#also for sure gonna turn these into prints and maybe keychains
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mr-malumm ¡ 9 months ago
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Starting a series of drawings for each song and we're going IN ORDER BAYBEEEE, so heres Happy Day in Hell!!!!!!!!
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a-romantic--aromantic ¡ 2 years ago
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<- is making insane decisions about aro/aspec “picnic” at pride next year.
The plan was originally to have it be completely unofficial and just me in the dc pride festival on an aro flag picnic blanket with some crafts but idk my mental health is crashing and making these things/organizing this may help. idk i want my future to be in community organizing so. it makes me feel good. anyways onto what i was talking about:
So. im deciding if i want to be someone with a table or not, if i want it to be aro or aspec, or if i want to have pride stuff available for donation only or not (aka no money accepted). (idk what to donate towards. maybe just explaining that i made all of this with my own free time/ money and any extra money will get donating to ace and aro advocacy project- which i think is located in the same city as the pride event- or AUREA? or just outright donating but… this all sounds really expensive which im anxious about but. i am okay with outright donating if thats a better idea idk)
ANYWAYS
I’m not sure if a table costs money or anything, but I dont think aro culture and aro pride should be locked behind a paywall. If I have aro pride stuff available, it would likely be:
bulk purchased silicone rings. the packs of rings dont just come in white, and almost always contain black, but id just have all the colors in a bowl with a sign about the meanings of black and white rings
diy low quality stickers. and im talking printouts and packing tape level quality. id probably also reach out to some aro/aspec artists if theyd be okay with me printing some of their designs for free pride stickers with their @ on the back. again, no profiting off their art, just having subtle aro/aspec options for closeted folks. also obviously the pride flags themselves/ like the heart emojis and stuff. if i get permission for the <2 i also think thatd be funny to have. id try to print off as many of the specific arsospec identities as i could, too.
some mini pride flags. like on the little stick and stuff? i already reached out to somebody about aplatonic and the new aspec flags. these will be on display at minimum, but im tempted to see how much bulk purchasing to give away for free would cost
….real pride flags, including aplatonic and the new aspec flag. im most hesitant about this because $$$ but…. i know how much it would mean to people, yknow?
i also want like. *stuff to do* to engage in community building and growth, so id likely have kandi bracelet stuff too, and be making aro/aplatonic/aspec bracelets to entertain myself while i sit there for folks without the time to make their own. (also! apparently grey bracelets are an old greyspec symbol. thats so cool!)
ive had it in my mind since early 2020 i want aro ribbon available for turning into shoelaces and im not gonna let up on this decision.
i just…. i really want to be able to connect with members of my community and raise awareness and recognition or aros/apls/aspecs in queer spaces, and i thought this may help.
these things are a little more hesitant but im thinking shrinky-dink keychains of these things/culture and symbols…? same thing @ artists, but uhhh if no one approves ill draw my Very Best. most of these will ALSO be stickers (if i do it)
(these are all old or current aspec culture. aro specific ones im more likely to do. also apl im more likely to do and may get ** but idk yet)
arospec
dragons
yellow roses
<2 (i got permission!!!!)
a little crown?? people are referencing jughead and you know what Sure.
frog,,
green! we sure do love green huh. just like scribbles gkfhjf
…garlic bread? i think i saw that get phased out for dragons but you know what sure
plants..? i hadn’t realized that counted ngl
gryphons! i knew about them
(cacti/succulents but i already said plants)
“no romo”
does space count as aspec culture? idk guys
peridot and labradite? hm. cool!
somebody said aardvarks but ive never seen that before. apparently theyre a really old symbol. thats so cool!
