#I could talk hours and hours about all the supporting cast of the game | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

active-mind-15 · 6 months

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If the GoM + KagaKuro + Momoi had YouTube channels

I saw a headcannon post like this a few days ago and thought I'd take my own crack at what I think the YouTube channels of the main cast of KNB would look like if they had them. Hope you enjoy!

[KUROKO]

Mainly on the book side of YouTube.

He likes to do book reviews and book recommendation videos and keep people updated on what he's been reading recently.

He also does this thing where he opens up a Google Form every once in a while and takes suggestions from his subscribers on what to read and then he'll pick a few suggestions at random and give his thoughts in a video.

Sometimes he does vlogs where he hits up his favorite bookstores and encourages people to visit them (he mainly supports local bookstores and also is a big library advocate and often urges his viewers to support their local libraries, too).

On occasion, he uses YouTube shorts or the community tab to post pics and short vids about Nigou like taking him for a walk or dressing him in cute outfits (Nigou is Kuroko's pfp on his channel).

Kuroko also never shows his face in any of his videos and his viewers always get so curious about what he looks like, but when they ask for a face reveal, he never budges.

Because no one can see his face, they focus a lot on his voice and Kuroko has been told by many people that his voice is calming and he could definitely dip his foot into ASMR. He compromises by posting the occasional video of him reading excerpts from his favorite books.

[KAGAMI]

Very much a "ball is life" type of guy. He posts clips of his basketball game highlights from school tournaments. Also posts clips of him playing streetball with his team members from Seirin and sometimes other GoM members if Kuroko invites him to come play.

He posts travel logs, too. It could be something like him heading to LA to visit or to get some basketball training in with Alex. OR he could do "day in the life" vlogs in Japan where he just shows people how he's living. He posts them very sporadically, there's no schedule for any of his vlogs.

I feel like he could also do those "What it's like to live in ____" videos where he tells people about his experiences living in the US and Japan and gives people travel tips he's picked up along the way.

I bet he has YouTube shorts where he films what he eats in a day, and because of the sheer volume of food he consumes, his subscribers always think he's bullshitting because who tf eats that much in 24 hours?

He also does YouTube shorts where he cooks simple dishes. He always gives people an ingredients list so they can try the recipes, too.

He probably has both a domestic and international viewer base because he's bilingual (and I saw a headcanon someone had that Alex taught both Himuro and Kagami some Spanish so maybe he's even trilingual). When talking directly to viewers, he switches between languages a lot.

I bet he does livestreams too every once in a while when he's alone on a basketball court at night and wants some company, so he just props his phone up and comes back to it every so often to read the live chat.

[KISE]

Oh, he's a beauty guru through and through. I know he's got makeup tutorials on his channel. He also does viral makeup challenges (or maybe he creates his own challenges and they go viral on their own).

He also posts a lot of GRWM videos. Sometimes he gets ready for modeling work, and other times he gets ready for school or a basketball game.

Also, he deffo gets sponsorships from cosmetic brands all the time like maybe foundation or face wash. He just has so much social media presence that brands are all lining up to ask Kise to use their products.

I can see him doing vlogs, too. Usually when he's out doing modeling work. He likes to show his subscribers behind-the-scenes stuff about modeling and how the industry works.

He 100% does clothing hauls, too. He likes to pick clothing brands he thinks deserve more love so that his subscribers start shopping there and the brands get more business.

He does livestreams where he does Q&A with his subscribers and talks more about himself there. They're a fan-favorite because subscribers get to see him more laidback and comfy.

I can also see him trying to do simple dance challenges for YouTube shorts as well. He usually tries to drag his Kaijo teammates or even the other GoM into it. Some are more receptive than others, to put it lightly...

[MIDORIMA]

He's a weirdo (said endearingly) on YouTube. He makes content for all the boys and girlies interested in obscure niche topics.

I'm sure a good chunk of what he posts is related to horoscopes and compatibility stuff.

He also does livestreams where he does fortune-telling for his subscribers, usually summoning the power of whatever his lucky item is that day.

I would also like to think he does videos picking apart popular conspiracy theories and then going to war with said conspiracy theorists in the comments.

But then another part of his channel is almost like "study with me" type videos where he shows the process of completing homework or getting ready for an important test/exam.

A lot of people under his comments for those videos ask him for study tips and he freely gives out advice.

There are also people under his comments who talk about how stressed school makes them and he's actually very encouraging and supportive to them in his own way. He's big on motivating his subscribers to try their hardest and not to get too down on themselves if their results aren't as good as they expected. Because of this, his subscribers love to update him on their academic progress, both the good and the bad, and Midorima reads every single one of their comments.

[AOMINE]

Probably the most sporadic poster of them all. Nobody ever knows when this boy will post and he gives no heads up either. YouTube community tab is for losers. You'll see his videos when you see them.

Most of the time he uploads videos they're usually super short, maybe no more than 2 minutes long. And the content of these videos could honestly be about anything.

Sometimes they're clips of gameplay from a video game and other times, it's just him filming random stuff that captures his eye.

He doesn't edit or nothin, he just rawdogs the YouTube experience and posts his videos as they are from his phone.

In a way, you could call some of the videos vlogs, but they're just so short and borderline cryptic that his subscribers don't see them as anything other than shitposts. And that's precisely why Aomine has amassed a sort of cult following.

The non-shitpost short videos are ones where he films himself catching bugs in the summer. Those are actually super cute and wholesome because he likes to share factoids about the bugs he caught.

The only times he does longer videos is if he posts clips from streetball matches he has with the other GoM + KagaKuro. They're usually titled something like "Kicked Kagami's ass in b-ball today". Any and all dislikes on videos like that are solely from Kagami and all the burner accounts he uses to dislike Aomine's videos.

[MURASAKIBARA]

I think his most popular segment would be snack/sweet reviews. Especially when there are new limited edition flavors of something. Sometimes snack brands like to send him mystery boxes for him to open up on camera.

He also likes to talk about what he eats when he travels to new places, giving tips on places to eat in foreign countries that you may not find on an initial search online.

His subscribers treat his word like the holy bible and a lot of them will not trust a snack unless Murasakibara has said it's good. He's like the Keith Lee of snack YouTube. Very wholesome but also holds a lot of authority.

I think he would totally do mukbangs, too. He noticed his subscribers love it the most when he eats crunchy stuff, so a lot of his videos around that are him eating chips or his maiubo sticks. It's basically ASMR, at this point.

While he does mukbangs, he likes to rant talk about his day to his subscribers. They find it very endearing when he gets invested in telling stories.

I remember Fujimaki once saying Murasakibara's alternate future job would be a baker/patissier, so I think Murasakibara would also have content where he's just baking. He likes to take suggestions on what he bakes from subscribers. His taste testers are his Yosen teammates or the GoM if he happens to be down in Tokyo/Kyoto for whatever reason.

The only non-food content he has on his channel is his livestreams, where he plays video games. He either plays cozy farming sims or horror games. There is no in-between.

[AKASHI]

A total equestrian boy. A good chunk of his channel is riding sessions he has with his horse, Yukimaru. He answers questions about horses from his subscribers in the comments all the time. Sometimes you will see him under the comments of other good horse YouTube channels gushing about how beautiful those YouTubers' horses are and how well their owners take care of them. He asks them about certain riding gear he sees them use, too, so he can buy it for himself.

Another chunk of his channel is music-related. He likes to upload videos playing his favorite pieces on both the piano and the violin. He takes song requests from his subscribers, too. Once in a blue moon, he'll even post a piece he composed himself. One time, he posted a video of himself playing the violin for Yukimaru, and his subscribers thought it was the most precious thing ever.

He also posts videos of himself playing shogi, either by himself or whoever he has convinced into playing shogi with him. It's usually Midorima, and he always loses.

Speaking of Midorima, Akashi noticed his "study with me" videos and wanted to try doing it, too. This eventually led to once-a-month livestreams where Akashi studies by himself in his room. This led to his subscribers nicknaming him "Lofi Girl". He did not understand the reference.

He posts basketball stuff on there, too. Usually, stuff he's taken from his own team's practices as he observes them from the sidelines.

He also sometimes posts YouTube shorts of the Uncrowned Kings when he's hanging out with them. They're always candids of them engrossed in a conversation, or when they're goofing off, and during those times, when Akashi feels compelled, he'll sneakily record them and post it later, almost like an archive of memories to look back on and smile.

He's also pretty passionate about mental health and sometimes talks about it on his channel, encouraging people to normalize conversation around it. He gives updates on his own mental health journey (yes, I have a headcannon that he starts going to therapy after the Winter Cup) and his subscribers are always so supportive of him for being open and honest about it. His transparency in turn inspires his subscribers to take their own mental health more seriously and they give Akashi updates of their own. He always loves hearing their progress and always tells them to hang in there.

[MOMOI]

She loves a lil vlog here and there. She loves showing people what she does on a day-to-day basis. Her editing style is also super adorable.

She also likes to livestream to just talk to her subscribers about anything, really. A lot of times, it ends up being about romance, though.

Her content has a slight overlap with Kise in which she also does GRWM videos. Usually for school or to go into town. Sometimes this bleeds into her doing videos where she puts outfits together for specific situations and gives fashion/makeup advice to subscribers.

She does hauls, too, but it's all bath salts and bath bombs. She has an extensive collection of candles, too, and she loves to tell her subscribers when she gets new stuff.

She's probably also done a room tour, too, I bet. I like to think her bedroom has that gamer-girl vibe. Just all cute shit but at the same time she gets down to business you do not play around with data analyst Momoi.

I would say she also includes the other miracles the most out of everyone. Kise is usually the most willing participant in her videos. They probably team up for makeup challenge videos. Somehow they rope Aomine into them to be their test subject, may God bless his soul.

She also likes to take videos of the GoM when they have get-togethers. Her subscribers get a kick out of seeing their antics and they constantly tell her she has amazing friends. Momoi agrees.

Anyway, that was it from me. I don't think I've ever done a KNB headcanon post like this before, so I just wanted to try. I hope you guys liked it! ✨✨✨

#kuroko no basket #knb #knb headcanons #kuroko tetsuya #kagami taiga #kise ryouta #midorima shintarou #aomine daiki #murasakibara atsushi #akashi seijuro #momoi satsuki #generation of miracles

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voicesknewmyghosts · 1 year

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Safe Place Part 2

Thank you for all of the love on the first part of this story, it was definitely unexpected but i am incredibly grateful. Thank you all x

It’s been a week since you arrived in Romania to support your overworked and exhausted girlfriend, Jenna, while she filmed Wednesday. Being with her the last week has shown you just how much pressure has been placed on her young shoulders to make this series as perfect as possible, with a tough act to follow in the form of Christina Ricci’s portrayal of Wednesday years before.

You’ve done everything you can to support her. You’ve stayed up until she got home - often very late at night - and made sure she had a cooked meal to eat whenever she was ready. You’d draw her a bath and would either sit on the side and help relax her as you gently washed her tired body, or you’d join her in the water and have her lean back against you, letting her sleep for however long she needed to. You’d make sure she called her Mom and Dad because that always made her feel so much better, and you’d always make sure you got up with her at the crack of dawn so you could make her a big breakfast and pack her a good lunch to take with her to work.

You were her rock; her anchor; her own little place in the world to escape to and be nurtured. Jenna works so incredibly hard to be the best actress she can be; it’s only fair she has a partner that works just as hard to be somewhere she can relax and let the weight of the world slip off her shoulders.

Since you’ve been here, you haven’t actually met anyone besides Jenna and her security guards. You’ve heard wonderful stories about her cast mates; particularly about Hunter and Georgie and their antics; and about Emma and how sweet and funny she is; as well as Gwendoline, someone that was able to take on a nurturing role for Jenna while you weren’t there, for which you are forever grateful for knowing how much it helped her to have someone to talk to.

But they’ve all just been too busy to have time to hangout outside of work; but, tonight, finally, you’re getting to meet them all at a game night Georgie is hosting in his apartment.

You’re excited, of course, but you can’t help the nerves hitting you as you think of how much these people love Jenna; you just hope you’re able to impress them.

But what you don’t know is that the whole cast has already been highly impressed by you without even meeting you. They’ve noticed how happy Jenna seems since you arrived, how light and cheerful she seems now that she gets to go home to her safe place. They’ve noticed how her shoulders sag less and her smile seems genuine once again, like it was before the pressure of Wednesday caught up to her.

They already love you, and they’re all so excited to finally meet the person that makes Jenna as happy as you do.

Jenna finishes work at a reasonable time ahead of the first weekend she’s had off in weeks. You are waiting for her, arms open ready to give her a hug when she walks in the door. You haven’t cooked dinner for you both, knowing Georgie has gotten pizza ready for you all, so instead you’re focusing on giving Jenna the hug she will no doubt be desperate for after a long day.

Just like clockwork, Jenna pushes open the door and immediately crashes into your embrace. Her arms wrap around your waist, her head buries itself into your neck, and you wrap her up in a strong hug. You can feel the tension she’s been carrying all day slowly begin to fall away as she relaxes into you, but you can still feel some tension in her muscles. You glance at your watch and make a decision knowing you have another hour before you have to get to Georgie’s.

“Babygirl why don’t you meet me in the bathroom, let’s get you relaxed before tonight.”

She nods before reluctantly pulling away to move to the bathroom, but not until she’s pulled your head down to meet hers so she can give you a long, deep kiss.

You can see in Jenna’s eyes just how tired she is, so you give her a quick peck on the top of her head before telling her to go with a quick swat to her ass, laughing at the smirk on your girl’s face as she walks away.

You gather the things you need before joining Jenna in the bathroom where she’s already started running the bath. You place the things down on the side before you stand in front of her, pulling her into a soft kiss.

Slowly, you begin to undress her, starting with her shirt and her bra, laying kisses on the skin you uncover. You hear her take a sharp breath in as you kneel down in front of her, placing feather light kisses just above her belt. You undo the buttons to her pants and unzip, pulling the garment down her legs easily. Teasingly you drag your tongue down her tummy, ending in a kiss just above her clit.

