#rt ri

Pairing: Joel Heyman x Reader Genre: Fluff (I think) A/N: It’s been too long! I know it was my fault but let’s reminisce and catch up! I’m writing again holy fuck! Oh-! And the way I write anxiety and dissociation is how I handle it, sorry if it’s not accurate to how you may act.

——

Your third year as a guardian at RTX couldn’t have held any greater surprise than the person you’d be guarding. Joel Heyman had been a well known challenge, his antics earning him a spot in the company’s- and community’s- hall of infamy, so to speak.

Caiti’s words echoed through your head. He likes to run away. He’s slippery in crowds. He doesn’t like to eat. All of her warnings and his schedule were on repeat in your mind as you worked your way through the crowd in the main hall. Just moments ago, you were less than eighteen inches away from his back, and you took your eyes off of him for what seemed like a second, and as you stalled, he left. Well- you’d stalled and stayed still as he kept moving. And he knew the convention floor better than you did and his stride was much longer than yours (you swore this man was all leg). You were determined to catch up with him, but he ducked and dipped around people and monuments taller than he was and stayed out of your sight quite expertly.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t hid from you before- you’d just always found him after a few minutes. But he’d been gone almost ten minutes into his lunch break and you were just barely keeping yourself from crushing the apple and chicken salad you’d bought him (recommended by Caiti). It didn’t make sense not to be anxious about the situation. And nothing would help ease your nerves. Crowds of people- happy people- and all the noise. Chatter, laughter, conversations, sales, pictures being taken. Everything. Everything was horrendously loud and everyone was incredibly too close to you. The room was way too hot and your lanyard and shirt were practically choking you. It hurt. Everything around you weighed down you, crushing your throat and blocking it up, pushing down on your chest and curling your fingers around the plastic salad bowl. You needed to find him but everyone was swarming around you and the noise was inescapable. Your mind was buzzing with hypothetical situations that haunted you and time moved at a crawl as your mind and body detached from one another; almost to the point that later on that day, you swore that you watched yourself slump down against a wall, your eyes devoid of any emotion and your body moving almost hyper mechanically as you did, your legs sticking out almost into the foot traffic and the salad dropped next to you.

You really thought you could handle this. The previous years, the stress hadn’t gotten to you like it did now. Maybe the people were more cooperative or maybe you just felt something more for him that made you more protective of him-? Either way, this was not something you were accustomed to. The next ten minutes felt like ten hours. People passed by and you had to at least try to see this from their perspective. A guardian, sitting on the floor with someone’s lunch, looking like they were a million miles away. You wanted to laugh- especially at the half crumpled salad but your throat was still too constricted to even make a sound. As your minds pace slowed, two things became prominent on your mind. Where the hell was Joel, and would this incident get you punished- or sent home?

You’d calmed yourself down enough and decided to keep the the salad for yourself. You stood up and reorganized yourself as you looked at your surroundings. You took a deep breath and grabbed your things and a familiar voice approached you.

For the first time that day, your heart sped up, not out of anxiety, but a cocktail of relief, anger, frustration and betrayal upon seeing his smile.

“Where were you?” He grinned and teased, slinging an arm over your shoulders.

“I,” you started, pushing his arm off of you. “Was busy looking for your ass, who thought id be a good idea to just run off and leave, as if it isn’t my job to keep you safe and-” you took a deep breath and he shrunk back, shoving his hands into his pockets. “And then you act like you being missing for half-a-fucking hour wouldn’t have any adverse effects on the people around you-!” You hissed in a low voice. Joel’s smile fell into a concerned and remorseful face, his lips parting so slightly. He looked almost apologetic as you went from angry to anxious. Guilt painted his face as you glared at the floor. He cleared his throat and almost bashfully started to speak.

“Well- I- I’m sorry, can I make it up to you?” He asked in a gentle voice. You whined to yourself and knitted your eyebrows together and ground your teeth together, crossing your arms over your chest.

“Sure.” You huffed flatly, taking his own and the receipt for his lunch, jotting down your hotel, room and phone number. “Don’t even think, about standing me up.” You tried to sound playful, hoping to lighten the mood, but your voice came across more bitter than anything else.

“Promise- I won’t-” He stuttered, and you grinned ever so slightly.