💚 and 💔
pizza and ice cream but garlic bread got more popular (tho these are easier to draw)
manticores
i saw rats..? ehhh im hesitant on that one
Nandays and Caiques :) okay this one is cute
acespec
pegasus
cake
dragons are also very definitely acespec too
pirates
axolotls (though i think we can share)
wolves??? huh.
apparently ghosts are greyspec and!!!! holy shit that me! thats my name! fucking Wild Thats So Cool
someone reffed dinosaurs? cool cool
aaaahhhhg so space is Definitely acespec i forgot the whole spAce thing lol
purple
badgers and unicorns? hm
♠️♣️♥️♦️ cards/symbols. i also recognize peole can turn these into earrings which. real. queer culture irl.
aplatonic
<2 (this is more loveless/heartless but i see it used a lot in aplatonic circles as well)
apples
bees, worms, and birds have been proposed but havent seen much use yet. there has been some use though!
tbh since i cant find much ill likely have a sign that says something like “aplatonic culture is only recently getting enough visibility to be seen as separate from aro culture, so as the growing community develops new symbols we should keep an eye out! im excited to watch this community and identity finally get recognition like it deserves
do i propose platonic solids? idk you guys
*aspen/fang reminded me that non-platonic solids exist as well and are getting used as a symbol. Nice!
general aspec
cryptids
im not making an aroace category but someone said handshake tattoos… imma pass on this one because its not apl friendly
i associate cross stitch and diy patches as aro core/ aspec but thats just me
lambda is queer culture and we belong to that too
i saw a lot of black triangle (as well as gradient) refs but idk if that is Ace Specific or not, but it Is a symbol i think is important to not overlook
ive seen bees used every so often in aro communities as well as aplatonic,
you know what the d&d “roll for x” is funny ill take that
flags
anyways sorry i kinda went off with the research But. ive wanted to do this for Years (since 2019/early 2020 when this blog started Yknow. happenin) and i. i want to make it actually happen in 2023. its going to. i am gonna will it into existence. i just want to build a community i can interact with, yknow? thats all.
Anyways let me know what you think! i recognize this is a Lot and honestly ridiculous but who knows, yknow?
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intergalacticwanderer ¡ 3 years ago
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(Circus Kids week day six - a day out.)
“It’s going to be amazing,” Molly gushed as he and Yasha turned the last street corner on the walk from the bus stop, her smiling while he continued to gesture wildly. “It’s not the fanciest place and okay it’s not authentic, but the flavors are really really good! And you get a TON of food!”
“What’s your favorite?” Yasha asked.
“The sweet and spicy beef ramen! But there’s plenty of other stuff, I’m sure we’ll find something that you like... too...”
He trailed off when the restaurant finally came into view. There it was, right where it should be... and a gigantic CLOSED sign was placed over the front door.
Wait what???
Molly frantically dug out his phone. 11:47 AM. It’d been a couple weeks since he’d been here, being too busy with other stuff, but it should have been open right now. Since when was a place like this just straight up closed during lunch rush? He snapped a quick picture, firing off a message to Jester.
Molly: jesterrrrr it’s closed :’C y closed?! [image]
Jester: Oh no, you didn’t see the news? D:
He started to get a terrible sinking feeling.
Molly: what news???
Jester: [link]
Jester: News story about it
Jester: Short version is the owner quit paying the employees and got found guilty of tax evasion :c
“TAX EVASION?!” Molly screeched and Yasha startled a little at his exclamation.
Molly: !?!!?!????!!!!?!??
Molly: WHAT!!!!
Molly: JESTER WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO GET MY RAMEN NOW THIS IS A TRAGEDY
Jester: I KNOW I’M SORRY
“Is everything okay...?” Yasha looked between the closed sign and Molly on his phone, brows furrowed.
“No,” Molly said, slumping. “Jester says the place closed permanently.”
Molly: well... thanks for letting me know
Molly: just have have to figure out a new lunch spot for me and yasha now :‘c
Jester: Oh no!!!
He sighed and put the phone away, tail and shoulders both drooping. “I’m really sorry Yash. I didn’t mean mean to drag you out here for nothing.”
“Hey, it’s okay,” she said, leaning into his side. “I’m just glad to spend time with you. And... maybe we could check out that place?” She nodded across the street to a local boutique and Molly perked up.
“Oh! Yeah! They have some neat jewelry and stuff from local artists. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure. That could be neat,” she said, giving a shrug but also smiling.
It took an annoyingly long time to get across the street with how long the stop light cycled, but eventually the two of them were in the shop, Molly happily showing off different jewelry to Yasha and asking for her advice, and Yasha finding herself drawn to some art prints, stickers, and key chains based on bones and flowers. Molly was admiring a dark iridescent skull necklace when his phone buzzed with a message notification, and he dug it back out of his pocket.
