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twinkleallnight · 4 years

Text

Marshmallow

(Part-5) Frozen heart

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Liam x MC, Drake x ??

For previous chapters: catch up here

Thank you @bbrandy2002 for prereading and listening to my blabbering last two weeks. Blessed to have you here.

A/N: This is my first attempt at wacky drabbles. It's wacky drabbles #58. "Where are you going? It's not safe out there." It will appear in bold.

Tags: @ao719 @bbrandy2002 @choiceskatie @drakewalker04 @gkittylove99 @glaimtruelovealways @hopefulmoonobject @jovialyouthmusic @mrswalkers-blog @mom2000aggie @speedyoperarascalparty @texaskitten30 @wackydrabbles

I stand frozen at the door steps of the Nevrakis’ chateau till a soft voice calls out my name. I see Hana queueing up behind me. She is holding my forearm in both her slender hands and shaking vigorously. I give her a questioning look.

She lets go of my arm suddenly realising, and says, “My apologies! I called you out few times but you were lost in your thoughts.”

“I am sorry for blocking the way.” I reply, shaking my head in an attempt to clear it of any thoughts of what I saw moments ago.

I start dragging myself ahead to my room. My mind is replacing previous thoughts with new ones. ‘Why am I here? My job is back at the palace, taking care of their farms and horses. I don’t have any part to play here besides, maybe, to play the role of Prince’s best friend or to look out for his favourite suitor, as he has asked me to.’

A beep on my phone brings me back. It’s Max's text message calling me out for ice skating.

I text him that I will join later; Max is always full of energy. After this long drive, he has not wasted a minute and is already out on the frozen lake with Riley.

I stand at my window, looking out toward the lake and watch the small group gathered at the lake. I can see Liam is with Riley now while Max is skating to the other end with Livy. They are all enjoying themselves. Then there are others whom I don’t know much or care about.

I get back and settle my things in my room. As I relax down, my phone beeps again. This time, Liam asks to join the group for skiing with a special request, 'watch her back.’

I meet Riley soon and we decide to race. As we ski down, we cross Liam and Livy. Riley distracts them and I catch a glimpse of Livy’s annoyed expression. I don’t understand if that look is for me or Riley?

I get up with a sigh. This guy is going crazy. What wrong can happen while skiing unless she is trying it for the first time? I gear up and walk out.

I land at the base a few seconds after Riley. “ Yay! I win!” She exclaims.

“ Okay! Point granted. Sadly, the happy part ends here today. From tomorrow we will be all back to the balls and the gowns. Hope u are as smooth at waltzing too.”

“Not at all. I need lot of lessons.”

“I am surprised. House Beaumont is sponsoring you. As cool as Max may be, I don’t think the elder Beaumont will leave any stone unturned in your grooming.”

“Bingo. Bertrand is very strict, I must say, unlike his younger brother, Max. But he was busy with some official work and left it to Max to teach me Cordonian waltz. But five minutes into training, all we did was Max's favourite breakdance moves.”

“So how do you plan to impress tomorrow?”

“Oh, I have Hana.”

“Don’t tell me, Hana is going to teach you. How does she know it so well?”

“Oh, yes, she is. That girl can handle anything from a needle to a sword.”

“Wow!” I must admit, Hana surprises me with her treasure chest full of talent.

“You wanna join?”

“Not my cup of tea”

“Come on. You can at least watch.”

“Okay.”

Shortly the party moves to the lodge. I join Max, Riley and Hana, sipping hot chocolate.

We sit there planning Riley’s dance lessons when Max suddenly straightens up. I follow his eyes and see Livy walking towards us. Unknowingly, even my back tightens up.

Livy’s sharp eyes catch the change in our demeanour and her lips curl up in a smirk.

“Hello everyone I hope you are enjoying the Lythikos hospitality. Max that’s your favourite flavour. You must be loving it,”

“As always!” He replies, raising his glass.

She ignores my presence, turns to the girls, and starts talking. I make myself scarce and walk out of the lodge. It’s cold outside, but I take few steps into the woods. I stand there for sometime, looking up at the sky.

“Where are you going? It’s not safe out there.” Max calls out.

As he comes closer, I quote C.S. Lewis from our childhood,

“If belated drops yet fall,

From heaven, on these her plastic power…”

I pause and shift my gaze to look at Max. Now he stares up at the evening light and completes the verse.

“ Still works as once it worked on all,

The glad rush of the golden shower.”

He looks at me and suddenly realises the hint. As if on a cue, we both start running, trampling over the snow cover, in a rush to reach our favourite spot. We always came here to see the meteor shower as kids.

I fall back, and I see him lying flat on his back, when I reach the spot. I huff, bending over, “you win again!”

Without a word, he kicks behind my knee making me topple, and I land on my back next to him. We both peer at the sky quietly for sometime when he speaks, “ I miss it.”

“What?” I ask knowingly.

“ The carefree days. Our vacation here when it was four of us. I hate to see you guys growing up.”

“You never grew up?”

“ Not quite like you. I am living, enjoying not dragging myself.”

“ You mean by keeping your joker mask on? Showing others that you are happy? Is that what you call enjoying?” I question him.

“ If you can’t change it, at least learn to drive some happiness out of it.”

“I am happy for Liam and Riley.”

“And what about Livy?”

“What about her?”

“ Have you looked into the mirror lately? That long drawn face of yours? Even today, when she was laughing and enjoying, you couldn’t reciprocate with a smile?”

“I .. I hurt her.” I fluster.

“ It doesn’t matter what you did then. What matters is, what is here now. Live in the moment.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm.” He hums after me.

We lie down, gazing at the sky until the meteor showers ends.

As Max starts, I join in.

“Among the hills, a meteorite

Lies huge and moss has overgrown,

And wind and rain with touches light

Made soft, the contours of the stone.

Thus easily can Earth digest

A cylinder of sidereal fire,

And make her translunary guest

The native of an English shire.”

I will digest and will make the changes, my native - part of my life. I resolve as we walk back to the chateau.

The next day, I spend most of my time in my room catching up with some reading and calls from the palace, managing the administrative work until it’s Showtime.

Reluctantly, I make my way to the ball room of the chateau. I search through the name plates on the tables to find my place. A big smile of relief spreads across my face when I see it on the last table in the corner, away from the crowd. I make a note to thank Livy. She remembered to keep me away from all the hullabaloo. Complacent, I take my seat and wait for the rest to join.

I wonder why Riley and Hana are sitting with me or why Livy has not chosen a place closer to Liam for Riley. Soon both the girls find there way to the table.

When the dishes are served, it becomes evident that this table was the chosen one; to be left out. The service remains poor at our table throughout. The food served is cold. There is a stark difference in the staff's attitude towards us, as if they are trained specially to ignore us.

I understand it might be her grudge against me, but why Livy is putting Riley and Hana through this?

Next I see, Livy is up there on the dance floor announcing the commencement of Cordonian waltz. Riley and Hana both get up while I remain seated.

Hana asks, “ Are you not coming?”

“Sorry, I am not comfortable with the dance. I will enjoy watching it. Thank you.” They leave me alone.

Livy being the host, starts the dance with Liam. A loose circle forms around them but my eyes keep following her. The partners keep changing. Now she is dancing with Max. They exchange small talks, and she is bubbling until she changes partner and is in Liam’s arms again.

Her expressions seem different. What is she up to? I am trying to decipher, and then it happens. No, maybe I am dreaming, but I hear gasps and loud whispers around me. Livy is kissing Liam! On the dance floor! In front of the whole court?

Liam moves away a bit from her politely and gestures at her to follow him outside. He is the typical stoic self. He won’t let it show. He has been trained to hide his emotions well.

I don’t know what to do, where to go. I keep sitting there till the crowd fades away into the night. The ballroom is vacant. A staff shakes me out of my thoughts.

I get up and walk to the foyer. The flickering light in the east wing catches my attention. But I don’t know where is everyone.

I walk to the wine cellar with heavy steps in a hope to find some solace. That’s been my hiding place here since teenage. I slowly climb down the spiralling stairs, but a sound stops me. There is already some one there.

And then I hear a male voice.

“Livy… Livy? …. Livs!…. What happened… come here..”

“I..I..I can’t..” I hear her trying to speak between the sobs.

I bend down to see someone curling his arms around her. “Hey…. Shhh.. it’s ok.. it will be fine.. we will be fine..”

“No.. it will never be the same again. We will never be same again.” She cries harder.

“I know dear. This is all we have now. But I am here . I will always be.”

She hold his arms. Her face digs in his chest, and she wails out. He holds her tight.

I quietly step back and walk out into the foyer.

The words resonate in my mind. “ I am here. I will always be.”

Now it’s not just my mind or thoughts. I feel I have a frozen heart.

#liam x riley #king liam #hana lee #choices the royal romance #the royal romance #twinkleallnight #drake walker #choices fanfic

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ngame989 · 5 years

Text

“Drive” - TGG SVTFOE Fanfic Collection Ch. 8

Writing: @ngame989

Art: @toxicpsychox

Editing: @ubercelloczar, @toxicpsychox, @seddm

Alternate fic links - FFnet, AO3

Summary: It's back to school for Marco, and Star is left to face the specter of real world responsibility once more - with a bit of help from the adorable antics of Mariposa.

Comic Page

Masterpost

Finally, a new chapter! This one took a long time to put together in a way I was satisfied with, so sorry as always for the delay. Writing is a bit of a secondary hobby for me, and while I absolutely love Starco and love making this series, the actual act of putting words to a page is rather draining for me. I'd love to promise more or faster updates, and if the right creative inspirations strike that is still what I'd love to happen, but it's gonna come at whatever pace it comes at. If that means I'm here for years to come, so be it. See below for the text, hope you enjoy!

“Alright, next up is Wilhelm… Wund? Want? Wouldn’t? Marco, this name is weird.” Star waved the flash card around in the air.

“Wundt, but the Ws both sound like Vs. It’s German.”

“German… that’s the place where that guy who was basically mustache Mina came from, right?” Marco froze in his tracks as his eyes widened in complete incredulity. Star uncurled from the ball she was in on their bed and sat up, hair and nightgown all astray as she tilted her head to the side in befuddlement. “What, did I say something wrong?”

“No, that’s- it’s just- that’s one way to put it. Don’t worry about it.” No way he was touching that subject with a mile-long pole.

She crossed her arms proudly. “See, I did remember something from school, then! OK, so Wundt, what’d he do?”

“What didn’t he do? He basically invented psychology! Before him, everyone just kind of thought about thinking, but he was the first one to really study it with any sort of scientific method.” The first week of school had been going fairly well, Marco thought, but it was certainly busy. Maybe it was the fact that this was his first classroom education in two whole years, but it was way faster paced than anything he remembered. All the reading he’d done to prepare before the school year started helped, sure, but it was a sizable effort to keep on top of everything.

“Mhmm, I see.” Star tentatively raised her hand, nodding thoughtfully to his every word. “Tell me about his glasses.”

“What?”

“The glasses? For seeing someone’s problems really clearly? Come on, Marco, it wasn’t that hard to figure out. I bet they were ginormous.”

A few giggles escaped his lips and Star puffed her cheeks up in indignation. “No, Star, that’s not how glasses work. They just sorta- they make you look smarter, I guess?”

Star stuck her tongue out and pinched her fingers together to form two circles, aiming her hands carefully to position them over Marco’s eyes. “Nope, you seem just as smart without them. Anyway, let’s see here, next up is Pavlov.”

“Oh, you’ll love him. He studied stuff with his dogs.”

As if on cue, some of the laser puppies scrambled out from under the bed, jumping into Star and Marco’s arms. Star’s shout of “PUPPIES!” sounded like background noise behind the licking and panting invading his personal space, but it was a welcome change. With how big their yard was now, their pets were often gone for so long at a time that Marco felt like he barely saw them anymore, but they had a way of showing up randomly at oddly convenient times. Despite being laserless since magic had been destroyed, whatever dog breed the wand had concocted seemed to stay just as small and cute forever. Barko Diaz stayed in Marco’s arms while Star cuddled the rest and cooed over them one by one. “Anyway, his dogs drooled whenever food was placed in their mouths; that’s just the natural response. But Pavlov noticed that if he just held the food in front of them before feeding it to them, after a while they’d start to drool whenever they saw the food. That’s how he invented the name conditional reflex.”

“I, Star Butterfly, officially vote for puppy guy as the best- Sajak, hahaha, stop it!” The dogs pounced on her face and she fell backwards onto the sheets. “Marco, help! I’m being swallowed by a fur-ocious tidal wave! Get your jammies on and join the fun!”

Marco rolled his eyes as he pulled off his shirt and pants. Top drawer… nothing. Middle? Nope. Still only in his underwear, he quickly rummaged through both their sets of drawers in search of his usual blue pajamas to no avail. A frustrated groan rumbled in his throat as he bent over to check underneath the drawers.

“That’s it, mama like,” he could hear Star murmuring. He quickly glanced behind him to find… Star sitting up, his pajamas in hand. “Staaaaar,” his voice and brain both exasperatedly grumbled. Though he’d figured out that his own sense of sexuality was grounded in emotional intimacy more than anything, they’d still become quite comfortable with each other and themselves physically; normally he wouldn’t complain in the slightest about the attention, but he still had a job to do.

“Ooooone more second,” she drawled out while her half-lidded baby blues roamed his body.

“Alright, Star, let’s just pick one more card, OK? I need to make sure I’m ready for tomorrow.”

“Fiiiiine. The last one is… Freud. I’m probably saying that wrong, too. Wait a second, Janna talked about him once, after I told her about that psychology stuff we did years ago. She said he’d be really good at figuring out my mom issu-”

“Not the same thing. Come on, Janna…” Marco grumbled. Leave it to Janna to give the worst possible introduction to academic psychology. “Alright, that’s enough of that,” he stated decisively and snatched all the index cards out from under paws and tails before crawling onto the edge of the bed.

“Yay! Now scooty that booty, you cutie patootie!” Star gently cleared the space between them and the puppies all left the room except for Marco Jr. It wasn’t the best dog name, but it was at least better than it would’ve been for his sibling.

He propped himself up on his elbow and fluffed his pillow. “I’m honored to do my duty.”

“Hehe, you said doodie.” Before he’d even fully settled into his usual spot, Star had already climbed halfway on top of him and settled her head on his chest, prompting him to embrace her. Marco smiled and planted a soft, lingering kiss on her neck. Sometimes it was too warm, too cramped, and she’d strangle his limbs hard enough that it took him 10 extra minutes to stand up in the morning; despite all that, he couldn’t be happier to snuggle every night away.

“I-I know it’s been crazy this past week, so thanks for helping with this, even though you hate school.”

“Hey, I don’t hate it. I just don’t like classes, tests, homework, and having to ask to use the bathroom...” She paused and blinked a few times. “OK, maybe I do hate school.”

“If it makes you feel any better, in college you can just go whenever you need to.”

“You know, that actually kinda does. Anyway, learning can be fun, and you’re a good teacher. Keep it up and in a few years maybe I’ll have a secondhand degree,” she snickered. Her fingers started to fidget with his hands while her toes tangled themselves up in his pant legs. “Sorry I was so distracted. I guess it’s finally sinking in that you’re gonna be doing this for years and years and now I’m the one with no clue what I want to do. Sucks a little bit to think about.”

“Doesn’t mean we’re not still gonna be a team, but it- yeah, that kinda does suck. Maybe we can try looking through some more options, if you want? I know you didn’t like any programs at the college, but I’m sure there’s all kinds of jobs or volunteer work around town. We could-”

She squirmed in his grasp, tilting her head downwards and away from his. “Marco… I don’t know, I just really don’t think I’m even in a place where I can just point at something and say, ‘yep, that sounds like a great job to sign up for!’ Maybe I’m just not ready for that yet.”

It always saddened him when she had this little faith in herself because he knew firsthand how capable she was of the most amazing things. Whatever he could do to help get her self-confidence back and live up to her potential, he would. He brought his hand closer to her face, stroking her cheek gently - though not before clumsily misjudging distance and poking her in the mouth, which elicited a snort of laughter. “OK, whatever feels right. Besides, it’s not like I know what I want to do with my entire life right now either. We’ll figure it out whenever you’re ready. In the meantime, there’s a new season of Dude’s Food Feuds and a plate of nachos with our names on it this weekend! “Plus, I heard Mom and Dad say they might spend part of this weekend at Eclipsa’s…” he trailed off, nuzzling into her neck and pulling her closer.

She twisted herself to look at him as best as she could. “Oh yeah?” Her eyebrows wiggled suggestively.

“Yeaaaaaaahn.” His attempt to continue being flirty was foiled by a giant yawn, indicating once and for all that it was time to sleep, and her laugh at his expense was stifled by her own yawn indicating she was in the same position. “Let’s get some shuteye, I’ve got another early morning tomorrow. Night, Star.”

“Night, Marco.” After a good-night peck Star turned herself around and they resumed their embrace. Less than a minute later, slumber claimed him.

***

“Dangit, Tom, again? You’ve gotta be free to chill at some point!” Angie folded the corner of the poetry collection she was perusing and looked up at Star who had her phone sprawled across their couch. “But I wouldn’t even mind doing kingdom junk. It’s better than another day on the couch by myself!” With her free hand, Star absentmindedly dangled around a spare doll of Marco in the princess outfit, which a starry-eyed Mariposa was stumbling around on the floor trying to catch. “So I’m not ‘physically capable of sticking my arms into lava tar’, I don’t see what that has to do with-” Even from the other end of the phone, Angie could still pick up on the mounting frustration in the demon prince’s tone. Star suddenly sharply inhaled and took a moment before responding. “Sure, maaaaybe it would have something to do with clearing a toxic hellgae infestation from the depths of the lava tar pits. Ugh, fine, you’re right. Can I at least see you next week, then?” Only a split second went by before Star sat up suddenly. “JANNA? Hello? Dangit,” she groaned while tossing her phone to the other end of the couch.

“Is everything alright, Star?”

Star crossed her arms and huffed. “Tom’s super busy with Underworld stuff, and I guess Janna’s there too for some reason even though humans really shouldn’t be able to handle any of it. Ponyhead has some kinda interview with some production company or something, Eclipsa and my parents are on vacation, and even Ferguson and Alfonzo are too busy to hang out!” She flopped facedown into one of the cushions; her final cry of “stupid school” was barely intelligible.

Mariposa giggled and yanked the doll from Star’s now-limp hand. “Mago! Mago!” Mariposa babbled while waddling around. Her little foot got caught on the fabric of the doll’s dress, and like a tiny giant she slowly toppled to the ground. Angie moved to help her daughter, who let go of the doll to grasp for her mother’s hand. “Mama!” It had been only a few weeks since Mariposa began to put together words with any regularity, and she’d already taken a fierce liking to calling for her parents and brother.

“Mariposa, I’m trying to be grumpy here and that’s really hard when the cutest thing in the universe is talking about the other cutest thing in the universe, and that includes the entire Puppybunny Dimension!”

Suddenly, an idea came to Angie. “Why don’t you come with me to the community college and help watch Mariposa? I’ve missed spending time with her this week but I couldn’t take care of her all day, plus it’d be good to get her out of the house.”

“Marco said he was really busy today, though,” Star pouted.

“Well, then I guess it’ll just have to be a girls’ day. What do you say, Mariposa? Do you want to go with mommy and Star to school?”

She clapped her hands cheerfully. “Gool!”

“Who am I kidding, I can’t say no to you,” Star cooed, pinching the toddler’s cheeks. “So when are we going?”

“I have office hours in an hour, so the sooner the better. Come out to the car whenever you’re ready.”

“Just gotta get my purse!” Star bounded across the living room and up the stairs quickly enough that her voice trailed off even at full volume. Angie smirked as she went about gathering her usual toddler travel supplies. While all the reasons she’d given for their trip today were true, she had an ulterior motive. It was pretty obvious that Star was in a funk from life catching up to them, and a change of pace never hurt. Well, that, and Star drives everyone a bit crazy with nothing to do at home. Seriously, who knew one girl could spill so many gallons of pancake batter all over the counter in a day?

Once she had everything, she headed out to the faithful family minivan and strapped Mariposa into her carseat, tossing in her small satchel for work and the much larger bag of baby supplies. Right as she finished, she heard the front door shut and lock behind her as Star made her way to the car. “Can I take Mariposa around the college today? Marco’s baby carrier fits like a glove.” Star quickly strapped it on, tightened it, and did a little twirl before taking it back off and climbing into the backseat.

While Angie was driving, she barely had any ability to check how the girls were doing in the backseat - there’d been so much construction on the Earthni road system that she could never trust the routes she was used to - but there were little glimpses of Mariposa being enthralled with Star’s playful antics. Star’s classic yellow smiling star purse swung like a pendulum for Mariposa to catch and they both cheered when she finally succeeded. Before she even knew it, they arrived at the Echo Creek Commewnity College, which had expanded dramatically in both size and architectural diversity as a result of the Cleaving. Most places in town (and throughout the world, so she’d heard) had merged in ways that left individual communities intact, but for whatever reason the college campus had become completely intertwined with a Mewman campground. It was certainly more of a spectacle than the once-modest town college and did wonders for getting both halves of the Earthni community involved.

Star marveled at the seamlessly blended hybrid buildings and scenery while Mariposa did much the same with her own thumbs. Nondescript brick buildings mingled with medieval wood and stone and the occasional ornate decorations, which is why the quad had a marble dragon standing proud among the trees. “Woah, is that a cornball and football field at the same time?”

“That’s a good question. Honestly, I’m still not used to all the changes myself,” Angie laughed. “A few months ago I tried to use the swamp water machine for my coffee. I had lily pads in my teeth for days.” While they were walking, Mariposa had become noticeably fixated on Star. Her dress, her hair, her hands, anything that was available to gawk at and grasp was fair game.

“She’s such a wonderful little tot, isn’t she?” Angie asked as they stepped into the cool air of Bonner Hall. She walked slowly towards her office while Star flitted around poking at every plant in the hallway.

“Yeah. So much calmer than Meteora. Remember the birthday incident?” Angie lightly chuckled in response; how could anyone not remember that? It wasn’t every day that a one year old just spontaneously grew a full head of hair and then got her tail hopelessly caught in it at another one year old’s birthday party.

Once they’d arrived at her office, she pulled out her key and opened the door to invite Star in. “Bienvenue! I’m teaching Intro to French Literature this semester, so I’ve got this whole theme going on.” Quotes and pictures of authors hung all around the room alongside some images of major landmarks and a little French flag sat on her desk next to a miniature statue of the Eiffel Tower. Angie helped Star unstrap Mariposa and set her down on the floor where she began waddling and crawling around.

Star sat on the edge of Angie’s desk kicking her feet back and forth, careful to avoid the toddler. “Soooooooo… what’s the plan for today?”

“You’re more than welcome to stick around but if office hours get too hectic it may get pretty cramped in here.” She’d have liked to do more with a larger space, but given how infrequently other community college faculty even got offices to themselves it was a blessing to even have this. “Although I have to teach later so you won’t be able to get back into this room if you leave after that.”

“Marco’s not free until, like, 6, so…” She trailed off dejectedly. The vibrant enthusiasm that Star normally exuded was still lacking. Hmm, this might be more serious than I thought.

Angie gently laid a hand on Star’s shoulder until those big blue eyes finally met her own. “Star, honey, it’ll be fine. I know it can be hard not being able to spend all your time with someone anymore.”

The headband on Star’s head shifted and almost fell off from how hard she was tugging and frazzling her own hair absentmindedly, “It’s not that… well, it’s not just that. Everyone else is starting their big life dreams now, you know? Marco wants to be a psycho therapist or something, Tom’s actually kinda happy about being a prince for once, and even Janna seems like she’s figuring it out in her weird Jannaniganish way! I have no idea what I want to do! Even went through a big ole’ list of ideas with Marco and they all just seemed blegh.” Star threw her hands up in frustration before curling back into herself more than before. “And I want to find something too, you know? Ugh, where’s Mr. Candle when you need him...”

The words resonated very strongly with Angie but it was difficult to put into words. She backed away from Star, her gaze darting around the room until she had a realization. “Have I ever told you the story about my summer in France?”

“Don’t think so.”

“When I was about your age, I wanted to get away for a while, so I packed up all my things and went to France for a whole summer. The food, the music, the history… everything was better there. For months after I came home I tried desperately to hold on to all of that after it was over, and I still cherish that experience, but it was just a fun handful of weeks that I spent someplace else and it was better that I just dealt with the fact that it was over. But,” she forcefully interjected when Star raised an eyebrow in protest at the seemingly antithetical point being made, “I know now that it’s not a universally ideal handling of such events. All the excitement of the last few years made me think about that… people might sort these things out for themselves in very different ways.”

“Like how Jackie literally spent a summer in France too, but she and Chlóe are still together long distance.”

“Mhmm, I could see that.”

“Or how Ponyhead started wearing a prosthetic tail for a while after staying with Seahorse’s family.”

“Hang on, what-”

“Don’t ask.” Never a dull moment.

“Or what about when-”

Alright, I’ll just have to get to the point myself. “I was mainly thinking about Marco, Star. I told him this same story before he left for Mewni, and honestly, I didn’t know how important it was to him. But he grew into such a confident and capable young man there and I couldn’t be prouder.” Angie softly took both of Star’s cheeks into her hands. “Star, you’re a wonderful, caring, smart young woman. So what if you’re not following every step at the same time as your friends? Everyone goes through these sorts of crises at some point or another, but what’s important is that you take the time to make the decision that’s right for you.” Star’s gaze sunk to the ground while the gears in her mind were so obviously turning that they might as well have been visible and Angie gave her some space in turn. “So, with all that said, what are you thinking now?”