“Call me ahead- or text. Text me.”

–

The next day, you came in to meet Joel with your breakfast and his coffee, and Joel, to your surprise and pleasure, stayed by your side and in your line of sight. He kept you with him when he ducked away and into crowds, mumbling to you about how bad you two were being. You couldn’t help but smile as he stayed with you, he’d gone out of his way to keep you with him, even keeping his arm around your waist and almost pressing his hips to yours and his side every so often. You escorted him through the hall even though it looked to be quite the opposite situation, from the way he held onto you and how you grinned and chuckled at some of his responses to fans and other guardians.

As you two made it to the back of the hall, he leaned into your ear.

“Do I have to text you before I make it up to you?” He whispered to you.

“Well, what do you have in mind?”

“I wanna take you to lunch today- wanna go?”

“Like- right now? I look like a mess and we only have thirty-”

“They expect me to be late and- you’re always cute.” He mumbled in your ear, your face starting to heat up as you shoved him lightly.

“You’re a fuckin dork..” You mumbled, closing the distance between you two. “Just take me out already.” You hummed as he held the door open for you.

Pairing: Joel H x Reader

Prompt:  Joel H angst with the song Dearly Departed? <3

Words: 2135 words of pure suffering

A/N: I cried while writing this have fucking fun and thank @yesromo-yeshomo for some of this. also Im sorry @jolheyman 

Summary: Listen to Dearly Departed by Marianas Trench before you read this, please

— —

You took in a sharp breath. Too shaky to even think linearly, the prospect of seeing him was terrifying to you. As soon as your body left the warm, comfort of your bed, it felt like some force was puppeteering you. You watched as the force moved your body to the bathroom, turned on the water for your shower and helped you in. You can’t help but think of what might happen when he arrives. Would he be civil and polite? Or would his words lash out and sting you like his confession? The answers would be better left unknown. After you showered and dressed yourself, you found yourself holding the sleeve of one of his University of Texas pull-overs. As tears stung the corners of your eyes, you could only think back to that night.

He came home and told you about his day. It seemed normal enough until his mood changed quite drastically. He went so quickly from some mix of excited and upbeat to solemn and much quieter than he’s been with no context. He asked you to sit down and he sat with you. He hesitated before he acted again, reaching out to put his hand on yours and slightly flinching before your skin made contact. You barely remembered feeling so innocently confused- how you yearned for that feeling. You’d give up anything to forget what he told you.

Your thumbs lightly stroked the soft cotton, the smell of his body wash and cologne lightly drifting off the fabric and flooding your senses with memories of him. The first time you two kissed to when he proposed. You could only seem to remember the times he had wrapped you in his arms and told you how much he loved you. You could only wonder if all that time he was lying. If he didn’t mean all that he said-or if there was a point where he stopped loving you.

You had to force yourself to move away from the closet, you’d already separated his clothes from yours, you had no business lingering there when you knew all that you’d do is cry over him and you didn’t want to give him any more of your tears when you know damn well he wouldn’t be crying those tears for you. He would be upset but only for a couple weeks at the most, quickly finding comfort in the arms of the woman who had caught his eye. You couldn’t be completely mad at her-but you could be bitter. Bitter that the man you had poured a good five years of your life into was moving on to someone else like your time together didn’t mean to him what it meant to you. You wouldn’t allow yourself to be sad but you would allow yourself to be bitter.

Time didn’t seem to pass but noon came sooner than you thought it would. You’d put yourself in the trance to get your mind away from what would happen. He’d come in and act remorseful for hurting you. You’d brush it off and he’d collect his things and you’d let him wander around your apartment and soon enough he’d leave and be out of your life for as it’d take for you to heal and for him to form a new life with her.

When he knocked on your door, a flash of ice chilled your veins and suddenly the weight of the world found itself squarely on your shoulders, spilling between your shoulder blades. You slowly shuffled to the door and pulled it open.

