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imaginexwwe · 1 year

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SPRING BREAK 4 - Roman Reigns

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NO TIME SKIP THIS TIME LOL

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REAL NAMES WILL BE USED

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4½ MONTHS PREGNANT Y|N FEELS IT'S TIME TO COME CLEAN NOW THAT SHE KNOWS JOE ISN'T JUST AN AVERAGE JOE (🤣)

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PART 3 (×)

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I sighed looking at myself in the mirror, slowly running my hand down my now noticeable baby bump.

I was now in my second trimester of this pregnancy and just when I thought me getting knocked up by a man I'd only known a few hours before, was as bad as this train wreck would get, I was wrong.

Really wrong.

Because turns out, Joe as I'd only known him these few months is actually Joseph Anoaʻi.

Or Roman Reigns, as he goes by in WWE.

The WWE company in which my older brother Colby works for.

"Things are just getting worse and worse." I mumbled as I made my way to my closet, searching for something to wear on my outing with Austin.

And I say outing because I honestly don't know what else to call it.

I mean, it's definitely not a date for me.

I hope it's not a date to Austin...

"Do you think this is a date?" I asked, picking out a short, loose fitting dress.

My bump shouldn't show too much through this, I thought as I began stripping out of my pajamas, sliding my dress on soon after.

"Tori." I called out, trying to get my bestfriends attention, while also wondering why I couldn't see her on the screen anymore. "Tori."

"Oh, sorry." Tori finally replied a huge grin on her face. "I fell down the Roman Reigns rabbit hole." She explained. "Again."

I rolled my eyes, picking up my macbook and going to my bed to sit. "Of course you did." I mumbled.

I couldn't blame her though.

All I did last night, till at least 2 a.m. was watch old matches of my baby daddy.

Then when I finally drifted off the sleep he was on my mind so much that I ended up having a dream that still makes me blush, just thinking about it.

If only it was reality.

It was just something so sexy about him bulling his cousins and other wrestlers.

Even his old matches with my brother and their friend Jon we're awesome to watch.

Tori laughed, holding up a finger. "This is gonna be you and Joe's baby." She said, trying to hold in her laughter so she could finish what she's trying to say. "And his first word will be 'ACKNOWLEDGE ME'" She joked, laughing even louder.

I sighed, feeling my mood change in an instant. "We won't know if it's a he or she." I replied before mumbling. "And we won't know what his or her's first word would be." I reminded her. "You know I've been looking for a good family for this baby..."

Tori nodded. "Yeah, i know." She replied. "I just thought after I told you that Joe wasn't ghosting you, that you mixed up two digits in his number, that maybe..." She trailed off with a shrug. "You'd change your mind about adoption since you won't have to do it alone while trying to finish college."

"I haven't even told Joe about the baby."

"But you know I did." Tori quickly answered. "Again, not on purpose but I did tell him." She added. "What I'm trying to say, is I was excited about being an aunt. And I know you'd be a good as mommy Y|N."

A sad smile formed on my face as I once again began doubting my ability to finish my last two years of college, eventually have a career, and raise a baby.

Even if Joe was involved it'll still be damn near impossible considering he's on the road three or four nights a week, so I'm sure the last thing he wants is a baby to be responsible for.

And on top of that we're not even together.

"Can we change the subject?" I asked, unconsciously rubbing my baby bump.

Tori nodded. "So..." She said. "Why haven't you called Joe?"

I groaned. "That's not changing the subject." I quickly replied. "Besides you know I've been hanging out with Austin still."

"Yeah, but why?" Tori asked, giving me a look. "You have a mature, grown and sexy twenty-seven year old that wants you but you're wasting your time on a cheating ass, immature 20 year old. I just don't get it."

I shrugged. "Austin's changed." I said, not a hundred percent sure I believed what I had just said. "Besides, when any typical guy would've happily ran when finding out their girlfriend cheated and got knocked up, Austin didn't. He made me feel safe and promised we'd go back to normal and put this behind up after I have this baby. He's waiting for me."

"His ass cheated first." Tori mumbled, seemingly ignoring everything else I'd said. "And I noticed the word love wasn't said."

That's because I don't know if I've truly been able to love Austin since he cheated.

Or if I'd be able to any time soon.

At this rate, I'll probably love Joe before I'm able to love Austin again.

Or do I already love Joe and that's the reason I'm unable to love Austin..?

Before I could respond, the sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the house.

"Austin's here." I said, before standing up. "I gotta go." I added, closing my macbook before Tori could respond.

For a second time, the doorbell echoed, this time sounding louder as I reached the door.

"Damn, Austin." I giggled, opening the door. "I'm almost five months pregnant, give me time." I spoke again, feeling my heart stop for a second when I saw it wasn't Austin. "Joseph?"

Holy shit, I mentally screamed out to myself, as my eyes stayed locked on the man on the other side of the door.

The man who fathered this baby I'm carrying.

Face to face with him for the first time since Miami.

Did he get hotter?

"Hey." Joe said, his eyes seemingly locked on me, like mines were on him.

Or was he staring at my belly?

I shifted uncomfortable at the thought of him seeing me pregnant all of a sudden. "Colby's um..." I began, stumbling on my words. "At his wrestling school."

"I know." Joe, responded with a nod, a seriousness in his tone. "I was hoping to see you, considering you haven't called me yet."

I bit the inside of my cheek, nodding also. "I tried but I..."

"Had my number wrong." Joe finished for me, making me nod again.

"Yeah." I said, with an embarrassed laugh. "I figured you'd just got what you wanted for me and had moved on to the next girl."

A hint of hurt flashed in Joe's eyes after what I hade said. "That's the kind of guy you think I am?" He asked, causing me to immediately shake my head.

"I didn't really know what to think of you, Joe." I answered truthfully. "I had only known you for a few hours and my judgment was blinded by the many shots Tori kept persuading me to drink, then you did take me on that amazing date. But you have to understand I tried calling you a few times and obviously couldn't get in touch with you to tell you about this baby you helped make so yeah..." I rambled. "I guess deep down I couldn't believe a guy that looks like you would even entertain a girl like me. Tori yes. But me? No."

Joe chuckled. "There's no way in hell I could have feelings for Tori."

I smiled, suddenly unable to look him in the eyes. "Did you have feelings for me?"

"I do have feelings for you Y|N." He quickly responded, taking a few steps closer to me. "That's why it was driving me crazy these few months thinking that I would never hear from you again."

"You were going crazy over me?" I asked, feeling my heartbeat began to race with anticipation.

Joe, nodded silently and without control, I found myself leaning up towards Joe as he was leaning down towards me.

I let my eyes snap shut, and just as I was about to finally feel Joe's lips on mines again, for the first time in months, a car door slammed shut.

Like it really slammed shut as if someone wanted to really make their presence known.

Please don't be my brother.

PLEASE DON'T BE MY BROTHER.

"Babe." I heard a male voice call out to me, and I slowly opened my eyes to see Austin leaning against his car, a scowl on his face.

I'm assuming from seeing me almost kiss Joe.

Why is it any time Joe's in my presence I forget about Austin?

"Babe..?" Joe asked, his eyes flashing with an emotion I've never seen from him the few times we have been around each other.

Is that jealousy?

Ignoring Joe, I quickly made my way over to Austin flashing a smile at him, as he continued to stare at Joe as if he was mentally sizing him up.

"Shit." I mumbled, stomping my foot. "I forgot my purse." I added. "Be right back."

Quickly, I walked back to the house, making sure to grab on to Joe's arm as I made my way inside. "Look." I said. "I have to go, but if my brother comes home before I do just lie and say you came over for him and I let you in or something."

"Y|N." Joe said, an edge to his tone, and the jealousy still in his eyes. "Who is he?"

I sighed, as I went over to the couch to get my purse. "My boyfriend..." I mumbled, scared to look at Joe for the first time since I opened the door and saw him there. "I think."

"Boyfriend?" Joe questioned as if he couldn't believe what I had said. "How do you have a boyfriend when you're pregnant with my baby?"

"Because me and him have been together for years." I explained. "It's just been a bit complicated with him cheating on me and then me trying to get back at him with you." I added, mentally slapping myself after that last part left my mouth.

How could I say that when I know that's not how it was?

Austin's never on my mind when I'm with Joseph.

Joe let out a sarcastic laugh. "So, that night we were together was just some kind of revenge fuck so you'd have a way to make that dude jealous?"

Was he pissed?

He sounds pissed.

"No." I sighed, my eyes going from Joe to the door and back. "I really do have to go."

"We really need to talk Y|N." Joe replied, but I was already out the door.

Me and him could talk later.

"Okay." I said, as I reached Austin's car again. "We could go now."

Austin nodded silently, his attention still on the door, or rather who's on the other side of the door.

Even though he couldn't see Joe, it seemed that it pained Austin just by knowing he was in there.

"Austin." I called out trying to bring his attention back to me. "Something wrong?"

"No." Austin replied, his signature smile forming as he opened the passenger side door for me, closing it as soon as I got in.

As Austin made his way over to the drivers side of his car, I leaned over towards the back to drop my purse in the backseat when something caught my eye.

"That asshole."

I can't fucking believe him.

Or maybe I should considering this isn't the first time.

Austin finally got into his car, pushing the button to start the engine. "What are you craving today?" He asked, with a chuckle. "Tacos? Pizza? Both?"

"I suddenly don't have an appetite." I mumbled, my arms crossed over my chest.

"C'mon, babe." Austin said, glancing over at me. "You're pregnant." He added, chuckling again. "There's no way in hell you don't have a appetite."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I don't."

"Okay." Austin replied, rolling his eyes also as he again pushed the button, this time turning his car engine off. "Are you hormones acting up?"

Instead of answering Austin, I decided to throw a question of my own at him. "What's these doing in your car?"

"What?"

I held up the two used condom wrappers that I had found in the backseat of his car. "Where you with that slut again? Or someone else?"

"Y|N, your tripping." Austin mumbled, shaking his head. "Those are from the last time me and you had sex." He added. "You know, when you still believed in protection."

I gasped.

How dare he?

"I didn't get pregnant because I didn't make the father use a condom." I angrily replied. "And I know you're fucking lying because the last time you and I had sex was over five months ago and I also know these wrappers weren't in your goddamn car last week." I scoffed, trying to fight back the tears that were forming in my eyes. "Was it her or someone new?"

"It was her." Austin finally answered making me laugh in disbelief.

"I can't fucking believe you would do this again after you said you wouldn't over and fucking over." I replied.

Austin scoffed. "You can't believe me?" He asked, sarcasm in his voice. "I can't believe you'd practically be making out with your baby daddy minutes before I'm supposed to pick you up but you did." He said, before adding. "Just like you let him fuck you without one, even though you ain't even know him a day. But makes sure your boyfriend of six years wore one every damn time we fucked."

In that moment I wanted nothing more than to reach over and slap Austin so hard that I left a hand print in his face, but I held myself back.

Barely.

"For the tenth time I didn't have sex with him without a condom." I groaned, reaching over in the backseat to grab my purse. "His dick is just so big that it broke the condom." I smirked, opening the passenger side door, and getting out of the car. "Something you wouldn't know about."

I didn't say it but I'm sure it was implied that me and Austin were over.

For good this time.

With tears in my eyes I stormed back up to the house, just as Joe was leaving out.

"What's wrong?" Joe questioned, immediately noticing that I was upset.

I wiped at the tears that had fallen from my eyes. "I just ended my six year relationship."

"Because of me?"

"No." I snapped, taking out the last bit of my anger for Austin on Joseph. "Not everything is about you." I added, before mumbling. "And I thought the only time you were a condescending asshole was on tv but it seems like you're one in real life too."

Joe shook his head, leaving out the house without another word or glance.

Did I just ruin what could have been between Joseph and I?

•

Later that day I eventually dragged myself out of bed, and downstairs for a middle of the night snack.

Partly because I had a sudden craving for cookies, and partly because I just couldn't get Joe out of my mind.

Especially how he looked when I called him a condescending asshole.

Which he most definitely isn't.

I know I haven't known him long enough to judge all of his qualities, but the few times I've been lucky enough to be in his presence, he's been nothing but a sweetheart.

A gentleman.

"Couldn't sleep either?" I heard a voice say, causing me to jump.

I placed my hand over my heart, trying to calm myself. "You scared me, dude." I said to Colby as I gently shut the refrigerator door, turning to see Colby sitting at the kitchen island. "And no." I answered. "Too much on my mind." I added, rambling in the cabinet for a baking sheet.

"Are you really about to bake cookies at one in the morning?" Colby asked with a laugh, as I began scooping cookie dough from the container and placing it onto the baking sheet.

"Yeah, I got a craving for cookies." I giggled, with a shrug. "Can you be an awesome big brother and preheat the oven for me?" I asked, as I continued scooping.

"Sure."

•

About ten minutes later, both my brother and I sat at the kitchen island eating cookies.

Well I was eating cookies, and Colby was eating the only cookie I shared with him.

"You never did say what was on your mind." Colby spoke up, breaking through the silence that had taken over.

"Neither did you." I replied, picking up a cookie and taking a bite.

Colby nodded, getting up and going to the refrigerator to get a bottle of water. "You first."

"Okay." I mumbled, biting on my lip. "I broke up with Austin's pathetic ass." I started, noticing the look on Colby's face as if he expected this break up to be like the others where I'd take him back after a while. "For real this time."

"What made it for real this time?" Colby questioned and I couldn't figure out if he was mocking me or genuinely just asking.