“Later, my love.” You promise, looking up at her when she grabs your hair, trying to keep you from moving. Her whine is the cutest thing you’ve ever heard, and it takes all of your willpower not to pick her up and drop her onto the bed and devour her for the rest of the night.

You get a hold of yourself, just - but you can’t get rid of the uncomfortable wetness that coats your thighs, and neither can Jenna, by the looks of it.

You smirk before standing up, checking the water temperature. Deeming it acceptable, you help Jenna into the tub, sitting yourself on the side as you start to pour some muscle soak in as Jenna relaxes back.

You see the tension melt from her face as the water soaks her tired muscles. You can’t help the smile that breaks out on your lips as you see how calm she looks; it makes you feel so good knowing you can help her unwind like this.

Gently, you soak her hair and untangle the knots before you rub shampoo in. You take your time doing this; watching as Jenna’s eyes drift closed as you massage her scalp.

Once her hair is washed, you begin to massage her body, making sure to target her shoulders and legs, knowing they take the brunt of the stunts she does during the day.

You’re pretty certain by the time you’re finished that your girlfriend is fast asleep, so, trying not to disturb her, you bundle her up into a towel and carry her bridal style into your bedroom before quickly cleaning up the bathroom.

By the time you’re back, she’s gotten herself into a sitting position waiting for you with open arms, the look on her face telling you the hug is non-negotiable.

You climb onto the bed, falling into a comfortable position curled up on top of Jenna, your head on her chest, her arms wrapped protectively around you. You feel a light kiss pressed to the shell of your ear, sending shivers running down your spine.

“Thank you for taking care of me.” Her voice is only a whisper, so quiet you have to strain to be able to hear it, but you do hear it, and the sincerity behind it brings you almost to tears.

Turning to look at her, you say: “Always, my love. I will always take care of you.”

You hear the music blasting from the apartment before you even get into the building. You’ve scrubbed up nice, letting Jenna help you dress into something formal but casual, something you’re comfortable in. She’s always the best when it comes to helping you dress up for occasions; you trust her opinion over your own when it comes to clothes; since you’ve never been one in tune with fashion.

You walk hand in hand up to Georgie’s apartment. The nerves are definitely getting stronger the closer you get, but a reassuring squeeze of your hand from your girlfriend helps keep them at bay. You share a smile before she reaches out and knocks on the door, the answer coming in less than three seconds, surprising you both.

“Jenna! Y/N!” It’s Georgie; already a little drunk, he reaches forward and envelopes Jenna in a tight hug, catching her off guard but making her laugh as she returns the embrace. Then, he reaches for you, grabbing you in his strong arms and holding you close.

“I have been so excited to meet you!” He all but yells into your ear, taking you by the shoulders and looking into your eyes. You can’t help but giggle at his antics; you’ve only ever heard good things about Georgie, so you were very excited to finally meet him and get to know him.

You follow Jenna and Georgie into the apartment, quickly having your senses overloaded by the loud cheers as the others see you and Jenna.

A pair of surprisingly strong arms wrap you in a tight hug, and when the person finally pulls away you are greeted with none other than Emma Myers, who is shooting you the world’s biggest smile.

“I can’t believe I finally get to meet you!” She exclaims, “Jenna has spent months telling us all about you, I'm so glad she’s found someone that cares about her as much as you clearly do.”

When Emma moves away after talking with you for a little while, Hunter takes her place, followed by Joy, Johanna and finally Gwendoline.

It’s a bit overwhelming to have so many people so excited to see you, but you soon become comfortable as Georgie hands you your first drink of the night.

Soon, the beer and wine are flowing and you haven’t had as much fun as this before, you’re sure of it. You’ve successfully beaten both Hunter and Jenna at Mario Kart - much to the delight of Georgie who erupted in laughter at the playful scowl on your girlfriend’s face - but they soon got their revenge when they completely show you up at Uno.

You spend the whole night talking and laughing and getting to know the people who have had Jenna’s back since filming started.

It makes you so happy to see Jenna finally letting go of work for the evening and letting herself have fun. Seeing her smile and hearing her angelic laugh fills a void you didn’t realise existed until you saw just how carefree she can be when taken away from the stress of this job.

As you sit next to her, arm wrapped around her shoulders, her head leaning on you; you just realise how thankful you are to have such a wonderful person as your partner.

And, as you laugh with Emma at one of Hunter’s jokes, you are very grateful for the fact she has such wonderful people in her life.

Looking down at your girl, you give her a soft kiss, drowning in her dark brown eyes as she stares up at you, her lips pulled into a cute smile.

You just wish everyday could be spent like this.

#jenna ortega #jenna ortega fanfic #jenna ortega x reader #jenna ortega x y/n #jenna ortega x you

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antivanbrandy · 6 months

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i wanted to take a crack at the relationship chart meme for bg3, but made life harder for myself in the process by doodling everyone asdfghjkl

a bit of info about the relationships under the readmore!

so to start from the top and work around clockwise:

Astarion: her best friend, her partner, and love of her life. his flippant hot-n-cold attitude at the start of their relationship (she failed that first big insight check so she didn't know it was all an act at the start) leaves her feeling bad about herself at times, but once they have their Act 2 heart-to-heart, their relationship only goes from strength to strength. we all know what a supportive and loving tav does for spawn!Astarion, but over the course of their adventure he supports her, too. they make each other stronger.

Rhapsody's self sacrificing need to help everyone, no matter how thin it spreads her, comes dangerously close to breaking her by late Act 2. Astarion talks her back from the ledge, so to speak, and helps her realise why she's doing it (Family Trauma Hour 2, Shitty Father Boogaloo) and the harm it's doing her in turn. it's purely self-interest that motivates him at first, because if she burns out then his protection and best chance at taking on Cazador goes with her, but once he comes to care for her his motives are much kinder.

i have so many post-game thoughts for these two, which includes an eventual cast of good old Reincarnation (which i honest to god rolled for and nearly squawked at the outcome) and the very specific complicated feelings that digs up for them, but if i keep typing i'll be here all day.

Gale: truly one of her best friends. she could sit with him in silence, just reading together, or her playing an instrument while he studies the weave, and be perfectly content. Rhaps is a lore bard, so she really enjoys swapping stories, information, and theories with him. she's also a big fan of his cooking, and enjoys the simple companionship of doing vegetable prep while he cooks and they chat together. she'd go to bat for him against anyone.

Wyll: a dear friend, and inspiration for more than one epic ballad (which makes him proud-blush every time). they swap tales, often together with Karlach, and he's been known to join her in a song and dance when she plays at camp if he's feeling in the spirits. they bond over complicated relationships with their fathers, love of good red wine, and most importantly, their unflinching dedication to helping people in need.

Lae'zel: their relationship is complicated. they both operate on a level the other just does not understand, and chafe against the others attitude to life. they grow to respect each other, but never truly become friends, which is sad because Lae'zel does get to a point where she'd like to extend that offer but has no idea how to voice her growing fondness, and then the adventure is over and she leaves with Voss.

Minsc: definitely a friend, even if they're not especially close. for his part, Minsc is delighted when Rhaps comes up with a little ditty about him ('from top to tail, evildoers do fear - Boo gnaws their eyes, Minsc kicks their rear!').

Jaheira: Rhaps' liked Jaheira immediately, as soon as she clocked the wine was spiked and Jaheira gave her that knowing smile and asked her to drink anyway. Rhaps grew up starved for parental approval and attention, and there's an undeniable current of Momther™ that carries with Jaheira's approval, stories, pick me ups, and pep talks that she latches onto very quickly. Jaheria herself is reluctant to be seen as a mother figure, she has her own kids after all, riiiiiight up until the point the gang come face to face with Rhaps and Aisling's father and she sees first hand how she's treated and how much she wilts in his company. After that it's just kind of defiant instinct, if a parental-flavoured pep talk is what the cub needs to get through the end of days, that's what she'll get, and her old man can go get fucked.

Shadowheart: Shadowheart and Rhapsody have a rocky start - Shart's combative attitude puts Rhaps on the backfoot, and they have a two steps forward one step back slow-crawl to understanding each other. There's a bit of a blow-up between them in the shadowlands that sets them back even more; Shadowheart's constant sneering and too-edgy-for-you remarks regarding Selune and Selunite magic grate on Rhapsody, who is already spread desperately thin by this point and is absolutely baffled Shart can't keep it buttoned for ONE minute when Selune is all that's standing between the people at Last Light -the tieflings she fought tooth n nail to save- and a gruesome death. and the more evidence they see of Shar's cruelty in the shadowlands, the more Rhaps begins to truly understand what Shar is capable of and the thinner she's spread from trying to help people in this bleak situation, the closer she gets to lashing out, until eventually Shadowheart goes one snippy comment too far and Rhaps blows up at her. they have it out, and it's bad, but when they eventually make up afterwards theyre stronger for it, and by the end of Act 3 theyre a lot closer than they ever thought possible.

Halsin: Halsin is a calming presence in Rhapsody's life. she thought turning down his offer was going to make things awkward for them, but it never did. there's a lot to learn from him, and a call to a calmer life and a sense of peace that Rhaps feels most keenly when she's out in nature with him. the druidic life isn't for her, but those moments of peace do wonders for her when she needs it.

Karlach: darling dearest bestest friend, platonic love of her life, sister from another mister, 'would absolutely ride the rollercoaster in the front car with you' bestest best friend forever. Rhapsody adores Karlach, admires and is inspired by her. Rhapsody has had very little interaction with other tieflings, and in comes Karlach full of friendly cheer and good humour and a massive heart, emotional vulnerability and honesty and cheeky smiles, all things Rhaps is drawn to and wants to be. she'd do anything for her, go to any lengths, and I can't even begin to describe how heartbroken this makes her on that dock at the end.

#tav bg3 #bg3 tav #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #astarion #wyll ravengard #gale dekarios #karlach #tav: rhapsody #bg3 relationship chart #summoning my courage to just post this monstrosity finally sdfghjkl this thing has been in my drafts for weeks #brandy blobs #jaheira #minsc and boo #halsin #shadowheart #lae'zel

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ijustwantogohomehogwarts · 7 months

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The Colors of the Rainbow

Timothée asks y/n what color he reminds her of, and she puts a lot more effort into an answer than he could ever imagine.

Warnings and such: it's. so. fluffy. also like one swear word? illusions to "adult situations" but nothing bad! not proofread!

A/N : i'm backkkk!! not gonna lie, i didn't expect to be gone nearly a month, but life sucks lately and it just kinda happened...im sorry!!! thanks for the continued love and support! also- i get my cast off in like 10 days! yay!

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"what color do you associate me with?"

His voice drew my attention away from the book in hand, the first words spoken aloud in hours. it was thought provoking; a color?

"what do you mean?"

"when you hear my name, what color do you think of?"

I had never thought of that before, but now seemed a good a time as any. I allowed my eyes to wonder over him as I thought about the best answer.

Red: bold and beautiful. a bright color, attention grabbing and hard to look away from. the color of our bedroom lights after too many nights spent apart. the color of his eyes after he smokes too much and giggles on the couch. The color of our lips when we finally pull away, gasping quietly for breath. Red. The metaphor of blood shed that went into making us, and making us work. red, bold and beautiful.

Orange: autumn. obviously. the color of pumpkins, of crazy sunsets and sunrises, worthy of photographs we'll never look at again but in the moment, it's important. the color of comfort, warmth and a cool breeze. orange, deep like fire, the burning desire for him, for me, for each other. the color that paints my insides when i look at him and remember that he is mine.

Yellow: not the neon yellow, but the soft yellow. the yellows the paint the sky for a brief moment in the early hours of the day, when the world is waking up again and the day is starting. the color that floods our bedroom and allows dust to dance in the air around us. the last color we see as we fall asleep together. the color night owls are always chasing. for him, it's the color he radiates when he walks into the room, bright and happy, a glow that follows him and intoxicates everyone in his path.

Green: earthy and holy. natural beauty, like the nature we crave amidst the bustle of the new york city. not a color i see him on often, but the color of his eyes. the color i get lost in when he talks, drunk on the sound of his voice. the color behind his entire world. it's calming and comforting. it's him. a color i would happily see every day for the rest of my life. a color i plan to see for eternity.

Blue: the color of water and cleanliness. he loves his showers, his pools, and the rare trips on boat rides for secret swimming holes. a water bug through and through. the color for which he starts every morning, a fresh start. the color of winter, cool and quiet. for nights spent close together under heavy blankets, skin on skin. the color that accompanies him to premieres and interviews, a color that demands attention in the softest tone.

Purple: both the softest and deepest versions. a child-like representation of each, a playful color. a color which adorns his body on quiet days spent shopping, or nights gallivanting around for basketball games and bars with his friends. a color i often associate with nights home without him, the undeniable fact that he'll stumble through the front door in the early hours of the morning, the smell of alcohol lingering on his breath as he tells me he loves me.

White: innocent, clean, wholesome. a stereotypical color, but there's truth to it. sure, he's not pure in the sense of what the color stands for traditionally (can you blame a girl?) except he is. through all of life's changes, the good, the bad, and everything in between, he's stayed true to who he is. he's happy, ready for life's adventures. he wants to be the person his generation can look up to, someone who defies the odds and makes a name for himself on his own. he doesn't need, or want, poor publicity or the lingering story of being a hollywood fuckup. he won't be- he can't be.

Pink: a color typically labeled for feminism, but golly doesn't he look beautiful in pink! it's bold and impossible to look away from. the lightest shades for the purest and most innocent, the darkest shades for the most demanding and defiant. why not break stereotypes?! the clothes make the man, so they say...but for him? no. he makes the clothes. he's what pulls the outfit together, the one who makes the color beautiful. beautiful, like the color that paints his cheeks when his heart flutters in his chest.

Gray: a color for balance. there's never light without the dark. with good days, comes bad. we get tired, sick and worn down but it reminds us we are human. a color reserved for coffee runs on lazy sundays, after sleeping away the stress of the previous week and preparing ourselves for the next. a comforting color, one that reminds us we are allowed to be sad, but the feeling will pass and the sun will shine again. be patient, good things take time.