Star crossed her arms and furrowed her brow. “Even if I’m not rushing to figure everything out, I don’t want to just do nothing until I magically find my lifelong dream. And I know Marco and I aren’t gonna literally live the same lives; heck, I don’t want to do all his school junk anyway, but… whatever I end up doing, I still want it to be together. That’s why I left for Earth,” she finished with her voice dropping to a solemn whisper.

“Didn’t he do the exact same thing? You don’t need me to tell you that you two are something absolutely special. I may not know what all is going through his head, what mother of a teenage boy does, but I know he’d do anything for you, Star.”

Nodding more to herself than to Angie, Star took a deep breath before speaking. “Thanks, Mrs. Diaz.”

“You can call me Angie, if you’d like. Or Angelica, or maybe ‘The Coolest Mom in Town.’ I’m not picky,” she said with a smirk.

After a short pause, Star hopped off the desk and wrapped Angie in a bear hug so deceptively strong that it knocked the wind out of her, but she still managed to reciprocate. “Thanks… Angie.” A rumbling sound interrupted the moment. “Heh, well, seems like I’m also thinking about lunch.”

“That’s an excellent idea. Why don’t we-” The digital clock on the desk caught her attention. “Dammit, office hours already started a few minutes ago. Don’t think I’ll have time for a while. But there’s plenty of places around here to eat, and a few of them are actually good!” she chuckled. Just as she mentally ran through some places in the student union, a thought struck her. “Say, Star… there’s a lot of clubs and events and such that are open to non-students too. Maybe it’d be worth looking into some of them? It’d be something to do, you and Marco would be closer, and I could even drive you some days if you needed. Why don’t you take Mariposa with you and explore for a while? She seems pretty restless today.”

Taking a few deep breaths to center herself, Star nodded her head. “Yeah, that’s a good idea! Heck, it’d be good just to know my way around for any time I visit Marco anyway.” She bent down and beckoned for Mariposa, who’d been ogling a bronze baguette for some time now. Once the carrier was locked and loaded with a docile toddler and some of her supplies once more, Star skipped out of the office. Angie’s time alone, however, was cut short when a student skidded in and immediately started nervously rambling about homework questions and grading policies and the works of François Villon. Back to teacher mode. Angie afforded herself one last glance through the door at her young daughter gleefully riding along with the girl who might as well be her other daughter. Rafael had mentioned to Angie on more than a few occasions that Star and Marco reminded him of themselves in their youth, and Angie had agreed at the time but now she wasn’t so sure. Her teenage - and even young adult - years with Rafael, while wonderful, had been filled with many bouts of uncertainty and it’d taken them many, many years to get it right once and for all.

But Star and Marco? As far as she was concerned, they already had.

***

Boring classroom… Boring classroom… Boring restroom… Hey, wait a minute, is that a cornshake machine? A few minutes, a few dollars, and one cornshake (plus a sippy kid size) later, Star found herself not much better than she’d been when she set off an hour ago, but the surprisingly high quality of the vended drink did bolster her spirits. She resisted the urge to call Marco because it’d be waaaay more fun to surprise him later. And also because he might still be in class, that too. A tall rock creature walked in front of her, interrupting her thoughts, and she saw a nervous expression on his face as he feebly tried not to disrupt foot traffic too much. Looking around, she was a bit surprised to see just how much the cultures of her own world had been brought to the forefront and blended in despite humans comprising the majority of people she’d seen on campus. Some people who she guessed were Mewmans by their dress glanced back for a bit longer than most but otherwise went about their day without a fuss. Two guys, one human and one Septarian, were laughing and holding hands on a bench. All in all the atmosphere reminded her of high school, but was freer in a way that didn’t discomfort her as much as she’d anticipated.

A few of the passersby looked her way as she wandered, and one or two even said hi to her - not that uncommon, given that it was public knowledge that she and Marco were responsible for the Cleaving, though Eclipsa had tactfully phrased it as a consequence of the two working together to destroy magic - but it was just as likely that Mariposa was the one attracting attention for a multitude of reasons. She knew she shouldn’t have expected it, but part of her was disappointed that after going through four whole bustling buildings she hadn’t run into Marco, or even anyone she knew. Glum and tired, she was about to abandon her pursuits when a huge bulletin board around the corner caught her eye. As she jogged over to it, her hopes came true: it was a giant wall advertising all the clubs and events on campus for the start of the year.

Her eyes roved the board up and down, left and right scanning for anything that seemed interesting or had some sort of meeting today. There were some fliers that Star dismissed right away, including a woodworking workshop series, a community choir, a sketchy-looking “how to date a demon” seminar. The last one might have at least been good for a laugh, but it had a note scribbled on it that attendance was maxed out already. She noted some sort of upcoming school dance for all local teens, but it was months away and the poster was uninspiring since the theme was still listed as TBD. It made sense that most extracurricular activities didn’t happen in the middle of a school day, but she still frowned at how few options seemed available and potentially interesting. Once she’d perused the entire wall and selected those that were, she set out on her mission to find her purpose.

“You ready, Mariposa?”

“Gool!”

Chess Club

“Rook to G3.” Star’s opponent, whose nametag said Fred, positioned the black castle piece ahead of most of his pack.

“King to-” Her tongue stuck out as she concentrated on the board layout instructions, trying to find her place. “King to E3!”

“Um, first of all, the king piece is not allowed to move more than one square at a time. Second, since it is the most important piece, the singular goal of the game is to keep yours alive while defeating the enemy’s. Therefore it is ludicrously ill-advised to position your king into such immediate danger, and in most cases would automatically lose you the match” Star’s opponent responded matter-of-factly.

Star scratched her head in puzzlement, replacing the piece. “Why is the king so slow? My dad was literally a king and he can run at highway speeds.”

“Perhaps the Mewman traditions are different, but the Earthly ways of the monarchy are enshrined in a-

“Alright, whatever. Then I have my Queen ride the horse into combat! No, wait, can it be a warnicorn instead?” She ripped off a corner of the scoring sheet and deftly curled it into a cone before placing it on the top of the plastic figure with a satisfied grin.

“Although an intriguing concept, there is no precedent in the ancient tradition of the sport for-” Mariposa interrupted her tirade by kicking the edge of the table, which knocked over Fred’s black king. See, now this was the sort of thing she could see herself getting into!

“Checkmate!” Star shouted with a wide grin, one decidedly not mirrored by her opponent or any of the onlookers.

Cornball Tryouts

“Well, Mariposa, that was a bust. But cornball is a Mewni thing, so I’m gonna super nail it this time!” Star set Mariposa down and removed her from the baby carrier. “Stay right here, you little angel,” she cooed before jogging over to the group of hopefuls discussing strategy. “Hiya everyone!”

One of the girls who resembled a fox waved in welcome. “Sup, I’m Bleck, I was the Monster Cornball League’s ace stickler for a few years.”

“And I’m Jason, I was Mewni Cornball Alliance’s forward maizeman.”

Star shook both their hands. Did something seem familiar about them? “I’m-”

“Star Butterfly, we know,” Bleck responded. “You set up that integrated game on Mewni. Sorry about that, by the way. We were the captains and it, um, kinda got out of hand.” Ah, so that’s why Star recognized them.

“Yeah, that was our bad.” Jason rubbed the back of his neck shamefully with one hand with his other on Bleck’s shoulder. “I’ll be honest, this whole ‘monsters and Mewmans and Earth Mewmans all together’ thing is still new to me, but don’t wanna let some petty grudges get in the way of some good old fashioned cornball. These Earthers are crazy competitive, we’ll need the best team we can to have a chance of even making regionals.

“Speaking of which,” another Mewman spoke up warily. “Does anyone know anything about that new teenage husker that already made captain? CB Nation says she’s already poised to be hotter than Jispy Jenkins.”

“I heard she’s the reason the Cassidy bros quit moat guarding.”

“Well I heard she averaged 50 shucks per game in her rookie season.”

A hush fell over the group; as much as Star loved the sport she never really followed it, but it was still clear just how good this mystery player was.

“I think that’s her…” one of the monsters said, pointing at a shadow emerging from the clubhouse. “Oh corn, hold me!” He fainted on the spot.

“Star? Star!!!!!!!!” It was hard to make out details against the glaring sunlight, but there was a webbed hand waving at her. Wait, was that-

“KATRINA!” Star dashed as fast as her legs could carry her to meet her friend who was doing the same. Katrina scooped her up in a big slimy hug. “You’re so big now!” The girl was now taller than Star, with a stocky build, but her big sparkly eyes still had every bit of youthful wonder that she remembered. Given how much of a powerhouse Buff Frog was, Star could only imagine the athletic potential his kids could have.

“Yeah, I’m starting ECCC this year! I got a full ride scholarship as team captain! Sorry I haven’t been talking to you as much lately… I’ve been so busy working towards this, it’s a dream come true!” Katrina set her down and glanced over towards the sidelines. “Is that Mariposa over there! Hi, baby! Wow, humans age really slowly. You and Marco better not take too long getting your own kid, Auntie Katrina still wants to still be spry enough to play with ‘em.”

Star’s face heated up. “I- Katrina, you- We aren’t-” She stammered incoherently. This was going to take some getting used to.

“C’mon, Star, I’m kiddiiiiiing. I’m already four, I’m not a kid anymore. Anyway, are you here for the team? That’s so cool! You’re always so great at everything, you’ll definitely make the team.” She finally turned to the rest of the attendees to begin the session. “Alright, welcome to the ECCC cornball tryouts, I’m really happy you’re all here! Let’s go over some logistics. Practice is five days a week in the evenings until the league begins on Dartuk 30. That’s the 26th of September for all the Earth people here. We’ll have two regular matches each week and will be travelling most weekends. If we want to show who the real cornballers are, I’m going to need your complete dedication to this squad! School’s important too, but otherwise this will be your life while you’re on my team, so let’s talk drills-”

With each passing sentence, Star’s anxiously fidgeted more and more. It was… intense, more than she’d ever expected. She was ecstatic that Katrina was finding so much success and joy doing this and felt her heart swell with pride as the crowd hooted and hollered in support, but was this really what she wanted most for herself? While Star was zoned out, Katrina had apparently wrapped up her speech and everyone else had already dispersed. Katrina took Star’s hands and shook them up and down excitedly. “Are you as pumped as I am?”

“Yeeeeeeaaaaaah…” Star hesitantly cheered, casting a nervous glance back at Mariposa who now was booping Star’s purse repeatedly with her nose. “About that…”

Driver’s Ed

Maybe I should just learn to drive so I can visit Marco myself, Star pouted. “I could get us a pair of matching cool car driver sunglasses, so we can be rad Earth style,” Star whispered to Mariposa while Miss Skullnick (who was apparently working at the college now, and was human again) finished going over her slides.

“And that’s the introduction for this seminar series on automobile safety. Any questions?”

Star raised her hand and Skullnick sighed heavily before calling on her. “Is there a way I can start driving next week?”

“Get out!”

***

“Today sucked,” Star gloomily groaned. She was curled up sideways on a bench in one of the open quads while Mariposa was using her stomach as a pillow for her late afternoon nap, tuckered out after a recent diaper change. “I mean, it was so cool to see Katrina again, and in a weird way I almost missed Skullzy too, but I’m still completely stuck. But hey, at least I got to spend a day with you.” Star gently stroked Mariposa’s soft brown hair. Now that she thought about it, getting to spend hours a day with the adorable tot was one of the only consistently rewarding parts of the past week, it seemed. Even Meteora’s shenanigans were heartwarming in their own way, namely one that involved way more property damage. Her eyelids drooped shut, heavy with the weight of everything on her mind.

She couldn’t have been out for more than a minute when a child’s voice startled her. “Hello? Are you sleeping?” Was that Mariposa? No, it couldn’t have been, her mind concluded as she exited her half-conscious delirium. A small monster child, no older than the human equivalent of four or five with some features of an elephant, tugged on the sleeve of her dress with tears in his eyes. “I’m scared.”

Star rubbed her eyes and gathered everything into one corner of the bench so she could make room for the child. “What’s wrong, little guy? I’m Star.”

“My- my name’s Trevor but Mom and Dad call me Trev. I was playing on the slides but then everyone was gone,” Trevor began sobbing pitifully.

“OK, it’s OK. Let’s take a deeeeeeep breath, OK? Like this.” She inhaled as much air as she could, puffing up her cheeks and chest before blowing all of it out with an exaggerated flair. The boy nodded and took a small breath. “Again!” Star repeated, and he followed, back and forth until he had calmed down and was grinning at her absurdly over-the-top routine. “Feeling better?”

“A little.”

“How about we play a game? I’ll say one word, and you say whatever word comes to your mind. Ready?” He sniffled once, but nodded.

“Candy.”

“Tasty.”

“Dancing.”

“Fun.”

“Snuffleupagus.”

He cracked up a bit at that and she grinned back at him. “Silly.”

“School.”

“Sad.”

“Why does that make you sad?”

“My brother’s busy at school here all day now, so he has daycare watch me instead. My group was at the playground and Felipe bet I couldn’t go on the big slide so I did but I got stuck and when I got out, everyone was gone.”

“You poor thing,” Star responded. “I know how you feel. Tell ya what, let’s go try to find them together!”

“Can- can we stay here?” Her heart broke at how obviously terrified he was of the situation and the prospect of any more unfamiliarity wasn’t something he was ready to deal with at all.

“For a little bit, but then we really should get you back to the daycare.”

“OK,” he said somberly. “Who’s that?” He pointed at Mariposa who was crawling in circles around the bench.

“Oh, this is Mariposa! She’s my boyfriend’s sister.”

“What’s a boyfriend?”

Of all the conversations Star thought she might have today, this was far from one of them. “It’s like… boyfriend and girlfriend are like what a mom and dad are before they become a mom and dad.”

“My Uncle Matt is Mom’s brother but Dad calls him brother too. Does that mean she’s your sister too?”

Star met Mariposa’s eyes for a moment. It was weird to think about, but… was Trevor even wrong? She’d been living with the Diazes for almost all of Mariposa’s life, after all. There wasn’t a clear definitive answer in Star’s mind, but she needed one to sate the boy’s unending curiosity. “Yeah, I guess she is.”

“Cool! My big brother’s awesome. I miss when we used to play all the time. You’re really cool, too.”

“Thanks. I know change can be scary, but I’m sure your brother misses you a lot too. Sometimes big kids and grown-ups have to do grown-up things for a while, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still love being your brother.”

A few voices echoed in the distance; once they were close enough for Star to make out the words, she realized they were calling Trevor’s name. “Over here!” she shouted back in their general direction. A large elephant monster with ripped jeans and ear piercings ran as fast as he could and gave Trevor a tight hug. “Hey, Trev, buddy, where’d you go? We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“It’s OK, Star took care of me.” It came out muffled from how his face was still buried in his brother’s arms.

“Woah, wait- Star? Like, the Rebel Princess Star Butterfly?”

“That’s me. Or was me,” she shrugged.

“I was your biggest fan for years! Remember the cave hideout? Don’t think I introduced myself then, I’m Geoff.”

“Oooooh yeah, you were with the ‘alternative monsters’! How have you been?”

“Pretty dope. Once that wicked Cleaving thing happened, we found a bunch of humans just like us! Being alternative is just, like, normal now. They even sell clothes with all the holes in them already so you don’t have to do any work! It’s nice to just get to be myself now, and I don’t think I’d ever get to do that without everything you did. You’re the best, Star. And thanks for taking care of lil’ Trev here. C’mon, buddy, let’s get you home.”

Trevor hopped up on his brother’s shoulders for a piggy back ride and waved. “Bye, Star! Bye Mariposa!”

“You must be a miracle worker with the kids,” the human man who had run up with Geoff finally spoke up. He had a thick beard and glasses and wore a red flannel shirt and jeans. “I’m Antonio, by the way, I run the ECCC Child Care Center. We just call it the Six Cs.”

“Nice to meet you,” Star responded. “I just did what anyone would, really.”

“No, you definitely made Trevor’s week. He just joined on Monday and he cries almost all the time from missing his family. We see that a lot, but it’s definitely hitting him harder than most, going from being at home all the time to being with a bunch of strangers for hours a day.”

Star unconsciously turned away and rubbed her arm. “Yeah, I… I know the feeling.” She shook it off and turned back towards him. “So, what happened with Trevor?”

“One of the girls got a splinter on the playground. Everyone was busy trying to keep her calm when we left the playground that we skipped headcount. I called Geoff right away, he was very understanding. It’s no excuse, but we’re way too short on people right now with all the new students.” His attention suddenly pivoted to Mariposa who was reaching up to grab at the fabric of his shirt. “This is Angie Diaz’s kid, no? May I?”

“Yeah,” Star dumbfoundedly responded after a moment’s hesitation. “You know her?”

Antonio hefted Mariposa up like she weighed nothing and gently rocked Mariposa back and forth in his burly arms. “Her older son, Marco, used to come here every now and then. Heard through the grapevine not too long ago that she had another kid, I asked if she’d be coming to the Six Cs but she said she already had someone at home. I take it I’m talking to her?”

Star’s eyes widened. Angie had said that? She was the only one who didn’t have plans most days, so… it had to be her. “Marco’s my boyfriend. I was their foreign exchange student for a year, then he came to live with me on Mewni for a year, and then… well, you’ve probably heard about how the Cleaving happened.”

“Afraid not, I don’t keep up with the news much these days. I just try to take care of all the kiddos as best I can, doesn’t much matter to me what goes on with the world. So what brings you to this humble campus?”

“Well, Marco’s going to school here now and I don’t have much else to do, so... yeah.”

“Ah.” His deep voice was laden with sympathy, and with that one word Star felt like he immediately understood her turmoil. “Well, if you’re ever looking for something to do, we could use someone like you on the team.”

“Really?”

“You’ve clearly got a big heart and a keen eye for how to take care of the younguns, that’s more than enough in my eyes. This one’s been staring at you almost since we started talking, she clearly trusts you more than you may know.” Huh, he was right; even while being rocked gently into slumber, Mariposa’s warm brown gaze remained firmly on Star’s face. “Well, I should get back to the staff. No rush if you’re unsure, but you can come with me to meet the crew before they leave for the night if you want.” He set Mariposa back down on the bench while Star reassembled the baby carrier and got Mariposa settled back in.

Star couldn’t say she was any clearer now on a life goal, but maybe that wasn’t what she needed right now. Looking back on the day and week thus far, even the most exceptionally crummy day in recent memory could be salvaged by Mariposa alone, so why should she be worried about more of that? Though she hadn’t really thought of herself as Mariposa’s caretaker until just a few minutes ago, her breath hitched with pride at the notion.

When she finally answered Antonio’s question, it was the least unsure she’d felt in a while.

***

Done. Finally. Marco swiftly stuffed his assignments into the binder in his backpack and hustled out the door of the student union. Cramming all his homework into one day had drained him, but it was worth it so he and Star could have the whole weekend to themselves. He liked all the things about school that Star hated, sure, but his life had changed so much and so many times that he worried he wasn’t even cut out for it anymore. ‘B’ on the pop quiz, really Diaz? The rational part of his brain knew it was fine, but the Marco of old was disappointed. He’d aced the questions he’d studied with Star, at least, so maybe the Marco of old wasn’t the one to follow.

Nachos, ever the talented dragoncycle, had founded a part-time rideshare service in the town and was busy tonight, so Marco navigated his way to his mom’s office for a ride home. “Hey Mom, hey Star, h- wait, Star?”

“Marcomarcomarcomarcomarco!” Star excitedly leapt into his arms with a barrage of cheek kisses and a crushing embrace.

“Missed you too, Star,” he chuckled, kissing her on the forehead in return before backing away to take off his backpack and slump into a chair. “What are you doing here?”

She sat sideways in his lap, hooking her arms around his neck. “Surprising you, goofhead!”

He closed his eyes for a moment and drank in her affection, letting it wash away his fatigue. “Well, color me surprised. Really glad you’re here.”

“Long day? Did you defeat the quizzards?”

“Yeah, and for the third time, it was just a regular quiz and not evil mystical quizzards giving me riddles. Besides, don’t they have a game show now?”

“Totally, totally, totally… I knew that.”

“I just kinda miss you, Star. It hasn’t been the same going all day without seeing you. I guess the last few years have made me realize I don’t want to be wherever you aren’t.”

“So cheesy,” Star cooed while pinching his cheek. His mom and Star exchanged excited glances. “But don’t worry about that anymore, Diaz, because I’ll be here now too!”

“Hubbawha?” Marco blurted out.

“Star’s going to volunteer for the Six Cs and take care of Mariposa there.”

She stood up and walked over to Mariposa, poking her nose just as she came out of a nap. “Yep, and they said I can make a schedule around yours so we can dragonpool to school and have lunch together or whatever! Plus I get to spend time with my other favorite person in the whole wide world.”

Mariposa fully opened her eyes and stared vacantly at Star for a second before smiling wide. “Ta.”

Star stopped in her tracks. “Wait, is she saying-”

“Tar. Tar. Tar!” Mariposa bobbed up and down on the desk, clearly as overjoyed about her words as everyone else was. Tears welled up in Star’s sapphire eyes as she leaned down to gently snuggle Mariposa. Marco walked over to join her and caught his mom absolutely beaming with as much pride as he’d ever seen her have. The wholesome moment was interrupted as his little sister, not content to stop, kept rambling on. “Tar! Mago! Tago! Tago!”

“Not you too!” Star sputtered out, still choked with emotion, and Marco couldn’t help but laugh.

And later that evening, after the four had gotten dinner and piled into the Diaz van for the trip home, Marco looked over to see that Star had fallen asleep on the other side of Mariposa’s carseat. He took her hand in his, yawning as he realized a nap wasn’t such a bad idea. Just before succumbing to the day, he swore he heard a soft, squeaky murmuring from the toddler next to him.

“Sihtah.”

#starco #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #fanfic #tgg svtfoe

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miss-tc-nova · 4 years

Text

The Cat’s Meow - Jumin Han x Fem!Reader Pt 17-Finale

Okay, look, I know the first half of this is kind of...Anyway! Maybe not my best ending, but I giggled writing it so there. I promise that the bonus chapter coming out tomorrow will be better.

Part 17: Thank You/Finale

Grumbling, I flop into the chair and let my head fall onto the table. The chair beside me moves and, with a grumble, Saeran sits and lets his forehead meet the table as well.

Things went a little crazy in the hospital following the incident with Rika. Out of it came Saeran, Luciel’s, or rather, Saeyoung’s brother who’d been manipulated by Rika. He’d caused havoc his first night at the hospital, but had come around to understand Luciel’s true intentions and Rika’s misdirection. He came to apologize to me the following day and we actually get along pretty well, taking on the suffering together in cynicism. We’re only a week in, with the doctor stating it may not even be the halfway mark.

“You too, huh?” I mumble, feeling the deep-set ache in my muscles.

“I considered cocaine today,” he groans. “But Saeyoung said I had to find it myself and I’m too tired for that shit.”

I laugh a bit, turning my head to look at him. “Jumin’s making every employee remove all cigarettes and medications from the C&R building. I think he’s even put all his wine in storage.”

Saeran lets his head fall to the side, giving me a suspicious look. “...None of that would work for our withdrawals.”

“I know...”

“Aww, look at our little druggies sulking together!” Saeyoung teases, sitting across from us. He’s also become a bit brighter since everyone’s been working to get him out of his secret agent job.

“_____, are you okay? Do you need anything?” Jumin asks, resting a hand on my back.

“Mmmeth.”

Saeran starts snickering.

Jumin replies in a warning tone, “_____.”

Giggling, I push myself off the table. “I know. Meth is expensive.”

“_____, get your facts straight. Cocaine is the expensive one,” Saeran says, earning a frown from Jumin.

“It’s not that price that’s the problem,” Jumin states.

Still chuckling, I play with the end of his sleeve and look up at him. “I’m just kidding. I could really use a water though.”

His stern expression softens and the heir leans in to kiss my forehead. “Very well.”

We quietly watch him go before Saeyoung adds, “You know he’d probably find you meth if you were truly desperate for it.”

“Noooo...Couple months ago, maybe. But definitely not now.”

“But we have withdrawals now,” whines Saeran.

Reaching out, I half-heartedly take his hand in comfort. “Be strong, Sae! We will overcome this!”

He’s not impressed. “I hate you so fucking much right now.” Even he can’t keep a straight face through his insult.

“I see non-druggie Sae likes to swear.”

“He has no respect for my innocent ears!” Saeyoung complains.

“You were watching porn last night!” shouts Saeran.

Saeyoung points a finger at his brother. “It was holy porn.”

“Holy porn, my ass!”

By now, I’m lying on the table crying from laughing so hard. That’s when the rest of the group finally enters the room.

“Hey guys!” Yoosung greets. “Oh wow, you guys look awful.”

“Shut it, blondie,” I retort, sitting up and wiping my eyes. Jumin passes me a water bottle. “Thanks sweetheart.”

“Hello Saeyoung, Saeran, _____,” V greets, Zen pushing him in a wheelchair. Not only was he still miraculously recovering from the gunshot, but also the eye surgery Jumin finally convinced him to have.

Now the situation with V was much more strenuous than making friends with Saeran; I had killed the woman he loved. Honestly, the moment I could walk on my own and was allowed to see him, I fell to pieces, sobbing and begging for his forgiveness. The man assured me multiple times that it wasn’t my fault but I know it still hurts him. Still, even if I will always feel the guilt, he doesn’t outwardly hold it against me.

He pushes a tray onto the table. “I brought treats for everyone.”

Saeran apparently hasn’t had enough of our shenanigans. “Is it drugs?”

Poor V is so confused. “I-...What?”

“Sae! No one is going to bring you cocaine!” I exclaim, slamming a hand on the table.

The room is silent for a minute before Saeran breaks, laughing. “I hate you so much.”

I lean back heavily in my chair, staring at V. “But seriously, what’dyu bring?”

“Uh, I brought cookies.”

“Yay,” I whisper loudly.

