :o i hope you guys like it ! make sure to give mingyu lots of love <3

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They say to live the life you dream of, you have to work hard. Some people can start from the bottom and work their way up to the top. While others are fortunate enough to start directly from the top due to the resources that are available to them.

Unluckily for you, you are not one of the latters. You worked hard to get where you are now, being the CEO of Bloom. You didn’t earn the status of CEO through being the heir to the company, no. You built Bloom on your own, and now you’re one of the youngest, as well as the richest, in the business of the gaming industry.

However, as it was said before, you’re one of the youngest and richest. There’s another that you’re currently ahead of in the business, some claim to be your rival in the industry. The two of you are always clashing on the charts, always competing at the same time. Since you just recently launched a new update for your game, you’re higher on the ladder than him. For now.

Kim Mingyu, the CEO of Ainsoft. At the age of 19 he inherited the money to start up his own gaming company, which ended up being incredibly successful. As he is now 23, and one of the youngest and richest in South Korea. Right beside you on the charts, but you started from the ground up, while he had a bit of help.

What you don’t know is that Mingyu is truly out of this world. Tall, handsome, and rich, yes. However, he is actually not a part of this world. For he is one of the seven deadly sins,

The Sin of Envy.

And you, yln yn, are at the top of his list.

“Nah, he’s a villain. If you wanna make him look the part, he should look less soft. Taller, broader, dark hair, nice tan skin. Yes! Perfect.” You clap your hands once your game designer makes the changes you requested. Minghao turns to glance at you with a look that basically says, ugh! this bitch.

“... What?”

“You literally just had me draw Kim Mingyu.” You purse your lips once you see the resemblance, and turn your head away, letting out a whistle tune. Minghao chuckles, deleting the edits he made so that the drawing is back to its original rough draft.

“You know, it’s not my fault that he looks like the perfect villain.” You say to Minghao, and he waves his hand away at you, flashing you a grin. “I’ll work on this and show you the draft when I’m done, deal?”

You smile, giving the black haired beauty a thumbs up. “Deal.”

And with that, you turn and stroll back to your office. You check in with your other employees on the way there, seeing how the design and coding is going for the upcoming game you plan to discuss with investors in a month or so.

With a smile and wave of your hand, you step into your office, shutting the door behind you and walking over to your desk. You sit down, letting out a breath and closing your eyes as you rest your head on the back of your seat.

You quickly get interrupted by a knock on your door, and you call out that they can come in. Sitting up straighter in your seat, you watch as your COO, Chan, steps into your office with a straight face. You raise an eyebrow, knowing that he brought news you must not like.

“What is it?” You ask as Chan sits down in the seat in front of your desk, and he lets out a sigh. He places the small envelope before you, and you purse your lips, reaching out and taking it. You carefully open up the red paper, and pull out what seems to be an invitation.

You immediately frown at what you read, and you glance up at Chan to see him also looking at the piece of paper as if it were cursed. You place it back down onto the table, letting out a sigh and slumping in your seat.

“Why is Kim Mingyu inviting me to his gala?” You ask, pointing to the invitation in disgust, and Chan shrugs in response. He looks rather tired as well, and you feel a bit bad for your friend.

His black hair isn’t as put together as it was in the morning, showing that he must’ve been running his hands through it a lot during the day. His tie is a bit loosened as well, and he’s more hunched over. You know for a fact that once he leaves your office, he won’t be showing any sign of fatigue to your employees. You don’t blame him for being tired though, it’s a stressful process trying to create a new game.

“I think he might be planning something.” Chan mutters, squinting at the invitation from his seat. You tilt your head, wondering what Mingyu could possibly be scheming. You’ve never met him before, as you’re not one to go out to galas or many public events, and he’s never invited you to one of his galas before. Chan is usually the one who attends those things because he knows you’d much rather work on new game developments or on updates for any existing games than waste time at a party.

“Of course he is. He never invites me to these things, and I’ve also never met him, yet we’re each other's biggest competitor. You’re the only one who has spoken to Mingyu before.” You say, pointing to Chan, who is now rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands. Once he’s done he glances at you, giving you a shrug of his shoulders.

“All I can remember is that he’s really tall, and pretty cocky.”

“Only a little bit?”

“Nah, like. The type that knows everyone loves him and can get anyone he wants without trying.” You purse your lips, turning your head away with a scowl. From what you’re hearing, Kim Mingyu is the worst type of man.

“I’m not going.” You state with finality, turning back towards your computer. You begin typing away for a minute, only to pause when you realize that Chan is still sitting in your seat, staring at you. Your eyes immediately widen and you shake your head, while Chan stands up and raises his hands towards you. “Absolutely not!”

“You didn’t even hear what I was going to say!”

“Because I already know what you were going to say!” You exclaim with a baffled expression on your face, and Chan gives you a defeated look in return. He purses his lips and you squint back at him. After a moment Chan finally says, “I think you should go.”

“Give me one good reason why.” You tell him and Chan grins, having already expected you to say that.

“It’s an opportunity to get information on the enemy.” Chan states, and you raise an eyebrow. Leaning back into your seat, you signal for him to go on.

“Listen. Mingyu is known to hold these big galas when they’re planning on launching a new game, right?” Chan glances at you for your reaction, and you nod your head. “So, you can go to try and get information. You’ve never met Mingyu, and he’s never met you. What if you managed to even swoon him?”

You roll your eyes, grabbing your stapler to throw it at your partner’s head, and he raises his arms in surrender, letting out giggles at your reaction. You place the almost weapon back down on your table, and bite your finger, a habit you do when you start to think heavily about something.

Chan has a point. It’s a dirty way of playing the game, but hey, you’re in the gaming industry. What you and Chan are planning on doing isn’t that bad anyways. You’re just going to see what his next game may be, report it back to your employees, and make sure your new game release will be a thousand times better than his.

Which is why you turn back to Chan, a newly formed smirk on your lips, and he grins evilly back. You rest your chin on the palm of your hand, “Guess I have plans this Saturday.”

“Ms. yln, the CEO of Bloom, has just arrived at Kim Mingyu’s gala. This is her first time attending Mr. Kim’s gala since they are the two biggest competitors in the gaming industry. She’s wearing an emerald green…”

You ignore the voices of the reporters as you step out of your bugatti chiron with a knowing smile on your face. You hand your keys to the valet, giving them a nod as you walk down the red carpet. You flip your hair over your shoulder, before walking up the steps and into the grand venue.

You feel the eyes on you when you step in, and you bow to those around you. You walk further into the ballroom of the hotel, running a hand through your hair as you walk up to one of the tables. You take out your phone from the strap on your leg, sending Chan a quick text that you’re going to curse him for not coming with you. To which he replies,

chan: love you too sexci :D

“Champagne, Ms. yln?” You turn to glance at the voice, to find a young waiter standing before you, holding fancy glasses filled with the expensive alcohol. You give him a small smile, and watch as a blush rises to his cheeks when you take one. “Thank you so much.”

He bows, before turning and walking away. You take a tiny sip and let out a pleased noise once you taste the unexpected sweetness to it. You ponder your luck on your favorite alcohol getting served at the gala you dreaded going to, only to receive an answer from the voice beside you.

“Montaudon Brut, your favorite.” You turn your head to find none other than the Kim Mingyu standing close beside you, a knowing smirk on his face as he stares at you. You raise an eyebrow, turning your body to face him as you look back into his eyes.

“How’d you know?” You ask with a small smile, and he shrugs, running a hand through his perfectly styled hair, damn you kim mingyu, before giving you a mischievous look. “Did a little bit of research.”

You let out an, ah, before turning your head away to sweep the room. You lock eyes with a few onlookers, but they quickly glance the other way, making the corner of your lips tilt upwards a bit. You take in the decorations on the ceiling, from the bright pink and white flowers, to the green leafy plants hanging next to the fairy lights. What used to just be a golden ballroom inside a hotel now resembles what you’d consider a great option for what heaven may look like.

It’s rather ironic actually, considering that the Sin of Envy is standing right beside you. Mingyu watches you with fire in his eyes, having not expected you to be more gorgeous in person than in pictures, let alone when the fairy lights cast an iridescent glow over you.

“The decorations are lovely, did you pick them out yourself as well?” You ask, turning to glance back at Mingyu, just to feel your breath get caught in your throat when you catch the intense look in his eyes. He tilts his head at you, opening his mouth to say something when the sound of the mic turning on catches both of your attention.

Mingyu flashes you a mischievous smile, “That’s my signal to go and greet everyone. I’ll see you later?”

You find yourself smirking, nodding your head and waving off the handsome man with your hand. “You know where to find me.”

And with that, Mingyu turns and walks off the stage. All while you head off in the opposite direction to go and get some info on his upcoming game. You notice a group consisting of a few women and men who are eyeing you, and you walk over to them. They seemed to not have expected you to go up to them due to their eyes widening slightly, and you let out a grin when you reach their table.

“Ms. yln, what an honor it is to meet you.” The tallest male says, and you extend your hand out to shake his. Only to bite the inside of your cheek when he raises your hand up and presses a kiss to the back of it instead. He leans back and you glance at the rest of the people around him, just for them to immediately bow to you. You bow back, before giving the man a smile. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Cha Eunwoo, I’m Mingyu’s game designer.” You nod your head, mentally patting yourself on the back for finding one of the main people in charge of making Mingyu’s newest release. You run a hand through your hair before turning to ask, “What got you into game design?”

The two of you spend the next hour talking about Eunwoo’s experience working with Mingyu. You find yourself enjoying the pretty man’s company. He’s nice, witty, charming, and rather funny. You wish he could be a part of your team, but alas. At least you found out small bits and pieces of what could potentially be Ainsoft’s next release.

What you’ve gathered so far is that there’s mentions of a dystopian universe, and a team. You’re worried that may be all you’re able to get, but you think that it could be enough. You wave bye to Eunwoo, and he tells you he was happy that he got to speak to you, before you turn and walk back over to your table.

You raise an eyebrow when you see that your table is now full, so you decide to walk around. Other than doing the occasional bow, you don’t feel like talking to anyone else for now, so you continue to roam around. You tilt your head when you find a hallway close to the stage, so you walk down it. Taking in the hanging green plants on the ceiling, finding the interior decoration of the gala to be impeccable. You see doors leading to a balcony once you’re closer to the end of the hallway, and you step out.

You take a sip of your champagne when you find Mingyu looking over the ledge, staring out at the city. You raise an eyebrow and walk over, but he doesn’t seem startled by your presence. He just continues to look at the skyline, taking in deep breaths of the cold, night air.

“Thought you said you’d find me?” You joke after a moment, and Mingyu turns to glance at you. He lets out an amused grin, shaking his head at you. “Wanted to give you a little adventure.” Is all he replies, and you find yourself smiling.

The two of you stare out at the skyline together in silence, and you feel that you’re the calmest you’ve been in months as you stand beside Mingyu. Glancing up at the night sky you notice a shooting star, and you nudge the man. He turns to look at you, and you point up at the sky with a glimmer to your eye, “Look! A shooting star.”

Mingyu looks up at the sky, and he catches the very last second of the shooting star. He chuckles, knowing that means one of the stars is on their way to fulfill a quest, but of course, you don’t know that. So he turns to glance at you, just to find that your eyes are closed, and your hands are clasped together as you make a wish up to the shooting star.

Mingyu feels something in his chest at the sight, and he wonders whether he may be having a heart attack, but then he remembers that he’s immortal. You open your eyes and turn to glance at Mingyu, and that’s when he feels his heart stop.

He realizes that your eyes outshine all the stars in the sky with the way they brightly bore into his, and he finds the visual so enchanting, that he forgets to speak. You tilt your head to the side at his silence, and you take the last sip of your champagne, before placing the empty glass onto the ledge.

“So quiet now. Have you just realized how pretty I am?” You tease, and Mingyu snaps out of his trance. He leans in closer to your face, and your eyes widen when his nose almost touches yours. The handsome man lets out a smile, “I’ve always known you were stunning, yn. However, I didn’t expect you to be even prettier in person.” And with that, he leans back at his full height, chuckling at your surprised expression.

You squint at him, “Shut up.”

“Awe, is my biggest rival shy now?” Mingyu asks, and you roll your eyes. You nudge him with your shoulder, and he hides his smile behind the glass of champagne, taking a large sip of it. You feel your phone vibrate in the strap on your thigh, so you stick your leg out of the slit of your dress. Mingyu glances down and his eyes widen slightly at the sight of you taking your phone out of the strap.

“You kept… your phone there?” You nod your head without looking at Mingyu, seeing that Chan needs you to come home so he can discuss one of the character designs for the game you’re creating. You place your phone back in the strap, before hiding your leg from view. Turning towards Mingyu, you give him a grin.

“I have to take my leave now. Thank you for inviting me to your gala, I had a wonderful time.” You tell Mingyu, and he purses his lips at the fact that he feels the slightest bit of disappointment in his chest from you leaving already.

“So soon?” Mingyu asks and you nod your head, muttering that duty calls. You’re about to turn around to leave when you feel a hand grasp your wrist, and you glance behind you to see Mingyu staring at you with a small smile.

“Will I see you again?”

Your eyes widen at the question, having not expected for there to be a next time. While Mingyu continues to look at you with a glint in his eye, and you wonder why he wants to initiate a relationship between the two of you. However, you also enjoy Mingyu’s company, so it really has you thinking.

“Maybe. Depends on what the Gods have in store for us.” You answer, and Mingyu finds it so painfully ironic that he lets out a laugh, to which you find yourself smiling back. He nods his head, letting go of your wrist so that you can leave the gala.

“I’ll see you, yln yn.” You flip your hair over your shoulder, waving bye to Mingyu. “See you, Kim Mingyu.”

And with that, you walk off the balcony. Leaving Mingyu alone underneath the night sky. He lets out a breath, turning back towards the ledge as he decides to head back into the gala after a few minutes.

Mingyu glances up at the stars, and he comes to realize that you’re all he can think about as he does so.

“Minghao!” The black haired beauty turns in the direction he heard you call, just to find you quickly walking over with an excited smile on your face. He raises an eyebrow, about to open his mouth to ask how much espresso you got in your coffee, just for you to slam your journal onto his desk. “Someone’s excited.”

“I had a dream.”

“So did Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.” You squint at Minghao, and he gives you a smile that convinces you not to reach out and smack the back of his head. So you instead open up your journal, showing the drawing you made at four in the morning the night before, and Minghao’s eyes widen slightly in awe.

“These are…”

“Perfect.”

“An incredibly different vibe from the characters we had drawn out before.” Minghao points out, and you nod your head. Running a hand through your hair, you give him a grin. “Don’t you think they suit the game so much better though? I was unsure of the direction we were going in, but after what I learned at the gala, I think these characters will be better.”

Minghao nods his head in agreement, turning back towards the drawing. You stare at the drawing as well, “I had a dream last night and as soon as I woke up I just had to draw the characters I dreamt of. This is what I got. I want you to show this to the team and make these characters come to life by the end of next week.” You tell Minghao, and he purses his lips. He grasps the journal and raises it up towards his face, taking in the detail of their outfits, the brightness of the hair, and their varying facial expressions.

“What kind of dream did you have?” Minghao asks after a moment, and you tilt your head at the thought of it. Perhaps you had that bizarre dream because you watched that one alien episode of buzzfeed unsolved to try and stop thinking of Mingyu, but you’re not sure.

“These weird aliens kept trying to peg me with their tentacles.” You mutter with a look of unease displayed over your features, and Minghao just stares at you in concern. You snap out of the memory, turning back towards Minghao and giving him a small smile.

“You can create these by the end of next week, right?”

“You dreamt… of tentacle porn?” You let out a laugh, reaching out and resting a hand on Minghao’s shoulder. “Remind me to not watch anything involving aliens before I go to sleep.”

Minghao nods his head, “Noted.”

And after he confirms that he’ll be able to have the characters drawn out and will show them to you as soon as they’re done, you walk back to your office after checking with your other employees. You’re about to turn the corner to your office when Chan stops you, a bright smile on his face that has you suspicious.

“...What?”

“You want coffee?”

“I don’t like coffee.”

“Well, let’s make you like it! Let’s go!” Chan says quickly, hooking his arm with yours and pulling you in the opposite direction of your office. With a frown you pull your arm away, squinting at Chan. “Why are you stopping me from going into my office?”

“Why… not?” You stare at Chan with a bored expression, before turning around and opening the door to your office, promptly ignoring Chan’s sounds of protest. You find yourself staring at the back of Mingyu’s head, who is sitting in the seat placed in front of your desk.

“Kim Mingyu.” You state, and the man turns around, flashing you a smile. His black hair is up in the style he had at the gala, revealing his forehead and strong eyebrows. He’s wearing a black dress shirt, the top buttons being unbuttoned, revealing a bit of his chest, and you raise an eyebrow. You take notice of his sharp canines for the first time as he smiles at you, and for some reason, you’re intrigued.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of having you in my office right now?” You ask as you walk up to your chair, feeling Mingyu’s eyes on you the whole way there. You sit down in your seat, and look up into his eyes, finding the same intense look that he had at the night of the gala two weeks prior. Mingyu smiles, leaning his head back into the chair, and your eyes trail down to his Adam's apple, watching it move as he swallows.

“You weren’t making any moves to come and see me again, so I decided to pay my rival a visit and ask her out for coffee.” You choke on your saliva at the end of his sentence, and Mingyu smiles at that. You stare at him with wide eyes, and he rests his chin on his hand, looking at you with amusement dancing in his deep brown eyes.

The two of you weren’t supposed to meet again. By you going to the gala it was simply for your own gain, to learn more about his upcoming game. However, you ended up learning more about the enemy himself. You know that you shouldn’t entertain him like this, but here you are, wanting to get to know your rival more.

And so you regain your composure, and tilt your head to the side, now grinning back at Mingyu. “After your research on me, I thought you’d learn that I’m more of a tea person.”

Mingyu bites his finger, letting out a smile at that. “Guess the internet isn’t always that reliable.”

You nod your head, before standing up from the chair and heading over to the door. Mingyu raises an eyebrow at you moving to leave without another word, and you turn your head to look at him. You smirk, “Are you coming or what? I know a good tea place down the street from here.”

Mingyu laughs, standing up from the seat and grabbing the maroon jacket that was laid over the back of it. He puts it on, and you find that he looks like the epitome of a God as he walks up to you. Once he’s standing in front of you, the two of you stare into each other’s eyes for a moment.

Mingyu thinks that emerald green complements your eye color as he stares at you, curious as to how he didn’t notice it when you wore that emerald green dress at the gala. While you wonder how cursed you have to be for your rival to be one of the prettiest people you’ve ever laid eyes on. So you grin, opening the door for him and pointing out with your arm. “After you.”

Mingyu chuckles out, “How sweet of you.” as he steps out of your office.

The two of you walk over towards the elevators, and you glance over to see Minghao staring at you with a small smirk on his face, while Chan looks like he’s shitting himself. You raise an eyebrow at them, and Minghao makes his hands look like they’re kissing, and Chan just makes the motion that looks like he’s praying to the Gods. You roll your eyes, before turning back towards Mingyu to see him bowing his head towards your other employees that are looking at the both of you.

at least he’s respectful.