I sighed, looking down at the few cookies left in front of me. "He cheated again." I said with a shrug. "Very recently."

"I'm going to beat his ass." Colby immediately responded, in his usual overprotective big brother fashion. "My knee's healed enough for me to curb stomp his head into the pavement."

"Colby." I gasped, trying not to laugh. "You don't have to do anything. I already gave him a piece of my mind and also I'm a thousand and one percent sure you could do prison time for that."

"I do it all the damn time." Colby smirked.

"On tv, idiot." I said, unable to hold my laughter in any longer. "If you were to do that to Austin you'd be in trouble for sure."

Colby shrugged. "It'll be worth it." He said, proudly, before coming back over to sit next to me on the stool he previously sat on. "Is the next reason you can't sleep because of your baby's father?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

I sat silently for a moment, biting my lip as I contemplated if I should reveal the father of this child's identity.

I didn't want to continue hiding it from my brother.

And I definitely didn't want him finding out from someone other than me.

"Big brother." I mumbled, glancing over at him. Promise that you won't hate me after I tell you who he is."

"Hate you?" Colby asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "I could never hate you, Y|N." He added, giving me a reassuring smile. "You're my little sister."

"Okay." I said, biting down on my lip even harder this time. "Promise me you won't hate the father."

I had a big feeling that my brother and Joe's friendship or brotherhood wouldn't be the same as it was but I didn't want my brother hating Joe.

Colby sighed. "Just say it."

"His name is Joe." I whispered, closing my eyes tightly because I was afraid to make eye contact with my brother.

"I know." Colby replied.

I squeezed my eyes shut even tighter, remembering I had already told Colby the father's name. "No." I said. "His name is Joe Anoaʻi." I whispered again, feeling tears began to roll down my face for the second time in less than twenty four hours. "As in your bestfriend, Joe."

Once again Colby sighed, repeating himself as he reached over to rub soothing circles in my back. "I know."

As tears continued to run down my face, I carefully turned on my stool to face my brother.

His face oddly calm for someone who's little sister told just told them they had a one night stand with their bestfriend literally a minute ago.

"Who told you?" I gasped. "Was it Tori and her big mouth?" I asked again, with a groan.

I love her but once she gets going there's no telling what she'd spill.

Colby shook his head. "It was Joe."

Joe told my brother about us?

And didn't tell me, he told my brother.

"And as much as I don't like it..." Colby spoke again, with a sigh. "He's a step up from Austin."

I scrunched up my nose at my older brother, really not understanding why he's so calm. "Colby," I said in a calming tone. "Did you take something?"

"Fuck no." Colby laughed, shaking his head. "I'm just okay with it, I guess." He added, before speaking again. "Joe was man enough to come to me and explain earlier today at Black and Brave and..." He shrugged again. "It's not like he purposefully went after my little sister. He didn't know anything about me and you being family before yesterday. Besides you'vegot enough to worry about with this pregnancy. You didn't need a pissed off brotherto add on to your stress."

Okay who is this man next to me?

It's not like I wanted Colby to be so worked up over my situation with Joe, but still...

I didn't expect him to be so calm

And most importantly, why didn't Joe tell me he talked to my brother when he was here earlier.

"But when me and him step back into the ring against one another." Colby said, speaking again, before I could. "I'm beating his ass for what he did with my little sister."

I smiled a bit, before letting out a sigh. "Thank you so much for being oddly understanding." I replied, sliding off my stool, to go over and give my brother a kiss on his cheek. "You're the best brother I've got."

"I'm the only brother you've got." Colby quickly responded, laughing yet again.

•

LAST ONE... THIS WEEK 😅

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PART 5

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T A G S -

@southerngirl41 @alyyaanna

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daenysx · 2 months

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I just wanna kiss james !! Or Robb !!! Like I know it would be so sweet esp on lazy nights on Fridays after a long day :(( ilysm gorgeous !

i love u too, thank you so much for requesting angel!! if you have any robb stark requests please send them lovelies!

robb stark x fem!reader, modern au - fluff and a bit suggestive at the end ♡

robb swears everything tests his patience today.

how much can a person deal with misfortunes in one single day? he woke up with a stupid headache, you were at your own apartment so he didn't get to see you first thing in the morning, his shirt wasn't neatly pressed as he likes, and his morning coffee had too much milk.

things at the office had been hectic too; he had to deal with too many people who were only after his name and nothing more, jon didn't come at all because he was sick, his assistant also took a day off so robb had to plan everything. it is maddening at this point and robb thinks he'll never make it home.

but, well- he does make it home somehow.

it's a friday night, meaning he doesn't need to leave his apartment all day long and if you agree, he'll plan a long day of staying in bed with you. he loosens up his tie, throws his suit jacket on the couch, and follows the smell of pesto until he gets into the kitchen.

there you are, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and his old football team t-shirt he wore back in university. he adores the sight, you are stirring the sauce in a huge pan and the kettle is turned on. his shoulders curve slightly, his back dies to get free of the tension he held all day.

you finally see him when the kettle stops and you turn around. you are quick to give him a hug, arms wrapped around his neck as you kiss the skin next to his ear. robb welcomes the hug with open arms and fond lips, he can smell your shampoo when he kisses your hair. he feels better already, the comfort of you in his home works like magic.

"hey." you mumble against his neck.

"hey." he says back. "hey, sweetheart."

"are you hungry?" you ask, leaving his arms to keep stirring the sauce. "i'm making pasta with the sauce you like, i just got back from school and i'm really hungry, i couldn't wait to cook something fancy."

you tone is sweet and teasing, the favorite one of robb's. he smiles, comes right behind you to kiss your neck from the open collar. "it smells perfect."

"yeah?" you say, smiling at his tired voice. "go change your clothes, baby, then we can set the table."

the dinner fixes almost every wrong thing in robb's head. you tell him about your day, your classes, your appointment with your professor. he talks about his morning coffee and his idiotic clients. he gossips a bit about jon and the new employee who he's absolutely sure has a crush on jon. you laugh at the jokes he makes, lips covered in sauce and cheeks blushed with the joy.

after you're finished with the dinner and the dishes, robb offers to make some tea. you sit on the couch, trying to choose a movie for the background noise. you don't think neither of you can actually manage to focus on something for two hours. you get under the huge blanket, the one you've brought from your own apartment for robb when he got so sick and needed something to keep him warm. your boyfriend thinks the cold weather would never affect him but he was wrong for that time and you were quick to show your affection with a steaming bowl of soup and a fluffy blanket.

robb comes back with two cups of tea, he puts them on the coffee table. you lift the side of the blanket for him and he sits next to you. he kisses the side of your head before taking a sip from his cup. you spend minutes on drinking tea with you playing with his curls, exchanging silent words, and sometimes commenting on the movie. it's nice to end the day with the love of your life, you think. nights like these are always peaceful with robb.

after finishing his tea, robb puts his head on your thighs. a silent indication to show you how desperate he is to feel your touch. your fingers play with his curls, you rub his forehead with a little firmer touch. he's still tense and clearly needs rest so you do your best to give him some comfort. robb closes his eyes, lost in deep pleasure he'd been dreaming all day as you rake your nails softly on his skin.

"feeling any better?" you ask silently, drawing a star on his shoulder.

he nods, a deep sound from his throat rises to tell you how perfect you are for him. "thank you, baby."

you don't think you'll ever get used to hear the word baby from robb stark's lips. his voice is silky smooth and deep, he can make you do anything only by using that voice and he chooses to call you baby. his baby, his sweetheart, his angel girl. his girl. his.

you lean in an uncomfortable angle to kiss his forehead. he opens his eyes after a few seconds and gives you a smile. it's small but still he earns a smile back from you. he sits normally on the couch, and then leans on the other side of the couch to motion his hands towards you. "come here." he says and you follow.

robb pulls you on his body; your thighs on either sides of him, your face tucked nicely to his neck, and your arms staying limp on the couch. he kisses your hair, inhales the scent of your shampoo deeply. his hands are huge and he uses them expertly to rub your back. one hand cups your neck to press lightly on your tight muscles and the other one massages your entire back with gentle fingers. you close your eyes, letting him carry all your weight. all the stress and tension melt in his arms.

"i'm gonna fall asleep." you mumble. robb only kisses your hair as a response. "i'll carry you to bed, sweetheart." he whispers. he keeps his pressure on your muscles and you feel so needy for him even though his hands are all over you.

"robb-" you start, thighs clenching unconsciously.

"shh." he says quietly. "you are too tired, don't force yourself."

you nod, he pushes his thigh in between yours to give you something to press on. it's a relief and it's working, you can feel the hard muscle of his thigh against yourself.

"but-" you say with a small yawn. "in the morning?"

robb chuckles lowly. he gives you a fond kiss on your forehead. "in the morning i'm gonna wake you up so nicely, i promise."

it's the only promise that can put you to sleep. your eyes close finally, permanent for the night. robb has always been a nice pillow for you but especially after a tired day, both of you long for the contentment of each other and it feels like magic. your head stays on his heart, his heartbeat a beautiful lullaby to dream to.

#robb stark #robb stark x reader #robb stark imagine #robb x reader #robb stark fluff #robb stark x you #robb stark x fem!reader #robb x you #game of thrones #a song of ice and fire #game of thrones fic #house stark #robb stark fic #robb stark fanfic #modern!robb stark #modern!robb stark x reader #modern!robb stark x you

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tooxmanyxships · 2 months

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for the prompts, dando break up and make up? or they get into a bad fight n lando thinks it’s over but daniel comes back n then fluff <3

I'm missing Dando so much lately so yeah. I FINALLY went back into my inbox to look at prompts and just had to respond to this one.

It was so fucking stupid. But weren't all fights between couples pretty stupid?

Those between Lando and Daniel definitely were.

Lando couldn't even remember why they were fighting....

It probably all started with one of them making a joke, that's usually how it went with them, which suddenly turned into an argument.

Then one of them would slip up and say something nasty, most likely Lando; if he was honest with himself.

This was usually settled pretty quickly, because Daniel always forgave him. Lando was aware of that.

He tried not to take advantage of it, but sometimes he thought Daniel forgave him a little too easily.

But not this time.

This time Daniel hadn't listened, no matter how many times Lando said sorry and exclaimed that he didn't mean it.

Maybe he'd taken it too far this time. If only he could remember what he said.....

It was in the heat of the moment.

It was also in the heat of the moment that Daniel had slammed the door as he left the apartment.

He didn't even take his key.

The key was still sitting next to Lando's in their usual spot so they wouldn't lose them.

Daniel was gone.

He wasn't coming back.

Lando stuffed himself into the corner of the couch and made himself as small as he could, folding himself into a ball.

He played with the bracelets on his wrist, which usually calmed him down.

It did this time too until his eyes caught onto that one special bracelet.

His most precious one.

It was simple, but pretty.

DR3 sitting proudly in the middle.

Daniel had the same one. The only difference that his one said LN4.

3 & 4... People sometimes joked that they were made to be teammates.

And they had been. But that was in the past.

Some even said they were meant to be together.

And that--- that's what scared Lando so much.

As much as their relationship was built off of a lot of joking and dishing it out against each other, Lando had the tendency to push a little too hard. Too fast.

He wanted to see when Daniel would break. If he would break at all.

Today he had his answer.

Daniel could break.

Daniel could also leave.

