#Soy Luna 2 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

countessofravenclaw · 1 month ago

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Long Story Short, we are fixing it!!! part two

What if I told you I could fix everything that went wrong? Well, so I present to you my Soy Luna (can be whole DCLA too, but right now just SL) fix it fi collection where I fix scenarious of the shpw that went horenderously wrong.

|| "We keep this love in a Photograph" ~ The one where Delfi helps out ||

“Love doesn’t disappear in one night.” Nina shook her head while looking at Jim and Yam. “I can’t be his friend. I don’t want to be his friend.”

“Well, maybe it is best for you to keep being apart.” Jim suggested. “Why don’t you think of Xavi?”

“Why would I think of Xavi?” Nina’s face turned confused.

“Well, because he’s perfect.” Yam interjected.

“Well, he’s very nice, but not enough to take Gastón out of my mind.” Nina answered.

“Well, to amuse yourself. He’s a good person…”

“Amuse myself?” Nina questioned again. “What does that even mean?”

“Xavi’s perfect!”

“You have so many things in common.”

“Girls, why do you keep going on about Xavi?” Nina was still getting very confused.

“We just like him.”

“Okay…” Nina shook her head, “but there is nothing going on with him. You can’t choose who you fall in love with. I love Gastón—”

“But if you’re part of his past…”

“What do you mean?” Nina looked at Jim and Yam. They looked at each other awkwardly.

“We—we heard him talking with Matteo at lockers at Roller.” Yam admitted. “that you’re part of his past.”

Nina felt part of her insides broke at that moment…

“But now you make him part of your past.” Jim continued.

***

Gastón was walking down the stairs at Blake. As he put his phone away, his eyes fixated on three girls on the floor. A red head, a blonde and a brunette…

The one who held his heart.

How many times had he decided to move on from her at this point? Many. Had he succeeded? No.

But he had to… Nina had moved on, and he couldn’t take all that heart break. He was too late now.

“Gastón!!” He got shaken out of his thoughts. He turned around and saw Delfi standing beside him. “I was looking for you.”

“You were looking for me?” he asked, confused.

“Yes, I was.” Delfi continued. “I’ve decided that I want to pursue photography, like study it.”

“Really? How did you realize that you like that?”

“I don’t really know honestly.” Delfi shrugged. “I got a new camera as a present and kind of just got inspired. So I started taking photos and enjoyed it a lot. And like, photographers end up traveling across the world and going to all sorts of cool events, meeting all the celebrities. Imagine me working with Taylor Swift or Ariana Grande, or even better, royalty.”

“Well, that’s not always how it works.” Gastón shook his head, “No just anyone achieves that, but I know few who do, they’re friends of Mom and Dad, but even they don’t work for Taylor Swift.”

“You don’t think I can do it?” Delfi frowned.

“I didn’t say that.” Gastón continued. “I mean, I believe that if you work hard you can succeed. I kind of have to believe that. For me it’s mostly artistic expression, not a career choice and I don’t care about parties.”

“Well, it doesn't hurt to have fun while I’ll earn my living.”

“That is true. If you need help…”

“Exactly! That’s what I need.” Delfi pointed toward him. “I need you to help me. You were one of the tops at the workshops last year. Give me some tips? Please.”

“Our styles are pretty different, but I can help you with the technical aspects. Obviously, if you want to work on it, you need your own point of view.”

“Yes, of course and I have a vision, I just don’t know how to make it a reality…” Delfi laughed, “and, you’re better than me, and I was actually thinking I could start with the Open and I would love if you were on my side.”

“Sure.” Gastón nodded, “Of course I’ll help, but you’re sure you wanna start with the Open?”

“Yes.” Delfi looked at him, “What’s wrong with it?”

“I just think that there might maybe be a lot of moving elements.” Gastón stated, “not saying that you can’t do it, but I’d get in some practice in first.”

“Okay, sure.” Delfi looked around for a moment. “Where?”

“Outside?” Gastón suggested, “More things to shoot there than here at Blake.”

“Good idea.” Delfi’s eyes brightened. “Can you meet me at the park that’s between Blake and Hoja after school?”

“Why do you need me?”

“You think I can practice without my teacher?”

“Okay, I can come. I don’t have anything today.”

“Good, I’ll text you the time.” Delfi squeezed his hand quickly, “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” He said after her.

“Okay, what’s going on here?” Matteo showed up behind him all of a sudden.

“Nothing is going on.” Gastón turned towards his best friend.

“What did Delfi want?” Matteo asked.

“Help with photography.” Gastón answered. “She wants to pursue that now apparently, so she asked for some tips. I’ll help her after school.”

“Okay,” Matteo nodded slowly. “Hopefully this is all pure intentioned…”

“What are you talking about?” Gastón raised his eyebrow at Matteo.

“I don’t know, but given your history…” Matteo eyed him, “...if this is some sort of a terrible bounce back plan, I need to stage a very big intervention…”

“What?” Gastón was still staring at Matteo. “No, no, no. She just asked for help. Get your mind off the planet of idiocy. I never actually liked her, you know that. She wanted help, and I know photography, so she came to the right person.”

“Okay, okay, don’t get mad at me.” Matteo backed away in surrender. “I’m your best friend, so It’s my job to look out for you. That sort of thing is not your style anymore.”

“I know.” Gastón rolled his eyes. “Delfi and I, I don’t think either of us even remember that we used to date—until you reminded me of it.”

“I just want you to be happy,” Matteo pointed out, “Especially, as things are going so well for me at the moment, I’d like us to be happy together…but we are talking about the wrong brunette for that.”

“When did we start talking about Nina?” Gastón looked at Matteo again.

“Uhm, right now.” Matteo looked back at him. “I never specified… You’re the one talking about her, but that proves my point.”

“And I am not having this conversation right now.” Gastón shook his head. Why did Matteo have to know him so well?

“Good, you’re here!” Gastón saw Delfi run up the hill.

“You took your sweet time,” he pointed out. “I had the time to go home, change and come back here, and I live kilometers away. Don’t you live next to Blake?”

“I do.” Delfi sighed, “Sorry, I took so long. I went home to change and then Aaron had to bother me…”

“Who is Aaron?” Gastón asked.

“My idiot of a brother.” Delfi grimaced.

“You have a brother?”

“Yeah, I do.” Delfi looked at him. “Lives to bother me. I can’t wait to move out and leave that baby behind. Let him deal with Mom and Dad alone.”

“You’ve never mentioned him before.” Gastón pointed out.

“Why would I have?” Delfi scoffed, “He’s a baby, four years younger than me, because Mom and Dad decided that they wanted a second one right before turning 40. But I mean, who talks about their siblings. You don’t.”

“I don’t have siblings.” Gastón answered pretty bluntly.

“You seriously don’t?” Delfi looked at him. “I thought you would…”

“I mean, I probably would—actually I know that I would, but it is not possible.”

“Oh.” Delfi seemed to realize. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, this convo has gotten way too deep,” Delfi laughed awkwardly for a moment. “We were here to take pictures.”

She pulled her camera out of her bag.

“What model is that?” Gastón looked at it.

“Uhm,” Delfi looked at her camera, “Canon T7i.”

“Okay,” Gastón nodded. “I’m familiar with those. We have a Nikon D850 and a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, but those are a little more advanced.”

“Good.” Delfi strapped the camera around her neck. “So, how do we start?”

“Well, what do you want to shoot?” Gastón looked around the park.

“How about that fountain?” Delfi pointed out. Gastón saw it, and tried not to flinch. The fountain brought back so many memories of Nina, and everything they had experienced together.

“Okay.” He just nodded and followed Delfi toward the fountain.

“So, I thought that… What if I took like a picture of the water stream when it hits the surface.” Delfi was already eyeing the fountain. She raised her camera up and snapped a few pictures.

“Uh, come on!” She groaned as soon as she looked at the camera screen. “Why do these come out to be so blurry? It doesn’t look anything like I imagined.”

“Let me see.” Gastón took the camera from Delfi and looked at the picture. “Okay, I see what the problem is. First of all, you need to start with the manual focus. The automatic isn’t able to keep the focus on the smaller elements. Same thing with the flash.”

“Okay.” Delfi took the camera back and adjusted the settings. “What do I do then?

“Since you wanna capture something that’s in movement, I’d increase the shutter speed. Tripod would be pretty useful for this as well, but we’ll make do without one. Got it?”

“Okay…” Delfi looked through the camera lense and got closer to the fountain, “So now I just zoom toward the point I want to focus on, right?”

“Yes.” Gastón nodded, “take account of the light source, so it is reflecting how you’d want it to, and you might wanna up the aperture.”

“Okay…” Delfi made a very focused face and pressed the camera's shutter. “Did these turn out okay?”

Gastón looked at the camera screen. “More than okay. These are really great, just need some editing, but you surely have that handled.”

“Really?” Delfi said while looking at the picture herself. “I can’t believe it! How did it turn out this good?”

