“I’ve been thinking of you” Ruthie

The winds of change start to blow a little harder leading up to Ruthie’s nineteenth birthday. And if anyone knew anything about the Soh-Peterson siblings, they didn’t usually take well to change, especially big changes that held the ability to make or break their family as they knew it.

Ruthie hangs up the house phone and exhales a big breath she didn’t realize that she had been holding. It was the lawyer.

“There’s a good case here....Even better is that you have people on your side to testify on your behalf. Mr. Tate and Ms. Fogarty both seem to think quite highly of you. That’s a good sign, Miss Soh-Peterson.”

“So what does that mean?” Ruthie had asked

“It means we’ll be taking a trip to the courthouse soon. Expect a call in the next few days with more details.”

It was finally happening. Ruthie was finally going to be able to take her mother to court for the case of child abandonment, and hopefully would be able to waive her parental rights over Sweet Pea, giving Ruthie full custody to be his legal guardian. Ruthie’s heart is leaping out of her chest because she knows that this has been a long time coming. It’s all she’s wanted for the last three years, to legally be able to handle her and her brother’s affairs and to know that she was finally able to take care of him the way that he deserved.

When she gets off the phone with the lawyer, Ruthie decides to celebrate with a beer, pulling one of the brown bottles out of the fridge and making a note to pick up more soon. She sits on top of the kitchen counter and pulls her cigarettes, lighter, and ash tray from their hiding spot. Lighting up her cigarette she opens the kitchen window and blows the smoke that way.

Ruthie knows she has phone calls to make so she better get started now. First she has to call Maria, Abuela was the first person she told about wanting to take Emilie to court. It was Maria that volunteered to testify on Ruthie’s behalf, and it was Maria that volunteered to contribute funds to pay the lawyer. Ruthie didn’t take the money, of course, and once she started to lay out her case for the shark-like lawyer, the woman decided that she’d work pro-bono. When she calls Maria the conversation is short, the old woman is busy making dinner for everyone and she can’t hear all that well but Ruthie knows that she understands.

“It’s happening, Abuela. I need you to prepare the statement we talked about, okay?”

“You have my word” Maria answered. The old woman knew things were different this time. Her maternal instincts were on high alert, her ears attuned to something Ruthie never said...I need you.

They hang up without saying much else and Ruthie knows that she doesn’t have to call the Abrejo’s to tell them because Maria there was no way she wasn’t dialing up Atzi already (meaning that Chimalma and Angel would be made aware soon after). Overcome with the need to talk about the news with someone, anyone else, Ruthie finds herself dialing one of the only other numbers she knew off the top of her head.

“You okay?” Dante answers on the third ring. The two of them hadn’t talked in a few weeks, and they’d abandoned their promise of regular check-in phone calls ages ago.

“Everything’s fine, yeah” Ruthie confirms outright. She can’t help but think that maybe she shouldn’t have called. “I just got off the phone with the lawyer and she said that the trial is gonna happen — don’t know when yet, the next few weeks...I just thought you might want to know.” Ruthie feels embarrassed for some reason, like she was bothering Dante in his newfound life in Centerville.

“Really?” Dante sounds surprised. “How you think it’s gonna go?”

“Sounds like it has a chance at being ruled in my favor. But there’s one thing I know about Emilie and that’s the fact that she’s manipulative as all hell, so she’s gonna make this whole ordeal as hard as possible.”

“Typical” Dante scoffs.

“Will you be there?” Ruthie asks, sounding tense. “Maria’s gonna be there, taking the stand and all...” She knew that Dante was busy, that there were only a few reasons he cared to come back to town for. Part of her wouldn't blame him for not wanting to go, but another bigger part of her needed to know that someone would be there for her.

“Ruthless, if you want me there, I’ll be there. You know I will be.” Dante’s tone is even and certain, it feels comforting and confident, which Ruthie needed.

There was something else that Ruthie wanted to talk to Dante about but she didn’t know how to breech the topic.

“Um” She starts out, her words feeling wobbly and to heavy in her mouth. “Have you heard from Romeo lately?”

Dante chuckles on the other line. Of course he had, it was a loaded question. “You want me to pass along the message or somethin’?”

Ruthie’s pulse jumps. “No, uh, I think I can manage to do that part myself. Just wanted to know if you thought it’d be a good idea to call him...” She hadn’t spoken to Romeo in quite some time. If Ruthie thought about it long and hard she swears that she could count the exact number of days it had been since  they last spoke.

“Do you want to?” Dante asks her, his tone assuming. He already knew that Ruthie indeed wanted to talk to Romeo, it was just that he needed to push Ruthie a little harder to help her realize that. “He’d wanna to hear from you...”

Ruthie nods into the receiver. “Yeah, I guess you’re right...” Just as she’s about to say something else, Sweet Pea busts through the screen door, blood dripping down his scraped-up arm. “Hey Dante I gotta go, okay? I’ll call you when I know more.”

She doesn’t even wait for Dante to respond before hanging up.

“What the hell happened to you?” Ruthie demands, already rushing to grab the first aid kit from the bathroom. She’d been thinking more and more about the nursing classes she’d been taking lately, how she needed to get a medical bag full of supplies because she knew that Sweet Pea was a hellion and there was no way the kid was going to slow down so she needed to be able to speed up.

“Fell out of the big tree over at Pickens Park” Sweet Pea mumbles, his twelve year old ego bruised.

“Sit down” Ruthie sighs, gesturing to the arm of the couch and Sweet Pea obliges. She dabs away some of the sticky half-dried blood with a handful of wet paper towels, a sick feeling in her stomach developing. “I gotta tell you something...”

“What?” Sweet Pea raises his eyebrow at his sister, picking up on her nervousness. “What’s wrong?”

“You know how I’ve been meetin’ with that lawyer?” Ruthie looks up from the bloodied swabs and bandages to make eye contact with Sweet Pea, waiting for his nod of confirmation.

“Well, the trial is happening. I’m taking Mom to court so that I can be your only legal guardian. But now that means I need you to be more careful okay?” Ruthie looks up at her brother to make sure that he was still following her. “Any bump, any cut, any time you get in a little bit of trouble at school, they can use stuff like that to say that I’m unfit to take care of you.”

Sweet Pea hisses as Ruthie dabs his scrapes with peroxide. He goes to wrench his arm away but Ruthie holds him in place long enough to put a big bandage on. “But you’re not unfit to take care of me”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, kid, but we gotta prove that to the court, okay? So no more climbing trees, alright? We both gotta be on our best behavior for a little bit.”

“Well that's no fun” Sweet Pea pouts but Ruthie knows that he was starting to understand the gravity of what was happening.

“Ain’t that just the way” Ruthie wipes off her hands and heads over to the kitchen to start cooking dinner.

The two siblings don't speak much while they eat dinner. They don’t turn on the tv, either. They both finish their plates of stir fry, although Sweet Pea spent most of dinnertime pushing the nearly charred stalks of broccoli around with his fork. They clean up the kitchen together; Sweet Pea washes everything off and Ruthie dries.

When Sweet Pea retreats to his room after finishing all of his his homework, Ruthie gets up from her stack of heavy textbooks. She puts away the assignment she was working on and makes a metal note to spend some extra time at the library tomorrow. After staring at white pages and small black text for so long, Ruthie’s eyes are going bleary so she feels like she can justify a bit of a break.

