#OR have it fade out until the song totally stops before the second i cant make my mind up and then have the scene of will and jack talking

[girlscience]

you guys don't understand how badly I need a hannibal/will video set to this song. idk how to make videos but i will make it myself if i have to. it's so clear in my mind how it would go

[tomcriuse]

headcanons or thoughts on how mulder and scully quietly professed their love or have been professing their love throughout the show? :)

stop i honestly have SO many feelings about quiet love you have no idea what writing this DID to me also it got a little long so sorry abt that

when mulder dated girls in high school and college, he would always try to woo them with expensive dinners and shiny jewelry and things all material that would never last. things so superficial that would eventually fade from time and memory, but were the desires of the old money new england girls.

for so long he went never telling scully how he felt unless it was hidden half-heartedly behind some sarcastic remark or joke that he hoped would conceal the depths of his affection and adoration. before he knew her, he read her thesis. after he met her, he would read it again and again and again. he would pour over the words until they’re burned in his mind and he so he could quote it like his favourite movie or book. his own personal scripture. he did this to understand something that she’s passionate about, as a way of being close to her, almost like someone will keep love letters that were written to them. it’s the rational that is so important to scully and mulder uses her scientific theories to understand everything about her: what motivates her, what keeps her going. he would quote it back to her because he’s completely captivated by her mind and the way it works and understanding something she’s truly passionate about is his way of getting closer to her.

on that same note, whenever someone else talks about something the scully knows, mulder cant help but thinking that scully would know infinitely more about the subject. he thinks that scully is constantly the smartest person in the room. even if she’s not there, he can see her phantom scoffing and rolling her eyes at something that isn’t true, and her cheeks becoming dusted with pink as she gets more passionate and excited, burning like the brightest star that he’s ever seen making the sun dull in comparison.

the gifts that he gives her are memories, not presents. they’re representative of the time they’ve spent together—of their relationship as a whole. when she was in the hospital he brought her a football tape. the tape itself isn’t important, but its that he wants to do something with her, that he wants to spend time with her. maybe it means that he’s not leaving her side while she’s in the hospital; he likes football and it will give him something to do. maybe it’s selfish. maybe he was too worried to find something that he thinks she might actually like. all that matters is that he’s trying. he’s expressing that he values her. that he loves her. when he gives her the apollo medallion, not because she loves the apollo landing or loves space in any capacity that doesn’t have to do with mulder and his genuine passion for it, but because over the last four years he’s dragged her on countless dead-end cases, he’s put her in jeopardy, he’s taken her for granted at times. but she’s never left his side, not once. this is no longer his quest but their quest, no matter how much either of them would deny it later. the medallion is their history. he also teaches scully how to play baseball. the years have been filled with horror and the unknown, and mulder wants to give her a happy memory. something beautiful—not material, but part of him. he says that it’s a “no reason present” which are the types of things that we start to associate with mulder: something given on no special occasion (even if it is) with infinite meaning. if he spent his childhood making mistakes with insignificant gifts to insignificant people, he finds true meaning in the most meaningful gifts to the only person that matters.

when he has a case without her, mulder simply rejects that reality. he’s spent so long on his own and loves scully so fully that to imagine or live a life without her just. doesn’t make sense to him. he’ll go to turn to scully and wait for her to say something that sounded intellectual but was really supposed to be insulting even if she’s not there. he’ll hold the door open two seconds too long for someone by themselves. he’ll automatically turn the ac up in the car because he knows that scully would rather be freezing than warm. at restaurants he’ll begin to order her ice water with two lemon slices. scully is simply an extension of him and doing things for her is like doing things for himself—out of nature, out of reflex, out of necessity to sustain and help her as she’s helped him become himself.

not far into their partnership, scully realized that mulder never truly had anyone else. no one went out of their way to care for him because that’s what they wanted to do—it was always done out of necessity.

the biggest way that she shows her love is just by doing things for him. “scully pack your bags we’re going to texas” “scully i need you to look through all of these files for this one phrase” “scully i need you to follow up on a lead.” no matter how much she would generally wish to not do these things, she can’t not do them. she’ll make a half-hearted complaint and throw him a mandatory pleading look, but inside she’s waiting for him to leave the room so she can get started with as much enthusiasm as he has when he talks about the case. she doesn’t care about the case, but she cares about him. she’ll keep sunflower seeds hidden in a cabinet on her side of the office just in case he runs out. she’ll sometimes replace his coffee if he’s busy doing paperwork and it gets cold. she drags him to get food so he’ll remember to eat. she’ll hold the umbrella just a little higher so he doesn’t have to bend down as much as he would at her height. she’ll move the driver’s seat back so when he gets in to drive his legs have enough room. one time, scully saw that mulder’s tie was crooked and her hands went to straighten it on their own volition. after that, mulder went out of his way to make sure it was just a little off. scully always straightened it for him.

mulder has always been notoriously hard to read, always building walls to distance him from the hurt that inevitably comes with getting close to someone else. but he was never hard to read to scully. she learned that slightly narrowed eyes meant that his brain was going a mile a minute, scanning for any imperfection in a crime scene or a statement from a witness. that when he tilted his head to the right a little it meant that there was something he didn’t understand, and then when his eyebrows would furrow a little bit it meant that that infuriated him. that when he looked at her and his eyes melted and his face became vulnerable that he was seeing the same thing in her that she saw in him: the universe and themselves and every secret that they’ve ever needed and the answers to every question that they’ve asked or were going to ask.

she also listens to everything he says. if its something big—a pervious case, mythology, a theory—she’ll remember it like she remembers songs from her childhood. the smaller the things are and the more in-passing they’re said, the more she’ll remember it and think about it, until it becomes etched into her heart and her soul. the feeling of terror he felt when sam was abducted. his favourite colour. that he prefers chunky peanut butter over smooth peanut butter. that he’ll obsessively write in books and dog-ear the pages because he likes the way the paper feels after you write on it. then there are the more intimate things. that the last time he truly felt safe was when he was in her arms. that every time he wakes up he’s afraid that something’s happened to her. that none of it matters without her.

between the both of them it’s not about saying “i love you” but it’s about trust. it’s about support. for years mulder went through being ridiculed and criticized by his peers for his belief in the supernatural. people would steal his work and get the credit for it while he stood in the background in a silent rage before he brushed it off and focused on his own mission. conversely, scully worked harder than anyone else in her field but never had anyone believe in her or back her or just listen to her. when they started working together there was someone there ready to listen and trust them, even if their views didn’t align with their own . together, they will playfully tear into each other’s theories, but the moment someone else tries, they will always support them 100% even if they aren’t totally convinced. it was unconditional.

[faefictions]

Overworked

Pairing: Harrison Osterfield x Reader

Word Count: 1605 

Request: Hey darling! If you are taking requests, could I ask for one where the reader is Harrison’s gf and she’s really overworking herself until she faints and it’s all flully and cute? It’s totally okay if you don’t take requests or don’t to do it! Thank you xx 💗 

(Ok, I changed it a lil, just like always, but I hope you still love it!!! Thank you for this request, it killed off my current writers block)

Sometimes being forgetful had its downfalls. Birthdates were in one ear out the other. Plans almost never followed through because you could never recall the conversations in which you had them. You could memorize song lyrics like nobody's business, but anything else, you would forget in an instant.

