#6am? fine she's an extra alarm clock

[pearl-kite]

Hate that Trio has renal issues and genuinely requires wet food as at least part of her diet because good lord does she feel entitled to it on command

I'm trying to put it off as long as possible tonight so she doesn't get to feel like she can bully me into feeding her on command and oh my god the sulking that is happening right now

[badassbabeparker]

🎄 This may be a little (read: a lot) cliche, but could you do a blurb on where you don’t think Tom is going to make it home for Christmas but he surprises you by knocking on the door? Thank you lovely!!!

Request 2: Tom with “I won’t make it home for Christmas” for your sleepover. I love some angst, tho maybe a fluffy ending?

A/n: The first day of blurbmas! This one is coming early because I couldn’t schedule it. These requests have been sitting in my inbox for a year so again I’m really sorry it’s late. I also got a little carried away with this and I was in the mood for dad!Tom so... 

WC: 1.8k 

Warnings: Some mild angst but other than that cuteness overload

12 days of Blurbmas! 

Christmas was your favourite time of the year and had been since you were little. It just felt so magical, like anything could happen. 

When you were younger you used to wish for things like a new bike or that new CD of the artist you really liked but you had never felt like you wanted anything more than your wish this year. It was something you knew Santa could never bring you and this close to Christmas you would think it near impossible but still you hoped. That was until you got a phone call a few days before Christmas. 

You were just wrapping some last minute presents when your phone rang. You smiled at the picture that flashed onto your phone and answered the call. 

“Hi darling.” Even just the sound of his voice as tired as it was could lift your spirits and make you smile.

“Hi Tommy. How’s filming going?” 

Your fiancé had been gone for 2 months now filming his next movie and whilst you missed him like crazy there was no doubt how proud of him you were. Tom hated being away for so long especially since Emma had been born but you reassured him you were both fine and sent updates about your little girl everyday.

“It’s going great.” Tom’s voice sounded strained, feeding more into your doubt that something was wrong. 

“Baby what’s wrong?” 

He sighed through the phone and you could tell he was running his hand through his messy curls and probably tapping his foot. You waited patiently for his answer but your worry grew more by the second. 

“I-I don’t think I’m gonna make it home in time for Christmas. I’m so sorry my love.” 

Your whole heart sank to the pits of your stomach, tears threatening to spill from your eyes as you looked at the present you had just wrapped for him. You took a deep breath and tried to hide all emotion from your voice as you spoke to Tom. 

“Oh baby, that’s okay.” 

“No it isn’t.” He knew you too well. He could pick up on the smallest change in your voice or expression, he knew that his news would make you feel disappointed and upset. “I want to be home with you and Emma but there’s no flights going in or out anytime soon.”

You bit your lip and nodded mostly to yourself. You had heard about the snowstorm in Atlanta but you’d hoped it would die down before Christmas. Wishful thinking, you thought.

“I can still facetime you on Christmas day. I know it won’t be the same but-” 

“Tommy, it’s okay.” You couldn’t stop the sniffle that escaped you as you tried to hold back your tears. “We can just celebrate when you get back.” 

“O-okay.” Tom was doing his best to sound okay too and you were both thankful you weren’t facetiming right now. Just as you were about to try and change the subject, a loud sound went off in the distance from the other end of the phone. “I have to go back to set, I love you darling.” 

“I love you too baby.” 

As soon as the call ended, you let the tears fall and took a shaky breath. Usually you could deal with Tom being home later than usual or even missing your birthday but Christmas was your favourite time of year and you’ve always spent it together. 

You were just fiddling with the ring on your finger when you heard the door creak open. You quickly wiped your eyes and put the presents out of sight. 

“Mummy?” 

You turned to see your 3 year old daughter walking into your room in her unicorn pajamas, holding her spider-man plushie that Tom had gotten her close to her chest. 

“You should be asleep, little miss.” You whispered but held your arms open anyway. Emma smiled and cuddled into your arms as you picked her up. She caught a stray tear falling down your cheek and frowned. 

“Why are you crying Mummy?” 

You looked at your daughter’s little pout and smiled at how much it reminded you of Tom as well as her messy brunette curls. You cuddled her close and kissed her head, choosing not to tell her until morning otherwise she’d never sleep. 

“It’s nothing.” 

Emma gave you a look before seeming to accept your answer and cuddled into bed with you. She looked so small on Tom’s side of the bed as she snuggled down which made you smile. She gave a small yawn as she closed her eyes, muttering the one question you wished you hadn’t asked.

“When’s daddy coming home?” 

You sighed and ran your fingers through her curls, humming softly. “Not soon enough.” You let out a watery giggle and Emma smiled before quickly falling asleep next to you. 

When you did eventually tell Emma that Tom wouldn’t be home in time for Christmas, her little eyes filled up with tears so quickly that it broke your heart. She didn’t stop fussing and crying the entire day, kicking her legs and refusing to do much that you asked. It wasn’t until you went to bed that you let yourself really feel your emotions and cry, making one last wish that Tom would come home. 

Despite the emptiness of Tom’s presence you still tried to make the most of Christmas eve. You made your famous hot chocolate, put on Emma’s favourite christmas movie and made sure to bake extra cookies so you could have some as well as Santa. 

Tom facetimed you from his hotel room and it almost felt like he was really there except for his warm arms around you and kisses he would try to steal whenever he could. Emma loved talking to Tom on facetime because they would always pull funny faces at each other and talk nonsense for the most part. 

Emma ended up falling asleep on your lap after the film finished and you got to spend some time with Tom. You both tried not to talk about the obvious or how much you missed each other, trying to keep it lighthearted since it was Christmas eve. 

“Oh I got Emma this amazing present. Just wait until you see her-”

Tom and you both looked down and sighed. 

“Sorry, I-i forgot for a minute.” You apologised, fidgeting once again with your ring which is something you did whenever you missed Tom. He noticed the behaviour and bit his lip, wanting so desperately to be there with you. 

“It’s okay. I’ll try and be home as soon as I can.” 

You nodded and put on a smile, both of you knowing there wasn’t a lot he could do in the middle of a snowstorm. You could see it still flurrying past his window. 

After the phone call ended with your usual “I love you’s” you carefully picked Emma up and put her to bed. You kissed her forehead and said goodnight, making sure she was really asleep before going down to set up for christmas. You ate the cookies, drank the milk and put the presents under the tree so that it was all ready for the morning before going to bed. You wore Tom’s hoodie and snuggled close to his pillow as you fell asleep that night. 

You woke up the next morning to a loud knocking sound from downstairs. Before you could even register what day it was let alone the time there was another knock, louder this time and more persistent. 

“Jeez I’m coming.” 

You sighed as you looked at your alarm clock and got out of bed, yawning sleepily as you walked downstairs. The floor was too cold for your feet and you were ready to have a go at whoever was on the other side of the door for making you wake up this early.

“You do know it’s 6am on Christmas morn-” You mumbled grumpily as you opened the door, your eyes not quite catching up with your brain as you expected it to be a neighbour or the mailman. 

“Hi darling.” 

Your eyes shot open as you looked up, your heart thumping loudly in your chest as it started to race. There standing in your doorway as Tom. His hair was mess under his beanie which was covered in snow like the rest of him. He looked tired and cold but the smile on his face couldn’t be clearer. 

Before you could decide whether it was a dream or not you wrapped your arms tightly around Tom. His arms wrapped around you and held you tight. Neither of you needed to say a word as you held each other, the snow falling down around you in a perfect flurry. 

When you finally pulled away, both of you smiled at each other. You shook your head and held him close as a million questions rushed around your brain. “H-how?” 

“I have my ways and I couldn’t miss Christmas with my girls.” Tom smiled and cupped your face with his gloved hands. He rubbed his thumb over your cheek before planting a sweet kiss on your lips. You smiled and kissed him back, your fingers tangling in his curls.

You wanted nothing more than for this moment to last forever but soon enough you heard little footsteps coming down the stairs followed by a loud scream.

“Daddy!” 

You pulled away and giggled as Emma ran over to Tom. He picked her up into his arms and cuddled his daughter close, a few tears slipping down his cheeks. 

“Hey princess.” 

You smiled at the sight before Tom pulled you into the hug, kissing both of your heads. “Merry Christmas my loves.” 

You stayed like that for a moment before the cold began to sink into your skin and you pulled Tom inside. He took off his cold clothes and changed into his christmas pajamas as per tradition. Meanwhile, Emma finally spotted all the presents and started jumping excitedly. 

Once you were all downstairs, warm and most importantly together you told Emma she could open her gifts. Tom wrapped his arms around you and kissed your head as he watched and opened his own gifts too. 

He also gave you and Emma the presents he had brought whilst filming and you smiled at him in surprise. 

“You didn’t have to baby.”

“I wanted to. Open it.” 

He stole a kiss and held you close as you opened the box. You gasped softly as you saw the stunning silver necklace with a small H on it. 

“It’s a H for Holland.” He smiled, a small blush painting his cheeks as he put it on you. 

“I love it.” You smiled wide and kissed over his face, holding him close. Emma was already fascinated with the singing Elsa doll that Tom had given her which made you both laugh. 

The truth was you didn’t need all the presents under the tree because you’d gotten your Christmas wish that year and your family was all you needed.

Join my taglist through the link in my bio or send me an ask! 

Permanent - @eeyore101247 @geminiparkers @darlingspidey @ameelia @calltothewild @parkerpeter24 @rebekkah4766 @perspectiveparker @tom-hlover @parker-hollandx @call-me-baby-gir1 @cosmicvibecheck 

Tom Holland - @teen--marvel @musicalkeys @fancyxparker

[artificialqueens]

Not Like In The Fairy Tales (But Just As Beautiful) (Crygi/Jankie) - Chaoticnachokitten

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27419959

A/N: Heyy:)) I wrote this a few months ago and completely forgot to post it lol. Thanks to @cryshillz for giving me the idea for it and @aqtanawrites for beta-ing<3

Summary: Crystal is just your average high school student, (well, maybe except her makeup and outfit choices), friendly, dreamy and fairly popular. All she wants are her friends, One Direction songs, and maybe a fairy tale esque relationship. Everything would be perfect if it wasn't for that one girl that keeps staring at her with an expression that could kill...

Literally just your typical enemies to lovers high school au:)

It was 6am on a rainy Monday morning. Crystal woke up to the sweet tunes of 'What Makes You Beautiful' by One Direction. She had the habit of using a different One Direction song as her alarm clock every day.

Especially on Mondays she just needed a bit of extra motivation to get up and get ready for school, and that particular song never failed to make her smile, including today.

She slowly got out of bed, and walked up to her closet. It was a beautiful mess of almost offensively bright, colorful clothes. Crystal firmly believed that wearing as many colors as possible was helpful to stay positive all the time. 'Plain' or 'simple' clothing was something she liked to pretend didn't even exist.

Once she was done with picking out her outfit for the day, she went into her bathroom, preparing for her favorite part of her morning routine: her makeup. Firstly, she washed her face, and then applied some products that would hopefully protect her skin from what she was about to do to it. Then, she tried to find all of her needed makeup products. Unfortunately, she had a habit of trying out new looks constantly, and for some reason her products ended up being scattered in the entire bathroom. Her parents had given up on trying to keep the bathroom organized at this point.

After finding everything she needed, which were approximately 50 products, including tons of her beloved glitter, she started with her time consuming but fun painting, blasting her OD playlist to stay in a good mood. Her thoughts drifted around for a bit, eventually settling on the memories of how her high school had tried to get her to dress 'appropriately' and to stop her 'clown like' makeup. At first the teachers had assumed that she would get teased because of her looks, but they had been very wrong. Crystal had such a fun and loveable personality that no one really said anything negative about her, in fact, the only people who teased her about her makeup were her best friends, who obviously didn't mean it. Crystal was friends with just about everyone, except one person.

Crystal quickly tried to think of something else, she didn't want to ruin her morning by thinking about the only person she didn't like.

So, after the teachers had realized that no other student would tell her to stop with her makeup, they tried to threaten her by sending her to the principal's office multiple times. But, since she kept arguing about how she needed to express herself, and because her grades were good, the teachers gave up and her style was tolerated eventually. At least her art teacher loved her creativity.

Crystal checked herself out in the mirror one last time. Her long, curly hair was brushed nicely, it looked all shiny and soft like usual, she was wearing a full face of makeup, around three times the amount of what an average student would wear, and her outfit complemented her makeup nicely. Afterwards she went on her way to her high school, which happened to be just a few minutes away from her home. As always, she had her earphones in so she could continue to listen to her playlist, which she had named 'positive vibes'.

Before entering the big, old, dull building, she removed her earphones as electronic devices were strictly forbidden and had to be stored in the school bags, otherwise a teacher had the right to take them away. It was a stupid and annoying rule, but other than about her personal style, Crystal didn't like getting in trouble, so she just accepted it.

Crystal's morning had been pretty good so far, but of course, the first person she saw in the hallway was the one she didn't like. Her name was Gigi Goode, and, Crystal usually didn't like to swear, the only word that could be used to describe her was a complete bitch. Now, sadly, Gigi was gorgeous, everyone was jealous of her looks. Even after a long P.E lesson she still managed to look perfect, not even a single makeup particle out of place. Gigi exclusively wore expensive makeup and clothes, always looking like she was about to be on the cover of Vogue or something. Not only that, but she was smart too, a straight A student, nothing less ever. She regularly engaged in class, the teachers often used her as a good example. But beyond that, Gigi was also the most conceited person Crystal knew. She seemed to lack any kind of empathy or friendliness. The only thing she seemed to care about was herself and her reputation.

She wasn't really friends with anyone, everyone was intimidated by her. She didn't seem to care for friendships anyway. But Gigi just seemed to hate Crystal for no reason. Everytime Crystal was near Gigi she looked at the ground to avoid the look. Gigi liked to glare at Crystal like she was something unsightly, like a stain on her clothes or a disgusting bug or something along those lines. Nothing out of the ordinary, except today, if anything, Gigi looked at her with an even meaner expression than usual.

"Maybe her favorite brand of lipstick got discontinued,"  Crystal thought to herself as she searched for her friends, all she had to do was follow the sound. And sure enough, just a few meters away she spotted Jan and Jackie, who were talking about something. Jan seemed to be even more enthusiastic than usual, and Jackie looked slightly concerned.

"...it's a genius plan, I promise! And very easy to execute. We have to show them that they just belong together."

Jan was nearly screaming the last sentence, loud enough to hear clearly for Crystal who was just waiting for their conversation to end as she didn't want to interrupt them. But then, Jan saw Crystal and monitored for her to come.

"Genius plan? Jan, look, I love you very much, but the last time you said that, and canceled our movie night for it-"

"You're still mad about that?" Jan asked with a hint of amusement.

"Let me finish. Last time you had one of your 'genius ideas' you broke into the school with Nicky to save the frogs we were meant to dissect in biology."

"Well, obviously my plan worked because the frogs are now free, and we didn't have to dissect anything!"

Jackie sighed, fighting the smile caused by the adorableness of her girlfriend, and shook her head fondly.

"And I'm very happy about that. However, you and Nicky got detention for a whole month and only very narrowly avoided legal consequences. And you were grounded forever!"

Jan looked at Jackie with huge eyes.

"But..the frogs..they were worth all of that."

Jackie looked at Crystal who had just been listening to the fairly weird conversation. Though that kind of stuff wasn't uncommon for Jan and Jackie at all.

"Crystal, I'm dating an idiot."

Crystal just laughed and then shyly looked at Jan. The girl looked back at her with mock anger. Then she turned her attention back to Jackie.

"Oh, so I'm the idiot now? I would like to remind you of the time when I was still grounded, and you decided to do it like they do it in the movies and attempted to climb up my house to get into my room through the window, just because you wanted to see me..it's not like you see me at school literally every day."

"It was Saturday. And we spent some..quality time that day."

"That was after I quite literally had to pull you up myself after you almost fell down."

Jackie was about to respond when the bell rang as annoyingly as ever, announcing that the first class was about to start. Jan, Jackie, Crystal and, unfortunately for Crystal, Gigi were all in the same class. Jan attempted to leave, but she was pulled back by Jackie.

"No girl, no skipping classes anymore. You'll just get into trouble again."

"But..." Jan started.