He’d wanna hear from you. Dante’s words echo in Ruthie’s ear and she finds herself going to retrieve the house phone. She hadn’t talked to Romeo in a long time, not since the holidays, and this was the first summer in years that he didn’t come to town. Ruthie wanted to justify her reason for the lapse in contact but she really didn't have one. All of a sudden life started moving real fast and Romeo, like a lot of other people, got lost in the shuffle. She didn’t mean to drop contact with him, but Ruthie thought it might be nearing too late to talk to him...he’d moved on.

He’d wanna hear from you. Ruthie knows that Dante’s right. As much as it could physically pain her to admit, more often than not, Dante was always right. She puts the phone to her ear and hears the dial tone. Ruthie holds her breath and dial’s Romeo’s phone number.

He answers on the third ring.

“Hey, it’s me...It’s Ruthie” She tacks on her name to the end, just to be sure there were no other “me’s” Romeo could confuse her for.

“Yeah I know, Shorty, I got this fancy ass caller ID” Romeo laughs and the sound of it physically makes Ruthie’s body relax. She missed Romeo’s laugh and especially his smile, she missed the calming presence he offered and the open ear she always needed.

“I’ve been thinking of you.” Ruthie starts out, feeling flustered as she admits

“Oh yeah?” Romeo asks and Ruthie can hear him rustling around on the other line. “Well that’s pretty funny then Shorty because I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately, too”

In a whole other town completely, Romeo Fogarty did not expect his phone to ring that night. He’d been on edge all day, his dad was coming off of a wicked bender and Romeo was apparently the one who needed to pick up the slack around the house. When he wasn’t doing chores his father should have been doing, Romeo was trying to occupy as much of his time as possible. He was working odd jobs to save money to move out, all while taking social work classes at the local community college.

He and Ruthie were living fairly identical lives at the moment, and though Romeo would never try to belittle her experiences by comparing them with his own, he felt like he was starting to understand Ruthie more. Even though they hadn’t seen each other, or talked, he was understanding what it felt like to truly be tired, how exhausting it was to balance what was left of their adolescence with the adulthood that was forced upon them.

“I’ve missed you” Ruthie reveals, and Romeo feels his breath hitch in his throat. “I think I just miss being around you”

“Yeah? I’ve missed you too, Shorty. More than you know.” Romeo cradles the phone between his ear and his shoulder, freeing up his hands so he could toss a  blanket over his father, who had passed out drunk on the couch earlier that evening.

“I gotta tell you something,” Ruthie starts to say. Romeo’s mind immediately jumps to all of the bad news she’s about to tell him. But he says nothing, and Ruthie takes that as her cue to continue speaking:

“Your advice to lay out my whole case with my mom and take it to family court? It fuckin’ worked. Romeo, it worked! I found a lawyer who was willing to work with me and there’s a trial being set and everything. And if I win, my mom’s parental rights over my brother are waived and I’m his legal guardian” Ruthie speaks at a mile a minute and Romeo’s head it spinning as he listens to her.

“That’s great, Shorty. I’m real happy for you” Romeo tries to make his tone come across as more sincere because he was happy for her. He steps out onto the front porch, the screen door slapping closed behind him, and perches himself on the edge of one of the sun-baked deck chairs. There’s a third of a joint half burnt in the ashtray and Romeo picks it up and lights it.

“I never would have been able to get any of this in motion if it wasn’t for your help, so thank you.”

Romeo chuckles, smoke curling out of his lips. “You don’t gotta thank me one bit, Shorty. You’re mad resourceful, you would’ve figured it out without me sooner or later”

Ruthie lets out a laugh but then goes quiet. “Look, uh...I don't exactly know the dates or anything yet, but when this all goes down, will you be there? I know it’s far and I know it’s expensive but...we can go halfsies or your bus ticket, or you can let me give you gas money or something.” Ruthie slows down and catches her breath.

“It’d mean a lot to me if you were able to come”

Romeo’s ears perk up. He doesn't know what his schedule will look like tomorrow, let alone whenever the trial would end up being. If it was anyone else, Romeo thinks that he would say no right then and there but he couldn't, not to Ruthie.

“You let me know as soon as the date for the trial is set and I’ll see what I can do, okay? You know I don’t make promises, Shorty, but I’ll see what I can do”

It’s not the answer that Ruthie wanted, but at least she got an answer.

“You have my word” Ruthie’s word was as good as anything. When she said she would do something, she stuck by it and she always did. She knew this about herself. Romeo knew it about her too.

Ruthie feels guilty that she hadn’t called to check up on Romeo sooner. She knew that he hated home. He hated being there, hated his dad. She feels guilty that this was the first time she’d called him in however many months and she hadn’t even bothered to ask “how are you?” She knows that if she were to try to steer the conversation to what he’s been up to, Romeo would brush it off as much as possible.

“So how have you been?” Ruthie asks, if not because she thought Romeo was going to answer, but because she wanted him to know that he had the space to talk about anything if he wanted to.

“Been okay. Nothing for you to worry about right now, okay Shorty, you gotta focus on that trial” Romeo replies, trying to sound casual and cavalier. Part of Ruthie wanted to laugh at how well she knew him even after being apart for so long.

Ruthie’s sitting on the kitchen counter and smoking her last cigarette. Romeo’s sitting on his front porch smoking the last of his joint. Neither one of them really know what the other is going through at the moment, but it doesn’t mean that they won’t be there for each other when they need to be. The two of them are a lot more alike than either one of them realize.

Romeo looks at his watch, it was getting late and he had work early tomorrow. “Hey I gotta go, okay? But you let me know the date of the trial and I’ll see about coming down to see you”

Ruthie doesn’t want him to hang up. “Can I...” She gulps, her mouth going dry with the nervousness that came with such vulnerability. “Can I call you more often?”

“I’d like that a lot, Shorty.”

The week boasted no irregularities at Night Raven College, an unusual feat for an institution of its background. You however, having lived every week since your arrival shrouded with stress if not by the overblottings, then a troublesome class assignment, rather enjoyed the silence and appreciated it(while you still could).

It was Friday and the last bell of the day had rung, a cacophony of relieved sighs following the loud ringing alongside the rustling of materials being put away. You, as well as your irritating, arrogant cat roommate packed your bags as the teacher gave one last reminder of the homework. As it was the weekend, you would concern yourself with it until Sunday night.

You turned to Grimm as you both stood in the hallway, Ace and Deuce having just exited the classroom amongst a throng of final period students eager to return to their dorms. “I was about to tell Grimm, but since you’re both here, I’ll let everyone know,” you said as Deuce and Ace arrived to your standing point, “I’m not sure I’ll make it to movie night this evening so you guys can start without me.”

The four of you had planned a perfect and relaxing evening with enough food that would be enough to satisfy your craving for junk. Needless to say, you were annoyed to have missed such an opportunity. Especially as your guys’ schedules had uniformly lined up after a very long time of deliberation. Crowley sure had a knack for ruining your opportunities to relax.

Ace shrugged, “It’s not a big deal, let’s just reschedule for another day.”

“But we’ve been planning this for weeks! For once we all are not super tired after a single day. Besides, we already have all the snacks and finally convinced Headmaster to let us borrow his projection device-“

“Like Ace said,” began Deuce, interrupting Grim on his whining tirade, “it’s not like we can’t reschedule. Though I’m a little disappointed, I wouldn’t want you missing your errands.”