“Hey, Joel.” You forced a smile, looking into his eyes for a moment then fixating your eyes on the woman flanking him. She was beautiful and for a moment, you couldn’t help yourself from taking in her features and feeling some ounce of attraction toward her, even if it was just aesthetically or lustfully. “Hey,” he grinned in that way that made your heart skip a beat and subconsciously, you smiled back, but only for a second. You tried to focus on being bitter, on what he did to rather that what was happening. “This is Laura, [Y/N], [Y/N], this is Laura.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She held out her hand and for a moment you didn’t reach out to shake it. You were sucked out of reality by how surreal it all felt. He introduced you two so casually it only reaffirmed the belief that he didn’t really care about you. When you did shake her hand, the formalities only continued. You let them in and left the door slightly open. This was a sight you never thought you’d see as long as you’d live. Your ex-fiance and his new love in your home- the one last sacred place for you- and they were going to take away the tangible memories he left behind and leave you hollow. You tried to convince yourself it’s for the best.

You watched as Laura and Joel dispersed through your apartment. Joel on a search and collect mission and Laura admiring the decorations and little things in your home. You couldn’t stand to see Joel pick through pieces of your life and either collect the parts he claimed or discard the pieces he decided you could keep. You ducked into the kitchen after deciding they wouldn’t notice your absence and that nothing he could take would be in your kitchen. You started making yourself some tea and try to ignore the sounds from around you. You try to push Joel’s laughter and running commentary out of your head and Laura’s cooing to the side and just enjoy your tea. As you take your first sips of the tea, your eyes linger on a neat stack of envelopes and cards on the corner of your counter. You wondered for a moment why they were still there and if you’d ever have the heart to throw them out. You look away, shaking head and remembering that you’d already told everyone that needed to know what happened. At this point, you didn’t care that the hot liquids were burning your tongue and cheeks, it was a much better alternative to what was happening around you.

As you made yourself another cup, you caught a glimpse of your rose gold banded, diamond topped engagement ring and thought back to seeing Joel all fidgety and nervous that day. How he kept fretting over every little detail and how you kept telling him everything was fine. How that same ring glittered in the velvet box when he snapped it open and looked up at you, you couldn’t help but remember thinking your life was perfect. How great it felt to think something perfect could exist. The thought was absurd to you now. Nothing perfect exists or exists long enough to make one consistently happy.

For a sliver of a moment you thought to the future. You thought about what could’ve been between you two and what very well might be between him and Laura. You vowed to yourself that if he broke Laura’s heart at all, he would not get away with it like he was getting away with yours. She deserved more than that.

An hour passed and Joel was still moving his belongings into his car. Laura had found you and you two were making almost painful small talk, very shakily bonding. At least you two didn’t hate each other. You two tried to talk about your lives, what you did for a living, anything and everything to avoid the elephant in the room who was suffocating you. When Joel finally stopped moving in bee lines to and from his car, he settled himself next to Laura, his eyes raking you over for a moment before he pressed light, feathery kisses to Laura’s jaw and cheek and neck. The simple kisses elicited soft laughter from Laura, interrupting your sentence and letting you break the eye contact you struggled to maintain. Soon enough, your eyes found the stacks of cards again. You thought of throwing them out in front of them, in some attempt to make a statement without having to say anything but again, you couldn’t even bring yourself to touch them.

“[Y/N]-” You looked up at Joel, and for a moment, he paused before speaking again. “Can we open up that bottle of wine we were saving and have a toast?”

The feeling of un-reality sank in again. There was no possible way that this was happening. You dug your nails into your palm and forced another smile.

“Yeah, sure. Get the glasses, I’ll get the wine.” You suggest, moving around them to get to the refrigerator, opening it and pulling out the two-hundred dollar bottle of wine that’s been saved for so long. At least it’s not going to waste.

You set the bottle on the island counter and fished out a corkscrew from the silverware drawer and opened the bottle. He set the glasses up in a triangle formation and you poured out the wine, setting the bottle back down and the three of you grabbing the glasses by the stem.

“To new beginnings.” Joel raised his glass slightly, “And hopefully, no bad blood.” He smiles at you and you pull your lips back into a smile and nod, tapping your glass against his and Laura’s before all three of you taking a drink.

Joel and Laura finished their glasses about halfway before realizing one of them has to drive home. Laura finished her glass and Joel split the remainder of his between the two of you. They stayed a while longer, the three of you making awkward conversation yet again.

When they were about to leave, Joel stopped to talk to you.