Your forgetful nature, mixed with your new job as a PA on set for one of the new Spiderman movies, produced nothing but trouble for you. In hindsight, this probably wasn't the best career for you. You probably shouldn't have chosen a job that required you to remember things for more than 5 minutes. But you found ways to make it work.

The notes app on your phone was riddled with endless little reminders. You had alarms for every single event or meeting you had to get to. You even had pictures of coworkers that you had discreetly taken, all labeled with their names and any important information.

Despite your system, there were a few things you still often forgot. You could go entire days without eating, not because you didn’t want to, it was just because you didn’t even think about it until you were home late at night and realized your last meal was almost 24 hours prior. You would be running all day and the second you sat down, you would realize that you hadn't sat all day. You were exhausting yourself simply because you couldn’t remember to take the time to take care of yourself.

Despite this problem, you had made a name for yourself on set. Everyone loved you within the first week. Your sweet personality and willingness to do whatever was asked of you was something hard to come by. The only other PA that was as well liked as you was Harrison Osterfield himself. It was hard not to like him. Even if he weren’t best friends with the star of the movie, he was hard working and cared about the people around him more than he did his job.

The two of you became friends fast, and the longer you worked together, the harder it was to keep your feelings in check. The last thing you wanted was a workplace relationship, but he was irresistible. And little did you know, he felt the exact same way.

It didn’t take long for him to notice that you would wear yourself out. The circles under your eyes got darker every week, and you were losing weight a little too quickly. He was worried about you, but every time he would try to address it, you would brush it off. You knew it wasn't healthy, but you were too embarrassed to talk about it. It felt ridiculous, being so forgetful that you just forgot to take care of yourself.

It got worse when filming started up in a different city. The routine of being in your own apartment was replaced by a foreign hotel room. Not only that, but production was more demanding in the new location. You thought it was impossible to work any harder, but man were you wrong.

After the first week, you practically fell asleep the second you hit your mattress, but the second week, you had to work later into the night.

On that Thursday, Harrison was sitting at a table, eating with Tom and Zendaya as he watched you scurry from place to place. He could tell that there wasn’t a spring in your step, like usual, and he worried that they were overworking you more than usual. He couldn’t recall seeing you stop to take a breath since you had walked on set 10 hours ago.

As Tom was mid-sentence, Harrison excused himself from the table and jogged to catch up with you.

"Y/n, wait up," he called after you, but you just barely slowed down to let him catch up.

"Where are you going?" He asked when he caught up with you.

"Just need to get a few props to set, on my way to find them."

"Why don't you give me the list, I can go find them."

"Nah, it’s fine. It'll only take me a minute."

"Y/n, take a break, I can handle it."

"Harrison, I'm fine. I just need to do this really quick."

You were too stubborn for your own good, so Harrison gave you a half hearted smile and let you be on your way. At least he had tried.

He finished eating and went back to set with Tom. He stood off to the side, watching the scene play out, but that's not where his attention was. Instead, he was focused on you as you spoke to one of the director’s assistants. You looked like you were about to be sick, but you were acting just as you normally would.

Harrison knew you needed to rest, but there was no way you were going to do it.

After the director called cut, you parted ways with the other assistant and started to walk towards the door, but about halfway there, it hit you.

You stopped in your tracks and steadied yourself on the nearest table. Your hearing began to fade, and all you could feel was an uneasiness in your stomach.  Once Harrison saw you stumble, he ran, and he was just fast enough to catch you as you fell and blacked out.

Surprisingly, it didn't catch the attention of anyone but him and another PA, but he let them know he had it handled.

After a few seconds, your eyes fluttered open, and you looked up to meet Harrison’s concerned gaze.

"Hey, just rest for a second, please," he pleaded as you tried to get up.

You simply nodded, too confused about what was happening to form a proper response.

"What happened?"

"You blacked out. I told you that you needed to take a break," he chuckled, but there was no humor behind it.

"When was the last time you ate?" He asked.

You blushed, too embarrassed to admit that it hadn't been since the night before. You were running on an empty stomach and 2 cups of coffee. And when you told him that, you expected him to roll his eyes, but instead, he offered his hand to you.

He gently helped you up and steadied you as you walked outside. Despite the embarrassment of the situation, you couldn’t help but be a little flustered with how sweetly and slowly he walked with you, glancing down at you every few seconds to make sure you were still ok in his grip. When you reached the caterer, he sat you down at a table and commanded you to sit and stay put.

"I swear to god, if you get up while I'm gone, I will hunt you down," he joked.

So you stayed put, and you had to admit, it was nice to just sit for a minute.

When Harrison returned, he had a bottle of water and a small plate of food. He set it in front of you and sat beside you, not saying another word.

You ate in silence, and when you were done, you shyly turned towards him and thanked him.

"No need to thank me. You really need to be taking time out of the day to do this, though, y/n. I-I worry about you."

Your eyes began to tear up out of embarrassment. You knew it seemed pathetic to let it get this bad, but you were just so focused on working, it was hard to take time for yourself.

"Hey, come here," he whispered at the sight of your tears, and he gently pulled you closer to him.

He shushed you, trying his best to avoid gaining any attention from the people passing by. He held you tightly until you stopped shaking, and when your sobs quieted, he pulled away to wipe a tear.

"I'm sorry," was all you could muster up before tears threatened to choke you again.

"There is nothing to be sorry for, Love. I just want you to take care of yourself."

"I know. And I know that I can do better. But it's just hard to remember sometimes."

He was a little dumbfounded by this. He didn’t know you as well as some, but he knew you enough to know that you had alarms for EVERYTHING. You were the most organized person he had ever met, and you made double sure to remember everything. But he guessed it never occurred to him that that must have stemmed from somewhere.

"Give me your phone," he gently commanded. You gave him a questioning look, but unlocked it and handed it over.

You watched as he opened up your alarm app, chuckled at the amount of alarms that were there, and then began to add a new one.

"1:00 PM Lunch with Harrison" set for every weekday.

"There, now you cant forget."

"But what if someone needs me to do something at that time?"

"Then you send them my way, and I'll take care of it for you. You have no excuse now," he chuckled.

You tried to hide your smile, and luckily, just as a blush was about to creep up onto your cheeks, someone called his name, letting him know he was needed back on set.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at 1,” he smiled and gave you a side hug before he got up and ran back to where he had left Tom a few minutes prior.

Sure enough, for the next week, you showed up at lunch everyday at 1PM, and sat with Harrison’s company while you finally got some rest.