***

"Black." I settled on the answer with a smile.

"Black?!"

"Yes!"

"Why?! That's the most basic color!" He chuckled softly, nudging me with his foot.

"No, it's the most important color."

"Important?"

"Well, it's a perfect combination of all the colors, and all their qualities. You've got the best of them all, love."

"How so?" There was no hiding the color pink on his cheeks.

Black: the perfect combination of all the colors that exist. the best qualities mashed into one, leaving ample opportunity to add more of the color that's most needed. black, the color of the room which we share in the middle of the night, where the only sounds are soft snoring or heavy moaning. sometimes both. it's in this color where we find solace in one another, an indescribable feeling of peace, a place which we call home. in the arms of the man i love. all the colors in the world, every combination of letters in every language- it'll never be enough to express the gratitude i have for the stars above that lead me to him.

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mignonricciardo · 8 months

Text

august | dr3

chapter 5

happy august 31 <3 to celebrate, here is a chapter of august, my daniel ricciardo friends to lovers back to friends back to lovers full of mutual pining fic. enjoy, read the other chapters and let me know how you're feeling <3

warnings: 18+, smut themes, not a mention of sex being protected (5k words)

Day 8 of 19

An uncomfortable silence hangs in the house since the news broke. Daniel shared the news with Michael, and while he was supportive of his friend and the situation, I could feel the tension in the air and the strain on their friendship as they both admitted defeat. It was painful to watch — sagging shoulders and tired eyes. Both men were sulking, but what could I do beyond my own sadness?

I throw myself into work, spending hours at the Greenhouse Cafe or down by the pool deck, finishing manuscripts and sending edits and brainstorming my own stories. It feels good to get back into the groove of my life before the trip — my life when Daniel isn’t around. It’s easier this way. To remember what reality is like, not whatever alternative universe exists at this house. Since our near kiss at the vineyard, I need every painful reminder of why it can’t happen. I let myself recall memories of too many run-ins over the years that have resulted in nothing but repressed longing and late night tears. Memories of France — the trip that finally broke whatever we were for years — surface in flashes that make my heart clench and stomach roll.

With memories of Daniel comes memories of Dad, and it feels like I’m back to where I was in the aftermath of his death. Thoughts spiraling into the what-ifs, images of what life could look like if he were still here. The thoughts consume me, sending me into a shaking mess as I tuck the manuscript away. My fingers click Elizabeth’s name, typing up the message with shaking hands.

Can I talk to you about something?

The text bubble is quick to appear, and I nearly feel guilty at her response.

Of course, Cal. Want to give me a call in a few? About to put the kids down for bed.

Tell them Aunt Cal says goodnight for me?

Felix says he misses you, and Amelia says goodnight, too. You alright?

Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you about something. Girl talk. Jack around?

At the pub with the boys to watch the game. No need to worry about him.

Thank god. Call me when you’re ready.

Minutes pass slowly as lights dim in the house. From the pool deck, the golden lights from Daniel’s bedroom cast shadows dancing across the rippling water. A sense of relief floods me when it goes dark while a second wave of guilt swells in me knowing there’s no way to make him feel better about any of this. The swell of the bugs from the brush culminates, ebbing away into silence as they perform their nightly routine. Waves crash beyond the edge of the property.

“Hey,” I answer the video call, smiling when Elizabeth’s face lights up the screen.

“Are you alright?” she says without hesitation, twisting the top of a bottle of red wine.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I look up to Daniel’s window one more time, waiting for light’s to flick back on. It remains dark against the gray-blue facade. “I just- I don’t know what’s going on, Lib.”

She pours a glass of red wine, settling on the large couch in the center of their living room, “Is it about Daniel?”

All I give is a weak nod.

“Oh, babe. Talk to me about it.”

I start to tell her about everything. The return to the house, the coffee, the movie night, the bar, the waking up together, the vineyard, the feeling of being caught in between Daniel and Michael. It flows from me like an undammed river, and the ever-present listener, Elizabeth lets me tell everything without interruption or interjection. The breeze ruffles the pages of the manuscript next to me on the chair, and I pull the blanket around my shoulders tighter without interrupting my story.

“We almost kissed, Lib,” I whisper, the shame crawling up my throat as she makes a face.

“Cal,” her voice warns.

“I know,” I answer. “After all that time and work, and it was like I was willing to forget everything. I’m angry at him and myself.”

“Have you talked about it?” she asks, sipping from the wine glass.

“The kiss? No, we’ve been pretty much avoiding each other since the vineyard. It’s been weird.” I groan as tears flood my eyes — angry drops slipping past my lashes. “I’m just so frustrated, Lib. Did I make a mistake saying yes to all of this?”

“I don’t know, Cal. I think only you can figure out that answer,” she answers gently. “In my opinion, no, I don’t think you’ve made a mistake. I think you need this trip to see him and catch up — remember what his friendship is like.”

Friendship. Is that what this was supposed to be? The word cuts me up and casts even more confusion.

“Lib, can I tell you something and you promise you won’t kill me or tell Jack?” my voice shakes.

The memories of France rest on the tip of my tongue. I glance back up to Daniel’s room, curtains drawn and room dark, and a part of me begs for him to hear me. An overwhelming heaviness settles in my stomach, but Elizabeth brings me back to reality.

“Usually I’d make a pregnancy joke here, but I don’t think now's the time,” she grins, and I chuckle weakly at her attempt to calm me down. I’m grateful for it. She continues, “I promise I won’t kill you or tell your brother. I can’t promise I won’t want to punch you, though.”

I let out a groan, fighting the anxiety in my stomach at the thought of revealing anything, “There’s a lot you don’t know — that no one knows except us.”

“You and Daniel?” her brows are raised as she takes another sip of wine.

I nod my head, “Remember in 2018 when I stayed with him after Monaco? It was not as friends.”

So I begin, telling Elizabeth about the trip that changed everything. There are moments along the way, like Italy or our final summers at this house, that are shared. Whether Elizabeth is shocked or not, I can’t tell. She keeps a stoic face, once again being the perfect listener without any interruptions. Frustrated tears continue to well in my eyes as my throat burns. Confusion swallows up everything, and when I finally finish with whatever my mouth decided to tell, Elizabeth looks at me with a sense of pity in her eyes.

“Babe, you’ve kept that all to yourself for all these years?” I nod, and she continues, “Why? It’s clear keeping all of that in was affecting you.”

“We agreed a long time ago to never talk about it,” I say, realizing I’m breaking my most sacred promise — a promise I had honored for over a decade. “It was just easier this way. It never felt real if we didn’t talk about it, so it meant we could go on like this.”

“Do you feel better now?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” I answer after a moment of hesitation, brutal honesty in my words. “I guess speaking it out loud makes it real.”

“You aren’t going to want to hear this, but you need to talk to him about it, Cal,” she says. “I know that’s not what you’ve ever done, the two of you, but it has to be affecting him, too, right?”

“He doesn’t act like it,” I whisper, throat burning as tears continue to make their way down my cheeks. “It’s like he can just turn it on and off. I can’t do that, Lib. I care too much.”

The admission nearly stops me in my tracks. I care too much. Is this as close as I’d ever get to admitting it?

“Does he know how much this hurts you, Cal?” she asks.

I shake my head, “There’s no way he could. We don’t talk about it.”

“You need to,” she says, voice gentle. “Even if its just to yell at him for everything, then you can decide not to speak about it again. Either way, you need to talk to him. He’s the only other person who will get it, Cal.”

“Aunt Callie?” a small voice calls over the phone.

Elizabeth’s head spins around, and she smiles as one of her kids approaches. She asks if they want to talk, and Felix’s quiet voice says yes. There’s a shuffling as he climbs into his mother’s lap, and I can’t help the wide smile as his face fills the screen.

“Hey, buddy,” I say.

“Why are you sad?” he says, eyes heavy with sleep. “You’re crying, Aunt Callie.”

“It’s been a long day, buddy,” I say, fighting back more tears at his quiet voice being so caring. “It’s better now that I’m talking to you.”

“I see you soon?” he asks, looking at Elizabeth and then back to the screen.

I nod, “Very soon, Felix. I’m excited to see you. I miss you.”

He yawns, “Miss you, too. Uncle Daniel there?”

I nod my head, “He’s asleep right now, Felix. Like you should be.”

He rubs his eyes with tiny fists, “Woke up and heard Mummy say your name. Wanted to see Aunt Callie.”

The blond curls nearly reach his eyebrows, a reminder of how quickly he’s growing, and my heart swells, “Did you check on Amelia before you came down?”

“She was sleeping,” he nods gently, yawning again. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

“Mummy and Aunt Callie were talking,” Elizabeth says quietly to him, brushing his curls back from his forehead in a motherly fashion. “We were talking about when we’re going to see each other.”

“And Uncle Daniel, too?” he says, eyes fluttering shut. “We see everyone?”

Elizabeth nods, and I smile as his eyes remain shut, “Felix?”

He hums quietly, and I take the time to answer before he falls back asleep, “I love you. Thank you for checking on me.”

“Love you, Aunt Callie,” he murmurs. “Mummy, go back to bed?”

“Alright, come on,” she smiles gently, grunting as she lifts his tired frame against her hip.

“I’ll let you go,” I say over the phone. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Cal,” she says, smiling as Felix echoes her statement.

After the call hangs up, I lean back into the chair, sighing as the conversation weighs heavy on my mind. I wipe the remaining tears off my cheeks, letting my eyes stay shut as the chilled ocean breeze washes over me. It’d be a week before they’d arrive. I let myself relax into the poolside chair, falling into a sense of calm with the distant crashing waves. Half an hour passes as the shore falls into an ebbing sense of quiet, culminating with the symphony of the tide.

“You coming in soon?”

His voice is gentle so as not to startle me, but my eyes fly open to see Daniel towering over me. He looks like he had been trying to sleep, sweatpants and ruffled hair with a hastily thrown on sweatshirt. There are dark circles beneath his eyes despite the soft, ever-present smile on his face.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to make you jump, but I thought I would check. I saw the lights still on out here.”

“Yeah, I was just trying to get some work done,” I motion to the long forgotten manuscript on the chair next to me.

“And work was making you cry?” he says quietly. I look to him with shock, but he motions to my eyes, “I’ve known you forever, Cal. I know what you look like after you’ve cried. What’s up?”

I shake my head, “Sorry if I kept you up. Go to bed, Daniel.”

My tone is sharper than I anticipate, but it doesn’t faze him as he moves the manuscript to the side so he can sit in the chair next to me. Long legs spread before him, and he sighs as he gets comfortable, adjusting his sweatshirt around his shoulders. He lets a silence linger before speaking.

“I couldn’t sleep. I have a lot on my mind, so I was going to come out here to read for a bit — get some fresh air — but then I saw you.”

He turns over the book in his hand, cracked spine indicating it was a loved book from the shelf in the living room. I watch as his fingers slide along the spine before he sets it next to the manuscript.

“Well, I’ll go in so you don’t have to be bothered,” I start, lifting myself from the chair.

His fingers wrap around my wrist, stopping me in my tracks, “That’s not what I meant, Apples.”

Damn that nickname. Our eyes meet, and something in his gaze makes tears tug at my lashes. Warm, brown depths suck me in, and they leave me defenseless. I shake his arm off mine, sucking in a deep breath to regain some sense of control. I stand from the chair, shaking my hands limply at my sides as I pace across the pool deck. I glance up to the house where Michael’s window is dark, taking a steadying breath before turning to Daniel.

“Was it a bad idea for me to come here?” I ask.

The look in his eyes makes me almost regret the words falling from my mouth. He sits up, his elbows on his knees, and his brows draw together.

“What do you mean, Cal?” he looks genuinely confused — no sense of facade to his expression.

“Daniel,” my voice shakes, teetering on the edge of silence. “After everything, was it a bad idea to jump into this?”

“Callie, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

His calm and gentle tone sends my blood boiling, and the tears start to fall down my cheeks out of frustration. Without another thought, my voice raises as I screech at him, “Bullshit you don’t know!”

My tone startles him, but when he sees my tears, he reaches for me, “Cal, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t touch me,” I fight him off weakly, shrugging off his looming embrace. “I’m angry right now, and I don’t need you to comfort me. I need you to stop pretending.”

I feel guilty. He looks tired, and with everything else going on, he doesn’t need my demands to pile on top of him, but I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep pretending. He sighs as he settles on the pool chair, head hanging with his elbows on his knees. I watch his every move, body wound so tightly that I could flinch with the simplest of his movements, and my eyes burn with years of frustration bubbling up.

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” he sighs, avoiding my gaze.

He looks tired, shoulders sagging, but I feel just as exhausted.

“Tell me it was all real,” I say. “Tell me I’m not crazy and all these things I remember actually happened.”

“What things?” he asks, and it sends something snapping in me.

“You know what!” I screech, voice foreign to my own ears as my frustration oozes. “I’m so fucking sick of this game, Daniel.”

He just looks at me, something swirling in his eyes as his lips part ever so slightly. Please, I want to beg. Just say it. Instead, we square off in silence. He stammers out my name, and I snatch the manuscript off the chair beside him, sure to avoid brushing his leg.

“I shouldn’t have come,” I say, spinning away from him. “I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.”

Suddenly, his fingers wrap around my wrist, pulling me back toward him. I spin to face him in the process, and something familiar about the close stance floods my senses. I don’t know what compels Daniel to grab my face, but before I know it, his lips are crashing into mine as his hands cradle my jaw. My hands subconsciously find their way into his dark curls, weaving into the strands in a familiar dance. Before I’m processing what I’m doing, one of my hands slides from the back of his neck to rest on his jaw, and my lips part to welcome his familiar caress. He takes a step, and my leg follows backward until it hits the pool chair. The contact sends me spiraling back toward reality, and I break away from him as my chest heaves. We’re staring at each other, chests mimicking the other’s rapid rise and fall, and I barely trust my voice.

“Daniel, we have to talk about everything.”