Jester: I looked some stuff up and there’s a food truck that’s just a few blocks away!!
Jester: [map]
Jester: [menu]
Jester: I don’t know how long it will be there but the food looks really really good!
Molly opened up the menu, curious, and saw it was a burger truck, but with more out there toppings and ooooooo that really did look good.
“Hey Yasha, does this look good to you?” He held up his phone and she looked over his should to read, hair brushing his shoulder. He felt the hair move as she nodded.
“It does. Can we go?”
“Yeah, sure! Let’s check out and head over.”
Molly: jester you are the BEST
Molly ended up getting the skull necklace and a few more celestial horn charms, and one of the skull and flowers keychains for Yasha, insisting it was his treat. Shortly after the two of them were out the door they ended up in an informal race towards the food truck, partially because they didn’t want to be late and miss another possible lunch spot, but also just because they felt like it.
Yasha handily beat Molly there but she slowed down for the last bit, grinning as he caught up, wheezing.
“Gotta... remind myself... that I’m never gonna win that,” he said, breathing heavily and hands resting on his knees when he stopped.
“But you keep doing it,” Yasha said, still grinning.
“And that’s my problem,” Molly said, grinning right back and Yasha laughed.
Happy to see that the food truck was still there and open (though with a bit of a wait), Molly and Yasha made it through the line and ordered their food, both of them going with stranger toppings and each walking away with a cardboard boat that had a large burger and was overflowing with fancy fries. Molly paused to get a quick selfie of himself and Yasha with the food, sending the picture off to Jester.
Molly: food time!! [image]
Jester: Oooo!!! Let me know what you think! :D
Molly: will do!
It was awhile before he got around to sending any reply back, both of them sitting on a park bench under and tree and absolutely tearing into their food. Yasha had to go back to the food truck partway through for more napkins just so they wouldn’t ruin their clothes, but overall, he was more than happy. Molly sat back with a little “oof!” in the grass at the base of a different tree after their trash was thrown away, leaning into Yasha’s side and her throwing her arm around her shoulder.
Molly: verdict - GOOD
Jester: AWESOME!! :D :D :D
“I’m gonna have to take some time to digest,” he said, tail coming up to rest across both of their laps and stretching his arms in front of him before going back to being boneless. “Hope you’re okay being stuck in the park for awhile.”
Yasha laughed softly, squeezing his shoulder and leaning close as well. “I think I’ll survive.
The two of them fell into a doze in the park, things not having gone to plan but in the end just glad to have the chance to spend some time together.
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foreficfandom ¡ 5 years ago
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Mystic Messenger - Their Favorite Gift From MC
-- Zen: Customized Bracelet --
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Zen’s sort of an excessive person so he’s almost always the one giving you gifts. He doesn’t want for much and the stuff he does - like skincare products - you used to buy for him but he eventually convinced you to buy it also for yourself so you could do sheet masks together.
When you do buy gifts for him, it can be a bit difficult. His fans send him a bunch of stuff all the time, like baked goods, or fanart, or neckties. He, of course, is a lot happier when you decide to hand him something, but it’s almost never something he’s ever gotten before.
You have to outsource. So you order a custom-stamped leather bracelet from an indie crafter, something he can wear while rehearsing without worrying about it falling off. On the outside, you have ‘I love you’, and on the inside ‘Zen x MC’. 
You give it to him for Valentine’s, his favorite holiday. Zen dedicates the entire day to you and him, and pushes aside the many packages from his fans for later. 
You hand him a little box, and he opens it to gasp dramatically at the bracelet, immediately putting it on and exploring the texture of the leather. The lightly-colored tan matches his complexion perfectly.
First, a kiss for you, then its 904709 selfies with him proudly modeling his gift. It goes on his social media to a slight ruckus, because Zen’s never shown off any gifts he’s gotten before. 
“My love is so thoughtful!!! Such a beautiful bracelet <3333″
Your name isn’t on the outside to maintain privacy, which proves to be a good idea since that picture is circulated like crazy to mixed reactions.
Zen doesn’t care, this is by far the best gift he’s ever gotten. He hugs you tightly and promises to wear it always.