“By the way Prefect, since we’re on the subject, where are you going?” Ace still had that carefree smile, it eased your nerves for what was to come this afternoon.

You pulled out your student ID and pointed out what set it apart from regular students’. “This stamped crest at the bottom right corner recognizes me as an official Dorm leader, it will also let me into the room where Dorm leaders hold their meetings...”

The stamp in question was just like the official school crest, except the crow was positioned differently and instead of black print, it was red. You stared at it shortly before pocketing the laminated identification card.

“So, if I am understanding correctly,” Deuce muttered, “you’re attending a Dorm leader meeting?!” You winced at his booming words but nodded, a little confused with his outburst. He didn’t let you linger with confusion, “It’s just that, and these are just what the rumors say, but apparently Dorm leader meetings are incredibly violent. They begin arguing and escalate to a full blown magic battle.”

That didn’t sound too good.

“Then it makes sense that the door is sealed, Headmaster wouldn’t want students witnessing the Dorm leaders in disarray, huh?” Hummed Ace. You had a vague hunch the sealing was there for other reasons besides privacy but Ace suspected it too. It may be exactly as he said...

You could all but calm your jitters now, just what did you get yourself into? Or more like, what did Headmaster Crowley want from you this time? He was the one who asked you to attend mind you.

“Rest easy Prefect, you have your phone so if anything goes wrong, call or text us.” Deuce always knew what to say.

“Thank you Deuce, that’s very reassuring,” you smiled sincerely for you did feel much better. With a temporary silence, where all four of you stood awkwardly until you decided it was inevitable, you said your goodbyes, “Well, I’ll be off now. Wouldn’t want to be late on my first Dorm leader meeting.” You tried to put on a cheery smile but all that came out was one that looked eerily similar to how it would if someone had stitched the corners of your lips to lift them.

You exchanged “Goodbye’s,” some “good luck’s,” before ultimately starting down the hallway. The three magicians stood behind as you, their magicless friend, disappeared into a different corridor.

Ace then after said, “Well, can’t help it, we’ll just have to find a different day”

“You try to sound like you don’t care but you were actually very eager to show Prefect the movie you chose, huh” teased Deuce. And so, another round of bickering ensued as the desolate and ignored Grimm tried to regain their attention.

.

From the moment you stepped away from the comfort of your circle, the heaviness in the pit of your stomach increased tenfold. You could not imagine the refined and respectable Dorm leaders would really break the rules in front of the Headmaster, this logic gave you some semblance. Alas it could only last so long when you remembered how far Leona had gone just to remove from the Magift tournament your good friend Malleus.

Indeed a worrying amount of bad blood existed amongst the Dorm-heads but you hoped it would be subdued with the authoritative presence of Crowley. You’d hate to be caught up in any more magic spectacles. The sheer negativity from an overblot was enough to overwhelm a magician, so one could only fathom your exhaustion at such an exposure without an ounce of magical blood in your veins.

When you stopped in front of the designated door, your thoughts also stopped. Instead you realized how paranoid you’d become, so much so that you were thinking about a potential overblot during the meeting. It was silly to be this nervous, you had spoken with all of them and had befriended a few. How difficult would it be to sit through a likely mundane talk that would regard upcoming events?

Maybe there’d be bickering of course, but that was expected as not everyone would be in agreement at all times. They each were very unique individuals with equally unique thought processes. However knowing them, they would go onto personal territory and begin insulting one another. Which could lead to pent up frustrations being released and a whole blown out magic battle-

Slapping your checks gently, you deescalated the situation that had felt all too much like a premonition. From the pocket of your uniform, you pulled out your student ID.

Now, you’d dealt with magical tools before but that didn’t mean you were never at a complete loss when introduced to something new. You thought to bring it up like a scanner, but to no avail were you granted access. You fiddled with the door and the ID card for a couple of minutes, spying the time was five minutes before the meeting began.

At the moment your eyes landed on your wrist watch which was elevated to the level of the door’s knob, you noticed a small slit right above it. You slid the card in, first turned up, second time turned down.

Your third try you did face up again, with the end where your picture was located at tucked in first. An electronic beep followed, and as the door opened, you cheered at having bested the admittance tool that was much like a credit card machine.

The room seemed dark at first, or well that was more of your impression of it. Much of Night Raven College followed a dark, gothic type architecture as well as aesthetic. You weren’t surprised that everyone was already here, seated around a circular table with papers, pencils, and other materials laid askew.

You’d never been to one of these, so all you had on you was your backpack. That should work as it carried your writing utensils though. One more thing you noticed that set you apart, was that you were still in your school uniform. It seemed everyone else was wearing their dorm uniforms, even Malleus who never attended a meeting due to poor invitation etiquette(from other dorm leaders) stood out less than you, and he was well over six feet tall.

And it also seemed like Vil had made Captain Obvious his role, “Look at this potato, absolutely inconceivable that you would come to a meeting in those dirty rags.”

“You practically wear the same thing,” you pointed out, but the next attack swooped in so quickly and ridiculously you were left flabbergasted.

Riddle had been the orchestrator of the attack, having stated in his harsh tone, “You’re late.”

After twisting your eyebrows, you argued, “Even the clock says it’s 2 minutes before 4-“ You wanted to say that their little tea party didn’t seem too important but held your tongue. You had a feeling Riddle wouldn’t allow you access to the snacks if you spoke back anymore and frankly, you were starving.

“You should have a seat Prefect, Headmaster is very particular about everyone being in their place when the meeting begins.” Azul was kind enough to inform you.

You found it funny how Crowley demanded order in the meeting room but couldn’t do the same in dire ordeals involving a certain group of Dorm leaders. But enough about that, you needed a seat quickly.

However, there was no empty seats. You looked wayward into the room and found a sad little stool in the corner. It so happened to be made of the heaviest metal. The head splitting noise of the feet of the stool dragging on the floor filled the vicinity. You could feel a number of gazes on your back as you tried not to focus on the other occupants.

Whether it was by mercy or annoyance, definitely the latter, you were suddenly lifted and sat on the stool, you held on for dear life as it floated at a rapid pace to the table and then haphazardly twisted so you were facing everyone. You were squeezed between the floating tablet that had its own chair and Kalim.

Vil huffed as if exasperated and drolly commented as he leaned his chin on his palm, “If you are to continue to attend these meetings, you have to wear appropriate attire that represents your dorm.”

“But Ramshackle dorm doesn’t even have a crest(or clean water), there’s nothing to represent-“

“Up up, you will not argue with me. Make sure to have a uniform next time you come or I’ll personally make it so that you cannot enter this room.” Vil was always very harsh with you. Unlike everyone else who seemed to care less about the garbs you had on, he seemed especially offended. “You think you can look however as a Dorm leader? How can you call yourself an advocate for Ramshackle Dorm when you can’t even put the minimal effort into your appearance.”

You didn’t think you looked as awful as Vil criticized. Maybe your hair was a little frizzy and unkept at the hairline and your shirt wasn’t as tucked in as earlier but it wasn’t like you came in caked in mud either. Vil had impossibly high standards. However now that you noticed, you looked notably more unruly than the rest who had not a wrinkle in place and didn’t look like the standard tired student after a long day of classes. But then, suddenly some help-

“Ah, just knock it off. All your whining is getting on my nerves,” huffed Leona. He was leaned back with his eyelids closed and that angry look on his face. Whether his intention was to help you or not, you had to be thankful for his very honest character. Some disliked his bluntness and called him lazy, but questionable morals aside, you actually thought Leona was quite efficient. As they say, “lazy” people aren’t lazy, they are simply smart enough to come up with a more convenient and trouble free process. You were brought back from your thoughts by the lion himself, “Besides, he’s gonna arrive soon-“

“More like now-“ at Kalim’s excitable tone, the shrill of shattering glass engulfed your ears and you knew immediately, based on that very wasteful entrance, that Crowley had arrived.