And it was all Lando's fault.

~~~~~~********~~~~~~~

Lando didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, still folded in on himself, forefinger caressing the DR3 on his bracelet over and over again.

Lost in thoughts.

Suddenly he was pulled back to the present by pounding on the door.

The pounding had started off as soft knocks which Lando hadn't been aware of.

He wished he wasn't aware of these pounds either, but whoever this person was, they were relentless.

Lando didn't want to see anyone right now.

"Go away!!!"

Fuck.

When did he start crying?!

"Lando?"

That voice.

No.....

It couldn't be - - - -

"Lan, can you please open the door? I forgot my keys."

Someone was playing a very dirty trick on him here.

"Bear. Please. Open the door."

It's him.

Lando jumped up from the couch and sprinted to the door so fast Jon would be so proud of him.

He gripped the door handle and ripped the door open.

Then he stared.

Stared at a slightly flustered Daniel, who had his hand lifted to pound on the door again and quickly lowered it.

"Finally. I thou----"

Daniel couldn't even finish his sentence because the wind was knocked out of him as Lando propelled himself into his chest.

He was frozen for a second, but he immediately came back to life when the sob reached his ears. And his heart.

"I thought you left me."

Daniel quickly wrapped his arms around the younger boy.

"Oh Lan. Never. I would never leave you. No matter how much you try to push me away."

Sometimes he forgets how well the Australian actually knows him.

"But you...." a sniffle. "You left your key."

"Forgot. I forgot my keys. Couldn't even go for a drive so I just took a walk instead."

That Lando could believe. Daniel was prone to forgetting things like that.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's okay."

"No. I shouldn't have said what I did."

Silence.

"You forgot what you said, huh?"

Lando tensed. "I---"

Whatever he was expecting to happen, it wasn't the laugh that bubbled out of Daniel's mouth.

"Keeps on picking fights with me and then completely forgets about them."

A soft whine. "I don't mean to..."

"I know. I know you don't mean to." He turns his head to press a kiss into Lando's curls. "That's why I always come back."

A rustle. Some shifting. Two sets of eyes meeting each other.

"Always?"

"Always. I promise."

A sigh of relief. Head meeting shoulder. Face hiding in the crook of the older man's neck.

"I love you."

Don't leave me again.

"I love you too."

I never will.

#f1 fanfic #f1 rpf #dando #landan #daniel ricciardo x lando norris #Daniel Ricciardo/Lando Norris #Have some feels

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just-an-enby-lemon · 4 months

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*late night on the archives after drinks*

(Jon and Daisy live there, they have no home, tecnicaly Daisy lives with Basira but Basira is off London for the week [trying to find a ritual to stop] and Daisy lost her key on the Buried)

Jon: I just realized that half of my current assistants have stabbed me.

Daisy: Don't you mean a fourth of your assistants.

Jon: Nope, Melanie actually stabbed me in the leg during your time in the corffin. I totally deserved that one tho.

Daisy: I know.

Jon: And you're my assistant now.

Daisy: Yeah, sure, but-

Jon: No, buts!

Daisy: Talk about yourself.

Jon: What? *shakes head confused* Oh *rolls his eyes* Really a butt joke? *Daisy shrugs looking proud of herself* Anyway what matters is that you signed the contract, the Eye thinks you're an assistant, I'm so sorry, but it's too late now.

Daisy: No, no, I get it. I'm okay with being an assistant is just-

Jon: *thinking they are entering in a more serious conversation* Whatever it is, you can say it, is alright.

Daisy: Tecnically I slashed you.

Jon: What?

Daisy: Yeah. I didn't stab you, I slashed you.

Jon: *tries to be upset but starts laughing* *stops in and says in a deadpan* An "well actually" from the Hunt? I'm deeply sorry to inform you, miss Tonner, that your time with me as well as with the evil eyeball of awfull knowledge infected you with the petty nerd disease. It's really bad.

Daisy: *sarcastic*Oh no, how can I survive like this. *giggling*

*In a hospital Somewhere Else (not a PC this time)*

Martin: Please don't make the joke about how half of your assistants stabbed you to the nurse again. Is really not funny.

Jon: Of course not!

Martin: Oh, that's good.

Jon: It would be pretty inacurate. You see it was less than a half wich if you ask me is a victory actually.

Martin: No it's not! Any number of people stabbing you is bad!! It should have been zero. *pouts* Also me working for Peter Lukas didn't made me not an archival assitant, he couldn't just transfer me out of the archives, magical evil biding et cetera, I just had double the contracts and two paychecks. It was great. I mean I was Lonely and it sucked but the salary was the best I ever had.

Jon: Yeah, I know that.

Martin: So I don't see your point.

Jon: Daisy slashed me.

Martin: *confused* *thinks is a serius conversation* Oh. Uh. Yeah, in the woods... uh do you wanna talk abou it?

Jon: No. Yes. Not now. Soon. *takes a moment* Look my point is that Daisy didn't stab me, she slashed me, as you see I remain correct.

Martin: *rolling his eyes* Only very tecnically.

Jon: Wich by popular consensus is the best way one can be right.

Martin: *shaking his head with a smille* You're ridiculous, did you know that?

Jon: I was informed. It was also stated me being so is part of my charm.

Martin: By whom?

Jon: You.

[fabric rustles]

#found this in my drafts #so i color coded and added the putter joke and here it is #tma #the magnus archives #jonmartin #[fabric whisttles]#jmart #queued post

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d-lissa · 1 year

Text

Liveblogging TMA - Season 3 - MAG 100-105

"I saw a ghost."

I GUESS YOU HAD TO BE THERE :

... I hate this story.

It really went : Hey, we know Jon has been kidnapped by a mannequin that wants to take his skin and wear it, but it is also the perfect time to see the kind of statements that usually happen when he isn't here, in all kinds of very awkward and annoying ways !

I just.

I am so done.

I am actually laughing at this, it's just so ... Typical.

No wonder the Institute is a joke, if this is the kind of statements that got leaked to the public in 1999.

Ok, fine, more of The Devastation, the one Maxwell worships told through the eyes of a conspiracy theorist (to whom Tim really didn't have the patience for), a Spiral (he was late for dinner, he couldn't just stay in the spiral !) and the Spiders. Also, cameo of a Lukas, coming in with a lot of static. If we needed any more proof that the family was spooky, that would be it, I guess.

I don't think Brian is surviving long enough to give a coherent statement. RIP.

God, please tell me the next episode we'll get Jon back. This episode just explained SO much about season 1 if this is the kind of statements the man was used to for non supernatural stuff. They were written, of course, but well.

I can only imagine that they were barely any more coherent.

ANOTHER TWIST :

"The Eye watches, and the Stranger conceals, but me… I lie, Archivist. I am the throat of delusion incarnate. They can’t hide you from me."

At this point, I am genuinely surprised that Jon isn't just absolutely traumatized by doors.

Well. I guess this was the end of Michael. Despite all his claims of not having an identity and such, he sounded quite touched by his past with Michael and the Distortion. Touched enough that Helen managed to kill him, in a way, and take his place.

Guess that the best liars are the ones able to fool themselves.

Helen had drawn a map too, hadn't she ? In "The New Door".

That's why she managed to do what Michael did. And just like him, I don't think she knows what she was doing all this time. I really hope that we'll get a statement from this version of The Distortion.

Still, I am kind of sad that she isn't anymore. Though it is nice that this version of The Distortion is willing to help Jon, I guess ? I doubt that it is to stay that way, considering everything, but it was good.

Anyway, anyone confused by the tapes ? Because I am. Because it isn't Elias that controls them, but everyone seems to assume that it is the case, for some reason ? Like, Nikolas is just talking into the recorder, expecting Elias to be on the other receiving end.

Michael's story fucking hurt me though. It's just. I know that Gertrude was a big "the end justifies the means" kind of woman, and I even kind of get it, but man am I glad that Jonathan isn't this kind of person, and that he cares about his people.

I wonder what makes of Jonathan a better Archivist than her. And if it is actually a good thing, you know ?

NESTING INSTINCT :

"Yeah. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be defenceless."

... Why is everyone so eager to blame Jon for everything ?

Like, I love my girl Melanie, but also, I'd really rather she and Tim stopped blaming Jon when he is just as much, if not an even bigger, victim as they are. He didn't ask for any of it, and he can't exactly see in the future (yet?), and he is apparently losing his humanity to forces outside of his control, without any say in anything.

I do get where they're coming from, but I also want to scream.

Elias is as infuriating as ever, and I swear to god, he better die someday.

Finally more info on the Unknowing, and I don't really like the sound of it, but it is the apocalypse, so I guess it makes sense ?

Gerard was actively working with Gertrude, apparently ? And Jon just ... Guessed it out of nowhere because he can just do that now, as well as read other languages, which is ... Worrying.

I mean, really fucking cool as fuck, obviously, and I also really want him to have more powers, but also, he really wants to be human and stay that way, so not only is this heartbreaking, but since I trust Elias fuck all, how thrilled he sounds at that makes me anxious.

Is anything going to happen to Jon ? Is he grooming him to be a sacrifice of some sort ?

Elias sounds honnest enough when he says that he wants to stop the Unknowing, but you can't tell me that only The Stranger has an apocalypse, right ? So what about the others ?

The french was cute though, and not as bad as I thought it would be when I saw he would speak french. Gotta say, I braced myself on this one, but it was pretty decent, actually. Good for him.

Melanie is great as usual, but also ... More and more violent and angry, it seems ? Which is fair, obviously, but this story gave me trust issues, and I just see everything as death flags now.

Call me The Archivist, the way I am worried that behind the actions of everyone is a death that is meant to crush me, specifically.

Speaking of worrying deaths, Martin broke my heart, but when does he not ? He was worried for Jon, damn it. And then Jon makes a joke about it, despite having been held captive for a month.

Someone needs to give this man more care for his own safety, it borderline feels like apathy now.

Good to know the rest of the Institute avoids the Archives though. They really should, to be honnest. I'm with Tim on this one, better be kept away for good.

God, I hope Georgie doesn't get caught too.

Oh, and there's a beetle wife now. It was cute. People really should just let others marry who they want, ffs, even eldritch beings of untold filth.

Anyway ! Guess we know what Not-Sasha was doing at the wax museum. Wonder how long our favourite lunatic will connect the dots.

CRUELTY FREE :

"What are you?!"

Pigs, dead ends and Jon blackmailing people. On one hand, I am so proud I feel like Elias, but on the other, I am worried for him. Do we actually want him to get better at using the powers of The Eye ?

Let's just hope that whatever they're plotting to get Elias will actually work. I'd be much more satisfied if the guy was to simply die, but I guess not everyone is up for murder yet ?

Which is. You know. Fair.

SNEAK PREVIEW :

"Then I guess I’ll see you in hell."

Tim's trauma, as well as the death flags he raises.

Oh, he is so not going to survive past this season, is he ?

We finally got Tim's story and I am worried, because he never wanted any of this and history is just repeating itself at this point. God, does he even have anyone left to lose to The Stranger before it takes him ?

Of course not. Even the friends he had somehow managed to make ended up neck deep in all that supernatural bullshit.

I miss Joe Spooky man. He was cute.

TOTAL WAR :

"How can unspeakable carnage become so tired and repetitive?"

Oh great. More war statements.

And I mean that unironically, those are somehow always the most beautiful ? You know, when compared to all the pain, and slaughter and violence.

It is a nice contrast.

Anyway, Jonathan went on a world trip in the steps of Gertrude, and found himself in China, where he actaully can understand other languages and not just read it in the statements.

I wonder if he can make himself understood the same way, or if Xiao Ling just understood what he was saying because she speaks english too. Considering Jonathan didn't even notice she wasn't talking english with him by the end, it makes sense if he could somehow.

Onto the statement itself, was the concept this time The End, I wonder. Doesn't sound like it. Surely there are more concepts born out of the fears of humankind that touches upon the concept of death, right ? And they all must interact sdifferently with it.

Well, that is if it's how it works, anyway. Could be that they existed forever and human's fear were shaped after them ?

Why only human's though ? Like, why not a mosquitoe or something ?

Imagine, The Clapping, the concept of being smashed by a humongous hands reaching out of nowhere.

Brr.

Anyway, next is America !

Wonder if we'll get more werewolves when there.

The quote of the post will be :

"I have nothing left, except to hope that what remains of my own life is neither long nor memorable."

End Liveblogging.

#tma #the magnus archive #liveblogging #liveblog-tma

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the-invisible-queer · 6 months

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Thinking about my period being late right before I fell asleep really fucked me up 🤣

I had a dream that my best friends and my family were planning me a baby shower and I was so confused and concerned I didn't know who my baby daddy was and everytime I asked someone just laughed at me like I was joking and was like "he'll be there" so I'm waiting for the baby shower to come and I'm already mad I'm pregnant.

The day comes. The people that show up are my college friends, some extended family, and some of my parents church friends including my dad's pastor, Jon. He asks where my baby daddy is because he was looking forward to meeting him and I'm like "he'll be here" repeating what's been said. I still don't know who the fuck he is.

Me and Josh are talking about golf because some scandal with put 5th grade teacher happened and in his apology video he had 3 golf bags in the background. And I'm like "you can't pay me to watch someone play actual golf".

And Nick shows up offended like "I thought you said I could take you golfing" and I look at him like 😳 because there's no way HE'S my baby daddy. I reply "I'd only watch someone play golf if they got a nice ass in golf pants" and he was like "you said I had a nice ass in golf pants" and the man PULLS OUT RECIEPTS apparently I texted that to Priyanka and sent her a gif from Scream Queens of him hitting balls on campus and she obviously agreed.

Then he apologized that she couldn't make it but hopes their gift makes up for it and I assume if the man is on speaking terms with his wife he's not my baby daddy. I'm relieved. Then he asks where Joe is and that obviously makes sense. And I shrug like "he'll be here". But like absolutely no one from their side is at the party so I'm like it's kinda weird if Joe is my baby daddy.

As if the man can read my fucking MIND Nick's like "my folks didn't want to bombard you so they're throwing you another shower in LA" and I'm like "oh...okay" I don't really care to be the center of attention anyway which is why I was hiding in the corner with my brother. And then someone wraps their arms around me, holding my baby bump and on instinct I immediately elbowed them as hard as I could in the chest. It was Joe. I hurt the poor guy. I'm apologizing and he's apologizing to me for startling me he's like "I should have said something so you knew it was me". I felt so fucking bad. But he kept telling me it was okay. Nick's laughing his ass off.

