I was rewatchin Naruto and it just occured to me how funny it would be if Inojin came across Sai's old uniform.
Like, imagine this: Inojin's rummaging through old boxes and finds a ROOT uniform, but it's a crop top. Who else in their house uses crop tops other than his mom? The assumption is easy to make.
The next time he sees Ino he just walks to her, and says "I didn't know you were a part of ROOT."
Ino, confused, asks what makes him say that, and Inojin only shows her the uniform. She stares at it for a few seconds before howling in laughter.
"Oh you silly, I was never a part of ROOT," she says, wiping away an imaginary tear "that's your dad's old uniform."
Inojin goes to bed that night unable to get rid of the mental image of his boring-looking, monotone father in a crop top.
I find it very funny that back in 2021 when s1 of Arcane came out and everyone and their mom was going crazy about it I would see the characters around without knowing them and I distinctly remember thinking "I don't know what I'd think of the show, but I get the feeling I would love this character" any time I saw Viktor and. I'm nothing if not predictable
Kyle Manuel Valenti is bisexual, I mean he’s half in love with Max Evans from the start- accusing everyone else of being in love with him. And he’s also obsessed with his height and homoerotic-ly sniffing him in a closet! Like couldn’t have been more on the nose writing wise.
He’s also just- like that with Michael too. Like tryna grab him and worry about him too much.
“Morning Mr. Stark,” Little Jon Umber greeted him from his place at the security desk.
That stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Mr. Stark?” he asked, “Jon we went to high school together. You’ve thrown up on me before.”
Jon cleared his throat, looking around, straightening his tie, then leaned in conspiratorially, “Things have changed around here, Mr. Stark, since you been gone.”
I was gone for a week, he almost said.
He knew it was a mistake, leaving the week the new people came in. But it was Theon’s wedding. Theon’s wedding. He couldn’t miss that, it had been pointed out to him many times.
“Alright then, Mr. Umber, you have yourself a nice day,” he shook his head and scanned his ID, going through the opened gates.
His phone buzzed as he was waiting for the elevator and he answered it, seeing it was Jon.
“Ohhh so you’re alive,” he chuckled.
“Shut up, please,” Jon groaned. “How… I didn’t know four day hangovers existed.”
“You were a delight,” Robb told him and then said, “Though I’d prepare to do some groveling with Sansa.”
“Sansa?” Jon asked. And he could hear him sit up and then groan. “What um… did I do to Sansa?”
“Oh you mean -,” Robb started but stopped talking as a flash of gold caught in his periphery. “Holy shit.”
“Robb what did I do to Sansa?” Jon repeated.
He heard that but he was a little distracted by the person who had just breezed through the security gate, like a door had never been closed to her entire life.
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and her light eyes flicked to his briefly as she settled in a safe distance from him waiting for the elevator.
“ROBBERT HOSTER STARK WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO TO SANSA,” Jon now yelled in his ear so loudly that the beauty actually turned to look.
Her eyes flashed in recognition before turning away.
“You uh, sort of professed your love to her … and the entire after-party… through song?” Robb told him.
“By the… I…,” Jon stuttered.
“You have a nice voice though, so there’s that,” Robb assured him.
The beauty looked down at her shoes, covering her mouth before a small laugh escaped her. He couldn’t help but grin, too, and the elevator doors opened.
“Look Jon, I’ve got to go,” he said as he gestured to the woman to step in before him. “Meet the new Overlords.”
“Oh fuck, right, that’s today,” Jon said, temporarily brought out of his shame-spiral, “How you feeling?”
“Better than you,” he sighed, “Umber called me Mr. Stark. Bullshit, people who haven’t earned respect always demand shows of it.”
“They can’t all be that bad,” Jon pointed out.
Robb glanced at the beauty again. Are lips like that even found in nature?
“No, maybe not all bad,” he agreed, watching as a blush rose on her cheeks. “Look I’ve got to go, I’m meeting the princess in ten.”
“Okay good luck,” Jon agreed. He was about to hang up when Jon said, “Wait, wait, what song did I sing?”
Robb sighed, wincing, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
“Both parts?” Jon asked hollowly, like he’d just gotten a flashback and already knew the answer.
“Yeah man,” Robb scratched his cheek, “Both parts.”
He hung up to Jon muttering fuck and glanced at the woman to see if she was smiling again but she was very pointedly not looking at him.
His first mistake. She was likely a Lannister loyalist.
The doors opened and this time she didn’t wait for him to gesture, she just walked out of the elevator ahead of him. Not being on the phone with Jon gave him ample time to look at her butt, as she turned right towards the Lannister side of the office, and he turned left towards the Stark side.
He greeted his coworkers as he walked through, a few of them asking to have conversations later that day, likely wanting to pick his brain about whether they’d be kept around or be considered redundant. He didn’t have the answer to that, that was part of what he was planning to discuss with Myrcella Baratheon.
Myrcella Baratheon. Twenty-six years old and his new boss. It wasn’t so much her age that was the problem, he’d been the boss of men and women significantly older than him when he was younger than her. It was just the idea that she could come up from the South like she owned the place – because technically, she did.