"No buts. You're coming with us. Do you need a bit of..extra motivation?"

Jan smirked, getting the hint, and then nodding excitedly.

Jackie hugged her, and then placed a kiss on Jan's soft lips. A few seconds later they were full on making out.

Around a minute later the bell rang again, and the two of them broke apart. Jackie looked at Crystal, who was now staring at the ground, blushing, apologetically.

"Crys, oh my God, I'm so sorry you had to witness that."

"You're not sorry," Jan disagreed.

"It's fine, I'm used to it by now, I know how gross you guys are," Crystal smiled.

"Anyway, let's go, otherwise we'll be late for class," Jackie said in a slightly nervous tone. She hated being late.

Jan sighed.

"And I'm dating the teacher's pet."

Before Jan could try to run away again, Jackie grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her along.

On the way to class, Crystal couldn't help but feel jealous of her friends. Jan and Jackie were just such a cute couple. It wasn't like she was attracted to either of them, it was more that she had the desire to experience the same kind of love they had for each other. She wanted that kind of fairytale fantasy cute relationship, with the occasional playful teasing.

The three of them finally reached the classroom, just in time. Crystal sat down in her usual spot, and got out her needed school supplies. Since the teacher surprisingly wasn't there yet, she checked her phone, scrolling through her social media. Since there wasn't anything too interesting, she switched it off soon again and looked around for a bit. To her horror, she noticed that Gigi was looking at her. But something was weird about it. Crystal could have sworn that Gigi had looked at her with an almost friendly expression...probably as friendly as Gigi was able to, before using the look again. A few seconds later Gigi looked away again. Crystal missed that Gigi was blushing.

Crystal suddenly felt like she had invaded Gigi's personal space. It was stupid, but she felt her face heat up. To try and calm down, she ran a hand through her hair to fix it, even though nothing was wrong with it in the first place before opening her notepad, and started doodling tiny flowers and animals in it so she had something to focus on.

Just when she had calmed down enough to feel as comfortable as she could while being at school, the English teacher entered the room, greeting the students. Crystal looked up for a minute, listening to what the teacher was talking about, before going back to doodling. She was almost always more focused in class while drawing. It was accepted by most teachers, and a real blessing in art class.

Today was different. For some reason, she kept thinking about Gigi, and the way she had seen the unusual behavior of her today. It honestly wouldn't have been a big deal at all, but she had never seen Gigi without that I-accidentally-bit-into-a-lemon glance, and instead looked at Crystal like she was an actual person. Thinking about it caused Crystal to feel an odd, but definitely not unpleasant sensation spreading from her heart. Could it be..?

"No. No, definitely not, not her," she told herself before forcefully turning her attention back to the teacher.

"Okay, so today we'll start with a new topic: presentations. They are very important, you will have to do one in pretty regardless of where you want to work in your later life. Now, we'll work on your confidence first, therefore the topic of the presentation will be up to you. And because teamwork is very important as well, you'll work in groups of two."

The teacher noticed that Jan had raised her hand.

"Yes, Jan?"

"How about we get paired up randomly? Later on in our life we don't get to choose either who we'll have to work with, so this might be some good practice."

The teacher nodded, impressed by Jan's level of maturity, and surprised because the girl usually didn't participate that much.

The rest of the class seemed okay with that idea as all of them got along quite well. Jackie looked at Jan with a surprised look, Jan smiled at her before mouthing "all part of my plan, don't worry."

The teacher resumed.

"Great idea, actually, thanks Jan. Okay, everyone, please take out a piece of paper and write down your names. Then fold it and bring it to my desk."

Jan raised her hand again.

"Yes?"

"Can I please read out the teams?"

"Yeah, sure."

The next few minutes were spent by people asking for paper and pens and then writing down all of the names. Jan hastily scribbled the three letters of her own name before turning her attention to Crystal. She was writing down her name on that obnoxious rainbow colored paper she adored, making the next step of Jan's plan easier.

Then she looked at Gigi. She was using some expensive art paper she usually used to draw gorgeous pictures on. It even felt expensive, so spotting it later on shouldn't be too hard either. Jan couldn't quite believe that her plan was going so smoothly.

Jackie was ready to bring her paper to the teacher's desk, but Jan stopped her before she could do so.

"Wait, I want to be paired up with you. Mark it with a smiley or something," Jan whispered.

Jackie smirked before doing so.

"Fine, miss we-should-work-with-different-people-to-gain-new-experience."

"You'll understand later."

After every piece of paper was on the desk, Jan mixed all of them up to keep up the illusion that every pair would be selected in a fair and completely random way..

Crystal felt someone looking at her. When she looked around, it was Gigi once again. This time she was sure she had seen Gigi's initial expression which had looked almost dreamy before she was back to looking mean again. When Crystal didn't look right away again, Gigi even looked insecure for a split second before hissing "what the hell are you looking at?" before looking away herself.

Crystal was shocked. Had she just seen the usually overly confident Gigi Goode looking...insecure?

She didn't even have time to process everything that had just happened as Jan, who had already paired up quite a few people, called her name.

"Okay so Crystal and.."

Jan tried to make it seem like she was just randomly picking out a piece of paper.

"Gigi."

Crystal's jaw dropped. She didn't dare to look at Gigi. That was the worst team she had ever been in. She was shocked to the point of shivering. She felt her blood running both hot and cold at the same time. And just when she had tried to reason that she could just do her part of the assignment alone, and would just have to do the presentation with Gigi, the teacher spoke up again.

"To ensure you'll actually work together, you will get a grade as a team instead of individual ones. Before you can go, please note that you now have one week to prepare. Since I already wrote down the teams, please don't change them up again. Okay, that's it. Goodbye, see you all tomorrow."

Everyone except Crystal packed up and got ready to leave. Gigi, for once, looked unsettled and left as soon as she could in order to keep up her usual act and not show any emotions. Crystal, on the other hand, was too shocked to do anything other than staring off into space. This was officially the worst day in her life. There was no way she would survive working together with someone who looked like she was about to stab Crystal as soon as they were alone.

Jan pulled her out of her almost trance like state by waving her arms in front of Crystal.

"Hey, are you okay? You don't look good, you're so pale out of the sudden."

Crystal looked at Jan desperately.

"Okay?? No, I'm not 'okay' at all. In case you missed it, I have to work with Gigi out of all people and I can't switch partners...what am I going to do?"

Jan decided to act like she was sorry. In her opinion that drastic measure was necessary to make Crystal and Gigi talk for once, and hopefully that would be enough to make them see that they like each other. Jan had seen the way Gigi looked at Crystal when the latter wasn't aware of it, and she knew that Crystal had a hard time noticing and admitting that she liked someone, due to the fact that she once had her heart broken badly before, and it had taken lots of time and support from her friends to get over it. So, complaining about someone more often than usual was Crystal's way to try and suppress her feelings.

"I'm so sorry Crys, but I'm sure it's going to be fine. And if she's mean to you, I'll make her pay for it, I promise. In fact, I still have that weird hair dye that's supposed to dye your hair purple, but it turned mine green and it took an eternity to get it out again, remember that?"

Crystal forced herself to giggle. She did feel a bit better knowing that Jan would help her if things didn't go smoothly.

"Thanks, Janice, I appreciate it. And honestly, the green didn't look that bad. Besides, you obviously care about green frogs enough to risk legal consequences, so dyeing your hair to match them is just the natural next step."

"I probably shouldn't have told anyone that story, but I would have never thought that saving countless innocent lives would ever be used against me, at least not that frequently. But anyway, ready to leave now?"

Crystal sighed. She really didn't want to see Gigi anymore, at least today.

"What are the chances of Jackie killing you for skipping class one more time with me?"

Jan laughed.

"Unfortunately too high to risk it. Besides, you won't be able to avoid her all week, and if you don't want a bad grade you will have to work with her. Once again, I'm very sorry."

"Okay, fine. And don't apologize Jan, it's not your fault."

Jan had to suppress a smirk. If only she knew..

The rest of the school day surprisingly wasn't that terrible. Gigi didn't look at Crystal at all, not even once, instead she was fully concentrated on engaging as much as usual in each class. Crystal on the other hand didn't care about anything else that moment, she was trying and failing to come up with a way that would make working with Gigi okay. And she sure as hell wouldn't be the one to start the conversation. Since Gigi wasn't satisfied with anything less than an A, she probably would be the one to approach Crystal anyway. Hopefully.

When the school bell rang again, this time to indicate that the day was over, Crystal couldn't wait to get home, she carelessly stuffed her school supplies into her rainbow colored bag and nearly stormed out of the school without even saying goodbye to any of her friends. For once she didn't care about being nice and polite, she just wanted to go home, crawl into her bed, cry, listen to music, and ignore the world around her until she would feel better.

But today some higher force seemed to have something against her. Once she was back home, laying in her bed comfortably, surrounded by her plushies, she decided to check her phone before listening to music. It turned out to be a big mistake. She saw that she had received a message by an unknown number. Usually she would have just ignored and blocked it, but she couldn't. The number had a profile picture, and Crystal immediately recognized it. A pretty girl with perfect skin and shiny brunette hair. Gigi.

She decided that she deserved a break from everything that had happened today, so she turned on airplane mode so she wouldn't be disturbed by anyone anymore, put in her earphones once again, and then clicked on her playlist. She proceeded to close her eyes, trying not to think about anything, just listen to the music instead. She wasn't able to calm down though, even after 30 minutes of trying. The message she had refused to read out of fear earlier seemed to be haunting her. She decided to finally read it.

'Hey, it's Gigi.

It seems like we'll have to work together. I'm sure you're just as interested in a good grade as I am, so I think we should talk things out. Hating each other while trying to give a good presentation will probably not work out, plus we haven't even decided on a topic. So come to my place at 6pm, here is the address.'

Crystal checked the time. She had about an hour left. According to Google, getting to the location would take 45 minutes. She didn't want to make Gigi mad now that it seemed like they would maybe be able to finally work their problems out. She hastily jumped out of her bed, and ran into the bathroom to touch up her makeup as soon as possible.

Thankfully it wasn't terribly smudged or anything, so she was able to go on her way just a few minutes later. That way she would even have a bit of extra time in case she didn't find Gigi's house or if she needed some time to prepare herself mentally for actually ringing the doorbell, which was very likely going to be the case. Crystal had a pretty bad sense of orientation.

Meanwhile, Gigi was anxiously pacing around in her room, checking her makeup and outfit every time she passed a mirror. She had a lot of them in her room. Gigi knew that she was a mess on the inside right now, so it was even more important for her not to show it on the inside. She hoped that her facade that she had built up over the years was enough to hide her emotions from Crystal. The truth was, she wasn't as confident as she pretended to be. In fact, Gigi was a very insecure girl, afraid that someone would see right through her, able to tell just how weak she actually was on the inside. She was scared that people would make fun of her, so she just pushed everyone who tried to befriend her away. Being friends with people had never worked out in the past, instead she had been used and then she had been left with low self esteem and trust issues. Eventually she decided she wouldn't get hurt by people ever again, and that was when she started wearing expensive clothes to intimidate people and flawless makeup as it made her feel like a completely different person, beautiful and confident. Her makeup was like a mask for her as well, a constant reminder that she needed to keep up her facade to remain safe.

Gigi's thoughts were interrupted by the piercing sound of the doorbell. She checked her makeup for what seemed like the 100th time that day, and then went to open the door.

"Hey," Crystal greeted her, looking as nervous and anxious as Gigi felt. For some reason it made her feel better.

"Hey. Thanks for coming. Come in." Gigi managed to keep her usual cool tone despite the fact that she was extremely nervous.

Crystal did as she was told. Unexpectedly, Gigi's house was both huge, almost as big as a mansion, and the furniture looked extremely expensive and beautiful. But since Crystal was also a nervous mess, she wasn't able to focus on anything properly.

Gigi led her into her room (a gigantic one, beautiful and organized, girly but not at all kitschy) and monitored for Crystal to sit down on her bed. Crystal, again, did as she was told, it was her only option as she couldn't even think straight. Gigi carefully sat down next to her. She didn't look at Crystal because she felt like she would break if she did, and instead stared at her ceiling.

"Okay so, I guess I'll explain why I behave the way I do around you. The truth is, I don't hate you. I know you think I do, but I don't. In fact, I'm jealous of you."

Crystal couldn't believe her ears. First of all, Gigi talking about her feelings? And most importantly: How could Gigi Perfect Goode be jealous of her? Crystal bit her tongue to remain silent, the question was burning on her tongue, but she felt like talking wasn't a good idea right now.

"You're so lucky. You get to be yourself. You can wear and act however you want because you're so cute and loveable and everyone wants to be your friend."

Did Gigi just call me cute?

"You don't know what it means to constantly act like a bitch to keep people away from me. And all of that because I'm scared. I'm so scared of being judged. Of being used, of being hurt. I can't handle another person lowering my self esteem to the point where I can't leave the house anymore. It took me months to get where I am today. Why do you think I check my hair and makeup every few minutes? Why do you think I keep staring at you?"

Gigi was getting so emotional that she had to stop talking as her eyes were starting to get as glossy as her perfectly applied lip gloss. She tried taking deep breaths to calm down, but that just made everything worse.

"This is so stupid, I'm sorry…"

"Gigi, please don't call your emotions stupid. It's okay to express your feelings,you've been ignoring them for far too long already. I promise I won't tell anyone. And I know what being hurt feels like, believe me, and being able to talk about my feelings helped me a lot."

Perhaps it were Crystal's words, perhaps Gigi's feelings were too much for her to bottle up anymore, but just a minute later she found herself bawling her eyes out while Crystal had her arms wrapped around her in a protective and comforting way that Gigi actually felt like it was okay for her to cry and let out everything. It was weird, they didn't even really know each other, and surely she wouldn't have expected the meeting with Crystal to go like that at all, but strangely enough it felt so right.

After a solid ten minutes of crying, Gigi was finally starting to calm down. She decided that now, since she had told Crystal her secret already and she had also cried in Crystal's arms, which had probably ruined her pretty makeup/ facade, she had nothing to lose anymore. She freed herself from Crystal's grip, cupped the girl's face, and proceeded to kiss her like she had been wanting to for months. She was fast and aggressive, all of her emotions went into it.

Crystal didn't even think, the kiss felt more than right, so she kissed back just a second later with the same intensity to match Gigi's energy.

It wasn't like the start of her dream fairy tale beginning of a relationship, quite the opposite, actually. Gigi was still crying, Crystal's face was getting wet from the tears, but in that moment she could have cared less about the 'perfect' start of a relationship. What she had right here was just as perfect to her, if not more.

After what could have been seconds, minutes, or even days, both of them were blown away by the intensity of the moment that time didn't matter anymore, they slowly broke apart.

"Crystal I'm so sorry. I didn't know what came over me," Gigi started all of the sudden. She was breathing way too fast.

"Shh, calm down. My only question is, did you mean the kiss? Be honest."

Gigi nodded, looking away.

"I meant it too when I kissed you back."

Gigi looked like a weight had been lifted off of her. Then, she seemed to have an idea.

"I know this is incredibly early, but uhm..I'm alone and my parents won't come back until in a few days, do you maybe want to stay with me for the night? I just want to find out more about the girl I've been secretly admiring for the past few months."

Crystal smiled softly.

"Of course. I would love to know more about the girl that has been hiding every emotion for..I don't even know how long. Tell me what you're feeling, every single one, I want to know all about them. And please don't ever be afraid again to show people your vulnerable side. The world may be terrible, but not every single person is, I promise."

"You're the prime example of that," Gigi said quietly.

"You're still treating me like this even though I was such a terrible person to you...thank you so much Crystal."

With that, they intertwined their fingers, slowly getting closer until their lips touched again. This time it felt different, but just as amazing. It was all slow and tender, and neither of them wanted the moment to end. Maybe it was like in the kitschy fairy tales after all.

[sharperthewriter]

Chapter 4 of Possible-y Utah

Chapter 4 - Final Day

(May 25, 2006, 6am)

The sun began to rise over the city of Middleton. Rays began to creep through the windows of Kim's room. She woke up and rubbed her eyes.

"Yes!" she exclaimed in triumph, "Final day of junior year is here!"

