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samwrights · 4 years

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Besitos - Punk!AU [Kuroo]

This is a continuation of Elixir. If you haven’t read the prologue, you can find that [here]. Enjoy the first part of Kuroo’s route! Images are not mine—pulled from Pinterest and google. If we find the artist, please let me know so I can tag them!

Author note: Song lyrics are shown in lines by themselves. Italicized lyrics are sung by you, while bolder lyrics are song by one of the boys. For which boy is singing, as it can get a little confusing, his name is mentioned before the lyrics.

Warnings: language, alcohol consumption, use of nicotine, and not so subtle hints of cheating.

Word count: 4,416

Song used: Besitos by Pierce The Veil

A complementary playlist can be found » here

“Actually, can we run Besitos again? We did okay, but I would really like to not be out of breath half way through.” Despite choosing this song as the opening, it was extremely challenging. You weren’t as adept at playing guitar as Kuroo and, while he wrote it so that your parts were simple, it was still difficult for you to add your charisma to the vocals. You were hesitant on opening with it at all, but the piece gave you the punch that your band was looking for. The work itself was a masterpiece and you made sure to tell your guitarist that. But very rarely did Elixir utilize not only you and Makki for vocals, but Kuroo himself as well was featured in pieces that had screaming. That, in addition to two guitars for a layered sound and a fast tempo, proved to be a challenge even after practicing for months.

Kuroo looked thrilled when you announced that was what you wished to work on—he put his whole heart into this song and it was obvious. After securing your guitar around your shoulders, he hands you a pick which you use to test out each of your strings. Ensuring they were tuned once again, you gave Terushima a thumbs up to start the beat with the fast roll of the snare drums. The rest of followed suit playing your respective riffs and licks before you started with your first verse, Makki’s one line of vocals adding an underlying harmony that converged seamlessly.

Better not get back up I spit my heart into this red cup

Timing was crucial in this song, to keep up with the pace. If even off for a second, on vocals especially, could throw the flow of the song, especially on yours and Kuroo’s parts. A favored element in this song that you’d never thought you would say was highlighting Makki’s vocal range, as he sang his line in a key higher than yours. According to the writer, Kuroo added in these bits and pieces to give your diaphragm a break, to which you were incredibly grateful for. The chorus was a slightly slower pace than the rest of the song which also granted you reprieve, as was one of Makki’s spoken word lines.

True love comes from more than just the heart.

By the second verse, you had grown more comfortable in your skin. Seeing as you had slightly less guitar parts in this moment, you had opted to move around like you would on stage, cradling your microphone in your hand. Was it a little weird having the girlfriends in the same room as you paraded around on your makeshift stage? Yes. Did you feel the glares coming from them as you leaned dangerously close to Makki while the bassist gave his gentle hums of backing vocals? Also yes. Did you give two fucks about any of it?

Absolutely not.

All you could feel was the electricity coursing through your veins as the song gave you the energy you were in desperate need for. Perhaps this was the reason you felt that the song was off—your first run through didn’t feel as right as this one did. The art of performance was missing, as you screwed around with your mates like you would during any other show. And for a song that showcased Elixir’s many talents from Terushima’s flawless ability to keep a beat regardless of subtle changes, to Makki’s own vocal abilities, to the fact that Kuroo knew his band so well and knew how to push the envelope, you needed to bring the performance.

The second chorus encapsulated all of the above traits, as the beat slowed down by a minuscule margin while Makki actually got to show off a bass solo, which Kuroo supported the groove by clapping in rhythm before transitioning into his small screaming section. Terushima slowed down the ground as we entered the final bridge—your favorite part: a spoken word section in which you and Makki teetered back and forth.

A diamond bullet and a gun made of gold She was covered in blood last seen in San Francisco.

If you’ve said it once, you’ve said six hundred times: Tetsurō Kuroo was a mad genius. He gave one more dignified bellow before the tempo was back at full speed, your fingers rushing to keep up with how much fun you’d been having prancing around. The four of you entered the final chorus, the additional line was your final line in the song to drive home another lyrical moment that you wanted to highlight forever before focusing on your outro solo.

You know I’ve never held a gun in my life But now I carry one around in case I see you tonight.

The boys closed out the last lines while you once again moved around, this time standing back to back with Kuroo as your fingers danced along your guitar strings to close out the song.

“Now that is what it’s supposed to sound like!” Kuroo cried out, overwhelmed with joy for a moment to hear his vision come to life.

“That was so fucking sick, dude!” You cried out, simultaneously putting your guitar off to the side to give Kuroo the hug he deserved. One that involved picking up your smaller frame by comparison off the ground and giving you a little twirl, which prompted a glare from his girlfriend but you couldn’t be bothered at the moment. Well, couldn’t be bothered until not only her but all of the girlfriends, whose names you still didn’t know, came to stand in front of the two of you and cleared your throat.

“I have to get going, Tetsurō.” She says while the other two are saying their own farewells. Maybe it should have come as a shock to you that she didn’t state a reason, or even more so that Kuroo didn’t even bother to ask.

“Cool, I’ll call ya later.” The raven haired boy says instead, pressing a brief kiss to her cheek, not even bothering to walk them out. They knew where the door was. “Alright, shall we continue?” You made a face at Kuroo, not wanting to announce the elephant in the room. But as soon as he caught the look, he rolled his eyes at you. “What?”

“Y’all ain’t even gonna walk ‘em out the door, huh?”

“Shut up, [name].”

“I’m just saying.” You said dramatically, walking to the mini fridge next to the stairs to grab yourself another beer.

“Yeah, yeah we’re shitty boyfriends.” Makki drawls. “Can we move on now? It’s been two hours and we’ve played three songs.”

“Four!” Teru counters.

“The same song twice doesn’t count. We still have six more songs to get through.” Kuroo spat out, taking a quit hit of his vape that was in his front right pocket.

“Alright, alright. Let’s move on from the songs we already did then.” You set your beer down at the foot of your microphone stand—a terrible idea, really considering you stomped around like a child throwing a tantrum. Especially considering the following song in the set list was another fast pace, thrasher type of song born of Terushima’s overactive imagination. In hindsight, you shouldn’t have put that beer there, as you had to clean up the spill when you had inevitably ended up knocking it over. While doing so, the two stoners of the group had retreated to the backyard to smoke another bowl while you and Kuroo stayed behind to clean the mess. “Hey, Tetsu. You good man?” You asked when you heard the sliding door close upstairs.

“Yeah? Why?”

“I dunno, just checking on you, I guess.”

“This about earlier?” His hazel eyes followed your form as you tossed the soaked paper towels into the nearby bin. Though his head was down, focused on making sure the alcohol didn’t stain the carpet, you gave a shrug in response. “I’m okay, I promise.”

“If you say so.” You concede, holding a hand out to pull him off the floor. Sluggishly, the other two walked in, eyes redder than Kuroo’s old Nekoma shirt that still somehow fit him despite having it for ten years. “Ah, great. We should wrap up practice before Cheech and Chong forget how to play their instruments.”

“Hey, I resent that!” Terushima jeered, swinging his drumsticks in his fingers. “I play just fine when I’m high!” You and Kuroo looked at each other before belting out a guffaw before the aforementioned guitarist grabbed his acoustic.

“Alright, alright come on ya dilltwats. We have a show tomorrow in case you forgot.” Despite the jab at the two boys who were now suiting up once again, Kuroo grabbed a nearby stool to sit in while you played your one acoustic piece, written by Hanamaki who acted as the primary vocalist for the song. And with your leisure time, you opted to squeeze yourself onto the wooden stool with Tetsu, cautious not to bump him while he played his guitar. When your harmony’s came up, you didn’t move, instead staring at Makki while the two of you sang to each other. Kuroo listened carefully, making sure you both were keeping time with him and Teru, all the while wishing you were singing to him instead. Thankfully, the rest of the set went by relatively smooth, considering they were older songs the four of you had already mastered and didn’t require as much finessing or fine tuning.

The clock struck 9pm, meaning that the four of you actually needed to end practice to be respectful towards Yūji’s parents who were going to be heading to bed soon. Before parting ways, you loaded up your band’s shitty little van with all the equipment you were going to need for tomorrow night’s show. After closing the door to the van and locking with padlocks, Makki perched an arm atop the crown of your head, his towering height allowing him to do so with ease. “Teru and I are going on a blunt cruise, you coming with, mom?” He asks, bending down and forward to gauge your reaction.

“How did I become the mom friend? I tell you all to fuck off and die like every three seconds.”

“You literally held off going to college for two years so that we could all go together.” Terushima points out bluntly, making Hanamaki laugh which inherently shook your head as he was still resting on you. “And you’re the oldest.”

“If I’m mom, who’s dad?”

“Kuroo.” The two laugh nearly uncontrollably for a solid minute before Teru holds up rolling papers an a small plastic baggie, silently reiterating Makki’s earlier question.

“Nah, I’ll skip tonight. I haven’t been feeling the greatest for the last few days and I don’t wanna feel like shit tomorrow.”

“Suit yourself!” The blonde drummer calls out before clambering into to Takahiro’s car. From inside the vehicle, you could hear the boisterous bass shaking all the way to the outside before the drove off, the sound traveling with them to be replaced with silence.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Tetsu.” You called out before sitting in your own car, repeating the same routine from earlier; click your safety belt, light a cigarette, bump your guilty pleasure playlist, and be on your merry way. It didn’t even occur to you that Kuroo had stood in the Terushima’s driveway, without ever moving to even enter his car. Despite how well practice had went, the text that Kuroo had received earlier from his girlfriend made him slightly uncomfortable. Or rather, his indifference to her text made him uncomfortable. But rather than continuing to have some strange form of an existential crisis, Kuroo brought himself to sit in his car, light a cigarette while pulling out of the driveway and head home.

You arrive home halfway through nine in the evening, immediately retreating to your couch and flicking on your favorite streaming service. For dull, background noise, you turn on an old favorite while mindlessly switching back and forth between the same three social media apps until you see the banner of a new notification coming in. Apparently, Kuroo could tell something was bothering you, according to the text he had just sent in. At first, you hesitated your response, even typing out an ellipses that you sent through before asking how he knew. “You always ask for favors when you’re sick. Ice cream, soup, ramen.” You pursed your lips, cursing internally at how well your best friend knew your tells. When you didn’t respond again, Kuroo chimed in with a text that simply said your name, following with, “wanna have a movie night?”

“Sounds good. I get pizza, you get beer?” Your fingers moved before your brain could stop and contemplate whether or not you even wanted company at the moment. Too late now, you figured, before placing your usual pizza order; as you breezed through another episode of whatever comedy you were watching until Kuroo let himself into your apartment. Fuck respecting privacy, he had told you once, as you had opted into giving him the spare key to your home.

“You haven’t even changed into sweats yet,” Kuroo muses as he finds you still curled in your sofa. “Something is wrong.”

“I’m okay,” your voice carries a teasing lilt to it as you echoed his words from earlier. “I promise.” Kuroo lets out a dry laugh as he rummaged through your kitchen cupboards, the sound clinking glasses and bottles sounding off before he joined you on the couch.

“For real, what’s bothering you?” The guitarist holds an arm up, his free hand holding the beer he poured for himself, to allow you to rest on his chest. Before taking him up on his offer, you grabbed the drink he poured for you, resting on the coffee table ahead of you, as well and touching your glass to his.

“You first.” You baited. And such was the nature of yours and Kuroo’s relationship—you knew each other all too well and always sought solace with each other. Kuroo could read you like a book, even if the book were inverted and translated into another language. Not only could he tell when you were upset—he knew how to fix it.

When it came to Kuroo, you never gave into his provocations. No matter much he tried to get a rise out of you, it was next to impossible with your steeled resolve. You knew Kuroo better than that, knew that he was a master of deflection and taking away focus off himself when it was centered around anything but his talent, expertise, and good looks. Feelings? Not his thing. But conversation would never progress between the two of you until he finally caved into your incessant questioning. A huge part of the reason Kuroo hesitated ever speaking on his feelings, you knew, was fear out of speaking his thoughts into existence. “I’m thinking about breaking up with Nanami.”

So that was her name.

Before conversation could go any further, the doorbell conveniently rang, signifying the delivery of your food. Setting down your glass and moving away from Kuroo, you opened the door, grabbing your food and handing a generous tip to the driver before re-situating yourself on the couch, all in a hurried pace. Unceremoniously, you all but tossed the pizza box on the coffee table. “Okay, you were saying?”

“I’m breaking up with Nanami.” The raven-haired boys voice comes painted with confidence the second time around, as if the few minutes you stepped away, he had found his own concrete resolve.

“Okay...” Out of discomfort, or maybe the rumbling of your stomach, you grab a slice, tucking your feet under your bottom to keep them warm. “Why?”

“She’s lying to me, for starters.” You cock a brow to him, silently wondering how he knew that. Instead of verbalizing a response, Kuroo hands you his phone, reaching for his own piece of pizza while you tried to not get grease on the glass. “She doesn’t have a brother.” He clarifies, seeing the confusion on your face upon reading the text that signified she was unable to come to the show tomorrow due to her brother conveniently coming back into town.

“Oh.” Now it made sense. Why anyone, especially a girlfriend, would lie about their sibling coming back into town was more than suspicious. The two of you had fallen quiet, blankly watching the moving images on the television while laying shoulder to shoulder, the silence comforting rather than awkward. But even in the silence with a beer in hand, Kuroo’s free hand that was once wrapped loosely around your shoulder was now resting atop one of your thighs—nothing out of the ordinary. While his verbal provocation wasn’t necessarily an effective tactic against you, subtle movements that tickled your skin often felt like torture by fire. He was goading you into speaking your troubles.

“C’mon, you can tell me anything.” While you couldn’t deny that, it was more so trying to figure out how to tell him your truth. How to tell him without sounding like you were crazy. It seems Kuroo knew this too, as he offered solace in the form of pulling you into his lap sideways, one arm wrapping around your shoulders while the other rested atop your thighs.

“Is it just me or has everything been weird between all of us?” You ask finally, opting to nestle into his tattooed neck as opposed to looking at him. The position was familiar and comfortable and it felt like home.

“No, it’s not just you.” Kuroo mumbles into the breadth of your scalp. “We’re growing up, babe. We’re adults with lives and our own homes and jobs.”

“The only home we’ve ever needed is each other.” Unable to muster a verbal response, Kuroo tightens his grip on you ever so slightly, shifting so that the two of were impossibly close, chest to chest. You make the mistake of tilting your head up to look at him in wonder. A mistake due to the fact that Kuroo was dangerously close, closer than you were aware of with his nose now touching yours. Your name leaves his lips in a broken whimper that sends jolts through every nerve ending in your body. “Tetsu, w—“ Before your protest could leave your lips, the hand that was resting in your lap came to cup your cheek and there was no stopping him. There was no quelling of the storm of Kuroo’s pent up emotions in this moment; he couldn’t anymore.

“Ten long years,” he says when he finally pulls away from the kiss that you hadn’t fought off. “I’ve been waiting ten years to do that.” You should feel relieved at the confession—relief that he returned the feelings you had buried at the bottom of the well. But nonetheless, this was not how you imagined this scenario playing out. Instead of relief, you were overcome with anxiety. Kuroo was still in a relationship for fuck’s sake! It didn’t matter that she was lying to him or that he clearly admitted that he wanted to break things off. It didn’t matter that you’d wanted to be with him since the day you met him at the coffee shop all those years ago or that it took everything in you not to give into your desires when you were roommates in university. The breathy exhale of your name that spills past his lips pulls you from your reverie, your eyes locking with his hazel ones.

There’s confusion and there’s guilt. There’s sadness and fear. But above all, there’s love in those shiny topaz gems that he is lucky to have as eyes. “Tetsu, you can’t do this.” The tremors in your voice give way to your own guilt. You may not have been a fan of his girlfriend, but that didn’t meant that any of this was okay. “It’s not fair.”

“You saw it yourself, she’s lying to me. She’s probably cheating on me—“

“Tetsurō, that doesn’t make it okay.” By now, you’ve resigned yourself to pushing off of his lap and creating as much distance between him and yourself as you could without outright leaving your own living room. But now that he had a taste of you, he couldn’t just let it go. No, not until he had you.

“You can’t tell me you didn’t feel it too.” That was besides the point. Of course you felt it too, you had all those years ago and still to this day. But just because you felt it, you both did, doesn’t change the reality of the situation. Just because you both were mutually pining after one another didn’t change the fact that Kuroo had made the decision to date somebody else rather than confessing his feelings to you. Not that you were any better, though you would use the excuse of defending your homeostasis as a friend group. Kuroo didn’t have that excuse when he changed the state of normalcy by attempting to bring somebody else to the front door of the home that was your friendship, yet he refused to let them in.

It wasn’t fair.

“That doesn’t make it okay,” You repeated, “and I think you should go.”

“No.” He was being stubborn now. “If it bothers you so fucking much, I’ll break up with her right now.”

“Kuroo, you have to do it because that’s what you want, not because that’s what I want.”

“So you admit that’s what you want?” Dammit, he had you there. Of course, you should be jumping for joy in this moment. But something about the way all of this started and transpired just didn’t feel right to you. Was it okay for your happiness to come at the expense of someone else? “Clearly, Nanami and I weren’t doing okay. I wouldn’t have already been thinking of breaking it off if we were.” He says again, reading the expression you didn’t even realize you were wearing. Sometimes having someone know you like every inch of his own tattooed skin was really frustrating.

“Do what you want,” you concede finally, “I’m gonna go smoke.” Pushing yourself off the couch, you grab your parka that was draped over a coat hook before slamming your front door behind you as you sat on your stoop. Flicking your lighter and setting fire to the tobacco leaves inside the tube, you could hear Kuroo on the phone on the inside. You had half a mind to start banging on your window—he was being too loud and you still had neighbors to be courteous of despite you slamming the door seconds ago. Bits and pieces of the conversation could be heard past the stone walls. Kuroo was raising his voice about the suspicious text Nanami had sent earlier, about how he knew she was lying. About how he really just didn’t give a shit about her.

Ouch.

No matter who was on the receiving end of that one, it still left you feeling the unpleasantries going on in your apartment. You’re halfway done with your cigarette when Kuroo finally joins you, his hair even more disheveled than normal. Probably from constant raking his calloused fingers through his raven locks. The guitarist takes a seat next to you on the steps leading up to your building, but remaining quiet. What was there to say in this moment? Sure, he did what you had been secretly wishing for since they started dating, but something about it all was just wrong. “She told me I was crazy for accusing her of cheating, that I was probably the one cheating.”

“Technically—“

“This isn’t the first time, [name].” All joking is out the window, and in rare occasion, Tetsurō Kuroo is serious. “She’s bailed on every single show with some stupid excuse but comes to our practices because she thinks that when we aren’t in public we’re all just having some crazy bukkake orgy.” A heavy exhale leaves his lungs as smoke billows past his lips. It isn’t often that Kuroo was the openly vulnerable one, often preferring to be the one everyone leaned on instead. It was the reason he never spoke his issues into existence, but Kuroo always gave more away in his body language than his words. “Why do you think she hated you so much?”

“To be fair, all the girlfriends hate me.”

“Because they all think that you’re just in it for dick.” A spluttered laugh merged with a cough that escaped you. Not that you were one to shy away from vulgarity, but the reasons for your existence in Elixir were vastly different than from what they thought that it was laughable. With a shake of your head, you flicked your now dead filter before lighting another one. It was a chain smoking kind of night.

“So now what?” With his free hand, Kuroo grabs one of yours, the rose and dagger tattoo on his hand catching your eyes. You always admired the artwork that littered his body; his knuckles were your favorite. Each digit held a letter of the word ‘HOMESICK’, save for the thumbs, as an homage to the way your friend group felt like home. He even said he got them for you.

“Just...let me hold you.” Kuroo’s love language, for as long as you could remember, was physical touch. Even when it was the four of you, he was touchy with the boys as well. He was never opposed to giving them hugs or even platonic kisses because he loved them. Truly, he did. With you, he had always needed to be touching you, whether it was a hand on your shoulder or the small of your back, holding onto your pinky finger with his own. Tetsu gave the best hugs.

As you crawled in between his slightly opened legs, you pressed your back into his chest while he leaned over you slightly, his warmth contradicting the bitter November cold. You realized then the dichotomy and dynamics between Kuroo’s relationships. While he was so open with your friend group, you realized you’d probably seen him kiss Teru more than his own girlfriend, even if it was platonic. Maybe it was a result of her own design, maybe she didn’t like the way stale smoke smelled on his skin and lips.

Does it even matter anymore?

You looked up at Kuroo as smoke left trickled past your lips, letting the smoke dance around his clean shaved chin. “Are we okay?” You asked quietly.

“Define ‘okay’?” He was baiting you again, trying to get you to openly speak about what was to come moving forward. Kuroo was trying to get you to define the relationship and, thankfully, you hadn’t taken the hook yet. “I spoke my piece, baby. It’s your turn.”

BONUS: texts between you and Kuroo, text from Nanami. I like including these to see if I’m capable of making an SMAU.

[ Elixir « Besitos » I Don’t Care ]

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sugarsugarmoon · 4 years

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Happy to Help

Summary: You have a terrible day, and Namjoon will do whatever he can to comfort you.

Genre: Fluff (with a hint of smut if you squint)

Word Count: 1616

a/n: I also wrote this one for @cheba-o . 4 Days of Floof is what I’m calling it. Everyone I know seemed to have a pretty bad day today...And that picture that Joon posted today got me feeling some type of way, so this got a little spicier than I planned initially.

You are already running 20 minutes late when you get outside and see the frost on the windows of your car. You throw your head back in exasperation. You forgot that December is the time of year where you need to give yourself 10 extra minutes because you have to get the remnants of the frigid weather off your car.

You don’t have any gloves, so your fingers burn like they’re on fire as you scrape away at the ice on your windshield. Of course, your 8:00 AM class is with the one professor who has an attendance policy. If you’re late again after today, she’s going to drop your grade by 10%.

Once you’re finally in your car, you drive toward the art school where you’ve been studying for the past 3 years. Your car is trying to blow hot air through the vents, but it’s the same frigid air as outside. You feel the cold stinging in your eyes, and your ears start to burn like your fingertips. “I hate winter,” you grumble to yourself.

When you finally pull into the parking lot, you park near the back of the lot since it has filled up. You started walking briskly toward the building, only focusing a little bit on the icy ground. You make it to the sidewalk and take one step before you feel your foot slip. It isn’t a sort of slip. It is a both-feet-slide-from-under-you-and-you-are-momentarily-parallel-to-the-ground kind of slip. When you land, you land hard. You hear the ice crack beneath you as your ass slams into the ground. Because you tried to catch yourself, both your wrists get pushed a little too far and cause a sharp pain in your hands and up your arms. You lie on the ground for a moment. Deciding whether or not to cry. Instead, you start laughing. Uncontrollably laughing. Shaking. Head gently rest on the icy ground.

You eventually get up and head to class. The day carries on going wrong. Your professor yells at you for being late in front of the whole class. You get blue paint on your charcoal drawing. You drop your phone and the back shatters. You accidentally send a text that you meant to send to your friend to your mom. She texts you back yelling at you for your vulgar language, and then she proceeds to tell you that you are not going to be getting together as a family for the holidays because your parents have decided to go on a “no kids” cruise. By the end of classes, you can’t wait to get home, tuck into some ice cream, and have a good cry.

Your body is still sore from the fall, and you feel the tears stinging behind your eyes. You decide to call your friend, Namjoon, because he always has the best advice. He sounds sleepy when he answers, but, when he hears your tone, he immediately invites you to his house. Well...he immediately tells you that you are coming over.

You pull up to Joon’s place, hoping that he won’t ask you to talk about it because you don’t think you can tell him without crying. You’ve always had a soft spot for Kim Namjoon. He has always looked after you and cared for you when you felt broken. He’s always given you the stern talking to you needed when you were being out of line. He’s always helped you work through fights with parents, friends, and siblings. Despite all of the help that he’s given you, he never makes you feel like a burden; he seems happy to do it.

When you knock faintly on the door, he swings it open with a smile on his face. He looks amazing in the fitted black tee that he’s wearing, and you can’t help but melt into him. You press your face into his firm, broad chest, and he throws his arms around you.

“Okay...okay. Hey it’s okay,” he mutters to you, slightly startled by the sudden contact.

As he pulls you deeper into your chest, everything from the day comes spilling out of your eyes. The tears roll down your cheeks, your shoulders shake, your chest heaves, and you cry harder than you have in a long time. You cry so much that it feels like you are never going to stop crying. You aren’t even sure that you’re crying about your bad day anymore. The tears keep flowing from your eyes, and the sobs keep flowing from your mouth.

Namjoon caresses the back of your head and lets you cry for a long time. He finally starts to get a little worried after several minutes.

“Hey. Hey. Come on now. It’ll be okay,” he says as if afraid if he speaks too loud or too harshly it will break you.

“No, it won’t,” you lament. “I’m dumb and my art isn’t that good and my parents don’t care and I hurt myself.”

You carry on sobbing. Joon bends his knees and stoops lower to look you in the eye. Your eyes are a little blurry from all the crying, but you can see the warmth and love in his gaze.

“Please don’t talk about my friend like that. What can I do to help?” he asks matter-of-factly. “Just please stop crying so hard. I’ll do whatever I can.”

You think for a second, and you realize the one thing that you want to help you feel better. The one thing that you’re worried he would say no to.

“No, it’s stupid. Nothing,” you mumble.

“No, come on, y/n. Just tell me. Is it ice cream? Because ice cream isn’t stupid.”

“No, don’t worry about it. Nothing.”

“Y/n, I’m not going to stop worrying about it until you tell me,” he says, crossing his arms and firming his stance.

“Fine,” you huff. “Would you...would you kiss me?” You glance at him, worried that maybe you crossed a line. You lower your eyes, hoping he still wants to be your friend after you said such a stupid thing.

You look up and begin to open your mouth to respond, but then Namjoon wraps his arm around your waist and pulls you toward him. You gasp in surprise as your body presses to his once again. He grabs your chin and angles your head toward him. He closes his eyes and leans in. Oh god. This is happening. You’ve wondered what it would be like to kiss his pillowy lips for years, and now he’s leaning in to you. Mayday mayday!

Then his lips are on yours. Still at first, but then you’re moving, kissing each other slowly, gradually becoming more and more fierce. The more you kiss him, the more you realize that you don’t want to do anything for the rest of your life except kiss him. You want to breathe him in, his mouth on your mouth until time stops.

Your hands move from your side to wrap around him, running your nails gently along his back. One of his hands slides from your waist to the swell of your ass. He doesn’t grab it, just rests his hand there.

He swipes his tongue across your lips, tenderly requesting access, and you let him in. At his lips’ touch, you feel yourself bloom, and you slip your tongue against his. His teeth capture your lower lip, and small moan escapes from within you. You slip your hands from his back to the hem of his shirt, alone the waistline of his pants. Your fingers ghost across his skin, and it seems to snap him out of the trance you we’re both in.

He pulls away, slightly breathless. Panting and trying to focus his eyes.

“We shouldn’t…” he says blushing and looking at the floor.

You stare at him, blinking. Unsure what exactly just happened and unsure what to say to him now.

“I would feel like I was taking advantage,” he explains. “You’re so sad and cried so hard. I wouldn’t want you to do anything just because your sad.”

“It’s not just because I’m sad!” you exclaim, eyes wide. “I want you, Joon. I really really do.”

He groans in his chest and gives you a serious look. “I’m not kidding, y/n. I’m not having sex with you today. If you still want, we can have sex tomorrow and every other day after that. But today, I just want to hold you and help you feel better.”

“Can we at least keep kissing?” you ask in a whine.

He chuckles. “Yes, in a little while. First, I want food. I can make us some pizza,” he declares confidently.

“Oh...no...how about we just Postmates something?” You say, trying not to hurt his feelings with your distrust for him in the kitchen.

He raises his eyebrow at you, but ultimately agrees. You plop down on his couch, curling your feet under you as you pull up the app on your phone. He sits next to you, snaking an arm around your waist as he leans in to see the options on your phone.

Eventually, you land in pizza from a local place. He kisses your lips a few more times before you place the order. You turn and look into his eyes, deep brown like rich earth after a rain storm, steady and embracing. You press your body against his and curl even further into his side, resting your head on his chest.

“You know, Joonie, I do feel a lot better,” you say earnestly.

He squeezes your side a little and says, “Always happy to help,” with a sly grin on his lips.

#namjoon x reader #namjoon fanfic #namjoon fluff #bts fanfic #namjoon imagine

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krissysnow · 4 years

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My thoughts on Christmas Detour

It’s that time of year again, the time I look forward to every year…Hallmark movie time! It only comes twice a year, once for Christmas in July and then again in October-December. Four months to wet my appetite for over the top holiday decorations, unlikely romance and twenty versions of Pride and Prejudice but then disappears like a mirage in the dessert as soon as January hits. Why do I love them so much? Maybe it’s the wholesomeness in a troubled duplicitous world, the reminder of a joyous time when hope and rebirth can begin in the new year, or maybe it’s because I have the same taste in movies as an 80 year old woman surrounded by her cats sipping Darjeeling tea. But I think what I really love is that they are so deliciously wrought with ridiculousness that breaking them apart adds to the joy and allows me to pretend I don’t enjoy them as much as I do and that I am a sane person and not some hopeless romantic.

So, on my very first post I am going to delve into one of my favorite Hallmark classics, that yes, does reside on my DVR and that is Christmas Detour. There are many staple Hallmark actresses and becoming the grand dame of them all is Candace Cameron Bure. She hasn’t aged since her last days as DJ Tanner and her generic approach to play every role the same invites us into each Hallmark movie because she is so familiar and we fall instantly into the new plot like putting on those Christmas pajamas we only take out once a year. In this movie she plays Paige Summerlind, a writer for a wedding magazine. Which is at least a welcome departure from the usual careers of our Hallmark heroines as party planners and interior designers. How she makes enough money to not only afford a place in LA but then also offers to buy a bridal magazine for a future bride perusing the magazine rack at the airport is beyond me but I’ll buy into it since weddings are a billion dollar industry.

We immediately get the sense of Paige’s high maintenance and lack of travel knowledge when she tries to bring her vision board on the plane as she books her seat. What is a vision board? This is equivalent to the bulletin board you had in college that took up half your wall behind your desk. However, instead of pictures of boy bands, ads for wine coolers, dated mottos and an occasional post-it of a due date from the previous semester, her vision board is filled with frilly ideas for her upcoming nuptials. Cakes, dresses, flowers, and maybe a tiny picture of her betrothed. Which brings us to a view of her fiancé, Jack Collins. We first see Jack at his parents house in what may appear to be some snooty Hampton vacation home with his uppity mother Susan and her husband Neil. Susan is more interested in her next martini than she is with her stodgy husband. I adore the actress that plays Susan (Barbara Niven) since she is also featured in many Hallmark movies as the quirky but lovely towns woman. This is such a departure that I love to see her snark and smirk and booze it up in this holiday flick. But despite the boozy mom and dad that looks like he’s walking around in overly starched undergarments Jack at first glimpse seems like a devoted fiancé. As time goes on we realize that Jack has as much personality as a salty olive floating in his mother’s afternoon martini. That probably the sharpest thing on him is his chiseled chin.

Meanwhile, at the airport and ready to take off for parts of unnamed downstate NY we are introduced to Dylan, an airport bartender that clearly didn’t get picked up for pilot season in LA and was forced to shovel salty snacks and pour weakened drinks for weary travelers. He’s on his way home to see his family after a hiatus. He drags his heels like an 8 year old going to church to board the flight and we are intrigued to find out why he would not want to visit a Hallmark haven like we have come to expect. Next up is Frank and Maxine, a 40 something couple that have been married for twenty years that have grown to have a clear distaste for each other. Hold up Hallmark, say it isn’t so, you expect us to believe a Hallmark couple has grown apart and share a life less than bliss? Have you taken a momentary lapse into the Lifetime channel?

As luck would have it, Paige and Dylan are seated together and begin the Hallmark push pull relationship of hard to get. We need to stick with the Hallmark formula of first encounters and wrong impressions and mixed messages ultimately resulting in whirlwind romances making the Bachelor reality show look like a long relationship. After trading barbs Paige puts on her ear phones to no doubt dream of her picket fence life with Chiseled Chin. Unexpectedly, a snow storm on the eastern seaboard in December (shocking) forces an emergency landing in the magical land of…Buffalo.

Now, if you’ve been to western NY, Buffalo really isn’t your Hallmark destination, and being from upstate NY myself my half frost bit ears perked up. Incidentally, Candace’s sister-in-law is from Buffalo. I know this because there was a flurry of rumor spreading through the mall I worked at in the 90’s that Candace, her brother Kurt and his girlfriend were walking through on their way to visit the girlfriend’s (now wife) family. Alas, they never visited the Limited store I worked at, they probably had enough stirrup leggings to last a lifetime. But here we are, in cold Buffalo, waiting for the weather to clear up for the planes to take off again. First of all, airports in western NY rarely close and snow doesn’t last an hour, it lasts longer than a Hallmark movie season.

Paige frantically calls Chiseled Chin to tell her of her bad luck and ever the devoted fiancé, Chiseled mentions that perhaps she should’ve checked the radar before leaving. Perhaps the rocket scientist could’ve looked out the window at his place to maybe warn her they were up to their cummerbunds in snow? Nevertheless, he warns her that she better make it in time because she would miss meeting his parents who were leaving for an extended cruise the day after Christmas. They were old fashioned after all and needed to lay eyes on their future daughter in law before the wedding in the spring. That’s some lengthy cruise that they never make landfall before May to rejoin their chiseled son and his bride. How is it that they work to maintain this lavish lifestyle? Some Bernie Madoff pyramid scheme? Just what kind of family is our Paige marrying into? Our heroine is crushed and begins to lose hope as the bitter married couple try to cheer her up.

Dylan rents the only SUV left in western NY (he’s so resourceful that Dylan) and offers to drive them all to their down state destination. It’s here we begin to see a glimpse into the lives of Frank and Maxine that have been married for 20 years. Hallmark tries to pass off this 20 year marriage as if it’s 50 years and the stuff of legends. Considering an average courtship and engagement only lasts 3 weeks in Hallmark time I guess it is an eternity. But for crying out loud, I have underwear older than dear Frank and Maxine’s marriage. We also find out that Frank and Maxine are on their way to visit their newly married daughter and husband for Christmas in what is going to become a new tradition. It’s clear Maxine is not liking venturing into the snow and cold and out of her LA comfort zone and is as resentful of her travels as she is of Frank. This is where I become confused at Hallmark’s settling on their being married 20 years. Why not 25 or 30? I’m a stickler for numbers and timing so this is where Hallmark got sloppy. Are we to believe that Frank and Maxine lived in sin with an illegitimate child before they were married, or that their daughter was married at 19 and landed in a gorgeous Long Island million dollar home as some famed rich youtuber or marrying someone older? Perhaps nailing her professor from Sarah Lawrence? I for one am still reeling from the shock of this reality.