“Are you gonna pay for my tea?” Mingyu asks once the two of you enter the elevator, and you smile, turning to look at your rival. You reach over and press the star button, and the elevator makes its way down. After a second of silence you respond,

“Sure, I’ll pay for your tea as a celebration for the fact that I’m in the #1 spot right now.” You answer, giving Mingyu a cheeky smile, and he rolls his eyes.

For now, Mingyu thinks to himself bitterly once the elevator doors open.

“You fucking suck at fall guys.” You mutter to Mingyu once you hear him yell out beside you. He chooses to ignore that comment so that he can try and make it into the qualifying round, and you let out a squeal once you take the last spot. Mingyu glares at the screen, seeing the word eliminated flash across it while you celebrate.

Mingyu removes his headset, and turns to glare at you on the other side of your gaming room, clapping your hands happily. He lets out a groan and rests his head on the back of the chair, causing you to let out a laugh at his reaction.

“Who would’ve thought that the CEO of Ainsoft is so terrible at fall guys?” You tease, and Mingyu rolls his eyes. He stands up from the seat without another word and walks over to you. You open your mouth to ask what he’s doing, only for your whole world to be flipped upside down when he throws you over your shoulder. You let out a laugh, “Put me down!”

“No.” Mingyu states, smiling as he spins around, hearing you let out a squeal as he does so. You threaten that you’re going to throw up onto the back of his shirt if he doesn’t set you down, and he laughs. “Then apologize and tell me I’m the best player ever.”

“Lying is a sin, Mingyu.”

“Bruh…” And so, Mingyu spins you around a few more times before setting you down onto the couch with a laugh. The two of you freeze once you realize the position you’re in, with him hovering over you and you laying flat on your back.

It’s been a couple months since the gala, and you and Mingyu have gotten close. What started out as you trying to beat him, led to you wanting to get to know him, and now you can’t help but think how nice it must be to kiss him as you stare down at his soft, pink lips.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Mingyu thinks as he stares into your eyes. He didn’t even think he was capable of feeling this way towards anyone. But it’s when he lifts up his hand and rests it on your cheek, and he watches as your eyes glance down towards his lips that he realizes,

“I want you.” Mingyu murmurs, and your breath hitches at his words.

And so the two of you stare at each other for a moment in silence, before you let out a small smile.

“Only if you can beat me at fall guys.” Mingyu squints at you, and you giggle at his reaction. He rolls his eyes before leaning down and capturing your lips in a kiss for the first time.

“Fuck!” You hear Mingyu yell as you step into his office. It’s already late at night, almost one am, and yet Mingyu is still here working at his desk. He glances up at you when he hears the sound of the door close, and he turns off his computer when you walk towards him.

His hair isn’t perfectly put together anymore based on the way it’s falling over his forehead now. His tie is loosened and is just hanging around his neck, the first few buttons now unbuttoned on his shirt as well. You take notice of the bags under his eyes, and you realize he’s been lacking sleep.

“Yn, how did you get in?” Mingyu asks tiredly, standing up from his desk and walking over to you. You chuckle, holding up the spare keys that he left at your house a week prior and dangling it in front of his face. He opens up his hand, and you drop the keys onto the palm of his hand. Mingyu lets out a small, “Ah.” and you chuckle.

You wrap your arms around his waist, rubbing his back and he finds himself smiling softly at the feeling. He lets out a breath of relief and cradles your head, pressing a kiss to the top of it. After a moment you pull back and give him a smile, “Let’s take you home, mm? You’re overworking yourself.”

Mingyu opens his mouth to protest and you shush him, shaking your head. He stares at you for a moment, not used to anyone taking care of him when he stays late at the office, and he feels his heart warm slightly. He lets out a sigh, before giving you a smile and nodding his head. He leans forward and presses a kiss to your forehead, “Just let me pack up, okay? I’ll be out in a sec.”

You walk out of his office and wait by the door for a few minutes, just scrolling through your phone when Mingyu finally walks out. He reaches out for your hand and you intertwine your fingers with his, and the two of you talk about your day as you head to his car.

“Eunwoo choked on tteokbokki?” You ask, and Mingyu laughs at the memory of Eunwoo choking in his office. He starts the car and backs out of his parking spot, and begins driving out of the parking garage. “He absolutely did. I wish I got it on video.”

You giggle at the thought of the pretty man turning red in the face and choking on the small rice cake. Mingyu smiles at the sound, finding it to be one of your best qualities. The two of you drive in relative silence the rest of the way to his place, as Mingyu’s sleepy, and you’re also tired.

When you both finally arrive, you step out of his car and walk into his house. Mingyu makes a beeline for his room, taking off his dress shirt and belly flopping onto his bed. You laugh at his antics, sitting on the edge of his bed and slapping his back. “Go and change into your pajamas at least.”

“Can you do it for me?” Mingyu asks teasingly, lifting up his head to glance at your reaction. He wiggles his eyebrows at you, and you glare, reaching out and slapping his back. He lets out a whine, before getting up from his bed and walking over to his closet.

He comes back after a moment, changed into fluffy pajama pants and an old t-shirt. He throws one of his t-shirts at you for you to change into and you chuckle. He climbs back into bed and looks at you with a confused expression, wondering why you haven’t changed.

“I’m not staying the night Gyu.” You mutter, pushing back the strands of hair that are falling into his eyes. He frowns, “Yes you are.”

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are.”

“Mingyu, I have a meeting at work in the morning.”

“And I’ll drive you there.” Mingyu offers and you giggle, shaking your head at him. He whines, making a grabby hand towards you, and you bite the inside of your cheek.

Mingyu has come to realize that he sleeps a lot better when he’s holding you after the first time you let him spend the night a couple weeks ago. He realizes he shouldn’t have let himself get so attached to you, but he just wants one more night. One more night with you.

“Please?” Mingyu asks in a softer voice, and you sigh. You nod your head, grabbing the shirt and walking into his bathroom to change, before waddling back over to the bed and climbing in. It’s like second nature to you and Mingyu when you both go into your cuddling position. With you draping your arm and leg over him, and Mingyu wrapping his arm and leg around you. He rubs your back, and you slowly find yourself falling asleep.

“Don’t forget that you promised to drive me to my meeting tomorrow.” You mumble before you fall asleep, and Mingyu nods his head.

Mingyu watches as your breathing evens out, and he knows that you’re asleep. He stares at you for a moment, finding that you look so pure when you sleep. There’s no frown to your forehead, no tiredness to your eyes, you’re just at peace. He presses a kiss to your forehead, before letting out a sad smile.

“I’m sorry, yn.”

“You hear that your boyfriend is releasing a game tomorrow night?” Chan asks as the two of you walk back to your office from the meeting on how far along your guys’ game development is going. You giggle at the term, and nod your head, feeling a sense of pride at the sleepless nights Mingyu has spent on working on the release of his game.

“Yeah, he’s been working hard on the last minute touches. I had to drag him out of his office at like, one am last night. I plan to surprise him after his launch party.” You tell Chan as you enter your office. You sit down in your seat, placing your notes down by your keyboard, and Chan takes off his blazer and hangs it on the back of the chair before sitting down.

“Has he told you anything about the game?” Chan asks, and you shake your head with a smile. “I told him I wanted him to surprise me, so I don’t know anything about it other than the little pieces of info I got from Eunwoo at the gala a few months ago.”

Chan nods his head, letting out a grin at the happiness radiating from you as you login to your computer. Chan chuckles, “Who would’ve thought that by you going to the gala to get intel on the enemy, you ended up falling for the man?”

You smile, shrugging your shoulders in response. You mutter how life works in mysterious ways, and Chan agrees wholeheartedly based on how life has turned out for you.

Everything is going great so far. The development of your new game is on its last stages, and you’re so happy seeing your characters come to life on the screen from what your employees have shown you. It’s one of your best works yet.

And you’re finally dating after years of just dedicating all your time into work. Chan hasn’t seen you so happy before, and he’s so glad to see you glowing. So Chan reaches over and rests his hand over yours, giving it a small pat, and you let out a smile.

“I’m proud of you, yn.” Your eyes fill with fondness as you stare at your best friend who has been with you since the very beginning, and you feel your heart swell with love. “Thank you Chan, I love you.”

Eunwoo and Mingyu eat silently as they look over the game character designs and the gameplay. Mingyu can’t help but feel a sense of guilt as he stares at them, and he mentally slaps himself for feeling that way. Eunwoo glances at him, taking in the furrow between Mingyu’s eyebrows, and he lets out a sigh. Mingyu turns to look at him, “What?”

“If you feel guilty, then why did you suggest to even do this?” Eunwoo asks, and Mingyu scoffs. “I don’t feel guilty.”

Eunwoo rolls his eyes, reaching out and poking the prominent furrow that’s been hanging out between Mingyu’s eyebrows the whole day they’ve been working. The game release is tomorrow night, and they’re still here at the office working. Mingyu whines, rubbing the area that Eunwoo poked, and Eunwoo lets out a grin. “Lying is for sinners.”

Mingyu lets out a cocky grin, eyes turning red for emphasis, “Good thing I’m not a virtue.”

Eunwoo lets out a tired sigh, pushing Mingyu’s face away, causing the sin to let out a laugh at his friend’s antics. Eunwoo is the only one who knows of Mingyu’s true form, it was an accident honestly.

“I’m so sick of this fake love! Fake love! Fake love!” Eunwoo raises an eyebrow at the sound of Mingyu’s singing, and he steps into his friend’s room to see the tall man dancing in front of his mirror. His eyes are glowing a bright red rather than the deep brown he’s known him for. Mingyu pauses, slowly turning the sound down on his phone when he locks eyes with Eunwoo, and he turns his eyes back to brown.

“Eunwoo, let me explain-”

Eunwoo passes out onto the floor.

Mingyu’s just lucky that Eunwoo’s his best friend and didn’t have any plans on outing him for being one of the seven deadly sins. However, he’s both blessed and cursed on the fact that Eunwoo can read him better than an open book.

“You love her, don’t you?” Eunwoo watches as Mingyu turns rigid, and he tilts his head at him. Mingyu turns back towards the screen, choosing to ignore the way his heart throbs at the thought of you and him slow dancing in the kitchen the other night. Eunwoo decides to press him a bit more, “Gyu?”

“I’m the Sin of Envy, there’s no such thing as love for me.” Mingyu mutters, making himself look like he’s staring intently at the gameplay on the screen. Eunwoo runs a hand through his hair, taking a sip of his water. “But you love her.”

Mingyu bites his lip, choosing to stay quiet as his response. The silence is everything Eunwoo needed to know, and so he leans back into his seat and stares at Mingyu a bit longer. Mingyu turns to glance at him after a moment of silence, and he sees the judgmental expression on his best friend’s face. “What?”

Eunwoo just shakes his head, glancing over at the journal full of notes about the game before saying, “You could live a hundred lifetimes, and never deserve that girl.”

Mingyu turns back towards the game, seeing the characters come to life on the screen, and he bites the inside of his cheek. He nods his head slowly, knowing what he’s going to lose as he quietly mutters, “I know.”

Mingyu takes a sip of water as he looks at himself in the mirror, deciding that he looks good. He glances down at his phone when he hears a ding, letting out a smile when he sees your text on the screen.

yn: good luck !! i’m so proud of you, can’t wait to beat you at the game stinky >:D

Mingyu looks back up when he hears that it’s almost time for the game to launch, and he stands up from the seat. He turns around to see Eunwoo standing there, and he tries to ignore the disappointed expression on his best friend’s face.

“You know you can still stop this, right?” Eunwoo insists, and Mingyu shakes his head at his friend. He bites the inside of his cheek, ignoring the feeling of guilt that’s building up in his conscience. He finds that emotion annoying, guilt. He’s the Sin of Envy, how is he able to feel that?

“Because you fell in love.” Eunwoo states. Mingyu’s eyes widen, turning to Eunwoo and wondering how he could hear his thoughts, who briefly explains that Mingyu said it out loud.

“You can stop this, Mingyu. You’re going to ruin something you’ve been blessed with. Just listen to me-” Mingyu raises his hand up at Eunwoo, stopping him from speaking. Eunwoo lets out a tired sigh, and Mingyu gives him a smile.

“Let’s go celebrate our game launch.” Mingyu says, and walks out of the room. Eunwoo bites the inside of his cheek, before following after his friend.

While you hangout with Chan at his house, staring at the TV that displays OGN. They’re about to announce Ainsoft’s game launch and show the commercial for it as well. You let out an excited smile, seeing that Chan is staring at the TV expectantly.

“Oh! It’s 8:00!” You exclaim, and right as you say that, you see Mingyu’s pre-recorded announcement of the launch of the game. “He looks so handsome…”

“Okay we get it, you have a boyfriend.” Chan jokes, and you let out a laugh. You watch as Mingyu gestures to the large screen beside him on the TV, and it zooms into it as the commercial begins to play.

Your smile slowly drops from your face when the main character shows up on the screen, and Chan squints at the TV. “Wait a minute.”

You raise a hand to your mouth when the other characters start coming in, hearing the voice in the back of the video explaining the gameplay and the adventure the characters have to go on. You stand up from the couch with shaking knees, and Chan looks over at you.

This is your game. This is your creation. This is the game you’ve spent months working on.

It’s gone.

All of it is gone.

“Wait, yn-” Chan begins as you grab your car keys from the table. You walk towards the door, ignoring Chan’s calls as you hurry to get to your car. “Yn, you’re not in the right frame of mind to drive.”

You feel Chan grasp your arm and you shake it off, pointing at him with a shaking hand. The anger that Chan feels is not even close to the betrayal you must be feeling as he notices there’s no trace of happiness to you anymore. “Let me go.”

So Chan lets go, and you step out of his house. You quickly walk to your car, pushing back the tears so that you can be able to see as you drive. Millions of thoughts flow through your head as you back out of Chan’s driveway and speed down the street towards Mingyu’s house.

Was that his agenda all along? When did he get the info on your whole game? Is that why he spent so much time with you?

You bite your lip when you think,

Did he ever even love you?

“Great job on the game guys, it’ll be a big hit.” Mingyu tells his employees over by the glasses of champagne. They all smile and tell them their thanks, and he waves his hand at them, saying that this wouldn’t have happened without their help.

Eunwoo stares from across the room, drinking the sweet champagne that he knows you enjoy so much. However, it just tastes bitter once it goes down, reminding him of the sin he’s committed as he watches Mingyu act like everything’s fine.

He stands up straight when he hears the front door open behind him over the chatter, turning around to see you walking in. Eunwoo’s eyes widen, and he reaches out to stop you but you push his hand away. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

You walk over to the glasses of champagne, and grab one. Mingyu’s employees stare with wide eyes when they take notice of you, wondering what you’re even doing at their launch party. Mingyu raises an eyebrow at their sudden silence, and he turns in the direction that they’re staring in, only to get a face full of champagne.

“What the fuck?” Mingyu growls, wiping his eyes so that he can see who did it. Only for his heart to drop when he locks eyes with you. You’re standing there, eyes full of rage as you stare at the man that you love, the one who betrayed you.

“Yn.” Mingyu breathes out, and you bite the inside of your cheek.

“You fucking BITCH!” You scream, slapping Mingyu across the face, and the whole room turns silent at your outburst. You reach out to start shoving him, but he grasps your wrists to stop you. Mingyu glances around at his employees, and he gestures for them to leave, to which they slowly do. Once the living room is empty except for Eunwoo, he finally lets go of your arms, and you shove him away.

“You stole my game. You stole my fucking work!” You yell, and Mingyu just stands before you, face void of any emotion as he lets you scream at him. You tightly squeeze the glass between your hand, and Mingyu’s eyes widen when the glass shatters within your grasp. He tries to reach out to remove it from your hand but you step back, the blood from the wound dripping down your wrist as you stare at him.

“Was this your plan from the beginning? Since the gala?” You ask, and Mingyu stares. You bite the inside of your cheek, reaching out to grab another glass, but Mingyu steps forward and blocks your view of the table so that you can’t grab it. You throw the remainder of the broken champagne glass in your hand towards the floor, hearing it shatter into thousands of tiny pieces.

“Answer me!” You shout, and Mingyu slowly nods his head. You stare down at the floor, and you feel nothing but betrayal running through your veins. You look back up into his eyes, and you wonder how you allowed yourself to be so naive.

“So you just used me.” You mutter, and Mingyu just stares as he watches you break right before him. His hand twitches at his side as he holds back from falling onto his knees to beg for forgiveness, because this was all his fault.

“How did you even do that? How did you even find out about my characters? The plot-” You pause when you remember the nights he spent at your house, the days he’d surprise you at your office to go get lunch. They were all just a ploy to get more information. You let out a pained laugh when you realize he must’ve gone through your stuff when you were asleep, while you were thinking he was holding you at night.

how pathetic.

You open the palm of your hand, staring at the tiny pieces of broken glass that have edged themselves into your skin. The blood continues to trickle down, and you know that you’ll have to get stitches, but for some reason, you can’t feel any pain.

Mingyu takes a step forward when he sees the severity of your wound, “Yn, let’s go to the hospital so you can get stitches-”

You push him away, pointing directly at him with your other hand. You press the area where his heart is with your finger, and you bite your bottom lip harshly when you feel it beat beneath your finger. The familiar pattern is something you’ve gotten used to from the times the two of you have cuddled.

“You made me trust you, fall in love with you, just so you could steal my game? My work? Just to get on top? Just to be above me? Were you that envious of me?” You ask, and Eunwoo glances down at his feet when he hears how fragile your voice has become. Mingyu just stares at you, and he feels his heart break within his chest when he notices the glassiness to your eyes. He no longer sees anger or rage, he can only see the pain and betrayal in your gaze.

There’s no trace of all the stars that he once saw.

“Did you even,” Your voice cracks, and you don’t realize the tears have formed in your eyes until you can only see Mingyu as a blurry blob. You blink, and Mingyu watches as the first tear escapes from your left eye, and falls onto the floor. “Did you even love me?”

Mingyu stares at you in silence, the answer on the tip of his tongue as you look up at him with tears silently falling from your eyes. He looks down at the floor instead, breaking eye contact with you, and you have your answer. You let out a pained laugh, taking a step back as you stare at the man you love.

The one who betrayed you.

The one who broke you.

The one who lied.

“Fuck you, Kim Mingyu.” You state, before turning away and walking out of his house. The sound of the door slamming echoes through the home, and that’s when the tears finally fall from Mingyu’s eyes. He watches as they fall to the floor, mixing with your blood.

Eunwoo leans against the wall, and he runs a hand through his hair as he watches Mingyu just stare at the floor in silence. He stands up at his full height, and he claps his hands. Mingyu glances up at the sound, finding Eunwoo just standing there, applauding him.

“Well. Was it worth it, Sin of Envy?” Eunwoo asks, pulling out his phone and turning the screen around to show that Ainsoft is now above Bloom in the market. Mingyu watches as the numbers keep rising, and he just stares at it.

A few months ago, Mingyu would’ve been ecstatic to see that he was above you. The craving to beat you and earn your spot would’ve been fulfilled.

