#I've been to some as a kid but they were small and honestly we weren't allowed to get anything because of how expensive and unhealthy it is

[multicolour-ink]

Ok, headcanons about the brothers' birthday...

I think that during their childhood the family would throw them themed parties depending on their interest that year. Popular children's show, movie, video game. And both brothers would wait because maybe they weren't big parties, and the decorations would be simple but they would make sure that the food looked like their favorite characters.

I think they only once tried to throw them a surprise party and failed miserably because the brothers are playful and curious and would insist on helping all the time. Mario would put together a decoration that Luigi liked, and Luigi would help his mom prepare Mario's favorite food. Also, with such a noisy family, it's impossible to keep a secret, especially if they ask Uncle Tony and Uncle Arthur for help.

I think in their teens they would make sure to get a gift for the other. At the beginning, crafts were made, and over time they probably speak to their parents separately, telling them that they didn't want a party and that they would help out where they could in exchange for an allowance to buy their brother's gift. They both know what the other is doing, but feign ignorance, but are genuinely surprised by the gift.

I also think that at least once they went to a restaurant. Maybe they went to one of those places where they do children's parties, like in FNAF but without the scary part... Luigi got scared anyway and Mario tried to fight an animatronic. On another occasion they went to an Italian restaurant. Currently they are going to eat at their favorite pizzeria where they have their special pizza, with half without mushrooms.

Maybe on one occasion they had a party in a park (like the one in Luigi's memory)

I think costume parties are left exclusively for Halloween, where they make sure to have cute outfits to match and eat lots of sugar.

Oh I love this idea!

The boys having cute themed parties with all their friends from school. That's adorable 🥺💗

I like to imagine as teens they went to more interesting places like the aquarium, a theme park etc. Or even a funfair that had rolled into the city! And they would gorge on cotton candy and hot doughnuts, and hotdogs until they get stomach aches and are scolded later 😆

Oh, and they go on the Twister ride, both Bros holding each other's hand and both screaming and laughing ^^

[percyluvr]

hi! can i request child of apollo reader with a cold/is sick x percy jackson who takes care of her lovingly even though theyre just friends? kind of like that lyric in apple cider "even if we're just friends, we could be more than that." thank u hehe!!

percy jackson x reader summary: you get the flu and percy takes care of you wc: 613

You told yourself that you would not, no, could not get sick. The number of campers coming into the infirmary was increasing daily, and you weren't sure why. It happened every year around the beginning of summer. Probably due to the influx of new campers, you thought.

But of course, whenever you promise yourself something, the exact opposite happens, and now, here you were in the Apollo cabin with your best friend, Percy, taking care of you.

When you had first gotten sick, you thought it was just some common cold, and thought it would be a little weird to have gotten a cold during the beginning of summer, you figured it was just due to the changing of the weather and you would be fine within a couple of days, but of course with your luck you had gotten one of the worst cases of the flu that any of your siblings in the Apollo cabin had ever seen.

You'd begged Percy to not try to take care of you, since he'd most likely get sick too, and it would be worse than you, since he wasn't an Apollo kid, but of course he wouldn't listen, insisting that he needed to take care of his poor best friend who was suffering so deeply, his words not yours. You begrudgingly accepted his help, because honestly, who can resist Percy Jackson when he's giving you puppy eyes? Not you, apparently.

"You wanna know what I think?" Percy says, breaking the small moment of silent before you inevitably cough up a lung again.

"Not really."

"Too bad. I think that you're sick because you overwork yourself all the time."

"I said I didn't want to know what you think."

"And I said too bad. Seriously, you need to stop overworking yourself, or you're going to keep getting sick like this. It's like, scientifically proven or something."

"Okay, whatever. You're not a doctor, I am. I think I know what's good for me."

"You think. Emphasis on think."

You roll your eyes, and Percy goes back to laying his head on your shoulder, which you had told him numerous times not to do.

"Percy, seriously. Stop getting your face so close to mine, you're going to get sick."

"I don't care. I want to be near you, and maybe my charm and good looks can help you feel better."

"Not how that works, but sure, if you say so."

"I do say so."

You roll your eyes for what feels like the six hundredth time, and put your arm around his shoulder.

When you begin to cough again, Percy jolts up and runs over to the cabin in the corner, getting out a large bag of cough drops. He picks your favorite flavor out, and grabs your water bottle. He then hands both of them to you.

"Hey, I kinda like you being sick." You raise an eyebrow. "Okay, stop. That's not what I mean. I just mean that I can finally be your personal nurse, and not the other way around. 'Cause you're always healing me, but I've never been able to help you back, and now I feel like I can."

"Aw, Percy, that's actually really sweet. I'm glad my suffering is making you happy."

He rolls his eyes in response and sits back down on the bed next to you.

"I know I'm sweet. I'm also going to ignore the other thing you said," he says, putting his arms around you and bringing you to lay your head down on his chest.

It doesn't take long before you're deeply sleeping and using his chest as a pillow while he gently strokes your hair.

[blood-grove]

— school fights

— dad!ghoap & reader scenario based off my fics here :3

— tws; ofc fighting mentions, injuries , annoying adult (principal)

a/n; this isnt a chapter to odd adjustments just a scenario so pls dont treat this as a next chapter !

Fuck Fuck Fuckkk.

I was so fucking screwed.

But honestly the kid deserved it.

God my fist hurt so damn bad, I just tried rubbing it despite the fact I'm pretty sure I bruised my knuckles pretty badly.

Managed to sock him in the face though god damn it hurt.

I've never really gotten into fights much barely at all really, and it's been good at this school so far.

All into this one fucking kid decided to start fucking up your day for two weeks straight, You didn't even know what you did to cause this.

You weren't the tallest person either which also didn't help your situation Nearly comically shoved in the locker, Always having to quickly rush to your next class just in case the long open hallway would flood and stop up with foot traffic.

The relentless harassment, and the honestly uncreative insults thrown at you.

You just snapped.

John had packed me lunch usually I didn't ask since honestly I never got used to asking for things I felt everything they've gave me so far was enough, I didn't want to be spoiled even though there was a nagging voice saying I wasn't being spoiled.

This sort of parental affection made me feel spoiled, Made me feel like I almost had too much.

The principals voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"Are you listening?!"

No.

"Yes.."

"I've already called both of your parents both of your behaviors were inexcusable- And you? Biting one of your classmates?!"

I slightly flinched.

Yeah I did bite them.

But that was also deserved, I hated this school's stupid no-tolerance policy, Nearly the whole class was there saw it.

They all saw him dump that milk carton on my head my hair still damp, I tried to just walk away but being shoved onto the ground was my final straw as I punched him, and then we were both on the floor he was bigger than me and obviously, And I wasn't made for fighting he had landed a few more hits on me than I had on him.

So I bit him.

Hard.

Then the teachers finally got in threw the small crowd of students and pulled us apart.

"What are you some kind of dog? Do your parents teach you nothing?"

I just stayed silent gripping my pants leg as avoided eye contact, Why was I getting torn into for self-defense? Her shrill voice was getting on my nerves at this point getting to them bad.

I doubted things would go any better if I completely shut down, But eventually, she let up on me and went over to the teary-eyed boy no doubt from my bite of just to gain sympathy I couldn't care.

I just pulled my legs to my chest as he chewed on my lip focused on the ground.

This discussion was just hell, I wanted to throw up, yell, and vomit all once.

We both were getting suspended for a week, You would be put in sperate classes as if that was going to stop any other interaction from happening.

And you were supposed fucking apologize?.

"What?" I spoke up finally as the principal looked over at me Simon looked over at me as well had luckily arrived before the other kids' parent came which would have basically felt like my doom feeling like they were just going to gang up on me and guilt me till he came.

"You bit another student-"

"He dumped milk on me he's been fucking with me for two weeks!"

"Watch your language-"

"I-" I stopped as Simon slightly glanced over at me and I just gave up at that point as I bit my lip nearly crumbling up the apology paper I was given.

I was sniffling quietly by the time we left the office.

"Wait here." Simon finally said something as he headed back into the office leaving me to sit down on a nearby bench as I sniffled tears streaming down my face.

Simon came back out a few minutes later.

"Where's the paper?" Simon looked over at me as I handed him the paper as he just ripped it up tossing it into the trash.

"Why'd you do that?-"

"Do you want to go get ice cream?"

"..Yeah."

"Ow"

"Sorry.." Simon mumbled as he wrapped up my bruised knuckles and hand, My other holding my ice cream cone.

"Well get it wrapped up in ice at home.." I just nodded as he shifted getting up from his crouched position and picking up his own cup of ice cream.

He sat back down and we sat in silince for a while as we ate out ice cream.

"..Are you upset?"

He glanced over at me.

"Yes."

"I-"

"For not telling us you were being bullied."

"Well..I..I just thought.." I just sighed I went quiet looking away I could hear him shift taking another spoonful of ice cream.

"..If it happens again tell me.." I looked over at him as he shifted.

"You don't have to write that apology letter.."

"W-Well you ripped it up so..Yeah I thought so.."

"I'm going to the gym tomorrow.."

He paused as he shifted as he got up to throw away his ice cream cup.

"I want you too come."

"I-..Why..?"

"So I can teach you how to punch someone properly."

a/n; idk what to put here so this is it lmao

[yandere-kittee]

Yandere! Father x Gn! Reader.

♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Note:Is this fic a bit self indulgent? Yes. ANYWAYS, THANKS Y'ALL FOR THE 260 FOLLOWERS ☆(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ* I honestly am so happy by how far this blog has come!

❦Contains: Yandere behavior, Platonic Yandere, terrible family relationship, kidnapping, Stockholm Syndrome.

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛

You didn't know how you got here, but you surely want to go back.

But it seemed to start when your parents started fighting at home, they've never done that before.

You we're obviously upset, but after their argument, your mother had come into your room and gently told you that they both had a small disagreement with each other and that everything would go back to normal.

It only got worse from there.

It was subtle at first, not spending time with each other not talking to each other at home and your Dad slept on the couch while your Mom slept in their room.

They didn't want to fight in front of you, but you we're old enough to understand what was going on, you weren't naive.

Because of this, you wanted to avoid being at home with them as much as possible, you didn't like seeing them fight so much, listening to loud music wasn't enough to drown them out.

You found solace in sitting in the park, on the bench or on one of the swings, feeling the cold breeze on your skin while you look up at the sky, it was so peaceful compared to when you're at home.

Though, from time to time, you'll see kids playing with their parents in the park and just being happy with them, you envied their ignorant bliss.

You wondered what went wrong with your family, but no matter how much thought you put into it, it might not help with fixing the situation, so you needed to do it yourself.

Though, you didn't know how.

When you began to stay in the park more and more than in your own home, you start to take notice on people who often the park as well, especially this one guy who likes to wear sweaters and draw.

You copied him at some point, pulling out a notebook and began to draw as well. It was fun, you weren't an expert, but it took your mind off of everything.

Though, nothing good ever lasts because your parents took notice of your absence in your own home, so after a day in the park, your parents were both waiting for you at home, the first time you saw them together when they weren't screaming at each other.

"Where have you been!" "Do you know how worried we were? Why did you come home just now? "

You've both only noticed now? I've been doing this for almost 2 months now.

"I was just at the park.." "At this time!?"

"Well, I just didn't want to be home while you two are fighting. "

....

You we're just telling the truth, they didn't need to ground you for it. Though, even after being ungrounded you didn't stop going to the park, you just went home early as to avoid suspicion from your parents.

And by this time, you had gathered courage to talk to the man who liked to draw in the park. Asking what he's always drawing while he's in the park.

His name was Richard, he liked to practice drawing buildings and people in the park, he even admitted into drawing you for a bit, telling you that you always looked lonely when you're in the park.

You awkwardly laughed off what he said, it was true, but you didn't know that you looked so sad when you we're in the park, you always felt like a huge burden was lifted off your shoulders when you enter.

Richard's a nice guy, you found comfort in his pressence and grew to trust him more, he was older than you, sure, he was a stranger, sure, but he always seemed to care for you like you were his own child.

Maybe he's got like a younger sibling or something because it just seemed so natural for him to take care of you, so you asked him one day, "Do you have any younger siblings? ".

He chuckled, "Used to, a little sister. If she was still alive, she'd be the same age as you. "

You felt bad for him, buy grew curious to what his sibling was like.

But maybe that's why he decided it had to be you, because the two of you we're so similar from each other, you and his sister I mean, the only reason she was dead was because he couldn't protect her from their parents influence, so maybe that's why he vowed that he'd take you away from them.

Though he didn't understand why you we're sad and defiant when he actually took you away, somewhere where your parents can never find you, not like they ever cared anyways, is what he told you.

But your safe now, with your true family.

On days when he's not at work, he always spends time with you, despite your cold attitude towards him, it's fine, you'll warm up to him eventually, situations with teenager and their step parents are similar, it takes time to build relationships.

He would cook meals and have you sit down with him to eat dinner, after you took a bath he'd be outside the door to help dry and brush your hair, because you no longer can't go to school, he opted to teach you things instead.

He always treated you nicely and never raised his voice at you, he was there when you needed him and soon became the father figure that you missed having, so maybe that's was why you grew to cling to him, like a child being dropped of for their first day of school.

"Dont worry dear, your Father's here.. " he says while stroking your hair softly, pulling you to sleep.

♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

I honestly don't know if this fic makes sense, I literally lost like, a brain cell making this. Well, no more writers block! Though, don't expect regular posts though..i still got no idea what I should do(ू˃̣̣̣̣̣̣︿˂̣̣̣̣̣̣ ू)

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛

[velvetcloxds]

could I get an if you're too shy with rick grimes and fluff for when you two come across a house with working water and some domesticity in the house please?

PLAY PRETEND | R.G.

word count: 1k

warnings: mentions long hair that could be braided- I don't mention the hair type or specifics to the way it's braided so it's really just the length that's specific

You never imagined that something so mundane, so absolutely routine could feel so odd. You were watching yourself carefully, taking it all in from where you sat on the floor of the bedroom, you were clean, alarmingly clean- if you stared at yourself long enough you could pretend this was normal, pretend it hadn't been months since you had a second to sit still, see yourself in a mirror, bathe. But it wasn't normal at all and the reflection wasn't entirely familiar either, you could hardly recognize yourself.

"Look at you," Rick breathed from behind you, startling you for just a second before you saw him, the same odd feeling crossing your mind at the sight of him all cleaned up, it was honestly the first time ever and it was certainly a lovely change- if you weren't already completely smitten with the man, the sight of him standing there shirtless wearing a clean pair of grey sweatpants certainly would've done it.

"Look at you," you breathed, smiling when he sat down on the bed behind you, a soft kiss placed on the top of your head as he dragged his eyes over you, slowly, slow enough to make heat rush to your cheeks- it was a familiar look, one he'd never stop himself from giving you no matter the situation you found yourself in- but just like everything else, it was different, intoxicatingly so.

"Now, I always knew you were gorgeous," he began, hands falling to your shoulders, squeezing lightly. "But I don't think I've seen you like this before."

"Clean?" you teased, hands folding over his, leaning back against his knees, folding your legs under you.

"Calm," he countered and you scoffed, he wasn't wrong, not entirely at least, moments like these were rare, almost nonexistent, and still it was fleeting, the security you had wasn't real, not for long at least but it was refreshing to pretend that it was, to pretend that the night would go without any trouble and tomorrow was a promise even if it wasn't, it never was. "I think we should take advantage of it," he suggested and you smiled, a habitual thing, something only he could earn so easily.

"I think we should check on the kids," he tutted at that, shaking his head in dramatic disapproval as his fingers slid into your hair, already separating the strands into three, he'd learned to braid your hair a few months after you became whatever your relationship was, hoping the little gesture would somehow take off the pressure of a day fighting the dead- really it was just an excuse to be close to you, to touch you, feel you against him, an innocent notion but it was worth more than you knew in the world you were caught in.

"We've got a babysitter," he informed you and though Michonne would likely not appreciate the title you were grateful for the time with him. "We've also got a bed," he suggested and you scoffed again, giving him a knowing look as he shrugged, simply finishing your braid, and he was kind in pretending not to notice the way you watched him through the mirror, appreciating everything about him, just in case, always just in case.

"Rick," you breathed after a minute, just in time for him to finish and look up at you expectantly, eyes softening at the serious pull to your face. "Do you think one day this could be forever?" the question made you feel small, silly, it was something you knew the answer to, something you shouldn't want for when it went against everything that you knew but still, he could tell you were hopeful and seeing you like this made him feel the same. He slid down to the floor behind you, pulling you against his chest, letting you melt into his arms, an answer in itself. "Can we pretend that it could be?"

"Close your eyes," he agreed and you obliged, you hadn't played this game in forever, didn't get to be in his arms simply to be there in forever. "Where are we?"

"Home," you mumbled, pulling at his fingers to wrap them around your stomach, he breathed a laugh, breaking the rules by opening his eyes, and kissing the back of your neck.

"Where's that, sweetheart?"

"I don't know yet," you shrugged, but you knew, the simple and more cliche answer was that home would be wherever he would be, because home wasn't a place anymore, hasn't been for a long time, it was simply him- all of him. "But you're there and we're not running and when we're cuddling it's not because we're sleeping on the ground and I'm freezing," you giggled lightly, opening your eyes too.

"It sounds perfect."

"It is," your tone was sad, defeated despite how hard you tried to fight it. "But right now I got you and the kids," you thought out loud, turning around against him, basically in his lap as each of his hands circled one of your arms. "I don't mind if the rest is just playing pretend."

"I'll make it real," it was a promise he couldn't keep, but he wasn't going to deny you of it, he wasn't going to leave you without the hope he'd lost long before he met you, you deserved more, deserved to believe that this wasn't all there was left- he wasn't going to let you give up because he'd never give up trying to give you exactly that. "One day, I'll give you forever."

[gtzel]

Without the Sun- a Nico Di Angelo GT Fanfiction

I. Undead Mice Bring Me Kit-Kats

First/previous/next

It's just a crush, how bad could it be? This was my mindset before everything went wrong. If you think this book will be some kind of sweet sappy romance novel, then by all means close it and go back to whatever you were doing before you decided to read it. Mine is a story that you probably don't want to read. Honestly I wouldn't even be writing it if it wasn't that i felt it was absolutely necessary to inform the young of my kind of the woes they will endure. You may be thinking "Oh please, you cant have it all that bad, your just a kid" and only the ladder would be correct. You see, I'm not just any kid, oh no, I'm worse, and I've gone through things I can guarantee that you've never even imagined. So turn back, look away, unless you want to go through the rollercoaster of emotions that is my life.

    My name is Nico Di Angelo, and this is the story of how I lived, when everyone I loved died. It all started about two weeks ago. The people previously living in my house decided to move out suddenly for no apparent reason.

    My mom later found out that they had been evicted which, basically means that they weren't paying to stay there anymore and had to be kicked out. I had asked my mom why we weren't evicted. You see, we don't technically pay to live in this house. In fact, the owners don't even know we exist. No, we aren't ghosts, though those also live here, we are Borrowers.

    Let me explain, we Borrowers are tiny people about as tall as your finger, we live in the walls and borrow things you won't miss. And yes, I already asked my mom if it was counted as stealing. The answer is no because its so small you won't even notice, so don't get petty.

    Anyway, I had been out playing with my sister Bianca while my mom was out gathering supplies. We were playing that we had seen the human kids playing when we heard the sound of a car rolling up the driveway.

    "Nico, we have to go" my sister whispered as she grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the nearby brush.

    "Wait Bianca, I want to see what it is." I said breaking from her grasp as I ran to see what was happening.

    I ran over to the corner of the massive house and peeked over the side to try and catch a glimpse of who was coming. A red '78 Camaro was parked in the driveway. There was an awful stench emitting from the car, like gasoline and burnt cigars. A fat man who honestly looked- and smelled- like someone who hadn't bathed in years, he had maybe three hairs on his head that were slicked to the side with globs of hair gel. I already didn't like him.

    "hey sally, you and the kid unpack while I get the guys over to play poker, and don't be loud!" The ugly man snarled as he lumbered into the house.

    after seeing the man, I dreaded what the others looked like, but to my surprise, the woman who emerged from the passengers side was actually really pretty. She had golden brown hair and eyes that sparkled with kindness. She reminded me a lot of my own mom, but bigger. For a human she actually seemed decent. Sally- I recall that was her name- walked to the trunk of the car and began to open it.

    Then the third began to emerge from the car, I had only caught a glimpse of his jet black hair when I was suddenly. Tugged back by my arm.

    "Nico, you cant just run for like that, what if someone saw you?" My big sisters panicked but stern expression made me drop my gaze.

    "Sorry, I was just curious" I muttered guiltily.