-- Yoosung: Vinyl Laptop Stickers --
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You like to buy knick-knacks for each other on occasion. Yoosung’s wallet isn’t packing so he can only get you stuff once and a while, and you return the favor with other little things.
And Yoosung is also kinda already surrounded by little trinkets and other stuff he’s collected on his own. Little figurines and toys from vending machines, plastic reward favors from convenience stores, character-themed pens and mugs and phone charms. 
It can get a little cluttered. His backpack alone is heavily decorated with pinback buttons and enamel pins, and you know he’s home just by the jingling of the many charms hanging off the zippers.
He’s also of a romantic and ‘cute’ mind, so when you give him practical gifts of a headset holder for his gaming desktop, he’s pleased but ... he prefers it when your gifts aren’t quite so banal.
You eventually do some deep surfing for his upcoming birthday, and find this adorable pack of laptop stickers based off of LOLOL characters. These wouldn’t take up anymore of his space, and he could still carry them with him. So during his birthday dinner, you give it to him over cake and he opens it with a gasp. 
“It’s ... oh, it’s so cute! It’s perfect, MC!” He hugs you tightly and immediately has you help him stick them on. 
He uses this laptop for school, bringing it with him on most days, so it was the perfect gift to remember you by. Whenever he opens his laptop in the student lounge, or in class, he sees all those bright colors reminding him of his favorite pastime, but also he thinks of you and how much you love each other.
-- Jaehee: Promise Ring --
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You’ve gotten her spice giftboxes for her cooking, a set of cozy loungewear for the both of you, and other cute things she absolutely adores.
But her true favorite? Her engagement ring. A dainty little band that matches yours perfectly. You had proposed to her during a beautiful evening in the park, making her tear up. 
“We’re partners, now,” you said. She gave a watery smile and put her ring on proudly.
South Korea wouldn’t allow marriage between you two, so these rings promised more than a union. It promised a brighter future in the face of adversity. It promised progress in the name of love and equality. 
Jaehee struggles with societal expectations for a woman like her. This ring was like a shield against the worse thoughts, or an anchor during the more tremulous times. She had chosen to pursue you against the world’s wishes, and it was the best decision she’s ever made.
You and her wear the rings 24/7. To an onlooker, it just seemed like the two of you were separately engaged people. But she knows differently. A proud little secret. 
Customers sometimes make comments about them. She’d be ringing them up, and they’ll notice the brilliant white sapphire. “When’s the date?” some have asked. She stammered,  “It’s in the making.” The customer nodded, and wished her a happy union. 
She twists the ring around her finger, looking at you wistfully. It will be a happy union. One day!
-- Jumin: Custom-Made Cologne --
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What the heck do you gift the man who could have anything he wanted? Material possessions are never a strain for him. He grew up knowing that any toy, any trinket, any new technology or experience he desired, he would get. He’d ask for ice cream and his father’d purchase an entire chain. 
His current self rarely buys indulgences. He’s had years of being fulfilled already. But he definitely buys gifts for you, almost to ridiculous levels. You can see from the diversity of gifts that he has a reach for any product or merchandise, anywhere at any time. 
When it came time to get him a gift, you had asked the RFA for advice. And everyone was as clueless as you were. Even Jihyun wasn’t sure; the two of them have almost never exchanged gifts throughout the long years of their friendship, since they knew the other was showered in generosity already. 
“You’re gonna have to go custom. Something that can’t be bought,” Zen suggested. So when Jumin announced that he had to go to Birmingham for a business meeting, you came along with him. Which you seldom do, since it’s two days of Jumin being stuck at meetings leaving you to your own devices. But you had a plan.
You looked up a luxury custom perfumery, and with the help of an expert nez you crafted a bottle that would complement him perfectly. On the bottle was a label that said “Love Forever by MC”. 
So for his birthday, he accepted his gift with grace and asked where you bought it. “This bottle doesn’t look like its from Clive Christian, is it? Maybe it’s Dior ...” 
You explained where you got it, and giggled when his mouth dropped open in surprise. He opened it, sniffed, and his smile grew bigger ‘cause it was so much more special now. It was made under your hand, something that will never be replicated. His and his only. 
He loves wearing it to work. It’s so wonderful to be surrounded by a smell that reminds him of you. 