Alys Karstark, one of the Vice President’s, came into his office.
“Alys, I don’t know anything,” he sighed.
“Well obviously, dipshit, you just got here,” Alys noted.
He turned towards her, raising his brow, “I thought everyone was supposed to refer to me as Mr. Stark.”
She rolled her eyes, “You’d hate that. I’m here to tell you what I know.”
He sat on the edge of his desk as she sat on the couch.
“Don’t underestimate her,” Alys told him. “And don’t be taken in by her.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes, “Trust me, you’ll get it when you meet her. But the point is, she may be polite. She may not peacock around like her uncle. But she is one of them. And she’s got the ear of her grandfather. I actually heard her tease him and he smiled.”
“I wasn’t aware they had updated his software to allow that,” Robb smirked.
Alys laughed, “Look, all I’m saying is –“
“Don’t piss her off,” Robb suggested.
She let out a sigh, and nodded, “Yeah, not pissing of Myrcella Baratheon would be a good idea.”
He looked at her, “You’re not actually worried, are you?”
“Of course I’m worried,” Alys told him. “I’m loyal to the Starks, and you know what happens when there’s a regime change… there’s always someone from the inner circle publicly executed to send a message.”
His stomach churned, because she was right. There hadn’t been any terminations yet, but it was only a matter of time. There always were in mergers, no matter what his Dad had said.
“Well I give you full permission to call me a dipshit out there too,” he tried for levity.
It was his responsibility as a leader. Behind closed doors he could say whatever he wanted, but to his employees he had to be the happy warrior. Their happy warrior.
She smiled but shook her head, “No. I’d rather go down because of loyalty than move up as a traitor.”
He nodded, feeling his eyes smarting and he turned away, straightening his tie.
This was why he’d gotten nearly in a bare-knuckle brawl with his Dad over this decision. These people, their people. All of them loyal, and how had they repaid that loyalty?
By throwing them to the fucking lions.
“Go on, I’ll find you after,” he told her.
She left him on his own and he straightened his tie once again. There was no point bringing anything to the meeting, it was just that. An opportunity to meet his new boss.
Besides, any facts and figures she wanted he could recite by heart. Because they weren’t just facts and figures to him.
He walked out of his office with his head held high, not stopping to look at any one of them, needing to go in with his game face on. He still saw in his periphery the way people stood though and stopped what they’re doing, he shook his head slightly and walked through the elevator banks and crossed behind enemy lines.
There was a receptionist who stood when he entered.
“Mr. Stark,” she greeted him, “I’ll take you to Miss Baratheon’s office.”
“Thank you…,” he started.
“Roslin, Mr. Stark,” she smiled, “Roslin Frey.”
“Thank you, Ms. Frey,” he could play by the rules.
For now.
She lead him through some of the smaller offices until they got to one of the corner ones. Rodrik Cassel’s old office.
“Miss Baratheon, Mr. Stark here to see you,” Roslin said as she knocked lightly on the door.
“Thank you,” a moneyed voice said.
Roslin gave him a smile, tucking her hair behind her ear and then left them to it. He stepped inside and stopped dead in his tracks.
“Please sit down, Mr. Stark,” the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen greeted him, “Or should I call you Robb? I know how you hate those false displays of respect, after all…”
Summary: Carlos can't get his one-night-stand with T.K. out of his head. And unfortunately for him his cousin wants to know all about it.
A/N: If the Jonas Brothers' "Sucker" isn't the definition of Carlos' feelings for T.K....I don't know what is! Also a million trillion thanks to @bluenet13 for beta reading. I have never let anyone beta before and she was incredibly kind and helpful!
AO3
One night. He’d spent one night with firefighter city-boy T.K. Strand and Carlos Reyes was…well, the word “wrecked” came to mind. It had been fun. And sexy. And good as hell. Apparently city boys knew some things country boys didn’t.
“What’s got you all distracted?” Adriana asked, bringing him back to the present.
She’d coerced him into this lunch claiming he couldn’t possibly be “too busy for family.” When he’d pointed out that he saw her every Sunday at their tía’s house she’d insisted it wasn’t enough and she needed on some one-on-one time with her “favorite cousin.” Carlos had rolled his eyes and allowed her to drag him over here, partly because he really liked this taco truck and partly because he didn’t want to be admonished by multiple relatives at next Sunday’s dinner for blowing her off.
“Nothing,” Carlos said, trying to look innocent as he took another bite of his tacos al pastor. That wasn’t strictly a lie. T.K. had made it pretty clear he just wanted to have some fun and Carlos had taken one look at his face and…well he’d definitely had fun too. That he couldn’t seem to get past the one-night-stand of it all was his own problem.
She raised her eyebrows. “You’re going to have to do better than that,” she said. “Come on. Spill.”
“It’s…nothing. I just had a really good night last night,” Carlos said, butterflies flittering around in his stomach as he thought back to a few particularly good moments.
“Mmhmm, what’s his name?” she asked.