Kim got ready for school. That day, she was wearing baggy dark-denim Club Banana overalls over her green croptop shirt. She hooked up both straps and had the bottom hems rolled up. To finish the look, she had on giant gold hoop earrings, minimal makeup, a simple CB heart charm bracelet, and white sneakers. Her hair was in a ponytail.

"Hey, Mom and Dad! I'm going off to school!" she exclaimed. "I got my new scooter all ready to pick up Ron!"

Both James and Ann were in their work outfits.

"OK, Kimmie-cub. Don't forget to put on your helmet!" James insisted.

"And remember..." Ann added while sipping her coffee. "Safety first!"

"I won't! And I'm glad we bought an extra helmet for Ron." Kim said, grabbing the second helmet and her backpack.

"Ron! Hurry up!" Kim insisted to her BFBF. She parked her scooter at the Stoppable house.

"I'm coming, KP! Just as soon as I put my shoes on!" Ron said while putting on his sneakers. Rufus scurried out of the door.

"Thank you! I just don't want to be late for school!" Kim replied, handing Ron his helmet, "Nothing is more humiliating than getting detention on the last day of school!"

Ron buckled on his helmet and Rufus also put on a little helmet of his.

"Hold on tight, Ron!"

"You got it, KP!" Ron said, holding his girlfriend around his arms and feeling the denim of her overalls.

Kim zoomed off from the house on the scooter.

(7:45am)

The readerboard sign in front of Middleton High said, "Summer is here...so please read!"

Kim parked her scooter in the student parking lot.

"That should do the trick, Ron." she replied in getting off the scooter and removing her helmet.

"Yeah, KP, next time, we're going to try and get our full drivers license!" Ron said, also getting off the scooter.

"I wouldn't exactly worry about myself getting the license." Kim snickered, darting her eyes to Ron.

"Hey, I shall get through 'Barkin's Course of Death' this time!" Ron insisted.

"And not wreck the student driver car...again?" Kim asked. "Insurance is not going to cover the damages this time around."

"The twentieth time is the charm! Mark my words, I am gonna get my license!" Ron vowed.

The two of them came up to Kim's locker, which was located in D-Hall, aka the science wing of the school.

Kim then opened it. Wade came onscreen in the built-in monitor.

"Hey Kim! Glad that today is the last day of school?" the tech genius asked.

"Oh yeah, number 11 is going to be in the books for a few hours!" Kim replied, "Not unlike you, of course."

"Who breezed by grades 10-12 before my own eighth birthday!" Wade boasted.

"And I'm just...you know...getting by with C's." Ron nervously chuckled, brushing his hand against his hair.

"It feels a little strange, though, Wade." Kim said, "Ever since Drakken's Diablo plot, I've only had three take-over-the-world plots (one each by Dementor, Monkey Fist, and DNAmy) and foiled them all. Maybe the villains have finally given up evil."

"I wouldn't put it past them, Kim." Wade said, "You may never know when a plot or a kidnapping of a scientist would come up."

"We'll keep an eye on things, Wade." Kim replied, "Right now, though, I only have one final exam to get through first."

Then a familiar snarky voice came from behind.

"Well, if it isn't Farmer Possible and her farm-hand!" she taunted.

"Bonnie, I do not have time for your lame puns just because I wear a pair of overalls!" Kim impatiently muttered.

Bonnie, as it turned out, was wearing a pink croptop and baggy carpenter denim jeans that was showing off half her Club Banana yellow boxers. The back pockets were on her thighs. They were held up only with a loose CB belt. She completed the outfit with white sneakers, giant hoop earrings and a CB hat that she was wearing sideways.

"You know, Bonnie..." Kim continued, "...you really do look like a fool with your pants on the ground!"

"It's the latest fashion trend for mean girls like me!" Bonnie flaunted.

"And totally sick and wrong!" Ron complained.

"Bonnie, I would love to criticize your poor decision on how to basically wear pants..." Kim muttered, slamming her locker door, "...but I got an exam to take!"

"Whatever, Possible." Bonnie scoffed, "I will tell you something after you take your lousy exam!"

"Fine, Rockwaller!" Kim snarled back.

With that, Kim and Ron both left Bonnie behind to go to the World History class for her final exam to take. Ron had one more in Geometry.

(3 hours later)

Kim and Ron were now sitting in study hall after taking their last exams.

"Did you think I did well, KP?" Ron asked. He had taken geometry for his last exam.

"I'd say you'd barely pass, Ron." Kim explained, "Remember our study night together?"

"Yeah...wasn't that the night that you put a blanket on me because I was sleeping my head on your dad's desk?" Ron questioned.

"It was. You look so cute sleeping like that!" Kim replied.

"Awww...thanks, Kim!" Ron smiled at her GF's words.

"Ugh...why do you two have to be so mushy?!" Bonnie asked dismissively. She was sitting on her CB boxers and the back pockets of her baggy jeans were on her thighs. The bottoms were scrunched up on her shoes.

"Because we are a couple, Rockwaller, that's why!" Kim muttered at her rival.

"I'll make a sweet bet with you, Possible." Bonnie said, "I'll bet you $50 that you will not last one summer with Stoppable as BF material!"

Kim, sensing her hyper-competitive nature, agreed.

"What are going to be the terms?"

"If I win the bet and you break up with Stoppable, I promise that will not bully you anymore during cheer practice in senior year." Bonnie said of the terms if she came out on top. "And, on top of that, you will have to give your cheer captainship to me AND you will have to scrub the toilets of the locker rooms.

"And if I win, you will have to mop the entire gym floor! And your dad will have to drop the indecent exposure charge against Ron!" Kim decreed.

"Don't blame me if he got his boxers accidentally snagged by briar patches!" Bonnie countered. "But I will honor your bet...IF you win."

"You are so on, Rockwaller!" Kim exclaimed, fire raging in her eyes that was as red as her hair.

Ron looked at her in worry, "KP...you're putting a lot on the line here!"

Kim scoffed at what he said.

"Ron, don't worry! We'll still be tight by the beginning of senior year! Bonnie will definitely lose!"

Barkin then entered the room.

"Okay, people, since Miss Carol is not here because she overslept, smashing her alarm clock with a cartoonishly-giant hammer the night before, I will be taking over this study hall." he proclaimed. "Since all of you students are done with your exams, we are going to sit quietly for the next 45 minutes until the class is dismissed."

The clock then began to move its hands slowly and then fastly as if it had been hours.

"Clock's busted again..." Barkin muttered, tapping it on its side and adjusting it to the correct time: 11:19am.

Kim could only hope that the last 45-minutes of her junior year would fly by.

(12 noon)

The final bell finally rang, signaling the end of the junior year.

All of the students in study hall began to cheer and throw their papers in the air to celebrate. But just before they could exit the classroom, Barkin then got in the way of the door. The cheering subsided for now.

"Uh...Mr. B? I thought we were dismissed." Ron insisted.

"Stoppable, do you not remember that the bell does not dismiss the class, I do?" Barkin muttered. After a tense 30 seconds between the two, Barkin stepped aside.

"Okay, you're dismissed!" Barkin sighed, opening the door. The cheering resumed from the students.

Both Kim and Ron got out of Middleton High now that their Junior year was in the books. To celebrate, Kim decided to unhook the right strap of her overalls so that the strap dangled behind her back but kept the left strap up.

"So what can we do to celebrate now that we have 88 days of freedom?" Kim asked. "You know...as BF and GF!"

"KP, if you know me, I'm thinking along the lines of JP Bearymore's!" Ron replied with a smile, putting his hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "Their new multi-level go-kart track just opened up and it's badical!"

"Mmm...hmm!" Kim smiled, "Maybe a movie afterwards? The newest installment of the John Glond superspy series is already out! And you know how much I love the spy thriller!"

"You're totally, on, KP!" Ron said, grinning.

[nekoabiwrites]

Comfort in Music

Another prompt thing for @thesquirtlesquadwrites! This time, instead of a particular sentence prompt, we decided to just use an AU prompt and this one was Soulmate AU where your soulmate(s) can hear what music you hear.

Once again, my titles suck... And this idea with these exact songs mentioned has been in my head for like... almost two years now and I’m so happy to have written it out!

Read the rest of the fics here on the masterlist for this prompt: https://thesquirtlesquadwrites.tumblr.com/post/187333342346/soulmate-au-hearing-the-music-your-soulmates

AU: College AU Pairing: LAMP Words: 3269 Warnings: Many awkward and bad things happen to Virgil, mention of depression and insomnia, mention of car crashes, very lightly implied use of self harm, very lightly implied thoughts of death (The last three are from the song used). Anything else, please let me know.

Summary: Virgil is having a very very bad day and uses music to cope. But, he underestimates just what would happen when they all heard it.

---

Today had been pure hell for Virgil.

Firstly, he’d had an awful night’s sleep. His insomnia had hit hard the night before as well as this one, leaving him painfully awake at what he could only guess to be close to 6am. Not only that, but he’d been having a really bad down period with his depression and it was only adding to his mood, if he could even describe the lack of feeling as a ‘mood’ – one of his housemate’s would definitely say it counted. Eventually, he’d been granted some reprieve from it, but had then slept through his alarm, making him late for his 10am class. He’d had to walk in during a particularly quiet part of the class too, heaving breaths being awkwardly supressed as Virgil had ran all the way there.

“Nice of you to join us, Virgil.” His teacher had quipped jokingly. Several of the class had smirked, snorted or smiled in response, which had Virgil’s stomach dropping and his mind screeching. He’d taken his seat quickly and kept his head down for the entire lesson.

Then the teacher had thrown them a surprise quiz. Virgil was wholly unprepared for it and fought to control his anxiety. He was able to get through it. It was thankfully short and actually fairly easy.

Of course, the rule of three had to be completed. His English teacher just had to add that extra layer of insult to it all. Virgil had been called upon by the teacher, completely without warning. He had no time to prepare himself for it. He’d been unable to answer, instead just using a string of filler words and incomplete stutters. When his teacher had given him a look that just screamed disappointed and several other students glanced in his direction, Virgil felt like he might just break down into tears then and there with how bad he felt.

They were eventually let free. Virgil couldn’t decide whether being out first or lingering back to leave last would help him. He fretted about it for a moment but ended up just heading out in the pack of students as they all left. After getting out of the building, Virgil diverted away from the rest of his class and moved towards the opposite side of campus. He didn’t have another class for a couple of hours and knew he still had some assignments to work on, so he decided to attempt something akin to productivity in the campus library.

In the quiet building, Virgil realised that he just didn’t have the focus for anything remotely productive. He spent the two hours staring at the document, trying his hardest to read it and add to it in a meaningful way. All he ended up being able to do was add a couple hundred words, none of which he wasn’t happy with.

Then came his next class. With one of the worst surprises of the day.

“It is time for you all to split into groups to work on a short presentation about…” Virgil stopped listening after that. He knew practically no one in this class, everyone else seemed to have at least one friend in here and – to top it off – he was going to have to present something with these strangers?! His mind was racing once more. Then, he finally clocked back into the teacher’s instructions.

“So, these are the groups I’ve picked.” She clicked to the next slide to show all of their names grouped up.

Virgil almost succumbed to his panic right then and there. But, the rest of the lesson went by quickly. The group wasn’t so bad, they were just as awkward as him, and the presentations were thankfully short. He didn’t have to do much. By the time he left, Virgil was ready to grab a drink from the campus shop on his way out to the house.

The universe wasn’t done with him yet.

Just as Virgil got out of the building, his foot caught on the heel of his other and he went down onto the concrete. In front of all of his classmates. And the incoming students. And several faculty. And a visiting tour group. He hissed silently in pain as he stood up, thanking the couple of people who went to help him to his feet. His cheeks were burning with embarrassment. But then he tried to casually walk away.

A sharp sting of pain came from his knee and Virgil winced involuntarily. He moved to the side of the door, assuring everyone who asked him if he was okay that he was, and checked his knee. It was grazed and pretty badly too. It was bleeding a little, but it was nothing he hadn’t seen before.

“Fuck these jeans.” He muttered to himself, looking at the wound that was perfectly shaped to the hole in his jeans. After letting his body get accustomed to the pain, Virgil headed towards the shop. He prayed silently that any interaction he would have in there would go well, and it did. Except he was stopped multiple times before he got there by people asking if he was okay. Each time that question was asked, Virgil was closer and closer to losing it. Tears pricked the back of his eyes. This day could not get worse.

Then his drink practically exploded on him as he opened it.

Virgil thanked every deity he could that he was down away from campus and that no one was around. A couple of silent tears slid down his cheeks as everything that had been piling up all day was starting to weigh him down a little too much. He just wanted to go home, curl up in his blankets and sleep. Just sleep forever.

In order to do that, however, Virgil had to walk back to the house he shared with some other students. There was only one thing that was going to hold him together until he got there.

Virgil quickly pulled out his headphones, plugged them into his phone and scrolled to find his playlist. He’d always had this playlist, ever since he’d gotten this phone. It was what he needed for days like this, for days when everything in the world was too much and he just couldn’t handle it, for days when…

He tapped the playlist titled ‘When The Depression Hits’ with a wry smile at the title. The volume was turned up to its loudest and Virgil let the music wash over him. The slow introduction of the song ‘Justified’ had him breathing in deep and breathing out slow. Sure, it may be bad for him to listen to stuff like this so loud, but it was the only thing keeping him from breaking down right now. Ever so slowly, Virgil began his walk home.

Several songs passed by as he wandered the pavements he’d walked along so many times. All of them fit his mood so perfectly. Each one of them had at least some lyrics that resonated with his current state so fantastically, summed up everything he wanted to scream to the sky but he just couldn’t find the words for. Somehow, all of the loud guitar and piercing vocals calmed Virgil. It didn’t get rid of the voice screaming at him, it didn’t make him feel better about all the things that had happened. It just calmed him enough to keep him from crying openly.

He was just turning into the larger street that his veered off from when he paused at the edge of it to scroll for a particular song. When he found it, Virgil hesitated for a second.

‘What if they can…’ He thought to himself. Virgil physically shook his head to rid himself of the thought, ‘No, they can’t. It’s fine. Probably busy doing their own things…’

Virgil hit play before another thought could cross his mind and stop him.

“I’m wide awake and so alive. Ringing like a bell…”

The song began and Virgil immediately felt a ball of tension in his stomach. He continued on his journey, speeding up a little.

He knew this was stupid. To listen to a song that hurt him a little, that gave him thoughts that he was ashamed to admit he thought. Virgil knew they’d all be disappointed in him for it, but this song was his emotional release.

When the chorus hit, Virgil couldn’t help but mouth the words alongside the singer.

“I wanna feel a car crash. I wanna feel a capsize. I wanna feel a bomb drop, the earth stop, til I’m satisfied. I wanna feel a car crash. ‘Cause I’m dying on the inside. I wanna let go and know that, I’ll be alright. Alright.”

To Virgil, that was his emotional release. That was what he wanted to happen. He wanted all of those things. Just to know he could feel. That slight sting in his knee was reminding him that he was really a human, really alive. That he could feel things. That he wasn’t hollow and empty.

Virgil set the song to repeat itself continuously. He began singing quietly under his breath, each and every word piercing his soul and mind.

The view of the front door of his rented house had Virgil digging his phone out from his bag. He turned the music off and slid his headphones from their place over his ears. He dropped both of them into his bag while he dug around for his key.

It took a single step into the house for Virgil to be accosted by something just the tiniest bit shorter than himself. He’d not even been able to pull his key out of the lock.

After getting over the shock, Virgil looked down ever so slightly to see the soft brown hair of his housemate who’d buried his head against Virgil’s chest. “Uh, Patton? Could I… close the door?”

Patton pulled away with a soft pout and a concerned look in his furrowed eyebrows and large eyes behind even larger glasses. Virgil felt his every move being scrutinized. That wasn’t normally Patton’s thing. But it seemed to be just how today was going. Things that didn’t normally happen happening to Virgil just to make his day more and more uncomfortable and upsetting. His mind ran wild with assumptions and ideas that Virgil had somehow upset his usually smiley housemate.

However, all of that was dispersed once Virgil had shut the door and taken off his shoes – which had been rubbing at his heels too as their insides had been peeling off for months now, only adding to Virgil’s pain. Patton had immediately thrown himself back into Virgil, cuddling up close. Only then did Patton’s eyebrows return to their natural position and he relaxed.