    "it's okay, but you have to be more careful next time." She looked back to where I had been "common, we need to get home before mom gets too worried" she said gesturing to the entrance near the sewage drain.

    We walked to the entrance and bianca went in first, but before I entered I looked back and gasped. There all the way on the other side of the house, peeking out from behind the corner wall, was a little boy. The human child had the most piercing sea green eyes, he looked about thirteen and his skin was a beautiful hue of olive. He was staring right at me, his eyes wide as saucers, and mouth agape in shock.

    Startled, I broke the gaze and quickly darted into the entrance. Bianca was not too far away from me and walking with her back to me. I shook my head and tried to act normal as I ran up to meet her, but I couldn't get that boys face out of my head.

    "What took you so long?" She inquired as I caught up with her out of breath.

    "Thought I-" I huffed "saw something" I took in a sharp breath "gods, why are you so fast?"

    My sister laughed "its only because your so little, don't worry, when your big like me you'll be the fastest borrower ever" she patted my head lightly ruffling my hair in the process.

    "even faster then you?" I asked eagerly, filled with a new desire to run.

    "maybe~" she said before yelling "tag!" And racing off.

    "hey that not fair" but all she did was keep running and giggling.

    Once I finally got home Bianca was sitting at our dinner table happily slurping up soup my mom had made. My mom was working in the kitchen and she smiled when she saw me.

    "Nico darling, could you pass me the Basel leave please?" She said, and her eyes crinkled in a warm comforting way when she smiled. I reached over to our pantry box and sorted through it until I found the Basel, then i handed it to my mom "Thank you dear, why don't you go join your sister at the table, your dinner will be ready soon"

    I walked over and sat down next to my sister "why'd you ditch elite that?" I scowled at her.

    "it was just a joke" she giggled "but I'm sorry or ditching you, I just wanted to show you that you're not faster then me yet" she smiled sweetly and I sighed in defeat.

    "it's okay,just don't do it again k?"

    "okay," she said.

    My mom brought the food to the table and sat down, we all ate together. And for that moment everything was perfect. After I went to bed though I just couldn't get those eyes out of my head, something about them. They were striking like they knew things, so many things, yet still so innocent.

    I tossed and turned for a few hours but just couldn't get to sleep. It had always been something I struggled with. Finally I gave up on sleep and walked out to get some fresh air. If I couldn't sleep i could at least practice.

    The night air was risk and chilly, but not uncomfortably so. I stood on the space between thee entrance of our house and the grass of the side yard. I exhaled a focused breath and held out my hand palm down and focused on the dark aura coming from the ground.

    Then it began to happen, a light rumbling coming from the ground. Small bones began to emerge and collect themselves together until they finally created a complete skeletal mouse, with glowing orbs where the eye sockets were.

    "Welcome Prince of Darkness, how can we serve your highness?" They both spoke in complete unison which, yeah I get it, a little creepy, but thats just my life.

    "I need you take me inside the house, I trust you know a way" I spoke with complete confidence. Now that I think about it, I was a freaky eleven year old, raising the dead and all. The mice nodded then let me mount one of their skeletal backs.

    We set off, the mice were quite happy to be able to run again. That's one thing I've found about the dead, they are usually pretty cool with helping you out as long as they get to be sort-of-alive again. Though there was this one guy who kept talking about getting revenge on some Di-noi-ssi-us guy, I didn't really understand him all that much so I just. Buried him again.

    We hadn't been going very far when I spotted my target, a Kit-Kat bar that had been dropped beneath the counter. I ordered the other undead mouse to carry it and they obliged, then we continued on. I really wanted to see that boy again when he couldn't see me. We searched around the whole house and finally found him in the room to the far right of the front door.

    The mice helped me get unto a nearby empty bookshelf that had been recently moved. I looked down to the corner of the rom where the boy's cot lay, with him sleeping in it. It's not stalking if it's for research right? I watched his relaxed breaths as he dreamed peacefully. I opened the kit-kat bar as quietly as i could and began munching on it as I observed the boy.

    In the moonlight his lips looked soft and his hair lightly brushed across his face. I sighed longingly, I wondered what it would be like to be his size, or even better, his friend. I began to zone out but snapped back to reality when I heard a sharp intake of breath from the human boy. I looked to see what he was looking at. Crap.

    One of the mice was skittering around not a foot away from his face. I observed as he carefully snatched up the undead mouse, and examined it as it crawled around his hand. He giggled quietly as he tiny mouse touched noses with him. The sound was like the freshness o a morning breeze. A quiet sigh escape my lips, he was perfect. I wished that I could be in the mouses place.

    "Hey there little guy" he spoke softly, and his voice was so beautiful. "Where'd you come from, and how are you moving?" The mouse didn't reply, simply sniffing his hands instead.

    I rested my hand behind me but froze when I heard a crinkle behind me.

[quinloki]

#JFC this is the first time in my life I've been ambushed#wait no second time#that was three guys with bats

HELLO? Story time???

Okay, so I want to start this with, I was neither hospitalized, nor like permanently scarred, and - I guess in true Quin insanity - I ended up with three friends.

Anyway, I lived in what people called a nice neighborhood, it was about as inner city as the small city knew how to get, but it was built up for the big factory boom back in the day. Cookie-cutter houses (meaning they had similar/identical floorplans), schools within easy distance, and a couple small parks scattered around.

This made it easier for workers to get to work, kids to get to school, and there were ample places to chill after school while you waited for dad to get home and dinner to be ready.

Fast forward some decades to my time, and some of the smaller parks were mostly forgotten. Not completely decrepit, but not really used. One of these places was like a block from my house, and when I didn't want to be at home, I'd go walk there.

Anyway, my... 10th? 11th? grade of high school I had a letterman's jacket from my school by then so it wasn't my freshman year, but I put that on and headed down to that park. To get to it from my house you walked through a VERY narrow fenced pathway that was extra dark because of all the trees.

And that's where it happened.

Three guys, I forget if they had bats or pipes, I just remember it was metal. I wanna say aluminum bats, cause our factories weren't metal ones. I took a couple hits, hate to say I did *not* get any licks in, but once I swore it stopped the fight.

These guys were waiting for a guy. 15/16 year old me absolutely did NOT have the voice they were expecting.

It went from an ambush to an impromptu medical questionnaire. I don't think I've had so many apologize to me before or since, honestly. I got a couple gnarly bruises from it, but no concerning swelling, no breaks, etc. We were all pretty buddy buddy by the time all was said and done, and they even walked me back to my house just in case.

One went to school with me, the other two didn't. I didn't ask who they were waiting for, but the why had to do with some guy beating on his girl, who was someone's sister out of the three of them. (I got the why free of charge cause they were apologizing and explaining themselves, like yeah, okay, be bloody sure next time y'all, goddamn.)

I was such a klutz I had bruises and shit all the time, so no one even asked, and none of the hits had been to my face, so /shrug/. We were kind of sort of friends for the rest of the school year, but I couldn't even tell you his name, just that he was a senior at the time.

Far and away it wasn't my only fight, but it was the only one that was so one-sided.

But there you go ^_^

[sugar-omi]

(swiftie asker - i love that this is how i've cemented myself here) I'M GOING TO SCREAM TYSM??? HELLO???? WRITER'S FREAK HAS BEEN MATCHED AT 3:30AM ON A THURSDAY????? YOU'RE TELLING ME /THEE/ OLBA BOYS CEO LIKES /MY/ WRITING??????? YOU DON'T GET IT I'VE BEEN SITTING HERE STIMMING SO HARD MY GIRLDICK MIGHT FALL OFF /QUOTE, POS

OHHHHHHHHH YOU MADE SUCH A BIG MISTAKE BRINGING UP TSMWEL. THIS ISN'T EVEN A "HEAR ME OUT" SITUATION IT'S A "YOU WILL SIT DOWN AND YOU WILL LISTEN GODDAMMIT" SITUATION. and to that my ass is FIRMLY planted in this seat and i am slamming a comically overstuffed manila folder onto the table as we speak. starting with "they just ghosted you - now you know what it feels like" and how this line was written for baxter alexander ward. in this essay i will

THE BRIDGE OF THAT SONG. FUCK DUDE I WAS LISTENING TO IT DURING ONE OF MY REPLAYS OF THE BAXTER DLC AND I WAS LITERALLY IN TEARS. MY KEYBOARD WAS GETTING WATERLOGGED AS I SAT THERE. I AM SO GLAD YOU BROUGHT THIS UP BECAUSE BOY OH BOY DO I HAVE SOME SHIT TO SPIT.

"in fifty years, will all this be declassified? and you'll confess why you did it, and i'll say 'good riddance'." FIFTY YEARS IS FIVE IF YOU SQUINT. IT JUST MATCHES UP TOO PERFECTLY SO IT OFFICIALLY WORKS NOW. THAT'S GIRL MATH. the way baxter eventually tells mc why he did what he did and by then it might be too late for mc to forgive him (cough. 'and i'll forget you but i'll never forgive...')

"you crashed my party and your rental car" IT'S LITERALLY TOO PERFECT??? HELLO????? THE PARTY PLANNING MOMENT AND THE CHAUFFEUR BULLSHIT HE WAS ON???????

"you said normal girls were boring, but you were gone by the morning" YOU WERE GONE BY THE MORNING. YOU W. WWWHAHATT THEF UCKKKKK.

you're literally cooking up a fucking FEAST with the prechorus lyric though because was that his goal? it very well could have been - baxter could have stepped out of that cab, taken one look at mc, and decided they would be the one he strung along. because what if he was well aware of just how much it hurt others for him to become a normalcy then a novelty all over again - and he still couldn't stay away from dangling their heartstrings from his fingers like ribbons, if only to at least feel some semblance of control over his life anymore? he was just some hurt kid - barely, if at all, but semantics - but that never gave him the right to hurt those around him in the way that he did. what right does the smallest man who ever lived have to strike a deal with the devil, then act surprised when the blood's on his hands?

COUGHCOGUHGVOCH BUT AHAHAHA ANYWAYS. making those little shoo motions with my hands, go rest up silly!! i'm more than thrilled that you've stuck with me and my brainworms for this long, and you most definitely deserve the best of rests omgomg 🫶🏼🫶🏼

LMAOOO NO NOT THE QUOTE. I HAVENT HEARD THAT IN FOREVER

idk about ceo but I'm honestly happy my words are worthy of such a happy reaction 🤭

ALSO "what right does the smallest man who ever lived have to make a deal with the devil, then act surprised when the bloods on his hands?" I WILL LITERALLY JUMP OFF A BRIDGE. STOP. IM IN TEARS??? GENUINELY?????

someone put that on a billboard, I'm so serious.

but omg, to ride off the "you said normal girls were boring, but you were gone by the morning" and everything you said about baxter doing it on purpose...

baxter stepping out and seeing you wait with cove for your new neighbor for the summer, maybe remembering you sneaking into the soiree with derek or sneaking into your soiree and dancing with you charmingly.

either way, regardless of if you snuck across the lawn or shared a dance with pre-teen baxter, he finds you charming. ethereal. captivating.

no one would wait for a random neighbor if they weren't sweeter than pie, and no one should welcome him so warmly, approach him even if shyly, if they weren't special.

you're special. he can see it. he feels it.

and I've said it before, baxter knows your life has been small. confined to this little street in this little town, so small it's hardly a blip on the map.

he knows you're curious, enthralled by this mystery next door to you. but if you had grown up next to him, you wouldn't be so curious.

you'd have known how pompous and arrogant he was. how simple his thinking was.

and he tries to keep his affection with you surface level. tries to keep it to just a summer fling, something to satisfy your curiosity, to get you to stop looking at him like that. to make his heart stop yearning and for his eyes to stop wandering to you...

holds your hand, visits you in the middle of the night to tell you he's home, but too shy to say he misses you. doesn't wanna give you that inch over him, doesn't want to make this more than what it is. because it's just a fling, and you're just temporary warmth for him cold heart.

won't admit you're the only one to make him feel this warm. will never even think to himself that you are full of love and he's willing to step into the ocean of your loving arms, for fear that he'll drown in it.

everything is about money. everyone uses each other. his parents taught him that much.

love is fickle, love is too sensitive, and baxter knows he's a bulldozer. his edges are too sharp for such tenderness.

but in front of you, in the end, he does as he wants as he always does.

he doesn't take it further in the hotel room, doesn't tell you he missed you, doesn't keep his "confession" to himself.

because he's selfish. he knows this could end badly, not all his break ups have been smooth. but he wants to know what it feels like to be loved by someone special. what's to know what it's like for someone special to call out to him, touch him, yearn for him. seek him out and still pull him closer for more...

he just wants it to be like a movie, just for a little while. he wants that coming of age summer love that the movies produce, and he wants to live out fairytales that his baby sitter read to him.

even if it's at the cost of you... maybe that dark part of him hopes he leaves a dent in you so deep that you feel it years later and still remember his name. he wants you to yearn for him like he yearns for normalcy, for human warmth and affection.

but he also hopes that you forget him and that he's the only one who yearns so painfully. that his heart is the only one who aches at the end of the night, and you forget these summer nights.

it's selfish. he's so selfish. he wants too much even though he tries not to want anything at all.

that's why, even though he hopes you'll just let him go easily once summer ends, he wants some nice memories. he wants to be genuinely happy, wants to "love" and be "loved" in return.

and you're right. he striked a deal with the devil and signed away his tiring fate for "control" over his life, even if it meant trading broken hearts and morality, his humanity for it.

but even though he knew the deal he signed, seeing you cry or get angry is much different than imagining it. it hits much harder than he never thought, having chosen to ignore the fate of your summer fling. he couldn't bare to imagine it, but he didn't think about how to bare seeing it.

and even though his heart aches, he feels bad for you. feels bad for himself in many ways, a mix of self hate and guilt and desperation sinks its teeth into his stomach and gnawed on his insides with a gluttonous hunger.

even with those feelings, he glares at you, reminds you cruelly that this was the only fate for this relationship, and it wouldn't end any other way, and that you are the one wasting your energy getting upset over a fate he "predicted."

but even though he says that... even though he slams the door on you... even though he's the one who blocked your phone number... why is he the one who is unable to move on? why is he the one who sees your face and hears your voice and feels your touch in every person that tries to fill your place.

and why is he the one looking at your window, hoping the lights are still on and you're still waiting.

(and why, after all these years, does he cry when he sees they are off.)

[eashmo]

