#a big thing we were taught in nursing school was to have a questioning and curious attitude and i subconsciously adopted that better than

[wolfwarrior142]

It's heartbreaking to watch Claudia walk around with her staff before Terry makes her prosthetic. She's clearly struggling and it makes her look even more emotionally shattered while using it.

But also my nurse brain screams every time that she NEEDS to use it on her DOMINANT side. You need your weight centered on the good leg, not the affected one! Makes walking easier so your weight is put in the middle rather than on either side of your affected leg! Reduces the chance of pain developing in your unaffected leg too! You also won't look so slumped over that way! And it'll reduce your chance of falling because less of your weight will be put on your mobility aid and more on your unaffected leg!

But then I have to remind myself that she's only a young adult and probably never learned that and is Going Through It so she may not be able to think straight enough to realize that. Doesn't have a medical professional around to teach her. And she's also, ya know, a fictional character. (And the writers/animators either did it for the emotional aspect or cuz they don't realize that either)

Hasn't happened a lot, but the amount of times stuff has happened in the show that made my trained nurse brain go !!!!!!! is more than I would have expected. And this is the second time for Claudia.

[pinkthrone445]

-Let it burn to the ground- Part 2

Part 1

Pairing:Melissa Schemmenti x Reader

Gender:love, hurt, confort, funny, smut

Warnings:Mention about past trauma, fires, SEX! SEX YOUR SINFUL SOULS

Summary:Melissa lets the fire of love consume her when she meets the new chief of the fire station. And then she musters up the courage to take you on a date.

Your phone rang with a notification while you were lying down watching TV. Today was your day off and after dropping your child off at school and going to the gym, you came home to watch TV and get some rest. You wiped your hand full of Doritos powder on a napkin and took your cell phone

-🔥Miss Schementti🔥:"Hello chief, I hope that you are enjoying your day off... I'm exited about tonight..."-The redhead had sent you a message and you stared at your phone for a few seconds. While you had accepted the invitation the day before, it had been a while since you had a date and now you were questioning whether this was the right decision.

Your fingers danced on the keyboard without touching any keys while you chewed your lip, wondering what the appropriate response would be. Your cell phone vibrated again

-🔥Miss Schementti🔥:"I must warn you that I am not a person who eats little, not even in first dates, so do not get scared when you see me ask for another portion or two, you've been warned..."-The message made you laugh imagining her eating and the answer came naturally.

-You:"I get it, you don't have to worry, I'm also a big eater. In my childhood my nana taught me that if there was still room to breathe, there was room for food. Now I know how to stop when I'm satisfied, but it's not easy to get to that point either..."-You replied with a smile and your fingers danced again on the keyboard and then sent another message

-You:"Excited for tonight too... But I haven't played the dating game in a long time, be gentle with me please" - Your heart pounded from the nerves of admitting that, the bubbles that the redhead was writing seemed on screen for a few seconds and then disappeared. When 30 minutes went by without an answer, you questioned again if this date was a good idea. After a few more minutes, your cell phone rang again

-🔥Melissa Schemmenti🔥: "Sorry Chief, a kid put a bean in his nose and it got stuck and we had to go to the nurse, I even thought about calling you to come to the rescue, but I didn't wanted to bother you on your day off... Don't worry about tonight, we'll let things flow, step by step. I promise"-The message calmed you down somehow, and you decided to go through your closet to see what you would be wearing that night.

Later that day, you took your car and drove to pick up your son. As you waited for her class to come out, Melissa came up to you smiling and adjusting her jacket

-"Hey Chief..."-The redhead whispered, lengthening the vowels in a seductive tone

-"Hey Miss Schementti... Where are you taking me tonight?" - You consulted smiling watching as the redhead adjusted the jacket to her body because it was a little cold

-"It's a surprise... One that I hope you like and enjoy... Will you bring your child? He is welcome if you want..."-She whispered a little nervously and embarrassed

"No, he's going to stay at his aunt's house... Do you want me to pick you up tonight?" - You offered, and she nodded, smiling. The truth is that you offered to pick her up because if the date went wrong, you weren't the one who depended on her taking you home.

-"Mama!" - Your little one ran to you and you lifted him up holding him tight to your chest, while Mel couldn't help but watch the way your arms twitched

-"Hola baby" - You spoke and he smiled hiding in your neck-"How did school go?"

-"Good! We are learning cursive! I can write a letter now" - He commented and you laughed tenderly

-"I'm sure you can, son... Let's go home for lunch and then you have to visit your aunt, your abu and your cousins for sleepover" - You commented, and the little guy smiled excitedly-"See you later Schementti..."- You answered with a smile and walked to your car.

After dropping your son off with the family, you got dressed with the casual suit you choose and decided to drive to pick up the redhead.

When you arrived to her address, you got out of your car and knocked on her door gently, almost immediately Mel opened it

-"Wow Chief...Hi, sorry... I never thought you'd look better than wearing your firefighter uniform, but you're amazing right now with that suit..."-She whispered silly looking at you and you laughed

-"Hi Schementti... You look very good too with your dress... I love your leather jackets they hug you body so perfectly" - You commented before you could hold you back-"Ready?" - You murmured and opened the door of the car for her. The redhead smiled and climbed up carefully, letting you close it.

While at first you were very nervous as you had lost the practice of meeting people and dating, on your date with the redhead you felt an instant connection and everything went smoothly, she took you to a nice place with good food and entertaining music. The tables had some board games which you decided to use and have some fun.

While you beat her up by playing uno, the redhead took the opportunity to know and learn more about you

-"So...why do you say you've lost the practice of going out? You are a beautiful and attractive woman, not to mention that you are very hot and brave... I don't think you're short of opportunities where people will ask you out on dates..."-She asked, lifting the 12 cards from the deck that had accumulated with the draw 4

-" It's not that... It's just that since my husband passed away, it was difficult to get my life back on track... I didn't just want to have sex with someone I have no conetion with, aside from the fact that it's hard to do it because I live with my son, and I couldn't find anyone who would catch my eye to have a relationship with... Nobody wants to date you when you have a child like in my case, so it's been two and a half years since I've dated anyone or had sex in that time... You're the first person I've dated since he passed away..."-You muttered a little embarrassed to admit it out loud-" I know it's been a long time since I've had sex, but between work and my son I'm pretty busy and I don't have much time to think about it..."

-"I'm flattered that you chose me to go on your first date after so long..."-she replied and you rolled your eyes

-"Please don't make fun of it... It's embarrassing enough as it is..."-You replied blushing and she smiled as she took your hand on the table

-"I'm not making fun of it, I'm really flattered by it. It means that you did feel a connection with me, like the one I feel with you from the first time I saw you..."-The redhead responded by kissing your hand and you smiled looking into her eyes as you got close to her

-"Thank you Mel..."-You whispered close to her lips laughing and dropped a +4-"UNO, I chose red, I win"-You spoke almost close to her lips and laughed pulling away from her

-"That's cheating! You got me distracted!" - The redhead screamed annoyed because she didn't liked to lose and you laughed

-"Everything is valid in games and love..."-You answered and she rolled her eyes

-"Do you want to go dancing? Before you keep kicking my ass at board games..."-She offered and you nodded still laughing

The rest of the night you talked more and danced together, having a beautiful time together. You were really surprised by the connection you felt with her...

When it got late, you drove to her house to get her to safety, while you let the conversation flow.

When you parked at her door, you got out and opened the car for her and escorted her to her entrance

-"I really had a nice time... Thank you for being patient with me... I was scared, but now I feel really happy..."-You whispered looking into her eyes and she opened the door for you

-"Want to come in for a coffee? I don't want this to end yet..."-she offered and you nodded.

When you entered, while she was making coffee, you took advantage and observed a little bit of her house and the photos on the wall smiling, you liked that Mel was a family woman. Her house was quaint and well-kept, somehow the house suited her.

When the coffee was ready, the two sat down on the couch letting the television gently play in the background

-"And you? How about your dating life? You looked so calm tonight, like you had practice..."-You asked while tasting the amazing coffee, somehow the taste reminded you of your home when you were little, which relaxed you and made you feel happy and calm

-"I was married for a long time... When I broke up it was hard for me to get back in the game, but when I did, I started dating a man, but we didn't have the same goals, so I decided to end that relationship... Then I had casual sex a couple of times..." - She muttered embarrassedly not wanting to admit that it was with someone you knew, she didn't know how you were going to take it

-" I know that, with the captain of the station I was sent to take care of"-You replied and she raised her eyebrows surprised and a little embarrassed-"I know everything that happens at my station, it's not for nothing that I'm the Chief" - You replied and she smiled when she saw that you didn't take it the wrong way

-"Yes, with him... Don't make me embarrassed by making fun of it" - she muttered, hiding her face in her hands and you laughed

-"I won't make fun of it, if I'd gone out with him I'd have a lifetime of remorse just think about it and I think that's enough for you, you don't need me to make fun of it to feel embarrassment" - You joked and she slapped your shoulder laughing. Her hand didn't move away from your arm, but gripped it tighter

-"Wow... You are very strong... Look how firm is your arm..."-She murmured in a seductive tone and you blushed-"Do you think you can lift me up?" - she asked and you nodded-"Can we try?"

-"Sure" - You carefully set your cup down on the table and grabbed her waist, your hands fitting perfectly as if they belonged there and her skin was comfortably warm. Forcefully but without getting up from the couch, you picked up the redhead with ease and sat her on your lap again. Immediately Mel spread her legs, straddling on your lap comfortably, smiling very big

-"Wow, that turn me on in a hundred different ways" - The redhead said without thinking and you laughed looking at her lips

-"You are a gorgeous and funny woman" - You whispered, smiling without taking your hands off her waist, caressing the skin that the blouse had revealed as she stood up a little. Mel's excited smile changed to a softer one and her gaze also turned to your lips, leaning slightly millimeters from your lips. Although you didn't want to admit it, you felt so nervous to do this, you weren't even sure about going on a date on the first place, and now she was sitting on your lap about to kiss you. Was that right? Or was it all going too fast? Even your angels of good and evil must have been frightened, for not a word of your conscience occupied your mind. Without realizing it, you connected your lips to her. A sigh left your mouth when you felt her close, if her skin was soft, her lips were like a clowd, round, soft and filled, perfect

The kiss at first was slow, but after a few seconds it became deep and hard, shaking you and making your heart beat very hard, your hands squeezed her waist tighter as you felt short of breath, making the redhead moan softly

-"Let's go to my room" - She muttered quickly to kiss you again, you nodded and got up from the couch, grabbing the redhead's ass to lift her with you, she immediately wrapped her legs around your waist, gently kissing your neck as you climbed the stairs carrying her.

Her kisses on your neck clouded your senses, even blurred your vision and your breathing ragged. Upon entering the room, you closed the door with your feet and left the redhead on the bed, admiring the sight of her slightly disheveled clothes and tousled hair, her breathing was ragged, and her chest bounced gently with each breath

-"Do you have a strap or you want my fingers?" - The question took the redhead by surprise, but she'd be lying if it didn't make her more excited. With her hands she pointed to her nightstand, which you opened to find a purple dildo in a delicate leather strap.

-"I want everything" - She responded agitated and excited. Smiling, you took it with one hand as you peeled off your pants and kicked them to the ground, with that same hand you opened your shirt but without taking it off. With hands a little shaky with excitement or nerves, you placed the strap on your hips on top of your underwear, it was delicately clean and smelled like raspberry. When you turn, your knees almost buckle when you saw the redhead waiting for you in bed with only her underwear on, with a red bra and panties that matched, kneeling and sitting on her legs, staring at you smiling.

The redhead's gaze swept over your face, your breasts, your abdomen and the way your crotch hid behind the strap on your hips. She had to force herself to close her mouth to avoid drooling.

You delicately rested one of your knees on the bed to reconnect your lips on hers, placing your hand on the nape of the redhead's neck to gently pull her hair making her lie on the bed without taking your lips off hers.

You gently sucked her lip into your mouth, making her moan and taking the opportunity to claim her mouth with your tongue, battling for dominance and winning easily as the redhead was overstimulated just by having you there wearing her strap.

Your kisses slowly moved down from her lips to her jaw, alternating between kisses and gentle bites as you let your leg slip to the redhead's crotch, generating gentle friction and pressure making her moan. Mel took your hair in her hands and pulled it a little, needing a little touch to ground her, especially when you started biting her collarbone and went down to her breasts biting the part that the bra showed. She inadvertently began to move her hips against your leg, desperately looking for more friction, but a frustrated moan left her lips as you firmly grasped her hip, letting her press on your leg but not rub against it.

When you began to feel her wetness on your leg, you quickly stripped off what little underwear she had left on her body, admiring for a second her complete nakedness. You smiled and kissed her forehead and then her lips again going slowly down.

Your lips found her nipple sucking hard as your life depended on it, alternating between gentle, delicate sucks to firm licks with a few bites.

When you finished giving both breasts their attention, you kissed her deeply again as you replaced your leg with your hip, letting the dildo rub against her crotch, which was already very wet and slippery, but not entering her yet.

Your hand went down to her crotch to check if it was really wet enough to go in, when you felt her swollen and wet cliroris on the top of your fingers, you moaned on her lips at such perfection. You gently began stroking it with your index finger as you guided the strap to her entrance, enjoying every moan and sigh that the redhead let out into your mouth.

When you were well positioned and sure you wouldn't hurt her, you pushed in slowly, pulling away from her lips to watch as her body slowly hugged and took every inch you offered her. Your gaze wandered for a second to watch as the redhead squeezed the sheets with one of her hands while with the other she desperately squeezed and pinched her breasts, letting out a couple of profanities with your name included in a few of them.

When the strap went all the way in and your hip connected with hers, it was your turn to let out insults, that woman was a wish come true with how beautiful and sexy she looked open like that.

Gently you placed yourself back on top of her, kissing her vigorously as you slowly pulled the strap back as your finger gently twirled over her cliroris. You tried to stay calm and slow down for a few minutes, but when the redhead started to shake and breath heavily and the sounds of how wet she was reached your ears, you couldn't hold back for much longer.

Both of your hands went to her hip and you started to go faster, with short but deep thrusts. Watching how her breasts bounce, her hair brushed against the pillow and tousled it and her mouth was slightly open trying to breathe with each thrust you gave it.

One of your hands grabbed the woman's leg and you placed it on your shoulder, giving you a new angle and more strength to lunge. For her age, it was surprisingly flexible, allowing you to bend down a bit to get to kiss her shoulder.

Mel pressed down on your back with her leg, digging her heel into your back and pulling you deeper into her.

You started kissing her thigh which was close to your face and giving her gentle bites and marks.

Mel began to breathe more heavily, and to move her hips erratically and desperately, moaning almost like a pornographic movie. Your thrusts became desperate as well when you saw that she was close, squeezing her hips with one of your hands, taking advantage of hearing the slapping sound every time your skin collided with hers and the wet sound of her juices coating the toy and your legs.

In a matter of seconds, as your fingers gently pinched the redhead's clit, Mel's body began to shake uncontrollably as one of the strongest orgasms of her life took over her entire body, from the tips of her toes to her head, she felt as if she had been struck by lightning and every millimeter of her body was charged with electricity.

For a few seconds, the redhead contracted so hard that she caught the dildo inside her and your hips collided with her so hard that, you didn't know if it was because you hadn't been with someone for years or because just looking at the redhead naked was enough to reach your breaking point, but a surprising and strong orgasm came in your body too, feeling your juices dripping down your legs and leaving you exhausted and lost for a few seconds.

When the redhead's walls relaxed, you removed the toy from her, detaching it from your body and throwing it on the floor. Agitated, you lay down next to her and grabbed her waist, pulling her to you and hugging her against your body protectively.

-"That was..."-It was the only thing the redhead managed to formulate between her agitated breathing

-"Amazing" - You whispered, kissing her forehead. Before either of you could say more, a sleppy blanket took you both by surprise, making you sleep in each other's arms .

The next morning, the redhead woke up with pain all over her body but happiness covering all her thoughts. But when she turned in bed and saw no sign of your presence there or in the house, a feeling of sadness took her by surprise, a feeling that grew when she texted you over the next few days and you didn't answer, see her or call her again.

You disappeared completely, you didn't even pick up your son from school and you always sent someone else for him to avoid seeing her and the redhead didn't understand why. She thought everything had gone well, even perfect, but apparently she was wrong.

[figmentsfragments]

An Irish Goodbye

By E. Carry

(TW/CW: grief, grandparent loss, Catholic upbringing)

I was born into a big family — the Irish-Catholic way. Most of that family is gone now, and those left are dysfunctionally disconnected — another one of the Irish-Catholic ways.

Once upon a time, we had a matriarch. And what a matriarch she was. She was Helen Clare to many, but she was always Nana to me. When I needed advice on friendship, flower gardens, medical care, or anything really, I went to her. When everything was wrong and could be cured by only one hug, it was hers. The best childhood memories I cling to were the ones in her house — both of her houses.

Before my grandfather died, they lived a reasonable half hour away from my parents’ house, so we ate dinner there on many weeknights. My mom has since explained that she did that to save money, but all that mattered to me was spending time in my favorite place with my favorite people, my grandparents. My sister and I spent many summer days there, learning which of my mother’s childhood toys stood the test of time and which walls held the most ghosts. Eventually, my grandfather moved to a nursing home when his health declined too far, and, on one particularly terrible day, I stood in the kitchen alongside my Nana when the nursing home called to say he’d passed.

After my grandfather died, Nana sold their house and downsized to a townhouse across the street from my parents. I essentially lived there on weekends and most weeknights. After particularly bad school days, I would walk straight out of the minivan over to Nana’s front door, bypassing my own house entirely. Many a Bing Crosby, Perry Como, or Irish folk album was played in that kitchen with my Nana belting her brogued accompaniment, cigarette and coffee in hand. Many hands of War and Old Maid were played, with my blatant cheating never called out. I taught her to use her large-buttoned TV remote so we could watch Judge Judy, soap operas, true crime, QVC shopping network — you name it. Nana taught me the true art of mindless television, and she’d let me watch the music videos my parents tried to ban. I’d help answer all the modern pop culture questions of her crossword puzzles. We’d trade newspaper sections in silence sometimes, and, on gloomier days, we’d just talk about my grandfather until the sun went down. We missed him deeply and had experienced the worst day of our lives together, but at least we were together in it.

She lived in that townhouse on our street for the last three years of her life. She lived there until the day she was carried out by paramedics for her last hospital stay. It was the day after President’s Day — I was wearing red, white, and blue instead of my middle school uniform. We spent hours at her bedside and I begged my mother to let me stay for the duration. She said she didn’t have the strength to be there any longer, so we gathered our things to leave.

“Say goodbye to Nana. Remember, sweetie, this is probably the last time you’re ever going to see her.” Knowing full well that I’d already attended eighteen funerals, she had no reason to explain it down to me quite so pedantically.

“She’ll be okay. Well, not really okay. But Aunt Robin will stay with her, so that will be okay. Anyway, let’s get going. Remember, you’ve got school tomorrow, kid.” My heart had never felt heavier.

There were a million things I wanted to say to the strong, beautiful, kind woman that raised me. But I couldn’t say any of it with my mom waiting expectantly in the doorway, equally impatient to leave and eager to listen to everything I might say.

I stared into Nana’s eyes, as blue as ever, but so much wider than I was used to seeing. She was unable to speak from the intubation, and her face held so much fear I felt strings inside my heart just snap.

So I just said, “Goodnight, Nana. I hope you sleep tight. God bless you. I love you,” except I slurred it together the way my family always said it — more along the lines of “godbleshya, iluvya.”

I had long since given up on any concept of God, but I kept up the charade for the people to whom it mattered. It took every ounce of control I had to hold back my tears to speak, but I sensed in her panicked eyes that she needed to feel calm and normal. To this day, I wish I’d said so much more and so much else.

Nana spent the next three days on a morphine drip with Aunt Robin praying beside her. In those long days before she passed, my mother emptied out Nana’s entire house. She planned and scheduled her mother’s funeral while she was still alive in a hospital bed thirty minutes away. My mother tends to be a deeply unsentimental woman, at least in the moments it matters most.

Her funeral was the last day that side of my family existed; everyone fell apart in separate directions without her. I have a triquetra tattooed over my heart to keep close to me the little trio of a family I always wanted to keep: my grandparents with me. Nana taught me to cook in her kitchen and she also taught me everything worth knowing for the first twelve years of my life. I carry her in every part of my heart, mind, and soul still at age nearly-thirty.

She was a believer in the concept of guardian angels, like most of us who’ve known great loss. I have a long-standing beef against religion and the concept of god with a capital G, but I do consider myself spiritual in a much hippier way. I most certainly do feel my favorite people’s spirits guarding me all the time. I used to have a big family, and I still do; where they’re no longer physically here, their impact, lessons, and memories stay with me.

[fortheloveofarchons]

How A Fish Finds Solace (from Ao3)

A chapter where you have a deep talk with Daisuke, and proceeds to take drugs together (ate a fuck ton of candy)

Full chapter is on the link down below (bc my tumblr is acting up like my dog)

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.

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In the past, where you bonded with Daisuke...

It’s been a month on the Tulpar. And things seem to be smooth. 

You were able to get along with everyone– well, most of them. Your Captain Curly (bless his soul), has always been supportive towards everyone, including you. Nurse Anya has always been attentive to everyone’s health. For someone who has said to have failed medical school multiple times, she was like a bird in flight when it came to attending injuries and wounds, making something so impossible for others appear easy and natural.

As for Swansea, he always sounded groggy like you interrupted his post-drinking nap. Or maybe he took too many fucks from everything wrong with the Tulpar and Pony Express. He’s a tough nut to crack, but that’s alright. You’ve always liked the grumpy, strict teachers more than the charismatic ones that always laughed at the popular kids’ jokes. 

People like Swansea are predictable and keep the rules at all times, after all. 

And for Daisuke… Surprisingly, it’s a bit difficult for you to get along with him. 

He’s like… a younger version of Captain Curly. 

Captain Curly’s happiness is like a big ball of sunshine, and Daisuke's is like the flowers that open when the sun comes out. Tanned complexion, dyed brown hair, almond-shaped brown eyes… You can’t help but wonder if Daisuke’s one of the popular kids back in high school. 

Sure, it sounds like a good thing that  there’s another peppy one on board. 

Yet… maybe it’s the way his smile is more spastically. The kind of smile that is soft, close-lipped. 

Maybe it’s the way he’d step his foot on the ground while he’s sitting, and his fingers would sometimes tap against his thigh in a rhythm. 

Maybe it’s the way his eyes would become dull, as though his mind was wrapped in wool, softening the edges of reality. 

You’ve thought of asking him, yet… years of living under your parents have taught you that it’s best to not ask too much. 

One question and it’ll trigger a flood, or rather, an argument. 

If he wants to talk about it, he’ll talk about it if he’s open with it. Besides, we have Nurse Anya here, after all. 

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

When you said to yourself that he’ll talk about it on his own terms, you did not expect it to be the next day. 

The two of you are the only ones left during dinner, savouring the warm, carbonara chicken pasta in your stomach. Captain’s always been a fast eater, as evident on how tight his uniform looked on his arms and chest. Nurse Anya mentioned reading a psychology book earlier, so she left early. As for Swansea, he…  left too, grumbling and mumbling something about incompetence. 

You then remembered that you accidentally overheard Swansea giving Daisuke a loud lecture about basic wiring this morning, which you assumed that Daisuke must’ve accidentally messed up the connecting strips of copper. You didn’t see it, but you could hear it all. 

The room was quiet… Too quiet.

Aside from the soft clinking of metal fork against porcelain plates. 

You swallowed, stealing a quick glance at the intern with a Hawaii shirt before looking away immediately. 

“Co-pilot?” 

You turned your head way too quickly at him. “Hmm???” 

“Do you think… Swansea doesn’t like me?” Daisuke asked, his voice casual, polite. 

“Oh, well– I don’t think so.” You said too quickly, your voice coming out thinner than you intended. “He’s like this with everyone, even me. It’s just one of his principles, so don’t worry too much about it.” 

“It’s just…” You noticed that Daisuke barely touched his plate of pasta, and the only thing he ate were the chopped up chicken bits. “It feels like Swansea is much harsher with me. I mean– I get why, but still…”

A few beats pass until you realise that it seems that Daisuke’s been scolded by Swansea more than a few times. 

“Daisuke, I’ll tell you one thing. It’s a good thing that Swansea’s scolding you.” 

“Huh?” Daisuke almost dropped his fork onto the table. “Why?”

“I mean–” Your ears become warmer. “It’s just– The fact that Swansea’s willing to teach you a lot of things proves that he does care about you as an intern. I’ve been on this kind of internship before, and let me tell you– No one really cared, I barely learned anything aside from making coffee orders and arranging folders.”

Ah, this brought back memories. Memories where you were unfortunately seen as a lackey, not as someone who’s willing to learn for their future. 

“That… kinda sounds boring.” He gives you an understanding glance. “Especially on a ship, I can’t imagine…” 

“Listen, I know Swansea is harsh– That I do think he should tone it down.” You explain. “But… I can tell that he really does care, I’ve seen him teach before. Sure, Swansea isn’t exactly super-duper nice. But he’s consistent, reliable, and disciplined. Heh… maybe I’ve got a soft spot for people with a rough exterior that shows a strong moral code, and a surprising amount of loyalty and selflessness.” 

“I guess you’ve got a good point…” Daisuke takes a bite out of his pasta, eyes glancing down at his plate. 

But before you could try to comfort him further, Daisuke asks you another question. 