Saeran and I are the first to partake. Cravings and increased appetite are withdrawal symptoms; that combined with the fact that Saeran and I both naturally have a sweet tooth, we’re sugar monsters.

Jaehee sits down, looking concerned. “Though you two do seem to be suffering from serious withdrawals. Are you going to be alright? Are you going to therapy or counseling or anything? I read somewhere that people suffering from withdrawals often relapse without secondary treatment.”

“Dis is mah ferapy,” Sae replies through half a cookie.

Saeyoung speaks up, “He’s meeting someone on Friday.”

Jumin folds his arms. “And _____ has an appointment next week.”

I huff. “I’m telling you, I don’t need a therapist. My addiction didn’t come from voluntary use so what’s a therapist gonna do? Tell me not to take any more drugs? That’s great ‘cause Sae won’t make me any anyway!” I glare when my boyfriend takes my cookie away.

“Don’t look at me,” Saeran growls. “I wasn’t part of the group that made the elixir. The bathtub would be full if I knew how to make it. We’d probably just poison ourselves trying to replicate the stuff.”

I grumble, “So, much to our dismay, Saeran and I will not be relapsing.” I reach for another cookie. “We are, however, scouting new substances to abuseTHAT’S MY COOKIE!” I snap at Jumin, who’s taken the fourth from me.

“Substance of choice? Sugar,” hums Saeyoung.

“You’re going to that appointment. And you’ll just complain later if you keep eating all these sweets,” Jumin replies, not bothered at all.

Grumbling, I fold my arms. “I’m complaining now.”

“Also, it’s polite to share and Saeran has already taken the extras.” He passes off the cookie to Yoosung while pointing out the pile Sae is hoarding. The former-cultist pulls his stash closer to his seat when he catches me staring. We glare.

“Dammit.”

V clears his throat. “Alright, sugar and withdrawals aside, I’d like to begin the first official meeting of…of…Did we ever decide on a new name?”

“We did not,” Jaehee replies.

“Oh, well then I guess that’s the agenda of our first meeting. Would anyone like to make any suggestions?”

Jumin raises his hand. “Jumin Han, we are not naming the new organization after me,” I growl. He puts his hand down before raising it again. “Or either of the cats.” Hand goes down.

From there, the brainstorming goes on and on until it comes down to Sunrise Charity, mostly because V didn’t want it to be called VFA, which is fair enough. After discussing some dates for the inaugural charity party, we end the meeting there and Jumin takes me home, and I mean my home.

“Mako, I’m home!” I sing. The fold comes padding out to greet us with his chirping. Jumin kneels down to scratch behind his ears. “That took longer than I thought it would. I should start working on dinner.”

“I could have something ordered,” offers Jumin.

“No. I’m a big girl. I can cook for myself.” I eye him for a minute. “Can you even make anything edible?”

He thinks for a moment. “Pancakes.”

I gasp, hanging against him with my arm around his neck. “You should make me pancakes in the morning.”

An embrace that brings comfort engulfs me. “Is that what you want?”

“Yes. Also, maybe…” Supporting myself, I trace the pattern on his tie. “You could spend the night?”

I’ll admit it, since the incident, being alone has been a bit distressing. I’ve gotten over a lot of my withdrawal symptoms while recovering in the hospital, but there are a few that still plague me. My first night home, I woke up in a sweat my first night home and didn’t go back to sleep. Jumin made a point of staying on the phone with me until I fell asleep after that.

“Do you think we’re ready for that?” He’s concerned.

I scrunch my nose at him. “Afraid you won’t be able to resist me in my sloppy pajamas and bed-head?”

“Yes.”

My shoulders droop. “Wow. Okay. Maybe we aren’t ready for that.”

Jumin’s forehead rests against mine. “If it’s what you want, I’ll spend the night. It might be tough, but I’ll practice my restraint.”

I sigh. “I don’t want to push it.”

“Perhaps we should. How will we ever get anywhere if we don’t try?” He chuckles. “Besides, even if I do end up pushing it too far, you’ll just threaten me with a knife.”

I hide my face in his chest. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

“You threatened the life of a high-profile corporate heir.” A gentle hand beneath my chin encourages me to look up. “I promise; I’ll keep myself under control. Do you still want me to stay?”

“Please?”

I receive a kiss to my brow. “Very well. But first I need to run to the office to sign some documents and stop by my home for some things.”

“Okay. I’ll have dinner ready when you get back.”

With a kiss goodbye, Jumin heads out and I change into sweats and a t-shirt before I prepare food. Before long, he returns with a small bag.

“How was the office?” I ask, stirring the pasta.

“It was fine. Just needed a signature so we can begin analysis on the coffee chain tomorrow.”

“Ew…”

“Yes. Ew.”

I giggle. “Well dinner’s almost done. You should go change.”

He glances at the suit he didn’t change out of. “You want me to change?”

“Yes! Look at this!” I pick up a magazine from ages ago that had a page of Jumin lounging in the sun in a t-shirt with a blue over shirt. “I know you own normal clothes and I demand you wear them more!”

A corner of his mouth quirks. “Demand, huh?”

“Yes! Especially if you’re going to be lazy with me!”

Apparently, I amuse him. “I see.”

“And I swear to god, if your pajamas are some ridiculous matched set they wear in comedy family movies, I’m going to have to seriously reconsider this relationship!”

A hand feebly covers up the laugh he’s trying to contain. “So…*ahem* So I should probably go then?”

“Are you serious?! What are you, twelve?!”

“I sincerely hope not or you’re at serious risk of going to prison for romancing a minor.” I glare. “Also, can we discuss why you have a magazine from last year with that page dog-eared?”

I turn back to the stove in an attempt to hide my blush. “Shut up and go get ready for dinner.”

Sure of his victory, Jumin ambles away. With two bowls in hand, I get comfortable in the living room when in walks that man in a gray t-shirt and sweats. The bit of water in my mouth goes right back out.

“Where did you get those?!” I shout, temperature rising.

His smirk signals that he’s still playing with me. “I’ve had these for a while now.”

“And yet you lounge around in slacks and a dress shirt?” I retort, picking up my bowl. “I’m going to corrupt you with my laziness.”

“We’ll see.”

Throughout dinner, I can’t help my wandering gaze every time I let up the reins on my brain; I begin zoning out and my eyes immediately drift to Jumin. Not only am I very much addicted to how he looks being casual for once, but the fact he’s here to spend time with me as my boyfriend is a nice thought.

“Are you okay?” he’s caught me.

“Uh, yeah. I’m fine.”

His brows furrow. “Are your hands numb again?”

The question draws my attention to my hands that I’ve been flexing mindlessly, trying to work through the pins and needles. This is part of my recovery, part of the withdrawal. “Yeah, but it’ll pass.”

Jumin takes a hand and beings gently massaging my palm with his thumbs. He’s been doing things like this since I woke up. The nausea was terrible the first few days and he was there to endure it with me. The lights and volume were turned down when they became too much. He even fed me a few times when my hands would shake so much I couldn’t do it myself. I hate it but at the same time, I’m so thankful to have someone here looking after me.

“How’s that?” he asks.

I test my movement. Most of the foreign sensation is gone. “A lot better. Thanks.” Jumin suddenly pulls me against him and leans against me until I collapse onto the sofa. “What are you doing?”

Jumin hovers over me, grazing his nose against mine. “I wanted to cuddle with my girlfriend.”I’m positive he can feel the heat radiating from my face. “Am I making you uncomfortable?” his deep voice rumbles.

“No,” I say softly.

“Good.” The man wedges his hands beneath me before relaxing on top of me, his head resting against my chest. Once he’s comfortable, he gives a very satisfied, content sigh. Adjusting to my cuddly partner, I settle in to watch the movie while running my fingers through his soft hair. It doesn’t take long for me to hear a deep, steady breathing. Seeing this man, whose entire wardrobe consists ninety percent of suits, who’s known for living high class, who’s always been the ever-vigilant business man; seeing him here in my tiny home, in a t-shirt, and fast asleep upsets the butterflies in my stomach.

The movie ends and I have to come to terms with the fact that I need to use the bathroom and that requires disturbing Jumin. I savor the sight for just a moment longer before attempting to wake him.

“Jumin. Sweetheart, get up.”Groaning, he tightens his grip. “Jumin, stop! I need to pee!”

Flinching, the man props himself up. “What? What’s wrong?” he grumbles.

“I need to use the bathroom, but maybe you should go to bed if you’re so tired.”

Jumin sits up, rubbing at his eyes. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

I slip off the sofa and reach out to brush some hair from his eyes. “It’s fine. It is getting late though; you should go to bed.”

The man stands up too. “Only if you join me.”

Rolling my eyes, I let a smile pull at my lips. “Alright. Let me shut everything down. Go on; go get ready for bed.”

Once the bathroom problem is solved, I shut down the movie and clean up a bit. Ambling into the bedroom, I find my boyfriend sitting on the bed, providing Mako with enough ear scritches to get the motor running. Interrupting the bonding, I sneak my way onto Jumin’s lap, wrapping my arms around his neck and planting a kiss on his cheek. The response is a soft, reverent kiss in return that puts me under his spell almost immediately. For a while, I bask in the comfort of Jumin’s presence and the love he emits. My muscles ache, my head is full of dull pain, sometimes pins and needles overtake my hands, and sometimes I can’t sleep, but right here I get complete solace.

Jumin groans and breaks the kiss. “You’re tempting me, love,” he says lowly, and I can see the lust alight in his eyes.

“Says the man who made it much easier for me to strip him down,” I hum, slipping a hand beneath the hem of his shirt against his abs. I immediately notice the pink bleed across his face and the passion flare up. I nearly tear his shirt trying to rip my hand out. “No! Wait! I take it back!”

He sighs, pinching at the bridge of his nose. “How cruel you are.”

“Eheh, sorry. We should go to sleep now.”

I flip the lights and sneak under the covers with Jumin. An arm snakes around my waist, pulling me flush against him. With a bit of a giggle, I hook a leg over his waist and latch onto him. The musky sweet scent accompanied by the warmth of his presence quickly envelopes me and I feel like I could just melt.

It’s been only a couple years since I met Jumin Han, and my life since then has been everything except perfect, but all the seems so far away now. The tears, fears, worries, none of that matters now. I have the love of my life in my arms; we struggled and suffered so much to get here, but we can finally be happy. I can finally give him everything without getting in my own way. The relief is so overwhelming I could cry, but instead I just revel in the peace.

On the exhale, I hum.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“Nothing. I’m just…happy,” I reply, resting my forehead against his chest. “Thank you for staying. And thank you for taking care of me.”

His arms tighten briefly. “I already told you, I would do anything for you,” he murmurs into my hair.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

#jumin han #jumin x reader #jumin han x mc #jumin han x reader #jumin x mc #mm jumin #mysme #mysme jumin #mystic messenger #fem!reader

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imitranslates · 4 years

Text

Fukigen na Mononokean Ch. 77

Will Ashiya make it out of this schedule conflict...?!

Please remember to check out the official English release when it comes out, preferably on Crunchyroll if you’re able to!

The newest chapter can be read on the official website by clicking the yellow button labeled 読む!

Fukigen na Mononokean Chapter 77 - Chasing Two Hares At Once

Page 1

Sis: Merry Christmas!

Sis: This year's Christmas present is~~

Sis: A two-day, one-night family trip!

Ashiya: A trip?! Really?! Is this a prank?!

Sis: It's a bonafide trip.

Page 2

Nara: This will be the first time all three of us will be staying together on a trip~

Nara: I was shocked by this super gorgeous present myself!

Sis: It was a shock when you were hospitalized for fainting from anemia earlier this year.

Sis: Since you work at the shop when you're home, I thought it would be good to give you a refresher outside the house.

Nara: Those feelings alone are the best present!

Thank you, Chisa!

Page 3

Ashiya: By the way, big sis... when is this trip?

Chisa: New Year's Eve and New Year's Day!

Ashiya: Eh.

Chisa: ...Could it be, you already had something planned?

Chisa: We've always spent those two days together as family every year...

I didn't say anything when you were surprised before, but... you can't go?

Page 4

Ashiya: During winter break... I'm...

Page 5

Ashiya: Good morning!

Mononokean: Mornin'!

Abeno: Good morning.

Page 6

(Ashiya: Morning, Fuzzy!)

Abeno: (Ashiya...) Aren't you bringing an awful lot with you today?

Ashiya: I’m glad you brought it up!

Ashiya: I woke up early so I could make a lunch box!

Page 7

Ashiya: From today onward, we'll be fully absorbed in searching for Aoi-san from morning until evening.

Ashiya: Since there aren't any convenience stores in the forest, I thought I'd bring lunch!

(Ashiya: There are riceballs stuffed with salmon, kelp, and pickled plum!)

Abeno: Even so, can you really eat all this by yourself? (This amount...)

Ashiya: No way~ Your portion is in here, too, Abeno-san! I made enough for two!

Abeno: My portion?

Ashiya: If it suits your tastes, I'll make lunch from tomorrow onward!

Ashiya: There's warm tea in the thermos, too!

Aside from that, there's a picnic blanket, handwipes, insect repellent, and...

Ashiya: (Ah?!) I forgot the chopsticks!!

Page 8

Ashiya: Please wait, I'll be back in a minute.

Abeno: ...?

Abeno: Mononokean...? Isn't that guy in a weirdly good mood...?

Mononokean: It's a "We'll definitely find Aoi!" type of mood!

Abeno: Is... that what it is?

Page 9

(Ashiya: AOI-SAAAN!)

Abeno: !

Demon: !?

Abeno: (Damn it...

I got too absorbed in searching and it started getting dark again before I realized it...)

(Abeno: How troublesome...)

Page 10

(We'll end the search here. We didn't find anything today...)

(...But we've finished searching the general area around where I separated with Aoi.)

(I'll try expanding our search to the forest running along the barrier after tomorrow...)

Abeno: Ashiya! Let's get back to the Mononokean!

Ashiya: Have you found something?

Abeno: No...

Ashiya: Me neither...

Abeno: !

Page 11

Abeno: Hand over that bag.

Abeno: I'm not carrying anything, so I'll hold it for you on the way back.

Ashiya: No, no, I'm fine!

Ashiya: I'm the one who brought all this stuff, after all.

[Imagined Ashiya: Really!? Yay!! It was getting pretty heavy! Please take care of it!]

(Abeno: If you say so...)

Ashiya: But I really did bring too much today...

I'll have to downsize it for tomorrow.

(Ashiya: Abeno-saan, do you have any requests for tomorrow's lunch?)

Abeno: ...?

Page 12

Mononokean: Great job on your second day of searching!

Abeno: We'll search this area tomorrow.

Diagram: Rough sketch of the forest area outside the barrier.

Ashiya: Affirmative!

[Day 3 of the search.]

Ashiya: Abeno-saan! I'm finished searching over here!

Ashiya: I'll help you out on your side!

Abeno: He's quick...

[Day 4 of the search.]

Ashiya: This area is kinda slippery so I'll take care of it!

Abeno: In that case, let me have the medicine box...

Ashiya: No need, I'm fine!

[Day 5 of the search.]

(Ashiya: Haa...)

Abeno: Tired?

Ashiya: Not at all?

Page 13

[Day 6 of the search.]

Abeno: ......

Ashiya: (whispering)

Mononokean: OK.

Page 14

Abeno: "Okay"?

Abeno: What are you agreeing to?

Mononokean: Oh, were you peeping?

Abeno: ...?

Page 15

Ashiya: It's nothing.

Ashiya: I'm going to head home, alright?

Ashiya: Mononokean, the entryway, please?

Mononokean: OK!

Ashiya: Good work today!

Abeno: Good work...

Page 16

Mononokean: Good work~

Page 18

Abeno: I wondered if I should overlook it...

Abeno: But that shifty smile was just too disgusting.

Abeno: It's not nothing, is it?

Ashiya: ...It's n--...

Page 19

Ashiya: New Year's Eve and New Year's Day!! I'm going on a family trip!!

Abeno: ...Huh?

Abeno: Family trip...?

Page 20

Ashiya: But!

You can rest assured that I won't be taking off time from the search!

I've arranged to go after the search on New Year's Eve and meet up with my family!

Ashiya: But there's no way I would be back home by 9 o'clock New Year's Day,

So I asked the Mononokean to come to the place I was staying instead...

Right?

Mononokean: OK.

Abeno: So that was the "okay" from before...

Abeno: I don't mind picking you up somewhere else, but don't go making requests without my permission.

It's not like you had to keep it a secret from me in the first place, you know? (Your family trip...)

Ashiya: Well...

Page 21

Ashiya: It makes me feel guilty to go off and have fun at a time like this...

Ashiya: Even though I said, "We'll definitely find Aoi-san!"

I thought it'd make you disappointed like, "So you weren't really prepared after all..." (So I couldn't tell you...)

Abeno: (So that's why he's been going out of his way to be super considerate over the last few days...)

Page 22

Abeno: It's totally unnecessary for you to worry like that.

Abeno: I can't complain about what you do during winter break, so long as it doesn't get in the way of the search.

Abeno: ...Besides,

Abeno: It's not like you can have someone else take your place there.

Page 23

Abeno: That's why you should forget about work and have fun without any shame.

Mononokean: Bring me back a souvenir, okay?

Ashiya: !!

Mononokean: I'll come to pick you up on New Year's Day, of course.

And I'll send you off on New Year's Eve, too!

Abeno: Any other plans you need to confess?

Page 24

Ashiya: Abeno-san...

Ashiya: I'm sorry for trying to hide it instead of honestly telling you about it...

Abeno: Now there's a new way of prostrating yourself.

Ashiya: I'll buy a souvenir for Aoi-san, too...

Abeno: Don't worry about it. (More importantly, get out of the way already.)

(Ashiya: What are your plans for New Year's Eve, Abeno-san...?

Fuzzy: ......

(Abeno: If you must know, it’s spring cleaning for the Mononokean.)

#fukigen na mononokean #The Morose Mononokean #fukigen na mononokean translation #fukigen na mononokean 77 #fukigen na mononokean chapter 77

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myivfjourney · 4 years

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Naps? Yes please!!

9/3/20

Ok, so it's been a few days since I've written - alot has happened!

Quick update to my last few lines in my prior post.

I got the "go ahead" from the doctor to begin stims..the TSH of 3.5 doesn't seem to be a current concern.

My husband got the job and signed his offer today ! Yay!

My meds didn't come on the Thursday like expected inspite being in the phone for 2 hours dealing with it. They came Friday after further investment of time.

Anyways...

Backtracking to last week of August...

I finished the last birth control pill August 24 and was so ready to move to the next step. I had so much back and forth phone calls with the specialty pharmacy that my meds came the Friday. I day before I needed to start them although my doctor and I confirmed the orders weeks prior. I was so upset. Had I not called to verify a few days prior it would have not made it in time. Always very people.

Anyways we begun stims on Saturday August 29th. My husband and I rewatched the videos to be sure we were "doing it right" ...we made it out the first night alive. Menopur stings ladies! But the good news is it does go away after like 1 minute.

I'm on day 6 of Stims right now and all I want to do these past few days is nap.

The stims have gifted me a small lingering headache and complete tiredness. YAY!..u really shouldn't have.

On the same day we begun stims I started spotting and by Sunday I had a heavy flow. Monday morning I couldn't wait to call and find out ...apparently its "withdrawal bleeding" from the birth control and also my uterus is shedding its lining. Since it measured 8" last time, I had lot to lose thus bleeding for 2 more days. I'm spotting today..still pink..but hoping it stops soon.

Last night I had to get 3 injections because the re-inject pen for Gonal would only give me a dose of 100IU since we've used 200 IUs each night thus far as my dosage (it comes as 900) ..but..the night before somehow when my hubby injected me, only 175 IUs discharged so I needed another shot of 25 to even out the 200. So needless to say two nights in a row I've had 3 stabs to the belly...how lovely! I've gotten use to it so its fine.

I visited the doctors office on Wednesday (yesterday) and looks like we're pacing well. They want to see me tomorrow again for further monitoring.

Can I just tell you about my left overies for a quick sec? I mean..I've already covered my periods so why not.

My left girl seems to be hiding out behind my uterus down under. So finding her is always a bitch. The nurse looked for a good few minutes before giving up. She then called in the doctor to look around for her. I waited about 5-8mins on the bed (on my period) after being poked around with the probe for several minutes. When the doctor came, in order to find her, I was asked to literally turn and lie on my right butt cheek while the probe was inside ...only then Ms. Lefty graced us with her presence....they got the picture they needed.. ( when he saw her I heard him count out to 10 but I didn't ask what it was..follicles? ) Gosh I hate this process. It's so gross. I wonder if it will be this hard when I'm going in for egg retrieval? I can't go on my right butt cheek under sedation...oh my God. The cramps that will follow...

I am hopeful for tomorrow's visit. I'm starting to feel very "lumpy" in the sides of my belly. Something is happening ...aka...growing!

The doctor didn't say anything about follicles yesterday so you bet your ass I'm asking tomorrow. I need to know what we're working with here. I was instructed to stay on my current dosage of meds until next visit.

Cheers to good news tomorrow. God knows I need it.

On a different note outside of IVF -

I lost my Job on Tuesday Sept. 1, 2020! My position was eliminated and I'm now a statistic of the wrath of Covid. I dont want to get emotional but sometimes I can't help but feel defeated. I need to find a sense of worth and value. I haven't spoken to my best friend or anyone about this process, my career downturn and how I'm feeling. Partly because I don't want to be pitied and treated "special" like a delicate lamb or something. You are my only outlet of expressing how I feel. The anonymity helps for transparency.

With my body not able to conceive naturally I've had to turn to science for my miracle....and thank heavens for science... while its a challenging process I was ..and still am..going to be strong and positive through it. But, things like losing the job you loved so much and the amazing benefits that it provides is a big hit. I had an amazing position with an amazing company...amazing compensation and worked with amazing people...and now its all gone. Officially on September 18 my coverage ends. Luckily my egg retrieval should be well before then.

My doctor will most likely opt for a frozen transfer (higher success rates) so that puts me into October and I feel like I'm in limbo. Do I still apply for jobs now knowing I have so many doctors visits still upcoming and when I get pregnant will I face any discrimination and not be hired?

I never heard back anything from the job interview last week btw. I must have applied to about 50 job postings at this point. No interviews and a few rejections but mostly crickets.

Am I worrying too much? 😕

Well you try going through Stims...tell me how you feel.

My hubby's position was also eliminated and so he was technically out of a job for a week. But his boss ( same company) before he got promoted reached out with an opportunity. He interviewed and got the job. So he's back reinstated with his company after 1 week and starts this new role (promotion with more pay) on Tuesday after the holiday. Crazy times I tell you.

Anyways...as usual I chirp away...more to come after my visit tomorrow.

Off to take another nap.....yawns!!!

#ivfwarrior #ivfjourney #ivf #ivfsupport #ttc #ttccommunity #ttc baby 1 #ttcsupport #infertility #infertility sucks #infertilitysucks #infertilitysupport

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yoursomethingbeautiful · 4 years

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Something Beautiful for day #8

Hello again! This blog is officially a week old! Yay, only 51 more weeks to go before the end goal! Baby steps. Anyways, how are you today? I hope you got a good laugh in. Nothing lifts my spirits like laughing so hard I can’t breathe.

Today was alright, not as great I’d liked it to be, but tomorrow is another day. I got some homework done and made plans with a friend. I saw one of my best friends in our school’s union and we talked for a bit. I had a staff meeting and I was on duty tonight. I also volunteered to create staff shirts for our team, and I made a few designs. We have this inside joke that our building has poltergeists so I made a few designs with little ghosts. It’s pretty cute, and I hope everyone likes them. I’m also counting the days down until IDKH drops Razzmatazz. Only 22 more days to go!!!

There’s no word on the COVID results from my Dad, but my mom says everyone everyone is feeling okay. She said it’s only the first day but it feels like they’re ten days in and I told her I’m worried. She told me that they have it under control, and I believe them, but it’s still a scary situation.

I remember six months ago when quarantine was starting and I was forced to move back home. Things quickly spiraled into a mess of panic buying and Tiger King and making Mac and Cheese every day and getting two hours to pack my shit from my dorm and move back home. I set up my own little study space in our dining room and my dogs got so used to me being there and they would come and find me and even if I wasn’t there they would sit in my seat and wait for me to come back. We taped hundreds of paper hearts to our windows and took long drives around town and made little scavenger hunts. So much happened that I can’t remember it all.

As happy as I am to have a little freedom, sometimes I admit that I miss it. As horrible as it was to feel trapped, it also felt like a long and relaxing vacation and it had it’s moments. I drew a lot and watched a lot of YouTube and Netflix. I decorated my room. We made some new recipes and a lot of brownies. I spent a lot of time with my baby brother. We even saw some SpaceX satellites one night and everyone panicked for like 5 minutes before someone had the sense to look it up. It was hard, but the people I had with me made it fun, and it was definitely a family experience we never had before.

Today’s Something Beautiful is family. I miss mine a lot and I think sometimes I should just quit my job and go back. 2020 has been a long and hard year, and when I got my job back and decided to accept I feel like I poured salt in the wound. After losing my job I my family was under the impression that I was going to be there for another half a year, but really it was only for another couple weeks. If I had known how things were going to be maybe I would have stayed. For my brother, whose siblings are all in college, and for my parents, who miss having all of their kids. Squad shit forever.

That’s all for now, bye my friends - and stan Razzmatazz.

#find the good #find the joy #self love #self discovery #self help #self care #razzmatazz #I don't know how but they found me #idkhbtfm #idk how but they found me #dallon weekes #the fire never goes out #noelle stevenson #family #writing

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pixelatedlenses · 5 years

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Day 354

This weekend was rough. Largely because it’s really, really hot.

In fact, it’s incredibly hot and that’s making my stomach act up.

