#Cake Smash Session

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CT Baby Photography – Ethan Camping Theme Cake Smash

Hi there! Thanks so much for visiting Melissa Hartigan Photography – CT Baby Photographer. I’m so glad you going to stay a while and browse my latest blog post of this handsome little fella. As a Connecticut Baby Photographer, I have the pleasure of meeting families with new babies every day. Not only do I love being a newborn photographer, but I also love photographing babies of all ages and…

[ceesimz]

Our Sun Is Setting

TW: mentions of homophobia and grief for a parent. It's quite a heavy fic, please keep that in mind.

"I told my Mami about you today."

You didn't think it was possible for a relatively normal, short sentence over the phone to make you feel sick to the pit of your stomach, but it did.

"Oh." That was all you managed.

Your mind was in overdrive as you stood in the middle of the grocery store, buying ingredients for the dinner you were preparing for later that evening when Alexia was going to come over. Any other person would have reacted better, wouldn't have been frozen to the tiles of the shop in the middle of the breakfast aisle, wouldn't have been on the brink of a panic attack from a simple statement.

"She was very happy. And she would like to meet you soon, whenever you like."

Another punch to the gut.

"She also teased me for talking about you so much. I couldn't stop myself." Alexia paired her words with a shy laugh.

The sound of it grounded you slightly as you moved out of the way of an old couple walking in your direction, but your head was still being insistently ruthless as you wandered mindlessly through the rest of the shop. Alexia was still talking over the line, seemingly not noticing your silence, but you couldn't work out what she was saying due to the unbearable ringing in your ears.

You were in shock.

"Are you still there?"

"Y-yeah, sorry. I think the signal went a bit weird, I didn't catch much of what you said." You reply in a shaking voice.

On the other side of the phone, Alexia frowns ever so slightly - she can almost sense something is wrong, but she can't quite figure out what or why. She hopes that when she sees you later, you are perhaps feeling better or if not, at least she's there for you.

"Okay cariño, would it be better if I left you to your shop?" She suggests, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel of her car where she was parked outside of the training complex before an afternoon training session.

"Yeah, probably. Sorry, I'll see you later."

And with that, you hung up.

As you went to slide your phone into your pocket with your shaking hands, you missed, causing it to clatter heavily against the tiles. It earned a few stares from the people around you, only intensifying the jittery dread that surged through you. Pins and needles encapsulated your body as you crouched down to pick up your now-smashed phone, but currently that was the last thing on your mind.

Alexia's statements circled relentlessly around your head - to literally anybody else in the world, hearing those words from someone they had were seeing would be enamouring and seen as a key, heart-warming milestone. But to you, it opened up a dark spot in your mind that you had shunned to the side for some amount of time. It seemed now was the right moment for that unidentifiable problem to break free from its shackles and make itself known, and you were terrified of what those repercussions would be.

You carried out the rest of your shop on autopilot, shoving a handful of notes into the cashier's hand before rushing out without a clue of how much you just gave them. For all you know, you could have massively overpaid them or robbed them in broad daylight. You were so out of touch with the world right now.

So much so, that you were unlocking the door to your apartment before you realised. How long did it take you to get home? Did your phone still work? What time is it? Did you walk, get a taxi, catch the bus, how did you get here? What did you even buy at the shop? Why won't this fucking door open-

A neighbour walked past hastily as you barged a shoulder against the door and almost crashed through it as it finally opened. You sent them an apologetic smile, though there was no doubt in your mind it was more of a manic and unnerving look than anything else, before slamming it shut behind you. The icing on the cake to this whole thing was the fact that the bottom of your shopping bag split open, scattering your groceries across the floor of the entryway. At least now you could see what you had bought.

Whether your legs failed you and buckled or you put yourself on the ground, you kneeled on the floor and gathered everything into your arms to transport it to the kitchen. It was a struggle, your trembling arms barely having the strength to hold themselves up, but you managed to dump your belongings on the kitchen side. Once you'd done that, you rested heavily against the counter, desperately trying to replenish the oxygen that had been stolen from your lungs some point along the way to this moment here.

What the fuck do you do now?

You turned to lean back against the counter and slowly slid down to the ground until you were sat on the floor, head back against the cupboard. There were too many conflicting thoughts and emotions rushing through you that all you could do was sit and stare. Feeling nothing but everything at the same time, thinking nothing but everything all at once.

Seeing Alexia tonight might tip you over the edge. You hope it doesn't end that way. You hope that her presence eases you. You hope she saves you from falling, sinking, spiralling into an irrevocable state of mind, whether she recognises that she's doing it or not. You hope, hope, hope.

Time seems to be a temporary concept for today, because before you've even had the chance to start preparing dinner for tonight, Alexia is at your door. Her voice calls out from behind it, asking if you're in there and if you're okay, because you've zoned out again. You're on the sofa, your cross-body purse still hanging off your shoulder, your jacket still zipped up to your chin, your shoes still on. Your groceries are still strewn on the kitchen counter, and the torn bag is still in the entry way.

"Amor, are you in there? Let me in." Alexia calls out, her voice tainted with concern.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm coming!" You jump up, kick your shoes off, throw your bag onto the small dining table, and open the door. She visibly deflates at the sight of you, her tense shoulders dropping, but her face contorts at your attire.

"Why do you have your chaqueta on?" She asks, and you're beyond grateful to hear it's said in an amused tone.

"Bit cold s'all. Come in." You're not cold. You live in Barcelona, and it's the middle of the spring.

You step to the side and she walks in with a tiny smile on her face. She's glad to be here, you realise. She seems to be in a light and happy mood, carrying no extra stress or other burdens, and, rather selfishly, you're glad.

"How was training?"

You plaster a smile on your face as she takes her shoes off and drops her bag beside them, turning to you and opening her arms. You walk into them with no hesitation, but the feeling isn't as relieving as you desired it to be.

"It was good. I did a amazing free-kick, I will show you the video." Alexia beams, and that does warm your heart somewhat. Her passion for her work, her career, her life, was forever an invigorating thing to witness. It's a shame you weren't in the right mood to appreciate it.

"That's great, Ale." You smile genuinely up at her, more than happy to return the soft kiss she offers.

It momentarily calms and heals a small part of you you'd been hoping she would subconsciously fix, but it wasn't enough and you recognised that straight away. You'd get on your knees, beg, and pray to any higher power that would listen to you just so you'd feel okay for one more day. Except, who do you pray to when you don't believe in God?

"What's that?" She points to the white plastic bag from earlier.

"Oh, the bag for the groceries ripped as soon as I walked in. Must have forgotten to pick it up." You shrug it off, wishing for her attention to be elsewhere for the time being. "I haven't started dinner yet, sorry."

"That's okay." She smiles, shrugging a shoulder nonchalantly and kissing your cheek. "How was your day?"

Tough question.

"It was alright, haven't done much." You brush it off, taking her hand and leading her to the kitchen... where the whole area was still a state.

"Oh, what happened here?" Alexia frowns.

If it was just a few items, she wouldn't be so puzzled, but when a good portion of the food left out was fridge and freezer food? Strange.

"I... I, when the bag ripped before, a jar smashed by the door and, uh... I took a while cleaning it and forgot to put the rest of the stuff away." You ramble unusually quickly. It was a blatant lie, but she didn't need to know that.

Except, Alexia was an incredibly attentive person, and she knew straight away that something was amiss. The first sign was that, in her intelligent mind, she knew that theoretically if a jar filled were to smash by the front door, the white bag from earlier would have been covered in its contents - but that wasn't the case. The second sign: whenever you cleaned your apartment, you used a very strong smelling citrus scented spray - she often complained about it and nagged you to get one that smelt nicer. Your apartment didn't smell uncomfortably citrusy right now. Funny observation, sure, but these two pieces of seemingly inconspicuous evidence gave away the fact you weren't right. Oh, and your strange behaviour showcased on the phone earlier and a few moments ago didn't help your case either.

But, she chose not to pressure you about it yet. She wanted to wait until you perhaps opened up to her some point this evening. However, that didn't entirely stop her from speaking up.

"Ven aquí, amor." Alexia demands calmly, reaching a hand out to you. Suppressing a sigh, you take it, and she looks down at you with a pressing stare. "Answer me honestly. Are you okay?"

No.

"Yes, I'm okay. I'm fine, Ale, I am." You try to reassure her, squeezing her hand and smiling up at her.

"You promise?" Alexia raises her eyebrows and offers her pinky for you to seal your, rather untruthful, truth. "It's okay if something isn't right."

Pinky promises, as childish as they may come across to some, were never to be broken. Since the start of your relationship, they had been a thing that had been utilised by the both of you to ensure you are telling the truth. Alexia had broken one of her promises she had made to you before in the past, so why couldn't you do one in return? It's only fair, right? Relationships were meant to be equal after all.

"Promise." You smile again and raise your other hand to lock fingers with her. She smiles, though you can see she's not convinced, but nevertheless she kisses your knuckle.

"Can I help you cook?"

"I'm meant to be cooking for you. And you are a bit of a control freak in the kitchen." You tease, desperately trying to steer the night away from the morose direction it could go down, and instead towards the light-hearted, content way you so needed.

"I think I am just a control freak in general." She smirks at you before turning to put away the disregarded shopping. You would also happily accept that direction too, you supposed. "Venga, I am so hungry, I skipped lunch at training for a meeting and now I regret it."

To your relief, you both make peaceful conversation once you've told her what you planned on cooking, and it's so peacefully domestic as you do your individual tasks beside each other. Every so often, Alexia will joke and bump her hip into yours as you giggle, and this version of your girlfriend is exactly what you needed. For a moment, you feel the cloud over your head slither away, until the topic you wanted to avoid came up.

"So, what do you think of me telling my Mami about us? You never gave me a response on call earlier."

You freeze momentarily, Alexia thankfully not noticing from the corner of her eye. With a subtle clearing of your throat, you continue cutting up the chilli peppers on the board in front of you, but your now shaking hands pose as a slight kitchen hazard considering the sharp knife you were wielding.

"I, yeah, it's nice. Nice that you, um... did that." You stutter out anxiously, nausea settling cruelly in the pit of your stomach. Alexia takes in your reaction and laughs under her breath, turning briefly to leave a kiss on your forehead.

"No need to be nervous, amor. We have been together for many months now, it was due to happen soon. And M-"

"Ow- fuck!" You gasp sharply, dropping the knife immediately and cradling your hand as blood began dripping from the middle joint of your index finger.

"Woah, amor, what happened?" Alexia winces at the sight, grabbing a few squares of kitchen paper and pressing it against your cut.

"I- my hand slipped and I obviously cut myself." You grimace, eyes tightly shut to rid yourself of the sight. "It burns too, fuck."

Alexia knew you didn't handle blood too well, so she turned you away from the scene and wrapped one arm around your back, rubbing up and down comfortingly whilst she still applied pressure to the cut.

"It's okay, it's okay, it hurts more because of the chilli. Take some breaths, vale?" You nod hastily, not really realising your cheeks had puffed out as you held your breath. Alexia watches your face closely, eyes still closed as you took deep breaths to calm yourself. "You're doing good, bebita. Keep doing that, so good. Let's relax a bit, hm? We should sit down in case you get lightheaded."

The last sentence is her thinking out loud as she started guiding you towards one of the chairs at the dining table. Resting one elbow on the table whilst Alexia continued to hold your wounded hand, you lay your forehead against your uninjured hand as Alexia crouched beside you. Your joined hands lay in your lap as you calmed down, or at least tried to.

To Alexia, it would appear that you were just mentally recovering from the shock of the incident. But actually, you were trying to dispel the unsuspected horror that filled you to the brim at Alexia's earlier reminder.

I told my Mami about you today. She wants to meet you.

That line inevitably meant you had to tell your family too. Except, you couldn't. There was no way you would, no way you could, not without facing realities you had pressed down far into unreachable and forgettable depths of your mind. It was all too much, it was simply not a possibility for you. You knew what it would lead to, and you weren't ready for that.

For the past months you'd been with Alexia and the time you spent getting to know her before that, you had mostly lived in a bubble that dissociated you from the broken, cracked, ruined, utterly destroyed parts of your brain. It had been perfect so far, and you'd be fucking damned to leave that bubble now. But perhaps it was too late and the damage had been done long before Alexia said what she said earlier, maybe that darkness just needed a catalyst before it submerged you in its wake.

"Amor? Hey, come back." One of Alexia's hands lightly patted your cheek to bring you back into the room. "You scared me there. Your breathing got really bad and you were in a... a weird daze. I was talking but you weren't reacting or anything. Are you back now?"

You nodded wordlessly at her, still not entirely taking in what she was saying.

"The blood... freaked me out." You rasp breathlessly, shaking your head a little to rid the glaze over your vision.

"That's okay. Do you feel a little dizzy? I can get you something to help that. Clear your head maybe." You nod again, and she gently lets go of your hand. Cold shivers immediately burst through at the lost contact, but you had to get over yourself and get used to it.

Cautiously, you take the tissue off of your hand and inspect the damage. It doesn't seem deep enough for stitches, which instantly fills you with relief. If you weren't already in a state of intense dismay already, a trip to the hospital would cause a hurricane of emotions that left a lasting imprint on everything and everyone around.

"Here, some apple juice. To get your blood sugar back." Alexia places a mug of apple juice in front of you and notices your now bare hand. "Oof, amor, that looks painful. I'm not sure if that may need a doct-"

"No! No doctors, no hospital. It doesn't need stitches, it's fine." You rush out, eyes wide in what Alexia guesses is fear as you look down at where she's crouched again. "Please, no hospital. It just needs to be cleaned and wrapped up."

"Okay, if you are sure." Alexia replies, nudging the cup closer to you. "Drink that and I will get the first aid kit."

You do as she says, drinking the half-empty cup of apple juice whilst she searches through the kitchen for the green box of medical supplies. Her eyes hardly leave your slumped form at the table, filled with worry for you. Things weren't adding up now, it was obvious, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could ignore it.

A part of her feels afraid to push you; emotionally she wants the best for you and if subtly, or not so subtly, urging you to do that works then she'll do it, but intellectually she senses a deep, internalised issue that could rip through you if handled incorrectly. It's not up to her to cause that. So she asks a question that's so layered it flattens all remaining atmosphere in the room.

"Cariño, how do you feel now?" She pretends to busy herself with organising the already packed box of medical necessities you kept.

"Better." Phyiscally true, but mentally wrong.

"Why don't we order something for dinner instead?"

As if you weren't filled with disconcertion already, that suggestion signs, seals, and stamps the envelope set to be sent to the fucking psyche ward for your admission. Were you so inadequate now that you couldn't even cook a simple meal? Apparently so.

"O-Okay."

Alexia frowns and comes back over with alcohol wipes, antiseptic cream, and a box of plasters, placing her items on the table and gently tapping your chin to get you to look up at her.

"I love you, you know that?"

The words fell from her lips before she could stop them. Alexia maybe wasn't the most emotionally helpful person ever but she sure did try. She thought her saying that would comfort at least a small part of you, but she couldn't be more wrong. It planted the seed of an unforgivable idea in your head.

The realisation of what you had to do poured over you like cold water, washing away every ounce of the little remaining hope and positivity you had. A feeling akin to mourning settled in your heart, accompanied by the debilitating weight of this twisted entity in your mind seeping into your bones. Your body strained under the heaviness of it all, unable to capacitate for the burden of living life like this, only confirming that the thing you must do was your only solution. Your lower lip quivered as the thought consumed you, the devil in your head chanting it over and over and over and o-

"I do know." Your lips tug into a smile but your throat bobs to conceal the sobs bubbling at the surface. "I know that. I love you too."

For the remaining time you had with her, you would make sure she knew that too.

"Let's get you cleaned up, hm?"

It's silent between you both as she delicately cleans the wound before applying cream and wrapping it up in bandages. It's silent as she leads you to the sofa, silent as she ordered your meal for you from one of the common takeaways you always got together. It's silent as you wait for it to come. It's less silent when Alexia turns on Netflix and opts for a new TV show for you both to watch together. It's still fairly silent even as you sit beside her, back stiff and straight beside the woman whose heart you were soon to break.

Alexia has never loathed quietness more than she does right now. It was an occurrence she valued at any other point in her life; watching football, reading, studying a game, relaxing in a post-match bath, going on a solitary walk to gain some peace of mind. But here, in this moment beside you, her skin crawls at the unbearable stillness of the room. Sure, she did enjoy silence with you too, but it felt like the unavoidable elephant in the room was stomping on her heart with every beat of her heart. There was a hidden agenda in the belly of the beast attacking her, and for some reason it felt like she was running out of time to put out the fire.

Her spiralling was interrupted when the buzzer of your apartment rang through the room, letting you know there was someone outside of the apartment complex without a fob to enter the building. Alexia reluctantly gets up from the sofa to let them in and hovers by the door to wait for the delivery driver to find your flat. She keeps her eyes on you, subtly watching you attentively, but even if she stood face-to-face with you, noses touching and breaths mingling, you wouldn't have a clue she was there. Your senses were incredibly warped and you were so far detached from reality, it felt like you and Alexia were two worlds apart.