“Co-pilot, is this job your dream goal?” He asks. “Just… Is this the job that you’ve always wanted to have?” 

Wow, we’re going philosophical here.

“Kinda?” You reply back, rubbing the back of your neck with your hand. “Though, to be fair, I picked it because it was the most interesting to me. Medicine, law, computer sciences… I couldn’t be convinced to try them no matter what my parents told me.” 

A few beats pass by until you ask another question for him. 

“Why do you ask?”

“I just… never knew what I wanted to be…” Daisuke’s brown eyes grow heavy, his shoulders curving inwards. “The truth is, my mom was the one that told me to try this internship. ‘Such a slacker,’ she said. Never was good at anything. Total screw up.” 

Oh, shit. It’s that bad, huh…

https://archiveofourown.org/works/61450888/chapters/161651374

[demon-guardian]

So before you read I might have gone crazy and written a 3.4K fanfic. Do I regret it? No. I had a lot of fun writing this so hope you enjoy under the Cut.

Wild Cat

So you and Opera know each other before you guys knew Balam and Kalego. You were a year older than Opera so when Opera came to Babyls Demon School they followed you around the school like you were their prey. You were the reason why Opera met Sullivan. Before meeting Sullivan, Opera would go around and attack other students, even some teachers. When Opera found out that you were Sullivan's right hand they started to stalk you. After following you for a bit after school they follow you to the back of the school.

“So you're Sullivan right hand, huh? You don’t look that strong. Maybe if I beat you up I will get a go at the big man himself.” Opera started to pounce at you.

You put your hands up to cover yourself and close your eyes waiting for the attack to come but it never did. You open your eyes to see Sullivan in front of you, stopping the attack with one finger.

“Tsk, tsk Opera, did you know it is very rude to attack fellow classmates,” Sullivan started to say, “why don’t you and I go and have a talk. What do you say, Opera?”

As Opera responded they lifted their leg up and went to kick Sullivan in the face but once again Sullivan was able to block it by grabbing his leg. Then Sullivan put Opera under his arm and started to walk off with Opera.

“Great let's go have our chat this way,” Sullivan says walking off, “Oh and (y/n) please cancel my meeting for today and tomorrow and have them reschedule, more important things came up. Once you tell them you can head home for the day.”

After whatever talk they had, Opera had a dazed and confused look for weeks, they looked like they were lost in thought. At the end of the week, you saw them sitting on one of the benches in school as all the other students started to leave school. You went to one of the vending machines and bought two sodas and walked up to Opera and handed it to them. Opera gave you a confused look before grabbing it. You two sat in silence drinking your soda, neither of you speaking, just watching the students walk by. It was a good 20 minutes before Opera finally broke the silence.

“Why are you sitting next to me? Just a week ago I tried to attack you.” Opera asked, looking down at the ground.

“You look a little lost. So I thought you could have someone to talk to. So what if you tried to attack me. You need someone to lend you an ear and I will lend you an ear.” You say.

Opera looked over to you with a surprising look on their face before looking back down at the ground. Silence fell onto you two again to the point that only the teachers were left in the school. Then once again Opera broke the silence.

“Sullivan said the same thing you said. He said I look lost and all this fighting is you trying to find you an answer. So talk to me, I will listen,” Opera said before pausing then they started to speak again, “I didn’t talk at all, I was quiet. He asks me all these questions and I never answer them. He sat with me for 6 hours before he said I will give you time to think so why don’t I take you home. Then I kicked him in the face and ran off. I still don’t know why I kicked him or why he wanted to help me even though I caused chaos for his school?”

You watch as his face looks so torn and their ears and tail are droopy. Silence fell onto you once again but for a much shorter time. But this time you were the one to speak.

“Sullivan did the same thing for me. I am a weak demon in strength and magic. I try to get into fights but most demons either push me away or just beat me up. So after one of the times I got beat up Sullivan found me and healed me up and asked me what happened. I told him and he asked me why I needed to fight to prove that I was strong? There are other ways to be strong. I was confused about what he meant, so I asked him to show me. Then he took me under his wing and taught me ways to be strong not in ways of strength or in magic but in wits, intelligence, and many other skills. Then the next thing I know I am his right hand.” You say.

“Will he do the same for me?” Opera asked.

“Yes he will, all you got to do is ask,” You answer, “But you can ask him another time let's get going home, he most likely is at his home as well.”

You got up off the bench and lent a hand towards them to help them up. They take your hand and stand up. As you walk out of school Opera speaks up again.

“I never got your name.” They say.

You let out a chuckle before answering, “You knew I was Sullivan's right hand but not my name.”

Opera looked down sheepishly, “I didn’t bother, all I cared for was beating you up, which I would like to say sorry for trying to beat you up.”

“Don’t worry about I’m not mad about it but the names (y/n).”

“Opera.”

“Pleasure to meet you Opera.”

After you two walk home the next day Opera asks Sullivan to find the answer to his question. Which Sullivan happily accepted. Then you and Opera became Sullivan's right hands and whenever Sullivan you two would hang out with each other becoming good friends.

Then your third year started and Opera second year started. Opera thought of a way to repay Sullivan's kindness and that was by cleaning up the school. Which means beating a bunch of demons up again. But this time you clean up the mess. This is also how you met Kalego and Balam who became Opera ‘underlings’. This was also the first time you got badly injured after you met Opera.

It was another day at school Opera beating up another group of students that they say they now have a reason for beating up, unlike last year. Kalego yelled at him to stop and Balam followed closely behind.

“Will you stop starting all these fights! You are making more of a mess than cleaning up the mess you think you are fixing!” Kalego yelled.

Opera was once again on top of another hill of bodies that you will have to send to the nurse's office. Opera was looking down at Kalego as if he was a little child crying over spilled milk.

“I will not stop. If you want me to stop you will have to beat me like this so call the guard dog of the school.” Opera said in a somewhat mocking tone. That only made Kalego even angrier.

“Why don’t you come down here then so I can put you down a peg or two!” Kalego yelled once more.

Opera gave a cocky smirk as he jumped off the hill of bodies. Those two were staring down at each other almost like there was lighting sparking off each other. You look over at Balam who was shifting around nervously looking at ways to stop this fight from happening. At this point, you knew you had to step in.

Stepping in between the two you spoke, “Alright you two knock it off. Kalego is right in this Opera you don’t need to fight to solve all of this. Kalego please stop getting angry at Opera, it only encourages them.”

Opera calms down and looks at you with almost a sad look to it and Kalego just lets out a huff. Having calmed down the fight you were finally able to get the hill of bodies to the nurse's office. After that, all of you went your separate ways to your class and that's when it happened. On your way to your class, another student walks up to you. You could tell from the injuries he had that it was most likely a student that Opera had beaten up. You could tell by the look on his face that he was pissed off.

“You're the one that's always by Opera side?” The student asked.

“Yes, that is correct.” You answer with some concern.

“Good now let's teach Opera a lesson by beating you up then maybe they will learn their lesson.” He said with venom dripping from his voice.

He cracked his knuckles as he started to walk up to you. You tried to back away but he was able to back you into a wall. Then after that, you don’t know what happened, he was able to knock you out. When you woke up when you were in the nurse’s office you saw that Balam and Kalego were next to you. Those two seeing you were up put relief on their faces. Balam pulls you into a hug seeing where up and Kalego pulls out his phone and looks to be texting someone.

“I’m so glad you are okay (y/n)” Balam said in his hug.

“What happened? How did I end up here?” You ask.

“Balam and I found you in the hallway unconscious with your head bleeding and a huge dent in the wall. We brought you here after we found you.” Kalego answered.

You look down at the ground hearing that and as you were about to speak up the door suddenly slammed open. You see Sullivan at the door, seeing you awake he runs over to you pushing Balam off of you.

In his crying mess, he said, “Oh (y/n) thank goodness you are okay. When I heard the news I was so worried. Even Opera was so worrying I think even more than me.”

“Where is Opera?” You asked.

Everyone went silent when you mentioned Opera. Their faces all gave an uncomfortable look to them. None of them wanted to answer the question and it was complete silence. Almost assuming the worst, the door opens once again to see Opera this time at the door. Their face had the same look of loss on it as when you saw them on the bench but this time it had other emotions on their face. The face showed a look of sadness and regret. Seeing that you were awake finally Opera rushed over sitting at the side of your bed next to Sullivan. Everyone faces look at Opera waiting for them to say something.

Opera, seeing everyone's look, answers their looks by asking, “Can you leave the two of us alone for a minute?”

“Of course Opera. Now come along Balam and Kalego, let's leave these two alone for a bit.” Sullivan said, getting up. Balam and Kalego got up and followed after Sullivan, closing the door behind them as they left, leaving the two of you alone.

Once Opera heard the door close behind them they spoke up, “It is my fault that you are here.”

“No, it is you weren’t the one who-” You started to say

“Yes, I was! If I didn’t get into those fights you would have never happened.” Opera yelled.

“You meant well with all the fights even though it might have been the best way of doing it. But you didn’t think this would happen. I am fine now Opera and please don’t blame yourself for this.” You say.

Then Opera goes silent almost as if they are thinking things through. Opera places a hand on top of yours and gives you a smile. You two sat in silence for the rest of the day. After that day Opera stood by your side and made sure you were out of harm's way. Opera got into fewer and fewer fights as the school years went by, sticking to mostly teasing Kalego instead. Each year as well you and Opera got even more closely with each other. You were able to stay out of harm's way until the next time you got injured at the Walter park incident.

Many years went by since then and both you and Opera became devil security for Sullivan and as well as a protector for Sullivan's newest member of the family, his grandson Iruma. While Opera helps with training Iruma in strength, you help out Iruma with his studying. Both you and Opera were confused on why Sullivan would pick Iruma who is a human over any demon but as both of you saw him grow you why he chose Iruma.

Now that vacation is here, all the kids from the misfit class all decide to go to Walter Park. Sullivan, being as nervous and worried for Iruma's safety, Opera, Balam, and Kalego were tasked with watching the students. All the kids look excited to see and explore Walter Park that they all almost ran off in different directions. The four adults grab the students, stopping them in their tracks.

“Can't we just go and do whatever we like?” Lied asked.

“No, if you want to split up, you’ll do it with a chaperone.” Kalego answers annoy with even the thought of them being all over the place.

“Why don’t we split everyone up into 3 groups?” Balam suggested.

“Wait, why not 4 groups? There are 4 adults here.” Jazz asks, pointing at each of the adults. Balam and Kalego both look unconfirmable at the thought of 4 groups almost not wanting to respond.

Opera responded to Jazz’s question, “(y/n) and I will be one group because we can’t be separated. Sullivan orders.”

You gave a confused look at Opera because you don’t remember Sullivan ever giving those orders but it seems to get the students to not question why only 3 groups. With setting up the competition you got all in your groups. Yours and Opera group happen to be all the girls and off to the clothing stores. Right after the hearing, Iruma was found again after a loud crash as the building gets destroyed by a panther rat. You and Opera got separated with you only having Elizabetta and Crocell while Opera has Clara and Ameri.

The panther rat kept destroying buildings with its tail sending debris flying your way. You were able to move the students out of the way but your movement must have caught the monster's eyes.

Because as you set down the students you hear Elizabetta yell, “Watch out (y/n)!”

You turn around to see one of the monster’s tails coming towards you and crash into your side sending you flying into one of the buildings. As you move and try to get up with your dizzy vision and your hearing ringing. You saw the monster staring down at you through the hole it made when it threw you. It stared down at you sending its tails ready to finish you off. As they come down you hear an ear-piercing scream of your name you couldn’t tell who it was from but the tails quickly disappear after the scream.

As you were able to get out of the hole you saw all the girls looking shocked and terrified but not at the monster but at Opera. Opera was in a blind rage and was destroying the monster each time one of the tails tried to attack them it was immediately cut down. You haven’t seen Opera fight like this before they almost look like they were in their wicked phase or worse return to origin. As the monster falls to the ground defeated single-handedly by Opera. You tried to walk up to Opera and call out their name but your vision got blurry and you fell unconscious.

When you woke up you found yourself in a bed in the hotel. You saw that there was food and get well soon cards on the nightstand next to you from the students. Right next to it was Opera sitting in a chair with their head resting on the bed asleep. You place your hand on top of their head and pet their ears. Their ears and tails started to twitch as Opera started to wake up. Opera eyes kept opening and closing, deciding whether or not to wake up. Deciding to wake up Opera to see you up gives you a smile. As Opera sat up in their chair you removed your hand from their head.

“The students are very kind to give me food and get a well-soon card, aren’t they?” You state.

“Yes, they are. The food was mostly Iruma, but the cards were from all of them. Elizabeth and Crocell wanted to say thank you for saving them.” Opera responded.

You two sat in silence only hearing the party going on in the hotel as background noise. You don’t know how long you sat in silence before Opera spoke again.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t-” Opera started to say before you cut him off.

“Don’t finish that sentence,” You started to say, catching Opera off guard, “you didn’t fail to protect me. We were both doing a job to protect the students.”

“But I’m also there to protect you,” Opera said.

“Which you did when I got hit. I saw the fight and what you did. Thank you for saving me.”

“I don’t deserve your thanks. I wasn’t able to keep my promise to myself.”

“What promise?”

“After you got injured back when we were in our third and second year after that I promised to protect you.”

“But you can’t control that with the job we both have that is difficult.”

“Yes, I can! I can protect the person I care about and love the most!”

This sudden confession stun both you and Opera. Maybe Opera a little more than you. The room fills with silence once again but not the silence you are used to. Unlike the other silence that was comfortable this silence was heavy. Neither of you was able to speak at a loss for words trying to find what to say. Both of you as well not wanting to be the first one to speak. The silence went on for what felt like hours. Neither of you could hear the outside noise anymore. You two were staring at each other waiting for the other one to finally speak.

“Can you repeat?” You say breaking the silence almost in the worst way.

Opera took a deep breath before responding, “I have loved you since I think you talk to me on the bench. But it took me until you were injured to realize. Seeing you in the nurse's office injured by someone mad at me made me feel so guilty. So I promise to protect you with all my life as in the same way I protect Sullivan.”

“Why didn’t you tell me till now?” You asked.

“I didn’t know if you would return my feelings so I stayed silent. But I guess I can get your response now. If you don’t return them that's fine just let me stay by your side. All that matters is that I stay by your side because I truly love and care for you.” They respond.

You were stunned to hear that. For that long and to hold it in that long. Why didn’t they tell you? You would have returned it. After meeting them and seeing them grow. All the years spending time with each other. Helping each other during the worst. Opera protects you from any danger that comes your way. Then to see that rage for you being injured. How could you not fall for them?

Opera ears drip after not hearing you respond to their question. Taking the hint they start to get up and leave. You quickly grab their arm before they could leave. Opera turns to look at you in a confused manner. You quickly pull them down and give them a peck on the cheek. A shocked look came on Opera's face as a blush started to form on their face.

“Sorry, it took me so long to respond. So let us spend the rest of our time protecting each other.”

Hope you enjoy here it is on AO3 if you want to read it there:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32927290

[theladyofdeath]

Tempting the Fates {Chapter 6}

Summary: It’s the final semester of Aelin Galathynius’ collegiate career and she is so beyond ready to be done. Her schedule is packed full of nursing classes and labs designed to test her knowledge and hone her skills for the real world and her “big girl” job. However, she needs one last elective to graduate, so she decides to study a subject she’s always been fascinated by: Mythology. Who would have thought that a class about gods and goddesses living complicated lives would end up complicating her own in such an unexpected way?

A @snelbz x @tacmc collaboration.

Word Count: 3080

** N S F W **

Chapters will be posted every Wednesday.

Tempting the Fates Masterlist

Shelby’s Masterlist

Tara’s Masterlist

Aphrodite

– Goddess of love, beauty, and desire

The second Aelin stepped into Rowan’s apartment, silence ensued. With the door shut behind them, Aelin felt like his apartment had significantly shrunk in size since the last time she had been there. 

Granted, everything looked the same. The blanket that was draped across his leather sectional in his living room still laid in the same spot, his television was still quietly playing a hockey game, and his laptop sat on his coffee table. Only, this time, there wasn’t a mug of coffee next to it but a nearly-empty bottle of beer. 

“So,” Aelin began, just as Rowan said, “Sorry, it’s a mess.”

Aelin blinked, looking around at his pristine apartment. “This is what you consider a mess?”

Rowan looked around before chuckling, nervously. “Yeah, well, there’s….dust.” 

Aelin nodded, slowly, continuing to look around. “Well, here’s your clothes,” she said, at last, holding out the bag.

“Thanks,” Rowan muttered, taking the bag from her outstretched hand before tossing it aside. “Do you…want a drink or something? I was just doing some grading.”

“Grading and drinking?” Aelin asked. “Quite the combination.” 

Rowan shrugged. “Only makes the shitty papers a little bit better to read.”

“Have you read mine yet?” Aelin asked, before she could think better of it. Rowan hesitated, and Aelin shook her head. “Wow, that was an inappropriate question. Sorry.” 

“No, it’s fine,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “You could have asked me that in class and I’d have answered it. I have.”

When he didn’t go on, Aelin cleared her throat awkwardly. “I’ve never taken a mythology course, so I don’t know much about it, save for what Disney taught me. Which apparently was all wrong, anyways.” She tucked a loose hair behind her ear and cleared her throat again. Maybe coming here was a bad idea. “But music, I do know a lot about, so Apollo seemed like a safe bet. Even if I’m sure I sounded stupid and-.”

“You didn’t,” he interrupted, leaning against the counter. “Your essay is the only one I’ve read that seemed like a real opinion piece, and not like you’re trying to blow smoke up my ass and impress me with your knowledge. This is an introduction class, remember? You aren’t supposed to be a scholar of mythology yet. I liked how honest it was.” 

Aelin blinked. “Really?”

Rowan nodded, his eyes remaining on hers. It made Aelin’s heart beat a little bit faster. “Yeah, it was great. I love to hear your thoughts, and I’m excited to hear more of them.”

Aelin nodded and took a deep breath. She should have turned and walked out, told him goodbye, but she couldn’t. Her feet were glued to the floor, her heart nearly ready to beat out of her chest. Her thoughts trailed to the last time she was here, when she’d met the most abundant amount of pleasure she had ever received, and left smitten and wanting more. 

From the way the light in his eyes shifted, Aelin knew that Rowan was thinking the same thing. 

“I should go,” Aelin said, quietly. 

“Yeah,” Rowan agreed.

Neither of them moved. 

“You could’ve kept the clothes,” Rowan continued, swallowing. “You didn’t have to come all the way here.”

“I thought you’d want them back,” Aelin said, even though she wasn’t really sure that she even truly believed that. 

Every second more that Rowan stared at her, and she stared back, a throbbing formed between her thighs. Rowan said, “You look better in them than I do.” 

Aelin swallowed. “I should go,” she repeated.

“Do you want to go?” Rowan asked, hardly more than a whisper.

Aelin remained where she was, watching him, her chest rising and falling, rapidly, with each heavy breath she took. 

She slowly shook her head, and before she could form an intelligible thought, Rowan was coming toward her, taking her waist into his hands, and claiming her mouth with his.

She melted into his touch, her hands diving into his hair, holding her against him. He wasted no time, lifting her and setting her on the counter behind her, and stepping between her legs. Aelin gently nibbled on his lip and he opened for her, his tongue sweeping into her mouth just as hers did the same. His hands were still sitting on her waist, but hers were less than idle.

Finding the hem of his shirt, her fingers ran over the abdomen muscles she couldn’t get out of her head. He pulled his lips from hers as a shudder wracked through him and he let out a shaking breath.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” he admitted, pulling her to the edge of the counter and grinding against her.

Aelin’s lashes fluttered as she let out a soft moan. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, either.”

His lips were on hers again, hungrily, longingly, and all conversation faded away as Aelin pulled off Rowan’s shirt and ran her hands through his messy, short silvery hair. 

Rowan muttered a curse against Aelin’s mouth, and she felt a fire ignite within her core. She wanted it. Gods, she wanted it, wanted him. She knew it was wrong, knew there were boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed, knew the schools had rules, knew employers had rules, but as his mouth trailed from her lips to her neck, just beneath her jaw, Aelin had a really, really hard time caring about any of that. 

His hands slid beneath her top, feeling cool and needy against her skin. 

“Tell me to stop and I’ll stop,” he murmured between the kisses that trailed down her neck. She knew he would, too. One word, and it was done, over.

But, despite the rules, she begged, “Don’t fucking stop.” 

That was all Rowan needed to hear. He pulled her shirt over her head, his lips immediately finding her skin again. His kisses trailed from her neck to her shoulder and he pushed the strap of her bra down. His hand did the same with the other and as soon as the straps were free, he reached behind her and unclasped it.

Dropping his head, his mouth closed around her nipple and his tongue circled the sensitive peak. Aelin’s moan was louder than she meant for it to be, but Rowan didn’t try to stifle it. Instead his hand found her breast, rolling her other nipple between his fingers.

Aelin swore, and it had Rowan moaning, muffled, palming her breast as his teeth tugged on her nipple as his free hand made its way into the back of her leggings. 

When he realized that she wore no panties, he was about to combust. 

Aelin’s hands dove into his hair and she pulled his head back. “I need you. Now.”

Rowan’s only response was finding Aelin’s mouth again with his own, and shoving his sweatpants down onto the kitchen floor. His hard length was on perfect display inside of his boxer-briefs. When Aelin palmed him, he grabbed her off of the counter and carried her into the living room, dropping her down onto the couch. Before he covered his body with hers, he yanked off her leggings and tossed them aside. 

He groaned as she continued to rub him through his underwear until he finally couldn’t take it anymore, needing to feel her skin on his. He intended to take them off, but only got as far as freeing his length before she wrapped her hand around him and stroked once, twice. His head fell into the crook of her neck and he did his best not to look like an inexperienced teenager, but he bucked his hips into her hands, groaning again.

This was all he’d been able to think of for the past few days, ever since he saw her in his classroom. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought of taking her against every free surface in the hall, as well as in his office. He didn’t have a chance to explain that to her though, as she shifted beneath him and lined him up at her entrance.

She was all slick skin and warm, soft wetness and he pushed into her. With a breathy sigh, her head fell back, eyes rolling back, and he took advantage of her attention elsewhere to look down at where they were joined. Watching as his hips rocked into hers, he breathed her name, gripping her hip and fighting the urge to press her down into the cushions with his weight.

Aelin’s hands snaked around the back of Rowan’s neck and she pulled him against her, kissing him, urgently. Rowan pulled out slowly before thrusting himself back into her, over and over and over again, relentlessly. It felt so good, so right. He kept his pace, pushing into her harder each time, until she was screaming, his name falling from her lips continuously. 

Rowan’s moan became muffled against her neck as her knees began to quiver around him. As he felt her come, he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

When he came, Aelin was clinging to him, still coming down from her high.

Rowan’s body fell against hers, and her body remained wrapped around his as they caught their breaths. 

She was unable to stop herself from running her fingers up and down his back, even going so far as to brush them through the short hair at the nap of his neck. There was no question what he would say after he pulled out and cleaned her up.

This was a mistake.

We shouldn’t have done that.

You need to go.

Aelin wasn’t sure which it would be or if it would be some mixture of the three. All she knew is that it would hurt.

Seeing him in class every day, knowing that this connection existed between them, aside from just sex, was going to hurt.

Pulling back, his green eyes found hers and she braced herself for him to ask her to leave.

But then he kissed her again.

“I was going to order dinner,” he said, lips still brushing hers. “If you want to stay.”

Aelin hesitated, but not because she didn’t want to stay. 

Rowan picked up on it, though. “Or, if you don’t want to…” he began, pushing himself up off of her.

Aelin shook her head and held onto him, pulling him back down on top of her. “No, it’s not that, it’s the opposite.” She laughed, quietly. “I was just…preparing myself for you to say…anything but that.”

Rowan’s eyes softened as he nodded, slowly. “So…you do want to stay, then?”

Aelin brushed his damp hair off of his forehead. “Am I allowed to stay?”

“Right now, what we’re allowed to do is the last thing on my mind,” Rowan breathed, leaning down to kiss her softly. “Right now, all I’m thinking about is ordering dinner and having you here with me.”

She nodded, smiling softly. “That sounds nice.”

“Okay,” he replied, returning her smile. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

Just as he did the last time, he returned with a warm rag, wiping her off and cleaning her up. He also returned with his shirt, the one she’d intended to return, rather than her clothes.

“I’m on the pill, by the way,” she said, glancing over at him as he pulled his own sweatpants back on.

He blinked once, as if he’d just realized they hadn’t used a condom.

And he’d come inside her.

“I…really should have asked before I just assumed.” He rubbed at the back of his neck again. “I’m sorry.”

Aelin chuckled, quietly. “Don’t worry. If I wasn’t prepared, I wouldn’t have let you inside of me to begin with.”

“Fair enough,” Rowan said, sitting next to her on the couch. “In my defense, our last…encounter is still a little fuzzy when it comes to the little details.”

When they’d been together last, there had been a lot of alcohol…and Rowan couldn’t remember if he’d used a condom then, but he couldn’t imagine that he had.

He sent up a quick thank you to the gods for the creation of birth control.

Now, he put his arm around Aelin as he pulled up the menu to a little local Mexican restaurant a block down the road. “What’re you in the mood for?”

Aelin hummed and looked through the menu as Rowan scrolled through it. “Chimichanga. And a taco. Make it two. With a side of rice. And a bowl of queso.”

Rowan gave her an amused glance as he entered all of her requests into the cart.

