In the deserted kichens, no one was around to disturb them or well, until Niki decided he was hungry , so Rei let Wataru snooze on the counter as he grabbed ingredients to make a simplistic sandwich of dry cured ham and lettuce - light on the stomach, suitable for late night snacking. Even though he knew his own favourite foods were not particularly healthy, he was not going to allow his boyfriend to consume only jello as a replacement dinner.
He would never hear the end of it from the rest of his unit…. Wataru blinked sleep out of his eyes, stretching forward and up, reminiscent of a domestic cat doing a very long stretch.
Rei rolled his eyes but acquiesced the food. Plain text with limited HTML? Main Content While we've done our best to make the core functionality of this site accessible without javascript, it will work better with it enabled. Get an Invitation. Notes: it's based off of azura's watarei thought thread, but theyre on private now, so ive pasted it here: day 1: rei dragging wataru to eat and rest after he gets too absorbed in his rehearsal and forgets to eat.
See the end of the work for more notes. Work Text: Being a creature of the night meant that Rei often traipsed under a blanket of twinkling stars, picking his way through the quiet while the rest of the world was lulled to sleep by the lullaby of the moon. Ritsu had moved on from the past; it was time he did, too. Rei backed away from the viewing window.
Rei chanced a glance at his watch - Watching his boyfriend perform would never stop being a magical experience; Rei maintained that it was like Wataru had cast a spell on the audience, no matter how big or small, entrapping all into his thrall, pulling them in and in and in- Almost as if Wataru himself was of coalesced magic.
The room was still dark, but the light from the cell phone outlined his face. Don't make it sound weird, that was scary! Norton noticed that he still hadn't blocked the cell phone screen, probably to keep some light in the room. You would have closed the door if you were doing something perv— Okay, sorry, sorry! But then his expression softened. I just wasn't in the mood Norton approached his bed, returning his pillow to him. But instead of placing it in its usual place, Eli hugged it tightly. Norton didn't hesitate to sit on the edge of the bed and cross his legs.
Eli never had a problem with this and neither had Norton, Naib was the only one between the three really strict about the privacy of his room. Eli thought for only a minute before he sat up again, moving closer to where Norton was standing in the corner of the bed. He brought a finger to his lips and spoke softly. Norton arched an eyebrow.
Eli slapped Norton lightly on the arm, who laughed and promised to stop the jokes. They both knew it was a lie, but really, who cared?
Norton loved living with Eli. Neither of them had good experiences in the past with their families, and the places they had to call home were of a questionable quality. But then they went under the same roof, and discovered what a comfort it was to have someone you could really trust so close.
It was more common than it seemed for the nights when one would invade the other's room to tell a recent gossip, seek help, or vent about their problems. There were also, like this one, the times when they were simply bored and would disturb each other.
It was an unexpected comfort to them, but one that was very welcome in their lives. Even with all the chaos of college and having to deal with all the expenses, it was still a little bit of peace for their day. Or would you rather play something? Campbell ignored the flutter in his heart that this gesture gave him. Eli hugged the pillow closer to his body, a wide smile on his face. A simple drawing and some hints to guess who the other person thought of. Eli smiled, stretching his whole body to reach the notepad that caught his friend's attention.
He also found two pens on the desk and handed a few sheets of paper to Norton, as well as one of the pens. Either he was in his competitive mode, or he had other plans in mind and that expression always sent a chill up Norton's spine.
Norton raised a single eyebrow, suspicious of what the other was saying, but soon laughed and sat up straight, his posture erect as he prepared to get into the mood of the game. As much as Eli, he didn't like to lose. You start. And then they set the rules.
They were both going to make a simple sketch of the person they thought of. But before this, they would be given three hints. If the person couldn't guess with the hints, they would have to guess with the sketch, but they would get fewer points.
Eli finally put his pillow aside. He was sitting with his knees together near his chest, where he rested his paper and seemed to be concentrating on his drawing. Norton waited for him to finish his work of art, looking at his concentrated gaze on the paper.
It was kind of cute the way he occasionally squeezed his eyes shut or moved his head a little far to see the result from a distance.