Tag List: @embrace-themagic @fanficparker @baconlover001 @chloe-geoghegan1 @chonisberonica @heartbeats-wildly @saturn-aka-six @alwaysbenhardysgirl @ghostofdrfluke @calum-hoodwinked-me @bucky-newtlock

[cogneartive]

The Great Peter Infodump of March 2020

yo @brackets-and-woolly-hats @mijaco-geo and @mike-nesmith-for-mayor I have recently been informed that yall would really like me to infodump about Peter and I want to thank yall because I think if I held it in any longer I would explode

Also thanks to the coolcherrycream articles and various interviews that I learnt all these from in the 5-ish months I’ve been thinking about the monkees for

But before I start going hnngggg Peter I would like to warn you that despite my tone this is going to contain some heavy stuff. We’re talking brief mentions of blood, and suicide and death so be careful about that

This is gonna get hella long so *cracks knuckles* let’s begin

Childhood

let’s start from the very beginning: a very good place to start

Friday, 13th February one bb was born and he would always say that Friday the 13th was a lucky day for years onwards

He was born with a lot of diversity in his parentage

He’s Irish and German-Jewish on his mother’s side and Norwegian on his dad’s side

Speaking of Jewishness (is that a word???) I rememeber an article saying that he used to randomly say Hebrew words in interviews and I think he taught Mike how to say something too?? I dont know

Peter was a very friendly boy even when he was just a toddler cus he would drag any new friend he had home

Anyway, he was born in Washington DC

Once on Christmas he went missing and his mum and grams panicked and looked all over the house for him

Turns out he was just waiting at lampost in the snow because he wanted to make sure that Santa would bring him a present

Speaking of Grams, when he was 3 (i think im doing this from memory) he was at a post office with his mother when she came in.

He got uber excited and shouted “THAT’S MY GRAMS. HER NAME IS CAIT!”

And so everyone turned to look at her and he squealed

He would also often ride on the top part double deck buses and whenever the bus slowed down, he would wave to nearby people and say “HI MY NAME’S PETER WHAT’S YOUR?” to which those people who wave back and sometimes answer him. I mean, wouldn’t you?

Also he started to play with pianos when he was 3 and also he liked dancing so that’s cute

One of his first memories was of being at the hospital where his brother Nick (who they called Nicky and that’s what I’m going to call him) was born

Soon after Nicky was born they moved to Germany Yeet. He was 4 and the time and Nicky was like 18 months or smth

Germany

Right so I dont know why people dont talk about this part of his childhood because like,,,it’s interesting??

In Germany they had two maids

They had to put sugar in every food so that Peter and Nicky would actually eat the strange German food

He became very fluent in German and would help his mother with translations

He was also fluent in French for some reason

Someone made a statue of his 4 year old head and it became a famous minor art piece that featured in calendars

It probably now sits in his house because I saw in in the background of the short documentary that his son, Ivan Ivanoli made about him which you sould check btw

Anyway, when Peter was 5 he made his first official best friend Ule who was two years older than him

Once when he was playing hide and seek with Nicky he ran at full force at a closed glass door that he thought was open, shattering it, and getting a shard into his arm. Reasonably he screamed

Apparently, he was hurt a major artery and would have bled to death if not for someone being in the house to call a doctor

Once he was out and about wandering around, as you would do if you were Peter when he was stopped by some official looking guy from going back into his own house.

It’s important to note that Peter looked very much like a German boy and would ONLY talk in German outside. God knows why he did this.  Reasonably, the dude thought he was lying and he had to call for his mum

Anyway, in Germany school starts when you’re five but his birthday was in the middle of the school year so his parents sent him in early which set him up for some outcasted child syndrome later

And then the moved back to America yeet

AMERICA (LAND OF CAPITALISM)

So he moved back into America but it didn’t stop there. No. They had to move around like a 100 different times and as someone who went to a total of 4 different schools (so far oh no) that sets you up with outcasted child syndrome. What also sets you up with outcasted child syndrome is if you’re an undiagnosed neurodivergent which Peter seemed to think he was when he was in his 50s (either ADHD or autism) so uhh keep that in mind

So he was in school and as mentioned earlier he was a year younger than his peers so that’s fun

He was very very clever. Often he would finish his work first and his (4th grade) teacher would make do some reading or creative writing. She encouraged him to do creative writing because she saw some talent in there

Not only was he acadmically gifted, but he was also musically gifted. Playing not only the piano (which he got lessons for) but also the guitar, the banjo, the bass, and the french horn which he got an award for when he was in highschool playing in a band made out of college students for some reason

Speaking of awards, he was once given an award for maths

This giftedness would later set him up for Gifted Child Burnout he had in college

Also he changed schools like a total of 13 times so that’s fun

He went to a private school but apparentl, according to his parents, he hated it (but he remembered liking it???)

Also, he made a lot of jokes in class

Remember Nicky? Yeah, Nicky would often write songs for him to sing and stuff (Nicky would later write songs for Peter’s solo album and a bunch of other stuff what a great brother we stan)

The family had some kind of barn once where he would do puppet shows his siblings

Anyway, school life was all fine and dandy until 5th grade hit and he changed schools and everyone lost interest in him because he was one year younger

Also his dad was apparently very disconnected with him. Needless to say, Peter felt like his father didn’t like him

Once when he was 9, he told his father that he noticed that when the clouds were around at night, it would be warmer during the day to which his father shouted at him saying that “he has no proof of that” and that he shouldn’t say anything without proof

This of course led him to feel like no one wanted to listen to what he wanted to say

poor baby

I think his father would have been the reason why Peter would later say in an interview that he hated “loud abusiveness” the most

He would also later say that a combination of his dad and feeling like he was weird and different would lead him to his drinking problem

So umm we dont stan his dad ok

Once when he was 13 he picked up a loaded shotgun and put it against his head. But he decided that he didn’t want to do it at the last second.

Overall, life from 5th grade till highschool was terrible for him

He didn’t have any friends in his school

So when he moved to a new school in Conneticut where he was surrounded with people of the same age, he was really happy all the way until college where he flunked out twice

Hippie Time (Honestly this part is just me talking about him and Stephen Stills because Steter Stirk changed me)

And so Peter became a hippie in Greenwich Village

In the Village, he became a sort of entertainer. Not just singing and playing, he was also a comedian. 

And then he kept hearing about this dude who looked like him from other people.

This dude turned out to be Stephen who was also hearing the same kind of talk for about the same amount of time

Pete and Stephen VIBED im not kidding they started to play with each other and also Stephen’s room mate who was also there

Also it turns out that they liked to talk about the same things so that’s neat

Peter went to Venuzuela apparently and when he came back the Monkee thing happened yeet

Once when Stephen was waiting to move into his new house Peter was all like “hey dude live with me”

For a while they also lived in the same house when he was Monkee and if that doesn’t fuel any ship fics I dont know what will

Im serious the ship is here and its real I saw fics and fanart

Dont ask about Stirk

They played with the colour tv and would “pick apart each other’s brains” umm

Also Peter’s favourite band was buffalo springfield and we stan a friend who would say your band was their favourite band

And I think this is where my knowledge starts to fade because I haven’t really heard any cool facts from here on afterwards

Last Final Cool Facts

He was a teacher for quite a while and taught about Maths, basketball (despite not liking any sport except swimming) and Easter Philosophy,,,yes easter philosphy the man was into that kinda stuff

Also he was a big reader. Always having a smoll book in his pocket that he would read while on set with the Monkees. But he was particularly a non fic kinda guy

He would write poetry on the back of scripts

In the 2000s he said that his sister thought he might have ADD

Also autism but when asked about it he’d be all P E R H A P S

which is very unhelpful Peter pls give us a straight answer

I mean he cant give us straight answers because he was the gayest monkee (he fricked a dude once but he didn’t like it)

Hey look I ended on a gay note yeet. Thanks for reading this mess

[horansqueen]

AM Conversations : chapter 24

A Niall Horan fanfiction ; rated MA

CHAPTER 1 || CHAPTER 2 || CHAPTER 3 || CHAPTER 4 || CHAPTER 5 || CHAPTER 6 || CHAPTER 7 || CHAPTER 8 || CHAPTER 9 || CHAPTER 10 || CHAPTER 11 || CHAPTER 12 || CHAPTER 13 || CHAPTER 14 || CHAPTER 15 || CHAPTER 16 || CHAPTER 17 || CHAPTER 18 || CHAPTER 19 || CHAPTER 20 || CHAPTER 21 || CHAPTER 22 || CHAPTER 23

NOTES:

-one chapter is her pov, the next is his. -4k. -im sorry, i never proofread, i hate it. -there WILL be smut. but not only smut. -this is a romance, comedy, smut story. -for the summary, check my MASTERLIST.