As roads sometimes do in NY in winter, they iced up and became too much for the SUV as Dylan swerved to avoid hitting a rabbit Paige thought she saw and they crashed. Not an end up in the hospital type of crash, but a we’re conveniently stranded for the night kind of fender bender. I can’t tell you the times I drove in NY blizzards and wished that damn rabbit hadn’t jumped out right in front of me. Those NY rabbits sure love a blizzard and boy are they easy to see in snow. Looks like we’re sidelined again from getting to Chiseled Chin and Maxine and Frank’s daughter’s youtube mansion. But as luck would have it there is a quaint Christmas town somewhere between Buffalo and Albany! If this town exists in upstate NY it’s as imaginary as that rabbit. Our foursome have no choice but to hunker down in a Christmas Inn and stroll the quaint imaginary rabbit town. As they dine on stale rolls and wander the town that doesn’t seem to realize there is a blizzard going on, Dylan informs Paige he is reluctant to return home because his brother is with his once fiancé. First an illegitimate daughter and now a sibling tryst, what is Hallmark coming to? I hope there’s a music montage soon to lead us out of this sordidness.

After having to oblige by the sacrosanct rule of kissing underneath the mistletoe in a Christmas movie, Paige is starting to have feelings for our salty snack bartender and less for Chiseled Chin. She needs to get out of Christmas town before she encounters any more ill placed mistletoe. Dylan, disappointed, drives Frank and Maxine to their daughter’s youtube love nest she shares with her 65 year old Sarah Lawrence professor. Maxine gifts Dylan not only with a picture of he and Paige but an address where she will be having dinner. Once out of the car Frank takes a stand and demands Maxine either get on board with a Hallmark marriage or skirt on over to Lifetime or worse yet, TBS. Maxine appreciating Frank’s boldness agrees and takes the luggage up to whatever hell awaits in the youtube illegitimate daughter’s love nest.

Meanwhile, Paige finally meets her boozy starchy future inlaws. Boozy immediately insults her off the rack dress that in reality probably set the costume department back a half a Hallmark store. Boozy and Starchy have plans for the wedding that Paige is not digging. She clearly has her dream wedding as depicted on her vision board. She should roll it out with the martinis and see if it flies. Where is that vision board? Chiseled can’t understand Paige’s reluctance to go along with the Hampton wedding plan and is beginning to wonder if he picked the right woman to share his Hampton beach life. He asks her to make sure she is prompt as she is to change into yet another cocktail dress to go to dinner at the club. Why does she need to change out of one four thousand dollar dress for another? Is half a Hallmark store frock not good enough?

Dylan finally makes his way to his hometown and goes to the door of his house where he is greeted by his mother. A woman probably only three years older than the actor portraying Dylan. Are they against employing older actresses or does Hallmark just have a really good botox plan? Everyone always looks the same age. Before coming to the door we are treated with a treasure trove of Hallmark products strategically placed, all getting their own close up. If only I could have the item numbers displayed as well, my house could look like Rudolph took a crap of merriment in my house! But alas, this movie was made in 2015 so it I’ll have to be on the lookout on Ebay. Looks like casting goofed again when we are introduced to Dylan’s brother and fiancé. Dylan’s brother is about half his height and a few inches shorter than the fiancé the brothers fought over. And she’s no Lacey Chabert either, they could’ve found a more beguiling actress or at least put her in flats. Dylan asks mini to join him to get things out of the car. Dylan offered his congratulations as the brother finds the forgotten vision board. After seeing the vision board and the not so desirable fiancé, Dylan knows what he has to do.

At the club Paige helps herself to a hot roll and notes how fresh it was unlike the stale roll Dylan had the previous night. Ugh, how uncouth, she touched the roll. Where is the waiter to place it on her plate with gold tongs only fit for such wonderous pastry? This Paige is trash. Boozy offers to have her dress made by none other than famous wedding savant David Tutera. But Paige has no idea who he is. Wow, Paige is looking ditsy too. She works in the wedding industry but knows nothing about David Tutera? I guess his show didn’t appear on Hallmark so we’ll forgive her. Maybe she blew some neurons trying to squeeze into her second cocktail dress. Boozy warns her about picking a dress that doesn’t make her look too busty. Paige looks down as if to see her bosom overflowing in her second cocktail dress. Now Candace is pretty fit and I’d like to have that rocking bod but busty has never been synonymous with DJ Tanner. Oh thank goodness, here comes Dylan to make an awkward moment even worse by dragging that dumb ass vision board with him. Paige seeing the picture of them together on the hideous vision board makes her realize it wasn’t the wedding she was after it was the happily ever after. Seeing she couldn’t make that happen with Chiseled Chin she hands back the ring and goes after Dylan, leaving Boozy, Chiseled and Starchy to gawk at that eye sore of a vision board. Classy.

Dylan and Paige arrive at his mother’s house. Hopefully, Paige was able to pick up her luggage at the mansion to avoid any awkward moments. I’m sure the help lowered their music and stopped their celebrating while Boozy was out of the house to hand Paige her Walmart luggage. Our last scene has our couple entering the house that Christmas threw up in to meet the cougar mom, mini and his dowdy fiancé to settle in for a Hallmark tradition. I’m glad they had those two days to really get to know each other, probably a day longer than Frank and Maxine had and they made it twenty years.

#hallmark #christmas detour #candace cameron bure #holiday #christmas #winter #buffalo #ny #snow #hallmarkmovies #when calls the heart #myfirstpostbenice full house dj tanner

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saiilorstars · 4 years

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Star-Crossed

Previous Story || Current Masterlist

Chapter 1: A Different Christmas

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 10th Doctor x Female OC

(Minerva’s face claim: Victoria Camacho)

(Kaeya’s face claim: Michelle Trachtenberg)

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Story Summary: Minerva & the Doctor are now together and ready for their next set of adventures with Donna Noble! However, things get complicated when secrets of Minerva's family are revealed and Minerva is forced into a certain process. How will Minerva & the Doctor react when they figure out the ultimate secret of the Moontsays? What will Minerva become in the end? *Second in the Monsoon Seasons*

Chapter summary: It’s Christmas on the Titanic, the perfect setting for Minerva’s and the Doctor’s first date..until there’s a count-down for the ship to crash land on Earth.

Author's Note: For those who have read the last story, this story will no longer follow Minerva's POV and will have certain scenes without Minerva and the Doctor that I deem important to the story.

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Minerva and the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, wanting to clarify where the hell they had landed in. Minerva was actually a bit nervous due to the name Titanic being scrawled over the life preserver. That name hadn't led to good events...

The pair stepped out into a supply closet, the Doctor closing the door of the TARDIS, wiping his hands and taking Minerva's to lead them out. He wasn't quite used to holding her hand so openly and so he hoped he wasn't pushing her or making her a tad uncomfortable. But as they entered a new room decorated for Christmas with crowded people dressed for a fancy occasion, Minerva gasped at the sight and pulled him by their interlaced hands to a window. .

She didn't mind one bit.

"This is outer space!" she exclaimed, blinking as she looked out the window.

"Right..." the Doctor mumbled as he took a turn at the window.

"Attention all passengers. The Titanic is now in orbit above Sol 3, also known as Earth. Population: Human."

~0~

Minerva fixed the last of her dress before stepping inside the console room, about to call she was done when she heard the low grumbles of the Doctor. The Martian stood with his back to her, beside the console, his arms seeming to be fixing something on his front.

"Anything the matter?" she asked shyly as she made her way over.

The Doctor turned around, gesturing to his undone bowtie, "I don't like them," he declared, about to make a whole lecture on why he would never ever wear a bow tie despite what she had once told him about his future self...until he really saw Minerva.

Minerva noticed his look lingering on her and shifted nervously, tugging on a side of her dress, "Martha usually helped me fix myself for you," she began her excuse over her appearance, "She was the eyes behind my back," she tried looking over her shoulder for any flaw she could've missed.

"No, you look...wow," the Doctor whispered, his eyes trailing her over.

Minerva wore a laced black dress with three-three-quarter sleeves. The dress went above her ankles and was quite simple in reality. There was a lace cover, nearly like a sheath, that formed a deep V-neckline while the dress's under layer covered her chest. She accompanied the dress with beige stilettos. Her hair was left down, only two braids connecting in the back with a beige ribbon tied as a bow.

"Thank you," Minerva mumbled, her face flushed, "Do you need help with that?" she pointed to the Doctor's unfinished bow tie.

"Uh, yes," he blinked, remembering how uncomfortable Minerva had been when that Zian had trailed her with his eyes. He most definitely did not want to make her feel like that again.

"It's your unlucky suit," she remarked, a playful hint in her tone.

"Yeah, I'm really hoping we can break that cycle this time round."

"Perhaps we can, you look really good," she said shyly, focusing on his bowtie, "It's funny, you know," she started speaking again, her face refusing to be any other color than red, "I would think you'd be good at tying your own ties, even if they were bow ties."

"I'm a bit nervous," he confessed.

"Of what?"

"Us...this ship...but mostly us."

"Well I'm not gonna bite, if that's what you're worried over."

"You wouldn't hurt a fly."

"I don't know, maybe if I get really crossed I may get a fly swatter," she playfully warned and earned a laugh.

~0~

The pair walked through the reception room of the ship, hand in hand, both studying the surroundings. There was a band ahead, playing 'Winter Wonderland'.

"Merry Christmas, sir, ma'am," a steward passed by.

"Merry Christmas!" Minerva exclaimed after him, the feeling of Christmas doing really well for her after such a horrible year...even if it never technically happened.

They walked into the room from earlier, where people were mingling about while waiters served and the band played. They passed a rather loud man, Rickston Slade, who was talking into a mobile, "It's not a holiday for me, not while I've still got my vone. Now do as I say and sell."

"That's not very nice," Minerva watched the man go, "...just like mom and dad."

"C'mon," the Doctor tugged her into a different direction, any thoughts of her parents would make her upset and that is something he would not stand for anymore. They approached a robot, golden angel dressed in a white robe with a halo, "Evening. Passenger 57. Terrible memory. Remind me. Uh, you would be..."

"Information: Heavenly Host supplying tourist information."

"Good, so, um... tell me - 'cause I'm an idiot - where are we from?"

Minerva giggled, covering her mouth so she wouldn't interfere.

"Information: the Titanic is en route from the planet Sto in the Cassavalian Belt. The purpose of the cruise is to experience primitive cultures.

Minerva cleared her throat, finishing up her giggle, this being a serious matter to her, "So the 'Titanic', huh...who exactly thought of that name?"

"Information: it was chosen as the most famous vessel of the planet Earth."

"Did they tell them why?"

"Information: all designations are chosen by Mr Max Capricorn, president of Max - Max - Max..." the Host started malfunctioning, repeating its last words until its voice became higher in pitch.

"Ooh, bit of a glitch," the Doctor reached into his pocket for the screwdriver.

A chief steward hurried over to the pair, "Sir, ma'am, we can handle this," he waved for assistance and two more stewards arrived to take the Host away, "Software problem, that's all. Leave it with us, sir. Merry Christmas," he followed the other two employees, "That's another one down. What's going on with these things?"

"Hm, see this is why ships aren't called the Titanic anymore...they start malfunctioning..." Minerva shook her head, stopping when she noticed the Doctor looking at her with a fond smile, "...what?"

"You're really adorable, do you know that?"

"...my grandparents used to tell me that," she shrugged, her cheeks turning to a pink tinge, "Plus uncle Aaron."

"Would you care for a dance?" he stepped up to her, one hand behind his back and the other offering to her.

"You know how to dance now?"

"I always danced for you, to make you feel better," he took her hand, "Now I do it because it's our date, our first date."

"Oooh, I like the sound of that," she immediately grinned.

"So do I," he led her over to the dance floor where several couples were dancing.

They positioned themselves as usual and started to dance, the Doctor actually doing a decent job. Perhaps John Smith had seeped a little through him.

He dipped Minerva, grinning proudly at the fact she was blushing deep red again, "You know, I should've done this the last couple of times we've danced..."

"Done what?" she whispered.

He raised his eyebrows, his playful grin fading as he pressed his lips to hers. He slowly brought them back up from the dip without breaking their kiss.

Before Minerva felt herself get really lost into the kiss, she pulled away, feeling so hazy, "Wow...yeah, that would've been nice."

"My beautiful complexion," he reminded, thinking of the 1950's and even the guinguette.

"Ugly complexion," she corrected sadly.

"Nah, I see beauty both inside and out. And your complexion has made you stronger, cliche or not."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Well, you're certainly complex...and...very good looking," she breathed, her blush deepening, "Has it made you stronger?"

"Fair game, Clever Girl," he conceded, "But...maybe not stronger, but it's definitely added perspective to my life. I've lost so much and it's made me realize that I can't waste time. I may have all the time in the world but it's nothing if I'm gonna be alone for it."

"I'm here, and I can promise you I will always try to be there...for as long as I can."

He smiled, however a sad one. Time would be a mighty strong issue for them...but he didn't want to think about it, at least not right now. Not when, after such a horrible, dark year had passed, or technically hadn't, there was finally something, someone, that made it all better.

"Doctor, I know this is off topic and all...but I just have to ask," Minerva bit her lip, hoping she wouldn't ruin this date...and potentially her relationship.

"Ask away," he grinned.

"You're really going to help Kaeya, right?"

His grin faded and he looked down at her, "Why are you asking me that?"

"Because I want to make it clear that I won't stand in the way or make one of those jealous girlfriend scenes if you're going to help her. I don't want you to go back on your word just for me. I want to help her too."

"I'm going to help her, I promise," he nodded.

"And...if you still have lingering feelings for her, well...it may be best to get that out in the open."

"Are you doubting my feelings for you?" he stepped back, ending their dance for the moment.

"It's not doubt," she continued with nervousness, "I know you feel something for me but put yourself in my shoes. I spent a year thinking, debating what your feelings were for me...what they were for Rose and Kaeya. I just want you to be sure of yourself because when Kaeya comes back, she's gonna want to be with you and I don't want my heart broken...I don't think I deserve that."

He sighed deeply, understanding Minerva's feelings. He beat himself up for all the pain he caused her throughout the last year, and even the year before where he practically ignored her. She didn't have an easy life and looking at it now he made it even more complicated. He added death threats, confusion, emotional pain; that was all him. But he knew, he was sure of what he wanted. He wanted...Minerva. Kaeya, she was still apparently the woman he met centuries ago, only sick, and what they had was something he would never forget. She was his first love and sure, it may not be entirely erased but it wasn't like he loved her anymore. He had a soft spot for her, but he wanted Minerva. Even before thinking of Kaeya he felt more inclined to Minerva, especially after 1913. He didn't want to leave her side, he wanted to make sure she was always alright, and most certainly happy. But beyond that, he wanted to be with her at all times.

When Kaeya returned, he would help her, but that would be it. He would still be friends but...that was all he could offer.

He reached for Minerva's hand, reconnecting them for their dance, "I know it's hard to trust me and my feelings, I get it. But I want you, no, I need you, to understand who I choose. Without realizing it, my hearts had already chosen you...my mind was just a bit slower."

"Twenty-six more brains than I and you're slower?"

"When it's about you then yes," he nodded, "But listen to me, I won't ever break your heart. Because if I do, I will personally throw myself into a black hole."

"It's me, then?" she asked meekly, "You chose me?"

"You're clever, listen to my words carefully," he pressed his forehead onto hers.

"And when Kaeya returns?"

"She'll receive our help and I'll set things straight."

"What if she's not happy? I wouldn't be..."

"There's not much I'd be able to do for her then," he shrugged.

"I'm really glad to hear all this," she admitted, nervously smiling, "You pick me..."

He cupped her face and smiled, "Of course I pick you, Clever Girl," he gave her a kiss to prove his words had been real.

~0~

A young blonde waitress, Astrid, accidentally bumped into Rickston Slade, and dropped her tray of drinks.

"For Tov's sake, look where you're going! This jacket's a genuine Earth antique," Rickston growled, looking down at his wet shirt.

"I'm sorry, sir," Astrid got down to pick up the shards of broken glass from the floor.

"You'll be sorry when it comes off your wages, sweetheart. Staffed by idiots. No wonder Max Capricorn is going down the drain."

"Hey, that's no way to speak someone," Minerva walked over, the man almost scoffing there was a second woman trying to annoy him, "It's Christmas."

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded, "The woman dropped her drinks on me!"

"It was an accident. And my name is Minerva, you don't have to take that tone with me," she crossed her arms, "You do better if you speak in a proper manner."

"I am one of the most important people you'll ever meet, sweetheart," he sneered, "And you would do best to shut the hell up!" Minerva flinched at his high voice, "Do you know who I am?"

"No, but do you wanna know who I am?" the Doctor cut in angrily, walking in front of Minerva, "I'm gonna be the one to shut you up if you talk to my girlfriend like that again. Now vamoose."

"But she's the one that-"

"I said leave," the Doctor stepped up, gritting his teeth. He was not gonna let some snooty humanoid alien yell at his Clever Girl. He knew she was more than capable of defending herself, seeing as she had spent so much time being on her own, but now he was her boyfriend and he would defend her from people like that man.

Rickston huffed and walked off, giving Minerva a nasty glare.

The Doctor watched the man go, turning around only when he was sure Rickston was truly gone, "Minerva?" she gave him a hug, nodding her thanks, "Miss?" he looked at the waitress who quickly met his gaze at his call.

"Thank you both," Astrid said, "I didn't mean to cause trouble, honest. I was walking and I tripped, and..." she sighed, this would certainly put a dent in her job duration.

"It's alright, it wasn't your fault," Minerva let go of the Doctor and helped her pick up the remaining glass from the floor.

"Oh n-no, no, this is my job," Astrid tried to shoo Minerva's hands away.

"Please, if I didn't let the maids at my house serve me, what makes you think I'm gonna allow it now?" Minerva shook her head, smiling at the thought of her actually letting someone serve her, "I don't think so!" she set the last of the glass on the tray and stood up, Astrid following.

"That's quite a change from all the passengers I've served," Astrid confessed, sheepishly.

"You'll come to realize my girlfriend is not like anyone else you've met," the Doctor announced, rather proudly as he wound an arm around Minerva's waist. He wasted time in realizing that as well, he would make everyone see it on the first spot.

"I see that," Astrid nodded, seeing Minerva blush at the remarks.

"I'm the Doctor," he held out his free hand for the blonde.

"Astrid Peth," she shook his hand.

"Minerva Souza," the brunette held her hand out as well, Astrid nodding and shaking it next, "Merry Christmas, by the way. Hope someone's told you that before us."

Astrid chuckled at the nonsense, "No, no one ever really does."

"Well, here's a second time around, Merry Christmas."

"Thank you ma'am."

"Oh please don't," Minerva shook her head, glancing up at the Doctor, "Ma'am makes me feel old."

"That's how I feel when they call me 'sir'," he grimaced.

"You enjoying the cruise?" Astrid asked the two.

"We think it's lovely," Minerva replied, glancing around, "I've never actually been on a cruise. And it's a shame cause if it ever drowned, I would be the first to survive."

The Doctor chuckled, "Cause that doesn't sound conceited!"

"What? It's not my fault I'm a good swimmer! Coach said I could've made to the Olympics if I wanted."

"You had a coach?"

"Yeah, that was the one good thing my parents did for me. They let me take swimming classes. I was really good!"

Astrid glanced from one to another, highly amused at their lack of attention span. They acted like she wasn't currently there and not in a bad way either. They seemed so focused on each other, so...inclined to each other.

"I'd like to see you then," the Doctor nudged her, "The TARDIS sure won't hide the swimming pool from you."

"She's angry with you, you shouldn't hit her with a hammer," Minerva rolled her eyes, by chance seeing Astrid again and remembering where they currently stood, "Oh, I am so sorry Astrid! We didn't mean to ignore you, really, we're sorry." She never wanted to make anyone feel like they've been ignored, and Astrid seemed so nice that she was most definitely on that list.

"No worries, maa..." she paused as Minerva gave her a sharp look, reminding her of the name she was supposed to use, "...Minerva. No worries, Minerva."

Minerva nodded, "So are you liking the cruise? If I do remember the lessons," she glanced at the Doctor, recalling his many lessons of the great outerspace, "Planet Sto is quite far from Earth."

"Oh, it doesn't feel that different. I spent three years working at the spaceport diner, traveled all the way here...and I'm still waiting on tables," Astrid gestured to her tray and walked away, stopping by a table near a window.

"No shore leave?" the Doctor asked, the pair following her.

"We're not allowed. They can't afford the insurance. I just wanted to try it, just once. I used to watch the ships heading off to the stars and I always dreamt of...It sounds daft."

"Believe me, I've always dreamt of traveling the world. One could say I'm making it..." Minerva smiled, resting her head on the Doctor's arm.

"You dreamt of another sky. New sun, new air, new life. A whole universe teeming with life. Why stand still when there's all that life out there?" the Doctor smiled, bringing the brunette closer to him, both thinking the same way of their travels, of their lives.

"So...I take it you two travel a lot, then?" Astrid guessed with full certainty it was that way.

"All the time. Just for fun," Minerva replied.

"Well, that's the plan. Never quite works..." the Doctor sighed.

"Must be rich, though," Astrid said.

"Haven't got a penny," the Doctor whispered, Astrid's eyes widening, "But she's loaded," he nodded to Minerva.

"I'm not 'loaded'," Minerva crossed her arms, "My parents do have a good economical status...but that's them. I'm just Minerva, the stowaway."

Both smiled at each other, Astrid standing there awkwardly until they finished up their little moment, "How did you get on board?" she asked. She knew there was tons of security around the ship. How did those two manage to sneak in?

"Accident. We've got this, sort of, ship thing. I was just rebuilding her. Left the defenses down, bumped into the Titanic. Here we are. Bit of a party, I thought "Why not have a first date here?" the Doctor smiled at Minerva.

"I should report you two," Astrid looked between them, the thought never crossing her mind.

"Go ahead and try," Minerva smirked, knowing she wouldn't do it.

"I'll get you a drink..." she declared instead, leaning forwards and whispering, "...on the house," and she walked off.

"She seems lovely," Minerva remarked and turned to the Doctor, "And thank you, by the way."

"For what?" he frowned, what had he done now?

"For defending me against that snooty man," she reminded, "It was awfully nice hearing you say 'girlfriend' several times."

"Well that's what you are to me," he stepped closer, "Um...I mean...if you'd like to be..." it had occurred to him that while they did establish a relationship, he hadn't technically asked her if she wanted to be called his girlfriend.

She leaned up, only having to do it slightly with the heels she was wearing, and pecked his lips, "I think it's fantastic. I've got a boyfriend for the first time in my life."

"First kiss, first boyfriend..." the Doctor beamed, "...I'm off to a good start!"

"Wonder what else you might be the first of..." she smirked and winked, walking off.

It took the Doctor several minutes to realize her implication and when the light bulb went on...he blushed like a tomato!

~0~

Morvin and Foon Van Hoff sat at their table, trying to ignore a group of first-class passengers on the next table who were laughing and pointing at them due to their dress attire. It wasn't their fault they had fallen for a trick that said they had to use country-western outfits.

"Just ignore 'em," Movrin said to his wife.

"What's going on with them?" Minerva plopped herself on the chair beside Morvin, the Doctor sitting beside her.

"Yeah, something's tickled them," the Doctor agreed.

"They told us it was fancy dress. Very funny, I'm sure," Foon rolled her eyes.

"They're just pickin' on us because we haven't paid. We won our tickets in a competition," Morvin explained.

"I had to name the five husbands of Joofie Crystalle in "By the Light of the Asteroid". Did you ever watch..."

"Is that the one with the twins?" the Doctor asked.

"That's it. Oh, it's marvelous," Foon laughed.

"Probably not good enough for that lot," Morvin sighed, motioning to the laughing crowd, "They think we should be in steerage."

"Well, that's not nice," Minerva glanced back at the passengers.

"Certainly can't have that," the Doctor reached into his pocket, Minerva smirking when she realized. He held the sonic at his side and aimed it behind him. The champagne of the passenger's table popped its cork and sprayed them all.

"Did-did you do that?" Foon asked the Doctor, blinking as she looked from him to the passengers.

"Maybe," he shrugged and put away his screwdriver.

"Oh, we like you," she said.

"That makes three," Minerva sighed with content. He beamed and pecked her lips.

"I'm Morvin van Hoff," the man reached and shook the Doctor's hand, "This is my good woman, Foon," he gestured to his wife as he moved on to shake Minerva's hand.

"Foon. Hello, I'm the Doctor," he shook her hand, "This is my lovely girlfriend." Oh yes, he will definitely love saying that from now on. "Minerva Souza."

"Nice to meet you," Minerva shook Foon's hand.

"Pretty little thing," Foon smiled, "Although you could use some more meat on you, have a buffalo wing."

Minerva chuckled, "No thank you."

"Attention please. Shore leave tickets Red 6-7 now activated. Red 6-7," a man's voice called from a distance.

Foon took out a ticket, "Red 6-7. That's us," she stood up followed by Morvin, "Are you Red 6-7?"

"Oooh, can we?" Minerva looked at the Doctor.

"This whole not able to deny you anything is gonna get me into trouble, I can see it," he shook his head, yet smiled nonetheless at her beam, "C'mon!"

"Come on," Morvin put an arm around Foon, "We're going to Earth."

"Heeey..." Minerva's head lulled to the Doctor's, her eyes sparking with an idea, "...want to add a third person to this trip?"

"Who?" the Doctor looked around, they didn't quite know anyone around the ship.

"I've got you that drink," Astrid showed up with two glasses for the pair.

"Oooh," the Doctor nodded with realization, "Oh yeah, sure!"

Minerva clapped her hands excitedly, "We've got a treat for you!" she announced to the blonde, taking her tray and setting it on the table, "Starts with 'Planet' and ends with 'Earth'," she linked arms with Astrid and walked away, the Doctor following behind.

"Red 6-7 departing shortly," Mr. Copper announced as a crowd of passengers gathered around him.

"Red 6-7 plus two," the Doctor held up his psychic paper.

"Uh, quickly, sir, and please take two teleport bracelets if you would," he passed out three of the bracelets to them.

"But I'll get the sack," Astrid whispered to the pair.

"Brand new sky," Minerva said, handing her the bracelet.

"To repeat, I am Mr Copper, the ship's historian, and I shall be taking you to old London town in the country of U.K. ruled over by good King Wenceslas. Now human beings worshiped the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve the people of U.K. go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner... like savages."

Minerva raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me? I don't eat turkey for Christmas...much less Turkey people."

"Excuse me, sorry, sorry, but, um...where did you get all this from?" the Doctor asked, making a face at that 'history'.

"Well, I have a first class degree in Earthonomics. Now stand by..."

"I smell bullshit," Minerva mumbled.

"Language," the Doctor gave her a sharp look.

She leaned up and gently kissed him, "I think you'll come to realize I can say what I want."

"Sure," he whispered, wishing she'd give him another as proof of that.

She chuckled, "Men."

"And me! And me! Red 6-7!" a high pitched voice rang through the crowd, a small red-skinned with short spikes on its head alien pushed its way through the crowd.

"Well, take a bracelet, sir?" Mr. Copper handed a bracelet to the alien.

"That won't be good," Minerva's eyes widened.

"Uh, but, um, hold on, hold on. What was your name?" the Doctor was mildly concerned for the alien's fate if seen by the humans.

"Bannakaffalatta."

"OK, Bannakaffalatta. But it's Christmas Eve down there. Late-night shopping, tons of people. He's like a walking conker. No offence, but you'll cause a riot 'cause the streets are going to be packed with shoppers and parties..."

...but they were beamed down to the Earth.

The group arrived on an empty, London street in the dark night.

"Huh..." Minerva looked around, confused by the solidarity of the streets.

"Now, spending money," Mr. Copper turned to the group, "I have a credit card in Earth currency if you want to by trinkets or, uh, stockings or the local delicacy, which is known as "beef" but don't stray too far, it could be dangerous. Any day now they start boxing."

"That is seriously wrong," Minerva crossed her arms, noticing the Doctor still looking around, poor thing confused of the loneliness of the streets.

"It should be full. It should be busy. Something's wrong."

Astrid, meanwhile, looked around in awe, "But it's beautiful."

"Well this is just a street," Minerva shrugged, "Quite deserted by the looks of it..." she mumbled the last part.

"But it's a different planet. I'm standing on a different planet. Th-there's concrete...and shops, alien shops, real alien shops! Look, no stars in the sky. And it smells. It stinks!" Astrid gasped, "This is amazing! Thank you!" she hugged Minerva.

"Well technically, you're the alien here," Minerva pulled away.

"You're human?" Astrid blinked, stunned at the fact, "Proper human?"

"Yeah, I just happen to be with an alien who snuck us in."

"Amazing! Can we go to the alien shop? Er, I mean shop?"

"Well, I guess we could take a look," Minerva tugged on the Doctor's hand, "Unless you want to keep looking at the solitude."

'I'd rather look at you," he admitted without thinking, immediately blushing when he realized what he said.

"Oh, I like that," she chuckled, swinging their locked hands as they led Astrid to a newsstand across the street.

"Hello there! Sorry, uh, obvious question, but where's everybody gone?" the Doctor asked the elderly man of the stand, all bundled up with winter clothes.

"Oh-ho, scared!"

"Right, yes. Scared of what?"

"Where have you been living? London at Christmas? Not safe, is it?"

"Why?"

"Well, it's them, up above," the man pointed up to the sky, "Look, Christmas before last we had that big bloody spaceship, everyone standing on a roof," he pointed at the small TV that was showing a clip, "And then last year, that Christmas Star electrocuting all over the place, draining the Thames."

"This place is amazing," Astrid sighed in content.

"And this year, Lord knows what. So everybody's scarpered, gone to the country. All except me...and Her Majesty," the man stood up proudly and looked at the TV.

Her Majesty the Queen has confirmed that she will be staying in Buckingham Palace throughout the festive season to show the people of London, and the world, that there's nothing to fear.

"God bless her!" the man saluted, "We stand vigil."

"Well, between you and me, I think her Majesty's got it right. Far as I know, this year, nothing to worry about," the Doctor declared.

"Cause this time the man responsible is on a date," giggled Minerva.

"Oh ha ha," the Doctor rolled his eyes, "You know, you've been involved in all-"

But the trio were teleported back to the ship, leaving the newsstand man gaping at their disappearance, "Then again..." he slumped back to his seat.

"...the events too, Minerva," the Doctor finished now in the ship again, "Oi, I was in mid-sentence," he said to Mr. Copper.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that. A bit of a problem. If I could have your bracelets..." Mr. Copper reached for them.

A chief steward joined them, "Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, Bannakaffalatta, we seem to have suffered a slight power fluctuation. If you'd like to return to the festivities. And on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners, free drinks will be provided."

The group then started disbanding.

"That was the best, the best!" Astrid gave another hug to Minerva before she returned to her work.

The Doctor walked over to the chief steward, Minerva following, "What sort of power fluctuation?"

But the chief steward walked away.

"Oh you know there's something wrong," Minerva crossed her arms.

~0~

Midshipman Frame was watching the meteoroids in the ship's bridge, "That's a bit odd, sir, the meteoroids are changing course. Still, we can put the shields up to maximum just in case."

"As you were, Midshipman," the captain instructed.

Midshipman Frame looked over and saw the captain pushing buttons on an instrument panel, "Sir? You're magnetizing the hull, sir. It's drawing the meteors in."

"Port turning Earthside."

"I take it that's deliberate..." Midshipman Frame frowned.

"Port turning Earthside."

"Bit of a light show for the guests?" he tried, none of it making sense, but still...

"Something like that," the captain mumbled, continuing his work.

~0~

Back in the reception room, everyone was having a dandy time. The Van Hoff's were eating at their table, Rickstone Slade was winning at roulette, Bannakaffalatta was dancinng and Astrid was busy serving, flashing smiles to the Doctor and Minerva.

The Doctor put on his glasses and took out his screwdriver to use on the frame. Minerva joined him, a drink in her hand, "You know now that we're together I can say this freely," she began to say and he looked up at her, "You look adorable in those glasses."

He beamed, "Oh really? I thought you weren't a fan of them."

"I like geeks," she grinned, recalling Martha's words, "And I like you and all your weird traits. Hm, attraction between geeks really is very weird."

"I don't think you're a geek," he leaned over to kiss her, cupping her cheek as he pulled away, "You're just clever. And I love it."

She blushed, "I like you too."

"The fastest, the furthest, the best...my name is Max."

The Doctor returned to work on the frame, finally opening it only a few seconds later. He changed a few of the settings until the screen showed the Titanic and its surrounding, "Oh no..." his eyes widened, the shields had been turned down!

"What? What is it?" Minerva asked, leaning forwards to get a better viewer.

He ignored her and ran to the window, seeing the meteors approaching. He glanced back at Minerva, his hearts beating in concern...for her.

~0~

Back in the ship's main bridge, a communications whistle sounded, followed by the Doctor's voice, "Is that the bridge? I need to talk to the captain. You've got a meteoroid storm coming in West 0 by North 2."

"Who is this?" the captain asked.

"Never mind that. Your shields are down. Check your scanners, Captain. You've got meteoroids coming in and now shielding!"

"You have no authorization. You will clear the comms at once."

~0~

"Yeah? Just look starboard!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Doctor!" Minerva's voice made him turn around, watching her being "escorted" by two stewards. She had been left with the task of keeping watch...and that hadn't gone so well.

"You let her go right now!" the Doctor left the comms and stormed for them.

"Come with us, sir," the steward took him into custody as well.

~0~

"But he's right, sir. The shields have been taken offline," Midshipman Frame went to an instrument panel.

"Step away from there," the captain ordered.

"But we have to re-energize them."

"I said step away, Midshipman."

Midshipman Frame looked up to see the captain aiming a gun at him.

~0~

"You've gotta listen!" Minerva struggled with the steward's grasp as she and the Doctor were hauled through the reception room.

"You've got a rock storm heading for this ship and the shields are down!" the Martian argued.

~0~

"They promised me old men," the captain explained to the Midshipman.

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"On the crew. Sea dogs, men who'd had their time. Not boys."

~0~

The Doctor managed to break free from the stewards, forcing himself to leave Minerva for a couple seconds so he could warn the other passengers. He ran up to the stage where the band was playing, "Everyone, listen to me! This is an emergency! Get to the lifeb -" a Host covered his mouth and pulled him away.

"Let us go!" Minerva tried kicking but in vain.

~0~

"I'm sorry, sir. It's my duty!" Midshipman Frame reached for the panel when the captain fired at him.

~0~

The Doctor and Minerva were taken out of the room, the stewards having to use more force on the Doctor than the brunette, "Look out the windows!" the Doctor shouted to a group where Rickston was present in.

Astrid, Rickston, and the Van Hoffs slowly made their way to the windows. Even Bannakaffalatta excused himself from a conversation to go and see, "Them, friends," he went over to the windows.

Rickston's eyes widened when he saw the meteoroids growing closer.

"If you don't believe me, check the shields yourself!" the Doctor continued to shout.

"Sir, I can vouch for him!" Astrid started following them.

"Look, Steward, he's just had a bit too much to drink," Morvin tried, also following.

"Sir, something seems to have gone wrong. All the teleports are down," Mr. Copper joined in.

"Now now!" the chief steward waved them off.