“You have a good vision.” Gastón said to her. “You just needed some direction and a lot of practice. It will help you to finetune all the settings and find your own style.”

“Was this all covered in the workshop?” Delfi asked. “I don’t remember half of this, that you just told me.”

“Some of it was, but that was just one course. There was only time for some basics, honestly. I knew most of it already.” Gastón took the camera again from Delfi and turned it around in his hands. “Like I said, everyone has their own touch into it, which they develop over time. You can only go up from here.”

“Where did you learn then if not from the workshops?” Delfi asked him as they had moved to take pictures of a rose bush.

“I started photography when I was nine or so. My dad taught me.” Gastón explained. “He's really into it, always has been. He has taught me all of his tricks.”

“Your dad?” Delfi questioned, “The most sought-after financial expert in the city is a photography nerd?”

“You should see our house. Pictures everywhere.” Gastón remarked. “He is really good at it. Actually, that was how Mom and Dad met, on a photography course at their university.”

“So, your mother is also into it?”

“No not really.” Gastón shook his head. “The course was mandatory for her major, while Dad was taking it as an elective. Mom actually was terrible, to the point that she would have failed the course if Dad hadn’t stepped in to help her, that’s kind of how they started spending time together, even if they pretended to be friends for like five months. So, photography is this family thing, but mostly Dad and I do it.”

“Sounds better how mine met.” Delfi shook her head, “First year of residency at Swiss, there was a mass casualty and they ended up working in a case together. This was before Dad specialized in neurosurgery. Nothing is more romantic than poking around in someone’s torso area.”

“I can imagine.” Gastón nodded again.

“But seriously, thank you for this.” Delfi smiled after finishing a series of pictures where she had tried to frame the sun with two trees—success of which varied a lot, but few of her pictures were genuinely good.

“Don’t mention it, honestly.” Gastón shook his head. “This has been fun. You do know right, that I am only doing this as a purely friendly favor?”

“Yes, of course.” Delfi looked at him, a little weirded out. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, you have had some interesting motives in the past.” Gastón pointed out.

“Not that…” Delfi grimaced. “I thought that was in the past.”

“It is,” Gastón nodded, “but Matteo got in my head…you don’t want to know.”

“I’m not that desperate—” Delfi shook her head, “—anymore. Plus, I know your heart is occupied…”

Gastón decided to focus on a sliver of a cloud in the sky at that moment.

“What is up with you and Nina anyway?” Delfi asked exactly what Gastón had been praying her not to touch on.

“It is a long story.” Gastón was still looking onto the sky.

“Well, since we're into chit chatting as it is, how about you tell me.” Delfi countered, “Things haven’t looked like they have gone that well lately. Why did you break up?”

“I didn’t mean to…” Gastón shook his head. “We were in a fight and I was mad at her. Then I forgave her, but by then it was way too late.”

“For goodness sake!” Delfi shook her head. “I most certainly didn’t break my heart for you to blow it like this. You can’t give up.”

“I love her, but she’s moved on.”

“You sure about that?” Delfi asked Gastón. “How do you even know?”

“There is that painter guy who she met at a competition last year. He’s always around.”

“You’re not seriously telling me that you’re threatened by some guy she has known for a few weeks?” Delfi crossed her arms. “You do realize that there were sparks flying between you and Nina ever since that photography course. Anyone was able to see it, no matter how much I tried to ignore it.”

“I have no other choice—”

“Just stop.” Delfi held her hand up, “You helped me with this, so I’m gonna help you, because you clearly need a feminine angle on this whole situation. You’re my friend and I care about you. What you need to do is to just sweep her off her feet.”

“It is not that simple.” Gastón tried.

“It really actually is.” Delfi shook her head, “I mean, you…do have your appeal. I would know, since I did once like you. Make sure that painter guy couldn’t possibly compare.”

“How would I do that?”

“You’ll come up with something.” Delfi sighed. “I can’t be the whole brains of this operation. Surely you have ideas, I mean we’ve already seen that. For example, I most certainly saw you bring that rose in on the first day. You got this.” Delfi crossed her arms and looked to the sky. “At least one of us should be happy and I already used up my chance.”

“I mean, if you think it is not too late for me, then it should not be too late for you.” Gastón noted, “Pedro may come around.”

“Well…” Delfi laughed again. “I broke up with him through a video for a guy in an airplane. No coming back from that and it hasn’t seemed to bother Pedro that much, given that he was willing to fight Nico for that girl who was actually two girls. He sure was missing me during that time…” She shook her head after the sarcastic remark.

“Like you said, maybe it is not too late.”

***

Nina was sitting with Luna and Jim when Yam took the stage as the Opening act of the Open. She looked beautiful and her voice shined through the whole cafeteria. Nina wished that that would be the sole thing she could focus on…but obviously it wasn’t. Her brain was going about 150 km/h as usual, and the object of her thoughts was sitting two tables to her right.

Gastón was sitting at a table with Ramiro and they were both looking at the stage.

The song that Yam had chosen… Yes I Do by College 11—It was a very pretty song. Nina liked it a lot, it actually had been one of her most frequently listened songs few years back, when it featured in a competition by now defunct production company YouMix. The song had been, well, perfect for all her daydreams at the time.

“And the sun is shiningAnd you'll walk with meI will never run awayPromise I will stayHere with you”

Nina tried to fight the urge, but failed miserably. She glanced at Gastón who was still looking at the stage. If only the things had gone differently…

“And I will say one day that I doGive my heart and my whole life to youWe will laugh we will cryAs the years all pass byWe'll still sayI love you”

Nina was about to turn her head back, when she suddenly—No, it was not…but yeah, it was. She suddenly saw Gastón turn his head and their eyes met briefly. Nina turned her head back quickly, but she could feel the heat rise on her face.

He had turned to look at her. Why? During this song, nonetheless. Nina’s eyes wandered to him again—He had glanced at her again.

“Luna.” Nina quickly whispered into her best friend’s ear.

“What?” She turned around and looked at Nina.

“Gastón.” Nina whispered while glancing at him again. “He keeps looking at me. I have to go talk to him, I can’t believe that he only wants to be just friends.”

“Then don’t be afraid and just go for it.” Luna nodded, “Be brave Nina.”

“Okay…” Nina got up from her seat and turned herself around, gathering courage to walk up to Gastón to ask him if they could talk in private for a second.

She didn’t really want to admit it, but the back of her mind was already inventing some scenarios depicting him pouring his heart out to her, telling her how he never stopped loving her and pressing her down against the lockers for a fiery kiss—

“Don’t know what’s wrong with this?” As soon as Nina had been about to take a step toward she saw Delfi run to Gastón, clearly upset with something.

Nina felt a dagger in her heart at that moment. It was not like she truly believed that they were a thing again…but at the same time, Delfi’s timing just seemed way too convenient…

Obviously, her mind automatically came up with ten thousand bad reasons and outcomes—She was too late.

“Here. You need to adjust this.” Gastón seemed to be explaining something to Delfi very patiently.

“Oh, that’s was all that that was?” Delfi laughed and took the camera back from him and went on her way.

Even if she was gone now, the momentary courage that Nina had had was now completely gone. She just sat back down defeated and watched Yam sing the rest of her song.

***

“Do stop admiring yourself.” Gastón said to Matteo in the Roller dressing room. He had sneaked away from the audience after Yam had finished, as Matteo would be up next soon.

“I just wanna make sure everything is perfect.” Matteo straightened his bow tie while looking into the mirror.

“The bow tie won’t make your singing worse.” Gastón continued.

“It’s all part of the bigger picture.” Matteo shook his head. “Very important…”

“If you’re nervous, you can just say that.” Gastón stared at Matteo, smirking.

“Okay, I might be…a tad bit nervous…” Matteo admitted. “I just wanna get on stage already.” He blew some air out of his mouth. “Talk to me about something.”

“Why?”

“To distract me. Like, how did the whole teaching outing went with Delfi?”

“Well.” Gastón answered.

“That’s the only thing you’re gonna tell me?” Matteo raised his eyebrow.

“What else do you want me to tell you?” Gastón looked at him back. “Seriously, get your mind out of the gutter. We are friends and I helped her as a friend. She had no ulterior motive, we even talked about it.”

“You seriously did?” Matteo questioned again. “Define about it for me.”

“Well, she asked me what was going on with Nina—” Gastón admitted, “—and I told her. She actually told me that I shouldn’t give up.”

“Huh?” Matteo stared at him. “Delfi was speaking sense to you?”

“Pedro truly has done some good to her.” Gastón nodded.

“Well, are you gonna believe her, and do what I’ve been telling you to do.” Matteo looked him in the eyes again, “About Nina? You need to stop wallowing in your misery and worrying about that art guy, and conquer Nina back.”

***

Nina looked at the sun that came into the view from behind the cloud. She raised her camera to the sky and grabbed a few pictures.

She sighed as she looked at them. Too much light. She tried to remember what Gastón had told her about the light reduction techniques.