“What?” She asked, huffing a laugh. “You’re the reason I worked up an appetite.” 

“Fair enough,” he laughed and pressed a kiss to her temple. He ordered their food, thankful that his favorite restaurant down the road was still serving margaritas to-go, and then set his phone aside.

It was quiet for a minute and when he glanced over at Aelin, she was brushing the end of a lock of her hair over her lips.

He loosened it from her fingers and she looked over at him. “What’s on your mind?”

She shrugged. “I’m trying to figure out where we’re going from here, what we’re doing…”

She was still only wearing his shirt, her leggings and own shirt still strewn somewhere around his kitchen. He turned to face her, brushing his thumb across her cheekbone. “It’s been less than a week and I can’t get you off my mind. I’ve tried, but… I don’t want to.”

Aelin hesitated. “I feel the same way. But….your job-.”

“I’ll keep my job-.”

“And my future-.”

“I won’t ask you to do this if you don’t want to do this,” Rowan said. “I’m more than willing to keep us a secret. I just want to be with you.”

“I want to be with you, too,” Aelin breathed. “But is it really a relationship if we have to hide all the time?”

“You won’t be in school forever,” he said, taking her face into his hands. “Soon, you’ll graduate and then we won’t have to hide anymore.”

She was quiet for another moment, so he added, “You wanted to date me before you found out who I was. If you’re not interested anymore because of that, I get it—.”

“It’s not that,” she replied, leaning into his palm. “I just worry about the consequences.”

“Damn the consequences,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss her. “And we’ll be careful, to make sure nobody knows. Not a soul.”

She made a face and for a second, he got worried, but she said, “I may have gotten wine drunk on Tuesday and told my roommate. But she’s my best friend, and she wouldn’t tell anyone.”

Chuckling, he nodded. “I got whiskey drunk and told mine. So we’re even.”

That made her laugh and the sight and sound loosened the strain in his chest,

“How do we do this?” She asked, covering one of his hands with hers.

“Carefully,” he said, and kissed her, slowly. “And one day at a time.”

“I can do that,” she said, and climbed into his lap, straddling his waist.

“Me too,” he promised.

“We’ll have to lay down some ground rules,” he replied, his hands immediately finding her ass. He hadn’t forgotten she wasn’t wearing underwear. “Like minimal contact in class. We can’t seem too…familiar.”

She nodded. “That’s reasonable. And no special treatment from you. I’m still your student, whether we’re having sex or not.”

“Special treatment?” He chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, like you can’t grade my papers or exams easier because we’re sleeping together.” She was running her hands over his bare chest, following the lines of his tattoo. Her eyes met his and went wide. “Or harder. Not unless you’re willing to give extra tutor sessions.”

Rowan rolled his eyes, but leaned up, capturing her lips in a kiss. “I promise, I’ll treat you just like every other student I have. Except for the fact that we’re having sex. That is just for you.”

“So,” she mumbled, acting shy all of a sudden. Rowan thought it was adorable. “You’re saying we’re exclusive?”

Rowan’s eyes softened. “I sure as hell don’t want to be seeing anyone else.”

“Pretty sure that’s the definition of exclusive,” she said.

Rowan huffed a laugh, his fingers gripping her ass a little tighter. “Then yes, smart ass.”

Aelin’s grin widened. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Rowan pulled her closer into him before kissing her, yet again.

He liked kissing Aelin.

He didn’t think he would ever grow tired of kissing Aelin.

“So what excuse should I give to women when they throw themselves at me?” Rowan asked. “You know, since I can’t tell anyone that you’re my girlfriend.”

She snorted. “Do women throw themselves at you often?” His raised eyebrow was enough of an answer. That and Aelin was living proof that, yes, women did throw themselves at him. Chuckling, she said, “Right. Maybe the old, generic excuse of I’m working on myself right now. Don’t really have time for a girlfriend.”

She dropped her voice an octave when she said it, doing a horrible impression of Rowan’s deep voice, but he laughed. “I guess that would work. And you’re obviously so focused on your studies, 

since it’s your last semester, that you don’t even have time to think about dating.”

“I do take my studies seriously,” Aelin said, and though her tone was stark, her eyes were playful.

“I can tell you do.” Rowan was leaning in to kiss her again when there was a knock on the front door.

They both jumped, Aelin going so far as to climb off of his lap, when Rowan realized it was their dinner.

She blushed as he went to retrieve it, grabbing two glasses for the margaritas.

“Are you going to jump every time we order food?” Rowan asked, sitting next to her with a pile of to-go boxes. He handed her a margarita.

Aelin chuckled as she took it. “Are you?”

Rowan sipped from his glass as he grinned. When he set it on the coffee table, he said, “I guess this will just take some getting used to.”

“I guess it will,” Aelin agreed, pulling her knees up on the couch as she began to flip open the boxes. “But I’m okay with that.”

Rowan leaned over to kiss her, softly, as he said, “Me too.”

[arctimon]

By the Grace of Granville

(Warning: This post is long.  But what else is new when it comes to character analyses?)

One of the bigger mysteries that gets introduced into Big Hero 6: The Series made their introduction in the very first episode, got a little bit of expansion into their background, and then didn’t really see much daylight for the rest of the series sand her becoming an even-numbered wheel. No, I’m not talking about Obake.

I’m talking about Professor Granville, the newly-installed dean of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.

People, including myself, play Granville up as some sort of Nick Fury-esque figure.  She’s always in the know, gives advice to the team, and seems to have a general understanding of everything at once.

This is further helped by the fact that we don’t know a lot about what she has been up to since she resigned after Obake’s accident. It’s hindered by the fact that there may be some misinformation going on at the Big Hero 6 Wiki.

Here’s the introductory blurb for Professor Granville on her page:

Grace Granville has been a professor at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology for at least 20 years, having taught Wendy Wower and Trevor Trengrove among other modern day geniuses.

She used to teach robotics and had her own star student, Bob Aken, but once he began an experiment to build an energy amplifier, it went awry as the amplifier exploded on his face, the result of which sent him to the hospital.

Though Bob survived, Granville felt extreme guilt from the incident and resigned. However, she kept the remains of the amplifier, possibly unaware that it still worked, as a reminder to not repeat the same mistakes.

She would return decades later to teach thermodynamics when Robert Callaghan, the dean of the institute at the time, was thought to have died, then resurfaced as the villain Yokai and was arrested for putting San Fransokyo in danger. Professor Granville became the college's new dean as she settled into her new role quite well. Now, after rewatching “Mini-Max”, I call into question the very first part that she’s been a professor there for at least 20 years.  As far as I am aware of, that has never been said or confirmed in the show.  She said herself (and the yearbook and Callaghan confirm this) that she worked there 20 years ago.  That’s not the same thing.  Working there for 20 years is not the same thing as being there 20 years ago.  So is that a discrepancy or am I the one who doesn’t remember things correctly?

And let’s go to what Callaghan said about the incident when Hiro went to visit him in prison in “Mini-Max”:

Robert: “She was in the lab after hours.  Something went wrong.  There was...an incident.”

Hiro:  “What kind of incident?” Robert: ”Officially, a pipe burst.  But there were rumors.  An unsanctioned project gone wrong.” Hiro:  ”So she was fired?”

Robert: “She resigned.  The matter was not pursued further.  That’s all I know.” OK, first of all...was Callaghan not the dean twenty years ago?  And even if he wasn’t...

Does anyone think that was caused by a simple burst pipe?  What was in said pipe?  Lava?  TNT?  Mentos and Coke?

That leads to the second possibility: Callaghan was Dean at the time, knew about it, and “pushed” Granville to resign to avoid a messy lawsuit.

But we’re getting away from the original point, which is...what exactly has Granville been doing this entire time? I find it hard to believe that Granville was still at the school when Tadashi, Go Go, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi were there.  You’d think that one of them would have said something about it, and all through the conversations in “Mini-Max” gave no indication of that as well.

So she’s been gone for twenty years (presumably).  Which begs the next question... Why did she have to become the dean? Endangering a student’s life is a very serious thing.  Something like that can’t be just forgiven.  So, why did it have to be her? It’s not like there’s not other candidates:

(From left to right: Monica Rambeau [one of the Physics professors], Grace Granville, Robert Callaghan, Linda Carter, and Timothy Dugan.  Note that these are merely names I’ve given them based off of who I think they are and not canon names.  However, for the sake of simplicity, I will refer to them as such from here on out.) Monica might have been a good replacement.  Linda’s just the nurse, so unlikely.  Dugan’s the Dean of Athletics, so probably not.  The dean doesn’t have to be the robotics professor, right?  Granville teaches Thermodynamics. And then you have Professor Kameela from the comics, who appears to be another Physics professor:

So why her?

Granville’s been out of the game, as far as we know, for a long time.  Did the board at SFIT really have no other options other than Granville?  Why give the top job to someone who hasn’t even stepped foot in SFIT for decades?

And the worst part is that I don’t really have a good answer for that.  The show delves into Granville’s history with Obake a lot and not enough into her actual history with SFIT, so that part is pretty much an unsolved mystery.

And if the info on the Wiki is true, then that means...what?  Granville was teaching for 20 years, and then took a 20 year break.  Wouldn’t that put Granville in her 60s, at minimum? (She looks pretty good for possibly being in her 60s.  Maybe she got some Infinity Formula from her possible Marvel counterpart.)

I think it’s much more possible that she’s in her early 50s.  That gives her enough time to be a professor, have an actual working history, and then have to leave with Obake’s accident. So my personal timeline for her career would be something like this.  For the sake of being simple, let’s assume that Granville is an even 50, and also that Big Hero 6 the movie takes place in the year 2031 (as per movie screenshots):

1981 - Grace Gretchen Granville is born 2002 - Graduates college (perhaps at SFIT; haven’t thought that far ahead) Sometime between 2002 and 2004 - Granville begins her work at [Redacted] 2005 - Granville become a TA in the Thermodynamics department (as per Highway to Hell Chapter 2, “In The Details”) 2006 to 2007 - Given government assignment to [SORT OF Redacted] 2007 - Returns to SFIT 2007 to 2011 - Becomes thermodynamics professor at SFIT; continues periodic work at [Redacted] 2011 - Obake’s accident; Granville resigns from SFIT 2011 to 2013 - Takes a position with [SUPER Redacted] in Symkaria 2013 - Returns stateside and [Redacted] 2013 to 2031 - Various jobs and positions, including start-up at Fathom Blue Incorporated and a instructor at the San Fransokyo Police Academy with Sara Pezzini 2031 (Current Time) - Granville becomes Dean at SFIT (Keep in mind that this is a sliding timeline which is subject to change.  Probably.) Man, that’s a lot of redacted information.  It’s almost like she worked for a secret government organization and did a lot of things that aren’t on the public record or something.

I am going to delve into Granville’s history in future stories, and that will include something that I’ve done a fanart on. Mainly this:

The Wakanda story is going to happen at some point, and it’s going to involve one of the redacted items above (from 2002 - 2003).  What exactly she was doing there is going to stay secret for a little bit. Speaking of which, I had done research on a few pieces of Wakandan technology.  Guess which one I found of particular interest.

The Kimoyo Beads.  A bracelet given to every single Wakandan citizen that stores all of their medical information and serves as an everyday tool for them. It also notes that it doesn’t work outside of Wakanda because of its reliance on tapping into Vibranium as a power source.

Now, what would happen if a very realistic version of Vibranium were to find its way out of the country and into Granville’s orbit?

I wonder if her bracelet would start working again. Mysteries abound when it comes to Grace Granville.  If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll solve a few of them before too long.

[dreamescapeswriting]

The Professor ~ JHS [M] [Request]

↬↬↬Word Count: 4.2K

↬↬↬Genre: College Au!, Tutor!Hoseok, Student!Reader, smut,

↬↬↬Warnings: praise kink, smut, swearing, Cunnilingus, blow job, unprotected sex.

↬↬↬A/N: I lost the anon that requested this but it was asking for Hoseok and a praise kink. I wanted to make it different from the cliche ‘’You’re so quiet so I noticed you’’ aspect so I tried something a little different. Hope this is okay for you and yes Hosoek is a literacy tutor for this…don’t question me

Your unusually bright hair was what made you stand out in a crowd and in class, you were the girl that was well known and liked because you told people how it was and you didn't care if it made them hate you. If it was the truth it had to be told, it was how you were raised and how you were going to continue living. Besides from being the confident, loud and loving one of your friendship group - if you could call it a group, everyone on your side of college campus seemed to love and know who you were - you were also the smartest. Always passing your classes with flying colours and the one class you did your very best in was Literacy with Professor Hoseok. You had no idea why you always did so well in his class but there was never a change in grade in that one, A's throughout your first and second year, even now in your final year you were getting A's across the board.

"Lewis Carroll was a novelist and a poet! I want you all to take some time getting to know this author over your weekend!" Hoseok said as he knew the final bell was coming, it was a Friday afternoon and his Friday afternoon classes were nice and relaxing, he'd give you all an assignment to work on but nothing major to stress you all out over since it was the weekend.

"I know a lot of you will choose Alice's Adventures in Wonderland but I want you to think more outside of the box and branch into his other works." You began packing up everything into your bag, you had to collect some results from other classes before your weekend could begin. You'd planned a whole weekend away with two of your roommates, going to a spa to relax after the mock exams you'd taken.

"Y/n! Are you ready to get your pamper on?" Hoseok looked up as he heard Jihoo talking to you from her seat, he looked over at you. You were sitting there with your bright coloured hair thrown up into a messy ponytail, black jeans with a band shirt on. He noticed every student in his class but he noticed you the most, the way you stood out of the crowd but not in a disrespectful way. You stood out because you were smart - always answering questions that Hoseok had asked, doing your 100% best on the assignments he would set though he wasn't supposed to have favourites you were his.

"I'm so ready, I'll meet you back at the apartment. I have to get my grades from Professor Bang and Professor Sana," Your friends all left the classroom and you got up from the desk, flicking through your folder as you walked to the front of the classroom.

"Professor Hoseok?" Hoseok looked away from his laptop screen, he was grading last week's papers that were long overdue and he was going to be far behind for the weekend.

"Yes Miss Y/l/n?" You smiled softly at him, the way your name rolled off his tongue like that sent shivers down your spine but you would never act on it. There was no rule against dating a college professor on your campus but sleeping with someone who graded your papers wasn't the best way to live the college life.

"I just wanted to hand this in, it was due Yesterday but Kyle was in the hospital." Kyle was another one of your classmates who'd been involved in a skateboard accident breaking one of his legs and his arm.

"You went to see him to get this to me?" You nodded and put the folder into your side bag,

"He was texting the group chat about how hard he'd worked on it and so I figured I could just hand it in." Hoseok thanked you and you left the room. He watched as you walked away from him, just by looking at you no one would expect you to be this kind and considerate towards others but Hoseok had looked into your school record. Not only did you excel in all of your classes your extracurriculars were just as impressive from volunteering at hospitals, nursing homes and tutoring others he wondered how you ever made time for yourself and it made him more interested in knowing you.

The weekend came and went for Hoseok, he'd spent his time closed up in his office hunched over papers trying to read through desperate attempts to pass his class. Your weekend, however, was spent hunched over your desk in your dorm instead of the relaxing it was supposed to be.

"Where's Y/n?" Josh asked as he walked into Hoseok's classroom, no one had seen you all day. Hoseok's ear picked up when he heard people mumbling your name, he could have sworn he'd seen you in the library earlier in the day when he went for a lunch break. He noticed the big glasses on your face as well as you bright hair before he noticed anything else, you were reading something so he didn't go to talk to you only now he wished he had.  

"She didn't come on the spa trip, I called her and she said something came up." Jihoo sighed looking at Josh and laying her head on his shoulder, any excuse to flirt with someone but you were there. You were juts hunched up in the back of the class, hoodie pulled up over your head to hide your hair which was normally your favourite feature but right now it was the one thing that would give you away.

"Is she okay? She never misses classes." Hoseok scanned the classroom and he noticed you, your head was in a book, glasses pushed up against your face and head downcast trying to go unnoticed but you didn't go unnoticed by him. He could tell you didn't want to talk to anyone though so he started his class,

"I trust you all had a great weekend and are ready to learn." There were low mumbles about how excited they were and so he started lecturing them more on Lewis Carroll, giving them facts about his lifestyle and his upbringing.

"Aren't all his books and poems just children's play?" Josh screamed out making the whole class erupt into laughter, this was usually where you would step in to correct him but Hoseok was going to have to do that for you today.

"Not necessarily Mr Quarbeck, there are many meanings behind the things he wrote." He picked up his favourite copy of a Lewis Carol poem and showed everyone,

"The Walrus and the Carpenter, can anyone tell me what it's about?" He looked at you, you were dying to answer him since it was what your assignment was about. You'd chosen it because it happened to be one of your favourites.  

"It's the one where the man goes under the sea and lures the oysters away. I watched a Disney movie." Jihoo said proudly, flicking her hair over her shoulder and smirking.

"I suppose so yes but there's a deeper meaning to the story than that. Have I taught you nothing over my years of teaching, you guys?" They all stared at him blankly and he could tell that this was a lost cause.

"Go. Take the class off, I want you all to go and reread your assignments and then come back when you find the deeper meaning." He clapped his hands together and the whole class began to rush around trying to beat everyone out of the class, you stayed behind to slowly pack up.

"Miss Y/l/n?" You glanced over at Hoseok who was leaning against his desk and gesturing for you to go over to him.

"Yes Professor Hoseok?" He smiled at you and then saw that you had bloodshot eyes and looked like you'd been crying,

"Sit down." He pointed at the seat beside his desk in the hall and then went to get you some tissues he kept on the desk.

"Everything okay?" It was a simple question that should have just had one answer 'yes' and then you should have left but as soon as he asked it was like the flood gates opened once again and you started crying and sobbing about something he couldn't quite understand. He didn't know how to comfort you about it since he didn't know what you were actually saying,

"What's the Walrus and the Carpenter about?" He asked and it was as if a switch went off in your head, the tears stopped and you spoke out facts to him.

"It has themes of death and betrayal within, it talks about tricking young oysters and eating them after a long walk together." He smiled as you started to calm down, he handed you the tissue and sat down.

"We won't have long until another professor comes to use this room. Do you want to come to my office and talk about it?" You nodded, it would be nice to talk to someone about what got you so upset. No one else would understand it except for him.

"Sit, do you want a hot drink?" He questioned, the inside of his office was huge. It had a wooden desk at the back wall and in front of it sat a brown fabric sofa covered with pillows and a throw. He caught you staring at the sofa before sitting down on it,

"I sometimes sleep here on the weekends when I'm behind, it's a lot easier than travelling home in the mornings." You nodded in understanding and he offered you a hot chocolate, he had a small kettle in his office along with a set of coffee, tea and hot chocolate sitting upon a mini-fridge.

"You practically live here Professor Hoseok," Your voice cracked as you tried to speak, you felt open with him and it was nice to have that feeling around someone.

"What's bothering you?" He asked sitting down on the sofa but leaving a gap between you.

"It seems so stupid looking back on it but I erm, I failed both Professor Bang and Sana's classes and I have to resit the whole exam again." He stared at you as he walked over to finish the drinks he was making. He placed them down on his desk instead of handing it to you, it was far too hot to drink right away.

"Are you struggling a lot in their classes?" You nodded your head,

"I don't understand it. It's just everyone's classes except yours I seem to be failing this year." You hid your face in your hands as you thought about it, maybe this was a huge mistake. Complaining to another professor that you were failing,

"You're always such a good girl, I doubt it won't take you long to pass them. How about I help you study? I took music production in college and Sana's class isn't that far away from my own. I can help." Your eyes shot up to stare at him as you heard him mention it,

"You'd do that?" Your voice was shaky and he could tell that you needed the help,

"Sure. How about we meet here on Friday?" You nodded eager to get to work with him,

"Thank you so much, Professor, I'll pay you back in any way I can. I'll tutor the other students more, or I can help you grade." He chuckled and shook his head at you,

"No need, just pass your glass and that's the only thanks I need." You smiled at him and nodded getting up from the sofa and leaving. He stared out of the small window that looked out into the hall at you and smiled to himself. The look on your face when he told you he'd help you was enough to make his week and he wanted to see it again.

Weeks had passed and you were doing better than ever in both of your classes thanks to Hoseok who had started insisting you called him Hobi when you were alone together. He didn't want everything to be formal since you were both spending so much time together and it was a lot of time. Once you'd even fallen asleep on the sofa and he'd tucked you in and left you there with a note about where his key was if you needed to get out and the door was locked. You'd gotten your grades back from both tutors this morning and you were excited to show the results to Hobi you practically sprinted to his office after your classes had finished that Friday.

"Ahh Y/n, how did it go?" He asked watching as you shut the door and turned the papers around to reveal a C on the front of each of them. It wasn't an A but it was a move up from the F you'd gotten before and that was all you cared about.

"A 'C'!? That's brilliant!" He called out coming out from his desk and taking the paper into your hand, you threw your arms around his neck and hugged him without thinking but the second you realised you pulled away and cleared your throat.

"Sorry Professor, I just got a little excited." He shook his head and handed you the papers back,

"You should be excited. I'm so proud of you." He placed his hand on your shoulder and you felt a spark run through your body. Over the weeks with meeting up with him, you'd grown quite close and you'd started to notice an attraction towards him. He was handsome, he was incredibly smart and nice to you but he was also your tutor.

"I still don't know why I was struggling so much but thank your Professor,"

"I told you to call me Hobi," He sat down on the sofa and you sat down beside him, no gap between you. Your thigh against his thigh and he stared at you nervously thinking of how to approach the subject,

"I know why you do better with me." You hummed at him to continue and he sighed loosening his tie before taking it off and throwing it onto the desk. Images of the tie being wrapped around your hands filled your head but you ignored them trying to remain professional.

"In class whenever you answered something for me I would respond by praising you." You nodded to let him know you understood what he was saying,

"When you're in their class I'm assuming they don't do the same." You shook your head and it only proved to Hoseok what he thought in the first place.

"I think you have something that-" He stopped himself, it wasn't exactly teacher-student appropriate talk,

"This is me talking strictly as someone who knows you, not as Professor Hoseok. It came to my attention that you have a praise kink." You felt your cheeks begin to get hot and your ears start to burn as he brought it up. It was true but you thought it only applied in the bedroom not outside of it where you could benefit from it educationally.

"I'm assuming I'm right by the way you've gone silent and are staring at the floor." You nodded but it didn't feel uncomfortable to admit this to him it felt natural.

"I do have that but I never knew it would affect me out of the bedroom." He chuckled at you and nodded,

"I assumed that why you did so well," You smiled and thanked him for helping you again. He shook his head and you stared up into his eyes feeling your heart begin to flutter as he stared down at you. Ever since he'd mentioned the praise kink you'd gotten needy and he'd be lying to himself if he wasn't turned on by the thought of taking you in his office. Without either of you thinking about it you began leaning in until your lips touched and it was a spark to a fire. Everything became heated quickly, his hands were on your waist and you were moving to sit on his lap rather than next to him. His other hand ran up and cupped your face as you made out on the sofa, his tongue running along your bottom lip. You parted your lips allowing him access and he smirked sucking on your tongue a little and hearing you moan.

"Professor Hoseok," You whined as you felt him growing beneath you, you needed him and you needed the praise from making him feel good. You ground your hips down to create some friction and he groaned out holding onto your hip tightly as you continued to swirl your hips.

"You really are a good girl." He chuckled looking at you as you smiled at him, your eyes were filled with lust for him. You wanted to hear him moan out your name and call you a good girl all night. He tapped your ass gently,

"Lock the door, I don't want anyone walking in." He chuckled as you rushed over to lock the door, he walked to the small window and drew the curtains closed looking at you as he returned to the sofa. He'd expected you to get back onto his lap but you surprised him by dropping to your knees in front of him and reaching up to palm him through the jeans he was wearing.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked as he stared down at you, growing harder underneath your touch as you continued to palm him through the rough fabric.

"Yes Professor," He shook his head at you and you started to unbuckle his belt and unzip his jeans.

"Call me Hobi or Hoseok," You hummed and sprung him free from his boxers. He was covered in precum and it made your mouth water at the thought of taking him into your mouth,

"E-Easy... That's it, good girl." He praised as you slowly licked stripes along the tip of his cock before licking from the base to the tip and taking him all the way into your mouth, he grunted as he hit the back of your throat. You swirled your tongue around his head whenever you'd come back up his length letting him moan out your name loudly before placing his hand in your hair.

"F-fuck." He grunted loving the feeling of being inside of your mouth he was weak for you, he'd imagined this a thousand times but nothing he could imagine would come close to how you were making him feel right now. He held your face as he bucked his hips into your mouth breathing heavily as he felt himself getting closer to his release,

"You're such a good fucking girl taking my cock like this," You hummed around him and he whimpered softly as he felt the vibrations rush through his body.

"I-I can't...I'm g-gonna cum. Stop," You pulled off him a little disappointed that you didn't get to taste him and as if he could read your mind he ran his thumb along your bottom lip.

"You can taste me another time baby girl, right now I want to taste you," He pulled you up from the floor, kicking off his trousers before stripping you of your own clothes, he kissed your lips and you whined out as you felt his fingers trace your body. You were now fully naked and under his beck and call,

"Sit down on the sofa like a good girl." You did as you were told and he pulled you towards the edge of the sofa spreading your legs and smirking as he looked at your dripping pussy,

"All this for me?"  He questioned running one finger between the wetness of your folds and chuckling as you let out another breathy whimper.