But now, all Mingyu feels is pain.

And so he smiles at Eunwoo, and his friend takes notice of the tears falling from Mingyu’s eyes as he responds,

“No. No it wasn’t.”

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ghstandpucks · 3 years

Text

Cutting Edge ~ Nathan MacKinnon Ch. 9

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well! Sorry this chapter took forever! But I hope you enjoy it! I have the rest of the series planned out, and it should be about 6 more chapters. I’m excited about where it is going and I hope you are too! Stay healthy, safe, and enjoy! Let me know what you think! Tags are open!

Prologue Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5 Ch.6 Ch.7 Ch.8

The following Wednesday you were at practice. Bednar had the team gathered in a semi-circle as he informed them of the upcoming schedule before the holidays. “Oh and Coach Y/L/N. In case you didn’t know, we are playing Anaheim this Sunday,” Bednar turned back toward you.

“Oh yay!” you said, clapping your hands together quickly. You couldn’t help but be excited to see some of your friends on the Ducks again. As soon as you said that though, you had many unapproving looks shot at you from the team. “I mean, oh no?”

“Who are you really rooting for Coach?” Tyson called out.

“You guys, obviously,” you stated flippantly. “I know how they skate and I know how their skating coach skates so we got this.” Bednar chuckled.

“I was going to ask if there is anything we should know about your time with the team?” he asked, and you looked at him questioningly.

“No?” you said, confused at where he was going with this.

“Just asking. Hockey players make comments and I would like for us to be prepared if they say anything about you,” he explained.

“Oh,” you said, and thought for a second. “To be honest, I was mostly just around them for a quick showcase, charity events, or galas that they had. I have a few good friends from the team but I don’t think they would really say anything. I was more like everyone’s little sister when I was with them,” you said and everyone nodded. “Oh! If you hear the term ‘little dove’, that’s me.”

“Little dove?” Gabe asked, and you shrugged.

“A few called me little duck at first. But then after a showcase at one of their events I had performed in this greyish-pink dress and Getzlaf started to call me little dove. The rest of the team just followed along,” you explained. You caught eyes with Nate, and he smiled softly. You had just told him about that nickname last week when he saw a comment on your Instagram post from Hampus Lindholm. You had posted a funny picture from practice of Tyson laying flat on the ice and you doubled over laughing at him because he had seemingly tripped over nothing. You accompanied it with a caption of how the team always seems to brighten your day with a laughing emoji. Hampus commented “We feel so betrayed little dove.”

After practice that day, Nate was over at your apartment after having gone to the store to get stuff for dinner. You wanted to cook that night, so he thought it was only fair if he bought the groceries. Since the two of you had started dating, you tended to stay in at his or your place, not wanting to fuel rumors. A picture of the two of you dancing at the gala was posted recently, the media team not thinking much of it, but oh boy did it spread like wildfire. While your fans thought it was cute, Nate’s fans were a mix. You were starting to see how vicious some hockey fans could be.

You were finishing the shrimp for shrimp scampi when Nate came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist. “I have a question,” he mumbled into the hair at the top of your head. You hummed, encouraging him to go on. “What do you want for Christmas?” he asked. You smiled, forgetting that it was already December.

“Nothing,” you said simply.

“There has to be something,” Nate stole a shrimp from the pan and you batted his hand away. He chuckled and kissed your cheek. You finished the dish, turned off the stove, and turned to face him.

“Well, there is something,” you smiled up at him. Nate smiled back at you, raising his eyebrow in question. “A unicorn.” Nate’s face fell and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Seriously Y/N?”

“Actually, in all seriousness, I want a unicorn that poops rainbows. But I know those are hard to find,” you laughed as Nate rolled his eyes at you. He maneuvered you away from the stove and lifted you onto the counter, standing in between your legs.

“Why are you being difficult?” Nate asked, humor in his voice.

“Well what do you want for Christmas?” you asked, smiling widely at him. Nate shrugged.

“I don’t need anything,” he said.

“It’s not about what you need. What do you want?”

“Nothing.” Nate smiled mockingly at you.

“You can’t say nothing and expect me to tell you something!” You laughed. The conversation went on like this for another 10 minutes, neither one of you giving in. You kept up with wanting a unicorn, much to Nate’s dismay. He knew he wasn’t the most romantic, and really wanted to get this right with you. Since he wouldn’t tell you anything though, you didn’t budge either. It seemed like you had both met your match when it came to stubbornness.

A while later, Nate had just got out of the shower and you were finishing putting the dishes away from dinner. As you turned your lights off and made sure your front door was locked, you looked out the window and immediately smiled. It was snowing. Running into your bedroom, you started to grab your big coat and a beanie, shoving your feet into a pair of boots. “Going somewhere?” Nate asked as he walked out of the bathroom, highly confused.

“It’s snowing outside! Let’s go!” you squealed, throwing his shirt and sweatshirt at him.

“This isn’t the first time it’s snowed since you’ve been here Y/N,” Nate chuckled, but continued to get dressed to go outside.

“Yes, but it usually happens when I’m sleeping or at the rink! I haven’t been out while it’s snowing yet!” You bounced around your room, continuing to check the window to make sure snow was still falling.

“It’s just snow,” Nate said, finally finishing putting his shoes on. You grabbed his hand and pulled him to your front door.

“Yes, but I’m from Southern California! I always had to drive to the snow. I want to go outside while it’s coming down actually!” You grabbed your keys and left your apartment. Nate allowed you to drag him along, silently amused at your excitement. Luckily for the two of you, your apartment building had a secluded courtyard in the middle so you didn’t have to go out front to the main street. This allowed Nate and you not to worry about being seen together this late at night. That would definitely be the source of more speculation.

Once outside, you giggled with excitement and ran to the middle of the empty courtyard. Looking up toward the sky, you stuck your tongue out to catch the snow as it came down. Nate walked up beside you and grabbed your hand. You took out your phone and had Nate take a picture of the two of you, realizing you really didn’t have any. What better way to commemorate your first snow in Colorado than with Nate? After spinning around all excited for a moment, you walked back over to Nate and wrapped your arms around him, burying your face into his sweatshirt as your nose was starting to freeze. Nate held you close to him, looking down and tilting your chin up so you met his eyes. He chuckled softly at your red cheeks and nose, leaning down and fitting his lips to yours. The two of you stood there for a moment, lost in a blissful bubble you had created. You pulled away slightly and shivered, the cold starting to get to you. Nate smiled softly and kissed your forehead. “Let’s get you inside before you freeze,” he muttered, taking your hand and leading you back up to your apartment. Once back in your apartment and in your pajamas, you crawled into bed and over to Nate who was already laying down looking through his phone. You cuddled into his side and weaved your legs with his.

“Jesus babe! Your feet are freezing!” he jumped slightly, putting his phone down. You laughed but didn’t move.

“Poor circulation from tying my skates too tight over the years. Sorry,” you giggled. Nate shook his head, but didn’t bother moving. If being with you meant dealing with cold feet, he didn’t think that was a bad price to pay.

~ ~ ~

Sunday had arrived and it brought with it the Ducks. You were currently standing by the bench with the other coaches as the team was warming up. You had just finished talking with Bradie Tennell, the skating coach for the Ducks. The two of you were on the Olympic team together and had become good friends. She let you know that the team had been good to her so far, and that made you happy. You were leaning against the board when Ryan Getzlaf skated up to you.

“How are they treating you, little dove?” he asked, and you smiled at the familiarity of the name. The question didn’t surprise you; he had always been protective. You were young and talented when you first started to skate in Anaheim, and some of the rookies took interest in you. Being so focused on making the Olympic team though, you barley noticed. The captain announced one practice that you were off limits, and they complied. After that it seemed the whole team had become extra protective of you.

“Good! They’re a good group. I like it here,” you answered honestly. He nodded and looked back out over the ice.

“Is that why it looks like I’m about to get in a fight with 29 tonight?” Ryan smirked at you. You found Nate on the ice and smiled at him, and the tension in his jaw seemed to release as he went back to what he was doing. Nate knew you were friends with the Ducks and figured some may go talk to you; but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy that they could talk to you so openly and no one would question it while the two of you had to date secretly.

“He’s just protective like you are,” you tried to laugh it off, but Ryan gave you a look that said you were not fooling him. You smiled sweetly and he shook his head.

“Whatever you say little dove,” Ryan said and skated off.

“Be nice!” you yelled after him and he let out a laugh.

“Will you stop fraternizing with the enemy Coach?” Tyson asked skating into the box.

“Just for you Tyson,” you winked at him.

Later, the third period had just began and the teams were tied. The whole game had been a back and forth with scoring. A few times when one of the Ducks would skate by, they would say hi, wave, or wink at you. The winking seemed to happen only when Nate was on the bench, and you were wondering if Ryan had said anything. You needed to work on being a better liar.

Nate was on the ice when Hampus Lindholm skated by before a face off. “You know, we were all sad when Y/N left us to come here. I would think she’s a good coach,” Hampus judged Nate’s reaction. Nate side-eyed him, but didn’t say anything. “She’s cute too,” Hampus pushed a bit further. The Ducks’ captain had said that chirping about Y/N was off limits, but he had also said he felt it may get under MacKinnon’s skin. When you talked about being friends with some of the Ducks, Hampus was one of them. He didn’t want to be disrespectful toward you, but he thought it would be fun to see if he could push the center’s buttons. Nate took a deep breath and continued to ignore him. “You know she was my date to a charity event once,” Hampus continued. Nate did know this; you had told him you went as friends since you were going to the charity also. He knew it was nothing, he knew Lindholm was trying to dig at him, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t bother him. When the puck was dropped, Nate threw himself into the defenseman, promptly flattening him out on the ice.

Nothing was called and the play kept going, but you stood behind the bench with wide eyes. What had just happened? You were so distracted in your own thoughts that you hadn’t realized the buzzard had gone off, signaling an Avs’ goal. Turning your attention back to the team celebrating at the end of the ice, you saw them all gathering around Nate. Of course you had missed it. That was the only score of the third period, the Avs winning 3-2.

After the game and interviews were done, you had said bye to some of the guys and Bradie. Nate had asked if you wanted to stay at his place that night, so you made your way to his apartment. You texted him that you were there, and he told you the front was unlocked. Upon walking into his apartment, he called you over to the couch where he was laying down and pulled you down on top of him. You gave him a quick kiss, then settled your chin on his chest, looking at him expectantly. “So,” you started. Nate knew where the conversation was going.

“You really did just go to the charity thing with Lindholm as friends, right?” he asked, furrowing his brow a little.

“Yeah, that’s all it was. Why?”

“He said you were his date,” Nate shrugged and started to play with your hair, twisting and untwisting a strand around his finger.

“As friends. I have no feelings for him whatsoever,” you explained, then realized why he was asking you to clarify. “Is that why you hit him so hard during the game?” Nate averted his eyes from you, slightly ashamed he let what Lindholm had said get to him. You giggled, knowing that was the issue. “Nate, babe. There was nothing there, nor will there every be anything there. And that goes for the rest of everyone. Don’t let it get to you okay,” you said, kissing him softly. You pulled away and rested your palm against his cheek. “Plus, he’s not my type.” That perked Nate right up.

“So, what is your type?” he wrapped his arms around you with a smirk.

“Big, burly, 6-foot Canadians with blue eyes who are just as stubborn as I am,” you smirked at him. Nate rolled his eyes, but laughed and pulled you in for another kiss. He flipped the two of you so that your back was to the couch now with him hovering over you. Nate started placing quick kisses all over your face and you giggled as his stubble tickled your neck. The two of you stayed like that for a while longer before ordering take out and getting ready for bed.

~ ~ ~

The holidays fast approached, and you were thankful the team had four days off for Christmas. You had already booked a flight back home for the morning of Christmas Eve, and would be flying back to Denver on the morning of the 26th. For you, going home was easy as it was only a two in a half hour flight. You had booked it when you first got the schedule back in September. You were starting to feel bad that not everyone on the team would be going home though, Nate included. If you had known that you would have been in any sort of relationship, you may have opted to stay as well. When you brought this up to Nate, he told you not to worry about it, and that he would even take you and pick you up from the airport.

On the 23rd, you and Nate had just got back to your apartment after having dinner with everyone who was still in town. Since there were multiple people going, you figured nothing would come of it to be seen out with Nate in public. The two of you were still keeping your relationship from mostly everyone on the team, so it was easy to act like you had been at practice. To anyone who didn’t know, it just looked like you two were good friends.

You showered and put your pajamas on, setting out your present for Nate on the coffee table and finding a movie to watch while he showered. You had settled on watching a Hallmark Christmas movie, because who doesn’t secretly love the cheesiness of it all? Nate sat down next to you on the couch and pulled you into his side. Placing a blanket over the both of you, you settled into watching the movie, pointedly trying to ignore the Christmas gift bag he had set down on the coffee table next to your gift to him.

After the movie, you turned the tv off and just enjoyed being in each other’s company. The only lights on were the Christmas lights from the fake tree you had set up, and other Christmas lights you had decorated with. Your apartment looked a bit like Christmas exploded in it, but it made you happy and Nate laugh. You made some hot chocolate, and sat back down facing Nate. Handing him his, you took a sip and set your mug down on the coffee table, in turn picking up your gift to him. “Present time!” you sang, handing him the gift. You weren’t sure what he would think of it, realizing it was difficult to buy for someone who seemingly had everything he wanted.

Nate unwrapped the gift, and smiled upon taking it out of the box. It was a wooden watch, one that you had found on Etsy. It was a dark stained wood that you had engraved on the back of the watch face. As Nate turned it over in his hands, he smiled wider and chuckled. You were able to convince the designer to engrave a hockey skate and a figure skate. Above the skates read “Merry Christmas” with the year, and both your initials. “I know you already have a watch, but I thought the wood was neat and I was excited when the person said they could engrave the skates on it, and…” you were cut off from your rambling by Nate pulling you into a sweet kiss.

“It’s perfect Y/N. Thank you,” he whispered, placing a kiss on your forehead and admiring the thoughtful gift. He set it down and handed you the gift bag. You smiled while you took the tissue paper off the top, feeling fabric at the bottom of the bag and took it out. You laughed, seeing the familiar burgundy and blue. Holding it out in front of you, you saw the 29 on the arm, turning it around to see ‘MacKinnon’ on the back. While you unfolded it though, a smaller box fell into your lap. “I know you can’t wear it to games, but I wanted to get you my jersey,” Nate explained as you slipped it on over your pajama top.

“Thank you,” you said, blushing slightly and turning your attention to the box. Opening it up, you saw the most beautiful, small and delicate figure skate charm you had even seen. It was gold with diamonds encrusted into it. Taking it out of the box, you noticed it was attached to a delicate gold chain as a necklace. You turned it over in your hand, feeling something on the back of the charm. You giggled, noticing a ‘29’ engraved onto the back. “Nate, it’s beautiful.”

“I thought you could at least wear my number to games this way. If you don’t like it we can go get you something else,” Nate looked at you unsure, and you shook your head.

“Help me put it on?” you asked, and turned around. Nate deftly clasped the necklace together. “How does it look?”

“Perfect,” he said, and you grinned at him.

“I love it, thank you,” you said, and leaned in to kiss him. What was an innocent gesture quickly turned heated as Nate pulled you onto his lap, you straddling him. Your fingers carded through the hair at the nape of his neck as his hands pushed the hem of the jersey and your pajama shirt up, gripping your hips. You pulled back after some time, needing to take a breath and maneuvered yourself to where you were sitting in Nate’s lap and leaned your head on his shoulder. Nate chuckled, kissing your forehead.

“Maybe it’s a good thing you can’t wear my jersey to games. I don’t think I could concentrate,” he mumbled. You giggled and pecked his neck, the both of you settling back down.

The following morning Nate drove you to the airport. Thankful for his tinted windows, you kissed him quickly before anyone would figure out who the both of you were and grabbed your bags. “Merry Christmas Nate,” you said, slipping out of the car.

“Let me know when you get home, okay?” he said with a soft smile, and you felt your heart tug at the thought of leaving him for a few days. It struck you that this was the first time since September you wouldn’t be around him almost every day.

“I will,” you returned his smile. Nate quickly reached over the center counsel for your hand, bringing it up to his lips.

“Merry Christmas Y/N,” he said lightly, realizing the same thing you were. You grabbed your bags and smiled, waving as you shut the door and headed into the airport. Nate made sure you were inside the building before he took off, not being bothered by the honks he was receiving from annoyed holiday travelers.

Tags: @bqstqnbruin @avsfans95 @comphybiscuit @calesykar @andreiaafaria

#nhl imagine #nhl imagines #nhl fic #nhl x reader #nhl fanfiction #nathan mackinnon imagine #nate mackinnon imagine #nathan mackinnon x reader #Cutting Edge

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jjk-anime-horray · 3 years

Text

Catching some Criminals?

Dazai Osamu x Reader x Oda Sakunosuke

Series Summary: While Dazai finally gets over the death of his friend and moves on with his life, he has to watch him unnaturally return into the would, and now he has to watch him turn twisted and into everything he hated in a way.

Chapter Summary: Finally being able too apprehend some on the culprits of the gala incident, everyone gains more information about the after some interrogations.

Trigger Warnings: Emotional trauma, mentions of extreme violence, mentions of emotional distress, mentions of illegal activities, and strong language.

Previous Chapter: The Ghosts

After hearing the screams that came from the room down the hall, you weren't overly surprised that the two men Oda and Chuuya were able too track down spilled the beans on there group and some of it's members. Why were there screams? Well, the agency needed answers and Yosano needed to release some anger after dealing with a particularly sexist man. Convenience at it's finest.

You also weren't surprised when yosano came out into the main office covered in blood, I mean she did do what people asked her too.

"I got some good news and bad news y/n, pick what you wanna hear first."

"Good news I guess."

"I was able too get a lot of information out of the two men."

"The bad news."

"You're not going to like the news I got, Dazai's not going to like it either."

"Hit me with it." but you were internally groaning because this was probably going to become a major pain in your ass.

"While the second leader of the group is known, the first one is a former international government assassin named Hauno Sarisaki, he is the user with the ability to raise the dead. While the rest of them are pretty miscellaneous, the third in command as you will is Arthur Rimaud."

"Rando-" Was all that came out of Dazai's mouth as he entered the room, while rubbing his wavy hair on his head in distaste of the words that came out of the doctor's mouth. "His ability is quite problematic, i'll probably have to go with Chuuya to deal with that, what a pain." Then his almond eyes met your as he looked up from rubbing his head. "How are you feeling Y/N is your head getting better?"

"Yeah it's fine, plus I had Yosano treated me........unfortunately, it's alright, but you seem tired Dazai why might that be?"

"It's just that while Odasaku is helping us a lot with the new criminal group problem, he's also has been going on a bit of a vigilante-ish rampage, and while he's been helping, but also he's making a big mess while doing it." He said while rubbing the back of his neck as a signal for a sort of bashfullness while talking about his friend but it faded as he thought to the massacre he create at the beginning of his purging.

"Yeah I've noticed that as well, his new persona has also made the news a couple of times, lucky is was for his more benevolent round ups of criminals." But if they covered his first parade before he calmed down he would have been painted as a terrorist you thought. "What was he like before, you know, the accident?"