~ 0 ~

Back with Rickston, he stepped back as a small rock broke through a window and landed in front of his feet.

"Oxygen membrane holding. Oxygen membrane holding."

Rickston turned to a Host nearby, "You there. Has anyone checked the external shielding?"

"Information: you are all going to die."

He ran over to a steward, "Where's the Chief Steward?"

"That way, sir."

~0~

The chief steward was taking the Doctor and Minerva down the maintenance corridors, Astrid, Mr. Copper, Bannakaffalatta and the Van Hoffs following after them.

"The shields are down, we are going to get hit!" the Doctor frantically insisted.

Not only were they about to be hit, but he had just promised Minerva that nothing would hurt her...and yet here they were.

Why would he ever think a date on a Titanic would be a good idea?

~0~

Midshipman Frame laid on the floor with a gunshot on his abdomen, "You're going to kill us."

"I'm dying already. Six months. And they offered me so much money... for my family," the captain explained.

~0~

Rickston had caught up with the others in the maintenance corridors, demanding from the steward, "Oi! Steward! I'm telling you the shields are down!"

"Listen to him! Listen to him!" the Doctor said.

~0~

The captain remained at the wheel...

"Red Alert. Red Alert."

~0~

Outside the ship, the meteoroids were heading straight for them...

~0~

The meteoroids struck the side of the ship, everyone inside thrown onto the floor.

~0~

Hosts lined up in front of employees...ready to kill.

~0~

Minerva banged straight onto a wall, her head making the first, and possibly the worst, contact, "Ow!"

"I've got you!" the Doctor pulled her to him as soon as he could reach for her, "It's okay..."

...he didn't really know if it was okay.

The panels were becoming undone and falling down, possibly hurting the others. But it was finally coming to a slow halt, the Doctor the first to get up with Minerva at his side, "It's stopping..." he looked around, hearing the ship groan a bit as it finally did stop.

"I rest my case about the Titanic," Minerva mumbled, her head pounding.

"Are you okay?" the Doctor checked her, seeing the bow on her hair tainted at its edges with red. He quickly checked her head, finding a cut that didn't look too bad, but yet...

...there was a cut...with a blood...on his date...his girlfriend...

"It's just a small cut," she sensed his oncoming guilt. She reached for her bow and tugged it off, seeing the red blotches on it, "Nothing to worry about."

"But you're..."

"Okay," she smiled up at him, "There's more people to worry about right now."

He sighed, "This is a really bad name for a ship..." then he glanced at his suit and frowned, "Either that or this suit is really unlucky."

"Still look amazing in it though," Minerva mumbled, thinking she hadn't been heard.

He had to smirk, "Well..." he cleared his throat, "Is everyone else alright?" he moved over to a steward who laid on the floor and checked his vitals, "He's dead."

The chief steward stood and walked up to the surviving group, "Ev-everyone... Ladies and gentlemen, Bannakaffalatta, I must apologize on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners. We seem to have had a small collision."

The Doctor walked over to a comms panel.

"Small?" Morvin scoffed, the whole ship had been blasted and this was small?

"You know how much I paid for my ticket?" Rickston demanded.

"Does this really come to money?" Minerva frowned, disgusted at the fact that was all he cared for.

"If I could have silence, ladies, gentlemen..." the steward tried again.

"Again, who the hell are you!?" Rickston demanded.

"I am gonna be the first human to knock you out."

"If I could have silence, ladies, gentlemen..." But the rest of group, save Minerva and the Doctor, started arguing, "Quiet!" he shouted and they stopped, "Thank you. I-I'm sure Max Capricorn Cruiseliners will be able to reimburse you for any inconvenience. But first I would point out that we are very much alive."

"Are you all right?" Astrid turned over to Mr. Copper, helping him with a cut on his head.

The Doctor joined the group, putting his arm around Minerva's waist, the woman still glaring daggers at Rickston. He wanted to prevent another injury from happening. Minerva seemed alright to him, despite her affection insecurities, but he wasn't sure how the whole Master and Kaeya really affected her and he wanted to be there in case she cracked or anything. He'd have to run certain tests after this date to see just how much she'd really been affected.

"She is, after all, a fine, sturdy ship. If you could all stay here while I ascertain the exact nature of the - the situation," the chief steward went to open a hatch.

"Don't open it!" the Doctor exclaimed, but it was too late.

The chief steward was sucked put into space by the vacuum. Everyone grabbed onto a piping near them before they were pulled out as well. The Doctor struggled and made his way to the comms where he used the screwdriver on the computer to replace the shield.

"Oxygen shield stabilized."

"Everyone all right? Minerva?" he quickly turned back to her.

"Yeah," she nodded, pulling on the side of her dreSs.

"Astrid? Foon? Morvin? Mr Copper? Bannakaffalatta?"

"Yes," the little red alien answered.

"You, what was your name?" the Doctor turned to Rickston, trying his best to be polite but the fact the man had repeatedly yelled at Minerva wasn't helping.

"Ah, Rickston Slade."

"You all right?"

"No thanks to that idiot."

"The steward just died," Minerva glared at him, not that he cared.

"Then he's a dead idiot."

"That's it!" the brunette stepped forwards.

"Okay! Why don't you come with me, yeah?" the Doctor quick pulled her away from the group and brought them to the hatch opening.

"I don't like him!" she grumbled.

"I think we've noticed," he patted her back.

"Sorry, missing the big picture here. What happened? How come the shields were down?"

"I don't think it was an accident," he sighed, "And there goes our nice, first date."

She smiled softly, "Hey, what's a date without some adrenaline?"

"Minerva, I'm sorry...I'll get us out of this, I promise."

"Oh, I don't doubt you will. You always do."

"You trust me just like that?" the Doctor asked, a bit perplexed at her calm manner despite nearly dying.

"Doctor, there's something you should know: I trust you with my life."

He blinked, "Really?"

She nodded, "You don't have to promise me anything, I know you'll do it. In a stupid, moronic way...but you'll do it. Just like always."

"Good," he nodded, smiling brightly, loving he had all her trust despite the many trips gone wrong they had taken, "And this won't be the exception!"

She pecked his lips, "No it won't."

"All we need to do is get to the Reception room," he swung his arm around her shoulders, turning to a window in front of them, "We can take everyone on board and...oh."

Minerva just smiled, the TARDIS floating outside, "Like I said, you'll get us out of here in a stupid, moronic way, but we'll get out!"

"Is something wrong?" Astrid stepped over, seeing their attention locked on the window.

"That's my spaceship over there," the Doctor pouted, Minerva giggling to the side.

Astrid peered into the window, frowning when saw just a blue box, "That's a spaceship?"

"Oi, don't knock it," the Doctor scolded.

"It's a bit small..." she tilted her head, "...aren't you a bit cramped?" But she glanced over to the pair and saw them quite close and together, "Right," she smiled, only thinking of what that box could provide for them, "It's your snogging box."

"It's not," the Doctor shot her a look.

Minerva looked around, playing innocent, "Well we haven't exactly tried it yet," she mumbled, attracting his attention in a snap, her cheeks flushing pink, "We haven't exactly 'snogged','" she whispered to him, her gaze stuck on her playing fingers.

"Ooh..." he looked back to the window, his face flushing red at the thought of actually snogging her. That...that could be nice...

Astrid smirked, she could just tell those two were barely beginning their relationship by the amount of times they blushed, "So, um...that blue box?" she reminded them.

"Oh, yes, well," the Doctor cleared his throat, "It's a bit distant now. Trouble is, once it's set adrift, it's programmed to lock onto the nearest center of gravity and that would be...the Earth."

"We've got a long journey to do," Minerva slipped under the Doctor's arm on her shoulders and walked over to a comms.

"Where to?" Astrid asked, the Doctor following her.

"Well, up to the main bridge of course, that's where you steer the ship, aka, our way of getting back to earth and getting the TARDIS."

"Clever!" the Doctor dropped a kiss to Minerva's head.

"I try to be," she shrugged, looking at the other guests, "And we promise we'll get you out of here," she told them, seeing their worried faces, well, really only focusing on the Van Hoffs and Mr. Copper, Rickston could bite it.

""Deck 22 to the bridge. Deck 22 to the bridge. Is there anyone there?" the Doctor called.

~ 0 ~

Midshipman Frame moaned and clutched his side, reaching for the comms, "This is the bridge."

"Oh hello, sailor. Good to hear you. What's the situation up there?"

"We've got air. The oxygen field is holding. But the captain..." Midshipman Frame looked over to the captain's body buried under wreckage, "He's dead. He did it. I watched while he took down the shields. There was nothing I could do. I tried. I did try."

Minerva heard the despair and guilt in his tone and moved the Doctor a bit to speak into the comms, "Hey, don't worry, we believe you," she spoke softly, "Just stay calm. Tell us your name. What's your name?"

"Midshipman Frame."

"Nice to meet you, sir. We're a bit curious to know of the state of the engines..." Minerva looked at the Doctor for confirmation, smiling with pride when he nodded.

"They're um...hold on," Midshipman Frame pushed himself forwards and groaned.

"Have you been injured?" the Doctor asked at the sound.

"I'm all right. Oh my vot. They're cycling down."

"That's a nuclear storm drive, yes?"

"Yeah."

"The moment they're gone, we lose orbit."

"What!?" Minerva nearly choked at the words, "But earth..."

"Oh yes. If we hit the planet, the nuclear storm explodes and wipes out life on Earth. Midshipman, I need you to fire up the engine containment field and feed it back into the core."

"This is never going to work."

"Trust me, it'll keep the engines going until I can get to the bridge," the Doctor switched off the comms and turned to Minerva who seemed terrified.

"Doctor, Martha is down there...my grandmother..." she looked out the window again.

"And they'll be alright," he assured, "No one is going to die."

"We're going to die!" Foon cried at the mention of the word.

"Are you saying someone's done this on purpose?" Mr. Copper asked.

"We're just a cruise ship!" Astrid was also close to tears.

"Okay, okay. Tch, tch," the Doctor stepped beside Minerva, taking her hand in am effort to calm her in the process, "First things first. One: we're going to climb through this ship. B...no...two: we're going to reach the bridge. Three - or C: we're going to save the Titanic. And, coming in a very low Four or D or that little "iv" in brackets they use in footnotes...why. Right then, follow me."

"Hang on a minute," Rickston called, stopping the pair before they turned around, "Who put you in charge and who the hell are you anyway?"

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all six billion of the people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?"

"...No," Rickston blinked, stepping back.

"In that case, allons-y!" the Doctor reverted to his childhood ways and turned around, leading the others away and noticing Minerva smirking to herself, "Anything the matter?"

"Nothing, that was just really hot," she whispered, her face flushing a deep red.

The Doctor smirked and kissed her head, loving that he could have that affect on her...oh yes, he definitely liked where this relationship was going.

~0~

The group came to a metal door that led into a stairwell littered with debris and sparking cables.

"Careful. Follow me," the Doctor went ahead and cleared the way for the others.

"Rather ironic when this is very much in the spirit of Christmas. It's a festival of violence," Mr. Copper began another of his lectures, missing the big confusion on Minerva's face, "They say that human beings only survive depending on whether they've been good or bad. It's barbaric."

"Actually, that's not true. Christmas is a time of - of peace and thanksgiving and..." the Doctor trailed off, "...what am I on about? Christmas is always like this," he shook his head and uncovered a dormant Host.

Not for me," Minerva spoke up, "Christmas used to be nice..." the Doctor watched her as she grew quiet, "...Back with my grandmother, and the snicker doodles..."

"Hey, you'll have your snicker doodles tonight, okay?" he promised her, "We can bake those cookies again and I promise to try and not make a mess this time round."

"Snicker doodles on Christmas, with my new boyfriend?" Minerva considered it, practically bursting with joy even if she was on a dead ship that was going to crash into her planet, "Yes, please!" she pecked his lips.

He beamed and returned to the host beside them, "We've got a Host. Strength of ten. If we can mend it, we can use it to fix the rubble."

"We can do robotics, both of us," Morvin volunteered, Foon stepping beside him.

"We worked on the milk market back on Sto. It's all robot staff."

"See if you can get it working," the Doctor nodded them to go ahead, "Now let's have a look," he took Minerva's hand and led them up the stairs with the rest of the group.

"It's blocked," Astrid remarked when they stopped in front of a big wreckage in front of them.

"So what do we do?" the Doctor asked.

"We shift it!" Minerva exclaimed.

"That's the attitude. Rickston, Mr Copper, and you, Bannakaffalatta... look, can I just call you Banna? It's gonna save a lot of time."

"No! Bannakaffalatta!" the red alien said firmly.

"All right then, Bannakaffalatta, there's a gap in the middle. See if you can get through."

"Easy. Good," Bannakaffalatta squeezed through the opening, the ship lurching as he did and sent loose debris on the them.

"This whole thing could come crashing down any minute!" Rickston cried, looking up in case something else fell down.

"Oh, Rickston, I forgot. Did you get our message?" the Doctor asked as he searched for a way to move the debris.

"No. What message?"

"Shut up!"

Minerva surprised the Doctor with a kiss on his cheek, "I really like you."

He smiled softly at her, her calm attitude despite the severity of their situation was quite attractive as well, "I like you too," he blushed, giving her a short kiss on the lips.

"Bannakaffalatta made it," came the little red alien's voice from across.

"I'm small enough, I can get through," Astrid volunteered and began making her way through the hole.

"Me too," Minerva looked down at herself with disappointment, "I tell you it's gonna be quite interesting trying to kiss you," she looked at the Doctor and compared their heights silently.

"I find that..." he leaned to her and whispered, "...hot," she blinked and blushed real hard, the Doctor chuckling as he gave a small kiss on her cheek.

"And I'm out," she said with a shaky voice, following into the hole where Astrid had gone.

"Careful!" he called after her.

"Thing is, how are Mr and Mrs Fatso gonna get through this gap?" Rickston demanded.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, the man's attitude was not going to ruin his mood with his girlfriend, "We make the gap bigger. So start," he handed Rickston a piece of metal.

"We can clear it from this side," Astrid Caledonia as she helped Minerva out of the hole, "Just tell me if it starts moving."

"Thanks," Minerva stood to her feet and dusted herself off. She then noticed Bannakaffalatta laying on the floor. "Bannakaffalatta, what's wrong?"

"Sshhh," he put a finger on his mouth.

"What is it?" Astrid moved over, Minerva behind her.

"Can't say."

"Are you hurt?" Minerva studied him but saw no physical injuries.

"Ashamed..."

"Of what?"

"Poor Bannakaffalatta," he lifted his dress shirt to reveal cybernetic components, turning his head away from them in shame.

"You're a cyborg," Minerva remarked, a tad surprised.

"Had accident long ago. Secret."

"No, but everything's changed now," Astrid said softly, seeing the alien in full shame, "cmCyborgs are getting equal rights. They passed a law back on Sto. You can even get married."

"Marry you?" he turned his head over to them.

"Well, you can buy me a drink first. Come on. Let's recharge you," Astrid pressed a button on his torso and stood up, "Just stay there for a bit."

"Tell no one."

"We promise."

"What's going on up there?!" the Doctor called, alarmed at the silence. Minerva was never that quiet, or quiet at all.

Minerva glanced at Astrid with a mischievous smile, "You wanna see something funny?"

"We're on a ship that's about to crag and kill six million people including us...I'll take what you got," Astrid sighed, really in the mood for a genuine laugh.

Minerva sauntered back to the hole, seeing the Doctor on the other side, "I just got engaged to Bannakaffalatta!"

"WHAT!?" There was a loud bang from the other side that made Astrid jump in her spot.

Minerva glanced back at Astrid, her eyes eyebrows wiggling. She just barely holding her laughter in.

"Excuse me!?" the Doctor rubbed his head on the other side. It had crashed into the pipe above him. Minerva had gotten to the other side only two minutes ago, what the hell happened!? He supposed that she was just that gorgeous anyone would ask her to marry him, that's why Zian had tricked her into marrying him after all...

"I'm just kidding, Doctor!" Minerva laughed, unknowingly making him breath out in relief.

"Minerva!" he shouted, her laughter just increasing.

"Martian!" she mimicked his tone.

"That was funny," Astrid concluded, chuckling herself.

"Told yah," Minerva smirked and continued with her work.

~ 0 ~

"Almost done!" Morvin called up to the trio of men upstairs.

"Good, good, good," the Doctor moved to a comms, "Mr Frame, how's things?"

"Doctor, I've got life signs all over the ship but they're going out one by one."

"What is it? Are they losing air?"

"No. One of them said it's the Host. It's something to do with the Host."

The Doctor immediately looked down to the Van Hoffs where they had just finished up the Host.

"It's working!" Morvin exclaimed happily.

The Doctor rushed down as the Host took Morvin by the throat,

"Kill. Kill. Kill."

"Turn it off!" the Doctor ordered as he came down.

"I can't, Doctor!" Foon cried.

"Go!" he arrived and shooed Foon away. He took out the screwdriver and used it on the Host, "Lock! Double deadlock!" exasperated, he put away the screwdriver and used his hands to help Morvin free, "Okay, go upstairs!"

"Run, darling, run!" Foon called to her husband and he ran up the stairs.

"Information: kill, kill, kill..."

"Rickston! Get them through!" the Doctor shouted.

"No chance!" the man went in himself through the hole.

"Rickston!" Mr. Copper called after him.

"I'll never get through there," Foon shook her head.

"Yes, you can. Let me go first," Mr. Copper started going through the hole.

The Doctor ran up to the comms, the Host following, "It's the Host! They've gone berserk! Are you safe up there?"

~ 0 ~

But inside the main bridge, Midshipman Frame turned to see another group of Host heading for the open door, "Kill. Kill. Kill," they chanted.

The man closed and locked the door in time, only catching the hand of one of the Host.

~0~

Minerva, Astrid, and Mr. Copper were currently trying to help Foon through the hole,

"No, I'm stuck!" she cried.

"Come on, you can do it!" Minerva urged, glancing at Rickston who stood to the side and just watched.

Mr. Copper was using a metal pole as a lever to widen the space, struggling actual, "It's going to collapse!" but Foon finally made it, leaving Morvin and the Doctor, "Rickston, vot damn it, help me!"

"No... way," Rickston shook his head.

"Coward and useless!" Minerva moved over and helped Mr. Copper.

"Morvin, get through!" Copper yelled.

Morvin was having a bit more of a struggle to get through the hole, the chants of Host nearing behind as the Doctor ran up to the hole.

"Doctor, he's stuck!" Astrid yelled, able to see the man just slightly around Morvin.

"Mr Van Hoff, I know we've only just met but you'll have to excuse me," the Doctor placed his hands on Morvin's rear and pushed him through.

"That's it," Astrid helped Morvon, "We've got you. Doctor, come on, get through."

The Doctor however, turned to the Host which was literally right behind him, "Information override! You will tell me the point of origin of your command structure!"

Minerva and Mr. Copper were straining to hold open the hole, "Doctor! We can't hold it!" came her strained voice.

"Information: Deck 31."

"Thank you," the Doctor grinned and scrambled through the hole, "Let go!"

Mr. Copper and Minerva released their grip on the pole, the beam crashing onto the Host's head.

"Oh thank God!" Minerva encased him in a big hug, her heart nearly beating out if her chest. He hugged her back, both forgetting for a moment that there were other people as the enjoyed their embrace, knowing for the moment they were both okay.

~ 0 ~

At the bridge, Midshipman Frame turned to see the hand of the Host that was locked between the door and wall moving. He yelped and turned a handle that shut the door completely, cutting off the hand. But he looked through the window of the door and saw a line of Host's waiting for him.

~ 0 ~

The group opened the door to find a clear room, a kitchen of some sorts. There was even a table with some food on it.

"Morvin, look, food," Foon pointed and walked towards it.

"Oh great. Someone's happy," Rickston rolled his eyes.

"Don't have any then," Morvin moved to his wife, not about to let him make her cry again.

"Ow!" Rickston flinched, "Did you just...ow!"

"Sorry," Minerva had walked past him with a smirk on her face.

She elbowed him...twice.

The Doctor headed to the comms, concerned for their friend up at the bridge, "Mr Frame, you still there?"

"Yes, sir, but I've got Host outside. I sealed the door."

"They've been programmed to kill. Why would anyone do that?" the Doctor asked, his mind still trying to come up with a valid list of reasons and of the culprit.

"That's not the only problem, Doctor. I had to use a maximum deadlock on the door, which means..." Midshipman Frame sighed, guilty of yet another problem of the ship, "No one can get in. I'm sealed off. Even if you can fix the Titanic, you can't get to the bridge."

"Yeah, right, fine. One problem at a time," the Doctor made a face at that, he'd have to worry about it later, "What's on Deck 31?"

"Um, that's down below. It's nothing. It's just the Host storage deck. That's where we keep the robots."

The Doctor looked at a scanner beside, putting on his glasses, "Well, what's that? See that panel? Black. It's registering nothing. No power, no heat, no light."

"Never seen it before."

"100% shielded. What's down there?"

"I'll try intensifying the scanner."

"Let me know if you find anything," the Doctor removed his glasses, "And keep those engines going!"

Minerva walked over, seeing the concern on his face and feeling bad she couldn't exactly help him, "Hey..." she bit her lip, feeling really stupid that was all she could say.

But he smiled, pressing a hand onto her cheek, "I'm getting you out of this, I swear," she nodded, staying still as he gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Astrid felt a little embarrassed for intruding on the pair's moment but she felt like everyone needed to eat if they were to continue their trip up to the reception room, "Sorry," she smiled dimly, "Saved you some. You might be a Time King from Gaddabee but you need to eat, and I know humans also have to eat for survival."

"Yeah, thanks," the Doctor took the plate from the blonde.

He moved Minerva to a seat and together sat down, Astrid across them. He picked up a piece of food and held it to Minerva, but she shook her head, "I'm not hungry," she frowned.

"But you gotta eat," he insisted. He'd already faulted her at this date thing and he wasn't about to let her pass out on account of a nutritional issues.

"My stomach feels kinda funny," Minerva continued to refuse the food, clutching her stomach and shaking her head.

"Mm, that would be on account of not eating," Astrid pointed, in the middle of eating her own plate.

The Doctor nodded her thanks for the help as Minerva reluctantly let him feed her. Though after a couple seconds she started smiling, "You're looking at me like that again."

"Looking how?" the Martian frowned.

"Like the time when we visited my grandmother and ended up in 1969."

"You just reminded me of 1913, that's all. The things you said...the way you moved...everything," he whispered, rubbing a thumb over her cheek. His hearts fluttered at all the kisses he had given her, the moment he had fallen in love with her as John Smith...

How long would it be until he, the Doctor, fell in love with her?

"So..." Astrid smiled at their silence, the two were currently staring at each other with those smiles the couples of earliest stages wore, "...how old are you, Minerva? I'm a bit clueless on human education."

"Recently eighteen," Minerva took a bit of more food.

"Hm," she glanced between Minerva and the Doctor, finding the two to look not so different based on ages, "Doctor, you look good for 903."

"You should see me in the mornings," the man had a mouthful of food in his mouth.

"It's not pretty," Minerva declared, the pout on his face making her giggle, "But now that we're together, perhaps I could think you looked very cute...handsome..." her hand trailed down his face, "...hot..."

Astrid shook her head at the pair, knowing it was better to leave them as they got deeper into their moments. She stood up and walked to the others, the pair not even noticing her departure.

"I think you look cute all the time of day," the Doctor remarked, watching her blush rapidly.

"That's because by the time you see me I'm usually always dressed and stuff..."

"May I remind you that I have seen you in your nighties several times now, your hair all messy..."

Minerva considered his words and realized he was right. Without realizing it, the Doctor had been allowed in her room early in the mornings and late in the nights, or whatever it was called in the TARDIS. Though everything was kept to friendship, Minerva knew it wasn't something common for her to let a man into her room like she did with the Doctor. It actually made her blush because they'd been on the same bed, sometimes her in her pajamas, nighties, and also pretty close...

"Hm...well," she considered the right words as her tongue seemed a bit slurred from her thoughts, "All that is gonna be changing. Just because we're together now...it...it doesn't mean we're...we're gonna, um..." her cheeks flushed red at where her thoughts had drifted to. She might have joked about it earlier but it didn't mean she was ready to take that large step in her relationship, in her life...

The Doctor chuckled, knowing exactly what she had meant, "Minerva, nothing that you don't want, or not ready for, is going to happen."

Minerva had to smile in relief, "I'm sorry. It's just...I know this is ridiculous and stuff, but I'm young...I don't, I've never actually..."

"It's alright. There's nothing wrong with that. Let's just focus on our relationship, yeah? We can finish getting to know each other, give each other a few kisses here and there..."

She chuckled, "Just a few?"

"Just a few," he assured, no where near meaning those words.

"Doctor, it must be well past midnight, Earth time. Christmas Day," Mr. Copper called from the other end of the room, making the pair glance back.

"So it is. Merry Christmas," the Doctor said to them and returned his gaze to Minerva, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," she whispered, watching him lower his head to press his lips on her for a Christmas kiss.

"Mm, Christmas kiss," the Doctor pulled back, mere inches from her lips so he could steal another one from her, "I like."

"How things have changed from last year," she reminded, their last Christmas just after losing the Tyler's plus saving Donna.

"I gotta find a mistletoe..." he murmured, not even caring about their last Christmas.

Minerva laughed, pushing him slightly back, "Doctor!"

"This Christmas thing, what's it all about?" Astrid asked, sensing the holiday had to do with a lot of kissing since that's what they seemed to be doing a lot.

"Long story. I should know, I was there. I got the last room," the Doctor shrugged, remembering that event.

"But if the planet's waking up, can't we signal them? They can send up a rocket or something," Mr. Copper suggested.

"We don't have spaceships," Minerva frowned, slightly irritated with the man's lack of knowledge of her home.

"No, I read about it. They have shuffles, space shuffles."

"Mr. Copper, I'm human...we don't have that."

"Mr Copper, this degree in Earthonomics,... where's it from?" the Doctor asked, amused by Minerva's irritation.

"Honestly?"

"Just between us."

"Mrs. Golightly's Happy Travelling University and Dry Cleaners."

"That makes sense..." Minerva mumbled, taking more food into her mouth.

"You - you lied to the company... to get the job?" Astrid blinked.

"I- I wasted my life on Sto. I was a travelling salesman, always on the road and I reached retirement with nothing to show for it. Not even a home. And Earth sounded so exotic."

"Hm, I suppose it is, yeah..." the Doctor smiled in thought of the planet, glancing at the one person that stood out from the whole race.

Minerva caught his look and turned to look at him as well, slightly perplexed, "You think I'm exotic?" he nodded, his smile softening, "I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or not..."

"So she's human," Astrid pointed at Minerva, "And I understand why she would know so much about it, but you..." her finger drifted to the Doctor, "How come you know it so well?"

"I was sort of...a few years ago, was sorta made... well, sort of homeless, and, um there was the Earth..." the Doctor looked down for a moment, his actual home was gone and Earth seemed like it was always calling him there...like a second home...cause there was someone else he could be with now...

Minerva rested her head on his arm and reached for his hand, "You're not homeless anymore. You got a family in me, Martha, and hey, even my grandmother when she finds out."

He faintly smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "Thank you."

"The thing is, though," Mr. Copper sighed, too in depth with his big problem to focus on the pair, "If we survive this, there will be police and all sorts of investigations. Now the minimum penalty for space-age fraud is ten years in jail. I'm an old man. Well, I won't survive ten years."

"I won't let that happen," Minerva immediately said, looking up to see the man. He was surprised she would say something like that considering they didn't even know each other. But Minerva saw in him her grandfather, and how could she allow someone like her grandfather to be imprisoned?

There was a banging on the door, the Doctor jumping from his seat and rushing to a door at the other end, across from the one being banged on, "A Host! Move! Come on!"

The pounding increased, even a dent forming from the force that made Astrid scream. The Doctor used the sonic on the other door and opened it, revealing another room that happened to be the engine room. There was a makeshift bridge that was created by a fallen strut...above the engines.

"Is that the only way across?" Rickston frowned at it.

"On the other hand, it is a way across," Minerva sighed, this time agreeing with the man of the way to get across.

"The engines are open," remarked Astrid, also not happy.

"Nuclear storm drive. Soon as it stops, the Titanic falls," the Doctor explained.

"But that thing, it'll never take our weight," Morvin stepped towards the edge.

"You're going last, mate," Rickston gave him a quick look.

"It's nitrofine metal. It's stronger than it looks," the Doctor tried to explain as he worked on the door, getting it shut.

"All the same, Rickston's right. Me and Foon should -" Morvin's foot stepped on a weak piece of metal where the railing gave way...and he fell down towards the engine.

"Morvin!" Foon cried, running up to where her husband had just been.

The others watched in horror, as if that didn't just happen...

"I told you! I told you!" Rickston exclaimed.

Minerva turned to him, outraged he was so snooty and selfish he wasn't even remotely perturbed a man had just died, "SHUT UP!" she screamed, actually making him flinch at the volume of her tone.

Foon turned to the Doctor, hysterically crying, "Bring him back! Can't you bring him back? Bring him back, Doctor!"

"I'm sorry, I can't..." the Doctor looked at the opening, still shocked himself.

"You promised me!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry..."

"Doctor, I rather think those things have got our scent," Mr. Copper had turned to the door as stomping of the Host's were nearing the group.

"I'm not waiting," Rickston shook his head and started crossing the bridge.

"Careful! Take it slowly!" the Doctor called, disliking the man for his attitude as well but his death was not something he would ever wish...

There was a tumbling as the ship rocked, making Rickston nearly fall, "Vot help me," he mumbled to himself as he continued.

"You're okay. One step at a time. Come on, you can do it," the Doctor urged.

"They're getting nearer!" Mr. Copper exclaimed.

"Seal us in," the Doctor muttered to himself, using the sonic to shut the door on them.

"Leaving us trapped, wouldn't you say?"

"Never say trapped, just inconveniently circumstanced," the Doctor turned around, moving for Minerva, he didn't feel right leaving her alone in this room...or anywhere, now that he thought about it. After the Master, he'd be damned if anyone could separate them.

"Maybe he's all right. Maybe - Maybe there's a gravity curve down there or something. I don't know. Maybe he's unconscious," Foon was saying in hopes, unable to grasp the idea that her husband was actually dead.

Astrid was beside her, trying to calm the woman, still solemn herself of the event, "I'm sorry Foon. He's gone," she hugged the widower.

"What am I going to do without him?" Foon sniffled.

"Yes! Oh yes! Who's good?!" Rickston had hopped off the bridge on the other side, completely unharmed.

"Bannakaffalatta, you go next," the Doctor instructed.

"Bannakaffalatta, small," he nodded, stepping onto the bridge.

"Slowly!" the Doctor called, glancing between the door and the bridge, the Host continuing with their pounds behind the door.

"They've found us!" Mr. Copper gasped.

"Minerva, Astrid, get across right now," the Doctor started pushing Minerva towards the bridge, motioning Astrid to follow.

"No, what about you?" Minerva managed to turn and stop the Martian.

"I need you to go first," he tried to push again but she wouldn't budge, making her sigh, "Minerva, please."

"Not without you," she said quietly, dead serious.

She didn't wait a year to finally be with him to be separated on their first date. Beyond that, she just wouldn't leave him, friend or girlfriend, she just wouldn't.

He took a heavy sigh and resigned to get everyone else started across the bridge, "Astrid, Mr. Copper, please don't argue and just go," the pair glanced at each other and nodded, "Foon, you've got to get across right now."

"What for? What am I gonna do without him?" Foon sniffled, still gazing down to where her husband had fallen through.

"Doctor! The door's locked!" Rickston called from the other side, gesturing to the locked door.

"Just think... what would he want, eh?" Minerva moved over to Foon.

"He don't want nothing, he's dead!"

"No, when my grandfather died, he made sure to tell us he wanted us to live our lives and not to cry over him. He wanted us to be happy," Minerva insisted, trying to move Foon but the woman was sobbing.

"Doctor, I can't open the door. We need the whirring key thing of yours!" Rickston called again.

"We can't leave her!" the Doctor shouted.

"She'll get us all killed if we can't get out!"

The Doctor looked at the group and Minerva, knowing very well that he couldn't risk her safety, not now, not when he had just gotten her. He rushed to Minerva and Foon, "Mrs. Van Hoff, I am coming back for you, all right?" he tugged on Minerva's arm and brought themselves to the bridge, moving Minerva first.

But as the two stepped on, the metal of the bridge creaked at the additional weight it had to sustain.

"Too many people!" Bannakaffalatta glanced back at the pair.

"Oi! Don't get spiky with me! Keep going!" the Doctor shooed him off.

"It's gonna fall!" Astrid continuously looked down at the engines, afraid she'd slip and fall...and die.

"It's just settling! Keep going!"

But the Host stopped pounding...

"They've stopped," Astrid frowned, glancing back at the door that was silent now.

"Gone away?" Bannakaffalatta suggested.

"Why would they give up?" the Doctor mumbled to himself, no one chasing after him ever gave up...

"Never mind that. Keep coming!" Rickston motioned them to get to him. Why would they waste time like this? If an enemy was chasing them, and suddenly left they should run.

"Where have they gone? Where are the Host?" the Doctor ignored the man, focused more on the danger of missing Hosts...and then Minerva tugged on his arm, she looking up with wide eyes.

"Doctor...angels can fly," her mouth fell open at the Host's above flying down towards them.

"I usually love it when you're clever, but on this occasion, I'm gonna have to say I don't like it."

The same group of Host were gliding down from above, encircling the group, "Information: kill," they reached for their halos.

"Arm yourselves! All of you!" the Doctor ordered, all of them reaching for pipes or bits of metals to defend themselves.

The Host threw their halos at them, each of them swatting it away for the first couple of times. However, one halo managed to graze the Doctor's arm and another Mr. Copper'Copper's leg. Minerva's pipe was flung down by a halo, nearly knocking her down as well.

Astrid dropped to her knees, "I can't," she looked up at the endless halos coming their way.

"Bannakaffalatta stop! Bannakaffalatta proud! Bannakaffalatta, cyborg!" Bannakaffalatta lifted his shirt and discharged energy towards the Host, knocking them all out except for one that fell on the bridge behind the Doctor.

"Electromagnetic pulse took out the robotics. Oh, Bannakaffalatta, that was brilliant!" the Doctor turned to the little alien, Bannakaffalatta falling to the ground almost immediately.

Astrid went to his side, "He's used all his power!"

"Did good?" he asked her.

"You saved our lives" she smiled at him.

"Bannakaffalatta happy."

"We can recharge you, get you to a power point and just plug you in!" her smile started fading as Bannakaffalatta eyes threatened to close.

"Too late."

"No, but...you gotta get me that drink, remember?"

"Pretty girl," Bannakaffalatta closed his eyes and died.

Muffling her tears, Astrid went to button Bannakaffalatta's shirt but Mr. Copper reached for his power source.

"I'm sorry. Forgive me," he apologized sincerely.

"It's the EMP transmitter. He - he'd want us to use it," Mr. Copper removed the transmitter, "I used to sell these things. They'd always give me a bed for the night in the cyborg caravans. They're good people. But if we can recharge it, we can reuse it as a weapon against the rest of the Host. Bannakaffalatta might have saved us all."