"All for you Hobi," He chuckled and kissed your lips before dropping to his knees in front of you,

"Good girl." You seemed to grow wetter and he noticed, kissing up your thighs until he reached your core. You tensed up a little, you'd only ever been eaten out once and you'd never done it again,

"Relax baby. Let me take care of you for being such a good girl." Your legs relaxed and he chuckled before kissing your sensitive clit replacing his lips with his thumb rubbing in small circles while he slipped in tongue into you sucking and licking.

"A-Ah fuck!" You cried out your back arching off the sofa as he continued to suck on your womanhood, making unholy sounds as you moaned out above him. He switched - his mouth returning to your clit and pumping two fingers inside of you. Your head was spinning as you felt every hair on your body stand up. You'd never felt like this with anyone and he chuckled feeling you clench around his fingers.

"Are you going to be a good girl and ask to cum?" Your legs lifted from the floor and wrapped around his shoulders unconsciously holding him closer to your cunt as you felt your orgasm approaching. He hummed and you moaned out his name nodding desperately,

"Y-Yes! Fuck! Please can I cum Professor Hobi?!" He chuckled once again hearing the same fall from your lips as you came undone above him.

"You've been so good, go on princess. Cum." His fingers began to pick up the pace and everything around you started to go white as he continued to eat you out like this.

"Hoseok!" You screamed out hands clinging onto the sofa as you tried to steady your bucking hips, your orgasm hitting you like a truck and making you moan out his name loudly.

"Good girl, look at that." He chuckled as you tiredly watched him take your arousal and cover his cock in it. It only made you needier for him and he got up from the floor and lined himself up at your entrance.

"Ready?" You nodded and he slowly eased himself inside of you not wanting to go too rough, you whined at his size and he held himself in place giving you time to adjust to him. He kissed your lips lovingly,

"Good girl, you okay?" You smiled drunkenly at him as he called you a good girl again.

"You can move." He slowly began to thrust in and out of you while you adjusted to him being there.

"You're so fucking tight and warm around me." You smiled again as you heard his praise and then you moaned finally getting pleasure now you were adjusted to him.

"H-harder." You begged him and he chuckled lifting one of your legs over his shoulder to angle himself deeper into you and you were already a mess crying out his name as he began to pound into you the sound of skin slapping together filled the air along with heavy panting.

"R-Right there!" You cried out loudly as he hit your sweet spot with ease, he began slamming into you as he felt you clenching around him. He grunted as he felt himself getting closer to his release once again, your mouth and cunt had made him needier than he'd ever been before.

"Fuck, you're so fucking good aren't you?" You nodded and he continued to fuck into you holding you in place with one hand as he pace got quicker and stronger each time he pulled out. It was intoxicating to be with you and you felt the same with him. He began kissing you as he felt himself getting closer,

"Feels so good professor," You whimpered moving your hips to meet with his every time he slammed into you making your head spin.

His pace got quicker and quicker and he began to moan out as you shook around him from the pleasure he was giving you. His hand reached down between you and began to rub your clit, it was like your body was on fire.

"Fuck! Fuck! Hobi I'm- I'm cumming!" You cried out as your orgasm ripped through your body sending waves through you.

"Me too baby," He continued to fuck you through both of your highs only pulling out of you when you both came down from your highs.

You were both panting heavily as he sat down beside you on the sofa, he turned to look at you with a lazy smile and you smiled back at him.

"I hope you know I don't plan on that being a one-time thing."  You smiled back at him and nodded moving over to him and giving him a kiss.

"Good, I don't think I'll ever get enough of you." You whispered to him. Both of you far too tired to leave the office but knowing you had to soon.

"I'll take you home tonight,"

"My dorm is under construction, I need a ride to the train station. I'm staying out of town for the weekend." He looked at you,

"Are you staying with anyone?" You shook your head explaining that you were going to a small motel since it was the only place you could afford.

"You can stay at mine, take the bedroom and I'll have the sofa." You smirked at him,

"Why don't we both take the bedroom." He smirked back at you and nodded.

"I wanted to at least act like a gentleman first." You giggled at him and kissed him once again on the lips. 

tagline: 

@writingdreamsnottragedies​ @snowy-meowl​ @lynnthevirgo​ @jooniesdarlingdimples​ @fan-ati--c​ @lyoongx​ @mitzwinchester​ @callingmyangel​ @rjsmochii​ @btsiguess-kpop​ @kneel-begyourpardon​ @taestannie​ 

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 31

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: At Waystation, pt 4/?

A/N: Soo sorry about the long wait! This was a very long and kind of tricky chapter to write so it took me longer than I would have wanted. But in a way this is (ironically) a good day to post this chapter as it's the Mother's day in many parts of the world today. (Happy Mother’s day Esperanza Valdez ;___;)

Before we head into this chapter, I want to give you guys a warning that it (specifically, the flashback in the beginning of the chapter) talks about what happened to Leo's mother, so in case you find that too hard to read, feel free to skip it. (If you have read HoO, I think you can somewhat guess what to expect)

Thanks for all the amazing support you guys have given me so far! ♥ It's what keeps me going! Now, enjoy, and remember that I'd really like to hear what you think because there's a lot going on in this chapter!

Words: 5550 (yeah, long one)

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: minor character death (talked about), be aware!

previous chapter / AO3

*flashback*

There was fire. So much fire.

Leo had been tinkering with his toy tools and drawing some simple blueprints in the living room when he had remembered that he had left his hammer into his room. He went to look for it and it took him a couple of minutes to locate it from under the unfinished toys and papers he had thrown around. Unfortunately, that couple of minutes had been enough for all hell to break loose in the living room.

He started smelling smoke and ran back downstairs to see where it came from. The wooden floor and several pieces of furniture in the living room were on fire, which seemed to have started from the papers he had left near the fireplace. Leo’s mind went completely blank like a machine that had just been shut down. The only thing that he was capable of thinking was: what do I do?

His mother had put a fire in the fireplace before she had left to run some errands because it had been a cold day. She had warned Leo several times to be careful with it, even putting a bucket of water and a smothering blanket nearby in case of emergency. But it was already too late to use them; the fire had already spread too far in the room. Because of his state of panic, it took Leo a while to manage to make decisions, but finally, his brain told him: get your phone so you can call mom, and run.

What his 8-year-old brain didn’t understand: he should have just left the building right then and asked a neighbor or someone to call the fire department instead. But Leo could only think how the very thing his mother had been worried about just happened and how she’d probably never forgive him for – no matter how accidentally – burning their home. He had vague memories of leaving his cell phone that he had gotten a few months earlier on his birthday into his room, so he ran upstairs as quickly as he could with his short, wobbly legs. However, the phone wasn’t on his desk like he had anticipated, and it took him a while to remember he had thrown it under the bed after getting frustrated with his homework; the words on the textbook they were supposed to read had not made any sense to him.

Once he finally found the cell phone and went back downstairs to leave the building, the fire had already spread so much that he could barely see anything from the smoke. Coughing, he tried to cover his mouth with his shirt so he could protect himself from the smoke and dash to the door, but he soon realized it was not possible. His road was blocked, and the only way for him to get out would be through the upstairs windows.

Leo didn’t have the time to figure out how to open the windows so he ended up breaking his bedroom window with a real hammer that he happened to find nearby. Shaking, breathing heavily and trying to avoid the glass shards, he looked down. The fall would be quite big, at least 5-6 meters, but he was no stranger to broken bones. The fights with other school kids had taught him a thing or two about that. He would still be more likely to survive the fall than trying to go out from downstairs; at least there were no stones or other hard objects under the window. He was so full of adrenaline that he didn’t even notice that his hands were bleeding; they had hit the broken glass when he had peeked out.

Finally, he managed to gain enough courage to climb up the windowsill and lift one of his legs over the edge. In the process he scraped himself some more in the glass and tore his pants a bit as well, but who cared? It was a very minor thing compared to his mother’s face if she’d find him dead in the house. For a moment Leo thought about all the blueprints and devices in development in the basement of the house, how hours and hours of his mother’s work would go to waste if the entire house burned down – but that was a thing to worry about for later. It was already too late to do anything but to try to escape.

With a huge lump in his throat as he imagined how his mother would hate him when she’d find out about the fire, Leo finally lifted his other leg over the edge as well, sitting on the windowsill with his legs hanging in the air. The distance between him and the ground seemed even bigger than it had earlier, but he had to do this. Slowly, he inched himself forward, hesitating a bit more, but the sound of the fire breaking something downstairs startled him and finally, he dropped down.

After that his memories started getting hazy. He fainted when hitting the ground and when he first woke up he noticed the pain in his left ankle and some blood coming from his forehead. He was laying on the grass, not unharmed but at least alive, and suddenly he got aware that he had to get farther from the house because the fire could easily spread to the surrounding grounds. He could only hope that a neighbor or a passerby had already called the fire department because he himself would not be able to do that, not with his dizzy head and the pain everywhere in his body. Before he passed out again, his last thought was: when would his mother be back?

The next time he was conscious, he remembered trying to drag himself forward with his hands. He could not stand up, and not even crawl, so that was the only thing he could do. Inch by inch, he got a bit farther from his falling spot, and by that time he also started hearing some distant sirens and human yells somewhere, but his mind could not comprehend what all of it meant.

After that, the next thing he remembered was being lifted from the ground by a first responder. The man tried to tell him soothing words, probably something like ‘poor child, it will be alright’, but Leo didn’t care. He wished the fogginess of his brain would just fade so he could speak and walk on his own feet and find out what happened to his mother – if she returned yet – but afterwards, he wished he would have never found out.

He kept slipping in and out of consciousness for a while, not really sure what was happening around him, until finally he woke up in the hospital. One of his legs and arms had been plastered and a bandage had been wrapped around his head. Already he wished he could have just ripped them off and run away but he knew that wasn’t possible. A couple of minutes later, a nurse finally arrived at his bedside.

“Oh, good, I’m glad you’re awake,” she said, testing his forehead to see if he had a fever. “You scared us there, young one.”

“It’s not me you should be worried about! Where’s my mom?! Hasn’t anyone told her I am here?” Leo demanded in a hoarse voice.

The nurse ignored his question. “Now, what is your name?”

“Leo Valdez,” he answered grumpily, glaring at the nurse.

“Good. How old are you?” the woman asked then.

“8 years. But how does that have anything to do with anything? I want my mom here!”

“Calm down, Mr. Valdez. We are just doing some routine tests. You hit your head pretty badly. Now, do you remember your home address?”

Leo, despite still feeling quite dizzy, got really angry about the question. “Yes, I do, but it doesn’t matter! There’s probably nothing left of it anymore! Because it burned down!” The tears finally demanded to get out of his system as he added with a tiny voice: “And I don’t know where my mom is.”

The nurse looked very hesitant for a moment. “I, um… You know, I think we are gonna complete this test a bit later. There are some people who have been wanting to see you.” She looked towards the door restlessly.

“Is it mom?” Leo asked instantly.

The nurse just shook her head. “You’ll see soon.”

She let the visitors in and left the room, closing the door behind her. Leo found himself staring at a firefighter, who he vaguely recognized as the same one who had carried him to safety after his fall. With him entered a police officer whom Leo had not seen before. Why would a police officer want to meet him, he wondered. Maybe they’d sentence him to prison for burning the house down?

“It was an accident!” Leo blurted before the men had time to say anything, trying to look brave even though he had just cried.

“We know, we know,” the firefighter tried to calm him down. “That’s not why we are here. We wanted to see how you were doing, and, um…” he looked helplessly at his companion.

“We have some bad news,” the police officer went straight to the topic.

“Is it about the house?” Leo asked.

“No, it’s about your mother… she’s gone.”

It took Leo a moment to register what the police officer had said.

“What?” he yelled.

“I’m sorry, but she is dead.”

Leo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was already so panicked that denial was his only coping mechanism left. “Again, what?”

“It is true, young man,” the police officer stated matter-of-factly.

“But she can’t be! She wasn’t even home…!” Leo squeaked, trying to make sense of the situation in his blurry, shocked mind.

The firefighter spoke this time. “I’m so sorry, son… but he’s not lying. We found her in your house. The neighbor who called us had seen her go in before we arrived, and… when we got there… it was already too late.”

“But… but…” Leo had a very hard time getting any words out at that moment. “Why… why would she go in…? And… why didn’t anyone stop her?”

Again the visitors hesitated before answering. “This is just what we heard from a couple of witnesses, but… it seems like she had gone in to… look for you…”

Leo wished the sweet unconsciousness had returned to him in that moment, but that didn’t happen. Instead, it felt like something tried to pull his heart out of his chest. His mind was going through about a hundred different things at the same time: grief, anger, denial… and perhaps above everything else, guilt. It was his fault. It was his fault that the house had burned, and it was his fault that his mother had gone into the burning house. If he had been there to warn her… if she had known… But no, he had had to jump from upstairs to the backyard from where he had been harder to find. And then he had, only half conscious, dragged himself to a nearby trench where the humidity had protected him, being even harder to spot unless you happened to walk right next to it.

That meant that his mother had gone into the house thinking he was there… and she had died thinking he had died. All because he hadn’t listened to her, because he had left some papers on which he had been drawing too near the fireplace.

‘My fault. All my fault’, was all Leo could hear in his head on repeat. He noticed that the firefighter was trying to say something, but he could not register what. Leo didn’t ask him to repeat what he had said. Instead, he stuttered with a weak voice:

“You didn’t answer my other question. Why… didn’t anyone… stop her?”

The police officer sighed sadly. “From what we know, your neighbors had tried to tell her to not go in, that there was nothing she could do, but she refused to listen. The… smoke had already suffocated her by the time we arrived.”

Leo clenched his small fists, unable to focus his gaze anywhere. Everything around him was just a meaningless blur. All of a sudden, nothing mattered to him anymore. With his mother, Leo hadn’t just lost the most important person in his life, the only person who had ever really cared about him and understood him. He had lost his home, his safety, everything that he had loved. More to himself than to the men in the room, he sobbed:

“What's going to happen to me?”

And then everything went blank.

*end flashback*

…

When Leo woke up, he noticed he was breathing very sharply. He had to tell himself to slow it down a bit, trying to focus on the breathing instead of the dream he had just seen. Once he had calmed down a bit, he realized his face was soaked from the tears. The good feeling from the day before was gone, and suddenly he remembered all too well why he hated that holiday so much. His mother had died on Christmas day, 11 years ago.

The worst part about the nightmare he had just seen? It had actually happened. Sure, the details might have changed in Leo’s mind a bit because he had been so young when his mother had died, but most of it was true. The fire, the jumping, the people in the hospital, all true. When he had still been a kid, he had dared to hope that maybe someday the memories would start fading and it wouldn’t hurt so much. But now, 11 years later, he knew better. Thanks to the therapy and Jo, Emmie and the friends’ help, he did have moments when he managed to feel happy, focus on the future and forget the pain for a time being, but when it came back, it was always as intense. And it was especially bad on Christmas days, the anniversary of those horrific events.

‘Pull yourself together’, Leo told himself. ‘This is not what your mother would have wanted for you.’

‘No’, another, the evil voice in his head said. ‘But then again, if it weren’t for you, she would still be here.’

He groaned at himself and decided that it would be better to get himself up and moving rather than lay there listening to the voices. Sitting up, he combed his fingers through his messy hair in an attempt to tame it, with little success. After that, he wiped the tears from his face, trying to pretend it had never happened. Registering the voices coming from the living room, he figured some of his family members were already awake even though it was still rather early. They, especially Georgina, were lucky that they didn’t know what was going through in his head that day; it would have ruined everyone’s Christmas.

Trying to pull himself together and put on a happy face, he got up and washed his face in the bathroom quickly before joining the family. The moment he reached the bottom of the stairs, Georgina ran to him and hugged him.

“Merry Christmas, hermano!”

Leo patted her hair absentmindedly, thinking that Georgina was now only a year older than he had been when… no, he had to stop thinking about it. If not for anyone else’s sake, then Georgina’s. She deserved to have a happy day.

“Merry Christmas to you too, hermanita. Well, did Santa visit? Did he receive my memo on your behavior towards me this year?”

Georgina pulled away from him and folded his arms. “I’m not a little baby anymore; I know Santa doesn’t actually exist. But we did get presents! Even you, although I was kind of surprised about that.”

Leo clutched his shirt. “Ouch, Georgie! I thought you were on my side!”

The siblings continued bickering playfully as they waited for the others. They had a tradition in their house that everyone needed to be there for the present opening. Soon Josephine appeared with a tray full of coffee cups, gingerbread cookies and certain small pies she used to bake every Christmas.

“Where are the others?” Georgina asked impatiently as she started stuffing the cookies into her mouth and drummed her legs against the sofa. “I want to open the presents already!”

“Calm down, Georgie,” Jo scolded her. “Emmie is checking the cats and dogs because they also need care on Christmas day, and Calypso may still be sleeping.”

“Ugh, I told her I wanna start opening the presents early!” Georgina protested. “I’ll go wake her up if she isn’t here in 10 minutes!”

“You’ll wake who up?” Calypso showed up from the stairway. Hearing her voice and seeing her face, Leo forgot for a moment why he had been so upset earlier. Somehow her presence just had that weird effect on him. She was wearing a green holiday sweater knitted by Annabeth over her pajamas – pink with some small flower prints – and her hair was flying freely, slightly wavy because of the braids that Georgie had insisted on making the previous evening. Somehow even that casual look made her look adorable in his eyes and his throat felt dry for entirely different reasons than a few minutes earlier. Leo almost missed Calypso’s next words due to his distraction. “Sorry that you had to wait, Georgina. I was finishing up one last present because I wasn’t entirely happy with it.”

“No worries!” Georgina exclaimed. Apparently the last minute gift preparing was a good enough reason to be late in her books, because Leo knew that if he had been late for the gift opening, the little girl wouldn’t have forgiven that easily.

Calypso put her pile of neatly packed presents under the tree to wait and turned to the others.

“So, merry Christmas, everyone! If I am allowed to be honest with you, I don’t really know a lot about Christmas traditions… My family never celebrated it… But I want to learn!”

“We’ll teach you,” Georgina told her immediately. “It’s gonna be so much fun, you’ll see!”

Leo wished he himself could have been as enthusiastic about the holiday as Georgina was, but tried to keep the happy face on anyway.

“Cal, try some of those pies before Georgie has eaten them all.” He pointed to the tray Jo had brought. Calypso glanced at him suspiciously for a moment. “Don’t give me that look; I swear I didn’t make them. It’s all Jo and Emmie.”

“Fine,” Calypso agreed and took a bite. “This is really good!” she exclaimed once her mouth was empty.

“Told you. Now do you trust me?” Leo asked her teasingly.

“Hmmm. That’s still to be determined,” Calypso replied, but Leo could see her smile into her piece of pie.

As everyone waited for Emmie to return inside, they kept up a light banter as they ate their Christmas breakfast in the living room. Even Leo did his best to participate in it, and soon he did feel a bit better, although if someone had looked at him more closely, they would have noticed the smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes.

Finally, Emmie arrived together with Festus and Georgina instantly pulled her towards the Christmas tree so they could start the gift sharing. A grin spread across Leo’s face as well when he watched the little girl run back and forth as she delivered the packages to their rightful owners. This was now, he tried to remind himself. What happened in the past… was in the past and his mother would probably have wanted him to enjoy these moments.

Not that he’d ever know that for sure, the nasty voice in Leo’s head said again, and the grin almost disappeared from his face.

To no one’s surprise, Georgina got the most presents because even some family friends and neighbors had sent her something (that’s what happened when she got everyone wrapped around her finger, Leo thought), but everyone else got their fair share of self made gifts as well. Leo noticed that Calypso had three packages; one from him, one from Georgina who had insisted on making her own present, and one from Jo and Emmie. He found himself wishing she’d like what he had made; he had spent quite a lot of time on it.

Before anyone could start ripping their wrapping papers off the presents, Festus was given some treats so he wouldn’t interrupt the gift opening too much. Georgina got the privilege of getting to open hers first. She chuckled at Leo’s jokes in the photo album, which Leo took as a success, and squealed excitedly at the tiny dragon toy he had carved from wood and painted. Calypso had sewed her a detailed gryphon plushie, because Leo had told her that Georgina had recently gotten interested in the mythical creatures, a topic Calypso knew a lot about. The little girl hugged the plushie enthusiastically while Calypso promised her to tell her more about the Greek mythology later when they’d have more time. Emmie gave Georgie a tiny beginning of a plant that she’d get to raise on her own, and Jo, the practical person that she was, gave her a pocket knife for tinkering with a warning that she’d only get to use it under her supervision.

Leo and Calypso allowed Jo and Emmie to open their presents next. It was mostly practical stuff, like woolly socks, self made chocolate, and new tools (which broke the ‘homemade’ rule but Leo knew Jo needed them), but Leo had also tinkered frames for a photo of the Waystation family and asked Calypso to decorate it with her paints. The final result looked pretty good in his opinion.

Next was Calypso’s turn. Georgina had attempted to crochet a potholder for her because Leo had guiltily admitted that he may have accidentally ruined one of Calypso’s potholders while cooking something. However, since she was still a beginner in the handicrafts, the potholder had some room for improvement, but Leo could see from Calypso’s happy face that she appreciated the gesture. Leo had also told his mothers that Calypso really loved her flowers, so they gave her a white orchid in a pot that Jo had once crafted. Finally, she opened the gift Leo had made for her. He was biting his lip and tapping his fingers nervously even though he tried to act nonchalant as he watched Calypso’s reaction. Before she removed the paper, she knocked on the surface of the gift, trying to guess what was in it.

“Is this a tool box? So you could borrow mine when you lose yours?” She teased.

“Well, at least that would be useful, don’t you think? But hold your horses; it’s probably not what you think it is,” Leo hinted. Calypso gave him a quizzical look and Leo took that as a sign that she really had no idea what the gift was.

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” she noted and started carefully removing the paper. Unlike Georgina, she made sure that the paper would still be usable on some later occasion. Calypso wasn’t entirely wrong with her guess; the gift was indeed a box of sorts. But it wasn’t for tools. Instead, it was a jewelry box; wooden, self made, painted rose pink, which happened to be Calypso’s favorite color. When she opened it, she noticed a small mirror on the lid with some text on it. The box also played one of those few songs that they both happened to like. Calypso traced her finger on the smooth surface of the box for a moment before she noticed that there was still something more in the box: a silvery bracelet with a letter C hanging from it. She took it into her hands and admired it for a moment before reading aloud the text that had been written on the mirror:

“You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep rereading the last one.”

“Um, yeah…” Leo was unsure how he should respond. Suddenly he got worried he had been too straightforward with that message, and Calypso wouldn’t appreciate it. “It was a quote, um, that I happened to stumble upon somewhere recently… But I thought it was quite fitting?”

Calypso looked at him straight into the eyes and for a moment Leo managed to forget that there were others in the room. It was as if she was trying to message him wordlessly that she understood the meaning of the quote.

“Yes, I think it works,” she replied slowly. “For both of us.”

Leo felt his ears getting heated and attempted to comb his hair over them with his fingers to not make it so painfully obvious. Given what day it was, he understood that it was ironic he was using that quote when he himself was struggling to let go from his past.

“True,” he had to admit, looking at the others nervously from the corner of his eye. “It’s… it’s something that we both should try to remember. Something we have in common, right?”

Calypso seemed to accept his explanation. “Right. Um, this box is really beautiful. You’ve seen a lot of trouble with it. The music and all… It’s really nice. Did you even make this bracelet?”

Even though Leo should have prepared himself for that question, he felt embarrassed to reveal the bracelet’s origins, afraid it might sound too sentimental. He rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat to get more time to consider his answer.

“The… the chain was from an old bracelet my mom had… My biological mom, I mean. I didn’t get to keep a lot of her belongings but this had survived… and my dear aunt didn’t want to keep it so I’ve been carrying it around as a charm of some sort. But the thing is, I don’t really need it so it was Jo’s suggestion that I could give it to someone who’d use it. She helped me make this,” he showed the C, “because I don’t really…”

“Want to forge anything,” Calypso finished for him. “Yeah. I understand.”

“Good. If you don’t like it, you can give it to someone else; I’m sure my mom wouldn’t mind…”

Calypso gave him an encouraging smile. “Oh, no! This bracelet meant a lot to you so it means a lot to me. It’s a really nice gesture, Leo.”

“You’re welcome?” he replied, kind of flustered by her reaction.

Calypso fiddled with the gift for a moment before turning her attention back to Leo.

“Would you like to put this on my wrist? I’d like to see how it fits.”

“Oh… alright!” Leo agreed, wishing he could say something that didn’t make him sound like a complete idiot. But then again, he reminded himself, wasn’t that what most people thought of him? And since when had he cared?

Calypso handed the bracelet to him and Leo took a very light hold of her wrist, as if afraid that he’d burn her skin with his hot fingers. He was so focused on his task that he even forgot that it was technically against the ‘rules’ they had set, but Calypso had initiated it so who was he to deny her request? He put the chain around her wrist with fumbling fingers and closed the lock. After that he allowed his hand to stay around hers a moment longer. He swiped the surface of the chain with his finger, also touching the back of her hand by accident (or maybe on purpose). Calypso looked up from their hands to him with a surprisingly soft expression that he hadn’t seen since that day when they had promised each other to try harder to be ‘just friends’. His brain sent sparks through his spine and he felt very warm all of a sudden.

“I… um… it seems to fit, doesn’t it?” he finally stuttered, looking down at the bracelet, Calypso’s gaze still lingering in his mind. He let her wrist go and already his hand felt much colder, as if it was missing something.