Dazai froze a bit, only a little bit, but you could then tell it was a question that he wasn't expecting to hear.

"I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable I just-"

"He wanted to be a writer." Dazai answered cutting you off, but in they way to make sure that you weren't beating yourself up about asking your question. "He was really compassionate and really cared about the kids he took in, but he was still always on the quieter side."

Dazai eyes gazed out in front of him, eyes glowing with the sense of endearingment he felt in the past from his friend causing the edges of his mouth to perk up slightly under his thick brown bangs.

Then his almond orbs danced up to look you in your eyes glinting from the rooms light. He stopped there then kept peering into your orbs with the same look he had before. Realizing what he just did he flicked his gaze and head towards one of the office window.

"You know I wasn't all that surprised that he was willing to help us out (Y/N), but i'll have too admit that I didn't think he was going to nurse you back to health.

You nodded in agreement, after your first conversation with the former hitman you realized that even though he could be extreme he wasn't bad.

"I had this feeling wash over me when I saw him taking care of you I can't really explain, and even thinking about it confuses me to why."

"You probably were just worried about (Y/N) Dazai, I know I would have been worried if I had to go pick up a friend that just got blown up."

The two of you snapped your heads over to the doctor who now was cleaned of blood, neither of you noticed that she had left, or when she arrived for that matter, so when she made her presence known to the both of you it caught you two by surprise.

"Yeah you're totally right Yosano of course I was just worried about them." He babbled on while he waved his hand once in a affirmative manner, but the red starting to mingle across his hears and face told a slightly different story and was about something else. You all were detectives after all.

"Hey Daz, you know if you ever need to talk to me i'm here for you you know. Was there something else you wanted to say?"

You flashed him a subtle smile trying to encourage him to speak his mind at the moment, and hoping he did so.

Meanwhile Dazai's heart was thumping on the ribcage in his chest as a result of your words, threatening to be so loud that one could almost hear them through his tan trench coat.

"Nope."

"Oh okay." You stated slightly disappointed, but even more curious about what was going on in Dazai's head. About to say something else to Dazai you were interrupted by his phone going off in his pocket from a call from the president.

"I have to go, i'll see you guys later." He said in sequence before he left to answer the message.

"Yeah, hope you stay safe" you muttered to yourself.

Dazai had been acting weird around you recently, now, after today, you were going to figure out why.

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thebaddie96-blog · 3 years

Text

Once In A Life Time

~Chapter 5~

“ He can’t think I’m wearing that”

“What? I think it's cute. He knows you well; red is definitely your color.”

“I personally think she would look good in anything.”

“Of course you would.” So-eun whispers under her breath.

Yesterday was filled with nothing but greatness. After my victory beer in the park I met up with So-eun and Min-oh for lunch to fill them in on the big news, not that they had any doubts in my abilities. They too had invitations to the black tie gala. Z met up with us later at a pool house near my air bnb. So-eun to say the least was not a fan of Z from jump. The first moment she met her, her face immediately went cold. Z, who I've come to learn a lot about in the 20 hours I’ve known her, is childhood best friends with Jay’s little sister and a recent college graduate. She's a psychology major per her parents request with a passion for photography. She says she's working for Jay till she can make a name for herself and travel the world snapping pictures.

We were currently sitting in my living room studying the dress Jay picked out for me. It was beautiful, gorgeous but I'd be lying if I said I didn’t think Jay was tryna show me off.

“You're sure this is the dress, you didn’t pick up the wrong one?” I ask Z.

“Honey, when you walk into a boutique that houses dresses like this, and say you're here to pick up for Jay Park, you don’t get it wrong.”

“It pains me to say, but I agree”

“Well thank you, to the both of you, and Jay I guess. I’ve got the contract over here, let me get it to you before you go.” I grab the contract and walk her to the door.

“We’ll send a car to pick you up around 7. Will there be others traveling with you?” She trails off peeking behind me.

“Haha yeah So-eun and Min-oh will both be with me. You should ride with us.”

“I don’t think So-eun would like that very much.”

“Don’t worry about her, she's just grumpy and old.”

“Ok, well I’ll see you tonight.”

Shutting the door I walk back in to see So-eun scanning a magazine.

“Really So-eun?”

“What?” She doesn’t even look up from the magazine. I roll my eyes sitting next to her on the couch

“You know what. Why are you so mean to Z?”

“I don’t know what you're talking about. I have nothing against her”

“Ok sure and what about last night.”

“What about it?”

“I’m serious So-eun, you wouldn’t let her get a word in, in any conversation we had. Not to mention your intense pool energy whenever she went up to pot a hole.”

“Ok, so I get a little competitive.”

“What about just now ‘Of course you would’, it ‘pains’ you to agree with her.”

“I was joking.” Deflection from the real problem.

“Don’t you think that after all these years I would know when you're joking or when you're being hostile?”

“Stop gilling me, I don’t have a problem with Z.”

“Mmhmm well she’s coming with us to the event tonight.” She shoots me a tight smile obviously fake.

“Great. Enough about me and your suspicions. How are you feeling, really?”

“Honestly, it all feels so surreal. None of it has sunk in yet. I mean I just got off a plane 5 days ago, I'm out here for a completely different project I just-- I just don’t wanna fuck it up you know.

“You’ve always done your best when you follow your heart. Don’t let the fear of chasing your dreams stop them from coming true because of self doubt. You are one of the most talented people I know; next to Min-oh, and if anyone deserves this opportunity it you 100%”

“Thanks So-eun.”

I pull her in for a hug. as we pull away she notices a small piece of paper on the coffee table.

“What's this?” she asked as she picked it up.

“Oh it's the business card of the guy I met when I first got in. Mr. Yo? I think his name was.”

“Yu? Christan Yu? Christan Yu was the fuckboy who splashed you with his car?”

“Well I don’t think he meant to.”

“Did you call him yet?”

“No, why would I?”

“He gave you his card. He obviously wants you to.”

“ No he doesn't, his driver gave it to me.”

“ He gave it to you, told his driver to give it to you, it's the same thing. No?”

“Absolutely not, and it's been damn near a week, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t remember who I am or the situation that happened.”

“How could he not? Imma call the number.”

“What? So-eun no stop.”

She quickly punches in the number, throwing the phone at me after she presses speaker. It rings 3 times before a deep voice answers.”

“Hello?”

I just sit there staring at the phone.

Say something. So-eun mouths.

Like what.

I don’t know anything.

“안요?” He asked again but in Korean.

I hesitate, rushing out a quick “Sorry wrong number.” then hanging up.

“Smooth babe smooth.”

“Shut up. No one told you to do that.”

“I was just tryna help you out. You could get some good Korean Dick while you're in town. And knowing your sex drive we will need to find someone soon.”

“ I have traveled in preparation thank you very much. And how would you know if his dick game was good?” She looks at me surprised then guilty. “Oh my god. Did you sleep with Christian?”

“Let's get ready for the Gala. We only have six hours till the event starts and if you're still the same girl from college it's gonna take you forever to get ready. What time are we supposed to be leaving?”

“Oh this is great. Does Min-oh know?” She’s stuck in it and she knows it.

“No, it was before we started dating.”

“Oh this is great.” I get up heading to the bathroom.

“Where are you going?”

“ To shower.”

“You won't tell Min-oh right?” I just continue walking to the bathroom whistling a tune “Right B?!?!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This dress was tight as fuck, my feet hurt, everyone who's anyone in South Korea is here, and oh, I’m the only one in a bright red dress. The fact that I don’t like big events like this isn’t helping my mood. I need to smoke ASAP. Lucky for me I smuggled a blunt in my bra at the airport. I just have to find the right time to sneak out. I scan the room from the corner I was standing in near the stage. A perfect view of everyone in the event but still hidden in the shadows.

When we arrived Jay swooped me away from So-eun, Min-oh, and Z. We spent almost an hour working the room. He introduced me to some of the label's top artists, producers, and stylists. Even some artists from H1GHER music. Don't get me wrong, it's been fun getting to know the people I'm gonna get to work with but this is all new experiences that I'm just gonna have to get used to.

"So here is where you're hiding" So-eun sneaks up next to me leaning on the wall.

"Ha, yeah I just need a break. So Many 'hellos' 'nice to meet you' and 'the pleasure is mine'. Did Min-oh talk to his guy?"

"Yeah we can pick up after the Gala."

"Ugh, ok I'm gonna head outside for some air."

"So you sneak away, leaving me to deal with Loopy and Nafla's drunk asses on my own. And you--" Min-oh turns to me, shaking his finger. " Why are you in a corner in the dark all alone?"

He was clearly tipsy, he gets a little clingy and bossy when he's under the influence.

" You guys were only talking to each other. What was I post to do, stand there like a deer in the headlights?"

"Yeah and I was just going to get some air, I'll leave you two to talk. Where is Z."

" With her people." "With the AOMG guys'' They both said at the same time. I shoot So-eun a look for her comment and start to walk off.

" Ok, cool. I'll be right back."

Heading off toward the exit, I clutch my bag housing my soon to be smoked blunt. I'm close. I can see the exit in the clear, bodies start dividing, allowing me to pass. I've got one hand on the door ready to open. At the same time I push, the door is swung open and I come stumbling out colliding with the feeling of soft velvet against a firm chest.

"Sorry I didn't know someone was on the other side." That voice.

I look up, stepping back. It's him, the guy from the airport, I mean Christian Yu, and he was looking good. Fashionably late but fashionable he was. He was wearing a slim fit crimson velvet blazer jacket with silk black slacks and crimson velvet loafers to match, his hair was styled back making his jaw line pop. I stood there just staring at him.

" Are you ok?" No realization is present in his voice. He doesn't remember me. I mean I was covered in street water, but this is the second time we've had a forced interaction and I'd be lying if I say it didn't hurt my ego a bit.

" Yeah, sorry I was in a bit of a rush. Thanks for breaking my fall tho’ I don't think this dress would have survived." He scans my body taking in the silhouette of my dress lingering a little longer than need be. "Excuse me."

I step to the left, walking past him and heading out the door. Yeah, that blunt will be nice right about now.

#fanfic #BWAM #amnw #aomg #once #in #a #life #time

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stylesnews · 4 years

Link

In a decade, Harry Styles has gone from teenage heartthrob to a global pop star in his own right. As he's distanced himself from his adolescent years as a member of One Direction, he's become his own person, starring in the 2017 blockbuster Dunkirk, hosting Saturday Night Live and creating music that pulls from a variety of influences.

Styles released his second solo album Fine Line late last year, and in addition to showcasing some of those influences and his talents as a songwriter, it was also a huge commercial success, with the biggest U.S. sales week for a British male artist since Eric Clapton's Unplugged in 1992.

But Styles says he spent a lot of time rethinking his idea of success after touring his self-titled album. "I think if you're making what you want to make, then ultimately no one can tell you you're unsuccessful, because you're doing what makes you happy," he says.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly spoke to Harry Styles about his love of Fleetwood Mac and finding freedom in the music of the '70s, what he would say to his 16-year-old self and nail polish. Listen in the player above and read on for a transcript of their full conversation.

Mary Louise Kelly: Your most recent album seems tied up in the '70s, which is a decade you didn't actually live through. What is it about that era that draws you in?

There's a freedom in the music that is so inspiring. If you go back and listen to so much of that music, and you listen to songs from [Carole King's] Tapestry and Harry Nilsson songs, they sound so fresh. I think it's crazy that something that was made so long ago, you can listen to it now and be like "I want my drums to sound like these drums, and I want my strings to sound like these strings." I think that's really incredible. And I think it's just the freedom, it's people doing what they wanted to do. Obviously, the music business has changed so much since then — there was a lot more of everybody hanging out together and playing songs, and I feel like music is a lot more competitive now.

And is it maybe a little more produced now? Less organic?

I think we just have different technology. When we came to do my first solo album, I had this thing where I wanted to do everything to tape. And then I kind of realized that The Beatles didn't use tape because it was really cool to use, they used it because it was the best technology they had [at the time] and it sounded the best. And now we just have different ways of recording stuff and you can make stuff sound really nice — so we kind of abandoned the tape thing. Overall what draws me to that time with music is just the freedom.

Was making Fine Line sound like the music of the '70s a conscious choice?

I'm not listening to stuff so much anymore being like "I just want my stuff to sound like this." You grow up listening to what your parents listen to. For me it was the [Rolling] Stones, Beatles, Fleetwood [Mac], a lot of Queen, Elvis Presley, Shania Twain, Savage Garden, Norah Jones. That was kind of like the base of what my first experience with music was, and I feel like you can't help but have a lot of references from what you grew up listening to [in your own music].

Speaking of Fleetwood Mac, I saw you've gotten to know and work with Stevie Nicks. What's that like, to get to know someone who was the soundtrack of your childhood and go out on stage with them?

It borders on an out-of-body experience. "Dreams" was the first song I knew all the words to; I used to sing it in the car with my mom. Every time I'm with her, you want to be, obviously, present, right? I'm trying to enjoy being with her and soaking in. But I think at the same time, while you're in the room with her, I'm sitting there thinking about being 10-years-old and singing the song.

Does it matter if you're super famous yourself?

I don't think so, because ultimately we're all humans. It's not like paralyzing starstruck, it's more like I try and appreciate what my 10-year-old self would think of it. I think ultimately you meet [other famous people] and you're kind of in awe of them, but at the same time you get to hang out with them on this human level, where you're just talking and it's really amazing.

Those are the moments that kind of mean the most because it's real. And when everything else about being in music goes away, that's the stuff that I think you end up telling your grandkids. For example, with Stevie, my favorite moments about it aren't usually the show, it's the practicing. When we first played together, it was at the Troubadour — famously, where Elton John did his first U.S. show — and it was an amazing moment, but my favorite was soundchecking. It's like four people in there and just us singing in the empty Troubadour. For me, that's a moment that I'm going to hold on to.

Speaking of moments where you wish you could tell your younger self "Buddy, you have no idea": 10 years ago when you auditioned for the British reality show X Factor, the judge Simon Cowell asked you "What do you want to do with your life, what are your future plans?" You said you were going back to college in the fall to study "law, sociology, business and something else, but I'm not sure yet."

There's a lot of us who wanted to be a rock star and ended up being lawyers. You've gone the other way. Is it funny listening back to yourself? What do you wish you could tell your 16-year-old self?

I guess like "Don't worry." In the early years, I spent a lot of time worrying about what would happen and getting things wrong and saying the wrong thing and doing the wrong thing. I'm trying to let go of the worrying thing, and that's what I've loved the most about this album, rather than the first one. I think I had a lot of fear — whether it was conscious or subconsciously — just about getting it wrong. When I listen back to the first album now, although I still love it so much, I feel like I was almost bowling with the bumpers up a little bit. I can hear places where I was playing it safe.

When I listen back to the first album now, although I still love it so much, I feel like I was almost bowling with the bumpers up a little bit. I can hear places where I was playing it safe.

I think with this one, after touring with an album that wasn't necessarily a radio record and people came to see the show, I realized that the only thing that people really want is for you to do what you want to do. Ultimately, I think if people believe in you, you can make a bad record, you can make a bad song, and people will still come to a show if they're interested and they want to come see you. I think the only time people go "You know what? I'm done with this," is when it stops being authentic. You can't really blame people for that. If there's an artist I loved and I felt like they were faking it, I can't say that I'd keep going to the shows. I think that was a big thing for me, just trying to worry less. The worst thing that can happen is that I make a record that I think everybody else wants to hear, and then it doesn't do well. And you sit there going "Well I wish I'd just made the record that I wanted to make." I think if you're making what you want to make, then ultimately no one can tell you you're unsuccessful, because you're doing what makes you happy. That's the biggest thing that I learned this time.

You dress amazingly. You wear suits, but they're patterned and florals and you had that blouse that got all the attention at last year's Met Gala. I noticed you're wearing nail polish, and you do wear clothing that blurs traditional lines sometimes. What are you hoping people take from that? Is it just "This is what I want to wear, deal with it" or are you trying to send any kind of message?

For me, it's not like doing it to send a message. Part of being on the last tour, when people came to watch the show, I realized "Oh, these people just want to see me be myself, and I'm telling them to be themselves." And I just didn't want to be a hypocrite. I do it when I'm not working, so to me it doesn't feel like it's "Oh, I'm sending a message with my nail polish." I just put a lot less weight behind it, I think. And sometimes I forget, because I'll go somewhere and someone will be like "Have you got nail polish on?" I'm lucky that I work in an industry that allows you to be creative and express yourself, and I'd encourage it to anybody.

Can you tell us about a favorite song on the album?

My two favorite songs on this album are probably "Cherry" and "Fine Line." "Cherry" is the fifth song on the album. It's one of my favorites, mostly because of how it came about. When I started making this album ... I felt like it had to be big. The last record wasn't really a radio record: The single ["Sign of the Times"] from it was a 6-minute piano ballad, so it wasn't the typical formula. So I felt a bit of pressure that I wanted to make something that worked. I was trying this stuff one night in the studio, and I was worried because I just wasn't really liking anything that I was doing. I felt like I was trying too hard. That's when I make the music that I like the least, is when I'm trying to write a pop song or I'm trying to write something fun.

Everybody left for the weekend, and it was me, Tyler Johnson, who I work with, and Sammy Witte. It was two or three in the morning, and we were having a drink and just talking. I was saying how I have all these records that I'd love to make, I love all this kind of music and in five years I want to make this kind of record, and in 10 years I want to make this kind of album, and then I'll get to make the music that I really want to make. And Tyler just said "You just have to make the music that you want to make — right now. That's the only way of doing it, otherwise you're going to regret it."

And "Cherry" was the result of that?

Yeah, so we stayed and Sammy started playing the guitar riff, and we did it through the night and recorded it. Everybody came back in the morning and listened to it ... I heard it when it was finished and was like "This is the kind of music I want to make."

How did you write "Fine Line?"

"Fine Line" I wrote [during] a gap in the tour. It was January 2018 and I was at my friend Tom's house, who I work with, and we just started strumming this thing, and we started layering these vocals, and it turned into this 6-minute thing. I had it for a long time and I kept listening to it during the tour, like I'd listen to it before I went to bed. Just sonically I loved the song, and I loved the lyrics of the song. When we wrote it, I kind of knew it was the last song of an album, and we ended up taking it to Bath, in England, where I was making this record for a while. I wanted it to turn into something else at the end, I wanted like a big crescendo ending. While we were in Bath, Sammy started playing this little thing on the piano, and I tweaked it a little bit and I was like "That has to go at the end of 'Fine Line.' " Now when I listen to it, it's one of those things where I'm just proud that it's mine, I'm so happy. It's one of those songs that I've always wanted to make.

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caffeinetheory · 4 years

Note

Can I humbly request some fake dating Jasonette?

Okay fair warning I kinda went ham and this is long, it’s like ten pages but for you it was worth it, I hope you enjoy it <3<3<3 now without further adieu:

///

Jason was in dire need of a date for the upcoming Gala, why you might ask? Well someone wasn’t thinking and said they had a secret girlfriend, which didn’t exist. Now the whole family was happy he had finally found someone. Dick was the most persistent, the hopeless romantic he was.