- if you want to be notified when this is updated, please message me or leave a comment!

- of course i wasnt going to make you wait for them to get friends again. it had to be done quickly. but it was needed for Niall to realize that he cant be without her, you know? also, there will be more drama in the next chapters i believe.

- you can send me questions and theories and comments. tbh they all make me SO SO SO SOOOO HAPPY! and make me want to write more! you can also tell me if there are things you WANT to happen. you never know, i may add it :P

- thanks for being patient btw! i work a lot these days and will work even more in the next few weeks (until halloween) so i may not update as often as i’d like. :(

-please, message me, give me feedbacks, it would mean sooo much to me!

Chapter 24 : His chapter

NIALL

I never thought i'd ever have to get over my best friend. I never thought i'd ever lose her at all. But I had to be honest with myself. She was gone, and she had been gone for a while now. A day had turned into a week and a week into 5 more, and there was only one way I found to take my mind off of Liv, at least for a couple hours a day. It was Maya. I asked her on a few dates and after a while, I had no choice but to accept being official. We didn't announce it but we had been seen together and every time a new picture of us appeared online, I couldn't help but wonder if Olivia had seen it and if that made her even angrier at me.

She was not dating Harry or at least, if she was, they had been very discreet about it. They were seen together but never hand in hand or showing affection. They were probably keeping that private and I couldn't lie and pretend it didn't twist my stomach. I felt like they were best friends now and although I knew it sounded juvenile, I couldn't help but be slightly jealous.

I wanted to call her, text her or even go see her more than anything but I didn't. I was trying to respect that she needed time away from me even if it was killing me. Meanwhile, I was trying to keep myself busy and I couldn't pretend Maya wasn't helping. I had been writing a lot, too, throwing my feelings into songs. I had never been the best when it came to expressing my emotions and the only way i could really do it was through music.

"Still writing?"

I suddenly got out of my thoughts and looked up, meeting the eyes of my girlfriend who sat in front of me at the kitchen's table. She bent closer, trying to read what I was writing but I quickly closed my notebook and sent her a small smile.

"Sorry, not really in the mood to share." I explained, shaking my pen between two of my fingers.

Her smile faded and she shrugged. With time, I had learned to decipher most of her body language and expression and I knew that she was hurt and a bit jealous. It was tough with Maya, she was not straightforward the way Olivia was and most of the time I had to guess what she wanted and how she felt. I had to admit it made the relationship harder to deal with and way more exhausting than it should be.

We remained in silence for a few minutes as I tried to decide if I wanted to ask her what was wrong, or if I just wanted to let go and pretend nothing was happening. It's not that I didn't feel anything for Maya. In fact, I had affection for her and I cared about her, but at the same time, there was something missing. It was not her, she was not the problem. The problem was me and how I couldn't seem to be totally happy without my best friend.

"Can I ask you something?"

I stopped breathing but dared looking up at Maya who had tilted her head and was now playing with her fingers. I knew that whatever that question was about, it would bring a painful conversation and I really was not in the mood. Still, I nodded gently.

"Do you love me, Niall?"

Of all the questions I thought she could ask, this would never have crossed my mind. My lips parted and my eyebrows raised as I tried to find a nice way to answer her.

"Maya, we've been dating for less than a month, I mean, I just don't catch feelings like that, you know? Love is a big deal."

"Fine." she replied a little roughly. "Then just tell me this, do you think you'll ever be able to love me as much as you love her?"

She had put emphasis and maybe a bit of disgust on the last word and although I knew exactly who she was talking about, I simply frowned and leaned against my chair, pretending not to understand.

"Don't act like you don't know who i'm talking about, Niall." she pointed out, her facial expression turning into an angry one. "Just answer me and be honest."

I sighed a bit louder than intended and crossed my arms on my chest. I knew it would be painful and i was right.

"I don't know okay?" i let out meanly, shaking my head and bringing one of my hands on my face. "I've known her since we were kids, she's my best friend, she was always there for me and me for her, we did almost everything together. I've never been away from her except when i was on tour and it sucked so much that I invited her on the last one. What are you asking me, Maya? You want me to compare my relationship with you to the one I have with her? Do you really want that?"

Silence. A heavy silence that weighed on both of us until she just shook her head.

"No." she let out firmly before getting up. "I don't really want that."

I remained sitting while she grabbed her stuff and waited until I heard the front door open and close to rub my eyes and groan low. Was it always going to be like that when i'd date a girl? Was I cursed to live this conversation over and over again? What will happen when it comes to someone I really have feelings for? Would it be ruined because of my friendship with Olivia? I opened my eyes suddenly, realizing that maybe that was exactly why Liv was gone. Maybe our friendship was threatening what she was building with Harry and she decided to pick him over me. The thought made something boil inside me and I tried to calm myself. I was not even sure that it was the reason she left but it would be very bad if it was, especially after telling me the opposite before.

Quickly, I got up and walked to the living room, sitting down and grabbing my laptop. I felt my leg shake as I was waiting for it to open up and I didn't even have to type up the address : the page simply opened, telling me I hadn't closed it last night.

Since we stopped talking, I had read somewhere that Olivia started working again. Her dad had a web site and she wrote a few articles for him online, most of the being reviews of recent movies playing in theaters even if a few times, she had the chance to see them before. I had read every single critics she wrote and left a few comments but I had never heard from her. I also stared way too long at her picture in the small circle at the beginning of every article and it was a bit sad. I didn't know you could become obsessed with someone to the point of stalking them online.

I sighed, quickly typing a comment on her latest work and shook my head after clicking 'enter'.

'Can't believe you saw this movie without me 😝'

With an other sigh, I closed the top of my laptop and leaned against the couch, rubbing my eyes again. Every single day, I fought the need to call her and every single day, I stayed an hour just laying in bed, in the dark, wondering what we would talk about if she was here with me. A few times, I would feel Maya cuddle me but tonight, I would definitely be alone.

I had thought about asking Harry to talk to her for me but changed my mind quickly. I also thought about asking him how she was doing but I felt like she would be mad for intruding her life when she had clearly asked for a break, so I didn't do anything. In fact, I hadn't talked to Harry ever since that ridiculous double date and I was fine with it. I had no reason to be mad at him but I was and I resented him for somehow taking my best friend away from me, as if it was his fault.

I was thinking about taking a shower when my phone beeped. I groaned, thinking it was probably Maya who wanted to talk about what had happened between us and I almost didn't check but it beeped for a second time and I searched through my pants to find it.

'We can always go see it again together if you want to.' was the first message I saw, making me sit up better and blink a few times.