“Oh, yeah,” Calypso nodded, absentmindedly fiddling with the chain of the bracelet. “It’s small enough that it won’t fall but it’s not too small.”

“Good,” Leo said, a smile returning to his face. “Guess you’re just as tiny as my mom was.” He finally managed to bring out his more playful side.

“Have you looked into the mirror lately, Mister Super-Sized McShizzle? You’re not exactly a giant yourself,” Calypso teased back.

Georgina giggled at her response. “You tell him, Calie!”

“This Georgina here, though,” Leo grinned at her, “she must really have some giant blood in her. She uses my overalls in the garage sometimes!”

“I do not,” Georgina denied quickly. “They’re stinky.”

“Yeah? And you smell like flowers and rainbows,” Leo retorted and started tickling the little girl.

For a moment Leo was able to forget that he hated Christmas as he played with Georgina, but then someone reminded him that he still had to open his own presents. He looked at the pile he had gotten and thought briefly that he had gotten more of them than what he had expected. Georgina had drawn him a picture of him with Festus and sewed him a simple pencil case for his blueprint pencils. Jason and Piper had gotten him a book about weird mechanics facts. Percy had sent him a new orange t-shirt so Leo could return him the one that he had once borrowed after a workout (which, according to Percy, was ‘way too big for him anyway’). Leo’s moms had made him an awesome tool case where even the bigger tools would fit and baked some of his favorite goodies. Finally, it was the turn for Calypso’s present, though.

“What do you think it is?” Calypso asked, glancing at him curiously.

“My first guess would have been a pack of olives because you know how much I love those things… But this doesn’t feel like them. It’s mostly soft but there are some hard parts too. Maybe a bit like a backpack?"

“That wasn’t a half bad guess,” Calypso responded. “But I won’t tell you the correct answer; you can figure it out on your own.” She invited Leo to open the present.

“Okie, Sunshine, will do.”

He ripped the paper (which was Leo’s favorite shade of red) off notably less gracefully than Calypso had done with her presents, but his mouth opened involuntarily when he saw what was inside. It was a toolbelt, not looking like one of those belts that broke in his use after the first couple of days (Leo had a habit to load them too full sometimes), but sturdy, well made. Leo wondered where she had obtained the leather she had used in it, and hoped that it hadn’t cost her too much money. The belt had four different sized pockets for the tools and it seemed like one of them had something in it, but before Leo checked what was inside, he turned to Calypso:

“How did you know I needed one of these?”

“Probably because you’ve been carrying wrenches and stuff in your jean pockets and I’ve also seen your room and that’s enough for me to be able to tell you need a place for your tools,” Calypso smirked. Leo barely heard her answer. He didn’t want to admit aloud that one of the reasons why he was suddenly feeling so sentimental about a tool belt was because it reminded him a lot of the one his mom had made for him when he was a kid. “I hope this wasn’t too much trouble…” He noted more quietly than usual.

“It was not trouble at all,” Calypso reassured him. “I have sewed more difficult things. The leather was actually from one of my old bags that my dad got for me – which I hated – so I didn’t even have to buy a lot of the materials. Besides, you yourself made this,” she knocked the wooden cover of the jewelry box, “and I bet it was a lot more difficult.”

“Nah, it wasn’t…” Leo tried to protest and he noticed the others in the room had a hard time keeping their faces straight as they listened to the flatmates competing whose present had taken more time. “The music was probably the most complicated part.”

“Okay,” Calypso said, deciding to leave the debate there. “Hey, I forgot to mention that there is something small in one of the pockets. You could check it out now.”

“Alright, I will,” Leo told her. He reached out to the said pocket and found a small box from it. His smile instantly disappeared from his face when he realized what it was. Everyone went quiet for a while as they were waiting for his reaction.

“Why would you give me matches, especially today of all days?” He lifted his gaze from the box, his eyes sparkling angrily. Before anyone could say anything, he threw the box away and jumped up from his seat. Calypso’s sad face was the last thing he saw before storming out of the room.

[never-stop-dreaming30]

The Things You Give Part 2 Steven Hyde x Reader

Author’s Note: I hope you really enjoyed Part 1! Here is part 2 and I’ll put a link to access part 1 if it’s your first time being here. Leave a heart and subscribe to my blog if you want more! Thank you and stay safe, folks. 

Warnings: None

Part 1 here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/elianamarie-blog

The next morning, Y/N found herself waking up at noon. She cursed at herself because she hated waking up late knowing her day was now gone, but at least it’s Saturday and her day off from work. She dragged herself out of bed and trudged her way down into the kitchen where she was greeted with Red, Kitty, Steven, and Eric eating lunch at the table.

           “Well, good morning, sunshine,” Kitty greeted, looking up from her glass of lemonade. “Or should I say ‘afternoon?’”

           Y/N yawned as she plopped herself in a chair across from her mother. “I was up late last night.”

           “Doing what?” Red questioned like she didn’t have any good excuse.

            Y/N eternally cursed herself as her eyes flitted towards Hyde’s wide ones for a split second. She didn’t think this through. “I-I just couldn’t sleep. Tossing and turning.”

           “Again?” Kitty asked. “This has been happening for the last couple months. You might be suffering from insomnia. At first I thought it was because of your finals and looking for colleges, but this has gone longer than that. You might have insomnia.”

           She chuckled to herself, relieved. “Yeah, probably do.” She grabbed a sandwich from the middle of the table and at the bag of chips, dumping it on her plate.

           “Eric, what’s your plan for today?” Red asked.

           “Well, since I’m on my one year of doing nothing, I’m going to answer with nothing,” he responded with no emotion in his voice.

           “Wrong,” Red answered harshly, like he normally does when he spoke to Eric. “You’re going to trim the hedges, sweep the driveway, and fix the dent on the Vista Cruiser.”

           “Dad, that’s like eighty bucks!” Eric cried. “I don’t have that kind of money.”

           “Then it looks like you’re going to have to get a job!” Red said.

           “But that just interferes with my plan!”

           “Exactly,” Red responded slowly. “If you’re going to live in my house you will do as I say. Or you can drive around town with that big ass dent.”

           Eric thought it over for a split second before pointing at Red. “Can’t Y/N pay for it? She has a job.”

           “No!” he said. “She’s not the one who put the dent there.”

           “Neither did I!” Eric argued. “Mr. Fitzgerald ran into me.”

           “And don’t worry, I already talked to him, but unfortunately our insurance won’t cover it. So it falls on you to replace it.”

           “This totally blows, man. I’d rather drive around town with the dent.”

           Red rolled his eyes at his son and turned to face him fully. “Why can’t you be like your sister? She got a job straight out high school working at the bridal store, applied for college in Denver, and has her life planned out. While you sit there eating my food, taking up my heat, taking up space, being a no-good bum.”

           “Red, honey, that’s enough,” Kitty interjected. “Let’s just enjoy our lunch.”

           “Dad, I only stayed because of your heart attack!” He shot back at his ill-tempered father. “You know, to take care of you guys. I could be in Madison right now.”

           “And that’s worked out great so far, hasn’t it?” Red spat.

           “You’re so ungrateful!” Eric said, clearly hurt. “Why can’t you just say ‘thank you’ for once?”

           “I would if you just do something around the house,” he responded, his voice raising. “Pick up on household chores, work and bring a paycheck home, help your mother out, take me to doctors appointments. Anything other than sitting around all day playing you’re your toys.”

           “Red, you’re going to give yourself another heart attack,” Kitty informed him. ���You need to calm down.”

           Red put his hands up. “Fine, fine. But I want those chores done today, Eric. And if you half-ass it, I’m going to make you do it all over again, plus cleaning out the gutters and fixing the leak under the bathroom sink.”

           Eric grunted. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

           Red nodded, pleased he won the argument and turned back to his meal. It was silent for a moment, the air thick with tension. Hyde and Y/N just sat there, eating quietly and stiffened. Well, not so much Hyde because it was always amusing seeing Red yell at Eric, but for Y/N it was different. Even though she was used to the constant fighting, their argument had never been this intense.

           “So,” Kitty said, clearing her throat, trying to ease the conversation. “Steven, how’s work going?”

           “Oh, you know, working at the kitchen is great,” he said, taking a chip to his mouth. “Ever since Kelso and Eric left, things have been pretty quiet. We hired a new server so it makes things a little easier.”

           Kitty beamed proudly at him. “I’m glad to hear it. What about you, dear?” she asked turned to Y/N .

           “It’s good,” she responded. “Helping brides pick out their dresses. It’s nice and easy.”

           “Well, good,” Kitty replied and patted her hand. “I’m so proud of you. Although, you’re going to have to leave me to go to Denver.” Her smile turned into a sad one and her voice cracked.

           “Mom, I haven’t even been accepted yet,” Y/N responded, trying to comfort her mother. “Who knows, I might end up going to the college in Kenosha or staying to go to the community college here.”

           Hyde sat up a little straighter, hope filling him.

           “Have you applied to them?” Red asked.

           “Well, I applied to Denver first and then if I didn’t get in, I was going to apply to Kenosha. If that didn’t work out, then the community college here since I can just go sign up.”

           Red beamed at her proudly. “That’s my girl.”

            Y/N smiled up at him. He can be a hard ass, but seeing him smile proudly at her and being the softy he was with her, made it all worth it. “Thanks, Daddy.”      

           “What are you going to study?” Kitty asked and suddenly all eyes were on Y/N . Kitty was hoping she’d follow in her footsteps and become a nurse, but Y/N wasn’t too sure if she even wanted that.

           “Um,” she stumbled, gulping. “I’m not sure. I was thinking either engineering or automotive.”

           “Oh, honey, you don’t want to do that,” Kitty said, handing her another sandwich.

           “Why not?” Red asked before Y/N could. “She’s knowledgeable about that kind of stuff. Hell, I’ve taught her all about cars and the mechanics. Unlike dumbass over here.”

           “Hey!” Eric called out. “We both know that I am not strong enough to hold up a tire.”

           “Yeah,” Red said, dragging it out and glared at him. “I know.”

           “Mom, why shouldn’t I study those?” Y/N asked.

           “Well, you don’t want to work in a man’s place,” she responded. “It’s dirty and hot, and it’s super hard to do. Besides, you’ll just distract the boys from doing their jobs.”

           While Hyde’s mind went to dirty places after hearing the words dirty, hot, and hard, he noticed Y/N getting visible angry.  

           “Really?” she hissed. “You think I can’t handle it because I’m a woman? Or smart enough? If I can do the job, why does it matter? I am not and will not be responsible for the other guys not getting their job done because they’re too stupid to do their job.”

           “C’mon, Y/N , you deserve better,” she said. “You don’t have to work there. Why don’t you work at the hair salon? Or better yet, sell Tupperware?”

           “No, mom!” Y/N said. “I want to do something meaningful with my life. I don’t want to fit into societal norms. I deserve a well paying job just as much men do.”

           “Kitty, let her decide what she wants,” Red spoke up. “We’re not going to be living her life. You didn’t say anything to Laurie when she went to beauty school.”

           “Yeah, well, it’s not like she has many options anyway,” she responded.

           “But I do and you’re trying to limit me?”

           “Oh, honey, don’t take it so personally,” Kitty said, trying to deflate the conversation. “You’re the smart one out of all of us and I just want you to have a better life.”

           “I’m sitting right here,” Eric whined.

           “Yeah, but you don’t what you want to do yet. Figure it out and then come talk to us,” Kitty said and turned back to Y/N . “We just don’t want you to get hurt.”

           “Kitty, you can’t limit her just because you don’t want to her get hurt. That’s not fair.”

           Kitty sighed. “Fine, do whatever you want.”

            Y/N rolled her eyes and stood. “I’m not hungry anymore. I’m going to go check the mail.” She slammed her plate in the sink and stomped out the swinging door.

           “Way to go, Kitty,” Red said and stood up tp put his plate in the sink. “You had to anger her by telling her that.”

           “What, this is my fault now?” Kitty defended.

           Red looked at her emotionless. “Yes.”

           “Well, excuse me for wanting a better future for my baby girl!” She cried. “I’m relieved that we don’t have another Laurie and all I wanted for her was to be safe! But. I’m just terrible mother who can’t control her kids. Is a peace of mind for a mother really too much to ask?!” She screamed and finished her huge scene by grabbing her emergency bottle of wine and stomped upstairs to her bedroom.

           “Aw, crap,” Red groaned. “Even when she’s wrong, she’s right.”

           “Women, man,” Hyde said and put his plate in the sink as well. “From what I learned about women, they’re always right and we’re always wrong.”

           “Well, I’m glad my Donna isn’t like that,” Eric spoke up, also bringing his plate to the sink. “She will apologize to me if she did wrong. She’s smart like that.”

           “Yeah, but she has you whipped like 99% of the time,” Hyde shot back.

           “Not true!” Eric defended.

           “Man, you so are!” Hyde said, laughing. “What happened last week? You wanted to go watch Star Wars for the billionth time and she wanted to see a chick flick. And what did you end up seeing? The chick flick.”

           “Well, if I hadn’t she wouldn’t have let—” he stopped dead short when he saw Red staring at him. “She wouldn’t have let me kissed her goodnight on the cheek. Like the innocent and responsible adults we are.”

           Red rolled his eyes. “Can it. I’m going to check on your mother and if I don’t see you doing what I asked in five minutes, I’m going to put my foot so far up your ass, I’ll be able to control you like a puppet.” With that, he pushed the swinging door open and exited out to check on Kitty.

           “Forman, you should write a book ‘Things Red Threatened To Put In My ass.’ Chapter one: His foot.”

           Eric could only roll his eyes and exit the kitchen to start on those dreadful chores.

           Hyde decided to go check on Y/N once Eric was out of sight. He took the steps two at time until he came across Y/N’s room. He knocked on the door and gently opened the door.

           “ Y/N?”

           She was sitting at her desk, looking over the college pamphlets. “Hey,” she replied miserably.

           He shut the door and sat on her bed. “You okay, man? That was intense what happened down there.”

           “Yeah” she replied curtly, but not towards him. “It’s so typical of my mother to try to control everything I do. I’m not Laurie so she feels like I’m not good enough to make own decisions.”

           “She just doesn’t want you to be like her,” Hyde defended. “You’re the only child that your parents don’t worry because you have your head screwed on straight.”

           She looked at him with a defeated look. “I know, but there’s other ways about it,” she responded and sat down next to him.

           “Your mom doesn’t want you to leave,” he continued.

           “Well, I need to,” she said without thinking about it. She noticed hurt flash across his face. “I mean, it’s not like I want to, really. I want to explore the world and see what it has to offer me, but staying here is not going to give me that.”

           “I know,” he sighs. “It just sucks hearing you talk about it.”

           “I know, I’m sorry,” she said and grabbed his hand. Right there, she wanted to invite him to come along with her, but she was afraid. Afraid that he would run away. Then what if she doesn’t get accepted? Then she’s going to have to deal with seeing him everyday and make it harder for her to move on., but little did she know he was secretly hoping for the same thing. Just like her, he was terrified to ask her. He didn’t want to show too much vulnerability. After seeing what his mom went through, he doesn’t want to get into a relationship and then move away only for them to break up. And then what? He’d be stuck there, or worse, she’d see him for who he truly is and run away. It was easier for him to keep everything hidden than to spill it.

           “Anyway, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’m going to do whatever I want regardless what my mom says.”

           “Did you check the mail?” he asks, changing the subject.

           “Yeah, nothing yet.”

           He stared down at their entwined hands. “I don’t know why this is so hard for us to talk about,” she said. “It’s not like we’re in a committed relationship. “

           His heart dropped at hearing that, but why? They were both on the same page. It’s not like it meant nothing, but it meant something. It may have even started off that way, but it definitely wasn’t like that now. They wanted to make it official but the sneaking around and hiding it from everyone kind of prevented it from happening. Even if they did, it would be saying goodbye so much harder.

           He knew he was in for it when they started. He had never felt this way about anyone before. And that scared him. He was afraid to lose her which sucked because he never felt that fear with anyone, but she was different. She made him feel at home, at peace. She made him a better man. He was actually happy. Before, he had trouble running in with the law and relatively being a jerk to everyone. Hyde was a good friend, but showed it differently than the average man. When it came to women, he hardly ever got attached. Women would leave anyway once they found out the true him. Or at least, the side that he wanted them to see. She saw his heart, through the wall he built up, and tore it down. With her, he wanted her to tear it down because for once in life, he was able to trust someone that wasn’t within his normal group, but even then this was way different with him. He finally felt safe and didn’t have to be ready to run if he had to.

           She knew that if she stayed here, she would have Steven, but her future would be bleak. She knew if she left the state, she would be able to accomplish so much more. But the thought of leaving him was almost unbearable to her, which confused her. She knew what she was getting into when they started seeing each other. She knew it would be just a fling, but the more they did it, the more they connected; spiritually and physically. It wasn’t supposed to end up like this. She wasn’t supposed to develop feelings for him, but she did. Even though they clearly like each other, she didn’t want to suggest anything more in fear of rejection. What if he didn’t feel the same way? It’d be easier to leave, but she doesn’t want to forget him and go without him. If more than anything, she wanted him to join her. The only way she would find out is by asking.

           “Yeah,” he scoffed. “It’d be stupid of us to do that since you might be leaving.”

           “Well, um,” she began, suddenly feeling so nervous that she started shaking. He felt it and held her hand tighter.

           “Are you okay?”

           “Yeah, ‘m fine,” she responded and looked into his shades, even though she was trying to look into his eyes. “Maybe, we…we don’t have to split up.”

           His eyebrows came together which made her more nervous for his answer. “What d’you mean?”

           She took a deep breath. “Maybe…you can come with me.”

[rice-pudding-slaps]

A WILD thought just crossed my head but a Cats High School Teachers AU? It would be ✨glorious✨

Just imagine!!

Jennyanydots would totally be a language teacher That's how we call it in my country lmao language and communications. It's basically grammar and literature ANYWAY that is also kind of a mother for kids who need help. She would totally and absolutely be that Miss Honey kinda Vibes™ teacher that always has a kind word for you and if she sees you crying, she will protect you with her life (And also maybe she has this huge bag filled with napkins and sweets). She's strict tho. But not in a mean way. She doesn't just gift grades, she makes you work for it. You can turn up your paper again, but it will have 300 corrections. But she will praise your efforts and help you overcome your difficulties.

Skimble gives me such Math Teacher That Always Has a Story and Rarely Actually Teaches The Class kinda vibes. His class is always on the most absolute of silence and no one ever DREAMS of pranking him. The kids knoooow that they can say "Hey, mr Skimbles I heard you were on a train once" and boom he will tell you all these stories about his time being in charge of the Northern Mail. He has told the story sooooo many times that the children once put on a play with one of the stories for Teachers Day or smtn. He was moved to tears

Demeter would absolutely be an art teacher and be the most understanding teacher ever. She's patient and kind and she will give you a day more to bring in your work if you need it. She also always has a way to find hurt kids. Coming from an abusive background herself, she's quick to act whenever she feels a child migh need any type of help. She ended up being That Teacher That Every LGBTQ+ Kid Befriends and she is proud to be helpful and provide love to those who need it. She's very close to Munk and is always helping with the props for the plays.

Bomba is a science teacher because I said so. And because she has a similar vibe to most of my science teachers when I was in school lmao. She's funny and charismatic and pretty laid back. And you never know what to expect from her. The kids love her bc she might spend some class talking all about formulas and next class is "Hey kids wanna learn how to make EXPLOSIONS??" they never actually blow up something, but she makes the lab classes the best thing.

Munkustrap is an absolute history teacher. No questions asked. The man knows how to narrate every historical moment like you were there. He has a silver tounge (pun intended). And he always tries to teach the most he can, because history is just so broad and there is so much to talk about. And he definetely would answer all the questions, even the more weird ones. He's called by kids the Protector because even when he's easly the most strict teacher ever, he would never let anyone bad mouth his students. No matter how chaotic the class was, he will always tell them that as long as they learned something, they won. He also works in the theatre departement, so the theatre kids are in love with the guy. They tried to set him up with Demeter in a play, but gave up after a half hour speech on how they shouldn't be involved in their teachers personal lifes.

Tugger is obviously a music teacher. He is that laid back, friendly and overall awesome teacher that everyone just loves. He plays any instrument you can think of and will teach you if you ask. As a joke, a whole class asked to learn the bagpipes and when next class this rockstar of a teacher appeared with a fucking bagpipe and a whole lot for the kids they fucking LOST IT. He will help you with practice and if you want to get into serious music, then he will absolutely root for you. He has a song composed for every teacher and absolutely everyone hates him for this. He's also with the theatre kids and always helps with plays maybe to mess with Munk, maybe he likes the attention. He's also in charge of music and dance presentations and he abuses his powers greatly. And everytime a class graduates he says that he doesn't really cares that much (is the circle of life, baby) but will shed silent tears everytime bc he's gonna miss the kiddies.

Misto's obviously a dance teacher. Duh. He might be an ex student for the same school. He's fresh out of college and he sometimes doesn't know what to do, but he tries really hard. And he's harsh as fuck for the same reason. He always wears a tuxedo to class and a bowtie bc he tought it was a formal thing and now it's kind of like "his thing". He's kind of cold at first and doesn't talk really that much, the kids first tought he hated them, but later found out that he just goes non verbal sometimes and designed a whole system to communicate instructions and corrections. Misto was so happy. And that's why there is a board on the classroom they use to dance. He's also one of the teachers that every LGBTQ+ kid loves, and he tries his best to support each one. And yes, every day they ask "DO THE CONJURING TURNS MR. MISTOFFELEES" and he gladly does. There was this rumor that he was magic bc once a kid saw him in a presentation out of school and they swear he sparkled out of the blue. He knows, and sometimes he would do little tricks for the kiddos for funs, and other teachers just to mess with them. He also goes to the teathre departement and it's constantly working with Tugger so the music and dance kids do presentations together. The kids ship it so hard

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer are the best gym teachers ever. They also are very new to this, but they make class the most fun thing ever. They teach sports and gymnastics with ease. And they have no mercy on dodge ball. No. Mercy. They once were playing on the field with the kids and hit Tugger on the head. The legend says that they ran across the school for all night. The truth is that they outrun Tugger, but not Munk.

Jellylorum is the school's nurse. She always has a tecito de hierbas for you. And she will always hear you and try to get you to be better. She has infinite patience for eveyone. And she always carries pads and tampons for the kids who may need it. And if you ever need a shoulder to cry on? She's there too. She and Jenny have their officed flood on Mother's day because they are the second mothers of so many kids. She also catches up with ex-students and remember every name.

Gus is the official Theatre teacher. He is this old man who is so wise and strict, but just because he loves his craft so so much. Every year there is some kind of rumor that he might retire, but it never seemed to happen. He has a little office with so many photos and diplomas and it's just filled with memories. He is very harsh on the kids. Very. But they love him because he also can spend hours talking about his greatest performances on theatre. When he actually had to retire because he was starting to have very fragile health, everyone cried. They held a big play and he played Growltiger. No one had a dry eye that night. And he still visits the school from time to time. He goes to every play.

You might say that Old Deuteronomy is the principal and you would be very right. But this man was a teacher in his day. He taught philosophy and history and english and literature. He has more degreed that a high school teacher had to have, but he loved dearly the art of teaching. And he remembers every kid. Every morning he sits at the entrance and says to every one of them by name. He plays with the kids when his health let's him. He has a framed photo of him and Gus on their first years as teachers just along side a photo of the year Tugger joined Munkustrap on the school staff. And everyone is very sure that he might let Munkustrap take the position one day. He's also a kind soul. And will let kids tug on his beard. There was this christmas when he dressed up as santa and it was the sweetest thing ever.

Tantomille and Coricopat are philosophy teachers. They take turns doing classes and you will never know wich one taught you last class because they are in perfect sync. Their test are the most outlandish thing ever, and give points for "originality" wich is mostly just wich kid said the most weird but true thing. The kids are kinda scared of them. Just enough to not to mess up their classes.

I am not completely sure, but Alonzo being a spanish teacher just brings me so much joy. He's always teaching them songs and little games to learn spanish and the kids take total advantage of that just to mess with him. He never gets truly mad if they play a prank on him. And he's the Protector number 2 to the kids, bc he would absolutely turn up to a teachers reunion wet from head to toe and instead of tattle on the kids, he would just say it was an accident. Munk knows and always ends up catching the culprit, not always with Alonzo's help.

The Rumpus Cat is the school mascot.

[inawickedlittletown]

Buck and Maddie in 4x03 - meta

Notes: the first of my meta for this episode...obviously there be spoilers here.  

-

There are all these secrets surrounding Buck. First we have the whole thing with the “covid crush” and the reveal that it’s actually a therapist. And I really really love that for Buck. I love the perspective that this is given in normalizing therapy and in Buck having realized that not only is it healthy and normal, but that it would help him. And we can see that in how despite hiding it for a while, Buck does come clean about it to Maddie and Chimney. We’ve seen that this is something he wants to keep close to the vest, that he isn’t fully comfortable talking about and I like to think that he gets to the point of wanting to come clean about it due to the therapy. 

The response he gets is interesting. 

Chimney’s makes sense, he points out that all of them have been to therapy due to their jobs and it isn’t something to be ashamed of. We know that Maddie has and Chimney implies he too has had his time in therapy. But also, we know Buck has as well. Back in S1 where he was sexually assaulted and in S3, he heavily implies that he had gone to see Frank at some point or at least knew him.  