Virgil was a little confused. He returned the hug and the two of them sat there on the stairs in the embrace for a moment. Virgil even closed his eyes, relaxing into the warmth of Patton’s hug.

All of his housemates had agreed that Patton’s arms and hugs had some kind of magical relaxing healing power – well, he and one other had agreed, their final housemate had then begun a lecture on the scientific benefits of physical comfort.

Speaking of, a familiar clearing of the throat had Virgil’s eyes snapping open to look up into yet more eyes behind glasses. He went to apologise, but the other cut him off.

“I think we are all expected upstairs, Patton.”

Patton immediately shot up, “Oh, Logan! Right! I forgot!” He then grasped Virgil’s arm and dragged him upstairs, the movement being a little difficult for the one being hauled along behind as he had to keep up with Patton’s fast pace.

Virgil followed his housemate through the hallway, expecting to be taken to Patton’s room. But, then they passed that door and went into Virgil’s.

The injured student was finally let go and he stood in the doorway for a moment, while Patton moved to take up a space on the end of his bed.

Virgil’s room had always had soft purple string lights surrounding his room and all of them were on currently, even though it was still light outside. The blinds had been pulled all the way down and candles had been lit, all of them sitting around his TV in a decorative manner. Speaking of, the TV in question was already showing a shot from his favourite movie, clearly having been paused where he last left it off. When Virgil looked back over to the bed, he noticed that it was absolutely covered in pillows and blankets and duvets and soft toys. Some of the blankets had even been pinned to the walls, creating a bit of a blanket fort vibe. One of the large plastic containers Virgil had used to move his stuff in was sat in between the edge of the bed and the chest of drawers where the TV sat, taking up most of that thin space. And, sat already in the corner, was his final housemate, who had a controller in his hand.

A gentle hand grasped his wrist and Virgil found himself being coaxed – by Patton – towards the bed. Virgil crawled up onto it a little clumsily, trying not to disturb the state of the pillows. Instinctively, his other housemate moved his arm, an obvious invitation for Virgil to rest himself against him, which he did cautiously. The raised arm came to rest around his back, holding Virgil securely with its strength.

Patton cuddled up on the other side of Virgil. He began to quietly ramble, dispersing the remaining silence in the room that wasn’t already gone by the whirring of Virgil’s game console that was whirring away below the TV, as the movie was rewinded back the beginning, “Isn’t this so cool? Roman came up with this and set it all up, saying we could all use a hangout night. I could only help by carrying all the blankets and pillows in so Ro could set them all up perfectly like this. We all know I’m terrible at all this careful stuff, so I turned on the lights and left to help Lo!”

Virgil shot a quick glance up at Roman, who had a very small prideful smile on his lips at Patton’s praise. He could see that Roman was seemingly biting at the inside of his mouth, a small thing he did to keep himself from talking when it was necessary. Virgil was about to call him out on it, but Patton continued.

“Oh, and Logan did all of the snacks! He thought about what we had, what we didn’t, what each of us likes! Then he went out and got all the stuff we needed and the drinks too! I helped carry them back, though. There’s so much and it’s all so good!”

Just then, Virgil noticed that Logan had slipped silently into the room and was placing down bowls of snacks. In opposition to Roman’s smile, Logan’s cheeks had flushed a soft pink at Patton’s kind words.

“And I suggested watching movies! I thought it would be nice, we haven’t done it in a while! We all picked a movie each and we decided to have your favourite one to start, because you weren’t able to be here to pick because of classes. I hope that’s okay, Virgil!”

Virgil had long since given up holding tears back. He buried his face in Roman’s chest to avoid showing that tears were rolling down his cheeks. Thankfully, none of them said anything about it. The only acknowledgement they gave were physical ones. Roman’s arm tightened for a moment, and Patton squeezed him tighter too; simple actions that let Virgil know they cared. Logan, after placing their respective cups and drinks down and taking a seat on the bed himself, reached past Patton and grabbed a hold of Virgil’s hand gently.

Roman started the movie and placed the controller down, freeing up a hand that was quickly grabbed by Patton. Virgil was surrounded by arms and warmth and love, and it broke him. He sobbed silently, his body quivering and shaking as he tried to not let out a sound.

He knew they’d have heard it when he was walking home. They were his soulmates after all. Of course, they’d hear his music. That was how it worked. It was how they’d all found each other in the first place.

Roman listening to the same section of a song from the musical he’d been cast in to get the lyrics down had led all three of them to seeing said musical and approaching Roman at the end of the show. Though, of course, life wasn’t going to be so easy on them all, and they just had to go and see it on different nights, confusing Roman. It was so unlikely to have multiple soulmates, yet it seemed like he did have them. He’d never met any of the three who’d approached him, so it was highly unlikely they would be playing a prank on him… He had a lot to think about.

Patton listened to children singing nursery rhymes frequently due to his volunteering at the university’s child care centre. This had Virgil passing by with the hopes he could maybe get an idea of who it could be. When he saw Logan, Roman and Patton exiting one day, all smiling in their own ways, Virgil had written it off and barely thought about it. He didn’t even consider that the three of them were soulmates, let alone his. But the three of them had found each other.

And then the trio had needed a fourth person to live in their house with them. They put out a call on the university facebook page and – by some miracle of self-confidence – Virgil had answered. Things had been easy going for the first few weeks; Virgil found out that the three of them were soulmates and he was the odd one out, nothing really new there for him. But then, the oddest thing happened when Virgil skipped out on watching a movie. He’d decided to try and drown out the sound of his housemates bonding with his own music. And then Roman had burst through his door and picked Virgil from his chair into a spinning, spine-crushing hug.

It took some explanation and several assurances that they were not confused nor playing a cruel and unusual joke on him, but Virgil had – eventually - accepted that he’d been rooming with his soulmates this whole time. And everything fell into place. Things became easier, calmer, nicer.

Virgil had opened up to them a little. He explained to them that he was sorry about the almost constant music from him but that it was a form of comfort, that he had playlists and songs for almost every mood. He’d shown them, and played, his entire depression playlist one day.

Back in the present, Virgil let out a snort of a laugh as he remembered that. Once again, his soulmates didn’t acknowledge it, knowing that if they did, it would only make things worse. They all knew to wait for Virgil to open up to them about it, if he ever wanted to. Virgil moved his face from Roman’s chest, turning so he could see the screen. He used his free hand to wipe away from of the tears before he relaxed fully. He was already feeling far better. It wasn’t a cure-all, everything wasn’t magically fine, but it was better and that was all Virgil could ask for.

---

My other stuff: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/myworks Mobile Accessible Masterlist: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/post/181954641376/fic-masterlist

General Tag List: @not-so-innocent-bi-sander @didsomeonesayprince @llamaly @justanotherpurplebutterfly  @iaminmultiplefandoms @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @lowkeyvirgilobsessed @louisthewarlock @fangsandrainbows @xxladystarlightxx @sleepyssnail @ao-koshka @notalwaysthevillian @pumpkinminette @doces-e--tuga @coloursintheblur @safesandersides

[hotforharrison]

His Service ch 4: It’s the destination, not the journey

Chapter 3 <-- His Service Masterlist --> Chapter 5

Pairing: Tom Holland/Reader, eventual Harrison Osterfield/Reader

Summary: A series of memories of memories relating to the love of your life, Tom, and his service in the Army.

Word Count: 3,023

Warnings: Language and smut, my usual go-tos.

A/N: Longer than usual chapter! Poor reader! 

You walked up to the ticket counter at the airport, wheeling your suitcase behind you, giving her your ID. “I’m heading to the Lawton Fort Sill airport.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, your connecting flight to Dallas Fort Worth has been canceled due to the weather. Would you like to take a later flight or receive a full refund?” the ticket agent told you.

“How much later?” you asked. “My boyfriend is graduating from basic training, and Family Day starts tomorrow morning.”

“We’re pretty booked up right now. Looks like the earliest open seat I have is at 11:30am, with a connecting flight to Lawton Fort Sill at 6:00pm, arriving at 8:40pm,” she said.

“I’d miss the entire Family Day!” You felt tears burning hot in your eyes. “Fine, though. I’ll take it. Since it was the weather, I take it there’s no free hotel room?”

She booked your new flight. “No, there’s not. I’m sorry again, ma’am.”

“It’s okay. Sometimes stuff happens,” you responded, with a shrug, before you turned around and headed back to the airport entrance.

Your ride was long gone already. You’d chosen an airport a few hours away from home to save significantly on your plane tickets, which was now pointless because you were going to have to pay for an extra hotel room for the night.

No one from London was able to make the trip for his graduation, so Tom was going to be alone for Family Day now. Lovely.

You used your phone to find a last minute hotel room near the airport and get an Uber to take there. Since that was done, you opened your messenger app to text Tom.

You: Not sure when you’ll have your phone back, but my flight got canceled, and they weren’t able to get me on a flight until tomorrow afternoon. I won’t be getting in until tomorrow night. I’m so sorry I’ll be missing Family Day, but I should hopefully be there for graduation.

With a heavy sigh, you went to wait for your Uber.

----

The hotel you went to was overbooked. In fact, all the hotels within a reasonable price range in the area were booked up due to the flight cancellations.

You spent over two hours trying to find somewhere to stay so you could be a functional human being for traveling the next day.

It left you over half an hour away from the airport in a motel that had seen better days, and cost entirely too much for what it was, but at least it was something.

You settled down in your room, ready to take a shower and head to bed.

After being used so much, your phone really needed to be charged, but you quickly discovered that you’d only packed the USB cable half of your charger.

You were so exhausted that you decided to just take a shower and set the alarm clock in the room for early enough that you could go buy another power adapter at the nearest store.

Tom probably wouldn’t get his phone back that early, so you had plenty of time to charge yours for when he got in touch with you.

The bed was uncomfortable, but you eventually drifted off to sleep.

----

Daylight was streaming through the edges of the curtains when you woke up, and you immediately panicked.

It was after 11am, and you weren’t even out of bed. Your flight was supposed to take off in about half an hour. Your hotel was over half an hour away. That flight was not going to happen.

You checked the alarm clock and found you’d set the alarm for 6PM instead of 6AM.

Even though you were missing that flight, you still hurried to check out of the motel so you could head to the airport via a taxi you called from your room, since your phone was dead.

The taxi was late, and you didn’t get to the airport until almost 1pm. Then, you waited in line to go to the ticket counter once again.

“I’m late for my flight, which was entirely my fault, and I’d like to book a new one to Lawton Fort Sill, as soon as possible,” you said.

“I can get you to Dallas Fort Worth today, but you’d be on stand-by for the last two flights to Lawton Fort Sill,” the ticket agent replied.

“Thank you. I’ll do that,” you told him, handing over your card to pay for another plane ticket and to check your bag. It would be worth it to see Tom again.

You had slightly over two hours before your flight took off. At least there would be a shop in the airport to buy a new power adapter after you got through security, and somewhere to plug it in.

Security was relatively painless, since you hadn’t brought much with you that wasn’t in your checked bag.

Before you headed to your gate, you quickly walked around trying to find a shop that might have a power adapter, eventually finding one with a drastically overpriced charger for your phone.

Your gate had some power outlets, and you plugged your phone in to charge, powering it on as soon as you could.

You had unread messages from Tom.

Tom: It’s not your fault the flight was canceled, sweetheart. I have my phone back for a bit now, so I’m going to call.

Tom: Is everything alright? It went straight to voicemail. Are you on an earlier flight?

Tom: Well, Family Day is starting soon, and we have to give our phones back. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. I can’t wait to be with you again, love.

For the second time, you’d missed talking to him. You wanted to curl up in a ball and cry again, like you had when you missed his phone call before, but you settled for just the crying part. You’d pull yourself back together before your flight to Dallas.

----

Your flight to Dallas was long, but you made your way to the gate for the flight to Lawton Fort Sill. Both of them were booked up, but you did get on a morning flight. Unless the flight defied the laws of physics, you were going to miss the ceremony, but you'd definitely get to see him for his 36 hour pass off base after that. You couldn’t wait.

You’d already talk to the hotel you booked to let them know you still intended to stay for the next two nights, and that you wanted them to give a keycard to Tom if he showed up before you did.

You pulled out your phone to text Tom to let him know.

You: I’m so sorry I missed your call again. Fuck the universe right now. This trip so far has been a complete shitshow. I’ll tell you all about it later. I won’t be at the airport until early tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll head straight to the hotel. I’m attaching the confirmation page with all the booking info, in case you get there before I do. I already called and told them you might be there first. Hopefully, they made a note of it somewhere.

You put on your headphones and decided to watch some YouTube videos to decompress, since you were spending the night in the airport at the terminal.

You’d already set a dozen different alarms. Oversleeping was not going to be an issue again.

-----

You thought the flight to Dallas had been long, but the flight to Lawton was infinitely longer, the seconds until you would get to see Tom again passing by slower than molasses.

Even though you’d been up for almost 24 hours, sleep wasn’t going to happen when you were so keyed up. You wouldn’t be able to relax until you were in Tom’s arms again.

You did everything you could to help pass the time. Reading took too much focus. You hated every single song that came up on shuffle on your mp3 player. You’d turned off your phone to preserve battery life, paranoid another incident would happen with your phone dying at the worst possible time.

“I hate to be nosy, but are you okay?” the woman seated next to you asked.

“Yeah, I’m just seeing my boyfriend for the first time in a couple months. We haven’t even been able to talk on the phone. He’s graduating from basic training this morning,” you explained.

“I figured as much. I’ve been there and done that. My husband’s been in for over 9 years now. I’d recommend checking out online groups for military girlfriends and wives for support. I’m part of some on Facebook, and it’s been really helpful, especially during deployments.”

“Thank you for the advice. I’ll keep that in mind,” you told her.

“You look like you could use a distraction. So, tell me about your boyfriend,” she said.

“Well, his name is Tom,” you started.

----

The flight landed smoothly, and you turned on your phone as soon as the flight attendant said it was allowed.

You’d found a new friend in the Army wife seated next to you, Hannah, and you added each other on Facebook.

“Have fun seeing Tom, honey,” she told you as you exited the plane.

“I definitely will. Thank you for earlier,” you said.

She pulled you into a hug. “Anytime. Don’t hesitate to message me if you want to talk.”

“I won’t,” you agreed as you parted ways and went to baggage claim to grab your suitcase.

Tom hadn’t messaged you again yet.

You headed to the hotel, fidgeting the entire ride there. It wouldn’t be long now.

After you checked in and got your key card, you headed up to the room, annoyed at how slow the elevator seemed to be moving.

Ideally, you’d be able to take a shower before he arrived and make yourself look cute.

You opened the door and walked in, heading straight for the shower.

The bathroom door opened, and you immediately startled.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I think they gave me a room that was already taken. I’ll go back to the front desk now,” you babbled as you grabbed your suitcase.

“Darling, it’s me. I wanted to surprise you,” Tom said he as he stepped into the room.

“Tom!” you cried out, abandoning your suitcase and launching yourself into his arms. “I’ve missed you so much.”

His arms wrapped around you. “Me too.”

You knew how tightly you were clinging to him was probably uncomfortable, but you couldn’t bring yourself to stop.

He pulled away slightly and looked at your face with concern, thumb coming up to wipe away your tears. “Are you alright?”

“Overwhelmed and happy tears. I haven’t slept in over 24 hours, and I’m kind of all over the place, too,” you admitted.

“Oh, sweetheart.” He moved to kiss you, but you stopped him.

“Let me brush my teeth and take a shower first?” you requested.

He stroked your cheek instead of kissing you. “Of course. Do you mind if I join you?”

You leaned into his touch. “Not at all. Want to turn on the shower to warm up while I brush my teeth?”

“Sure.” He was quick to shed his clothes and head into the bathroom while you got your toothbrush, toothpaste, and shower supplies out of your suitcase.

The shower turned on before you brushed your teeth, and you were as quick as possible while still being thorough.

Your clothes joined his on the floor, and you found that he’d already gotten in and was cleaning himself off.

You slipped in next to him, immediately noticing the water pressure wasn’t the best, and there wasn’t a ton of space for two people. It was still workable, though.