“I didn’t say it had anything to do with a guy.”
“Your face said it all for you. So? Name?”
“That is none of your business,” he said lightly, grabbing a chip from her plate.
“Oooh you really had a good time last night,” Adriana said in delight. “Come on. You have to give me something for sitting here putting up with your moony eyes for the last half hour.”
“I do not have moony eyes!” Carlos said.
“Oh you definitely do. I haven’t seen you like this in a long time.”
Carlos shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He did kind of want to talk about it. He wanted someone to tell him he was crazy, that he’d been suckered in by T.K.’s charm and to get over. That a one-night-stand was not a big deal and that the memories of it didn’t need to occupy his every waking moment.
“Fine,” Carlos said, clearing his throat. “I did…bring someone home last night.”
“Scandalous!” Adriana’s face lit up with teasing. “Did you background check him first?”
“I didn’t have to,” Carlos said.
Adriana’s eyebrows rose even further. “Really. That’s interesting. So someone you work with then?”
“Sort of,” Carlos hedged.
Adriana glared at him. “Carlitos,” she wielded his childhood nickname like a weapon, “really? You’re going to make me drag this out of you?”
“Well, RiRi,” he said, firing her own nickname right back at her, “he’s a firefighter. If you must know.”
Adriana squinted at him. “Like a real firefighter? Or the stripper kind?”
Carlos almost choked. “Adriana! Seriously? I have never slept with a stripper!”
“Well I don’t know what you get up to! No judgement or anything,” Adriana said, happy that she’d riled him up. “If you just told me what was going on then I wouldn’t have to guess.”
“This is exactly why I don’t tell you things,” Carlos said, annoyed.
“Okay so a legitimate firefighter then! What’s his name? Or don’t you know?” Adriana asked saucily.
“You are—” Carlos shook his head and decided it wasn’t worth it to finish his sentence. “His name is T.K. He just moved here from New York. He’s a Leo, he likes long walks on the beach, and his favorite food is sushi.”
“Wow, really?”
“No not really! I don’t know anything about him, it was one night!”
Her eyes widened. “Oh. My. God. Carlos! Did you have a one-night-stand?!”
He shushed her, glancing around to see if anyone nearby had heard her practically shout his business to the world. “Could you not? I didn’t say it was a one-night-stand, I just said it was one night.”
“Oh so you’re dating then?”
Carlos opened his mouth but came up empty. “I—”
Adriana grinned in triumph. “My cousin. The chaste and pious Carlos Nicolás Reyes Moreno had a one-night-stand. This is the best day of my life.”
“This is not a big deal. And if you tell anyone—”
“Can you imagine if Tía Maria finds out? She’ll have to pray el rosario so many times for your soul…”
“Adriana I mean it—”
“Okay okay! I will just treasure this knowledge secretly in my heart forever.” She grinned at him in self-satisfaction. “So it was good then?”
“It was…good,” Carlos said. “Really good.”
“Mhmm, keep going,” Adriana said, leaning forward her eyes sparkling.
Carlos threw a napkin at her. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Excuse me officer, I think that’s assault,” she mocked, tossing the napkin back at him. “Fine. Don’t give me the dirty details. So are you going to try and see him again?”
“I think the definition of ‘one-night-stand’ implies that we don’t see each other again.”
“Hello, yes, I know how they work. But you are not a one-night-stand kind of guy.”
“Maybe I’m trying something new.”
She looked at him hard and then shook her head. “No.”
“No what?”
“No you like this guy too much. And you want to see him again. And I think you should do something about it.”
His phone chirped and he looked down, instantly feeling hot all over. He hoped Adriana couldn’t see the blush rising in his cheeks.
T.K. Strand: Hey I get off in an hour. You free?
“Oh my god is that him? Let me see!” Adriana grabbed for his phone but he snatched it back.
“It’s a work thing,” Carlos lied.
Adriana’s eyes narrowed. “Eres un maldito mentiroso.”
“¿Besas a tu madre con esa boca? Te voy a lavar la boca con jabón.”
She smacked the table in annoyance. “Carlos come on!”
“Why do you care so much?” Carlos said with an incredulous laugh. “It’s just a…thing! That’s all! It was one night, it was good, he left, that’s the end of it. People do it all the time!”
Adriana squared him with a look. “I care because I want you to be happy. This was not just one night for you. Maybe you thought it would be, but it’s pretty clear you’ve got some real feelings for this guy.”
God he hated how right she was. Carlos shrugged helplessly. “I feel…crazy. I barely know him. It was one night.”
She shrugged. “Sometimes one night is all you need.” She nodded toward his phone. “Are you going to text him back?”
Carlos looked down at the text again, the cursor blinking underneath his fingers. His heart beat rapidly at thought of seeing T.K. again. All it would take was a few words…
Yeah I’ll be home.
“Happy?” he asked.
Adriana sat back, a smirk on her face. “Very. Face it Carlitos, you’re a sucker for this guy.”
She was right. He was a sucker. And right now, it felt pretty damn good.