-- Saeyoung: Fingerprint Charm --
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He’s a surprisingly complicated man to gift. Like Jumin, he neither lacks nor wants for material needs. Sometimes you’ve given him cute candies or hand-knitted mittens for winter, and meanwhile he’ll give you ridiculously advanced robot cats or he’ll bust out his packing wallet and boom, you’ve got a new Gucci clutch bag.
He kinda knows that he’s hard to gift. So whenever you shyly hand over a six-pack of gag-flavored soda for Christmas or something, he makes a big show of loving it and thanking you with kisses and nuzzles. And he does love it! He’s never had gifts before, not from V or Rika or his co-workers, and definitely not from his mother. Just the thought that someone cared enough to surprise him with trinkets is so heartwarming.
But your anniversary was coming up. It marked the day that Saeyoung’s life turned around a complete 180 for the better. A very important day, one that you couldn’t mark with an exotic beef jerky bouquet or whatever.
One day, while touring a small art fair, you found an indie jeweler who offered custom fingerprint charms. You set up a date to come in and make a mold by pressing your thumb into a block of sand, which was cast into a mold and into which steel was poured. 
You gave it to him over a late-night car ride date. He took the charm out of the little bag and stared at it, you explained what it was. “That’s my very own fingerprint right there. I hope it’s something you can carry with you, and remember me by.”
He was silent for a few long seconds. You saw that his hand was shaking. So you reached over and kissed him, he embraced you tightly and said with a wavering voice, “Thank you.” A sniffle, and he was back to his cheery self. You helped him put it on his keychain, next to his car keys. 
He loves it dearly. Especially when he fingers the print and feels the groves, imagining your hand.
-- Saeran: Sweater --
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For a long while, Saeran couldn’t live a proper civilian life and spent many days holed up at home, stuck in an anxious and depressive slump. Any venture outside was an ordeal for him. Bit by bit, through therapy and medication, he regained his confidence.
You found this sweater online, and you knew how much he liked wearing sweaters at home. It had this quote on it that the both of you were familiar with. It had been one of the repeated self-forgiving phrases his therapist suggested. Saeran took to that phrase particularly well. He repeats it in his mind when he feels himself on the verge of a breakdown, and it helps de-escalate. 
You knew you had to buy it. But keeping it secret from Saeran was kinda a challenge because he likes to tour around your internet history when he’s bored. Not for malicious reasons, he’s just curious and wants to know what kind of stuff you like to re-tweet, or what shops you frequent. 
So with Saeyoung’s help, you ordered the sweater under a guise Saeran wouldn’t be able to crack without some effort, and it ended up being a legit surprise when you handed Saeran his gift. 
You watched his eyes trace the quote carefully, and at his fingers tracing the screenprinted flowers. He was quiet for a long while, just exploring the sweater thoroughly.
He can’t remember the last time he’s gotten a gift. Maybe it had been never. His eyes teared up.
You hugged him close and stroked his hair like he said he enjoys. It was almost hard for him to accept this from you; he’d spent years trying to approve others under threat of violence, and he’s rarely gotten to experience true generosity. 
He wears it at least once a week. It’s his absolute favorite article of clothing forever and ever. 
-- Jihyun: Filled Scrapbook -- 
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For the holidays, Jihyun had given you a beautiful set of jewelry over dinner, along with a framed photo of yourself that he had taken some time before. He rarely decides to spoil you with his riches, but sometimes the occasion calls for it. 
How can you match up with his generosity? You knew Jihyun would be charmed with whatever you gave him, but you wanted your gift to mean something. 
Once your anniversary began to creep up, you had an idea and began working on your project two weeks in advance - it was going to be a beautiful scrapbook of not just Jihyun’s photos, but also little momentos and decorations on every page, detailing particular moments of your life together up to this point. 
You scoured his instagram, printing out copies onto photo paper and cutting and pasting. You folded within old plane, bus, and boat tickets. There were sightseeing brochures from trips abroad, old restaurant menus, stamps from envelopes he had sent you. You wrote messages and captions with multicolored ink. 
Extra special were the pages dedicated to when the two of you moved into the new apartment together, and when V was officially recovered from retina surgery, and also the first RFA party he co-hosted with you. Some pages touched on more sad subjects.