'I miss you Nee' was the second one I received and with this one, I swallowed hard.

I remained motionless, my fingers over the keyboard that appeared on my screen, trying to decide what to answer. I wanted to beg her to come back or ask her what took her so long to message me but instead, I licked my lips and typed down how I really felt.

'I fucking miss you too.'

I knew it was pathetic but I stayed there, staring at my phone, until she answered again. It's not like I could think about anyone or anything else anyway.

'A drink? My place?'

I felt my heart twist at the thought of getting my best friend back. I felt like we had so much to talk about even if we had been apart only a few weeks and I jumped off my couch, typing my answer.

'I'll be there in 10'

It took me exactly 8 minutes until I was ringing her doorbell and she quickly let me in. I literally ran up the stairs and knocked at the door which opened immediately. There she was, standing in front of me, looking exactly how I remembered, except maybe for a few small details I couldn't put my fingers on.

"Hey, you look amazing." I let out, panting slightly because of my quick ascent.

She chuckled and moved away to let me in, pushing on the door so it would close behind me. I felt like I hadn't stepped foot here in so long and it made me wonder why in hell I hadn't asked her to live with me yet. I was not going to propose her today but I tried to take a mental note to ask her soon.

"I look like crap, but thank you."

I followed her to the kitchen, leaving my jacket on the couch and I watched her open the fridge. I smiled and thanked her when she handed me a beer, noticing she trying to open her own by herself, when she normally asks for my help. I put my own beer down on the table and took a few steps closer, placing my hand on her bottle. My fingers brushed against her and I could swear her eyes became bigger.

"Let me help you." I proposed in a whisper before her fingers loosened from around her beer.

I hadn't been that close to her in a while and her perfume invaded my nose again, the mix of honey and vanilla making me slightly dizzy,

"You smell good." I breathed out after opening her beer.

I close my eyes tight at the stupidity of my words and I expected her to laugh but after a few seconds, I opened my eyes again only to see her staring at me. We were both still holding her drink but neither of us seemed to be able to move and I let my eyes roam on her face. There were so many things stuck in my throat but I just swallowed hard before talking.

"Please, say we can be friends and hang out again." I whispered, almost begging.

Her face softened and her parted lips curled into a fond smile. I don't know what suddenly came over me but I let go of her beer to cup her face and crash my lips against hers. It was a simple kiss, just a way to show her how happy I was that she was back in my life.

"Sorry." I apologized after pulling away slightly. "You know I suck with words."

My face was still close to her and my hands still pressed on her cheeks but she simply chuckled and nodded slowly, staring in my eyes.

"Y-Yeah." she whispered. "I'm not sure what that means either but... okay."

Her voice was soft and I wouldn't have heard her words if she was not so close to me. I smiled at her and shrugged with one shoulder.

"I don't know, just that I missed you."

I watched her lick her lips and put her hands over mine, bringing them down but she squeezed my fingers and I took a step back.

"How about we chat for a bit?" she proposed, raising her eyebrows. "We haven't talked in a while."

We ended up sitting together in the living room and since her couch was smaller than mine, I could feel her leg against mine as we remained silent, drinking our beer and enjoying the silence. It was not awkward, it never was between us, and I put my arm on the back of the couch, catching her attention as she turned to look at me.

"What happened to us, Niall?"

My eyes roamed on her face and I sighed, sitting better and moving closer to her at the same time. She looked sad, like something was hurting her, and I couldn't help but wonder what exactly made her so unhappy : the fact that we had been separated for weeks, or that we were together at this exact moment?

"I don't know, Liv." I started, looking down but not really seeing anything. "Something happened when we came back from the tour and I'm not sure what it is."

When I looked up, I noticed she was staring at me teary-eyed and I felt my heart twist in my chest. She licked her lips and it made me realize I could still taste her on mine. Could that platonic kiss be considered cheating if I liked it? Was it wrong if it tasted good and made me feel even better?

"Did you have time to think?" she asked again, nibbling on her bottom lip now. "Did you find out if it's me you want in your life or if i'm just filling an empty spot?"

I held my breath at how bad her words sounded and moved closer, taking her hands in mine with her face only a few inches away from hers.

"I still maintain what I said." I pointed out firmly. "It's you. I can't be without you."

She nodded and closed her eyes, leaning against the couch with a sigh. I didn't know if it was a sigh of despair or relief but I kept squeezing her fingers. As I looked at her, I thought about Maya's words and started questioning myself. Could it be true? Would my love and friendship with Liv ruin all the relationships i'd ever have? Would I always love her more than all the girls I could ever date? It made no sense to think a friendship could take so much space and I had no idea if it had always been this way or if it was recent.

"How are things going with Maya?" she asked reluctantly, as I remembered that she was gone.

"We had a... misunderstanding. She left."

"I thought you two were official now?"

I looked up in her eyes and sighed, wondering if I should tell her the truth or not but I decided that I would never hide her anything anymore. It brought too much shit into our life to simply lie about a sex story that I didn't want to risk it again.

"We were... are... I don't know. She asked me if I'd ever love her as much as I love you."

Olivia's eyes got bigger and I just shrugged, shaking my head. I didn't know what else to say but I knew she was expecting some explanations and I just let go of her hands to wipe mine on my pants. There was no reason for me to be so nervous but I was and I just inhaled deeply.

"I don't think you realize how jealous of you Maya is."

Olivia's lips were parted and she was looking at me a bit shocked by my revelation. If I wanted to be honest, I felt like Maya's jealousy was extremely obvious but at the same time, i could understand that Liv hadn't noticed it. In the past few weeks, I had realized just how insecure my best friend was and I knew it was partially my fault. She had told me about a few comments she read online, comments that I hadn't even noticed, but I could understand they had hurt her even if I honestly thought she should never give hate any kind of attention.

"What did you tell her."

I raised my eyebrows, surprised that my answer was all she cared about but also by the vulnerability in her voice. Were my words that important? Did it really matter to her that my love for her was stronger than my love for anyone else?

"I told her no to go there, that it wasn't to her advantage."

She stared at me a few more seconds, her eyes roaming on my face, and I was close to tell her how much I loved her when she threw herself in my arms. I held her close to me, pressing her body against mine although we were both sitting in weird position. The hug was a bit awkward but she squirmed closer to me and I buried my nose in her neck and closed my eyes, my arms completely wrapped around her. It felt good and it had been way too long since the last time I held her close to me like that. It made me want to never let go.

I felt my heart twist when she moved away but I let my eyes roam on her face for the hundredth time in the last hour, as if i hadn't seen it in forever, and it really felt like it.

"How are you and Harry?" I asked, almost scared of the answer.

"We're okay."

I knew our couples were not a good discussion to have if only for the fact that so many things happened when we were apart and we were not sure where we stood. We both didn't really agree with those relationships and it was tough to handle for both of us. If I wanted to be honest, I also felt guilty for telling her that I wouldn't date Maya and the doing then opposite but I was grateful she hadn't mentioned it.

"We're staying friends this time, right?" I asked, raising my eyebrows and waiting until her eyes met mine. "Please, Olivia."

She just remained motionless, looking at me with a sad expression, and there was nothing I wanted more than to make her smile. I sighed and without thinking more, I spat awfully in my hand, making her head move back slightly in surprise. Her eyes moved down to the hand I was showing her and then back in my eyes and she smiled. Fondly, this time.