What's at stake right now is something that's much bigger than the both of you. The dynamic around you may as well have a 'fragile: handle with care' sticker slapped on it, except, even that wouldn't have stopped the hands of the puppets controlling the world from acting so cruelly. You'd taken constant blows for quite some time now with no respite. Just as you started to recover from one punch, another would come to hit you square in the face.

"Hey." Alexia lightly knocks on your forehead with her knuckle. Every concerned glance from the woman in front of you felt like a jab at your body, slowly working you down until you gave in. "You are here, but you are not here."

You blink gormlessly up at her, your shoulders lifting in a careless shrug before you took back control of your mind.

"Food's here?" You force a smile, taking the paper bag from her hand and walking on shaking legs to the kitchen. You get plates and cutlery out, dishing up your meals before joining Alexia back on the couch, the taller woman now the one seemingly stuck in her head. "Ale, your meal."

"Ah, thank you." She leans in to quickly kiss your cheek when you sit beside her again.

The blonde woman has one more trick up her sleeve to try and bring you out of your shell, and it's one she hardly ever played.

Immediately, she begins to babble on about her day and her teammates and her family and whatever new antics Mapi and the youngsters had got up to, going abnormally overboard with the amount of anecdotes she was spewing out. Everybody knew Alexia was not a talkative person, and she only ever acted like this when she was in a rare giddy mood. And that really was rare.

The Alexia on display so far tonight was not in a giddy mood. She was happy, of course she was, but factor in the concern she'd shown for you tonight and the giddiness she had not portrayed at all even recently, something was off. It threw you completely off-kilter, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why she was doing this.

"I'll tell my Dad about us tomorrow." You blurted out, interrupting another of her rambles. It's kind of the truth, not all of it, and it's not the biggest decision you've made for yourself tonight, but you owed her something at least for putting up with you.

"Que?" She frowns. Out of all things she'd expected you to say tonight, that wasn't one of them.

"You're talking a lot because you want to know why I'm acting weird. It's because I'm thinking about telling my Dad about us, I'm scared to do it but you told Eli so I'll tell my Dad." You explained, pushing your food around your plate as Alexia processes your words for a moment.

"You don't have to do that if you don't want to. I don't mind, I know things haven't been... haven't been great between you both since your Mu-"

"Okay, but he's still my Dad." You cut her off again. You're not in the mood to discuss what she was about to bring up.

"You don't owe him anything, amor. Sure, he's your Dad, but you said it yourself only a few weeks ago; he's an idiot. No one should treat their child the way he's treated you after they've just lost their Mami."

There. She said it anyway.

"Alexia, I know you're just trying to stick up for me, but please don't go there. This has nothing to do with my Mum." Another partial lie.

The subconscious, realistic part of you knows every issue you've had in the last two years has everything to do with... her. But right now, the impulsive side that has been at the forefront of your mind ever since it happened wants to blame everything on the world around you and not your flaws that you've ignored all this time. Anyone could see that your refusal to sit with your grief and just feel was your Achilles' heel.

"Okay. I'm sorry for mentioning it. But I am absolutely on your side, amor, I'm always on your side. So if you want to tell your Dad, tell him. If you want me there next to you or if you want me out of the country whilst you do it, then I'll do it. I will do whatever you want me to." Alexia tells you, her voice pleading as earnest swirled around the eyes that bore down into you.

Well, you thought, that's good to know.

"Thank you." You smile ever so slightly, dropping your fork and placing a hand on her leg. You squeeze her knee three times, one more chance for her to understand the love you held for her.

"De nada, amor. Now eat up, please."

The pair of you spent the rest of the evening delicately dancing around the untamed elephant from earlier whose patience was wearing thin at the prospect of going entirely avoided for the night. Conversation topics were kept light, finally giving you a brief reprieve from the onslaught of your mind, and Alexia kept her arms tight as they wrapped around you. It was as if with each breath you let out or with each twitch of your body, she held on tighter and tighter, every hint of movement from you a reminder of your presence and how much she ineffably adored you.

Yet, the sun began to set, indicating that it was almost time for Alexia to leave for the night. She had to get up early tomorrow whilst you had the day off, and initially Alexia always agreed that when this was the case, you should sleep separately so that you could rest. However, as she collected her bag and slipped on her shoes, she kept her movements purposely slow to delay her departure. The last thing she wanted to do was leave you alone.

"Are you sure you will be okay tonight?" Alexia sighs, a reluctant hand on the door handle.

"I'll be okay." You answer simply, hesitating for a moment to decide on your goodbye gesture, before settling for a lone kiss on the cheek.

"Call me, immediately, if that changes. If you wake up in the night and need me, I will be straight here. If you call me in the middle of training, I will be straight here. Please. Don't suffer on your own."

Oh Alexia. If only you weren't so late.

"Everything will be okay, Ale." You tell her, desperately trying to disguise the emotion threatening to break through. "Te veo pronto, sí?"

"Sí. I love you." Alexia smiles, pressing a lingering kiss to your forehead, then opening the door.

"I know." Is all you can say now to that declaration. And fuck, if Alexia hadn't felt so uneasy in her life after that.

Somehow, you managed to sleep that night. Maybe it was your body allowing you to build up all the strength you need for the day ahead, because your life was about to be irreversibly changed. And the worst was yet to come.

"Hi Dad." You murmur quietly from your place in the corner of your sofa, legs tucked underneath you as you pitifully hold onto a cushion for comfort.

"Well, it's been a while since I've heard from you." The man on the other side of the phone chuckles spitefully. "Remembered who I was again?"

"Hm. How have you been?" The best way to deal with such a man was to ignore his behaviour, in the hopes he dropped the act when you didn't give a reaction. Perhaps you underestimated him.

"That's a loaded question, you know that. It's all everyone asks nowadays and I'm fucking sick of it." He grumbled, and for the first time in a while it sounded like his anger wasn't directed at you.

"I do know that." You stated.

"So why ask then? Still as dense as ever, I see."

Okay, well, clearly you judged him too soon.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing." You mumble insecurely, a frown settling on your face as you try to hold back the emotions you knew would spill out sooner rather than later.

"Don't lie to me." He snapped through gritted teeth. "You couldn't give a shit about me if your life depended on it. Be honest and tell me what you want, I have better things to do than talk to you."

"I... I have a girlfriend, Dad. Here in Barcelona, I've met someone." You reveal with a hint of a smile on your face.

All morning, you'd been in over your head on whether to tell him about Alexia. Part of you thought it was futile since you had already decided on your future with her, or rather, the lack thereof. But the naïve and childish part of you painfully thought he could be happy. That wasn't a concept this man had understood as of late, so it was a wonder why you'd thought he'd be happy for you. Especially given his latest behaviour, and his long-standing opinion on your sexuality. If only your Mother was here.

"Wow. Because I couldn't give you the life you want after your Mum left-" he could never say the true reason for her absence out loud, "-you look for it elsewhere? What did I tell you about doing that? A home can't be a person, kiddo, you need to stop looking for that. Your Mother wasn't home, I'm not home, this new 'girlfriend' isn't home, a person cannot be a fucking home! You're just desperate to fill in the love that's absent in the death of your Mother. Get a fucking grip of yourself and get over it, this 'girlfriend' business. You know your Mum would never have stood for this."

Silence.

Of all the words in the world, across all languages and cultures, over all periods of time, there was only one description to be used of how you felt right now. In your little flat in the heart of Barcelona, cowering in the corner of the couch, you felt suffocated. Any semblance of clarity, peace, hope, love - suffocated, by the words of your father, by the events that had changed you for the worse throughout your life, by the burden of simply just living.

Except, the words 'living' and 'simply' could never be used in the same sentence, because that wasn't a possibility. Every aspect of human nature wasn't simple, that's the beauty in it. The thousands of tiny mechanical functions in your body that allow you to breathe, the hundreds of muscles exerting themselves daily for one small step, the twitches and spasms of nerve endings to feel just a little alive. And despite it only requiring thirteen miniscule muscles to smile compared to forty-seven to frown, the latter felt so much easier. The weight of a smile had never seemed so damning, so suffocating.

The promise of life was a unique one, that's common knowledge and yes, life is beautiful, but any glorification of the struggle of living was inefficacious, nothing could extinguish the flame of the fire inside of your mind that was already uncontrollably burning through your self-preservation. No promise of light one day shining in your world again was worth it; you were merely a shadow of the people you loved.

"Okay Dad." You choke out. Even uttering one word was such a fucking exhausting challenge. "I... I planned on breaking up with her anyway. I think I want to come home."

You expected the feeling of verbalising your plans to be freeing, but the gravity of what you were going to do grounded you so humbly it almost almost stopped your heart entirely.

"Wow, I mean, if I had known that you would listen to my opinion and follow my advice so quick, I would have given it more often." He laughed maliciously, his way of celebrating your fall from grace.

"Can I come home?" You can't stop yourself in time from asking that question in such a begging tone. Another victory for him.

"I don't think that's a good idea, sweetheart. If you're that desperate, maybe stay with your grandparents. Perhaps they'll want you." He sighed as he said it as if he was in a rush, acting like speaking to his daughter was such a chore. "Listen kiddo, you done now? I've gotta go."

"Yep, I'm done. Can I see you if I come home?" The question was paired with a hasty swipe away of tears as if the man hundreds of miles away could see them.

"Oh honey. You fascinate me. You're at danger of almost being interesting now, you know that?" He laughed once more at his own words before hanging up.

Silence again. Such a plaguing thing.

The weight of the conversation you just had collapsed down on you, a whirlwind of emotions surging through you as a result of it. Each beat of your heart served as a reminder of every word spat at you from the man you once thought held all the love you had to give, the thump against your chest echoing his disappointment and distaste for you. A daughter's love for their father was undoubtedly one of the most dangerous things to themselves, proving that point yourself as you mentally scrambled to find a way to mend the fractured bond, yet each time coming up empty, feeling powerless and minute in the face of your father's disappointment. Every response from that man carved deep wounds of guilt and regret into every crevice of your mind.

Behind a facade of stoicism, a torrent of emotions fulminated throughout your body - a spiteful mix of every insecurity, every doubt, every shattered dream, it all coming together to form the final piece of the puzzle that was needed to make the decision to break out of your life. There was no other choice.

Outwardly, there wasn't a hint of such breakage shown anywhere on your body. And that's how it had to be, that's how you had to be. Completely numb to it all until you had escaped this turmoil.

By 2pm, everything was different.

Flight booked. Every suitcase you owned bursting at the seams, waiting by the door. Apartment tenancy ripped up. Your resignation handed in to your work. Every bit of furniture, every little trinket, all of it ready to be left behind. Despite it all, the most heartbreaking symbol of your new start, was the cardboard box of Alexia's belongings sat in the passenger seat of your car as you drove, waiting to be dropped off discreetly outside her door.

Your life was the perfect image to sum up how quick things can change. Twenty-four hours ago, you were walking to the local supermarket to pick up the stuff to make a perfect meal for you and your girlfriend to eat and have a quiet, relaxed evening together. Now? You were driving to said girlfriend's apartment, equipped with the words to tear your lives apart.

Oh, how things change.

In the blink of an eye, you were parked up outside her apartment building. You had the key to her apartment in your hand and the code to enter the complex memorised for one more use. You failed to notice her car parked in her usual space as you walked through the car park. The heaviness of the box was nothing compared to the heaviness in your chest of what you were about to do.

Ears ringing, eyes blurred with unshed tears, throat burning and constricted, your bones aching under the weight of purely just existing, all of it immensely overwhelming. But you were numb still. Numb and out of tune with your feelings, because you had to be. Otherwise, all of this couldn't happen. There was no way any of this would be possible if you just listened to what your heart wanted. No, that devil on your shoulder had gotten its way once again.

"Oh, what are you doing here?"

Fuck.

You had truly done it this time, because here Alexia was, standing in the doorway of her apartment as you froze at the sight of her.

"What are you doing here?" You ask frantically, desperately praying for her attention to be anywhere but the box of her stuff in your arms.

"Well, this is my apartment, amor. I just got back from training but I left my phone in my car." Alexia answers, an eyebrow raised down at you. Of course she'd catch on that something was wrong. She always did. It was one of the things you loved her for. "What's this? Are you a delivery driver now?"

She laughs to herself as she says it, taking the box from your arms and placing it on the floor. You're still stuck to the spot, eyes wide in fear at what she was about to find, and your heart thumps angrily against your chest in protest, trying to get you to react in some way. But it's too late. Alexia has already opened the box and began to read the letter in there before you could stop her.

The smile on her face immediately dissipates at the first line.

"To Ale, I'm sorry... what do you mean?" She asks, glancing up at you briefly before continuing to read it.

That's when your body finally decides to react. You slowly back away from the woman in front of you, but Alexia grabs your wrist tightly to stop you from running away.

"No, you will not leave my sight right now. Explain this fucking letter, what is going on?" Alexia attempts to sound commanding, but there's a certain glisten to her eyes and a lump in her throat. "What is going on? Tell me, now, please."

"I... I'm sorry, Alexia." You croak out, rushing to wipe the tears already falling with the sleeve of your sweater. "I am sorry, you have to know that."

"Sorry about what!?" Alexia shouts, then takes a deep breath to compose herself momentarily. "Come inside, sit down, and please can we talk?"

"Everything I have to say is in the letter, Alexia, I-"

"No, no it is not. This letter is hardly a whole page. You've come to my apartment with a box of my stuff and a letter that starts with the words 'I'm sorry', I'm not letting you leave." Alexia says, and you have no choice but to listen to her. However, she softens for a moment, and the lost look on her face tugs on every one of your heart strings. She takes one of your hands and squeezes it three times, resulting in another stream of tears from yourself. "Please. Whatever is going on, give us a chance to solve it. I need you to explain what's happened so I can help you, amor. Please."

You relent easily, forever at her mercy, and follow her into her apartment. She leaves the stacked box by the front door, completely unbothered by it - in fact, she doesn't ever want to look inside it if this conversation goes the way she thinks it'll go. She's kicking herself mentally, her mind already skimming over every interaction she's had with you recently, desperately trying to plot a point in time where your attitude had changed. It's easy for her to do so, the moment jumps out almost immediately. If only she hadn't been so scared, so cautious, maybe she could have solved this before it was too late.

"What do you want me to say, Ale?" You sigh exasperatedly as you sit on the edge of her sofa, eyes fixated on your fidgeting hands.

"What do I want you to say? Amor, I want you to be honest and explain why you're sorry, why you've come over with all my stuff, why you've written me this letter. It's all come out of nowhere, I have no idea what's going on and I just want you to clue me in. Yesterday we were laughing together and having a nice evening, and now you're... I don't even want to say it." Alexia laughs nervously as she speaks, her shoulder stuck up in a shrug as her hands gesture eratically.

"It's okay, I'll say it for you." Your false facade takes over, body armoured with a hard exterior. "I'm leaving, Ale. I'm leaving Barcelona, leaving Spain."

To hear you say those words were perhaps the greatest pain Alexia has ever felt in her life.

"Leaving... leaving me?" She whispers quietly, the question punctuated with a gulp as she swallows her emotions.

She sounds eerily similar to a young, innocent child who's just lost all they've ever known. It makes you wonder for a brief second if you're a sick individual for causing such pain, but you shun those thoughts away for a later date, because right now you need all the feigned courage you can muster up.

"Yes." The ease with which you say it sends shivers down her spine. It's the hardest sentence you've ever had to say, and it's just one word - once more an example of how life can never be conformed to simplicity.

"Why are you being so cold? This is not the woman I know." Alexia practically pleads, inching closer to you on the sofa. Her hands land on your knees, but you're too far in to back out now.

"I don't know who I am anymore, Alexia. I need time and space to figure my shit out, that's what is best for me right now and that's why I have to go." She scoffs in your face once you've finished, and that's the moment this conversation goes far more downhill you could have expected.

"What about me? What about what's best for me? You're leaving me behind!"

"Leaving you behind? You're acting like a sad dog that I've just abandoned in the middle of nowhere! You were perfectly fine in your life, your very successful and established life might I add, before I came along and you'll be better off without me!" You snap back. This is not the direction you thought this would go. "Why can't you accept the fact I need to leave?"

"Because I fucking love you! I love you and I don't want to live a life that doesn't have you in it! But maybe I should grow out of that opinion since it seems so easy for you to turn off your feelings for me, so easy for you to be so selfish at the flick of a switch."

"Selfish? I'm being selfish?" You repeat her words back to her with an outraged laughter that sounds all too familiar to you. Is this who you've turned into? "I'm being selfish for choosing what's best for me? I'm being selfish for wanting to take time on my own to figure my life out? I'm being selfish for wanting to take time to grieve my own, dead Mother?"

Alexia's face falls as soon as those words come out of your mouth. Never in her life had a sentence caused such a visceral reaction from her because it feels like someone's just plunged a dagger right into her heart. She'd been too panicked, too focused, on her own feelings to even wonder why you had made this decision. She had been the selfish one for jumping to conclusions and now her lethal arguments had completely tanked the conversation. The possibility that there was no coming back from her vicious assumptions instilled a deeper, darker fear in her than she had ever felt in her life.