“Did you want to keep the ring..?” He asked in a low voice, unsure of how you’d react. You eyed him for a moment, part of you wanting to land a punch square on his nose and the other wanting to crash his lips into yours. You twisted the ring off and opened one of his hands before dropping it in. He looked between you and the ring and for a moment looked saddened by your choice.

“You sure..?” His brown eyes seemed to get wider.

“Yeah-I look at that and think that maybe you love me and I don’t wanna keep lying to myself.” You half slurred, glaring at him now and bracing an arm against the nearest wall.

“I do-I do love you-” “No. You don’t. You don’t love me.” You huffed, tears threatening your eyes again. “You love Laura. And that’s great and I really do wish you two the best. But don’t lie to me and say you love me.” You sighed.

“[Y/N]…” He whimpered. “I promised I’d love you until the day I die- I crossed my heart just for you.”

“You crossed your heart and stuttered too- was- was I not good to you- why?” Your voice went into a higher register.

“You were-” He tried to reassure you and pulled you into a tight hug you couldn’t resist. You cried against his chest and held him tight. “You were perfect to me.” He hummed in your ear, tracing lines and patterns into your shoulders and spine. Somehow the simple motions helped take away the weight on your shoulders.

“Then why..” You sobbed and dug your nails into his back, sobbing and repeating ‘why’ in that defeated, broken, creaking voice. You never really got an answer, only small, empty comforting words. “You feel like home..” You mumbled, hoping he wouldn’t hear you. “There’s no place like home..” You sighed, letting go of him and wiping your eyes. One of Joel’s hands met your tear streaked face, wiping one away with his thumb and looking at you with words he didn’t have the courage to say but you couldn’t decipher them. He let go of you and he and Laura said their goodbyes as they left and you closed and locked the door. You stumbled back to the kitchen and finished off the bottle of wine. The liquor dripped through you leaving behind a warm sensation- even if it was synthetic it was the best thing to feel all day.

A/N: even I’m not sure what I was going for to be completely honest.

Prompt: we have neighboring apartments and i found you sitting in the hall crying because you’re hella exhausted and you’re so tired you can’t get your key to work in the lock please stop crying i’m trying to help you/Joel

Summary: When you try your best but you don’t succeed.

——

To say the very least, your day felt more like a week crammed into twenty-four painful hours. The comfort and warmth of your bed the only salvation you have being out off by the incessant growling of your stomach and the “Out of order” sign on the elevator, forcing you to walk four flights of stairs to your apartment.

As you made it up the last flight of stairs, you could barely hear someone whining from down the hall. You tried to push the concern out of your mind and just focus on making it to your apartment. The whining got louder as you got closer to your room, seeing your neighbor slumped against the wall between your doors, his hands slowly grazing over his keys, a dazed look on his face. He seemed to be straining to tell each key apart, whining and groaning when he couldn’t tell which was the key to unlock his apartment.

You couldn’t help but watch him, his movements somewhat interesting yet concerning. You unlocked your door more deliberately, taking your time as you did so, feeling your neighbors eyes on you the whole time.

“How the fuck-” he started, throwing his keys onto the ground. “I have been trying to do that for…an hour.” He groans, rubbing one of his eyes with the heel of his hand.

“Do you-need help..?” You ask in a quiet, rough voice.

“Yeah-I fuckin-can’t open my door..” He picks up his keys and hands them to you, the keychain crowded with different sized and shaped keys. “Can you maybe..?”

You look between him, his keys and his door, unable to turn him and his wide brown eyes down you kneel in front of his door and start the monotonous trial and error process with his keys. As you work, you feel him watching you, his eyes never leaving you as you worked on this seemingly simple task.

Every so often you’d glance at him, making him look elsewhere for a moment, making you smile even slightly.

“So..” You hummed, “I don’t think I ever caught your name.” You comment cooly, glancing back at him as you yank an ill-fitting key out of the lock.

“Oh-I’m Joel.” He sighs, retraining his eyes on you.

“[Y/N]..” You reply with a grunt, almost falling back with the ill-fitting key in hand.

“…thanks.” Joel sighs, smiling as he watched you.

“No problem.” You try to push in another key, moving on to the next when it doesn’t fit.

