#HSAU revisited

[flydotnet]

Excess of Care

WHUMPTOBER 2023, DAY 30: “It’s okay, just to say, ‘I’m not okay’.” Borrowed Clothing | Bridal Carry | “Not much longer…”

I guess writing one (1) interaction between Camilla and Hikaru in the early chapters of "Promotion to Parent" has always made me interested in more Camikaru (let's call it that lol) content for the HSAU. I don't even know why that is, I just felt like they'd be interesting to write interacting; and if this fic being there is proving something, it's that my writer hunch wasn't wrong.

This story is set a year after the main timeline, around the same time in the (school) year Promotion to Parent was set in. Since it serves as a bit of an indirect sequel to it, it does contain implied spoilers for it - so if it's ever interested you, please read that one first! It's not too long and also filled with all of the good stuff (read: family angst and lots of sibling love).

It's another short one that I thought I'd be more inspired by, or that would be angstier, but oh well… Brain is slowly stopping to function properly. It's another one of those I'll probs revisit in the future.

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Excess of Care

Summary: Camilla Nohr has always cared too much for others; but it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Fandom: Crossover (FE Fates/CT), high school/teacher AU

Word Count: 1K words

AO3 version available here.

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Camilla has lost count of the number of times she’s been told she cared too much about people she didn’t know anything about. She’s been warned not get attached to students no matter what. She’s been blamed for lacking perspective and thinking with her heart rather than her brain. Mind over matters, duty of detachment, all that jazz that has turned into background noise inside her skull.

And yes, maybe Xander is right when he points out to her it will one day make her miserable, the one day she’ll be powerless yet too involved. But what do you want her to become, then? A heartless machine of an employee? Very little for her, thank you.

Today is proving Xander’s concerns for her habit of “over-caring” right once more, she does suppose. She’s meant to just deliver some papers her brother forgot to give to one of his workmates that couldn’t wait: with the upcoming class council season upon the school, teacher comments and grades have become the latest emergency. He’s himself swamped with comments to write for all of his students – who are a lot more than anyone would expect, to be fair – so she volunteered to deliver something he apparently needed to give to someone as soon as possible. Leo was the one to call her out, this time, but she replied to his concern the same way she always does: with a smile and truthful words.

This someone has turned out to be one of the few workmates he has she knows about, from last year’s Xander-related fiasco. Elise most often calls him by an affectionate nickname used by the entire school, it’d seem, while Leo is always a lot more detached when referring to him, and neither case comes to her surprise. What surprises her more was that she’s already met and spoken with him once before, yet when he opens the door, she’s still a bit starstruck. It’s like meeting her sibling’s idol in an intended context.

Perhaps it’d be closer to meeting someone and realizing they need help, however, because this is exactly what she’s doing.

Camilla has no doubt in her mind that, would’ve it been anyone else but her in this situation, they’d have just called someone close to the person they barely know anything about and left when it was clear it’d be taken care of. This is the sort of things Leo and Xander have warned her not to do, because she cares too much, and it’s not good for her.

On the other hand, this poor boy needed a helping hand, and he clearly is home alone: not only have Xander and Leo both mentioned his fiancée was out of the country for the week, but she also knows from second-hand accounts Elise’s favourite teacher is a chronic workaholic with… questionable self-care. Hinoka and Shun have both corroborated that, although considering Shun’s own lack of routine, she can only guess his judgement came from first-hand experience.

And this is how Camilla is finding herself with her brother’s colleague in his arms. From what she can tell through touch and sight, he’s slightly feverish and very much exhausted, but he should be fine with some rest.

The first order of action, when someone passes out in front of you, is to carry them to a bed. Luckily, she’s always had a lot of strength in her arms to carry her siblings and help Xander out, so it’s not an issue for her to carry the fairly lightweight Hikaru (she isn’t sure if she can call him by his given name, but it sounds like a good compromise between the formal “Mr Matsuyama” Leo uses and the much endeared “Matsu” Elise calls him instead) to his bedroom.

It doesn’t seem like he’s been here for long periods of time lately, with half of the twin bed undone yet the other undisturbed. She quickly takes the time to put it back into shape before tugging her patient in, just making sure he isn’t wearing anything too uncomfortable. To his luck, he was already wearing a very casual combination of old t-shirt and sweatpants. (Come to think of it, this doesn’t match the casual yet strait-laced enough looks Leo usually describes his literature teacher wearing).

With that taken care of, she can proceed to the next stop, which awaits her downstairs. With the supplies in the kitchen and the tools at her disposal, she wipes up a quick get-better package: a steaming mug of camomile tea with a generous spoonful of honey, lightly toasted bread straight from the machine and, of course, a good, tall glass of water.

To her surprise, when she comes back into the bedroom, he’s already awake, and quite confused to see her in his house. It’s… a surprisingly realistic outcome of the situation, she must admit.

“Uhm… What’re you doing here?” He asks, voice hoarse and slightly on the morning side of things.

“My apologies, I must’ve scared you,” she replies without advancing. “My brother sent me to deliver you some papers for work, but almost as soon as you opened the door, you lost consciousness. I brought you back to your bed so you could rest properly.”

“Papers for work… Oh, right, Xander.” His shoulders slump. “You’re Camilla Nohr.”

“It’s indeed me,” she answers with a smile. “Can I come closer?”

“O-oh, yeah, don’t even ask.” He scratches the back of his neck. “Sorry for that, by the way.”

“Sorry for what?”

“For passing out on you.” She puts the trail on his lap. “Oh, you’re too kind, damn, thanks.”

“It’s no problem, don’t stress yourself about it.” She remains standing on the side of the bed. “I was just very concerned, truth be told.”

