hiiiii!!!!! For the ficlet fest: Bully/Waffles‚ the pond‚ April 30th
hello! have some freshman Waffles love <3 enjoy!
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The Pond, Apr. 30
Bully grins to himself as he pulls Louis and Hops back onto the path around the Pond – again. They were less than sober after the Final-y-free Kegster at the Haus that night. (Bitty had insisted.)
Wanting to remember more than just the beginning of the evening, Bully had volunteered to be the Sober(ish) Waffle. The Waffle Without Toppings, as Bitty had slurred up at him enthusiastically just a few hours ago before heading back to the dance floor.
He still can’t believe Bitty, Ollie, and Wicky are all graduating in just a few days, it seems like yesterday that they were being forced to figure skate to “Single Ladies” and carry their blankets everywhere. (Joke’s on them, though – Bully fuckin’ loves his duck blanket, he’s never getting rid of it.)
A burst of laughter pulls him out of his musings, refocuses him on his drunk friends. They’re stumbling a little, but are overall in better shape than Bully thought they’d be after three rounds of flip cup and at least two cups of tub juice apiece. But all the same—
“Get back on the path you guys!” he calls. The last thing he needs is to lose track of them at night and have them get lost or fall in the water. It might almost be May, but that water isn’t warm and who knows what’s living in it. (Also Bully’s hair looks great right now and he doesn’t want to mess it up.)
“We’re done with finals, baybeeeeeeeeeee,” Hops yells, directly in Bully’s face.
“C’mere, drunky,” he says, throwing an arm over Hops’ shoulder to keep him close and upright enough to keep moving forward.
“Louuuuuiisssssss, come back!”
“‘M comin’ – keep yer horses on,” says Louis as he stumbles into Bully’s other side. He pulls Louis in automatically and starts scanning for the next bench – he won’t be able to keep them both upright like this for too much longer.
“Keep your horses on?!” Hops laughs.
“Is that not words?” wonders Louis. “Like keep ‘em on reins or somethin’ that means ‘wait jus’ a sec’?”
Hops giggles. “Nah, it’s: hold your horses.”
“There’s also ‘keep your hair on’ – you probably combined them,’ Bully says with a grin.
“Ugh fuckin’ English,” Louis complains before muttering darkly to himself in Swedish. Well, Bully hopes it’s Swedish – he doesn’t recognize any of the words he finally had time to start learning after the season ended – but he can’t tell if Louis is just mumbling, talking too fast, or just saying nonsense syllables.
Finally he sees a bench a few feet ahead.
Bully draws even with it and easily maneuvers his charges onto each end of the seat before plonking himself down in the middle with his arms stretched along the back. Still giggling about keep your horses on, Hops immediately snuggles close, his head coming to rest on Bully’s shoulder. Louis pouts for a few moments before giving in and curling into Bully’s side as well. He lets his hands rest on their shoulders, gently corralling his friends.
They settle down, watching the full moon reflect on the water. Bully tracks nearby fireflies and revels in the quiet chirping of crickets, the occasional croaks of a frog. Hops and Louis, when he glances down at them, both have their eyes closed, breathing softly.
Two in the morning probably isn’t the best time for a full-on nap on a Pond bench, but it’s cool without being chilly, he’s got two friends masquerading as space heaters snuggled up against him, and there’s no one around.
“Alright, a little break,” he mutters, mostly to himself. “Five minutes, then we’ll get back to the dorm.”
There’s a slight nod from Louis and Hops hums in acknowledgement. Bully just smiles softly at them before casting his eyes across the Pond again, soaking in one of the last moments of his freshman year.
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Not to be all 2012 r/atheism but it is kinda frustrating how hard it is to get people to understand that I don't believe in ANYTHING spiritual or supernatural. Like I say I'm an atheist and people think that just means I think church is homophobic but also still totally believe in god and heaven and souls and w/e. (I actually would like to go to a UU church if I still had the ability to regularly wake up on a Sunday morning.) So then I try secular humanist, and they still don't get it. Like the more I try to explain in a way that might get through to people, the more I start sounding like the most annoying condescending things Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have said.
I have dealt with multiple therapy groups that say they do "holistic" therapy and list stuff like art therapy and music therapy. But then it turns out they also do acupressure and ashwagandha and qi. This latest one was so annoying because I said I was a secular humanist, I don't believe in anything spiritual, I only believe in science, I specifically listed some of the alternative "medicine" stuff that's been pushed on me in the past that I don't want. And then the lady assured me that oh dw by holistic they just mean art therapy and music therapy. It was only after she told me they were affiliated with one of the worst, most toxic, most unscientific groups I've had the displeasure of dealing with, that I pushed for more clarity and she admitted that they would use reiki in meditation. (Meditation is evidence-based, reiki is not.) Like the fact that she didn't realize they could be done separately was just *sigh*
Like why not just be up front? Why not just say "we do holistic therapy, such as acupressure, reiki, and natural herbs"? Why pretend that all you got going is art and music and yoga? Are you trying to trick me into practicing your bullshit?
My religion is science. Please respect my religious beliefs and don't try to force yours on me.
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