Finally, you finished the scrapbook just in time for the anniversary, and it was all worth it to see Jihyun completely blown away by the effort you put into it. He spent several minutes on every page, talking them over with you and reminiscing. 
He managed to hold in his tears until the last page, which you kept empty except for a calligraphy script that said, “... and into the beyond.”
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alias-b ¡ 5 years ago
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angel cake.
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Summary: Former enemies, now friends and maybe lovers, Billy Hargrove and Evie Fenny start teasing in a church confessional. Things take a turn for the heated when Billy's imagination gets away from him. ~Also posted on my AO3
Billy/plus size!OC. Fucking in a confessional. Sin. Filth. Thanks for reading. Weird to write them romantically bc the start of the fic is Rough. They have work to do. Billy Being Nasty In Church. Teaser at later stuff for my new enemies to friends to lovers Billy/OC Fic, Sins of My Youth, that I want to start posting. XOXO.
Billy Hargrove x Evie Fenny
angel cake. 🍰
   “You really have to go to this thing?” Billy’s Camaro roared into a church parking lot. Looked out of place there. Multicolored tulips swept against the spring wind, too pleasant before the fender.
   “Told mom I’d help out. I’m not staying for the festivities, they just need extra hands setting up the food and Easter egg hunt.” Aviators flashed at Evie in the passenger seat.
   Billy with his arm propped in the window. Denim jacket and white button down tucked into tight jeans. Cigarette dangling out his lips. Exceptionally pretty, even against all the pastel flowers and banners set for the holiday. 
   “What a good daughter. Santa ought to put you on the nice list for sure.” He plucked the smoke out to exhale as she brought the car mirror down.
   “Hell, I forgot I had red on today.You have napkins in here?” She opened the glove box to sift through papers. Billy extended his arm.
   “Use the jacket, give me something messy to remember you by.” A wink followed before she took his wrist and smacked a ruby kiss into his forearm, printing the light wash. Eyes flicked as some of the red lipstick got swiped away, leaving a more pink tint behind.
   “Thanks, I guess.”
   “Red is the devil’s color,  Evangeline.” Came some mocking in a horrid southern accent. She scoffed with her eyes elsewhere.
   “You could always come help if you’re going to pout.” She dug around her purse.
   “Not pouting. Churches and I don’t mix. It’s the one thing dad and I agree on.” Billy pulled his shades down and folded them into his front pocket with the cigarettes. 
   “Well, pick me up in an hour, we’ll go catch something scary and sinful.” She applied chapstick and rubbed her lips together.
   “Sinful? I like that.” Billy’s fingers squeezed her thigh, hot on skin and just barely under the little black suspender skirt. Evie wore a brightly colored tee with sunflowers all over it. Her usual green bomber jacket covered in patches. “That new?”
   “The chapstick? No, it’s tinted and smells like watermelon though.”
   “Let me try.” Billy saw her offer the tube and instead pulled her in by the collar for a kiss. Mashing their lips together. He flicked his tongue out for good measure and heard her gasp against his ferocity. It still managed to catch her off guard. A light smack when he parted, tonguing his bottom lip. “Mm, tastes like watermelon too.”
   “Billy, there are people over there.” She pushed his wandering hand out of her skirt.
   “I’d like to see Jesus himself come out and...what the fuck is that?” Billy’s finger lifted so Evie followed it to see the Easter Bunny leaving a lone side door. Lavender fur with white tufts, huge goofy grin.
   “Yeah, they have someone dress up every year for when the kids arrive, which is in about sixty minutes, so I gotta go.” Evie had Billy’s wrist again to check the time. Pecked his cheek and shifting before he about howled. “What?” Her body jumped at the sound.
   “No fucking way!” Billy was scrambling out because the bunny head had come off so a quick smoke could be snuck around back. “No way! Hey, Harrington! That you, amigo? What’s up, doc?” 
   Steve spun on his heel, holding a cigarette in one hand and the bunny head under his other arm. His head fell back with a groan because Billy was leaning up against his chair, bent over to belly laugh.
   “Hargrove?” Steve looked mortified, but played tough. “Are they really letting you within five feet of a church?” Billy was too busy cackling to retort. Fist clenched and head resting upon his arm on the Camaro.