After about five minutes, you slide the right key in, twisting it with a little too much force in the wrong direction and snapping the handle off of the key itself. You and Joel both stare at the key in the lock and in your hand, eyes wide with disbelief. You start to apologize, but tears well in Joel’s eyes.

“I just wanna-fucking go home and-” he starts to choke up. You swear under your breath and shove his keys into your coat pocket, trying to help him up as quickly as possible.

A/N: Two fics one day. Let’s do this. Prompt: “i moved to this new city and the only person i know here is you i know we’re just acquaintances but something happened and i need help” AU featuring Ray and Reader? Maybe a little fluff or smut at the end? Warning: sexual references Summary: It’s weird being new in town. Even weirder when you keep running into some guy you barely know. Even more so when someone he knows has your phone number.

——

As you compared the two food items in your hands, idly looking over the package with unyielding disinterest. A voice broke you out of your trance-something familiar but strange at the same time. The voice wasn’t low but wasn’t high-somewhat smooth and soothing-but the laugh pulled something from your memory.

Approximately two weeks ago is where your memory places the laugh, at night, at someone else’s home. It floods your memory, a pair of lips and hands yanking soft moans from your throat and soft, slightly stubbly cheeks rubbing against your neck. That familiar laugh and voice telling you that you’re too beautiful to be here with him. You don’t remember what you said in response but it didn’t break the atmosphere.

You look up from the packaged items and you recognize him as the same person. Some name that starts with an R-Riley? Randal? Richard? Fuck-you couldn’t remember and it doesn’t matter as long as he doesn’t see you-or recognize you. You try to keep a low profile and pass by him, but you couldn’t help but steal a glance at him again-choosing the worst moment for a clean get away and accidentally locking eyes with him.

Every masculine sounding name starting with R blurred through your head before settling on Ray-that was his name. Ray awkwardly looked away as soon as it registered that you knew he was looking at you, soliciting a short laugh at the strangeness of the situation. You decided to break the sadness and smiled kindly, resting your arms on the handlebar of your cart.

“Hey-Ray right?” You grin, looking over his face.

“Uh-yeah.” He looks back at you and nods, awkwardly smiling. This has gone further than you anticipated. “[Y/N]?”

“Yeah-I-what’s up?” You ask, not sure of what else to say, confidently meeting his line of sight.

“Not much-how’ve you been?” He answers, pushing the sleeves of his purple hoody up to his elbows. You look down at his hands and arms, noticing a tattoo of a rubber duck inside a star and segmented circle on the back of one hand and the word “LADS” across his knuckles on the other, letter by letter. You quickly look back up in his eyes, your jaw slightly open, at a loss for words at the moment.

“Fine-” you can’t ignore the sight of him writing beneath you as your mouth worked around his hard cock-teasing and playing with him. You can’t think of this right now. So desperately you tried to push it out of your mind, wanting for focus on his tattoos but only seeing the very same hands caressing you just over how weeks ago. You looked at his glasses, focusing on them. “I’m still getting lost and don’t know where I am half the time.” You muse, earning a small chuckle from him.

“Maybe I could show you around?” He offers cooly, putting the hand with the knuckle tattoo into his jean pocket.

“I’d like that. Still have my number?” You ask with a flirtatious grin. He nods and returns the grin with a wink, heading towards another side of the aisle, keeping eye contact with you as he ran into displays or racks for smaller items. You laughed to yourself and couldn’t look away from him, wondering how this was the same man who talked his way into getting you in his bed.

——

Over the course of the next couple week, you ran into Ray more times than you thought possible for a city the size of Los Santos. The conversations you held barely dipping past something superficial or just steering away from the conversation about the circumstances of your first encounter. Every now and then your could see it play over and over in your head and could only pray that he couldn’t tell what you were thinking.

One afternoon on your way back home from a long, tiring day at work you couldn’t help but notice a sleek black car following you for a few blocks. You tried to lose them and eventually there was some space between the two of you. You received a text message when you were stopped at a red light, just saying for you to pull over. You did for a moment, about to pull out of the parking lot you were sitting in when your phone rang. An unfamiliar number was calling you-well it was the same number that had texted you.

“So-we saw you getting up close and personal with Ray, [Y/N],” A gruff voice jeered, sending shock through your system.

“Wait-what-who is this and how do you know my name?” You tried to lower your voice to hide any fear.