“There will be time for that,” he is breathless as his chest rises and falls with what he’s saying. “I owe it to you — I do — but right now, please just-”

“What, Daniel?” I start. “Please what? Pretend I want to do this again and forget what happened every time before? When you can’t even admit any of it? Please what?”

He hesitates, warm eyes following the curves of my face, “Just let me kiss you.”

The longing in his voice makes my heart splinter yet every part of my being screams no. One of his hands slides down my arm, tracing across the bones in the back of my hand before weaving our fingers together. My eyes look down to our clasped hands before casting back up to meet his eyes. As much as it pains me, I shake my head slowly.

“You don’t really want this, Dan,” my throat burns. “You’re hurt. This is what we do when we’re hurting. It’s always what we’ve done.”

“I do want this, Cal,” he whispers, eyes pleading with me. His fingers slide against mine, “I should’ve kissed you at the vineyard. I should’ve kissed you at that bar when I came to get you. I should’ve kissed you before you ever left to meet that dickhe-”

Despite every part of my brain screaming at me, I act in defiance as one of my hands hooks beneath his jaw, his beard rough beneath my fingers, and I press our lips together again. He reacts immediately, hand dropping away from mine and rising to slide along my jaw. The familiarity of his lips against my mine — tongues recalling a familiar dance — sends heat firing down my limbs. He inhales sharply through his nose, hands drifting toward my waist where cold fingers slide beneath my sweatshirt.

“Daniel, I’m sorry,” I breathe, fingers weaving through the curls at the back of his head. “This can’t go too far.”

“Fuck, I know,” he groans quietly, fingers brushing across my skin concealed by the fleece sweatshirt. “I’m sorry. I’ve just missed you.”

The words hit me square in the chest, and warmth bubbles up and brings my voice to a squeak as his lips press gently to my jaw and neck. My head spins, full of the smell of his cologne and feeling of his lips against my skin, and it tips to the side to allow him access. One of my hands slides across his shoulder, gripping his bicep as his nose brushes against my neck.

“I need to know we’ll talk,” I choke out, legs buckling as his knee slides between mine. “We need to talk about everything.”

“I owe it to you,” he whispers against my skin. All of my defenses crumble beneath his touch.

“I missed you, too,” I whisper, gasping sharply as his cold hands press against my skin beneath the sweatshirt. “It hurt to think about it.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, lips still tracing old, familiar lines down my neck. “I’ve always been sorry.”

The chill of the breeze ushers in clouds beneath the cover of darkness, and the stretching black cracks open as gentle rain begins to fall. We’ve barely processed the cold drops falling on our faces, digging through the haze of whatever was happening between us, before the sky opens up and unleashes heavy rain. Our sweatshirts become soaked with rain, hair sticking to foreheads as we look at the other in a daze as our brains scramble to catch up. Chests are heaving and eyelids heavy, and we simply stare at one another as the rain ripples across the pool surface. I see the manuscript flutter behind Daniel, and I curse as I lunge for it, grabbing the soaked papers and pulling my rumpled sweatshirt over them in a futile attempt to save them. I spin around to a laughing Daniel — a true laugh that makes him look like he's 25 again. He doesn’t look so heavy, and his shoulders lift higher than they had since arriving at the house. He continues to laugh as he grabs my hand, pulling me through the pouring rain and across the soaked pool deck toward the house. We stumble into the house, leaving water droplets in our wake, and he continues his laughter, quieter now as Michael sleeps upstairs. He drops the wet book to the countertop, pages already swelling, and he reaches to peel his sweatshirt off.

“Daniel, what is so fun-”

I stumble to a halt, words failing, and my eyes watch as his bare torso is revealed. Biceps flex as he tugs the sweatshirt over his head, and he reaches a hand out to indicate he’s waiting for mine. I’m aware that I’m staring, eyes tracing new tattoos spreading across his skin, but I can’t tear my eyes away. I’m frozen — trying to recognize something that used to be so familiar.

“I’m gonna put our stuff in the dryer,” he smiles softly. “Cal, you’re freezing. You need to get that stuff off.”

I nod, dazed as my eyes are stuck on the tattoos on his collarbones and spreading down his arm. My fingers tug at my sweatshirt, peeling the heavy fabric away from me, and something about his eyes on me spurs my confidence as I peel the cotton t-shirt away from my skin, too. I don’t hesitate to lose the t-shirt, a sense of comfort in Daniel’s presence, and I can feel the burn of his eyes on me as I tug the shirt over my head to hand to him. Goosebumps prickle across my skin as I stand before him, bra and sweatpants damp from the rain, and his eyes shamelessly stare at me.

“You got more tattoos,” I whisper, unable to take the silence as his eyes watch me. “I didn’t know about them.”

He nods, still holding our sweatshirts and my shirt in his hands, “Picked up a couple since you’ve seen me like this.”

I don’t know what to say, so I remain quiet as I follow him into the laundry room. My eyes drink him in, tan skin stretched across taut muscle and adorned with black ink. His dark curls are wild from the rain. He tosses the soaking items into the washer, adding a full step to the promised routine, and his fingers clutch the elastic waistband of his pants before he tugs them down his legs. I can’t help the sharp inhale that passes through my lips as his sprawling thigh tattoo is revealed beneath sleek boxers, and he faces me seemingly unfazed despite hearing my gasp.

“Do you want me to step out while you throw yours in?” he asks.

My brain screams at me, but in an attempt to play it cool as my mind scrambles to catch up with everything, I shake my head. I peel the sweatpants off my legs, hyper aware I’m standing before Daniel in next to nothing, and pass them to him to toss into the washer. The water starts filling the basin with a gentle hiss.

“I thought we were just drying them?” my voice is unsteady as I take ragged breaths.

He turns to me and I’m suddenly aware of how small the laundry room is with the minimal distance between us. My back is pressed against the edge of the wooden table, and our chests nearly brush with the deep breaths I’m heaving.

“Figured I’d wash them while we’re at it,” he whispers, voice raspy as our eyes meet. “I have to kill some time before I throw them into the wash.”

I nod my head, humming since I don’t trust my voice. His fingers reach toward my face gently, warm digits brushing hair sticking to my forehead behind my ear. I take a steadying breath, stuck in whatever trance is surrounding us, and my fingers brush along the tattooed words on his collarbone.

“Tell me about them,” I whisper, feeling goosebumps rise in the wake of my touch.

He tells me about some of his new tattoos, voice quiet and raspy as whatever space was left between us slowly closes. My fingers brush across his chest, tracing the ink from his shoulder to his bicep to his forearm as he talks about each new tattoo since I had seen him like this. He takes his time, sharing each story with detail and letting me trace the delicate lines. He tosses the small load of laundry into the dryer when it chimes, briefly breaking our trance before returning to stand in the closing space between us.

“The new one on your thigh,” I whisper, hand slowly reaching for the ink above his knee. The anchor is settled within his sprawling thigh tattoos, hidden unless you were already familiar with them. I notice the sharp inhale he takes as my finger brushes across his skin, “The anchor.”

He nods, throat bobbing as his eyes flutter shut, “It was for you. You’re always reminding me to stay grounded — it’s a reminder of home.”

Tears suddenly flood my eyes as I gasp, and my gaze tears from the ink on his thigh to his face where warm brown eyes meet mine.

“You got this for me?” I whisper, voice low and breath fanning across his skin.

He nods, eyes hood and a honeyed lilt to his voice, “Callie.”

My fingers stop tracing his skin, and my eyes search his for whatever he’s about to say. His hands twitch at his sides, “Did he touch you like I did?”

The first mention of my ex since I had told Daniel we had broken up. It catches me entirely off guard.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb on me, Cal,” he starts, voice strong and eyes dark. “Like in France. Did he touch you like that?”

“Daniel,” my voice trails off, brain forgetting how to do anything besides think of him — besides giving me flashbacks of his hands on my skin and his kiss from earlier.

“Did he touch you like how I touched you? I have a feeling he didn’t even come close.”

Our chests are heaving between us, and no matter how much my brain screams at me for what I’m about to do, I’m powerless to fight it.

“I need you to remind me how you touched me.”

That’s enough. Clashing lips and tongues as he lifts me onto the table behind me. The dryer drones away behind us, masking whatever noise is drifting from the laundry room toward the living room and kitchen. Daniel’s hands on my body, palms warm and rough as they slide across my skin, are familiar and warm me from the inside out. His hands press the softest parts of me into the hardest parts of him, and my thighs knock open and wrap loosely around his hips. The dance is familiar, our bodies remembering everything before our brains have time to find excuses as to which this should stop. His hand curls against my spine, pressing me into him and sending lightning through my body, and I gasp as his lips trace over the skin sensitive from his earlier ministrations.

“We need to talk about this, Daniel,” I gasp, bra dropping to baskets full of laundry. “Fuck, we need to talk about this.”

His lips part against my skin, mumbling into my shoulder, “Fuck, I know.”

“Promise me I won’t regret this,” I whisper, fingers curling into his hair and tugging gently along his scalp. “If you can promise me that, we can talk later.”

“You won’t regret this,” he answers without missing a beat. “Callie, its you and me. You know how this is going to go. Do we ever regret it?”

In my heart, I know the answer, but the lust clouds my brain, and before I know it, I’ve got thighs wrapped around him. Any clothing has been abandoned into the baskets around us, and Daniel presses forward as our foreheads rest against each other. The steady hum of the dryer matches Daniel’s steady pulse beneath my fingers, and for the first time, I remove any expectations out of the situation. I simply let myself feel, finding freedom in getting lost in Daniel’s touch. The feel and scent of him, arms caging around my body as he lifts me ever so slightly from the table. It hits me all at once — voice hoarse as my eyes shut — and Daniel isn’t far behind, stilling within me as our chests heave. Any chill from the rain has vanished, and once we catch our breath, the dryer chimes quietly. Daniel pulls from me gently, whispering a gentle I know as I whine helplessly. Before I know it, he’s pulling his sweatshirt over my head, smelling of laundry detergent and faintly of him still, and I watch through hooded lids as he tugs the sweatpants up his legs.

“How are you feeling?” he whispers quietly, hands brushing hair from my face.

“Tired, spent, incredible,” I answer.

He chuckles quietly, “Let me take you to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow, Cal.”

He lifts me from the table, setting me down on uneasy legs, and nudges me forward gently. I barely trust my legs as I make my way up the stairs, but Daniel follows behind with large palms resting on my hips. He follows me toward my room, watching as I crawl into bed, and he pulls the blanket over my bare legs. As he goes to leave, I reach for his hand, catching his fingers with mine.

“Will you stay?” I ask quietly, embarrassed at the ask falling from my lips.

He thinks it over for a moment, unreadable look in his eyes, and the guilt burns deep in my stomach. He nods gently, hand squeezing mine before he crawls in next to me, sighing as he gets comfortable on the mattress. I hesitate to curl into his side, afraid of feeling clingy after everything that had just happened, but he rolls onto his side to face me. Our eyes meet, and for the first time this trip, the heaviness weighing around the corners is gone. He smiles as we lay there, grinning as we lay in silence.

“How do we make sure Michael doesn’t find out about this?” I whisper.

“I’ll leave in the morning before he’s up,” Daniel whispers. “Don’t worry about it, Cal.”

I nod my head, but he doesn’t buy it. He pulls me closer to him, arms wrapping around me as I press into his chest. His steady breaths lull me into a near-sleep, eyes lidded and limbs heavy.

“Cal?” he asks quietly, chest vibrating against my cheek. I hum quietly, an acknowledgement I’ve heard him. He continues quietly, words making my heart swell and warmth spread to my limbs, sending me drifting off, “I’ve missed this. I’ve missed you.”

#daniel riccardo imagine #daniel ricciardo fic #formula one imagine #formula one fic #formula 1 fic #formula 1 imagine #daniel ricciardo #august

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blysse-and-blunder · 2 months

Text

in lieu of a reading week

11pm, tuesday, feb 20, 2024

hello beloveds. just wrote two increasingly passionate paragraphs about what social media and my use of it over the years has done to benefit my life, and got so genuinely moved that i had to come talk to you about it.

reading really wild mix of reading material of late. surprisingly high amount of YA, because people keep recommending me things and i keep going 'sure, let's try it!' so i'll use that as an organizing principle and save discussing some of the others for a future post. in order of completion:

firekeeper's daughter, angeline boulley, read by isabella lablanc. finished in a rush, very engaged in the last three-four hours. i was never prepared for the next thing this plot threw at me, though in retrospect saw how it all made sense. i didn't know a thing about it going in, which i think actually enriched the experience a lot, but for a novel set in michigan's UP and sugar island, it resonated with a lot of things i associate with ontario after living here for five+ years. the hockey, the ojibwe /anishinaabe names and cultural connections, the murdered and missing indigenous women. but it also mixes in elements reminiscent of, like, braiding sweetgrass (and tangentially mexican gothic) and various fan fiction tropes i recognized in their shape if not their execution. highly recommend the audiobook-- they cast the audiobook's narrator very carefully, and she does a superb job juggling the mix of scientific jargon, teen narrator unreliable/dramatic narrator (loving), and Anishinaabemowin.

castle in the clouds, kerstin gier, translated by romy fursland. maybe 33% through. it's giving grand budapest hotel and somehow also the princess diaries? it's also reminding me somehow of, like, the kind of novel i wanted to write as a second or third grader, which means eva ibbotson, and a particular flavor of plucky, intelligent heroine. i was hooked by the first page+ but have yet to see a ton more of the same high action and suspense, and have let this one slip a little further onto the back burner. it's cute escapism at the moment, though that may change.

fourth wing, by rebecca yarros, read by rebecca soler (and apparently also teddy hamilton, although i haven't gotten to him yet?) about 25% through. trying desperately to give us a gritty, hardcore, new and dangerous and fun take on dragons and their human riders, while also trying to be idk divergent? the hunger games? there's a love triangle, the protagonist has naturally ombre hair, the premise of the novel is brutal training where young adults are all dying in improbable droves due to how cutthroat and brutal it is. a testament to the narrator that i am, despite myself, having a great time. there are a few too many supporting characters who want our main girl straight up dead for me to really find the threats believable, but i'm intrigued by the prospect of alternate versions of this world's history than what she has learned and a potential for discovering how their kingdom has? manipulated them? could be asking too much.