Also, the world isn’t quite so kind and it’s getting into my head. People are hurting and dying and being gunned down in a country that has never really been about freedom. It… it becomes a weight at times, and while yes, I’m abroad, the recent events coupled with the KyoAni Fire have just been a bit much. It becomes scary. It becomes an intense weight. It becomes a reason to tuck away and want to never go out into the world unless absolutely necessary.

But I refuse to stop my life: I have to keep going. I can’t just hide in my home and decide to never interface with the world: I think that’s what terror –and those who perpetuate terror- would like for folks to do. They want to see the world burn: I want to see life come from the ashes and reclaim.

(I don’t genuinely want to hide: I just can’t help but sometimes feel like it.)

I’m afraid, yes, but I’m not going to stop. There’s still too much good in the world and too many attempts to do right for me to just throw in the towel.

So here’s how I’m reclaiming my week. Well, my day.

Edited my Carrd Website

In my attempt to shift my life-blogging persona into an aspect of my professional identity, I created a card. Well, now it needs a bit of an update. So I’ve gone in an updated it to look a bit crisper and more organized. It even has tabs that you can click on so I can better make it a viewable C/V that you can preview versus a really simple site.

I’ll be making it into a pinned tweet this week!

Decided that learning lettering may be beneficial to my current long-term goals

So over the past few months, I’ve been considering entering translation and localization, largely because my experience with Japanese and English has really encouraged me to do something I love with those skills. But this weekend, I considered lettering as part of that overall goal, and found that that felt right.

The former is a solid goal: while I’ll still work towards having a solid day job for things like health care and steady funds, I have plans to also begin my work with freelancing in translation and localization.

I’m going to focus on proficiency in CSP, or Clip Studio Paint. I have access to the program on my iPad, which would be a tool I’d be using should I also choose to do lettering. I’d also like to get some basic understanding of Photoshop under my belt again: I had a decent level of proficiency in high school and college, but it’s also been... 10 years since high school and six since undergrad. A refresher might be good.

(Lookin’ at you Udemy: run a special so I can buy some courses!)

At most, it’s part of my potential plans for next year. At minimum, it’s a new skill that I can use for my own private purposes. Overall, it’ll give me an appreciation of all the hard work that goes into lettering manga, both in Japanese and English. And honestly, I think a deeper appreciation for what a lot of my friends do can be only beneficial.

(Now to figure out the other aspects of my goals... I’ll get there in due time!)

Chose two manga to practice translation (and potentially lettering) with

So I received an incredibly kind offer last night: the chance to have some of my translation practice reviewed. Of course, I said yes: this is essential to my growth, and a good chance to practice accepting help and kindness.

So naturally, that means making a choice.

And I did, this morning, very spur of the moment: a manga about gothic Lolita clothing and growing up (着たい服がある / Working Title: Those Clothes I Want to Wear) and a manga about koto and the feeling of falling in love with music (この音とまれ! Working Title/Official Title: Sounds of Life!).

They’re both from two different genres with two very different stories. I think they’ll help me a lot with my ongoing private practice and study.

My goal is do a first read through by next Wednesday. Then I can do a second of the first chapter, and take notes. After that… we’ll start translating and localizing the text. I’ll also be building my first Word Bank (a file with keywords and phrases to help keep things in order) alongside my work.

I already have a bit of an idea of how I want things to shake out, but it’ll take a deeper dive into reading both volumes –and watching the manga for KonoOto- for me to decide the direction I’d go if given these are work.

Thankfully, what this’ll do is give me a base for my portfolio: I really want to have six to eight samples across multiple genres for next year when I start shopping myself around. Also, this is a bit of prep for the Manga Translation Battle, which I will enter without the intent of winning. (Winning would be great: having eyes on my work is even better.)

Once more, it’s win-win, which is exactly what I like!

Did Some Listening Practice w/ New Game!

It’s what’s on the tin: I did some listening practice with the anime New Game! It’s cute, and surprisingly, really easy for me to understand. Bit by bit, I’m getting better at catching words and phrases without subtitles. I’m gonna watch a few more episodes over very late dinner, and then pick up studying at my desk tomorrow!

Read for Pleasure

Something I’ve struggled with over the past few months is taking time for myself to enjoy reading. I think when I read lately, it’s usually in the context of study or knowledge gaining, or something of the like: it’s never expressly for the purpose of pleasure.

So… I picked up my brand new copy of Dianna Wynne Jones’ Fire and Hemlock and J-Novel Club’s physical release of Hiratori Ko’s JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World and let myself have some levity this evening, even if I didn’t read for too terribly long.

A habit is made in small steps, not great leaps.

But I have to say that reading on the train, on my sofa bed after dinner…

…simple perfection.

All together a really successful day! I'm so proud of myself for doing a good amount of things. I'll do even more tomorrow! For now... late dinner and ice cream! Yay!

#whatsinaday2k19 #Day 354 #journaling

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royal-babey · 5 years

Text

Ranger Highschool AU

Since I love Fallen Hero: Rebirth and have no self control whatsoever, I decided to write a highschool au. Ft my sidestep, Robin Monrosa, as your local 17 year old anxiety filled new kid at school. As well as Wei Chen being an awesome adoptive Father

Only got three chapters done, but I am definitely planning to write more! So here they are for the time being ^^ I hope you all enjoy! :D

Content Warning: PTSD, Trauma, Panic Attacks, Anxiety, Depression, Dissociation, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicidal Tendencies, Intrusive thoughts, Needles, Blood, Past Child Abuse, Insomnia, Nightmares

Happier Tags: Gay! Fluff! Cute and dorky teenagers galore! M!Sidestep/M!Ortega! Yay!

Chapter 1

“Hey kiddo, how do you feel about moving?”

That was not what Robin expected to hear as soon as he walked in the front door to his and his fathers apartment.

No forewarning, no hints, just his dad having managed to pack half the small house in the span of six and a half hours whilst his son was off to school, surprising his adopted son as soon as he came home.

“I...Wha?”

Robin couldn’t think up much of a question. How was someone supposed to respond to this?

His adopted father, Wei Chen, glanced up at him briefly from his place kneeling on the floor, currently preoccupied with packing pictures and photo albums into a box.

“I mean it’s not as if you really have a choice. The moving van is coming tomorrow afternoon. I got a really good job offer at a school as a self defence instructor about three hours from here, so I took it. We’ll have a proper house, two separate bathrooms, a backyard for Spoon...”

“Wait wait wait.”

Robin felt like his head was gonna explode. He already had a headache, now this? His dad was talking a mile a minute. Which...Honestly wasn’t really like him. Was he scared Robin would throw a fit or something? Have a tantrum and run off to his room, slamming the door?

But a quick sweep over of his father's mind revealed no thoughts like that, just him being in a hurry to get as much done as possible. At least Robin could stop overthinking on that front…

His father looked worried now. He had spaced out and been quiet for too long again. Shit.

“Just...Just gimme a second.”

Robin shook his head, digging into his bag to pull out some painkillers and his water bottle. He washed one down with a swig of water, and once he didn’t feel as overcharged…

“So...We’re moving?”

Chen nodded at Robin, waiting for him to continue as Robin sorted this out in his brain. Easier to go over what he was already told and put it in order.

“You got a better job offer, so we won’t be living in this shitty apartment anymore?”

“Language.”

“Sorry...But an actual house? For Spoon too?”

Chen nodded again, a small smile playing on his lips now. Robin just leaned against the kitchen counter, picking up a pen that was there to start clicking and fidgeting with.

“That’s right.”

“You said it was three hours away...Where are we going?”

Chen hesitated for a moment, then finally, answered.

“Los Diablos.”

Robin was puzzled. He didn’t have a problem with it per say, but...His dad seemed hesitant.

“Something wrong?”

“No, no...I’m just...Worried about how you’ll adjust to a new school.”

Robin snorted, shrugging. His dad was worried about his incredibly anti-social son with the ability to make people forget him and ignore him entirely, in a new school? Sure Robin had crippling anxiety and depression and sometimes was sick at even the thought of going to school and struggled to keep his grades up because of how often he dipped out after having bad panic attacks but…

“It can’t be any worse than the one I’m at now.”

Chen let out a dry chuckle at that, and Robin could see it did seem to comfort his dad some.

“That’s...True, I suppose. It will be a good fresh start for the both of us. I promise.”

Chapter 2

The rest of the night and most of the morning was spent frantically packing away whatever was left needing to be packed, but then by noon their belongings had been collected, Robin had officially been taken off of his old schools roster, and he and his father, as well as Spoon, had piled into the car and were driving not too far behind.

Robin couldn’t say he was sad about moving from his old school. He was always being bullied constantly despite his dad being one of the most intimidating teachers there. Part of why he was so anti-social and had a very tight “Don’t look at me” telepathic guard. Better to just keep people away and out of his life, he doesn’t trust people who aren’t his family. His Dad and his dog are the only people he feels safe around, and it’s been that way since he was a child…

About an hour into the car ride, Robin had fallen asleep. He wasn’t exactly in the most comfortable of positions, but with the rumbling of the car, the radio playing music quietly, and the rain beating down from the skies, creating a rhythmic and almost comfortable atmosphere…

Well, he hadn’t really slept all week. Major anxiety about the next school day and homework keeping him up. He had been largely relying on coffee to keep him going. Coffee and soda plus whatever random nutritional drink his dad offered him, to try and put some bulk on him. So it surprised no one when he drifted off…

Robin may have been exhausted, but he hated sleeping. Too many memories to creep up on him. Too much fuel for his nightmares.

This rest was no different. Flashes of needles, being held down, blood running down his arm and a bright light...Then sirens in the distance, large hands carrying him, crying into the shoulder of some stranger he doesn’t even remember…

That wasn’t even the worst nightmare he’s had, but it’s still enough for him to jolt in his seat and wake up gasping, arms burning and seatbelt suddenly uncomfortably tight.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay.”

Robin flinches lightly as his father reaches out to touch his shoulder, but relaxes into it some after his rational brain catches up to his fight or flight instincts. He inhales, holds his breath for a few seconds, then exhales. At least he isn’t on the verge of hyperventilating anymore...Still, he can feel his hands trembling lightly, so he sticks them inside his hoodie pocket.

“Bad dream?”

Chen knows it was. He knows what Robin dreams of. Knows what happened. Well, as much as anyone knows what happened. But Robin’s distress is obvious, even if the teenager takes a second to collect himself with a small nod, face that was pulled into an expression of fear and confusion just a few seconds earlier quickly schooling itself back in a neutral scowl at the glove compartment.

“Yeah...Yeah. But it’s fine. It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

Chen knows Robin better than that, but he doesn’t push. Instead, he just lets his son go, leaning back in his own seat and letting out an awkward groan as he stretches his arms above his head, back and shoulders popping and cracking in protest. Even Robin cringes at the noise.

There’s silence between the two for a little bit, the only real noise being Robin shaking his leg, and Spoon panting like a happy pup in the boot of the car. It’s not as if he was cramped and shut in though, there was still enough room and space for him.

Robin breaks it first, feeling awkward.

“So...Is this the place?”

Leaning forward slightly to look up at the house before them, Robin finally realises it doesn’t seem like they’re planning to drive anymore. Did he really sleep for three hours?

Chen’s only answer is a quick but bright grin, then a short “Yep!”. After, he climbs out of the car, then walks around to open up Robin’s side.

Robin sort of tumbled out, but he does manage to stay standing. And afterwards, he stretches his limbs some. It’s not as if he had been cramped in the car, being as small as he was, but still...Sleeping in an awkward position for hours wasn’t something he could recommend.

Walking up the gravel driveway to stand beside his dad, Robin looks up at their new home.

It was two stories. Big, and Robin could see two sets of windows and even a smaller, clouded up one. A bathroom perhaps? On the lower level there seemed to be two large rooms judging by the windows, maybe a living room and kitchen, and finally, they also had a porch! With a swing seat on it!!!

Robin could see the beginnings of a fence on either side of the back of the house, so he supposed that was their garden. Wonder what it looked like...Chen had commented that it was big, but how big was, well, big?

Hearing a bark coming from behind them, Robin had to smile. Turning around, Chen walked over to open the large padded boot of the car, letting Spoon hop out. The Greyhound almost immediately bound out of the car, barking joyfully at nothing in particular. He ran a few random laps of his owners, before finally deciding to stop next to a street lamp post to relieve himself.

Lovely.

Robin was startled out of watching his hyperactive dog by Chen putting his hand on Robin’s shoulder, but Robin managed to suppress the surprised flinch. He always felt bad when he couldn’t because his dad always felt just as guilty...But right now, all Robin could read from Chen was “Happy”...Robin didn’t have a certain feeling or opinion on all of this yet, but...It was a new beginning, like Chen said. What could be the harm?

Chapter 3

After the moving van had dropped off their stuff, Chen and Robin spent the rest of the day moving it inside. It wasn’t like they had much, but still, it was a lot of work for two people. They managed to drag their couch inside though, along with their mattresses. Chen had deconstructed their beds to make it easier to move them, and planned to rebuild them in the morning. That was fine with Robin.

After that they just had to carry boxes into their house, which wasn’t too hard. They got piled up in the corner of the living room, along with their small tv. Wifi wouldn’t be on for a couple of days though, but at least they had a radio and Robin had a rather extensive book collection and some data on his phone if he got really bored.

So now, at six in the afternoon, the pair were sitting on chairs around the dining table in the kitchen that was already there when they arrived, eating instant noodles and silently listening to the boring news droning on in the background.

Robin had zoned out for the most part. He was staring down at his food, silently picking and eating at it. He wasn’t very hungry. His brain picked up a few of his dads stray thoughts here and there, but they weren’t very interesting. Unpacking boxes, calling some companies, getting work clothes set out, building stuff up, moving house stuff Robin supposed you could label it.

One thought did catch his attention though.

“Gonna have to call Robin’s new school…”

“New School?”

Robin couldn’t help it. He blurted it out before he could stop it, and immediately his eyes widened and his cheeks flushed sheepishly as he watched Chen’s own eyes widen for a few seconds, before he sighed and shook his head.

“Robin, what did we say about mind reading.”

“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

Robin almost immediately started rocking back and forth slightly in his chair. It was a nervous habit of his. He knew Chen wouldn’t yell at him for it but sometimes his body instinctively slipped back into old habits before he could stop it. It was used to anticipating slaps and insults, and maybe even being shut tight in a room with telepathic dampeners blasting until he was crying. Even ten years later…

“Robin? Hey, hey, it’s fine kiddo. I know you can’t help it sometimes. It’s okay.”

Chen saying his name pulled him out of his thoughts again, and Robin realised he was breathing a little too heavily. Ugh, he hated it when he got like this. When stupid memories clouded his stupid judgement over the tiniest of things.

Swallowing around the thick lump that had appeared in his throat, Robin just nods, before shakily pushing himself up from the table. He couldn’t bring himself to look his Father in the eyes. He didn’t want to see the worry or sympathy.

“I’ll be a minute…”

“Robin-“

Robin doesn’t pause, and Chen doesn’t go after him. He just needs a few minutes. A few minutes to clear his brain, splash his face with some water, put his guards up so he doesn’t do that again tonight. Both read Chen’s mind and have an involuntary break down over an old memory he didn’t even need to be worrying about.

Entering the bathroom on the ground level of the house, Robin locks the door behind him. From there he walks over to the sink, turning on the cold tap. It’s dark, but he doesn’t bother turning on the light. He doesn’t want to see right now.

Once he’s deemed the water cold enough, he holds his hands under it, letting it spill into his hands. He leans forward, closes his eyes, and finally splashes it on his face.

He does this several times, each one harsher than the last. He knows he shouldn’t be so mean to himself but sometimes, knowing was different to wanting to not be mean to himself.

Call him a masochist, he called himself broken.

But gathering himself together again, he grabs the small hand towel hanging on a rack. He dries his face with it as much as possible, as well as rubbing it over his hair, and he lets out a small sigh as he hangs it back up.

He’s okay now. Or as okay as he can be.

He takes a deep breath, unlocks the door, then steps out of the bathroom.

Straight into his father’s arms.

He’s caught off guard by this. How long had Chen been standing there? Every instinct in him tells him to fight, to lash out and get away from the sudden hold.

But he kicks those back down. He doesn’t need them. Instead, he relaxes. That in turn seems to make Chen relax even more, and his hold on his adopted son tighten.

“I know you don’t like to talk about things, Robin, but...I’m here for you. You’re my son, I love you, and...I just want you to be able to talk to me and feel happy and safe…”

Robin couldn’t help but wince at that. Not because of Chen entirely, but because, well...He felt guilty. He did feel safe and able to talk, he just...Didn’t ever know how to start.

“I know, Dad...I love you too…”

It was the best answer he could give Chen. At the moment, anyway…

“Okay…”

Chen finally pulls back then, but one hand does go up to pat Robin’s head gently and affectionately. It’s always been a small thing between them. It actually calms Robin considerably.

“I wanted to talk to you about school, but it can wait until tomorrow. Get some rest, kiddo. You’ve had a long day.”

As if on cue, Robin moved his hand up to his mouth to stifle a loud yawn. It just made his Dad laugh in amusement. Robin hadn’t really felt tired until that moment, but now…

Robin hated sleeping, but he could definitely feel it tugging at him. It had been a few days since he’d actually slept through the night…

Maybe if he took enough pills…

What if he…

Robin inhaled perhaps a little too sharply, and shook the thought from his head. No. Not going there tonight.

“Yeah...I’ll try, pops.”

Robin gave Chen a small smile. He was too exhausted to try for a bigger and brighter one. A more convincing one…

After that, he made to walk past Chen, to go upstairs. On his way past, Chen ruffles his hair. It’s something he’s always done before Robin goes to bed. Robin usually complains, and tonight was no different. He tuts and whines “Daaaaaaaad”, which earns a chuckle out of his adopted Father. It’s normalcy they need. Especially in such an unfamiliar setting…

But Chen lets go of his sons head, who in turn trudges up the stairs. He kicks off his jeans as soon as he’s in the door of his bedroom, pulling on some pyjama bottoms from the pile of clothing sitting on a still unopened box, then walks over to his mattress, already covered in his pillows and blankets, and he flops onto them. He just lies there, not thinking about anything in particular. He doesn’t count on getting any sleep, was probably just going to wait for a bit then turn on the lights to read a book.

But he closes his eyes. And...They stay closed. His mind stays inactive. No nightmares or past traumas coming to haunt him.

Just...Blissful radio silence. As well as a peaceful rest.

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stories-and-fan-fictions · 3 years

Text

Background: your name is Emily and you have a twin sister her names Linda. You also have two other sisters named Molly and Lulu. You loved your twin a lot!! But....you had a huuuge crush on Andy and well.....molly was married to Robin, Linda was dating Barry and Lulu was married to Maurice. No one has kids yet but molly and Lulu were pregnant. Linda helped you get with Andy a lot since you all worked in the same job as a sound engineer where Andy and his brothers recorded. Your parents are Brian May and Christina May who went by chrissie. Here’s how one day went with Linda in the recording booth with Andy and his brothers. You were in the sound booth where all the magic happens.

Linda: hey Andy I think my twin likes you

Andy: nah I was born to be single forever

Linda: why not go talk to her?

Andy: *he sighs* ok Linda *he walks upstairs to you and hugs you as he always did*

Em: heh *you kiss him*

Andy: *he looks confused* y-you like me? Linda wasn’t lying?

Em: she’s my twin why would she lie?

Andy: I......I don’t know....I guess I didn’t think anyone liked me in that way besides my family.....

Em: *you smile and kiss him reassuringly* Andy....I love you as a boyfriend

Andy: heh haven’t heard that since Olivia.....

Em: *your curiosity takes over* who’s Olivia?

Andy: my ex wife.....we had a daughter together but we split because she cheated

Em: oh Andy I’m so sorry *you hug him comfortingly*

Andy: *he smiles* thanks

Barry: hey Andy come here for a second!! *he yells*

Andy: *he yells back* COMING!! *he looks at you* I’ll be back babe *he kisses you then runs to Barry* yeeees?

Barry: take this *he hands Andy a necklace that has a pure gold chain and a sapphire heart and a locket which doesn’t have a picture in it yet* give this to emily and you can put a picture from your first date when you go on one in the locket

Andy: *he smiles then hugs Barry* you’re the best oldest brother I could ask for Barry

Barry: *he smiles* thanks Andy

Andy: *he nods then runs back upstairs* babe I got you something

Em: what is it? *you sound excited*

Andy: *he hands you the necklace* will you be my official girlfriend? And would you like to go on a date with my tonight?

Em: *you smile brightly* I’d love to *you kiss him and he helps you put the necklace on*

*after 3 hours Andy grabs his car keys and you two walk to his blue Aston Martin car*

Em: nice car Andy *you decide to add*

Andy: thanks *he opens the passenger door for you and you get in then he gets into the driver seat* where would you like to go for dinner?

Em: *you pause and think for a moment* why not just a picnic you know at that romantic look out?

Andy: *he smiles* sure I’ll just have to run home to get the food if you don’t mind

Em: sure!!

*he drives to his mansion then he runs inside telling you to wait in the car for him*

Molly: what are you doing here Andy?

Robin: shouldn’t you be on your date?

Andy: she wants to go on a picnic for our first date at that romantic look out

Robin: me and molly went there for our first date

Barry: so did me and Linda!

Maurice: and Lulu and I did too. Guess it’s a tradition

Andy: I guess so *he snickers*

*molly packs a picnic basket then hands it to Andy*

Andy: thanks mo

Molly: anytime have fun you two!

*he nods and runs to the car setting the picnic basket in the back seat*

Andy: *he looks at you* ready?

Em: ready as I’ll ever be

Andy: *he starts driving there* i-is this your first date ever? I hate to sound rude....

Em: it is and it’s not rude I know you’re curious

Andy: and another odd question.....are you still a Virgin?

Em: *you are 20 after all and it’s kind of embarrassing to say you are when Andy’s not* I....*you mumble: am a virgin*

Andy: it’s nothing to be ashamed of em

Em: I am a virgin

Andy: *he smirks* maybe I can change that tonight?

Em: *you giggle* that’d be amazing

Andy: *he smiles and pulls up at the look out* in the car or outside the car?

Em: why not outside?

Andy: sure I know a great spot *you both get out and he shows you to the spot which is beautiful and you two sit on a blanket and have your picnic*

*after an hour you two head back to the car*

Andy: so....would you like to do it in the car?

*you nod and pull the seat all the way back. You both get undressed and Andy gets on top of you*

Andy: you ready?

*you nod then he pierces you and thrusts fast. He thrusts harder and pants*

*after an hour he releases and pulls out*

*he sits up and looks at you and you do the same*

Andy: well what’d you think of your first time?

Em: it was amazing *you kiss him*

*Andy’s phone rings*

Em: go ahead babe it might be important

Andy: *he nods and answers it* hello?

Olivia: are you still picking up Peta tonight? It’s almost 9:30

Andy: oh shit I forgot!! I’m so sorry I’ll be over soon I promise

Olivia: hope so because you’re getting full custody of Peta

Andy: why?!

Olivia: I can’t care for her anymore

Andy: *he sighs* ok *he ends the call*

Em: something wrong babe?

Andy: well.....I guess it’s good....

Em: what is it? *you say as you get dressed*

Andy: I get full custody of my child because Olivia can’t care for her anymore *he gets dressed too*

Em: oh....how old is she if you don’t mind me asking

Andy: I don’t mind seeing as she’s gonna see you as a mother now. She’s only 10....

Em: oh *you kiss him*

Andy: you’ll be a good mom I know it! *he gets back into the driver seat and starts to drive towards Olivia house*

Em: I’m sure *you say unconfidently*

*he pulls up into Olivia’s drive way and honks*

*peta runs out with all her things and sets them into the trunk with help from Andy then gets into the back*

Andy: are you excited to live with daddy now Peta?

Peta: yeah!!! Who’s that though? *she points to you*

*he looks at you as if to say: what do I tell her?*

*you look at him as if to say: her new mom?*

Andy: *he nods* your new mom....

Peta: yay! She’s very pretty daddy

*you smile*

*he drives home and once all three of you are inside Peta runs to hug everyone*

Barry: so what’s the issue now?

Andy: Peta can you go to your room?

Peta: ok daddy *she runs to her room*

Andy: Olivia can’t take care of Peta anymore so I get full custody *he holds your hand*

*you smile at Andy and kiss him passionately*

*he doesn’t break it as he loves you kissing him*

Barry: really guys? *he walks off with Linda and his kids*

Maurice: not ok *he walks off with Lulu and Adam*

Robin: gross *he walks off with molly and their kids*

Andy: mmmm *he breaks it and looks at you* well?

Em: *you shake your head* tomorrow night *you kiss him*

Andy: mmmok babe *he breaks the kiss and you two walk off to bed*

*next day ima skip to the night time*

Andy: well babe where should we do it now?

Em: *you think for a moment* hot tub?

Andy: heh good choice *he leads you to the hot tub and gets undressed then gets in*

*you do the same*

Em: no one will know right Andy?

Andy: they shouldn’t....*he pierces you and thrusts*

*you kiss him all the way through the sex which lasted an hour then he released and you two kept kissing*

Andy: babe someones gonna find us *he gets out and gets dressed and you do the same*

Em: but....I don’t care!!! *you kiss him passionately clearly not caring anyone could find you*

Andy: mmmm *he doesn’t break the kiss as he loves you kissing him*

Robin: WHAT THE HELL ANDY!!?? *hes clearly pissed*

Andy: NOTHING!!! *he grabs your arm and runs*

Robin: Ugh *he looks at molly*

Molly: idk what that was about....*she kisses him*

Robin: heh *they run back to their room to have fun*

Andy: I told you!

Em: I’m sorry.....