And thus the mystery of who my baby daddy is was solved. And the rest of the dream was me introducing Joe and Nick to everyone because absolutely no one knew them. I guess I was keeping them secret.

I WAS EVEN INTRODUCING THEM TO MY DAD FOR THE FIRST TIME! And like I was well into the pregnancy. Josh, my older brother, my SIL, and my two best friends were the only ones who knew Joe. But that tracks. They're the only people I would introduce him to because they're the most important people to me.

#Mac's Dream Journal

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deuterosapiens · 1 year

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It occurs to me that June is almost over, and July is about to begin. Pride Month is gone, the way of the Dodo, and I haven't said anything about it, talked about it. Feels like I should, though I couldn't really think of anything to say that was worth saying.

It's weird to me. I don't have the sort of history that's grief-wrought. I don't have the pain or the experiences that others have, nor a story that's courageous or inspirational. I mean, I have a history of emotional abuse from my father, but that's got nothing to do with me being gay. He more-or-less stopped after I came out (probably realized that disowing his gay son would inherently make him look terrible or something, I don't know).

So. What's there to say?

I consider myself to be a homosexual. I went through various mental processes that resulted in that conclusion because simply calling yourself "gay" isn't exactly a thing that one should do in my part of the world (though I suppose it's quite a bit better for me than for many, many others). In the single digits, I didn't think about girls. In the early doubles, I still didn't. 'Sure, bisexual then,' I would think when I thought about it at all. Then on-line I discovered the word demisexual and felt like that was as good an identity as any. Not really. Call a rabbit a rabbit. "You are GAY." Nothing fancy or complicated.

Waited until I left for University though to start actually exploring that in finer detail. Had a boyfriend then, not just a crush whom I would think of randomly at night but never bother to talk to. Had the humorous revelation later that some of those guys I'd think about were varying degrees of LGBTQ+, but that's them, and they moved on and away, and really so did I. That first-year boyfriend and I broke up, I was devastated. Mind snapped and I kind of went crazy.

The road to recovering my sanity from that break-up was paved with poor decisions and some, shall we say, a somewhat lax set of personal standards regarding preferences for partners. Discovered the Lars von Trier film Nymphomaniac (not strictly relevant to this story, just felt like dropping it in). Got back to square one with myself though, which was not just good, but good enough.

Rimshot.

At work I'm something of a punchline. I make and take jokes at my expense. I'm the brooding gay with the all græy wardrobe, and the obsession with jackets in the summer. I'm also heat-proof, reasonably so.

Flash-forward to this year, I guess. Two very specific, unrelated events, lead me to question if my assumptions about myself were, strictly speaking, as true as I thought they were. I'd given no thought to myself as a cis-male, for the same reason I don't exactly think too much of myself as a gay-male. The idea of that simply not being the case never occurred to me. Then, during a conversation with a coworker, they revealed that they'd spent the entire time thinking I was non-binary. Which again, never really came up as a consideration of mine.

So suddenly that question was in the back of mind. Then, after reading Redfern Jon Barrett's Proud Pink Sky, the question came up again, this time digging into me. Like a Cenobite's meathooks digging into the mental flesh of my understanding of my own gender expression and presentation.

I'm still not entirely certain where I've landed myself on that. Am I non-binary? Am I something that lies outside that spectrum? I don't have an answer. I don't really believe in binary dichotomies as a part of our natural world anyway. Even something as simple as day and night has dawn, dusk, evening. The afterlight. Not so binary at all, when examined closely.

For the time being, I continue to view myself as male, for simplicity, and because I have simply not explored this whole world of potentiality in its entirety. I'm still looking to understand, in its entirety, what I am with regards to myself.

Not a very good conclusion, I suppose, but that's an ongoing thing. I've got a thing for Labyrinths, and I guess it's fitting that my late night introspection should lead me into one. What can I say, I'm just a humble gargoyle.

So, nothing important to say that hasn't been said a thousand times a thousand times, and by a million times a million people who are far more equipped to tell it.

For a long time, I had a difficult time loving, or even liking, myself. I'm getting better at that. Kind of. Being something else besides the thing I am at work, at home, in my day to day life, something entirely separate of that person-suit, has helped.

The beauty of anonymity: I'm more myself than I am when I'm myself.

#lgbt pride #introducing myself #rambling #tired rambling #verbal self portrait #who we are #your humble gargoyle #recovery #self doubt #the human experience #the gay experience #græyscale

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thoselettersto · 1 year

Text

The Set-Up

I couldn't take another rejection, so I decided to close myself off - it was easier than having my hopes crushed. I was finally getting to a better place, letting go of all the men that came before you - they were all in my head anyway.

So how did we get to you?

The chances of meeting someone new were slim, and I knew that. I didn't want to go out, didn't want to try. Part of me thought maybe I would change my mind once I had my life a little more together, but another part of me had gotten used to being on my own.

For the longest time, my friends and I had this running joke that the perfect man did exist. His name was Benjamin Owens, and he could do no wrong. We constantly referred to him by his full name because that's just the kind of guy he was. Whenever a man was a little bit creepy? "Benjamin Owens would never do that." When we met another man named Benjamin and he didn't treat us right, he got the "The Benjamin that I knew would never" treatment.

Benjamin Owens was a fictional characterization of the man we once knew. He was based on the very few things we remembered about him but mostly on how he made us feel because it's true - it's so easy to forget the words but the feelings last so much longer. Ben was funny, but more importantly, he was SO nice and a safe presence to be around - he was our favorite person to be around for the short time we had together.

One summer, a few years ago, I made the only bold move I had in my arsenal: I added a couple of men I hadn't spoken to in forever on social media in hopes of rekindling something.

Of those men, I had a more recent and more delusional crush on a man, Jayson, that was so wrong for me. Jayson liked a picture or two but never really interacted much with my profile before he ultimately deleted his account; I was scared he blocked me for whatever reason, but we had sleuthed out that his profile had fully gone kaput.

Ben was the other man, and like Jayson, he also barely interacted with my content. In the first few days, he was the first person to view my stories, and he liked a few things, but that quickly fizzled out, and suddenly, we were back to square one.

I was still very aware that he could see what I was sharing, but I stopped trying to view my content through his eyes… until a few days ago. Because I am more of a lurker and less of a poster, I was even less likely to post pictures of myself. Somehow, with a sudden surge of confidence, I shared an image within a story grid specifically chosen for him. Did I actually think he'd see it? No, but it was a good picture regardless, and considering how out of place it felt for me, I thought it was pretty funny.

I've been on a fitness journey recently, and to make healthier choices for my body, I changed my workout time and went to bed before midnight for the first time in months. I felt a little more refreshed than usual as I rolled over to turn off my alarm - shutting off the gentle sounds of Niall Horan singing "Flicker." I went back to sleep until my last alarm sounded a half hour later - cue Jon Bellion's "Good Things Fall Apart." My eyes were half open as I shut the alarm off and unlocked my phone. A quick banner appeared with a social media notification. What had I just read? I wasn't sure if I was actually awake or dreaming this, so I double-checked, and sure enough, I received the most surprising notification.

Ben had seen all my stories, including from a secondary account he doesn't follow, and responded to the picture I had on my main account - at 1 in the morning. Let that sink in for just a minute. He replied to the story at 1 in the morning. I would later learn that he may have been in a different time zone for that, but the point still stands.

In a panic, I message one of my closest friends who knows all too well about the Benjamin Owens of it all. We were both in a panic, but I eventually responded, and that's where the story really began.

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kerie-prince · 3 years

Text

daisy cafe

Harry Potter x Muggle!reader

not a request

warnings: mentions of death, ptsd?? (in the form of nightmares)

summary: Harry starts his healing journey after the Battle, and a rainy night after a counseling session brought him into your café

a/n: hope y'all like this random imagine i wrote <3 i was meant to post it last night but i got into a heated debate about ww84 and i don't queue posts so here's this. no lie, i had a hard time writing this lol it's a whole 4k long imagine (whoops) also, when i say 'football' in this fic, i mean soccer lol

(gif cred)

The Battle of Hogwarts.

There was a lot to say about that day. So many perspectives and interpretations from different people. And today, Harry would talk to his counselor about his. At first, he opposed the idea of having a counselor but Hermione insisted that he talks to a professional. Well, insisted probably isn't the word. If anything, Hermione probably forced him into it and made the appointment herself.

So here he sat in the waiting room, sitting awkwardly in an uncomfortable chair. Even the chairs in the Hogwarts classrooms were more comfortable than these. The room was small and had tacky sunflower wallpaper. Harry sat by himself and internally cursed his best friends for just leaving him there and drove off. ‘Call me when it's over!’ Hermione had yelled out through the window.

“Mr. Harry Potter?” a young man called out for him. Harry followed him into the counselors office, noticing that the room was much nicer than the waiting room and the chairs looked more comfortable. And if he was going to be stuck here for over an hour, he better not walk out with back pain.

Harry sat patiently as he waited for the counselor to come. He noticed the golden name plate on the desk with a name written in black letters. Jon Osborne. Harry’s leg was unconsciously bouncing in rhythm with the ticking of the clock on the wall. He didn't think he'd be nervous about it as he was now. He immediately stood up as he heard Dr. Osborne come in. “Mr. Potter, it’s an honor to meet you,” he stretched his hand out to greet Harry.

“Pleasure’s all mine, sir,” Harry said with a shy smile. Once they sat down, Dr. Osborne went straight into it, “So tell me, Mr. Potter, how have you been?”

“Great. I've been busy planning a wedding,” Harry stated like it was a normal conversation. “Congratulations. Yours, I'm assuming?”

“No, it's for my two best mates,” Harry corrected. “They're getting married pretty soon and I offered to help pay for it. Not really doing much of decoration planning, Hermione thinks Ron and I would pick something stupid,” Harry wasn't looking at Dr. Osborne directly, but he had a faint smile as he explained the details. “And are you with anyone?” Dr. Osborne asked.

It made the young wizard think. Ron and Hermione were getting married, Neville and Luna were having fun on small dates, and Ginny was still going back and forth with Dean. “No, I'm not with anyone at the moment.”

His counselor wrote something down quickly before going forward with the next question. “Do you think about it often?” Harry knew what he was insinuating. His breath hitched a bit. Harry certainly didn’t expect to be asked this question so early on. From Hermione’s explanation, he wasn’t expecting to talk about the Battle for maybe another couple sessions. And that was if Harry even wanted to do other sessions.

“You don’t think you need to be here,” it was like he read Harry’s mind. And it was true. “Well, I do have a pretty solid support group. We all went through it together.” Harry rubbed the palms of his unusually sweaty hands against his pants.

“So because you and your friends went through it together, you're okay? Nothing about it bothers you?” had Dr. Osborne’s tone altered just a bit, he would've sounded condescending. He sounded a bit empathetic. It made Harry actually want to talk. “Do you and your friends actually talk about it?”

The answer was clear to Harry. No. If he was being honest, he didn't think there's even a reason to talk about it. The worst had been over, and now that him and his friends and family – and by family, he meant the Weasleys – were finally in peace, Harry figured that he wouldn't have to think about it again.

But the nightmares were relentless. It wasn't like the ones he had when Voldemort was in his mind and showing him things he wanted to show Harry. These nightmares were worse. They consisted of the worst that could have happened that day. Watching his friends die, his professors, his peers. The worst of the worst. And there's one that he hated the most. Being in Voldemort's point of view and killing Harry successfully and for good this time.

Hermione tried to get Harry to talk, but he's too stubborn. So she figured the only way to get him to talk was to schedule this appointment. He was promised confidentiality and listening ears with no judgement. Harry accepted because he knew that even though Hermione would always be there, she would probably say something like ‘You're not alone in this, we're all here for you and with you.’ Ron would listen to the whole thing and suggest getting a drink and food. Harry loves his friends, but it's hard to talk about such things when they've gone through it too. He wondered if they felt the same.

—

Harry was leaving his fourth session with Dr. Osborne. Unexpectedly, he enjoyed these meetings. It felt good to talk to someone outside of his friends. Hermione noticed how he was returning to his old self, joking around and enjoying playing quidditch at the Burrow.

Harry decided on taking a small walk around the Muggle London street before calling Hermione and Ron to pick him up. After ten minutes, though, sprinkles of rain were falling down. And sprinkles turned into hard falls. Harry covered his head with his hands and looked around for someplace to run in. Next to him was a dental office, but to his luck the door was locked. He kept looking and looking for some place to stay inside until finally, he saw a building across the street with a lit up ‘Open’ sign.

Harry looked both sides of the street before running across. He was getting soaked by the second and when he ran inside, his jacket was dripping onto the mat. The place was warm and smelled lovely. Harry took his glasses off and wiped it with the driest part of his shirt. The cafe looked as warm as it felt. There weren’t any guests inside and he didn't find anyone working there. Harry saw the bell on the bread display and pressed on it a few times. After a couple of minutes, a girl came to the front. “Sorry for taking so long, how can I help– oh are you alright?” You saw the puddles of water that were splattered all around the floor. But your worry was with the stranger that was most likely freezing. “D-do you happen to have a phone around?” Harry asked you. He was shaking where he stood and all he wanted was to go home and get into some warm clothes. You nodded your head and went in the back to get the phone. Harry wanted to sit down, but he didn't want to make more of a mess than he’s already done. You came back quickly with a phone and a few rags so he could dry himself.