fairest, gail carson levine. finished in a long saturday morning spent reading in bed. i was such an intense and dedicated fan of the original ella enchanted novel that i couldn't read most of levine's other books (exceptions for her short stories made grudgingly) because they weren't sequels and weren't the same and wouldn't be as good. in fairness, reading this now as a much-older-than-the-intended audience, perhaps i was too harsh-- but i think little-me was right to be a little suspicious. it's a snow white retelling, and again i think largely successful in building a more detailed plot in which the elements of the retold fairy tale are embedded, but where the focus in ella was on language and obedience and free will, here we're trying to articulate things about beauty and body image, and it's harder to say that it really succeeds? i like that we gave the Wicked Queen more nuance, positive and negative qualities, moments of sympathy, a name and a precarious political position. i was not nearly as charmed by the romance (fine, fine, it's not ella and char but it couldn't be, it's fine). i still love the use of unfamiliar / fairy-tale languages and how levine puts them on the page in such fun spellings. probably aimed at the youngest audience, of the four titles here, but treats its reader as almost more intelligent than fourth wing, possibly? YA from ~twenty years ago was a different world.

listening graded like twenty quizzes today with just a mess of random panic at the disco bumping in my headphones. it's a hell of a feeling, etc. i'm halfway through this particular round of grading, and they're doing so well, so it's mainly a quick check to make sure they got the basics right and i can jam while doing so.

watching spent a very pleasant ~2 hours yesterday watching as much as we could of the film amadeus with @hematiterings, @pep-squad-lizzie, and @dimir-charmer. love a film that isn't afraid to lean into all its sensory indulgences, and to be a little heavy-handed with its symbolism (the chocolate is about repression!) and to, just generally, spend money on costumes, locations, hiring lots of extras, and so many wigs. there's a live event performance of this film with orchestra + choir being advertised all over our subway right now, so it does very much feel like we're being followed by this guy:

...but what's sticking in my head right now is the costumes.

playing 41+ hours into hollow knight. i have opened half of my stag stations! i have the dream nail, surprisingly early i think! i have saved bretta! i have somehow missed the mantis lords, i think, but have made it to the city, the resting grounds, and have now been throwing myself fruitlessly against the crystal guardian and a soul warrior in alternation. i am...not good at combat. current plan is to grind to get quick focus, and i'm close! also, @spoonierbard stepped in and gave me a much needed morale boost by winning me the final mask shard necessary to get increased lives, which has helped tremendously, and the grubs rewarded me with the grub song charm which has helped tremendously.

making many potential projects, none executed (or even really attempted). soon, hopefully. fallow section for now. does music count? music counts, right? i joined a second choir! enticed by the chance to perform mozart's requiem in full with an orchestra, and finally fulfill the broken promise of 2020. that's my hobby right now. oh i also just cleaned out a ton of storage in my phone + icloud, which felt generative in its own way. besides backing things up better than i have in a while.

working on submitted the travel money application i've been thinking and dithering about since...this time last year? no real expectation of getting it, but it did actually help me consider some next steps in the diss, so that's nice. now prepping to take my class on two fun on-campus field trips next week, one to the manuscript library and one to the medieval collection in our little hidden art museum! i need to write some notes up for the TAs and docents to use, and finish organizing my list of desired manuscripts, like, yesterday. midterm grades posted today, a little late but hopefully not too bad, still well before the drop date. the aforementioned quizzes (i have like 28 more to grade, but they're reasonably painless). plus i was going to work on my fucking dissertation this week, and prep to teach the next few lectures in advance so i'm not scrambling monday nights, plus send a bunch of emails, design a CFP poster, put in some RAship hours so i can speak intelligently in my meeting tomorrow, and....prep for the guest lecture i'm giving on the 28th! it's a reskin of the conference paper i gave this summer, freshly edited, but i need to expand the intro bits to include a useful overview, since these students aren't a conference of celticists.

weirdly at peace with how my work-life balance is balancing right now, though. it's the extra sleep and the increased sunshine, and the little cat who is being so so whiny right now. i must conclude these lines and feed Herself.

#in lieu of a commonplace book #ilcb #going to cave and admit the truth and tag this:#monthly roundup #click for gratuitous cat pic featuring: housemate blurred for anonymity #Spotify

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weirdmarioenemies · 1 year

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We have some bad news, guys...

Recently, on its way to our merchandise warehouse, our merchandise truck filled with WME-branded shirts, plushies, and vinyl figures was destroyed by Nintendo. Apparently, they are sending us some sort of (imagine me doing really exagerrated airquotes here) “Cease” and “desist” order for “unauthorized” “use” of “their” “characters”? Bummer! Luckily, we at WME Ingorporated saw this is a perfect opportunity to refresh our brand image, so we prepared a little something in advance...

Meet the new face of Weird Mario Enemies, Rolly S.!

Our original, [[[Legally distinct!!!!!]]] mascot represents all the ideals of the WME brand, as well as being twice as merchandisabl- um, I mean, even swaggier than before! Before? Compared to what, you ask? Well, nothing, of course. Rolly S. is one of a kind!

As you’ve all come to expect, we will be putting Rolly S. merch into production as soon as possible. Coincidentally, we already did it before this announcement! Cool! Order one now and receive it as a suspicious unmarked package in 6-8 weeks!

Wondering about the rest of WME’s iconic cast? As it turns out, after years of wishing, Chester Chomper has finally become a real girl! And a kawaii anime schoolgirl, no less! Talk about a “waifu for laifu”! And just look at her face as she stands next to Rolly! Ooh la la! Could this be love?

Of course, being a mascot these days is about so much more than just T-shirts! It means entertaining masses of children on the internet for hours on end! Which is why we’ve trapped Rolly in the Gamer Room and forced him to stream an endless amount of mascot horror games. For every new subscriber he gains, we inject him with a small dose of brain chemicals that numb the searing pain. But he has yet to see a single viewer, so go over and show him your support!

Huh? Excuse me for a second, I’m getting a phone call.

Hm. Uhuh. Yeah. Hmmm. Mmhmm... Yeah. Okay.

Right. So I’ve just received the news that Rolly S. is dead.

I know! This has happened to every single mascot we’ve signed a deal with! It must be some weird streak of bad luck or something. But that was fast! It’s got to be a new record! Oh well. I guess this post is in memory of Rolly S. or something now. Honestly who cares. I didn’t really like him anyway.

#original enemies #rolly s #mod f boy

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familyvideostevie · 2 years

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Hi there! I hope you’re having a good weekend :) Could I possibly request something where Dustin drags Eddie to watch the school musical to support his friend and as soon as Eddie hears her sing he falls hard for her?

hi! this was just really cute so i had to try it, hope you like! <3 i've only seen oklahoma once and i was like, 12, so i had to google the plot, my apologies for any mistakes there| 1.5k, fluff, fem!reader

"Why isn't there a musical called Indiana?" Eddie complains. "Why is --" he looks at the cover of the program in his hand -- "Oklahoma so important?"

"If you're going to keep asking stupid questions I think you should wait in the van." Dustin sinks low in the high school auditorium seat. "Don't embarrass me."

Eddie pats Dustin on the head and the boy scowls. "For like, two hours? Nah. I wouldn't even be able to smoke since I'm your ride, Henderson. Gotta be responsible." Eddie would never drive high, plus he promised Dustin's mom to get him home in one piece and man, that lady makes good lemon bars. "Might as well see what all the fuss is about."

"It's like, inter-club relations, Eddie. We use the drama room all the time for Hellfire so it's a good thing we're here!" Dustin sounds very impressed with his own reasoning. He'd asked Eddie to come with him to see the school musical and after spring break Eddie isn't in the habit of denying his young friend much. Even this.

"Oh, so we're not here because you have a crush on the leading lady who also happens to be your old babysitter?" Eddie jokes. But honestly, Dustin is right. The theater club is nice enough to let a group of punks play a board game even through the musical going on, which he never really thought about before. And though he doesn't really know any of the theater kids, but he respects them. It's tough to do something you really love in high school, a place where earnestness is ridiculed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dustin huffs, his cheeks a gentle pink. Eddie shifts in his seat as the lights start to go down -- the auditorium isn't too crowded and he wonders if he's going to fall asleep.

But that feeling lasts only a few minutes because then he sees you. You're in a pale blue dress that's probably meant to be old-timey or something, Eddie doesn't know, but he can't look away. You're pretty, that's clear, but you're also magnetic.

"Is that her?" he whispers to Dustin, who nods before putting his finger to his lips to tell Eddie to be quiet. And then you start to sing. And he'll deny it for the rest of his days, but he swears the world stops and it's just you and him in the dingy Hawkins High auditorium. It's not metal, it's not rock, it's nothing Wayne plays in the trailer, nothing he remembers his mom singing to him when he was a kid. But something about the gentle melody worms its way into his bones and he feels like he's floating. Is this love at first sight?

The musical goes by and Eddie only kind of registers the plot -- bad boy versus good boy, a lot of town politics, maybe some of it too familiar -- but he doesn't take his eyes off of you whenever you're on stage. Which, as the lead role, is a lot. When you sing your ballad he thinks he's blushing. He's blushing. He doesn't even know you!

So when the show ends and the cast comes out to take bows Eddie leaps to his feat, clapping and whistling when you cast your smile over the crowd. Is he imagining that you pause on him and Dustin for a second longer than anyone else?

"Dude," Dustin says, wacking Eddie's leather-clad shoulder. "I think you're drooling." The auditorium empties out and Dustin starts to walk away with a huff. Eddie swipes his hand across his face just in case (he's not drooling).

"Wait, what do we do now?" he calls after his friend. "Is that it?" There's a crowd of people milling around in the hallway, some holding flowers and other small gifts. He wonders if you have a boyfriend who is here somewhere.

"We can wait, if you want. The cast will come out soon." Dustin strokes his chin like a supervillain as he says it, looking far too smug for his own good. Eddie frowns.

"Spit it out, Henderson," Eddie says, leaning on a row of lockers. No one seems to think twice about him being there to watch a show about a town pariah who does some bad shit and dies for it. But he can't think too much about that. Not when he's thinking about you.

"Nope!" he says, throwing his hands in the air. "Nothing to say." Eddie rolls his eyes and looks back at the program and the cast list, running his finger over your name. He wonders if you've had class together and he just didn't know it since he never went. God, there's no way you don't know who he is. And you're probably scared of him, just like everyone else. This is a bad idea.

"Henderson--" he starts to say, pushing off of the lockers to head for the door. But then another voice stops him.

"Dustin!" It's you. After listening to you talk and sing in a faux-southern accent for two hours he's a little shocked to hear your regular tone but it warms him all the way through just as strong. Eddie takes a second just to look at you as you hug the younger boy. You've still got your stage make-up on but you're in jeans and a drama club shirt and he thinks you're the prettiest thing he's ever seen.

"I thought I saw you in the audience," you grin, sending Dustin a wink that has him blushing. Eddie finds the wherewithal to give you a little wave.

"You were great," he says earnestly. "Honestly. Never heard a voice like that, I swear." He rubs the back of his neck for a second before going for it. "I'm Eddie --"

"Munson," you finish, going in for a quick hug. He's too surprised to react and when you pull back you look a little shy. "Sorry," you grimace. "Post-show adrenaline has me hugging everyone."

"S'okay," Eddie breathes out. You smell like hairspray and sweat and he wants to look at you forever. "You know me?"

"Hard not to," you say before you think about it. Your eyes widen as you realize what you said and Eddie tries not to flinch. "You look after my favorite kid!" you blurt out. "And I'm the one who picks up the drama room before Hellfire."

"You should come by sometime," Dustin chirps. "Stay for a session." You smile a little and tuck your hands in your back pockets. Eddie wants to touch you so badly he copies the movement so he can't reach for you.

"Didn't know you were the boss, Dusty," you reply, eyeing Eddie. "I wouldn't want to interrupt--"

"We meet on Fridays," Eddie says. "Which you uh, know. Since you set up for us." Shit. C'mon, Munson, he thinks. But you just smile at him.

"We've got the cast party tomorrow but I could come next week?" There are other people waiting behind him to talk to you, he's sure of it, but your attention never wanders.

"That would be cool," he says. "You know where to find us." He can't believe this is happening. He doesn't even want to play D&D with you -- he wants to make you smile, he wants to drive you around and find out if you've ever listened to metal, he wants to run his hands through your hair.

"You were really great," he repeats. He is feeling greedy, wanting every moment he can with you before he steps back into his real life.

"Dude, you already said that," Dustin mutters. You laugh and god, Eddie has to hear that sound again.

"Thank you," you say earnestly, a hand coming out of your pocket to gently cup his bicep. "See you at school, yeah?"

"You can count on that," Eddie replies. He means it. He'll go to every class from now on for the chance to talk to you. You wave goodbye and wander to the next group of people waiting to talk to you.

"Dude," Dustin says once the pair are in the parking lot. "That was embarrassing."

"I know," Eddie grins. He can't stop smiling. His arm burns where you touched him. "Thanks for being my wingman."

"Your wingman?" Dustin scoffs. "I invited her to Hellfire for me." But the grin he's hiding says differently. Eddie just rolls his eyes.

"We'll see, Henderson. I'm gonna get that girl to fall in love with me."

(He'll tell you this story in a few months' time when you're watching him tune his guitar on his bed. How he felt the world shift when you sang. How the first time you came to Hellfire he kept messing up because he couldn't stop looking at you. How he tried so hard to listen to more musicals on tape but hated them all. How it took the entirety of the movie you saw on your first date for him to work up the courage to hold your hand. How he called Dustin after you kissed for the first time. How he's pretty sure he fell in love with you immediately.)

tags: @ruinedbythehobbit @superflannel @eddiussy @greenclues @sunlitide @gloryofroses19 @carpediem1219 @themarvelousbee @sunshinehollandd @katsukis1wife @imherefortea @spideyboipete @lonelywidow @louderfortheback @actual-mom-steve-harrington @ducky-is-dead-inside @manyfandomsfanvergent @ih3artcry1ng @escape-in-time-x

want to be added to my tag list? send me a message and specify for steve, eddie, or both!

reblog, send feedback, requests open, masterlist here!

#eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x female oc #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fic #stranger things x reader #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things x you #stranger things x y/n #emma's asks #anon ask

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houseofchalamet · 2 years

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Being friends with young!Henry Creel would be like:

Him: “I will not accept defeat. I either win or I die.”

You: “ok, dude, calm down.”

He could talk about spiders for hours at a time and you let him; not because you care all that much, but because you know he just needs someone to listen.

Him: “I’m different. How am I supposed to live in this mundane, tedious world?”

You: “idk, don’t you have like… a hobby or smth. A pet? A fave food, maybe?”

Kids at school think he’s weird and ignore him. When you become friends with him, they start ignoring you and looking at you funny too, but you don’t care what they think.

“You wanna do WHAT to your parents?? Henry, that’s illegal in most countries.”

He loves to go out for ice cream, but he only gets ever vanilla. Even when you get a crazy flavor and let him try it and he says he likes it, he never orders it for himself. Only vanilla.

*You had the bright idea to cut your own hair; Henry is supportive. You’re sitting in front of the bathroom mirror with scissors in your hand, your tongue stuck between your lips as you focus on finding precisely the right spot to cut. He’s sitting on the lid of the toilet, watching.* “I think I’m gonna give myself bangs.”

“That looks nice.”

“Want me to cut yours?”

“Absolutely not.”

He’s INSANELY good at board games. Sometimes he lets you win.

You occasionally commit arson together🥺

You give each other book suggestions and sometimes read to each other. He likes horror, but knows you get scared easily so he skips over the really gory parts for you.

He hates his birthday, but he NEVER forgets yours. He always gets you a present, and it’s always something really thoughtful.

“You wanna come over and summon demons with me?”

“…”

“uHM YES”

You do homework together and he helps you with subjects you’re not so good at (he’s extremely smart).

When he finally tells you about his powers, he thinks you’ll be freaked out. He’s surprised when you’re actually amazed.

“NO WAY, THATS SO COOL!”

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“Of you? Never.”

A few weeks’ worth of you annoying him by asking him to make everything float, but he complies every time.

Then… an idea strikes you.

“Can you make me float?”

“I can try.”

It works.

You decide to see how high he can lift you into the air. You both go into an empty field and try it.

You get about sixty feet in the air when he loses control of you and you come plummeting back down.

Somehow, you make it out with only a broken arm. You tell your parents you fell out of a tree. Henry is scared you’ll be mad at him, but you’re absolutely not. He’s the only person you’ll let sign your cast. It’s like an inside joke between the two of you.

And of course, when the cast comes off, you wanna try again, but he says no:(

You’re the only person who doesn’t treat him like he’s different. You feel like a bridge between him and the rest of the world. You make him feel normal. You make him feel accepted.

#Henry creel #stranger things #stranger things headcanons #henry creel x reader #001 #vecna #vecna stranger things #st Vecna #001 x reader #vecna x reader #jamie Campbell bower #jamie bower #jamie bower x reader #jamie Campbell bower x reader #st season 4 #stranger things season 4 #st volume 1 #st volume 2 #young henry creel

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selicyoats · 10 months

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my thoughts on the persona 3 cast

SPOILERS BELOW (OBVIOUSLY) Junpei Iori Battle Rating: 3/10 Junpei was never doing anything too impressive in all honesty. He had Agi and he had decent Phys skills, but he began losing relevance once Akihiko joined and Character Rating: 10/10 There's one of his lines that really spoke to me, and it went something like: "The only reason every day has felt the same was because I wasn't putting in the effort to make every day different." It's really stuck with me, and in addition, him helping Chidori find reason to want to look towards the future and living was also beautifully done. Yukari Takeba Battle Rating: 9/10 She's pretty useful early-game and late-game, with a slightly weaker mid-game due to Ken and Mitsuru being slightly more useful. Character Rating: 8/10 Seeing her come to terms with her father's death and her resolve to end the Dark Hour was very beautifully done, and seeing her interactions with Mitsuru really helped her character a lot. Akihiko Sanada Battle Rating: 10/10 Debuffing and having ridiculous normal attacks made Akihiko a staple team member for me, and boy does he pack a punch. It's a shame he doesn't get any physical skills, but his normal attack is pretty good as is. Character Rating: 10/10 Just look at the scene where he talks to Shinjiro's coffin and you just know, man. I couldn't do his character justice in a description, but I can at least lament at how they murdered his character so he could be turned into "lol protein!!!!!" man.

Mitsuru Kirijo Battle Rating: 8/10 "haha marin karin" have you heard about FULL OFFENSE (or playing portable like i did) She's pretty good. Heals plus damn good ice damage is very very nice. Character Rating: 8/10 Similarly to Yukari, her character benefits a lot from having to come to terms with her father's death. I unfortunately can't give much say, as I didn't get to spend much time with her. Once I do replay P3, I'll go through her S. Link. Fuuka Yamagishi Battle Rating: uhhh/10 She's your support, so, uh. Yeah? Kinda hard to rate her in that aspect. Character Rating: 7/10 She had cute interactions with Natsuki. While her character don't go extraordinarily far, she doesn't really need to have a deep character. Aigis Battle Rating: 10/10 She is so fucking busted and she also provides buffs and can also HEAL??? And she comes with Orgia Mode to boot? The devs 100% wanted you to use Aigis. Character Rating: 10/10 Man. Seeing her come to terms with how she'll never be human the more human she gets really hits hard, but seeing her resolve to "live" as herself and not as who she was made to be was such a great scene it made me tear up. Koromaru Battle Rating: 8/10 dog. The Mudo and Agi support kind of just make him a better Junpei I guess? I used him a bunch while Aigis was out and he did a great job. Character Rating: 6/10 I mean, dog? It's hard to give him character, but it's nice seeing him come to terms with his former master's death. Ken Amada Battle Rating: 7/10 He comes with healing support like Yukari, and the Hama skills are nice too. Shame he overlaps Zio with Akihiko, but he's not bad if you're not running Akihiko. Character Rating: 8/10 Like with most Persona 3 characters, seeing him deal with his mother's death is a big showcase of his character. It's nice seeing undertones of his character in the S. Link, and how he wants to be older and how he likes superhero movies but deep down he wants to be taken seriously, and he wants to be seen as more than just a kid. That being said, if you romance him with FeMC, what the fuck is wrong with you. That's a kid. Shinjiro Aragaki Battle Rating: i dunno I never used Shinjiro, but from the looks of it, he seems to be heavily phys-focused which is good for bosses but not so much for Tartatus exploration. Character Rating: 8/10 He's got cute stuff going on with Koromaru, but he's mostly a wheel to move other characters than he is a vehicle himself, if you understand what I'm saying. That being said, he acts as a fantastic wheel for both Akihiko and Ken, being pivotal for their character growths. In general, the S.E.E.S. has some fantastic characters under their belt, and I couldn't be any happier Persona 3 was my first Persona game. I'll probably give my thoughts on the Investigation Team another time.

#persona 3 #aigis persona 3 #akihiko sanada #mitsuru kirijo #shinjiro aragaki #koromaru #ken amada #yukari takeba #junpei iori #fuuka yamagishi #opinion #please don't murder me #thanks

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veeranger · 10 months

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Vee’s Steam Summer Sale 2023 Recommendations

as always these are just personal opinions etc etc please look up some real reviews before buying a game if you aren’t sure and remember that steam will give you a full refund if you have less than 2 hours played in under 2 weeks.

im going to try to recc stuff i havent shilled every 6 months for the last 5 years but the VNs are going to be the same as always honestly

Fighting Games

Guilty Gear -Strive- Ultimate Edition 2022 ($55.99)

yes im specifically saying buy ultimate edition because it has all the dlc as of this writing. buy the base version if you want but i hate playing fighting games with incomplete rosters.

anyway this is my favorite fighting game, bar none. this is the game that after years of screwing around on a bunch of other games finally got me to really want to get better and actually play against other people. there’s a super active playerbase and at least another year of support from arcsys on the way. the best time to start playing strive was a year ago but the second best time is right now.

Idol Showdown (Free)

yes im shilling a free game here. idol showdown is a good fighting game and the result of like three years of hard work from a small team. try it out and give them some love

Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel ($4.99)

this is not a good game but it is a funny game. saber is in it.

Narrative Games

AI: The Somnium Files - $7.99

one of the finest mystery games you can play imo. maybe uchikoshi’s best work. a perfect blend of mystery, character, and style. every character and conversation is compelling in its own way and every little thing builds up to the huge moments which makes them all feel totally earned. as always uchikoshi is a genius in the way he blends his signature branching timeline style with the themes and core concepts of the game. the twists and turns this game goes down are so crazy that weeks later you’ll still be realizing how all the little things you thought were just quirks were actually foreshadowing. cannot recc this enough tbh.

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games - $11.99

another uchikoshi joint, also extremely good. ive only finished 999, the first game in this collection, but i can recc it just based on the strength of that alone. whereas somnium is a murder mystery, 999 is a visual novel about being trapped in a murder game interspliced with escape room segments. whatever you think you know you dont, 999 will take you down so many twists and turns you’ll be fucking dizzy when you’re done with it. big recc.

VA-11 HALL-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action - $10.04

i could probably talk about this game for as long as the others, even though its way way less complex. va-11 hall-a doesnt have a huge sweeping story with insane twists and massive reveals, but what it does have is an extremely personal narrative about loss, healing, and just living your life the best way you can in a horrible dystopian world. the cast of characters feel utterly real and you learn about the world they inhabit through interactions with them, rather than being infodumped by exposition. everyone has their own story and everyone is just trying to get by, including you. one of the best small scale personal narrative games ive ever played.

Night In The Woods - $9.99

another vn i would consider “small scale” but equally as impactful. nitw is a story about a disillusioned and struggling college drop out returning to her economically declining home town. nobody is secure, nobody is happy, everyone is suffering through their daily lives. you follow mae as she struggled to readjust to her childhood home and the people she left behind. until something happens that changes her priorities radically. all ill say. despite how i just made it sound, nitw is not all depressing. theres lighthearted moments and wacky days to cut through the bleak fog, as well as genuinely heartfelt moments that feel very earned. nitw is a game i think that everyone struggling through their 20s should play.

Grim Fandango Remastered ($3.79)

i know this is an old school adventure game and you might yell at me for sort of grouping it in with the VNs but i dont care. its a classic, its a beautiful game, everyone should play it. its old, it controls like shit, the puzzles are obtuse, but the experience is wonderful and memorable. its cheap as hell just go for it.

Action

Assault Spy ($4.99)

this goofy ass game is fun as hell. its a very dmc style character action with upgrades and moves to buy, and it actually has a pretty goddamn good mechanical system in place. the gameplay loop rules. only warning is this is not well optimized so watch your computer doesnt explode.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered ($40.19)

i shouldn’t even have to shill. a must play for any spider-man fan. one the best spider-man stories ever hands down. such an incredible experience seriously. i cant even say enough here, if you haven’t played this yet you should do it asap.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales ($33.49)

everything i just said for the first game goes here too. a MUST play for miles morales fans. the combat is even better than the first too. you won’t regret playing this trust me.

Marvel’s Avengers - The Definitive Edition ($5.99)

no i’m not joking. ok well i kind of am but this game is getting delisted in september. it is an unforgivably mid piece of shit but if you have an interest in game preservation or playing something so bad they’re killing it forever, well here it is. they made all the microtransactions free btw.

Others

Tinykin ($13.75)

its like pikmin but its legally distinct! i like this game a lot, it has a very cute art style and its got easy to enjoy gameplay. i find it very relaxing. there’s a demo.

System Shock 2 ($2.49)

i will never stop shilling this game. fucking play it. its a cornerstone of video games. one of the most influential pieces ever put to pixel. you owe it to yourself to experience this if you feel any interest in it. maybe read a guide though its unforgiving if you screw around with your build.

Dead Space [2023] ($41.99)

exceptionally good. i dont have to shill the old shitty pc port of the original anymore. an A+ remake, i think it improves on the original in every conceivable way.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night ($11.99)

such a goddamn good metroidvania. its almost like the platonic ideal of a castlevania game. a true spiritual successor to SOTN. this isnt your dime a dozen soulslike vania, this is a true vania game in the best original style made by basically one of the core founders of the genre.

STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™ II - The Sith Lords™ ($3.49)

its a fuckin classic rpg. one of the best of the era. get it on pc so you can get that extended content mod they promised to import to the console version and then cancelled.

Save Room - Organization Puzzle ($2.09)

this is just a cute puzzle game. i like it.

#veepost

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peachymilkshakes · 4 months

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Fashion Dreamer, a review by a Style Boutique/Savvy/Girls Mode long time fan

I recently got the game and due to recent backlash of it I figured I'd write sort of a ramble review on it now that I've played through the initial tutorial phase and gotten to the meat of the game. I will most likely update my post once I got to the last Cocoon, so look out for that (or don't. Whichever floats your goat)

First a bit of a backstory. Back when I was a tiny little peach, I was gifted this game by my grandma called "Style Boutique" It was the first game on the NDS. I was immediately hooked. It had so many different brands of clothes to choose from, most of which I had memorized (And I still know them by heart if you asked me) not only that, but it also had a game function where if you finished the main story of entering and winning all the contests, then you could just keep running your own boutique, even on the Nintendo Network. You could sell your clothing to other players, and you could shop in other peoples stores too. I had MANY trips down to my local library just to connect to their wifi and download some clothes for my in game character to wear. I had many great memories with this game. Not only that, but I grew a fondness to the cast of characters. Namely, Grace, Dominic and Renée.