Maddie, however, immediately grows concerned. It’s understandable because for someone to need therapy there must be something wrong and Buck was hiding it. But Maddie immediately asks “why did you lie” instead of “why didn’t you tell us” which makes it seem like Buck was the one to tell them he was dating someone whereas the past couple of episodes have clearly shown us that it is Chimney and Maddie that keep pressing Buck about his “covid crush” without him confirming it and outrightly denying it. He never lied. He just didn’t tell them what he was doing. He’s an adult and he has a right to his privacy especially with something this personal. So right off the back, Maddie’s response isn’t the best. 

“It’s not about the job. It’s about me...everyone has issues,” Buck says and Chimney makes light of it by pointing out that maybe parents should have a fund for therapy instead of school for their kids. 

I really love what Chim says here because he is trying to lighten the moment, but he also brings up the idea that parents screw up their kids and that they’re the ones likely at blame for those kids growing up to need therapy. Chimney at this point doesn’t really know anything about the Buckley parents and yet he is insightful. He’s right on the nose on all of it. 

The moment is tinged with awkwardness that mostly seems to come from Maddie. Chimney is acting normal and Buck is acting as normal as someone that shared something major and personal should be. Maddie, though, is bothered. And for someone like Maddie who was a nurse and who personally knows how therapy can help and who has gone through multiple different therapies, she is very put off by Buck speaking to a therapist. It’s very unlike Maddie. 

And then Maddie goes to see Buck at his place. She shows up unexpectedly, seems to have some idea that Buck wasn’t comfortable talking about the therapy thing with Chimney even though it was Buck that brought up the therapy thing in the first place and the whole scene just seems like Maddie is waiting for Buck to come out and tell her that there is some real traumatic reason for it. Even when Buck tells her there is nothing to tell she expects something and then Buck says “It’s all your fault” and Maddie’s face gives away some surprise. Her “what” is full of shock and she’s expecting something other than Buck saying that she called him “sad and lonely”, but she relaxes then. 

Buck explains himself. He talks about Abby and about how he didn’t stop being sad or lonely after talking to her and about how he does know he has people but that it doesn’t stop him from wondering if he won’t have them at some point. He can’t trust that he’ll keep his family which says more about the people that have been in Buck’s life that have left him than about Buck even if Buck might see it differently. 

Then Buck says: “The world is an uncertain place. You have to protect yourself. Thanks, mom and dad.” And all of that is connected, right? So is this something that their parents taught them? Not by trying to protect their kids from the world but by they themselves being the thing they needed to be protected from? 

I have never subscribed to the idea that the Buckley parents were abusive and in this episode we are told they were not. But we know from Buck later on that they weren’t good with kids, that they were more interested in each other, and so it seems obvious that what Buck feels is abandonment from the two people that should never have made him feel that way. Buck has expressed feelings of being left behind before when saying to Maddie that he’s the one left behind in S3. So, he’s learned to not hold onto people or trust that they will remain because he’s used to being left. All of this is very consistent with his character. He’s been left by his parents, by Maddie, by Abby, by Ally...and who knows who else during the time before the 118. 

Maddie seems insistent on wanting to help Buck which is great except that it’s also strange that she almost doesn’t seem to believe that therapy is the right answer. It makes me wonder about what Maddie thinks Buck will find by talking to a therapist. She asks him if he’s told their parents about the therapy which implies that both Buck and Maddie are at least communicating with their parents regularly enough. It also gives us this idea that Maddie expects a certain type of reaction from their parents about Buck seeing a therapist. Which leads to the question of what type of thing — perhaps some sort of buried memory — Maddie expects to come out. 

Buck says, “You know how they are” to explain why he hasn’t said anything and the parents and goes on to explain that he’s fine and wants to be “finer”. Maddie isn’t reassured and Buck tells her that she can’t fix this for him and goes on to tell her that they are the same and that he always thought she was sad too. This implies that whatever this big secret is, it has a big impact on Maddie too except that she actually knows what it is. 

This scene is a little strange. It’s very clear that Maddie has info that she isn’t sharing and very concerned with and also that Buck doesn’t suspect a thing and that he just wants to be a better person and find himself. To be honest, Maddie’s concern is very strange to me. I don’t know what to expect in terms of what kind of thing Buck could uncover by going to therapy? There can’t be much that fits the bill. 

“What everything you do to protect someone, ends up hurting them?” Maddie asks Chimney later on and this is very clearly about Buck even if she frames it to be about fear in what she will be like as a mother and a fear of not doing right by her kids. Obviously that fear is real, but it’s all connected to Buck. The Buckley parents do get mentioned and we get a repeat of what Maddie said in S3,  “They’re not bad people, just bad parents” which sounds like a rehearsed line that Maddie has been using her entire life. Chim is quick to reassure her and the moment is lovely in terms of their relationship and yet it leaves Chim wondering what he can do for Maddie to really reassure her so much so that he goes to Buck to ask him about his and Maddie’s parents. 

Chimney’s approach by letting know Buck that he doesn’t have to answer speaks to how much Chim cares about Buck and respects him despite all the teasing he imparts on Buck. Buck says that his sex life is more interesting than his parents. It’s news to Buck that Maddie fears being like their parents with her baby. Buck explains that it felt like their parents were miles away, absent, not great with kids, and that they were an average dysfunctional family. In many ways very normal and yet it is so clear that Maddie knows more about this. And we get Buck telling Chim they weren’t abusive, we’re back to the “good people but bad parents” thing. 

Maddie calls her mom. It’s a bit awkward and Maddie immediately gives us the information that they usually text or e-mail, so clearly Maddie felt this was important enough to warrant a phone call. Maddie is very defensive the entire phone call and clearly uncomfortable. What irks me is that Maddie expects her mom to either be in better communication with Buck and already know about the therapy and that when worried about her brother she talks to her mom who has been established as distant and not a part of her or Buck’s life. And then, Maddie tells her mom about Buck being in therapy and I wish we knew what the mom is saying, but Maddie is clearly unhappy about it and yet just like Maddie, the mom expects therapy to bring out new information for Buck in some way unrelated to him being told directly. 

I do wonder at Maddie deciding to tell her mom about the therapy when she was aware that Buck was only just recently comfortable with her knowing what he was doing. It’s such a breach of privacy for Maddie to share that information. And while there is context for why she is doing so, I just don’t find that necessary. Not when Buck clearly doesn’t know what the secret is and when Buck in that earlier scene told her he hadn’t spoken to their parents because of how they are? So how does any of that tell Maddie that it’s okay for her to share that information?

I wonder about Maddie needing her mom to approve Buck finding out the secret or feeling like she needs permission to tell him about the secret. All of it is fishy. All we know is that Buck has been lied to his entire life because that is what Maddie says to her mom over the phone. 

There are a lot of theories as to the secret. So far all we know is that Oliver Stark debunked the idea that Maddie was actually Buck’s mom. There are theories about Buck maybe being adopted, about Buck repressing something traumatic that happened when he was young, and there really are a lot of possibilities but the main thing I wonder about is what kind of thing would be unearthed in therapy. 

After all, Maddie’s reaction is more about her fear that Buck already knew and that was his reason for therapy, but the fear goes deep enough that she actually believes him in therapy will bring this up and I don’t know if this is just Maddie’s guilt for keeping something from Buck or the pregnancy hormones, but it really feels unnecessary. If she really wanted to keep protecting Buck and keeping him in the dark, she shouldn’t have been talking to her mom about Buck or letting the whole thing get to her in a way that makes Chim want to ask questions. 

Maddie does, by the end of the episode, decide to fill Chimney in on what she’s hiding by immediately saying that she’s trying to protect someone. Buck. Maddie tells Chim because they’re going to be a family and so she shouldn’t hide things from him and depending on what it turns out to be I hope that it isn’t something that Buck should have had the privilege of hearing first before Maddie went and told anyone else. Also interesting is that Maddie says family shouldn’t hide things from each other when there’s been a giant secret hanging over the Buckley family with everyone but Buck being aware of it. 

Ultimately, I am very very curious and I love this focus that Buck’s gotten especially when it concerns his past since this is everything that the fans have wanted. We’re getting this build up towards Buck Begins and I am so here for it.

[randomxreaders]

The Secret

Scene from when they talk about losing their v cards from greys reader lost it to JJ then JJ comes into hospital hurt then the rest of the outer banks squad comes in and yea. By the way I don't own any of these characters and let me know if you would like a part 2. :)

TW: implied sex,cursing,mentions of surgery 

“So, Karev, how old were you your first time” Jackson asked “fifthteen. School nurse, back of her car” Alex replied. “Fifthteen? That's impressive.” “When I was sixteen she taught me how to drive that same car”  Alex quipped back while Meredith laughed. “Sophomore in high school Paul Waxman, had absolutely no idea what he was doing.” Meredith shared. “Junior prom, Sarah Richardson and Penny Caraway, together. I knew exactly what I was doing.” Jackson also shared while Alex whistled at him. Then Cristna perked up “ Nineteen” “Nineteen?” Alex questioned. “Mm-hmm. I was very focused on my studies. It was my chem T.A He was a whole head shorter than me but… Man, he was smart.” Y/N and Meredith chuckled at Cristina. Everyone turned to face Y/N waiting for you to share. “Ok,ok. JJ Maybank I was sixteen. We hooked up in the library at school, dated a little after, saw him in vegas a few years ago and haven't seen him since.” “M-hmm not bad Y/L/N. What about you, April?” Jackson asked. “I’m not talking about this. It was a private-private memory.” April stuttered. “What happened? Did the guy die?” Karev asked. Y/N slapped his arm telling him to stop while laughing under her breath “Alex!” Meredith quipped. “Oh, did it last, like, three seconds, so you don’t know if it counted?” Cristina asked. April scoffed “No” “Mm-hmm.” Cristina replied. “Uh, It was on the beach at sunset. It was beautiful.” April stammered out. Meredith let out a quick laugh “Sunset?” Jackson asked. “Yeah.” April replied slowly, “Really? Weren't, weren't there people there?” Jackson said. “Oh. on the beach? Man, you get sand up in places you don’t wanna get sand.” Cristina added on Y/N let out a laugh. “Mosquitoes” Alex also added “Oh don’t forget the crabs!” Y/N giggled out. “Mm-hmm yeah.” Cristina replied to your comment “ HA! You're a virgin.” Alex shouted “No, I'm not.” April shouted back. “Oh my god. You are!” Cristina said happily “OH, MY GOD. Do it to her right now. Alex deflower her. Do it. Do it.” Cristina edged on Alex with laughter flowing throughout the background. After everyone settled down Meredith said “April, the beach at sunset is very nice.” A loud laughter flew out of Y/N and Cristina. Then Y/L/N and Greys pagers went off. “Well duty calles.”

 “What do we got?” Y/N asked as she put her gloves on. “John Doe, car slid into a light pole on the highway.” The paramedics said. “Alright we got a cracked skull, broken left leg and arm, and some Internal bleeding” Y/N rattled off “someone page neuro.” Grey shouted while you moved the man into trauma one. “Alright we need to get him into surgery.” Shepherd said.

   While in the OR Y/L/N and Torres worked on fixing the leg, Bailey and Grey worked on the eternal bleeding, and Shepherd was fixing his skull and checking for brain damage.

                                                                     1.5 Hours Later

  “Alright I’m going to go update the family” Bailey said while leaving the OR. 30 minuets later Callie and I were done. “Y/L/N, go update the family” Torres said. Y/N nodded as they were scrubbing out, grabbing the chart while walking to the waiting room. “Family for…” they pause while looking over the chart seeing the name they knew all too well, a name from the past, a name they were talking about hours ago, a name that knew all their secrets and held a big one. They cleared their throat “Family for JJ Maybank” They squeaked out. “Um, we are” Their eyes connected with familiar dark brown as they used to be bestfriends. “Y/N?” Pope's voice cracked suddenly three more sets of eyes met yours, you froze seeing John B, Sarah,Kiara and Pope. They all looked the same but slightly older. “H-hey guys” Y/N chirped out “What the hell Y/N you're a doctor!” Kiara asked, proud but surprised. “Um yeah so JJ is stable but he can’t have any visitors yet,but he can in a few hours.” After you head to the resident lounge.

‘What the fuck” John B said then asked “Their a doctor?” ”Well they did go to med-school” Sarah said. “Why haven't they talked to us is over ten years”Kiara said hurt “They contacted me, not a lot but we kept tabs on each other ya know” Pope said “What the hell Pope” all of them said “why didn’t you tell us” Sarah question “I-I-I don’t know”

                                                            Meanwhile

   While doing my evening rounds JJ woke up. “Well,well,well if it isn't Y/N Y/L/N come to see me wifey.” JJ smirked “Hey, That's Dr.Y/N Y/L/N.” You smirked back “And stop calling me wifey, I’m gonna go get the others I’ll be right back.” As Y/N headed out to get the gang she was stopped by Meredith “Hey did our John Doe wake up?” “Yep” Y/N said shakily. “What's wrong” Mer questioned. “It’s JJ Maybank, he one I was telling you guys about earlier” “Omg the guy you lost your virginity to!” “Yeah, but one more thing I might also be his wife.” Y/N said leaving Meredith shocked. “You're what!” Meredith yelled drawing the attention from bystanders. “Ok I’m going to go talk the the family and then we will finish this conversation later” Y/N left leaving Meredith shocked. 

“Family for JJ Maybank” Y/N called out. “Hey, Y/N/N how is he?” John B asked worried “ He is awake so you guys can finally see him, just follow me” Y/N said cheerfully. While heading to JJ’s room Y/N’s eyes connected with Mer’s “Dr. Y/L/N, can I speak with you privately?” Mer asked looking at at the faces behind you. “Yeah sure, um his room is right there” Y/N said turning to the others. “What do you mean you’re married, and to our patient!” Meredith whisper shouted at you. While walking by Derek heard the mention of the patient “Oh did our John Doe wake up?” He said “Yeah he did except our John Doe is Y/N’s secret husband” Mer replied “Whoa secret husband?” Derek questioned. “Yea we got married when we were 19 in vegas it was an accident but we haven't really talked about it since and you guys are the only people who know, so please don't tell anyone.” Y/N rambled out. “Alright well we need to do a post-op checkup.” Derek commented while trying to process everything. “Yeah ok.” Y/N whispered out. “ Ok, we have JJ Maybank came in with a broken left leg and arm, cracked skull and internal bleeding. Me and Torres fixed the leg and put a cast on the arm, Dr.Grey and Bailey took care of the internal bleeding and Dr.Shepherd fixed your skull.” Y/N finished reading off the chart. “Damn wifey you fixed my leg and arm that's pretty badass.” JJ commented while Shepherd and Grey gave you shared glances.”Ok you should be able to go home today we just need you and who will be taking care of you at home to sign the discharge papers.” Grey told JJ. “Yo Y/N will you take care of me after I get discharged” Y/N tried to say something but JJ interrupted before they could get out their comment, “ya know since you're my wife and all!” JJ exclaimed excitedly. The room fell silent as everyone tried to process the news of the formal power couple now being married. 

I hope you all liked this thank you sooooo much for reading let me know if there is someone from grey,outer banks, or criminal minds or maybe even a cross over you would like! Oh also let me know if you would like a part 2 to this story :)

[noa-nightingale]

Steven Lim Appreciation Week: Watcher-era Steven

We are celebrating Watcher-era Steven and I want to talk about Hidden Narratives for this day of Steven Lim Appreciation Week!

From the description: “Steven Lim speaks with Asian American leaders across industries about how the coronavirus has impacted our community.“

There are six episodes and one of them is also on youtube. Keep in mind that these episodes were created in March/April 2020. More on that at the end of the post.

Quick disclaimer, I am not Asian American and it would be inappropriate for me to lead any kind of conversation about this podcast; therefore I attempted to keep this relatively surface-level. But I have to admit that I got carried away with this pretty quickly and I am not sure if I stayed in my lane. It was meant to be a short, appreciative post but it got out of hand - if I overstepped boundaries, please let me know.

A warning, this podcast deals with heavy and difficult topics, including racism, grief, pain, people losing their businesses, people hurting. It is also very focused on people coming together and how they can help each other - but these topics are still not easy. I still wanted to write about it because I think that Steven deserves all the appreciation in the world for his work.

The first words that come to mind when thinking about this podcast are “heart” and “dedication”. It has a lot of heart - and despite the not always happy topics, it is such a wonderful, beautiful podcast. You notice the hard work Steven put into it, the passion, the care.

In the intro of the first episode he said he was nervous when he made the podcast but that he hoped that people liked it because it would make him feel good. He explained where the idea came from: His friends talked about how the virus effected their livelihood, and he felt hurt and helpless. And he realized that he could share their untold stories.

Episode 1: How Coronavirus Shut Down A Restaurant in 24 Hours

In the first episode, Steven talks to his friend Deuki Hong, chef and owner of Sunday Hospitality Group, whose restaurants shut down in March 2020. He talked about the emotional impact of things happening so fast, trying to keep his employees safe and worrying about his team, having to question a lot of things he had been taught, and having to deal with the uncertainty.

Steven mostly asked questions and listened. Deuki Hong had to make some difficult decisions, and Steven was never judgmental about it - the podcast allowed for a very honest conversation about a very difficult situation.

The first episode very much was about trying to look out for each other, and that is a sentiment that continues throughout the entire podcast.

Deuki Hong said near the end of the episode: “When people are hurt, they just want someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, whatever that is, so be that person, just be kind, cause yeah, there’s a lot of hurt people right now.”

There is a GoFundMe set up for the team called Sunday Family Dream Fund. It is still open and has not reached its goal - the first episode of Hidden Narratives came out in March 2020 and the last donation to the GoFundMe was 8 months ago, so I am not really sure what the current state of affairs is. (I will come back to this at the end of my post.)

Episode 2: Why This NYC Restaurant Is Staying Open In A Pandemic

Steven mentions in the beginning of the second episode his “close emotional connection to the food industry” and that it is one of the reasons he started his podcast with two stories from two different restaurants. He also wanted to look at the topic of keeping the restaurant(s) open vs. closing it from two perspectives, and says that he does not know if there is a right or wrong answer.

Steven talks to Jimmy Ly, chef and co-owner of Madame Vo and Madame Vo BBQ. Jimmy Ly made the decision to keep his restaurants open. Steven started the conversation with: “Jimmy, thank you for sharing your story and I hope that those listening can gain a little more compassion, a little more empathy and a little more understanding.”

I found it touching that Steven’s first question was “How are you doing?” - it was asked in a way that allowed for an honest answer. This is also something he continues throughout the podcast, and it is very obvious that Steven is a very thoughtful and considerate person.

Jimmy Ly talked about his decision and for him, too, it is about his staff and his obligation toward them - the wanted to take care of them. Steven summed it up with “It is a choice for them between their livelihood and their safety”.

He talked about the measures they took to keep their staff as safe as possible and about adapting to the situation as best as they can.

Jimmy Ly said, if somebody on his team contracted the virus, he would shut his business down. It was obvious that none of the decisions he had to make and has to make are easy. They also talked about how Asian owned business were hit the hardest, and the drop in business for many.

The end of the episode got emotional - Jimmy Ly talked about how people who had to close their small businesses would most likely not be able to open them again. He said he and many others worked hard and that it is unfair that they could lose everything.

Steven talked about the impact Madame Vo had on him and that he could tell that Jimmy Ly cared about his restaurant, staff and customers and the food and that he poured love into it. Jimmy Ly said that Madame Vo means family to him.

The episode description includes the link to the Madame Vo website - Madame Vo Kitchen is still open while Madame Vo BBQ is “temporarily closed”.

Episode 3: FBI Warns Asian Americans Of Racist Outbreaks Due To Coronavirus

In the third episode, Steven talks to Benny Luo, the founder and CEO of NextShark, about the surge of racism against Asian Americans. He said despite growing up one of the only Asians in his school and being attacked for it, he has never seen so many Asian Americans being attacked in his life before.

From the description: NextShark is “one of the leading sources of global Asian and Asian American news”.

Benny Luo talked about the cases of racism against Asian Americans rising and that him and his team work the hardest they have ever worked in the history of the company to be able to report the stories.

He also talked about the impact of being confronted with those stories regularly - that it is psychologically draining but that his team feels a responsibility to do this work and that he is proud of his team.

Benny Luo told about someone writing to the team about the momentous moments happening for Asian Americans in the past years - and how it felt like it all came tumbling down. He said it is hurtful but that he also hopes it will be a time in history where the entire Asian community will come together.

But he also highlighted the good - there are people doing important work, in the medical field and in other fields, and it is important to be proactive - and these stories should be covered too.

Steven called the conversation “enlightening and therapeutic”. Benny Luo said to Steven: “You’re a creator, you’ve been a representative for us, being an Asian face on a really really big platform and (...) you doing interviews like this with me and you speaking up, I mean, those things have a lot of impact so no matter what it is, I think that you’ve made a big contribution in helping advance us forward.”

Here is the NextShark website.

Episode 4: On Andrew Yang And How Proving Our "American-ness" Won't End Racism

The fourth episode deals with the controversial op-ed by Andrew Yang that advises Asian Americans to show their American-ness to combat racism. Steven said that he was hurt by his words but also by the way Andrew Yang was treated as a result.

In the episode, Steven talks to Taylor Weik, a Japanese-American writer who wrote an article in response to the op-ed. From the description: “Taylor shares more context on why Yang's call-to-action was dismissive to the history of Japanese-Americans and details the negative impacts of Yang's article on the Asian American community.“

In his reflection of the episode, Steven said he did not know how to feel when the article came out - he did not agree with Andrew Yang and he thinks what he said was harmful but people also dismissed all of Andrew Yang’s previous accomplishments. Steven said he can understand the outrage. He said that he thinks that Andrew Yang can learn and that they can grow as a community.

It was clear that this was a difficult topic for Steven but he did his best to have a balanced and fair conversation and to not condemn.

Episode 5: Why American Healthcare Workers Aren’t Safe From The Pandemic

In the fifth episode, Dr. Shuhan He, an emergency doctor and the co-founder of GetUsPPE.org, talks with Steven about the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers.

They had a conversation about what exactly PPE is and why it was so hard to get. They not only talked about the importance of PPE in hospitals but also in nursing homes. Another topic was the importance of wearing masks.

Steven said: “A lot of people are grieving and (...) I’ve been feeling a lot of pent-up sadness and I don’t know how to channel the energy.” He asked how people can help.

Here is the link to Dr Shuhan He’s organisation GetUsPPE. Once again Steven mentioned people coming together and doing good.

Episode 6: Should Churches Gather During a Pandemic?

The sixth episode is very personal to Steven - his Christian faith is the most important thing in his life. He talks to Pastor Drew Hyun, pastor and leader of Hope Church Midtown in New York City. Steven attended Hope Church when he was still in New York.

They talked about churches gathering - Pastor Hyun’s churches are meeting remotely. He said that people were missing connectivity and that’s why they decided to make services interactive and using Zoom instead of having live streams. They also switched their style of services to a style that would allow more interaction.

Pastor Hyun said what makes the situation so painful is that people share the collective grief but are still physically isolated. Steven asked how people are doing spiritually - Pastor Hyun said there was a hunger, and that people are starting to think about faith and life and God.

He said they would not be gathering because they want to be a loving community - a loving community would serve the vulnerable, deliver food to the elderly, raise money for small businesses, serve non-profits. He wanted to lean into love and generosity.

Steven talked about the challenges with his own faith - why would God allow such a devestating thing? He said he can at least channel all the energy of grief, and that giving back has been therapeutic for him. He also mentioned that churches are now more accessible than ever.

They talked about some churches not being willing to stop gathering in person - Pastor Hyun said it is a grief to him and that the most loving thing that churches can do is not to gather.

Again, the end of the episode got emotional - Steven asked how Pastor Hyun personally was doing and he told about how he tried to support the restaurant of a friend and walked out of it crying. He said it would be easy for him to fall into despair and cynicism - but that he clings to the thought that God will do something. He talked about people suffering and how hard it is to watch - and that the situation is challenging.

Steven said he would keep him in his prayers. Pastor Hyun said: “Thanks for what you’re doing and I think it’s beautiful - you’re telling the stories of pockets of light in the midst of what’s happening.”

In his reflection, Steven said that he had been struggling with the situation every day but where he can find joy and peace and confidence is God and the belief that God has a plan for him.

A few closing thoughts: I admire Steven’s dedication. I think this quote from the end of episode 3 sums it up: “I spend my evenings editing this, it’s not part of our overall business plan and probably, you know, we’re losing money from it. It’s not supposed to be my priority. But I’ve been given the green light by my co-founders, by my head of development to continue making this show.”

That’s incredible hard work right there. And it deserves to be recognized.

The podcast was created in the early stages of the pandemic. I don’t know how the people who shared their stories are doing now, about a year later. I would love to have some updates - I thought about doing some research myself and create sort of a follow-up but, again, I don’t know if I am the right person to do it.

To conclude this already too lengthy post, I want to return to the main themes that could be found in all episodes: Coming together, helping each other, creating support, being kind, channeling negative emotions into positive actions, making positive changes.

That’s what Steven is doing with this podcast and with the rest of his work, and it is very very impressive, commendable and inspirational.

[unlikelyempathpruneauthor]

It For Me Part 2  mob!Harry x mob!Reader

Summary: after getting kidnapped by an enemy of the hollands, a plan of yours has risen and gets into action.

A/N: here is part 2, school kinda changed for me so that's why I didn't post it the day after part 1 was posted but here you go! I tagged those who liked and reblogged and those who asked to be tagged.

<<<<Previous Part | Next Part>>>>>

TW: uhhh, abduction or kidnapping? idk but some sort of that. mafia stuff, seducing bad guy?