"No, no, I didn't-" She begins to dig herself out of the hole she finds herself in, but you're in no mood to entertain her begging.

"Good one. Really funny, that." You stand up and go to walk away, but not without one last attempt from Alexia to stop you.

"I didn't mean that, I swear, I am just so confused and scared and-"

"Do you not think I'm scared too? This will be the second time I've uprooted my life and regretted everything I have ever done. I'm terrified to leave, terrified to find out what's waiting for me at home, terrified to figure maybe this is all I am and that there's no better side of myself to find." Your voice trembles with a mix of fear and fury. "I've realised that throughout our whole relationship, from the moment I stepped into this country, I've been someone that I'm not. Losing my Mum was losing the biggest part of myself, and everything I've done from then 'til now has just been a poor attempt at filling in the hole in my heart-"

"S-so, what, you're saying our relationship was fake?" Alexia splutters out. You pause at her words, completely caught off-guard by her utterly stupid and inept fight back.

"That's what you caught from all that?" You ask, dumbfounded. "Right. Because it's always about you, Alexia, isn't it? This whole conversation has just been you talking about yourself. Have you even properly heard what I've said? Have you read more than the first line of my letter?" The guilty look on her face says it all. "That's what I thought."

"But I... I know what it's like to lose a parent, amor, I can help you!"

"Wow. For the sake of us both, don't go there, Alexia. Don't." You fix her a warning glare, shaking your arm out of the grasp of her hand.

"You can't leave. You can't, I won't let you. It's not right." She speaks sternly again now, a final plea for your relationship.

"Oh, fuck off Alexia. You have the emotional maturity of a teenage boy. I'm done with this now. Good luck at the World Cup this summer."

You walk out and slam her door shut without looking back.

Alexia's life had just taken a nosedive, because a breakup was absolutely not on her agenda for the day. The hand that had grabbed your arm earlier tingled with the stain of your touch and certain areas of the room were tainted by the lingering scent of your perfume. One conversation and you had vanished from her life - an excruciating result caused by her own incompetency to act like a decent human being.

For some time after you had left, she had been stuck rooted to her sofa, her mental temporarily ruined by the events of the day. A traumatic event had occurred, this was a natural reaction, to go into shock. To be so damaged by something that all she could do was sit and be consciously unconscious to the world around her until her body and mind could recover.

There was one phrase that ran circles around her mind. It isn't fair. What that defiance was directed at, she wasn't so sure yet. At first it had been you, but as the clouds cleared a little, it was obvious that it wasn't. Despite her words earlier and how accusing they came out, she didn't blame you. Not one bit. No, her anger was aimed at the so called 'fate' bullshit that everyone championed so often. How can people praise such a phenomenon when it had brought so much evil into people's lives? It felt like everything came at the price of something, and that's not fair.

For Alexia? It felt like her career came with the price of her Father. Everything she had done was because of him, and he couldn't even be here to see it. No, because fate or destiny or whatever other nickname it had, had taken that opportunity away from her. It isn't fair. For you? If anyone asked you, in the future when you're in your rocking chair, a knitted blanket draped over you and the waves of the ocean lapping away in front of your eyes, you'd say that in this period of time you had gained the world for the price of your soul. This dichotomy of good and evil sometimes felt like it wasn't worth the fight because in cases like this, it just wasn't fair.

The realisation of it all left a sour taste in Alexia's mouth. But something seemed to snap in her, some higher power finally giving her a backbone, and she sprung into action. You didn't deserve any of the stuff that had happened to you, and she sure as hell wasn't going to be another name on that list. One of her worst fears, a view shared by all of humanity, was to remember someone she loved in such a gut-wrenchingly awful way that it tarnished her entire memory of them. That's something she couldn't do with you. If you were to end this, it had to be on good terms.

So, she grabbed her keys and headed down to her car, where her phone still was. Alexia was a determined woman; when she put her mind to something, she got it done. This would be no different.

Call after call, after call, after call, came through on your phone from the one woman you probably least expected. There was only so long you could hold her off because, after all, you were once in a relationship with the woman, meaning you got a front row seat to her persistance.

"Hi, uh, Alexia. What do you want?" You say when you answer, finally.

"We have to talk more." Alexia rushes out quickly, for lack of better words and composure.

"I don't know if I want that after what happened earlier." You state in a defensive tone. But secretly, you craved nothing more.

"I know, and I am so so sorry for all that. It was so selfish and awful of me, I regretted every word that came out of my mouth the second I said it. I just... can we talk again? Please?" She begs, her hand fidgeting against the steering wheel of her car as tears silently rolled down her cheeks. "I would hate myself if I didn't at least try for this, amor, let me try."

"The decision is final, Ale, you can't change it. I'm sorry. You said yesterday that you would do whatever I wanted you to do. Well, this is what I need you to do, Alexia. I need you to let me go."

"Okay." Alexia squeezes her eyes shut, tears spilling out the corners, and her clenched fist comes to rest against her forehead. "Can I see you one more time? So I can properly apologise? I have no other intentions than that, I promise. I just... I can't remember you that way. I can't remember us in the way we left it. It doesn't give us as people any respect and it does not do justice to the beauty of our relationship."

That was the tipping point for you. There's the woman you love.

"Okay." You smile and sit up in your bed where you previously lay in a cocoon of your own pity. "How about we meet on neutral grounds this time?"

"Let's do that." Alexia responds, and you can hear the smile in her voice.

Some time later, you found yourself walking along the promenade of the beach, looking for where Alexia said she was seated on one of the benches. It was a chilly evening with no help from the sea, so you had your hands tucked into your coat pockets and your chin hidden under the zip of your coat. Alexia had spotted you long ago, a content smile on her face at the all too familiar sight of you and your distaste for the cold. You recognise her soon after, taking a deep breath before approaching her.

"Hi." You mumble, muffled by your jacket and the wind whipping around you. Alexia hears it of course.

"Hi. Sit down, please?" Alexia taps her hand on the wooden slats of the bench beside her, and you quickly follow suit. "I, uh... got you this."

She hands over a takeaway cup of hot chocolate. Your favourite.

"Thank you. Something to keep my hands warm." You say, happy to see her laugh quietly and nod.

"Exactly why I got it."

The pair of you sit in silence for a while, encapsulated by the serenity of the sky and the elegance of the ocean. Strangely, you realise, the two things resemble you and Alexia. Two things of beauty that never quite meet, never quite mend, just a parallel that reflects each other. You can't tell if that's a horrifying allusion or a calming one.

"So, what's this then, a... a post-mortem of our relationship?" You joke, giggling when Alexia scrunches her nose at the suggestion.

"I mean... you could say that." She shudders as she says it, not quite at peace with the new revelation. She's not sure she ever will be.

"I have to go, Alexia. I... it's so hard leaving you behind. It's the hardest decision I've ever made, but it's one I have to make. I hope you know that."

"I do. I do know that. I want you to know I understand. I'll never be... content with it, but... it's a necessary evil." Alexia has her eyes cast down on her coffee cup, fiddling with the lid. You notice and take hold of one of her hands, intertwining your fingers perhaps for one final time.

"It is. I've got no energy to fight anymore. I need to sit with my emotions and all that shit," You pause as you sigh dramatically, making her laugh once more. "So that I can figure out who I am after all this. Doing that whilst in a relationship isn't fair on either of us. It'll only lead to something more soul destroying, no matter how hard this conversation is."

"I know." Alexia purses her lips and nods, finding the strength to look at you. A genuine smile breaks out onto her face. "I had a feeling something was wrong a little while ago. I guess I'm just... angry. That I can't solve it."

"I'm angry that I can't solve it." You repeat, a sad smile on your face. "There's just a lot wrong with me, I think. And I can't burden you with it all. I have a lot of baggage I drag along and there's an awful lot of cracks in my mind-"

"There's cracks in everything, amor, that's how the light shines in."

You had half a mind to berate her for interrupting you again, but you find yourself at a loss for words. Why were you leaving this woman again?

"I'll value you forever, Ale. Nothing could make me change that, even if we left things at what happened before. You're the most astounding person I've ever met, and even when I'm breaking your heart, you still treat me better than anyone else. If we forget what happened at your apartment." You tease, the both of you chuckling lightly.

"It's hard to hate you when you're breaking my heart so gently." Alexia states. "I'll always love you. It's probably not the right thing to say but it's the truth."

"No, I... I'll always love you too." You respond, absolutely certain. Despite the predicament you both find yourselves in, Alexia finds every bit of relief and closure she could ever need in that one simple sentence.

"When do you... when do you leave?" She asks with a sniffle.

"I fly out later tonight." You answer quietly.

"Will you come back one day?" It's the one thing she knows she probably shouldn't say, but she can't resist. She has to know.

"I don't know, to be honest." She turns away and nods slowly. You squeeze her hands three times.

"If you do, will you let me know?"

You can't promise her that, and she knows it.

"I will." You smile softly up at her.

You both fall into silence once more. This one feels a little less suffocating than those of the past. There's still so much more to say, but as your head falls to rest on Alexia's shoulder and you both look out at the view that had been the background of your relationship, neither of you can name a reason to interrupt the peace that's settled. It's perhaps more peace than either of you had felt in a long time.

The thing is, about the ocean and the sky, is that they do meet. They're one and the same in their own essence, and in the distance, they do eventually meet. And the sun will rise again. Two inevitable occurrences that form at the hands of a little thing called fate. Or destiny. Or whatever it is.

[ticktokrobotsnot]

Cooking Up Speculations

Pairing: Carmen Berzatto x fem!reader

Summary: With y/n rushing around to doll herself up for an event, it's only a matter of time before things get out of hand.

Word Count: 6.7k

Notes: I have never written something like this before, and I thought I would give it a shot. I haven't checked the grammar, but if Google Docs missed anything, that's none of my business.

warning: alcohol and mentions of throwing up out of nervousness but no one actually does, or even comes close.

__

The prep work was close to done and for once in The Bear’s short existence it was not a screaming disastrous mess. Everyone was on track and prepared, the sauces were sitting in the fridge, the cakes were waiting to be sliced, the rolls were warm and ready to be cut open and it was all thanks to (y/n) coming in extra early this morning. She had started the prep work for most of the chefs that had yet to arrive in the effort of softening the blow. She would be abandoning them for the dinner rush on what was predicted to be a very busy day.

What sport was being played? Who is playing? And who won were all unknown to y/n but all she knew was that the restaurant was going to be filled with rowdy and obnoxiously drunk men who were going to make everyone’s life miserable and she was going to get a “get out of jail free card”. She felt a small pang of guilt for basically leaving them for dead but sacrifices had to be made and if she could cover anyone’s shift with little to no notice she was allowed one day to herself.

The restaurant was expecting the dinner rush to crawl in at about 6:30 pm which left y/n about an hour and a half to get ready. Y/n was finishing up cutting up some garnishes so that everything would be perfect. The sounds of a spoon slapping skin was approaching and y/n knew that she needed to state her case convincingly so she could leave early. Fighting the urge to not bring anything up, work through her shift and miss her event was deviously tempting but with a deep inhale she put the knife down and turned on the balls of her feet.

Her (e/c) eyes meet his and before she could choke out a lame excuse as to why she was blocking him she spit out, “I was wondering if I could have a word with you.”

Carmen looked expectantly, he thought she was going to ask him to taste test the braised beef she had just finished prepping, or ask an obscure question about the food science between ingredients. Y/n had once asked if he found it annoying during one of their late night clean up sessions and he said it was a nice change of pace and he really didn’t mind. How could he when you were so eager to learn?

Y/n didn’t want to do this out here, people are working and if she was going to beg, which is how she expected the next 5 minutes to go, she didn’t want any witnesses. The damage that would do to her pride would force her to change her name, move to Vegas and make money by selling timeshares to idiot tourists.

She cleared her throat, “Privately, chef”

Although his face didn’t betray anything, y/n knew that she had caught him off guard. After a while of spending most of their time together cleaning the kitchen after hours and talking about every minute detail in their lives, y/n knew that she had raised a few alarm bells in Carmen’s head. If she paid attention she could hear the sounds of a car alarm blaring in the back of his head signifying that he thought something was wrong. He always assumed the worst possible would happen, like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He wordlessly guided y/n to his office. The door was closed and it felt like they were transported to a different dimension where there was nothing outside but the vacuum of space, it was just the two of them in this room and if one of them were to leave the outside pressure would make their body implode and smash into the size of a ping pong ball. She really didn’t want any of them to leave.

With a silent inhale, “I have to leave early today.”

Carmen softened the crease in between his eyebrows, “ Yeah sure, take the day off.” The imaginary crisis was averted and the car alarm stopped blaring in Carmen’s head.

Y/n was surprised that he was being so easy today. Y/n had yet to ask for a day off but she had spent last night imagining the worst possible scenarios possible, she would get yelled at, rejected, or worst he would guilt her for leaving them to deal with the upcoming shit storm.

“Honestly, I was expecting a bit more of a fight.” Y/n joked, “I even made this whole pitch to convince you.”

“ I can hear the pitch so that it doesn’t go to waste,” Carmen said with a glint of humour in his eyes.

Carmen was giving her an inch and so she might as well take the whole mile. Knowing she was about to push her luck and Carmen’s patience a bit more she continued.

“I came in at 4am and started everyone’s prep and helped Tina with the sandwiches during lunch, and did all of Syd’s prep because she had that doctor’s appointment. And I think it's cruel and unusual that you wouldn’t give me a day off when all I did today was prove how much of an angel I am. The least I can get is a measly day off…What you're not gonna give me a day off you selfish prick? You see this is what always happens, little guys always get pushed aside by the Big man. Carmen you're supposed to be better than those billionaire pricks who probably hunt their interns for sport. And I think it's so unfair that I grace you and this business with my presence and I don't even get a single day off- ” Carmen let out an exhale from his nose and covered his mouth with his hand to hide his smirk. The move had almost made y/n fall to her knees, the way his hair was tousled, the way he looked up at her with his sharp blue eyes, the tattoo flexing on his hands that were a calloused and dry from years of washing them nearly a hundred times a day, the veins trailing up from his hands to under his white shirt.

“Okay, I get gist.”

Y/n knew he didn’t ask for an explanation but she wanted to keep him here for just a bit longer.

“I have this thing I have to go to and I live too far away to go home and change so I need your office to get ready. I would get changed and stuff in the bathroom but the lighting is really bad, the outlets don't work, it’s smelly-”

After a quick glance at his watch he realised that he had a few vendors coming by and he needed to get back to the kitchen. “I know, that bathroom is a real shit show. I told Fak to fix it but nothing he fixes lasts for very long. The office is yours.” Carmen rushed out.

“I'm going to be here till 12 so if there is anything you need me to do before I leave just give me a holler.”

Carmen gave a nod of appreciation before his eyes lingered on her face for a second before grabbing a few papers and a clipboard and then opening the door to leave. It was stupid and childish but y/n held her breath wondering if he would be crushed to the size of a ping pong ball as soon as he left but when she heard him yelling at Richie she knew that the “alone in space” fantasy had died.

Y/n slipped out and went to her locker where she pulled out a dress, makeup and a straightening iron. She had an hour and a chance to make herself look like she just came out of a Mattel box and it was a daunting task for someone who didn’t have much experience dressing up.

Makeup was a bit of a disaster at first because she didn’t want to ruin any of Carmy’s papers but after she accidentally dabbed a bit of concealer on a light bill she just stopped giving a fuck and finished up. The hair was tricky, the outlet was near the ground and she had to crouch to straighten her hair.

The last and most daunting task was the dress because y/n was about to strip in her bosses office and although she had dreams about something this amazing, the reality was much less sexy. In a small burst of paranoia she rolled the chair over to the door so no one would walk in by accident and quickly changed. In the back of her mind all she was thinking about was the small glimmer of hope that Carmy would be the one to walk in. In reality, it would be Rich or Fak because boundaries were a foreign concept to the both of them.

And with 10 minutes to spare, y/n was done. She sprayed some perfume and hyped herself up to leave. She knew she would get teased so she wanted a smooth exit, an Irish goodbye would be perfect, fingers crossed hoping that Richie was out back so she would get out before he made these stupid jokes.

After a few deep breaths, y/n picked up her things and opened the door. The coast was clear and she made a beeline to the lockers to grab her purse, change her shoes and go. She would leave most of her stuff, because if you want to survive you have to be light, like those firefighters that ditch their equipment so that they don't get burned alive. Everyone looked busy and with a quick once over, y/n tried to walk through the kitchen. And although women and heels have had centuries of history, the heels still managed to betray her at the very end. The long sound of heel on tile brought Syd’s head up. Y/n eyes widened as she shook her head as to signal to Syd to drop it but Syd let out a playful gasp and Y/n knew that the jig was up.

“You look amazing.”

And a sea of eyes were looking at y/n.

“You get all dressed up for me?” Syd joked and for a split second y/n wondered if she could make a run for it before she realised that she would fall and crack her head open.

“Who else?” Y/n joked back hoping to get out before she was held captive by their questions.