After a few years, Nintendo stopped supporting the game, and moved on to the newer title, Style Boutique 2. Which I didn't play at the time as my parents never got it for me. However, I played it a bit later when I had my own money, and to my dissapointment, the game wasn't the same as the first. This trend of the games getting worse kept going with the 3rd entry too. I played it for a while, but none of them managed to hook me as much as the first game did. I never quite understood why though.

Fast forward to now. Syn Sophia's newest title "Fashion Dreamer" is out on the switch. And I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I feel like the clothing selection is really cute and diverse, and the idea of the social media connections is also a really fun mechanic. I think I understand some of the critisisms. That the game loop gets boring after a while, and that they wished the clothing brands from Style Boutique came back. Personally though, I like this fresh new take on the fashion game genre. Something that Syn Sophia definately popularised. And although I can feel this getting boring, I really enjoy styling my character, and treating the game as nothing more than what it is meant to be: a digital paper doll.

Is it worth 50 euros though? Hm, It depends on what you think this game is worth. I do think it would be worth it once the DLCs hit. That said, many game companies have been doing this whole release an unfinished game spiel and I could write an entire book about how much I hate how nintendo treated animal crossing and splatoon just to prove this point but I think you can make your own conclusion there.

The game misses reoccurring characters like Grace, or at least a more tangible way to play. It doesn't need to be exactly like Style Boutique. Not in the slightest. It would be nice if we had at least something to make progress on besides the gameplay loop that we have going on right now.

I think this game deserves critisism. However, I'm also not going to pretend that this game is a pile of hot garbage. Because it's just not. It's a solid game which I really would reccomend you play if you love dressing little characters.

Verdict after the tutorial, not more than 5 hours in: the game is fun and refreshing. I like where Syn Sophia is going. However, I miss the first Style Boutique. (Which is perhaps nostalgia talking to me) 6.5/10

#Fashion Dreamer #Style Boutique #Style Savvy #Girls Mode #Syn Sophia #Nintendo #fashion game

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gumi-gang · 2 years

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THE UPS AND DOWNS OF HOGWARTS QUIDDITCH

ravenclaw!kuroo tetsuro x gryffindor!reader

wc: 5355

the gryffindor seeker falls ill, and your house’s quidditch captain begs you to play the position of seeker in the next game, against ravenclaw. which would be fine if your long term best friend and crush wasn’t the quidditch captain of his house team, ravenclaw, who isn’t too keen on playing against you.

warnings: friends-to-frienemies?-to-lovers (that’s not a warning but you know), mild language, pinning, mentions of underage drinking (fire whiskey), kissing

an: i haven’t uploaded in like over a week and it’s because i was writing this amongst other things simultaneously. i’m also trying to catch up on a lot of work during my summer break, so long fics will probably be uploaded less frequently in the month of july, and for that i apologize! however, i hope you enjoy ravenclaw boyfriend kuroo as much as i do.

hogwarts house: ravenclaw

extracurriculars: captain of the ravenclaw quidditch team (chaser)

favorite subject: advanced arithmancy studies

wand: 11.5″ long, cypress wood, and dragon heartstring core

patronus: lion

you and kuroo have known each other for almost as long as you’ve known yourself to be a wizard. it’s hard to forget your first encounter with him on the hogwarts express in your first year. you were looking for a secluded carriage to sit and read in, however, it appeared that by the time you got onto the train, they were all occupied. debating whether or not you should keep searching you felt someone tap your shoulder.

turning around you saw a boy who appeared to be around your age, staring at you with a wide grin. looking back at it now, you suppose if you were not a naive eleven year old, you would have thought the boy to be creepy with his lanky, tall appearance and dark hair that cast a shadow over one side of his face. even so, his smile was warm enough, and when he asked you if you were also a incoming first year at hogwarts, you deemed it fine enough to reply yes.

“great! me too!,” the boy gleamed enthusiastically. “are you looking for somewhere to sit? this other kid and i found a carriage in the back, if you wanna join us!”

smiling, you accept his invitation. as you both walk down the passageway towards the back of the train, the boy asks you, “what’s you name? i’m kuroo tetsuro, by the way!”

“l/n y/n. it’s nice to meet you kuroo,” you tell him. when he replies that it’s nice to meet you too, and that he’s excited for the journey ahead, any apprehension you may or may not have been feeling about going to a magical school washes away.

when you get the the carriage with the other boy, who you learn to be bokuto koutarou, the three of you engage in pleasant and exciting conversation for several hours before your arrival at hogwarts. the three of you get to know each other the best that three magical eleven-year-olds can, and friendships bloom on the hogwarts express. even when you all finally arrive at hogwarts itself, and are sorted into different houses (kuroo in ravenclaw, bokuto in hufflepuff, and you in gryffindor), you three manage to cheer each other on, allowing your friendships to carry on past the hogwarts express ride.

you’re all now in your last year at hogwarts, and your first ever encounter on the hogwarts express feels like a million years ago and yesterday simultaneously. since then your friendships with both bokuto and kuroo have manifested into life long relationships. you visit each other’s homes during the summers, you study in the back of the library together, and you support one another when one of you has an important event coming up.

yet, while your relationship with bokuto has remained purely platonic, you’ve developed romantic feelings for kuroo. one day it just so happened that you found yourself staring at your best friend when he wasn’t looking, and thinking about him when he wasn’t around.

you thought maybe he could like you back, but once you overheard him talking to his friend, kenma about how he likes people who are intelligent, and the P on your care of magical creatures OWL made you reconsider. it’s a dumb reason, really. however, you figured you were probably not his type, and there is no point in finding out if you’re feelings are reciprocated if it’ll ruin your friendship anyway. it’ll be fine though, you constantly tell yourself, because eventually you’ll get over your feelings for him. despite ignoring your feelings and pretending your crush on your best friend doesn’t exist, it seems like the longer you know kuroo, the more stronger your feelings grow.

the first time you actually consider the fact that your infatuation may cause some actual damage in your life is when miya atsumu corners you at the gryffindor table in the great hall to ask you to be the replacement gryffindor seeker. with the upcoming triwizard tournament no one is really paying attention to what’s going on with hogwarts quidditch. that is unless you’re miya atsumu, gryffindor captain, or bokuto koutarou, hufflepuff captain, or kuroo tetsuro, ravenclaw captain. even the slytherin captain, oikawa tooru, is too preoccupied with being the hogwarts champion.

the season just began, with the game between hufflepuff and slytherin last week, with hufflepuff winning. in a few weeks, ravenclaw and gryffindor are set to play each other, but right now gryffindor is in major trouble with the seeker, hinata shoyo falling ill. no one really knows what happened to him, except that madam pomfrey said that he’d need to remain in the infirmary for about a month’s time. you know a few other students in his year in your house, and from what you’ve learned from them, it appears that whatever hinata has is bad.

“y/n pleaseeee,” atsumu begs, “there’s no one else in the house that can fly as fast as hinata, except maybe you!”

“jeez, thanks,” you tell him. you’re too preoccupied in your cereal to really understand his arguments anyway.

“y/n, we need you. i need you. the team needs you. gryffindor needs you. godric gryffindor needs you,” miya atsumu begs.

you open your mouth to tell him to go away for what feels like the millionth time, when a voice from behind speaks. “sounds important if godric gryffindor is involved.”

you turn around to see kuroo standing and smiling down at you. he’s not wearing his cloak, opting to hold it in his right hand, and his tie is rather loose around his neck, despite the otherwise neatness in his appearance. ‘great,’ you think, ‘now my heart’s doing gymnastic tricks.’

“it’s not,” you tell him, shaking your head to collect yourself. “i’m sorry atsumu but you’re gonna have to find someone else,” and you get up from your seat. you and kuroo begin your walk to the gryffindor and ravenclaw shared defense against the dark arts class. it’s a double period which you’re dreading, unlike kuroo who loves and excels at almost anything and everything academic.

“what did the blonde miya twin want?” kuroo asks once you’re out of the great hall.

“huh? oh, he was just asking me to--” you start, but kuroo cuts you off.

“did he ask you to the yule ball?” kuroo blurts abruptly. you almost trip from the implication of his words,.

“it’s a bit early on for that, don’t you think,” you laugh.

“right, sorry. i just wanted to make sure he wasn’t harassing you.” ugh, if only he knew how you felt. then maybe he wouldn’t say swoon worthy things to you.

“he was asking me to replace hinata in the upcoming quidditch match,” you reply, not wanting to fixate on his words any longer.

you’re not sure if it is the delivery of your words or if he misunderstood you, because you’re pretty certain you didn’t say anything funny enough for kuroo to start laughing.

“what?” you ask him.

“it’s just, i don’t know why he’d ask you,” kuroo says when he finally calms down.

“why wouldn’t he? i’m a pretty good flyer, and whenever we play with bokuto you tell me i’d make a great seeker,” you assert. you’re no longer walking towards the classroom, but standing in the middle of the hall. kuroo’s never doubted your skills before, or questioned your ability to do anything. in fact, kuroo’s always been your number one supporter. whenever you fail a test or feel insecure about yourself, kuroo always cheering you on to lift your spirits. so you can’t help but wonder what would make him say that to you.

“but y/n that’s just fun, it’s different when you play on an actual team,” kuroo says. “it’s really nothing personal. quidditch is just... difficult, i guess.”

“you don’t think i could handle it?” you’re officially angry, face turning red, and fists clenched.

“it’s just kageyama is an amazing seeker, and the only one who could really match him is hinata,” kuroo explains, as if he’s not adding salt to the wound. “i just don’t want to see you hurt after working so hard.” he goes to put his hand on your shoulder, but you move out of the way. you’re angry, and mad, and confused. how could your best friend say that to you so casually.

you’re not sure how to respond, and you’re not sure if he can even tell that you’re hurt from his words. after a moment of just staring at him you say, “you know for a ravenclaw you’re pretty fucking stupid.”

you don’t look at him as you walk down the corridor into the classroom. you take your seat next to a fellow gryffindor, fukunaga shohei, still shaking with rage. you feel kuroo’s stares from a few seat over, but you pay him no mind. all you’re thinking about if how you much work you’re gonna put into the next few weeks to try to reach and surpass the level of skill ravenclaw’s seeker, kageyama tobio possesses.

meanwhile, kuroo’s brain has finally caught up with his mouth and he’s appalled by his own words. he feels terrible. how could he say that to his own friend? his best friend? he doesn’t know what came over him. was he genuinely worried you’d beat yourself up over a loss? no, he knows you aren’t a sore loser, or that you’d get attached to the gyffindor seeker position, because everyone knows that eventually hinata shoyo will return. is he scared you’d help bring victory to gryffindor against his own house? he’s not sure. you’re great on a broom, but he’s never seen you play serious quidditch. besides kageyama has skills on par with pro players. was he jealous that one of the miya twins is begging you to help him, and was practically drooling over you during breakfast? ...no.

for the rest of the day you and kuroo avoid each other. it’s your first official fight. you’ve disagreed in the past, but it’s never been as severe as not even bothering to look at each other in the halls or pretending you don’t hear each other when one of you answers a question in class.

perhaps bokuto would have caught on faster had he not been too preoccupied with his potions grade, but he doesn’t even realize that two of his best friends, who are also best friends with each other, are pretending that they are strangers until two days later.

“i just don’t understand what happened between you two,” bokuto groans to you. again. for what feels like the hundredth time that day. currently you’re on your way to meet up with atsumu for extra quidditch practice, because although you’ve warmed up to the seeker position fairly quickly, you’ve got a lot of work to put in if you want to secure a solid chance of reaching the snitch before kageyama.

“kuroo said i’m a shit seeker,” you seethe. you’re still angry at kuroo. furious in fact. every time you see him you’re over come with rage. what did i even see in him, you think to yourself.

“but i bet he didn’t mean it,” bokuto replies. but the look of skepticism on your face makes bokuto sigh, “listen i don’t know how to mediate. that’s akaashi’s thing man.”

“bokuto i really appreciate it. i do. because you’re a great friend, and i know this must suck, but we’re okay. it’s just that i’ve gotta meet atsumu in like five minutes, so i’ll see you later,” and with that you rush off to the quidditch pitch.

kuroo can’t tell if you’ve gotten so good at ignoring him that you don’t see him sitting under a nearby tree, or if you deliberately choose not to pay him any attention. you must have agreed to being the seeker replacement since you’re holding your broomstick, he notices. he sees the edge of the quidditch pitch where atsumu is standing, and while he can’t hear what he says to you when you finally reach him, he feels slightly ticked off from seeing you hit atsumu playfully and laugh at whatever he said. did you realize replace your best friend that easily, he thinks to himself.

“kuroo,” bokuto says to him, causing kuroo to jump suddenly.

“when did you get here?” he snaps at bokuto. kuroo knows bokuto doesn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of his bitterness, but he feels like he’s no longer in control of his emotions. the last time he felt this way was when kenma accused him of having a crush on you, and the possibility of ruining your friendship scared him so much that he promised to try and get rid of his feelings.

“what did i do?” bokuto frowns as he plops down on the grass next to kuroo. kuroo turns his attention back to the quidditch pitch. you and atsumu are currently flying around. it appears that atsumu and you are racing around in circles, and it seems like you’re both flying as fast as you can to beat the other.

“sorry,” kuroo finally mutters. after a pause, he adds “when did those two get so close?” once again he can’t control the bitterness in his voice.

“are you worried because y/n’s a pretty decent player?” bokuto asks him, ignoring the question his best friend asked him. just when he asks that you pull ahead of atsumu and shoot off a few yards away before coming to stop. atsumu is an incredibly talented chaser. everyone knows that. however, kuroo knows you’re a ridiculously fast and agile flyer.

when kuroo doesn’t answer his best friend, bokuto continues trying to get to the root of his and your conflict. “are you jealous because atsumu might like y/n?”

bokuto’s words finally grab kuroo’s attention. now staring at bokuto incredulously, kuroo says, “why would i be jealous?”

“because you like y/n.” the words roll off of bokuto’s tongue as if he was merely stating a fact. he might as well said ‘because the sky is a reflection of major bodies of water, like the ocean because of the reflection of light,’ kuroo thinks to himself.