Telling Diana about over lunch a 2 months before the big annual charity gala was either the best decision he made or one he would regret, only time would tell.

She laughed in his face at his stupidity, but was willing to help. She sent a text and rolled her eyes when she got a response a few minutes later, “My sister will do it, be prepared to meet her next week at your place,” and that was that. He wasn’t expecting to actually get a date from her but hey, if it worked then he’ll go with it. He had about 2 months to make it believable, but god why did it have to be an Amazon.

A knock on his apartment door at 3 a.m. was now how Jason would be meeting who ever Diana had convinced to do this “fake date” thing with him, so a 5”6’ women pushing herself into his apartment when the door was opened certainly woke him up.

“And who might you be?” the door closed behind him with a soft click, the woman was surveying the room with a judgemental look, ‘lovely’. She turned sharply to him, her distaste clear on her face, “Someone who lost a bet so I owe Diana a favor,” she visibly sighed and relaxed slightly, “I’m sorry, my name is Marinette Prince, but you can call me Mari, nice to meet you.” Mari held her hand to the bewildered Jason who hesitantly shook it, “Jason Todd but I'm going to assume you already knew that.”

And that was the rocky start to their relationship. Mari had been living on Themyscira for the last few years so she needed some time to get used to living in the rest of the world. To say she was ecstatic to be able to wear more modern fashion would be an understatement. Their first ‘date’ was in the fashion district a few days after she made herself at home in his apartment. Six hours after they started Mari was finally satisfied, and Jason could no longer feel his arms. They decided to eat dinner at one of the hole-in-the-walls on their way back to Jason’s place.

Neither knew how the conversation had gotten on the different costumes of the various heroes and villains but it had sent Mari off on a rant. Despite himself Jason was enjoying every word she said, every critique and every praise. To be fair there wasn’t as much praise was there was critique, but to say his ego wasn’t inflated when “one of the rare acceptable ones” was the Red Hood would be a straight up lie. It was the first time Mari was acting with little to no filter, and granted they hadn’t known each other long he could tell this was rare for her. He was finding himself proud that he was the one to get her to be open like that, why he couldn’t tell you but it did nonetheless.

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

The two had fallen into domestic life pretty quickly, maybe to quickly, but that didn’t matter. When Jason came home to a clean apartment and dinner being made by his ‘girlfriend’ he was surprisingly okay with it.

“How was your day?” Mari was placing two plates of something heavenly on the small table just outside of the kitchen. Was that table always there? “It was decent, yours?” he began to dig in while a drink was placed next to him and Mari took her seat across from him. “It was nice, I finally got around to cleaning this place up,” her hair was put in a pair of double buns as she wore some shorts and a tank top clearly having changed recently.

“You know you didn’t have to right?”

“I enjoy organizing and consider it a small thanks for helping me with shopping the other day and dealing with my rants,” she had a small smile on her face.

The rest of the night was spent showing Jason where she put everything. The number of guns didn't faze her but living surrounded by weapons he supposed that made sense. The organized first-aid kit was a god send though, on more ruined towels to stop the bleeding.

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

The next date Jason planned was a movie, it was Diana’s idea. He couldn’t figure out why taking Mari to an anniversary replaying of an animated superhero movie from almost ten years ago would be in her words “comedy gold”. That was until Mari saw the opening theme and let out a loud groan.

An hour and fifteen minutes later the credits start to roll and Mari is practically dragging him out of the theater. “This was Diana’s idea wasn’t it?!” Jason couldn’t help the chuckle escaping him, Diana was right this was golden, the only thing she got this heated about what the costumes but this felt more personal. “I swear to the gods, I hate that movie! Nothing was right, He’s like my brother! And I may have been young but I wasn’t STUPID?!” Mari realizes her misstep and quickly covered her mouth dropping Jason’s wrist making him stumble, “Well, M’Lady,” he got punched for that, “I am inclined to believe the totally historically accurate animated film,” she rolled her eyes at him, “It does explain a lot though, and lets just say you're not the only one with red suits in their past,” a wink and another punch in the arm and they left the theater a laughing mess leaning on each other so they wouldn’t fall over. “Oh you arse,” “You know you love me,” another light punch, this one with very little behind it, “Worth it!”

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

Their third date was more impulsive than the last one. It had been a tough week. For Jason his family was hounding him for details about his girl and the last case he helped with took more effort than he thought it would. Mari on the other hand had been working all week on commission (how Bruce Wayne found out about her she didn't want to know) sketches, she had to make close to ten outfits for the Gala in a month and a half, sure she could do it but the perfectionist in her meant very little sleep. She still had hers and Jason’s to make, not that he knew that yet.

That Saturday they found themselves at a small coffee shop Tim liked to rave about. It was homey place, and they both needed to get out of the house.

“You know if the replacement sees us you’re gonna have to talk about how we met-” a finger shushed him, Mari looked more dead than Tim did, she needed her coffee fix, anything else could wait.

“Shhhhh Coffee now, annoying family later,” her words were slightly slurred, she hadn’t slept in two days but she finished the sketches to be approved so that was a positive.

Once the once the vanilla and cinnamon coffee hit her system she was her joyful self again. Jason had gotten himself a honey chamomile tea, it always helped with the stress. What was originally supposed to be a quick in and out ended up with them spending most of the morning just chatting.

They talked about anything and everything. They had been living together for about 3 weeks now so they were leaning the other’s quirks. She finally told him what she was working on, and laughed as his face scrunched up hearing his adoptive fathers name, she had to admit it was kinda cute. Mari also came clean about needed his measurements so they could have matching outfits, she showed him the designs. Jason had to admit he was impressed, and noticing how they looked like something MDC would make he learned another thing about the girl with him. She sure was full of secrets.

The rest of the day after their lovely coffee ‘date’ was spent going to fabric stores getting the stuff she needed to make everyone's outfits. Each one had elements that hinted subtly to their alter egos and pasts while still have a consistent color scheme and accents that paired the couples.

Jason gained yet another layer of appreciation for the girl, what couldn't she do?

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

Turns out taking her to the Gotham Botanical Gardens was a way better idea than Jason had originally thought it would be. The plants seemed to grow and perk up as she walked by. Her smile brighten up the whole room; as she twirled in a pale green sundress inspired by the keeper of the gardens Jason couldn’t help but smile as well. She really looked like a goddess in this light. He couldn’t be happier he helped bring that smile and joy to her face, she deserved the world. When he started thinking like that he couldn’t tell you but the idea this would end soon was one he avoided thinking about. Maybe there wouldn’t be an end, but only time would tell wouldn’t it?

Ivy sensed something was different in her precious gardens and went to investigate, her girlfriend followed to make sure on one got overly hurt. Both of them were shocked to see the plants blooming more than usual and just two people walking the gardens. The girl seemed to be making the pants so happy Ivy just had to talk with her, so she quietly made her was over to the young women hoping to not scare her. Harley made her way over to the former Robin, a little teasing was in order.

Yet another surprise from the former Ladybug he probably should have seen coming, Ivy adored the woman, insisting that she come more often to which Mari eagerly agreed complementing Ivy’s botanical knowledge the whole time. Suprisong himself he didn’t deny Harley’s tasing about his feelings for her, she really was something special wasn’t she?

-----------

When Mari found out Jason hadn’t seen all of the Star Wars movies she made him sit with her all weekend to watch them, he only agreed if they would watch all of Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogy the next weeked.

Their next two weekends were now booked and snack runs were made. Jason made the Living room into a palace of blankets and pillows while Mari prepared snacks and drinks. They wouldn’t be getting up for awhile.

When episode 3’s credits were rolling Mari made an offhand comment about how hot Anakin was and how she felt bad for his fate, well Jason felt a little envious. Something about misunderstood, dark haired boys was Mari’s type apparently. The subtle hints were lost on him but they enjoyed the rest of the films. They skipped the newer trilogy for time and so they had something to watch in theaters.

Mari fell asleep on his arm mid way through episode 6 and Jason couldn’t bring himself to wake her, he fell asleep as the end credits rolled. Both had a content smile on their faces as they dreamed of fantasy worlds long ago and far far away.

--------

Mari had a surprise for Jason, “Come on Jay, get out of bed already,” she was pulling him out of bed on a tuesday, TUESDAY!

With much prodding and poking Mari was able to get them out of the apartment by 8, she had a surprise for him and refused to tell him what it was. “Just trust me it will be worth it,” she handed him his helmet and got on his bike. He found himself not minding someone else driving his bike for once.

The wind was blowing fast as they left the center of the city, they were in the outskirts in a more smalltown area of the city. It was like a whole different world like they had gone to a place untouched by the corruption of Gotham propper. They finally slowed down and parked in front of an older building. Secret Cave the sign read, no way, did she really go out of her way to take him here.

Taking off her helmet she shook her head to loosen her ponytail, he took this chance to really look at her. She was wearing a red v-neck under one of his older leather jackets and some dark blue jeans. She had a small black bag what went with her combat boots, both had flowers embroidered on them, he had to admit she was beautiful.

“Come on Jay, I got a surprise for you,” she was pulling his hand now as they entered the spacious store, books covered every surface and there were rows upon rows of selves. It was almost hard to move, not wanting to disturb the books but they had made it to one of the small sitting areas, “Wait here I’ll be right back.” Jaso found himself obeying and looking at the books in the area, lots of classic literature in fancy leather bound editions and some of the quintessential plays everyone had to read at some point in their original language, this was heaven for a book nerd like him.

20 Minutes later a hand covered his eyes, “Guess who,” her laugh melted his heart, “I don’t know, maybe… one Mari” he scooped her up in a hug, “I love you so much,” before he could realize what he had said, “I know you big nerd, I love you too.”

When he finally put her down, the blush was on both of their faces at their confessions, ‘they didn’t really mean that did they’ she gave him a thick parcel. “Open it later big guy, but consider it a thank you for everything.” her blush seemed to get worse but so was his, maybe it was the room, yeah it had to be right? “I should be the one thanking you but okay…” he trailed off not quite knowing where to go with this conversation, there was so many things he wanted to say to her but he couldn’t get the words out of his throat. Unknown to him Mari was in the same boat, after a beat of silence, “Want to go to the café next door than browse some more?” “Absolutely.”

They left the shop, hand in hand, and spent the rest of the afternoon together exploring the surrounding area and exploring the store, the gift still untouched for now.

When he would eventually open it a few days later he found red leather bound copies of all his favorites with a J engraved into the cover. These were something he’d treasure for as long as he lived.

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It was the last weekend before the Gala, all the outfits were done and fitted so mari had free time, and Jason had cleared the day to spend with his ‘girlfriend’, were the quotes still there? Were they something more now? Hopefully he’d find out tonight.

It was Roy and Diana’s idea. A dinner at an upscale restaurant, the Ocelot came to mind so he got reservations for the two of them. Diana insisted on covering it, and Roy made sure he had the perfect suit. To say Jason was nervous would be an understatement but it only got worse when Mari stepped out of her room in a floor length dress that made her look like a straight up greek goddess, she was stunning and that felt like an understatement. Her hair was lightly curled and was flowing down her back, a small golden flowers rested atop her head in a crown shape, he was glad Roy had helped him get a suite that made him look mature but he felt he still paled in comparison to her beauty.

They had a lovely dinner, they had gotten a table secluded in the back. It started with nervous and awkward conversation that quickly melted away into the easy conversation they usually shared, it was one of the nicest dates they had ever been on. It felt like a real date with no pressures to fake something, somehow this fake relationship had turned into a real true and meaningful one.

The ‘couple’ was so engrossed with each other they hadn’t noticed the spying eyes that watched from different areas of the restaurant. There were at least 16 different people watching their date if not more but if they noticed they didn’t care. The only thing on their mind was the person in front of them.

As they were leaving the dining room they had eaten in, Jason finally found the courage to ask, “Does this mean-” Mari cut him off with a kiss on the cheek and a tighter grip on his hand, “Absolutely Jay, I wouldn’t trade this for the world.”

Small cheers could be heard in the room as they had left, it had been a success!

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It was finally the night of the gala, Jason and his official girlfriend Marientte would be making their debut to the public. To say it was stressful would be putting it lightly, all the other outfits had been dropped off at the Wayne Manor the day before so that was at least taken care of. They had two hours before the Gala would start, so just over an hour to get ready. The apartment was a mess, making sure they had everything.

Jason’s suit was a dark crimson color with a midnight blue tie to tie it in with the rest of his family. The intricate beading and embroidery shined and became seen when the light hit it right, his hair was fluffy as usual but more kept than usual, the white streak pushed to the side with the rest of his hair. He looked like a proper gentleman thanks to his lady. She had a floor length ball gown that made her look like a princess. The bodice was the same midnight blue as his tie and had off the shoulder sleeves that were see through. The skirt that flowed from her his was made with the same crimson red with balck beading and embroidery in a variety of patterns. The apple blossoms were the most obvious and they traveled up her bodices in a blood red color that was made more clear in the right light, she wore black greek sandless underneath her dress and her hair was pinned to the side, a golden flower crown that Diana insisted she wore atop her head, if she looked like a goddess when they went to dinner, she was simply ethereal now, words could do no justice for how stunning she looked right now. To think she made this all by hand was beyond him.

Hand in hand they entered the ballroom, all eyes were on them. The camera flashes made them sparkle as they made their way down the carpet. Every reporter wanted to know everything about them and their outfits, this was the first time Jason had been seen at one of these actually looking happy and not coming with his family. It was the talk of everyone there.

“Thank the gods we finally made it inside,” Mari was already pulling him to a place she could get a drink. “You still need to introduce me properly to your family you know.”

“Thanks for reminding me, you know I’m sure you have met them all already.”

“That’s not the point Jay!” she hit his arm softly then picked up two glasses of champagne, “Cheers?”

“Cheers” they clinked their glasses and chugged them down. It was going to be quite the night.

They had finally made the rounds to all of his family and the important people of the gala and 2 hours in they had a moment to themselves.

“This is why I avoided these for so long.”

“I know right, to many fake pleasantries if you ask me.”

“At least we are in this together,” both said at the same time, causing them to burst into a fit of giggles.

“God I could kiss you right now.”

“Then why don’t you,” without giving Jason a chance to backtrack Marientte pulled him down to her and locked their lips in a passionate kiss. It was pure bliss, something they both needed and longed for and finally had. It felt right, like home. “Took you long enough,” Jason had a smirk as they pulled away, the applause didn't reach their ears as they pulled each other into another one this time less needy but soft, they felt whole in each others arms, this was what they had been missing for so long and now that they had it, they wouldn’t give it up for the world.

///

Asks are still open, don’t hesitate to ask!!

#my wrting #jasonette #fake dating au #follower give away #ask prompt #long post #i really like how this came out #not gonna lie #we be proud tonight #hit me up with more promots please #maribat

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j-elaine-hyde · 4 years

Text

The Townie

Part One

Chris Evans / Reader (Appearance by Henry Cavill)

All writing is my own original work, it is not posted or to be posted on any other platform. K Thanx bye. Enjoy!

You knew even before you moved there that the winters were going to be long and hard. Miserably cold was an understatement. You joked with your family about returning to the motherland. Moving back East was something you had thought about since you spent an amazing summer in Massachusetts with your great aunt. And now, 20 years later, you were doing more than just visiting.

Starting over in a new city held glamorous potential in your mind. You weren’t a fool, you knew it’d be hard to restart your business. You’d essentially be starting from square one- building it from the ground up, but if not now, when?

Here you were, four months later, moonlighting at a local “townie” bar to pad your income. It was down the street from your house and it gave you a chance to meet new people. At first they all gawked and poked fun at your southern accent, calling you a rebel. Confederate, they deemed, was too long of a nickname.

It was a slow night, only a handful of regulars were in the bar, when he walked in. He got a few glances from the regulars as he walked up to the bar, but no one made mention of his presence. He slid onto a barstool, sighed heavily, and made eye contact with you signaling for a drink.

“Hey there...What can I get you?” On the inside you were freaking out, fangirling that Chris Evans was sitting in front of you, on the outside you were calm and collected, acting as if you didn’t know who he was.

His deep blue eyes scanned the back of the bar and again they met yours. “I’ll just take a beer. Bud light. Draft please.”

You nodded and tapped your hand on the bar before grabbing a glass and filling it. You placed a coaster and the golden liquid in front of him and narrowed your eyes at him. “Get you anything else?”

He started to take a sip and then paused. “Shot of whiskey... pickleback. Please.” He took a long sip and set the beer back down.

“Hey Christopher... how’s ya family?” An old salty dog regular leaned back from further down the bar and nodded his head to him, gesturing with his beer.

“They’re good Mac... thanks.” He replied, as he tipped his beer to the gentleman, as you set the shot down in front of him. “Thank you.” Again, his blue eyes flashed and melted you inside, making your heart race faster.

“Hey rebel! Can I get some quarters?” One of your regulars was leaning on the end of the bar. The accent still made you giggle internally, quarters being pronounced quahtahs.

“Sure thing Jimmy! How many you want?” You were trying to keep your focus off of the gorgeous Mr. Evans, but you could feel his eyes on you as you walked away. You gave the patron quarters and refilled a couple drinks as Chris took his shot of whiskey.

“Christopher... Can you believe this peach we got in here now? Rebels’ a whole hell of a lot better lookin than old Marsha... don’t you think?” One of your very sweet older regulars, who had decided to continuously hit on you was making you blush. Granted he was old enough to your grandfather, but his comments were meant to be playful, and never crossed the line into inappropriate.

Chris looked up at you, his downtrodden expression softened, he smiled a genuinely sweet smile at you before looking back down at his beer, commenting before taking another swig. “She definitely is Benny.”

Over an hour had passed and most of your regulars had gone home. Thursday nights were always slow. Chris sat at the bar silently drinking while you cleaned up, doing prep work to close.

“Is your name really Rebel?” His sudden question startled you.

“No... my name is y/n. They call me rebel because I’m from the south.”

“Well I knew immediately you weren’t from around here.” He smiled at you, his eyes crinkling at the corners, your heart racing. “What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?”

“Just needed a new start...” you shrugged.

“So rebel... where ya from?” He leaned back, stretching.

You hesitated before placing your hand on your hip, “Louisiana.”

He made a face while nodding, “How long have you been here?”

“Little over four months now.” You wiped down the bar trying to distract yourself from the growing urge to hop the bar and jump on him.

“Well Rebel... here’s a tip for you... the two best ways to make it through a New England winter is liquor...” he tapped his shot glass, “...and finding someone to keep you warm.”

You laughed and shook your head, “Well I guess I’m glad I have one of those things covered.” You glanced behind you at the wall of bottles.

“I don’t think a woman as gorgeous as yourself will have any trouble finding the second.”

You swallowed hard. Chris Evans.... Captain fucking America... just called you gorgeous. You blushed and lowered your face. You tucked your hair behind your ear and smiled at him.

Before you could say anything, his phone ringing shattered the silence, you quickly turned away leaving him to answer his phone. You tabbed out the last remaining patrons and cleared their table as they said goodnight. It was now just you and Chris.