Harry dialed Hermione’s number and waited for her to answer. She didn't answer the first or second time which made Harry frustrated. They better not be in the middle of it right now. Finally, she answered on his third call. “Hello?”

“Hermione, what the bloody hell have you been doing?” Harry sassed. When he looked up, he saw how you stood awkwardly to the side, surprised that in contrast to his sweet demeanor, he sounded like the opposite. But that was just your assumption.

“Harry? Is that you? Why are you calling from this number?” In the background, he could hear Teddy joyful coos. “I was just giving Teddy a bath, I couldn't hear the phone.”

“Oh. Well, it’s raining really hard, can you come pick me up?” Harry felt your eyes on him still and he smiled awkwardly.

“Of course, are you still in the office?”

“No, I’m– hold on” he stopped mid-sentence and lowered the phone down, “where am I?” It took you a couple seconds to process that he was talking to you now, “Oh, uh, Daisy Cafe.”

“Daisy Cafe,” Harry repeated back to Hermione. “Alright, I’ll be right there.” And she hung up. Harry handed the phone back to you, “Thanks.”

Your hand was warm against his, a warmth he wished he had instead of the cold that enveloped his body. Harry’s legs were getting tired from standing so long and you noticed the shift in his position. “Please, take a seat,” you had gestured to a table. Harry insisted that he didn't want to ruin the chairs, but you didn't mind.

You checked the time on your wristwatch and ran to the back leaving Harry alone. He wondered what you were doing until he saw you come back slowly dragging a large heating machine. Harry stood from his seat and rushed to help you, “Where did you want this?”

“I was going to put this in front of the table so you can warm up. Don’t want you to get sick,” you spoke softly. You felt yourself warm up on your cheeks, somehow shy in this moment. On a daily basis, you talk to loads of strangers and some of them were quite attractive. But something about this stranger felt different.

Harry blinked with an indescribable look in his eyes as he stuttered a ‘thank you’. You turned on the large heater after Harry sat back down and slightly shifted his chair so he could be in range of the heaters’ direction.

You grabbed your keys from your back pants pocket to lock the door and turned the ‘Open’ sign off. “Would you like some coffee?” you offered him. Harry nodded and searched his pockets for his wallet before you stopped him, “Don't worry! It's on the house.”

There was a pot of coffee that was still hot on the warmer and you grabbed a tray, filling it with a mug, creamer, sugar, and a small plate of assorted biscuits in case he was hungry as well. You walked to his table and sat them down. He was in awe of all the things you brought out for him and felt grateful that you would do this for a stranger. “Thank you,” he nodded his head at you with a genuine smile.

“It’s no trouble,” you smiled back. You sat across from him with a mug of your own and sipped on the hot beverage you made. Harry took a sip of the coffee he finished preparing and nearly sighed at the feeling of it warming him up inside. Mixed with the heat that was coming from the heater, he felt brilliant as he usually says.

“Do you live around here?” You started small chat to get out of the awkward silence.

“No, I live just outside Ottery St. Catchpole.” Harry stated. He noticed the confused look on your face, you had probably had no idea where that was. “It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere.”

You nodded in response. Harry then asked if you lived around. After a while, you had gotten to know each other pretty well. He learned about your two cats that are always fighting, you learned about his friends always pulling pranks on each other in the house. As Harry waited for Hermione to pick him up, he was enjoying talking and laughing with you. You two were having such a good time getting to know each other in what felt like thirty minutes, but was actually an hour.

Once Hermione was in front of the cafe and beeped the horn of the car, Harry felt a bit disappointed to leave. This was probably the first conversation he had with someone who he didn't already live with or paid to listen. And it was a bonus that he found you quite attractive. “That’s for me. Thank you… for letting me stay.”

“Oh it’s no trouble. Safe travels on your way home! I hope you don’t get sick,” you waved off as you opened the door for him. Harry ran through the hard rain to get into his friend's car, but once he opened the door to the front seat, he turned back to you. “I never got your name!” Harry yelled out.

“Y/N! What’s yours?” You voiced with the same energy.

“Harry!” You smiled and waved one last time before closing the door and got yourself ready to go home. Harry fastened his seatbelt and held a small smile nearly the entire ride home. Hermione cleared her throat to get her friends’ attention. “How was the session today?”

Harry nodded ‘yes’ in an attempt to not have to talk. Not because he was gloomy, but distracted. He then processed what she said and replied back to the bushy haired woman, “Oh, i-it went fine. Good, great.” Harry was stuttering over his words. It was something that Hermione instantly noticed what was going on. The last time he was like this was when he first met Cho in fourth year. It was nice, she thought, that Harry was not only getting back to normal, but was also focused on something - or rather someone - other than his nightmares.

—

Harry goes to your cafe now after every session with Dr. Osborne. He finally went for his drivers license so he didn't have to depend on Hermione anymore. Ron and Hermione apparate to work anyway, so it granted him more access to the car.

Every Monday and Thursday, you would wait for him to walk through your doors. You would set aside a small box of warm biscuits for him that he seemed to enjoy and remembered how he took his coffee. After a couple of weeks, the people you worked with would give you a smirk and tease you with ‘He’s here~’. One of them, Jo, would constantly ask you if Harry has asked you out yet. And every time, you'd say ‘No.’ only for him to reply back ‘Well, why don’t you ask him out?’

You’ve definitely thought about it, but you didn't know how to ask him. There would be times that you thought Harry would do it before he left, but he’d just be a stuttering mess and leave. So, tonight before he leaves, you planned to just be straight with him and ask him to dinner.

Harry came later than usual today. After he stepped out of the counselors’ office, he checked his hair in the mirror he saw in the hallways. Tonight, he was also planning on asking you out. He likes you and he was pretty sure you liked him too. Once he stepped outside, he saw a flower cart in front of a local bank. Harry debated whether or not to buy you some, but opted out. What if she says no? What do I do with them at that point?

After an hour of having a mental pep talk, he entered Daisy Cafe. He didn't see you behind the bread display like he always had. Jo had recognized him immediately and watched as Harry looked around the small cafe for you. “She’s in the back, would you like for me to get her?”

“I-I can wait. She’s probably busy,” Harry stuttered. He didn't know whether it was a good thing or bad thing that your co-worker instantly knew what he was there for. Is it really obvious? Harry thought. He saw as Jo walked to the back anyway, probably announcing his presence to you. As it turned out, you were in the back checking yourself out in the small mirror that was hung on the inside of your locker. You ran out as soon as Jo said "He’s here" and dusted the flour off onto your apron.

“Hi, Harry,” you greeted.

“Hi,” Harry greeted back. “How are you?”

“I’m doing good, just cleaning up. Did you have a good day?” you asked. Harry nodded his head. He was about to order before you stopped him, “Your usual today?” He gave a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head, “I come in that often, don't I?” You chuckled and began making his coffee. “It’s alright, I enjoy your company.” The both of you blushed, more so you after the sudden confession.

You couldn't see him, but Jo was listening to your conversation and wanted to laugh. You looked at Harry for any signs of possible rejection and just as quickly looked away to finish his order. Jo came out from the back with his bag and keys in his hand, “I’ve counted the safe for you. Have a good night, I’ll head out.” You nodded your head and thanked god for the interruption, “Thanks hun, see you tomorrow.” He winked at Harry once you looked away as to say ‘Good luck’ and walked out.

Harry became nervous and thought about just grabbing his coffee and going home. He hadn't dated anyone in a long time and didn't know where to even start. Merlin, he didn't even know what to do in a relationship. And especially with a muggle. Harry nearly forgot what it was like to be around muggles after the Dursley's left their home on Privet Drive and Harry moved in the Weasley’s in the Burrow. He certainly couldn't bring you there anytime soon. Especially when Arthur would ask you loads of questions. Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Neither of you knew how to get a conversation going. You took your time stirring his coffee and grabbing the small box of biscuits before turning back to him. You made yourself tea instead, having drank too much coffee throughout the day to calm your nerves. He took the styrofoam cup and box from your hands and purposely brushed his fingers against yours but made it seem like an accident. Your neck stiffened at the sudden physical contact and pulled your hands back. He felt electric and if he let you, you'd grab his hands and keep them intertwined with yours.

It’s now or never you thought. “Do you want to go to dinner sometime–”

“Would you like to go out with me–” you and Harry spoke at the same time. You hadn't processed what he said so you questioned, “Huh? What was that?” Harry thought he heard you correctly, but he asked you again, “Would you like to go out with me? For dinner, maybe?”

YES, YES, YES you chanted in your head. Your heart was warm and you felt a butterfly flutter about inside you. On the outside, you were cool and collected. But your smile could have spoken for you. “Yes, I’d love that.”

—

Hermione helped Harry with looking for nice places in muggle London. George offered his best suit to the raven-haired boy, but Harry declined because he was significantly smaller in stature than the tall ginger, and also because he feared that George would have hexed the suit to either squirt out water, or have random objects falling out the sleeves.

George, Ginny and Ron would tease Harry about finally having a girlfriend, only to get scolded by both Hermione and Molly to stop. “Harry is a perfectly handsome young boy, he should be dating as much as he can,” Molly would defend.

“Ah, but mum, Harry isn't a boy anymore,” George joked. Molly hit her sons’ head with a cleaning rag and returned to what she was doing. Harry had picked a small restaurant that Hermione recommended that was inexpensive but not shabby. He never really liked expensive places or things even though he can absolutely afford them. She suggested that she helped him pick out something to wear, but he stopped her right there. “I can dress myself, thanks,” Harry sassed.

“The one you should be helping is my hopeless brother,” Ginny joked about Ron. He didn't find it all funny as Ron had a sour look on his face and whispered under his breath, “Bloody menace.”

“What did you say?” Ginny stood straight up from the couch and chased Ron throughout the house. She may be the youngest in the house, but it didn't make her any less scary when mad. George laughed at the sight of his siblings fighting while Molly yelled at them to be careful.

Harry finally put everything together – but if he was honest, he was putting together whatever Hermione said – and went to his room. There was still a couple days until the date, but he was nervous. He’s never really gone on a date. There was the night with Patil at the Yule Ball, but that didn't end well. There were a couple hang outs with Cho in the library, but never an actual date. So he hoped that this would turn out well.

—

Harry's breath was taken away when he saw you. You looked absolutely beautiful in the sundress you wore. Looking ethereal, you hadn't noticed Harry across the street parking the car. For a split second, he almost rear ended the car in front of him.

He walked towards slowly after taking a deep breath and held a single daisy in one hand. Hermione said roses were ideal, but he figured he should come up with at least one thing on his own. Your e/c eyes met his green ones and your heart did somersaults in your chest. Once he stood in front of you, you both said ‘Hi’ at the same time. Harry handed you the daisy and you were flattered by the gesture. It was a beautiful flower and you couldn't wait to put it in a small vase and display it at the cafe.

“Shall we go inside?” Harry had one of his hands pointed towards the door of the restaurant. You nodded and walked into the place with Harry holding the door open for you and another elderly couple behind him. He’s so sweet you thought.

The night was perfect; Harry had felt comfortable in your presence. Much like the first night you had met and the times after, you both spent the dinner talking and laughing. This was the most normal, but also best Harry had felt in a long time. He hadn't realized how he never really got to be a young person due to all the insane things he’d gone through his six years at Hogwarts and then before with his aunt and uncle. But here he was with you, doing the most normal thing. Harry’s troubles were lifted off of his shoulders. There was no threat of Death Eaters terrorizing the streets, there was no Dark Lord out to get him; it was just him sitting down and having dinner with a woman that he really liked.

He learned more about you tonight. For one, you were also an only child. Other than your cats, you also liked dogs. And you occasionally played football with some of your cousins. Harry had never played football, but if it was anything like quidditch, he was sure that he'd love it as well.

At the end of the date, he took you to your underground tube station. You walked side by side, hands slightly brushing against another. You walked a bit faster to stop in your tracks right in front of him. “I had a lot of fun,” you confessed.

“Me too,” Harry expressed. You looked down at your fiddling hands while Harry couldn't take his eyes off of you. He was about to say ‘good night’ before you built up the courage and kissed him on the cheek. “Night, Harry,” you beamed at him. Harry was turned into a blubbering, love-struck fool as he saw you walk further and further away. Finally, he yelled out, “I’ll see you on Monday!”

Before turning away into the tube, you waved and repeated his words back at him, “See you Monday!”

—

“Well you're certainly in a bright mood today, Mr. Potter,” Dr. Osborne observed Harry from his seat. Since the date, he’s been talking a bit brighter and his smile is more genuine than when he first came in. “Could it be because you’re seeing someone after you leave?” All Harry could do was smile. “Well I’m very happy that you now have a companion aside from your friends.”

Harry nodded before he replied back, “Thank you, sir.”

“No need to thank me, Mr. Potter. You did this on your own,” Dr. Osborne stated. “Will you bring her to the wedding?”

“No, I don't think we’re ready for that,” Harry informed. This wedding would definitely include magic and you hadn't been close to any exposure of it. “Of course.” Dr, Osborne added. There was a bit of silence after that, which gave the counselor an opportune moment to ask about some of the things that were the reason for his weekly visits. “Do you still have the nightmares?”

Harry’s smile lowered. “Yeah, I do. But not as frequent as I used to have them.” It was true, it went down from him having them about nearly everyday to only get them once every couple weeks. He thanked Merlin you were kept out of his nightmares. He didn't need to see something traumatizing.