0 notes

survivormetaverse · 3 years

Text

Episode 2 - "Fuck I’m on the cursed tribe" ~Moth

a lil sad to see my girl, Bri, go, but that just makes us one person closer to the goal >:3

dennis is very sneaky. we all had a tribe call and he said he'd come later but he was actually doing the hunt challenge. like that's totally fair, it's just even afterward he acted as if he was not really focusing on it either. im going to play the game assuming he has something, just in case.

GAME AND GAME SHOW ARE DIFFERENT DSJKLFHASJDJFH no but this was hella fun pls let's do it again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX3Fs7lDDQk&list=PLrsCGcojtF16jvLW49C4855pUlLWI9pnn

Dhsjdjsjskksks. First tribal done. We just finished the taboo challenge ... A good bonding experience with my tribe. However, I have a feeling we lost. 😂😂😂😂😂😂 The fact that I was the guesser. Rip.

I filmed confessionals but my internet got disconnected hahaha so that's neat. Hopefully there will be youtube videos here soon, but new update Jodi and I are in alliances with Dennis and brayden separately which I think would be hilarious if they were also in am alliance together. And it will be funny it my internet is still out for the challenge tomorrow since I'm the guesser 😆 whoops

So this is the beginning of round 2 and here are my thoughts. Might purposely not be helpful in the taboo challenge lol but i have to do it in a way that doesn't show im throwing it? tbh i say this now but when i start playing the urge to win comes in ugh but i just wanna vote one of these people out. I also took a stroll through the wiki page for this org and i love that some of these people (esp brayden and amy) have played before and their stats are there like yassss give me ammunition yassss!!!! anywho i dont care if we win or lose tomorrow i think i set myself up nicely within the tribe and i still really dont think any of these people won the hunt challenge on my tribe but again who knowssss. if we lose the logic would probably be go for josh or ginny aka the least active people buttt i dont think so like i don't wanna go the boring route. i need to keep josh close to get to merge with him we have friends on the other tribeeeeeee so i need them to survive and i need him and i to survive till we swap or merge to link up. im also trying to win a hunt challenge but my god y'all have me fucked up!!!!!!!!! i guess we shall see what happens tomorrowwwwww

It was nice sitting the challenge out, I'm busy tomorrow and the fact that they could complete it is good for me. Also, if we lose, nobody can blame me for the loss. Only drawback is it appears to me some people can be getting close by bonding over funny things in a game. I have to go back and see who may be close, I don't think I'm next on the chopping block, but I'm definitely not in control. To me, I do not need to be number one on this tribe, I just need to survive the next tribal and hopefully make it to the swap at 14 or 15.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm_dmPuwzzI&list=PLrsCGcojtF16jvLW49C4855pUlLWI9pnn&index=2 anotha one dj khaled

HEY SO KIND OF A LOT OF DEVELOPMENTS TO MY GAME we didn't lose first challenge!! thats great. whatever. no tribal. I've been trying to connect with fellow tribemates but overall we're all pretty quiet. I did have a small 30 minute call with Jay where we kinda connected on somewhat of a game level. I kinda get the vibe that he may not fully trust me or he might see my as a threat, but I want to work with him. I also really like Anastasia and Elle, I think I can connect with them more on a more genuine level. Perfect scenario for me would be setting up a trio alliance of Me + Elle + Anastasia, and then having Jay on the side as my actual #1. idk if I can pull that off, but that was my plan heading into round 2 BUT. AS ROUND 2 STARTED, MY GAY ASS WON THE HUNT CHALLENGE. AMAZING. idk HOW I managed it because like?? I finished and found the hidden link within like 20 minutes? Statistically very unlikely BUT I'm so glad I did it. I WON A SAFETY WITHOUT POWER. It's kinda like a hidden immunity idol, except slightly worse because I can't actually partake in tribal at all. we went ahead and competed in the Taboo challenge last night and boy it was kinda rough. We lost a LOTTA points because we kept accidentally saying forbidden words (I lost us 2 points, woops). But we ended up with a semi decent score. Elle did an amazing job guessing. I really hope we can pull this out. SO YEAH SORRY THATS KIND OF A LOT. OVERALL I FEEL LIKE IM IN A DECENT POSITION, WAY BETTER NOW THAT I HAVE A SWP. I wanna further my position in the game with some allies now. That's my next biggest goal. toodles!!!

So I've figured out that Amy is a comp beast based on us discussing our old seasons and how she did in those: she always talks down her abilities because she's worried she's being painted as a big challenge threat, but I don't think she realizes that doesn't matter to me at all. Ultimately, I think she needed to be at tonight's challenge more than me, so I decided it's ok to sit out since I'm sitting out only because somebody has to, not because I don't want to play. In tribal challenges, it means she'll help keep us winning tribal immunity, and further down the line, if anything, I'll be using her as my "Ken" and if she wins everything, it'll keep immunity away from people I want out.

I think I did much better in Taboo than I did in endurance, so I'm happy about that. Hopefully my performance this round can help me redeem myself with my tribemates.

Today in the fools tribe: no one is talking

Holy crap we won yet again this is such a great feeling just like last season :)

Fuck I’m on the cursed tribe this round This time I think I’m on the majority alliance, which is a great place to be. So hopefully everything goes as planned tomorrow

https://youtu.be/fszNKUHjB_8

So! We did the Taboo challenge and got second place, probs wouldve got first if we didnt get deductions but also we did so good so whatever 😂. I definitely kinda pushed for us to do the challenge last night bc it's Dylan's birthday and I didn't want to have to like, be anywhere specifically today 😅. But yeah we did super good and now I'm gonna go talk to ppl bc I've been gone all day lol

Bye I hate it here.

SO. Here’s the rundown: We lost. Again. Pushing for Shaad to go. Moth, Jared, and Danny all agree with him going. So far I’m getting good vibes with everyone. Danny says he gets along with Jared well and doesn’t talk to Moth that much. Plus, Jared, Moth and I have that little alliance. Jared and I also get along well. Worried for Moth as she doesn’t seem to message a lot. This tribal... I’m feeling safe. I might even make an alliance with Jared, Danny and I. Worst case scenario for next challenge we lose and Moth goes.

Yay we won again! Anyways, Dennis messaged me tonight talking about how everybody else knows each other from playing Stings games before. He said he checked the series wiki and got freaked out and told me that we're two newbies amongst vets. While he's telling the truth, I'm actually not too panicked because 1) I actually checked out the wiki before he told me about it and 2) I have pretty decent relationship with Amy to incentivize her to keep me around. I worked tightly with Amy for the specific reason that I knew she'll have others to work with, and for her to keep me as a loyal number. I also know that she was runner up of another series and she already recognizes the target on her, so I doubt she wants to risk me putting a bigger one. WOW FOR ONCE I'M NOT THE FLAMING TARGET I LIKE THIS

Round 1 updates: https://youtu.be/5nhSsLNcnZ0 https://youtu.be/S5-0Yw93wc0

Round two rambles: https://youtu.be/CuwgF9IVmUM

So, tbh I've done some research about some previous seasons and I noticed Moth and Jessica have played together before. Moth still has not talked to me but Jessica has been overly friendly. I know they have a group message with Jared and I know he can be the split vote between what happens in our tribal tomorrow. Jared claims he has voted for Moth but we will truly see tomorrow. But honestly, if he chooses us, then Jessica is next unless the tribe swap or merge has happened.

Also with that research, I've peeped there's other connections in other tribes from previous games so this is gonna be interesting.

I chose Jared to work with mostly because I see he can play strategy.

Fools tribe is bad at playing games. And its perfect for me because I am safe but i am wishing for drama bcs its fun. rn we are doing small talk and being so nice to each other. I think we will form an alliance officially soon but i am too awkward or like i dont know how to say it or bring it up.

WHY! DOES! MY! TRIBE! KEEP! WINNING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am trying to go the fuck to tribal council but noooo we have to beast all the other tribes yet again. Like a swap is probably coming soon and with my fuckin luck I am gonna get swap screwed like they are gonna look at me from the phantoms and be like yeahhhh theyve been winning lets get his ass out. i would love to lose this next one so the sees look stronger. if phantoms go to tribal I know I''m safe (anything can happen but I set myself up well), and thats all I care about. Jodi and I started to really talk about the vets who are playing this season, and we just realized that we're the only newbies on our tribe. like wow. The fantasy would be to get to merge and have a numbers advantage of newbies against these vets, or make the vets eat their own idk. Lots of thinkin lots of thinkinnnnn. I have been strolling through the wiki page some more and mapping out potential connections from previous seasons. The casting directors work hard but i work harder

https://youtu.be/gsDJIiGiqHE

https://youtu.be/V1ku4_-w0SY

Roses are red We’re on day six Fools tribe worse at challenges than a bag of dead bricks

That im one of the strongest competitors on my tribe, Dennis feels like he is on the outs, but that connects us so i can pull him in as an ally.