“That’s on need to know basis, and hon, you don’t need to know.” The voice growled, “Now, care to tell us about Ray’s criminal friends?”

To say you were shocked was an understatement, you were beyond confused, and scared and anxiety turned your blood to ice.

“What-”

“We know you two have been getting buddy-buddy. We have eyes. We need ears, that’s where we need you.”

“I-Uhm-I’ll think about it.” You quickly hung up, watching the sleek black car pass by you and as soon as it was a blip in the distant horizon, you called Ray.

Before he had a chance to say anything your shaky voice cut in. Tears pricked at your eyes from the possibilities your mind presented you.

A/N: Long time no see! I bet y'all didn’t even notice I was gone-but here I am! Back at it again at Krispy Kreme- Prompt: “Wait a minute-are you jealous?” With Jon Risinger? Summary; Jon is very sensitive about his photography skills

——

You scrolled through the portfolio of this new photographer you happened to stumble across, quietly but verbally appreciating and praising their ability, going ignorant to Jon very slightly grinding his teeth next to you. You shoved your phone into his hands, forcing his tablet aside in favor of him seeing what you were.

For a moment, Jon shot you a puzzled look and cocked an eyebrow before looking through the young artists portfolio as well. You pointed out favorites and stumbled over yourself trying to explain to him why they were so great to you.

Jon simply nodded along and went through the motions, barely responding to the pictures, only really reacting when you did. His expression seemed more vacant and disinterested as he kept looking through them. You took your phone back and lay next to him, still admiring the pictures.

As you two continued your respective activities, you couldn’t help but notice the shift in Jon’s normally laid back and welcoming demeanor to one that’s more distant and cold. Even though you two were situated close to each other, it felt as if miles were separating you two. You couldn’t exactly place what was off but you could tell something was bothering Jon.

You worked up the courage to ask what was bothering him, first gently resting your chin on his shoulder and running a hand down to rest on his forearm.

“Did I do something or are you just upset?” You ask in a small voice, barely able to force your eyes to meet his.

“No.” He dryly responds, going back to his comic.

“There is-I think-I mean-you’re not normally like this.” You sigh, lightly curling your fingers to your palm. Jon sighs and looks straight ahead of him.

“Do you like whoever that was-do you like their photography more than mine or something?” He sighs, facing the realization of why he was upset. You smile slightly and leave a soft trail of kisses up his neck and shoulder, stopping at his jaw.

I could only think of one thing for this I’m so sorry.

You wake up, execute your morning routine and get ready to leave, when you can’t seem to find your car keys. You sigh and search high and low, with no luck. You knock on your roommate Joel’s door. No answer. You knock again, louder and still no answer.

Whoa I’m so sorry this is late I haven’t logged on in forever!

But send me more?? Yes

Your eyes slowly cracked open. The world was sideways from your perspective, you noticed the thin blanket and jacket over you, then you heard someone talking. The words were blurred together in your ears. You could see the office, starting to get cluttered with games, energy drink cans and around your head, golden, block shaped pillows. You took everything in from the room. The chairs, game consoles, desks, paraphernalia, trying to guess where you were. The blurred words started to make more sense as you heard someone calling your name. You turned your face to where you thought the sound was coming from and saw Adam Ellis coming toward you, his face a mix of worry and relief.

Okay,  one mystery solved. You thought, sighing quietly knowing you were in the office of someone who was slightly-more-than-friends with, and Joel.“[Y/N], I’m so glad you’re awake,” He knelt down next to you, gently pushing some of your hair out of your face.“Adam…what happened?” You whispered groggily.“You fainted…straight into my arms.” He sheepishly grinned, “You know, if you wanted my attention, you didn’t have to go through such extremes.” He half chuckled. You groaned and covered your head in the blanket.

“That is so…embarrassing.” You groaned, feeling a heat sting your cheeks.

“It’s actually kinda cute..” He smiled and kissed your forehead.

     Duly, you scrolled down your Twitter feed, admiring the enthusiasm and curiosity of the show that was coming on tonight in lieu of On The Spot. People hurried around you to do your makeup and hair, and before you knew it, you were already done. You thanked those who worked on you with quiet praise and a small smile. You made your way to the On The Spot set and sat in Jon’s seat.