Nina had the eye for artistics angles and human expression when it came to taking pictures of other people, while Gastón was almost equally good as her, but knew more about the technical aspects of photography, especially with nature elements. They complemented each other like that…or well…had complimented each other.

The aperture was supposed to be widened and ISO lowered…that was it. Nina raised her camera again and took another picture. That looked better.

“Nina? Hi!!!” Nina turned around from the voice. Delfi was standing behind her, also holding a camera.

“Hey.” She greeted her, just a tad bit confused. It was only 9 am, Nina had gotten up early—truth be told, she hadn't really been able to sleep—and gone out of the door with her camera.

“Fancy seeing you here. Did you have the same idea as I?” Delfi also was holding a camera. “I thought, I’d try to catch the sunrise, but…seems like we're a little too late for that.”

“Yes.” Nina nodded. “Little bit late… The sun just came from behind the clouds.”

“Did you take some pictures of that?” Delfi asked, with a little more excited tone. “Can I see?”

“Sure.” Nina handed her camera to Delfi so she could look at the photo.

“Wow. This is super good.” Delfi handed the camera back, “Should not be surprising, I mean you were the best at the workshop after all… I should have also asked you for help, now that I think about it…”

“Help to do what?” Nina looked at her confused.

“Oh, so I decided I want to become a photographer.” Delfi explained, “So, I’ve been practicing. I asked Gastón to give me some pointers, and he gave me a little bit of a lesson before the Open yesterday.”

“He has been helping you?” Nina stopped on her tracks. It came to her mind suddenly that when she had seen them together at the Open, Delfi had been holding a camera, so that had been just that. Now she felt so stupid.

“Yes.” Delfi nodded. “He knows lot of technical stuff, but you knew that already.”

“Yeah.” Nina smiled smally. Gastón knew a lot of tricks that had been passed down to him from his father.

“You know, I remembered when Mr. Acosta told you two that you should work together.” Delfi continued. “Who knew that a teacher would be good at shipping.”

“Shipping?” Nina looked at Delfi confused.

“Well, he knew back then how you and Gastón were made for each other.” Delfi continued, completely unbothered.

“Well… I don’t know about that…”

“Why not?” Delfi turned back to Nina. “Does that have something to do with that painter guy?”

“Xavi?” Nina questioned, “No, not at all. We are friends.”

“So, you don’t like him?” Delfi crossed her arms. “Come on, you can tell me. I am very unbiased judge.”

“No, I don’t like him.” Nina shook her head. “I did a little bit when we met, but that was over a year ago. We lost touch and I haven’t thought about him in over a year honestly, but now he’s here and…interested in me. I don’t want to be rude.”

“Okay, shutting someone down isn’t rude in the slightest.” Delfi said with an unfaced tone. “Come on, surely you’ve been taught the whole No is a complete sentence stuff.”

“Of course,” Nina looked at her, “You haven’t met my mother.”

“Well, mine are literal doctors and Mom works in the ER, so she’s seen some stuff.” Delfi continued. “I’ve been given the most thorough consent education possible. So, if you don’t like the guy, just shut him down and don’t feel bad about it, especially if Gastón is the one you want.”

“Well, he doesn’t love me anymore.” Nina shook her head. “So, it is not that simple.”

“Why do you think that?” Delfi asked, eyeing Nina suspiciously.

“I know him. If he was still interested, he would have done something.”

“Would he?” Delfi tilted her head a little bit. “You don’t think he maybe is stuck a little bit too much on those gentleman tendencies sometimes. Maybe he just doesn’t wanna push you, because he thinks you have moved on.”

“I have not moved on.” Nina looked at a fountain further at the park. “But—”

“You two really should talk.”

“I know,” Nina looked down. She half couldn’t believe she was getting a relationship lecture from Delfi out of everyone, but deep inside she felt like she probably needed to hear this. “We’ve tried, but…someone always interrupts us. Jim, Yam and Luna always just seem to find us at school…”

“Why are you trying to do that in public?” Delfi sighed. “Look, I am not on the record for being the world’s best communicator, but even I know that if you don’t want to be interrupted, you need to make sure no one can. Jim and Yam are such meddlers, of course they’ll interrupt if there is a chance. Next time, don’t do it at the school or at Roller.”

Nina looked down again. Maybe Delfi was right…

Maybe Delfi had NOT been right. Nina was doubting that now as she was walking down the Lugar Benjamín street.

What was she doing?

After parting ways with Delfi at the park, Nina had been thinking and decided to “seize the moment”.

Now she was half regretting her decision as she looked up at Gastón's house. It was 9:40 am on Saturday morning… And it was not like she would even get in. The metal gate stood in front of her as sturdy as ever, and she didn’t have the clearances to get it open.

She also no way could call or text Gastón to ask if he’d let her in. Obviously, there was the buzzer, but… first of all Gastón had told her that no one ever used it and second…she didn’t even know if he was home. What was she supposed to say to Isla and Marco in that scenario? Nina didn’t know what they even thought of her anymore.

She couldn’t do this—

“Nina?” Footsteps suddenly approached her as she was about to turn around and walk away.

Nina spun around 360 degrees and almost tripped on her own feet as her eyes met his deeply brown eyes mixed with a golden flicker.

“What are you doing here?” Gastón stood in front of her, looking at her a tad bit confused.

“I—I, I thought…” Nina felt herself freeze for a moment. He seemed like he might have been coming from a run or something, which was not helping her to focus. She shook her head for a moment and forced herself to focus. “I just came to realize…”

“Realize what?” Gastón was still looking at her and Nina wasn’t fully sure, but it almost seemed like something in his expression had changed. Like he was looking at her in a certain way…but that wasn't possible.

“That, that we need to talk.” Nina forced herself to focus again. “It has probably been overdue for a long time now—”

“No, we don’t.”

“No? But…” Nina’s heart dropped. Was he still angry at her…? It didn’t look like it.

“There are more important things I need to do first.” Gastón stepped forward and before Nina was even able to register what was happening, his arm had gone around her waist, pulling her against him.

Her mind went blank at that moment, and the only thing she was able to do was respond to the kiss that was growing more passionate with every passing second.

She only snapped back into reality as she heard the metal clanking of the gate. As they separated, Nina saw the gate opening and Gastón swiftly pulled her inside of the yard and closed the gate.

They stood, just looking at each other for a while. Nina felt her heart speed up. “You—you forgive me? I thought…”

“I did, long time ago.” Gastón took her hand.” I was going to talk to you after the competition, but then—I saw that guy give you a flower, and I chickened out.”

“Xavi?”

“Yeah. I… It is completely my fault. I never meant it when I said I wanted to be friends. I was an idiot. I guess I was just worried and thinking that I lost you to someone else while I was angry at you, felt like my whole world crumbled down. I thought if you had moved on, I had to accept it and stay out of your way, but I couldn’t do it.”

“There is nothing between me and Xavi.” Nina started. Although, Gastón did deserve the truth of the matter. “Well… He likes me, he still does, but I’ve told him from the beginning that I am not interested in any relationship, because…I never got over you.”

“I tried, but it’s impossible to get over you.” Gastón looked at her in the eyes again and Nina got lost in the golden flicker in his. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

There were no more words needed. She fell onto his neck and they kissed again.

“Would you like to come inside?” Gastón asked after they separated.

“But your parents…?”

“Not home. Even if they don’t travel 24/7 anymore, they’re still working like crazy. They don’t know how to stop. You don’t need to worry anyway, they’d be more than happy to see you again, especially as my girlfriend.”

“So, what do you think?” Jim spun around in the Roller’s dressing room after putting on her sparkly dress. “Ready for the rink?”

“Absolutely.” Yam looked up from the chair where she had been lacing her skates up. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” Jim giggled as Yam got up and the girls twirled each other around.

“You both look great.” Nina had been looking at them through the mirror while she finished brushing her hair.

“Thank you.” The girls laughed. “All ready? Let's go back to the rink.”

“You go ahead.” Nina responded. “I still need to lace up my skates.”

“Okay. We’ll see you at the rink. Hurry though, or you’ll miss all the fun.”

“Don’t worry.” Nina laughed as the girls wheeled out of the dressing room. She brushed some hair out of her face and leaned down to lace up her skates—

“That should go to the lower hook.” She suddenly heard a voice behind her and felt a finger trace down her spine, in the exact way that made shiver travel down her body.

***

Gastón watched Jim and Yam wheel out of the dressing room. He waited another beat before cracking the door open.

There she was, his girl. She was absolutely gorgeous.

He wheeled behind her as silently as he could, while Nina was lacing up her skates…and messing up the order that the laces were supposed to go on the hook. It was very unlikely of her, but she wasn’t that experienced of a skater, so it happened to everybody. It was extremely adorable.

He stopped behind her, where she was bent over the skate in the chair and couldn’t resist the temptation and ran his fingers over her back. “That should go to the lower hook.”