His voice came out a little high, but then he seemed to realize that it was still the middle of the night, and he lowered the pitch in his next words. Not before he risked a glance to his right, where Brooke was thankfully still resting. Norton didn't hesitate in his answer. In fact, he answered it so quickly that Eli suspected that he didn't even think about the hint. He frowned, looking from the paper to Norton and to the paper again.
Eli looked pouty as he dropped the paper on the mattress in front of Norton and crossed his arms. Campbell risked a glance at the paper, laughing as he saw the shabby drawing of a girl with two horns on her hood and a faint smile.
I didn't need the hint, you're too obvious to read. He looked annoyed, but uncrossed his arms and took the paper with the drawing back to himself. And then he spoke, so low that Norton was barely able to hear. Norton smiled as he saw the other's complaint, and picked up his own paper. With his free hand, he lightly pinched Eli's nose to get his attention, and laughed.
You still have a chance to win. While Norton thought about a person and drew them, he fiddled with his cell phone with a bored expression, patiently waiting. With a slap of his tongue, he announced that he was finished. Even in poor lighting, it was still enough for them to see sufficiently. Then he looked at Norton again, waiting anxiously for the first hint.
And he felt a vein of anger as he saw the victorious expression on his face before he began to speak. Eli blinked his eyes once, twice, three times. He processed the information, reread it in his mind, took a deep breath. Then he threw himself back on the mattress, laying down again. Magically having found his pillow once again, Eli hid his face in the pillowcase while mumbling something unreadable. And Norton continued to smile, so nonchalant in that easy game.
Minus one point, Clark" He held up two fingers. They're an introverted person. Half the group is introverted, that's not funny. Who could it be? Maybe Vera? Was Vera an introvert? It was about two minutes of thinking, and his voice came out a little weak, almost giving up.
Norton scratched something on his own paper, the smile that now seemed to dwell permanently on his face, refusing to go away.
You're doing fine, little owl, come on. It wasn't Aesop, he would have known if it was. And all the other introverts didn't have their father figures or at least he couldn't remember if the others did, since they rarely spoke about it. But what happened to her? Norton handed over the sheet in his hands, revealing the ugly sketch of the girl with her iconic hat in her oh-so-short hair and a bright smile.
Now, imagine if I wasn't such a good friend as to totally deliver the answer with the third tip" Norton commented in a dramatic way.
Eli stretched his tongue at Norton, and wasted no time celebrating his victory, already drawing something on his own paper for the next round. He had to win! The drawing didn't take long either, and soon after a few seconds he was already back to his previous posture, smiling triumphantly. Norton thought he hadn't even had enough time to think about the hints, but Eli was already talking. It's your problem if you don't know about other people's pasts.
Come on now, guess. And who could be the whiner of the group? Details of the beef are murky. But it stemmed from a six-month suspension Vela received from the Mexican Football Federation for a party he threw in Mexico after a friendly. That was late But after one more appearance with El Tri in early , Vela began refusing all-call ups to play for Mexico until only this past November for a pair of friendlies against the Netherlands and Belarus.
And when he started beside Chicharito in that game, Mexico fans saw what they had been waiting three long years to see. What exactly does Carlos Vela bring to El Tri? Pure dyna mism and elite talent. On talent alone, he certainly is. This gives center-backs the dilemma of having to come to him, which would leave Hernandez able to break free behind.
Growing up at Club America where the team always possessed a South American star striker, Jimenez learned quickly how to complement whoever he needed to as a second striker. He is definitely capable of playing a role and doing dirty work if asked to do so. His coming out party on the international level was the Gold Cup Final where he earned his start of the tournament and recorded the winning goal.
He is simply fearless. He takes on players, almost to a fault, always convinced he can beat his man. Probably each and every time. It was a good idea as he debuted with a brace. I would expect Tecatito almost certainly will be used as a substitute during the US match. Finally, during an excellent season with Villarreal, Dos Santos seemed to finally be living up to his potential. In that season he scored 11 goals and notched 8 assists as he led the newly promoted Villarreal to sixth place.
Unfortunately last season saw him miss lots of time due to injury and his coach lost faith in him, leading the way to GASP! Dos Santos always has been a feast or famine player. At his worst, he drifts side-to-side disinterested in defense and disengaged.