"Do you think? Try telling him that," Rickston pointed behind the group, turning to see the Host that had landed behind begin to move.

"Information: reboot."

"Use the EMP!" Rickston shouted.

"It's dead!" Mr. Copper shook his head, lowering the EMP.

"It's gotta have emergency..." Astrid took the EMP to take a look at it.

"Doctor," Minerva reached out for him, the Martian moving up to confront the Host. He lived to give her heart attacks.

"I gotta try something," he mumbled, before directing to the Host, "No, no, no. Hold on. Override loophole security protocol... Ten! 666! Oh. 21, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Um, I dunno, 42! Uh, one!"

The Host actually stopped midway and stood passively, "Information: state request."

"Good...right," the Doctor, internally sighing of relief that for the moment they weren't going to be killed, "You've been ordered to kill the survivors, but why?"

"Information: no witnesses."

"But this ship's gonna fall on the Earth and kill everyone. The human race have nothing to do with the Titanic so that contravenes your orders, yes?"

"Information: incorrect."

"But why do you want to destroy the Earth?"

"Information: it is the plan."

"What plan?"

"Information: protocol grants you only three questions. These three questions have been used."

"Well, you could have warned me."

"Let me try," Minerva whispered to him, preferring him to back away.

"Sh," he blocked her way of walk with an arm.

"Information: now you will die."

It prepared to strike, the Doctor completely moving in front of Minerva, but a lasso was thrown over the Host's head and tightened around its body by Foon.

"You're coming with me," Foon closed her eyes and jumped over the side, pulling the Host with her down to the engines.

"Nooooo!" the Doctor shouted, looking down as Foon fell to her death.

"Poor Foon," Minerva sighed.

"No more," the Doctor muttered, so done with the deaths. Next thing he knew it could be Astrid or Mr. Copper, or even worse, Minerva.

~ 0 ~

The group made it into another set of maintenance halls, the Doctor giving orders as soon as they entered, "Right. Get up to Reception One. Once you're there, Mr Copper. You've got staff access to the computer. Try and find a way of transmitting an SOS. Astrid, you're in charge of this," he held the EMP to hers, "Once it's powered up, it'll take out Hosts within fifty yards but then it needs sixty seconds to recharge. Got it? Minerva, take this I've preset it. Just hold down that button. It'll open doors," she gave her a kiss on the forehead and moved on to Mr. Copper.

Minerva stood there, dumbfounded for a couple minutes till she realized he was practically saying goodbye, "Hold on..." she grabbed Rickston's arm and handed him the screwdriver, "Open the doors, don't lose it."

"All right!" he nodded, not caring who ordered now as long a it got him out of this ship.

"Doctor!" Minerva trailed after the Martian as he handed Mr. Copper a first aid kit.

"Mr Copper, I need you fighting fit. Astrid, where's the power point?" he blatantly ignored Minerva for a second.

"Under the comms," she nodded to the power point, following him to learn how to re-charge the EMP.

"When it's ready, that blue light comes on there," he explained.

"Martian!" Minerva stomped her foot, knowing she sounded like a child but it was the only way to grab his attention, "Astrid, can we have a moment?" she asked softly, "Please?" Astrid nodded and walked away, sensing the oncoming disagreement between the pair.

"Minerva," the Doctor sighed, acting as if he was currently working on something mega important.

"You're talking as if you're not coming with us," she informed, however she doubted he hadn't realized yet.

"There's something down on Deck 31. I'm gonna find out what it is."

"And what about me, huh? You expect me to keep going with everyone else and leave you?"

"Frankly, yes, I do," he nodded, locking his gaze on the machine.

He didn't want to face her and her big, shiny jade-green eyes that would get him to do anything she wanted. And not this time, he could not do what she wanted this time, it was far too dangerous.

"Doctor, I'm not going to leave you."

"And I'm not taking you," he said, purposely cold.

Hopefully, she'd get irritated and leave on her own. Later on, he'd apologize to no means end until she forgave him. But for now, she needed to go away.

"I'm coming with you!" Minerva raised her voice, she was so not letting it go.

"No, you're not!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Minerva paused, suppressing her anger as best she could, yet her voice was still raised when she spoke again, "And why not?"

"Because I won't lose you!" the Doctor finally looked up, that last part coming out in a shot that shut her up and had the group silenced. Minerva blinked, processing his words again and again in her mind. He sighed, regretting his shout upon seeing her startled face, "Minerva, I just got you. I won't risk your life for anything. I don't know what's down there but it's gotta be pretty bad if it doesn't care that a whole planet is gonna be wiped out. So you see, I need you to stay with the group, in the Reception, away from Deck 31."

Minerva's heart fluttered at his immense care for her. But even through all that, she just couldn't grasp the idea of leaving him alone to face the big ole enemy. It was wrong.

"Minerva, please, please, stay with the others," the Doctor pleaded, moving around for her, "I'll come back, we'll bake those cookies and then I'll find us a mistletoe and I'll kiss and kiss and kiss you till you forgive me, okay?" he placed his hand over her cheek, "I promise I'll come back."

She opened her mouth to retaliate when he interrupted her with a kissed. She loved the way she felt about him, but she knew that would lead to him getting what he wanted through a kiss.

"Okay," she whispered as he parted from her.

Her agreement made him breathe a little easier, knowing she would be far away from the biggest threat on the ship besides the actual ship crashing, "Thank you," he breathed.

"But I'm not happy about it," she informed as he took her hand and moved her beside the charger.

"I know, and I'll do my best to make it up to you afterwards," he assured, because they would survive this.

"I expect a very good kiss," she said, watching him blush.

"Um, I think it's done charging," Astrid slowly approached them, wanting to make sure they were really past their disagreement before joining. The EMP was past charge but the pair had been so caught up with each other to notice, "It's alright," she plucked it off and turned to them, "So, you two okay now?"

"Yeah, he's just got one heck of an apology to make after we get the TARDIS," Minerva smirked at him.

"I'll take you to those ice mineral lakes, we can go to Manet, and even Marie Antoinette?" he tried to see if that was making her smile, and one she did, he continued, promising himself he would take her to see all those things, "Agatha Christie? Um, Ooh, how about Rio?"

"Wow," Astrid blinked, all those places and people sounding so amazing, "Wow, um, all that sounds terrific. I take it you guys travel a lot?"

Minerva scoffed, "That's what he does for a living. I just kinda tag along."

The Doctor wound his arm around Minerva's waist, "She's not a tag along, she's my girlfriend and a rightful traveler in the TARDIS. That's what we are, just travelers. Imagine it. No tax, no bills, no boss, just the open sky."

Astrid could imagine it, after all that was all she wanted to do in life, travel and see the world, "Listen, uh...I'm sort of...unemployed now and I was thinking the blue box is kinda small, but I could kinda squeeze in. Like a stowaway."

Minerva and the Doctor shared a glance, meanwhile Astrid stared at them with such hope.

"It's not always safe," the Doctor informed, still gazing at Minerva for help.

He didn't know what to think about Astrid's request. It had been mere hours since Martha had left the TARDIS. Minerva was also puzzled on what to say, but something deep inside told her Astrid was her a year ago. All her life, Minerva wanted to go see the world, be productive and do something. She could see the same gleam in Astrid's eyes and she felt like she couldn't turn the blonde away...but ultimately, it was the Doctor's decision that would make it or break it. The box of wonders was his and only he could decide who to bring on board.

"I wouldn't cause any problems," Astrid added, nervously seeing the pair thinking of it for too long, "I've got no one back on Sto, no family, just me. So what do you think? Can I come with you? Please?"

The Doctor glanced at Minerva, wanting her to be okay with a new passenger, a female besides Martha, to come along. He didn't know just yet if Minerva was the jealous type, he knew for a fact he was, but she hadn't shown any jealousy traits so far. Granted, Martha had never shown the least bit interest in him so perhaps Minerva just hadn't been exposed to any jealous causing situations. But he had hurt her, with Rose for ignoring her, and then with Kaeya and his confusion, he wouldn't hurt her anymore. No more. He would always take her and her voice into consideration and he would start now.

Minerva gave him a small nod, truly wanting Astrid to accompany them, "I think she would make a fine companion."

Astrid beamed at her response, that was one down, and now for the other...

"Yeah, I'd like that, too," the Doctor agreed, also seeing in Astrid that little spark of curiosity that all his companions had.

Astrid squealed, jumping and hugging the pair, "Thank you! Thank you!"

"Alright, alright, m now let us go so we can get you out of here," the Doctor struggled to free himself from Astrid's grip.

"Right, sorry," she stepped back, sheepishly fixing her uniform, "Just excited."

The Doctor nodded and walked towards a comms nearby, the ship lurching and rocking them as he reached, "Mr Frame, you still with us?"

~ 0 ~

Midshipman Frame was at the wheel, nearly having fallen from the lurch as well, "There's nothing more I can do. We've got only eight minutes left!"

"Don't worry, I'll get there."

"The bridge is sealed off!"

~ 0 ~

"Yeah, yeah, working on it. I'll get there, Mr Frame, somehow," the Doctor left the comms and turned for the group, "Mr Copper, look after these two please," he set a hand on Minerva's shoulder, "Astrid, look after him. Rickston, um...look after yourself. And I'll see you again, promise," he pecked Minerva on the lips, moving to leave when she yanked him by his arm back to her, "Minerva, I thought we discussed-"

But she had grabbed him by his lapels and pulled him down to her level for a very large, deep kiss that left them both panting for air when they had finally pulled away from each other.

"That is what I expect as the beginning of your apology when you get back, got it Martian?" Minerva kept her arm wound his neck, refusing to let go until it was very clear.

The Doctor could only nod, for a woman who never kissed anyone she sure had some moves that left him like putty in her arms.

She smiled with satisfaction, unwinding her arm and stepping back, "You take care, okay?"

"Y-yes, I'll see you later!" he winked and ran off.

"Well, c'mon then newest box of wonders companion," Minerva swung her arm around Astrid's shoulders as they headed for the reception room.

"Box of wonders?"

"Yeah, it's my nickname for the TARDIS. It's brought me so many wonders," she sighed in content, "I'm sure it'll bring you many too."

~ 0 ~

The Doctor ran into a small kitchen where in less than two seconds he was surrounded by four Host. He grabbed a pot by the handle and was fully prepared to use it as a weapon, "Wait, wait, wait, wait! Security protocol one! Do you hear me? One! One!" he shouted and they all stopped, "Okay, that gives me three questions. Three questions to save my life, am I right?"

"Information: correct."

He frowned, "No, that wasn't one of them. I didn't mean it. That's not fair. Can I start again?"

"Information: no."

His frown turned into a pout, "No, no! No, no, no. That wasn't one either. Blimey. One question left. One question. So, you've been given orders to kill the survivors but survivors must therefore be passengers or staff, but not me. I'm not a passenger. I'm not staff. Go on, scan me. You must have bio records. No such person on board. I don't exist therefore...you can't kill me. Therefore, I'm a stowaway and stowaways should be arrested and taken to the nearest figure of authority. And I reckon the nearest figure of authority is on Deck 31. Final question: am I right?"

"Information: correct."

"Brilliant. Take me to your leader," he dropped the pan, smiling with content, "I've always wanted to say that."

~ 0 ~

The group arrived into the reception room, Astrid using the EMP to bring down the awaiting Host.

"Rickston, seal the doors, make the room secure. Mr Copper, keep an eye on the Host," Minerva instructed, Astrid give him the EMP, "Astrid, do you think you could check the computer for the SOS?"

"Who put you in charge?" Rickston frowned at the girl's authorative tone she had taken.

"When the Doctor isn't here, I''m second in command," Minerva walked over to Astrid who had slammed her fists on the computer, "What is it?"

"It's down," Astrid turned to the teleport bracelets, an idea popping into her head, "Oh..."

"Yeah, I remembered they were still up here," Minerva moved beside her.

"Should we?" Astrid asked her, unsure how she should manage this new "companionship" in the best way, "Or do we listen?"

"Astrid Peth, if there's one thing you should know about traveling with the Doctor is..." Minerva strapped on the teleport bracelet, "...never listen to what the Martian orders you to do, especially when he's your boyfriend."

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was being willingly escorted down to Deck 31, the Host storage facility. There were small structural damages and small fires, but that wasn't of concern for the Doctor yet.

"Now that is what you call a fixer-upper. Come on then, Host with the most, this ultimate authority of yours, who is it?" he asked, two doors sliding open behind him, making him turn around, "Ooh, that's clever. That's an omnistate impact chamber. Indestructible. You can survive anything in that, eh?" a small vehicle started wheeling out, "Sit through a supernova or a shipwreck. Only one person can have the power and the money to hide themselves onboard like this and I should know, 'cause..."

The vehicle was actually a giant life support system for Max Capricorn, the head of the ship and company...only he was just a head now, "My name is Max," his gold tooth glinted.

"It really does that," the Doctor paused in surprise. But he had to snap out of it fast, he had to hurry and deal with this guy so he could get back to Minerva and begin that apology...

"Who the hell is this?" Max asked.

"I'm the Doctor. Hello."

"Information: stowaway," the Host responded.

"Well..."

"Kill him," Max ordered.

"Oh, no, no! Wait, but you can't. Not now. Come on, Max...You've given me so much good material like...How to get ahead in business. See "head"? "Head in business"? No?" the Doctor was really losing it there.

"Oh, ho ho, the office joker. I like a funny man. No one's been funny with me for years."

"I can't think why..."

"176 years of running the company have taken their toll."

"Yeah, but...nice wheels," the Doctor gestured to the car, all in all it was a pretty nice thing.

"No, a life-support system in a society that despises cyborgs. I've had to hide away for years. Running the company by hologram. Host, situation report."

"Information: Titanic is still in orbit."

"Let me see," Max moved forwards and the Doctor stepped out of his way, "We should have crashed by now. What's gone wrong?" he frowned as he stared down at the running engines, "The engines are still running! They should have stopped!"

"When they do, the Earth gets roasted. I don't understand. What's the Earth got to do with it? It's got really lovely people..." the Doctor nearly pouted, how could anyone want to destroy Minerva?

"This interview is terminated."

"No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Neither of them noticed Astrid peeking around a corner. She was actually pretty nervous of what she could do down there on her own. After insisting with Midshipman Frame to get her and Minerva teleportation power to come down here, they'd only managed to get him to agree sending one of them. Minerva stated that she would come and so Astrid agreed, understanding that the brunette had someone she deeply cared for down here while Astrid really only wanted to just help. The best way to help was letting Minerva do what she wanted. Unfortunately for them both, the power had gone wrong and Astrid was sent instead, leaving a pretty peeved Minerva behind.

"Hold on! Hold on! Hold on! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! I can work it out. It's like a task. I'm your apprentice. Just watch me," the Doctor frantically asked, the sudden death of his not a play thing anymore. He had a girlfriend to get back to, he could not just die anymore, "...Business is failing and you wreck the ship so that makes things even worse. Oh yes! No. Yes. The business isn't failing, it's failed. Past tense."

"My own board voted me out. Stabbed me in the back."

"If you had a back. So..."

Astrid moved forwards...

"You scupper the ship, wipe out any survivors in case anyone's rumbled you and the board find their shares halved in value. Oh, but that's not enough. No, 'cause if a Max Capricorn ship hits the Earth, it destroys an entire planet. Outrage back home. Scandal! The business is wiped out."

"And... the whole board thrown in jail for mass murder," Max smirked, it truly was the perfect plan.

"While you sit there, safe inside the impact chamber."

"I have men waiting to retrieve me from the ruins and enough off-world accounts to retire me to the beaches of Pentaxico Two where the ladies, so I'm told, are very fond of...metal."

"So that's the plan. A retirement plan. 2000 on this ship, 6 billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered. And why? Because Max Capricorn is a loser," the Doctor spat, angry this man was responsible for the Van Hoffs death, Bannakaffalatta's, Minerva's safety...for revenge.

"I never lose..." Max declared.

"You can't even sink the Titanic."

"Oh, but I can, Doctor. I can cancel the engines from here."

An alarm started to sound...

Engines closing.

"You can't do this!" the Doctor cried, two Host holding the Doctor by the arms and pulled him away from Max.

"Not so clever now, Doctor. A shame we couldn't work together. You're rather good. All that banter yet not a word wasted. Time for me to retire. The Titanic is falling. The sky will burn. Let the Christmas inferno commence. Oh! Oh, Host! Kill him," Max ordered, the Host not holding the Doctor removed it's halo to strike the him.

"Mr, Capricorn!" Astrid shouted, freezing everyone in their places, even the Host. She was currently in a forklift, "I resign," she started the forklift and went towards Max.

"Astrid, don't!" the Doctor struggled to stop her, the Host still holding him back

Astrid lifted the front of Capricorn"Capricorn"s life support vehicle, managing to bring up its tires. However, his rear tires still had enough traction to cause a standoff. The Host that was about to strike the Doctor threw it's halo at Astrid, missing her for a part of the forklift instead.

"He's cut the break line!" the Doctor exclaimed, but the blonde didn't listen.

She lifted the fork higher, completely lifting Capricorn off the ground, and stepped on the gas. But just as she was about to fall forwards along with the forklift and Capricorn, there was a blue light and Minerva flashed on the step of the forklift.

"What are you-" Astrid blinked, seeing Minerva's eyes completely blue for a brief second and her arms covered in bits of ice before she was yanked off the forklift, landing on the edge of the cliff.

"Minerva!" the Doctor called, completely terrified.

It all happened too fast.

Minerva looked at the Doctor, her eyes reverting to jade-green, before he could notice, her eyes watery as she knew what would happen. She tried to jump off the forklift before it fell down.

Her hands managed to grab onto the edge, "I can't...I'm slipping," she started to sniffle as she looked down to the running engines.

"No!" the Doctor tried breaking free from the Host, their leader still wasn't completely 'dead' and so his orders were still intact.

"Come up, Minerva," Astrid grunted as she tried pulling the woman up, "Come...up!"

The Doctor finally broke free from the Hosts and started running towards the women.

"See the world, Astrid," Minerva offered her a sad, teary smile.

...and then her hands slipped from Astrid's.

"NOOOOO!" the Doctor fell to his knees right beside Astrid, looking down in horror as his Minerva, his Clever Girl, his girlfriend plummeted down to her death. He had to look away, a coward he was that he couldn't dare look at his failure.

He had failed Minerva, completely failed her.

Titanic falling. Voyage terminated.

"Doctor!" Astrid shook his arm, understanding he was shocked of the death, but there was still a whole planet to save, "Please! Help us!"

No one saw a blue light rush down before Minerva actually hit the fire underneath. The clever girl faded, only the tips of her hair faintly touching the fire.

The Doctor was struggling to force himself, to remember the other 6 million people on the planet. That included Martha Jones and Minerva's grandmother...

...but Minerva...she...she was...no...NO.

"Please," Astrid begged, in tears for the loss they just witnessed, "Save us."

But the Doctor looked down the engines...there was no one anymore. Minerva had probably submerged down the raging fires...

He winced terribly at the thought...had she died before reaching the fires? Or was she being burned alive? He looked away, unable to see the place of his fail...of her death.

"Doctor!" Astrid suddenly gasped, "The bracelets! The teleportation bracelets! She had one on, and..."

He blinked...seeing where her thoughts had gone to.

"If the ship is saved then maybe a fraction of power could be left and..."

The Doctor had already bolted to his feet and ran off.

Astrid quickly jumped to her feet and ran after him.

~ 0 ~

Midshipman Frame screamed as the Doctor and Astrid literally broke through the floor of the bridge.

"Deadlock broken."

The Doctor climbed through tandem stood, Astrid struggling but eventually doing it as well.

"Ah, Midshipman Frame at last!" the Doctor greeted, for politeness reasons, but the face he wore was not the kind to greet...

"Uh, the Host!" Midshipman Frame reminded.

"Controller dead they divert to the next highest authority and that's me," the Doctor headed for the wheel.

"There's nothing we can do. There's no power. The ship's gonna fall."

"Titanic falling."

"Yeah, yeah, what's your first name?"

"Alonzo."

That actually managed to surprise him, "You're kidding me..."

Both Frame and Astrid glanced at each other, "What?" Frame asked, confused.

"That's something else I've always wanted to say...Allons-y Alonzo," the Doctor mumbled to himself, recalling Minerva's giggles at his "stupid made up word".

He had to hurry. He had to...his mind was all jumbled up and the only thing he could think of was her, the clever girl, the one who just needed to come back. And he was gonna make it so.

The ship lurching reminded him of the problem. He tried to steer as they fell straight towards the Earth's atmosphere, Frame and Astrid screaming for their lives. The ship burned as the speed ignited.

And alarm sounded and the Doctor used his foot to check, his eyes widening at the impact zone.

"Oh great..." the Doctor muttered, using his foot to dial, "Hello, yes, um...could you get me Buckingham Palace?" he paused for alarm moment until they answered, "Listen to me! Security Code 771! Now get out of there!"

~ 0 ~

The Queen of London rushed down a hallway of the Buckingham Palace, still in a dressing gown and curlers.

A footman ran beside her, carrying a corgi, "Open the door!"

~ 0 ~

The newsstand man stepped out of his Kiosk and looked up at the sky, seeing the big ship, "Don't you dare, you aliens! Don't you dare!"

~0~

Engine active. Engine active.

The Doctor pulled back on the wheel, sending Frame and Astrid back against the wall. With great strain, the Doctor regained control of the wheel, managing just by a hair you moss the Buckingham Palace. He gasped deeply, unable to believe he had actually managed to save the whole bloody planet...and fail one person, the most important person.

~ 0 ~

Outside the Buckingham Palace, the Queen was waving at the passing ship, "Thank you, Doctor! Thank you. Happy Christmas!"

~ 0 ~

Sensing they were out of trouble, Astrid and Frame let out a big relief, even managing a laugh. The Doctor, on the other hand, remained somber, steering in silence. He had to place the stupid ship on idle so he could rush back to the reception room...

~ 0 ~

"Doctor," Astrid called in a feeble voice, the man still standing at the wheel, "We did it..."

"Not the person I strive to saved," he muttered then ran like the wind to the reception room, "Rickston, sonic, NOW!" he yelled, Rickston and Mr. Copper flinching. Rickston threw the sonic over, "Mr. Copper, the teleports, have they got emergency settings?"

"I don't know. They should have," Mr. Copper looked around, seeing Astrid and Frame walk in, "Where's, um..uh..." Astrid shook her head.

"Minerva fell, Mr. Copper. She fell. What's the emergency code?"

"Uh, let me see..."

"What the hell are you doing?" Midshipman Frame asked, the Doctor working on the teleport machine like mad.

"I can bring her back."

"If a passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport, their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis so that we can just trigger the shift," Mr. Copper explained.

"There!" the Doctor stood and turned around, a faint glowing beginning to appear, "C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!" the glow turned blue, but nothing happened, "Only halfway there. Come on," he adjusted the inner workings of the teleport, "Feed back the molecule grid, boost it with the restoration matrix," but the teleport sparked, "No, no, no, no! Need more phase containment."

"Doctor," Astrid called, already knowing it just wouldn't work.

"No! If I can just link up the surface suspension..."

"Doctor, she's gone," Mr. Copper said, sorrow for him already bursting within.

"I just need to override the safety. I can do it!"

"Doctor, let her go."

"NO!" he yelled, making everyone jump. He kicked the teleport in frustration and turned around, showing them all he was close to tears, "I just got her and I lost her! I can't just let it go!" that was the most ridiculous thing he ever heard of, how could he let the most amazing woman go?

"But there's nothing to do," Astrid softly said, the guilt stirring inside her. Minerva was dead because of her.

"I can't do anything!" the Doctor shook his head, dropping to his knees as he stared at the blue glow across, simply light was what it was. He couldn't even bring Minerva's ghost back... "I failed her, I lost her..."

He had done everything to keep her safe, everything in his power. He sent her back to the reception room to keep her alive while he would deal with Capricorn. He promised her snicker doodles for Christmas, a big grand apology after he returned. He promised her he would be back...and she died.

She was gone.

How could he possibly move on from this? How would he explain to Martha that he had let her best friend die just hours after they had left her. How would he explain that to Isadora? He promised her he'd take care of Minerva with his life...how could he explain her death?

Astrid looked at the blue light suddenly speed out the window. She slowly approached the Doctor, cautiously placing her hand on his shoulder, making sure he wouldn't lash at her or anything. When she heard him begin to quietly weep, she dropped to his side, giving him a side hug, both mourning a good woman.

~ 0 ~

Somewhere in an open space in London, the TARDIS awaited...a faint blue glow at its top, just fading as the Doctor, Astrid, and Mr. Copper approached.

The Doctor remembered Minerva's promise to Mr. Copper to save him from jail. He couldn't let Copper go, that would be against Minerva's wishes. If he could please her in the slightest, even in her death, than he would. Astrid, having no where else to go, was brought along, but he would have to talk about their offer to bring her along the TARDIS...

Without Minerva, he just couldn't.

"So, Great Britain is part of, uh, "Europee" just across the British Channel you've got Great France and Great Germany..." Mr. Copper was explaining, really doing it to try and distract the Doctor, the man solemnly walking ahead of he and Astrid.

"No, no, it's just - it's just France and Germany. Only Britain is great..." the Doctor mumbled, barely heard by the pair.

"Oh, and they're all at war with the continent of Ham-erica?"

"No, well...not yet, uh...could argue that one," he sighed, arriving at the TARDIS, "There she is. Survive anything."

"The box of wonders," Astrid smiled at the blue box, the Doctor wincing and glancing back at her.

Those were Minerva's words...

Astrid smiled sheepishly, seeing the Doctor's remembrance, "She told me about it...the box of wonders," she walked towards the box, placing a palm on it, "She said it brought a lot of wonders to her..."

The Doctor stepped towards her, gathering the courage to let her down easily, "Astrid-"

"I don't want to come along anymore," she said quietly, seeing him blink in surprise, even Copper was a bit shocked and he didn't even understand what was fully going on, "I can't. Not, not after what happened," Astrid sighed, "She died because of me. I can't travel in this box, being happy...when this happened. I can't. I won't."

The Doctor nodded, respecting her wishes. He was secretly thankful he had declined all on her own. That was one less problem he had to deal with.

"I'll stay here, on Earth, if that's possible," she continued, walking backing to Copper.

"Just lead a quiet life, please," the Doctor said, she nodding.

"And, uh, what about me?" Mr. Copper looked between them. Astrid was young she could easily find a job, even marry a nice human man...but he, am old man, what could he do to survive?

"Give me that credit card," the Doctor held his hand out, "Take care of each other, this will be for you and her."

"But that's just petty cash, spending money. It's all done by computer. I - I didn't really know the currency so I thought a million might cover it."

"A million? Pounds?" the Doctor gaped.

"That enough for trinkets?"

"Mr Copper, a million pounds is worth 50 million credits."

"How much?" Copper and Astrid blinked, glancing at Rachel other.

"50 million and 56."

"I - We've got money!"

"Yes, you have," the Doctor handed them back the card.

"Oh my word. Oh my vot! Oh my goodness me! I – Ya-ha!"

"It's all yours - Planet Earth. Now that's a retirement plan. But just you be careful, though."

"We'll take good care of each other," Astrid assured, "He'll be like my grandfather, I'll be good to him."

"But I can have a house, a proper house, with a garden, and - and a door, and..." Copper was just too excited about all this, "Oh, Doctor, I will made you proud," he hugged the Doctor, "And - and I can have a kitchen with chairs, and windows, and lace..."

Astrid chuckled, but stopped as the Doctor turned around, unlocking the TARDIS, "Doctor..." she called, making him freeze but not turning back, "...I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I won't ever forget Minerva, ever. She was the first, kind passenger I met...and I've worked for a very long time. She saved my life, and I couldn't save hers. That's something I can't and won't ever forgive myself for."

The Doctor nodded, glancing back to see her give him one last look before turning to Mr. Copper, both walking away.

He unlocked the door, moving to step inside...but he couldn't. He couldn't face the console, a lonely, lonely box...with Minerva's rooms, her things still there. He left the doors and walked to the lake. He stared out, the city lighted up for Christmas night. Everyone was out there, celebrating Christmas with their family, their friends, their loved ones...

He would've been celebrating as well, a new type of Christmas. One where he would kiss his girlfriend under a mistletoe, until she couldn't breathe cause of her lack of a respiratory bypass system. She would then teach him, yet again, how to bake snicker doodles, and he would make a mess again. She would kiss him, tell him it's alright then salvage a batch of cookies for them. They would eat their cookies, make some brownies and get hot chocolate...

It would've been perfect.

But he failed her.

And for some reason, his mind couldn't help but drift to last year...he should've realized from the beginning of that past year. When they lost Rose, and he realized how much he ignored Minerva, he resolved to focus entirely on Minerva and learn who she was. He didn't realize it then, their closeness, their bantering...it was because something had clicked. Something small, but that was how it started, no? He didn't want Minerva to see Leonardo Da Vinci anymore cause he claimed to her, and himself, that the man was twice her age and not good enough for her, but in reality...he might have been a little jealous. He didn't know it but his hearts did. How could he not realize his feelings for her sooner? How could he have been so stupid? He had to go and waste all that time because of his feelings for Kaeya. Minerva, she had always been there for him, even when he didn't deserve her. She always stood by him, comforted him, and was just...a best friend. He waited too long, wasted too much time, and now...now the clever girl was just gone.

And it was his fault.

He should've ran faster, faster to grab her hands and pull her up. He didn't understand what she was doing in the engines in the first place, along with Astrid. He left them both to go and deal with the problem himself. But Minerva was Minerva, and he should've known she would've tried to come and help him. He should've done something...how useless he turned out to be. He could save everyone, six billion people of a planet...and he couldn't save his girlfriend?

There was a strong glow of blue emerging behind him, cutting off his solitary thoughts. He glanced over his shoulder just as a strong, icy-cold wind picked up. He turned around to see a blue light across from him, glowing stronger with each second.

"Show yourself," he ordered, not in the mood for another enemy.

A collection of silver particles collected at the center of the light until a form, a humanoid form, began emerging. The Doctor could hear overlapping words being whispered, but he couldn't make them out.

He covered his eyes as the light became an all-time brightness, nearly blinding one. And when it disappeared...

...Minerva fell forwards, unconscious.

"Minerva!" the Doctor shouted, running over and falling to his knees beside her, lifting her body up to his lap, "Minerva!? Minerva!?" he shook her, unable to grasp what had happened.

She was freezing cold, something no human could ever withstand. He listened intently to her heart and caught a faint beating, a normal beat for a human. While he checked her over, he didn't see that same blue light reappear at the top of the TARDIS, swirling around for a second or to before racing up to the sky and beyond.

"Minerva? Minerva, please wake up," the Doctor begged, his voice breaking as the Clever Girl remained unconscious, "Please, don't go. I need you, please," he pushed strands of her hair off her face, growing frantic and desperate as her eyes stayed closed, "I promise you I'll take better care of you. You'll be my life, my everything. Stay and I'll show you how much you mean to me, please," he shook her gently.

His hearts zinged when he felt her slightly move. She quietly fussed, her eyes opening halfway, "It's cold," she mumbled, her eyes snapping shut as her head lulled to his chest.

He let out a big laugh, a big shaky laugh with tears in her eyes. She was alive. She was alive and cold, but alive. She was with him again, in his arms, breathing! He couldn't grasp that idea of it happened but that cold, prickly wind seemed familiar...

But right now, he didn't give a damn.

...she was alive!

Minerva's eyes finally opened again, feeling doozy but she supposed that was what could happen after you died and came back to life, "Hi..." she whispered.

The Doctor's eyes shimmered with tears, "Hello," he whispered.

"Is it still Christmas?" her eyes looked around, slowly realizing she was in his lap with her Christmas date dress and he in his unlucky suit.

"Just for you."

"And Astrid? Is she okay?"

"Yes, you saved her you little hero," he tapped her nose, making her smile, "You died saving her..." his own smile faded, "...you died."

"I didn't die..." she closed her eyes as she tried recalling what had happened, "...I didn't even touch the fire. There was this light...and it was cold," the Doctor nodded, knowing he'd have to look into that as well, "But I had to save Astrid. She wanted to see the world and I already saw it. There was no more power to go down, but then...a blue light..." she whispered as she remembered that right before suddenly finding herself being teleported there had been some light near.

"Don't you ever do that to me again," the Doctor begged her, resting his forehead on hers, his eyes closing as he took her in, her vanilla scent, her heart beat, her breath, her everything. She was here again and she would never leave.

"I'll try," she stared at him, feeling guilty for putting him into that state.

But she had to do it. She couldn't let Astrid die, not when the blonde wanted to see the world like she did. Astrid had to survive and if Minerva died, she died trying to save another person. She couldn't think of a better reason to die: die to help someone else.

"I swear to you, Minerva Souza, I will never let you go again," he shut his eyes hard, like he was making a wish that he hoped with all he had would come true. But he was making an important promise, a swearing, that he intended to live up to until he died, "I am going to take care of you, make you happy, give you everything you deserve."

She smiled softly, her heart, beating slower as it was, skipped a few beats and there, "My Martian..." she whispered, her hand reaching up to his cheek, "...you are incredible."

"You know what?" the Doctor's eyes opened and lowered to her lips, "You've got to let me make my apology."

She noticed where his gaze had fallen to and managed to blush through her prickly cold skin, "I've gotta apologize too..."

That was his cue and he went straight for it. He kissed her with so much emotion, so much hunger, for her. He had to show her how much she meant, even if it was too early, even if it was their first date, she died and she had to know what that caused. He lifted her up in his arms as he stood up, the kiss never breaking as he fumbled his way to the TARDIS, the doors, for once, opening with ease. They closed after them, even locking on their own as the pair headed for the console.

The Doctor set her to her feet, his arm winding around her waist, his lips still attached to hers. His free arm found the controls and started up the TARDIS. The ship lurched soothingly for the first time, now in the Vortex.

"Mm, guess what?" the Doctor pulled back only slightly as he still meant to kiss her more and more.

"What?"

"I met an Alonzo today," he informed, her eyes widening, "Mr. Frame of the ship."

"Alonsy Alonzo, hm," Minerva thought about it for a second, her hands staying put on his face, "Guess I should congratulate you for that," she pulled him back to his lips, setting soft, sweet, kisses on them, "You know what?" she mumbled against his lips.

"What?" he asked, muffled by their kisses.

"We're making out," she teased, biting back a chuckle, "My first make out."

"Hm, I just snogged the cleverest human," he smirked, kissing her a bit harder for effect.

"I'm making out with an alien," she pulled back, the thought of their different origins barely coming into mind.

"Is that a problem?" he asked with genuine nervousness.

She pretended to think hard on it, "Mm...I'm not sure...you're an alien...I'm a human..."

"Minerva..."

"Martian," she giggled again, and he sighed, "Why kiss a human when I can snog a Time Lord, ahem, Martian."

"I am not a Martian," he said tiredly. He cursed Donna Noble for giving her that name...

"Hm, I prefer Martian's to snog, perhaps I could go find one then."

He refused to let her go, "Maybe I can be a Martian for a little while."

"I thought so," she winked, resuming their snog session.