Nina jumped and whipped her head around. “You scared me. Where did you come from?”

“I staked out outside until Jim and Yam left.” Gastón admitted while pulling a strand of hair behind Nina’s ear. “You’re so beautiful.”

“Mora helped me with the dress.” She smiled shyly and looked up at him before fixing her skates. “You look good too. Suit fits you.”

“Family trait.” Gastón laughed and offered his hand to her. “Shall we?”

“You want us to just go to the rink?” She asked. “We haven’t told anybody yet.”

It was true. It had been few days now, but they hadn’t told anybody about their reconciliation, not even Luna and Matteo… They had just discreetly started their rendezvous at the Blake library again.

“Well, why tell when we can just show?” Gastón suggested. “What do we have to hide?”

“We have nothing to hide.” Nina nodded. She grabbed Gastón’s hand, and he pulled her to her feet—

—or that should have happened, since Nina still managed to trip on her feet and would have fallen if Gastón hadn’t grabbed her.

“You still can’t stand straight on your skates, can you?” He teased her while moving his hand on her back.

“I honestly don’t know how I’m supposed to stay up the whole party.” Nina shook her head as he helped her up.

“Well, that’s easily solved.” Gastón smirked. “You can just hold onto me the whole time.”

His other hand lifted her chin, bringing her face closer to him—

“Oh, hey.” They turned around to see Delfi entering the dressing room. “Sorry to interrupt, but I need to grab a lip gloss… Well, it is nice to see that both of you took my advice and clearly didn’t waste any time—”

“Both of us?” Nina and Gastón looked at each other and then Delfi again.

“Honestly, maybe I should be a matchmaker…” Delfi kept going, “...or a life coach.” She turned back to Nina and Gastón, “By the way, maybe now you two could teach me stuff with the camera together? Also, what are you waiting for? Are you not coming to the rink?”

“Yes, we are.” Gastón nodded and grabbed Nina’s hand.

They skated to the rink where the party was already in full swing.

“Oh, there is Juliana.” Nina pointed toward the center of the rink.

“Right.” Gastón looked toward the rink and felt a hint of stress inside of him. There had been so many things on his mind, so he had almost completely forgotten that Juliana had said that she was going to treat the party as an audition. Well, he would just have to wing it…

“Hey! We should go show her some moves.” Delfi turned toward him before looking at Nina, “If you don’t mind that, that I steal him for just a minute.”

“No, I don’t mind.” She shook her head, “I am no help with impressing Juliana on the skates.” Nina squeezed Gastón’s hand. “Go.”

“Okay.” Gastón took Nina’s hand and kissed her knuckles before skating off with Delfi.

***

“That was a battle.” Gastón remarked as he and Nina wheeled into the locker room.

“They were both good.” Nina nodded. “No wonder it was a tie.”

“Yep.” Gastón nodded again. “Now they just have to fight about who they sing with. Well, good thing that it is not our problem.”

“Very much so.” Nina looked at him. “Those tricks you did with Delfi were really impressive by the way.”

“Well thank you.”

“Surely Juliana will be impressed…” Nina continued. She looked at Gastón again and saw that he had been staring at her the whole time. “What are you looking at?”

“You are so beautiful.” He moved closer to her.

“You’ve told me that about hundred times today.” She laughed.

“Well, gotta make up for all the time I couldn’t say it.” Gastón smiled. Nina instinctively leaned against the end of the locker row as he moved even closer. His arm wrapped around her waist—

“Nina?” Nina had already closed her eyes in anticipation of the kiss until she heard an additional voice. Both she and Gastón turned to look.

“Xavi? What are you doing here?” It truly was Xavi, who was standing at the entrance of the locker room, with a very confused expression. Where had he come from?

Nina looked at Gastón. He didn’t look embarrassed in the slightest, actually, he was smirking and looked somewhat pleased that Xavi had witnessed what he had.

“I came to look for you…” Xavi opened his mouth. “Are you—?”

“She’s completely fine if that’s what you’re wondering about.” Gastón interjected. “I assure you.”

“Yes, I am.” Nina nodded before looking at him. “Can you leave us for a moment, so I can explain to him. It’ll just be a minute.”

“Don’t worry, I trust you.” Gastón kissed her on her cheek and his arm briefly flew around her waist again, he was clearly making a point. He also winked at her before wheeling out of the locker room.

“Xavi look—” Nina started. She mentally told herself that she had nothing to be ashamed of or feel bad about. She loved Gastón and nothing was gonna change that. “—I told you, from the beginning, that things between Gastón and I were complicated.”

“Well, they don’t seem that complicated anymore.” Xavi pointed out.

“No, they aren’t.” Nina admitted. “We talked it out and… I love him and never stopped. I told you that I wasn’t sure if anything was over yet, but I am sorry—”

“You don’t need to be sorry.” Xavi shook his head. “I’m an artist, I understand the impact the feelings have in life. Otherwise there would be no art. There is nothing you can do to change your feelings.”

“Thank you.” Nina nodded, “I’m glad to have you as a friend.”

“Me too.” Xavi nodded expressionlessly. “I came to tell you that I received a permanent placement at the artistic residency, but I’m turning it down now.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Well, the courses are great, but I came here to see you,” Xavi continued. “but I see that I am way too late and your heart is occupied. There is no reason for me to stay. It’s better for both of us. I will never forget you.”

“Me neither.” Nina looked after him as he walked out and sighed relieved.

“Well, that went well.” Gastón wheeled back in, instantly after Xavi had gone.

“Were you listening?” Nina questioned.

“Of course I was.” He grinned at her. “Just to make things clear—” he grabbed her around the waist and kissed her so passionately that her mind went spinning. “—I love you.”

“I love you too. There could have never been anyone else while you were in my life.”

“Okay…” They were about to kiss again, but then suddenly were interrupted by Matteo’s voice. They turned around to see Matteo and Luna looking at them. “When were you gonna tell us?”

{}

The whole back and forth with Gastina S2 was so frustrating. So we've fixed it now. Honestly, Delfi was the one who helped Gastón and Nina get together at end of S1, but it is never mentioned again. Why wasn't it? Why weren't they friends? I am also a firm supporter of Gastón and Delfi as skating partners and as friends. Also, I didn't want to go over board with Xavi hate since...he's a little creepy and pushy in S2, but in the end he was a nice guy. At leats he took *no* as an answer, unlike certain other people (the bar is in hell).

#soy luna #gastina #soy luna fanfiction #Soy Luna Season 2 #Soy Luna season 2 rewrite #We'll see where this will go

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countessofravenclaw · 1 year ago

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Puede la ondulación cambiar una marea? part eight

Have you ever imagined what would happen if instead of of making Ambar Sol, Sharon would have aproached her problem with more level-headedness? What if, instead of throwing her daughter's life into a curve she just fires the Valentes, in hopes that they go back to Mexico and never find out the truth? Well, it was never going to be that easy, "everything you want you can achieve" being the family motto and all the for the Valentes after all. Monica and Miguel, could easily find another job, and so they do, with another family. A family that ends up being a bit of a surprise for Luna and all her friends.

“Lass uns später noch einmal darüber reden. Danke dir übrigens!” Gastón heard his mother speak on the phone as he entered the dining room. It had been a while since he had heard her speak German.

Both of his parents spoke few languages outside of English—because who didn’t know how to speak that? They both spoke Portuguese, German, at least moderate French and Gastón wasn’t sure which Scandinavian language it was, but his Dad knew some of that as well.

“Darling,” Isla took off her handsfree earpiece as she saw him and looked at her watch, “you’re up already?”

“Yeah,” Gastón nodded, “Did I interrupt your business call?”

“No, it was ending anyway.” Isla shook her head and walked closer to him around the table, “How are you feeling? Should you be up?”

“I’ve spent the last 36 hours staring at four walls, and I’m getting sick of it,” Gastón sighed, “I’m good.”

“You sure?” Isla looked at him, “You’re not having any chest pain?”

“No,” Gastón shook his head again.

“Blurry vision or any memory problems?”

“I can recite for you the full fire department ranking system if you want,” He sat down on a chair, “Mom, you’re just going through a checklist.”

“You bet I am,” Gastón had never seen so much worry in either of his parents' eyes than during the past few days. “Two days ago, you were in the hospital. I’m sorry if we're being a bit cautious, but that is our right.”

“Okay,” He sighed again, “Where’s Dad?”

“Calvin gave us a contact in the OFI, so he’s talking to them. We are not going to wait for any official report from the school to know what actually happened. You’re not going back in there before we do.”

“Morning!!” Luna jumped into the dining room.

“Morning,” Isla looked at her, “How are you feeling?”

“100 percent!” Luna jumped up briefly. “I texted Juliana last night, and the training starts back up tomorrow and since the school is still canceled so we can train for longer, which is amazing. I thought I’d go to the rink today to get a feel for it back. I’ve been away from the rink for a few days, and I honestly feel like I can’t breathe.”