As said, he stood before you as a flood of heaven’s light from the sizable hole in the window entered the murky, dank walls of hell. Crowley scanned the room and did a double take on you.

Your stool was much shorter than the high chairs everyone else had been graced with, you were also more or less slumping in an attempt to make yourself smaller. This was unconsciously done of course, try as you might you couldn’t stop acknowledging how little you fit in with the rest of the room’s inhabitants.

Crowley’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, as if he was at a loss for words. If you didn’t know any better, he was probably at a loss for words.

He said while his beady little eyes settled on your face, “Oh, well look who’s here early!”

“It’s ten minutes past the meeting time,” Riddle said rather snarkily.

“Ah yes...” the man in question mumbled, then after shouting, “BUT, we shall get started immediately!” Crowley had declared. “Come then Dorm leaders, let me listen to your complaints”

“I’d hardly call them complaints, they’re more like issues that need to be resolved for the sake of the student’s safety,” said Azul after a clean rearranging of his papers. “Octavinelle can deal with its own problems, however when those problems transcend outside of our plumbing abilities, we will request help from a third party source.” He pushed his glasses up his nose bridge and with finality said, “That third party source is you, Headmaster”

The pressure was on in a matter of seconds. You knew Crowley’s tune too well to understand that he had probably procrastinated on a lot of the topics that would be mentioned today. Half of you couldn’t wait to see his ear chewed off for once and the other half dreaded the length of this meeting for this was a meeting that involved Crowley and responsibility. Two elements like those simply did not mix.

And you were right... His first response?

Evasion.

“A-ah, I see. But Azul, was the flooding not fixable by magic?” The crow man said. You looked between the two, Azul’s eyebrows jutting down almost immediately after that statement.

“Headmaster Crowley, you should know that magic is not the solution to all of our problems. Besides, it’s only a temporary fix that is becoming more, and more frequent to see to. Please contact the plumbing company and have them fix our flooding problem-“

“Stupid.”

Oh dear. Dear, dear lord. You hoped he hadn’t any more insulting elaborating for your premonition would become very true if a certain octopus’s temper wasn’t moderated.

The single word had come from Leona. You had all paused to listen to the lion who chuckled mockingly much to your dismay. “You live underwater and you’re complaining about a flooding problem? To me it sounds like all you need is a custom pot and you’ll feel right at home”

Was Leona still annoyed that his deal had been for naught during the magift tournament? Definitely. Was Azul still brimming with irritation that his contracts had been reduced to dust? Without a doubt.

“Maybe you should concern yourself with that flea infestation from your own stye” Azul replied coolly. Your eyes widened as you looked down, feeling an awkward tension suddenly rise. You weren’t surprised an argument was being instigated between these two. Based on a couple of previous mentioned incidents that is.

You just wished nobody else would warrant any more input. Alas, it seemed these days all you did was hopeful and useless wishing.

“Cease your mindless bickering, you sound like fools. There are actual topics in need of discussion and exchanging insults won’t resolve them,” Riddle was the one who had mentioned.

But then he was in the line of fire, “If we’re bringing up issues that need discussion, then I’d like to put in a formal complaint against Riddle.” Riddle sputtered at Leona’s words. “He overworks his students and forces them into useless tasks like painting roses red. It makes it worse when you find out that he dictates the outfits they wear and makes them do it under the blistering heat.”

“I most certainly do not!” Riddle had shouted and appeared to be gaining a red hue to his face. “The weather in Heartslabyul is regulated”

“So you don’t deny that you exhaust your students regardless of the weather?” Leona added another quip, “ You wouldn’t be so defensive if you weren’t with any faults, your tomato face gives it all away.”

“Now now, do not insult Riddle for wanting to make his Dorm a beautiful place. We should praise him for putting in the effort of making it look so gorgeous unlike that barren wasteland of yours Leona. It’s an absolute eyesore,” drawled Vil.

“What’s an eyesore is that your face looks more like cake than cake itself Vil,” the lion fired back. Vil was readying his rebuttal. You clenched your teeth and looked helpless between both, looking to Crowley who had taken to sipping delicately out of a tea cup. Bastard.

It’s not that you were concerned for their strained relationships, it’s what their strained relationships entailed for you. Crowley wouldn’t herd his students into peaceful territory, instead he’d leave you to it. Once again the responsibility would be dumped onto you at the expense of having Crowley look for a way for you to return to your world. You sighed dejectedly as you watched the unfolding ordeal.

Before you knew it, Azul had jumped back into the mix and was berating Leona for always instigating fights with his “childish” comments.

“If I’m so childish for stating the obvious, what does that make you guys for stringing along?” His rhetorical question seemed only to further fan the flames of rage in the three Dorm leaders. You looked at Kalim besides you who was laughing loudly.

So carefree and free spirited...

He pointed excitedly and said to you, “It always seems to go South, just enjoy the show while it lasts!”

“I don’t remember it always being like this. But I suppose things changed in my absence.” Malleus chimed into yours and Kalim’s discussion.

“They did. A lot of us don’t have very good chemistry with one another. It always ends up in a big fight if Headmaster doesn’t intervene” said Idia on the other side of the floating tablet.

“But is it okay to simply sit back without doing anything to put a stop to them?” Malleus questioned, looking quite troubled. From what you were told(that he wasn’t ever invited to these meetings), you discerned Malleus had been quite looking forward to interacting with his peers.

Ah but there was no way to when more than half of the Dorm leaders were engaging in a verbal battle with one another.

Idia had said what you and Kalim had both been thinking, “If you try to stop them, you’ll just be dragged into their mindless argument like Riddle and Vil”

“It’s so easy to get lost in the rage. Idia and I have both fallen victims to the petty behavior,” Kalim said with a wicked wide grin. You don’t understand why he looks so proud of himself...

“Yes, it’s like this room is cursed or something,” Idia remarked.

You sighed wearily, “I don’t think the room is the problem...”

The lot of you watched on as the insults grew more and more personal. Unbelievable that they were so egotistical and prideful. Vil really felt like he was above all others(which you found ridiculous; beauty was subjective and as far as you knew, he only adhered to a selected society’s beauty standard). Riddle really believed he could exercise control over the rest(it would be better if he would try to coax the others into a compromise like an equal but instead he decided to shout commands like an arrogant, tyrannical brat). Leona was prideful and that bluntness you had praised not even ten minutes ago was becoming the bane of your existence. Speaking of banes, Azul couldn’t be more insufferable with his know it all attitude.

You had not realized that Crowley’s demeanor had shifted to something much darker and sinister as the arguing winded along. Finally he broke. Just like his tea cup.

“SILENCE,” the crow man shouted, effectively silencing the Dorm leaders, “YOU ALL HAVE ME SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR CONSTANT SHOUTING MATCHES!”

“Headmaster, you are shouting yourself,” Kalim said, matter of factory, scratching his temple with a single digit.