He drinks the glass of water first. As always, her guess was right on the money.

“I get it, that must’ve been a rough way to get greeted at the door.”

“It’s not just that. You’re just as tired as Xander, but unlike him, you’re all alone.”

“I appreciate the concern, but I’m fine.” He clears his throat. “Even though I realize I can’t be very convincing on the matter.”

Her face grows sterner. This is sounding all too familiar to her.

“You’re right, you’re not very convincing.” She uncrosses her arms. “You know… It’s okay just to say you’re not okay. Especially when you’re alone like you are right now.”

“Right,” he replies with a slight smile, as awkward as it is. “You’re right. It’s just, I don’t know who I’d be telling this to.”

“I’m sure you have friends and family willing to listen to it. If you find yourself without someone, then…” She smiles again. “You’ll find my phone number written down on a note on your fridge.”

“That’s a radical way to get me to take care, damn.” He chuckles anyway. “I’m very thankful for that Camilla, I really am. Still, please tell me you’ll go home. I don’t wanna keep you here.”

“As long as you promise to rest, at least until the break comes in.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome. Although, for now, I think I’ll just take some time to call Xander and tell him I’ve delivered his parcel.”

Hikaru almost jolts in place.

“Shit, the docs, yeah!”

“They’re on the drawer in the hallway.”

“Oh, good. You’re really good at this.”

“Years of experience.”

As she turns on her heel and gets her phone out, Camilla unanimously concludes she can’t care too much about people.

[tinypeckers]

The fun thing about the HSAU is that it’s so long winded that occasionally I forget exactly what I’ve written and I go up to check the facts for a reference later on and hurt myself all over again

[tj-dragonblade]

Write that yamasai highschool AU already! Both you and the idea are too fabulous it kills me 3 But seriously I hope inspiration strikes you soon because you're so talented

Aaaaaah, thank you so much I’m blushing here.  ^_^;;  I’m forever frustrated by my inability to just…download the ides out of my head into full-fledged proper fic.  I really do love this AU though; I can’t guarantee it will ever be written but I have gone back through and made sure at least that everything I have put out there for it is gathered under the HSAU tag on my blog.

And revisiting it makes me want to write more of it all over again, ahaha.  Sob.

[aimemawelexa]

Searching for an HSAU fanfic

I read a story a few months ago that I wanted to revisit.  I don’t remember the name or the author, unfortunately. It was before I had an account on any of the fanfic sites, so it’s not in my history.  :(

The part I remember clearly has C/R/O at “the first college frat party of the year”, but I think they were HS juniors or seniors. L is there, staring across a fire pit/bonfire at C. C is also staring back at L. (I think maybe L knows who C is - like she’s popular at school - but C doesn’t know L). L takes a drink from her water bottle, realizes she’s been caught staring and ends up choking as it goes down the wrong pipe. Clarke finds it cute/adorable, of course. But an embarrassed L makes a hasty exit, leaving C disappointed.

If this sounds familiar to anyone, please toss me a link, author name, or story name.

[tinypeckers]

I need to go to sleep now I think

[tinypeckers]

i forgot how depressing the HSAU is like damn, girl, was you okay?

Also I’ve somehow made it more depressing lol

[tinypeckers]

graphic design is my passion

[tinypeckers]

HSAU: Remastered

Pairings: Michael/Gavin(Mavin) Geoff/Griffon(Geoffin?) Joel/Ray (Joelay) Michael/Lindsay (Juggey) Gavin/Dan (Danvin) Kara/Barbara (Karbara?) Brandon/Ali (Brali?*) Jack/Liz (Jiz**)

*Former Rooster Teeth employes. **Original Character

Word Count: TBC

Dare to read the original on AO3 | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four

Summary: Gavin thought his study abroad trip would be filled with too-large food portions, an abundance of "yeehaws!" and whole lot of American flags. He could never have imagined that he would come toe to toe with the high school quarterback... and like it.

A/N: Eight years ago, I wrote a mess of a fanfiction that spawned friendships, rekindled my love for writing and an unhealthy obsession for enemies to lovers. Sometimes I like to relive such a time by rereading it - almost always I quit because it is so, so, so badly written. Not wanting to give up on my love completely I set about reshaping it into something I could stand to read. I think I’ve done as much as I can and I hope that whoever reads it – whether you’re revisiting it or feasting your eyes upon it for the first time – agrees with me. So, in the words of Bowling for Soup: High school never ends.

Please read the below before you embark upon your journey into the HSAU:Remastered!

First and foremost, for you newbies (and maybe a reminder for you oldies too) – this isn’t just a fluffy high school fic, it gets dark. I will try and remember to put warnings above each chapter but please check the bottom of this post for a full list.*

None of the characters reflect their IRL counterparts and are merely characterisations.

The story is mostly, I hope, a faithful recreation of the original give or take a few pacing issues and (fingers crossed) an evolved writing style. However, as the title says it is a remastered version and there may be some scenes missing/changed/replaced.

A certain someone who was once relevant to the plot has been removed and replaced with ‘Daxton’ and, despite the fact I hope they never read this, as per their wishes Lindsay’s character uses they/them pronouns now. (Although I may slip up here and there, please let me know when I have!)

Finally, I just wanted to say thank you for reading (or re-reading) what was my first major project as a teenager. At the time of posting, the original is eight years old. Despite its flaws, I had a lot of fun re-reading it and if you want a laugh, I’d recommend putting the two pieces side by side and play a game of spot the differences. There are some dialogue choices you just can’t improve upon.

So, sit back, relax, grab a pop tart, and enjoy.

*Known trigger warnings: Self-harm, emotional abuse, homophobia, bullying, teen pregnancy, miscarriage

Read Chapter One Here