     The two teams were already there. Joel and Ray were together on the red chairs and Blaine and Aaron were together on the blue chairs. You rehearsed your ad reads over and over in your head and tried to do them without the help of the script you had typed out onto your tablet. As someone in the control room started the countdown, you shuffled the deck of black cards and counted out the cards per player and passed them out. The numbers ticked away in your earpiece, you took a couple deep breaths and laid your hands on your thighs.

     Three…Two….One!

    You were live. For a moment you stared at the camera, and then you grinned slyly taking a deep breath and leaning closer to your microphone.

      “My first guest is a man who turned actor, then stockbroker then finally an ageless deity who was one of Rooster Teeth’s original five members, be wary around him if you mention gold economics or anything else that sparks his interest, it’s Joel Heyman!” You took in another deep breath as he jerkily glanced at the camera facing him as he swallowed his whiskey, not noticing it was on him. “My second guest is learning how to drive from his faithful girlfriend, ironically smokes weed, but not really. And lives my dream of playing games and being great at them for a living, it’s Ray Narvaez Jr.!” Ray cheekily grinned and gave a thumbs up to the camera. “My third and fourth guests met each other when a rift in time and space opened at the gyms they frequentlyfrequenty visit . One went through and found himself in his doppelgänger’ world and can’t find a way backout so he stays here, making bad jokes and keeping up a habit of getting into nerd fights, it’s Aaron Marquis and Blaine Gibson.” You looked over at Blaine and Aaron who were eyeing each other with shifty eyes,shiftily and motioning between each other and finally shrugging. You returned your attention to the camera in front of you and continued on, “I’m your host, [Y/N], hosting the premiere of Rooster Teeth’s Live Action Game Night, tonight we’ll be playing Cards Against Humanity. The rules will be explained after team names are dealt with.” You let out a deep breath and looked over at Aaron and Blaine again and almost immediately Blaine perked up.

    “Well, me and Aaron-”

    “Aaron and I.” You interjected, not noticing Joel get up and go behind you. You did notice him start to mess with your hair and you simply ignored it, going along with Ray’s advice.

    “Whatever,” Blaine continued, still excited about the name. “We were working out earlier and we thought, y'know, what makes us different from other people here?”

    “That is?” You asked, not able to resist a grin, as Joel continued to mess with your hair, lightly braiding and toying with some of it.

    “Our team name explains it.” Aaron nodded, taking a sip of beer, "Team fitter than you,“ he started to explain. "You as in the letter, u, not the word.” He finished, taking another drink. You nodded and turned to Ray, Joel still behind you.

    “Your name?” You asked him, starting to get shivers from the light touches Joel was leaving on your head.

    “I’m trusting Joel with this one.” Ray admitted, taking a drink of his water.

    “Oh? Then what is it Joel?” You turned to look up at him and he leaned forward to your mic and past you.

    “Team, [Y/N]’s hair is soft and nice and pretty and smells like flowers.” He undid the loose braids he created and brushed some of your hair behind your ears. You squeaked, ever so slightly into the microphone when he did, and your face started to flush from embarrassment, your ears heating up. Joel’s face lit up, “that was so cute!” He exclaimed, holding his tumbler close to his chest. Ray snickered and Blaine arched his eyebrows, holding in a chuckle. Aaron typed something on his phone and showed it to Blaine who simply nodded in response.

    “Anyway-” you gathered your composure and straightened your back. “Team fitter than u, with an actual u, and team my hair is soft and nice and pretty and smells like flowers.” You nodded and took a sip of water. “Rules. We will be playing in teams, each team has sixteen cards, eight cards per player, each team will have twenty seconds to decide which card they will use. The winner at the end of each round will have three points, and I choose who gets a point for their card. The winner at the end of all three rounds gets a meal courtesy of the losers and if they so desire, one on one time with yours truly.” You sighed away from the microphone and held the black deck in your hands. “Are you guys ready?”

    “I think you just gave Joel extra incentive.” Aaron chuckled to himself and nodded. Both teams signaled readiness and Joel started to get pinker.

   “Did not-” he retorted, “I mean, not to say [Y/N] isn’t really pretty or something-because she is.” He get redder and looked off as he took another sip.