“You look so nice, where are you headed?” Tina said as she came closer and dragged you closer to everyone.

“Umm- I was actually going to-”

“You know who you look like?” One of those women who seduces James Bond at a casino.” Sweeps commented unhelpfully. A hum of agreement was shared among the crew. Y/n’s face grew warm.

“So where are you going?”

“A date, women don't dress like that if it's not for a date” Ebra chimed in.

Another gasp, “ IS it a date, is he handsome?” Sydney probed.

“Actually, I'm not- '' Y/n tried to finish before she was interrupted.

“What type of car does he drive?”

“We'll see when he picks her up. When is he picking you up?”

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU CLOWN JABBERING ABOUT '' Richie burst through the door to see what all the commotion was about and he looked like he was in utter disbelief.

“I didn’t know that it was possible for you could look like that”

Y/n was slightly offended.

“You normally look like death.” Richie laughed. Scratch that y/n was very offended.

“I could look like this everyday if I wasn’t in front of a stove, you clown.”

Ignoring her, Richie asked the room,“ Where is she headed?”

“A date��, Sweeps added.

“I'm going to my friends-” y/n tried to interject.

“A date huh, our little y/n is all grown up now. Soon we’ll be sending her off to college.” Wiping a fake tear and leaning on Tina for mock support, “They leave the nest so soon, it was like it was just yesterday when I saw her struggling to walk.”

“It WAS yesterday and I was only struggling because I hit my knee on the shelfs in the walk-in.”

“Who’s the guy?” Richie asked

“ Your dad.” Y/n knew it was childish and unoriginal but she was too flustered to be a bit more creative.

Richie ignores her and continues, “You know what you look like? You look like one of those girls who kills Johns”

“Are you saying I look like a prostitute?”

“A classy one for like the president and shit.”

“or an ambassador,” Ebra added.

“or a CEO,” Richie continued.

Y/n knew it was going to be tough but she wanted to get out before she was stuck forever.

“I have to go now, I’ll see you guys bright and early tomorrow. Richie you suck major ass. And just so you know, i'm not going on a-”

Carmen walked in with a clipboard and a pen not even sparing a glance up.

“Ok, I just got the beef delivered so we should have enough for Ebra till the end of the week.”

“Heard, chef”

“And Marcus”, who watched the whole thing and didn’t offer any help to y/n except the occasional chuckle.

“I have your eggs”

“Heard, chef”

Although no one said it, everyone was waiting for the moment that Carmen looked up and saw y/n. The dishwashers who never really left their stations shut off the water and were subtly watching this mess unfold.

It was the longest that y/n had seen Richie quiet. He just stared at Carmen, while hiding his mocking smile under the guise of rubbing his stubble.

“I know we are low on onions but the guy is coming in a bit so sit tight”

“Heard”

Maybe, y/n thought, she would be able to walk past Carmen unnoticed if she walked on the balls of her feet so that the heels made less noise. Y/n took a step forward to hightail it out of here so she could make it in time and even though the heel was a lot quieter then last time, the unusual silence in the kitchen made it impossible to disguise the sound.

The sound of heels on tiles brought Carmen back to reality.

He looked up and y/n didn’t know if she imagined it but she thought she saw him raise his eyebrows. And if she was really going to feed into her delusions, she would say that his eyes widened and his pupils dilated too.

All that came crashing down thought, because after a beat of silence barring the sounds of sizzling and bubbling. Carmen questioned, “I thought you would have left by now chef.”

“I got held back but I really do need to leave now. I'm going to miss you guys and I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.” And with a quick wave y/n brushed shoulders with Carmen as she left. The smell of her perfume lingered and Carmen felt a bit dizzy.

Carmen wanted to ask where y/n was going but he didn’t want to overstep any boundaries, not when the two of you have already gotten so close. Richie had different plans, “Hey cousin guess where y/n going?”

“I don’t know cousin, that isn’t really any of our buis-”

“She is going on a date”

“A hot one” Syd chirped

“With a nice car” Ebra added

Richie’s comment felt like a ton falling on his head. Now he felt a different type of dizziness. He quickly composed himself

“Chefs, we have a dinner rush coming, now is not the time.” Carmen said with a bit of an edge.

Richie led Carmen to the front under the guise of asking a question about the tablet. The crew looked around and shared a knowing snicker.

“I can't believe that you let her go like that?” Richie added. “Right now she is in some guy's car about to get wined and dined to high heaven while you wait here with your cock in your hand like some cuck.”

“ Cuck?” Carmen said with venom, it's like he was giving Richie a chance to take it back before he killed him.

“I would be fucken pissed. I wouldn’t let someone take my girl out like that, all dressed up for someone who isn't me”

For a second Carmen imagined you sitting across from your rich new date with the nice car and the handsome face and felt like throwing up. He was angry, he was angry with this “date”, he was angry at Richie for saying all that stupid shit to get a reaction, and embarrassingly enough he was angry at y/n. He had no right to be but he just couldn’t help it.

“Richie if you don’t knock it off, I’m going to send you flying out the fucking window”

“Yes, chef.” Richie mockingly replied.

And with a swift turn Carmen returned to the kitchen with a different temperament then he had 10 minutes ago.

The dinner rush was a nightmare, but the kitchen was hell. There wasn’t a single thing that didn’t set Carmen off. He wasn’t screaming like he was with the to-go orders but he was on edge. They could feel it when they had to remake dishes because he didn’t like them, or when they had to listen to him criticise innocuous things after housekeeping. When that dinner rush ended, the crew looked like they wanted to be anywhere else but there. The second the restaurant closed, chefs cleaned as fast as they could to get the hell out of there. It was the fastest they had cleaned since the morning rush with the pre-orders.

With a quick goodbye, everyone but Carmen left the restaurant hoping that he would be in a better mood tomorrow.

Carmen did what he did every night, got on his knees and scrubbed the floor with a towel. Carmen knew it was unfair and he knew he had no right to dictate what you did. You weren’t his and he waited too long. A part of him understood where y/n was coming from, during one of their late night conversations he had mentioned that he had never had a girlfriend and he didn’t really have the time. This conversation took place some time after the two had gotten close but before he realised that he might have liked her for quite some time. Things were different now and Carmen wanted more.

He tried his best to be understanding but the thought of y/n clinging onto someone else’s arm and laughing at their stupid unfunny joke, made him livid. What if they kiss? Or what if they sleep together?” That thought made him stop scrubbing and sit on the balls of his feet and throw the wet towel with an unnecessary amount of force to another corner of the kitchen. He couldn’t do this today, he couldn’t be here. He got up and cleaned up the towel and bucket of dirty soap water and walked home.

He ended his night with a nightcap hoping that he would fall asleep easily but it didn’t work. He spent a good amount of time staring at y/n contact hovering over the call button before flaking out because it was 2 in the morning and he had to get to work at 6:30. Maybe Richie was right and he was a coward but before he could think too long, sleep had overcome him.

The restaurant was a bit of a walk away from Carmen’s house but he never minded it before, it felt like a good buffer between “Home Carmen” and “Work Carmen”. Today was different, he couldn't not think about y/n and that annoying date of her’s so for the first time in his time in Chicago he listened to music on his way to work. The music was so loud that it was just obnoxious noise and allowed him to stop worrying for a few moments. Carmen couldn’t think about y/n without feeling a bit… he didn’t know how he felt he just knew it was not a great feeling.

Being the first one in the restaurant was not new to him but it felt strange that after 30 minutes he was still the only one there, normally y/n would be there by now asking Carmen about a baking show they both happened to catch the night before, or ask what he ate for dinner last night and breakfast this morning. Carmen would always fight the urge to lie and say that he cooked something magnificent when in reality he probably ate a bag of chips and drank some flat soda. One of the things that these AA meetings emphasised was honesty, to both himself and others, and even if it was embarrassing he told you the truth. You never really judged him because you did the same thing.

After sorting through fuck ton of bills, a few of which had brown power on them and one of them had a (s/c) smudge on the corner he heard a buzz in his pocket. He looked at it hoping it was you saying that you'll be there any second.

(Y/N): I'm so sorry to do this to you but I'm going to be a bit late today, not super late but like an hour. I have to grab my extra apron from my place and I'm a bit far from there. I'll be there by 8 the latest. Again, super sorry :(

Carmen read the text a few times to check if he read that right, you were going to be late because you weren't home and slept somewhere else and needed a change of clothes. Which translated to, you were with someone else, which means you might have done something with someone else. He just stared at the text for a few more seconds before he heard the sound of the front door opening, Carmen didn’t have to look to know it was Sydney. He snapped out of it and sent back an “ok”, lowercase just to be a bit petty. Was it immature? Yes. Did he regret it? Not really.

Y/n spent the rest of her food budget for the week yesterday in a drunken haze with an uber from one side of Chicago to the other. The bachelorette party was a success and y/n was glad that her friend had a good time at the fancy restaurant that she picked out. Y/n was trying to be responsible and limit herself to a few drinks but it's hard to say no to the bride to be and before she knew it she had to leave her car at the restaurant because they took her keys and y/n and her friends crammed into an uber headed towards one of the bridesmaids houses.

Y/n woke up in a hurry, she grabbed a random shirt and joggers from her friends closet because all she had was that dress, which now had wine spilled on it. She quickly gathered her things and texted the group chat that she had to leave early so she could get to work. They would read it when they woke up. Not repeating yesterday’s mistakes she took the train to the restaurant, got her keys back and drove at illegal speeds to get to her place where she took a shower, changed back into her friends clothes because she was way behind on laundry. She took one last look in the mirror before grabbing the apron and sprinting out the door to drive to work. She got there at 7:30am and she felt like death. The hangover was finally catching up to her, and she poured herself some water from the dispenser out front. She knew everyone was in the kitchen by now. She gave herself a few more seconds of quiet before she opened the door to the kitchen and gave a quick hello and rushed towards the lockers to put her stuff in and change into her non-slip shoes and apron.

Richie raised his eyebrows. This was too good, it was too easy, all he needed was for Carmy to get out of that depressing office of his to bear witness to this.

Richie was the first to ask, “New shirt? Never seen it before? ”

“Good Morning to you Richie, if you need to know I borrowed it from my friend.”

Carmen wanted to rush out as soon as he heard your voice but he refrained. He promised himself that he would give you a bit of space to respect you and your date/boyfriend. That didn’t stop him from listening through the door.

“Some friend you got there, real close.” Richie jokes

y/n didn’t know what he was talking about, “Friends tend to be close, Richie. You would know that if you had any.” Y/n barked back.

“How was it?” Syd asked as she sliced what looked like gallons of onions.

Y/n knew that last night was probably a good night but she was so drunk then and so hungover now that it all made her a bit nauseous to think about.

“Honestly, I don't remember much but I do know it was fun.”

“Hungover?” Tina asked.

“Very, my whole body feels like i was run over by a semi”

Marcus handed y/n a gatorade before going back to work with the cakes.

“You come back to us in new clothes, showered, late, hungover, and sore. You must have one hell of a night!” Richie said louder than necessary just so that Carmen would hear, he had a feeling that Carmy was eavesdropping.

“Im telling you guys i didn’t actually go on a-”

Carmen didn’t want to hear anything after Richie spoke because he felt like he was going to hear something he didn’t want to know. He picked up a clip board, slammed the door open and began walking around.

“Chef.” Carmen said mechanically

“Chef.” Y/n replied back fully expecting this, she left early, came late and was now distracting everyone.

Y/n quickly busied herself with peeling garlic and the rest day fell back to its usual rhythm. The prep finished right before the restaurant opened and they worked on filling to-go orders along with the regular lunch and dinner orders. One thing was noticeably different to y/n, Carmen hadn’t looked or approached her once. Normally he would walk by all the chefs and ask how they were doing, checking the quality, etc but the second he got to y/n who was at the far end of the kitchen he circled back. He made comments to everyone’s dish and he had yet to even get within a 3 feet radius on y/n.

Y/n could feel that something was off and to test it, after the dinner rush she finished making one of the test items that Sydney and Carmen had wanted to try out and after a small taste she knew she killed it.

Y/n walked up to Carmen with the dish and set it down. “Can you taste it and tell me what you think?” Carmen didn’t look up, he just grabbed a fork, took a bite and said a quick “It's fine, chef”.

Y/n then looked the dish over to sydney and asked her to try it.

“It added a bit of chocolate because I read somewhere that Japanese people put chocolate in their curry”

“Chocolate huh?” Sydney grabbed a small notebook and made a note.

“It’s okay?” y/n asked.

“It's fire, chef. Great work”

In y/n mind that confirmed that something was wrong with Carmen. Y/n waited till the restaurant closed and everyone left to bring it up. It was just Carmen and y/n alone in the restaurant and y/n could feel there was something in the air.

“You don't have to stay late, you should leave early” Carmon proposed while not looking at her.

That was strange because Carmen never asked her to leave early. She walked up to Carmen who was sweeping the floor and ripped off the bandaid.

“Thanks for the offer but I want to stay with you for a bit longer.” Carmen’s grip on the broom toughened till his knuckles turned white. It was a risky thing to say and after a beat of silence y/n took the coward’s way out by diverting and changing subjects.

“I'm sorry I was so late today Carmen, are we good?”

“We're good.”

Another awkward silence.

“ I don’t think we're good, you seem, I don't know, pissed?”

“I'm good, you're good, we’re good” Carmen said by turning his attention to a very interesting onion skin on the floor.

“You didn’t say anything about the dish I made, or that I was late. Someone told me that you seemed off yesterday.”

“Was this someone named Sydney?”

“Cannot confirm or deny, Carmy”

Carmy finished sweeping and took a few steps back.

“There it is again! You keep walking away from me and not looking me in the eye.”

Carmen didn’t know that he was being obvious, he thought he was subtle because Richie would have brought it up if he wasn’t. Carmen forced himself to look up at y/n and felt like the wind was knocked right off his lungs, he really hadn’t seen her at all today and he missed her.

“You can tell me what's happening so that I can help or at the very least listen to what's wrong.” y/n offered

Carmen bent down, and started to scrub in silence. He looked like he was piecing something together and y/n didn’t want to intrude so she continued to scrub assuming the conversation was over and that they were going to spend the rest of their lives in this uncomfortable silence. A few minutes pass and then a long sigh is heard from the other end of the kitchen. Carmen looked up.

“I’ve been a bit..” Carmen started. Y/n wanted him to finish his thought before she called him a dick.

“It's been a weird day.. I know it shouldn’t but I can't help but ask..”

A pregnant pause passed.

“How was..” y/n leaned in so she could hear.

“How was your “thing” yesterday?” He spit out.

Y/n looked a bit confused, “Umm it was fine, I mean we were at a restaurant so it wasn’t anything to crazy”

“Why were you so late today?”

The other shoe dropped, “ I knew you were pissed that I was late.” With an exhale she continued “We went to dinner and then got shit faced drunk and ubered over to a friends house. I had to go by that restaurant in the morning to pick up my keys and drive to my place so I could take a shower and not smell like a walking liquor store.”

“How was he?” Carmen choked out after a few more beats of silence.

“How was who?”

“Your umm…”

“Mmm” Carmen continued.

Y/n waited but it felt like he was testing her patience,

“Your date?” Carmen finally conceded while swinging his head down.

“What date? I went to a bachelorette party with a few of my girlfriends.”

Carmen’s head shot up, “ I thought-”

“The people in here are so nosy, I kept telling them that it wasn't a date and they wouldn’t bother to listen.”

Carmen’s shoulders relaxed and he felt like he could finally look at you without feeling guilty that he was looking at another guy’s girl.

“What’s been on your mind, Carm?” Y/n probed and Carmen's shoulders tensed up again.

Y/n could feel the atmosphere change and she wanted to capitalise on it while she still could, she could trick herself into thinking that Carmy was jealous of some imaginary guy that he thought she went on a date on, when he probably was just diverting attention to avoid talking about his own problems.

More silence.

More scrubbing.

Carmen looked up with a look of determination, y/n assumed that he had finally hyped himself to tell her what has been bugging him. Although the tension was killing her she did want this moment to last for a bit longer. In this moment she could convince herself that Carmen was troubled because of her and not because work was drowning him or that he is a mess because his brother left him this shithole and left.

She wanted him to have a problem with an easy solution. If he liked her, the easy solution was that she would kiss him and tell him how much she longed for him. He would then confess how much he yearned for her and she would give all of herself to him and he would finally have a win in his life, something that wasn’t tainted by his love/hate relationship with cooking, his family, his brother. Something that he would have all to himself, her love.

Just for a few moments she repeated, that's how long she had till the dream died. This wasn’t the first time something similar had happened. They would stay late and in the comfortable beats of silence Carmen would look up with such a look of determination and y/n heart would flutter hoping for those three special words but she would get something completely different but still equally important, information about a very private part of his life whether it be the AA meetings, or the guilt he felt for resenting his brother. And everytime y/n’s heart would break a bit and then mend itself knowing that even if she couldn't have him like she wanted to, she would still be important to him.