It’s been a tricky round

~~~

Edgic:

Power Rankings:

Phantom

Jodi: Jodi remains at the top of the tribe for much of the same reason as last round. Now, she is even in two alliances with no one wanting to come for her nor do they see her as playing both alliances. Hopefully Jodi’s quick alliance making and constant worrying will help strengthen her defenses in the later rounds to come when people will be looking at her more closely.

Amy: Amy is still playing that stellar UTR game. No one seems to register her as a threat despite their access to the wiki and her performance in the challenge. Her social game is just too strong. Additionally, her greater willingness to work with Dennis than Jodi’s willingness to work with him may provide some good allies for Amy if she ever wants to distance herself from Jodi.

Brayden: Brayden rises in the rankings from last round as he has become more closely aligned with Amy and Jodi. The trio seem to see themselves as the only “active” ones on their tribe and are very quick to bond. Additionally, unlike Dennis, Brayden is not viewed with suspicion by either Jodi or Amy. They definitely feel more like a core alliance than they did with Dennis. Furthermore, Brayden is poised to get the people he wants gone out of this game. He is targeting Josh and Dennis which are good targets, especially the latter. All it takes is for Brayden to push a little for Dennis and I am sure the two girls will take the bait. Finally, Brayden’s connection with Ginnifer is very beneficial since he seems to be the only one willing to work with her at the moment. This gives him a very easy ally and Ginnifer doesn’t have much of a choice besides working closely with him. It is certainly an easy number for Brayden if he ever wanted to backstab Jodi or Amy in the future.

Josh: What lands Josh here is that he performed well in the challenge and is easy to like. Interacting with Josh on calls is always a pleasure. However, by not being part of that main trio, he is in danger of being voted out on a whim. Despite that, he seems to be, in my eyes, the least likely out of the bottom 3 to be voted out. Additionally, there is paranoia around people’s “experience” with ORGs surrounding these bottom 3 from others (despite the fact that the top 3 is composed of 2 people with ORG experience). Josh gets this heat the least.

Dennis: Dennis is in real danger if this tribe goes to tribal council. If Brayden pushes hard enough, Jodi can be easily swayed into turning on Dennis. He needs to back off with the strategy talk and just be more social. What saves him from last is that he is in that alliance with Jodi and Amy. This might make Jodi hesitant about targeting Dennis so soon as she may see him as a number. Additionally, Amy does seem keen on keeping Dennis around for a little while which would help his longevity. Hopefully Dennis can realize people’s perceptions of him before it is too late considering that he gives great confessionals and is one of my favorite players this season.

Ginnifer: Ginnifer may be on the bottom, but she definitely has a chance at avoiding being voted out. Most talk around Ginny is about how she is hard to socialize with, but I am sure, when the strategic game starts becoming more important, she can navigate out of this position. After all, she does have Brayden advocating for her which can definitely help. She would need to push for Dennis if she wants to survive until the swap at this point.

Fools

Jared: He takes the number 1 spot on this tribe as he is working with both “sides.” He is serving as the perfect double agent for Danny and Shaad. Additionally, he is making the smart move of getting rid of an obvious duo wherein he was the third wheel of that alliance. He has a great strategic mind on his shoulders, but is it too early for him to show that off? Regardless, he has earned this top spot by avoiding the target cleanly and betraying his allies perfectly. Jared is definitely a contender for the winner spot as he has shown some excellent gameplay these past two rounds.

Danny: Danny has done well in avoiding the target this round as well. He seems to be more sociable and active than Shaad which is the main reason that he is not the one getting Jessica’s and Moth’s vote. Additionally, he was the one that brought Jessica’s and Moth’s pre-existing relationship to Jared’s attention which caused this flip to happen in the first place. Finally, Danny made an excellent move by pairing himself with Jared as this duo could be something fearsome to go up against in the future. The cards are being laid out for a force to be reckoned with and I am excited to see what Danny will do in the future.

Shaad: It is hard to tell if Shaad did anything himself to avoid being voted out, but, regardless, he did something right by aligning with Danny and Jared instead of ratting to Jessica and Moth. In fact, even if he does rat, he will still land himself at number 3. He is not going to get voted out here, and has an established alliance moving forward. And now that he is putting more focus on the game, I am happily anticipating what he can accomplish now.

Jessica: Jessica is being blindsided tonight. However, at the very least, she is not the one going. Her performance in challenges have helped her avoid the target for the time being. Here we can see that the boys weren’t inactive, they were just inactive with her which spells doom for Jessica if this tribe goes to tribal council again. Unfortunately, the boys found out about her prior connection with Moth. The only thing Jessica could have done was to distance herself from Moth at the beginning of the game, but that seemed unlikely since people were inactive with her. I hope Jessica is able to survive until a swap because it would be devastating to see her go so early.

Moth: There is nothing Moth did that landed them here. It was just an unfortunate circumstance wherein they are targeted because of a prior connection. Additionally, I doubt Moth is going to see this coming.

S.E.E.S.

Colin: With an advantage in his hands and him being the most popular bachelor on his tribe, Colin is quick to make allies and his allies like it that way. It feels as if everyone wants to ally with Colin. His activity in the earlier stages of the game have definitely born fruit.

Elle: Similar to Colin, everyone wants to work with Elle. Her social game is just that strong. Nothing much else to say besides what I said before, but the challenge definitely helped raise Elle’s standings in the tribe.

Anastasia: Similar to last round. Nothing much to say.

Jay: He is keeping out of the spotlight which is good.

Babs: No developments. Still viewed in the same way though has noticeably been less unhinged in the tribe chat.

Jennifer: Still the same as last time: seemingly inactive and might be targeted for it.

#episode #episodes

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mynameisjaxx · 3 years

Text

Sugawara x Y/N

I'm starting my third year in high school with lots of home life drama...yay...

My parents were never really marriage people to begin with. Hippie types, they lived together in an apartment in Miyagi with a few friends. Soon they got together and ended up having me. Of course it was an at home birth. They didn't even name me right away, or register me until a month after I was born. They told their friends about wanting to try to live life the way society deemed it, since now they had to find a way to provide for us as a family. After my aunts and uncles moved on to their 'new life venture', Dad found a job at a bank and mom stayed with me at home. She ended up designing a line of environmentally friendly clothes, using the scraps of fabrics no one wanted from the store. Eventually people kept asking if they were going to get married and they always had an excuse. I was 7 when they decided to tie the knot, and now 11 years later they are getting divorced.

I didn't want to live with either of them, so I did the one thing that made sense to me. Which also made sense to them, so I left. They set me up with the apartment they had all those years ago. Since the apartment is paid off they had no qualms about me moving in and living on my own. Sure it was my own space now, but I still had to do quite a lot of paperwork so that my name could be on it. They can even check in with me periodically like they were doing before all this divorce business.

It's a sweet setup. A 2 bedroom apartment, open concept kitchen, living room and dining room. The kitchen was renovated a few years ago, but was never used after reno. Shame though, it was done in black and gold. The countertops were coated in a thin film of dust, but that still wasn't enough to hide the intricate marble swirls beneath it. The cabinets were done in a matte black and the handles were thin bars coated in a gold coating. Looking past the counter was the living room, heavy curtains hid the natural light from the outside. It was spacious. Way more than enough for my baby and me. No, not human, she's a fur baby.

So of course the first step is cleaning and like moving into any new space. I bought new cleaning supplies. It's bad luck to use old things to clean a new space. Sure it might be superstition but, if I really want to give this move my all, I was going to do everything I could to make it right. Cleaning was a breeze. I finished after a whole morning and the house smelled absolutely amazing. I locked up and got in my truck, drove back to my dad's house. It's where I was staying for the meantime.

Kuroo met me at dad's house 20 minutes after my long drive from Miyagi. He brought snacks like the good friend he is. I was in dire need of good company for opinions. We'd been best friends for the 11 years I lived in Tokyo. It was bittersweet. I was going to be leaving the only place I knew I had family, but then again I'd be setting off on my own.

"Do you really have to go, kitten?" He cups my cheek.

"Yes, roo and you know this. I'm leaving tomorrow. The boys are going to load up their cars with my stuff and we're going to Miyagi." I lean into his palm.

"But, kitten, you could just move in with me. Why don't you?" He insists.

"Roo, you're an amazing friend for even offering, but I am not going to impose in your space like that. Besides you're going to college after next year and I'm going to continue with my writing gig. Plus, if I have my own place that means you can come over and visit your Karasuno friends more often." I wiggle my brows.

"Kitten, you know their captain and I aren't exactly friendly." He warns.

"You say that, but as the ex nekoma team manager, I know Daichi Sawamura holds no ill will towards you. He's just protective of his kids." I shrug.

"It hurts to hear you say that." He winced and curled up away from me.

"Aw come on, roo. I'll still be cheering you on." I place a hand on his back.

"I know, but, it's not the same. Who else is going to push my buttons when I'm wound up too tight? Who's going to give me a hand with Kenma? Or help Lev with his, well everything? Or Yaku with his yaku-ness?" His pleading expression was like a dagger to my heart.

"I love you boys, but you will survive, I made sure to coach the new kid. They'll take care of you." I wrap my arms around his waist.

"I'm going to miss you." he turns around to face me.

"I'll miss you too roo." I buried my face in his chest so he wouldn't see how sad I really was about leaving.

We stayed like this while my spotify continued to play in the background. Eventually we fell asleep holding one another. It was nice that we got to spend a few hours together, just the two of us. In the morning I fixed us up some breakfast as he labeled the last box.

The boys showed up just in time. It was Kuroo's, Lev's and Yaku's cars full of stuff and Kenma, along with my kei truck and bringing along my fur-baby, Hachi, we made the move in one day. Once the boxes were in their respective rooms, the boys helped me unpack a few boxes for the kitchen and the living room. Exchanging the heavy curtains and the single rod. The light gray translucent on the first rod closest to the window and the navy black out curtains on the second rod, framing the window much nicer than the other ones did. Shelves were put up and my books were immediately put on them. The tv stand and tv were off loaded and placed perfectly across from the shelves. All I needed was a couch, a dinner table, a possible coffee table, and maybe a stool or step ladder. After that was unpacked and the linens were placed in the closet where they belonged, we moved onto the kitchen. Kenma gave me a hand in putting away the dishes and cups. Kuroo and Lev put away the pots and pans. Over all the place was coming together.

I bought pizza for them while we were finishing up the common areas. In the second room, I set up my desk and put all my copies of the books I had written along with the master copies with all the original annotations and pen doodles I made. I treasure them. They too are also a memory of my time in Tokyo. Sure, I write teen drama under a pseudonym and it's just editing drama from real life, I'm writing what I know. Smiling on my work, I give one last look and turn off the lights to the room. Stepping out to the living room the boys were sprawled out on the floor.

"So, who wants to help me pick out a couch and table?" I jingle my truck keys.

They all get up but quickly realize that they don't all fit in my truck. Instead Kuroo stayed and the boys left back to Tokyo. I thanked them and gave them each a hug. They all smiled and Hachi barked while wagging her curly tail. I waved them off and he slithered a hand around my waist and pulled me into his side.

"Ready to go?" He smiled sadly and I nodded.

We drove out to a few thrift shops and he helped me gather a few things I needed. I got a pull out couch, the kotatsu table and a few display stands for my books. We put the final touches but I wasn't staying the night yet. Looking around satisfied, I set up Hachi's bowl station. She looked at me a bit curious and I gave her a bit of kibble in it. She happily ate it up, as soon as she finished I rinsed it out and put it back. We left the apartment and locked up. Getting into our respective cars, I dialed him and he answered, we kept each other company while we drove back.

At one point we were just using the same radio station and singing obnoxiously loud to one another. He followed me back to my dad's house and I pulled up to the driveway. I turned off the engine and let Hachi out. She ran into the back yard and I shook my head. Crazy girl, she loves to zoom without thinking. Kuroo walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

"So, I guess, we won't be seeing each other as much?" He sighs.

"'Fraid so, Roo." He smiles at the nickname.

"When are you officially heading out there?" He nudges me.

"I leave in the morning. So I should be there by noon tomorrow." I scratch the nape of my neck.

"Then let's make this a nice night? What do you say, chibi-chan?" He smirks.

"What did you have in mind, nerd?" I raise a brow.

"How about we build a few things the way we used to?" He pokes my cheek.

"Sounds like a great send off." I walk towards the garage.

"Alright, let's do this," he takes off his hoodie.

The table for the dining room was one thing I needed and couldn't find for cheap. Using the tools that mom bought dad and he never used, with roo's help we made the 4 chairs to go with it. We even made the headboard along with a few other small things. It was just about day break when we finished being creative. Grabbing a towel to dust off the wood from our clothes, we shared a look and couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm going to miss you chibi-chan." He pulls me into a strong embrace.

"I'm going to miss you too, Roo." He nestles into the crook of my neck.

"Don't forget us, okay?" He ruffles my hair.

"I promise not to. Besides, just because i'm moving, doesn't mean I'm going to miss your games." I rub a small circle on his back.

"You better not." He squeezes me tightly before letting go.

After a moment of silence, he presses a soft kiss to my forehead, caringly.

"I mean it, I better see you." He chuckles and walks off.

It was early morning and the truck had our creations loaded onto the bed. I collected the last of Hachi's toys that were still in the yard and packed it up too. With a quick shower, and fresh clothes I headed out to make my new start. Traffic was smooth, Hachi slept the whole ride and I was on the phone with roo the entire time. As soon as I got there I said goodbye and hung up. Taking the chairs in first as well as the headboard, it was a breeze until I saw the last piece. The damn table. Roo had helped me with it the first time so who was going to help me now?<br />

Rubbing the nape of my neck I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Hey, need a hand?" I turned to see a guy with blonde hair, he looked older than me, but not by a lot.

"If you can spare 5 minutes, that would be amazing." I smile.

"'Course." He puts out his cigarette.

"I appreciate it!" I smile.

With the stranger's help we got the table into the living room no problem. Didn't take long at all. I thanked him.

"I'm Y/N." He looks lost in thought for a second.

"I'm Keishin." He extends a hand.

"You seem so familiar to me, looking at you now." I said aloud.

"Did you used to live here?" He asks.

"Yeah, years ago." I put my hand in my back pocket and pull out my bandana, dabbing the sweat off my forehead and tying it on the way I've always done.

"Wait...n/n?" He says.

"KEI?!!" I realized it was the teenager who used to babysit me.

"Wow, n/n, I can't believe how much you've grown!!" He engulfs me in a hug.

"It's been like forever. I can't believe you're still here." I poke him.

"Definitely, the last time I saw you was a while ago. You were maybe 6?" He laughs.

"So, what are you up to these days, Kei? Last I remember you were an absolute mad lad in volleyball." We walk out to the front door.

"I run the family store now, I had to give up volleyball a little, but I still get to be there."

"What do you mean?" I tilt my head.

"Well, I'm the coach at Karasuno High." He says.

"No way!!! I'm enrolled there for my last year!" I lock the truck and shove the keys in my pocket.

"That's amazing, n/n" he lights up a cigarette.

"Small world after all, huh." we walk across the street to the store and I buy some snacks while I'm there.

"So I hope to see you at our games, kiddo." He punches my arm playfully.

"Oh you will, especially if you play nekoma any time soon." I punch back.

"Soon. We'll have a rematch." He assures me.

"See you around school then, Coach Kei." I walk back across the street and get to work.

Pulling out the old sewing machine that was in a closet, I set to work, making curtains and other things that I knew cost more to buy than to make myself. I even made a few bento coverings.

It's a cute small town. So of course when I finished moving in, a few neighbors came up to me and greeted me so kindly. My neighbors are really sweet. The families in the apartments to the either side of me had children and they went to the local high school too. They even sent their kids to greet me and made them bring some sweets that she had made. Sugawara and Nishinoya came to greet me with things their parents sent. The boys were nice enough, they even offered to walk me around campus for the first few days, until I got used to the school.

Hopefully writing my next books here won't be too difficult. Again it's mostly just taking things I have lived through or friends have lived through and changing up some parts, placing them in different order, and of course the names are always switched up. No one beside Kuroo knew that I was the one behind the books, so something I definitely enjoy is the kick my friends get out of the books. Seeing them feel like, wow this is so relatable. I make sure to leave out details that are just too specific to them, so they don't realize it's them in the stories. Sure, it's not always easy to come up with a plot, but it is my 8th teen drama, so it can't be all that bad.

It had been an exhausting few days. Packing, moving, and unpacking. I laid in bed and took a few breaths, I texted roo a lengthy thank you for everything and he texted back a few pictures we had together from our adventures outside of volleyball. I smiled, falling asleep with Hachi in her bed next to mine. I took one last deep breath and closed my eyes. It was dreamless, but definitely restorative.

I didn't feel tired at all. I got up and fed Hachi before pouring myself a glass of water. I look at my calendar and see that school starts in a few days. On the bright side, I have already picked up my school uniform and books. I just have to go down to the shop so I can get some notebooks and a few other things on the list of school supplies. I let Hachi out into the yard and she runs around happily with her favorite yard toys waiting for her by the dog house.

Getting ready for the day, I threw on my favorite black thigh length shorts, a cute candy red cropped hoodie over a white tank and grabbed my black bookbag. I decide to pull out my skate soles, they can hook onto any of my sneakers and immediately transform them into a pair of roller skates. Best things I have gotten as a gift from my parents, besides the apartment. Town is so quiet even with small groups of people talking and walking around. It's like a speaker being at 20% volume instead of like Tokyo, which is always at 100%. It's kind of nice, not having to skate in between crowds too. After running errands, I stop by the convenience store on the way back. Picking up a light lunch, something to hold me over while I set my school supply haul down, feed her lunch and take her for a nice walk, well skate. Popping off my soles before entering the store and leaving them at the door, Kei was behind the counter.

"Sweet skates, n/n."

"Thanks Kei," pulling up to the counter with a sandwich and an energy drink.

"It's on the house, n/n" He flips through his volleyball magazine.

"No, Kei, tell me how much it is." I insist.

"Not telling." He smiles at his book.

"Fine then, how about you come over for dinner and I cook for you." I propose.

"You're too much, little n/n." He shakes his head.

"Tonight, 8 o clock. See you at my door." I say and leave, clicking my soles in and skating across the street before he could answer.

Getting inside, I put my books and supplies on my desk in my room and headed to the yard, calling Hachi inside for lunch. We chow down and then head out on our walk. I went grocery shopping towards the end of our walk, just what I could carry for dinner. I was going to make a delicious steak with a side of oven roasted potatoes and asparagus. It was among my favorite things to prepare with how easy the prep work is.

The time was nearing for Kei to come over, I had the table set while the veggies were in the oven. The only thing left was the steak. I liked mine pretty rare and I made Kei's medium. Just as I set the steak on the plate to rest, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in, the door's open." I shout.

"It's Suga."

"Oh, Sugawara, I wasn't expecting you." I met him at the entrance.

"Well, I got a box in the mail and it's got my address, but your name and since I didn't order anything, I was going to drop it off." the box in his hands.

"I didn't order anything either." We share a glance.

"Let's open it." I offer.

"I don't see why not." He smiles.

Upon opening the box, there's a note. To Chibi-chan, From Roo. Just a little house warming gift.

"So it is for me, I'll call them later, thanks for bringing it by, Sugawara." I smile at the silver haired boy.

"Not a problem. Smells amazing here." He smiles as he walks out.

"I'm having someone over but as always I made too much, you're welcome to join us." I extend an invite.

"I don't want to intrude." He raises his hands.

"Not at all, if you want, we can ask Kei if he's okay with it. He should be here now." I say opening the door to Kei about to know with a small box in his hands.

"Hey Kei, come in. Do you know Sugawara?" I ask.

"Hey coach." Sugawara rubs the back of his neck.

"How's it going, Suga?" they do the bro handshake.

"So, I'll take that as a yes. Kei you wouldn't mind if Suga joins us right?" I bat my lashes.

"Of course not. We can catch you up to speed on everything that's changed since you left." He agrees.

"Oh, no coach, I couldn't possibly." Suga puts his shoes on.

"Well, if you don't feel up to it, then it's alright, maybe some other time." I shrug and walk back to the kitchen.

"Sure thing, see you around, Y/N." He nods and takes his leave.

"Alright, what did you say to him?" Kei raises a brow.

"Not a damn thing."

"Lies, he's never this nervous." He crosses his arms.

"Nothing! I swear." He eyes me.

"Fine," He sighs and gives me the small box.

"Kei, you didn't have to bring me anything."

"Well, it's not much, just something small." He ruffles my hair.

"Thanks Kei, I'll open it after dinner." I place it on the living room coffee table.

"Which dinner smells incredible, where did you order from?" He asks sitting down at the set table.

"I said I would cook for you, so that's exactly what I did. I wasn't going to order out, just to make it easy on me." I huffed.

"I can almost taste it. Need a hand bringing it to the table?" He asks.

"No, I've got it." I smile.

The rest of the night was spent talking about anything and everything, with a few drinks in the mix, we spoke until midnight and just caught up with everything we missed out on in each other's lives. Back when I was younger he really was like an older brother to me, so it felt like I was reconnecting with family. Keishin had crashed because those couple of drinks turned into shots. Needless to say the hangover was of astronomical proportions. Even Hachi knew to let herself out without so much as a bark to wake us.

"Hey Kei, you still here?" I whispered, trying to open my eyes, but the morning sun was too strong.

"Yeah, are you okay?" He whispers back.

"Yeah, no it's killer, how's yours?"

"I need an aspirin or something." he mumbles in response.

"I got it, just stay where you are."

"I don't think I could move with all this pressure." He squeezes his eyes shut, only making it worse.

Going into my bathroom and into the medicine cabinet, I pull out the pain killers and take 4 out of the bottle. Slowly and as quietly as possible I make my way to the kitchen and pour a cup of water to help make the pills go down. Reaching Kei, I kneel down beside the couch and pass him the remaining two pills and the rest of the water.

"Drink up" I whisper.

"Thanks" he takes the pills out of my hand and drinks the water.

"This was so nice. Good food, good company and a couple of drinks." I smile and rest my head on my hands, next to him.

"Yeah, I didn't think we would drink this much." he snorts.

"Neither did I. I just have the stash the parentals left behind." I shrug.

"Well, it's a very prepared stash." He nods.

"I know, it was good whiskey." I smile.

"How about I make some breakfast and you go sober up. Take a shower, there's fresh towels in the bathroom, I even have new toothbrushes in the cabinet. Pick whichever you like and put a cap on it so you know it's yours." I suggest, helping him to his feet.

"I will take you up on that offer," he stumbles as I try my best to help him to the shower. I set up the water and showed him how to turn it off and where the soap was.

Leaving him to it, I did my best to sober up the way I know how. Cooking. Running out real quick to the store and I bought some bread and milk, since I had eggs and cinnamon. I had decided to make some French toast. I remember them being his favorite and they are dense enough to be a filling breakfast with just a few slices.

After returning, and making the meal, we said our goodbyes. I made my way to the bathroom and showered, dressed in my favorite pjs. A black tank top and matching basketball shorts. I happily knocked out for a few hours to sleep off the hangover, putting an alarm for lunch time with Hachi. The day was quiet, until 10 minutes before my alarm I heard a knock at my door.

"Who is it?" I groaned.

"It's Suga."

"Come in" I had forgotten to lock the door.

"Hey, I heard you guys laughing real hard late last night, so I assume you guys were having fun. I thought I should bring you some of my mom's hangover cure." He holds up a small container with the soup.

"Sugawara, why are you so loud??" I cover my head with the blanket.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

"It's okay, you didn't know how much we drank." my voice muffled by the blanket.

"I think I have a good idea of that. So, I'm going to put the soup in the kitchen, is there anything I can do to help?" He whispers.

"I'm not going to trouble you, thank you for the food and sorry about the noise." I hummed.

"It's not a problem, just tell me." He insists.

"Can you feed Hachi? Her food is measured out, just have to mix it together in the bowl that has her name on it." I point to the counter behind him.

"Yeah, sure." He does what I asked and sets the bowl down beside the water bowl and Hachi immediately comes inside.

"Anything else?" He asks.

"No, I appreciate it Sugawara, thank you."

"Oh, alright. So I will take my leave." He leaves quickly and quietly.

The rest of the day is uneventful and quiet. Having heated up the soup and eaten it, I felt instantly better. I opened up Roo's gift and it was a care package. A jar full of cheesy chemistry jokes, our favorite movie snacks, and a framed picture of us from when we won the game against Seijoh. I immediately called him and it went to voicemail so I left him a message. I walked over to Sugawara's house and gave back the washed tupperware and thanked Ms. Sugawara. She laughed and reminisced about the days when my parents used to invite her over and they'd all drink or smoke just as heavily. I laughed and she said she'd find the pictures she had of the good old days. I bowed and walked back to my house and got to writing.

I had decided on the era, the 80s. My parents were around 18 in 1985. I guess its time I told their love story as a murder mystery. I skated for proper groceries right before holing up in my second room. Hachi is such a good time keep, she barks once for breakfast, twice for lunch and pushes a little on the door for walks. Days past exactly like this, just writing and coming out for Hachi's needs and grabbing a snack, soon the first day of class is tomorrow.

"Alright, Hachi, I have school tomorrow and from then on. Please be on your best behavior." I bow and Hachi reciprocates.

Meeting up with Sugawara and Nishinoya, it was extra early. The boys had volleyball practice in the morning. Having grabbed the skate soles, I click them into place and I skate in between the boys.

"Those are so cool, y/n." Noya checks them out at the corner before crossing.

"Thanks, Nishinoya." I do a quick spin.

"Just call me Noya," He smirks.

"Careful Noya, I'm a third year." I winked and skated a little.

We talked a little bit more about classes, teachers, different clubs. Until we got to the foot of the hill, I look at the boys and an idea pops into my head.

"I have an idea, but only if you guys want to." I eye them both.

"What is it?" Noya smirks.

"Walk and I'll hold your hands." The two look at each other.

"Seems okay," Suga and Noya extend their hands and they walk, basically pulling me up the hill.

As soon as we get to the flat of the hill, I thought I was safe, until I felt myself roll a bit back and Sugawara grips my hand tight enough to sling me back up.

"Oof, that was a close one-"His sling was a little too strong and ended up knocking him down and falling right on top of him.

"Well, hello there, did you scrape your knee when you fell for me?" I joke.

"Of course I did, for an angel like you." He chuckles.

"Damn, senpai, you're smooth." Noya nods.

The rest of the day, I couldn't help but think about the response he gave to the cheesy pick up line I gave him. I mean, come on, why would I? It's not like we've interacted much.

The day passes by slowly. Classes were pretty standard first day things. Going over the curriculum for the year and due dates, annotating them in my planner so I could keep everything in one place. By the time lunch came, I took out my bento from my bag and placed it on my desk. I stepped out for a moment to fill up my water bottle, and came back to see Sugawara sitting at the desk in front of me, and turned to eat with me.

"I thought if it wasn't too much of a bother, I'd have lunch with you." He smiles.

"Thank you for the company, Sugawara."

I couldn't make conversation, which is rare for me, a chatterbox.

"So, do you like your classes so far?" He pokes my hand with his pinky.

"Teachers seem nice. Strict but fair types." I answer before taking a bite of my sausage octopus.

"Yeah, for the most part, all the teachers here are like that. They are really invested in seeing us graduate on time and succeed." He smiles.

"That's really great." I finish my bento and Sugawara goes back to his class, a curt nod and the rest of the day continues.

It's a great school and lots of the gossip that the girls in my class were catching me up on between classes was definitely helpful when it came to helping me develop the next couple chapters for my book. Of course, I didn't have to mention anything about being author to my english teacher, at least not in front of the class. They were well aware of who I was and where I was coming from.

The last bell rang and the boys were outside my class.

"Y/N, we have volleyball practice, if you don't mind waiting for us after practice, we could walk you home after?" Noya offers.

"Sounds good, boys. I just have one question." They glance at each other.

"Do you guys have a track? I want to skate but I know I didn't see any good spots to skate around."

"Not really, but there is a sort of second floor to the volleyball gym. Maybe Coach can let you skate there." Noya ponders.

"I see. I mean, I would rather something open, but I guess I could make it work." I shrug.

At the gym, I'm introduced to the rest of the team.

"I'm Y/N, nice to meet you all."

"Come on, no slacking off, 50 serves each." a booming voice comes from behind me.

"Oh, hey n/n. What brings you to the gym?" He seems genuinely surprised.

"Not much, I was hoping to ask if I could skate the second floor, around the top."

"That would be a no, but you can skate outside, it'd be less likely to get you in trouble." He rubs the back of his neck.

"Sure, thing."

After 2 hours of skating and playing 70's funk through my headphones, I got bored so I decided to peak into the gym. That's when I saw him. Truly saw him. His determination, precision, and confidence. So this is what Kei meant. He seems so different from the guy I had lunch with earlier. He was so sure of his movements, setting the ball up for the other 2 boys to attack. Everything was so fast, and Hinata literally flew. It was absolutely incredible.

"WOAHHHHHH, nice kill!!!" Oops, I smack my hand over my mouth and duck beside the door.

"Uh, who said that?" Kageyama ponders.

It was only 30 minutes after that, they finished cleaning up, and the boys were getting changed into their school uniforms. The downhill skate was wicked. It was like a breath of fresh air. Stopping short of the corner, the boys are out of breath before they reach me.

"You're pretty fast on those!" Noya screeches.

"Yeah, lots of practice." I smirk.

"Alrighty, so I'm going to head home, I have to get my notes in order for the study group tomorrow, are you coming with us?" Noya pleads.

"Sure!"

"See you!" Noya waves and jogs off.

We go to the convenience store and pick up snacks, he grabs a meat bun and is waiting patiently behind me to pay for it.

"Kei" I point behind me and mouth, that too.

"Alrighty, total is 500 yen." He grumbles.

"Here," I say and push Sugawara out as I leave with my bag of stuff.

"Wait, I have to pay for this."

"No, it's fine, I got it." I shake my head.

"Then next time it's my treat." He declares rather loudly.

"I-," I chuckle, cutting myself off, he was just too cute.

"Kind of loud, wasn't I?" He gets flustered.

We laugh and he walks me to my front door. He seemed kind of sad to go, but I didn't stop him.

This went on for weeks. He'd walk me to my door and I wouldn't say a thing except for good bye. At one point Noya had texted me asking if I thought Sugawara was looking a bit down. I texted back an ‘I'm not sure’ and I shot a text to Suga asking if he was okay. He said he was fine which I didn't believe so I told him to come over, that I had made cookies and they were still warm. He showed up and we ended up talking a whole lot.

Turns out we have a lot in common. Between storytelling, volleyball, and a general liking of cooking, we shared lots of small things. After school I would invite him over and he would walk right in, making himself comfortable. Hachi loves him and I think having him around was nice for a change. It was getting to be quite lonely. Kuroo and the rest of nekoma was busy with prepping for training week and Karasuno was also looking forward to it, so he hasn't visited in a while.

It was a regular day. I had stuck around to help with practice, Kei didn't mind the help since it meant he got to leave a little early for his shift at the store. Suga and I typically did the cleaning after the end of practice which wasn't too bad, considering we didn't live far from school. Instead of skating down like usual, I walked with him and held onto my hand out of habit. We talked about how well the team was doing and how Kageyama was shaping up to have a lot of potential. He was a bit down that it was his last year and that he wanted to be the star setter, but he knew that Karasuno's chances were going to be better with Kageyama. I reassured him that he was a great team player and that there was no replacing him as a player on the team. He was like the team's glue. He knew exactly how to get them to work together. He smiled and got a bit shy. I insisted that I meant every word and he got even more flustered.

As soon as we got to my door, he looked like he did when we first used to walk home together. Didn't want to go home yet,like he wanted to say something almost.