"Best friends forever?"

She chuckled and shook her head before spitting in her hand too. We shook hands and the feeling of our spits spreading in my palm made me grimace in disgust. My face made her laugh loudly and I closed my eyes.

"Best friends forever."

When we took our hands back, we both laughed and just got up, rushing to the sink. We washed out hands together and I glanced at her, noticing that her smile was back. Her happiness had always been a priority for me but it was even more real now that I knew how much I had hurt her in the past.

"Hey, how about we go to the movies, you know? See that movie you watched without me?"

She looked up at she was wiping her hands on a towel and raised her eyebrows, a smile still gracing her lips... the lips I had just kissed a few minutes earlier. Why did I do that?

"Alright, let me get changed."

She rushed to her room and came back ten minutes later. I chuckled and shook my head when my eyes fell on her shirt and I looked up in her eyes again.

"You're not going to wear that, right?"

She grinned, totally amused and glad that it had the effect she most likely expected, and I looked down again only to see five familiar faces, including mine, printed on her shirt.

"A One Direction shirt?"

"Yea, and worn while hanging out with a One Direction boy. I think it fits." she explained, grabbing her purse before pushing her hand between the cushions of her couch, probably searching for something.

"We were like, 16 or something on that shirt!" I pointed out.

"No you were 18, it was not so long ago, remember?" she asked, putting on the cap she had just found in the couch.

"No!" I joked, making her laugh again.

Her eyes met mine and I suddenly felt better, like something had lighted up inside me. I put my hands in my pockets and she walked up to me, tilting her chin up to look at me.

"Are you okay walking around in public with me wearing this shirt?"

At this point, if I wanted to be honest with myself, I was ready to do anything she would ask me to do, if only to make sure I wouldn't lose her again. But I didn't tell her that, I couldn't tell her that.

"Will be tough but yes."

She chuckled, rolling her eyes, and just grabbed my arm, pulling me with her. We took her car and when she parked in front of the movie theater, I rushed out to open her door for her. She got out of the car and I pushed on the door to close it as she stared at me.

"Thank you," she let out, her eyebrows raised. "When did you get so gallant?"

I bent down with a smirk, my face now very close to hers.

"I always was."

I stopped breathing when I saw her eyes drop to my lips and I was wondering if she was thinking about the short and plain kiss I gave her in her kitchen, because I was, and it was annoying.

"Come on." I said after clearing my throat, moving back but wrapping on of my arms on her shoulders. "My treat."

"Thanks, i love your rich ass." she joked as I paid for the tickets.

I turned her way and bent slightly to grab her hand, pulling her inside me with after taking the tickets.

"Now, you're not aloud to laugh at the jokes before they happen, or talk over the characters." I point out, still holding her hand, both our arms stretched as she stood slightly away from me. "I know you. I watched 'Back to the Future' a millionth times with you, you're an ass and you literally tell the dialogues at the same time than the characters. Out loud."

"I'm not an ass!" she laughed, squeezing my fingers.

I pulled on her hand and made her twirl as she laughed more and finally took her closer into an other hug. Her laughter was light and happy and once again, it made my heart twist in my chest. I had missed her so much, way too much. And there was no way I was going to let her go again. I was going to make her my priority, no matter what shit it would get me into.

[that-one-french-guy]

Things to ponder - Writing Trivia

So I was tagged by the lovely @johaeryslavellan for this lovely little writing challenge, and the rules are simple - talk about 5 behind-the-scenes facts about a current WIP.

It’s crazy, I have so many WIPs that aren’t technically WIPs, just a bunch of story ideas in my head haha… I’ll be sharing some cool thoughts about my ‘Young Blood’ universe though – I guess I would call that my most current one haha

1. So I started writing ‘Young Blood’ before I knew ANYTHING about the first two Dragon Age games – Inquisition was my first, and I just fell in love, and felt this amazing idea to just write my own version of its events. Eventually I got the other two games – although I haven’t finished them yet rip me – and I’m slowly but surely learning everything about Thedas that I can. So really, a lot of stuff in the beginning of the story might not be concurrent with the rest as I continue to write – I know I’ll definitely have to go rewrite some things as I get better ideas.

2. Maybe one of the more obvious things if you’ve ever read ‘Young Blood’ is that the main characters are literally just me, my sister, and my two best friends being transported to Thedas and experiencing Inquisition lmao. To me, I just find it easier to write people I already know and I just feel that whenever I try to make a character or an OC they never seem to feel real enough for me.

3. Perhaps another obvious one, but I literally suck at planning stories. I get an idea, I start writing, then get stumped. I had the beginning and the ending planned out, and some of the more important events, but everything in the middle is just being bullshitted as I work my way through what I want to write lmao. Then I have to figure out how to tie the newer chapters that I’m writing with the already published chapters, and then how they would fit in with what I want the ending to be – so much stress of writing just one chapter would be erased if I just planned ahead lmao.

4. When I first started getting into Dragon Age, ironically enough I was just getting back into listening to 5SOS, and this was very close to when their song ‘Young Blood’ was released – I fell in love with it almost immediately, and I TOTALLY based on this song. It just resonated with me, because originally Kandice was going to fall in love with Solas, but then I decided to make it a ‘Modern Girl in Thedas’ type AU, where she’s still in love with Solas, but of course he never likes her back cause she human, ya know? And it just FITS their entire arc with each other, because *SPOILER ALERT* she reveals that she knows he’s Fen’Harel about halfway through the story I have planned in my head, and he just becomes a GIANT dick lmao. So he basically strings her along until she gets together with Bull and he becomes all distant and even stops teaching her magic and all this crap. I even have this story planned past Trespasser, and shit goes DOWN during that time! It’s ridiculous, I can’t even begin to explain lmao.

5.  Eugh, I just want to write the ending out of this story so much, but I know that it wouldn’t make sense without much of the leading up stuff that the rest of the story will provide! It’s sort of weird, because I have two ways that I want to end this book *KINDA BIG SPOILERS LMAO* either at the end of Trespasser Kandice wakes up in the hospital from a coma from being in a car accident, OR she helps Solas bring down the Fade/Veil/That Magic Shit and merges the modern world and Thedas into one – on either hand, there’s angst, but I have such fluff and thoughts about the DA characters living in the modern world that I want to write that second ending so badly! I’m not 100% sure what I want yet, but I’m just excited to expand this story well past what I already have, and I cant wait to develop my own version of Thedas 😊  

Anyone who would like to try this little challenge, feel free to do so - I don’t know who I would tag haha

[saipng]

okay i cant stop thinking about this so, unfortunately, ive decided i’m going to have an opinion

the opening number behind with ethan and mia singing an upbeat and happy song that references their marriage, the pregnancy, rose, and, as the song dips into a somewhat somber tone for a beat, the bakers. mia walks off towards the ending, and when she comes back, she is no longer singing and ethan is doing the song solo. when she speaks in between his lines her voice is also subtly different.

the song ends with chris and the rest of umbrella breaking through the door, and lights fade as he shoots mia. the only thing to be heard is the sound of rose crying.

he is left alone and bitter.