Now that you could see him without a hat, the first thing you noticed was his new buzzcut. As much as you’d loved his gorgeous curls, he definitely still looked good, as devastatingly sexy as he always was, just a little different.

You ran your fingers lightly over his head, enjoying the feel of the short hair on your fingertips. Your thoughts wandered to what it would feel like against your thighs. Knowing Tom, you’d find that out soon enough.

The second thing you noticed was that he was leaner and more muscular than he had been. He put in time at the gym before he enlisted, but his workouts weren’t nearly as intense as basic training would be.

“Damn, you look really good, babe,” you told him, sincerely. “I was a little nervous it would take some getting used to, but I love it.”

He smiled brightly. “I was a bit worried, too, that you wouldn’t like my new look. I do plan on growing my hair out some, though. There’s plenty of regulation haircuts with a little more length.”

“It’s up to you. I like you fine just the way you are,” you promised.

He kissed you again, longer and wetter, and slid his hand down your body.

You laughed softly. “Let me get clean before we get dirty.”

“Of course, love. I’ll help,” he offered, reaching down to grab your shampoo, knowing how much you loved when he washed your hair.

You got under the spray until your hair and body were wet, then turned around.

His fingers worked the shampoo into your hair, slowly and thoroughly massaging your scalp, just the way you liked.

You clenched your thighs together. His touch was intensifying the arousal pulsing insistently between your legs. You slipped your hand between your legs.

He noticed and pushed it away. “I know, darling, I know. After you’re clean, I’m going to make you cum so hard you won’t remember what century it is, and then I’ll do it again, and again, and again.”

You whimpered, and were very grateful that he sped up the process of bathing you. The last place he cleaned was between your thighs, quick but thorough, and just left you wanting even more.

“Alright, we’re done.” He turned off the shower. “Just need to get dried off, and then I’ll take such good care of you.”

Instead of letting him dry you off like you normally would, you snatched the towel from him. You were still a little damp when you were done toweling yourself off and may have raced to the bed, but he didn’t say anything.

You plopped down with your legs spread, waiting for him to move between them.

He didn’t hesitate, positioning your legs over his shoulders. His tongue licked a broad stripe from your entrance to your clit. He lapped at your clit, pushing two slender fingers into you and pumping them in and out.

His buzzcut tickled a bit against your thighs, but you found that you liked it, a new sensation to add to the others.

“More,” you begged, squirming against his face.

He worked you faster with his tongue and pressed a third finger in next to the other two.

That was exactly what you needed, and you moaned, loud and long. Your hands scrambled to find something to do as you grew closer to your first climax, since the curls you usually gripped were gone.

His free hand reached up to grab yours, intertwining his fingers with yours.

You squeezed his hand, and moved the other hand onto the bedspread below you, finding that was enough.

“God, Tom, I’m so close. Please,” you groaned.

He knew exactly what to do, sucking your clit into his mouth and working his tongue over it just the way you liked.

Your orgasm hit you hard, sparks of pleasure igniting throughout your body. He didn’t stop, and neither did your orgasm. Eventually you disconnected from awareness, feeling like you were floating in a sea of fireworks.

“Sweetheart?” you heard Tom ask from far away.

“Tom?” you asked, your voice sounding weird in your head.

“Are you alright? I kind of lost you there for a minute,” he said, concerned and closer.

You opened your eyes, to see him at face level instead of between your thighs. “Jesus, I’ve never cum like that before.”

He softly laughed. “I broke you.”

You grinned. “You did, but it was amazing. You’re an orgasm wizard. But now, it’s your turn.”

“I’ll need a minute. Seeing, and hearing, and feeling you like that already got me off,” he admitted, sheepishly.

“That’s really hot. Also, this is your side of the bed,” you teased.

He grinned. “Worth it.”

Now that you were relaxed in your post-orgasmic bliss, you found yourself yawning.

It was contagious, Tom yawning louder and longer than you had. “Fuck, I’m knackered. We’ve both been up for a long time.”

“Yeah. I don’t want to miss out on time together, though,” you complained.

“We still have.” He glanced over at the alarm clock. “Over 32 hours. I’m not going to be awake for the next 32 hours when I have to head to my next duty station right after I get back. You’re also not staying awake for four days straight.”

“I guess you’re right,” you conceded, sighing.

“I’m always right,” he said, playfully.

You laughed. “Hardly, but I’ll give you this time.”

Both of you moved to get under the covers, and you moved into his arms, where you belonged.

“I missed you so fucking much,” he told you softly. “Missed this. Thought about you all the time, especially when it was rough. Your letters were everything during that 9 weeks of hell. Sorry I didn’t write back more.”

You pressed a kiss to the nearest skin you could reach, his chest. “Don’t be. I understand. I just wish there was more I could have done to help. Really, it was the least I could do for you. God, I love you.”

“I love you, too, darling. So much. I wish we had more time together, but we’ll make the most of what we do have,” he promised. “Now, sleep. I can tell how exhausted you are.”

You closed your eyes and listened to his heartbeat against your ear, quickly drifting off to the familiar rhythm.

tag list: @spooky-haz @farfromhaz @eeyore101247 @adayasgeorgia @moorehollandplz @softnessparker @dasexydevitt13 @imagine-lovebug @robbinholland @strang-ersclub @hollandisapuppy @goldenpeaxh @legendsofwholock @superheroesaremytea @tomblrholland @niiight-dreamerrrr @spidermanffh3000 @devildisguiseasangel @theyy-lovemo @spidergiirl @jinx4karma @tinycertain

[monicaexol]

EXO Reactions

~ Stay with Me ~

Minseok (Xiumin)

He stares out his window, eyes chasing the small figures that ran in and out of the building. A raindrop trails down the glass and falls into the depth of air that lurked below the windowsill. Minseok sighs, thoughts that perhaps this relationship was taking a toll for the worst resurfaced in his mind.

You were out much later than usual, for longer than usual, with people who you usually never hung out around. But this unusual behaviour of yours became so repetitive that it almost became... usual. The front door clicks open, you shuffle inside, remving your raincoat and quickly closing the door behind you.

You hoped he would understand that it wasn’t a choice, you weren’t choosing your work over him at all. You walk into the kitchen, finding Minseok seated on the dining table with his head resting on it. ‘He fell asleep waiting for me.’ As soon as you came near, he lifts his head, eyes glimmering in peace that you were finally home.

Minseok stands, hand instantly moving to cup around your cheek. “You’ve been working for too long, Y/N-ah. You need to relax, let your body rest. Let me take care of you, stay with me.”

Junmyeon (Suho)

Junmyeon presses a hand against your forehead, his own creases with worry when he notices just how heated you are. “You have a fever, Y/N-ah. What did we say about working over time?” You huff, crossing your arms as if you held any sort of reasonable protest. He sighs and pulls the blanket further up till it tucked right below your chin.

“I’m going to get a hot towel, don’t you dare move, Missy.” Junmyeon was rather homely, though many would never see this side of him. Outdoors, he was formal. With his friends, he was casual. But with you, he was all things honey and gold. Junmyeon rushes back into your bedroom, a bowl of warm water in one hand and a clean towel in the other.

He sits on the seat next to your bed, eyes suddenly glinting from the spotlight of the lamp next to him. His nimble fingers carefully place the dampened towel onto your forehead, “You make me worry...” he mumbles, licking his lips once, “I want you to be healthy.”

You nod your head, an apologetic smile tugging at your lips. Junmyeon wasn’t always this soft, seeing this side of him brought a strange tingle of warmth to your heart. Perhaps you should fall ill move often. “And until I can see that you’re better, you will not be going to work. Just, stay with me.”

Yixing (Lay)

The doorbell rings, Yixing jumps to his feet, eyes shining as if emitting all the rays of the sun. He opens the door, only to be greeted with a fairly tired and sleepy looking Y/N. “Babe...” he mumbles while you step inside wordlessly and put your shoes away. “Honey, I made us some breakfast.”

You nod your head, giving him a brief thumbs up before rushing into the bathroom. Yixing knows how hard it is to work night shifts, spending the whole time staying awake. Sometimes you weren’t even given a break and it irked him on how dangerous it was for your health.

He jogs to the kitchen, and starts plating the French toasts he made, and waited at the dining table for you. Though almost twenty-five minutes later, he wondered if you were just taking an extremely stretched bath or if something had happened. Yixing rushes to his feet, upon reaching the bathroom door, he knocks thrice.

“Y/N, you okay honey?” Nothing. The bedroom door was slightly open, so he shuffles inside, only to find your body curled on top of the bed. Yixing smiles, and seats himself next to you. He notices your under eye bags, hollow cheeks, he sighs, “I’m not going to let you work night shifts again, you’ll stay with me.”

Baekhyun

Morning light sneaks into your bedroom, passing through your drawn curtains and landing gently on your husband’s face. Baekhyun turns on his side, closed eyes suddenly moving. He stretches out his hand, trying to find the curve of your waist so he could pull you closer. Though after a minute of waving his hand around, he opens his eyes, only to realise that you weren’t home yet.

“Aish, what time is it?” Baekhyun sits up and just as he does, the front door opens. A soft smile pulls at his lips. You open your umbrella and place it on the balcony, allowing the rain water to trickle away. Moments later, a pair of warm arms wrap easily around your waist, “Y/N-ah.” Baekhyun’s breath scans your cheek as he mumbles, perhaps he was still sleepy.

You chuckle and try to turn around, but he doesn’t let go. And just like that, steady in his arms, he lifts your feet off the ground and carries you inside. “Baek” you whine playfully, and he wrigggles his eyebrows to tease you. “Sit here,” He places you on the couch and jogs into the kitchen.

After a minute or so, he reappears with two mugs of hot chocolate and toast, “I added extra marshmallows for you.” Taking a sip, he shows you his chocolate moustache and you felt your heart swell with the sugar overdose. “See how fun I am?” You nod in agreement, “Don’t work too much, stay with me.”

Jongdae (Chen)

“I’ll be okay, Dae.” He mumbles, mimicking your voice from yesterday evening. “It’s only one more night shift.” He copies, reciting your words while lying on bed and pretending to twirl his hair in his fingers like you would. He sits up suddenly, ‘She just never listens does she?’ Jongdae has been worried.

After noticing how dark your under eye bags have gotten and even how much weight you have lost, it stressed him. Knowing you were awake all night meant that he couldn’t fall asleep either. What time was it now? 6am? He reaches to grab his phone from his bedside table, it was 8am. You’d be home soon.

So he stands and runs into the kitchen, although he wasn’t much of a chef, he thought he could prepare something... anything, so that you wouldn’t have to. “I think this looks right?” Jongdae wonders to himself as he glances down at his plate, your plate, filled with a failed attempt of cooked eggs and pancakes.

So when the front door brushed open, he mentally cursed himself and planned on ordering something instead. “Hey babe.” You smile, allowing your purse to drop from your shoulder. He walks over and rubs his hands along your shoulders and back, giving you a quick massage. “I-erm, I tried making breakfast. But you don’t have to eat it... we’ll order something. For this week, eat, sleep and stay with me.”

Chanyeol

It had been a few days since Chanyeol last saw you, and he missed everything. He missed seeing your bed hair in the mornings, he missed hearing your bathroom singing, he missed watching your soft smile. It was hard since you worked night shifts, while he worked days. Chanyeol would see you arrive home and crash into your bed, only to wake up a couple of hours before you had to leave again.

He groans, wondering if there was any way he could convince you to stop working altogether. There was honestly no need for the both of you to work, he made more than enough money on his own. A light bulb flickers over Chanyeol’s head, an idea flashing into mind.

It was around four more hours till you needed to wake up, so Chanyeol decided it was best if you simply didn’t wake up on time. After sneaking into your shared bedroom, he finds your alarm clock. Twisting the keys carefully, he manages to set your alarm clock behind by four hours, meaning you’d never wake up on time.

“Mr Park Chanyeol, may I know what you are doing?” Chanyeol squeezes his eyes shut, praying that you were still somewhat sleepy, “I was just checking the time.” He lies, flashing his teeth to fake a smile. You narrow your eyes at him, a smirk threatening to tug at your lips. He lets out an exasperated sigh, “Fine, I was tampering with your alarm clock. I just don’t want you to leave. Please Y/N, stay with me.”

Kyungsoo (D.O)

Kyungsoo walks into your bedroom and places a tray on your bedside table. Gently, he brushes away hair from the perimeter of your face, “Ah, there she is. Good morning sunshine.” You lips curl upwards, there was nothing more beautiful than seeing Kyungsoo’s soft smile first thing in the morning.

He walks over to the window, drawing the curtains to one side till the light bounced off his wavy hair. “You have a fever, you know.” You humm, eyes wondering over to the tray next to you. Coffee, croissants and chocolate. “I can’t believe how much you over work yourself, Y/N.” Ah, serious Kyungsoo was in mode now.

You nod obediently while he reached to take a croissant, he tears off a piece and presses it to your lips, “You shouldn’t be working so much.” You open your mouth, allowing the soft delicacy to blend inside. He watches you, a warm smile growing on his face, but then he looks to the ground, “I called in to your hospital, you’re not going to work tomorrow.”

Kyungsoo checks his phone immediately, using it as a distraction from your shocked face, “But Soo I-“ He sighs deeply, hand raising to cup around your cheek, doe eyes suddenly numb with worry. “You are not going anywhere until you feel better. And even when you are, you will not be over working yourself. I’ll make sure you feel better, so stay with me.”

Jongin (Kai)

You used to be able to do this, although recently it was starting to feel a whole lot more difficult. Jongin nudges you and you jolt in your seat, “Y/N, you’re missing the best part!” You blink your eyes rapidly while Jongin continues stuffing popcorn into his mouth. He glances at you through his peripheral vision every now and then.

Jongin wasn’t dumb, he knew you were falling asleep because you were tired. He understood it wasn’t on purpose. And he was aware that you worked during the night so that in the day, you could focus on your art. That is why he made you come on so many dates with him, so that he could bore you and you’d finally allow your body the rest of deserves.

He pulls the blanket further up your body, placing a cushion on the other side of your head in case you turned your neck. Jongin found it adorable, the way your nose would scrunch as you exhaled a soft snore. He gives it a little bop, chuckling quietly to himself when you snored a little too loudly.

You were mumbling in your sleep, something to do with sweets. Jongin switches off the tv, and rests his head back on the couch till he could count every lash on your eyes. “I want to always be with you like this,” he mumbles, tucking your hair behind your ear, “I’ll take care of you day and night. Stay with me.”

Sehun

“You work during the night?” You nod your head and Sehun parts his lips, as if wanting to ask another question, but his voice dies in the air and you both sit in an agreed silence. A couple of minutes later, he pipes up again, “Have you every fallen asleep during work?” You laugh, telling him about the time you found a YouTube video of typing sounds and played it out loud so your boss thought you were working, when really you were sleeping.

It was slightly windy, the moon was being pushed into a sea of stars, air slightly cooler than usual. You end up at your front door, moonlight trickling across Sehun’s features. “Thanks for the date.” You say, tiptoeing to place a soft kiss on his cheek. His ears redden and you laugh teasingly, as you are about to enter, he asks you a question, so softly that if it wasn’t so close you might have mistaken it for the wind.

“Are you working tonight?” You shake your head, his eyebrows lower in relief. “Good, I don’t want you to work too hard.” He ruffles your hair, and you find yourself asking him if he wanted to come inside. Minutes later, you found yourselves seated on your couch, cups of hot chocolate and a Sherlock Holmes episode playing.

“Y/N,” You glance to your side, a rather warm looking Sehun glances back, “is there any way you can stop working night shifts?” You swallow the last of your drink, “Yeah, why?” Sehun scoots a little closer, enough to leave a sensible gap, but enough so you could smell the chocolate in his breath, “Because I don’t want my girlfriend to be working when all I want is for her to stay with me.”

A/N: Please take care of yourselves my angels, I want you all to be eating and sleeping well! ❤️

[bugheadspoby]

We're both crazy. (pt. 2 of Obsessed with my Stalker)

*Frequent changes of POVS*

29th August

Forsythe Pendelton Jones Jr. got arrested for Jason Blossom’s murder and the whole town sighed in relief except for the girl next door. She haven’t slept a wink since the news broke out. Who can possibly plant the murder weapon in his locker? and where did they find it? She buried them in the ground, this was one of the few things she learned from her favorite mystery series but the questions kept on spiraling in her mind. Was it her stalker? She haven’t received a note since that discovery. What could possibly be cooking up for her?