“Ah. Ahem, excuse me,” Crowley let the components of the tea cup he shattered crumble to the floor. They landed with a clink in the quiet room. “It’s been consistent arguments from you all and it’s very disappointing to witness this kind of behavior from you, who are considered elites at this already elite institution. I will not tolerate this blatant insubordination. You are Dorm heads and as such, are expected to conduct yourselves like so under all circumstances. You’ve disrespected and defiled your titles with your selfish and childish behavior and have left me no choice but to give a punishment of the worst severity.”

.

A heavy quietude hung in the air. The threat breathed down all your necks as you all waited with bated breaths. You hoped Crowley wouldn’t dish out the very formidable punishment to you. After all, you’d done nothing wrong. Crowley wouldn’t know what was coming his way if he even considered involving you in any more Dorm leader altercations.

Riddle braved up a few ass kissing words, “We understand Headmaster and will accept any punishment you give us”

“It was completely juvenile of us to act in such a way that defiles the good image of a Dorm leader,” Vil followed up.

“Yes, we profoundly apologize and will not do it again.” Azul bowed his head in shame.

Leona said nothing, for he had been truthful with his feelings and felt no remorse in expressing them. He thought the other three looked quite like boot-lickers offering suck up statements. Whatever Crowley had to offer, he could take it.

Bring it on he mentally challenged the bird man.

“Your punishment is,” Crowley sucked in a long breath, purposely leaving you all with the suspense. “So horrific you’ll spend every single day in complete and utter agony. Every moment will be a torturous reliving of your worst nightmare. You will come out changed men... traumatized changed men.” A few had nervous sweat drops rolling down their temples and others looked comically stone faced. “You all will be subjected to the cruelest, most severe repercussion.” Crowley said, “You will be subjected to...” and you all stood at the edge of your seats. The time came when he revealed the long awaited words, “A sleepover.”

.

.

.

“Huh?”

Leona was wrong...

HE COULD NOT TAKE THAT! Bring it back! Sweet sweet and noble ancestor, reverse this curse-

“WHAT!?” Vil’s shrill scream was enough to make you wince. Azul was stunned to silence much like the rest of you.

In all honesty you didn’t think it was that bad. Until-

“In Ramshackle dorm-“

“WHAT!?” It was your turn to scream as you stood up, knocking your stool over and causing a cry as it made harsh contact with the floor.

“For seven days-“

“WHAT!?” You all shouted in unison, baffled by the unexpected turn of events.

Crowley had nerve.

“To offer my dorm like that,” you sputtered in disbelief, “it’s unacceptable Headmaster!”

“Fufu, it’s the only place big enough to house you eight and isolated enough to keep you from interacting with anyone but each other.” Crowley explained as if you had all accepted it and come to terms yet. You would raise hell before you even considered allowing it. And you did.

“I refuse-“

“I override your refusal. This is for the benefit of the school and my decision is final.” That piece of no good dog shit. Bird brains were small with high capacities however this one seemed to only be small and know how to only be small. “I am very busy so I cannot police the Dorm leaders into acting civilized enough to not embarrass the school. However I will provide Ramshackle with all the necessities to host the additional seven temporary students for I am gracious.” He goaded.

“No Headmaster, you are not being gracious at all,” you fired back, “I don’t understand why you have to lump me in with all of them. Never mind that I am a Dorm leader, you never recognize me as an official one except when you need something from me. On top of that, why is Kalim, Idia, and Malleus being punished as well?”

“Kalim and Idia have previously participated in the discourse. As for Malleus...” Crowley rubbed his chin, “Well, I suppose it would be a learning experience for him. I’m sure Lilia will approve.”

“You still haven’t answered why you’re lumping me in as well- Hey!” You cried as you ran after the bird man who had hopped out of the window and was falling fifty feet. “Headmaster you can’t just leave without an explanation!”

“But I have explained already,” his voice echoed as you leaned out the cavity in the stained glass pane, “You are an impressive beast tamer! I trust all will go well in your hands! And be sure to have Ramshackle dorm ready to receive its new students by 7:00pm tomorrow!”

Ah... he was gone just like that. What do you know, he didn’t even let you chew him out...

The room that had been in chaos suddenly descended into a space void of any sound but breathing.

.

.

.

“Don’t say anything,” you weakly mumbled as you glared at the spires of NRC, the wind blowing through the flags and essentially masking Crowley’s location. You were sure that everyone had heard the crow man’s last few shouts of information, but had probably missed the one that pertained particularly to you. Defeated you turned to the rest and said in an eerily calm voice, “I need to make the preparations, please be on time tomorrow evening and make sure you have everything you will need for a week”

“But wait, aren’t you against this? Why are you suddenly giving in?” Kalim uttered, probably put off by your change in demeanor. In truth, you were still definitely against it but you took Crowley’s words like a threat.

Fingers tapped against your chin, “I think all of our hands are tied. You guys can’t disobey Crowley and I can’t afford to put him in bad graces with me.”

“Still, for him to just declare something like that and disappear without elaborating...” Vil seemed exasperated as the rest of you. You could hear Idia’s nervous breathing through the tablet as Riddle spoke up.

“With or without elaborating, it’s like you said,” he gestured to you, “we cannot disobey. Especially as he is correct in the fact that we have acted out of line.”

“Regardless of how quickly things have happened, I’ll have you guys know that I lock the doors at 10:00pm sharp. Be on time please.” You were already picking up your bag and heading out the door dejectedly. “Also, don’t forget anything!”

•———•••———•••———•••———•••———•

Ahaaa this chapter is super rushed and choppy but I’m looking most forward to writing interactions between the characters as they all settle into their new lifestyles for a whole week.

High school casualties

Chapter 1/?

Word count-1,779 

Masterpost with Ao3 link

Damien sat at his desk, the typing on his keyboard slowly coming to a stop as he finally finished the essay he had been working on for the past few hours. He looked at the bright screen of his laptop and quickly skimmed the concluding paragraph. Satisfied with his work, he closed his device and sunk into his chair as he let out an exasperated sigh. His bed looked more inviting than ever.

Damien, enjoying this new found sense of relaxation, threw off his glasses and rubbed his strained eyes so intensely that colorful dots and random patterns began to flood his eyelids. His head ache pounding harder than it had been over the past few weeks, but hey, at least he finally finished that essay.

Once his eyes felt somewhat hydrated again, he pulled himself out of the old office chair he had been sitting in. He stretched his stiff body, joints popping loudly.

Pretty sure that wasn’t there when I started, Damien thought to himself as he saw the sun peak up from behind his curtains of his window, What time is it anyways?

Damien scanned the area for his phone, spotting it buried under a small stack of papers and sticky notes, as well as some gum wrappers. He grabbed it and turned it on, hissing at the sudden brightness. Letting his eyes re-adjust to the light, he checked the time. It was almost 5:30.

Well I’m only gonna get 2 hours of sleep if I go to bed now, Damien thought to himself as he made his way to his bed, but ya know, it’s gonna be fine. Maybe I can convince my brain it’s only 3! Ya hear that ya dumb stupid brain, it’s only 3 in the morning! Not 5:30! You’re gonna be fine! Everything is fiiiiiiiiiine.

As the delusional teen concluded his thought, he collapsed into bed, falling asleep within moments of his face hitting the pillow. School was going to be rough that day.

===

Yo sorry but Damien REALLY can’t come to the phone right now, so try texting like a normal person

Shayne let out an audible sigh. He had already texted his friend that he was waiting for him outside, like he did everyday. At this point, Shayne was ready to barge into Damien’s house and see if he was dead or not.