third song is the one we’ve all been waiting for. after exploring the village for a bit, ethan goes to the castle and runs into heisenberg, who begins the introduction with a grovel-y and bass-y tune and it feels like he’s right about to break into song - but it is abruptly cut off when he just slams ethan full of metal and laughs. and that is when the real number begins - an all the lords and mother miranda villain song with gorgeous choreography and the lycans as backup dancers (lol). every lord gets their own unique part that fits their motif and it ends with heisenberg telling ethan to run and they all laugh as ethan runs off stage, pursued by bear lycans.

the next song begins with ethan yet again beginning to reprise the first song in that sad, broken way of his, wondering where rose is, but it gets interrupted by the distant sound of upbeat trumpets and that’s how duke is introduced into the musical and his number is all about telling ethan how he can totally defeat the lords with his help (and his wares) and what the best way to do so is and all about reese’s rose’s pieces (again, little rewrite here). i imagine this is the funkiest song of the musical tbh.

then comes castle dimitrescu, and the number there involves alcina beginning the song quietly as they catch ethan, maybe there is no music at all, just her quiet singing about how she’s going to enjoy eating him alive. she leaves, and her daughters, who stood in the background, providing a cappella backup singing for her, come out one by one and start attacking ethan. the music swells more and more with each daughter he kills, and it goes into crescendo when lady dimitrescu herself comes out and cuts ethan’s hand off. there is a moment of silence as she leaves and ethan is left to reattach his hand, but the music immediately picks back up again as she enters in her mutated form and ethan kills her.

there is a brief interlude with the duke as ethan brings him the rose flask and gets chased off to donna’s place by some more lycans, and the next song is the most creepy of them all. this time, mia appears out of the fog and begins to sing the happy version of the first song, only in a dream like, distorted version, and ethan tries to join in, but his voice seems all off, and he follows her into the house, which is incredibly dark. the dolls sing to him as he wanders around and i imagine there is a lot of lullaby-like music and baby crying noises. eventually, angie comes out, doing a little pennywise dance or whatever, tormenting and making fun of ethan, up until he gets the scissors and stabs her in the face - and that’s when the lights turn of and it is revealed that donna beneviento was there all along, wearing all black, almost impossible to see in the near pitch blackness. she falls over, and there is only the distant sound of lullaby to accompany the silence.

another, even briefer interlude with the duke, and ethan is off to moreau’s. moreau is singing even before ethan enters the room, watching static on the tv and his song is an extremely sad and emotional ballad about needing mother’s love and approval, which eventually devolves into tearful sobbing. all the meanwhile, ethan is in the background trying to steal the flask, and the second he gets it, moreau abruptly turns to him, stops crying and says ‘got you’. and the music swells up terribly as mold begins to grow all around and the shack they’re in falls apart and moreau is immediately in his monstrous form. the song is now more like a war chime with the same tune as the ballad, only now moreau is singing in his deep bellowing voice as he battles ethan in the water. in the middle of it, ethan finds chris once more, and has a yelling match over the song as moreau laughs in the background and yells ‘i’m the best!!’ or whatever it is he yells in game. they are, ultimately, separated when he comes back with the second verse. the song ends when ethan empties out the dam and moreau is basically flushed out with it, and by the end his singing is just sad yelling and sobbing once again.

the next interlude, duke isn’t there - but instead, there is a voice coming from the speakers. it is heisenberg once again, and after speaking and congratulating ethan, he begins to sing that same tune we heard once before when he was first introduced - only he cuts himself off again, barks at ethan to meet him at the factory, and turns off the transmission.

ethan leaves the third rose flask at the duke’s shop, and goes to the factory. more rewriting here, but basically there is a very almost…. sea shanty type of vibe here (idk how best to describe it okay) as he walks and the zombie cyborgs sings to him, with lots of swish of swoosh of the machinery in the background. he battles sturm, loses, tries to get away, and this is where he runs into a room and runs into heisenberg - who’s just like. sitting in his little chair or whatever, turns around slowly like a supervillain to greet ethan, rose flask in his hands. all music stops as he begins to talk once more, telling ethan how much he wants to kill miranda, how much he hates his siblings, yada yada, constantly dangling the flask right out of ethan grasp. and finally, he begins to sing that tune once more, and it is basically a love ballad, proposing to ethan to kill miranda together using rose. it’s very heartfelt and it ends with heisenberg bowing in front of ethan and finally offering him the flask. ethan looks at it. grabs it. and says “my daughter is NOT a weapon”. this is where heisenberg’s quiet love ballad swells up and there are electric guitars added in as he pushes ethan and dangles him over the hole and this part ends in “last chance”. and ethan says “i think i’ll take my chances” and as heisenberg let’s go the song devolves into a proper rock opera. he reveals his transformed form then, and they fight as heisenberg sings to ethan about the mistake he’s just made. ethan is at the brink of losing when chris comes in with the tank and this is where the song becomes a duet as ethan begins to sing over heisenberg a sort of a ‘rock’ version of the first song, adding in how after they’re all the lords are dead he’ll finally get his daughter back.

heisenberg dies with fireworks, and ethan and chris are left to talk feelings, finally. this is where mother miranda interrupts them, throws chris aside, and has her own quiet villainous song with ethan, which ends with her easily ripping his heart out.

the stage fades to black, and when it’s lights again, chris is in ethan’s place, and is singing about punching boulders and how hard his life is. idk. i don’t care about chris. his song eventually devolves into a familiar tune, and suddenly, we have a young girl’s voice singing the first song once again. fade to black, and the spotlight turns on evelyn and ethan’s dead body. she tells him he is dead, in song, of course, and eventually ethan joins her in for the duet, and evelyn runs off. ethan sings the final reprise of his song as he wakes up and goes off to battle mother miranda, the epic battle culminating in a really cool ethan solo. by the end of the song, miranda is dead, and ethan is holding baby rose in his arms, and singing the lullaby version of the first song. chris comes along, and ethan quietly hands baby rose to him, and takes the detonator. chris runs off, and in a minute we can see helicopters in the distance flying off into the sunset as ethan is holding the detonator in his hands, quietly singing the final verse of the song.

as he presses the button, the stage fades to black.

concept: resident evil village musical.

discuss.

[tracelii]

gimme dat sweet AMA half drowning

How dare you ask me to write something having to do with sirens. angst, my own au, and asagao academy, an hour before my birthday--- id be happy to, home biscuit

happy freaking birthday to me!!!

-------

“Hana, sing for me!!”

“I’m… sorry?”

If there was such a thing as a puppy in a siren’s body, thiswas it.

“You have to sing!! If I’m going to rap, you have to singfor me, right?”

He darted back and forward in the pool, his sleek black andyellow tail guiding his aimless path as he did so. He made it look soeffortless, moving back and forward across the surface, his face as bright asthe sun. “You have to sing or its not going to work!! The song had a singertoo!!”

Hana blushed, but took a seat at the very end of the pool.She hadn’t packed a bathing suit when she came to the Monster Academy, not thatshe’d know there would be a pool, or this would be a monster academy, so shealways opted to sit at the edge. She’d remove her shoes and socks, and let herfeet rest in the cool, possibly salt water of the pool (she was certain it couldn’tbe chlorine with gills involved, but were mermaids and sirens salt water, orfresh water--)

“So, will you?”