Luckily for El Tri, the former has become more and more the norm. Aquino 25 who made a name for himself at the London Olympics hasplayed in Spain the last two seasons and been mediocre. Both are incredibly fast Damm in particular is one of the five fastest players in the world according to OPTA and along with Tecatito would be the most logical choice as offensive substitutions for Mexico, especially if the USA is ahead late.
There is nothing particularly nuanced about their games. They favor staying wide and like to use their speed to blow by people. Dempsey and Jones seem to be the only ones with swag in the pool. The best example of him as a left midfielder in a Mexico shirt probably came in the Gold Cup Final , he has had a distinguished European career. And now, the Tapatio, who turned 29 this week has become the Mexican captain succeeding Rafa Marquez. And Guardado has made a fine successor.
Last year Guardado settled in nicely at PSV Eindhoven on loan after several years struggling out of position at Valencia. He even earned Player of the Year honors from one major Dutch newspaper. They displayed a tifo thanking the Mexican and urging PSV and his parent club Valencia to make the loan move permanent.
What he provides in midfield is steadiness and technical ability. He plays well both in attack and in defense and will be a key in helping Mexico dominate possession. Herrera, Vela, or Jimenez or Guardado are going to charge into that vacated area and create scoring chances. The twenty-five year-old has quietly become the undisputed banner carrier for Mexicans abroad in Europe. Herrera is a dangerous player because he has the exact same position and role with Mexico as he does at Porto.
He plays on the right side of a narrow three-man midfield ahead of the CDM and looks to create for the forward line, and more increasingly of late, look for his own long range shots he scored this great golazo in the Champions League last season.
He was incredibly underutilized by Mexico during their disastrous Hexagonal campaign much to the chagrin of Mexico fans. After a rough Gold Cup which saw him benched for the final, he finally tallied his first goal for his National Team , in the Trinidad game and immediately followed it up with a second in the Argentina friendly. He is a player that must be paid attention to if you hope to disrupt Mexico. Vazquez, who had not been on the National team radar until Miguel Herrera took over and noticed he may have been the lynchpin to a Club Leon midfield that won back-to-back Liga MX titles.
But, fate intervened, Medina was hurt in practice and Vazquez was handed the reigns and thrived, playing all three group games in Brazil. In fact, his injury leading up to the Gold Cup prevented him from being a factor at all in that tournament and I think his absence was a huge loss for El Tri. Granted, Jonathan Dos Santos, who replaced him, is far more talented, but is not as defensive minded. He guards the defense, runs arounds the downside: sometimes, he can run himself out of games against well drilled and skilled midfields , wins balls and looks for Guardado and Herrera who will do the creative passing.
His battle with a forward deployed Bradley could be the key to the whole game. The younger brother of Gio, Jonathan spent five seasons fighting, scraping, clawing, to stay at FC Barcelona despite the fact many urged him to move on and earn regular minutes. At Villareal last season he thrived, even as Gio struggled with injuries.
Deployed all over the pitch, the self-proclaimed defensive midfielder is as talented a player as Mexico has. The best example of this was the Gold Cup Final against Jamaica. I was there in person and the way in which he kept attacking the ball and then properly moving the ball forward was the one thing I will always remember about that game. The question will be, after Dos Santos was notoriously absent from the squad in the September friendlies, will Ferretti use him if Andres Guardado cannot go after this nasty ankle role he suffered at the hands of Chris Smalling.
Naturally right-footed, Layun can play several other positions as well and tends to cut inside in the final third where he is capable of ripping off golazos from yards. He can truly be an extra midfielder in possession. Watch here as he cuts inside to the right foot. Mexico needs both of them on top of their game to succeed in this tournament. But Aguilar is the perfect wingback. He makes great overlapping runs into the 18 on give-and-goes great goal by the amazing Chucho Benitez in this video, R.
I still rue never getting to see him, Enner Valencia, and Antonio Valencia together at the World Cup with the midfield and can send in a heck of cross as well. And he, like Layun is capable of long range sniper rifle shots too. But if the USA goes with a narrow diamond midfield, then Mexico will lose a lot by not having a right sided marauder to take advantage. But this formation has brought him new life. Flanked by a center back on either side, Marquez is able to play an almost Pirlo-esque role while using his experience to direct the defense.