7 minutes in hell, or is it heaven? Part 8

-Mine-

Warnings: fluff, angst. Billy is an extremely soft boyfriend to y/n 😭

A/n : long, lots of time jumps, No music for this chapter because I honestly didn't know what to use.

~~~~~~~~~~

*y/n pov*

I stiffen beside him. I started to have a small panic attack because I didn't want to release him to that devil.

"Baby, i will be ok, I promise." He says when he noticed me start to panic.

"No, you won't. You're going to get hurt because of me, I should have taken you home last night." I sadly say.

"Look at me princess, I wanted to stay with you last night, my father can go fuck himself because I don't regret spending time with you, time I've been craving with you." He says. Kissing my cheek.

"Billy, you should tell Chief Hopper about your father. He would lock him up forever ever"

"NO!, no, I can't he's my father." He says angrily. Clinching his fists. I rest my hand on his hands, and he relaxes under my touch.

"I can't avoid him all day, I may as well get it over with." he said with a sigh. He puts on his last night party clothes while giving me a quick kiss before he runs home.

*small Billy pov*

Seeing her scared as I left her house gave me anxiety.

"Please don't be home." I plead. Quietly opening the front door, I saw broken glass everywhere but no sight of him or Susan. I sighed in relief. He must have left early for work.

"Billy? Is that you?" Max called from the living room as she was trying to clean some of the mess.

"One and only shitbird," I snapped.

"Where were you last night?, were you finally with y/n?" She teasingly asks.

Wait, how did she know?

"I know about your crush with her. You're very obvious in the school parking lot, and you have bruises all over your neck." She giggles.

Angrily, I pushed her into the wall and griped her small wrist tight, and her eyes went wide. "S-sorry" fell from her mouth. Immediately, I regretted everything.

"Yes, I was with y/n she picked me up at the warehouses because I was drunk, also she's my girlfriend now, don't tell anyone..." I sighed, letting go of her.

Max gave me a small smile and a nod.

"I like y/n very much, she's awesome, she's kind to me."

"I know, kid, I know"

"Um Neil was very pissed that you weren't home last night, he sort of destroyed a few things." She said with a little bit of fear in her voice as she pointed to the broken glass.

"Never mind that I'll take care of that, now let's go get my car, I'll take you to the arcade, but no hanging out with that Sinclair kid, you got it?" I say.

* Time skip Monday at school*

*y/n pov*

Seeing the fresh cuts and bruises on Billy's face this morning made me ferocious and nauseous.

"I'm ok," he mouthed across the hall, but his eyes told me otherwise. Standing at my locker, waiting for everyone to disperse to their classes, the hallways now empty, I made my way to him with glossy eyes, standing on my tippy toes. I gently held his face. "B-baby." I croaked. As he leans into my hands with his eyes close.

"I'm fine, sweetheart, but this isn't the worst of it." He plainly says as he lifts his shirt, revealing deep colored bruises that littered his torso.

I gasped as I lightly brushed against them. He wipes my tears away.

"How about we head to class, yeah?" He asks softly.

*small time jump*

The bell rang for free period, I couldn't wait to see billy yes I know I had a class with him but it it was only one and seeing him in between classes in the hallways was Torturous.

Nancy and I made our way to the gym as usual, Robin was already there sitting at the bottom of the bleachers.

"So girls, do you guys have any prom dates yet? Nancy asks.

"I'm going with Vickie!" Robin happily says with a smile.

"Really that's great! Finally you made a move." I teased.

"Oh, shut up." She playfully snaps.

"What about you, Nance? Who are you going with?" I asked.

"Weeeelllll, I'm not sure yet." She says.

laughing. "What do you mean?"

"Jonathan and Steve both asked me." She says.

"I thought you and Steve were a thing?" Robin chimes in.

"He's being total bullshit right now!" She snaps.

"Jesus Nance, you really need to sort out your love life. The dance is literally tonight." I laughed.

"Well, you go on than, who are you going with?" She asks.

I look briefly at Billy from across the court, who was talking to the coach.

"I'm not going, nobody asked me." I say sadly. I really wanted them to know that I'm finally in a relationship with Billy, I know they didn't exactly approve of him, but they wanted to see me happy. Plus, a dance wasn't Billy's scene.... right?

"I'm surprised Hargrove hasn't made a move on you yet. Sometimes, it seems like he is saying "I love you" with his eyes when he's bulling you." Robin says.

I snorted, "I highly doubt a person like Hargrove would even like nor love a marshmallow like me." Smiling head because I knew for a fact he loved my curves.

Nancy and Robin got quiet when they noticed Billy was directly behind me. He really needs to stop doing that, I thought to myself. He started to drag me away from them. Leaving them confused.

"Don't worry, ladies, your precious Y/n will be right." He chuckles while we walk out the door.

He pins me to the wall "your not a marshmallow, but if you are, you're my marshmallow." He whispers into my ear, giving my earlobe a few nibbles."You taste sweet like one, " he smirks as he hovers over me. Giving me a passionate kiss.

Pulling away, I slap his shoulder "Billy what the hell, you can't be snatching me up like that."

He rolls his eyes. "I got something to ask you"

"What?"

"Go to prom with me." He grins.

"Of course I will go to prom with you, but I thought it wasn't your scene. Also, what about everyone else?"

"You're right. It's not my scene, but I will do anything for you, and I'm not worried about everyone else, I'm not going with them, I'm going with you." He says.

Grinning pulled him down for a quick kiss.

"Love you Hargrove."

"Love you too y/l/n," he grins.

Walking back into the gym I was trying to not show any emotion so the girls Interrogate me to death.

"What was all that about?" Robin asks.

"He wanted me to do his upcoming science homework, and if I refused, his bullying would be harsher." I say faking annoyance.

"Y/n, you really need to not let him get to you like that." Nancy says sadly.

"If only she knew." I thought.

"Well, I just decided that I'm going to dance tonight, even if it's by myself, I wanna have fun."

Nancy squeals, "we are going to have so much fun!!!, are you driving? Or do you need a ride?"

"Thanks, but I'm driving myself," I say. Looking at Billy from across the court, I saw he was smiling at me.

*small time jump*

The school day was coming to an end, I started to get a bad feeling in my last class like something was going to happen, and boy, something did happen.

Standing at my locker, I deposited the textbooks I didn't need to bring home, feeling someone slip beside me, I thought it was Billy but I turn around to see hazel eyes staring back at me. It was none other than Tommy Hagan with Carol glued to his side. I slammed my locker closed and started to walk away from them towards Nancy and Robin, Nancy was my ride.

"Where do you think you're going, y/l/n?" Carol sneers.

"None of your fucking business, Perkins." I say quietly. Walking away.

"The fuck you say? You fat bitch." She shouts causing my friends and any remaining students to up at the scene.

Stopping in my tracks I turn "you fucking heard me." I sneer. Nancy and Robin's eyes widen because they never saw me talk back to anyone.

*slap*

I felt a stinging sensation on my right cheek, I started to laugh a bit, and this causes Tommy to slam me into the lockers. Robin and Nancy started to run towards me, feeling light headed from the back pain from hitting the locker with so much force I start to Collapse, a warm arms caught me in time before my knees hit the floor. Looking up, i lock eyes with the ocean eyes of Billy's.

He handed me over to Robin, who looked scared and confused.

"What the fuck are you doing, Hagan?" He calmly said as his nostrils flares.

"Teaching the fat cunt a less...." He got cut off as billy punch him in the jaw. Pinning him down in the hallway and starting to beat the shit out of him.

"B-billy, stop, I'm ok." I say weakly, try to regain my breath.

"HARGROVE STOP!" Nancy shouts.

Hearing this he snaps out of his tunnel vision, looking at me with concern.

"Come here, please." I plead. He drops Tommy's shirt.

"I told you not to say that about her, I want you to leave my girl alone from now on, you hear me motherfucker?" He angrily says.

Tommy nods and spits blood on the floor with Carol helping him up.

Billy walks to me and Robin.

"Can I please hold my girlfriend." He asks quietly.

She nods with a small smile and hands me over to him.

"Thanks, Buckley." He says as his arms instantly wraps around me.

"No problem, Hargrove, please take care of her, and if you hurt her, you have me and Nancy to go through." She points at him with a Stern look.

Laughing a "yes, ma'am."

"Do you mind if I take her home, Wheeler?" He asks.

"Not at all... see you later at the mall y/n, " She says.

"Let's get you home, beautiful," he says to me.

Previous Chapter

Part 9

Masterlist

2023

[forest-falcon]

WIP

So I'm posting the middle of a story I've been working on as I never seem to get a whole story out and I'm still editing the other chapters. 😅 Who knows whether I'll end up posting the other chapters, but it's something at least! 🤷‍♀️🙈

🏝️🌊🌅🏄‍♀️🌊

"Penny brought a backup cake?"

"Yes, well, given you weren't able to have any last year, she deemed it wise to keep one in reserve." Grandma motioned to the poolside buffet.

"That, and she knew Grandma made the first one!" Alan whispered.

"I heard that!" 

The youngest Tracy scarpered, leaving Virgil alone with the decadent desert. Smooth chocolate dripped from the sides of the cake, which was carefully adorned with ruby red cherries atop swirled cream. 

How it had survived Alan's presence this far into the evening was a minor miracle in itself. Virgil scanned for the sweet-toothed teen but the astronaut had vanished.

"Ah well...all the more for me!" he shrugged happily.

The birthday bachelor was halfway through plating up a generous slice of the black forest gateaux, when he spotted Gordon and Tamara making their way back across the beach; their surfboards abandoned near the shoreline.

"Everything okay?" he heard himself call. The fact that Gordon was approaching sans board, and Tam was holding her head made it pretty clear that it wasn't, but a small part of him was hopeful that he was wrong, because...cake.  

"There was one rogue wave that toppled our boards. Tam decided to pick a fight with her board and lost." 

"Honestly, it's nothing - I'm fine!" 

Several Tracys straightened, ready to help, but Virgil was first to close the distance between them. Thankfully, the others continued with the celebration, as if not to overwhelm their injured guest.

"You're bleeding." 

"One of the fins nicked her just below her hairline." Gordon gestured.

"It's just a scratch."

"Let me see."

Gordon scooped her hair back in order for Virgil to gain a better look.

"Really, I told you, it's nothing. Can you both stop fussing? Let's just enjoy the party."

"Yeah, not likely. If fussing were an Olympic sport, you'd have podium victors one, two, and three here!" Gordon said, gesturing to his Grandma and two eldest brothers.

"This one here is your gold medalist." He nodded at Virgil.

The medic chose not to bite.

"You need it cleaned up and some butterfly strips applied. It's quite a clean cut, so should patch up nicely, if we see to it quickly." He set down his untouched cake.

"Really, it's-"

"Or, if you prefer, Virg can get the doctors at Auckland to take a look?" Gordon grinned.

Tam levelled him with a stare.

"Tempting as that is, what with Two being the best Thunderbird and all..."

Virgil stifled a laugh.

"Damn Virg, she must've really hit her head hard, if she thinks your green bathtub trumps Four!"

"I mean...Two does see more action than Four."

"Yeah, but Four has the more satisfied customers."

"Guys, you're both pretty..."

"Hear that Virg? She thinks I'm pretty! Wait, where y' going?"

"To find a plaster and hoodie?" As if to emphasize her point, Tam gave an involuntary shiver with the onshore breeze.

Virgil shrugged off his favourite plaid shirt and draped it over her shoulders. 

"Come on, there's a med kit back at the villa. I'll get you patched up."

"I can do it Virg; it's your birthday." Gordon offered.

"It's fine. I'm a gold medalist when it comes to fussing, remember?" He winked to keep the banter light. 

"Alrighty then. You kids have fun. I'm gonna go teach that board a lesson." The aquanaut gave a mock salute then trotted back towards the surf.

[nothingiswrongwithyourarmrests]

Perhaps… I am the only one that cares to know?

(talk the crazies, op ─ do it)

Okay.

I teach ECEs about oral health promotion for kids in their institutions in my second job. I was very grateful my colleague doing the other workshop tipped me off at lunch that one of the attendants said some wild things about the pineal gland. I was forewarned and looked up the pineal gland so I wouldn't confuse what it does with the pituitary gland (honestly not v relevant in my daily practice).

Looking it up told me not only that it makes melatonin and suppresses precocious puberty(though it's not completely understood how) and that philosophers in the enlightenment thought it must be the seat if the soul because it's a single organ roughly in the middle of your brain.

Armed with now being sure between the differences between the glands I went into the last workshop of the day prepared.

When she declined a pea of children's toothpaste I was playing dumb and innocently offered her a different flavour, which she declined too. Didn't go into it at that point, except to refute her claim that there was fluorine in toothpaste, it's fluoride.

At almost the end of the day we got to toothpaste. She was against that. I asked her if she was against oral health.

She: Well the pharmalobby is making us sick. Do you know about the pineal gland?

Me, with confidence: Yes. It makes melatonin and makes sure we don't go into puberty prematurely.

She: It does more than that, it's important for intuition and interpersonal relationships and more.

(How? It makes hormones and the ones that are important for bonding come from the pituitary not the pineal. That's a whole other gland!)

I let her talk.

She: Fluoride is bad for the pineal gland it calcifies it and makes it work less well. Everyone has a calcified pineal gland and that's why we don't have telepathic abilities. That's why I don't consume fluoride any more.

IMAGINE SAYING THAT TO A ROOM FULL OF STRANGERS. AND MEANING IT.

For a minute there I wanted to live in her world. All health is completely solvable and nobody would get sick if it weren't for the eEevil pharmalobby and since everyone is already poisoned we couldn't prove the existence of telepathic powers if we triedbut they're totally real and were stolen from us.

In reality the pineal gland calcifies in a lot of animals and it has no operational effects. If it were about toothpaste it would only calcify in humans.

I explained that fluoride is a mineral we need a small amount of to maintain our bones and if we truly have none we get ill, so I don't think she doesn't consume any fluoride. It's in mineral water and black tea and salt.

She: That's different, that's natural.

INTERNAL SCREAMING. I did not laugh out loud!

I explained to the class how fluoride in toothpaste helps your saliva remineralize your teeth more quickly and that you need two impulses a day to get the full benefit, which is why tablets that contain the whole daily amount are worse than toothpaste, and less effective if they are swallowed instead of slowly dissolved in your mouth. Toothpaste is the easiest and best way to get the full benefit.

She: You wanna know what I brush my teeth with? I brush my teeth with sugar!

Me: Birch Sugar?

She, possibly a little miffed that she didn't surprise me with that: Yes.

Me: That isn't sugar, it's Xylitol, it just tastes sweet. That works! It kills bacteria but it's expensive. What you don't get is the faster remineralisation but if you brush after every meal and don't have sugary snacks you could do it. I know very few people who can but they exist.

She: I've been doing it for twenty years and I have never had a problem.

I SUPPRESSED MY URGE TO ASK HER WHY SHE HAS SEVEN CROWNS THEN.

I explained that it's probably because she has lucky genes then. Some people have just won at the genetic lottery and don't get sick even if they eat junk food all day and never brush their teeth. They are a lucky few, just like the people who smoke heavily and still live to be nonagenarians who never got cancer. That does not mean the population at large can do it too. There are also unlucky people who have genes that make them extremely susceptible to disease and they have to do everything right every day in order to stay healthy. Most people are somewhere in the middle.

She: I have lots of friends who do it like that too and they are all healthy.

Me, smiling: Good for them! I am happy for your friends!

And that's where I left the topic.

The CONFIDENCE of that woman to 1) ask someone who studied medicine if they know what an organ of the body is. BITCH I BETTER KNOW THE BASICS OF THE BODY THAT IS TWO YEARS OF CLASSES ON MACRO AND MICRO ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. And 2) assert that TELEPATHY!!!!! IS BEING SUPPRESSED BY BIG PHARMA TO CONTROL THE POPULATION and 3) assume that she knows stuff about oral health that a dental professional has never heard of.

4) That's natural, that's different. CHEMISTRY IS COMPULSORY HERE AND I DO NOT KNOW HOW SOMEONE CAN GO THROUGH THE EDUCATION SYSTEM AND BELIEVE THAT.

This was flat-earther levels of confidence.

[queen-of-writing-bad-things]

Henry Danger Reader Insert | Captain Man x Reader: SEASON 4

Episode 20: Rubber Duck

This was gonna be a weird day. 

Every night, I fall asleep. And that's when I have...the dream.

Told you.

I'm late for work, so I drive there in a tiny vehicle. I come out of the elevator and then, I hear something cooking, so I walk across the room to see what's up. And then, there's this girl, who I've never seen before.

"What's up, Henry?" She says.

"How do you know my name?" I ask.

"'Cause, you're wearing a name tag." She was right, I was. So, next, I say...

"What you doin'?"

"I'm steaming beans!" I'm like, "random, but okay". She's hard to find through all the bean steam and just when I almost get to her--

"And that's how my dream always ends. Pretty crazy, right?" Henry smiled at (y/n) and Piper as they sat at his kitchen table, the woman filing her nails and the girl doing what looked like homework. Being the big boy he was, Henry had been colouring in a kid's picture book as he told them all about this absurd dream he kept having, but honestly, neither was paying much attention. 

(y/n) had heard this story before...sort of. She knew bits and pieces from when he'd retold it in the Man Cave and she was only in the kitchen because Mrs Hart had asked her to be there. Yeah, that Mrs Hart, the one she found difficult to like because of unfortunate history, had politely requested her to come to the Harts' house, but those details could wait for a moment. Henry was needy for attention.

"Yeah, super weird." She nodded sympathetically, looking up briefly from her manicure as Piper did the same, only the girl hadn't kept one ear open like her. Well, she might as well get used to catching up with the kid, she was gonna be with him for quite a while it seemed and if she could help, she would. Small problem though, (y/n) wasn't a shrink, she didn't know much about dreams, especially ones filled with bean girls who mystically turn into Jasper.

*the only good thing this episode gave me was the opportunity to look at nice outfits on google to try and find inspiration*

"What? Were you guys talking?" Piper suddenly asked, taking out the earphones that had been blasting teen-pop into her eardrums the entire time her brother had been divulging what plagued him every time he got some shut-eye. That pissed the boy off; he'd spent the last fifteen minutes pouring his heart out to the girls and only one was listening. That sucked. He wanted advice or some kind of interpretation, not the blank stare of Piper or the apologetic shrug from (y/n).

"Were we--Yeah, I was--I told you and (y/n) the whole dream that I had!" 

"About what?" Piper frowned at his snappy tone and moodily threw her cute, red earphones onto the table now that she actually had to listen to him. Ugh, couldn't she just sit here and chill with (y/n), the one she liked because she didn't ask dumb questions? 

"Well, I'm not gonna tell it again!" Henry exclaimed. The story was longwinded and he felt like just saying it again would take all the mystery out of it, Piper should've been listening like (y/n), although saying that, she wasn't offering much counselling either.

"Thank you!" The girl returned to her work, making Henry sit back in a huff that caused his coworker to smile. Brother and sister feuds were always funny, particularly between these two, but then she had to stop smiling and filing because here came her employers for the night, Mr and Mrs Hart. Yep, employers.

"Henry, Piper, your dad and I are about to leave." Mrs Hart called out to her children as she and her husband came down the stairs, holding a lot of luggage. This was the sitch; they were going away for a couple of days and even though Henry was a very responsible young man and had never let them down in the past, they still felt that their home needed some adult supervision. That's where (y/n) came in.

Now, she wasn't exactly their first choice, come on, they weren't very close and the young woman always hesitated to go to the house since she was highly aware that her soon-to-be husband had a thing for Henry's mom. They'd called family, friends, neighbours, but coincidentally, they'd all been busy with holidays, work or their weekend plans, so they'd gradually worked their way to the bottom of the list. And with a recommendation from Henry, how could they go wrong?

She was flattered, really she was, but (y/n) was a bit nervous. After all, she barely knew these people except for Piper and Henry, she may or may not have some disdain for his hot mother and she'd never watched over someone's house for them. At the start, she was sure that Henry would do a fine job in keeping himself and Piper alive and their home not on fire for two days, but then when she was offered twenty dollars an hour just to sit on her ass and watch some kids, she quickly changed her tune. 

Hell yeah, twenty an hour? She'd be raking it in and even if she had to rearrange a few plans and fight Ray off as he begged her not to get into the elevator, she was gonna do it. It was hard to leave the comfort of the Man Cave and her adorable doofus behind but if she thought of this as a vacation, a weekend to recharge her batteries in different surroundings, it wasn't too bad, at least, that's what she kept telling herself.

"'Kay, bye!"

"Okay, later. See ya..." The teens weren't interested at all, they just wanted to finish their equations and giraffe picture. Honestly, they thought this was gonna be great; (y/n) wasn't strict or severe, more responsible in a cool way and they weren't dreading her housesitting, they were looking forward to it. And that's why they didn't care about their parents leaving because they were boring and old.

"Piper, come help me with the luggage!" Mr Hart ordered his daughter from across the room. He was feeling brave today, giving her instructions like that, or maybe he just didn't want to get his suit all sweaty since his wife had packed everything but the kitchen sink it seemed like.

"Ugh, why can't Henry or (y/n) help you? He's the boy and she's a grown-up!" Piper argued back, wishing that they'd just leave already so she could get her school work done.

"Because your father has to give them instructions for while we're out of town." Mrs Hart's tone was final and firm, meaning Piper begrudgingly got up from her seat and plodded across the room to help her dad, leaving (y/n) and Henry at the table. Right, the woman had to earn her twenty dollars an hour and she wasn't gonna get a cent if something or someone was broken.

"Good evening, Mr Hart." (y/n) smiled at the man politely, knowing she had to be on her best behaviour until they left. Once they were gone, that was a different story, although she wasn't the type to party and trash the place.

"Hello, Miss (y/l/n)--" Jake began, already feeling like he was leaving his house in safe hands. From his past dealings with Henry's boss, he knew that she was a very nice girl and even if she hadn't been their first choice, he knew that his kids wouldn't mess about with her since Henry said she was great and to his amazement, Piper seemed to like her. How she managed to pull that off he had no idea.

"Oh, (y/n), please. I'm not that fancy."

"(y/n)...are you sure you're gonna be all right here with Henry and Piper?" It was best to ask, of course. He didn't want to overwhelm the poor girl and if she needed any help, they were a mere phone call away. After all, he'd seen the size of her fiancé and he didn't want to be on the wrong side of him at all.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be fine, they're great kids. And if I need anything, I've got you and your wife's numbers." (y/n) promised and offered him a reassuring expression. Rule one, don't let anything get broken. Rule two, don't let Henry and Piper fight. Rule three, no parties. Rule four, don't touch anything unless necessary. Rule five--and so forth. She had it all planned out in that tidy brain of hers and if there was one thing she could do, it was manage someone else's place. Hell, she'd been running a secret hideout for years, how much different was a house?

