On this date, 29 years ago, Buffy the Vampire Slayer staked her way onto our television and into our hearts. At the time, no one could have known that we would still be here nearly three decades later, celebrating her enduring legacy. Just like no one could have known this show would launch the ultimate E2L ship -- that which many try to imitate, but never manage to duplicate.
"Your heart seems elsewhere, child." Her grandmother's voice, sharp as her gaze, cut through her reverie.
"Is it so visible?" Nasha asked, a half-smile fleeting across her lips.
"Only to eyes that have seen many summers come and go," her grandmother replied, her look softening.
———————————————————————-
Nasha wandered past the garden, hands reaching out to caress the petals of wildflowers. She plucked them gently, gathering a bouquet, each color representing wishes for the future.
Under an oak, girls from the village gathered, their laughter as bright as the ribbons they wove into each other's braids. They spoke of suitors and promises, of weddings that would soon take place.
"Come join us, Nasha!" one called, a bloom of excitement in her cheeks.
Nasha paused, her fingers closing around the stems in her hand. The pull of expectation tugged at her, yet she remained rooted to the spot.
"Perhaps another time," she called back, her voice steady.
She watched for a moment longer before she turned away.
Set after Neil’s mom dies, Neil gets arrested for fake ID. Neil goes to juvie where Andrew becomes his roommate. They play on the juvie exy team together. Dobson is also there as the juvie counsellor.
found it!
-rocky
Oakland by AgentCoop (M | Incomplete | 30/?)
When Neil Josten gets arrested for a fake ID and thrown into the Juvenile Detention System, he knows that he's running on borrowed time before his father's men catch up.
His mother is dead, there's nowhere to run, there's nothing left at all but an Exy court at the Oakland County Detention Center that he has to earn the right to play on through good behavior.
And Neil's never been great at obeying rules.
***
An Andriel AU where the boys meet as teens in Juvie.
Oh, I support this 100%. In fact, this inspired me to write something. LOL
The Nudist
He was doing it. Again.
Katniss ground her teeth in frustration as she peeked out from her bathroom window.
Her beautiful blond neighbor was swimming in the lake that fell smack dab in the middle of both their property lines.
Naked.
Again.
She closed her eyes and turned away from the window, biting her lip. She was sure he was doing it on purpose this time.
The infuriating nudist bastard.
He was taking extra slow laps around the lake, as if inviting her to ogle him. Katniss hated to admit it, but it was a very tempting sight. He wasn't the tallest man in the world, he was more average height, but he was certainly well built, and taller than her small frame and very muscular.
His arms and legs were almost as thick as tree trunks and his chest was a solid wall of toned muscle leading down to his eye-catchingly trim waist and hips. His back was broad and powerful, with muscles that rippled with every stroke he took. And his backside…well she was embarrassed to admit she’d thought about what it would feel like to bite down on one of those perfectly rounded, exquisite fleshy globes quite a number of times. She hated to even think about the few times she’d caught a glimpse of his entire front, as he was getting in and out of the lake.
Suffice to say he was thick and well sculpted all over.
That was saying nothing of his face, which was unfairly handsome. She had almost bitten her tongue the first time they spoke, when she was arrested by his brilliant blue eyes that sparkled more than the waters of their crystalline lake in the bright sunshine. His slightly over long blond hair curled at the ends and bunched up around his ears but framed his face adorably and added to his boyish charm. He also had a mesmerizing smile, with one imperfectly perfect dimple that peeked out on the left side.
But as nice as he was to look at, the man was a terrific pain in the ass.
She’d asked him countless times now to not swim naked in the morning and each time he’d brushed off her requests. The first time she’d suggested he wear swimming trunks he very matter-of-factly told her he didn’t own any and then he’d walked away whistling a care-free tune. The next day when she’d suggested he just keep his boxers on he’d shook his head and said ‘no thanks’, and had gone back to painting the side of his house. Everytime she had made a request for more propriety he had responded with amused refusal.
Finally they’d had it out when she had demanded that he stop swimming naked.
“I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ve been swimming in the lake for almost that long. I’m not going to change my routine just because you’re a little prudish.” He had replied with an infuriating smirk and lazy drawl.
“I’m not a prude!”
“Oh, no? Well, someone who has such strict rules about what other people can and can’t wear while swimming on their own property doesn’t really seem like the flexible sort.”
“I’m flexible! Very flexible!” She’d shouted back and then had blushed at the amused grin he shot her, not noticing the double meaning until he’d smiled at her. She had only grown more flustered by his immature humor.
“I just don’t want to be greeted every morning by your male nakedness polluting the lake, which by the way is half mine according to the property lines!” She’d shouted at him.
“Oh, so it's not nudity that offends you, but it's the fact that I’m a guy. Ok, well, it's this simple. Just don’t look. Or, pretend I’m a girl. Whatever gets you going, Sweetheart.” He’d replied with a disgusting little wink and then just walked away, leaving her fuming and irritated.