Dr. Osborne took notes and set his notepad down. “Well, Mr. Potter. I have seen excellent progress since day one. I think we can move down to just one session per week and work our way down to once every few weeks. I'll see you next Monday.” He opened the door for Harry and shook his hand as Harry left. Harry went to your cafe right after. The daisy he gifted you was on display above the glass bread display in a small, white vase. He hoped that you regularly watered and fed it so you wouldn't notice that Harry actually hexed the flower to never die. You were currently helping someone out when Harry stood in line. Once the customer you were with left, you noticed your boyfriend – at least you assumed he was, now – standing behind a couple of people. He waved at you, and you pointed to the usual table he sat at. It was almost like you reserved the table only for him. He nodded and sat down, patiently waiting for you to finish the line of customers.

Harry was mesmerized watching you work, the beautiful, kind smile you had when talking to customers. Some of them were obviously regulars as you asked one elderly man how his grandchildren were. Once she finished helping everyone, she started working on the usual coffees and tray on biscuits for the two of you.

Harry loved hearing about your day and he wished he could tell you more beyond what happens at home that didn't include magic. He didn't know when he'd tell you about him being a wizard. Ron and Hermione told him that if he were to tell you, you're more than welcome to attend their wedding which was still a few months away now that they have all the time in the world to plan it. He didn't know what to say, but there was one thing he was sure about. He really liked, maybe even loved, how comfortable he felt around you. He liked the way your hands felt in his, your eyes shying away when you looked at him for too long. And he loved the feeling of your warm, soft lips against his at the end of the night when you had just locked the doors and he just went for it. Because in that moment, he wasn't the famous Harry Potter who saved the wizarding world, he wasn't Harry Potter who was recovering from the aftermath of the Battle. He was just Harry, and he really liked being your boyfriend.

At least he assumed he was.

—

requests open!

#harry potter #harry potter imagine #requests open #harry potter fluff #harry potter angst #harry potter x reader #harry potter x y/n #harry potter x you #harry potter x muggle!reader

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karliahs · 3 years

Note

hello! this is over 500 words, i hope you don't mind. i just like this whole part so much i couldn't cut it XD if it is a bother just cut from the end until it's 500. love you!

Tim had always noticed people, collected little details about them in his head whether he intended to or not, but he thinks his observations used to be about happier things, though it’s hard to remember exactly how he was, how he felt, before - it wasn’t the kind of thing he ever tried to memorise, the kind of thing he ever thought he could lose. Now he finds himself taking note of the coworker who comes back from their lunch break with faint puffy red marks around their eyes, or the older guy who checks his phone with something like dread in his eyes. Danny would have called it his older brother instincts (but what good did those instincts do him? ).

Tim blinks back to the present, realising he’s been pushing a napkin over the same spot of floor for a while now. Jon offers him a hand up, though he braces himself on the bar with his other hand before he does. Tim takes care not to let Jon take too much of his weight as he’s hauled back up.

“Ah, thank you. And apologies, again,” Jon murmurs, gesturing awkwardly at Tim’s lightly-beered clothes.

“Happens to everyone,” Tim says easily. Jon still looks lightly anguished, and Tim silently wishes this could have happened to someone else, someone with the confidence to laugh it off. “I’m always convinced I’m going to drop something when I go in the silent study bit of the library,” Tim offers.

“Ah...that worry hadn’t actually occurred to me,” Jon replies, solemn enough that Tim can’t really tell if he’s joking.

Tim finger-guns. “Any other anxieties I can stir up while you’re over here?”

“I’m quite capable of stoking my own neuroses, thank you.”

Jon glances over his shoulder at the tables the rest of the department are occupying, perhaps doing the same thing as Tim and trying to psyche himself up for some more hollow smalltalk. Tim notes that his jacket seems slightly large on him, but in a way that kind of works. The collar of his shirt is slightly out of place beneath it. There’s a lump forming in Tim’s throat, even though nothing is happening - nothing but standing close to someone, noticing the little signs that they’re real and alive entirely independent from him. He’s aware, as he always is, of the hollow pit in his stomach, pain ebbing and flowing but never gone, new flares thrown off from a familiar wound, now pulsing with a kind of loneliness. All this, just from standing close to someone and trying to make them feel better about a mistake that didn’t matter.

“I...might go out for a smoke,” Jon murmurs eventually.

And here’s where Tim could say sure, wave him off and go back to moping, buy everyone an obligatory round, flex his meaningless chat muscles and be home by half 9. “Mind if I join you?” he asks instead, and to his surprise Jon nods immediately, as if he’d been hoping Tim would say that.

They duck outside to find dark clouds have given way to an anticlimactic drizzle. They stay close to the pub, shielded from the rain by the slight overhang of the roof. Jon fumbles with a lighter and Tim finds his gaze drifting over the rain-slick streets. It’s been a while since he’s been...anywhere, really, other than work and his flat. Longer than he can remember since he was outside in the never-quite-dark of the city.

Despite himself, Tim finds himself admiring the buildings across the way, modern painted shop-fronts on the ground floor giving way to weathered brick and occasional stone carvings above. It was the first thing he’d loved about London, how you only had to look up to catch a glimpse of its history, and it almost wounds him all over again, that that love isn’t gone too. It would be easier if he was just one thing, all the way lost. It would be easier if he didn’t still love the world that killed Danny.

Jon lights his cigarette, and silently holds the lighter out to Tim. Tim shakes his head, and Jon doesn’t question him about why he’s come out here if he doesn’t smoke. Doesn’t press about the way Tim must be looking; he knows he’s never had much of a poker face. Danny tried to teach him poker, on a visit home from uni; Tim left for six weeks and came back to playing cards and strategy guides everywhere - his brother, who never sit still even in his own head -

“Where were you, before this?” Jon asks. Tim wouldn’t have pegged him for a smoker, but he looks immediately more relaxed with a cigarette in his hands. Nice hands, too. It would be easier, if he didn’t-

“Publishing,” Tim answers, before he can drift again. He wants to say more, to make sure this undemanding presence isn’t going to leave his side, but his throat is still tight. “You?”

Jon frowns, as if debating something to himself, then gives a tiny rueful smile. “Tesco.”

Tim grins. “Was it a haunted Tesco?”

“Only by customers,” Jon replies, dry as bone.

from: please leave a light on when you go

HELLO, this is 1000 years late and for that i apologise!! i absolutely do not mind that it is over 500 words. tbh i'd do these for whole fics if enough people were interested!

i think i've talked about my tim just genuinely loving people in general feelings in another one of these answers, but it continues to be true. makes sense to be for a character demonstrated to be both smart and gregarious. i also wanted to muse on how formative traumatic events both change us and don't - tim still cares about the people around him, but now he's unconciously looking for pain

i am not immune to older brother tim feelings...i am especially not immune to them being directed at jon...

part of the reason pre-series jontim is so fun is thinking about what would draw these two together. one answer is that i imagine jon as someone who would want/need a particular kind of consideration from those he's friends with, and i imagine tim as someone who's very good about noticing what people need and working around it without it being a huge thing

i was surprised that dyspraxic jon is not already a tag! or even just 'dyspraxia' does not seem to be a tag. i've read a lot of good fic involving various mobility issues for jon and this is a hc that i think makes sense (and that i hope i portrayed sensitively)

apparently the only tims i write are just regularly dissociating. i have no justification for this except that grief is really good at displacing you from time and also it's a convenient narrative device for dipping in and out of internal monologue

“Ah, thank you. And apologies, again,” Jon murmurs, gesturing awkwardly at Tim’s lightly-beered clothes.

“Ah...that worry hadn’t actually occurred to me,” Jon replies, solemn enough that Tim can’t really tell if he’s joking.

Tim finger-guns. “Any other anxieties I can stir up while you’re over here?”

“I’m quite capable of stoking my own neuroses, thank you.”

lifting tim's fear here directly from my uni days. quiet libraries...so good at making me feel like i'm about to start emitting 1000 noises (i now work in a library but it's not a quiet one so we're mostly good)

jon who is jokes in a v specific deadpan way that a lot of people don't get...a good headcanon

trying to inject the right amount of slightly awkward formality into jon's dialogue is hard but fun...that last sentence i think i thought about a lot even though it's a short/simple thought. gotta make it sound like a short/simple Jon thought

another reason they would like each other right off the bat - banter

jon in big jacket...as the kids say, hot jon rights

i've also talked about this in another one of these but man. the little details that make it feel real that someone is there close to you. when you are lonely the reality of other people right there just out of your reach suddenly drives home

"a mistake that didn't matter" tim is always thinking about the mistakes that did matter :(

“I...might go out for a smoke,” Jon murmurs eventually.

i think jon here is like i think i am enjoying talking to this person but on some level would be relieved to stop, so i will take a punt as to whether or not he is also a smoker and let fate decide. luckily for him tim is not a smoker but he does crave human connection

mostly my reaction when i have had to be in london is some level of :/ but maybe i do think fondly of some of it. cities at night...the weird mash up and modern & ancient in uk buildings that i always took for granted until i didn't. also hello architechture-buff tim

rereading this it's just very obvious to me that i wrote this during lockdown...like oh imagine going to a place and seeing a person. magical. effervescent

i do love them huddling close to keep out of the rain here...thematically appropriate, it is sad battered people against the world time, and also circumstance bringing you literally close to someone and having that change/spark something

the last line distresses me, the person who wrote it. i don't know if i have much to add to it really. sometimes the most painful part of living through something is waking up the next day and finding that you are still alive and a real person capable of being touched by the world

tim blames both himself and the world for killing danny. sure hope that blame and hatred doesn't rise up and send him into a spiral of self-destruction some day. would be a real bummer if that happened and ultimately led to his death via clown murder explosion

“Publishing,” Tim answers, before he can drift again. He wants to say more, to make sure this undemanding presence isn’t going to leave his side, but his throat is still tight. “You?”

Jon frowns, as if debating something to himself, then gives a tiny rueful smile. “Tesco.”

Tim grins. “Was it a haunted Tesco?”

“Only by customers,” Jon replies, dry as bone.

thank you for choosing this passage because now i have noticed/will edit the last sentence in the first paragraph, which is missing a word and does not scan right (should be 'who could never sit still even in his own head')

'Nice hands, too. It would be easier, if he didn’t-' hot. jon. rights. also connecting the 'maybe it would be easier if i wasn't still alive and real and capable of feeling' thing to noticing, appreciating, wondering if he wants something with jon

jon has definitely not told anyone else at the institute that he was in customer service before this. proud of him for this brief moment of trust. also between this and martin having told tim about his CV, i think people just look at tim and are like yeah here are my career-related secrets

i also just love imagining jon in customer service. and as someone who did not work in customer service at the time of writing this fic but now does, i mostly do not view customers as hauntings (library patrons are mostly chill) - unless it is 10 minutes until we close, in which case they are the absolute bane of my existence

#asks #anonymous #please leave a light on when you go #jontim #tma /#talking #no you cannot use a computer no you cannot start a long conversation about brexit we are CLOSING #long post

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im-in-love-with-pizza-bites · 4 years

Text

Hometown

Sebastian Stan x Fem!Reader

Warnings: small age gap (8 years, your 30 he's 38), Swearing

Summary: The reader brings her Boyfriend Sebastian to visit her family for Thanksgiving

Town name and your family's names are made up btw.

Part 2

A/n: Hi y'all Happy Thanksgiving!

You were practically bouncing off the walls in excitement when you woke up this morning. It was the day before Thanksgiving and you were bringing your Boyfriend, Sebastian Stan to visit your family with you, you had moved out of your small town where your family lives when you were 18 because you wanted to follow your dream of being a actress which you succeeded in after starting in a movie with Chris Evans two years ago. At a party Chris had invited you to he introduced you and Sebastian. Currently you were dragging Sebastian through the gate excited to see your family.. "Babe my brothers are waiting come on!" You said. He shook his head jogging to keep up with you.

"Dragoste they aren't gonna leave us here slow down!"

"You don't know that hurry up!" You said. This would be the first time in almost a year you saw your older brothers and to say your excited would be an understatement. You hadn't seen them since the Christmas. You are also excited to meet your youngest niece who was born a few months prior to thanksgiving. You made it out of the gate and looked around spotting the four men, three of them were sitting down a baby stroller sitting next to them, the fourth man stood beside them. "There they are!" You exclaimed letting go of your boyfriends hand and began running to the men. "Matty!" You tackled the man that was standing.

"Jeez!!" He exclaimed falling, the others looked at you shaking their head at you. "Hi baby sis."

"Hi!" You stood up giving hugs to the other three men as Sebastian made it over. "Sebastian these are my brothers, Matt, Jon, Mike, and Justin. Boys this is my boyfriend, Sebastian." You introduced. Your brothers stood up straight giving Sebastian a intimidating look. He would be lying if he said he wasn't worried to meet your older brothers. He was under the impression that they were stereotypical over protective brothers. He knows you are their only sister and the youngest of the five of you. Matthew being the oldest at thirty-seven, Jonathan is thirty-six, Mike is thirty-five, and Justin is thirty four, and you are thirty.

"Hello." Sebastian said shifting on his feet nervously before your brothers broke into smiles.

"Hey Man. Welcome to the family!" Matt said pulling him in a hug. You shook your head laughing as your brothers hugged him and welcomed him to the family. He is the first guy you've brought home since you moved when you were 18.

"Is this my baby niece?" You bent down in front of the stroller where a two-month-old baby sat.

"Yes she is." Justin said.

"Hi there Nora. I'm your auntie y/n." You said in a baby voice. Sebastian looked at you fondly as you made faces and cooed at the baby.