“no i don’t,” kuroo states. but there’s less confidence in his voice. that, alongside that kuroo looks away from bokuto once again so he can’t see the look on his face, tells bokuto all he needs to know. that his suspicions that kuroo likes you are true. bokuto knows you like kuroo too, because you confirmed it to him one summer night when you were over at his house and you were drinking fire whiskey on his roof. of course you don’t remember this seen as you were completely plastered after almost two sips.

bokuto doesn’t respond quickly, and so kuroo turns his head again to make sure his best friend heard him. however, bokuto is just grinning right back at him. “leave this to me,” bokuto points to himself and gets up. he practically runs back to the castle leaving kuroo to continue spying on you from a distance under the tree.

the following days are quite the same. you and kuroo avoid each other in classes, no longer walk around the castle together, or bother each other at random points in the day to tell each other who-know-what or bring each other to who-knows-where. in the afternoons when you don’t have team quidditich practice, atsumu drags you out to the pitch and you two practice one-on-one until one of you runs out of stamina. kuroo spends his day mopping, but no one really notices besides his close friends kenma, bokuto, and akaashi. he still runs his own house’s quidditch practices as usual, manages to finish his school assignments in a timely manner, and manages to come across as his cool and charismatic self. it’s just that while he’s putting on his facade, he is constantly fighting several battles with himself. he’s been losing weight from his lack of appetite, he can’t fall asleep at night, and he struggles to find the motivation to get out of bed in the morning.

of course kuroo’s consumed by guilt. he hurt you and he regrets that. he wishes he had a time turner so he could go back tot that conversation in the hallway with you and hit himself in the head before he expressed any doubt in who you are. however, kuroo is also consumed with rage? uneasiness? insecurity? he knows that you’re an amazing flyer, so you’ve definitely got a chance to beat kageyama to the snitch. or at the very least serve as great enough competition to make the upcoming game something to work intensely for. but you don’t love quidditch, at least not like he or bokuto do. so why are you spending so much time practicing with that piss haired sixth year? and why are you enjoying it so much? if he ever comes close to walking over to the gryffindor table in the great hall, the several memories he has of you and atsumu on the quidditch pitch stop him, reminding him instantly that you’ve replaced him.

which bokuto has caught onto. see you and kuroo don’t give bokuto enough credit for his social skills. sure he make lack self-awareness when it comes to his own life. heck, he didn’t even realize he had a long-term crush himself until this year. however, bokuto has spent plenty of much time with you two, both together and individually, over the years to understand why you’re both acting the way you are. he doesn’t necessarily have a plan to get his two best friends to rekindle their own friendship, but his heart is in the right place.

“kuroo is really sorry about what he said to you. he doesn’t mean it,” -bokuto to you

“why doesn’t he tell me that himself?” -you to bokuto

“if you apologize to y/n they’ll forgive you, and then you don’t have to worry about atsumu replacing you,” -bokuto to kuroo

“no one that ugly could replace me,” -kuroo to bokuto

it isn’t until the day before the match when bokuto corners you after herbology and says, “kuroo is just upset because he doesn’t want you to start dating atsumu.” you stop dead in your tracks, because what did bokuto just say... kuroo is upset because he thinks you like atsumu, or maybe he thinks atsumu likes you, or is it that he thinks you like each other?

“why would he think that?” you ask bokuto, grabbing him by the collar. his owlish eyes grow bigger, but your grip on his clothing only become stronger. “why?” you repeat loudly.

“because he’s jealous and doesn’t want to be replaced,” bokuto blurts at you as if he’s being held at gunpoint. you abruptly let go of his shirt causing him to stumble back.

a million thoughts race through your head as bokuto ushers you to take a seat on one of the benches in the greenhouse. after what feels like forever for bokuto you reply, “but that doesn’t make sense, because kuroo is my friend. why would dating atsumu bother him that much?”

“because you mean as much to him as he means to you,” bokuto tells you.

whoa. “whoa,” you say to bokuto. “did you come up with that yourself?”

“no i got it from this shoujo manga my tutor leant me,” bokuto smiles. “but that’s all i’m gonna say, so i’ll get going. good luck tomorrow y/n,” and with that bokuto leaves you alone with your thoughts in the greenhouse.

was bokuto implying that kuroo has romantic feelings for you? does he? do you want him to? you’ve spent so much time trying to get rid of your crush that you didn’t even bother to consider the what if of him liking you back. you remain in the greenhouse for several hours thinking and thinking, and when you’re finally exhausted you drag your feet towards gryffindor tower, staring at the floor, and feeling the intensity of bokuto’s words. perhaps had this situation involved someone else you would have went to kuroo for advice, but that in itself adds a different layer of confusion.

you don’t see kuroo and akaashi walking down the same corridor, but they instantly spot you. to the two of them you look as if you’re in some sort of trance, like someone bewitched you and now you’re moving solely on autopilot. kuroo sees you alone, and it’s the night before the ravenclaw versus gryffindor match, so if he plans on apologizing now is probably his best opportunity. he tells akaashi he’ll see him later and walks over to you. only for you to bump into him because you didn’t notice him approaching you.

having not looked at your kuroo in weeks you had forgotten how beautiful he was. looking at him now in the dimly lit corridor you feel the need to cry because you’ve missed your best friend, and here he is standing in front of you looking at you with sadness in his eyes.

“y/n,” kuroo mutters. he’s shaking and nervous, because what if bokuto was wrong and you do hate him. heck he might be the last person you want to see tonight out of all nights. kuroo feels scared talking to you here. “i’m so sorry.”

you don’t reply instantly, which is fair because you both haven’t talked to each other in so long, and had no idea he’d be here talking to you now. kuroo in his anxious state starts rambling about how stupid he was to say those words to you and how much he regrets hurting you, and you hear it. you listen to all of it, despite your dazed state.

“tetsuro i forgive you,” you cut him off. your voice tells you that you’re crying, but you hadn’t even realized. “i’m sorry too,” you choke out.

“no y/n it’s my fault. your friendship means the world to me, and i treated you like it didn’t. i just don’t want to lose you,” kuroo holds you face in the palm on his hands, periodically using his fingers to wipe away your tears.

the warmth from his hands on your face, the way he’s staring into your eyes with fear and vulnerability, the proximity of your faces, the intensity of how much you missed each other over these last few days. the combination of these things are what motivate you to lean in and kiss kuroo.

you’ve dreamed of kissing kuroo more times than you could count, but nothing compares to the real thing. his lips are so soft, and the urgency is electrifying when he finally kisses you back. if kissing kuroo was a place you’d stay there forever, feeling safe and secure in him. but eventually your mind catches up with your heart and the gravity of the situation dawns on you. you’re kissing your long term best friend and long term crush, and he’s kissing you back. you’re overjoyed, but also skeptic. what if he’s just pitying you because he’s afraid of ruining your friendship anymore, you can’t help but wonder.

that part of your brain wins and you break off the kiss almost as quickly as you started it. “i’ve gotta go,” you tell kuroo with wide eyes and panic in your voice. you don’t miss the bewilderment in his own expression, or how he reaches up to touch his own lips, before you practically sprint down the hallway towards gryffindor tower.

it goes without saying that you struggle to fall asleep that night. on top of the panic of representing your house tomorrow, you just kissed kuroo. the next morning you barely make it to the great hall without throwing up. many hufflepuffs and gryffindors wish you good luck throughout the morning, including bokuto who is sporting a gryffindor scarf but ravenclaw tie, which you know he definitely stole from akaashi. when you see kuroo making his was to you in the great hall, you abandon your cereal and dash towards the changing rooms to avoid him.

atsumu gives a pep talk to the team once everyone is changed and ready, but you’re only half paying attention because you’re too busy trying not to puke. your body moves as if someone is controlling you, and before you know it you’re on the pitch with the rest of your team facing the ravenclaw team. madam hooch says something about a clean game, and it’s the only moment you spare a glance at kuroo because you know he’s paying attention for his team as captain. however, when you do look at him he’s looking right back at you with an expression you can’t quite read. kuroo apparently has his mind in several places because when the whistle blows he’s immediately in the air. a little taken back by the speed of everyone’s take off you shake your head and kick off from the ground yourself, soaring above everyone else including kageyama in hopes of finding the snitch.

the game progresses below you. at first, you focus on looking for the snitch hoping to catch a glimpse of the golden ball even if from the corner of your eye, but after what feels like several minutes you can’t help but toon into tanaka ryuunosuke’s commentary.

“another clean score by miya atsumu bringing the score to 90-10 with the gryffindor in the lead. slytherin keeper, tsukishima kei throws the quaffle to his captain kuroo testsuro who dashes to the gryffindor rings. he passes to sakusa ki-- oh he’s hit by a bludger sent by fukanaga shohei. goshiki tsutomu picks up the quaffle, gryffindor back in position. he throws it to miya osamu, oooh to be intercepted by sakusa kiyoomi himself, he passes to inuoka so, who passes to kuroo testsuro who shoots andddd a wonderful save by gryffindor keeper, sawamura daichi yet again. is daichi on fire or does tsuki just have his head in the clouds? ...sorry professor... miya atsumu has possession yet again, and he passes to his twin who manages to miss a bludger sent by sugawara koushi. a great attempt on suga’s part though. miya osamu manages to carrying the quaffle all the way down to slytherin’s end, and he shoots and he SCORES! gryffindor maintains their lead, now 100-10, what a game.”

100-10 is a crazy lead, you think. atsumu wants this win badly, but you’re sure that ravenclaw does too. maybe they’re just off their rhythm you shrug. perhaps not all of ravenclaw, because right then kageyama dashes full speed towards the gryffindor stands. realizing where you are and what is expected of you, you dash off right behind him.

you vaguely make out tanaka’s commentary, only catches of your name, kageyama’s name, tsukishima’s name, and the word ‘snitch.’ it’s when kageyama takes a sharp right that you finally spot the golden ball, and now that you’ve seen it with your own eyes you push your broomstick to go as fast as it can. you’re neck to neck with kageyama when the snitch manages to fit itself into a small opening at the bottom of the stands, and in order to get to it before it reaches the other side you and kageyama dash up and over the stands, crowd cheering and booing below you as you race to the other side, but by the time you get there it seems that both you and kageyama have lost sight of the snitch.

frustrated you look all around you, your eyes meeting kageyama’s briefly, and he’s almost gawking at you. “you’re very agile... and fast,” kageyama tells you.

“thanks. you too,” you tell him almost breathless. you didn’t realize you were panting.

you both fly up above the hoops once again, and on your way up you listen in to what’s going on in the game. “tsukishima get your head out of the clouds, what’s gotten into you?! i’ve got 10 gallons ridding on a ravenclaw win and-- sorry professor but i’m about to be in debt... sorry professor... wait-- sakusa managed to make it to gryffindor hoops, he passes to kuroo, who shoots and he SCORES! that’s 140-30, gryffindor! and daichi passes the quaffle to atsumu who once again rushes off at what looks like the speed of light, sakusa barely on his tail. sakusa is hit by a bludger, kuroo who was trying to intercept the pass from atsumu to osamu is hit by a bludger, what are suga and shirabu onnnn. osamu passes to goshiki and he SCORES! 150-30, gryffindor. it really isn’t anyone’s game, unless ravenclaw seeker, kageyama tobio does something, and does something quickly. which can you kageyama, i’m literally already so broke.”

the game goes on and on, 160-30, 160-40, 180-40, 200-40, and then right in front of you, snapping you from your daze is the snitch floating inches away from your face. you reach out to grab it, but it moves away from you. you dash forward, but quickly jerk your broom still when kageyama bolts in front of you capturing the snitch in mere seconds.

you hear from below, “kageyama tobio has caught the golden snitch! but gryffindor wins, 200-190! what a game!”

you should feel ecstatic, gryffindor won. yet you descend to the ground on your broom stick as if someone else is controlling you once again. you’re slightly disappointed that you failed at the only job you had, but you’re also relieved the game is over.

on the ground the gryffindor team is running wild. atsumu and osamu are screaming, fukanaga and yamamoto are chasing goshiki around, and daichi is beaming madly at slytherin’s beater, suga. there’s chaos from the ravenclaws too, however, it’s mostly various voices going ‘we were so close.’

“you really gave kageyama a run for his money,” a voice says fro behind you. you turn around to see your best friend staring at you. his hair is all messed up from the wind and flying, his face flushed red, skin shiny from the cast of sweat, and a shy smile decorating his face.

“thanks,” you exhale. “you did well too, i heard most of the ravenclaw goals were you and sakusa.”

“they’re always me and sakusa. inuoka is sweet, but he takes too many bludgers for us,” kuroo laughs. you both stand there for a moment, looking at each other, not paying attention to your surroundings. for you all there is right now is kuroo, and you can’t help wondering if it’s all you just for him, too. “listen, y/n, about last night--”

“i’m really sorry,” you cut him off. “i didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. i shouldn’t have kissed you like that with no warning.” you want to look away, but kuroo moves closer, his gaze looking down at you.

“i wasn’t uncomfortable,” he uses his empty hand that’s not gripping his broomstick to hold your face. he caresses your cheek with his thumb as he says, “i really enjoyed that kiss. if anything it’s giving me the courage to tell you that i like you right now. and y/n i like you so much, more than friends, and way more than my heart can handle.”

you’re stunned. after all these years of knowing kuroo, of pinning after him, of wishing for this moment, you cannot believe he’s confessing to you. “damn,” you try to hide your blush with a wide grin, “i wanted to confess to you.”

“hmm,” kuroo hums absent-mindedly. he’s looking at you with such admiration and happiness, it makes you feel all soft and warm.

“tetsuro, can i kiss you?”

“you didn’t ask last night,” he smirks.

“you know we totally could have had the best enemies-to-lover banter if you weren’t such a dick before last night,” you roll your eyes, grinning widely at him.

“i like us just the way we are,” he tells you before pulling you in for a kiss.

gumi-gang @ 2022

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