You could tell by the tone of his voice he wasn’t thrilled to be talking to whomever was on the other side of the call. You continued closing up shop as he finished it, ending the call with a stern, frustrated “FINE!”

He shook his head, sighing heavily. “Hey Rebel... could I get one more shot before you kick me out?”

“Sure.” You grabbed the whiskey bottle and poured another shot, silently placing it in front of him, grabbing his empty beer glass. He pounded the shot and set the glass down on the counter.

“Thanks... Say... Rebel, do you have any plans for Saturday night?”

Of all the days he could have asked you out.... the one night you actually had plans, in the four months you’d been there, the man of your dreams asks you out.

“I do actually... I’m sorry.”

“It’s just not my night.” He stood up, placed a hundred dollar bill on the bar and started to walk away. “It was nice meeting you y/n. I’ll see you around.”

Before you could even process that he had just asked you out, and that you hadn’t said yes, because you couldn’t, he was already out the door.

You rushed over and locked the door behind him. You were cursing yourself for not having said something like I do, but I’m free tomorrow night. Or how about we get brunch on Sunday. You cleared out the register, turned off the lights and locked up.

Clutching your keys in your hand, you held yourself tight trying to fend off the late night chill as you made your way to your car. You had just hit unlock when you heard someone behind you clear their throat.

“Hey Rebel... I just wanted to say goodnight. Wanted to make sure you got to your car safely. I didn’t want you out here by yourself....”

“Thank you... that’s awfully sweet of you Chris...” you turned around to see him standing there, hands shoved in his pants pockets, breath visible in the cold night air. “You didn’t have to do that... but I appreciate it.”

He smiled nervously at you, “Yea... no problem. Just wanted to make sure you were safe.”

Both of you wanted to say something, but neither of you did. The two of you awkwardly stood there smiling at each other before the sight of you starting to shiver gave Chris the right push.

“Well... goodnight.” He rushed away to his car without another word.

The next morning you were having coffee and talking on the phone to the only real friend you had made. Her name was Marki and she was on the planning committee you had joined for your local real estate board.

“Girl I still can’t choose which of the two dresses i want to wear to the gala tomorrow... we might have to go last minute shopping to see if we can’t find anything else.”

The gala of course was the biggest charity event of the year. It was the top priority of the planning committee and seeing as how you had only recently joined, you didn’t realize just how big of a deal it was to everyone until the last month.

“I could definitely go shopping... wanna meet in about an hour?” You looked over at the black dress hanging on the doorframe of your guest room, suddenly underwhelmed at your choice.

“That’s perfect! I’ll just come by in an hour and pick you up. See you soon!” Marki was all consumed and excited. You figured the Chris news could be spilled another time.

Three hours and four stores later, you had found the perfect dress. It was gorgeous. It was a bright rich emerald green gown that fit you like it was made for you. It didn’t take much convincing from Marki and the store clerk for you to buy it.

You went to sleep that night staring at the emerald green gown hanging on your closet door.

It was finally gala time. Marki had come over hours before to get ready with you. She had brought two of her friends to help with hair and makeup. You felt like a movie star. You looked flawless.

Your stomach was a ball of nerves on the drive to the event. You were excited and nervous. Never one to shy from a good time, you were ready to meet new people and have fun with your friend. People from your office would be there, so the risk of not knowing anyone besides Marki was slim.

The two of you walked into the main hall and looked out at the sea of beautifully dressed men and women. Ballgowns and tuxedos as far as the eye could see.

“Let’s get a drink and then find our table. Yea?” Marki leaned over towards you to whisper in a hushed tone as she headed into the room.

You were standing in line at the bar when you felt a hand on the small of your back. “Hey Rebel...” He whispered in your ear, so close you could feel his breath.

“Chris!” You were completely surprised. “Oh my gosh! Hi!”

He gave you a kiss on the cheek, keeping his face close to yours he whispered, “you look absolutely stunning. I saw you the second you walked in. You took my breath away.”

Marki spun around at your exclamation of his name, her jaw immediately dropped open. Chris was still whispering in your ear when she caught your attention, mouthing “OH MY GOD” to you.

She quickly smiled, hiding her surprise as Chris pulled back to look at you, leaving his hand on the small of your back.

“Hi, I’m Chris.”

“Yea....” was all she could mutter.

You bit your lip, trying to stifle your laughter, “Marki, this is Chris. Chris this is my dear friend, Marki.”

“It’s nice to meet you...” he shook her hand as he immediately started scanning the room. “I’d introduce my friend, but it appears he’s been trapped in a corner by that woman in the purple dress.”

Both you and your shocked friend turned in the direction Chris pointed. There stood a trapped Henry Cavill.

TBC...

#chris evans #henry cavill #fanfic #fanfiction #romance #fiction

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hlupdate · 4 years

Link

Mary Louise Kelly: Your most recent album seems tied up in the '70s, which is a decade you didn't actually live through. What is it about that era that draws you in?

Harry Styles: There's a freedom in the music that is so inspiring. If you go back and listen to so much of that music, and you listen to songs from [Carole King's] Tapestry and Harry Nilsson songs, they sound so fresh. I think it's crazy that something that was made so long ago, you can listen to it now and be like "I want my drums to sound like these drums, and I want my strings to sound like these strings." I think that's really incredible. And I think it's just the freedom, it's people doing what they wanted to do. Obviously, the music business has changed so much since then — there was a lot more of everybody hanging out together and playing songs, and I feel like music is a lot more competitive now.

And is it maybe a little more produced now? Less organic?

Was making Fine Line sound like the music of the '70s a conscious choice?

Speaking of Fleetwood Mac, I saw you've gotten to know and work with Stevie Nicks. What's that like, to get to know someone who was the soundtrack of your childhood and go out on stage with them?

Does it matter if you're super famous yourself?

There's a lot of us who wanted to be a rock star and ended up being lawyers. You've gone the other way. Is it funny listening back to yourself? What do you wish you could tell your 16-year-old self?

Can you tell us about a favorite song on the album?

And "Cherry" was the result of that?

How did you write "Fine Line?"

#harry styles #npr #270220

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soldierswar · 4 years

Text

Cascade - Chapter III

Pairings: Winter Soldier X Natasha Romanoff, Bucky/Nat, WinterWidow (however you want to call it.

Summary: Natasha goes off on her first assignment with the soldier. But now...she has to battle feelings that she begins to have.

Some fluff, a lil’ angst

Warnings: Mild sexual themes, murder.

Masterlist for previous chapters

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

The day had come.

Natasha was in Prague in a very nice hotel room preparing for what was to take place that night.

Target #1 was a congressman who had had mild affiliation with heads of the Red Room in the past. But he had recently started to indicate signs of turning on them.

Target #2 was a Russian official that had close affiliation with him. Red Room had big leads and reason to deduce that target number #1 started talking potential intel with him.

Big mistake.

For this assignment, Natasha had to pretend that she was an elite, high-end Russian escort…(Of course she did).

Ever since she had turned 18 six months ago, they had used her and other young girls to pose as such. At the very least, they didn’t necessarily or always have to pretend to be ladies of the night. Depending on the setting, they would just pose as drunk party animals who were willing to be taken home after one conversation with an important, rich man.

Luckily, they never went as far as to sleep with them. In fact, there would be serious consequences if they did so.

The event that Natasha would be attending would be an elite black-tie event that only some of the most powerful European social, or political figures would be allowed to attend. Since the event wasn’t based on talking about politics, there was a loophole on how to get in. There were some extra plus ones who were allowed to attend other than a spouse or romantic partner.

Another fact about this loophole, nobody asked questions if there were singular individuals who weren’t attached to someone from the beginning posing as an “extra cousin” to whoever they decided to point a finger at. It was a very well known, but unspoken truth that the majority of these “unknown plus-one’s” were men and women (as previously mentioned), “of the night”.

This was why Natasha’s cover was perfect.

Her target was single, and to an extent famous for being one of those men to take one of these women home.

Her assignment didn’t quite start at the gala. She had to make sure that she had his attention before she got there.

While walking down the street where she knew he would be that afternoon, she bumped into him.

She knew that he could react in two different ways.

One, he could passively curse her and be on his way.

Two, she would make sure that he caught her innocent looking eyes, and proceed to look at her apologetically as she continued on her way.

She accomplished on getting the latter.

The purpose of that interaction was to make sure that he did in fact catch her eye, but not enough to study her face. So when he’d see her at the gala looking for his next expensive conquest, she would be the one he was more drawn to on the basis of subconscious familiarity.

As she zipped up her new silk black dress, she couldn’t help but admire herself.

It was long, so it covered her six-inch, gold strappy heels. But there was a long slit to the side that reached slightly above her knee. There was also a long v-line that reached the middle of her chest, but didn’t end up showing any cleavage. She looked both sexy, and classy at the same time.

Going out to events, or parties were something she never really got to experience in her real life. It made her wonder what it would be like to go out with people she knew and liked in a normal setting. Something outside of sneaking into somebody’s room and drinking booze that somebody else had smuggled in with 3 or 4 other people in the Red Room quarters in the middle of the night.

She wanted a man to look at her in dresses like the one she was in and fall in love with her. For a man to see her as more than some conquest that he either was planning to pay for, or to just be another one-night-stand.

She wanted to be around a man that she actually liked. And she especially wanted to be around a man that she actually wanted to see her in that kind of way without having to kill him within a few minutes.

As she attempted to fasten her diamond bracelet, she heard a soft knock on her window. She snapped her head to the side and found the soldier standing by the sliding glass door of the her balcony.

She made her way over and opened the door, letting him in.

“Hi,” she greeted confusedly.

He didn’t say anything as he entered, was gave her a once over. In fact, she couldn’t help but feel suspicious that he was…admiring her?

Without saying anything further, she outstretched her arm toward him and set the bracelet onto her wrist holding one side and silently signaled for him to help her fasten it.

It took him a second for him to stop looking at her in the dress and realize what she was trying to get him to do. When he did, he ever so softly took the other side and snapped it closed.

“Hi,” he finally replied.

She smiled, and held back a chuckle.

“I wasn’t expecting you to come by,” she said.

“Just wanted to make sure plans were in sync,” he replied.

Figures.

“I make sure my target is alone with me before the gala is over, and when your target leaves at the end of the night, you finish your end, correct?”

He nodded.

“You look nice,” he said.

She blushed, and immediately turned her face and cleared her throat to try to mask it.

“Thank you,” she replied.

She turned back to face him, and found herself gazing into his eyes.

She hated when this happened.

Ever since their first session with training together, she found herself getting lost in those bright, blue-grey eyes of his. They were beautiful, and honestly so was the rest of him.

It had to be impossible for a young girl like her not to be absolutely enamored with his looks. He was tall, incredibly muscular, and as mentioned before, his eyes alone could captivate any person alive.

No matter how much she tried to fight it…She couldn’t deny the physical palpitations within her chest.

When she thought about wanting a man to see her in the kind of light in the context that she wanted…She couldn’t help but think about him. And she honestly wasn’t sure how to handle the idea of it actually coming to fruition.

Maybe she was just hopeful. Maybe she had made every lingering glare towards her up in her mind. That she was just projecting how she was trying to suppress looking at him, onto him actually looking at her.

And why was it him of all people that did this to her?

“So I guess I’ll see you after,” she confirmed.

“Once the job is done?”

He nodded silently once again. Again, noticing that his eyes weren’t stoic like before they had landed in Prague…But as though he were maybe admiring her.

They took a moment, and continued to stare at each-other as though the other were unsure on what to say next. Maybe there was truth to her suspicion. She at least knew that she didn’t know what to do.

She decided to turn back to the full sized mirror and make sure that she did still look perfect.

And she did.

She also hoped that he would notice that.

…

Three hours had passed, and both jobs were done.

By the time the assassination of target #1 had happened on the streets of Prague after the event, Natasha had already taken target #2 to his hotel room.

She wasn’t quite sure which target was dead first. All she knew was that neither of them knew that the other was dead by the time they themselves had met their demise.

When at the gala, she had caught eyes with her target the exact way that she had expected him to. Coincidentally, he was deep in conversation with target #1.

A few moments after he caught eyes with her, he joined her by the bar and offered to buy her a drink.

She accepted, and carried conversation. When he asked her who she was with, she quietly confided that she wasn’t actually there with anyone. That was the subliminal signal that he in-fact was looking for.

The only thing that was important was that he wanted her, and that money was no object towards what he wanted.

She made sure that he took her to his hotel room before the gala was over, and the soldiers target was still alive. If he had been executed before her target, security would definitely be circling around them immediately. And after figuring that he might be safe…the press might have been circulating around to figuratively execute a rising political figure looking for an expensive lay.

She played things off in a way that made him think that he was not allowed to touch her until they were alone, and secure within closed doors. That until they were ready to seal the real deal, no hand nor lips would be used toward each-other in any way, shape, or form. This especially helped her make sure that things were discreet, and nobody would notice her actually interacting with him.

When they actually did make it to the room as according to plan, she pretended to want to make extra drinks for them just for the fun of it. It was obvious that a man like him was never going to decline that sort of offer. Especially when the expensive hotel room included a full bar.

When she reached down to grab a half-full bottle of gin (of course he had drank half of it within the two days that he was staying there), she poured the lethal powder in the cup before adding the gin along with it without him noticing.

By the time she had finished pouring, the powder was completely invisible. And because of that, when he drank half of the glass within one gulp, he didn’t suspect a thing.

Within seconds of him finishing his drink after the second gulp, his airways began to constrict, and he was dead after thirty seconds as she stood in-front, and practically atop him as his body succumbed to the inevitable.

There would hardly be an investigation on his death.

The solution that she was ordered to give him would mimic something like a drug overdose. One that could be explained as a result of intense grief for his fallen best-friend.

Based on the fact that there was half a bottle of gin that was finished in that room that had obviously been fully stocked before him checking in the previous night, and the actual stash of cocaine hidden in his briefcase, it was as easy case to cover up.

She pressed some powder against, and up his nose, and made two perfect lines on the nightstand next to what would look like an absurd amount of tracts of already snorted lines.

When she exited the room nobody was around, and she knew that the cameras wouldn’t catch her because those had already been taken care of by her superiors.

Mission was accomplished without a trace.

And by the time she made it to her room, undressed, slipped into her sleepwear, and turned on the tv news, she knew that his job was done too.

Natasha could not sleep right away. She knew that she wouldn’t.

Although she was doing what she was highly trained and skilled to do, it didn’t stop the occasional flashback, or spark of guilt to hit her right after.

Her superiors were still working hard to beat that trait out of her. Although she never protested any one of her assignments, they could always tell that there was always at least just a little feeling of hesitation within her. No matter how hard she tried to mask it.

She flipped through channels and watched a few minutes of shows that she was never able to watch unless she was in the kind of setting that she was in then. Some of them were pretty funny, and entertaining too.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the glass window once again. This time, she recognized who’s knock it was.

She quickly walked over and opened the door for him before anybody could notice that he was there. Granted, he was masterful at going unnoticed.

How was it possible for nobody to notice a guy with a shiny metal arm ending up on her balcony?

But this time, he wasn’t in uniform. He was dressed like a normal person. He wore jeans, a black t-shirt, a leather jacket on top of a hoodie, and one glove concealing his left hand.

He pulled his hood off when he walked in, after the window was closed along with the curtain.

This time, she was the one that was attempting to conceal the once-over. He looked…He looked so different than how he usually did when he wasn’t in uniform.

This did not help the palpitations.

When she stopped noting what he was wearing, she began to realize that she wasn’t exactly dressed in a way that he was used to seeing her either.

She had a pair of black, silk shorts on and a tight, grey, ribbed tank-top that did nothing to conceal what was under her shirt. She began to feel herself blush, so he crossed her arms in a sad attempt to cover her chest. Not that she was really thinking that he noticed.

“I suppose they want a mission report?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Target is down, and there should be no ounce of suspicion. They’ll probably just figure that it was tied to…well…your end of the assignment.”

“Good.”

“And you?” she asked.

“I see you completed swiftly.”

He nodded.

“I walked by the scene where the crowd congregated to confirm that it was done, minutes after I hit him.”

That probably explained the outfit.

“Right through his skull in one shot,” she stated, repeating what she had heard on the news no ten minutes before.

“You never do miss, do you?”

That question was rhetorical, and he treated it as such.

“So we have everything covered,” he said.

She nodded.

“Are you going to climb off of my balcony again? Because you know that you can just walk out of the front door like a normal person right now.”

His lips curled into a light smile. That damned smile that caused that damned feeling again.

“Here,” Natasha said.

“I’ll walk you out.”

He followed as she made her way over to the door.

By the time she reached to open the doorknob, he had beat her to it before she could even register; causing her hand to land right on top of his. She couldn’t help but let her hand linger, despite the normal instinct that would be to pull back. But at that moment, didn’t want to not feel the warmth of his hand beneath hers no matter how much the contact made her feel like snakes were circulating around her stomach and chest.

She looked up at him and noticed his expression. His right brow was knit in mild confusion, but he didn’t seem disturbed or even at the very least…uncomfortable.

What Natasha was about to do next was risky. She knew that. In fact, it was probably stupid. No, it was stupid. There was no reason why she should think that that was an acceptable thing to do, but she felt like he had to do it.

She took her hand off of his, and waited to see if he would rush out.

But he didn’t. He looked at her as intensely as she probably was probably looking at him. Almost as though their energies had matched. (Except for that fact that he might not have felt like air was being constricted from his lungs.)

So…she followed through.

She lightly brushed the side of his cheek, and kissed him softly.

And he didn’t pull away.

#BuckyXNatasha #winterwidow #winterwidowfluff #winter soldier #black widow #Buckynat #Buckynat fluff #Natasha romanoff #Natalia Romanova #Bucky Barnes #red room #BuckyXNat #Winterwidow fanfic

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banditthewriter · 5 years

Text

Whatever It Takes - 2 - Billy Russo

You guys seemed to enjoy part one. Hope that continues!

Tags are at the bottom. Let me know if you would like to be added to one of my tag lists!

Enjoy!

*****

For the week after the event, you focused on work and nothing else. Your boss was happy with the progress of the many projects you had undertaken. And you kept your eye out for messages from the charity.

You also got a few messages from Billy. It had been a surprise actually; you hadn't even been aware that he had your phone number.

He wanted to tell you how the meeting went and to thank you again. Seems he finally snagged his four star general.

You were happy for him. He got that and you hadn't heard a peep from Connor since the gala. It seems to have benefited you both.

With your focus on work, you almost forgot you were waiting for message from the charity you worked with. When it finally came in, you were excited to see what would come next.

Y/N,

We are happy to say the fundraising gala was a success. It was a beautiful event and we wanted to thank you for your attention to detail and tireless work to make the gala the astounding success that it turned out to be.

Personally I wanted to send you a message about another matter. It's been brought to our attention that you are in a relationship with Billy Russo from Anvil. If so, do you think you could talk to him about Anvil working security at some other events one of my other charities is throwing? And I hope he's available to be your plus one to the launch coming up.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Marcia Daly

You read the middle part three times before you let your screen go dark.

It had just been a little joke, something to help you both out that night. You hadn't expected it to travel.