That type of relationship, friendship, used to be enough, but not anymore. With his plans to change The Bear he was getting further and further away from her. It used to feel like it was the two of them but y/n was starting to wonder if she was going to be left behind. If she would stay friends for a while until the longing grew too strong and y/n would leave The Bear. Even if Carmen misses her for a while, y/n knew he would bounce back like he always did and she would slowly be replaced by Sydney or whoever. The thought that in a few years he will have learned to cope with his grief and trauma and move on from the past, move on from y/n, and maybe settle down with someone else made y/n feel like throwing up.

This time y/n didn’t fall for Carmen's “look”, she had a neutral face and was ready to hear what Carmen's issues were. She wouldn’t assume that she was going to get a confession. This time she will help him with his problems and move on from this one-sided crush. Maybe she WILL go on a few dates to forget about him.

“Carmen, do you want to talk about it?We don’t have to do anything you don't want to.”

Determination morphed into apprehension.

“I am feeling something, it is n-n-not…” He exhaled through his nose.

”It's selfish y/n. I'm being selfish. You have every right to do whatever you want but I..”

Y/n tried to look as comforting as possible trying her best to hide any confusion, if Carmen was any other person she would ask if he was sober right now because he was a total mess.

“I’ve never done this before, and I-” and he ran his palm through his hair.

Y/n refrained from thinking about how amazing he looked under the fluorescent lights with his tousled hair and apprehensive gaze. He could bring up his nightmares or sleepwalking, and she would feel so guilty for perving over his eyes.

“You looked very nice in that dress yesterday.” Y/n felt like a lump was forming in her throat. He was going to say something like this and think it's an off handed comment but she would go to the bathroom and cry because she knew nothing would come from it. Y/n thought it was a bit cruel.

“You looked so beautiful yesterday it was hard for me to look at you without making a fucking idiot out of myself. I wanted to run over to you and tell you that as soon as you left but Richie told me you're going on a date and it was…”

Carmen continued, “You are special and you deserve someone who isn’t…me. And you're free to do whatever and if this is completely …wrong…bad…i don't know, just stop me and we will never talk about this ever again…”

He searched y/n’s eyes looking for a sliver of doubt or disgust but he was met with glassy eyes and a look that longed for him to continue.

“When I thought you were going on that date I knew that I couldn’t not have you and that made me feel….” A sigh reverberated through the kitchen.

“ I like you…romantically.” Carmen uttered.

Y/n didn’t say or do anything for a moment, she spent a few moments wondering if she was hallucinating or dreaming. And in a moment of pure adrenaline, she scooted over to Carmen who was still on the floor before cupping his face in her hands and whispered, “Can I kiss you?”

The kiss wasn't electrifying; it felt like a wave of warmth seeped into every corner of their beings. It felt like dipping your hand in warm water after shovelling the show, the type of warmth that sends shivers down your spine. Y/n fingers get lost in his wavy hair and his hands hesitate, not knowing where they should go before landing one on her hip and the other on the back of her neck to pull her closer. Y/n heart was beating so hard she wondered stupidly if he could hear it, Carmen was wondering something similar. They slowly pulled away for air before getting a good look at each other, both their lips were swollen and red and their eyes were dazed.

Y/n knew he was a flighty person, one wrong move and he would go running for the hills so she refrained from asking if they were dating now, this could have just been a one time thing and she didn’t want to ruin it. Thankfully Carmen held her hand and stroked it with her thumb before swinging his head down and looking up at her.

“I want to be with you y/n”

“I like you too, Carmen, for a very long time.” And their lips meet once again.

Y/n resisted the urge to say that she only bought the dress in the hopes that he would take it off of her, that was a story for another time.

“Let's get you home” Carmen mumbled into her lips, the vibrations and the friction making her lips burn in sensitivity.

Carmen helped y/n get up before they both packed up their stuff and headed out the door. Both hiding the smile of triumph from each other, not really knowing how much the other loves them yet, and only time would remedy that.

[blues824]

What A Time

Gender-neutral reader who wears makeup.

TW: alcohol, fighting, swearing, Reader is rightfully petty

Sebek Zigvolt

It has been about seven years since you graduated from NRC. You were the school therapist, actually, for the college you had graduated from, and you got properly compensated for it. You had decided that going back to your world would not be the best option for you, so you stuck around and made a life for yourself.

When school was not in session, you resided in the Queendom of Roses. There were many magicless people there, and you lived somewhat close to your former senpai Trey Clover. There were a few times where you would see him in his family’s bakery on your way home, and you both would have a quick cup of coffee as you caught up with each other’s lives. Riddle was actually your doctor, and Ace and Deuce weren’t too far either.

You were there when Deuce graduated from the police academy, and you all celebrated at Trey’s bakery. On the bus home that day, you looked at the photo taken, with Ace smashing Deuce’s face into the cake that said ‘Congratulations, Officer Spade!’ All of the Heartslabyul crew was present there, including you and Grim.

Unfortunately, Grim was no longer with you. It was understandable, as cats don’t live as long as humans, but it still hurts. In the graduation photo, he was in your arms with such a wide grin as everyone else posed around you. Ace and Deuce were beside you, Epel was in front along with Ortho, Jack was behind you… and so was Sebek. 

Oh, you hadn’t seen Sebek Zigvolt in so many years. At first, you both had an open correspondence until he stopped writing back. You figured that maybe he was busy as one of Malleus’s knights… or a general at this point because you were invited to his promotion. Seeing the castle was definitely an experience, and not a lot of people liked that a magicless human was there. However, you laughed it off with the half-fae as you congratulated him.

That was four years ago, though. The only reason you knew he was still alive was because you still talked with Silver. It wasn’t frequently, maybe once every few months, but you knew that everyone was doing well. Lilia had retired and taken up residence in a small cottage, and you talked to him as well and more frequently. 

During your years at NRC, you and Sebek became a tad romantically involved. He had asked you, in a rather harsh and loud manner, to accompany him to the village at the bottom of the mountain because there was a park in the center and he thought it would be a nice date location. You both ended up having a picnic there, and you laid back in the grass just talking about the book you had both read recently.

It was one of the few times where he wasn’t going on a rant about Malleus, and instead he was talking about one of his own passions. You laid your head on his chest, using it as a pillow, as he had an arm wrapped around your torso. It was only when you saw that a few fireflies made their appearance that you realized it was already very late at night. You were worried about getting back to campus, but Sebek was still clinging onto you. He whispered something about not wanting to go yet. It actually shocked you, so you allowed you two to stay there for ten more minutes.

He wasn’t telling you something, and he didn’t tell you until graduation day. Being a knight of Malleus meant that he might not make it out alive from battle one day, so he never desired a romantic partner who would be heartbroken not only of him being gone constantly, but also having the possibility of receiving the news from his comrades-in-arms of his passing just looming over them on a day-to-day basis. 

The half-fae was just looking out for you.

You asked if you could still send letters, and he told you… no, he promised you that he would respond to each one. A tear was brought to your eye as you remembered his promise from that day. You poured yourself a small glass of wine after wiping said tear away, and you focused on the student files on your desk. 

After about an hour and a half later, you come across a small flier in one of the cases. It was for a reunion of sorts, and there were fliers sent to each person who was invited. You remember seeing Crowley place the spell upon the pieces of paper so they would go to the students who graduated with you in the same year. Spouses and significant others were invited as well, but children were not. Would Sebek be there?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, there was a staff meeting. The Headmage we all know and hate was being as eccentric as usual, and he started going over details about the reunion that was going to take place. The teachers who were teaching at the time and the ones who were teaching presently would be invited along with the students from your year, and you had to admit that you were very excited about seeing everyone once again.

It would be a rather casual occasion. The courtyard would be decorated, and it would be an outdoors event. You were actually the one along with Professor Crewel who decided on the theme of it, and he even drew out a diagram of sorts. There would be a few fairy lights situated in the trees, casting a small but elegant glow. It would have a picnic-at-the-park vibe to it, for obvious reasons.

Because everyone attending was of-age, there would be a bar area as well as catering, so tables needed to be brought out. A bunch of students actually volunteered to help you in setting up after school, and you were so grateful for them. Their reasoning was because you had helped them, so they felt as though they needed to help you. They helped bring out the picnic benches as well as a few blankets, and they helped wrap the fairy lights.

You hugged each and every one of them as you thanked them for helping out, and you put each of their names on a list so they would be able to get an extension on any assignments they were supposed to have completed that night. You also communicated to their Housewardens about their whereabouts and how any punishment against them would be lifted. They thanked you and wished you a happy night before going to their dorms.

It was truly a wonder how an act of kindness could get students to respect you so much.

Then, you checked the time on your phone and you realized that you only had thirty minutes to get back to your teacher’s quarters to get ready for the reunion. You ran down the hallways to the Mirror Chamber, entering the mirror that would get you to your own dorm. Since you were a teacher, you no longer resided in Ramshackle. However, because you were now in a position of a bit more power, you did threaten Crowley to renovate the rickety dorm or tear it down completely so that no one would have to live like you did if they were unfortunately summoned by the Mirror like you did.

Once you opened the door to your room, you checked and saw that you had arrived within 7 minutes, leaving 23 minutes. Luckily, because it was a casual thing, you didn’t need to change your makeup from the day, so you just opened your wardrobe to find a pair of jeans as well as a white button-up shirt. Again, classy but casual. 

That only took about 5 minutes, so you had 18 minutes to get back. You weren’t in too much of a rush, so you had a few moments to catch your breath on the way back. You went through the mirror again and through the hallways to the courtyard. You saw the bartender and the caterers setting up their things, and you asked them if they needed any help at all.

“Hey, you look familiar!”

You turned around to see Ace, and a large smile made its way on both of your faces. You laughed as you gave him a hug, telling him how good it was to see him after a while. He led you to one of the picnic benches as you both started catching up with each other since the beginning of the school year. He apparently started talking to someone, one of the parents from the elementary school he was the basketball coach of. 

After a few moments, Deuce showed up with his fiance, Grace, and they joined you at the table you both were sitting at. The former Professor Trein walked into the courtyard with a cane and greeted you all, asking how your time as a staff member at NRC was going and how Ace’s coaching was going as well as Deuce’s job within the Police Department and engagement. It was definitely a different side of your old professor that you had not seen in a while, but the conversation was nice.

More students from your year started arriving, and you greeted each and every single one of them. A few of them asked where Grim was, and they immediately noticed the sadness in your eyes. They put two and two together, and gave you their condolences before moving on to greet everyone else.

By far, you have seen Ace, Deuce, Epel, Ortho, Idia’s tablet that is accompanying Ortho, Jack, Mr. Sam, Professor Trein, Coach Vargas, and obviously Professor Crewel… but no Sebek thus far. It made you a bit sad, thinking that he was probably too busy to come to the reunion, and Jack was able to pick up on it. Everyone knew about your old complicated relationship with the knight, but the wolf here had always known about it due to him being a good person to talk to since he would listen.

“You should enjoy your time. How about I get you a drink?” He offered while putting his hand on your shoulder. It was lucky that the drinks were free, otherwise you might have to start a tab. You didn’t plan on drinking excessively, but you did wish to toast everyone at one point in the night… night… knight…

At that moment, Jack came back with two small glasses of whiskey; one for you, one for himself. The way you just quickly knocked it back surprised your old friend, and he grew quite worried. However, you did not go for another one, so he guessed it was alright. You saw his look of surprise and let out a bit of a sad laugh.

“I treat students who have the same problems you all did. Only difference is that I can drink now to soften the blows.”

You thanked him for bringing you a drink and just sat with him, talking about your lives. He told you about his wife, Thalia, and his daughter, and he even showed you pictures and you just cooed and awed over how much she looked like him. You had a smirk on your face as you said that you would bet five thaumarks that he cried when he first held his baby, and he looked away in shame. 

“Oh, yes he did! He cried more than on our wedding day!”

A gasp made its way out of your mouth as you quickly jumped out of your seat and hugged the woman who called your name. It had been a while since you saw any of the Howls, and she hugged you back just as tightly. She sat down next to her husband and across from you at the table as the three of you launched into a rather lively conversation.

It was nice to hear how well they were doing, but it was your turn to spill about your life. It had been stressful, as exams were coming up soon, but no overblots have occurred since you started your job as the NRC school therapist and guidance counselor. All of the students knew and respected you, and you told Jack and his wife that they helped set up the whole event because of you. 

“The students must mean a lot to you, just as you mean to them if they helped you without expecting anything in return. They kind of remind me of how you were back when we were still students.”

You all laughed at Jack’s statement, reminiscing how many people you helped without being paid back. You made a joke about how you were going to go around collecting payments, and that almost made Jack spit out the whiskey he sipped while Thalia was laughing until she was on the verge of crying. 

However, as she was about to respond, Headmage Crowley clinked a fork against his wine glass to gather everyone’s attention. He stood at a podium in front of the fountain, and everyone gathered around. You noticed that a certain green-haired general was still not present, but you snapped back to where your attention should be.

“Hello and welcome, former students of Night Raven College! In a few moments, the sandwich bar will be open and ready to serve, but I would like to say a few words. First, I am glad to see you all as well as your spouses and significant others. I hope the refreshments are to your liking, but I do encourage you not to go overboard, as we will take pictures.”

Everyone laughed for a few seconds, before settling down.

“Second, we are still expecting more people to come in. If you do not see some friends, they may still be coming. Unfortunately, Grim is no longer with us. We will toast to his memory later on in the night, and Dr. L/N will lead us in that.

“Third, the grounds are not yours to destroy. We trust that you will be respectful with the campus as you were when you were enrolled here. After all, students still go here, and they worked hard on setting this up for you all. I know that I am talking to you as though you were children, but I thought it would do good to mention that. Thank you.”

Applause sounded all around before the crowd dispersed to go make a line at the sandwich table. Everyone thought that you should go first, since you set everything up. The sentiment was so moving, but you felt bad as they pushed you to the front of the queue. You grabbed what you wanted as quickly as you could. You saw some tuna that was set out, and a hint of sadness hit you before you moved on.

You went back to your seat from before and started to dig in. You were joined by Ace, Deuce, and Grace. Coach Trappola here made a comment about how this reminded him of those days in the cafeteria where you all would be planning to take down the next overblot. You all laughed before you started talking to Deuce’s fiance, asking her about the ring and where they met and stuff like that. 

She asked where your date was, and you told her that you didn’t have one. Grace was a bit embarrassed for asking such a personal question, but you decided to tell her that you never really sought out anyone. It made her feel a bit better knowing that, and you just started asking about the future wedding that would take place. Poor Deucey was so flustered as the love of his life was answering about the plans thus far.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had been here for about two hours at this point, and you really stuck to yourself. You had a few moments before you had to make the toast, and you had made sure to announce to everyone that it would be recommended for them to grab a beverage of any variety. You had your speech planned out before, and you had it on your phone. However, the nervousness was crawling into your skin.

“You’ll do great, Y/N!” Ace said.

“Yeah, I bet it’ll be beautiful!” Grace assured. Deuce just nodded in agreement.

Taking a few deep breaths, you make your way to the podium and shout for everyone’s attention. It was a larger crowd than you anticipated, and for a few seconds you were just scanning through it. Snapping back to your notes, you cleared your throat and began.

“As Headmage Crowley stated before, Grim passed away a few years ago. You all might remember him as the cat that ate everything, or you might have thought he was annoying, or less than smart, or even selfish. But, in his last moments, he told me something that I will now tell you.

He told me to not be sad about his passing, and that I should continue helping the students that go to NRC just as I always have. Being enrolled here meant everything to him, and so I serve the students and staff in his honor. He became a powerful mage, learning how to control his magic. He may have not made the best decisions all of the time, but he tried, and that’s what matters.

Out of anyone, he was my closest friend; not only because we shared a dorm or even a scholarship, but because he was there to push me when times got tough. He challenged me, and now my capacity has expanded greatly because of it. If he were here today, he would be overwhelmed by the amount of support you all have shown.

Thank you.”

You had to really reel it in, trying to keep the tears from rolling down your face. The crowd erupted in applause before you raised your glass of water, and shouted into the microphone, “to Grim!”

“TO GRIM!” Everyone shouted, and took a sip of their drinks.

Ace came up to the side and helped you from the step of the podium, but before you took his hand you searched the crowd one last time. That was when you caught a hint of mint-colored hair, and it got your attention within a few moments. Your hands started shaking a bit, and you suddenly felt nauseous. Your throat went dry and your heart was racing as you looked back at your friend who was starting to get concerned.

“He’s here…” you whispered to him, and his eyes went wide in realization. During your conversation with him at the beginning of the reunion, you explained the situation with Sebek. He went as far as to call him a stuck-up prick who either prioritized his job or just couldn’t accept that someone cared about him.

“Do you want to leave? Do you need another drink? Talk to me, Y/N.” Ace was asking questions that you weren’t really paying attention to, mainly because right behind him was the man that had you feeling so nervous. However, the general looked nervous as well… but your nervousness was slowly giving way to anger.

“I do need another drink, Ace. Could you get me a glass of wine?” He was a bit hesitant about leaving you alone, but you told him that you would go with him. That’s when both men realized what you were trying to do.