While the rest of the team can play the possession game, he can start counter attacks incredibly quickly with his direct play. As an anecdote I remember being incredibly nervous prior to the final group stage game against Croatia last summer. Mexico only needed a draw and Croatia a win, but armed with Modric, Racatic, and Mandzukic, the Croats were certainly dangerous.
Then after a few minutes, I realized that no one on Croatia was pressing Marquez when he received the ball. It was right then I knew Mexico was going to win. Starting with his time at AZ Alkmaar, and continuing through to his years at Espanyol, Moreno has been one of the first names on the team sheet since regardless of who is managing Mexico.
Prior to the World Cup, it was expected that the 27 year old would move on to a bigger club, possibly even one at a Champions League level. If he plays well in the group stage, and I suspect he will, expect top 4 league interest in him once again. A left-footed player, he was occasionally deployed at left-back in his younger days but is now truly a centerback. He is Mr. This is really the only compilation video of him I could find.
Much has been expected of Diego Reyes in Mexico and he has long been thought the heir apparent to Marquez. At 18, he started for the Mexico U squad which won Olympic Gold and was a star at Club America before earning the big overseas attention. However his time at Porto was not good. While Hector Herrera has thrived in Portugal, Reyes has floundered. But Mexico for almost five years now has expected him to be the heir apparent to Marquez. Marquez was always able to give Mexico a dangerous counter-attack with his long ball accuracy and Reyes seems to be the only center-back in the pool with the capability of someday providing Mexico with that kind of danger from the back.
There are not a lot of highlights to show off since he left Mexico. He even earned a Champions League quarterfinal start at RB because of this performance, but he was embarrassingly pulled before halftime as Bayern Munich exploded with multiple goals in the first half.
But the steady and reliable 35 year old likely earned the start versus the USA with his excellent showing versus Argentina in Dallas though he did have the big error that allowed Argentina to get back in the game. That was really the last time he was in net for a meaningful game for El Tri. Talavera seems to suffer from just not being able to capitalize on his opportunities in the Mexico kit, such as the September friendly against Trinidad and Tobago.
In fact, he was about to have the unfortunate distinction of heading to his third straight World Cup without playing. Luckily for Ochoa, Jose de Jesus Corona picked up a knock during the warm up matches and Ochoa was able to wrestle the job away. And despite making a big name for himself last summer and rumors connecting him to several big clubs, he eventually moved on a free transfer to Malaga.
However, the choice of going to Malaga has been nothing short of disaster he just reached days without a La Liga start! But Herrera believed in him. The big difference between them is that one is left-footed and one is right-footed, which may be the deciding factor.
While Hector Moreno is the more accomplished center-back by far over Diego Reyes, it is Reyes who is more familiar with the center role in the back three. He is also more familiar with a back three. Mexico fans will definitely be uneasy about either of these guys despite the fact that they both performed well together in a November friendly in Amsterdam versus the Dutch.
Moreso than seeing either of them in the starting XI, seeing the may cause more angst among fans. I believe they will. I anticipate Mexico will control the tempo in midfield and their defense will play just well enough against the counter attack to get them through. I say final score: Mexico. Since that declaration, all but one of the remaining spots were gobbled up. Most recently, Atlanta was officially announced as the 22 nd team, with Miami still being the unofficial 23 rd.
And all of a sudden, within a year, only one spot remained. Yet, while speculation has been rampant, there has not been a clear frontrunner for the final spot.
Several cities and franchises have asked to step up. Minneapolis appears to be a city poised to host MLS team 24 considering there have been reports that both the Vikings and Twins owners have inquired on the subject of ownership. Louis, with its soccer rich history, has maintained its place as the sentimental favorite for a franchise, though no ownership group seems interested. Almost all of those cities make sense as homes for a club, so my question is: what is MLS to do?
Somewhere Don Garber is smiling. While soccer writers questioned the pragmatism of a 24 team league, one which is bigger than any first division in the World, Garber has instead created a demand for a surplus of potential suppliers.
While some thought he was over-promising, he knew exactly what he was doing. But all these ownership groups stepping up to the plate got me thinking? Garber has the benefit of having an American sports scene where 30 or 32 teams is the standard, so fans will be pre-programmed to accept it with MLS as well.
Personally, this kind of thing makes me want to throw up. I hate unbalanced schedules, almost as much as I hate amateur drafts and salary caps.