"Did you want to come in? Maybe help me with the homework that got assigned?" I offer.

"I would like that."

In the middle of working on chemistry homework, I get so lost with the reactions portion of the worksheet.

"Here, you have to remember that-" He just looked so cute and I leaned over the table and kissed him. I didn't mean to be so blunt, but as soon as we broke the kiss I was flushed.

"Well, that's another kind of reaction." I joke, trying to work through my embarrassment.

"Can we do that again? You know, for educational purposes." He stumbles through the words.

"Of course, educational." he stands and comes around the table and kneels in front of me.

His hand cups my cheek and we lean into each other. The kiss made my chest tighten in a way that I didn't know was possible. Like it was aching for something, but it didn't know what for. I guess this was it.

"I-uhh, I-"

"It was nice." I smile, forehead to forehead, eyes closed. I run my fingers through the hair on his nape.

"Yeah," He hums.

"So, uh, how about I take you on a date?" He opens his eyes to meet mine.

"I would like that." He leans in for another kiss.

#sugawara x y/n

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min9yusnovia · 7 years

Text

Difficult

Member: Jeonghan Genre: Angst–> Fluff

Jeonghan x Reader

They never said it was easy being in love, they never said it would be hard. What you realized is that it would be difficult as hell given your situation.

Being an idol came with its perks, you were able to do what you loved the most; sing, dance and get to know the hundreds of people that supported you and your group. You loved being an idol but it did have its downfalls; the hate you and your group got over your appearance, your company, your music, anything in general really. Also the fact you couldn’t do anything, you couldn’t live as freely as others: you had to look and be a certain way and you couldn’t date (unless you wanted netizens to eat you for lunch). Well you could but your seniors didn’t recommend it, they said it wasn’t genuine and you’d feel trapped. You didn’t want to believe it, something is always better than nothing. But still you were skeptical of dating, of finding love. Would it really be as hard as it was often described? Would you even have time for it? You didn’t think about it, you didn’t want to think about it…until you met him. You knew of him, he was handsome and another idol. His group was a couple years older than yours, they were well established and had hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide.

When you officially met him and the rest of his group it was backstage at a music show, your group was getting ready for an interview to talk about your latest release. Your heart fluttered when you saw him, Jeonghan the so called angel of seventeen, he was much more beautiful and handsome in person. As soon as he saw you he couldn’t keep his eyes off you and he immediately stopped reading his lines to introduce himself backstage. He was one of the MC’s and made sure to stand near you while the interview took place. And when your group won first place at the end of the show he personally gave you the award, letting his fingers linger on yours for a couple seconds to long. But you honestly didn’t mind, you had to get to know him but you were too shy do so. He wasn’t though, so when you headed backstage he approached you and you two ended up talking about anything and everything, within the limited time you could, and by the end of the night you two had exchanged numbers. From there a friendship blossomed between you two which turned into a liking of one another and then a relationship. He didn’t necessarily have a dating ban and neither did you but fans wouldn’t ever like to see either of you dating. So it was kept a secret for almost two years, you loved him with your all and so did he, it was an innocent and sincere love. At first it was easy being with each other. The hardships that came with your relationship were understood by the two of you. You would barely see each other, your schedules would interfere, the relationship had to be kept secret. It was all agreed to and it didn’t affect the relationship during the first few months, but as time passed and your groups gained more popularity and your schedules became more and more packed your relationship became more and more difficult.

—

It was the start of a new year, your favorite time of the year, it meant award shows. The awards symbolized the hard work and effort your group had done the previous year. You were always so excited to see what awards his group would win and he was so proud to hear what you would as well. But it was different this year. Your relationship with jeonghan had been on the rocks. It was nothing more that a couple texts and calls here and there, concerning the same things over and over. “How are you.” “Have you eaten?” “Okay good.” “I’m tired I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Nothing more and nothing less. It all became too routine and the magic was lost. If you two barely saw each other before; now it was as if you two had fallen off the face of the earth, you hadn’t seen him in person in over four months you only saw him through pictures and videos. You would finally see each other today, the first of the many award shows you’d attend, after four months. You didn’t know how to feel and neither did he. The only thing you knew is that you couldn’t continue to feel as if the only reason why you two continued to date was out of habit, out of the nearly two years of being together. Because your relationship merely existed, it was as if you two didn’t know each other anymore. as you filed into the arena after the carpet walking, photos and interview you couldn’t help but hope you’d be seated as far from him as possible but just your luck that your group was placed a few tables away from Jeonghan and the rest of seventeen. It was close enough to where you could see one another, he like always looked more handsome than before and as soon as he laid his eyes on you his heart skipped a beat as if it was the first time he’s ever seen you. Just the mere sight of you made you question your decision and the note you wanted delivered to him. It was hidden in the pocket of your skirt, you took it out and played with the paper that held the message that had been causing nervousness in you. “Meet me after your performance you can choose wherever…We really need to talk” You saw your manager and called her over to your table before the show started. “Hey you know how much I love and care for you, your such an inspira-” you began to sweet talk your manager in hopes you’d convince her to deliver your note. “Just give it to me Y/N I’ll give it to his manager, he probably thinks I have a crush on him with the amount of times you make me talk to him.” “If anything he has a crush on you.” You say handing her the note. “The things I do for you girls.” She says as she treads off to a couple tables from yours. “Thank you, I owe you!” “You owe me a lot these day Y/N!” She says and you couldn’t help but smile.

—

“The performance was killer girls!” Your manager says to you and your group after your performance ended. Your usual makeup artist rushed to you to wipe off your sweat and retouch your makeup as your manager continued talking. “You have 15 minutes to change and get back to your seats, please don’t complain to the stylists they’re just doing their job.” Just as you were about to walk to the dressing room, you notice your manager heading towards you. “Guess who was looking at you the entire time.” “Oh my god don’t tell me..was it…was it..” You begin to say really excited and she rolls her eyes at your sarcasm,cutting you off. “No. It was your boyfriend he couldn’t keep his eyes off you.” “Could he still be considered my boyfriend?” “Just talk to him and try and fix things before you decide to end it okay Y/N. I did not bust my ass for almost two years to cover you two lovebirds for nothing you hear.” “Yeah yeah. I know, i now have 8 minutes to change thanks a lot!” You say as you walk quickly to change so you can catch his performance.

—

To say you weren’t actively trying to ignore him, trying to ignore talking and seeing his reaction to your note, would be a lie. You didn’t know what made you think you were ready to face the truth. At the end of his performance his manager approached your manager leaving with her a note, a note that she stealthily delivered to you. You sat there for a while with the note in your hand, you didn’t want to see it, you wanted to ignore it but alas curiosity got the best of you. “Y/N meet me in the empty dressing room on the other side of the stadium. I’ll be waiting -J” the note read. You got up not minding the performance in front up you, using the excuse that you had to use the bathroom to head backstage. Your feet were going so fast it almost seemed like you were desperate to face him, but you were. You were a nervous wreck, how were you supposed to tell your boyfriend of almost two years, your first boyfriend and dare yay even say your first love, that you wanted to end things. Your legs continued carrying you as your head was in a jumble of thoughts and before you knew it you were approaching the famous abandoned dressing room, the one where idols would often go and see one another. You knocked and before you knew it the door swung open, it was as if he was standing right next to the door the whole time. Your eyes travelled from the floor to his face but you couldn’t bring yourself to stare into his eyes for more than a mere second.

“I didn’t think you would come. I was starting to get worried because you took so long.” He said breaking the awkward silence, as he held open his arms for you. You backed away a little ignoring his attempt to embrace you. You sighed, your thoughts racing and your heart beating so fast you felt the whole stadium could hear it. “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” You said as you adjusted your skirt. “What do you mean? You love what you do, you’re so pass-” “No Jeonghan that’s not what I mean.” He turns to look at you, his eyes flickering between your face and the way you were anxiously tugging at your skirt. “What do you mean, Y/N?” He was concerned and confused. “I mean that I can’t keep doing this anymore…Me and you. I can’t keep being in a relationship that no longer exists.” You breath out, a weight finally taken off your shoulders. You finally felt able to breath but he felt as if the world came crashing down on him and he was finding it difficult to breath. “Y/N…you don’t mean it. You’re kidding right?” “I’m not Jeonghan.” “You can’t just say you want to stop this relationship and give no reasons.” “People are starting to suspect something is going on, they make something out of anything.” “That hasn’t mattered before. Why does it matter now?” “It’s getting really hard to be dating anyone right now.” “We’ve been dating for almost two years, it’s been working.” He was getting irritated at you. “I barely see you and it’s as if you don’t care anymore…I try and put effort by-” “What the hell Y/N?!” He bursts out. “Jeonghan…” “How could you possibly say I don’t care. When I call you any free time I have and you know I rarely do. I make sure to put you at the top of my priorities.” “It doesn’t seem like it. I feel so left out from your life. I don’t even know who you are anymore jeonghan.” “Y/N. Please.” “Things aren’t the same jeonghan. It’s all so cold and I don’t know where we stand.” “Do you not love me?” His question burns a hole in your heart. He brushes his hair back and your eyes flicker to his hazelnut colored eyes that were slowly becoming cloudy. “That’s it right?” He continues questioning you. “No, of course not” “You don’t want to fight for this do you? You’re giving up on us.” “No jeonghan I should be asking you that. When was the last time we talked? Two weeks? Three?” He stayed silent, he knew that you were right. “It’s been a month! A whole freaking month since we talked. I get it that it’s not solely your fault, you have a lot of things on your plate but I tried to talk to you. You just never answered back.” He stood there watching you rant about the lack of feeling your relationship had. “I’ve just been really stressed out lately and losing our connection has been throwing me off.” He says and you sigh. “And you think I’m not? We’re in the same boat Jeonghan!” “And that’s why you have to understand Y/N! You’re rushing into things without observing the situation.” “I just don’t know anymore. I’m unsure of us.” “I’m sorry you’ve been feeling this way. I’m sorry I’ve been a crappy boyfriend, I’m sorry but I can’t lose you, my partner, my best friend the one who also understands how hard this idol life is.” “If sorries were enough..” “We wouldn’t need the police or laws or punishment.” He finished off your thought. “Y/N I love you with all my being, I want you to know that, I’m not trying to push you away in any way shape or form. You know more that anyone that this is hard…us. So don’t just end it.” “But…” “No buts Y/N. Stop trying to convince yourself of something you’ll regret. I know I would.” “How will this for-” “We’ve always made it work. This time is no different. Have some faith in us, in our love.” Your bring your head down in defeat and a couple tears begin to roll down your cheek. You loved him, you really did. It was hard, being an idol was hard, being in love with another idol was even harder. You looked up at him; his blonde hair framing his beautiful face, his lips red not because of his lip tint but because of his habit of biting his lips when anxious. God how you loved him. Loved him more than anything. He saw those tears slide down your complexion and he was angered and hurt at the situation. His hand on instinct flew up to your cheek to wipe off the stray tears. “Y/N I know our relationship is anything but easy. But I know you know, how I know that it’s so worth it.” You sniffle a bit as you take his hand into your own. “I just don’t want to keep feeling like there’s nothing left…I don’t want to ever again think that it would be easier for us to break up then to try and salvage our relationship.” “It hurts me that it would come to that, when I love you more than anything.” He pulls you into him, wrapping his arms around you. “You made me cry you idiot.” You mumble into his arm. “Hey you made my heart break in less than five minutes.” You say nothing as you lift your head from the comfort of his arms and stare at his lips and it was as if he knew what you were thinking because on instinct he takes his lips into yours. Softly your lips mesh with one another, and it’s complete bliss. “It’s difficult to love you, you know.” You say as you two press your foreheads together. “I know, it’s not easy but it’s so damn worth it.”

Authors note: lately I’ve been working on requests and I’ve been so efficient on them, but theres still so many in my inbox that i hope you all can bare with me if your request has still not been written. I usually write on the prompt that inspires me so requests aren’t coming out in any particular order. Anyways hope you enjoy and please look forward to my upcoming pieces it’d be really helpful if you guys could leave me feedback because that would honestly mean the world to me.

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anonwriter27 · 7 years

Text

Chapter 17 :)

“Now sissy that walk!” Myrcella sang to her little girl. “Myrcella she’s only 10 months old, she’s not gonna start walking yet.” Gendry sighed.

Their weekly catch up’s had changed lately, they revolved around little Rosie; from discussing her diet, to her latest adventure, to her laugh. Gendry loved visiting his goddaughter, and Rosie loved it when he visited.

“I’ll have you know she’s very advanced for her age.” Myrcella spoke back defiantly.

“Hello?” They heard Robb call from the kitchen. “Is your daddy home early Rosie?” Myrcella cooed earning a big smile from her daughter.

Robb walked in out of breathe, “Sorry, I left the documents somewhere…”

“In the conservatory, under the plant pot.” She told him. “My saviour.” He leaned in to kiss the top of her head. Rosie made a loud noise in protest, feeling left out.

“Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about you.” He picked her up and bounced her on his knee, smiling when she let out a giggle.

“How long are you here for?” “Another thirty seconds then I really have to go.” He kissed Rosie then Myrcella and patted Gendry on the shoulder.

“Family meal tonight?” He asked. “As long as I don’t have to cook!” She called after him. “Deal.” He replied before heading out the door.

“So what are you gonna do for work now?” Gendry asked, “Catelyn has offered me a secretary position at the main house. She says as soon as I’m ready to come back the job will be waiting for me. I need to start earning.” She chuckled.

Myrcella was grateful for the job offer, but she wasn’t being entirely honest. Catelyn had come to her about the job, insisting that she was getting tired now, and wanted to enjoy retirement. Myrcella couldn’t imagine a Stark empire without Catelyn at the top of it, but she was honoured that the older woman had asked Myrcella to learn the trade in her place.

“You and Robb will be taking over the world soon.” Gendry laughed.

My little world is all I need, she thought.

………

“Sorry I’m late, I left the documents behind. Shall we start with the Arryn branch or with a coffee?.... Mother?”

Robb was watching his mother stare at her hand, she seemed as though she was in another world, perhaps she was.

Catelyn was staring at her engagement ring, and a whole life past before her eyes.

She remembered meeting Ned at an old bar, his charming smile and quiet personality had her warming to him.

She remembered the time he was late to their first date. She was about to leave when he showed up out of breathe and a bouquet of roses that had lost nearly all their petals. He apologised over and over, to silence him she kissed him for the first time.

She remembered when he proposed. It came out all wrong, he was never one for romantic gestures, but she loved him anyway. She didn’t hesitate when she said yes, he picked her up and spun her around. She’ll never forget the way he smiled.

She remembered her wedding day, Lysa and Lyanna helping her get ready. She couldn’t eat anything she was so nervous; Stark’s rarely married southerners, but Ned did. Ned would do just about anything for her.

She remembered telling him she was pregnant. He was so caring, he spoke to her stomach every night, assuring his unborn child of his love for them. When Robb was born Ned cried, he wasn’t an emotional man, but he loved his children.

She remembered watching her children sitting in the living room. “You’ve made a wonderful home for me Cat, thank you,” he said. She agreed, they had such a wonderful family. Even when the boys left for the war, their family stayed strong.

She remembered when he got sick, and how she held his hand in his final moments. She told him stories about the kids, and that the snow was starting to settle; how she wished she could go back and say so much more. He twirled a strand of her hair between his fingers, “I’m going to miss my fiery, red head. That’s what I noticed the first time I saw you. Your beautiful red hair.” He smiled.

She thought back on all those moments, and although she cried, she was not upset.

“Mother?” Robb was knelt by her side now. She took the ring of her finger.

“This was the ring your father gave me when he proposed, it was past down from his mother. It brought me so much happiness wearing this ring, knowing I was going to be a Stark, and I want Myrcella to have that happiness. I assume you still haven’t found a ring?”

Robb shook his head.

“Here,” she put the ring in his hand and closed his fingers around it, “it’s not modern or new but…”

“It’s perfect.” He said, holding back his tears. “Thank you.”

They hugged, and Catelyn hoped Ned was watching them now. How proud he would be of his family.

……..

All the Stark’s and honorary Stark’s had joined for their family meal.

“Have you…” “For that last time Jon, your going to blow it!” Robb warned him.

They whispered/shouted at each other during these conversations and everyone thought they were going mad.

“Do you think she’ll say yes?” Bran asked. “We’re about to fine out.” Robb said nervously and all eyes went to the baby’s room, where Myrcella was with Rosie.

………

She was changing Rosie into a new dress she had bought her when she felt someone else in the room. She tuned around and saw Robb Stark on one knee, holding a ring in his hand.

“Robb?” “ I’d do it out there, but I thought it best that it was private, incase you say no...” “As if I’d say no.” She chuckled with tears in her eyes.

“I know we probably did this all in the wrong order, but if you don’t mind, I’d like you to officially be my wife.”

She jumped on him, both of them laughing.

“Of course I’ll marry you, your stuck with me Stark.” “Now and always?” “Now and always.” She kissed him before remembering Rosie in her crib.

They walked out together, Robb holding his little girl while his other arm was wrapped around Myrcella. All eyes were on them, the room was silent, until Ygritte and Arya grew impatient.

“Well?” They both asked.

Robb smiled, “She said yes.”

The whole room became chaotic.

“She said yes!!” Jon yelled, hugging a delighted Ygritte to him. “Whoop!” Rickon and Bran high fives, Jojen had tears in his eyes. Arya and Gendry hugged, happy their sibling were happy, and Ctaleyn looked on at her family, thinking of the night as another moment to remember.

All of a sudden they heard a load ‘Yay!’ Coming from Sansa’s phone, and they all turned to look at her.

“You didn’t think I’d let Tommen miss out on this!” She said, Myrcella glad that she had thought to call him.

They all got to talking about the wedding.

“It should be soon.” “These things take time.” “The guest list is gonna be huge!” “Where should we have it?”

Myrcella silenced them, “Hang on!” And they all looked at her while she turned to Robb.

“I’ll marry you on one condition.” “Which is?” Robb asked.

“I don’t want a gigantic wedding, I don’t want to invite people I barely talk to, or pay thousands for flowers that will die that next day. I want a small ceremony, just our little family, like it’s always been. What do you think?”

“How does this Friday sound? He asked. “Perfect!” She smiled and kissed him.

“Oh my god we have two days to plan a wedding, I need to find the nearest dress shop!” Sansa started panicking on the phone to Tommen who was already booking his train ticket.

“Tomorrow we plan, as for tonight, I would like us to drink and be merry.” Jon said. “Here here!” Jojen said raising his glass.

They all started discussing the wedding, enjoying Sansa’s meltdown. Catelyn excused herself saying she needed a bit of air, and decided to sit outside for a few minutes.

She sat on the bench and raised her glass, “You’ve made a wonderful home for me Ned, thank you.”

#robbcella #robb x myrcella #robbstark #myrcella baratheon #ned x cat #jon x ygritte #sansa x tommen #bran x jojen #arya x gendry

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thefastlanefanfic · 7 years

Text

The Neighbors - TWO

Wattpad // Chapters 1-2

Sidenote: I’m so sorry if you’re on mobile lol this is gonna be long as shit (why does the “read more” thing not work on mobile)

5:00 AM on Monday morning came entirely too soon. With the ability to select college courses all in the afternoon for my last semester, I'd been sleeping in until 11 o'clock in the morning. It certainly didn't help that I'd been sleeping past noon the last few days I was at home on my "summer break." There was something about finishing college that made me exhausted. I would have thought I'd be energetic and stoked to greet the days void of research papers and group presentations, but instead, it was like every single all-nighter I ever pulled was catching up to me.

I threw on the new lavender scrubs my father bought for me and proceeded with my morning routine. I made sure I had a lunch packed. Since I was trying to be healthy, I packed a salad with some chicken I'd prepared the night before and some popcorn. I loved popcorn. I printed and filled out all of the grown-up paperwork I had to turn in to the company to make sure I got medical insurance coverage and direct deposit to my bank account every two weeks. I felt like such an adult, having to do all of the background checks, I-9s, W-4s, and whatever other legal paperwork the company had to do before I could officially start work. Then again, I had to call my dad about forty times in the process of filling out the forms because I had no idea what they were asking me. Maybe I wasn't actually an adult just yet.

As I was walking to the front door, I noticed a group of crickets scatter away from the door inside the apartment. I squealed and jumped backwards before I knew what they were. Why were there so many of them in my apartment? I noticed the early morning sun streaming in through a sliver of a crack under the door. I swore to myself. The reason the crickets sounded so close to me last night was because they had come under the door into the apartment. I figured they were just sitting outside my bedroom window as I was trying to sleep.

I used my dustpan to chase a few of the crickets back toward the front door. Some of them had disappeared under my couch. Others were chirping from hidden crevasses in the apartment I had yet to discover. I growled as I heard one chirp that sounded like it was in my ear, but I couldn't find it anywhere around me. I checked my watch. I was going to be late for work. I opened the front door to shoo out the few crickets I could direct out of the apartment. On my front stoop was a small bag. The smell of warm shit filled my nostrils and began to crawl into my apartment, mixed from the humidity already clouding up the atmosphere outside.

"What the-"

I didn't have time or patience to decipher whether the dog crap was an insult directed toward me or just a rude, lazy neighbor who couldn't make it to his own trashcan. I glanced out into the quad to see if anyone was out with their dog. The quad was quiet. Still asleep. I slung my purse over my shoulder and switched my lunchbox to my left hand. In my right hand, I pinched the very tip of the bag between my pointer finger and my thumb and quickly made my way to the trashcan along the sidewalk. I threw the bag into the can and shivered, the smell of warm shit still lingering in the dense air.

"Early shift this morning?"

I nearly leapt out of my skin as someone approached from behind me. I whipped around, my purse swinging with my body and slapping against my butt as I did. It was Wilson. He was in uniform and looked like he was returning from a night shift.

"Or are you just returning home?" He asked.

It was too early for me to be dealing with him.

"Heading out," I said. "First day."

"Yippie-ki-yay! Good luck, even though I'm sure you'll be outstand-erific," he said, winking at me. "Maybe later tonight we can do that dinner date. Early birthday dinner? I know your birthday isn't until tomorrow but I just found out I've got a 16-hour shift tomorrow and I'm not sure I'll be able to take you out on that day. I'm covering for a buddy."

"You know, Wilson, I really just need to stay home and do some more getting settle-" I started, trying to weasel my way out of this "date."

"Oh come on, Leah. One dinner date. Maybe more after that, but only if you fall in love with me first." He snatched my free hand that previously held the poop-bag and kissed it.

I pulled my hand away and fake smiled. "One meal," I agreed, eager to get going. I refused to call it a "date."

"Magnificent," Wilson said, raising his arms to the heavens as if God himself had granted Wilson the permission to take me out. "I will pick you up around 7. Does that work?"

Just then, Harry sauntered into the quad wearing nothing but shorts and tennis shoes. He had a t-shirt draped around his neck and was using it to wipe the sweat from his forehead. His hair was sticking straight up into the air. His chest glistened with more sweat. I caught myself before my jaw dropped too noticeably. Harry's eyes met mine and he winked at me, smiling.

"Leah? Dinner tonight at 7?" Wilson asked again.

"What?" I asked, snapping back to reality. Harry was walking past us. I wished Wilson would shut up and leave. "Yeah, that's great. See you later-" I said, turning and following Harry. I called his name before he entered his apartment. He turned and smiled at me again.

"Lee." He wiped his forehead with his t-shirt. The full-frontal view of his bare torso finally gave me a look at the ink that covered every inch of his skin. Each piece of art came to life as his lungs expanded with each deep breath he took.

"Leah," I corrected him, laughing as though it didn't really hurt me that he couldn't seem to remember my name. ""Like, Lee-uh. Lee-uh," I repeated. I sounded like an idiot. "How are you?"

"Great," Harry said. "Nothing like an early morning run."

I faked a laugh. "Yeah."

"Do you run?" Harry asked.

"Not if I can help it," I answered honestly, chuckling to myself. Harry raised his eyebrows and nodded, the look on his face indifferent to whether I really ran or not. There was a glimmer in his eye that made it look like he was almost laughing at me internally or just really enjoying the conversation. One of those, or he just was being overly polite and wanted to go shower off the sweat that was flowing gently over his toned torso. "I mean," I said. "I should probably start..."

"Not a bad habit to pick up," he said, wiping just below his messy hair with his t-shirt one more time. "I can see how it's not for everyone though. You headed to work?" He looked me up and down in my lavender scrubs and smiled as though I was a four-year-old child dressed up for the job I wanted in the future. To be fair, that's about how I felt. I couldn't believe I was about to have my own adult job.

I nodded slowly, enjoying the way the words rolled off his tongue and dripped off of his lips before I snapped out of my trance and shot a look at my watch. "Oh shit- I'm actually going to be late."

"Good luck-" Harry said, turning and using a key to open his front door as I sprinted across the quad, holding my purse tightly to my hip. I slid to a halt with a sudden courage to ask:

"Harry, are you doing anything later tonight?"

He had disappeared into his doorway but the door was not yet closed. He reemerged and shrugged. "I'm not," he called to me. "Sounded like you made plans with Wilson, though."

The hopeful smile that had spread across my face disappeared as quickly as it came. "Oh, yes. I forgot."

Harry smiled and shook his head. "Maybe another time, Lee. Get to work."

"Leah," I corrected him once more.

He merely laughed and closed his front door.

I was tense arriving to work because I was a few minutes late. I rushed into the main foyer of Sunshine Days Nursing Home and nearly slammed into the front desk.

"Leah Fitzpatrick here for work. It's my first day."

The middle-aged, overweight receptionist was wearing some Winnie-the-Pooh scrubs, though the way she had snacks and drinks and cheap romance novels scattered all over the desk made it seem that she didn't actually work with any of the patients personally. The only spills her scrubs were catching were from her 64oz mega-drink soft drink cup she'd picked up from a truck stop and the ketchup swirled onto a half-eaten pizza that was laying in the empty receptionist chair beside her. She peered over her glasses at me. I found it hard to meet her eyes since so much dead skin and eye goop had congealed in the corners of her glasses where the bargain-brand frames met the bridge of her pale nose. Her red, short, curly hair matched the cheap red lipstick that had found its way to her front teeth.

"You're late," she said.

"I just got a little held up at home. My new apartment... the bolt lock was giving me problems," I lied.

I could tell the receptionist wasn't buying it. She cocked her head at me and looked at me. I was almost waiting for her to say, "Mhmm. Really?" I was relieved when she didn't.

"There are people here who work a night shift and it's really fucking tiring. Have you ever worked a night shift?" She snapped.

I shook my head.

"It's really fucking tiring. People are going to be mad if you refuse to get here on time. They want to sleep. Don't you like your sleep?"

I nodded.

"Then get here on time. It's really fucking tiring to work a night shift."

"Okay..." I said. "I got it."

The receptionist sat back in her comfortable swivel-chair and placed a fat hand on her chest like she'd been personally attacked. "If you're going to have a problem with coming to work on time you may as well quit now. Do you need to turn around and walk out those doors or are we going to agree that you come in at five o'clock?"

"Six," I corrected her.

She gasped at me, again offended that I would even open my mouth.

"Six is what the email said. I can show you," I said, pulling out my phone.

Clearly not wanting to be proven wrong, the receptionist held up a hand to me and shook her head. "Just be on time next time, okay? We don't have patience for people who don't take this job seriously."

"Jesus, Martha, cool it," a cool voice said from a hallway behind me. A woman in her 30's approached me and the receptionist slyly. She looked too clean to have worked a night shift. I wondered if she was working the day shift with me. Still addressing the receptionist, she said, "You were late on your first day because you spilled a Chick-fil-a milkshake down your front and had to go back home and change."

Martha's face flushed red.

The new woman leaned on the counter and looked at me. "Leah?"

"Yes," I said, extending a hand, relieved that someone spared me from the unwarranted wrath of the receptionist.

She shook it. She was a plain looking woman with brown eyes and brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail. She was wearing no jewelry or makeup, but still had a subtle beauty about herself. "Nicolle. I'll be showing you around these next few weeks. Or until you pick it up on your own."

She put her hands into the front pockets on the shirt of her green scrubs and walked back down the hallway she'd originally emerged from. I followed, finding nothing but administrative offices and break rooms. "You can put your stuff here," Nicolle said, motioning toward a single wall of tan lockers once we'd reached the room the furthest down the hallway. There was a table in the middle of the room with a few coffee cups, food wrappers, and magazines spread across it. A cell phone was plugged into the wall, charging. An old, square computer monitor was in the corner of the room I figured no one ever visited - the top of the computer was coated in a thick layer of dust. As the outdated "Windows" icon bounced from side to side of the monitor screen, it seemed to shake dust particles onto the rickety-looking desk it was sitting on. "Don't let Martha scare you," Nicolle said as I shoved my purse and lunch into a locker that reeked of old perfume. "Martha was engaged and basically got dumped for a skinny girl. It sucks. I'd be pissed if that happened too. But Martha then proceeded to gain another 200lbs after her fiancé left her. Whole thing was a mess. She just hates anyone she thinks is prettier than her." Nicolle stretched her arms over her head and yawned.

I wanted to feel bad for Martha, but because of the first and only encounter we'd had so far, I couldn't make myself feel for her.

Nicolle crossed her arms over her small chest. "We don't do a whole lot of training here for newbies unless you feel like you need it. You're fresh out of school though, right? You should have a better grip on physical therapy and art therapy and meds than any of us."

I laughed. "It's been a month since I've had to crack a textbook so I wouldn't mind a refresher of the meds. The rest I think will come naturally."

"Don't worry about the medicine so much. We have a registered nurse who sorts out dosages and brings the meds to you for whichever client you're with at the time. You just hand it to the client and make sure they don't spit it out or choke."

"Sounds easy," I said.

Nicolle laughed. "Easy unless you're working with Mr. Lewis. He'll spit until he has no more saliva if it means he doesn't have to take his meds."

For the day, I basically shadowed Nicolle. She was 35. Married to a guy she'd dated since high school. She kept assuring me that she loved the guy but proceeded to talk about all of the problems they were having and how tired of him she was. She droned on about how she went out with some of her single friends a week ago and was hit on by a tall, handsome cowboy. "I should have gone home with him. Spiced up my life a little bit. There is never any excitement anymore," she said to me as we carried lunch trays down the hallways from room to room. Before I could give her my opinion, she spoke to the old man in the room we'd entered. "Mr. Davenport, salmon today."

The old man she addressed merely turned his back to us and continued to watch The Price Is Right on his television. He curled his lip like he was disgusted as Nicolle placed the tray of food on a table beside him.

She rolled her eyes at me and motioned toward the door. In the hallway, she said, "He's a chef. Has a daughter who's a chef too. He says her name is Kennedy, I think. She lives in NYC. Dating some famous boxer. Mr. Davenport talks about her all the time, but she never calls or visits. I can't tell if she's actually real or if he's just crazy. He claims he won't call her because he put her up for adoption when her mother died during child birth. I just think Kennedy's a figment of his imagination. Anyway, the food is never good enough for him but he'll eat it if you just leave it for him."

By the time I got to take a lunch break, I was exhausted. There was something about the slow day that made me more tired. I felt like I wasn't really doing a whole lot, but making small talk with some old people who were mentally aware enough to recognize I was a new staff member, and other old people who weren't mentally aware enough to recognize that I was NOT, in fact, their grandchild. One woman in particular kept calling me "Elizabeth," who Nicolle later informed me was the baby girl the old woman miscarried in the 1930's. Really, it all made me sad. It just made me think of my father.