You were trying to ignore Sebek… just as he ignored you.

“Y/N, please, I need to talk to you.” The half-fae said earnestly. He was taking a huge leap of faith with this, but he fell.

“No. You know why? I have been sending you letter after letter and you ignored me. It’s your turn to be ignored.”

With that, you took hold of your friend’s arm and headed towards the bar, where you ordered yourself a glass of wine. You sure were glad that you drank some water and ate so that you wouldn’t be drinking on an empty stomach. However, unfortunately for you, your glass was snatched out of your hand and a gloved hand grasped your arm.

Maybe it was better that you didn’t drink that glass of wine, as the nausea you were feeling earlier resurfaced. 

To say that you were nervous would be the understatement of the century. Seeing those green eyes that you used to love and get flustered at when you caught them staring at you in class were now causing feelings of disgust and betrayal. Your face portrayed your feelings quite well; looking revolted at Sebek’s hand.

You let out a sarcastic gasp, as you turned your head to look him in his eyes and said, “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the great General Sebek Zigvolt, grasping the arm of a lowly, magicless human! I never could have dreamed that I would have such an honor within my miniscule, insignificant life!”

“Y/N, please! I can explain-” 

“EXPLAIN WHAT?! Explain how the only way I knew you were even alive was Silver being the one to write me back?! What can you explain, Sebek?! Explain how I was constantly trying to be understanding and making excuses for you?! ‘Maybe he’s busy’, ‘maybe he didn’t get my letters’. You know who proved me wrong?! LILIA!!! HE TOLD ME THAT YOU GOT MY LETTERS AND NEVER ANSWERED!!!”

At this point, everyone was staring at you two. Ace was trying to get you to calm down, and so was Thalia and Grace because they went over as well. Deuce, Jack, and Epel were pushing Sebek away, saying he had no right to just resurface after years of radio silence. Tears were falling down your face, and the general now had an inkling of an idea of just how badly he worried and hurt you.

“YOU PROMISED, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” You screamed, vision blurred with just more and more tears. The general was genuinely trying to fight against his former classmates, trying to get to you, but to no avail. The women were escorting you away, getting you another glass of water so that you wouldn’t get overheated. Ace stayed behind to smack sense into the former knight, and that he did. 

By the time you had finished the glass of water that Thalia had gotten for you, Sebek had a handprint engraved onto his cheek. He didn’t try fighting back; he knew he deserved it. He promised you something, and he broke that promise and that broke your heart. Eventually, because Deuce texted Grace and asked if you were okay with speaking to the general, you both met up in your office.

You sat in your chair, and you motioned towards one of the seats on the other side of the desk. Your eyes were puffy, and he noticed it as he sat down. His chest hurt upon seeing you dab at the last of your tears with a tissue before you tossed it in the trash. You took a deep breath before looking into his eyes straight-on.

“Y-You have a nice office, Dr. L/N.” He said, breaking the… rather awkward… silence.

“Thank you. While you were climbing the ranks within the army, I was here… helping the students just like I always have.” You responded, very formally and professionally. For once, he hated it. He hated how estranged it made him feel from you. 

“I shall get straight to the point, hu- I mean, Y/N.” You rolled your eyes at this; he really couldn’t go one sentence without pointing out that you were a magicless human. However, this magicless human managed to get a job at NRC, one of the most prestigious schools ever in Twisted Wonderland.

“I’m listening.” Your glare was ice cold. You leaned back in your chair, and crossed your legs, starting to get comfortable for the inevitable.

“I have no excuse for not answering your letters. I promised you I would, and I broke that promise, and I admit it and I give you my deepest apologies.” The proudest man you know… admitting that he was at fault? Well, this was new.

“Mhm. Go on. What exactly kept you from writing back?”

“I…” He looked hesitant. You leaned forward, an annoyed look plastered on your face.

“‘I…’ what? I waited four years for this. This better be good, or else I will demand that you either leave now or leave me be.”

“...I still love you, and I found it absolutely revolting. I thought that by not responding, my feelings for you would be forgotten. You remember that day where I told you that we couldn’t be together because I didn’t want the burden of me not coming home to lay on yours or anyone else’s shoulders. I dove right into work so that I could possibly forget about you and the love I had for you, but all that surfaced was regret.” At this he stood up, and started pacing back and forth, needing to move around so that he wouldn’t start yelling.

This surprised you more than you thought it would, and you actually heard his deep voice tremble with tears of his own. However, his voice was increasing in volume because of it anyways. You felt compelled to stand up as well, so that you could somewhat meet him at his level, and you leaned on one hip while putting your hand on it and waited for him to finish.

“But every single day, I was tormented by the thought of you being with someone else. You deserved better than a life where your husband’s return was unpromised. You deserved better than a life where your husband can’t dedicate any time to you because he is too preoccupied with his job. You still deserve better.

“However, my heart still beats for you. I wished that I didn’t break your heart that day because it goes against my virtues as a knight and what my heart is telling me. I declined every invite given to me if there was even a small chance of you being there because I didn’t want to bring you any more pain than you were already going through.

“After all this time, though, it seems as though I put you through too much worry and stress anyway.” Tears were making their way down his face as he had a shard of a smile. His voice was definitely shaky, and you found yourself being drawn closer and closer to him.

“Would you, and I am not one to repeatedly ask for the same thing, forgive me and allow me to make it up to you?” He was standing right in front of you, vision blurred slightly as he looked into your eyes. 

You were a bit taken aback, but you took a big breath. You prayed to the Sevens that you would not regret this, but you reached your hands up to cup his face and wipe his tears away with your thumbs. He couldn’t read your face, but you suddenly pulled him in so that your lips were on his. His eyes went wide open, barely able to comprehend what was happening.

Just after a few seconds, though, he melted into it, and even started kissing you back. He was so happy to finally have you back in his arms after so many years.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door, and it was Deuce and Grace, checking up on you two. You quickly broke the kiss, looking at Sebek once again. His gaze was filled with such an overwhelming amount of love that it made your chest feel a bit warm. Unfortunately, you had to confirm to your friends that you both were still alive and unscathed

[ben10-au-mansion]

It's Dec 27! Happy birthday to all the Bens there! 🎂🥳 My question is, what do you guys do on your birthdays?

Philo: I tend to spend my birthdays along with Gwen. There are some choices were we usually alternate on which one's we're going to have like what flavour of cake we're getting this year or which place we're going to spend our birthdays at. My cake of choice are peanut butter cakes while Gwen likes strawberry shortcakes!

Therapist: On almost all our birthdays, Gwen and I always try and celebrate together with our family and friends. The key word is try. I made the mistake of telling Reiny it was my birthday one year and now it’s a universal holiday. It’s sweet that aliens I barely remember will show up unannounced to wish me happy birthday. Vilgax gave me a custom suit of armor last year. But after all of that, me and Gwen find some time alone to reflect on the year and our personal growth, she likes to call it our yearly gossip session.

1K: Gwen and I have been spending our birthdays like we've (mostly) always have! This year, my parents invited everyone to their house, and man, that place was packed! There were a lot of friends and family there, even friends of friends and family of family. Rook bought our cake this year, since last year Kevin was in charge of the cake and... well, it tasted fine, but it came in a sort of smashed state.

5½: With my mom and dad and grandpa max, Gwen's there too...buuuuut this isn't about her. Usually we just have a party at home since it's cold, but sometimes we go to this really cool indoor park where you jump around and climb, or sometimes to this restaurant with creepy robots, ooo ooo or the movies! There was that one time they took me to a circus though...eugh

Toon: Gwen and I have a big ol 3 tiered cake, and a pinata shaped like one of our villains!

Ben I: well me and Gwen share the same Birth Date so we have a little party with our family and have all our favorite food!

Proto-tool: ...Play Sumo Slammers.

Bounty: I forgot I had one of those still. I don’t think I’ve had a birthday party since I was five. And I didn’t start celebrating it until this year. I’m not a big fan of parties or socializing. Especially with certain family members right now. But my parents are gonna bake a cake, and Rook and Wren were gonna take me on a hike through the mountains.

Lost: oh it’s our birthday? I haven’t celebrated it in a long time… I don’t age anymore so there’s no use in celebrating..

Happy birthday Ben 10! From the mansion goers!

[brainsforbabyjesus]

There's a fanfic in there. Marco gets a regular acting job! Marco's gonna be a mutant super hero! Marco's first day of stage combat training! Marco's first PTSD flashback in the work place!

It's touted to him as a fun bonding experience with the rest of the cast. And he goes into it thinking piece of cake, too easy, I know how to fight. And then he realizes this is not that. This is pulling punches, this is flashy kicks intended to not eviscerate your opponent. He has to be careful. He could kill everyone in this room if he isn't careful.

Everyone notices Marco getting more and more anxious as they get to the actual training part, they quietly all agree to be nice to the 17 year old kid who's probably worried about getting hurt. He fought a war, you know, he's probably got some anxiety about getting injured.

Fifteen minutes into that first session he starts to relax. It's easier than he thought it would be to be careful, he's never fought someone to the death in his own body before. Never grabbed someone by the head and smashed it into a wall until they stopped moving, never leapt at someone intent on tearing their throat out with his teeth, never sliced into someone's stomach and not bothered to watch if they got up again before moving on to the next person to do it again. And then...

And then.

He's not really sure what happened exactly. He'd volunteered to help one of the instructors to demonstrate some kind of over dramatic dodge-headlock combo that looks great on camera and then he's underground, one arm wrapped around his middle holding everything in until he can demorph while he throws a punch at the nearest controller. He can hear Jake calling his name. Except...

Except it's not Jake.

He doesn't recognize the voice immediately. Doesn't recognize the location immediately either, it's not the Yeerk Pool, that's for sure. It filters into his brain in bits and pieces, he's at a gym, those people huddling across from him are his coworkers. He catches movement out of the corner of his eye. One of the instructors is holding a wad of bloody paper towels to his nose while the other calls his name.

He doesn't remember what happened but he can put it together. He'd had some kind of...episode and punched an instructor in the face for real. He blurts out the first apology his brain comes up with, which is also the worst one, "sorry, if i broke your nose, I've never gone into a fight without planning on killing the other person before".

He can see it on their faces as it sinks in. That he's not inexperienced at fighting, that he's not afraid of getting hurt. He's clocked in more hand to hand to the death combat in three years than most soldiers do in a life time. He's afraid of hurting them.

[languajix]

TMNT Write Fight Fic: Draxum's Super Special Suprise Party

Prompt by @orchard-keeper: "[Rise] Mikey enlists Huginn and Muninn to help him learn more about his newest father figure: Baron Draxum. Leo and Donnie are not thrilled with their youngest brother's newest obsession. And they are especially dreading the super special super secret spectacular surprise birthday party Mikey is planning." @tmnt-write-fight

Word Count: 1,510

Summary: Mikey knew he needed help to learn a little more about Draxum, and he knew right where to find it. Unfortunately, their help might or might not be as helpful as they think it is.

"He's how old?"

"Dunno, kid. He's a yōkai, it's kinda hard to tell. Middle aged, so probably, what, three hundred? Four?"

"He always struck me as distinguished. I'm gonna say a respectable five."

Mikey nodded, scribbling in his notebook. "And what's his birthday?"

They looked at each other and shrugged, totally clueless. "Gargoyles aren't usually invited to celebrate birthdays with their boss," Huginn said. "And honestly? He doesn't seem like a birthday kind of guy."

Muninn nodded. "Yeah."

Mikey slammed his notebook closed. "Well, guess what? We're gonna fix that! It's settled: we're giving Draxum the best birthday party ever!"

The gargoyles pointed at themselves and then each other. We?

Across the room, Leo groaned, and Donnie facepalmed. Raph had already left halfway through Mikey's questions to Huginn and Muninn on their newest addition to the family, saying he had 'better things to do than put up with this nonsense.' Leo and Donnie stayed though. It helped that Mikey had chosen to hold his question and answer session in the same room where the two of them were stuck together, trapped in Donnie's new experimental F.A.B. Spray. Literally a captive audience.

"Are you even sure he likes birthday parties? He seems like the kind of guy who likes to ruin people's birthday parties, to me. Personally. You know, smash people's faces in the cake, stomp on the presents, throw people off roofs…" Leo's skepticism was disappointing, but Mikey was undeterred.

"He'll like the super special super secret spectacular surprise birthday party we throw him for sure!" Mikey said, feeling the optimism well up inside of him. Who didn't like birthday parties? Honestly. Nobody, that's who. Even Draxum had to like them when they were super special.

He pressed his hands to Huginn and Muninn's backs, pulling them close so he could whisper deviously, but sugar-sweet, because he wasn't threatening them, no sir: "And the two of you are gonna help me make sure that it's as super and special and spectacular as possible, and most importantly? Secret."

Huginn swallowed. Muninn saluted. "Y-yes, boss."

---

"Reporting!" Muninn said. "So I went looking for his favorite color, like you asked, and…"

Michelangelo stared at him expectantly. There was this look in his eyes. Muninn didn't know how to pin it down, exactly. He just knew it sent shivers down his spine.

Muninn started sweating. How was this kid so scary? Quick, make something up. Michelangelo's face was… "…g-green?"

Michelangelo set down his pen. "So you're telling me… his favorite color… is green?"

Muninn nodded, gulping.

Michelangelo perked up, and if Muninn were the type to have an active imagination, he might have pictured a beautiful spray of flowers and sparkles in the background as Michelangelo grinned from ear to ear, looking delighted. "Of course! Green, the color of spring, of new beginnings! A lively color, a little on the cool side, but with a little time and patience, it can warm right up!"

…was he still talking about the color?

Muninn wasn't gonna ask.

---

Huginn had the best prize of all! If he wasn't a buff gargoyle, the weight of the book in his arms would be dragging him down right about now, but luckily he was a buff gargoyle and the book felt as light as a feather. Maybe not a feather. But close.

"Michelangelo!" He called, knocking on the sewer entrance. The turtle that slid the door open wasn't Michelangelo, though. It was Leonardo. Donatello? Leonardo. The one with the red stripes on his eyes.

"Oh. You."

Leonardo tried to slide the door closed, but Huginn stuck a paw in before it could shut all the way. "Wait!" he called, "can you just- I need you to give this to Michelangelo. I'll get out of your…" wait, he didn't have hair. "…scales, if you'll just take it."

Leonardo slid the door open just wide enough to give Huginn a good look at his skeptically raised brow. "Is this about the super… whatever-"

"-super special super secret spectacular surprise birthday party, yeah," Huginn finished. He lifted the book so Leonardo could get a good look.

Leonardo sniffed, looking down at Draxum's secret scrapbook like it was going to bite him or something. After a long moment, though, he took it. "Fine," he said, sounding very put out.

Huginn would take it.

---

(That book never made it to Mikey. Leo enjoyed using it as a doorstop, until the day Draxum realized it was misplaced and used a summoning charm on it.)

---

"Uh, I think he likes… goats."

"Sounds on brand. I'll buy that."

---

Leo was at his wit's end, honestly.

It took a lot to get Mikey to focus, usually, but when he focused it was always on the most random things. Normally it was things like fancy scents, or some recipes from a hyper-specific region of France, or like, breeding chili peppers to create something 'hot with a few floral notes,' whatever that meant.

Leo always took them in stride, he loved to hear Mikey chatter on happily about his newest hyperfixations, but this one was geared perfectly towards getting on his nerves. Draxum, of all people.

Draxum!!!

Of all people.

Leo wanted to scream.

---

"I think he likes soup."

Mikey's head popped up. "Soup?"

"Yeah. He's got a lot of it in his cupboards."

Michelangelo tapped the pen against his chin thoughtfully. "Not because it's easy to make and shelf stable… but because he likes it…" Muninn shivered. To be honest, that thought hadn't even occurred to him. "…Of course!"

---

"I think he might like folksy music. You know, like polka. I don't know, it's just a vibe I get."

---

Huginn and Muninn were great at getting information.

Was the information accurate? Ehhh.

---

"And… ta-da!" Mikey pulled his hands away from Draxum's eyes, letting him see the room he'd been ushered into just moments earlier. As he did so, some confetti burst and fluttered to the ground from somewhere in the background.

It was….

"Very green," Draxum observed, sounding a little confused, but he hadn't had a birthday in a while, much less a super special super secret spectacular surprise birthday party, so that was totally understandable. Mikey had decorated the main room of the lair in green streamers, green tablecloths, green utensils… the only things that weren't green were the pictures of goats.

And there were many.

Polka blasted from Donnie's precious speakers; Mikey had had to pull out Doctor Delicate Touch to get Donnie to let him 'sully them' with it, but it was worth it. Hearing the tubas groaning in crystal clarity amongst the bopping clarinet beats.

"We've got a soup bar," Mikey waved at the various crockpots plugged into the wall, "which is kind of like a salad bar but with soup!" It was fancy. So fancy. One of Mikey's best works, actually, and he was quite proud of it.

"Would you mind explaining what exactly the occasion is? The vibes I'm getting are a little confusing," Draxum admitted, sounding a little hesitant.