~ 0 ~

Isadora Lozano was busy baking snicker doodles for Christmas. She'd be spending it alone as her daughter was busy working and her son was some where in Switzerland apparently. There was a knock on the door, however, and she left her work to go answer the door.

She found her granddaughter, Minerva, with the Doctor...with interlaced hands. She raised her eyebrows, looking between one another. She just chuckled when they both blushed, no idea how to explain how it happened. But it wasn't a surprise, it was quite obvious, even from 1969, the Doctor's eyes glimmered each time he looked at Minerva. And Minerva, well, it was just plain obvious the moment she had returned.

"Think you can set two more plates for us, grandma?" Minerva asked.

"It would be am honor to spend Christmas with my granddaughter again, and her new boyfriend," she stepped aside and let them in.

"Merry Christmas, grandma," Minerva encased her in a big hug as soon as she had turned after closing the doors.

Minerva had died, and without saying goodbye to her grandmother. Now, she was alive, with her boyfriend and her grandmother. The Doctor figured after such an awful experience perhaps Minerva would like to spend a Christmas with her grandmother as well. He could run all those tests on her after Christmas. After the Master, Martha's departure, and the Titanic, she deserved a nice peaceful night. Minerva was completely excited to share a Christmas with him and her grandmother, claiming now she could teach him how to really bake the most delicious snicker-doodle cookies in the world with the help of the original baker, her grandmother.

#ocappreciation #doctor who #10th doctor #doctor who fics #dw fics #10th doctor imagines #10th doctor fics #dw imagine #oc: Minerva Souza #oc: Kaeya Louvier #fic: star crossed #fd: doctor who

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pokeshippingflashfic · 4 years

Note

Hi! Someone sent this request to mythgirlimagines and I loved what she came up with. Could you come up with something else or expand on her idea please? :) link: mythgirlimagines(.)tumblr(.)com/post/190057630070/hello-could-you-do-some-hurtconfort-for-ash-and

(I went to ask @mythgirlimagines for use/expansion of her headcanons before writing this. Here’s hoping I do it justice for everyone. Not really sure what to expand on but I don’t mind fleshing out the situation in prose. PS: User @nebli suggested the stories Ash tells of his younger!childhood. I’m bad at headcanons so I asked for help.)

You practically bite into your own arm to muffle the deep inhale of brisk late night air as it filters into your lungs, bracing yourself stock still behind a grand oak with easiest access to the stream nearby your group’s campsite.

Your redheaded companion is sitting with her back to you at the edge of the water, unoccasionally sniffling and shoulders heaving in a motion you’re semi-familiar with because, hey, it’s not like you’ve never cried before in your life.

Oh. Misty’s… crying?

That’s… that was new. Or rather, new-ish. You could scarcely remember her shedding a tear or few during the last few years on the road, though you think there was something back in the hidden village where you met Bulbasaur, and then there was the Lavender Tower… (How do you even remember any of that anyway?)

You shake yourself from your reverie, returning to present thought process.

You’d wondered why she was missing from the campsite. And yet you told yourself you were only getting up to use the nearest foliage as your bathroom and not to search for her in the darkness while all other companions (your Pokemon as well as resident caretaker Brock, returned to your group after his temporary departure in the Orange Islands) slept the night peacefully away… but here you are almost ten minutes later after walking obstinately farther than was needed to relieve yourself.

You should have remained wrapped up snug in your sleeping bag.

After all, what are you supposed to do with this? Though you loathe to admit it, you can barely handle Misty’s ire and passion and weird girly personality in any other instance; what are you supposed to do with a Misty who’s crying alone in the middle of the night?

You sigh as faintly as possible, a few memories fluttering to the surface of your consciousness in response to that question.

Misty following you out to the deck of a large cruise liner and begging to know why you look so troubled, offering you rather obvious advice in hindsight… but it sure helped to know she understood.��

Misty reminding you that Butterfree is leaving to start a family of his own with his new mate and you’d better take this chance to say your goodbyes while you have it… because that was more important than sulking over losing a friend.

Misty stalking rigidly into your assigned guest room at Indigo Plateau after your loss in the league, strong-arming you out of your brooding state.

Misty appearing over you after your hometown battle with Gary, a faint expression of sympathy flitting across her face before she points out that you’d better get a move on and start your trek to Johto if you don’t want to fall even further behind your childhood rival.

You roll your eyes so intensely in response to all these rather telling signs that you feel a bit dizzy a moment later.

Misty is crying alone in the middle of the night… and you know what you have to do.

But how to go about it? By the grace of all gods, it seems she hasn’t noticed your presence yet (though it’s assumed that she’s rather preoccupied). However the last thing you want is to set her off down the path of righteous fury and end up her victim.

Tsking to yourself, you squint your eyes shut again, brow creased in frustration. You’re thinking too much into this. It’s not like you to dedicate so much time to mollifying Misty of all people.

Instinct takes over and you bungle your way loudly through the foliage, sure to get her attention, making it look like an accident.

“Oh, uh, Misty. Funny running into you here.”

Stellar improvisation from the future number one Pokemon Master in the world.

However if she senses anything amiss in your approach, she doesn’t address it. Perhaps because she busies herself instead with wiping furiously at her splotched red cheeks, hiccuping and doing her utmost to rub the dry red from her eyes.

“I was just going to the bathroom,” you continue, “I didn’t know you were up too.”

Despite knowing your best option is to play innocent bystander… a twinging pierce briefly tugs in your chest over the thought of lying to her. But there’s no time to dwell, nope, gotta dig in whether she catches on or not.

“So anyway… Uh, is something wrong?” Yep, that sounded natural. Well, it’s not that it didn’t but you are suddenly overtly aware that you’ve never honestly asked this question of her since the start of your journey together. Instead the question was always a condescending rebuff in the middle of a fight.

Lips pursed, gaze averted, “… Of course not, Mr. Pokemon Master,” she responds in a brusque yet weak murmur. It’s not the least bit convincing. Well, you weren’t exactly expecting the confrontation to be a cakewalk…

Your initial approach had been sudden - element of surprise enough to distract her from her potential mortifying rage at being discovered in so compromising a demeanor. Over the past minute or so, you’ve cautiously edged yourself across the clearing, eventually coming to a stop just behind her before easing yourself into a sitting position at her side.

Welp… here you both are, you couldn’t help thinking warily, fingers drumming softly against your own knees, waiting for something to give.

Oh, and give something did as the redheaded girl beside you, in a much too far removed reaction compared to her previous attempt at concealing her despondence, suddenly leans forward, presses her rather wet and beet-colored face into your neck, one hand curling loosely around the hem of your sleeve to keep you there as she releases a sharp bawl.

Whoa, wait, mayday! you shriek internally, eyes wide and scalp and ears flushing uncomfortably hot. Alarms are ringing in uproarious, disorienting fashion and the panic sets in so instantaneous and intense that it’s enough to make you feel positively ill.

This doesn’t happen. This has never happened before between you two! What’s she thinking? What’re you supposed to do?!

It’s life or death, you know, as your instincts kick in, the hand closest to her reaching up and brushing the back of her neck, grasping her opposing shoulder and pulling her ever so slightly closer to you while she continues weeping.

It’s hard to tell if this is the right move or not. True, Misty hasn’t made any negative maneuver against you but she also hasn’t given you any signal that her mood is improving. Doing your best to smother your impatience, you internally count the seconds, minutes as they pass, staring vaguely into the dimly lit distance while the teenage girl beside you carries on grossly using your sleeve as her new personal tissue.

Ick, the thought crosses your mind before you push it aside and barrel forward, unable to take the awkward tension anymore… But what to do about it?

“Ya know, when I was a kid,” there’s a brief pause when, bless her, Misty offers a skeptical glance between sniffles, “Uh, a younger kid, Gary and I were racing around the outskirts of Pallet and I tripped over him and landed in this lake nearby. There was a school of Magikarp swimming by and one of ‘em stopped to slap me in the face with its tail ‘cause I disrupted their formation.”

Despite her gloom, you hear a distinct snort in response to your story. Feeling invigorated by your success, you continue with your distracting babble. At the same time you bide your time coming up with your next contribution. You want to help her but you also don’t wanna offer her any ammunition she can use for blackmail later on.

“Once, there was this time when my mom was super busy with work and I was worried she was gonna get sick so I tried to make her some homemade juice using fruits and veggies from our garden. It, uh… I wasn’t paying attention and it ended up all over the kitchen,” you finish rather lamely, wistful as the memory came to mind.

This time you’re rewarded with a faint, faltering giggle. It impresses you just how much making someone - Misty - feel a little better can fill you with so much pride.

Still, though the actual crying begins to subside, her features are contorted with a sense of mourning.

“So…” you try again apprehensively, “are ya ever gonna tell me what’s wrong?”

She stiffens, shrugging then shaking her head. A fleeting question crosses your mind. What’s more important; your curiosity over what may have happened or the intent of encouraging a friend when they’re feeling low…?

Of course, you know the answer in a heartbeat.

“Okay well… are you ok - uh, will you be okay?”

A pause, one final brush between her face and your sleeve before she pulls a few inches away with a sigh.

“Nngh, yeah… I’ll be… I’m better now. I mean, not one hundred percent,” she elaborates at the sight of your raised brow, “but better than I was b - before you came along.” She finishes her statement with her facial features arranged in a complicated expression.

“I guess I should thank you, Ash.” And, unable to help herself, she adds, “Who woulda known you’d be good company in an emotional crisis?”

Ah, well if she can throw out a line like that then she must be telling the truth.

“Well, you know…” you reply almost bashfully, puffing up your chest before sobering up. “But I’m glad… that you’re okay. So wait, I guess you’re heading back to bed now?”

“Oh, um…” She appears slightly troubled over such a probing suggestion, buying time, focusing on wiping her cheeks dry. “I still feel a little restless. I’ll probably just stay here and stare out at the water. You know how much I love this kinda view.”

“Then I’ll stay too,” you reply automatically, so much so that your eyes widen, shocked at what your mouth had decided to commit you to without conscious thought. “I mean... if that’s okay.”

She blinks, gaze never leaving your person, though she moves her cursory glance up and down as if checking for remorse or bad intentions behind your offer. And yet, notwithstanding your awe, you find you don’t regret your decision. Finally her survey softens and, taking things a step further, she resituates herself so that she can rest her head against your shoulder again.

The initially jarring predicament lulls into acceptance. You find that you rather like don’t mind relaxing with Misty in such close proximity, especially when she’s in a good mood though, in retrospect, you wouldn’t mind it if she wasn’t either, provided you were in the process of helping her.

You won’t talk about it tomorrow but you also quite enjoy the way your arms bump together before she laces her fingers with your own, spending the final twenty or so minutes of your time together wordlessly holding hands.

Some say love is truest when you know as much as you can about the other person… but on this night, in this instance, love is respecting a boundary and offering whatever support you can when it’s needed despite your ignorance.

(Yeah, by the time the two of them do head back to the campsite, Ash is practically ready to wet himself. Lol. And, as a reminder, this blog is currently - and always but definitely currently since I’m trying to get back into writing - accepting new requests via ask! Please view the rules and FAQ as needed!)

#pokeshipping #flash fic #fanfiction #aaml #ash x misty #requests #word count: 1917 #nebli

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doctorsgirl262 · 4 years

Text

I Saw You From Afar (Part 1)

Fandom - High School Musical: The Musical: The Series

Characters - Ricky Bowen, E.J., Ashlyn, Big Red

Ships - Ricky Bowen x OC

Genre(s) - fluff

Warning(s) - mention of family problems

Summary - Imagine if Big Red had a twin sister that happened to be a part of the production of High School Musical: The Musical, and who happens to be best friends with E.J. and Ashlyn Caswell.

Word Count - 1190

Note - I own nothing but Charlotte. This will be a multi-part story. This is my first time posting on Tumblr, so I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think and what needs to be improved. I would really appreciate any feedback you have for me. Thanks for reading! Big thanks to @whimsical-fantasies for letting me know that it’s Ashlyn, not Ashley. Sorry for the mistake there.

“So you’re telling me that while you were at theater camp you got together with Nini. The Nini that has been dating Ricky Bowens for over a year?”

I was lying on the floor in between my two best friends Ashley and E.J. Caswell. We had been holed up in Ashley’s room for a while now trying to catch up with E.J. who had been gone for the last four months at a theater camp.

“I did you a favor, Char. Now that I’m dating Nini, Ricky is all yours,” he responded, tossing a ball up into the air. “But if you must know, we had started talking one day and it just seemed to click. I can’t believe that I had never talked to her before.”

“Aww, E, that’s sweet.” I smiled, choosing to ignore E.J.’s comment.

“Come on, Char. Ricky is finally single, and you’ve liked him for years. Why don’t you just ask him out?” Ashley asked, elbowing me in the arm lightly.

“I-I don’t think it’s a good idea. He just got out of a relationship with Nini-”

“-it’s been four months, Char. That’s plenty of time to get over it,” E.J. cut me off and I lean forward to glare at him.

“That’s besides the point. I don’t want to be a rebound. That is, if I could ever get him to like me,” I muttered, covering my face with my hands.

“You’re a party pooper,” E.J. pouted and I couldn’t help but let out a snort. I grabbed the pillow behind my head and wacked him in the face

E.J. hopped to his feet and grabbed some pillows off Ashley’s bed.

“Ashley! Save me!” I giggled, using my arms as a shield from E.J..

“Ooh, I’ll do you one better. Ricky,” Ashley called out in a sing-song voice. “Ricky, Charlotte needs her knight in shining armor!”

I snorted, reaching over to gently slap her. “Ash, that’s so uncalled for.”

“Well, maybe if you worked up the courage to actually ask him out, we wouldn’t do this,” E.J. suggested and I stuck my tongue out at him. “Haha, very fun. For the last time, I’m not asking him out.”

“If you don’t say anything by closing night, I’m gonna tell him,” Ashley said and I laughed while shaking my head. I knew she wouldn’t be able to do it.

“You guys are impossible,” I muttered.

“Suck it up, Char. You’re stuck with us, you chose us,” EJ consoled me as I threw my head into my hands.

“Man, I’m bad at picking the good people,” I joked, laughing as Ashley and E.J. gasped dramatically, throwing their hands over their hearts.

I quickly looked over at the alarm clock on Ashley’s bedside table and released a sigh. “I gotta go, guys. Promised Red I’d help make dinner.”

“I’ll give you a ride,” EJ stood up to offer me a hand.

“I’ll talk to you later, Ash,” I flashed a smile as I grabbed my bag and jacket from by the door.

“Let’s go, Char,” he said, throwing his arm over my shoulder as we walked out of her house.

“Don’t let Nini see us, she might get jealous,” I teased, pushing his arm off my shoulders so I could open the passenger door.

“Oh, haha,” EJ replied sarcastically as he started the car.

“Oh, come on, E. You know you love me,” I told him, jokingly winking at him.

“Yeah, yeah I do,” he said, flicking me in the ear before pulling out of Ashley’s driveway.

EJ and I have been best friends for years since he lives only three houses down from me. I had been outside drawing on my sidewalk as my brother biked up and down the street with his Ricky when EJ sat down next to me and started drawing with me. He complimented me on my drawing, and from then on we were the best of friends.

He was like an older brother to me, always making sure I had someone that I could look to for help. He was always there when I needed him.

He had introduced me to Ashley during the summer before he entered middle school, and it so happened to be Ashley was in the same grade as me. From then on out, Ashley became one of my best friends. The three of us hung out a lot when we had free time, but EJ and I were inseparable.

The drive to my house only took five minutes. I gave a quick thank you and goodbye to EJ, telling him that I’d see him in the morning, before walking into the house.

“Hey, Red! I’m home!” I called out, toeing off my shoes by the door. I smiled slightly to myself, seeing a pair of high top vans haphazardly sprawled out on the floor.

“Lottie, hey!”

I whipped around to see Ricky leaning against the wall directly across from me.

“Oh, hey, Ricky, How are you? How have things been?” I asked, slipping out of my jacket and hanging it up by the door.

“Oh, um. Not bad. It’s been a long summer break,” he responded, playing with the ring on his index finger.

“That’s good. Is your mom back in town?”

He shook his head. “Still in Chicago.”

“Do you… Do you need anything?” I asked as I walked towards him.

“Maybe one of your world famous hugs?” he asked with a laugh, which happened to be very contagious. I moved forward and wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head on his collarbone.

Ricky and I were unlikely friends, having met only through my brother. I played the piano, Ricky skateboarded. I was an overachiever, Ricky cruised by under the radar. But despite our differences, I enjoyed his presence. He was kind and caring and sweet and overall just a great guy.

Back in freshman year when Red had caught the flu, I had taken to spending more time with Ricky. We hadn’t really talked until that one week, and during the span of that week, we got to know each other really well. Ricky had opened up to me about his family troubles, his crush on Nini, and his self-esteem problems.

“Thanks, Lottie,” he whispered in my ear, squeezing me a bit tighter.

“Anytime, Skaterboy,” I said, retreating from the hug. “Oh, hey, real quick. Where you do get your hoodies? They’re really nice?”

Ricky tilted his head to the side, about to respond when Red walked into the living room, saying “Char, what did you have planned for dinner?”

I rolled my eyes jokingly at Ricky before walking into our kitchen. After rooting around in the pantry, I pulled out the ingredients to make a pizza.

“Well, are you going to help?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“I’ll take that as my que to head out. See you guys tomorrow morning,” Ricky answered, heading for the front door.

I leant out of the kitchen to look at Ricky. “Night, Ricky. See you at school,” I waved before going back to cook.

“Alright, Red. Get me some water, would you?”

#hsmtmts #ricky bowen #ricky x oc #ricky bowen x oc #big red #nini salazar roberts #ej caswell #ashley caswell #high school musical the musical the series #fanfiction

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buckyscrystalqueen · 4 years

Text

S.S. Desperation

Pairings: Bucky x Named Reader, Bucky x Lemon Breeland (Hart of Dixie)

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 5.765

A/N: More content for y’all from the paused fics file. Doesn’t have a definitive ending but probably won’t get one. Sorry!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite the fact that you had never been there, and had only spent a few hours there, Los Angeles looked like a chaotic, dismal mess. Even from a distance, you could practically hear the people yelling at each other over the obnoxious, blaring car horns that seemed so barbaric. It made you miss the silent serenity that was Bluebell. You scoffed to yourself, and shook your head as you finished your drink, almost disappointed with yourself for thinking that Bluebell was serene.

“I know that scoff.” A man with an accent you didn’t her back home chuckled next to you. You turned in your red heels and respectfully took off your sunglasses so he could see your whole face.

“I’m sorry?”

“That scoff.” He repeated as he showed you the blue wristband on his wrist, letting you know that he was part of the ‘singles cruise’ group, and reminding you that you needed to find a bracelet to cover the matching band you had on your own wrist. “That scoff either means ‘I can’t believe I let my friends talk me into this shit.’ Or ‘shit, I forgot my charger’.”

“Well, you happen to be wrong on both accounts.” You giggled in your Alabama accent. “I was scoffing because I had a brief moment of insanity where I thought that my hometown was serene.”

“What, you don’t think this is serene?” He joked as he gestured to the city in front of you. “Because I bet you win on that one.”

“I don’t get it.” You sighed as you pointed to Los Angeles in general. “Is it always so… loud?”

“I’m from New York, originally, so this is nothing on that. You get used to the noise, though.” He said as he reached up and pushed his long hair back behind his ear before leaning on the white rail. “And once you get used to it, it’s hard to live without it.”

“Oh, I didn’t sleep well at all last night in the hotel.” You said with a shake of your head as you put your sunglasses back on. “I’m used ta cicada’s and the state bird of Alabama flying in your ear.”

“What’s the state bird of Alabama?”

“Mosquitos.” He burst out laughing, and in the half second he looked away, you quickly fixed your hair and straightened out your thin strapped, light blue and white checkered dress from Draper James so that you looked presentable.

“So what’s your name, Ms. Alabama?”

“Lemon.”

“Lemon.” He repeated with a disbelieving tone. “Like the fruit?”

“The flower.” You giggled as as you pushed your hair back over your shoulder. “The lemon blossom.”

“I honestly don’t think I know what that is, sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be.” You said with a swipe of your hand. “Most people don’t. But now it’s your turn for a name.”

“Bucky. James, technically, but my middle name is Buchanan and I’ve gone by Bucky my entire life.”

“That is an interesting jump.” You laughed as you gently touched his arm for a moment, which made his gorgeous blue eyes dart down to the connection as if he didn’t believe it was real. “I like it all the same.”

“Can I get you a new drink?” He asked as he stood up and pointed to your empty glass.

“A Southern Belle.” You said as you handed him the empty glass with a smile. “Easy to remember, easier to make. Used to order it as a joke in college, but I’ve fell in love with it over the years.”

“One Southern Belle for the Southern Belle it is.” He said with a smile as he turned to head over to the bar. You habitually bit your lip to contain your smile for a second before mentally scolding yourself for doing.

“OK, so maybe this wasn’t the worst idea.” You set yourself up on one of the many lounge chairs on the back of the ship, where the singles group were told to meet in the welcome letter, and set your carry on bag on the chair beside you so that one of the other 100 singles didn’t claim it. You laid your dress out tastefully around your knees, the years of etiquette classes that had been pounded into every ounce of your being since birth still reigning supreme even though you had told yourself that you were not going to be the uptight Belle you were at home. You had a brief thought about taking your shoes off, when it was interrupted by a shadow and your drink.

“So let’s just get it out there.” Bucky said as he held out your cup while you put your bag down on your chair by your bent legs. You nodded your head and sat up just a little bit straighter in your lounge position as you took your drink from him with a smile. “What made you come on a singles cruise? And I know it wasn’t willingly, because you are way to gorgeous to have to resort to this to find a man.”

“Oh!” You gasped as you stirred your drink with a small shake of your head. “Well, I own a restaurant. Fancy’s, Bluebell’s number one fine dining restaurant… well, Bluebell’s only fine dining restaurant. And I should say ‘was’ because right now, it’s a wet ash covered mess because no matter how hard I work to go somewhere in my life, it seems to just burst into flames, figuratively and apparently literally. And on top of it, I have apparently ruined my reputation in the Southern social circle after getting left at the alter by my fiancé for another woman that didn’t even want him when push came to shove. So I was banished to the S.S. Desperation to find a man by my grandmother so I don’t become an old maid.” You gasped to catch your breath and quickly took a long gulp of your drink as Bucky tried to sort through your accent.

“Wow.” He said with a nod as he set down his beer. “OK, first of all, fire at the restaurant- is everyone OK?”

“Yes. Everyone is fine.”

“And, your hometown is called Bluebell?”

“Yes.”

“And your grandma made you come on the cruise because you got left at the alter?”

“Yes, well… in a round about way. Yes, she did.”

“Damn.” He said as he picked up his beer. “And I though getting dragged on to a singles cruise by friends after the Army was bad.”

“Oh, no. I’m probably the most screwed up person here, don’t worry about that.”

“No, doll. I’m almost positive I have you beat. See, I think you missed it but I was in the army. I willingly ran toward bullets and bad guys on a regular basis.”

“Thank you for your service.” You said quickly with a tip of your glass in his direction. “But I was Miss Cinnamon Cider…”

“I used to pick fights with kids twice my size with my boy, Steve, just because I could and I usually won.”

“I have worn a hoop skirt on a regular basis and not for Halloween.”

“I spent my cab fair trying to win a bear for some girl at Coney Island when I was a kid, and she didn’t even accept the bear when I won it so I had to carry it home on my back.”

“I raised my little sister when my mom walked out on us when I was 16.”

“I…”

“My grandmother forced me to go on a singles cruise.” You interrupted with a shake of your head. “I will always win here.”

“Alright, I’ll concede to that one just this time.” He chuckled as he tapped his bottle against your glass. “But this game is not done, Miss Apple Cider.”

“Miss Cinnamon Cider.” You said with a smile as you finally took your shoes off and pushed them down toward the end of the lounge chair. “And I can play this game all dame day. I lived in a small town where everybody is up in everybody else’s business. I got into a lot of fun in my day.”

“I got two weeks.” He replied as he kicked off his flip flops and got comfortable on his chair. “And probably just as many stories from growing up in Brooklyn.”

——

You were apprehensive about heading down the library, where the welcome event for the registered singles was being held. You could almost feel the desperation seeping through the door, and your stomach almost turned that you had been forced to debase yourself to this level, but at the same time, it wasn’t like there were any worth while options left in Bluebell. So just like you always did, you held your head up high, ran your hands over the front of your knee length black dress, and walked into the room.

“Hey! You made it!” You smiled at the sound of his voice and looked over at Bucky as he stepped away from the group of people he was talking to and came over to say hi.

“Didn’t realize I was late.” You said, honestly, as you kissed his cheek.

“You’re not.” He chuckled. “I’m just used to running fifteen minutes early.”

“See, now I didn’t want ta be standin’ down here all alone to add insult to injury so I’ve spent the last twenty minutes pacing my room.”

“Well next gathering, I’ll make sure I come get you so you’re not showing up early. Guys, this is Lemon. This is Sam, Karen, Channel, Steve, and Chelsea.”

“Kerri.” The first woman said as you shook her hand. “Your name is Lemon?”

“Like the flower.” You confirmed with a nod.

“So Bucky tells us you’re from Alabama.” Sam said as he sized up the new single woman in the group.

“Yes, I am.”

“She was Miss Cinnamon Cider.” Bucky said as he took a subtle half step toward you. “We have out very own beauty pageant queen, here.”

“It was a small pageant.” You insisted, modestly.

“My mother put me in beauty pageants when I was a kid.” Channel said as Bucky stepped away to grab you a glass of wine. “I think it’s monstrous to do that to kids.”

“My sister insisted on putting my nieces in pageants. Lasted about two months before my youngest niece flipped off a judge and the other one set the stage on fire. And good thing, too. Parent girls seem to always turn out… well… you know.”

“I feel like we should be concerned that your niece is a pyro.” Steve laughed, which made the small circle laugh as well. You nodded your head in agreement and startled the slightest bit when Bucky tapped your arm and handed you your glass.

“Got anything stronger?” You muttered under your breath before taking a drink as the small talk moved on to stories involving a camp fire. He looked over at you and smirked before nodding his head.

“Excuse us, guys.” He said as he put his hand on the small of your back and lead you away from the group, purposely taking your wine and putting it on one of the tables. “Let me show you something.”

“But your friends?”

“Screw ‘em.” He laughed as he pulled the door open for you and gestured you out of the library. “I see them all the damn time, and the whole point of this singles cruise is to meet someone you want to get to know. I met someone I want to get to know and I did my obligatory rounds on the deck and in that room when you left to take a nap and get ready.”

“So what, you’re not gunna give me a chance to shop around?” You teased as you stopped at the elevator beside him.

“OK, let me lay this out for you.” He said with a cocky smirk. “I know I rock a man bun, and I know I’m pretty buff. I know I’m pretty attractive but I’m no Dr. McDreamy by any stretch of the imagination.”

“The fact that you even know who that is is slightly disturbing.”

“My ex watched it.” He said quickly as he gestured you into the elevator in front of him. “Now, between me, and my two friends who you just met, we are the hottest guys in that group. I also know that you are not their type…”

“And I’m yours?” You interrupted again with a smile as he hit the 14 button.

“I haven’t figured that out yet.” He admitted as he leaned back against the wall and looked over at you. “But I’ll be damned if I have to compete with someone to figure it out.”

“And I have no say in the matter here, hmm?” You countered as the numbers rolled up to bring you to your destination.

“Oh, you do. Not interested? You are more than welcome to leave me by the pool and go back to the party. But my guess is, you will be as bored as I was. You’re looking for an adventure, Lemon. Let’s find it together. Even if it is for two weeks.” You stared at him in shock as the elevator binged and the door opened, and he gestured for you to walk out first. You took a half second to debate your options, before you took his hand and nodded your head.

“Alright.”

“Alright.” He repeated as he put his other hand on the small of your back and guided you out of the elevator. “We got about an hour until dinner. Want to watch the sunset?”

“Can I show you somethin’?” You asked as you stopped him from heading to the front bar on the lido deck. He nodded his head and let you turn him around to head toward the bar at the back of the deck instead. You placed two drink orders and continued walking along the deck, past the spa, and down the hallway of rooms on the floor.

“Wait, is this your room?” He asked as you stopped at the Cannes suite, which was the last corner room on the aft side of the ship.

“Please, please don’t look around.” You begged as you opened the door and stepped inside the unnecessarily large suite. He whistled as he followed you into the room with a shake of his head.

“Damn. I’m stuck in a tiny ass room with no view with Sam and Steve, doing toss ups every night for who gets stuck on the couch and you’re living like a Queen.”

“Well I deserve to live like a Queen.” You laughed as you tried to rush him outside to the back balcony so he wouldn’t see the ‘mess’ you had left behind, which realistically consisted of your dress from earlier that you had left on your bed and your two empty suitcases that hadn’t been pushed under the bed yet. “You know, beauty pageant and all.”

“Yea, I’m so sorry I brought that up.” He said as he held your hand while you sat down on one of the seats. “I didn’t realize those girls were so stuck up…”

“You get used to it over the years.” You said as you crossed your legs, smoothed out your dress, and turned toward him. “But it’s understandable. Most of us do turn out to be hot messes. But that’s what makes it fun, right?”

“Valid point. Looking back on it today though, would you do it again?” You sighed and took a sip of your drink as you thought back on your past.

“I don’t know.” You looked over at him with a small shrug and slowly spun your straw in your drink. “I did the pageants because my mama was a pageant queen. I was head cheerleader in high school, because my mama was. But my mama decided she didn’t wanna be a mama anymore and now, all those memories are tainted by the memory of the woman that didn’t want me.” You sighed and took another sip of your drink as bits and pieces of your life flashed by like a movie in your mind.

“I spent most of my childhood trying to be just like her. Everything I did was a mirror image of her life. But when I had to fill her shoes with Magnolia… my sister; she was only two. I just put my foot down, made an about face, and became everything she wasn’t. I worked… so hard… to become the strong woman I am today, but what’s the use? All I have to show for it is a failed engagement, a burned down restaurant, and I’m not even a Belle anymore.”

“What does being a Belle mean to you?”

“It’s everything.” You said instantly. “It’s the definition of being a proper lady. It’s charm, manners, and hospitality. It’s…”

“Doll, isn’t that exhausting?” He interrupted before you could go on. “Lemon, sit back in your chair for a moment. Like actually sit back and relax your back and shoulders. OK, don’t make it look so awkward.”

“It is awkward.” You said as you tried to get comfortable in this new position.

“Alright then, come here.” He said as he stood up and pulled you to your feet. He lead you over to the lounge chairs and sat down on one of them before putting his feet on either side of the chair. “Sit. No funny business, just a lesson.”

“This is not Belle behavior.” You informed him as you handed him your drink and sat down between his legs.

“Now sit back and relax.” He breathed as he handed you back your drink and gently pulled you back against his chest. “There. That’s comfortable, right?”

“Because I’m practically laying down.” You pointed out as you shifted a bit to find a comfortable spot.

“You’re letting life pass you by because you are so concerned with what everyone else thinks about you.” He whispered as he rested his chin on your shoulder. “You have manners, babe. You have charm, and class, and a whole lot of sass. But if I can be so bold, you are acting like an old lady to impress people that will never appreciate what you are doing. But let me ask you this… do you know what color my eyes are? Because I know that you spent an awful lot of time looking down to make sure your dress was pulled up to cover your cleavage and that it was covering your knees completely. Your glasses are a little see-through, doll so I saw it all. But did you?”

“They’re blue, right?” You said as you leaned to the side to look at him.

“Yea.” He huffed with a smile and a nod. “I know you were listening but how much were you enjoying just existing in the moment? Like now. Don’t look, what color is the sky?” You smirked as he put his hands up and blocked your view so all you could see what the white wall beside you.

“I don’t know.”

“But you made sure that your dress was covering your legs four times already.” He said as he moved his hands so you could see again. “You can still be a Southern Belle and enjoy life. And I assume that you are like this because you think that if you can control every aspect of every single thing in your life, that you can control all the outcomes of what’s going to happen. That you can stop yourself from turning in to your mother.” You couldn’t help but stiffen the slightest bit as you turned around to look at him in shock.

“I wouldn’t…”

“No, you wouldn’t. But I think you think you will if you aren’t the perfect Belle. My guess is, you hyper focus on the things she didn’t. Which is why you think a single dress on your bed is a mess.”

“How did you…?”

“I read a lot of psych books in the army. Gave me something to do. And the army made me pay attention to little details.”

“So you’ve been psychoanalyzing every move I’ve made all day.” You gasped as you sat up and turned on the chair to look at him straight on.

“Yep, just like you have been analyzing every single move I make to make sure I would be a respectable candidate to date a Belle should this turn into something serious.” Your jaw snapped closed and you huffed through your nose as he took a swing of his beer and pointed at the colorful sky behind you. “Your missing the show.”

“You are a monster.”

“Yea, yea. You love that you found someone who’s not afraid to put you in your place… you touch that dress again and I’m tying your hands behind your back with my shoelaces.”

“You know what, I’m workin’ real hard on not slappin’ you silly right now.”

“Yea, yea. Sunset. It’s almost time for dinner.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You planned on sleeping in on your first day at sea since it was supposed to rain all day, but apparently, sleeping in meant getting woken up at 7:30 when someone kicked your room door. You jumped and bolted up right in bed as the kicking continued.

“Alright!” You called out as you threw back the blankets and got out of bed. You adjusted your tank top and straightened out your bottoms before ripping the door open with a scowl. “What, is it OK to wake people up like that in New York?”

“I brought breakfast so you didn’t have to venture out in the rain.” Bucky said with a smile as he held up a full tray in front of you. “And coffee.”

“Never should have showed you where I was staying.” You grumbled as you pushed the door wide open and headed back in your room to go back to bed.

“Good morning to you, too, sunshine.” You grumbled ‘morning’ back to him and climbed right back into bed as he set the tray down on the table in the small living room. “Black?”

“Cream and lots of sugar.” He hummed to let you know he had heard you, and fixed your coffee as you curled back up under the blankets in your ice cold room.

“Here, scoot over.”

“I’m sleeping.”

“Well I want to sit anyways.” He said as he set your coffee down on his table and leaned over you to grab the remote from your bedside table.

“Why are you here?”

“Because I wanted to be graced with your pleasant presence first thing in the morning. Imagine my surprise when I found the wicked witch of the west in your bed instead.” You growled at him and scooted over a bit more so that he could get comfy as he looked for something to watch.

“You’re not very nice.”

“Drink your coffee, doll.” You peeled one of your eyes open to look up at him as he threw your blankets over his lap and sipped his own drink while watching the news. His smile grew and he shot you a wink, which made you groan and sit up.

“I want a refund on my single man choice.” You grouched as you held out your hand for your coffee. “I don’t do early mornings on vacation.”

“You don’t have two roommates that woke up at five AM to work out. I didn’t have a choice but to get up.”

“Shoulda got your own room.” You countered as you grabbed the remote and changed the channel.

“Or I could just continue to bug my new favorite person.” You scowled at him out of the corner of your eye as you pulled up the movies on demand menu and scrolled through the list. You took another sip of your coffee and stopped on ‘Hostel’.