During group art therapy time, I sat with a table of four elderly women and watched as they painted aimlessly on their own canvases. Really, three of them were painting. The fourth was tugging at the uncomfortable smock that we'd distributed to everyone to keep their clothes from getting paint on them.

"Shelley, I don't like this fabric," the old woman croaked, addressing my new coworker across the room.

Shelley sighed and crossed her legs as she helped one of the elderly at her own table. She scratched under the heap of blonde hair on the top of her head, which I guess was supposed to be a messy bun. "Lydia, we've told you, we are keeping your other clothes from getting dirty."

The old woman looked at me as if I was supposed to contradict Shelley and give her permission to take the smock off. I smiled at her as politely and sympathetically as I could, but didn't say anything. In the 8 hours I'd been there, I didn't feel I knew any of the clients well enough to ask anything of them or order them around.

"This damn place..." Lydia muttered under her breath, turning to face the muted TV that had some low-budget soap opera playing. Her stiff, grey hair stayed perfectly in place as she huffed and puffed in her chair. Her overly-exaggerated actions almost made her look like an annoyed teenager who had just been told "no."

I got lost in the soap opera for a moment. There was something about watching those shitty actors on mute that made it seem like they might almost be good at acting for a second. I felt something wet land on my arm and drew my attention back to the table where Mrs. White had accidentally flicked green paint onto my new lavender scrubs. I pursed my lips and sighed. It was only a small blot of paint, but they were my brand new scrubs. I tried not to be mad. I knew my face probably showed nothing more than indifference. I was good at hiding emotion when I wanted to.

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth," she said to me, glancing down at the table where she'd also dripped paint. "I'm so clumsy these days..."

I stood up. "It's okay, Mrs. White." Almost immediately after rising to my feet, behind me, I heard some kind of liquid splattering on the wood floor, like someone had poured their water straight onto the ground. I turned to see another woman, Miss Jane, with her elastic-waisted pants around her ankles, her Depends diaper around her knees, and her bare butt hovering just over the side of an empty vase beside the doorway to the community room. I gasped as I realized that she was mistaking the vase for a toilet. Though she was aiming for the vase, she was really getting half of her pee into the vase and the other half of it on her shoes and the floor.

"No, don't!" I blurted, a natural reaction to Miss Jane's mistake. The old woman jumped, my outburst having scared her. She stumbled backward and tipped over the vase. I could hear the urine in the vase slosh before the vase hit the floor. It was like it was happening in slow motion. It was another natural reaction for me to stoop down and try to stop the vase from tipping completely over, but I was too late, and the vase bounced onto the floor, showering me in warm old lady piss. I stood slowly, held back a gag, and shuddered. In the corner of the room, my coworker Shelley merely cackled, still scratching under the heap of hair tied up on her head.

"Not the first time that's happened. Next time, let her finish peeing. Easier to clean up if you don't knock over the vase," Shelley said, looking nonchalantly at the old man painting beside her.

By the end of the day, I was defeated. Done. Grossed out. A little depressed. How could I do this job? How could I last more than a week? How did Nicolle and Shelley work so long in a place with people who couldn't go to the bathroom on their own or even remember who their own kids were? I knew what I was getting into by taking this nursing home job... but then again, I didn't.

I wheeled into the parking lot at my apartment complex and dragged my body from the front seat of my car. No sooner had I set my feet on the pavement did Wilson come bouncing jovially around the corner of the quad. He was decked out in his cop uniform.

"I've been waiting for you!" He said. He had to have been staring out the window of his apartment until I drove up. Unless maybe he was standing outside the quad waiting for me too. I wondered how long he'd been waiting. His blonde hair was slicked back so tightly that it didn't move as he bounded toward me.

I had forgotten about our dinner. I wanted to groan. It was times like these I wished I had the power to make myself vomit on command. If I could have one super power, it would be to vomit whenever I wanted just so I could weasel my way out of hanging out with people.

"Can I take a rain check on dinner? I've had a hard day... my stomach is hurtin-" I started.

"No escaping your birthday! Your dad told me you're not much of a birthday person but I'm going to force you to dinner!" Wilson said, locking my small wrist in a tight clasp of his fingers and pulling me toward his cop car.

I silently cursed my dad for telling Wilson about my birthday at all. "Wilson, I just really am so tired- I mean, I'm covered in pee and-"

"No excuse is going to get you out of this. Your daddio said you would try every excuse in the book so I'm not buying it."

I was trying to find a way to free my wrist from his grip without making it seem like I was whipping my hand away from him, but he was not letting loose.

"I made reservations for 7:00 and it's 6:45! We have to get there," he said hurriedly, opening the back door to his cop car. "Let's get to bangin' on all cylinders."

I hesitated, suddenly the only thought occupying my mind: "Wait... you want me to ride in the back?"

"Awkward, I know," Wilson said, uneasily sighing and laughing at the same time. "You can't ride in the front unless you're a cop."

"I didn't know that was a thing..." I said slowly.

"It's a thing. Big thing. Big thing," Wilson said. He looked impatiently at the watch on his wrist and bounced his knees. "We gotta get going though so jump in! The back is not that bad, I promise. It'll be fun. A good party story later in life. Tell your friends like 'hey, I rode in the back of a cop car once.'"

I stared into the black back seat where a gate was going to keep me from properly communicating with Wilson. The window was also barred. I looked over my shoulder at the blue low-rider I'd first seen him in the day that my father helped me move in. "We can't take that car?" I asked, pointing at it.

Wilson bounced on his toes. I could tell he was getting more and more annoyed with me as each second passed. Maybe I could piss him off enough to make him ditch his own date. He inhaled sharply. "I'm on call so we have to take the duty car. It's fun in the back! Don't worry."

I sighed heavily. There was no way this guy was letting up. "Can I change first? I'm covered in pee-"

"Good golly-wolly," Wilson laughed harshly. "Your dad was right. You really don't like your birthday-" He nearly pulled me into the back seat like I was a criminal. He slammed the door in my face, nearly crunching my foot in the process. I gawked at him, though he couldn't see me inside the tinted, barred window. He jogged around to the drivers' seat, and before I could protest dinner any more, flew backward out of the parking lot and onto the main street. He was speeding like crazy.

We came to a red light and he hummed angrily. I watched in disbelief as he flicked on his police siren and forced the cars to part like the Red Sea. He drove recklessly through another red light at an intersection, but all cars halted for him to speed through since he had his lights on. Meanwhile, he didn't seem to notice me sliding around all over the back seat.

We arrived at an Olive Garden. Wilson had to come let me out since my door wouldn't open from the inside. A family of four eyed me suspiciously in my nasty scrubs as I crawled ashamedly out of the grimy back seat of the cop car. Wilson didn't address me as he aggressively took my arm and pulled me into the restaurant. He shoved through the waiting crowd by the front door and tapped the bell at the hostess' desk obnoxiously. The hostess, who saw him approach and was going to speak to him even before he dinged her bell, froze with her mouth open. I tried not to laugh as I watched her face, a fake smile spreading from cheek to cheek as she kept her cool with this rude customer.

"Table for two? The wait will be about 45 minutes," she said.

"Reservation for Kilmer at 7:00. Sorry we are late. This one wouldn't stop bitching-" Wilson said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at me.

The hostess peeked over Wilson's shoulder at me. I made the classic "what-the-hell-is-this-dickhead-talking-about" face at her and she seemed to immediately read me. I was too tired to fight this. And by this, I meant Wilson as a whole. I had already accepted that this was going to be a disaster date I would talk about four years from now.

We sat at the table and ordered food. I watched Wilson's face as he handed his menu to the busty, blonde waitress who wrote down our order. His eyebrows were tightly drawn together and his jaw was clenched. Almost like a flip had switched, his face relaxed with a single blink and he smiled at me. "Happy birthday."

"My birthday is tomorrow," I said rudely, crossing my arms across my chest.

Wilson sighed heavily and relaxed in the booth seat we were in. "My, my, my. You are a little jokester, aren't you?"

I felt like he was trying to play off the fact that I was NOT, by any means, having a good time.

The waitress plopped down a basket of bread between the two of us. Wilson grabbed a stick and shoved half of it in his mouth. I watched as crumbs scattered down the front of his officer uniform, all blue this time instead of tan. He chewed with his mouth open, flecks of spit flying my direction and landing on my arms and hands. I crossed my arms across my chest as if it might actually help protect me from the flying spit. It didn't.

"Let me get a Miller Lite. Bud Lite. Whatever beer you have that's light," he said to the waitress, half of the bread still in his mouth.

"Aren't you on call?" I asked. "You shouldn't be drinking."

He winked at me. "I won't tell if you won't."

I sunk my head into my hands. "Good god..." I sighed, mainly to myself. Wilson ignored me.

We sat in silence after that. Wilson tapped his short, stubby fingers along the table and clicked his tongue as he looked around at the other dinner guests enjoying their carb-loaded meals in the yellow lighting of the restaurant. I didn't ever know it was possible to go from hero to zero so fast. Not that Wilson was ever a hero in my book, but he seemed like more of an asshat than ever. I was praying to God Wilson wouldn't get called into work for some kind of backup. I was dying to escape this dinner, but after three beers, light or not, I was terrified thinking about what kind of damage this careless cop could do when he wasn't in the right state of mind. Each time he ordered another beer, I would give him a death stare and tell him, "I don't think that's a good idea."

Each time, he ignored me and drank his next beer faster.

He motioned for the waitress to come to the table once more. Without him asking, she brought him another mug of beer and placed it in his outstretched hand.

“I really wish you wouldn’t drink another,” I said to Wilson, unable to look this asshole in the eyes anymore as he cupped his fourth mug of beer in his hands.

“Listen, if you’re going to be my girlfriend, you need to be less controlling. I can’t believe this is our first date and you’re already trying to control me,” he said, lifting the rim of the glass cup to his lips and sipping the beer.

There was such a drastic difference between how Wilson was talking to me and treating me now as opposed to how he had been with me in front of my father. I wanted to believe that he was just playing a role to appease my father and give me a good first impression that day, but even earlier this morning, when he asked me to dinner, he seemed to be a totally different person.

“What did you do today?” I asked him.

He sighed in annoyance. “I’ve been on call all day,” he told me, putting to rest any thought that I had about him maybe just having a rough day. Whether he had a good day or not didn’t give him the right to treat me like he was.

He polished off his fourth beer and signaled the waitress for another.

I leapt to my feet. “I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”

Wilson just stared up at me.

I turned and made my way through the tables, the murmur of private conversations surrounding me as I turned my hips to squeeze through chairs and people. I walked back to where the kitchen was and met our waitress as she was rounding the corner of the kitchen with another beer in her hand.

“Don’t you have an alcohol serving limit?” I asked.

She blinked at me and began to stutter.

“He’s on call for work. For police work,” I explained, trying to make her feel bad.

“I mean, he’s the customer though… I didn’t know he was working. Anyway, what he chooses to drink is up to him.” She tried to push past me with the beer, but I put my hand on her shoulder and pushed her back.

“He’s not going to arrest you if you cut him off, you know,” I said.

She gasped at me. “That’s not what I thought would happen anyway-“

“So you’re just going to over-serve him alcohol to boost your tip?” I asked. I knew my tone was rude but I didn’t care. This was important. A few other waitresses had protectively gathered around the one who had been serving us.

“What’s the problem?”

The waitress inhaled sharply. “She just couldn’t find the bathroom. It’s this way to the left,” she told me, pointing a finger past me and waiting for me to try and bring up the alcohol issue again.

I glared at her, turned on my heel, and nearly ran to the bathroom. I pulled out my phone and googled the number of the Easton Police Department. I locked myself into a bathroom stall as the phone began to ring.

“Easton P. D., how can we help you?”

“Listen, I have a problem-" I said, running my finger over the latch on the bathroom door.

“Ma’am, let me transfer you to emergencies-"

“No! No,” I blurted. “This is about one of your employees. He’s on call right now. Officer Wilson Kilmer. He’s-"

“Oh… Hold on, sweetheart. I’m going to have to transfer you anyway.”

“What?” I asked. “To who??”

“Please hold.”

The phone began to ring again before I could speak to the receptionist anymore.

“Chief Moore speaking, who is this?” A voice sounded as quickly as the ringing had begun.

“Um, my name is Leah and I’ve got a problem with one of your officers. Officer Wilson Kilmer?”

The other end of the line was silent for a moment. “What has he done?”

“Nothing yet, I suppose. We’re at dinner and he said he’s on call and he’s just been drinking a lot. He’s intoxicated I think and I just want to make sure he doesn’t get called in. I don’t want him hurting someone because of a lapse in judgment caused by the beer,” I explained hurriedly.

“What?”

“I asked him to stop and even told the waitress to stop serving him but-"

“Is he wearing the uniform?”

I nodded and said, “Yes.”

“Where are you?” He asked.

“The Olive Garden on… uh…. I don’t know… I just moved to Easton like, three days ago. I’m so so sorry-”

“Miss, please. It’s okay. Thank you for the call. We’ll take care of it.” The line went dead.

I walked out of the stall and saw an older woman watching me in the reflection of the mirror as she wiped the water off of her hands. I knew she’d heard it all. She merely nodded at me once and smiled before throwing away her hand towel and exiting the bathroom. I walked to the sink and threw water on my face before peering at my own tired reflection in the mirror. God, this had been a long and eventful day.

When I walked back to the table, I was surprised to see Wilson throwing our food into to-go boxes. The food must have just arrived. He looked rushed.

“C’mere, Leah, come on. We’ve got to go. I called you a cab. I’ve got to go to work. They just called me in-“

“What??” I asked, shocked for a moment before I had the idea that maybe he was being called into work by the chief to get his ass chewed.

He grabbed his uniform jacket and threw some money down onto the table. He grabbed both of the boxes of food and pulled me by my wrist through the restaurant and out the door. As we walked out, another cop car turned slowly into the parking lot.

“James,” Wilson said seriously, coming to a halt as James pulled up in front of us and stepped out of the car. James had a cautious, and yet seemingly unnecessary, hand hovering close to the gun on his hip. James was also young, with short brown hair covered by his police hat and dimples so deep that you could fall into them if you got too close. He smiled faintly at me.

“Wilson-“

“James. What’s the problem?? Robbery?? Murder-“

“Hey, man. Why don’t you jump in the car and I’ll tell you on the way to the station?” James said, almost like he was talking to a confused child. He looked at me and blinked slowly.

Wilson didn’t even seem to remember that I was standing there as he sprinted around the front of the cop car and dove into the front passenger seat with both my dinner and his.

James instantly turned to me and lowered his voice. “Miss, we want to thank you for the call. I’d just be careful around him from now on.”

On, I was planning on it. I was planning on staying far, far away. I meant, as far away as I could while still living next door to him. James stepped back into the police car, closed the door, and sent one more sympathetic look my way as he drove away with Wilson.

At that moment, the taxi arrived. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that Wilson literally called me a taxi to drive me home. Not even something more clean and modern, like an uber or a lift. There was something about just looking at the rusty, yellow taxi that made me feel dirty - well, dirtier than I already was. I climbed into the cab slowly, avoiding a splash of grey mystery goop on the faux-leather seat and trying not to lean too far back. There was a rip in the seat behind my back, and I was nervous that if I relaxed too much, I'd be sucked into the trunk by some taxi-demon. I was hesitant to even pull the slick, greasy seatbelt across my still pee-stained scrubs.

The driver coughed so hard that I was worried a lung was going to hit the windshield. It was obvious he'd just polished off a cigarette, the smell lingering despite the car's open windows.

"Where to?" He croaked.

I almost couldn't remember my new address. "Marble Park apartments," I finally told him after racking my brain. He tried to make small talk, but I was too busy running over the events of the day to have a conversation with him.

When we got to the apartments, I paid the cigarette smoke-ridden cab driver and dragged myself out of the torn-up back seat, accidentally dragging my hand through the mystery goop I'd tried so hard to avoid the whole 20 minutes home. I groaned and wiped whatever the sticky residue was onto my pee-stained scrubs and sighed heavily and almost sing-song-y as I rounded the corner of the quad. It was dark outside, all except for the three, dim porch lights that were bright enough only to illuminate the three feet of porch there was for the first-floor apartments. The lamp post in the middle of the quad was also dimly lit.

I used the entirety of my body weight to open the front door to my apartment. I immediately dropped my purse, pulled my shirt over my head and pulled my pants down to my knees, using my feet to push them the rest of the way off of my legs. I walked straight back to my bathroom and didn't even wait for the water to turn hot before I had slumped against the shower wall, letting the water flow over my skin which felt like it had a thick layer of grime on it. Grime from being coughed and sneezed on. Grime from being peed on. Grime from Wilson's spit. Grime from the cab. It was like I could feel it coming off in layers as I dragged a bar of soap slowly over my skin.

I hadn't washed my hair because I liked to wash it in the mornings. I threw it up in a messy bun on top of my head. The bun looked way better than whatever mess Shelley had created with her own hair, if I did say so myself. I wiped the mascara off of where the steam from the shower had made it bleed down my cheeks. Took my contacts out. Threw on my glasses. Put on some old, purple sweats I had. Pulled on an old bralette. I walked into the kitchen of my apartment and opened the cupboard. Without giving it much thought, I snagged a bag of popcorn kernels, threw it into the microwave, and pressed the "six" button. I knew it wouldn't take that long, but I would stop it when the popcorn had popped. I stood, leaning my bare stomach against the cold, fake granite of the counter and stared blankly into the microwave. A ring from my phone snapped me out of my trance.

"Hello?" I answered.

There was no reply.

"Dad, are you there?"

I began to walk around my apartment, searching for a clear signal. I could hear bits and pieces of something my father was trying to say - probably just checking in on me - but I couldn't get a full sentence from him.

The call ended. I was standing by the window at the front of my apartment. I typed out a quick text to my father:

Couldn't hear you. We can try again tomorrow. I've had a long first day. Love you - L.

As I sent that text, I scrolled through some of the other text messages I'd been receiving from old friends for my birthday - Impersonal and brief "Happy Birthday!" messages that didn't bring me as much joy as they did in the past. Getting caught up in the messages, I didn't realize that my popcorn had begun to burn. The smell filled the apartment, and I scurried to tear the smoking bag out of the microwave. Smoke began to cloud the ceiling. I burned my finger on the top of the bag where the smoke was coming out and dropped the bag to the floor. Swearing, I hurried to the window and threw it open to prevent the single smoke detector in my apartment from releasing a shrill alarm and disrupting the peace of my new neighbors.

As I stood at the window, I rubbed my eyes with my uninjured fingers. I examined the part of my finger that stung from the burned bag of kernels.

"Alright?"

I nearly leapt out of my skin. I thought for a moment someone was standing in my apartment, but I finally realized that Harry was standing just outside the window. I hardly noticed him since it was so dark outside and he was still dressed in all sorts of dark colors.

"Fucks sake-" I exclaimed. "I- I- I'm okay. I'm fine. You scared the hell out of me-"

"I'm sorry," Harry laughed, coming a little bit closer to the window. The light from my kitchen illuminated his handsome face. It also allowed me to see that he was holding some sort of green gardening can. "I was just putting a little bit of plant food in Miss Jones' plants. I do it every week or so. Helps 'em stay alive," he explained.

"At night?" I asked.

"What?"

"At night? You feed the plants at this time of night?" I repeated, raising my wrist to look at a watch I realized wasn't there only after I'd checked the imaginary time.

Harry laughed awkwardly. "Eh, well, yes. She doesn't know I do it. At least, I don't think she does."

I stood and stared at him, becoming more consciously aware of my appearance and clothing (or lack thereof) and the fact that he'd probably been peeking in the window the whole time I'd burned my snack and been chasing some kind of cellular service. For as much as I wanted to be creeped out, my stomach was fluttering. He wasn't creeping in my window. He was feeding Miss Jones' plants. Her goddamn plants.

I walked out the front door and stood to the right side of my porch, leaning over the banister toward Harry's silhouette. He watched me only for a short moment before he returned to shaking some of the small pellets of plant food into the vases on the ground and the plants hanging from Miss Jones' porch. I wanted to ask him something. Tell him something. Have him ask me a question or anything to get us involved. However, I stood for a few minutes in silence, in the dim lighting from my kitchen and the small light in the middle of the quad, and listened to the plant food pellets tap against the sides of the plants' bowls and vases.

When he'd run out of plant food, Harry sighed softly. "Good night, then."

His feet brushed weightlessly against the grass as he began to walk away.

"Harry," I called quietly, almost as if I was whispering it to myself.

He stopped. I saw the black shape of his body turn toward me, his figure becoming more visual as he stepped closer into the small amount of light from the kitchen again. He stood and waited without saying anything.

I had a sudden wave of confidence wash over my body. I stood up straight, sticking out my chest even though I know he couldn't really see my perky breasts in my bralette. I took a deep breath, but just as quickly as the confidence had come, it went away. "Um-" I started. My inner self was begging me to say something. Anything.

"Come inside?" I said. I asked. I whispered. I basically breathed it. I wondered if he even heard me. I felt like an absolute dumbass. Should I repeat myself? What if he said no? It was late. Surely he would say no. What was I inviting him in for? Burnt popcorn? I didn't know what part of me was asking him into my apartment, but could only imagine it wasn't for a cup of tea and small talk. What did I think was going to happen? He was going to just lean in and kiss me and-

"Sure."

"What?" I asked.

"I'll come in. Let me take a look at your finger," he said.

Like that morning, I had to keep my mouth from falling open. I turned around abruptly and opened my front door for him. He followed me inside. He moved so quickly and so silently that I just about jumped out of my skin again when I turned around and he was standing only eight inches from me. He gripped my hand and extended my fingers, like he had the day I was moving in. This time, however, I let him look, even though there was nothing there anymore. No evidence of any serious damage.

"I think you'll survive," he told me after evaluating the non-existent injury. "Your heart line here is showing some pretty interesting stuff, though," he said, dragging a long finger along one of the creases in the palm of my hand.

"What?" I asked, kind of laughing to myself. I'd never much believed in palm-reading or horoscopes or anything like that, but it was always interesting to read about and learn about. "What does it say?" I asked him, looking down at my own palm.

"It's about your love life," he said. "Did you have a good date tonight?"

"No," I gushed, looking up into Harry's eyes. I laughed just thinking about it. "It was a disaster. Does the palm say I'm destined for a long, devoted, and romantic relationship with Wilson? After tonight, I'd rather die before having to spend more time with him."

Harry's mouth curled into a small, almost triumphant smile, but he shook his head. "It says something about a tall brunette kissing you. Unless you object."

My heart pounded in my chest. "Oh?" I squeaked, nearly losing the ability to speak. "My palm is that specific?" I asked.

Harry took a step toward me and began to lean in. "I don't know," Harry chuckled. "I can't read palms."

I lifted my mouth to meet his. I began to instantly feel drowsy, like the room was spinning and I was going weak. Harry wrapped an arm around my lower back and pulled my body more into his. I felt like fireworks were exploding in my stomach. His lips were warm and full. I wanted to sink my teeth into them. Without separating our lips, I began to pull him toward my bedroom, tugging at the hem of his black shirt as we went. Clothes began to litter the living room. I flicked off the lights as we neared the bedroom. For as much as I wanted to look at Harry's handsome face, just the feeling of his mouth, which was making its way up and down my neck, was creating an overwhelming sense of euphoria in me.

He was like a drug, his touch giving me an immediate high. As he pulled his fingernails over my skin, a line of goosebumps followed. His moans as he felt my body were giving me a confidence I didn't know I had. I remember that he was on top of me, kissing down my stomach. I was on top of him, sucking on the soft skin of his neck. His hands were twisting into my hair and I was tugging on his. We were twisting and turning around each other, around the sheets... tangling our lips, our legs, our arms... and before I knew it, the sun was coming up.

I blinked my eyes open. I stretched and turned my neck to look at Harry beside me... only he wasn't there. The sheets were tousled like someone had been there, but any other evidence of Harry was gone.

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maealbert · 7 years

Text

Stronger

Requested by: janai-farn

Hello there! I noticed your a new writer and thought I might submit a request to you dear! I was wondering could you do an x reader where she has a physical disability but strives to be an agent. Who also has a massive crush on Emily? She finally gets accepted to be an agent and reader is so happy she confesses her love for her? Am I too specific? Aha if not just make it reader and Emily then :3

A/N: So I’m basing this off of something I personally struggle with. I was recently diagnosed with over-analyzing anxiety and mild depression. So it is an inspiration for this story.

Hearing your phone ringing on the nightstand you groan turning over in bed. Looking at the clock it read 5:30am. An hour before you had to get up and get ready for training. Picking up your phone you look at who is calling you.

Emily Prentiss.

Her name flashing on your screen and groan. Tapping the answer button you press the phone to your ear. “An hour before my alarm goes off.. This better be good.”

“Sorry but this morning I’m your alarm. Get up and get dressed and meet me down at the park.” Before you could respond she had hung up. Groaning even louder you pull yourself out of bed and walk into the bathroom to start getting ready. When you finished getting dressed you grabbed your things and started to head for the door when you stopped. With your hand on the doorknob you turned back around.

Am I forgetting something? You think before opening your bag and digging through it. Phone. Check. Wallet. Check. Water bottle. Check. What if you just called her and told you were sick? She’d understand. Taking out your phone you pulled up her contact on the screen. Your thumb hovered the contact. Clicking on the contact you clicked the message button and sent her a quick text.

I’m not feeling so well.. I thought if I took a shower and didn’t think about it than I’d be fine.. But I’m not.. I’m sorry.. Maybe some other day.

(Y/N), this is your last training day. You have to come.

Sighing you leaned against the wall before sliding down to the floor. I’m sorry. really I am. Can we try tomorrow?

Alright. Tomorrow at eight.

Four years ago you were diagnosed with over-analyzing anxiety and depression. For some things you did came so easily and you weren’t afraid to do anything. For other things you thought bad things would happen. Sometimes the anxiety got so bad you didn’t want to leave your house or worse, leave your bed. You’d lie and say something came up or you were sick. You felt bad for bailing on someone, especially someone you cared for or really close to. You lived a normal life. You had a stable job that paid well while you trained for the FBI. But other than work and occasional outings with friends you were always at home drowning yourself in tv shows or movies or down right sleeping. Even on your days off when you had nothing to do you’d just sleep all day or watch tv all day. Of course you kept in contact with friends via text, phone call, or social media. Although sometimes hearing the phone ring or vibrate from an incoming call or text made you nervous. You overthought what it could be about? Did you do something wrong? Did you make them mad? Did you forget to pay your bill again? Were you in trouble legally? Idiot thoughts would flood your head and you knew it wasn’t going to be anything bad it just your reaction. Sometimes it wasn’t just thinking something bad was going to happen but that maybe you’d even mess up in front of people or embarrass yourself somehow so you kept to yourself most times when you were in public. You’d be so quiet and look so down that people would ask if you were okay. Of course you were fine physically but mentally your mind was racing and over-analyzing the current situation.

Today like most days you’d have enough courage and confidence to take on the day no matter what happens but than you’d find yourself freaking out last minute and thinking about what might happen if it happened at all. You wanted to see Emily again but you were so scared that you might screw up or do something wrong and if you did something wrong than there went your chances of becoming an FBI agent. You wanted this so bad but your mental state almost always got the best of you.

Hearing a knock on the door, you stood up from your position on the floor and grabbed the for door handle. Opening the door you see Emily standing in the hallway of your apartment building. “Emily?”

“At least you got dressed.. That’s an accomplishment..”

“Emily, I’m sorry-”

“You don’t have to apologize.” Emily said walking inside your apartment. “I know why you backed out and it’s okay. Which is why I brought the training to you.”

“Ummm that’s gonna be kind of hard.” You say gesturing around your tiny apartment.

“Not that kind of training. You’ve been doing good with the physical aspect of the training. But today I want to train on the mental aspect of the training.”

“Like I don’t do enough of that already.”

Emily sat down on your couch and patted the space beside her. “I’m gonna give you an already solved case. Your eyes are fresh to this case so you don’t know anything about what’s going on. Let’s begin.” You take a seat next to her on the couch and she begins to explain the case to you. “Three girls were kidnapped and murdered here in DC. The first girl was blonde, blue eyed, and in her twenties.” Emily said laying out the first girl’s photo. “Second girl was blonde, blue eyed, and in her twenties.” She laid out the second photo. “The third followed the characteristics.” She said laying out the last photo of the third girl. “Where do we go from here?” She says looking at you.

Her eyes. Dark brown eyes, almost black. They had a little sparkle in them. No, stop. Focus, (Y/N). This is time for training to become an FBI agent not time for training on how to screw your potential boss.

“Well it’s clear he has a type and by the looks of how he murdered the girls he’s angry.” You speak up tearing your eyes away from hers.

“Good. What else can you gather?”

“Police reports say he waits until they’re alone outside preferably at night to take them. People would be asleep so it’s a perfect time to kidnap someone leaving no witnesses.”

“Great. Now where we do go from here?”

Rushing through the halls of the courthouse you met up with Emily. “I came as soon as I got your text. What’s going on?”

“I have good news. One is that you passed your exams so high five for those case studies!” She said high fiving you.

“That’s great. So what’s number two?”

“Two is that you passed your gun training.”

“Not surprising. Keep going.” You say as the two of you head for the elevator.

“Three you passed your PT test. Cruz said you did great even though you were “sick” for the last one. And last but not least.” She says as the elevator doors opened on the their floor. “You have to swear under oath.”

“Wait, what?” You say following her into a courtroom. There is sat the Brass at their own little places high above the rest of the room.

“Here we go.” She said patting your shoulder before taking her seat. She gave you a thumbs up before you were called up to the front table. Soon you were being told to recite the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s oath with your right hand raised in the air. You stared straight at Agent Cramer as you spoke.

“I, (Y/N), do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

After reciting the oath you kept your eyes trained on Cramer as he looked back at you. “Congratulations, (Y/L/N). You are now officially an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” He said giving you a warm smile. You let out a sigh of relief as you leaned on the table in front of you.

“You did it!” Emily exclaimed as she rushed over to you and embracing you in a hug. “I told you could do this.”

“I was worried about nothing.” You said hugging her back.

“Come on. The team’s waiting downstairs.”

“I never could have gotten this far if wasn’t for you.” You say as the two of you exit the court room. “Seriously without you I would still be working at a coffeeshop for the rest of my life.”

“You’re a good friend of mine, (Y/N).” Emily said smiling at you.

“I love you.” You blurt out before you could stop yourself. You quickly cover your mouth. “Oh my gosh… I didn’t… That wasn’t-” The elevator doors opened and you quickly run out before she could stop you.

“Did you get in?!” Penelope calls as she rushes towards you in her bright blue, six inch pumps.

“Yeah I did!”

“Aw yay, congratulations!” She exclaimed throwing her arms around you. “We all had faith in you!”

“Thank you Penelope.” You say giggling. You glanced over at Emily as she still looked stunned. JJ walked up to you and you quickly tore your eyes away from Emily as you went to hug JJ.

Did I make a mistake? Will she hate me? What if she treats me differently? You felt a hand on your shoulder and you turned you head to see Emily. She had a smile on her face. She bent down to your ear to whisper something. “I love you too.”

#criminal minds #emily x reader #emily prentiss #one shot #request #SEND ME REQUESTS #paget bewster

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