Jughead saw her tension visibly. He knew she haven’t slept in days and he didn’t either because he was busy observing her through the red head’s window and he had all the answers she craved but he wanted to feel the tension she felt inside her because he was crazy for when she contracts her little self and her body tenses up, lost in thoughts, trying to make things right by committing more sins. They both were equally crazy and psychopathic, both about each other and the little world of sins they created in disguise. The summer camp in school she joined for extra credit was finally over, which meant no more locker notes for a few weeks but her window was still open for them and she anxiously waited for them to come. She craved answers and only from him. On the other hand he loved watching her loose her mind over the arrest of his father. He was a creep and she was equally sinful, this is what made them a perfect power couple in Jughead’s mind. — 6AM in the morning she woke up by the sound of alarm clock and with her I woke up too because the sound was loud enough to wake someone who is a normal human being and not Archie. She stretched and yawned and then got up from her bed making her way to the semi closed blinds of her window and there it was! an answer I bestowed her. She picked it up and read it and suddenly she smiled creepily and her body breathed. Her shoulders relaxed and a soothing expression covered her face. It was just like the expression of my dreams when I finally let her come and it is oh so good. Oh how I love it when she looks like this but I love it even more when she is angry and tensed, that’s just hot on a different level.

“I got you covered babygirl, now you owe me”

She threw the paper away and laid down again on the bed facing the roof and I could perfectly see her curves, with her chest heaving up and down. My inner pervert was screaming at the sight of her never ending legs and the tight shorts that barely covered her ass was making me hard again. The cow named Archie shifted in his bed just when I was about to reach for my little one. He knows perfectly how to ruin a moment and he never have to put any effort, he just exists and boom! it’s ruined. He woke up and saw me at the window and without any suspicion, which requires a brain, he just greeted and walked into the bathroom. I turned around and she was gone too. I guess my little one has to wait more. I sighed and picked up my bag and rushed to the school where all the B&G staff was having a meeting, well it was just me and Kevin until I got to the office and to my surprise I found someone special waiting, in a perfect pink tank top and tight jeans that blew me away the moment I saw them on her long legs.

“Betty Cooper? What are you doing in the Blue and Gold staff meeting?” I asked, trying not to stare at her legs. “Jughead! Actually Kev called me here but he had to cancel. Today is my first day at the Blue and Gold” she said with a smile. “You’re-what?” I asked surprisingly. The one thing I was good at was writing and now she came here too to destroy me with her sexy little freaky self. How am I supposed to do stuff when she is literally sex on legs and constantly forcing me to push her down on Kevin’s nice little coffee table and give her a feeling she will never forget. “Yeah..I know you don’t like working with other students but I really need this for some extra credit and also to take my mind off of some things too” —

“Betty Cooper? What are you doing in the Blue and Gold staff meeting?” I heard his voice and a current ran in my body. An electric shock that turned me on instantly. God! why does he have that effect on me? Why him? Why a loner, dangerous Serpent King who probably cuts people down in his free time turns me on so bad and I feel things that I never even knew existed within me. This is unfair on so many levels but BETTY! you gotta stay focused, come to the point real quick. “Jughead! Actually Kev called me here but he had to cancel. Today is my first day at the Blue and Gold” I said awkwardly and he just looked at me with his signature smirk smile and the next thing I know was that I was wet downstairs. Can’t he feel the tension in the air? Can’t he just take me right there on Kev’s table? This is so bullshit. “You’re-what?” he asked surprisingly. “Yeah..I know you don’t like working with other students but I really need this for some extra credit and also to take my mind off of some things too” I blurted and regreted instantly. TOO MUCH INFORMATION FOR SOMEONE WHO IS PROBABLY YOUR STALKER BETTY! my mind yelled at me and he just kept on looking at me with creepy eyes. “What’s wrong Betty?” he asked in a dead serious tone and his voice turned cold. “Nothing just..typical family drama” I said fidgeting with my fingers. “I-Its fine Betts! You’re welcome to join!” he said after an interval and I smiled at him. “oh and theres this article that I’m working on and I was hoping Kevin will edit it but since hes M.I.A and you are newly recruited..you have to do it for me!” he commanded handing me a file and I was dying to say YES SIR but that would be awkward. “Yeah I will edit it till tomorrow” “Oh actually no! I want it in the next paper so tonight is the deadline” his expressions changed from soft to I don’t know what but he definitely had some mischief in his mind being all bossy. “Oh-um okay I will just drop it by then. Where will you be at night?” OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW BETTY! DUH. “Whyte Wyrm!” he spurted and my veins sparked. “Wh-wyrm? You know I can’t be there Jug!” “Why the hell not?” he asked. “Last time I was there at your crowning some freak threatened me because I’m a damn northsider” I said going down the awful memory lane. “Tall Boy? he won’t be a problem this time and.. since my dad..” he said and then stopped in between looking at the ground and I felt utter guiltiness in my veins. I was the damn reason his father was behind bars for something I did and my crazy stalker covered it up for me by sending the father of the boy I’m nuts for, to jail! How fortunate I am! “He’s not..around much since then” he completed. “Oh..I’m sorry Jug!” Okay Betty! time to get on point. Remember why you’re here in the first place. I took his hand and he looked up to me. “How are you holding up?” Perfect! I give perfect fake gestures of sympathy despite of the fact that I was having multiple wars inside my head, drowning in guilt and angry about my stalker but still.. looking at him, the feeling was getting stronger and I was two steps closer to my next mistake. He always makes me do things that my fake perfect self would never even think about. I was dangerous and it was all because of him and God knows what kind of drastic effect he has on me. “I’m okay..I guess” he said “he was never a good father or a good husband and he actually found his place.. Where a criminal like him belongs.. He’ll be at peace now for the rest of his life” once again my mind shouted at me. How about you use him to get to that skank? Would that be selfish? Who cares? I’m doing it. It’s time to play his dirty game my way. You’re doing good Betty just keep going. — “Last time I was there at your crowning some freak threatened me because I’m a damn northsider” she blurted. I remember that day clearly. She was standing far off with the Lodge bitch and I gifted Fangs a punch for flirting with Betty. Sweet Pea’s father the oldest living serpent scumbag gave me the crown and she stood there smiling as I wore it. She looked like a walking sex in the blue satin shirt and tight pink skirt with her hair down. I was so happy looking at her when my father brought a pink haired bitch in front of me and pronounced her my Queen without even asking what or who I want. The next day she was found dead in her trailer.

“Tall Boy? he won’t be a problem this time and.. since my dad..” I stopped in between to observe her reaction. I could see her guilt through her eyes and I was loving it. If only she knew what effect she has on me. She makes me go all crazy but what I hate the most is that I’ve had enough of suffering the madness all alone. I want her in it too. I want her to feel the same things I’ve felt. “He’s not..around much since then” I completed.

He’s not around because of me and nobody knows what went down in the wyrm the night Tall Boy came out to me about my plans and her crimes.

*flashback*

“I know what you’re doing boy” he shouted at me while a cigarette hung in between my lips. “You can’t pin all this on your father! You bastard!” “Easy Tall Boy. You don’t wanna mess with the king!” I smirked. “He is the one who made you King and you’re doing this bullshit to him?! To your father?” he shouted again. “Yeah I know..He is the one who dragged me in the serpents, he is the reason my mom left me and he is the damn reason JB died so yeah he deserves it!” I shouted back. “And you can’t possibly do anything to change my mind because THAT TIP has already been sent to the sheriff” I said and turned around until he spoke again. “I know who killed that Blossom boy and I know you’re doing this for that Cooper bitch” he spurted as my eyes turned red in anger. “I know she is the one who poisoned my niece and then her bitch mother published it as an Overdose of Jingle Jangle in her newspaper” I punched him before he could say more. Blood splattered from his face as he tried to maintain his balance. “Don’t you fucking dare disrespect your queen Tall Boy” I said and walked away trying to control my anger and planning to get rid of him. And the next day he was missing.

“I’ll see you tonight Betty!” I said patting her back and leaving the room before I do something stupid because boy Archie is having a deep influence on me nowadays. Half of my days pass by thinking about Betty and her legs and the other half goes thinking that how can a man be possibly as brainless as Archie is. I guess I’ll never know.

After leaving school I went straight to Tall Boy just to make sure he’s still alive for a fresh punch because that bastard doesn't even deserve to die this soon after disrespecting Betty. I turned on the lights of the abandoned trailer and saw him awake, still struggling to let himself out of the chains I tied him with. “Are you ready for your final punishment Tall Boy? Do you have any last wish?” I smirked. “You’re not gonna get away with this!” he said. “Oh come on Tall Boy! last time I was here you were pleading for your life. Why this change all of a sudden?” “You will pay! Just wait and watch! she’ll slit your throat the way she did to the Blossom boy and then send your chopped up body to the serpents” “You have no idea what I’ll do to her once I’ll get her Tall Boy! She’s gonna be my perfect queen” I whispered. “But too bad you’re not gonna be there to see it when we’ll have the ceremony after the night I mark her” I laughed and took out my pocket knife. “Say goodbye to the world you worthless snake” “Before you kill me! Remember that JellyBean died because of you! not because of FP” he blurted as my eyes turned red once again and I slit his throat twice just to make sure that bearded bitch dies painfully and left not knowing why my eyes were raining all of a sudden. All the way back to Archie’s home I couldn't stop thinking about what he said but to distract myself I tried thinking about the night I’ll get my hands on her. Oh Betty! You have no idea..I will woo you in a dark place but unlike him you’ll be lying in my bed instead of a grave and screaming my name instead of screaming for mercy. — I was pretty nervous while getting ready for the Wyrm with the intention of getting laid tonight and I’m not complaining when it comes to the boy of my sinister dreams..I’ll let him do anything he wants to do to me even if its on a snooker table in the Wyrm.. What a fantasy Betty! I want everything to be perfect. I want to look irresistible and I want to bring his inner perv out and then I’ll make him go even more crazier.

I did the right thing! Toni was never the right one for Jughead and he surely doesn't know what I did to her little faux pink bitch. 

I was, I am and I will be the perfect one for him no matter what happens. He needs a woman like me who is deadly, sinful and head over heels in love with him, drowning in his lust and craving him since the day she found out that he likes to see her naked. He is such a beautiful emerald eyed, raven haired walking sin that with every look he makes me want to rip off that snake skin from his body and cherish him by tasting every inch of him.

Oh Juggy! I’ve committed so many sins for you and now I’m gonna take what’s rightfully mine. YOU. TONIGHT!

[mirai-raine35]

Roleplay Example 1

Almost literally 15 minutes after Tifa left to his first delivery is when Cloud just sorta woke up naturally; he is used to waking up early unless for some reason he is battle worn or not feeling well. He'd noticed that his alarms hadn't gone off, some deliveries are expected to be on time of specific times not just an nilly willy sometime during the day. Blinked up at his ceiling he rolled over to reach for his clock, blurrily checking it. He'd set it to get him up at 6am and it's almost 6:30, someone had turned it off? He reset it for the next morning; yawning and rising to take care of nature's call, afterwards brushing his teeth and washing his face to pull sleepiness out of his eyes some. Cracking his neck and stretching; shuffled back to his office to thumb his notes and the deliveries for the day...and finding Tifa's note on it. "Tifa...you don't have to do that..." he muttered, rubbing his left eye. Muttering more under his breath he'd pick up his phone to dial her number, plunking himself down in his chair. He reached over to a small fridge to open for a soda, closing the fridge and propping a leg onto the desk waiting for her to pick up. "Hello?" "What are you doing?" Cloud's tired response to her greeting, popping open the can to take a drink. "You have been working a lot, I want you to take a break." He rolled his eyes a little, delivering packages is hardly work for him, he could climb 100 staircases without breaking a sweat while carrying a heavy ton weight sword. Where as both Tifa and Barret would have trouble keeping up. He wasn't that concerned about Tifa not being able to handle some of the deliveries but its his work. "You could have woke me up to ask, Tifa." Taking a long drink, he checked a few other notes. "You are right, I'm sorry. But I'm already at the Smithy so tough luck. If you're as restless as you sound, you could do some of my work in the bar. It shouldn't that hard just keep the place clean and watch the kids. I'll be back soon! Okay Cloud?" He let out a long sigh, "Fine. Be sure you get the second delivery on time, they asked for it by 10am." He could hear her smile nearly, "No problem Cloud, have some coffee okay. See you later." She hung up. Shaking his head a little he moved to start getting dressed, pulling on the majority of his usual dark clothes, leaving off the armor he often attached over his clothes with the Fenrir decorations. But he put in his earrings, vaguely brushing his hair, it doesn't seem to obey being brushed no matter what he did with it. Putting on socks and then his boots, fixing a few buckles and straps. Finally he headed out of his office down to the kitchen area. Passing Marlene who chirped a 'Good morning Cloud!' "Morning." She seemed to be doing the cleaning just fine, cap that off Cloud wasn't that sociable at present, so he went for the fridge to see about food. Some leftover boxes; one he pulled to heat up for himself and the idly observing what is left; taking inventory. There are about 6-8 kids living with them and Tifa usually makes extra of everything to give to charity and homeless out in Edge. She hasn't left anything more then snack boxes. She usually has breakfast made for everyone by 7ish am. Another little kid came in with him cheerfully happy to see him, But didn't appear interested in any of the snack boxes. "What do you want...?" The child thought for a moment then smiled brightly, "Pancakes!" Just what were those made out of anyways? Furrowing a blond brow he turned to look at inventory again and found luckily pre-prepped pancake mix labeled. Okay now what? Pulling the container down he tried to consider the next step. Not considering asking Marlene for help. Taking a frying pan down and started it heating on the stove, he tried looking for directions on the container. It is just labeled 'pancake mix'. Does the stuff dissolve into the cakes on the burner? Shrugging he poured some powder onto the pan to grill. Taking the reheated food from yesterday out he nibbled at his food while watched the powder, it wasn't apparently doing anything. Oh well. Letting it do it's thing he went out to wipe down a few tables, which is easier. When he went back in to check it, after cleaned all of the tables, the stuff had roasted to the pan in a pile of blackened shit. Pancakes were soft and fluffy, did he need to add something to it? Maybe some oil? That was a mistake. considering the pan just set on fire. He filled a glass of water to throw on the mess with a choice of Barret's favorite curse words. An ugly stink filled the kitchen. Marlene had come in to see what was going on and realizing what he is trying to do couldn't help but giggle at his problem. 'you add water to the mixture in a bowl first silly!' Cloud groaned, why didn't he just go after Tifa and send her home? Cleaning up the mess to try again.

[venfx]

Oh boy, I got another idea for a prompt, something I was discussing in the Discord: After the day Phil and Rita spent together and her waking him up, he's steadily getting better and better. But it's not totally linear. Though being good to people is making him feel good, it feels more like a distraction from the larger aching emptiness still inside him. Even as he finds new ways to fill his time, he still sometimes longs for an end in sight. One morning, in a moment of weakness, he makes (1/2)

one more attempt. However, he doesn’t actually die this time and wakes up in a hospital bed. For once, it hits him how real his body and what he’s been doing to it truly is. He’s pissed at himself for falling back into this and doubts if he’ll ever be able to just look on the bright side like Rita said to. To his surprise, before the day resets, his mom shows up at the hospital to see him, having urgently booked a flight over there. She’s pretty angry and scared and upset and gives him some harsh words, and she also loves him so, so much. They talk and she stays with him until it’s 6AM again.

why do you make me hurt him so. anyways this was a doozy but also weirdly fun to write mostly because i just got my EMT certification and am therefore allowed to throw in useless medical jargon

(again sorry mrs. connors you don’t deserve this)

send me fic prompts here!

CW for suicide mention/attempt

It’s impossible to put into words just how much Phil despises the inventor of the alarm clock.

“That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers, it’s-”

He slams his hand down onto the snooze button.

He’s never been a morning person.

Lately, his days look a little like this: sit up, stretch. Answer the phone on the first ring. Make sure to get the girl’s name- it’s Lisa- and wish her a good morning before heading out the door. Compliment Jonathan’s new sneakers, fix the coffee pot, meet up with Ned to chat about his family.