As you felt you were being tied up to a chair with a bag over your head which was taken off and you had no idea where you were. Just then a big light flashed and you had seen who was right in front of you. Bernard “Mad dog” gledati. One of the dirtiest and young mobsters ever to live. No one ever worked with him, he was dirty and stole money, you knew he was one of dominics enemies and you didn't think you would meet him ever.

“Ahh, Bernard, why am i tied up?” you said trying to reach your bump to see if anything was wrong but all he did was he scoff.

“Ah darling, you know why, your father works for me and he sent you to a holland? I'm quite surprised because the hollands are also a long time enemy and they even got you pregnant huh.” he said as you smirked as he got close to your face you could feel his breath. The guards behind him untied your hands and they went straight to your bump making sure you were okay, Bernie saw your worry and chuckled.

“Darling you know i'm not a baby killer, your baby is fine, i got the nurses to check up on you,” he said as your body sighed in relief.

“Why am i here bernie?” you said getting straight to the point not wanting to be here with him a second longer.

“Well since you asked so politely i need something from you since i helped you out here with your child.” he said as he got close but this time with his gun trailing over your body and onto your bump. You knew he wouldn't hurt you but you were starting to question it, you had to do whatever to keep your baby safe, but there was a limit to what you could do.

“Depends on what it is.” you said very seducing as he licked his lips.

“Well you're not gonna like it,” he said as you frowned and placed your hand over you belly and you looked at him with your “innocent” eyes, but you knew what was up next, but you had to make sure they wouldn't do anything to your baby, they weren't apart of this part of your world.

….

Once Tom and Harrison got their consciousness back they quickly got out of the car hoping you got out to call harry or someone about the accident, but you were nowhere to be seen. Harrison was pretty freaked out with what just happened and Tom called his father telling him exactly what happened.

“S-shit…” Haz said as he realized one of the security cameras from the house were there and  he knew it would have caught everything. He also noticed there was a note near the camera. He picked it up and it said..

               You know who I am and everyone else will know too.

“Tom, look at this.” he said, getting Tom's attention and he too had realized who it was.

They all quickly went back to the house and Harry had been waiting for you to come back and when he realised you weren't with them he swore he was about to punch one of them.

“Where is y/n? Paddy told me she was with you guys and to get ice cream, really? You let my wife go get ice cream in a store, where someone could have seen her?!” he said screaming at them, he had every right to and well he was gonna scream more for what they were about to say. Harry felt their feelings of regret, they both wished they sent someone else, but you were a tough, independent woman..

“Harry, you need to sit down, please.'' Tom said as Harry did as he said and was quite confused and angry that they weren't able to tell him an answer about you.

“What the hell happened?” Harry said, getting impatient.

When they told Harry about you, he didn't even break down, he was just upset with both of them not letting them explain what had happened.

“Tom she's pregnant, Pregnant! Those mobsters will literally do anything to her, you should have talked to me first god damnit,” he said as he left those two and was on the way to find you and get you back.

Harry knew if anything happened to you it would be all his fault, that day he didn't do his hourly check on you and he kicked himself for not doing so. He knew you were strong, but since you got pregnant you had gotten a little more sensitive, he knew how the mafia men acted and he just wanted to find you fast and get you and your baby home. He swore at himself even more about not telling you his feelings towards you, he knew as soon as he saw you he would tell you or well show you. As he calmed himself down so he was stable to find you and everyone was doing their part to look for you, Dominic knew who planned the ambush and he felt quite guilty for it, but he knew he could apologise when they found you. When everyone was ready to set a plan, something was sent to Tom's phone. A video file. He had shown his dad and they had started playing it on the big screen they had.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

You had appeared as a light had been turned on, you had no bruises on you, you looked fine, you had your hand over your belly as you looked up at Bernie as you also looked at the camera, you knew this would be sent to them so you know you could get your plan out to them, you knew harry would understand it.

“Look y/n, i just need a favor that's all because i know all this, the marriage the pregnancy was planned, your father is a huge idiot, but i know your not, so tell me, everything about them, so i can ruin them.” he said as you continued to laugh.

Knowing that you were not hurt got everyone in relief, but the way you would look at Bernie was just a way to keep you alive. Harry knew that none of the things you said here that were seductive to him were real feelings, your mother had taught you well.

You moved around the chair as you looked at the camera and at him.

“Bernie, I know nothing, they didn't even let me touch a damn cup and if a part of me wanted to be with you it would have,” you said smiling at him as he just walked around you and his hand trailed around your jaw.

“Really, well then let just ruin him and his family, we can do it together.” he said as you looked up at him in all seriousness. You looked back down at your belly and shook your head.

“Well I don't know if i could do that,” you said as his grip on your jaw got harder and he leaned in to give you a harsh kiss. You wish you could have wiped your face, but you had to play your part.

“Fine, i'll tell you, they have this thing, filled with everything you can think of, the buried bakersfield cash, jewels, you name it, even that good stuff you like to fill your nose with and a list, it's pretty important by the way..” you said as he was attracted to what you had said and leaned in closer.

“What is she talking about?” Tom looked over at Harry as he shrugged trying to remember if you had mentioned something like this..

“I don't know Tom, I d-don't know...” he said as Harrison chipped in.

“She might still have her gun Harry what if she's planning to attack them herself.” harrison said as they continued to watch.

“Really, and what is the list.” he asked as you looked up knowing this trick was working.

“Well I can't really tell you that until you know i'm safe.” you said as he grew mad and you knew that would happen so you just gave in.

“You're no fun...Fine i'll tell, it's a list of every manufacturer and business they have owned and will own you know its just a stupid list.” you said as he was loving every word you had said. The list was key to business and well money.

“I know what she's talking about.” Harry said as they all looked at him surprised he knew this conversation well he just didn't think he would be doing that plan now.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

You two were late night talking about plans about your arrangement basically, you assumed this is what real couples would talk about just mafia style. This was short after you two had announced your relationship and when you two were just starting out to be best friends. These plans were not concrete then, but your “relationship” got more serious these things needed to be talked about, but Harry’s main priority was you and he wanted to know if you had a plan or not because he would have helped you with that.

“Okay if something would happen to me, there is this plan, I have the bakersfield cash clean, and i have other cash that is pretty dirty. So whoever has me you give them the dirty money, there's also a list, which looks legit, but it's actually companies that have been closed down or owned by an enemy of ours, also fake jewels and you know things that mafia men love, but before hand i will tell them about first then they get it.” you said as Harry laughed, admiring your plan. He thought you were the smartest and he wished he could just say his feelings but even the biggest mafia men are the pussiest, if that's even a word.

“Well that is very well sorted, how did you even think of it?” he asked as you smiled.

“Well my mom was killed by the enemy and there was no plan, so i suggested this incase of me to my father, and well now you know and so will your brothers and your father soon.” you said as he nodded.

“Oh right...I'm sorry about your mum.” he said as you shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it, it was years ago, but she was the best mom ever and she was my role model of what a person should be.” you said as Harry nodded and gave you a half smile.

“What was she like?” he asked as you smiled and continued to talk about your mom.

Your mom was everything to you and Harry was able to see that. You honestly don't know where you would be without the small moments you had with your mother. You hoped one day you would be like her when you had kids.That night Harry had hoped this plan would never be set ever, he couldn't lose you that quick, you meant everything to him even if he didn't show it because he was scared to.

Who knew that it would happen today...

Taglist:

 @chumhandle101 @frenchquackson @ohmy-moonlightx @chanteeeeeee @osterfieldshollandgirl @sleepybesson @itshimz @howdycharlie @carrrieanne @hushberry @amandameeeh @rainypersonmuffinnerd @sizzlingoafeggsegg @atomicstudentlover-stuff @lavenderhollandx @lonelyforeverself @imcalledjasmijn @robertpattinson-th @aquawomxn @euphorichxlland

[vintagedolan]

mixtape | track four

| masterlist | faceclaims | playlist | visual by @brockhsmpton​

“Hey! No headshots!” 

“Then no moving your head into my shot! Cheater!” Bekah stuck out her tongue. It looked a bit paler than usual. 

“Aye, I don’t cheat!” 

It was quite the sight, Indy was sure. A small 15 year old versus a much larger 20 year old, ducking behind anything they could in the hospital room - curtains, the bed, the large cabinet door, even going as far as climbing under the sink to avoid each other’s paper airplanes. The first few times she’d protested their swiping of her blank index cards, knowing she would need them eventually for another study session in the future. But Bekah’s giggles were enough for her to give in, taking on her role of judge to ensure no one cheated and even folding a few extras for them. 

They kept it up for a while until Bekah started to breathe a bit heavier, wincing some as she tried to throw hers at an ever moving Grayson. Indy caught on first, furrowing her brow and offering up a ‘take it easy’, but the look she gave Grayson was a bit more serious, and he nodded, scrambling for another idea that wouldn’t make it too obvious that he’d noticed Bekah’s struggle. In a moment of insight he grabbed the bedpan, sitting it at the end of the bed and moving to sit towards the top, leaving plenty of space.

“Beks, come sit down, we’ll see who's really got better aim.”

She was grateful, her exhaustion obvious as she leaned back against the pillows, landing a few good ones before Jennifer came in with that look that had her groaning.

“It’s 8 guys, time to roll out.” 

“Can’t they stay just a little longer Mrs. Jennifer? Please?” She put on her best pleading voice, but it was futile. Even if they weren’t being told to go, Indiana wasn’t going to push it that night - she didn’t like the way that Bekah’s skin didn’t have it’s usual deep richness. She looked small. Jennifer shook her head.

“Not tonight kiddo, maybe next week.”

Indiana checked her phone - it was only 7:50, and Jennifer never pulled them out early.

Unless…

“We’ll see you soon Beks, get some rest okay?” She kept her voice steady despite the twisting feeling of her gut, giving Grayson time to say goodbye before they both headed out the door with a wave.

Indiana followed Jennifer towards the nurses station, Grayson right behind her. When they stopped, she reached out for his hand, bracing herself.

Jennifer was a kind woman, and she’d only cut their session short if there was something she needed to tell them.

“What’s going on? Don’t sugarcoat it either,” Indy said. Grayson squeezed her hand, running a thumb across the back of it slowly.

“She’s not responding to treatment. Her counts aren’t going down, her tumors aren’t shrinking. Her body isn’t doing well.”

Grayson stiffened. 

“So what’s the next step then?” He asked. 

“We’re going to try stem cells, but with her systems already so fragile we can’t have her expending any energy she doesn’t have to be. She puts on a show when you all are here, because she doesn’t want you two to worry. And when she actually has the procedure, it’s gonna be family only for at least a week, so I just wanted to give you guys a heads up.”

“Isn’t that the whole reason we’re here though? Because her family can’t see her very often? I don’t want her to have to go through that alone.” The concern was evident in Grayson’s voice, and it made Indiana’s heart swell, even as Jennifer sighed.

“I know, and I wish it was different. But it’s for her own protection, or believe me we’d be looking for a loophole. We’ll take good care of her, and you can always facetime to keep her company, kiddos usually love that.” 

Indiana’s logic kicked in, her medical brain starting to spin and catch up with what Jennifer was saying. She set her shoulders, like her mom taught her to, and just nodded.

“Right, that makes sense. We’ll figure out a way to make sure she’s supported through the whole thing. Thanks for letting us know.” 

Grayson frowned at the sudden change in her tone but didn’t question her as she turned away. He simply followed her, pressing the buttons for the doors as they made it through the hallways. She was walking faster than usual and he lengthened his stride to keep up, not even making his usual comment about the stairs, just moving straight into the elevator.

As soon as the doors closed he heard her ragged breath and immediately opened his arms, taking a step towards her. He was met with a closed fist pressed to his sternum, her knuckles hard even through his hoodie as she stopped him.

“I’m gonna need you to not do that right now.” 

He tried not to pay attention to the way her words made his stomach drop. 

“Why?”

“Because if you hug me right now, I’m gonna cry. And I don’t wanna cry.”

To her relief, he didn’t push it. Instead, he laced his fingers with hers again, a bit tighter than before, as the elevator dinged and they stepped out into the now familiar lobby. 

When Grayson was six and a half, he’d gotten worried. He’d decided he wanted to be a spy, which meant he needed to practice listening to every conversation he could to get ‘intel’. Which meant picking up the extra house phone to listen in on Cam’s conversations, reading Ethan’s Nintendo DS chats, and most importantly, practicing his stealth by sneaking into the living room when it was just Lisa and Sean, to get the real gossip from the adults. But by his third day as the designated house spy, he was worried - so he did what he always did when he didn’t know what else to do. He went to his dad. 

“Why don’t you and Ma talk?” He had asked. His dad had looked up from his paperwork with a frown, putting his pen down and turning to his son.

“What do you mean?”

“You guys just sit in the living room but you don’t talk. I thought moms and dads were supposed to talk. Nick’s mom and dad talk all the time when we’re at his house.”

“Are you worried? About me and Ma?”

He nodded, and Sean smiled his big smile, the one that always brought out the same dimple that Grayson had, reaching out to grab his son and lift him up onto his desk so they were at eye level.

“Let me tell you a little secret Gray. When you love somebody, and I mean really love them, you don’t have to talk. People talk to tell you what’s going on in their mind, but when you love somebody, real deep, like the way I love your Ma, you don’t have to tell them. They just know.” 

“Like how I know what Ethan’s thinking all the time?” 

Sean smiled, and pinched his cheek.

“Yeah babe, just like that. You can love somebody loud, or you can love somebody quiet. Doesn’t mean you love them any more or any less.”

Grayson didn’t say a word back then, and he didn’t say one now either - he just held onto Indiana’s hand and walked beside her until they made it to her apartment building. The elevator ride was silent apart from the muffled ding of each floor they passed, and he kept his eyes on her face as subtly as he could, making sure she didn’t need him. 

She fumbled with her keys in one hand, unwilling to let go of his hand with her other, finally getting it lined up and turned. 

They made it five steps inside before Grayson wrapped his arms around her. It was a bit of a smothering hug, as any Grayson hug was, whether he meant it to be or not. He was so big that she melted into him involuntarily, as she had every time they’d hugged goodbye over the last week. But this time, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her hair with so much tenderness that it had her nose burning, her eyes pricking.

“You can cry, it doesn’t scare me. I know you’re worried about her. I am too.”

His voice was so soft that she felt it in her bones.

She swallowed hard, fought it, bit it back like she’d learned to and squeezed him back before going limp, waiting for him to let go, knowing if he held on too long she wouldn’t be able to keep it together.

He didn’t let go.

Instead, he turned his head and rested his cheek on top of her hair and waited. Loved her quiet, let her settle herself at her own pace, relax and compartmentalize. She sucked in another few breaths and then started to walk backwards, arms still locked around Grayson’s waist as he followed her with a smile, letting her guide him to the couch. 

They fell into the position they’d found themselves in at the end of Saturday night - Grayson leaned back against the cushion, giving her his whole torso to choose from as she curled up against him. There was a casual intimacy between the two of them that Indiana had never felt. She didn’t hesitate to rest her head on his chest, or throw her leg over his in a bid to get closer. She didn’t have a single doubt before she scooted up so she was closer to his lips, smiling when he reached for her, cupped her face with both hands and brought her to him for a kiss. 

“You feeling better?” He asked, nose still against hers when he pulled back a fraction.

“Much,” she murmured, chasing out the last worries she had with his lips as her tool, focusing in on the way they moved against hers, the warmth of his tongue, the way her muscles tensed as his hand traveled from her cheek down her neck, over her shoulder and down to her hip. She sucked in a breath when he squeezed her skin, calloused hands rough against her smooth. 

He managed to keep her there for a few more minutes, a lazy make out made up of slow kisses, deep breaths and a few giggles seemingly enough to keep her mind busy for the time being. Everything had moved so fast but so naturally somehow - strangers only a few weeks ago, and now there they were, caught up in each other as if it was the only place they were ever meant to be. But as it always did, school began to poke into the back of her mind, ruining the moment as she started to ease herself up, laughing at the way he held onto her arm and pouted, pulling her back down so he could nuzzle into her neck, pressed up so tight that every breath tickled her neck.

“Gray I have school stuff, I told you that,” 

“I thought you said your exam got moved, you got that email the other day!” 

She ran her fingers through his hair with a smile.

“Honey just cause one exam got moved doesn’t mean I don’t have shit to do for my other classes.”

“Honey?” He balked, sitting up enough for Indy to see his furrowed brow and wide eyes that had her giggling again.

“Not for you huh?”

“Pretty sure my mom is the only woman who has ever called me honey, so imma have to pass on that one.”

“Then what do you prefer?” She hummed as he cozied back up to her, holding her just tight enough to keep her there, arms crossed around her so her back was pressed to his chest. 

“Dunno. Never really had anyone ask before. What are my options?” 

She toyed with his fingers, trying to think of what to say. 

“I like all of them. I like original ones, but I like the classics too.”

“Classics?”

“Yeah, you know. Baby. Babe.”

He could have blacked out hearing baby come from her lips while she traced shapes on his arm. It took him a moment, but he realized what she was drawing. Letters. B-A-B-Y.

“I like baby. It’s a good term of endearment.” Even if he hadn’t liked it before, the feeling of her fingers lingering over his skin would have convinced him.

“Endearment. So formal,” she teased, leaning a bit to kiss his forearm. He returned it with a kiss to her hair, comfortable silence filling the room for a few moments.

“You really gotta study?”

“Yes.”

“So I should go.” His arms squeezed her a little tighter. 

“I never said that.”

“So I can stay?” 

“If you want to, I mean it’s going to be me and my flashcards for a good two hours. Riveting stuff. And you have to actually let me study.” Her voice was pointed, half because of his hold on her, and half because of the way he was peppering kisses against her shoulder, making her mind a bit fuzzy.

“I’ll behave. Might take a nap actually.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Silence filled the apartment for a moment and he let his eyes close, relaxing until he felt her body start to shake with a quiet laugh.

“Baby?” She tried it out.

“Hmmmm,” he hummed, heart fluttering at his new nickname.

“You have to let me get up and get my flashcards.”

“You stay, I’ll get em.”

He slid her to the side with ease, standing up quickly from the couch in search of her backpack. Once he found it on the kitchen stool he pulled it open, unsurprised to see a planner big enough to be a novel, and stacks upon stacks of index cards.

“Jesus Indy, how many of these do you have?!”

“They’re for all my classes, I just need the blue ones, the ones in the blue rubber band.” 

He didn’t have to ask - he knew every course she had was color coded, no doubt. He brought them over to her with a smile once he’d found them, looking at her perfectly neat handwriting, spelling out a word that he was sure he wouldn’t be able to read even if the letters didn’t jumble in his head. 

“Which class are you working on tonight?”

“Pathopharmacology.” 

“In English maybe?”

“Drugs. Well, conditions and diseases, why they happen in the body, and then the drugs that you should use and what they do.”

“Well then it’s definitely nap time for me,” he grinned, passing her the cards and sitting down on the couch beside her. He hesitated, eyes flickering around to the pillows and blankets, and the opposite side of the couch. The last thing he wanted to do was move further away from her, but he didn’t want to crowd her, or get in her way, make her regret letting him stay.

“C’mere.”

When he looked over, she was patting her leg, and in a moment of impulse he launched himself over, immediately getting cozy. Her leggings were soft against his cheek and he sighed, relaxing fully, muscles turning to mush when her fingers moved to his hair, starting to scratch lightly over his scalp.

“Oh god,” he groaned, making her halt her movements.

“What?!”

“Feels so nice.”

She laughed and went back to his hair.

“So you’re a sucker for a good head scratch huh? Noted.”

“Back scratches too. Those are my shit.” It took him a moment to realize that he’d never told a girl that before. It was too soft, too… personal.

“Well, I can’t really scratch your back through a sweater. But if you wanna take it off I can-”

Before she finished her sentence he was sitting up and whipping it off, tossing it towards the kitchen without a care, giving her cheek a quick kiss before he settled back down again.

“You’re adorable,” she hummed, nails starting in his hair first and then tracing down his neck, over his shoulders and then down his back in long, gentle runs. His shoulders went slack against her, and she knew that her legs were going to fall asleep with the weight of him on them but she didn’t care. She waited until his breathing settled, quiet snores starting to sound out in the room being her final tell that he’d actually fallen asleep. She kept her cards in one hand and used the other to scratch, occasionally getting sidetracked and tracing her fingers over the lions on his back, the script along the edges. Others came before me. Others to come. She made a mental note to ask him what it meant one day, but instead she let him sleep and continued in her studies, tracing more letters over his back. 

If he’d been awake, he would have been soaring at the feeling of the words she was forming letter by letter. 

I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U.

But he wasn’t awake - in fact, he didn’t wake up until 10:30, when she shook his shoulder gently. He sat up with adorably bleary eyes, gaining his bearings and then moving to pull her against him again - so forceful that he actually pulled her into his lap and nuzzled into her neck.

“Done studying?”

She nodded against him, resting her cheek on his head.

“Come to Jersey with me.”

“Huh?” She pulled back, her back arching from the way his hands held her hips close to him,

“Your exam got moved to next week right? It’s supposed to be really warm on Friday, the last warm day we're gonna get. I want you to see Jersey, before it gets too cold. I can show you the land where we’re building the tiny homes, and take you to my mom’s house. You can meet her, and Ethan, and get some non-city air.” 

She could have pulled out ten things in that sentence that made her anxious - meeting his mom, meeting his twin, not having enough time to study - but there was an excitement in his eyes that had her melting. Even if she’d wanted to, she wouldn’t have been able to say no. 

“Okay. Yeah, let’s do it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I could use a non-city day,” she smiled, leaning in to kiss him. She could feel the excitement in his lips as they moved against hers, hands roaming up to cup her cheeks.

“You’re gonna love it.”

And she knew that no matter what they did or where they went, she would, just because she’d be with him.

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

“Bro, I can’t. I gotta rent a car.”

“You are not gonna fucking rent a car for one damn day Grayson. It’s fine.”

“It’s camo and tiger striped bro. It’s a fucking truck.”

“And? We’re in fucking Jersey, it doesn’t matter.” 

“You wouldn’t have picked up Eden for a fuckin date in a spray painted Tacoma, Ethan.”

“Okay true, but only because I would have planned better and asked mom to borrow her fucking car.”

Grayson resisted the urge to pick up a rock and throw it at him. Instead, he just threw the football back down the driveway with a little more force than necessary. Ethan grunted when he caught it, rolling his eyes.

“From what you’ve said she’s pretty chill. I don’t think she’s gonna care.” He tried a gentler approach, hoping it would calm his brother down as he threw the ball back. They volleyed back and forth for a few minutes in silence, listening to the tree frogs’ song from the woods - they were getting quieter as the nights grew longer and the warmth started to fade out of New Jersey.

“Will you at least help me wash it real quick? It’s muddy.” 

“Bro.”

“Bro.”

“Fine. But I’m not vacuuming the inside, that’s all you.”

Ten minutes later and they were outside with a few old sponges and the garden hose, scrubbing away at the dirt and grime that they’d accumulated from all their back road driving. They blasted music, occasionally taking breaks to text their girls back. Ethan felt the nervous energy coming off of Grayson’s every move, and it softened him up a bit.

“You really like this girl huh?” He spoke up while they were both scrubbing the hood.

“Yeah bro. I actually think I might be in love with her.”

Ethan resisted the urge to tell him to pump the brakes - it was all reverse psychology with his twin. If he told him to slow down, he’d only speed up, and there was no use in pissing him off. 

“I’m excited to finally meet her. Maybe you’ll stop talking about her constantly.” 

That earned him a well deserved spray from the hose that soaked through his shirt, and then it devolved into throwing sponges and a wrestling match on the gravel that had Lisa laughing from the kitchen window. But eventually the truck was clean, and as Ethan watched him vacuum it out three times over, he realized just how serious his brother was about Indiana. So on Thursday night, over late night veggie burgers after Grayson got back from the city, he opted to offer him some advice.

“Snacks.”

“Huh?”

“Buy snacks, before you pick her up. Girls love snacks.” 

“Yeah? What kind of snacks?”

“I don’t know bro, it’s your girl.”

“Ask Eden.”

“Girl snacks are not universal.” 

“Then how the fuck am I supposed to know what to get?”

“I don’t know dude! Just… fucking guess?” 

Which was how Grayson ended up in a gas station in New York early on Friday morning, perusing the same aisle for the third time, arms already full of any snack that he thought she might like. He settled for a good mixture of things - some salty, some sweet, and a few different drinks before he went to the counter and paid, hoping he had something she would like within the mix. 

As soon as he got back into the truck he unpacked it all neatly and checked his phone, happy to see a text from her.

do I need to bring anything?

and do you want a coffee? I can make one and bring it with me

He looked down at the three drinks he’d already bought.

Nah, maybe just a pair of shoes you don’t mind getting dirty

And hell yeah to the coffee

Please :)

just text me when you’re here and I’ll come down so you don’t have to park!

He liked the message and started the truck, wincing a bit at the roar of the engine before he pulled out of the lot with Indy’s apartment in the GPS.

Indiana knew he wasn’t supposed to get there until 9. He’d told her that it would be between 9 and 9:15 depending on traffic. But still, she was in the lobby at 8:50 with two coffee tumblers in her hands, trying to keep her nerves in check. She looked in the mirror, checking her outfit again. A black crop top, maroon leggings and a pair of chacos that Charlie had gotten her last year for her birthday. Simple enough. But was it too simple? Grayson always dressed so well - he even managed to make hoodies look put together. 

She didn’t have time to think on it, because her phone buzzed in her hand.