“That is maybe not the best idea.” Isla responded to her.

“What?” Luna stared.

“That you go to the rink,” Isla crossed her arm.

“Why?”

“You were in the hospital too, let's not forget that,” Isla looked at Luna, “Smoke inhalation is serious, no matter what level. My father taught me that a long time ago, the biggest reason for fire fatalities is the smoke and carbon monoxide, not the actual fire. That is why they wear those masks. The doctors said that you should take it easy for a few days, and since you don’t even have practice, you shouldn’t go.”

“But I feel fine,” Luna tried, “I’ve been resting for two days. I need to train. It’s important!”

“Your health is much more important. I’m sorry Luna, but this isn’t your decision to make. It’s ours, and the answer is no. You can go tomorrow, when you’ve rested today and let the antibiotics do their job. There is no reason for you to try to exert yourself as soon as you can.”

“But…” Luna sat down.

“No buts. We’re responsible for you, and you have to allow us to do that.”

“It is very pointless to try to argue with her,” Gastón said to Luna, “I’ve tried for almost 18 years.”

“And you haven’t succeeded many times, have you?” Isla looked at him slightly more amused.

“And this is just one of them, it is worse when there are two.”

“What was that?” Marco walked into the dining room.

“Nothing.” Gastón said quickly as his dad looked at him. “And if you’re about to ask me the same checklist, don’t bother, Mom already did that. I’m good.”

“Good.” Marco nodded as he placed his hand on Isla’s back.

“What did they say?” She asked him.

“The investigation has been completed, and the report that they will give to the school classifies the fire as an accident caused by flammable printer inks being stored improperly. The storage unit had a distribution board that short circuited and the sparks caught on the fluids. They never should have been stored there.”

“So, Blake has a logistic issue?” Isla shook her head, “Someone could have died.”

“It is unbelievable,” She and Marco looked at Gastón, “It is a big hit for the school administration that can’t just be damage controlled. They’ll be forced to take a hard look at things now.”

“So, am I allowed to go to school anymore or not?” Gastón asked, “Because it's kind of hard to graduate if I’m not allowed to step into the building.”

“We’ll talk to the school board tomorrow,” Isla responded, “but as of now if all the necessary security measures have been taken, which they have promised they’d do, Luna can go on Tuesday. Gastón, the doctor signed you off for at least 12 days, so you’re not going anywhere before that. Don’t you even dare to think about the rink.”

“Wasn’t planning on.” He sighed while looking at his phone. He could admit that much that he was in no shape to actually skate right now.

“Oh, and Luna,” Marco changed the subject, “I also had the chance to talk with Lukie.”

“Who?” Luna looked confused.

“She’s the associate that Alexei has in the case of your visitations,” Marco explained, “Unfortunately, the in-person visits are being pushed to one time every three weeks.”

“That’s like once a month!!” Luna exclaimed, “I can’t see Mom and Dad more than that?”

“It is extremely unfair, but they’re arguing the severity of the case. Lukie said that this should be temporary, and she’ll set it straight, because it is infringing on your rights. Important thing is that you have rights and one of them actually is phone times.”

“What are those?” Luna asked again. All the legal terms had gone right over her head.

“You’re entitled to one hour phone calls, twice a week.”

“I’ll get to talk with Mom and Dad?!?!” Luna jumped up from the table.

“Yes,” Marco handed Luna a phone. “I scheduled one for you for today, at 12. The call will come from the detention facility, there is someone surveying it on your parents’ end and it will be recorded, so you can’t plan a jailbreak, but that’s better than nothing. We can go over later how you can schedule the calls yourself. It will come to this.”

“Why can’t they just call my phone?” Luna asked, even if she was almost too excited to care.

“We are not giving the detention facility your phone number,” Isla shook her head, “We don’t trust the place, and the more it is out there, the more it can leak. That is an old phone that we got a temporary operator on, works for phone calls just fine.”

“You said 12?” Luna asked and suddenly checked her own phone, “OMG! That’s like in an hour. I need to call Simon about this!!” She jumped up from the table and turned to leave before turning back and looking at Isla and Marco, “Thank You.”

Then she ran off.

“This should have been disclosed as an opportunity from the beginning,” Isla said Marco. “Did Lukie say why it hadn't?”

“She promised to get to the bottom of this.” Marco nodded. “But honestly, I don’t know. The police and the facilities aren’t clearly thinking what sort of effects this situation can have on a child.”

“Hey! Luna just zoomed past me. Has something happened?” Suddenly Gastón heard a voice behind him.

“Nina?” He got up from the chair and turned around to see her walk into the dining room. “How did you get in here?”

“We gave her the key and clearances when you were in the hospital,” Isla explained, “Did we not tell you?”

“No,” Gastón shook his head as he walked to his girlfriend, “You didn’t tell me either.”

“I thought you knew.” She responded before he closed her in a tight hug—not as tight as he would have wanted though, given the burn on his arms was sensitive to pressure.

“We thought it would be best for you if she gets in here as easily as possible.”

“You thought right,” Gastón smiled—

He momentarily closed his eyes and had to place his hand on the table to steady himself for a moment, before he almost lost his balance.

“Sit down.” His dad had rushed to his side as soon as he had started feeling dizzy. He placed his hand on his forehead, “You’re looking really pale. Do you feel feverish at all?”

“No,” Gastón shook his head as he sat down, “Why would I have a fever?”

“It would be a sign that you’re developing an infection.” He felt three pairs of concerned eyes land on him as he sat back down on the chair. Marco’s hand moved to his shoulder. “At that point if there is a sliver of a sign, we won’t be having a conversation about why, but we’ll already be going. You wanna argue with me about alarm symptoms?”

Who wanted to argue about taking illness symptoms seriously with a person who had to look over his own parents his whole adolescent and young adult life while they slowly lost their battle with cancer?

“No,” Gastón sighed, “but I’m…”

“If you say that you’re fine one more time… We’re not taking any chances here, not with you.”

“Okay,” Gastón relented, “My head’s killing me, I feel dizzy and fatigued and my throat kind of hurts. Is that what you want to hear?”

“Yes.” The word came unanimously from his parents' mouths.

“Your condition was serious enough to warrant over 24 hours in the hospital. It is not gonna go back to normal in a few days, just because you got discharged.” Marco continued, “That’s not gonna be something we're gonna take lightly and nor should you, no matter how stubborn you want to be about it. Your grandmother was like that though, so I guess the genes make sense. You really should go lie down and try to at least drink something every hour to keep the blood sugar up.”

“I’ll take him,” Nina said and pulled Gastón by the arm. “Come on.”

“Well, it is good to know that when he doesn’t want to listen to us, he listens to her.” Isla remarked.

“We better keep her on our side.” Marco wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

“It does do good to see him be so love struck. I stand by my statement. He has your eyes, the light is shining from them exactly the same way.”

“We both have a good reason for it.” He kissed her one her temple before sighing, “I have about ten thousand emails I need to respond to.”

“I’ll join you in a minute,” Isla responded, “We haven’t picked up the post in at least a week. We really need to transfer all the bills into online ones.”

***

“Yeah, I get to talk with them!!” Luna sat on her bed while talking to Simon. “I miss Mom and Dad so much.”

“That is great,” Simon responded. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Luna rolled her eyes, “I mean I felt like coughing yesterday still, but now it feels like I am bursting with energy. I miss the rink.”

“Why not come today?” Simon suggested, “Since you’re not sick anymore. Juliana has us working late even if we’re not training.”

“I wanted to, but I’m not allowed,” Luna sighed, “I can come tomorrow for the training, but today I need to rest.”

“You’re being kept as a prisoner?” Simon’s tone changed.

“Not like that,” Luna laughed slightly, “but it’s not like I can sneak out. The gate keeps a record of who opens it, I think, or something like that. I guess, I’ll have to admit that they’re right, kind of, and Mom and Dad wouldn’t want me to overdo it either.”

***

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Simon hung up the phone and sat on the stage of Jam and Roller with his guitar.

“Was that Luna?” Jim and Yam walked to him.

“Yeah,” Simon nodded.

“How’s she doing?” Yam asked. “I still can’t believe the whole fire thing. School is starting back up on Tuesday.”

“We thought we’d ask Nina, but she’s not here is she?” Jim looked around, “I guess we could call Luna herself too. We’d go visit her, but we don’t know where she lives.”

“You wouldn't be able to get in even if you did,” Simon sighed, “There is a heavy-duty gate there.”

“Was that what you meant when you mentioned someone being kept a prisoner?” Yam asked, “...or was that about her parents. That is still an absolutely horrible situation for Luna. How can the world be so unjust?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I could survive that.” Jim leaned her head on Yam’s shoulder.

“Luna is strong,” Simon nodded, “She’s alright, that's what she said. But they aren’t letting her come to the rink. Apparently Gastón’s parents are quite protective.”

“Gastón’s parents? Protective?” Jim and Yam stared at him. “He has never seemed like he has strict parents. From what we have seen, he has gotten to do what he wants most part.”