Of course! It had been a while, he probably forgot what a birthday party looked like. "It's your birthday! Look, your favorite color, your favorite animal… your favorite meal. We didn't know when your actual birthday was, so we picked a day and decided to celebrate! Any day can be a birthday if you believe hard enough."

Draxum looked even more lost for half a second, until Splinter nudged him with an elbow. Then he coughed into a hand. "Oh, yes. Of course. How could I possibly have misunderstood."

Raph was happily gobbling up the soup, not paying attention to anything but his bowl and the next one he already had lined up, but Leo and Donnie were there under protest. Mikey had tied them up and strapped green birthday hats to their heads, seating them at the table. No soup for them.

Donny had freed himself of his bonds long ago, but had gotten absorbed in something on his phone so he was mostly just lounging with his eyes glued to it, occasionally making flat, halfhearted sounds of protest for being forced to be there. It was possible he'd mostly stayed to laugh at Leo, but Mikey would take it.

Draxum deserved to have a fun birthday party. With people in attendance. And since Mikey was pretty sure he had no friends…

After spooning himself a bowl of some chicken noodle and taking a seat, Draxum glanced over at Huginn and Muninn, who were deep into their own bowls of chili. They waved.

"Hi, boss."

"Fancy meeting you here."

"It's his birthday, of course he's here."

"Wait, it's actually his birthday?"

Draxum leaned towards Leo, speaking in hushed tones, though Mikey could totally still hear them. "Are human birthday parties usually this… you know, this?"

Leo raised his brows. "Only super special super secret spectacular surprise birthday parties for old goat guys."

"Oh. I see." Draxum took a sip of his soup. "Not bad, I suppose. I can certainly appreciate the effort."

Mikey beamed. All in a day's work, of course!

[moonbeamphotographysc]

[melissahartiganphotography]

Emmett 1st Year Milestone & Smash – Higganum CT Baby Photography

Hi there! Thanks so much for visiting Melissa Hartigan Photography – CT Baby Photographer, and for viewing my latest blog post of this sweet little one celebrating her one-year milestone. I absolutely love taking photos of expectant couples, babies and families. Baby Photography isn’t just photographing newborns; it’s also capturing babies of all ages and capturing all the special baby milestones…

[spy-peanuts]

OTP game, DAMIANYA

as lost to the copy past

Their best day out together? -Damian really enjoys just gping on coffee dates with anya. Studying, and anyasleeping, the quiet calm is his good place.

Who's the one that most often does the shopping for food whenever they run out? Or do they always like going to the store together?- Anya goes or she asks jeeves to. Occasionally, they'll go together. Fir gifts or special occasions.

Do they always share their food with eachother? If so, do they both also have a favorite food that they like to share with eachother as well? (Bonus points if they do it in lovey dovey couple style too) -PEANUTS

Who's usually the big spoon and the small spoon in the relationship? - Anya

Who usually likes to cook most of the food? Or do they always take turns with eachother in that part? - Damian will mostly cook. Anya is decent but anya likes his food bette

Is there a dessert or meal that one of them sometimes makes that the other partner really loves and is always craving to eat because of how delicious it always is?- Cake. Crunchy tea cakes

Who's the early bird and who likes to sleep in longer?- that's obvious. Anya sleeps in longer if not woken up. Damian is awake at 4am

Who is usually always requesting for more cuddling sessions?- Damian

What's an au you have for them? - sulfate marks for them is my favorite

How was their first kiss like?- they were arguing until they both just got fed up and kissed....in class

Who's always stealing the blanket at night while asleep?- Anya

Do one of them get annoyed when the other snores at night or are they fine with it?- they're both fine with it.

Are they so attached that they're always by eachothers side wherever they go?- no, cuz then they'd argue more.

Who always falls asleep while leaning on the other?- Anya

Do they steal eachothers clothes and does it sometimes end with them also claiming some of them as their own after a long while of "borrowing" it already?- yes. Anya likes the sweaters. Damian likes her blankets

Do they always hold hands with eachother everywhere they go?- no. Tsundere

What place did they choose to live in when moving in together for the first time?- they chose one of the Desmond estates that sat empty in berlint

Do they love going out with eachother more in the summer or the winter?- oddly, winter. Summer is a busy time

Who would be the type to walk out of the bedroom all sleepy and tired and wrap their arms around their partner who's making coffee/tea or breakfast for them both?- Anya but sometimes Damian will too

How do they always cheer eachother up during sad times?- cuddles

Would they be the type to dress up in those funny/cute/hot matching couple costumes during Halloween or dress up parties? - no but it doesn't stop Becky ftom trying to convince them.

Do they love playing board games or video games together?- video games don't exist yet

What are their pet names for eachother? - shithead and stubby

Do they like binge watching shows together?- yes

Who's much more affectionate?- Damian

Do they take turns in doing chores or do they just split them and claim which ever one they're more comfortable with doing? (example for that last one: Partner A hates doing the laundry because it annoys them, while partner B hates taking out the trash, so partner B will do the laundry while partner A always takes out the trash instead) - they have maids for that but anya insists on doing anything baby related herself

Who loves planning out their romantic dates the most?- Damian

Do they have a special old song that always brings back a lot of wonderful memories from a special day of theirs together?- not really

What was their wedding day like?- Henderson officiated and it was a grand event that ended with them fighting in smashed cake.( jeeves thought ahead to order 2 cakes.

(Feel free to reblog for fun or add more onto this post)

[morning-357]

My Dnd party the past two sessions:

- sneak out of a dude’s house who is teaching an unseen servant how to read at 3AM in a creepy toxic-positivity cult

Blood Hunter: get on my shoulders!

Druid: great plan.

*wraps themselves in a cloak*

- proceed to be the definition of stealth despite looking like a wonky, four limbed, hooded person smashing things (mission impossible theme playing)

- get to a pond with blue glory water

- get sorted by two guess

- proceed to sway their hips SEDUCTIVELY. Their words, not mine. And succeed. The guards run off to get flowers

- dug a hole

- fall down the hole

- immediately wreck the medication (hypnosis) spa waiting for them, write a letter of complaint about therapy, and nearly fail at hangman

- hang man: take a seat :)

Players: haha. Ok! *pick up both message chairs*

So now it’s a Druid, holding a message chair, sitting in a message chair, carried by the blood hunter, still wrapped in a cloak

And our session ended with this

*blood hunter just kicked down a door to see the creeping cult*

Druid: sorry, my stomach (blood hunter) can be a little hyper

… I can’t believe I bought them nerds for this game

[celestialiron]

Echoes of Courage: Chapter 11

Here's the continuation of last chapter! Everyone hold onto your breathes now!

Summary: Wonder how the night will end for everyone...

-------------------------------♪10:30pm♪--------------------------------

Pouring another cup of coffee for the night, Donnie sighed, thinking things over with the news that was told earlier from Riku. ‘Even if I did go over, tell her everything, what would the outcome be? It’ll always come down to a 50-50 shot,’ Luckily enough, the guys were still watching movies with the exception of Leo who left earlier to get some “fresh air” (Donnie had a feeling where he would be going, but not like he’ll say anything either at the moment). Taking his phone out from his hoodie pocket, Donnie scrolled through some photos, stopping at one in particular that was one of his favorite ones. It was a photo of him and Kira on her birthday with silly hats, laughing and smiles on their faces as she somehow got cake on his face, with him returning her the favor. Though the party was small with just friends and her siblings, the day was a great one, one of his favorite days to date. It had been about six months now? And when she finally became close enough to be one of his best friends three years prior, it felt like the air lifted around him constantly. It felt so nice and was easy being friends with her, like they’ve been friends for years prior. So for him to choosingly ignore her minus the small texting and training sessions was killing him. He cared about her, so much to his liking he wasn’t sure what would happen between them if she didn’t return his feelings. 

Especially after the argument the two had a couple months before about her relationship with Roger.

“You know, that cake was delicious until everyone decided to smash their faces into it  with each other.”

Yelping in surprise, Donnie hid his phone so fast on the counter, he was pretty sure he had to fix his screen from the crack that formed on it. Chuckling at his reaction, Rai leaned against the kitchen table, hands in pocket, ready to say more. “Don’t give me a heart attack here! I thought you all were watching movies out there?!” He rolled his eyes at what Donnie said, ‘of course, they really are twins. Dramatic as fuck the two.’ “We were until Riku left, needing to help the girls with Sara who got a bit too excited at the open bar at the gallery. So Mikey went with him and Raph went to see Lexi,” shaking his head, Donnie still looked at Rai in confusion, “so then, why are you still here? Wouldn’t you want to go home or see Izra?” Looking around to see if Splinter had woken up from his deep sleep, hoping that the rat man wasn’t going to wake up from what Rai wanted to say to Donnie. “Yeah, but I’m taking the opportunity to talk to you in private since everyone is basically gone.” Surprised by that until a realization hit and Donnie rolled his eyes, thinking about the worst kind of talk that he’ll receive from Rai. This is the same man that is concerningly close to Leo, who knew what he would say to him. “Whatever it is you want to say or make fun of, I’m really not in the mood to listen. Just keep it in until Leo gets back, whenever he’ll come back,” turning to leave, Rai moved quickly, now leaning against the counter where Donnie’s coffee was to fill his cup more of. “You wound me, taking me to be a careless human being! And here I got Leo to apologize to you all those months ago for the training incident!” 

Eyes widening at the statement, Donnie turned around so fast he was pretty sure some of his coffee spilled a bit, “wait, YOU got Leo to apologize? With all that babbling he was saying that day? How and why?” Out of anything coming from Rai, hearing him say that was something so far fetched for Donnie. He knew the two were super close, to a point where he and the other brothers had somehow managed to add him to almost every social event or plans to have him over to dinner every once in a while. Even with that, the two did everything together if Valeria couldn’t do much with Leo too and how he’s seen and befriended Rai throughout the years they’ve known him, this is one of those rare occasions that Rai had actively sought to see and talk to him, privately nonetheless. “Well first, just because he and I are close, doesn’t mean I don’t care about the rest of you any less. You’re all my closest friends, always remember that Don,” Rai smiled before continuing, “and secondly, because I know what it means to fight with a sibling who cares enough about their emotions and feelings towards someone they like. Trust me, ask Kharis, she’ll tell you how much she’s yelled at me for being a quote unquote ‘dumb little brother who should stop acting like an asshole,’ ” Turning to sit at the table, nudging his head for Donnie to join him as Donnie looked around before sitting next to Rai. “You know a lot better than me about how each of your brothers are so I’m not going to comment on your lovely family dynamic,” rolling his eyes at that, Donnie let him finish his thoughts. “But I will say, when we hung out that day and he told me what happened and what he told you, Leo genuinely looked concerned about your feelings for Kira,” grabbing his phone, Rai started to scroll through photos on his phone until he found the one to show Donnie.

“I know neither of you won’t remember this, but I wanted to show you it for a good reason,” Donnie looked over and was surprised at the photo he was looking over. It was both him and Kira, with her head sleeping on his lap, a blanket wrapped around her waist tightly and Donnie’s arm hanging loosely around her, who was also sleeping. It had been around the end of February, April had decided to plan for everyone to join in on a movie marathon sleepover. Remembering the weekend and who was able to make it, Donnie remembered Kira there, but not in the positions that were shown on the phone. “When did you have time to take a photo of this? And most importantly, how were you able to take this ,” he had to ask, hoping to every single one of his ancestors or anyone able to hear that none of his brothers had access to this photo for any kind of blackmail. “See, I woke up for something, don’t really remember what, but I saw this and remembered how you were with touch and Kira is usually the one that does that if she’s interested in someone, so when I saw this, I just knew I had to take a photo of you both like that.” Smiling again while looking at the photo, before shivering from either the cold or fear Donnie couldn’t tell, “which was great because that’s when Kira decided to somewhat wake up and I didn’t want her to know I just took that photo, she would’ve murdered me. So I decided to just keep it to myself and send it to you whenever I got the chance, but I kept forgetting to do so until well, now honestly.” Nodding his head, Donnie couldn’t stop looking at the photo. 

“Why did it take you this long to show me this photo?” Not really knowing how to answer the question, Rai decided to just be honest about it, “well because at that point, I thought you guys were going to be together already.” Baffled by the answer, before Donnie could get a word in, Rai cut him off, “Don, I see how you both act around each other and I already knew you had feelings for her and it broke my own heart when she started dating Roger too. As someone who grew up with her, it hurt to know she was dating this asshole for whatever particular reason,” rolling his eyes at that, Rai made sure to stay within eye contact with Donnie for what he was about to say next, “but the perks of growing up with her and the rest of them is that we all can talk much more honestly and openly towards one another and when I tell you, the way we all know how she feels when she looks at you because it’s the same way you look at her.” Hearing his phone buzz, the time read 11:00pm, with Izra texting him that she was back at her place from the event, he started getting up from where he sat while patting a hand on Donnie’s shoulder. “I have the biggest feeling that she’s not leaving with that jerk. Because not only is her family and friends here, but you’re here too. Someone she can trust a lot more than any of us. So please, don’t lose your chance to tell her how you really feel about her. You both need it.” Before leaving Rai sent the photo over to Donnie, leaving him with one last thought before seeing Izra. “One more thing, out of any photos we took on her birthday, the one with just you two is her favorite one, making it her contact photo. Just thought you should know that.”

With that, Rai left Donnie to ponder his thoughts, hoping and praying that both Kira and Donnie make the right decision for their own sakes.

-------------------------------♪12:00am♪--------------------------------

“What took you so looooong?” Izra mumbled through the couch pillow, 100% falling asleep from either drinking too much at the gallery tonight or exhaustion from yelling, who knows. “Sorry, was watching a movie with the guys,” Rai replied, getting her arms to wrap around his neck so he could carry her bridal style to the bed. “Did you have fun at least? Looks like you four hit that open bar like it was candy,” he chuckled, already imagining how all of them were during the event. “Mmmm not four, just three… Valé left…” A bit surprised at that, before he could ask, Izra kept rambling while Rai laid her down on the bed, “almost ruined whatever thing she had with this mmman… yelled at her before drinking… think she’s mad at me…” She sat up real quick, Rai nervously grabbing the trash can in case she was going to throw up. “Raaaaaai… She’s mad at meeeee… I just want all of them to be happy,” Izra hiccuped, eyes tearing up as she whined out, close to crying about the issue at hand. Softly smiling, putting the trash can down while helping her put pajamas on, Rai comforted her the best way he could while she was intoxicated at the moment, “babe, it’s okay. I think she’ll forgive you for it, right?” “Nooooooo, you don’t understaaaaaaaand!” Continuing to whine out her frustrations, while Izra started babbling about all of the friend group’s current issues of their love lives, still listening, Rai went in search of her phone, hoping that she didn’t send any text or audio messages to anyone. Noticing a missed call and voicemail from Valeria about an hour ago, Rai sighed, having a feeling that she was either apologizing in this voicemail or screaming at Izra for whatever she said to her at the event. Grabbing her phone and a water bottle, giving scratches to calm Alex, who tilted his head worriedly about Izra’s drunken state of rambling, he walked back into the room, slightly opening the windows, putting his own set of pajamas on while giving Izra water. “Babe, I think you have nothing to worry about. Besides, we’ll know how she’s feeling when we listen to her voicemail in the morning, okay?” Climbing into bed with her, Rai tucked Izra under his chin while wrapping his arms around her waist, hoping this position would help her relax more into slumber. Humming a response, Izra knocked out, the alcohol winning over and letting her rest, silently hoping to wake up not super hung over. With a sigh, Rai slowly closed his eyes, letting his final thoughts through before sleep took over.

‘This was too long of a night to handle emotionally…’

-------------------------------♪4:30am♪--------------------------------

Valeria was running, from who or to where, she didn’t know. All she knew at that moment, she was running from something . Panting, legs feeling like they were being pulled back from gravity itself, she kept on running. At least, attempting to run with how much she felt pulled back from an invisible force. Tripping over something, Valeria fell to the ground of dirt. 

The dirt?

Wait. 

NO.

The dread of fear started to creep on her, starting to grip onto the grass, attempting to pull herself up, but feeling like a boulder was on her. Almost like something was making sure she didn’t move from her spot.

“Oh Valériiiaaaaaa!”

Hearing a familiar voice that brought chills throughout her body, almost magically, Valeria was able to pull herself off from the ground and ran faster. The voice spat out to her, almost as if watching her flee from it.

“You can’t escape me!”

“Shut up! Leave me alone!” Valeria shouted to the void, still running, feeling tired. So tired. “Get out, get out, GET OUT! ”

“No one will want you… You have NO ONE! YOU HAVE ME !”

“NO ONE WILL BE THERE TO CATCH YOU! YOU WILL FALL TO YOUR DEMISE!”

Covering her ears, she kept running, tears running down her face, trying to block out the voice that kept on creepily speaking to her. Drowning out the voice, Valeria kept screaming, feeling her throat strain from the screaming, blocking the words from the voice in the void. While running, she tripped, making her fall forward, her eyes tightly closing, expecting an impact. Expecting to wake up. Wake up from whatever this was.

Nightmare? Hell? Purgatory? 