   “The fucking tail.” Billy wasn’t stopping so Evie crossed her arms.
   “What happened to Gary?” Evie approached Steve, head cocking. “Ignore Billy.”
   “I try to… And food poisoning. I dropped Dustin off at home yesterday to help Claudia out and she begged me last minute. I’m getting fifteen bucks for it though. Not bad for the Saturday before Easter.” He flashed a half smile. “Suit kinda smells like potpourri, I-...Is he gonna stop or what?” 
   “He’ll tucker himself out eventually.” Evie turned her head to see Billy unable to get air. “Billy, take a breath already before you pass out!” A huge gulp followed. More wild laughter. “Jeez.”
   “I’m never gonna live this down, shit.” Steve mumbled around his smoke, flicking it. “Asshole.”
   “Might want to get back in, Pastor will have a cow if he catches you smoking in the suit.” Evie took the head to help Steve back into it.
   “See you, Hargrove. Remember to breathe, dick.” The bunny snuck back in the side door. Another round of laughs at the sight of the puffy tail.
   “I wanna kick his ass so bad. You don’t understand.” Billy stretched out, eyes watering and cheeks blushed. Freckles glowing.
   “You short circuiting still?” Evie peered down at her boots.
   “I don’t know what Easter is about, but that...was the best shit I’ve ever seen.” Billy snickered like a little boy with his hand in the cookie jar. Evie only rolled her eyes.
   “New beginnings, Billy.” Heels clicked up behind them so Billy straightened quick to get his composure.
   “Hey, mom.” Evie leaned out from behind the boy.
   Mona Fenny appeared from the main doors, her arms full of bags. Brightly colored plastic eggs packed with treats about to spill out. Hair pumped, unable to move, with a short 60s sheath dress clinging to her body. Yellow and orange print. Something that was definitely noted by the men around. Single and ready at all times. Evie felt her cheeks heat at her mother.
   “New beginnings, Miss Mona?” Billy repeated, one hand sliding into his jean pocket.
   “That’s what I always thought, sugar.” That southern twang thick beyond all reach.
   Billy always liked to poke fun at Evie, she had the slightest Louisiana touch to her voice that came out when she was in a more fiery disposition. She swore it wasn’t true.
   “Evie, they’re trying to get the dessert table set up. I didn’t realize Billy was joining us.” Mona continued.
   “Oh, I-”
   “You know, Billy was actually telling me he’s never been to a real Easter gathering before. Not a church event.” Evie’s sly smile crossed and he shot her a look. “I’m sure those big, strong arms you got would really help out setting up.” Evie came to him and gave his bicep a pat.
   “That’s lovely, Billy. You know the kids just love this event, fun in the sun and more food than you’ll ever eat. Go on inside, you two. We have decorations to get going.” Mona clicked away, peppy in stride.
   “I had a hair appointment.” Billy hissed through his teeth when Evie’s mother was gone.
   “You want to tell my mother that you’re going to get your hair done somewhere that isn’t her salon?” Evie’s lips pressed. Billy’s face scrunched because she had him there. “I panicked, the people here are too much. Please stay.”
   “Your mom never turns her volume down, does she? Looking more like a brunette Sharon Tate than a Dolly Parton.” Billy locked his car, stuffing the scorpion keychain into his pocket.
   “Been like that since dad left, she’s...on the market. Trying to feel good. People notice and they say some not great stuff. She went from dressing like a nun to a model overnight.” Evie was holding her arms close to her chest still, making this unconscious patting motion Billy always noted like she was trying to console herself.
   “Really bugs you, what people think.”
   “It’s a small town, it bugs everyone.” Evie turned, skirt flitting while her curls bounced. “Don’t like all these guys ogling my mom.”
   Doesn’t like that one might replace her dad. Evie peered back at Billy, lips pushed up to appear brighter. He decided he wanted to see her happier without force.
   “I’ll stick around. You owe me.” Steps followed. One hand gave her bottom a firm pat.
   “You know, the Easter Bunny has to do a dance before the festivities begin?” She whispered then. “It’s tradition.”
   Billy perked up like a dog.