Here :)

In the orange truck 🥴

Indy walked out to the curb to see Grayson standing on the sidewalk, tall and broad, as if he was trying to hide the vehicle behind him. It was indeed a bright orange truck, but there were small spray painted stripes on it. It took her a moment to realize they were supposed to be tiger stripes, and with every moment that she spent looking at it his cheeks grew redder with embarrassment. She didn’t say anything, but it didn’t matter - he was already stammering out his explanation that she was sure he’d rehearsed in the car. 

“I uh- we did it for a video - we thought it would look cool, and uh, actually it looks like shit, but we got a truck cause we didn’t wanna have to worry about a car and-”

She moved his coffee into the crook of her arm and grabbed the front of his t shirt in her fist, pulling him down to kiss him, lips falling silent against hers.

“Hi,” she said when she pulled away, popping up to give him another quick peck. She couldn’t get enough of it, couldn’t believe that she just got to do that whenever she wanted to. 

“Hi.” He beamed down at her. “Missed you.”

“You saw me last night.”

“And?” He leaned down and stole another kiss - she felt like a middle schooler hiding behind the buses from the teachers, just trying to sneak in a few more kisses before they left for the day. “You ready?”

She nodded and blushed when he opened her door for her, hand moving to her ass to help boost her up even though she didn’t need it. She wasn’t complaining, moving over to put the coffee in the cupholder as he jogged around the car and got into the driver’s seat. 

“I missed you too, for the record.”

He reached his hand over and squeezed her thigh.

“Good. Now let’s go to fuckin’ Jersey, I brought snacks.”

“I can see that,” she teased, looking down at the floorboard where two whole grocery bags were stuffed full. “Did you buy the whole store? We doing a cross country road trip I didn’t know about?”

He blushed bright pink, keeping his eyes trained on the speedometer. 

“Just wanted to make sure I got something you liked.” 

She rummaged around in the bags, happy to find a packet of Chex Mix. 

“Breakfast of champions,” she grinned, pulling the edges open and popping a few into her mouth. A comfortable silence filled the cab, and it made her hyper aware of everything that Grayson did, from the way he palmed the wheel to the way he ran his thumb along her thigh. They made it out of Manhattan as easily as you can ever get out of Manhattan, Grayson managing to maneuver the traffic despite being in a pick up truck, and she found herself relaxing more and more with each mile out of the city that they drove. Cityscape turned into suburbs with patches of tall green trees and farmland between denser areas, and she couldn’t decide where to look - out the window at the beauty, or at Grayson, who was watching her every second that he could. 

“Told you it was amazing out here. Jersey hits different than anywhere else in the world.” 

“The whole world huh? You’ve been around the world?”

“Yeah. We did a world tour a while back, got to see a ton of places.”

“Of course you did. Tell me about them,” she hummed, scooting up in her seat so she could lean over against his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his and snuggling up to him. He pressed a kiss to her hair and smiled.

“Well, we started here, in Jersey. And then we went to Maryland, then New York. I think Detroit was next, and then Chicago, which was super cool.”

The cadence of his voice was soothing, and she listened as he listed off state after state, and then moved into countries. Brazil, Argentina, the UK, France, Ireland, Spain. It went on and on, and she laughed at the little anecdotes of the crazy things they got up to in every city, their 16 year old selves taking the world by storm. He could have been talking about the color of his socks and she would have been just as enthralled. She spent her time looking at the tattoos that she could see in person for the first time, scattered across his legs, shown off by his shorts. She’d seen them in her few limited scrolls of his instagram - every time she got on there it only intimidated her to see the comments and the thousands and thousands of likes. But in person, they were even more beautiful, small pieces that no doubt had significance to him. She held back from asking him about them as he spoke. 

The drive flew by, even though it was over an hour before there was gravel crunching under the tires of the truck as he turned into the driveway. Her stomach started to tighten as she sat up, suddenly realizing what she was up against. The house was beautiful - bigger than she expected, with white siding and dark metal window frames, a large front porch with a small swing and scattered furniture. It looked neat, but lived in at the same time, welcoming and warm. 

“Where’d you go?” Grayson asked, nudging her shoulder.

“Sorry, I’m here. Just nervous.”

“Ma is at work, and Ethan is nothing to be scared of. Trust me.” 

“Does that mean I should be scared of your mom?”

He only answered with a laugh, shaking his head as he parked the truck and hopped out to open her door. He held out a hand to help her jump down, arm going around her shoulder as soon as her feet touched the ground, leading her towards the house. 

He opened the door for her, motioning her inside of the foyer, which was nicely decorated - it looked a bit like the farmhouse section of Hobby Lobby; not her style, but nice nonetheless. 

“Yo E!” Grayson called out through the house.

He was met with a returning yell, and an odd screech from somewhere else in the house that made her tighten her hold on his arm.

“The fuck was that?” 

“Gizmo.”

“Who?”

“My bird. I’m allergic to literally anything with fur, so we got a bird when I was little. She’s a cutie.” 

Indiana had never in her life thought a bird was anything close to cute, but she nodded anyways, focusing on the sound of what she presumed were Ethan’s heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. 

He appeared around the corner a moment later with a big smile - different from Grayson’s somehow, despite the similarities across their features. The biggest contrast was his clean shaven jawline - Grayson had kept a healthy scruff since you’d known him. 

“Hey! I’m Ethan, it’s nice to meet you. Indiana, right?” 

“Yeah, that’s me!” She kicked herself for the way her voice went up an octave.

“That’s such a cool name.” 

“Thank you!” 

There was a small beat of silence that made Grayson laugh. 

“You ready to go out to Woodland?” He turned his attention to his twin - Indy assumed that meant the land where the tiny homes were. 

“Yeah, but we gotta get gas for the quads to take out there.” 

“We got some in the shed?” 

Grayson nodded and turned to lead the way, giving her a quick kiss before they disappeared around the side of the house. As soon as they were out of sight she checked herself in the side mirror of the truck, smoothing her hair down quickly and trying to find a way to look casual as she waited for them to reappear. She opted to go for the default of scrolling her phone, happy to see a message from Charlie.

Miss your face. Facetime later? She’d sent, with a picture of her and Devin with a massive Washington waterfall behind them attached. It was a beautiful sight - she was slightly jealous that her sister got to see so much of the world while she saw the inside of textbooks and the screens of laptops. 

On a date today, can we do it tomorrow?

It took all of three seconds for Charlie to read it and reply.

EXCUSE ME?

A DATE???

MA’AM

I’ll fill you in later, gotta go. Love you

Right on cue, the boys reappeared with an old red gas can each, wide smiles on their faces. 

BITCH YOU FUCKIN BETTER

She locked her phone quickly and tucked it in her waistband, moving towards the back door as they loaded the cans into the bed. Ethan looked at her, then her hand on the car door handle, and frowned.

“You don’t think you’re sitting in the back, do you?” 

“I didn’t know if twins automatically got shotgun rights,” she shrugged.

“Most times yes, but girlfriends are the exception.” He pulled the door open and waved her in. “Up you get.” 

Girlfriend.

Grayson was already in the driver’s seat, and he held up a small aux cord with a grin.

“You’re up.”

She narrowed her eyes as he started the truck up with a roar.

“Why do I feel like this is a test?”

All he did was smile and put the truck in reverse.

Indiana took the safe route, pulling up Cudi and shuffling it, laughing when Ethan perked up in the back with a “oh hell yeah!” 

The drive was long, about 45 minutes down the road, but she didn’t mind; the cab was full of the comforting feelings of slightly off-key singing in her ears and Grayson’s hand in hers on the console. Her heart fluttered in her chest when he brought her hand up to his mouth, pressing a gentle kiss to her knuckles before he pulled the truck off on a dirt path and put it in park.

“Here we are. Well, almost. Gotta take the quads the rest of the way.” 

He could have said anything and she would have been fine with it. She climbed out of the truck, moving to the bed to grab one of the gas cans, hoisting it up on her shoulder so she could carry it easier. 

“Hey, gimme that,” Grayson mumbled, reaching up for it. She turned away, just out of his reach.

“I got it!” She watched Ethan go around to grab the other one, just out of earshot, giving her a chance to lean over to Grayson and ask the question poking in the back of her mind. “Did I pass the test?”

He shook his head with a laugh. “There’s no test. If Ethan didn’t like you, you’d already know.”

“True!” Ethan teased, sneaking up on her and snagging the can from her shoulder, passing it to his brother. She nudged his shoulder with hers on instinct, glad to see that he laughed. There was a comforting warmth about Ethan - he reminded her of Devin in a lot of ways. He gave off a sense of automatic, unquestionable good that had her at ease as they walked over to a shed hidden away in the trees. Ethan unlocked it, pulling the doors open to reveal the parked quads. She watched the trees while they filled up the gas tanks, enjoying the sounds of the woods until she felt Grayson’s hand snake around her waist.

“You ready baby?” 

She nodded, leaning into him for a second before following him over to the quad, letting him climb on first and settling behind him.

“Hold on,” he said, but she would have wrapped her arms around his middle anyways, resting her chin on his shoulder as he started it up and backed it out, Ethan following suit.

They picked up speed and she nuzzled into his back, returning his beaming smile when he looked back to check on her occasionally, wind whipping both of their hair around. They rode for about 5 minutes, a long stretch back through the towering trees. The only sign they were coming up on the houses was a thinning of the woods, which eventually gave way almost immediately to a large, bright opening - a meadow of sorts, framed out by trees. A few had started to tease with fall, bunches of their leaves turning bright orange and red, scattered amongst the green.  

The boys cut their engines almost in sync, the silence revealing the song of the birds and the bugs.

“Welcome to the Jers homes,” Grayson beamed proudly, nodding ahead.

Indiana looked over his shoulder and had to bite back her laugh. 

In the middle of the clearing were two small platforms - foundations, she realized after a moment. They were spread out enough for comfort, but close enough that it wouldn’t take more than a minute to walk between the front doors. And they truly were tiny homes if she’d ever seen one - the space looked no bigger than her living room and kitchen combined in her apartment.

“Which one’s yours?”

“That one,” he pointed to the left. “I’m always on the left, Ethan’s always on the right.” 

“Even in houses?”

“Even in houses,” he laughed. “C’mon, I’ll show you around.” 

She gave him her hand and let him lead her over, stepping onto the platform and listening intently as he started to explain the floorplan in his head.

“So, this is the kitchen,” he exaggerated it, gesturing grandly to the piece of plywood below his feet. “It’s gonna have a cabinet here, and then a sink and a little stove, which will go here. And then the bathroom is gonna be over there-”

It turned into a bit of a stretch for Indiana’s imagination, trying to envision all the rooms, and even the loft that he was describing. But she did her best, matching his enthusiasm however she could, asking questions about anything she could think of just to show him that she cared. He was so excited, and the last thing she wanted to do was damper it because she couldn’t picture the shower tile he was describing. 

When the “house tour” was done it was Ethan’s turn for an imaginary walk through, which was surprisingly different than his brother’s despite the house being the same size and general base.  

“And now, we go to the best part,” Grayson grinned. 

“Oh?”

“C’mon, I’ll show you. Leave your phone and stuff.” 

She did as he asked, surprised that when she stood straight again and saw that both the boys were shirtless, tossing their clothes onto the wood. Ethan headed off towards the trees but Grayson stayed back and waited for her, smiling softly when she automatically took his hand. 

“Where are we going?” 

“You’ll see. It’s a surprise. Which I feel like is probably not your favorite.” 

She didn’t answer, which was answer enough, and he just laughed and swung their hands between the two of them as they started into the trees.

The surprise turned up a few minutes later, in the form of the running water of a New Jersey creek and a rocky cliff side that Ethan sauntered on to with far too much confidence for Indiana’s liking.

“Careful!” She called out on instinct, holding onto Grayson’s arm tightly as he moved to follow his brother. 

“We always are. C’mon,” he smiled, starting to lead the two of them over. She locked her knees and shook her head.

“Oh fuck no.” 

Both twins' eyebrows lifted, and then they were cackling, laughter so loud it bounced off the trees.

“Why not!? You scared?” Ethan jeered, toes over the edge of the clifface. It couldn’t be more than 25 feet high, but even that had her stomach tightening.

“You’re not?”

With that, Ethan threw her a wink and flung himself over the edge, flipping backwards once and splashing into the water feet first. 

“Show off,” Gray muttered, rolling his eyes a bit. “There’s nothing to be scared of baby, we’ve been doing this since we were kids. That’s why we bought this land.” 

“Nothing to be scared of,” she scoffed. “How about traumatic brain injuries? Spinal cord injuries? Broken leg? Broken ankle? Broken neck?” 

“Hey.” He took her face in his hands. “This isn’t anatomy class. Get out of your head, live a little. It’s fun.”

“It’s reckless,” she countered.

“Reckless fun.” 

She scowled at him, but he couldn’t take it seriously with the way her cheeks were slightly squished by his palms. He leaned forward and kissed her softly. She didn’t react on purpose, though it took quite a bit of self control.

“Will you try it? For me?” He asked, quirking an eyebrow. Off to their right, Ethan was scaling the rocks to get back up from the water, yelling about something, but her attention was on Grayson. She held her ground, didn’t react as best she could, resisted the urge to give him whatever he wanted.

“Please?” He tried again, pressing another kiss to her lips. He smiled when he felt her loosen up, realizing that it was working. “For me?”

“Maybe,” she mumbled.

“I’ll keep you safe. Promise,” he whispered, running his thumbs along her cheeks as he kissed her again, somehow softer that time, and her resolve melted into a puddle. 

“You better,” she mumbled, still scowling a bit. It was more adorable than intimidating to Grayson.

“So you’ll do it?”

“Once. One time. That’s it.”

“I can deal with that. C’mon, before you talk yourself out of it.” 

She kept a vice grip on his hand as he started towards the cliff, where the dirt gave way to solid rock. She stayed behind him with hesitant steps, shuffling her way over until they were above the water, keeping her eyes on Grayson, forcing herself not to look down.

“Now when we go, you can’t lock up. That’s how you get hurt. If you just jump, you’ll be fine, I swear.” 

Indiana nodded and sucked in a deep breath.

“Just don’t let go of me, okay?” She asked. 

“I won’t. Promise. You count us off.” 

He was patient with her as she worked up the courage, settled her shaking legs as best she could.

She counted down from three and forced her legs to move, Grayson’s momentum helping to pull her off the ledge. There was a roar in her ears, a mixture of her own scream and the wind as her stomach dropped before she hit the water. Any breath she had left was gone when she submerged into what felt like an ice bath - she hadn’t accounted for the fact that despite the abnormally warm day, it had been in the low 60’s the last few weeks. 

By the time she came up, Grayson was already swimming over to her, eyes alight with adrenaline as he reached out for her waist in the murky water and pulled her to him. 

“See! Told you it was fun!” 

“Don’t know if that’s the word I would use,” Indiana laughed, shaking her head and moving some of her wet hair out of her face. “But now I can say I did it.” 

“Such a badass,” he teased. “C’mon, gotta get out of E’s way.” 

She looked up to see Ethan waiting patiently at the top of the cliff - had she really fallen all that way? Grayson led them away slightly, cheering as Ethan jumped and flipped again. There was an athletic nature to the way he moved that put Indiana’s mind a bit more at ease - he seemed to have enough control over his body to make sure he didn’t land wrong, and she hoped the same principle applied to his twin when he climbed out and went to do his own backflips. 

Indiana stayed to the water, wading around and trying not to panic every time she watched Grayson plummet down towards the water. She squealed when he over-rotated on one, landing a bit off kilter. She swam to him as quickly as she could, overwhelmed with the concern she had that he was okay. But when he reemerged he was laughing and shaking the water out of his hair. 

The cycle continued on for a while - Indiana lost track of the time, only realizing how long she’d been in the cold water by the numbness of her limbs. With the climbing out and up the cliff, Grayson didn’t even notice the cold until he saw her wrap her arms around herself when she thought he wasn’t looking from up on the cliff.

“Last jump E, we gotta get back for food anyways,” he told his brother, jumping quickly and kicking hard to get back up to the surface, immediately swimming over to her. When he got closer, he realized she was shivering slightly, and her lips had a bit of a blue tint to them that had him frowning.

“You’re freezing aren’t you?”

“I’ve been warmer,” she admitted with a smile. Trying to play it off - typical Indiana, he realized.

“You should have said something,” he pouted, pulling her to him. Her hands were ice cold as they wrapped around his neck.

“You all were having fun, and I’m fine.”

“Right. C’mon, let’s get you back. Mom’s making potato soup for dinner. Vegan though.” 

“Dinner? What time is it?” 

“By the time we get back it’ll probably be 5. We’ve been out here a couple hours.” 

“No shit,” she laughed, surprised by his words. It was like minutes to Grayson too - he couldn’t manage to get an amount of time with her that felt like enough it seemed. They swam over to the edge, going a bit farther down so Indiana didn’t have to climb as much, making their way up with soaked pants and smiles on their faces, which stayed there as they took the same path back to the houses. She’d thawed out marginally it seemed, but Grayson could tell she was still cold just from the way she was cuddled up to his side. So when they got back to the pile of their belongings, he held out his shirt for her.

“Here. Extra layer for the quad ride, so the wind isn’t so bad.” 

He knew exactly what she was going to say before she said it, so he said it before she could.

“For me?” He tried his earlier line, holding up the black wad of fabric and wiggling his eyebrows. 

She faltered, argument falling silent. He’d found a new loophole to her apparent inability to let anyone take care of her, and he ran with it, pulling the shirt down over her head and kissing her nose when it reappeared. He could feel Ethan’s eyes on him somewhere behind him - he knew what he was thinking, what he’d say later about how “soft” Grayson was. His bigger, stronger brother, soft for a girl he’d met only a few weeks ago. He’d seen this trajectory before, and never held his tongue on what he thought about it either, but Grayson hoped he could see that this time, it was different. 

Different, because of the way he still got butterflies when she climbed on the quad behind him and pressed a kiss to his bare shoulder. Because of the way he threw the keys to Ethan so he could drive the truck home and the two of them could curl up in the backseat to warm her up. Because of the way she just seemed to fit, with him and with Ethan, in every way.

The last one to make a verdict was Lisa, whose car was parked in the driveway when they made it back. Indiana’s relaxed body tensed up, and he noticed her trying to adjust her still damp leggings, make herself look more presentable.

“You’re fine.”

“I’m meeting your mother wearing your shirt and pants that smell like mud.”

“Mom’s chill. You have nothing to worry about. Actually, she’ll probably be mad at me, since I didn’t bring you dry clothes.” 

They climbed out of the back and followed Ethan inside, met again by the sound of squawking as soon as the door opened.

“MA!” Ethan called out, voice booming throughout the entire house.

“In here!” 

The trio followed her voice, happy to find her in the kitchen and over a massive pot of soup. They kissed her cheek, one after the other and then moved on to start picking at her ingredients like scavengers that had never been fed. She smacked Ethan’s shoulder when he took one too many carrots.

“You must be Indiana, it’s nice to finally meet you! Heard so much about you!” Lisa’s smile was warm - different than Grayson’s though. He must have gotten it from his father. She wondered who he got his tendency to blush from as his cheeks flushed red at his mom’s words.

“So nice to meet you! That soup smells delicious,” Indy complimented. “Anything I can help with?”

“Well, if you’re offering.”

The kitchen was soon full of laughter and stories as they each took on a job to finish off the soup. Lisa asked about school, and Indiana’s family, her apartment and Bekah.

“So you’re set to graduate in December then? That’s amazing! You must be a smart little cookie.” 

“She is,” Grayson chimed in with a smile, and it was Indy’s turn to blush. 

Eventually the soup was finished and served out into bowls that were carried to a dining room framed out with tall windows. Indiana couldn’t remember the last time that she’d actually sat and had a meal with a full table around her.

Lisa was a kind woman, not much unlike Indiana’s own mom. She had a feeling that with the boys for kids that she was used to bringing all sorts of people in her house and treating them as her own, and it seemed Indiana was no exception. When she asked questions, Indy could tell that she cared, that she genuinely wanted to know. She hadn’t had an adult invest in her like that in a long while, and she couldn’t dwell on it without her throat tightening up.

By the time their bowls were empty Indiana felt like she’d been in the house for years - like she was home. Lisa took her around, offered her some clean clothes - some old running shorts of Cameron’s for her to change into. She opted to keep on Grayson’s shirt on instead of changing, letting Lisa guide her around the house and show off the rooms she’d decorated while the boys showered off the muck of the creek.

And her new favorite aspect of the house? The espresso machine that caught her eye at the small coffee bar off the kitchen.

“Is that a mastrena?” Indy asked, eyes wide. She knew the price tag on those from her time at Jets - 5k, minimum.

“Oh yeah, that old thing. The boys bought it for me for mother’s day a few years back, I never could figure out how to work it right, to make lattes,” she sighed.

“I could show you if you want! I used one just like this when I was a barista.” 

“Did someone say barista?” Ethan perked up, poking his head around the corner. Grayson was right after him, now with a hoodie on, poking over his shoulder in a way that had all of them laughing.

And so Grayson watched as Indiana gathered a few mugs and the rest of the almond milk from the fridge. He stood out of the way, listened to the way she explained how to froth the milk right to his mom, voice gentle without any trace of condescendence. No other girl he’d ever brought home had been so invested in his mother, in talking to her and getting to know her. It warmed his heart the same way that the mug Indiana handed him warmed his fingertips.

“Ran outta milk. Looks like we have to share,” she hummed. Ethan and Lisa had made themselves scarce once they’d gotten their mugs - E would’ve told her it was the best latte he’d ever had, but he saw the suggestive look in his brother’s eyes and went on to distract Lisa instead.

“I’m down,” he teased, passing her the mug. “Come out here with me for a minute.” 

He headed towards the front of the house, through the hallways and past the living room, back out to the front porch. The air had cooled off even more, and while she was grateful for the clean shorts, her legs were covered in goosebumps by the time they made it over to the swing. Grayson sat down first, keeping it still with his foot on the ground as he patted his lap. 

In a moment of impulse she sat down facing him - it took a moment for her to get arranged and comfortable, but eventually she settled over his thighs, coffee cup in hands and legs around his back. 

“I’m gonna have to start packing an extra blanket for you or some shit, you’re freezing,” he teased, chafing his hands up and down her thighs to get some friction for her cold skin. She couldn’t help but notice the way her body reacted to it, and she was glad that the sun was setting, dimming the light that would give away the flush of her cheeks and neck. 

“The coffee will keep me warm,” she teased.

“Can I have a sip?” 

She held the mug up to his lips and tilted it so he could have a drink, laughing at the little bit of foam that clung to his upper lip when he was done. She kissed it away, wishing she didn’t have the mug in her hands so that she could run her hands through his hair, or over his scruff - anywhere that he’d have her. They kissed slow, quiet, for a while, letting it sizzle out before they pulled back. It had gotten darker when she opened her eyes again, but his smile was just as bright, even in the twilight.

“Did you have a good day?” He hummed, taking the mug from her so she could hold on to him as he started to swing them slowly, back and forth in a soothing rocking.

“The best.”

He hesitated for a moment, taking the end of her hair and twirling it between his fingers.

“Wanna make it a night then?”

She was pretty sure if she’d been attached to a heart monitor, it would have shown a skipped beat.

“Oh?” Her mouth was a bit dry, a mixture of more nerves than excitement.

“A sleepover. Nothing else. We can even do it middle school style if you want, I’ll take the couch,” he reassured her, poking at her side just to get her to laugh, to loosen up.

“We don’t have to go that far. But won’t your mom care?”

“I think you’re her new favorite, so I’m sure she’d love it if you stayed. She always makes good breakfast when one of our girlfriend’s spends the night too.”

“Girlfriend hmmm? Bold assumption,” Indy teased, running a thumb over his cheek. 

Her joke didn’t land, seeing that he his eyes went wide in a bit of panic and his shoulders tensed.

“I uh… I just thought, um-”

“Kidding Gray. Though to be fair, you never asked.” She kissed him again to finish off her point, happy to feel him relax underneath her as he nuzzled into her neck.

“Well, will you be my girlfriend then?” He muttered against her skin.

“I guess,” she grinned, pulling back enough to get back to his lips and kiss him again. “Do girlfriend’s get shower privileges? I feel disgusting, and I don’t want to get your bed all gross.”

He laughed at that, shaking his head.

“You’re always three steps ahead, you know that?” He brushed his nose against hers lightly. “C’mon, I’ll get you set up.”

Thirty minutes later and Indiana was finally warm after her shower, happy in a pair of running shorts, one of Grayson’s hoodies and a pair of his socks. When she made it to the bedroom he was sprawled out over the covers, shirtless in a pair of joggers. 

“Hi gorgeous,” he hummed, putting his phone on the nightstand and opening his arms.

“That’s a new one,” she mused as she climbed on with him, curling up to his chest like she’d done it a hundred times before. It was much more comfortable than when she’d done so on the couch in her apartment, the warm blanket below her and the soft plush of the mattress giving them plenty of room for him to wrap her up in both arms. 

“It’s fitting. A little long though. Might have to find a shorter one to use sometimes.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Been thinking about it. I thought about indigo for a minute, but that’s just as long. What about Dee?”

She looked up at him then, tracing her fingers over his chest, over his heart. D-E-E.

“No one’s ever called me that before.”

“Then it’s all mine. My Dee.” 

All she could do was sigh and curl into him further, unable to find the words for the lightness of her body, and her mind, as he held her and pressed a kiss to her forehead, as if he were determined to hold her there until they woke up.