Whatever it was, needs to just get it over with and end her-

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Opening her eyes, Valeria hadn’t realized the pair of arms that caught her fall, let alone a field of flowers surrounding her and the person who caught her. Looking up real quick, she realized the person who stopped her fall was, smiling down at her softly. “Leo?” Helping her stand straight, not leaving his arms, Leo held her close to his plastron, arms wrapped around her shoulders while she listened to his heartbeats to the best of her ability.

“I’ll always be here for you…”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Valeria sat up, gasping for the air that desperately needed to be consumed in that moment. Those kinds of nightmares are what she was used to at this point in her life, though it hadn’t happened in a really long time. Ending with her clawing for her life in the nightmare, then once it all went dark, she would wake up. Not wanting to go back to bed. Which was why her sleep schedule sucked in the first place years prior. 

But this one ended differently. 

Way differently.

The blanket still wrapped underneath her arms up that Valeria had clung onto it before remembering the arm that was currently wrapped around her waist, looking to her right side at the figure sleeping peacefully next to her. Smiling softly while looking at Leo, who looked cozy wearing her navy hoodie once more, Valeria turned slightly to look at him, laying on her side while cupping his cheek with her left hand, smile widening when he nuzzled into it, also smiling. ‘There was never anyone else there to catch my fall, usually the voice telling me everyone was gone, but not this time… You were there… ‘ Laying down on her side, Valeria kept staring at Leo, trying to think over everything that had happened between last night to her nightmare. ‘It wasn’t a dream. I actually told him I loved him. And he didn’t run. Didn’t belittle my feelings. Is this what it feels like? To love and be truly loved in return?’ From his cheek, her hand moved to place over where his heart was, sighing out in relief the same heartbeats she heard and felt in her nightmare turned dream. In his sleep, Leo pulled her further into him, both of his arms wrapped tightly around her waist while having her wrap an arm around him, burying his face into her neck. Giggling softly at his clinginess, trying to sneakily get her other arm out to fully wrap both of them around him, Valeria tried checking to the best of her ability on what time it was. Trying to look at the side where her clock was on her dresser from the corner of her eye, it read 4:45am. The sun not even fully showing itself, Valeria went to close her eyes, attempting to fall back asleep. 

Somehow just knowing she wasn’t feeling okay, Leo lightly squeezed her in comfort, whispering softly in his sleep against her neck. “Love you…” Smiling, hearing his voice say that, calming her down, Valeria went back to sleep.

In hopes that he would be there to catch her falling again.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aaaaand that's a wrap! They're finally together, let's celebrate! 🌟🌟🌟

I've been DYING to post these last couple chapters! These two were not only extremely rewarding to write out, ESPECIALLY for Valeria and Leo. I tried very hard to still keep them in character to the best of my ability while writing out these scenes between everyone in the friend group. & now, with that being said, let's see who else we have to worry about now that the two idiots are together finally.

Fun fact: I've had the side chapter where the two finally talk and get together after sooooo long, so if anyone wants to read that, comment down & let me know!

[drowningindango]

In an obsessive bout of writing, I made a little fic.

(yeah, sorry, currently you need to be logged into your account to read it on ao3... :c But I put it for everyone else under the cut :>)

Madara never paid much attention to the youngest Senju brother, be it on the battlefield or outside of it. When their clans were still at war, he was mostly occupied with trying to kill Itama’s eldest brother, or stepping in when his annoying second oldest brother came close to killing Izuna. Madara had little time to think about anyone or anything else. War was a messy business, and you could hardly keep track of every single soldier on the enemy side. Even with the sharingan, he had to prioritise.

During peacetime, Itama made for pleasant enough company. Whenever Madara crossed paths with him in their new, ever growing village, the Senju smiled at him, like so few of his clansmen did. He was rather withdrawn and quiet during their conversations, but Madara chalked it up to his personality. Overall, Itama left the impression of a polite young man who liked to extend kindness to others. And that was already all Madara knew about him.

There was no question that Itama would most likely be a capable shinobi, coming from a clan that was known for their strength and diverse skill sets… let alone him being the brother of powerhouses like the God of Shinobi and the White Demon! It was expected of him to hold his ground, even if he and Kawarama might not quite measure up to the other two. Madara accepted that without a second thought.

This was why it caught him completely blindsided when he was sent as support on a mission that went horribly awry. They sent a cry for help in every direction, calling whoever was closest to them. He knew Itama’s squad was in the area as well and would be there to respond to it first, but in a situation like that every man counted to keep the losses to a minimum. Or at least that was his thought process.

Madara arrived just at the moment when Itama reduced someone’s head into pieces with what looked like a long stick covered in spikes. He vaguely registered it as a kanabo, a weapon that was rarely used by shinobi. They were more popular with the samurai in the Land of Iron. It only took Itama one blow with it to send brains spraying into the air. Madara blinked. He would never be able to see smashing watermelons as a fun summer activity again.

Itama looked up from the carnage he caused, lowering the kanabo, and blinked back. Then he smiled that same damn smile he greeted him with every time they met in the streets.

“That was the last one,” he said calmly, in lieu of a greeting. Madara saw the bodies behind him. And above him, where they were hanging from the branches like broken dolls. His mind promptly provided him with graphic material of how they might have ended up there, and why their guts were dangling above them like cheap festival decoration.

“Why have I never seen you fight before?” He asked, his voice breathless in a way that did not come from running to this place.

Why was that the first thing that came out of his mouth, was the better question. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Madara wanted to swallow his clumsy tongue for its betrayal. It never served him well when he needed it.

Itama raised a brow and leaned on his kanabo.

“You’re practically capable of taking on a whole army by yourself,” Itama said bluntly. “Why would you ever need to see me fight? There would never be a good reason for me to fight as long as you’re nearby.”

That… made sense. Unless he was on a solo mission, Madara was the one sent in as a last measure, when all other hope was lost. No one would ever come to send support to him.

It made so much sense, and yet Madara felt like it was unfair. He frowned. He was acting like a child who had all the cake in the world, and he whined because someone withheld a single piece of candy from him all this time. What did he care about this Senju? What did it matter that he took on a group of dangerous mercenaries by himself, while his comrades led the civilians to safety and far away from the bloodshed?

Just because he might never be able to forget that Itama’s smile always stayed the same, radiated warmth and kindness, no matter what?

“Isn’t it reason enough to indulge my curiosity?” Madara asked with a smile of his own. He had been told there was often an edge of madness to it, that this was what scared people away. Itama did not look scared. His grin widened.

“Well in that case…” Itama stood up straight and shrugged, resting his kanabo so roughly against his shoulder it made his armour clank. A stray drop of blood landed on his face, but he seemed not to notice or care. “It would be bad manners to leave you unsatisfied.”

His eyes wandered around.

“But since we’re still in enemy lands, it has to wait until we’re home.”

His mouth was completely dry and Madara had to swallow. He was itching to see more, learn more about this Senju he knew so little of. It would be a long journey back to Konoha.

[sailor-toni]

The Nightmare in the Fenton Home

You can read this on A03, FF.net, or Wattpad

Amity Park 1985

            “Not today Spector!” Jazz Phantom zipped and zapped across the streets of Amity Park dogging ectoplasmic bullets. Her ponytail twirling around her hair like a vortex ready to pounce, and bounce to her target. A large metal man, with shoulders broader than the Berlin wall, and a smile that outmatched any of the large dogs that stalked it in the dead of night. Razor sharp teeth and blazing green eyes. He floated above the street guns a blazing. The large plane wings on his back quivered from the engines keeping shim up.

            Flipping past a street lamp Jazz shot seven neon yellow bolts in quick succession, three flew past, three were blocked, and one, hit a passing car breaking the windows.

“I’m sorry!” she said.

“How will you defeat me if you can’t even aim right Child?!” The man mocked.

“Argh shut up creep!” More shots were cast, none were hitting their mark, so they became more frequent. As she rose higher in the air to meet him, her burst cast in quick sessions of fours and threes. The broad wings on his back, let him easily spin and soar around the storm clouds, avoiding all attacks. His trench coat flapping against the cold fall breeze.

“UGH! Stay still!” From her outcry two yellow beams spun from her eyes, splitting the wind. But not the broad shoulder man.

            Then her stomach, upset and disgruntled lurched into her throat. The man’s fist buried deep into her gut, as the roaring, quivering engines plummeted them towards the earth. Wind screaming in her ears. “It’s over now Ghost girl!"

            Gasping, clawing, and tense, she grabbed his head bending the cold metal around her finger tips. The vibrations of wires torn echoed down her arm as she pulled the robotic head into her chest. The jagged wound buzzed with electricity, zapping at her tears. With a jerk and a twist. The head flew off. Discarded to the side. The giant metal body froze, lurched and finished it’s decent to the earth with out the young girl. 

“Oh god,” she said. “That was a close one.”

            Fighting the urge to vomit, and wiping off the remains of tears, she moved from the body to where the head laid, smashed against the pavement.

“So much for the mighty hunter Skulker.” Skulker’s green digitated eyes were smashed into tiny glass shards, and the metal sharp teeth were cracked along the middle of each tooth. Holding the thing an arm’s length away, she ripped the face off revealing nothing except an empty chair.

“Hey where did you-” The body was no longer behind her, “-go? Great, just great.”

She groaned, holding what was basically another broken computer up before her, “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?”

She giggled, “Well can’t do anything about it now, I have to get home before dinner, or else Mom will have a fit.”

            Leaving the small area of destruction, Skulker remained in the shadows. The light of the wires casting jagged shadows upon the city walls.

            The Fenton homestead was on old brick building made from only the sturdiest of brick, as her parents had attached a giant neon sign to the front, and a hunk of metal the size of a small blimp to the roof, with all sort of satellites, rods, and jumbled pieces of metal sticking which way around it, wrapping in and out the series of metal poles and tubes that hooked it to the roof. Like a Jenga tower about to topple. The inside was neater with faded blue walls, and décor from the 70’s haunting the living room. The only modern thing was a large brick TV that stood proudly on a black box. A round black couch surrounded it like it was an idol. The image of the couch bowing before the TV would make her smile, but not today, as several suitcases stood by it.

“Ah! Jazzy-cakes your home. And just in time,” her Father said jumping down the stairs.

“Hey Dad, what’s going on?”

“Your Mother and I were invited to the national paranormal convention as speakers this year.”

“And your Father forgot to tell anyone,” said her mother, who was slowly coming down the stairs carrying her typewriter. “I got a call this morning asking if we were still coming.”

“Are you?” Jazz said.

“Of course, Jazzy-cakes! This is our moment to shine, and to inform the rest of the paranormal science world about our research. This could get us in the mainstream, maybe even get us on Larry King. Imagine your old man and amazing Mom with Larry King!” Her father wrapped his harm around her, his bushy mustache tickling her ear.  

“I don’t think this will get us that far Dearie, but it is very important to our careers,” her Mother added the typewriter to the pile of luggage.

“Where is this convention?”

“Its in D.C. Jazz! We won’t have that much time for sightseeing, but maybe if we play out cards right, your Mother and I might see Reagan!”

“I don’t know about that Jack…”

“Think on the bright side Maddie. With all the recent Ghost attacks, everyone is looking for an answer about what is going on with Amity Park. We could even get an interview on Dateline. Think of it Mads, us on the TV!” Maddie, rolled her eyes at her husband, his antics and ideas making her smile like a fool.

“So, do I need go pack my bags?” Jazz said.

“Oh no you’re not coming sweetie.” Maddie said.

“Hun?”

“It’s so short notice, that we only were able to grab two plane tickets, and with what happened at Vlad’s house last year, well…”

“What your Mother is trying to say is that we trust you enough to stay home while we leave for the weekend.”

“What about Danny?”

“He’s in charge, but,” Maddie leaned down to Jazz’s height “We trust that you will call us if he tries to throw a party or god forbid do something reckless like drink or smoke the devil’s grass.”  

“I understand Mom.”

“Good, I pre-made some food for the net few days, but I gave Danny some money in case you guys eat it all. The numbers for both the hotel and the convention are on the family chalkboard, and don’t forget about curfew.”

“I won’t Mom.”

“That’s my sweetie girl,” kissing her daughter’s cheek, Maddie moved around the living room checking of things o her list.

“Where is Danny by the way?” Jazz asked.

“We already told him what’s going on,” Maddie said. “I think he’s up in his room doing homework.”

“Oh, yeah. Homework. I know I did a lot of homework when I was his age,” Jack snickered. Maddie smacked him.

“Jack!”

“What? Homework is good? You can’t get into a good college without doing your homework!” Maddie rolled her eyes, no longer smiling.

“O-okay. I’m going to go down stairs, and uh do work with the computer.” Jazz backed towards the basement.

“Okay sweetie,” Jack was still snickering at himself.

                        Jazz sighed, descending down the basement steps, the old wood creaking under her. The Basement was cold, metal covered almost everything in sight, radiating the cold like an infection. On the far wall was the portal. The giant hexagon built into the false wall. It wasn’t the source of the coldness but it was not helping the room. The meter and tank beside it glowed a faint green, pulsing like a slow, faint heartbeat. Green text glows against her skin.

Status: Good

Last opened: August 27 1985

Ecto barrel is at 87 percent

             A pain shot through her side, racing to her arms the moment she tried to grab the ecto-barrel. The large metal contain was easily twice her size but the ectoplasm run off from the portal was surprisingly light making the chore of changing it easy, but annoying.

“Danny can do it,” she grumbled. Throwing the broken head of her enmy from her backpack and into a Fenton branded anti-ghost containment unit. A glorified carboard box with tubes of ectoplasm, tacked to its sides. A push of a button and the tubes began to spin creating a shield around the box. A pink diary lock kept it close, as the previous lock had been lost somewhere around the house. A few wires stuck out around the lid, and for that Jazz said she was sorry. Shoving the bludging box behind a broke set of  

            Hours later Jazz and Danny stood outside the door watching their parents fill the car up with suitcases, and large cumbersome inventions. Guns, body armor, and even the Fenton Ghost Catching Lunch-box was thrown in.

“Remember kids, no parties, no drugs, don’t break anything, and call us if anything goes wrong,” Maddie said.

“Yes Mom.”  The both repeated.

“And don’t let the shield go down! Ghost have been rampant lately and I don’t any ghost to try and bust you up. While we’re gone,” Jack said. Jazz looked behind her, seeing the large apartment building covered in a thick green bubble. The tip of the neon sign poking through.

“Yes Dad,” Danny said.  

The two were grabbed into a bear hug by their father, his large bushy mustache tickling their faces, “I’m gonna miss you two.”

“We’ll miss you to Dad,” Jazz said, patting her father’s back.

“We’ll be back by Sunday night. Come one Jack before the roads get busy, said Maddie. Jack gave each of his kids, a big wet kiss on the cheek. Jogging back to the car, shoving the last few things in.

“Be good.” Maddie gave each kid a quick kiss goodbye.

            The van boomed to life driving off towards the highway, with the Fenton parents waving goodbye.

“Are Sam and Tucker coming over?” Jazz asked.

“Of course. But it’s not a party. We’re just gonna watch some movies. Is the human porcupine coming?” Danny said.

“Spike? No, his parents dragged him to a Disney cruise.”

“Spike? Walking around with princesses and Mickey mouse?”

“It’s for his sisters.”

“Sucks to be him.” Jazz followed Danny inside, the ghost shield gently pulled at her, but otherwise had no effect and allowed her to go inside.

A headless man sat in the shadows watching. The setting sun trapping the street in a growing darkness.

[nebulize-my-mind]

two busy days at work with complete opposite end-of-day vibes. i work part time as a studio photographer at a chain btw

saturday (yesterday) - special fae forest type event, allowed to dress up (i was the only one who did lmao). day was super busy but also fun and the kids were adorable even if some of them weren't super cooperative. had an awesome session with these three little girls who then hung out with me behind the counter as i did paperwork while a coworker took their mom through the sales/payment process. i received many hugs from them, they were precious. left the studio tired but happy and went to dinner with my roommate L and her family, which was fun

sunday (today) - back to normal pictures, a lot of holiday and family session this time of year. was supposed to stay until 2. got there, noticed someone had changed my shift end to 2:45 without telling me but whatever i don't have any plans other than homework. somewhat busy day but fine. afternoon shift gets there at 2 (including my boss) and i'm informed i'm now staying until 3:15. irritated now but sure, fine, that's only 30 extra minutes. end the shift with the cutest 1 year old birthday session where they brought a cake for him to smash (and thankfully a tarp so we didn't have to deep clean everything lol). get off even later than i was supposed to, very tired and having missed my planned bus. then miss the next bus after that, i was literally sprinting to its door when it pulled out of the station. finally manage to get on the next bus an hour later at like 5. tired, irritated, and hungry af because i hadn't eaten anything since breakfast before my shift started at 10:30 and didn't get lunch because despite my shift extensions taking me to 5 hours, my original shift was only supposed to be 3.5 hours and we don't get lunch breaks on short shifts like that

so. that was my weekend. and i still have homework to do for my 4 upper-level college courses

yay (i'm so tired)