And how had Marcia heard that? Was she friends with Bart’s wife?

It was awfully presumptive of her to ask you to ask your supposed-boyfriend to help out at future events. You'd only been on the charity board for a short time. Was that how long it took for favors to be asked?

You unlocked your phone and took a screenshot of the email. You circled the middle paragraph a few times before you attached it to a text to Billy.

After a brief hesitation, you added a caption of Look what I just got.

Once it was sent, you pulled up your Facebook and scrolled through there. You mindlessly liked a few pictures or posts before your phone vibrated.

It was from Billy. The text just said hm but there was also a photo attached.

It was also an email. The email address was marked out, but it was signed at the bottom by Bart Keller.

Part of it didn't make sense but you imagined it was the last paragraph you were supposed to focus on.

It was a pleasure to see you and your girl at the charity gala. She's an absolute gem and I hope you don't mind me saying that. You should bring her to the dinner. It would be nice to meet her without running her off with my cigarettes.

Huh. You bit your lip as you typed up a quick reply.

So both of our jobs not only think we are together but want us to show up to events together now. Didn't see that coming.

After only a few seconds, you got a reply.

Yeah me either

You wondered how to reply when a second text came through.

Do you have a moment to talk on the phone?

Quickly you moved over to shut your door, smiling at one of your coworkers who was walking through the area. Then you went back to your desk to tell him yes, you could take a call.

About a minute later your phone started to ring.

“Hey,” you greeted, breathy even though you weren't sure why. “How are you?”

You heard him huff out a laugh on the other line.

“I'm just going to cut to the chase. The people at the charity think we’re together and General Keller thinks we’re together. How would you feel about maybe capitalizing on that for a short time?”

That drew you up short for a moment.

“Capitalizing by… do you mean pretending to date? For longer?”

You sounded so shocked but it wasn't a completely unpleasant thought. In fact you had quite enjoyed that part of the evening.

“Listen, I know it sounds messed up but it'd just be long enough for us to get our feet in the door. Keller adored you and I feel like he'd probably be more willing to work with me if you're involved sometimes. And if the charity is asking for Anvil and for me to be a plus one, that's not exactly a sacrifice in order for both of us to get what we want.”

A business proposition. You swallowed thickly as you thought about his hand on your hip at the gala and how you had felt like you were going to melt when he complimented you.

Could you pretend to date him? Even just for a set amount of time?

“If it's too much, you can just forget it. I don't want to make you uncomf–”

“Let's do it,” you said as quickly as you could.

He was quiet for a second and then you could barely make out a sigh of relief.

“I guess we will need to get together to discuss a few things. How long we've been together and, you know, get to know each other.”

You felt that same little thrill from before.

“Yeah, I guess so. How about dinner at my place? I'll cook.”

“Sounds great. What time?”

After you made plans, and checked to make sure he didn't have any allergies, you ended the call. Your small office felt positively claustrophobic at that moment.

You were going to pretend to date Billy Russo. The guy you'd kinda sorta been crushing on for a few years.

It felt a little like making a deal with the devil but you didn't mind. Not when the devil looked that good.

------

Dinner was almost done when your doorbell rang. After checking to make sure your place wasn't too much of a mess, you went to the door to let him in.

“Hey, come on in. Dinner is almost ready.”

Billy had removed his suit jacket and probably his tie as well. He'd rolled up his sleeves and unbuttoned his shirt so that he was a bit more casual.

“Smells great,” he said as he handed over a six pack of beer.

Most of the silence as you served the plates and sat down to eat was full of conversation about both of your days. Billy had a new group of recruits coming in soon and he told you he was always busiest around that time. He also mentioned having something coming up that was big, but he couldn’t give more than that. You explained that you were put on a new project that involved the son of a congressman who acted like a toddler most of the time.

When your plates were mostly empty, you pushed yours away and gave Billy a look.

“I guess we need to get down to business.”

He shrugged his shoulder because yeah, that's why he was there.

“We don't have to lie about how we met at least. I say we stick mostly to reality. We met two years ago, became friends. It's only recently become more.”

That could work. Although you were surprised that he considered the two of you friends before this.

“How recently?”

“You said you and Braxton ended things three months ago? Let's say we've been together for about a month.” He gestured a bit with the hand that wasn't holding his beer as he explained, “That way we have a good reason why we don't know everything about each other. Also gives a good reason why we wouldn't be too comfortable with public displays of affection.”

That was something you hadn't even thought about yet.

Pretending to date meant casual touches and more consistently being around one another. It meant faking a familiarity that neither of you felt. Even that night he had almost pulled away from your kiss on his cheek.

And you'd almost jumped out of your skin when he touched you. Granted probably not for the same reason.

It struck you again what this would mean for you. Your little crush on Billy was easily handled when you only saw each other a few times a year. Would it become unavoidable if you saw each other more often?

Could you handle your feelings and keep them in check?

“That should work,” you finally said once you realized how long you'd been quiet.

Billy smiled and stood up, grabbing his plate and yours before he headed to the kitchen sink.

“It's gonna be fine. We know each other well enough that we can keep it from being awkward.”

Yeah. That was possible.

You spent the next hour just giving each other little glimpses into your life. Birthdays, favorite colors, allergies and more were given back and forth. You committed as much of it to memory as you could and hoped that anything you might forget would be inconsequential.

There was one thing that you had thought about but hadn't mentioned yet. As he made his way to the door to leave, you knew it was now or never.

“Are you sure you want to do this? Because you won't exactly be able to see other women unless you're really good at doing it on the down low.”

You didn't want to go through all of this just to get fake cheated on.

“Not an issue,” he explained as he turned to face you. “I've gone longer than however long this will be without dating. Don't worry, I'll be fully committed to our fake relationship.”

He held his hand out to you. With a roll of your eyes, you accepted his hand for a handshake to seal the deal. Then he tugged you towards him, slow enough to give you a chance to pull away if you wanted to.

He pressed his lips to your cheek, a touch that reminded you immediately of the kiss you had left on his cheek that night. Your heart was racing but hopefully he couldn't tell.

“Tell your charity board members that I'm at their disposal. And let me know when you need that plus one.”

You nodded and glanced down, surprised to see that he was still holding your hand.

“And let me know about that dinner Bart mentioned,” you replied as you pulled your hand back to your side.

Billy gave you a nod and a quick smile before he turned to open the door. You waited until he was down the steps to the street before you pulled the door shut once more.

You were officially fake dating Billy Russo. Emphasis on the fake, you tried to remind your racing heart.

It was just for a few weeks, maybe a month or two. Long enough for you both to reap the benefits of a relationship.

Well. Not all of the benefits.

Let me know if you want to be added to my Permanent Tag List @hermioneshandbag @onebatch--twobatch @smiley-celine @blackcoffeeandgreenteaforme @starless-skyox @youveseen--thebutcher @citation-is-here @mightymelly @realduckvader @1550kilogramsofsilver @hxbbit @rockintensse @missphanosaur18 @thepuffyeyedpuff @the-three-eyed-ravenclaw @yessy2012 @gingerstarlight @siriusement @marauderskeeper @xinyourdreamsx @wickidlady @sassygirl25 @maraudereestauderelb @rainyboul @cutie-bug @random-quartz @holamor @lea----b @heyitslexy @detectivebourbon @coffeenmoscato @presstocontinue @elisemockingbird @assbuttwithwings @geeksareunique @siriuslovesmarlene @witch-of-letters @delicatelilyflower @l-l-c-m-w-b @whovianayesha @hiddenprincess @yannii04 @jeanettexkillian @brighteststarinthesky @kilyra @gallxntdean @sweetvengeancee @lady1505 @thedarklightwithinus @ateliefloresdaprimavera @siriuslyimmoony @elodieyung @fudgeflyss @madamrogers @thatwrestlingfan91 @teranya @sophiabulbu69 @delusionsofnostalgia @effielumiere @mamaraptor @hot-and-spiceyyy @i-padfootblack-things @aya-fay @fcavalerro @sithskywalkers @raquelbc2003 @iwishyoucouldbekissed @lostinthoughts23 @tamanamohain @newtstarmander @suchatinyinfinity @blushingskywalker @queencocoakimmie @funerals-with-cake @love-dria @arrowswithwifi @swiftyhowlz @cheyfleur @dark-night-sky-99 @margot-black @celestegolden @king4thesirens @beautifuldesastre @ashkuuuu @luminex3 @nerdypinupcrystal @iblogabout-stuff @curlyhairedblueeyedangel @myplaceofheavenorhell @cafeconsoya @nea90sweetie @traeumerinwitzhelden @kryyta @russosprettydiamondnow @dorkybryan @mahalobro @yesixoxo

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#billy russo #billy russo x reader #billy russo imagine #billy russo fanfic #my writing #whatever it takes

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mlpshippingcentral · 5 years

Text

Puppy Love

In which Scootaloo is an oblivious gay while Sweetie is a pining gay, too angsty for her own good.

Also known as; my excuse to write about Sweetie’s shitty parents, plus my headcanons involving lanky Scootaloo and smol Sweetie and my headcanon that Sweetie Belle and Rarity were born in Canada.

You’re welcome

After they get their Cutie Marks, the Crusaders start having sleepovers a lot more.

Most of the times it's at Sweet Apple Acres, so Apple Bloom won't be late to do her chores, though a couple have happened at Rarity's house or Scootaloo's Aunt's.

This time, though, is different, because not only is this is the first time they have been allowed to have a sleepover without adult supervision, but it's also the first time they've had it in their tree house.

The days building up to the weekend are full of excited chatterings about what they can do, such as staying up past midnight, a simple goal, though one they've never actually accomplished, and using their telescope to stargaze and hundreds of other ideas.

They all bring their sleeping bags into the tree house, and set them up.

And it's here where Scootaloo hesitates. Because up until tonight, in every sleepover, they've been sharing a bed together. It's not a big deal, just that nobody actually has a guest room.

And now they can sleep as near or as far from each other as possible.

Which, of course, isn't that big of a deal, she reminds herself, eyeing her best friends as they undo their bags, and, after a couple of second of deliberation, puts hers right next to Sweetie, who eyes her curiously for a moment.

"In case we want to talk to each other" she shrugs, feeling oddly embarrassed about it, but Sweetie just lights up and smiles.

"Good idea, Scoots!"

The Pegasus hides a smile by fiddling with her sleeping bag, and sees Apple Bloom staring at them, with the most exasperated expression on her face.

"What?" She asks, but Bloom just mutters something about 'needing another room' and turns away.

They do not stay up until midnight, but they do get pretty close and they do stargaze, so Scootaloo is willing to call it a win.

She wakes up at some indeterminable time, shaken awake by the feel of hot wind on her face. She blinks blearily, and almost yelps when she realizes she is muzzle to muzzle with Sweetie, who is sleeping peacefully.

She leans back a bit, ignoring the pang of cold that hits her when she does. She would back up completely, except that Sweetie's hoof is on her leg, and moving would probably wake her up.

So instead she closes her eyes and tries to ignore the thoughts telling her there's no better way to fall asleep.

Sweetie Belle is passing through town when she sees Tender Taps, and stops to say hello.

"Hey, Tapps, did I hear something about you being chosen for entertainment for the Grand Galloping Gala?"

"Yeah!" The colt smiles, demure. "It was so crazy! I still can't really believe it!"

"You are the best dancer in our town."

"Yeah, thanks to you and your friends. Speaking of which" he pauses, tilting his head at her "how are you and Scootaloo?"

There's teasing in his tone, but most of it is genuine curiosity, and Sweetie doesn't know what to do with that.

"We're fine" she says stiffly "BFF's, as always."

"Oh" he looks contrite for a second, but, before he can say anything else, another voice chirps up from down the street.

"Hey Sweetie!"

She has to take a second before answering "yeah Scootaloo?"

She doesn't say her friends nickname, because Tender Taps is already grinning like a foal who won the lottery.

Scootaloo is at the very top of the street, which is more of a hill, with an incline enough that Sweetie has to crane her neck a bit to meet her friends eyes.

"Watch this!"

And then, she's off, pushing a hoof off the ground and buzzing her wings to move her scooter along, she shoots down the hill like lightning, before flipping, head over hooves, with the scooter, just to bring the wheels back down to the ground again and brake a couple of feet in front of Sweetie.

She had heard about this trick, heard about Scootaloo practicing this, and that practice clearly paid off, going by the cheers and whistles rebounding the room.

But Sweetie's not paying attention to them, because she's already moving, closing the distance in seconds to throw her hooves around her Best Friend's neck.

Sometimes, it surprises Sweetie how small she is. Apple Bloom is an Apple, all tall and muscular, while Scootaloo is all lean and lanky, so she always looks tiny next to them.

Despite this, even though she's the second smallest in her entire class, and has to literally tilt her head back if she wants to talk to Bloom face to face, she forgets how absolutely tiny she is.

And then there's moments like this, where Scootaloo easily lifts her back hooves off the ground and Sweetie lets out a surprised squeak, which prompts a laugh from Scootaloo, who places her back on the ground.

She feels dizzy and warm and is acutely aware of everypony watching them, so she takes a small step back, so that they're not basically touching muzzles, and for a second, she thinks she sees Scootaloo's face fall.

"You should show that to Rainbow Dash" is what she says, and she brightens again, zooming off to find her idol.

Sweetie Belle can feel Tender Taps approach her.

"Don't say it" she says.

When Aunt Lofty sends her in to Carousel Boutique for more wool, Scootaloo isn't expecting to overhear a conversation between her Best Friend and her sister.

"How do you know you love someone?"

It's Sweetie's voice, but it doesn't sound right, all muted and nervous, and, oh boy, that is not a conversation Scootaloo should be overhearing. She looks around for a bell to ring or something, but, for all her professionalism, it seems that this never occurred to Rarity.

She eyes the door up, wondering if she can come back at some other time, but Aunt Lofty really wanted to finish her scarf, and this was the only place that would have this kind of wool.

A pause, and then Rarity's voice "well, that all depends. For some, it's sudden, while others, it's more . . gradual."

"Is that what it was like? For you, I mean."

"No, no. She crept up on me."

The sentence is barely over before Sweetie is saying "me too! At least, I think she did? I never really noticed until recently, but . ."

Scootaloo frowned. She? Sweetie had never shown any interest in any fillies in their class before. She knew her Unicorn friend had a crush on a couple of colts before, but outside of that, she had never shown a special interest in any females before.

Unless . . .

Scootaloo's mind dragged up a picture, of Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle, deep in discussion, heads bent together. They had been talking about their parents, Scootaloo remembered. The two had found common ground in the fact that their parents were always gone for some reason.

She found herself wishing she had entered that conversation, not so much as to complain about her parents, than just to break up the strange closeness the two had.

Which was, of course, ridiculous. Sweetie was allowed to like whoever she wanted, right? It shouldn't matter to Scootaloo if her friend had a crush on someone.

"I, uh, I don't think she really likes me in that way though" and Sweetie sounded so dejected that Scootaloo fought the urge to round the corner and hug her.

"You don't know until you try" Rarity said, doing an admirable job of filling in for Scootaloo, who just wanted to comfort her little friend.

"But we're coworkers! It could mess everything up! Besides, Scoots has never shown any interest in girls before and-"

It's around there that the conversation fades away from Scootaloo as she carefully backs out of the boutique and onto her bike, any thought of the wool far from her mind.

Instead, she climbed aboard her scooter, and raced away, stopping when she was far enough away and collapsing on the ground.

She isn't sure how much time passes as she lays on the ground, staring up at the sky, painted gold and pink by the sunset.

Sweetie likes her.

Sweetie likes her?

Sweetie likes her!

Sweetie likes her.

What in the hell is she going to do?

Well, first off, a voice that sounds remarkably like Twilight Sparkle in her head says, do you like girls?

Scootaloo doesn't even have to stop and think of this, as it's a solid yeah. She remembers crushing on Princess Cadence when she was smaller, and a brief infatuation with Gabby.

She is, in her Aunt's words, the ultimate lesbian.

Okay, so, do you like Sweetie?

Now this, this gives her pause.

She remembers when she first met Sweetie; she and her parents had just moved from Oatstralia, and she had just discovered that bullies existed here in Ponyville too. Awesome. She had decided to take the traditional route and keep her head down, and don't talk to anyone. And yet, the day after she had decided that, a Unicorn had moved down from Caneighda to be with her sister more.

She and Sweetie Belle had known each other for a long time, longer than they knew Bloom at least.

She remembers the chill she had felt when she pulled away from Sweetie that night in the treehouse, of seeing her rushing across to congratulate her on her awesome trick the other day, eyes bright and grin even brighter-

Oh.

Oh hell.

The Gay Panic is starting to come in strong, and she now understands why Sweetie wanted to talk to Rarity about all this, because she has this overwhelming urge to run to her Aunts, because surely they'll know what to do.

Maybe she can ignore all this, and it'll just . . go away?

She closes her eyes and immediately Sweetie Belle jumps into her mind, a Sweetie with slumped shoulders and teary eyes as she stares, defeated up at her Best Friend.

Immediately her eyes snap open again, because, that's not happening. She will not hurt Sweetie, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she did.

Then she groans, because that was so cheesy and she is so, so screwed.

Apple Bloom walks into the tree house, looks at the two of them, working in complete silence, not looking at each other, and immediately walks back out.

"Ah've got chores to do!" She says in response to their questions and objections.

Sweetie can understand, though. Celestia knows, she would rather be anywhere than here right now, basking in the awkwardness she had created, because she is too awkward to talk to her Best Friend.

This is what you get, a part of her says, you want to make things complicated? You have to deal with the awkwardness.

"So" Scootaloo says, breaking the silence at last, and Sweetie immediately wants to curl up and die, because that is Scootaloo's this-is-gonna-be-so-awkward tone of voice. The last time she had used it, she had brought up why Sweetie's parents were never around. The time before that? Apple Bloom's parents.

Sweetie has learnt to fear that tone.

"So?" She echoes, deliberately innocent as she eyes the door for a quick escape.

"So I've been thinking" Scootaloo says "about you and me."

You know what? Forget the door, Sweetie will gladly take a hole to swallow her up in.

"You and I?" She repeats, correcting it slightly, because she at least pays attention in English.

"Yeah" Scootaloo smirks slightly, before it falls "I think it's time we talked about our, uh, friendship."

Sweetie screws her eyes up tight, pulse in her head as she tries to think her way out of this one. But, this, this is it. And Scootaloo clearly knows that she knows what she is talking about, going by how awkward she looks.

Well, if this is the end of their friendship, at least she should be honest about it.

"I'm sorry" she whispers, tears pricking her eyes. "you were never supposed to find out."

Scootaloo tilts her head, meeting Sweetie's eyes for a fleeting moment before looking away again "why not?"

"Because we're coworkers" Sweetie says miserably. "If I told you, things would be awkward between us, and then things would be awkward between us and Bloom and" she cuts herself off with a sigh "you guys are my first friends" she admits "I don't want to lose you."

"You guys are my first friends too" Scootaloo admits. "but who says things have to be awkward between us?"

"I- uh- what?"

Scootaloo kisses her.

It's brief and messy and as awkward as this conversation, but she does it and Sweetie is left standing, stock still, staring at the Pegasus, who has the same look of bafflement she does.