"Great. Okay, Henry, pick up your phone." And this was where Henry got his instructions. He was gonna be like the second-in-command. Piper was a handful, his parents knew that and even if (y/n) got on with her, they still wanted their son to be vigilant since he was getting to the age where they should've been able to trust him. The woman needed guidance and they wanted him to give it to her...responsibly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Still, it was quite a strange instruction.

"Your phone! I have instructions for you and I want you to get them on video." But when Mr Hart put it like that, it did kinda make sense. He wanted insurance from his own child--a teenager--that was smart. Well, Henry wasn't exactly the typical teen, he only had two friends and he focused on his work more than anything, but still. When the cat is away, the mice will play.

"All right, I'll shoot a video." The boy sighed and got his PearPhone prepared as his dad got camera-ready, (y/n) still sat in between them. Why was this necessary? "Okay, go!"

"Hi, my name is Jake "Dad" Hart. Now, Henry, your mom and I will be in Toronto for three days. Now, follow me, you too, Miss (y/n). I wanna show you both something. Come this way..." Mr Hart smiled at them mysteriously and after sharing a puzzled yet suspicious look, the two complied, following him to the decorative shelving in the middle of the room, the one that separated the kitchen from the sitting area. 

Each compartment was filled with books, knickknacks, a few family photos that (y/n) found adorable, just the general stuff that a family would display in their home - and that included Mr Hart's pride and joy.

"Okay, see this?" He showed them a small toy car, all shiny with its silver chassis polished to perfection and even though (y/n) knew nothing about its significance, she could make an educated guess. It was well looked after and the kind of thing that seemed ridiculous to most considering that it was a child's plaything by all accounts, but she knew it was much more than that. From her experience with her man-child, this wasn't a toy, this was a "collectable", or what normal people called a toy for grown men.

"Yes, I see it."

"It is right there in your hands, sir." They confirmed, eyeing the car with cautious gazes. Yeah, man-babies are protective of their "collectables", especially when they have some ludicrous explanation why no one can touch them, use them or even look at them without explicit permission.

"This is my vintage remote control sports car from the late nineteen-hundreds." Mr Hart's eyes flickered over it like it was his third child or something and that just confirmed her suspicion. No doubt about it, this was one of those and Henry wasn't impressed. At all.

"Wow."

"This is not a toy." There it was, the old saying, right up there with midlife crisis and receding hairlines; the epitome of the middle-aged man. However, even though smiles did threaten to worm their way on their faces, Henry and (y/n) did not break their stony expressions, no matter how amusing his dad was being because sheesh. If looks could kill...

"That is literally a toy." The kid did have a point though. It was just a toy, probably a rare and expensive one, but still. The difference between it and a Barbie doll was just that one was meant for little kids and the other one was meant for big kids...or maybe idiots with credit cards. Who knows.

"While your mom and I are gone, you are not to play with my car." The instruction was clear from the man, no car-playing, message received if a little unnecessary. If she wanted to, (y/n) could go and play with an actual car, a big one with horsepower, not My Little Pony power. Same for Henry, he was way past the "I-see-I-grab-I-ruin" stage, meaning he wasn't a child anymore. He had much better things to do.

"I don't wanna play with it..."

"Play-o, no-no."

"Don't-o, want to." With that settled, Mr Hart then directed his eyes at (y/n) as she shuffled nervously, wondering why all the attention was now on her. Had she broken a rule before they had even left?

"And Miss (y/n), if my car gets broken, you won't get paid tonight or any other night. Not one dollar." Mr Hart told the woman gravely, who was starting to understand just how deep this infatuation with man-child toys went for middle-aged men, but she nodded solemnly all the same. As well as not wanting a stain on her squeaky-clean record, she also didn't want to spend time away from home and her hot fiancé for nothing, she wanted that coin. No car, got it.

"I understand, Mr Hart. No one will touch your to--car."

"Fine. Now, I think your mother has something she wants to tell you." The man moved on, confusing (y/n) for a moment until she realised that he'd turned back to his son, who sighed and looked at the open door, expecting to see his mom there. In the time they had been talking, she'd silently crossed the room and was now standing in the kitchen in all her hotness. Jealousy was an ugly thing yet (y/n) could understand why some men found her attractive, she could almost justify it if it didn't leave a bitter taste settled on her tongue. 

Couldn't she have a bad hair day once? Or catch bubonic plague on the off chance that Ray stopped by to "check-up" on the Hart family?

"Oh, Henry, (y/n), over here!" She called out to them and they quickly angled the camera in her direction so they could get whatever rule she had on video. And this one was gonna be crazy because why else would she behold a goddamn egg? 

"Oh, hey, Mom..."

"Now, Henry, I assume you know what this is." The hot mom started, holding the pale, ovoid thing in between her index finger and thumb. Well, duh, he knew what it was, he had them for breakfast nearly every day but something about her face told him that this was gonna be a lot more serious than most people would deem it.

"It's an egg, Mrs Hart." Well, gold star for (y/n), top of the class as always. 

"This is an egg."

"My deductive reasoning wins again." The woman laughed to herself and Henry shared in her jokey smile, thinking that this was a joking matter, but their grins died down when his mother refused to break her sombre mood. Was it a special egg? Did it come from a lucky chicken? Was the egg the answer to world peace?

"It's hardboiled. Do not eat this egg." Right, no car, no egg, understood. Henry wasn't feeling particularly eggish and (y/n) wasn't a big fan of eggs anyway.

"All right..."

"Don't even touch it." Yeah, like a teenage boy and a grown woman went around feeling up eggs. Honestly, what did they think was gonna happen once they tootled off to the land of moose and maple syrup? Throw the damn thing at the car? "We don't wanna touch it..."

"And (y/n), if anything happens to this egg--"

"I won't get paid, I know. Mr Hart already gave me the drill, so trust me, no one is touching the car or the egg." (y/n) nodded assuredly, giving Mrs Hart a tight smile. Not that she was in the habit of pissing off her employers unless you count Ray, but he wasn't really an employer at this point and she wasn't an employee, more like someone who turned up one day and the rest was happily ever after. 

However, Henry's mom was starting to bug her a bit, call it unresolved beef or a simmering tension but she wasn't a child - she didn't need a lecture, lord knows she'd attended enough of those to know how to do a job properly.

"Good."

"Good for all of us." Henry smiled back at his mother with uneasiness plastered across his cheeks and he patted his friend on the back as the interrogation was over and Mrs Hart went to put her precious egg back in the fridge. She probably had biometric security on the thing to protect it, not that anyone would ever steal it or know what they were looking for.

"Okay, Henry, Miss (y/n)!" And there was Mr Hart, not with instructions this time, thank God, but still, there was something he wanted and the kid was still recording. Something they'd missed?

"Yeah, dad?"

"Mr Hart?"

"While we're gone, no parties." Well, that's more like it. That's more like what (y/n) had been expecting; she'd watched enough crappy romcoms about college students living it up on campus and throwing parties in their parents' house to know that life sometimes truly imitates art - and it gets ugly. 

Tee-peed everything, holes in walls, naked people in the guest bedroom, a bathtub full of cheap beer, looted jewellery, vomit in every plant pot and unspeakable little presents left behind in the beds since the toilet gets clogged with trash. Any homeowner's worst nightmare and for the next few days, she would be the proud defender, the guard standing by their castle. That's what most housesitters and teensitters have to do.

"I won't have any parties."

"If he even thinks of the word "party", I will make him regret it, Mr Hart." And she wasn't kidding, not if the stern, squinted look she threw Henry meant anything. Come on, twenty bucks an hour over three days, that was gonna be one hell of a payday if she did everything right and she kinda needed the money or at least, she wanted it. Badly.

"The only guests you're allowed to have in this house are Miss (y/n), obviously, Charlotte and Jasper....actually, just Charlotte." Mr Hart corrected himself after a few minutes of thinking. Having known the boy since he was a small child, he knew all about Jasper and the chaos that ensued when he was around, plus he just had a general dislike for the kid, so he wasn't welcome in his home.

"So, how are you guys getting to the airport?" Henry asked, trying to work it all out in his head. A taxi would be too expensive, especially if his parents were already paying (y/n), and they could drive themselves because that would mean having to pay to park at the airport, so, where did that leave them?

"Piper's driving us!" Child labour. That's how.

"'Cause I have a driver's license!" The girl smiled into the camera and flashed the fake I.D that had been sent to her so long ago. At least it felt like so long ago and practically everyone knew about it know, except for the government, but that was the whole point.

"Yeah, which they sent you by mistake," Henry argued, trying to gain the argumentative high ground since he was a teeny bit jealous that his sister could drive and was good at it. Sure, she was a bit heavy-footed with the accelerator but in a pinch, it was super useful.

"Still valid!" She growled and put her beloved license back into her bag as Charlotte of all people walked up next to her, which Henry hadn't been expecting. (y/n), being the superheroine badass with all the super-spy knowledge stuff that she'd acquired and what they'd just told her anyway, knew why they were there, but he didn't and certainly not smiling at his sister.

"Oh, hey, Henry! Hi, (y/n)!" The teen girl smiled and waved at the camera, behind which Henry pulled a confused expression.

"Oh, hey, what are you doing here?"

"After I drop mom and dad off at the airport, we're gonna go see a movie. (y/n) was gonna come but she bailed to stay here with you." And the secret was revealed. Piper looked at her brother with an accusing stare because little did many people know, but this wasn't a new thing. The girls made up a friendship group and the youngest sure didn't like it when her nice, older lady friend was taken away by someone like her dumb brother or that dopey fiancé of hers, even if they were couple goals.

Ever since that day when they went to see Galaxy Wars, way back when (y/n) would've disintegrated into atoms if someone told her that one day she'd be engaged to Ray Manchester, they'd been enjoying time with each other, like a small girl squad. The Man Cave was fun and all but sometimes, the woman and Charlotte needed to get out and Piper was a lovely girl when not being pressured to be the "it girl" for social media. 

"With Piper?!" Henry couldn't believe it and under his very nose. Why his sister? She was so mean and spiteful and horrible, and they...weren't. He couldn't think of any reason why they'd want to be friends with her, let alone spend time and money with her.

"Yes. We work with all boys, y'know, we're outnumbered. Sometimes, we need a break." (y/n) answered snappily, not liking what the boy was implying. Going out with them was fun, no matter what he said, she enjoyed it, they all did, no matter what he said. They split the bill, they saw a good movie, they chatted about everything from boys, to the engagement, to bitches in school, to celebrity gossip. What was not to love?

"Speaking of, you sure you don't wanna come with us, (y/n/n)? You can probably buy a ticket when you get there..." Piper asked the woman, hoping that her last-ditch attempt to bring her on board would work. Her house was so boring, her brother was so dull, why would she come and hang with the girls? Didn't she want to tell them all about her wedding plans and get mercilessly teased about how when she started talking about him she couldn't stop?

"I'm getting paid twenty dollars for every hour I watch this house. Trust me, you two go, I'll be fine and the next movie is on me." (y/n) smiled at them, knowing that whilst the offer sounded lovely a chance to express her deep and profound love for her soulmate without hearing groans or remarks of disgust, she couldn't accept. Something about needing to save for a wedding, minus the tickets and snacks ...

"Okay, Henry, (y/n). Well, we better go so we don't miss our plane." Mrs Hart stated as she returned from her eggscapades in the kitchen and smiled up at her husband. Those two were tricky to read: were they or love or weren't they?

"Shotgun!"

"Hey! I called shotgun!" Yeah, (y/n) thought they were. Only idiots in love acted like children, even if they were a little distant sometimes and perhaps a bit too hot towards other men.

"Bye, (y/n)! See ya, Hen!" 

"Dummy...stole my friend." Charlotte waved to her friends as she followed a stomping Piper out of the door. Eh, she'd cheer up once they were at the movie theatre and if not, (y/n) would make sure the next was so brilliant, it was sure to make up for it. 

Right, that's that. Parents in the car, daughter off to the cinema with a reliable friend, housesitting starts now. (y/n) carefully scanned the room for every detail, every little niggling thing that her temporary employers might pick up on if they got back and it was out of place. From now on she wasn't going to relax, but she sure as hell was on century duty, which begged the question--

"So, what do you wanna do now?" And Henry had some ideas. Or one, specifically one.

~Ten minutes later~

Now, Henry's idea of a relaxing time was not what (y/n) had been expecting, not at all. Screw video games or a movie, he opted to eat first, which wasn't so weird to think about until she was sitting with the kid at the kitchen table with a large, skewered corn on the cob placed in front of her, all buttery and perfectly boiled to eat, plus, a can of Wahoo Punch. Not her go-to meal but still, not too bad...until Henry made it weird.

"You're a real freak, do you know that?" She told the boy jokingly as she watched him place a single ice cube in his glass as if he was pouring himself a fine scotch whisky or something and then, this was the revolting part, started with sweet tea. And he was having both the tea and the punch in some crazy cocktail that frankly nauseated the woman next to him. It was like a quarter punch, three-quarters tea, just enough to turn the liquid into a deep rust colour and it was one of his habits that she'd never get over.

"Don't knock it till you try it," Henry smirked and took a long sip of his perfected beverage, appreciating the blend of flavours that seemed to work so well for him. This was what he wanted, a nice, quiet evening with one of his calmer friends, a tasty snack and no parents to bother him and it was all going so well until an unwanted intruder burst onto the scene.

"Hiya, Henry! Oh, hey, (y/n)!" Jasper slapped his hands down onto their shoulders, causing Henry's tea-punch to erupt in a comical spit-take as (y/n) chocked on corn. Thank god for super-regeneration, otherwise, Jasper would have been hunted down by Captain Man until the end of the Earth. 

Seriously, what was he doing here? The two stood up in surprise, thinking for a split second that burglars or mad strangers were trying to attack them but then they looked at their assailant and were filled with irritation and shock. Of course, it was Jasper, who else would sneak up on them like that and go in for such a heavy-handed approach?

"Dude, what the-- How'd you enter my house and why would you do that?!" Henry exclaimed in anger whilst (y/n) gulped down some Wahoo Punch to clear her throat, but to Jasper, there was no big deal, no panic and certainly no concern about nearly killing two of his closest friends via heart attacks. 

"Well, I waited until your parents were in their car, then I crawled through your window and waited until your mouths were full of liquid and food!" The boy explained happily, making their eyebrows furrow in confusion at how he simply didn't care. All he did was swipe Henry's cocktail as (y/n) began to scold him for being so weird and reckless, after all, scaring the shit out of people is thirsty work.

"Okay, Curly, normal guys don't do those things." She told him, trying to be as gentle as possible since she didn't want to hurt his feelings even though he needed to hear her advice. And she was almost certain that some guys did pull pranks like that, hell, she'd place money on her fiancé being one of those impish maniacs, but Jasper didn't need to know that, not when he already seemed so cocky at being able to spook two sidekicks. They'd faced the scummiest scum that had ever been scum on the planet and yet he scared them, the rush of pride was immense.

"Ah, true 'dat!"

Uh, my drink..." Henry limply pointed at his glass as Jasper took a large swig and fouled the sweet combination by tainting it with his saliva and mouth germs. Well, he wouldn't be drinking any more of that, thanks to him, but they were quickly drawn away from that problem as Jasper set out his ulterior motive for his so-called friendly visit to the Harts' residence.

"So, you ready?"

"For what?" Henry and (y/n) eyed him suspiciously, not knowing what he was referring to or what he was up to but they didn't like it. What happened to the peace from before? Couldn't they have that back instead of this headache?

"Fun! Crazy, weird, teenage fun!" Jasper cheered and revealed the first part of his "let's have fun whilst Henry's parents aren't here" plan. Oh no, definitely not, not on (y/n)'s watch. Now, it wasn't like she wanted to be a stick in the mud, she hated to be the one to kill the joy but fun sounded messy and dangerous and reckless, the sort of activity where things would get smashed and damaged beyond repair to the point where she'd be the one paying Mr and Mrs Hart at the end of their trip, not the other way around. 

"Jasper, whatever you're planning on doing, don't because--why do you have a boom box?"

"Where are you going with my corn? Where are you going with my corn?" They watched in confusion as the teen left his small yet stupidly powerful speakers on the kitchen island facing the couch and then walked towards the sitting area, leaving them to wonder what the hell he was doing. 

Firstly, he was ignoring (y/n)'s instructions, which normally wouldn't go down very well, but there was no Ray here, he could do what he wanted. And secondly, he'd again stolen something from Henry, for reasons yet to be revealed, not that they could do anything about it.

"Just get ready to hit play," Jasper instructed them and marched over to behind the couch as Henry continued to lament about his stolen snack, but that was soon put into perspective when Jasper started shuffling awkwardly and looked at them with a fierce gaze as if he was about to do something incredibly brave and stupid.

"All right..." He nodded and (y/n) tapped the play button and a funky if a little tinny, piano beat started to ring out from the speakers, and dear sweet lord, she wished immediately that she hadn't done so. Taking the first note as his queue, Jasper leapt onto the couch from behind, revealing to Henry's horror and (y/n)'s mortified blushes that he'd removed his pants and was intent on dancing on the damn thing, using the corn as a fucking microphone. Jeez, had he been sniffing something?

"Shake it! Like you're never gonna break it!--" The music faded into a rock classic that normally would've rendered them dancing along with Jasper like they were young and free without a care in the world...if only this didn't feel so wrong and weird. Jasper, the cute, awkward kid that (y/n) had watched grow up was prancing around in bright red, baggy, glittery boxers like an idiot, throwing the corn at Henry and splashing his drink like he'd lost control of his inhibitions. She did not need to see this...

"Oh my god, if I watch any more of this, I will be put on some sort of list..." She muttered and swiftly turn her back on the screen and screwed her eyes shut, not wanting to get a glance at something scarring. Henry could have the show, she could happily live her life without it, especially at how...icky it made her feel. 

Even for Henry, it was weird; he'd seen Jasper do a lot of insane shit, but this was one of the worst, particularly when he collapsed onto the cushions and began to wriggle and squirm like he was having some kind of inappropriate fit.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Stop, oh my god, stop!" Henry barked at his friend and silenced the blasting music, having seen enough of Jasper "thinks he's Channing Tatum" Dunlop's performance for one lifetime. Never again would he let his poor eyes see that, even if the image was permanently tattooed onto his frontal lobe.

"What's wrong?" And the hilarious or...worrying thing was that Jasper didn't find any fault in what he'd done and couldn't think of any reason to explain why Henry was pulling such a disgusted face or why (y/n) had her face and scarlet cheeks hidden by her hands.

"That activity you're doing to my couch..."

"Yeah, what about it?" Seriously? Did he find nothing strange about the past few minutes? Not the sparkly red shorts that were so damn short they should've been illegal - honestly, they'd put Daisy Duke to shame. Not the dancing, not the corn-stealing, not the gyrations because what else could they be called? Was none of that weird to him?

"Dude, (y/n) is in the room! Don't do it anymore!" Henry protested, gesturing to the woman standing behind him, who still refused to look. It felt wrong like if anyone found out she'd be chased through town followed by an angry mob with torches and pitchforks, but Jasper didn't mind. (y/n) was like the big sister he'd never had and at this point, she was one of the lads, a member of his crew. They were all friends here...

"Duuuuuuuuuude!"

"That was a long 'dude'," Henry commented as Jasper threw his head back and groaned. This kid needed education on learning to let go of society's boundaries and bullshit expectations. Sometimes, Henry Hart just needed to let go.

"Come here. You too, (y/n), come here!" Jasper hissed, beckoning them over like he was about to tell them some revolutionary, top-secret information that could only be divulged to their ears.  But Henry and (y/n) were a little apprehensive - what if he started dancing again?

"Are you sure it's safe? If I look, am I going to see something I don't want to see?" The woman asked jokingly as Henry reluctantly led her over to Jasper by putting his hand in the crook of her arm and it was only when they were within touching distance that she dared to peek past her fingers. Okay, he was still clothed--only just-- but she could handle the hot pants, just as long as his hips stayed stationary. Jasper put his arm around Henry, who looked quite pale as his fingers clenched around his glass like he was fearing the worst.

"Your parents are in Toronto...all right, that's practically another country." Oh, this kid. He was cute but so...challenged. Still, his friends humoured him and chose to ignore his geographical error in favour of getting to the bottom of whatever the hell he was trying to say.

"Yeah..."

"They've left y/n) in charge of the house..." At least that one was true, however, it didn't reveal any more about what the point of all of this was. Of course, Henry already knew this, it had been drilled into him over the past week or so and he had it on video just in case he somehow forgot. It all seemed so futile.

"Sometimes, you just gotta say...rubber duck."

"Oh, not this shit again." (y/n) groaned as she heard the method behind Jasper's madness. It was this newfangled philosophy of his and he'd constantly used it around her in the Man Cave as an excuse. Spill her ice cream? Rubber duck. Break the supercomputer. Rubber duck. Get tricked into giving a conniving old lady a lamp for free in Junk-N-Stuff? Rubber damn duck.

"Why would I say rubber duck?" Henry asked in confusion, looking at them as if they were aliens. He'd never heard of this dogma before and found it strange, weird, crazy. It was just so random, so Jasper and he felt like he was on the outside of some inside joke or knowledge between them because when they were at work, it's not like he saw Jasper a lot. He didn't go up to monitor the boy in the store like (y/n) did or go to fix the things he broke so their interactions were few and far between. And that had led to some odd things occurring that she had been privy to and not him.

"'Cause! Rubber duck sets you free! It's a way of saying, hey world, I'm gonna have fun! And I don't care what happens...a rubber duck!" Jasper growled into his ear, trying to seem like some shaman imparting his wisdom onto a mere student, one who hadn't yet reached the enlightenment that came from the mystical bath toy known as a rubber duck. That sounded like some hippie bullshit to Henry, who was puzzled by the need to blur simple language with such a strange phrase as (y/n) pinched the bridge of her nose.

Again, not to be a stick in the mud, but in her mind, this rubber duck nonsense was just a way of letting idiots use their get-out-of-jail-free cards when they got into trouble for being too rowdy. And to her, that wasn't cool, that was just irritating to an adult like her who usually had to deal with the aftermath.