She’d stomped the very short distance home (25 yards to be exact) and angrily cleaned her kitchen and living room from top to bottom in hopes of de-stressing, but to no avail. Then she’d stayed awake tossing and turning all night, finally coming up with a plan to get back at the smug asshole right before 1am.
She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, hair pulled back into a high ponytail and dressed only in a fluffy green bathrobe and slippers. She really wasn’t all that big or particularly pretty in her opinion, but she did have surprise on her side.
Her cheeks pinked as she second guessed her strategy. It had seemed brilliant last night but this morning she wasn’t sure if she could go through with it.
She looked quickly and carefully once more out the window and found him staring up at her, and waving like cocky little shit.
“Fuck it.” Katniss said to her own reflection and rushed downstairs to grab her yoga mat, earbuds, and cell phone. She paused at the back door that led out of the kitchen and subsequently to the lake, and left her robe hanging on a hook by the door.
She exited the house completely naked except for the yoga mat and her green slippers which she promptly slipped off after setting up her mat on a patch of newly trimmed grass directly beside the lake shore.
She peeked up and saw him coming back around to her side to rest after his last lap. It was only a matter of time. She thought as she very slowly and deliberately switched on her music and closed her eyes while she stretched out.
She hadn’t intended to imply she was physically flexible during their argument yesterday but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. She was an avid outdoor enthusiast, and she loved yoga. In fact she would have been out in the yard most mornings doing exactly that if it hadn’t been for her naked neighbor practicing his backstroke most mornings.
Katniss decided then and there not to let him chase her away from enjoying her own yard any longer.
She closed her eyes, concentrated on her music and the beginning poses, and blocked everything else out. It wasn’t until she felt someone yank an earbud out of her ear that she broke out of her meditative state.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” Peeta stood off to the side, a white towel clinging to his slim hips. His chest was heaving and his face was red.
“It’s called yoga, and good morning to you too.” Katniss replied coolly as she rose into her high dragon pose...
I’m looking for an andreil fic it’s slow burn fantasy and had something to do with chimera and Andrew is a angel and renees got like fire wings. Also they go to art school in i think Czech Republic sorry if this one is a bit hard to find <3
i think i might've found it? this sounds like a daughter of smoke & bone au so i went looking for that
-rocky
Of Smoke & Bone by wishbonetea (M | 220, 979 | 30/30)
In general, Neil Josten managed to keep his two lives in balance. On the one hand, he was a nineteen year old art student in Prague with a part-time job in a mostly-normal coffee shop. On the other, he, Allison, and Renee worked for an inhuman creature, running errands in exchange for wishes. For the most part, these two lives rarely intersect. But it's fair to say that the Foxes bring their own brand of trouble, and Neil's two lives soon start to collide.
⁂
Aka the art school au with a secret world of magic and monsters.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapter 2: “Heated” is UP!
“When you shoot, you’ve got to keep both eyes on what you want to hit.” Katniss tells him seriously. “Do you bring this kind of tenacious focus with you to all aspects of your life?” Peeta asks, hoping his wildly mounting attraction for her isn’t as obvious to her as it feels to him. “When the situation calls for it. I’m good at going after what I want. And I find my mark almost every time.” She tells him with such a straight face he would have believed they were still talking about archery if her smoldering grey eyes weren’t glued to his mouth.
When hot shot college archery rookie Katniss Everdeen makes it to the USA Archery Collegiate National Championships her first year on the team, the university’s newly appointed college sports reporter Peeta Mellark is sent on assignment to cover her and the archery team’s meteoric rise to fame. What he never intended was to get so invested in the subject of his article, or to get so infatuated with the girl herself.
are there any long enemies to lovers kevaaron fics?
this is the only one i could find im afraid
-maz
it's all downhill ( till it's a climb ). by owlaashi (G | 10,967 | 1/1)
“Why do you hate me so much?”
Aaron stops for a minute second before tossing a flyer into the bin he’d set down on a nearby chair. When he does turn to look at Kevin he’s a little throw off, because he looks tired, like he’s giving up a fight he’d been trying to hold onto for years. The look etched on his face is not something that Aaron has become familiar with concerning Kevin Day; not that he’s familiar with anything concerning him. But this, this is something different, it pulls and tugs and twists at something deep with him.
And not for the first time today, does he think about why he hates Kevin so much.
For the ask about the fic with Kevin and Neil fake dating and the Olympics with everyone, it’s called “Hello World” but idk the Author. Love y’all!
thanks!!
-Scout
hello world by lolainslackss (M | 36,838 | 10/10)
Everyone on the US national team knows that Andrew Minyard and Neil Josten hate each other, so of course they all think it's hilarious to force them to share a room in the name of 'team harmony' for the entirety of the Exy World Cup.