But while I can stomach the latter two, the first is really sinful as it messes with the integrity of the league. Not to mention the fact that it really strays from the soccer norm around the globe. But what if there really were too many quality ownership groups to turn away? Could two leagues really be the answer? And I say that because I believe Don Garber wants to cap the league at 24 teams about as much as I believe that the moon landing was faked.
I say there absolutely is, and the MLS would be foolish not to ponder it seriously. The first step in that process would be a buyout of, or merger with, NASL. And of course, there is also the property that is the New York Cosmos. If MLS were to really ever head down the road to promotion and relegation it would need, by my best guess, 40 franchises at minimum.
This, as I said before, might be the goal for Garber anyway. You would have to give MLS teams almost a year warning before implementing a promotion and relegation format. MLS has done all it can to keep the league exclusive. So, in this hypothetical scenario, in order to set up the proper setting for such a transition, MLS would have purchased the 13 team NASL. This is perfect because some teams would overlap territorially, such as the Atlanta Silverbacks with the new Atlanta MLS team or the Ft.
It would be necessary therefore for MLS to contract or merge a couple franchises. After that was done by either buying out owners or giving them a stake in other properties, the two leagues, MLS and MLS2 would need to be aligned. Unfortunately for this to work, the leagues would need as many top 40 metropolitan areas as possible.
Perhaps over time there could be a system for them to be promoted to MLS2, but not to start. You explain to them that:.
The first criteria is simple enough. Teams could even pay before qualifying to be promoted to MLS so as to become part of the family sooner. If these standards were not met, or you could not pay your expansion fee, then you would not be entitled to be promoted to MLS, even if qualified for promotion via the standings. As for how promotion and relegation would work competitively: this is how it would go: At the end of every season, two teams would be automatically promoted.
Then, the second place finisher in each MLS2 conference would play a single elimination game on the road against the penultimate finishers in each MLS conference. Obviously the Cosmos would be the most likely team to have all the required criteria to be promoted. So if they qualified, now the Cosmos would have to play the Montreal Impact in a single elimination game for the right to be promoted.
The world of soccer has a long history of promotion and relegation. For me, when I first heard about it, it nearly blew my mind. It instantly attracted me more to the world of soccer. I thought it was the most brilliant idea. Certainly better than worrying about lazy owners, greedy owners, dumb owners, ping pong balls, or tanking seasons. If you deserved it, you stayed up and earned the money. If not, adios, learn to do business. Unfortunately, while I never believe anyone when they say never, promotion and relegation in MLS is likely to be 20 years away minimum.
Maybe it is 50 years away. Not quite as sexy is it? Two separate leagues of 20 teams each. Top team each in each division goes to the playoffs and the next best 4 Wild Cards advance to the MLS Cup Playoffs which will include 16 teams.
American sports at its most typical. Or can you? Personally, I think my idea could be as lucrative, if not more lucrative, than a 40 team league. Mostly because I believe a two-tiered league could be put together far sooner, in just a few years, because it will utilize more pre-existing organizations.
The final piece to this puzzle may not seem related, but it absolutely is. MLS needs to launch a network. And I mean need.
They could probably get one up and running for the price of an expansion fee. This is the perfect time for MLS to launch a network. If you are a soccer fan in the United States, there is no channel where you know that you can plop down on the couch, turn on the TV, and check out soccer or soccer news.
MLS, by launching the channel now beats everyone else to the punch. By doing that you will force soccer junkies to tune in to MLS as a matter of necessity.
And filling the lineup would be easy and cheap. With the soccer world forced into podcasting by the mainstream media, there would be no shortage of good talent.
And cheap talent at that. Not to mention there are plenty of soccer leagues the network could televise cheaply to fill air time: Scottish League, A-League, heck, even French league or Dutch League. Why not? If MLS is to be their equal, they are going to need one as well. Aside from a morning highlight show, these league owned networks have some shows from about pm and some wrap-around coverage in the evenings. Just like Pokemon Go rewards players for being active, Pokemon Sleep will reward you for getting a good night's sleep.
It's possible that the pandemic had an effect on project, or that there were hurdles with the hardware functionality. Of course, the code doesn't guarantee anything, but it's enough to get fans' hopes up for now. Looking for tips and tricks across your favourite consoles and games? We have you covered
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