“Think you can handle a little blood with your coffee?” You asked as you rolled your head, and looked over at him.

“You’re a freak.” He said as he reached out and hit play on the remote. “Trust me, I’ll handle it a lot better than you.”

“Sorry, sweetheart. Horror movies are my guilty pleasure. Bet you cringe before I do.”

“Oh, you’re on.” With a nod of your head, you paused the movie, and got up to use the bathroom and grab a sweater to wear until you got dressed while Bucky carried over the tray of food he grabbed from the buffet. “Don’t you dare put make up on!”

“I hate you!” You called out as you stopped unscrewing your mascara and threw it back on the counter. You finished up and grabbed an old, worn hoodie from your sorority days and pulled it over your head as you climbed into bed beside your new friend. “So where are your friends today?”

“They are meeting up with some of the girls they met last night for breakfast then going to the theater to play bingo and trivia or some shit. I don’t know, I didn’t look at the app this morning.”

“Oh, speaking of. There’s a hula class this afternoon I wanted to check out. You coming with me?”

“I will come and watch.” He said as he handed you half the bagel he had been putting cream cheese on and sat back against the head board.

“If you dance with me, I’ll let you sleep in here on the other side of a pillow wall so you don’t have to get up at 5 am as long as you promise to never tell a soul that I let you sleep in my bed.”

“Oh, you drive a hard bargain, Ms. Breeland.” He laughed as you hit play on the remote and sat back as well. “I promise my lips are sealed, and I promise I’ll dance with you.”

——

“You better put that camera down.” You giggled as you stood at the very back of the group of mostly older women, learning how to hula and the culture behind it. “And you promised you’d dance with me.”

“Oh no.” He laughed as he looked up from his phone and shook his head. “You are way better at this than I could ever be.”

“You’re just saying that.” You said as you slowly rolled your hips and moved your hands in little waves like the teacher was doing. “Because you can see my belly button.”

“It’s so scandalous.” He teased. “Such a scandalous belly button.”

“You hush. Come dance!”

“Two seconds.” He said as he set his phone down on the table, propped it up with his empty beer bottle so he could keep recording, and got up to come dance with you. “Alright, teach me.”

“I don’t know what I’m doin’.” You giggled as you looked over to see him tying up his above his belly button, too. “What are you doin’?!”

“Shh! I’m trying to listen!”

“Oh, my Lord!” You squeaked as you covered your face in embarrassment, but he reached over and bopped your arm.

“Pay attention!” He hissed with a smile as he shook his hips rapidly, purposely doing the exact opposite of what was being demonstrated to mess with you.

“Dang it anyway.” You sighed as you grabbed his belt loop. “Slow… like a gator crossin’ the road on a hot summer day.”

“I’m from New York.” He chuckled as he let you push his hips back and forth. “We don’t have gators except for in the sewers.”

“Our mayor has a pet gator named Burt Reynolds… alright, just come here.” You sighed as you pulled him over toward you. “Feel the waves move the boat.” You said as you put his hand on your hip. “The gentle back and forth. Feel the rhythm down to your very core.” He nodded his head and let you guild him the way you wanted him, which was his intention all along.

“You have that down very well.” The instructor said on her way past.

“Thank you.” You said softly as you moved your free hand into Bucky’s. “Like a wave.”

“I think you are much better at this than I am.” With a giant smirk, you shrugged your shoulders and looked away from him for a moment.

“Hey, you said it.” He laughed and stopped dancing as he turned his hand to lace his fingers with yours.

“Come on. We’re the only ones still dancing.” Your hips stopped moving as you turned around to look at the group that was slowly starting to head off in different directions.

“Oh! Well that was fast.” He nodded his head as he grabbed his phone to turn off the video.

“Wanna go wander around…?”

“You wanna go dance in the rain?” You asked him as you picked up your small purse. He looked at you with his eyebrow raised before he huffed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Why the hell not? Let’s swing by my room so I can grab some dry clothes for dinner.”

“Just… grab your whole suitcase.” You said quickly as you looked away for a moment. You reached up and bit your thumb nail before shrugging and looking up at him again. “Even if this goes absolutely no where in two weeks when the boat docks. You said it yourself, might as well have fun while we can, right?” He stood almost frozen and searched your steel blue eyes for almost a solid minute as he figured out how to phrase what he needed to say.

“As friends.” He clarified as he held your hand a tad bit tighter. “I expect nothing from you, OK? I will happily take every moment I can with you and I do not mind sleeping on the far side of a pillow wall or even on the couch if that’s the case. I will let you make whatever calls you want to make, and I will move at a glacial pace until you make a move otherwise, OK? I am in no rush.”

“I know.” You said with a small bob of your head. “I can tell you have class.”

“I mean, I try to at least.” He joked as he used his hand to pull yours until you turned around to head toward the elevator. You stopped short of the doors and pulled him to a stop as you spun and pointed at him, as threateningly as you could.

“You better not wake me up at five AM to go work out, you hear me?”

“Oh, I’d be way to scared to do such a thing. Pretty sure you could rip my face off if you were pissed.”

“I am a Southern woman.” You said seriously as he pushed the up button for you. “My method of warfare is purely psychological.”

“That’s an even scarier thought.” He chuckled as he followed you in and pushed the button for the tenth floor.

“Why, I’m an innocent angel.” You joked as you tried to make your smirk look as innocent as possible.

“Ha! I severely doubt that.”

“So, are your friends are gunna be mad you ditched them?” You asked as you reached out to pull the hair tie off Bucky’s shirt for him.

“Probably won’t even notice. My guess is, if they even go back to the room, it’ll be to just shower and change before they run out again.”

“Y’all met in the army?”

“Steve and I have known each other out whole lives.” He said as he gestured you out of the elevator in front of him. “We met Sam at the VA couple years ago. He was in the air force. Steve just kinda adopted him one day and he never went away. Pain in the ass.”

“So you’re secretly in love with him.”

“Yea!” Bucky laughed as he stopped at his room door and pulled out his room key. “Yea, totally secretly in love with him.”

“Hey, whoa!” Someone yelled from in the room as you and Bucky stepped inside. You ran into Bucky’s back and he turned around with a loud laugh.

“Keep the bed, Wilson. I’m just grabbing my shit.”

“What, you goin’ to stay with that hot Southern chick or did you find another single…”

“I’m right here!” You called out as you stuck your hand out to the side around Bucky and waved.

“Shit. Sorry!”

“Are you two decent enough that I can grab my shit or what?”

“We’re decent!” A woman called out, which made your cheeks flush a bit in embarrassment not just for you, but for her as well.

“I’ll just wait in the hall.” You giggled as you turned and walked out of the room with your hands over your cheeks. You heard it close behind you and you walked a few feet away to safely burst out laughing as quietly as you could. You had just started catching your breath when Bucky stepped back out of the room with a duffle on his shoulder, a pile of shirts in his arms, and an empty bathroom bag and all his bathroom products on top. You looked over at him as the door closed and your laughs bubbled to the surface again. “Way to go, sugar!”

“How was I supposed to know he was gunna be banging some chick?” He asked as you grabbed his bathroom bag and started putting his things in it for him as you headed down the hall toward the back of the boat.

“We just ruined their whole afternoon.”

“No we didn’t. They’re probably right back at it already.” You shook your head and shuttered as you reached out and tried to take the pile of dress shirts from his arms for him, but he pulled away. “Not happening. You have your hands full with that very important bathroom bag.”

“And why is it so important?” He huffed and stopped at the second set of elevators.

“Because it’s in the hands of this gorgeous woman I know.”

“You are just trying to butter my biscuit today, aren’t you?” You giggled as you stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the fourteenth floor.

“I’m sorry, what the hell did you just say?”

“You… are… just…”

“OK, I heard you!” He laughed as he adjusted his bag on his shoulder. “I’ve just never heard someone say that before.”

“That’s because you’ve never met someone like me.” You reminded him as you stepped out of the life and turned to head back to your room.

“You are definitely one of a kind, doll. Definitely one of a kind.”

#Bucky x reader #Bucky x named reader #Bucky x Lemon Breeland #S.S. Desperation

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james-stark-the-writer-wips · 4 years

Text

A Year At The Opera - Excerpt

Chapter 10, Part 2: An Investigation in the woods.

WC: 4500 words.

Chapter 11 is going to take some time so I’ll be working on OWAD until then. Expect OWAD content instead for a while. Hope you enjoy this!

Joe

Detective Joe Vega slammed the case file on the table. “Captain, what is this?” He stood with his hands on his hips, lightly pushing his coat aside, waiting for an answer.

Captain Marco Santorelli didn’t react. He slowly took a sip of his coffee and wiped a thin trace of foam from his moustache. Letting out a quick breath, he grabbed the file and opened it up, quickly scanning through it. “It’s your last conviction.” He put the file down again.

“Yeah, but he was let go.” Joe walked forward and pointed at the last page in the file. “Apparently, the charges against him were dropped.”

“So? What do you want me to do about it? Talk to the victim.” Santorelli leaned back.

“That’s the thing, Captain. No one can find him. He’s gone missing. I called his office, his house, his friends. No one’s heard from him in a few days.”

“Look, Vega.” Marco let out a quick sigh. “The case is closed. Cool off. I’m sure the vic will turn up somewhere. Meanwhile, here.” Marco opened a drawer and grabbed a file from inside, handing it to Joe. “This should keep you busy.”

“What’s this?” Joe asked, opening the file.

“Murder, from the looks of it. Some kids found the body in the Shadow woods. Go check it out.”

“Were they interviewed?” Joe flipped through the pages to find their statements but didn’t find any.

Marco shook his head. “No, too traumatized to say anything. But you can go and ask them about it. Their addresses are in the file.”

Joe opened the file and looked at the addresses. “They’re over in the next town?”

“Yep.” Sanotrelli said, taking a quick sip of his coffee. “And they all have Rebecca and David Shaw as their lawyer, apparently.”

“Oh Jesus.” Joe said.

Santorelli placed the cup down and then, with just a hint of sarcasm, said, “Good luck.”

Joe turned and started to walk away.

“Oh, don’t forget to go check out the crime scene.” Santorelli called out.

Joe stopped in his tracks and turned around. “Yeah.” He mumbled.

This time more sincerely, Santorelli said, “Good luck.”

“Thanks, Cap.” Joe opened the door and walked out.

Cruising over Rikers Bridge, Joe Vega arrived in Athea a little past noon. The asphalt was blazing hot and despite it being the middle of September, it felt like the height of summer, a wave of warmth surrounding the town, enveloping it in a warm cornucopia of sin and evil.

Joe wiped beads of sweat from his forehead as he cranked up the AC.

“Turn right.” The navigator said and Joe took a turn onto Grisly Drive, one of the more run down parts of Athea. The place reeked of smoke and what smelled like burnt food. As his car stopped at a light, Joe grabbed his phone out of its holder on the dash and checked his notifications. Nothing new to report.

“Come on, Maxine.” He mumbled, forcing the phone back into its place. He tapped the steering wheel impatiently as the light seemed to be stuck on yellow for an eternity. He grabbed his phone again. Still nothing.

A car horn behind him jolted his attention back to the light. It had finally turned green.

He slowly pulled into an alleyway and let the car behind pass him by. Joe wished he was in his cruiser. Then he’d show the guy. But that wasn’t what he wanted to focus on right now. If there was no news about Maxine by midnight, he’d have to go see her himself and he was desperately trying to avoid that.

He glanced at the time. Fuck, he thought. I’m going to be late. He backed out of the alley and started to make his way to Black Oak Boulevard.

Ingram and Joe

“Hello?” Ingram asked as he swung the door open.

“Ingram Shaw?” The man at the door asked.

“Yeah?” Ingram crossed his arms, shifted his weight to his other foot and leaned against the door.

“I’m Detective Joe Vega from the Ellesburg Homicide Department. I had a few questions about yesterday and I was hoping you could answer them?”

“Mom!” Ingram called.

“Yeah?” Rebbeca shouted back.

“There’s a detective here!” Ingram said.

“Call him in, I’ll be there in a second!” The reply came.

“Well come on in then, Detective Vega.” Ingram stepped aside to let Joe walk inside.

The inside of the house looked like a grand movie set.

“Take a seat, please.” Rebecca’s voice came from the top of the stairs. She vaguely gestured to the sofa. Ingram looked up at her. “Would you like anything to drink?” She asked. “Whiskey, tea, coffee?”

“No, I’m good, Mrs. Shaw.” Joe replied. “Water’s fine.”

“Perfect.” She said turning to Ingram. “Get him some water, won’t you? And some for me too.”

“Yeah.” Ingram scurried off to the kitchen.

“Please, sit.” She said, taking a seat on the lush leather couch. Joe hesitated but finally sat.

“So, you had some questions?” She asked as Ingram reappeared with two glasses of water. She took one and Ingram offered the other to Joe

He mumbled a quick thanks as he took it. “Yes, I did,” He said turning back to Rebecca. “I actually wanted to ask Ingram here some questions.”

“Oh, about that body behind the cabin?” She asked, almost rhetorically.

“Yeah.” Joe said.

“Of course, go right ahead.” She said. “Of course, I’ll be right here for the interrogation because he is a minor.”

“I know, Mrs. Shaw.” Joe said. He didn’t have the patience for this. He had to interview the other kids too and go check out the crime scene.

Ingram took a seat on the couch next to Rebecca. Joe cleared his throat, grabbing his notepad and recorder from his pocket. He placed the recorder on the table and flipped his notepad open.

“This is Detective Joe Vega of the EPD and I'm here with Ingram Shaw and his lawyer Rebecca Shaw.” Joe said. “Just go ahead and introduce yourself, if you could.”

They quickly rattled off their names.

“So, Mr. Shaw—” Joe began.

“Ingram is fine.” Ingram said.

“Right. Ingram, you and your friends arrived at the cabin, when exactly?”

“I believe it was the morning of the [date].”

“And what did you do all day?”

“I spent the day with Mason, my boyfriend.” Ingram said.

“And how about that night?”

“Well, the lights went out and the generator wasn’t working so we just played a game and then we all went to bed.”

“All?” Joe raised an eyebrow.

“Yep. All four of us. Me, Mason, Aaron and Eleanor. All four of us.”

“Right.” Joe scribbled a note of their names even though he already had them on file. “And what time would you say that was?”

“Around 9, maybe 9:30.”

“That early?” Joe gave him a suspicious glance

“Yep.” Ingram nodded. “It was a tiring day and we just needed to sleep it off.”

“Uh huh. And did anyone leave the cabin after that or in the morning?”

“Not to my knowledge, no. I was the first one up and everyone was sound asleep.”

Rebecca smiled. He could see she was proud of him. She’d trained him well.

“Right. And what did you do after you woke up?”

“Uh, brushed my teeth, got ready and waited for Mason to wake up.”

“Did anyone else wake up during that time?”

“Eleanor did.” Ingram replied calmly. “She got ready as well, I could hear her through the walls because her room is right above mine.”

“And when did the other two wake up?”

“Uh, Mason woke up a little bit after Eleanor was done getting ready and then she woke up Aaron.”

“So, none of you went to the woods in the last two days before the body was found?”

“Not to my knowledge, no.”

“And then how did you end up finding the body?”

“I didn’t.” He said. “Aaron did. He called me.”

“I see.” Joe mumbled to himself. “And what was Mr…” Joe opened his file to double check the name. “Adler doing in the forest?”

“He and Eleanor had gone for a walk that morning.”

“Just the two of them?”

“Yep. Mason was busy cooking me breakfast.”

“And so, when they called you and you arrived at the scene of the crime, you saw the body, correct?”

“Yes.”

“You called the cops immediately?”

Ingram shot an awkward what-do-I-do look at Rebecca. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “No,” She said. “He called me while Eleanor called the EPD.”

“Right.” Joe stood up. “I think that should be all for now then. We’ll follow up with more questions, if we have them.” He shut off the recorder and quickly shoved it back into his jacket pocket.

“Come, let me show you to the door, Mr. Vega.” Rebecca said.

“Do you mind if I come with you?” Ingram heard Rebecca ask.

“To where?” Joe asked innocently.

“Well, you are going to the rest of the kids’ houses, aren’t you? Might as well go together, right?”

“I suppose so.” Joe said awkwardly.

Rebecca grabbed her coat and vanished out the front door with the detective.

Aaron

Going back a day, Aaron had just dropped Eleanor off and driving back to his house. It was a fairly quiet drive where he mulled over what he'd say to Mary and how he'd deal with everything. He found no answer. And, unfortunately, there was another shitstorm to come.

He slowly pulled into the driveway to be greeted by Mary waiting by the door, furiously tapping her foot.

“Ar, where have you been?” She jogged up to him and hugged him as he got out of the car.

He struggled awkwardly to get out of the hug. “I was dropping El off.” He said.

“God, are you okay?” She worriedly ran her hands over Aaron, checking him for bruises.

“I’m okay.” He delicately lifted her hands off.

Her expression turned from worried to relieved to worried again in a matter of seconds, like she was foreshadowing something..“Come on inside.” She said, stepping aside.

“Yeah, lemme just grab my bag.” Aaron opened up the trunk and quickly grabbed his bag.

Aaron followed Mary into the house and found Ryan sitting on the couch, staring at the wall with a blank expression on his face.

“Ryan.” Mary said, making Ryan jump from his seat.

“You’re back!” Ryan rushed to Aaron and hugged him.

Aaron hugged him back but skeptically. “Is… everything okay?” He asked, pulling away from the hug. “You’re making me worried.”

“Just… sit down, Ar.” Ryan said, walking back to the couch and sitting down.

“What’s the problem?” Aaron asked, sitting down. Mary walked over next to Ryan.

“It— It’s about your Uncle Joe…” Ryan’s voice trailed off.

Mary put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder, slightly squeezing. “He’s… he’s dead, Ar.”

“Remember that leak at the plant you told me about?” Ryan said, leaning forward. “Well I decided to check up at the factory and turns out there was a leak last two days only I wasn’t the one who was… dead.”

“What?” Aaron couldn’t believe or even process what he was hearing.

“It’s true, Ar.” Mary said.

“Can we step back a second? Who’s Uncle Joe?”

“Baby, I know you were very close with him but you don’t have to pretend you didn’t know him.” Mary walked towards Aaron and hugged him. “I know this might be a bit of a shock for you but however you’re feeling, just know that it’ll be okay, okay?”

Normally Aaron would have objected to Mary calling him baby — it honestly seems so creepy — but there was no time for that right now. Aaron pulled away from the hug and stood up. “I’m going to need a minute.” He awkwardly ran out of the room and up to his bedroom. He quickly slammed the door shut and took his phone out.

“Nathan. Please tell me the spell didn’t invent a twin brother for my dad.” There was a calm rage in his voice.

“Can I talk?” I asked, remembering our no talking rule.

“Yes!” He said, frustrated. “You can talk! Now fucking talk!”

“Fine. It might have. I can’t check but if you’re saying he didn’t exist, I’ll believe you.”

“What do you mean you can’t check?”

“Well, once a person dies, we can no longer observe anything about them. All their data is wiped.”

“Do I even wanna ask about the system?” Aaron rubbed his forehead.

“Believe me, you don’t. Certainly not right now.”

“So what the fuck do I do right now? How do you expect me to go downstairs and tell them I don’t have an uncle?”

“I mean, not anymore, you don’t.” I said, cheekily.

“Nathan! Focus!”

“Sorry, bad time for a joke. Look, I know he wasn’t real for you but he’s real for them so, I don’t know, maybe pretend to be sad and channel the feelings you were feeling before the spell for your dad?”

“I’ll try my best but good god this is getting worse every minute.”

“Good luck. Going silent again.” I said.

Aaron opened the door and carefully peeked outside. No one was around. Good. He cautiously walked back down to the living room where Ryan and Mary were whispering something to one another.

“— Just give him time, he’ll come around.” Mary whispered to Ryan.

“So,” Aaron began. Mary turned to face him. “How did it happen? The leak at the plant?”

“I don’t know the exact details yet but from the sound of it, your uncle Joe got sloppy and messed something up. That was his thing, you know.” Ryan choked up a little. “Messing things up. I’m surprised he made so few with you.” He sniffled.

Aaron’s phone buzzed. He didn’t see it then but I acknowledged the joke of Sloppy Joe. It was funny. Or at least I think so.

“Yeah.” Aaron took a step forward, giving Ryan a weak smile. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“We didn’t want to ruin your vacation. Your dad found out a little while after you left for the trip.”

“Hmm.” Aaron said. Here it was, a perfect opportunity for him to say all the things he wished he could have said to Ryan before the accident but he couldn’t find the words. So he just walked over and hugged Ryan.

Ryan gently patted him on the back. “It’ll be okay, bud.”

“So, are we having like a wake for him or something?” He asked tepidly.

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course not. He would have hated that.” Mary said.

“Right.” Aaron muttered under his breath. “Of course he would have.”

Rebecca

Mason was not home so Joe and Rebecca had to go to Aaron's instead and then maybe come back to Mason's later that day. But, they did arrive at Aaron's house soon after they’d left her house.

Rebecca knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. Eventually, Aaron did open the door.

“Mrs. Shaw?” He asked. “Were you looking for mom?”

“Oh no no.” She said, moving aside to reveal Joe standing behind her. “Detective Vega here had some questions for you.”

“Oh, right. Please, come in.” He said.

The pair followed them in and quickly sat down in the living room.

“Should we start?” Joe asked.

Aaron looked at Rebecca who nodded so he followed suit. “Just be as truthful and precise as possible. If you’re unsure about something, just give me a nod. You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to.” Rebecca whispered to Aaron.

“Great.” Joe took out his recorder and placed it on the table. “So, if you don’t mind introducing yourself.”

Each of the three quickly introduced themselves as Joe grabbed his notepad.

“So, Mr. Adler.” Joe began, readjusting in his seat. “When did you go to the cabin?”

“We left early morning, two days ago on tuesday.”

“And who was with you?”

“It was me, Ingram, Mason and my friend Eleanor.”

“And did you make any stops before reaching the cabin, preferably a place with cameras so we can verify your whereabouts?”

“We stopped at a gas station so yeah, I think so.”

“Could you give me the address of that place?”

“I’ll have to look it up.” Aaron’s hand reached halfway to his pocket before stopping. “You don’t mind if I check my phone, right?”

“No, please, go ahead.” Joe said.

Aaron grabbed his phone and quickly pulled up the address of the station and gave it to Joe who quickly jotted it down.

“Perfect. And you’re sure this was the station?”

“Positive. Couldn’t forget it if I wanted to.”

“Why’s that?” Joe asked, slightly amused.

“This creep there who came up to Eleanor asking if he could lick her feet or something like that.”

“Yikes.” Joe said.

“You’re telling me. But we got rid of him.”

“Any descriptions you remember about the man?”

“I mean, he was around my height but beyond that you’ll have to ask El. And if there’s security cams, you can just check those, right?”

“Right.” Joe flipped a page in his notepad. “So, what did you do when you got to the cabin?”

“Uh, I just started to work on my book.”

“Oh, you’re a writer?” Joe inquired.

“Yep.” Aaron nodded.

“Cool. So, you were writing all day?”

“Well, up until the lights went out. Which was sometime in the evening. I wanted to save battery on the laptop so I shut it off and just played some games on my phone.” Aaron lied. He really spent the time listening to me..

“And then what did you do after the lights went out, during the night, I mean?”

“Well, I waited for El to come home because she’d gone out for something and after that we just played a game of truth and dare, got bored and went to sleep.”

“So, what time would you say that was?”

“Around 9-ish? You could check with the guy who delivered us some food, we stopped playing about twenty minutes after that.”

“What guy?” Joe asked.

“Oh, some guy came to deliver us some groceries so we’d have food in the morning.”

“Oh,” Rebecca chimed in. “It was just my assistant. I sent him to get the kids some food because I forgot to stock the fridge.”

“I see, we’ll need to talk to him. And then you said, Ms. Easton went out during the day?”

“Yeah, she was out the whole day.”

“Do you know why?”

Aaron shook his head. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“Alright, then what did you do next morning?”

“Uh, El woke me up asking what I wanted for breakfast and I decided to go for a walk with her because we needed to talk about… stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“That’s kinda personal, detective…”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to answer that.” Rebecca said.

Joe sighed. “So, you went on a walk, correct?”

“Yes.” Aaron said.

“And that’s when you found the body?”

“No, we found it on the way back to the cabin.”

“And what time did you leave the cabin, approximately?”

“I think we left around 9am.”

“And what time did you start getting back?”

“I don’t know, it took us like maybe twenty-thirty minutes to get to the stream which is where we were gonna walk and we were there for like an hour so I’d say around 11am-ish is when we started heading back give or take ten minutes.”

“And on the way back is when you found the body?”

“Correct.”

“So, did you take a different path back or did you not notice the body the first time?”

“No, we took a different path because we thought the road El took was slow so I wanted to see if we could stray off the trail and cut straight through to the cabin.”

“I see.” Joe scribbled something down in his notepad.

“And how did you find the body?”

“Well, we were walking and El tripped on like, a root sticking out of the ground so I had to carry her back ‘cause I couldn’t just leave her there, you know? So I picked her up and we started talking and that’s when I noticed a hand sticking out of the ground.”

“And so you called the police?”

“No, I called Ingram because we were so close to the cabin and he was the fastest source of help.”

“And then you called the police?”

“No, I didn’t know if it was actually a body and I didn’t want to cause them any trouble to come out here and waste their time if it was fake.”

“Right. How very considerate. And then how long did it take for Mr. Shaw to arrive?”

“Maybe ten-fifteen minutes after I called him?”

“And so when he arrived, you called the cops?”

“Well, El did but yeah, we called the cops.”

“And before the cops arrived, did you contaminate the scene in any way? Did you go near the body, did you touch anything, anything at all?”

“No, we all stood at a distance a few feet from the body, leaning against a tree waiting for the cops to arrive.”

“Right.” Joe closed his notepad. “Okay, I think that should be good enough for now.” He stood up. Rebecca stood up with him. “Don't go anywhere, we might have more questions.” He added, stuffing the recorder back in his pocket.

“Come on, I'll drop you off.” Joe said to Rebecca.

“Drop me off?” Rebecca asked. I got up and started walking to the door.

“Yes,” Joe said. “I’m going to go check out the crime scene.”

“Weren’t you gonna interview the other two?”

Joe checked the time on his watch. “It’s getting late I have to go look at it before dark.”

“Oh. Alright, then.” Rebecca said. Aaron opened the door for them and they walked out. Aaron stayed still watching Joe’s car pull out of the driveway and off towards the Shaws’ place.

Joe

Dropping Rebecca off at her house, Joe headed straight for Shadow Woods. It would be dark soon.

The car pulled up to the Shaw cabin. Joe would have to walk from there. The walk was short, the sun sinking towards the horizon every passing minute.

As the light dwindled, mostly because of the cover of trees, Joe had to be careful and watch his step to not slip into the mud or accidentally step on something — especially if it had a possibility of being evidence.

But he soon arrived at the crime scene with just enough light to peek around for a little bit. He figured he had maybe an hour before it got too dark to do anything without a flashlight.

“So they stood over here…” He muttered to himself as he found where the kids were standing. “And the body was over there…” He ducked under the yellow tape and trudged through the mud to come closer to the actual grave, as shallow at it was. It was barely a foot tall, looking like it had been dug in a hurry. The body had left an imprint in the grave, although mud had started to seep in. There were no footprints to be seen anywhere beyond the ones left by the teens. Even the photos from yesterday confirmed that. Joe carefully maneuvered around the grave to see if the killer had left any evidence that the CSI might have missed. He found nothing.

That only meant one of two things: either the killer was a ghost or the footprints had been erased by the mud before they could be found. Did the killer know that the mud would hide their footprints?

The Shadow Woods were a nice place to hide a body, that was for sure. With how muddy the area was, it was a perfect place to hide a body if you could keep it undiscovered for a while. Before long the body would be covered in mud and decompose soon with no one the wiser.

Unfortunately for this killer, the kids found the body.

The preliminary reports would be ready by tomorrow. And Joe would have more questions.

As the sunlight dimmed, Joe turned on his flashlight. As he swung it around the area, he noticed a light glinting off something shiny to his right. “Huh.” Joe slowly walked over to it and crouched down. His shoes sunk further into the mud and he had to lean on a tree to not sink in too deep.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed his handkerchief, picking up what was shining to look at it.

A coin.

“Hmm.” Joe turned the coin around to look at it. He wrapped the coin in the handkerchief and stuffed it back in his pocket. Maybe the guys at the ME’s office could find something off of it.

Before long, the sunlight vanished and it became too hard to see anything. Joe hurried back to his car.

#writeblr #writblr #writing #original writing #creative writing #wip #ayato #A Year At The Opera

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maswartz · 5 years

Text

Fun facts about myself (aka how did I live this long)

These are as I remember them or how I’ve heard them. Mostly chronological order 1. I was born looking like an old man 2. My sister once had to tear my diaper off because it got full of bees. 3. Once when I was still a baby I fell down the stairs and the babysitter did nothing, she just put me back in my crib and let me cry. When my grandmother got home she was pissed. She fired the sitter on the spot and got me to the hospital. 4. When I had surgery (to deal with something about my belly button) I literally ripped the IVs out of my arms, the doctors said I could go home that night. 5. I got pneumonia in kindergarten 6. Another student bit my butt in kindergarten (on the playground) 7. Either in preschool or kindergarten my mom arrived to pick me up to find I had escaped and was running around the parking lot being chased by teachers. 8. I once dropped a drill on my toe and only started to scream when my dad and sister got in the room (this one may not be 100% true) 9. Once during a party at our house the gate was left open and I walked right out until a complete and total stranger found me (at the corner of our street) and brought me home. 10. I once walked out of the yard and went to a neighbors house (the same neighbor my sisters did the same thing with) 11. One time at a theme park my mom had to drop me. It was because when we were getting on an airplane ride (think the flying dumbo ride) the idiot started it before we got in and she had to drop me to avoid it hitting me. 12. Once I literally karate chopped a glass into tons of pieces (I actually remember this one) (It either split in half or shattered) 13. One time in elementary school during a summer program I got lost in the woods for an hour, I eventually found my way out and two joggers kept me company until my sister and one of the councilors found me. The best part of this one is when I go for a walk now I walk right past the street I came out of the woods at. 14. One time at Boy Scout camp I had a bad feeling about the weather but everyone else said it was fine. Sure enough it started thundering and lighting (and of course we were on top of a mountain at the time) Thus a bunch of preteen boy scouts ran for their lives and ended up hiding in the latrine until our scout master started to sing “always look on the sunny side of life”. As I was running I noticed my all metal mess kit and kept thinking it was going to get me struck. 15. Also at that same camp there were a bunch of sheep (i still have a piece of wool from one of them) and one of the scouts in my patrol wanted to get a picture of one of them he dubbed “harry ball” (after a baseball park near us as well as the obvious). Next thing we know he’s running from a sheep stampede. He got out of the way and the sheep ran out of the camp. Last we heard they were eating someone’s garden. 16. At that same camp we were taking our swimming test in a light drizzle (rain was clearing up). I got hypothermia in the middle of the summer in that lake. 17. Once in high school my sister was driving me to school (we went to the same high school) when I was complaining we were going to be late because she was getting coffee at starbucks. As we were pulling out a car hits her car. Glass everywhere! We were fine but literally the last thing I said before it was “we’re going to be late”. 18. Another time in high school my grandmother was driving me to school when I was messing around with her car and picked up the cigarette lighter (older car). I accidentally turned it on and put my thumb right on it. I took it off and shoved my thumb right into a water bottle. My mom was the sub nurse that day so I went right to the nurses office and my exact words were “Mom, I did something stupid.” She put some second skin band aid thingy on it and you can’t even notice it now. 19. It turns out I have Raynaud’s disease which basically means when I get cold it hits me harder and my fingers and toes turn blue faster. So yay… 20. My sister and I once fell by our pool getting the same scar on the same knee. 21. Despite everything on this list I have never broken a bone in my life *knock on wood* 22. I didn’t speak until I was five years old (I was taught sign language but I sadly can’t remember much of it). My first word was “Mommy” and it was on my mother’s birthday 23. My father is a firefighter and when I used to visit him at the fire house I would actually climb up the fire pole. 24. I can open doors with my foot (not by kicking but turning the door knob with my toes, I have big toes) 25. When I was younger I had a condition known as Pica. Basically I ate non-edible things. I would eat string, towels, paper, tissues, my clothes, chairs (some of the chairs in the house still have my bite marks in them), and plastic. It got to the point where I had to go to the doctors because I had a horrible pain in my stomach. We think it was a blockage caused by all the stuff I ate. But the best part is my dad came in (right from work) and he poked my stomach and he must have dislodged it because the pain went away. 26. I once blew up a light bulb by spitting on it when it was on. 27. On a class trip a friend of mine literally had to step on my foot to keep me from running off and befriending a squirrel. This was in high school. 28. One time we were removing a bush from the garden and we managed to get most of it up except the main root/body itself. After a lot of work I just sat down, put my feet against it, and PUSHED. Over and over and over until with one great big push it came out. So I pretty much bench pressed a tree. 29. Another time we were digging a hole in the backyard and it was about 4 feet deep when I had to get out of the hole to get something. So I crouched and jumped right out of the hole. Four feet straight up in the air. 30. I am an Eagle Scout and an Assistant Scout Master (haven’t renewed that though) 31. For years I’ve been having chronic nosebleeds (once I even got one because I was laughing too hard at an Achievement Hunter video). It has gotten to the point where I’ve had the inside of my nostrils cauterized (basically a “burning” stick of metal is shoved up my nose to burn the blood vessel causing the nosebleeds so the new tissue heals over it) 32. When I was younger I was so skinny you could see my ribs almost all the time, some people even said they could see my heart beating. 33. When I was in elementary school in the bathroom I saw a spider crawling up from the urinal (I believe this led to my fear/dislike of spiders) 34. One time I sat on my grandmother’s couch and my back landed on a bee/wasp which stung me, not fun. 35. One time after I got home from Boy Scout camp I was showering when I discovered a Ladybug was crawling on my butt. I didn’t kill it but I let it go. 36. I have Asperger Syndrome (as in officially diagnosed) 37. One time a few winters ago I left my glasses in the window as I was taking a shower and when I got out they had literally frozen over. 38. When I was little I once went through a training course for children on how to get out of a burning building, it was neat. 39. I dropped out of community college and have no job and no social life, when I remember these I can’t help but feel like a failure and waste of space. 40. When I was 10 my family went on a cruise in Alaska, it was amazing. But the fun fact is on the cruise one of the entertainers was a ventriloquist named Jeff Dunham. This was before he hit it big time. 41. Once at Boy Scout camp it was the final night before we all went home and they had these giant inflatable balls (bigger than the kids) and we were bouncing them around when it bounced off another kid right into me breaking my glasses right down the middle, fortunately my parents came up that night anyways so we went to get new ones. 42. My sister measured my morning walks with the dog a few days ago, turns out I walk him 2.2 miles (in total).