Ok if he doesn’t answer this time, I’m gonna murder him. Shayne thought, as he began to call again.

===

Damien’s eyes slowly opened to the sound of a barely familiar ringtone. No one ever called him, let alone at this hour. But without even thinking to check the caller ID, he answered. It was probably important if it was at this hour. Or one committed spam caller.

“Hello?” Damien answered groggily, sleep heavy in his voice.

“Dude where are you? I’ve been waiting for you for the past 15 minutes!” Shayne said, pacing up and down the old wooden porch that lead up to Damien’s house.

Shit, Damien sprung out of his bed so fast his head hurt (Even more then it already did) and he became slightly dizzy. He already started looking around for his clothes, “Uh-yeah sorry! I’ll be out there soon!”

“Ok hurry up, or we’ll be late!” Shayne said hanging up the phone and forcefully putting it back in his pocket with a huff, continuing his pacing.

Damien took a look at his phone and winced. Not only from 8 missed messages and 1 missed call from Shayne. Or the fact it was 8:16 and he had to be at school at 8:40 and didn’t have a car. But his headache was worse than ever. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that made it worse, or the sudden blinding light of his phone; either way, he was not having a good time.

Damien fumbled around his room, putting on whatever clean clothes he had, not really caring if it would look good in the end. He stuck a piece of gum in his mouth to substitute brushing his teeth and began the search for his backpack.

About 5 minutes later Damien was fumbling out the door, adjusting the beanie that seemed haphazardly put on at the last minute, still putting stuff in his bag and his shoes half on.

“Let’s go.” Shayne said, not even bothering to let Damien fully out the door before he started walking off.

“Dude wait up!” Damien said forcing on his untied shoe. “Look, I’m sorry I kept you waiting. I slept through my alarms.”

“Yeah it’s fine, but- Holy- Dude you look like shit!” Shayne said, actually getting a look at Damien.

“Thanks, I feel like shit.”

“What happened?” Shayne asked. It looks like you got hit by a fucking truck

“Well Shayne, that’s exactly what happened!” Damien joked punctuated his statement with finger guns and a yawn.

“What?” Shayne asked.

“No, I’m just kidding. I was up all night working on homework.”

“Oh, um, alright then, why didn’t you work on it earlier? Dude are you ok?”

“Shayne, buddy, don’t worry about it, everything is fine, totally fine,” Damien said, in an ominously cheerful tone. “Let’s just get to school and meet up with Court.”

“Ok…”

===

“Finally! There are my BOYS!” Courtney exclaimed as Damien and Shayne approached the main entrance of the school where Courtney was waiting for them. “What took you 2 so long?” She asked and wrapped her arms around both of their shoulders.

“Well someone,” Shayne rolled his eyes towards Damien and punched his shoulder slightly, “worked on his homework all night and slept through his alarms!”

“Yeah Shayne, why would you do that!” Damien said, crossing his arms

“Wha- ME!” Shayne spat, taking a small step back. And Courtney, with her arm still around him, stumbled back as well.

“Yeah you!”

“You son of a bi-”

“Ok enough,” Courtney cut them off after regaining her balance, “save the arguments for later, we’re gonna be late! And Damien,” Courtney dropped her arms from the boy’s shoulders and dug into her bag. Then after a moment or two, handed Damien a travel mug, “drink this, it’s coffee. Not exactly the way you drink it but hopefully that’ll wake you up a bit”

“Mmmmmmm, bean juice.” Damien mumbled and took a drink.

“You can have the rest, you look like you need it much more than I do.” Courtney said. Damien gasped in mock offense.

“What doth thy meaneth? Art thou saying I looketh like shit?” Damien said dramatically, lazy hand jesters included.

“Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying.” She deadpanned and began walking into the school, Shayne and Damien following.

“So what where you working on last night then?” Shayne asked.

“Yeah what was so important that you worked on it for so long it sucked the soul of you?” Courtney asked, once again wrapping her arms around her boys as they walked.

“That essay for Mr. Hecox’s class I was telling y’all about a few weeks ago.” Damien confessed.

God he really put it off for that long? Damn is he okay?

“Yeah Shayne I’m fine. I’ve just had this awful headache for the past few weeks and I wanted to work on it when it went away, but it didn’t.” Damien looked and saw confusion clear on both of his friend’s faces. “What?”

Shayne glanced at Damien, then Courtney, trying to figure out how Damien heard him.

“Um, yeah no it’s nothing. Just… never mind.” Shayne gave a confused glanced at Courtney, who gave one right back.

“What, what’re y’all looking at?”

“Oh uh, it’s nothing, just drink your coffee. This is our class anyways so we gotta shut up now.” Courtney pointed at the door, patting Damien’s arm and dropping her own arms from the boy’s shoulders.

“Oh- alright then.” Damien mumbled to himself and walked in with his friends.

They made it in the class by 8:45. So yeah, they were late. But by the looks of the empty desk right by the door, so was their teacher.

“Oh looks like we don’t have to shut up now.” Shayne said.

“Damn all that stress for nothing!” Damien sighed.

“Well, let’s just relax and chat then! Like Shayne said, we don’t gotta shut up just yet.” Courtney said, walking to her desk, the boys once again following her.

The three slid into their desks, Shayne sitting to Damien’s right and Courtney in front of Damien. They began chatting with each-other and a few people around them. Well, two of them were chatting. Damien was silent, resting his head on his desk. He may as well exploit this time to get a little more sleep, or just zone the fuck out. Either way he was resting up to the best of his ability. Trying to make the pounding in his head go away.

===

“-ien? Hello~ Earth to Damien~” Shayne said, gently rocking his sleeping friend.

“Wha-,”Damien hummed, glancing around at the classroom, hearing it quiet down.

“Sorry to interrupt your nap, but Mrs. Whittle’s here.” Shayne said with a sympathetic smile, then turned around to face the front.

Damien began to sit up reluctantly. He dug through his bag and got out the materials that his teacher listed on the board. Looks like they didn’t need much. Which Damien won’t complain about, the less work he has to do today the better.

“Alright class, why don’t you guys take a seat! I’ve got all my bearings so we can finally start!” Mrs. Whittle unlocked her computer. “Ok attendance, you guys know the drill!”

As she went down the list, Damien noticed quite a few people missing. People he was sure he noticed in the room when he first entered. Damien checked his phone again. It was now 8:57. So their teacher was almost 20 minutes late. It looks like people decided not to wait and just left.

“Alright, got that done!” Mrs. Whittle stood up from her desk and made her way to the board. “Again class, so sorry I was late today. We had an issue with one of the cats this morning and it was not pretty, ended up having to take the lil guy to the Vet but he’ll be ok! But anyways I hope you enjoyed this extra time to chat with your classmates. It works out in the end since today I planned something simple for us to work on today!”

As the class carried on, Damien barley paid attention. It’d be fine though, he would just ask Shayne or Courtney what went on and what he needed to know. It would be fine, this was a simple lesson anyways.

===

(Request from my Dms

Like, fluffy. If it was John or Phillip, it would be coming from the military, and for Jefferson or Laf, coming back from France from some political stuff. Jefferson, Laf, Phillip, or John would be super happy, fluff happens, then they get thirsty wink wink )

John groaned and threw his notebook across his bedroom before slamming his head down onto his desk and letting out a frustrated shout.