Hana snapped back to attention, and she grew embarrassed, hercheeks heating up just to defy her. “Will anyone else come in here?”

“Nah, technically its after hours. Mimi comes in laterbecause she says I’m too loud for her beauty swim, or something.” But he gave agood smile. “But if anyone comes, you can just stop, okay?”

With a great hesitation, she finally nodded to the affirmative.

“Great, Oh—I’m so excited, I’ve been listening to that songfor like, three days. I didn’t know you could talk in music. And in rhythm too? Oh man, its exactly what I need.”His smile softened. “Its super hard not to sing to music.”

“Yea, I understand that.” Hana kicked her feet for a little,then gestured over to her bag. “I have the music, but I cant be near the poolbecause my phone cant get wet.”

Luke gestured the ok sign at her with his hands (Somethinghe had picked up from her, and he overused it very enthusiastically) beforedisappear below the surface, just enough to dip and raised his… somehow stillhatted-head. He rubbed his face, and was beaming underneath. “Are there a lot ofrap songs?”

“Oh yes, more than you can shake a fin at.”

“How do I… shake a fin, at-““Figure of speech!” Hana said, which he seemed to accept for an answer thoughshe had no way of knowing if he actually knew just what ‘figure of speech’itself meant. She got to her feet, (her… now cold feet), and patted quicklyover to her bookbag hanging on the wall. She dug around a little before pullingher phone free, and quickly moved over to her music-player app.

“I’d like to get a phone.” Luke said thoughtfully. “But Iguess the whole water thing…” he squinted his eyes in though. “You think if Ileave it in a small plastic bag or wrap it in a towel… or rap, like, you know, rap much-“

It was almost a pun, and Hana had to laugh. She turned herphone all the way up as the intro to the music kicked in without much warning,and called over the volume at Luke. “If you mess up the words its okay! Justkeep going, alright?”

He nodded happily, moving right up to the edge of the poolnow, resting his chin on his hands and his elbows on the floor that borderedthe edge.

It was a silly and quite typical love song featuring a rapor two, but it was also about the sea which Hana thought Luke would mostappreciate. At this point however it seemed like she could give him a rap aboutmarshmallows and he’d be totally down for it, not even knowing whatmarshmallows are. It was the kind of person he was, and she could really admirethat.

“Hana---“ He whispered. “The words-“

“Uh--- Oh!” She had missed her cue. “T-The ocean’s waves, blue like your eyes-“ She stumbled alongfiguratively until she had caught up with the song. She turned it up a littlelouder. “The waves crashing a—along theshore- the tide—washing out—“ She was really either struggling, or embarrassedor both. She knew this song, though- it came on the radio about a thousandtimes a day back home, and it had gotten stuck in her head more than once. Shehad grown to like it, how come she couldn’t remember it now??

Luke’s eyes were on her intently picking up every strugglingnote. She winced as her voice cracked at a particularly long and high note, buthe whooped and clapped excitedly as if she had just performed the bestperformance of his and her life. She smiled sheepishly, but gained the will togo on.

“Your eyes were likediamonds!” Luke picked up immediately on his rap verse. “Sparkling like the sun on the sand, led meto understand, that I could be your man-“

Hana giggled, but noted that he really had the rap part downextraordinarily well. Even when she had learned the rap, she couldn’t alwayspronounce all the words in a row like that- rapping was really a talent, andLuke seemed to have that talent.

“I only wished that wewere the fish, let me whisk you away-“

Hana sort of sang the backing vocals as Luke pointed at her,which caused him to laugh and clap again as it faded back into the singingchorus.

He was really doing it with his whole body, between rappingand cheering her on. He was even clapping to the music. Hana set down her phonecarefully, and clapped with him. He was a pretty cheerful guy, but she hadnever seen him this happy in the moderate about of time they had known eachother. He must have really missed music.

“To see the sea withyou, to sea, to sea” Hana sang. “Tosee the sea with you!”

“More than I couldever ask, could I be up to the task?”

“To see the sea withyou!”

Luke launched into another rap verse as he pushed back intothe pool, letting his body drift as her recited the words as if he had beenborn with them. Hana sort of brought herself to dance, just a bit, besides thepool, sort of bobbing and shuffling in place.

“To see the sea withyou!” both of them sang in unison, which somehow, surprised Hana. There wasthat one line that the rapper and the singer both sang towards the end of thelast rap, but she had forgotten about it. More important to her was Luke’svoice, just in that moment.

“As if the ocean castme away” She sang a little quieter now, and could barely pick up Luke’sdeeper voice humming beneath hers. “Carryme, carry me gently now, drift away into your arms-“

“As if the ocean castme away” Luke sang back. “Carry mecarry me gently now, drift away into your arms”

“To see the sea withyou!” they both sang.

Luke launched into the chorus that he knew he knew by heart,though he hadn’t practiced before now. He continued to let himself actuallydrift as he half-floated on the surface, his eyes closed, so deeply imbeddedinto the music that his song was no longer words. Instead from his lips came songof its own, wordless in nature, but still telling the story of seeing the seawith—with whoever was singing with them- Luke guessed that he was kind ofsinging to see the sea with Hana. It was definitely something he’d love to do-

SPLASH

He sat up suddenly, opening his eyes which were even more ofa blue than they were before, like they glowing almost. He blinked and quicklynoted where Hana was standing on the edge of the pool was now devoid of anythingbut the phone, still blaring the music.

He shut up. Heinstantly shut up. His mouth snapped close with the audible clack of his sharp teeth, and he sawpink hair drifting before him, seconds before Hana became fully submerged inthe school pool.

He dove for her, grabbing a hold of her under arms, andpulled her to the surface, her lead was limp, and he struggled to keep her faceout of the water as he dragged her over to the side of the pool.

He pulled their bodies onto the stairs, and eventually outof the pool, and willed himself willedhimself for his legs to come back, which they certainly did not do. He couldn’tdo it in a panic, which only caused him to panic more. What if he needed to take Hana to the clinic? No one would behere for another hour what if something happened to her?

“H-Hana?” He asked, looking at her. She was laying on herside away from him, and her body was deathly still. “Hana—“ He reached for her,gently pulling her so she was laying on her back. The motion caused her to tryand roll onto her side again as she spit up pool water, but after she did that,she settled back onto her back, and slowly her eyes opened.

Though the siren had since sat up himself and was leaningover her, brushing now-soaked pink hair from her face, she didn’t look at him,right away. Her eyes had this very far away look to them and she murmuredsomething he couldn’t make sense of.

He leaned down close to try and make out her words.

“I heard… someone sing.” She said gently. “It was nice.”

His body felt cold. He pulled away to look into her eyesagain. Still her blue-green eyes had a far off look about them, as if she wasdaydreaming.

As if she were enchanted.

Luke took a shaky breath, and noted now they were sitting incomplete silence- the song had long since ended, and nothing else after it hadplayed. It left an empty, ugly feeling that matched how he felt pretty well.

Still, he (still without access to his legs) yanked down oneof his towels from the rack a few feet away, and dragged himself back over toprop Hana up to lean on him. He held her close whispering apologies that surelyshe wouldn’t hear, and tried his best to start drying her off.

Maybe music wasn’t for him. It certainly wouldn’t be if thiswas the only result.

“No music”, decided the siren. “Never again.”