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forkanna · 5 years

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[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

NOTE: Alright, so based on quite a few reviews we have read, Fruipit and I would like to clear up a few things real quick! No one is "in trouble" and we aren't upset or anything like that; it just seems like it might be wise to cover this in one go rather than reply individually to loads of people.

Time travel works in a very specific way in Back To The Future, and that's how it works in this fic. If you change the past, it "ripples" into the future over time; eventually, it will be too late to change it back or course-recorrect. That's why Anna is still alive despite having damaged her own past. However, the future wasn't "always like that" for the person time-travelling. Anna's future is going to be different when she gets there: HOW it's going to be different won't be revealed until she gets the DeLorean nyooming into 2015, but it will not be how she remembers it. To everyone else, they will notice nothing because they have not seen the previous timeline with their own eyes before time-travelling.

To that end… no, Elsa was not an alcoholic because of what Anna did in 1985. In that original timeline, Anna had never changed the past, so she had nothing to do with it. This is precisely like Lorraine being an alcoholic purely because she started drinking as a teen in the original movie.

Yes, we know you all have a lot of little things you want to point out about how the original movies worked. They were beloved movies for a reason! But we have actually seen them ourselves and understand more than you might presume. Chances are, if you've thought of some tiny discrepancy to comment on, we have already thought of said discrepancy and either disagree on whether or not it's an issue, or have disregarded it for the sake of our fic (or you might be incorrect). While it might be interesting for you to notice these details, that kind of falls under the category of "nitpicking". And just… it's a fun little story, so lay off, will you?

That's it! Thanks for taking the time to read if you did, and I hope you enjoy the chap!

As Anna wandered around Dell Valley, doing as Doc said and trying not to look too conspicuous or influence anything else, she thought about her situation. And there was so much to think about.

Elsa was her MOM. How could she be attracted to her?! Sure, she was doing nothing on purpose to make her interested but it was still happening. The whole idea made her feel gross.

On the other hand, it also didn't. Sure, the weird flirty component was confusing, but seeing her mother so happy and hopeful, saying sweet things, looking shy… it fulfilled a need in her of which she had only been partly aware. Of course she knew she wanted more love from her mother! But she hadn't realised just how badly she wanted to see her happy until she did, and it was so striking compared with how she normally saw her – miserable, alone, unfulfilled, depressed. Empty. This Elsa was so full of life and love and hope for the future, and at some point, she had lost that.

And it might have been her father's fault. Not on purpose, he clearly also had dreams; he liked to write. Was it really only that they were so mismatched for each other that killed their happiness? It broke her heart.

At last, the time came for school to let out. Deciding to keep up her pretense that she was a student, she made her way back to the campus and hung around by Elsa's locker.

"Hey!" she almost shouted when she saw Anna leaning against it, hands in her pockets and thoughts swirling around in her skull. "How's it hanging?"

"Not bad, just, uh, chillaxing." Elsa cocked her head. "Chilling and relaxing," she added as explanation.

At that, Elsa grinned and snorted. "People talk funny where you're from. What was it that you called Hans earlier? A duck?"

"Douche," Anna corrected. And then winced because this wasn't the point. "Nevermind him! You ready to hit the road?"

"Sure, sure, just lemme put my crud away. We're gonna meet up at the mall about 4-ish?"

Anna found herself nodding. "Cool, cool, cool," she said, She wasn't looking at Elsa, which was possibly why the other girl ultimately leaned forward, grasping her hand. Most of the students had already left, getting out of school as fast as they possibly could.

"Hey, everything okay?" When Anna didn't answer immediately, she took another step closer. "Tori, you know you can talk to me about anything, right? I won't judge you, I swear."

There was nothing Anna wanted more than to open her mouth and spill everything. How was the 17-year-old version of her mother so much better than the adult version? It wasn't fair! But she couldn't. As much as she had already changed in the past, if Elsa knew she would stop being her friend, and being friends seemed key to getting her family back together.

So instead she just wound up saying, "Can- can I have a hug?"

"Ooh, look who's making all the right moves now, Tom Cruise." But when Anna didn't respond to the light teasing, Elsa's smile slipped a notch. "Um… you're serious? You want me to hug you?"

"Yeah. Just…" What could she say that would make sense to Elsa? "Just feeling kinda homesick, I guess. Sorry, it's dumb."

"Ohhh. Awww, come here. It's okay."

Elsa's arms were warm and firm, having readily accepted her new friend's reasoning for needing a quick fix of creature comfort. Anna leaned into the sensation, knowing this was weird, and wrong somehow, but also that it was the most natural thing in the world. Why shouldn't she stop and take a moment to just hug her own mother?

Because it didn't feel like hugging her mother. This Elsa was hugging her like Anna would hug Merida, or Jane. Or… Punz. Especially the latter, with the slightly shaky sound of her exhalation. They were both a little nervous, since they had barely done this once when sitting next to each other in the diner. And against her will…

"You smell nice," she found herself breathing. Stupid. It was a STUPID thing to say! Wasn't she trying to convince her mom not to flirt with her?!

"Oh, you like it?" Elsa chuckled, self-conscious again. "Um… it's just Love's Baby Soft. I really want to try 'Obsession', that Calvin Klein fragrance? But my mom saw the X-rated ads, so… yeah, I'm gonna have to buy that on my own."

But Anna hadn't been talking about the perfume. Of course she could smell it, but it was one of the more subtle scents and had mostly worn off by this point in the day. It was only now that her head was buried in Elsa's neck that she could detect it at all.

No, what Anna had been complimenting was the smell of Elsa. Between now and the 2000s, it hadn't changed much – the only difference was that it was, more often than not, covered by the smell of rum or vodka. This scent, the smell of a person, was familiar, from way back when she was a tiny child. Before her mother started drinking and her family stopped caring about each other.

But there was another layer to it, too – one Anna was not very familiar with. The skin between Elsa's neck and shoulder felt warm against her face, and Anna let herself relax further. Her arms slipped from below Elsa's armpits to somewhere closer to her waist, squeezing softly. Her eyelids mimicked the action.

Her mother felt so good in her arms. The very thought made her want to cry.

"…Tori?"

Finally, Elsa's tentative voice broke through. Anna had no idea how long they'd been standing there, and she didn't care, either. She threw herself backwards, rubbing at her eyes. This was too much.

"Hey, sorry," she said, obstinately not looking at Elsa. Her eyes burned, and she was blinking too much to be natural. "How- how about I meet you at the mall? Got- gotta make sure Kristoff knows when and where."

"Oh… Kristoff?" But Elsa didn't seem to be thinking much about that at the moment; she was watching Anna's face intently, clearly worried. Anna couldn't hold her gaze, and her eyes fell to the floor. "Hey… like, sorry if this is way out of line, but am I doing something wrong? You keep wigging out on me."

Anna dragged her eyes back up, widening them minutely. "No! N-not at all. Like I said, I'm just going through withdrawals. You're… fine."

"Fine as in 'fine bod', or just fine?" Elsa pressed. When Anna only raised both eyebrows, she laughed; it was a laugh meant to protect both of them, to shrug off the deeper questions and try to push through. "Sorry, I know, I need a chill pill. See you at the mall?"

Only able to nod, Anna swallowed hard and tried to turn toward the exit. When she realised Elsa was following her, she nearly stumbled.

"I'm also leaving school, you know," she giggled.

"Oh, right." Slapping her head, she grumbled, "Brain fart."

"What?" Her laughter only got louder. "Did you just say that… your BRAIN had a FART?!"

"Y-yeah! I meant, um… 'no duh'?!" But it was too late: her mother was already losing it, cackling so hard that she was actually snorting with laughter. She had never heard her find anything that funny! And it was the phrase "brain fart", of all things!

So Anna started laughing with her, and they were both clutching their sides by the time they jogged down the front steps of the high school. Only then did she see Doc's car idling at the curb.

"That's me. I, um, I gotta go."

She had just turned to leave when she felt something stopping her. Looking back at Elsa, at the hand that had reached out to hold hers, she found herself completely mute. And then Elsa's arms wrapped around her once more, with such strength that Anna stumbled back a few steps.

"Els…" she murmured, hands coming to rest on slim, denim-covered hips. She heard her mother swallow hard, the little gasp afterward. But she didn't linger – it wasn't like before. Within a few seconds she'd released Anna, a small smile on her face.

"For the ride home. So you don't feel as homesick."

And then she was skipping away, turning back only once to offer a wave and a smile. Anna lifted a hand to say goodbye, but she couldn't quite force that word out. A different one spilled from her lips instead.

"Fuck."

So of course, the moment she slid into the seat next to Doc, he was staring at her with wide eyes.

"Dare I ask how things went?"

"You dare," she sighed while flopping back, hitting the headrest and closing her eyes. "They went bad. You were right, and I was right, and we were right. She's too into me to care about my dad."

"This is, indeed, heavy." Putting the car into gear, he started to pull away from the school and off toward home. "Well, I presume that you have begun to construct a further plan of attack?"

"We're meeting up at the mall later. I, um… I invited Kristoff along, and made it clear he's coming. Maybe if I nudge them enough, I can get them to stop thinking each other is a space alien."

Nodding as he focused his eyes on the road, Doc redoubled his grip on the wheel. Thinking. Then he said, "I know this isn't easy for you, Future Girl. Can't even begin to imagine what you must be feeling. Though can I say, as a casual observer, that you could probably be putting a little more effort into discouraging her advances?"

"The hug? I…" Swallowing hard, she whispered, "It's my mom, Doc. How am I supposed to tell her not to hug me when…"

The rest of the thought wouldn't come out. How could she tell Elsa not to hug her when the feeling was so foreign to begin with? When she never wanted, never tried, to listen to her youngest daughter, or comfort her? On some level, it was probably a little sick that she could – and willingly chose to – accept this form of affection in place of another, but she couldn't help it. The craving was so desperate that any and all ways it could be sated were welcomed by her heart.

"Alright, alright. My words aren't intended to pass any judgment. Just keep that in mind; if you want your father to seem more appealing to her, then you yourself must seem less appealing. That part is simple mathematics."

He was right, of course. She privately thought that Kristoff McFly was about the lamest candidate for a husband, period, let alone for the incredible creature that was Elsa Baines… but if she didn't want to destroy the universe, or at least herself, she had to send them down the aisle to the altar.

"Guess I got my work cut out for me, huh?"

Doc didn't bother to grace that question with an answer. After having seen Kristoff, he was probably thinking something along those very same lines.

~ o ~

But his words did give her an idea. Obviously Elsa was pretty much infatuated with Anna, completely insane as that was, so there had to be something to make her seem less… awesome. Less captivating compared to Kristoff. She briefly went through a list in her head as Doc drove them back to his place. She didn't want to do anything drastic to change her personality – and really, Elsa would probably see right through that. But Doc was right. She had to put her foot down. No more moments of weakness.

They weren't meeting up until after four, which gave Anna some extra time to prepare. She had to start with improving Kristoff's look – probably beginning with his oily hair. No matter the decade, it didn't look good. The only consolation was that at least he didn't have a mullet.

Making sure to don her era-appropriate clothing, Anna got Doc to drop her off. Seeing as her license wouldn't be valid for another thirty years, she didn't want to risk it.

Kristoff must have come straight from school because he hadn't even bothered to change. Good grief. Glancing at her wallet, she had a sneaky fifty hidden there that Doc had given her for emergencies. Well, this was life and death – hers, if she couldn't get her parents swapping DNA. Without even greeting him, she leaned up and flicked him in the forehead.

"Do you really think Elsa's gonna be impressed when you're still wearing your shirt from lunch?"

He looked down at his chest. "There's only one stain on it!" he protested – and at least he said it with some conviction.

"Beside. The point. Kris." She pointed in the direction of the JCPenney's – still exactly where she remembered it from 2015. "I have fifty bucks to waste on you. Don't make me regret it."

Luckily, JCPenney seemed to be where Elsa and her friends were not, so they could do this part without them hanging around and chiding his choices too much. Anna took a good, long look around the clothing department, getting a feel for what was in fashion… even though some of it made her want to laugh. She had to adapt to the environment.

"Start with this," she said, pushing a T-shirt at him.

"With wh-" When he got a good look at the front of it, he gasped and whispered, "I can't wear that! It has profanity on it!"

Glancing down at the white words on the black fabric that asked, 'What Are You Looking At Dicknose', she shrugged. "I mean, you do want Elsa to notice you, right? She doesn't like guys who act like they own her, but she doesn't want some wimp with a stained shirt, either. This is, like…" What was the word that would mean it was an acceptable middle-road? She went for it: "Rad."

"Rad, huh?" Taking up the shirt, he shrugged. "Alright. Um… I'll try it on, but no promises about buying it."

"Good. That's all I ask."

When he exited the dressing room, still wearing the same jeans and shoes, Anna couldn't believe it. Maybe it was no Cinderella transformation, but he looked leagues better with such a small change.

"We're taking it. Plus, um… this one." Her hand snatched up a Purple Rain t-shirt; she knew Prince was huge back then, he couldn't go wrong there. "And…" Another light pink one with a cartoonish outline of a person on it, lines of interest radiating outward from the little dude.

"All these? Why? I have my own clothes."

"Your own clothes suck. Trust me on this, broseph."

"That's not my name."

Right – the slang thing. She needed some kind of dictionary. For the time being, she just shook her head and steered him toward the front. Anna was pleasantly surprised that the total came to just over twenty-five dollars. Kristoff looked aghast.

"I can't afford that!" he hissed. Anna just scrunched her nose up.

"Dude, I said I got this," she replied. Even better, she had enough money left over for food. "But this is the only time. You don't want your first impression – well, second first impression – to tell her you're some pig who can't even keep himself tidy. What woman is going to respect you if you can't even respect normal rituals of hygiene?"

The words seemed to be enough, and he shut his mouth. So they went to the checkout, Kristoff still slouching. Anna hoped it was because he was embarrassed about the stain on his shirt. They'd almost made it through when something else caught her eye. It was a CD, advertised as being on sale for $15. The name, a day of the week, was somehow familiar…

Suddenly, it connected in her brain. "This, too," she said. grabbing one and giving it to the cashier. They finally looked a little more interested, and gave a grin.

"Gnarly, man," he chuckled. "'Til Tuesday is really pumping out the hits lately!"

Anna smiled at him. "Oh yeah. Real uh, sick." Kristoff gave her a funny look, but she ignored him until they had paid for the stuff and were threading their way back through the crowd.

"What was that?" he asked. Anna ignored him for a second, looking for a sign for the public toilets. She kept walking as she answered, relying on him to follow her.

"It's a CD, dude," she said. "And you're gonna give it to Elsa."

"What? No! It's- you paid for it, you should give it to her. I don't have that kind of cash."

"Do you like this girl or not?" she demanded, turning around to face him. He stopped immediately, wilting under her stern gaze. When he didn't answer, she softened. "Trust me when I say that I don't mind. That I want to help."

Biting his lip, he looked at her. "Are you sure?" Anna nodded, giving him a smile. He still didn't seem particularly happy about it, but Anna had figured that he'd let it go. He didn't seem keen on arguing with her – at least, not about that.

He had plenty more to say when Anna was shepherding him into the bathroom to get redressed – and once more, it was to splutter at her, "You can't be in here!"

Frowning, Anna looked around. The men's room was undeniably empty. Ignoring him, she locked the door.

"Take your shirt off," she said. He didn't. If anything, he clutched it tighter to his skin.

"Why can't I just go into a stall and change?"

"Because we gotta wash that crap outta your hair first," Anna sighed. "And a wet shirt is not a good look. C'mon, work with me, man."

Still hesitant, he finally lowered his hand. Placing the shopping bag on the counter, he ripped his shirt off. 'Like a bandaid,' Anna thought; getting it over and done with. When the stained shirt joined the new ones, Anna couldn't help but glance.

Her father wasn't bad looking. Not at all. Strong jaw and soft eyes, for starters, but once the shirt was removed, it was plain to see that his physique was actually rather decent; a little pudgy, but that wasn't a bad thing. Apparently he kept in shape to some degree. If he could stand up for himself, he probably could get noticed – in the good way. If she had any remote interest in boys… 'Nope, still wouldn't,' she thought as she shook her head.

"Okay, wet your hair and uh, wash it. No offense but I don't really wanna touch that grease trap." She pulled a face, and Kristoff actually looked quite offended. Shrugging, she didn't take it back. "Sorry, dude, but it's true. Now, hurry up. Elsa's probably already waiting."

"But- how am I gonna dry it?" he asked. "Wet hair is probably just as bad as oily!"

"Wet hair dries," Anna pointed out. "Anyway, why do you think the hand dryer swivels?"

More bickering, more back-and-forth, and she finally got him to lather a little soap into his hair and rinse out some of the grease. It did the trick, more or less. As it turned out, he actually did have a comb with him… which she also made him wash thoroughly before he used it again. After that…

"Oh my God," she muttered, smiling very slightly. "Not half bad, McFly."

He was staring at himself in the mirror, at the slicked-back damp hair and the Purple Rain tee, the less-shiny face. It was an improvement, but he didn't seem to see that; he only saw the bad posture, the person that he didn't want to be. Anna knew how that could be, even if she had better luck than him in refocusing on the positives.

"You really think this is gonna make any difference?" he sighed, brushing up and down his chest and stomach.

"Only one way to find out. Let's go." Out they went, angling toward the food court and trying to find Elsa and her hangers-on.

They needn't have worried. Seated around a table were the mini-clique, just starting to dig into huge floppy slices of Sbarro's. Anna had to smile a little; at least some things were relative constants.

"We made it!" she said with a smile as she sank into a seat. Her head nodded toward Kristoff's bag. "Caught him picking up some new threads." She felt no reason to explain that the shirt in the very bottom of the bag was the stained one from school. She gave him a meaningful stare, and he jerked.

"Oh, I-" he faltered for a moment, glancing at Elsa's two friends. "I got you something…" His voice became progressively smaller as he continued, until he came to the last word and it was barely more than a whisper. At least it seemed to pique Elsa's interest, and she cocked her head. Plunging a hand into the bag, he brought out the CD. He didn't say anything as Elsa took it. She glanced at him, briefly, before her gaze found Anna.

"I love it," she said, words directed at him but not looking at him at all. Her eyes fell to the cover. "'Til Tuesday is my favourite band."

'Shit. Swing and a miss.' Upon reflection, it was painfully obvious that the CD had come from Anna; Elsa had never told Kristoff of her love of the band, nor were they really at the point of buying presents; he would have no way to know about it at all. Hopefully she thought that perhaps Anna had only helped him pick it out. Still, she felt a little dumb for mishandling this idea of hers.

As if suddenly realising that she was surrounded by people, half of whom were almost complete strangers, Elsa jerked her head up as a light blush coated her cheeks. "W-well, uh, the pizza's nice and fresh. Go on, eat a slice!"

"Oh, it's okay. I'll grab my own." Elsa deflated a little at that, but Anna had to remain strong. "Why don't you share with Kristoff? And next time, he can owe you a slice? Yeah, cool, sounds like a plan. Be right back!"

And then she was gone, not giving Elsa or Kristoff a chance to back out of her hasty arrangement. Hopefully.

She returned five minutes later, a slice of supreme pizza and a root beer in her hands. Everyone else had mostly finished, but Anna was pleased that the girls seemed to at least by trying to engage Kristoff. He was gnawing on a pizza crust, so at least Elsa had shared with him.

"Man, Sbarro's is good, but I do miss Papa John's. Jonesing for their Hawaiian right about now," she said as she sat down. Taking a bite of her pizza, she didn't notice anything was amiss until no one responded. "What?"

"Uh," Elsa began. "I mean. I understood all those words… sort of…"

"Who's Papa John?" one of Elsa's friends asked. Oh god, was was her name? And again, a dictionary would be a really good thing right about now.

However, her savior this time came from an unexpected place. "Is that like, a pizza parlor near your home?" Kristoff asked. "And um, jonesing. That means like… you really want it, right?"

Mouth still full of food, all Anna could do was nod. With great difficulty, she swallowed. "Uh, yeah. The pizza's not the greatest, but it's pretty cheap. They use fresh pineapple, and it makes a difference."

"Your home sounds weird," Elsa's friend spoke again, dabbing her mouth with a napkin.

"Jazz!" Elsa hissed. Oh, so that was her name. Then she turned back with an earnest smile back in place. "It sounds pretty wicked. I don't know why you came to boring ol' Dell Valley."

"Just… y'know, family stuff." Her eyes flicked back to Elsa and Kristoff; she couldn't help it. Then she had to feed into the lie. "Visiting my uncle. But hey, great to meet new people, right?"

"For sure, I guess." Clearly trying to be diplomatic, Elsa turned to Kristoff. "I mean, it's not like I don't know Kris here. We just… never spoke much."

At that, he hunched his shoulders, but Anna managed to reach around behind him and poke him gently in the small of the back to make him sit up a little straighter. That was going to have to be a habit they both worked on breaking.

"Oh, you know Kristoff," she chuckled as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Always writing, or reading." The last part was a good guess; her father did still read books during his lunch breaks in the future.

"Writing what?" Jazz asked with detached interest.

"Oh, well… stories… science fiction stories, about aliens. You know, like in Star Wars?"

Jazz and Ariel were clearly about as impressed as if he had said 'poems about bread mould'. They glanced at each other, then over at Elsa as if to ask whether or not they really had to continue tolerating his presence any further.

But Elsa impressed both Kristoff and Anna by smiling and leaning against the table with her elbows. "Really? The Star Wars movies were rad; I like stuff like that. Space age fantasy. Are they any good?"

"Oh. Well… to be honest, I've never let anyone else read them. Kind of afraid of the rejection. I mean… you know, when you create something… it's hard to hand it over to somebody else."

"Yeah," Elsa sighed, her smile vanishing as she looked down at the table. "I can only imagine."

Suddenly, a pang shot through Anna's heart as she realised: that was part of why her mother had always been so disapproving of her relationship with Jennifer. Yes, the gay factor was part of it, but she had also been very critical of Wendy's dates, and to a lesser extent, John's. Maybe she was just being the world's most overprotective mother; "creating something" that she had to give to someone else someday.

"They're pretty good, actually," Anna improvised, talking out of her ass. Technically, she had read a single line of one story, so it wasn't a complete lie. "I think he could go pro if he stops doubting himself."

"Nah," he laughed, cheeks flushing with red as he grinned. Jazz and Ariel giggled, but at least they weren't acting like they wished he didn't exist anymore. "Well… I mean, probably not with these stories. But I have some bigger ideas."

"Spill!" Elsa encouraged him, and the others nodded halfheartedly. If Elsa noticed their relative disinterest, she ignored it.

"Well… alright, picture this: the moons over Alpha Centauri. We start off with humans; I mean, that's who the audience relates to, anyway, right? They're landing when they notice a strange mist rolling in from the north…"

~ o ~

They spent a good hour at the mall, but only ended up moving from the food court in the last ten minutes. Jazz and Ariel left shortly after Kristoff and Elsa began fangasming about fanfic. They didn't use that word, but Anna knew enough to figure out that both her parents were total nerds.

Finally! Something in common. And the best part was they were both really into it. Kristoff wasn't like one of the gatekeeping comic-book dudebros that Anna had come across; he seemed genuinely happy that Elsa understood what he was saying, and even challenged it sometimes. Anna was pretty sure that by the end of that hour, they'd probably planned out an entire Star Trek saga of their own.

The only thing that put a stop to their discussion was when Elsa glanced at her watch. "Oh shit," she said. And then looked up, eyes wide. "I mean- uh…"

She looked like a deer caught between two headlights, staring first at Kristoff and then Anna. Anna just stared at her, surprise written on her face because since when did her mother swear?

Fortunately, Kristoff cleared his throat. "I don't give a shit if you swear or not. I won't tell your mother, either."

And then- and then, the would-be ladykiller winked. Elsa let out a nervous little giggle, glancing between him and Anna. Her cheeks were a little flushed – a good sign, Anna hoped.

"I uh, I appreciate that. Thanks, Kris. I just- I'm really late. I'll see you both tomorrow, right?"

Anna finally found her voice – well, enough of it to say, "Yeah, sure. Tomorrow…" Giving another smile, Elsa waved and left.

And then Kristoff just slumped. "Oh my god."

"Oh my god is right! What was that?" Now that Elsa was gone, Anna couldn't not look at her father. "Where did that swag come from?!"

"I don't know! It just- it seemed like the thing to do!"

Shaking her head, Anna let out a relieved chuckle. "Well, I think it worked. See, I knew you had it in you!"

"Yes, except I don't even know what 'it' was! One minute, we were talking about science fiction, and then she was suddenly just asking me what else I liked to read, and… it got a lot… nicer. Easier talking to her. I have no idea!"

Cackling, she pounded him on the back. "Told you, didn't I? All you had to do was get things moving and the rest would just… fall into place, man! You're a natural!"

"I am not. Now you're exaggerating." But the blush and the smile told a very different story. This Kristoff, she could definitely see her mother falling for. The greasy-haired boy hanging from a tree and doing unseemly things, not even a little.

So Anna took a deep breath. "I'm not. But you are gonna have to change a couple of your habits – on top of the 'no birdwatching' thing. Obviously she likes who you are inside, but like, shower every day. Wear clothes that don't look like they came from Salvation Army. Simple things that show you actually care about how you look around other people, and that you're a man, not a little kid who can't remember to wash."

"Okay, okay," he sighed. "God, you nag me worse than my father."

Anna wanted to fall out of her seat at that comment.

~ o ~

When she breezed back in the door at the end of the evening, Doc was up to his elbows in wires, tubes, and engine grease. He had been going back and forth between his own experiments and working on the car.

"Success!" she crowed. And then winced when Doc stood up too fast and hit his head. "Oops… sorry…"

Rubbing his head, the expression of annoyance only lasted a short while. Then he was smiling, saying, "Is love in the air? And I mean between those two, not…"

Anna's good cheer rapidly fell away, and she scowled. It was less about the question and more to cover the hurt that he'd even felt the need to mention it. Did he not trust her to not mess this up? But he did deserve a response to his main question, so she brushed past the other bit.

"So far, so good. Like, today went great! But I need to go back to school tomorrow – Elsa's expecting me and Kris to be there. God, she probably thinks we're some kind of two-headed monster or something…"

Now that they knew each other, things were back on track. Thank goodness. It meant that when the lightning hit that weekend, she could go home, without fear of repercussions.

Idly, she pulled out the photograph of her family. The hug from Elsa had helped, but the desire to see her family again – her family, not these premature versions of them – was still incredibly high. No matter their problems, she still loved them. And now, she had a greater appreciation of her mother and father. Maybe… maybe they didn't hate her. Maybe they just saw too much of themselves in her and were trying to push her to be her best self, regardless of if their pushing was in the right direction. Either way, it was worth it to try teaching them to love themselves again.

Especially her mother. The past days had proved there was a warm, loving person inside her somewhere. Biting back a small smile at the thought, she held the photo up to the light.

And then her breath caught.

"Doc!" she cried out. "Doc, come look!"

There was real fear in her voice; probably the only thing that could have dragged him away from his experiments was an emergency, and this definitely qualified.

"Great Scott!" he whispered, taking the photograph from her. "Your brother has completely disappeared!"

"No shit, Sherlock," she huffed, on the verge of tears. "But- but it's all back on track!" Doc was shaking his head.

"We're missing something. You have introduced them, yes, but there appears to be something more significant. Did your parents ever say anything more about how they met? How they knew they were destined for a romantic entanglement, rather than a more passive friendship?"

Shaking her head, Anna said, "No. Mom didn't talk about it much. When she did, she always made sure to mention Dad had basically been run over. And then they went to the dance, and dated for a while, and then they got married and there was my brother, then my sister, and then lucky me."

His fingers snapped so close to her ear that she jerked her head away. "The dance! That sounds like an important social gathering – perhaps a formative one for their emotional connection vis-à-vis 'dating'. You're saying that your elder brother was conceived not long after this dance of theirs?"

"Right…" Anna tried to summon up the dusty old memories, as unimportant to her as they had been back then. "Well, yeah. They met because of the car thing… then Mom took pity on him and asked him if he wanted to go to the dance with her. Now, I'm pretty sure it was just to keep Hans from being gross at her the whole night, but yeah."

"Yes, of course; Tannen. Always a Tannen somewhere underfoot." Anna wanted to ask what he meant by that, but he was pacing again. "Alright, alright. Stick by your parents while I work on things here. This photograph is a very ominous portent, indeed, but it's not an absolute! We may yet avert disaster if we are vigilant!"

"You're the doc, Doc…" But as she bounced upstairs to the guest room that he had given over for her use, she couldn't help looking back at him with worry. Everything in her life was going wrong, and way too much of it was her own fault. How could he be so confident that they could pull her fat out of the fire?

To Be Continued…

#Fractal The Future #fruipit #forkanna writes #Back to the Future #elsanna fanfiction #elsanna #forkanna the writer

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patricia-von-arundel · 6 years

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The Campaign - Part 1

So, uh... some of you may remember me. I’m going to try to track down some old friends a little later on.

I have some stories I want to finish. This one, because people really enjoyed it. Some others will come later. I can get this one up because the amazing @no-escape-from-the-storm-inside kept some of my stuff and got it to me. I should have more up in the next few days, and then will work on new material.

So that being said... let’s return to the ‘80s with Elsa and Anna. I’m putting this up before I lose my nerve.

The story is set in 1985.

Rated: T

The clouds were rolling in by mid-afternoon, and Anna let the other girls leave at four. She stayed until four-thirty, just in case someone came in wanting batteries or bottled water or a spare electric blanket, then taped the sign to the door: CLOSED DUE TO WEATHER. This was going to be a bad one, the news had said the night before. And her father - with her mother in Key West for the one vacation they took each year - had called her at lunchtime: “Use your judgement. If it looks bad, go ahead and close up.”

The sky was low and heavy and dark as she checked the locks, her hands clumsy in thick mittens, and the wind was already whipping up something fierce. She pulled her hat more snugly over her ears, tucked her scarf into her coat. It was going to be a long walk home.

She had no one to blame but herself - she’d been putting off getting a driver’s license for over two years - but that didn’t make the distance any shorter. There was nothing to it but to get going. She shoved the keys in her purse and her hands in her pockets, and started out.

The small, neat town of Arendelle was already battened down and silent, save for the wind lashing at bare branches and streetlights; schools had let out for Christmas break the week before. She saw one of Sheriff Weselton’s deputies cruise by as she reached the edge of Market Street, but otherwise, she might as well have been the only soul left on earth, like in those creepy magazines Elsa had liked when they were kids - Weird Tales, stuff like that.

The sky was spitting snow - thick, heavy flakes - by the time she left Applewood for CR1113 - the road that would take her home, but not for another mile and a half. Hunched and buffeted as she was, she didn’t hear the car until it was almost on top of her. She stepped to the side to let it pass - she’d been walking down this narrow country road all her life - but instead, it rolled to a smooth stop, and a moment later, the passenger door was pushed open from within.

“Looks like you could use a ride.”

The voice was vaguely familiar, but she didn’t recognize the car - nobody in a town like Arendelle drove a Mercedes; of that she was certain. She squinted at the dark exterior - and finally made out the face she had first seen only two days before. “Oh! Mr… Mr. Westerguard, right?”

He smiled - he had a friendly, open face. “Right, but Hans is fine. Can I give you a ride home?”

“Oh, uh, if… if you’re sure you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” He patted the smooth leather of the passenger seat. “Hop in.”

The inside of the car was deliciously warm, and it smelled of cologne and clean leather. She pulled her mittens off to hold her hands to a heater vent. “I didn’t know you were still in town. Mom and Dad are on vacation.”

He turned smoothly around a curve, then another. “I have a couple more meetings. They were postponed until after the storm. I’m stuck here a few more days.”

“Lucky for me,” Anna said, and he flashed her another smile. The Westerguards ran an enormous wholesale business - her father had been excited about a potential partnership, especially because of the new mall going up on the other side of town. She had been briefly introduced to young Hans Westerguard when he had come by the store for his appointment with her parents, but her only real impression had been whoa. “But… what are you doing out here?”

“Following you,” he said, but his tone was so guileless she laughed. “I was trying to find someplace to get some food - not a burger - before the storm hit. And I thought I recognized you.”

“It’s the hair, isnt’ it?”

He laughed. “It does stand out.”

She made a face. “Eddie Lang got everyone calling me “carrot-head” in first grade. Until I punched him in the nose.”

“I like it. And I promise not to even compare you to a carrot, Miss Agdarsson.”

She looked away quickly then, out the window, feeling the flush rising in her cheeks. “Anna,” she said softly. “You can, uh… you can call me Anna.”

“Anna,” he said - as if trying out the sound. His voice was very rich, she thought. “Your parents talked about you a lot - your dad says you have a good head for business.”

“He did?” Genuine surprise - she had always felt like the family afterthought; everything had always been Elsa-Elsa-Elsa: Elsa’s so smart. Elsa’s got to get ready for college. And since last spring, Elsa’s just having a tough time right now.

“He did!” Hans had such a warm, easy smile. And - she risked a glance; he was watching the road - really gorgeous green eyes. She liked his hair, too, the way it was just long enough in the back to touch his collar - a tiny hint of rebellion. “He said he can always count on you to keep everything straight, and all the customers love you.”

She waved a hand of dismissal, despite the warm pleasure settling all around her. “Oh, they’ve just known me for, like, forever. They just see this way cute little girl, not now-me.”

He looked over at her for a long, hushed moment - she felt her breath catch - his eyes making slow, intent way around her face. “Not little,” he finally said, turning back to the road. “But definitely way cute.”

It didn’t happen often, but it happened now - Anna was left speechless. She looked away again, because her face was likely the same color as her hair. Boys at school had seemed to like her well enough, and she’d liked some of them back - she’d broken up with Logan after eight months back in June, when he joined the Navy and left Arendelle - but it wasn’t anything like whatever was happening here. Hans was not only from outside Arendelle, he was also older than her. A real adult. Anna was 18, a high school graduate, but she usually still felt like still just a way-cute little girl.

She bit her lip, and watched the cold world pass by.

“Any turns I need to make?” he asked after a minute or two. He sounded casual and natural, not at all self-conscious at what he had just said.

“Oh, uh… no. No, just us at the end. My dad says he gets enough forced small talk at the store, he wants his privacy at home. My mom’s the social one - like me, I guess. I’ve thought about getting an apartment downtown, but there aren’t very many of them, and they’re pretty expensive.”

“Bet it seems worth it, on days like today, huh?”

She laughed. “Totally. Just around this bend, you’ll see the house.”

The house in question, even she had to admit after a lifetime of resenting its remote location, was beautiful - a baroque Victorian confection of pastel blues and whites, gingerbread molding and turrets and peaked roofs. She was, then, not surprised by Hans’ “Wow.”

“Home sweet home,” Anna said. “Will you come inside for a drink or something? Since you drove all the way out here just for me..”

“Sure.” He pulled the car in to park next to her parents’ Volvo. They had gotten a taxi to the airport, despite neither Anna nor Elsa driving.

“Do you have a large family?” he asked as they stood in the cold while she dug through her purse for her keys. Elsa might answer if she rang the bell - but she just as likely would not. “Your parents only mentioned you and a sister.”

“Yeah, it’s just the four of us - a-ha!” She twisted the key hard; the lock was always stiff in winter. “My parents, my sister Elsa, and me.” She held the door for him to step first into the warm foyer; he nodded thanks.