Stupid statistics. Stupid Professor Adams. Stupid dyscalculia. Stupid B that was going to ruin what was supposed to be his final year!

He gripped his hair tightly and felt hot, angry tears running down his face. When the fuck would an art teacher need to use statistics?! He never would’ve taken that class if it wasn’t a core requirement. He knew how bad he was with math and he knew that it was out of his control. In fact, the only reason John had a B to begin with was because his roommate and close friend, Alexander, agreed to do all of his assignments if John did Alexander’s art homework for him. But it wasn’t like he could go in and take his final for him, not when the professor specifically said they’d all need their student id’s just to turn it in.. So John was stuck doing that and even though he’d been studying like crazy all year, reviewing homework assignments and attempting problems himself, he felt like he hadn’t learned a thing..

If only his boyfriend, Lafayette, was there to help him... But he was all the way in France, just as he had been for the past two years, taking care of some family matters. And, of course, John understood that Lafayette had to go to France, that his family was more important than a college romance, but Lafayette was just so good at helping him with that kind of thing.. Lafayette helped John through algebra and geometry in high school, so he was able to ace college algebra first semester without blinking an eye, but.. These concepts were all so new.

John shuffled through the papers for notes to a problem he was doing when he heard his bedroom door open behind him and his friend Alexander’s worried voice.

“Hey, are you alright? Do you need any help with your work?” Alexander asked, voice full of concern. John hadn’t much slept in a week, trying to get ready for this final, and refused to get any rest when Alexander tried to get him into bed. Alexander also offered multiple times to help him study, but he couldn’t find out how to get through to John.

“No... I just need to work a little harder,” he assured himself. John, of course, appreciated Alexander’s help, but it didn’t work for him. He couldn’t understand and he couldn’t help Alexander understand how Lafayette was able to help him all those years ago.

“Okay.. I’m going out with Eliza in a few. Dinner’s in the kitchen, whenever you’re ready. If you’re not going to sleep, please at least eat,” Alexander practically pleaded. John hadn’t had any problems eating and Alexander was almost desperate to keep him from starting.

“I will, don’t worry,” John replied flatly. Once he heard the door close behind him, he got up to retrieve his notebook, stretching. Sitting over a desk for all that time was a killer on his spine. He sighed and flipped through his notebook a bit, stopping when he felt hands over his eyes. “Alexander, I said I’d eat later. You don’t have to make me.”

“It isn’t Alexander,” hummed the person attached to the hands.

John gasped, recognizing the voice anywhere, and turned around. Sure enough, there stood his boyfriend, Lafayette. “Laf!” he called out excitedly, practically jumping into his arms. “I didn’t know you were coming back from France!”

Lafayette laughed lightly and kissed the top of his boyfriend’s head. “I wanted to surprise you! I’m back and I’m here to stay,” he assured.

John felt his heart burst in his chest and kissed all over Lafayette’s face before stopping and kissing his lips, relishing in the sensation of once again feeling his lover’s lips against his own. John only pulled away a minute later when he had to breathe, panting to catch his breath.

Lafayette did the same and rested his forehead against John’s, cupping his cheek. “You can’t imagine how much I missed you..”

“I probably missed you more,” John stated with a shrug.

Lafayette chuckled and kissed John’s forehead before pulling him into a hug, resting his chin on the top of John’s head and rubbing circles into his back. “Have you been eating?” he asked, almost like a concerned parent.

“I’ve been eating,” John responded surely. “I’ve just been working out. That’s muscle, not skin and bones.”

“Good.”

John chuckled and buried his face in his boyfriend’s shoulder for a second before pausing and glancing up at him. “Laf?..” he began softly.

Lafayette looked down at him, a gentle, but permanent smile across his face. “What is it?”

“Can you teach help me with stupid statistics?” he laughed out. He adored the fact that Lafayette was home, but he wasn’t going to pay another thousand dollars for one stupid course.

Lafayette laughed with him and kissed his cheek. “Of course I can.” He took the notebook from John’s hands and skimmed through it. “I think I remember some of this. Come, sit.”

John sat down at his desk and Lafayette stood over him, listening as he explained a few basic concepts in a way that John would understand. John listened for the first hour or so before getting... distracted. At first, he thought he just missed having Lafayette around. He missed the thick French accent that no doubt became thicker through the two years he spent speaking French almost exclusively. He missed the warmth that seemed to radiate endlessly off of him, even in just his t-shirt. He missed the way Lafayette almost always had his arms wrapped around him. The way he rested his head on his shoulder, so that John felt his warm breath on his neck..

John grabbed his hand. “Laf. Let’s take a break from statistics. Pass, fail, I don’t care right now. I just.. I want you,” John admitted, a needy edge in his voice.

Lafayette grinned and kissed his cheek. “Well, who am I to deny you?” He’d be lying if he said the thought hadn’t crossed his mind, but there were more important things in their relationship than sex.

That being said, he took John’s hand and led him to his bed, sitting on the edge and pulling his boyfriend into his lap.

Without hesitation, John shifted so he was straddling Lafayette’s waist and kissed his boyfriend passionately, holding his own body as close as to Lafayette’s as he could. Two years without sex.. Two years without Lafayette was almost as unbearable as a semester of statistics. But it wasn’t the time for that. Now was the time for John to enjoy his boyfriend.

Lafayette shifted and laid John on his back on the bed, then straddled his waist, sitting up on his knees. “I almost forgot how gorgeous you looked beneath me,” he hummed before leaning forward and pulling off John’s shirt, then his own. Once they were gone, he moved down and got rid of John’s pants, glad to see the tent that had already formed in his boxers. Lafayette leaned down and began mouthing at John’s member, feeling him almost immediately react to the touch.

John gasped and bucked his hips up, almost a bit embarrassed at how reactive he was.

“I see two years has been hard on you,” Lafayette teased, pulling off John’s boxers and letting them fall to the ground. He sat back up on his knees and leaned down, kissing John or a second. “Do you have lube?”

John nodded rapidly. “Nightstand, top drawer.”

Lafayette reached over and grabbed the bottle, then sat up again. He opened the bottle and poured a good amount into his hands before rubbing it onto himself with a sigh.

“You seem eager,” John teased.

Lafayette rolled his eyes and grinned at John. “Unless you are happy to stop things here, hush.”

John chuckled and wrapped his arms around Lafayette’s neck, pulling him down into a kiss. “Fine. Consider my lips shut.”

“Good.” Lafayette grabbed John’s legs and wrapped them around his waist before taking his own member into his hands and slowly pushing it into John.

After two years, it was uncomfortable, but only for a few seconds as John’s body remembered what it was like. Once he was okay, he glanced at Lafayette and nodded. “Go ahead.”

Lafayette rubbed circles into John’s hips with his thumbs and kissed him to help him relax, then began thrusting into him slowly. John relaxed and began moaning in seconds, so Lafayette took that a sign to slowly speed up.

And he definitely guessed correctly. John was in absolute bliss, gripping Lafayette’s shoulder tightly with one hand and letting the other one tangle itself in his lover’s hair. His eyes were half lidded and his mouth partly opened, his state of ecstasy written on his face.

Lafayette smiled at that and leaned down, nuzzling his head into John’s neck and letting him hear his own moans. “All this time and I’ve never even looked at another person. I spent every day missing your sweet smile and most nights missing your sweet body. I can’t tell you how lucky I am to have someone as beautiful as you.” Lafayette raised his head just a bit and placed a few kisses to John’s neck before pushing himself up a bit, one hand on John’s hip and the other gripping the sheets as he picked up his pace.