Then, get coffee for the crew and Rita, do the broadcast, change a flat tire, rescue a cat. Practice the piano, charm his way into staying a few extra hours.

Try to save the old man.

Fail to save the old man.

Drive Ralph and Gus back from the bar.

Wake up, do it all over again.

And, like, okay, it’s not all bad.  

Phil’s a new man, with a new lease on life and a steadily improving rendition of Hot Cross Buns to prove it. The more time he spends here actually living, the more he grows to love each and every resident of Punxsutawney.

He has friends here, as bizarre as that sounds.

Even if those friends don’t, y'know, remember him.-Here’s the thing: sometimes, his life feels like the weird second act of some two-bit play. The fact that the curtain will never fall is irrelevant.

Helping people of this small, quiet town should be enough. 

It is enough.

In terms of eternity, he’s won the fucking jackpot.-Still, it goes without saying that some days are easier than others.

“That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers, it’s-”

"That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers, it’s-”

That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers, it’s-”

He’s getting better.

He is.

It’s just, well. Sometimes.

Sometimes, he isn’t.

Here’s another thing: Phil spends the night before his seventeenth birthday locked in his parents’ bathroom with a bottle of his mom’s sleeping pills and a flask of gas station tequila he’d bribed off of his sister’s boyfriend a month earlier. 

He’s sixteen years, three hundred sixty four days, twenty two hours, and seventeen minutes old. 

People keep telling him that it’s going to get better, that he’ll be okay, that his problems are small and that everyone feels like this every once in a while. 

Maybe they’re right, but Phil’s not stupid, either- he knows that people aren’t supposed to be this empty, knows that there’s something in him that’s always going to be small and broken and wrong.

He’s just so fucking tired.

"That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers, it’s-”

Twenty three years and a thousand endless days later, he barely thinks twice before swallowing the whole damn bottle.

Phil wakes up.

He wakes up.

He’s not in the bed and breakfast.

For one panicked moment, he thinks maybe-

He jack-knifes up, yanks the cannula out of his nose. “Excuse me!”

There’s a nurse passing by his room. She turns, looks at him with a special cocktail of muted pity and vague disgust, which Phil very politely ignores because he is a nice fucking person now, thank you very much.

“Sorry, but um,” he rasps, voice hoarse. It sort of tastes like something crawled into the back of his throat and died. “What’s today’s date?“ 

“February 2nd, dear. I’ll go tell the doctor that you’re up.”

February 2nd.

Right.

He wakes up again to a woman in a white coat standing at the foot of his bed, reading off of a clipboard. 

“Phil Connors, 40, found unresponsive underneath a bridge near Patsy’s Park. Presented with mild hypothermia, bradycardia, hypotension, and significant respiratory depression as a result of an alcohol potentiated benzodiazepine overdose." 

Phil just wants to go back to sleep.

“ER administered 0.8mg of Flumazenil intravenously upon admission and performed a gastric lavage shortly after. Vitals have been stable since seven this evening.”

“Huh,” he mutters. “Thought it’d been longer than that." 

His doctor sighs, like she’s unimpressed or something, which strikes him as kind of rude.

Phil almost died.

God.

"Mr. Connors, you went outside half naked in the middle of snowstorm to chase 220 mg of clonazepam- that’s fifty five pills, by the way- with a bottle of raspberry vodka-”

“It was grape, actually-”

“Regardless,” she says and, great, her voice is all gentle now, like being nice is going to change anything. “I don’t think we need to pretend that this was accidental.”

“Shit, what gave it away?" 

"Mr. Connors, was this your first attempt?”

And Phil-

Phil thinks of the toaster.

He thinks of suffocating, of bleeding out, of freezing to death, of walking into traffic, eyes shut, over and over and over again. He remembers the rope and the car battery and the fucking clock tower.

He thinks of the screwdriver- and, okay, that had been a little excessive, but whatever.

He feels sick.

"Yeah,” he says, slumping back against the pillows. “Yeah. First time.”

They keep him on mandatory 72 hour watch.

Not that it really matters, but.

Phil hates hospitals.

The phone rings when Phil’s on his seventh episode of Law and Order: SVU. He’s eaten, like, four things of green Jello and an entire bag of ice chips. 

On screen, Ice-T is arresting a pedophile with a clown fetish.

He’s pretty sure his nurse is avoiding him.

This kind of feels like a new low.

“Mr. Connors? You have a visitor. Should I send her up?”

Phil absolutely does not want to see Rita right now, but also feels like he owes her for blowing off the broadcast and then literally almost dying. 

Plus, he’s been trying to be less of an ass lately.

Really.

“Yeah, go ahead,” he says with a sigh. “Thank you.”

“Phil Connors, what the fuck.”

That’s not Rita.

He’s going to kill Rita.

“Mom? Jesus, who called you?”

“Is that how you greet me? We haven’t spoken in six months, and all I get is a Jesus-who-called-you?”

Joanne Connors is sixty four years old and 5'2”. 

She carries herself the way some people carry machine guns. 

“So, I’m in a hospital bed, don’t know if you noticed-"

"I noticed that you look like shit,” she says, scowling at the IV in Phil’s arm like it’s done something to  personally offend her. “So, I’ll reiterate: what the fuck.”

Phil’s been nursing a low level migraine since he woke up and the shrillness of his mother’s voice adds a special new dimension to this whole experience.

“Thanks, mom,” he says with a sigh. “Did you really fly all the way out here from Cleveland?”

“No, I was in the area,” she says bitingly. “Of course I flew out here. Your producer called-”

“Associate producer, actually-” he says, just because he’s feeling a little bitter.

“-saying that you were in the hospital, that it looked bad, that they found these pills-”

“I’m fine, oh my god-”

“-so, yes, I did fly out here in the middle of a goddamn blizzard. That flight cost me five hundred dollars, by the way-”

“I never asked you to-”

“-and that doctor you have is a real piece of work-”

“Mom! You’re yelling." 

She stops abruptly, looking stricken. 

With horror, Phil realizes that her eyes are welling up. 

He hates seeing his mom cry.

"You stupid, stupid boy,” she whispers. “You selfish, thoughtless child. What were you thinking?”

Phil can’t remember the last time his mother hugged him, but when she does, it feels like china, like glass, like something breakable and precious all at once.  

“Mom, I-”

He doesn’t know what he wants to say. 

There’s something ugly in his chest, some horrible emotion that makes his throat tight and his eyes burn. He can feel his mother’s tears seeping into the flimsy fabric of his hospital gown.

Phil grips her back like he’s drowning.

Eventually she pulls away, dabs at her eyes with a trembling hand.

“I’m so sorry,” she says. “Phil, I’m so sorry.”

“Um. Don’t be. This isn’t your fault,” he says thickly, scrubbing a hand across his face. “I just- uh. It’s been a long day.”

She chuckles weakly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Phil doesn’t want to talk about it, and for once, she doesn’t push.

They just sit there instead, watching crappy crime procedurals and eating Jello. She tells him blatantly untrue stories about his childhood and pretends to be interested when he delivers a ten minute lecture on introductory quantum mechanics (his newest research project) and a half hour summary of the first four seasons of Game of Thrones (that he only watched for Rita).

At one point, she leans over to press a kiss to his forehead.

“I love you so much, Phil. So much.”

He closes his eyes.

Here’s a final thing: the day always resets in the time it takes him to blink. 

In that brief moment or space between seeing and not-seeing, a cosmic rubber band yanks him backwards, pulls him taut through time. He knows it’s happening before it happens, even though he’s never actually seen the clock hit six.

"That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers, it’s-”

He slams a hand on the alarm.

It’s a new day.

[halfcupofcoffee-blog]

Idk the number, but does anyone rly care?

So! I’ve been in college for 59 days by now. I know I said I was gonna keep updating but I’ve been busy okaaayyyyyy

Anyway, Philadelphia has been really good. I haven’t gone much of anywhere despite being here for two months. I went around Center City with Jimmy a couple weeks ago, and it was amazing. I love the city so much, and I wish it wasn’t a 30 minute bus ride from campus. We aimlessly walked around for hours and Jimmy used me as a model for his photos, which was super awkward for me, but he somehow got some really nice photos. He's posted some on his account I think, I’ll paste a link at the bottom of this post. 

Classes are good. I have a design class where I have to do a lot of painting, which is a lot of work, and I’m not getting the results I want so that one’s annoying. But I somehow have a B in the class. I have a drawing class where I have an A. We started using models for figure drawing last week and it was suuuppppeeerrrr awkward. 

Those are the only classes I have that go toward my major this semester. The others are annoying. I have a College Algebra class which I'm pretty sure I’m failing, but the professor give out extra credit like it’s candy, so I think I’ll be okay. 

Debating U.S. Issues is a class I have to take for like character building or something, and I only have to take it once thank god, but I hate it. I don’t do well talking to a bunch of people and speaking my opinion to people I don’t even know is proving to be difficult. I got a 68 on my first paper and honestly I worked rly hard on it and I’m very disappointed. My professor allows rewrites so I might redo it and get a better grade. I’m pretty sure I don’t have a good grade in that class. 

I have a writing class too. Which I love so much. I almost wish I’d stuck with being an English Major. I think it would have been less work honestly, but I like the idea of making movies one day. But I’ve been doing really well on the essays I have had to write. It’s only two so far, but the first one was what my definition of home is, and honestly I had so many things to put in that my paper turned out to be 6 pages and one of the best in the class. The second paper isn’t due until Monday, but it’s on Discourse Community and I picked Twenty One Pilots’ fan base. Rough Drafts were due last Wednesday and my Professor really liked it. Also he wears a bowtie and he’s been my favorite professor so far other than my Drawing Professor. 

I have small pangs of being homesick. Mainly on Sundays because I force myself to watch the live stream my hometown church does before I force myself out of bed to go to Jimmy’s house. I talk to GiGGles nearly everyday and I talk to my dog in the process. I miss my dog more than anything. 

I’m kidding. I really miss my sister and my aunt. My mother would be offended if I said I didn’t miss her too, but honestly I didn’t actually see her a lot. Same with my dad. It’s not their fault, we all worked and our schedules didn’t match up a lot. I’m just used to not seeing them a lot. 

I saw GiGGles, my aunt, and my dog a lot, so clearly I miss them more.

My room mate is still really nice. I think she hates my alarm clock because all of her classes start after mine, so I’m up first usually. This morning I had to get up at 6 to go to a school work thing and I swear I thought she wanted to kill me. 

Weird side note, I am always way more willing to get out of bed at 6am than I am at like 9am. it’s annoying and doesn’t make any sense. My alarm went off at 5:30 and I almost went a head and got up, but decided I could lie around until 6. I’m a little tired now and could actually take a serious nap right about now, but at the time I was completely fine getting up early. 

Anyway, that’s all I think....I don’t know what else to talk about. Sorry this post is both long and boring. 

Jimmy’s Photography :)

[ecotone99]

[HR] The Colours Of Leeanna

Knock, Knock!

It was 6am, for the last week, at 6am a stranger would come calling and Leeanna’s door. Every time she went to answer it, no one was there. Leeanna thought it might have been Toby and Tobias, boisterous teenage twins who lived across the hall, they always like to wind her up, it had to be. This morning she was prepared, she’d set and alarm for 5:40am, this morning she was determined to catch whoever it was in the act.

Knock, Knock!

On hearing the second set of knocks Leeanna rose from her chair and approached the door, she glanced through the peephole, what she saw surprised her. Standing at her door was a tall bald man, must have been about early 50’s she thought his face was pale and dark glasses obscured his eyes.

Shit, thought Leeanna, my debts’ must have finally caught up with me, I guess I can’t run any longer, she swung open the door, prepared for the worst.

“Do you know what time it is for god sake?” asked Leeanna, “This is the 7th time you have knocked my door, explain yourself.”

The man looked down at her, he sneered, reached in to his inner suit jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. He held out his hand to give it to Leeanna.

“What the hell is this exactly? You come to my door, utter no words yet give me a letter, what is going on?” Leeanna demanded to know.

Still saying nothing the man gestured again for Leeanna to take the envelope, which some reluctance she did, she felt a brief chill across the back of her neck as she grasped it. As soon as the letter was in her possession the man turned and started to walk slowly down the hallway.

“Wait”, Leeanna shouted, “Aren’t’ you going to say anything, you come to my flat at 6am with an envelope and don’t utter a word, tell me who you are, how you work for, and how you fou….”

“Quiet child” the man whispered in a distorted voice, one which was far to deep to sound human, the kind that sent shivers up your spine. He slowly began to turn, she felt like he was looking directly at her, but couldn’t be sure as he was still hiding behind his thick dark glasses. He raised his hands up to his glasses, gripped them and pulled them off in one quick motion.

Oh my god Leeanna thought, as under his glasses had no eyes, instead he had dark rimmed eye sockets, with an array of unearthly colours swirling inside.

“The letter explains” he said, and with that he blinked out of existence, right in front of her, one minute he was standing there and the next just gone in a flash of iridescent colours.

Jesus, I must still be dreaming Leeanna thought to herself, she went to shut the door, before she could number 4, from across the hall opened the door. A larger women, in her 60’s stood in the doorway, still in her nighty. It was Toby and Tobias mother, a formidably women that you didn’t want to get on the wrong side of.

“What the hell is going on she asked? It’s 7 o’clock and you have been out here screaming like a banshee for the last half hour.”

Leeanna looked at her confused, “I think you forgot to change your clock Mrs Milligan, its a little past 6am, I’m sorry for waking you but for the last 7 days I have had a knock on my door at this time, today I caught the caller, or at least I think I did?”

“No dear, its 7am, you have been standing out here screaming for half an hour now, we have watched through the peephole, are you ok? Your not having a breakdown are you?” Mrs Milligan asked.

“Oh look I’m fine, its just been a strange morning, again I’m really sorry if I woke you”, and with that Leeanna closed the door, she heard Mr’s Milligan call her a crazy bitch to Toby and Tobias. She went to sit down envelope still in hand, on her way she glanced at the clock, 5 past 7. But there was no way, she only answered the door ten minutes ago at 6am on the dot, how could it now be 7am?

She slouched down in to her chair and tore open the envelope. As soon as she did a pungent smell like decay filled the room. Inside was a scrap of paper, it looked ancient, it was parchment like, she folded it open, the writing was in red ink and looked to be written by quill in its elegance.

This must be a prank Leeanna thought, the letter started Dear Leeanna, there was no way something this old could mention her by name. She began reading.

“Dear Leeanna,

You have something of ours in your possession, an artifact of sorts, we’d like it back.

Excroa, gurattssx, grezitch…..”

The letter continued like this for several paragraphs, it was unreadable nonsense.

Ok, thought Leeanna is is a joke and not a very funny on. She went to pick up her phone, to see if she could figure out which of her friends at set this up, then she remembered about the box.

Her Grandfather had passed on around a month ago and about a week later she received a box of his belongings. It currently sat in her bedroom gathering dust, she hadn’t had the time to deal with it. She hadn’t really know her Grandfather so she thought it odd that he left her a box, but she thought nothing more of it at the time, father always said that he was a strange one.

She went in to the Kitchen and took the scissors out the drawer, she proceeded to the bed room, grabbed the dusty box from the corner and placed it on her bed. She cut the tape across the top and swung the box open, inside she found manuscripts and drawings, drawings of creatures the like of which she’d never seen, many looked humanoid but were just all wrong, extra hands, heads and some even had tentacle like growths.

Grandfather certainly had some imagination she thought to herself as she rifled through the rest of the boxes contents. Yet one drawing stood out, that of a tall, thin, bald man. She sat staring that this picture for far to long, it looked exactly like the man at her door this morning. But it couldn’t be, it has to just be a coincidence there are a lot of tall, thin, bald men out there she thought to herself.

Putting the eerier coincidence out of her mind she continued to dig through the box, there wasn’t much else of interest. Just some old bits and bobs, things she had assumed Grandfather must have collected on his travels through life. At the bottom of the box she discovered a small wooden box, it was intrinsically carved with symbols she’d never seen before, on the front was a small, round gold button, she pushed it and the box popped open.