“I should admit, that makes me envious,” he said. “I would have loved a small, close family.”

“Yours is big?” He wore only a fine leather jacket, which he hung in the little closet as she peeled off hat, scarf, mittens, parka, and snow boots.

“Twelve older brothers,” he said, and paused as she let that sink in, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open.

“No way.”

He grinned, unsurprised. “Way.”

“Seriously? That’s insane. The kitchen’s just through here. Coke? Coffee? We may have orange juice…”

“Water’s fine.” She got a Tab for herself - her mother refused to buy Diet Coke, so Anna had to make do - and joined him at the table. “Thanks.”

She put her weight on her elbows, learned closer to him. He had a spray of freckles across his nose and cheeks. “You’re kidding, right? Twelve brothers?”

“Totally serious. Caleb’s so old he hates rock-and-roll.”

“Get real!”

He was smiling, enjoying this. “Want all their names? Sometimes, I can remember them all.”

“That’s crazy. And you’re the youngest?”

“By almost three years. I was an… unplanned final surprise.”

Anna shook her head, trying to imagine a life with that many Elsas. Though honestly, she thought, it might not be all that different: twelve closed, locked doors instead of just one. “I’m youngest, too,” she said. “It kind of sucks.”

He laughed, raising an eyebrow. “Not close to your sister?”

“Not, uh… not anymore.” Smooth, Anna. She’d been too eager to keep the conversation going to stop and consider what dangerous waters she was treading into. “We kind of grew apart, I guess.”

His expression, now, was all sympathy - and, to her pleasant surprise, despite the niggle of discomfort in her midsection at talk of Elsa, his hands reached across the table to wrap around one of hers. “I’m sorry to hear that.” His fingers were cool and damp from the water glass.

Anna swallowed hard - something was happening fast, and she wasn’t even sure what it was. She shrugged. “Yeah, well, that’s… that’s life, I guess.”

“Is it just you here until your parents get back? This storm sounds like it could be a bad one.”

“Oh, Elsa’s here, too. She’s just holed up in her room upstairs.” Like she always is.

Anna knew Elsa had always been a little… different. Quiet and shy, Elsa struggled with making friends, with doing anything to make herself less conspicuous as a target of torment and bullying. It only got worse with the coming of adolescence - Anna suspected Elsa was oblivious, but no one else was: Elsa was beautiful. Blue eyes, all that white-blonde hair, a slender, graceful build - and she still kept her nose buried in physics textbooks and graph paper.

Anna loved her more than anyone else in the world. What was harder to accept than any of Elsa’s quirks or strange obsessions was the stark reality that Elsa seemed determined to reject that love.

“Ah,” Hans said. “I hope I’m not intruding, then.”

“No, not at all! I appreciate the company.” She hoped it didn’t sound just pathetic and over-eager, but it was true. The house, even when her parents were home, often now felt very cold and lonely. “Really.”

“Well, in that case-”

“Anna?” The voice was hesitant, speaking from the darkness of the hallway. “I thought I heard - oh.”

Her hair was half-tamed in a loose braid, her eyes wide, a battered notebook clutched to her chest. Her sweater fell almost to her knees.

Anna pushed up from the table before she could bolt. “Elsa! Hi! This is Hans - Hans Westerguard. He was in town to meet with Mom and Dad, and offered me a ride home - the snow, you know? Hans, this is my sister Elsa.”

Elsa leaned against the doorframe as Hans approached and held out a hand. She stared at it for a long moment before shifting her notebook to shake. But her gaze never rose to meet his - it was fixed firmly on a point halfway up the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen.

“Pleased to meet you,” Hans said.

Elsa managed a ghost of a smile, pulling her hand away. Anna allowed herself an internal sigh.

“Want something to drink?” she asked. “We’re just talking - you’re welcome to join us. Or - dinner! How about dinner? I can make spaghetti.”

Hans had taken a step back from Elsa, which was probably a smart move. “Spaghetti sounds wonderful.”

“Elsa? Spaghetti?”

For no more than a second, Elsa’s eyes met hers. Then they risked a glance at Hans, raking up, down, and staying there. She shook her head. “No. Thanks. I’m… I’m working on something. I just came down to get a drink and… thought I heard voices.” She was clutching that notebook like it was the only thing keeping her anchored to solid ground.

“Just me,” Anna said - attempting a chipper tone. Elsa was being even cagier than usual. Because of Hans, or something else? “Well - us, I guess. Did you want Coke? I think there may be a couple of cans of Sprite left at the back.”

“No, uh… Coke. I wanted Coke.” But she made no move toward the refrigerator. She would have to pass by Hans to get there. She just stood there, one hand playing at the coiled binding of her notebook, staring at the floor. Her cheeks were flushed deep red.

“Elsa?”

Elsa hunched as if Anna had raised a hand to hit her. “Sorry. I’m… I’m sorry.” A moment of hesitation - and then she fled, and a few seconds later, Anna could hear her heavy footfalls, taking the stairs three at a time.

Anna sighed, rubbed a hand over her face. “Sorry - she’s going through some stuff. I better… I’ll be right back.”

“Sure, of course,” Hans said.

Anna grabbed a can of Coke from the fridge and made the age-old journey to Elsa’s closed door - right next to her own. She knocked firmly. “Elsa?”

Silence - but that was no more than she had expected.

She knocked again. “Elsa, I know you can hear me. What was that all about? Are you okay?”

A pause, then: “I’m fine.”

“I brought your Coke.”

“Just… just leave it outside the door.”

Was she for real? “C’mon, Elsa. It’s just me. Hans is downstairs. I want to see if you’re okay. Please?”

She imagined she could hear Elsa sigh with exasperation, but she didn’t care. A moment later, the latch clicked, and the door pulled inward. Elsa had put down her notebook, but was now clutching the edge of the door instead. This close, Anna could see the dark, swollen crescents under her eyes. “Okay?” she said.

“Thanks! Here’s your drink.”

She took the can with the hand not on the door - then made to close it. “Thank you.”

“You sure you don’t want spaghetti? Or something else?”

Elsa shook her head. All Anna could see was one eye, the curve of her cheek.

“You’ll tell me if you want something later?”

The eye looked away. “Yeah, but, I’m… I’m almost done. Maybe then.”

“What are you working on?”

“A… Just a project.”

“Can I see it when it’s done?”

For one final, brief second, Elsa’s eye met hers once more. Then it closed - and a moment later, the door did the same.

Elsa was gone. Anna just stood there, a hard weight in her chest. She was afraid, so often afraid, for her sister. Her parents had refused to speak of why she had come home; Elsa certainly hadn’t said anything - but Anna knew. Just a month or so ago, taking out the trash, a wad of papers had fallen as she tried to tie shut the overflowing bag.

She had at first only glanced at them - they were all addressed to Elsa, all on official-looking letterheads. Curiosity had gotten the better of her.

They were letters from graduate programs - for math of types Anna had never even heard of - and they were rejections. All of them. The anger had flared up in her that day, strong and fierce and bright, and it burned there still - but no one knew, and no one could know, Elsa especially.

But what Anna longed to tell her, could never tell her without giving herself away, was that every school that had turned Elsa down was staffed by idiots. Anna’s sister Elsa was smart and talented and creative and hard-working. She was a little weird, yeah, and pretty dorky - but she was better than any person those programs had admitted, and Anna would fight anyone who said otherwise.

But Elsa didn’t know any of that.

And all Anna could do was stare at her closed door. Again.

“Elsa?” Tentative and soft.

She didn’t expect a response. She was turning away when it came, as tentative as her own: “Maybe.”

Downstairs, she found Hans thumbing through a catalog left on the table, but he closed it and looked up when she came in, eyes concerned. “Is she all right?”

“Yeah.” Anna pushed one long braid back over her shoulder and sat down across from him once more. “Yeah, I think so.” She felt suddenly very tired.

“I hope so,” Hans said, and she managed a weary smile. “Did I scare her?”

Anna shook her head, though she was far from sure that was true. “She just takes awhile to warm up. She’s shy.”

Hans nodded, almost absently. He pushed back from the table, glancing towards the window, curtains still open, that looked out over the backyard. “Speaking of warming up, I’d better get going before I’m stuck.”

Anna looked out for the first time since she’d gotten home - and felt her eyes widen. “Oh, wow.” The news last night hadn’t been kidding - the air was a swirling, angry mass of pure white. “Wow,” she said again.

“Yeah,” Hans agreed - and there seemed little else to say.

“Stay here,” she said. “We have spare rooms. That’s crazy, the weather.”

“I wouldn’t want to take advantage.”

She turned back to him. “You wouldn’t be here if not for me.”

He smiled at that. “Fair point.”

“At least stay for something to eat. Since that’s what you were doing in the first place.”

“Master Chef Anna Agdarsson?”

“No way. All I can do is, like, pasta and sandwiches. Maybe scrambled eggs.”

“The right amount of scramble is an art.”

She’d made the mistake of taking a drink, and wound up laughing and choking trying not to spray Tab out her nose. The burn - and ridiculousness - of it all just made her laugh harder.

How long had it been since she’d laughed like this? Before graduation? It must have been - and maybe some part of her had believed she never would again, that it had gone the way of childhood. It overshadowed even Elsa.

And - shoving guilt to the back of her mind - she allowed it. It might never come again, the way her life was going lately. And Hans was patting her on the back, and laughing with her, and it all felt so good.

“Let’s do sandwiches,” he said, when Anna had finally been reduced to gasps and giggles. “I am a master - nay, a king! - of sandwiches.”

Their eyes met, and held, and Anna could feel the perfect, potential magic sparking between them. When she gave over to a goofy, lopsided grin, he gave one right back - and wrinkled his nose besides.

He was the good kind of adult. Maybe she could be, too.

They ate turkey and cheese and tomato on plain-old Wonder Bread, but somehow, with the storm raging outside and Hans keeping her company, it tasted like the finest gourmet meal from an awesome city far from Arendelle.

“Okay, so tell me,” she said, leaning over the table, “how’d you wind up in the family business? Or is it, like, something you and all your brothers do?”

Hans smiled and shook his head around a mouthful, swallowing before he answered. “No, definitely not - most of them had no interest beyond the money. It’s not exactly romantic work.”

A little frisson worked its way along her spine when he said romantic. She took a quick bite of sandwich to try to hide it showing on her face.

“My brother Caleb - I mentioned him, right? - pretty much runs the company now, and Lars cooks the books… or as he calls it, does the accounting.”

Anna laughed again, quickly covering her mouth to keep from spraying him with crumbs. “How’d you wind up there?”

His face sobered, his eyes wandering to the window, and the thought arrived unbidden: I’ve found his Elsa.

“Nobody expected much from me,” he said - then his expression cleared, and he mustered a smile, though she thought it looked forced. “But I’m competitive. This seemed the quickest way to prove them wrong.”

“Elsa was like that, too - she couldn’t just do something, she had to master it.”

“Admirable,” Hans said. “Though in my experience-”

He was cut off by a banging noise, loud enough it reverberated even over the sounds of whining wind and snow slapping at the windows. A moment later, it came again.

Hans’ gaze, wide-eyed, was locked on Anna. “Elsa?” he asked.

Anna shook her head. “No,” she said. “Someone’s at the front door.”

“The front door? In this? Anna, are you sure-”

Anna was already up and heading down the hall. “Of course I’m sure. Every person in Arendelle knows this house. Probably someone ran into a ditch in the storm, on one of the sideroads. It’s happened before.”

“You think it’s safe?”

She would bet her inheritance he lived in some big-city highrise - a yuppie; cute, mature, but yuppie nonetheless. She unlocked the door and opened it carefully - against the wind, not the axe murderer waiting on the other side.

She did take a step back against the sheer size of him, though. Hans caught her elbows, a loose hold - but one that felt almost possessive. She let her eyes take in enormous boots, the well-worn jeans tucked into the tops, the enormous overcoat and the scarf covering most of the visitor’s face, the shapeless hat atop shaggy hair, and all of it liberally coated with a thick layer of snow.

“Anna?” The voice was muffled by the scarf, but after a moment, she placed it:

“Kristoff?”

The only color in the world outside was the sudden, bright flush of his cheeks. “Uh, yeah.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Checking.”

“On what?”

He was rubbing the back of his neck now, and his eyes couldn’t quite meet hers. “Uh… on you. And your sister.”

“Does he want to come in?” Hans asked.

There was some kind of subtle change to his tone, but she was too flustered to try to figure it out; she pulled away from him, back to the door, gesturing wildly. “Oh my god, yeah, sorry, sorry, come in. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Kristoff said.

When Anna turned back from forcing the door shut, she thought she caught a glimpse of movement at the top of the stairs - but when she looked up, it was to a silent, empty hallway.

She looked back to Kristoff - likely an easier puzzle to solve. “You were checking on me and Elsa?”

He glanced at her. “Yes. But your parents pay me well, so if you want me to keep this particular job, I probably shouldn’t ruin their floors.” His tone was snide, but what she could see of his face was still bright red.

“Here,” she said, and reached around him for the door to the coat closet.

“I mean, if everything’s okay, I’ll just go.”

“No way - are you out of your mind? Just look out there!”

“I know. I just walked through it.”

“Walked?”

“Just from my car.”

She huffed. “Anyway. No. Neither one of you is going anywhere tonight. I won’t be responsible for, like, manslaughter.”

“Yeah, right,” Kristoff said - but he pulled his hat off and shook melting snow from his shaggy hair.

“I take it you know him?” Hans asked when Kristoff had disappeared into the closet. There was still something weird in his tone, and he had a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently but rhythmically.

“Yeah, of course - that’s Kristoff. He went to school with me and Elsa. He does some work for my parents now, around the yard and stuff. He’s cool.”

“Hmm.”

“He’s fine. Not an axe murderer. And if he is, Elsa’s probably secretly like a witch or something, she’ll take care of it.”

He made another noncommittal noise. He seemed a little less adult now, but she hoped that might actually be a good thing - she might feel a little less like a kid dressed up in her mother’s makeup and heels.

Kristoff reemerged swiping a hand through his damp hair. “Elsa’s here too, right?”

“Of course she is. She’s upstairs, working on some super-secret project.” Anna knew he remembered, just as she did - a pigtailed, shrimpy first grader, already notorious for beating up Eddie Lang earlier that year, marching up to the biggest kid in the fifth grade and tugging on his sleeve.

“Hey - what’s your name?”

“Er… Kristoff?”

“Do you know my sister Elsa?”

He had just stared at her for a long time, but she crossed her arms and stared back - stared far up. “Yeah,” he finally said, “I know Elsa.”

“Do you know kids are bugging her on the bus and making her cry?”

“Not me!”

“I know. I want you to protect her.”

“…Me?”

“I’ll pay you a quarter.”

He had refused the money - but had sat pointedly close to Elsa for the rest of the school year. And over a decade later, he still made sure she was okay. And Anna smiled at him.

“We’re having sandwiches,” she said. “Want one?”

“Nah, I already ate.” He nodded to Hans, who still had a hand on Anna’s shoulder. “Don’t think we’ve met. I’m Kristoff Bjorgman.”

“Hans Westerguard.” That was it - no “pleased to meet you” here. Anna forced herself to keep a straight face.

“Come sit with us anyway,” she said to Kristoff. “I feel like I haven’t had a real conversation in days, and Mom and Dad only left yesterday. Anyone else shows up, we’ll call it a party.”

“Is that likely?” Hans asked.

“Nope.”

What also proved unlikely was the conversation she had hoped for - Kristoff she knew was often monosyllabic, but Hans’ earlier ebullience and easy banter seemed to have drained away completely. Still, between bites of her sandwich, Anna tried.

She was so tired of endless, tense, heavy silence.

“Has there been plenty of work lately?” she asked Kristoff, then informed Hans, “Kristoff practically keeps Arendelle running smoothly. Seriously.”

But Kristoff just shrugged and said, “Enough, I guess. The Palmers paid me 20 bucks to put up Christmas lights.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No.”

“What do you think of Arendelle?” she asked Hans. He had finished his food, and was now tapping a desultory rhythm on the table with his index finger. “Pretty choice, huh? Midwest heaven?”

He managed a smile that reached nowhere near his eyes. “Bitchin’,” he said.

Anna risked a tease: “Does your mother know you talk like that?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Probably not.”

Eventually, she sighed and gave up. She gathered the plates and Hans’ empty water glass, dumping them in the sink, where her morning cereal bowl still sat, unwashed. “Oops,” she muttered, and made mental note to remember to clean it all up. There was nothing from Elsa, in the sink or drying on the rack. Another mental note, to take something up later, whether she wanted it or not. Elsa was skinny enough already. It wouldn’t kill her to stop her project for 10 minutes and eat a damn sandwich.

Hans and Kristoff were still engaged in some bizarre, manly silence game, so Anna said, “Bathroom break. I’ll be right back.” Don’t kill each other while I’m gone, she added silently. Apparently, instant mutual dislike was very real.

There was a half-bath off the living room, but she went upstairs. And she allowed herself a moment to pause outside Elsa’s door - resisting the childish temptation to try to look through the old keyhole - but from the other side came only silence. What was she doing in there?

A question Anna had been trying to answer for most of her life.

Similar silence greeted her back downstairs, and she had to bite back a sigh. This was ridiculous. “Are you guys going to do this weird alpha-male stuff all night, or do you want to play a game or something?”

Both at least had the decency to look abashed, though Hans hit it better than Kristoff, and the way he then said, “Games, huh?” made Anna flush in turn - and she suspected he had done it deliberately.

So she gave him, both of them, the most innocent smile she could muster. “Boardgames, sure - we have lots. Monopoly, Scrabble… I think we still have Risk, too. That was Elsa’s favorite. And stuff like chess and checkers. Oh, and Twister!”

Kristoff grimaced. “No way. No Twister.”

Anna grinned at him. “Not too flexible, Bjorgman?”

“I don’t hate myself that much.”

“Harsh,” Hans said.

Kristoff hardly glanced at him. “Wouldn’t want to split those flash seams.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

“Yeah, right.” Kristoff spoke under his breath, but clearly intended to be heard.

Anna was sorely tempted to renege on her insistence that they stay the night, and if they froze to death, so be it. “Chill out, both of you, jeez. You’ve only known each other for 20 minutes.”

Hans glanced at his watch. “Thirty.”

“Whatever. Less than a hour. So just… cool it. All right?”

“Who is this guy?” Kristoff asked. “Do your parents know he’s here?”

“My parents? I’m not in second grade, Kristoff.”

“You trust him just like that?” How long have you known him?”

“Like two days, but that’s none of-”

“Who are you?” Hans asked - speaking over her, but his tone still mild. “Coming to the home of two young girls in a blizzard, knowing their parents aren’t home?”

“Young girls?” Anna didn’t bother hiding her disdain.

“You know what I mean.”

“That’s not the point, and you-”

Again, she saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye - but this time, when she turned to look, there was-

“Elsa?”

Hans and Kristoff had fallen silent - could they feel it, as Anna felt it: like a charge had been added to the air, just by Elsa’s appearance?

Elsa was still in the oversized sweater, still with her hair barely contained, her feet bare despite the stone tile that Anna thought must be painfully cold.And she was still clutching that beat-up notebook to her chest. She was looking around the kitchen as if seeking possible hiding places, teeth worrying at her lower lip - but when her eyes met Anna’s, she managed a smile.

“I finished it,” she said softly. “Do you… still want to see?” Her eyes darted to Hans and Kristoff at the kitchen table, then quickly away again. “I mean.. if you aren’t in the middle of something.”

“Not a thing.” Anna jumped to the table, pulling out a chair before Elsa lost her nerve and fled again. “Here, sit! I want to hear all about it. What is it?”

Elsa took a step closer - then hesitated. “It’s a game.” Her voice was hardly a whisper - and somehow, tentatively hopeful. Whatever she had done, Anna realized, it might have been everything to her, since that long, rainy day last spring.

So Anna went to her, offered a smile. “That’s so cool! C’mon - come tell us about it. How do you play?”

Elsa allowed herself to be ushered to the table - Anna knew better than to risk touching her when she was this nervous, but just kind of gesturing beside her worked. She sat the very edge of the chair, laying the notebook across her knees but nonetheless keeping a tight grip on it. She was taking visible deep breaths.

Anna leaned as close as she dared. “Thank you,” she murmured.

Elsa’s eyes met hers as she took her own seat, and for only a second, an incredulous look was there, and Elsa’s lips twitched into what Anna would have sworn was a genuine smile.

Anna smiled back. She had no more control over it than Elsa.

A strange hush had settled over the kitchen, like even the storm was muffled. Anna had been kidding earlier, calling Elsa a witch, but sometimes it did seem as if she might truly have magic, kept under tight control but still surrounding her like a cloud - or a shield.

“Hey, Elsa,” Kristoff said, with none of his earlier snide tone. “Long time no see.”

She managed a smile for him, tremulous but true. “Hi, Kristoff.” She didn’t ask why he was there. Had she been listening at the top of the stairs? She must have heard him banging on the door.

She took another deep breath and dug into the pocket near the bottom of her long sweater. When she held out her hand, there were several small, bright objects in it. They reminded Anna of once, as a kid, going to a science museum on a trip to some long-forgotten city. The gift shop had sold a rainbow of smooth little stones. Each color - pink, red, blue, purple, green - had its own bin, and there were velvet drawstring bags, tiny ones, that could be filled with stones for 35 cents.

Anna took one of Elsa’s proffered stones - but it wasn’t a stone at all. It had the same vivid blue coloring, the same smooth, cool surface, but it was multifaceted, and each identical face was stamped with a number in gold.

“With these,” Elsa said. “You play with these.”

Hans leaned closer, close enough that Elsa pulled her hand back - only a fraction of an inch, but Anna saw it. “Are those dice?”

“Yes,” Elsa said. “It’s… Have you heard of Dungeons and Dragons?”

“Oh, yeah,” Kristoff said. “That’s the one they banned in high school, right, because Principal O’Malley thought it was about satanism.”

“Yeah.” There was a wistful note in Elsa’s voice. “Yeah, that was the one.” She looked up then, quickly glanced at each of the others, as if gauging their reaction to this confirmation. “It’s not, though. It’s… just a game. Roleplaying games, they’re called. There’s lots of them, D&D’s just the most popular.”

It was the most Anna had heard her say in months - maybe since her winter break a full year before, the last time she had been home before dropping out of school. “What do you do?” Anna asked. “To play the game, I mean?”

Elsa put the dice down at the center of the table, and Anna added her blue one. “It’s about… about chance. Kind of.” She was still very nervous, clearly. “I’ve never really taught anyone to play before…”

“I assume you roll dice,” Hans said. He had pushed his chair back on two legs, apparently attempting to show disinterest, but his eyes never left Elsa. I’m competitive, he had said earlier.

Elsa was like that too, Anna had said.

Well, she thought now - tonight could be about to get very interesting.

“Of course you do,” Elsa said- and to Anna’s abject surprise, she was looking right back at Hans, with something very like challenge in her eyes.

“Wait, back up,” Kristoff said. He was leaning across the table, fingering the dice with idle curiosity. “What’s the point of this game? The goal?”

Elsa’s smile was brief and somehow fierce. “Survival,” she said.

After a minute of silence, Anna said, “Rad.” And again from Elsa, she got wide eyes and a quirk of the lips.

“Okay, so…” Elsa finally let go of the notebook, placing it almost reverently on the table before her. It was a five-subject, the pages thickened and roughened with hard use, and the whole swollen further by additional sheets of looseleaf packed into all the pockets. And in permanent marker on the cover, Elsa’s neat capital letters: THE SNOW QUEEN.

“Whoa,” Anna breathed.”You did all that yourself?” It had to be hundreds of pages, and on the few that stuck out from the top of the notebook, she could see line after line of Elsa’s small, dense writing, or graph paper with what looked like layouts, multicolored ink marking details within boxes. “Elsa, that’s incredible!”

Elsa was looking at the notebook, biting hard on her lower lip, a flush rising her cheeks. “Thank you.” She paused - gathering courage? - and opened the notebook, flipping to the second set of pockets. Anna was still amazed at how packed it all seemed to be - the one page she could see was drenched with ink, most in black, but blue and red corrections, notes in the margins.

From the pocket, Elsa took several identical, blank charts, clutching them in both hands, staring down at them as she spoke. “I guess this is the best place to start - at the beginning.”

It was raining, chilly and damp, when her parents arrived to take her home. The dorms were silent and empty, everyone in class, the library, the cafeteria - everyone but Elsa, eternally the outcast, the one who couldn’t quite figure out all the unwritten societal rules, standing at the window, watching rain spatter and roll against the glass. She pressed a finger to it, tracing idle shapes with her fingers and wishing desperately her heart would stop pounding. There was nothing to be afraid of - she was just going home.

Failure, her mind whispered, sharp and insistent. Such a disappointment.

There was no argument to be made.

Her parents said little - though her mother wrapped her in a tight, warm hug - and Elsa almost nothing at all. She had packed the day before in a numb daze, after all her withdrawal paperwork was completed and filed. She didn’t have much anyway. A box of textbooks and notes, a duffel bag of clothes, and her backpack, with her D&D and Palladium manuals, her folder of character sheets, several paperback books - Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Harlan Ellison - and the calculator she had gotten for Christmas. The few things she thought might keep her going, when all else had burned away to ash.

The four-hour drive back to Arendelle was a gray, rainy blur, Elsa staring out at newly-turned farmland and wondering at the simplicity that must surely come from living such a life. Routines, satisfaction of a good crop, early to bed and early to rise. Those who lived in those neat little farmhouses, secure of their places in the world, small as it might be - she envied them.

Her mind would never allow her to live such a life. It never settled, never stopped buzzing, insistent and hungry. Perhaps worse, it also refused to forget.

We had such high hopes for you, Miss Agdarsson. Why are you giving up now?

The last thing stuffed into the backpack at her feet - the rejection letters. Thirteen of them. She had pulled several all-nighters to complete the applications before January deadlines - all for naught.

She should have known better.

“Need any help?” her father asked as they pulled into the driveway at home, and his voice was not unkind, but Elsa shook her head. She would bear this burden, as she did so many others, alone.

She stood in the downpour, fighting to get the trunk closed with the heavy box of textbooks in her arms, and when she finally lost the box, watched it land in the muddy grass, she felt too numb to care. A part of her wanted to cry. Another part wanted to kick the box until it tore, and then more still, four years of worthless paper and ink left to be reclaimed by nature. But neither desire proved stronger than numb resignation.

She left the box where it was, and hauled the duffel bag and backpack to her bedroom, dumping them unopened on the corner next to her desk. She said nothing about the abandoned textbooks, but when she next looked out the window, the box was gone.

She spent the afternoon, as she had most of the day, staring out that window at nothing in particular, trembling in her soaked clothes but without the strength to change them.

What have I done?

The words echoing through her brain like pinballs.

As the light faded from the sky, the high school bus made its lumbering way down CR1113, stopping at Norsk Lane, the only place on the narrow road where it could turn around. Despite the rain, Anna - her red hair and green jacket the only bright spots in a world gone grey - turned to wave and call goodbyes before running for the house. She was hardly through the door before she was calling Elsa’s name, and the thump of her backpack came a split second before the reverberating rhythm of her race up the stairs.

“Elsa!” Knocking hard at the door, clearly struggling not to pound with all her strength - she sounded breathless, excited. It made no sense.

Four years ago - suddenly, though Elsa had said nothing about it, not so much as a word, people had begun approaching her at school to offer congratulations on her college acceptance. Teachers, mostly, but some students too, and Elsa had been honestly baffled; she even checked the school newspaper, to make sure they hadn’t printed a list of everyone who had been accepted.

She mentioned it at home one night, just a comment in passing when asked about her day over dinner, and Anna had piped up and said, “Oh, yeah, I told some people. It’s so cool, Elsa!” She was in eighth grade, with braces on her teeth and her hair cut into an attempt at feathered layers.

“Why?” Elsa asked. She didn’t like being noticed; in her mind, attention at school reminded her too much of her tormentors in elementary school. Being invisible and ignored was always better.

“Because it’s awesome?”

“First in the family is pretty impressive, Elsa,” their father added.

“I guess…”

Anna had been so proud - so why was she back now, sounding so eager and happy? Elsa had failed her. She had failed everybody.

“Elsaaa, I know you can hear meee!”

She closed her eyes, curled her hands to fists.

“Elsa, c’mon, open up. Please? No tackle hugs, and my fingers are definitely not crossed.”

She tried to take deep breaths, but her lungs seemed to have ceased to function.

“Elsa?” Concern, for the first time, in Anna’s voice.

Don’t - !

But Elsa forced the words out, around resisting throat and teeth and tongue and lips: “Go away, Anna.”

Anna said nothing else, but it was a long time before Elsa heard her footsteps, slow and even now, walking away. Then, finally, Elsa cried - silent, heavy tears rolling down her cheeks, a mirror of the outside world.

When she was called down to dinner soon after, she went. She was dry-eyed - and she had long since learned how to hide her fear beneath a serene exterior. But she ate little, and said less, and resolutely refused to meet Anna’s gaze.

She heard Anna sigh, but ignored that, too.

Time passed in a hazy blur, schedules lost. Elsa kept to her room because nowhere else felt like a place she belonged anymore - she was supposed to be readying for college graduation, for a new life on her own. Instead, she had placed herself in some strange limbo, neither child nor adult, and even if her bedroom, too, felt alien, it was at least quiet and secure and safe.

She slept very little, at whatever hour exhaustion took her, without regard to the time. She picked at food when called down for meals, but sought out nothing else. She felt them watching her - her father, her mother, and most of all Anna - and knew they must talk about her after she disappeared, once more, to her room, but she couldn’t muster up the energy to care.

When she slept, the same nightmare came again and again: she was walking across the stage at graduation, and Dean Ferrera looked at her degree, then stopped cold - and so did she, heart already pounding.

“Elsa Agdarsson?” he proclaimed right into the microphone, his incredulity already clear. “Thinks she has earned a degree in mathematics? This girl right here? You?”

And she couldn’t move, or breathe, or blink, even as the laughter rippled out across the hundreds of people gathered: students, faculty, family. All of them - laughing and laughing and laughing at this absurd, silly girl who had believed she had earned a degree in math.

She woke from these dreams trembling and cold, still feeling eyes crawling all over her.

But it was another graduation that changed everything - again.

Anna’s.

“You’re coming right?” Anna asked one night, Elsa as usual called down for dinner and uncertain how to refuse to attend, stirring chicken and asparagus around on her plate. She knew there was excited talk of something, but she had missed the start of the conversation, arriving at the table as Anna contemplated seafood at Eric’s or the amazing chocolate brioche at La Lumiere - “I mean, yeah, mediocre steaks and stuff, but that caramel glaze on the brioche? Oh my god.”

Apparently, there had been more to the conversation than restaurants. “Huh? Coming where?”

Anna rolled her eyes, but was smiling when she said, “Earth to Elsa! Graduation. Saturday night. And your pick - amazing lobster or amazing dessert?”

“Graduation?”

“High school? Mine? Mortarboards and ‘Until We Meet Again’?”

“Oh.” She looked down at her plate - stirring, stirring, stirring. How long had it been since she’d felt hungry? “No.”

“No?”

In the long silence that followed, she finally forced herself to look up again. “I’m sorry.”

Anna’s face fell - just like that, the excitement was quenched and gone. “Oh,” she said. And nothing more.

And for the first time that Elsa could remember, nobody asked again. There was no “offering one last time!” or Anna asking for the third round, “Are you sure?” She heard her father demanding photographs, Anna laughing and protesting that she needed to finish her makeup. She watched them leave - Anna, despite her curled hair and smoky eyeshadow, was flapping her way across the twilit front yard like some overexcited, green-plumaged songbird.

The car was long gone, the sky fading from purple-blue to black, when Elsa finally left her watch. She collapsed at the end of her bed, clenching her trembling hands tightly together, letting her head fall forward, too much weight to hold, curtains of blonde hair enfolding her.

The numbness, whatever had shielded her from reality, from the emotional abyss as weeks became months, was cracking away, shed like old skin. She wasn’t ready.

And she was afraid.

It hurt. She didn’t move from the bed - likely her legs wouldn’t have carried her if she had tried. She rocked, and trembled, and finally, she broke.

She fell to her knees, clung to the deep carpet, and barked a sob - just one. But the voice was too loud: Failure. Weirdo. Creep. Disappointment. Overachiever. Loser.

“I know!” But the scream was only in her head, and had no strength behind it. “I know…” Aloud but weak, so weak. She hadn’t asked to be what she was. Did they think she wanted to be this way, alien and monstrous and broken, an embarrassment, a freak?

Elsa’s being weird again.

Ew, no, I don’t want to work with her.

Hey, Agdarsson, you see any other girls here? Get out.

Don’t be a show-off, Miss Agdarsson. No boys will ever like you.

She’s so ridiculous. What’s wrong with her? She could be so pretty if she tried.

Why can’t you be more like your sister?

“I don’t know.” She was whimpering now, a lifetime of fear and isolation finally breaking free. “I don’t know. Leave Anna alone…”

The words she had never been brave enough to say, even when Anna risked her own social standing - first with fists, then with words - at the slightest insult to Elsa. Anna should have had a sister she could look up to, someone as open and vivacious and clever as she was, someone with whom to trade clothes and secrets. That was what sisters were supposed to be.

Not freakish, sub-human, a Frankenstein’s monster of feminine appearance and traits the world reminded her again and again and again were masculine, incongruous.

She fell asleep there, on the floor of her room - the kind of dark, deep, dreamless sleep she had believed no longer possible. She did not hear her parents and Anna, now officially a high school graduate, return home. When she woke, to the misty-grey dawn of early summer, she was stiff and sore, and something was digging into her temple - her backpack. She had never unpacked it. And sometime in her unconscious night, she had used it as a makeshift pillow. There was the sharp corner of something, and when she unzipped her bag and pulled it out, she found herself staring at the closest thing she’d had to a secure sanctuary - the lurid red-and-black cover of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Manual.

Senior year of high school Allan Hubert had invited her to play with him and Manny St. James and Lukas Irving. They were the type to embrace being outcasts, wearing corduroy and Star Wars t-shirts and ending conversations with “live long and prosper.” They had all accepted Elsa, taught her patiently how to play. “A party of three is a lot stronger,” Lukas said, and the others were quick to agree.

But a parent complained, several months later, that such games were “satanic” - and Principal O’Malley promptly banned them. Allan and Manny and Lukas remained friendly, but they had little in common with Elsa outside the game.

People who liked her had nothing in common with her, people who had something in common with her didn’t like her. That didn’t change in college. And she didn’t know how to change that - but she had kept her books.

A shred of hope.

She stared at it. Her lip trembled, but she fought back the tears. No more crying.

She waited until the house was empty before creeping out. The world was still and silent - waiting. She walked to town, to the grocery store, because they might not know her there.

A thick notebook. A cellophane packet of multicolored pens. Graph paper.

She set to work.

#frozen #frozen fanfiction #people liked this one right #hopefully you still do #i am so terrified to be back here #but here i am #do people still talk to themselves in the tags?#i'm hopelessly behind the times

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