“Yeah, and it’s not like making sure she’ll rest after getting stuck in a fire is super controlling.” Yam continued, “My mom wouldn’t let me come to rink if it had been me, and she’s a doctor.”

“Mine too,” Jim nodded, “I mean, that she would make me rest and that she’s a doctor. Twinsies.”

“Wait, do you know them too?” Simon asked, confused.

“No not personally like Matteo does or how Nina does now too,” Jim shook her head, “But we do know that they’re kind of a big deal, I guess everyone does. Apparently Isla and Marco Perida are considered quite a power couple in some circles.”

“I’ve maybe looked them up a few times,” Yam admitted, “Not for Gastón’s sake or anything—he’d probably hate for any special consideration—but because Isla has such a beautiful style.”

“I think we can all agree that none of us could have ever predicted that out of every crazy scenario that’s out there, Luna and Gastón would become siblings.” Jim laughed.

“They aren’t siblings.” Simon noted.

“Good as, though. Nina must be happy. She’s getting to have her best friend and boyfriend at the same house and basically as brother and sister.”

***

“Thanks for saving me.” Gastón said as Nina pulled the door to his room shut. “Mom and Dad, they just—”

“I didn’t save you from anything,” Nina crossed her arms and looked at him disapprovingly. “I agree with them.” She walked closer and took his face into her hands, “You look terrible. You need to lie down.”

“Okay,” Gastón nodded and sat on his bed. Truth be told, he was feeling quite a bit of drowsiness and fatigue. “Only if you come here.”

“You should actually try to rest.” Nina looked at him skeptically.

“I feel worse if you’re not next to me.”

Nina laughed slightly before lying next to him on the bed. She ran her hand on his right forearm, on top of the bandage. “Does this hurt?”

“A little bit.” He nodded slightly.

“Sorry, I’ll stop.”

“If I make it to the competition, I’ll need to wear long sleeves.” Gastón remarked. “We don’t want to scare the judges. I mean my face alone will be a sight, because there is no hope that the scar will disappear in two months' time.”

“You can always ask Jazmin to cover it up.” Nina suggested while tracing the stitches on his forehead. Gastón was right that it wasn't the prettiest sight, but it was not like she cared. He was good looking either way.

“I’ll probably have to do that, but I do hope that it fades,” Gastón sighed, “For Mom and Dad’s sake if no one else. I don’t want there to be a visual reminder of all of this that they need to see every day. I mean they’re already so freaked out.”

“Anyone would be, especially in their situation.” Nina ran her hand through his hair, “They can’t stand the thought of losing you.”

“I know,” Gastón nodded, “I mean the feeling is mutual, especially now, as we get along so well at the moment.”

“When have you not gotten along with your parents?” Nina asked.

“Never, honestly, at least like that,” He nodded, “We don’t have any drama. But like, I guess what I mean is that, now as they’ve been forced to work more from here and not been able to travel as much, they’re so much less stressed and not overcompensating all the time…and I like that they’re home.”

“Of course you do.”

“I might even believe that they could soon be recovering workaholics,” Gastón continued, “And…Luna’s situation is not ideal in the slightest, but Mom and Dad were never meant to be one and done parents. They absolutely didn’t want to be but were forced to. Now that they have someone else dividing and redirecting that energy, it is helping them immensely. It is not all directed at me, which is actually really nice, because it could get a little overwhelming.”

“Not just anyone would be able to look after a child not their own so naturally.” Nina noted, “Luna’s also easy to love, but it is admirable. My parents weren’t able to take care of one kid, their own, me, together. I guess the fact that they barely could stand each other factors into it heavily, but that’s like the opposite of your parents. They can’t keep their eyes off each other.”

“Like I can’t keep my eyes off you,” Gastón brushed some hair out of her face. “I guess it is a family trait.”

They lied in comfortable silence for a while.

“Are you cold?” Nina ran her hand on his forearm. “I can grab a blanket…”

“I’m okay. Don’t worry.” Gastón laughed slightly as Nina started getting up from the bed.

“I’m gonna soon respond the same way your dad did,” She shook her head. “I’m gonna worry, especially when you tell me not to.”

“Okay, okay,” Gastón relented, “I’m not okay, but the only one who can tell how I am feeling is me too. So, you need to believe me as well. I’m not cold and that would be a fever symptom.”

“I’m sorry,” Nina sat back down on the bed next to his head and ran her fingers through his hair, “I just… I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you. I love you and I’m gonna worry about you. I never thought this could even be possible.”

“You need to give yourself some credit. I’m the one who had to chase you down.” Gastón looked up at her. This wasn’t the first time the thought of how beautiful a ring would look on her finger had crossed his mind. He was turning 18 next week, so obviously it was an absolutely loco of a thought, but God, he loved her. There were no limits or rules on love, but he would need to tough it out for at least a few years, before making that dream a reality.

“Gastón?” Suddenly there was a knock on the door and his mother’s voice, “Can we come in?”

“Sure.” Gastón pushed himself up more in a sitting position as his parents came through the door.

“Don’t. You don’t need to get up.”

“I’m not on bed rest,” He shook his head, “I read the doctor's note too. Anyways, what is it?”

“This was in the post.” Isla handed Gastón an brown envelope that had the crest of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina printed on it. He had applied to a few universities in Buenos Aires during the fall after deciding that he didn’t want to go to Oxford. He had completely forgotten about that during all the mayhem and that responses would actually start coming at some point.

“These come in post?” He turned it in his hands.

“Apparently from UCA they do.” Marco responded. “It’s still pretty early for acceptance letters for most universities.”

“It could be a rejection,” Gastón shook his head, “Those are probably easy to pump out.”

“Stop that. You don’t know before you open it.” Nina placed her hands on his shoulders.

“Okay.” Gastón shook his head again and ripped the envelope open. The letter was a few pages long. On the top of the first page there was the crest of the university again. The actual text started below it…

We are pleased to extend you an official offer of admission to the Class of 2022 at Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in the faculty of Exact Sciences and Engineering…

“I got in.”

“That’s amazing!” Nina hugged him tightly and kissed him on the cheek. Gastón clearly wasn’t satisfied with that as he turned his head and lifted her chin so he could softly kiss her on the lips. Nina forgot at that moment that they were literally in front of his parents, but she didn’t really care.

“We are so proud of you.” But they still were there. “Not exactly surprised, you are so smart. We always had that faith in you. UCA is a good school.”

“But it’s not Oxford.” Gastón rolled his eyes.

“I thought we already had this conversation?” Marco looked at him.

“I guess we did,” Gastón sighed. “Tell me something. Would you even let me go?”

“Honest answer?” Isla tightened her grip on Marco’s hand as they glanced at each other. “It is always going to be your choice, but with everything that has happened, it would be extremely hard for us if you were across the ocean.”

“Well, it is a good thing that I don’t want to go.”

***

Luna groaned as she stared at the exercise sheet. Her head was completely swimming, and all the numbers were just looking like blobs. She was never going to get this.

Blake was not going to let it slide, she was sure of it. Luna couldn’t even blame her concentration struggles on the effects of the fire, because it had happened over a month ago.

SHE JUST DIDN’T GET MATH. These stupid numbers were standing in between her and the Roda Fest, which was the only thing she wanted to focus on. Skating was the one thing that had stayed constant in her life, and she needed it more than ever right now.

Luna blew air out of her mouth and threw her pencil across the living room. Instead of landing on the floor it landed in a vase next to the TV.

“Ups.” Luna got up from the couch and started fishing the pencil out, careful not to disturb the giant and gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers.

Marco had brought them to Isla last Sunday. Apparently, it was some sort of tradition they had going on for over 20 years and had something to do with the first rays of the summer sun.

Well, Luna thought it was extremely romantic. Sunflowers had some sort of a special meaning for them, when it came to love. Luna didn’t know what, but she maybe should ask Nina.

Luna quickly realized that she didn’t even know how long Isla and Marco had been married. Gastón was 18 years old, so longer than that…but technically that wasn’t guaranteed.

Anyways. Luna got her pencil out of the water and sat back down on the couch.

Nope, the numbers had not started to make any sense in the meantime.

“¡Esto es imposible!” She wanted to pull her hair out.

“What is?”

“Oh sorry.” Luna spun her head around and saw Marco standing next to the piano. “I didn’t mean to yell. Did I interrupt something?”

“That’s not important.” He walked closer. “What’s going on?”

“I’m just trying to do my homework,” Luna shook her head. “And I don’t get it, which is gonna put me in danger of failing the year… Again.”

“Well, you clearly didn’t fail last year.” Marco had walked around the couch and was standing next to Luna now.

“I almost did.” Luna huffed, “I lost my final project on top of a van.”

“What?”

“Seriously,” Luna nodded, “I was in a hurry and placed my laptop on top of a van and when I turned around it was gone. I never got it back and had to write the whole thing again. I did pass, in the end.”