The flash was so bright she nearly went blind and a terrible ringing started in her head, she fell to her knees and as she did the box fell from her hands. She regained her composure and looked up, something rolled from the box as she dropped it. Just across from her lay a small globule, one that flashed in the same brilliant and unexplainable colours that she had seen in that man’s eyes.

This is to strange for her she thought, she went to pick up the globule and as she did horrible and terrifying visions flashed across her mind, eldritch creatures and creations haunted her thoughts, she saw visions of a grey farm, of dancing colours and heard whispers of madness. Terrified by what she experienced she placed the globule back in its box, shut it tight and went back in to the living room.

She glanced at the letter again she wasn’t sure how but the rest of the letter had become readable.

She sat down and began to read.

“Dear Leeanna,

You have something of ours in your possession, an artifact of sorts, we’d like it back.

It came to earth long ago. Your Grandfather ended up possessing us, you will give us back, we have existed since the dawn of time, now confined to a cage, give us back, let us be free, let us be you.

We will return at 6am tomorrow to collect.”

This chilled her to her bones. Wat was this nightmare that her Grandfather had unleashed upon her, who were these people and what were those creatures, had she just been influenced by Grandfathers drawings, this was all in her head right?

BOOM! There was a large clatter from the bedroom, in shock Leeanna ran in to the room to discover what had happened, the wooden box which had previously been sitting on her desk was now lying open on the floor, around it lay pieces of what appear to be broken glass and the globule was no where to be seem.

Shit, she thought, what if they do come back now and I don’t have it. She started to look around the floor for the globule, desperate to find it, but suddenly she stopped, she was convinced she caught something out the corner of her eye, a cloud of brilliant colour. She turned to look, it was no longer there, its been a long day she thought, my imagination is just playing tricks on me.

She began to pick up the bits of broken glass around the box, which was a stupid idea as she cut herself on a particularly sharp piece, that was now partially embedded in her finger, she tried to grasp it to pull it out but had no luck. She went to get the first aid box out the kitchen, pulled out the tweezers, placed her finger under the lamp and went to pull it out. But it was no longer there. It couldn’t have possibly have fallen out, no, it was to far in. But what then, had the slither of glass slithered in to her body?

Leeanna looked at the wound, she swore she could see colours around the wound, colours that were spreading up her through her hand. Shit, she thought, this will need medical attention, she reached for her mobile phone, she glanced at the top, no service. She examined her hand again, it was definitely spreading, faint but unusual colours started running from her hand up her arm. This was really happening, she was sure she wasn’t imagining it.

She had to get out of here hurrying to her front door she swung it open. In the hall stood Toby and Tobias, they stood statue like staring at her, but it was not them, no this was all wrong, they seemed distorted, their faces drained and their skin was grey.

Both at once they looked up, there gaze met with her eye, and in unison they both let out a horrific groan, it lasted for what felt like an eternity. Suddenly they ceased, and in twisted unison said “Mummiessssss in the kitchen”.

Leeanna glanced round, no one was in her kitchen, did they mean their own? She glanced the door to number 4 was a jar, inside looked to be in total darkness. Leeanna thought to herself she should just head for the elevator and get out of here, but her compassion got the better of her. She approached the door and creaked it open.

“Mrs Milligan?” she shouted, “It’s Leeanna, I’m coming in ok?”

There was no response, as soon as she entered the apartment she collapsed in pain, like something had just tried to tear her arm off. She looked at her hand in the darkness she could see her veins were pulsing pink, oh god she thought, she rolled up her sleeve, it was spreading further up her arm, through her veins. She pushed herself up, and stumbled forward when she heard a chilling scream emanating from the kitchen.

Pushing herself forward she used the wall to stead herself, shuffling along it till she reached the kitchen door. Through the crack in the door she could see light, steadying herself she opened the door. She was not prepared for what she discovered, Mrs Milligan was a disfigured husk, writhing on the floor, floating above her was a cloud of unearthly colour.

To her horror what was once Mrs Milligan spoke, it spoke in raspy slithering tones,

“Itsss comee for you leeanna, your Grandfather promised us, you’ll set us freeeee, my boysss, my boysss, where are my boyss, kill me pleasssse, you’ll join us at ssssix.”

With that Leeanna turned to run, she knew she had to get out, running for the door she was blocked by the boys, join us, join us, join us, they repeated, she pushed past them, and bolted down the corridor, hitting the button on the elevator, it wasn’t working, fuck it I’ll go for the stairs she thought. She made for the stairwell, she could still hear them, join us, but no that wasn’t the boys, what was that? She looked around, nothing, it was getting louder, it was in her head.

She ran down the stairs, and went down the three flights quicker than she ever as done in her life, she burst through the door in to the lobby of her building, the whispers were getting much louder now, and she was starting to have flashes of the horrific creatures her Grandfather had drew.

She looked up at the clock, what the hell, she thought, it said 5:55am, no that’s not possible it was morning just a few hours ago, she made for the door but she was getting weaker and her whole arm was now lit up with an ominous luminescence.

The stairs must have taken it out of her, she crawled for the door of the building. As she was inches away it flew open, she saw his dark black shoes first and was terrified to glance up.

She knew what it was and she knew it had come for her, she glanced up in to eyes, they seemed like a never ending abyss of swirling colours.

“The time has come Leeanna, the time for you to join us as come”, it said in a booming voice.

“No” screamed Leeanna, “get the fuck away from me.”

“Don’t be scared child, we have brought colour to your world and you have freed us. We were trapped in that box for 40 years, you have freed us, and you shall be our host”

She tried to muster the words to speak, she couldn’t, her thoughts were not her own, be our host, obey us they told her.

“We came a long time ago, one of us escaped, we did not, you are our salvation, we told your Grandfather to send you that box”.

Finding the energy she spat out “Why me? Why did he do this to me?”

“Forbidden knowledge, we posses horrific and unimaginable secrets, we gave him this knowledge at a price, that price was a host, that price was you. Your Grandfather however went mad with the knowledge he possessed and hung himself”.

She could feel it now, that knowledge running through her of old gods, of death cults and of horrific monstrosities that inhabit our universe. It chilled her to her very core.

Leeanna awoke the next morning in her flat, in her bed. She glanced at the clock it was 8:45am, she dragged herself out of bed and went in to the bathroom, flicking on the light she glanced up and looked in the mirror.

Her eyes were now a swirling array of luminous colours.

“We are the Colour out of Space, and we have decided to stay"

submitted by /u/Horror123w [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/30NmCbY

[howtobeacrazycatlady]

**Yawn**

I galloped out of the house this morning.  GALLOPED!

The house had finally descended into some semblance of peace and I took every advantage, slung on my bags, grabbed the keys and escaped.  I have absolutely no idea what chaos might have kicked off after I left…but I wasn’t there to witness it, so I didn’t care!

Bonkers morning.  

I had to be in for 8am this morning.  My boss had a videoconference scheduled with the Zurich office.  Being a global telecommunications company this means getting the videocon to work SHOULD be easy, but it very rarely is.  So I wanted to be there to get it started.  I live quite a commute from the London office – between 1hr 40mins and 2 hours – so, working backwards, I would have to be out the house by 6am at the very latest.  That meant the alarm going off at 4am.  

 So far, so good - on paper.

 Last night, met up with a few of the Beds South RSPCA team to run through some plans and ideas we have for a ‘Crafternoon Tea’ event we’re planning on Sunday 19th November. It’ll be held a Parkside in Ampthill and we’ll be inviting people to sell their wares at various tables, running a Bake Off and serving teas/coffees and cakes.  Going to be heaps of fun and we’ll hopefully raise a fair bit of money for the Branch ahead of the Festive Season - which is always expensive when caring for animals.  Get it in the diaries if you’re in the area!

 It was great meeting up and I always come away from these get-togethers very energised.  And so wasn’t all THAT tired when I got home.  Made a big fuss of Oscar when I got in and then let him out the back door.  It was getting quite late – especially for a 4am start the next day – but I had fingers crossed he wouldn’t stay out too late.  

 But OF COURSE he did, didn’t he…?

 Had made a fuss of Freya and she’d done her normal wanna go out, wanna come in, wanna go out while I was getting myself ready for bed.  Sat with the foster girls for a little while.  They’re both SO affectionate.  Really incredible given the dreadful circumstances they’ve come from. They’re still largely wee-stained and don’t seem ready to start grooming themselves yet, so was trying out a suggestion of dabbing some tuna juice on their paws and stuff, to encourage them to lick it off.  They sure liked the tuna juice in the bowl I’d brought up ….but then seemed more interested in larking about than washing.

 Ah well….I hoped they’d have a go during the night.  

 Still no sign of Oscar….**sigh**  By now I was starting to get really tired…and was watching the clock just nudge past 11.30pm.

 Now I KNOW it sounds crazy…..I KNOW this cat was a stray for a good few months, hanging around the front of Tesco during the deepest winter months.  I KNOW he survived JUST FINE in those conditions.  But that doesn’t change the fact that I worry about him when he’s out and really don’t sleep well if I lock him out overnight.  I’m usually kept awake by my own dreadful imagination. So I’ve taken to sleeping on the couch with the conservatory door open so he can come back in his own good time – usually after 2am…and I can ward off any burglars…erm….

 And he doesn’t sneak back in either.  He announces he’s home loudly with a series of Oscar-sized miaows and will promptly jump onto the couch and bother me for a cuddle and food.  Not the food I’ve left out for him, mind – no.  That’s now a few hours old so just won’t do and is ignored.  He wants FRESH food.  So whatever time he gets back means me getting up, locking the back door, feeding Furry Chops and then dragging the duvet back up to bed.

 This morning, however, that Oscar activity (at 2.30am) was enough to set off the girls…who then started playing in their room.  They’re only little things but they make quite a racket…especially when they start chasing each other.  I worry about the neighbours because there’s quite a bit of loud thudding goes on. Pretty sure their bedroom doesn’t back onto mine (and Ray next door is elderly and hard of hearing) but I still get a little anxious when they’re crashing and dashing at that time of the morning.

 So, in these instances, I usually go in and sleep on the floor with them.  I started doing this when I got my first foster, little Shadow, and she would start playing and chasing things in the wee hours.  The intention was to, more or less, ‘get in the way’ by sleeping on the floor and encourage them to quieten down and go back to bed.

 This worked with Shadow. It also worked with Genie and Susie.

 It isn’t working with Gina and Flora.  

 A new game has, in fact, been developed around ‘The Lady in The Way’.  The aim is still to chase each other around the room – but now there’s the added extra of leaping OVER The Lady In The Way!  And then back again!  And again! And again!  Despite Lady In The Way making ‘sssshh!’ noises!

 Within a very short space of time, I’d sustained several scratches on my head and arm – when one or the other hadn’t quite cleared The Lady In The Way.  

 But every time I sat up and tried to quieten them, they’d turn on the purr and cuddle offensive. And Flora LOVES to have her belly stroked.  

 And then I’d try to lie down and get some sleep and two purry faces - smelling faintly of wee and now tuna juice as well - would push their cold little noses in my face.  Or one or the other would lie on top of me. Which was making me nervous because they’re so slight – and I’m worried I turn in my sleep and crush them!

 Of course, that would entail actually being able to go to sleep, now, wouldn’t it??

 Flora stops charging about to start noisily crunching some biscuits.

 I’m now hiding their one toy underneath the duvet with me because they keep battering the ball around it.

 More charging around. More Leap Over The Lady.  More cuddling and purring.  More tickling.

 Starts to quieten down.

 Gina decides to have a very smelly poo.  

 More purring.  More headbutting me in the face.  Flora does her best imitation of being a scarf with her back legs up my nose.

 …..and at some point somehow I must have fallen asleep.  For, what could only have been, a scant few minutes.

 That was just so that the alarm could wake me at 4am.

 I lie there for a few minutes.  The girls are in their snug, cuddled up to each other and peering at me.  

 They decide that’s their cue for some more snuggles and purring and head butting.  I can’t help but smile as I’m giving them a tickle. They’re SO loving and affectionate!

 After 10 mins or so, I drag myself up and out their bedroom.  I take their ball toy with me because I don’t want them making a racket at 4.10am.  

 I’ve already decided that, because I have-to, have-to catch a particular train and don’t want to leave Oscar locked out all day (won’t be home ‘til 8-ish), that I’m not going to risk it and so won’t let him out.  This is going to mean Oscar is in a bad mood.  He’s not a morning-cat anyway.  And, so’s not to upset apple-carts by opening the back door for Freya, I’m not going to let her out either.  There are plenty of litter trays around the house.  

 I’m in the shower and start hearing a helluva clattering and bashing and thudding.  Peer out from the shower curtain.  It’s Oscar.  He’s got the ball toy I’ve confiscated from the girls and is battering seven bells out of it.  I try to shush and hiss him from the shower but I’m being ignored.  I’m being ignored because he’s grumpy in the morning and I’ve gone for a shower instead of letting him out.  

 Jump out the shower and shoo him off.  He heads downstairs.  Promptly picks a fight with Freya who is waiting for the back door to be opened. Freya yells the place down, hissing furiously and runs for her bookshelf.  Oscar chases her and there’s all sorts of thudding and crashing as Freya jumps onto the one shelf then the upper shelf, followed by Oscar who is only agile enough to make the lower shelf.

 And this then was pretty much the next, nearly two hours while I’m trying to get ready for work. The girls upstairs start chasing each other around noisily, Oscar keeps bothering Freya who is having none of the fact that I’m not opening the back door so keeps jumping off her shelf (noisily) to stand at the back door.  To then be ambushed by Oscar who wants out as well.  More yowling and hissing, more jumping all over the shelves.  The girls crashing about upstairs.  Me, up and down the stairs, either trying to shush the girls by fussing them and turning their play into purring and cuddling or hissing between gritted teeth at Oscar and Freya.

 At one point, I think “I know, I’ll let Gina and Flora out of the spare bedroom.  A little wandering about the house might quieten then down to at least give me long enough to get my knickers on the right way ‘round.”  So I open the door and Flora makes a dash for the gap.  

 Terrific….suddenly Oscar and Freya appear – in unison – from behind me when NANOSECONDS ago they were downstairs chasing and hissing.  Flora and Freya freeze at the sight of each other.  Oscar – the big buffoon he is – goes barrelling into the bedroom scaring Gina into a giant furball.  More hissing and hysteria from, now, all blummin’ FOUR of them!

 I trip over the ball toy trying to get to Oscar and then that’s ME crashing about noisily in the spare bedroom.

 I grab Oscar.  He’s not in the mood for being lifted.  And, it seems, he has a magic knack of doubling in weight when he doesn’t want to be lifted.  So he weighs a ton, and I have to climb OVER Freya and Flora who are still frozen and staring at each other….and carry Oscar down the stairs.  He’s now hissing at ME!  With some wriggling, manage to get the door to the conservatory open and put Oscar in the conservatory.  He’s really fed up with me and takes a swipe.  I go upstairs with the intention of breaking the spell keeping Freya and Flora in suspended animation and get Freya into my room.  I try a little gentle ‘shush-shush-shush’ as I’m nearing the top.  Freya turns and bolts down the stairs nearly taking me out and charges noisily back onto her shelf.

 I go back upstairs to see Flora climbing back into her concertina file and Gina staring at me wide-eyed from her snug.  Everything was my fault, her face was saying…everything in the whole wide world.  I close the door on them breathing a sigh of relief that they’re still safe.  

 Took me 15 minutes to coax Freya down from her shelf using treats and finally, FINALLY get her into my bedroom where I leave her and food and biscuits for the day.  If Oscar is in a BAD mood, best I keep them separated.  I go in and check the girls.  Flora pokes her head out from the concertina file but it’s just to give me a reproachful glare.  Gina also isn’t looking like she’s forgiving me any time this century.  

 I go downstairs and let Oscar out the conservatory.  He hates me too….and won’t come out of the conservatory but is sitting giving me daggers.

 But it’s enough…..there is, for the first time ALL morning – and we’re talking pretty much since 2.30am – there’s silence in the house.  Every cat hates me….but it’s QUIET for the first time in hours.  I close my eyes.  I am sooooooo sleepy!  But, take the opportunity while you can!  I do one last run around the house, making sure every cat has plenty to eat and the trays are clean.  Then I grab all my stuff and charge out the door.

 “Honest, when I left, the house was quiet Your Honour….”

 x