"Couldn't I just say that without the rubber duck part?"

"Or not say it at all because it's dumb?" Henry and (y/n) argued and the latter was at least partially happy that Henry wasn't completely sold by the idea, but if Jasper had his way then by the end of the night, he'd be saying it too. And that's what she was dreading; a two-against-one situation.

"No," Jasper replied firmly and took Henry's tea-punch combo away from him because y'know, best buds share everything and it wasn't like (y/n) could complain since she was a renowned beverage thief, even if she only stole from one doofus in particular. And before either of them could complain any further, the doorbell rang, signalling that the night was still young and many more people/challenges were ready to put the woman's housesitting skills to the test.

Just her damn luck.

"Huh, I wonder that is..." She wondered, eyeing the door with shifty eyes, similar to Henry since both of them knew that they hadn't ordered takeout just yet and there were no deliveries scheduled for the next few days just in case taking in a package was too much for the poor, weak dear that Mr and Mrs Hart had left in charge. 

"You'll see..." Jasper, on the other hand, had a shit-eating grin on his face and was looking remarkably shifty as he sipped on his friend's drink and they quickly guessed that he was up to something. They knew a kid with something to hide when they saw one and slowly, they approached the door, too curious to know what was on the other side of the wood to leave the person on the doorstep.

"All right, since I'm in charge, I'll get the door and Jasper, for the love of God, please put some pants on!" (y/n) told the kid strictly, pointing at his exposed legs and shuddering by the glittering fabric that only just covered the top of them. Honestly, she didn't know if she'd ever be able to see the same sweet soul as she did before but a good way to fix it would be to start with hiding away what should have never been seen.

"Rubber duck!" Or not. There was that dumb phrase again, causing her and the blonde boy next to her to turn and flash their serious eyes at him since this was a rubber duck moment - not that they knew what one of those was. 

"Stop saying that!" She snapped, giving him a flash of the anger that rarely rose within her. She very rarely got sharp with the kids, usually, they were angels and sometimes it was easy to forget that Jasper and Henry were teenagers and boys. That made them a bit dumb and arrogant and argumentative, ready for a challenge since they suddenly discovered that they liked biting back, even if they were outmatched. Still, she could keep them in line just about and with him backing off, she opened the door to a new problem.

"Hello, are you Henry? I'm looking for Henry." A chubby man stated as she held the door open and stared at him blankly as he did to her. What the--where had he come from? And since when did she look like a Henry? Why was he at the door? Didn't he know that she had been praying to every god in existence to strike every unwanted visitor with lightning so she wouldn't have to deal with them?

"I am obviously not a Henry." She replied, hoping that the guy would break a smile or move or hell, breathe to show that he was alive and not a wax model, but she got very little in return. The only sign of life was one singular blink, so slow he'd put a sloth to shame, which got even worse when he began to speak again in that monotone drawl of his.

"Are you sure?"

"Uh, yeah, pretty sure and I hope that's what it says here." (y/n) gestured to her face and how she was obviously not the teen boy this man was looking for, but her sarcastic tone did nothing to inspire some energy into him. He ould be a robot, that would explain the slow, drawn-out breaths, or her could be a nutter, that would just about explain everything.

"Uh, no, she's not--I'm Hen...ro." And like her saving grace, Henry was by her side quickly--as soon as he heard his name being mentioned--and now, it was his turn to talk to the guy who thought a beige, suede, unbuttoned waistcoat would go well with a plaid shirt. At first, he was gonna say his name, he didn't see the harm in confirming his identity, but then that paranoid little corner of his brain whispered to him that if this guy was an axe-wielding maniac, would he want him to know who he was if he'd been sent to kill him or something? Definitely not.

"Sounds pretty close to Henry." However, for a man who was pretty slow at speaking, their visitor wasn't too bad at spotting a poor lie, causing Henry to awkwardly smile as he debated just slamming the door in his face.

"Right, but it's different....'cause the O part." Oh, this was painful to hear and watch and (y/n) decided that she couldn't take anymore as she endured Henry's terrible performance, only to hear Jasper sniggering to himself in the background.

"Okay, 'scuse us just a sec..." She gave the man a bright yet false smile as she closed the door in his face, figuring that if Henry was too chicken to do it, then she'd be the one to step forward and give them time to grill Jasper. And grill him they did.

"Who is that guy? What does he want with me?"

"Why is that man at the door? Is he a serial killer? Please tell me he's not a serial killer!" They bombarded Jasper with questions as soon as the wood was in the hole and he scoffed at their worrying, thinking that they were getting way too excited over the little surprise he'd arranged. It wasn't that deep, to be honest, and to him, they were just being ridiculous, especially with the serial killer thing, though, the guy definitely looked like a lumberjack who strangled people in the woods.

"He's not a serial killer, (y/n/n)! I booked us manis!" He grinned, watching as their faces screwed up in thought. Come on, he thought it would be nice, just two guys and one gal getting their nails done because cuticle care is important and maybe it would soften the caretaker of the house up a bit; he was no stranger to the fact that she loved a good manicure since they made her fiancé coo over her shiny nails for days on end - how could she say no?

"What?!" Or, how could they say that?

"That guy does manicures!" He explained, causing the pair to pause. Seriously, the guy at the door did people's nails all fancy and stuff? Talk about confusing appearances...

"Wait, do you mean that that man out there, the one who looks like he would bake all three of us into a pie, he does things to fingernails?... And I don't mean retaining them as keepsakes from his victims..." (y/n) asked, peeking past Jasper's body to see the guy through the glass panel of the door. Jeez, if his skills were correlated to the shock of his job and looks, then he should be a damn good nail tech.

"Yeah, he works at the salon my mom goes to once a year." Ah, yes, the elusive Mrs Dunlop. The woman (y/n) had never met but had heard so much about and none of those whispers into her ears were good. Deep down, she couldn't find it in herself to trust the salon frequented by the woman who by all accounts was a massive weirdo. And she wasn't the only one...

Okay, what makes you think that I would want him to do our nails?!" Henry exclaimed, backing his older friend all the way because what the hell? That guy looked like he could eat him whole and then come back for créme-de-(y/n) or (y/n)-style cheesecake.

"Rubber duck!" Oh, give them strength, he was saying it again!

"That's a bad answer! You can't go through life using a random phrase to excuse every dumb decision you make! Tell him to leave!" (y/n) ordered him, well, politely yet firmly instructed him. Sure, getting a French manicure did sound nice and it would be extra fun to go home and surprise Ray with a fresh set that would make him "ooh!' and "ahh!' over her, but it made her nervous. So damn nervous because this wasn't her house and letting strangers in was against the rules given to her.

"Why should I leave?" Suddenly, the mystery man appeared behind her and Henry and spoke into their ears because that wasn't psychopathic at all. No superhero training could've prepared them for it, not when they suspected him of being a wrong'un and as such, the boy and woman hit the deck with embarrassing squeaks, kinda like small mammals that play dead instead of fighting or fleeing.

"Came in through the back door..." He told them as they sprang back up instantly, already feeling pretty foolish and if the nutjob did strike, then they wanted to be ready to sacrifice Jasper to save their own skins; y'know since it was his idea to invite a madman to the house.

"Okay, sir, I don't mean to be rude, but, uh, I was told by this boy's parents to not let any strangers---" (y/n) began explaining as nicely as she could, hoping that if she was kind and polite, she'd get to keep her head attached to her body, but it seemed like the dude hadn't come alone. And his partner was Leatherface or Freddy Krueger, far from it, the second nail tech was a heartbreakingly pretty young girl, close to the boys' age and for Henry, it was love at first sight.

"Hey...so, whose nails am I doing?" She asked with a flirtatious smile and her hand on a jutted hip. Damn, (y/n) would never get to finish her kick-the-weirdo-out speech because for a babe with luscious blonde hair, big blue eyes and a cute dress like that, Henry would do anything. Screw the murderer man, he wanted that girl to touch his hands and stare into his soul and he wasn't shy about or tactile.

"Mine! Me! Henry! Or Henro, doesn't matter, please do my nails!" Wow, that was subtle, definitely not hilarious for his friends to watch. To be fair to him, he hadn't exactly lucked out in the romance department recently, considering that the last time he showed an interest in a girl, he never heard from her again and what with his Kid Danger duties, he wasn't getting many offers. This angel of a girl had been placed on his doorstep for a reason and he was gonna get his nails done and get her number...or die trying.

"Look, kid, I know you're desperate, but think your mom and dad's--" (y/n) tried to lure him out of whatever rose-tinted love-fest was going on in his mind, but it was foolish to think that she could lure a teenage boy away from a pretty young female. 

"Rubber duck!" And she was left speechless and Jasper was left reeling as he not only left her to warmly welcome the girl into his house, ensuring that he subtly touched the smooth skin of her arm as he did, but he'd also fallen into the dumb trap set by his best friend. Come on, his resilience was pathetic.

"Y'know, I swear I saw something like this on the nature channel once. Something about birds or wildebeest going all goo-goo-eyed for a girl." (y/n) said grumpily, blowing a piece of hair out of her eyes as she and Jasper watched Henry turn up the charm. The girl was allowed to set up her nail things on the coffee table, in fact, she could probably get away with anything when Henry was concerned. He was utterly and totally smitten.

"You mean like the way you and Ray are with each other?" Jasper smirked, chuckling when her mouth opened and closed several times like a goldfish. Damn, checkmate...and it was Jasper Dunlop who rendered her without an argument for the first time in a while.

~

Well, this was cosy. As (y/n) admired her glossy French set whilst they dried, Jasper was getting sat with the lumberjack, who turned out to not be an axe-wielding maniac, just a bit weird. Sure, it was a bit awkward to sit and say nothing as the man filed, buffed and painted, which was a bit unnatural for a nail tech, but he'd done a good job and the woman was very thankful because her hands were now perfectly soft and so pretty. Ray would definitely approve and now, it was Henry's turn.

The boy was sitting on the couch, minding his own business and all the while, he was unaware that he was being hunted. The blonde beauty crossed the room, eyeing him with a mischievous smirk as she stood in front of the fireplace and put her hand on her hip. This kid was cute, she was cute and she wanted to see how flustered he got when she was holding his hands and face-to-face.

"Okay, Henry. I'm ready to do your nails." She said in a soft, alluring tone and the boy stood up with a gormless expression on his face. This wasn't exactly Henry's territory, he had no idea what to do in any manicure situation, let alone one with a girl as pretty as her. Speaking of the girl, as she bent over to rifle through her mobile nail bar case, Henry found himself at somewhat of a loss and extremely nervous, so he did what he thought made sense and offered his hands out to her, just y'know, as he stood next to her. Awkward...

"Do--do we stand? Do I give you my--I don't know what to do." Yeah, he was clueless, but it was also so damn adorable to witness. Since she wasn't exactly busy, just in the drying stage, (y/n) had all the time in the world to observe them as her friend got all sweaty and rubbed his fingers together; this was romcom shit, her kind of entertainment and it was live, almost as if she'd crawled inside her TV and was witnessing the boy meets girl stage. It felt real, and then the music started...

"The first time I saw you, I already knew that you could be mine and I was open for you. Then you took my hand and the sparks that went flying through the air..." Seriously, it couldn't have been more perfect as the two sat down and began to smile at each other with the kind of butterflies in their stomachs that only came from a teen crush. She held his hands so gently and didn't even comment on how they trembled from the anticipation - why did he mock the Man Cave couple again?

"I like you and you like me, together we could be. I bet you would like it, yeah, bet you would like it..." Okay, Jasper had been right, this was a great idea. 

The nail techs were no trouble at all for (y/n) as she sat back and read an outdated magazine she'd found in a cupboard; Henry and the blonde, who'd been identified as Layla, were getting on like a house on fire, swapping hushed giggles that were kept secret from everyone else, whilst Jasper laughed it up with her colleague, also known as Zack. It turns out that an odd boy and an odd man have a lot in common, so the house was cheerful yet peaceful for quite a while until a rather spooky incident occurred.

Out of nowhere, the door suddenly blew open, a new phenomenon that took everyone by surprise since a load of leaves were blown in at the same time. Weird, it hadn't been blustery earlier and the weather hadn't forecasted a storm, so they couldn't place a finger on why the door would swing open like that, but then, it all became clear. Doors only open with human intervention...

"Jasper, turn off the music!" Henry called to the boy as (y/n) left her magazine for later and stood up to go and investigate. If anyone was gonna take on a weirdo at the door, it might as well be her since she would recover from the mad strangling, even if it would be difficult to explain away. Jesus, the leaves were everywhere, no doubt something for her to clean up since Mr and Mrs Hart couldn't come home to a mess, that would just be sloppy.

"Okay, why did that door just blow open?" Henry asked (y/n) as she edged closer, but it was difficult to hear anything over all the noise, which seemed to be getting louder and louder like someone had turned a vacuum cleaner on right next to her ear.

"What did you sa--doofus?" (y/n)'s fists clenched and her eyes started to sparkle as the mystery was solved when Ray of all people came strolling through the door with a huge leaf blower in his hands. 

Okay, she didn't know why he was at Henry's house, but how could she send him away when he was looking so hot? His shirt was perfect, a classic Manchester special--cinched in at the waist and deliciously tight around his biceps. His hair was styled but not overly so, still floppy enough for her to run her fingers through, especially that one strand that never seemed to stay gelled with the rest. He was a goddamn vision, a sight for sore eyes and a very pleasant surprise.

"Hey, sweet girl! Hey, Henry! Look at my new leaf blower!" The man shouted at them excitedly as he trusted the device at them, no doubt knocking a load of stuff over with the powerful gales conjured by his new toy, but he was just too happy to be with his darling girl and best friend again. There was only so much Schwoz and Charlotte smartassery that a man could take and he thought his fiancée might like a little visit since it had been a whole three hours since he'd last seen her. 

The leaf blower thing was just a cover, but they didn't need to know that.

"It's cordless...No cord!" He grinned at them, making (y/n) struggle to hide her smile at how dumb he was. Yeah, that's what he'd been missing, her smile and even more the way she giggled at his goofy ways as he finally turned the thing off and offered an arm out to her - an invitation for her to jump into his arms.

"That's nice, sweetheart..." She grinned at him and rested her hands on his cheeks as they leaned in for a gentle kiss, a welcome greeting after not seeing each other for a while. 

She was staying the night here, had arrived at the house armed with a sleeping bag and some essential toiletries so she could camp out on the couch for a couple of nights, and that was a new thing for them. 

He didn't see the need for her to stay at the house and leave him at home. He hated the idea of going to sleep in their bed alone with more space than he was used to, but she'd insisted, something about wanting to make sure Henry didn't get loopy off sugar and throw an all-night house party. It wasn't exactly luxury and she'd miss him too but he'd be waiting for her to come home, right? That was motivation enough, his spontaneous visits and lips on hers were just bonuses. 

"Who's he?" Layla demanded to know, feeling a little uncomfortable at how the peace had been shattered by this unexpected and unwanted visitor, who was now canoodling with the woman in charge like no one else was in the room. Jeez, she was all for love and it was kinda sweet and they seemed to emit rays of sunshine and rainbows from just how happy they made each other, but jeeeez. They were so touchy and kissy and huggy and....cute.

"My boss."

"My fiancé," Henry answered at the same time as (y/n), giving the girl an idea of what kind of guy she was dealing with here. Her crush sounded tired in an annoyed sort of way, whilst the woman couldn't stop smiling and didn't even take her eyes off her lover once they'd pulled back. It was then that she took notice of the ring on her finger, still shining, still beautiful, even one month after the proposal and it made sense then; they were on cloud nine in romance terms, no wonder they couldn't focus on anyone else.

"That's right!" Ray laughed and pointed his leafblower in his sidekick's face, cackling when his blond quiff danced all over the place and his skin wrinkled from the powerful air. He only did it to get a laugh out of his sweet girl and because he was a massive child on the inside, but when she hit his shoulder and bit her lip to contain her chuckles, he stopped. Henry's bored face said it all.

"Oh, man..." He laughed and turned his head to peck his girl's forehead as he thought about his next move now that he'd annoyed some people. What else could he do that would excuse him from going home prematurely? Was he hungry? Was (y/n) hungry? Free food in the house, free utensils, what'd ya know, he had himself a plan. "I'm gonna go make a sandwich..."

"Raymond...don't make a mess and don't use everything!" (y/n) shouted after him as he plodded off to go and raid the fridge for whatever took his fancy (and whatever he knew she liked), and with her strict instructions, he found himself needing some sweet girl supervision. 

"Or you could come help me!" He suggested, placing the leafblower down on the kitchen counter as he passed it and the woman knew that if she refused, he'd just get pouty. Oh well, it had been a hot minute since she'd seen him, kissed him, felt his arms around her, so why not? At least this way she could make sure he didn't break something or create a spillage that he wouldn't clean up on his own.

"Fine, I think I saw some cheese or lettuce or maybe some ham in the fridge earlier, so what do you w--agghhhh!" Having left the boys to carry on their beauty treatment, (y/n) followed her doofus over to the kitchen, intent on taking a few things from the fridge and hoping that her employers wouldn't mind. 

They said so could eat whatever she wanted, but she supposed that came with the assumption of eating anything within reason. Obviously, they didn't want their fridge to be raided and she wasn't planning on doing that...mainly because she never actually made it to the damn thing. 

Ray got to her first. Rather embarrassingly, she let out a small yelp as his arms encircled her waist and dragged her body back into his, trapped between him and the island. In an instant, his head dipped to push his nose and lips against her neck, a sensation that made her giggle quietly at how ticklish it was, but it wasn't enough to cause suspicion, more like just enough to make him grin against her skin and her knuckles to turn white as they gripped the counter's edge. 

"I missed you." He confessed in her ear, causing her cheeks to heat up and her tummy to flutter when his hands started exploring. With nowhere to go, she just had to pray that Layla and Zack were too focused on their jobs to notice anything going on in a kitchen that was suspiciously quiet to say that they were supposed to be making sandwiches. 

"It's been, like, three hours, doofus. Still got another two whole days to go yet." (y/n) smiled, trying to stomp down that sad twinge in her heart that tried to pull her down too. It was just two days; it really wasn't that long, and although the thought of having no more visits like this one did seem to make the whole thing seem so long and laborious, the bigger picture helped to put it all in perspective. 

Comparing a harmless weekend to ten years of arduous, lonely nights of thinking that her heart was longing for something it would never get gave her her answer. 

If she could wait for a decade, she could make it two nights. 

"I know...don't know how I'm gonna sleep tonight without you next to me." Ray, not so much. Two days, ten years, it was all the same to him. He'd done his waiting, nearly lost his mind from it, and now he hated not having her close. It just brought back bad memories. Like all the times he cursed himself for admiring her in a particularly stunning dress, put himself down for dreaming that she might feel the same way or  when he shed a tear after waving her off on a date that wasn't with him. 

"Well, I could call you and then, we could talk until two AM like those teenagers in Fifty Boys I've Loved Before and do the game where we see who hangs up first." She teased him, reaching back to run her fingers through the hair that brushed against the nape of his neck - just long enough to feel silky smooth and just long enough for her to yank.

It was a novel idea, a situation that only existed with the three walls of a movie where teens wasted their parent's monthly wage on one phone bill but it was so cheesy and so them, (y/n) was up for trying it. Why wouldn't they stay up half the night giggling nonsense into the receiver until their sleep pattern was well and truly screwed? Falling asleep to each other's voices sounded perfect, just like normal and better than any lullaby. 

"And what if my mom finds out I've been calling a girl all night--oh, no way! No way, no way, no way!" Ray's joking around soon stopped when purely by chance, he happened to raise his gaze from his girl's pretty face, y'know simply to check if anyone was watching them, not that he cared, and that's when he saw it. The car. 

He was like a goddamn damn magpie, the minute he saw something shiny and silver, his interest was piqued and this specific treasure tugged at his curiosity like nothing else. It was difficult to choose between his love and getting a closer look, but it was just too great, his brain quelling his heart's objections by arguing that his soulmate was likely to follow after them if they edged closer, so that's what he did. 

Dear god, it was beautiful, not as beautiful as his gorgeous fiancée, but just like he'd seen in those middle-aged men's magazines and boy, did it satisfy the child within him. Come on, it was a toy meant for grown-ups, it was like it had practically been put there for him. The rarest of the rare, a trinket for him to admire but not touch. (y/n) wouldn't allow that. 

"Wait, Raymond, no, no, no, no! Stop touching, no touching, put it down!" She ordered, feeling her previously fluffy heart turn to water as her silly doofus plucked Mr Hart's precious plaything from its shelf so he could check it out. Great, that's just what she wanted, Ray's paws all over it and it's not like she didn't trust him it's just that...she didn't trust him. It sounded mean like that but it was true; he had clumsy sausages for fingers, a sponge for a brain and zero luck, so there was no wonder that she foresaw an accident when he picked it up.

"Dude, that's my dad's! We're not allowed to touch it!" Henry was quick to join in the argument too, having leapt to his feet and left Layla behind when his boss stopped being handsy with (y/n) in favour of being handsy with something else. Yes, they all saw but said nothing, they never did, it was just easier to carry on with the manicures and pedicures rather than split them apart, but now, he was being serious. His life depended on that thing staying intact and functional.

"Well, don't mean that I can't!" Ray grinned at them childishly. He just had to find a loophole, didn't he? It wasn't him getting paid twenty bucks an hour, he didn't care, all he had to do was just swan off and leave them to complain about it later, no skin off his back. Maybe if it broke, he'd get to sleep with his girl tonight, after all, maybe she'd quit before the heat was on her, that sounded more like it, but (y/n) wasn't about to risk that situation coming into fruition.

"Give it, doofus."