"Okay let's go get your luggage Mom and dad are waiting for us." Matthew said. You stuck your tongue at at him before standing. You grabbed your before hand before the 6 of you before walking to luggage claim. You guys made it to luggage claim grabbing your bags before heading out to Jonathan's mini-van which you teased him for.

"So how do you two meet?" Matt asked as he leaned back in the seat. You didn't tell your family much about yours and Sebastian's relationship.

"At a party Chris invited me to." You said.

"That's all not some exciting and adorable story? Wait Chris?" Justin asked.

"Chris Evans. My co-star? I told you bout him! The guy with the adorable dog!" You said looking down at your phone.

"Oh! That guy!"

"Chris was adamant in us meeting." Sebastian chuckled with you.

"Sebastian. Your an actor like her right?" Matt asked.

"Yeah." Sebastian nodded.

"You're in those marvel movies? My twins talk about them all the time." Jonathan said.

"And so does my oldest." Mike said.

"Yeah I play the Winter Soldier." Sebastian said smiling.

"Cool man I think thats my daughters favorite." Jonathan replied.

"You don't know Samantha's favorite character from movies she talks about 24-7?" Justin asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's him." Jon shrugged as he turned the car down the street leading into your hometown.

"Grayson said something about her favorite being Captain America though." Mike said.

"Ooooh! Jax's favorite is The winter soldier!" Jon said in realization as the car made it into town.

"In a whole year this place didn't even change a bit." You muttered looking out the window as the car passed by shops and houses.

"It never does." Matt said.

"Hey, are my other nieces and nephews waiting at mom and dad's house for us?" You asked your brothers. They each have kids, Matt has two Luna and Benji they are thirteen and eight, Jonathan has four Samantha, and Jaxon who are twins and fourteen, Violet and Hazel who are ten, and nine, Mike has four boys, Grayson, Jasper, Levi, and Griffin who are fourteen, twelve, ten, and four, Justin has three Leo, Oliver, and Nora, they are seven, five and Nora is just a baby. You were the only one without kids but that was because you wanted to wait till you were married to have children.

"No Griffin is but the rest went to get something from Jon's house before we left so they probably aren't back yet." Mike told you as the car pulled into the driveway of a two story house that was far from the street with a large yard that was surrounded by woods after.

"We're here!" You said excitedly as you unbuckled your car. In addition to not seeing your brothers for a year you also didn't see their wives who you were close with since they became your big sisters the second they met you. You had seen your parents when they came to a premiere for one of your movies. Jon parked the car and you climbed out going with Sebastian to the trunk to get your luggage. "See Seb told ya my brothers would love you." You said, he was nervous about coming for two reasons one was leaving his mom alone for the holiday but the three of you decided to celebrate it early, and the other one was just because of the fact the first time he'd be meeting your brothers and most of your family would be on a big holiday.

"You were right dragoste but you still have more family." He said leaning down to kiss you.

"No PDA!" Matt said before Sebastian's lips met your. You pulled away glaring at your brother before you shut the trunk of the van and began to wheel the suitcases up to the house with Sebastian right next to you looking around at the house.

"Mom! We're back!" Mike shouted as the 6 of you entered the house with the addition of Nora who was asleep in her car seat. A four-year-old boy came running at full speed toward you crashing into your legs hugging them tight.

"Griffin!" You said picking the little boy up and giving him a tight hug.

"Hi Auntie!" The boy said before looking up at the man standing beside you. "Who are you?"

"I'm Sebastian, your Aunts boyfriend." Sebastian said smiling at the boy.

"Uncle?" Griffin asked beaming with excitement.

"Sure buddy." Griffin made grabby hands toward Sebastian who gladly took him. You couldn't help but smile at how Sebastian was with your nephew.

"Hun!" Your mom came out of the kitchen pulling you into a hug immediately.

"Hi momma." You said. The two of you pulled away so you could hug your dad while your mom gave Sebastian a hug. "Hi dad."

You walked into the living room Sebastian no longer holding Griffin but Griffin was holding his hand. "Y/n!" You sister in laws said smiling at you, Justin's wife, Elizabeth was the first on to give you a hug, then Colleen, Jon`s wife gave you one followed by Autumn, Matt`s Wife.

"Mommy! This is Uncle Sebastian!" Griffin said to Kristina his mom.

"So your the man Y/n talked about. Nice to meet you I'm Kristina." She said smiling at your boyfriend.

"You too. I'm Sebastian." Your other three sisters-in-law introduced themselves before you showed Sebastian to the room you two would be staying in. "This is where you grew up?" He asked looking at the decorations you had left in the small bedroom when you moved out. "Is this you?" He picked up a photo of you freshman year of high school with braces, you were in a cheer-leading uniform on the back of Justin who was in a football jersey.

"Yeah." You said blushing.

"You were adorable." He said before smirking. "Think you'd still fit in the cheerleader outfit?" He asked suggestively.

"Sebastian!" You exclaimed pushing him playfully making the two of you laugh.

"Seriously you'd be hot in it." He said leaning down to kiss you.

"Whatever you say babe." You laughed hugging him before you heard the sound of 11 kids voices. "You get to meet my favorite people are you ready? This will break or make you." You joked.

"I think I'd rather stay up here with you alone... Wait I thought I was your favorite person!." He said pouting causing you to laugh and push him playfully again.

"Sorry but they win your higher on the list then my brothers though!." You said before three little boys ran into the room. "My boys!" You said leaning down opening your arms for the three to run into them.

"Hi Auntie y/n!" The youngest of the three boys, Oliver said.

"Auntie n/n I missed you!" The oldest of the three, Benji said.

"Auntie y/n who's he?" Leo, Olivers brother asked pulling away from the hug to look up at Sebastian.

"I'm Sebastian." Sebastian said leaning down to their height.

"He's uncle Seb!" Griffin said as he walking in his older brother, Grayson following.

"Your actually dating Sebastian Stan! I thought dad was lying!" Grayson exclaimed staring at the man, Sebastian chuckled at the excitement of your nephew.

"Hi what's your name?" Sebastian asked not directing it to one of the boys in particular though he had a guess to which was which. You told him about all of them.

"I'm Benji. Can we actually call you uncle Seb?"

"Sure." Sebastian said.

"I'm Leo! Uncle Seb how does Grayson know who you are?"

"I'm the winter solider." Sebastian said in a hushed secretive tone.

"Cool! I'm Oliver!" Sebastian stood up looking at the teenager waiting to hear his name though he know it was Grayson because of what Leo had said. You stood up holding Oliver.

"I'm Grayson.. Do I have to call you uncle?" Grayson asked. He was a fan sure him and two of his cousins loved marvel but he found calling a guy he just met uncle a little strange now it may not seem weird to his four year old brother or younger cousins but that's mainly because they are young.

"No." Sebastian said.

"Come on now Seb has to meet the others now." You said.

"Jax is going to freak." Grayson said leaving the bedroom you, Sebastian, and the younger boys following behind. "Me, him, and Samantha are massive fans." He said. You couldn't help but smile already seeing your boyfriend bond with your nephews.

"Really? Were all three of you team cap?" Sebastian asked.

"Sebastian stan!" A girls voice exclaimed from the bottom of the stares where two teens who looked alike stood staring at your boyfriend.

"Hi!" Sebastian said waving at them as you guys made your ways down the stairs.

"I'm here too!" You pouted. Jaxon was the first to break from the trance and give you a hug, then Samantha did the same as your younger nephews ran off to play.

"Your actually dating Sebastian stan?" Samantha asked you.

"No he's just a cardboard cutout." You joked.

"A really realistic one." Your boyfriend said.

"Hi! I'm Jaxon! This is my twin Samantha."

"Grayson said you guys are fans. Were you two on team cap?" Sebastian asked.

"I was on team ironman." Grayson said.

"I was team cap!" Samantha said.

"Team Ironman." Sebastian feigned hurt as he gasped.

"But I'm dating you aunt and I'm on team cap." He said.

"We're still team ironman." Grayson said.

"You my favorite." Sebastian whispered to Samantha jokingly.

"Ha!" She said to Grayson and Jaxon sticking her tongue out at them.

"She's only on team Cap because she has a crush on Chris Evans." Jaxon said. You couldn't help but laugh. You knew about this crush because your niece was so excited to know you were starring in a film with Chris.

"Jax!" Samantha exclaimed smacking him. The two of them began argue as siblings do. You and Grayson just shrugged when Sebastian looked at you guys.

"Was that my fault?" Sebastian whispered to you.

"No they fight over nonsense all the time." You assured. "Come one you still have to meet the rest of my nieces and nephews." You said leaving the teenagers to figure out their problems on their own.

"Uncle Seb! Come play with us!" Griffin ran over to you two pulling Sebastian outside where you noticed most of your family was now. Griffin pulled Sebastian to where your nieces and nephews except the oldest three were playing soccer. You sat down next to Justin who was feeding nora.

"The kids seem to love him. I've never seen Oliver this outgoing around an adult that isn't one of us." He said watching as Oliver kicked the soccer ball to Sebastian.

"Yeah." You agreed watching as Luna blocked the ball from the diy goals that were set up in the front yard. They were just arches made out of some extra wood from a project your parents did a while ago those arches have been their since you were six. There were two that we're across from each other.

"You finally found a good guy sis." Matt said as he sat down next to you. "And he's good with kids."

You watched as the three teenagers who formerly inside came out to join their cousins/siblings. "He's got the teens playing with the little kids! I can't even get Grayson to watch Griffin for a few minutes." Mike said joining the three of you.

"Why aren't you out there? Your the pro at playing soccer with them." Jonathan said walking over. You shrugged watching as Hazel kicked the ball to Sebastian it accidentally hitting him in the crotch. He let out a groan that your couldn't hear as he fell to the ground.

"Sorry!" Hazel exclaimed as you ran down to them.

"You okay babe?" You asked Sebastian.

"Yeah just need a break." He said staying in his position on the grass groaning.

"You killed him." Samantha said jokingly to her sister.

"I didn't mean too!"

"Girls he'll be fine he's just being a big baby." You joked. Sebastian glared at you finally sitting up before you tackled you smirking at you.

"Dogpile on Aunt y/n!" Samantha exclaimed before jumping onto Sebastian's back making you and your boyfriend groan. The rest of your nieces and nephews joined besides Nora for obvious reasons. Unbeknownst to you and Sebastian, Colleen took a photo.

"Okay can I be free now?" You asked.

"No!" Griffin said.

"You have to give us cookies before dinner!" Oliver said.

"Okay fine but you can't tell my brothers or your moms." You agreed. The kids got off and ran into the house ready for their cookies. Your brothers were all gonna go home with their families before dinner so this was the only chance for your nieces and nephews to get their cookies.

"So doll you said that would make or break me how did I do?" Sebastian asked holding himself above you with his hands on either side of your head.

"You did great even my brothers admitted it." You said smiling. "Now come one there are thirteen kids waiting for cookies it's going to become a riot if they don't get any." You said as Sebastian got off helping you up.

The rest of the day went great your brothers and sisters-in-law loved him, the kids adored him. It is now Thanksgiving, your brothers and their families are already here the kids, you, and Sebastian watching the parade on Tv. You leaned against Sebastian 's shoulder as your nieces and nephews excitedly pointed at the floats. Nora was sat your lap sucking on a binky as she watched her brothers and cousins go crazy over the floats.

"Doll when are we gonna have one of these?" Sebastian asked looking down at the baby.

"Not for awhile Stan." You said bouncing the baby. You actually loved being the cool aunt that didn't have any kids of her own especially when sometimes during the summer you get to bring your older nieces and nephews back to New York with you for the summer which they always love. It's really only when you don't have any filming going on.

"But come on I think Nora wants a new cousin." He smirked at you.

"I think she should beg her other aunts and uncles for one then." You said.

"Please I want a cousin close to my age!" He lifted the baby up the his face her facing you as he did a baby voice.

"Not happening." You laughed taking you niece back. "Keep dreamin babe. But you gotta put a ring on my finger before you put a baby in me." You looked but at your nieces and nephews who were laughing and playing around.

"Will you marry me." He whisper pulling a ring pop out of a candy bowl your parents had in the living room for the kids. You couldn't help but laugh.

"Sorry but I like my jewelry not to be edible." You joked trying to take the ring.

"No! You don't get the ring you said no!" He pouted.

"Hey love birds! Stop flirting while you have my daughter on your laps!" Justin said walking over and taking the baby from you. "I'm sorry baby that must have been scary."

"Okay okay Justin." You laughed. "We won't flirt anymore.

"Speak for yourself. I can't resist it." Sebastian said pulling you closer to him making you laugh.

"Whatever Y/n Mom wants you in the kitchen."

You stood giving you boyfriend a smile before walking into the kitchen. "Yes mom?" You asked.

"Can you and Sebastian go down to the basement to kid the kids table and chairs?" She asked not looking up at you from the turkey.

"Okay." You turned around going to the living. "Seb come help me get the kids table and chairs." You said peaking into the living. You saw your sister in laws and brothers now there talking to your boyfriend.

"Coming doll." Sebastian stood up walking over to you before following you to the basement door.

"Into the dungeon." You said opening it to reveal some rickety looking stairs.

"Gonna lock me down here? My fans will notice I'm gone though." Sebastian laughed following you.

"Maybe I will." You laughed going over to a fold up table. "Here's the table let's get it up stairs." You said lifting a end of it. He grabbed the other end and the two of you brought it up the stairs. You set it in the dining room before going back to the basement to grab the chairs. After you finished grabbing everything, Levi and Jasper stole Sebastian to go play outside with while you set the table up. You sighed finishing setting up the table before going out the back door to see all of your nieces and nephews crowding around your boyfriend, him holding two of them, Jasper was on his back while he held Griffin on his hip. You couldn't help but smile before taking a photo of them for Instagram you captioned it happy thanks giving then posted it tagging Sebastian, your brothers, and your sister in laws in it. Your oldest three niece and nephews have Instagrams but you never tag them in your posts deciding to keep them away from the unwarranted fame that comes from being a actress' niece and nephews. Your boyfriend looked at you smiling as Jasper jumped off his back and Leo tried to take his cousin's spot.

"When will we have one of those! You need a mini you running around the apartment." Sebastian whisper to you as you guys went back into the dining room where your family had been waiting.

"Okay love birds cut it out!" Jon said rolling his eyes as you sat down. You stuck your tongue out at him. (Add saying grace if your family does. Mine doesn't so I don't know how to do that)