“Okay,” Marco looked a little confused as he sat next to her. “You might wanna keep your computer in your bag, so you avoid that.”

“I learned my lesson.”

“So, are these differential derivatives that you are having trouble with?” Marco looked at Luna’s math sheets.

“Yeah,” Luna leaned back on the couch.

“You are taught to use the formula?”

“I think so…” Luna leafed through her math book. “It’s the thing with the lime or was it limena…? I don’t know.”

“Limit. They are called limits.” Marco responded.

“Yeah, but I still don’t get it,” Luna shook her head, “Nina has tried to teach me in like a thousand different ways.”

“You know that I work in finance and economics?” Marco asked her.

“Yeah.”

“Well, derivatives, bounds, terraces in flow diagrams are all the baseline of my job. We use calculators nowadays, but we didn’t have those in the start of the 21st century.”

“I’d love a calculator.” Luna remarked, “So you probably know how to do these really well.”

“Yes, given I’ve made my whole career on them,” Marco nodded, “but I can tell you a secret. I don’t actually understand that formula either.”

“Then how do you do it then?” Luna asked, extremely confused now. If a professional didn’t know how to use the freaking formula that she was supposed to learn, then how was she supposed to do it?

“There is another way to do it in practice.” Marco explained, “The schools teach the formula, which is the academic and “proper” way to do it with proofs and literature and all, it really works for people who think very academically. You seem to think on your feet a lot, so a more practical approach might work. See, if you just look at this one: The x is to the fourth power, so if you derive it, you just take the power, so four and it becomes the coefficient, and the power gets reduced by one. So, this would become four times x to the power of three. Do you understand?”

“Maybe,” Luna looked at her paper again and took her pencil in her hand, “So, you just take the smaller number that is in the corner and put it in the front, and then just the upper one becomes smaller?”

Luna drew the new equation on the paper and looked at Marco who nodded.

“That is exactly how you can think that. That is correct what you just did there. The answer is exactly the same as it would be with the formula, just with fewer steps.”

“Can’t believe it,” Luna did another problem. “How can you just understand it like that? It’s so much more easier.”

“Isla actually likes to say that I make numbers look like art,” Marco smiled slightly, “I don’t personally understand that, but she’s usually right and I am not good at arguing with her. Has she done your hair again?”

“Oh yeah,” Luna nodded while running her hand on what Isla had called something along the lines of three-way four-strand dragon braid. “It’s really pretty.”

“She has a magical eye for beauty. Has that effect in everything she touches, at least for as long as I have known her.”

“How did you meet?” Luna asked. She was actually genuinely quite curious.

“University, 1996 to be exact.” Marco answered. “I majored in Economics and Business Administration, she did marketing. Both of our classes for the masters took place at the same campus, and part of her studies she had to complete a few photography courses that I was taking for fun. She needed some help with those and that's how our paths crossed. Two years later, we didn’t really celebrate our graduations, we got married. The saying that you meet the love of your life when you least expect it is actually very true. That is the bare bones of it, ask later when there is more time and the two of us. I don’t even know all of it. You should finish your homework.”

“Okay,” Luna turned back to her math problems and again to her surprise, actually managed to complete all of them, within 15 minutes.

She had to tell Nina, so she grabbed her phone and was about to text her when her phone screen froze.

“Ugh, not again.” Luna groaned and tapped the screen again, to somehow revive it.

“What?” Marco had been writing some email on his phone.

“This has nothing to do with math,” Luna shook her head, “My phone’s lagging. I don’t know why.”

“Can I see it?” Luna handed her phone to him. “How old is this?”

“Two years, I think.” Luna responded.

“Then it definitely shouldn't just randomly freeze.” Marco looked at the phone.

“I mean, I don’t know, but it has started doing that a lot recently. Almost like it has gotten worse.” Luna continued. “Out of nowhere.”

“My wild guess would be smoke damage.”

“Smoke damage?” Luna asked, confused. “How does that work?”

“Smoke particles can clog internal components of electronics.” Marco went to grab a tablet from a shelf in the living room. “It very well could be it, given the fire and that the issue has just gotten progressively worse. What model is that?”

“I don’t know.” Luna shook her head.

“Okay,” The phone had stopped freezing, so Marco opened some sort of tab on it, “Galaxy J2. It’s an Android so you probably don’t want to change that. They probably don’t make that size anymore.” He took his own phone out and handed it to Luna, “Hold this. Is this sort of a size too big for you.”

“Yeah,” Luna held the phone, a little bit confused about what was going on. “My fingers can’t even reach the buttons. What are you doing?”

“Well, you can't have a malfunctioning phone. It is only gonna get worse.” Marco took his phone back from Luna, while typing something on the tablet. “Okay, this is the Note 8, which is a tad bit bigger than what you have now.”

“I’m going to Matteo’s. Don’t wait on me for dinner.” Gastón walked down the stairs at that moment.

“Wait, Gastón,” Marco stopped him. “Does your phone work?”

“Not a random question at all, Dad,” Gastón looked at them, “but now that you mention it, it has been kind of lagging. I should probably boot the hard drive or something—”

“You should have said. If both of yours are doing the same thing, then it definitely is smoke damage.” Marco noted.

“Smoke damage?” Gastón scrunched his eyebrows. “Okay, that would actually make sense.”

“Order a new one. Today.” Marco told him. “Get an X at least, but get in a delivery today, so it comes tomorrow at the latest.”

“Okay.” Gastón nodded and walked out of the door.

“Wait, is that what you're doing?” Luna asked as Marco had turned back to his tablet, “Getting me a new phone?”

“I can repeat myself. You can’t have one that doesn’t work. That is dangerous. So would this be okay?” He showed Luna a model on the tablet.

“Uh, sure.” Luna responded. She knew nothing about phone models and things were happening fast. Luna never realized that buying phones was this easy of a process…or it was with people with money.

The more comfortable Luna got with the whole situation, the more she kept forgetting that Isla and Marco in fact were millionaires and on top of their game with their careers. Luna had been expecting at the start that they’d hire replacements for Mom and Dad, but that had not happened. No one seemed to be bothered one bit that they didn’t have staff anymore.

“Good.” Marco nodded, “So it is the Note 8. You can look for some cases for it yourself, because you probably know better what you want on that front. You’ll get it tomorrow. Your old one will hopefully work for another 12 hours.”

“Okay,” Luna nodded. “Thank you—”

Isla walked out of the hallway to the living room, looking really annoyed.

“What’s wrong?” Marco turned his attention to her at once.

“The call I had with CICSA was supposed to last maybe an hour. A very simple job, but they are apparently determined to make it as difficult as possible.”

“Surely nothing you can’t handle.” He responded to her with a very affectionate tone.

“No, but they’re really pushing it.” Isla shook her head. She wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck and buried her face on his shoulder for a moment. “The contract has to now go through some other administrator branch, which is completely unnecessary. They are just messing things up and making it a hundred times more complicated. Who knows how long this will take now. Threw all of my plans out of order for today, because I very well couldn’t tell them that the call needed to be finished because I was late for my hair appointment. There would have gone all of my professional reputation down the train, but it was very tempting.”

“They don’t know what’s coming for them if they don’t start to be cooperate.”

“They definitely don’t,” Isla laughed, “I got a message out to Larol that I need to delay that appointment. It was possible, because I’m not getting dye or anything, just a cut. I do need to be careful, because anything close to shoulder length makes me look—”

“You don’t look old.”

“And you’re biased. Anyway, what were you talking about here?”

“It looks like their phones have suffered some smoke damage, effects of which are only coming apparent now.” Marco explained.

“Really?” Isla raised her head, concerned look in her face. “Good thing you caught that, before they leave for Cancun and everything.”

“It is,” They turned to look at Luna, who had been gathering her math papers. “Remember, if you need something, you can say it.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.” She nodded.

“Speaking off, before your trip and everything, do you want any clothes?” Isla asked.

“Uh, I am not sure.” Luna shook her head. That was not something she had ever thought of.

“Think about it. It’s better to handle those things now than in two weeks' time when you're literally leaving and busy with that.”

“I guess,” Luna shrugged, “but I am terrible at shopping.”

“You want help?” Isla looked at the clock on the wall, “I’m just leaving for my hair appointment which won’t take long, so how about you come with me, and we’ll get some clothes for you afterwards.”

“Uhm, sure.” Luna responded. “Why not?”

“If you’re all ready to go, we can leave now.”

“Okay.” Luna got up from the couch.

“I honestly don’t really believe that anyone can be “good” or “bad” at shopping.” Isla said as Luna followed her to the garage. “It is not like it’s an art or a competition. Everyone has a different eye, but in the end they’re just clothes.”

“Maybe, but I’ve gotten a bunch of weird looks on how I dress.” Luna remarked.

“I think the way you dress is adorable,” Isla said as she pressed the car key and lights flickered on the car at the far left, the light blue car.