"Aww..." Immediately, Ray fell into a deep, sulking pout as she snatched the car from his hands, careful not to scratch the paint, chip the glass or knock a wing mirror off. Honestly, he was too handsome to pout, it caused too many lines on his face and it tugged on her heartstrings knowing that he wasn't happy about something but she had to toughen it out like any parent disciplining a child. Don't fall for the frowny face.

"If this thing breaks, I'm not getting paid and I'll have to pay to get it fixed or replaced, meaning you won't be getting laid for the next month. So, stop pouting and move." She told him firmly and knowing that she wasn't lying about any of it, Ray quickly sidestepped to let her past. As delicately as she could, (y/n) placed the car in the same position it had been in before, hoping that Mr Hart wasn't too strict about a few finger smudges here and there. 

And that allowed Ray to have another look around; just because that was off-limits didn't mean that he had to stop looking for something else to satisfy his childlike wonder. And it wasn't difficult to let the next best thing steal his attention, after all, this one had buttons, an electric current and something he could push and pull. It was perfect.

"Oooh, the remote!" This would do nicely. It was still connected to the car, but not the main attraction, so he figured that it couldn't hurt to play with it - a few taps of the buttons here, a flick of the joystick there. Where was the harm in that?

"No, Ray. Don't touch the remote!" (y/n) whined, making grabby hands for the thing before he broke it because if the car was worth a lot and treasured possession, then she guessed that the same could be said for the remote that powered it. What use was the car if the remote didn't work? None, but Ray wouldn't let her have it, not even as his eye caught the ring, not even when she was the pouting one. Nope, he merely kept it close to his chest.

"Uh, sweet girl, I think I know how to work a remote for a remote-control car, okay?" He scoffed, pinching her cheek because her concern was cute, but as always, he thought he knew better. 

Pressing the button under his thumb, the car roared to life with its back wheel squealing and its headlights illuminated. Sweet cheese, it was a cool bit of tech and in different circumstances, (y/n) probably would've loved to get a look at all that retro circuitry, but not with the toy that was the difference between a payday and a payout.

And it all went downhill from there. The thrust from the vehicle was too much for it to handle and when Ray took off the brake and pushed the joystick forward, only the inevitable could happen. The car skidded over the edge of the shelf, propelled by all the power generated from its tiny electric motor and to everyone's horror (and Ray's shame), it was headed straight for the discarded pedicure bucket that Jasper formerly had his tootsies in. 

"Nooooooooo!" It was like slow motion as Henry, (y/n) and even Ray ran to save the car from drowning its circuits. All that training was coming in useful, they each had impeccable timing but Henry was the fastest, a factor derived from those super-fast reflexes, which proved to be extremely useful as he sank to his knees and caught the car just in time. No fried electrics, no soaked seats, no soggy tires. Talk about having a heart attack

"Oh, thank god...See? This is why we don't touch things that aren't ours!" (y/n) scolded Ray as everyone breathed a massive sigh of relief and allowed their bodies to relax. The man offered her an apologetic pout as if he'd just received a telling off from teacher. Still, the car was safe, it wasn't damaged and they were out of the woods...

"Henry, careful! Your nails!" Layla exclaimed because for some unknown fucking reason, she was more worried about her crush smudging the clear coat she'd put on his nails rather than saving the car that his father had specifically told him not to break. And understandably upon hearing the pure urgency and panic in her voice, Henry yelped...and most heartbreakingly, dropped the car in the damn water. Shit.

"Aghhhhhh! No, no, no!" Henry screamed as he watched the car fizz and pop and die as the water ruined its components and short-circuited everything. Oh god, he was gonna get screwed for this and he knew exactly who to blame. The one who couldn't keep his paws off, the one who couldn't listen, the one who couldn't understand when no means no. Not Layla, she was too cute to be in trouble, no, his culprit was Ray, that stupid, stupid man-child who he would happily boil in oil if he wasn't indestructible. 

"Uh...all right. Just, uh, I know you're mad at me, but I think I know what to do here, I'll be...hang on..." Ray laughed nervously as Henry gave him a death stare, and if looks could kill then he'd definitely be dead by now. But luckily for him, they couldn't, meaning it was safe for him to circle the couch, his hand tightly gripping (y/n)'s as she followed him in confusion, possibly to kill him for being such a moron or perhaps to protect when Henry pounced. Either way, he was able to nervously return the remote to the spot that it should never have left and he tiptoed to the door dragging (y/n) with him.

"Ray, I'm not leaving, the car--" Her protests about how she thought he was pulling her away from the sinking ship were silenced when he kissed her in the blink of an eye. It was rushed, unexpected and not very coordinated as he moved his lips against hers in a desperate attempt to savour the experience before he had to leg it, but she sighed and melted against him just as she did with all the others. 

There wasn't a doubt in her mind that this was a goodbye kiss, he could never leave without one and it just reaffirmed that tonight was gonna be a lonely one. It was over too quickly; one minute he was there, the next minute he was gone, running off into his car and driving off into the night to save his skin. 

Her wrist carried his warmth for a few seconds after he tore himself away, a reminder of how tightly he'd held her before he realised why he was holding her so close and trying to commit everything he already knew to memory again. Maybe it would stave off the sadness.

With Ray gone, the group was left in silence, all eyes on the seething boy as he slowly lifted his dad's car from the bucket, water cascading from every gap that it seeped into. Jesus, even when he opened the door more poured out, showing that the thing was thoroughly drenched and unlikely to ever run again without some serious intervention. good thing that Henry was friends with a mechanical engineer, that shit was second nature to her, rewiring and fixing stuff. 

"Feels bad!" Henry whined to his friends, echoing his signature catchphrase but without his usual cheeriness. Okay, no need to panic, yes, it was bad, horrific even, hundreds of dollars were on the line here for everyone, but they had time to fix it. A couple of days to make things right was a good thing, a positive when everything seemed so glum.

"Okay, it's fine, we can fix this, no problem. Just don't turn it on and put it in rice while the manicure people give me their glasses and a spotlight." (y/n) was quick off the mark, ignoring the crushing guilt gnawing at her mind since it had been her responsibility to keep everything safe and it had been her lover who'd screwed everything up. Therefore, she felt like it was her duty to make it right, plus, she had the expertise to root out the problem and repair it.

"What? Why?" Henry asked curtly, still in quite a crabby mood since he was pointing the finger at one person in particular. (y/n) had always been like an extension of Ray and vice versa, where one was, the other followed, so he channelled all the anger he felt towards his boss into her, which wasn't very fair but hey, it made him feel better.

"Because the rice will absorb the moisture and I need something to magnify the electronics and light so I can look at them. I didn't do a degree in engineering just to do math, y'know." She replied in a flat tone, fully aware that the kid wasn't his best self right now and whilst it would be nice to snap back, it wouldn't help much. He was just mad and needed time to calm down and in that time, she could get to work.

"Well, I wouldn't need your stupid degree if your fiancé hadn't made me drop my dad's car in a bucket of water!" Well, rude much? It was so hard not to shout in his face, to say something harsh back because what he said was meant to be hurtful to some extent and of course, the kid normally wouldn't dare to be mean to the woman who'd given him so much advice and care over the years, but he was lashing out. (y/n) could take it, at least she didn't show any reaction.

"Just go find some rice!" That got him moving, thank god and Jasper shrugged awkwardly when they shared a glance. Obviously, he didn't know what to make of the situation either, Henry was normally so nice, but when it came to his dad disowning him or not, he could be a real monster. Scary...

~Forty minutes later~

After a good towelling and a stint in a sack of basmati, the car was ready for service. Climbing up onto the kitchen counter and lying flat on her back like she was under an actual car, (y/n) delved deep into every wire, every board and every connection she could find in the toy as Henry and Jasper held it over her face. This was her in her prime, in her element as it were and if wasn't for the elephant in the room she would be having a whale of a time.

It was a delicate operation, she didn't want to do any more damage than had already been done, not with prying eyes around, but the good news was that it was fairly simple for someone who'd worked under Schwoz for so many years. The nineties had produced some beautiful stuff and this little gadget was one of them, so it would be a pleasure to work on it for Henry as reparation, all he needed to do was give her the go-ahead and not insult her in the meanest way possible.

"All right, boys. Set the car down because I am done!" She grinned and slowly sat up from the cold granite once the car was out of danger from headbutts. Jeez, her back was stiff, lying flat really brought out her age, but oh well, she was vertical now and flicked the magnifying headset that the nail techs had graciously lent her up to her forehead. Not her usual kit; it stank of acetone but it did the job because if it worked for doing nail art, it worked for fine electronics.

"So, what do you think? Can you fix it?" Henry asked her, praying for good news since that would stop the nerves zooming around his stomach and lower his blood pressure. If it was broken beyond repair, then he was screwed, destined to die in two days because his dad would never forgive him, but her smile looked promising...maybe?

"Yeah, it's not actually that difficult, so I don't why you brought him here!" She snapped, suddenly turning to look at the elephant who'd been summoned at the drop of a hat by a boy and clearly doubted her skills. 

A spare mechanic as it were, a dude he'd found online who claimed to be an expert in repairing old gadgets as if he needed one. Seriously, she was quite insulted, just because she'd never been formally employed by a garage or company didn't mean she didn't know an exhaust manifold from a capacitor. 

She was better than some guy who'd appeared out of nowhere and judged her work like she was the scum of the Earth - a woman who dared to step into the world of engineering and think she could work with the big boys. Yeah, because he was really channelling Elon Musk right now with his dopey glasses and burger shirt, he looked like a real "professional". 

"Because I need my dad's car to be in exactly the same condition as it was before, so I want a proper guy to do it! So, can you fix it?" Henry's gaze then turned to the burger man, this so-called expert in retro toys. Maybe he did know what he was doing, maybe he knew more about the car than (y/n) did but still, she knew she could do this and the outside of the car was fine, it was the circuits that needed worrying about. The art she was good at and he wouldn't let her do it. The nerve of this kid. 

"Yeah, I can fix it. Too bad, sweetheart." Burger boy snorted at (y/n), making her bite her tongue to hold in the torrent of filth that would be heading her way if she wasn't so nice. She was a "proper guy", why couldn't Henry see that? And Jasper wasn't helping much, sure, he gave her a sympathetic smile, but he didn't want to upset his friend more than he already was. Looks like the pleb was here to stay. 

"Thank you!"

"Oh, that is great news!" The boys were so relieved at hearing the man could fix it because their other option was a tad more "risky". It's not that they didn't trust (y/n), it's just they wanted to get a professional in so they could say they gave the car the best TLC they could find, which was fine. Perfect. Fantastic. But didn't they know that commercial prowess came at a cost?

"It'll cost you three thousand bucks." There was the catch that had their grins falling and (y/n) choking. When he said bucks, did he mean cents? Because holy Jesus, that was a small fortune for two teens who had next to nothing in their bank accounts. 

"Three thousand?! Are you taking the piss? The repair is so damn simple, it should be one dollar!" (y/n) exclaimed, unexpectedly feeling quite protective over the boys, even if they had brought this by themselves. 

Yeah, this guy was the kind of asshole who was smug about his skills and a conman, praying on people who were desperate enough to pay anything if it meant their treasures could be restored. But she knew for a fact that he was just being a dick and even if they were millionaires, there was no way she'd pay that amount for something that would take two seconds max. Degrees do come in useful sometimes...

"Listen, darlin', this is a vintage remote control car from the nineteen hundreds." He looked at her in such a condescending way, (y/n) wanted to smack him right where that stupid moustache rested on his upper lip. Because she'd been able to come to the same conclusion as him, he now felt the need to stomp on her, put her back in her place as a guy who probably lived in a shed with nothing put empty takeout cartons and old motors to keep him company was obviously her superior. 

"Yes, I know. I'm looking at it." 

"Then, why'd you go dunk it in water?" Wow, stupid as well as ignorant. They knew the value of the car, did he really think they'd do something like this on purpose? The more he talked, the less faith (y/n) had in him and she just wanted to push him out of the door and do the job herself because everything was becoming a lot more complicated than it needed to be. And a lot more shouty.

"I didn't mean to! It was her fiancé's fault!" Henry yelled back, still feeling quite touchy about the events that had transpired not too long ago, everything was still too raw to poke at. Whilst he'd stopped firing too many insults, he was still being irrational and loud, which stemmed from the fear of his dad returning home and finding the car broken and slightly damp, and now, his glare was on the burger man. 

"All right!... If you ever want a new fiancé, I know where you can find one, darlin'." Why did she always attract the weirdos? Giving him an eye roll and folding her arms, (y/n) turned her back on the revolting man, who obviously thought he was god's gift to women or something. Like she'd ever leave her loveable doofus for a moron like him, the thought made her shudder, more than the idea of him effectively stealing money the boys didn't have. 

As if that wasn't enough, here came Piper and Charlotte, right on cue, like they knew the perfect time to come home - in the middle of a situation. The youngest was still holding her soda from the movie, Charlotte had some candy, but neither was aware of the shitshow they were walking into and for them, it was all still giggles and swapping jokes. No stress, no panic, just a blissful ignorance that didn't break until Henry's foul mood clouded their happiness.

"Hey!"

"We're back from the movie!"

"Oh, great! Did you bring me three thousand dollars?" He asked sarcastically, coming over as they came into the room, wondering what had made him so crabby. They had no idea what he was talking about, all they knew was that their movie was great, they'd had an amazing time and now they were hoping to chill with (y/n) and tell her all about it. What was his problem?

"No..."

"But I brought you half a box of Mild Doods." Charlotte offered, hoping she could appease the angry beast with a peace offering. It was a small sacrifice if it meant he wouldn't bite her head off and whilst Henry wasn't so keen, Jasper could go for a Dood. And that gave them a chance to throw their questioning eyes at (y/n); she'd tell them what was wrong, that was the girl code.

"Ooh, I'll take some Doods."

"Wanna manicure?" Zack sudden;y appeared behind the girls. Yeah, the car fiasco wasn't his problem, therefore, he didn't care about his client's problems. Their money was much more appealing and if he could squeeze a few extra dollars, he'd be doing all right to say that he and Layla had been called out to a madhouse.

"Uh, who are you and why are you in my house?" Piper asked, eyeing the new stranger with a cautious gaze. Stranger danger and all that, and this guy was asking to look at her nails, meaning she got the same serial killer vibe that the others did before, but as always, Jasper was quick to respond.

"Oh, they're professional manicurists. That's Layla and that's Zack. He is unbelievab--" Just as Jasper started bragging about how the serial killer was actually a pretty nice guy and a wicked nail tech, Piper happened to glance at the man next to him, who (y/n) was still glaring daggers at. And then she saw it. The car. Broken. In his hands. Three thousand dollars worth of memories and threats in his palms and now she understood why the atmosphere in the house was so tense. Because they were in massive trouble.

"Oh my god!" She gasped and stormed over to the mechanic to snatch the car out from his hands. "You played with dad's vintage car?"

No, I didn't play with it! Okay? My boss, also known as (y/n)'s dumb fiancé, came in here and drove it into some foot water and now, it's gonna cost me three thousand bucks to fix it!" Henry replied, stress colouring every tone. Okay, only (y/n) got to call Ray dumb, but a fair point, it was a pretty stupid move, not that arguing about it would get them anywhere. 

"You are not paying him three thousand dollars for that! Just give it to me and I'll do it for free!" The woman offered, trying to get through that stubborn side that had hardened the more the boy grew. He could be so annoying sometimes, if he just let her get hold of the thing, she'd show him that it was a simple flick and twist and that was the repair over, but he didn't trust her. Jerk.

"No, (y/n), I already told you! I need someone who knows what their doing and that guy does, so I'm paying him three thousand dollars!" Henry argued back and (y/n) just left it there, preferring to sit and seethe than waste her breath. What was the point? Every time she tried to say something, he shot her down, every time she tried to grab the car, he yanked it back, he just wouldn't listen and she figured that the only way he'd learn was to let him see that she was in the right and he was in the wrong. 

"Uh, I hate to bring this up but you and your friends owe Zack and me seventy-five bucks for the manis." Layla's voice tapped into the conversation, adding yet more bad news for Henry to stress over. Great, now it was three thousand and seventy-five bucks - an added expense from the treatment they'd each had done, which to be fair, wasn't a lot for the superb job they'd done but it didn't help. 

"Yeah, okay..."

"Whoa, seventy-five dollars is pretty cheap for three manicures," Charlotte commented, making the manicurists go all smug. Yeah, they were cheap but good, that's what made them so popular; what little they lost in the discounted price, they made up for in the sheer number of clients they received.

"Yeah, it's pretty cheap..."

"Okay, people! Look, my parents are gonna be back in two days! And when my dad sees that I broke his dumb toy car, he's gonna make my mom kill me and (y/n) because she was supposed to be the responsible one!" Henry shouted over the idle chitchat, feeling his self-control burst when they all went off on a tangent that wasn't helping him get the money to fix the car. 

And (y/n) could understand that because technically, as annoying as he was right now, he was right. Mrs Hart would kill her and then refuse to pay, so even if she couldn't repair it, they had to find a way to get the bozo over there to do the honours.

"He had a point. I've been here for five hours, that's one hundred dollars and I would like to cash in at the end of this." She muttered. Getting her money was pretty important and of course, she wanted to make sure that Henry survived this, so for all his whining and moaning and complaining and insisting that she was just an idiot with a degree, she was gonna stay. Siblings annoy siblings but they stay together, right?

"Look, son, if I may..." And that pig-headed mechanic just had to stick his nose in, it wasn't enough for him to take advantage of a couple of teens who were too scared to trust one of their closest friends, but now, he was stirring the pot. If he wasn't careful, the guy was gonna earn himself a smack in the nose.

"You need me to fix your dad's car before your parents come home, so you need to get your hands on three thousand bucks--"

"Still a rip-off." (y/n) butted in, causing the man to send her an irritated side-eye but she didn't care because it was the truth. She knew it, he knew it, the only people who refused to see it that way were the ones scrounging to find the money.

"Yeah..." Henry batted (y/n) away so she'd stop throwing in her sly comments and gave the man a tired look. This better be good for him to waste his precious time like this.

"So, why don't you have a party? Invite a bunch of teenagers here on Saturday night and you two! You must know other people who give manicures..." Oh, god. He wasn't serious, was he? That was the opposite of what they needed; did (y/n) need to bring up the scenario of what teenagers do at a house party? Plants dying from being watered with vomit, trees decorated with toilet paper, and the beds, dear lord, the beds. 

"I know a lot!"

"Yeah, we do!"

"There you go! You get your friends to get their friends, you have a wild mani-party, make some money, split the profits and you should have enough cash left over to pay me to fix your dad's car." The repairman proposed, sending Henry into a deep pondering state, which the woman on his right couldn't believe. Was he thinking about it? Oh, sure, it would be great when Mr Hart came home to both a broken car and a decimated house, that would be brilliant; bye-bye dignity, bye-bye wedding, bye-bye to their friendship because she'd never recover.

"You're not actually considering this, are you? You know I can't let you do this..." (y/n) whispered to Henry, acting as the angel on his shoulder when the burger-shirt guy was the devil, tempting him into sin. God, being the killjoy was hard but it was the smart thing to do, they could get three thousand dollars somewhere else or y'know, just let her do it. Parties weren't her thing, from both a personal and professional standpoint; they just filled her with dread, much like the way Henry sighed at the mechanic.

"I don't know...she's right, my parents said I'm not allowed to have parties while they're out of town. They won't give (y/n) her money if something goes wrong..." Henry told the dude and the woman felt grateful that he was at least considering her interests as well as his own. It was nice to know he cared about her efforts to pay for the best day of her life, whenever it would be, but no matter how worried he looked, her rival seemed relentless in his struggles to squeeze every penny he could get.

"Kid, sometimes you just gotta say...rubber duck!" Fuck her, it was like that damn phrase was following them, haunting their every move. As her eyes closed in frustration, a method of trying to quell the anger settling in her stomach, Jasper leapt up at the sound of someone else using his new motto. It wasn't just him, he wasn't alone in this, sure, the only other person was an asshole but still.

"See?!" Burger boy had truly made his day.

~A while later...party time~

"The party was off to an amazing start."

Remind (y/n) why this was a good idea again. The neighbours surrounding the Harts' residence were starting to get grouchy and for good reason; having decided to just "rubber duck it", Henry and his friends had contacted everyone they knew to try and get a party going and holy shit, it had worked.

"Charlotte, Jasper, Piper and I invited tons of our friends. (y/n), of course, hated it but she didn't say anything. We couldn't hear her over the music anyway."

The floor was vibrating and the walls were in danger of cracking from the loud, thumping bass beat from the music and the crowds, well, they were swarming. Friends had phoned friends, and then they had phoned their friends, leading to masses of people flocking to Henry's home like it was the place to be because honestly, it was. The manicurists were loving it, all their nail artist friends had come over to take advantage of all the teens living it large and the money was rolling in.

"And Layla, the prettiest manicurist I ever saw, she invited a bunch of her friends, other manicurists."

Jasper, naturally, was the doorman, greeting and vetting anyone who tried to get in since they weren't gonna let just anyone into the house. As per (y/n)'s frantic advice, they were trying to avoid that apocalyptic tale of a trashed house and whilst the riffraff was staying outside, it didn't mean to say that things were staying squeaky clean. 

These people didn't care if they threw their trash on the floor or wiped their sticky hands on the curtains, they weren't the ones cleaning up. All they did care about was the sad-sack adult hovering over them with an eagle eye for troublemakers - that would be (y/n).