John’s moaning changed in the way that Lafayette would always recognize as the Frenchman began hitting his prostate and Lafayette began aiming for that spot every time, listening to John’s moaning getting louder and louder.

“I love you so much,” Lafayette moaned out, feeling himself get close. “I never want to have to leave you like that again and it’s not just the sex talking.”

John nodded rapidly. “I know, I love you too. Fuck.. If you ever leave me like that, I’ll kill you.”

Lafayette chuckled at that and hissed softly as he felt himself tip over the edge. He hadn’t lasted long, but it didn’t surprise him too much. And John hardly seemed to mind. After all, he knew that Lafayette never left him hanging.

Lafayette began moving down as he pulled out and took John’s member into his mouth, feeling his boyfriend move his fingers into his hair with a sigh. He bobbed his head up and down a few times before hollowing his cheeks and sucking, using his tongue as much as he could at the same time. Lafayette moved his tongue and teased the area below the head of John’s penis, hearing him react beautifully.

“Laf,” he gasped out. “Laf, I’m almost there..” John came in Lafayette’s mouth with a loud moan only seconds after, Lafayette easing him through his orgasm before swallowing.

Lafayette sat up and licked his lips a bit before moving up to lay beside John, kissing his cheek. “Like I said, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Good,” John responded. “I wouldn’t be able to handle another two years without you.”

Lafayette smiled and kissed the top of his head. “You won’t have to.” He pulled the blanket from underneath them and held John close as they cuddled underneath it. As expected, it was only a matter of minutes before John fell asleep.

Lafayette kissed his nose before falling asleep with him. He loved John more than he could say. Maybe one day, he’d be able to put a ring on his finger and prove it.

<p>April 5, 2017 is when my life completely turned around. <br> Ive been feeling different ever since I came back from China in 2015. <br> I graduated in Shanghai for high school and came back to Cali for college. I started attending ACCD. It wasnt the college i hoped to attend but it was the best college i got accepted to and my parents were so proud of me. I honestly was kind of excited but at the same time I was just doing it for my parents. I hated the idea of disappointing them. <br> My first term there was utter hell. I couldnt have a social life and didnt realize i was falling into slow depression. Thats when i started smoking a lot. Normally id finish a pack within almost a week but from that moment, i had started going through two packs a day. <br> I didnt care or think about my health because it helped me relax and do my work. <br> Then when that wasnt enough, i turned to alcohol for the buzz. I just wanted to feel good. At first it was to help me with homework but after a month i was so dependent on it that it became a habit. I couldnt stop. <br> Spring 2016 i became very sick in the middle of my term in which i took a medical leave and kept it a secret from my parents. By the time i got better, i had already missed two weeks of assignments and classes, it was nearly impossible for me to catch up. <br> Thats when i started going out to Koreatown to drink with my friends. It made me forget and feel good. Something i hadnt felt in a very long time. I just wanted to feel free and happy again and alcohol helped. So it became a daily routine. I would pretend to go to school, come home, get ready, and leave for another night out. <br> Some days Id come home drunk. Others, id crash at a friends place. <br> By Summer 2016 I couldve considered myself an alcoholic. All i wanted to do was drink away my problems. Then i started getting close with an old friend Sanghyun. <br> We started smoking weed together to the point i would be high 24/7. I never wanted to be sober. Id stay over his place as if it were my place. I became so comfortable staying there it felt like home. I enjoyed having him. Wed drink and smoke weed everyday. If we werent drinking, wed be smoking. <br> As time went by, I started hanging out with another friend more but it was mostly for sex. His name was Michael. I was always comfortable around him and I considered him to be a good friend even if weve only known each other for a good month at the time. <br> I started hanging out with Michael so much, i completely neglected Sanghyun. I felt bad but i guess i felt sex made me feel less lonely so i decided to stay with Michael. <br> Again, i stayed at his place and it became home. At this point i was never home.<br> Fastforward, i started growing feelings for him and as time went by, he asked me out and now he is my current boyfriend. <br> The year started off great. He was my everything. I started to change to my old self because of him. I stopped drinking and smoking weed. But i did fall pregnant Jan 2017. <br> We found out on Valentines day. It was of course a huge shock because it was unplanned. <br> Long story short, i told my parents on my birthday because we planned on keeping the baby. But things went completely downhill from then. I cried everyday and later decided to go through with the abortion. <br> I remember this day so clearly. The day before i was so angry. My mom had sold my car. I couldnt let go of the fact my parents forgot my birthday. I got into a fight with everyone around me. I was just so angry and frustrated because everything was happening so fast it was hard to keep up. And i knew depression was coming my way. <br> My boyfriend came with me to the abortion clinic. It took a good half day and i remember seeing the ultrasound. My baby boy has grown so much. He was moving a lot and i could see his feet. I was 13 weeks in. When they told me to take the pill to open my cervix, I hesitated. In that moment i knew i didnt want the abortion and i wanted to talk to my boyfriend but i decided to just do it because i thought about my mom telling me to be realistic. So i did. I put the pills in my mouth with tears in my eyes. <br> They later called me for the surgery. I dont remember the procedure because i was under local anesthetic. But i do remember after. I was very drowsy and i sat in the recovery room and started to cry. I saw blood coming out of my vagina and knew i just made the biggest mistake of my life. <br> I know if i had the baby, i wouldnt have been able to give him a great life and if he blamed me i would be able to take that pain because the pain i felt after and now is far much greater. </p> <p>Somedays i cry thinking about it somedays i dont. <br> After the abortion, my family and i werent on great terms. Long story short, i got kicked out. I have no money, no car, nothing. But i knew i made this choice to be with michael. And i was ok with it.<br> I gave up my life for him. <br> I do miss my family a lot. I wish i was still with them. I havent stopped crying since my birthday because there was one problem after another.<br> I was living a great life but now im questioning if i made the right choice. <br> I apologized to my family for acting the way i did and still after a couple days, no reply. <br> And it hurts.<br> I know i screwed up real bad. And i will never justify what i did. But i do wish they would still talk to me.<br> I love my boyfriend even if its been offically 3 months. I can say he is the love of my life. Hes the first boy worth me wanting as my boyfriend. And i cant see my life without him.<br> But these days, ive been questioning myself because of the way hes been treating me. <br> I feel like ill never be a priority to him even after i gave up my life for him.<br> Hes always putting games, friends or something before me and it hurts a lot. Not because i want attention from him all the time but because he knows what i went through to be with him. And still he continues to act as if nothing happened. And his mentality is not to dwell on things but how can i not?<br> I just gave my life up for him.<br> My car. My house. My family. Everything.<br> And he hasnt been able to give up the one thing that means the most to him. Games. <br> Not even just giving up playing games but give up some time to spend with me. <br> He said games were always there for him but so was my family. <br> A game is a game and family is everyone who loves you and would do anything for you and i gave those people up for him.<br> I just wish hed take me seriously. And i know my house is always open even if they changed the password. If i was willing to come home and stay theyd let me. <br> But i just want him to understand the sacrifices i made for him.</p> <p>I will forever miss my baby boy and i hope he knows i still love him forever and that im so so sorry for hurting him. I wasnt strong enough to keep him and i wish i was. It will forever be the biggest regret and mistake i will ever make in my life.