The dinner was filled with laughter as everyone began talking about what had happened in the year you hadn't seen each other. You and Sebastian went into better detail on how you met. You met him two years ago a month after filming the movie you were in with Chris E. Your sister in laws asked about the movies he had been two of them knowing a lot about the Marvel movies he had been in because of their kids. Your mom shared as many embarrassing stories as she could. "When she was 4 she was the bossiest kid, she'd make the boys make be in mini movies with her, we still have some of those I'll find them." She said.

"Mom! No!" You whined laughing.

"I'm sure you were just as good of an actress back then as you are now." Sebastian said smiling at you. You shook your head.

"No the videos are so embarrassing." You mumbled.

"Yeah for all of us! You used to make us put your tiny ass pink dresses on." Matt said. They could never say no to you. So wearing a pink dress 7 sizes too small was something they did for you. You didn't fit into those dresses again until you was 13 because they stretched them out.

"You didn't have to say yes!" You laughed.

"None of us could say no to you! You would pull the puppy dog eyes then we'd be in dresses!" Justin said. Sebastian laughed knowing exactly what Justin meant. He could resist your puppy dog eyes either.

"Or our Halloween candy! You took all my snickers!" Mike said pouting.

"Your still mad at me for that! I did the dishes for a month to make it up to you!" You said laughing.

"Get over it babe." Kristina said. She knew all about this whole thing as she was friends with your brother most of your guys childhoods.

"You're supposed to be on my side!" Mike whined.

"She likes me more!" You teased sticking your tongue out at him. Sebastian watched fondly as you and your family joked and brought up old stories. He smiled every time you got embarrassed over a story your brothers and their wives decided to bring up. You looked over at him a smile so big that looked it hurt.

"Sebastian do you have any new roles? I already know y/n has a project coming up." Autumn asked you before taking a sip of her wine.

"Filming for Falcon and the winter soldier started a few months ago actually." Sebastian said beginning to talk about his role to which there was plenty input shouted from the kid's table from Grayson and the twins.

After dinner everyone watched a movie once it was over your brothers and their families went home then you and Sebastian retreated to your bedroom. "You told me you only use your puppy dog eyes on me." Sebastian said pouting at you.

"No I just implied that I never made it a fact." You smirked at him hugging him. "You know maybe we should have a baby. The world need another Stan." You thought aloud. Though you probably only thought that due to the fact you got baby fever everytime you were around your brothers kids.

"Really?" Sebastian looked down at you beaming with delight.

"Sure why not?" You said closing your eyes as you rested you head on his chest.

"Maybe we should start trying." He smirked as your eyes popped open and glared at him.

"No! My family is still here." You said. "We'll start trying for a baby when we get home." You muttered.

"But why not a headstart." He pushed a little harder jokingly, he, in reality, didn't mind waiting but he liked how you looked when you got annoyed he found it cute.

"Because my parents are down stairs!"

"They won't hear." He teased smiling at you as you scrunched you eyebrows up glaring at him. "Chill baby I'm joking." You sighed laying you head on his chest once again.

"You better be." You mumbled yawning.

"Come on baby let's get you ready for bed." He kissed your forehead smiling at you. He was immensely happy with you agreeing to start a family.

You woke up the next morning remembering your talk with Sebastian and you couldn't help but smile. Especially when you began thinking about what your family's reactions were gonna be. You knew your brothers would be excited for another niece or nephew, you parents would be a little iffy as you want to start before marriage, the kids would love having another cousin, and your sisters in law have been saving their kids clothing for you since each of their youngests except Elizabeth's grew out of them. You rolled over to look at Sebastian but found that he wasn't there. You furrowed your brows before climbing out of bed to make your way downstairs to find him, but first you got dressed. As you were making your way to the stairs you could hear talking from downstairs. You made it to the kitchen where Colleen was smiling ear to ear at you with Sebastian sitting next to her with a guilty look on his face, your parents weren't in the room but you could hear them talking in the living room.

"Your trying for a baby!!! Your gonna be a mom!" Colleen squealed jumping up and down giving you a hug.

"How did you find that out?"

"I let it slip on accident." Sebastian gave you an apologetic smile.

"Colleen you can't tell anyone!" You said.

"Fine but when you find the gender out! I have some adorable clothes from each of my kids you can have!"

"Thank you." You chuckled before going to sit down by Sebastian. "Good job."

"I didn't mean to."

"It's fine babe." You said giving him a kiss.

"You guys are so in love you two better make me a bridesmaid at the wedding." Colleen said before leaving to kitchen.

By the time the week ended your family grew attached to Sebastian. Your oldest three niece and nephews were definitely the most attached enjoying to ask him questions about the marvel movies and their favorite actors from the franchise Sebastian was a little butt hurt he wasn't any of theirs favorites. Your younger nieces and nephews loved him, the girls all managed to get him dressed up as a princess with a tutu and all. You obviously posted a photo of him and your nieces all dressed up. Your older brothers were definitely grateful that he was the guy you brought home knowing you have had plenty of failed relationships in the twelve years since you left town. Your sister-in-laws were more then happy to welcome into the family even before you brought him and their opinions on him didn't change.

#sebastian stan x reader #thanksgiving #sebasstan #sexy seabass #sebastian stan #sebastian stan x you

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dherzogblog · 3 years

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The Birth of The Daily Show: 25 Years of Fake News and Moments of Zen

It was July of 1995 and I had left MTV to become President of Comedy Central. It was the basic cable equivalent of going from the NY Yankees to an expansion team. I was on the job just two weeks when I received a call from Brillstein Grey the high powered managers of Bill Maher, host of one of the networks few original programs, "Politically Incorrect". We were informed Bill and his show would leave the network when his contract expired in 12 months. It was a done deal. Bill wanted to take his show to the "big leagues" at ABC where he would follow Night Line. Comedy Central was left jilted. Terrible news for a network still trying to establish itself. We had a year to figure out how to replace him and the clock was ticking. So began the path to The Daily Show.

It was very much a fledgling Comedy Central I joined, available in barely 35 million homes, desperately seeking an identity and an audience. It was just over three years old, born into a shot gun wedding that joined two struggling and competing comedy networks, HBO’s Comedy Channel and Viacom’s HA!, Watching them both stumble out of the gate, the cable operators forced them to merge, telling them: "We only need one comedy channel, you guys figure it out”. After some contentious negotiations the new channel was born and the red headed step child of MTV and HBO set out to find the pop culture zeitgeist its parents had already expertly navigated. The network had yet to define itself. The programming consisted mainly of old stand up specials from the likes of Gallagher (never underestimate the appeal of a man smashing watermelons), a hodgepodge of licensed movies (“The God’s Must be Crazy and The Cheech and Chong trilogy were mainstays) and Benny Hill reruns. The networks biggest hit by far was the UK import “Absolutely Fabulous”, better know as “AbFab”. Comedy Central boasted a handful of original shows, including the wonderfully sublime "SquiggleVision" of “Dr. Katz”, the sketch comedy "Exit 57" (starring the then unknown Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert) and of course Maher’s "Politically Incorrect". In retrospect I don’t think Bill got enough credit for pioneering the idea of political comedy on mainstream TV. Back then he was the only one doing it.

Politically Incorrect performed just fine, but got more critical attention than ratings. It was a panel show, and I had something a bit different in mind to replace it. I knew we needed a flagship, a network home base, something akin to ESPN's Sports Center where viewers could go at the end of a the day for our comedic take on everything that happened in the last 24 hours….."a daily show". I had broad idea for it in my head. I would describe it as part "Weekend Update", part Howard Stern, with a dash of "The Today Show" on drugs complete with a bare boned format to keep costs low so we could actually afford to produce it. We could open with the headlines covering the day's events (our version of a monologue), followed by a guest segment (we wouldn't need to write jokes...only questions!), and finish with a taped piece. Simple, right? We just needed someone to help flesh out our vision.

Comedy Central was a a second tier cable channel then and considered a bit of a joke (no pun intended). It had minuscule ratings, no heat and even less money to spend. Producers were not lining up to work with there. Eileen Katz ran programming for the channel and the two of us began pitching this idea to every producer who would listen. One of the first people we approached was Madeleine Smithberg, an ex Letterman producer and had overseen "The Jon Stewart Show" for us at MTV. We thought she was perfect for the role. “You can’t do this, you can’t afford this, you don't have the stomach for this, it will never work ” Madeliene said when we met with her. We could not convince her to take the gig. Ok then....we moved on. The problem was we heard that same refrain from everybody. No one wanted the job. So after weeks being turned down by literally EVERYONE, I said to Eileen: “We have to go back to Madeleine and convince her to do this with us"!

Part our pitch to her was we would go directly to series. There would be no pilot. The show was guaranteed to go on air. We had decided this show was our to be our destiny and we had to figure it out come hell or high water. As a 24 hour comedy channel, if we couldn't figure out a way to be funny and fresh every day...what good were we? We told Madeliene we were committed to putting the show on the air and keeping it there till we got it right (for at least a year anyway). That, plus some gentle arm twisting got her to sign on. Shortly after that, Lizz Winstead did too.

Madleiene and Lizz very quickly landed on their inspired notion of developing the show and format as a news parody. It brought an immediate focus and a point of view to the process . All of the sudden things started to take shape and coming to life. Great ideas started flowing fast and furious while an amazing collection of funny and talented began to come on board. Madeliene and Lizz were off to the races. Now all we needed was a host.

The prime time version of ESPN's Sports Center was hosted by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann back then and it was must see cable TV. But I had recently started to notice another guy hosting the show's late night edition. He was funny, with a snarky delivery reminiscent of Dennis Miller. His name was Craig Kilborn. On the phone with CAA agent Jeff Jacobs one day, I asked if he knew happened to know who repped him? “I do" he said. "We just signed him”. Within days he was in my office along with Madeleine, Lizz, and Eileen who were all a bit skeptical about the tall blond guy with the frat boy vibes sitting across from them. After opening the meeting with a few off color comments that would probably get him cancelled today (an early warning sign fo sure), Craig ultimately won them over and we had our host.

FUN FAC#1: Minutes after the news of Craig's hiring went public, Keith Olberman's agent called me directly to ask why we hadn't considered hiring him?

Ok, we had a host and producers...but what to call it? After sifting through dozens of ideas for a title, Madeleine called me one day and said, "I think we should just call it what we've been calling it all along...."The Daily Show". As we approached our launch date we taped practice shows and took them out to focus groups to get real life feedback. The groups hated it.... I mean with a red hot hate. They hated Craig, the format, the jokes, everything. We were crushed and dejectedly looked around at the room at one another. "Now what?" “Either they’re wrong, or we are". I said I think they are...but it doesn’t matter, we're doing this!" We never looked back.

The show took off quickly garnering some quick buzz and attention, we felt like we had crashed the party. Well, sort of. We had no shortage of fun, growing pains and drama along the way. The Daily Show version 1.0 was about to unravel. In a December 1997 magazine interview Craig made some truly offensive and inappropriate remarks about Lizz and female members of the staff. Whether it was poor attempt at humor or just plain misogynist (or both) is beyond the point. It was all wrong, very wrong. Craig was suspended for a week without pay. Lizz left the show. In the moment I chose to protect the show and its talent more so than Lizz. That was wrong too. It's more than cringe worthy looking back now, and I regret not making some better decisions then. My loyalty to our host was later "rewarded" when in the Spring of 1998 Kilborn's team, a la Bill Maher, unceremoniously informed us he had signed a deal to follow Letterman on CBS when his contract expired at the end of the year. No discussion, a done deal. Comedy Central jilted again. Like Maher, Kilborn wanted his shot at the network big leagues and we had a little over six months to figure out how to replace him. We all know how that chapter ended. That search would eventually reunite us with Jon Stewart who along with The Daily Show took Comedy Central and basic cable to the "the big leagues" on their own terms, redefining late night comedy in the process The rest, as they say, is "Fake News" history.

Fun Fact #2: before approaching Jon (who I did not originally think would be interested) I initially offered the job to a chunkier, largely unknown Jimmy Kimmel, fresh off his co hosting duties on "Win Ben Stein's Money" ...only to have him turn us down.

My fascination with late night began as a kid. I remember how exciting it was to stay up to sneak a peek at the Carson monologue and watch him do spit takes with his chummy Hollywood guests. Later on I also loved the heady adult conversation Dick Cavett would have with everyone from Sly Stone to Groucho Marx. But it was the comedic revolution of Saturday night Live in 1975, followed by Letterman's game changing show in 1981 that truly established late night as the coolest place on the television landscape. I could only dream of one day being part of it.

25 years on, I couldn’t be more proud of The Daily Show and its legacy. Those days helping build it alongside Madeleine, Lizz, Eileen and the team were among the most satisfying (and fun) experiences I have ever had. It was thrilling to take a shot at the late night landscape and try and make our mark, especially when no one thought we could.

I am prouder still of what Trevor Noah and his staff have achieved since they took the hand off from Jon, evolving and growing the show through a new voice and lens. I think my personal "Moment Of Zen" will last as long as Trevor remains behind the desk, allowing me to selfishly boast of having hired every host this award winning and culture defining franchise has ever had.

25 years later. it remains as relevant as ever, a bona fide late night institution, standing shoulder to shoulder with all the great shows that inspired us to start.

#the daily show #jon stewart #trevor noah #comedy central

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