It was like college all over again, the noise, the stench, the heat, the tangle of sweaty bodies trying to dance and fumble to take a selfie all at the same time. She wasn't a big fan of them, then, she wasn't a big fan of them now, especially not when she had to be the one telling arrogant boys and bitchy girls off for getting a tad too rambunctious for her liking. You'd think that she'd be used to being called a nerdy little twerp, who should go and crawl back to whatever math paper she'd left behind, by now, but no. It still stung, but at least it wasn't true.

Popularity after high school doesn't mean shit; they'd all leave for college and then the real world where they were nobodies. The jocks would just become assholes, the bitches wouldn't be able to step on people and they'd find themselves being the losers for once, the ones with no experience. That was comforting, knowing that one day, someone would smack them in the mouth and they'd learn their lessons.

"And the money! Oh, man...it's, like, insane how much these kids will pay for a quality manicure." Henry chuckled as he narrated the events of the night to some dude he'd never met before. He didn't know why, but he just felt so cool and was riding the high that came from being the one to organise a great party. He had some dark glasses, a soda, a porch to sit on and chill, he felt like a god...but the same couldn't be said for the other guy. He just felt awkward.

"Uh, yeah...do I have to sit here and keep listening to you narrate?" He asked, glancing up from his phone so he could look at the boy who kept talking to him like they were friends. But Henry was just walking down memory lane, too blissed out from the recollection to care if he was being weird...

"Then, at one point, earlier in the night, I went to get a soda and Layla walked up to me. And out of nowhere, she says..." Henry remembered the sway of the crowd as he moved through the house, careful not to spill his when Layla stepped in front of him.

"Have you ever made spaghetti on a sailboat?" Okay, random, but she was so cute, he couldn't bring himself to laugh at her and just smiled softly. How could anyone not smile softly around such beauty?

"Hmmm? On a--on a sailboat?"

"Yeah, a boat with sails..." The conversation was awkward and limited to a few words, but his heart couldn't stop fluttering, not when she giggled at his smiley reaction.

"And I was thinking, why not make spaghetti in a kitchen?" It was a fair question and as Henry broke out of his daydream, he found himself pondering it again. He'd never been on a sailboat so he couldn't say if it was a good place or not, but surely, it would rock and dip and sway from the water, not to mention the seasickness. Was it a good idea?

"Y'know, 'cause a kitchen is where most people make spaghetti, right?" He turned to look at the dude he was sitting with, who at this point, had had quite enough of his tall, Jackanory tales.

"I just want to get a manicure..." He told him flatly and then, Henry gave up trying. Well, he tried to be cool and it failed, all he had left was his half-drunken soda and his shades. That was depressing, but he was the host of a house party, it was hard to ever be alone when that happened.

"Henry, Charlotte has good news..." (y/n) suddenly appeared in the doorway, the usual bounce in her step missing since she'd just unclogged the toilet and scrubbed her hands raw at how it made her skin crawl. This was the worst, why do teens think destruction is fun? Anyway, after losing her epidermis, she'd bumped into Charlotte as she tried to find Henry to give him an earful about how she should get paid extra for this shit and the girl was much more excited than she was.

"Henry! We did it!" She cried, clutching a safety deposit box and a wad of cash in her fist so they wouldn't lose a dollar. Now that was a reason to be excited about and (y/n) found her energy growing steadily once more since with that money, the end of this puke fest was in sight. Was it a bit much to call these animals degenerates?

"You made spaghetti on a sailboat?" He really needed to stop obsessing over everything little thing Layla said.

"What? No! Look, three thousand dollars!" Charlotte squealed and spread the bills into a fan so he could see every little number. Holy shit, three grand right in her hand, it seemed impossible for a group of kids and their nagging grownup friend, but they'd done it. Henry's neck was saved and yet more good news was still to come.

"And Piper's in there collecting more money right now! We're raking it in." (y/n) smiled as Charlotte carefully passed the money to Henry, who cradled it like it was his firstborn child. A quick flicker through the notes and a calculation that took every ounce of mathematical ability he had, and he knew that he had the mechanic's money, which the heroine in front of him still thought was ridiculous but at least they'd enjoyed the party. 

"Oh, man! Okay, problem solved!" The boy smiled, looking at them with hopeful eyes. This meant that the party was over, right? A shame but a necessary one because the house, the car, everything had to be perfect for when his parents came back, which was still some time away but the sooner this mess was fixed, the better. 

"Well, unless we have some other unforeseen complication, we should go and pay that charlatan you call a repairman and get this over with." (y/n) replied dryly, still not believing that the kid was actually gonna hand over the money from what had turned out to be a brilliant plan (maybe the burger guy had been smart with his suggestion there). 

It didn't seem right, not when the damage flashed into her brain and the problem's solution screamed out to her. The kid could keep his money and still fool his parents into thinking everything was fine, wasn't that better?

"Right..." Clearly not.

~

The time had come to hand the cash over. Sitting in the armchair by the fire, the "expert" repairman sat back and smirked at the woman watching him with cold eyes as Henry counted every bill they were giving him and the manicurist did his nails. This had been a good night for him, he'd been pampered and was being ten times the normal rate for a restoration. It felt good to be bad...

"Twenty-nine hundred and sixty, twenty-nine hundred and eighty, three thousand! Right there, three thousand dollars!" Henry slammed the last twenty down onto the table next to the guy, relieved that all the counting was over and the debt had been paid. The mechanic could pick it up, look at it, smell if he wanted to, but they'd given him the money, time for him to uphold his side of the deal.

"Yeah! You can count it if you want!"

"I just counted it right in front of him..." Oh, Jasper, he could see but he could never observe. Whatever, as quickly as he could, the man shoved the bundle into his top pocket and patted it happily before leaning back to enjoy his hand massage. Why should he go fast? It's not like he had a lot of work to do.

"You know, you've been sitting in that chair for so long, you're beginning to look like it." (y/n) snapped when a pleased sigh escaped the man, infuriating her, Henry and Jasper at how lax he was in his efforts to help them. Sure, she knew that he didn't have a mammoth task ahead, but this was just taking the piss.

"You just stand there and look pretty, darlin'. I'll do the work when I want to..." He grumbled in return as the girl next to him buffed his nails and chased away all of his worries. Three thousand dollars richer and he hadn't even lifted a finger, something which enraged Henry and fanned the flames of his panic.

"Come on, man, I really need this!" The kid cried, letting his desperation fly out as tears in his eyes and a needy yelp. That made the man wake up and put his hands in the air, startled by the loud tone that shattered his tranquillity. Jeez, couldn't the woman tell them that it wasn't that big of a deal?

"All right! Open my toolbox." He told the boys, making (y/n) scoff when Henry open the tiny red box that housed a series of screwdrivers, mini spanners and a small soldering iron - perfect for delicate operations. It was right next to him, literally ten centimetres away from his hand yet he couldn't be bothered to do it himself. Rather, he simply selected the tool he needed--the tool (y/n) would've gone for if it was up to her---and took the car from Jasper, ready to "earn" his three thousand bucks.

Turning the car upside down, his eyes raked over the circuitry until he saw what the pretty girl had told her friends about. Two loose screws. That was it. Nothing more. That's why (y/n) had been adamant that her skill was sufficient because all that needed fixing was two damn screws. When the electrics short-circuited, they popped out as a safety feature to protect the car from damaging itself; that killed the system and after drying out, it just needed putting back into place. Hardly a job worth what the man had taken.

"Penny in the air..." (y/n) muttered, watching as the screwdriver's head was jammed into the screws and twisted in three full turns, precisely what she'd been trying to do all night. If she had just been able to get her hands on it, things could've been so different and she'd be the one laughing at this clown.

"So, how long are you--"

"Done!" And like that, it was over. The car was perfectly fine again, ready to go for another drive, not that they were gonna even attempt that. Henry and Jasper fell silent as he presented the toy back to them, a smug smirk on his face now that the contract between them was over. They couldn't believe it, they must've misheard him because that took two seconds, just like (y/n) had said...

"You're done?"

"And the penny drops." (y/n) rubbed at her forehead as she saw the light leave Henry's eyes. Just because he didn't want to believe it didn't mean what the guy was saying wasn't true and if he didn't trust him, then all he had to do was test the car for himself. 

"Yeah, push the green button on the remote and move the joystick forward." The repairman instructed Jasper, who nervously did as he was told. Raising the controller, he pushed the accelerator button down and pushed the joystick as commanded and low and behold, the car roared to life. The wheels moved perfectly, the headlights glowed, and the toy was in perfect working order again. 

"Ta-dahhh!"

"It works!" For a moment, the rush of exhilaration and relief blinded the boys from what was important. They forgot about the price tag and focused on the genius man who'd saved their asses because it felt so good to not be in trouble again until Henry clocked onto the wad peeking out from his pocket. Right, he gave him that...wait...

"Oh my god, you're like a geni---wait, you charged me three thousand bucks and then fixed it in five seconds?!" Henry snapped, causing a grin to break out on the man's face. He found the fact that he'd only been caught now hilarious because it was too late and knowing that he'd gotten away with it was hilarious, especially considering that he'd beaten another mechanic to the chase.

"Rubber duck! Face it, kid, you should've trusted your friend here." The man laughed and slowly, Henry's face dropped. With thinking, he turned to look at (y/n), who'd been suspiciously quiet for the last few minutes and he felt his heart crack when she offered him a watery smile. Well, now he just felt like a jerk; all that shit he said about Ray not listening and suffering the consequences had echoed with him, it left him feeling rotten because he'd depended on a stranger when he already had everything he needed with her.

"What? No, no, no, no, no, that's not cool! That's not cool, man! Why are you laughing like that? She's my friend and because of you--" This was becoming a habit, all the finger-pointing. As the man continued to cackle at his furious questions and accusations, across the room, another problem was stewing, only this one was a big one. A really big one.

"Henry! Henry!" Piper shrieked over the music, urgently needing her brother to stop playing around with that moron mechanic and get over to her. She'd just gotten off the phone and what she had been told was bad. Very bad and it would affect everyone in the room if they didn't act quick.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Mom and dad just called." Well, that was normal, at least from (y/n)'s viewpoint. She'd get over the car thing but something didn't feel right. She knew when Piper was panicking and that certainly sounded like her panic voice, even if the newsflash wasn't particularly interesting. Parents liked to call and check up on their kids when they were away, there was nothing to worry about, just one of those things that happened. There was no need to get all worried, no reason at all.

"So?"

"They're on their way here!" That, however, was. That was a big reason to panic. (y/n) meltdown incoming, system shutdown impending because what the fuck? They were coming home? Early? When there was a party in full swing in their house? The one she was meant to be guarding against parties? Oh Jesus, oh Buddha, oh Superman, literally any deity out there, please come help her.

"What? They're coming here?! Oh, god..."

"No, no, no, no, they're in Toronto!" Henry calmed her fears with foolish rationality, kinda like he was sticking his head in the sand and hoping it would all go away if he didn't think about it. They were going on a trip, they hadn't even made it through the first night, and they weren't coming back. She was worried about nothing.

"Nu-uh. When they were changing planes in Chicago, dad went to the men's room and dropped his passport in the toilet!" Typical Jake Hart, clumsy and stupid. Yep, that was their dad.

"Why didn't he reach in and grab it?" Sure, that was gross, but for a passport, it wasn't a big ask, not when they needed to catch another flight, but again, this was a classic Mr Hart moment.

"He tried but it was an auto-flusher!" Oh god, he lost the damn thing and gave his arm and swirlie. They couldn't make this shit up; it was funny and they'd be laughing in any other circumstance but this was now just turning into a farce. 

"Oh my god, is he okay?" (y/n) asked, feeling a bit concerned because the arm that was paying her was now down a toilet fishing for a passport. And of course, she worried for his safety but still, money, money money...

"So, his arm got stuck in the toilet then they had to call the fire department to pull him out!"

"So, mom and dad bailed on the trip?" It didn't take a genius to work out what had happened and Henry's voice was starting to get just as panicky as Piper retold the story. His house was full of strangers and trash and manicurists, they couldn't see this, they'd ground him for life, Piper too. (y/n) wouldn't get paid, Jasper and Charlotte would be permanently banned from his house and his life would be over. And that was all true.

"Yeah! They just called from Nacho Ball and said they'll be home soon!" Soon wasn't good, soon was exactly the opposite of what they needed, but one thing remained. Depending on the Nacho Ball, they might just be able to squeeze out a few extra minutes to think before their impending doom arrived.

"Wait, wait, wait, which Nacho Ball? The close one or the nice one?" Everyone loved the nice Nacho Ball, the service, the food, the restaurant, it was perfect family, fast-food dining, the only catch being that it was quite far away, in a classier part of Swellview. The close one was disgusting, probably only a health inspection away from getting closed down and don't get Henry started on the whiny staff. Plus, it was close by, hence, a real problem if his parents were at that one and not the nice one.

"The close one!" Piper screeched and shot forward to grab his jacket and shake some sense into him. That's what he was dreading. The bad news settled into his bones and froze his core, making chilling waves of fear run through him as he pictured the worst; his parents walking in on this scene. Nope, not on his watch, if they could scrounge three grand in one night, then they could fix this shit in fifteen minutes, that was their only choice. To at least try and hide the evidence.

"Okay, okay, okay, Jasper! Jasper, turn off the music!" Thinking on his feet, Henry gave his first instruction to the friend closest to the speaker system because step one had to be shutting down the party. With all the people gone then it would just be a case of tidying up, so how do you stop a party? Kill the music.

"Okay!" Jasper swiftly took a remote from his pocket that was connected to the PearPad that had been shuffling a cool party playlist, full of modern music that (y/n) wasn't very familiar with, and hit the pause button. The crowd stopped swaying and chattering when the beat reverberating through their bodies stopped and that meant it was quiet enough for Henry to tell them to fuck off. But y'know, more politely than that, just with the same effect.

"Okay! Everyone, please listen up, please! I need everyone to get all their stuff and get out immediately!" Henry yelled at the top of his voice, which would no doubt be red and sore afterwards but whatever, he had a crowd to address. And they weren't happy with the sudden eviction notice; the party had been going so well and so many were still waiting for a manicurist to become free, so they were reluctant to leave. That is, they still hadn't heard the best part.

"Why?" Oliver Pook asked as he sat at a pop-up nail bar, watching as Henry kept jerking his body to try and inspire some energy into everyone. Like the others, he was enjoying himself and it wasn't like he got invited to many parties because big-eating is weird and disgusting, so his butt was firmly wedged into the sofa. 

"Uh, 'cause--" Now, Henry had another problem. This had been the greatest party he'd ever thrown and it would go down as one of the best ever thrown by someone in his school, so he didn't really want to ruin that by saying he was scared of what his mommy and daddy might say. Social suicide was not how he wanted the night to end, but he had to get rid of them somehow, maybe his friends could say something?

"'Cause a snake's got loose! Yeah, a real big one that loves to eat annoying teenagers." (y/n) interjected, coming up with something that would scare people out of the premises whilst simultaneously saving Henry's street cred and giving her something to chuckle about. Yeah, she wouldn't mind seeing some of these brats getting gobbled...do snakes eat burgers?

Immediately, there was a stampede. Upon hearing that a snake was slithering about the place, the partygoers, the manicurists, everyone ran for the exits, rushing to get to safety before they could get bitten or eaten. Small problem though, Jasper, who had been standing guard by the door as a watchman spotted a small flaw within the plan, mainly that something was worrying pulling into the driveway.

"Henry! Your parents just pulled up in the driveway!" He yelled to his best friend, having seen the unmistakable sight of a sorrowful Mr Hart and a furious Mrs Hart, who was not in the mood for taking any shit after what she'd been through. 

"Okay, everyone, go out the back door! The back door!" Change of plan. Henry redirected the stampede to the back of the house, worried that the sight of a herd of teens and nail tech gushing from his front door might just tip off his parents that something was going on in the house. Thankfully, the crowd quickly changed directions, not caring how they got out as long as they did - the snake could strike at any minute.

"Charlotte, go outside and try to stall my parents!" That was step two. Henry needed every second he could get and if Charlotte could get him a few more then that would be great. It wouldn't be a lot but it would be something, perhaps even just enough time to clean the place up a bit.

"Quick! Help me with the furniture!" Step three: get everything in order. (y/n) and Jasper didn't need telling twice, a lot was a stake here, so they all snapped into action as Charlotte faked smiles and kept her grip anchored to Mrs Hart and her feet glued to the driveway. 

They shifted the nail bars out of the way, ready for Jasper to return them to the nail salon downtown when no one was looking.

"Go, go, go, go!" Was the mantra of everyone as they carried the furniture out to the backyard for whichever stylist wanted to pick it up themselves and as they did that, (y/n) got her game face on. With Piper as her apprentice and her years of experience cleaning the Man Cave in record times, she was ready to tackle whatever the house threw at him. 

They plucked trash and nail equipment from the floor where people had just sat down to work before pushing the table back into the kitchen. It had been pushed aside to make more room for their guests, but now they were gone and they only had a few seconds to get everything perfect.

"Come on, come on...flowers!" (y/n) gasped as she, Henry and Piper each carried an orange chair back into place, not forgetting the little pot of tulips that Mrs Hart always had in the centre. There wasn't time to make them look too nice, there was still more to do; the coffee table was wheeled back into position as Jasper helped Henry push the couch back into its normal L-shape. Okay, the house looked good to say there had been forty people in it five minutes ago, and just in the nick of time too.

"Okay, good, good, good. Jasper, now get out!" 

"Right!" It seemed mean to send him away after all of his help and hard work, but Mr Hart had been very specific - no Jasper in the house. So, if the kid was about they might smell a rat or assume the worst and that's not what they were going for.

"Piper, go upstairs and blow your nose!"

"Right!... Wait, why blow my nose?" That instruction made no sense. This was her house too, why couldn't she be sitting on the couch for when her parents' grumpy asses came through the door?

"'Cause, you got something hanging out right here!" Henry replied, gesturing to his nostrils to suggest that Piper, for once, wasn't on fleek. The thought of looking so disgusting made the girl shriek in fear, and in a flash, she was running up the stairs to blow her nose. (y/n) hadn't noticed anything, maybe it was a brotherly trick to make the house seem more natural because Henry and Piper hanging out wasn't something you'd normally see.

"Okay, kid, just sit and act--" (y/n) panted as she plumped the scatter cushions and dragged her old magazine to the couch so it would look like they'd just been chilling all evening. Calm was finally setting in over the house again, well, as much calm as there could be when the final judges were yet to assess if they'd pulled the whole thing off or not, but it didn't last. Not when there was one guest left who didn't get the memo about leaving and never coming back.

"Henry!" It was Layla. She'd returned to save the boy she'd been crushing on all night because, for some reason, he wouldn't leave the house despite the snake problem. Neither did she know why he scream like a child when she yelled his name but she could ignore that, anything if it meant they could run off into the night together.

"Come on, we gotta get outta here!"

"What?! Why? Why, why, why?!"

"I think you left out a why..." (y/n) muttered, barely glancing up from the magazine that she was pretending to read. If Mr and Mrs Hart walked through the door now then they see her just sitting on the couch and reading, definitely with a stomach full of butterflies as she read but failed to absorb any information. If Henry wanted to go, that was up to him, but she was gonna be the diligent housesitter.

"The snakes!" Did he forget about the lie they told?"

"Oh, yeah! Yeah, you know what? You go first, I'll follow you! Save yourself, don't worry about me!" Yeah, he'd definitely forgotten, but he couldn't leave, not even if he wanted to. Nevertheless, he stayed chivalrous to the end, letting Layla think that he was a true gentleman who didn't want her to fall victim whilst waiting for him.

"Okay! See you tomorrow for spaghetti on a sailboat!" She cried as she skipped out of the house, offering his perplexed face one last cheery smile before leaving, her nail case in tow. All those opportunities and Henry never even got to ask what the hell that meant.

"What?! Sailboat?! What is the thing with the sailboat? I don't understand--" He exclaimed as he shuffled over to the couch, following (y/n)'s beckons as she laid the magazine on her lap. They had bigger things to worry about, namely looking like they hadn't just cleaned the house from top to bottom.

"Just sit down and look norm--oh my god, the car!" (y/n) screamed when her eyes lazily dragged over the room and then spotted a flash of silver, still in the same armchair that the mechanic had "worked" on it in. Shit, they had to move it, cars don't drive themselves across the room by themselves.

"Oh my god!" Henry echoed, jumping up like he'd been burned as he saw that the gadget that had caused them so much grief was still a goddamn problem. It was official, he hated that thing, but nonetheless, he sprinted over to scoop it up from the chair and ran back over to the shelves to cautiously place it back into its rightful spot. The remote was returned too, everything in working order, no scratches, no water pouring out from anything, now, everything was fine, just in time.

As Henry jumped over the back of the couch to sit down and act casual, pretending to share an interest in whatever (y/n) was reading and hiding his glasses in the meantime, the door opened to reveal his tired-looking mother with all of her luggage and husband in tow. Showtime.

"We're home!"

"We're back!" The husband and wife announced as they crossed the threshold, relieved to see their home again after such an ordeal, but Henry and (y/n) didn't let on to the fact that they knew about the said ordeal. For them, that was still a surprise and they grinned politely like they were shocked to see them.

"Hey, mom and dad?"

"Mr and Mrs Hart! I--we didn't expect to see you back so early. What happened to Toronto?" (y/n) asked with her best manners, trying to play it well until the very last minute. Seven hours later and she was owed one hundred and forty dollars for keeping the house in one piece (for the most part) and if she sweetened them up, she might just get away with being paid.