Luna had never ridden on that before, Gastón drove that black one when they went to school. When Luna had been driven to the prison and stuff it had usually been the dark blue car, which Marco was often driving even if Isla was with them. Obviously, she knew how to drive too. She was an adult after all.

“It is always nice to see color in kids your age. Some try to dress way too grown up. I used to be a talented drifter when I was younger and we had no money to go around, but some of those choices were a bit questionable. That was also the 80s and 90s, so everything was a tad bit questionable. The only thing I can truly not question that came from the 90s was my choice of husband.”

***

“Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho.” Juliana counted out steps while standing on the side of the rink, “Around, together, lift and stop.”

The team of Jam and Roller took the final pose on their choreography.

“Okay, well done everyone!” Julina nodded her head in approval, “I have to say, I wasn’t 100 % sure we would be able to pull this off. Some of the reasons obviously haven’t been your fault, so I won’t say another word about those. I am glad that everyone is okay. but right now I an say that, I think we are truly ready for the Roda Fest.”

Gastón was standing next to Matteo, who lightly patted his back as Juliana spoke. He had managed to get back into practice after a few weeks, and his arm had healed so no lifts had needed to be cut, although it had required a few extra training sessions into some late hours. Delfi, surprisingly, had been extremely patient with it, which was surprising in itself. Miracles could truly happen, and Pedro clearly was having a good influence on that. Anyways, they were in great shape now and ready to take Cancun by storm.

“Okay, I’ll see you all here tomorrow at 8:00 am sharp. So, everyone will be here on time, with all of your personal documents, luggage and NO ONE WILL BE LATE. If you are, you’ll be left behind.” Juliana eyed everyone in the team. “And please have your passports in order. Once we get to the airport, we are going to be in a time crunch. At Cancun we have a strict schedule.”

“Oh, you’d think we are joining the army.” Ramiro joked, “We are gonna kick some Slider butt, but can’t we also have fun?”

“There is time for that, but we need to take this seriously,” Juliana gave him a death glare. “Now, all of you need to go home and pack. Make sure that your skates are in your carry on. You cannot lose them, because there is no magical Skate Machine that will make you new skates.”

“Yes sir!” Simon made a mock salute.

“I will ignore that for now,” Juliana smiled slightly. “Go to sleep early. See you tomorrow.”

“Wait, guys, before you go. Come here.” Luna stopped everyone, “Do you guys understand? We are seriously gonna be going to the finale at Roda Fest!!! We’ve been through a lot as a team, and we have made it. It’s finally here!!”

“Bring it in here!” Ramiro threw his hand into the center of the circle, “We are gonna go, and we’re gonna show everyone, and we are gonna win.”

“FOR JAM AND ROLLER!!!” The team joined hands and threw them to the sky.

***

“Luna, how many different neon tops are you planning on taking?” Nina sat on Luna's bed while she was throwing clothes on the floor.

“I don’t know,” Luna shook her head. “All of them.”

“We’ll be there for two weeks, not moving permanently.” Nina noted. “Hey look, I’ll teach you a technique that Mom taught me. Count the days we’ll be away and pick an outfit for each one. Then divide the days by three and take that number of extra outfits. So, you need about 18 different outfits.”

“That is a lot,” Luna blobbed to sit down on the floor, “Hey, you sure you have time to help me with this? Won’t Gastón miss you?”

“I think he’ll survive if I help you for an hour,” Nina laughed, “It is all so much easier now that I can let myself in, almost like I am part of the family.”

“I mean you are,” Luna remarked, “I think everyone agrees here on that.”

“Hopefully someday officially.” Nina smiled as she looked down at a pile of Luna’s clothes. “What’s this one?” She held up a white skirt with a bunch of colorful flowers.

“Oh, Isla bought that for me,” Luna responded, “It’s really pretty.”

“It is.” Nina nodded, “If it was her, then I am not surprised. She has amazing taste.”

“Hey girls,” Isla walked into the room, “Everything okay here?”

“Yeah, we’re just packing,” Luna turned around from her closet, “Or trying…”

“I can see that.” Isla looked at all of the clothes on the floor. “You have everything else clear for the trip?”

“We’re taking the bus from Roller in the morning to the airport and flying to Cancun from there on a flight that departs at 10:25 am.” Nina read off her tablet.

“It is good that we can always trust you to be on top of things, Nina.” Isla smiled at her. “Are you staying for dinner, or do you need to go pack your own things?”

“I packed yesterday actually,” Nina explained, “Mom would nag at me all the time, if I hadn’t.”

“That sounds like Ana.” Isla nodded, “Okay, the reason why I actually came here was this.”

She handed Luna a plastic folder.

“What is it?” Luna asked, confused, “I already made sure 1000 times that I have my passport.” She pointed to her nightstand, where she had marked an area with her beads to hold that passport.

“More of a precaution,” Isla explained. “One of our friends is a social worker, so he gave us a few pointers on what we should be aware of as we are looking after you. It’s just a letter of consent that Marco and I signed that you are allowed to travel outside of the country without a guardian as a minor. It shouldn't be necessary as you aren’t in foster care and the custody agreement Alexei drew up is ironclad. It is just in case you run into some sort of issue.”

“Thanks.” Luna nodded.

“Are you excited to go?”

“Yeah of course I am!” Luna jumped up in the air. “I miss Mexico so much!”

“It is a good thing you have things to look forward to.” Isla smiled, “Well, I’ll leave you girls to it.”

“I haven’t really mentioned this, but it is really great how well you really get along,” Nina pointed out after Isla had gone.

“I mean yeah,” Luna smiled, “They’re really nice, you were right about that when you first told me and I was all freaked out.”

“They are.” Nina nodded.

“You know, it’s kind of weird that they don’t have more kids,” Luna pondered out loud while folding a shirt into the suitcase. “Because they’re really good at this.”

“You don’t know?” Nina dropped the socks she was rolling and looked at Luna.

“Know what?” Luna questioned.

“Isla and Marco can’t have children.” Nina said, looking at Luna.

“Wait what?” Luna looked even more confused now, “How does that even make sense? Gastón’s not adopted, is he? He’s—”

“He looks exactly like his father, and the golden streak in his eyes is from his mother. He also has the best qualities from both of them. Of course he is not.” Nina shook her head, “That’s not what I meant. I said it badly.”

“Then what did you mean?” Luna looked still extremely confused. “So, they had a kid and then couldn’t anymore?”

“When Gastón was one or so, Isla had some sort of serious medical complication. That was when they still lived in Cordoba. She had to have a hysterectomy, or she could have died.”

“Wow, that’s awful.” Luna sat on the bed. “How do you know this?”

“They told me.” Nina said simply, “I don’t think it’s a secret and they seem to have made peace with it, but it must have been devastating at the time. They were 24. One of the reasons that fueled their ambition to get where they are today and give Gastón a much better life. It’s not exactly a topic to be had over dinner or something so it probably just hasn’t come up.”

“I can’t even imagine going through something like that,” Luna sat back on the floor while sorting her suitcase, “I mean, it kind of sounds like Mom and Dad. They weren’t able to have kids, but then they adopted me. They left everything behind too, to give me a better education, even if it was after Senora Sharon.”

“That’s probably why you get along so well.” Nina noted.

{}

Well, look at that. We are back, because I write what I want whever I want. Not a lot of actually happened in this part (I had to split it because it was getting so long), but sometimes I nice to just breathe for a moment. Last part literally had a fire, so we dealt with the last of that aftermath and did some character interraction develobment. More often that not in the media, the Dad is often left as the least develobed charcter with least amouth of charcter building and interractions...We'll not in my house. Dads are important, even if the child is a girl. Also Luna learned some math in the process, and that was actually how I was tuagh to do deritaves, intead of the weird formula. Also, golden retriever husband energy, because Gastón absolutely has that in his gene pool. The way I determine is that he got his sentiviness, calming precese and artistic traits from his dad, while the headstrongness, sociability and chamingess from his mom. Something I live by while writing is that: normalize married couples being in love and acting accordingly, no matter how old (40 also isn't old in the slightest). Small public service anoucements here: I ahve actually written some original material about Isla and Marco specifically. Littel bit a stuff when they were 20, those afformentioned uni years. I am not gonna release that at that moment, because it is in my native language and because I've submited it into couple writing competitions. I'll uptate you on if some judge board declares that I am actually a good writer. Okay, next... Simon...We will talk about him little later, shall we. On the next part. We are going somewhere with this, I promise. Finally, again I am trying portray here that Luna is progressively getting more comfortable with the situation, that she's not the staff's daughter anymore, but basically family member. She's casually hanging in the living room while doing her homework and she doesn't call Isla and Marco "Gastón's parents" anymore.

#Soy Luna #soy luna fanfiction #Gastina #Lutteo #Soy Luna Season 2 #Gastteo #Au #Twist #This was just a stupid idea #But I am rolling with it #And having fun #and it's getting unhinged #because it has a plot now

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