"That was my first kiss" is all she thinks to say, because why not?

Scootaloo laughs, loud and still nervous "yeah, me too."

Then she kisses Scootaloo, using her magic to pull her down to do so. It's more than she imagined it would ever be, and she feels oddly giddy, bouncing on her hooves slightly as she does so.

They pull apart and she grins up at the Pegasus, who smiles back down.

"Why" Scootaloo asks, laughing "didn't we do that sooner?"

Sweetie Belle laughs.

Small notes!

For the record, Canadian Sweetie Belle only came into existence because I wondered about Cookie Crumbles and Hondo Flanks, and it turns out their accents are midwestern or Canadian, and Canadian Sweetie was the greatest thing I have ever heard of ever.

Plus, to me it would explain why Apple Bloom had never met Sweetie or Scootaloo before Call of the Cutie, which is especially odd since Ponyville is such a small town and they have the same class. So, they had both just moved there recently.

Australian Scootaloo, is, of course, a given due to her heritage, but they move around so much she never really had time to develop an accent. She moved in with her aunts after they put their hooves down and demanded that Scootaloo be allowed to stay in one place long enough to make actual friends. Scootaloo thinks her parents are amazing and that nothing is wrong with them constantly leaving her, getting defensive if anyone has any word against them. Despite them missing her cutecenera by several months, she still enthusiastically greeted them and forgave them immediately

Sweetie’s parents, on the other hand, drift in and out of her life. They often take long, amazing trips without her or Rarity, leaving poor Sweetie feeling like they don’t want her and desperate for any attention, leaving her to cling to her sister for support (why she’s always at Rarities instead of at home). After they miss her cutecenera, she basically turns her back on them

#scootaloo #sweetie belle #rarity #tender taps #scootabelle #sweetieloo #puppylove #otp #romance #i ship it #fanfic #mlp fan fiction #child neglect #canadian sweetie

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avengerscompound · 5 years

Text

The Unicorn - Chapter 9

The Unicorn: A Pepperony Fanfic PREVIOUS

Series Masterlist

Buy me a coffee with Ko-fi Word Count: 2019

Pairing: Tony Stark x F!Reader x Pepper Potts

Warnings: Sex talk.

Synopsis: Tony takes you and Pepper to a gala at the Rockefeller Center as a way to announce your relationship to the world

The Unicorn

Tony sat between you and Pepper in the back of the car. It had only been recently that he’d started to let Happy drive the car. He couldn’t quite explain why he had hated letting people take the wheel in the first place nor exactly what point he was okay with it. He just knew that normally he’d have driven Pepper in one of his two-seater sports cars, and today the three of you were sitting a little squashed in the back of Audi A8 and he felt happy.

Actually happy. Not that temporary feeling of euphoria that he used to chase by hopping from bed to bed or taking drugs. Definitely not the dulling of his emotions all together he attempted by drinking himself into a stupor. A real genuine sense of contentment. He had two women he loved at his side. They were trying for a kid. And now he was going to go out into the world and make a statement. This is me and I am finally happy and have people who genuinely care about me.

You were coming out at Gala at the Rockefeller Center. Tony had opted for Prada. A black tuxedo with a white shirt and black bow tie. You and Pepper had both opted for gowns by Ralph and Russo. Pepper was in off-white silk, satin, and organza, with hand cut scallops that went from small semi-circles at the structured bodice to large ones at the asymmetrical A-line skirt that reached the floor and spread out in a short train behind her. You had managed to tie both his look and Pepper’s together while keeping your look so very you. Your dress was hand pleated chiffon with a strapless, geometric bodice. While the two primary colors were black and white a stripe of pale pink and pale mint ran beside the heart shape black panels on the bodice and bled out into the skit. Outlining the heart was a line of lavender that did the same. A cape was attached to a choker made from Swarovski Crystals and opals. It was the same, white, mint, pink and lavender chiffon and billowed out behind you as you walked. While pepper had done her make in the smoky eyes and muted tones she usually used, you had gone with pink and purple eyeshadow, winged eyeliner and a dark red lipstick that seemed to glitter when the light hit it. How the two of you had managed to both look yourselves, while match and neither stand out over the other amazed him, but you did.

Pepper was relatively calm at least for Pepper. She always entered business mode when she was out in public. Straight back and ready to deal with any problem thrown at her. Which to be honest, was usually thrown at her by him, but he did like seeing her make things happen. Especially when there was a little unreasonableness to the request.

You, on the other hand, were showing clear signs of nerves. It wasn’t like you. You were normally completely relaxed under any kind of pressure. You had met him and the Avengers like you regularly came in contact with superheroes and it was no big deal at all. You went out all the time. You wore clothes that drew the eyes of everyone in the room. You could stand in front of a lecture theatre full of people and talk about quantum physics with no problem at all. Yet, right now you sat beside him, squeezing his hand that little bit too hard and shifting in your seat a little too much.

“It’s just a bunch of rich assholes, you know? And maybe a few actors that really believe in conservation and had their ticket paid for.” Tony said, rubbing his thumb in circles along the back of your hand.

“Yeah. I can picture the asshole’s faces when they realize we’re together.” You said, clenching your jaw.

Tony laughed. “It’ll be great.”

You looked at him suspiciously and Pepper rolled her eyes.

“Oh come on! You don’t want to see a bunch of old farts have a near heart attack because god forbid three people like bumping uglies?” Tony argued.

“Bumping uglies?” Pepper groaned. “Really, Tony?”

Tony started laughing again at the incredulous tone in Pepper’s voice but it had done the job. You relaxed a little, leaning against him more and softening the grip on his hand.

Happy pulled up at the curb where there were security railing keeping press and people hoping to spot celebrities back. There was a red carpet running from the curb to the doors and as soon as the car pulled up someone rushed forward and opened the door.

Pepper stepped out first which immediately led to people calling out both her name and his. Tony followed after her and offered his hand to you. You took it and let him help you out of the car, and when he put an arm around both you and Pepper and started to walk, the press went crazy. They yelled out to him over and over, so that all he could hear was a cacophony of Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark.

He didn’t stop or answer questions but the three of you stopped for photos from time to time up the red carpet. Always switching positions so that it didn’t just look like he’d somehow managed to talk Pepper into something illicit. Each time the three of you stopped, he could make out questions but they were all just who you were. He knew by the time you came out again they'll have worked it out and the questions would get more personal.

When you got through the door he grabbed a Champaign from the first waiter that passed him and you and Pepper followed suit. “That wasn’t so bad was it?” He said giving you a squeeze around your waist.

“Are you kidding me? That was mental. You do this regularly?” You asked looking around the room.

Tony shrugged. “Kinda grew up with it.”

“Honestly, you do get used to it. It was part of my job for so long, I just enter work mode as soon as the flashbulbs start going off.” Pepper said.

“Right. Work mode.” You said.

“Not sure if work mode will work for you,” Tony said, giving you a nudge.

“No, not if anyone actually wants to speak to me.” You agreed.

Some people came to speak to Tony and he did his best to brush them off and generally played coy when asked questions about the relationship the three of you had. You and Pepper stayed close together and Pepper deflected most questions before they even managed to make it to the end.

Halfway through the dinner, he could see you start fidgetting. To be fair it was extremely boring. These things always were. He’d already folded and unfolded his own napkin into 8 different geometric designs. He put his hand on your knee and traced his finger in small circles on it.

You leaned your head against his shoulder. “You could have warned me this was so fucking boring.” You whispered.

He snorted earning a death glare from Pepper. “To be fair, I’m usually much drunker than I am right now and I would have walked out halfway through.”

“Oh, can we do that? Please? Let’s walk out halfway through.” You begged, still keeping your voice hushed. Your lips came much closer to his ear so he could feel the heat of your breath against his skin. “I’ve been debating whether I could get away with jerking you off under the table and no one noticing for what feels like an hour now.”

Tony poked his tongue into his cheek and looked at you out of the side of his eye. That was a tempting offer. He hadn’t done anything that risky since the playboy days and he couldn’t pretend he didn’t think about it.

Not that Pepper wasn’t kinky. She was one of the kinkiest women he’d ever been with. It just had a time and a place and that was usually in the bedroom. Pepper’s kinks ran formal and serious like she was. You, on the other hand, your kinks were as wild as you were. You liked the things Pepper did, but you were much more spontaneous. When she suggested something you just enthusiastically went along with it. You like to experiment. Sample from everything available to you. It was easy to get caught up in.

His hand tightened on your thigh. “I think as fun as that sounds, Pepper will ground us.” He whispered. “Besides, the huge, sticky wet patch on my pants might be a dead give away.”

You started giggling silently beside him and his fingers tightened on your thigh. He leaned over towards Pepper. “You think we can make an early exit? Someone is getting antsy.” He whispered.

“And is that someone you?” Pepper teased.

Tony chuckled. “Well yes. But not who I was talking about.”

Pepper looked over at you and you raised your hand to your mouth, sticking the tips of your index and middle fingers to the corners of your mouth and very quickly darting your tongue out between your lavender painted nails.

“Oh, good lord. I can’t take either of you anywhere.” She groaned but he could hear the smothered laughter in her voice. She looked up at the speaker at the podium and then back at him. “When people start applauding this guy.”

He droned on for another fifteen minutes and when he finally stopped speaking the crowd began to applaud. Pepper stood, followed quickly by Tony. He took your hand and tugged it and you scrambled up after him. The three of you wove your way to the edge of the room and Tony texted Happy to let him know they were on the way out.

“Can we never go to a gala again?” You asked.

“They aren't all bad. If we waited until later there would have been dancing.” Pepper said.

“We can go dancing without the lectures about things I probably understand better than they do.” You said.

Tony laughed and wrapped an arm around both of you. “Is that what you want to do now? Go dancing?”

The three of you stepped out of the door. There was a brief pause where no one had realized that they there and then like a wave, the shouting and flashbulbs started up.

“I'll do some horizontal dancing.” You said.

Tony smirked and kissed your cheek. “That was not as sexy as you think it was.”

Amongst the current of Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark he started hearing your name too. He assumed to make it known they knew who you were. You looked up at him, your eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. “Shit, that didn't take long.”

“We knew this would happen, don't worry,” Pepper reassured you.

“Shit,” You cursed. “I haven't told anyone!”

Tony laughed and directed you both down to the curb as Happy pulled up. “They're gonna know now.”

“Mister Stark would you care to make a comment on your relationship with these two women?” Someone yelled from the melee.

Tony turned and raised his eyebrows at the large group before following the two of you into the back of the car.

“What do I do? What do I tell people?” You asked, a slight panic to your voice.

Pepper put her arm around your shoulders and you leaned into her. “Whatever you like. We’ve got your back. If you're worried about people coming for you for money, or the fame, we are here to give you whatever support you need.”

“Guess I should call my parents first.” You said with a sigh.

Tony took his phone from the inside of his jacket pocket and handed it to you. He draped a hand over both Pepper and your lap and kissed Pepper’s cheek. The potential fall out of this was going to be interested. Part of him was excited to see it.

// NEXT

#tony stark #pepper potts #iron man #tony stark x reader #pepper potts x reader #tony stark x pepper potts #iron man fanfic #pepperony #pepperony x reader #tony stark x pepper potts x reader #fanfic #fanfiction #smut #fluff #angst #polyamory #the unicorn

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thisiskatsblog · 5 years

Text

Soup, Sex and Sun Salutations

Fixed it!

[Note: all it took was some copypasting - just the italics are mine]

“We had the chance to sit down over some miso soup with Harry Styles. We didn’t talk about his new album at all but were charmed by the way he challenges gender norms and by what he had to say about sexuality, his female fans, feminism, while male privilege, toxic masculinity, his publicity relationship stunts, and how meditation and yoga have helped him deal with it all. ”

Challenging gender norms

He’s got a white floppy hat that Diana Ross might have won from Elton in a poker game at Cher’s mansion circa 1974.

His nail polish is pink and mint green.

He’s also carrying his purse — no other word for it.

He hosted the Met Gala with Lady Gaga, Serena Williams, Alessandro Michele, and Anna Wintour serving an eyebrow-raising black lace red-carpet look.

He is the official face of a designer genderless fragrance, Gucci’s Mémoire d’une Odeur.

Harry said in his speech (note: for Stevie Nicks). “She knows what you need: advice, a little wisdom, a blouse, a shawl.” He added, “She’s responsible for more running mascara — including my own — than all the bad dates in history.”

Refusing to put a label on his sexuality

Harry likes to cultivate an aura of sexual ambiguity, as overt as the pink polish on his nails.

He’s asking questions about culture, gender, identity, new ideas about masculinity and sexuality.

He’s dated women throughout his life as a public figure, yet he has consistently refused to put any kind of label on his sexuality

On his first solo tour, he frequently waved the pride, bi, and trans flags, along with the Black Lives Matter flag. In Philly, he waved a rainbow flag he borrowed from a fan up front: “Make America Gay Again.” One of the live fan favorites: “Medicine,” a guitar jam that sounds a bit like the Grateful Dead circa Europe ’72, but with a flamboyantly pansexual hook: “The boys and girls are in/I mess around with them/And I’m OK with it.

He’s always had a flair for flourishes like this, since the 1D days. An iconic clip from November 2014: Harry and Liam are on a U.K. chat show. The host asks the oldest boy-band fan-bait question in the book: What do they look for in a date? “Female,” Liam quips. “That’s a good trait.” Harry shrugs. “Not that important.” Liam is taken aback. The host is in shock. On tour in the U.S. that year, he wore a Michael Sam football jersey, in support of the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team. He’s blown up previously unknown queer artists like King Princess and Muna

His worst fears

“While I was in the band,” he says, I felt so much weight in terms of not getting things wrong. I remember when I signed my record deal and I asked my manager, ‘What happens if I get arrested? Does it mean the contract is null and void?’ ”

About Rainbow Direction

“Now, I feel like the fans have given me an environment to be myself and grow up and create this safe space to learn and make mistakes”

“It’s a room full of accepting people.… If you’re someone who feels like an outsider, you’re not always in a big crowd like that,” he says.

At one of his earliest solo shows, in Stockholm, he announced, “If you are black, if you are white, if you are gay, if you are straight, if you are transgender — whoever you are, whoever you want to be, I support you. I love every single one of you.

What do those flags onstage mean to him? “I want to make people feel comfortable being whatever they want to be,” he says. “Maybe at a show you can have a moment of knowing that you’re not alone.”

“To me, the greatest thing about the tour was that the room became the show,” he says. “It’s not just me.”

About vulnerability, toxic masculinity, and meditation

“I’m discovering how much better it makes me feel to be open with friends. Feeling that vulnerability, rather than holding everything in”

“I feel pretty lucky to have a group of friends who are guys who would talk about their emotions and be really open,” he says. “My friend’s dad said to me, ‘You guys are so much better at it than we are. I never had friends I could really talk to. It’s good that you guys have each other because you talk about real shit. We just didn’t.’”

“I was such a skeptic going in,” he says. “But I think meditation has helped with worrying about the future less, and the past less. I feel like I take a lot more in—things that used to pass by me because I was always rushing around. It’s part of being more open and talking with friends. It’s not always the easiest to go in a room and say, ‘I made a mistake and it made me feel like this, and then I cried a bunch.’ But that moment where you really let yourself be in that zone of being vulnerable, you reach this feeling of openness. That’s when you feel like, ‘Oh, I’m fucking living, man.’”

Doesn’t this ambiguous sexuality clash with his public image?

He’s dated [a string of high-profile] women throughout his life as a public figure, yet he has consistently refused to put any kind of label on his sexuality - [and] he never gets caught uttering any of their names in public.

We’re off to the pub,” he tells his mom. “We’re going to talk some shop.” She smiles sweetly. “Talk some shit, probably,” says Anne.

“It’s not like I’ve ever sat and done an interview and said, ‘So I was in a relationship, and this is what happened,’” he says. “Because, for me, music is where I let that cross over. It’s the only place, strangely, where it feels right to let that cross over.”

So how does he feel about the industry?

“Only a city as narcissistic as L.A. would have a street called Los Angeles Street,” he says.

About his female fans, and about feminism

He’s always had a fervent female fandom, and, admirably, he’s never felt a need to pretend he doesn’t love it that way. “They’re the most honest — especially if you’re talking about teenage girls, but older as well,” he says. “They have that bullshit detector. You want honest people as your audience. We’re so past that dumb outdated narrative of ‘Oh, these people are girls, so they don’t know what they’re talking about.’ They’re the ones who know what they’re talking about. They’re the people who listen obsessively. They fucking own this shit. They’re running it.”

“To me, the greatest thing about the tour was that the room became the show,” he says. “It’s not just me.” He sips his tea. “I’m just a boy, standing in front of a room, asking them to bear with him.”

He doesn’t have the uptightness some people have about sexual politics, or about identifying as a feminist. “I think ultimately feminism is thinking that men and women should be equal, right? People think that if you say ‘I’m a feminist,’ it means you think men should burn in hell and women should trample on their necks. No, you think women should be equal. That doesn’t feel like a crazy thing to me. I grew up with my mum and my sister — when you grow up around women, your female influence is just bigger. Of course men and women should be equal. I don’t want a lot of credit for being a feminist. It’s pretty simple. I think the ideals of feminism are pretty straightforward.”

About white male privilege

“It’s not about, ‘Oh, I get what it’s like,’ because I don’t. For example, I go walking at night before bed most of the time. I was talking about that with a female friend and she said, ‘Do you feel safe doing that?’ And I do. But when I walk, I’m more aware that I feel OK to walk at night, and some of my friends wouldn’t. I’m not saying I know what it feels like to go through that. It’s just being aware.”

I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows. I can’t claim that I know what it’s like, because I don’t. So I’m not trying to say, ‘I understand what it’s like.’ I’m just trying to make people feel included and seen.”

On tour, he had an End Gun Violence sticker on his guitar; he added a Black Lives Matter sticker, as well as the flag. “It’s not about me trying to champion the cause, because I’m not the person to do that,” he says. “It’s just about not ignoring it, I guess. I was a little nervous to do that because the last thing I wanted was for it to feel like I was saying, ‘Look at me! I’m the good guy!’ I didn’t want anyone who was really involved in the movement to think, ‘What the fuck do you know?’ But then when I did it, I realized people got it. Everyone in that room is on the same page and everyone knows what I stand for. I’m not saying I understand how it feels. I’m just trying to say, ‘I see you.’”

Heartbreak and loss

As Stevie starts to sing “Landslide” — “I’ve been afraid of changing, because I built my life around youuuu” — Anne walks over to where Harry sits. She crouches down behind him, reaches her arms around him tightly. Neither of them says a word. They listen together and hold each other close to the very end of the song. Everybody in Wembley is singing along with Stevie, but these two are in a world of their own.

[Note: I doubted a bit whether to include that last part, but then I did, because this HS2 is apparently an album about sadness, and the description of that moment reminded me painfully of the real heartbreak and sadness Harry and Anne have had to deal with in recent years. So here’s a little shoutout to Anne who lost Robin, so recently still. Wishing her all the courage to continue building her life without him at the center of it. We love you.]

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