"I don't want to talk about it.." Mr Hart said glumly and they both knew what that meant. Knowing that he'd had his arm around a U-bend was hilarious when they heard all of the little clues to what they were alluding to, although they didn't break out a giggle or smile.

"Just don't smell your father's arm." Mrs Hart told Henry, who huffed in amusement at how annoyed his mother seemed to be--pissed, even. A trip to Toronto would have to wait and maybe next time she wouldn't take her dumb husband with her.

"That's a deal."

"I'm gonna go wash my arm." He closed the door and walked upstairs, his suitcase in hand. He didn't even notice the car, this was perfect! The pair found themselves sinking into the couch as they breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the night was coming to a draw and anything that had been broken was now fixed. Everything was good...

"Henry, (y/n)..." Or not. Mrs Hart's voice was surprisingly calm as she called her son and his friend from the couch. It was almost a crime what they had done, the one thing she'd asked them to do and they'd failed. Disgraceful.

"Yeah, mom?"

"Yes, Mrs Hart?"

"Can I see you both in the kitchen?" This sounded ominous. What was the worst that could happen? Maybe she was about to congratulate them for a job well done and hand (y/n) some crisp, green bills for protecting her house from hoodlums whilst she and her husband were flying to Chicago and back. Maybe, hopefully, fingers crossed.

"Hey, what's up?" Henry asked cheerfully once he and (y/n) were face-to-face with her, having gotten up from the couch with a new nervousness settling in the stomaches. She wasn't smiling, she looked...disappointed and (y/n) suddenly felt a little faint like she'd done something wrong and was now facing the music. But for the life of her, she couldn't think of what could be the matter.

"There's a problem," Kris stated with an icy calmness and their hearts dropped. Oh god, they had missed something. A nail polish stain on the carpet, a hidden flaw with the car, a piece of furniture that hadn't been put back in its proper place, what was it?

"A problem?" (y/n) asked with a gulp and it was only when Mrs Hart raised her hand and thrust something into their faces that she remembered something very important.

"With my egg." The fucking egg. They'd forgotten about the egg. In all the chaos, they'd just left it in the fridge where it was safe but that didn't mean that one of the party people or a manicurist couldn't have touched it. They didn't have eyes in the back of their heads, someone could've easily swiped it and done something bad, not that they could see anything wrong.

"W-w-what do you mean?"

"It's cracked. My egg is cracked." Oh, shit. That was definitely a crack now that they looked closely, a very small one, but a crack nonetheless. What had she said? Anything happens to the egg and you won't get paid, did a crack count as anything?

"Well, I mean, you could still eat it and you could, y'know, pay me the one hundred and forty dollars you owe me for being here for seven hours...right?" (y/n) theorised, thinking that it would still taste the same, a small chip meant nothing. That money was important to her, maybe it wasn't the thousand she had expected to earn but still, every cent counted towards the dress, flowers, everything!

"No, (y/n), I can't still eat it and no, I won't be paying you tonight." Mrs Hart replied coldly and handed the now worthless eg to Henry, not even flinching when (y/n) looked at the floor with tears in the corners of her eyes. She didn't want to cry, it wasn't a lot of money, but to say how much they'd done to make the house right again, it felt like a just reward and the blonde woman wasn't being fair. How her soon-to-be husband fancied the mom was beyond (y/n) at that moment; she now had a reason to dislike her.

"I'm way upset with you." Was all she said when she turned back to give them one final glare before sauntering away, her heels and pencil skirt giving her a bit more sway and bitch energy to make them feel extra bad. Was that necessary? They already felt like letdowns, adding salt to their wounds was just cruel, not that Henry cared.

Whilst (y/n) felt gutted, Henry took one look at the egg, one look at the house and one look at her before making his final decision. All things considered, tonight had been a blast; he'd had a great manicure, met a cute girl, thrown a great party, raised and lost three thousand bucks and raced against the clock to work with his friends to trick his parents. His night had been like a goddamn movie, he wasn't sorry at all. "Rubber duck!"

"Stop! You know I hate that!" (y/n) sniffed as he chuckled and let all of his guilt go because his mom would get over the egg, there were millions of them and even his dad's one-of-a-kind car was good, that's what mattered. But for the young woman, it was more than that; that must've been the first time she remembered being fired for one reason or another, fired being the best word she could think of to describe this situation. Not getting paid was getting fired in her books--and a new thing. 

Henry didn't know how to respond, not when she had her lips turned upwards but her eyes looking so damn sad. This was Ray's department, cheering her up with something went wrong but Ray wasn't here and whether it was his fault or not, he was the only one around to make her feel better for losing out. For starters, he should've let her repair the car, he could admit to that, not trusting her was a mistake. 

"Sorry...it's not your fault, you know. The car, the egg, the party, none of it, I should've listened to you." He confessed, looking at his shoes because admitting he was wrong wasn't something Henry did often but when he did, he meant it, especially now. Sure, it had been impossible to predict Ray's sudden appearance at the house, but after everything that had happened, none of it could be pinned on (y/n), who deserved her money more than anything. 

"I know, not your fault either. You didn't know that guy was a dick." (y/n) smiled, knocking the kid slightly by putting her knuckles on his arm and pushing his body away. He was still young, still cocky, it was only expected for him to not listen sometimes and for him to be annoying sometimes, so she wasn't gonna hold a grudge or anything. She could never, not with Henry.

"No...but you did." He murmured, her gaze meeting his sorry one. He'd learn that rick eventually, being able to separate the good guys from the bad was one of those things you sussed out with a little life experience and it had only taken her getting kicked down a few times to realise that not everyone out there was who they said they were.

"Yeah, I learned the hard way what happens if you trust someone blindly. I don't want the same to happen to you." She told him, remembering the time when she'd been naive enough to ignore the warning signs until she found herself loving a monster. Never again, lesson well-learned and she wouldn't let Henry go through something similar. Being used is horrible and seeing something like that happen to a kid as sweet as Henry would be awful. Tonight was just a taste of how mean people could really be.

"I'm glad I've got you, then. You know, I've never really had someone to look out for me like you do, like a big sister thing. It's always been me looking out for Piper and nothing else...I don't why I just said that." Henry whispered. He didn't know why he was letting himself appear so vulnerable for a minute but he couldn't help it. He felt safe with her, she actually listened and cared, she knew what to say even if to her it wasn't even that helpful. He was the eldest, the responsible one in the family, no one ever saw it his way until he met (y/n).

"I've got one of those faces. People like to tell me stuff." (y/n) joked, happy to see that she could still extract a smile from the kid after he felt so glum. But she knew what he meant though, he saw himself as the kind of kid who could face the world and sort it all out with a bit of luck and stupid phrase like "rubber duck", people relied on him as the oldest child, big brother and best friend, Henry Hart and more so as the always happy to help sidekick, Kid Danger. 

"...And I'm always gonna look out for you, Henry Hart. You're like the annoying kid brother who drives me crazy but I wouldn't give up for the world." She added, smiling at how his cheeks flushed from the embarrassment of hearing something so sappy, and he confirmed it by pretending to hate the hug she brought him into, complaining about the way she ruffled his hair. 

He liked it, deep down. Having a big sister was meant to be sweet and icky and annoying sometimes, but always good. She had his back and he drove her up the wall, just as it should be. She gave him a lecture or two and he gagged when she kissed her doofus, that was just how it was. 

No one ever said siblings were perfect. No one ever said they had to be blood either.

[spotsupstuff]

i'm glad you enjoyed brandon F

little note about the uniform thing, the reason why he drags on a bit on that is cause he's a reenactor, 18th century uniforms are his insane obsession. he even jokes about it in the video i sent, saying "i'm finally back to my insufferable self!" when talking about the muskets

i don't blame him tbh, after watching his content for a while i had the realization that 18th century isn't like the romans, whose equipment we deduce through archeology, old sources and guess work.

like, the actual documents that standardized 18th century uniforms still exist and are not hard to access, i realized that after Brandon noted that his source was the fucking British Royal Library in London. ( i mean ffs there's literally photos of Napoleonic era vets heres a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npSru7xEzX8)

and i honestly think its relevant, because if a million dollar historical production didn't want to put in the effort to go to a library and get the official documents. then what else they weren't bothered to get right?

but Brandon doesn't just do historical reviews he also talks a lot about the history in general. like, why fight in lines? what were marines in the 18th century? the history of tactics. and what role did cavalry play in line warfare? for example

heavens bless people of utube that manage to get hyperfixated on one topic for basically their entire life and then proceed to make stuff about it for us to watch, right? it's a delight to listen to someone who actually enjoys the subject and their subject therefore basically guarantees the authencity of what they put out

oooh but yes, the concept itself of what we actually get to know about things in what manner is fascinating in on itself. so since i was small i had been very fascinated by chinese mythology and mythology somewhat comes along with other parts of the culture and so on. and you know how the chinese culture is one of the oldest in the world?

as a result i've somewhat grown accustomed to the numbers that are typical to the span of chinese history and now whenever i go look into the history of my own country i'm actually stumped over how recently certain things happened! then again you wouldn't believe how oppressed or manipulated slovaks had been across history. ain't that right -glares at hungary-

to what extent we know which culture's history is so wild. the ability for certain historical things to simply last is absolutely incredible (such as military uniform documents or musical pieces of 18th century). fun fact! there's still messages written in stone by the soldiers of the roman empire on slovakia's territory. right near Danube, i think, p sure i visited that

thank fuck for reliable sourcing and also thank u for that vid that's gon come in handy for clothing references at Some point, i can feel it

and you are absolutely correct, yes! it Is relevant! as mister Brandon has said, there's of course a certain leeway allowed when it comes to more kid oriented stuff, but i'll admit! i was surprised to learn that serious historical productions apparently put less effort into these kind of things than the sea beast did (i don't usually watch those kind of things, i'm very fantasy/sci-fi and cartoon focused)

this kind of muddling of history that may seem "insignificant" to money grabbing bastards really screws up the perception of the eras for people who don't really have the time or the drive to look into things themselves. it's annoying

oh while we are on this history stuff, i saw this originally in utube shorts, but Apparently they are making a netflix movie or smth about Cleopatra and they made her black?? which is weird, considering that Cleopatra was greek and all that stuff. like don't get me wrong, yes give silenced/less known cultures like black folk more space to present themselves and who they are but like don't do it in a way that heavily skews the history? why are you going out of your way to create misinformation that could heavily impact understanding of history by taking out an already famous (not poc) person instead of Actually making the space for historically important black people. like maybe why not make a movie about that one super rich king from the southwestern coast of Africa (i think) that crashed the egyptian economy twice by being just too damn generous. that would be SO much more helpful to black peeps' history than shoving a black person into the place of a white one

i swear films nowadays either lack soul, heart, spine or brain like 98% of time

[kouhsuu]

hii hello who are you whats your lore!!

MY LORE okay that's a new one

*THIS IS GONNA BE LONG AND RAMBLY*

Who I am? 17 year old genderfluid digital and traditional artist 👍

For my lore as an artist: My dad is a painter so from a very young age i was surrounded by art materials literally taking up half our small living room because of the easles, giant canvas rolls, wood, cabinets full of paints and brushes, etc.

Essentially I was very encouraged by him to draw lol, and it also came out of me just finding art so much fun in general. I knew that if I got good enough at it I could draw almost anything I wanted if i pushed myself to learn.

I get verrry engrossed learning anything creative and visual, whether it be making my own website, sewing, sculpting, video editing, 3d modelling, painting, woodworking, etc it's all SO! MUCH! FUN!! I also have to specify visual creativity because oh boy can i not stand trying to make music as much as i want to.

In school I was very obviously the art kid and one of the weird kids, but luckily never got bullied because i was charismatic enough and generally there weren't major major assholes at my schools somehow. I usually was involved with the special programs in my schools because of my enthusiasm to learn and participate, so I got an opportunity to enroll into an early scholarship program for LaGuardia art school in middle school which... i ended up turning down because i thought it would be too much work being in a college like that... which honestly only kind of regret because honestly now i'd rather get into drafting and architecture.

Speaking of drafting and architecture! The reason my dad became a painter is because my grandma couldn't afford to send him to school to become an architect, so he pushed me to go into the field as well now that I have the opportunity. I didn't really feel like it but it seemed kind of interesting designing buildings because if i knew how buildings were made, i could more accurately put detail into my art xD Most decisions I make are to improve my own artwork because it's my life and soul, and luckily i ended up getting interested into working with more drafting.

My first social media i posted art on was google plus, then came deviantart, then came youtube, then twitter, and now tumblr (and cohost & itaku). I still use twitter but my main account (@/hamunako) is essentially inactive, I don't care enough to keep posting there nor do i have the motivation NOR do i want to have the anxiety to feel like I have to keep posting because uh oh people wont interact with me otherwise!!!!! Now I just use a private account with less than 25 followers and its the best. I made this Tumblr account though just in case twitter finally deleted itself off of the face of the planet, and also because i've always wanted to figure out how tumblr works & instagram confused me even more than tumblr...

As for why i've been drawing SOOOO much lonely wolf treat lately??? Short answer: ADHD (possible autism too?), Long answer: A long long time ago I watched manlybadasshero's playthrough of lonely wolf treat and loved it, then i forgot about it until i went on itch a while ago and saw that nami had posted mochi in frosting so I was like WOAH THERE'S STILL NEW CHAPTERS?! I got even more into it when it turned out one of my new friends ALSO had played lonely wolf treat so we drew the characters and it allllll spiraled from there.

Can't think of anything else interesting to share regarding my lore but yeah!!! Also I take commissions, just message me and i'll show what I can do and my prices! Don't have a formal post yet but i'll get to it at some point, i'm not very formal in the first place xP

[aquadestinyswriting]

15 Questions, 15 Mutuals- Selene

Thanks to @writingamongther0ses and @mariahwritesstuff for the tags. This is the second one of these out of two. Placing the rest under a readmore because it's going to get long. Oh and I'm nicking the idea of an extra-planar interviewer from @blind-the-winds because that will help me warm up the writing muscles for later. I'm answering these as of current fiction.

This is an open tag for anyone that wants to take part, but I will be tagging the people I know will be interested in the following responses

Tags: @druidx, @blind-the-winds, @mariahwritesstuff, @odysseywritings

[The Wizard's Tower, Toreguarde. It's first thing in the morning and the sun is just coming through the windows of the tower's library. Selene is sitting at her desk, a mug of dwarven bloc coffee in hand. Sitting opposite her, halfway hiding where the sunrise hasn't quite reached is the Interviewer. Chrackle is sitting in the rafters above them, eyeing the shifting, amorphous figure warily.]

Interviewer: Good morning, I hope I'm not inconveniencing you by coming along this early?

Selene: Not at all. It's not often that an extra-planar being visits the city without having an agenda to blow it up or destroy it. It's quite refreshing, actually.

Interviewer: I am quite aware of the city's reputation. Your head of security was quite thorough in her interrogation. I'm surprised she was able to notice me.

Selene: What can I say, it helps to have a Plane Shifter on staff.

1. Are you named after anyone?

I honestly don't know. I suspect my mother had heard the name as some sort of reference and liked it enough to use it as my name. Sadly, I have no way to contact her to ask, if she's even still alive

2. When was the last time you cried?

*jokingly* when Orrock last reminded me what Ivan's bartab total was. On a more serious note though, it was just after we got the official paperwork regarding the adoption of Caitr and Bridget. It hadn't actually hit me until then that I was a mother.

3. Do you have kids?

As I said, I have two adopted daughters. Edwin brought them home one day and talked me into keeping them because they're half dwarves. It's a good thing my partner lived in Fangthane for as long as he did because the girls are going to grow up knowing about dwarven culture and not end up cut off from it.

4. Do you use sarcasm?

When it's required

Chrackle: She use it too much!

*glaring up at her familiar* They weren't asking you!

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Physically it's the appearance, I usually notice the way they're dressed first, before anything else.

Chrackle: *helpfully* only when she pay attention. Head in clouds a lot.

*ignoring the bird* Aside from that, if the person in question can use magic, it's a little easier to notice the magical "vibes" they give off. They often say a lot more than anything else

6. What's your eye color?

Green.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

*once the concept of a movie is explained* Why not both? I've been an avid reader all my life and, as long as the execution is decent, I enjoy all sorts of stories. While I might prefer books, stories of both types are enjoyable no matter the medium.

8. Any special talents?

Given that anyone can learn how to use magic, I don't think there's really anything special about what I can do. That's not a bad thing, I highly encourage those that want to to learn magic.

9. Where were you born?

On a small charcoal burner's homestead somewhere near Embertown. All I remember is that it was way out in the middle of nowhere and that our closest neighbour, the Schreiber manorhouse, was about two or three miles away.

10. What are your hobbies?

I'm an academic first and foremost, so most of my hobbies are basically what I do as my job. I said before that I was an avid reader. I'm also in the process of learning conversational dwarven and I study Arcane theory on the side.

11. Have you any pets?

Not at the moment, Chrackle is probably the closest equivalent- *annoyed squawk from the rafters*- but I don't think familiars really count. Caitr has been bugging us for a cat recently though. Whether it's because she wants one to make a familiar later or just because she wants a pet... I'll need to wait and find out.

12. What sports do you play/have played?

I'm not really into any kind of physical exercise for fun. I'm a bit too awkward and clumsy. My oldest brother would try to include me when I was a child, but my older brother made actually enjoying it very difficult and my father.... well he had some very traditionalist views that I don't agree with.

13. How tall are you?

5 feet 5 inches, so around average height for a human woman.

14. Favorite subject in school?

As a person who loves learning in general, all the subjects were my favourite. Seems a bit trite, I know, but my mother was an excellent teacher and Yastromo figured out how to work around the way I learned pretty quickly.

15. Dream job?

It's always been to manage my own arcane library. I now have the time to dedicate solely to this place and not get constantly dragged away to appease the Council. It's a shame it took this long to get here, but I've learned a lot from my experiences, harrowing as many of them may have been.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time. I appreciate how candid you've been

Selene: *waves a hand* It's no trouble, it's been nice to have a conversation about my life that hasn't involved getting into the politics of Toreguarde or its history.

Interviewer: I can imagine. *shuffles papers* Anyway, I'd best be off, I'm sure there are plenty of people who want access to your library and I've probably kept them waiting long enough.

Chrackle: *landing on table, glaring at the Interviewer* What do with answers?

[The Interviewer does not reply, simply nodding to Selene and vanishing.]

[kinetic-elaboration]

August 23: Good Day

Sometimes I think it honestly takes so little to make me happy and to turn around my mood, begging the question of why I am not always doing so little in that direction.

Today was a pretty good day. I think taking off from work an hour early yesterday (just an hour!) and taking a nap really helped. I was much more awake today. I accomplished a bunch of small, random things at work that I'd been avoiding dealing with and, unsurprisingly, they weren't that bad.

The crepe food truck was back and, against my better judgment, I had one. I didn't like the last one I had in the spring, but I remembered not liking the inside, so this time I had a nutella and banana, thinking, you can't go wrong with that. Also I miss crepes, my primary sustenance during my study abroad in Paris, and am thus always suckered into American crepes even though they are not as good and not the same. Anyway, suckered in yet again: I forgot that the crepe material itself was not to my liking. I ended up just pulling out the banana slices and eating them, about 3/4 of the way in. But, that's okay. I had a nice talk with K while we were waiting for our crepes, got to spend some more time outside on the nicest day we've had in a while*, and I supported a local business.

*Nicest day we've had in a while because noticeably cooler, but still 81. I died a little inside when the girl next to me by the crepe-mobile said it "felt like fall." Girl. It is a good 10 degrees too hot to be called fall. Please, love yourself.

After work I went to Food Lion for the first time in a while. I almost fell asleep on the bus but other than that, it wasn't a bad excursion. The cream cheese I like and can only get at the Food Lion was on a close out sale, which means I will probably never taste it again. But on the upside, I bought my first apple cider of the year and also this extremely cute Halloween bucket that projects a ghost from it, which is definitely meant for kids trick-or-treating but... ghost friend.

Then I stopped by the Starbucks, which was taunting me with fall drink advertisements even though fall drinks are not yet available. I desire them greatly, in a this-will-fix-me way. But I got cold brew that was very good and one of the baristas told me I looked really cute and she liked my skirt, which was just very kind because I've been sort of doubting my fashion lately and it made me feel better about that. (This is the second time someone has complimented one of my skirts at the Starbucks.)

I came home and did nothing much other than drink the coffee really slowly and screw around on the internet, but it felt nice. Forced myself to wash some dishes, even.

Anyway, it's pretty late now, so I might regret the dishes. I feel a lot better than I usually do on Wednesday and much better than I was expecting to feel after Monday. I'd love to get some writing done tomorrow although I don't have high hopes for it. We'll see.