   “Right, so, decorations?” He waltzed ahead with a giggling girl in tow. Spotted the moms passing boxes off. All stilling to see him there. Wind sweeping his blond locks like a beefcake out of a romance novel. Shirt open with his saint chain glinting upon his tanned chest. “Ladies.”
   “Hi, Billy.” Came the chorus.
   He ate that up a little. 
   Sunlight was barely felt through the spring breeze. Balloons and streamers glowed every direction. Twisted around Evie’s manicured fingers as she passed them up to Billy to be tied around the banner.
   “Feel like I might float away here.” The wind swept up her unruly curls as she smiled below when Billy peered to see her. Pink and violet balloons. Yellow streamers. She looked like a piece of decadent candy there. “What?”
   Billy snapped out of it.
   “Why do I have to be on the ladder?” He snatched another bundle of strings from her to tie them up.
   “I wore a skirt so I wouldn’t have to be.” Came the cheeky reply. Hawkins residents hurried all over to set up the grassy field.
   “Let’s switch. Although, the view here ain’t half bad. I can totally see down your shirt.” His tongue swept over eager lips as eyes lowered to her breasts. Brows furrowed to glare at him. It was striking how cute she was, even angry. High, apple cheeks and pillowy lips. The sun brought some gold into lush, dark curls. 
   “Jerk.” An arm hanging with streamers covered her chest. “We’re standing next to a church. Behave yourself, you’re fixing to get smited.”
   “God’s got bigger problems than me.” He shrugged, caught his tongue in teeth. Smirked. “Fixin’ to. Your Louisiana is showing.”
   “Shut it, I got too much family down there still. Sometimes it jumps out. I don’t have an accent.”
   “You so do. Just saying it’s cute.” He caught her cheeks flooding all strawberries and cream.
   “Hey, I have to keep my clinically unapproachable ice queen reputation. You’re not helping.”
   “Damn cute then.” Billy’s head cocked. A wink of those sinfully, long lashes. “Hand me another one.”
   Evie’s hand came to his to offer a new bundle of balloons.
   Green grass swept about as parents worked to hide eggs all over and a full spread of picnic food was set out on blue gingham tables. Kids started to pile in so Billy decided it was time to hide around the building after snagging the biggest piece of apple pie he could. Alone, they watched the crowds play beyond a row of vibrant tulips.
   “One fork?” Evie leaned up against the wall.
   “You had my tongue in your mouth this morning, don’t complain about sharing a fork.”
   “Fair enough.” She let him feed her a bite. “That wasn’t so bad, time flew. You want to jet?” A bouncy tune played as Billy craned his neck around the corner after a huge bit of pie. Evie followed his line of sight.
   “Easter is my new favorite holiday.” He let Evie snag the fork to finish off the slice, tossing the plate into the trash. Genuine laughter as Steve Harrington did a jig in his costume across the open field. Billy’s arm slid over Evie’s shoulders. “You think I can pay one of these kids to kick bunny in the nuts?”
   “We’re leaving… Before you traumatize some child.” She tugged at his wrist to sneak in a side door. “Left my coat and purse over here.”
   Absolutely empty and dim save for the morning sun spilling into stained glass. They passed rows of pews to the tables covered in empty boxes. Evie went for her purse and realized she already lost Billy, curiously rooting around.
   “Hey, don’t touch that.”
   “They actually have one of these things? I thought movies made this shit up.” Billy poked his head around the little confessional booth. Hardwood and sleek to touch. Ornate and out of place against bright blue wallpaper. Two doors on either side. “So, everyone’s planning on staying outside right? Should be entertained a few hours, hm.”
   He went in and a lock clicked.
   “Billy, hey.” Evie felt the urge to keep her voice low. “Get out of there. They actually don’t really use this thing anymore.”
   “Doesn’t get use, eh? Too bad.” His snicker was muffled. “Get in the other side, Angel, confess your sins.”
   “I’ll confess that I think the nickname is still silly.” She wiggled the handle and poked her head into the opposite side. Saw Billy’s pretty silhouette through the tiny mesh window. Both sides were cramped like an airplane bathroom.
   “Roomier than I thought.”
   “Some of us have hips here.” Evie huffed at him, the door shut while she slid inside. “Kinda creepy actually, let’s go.”
   “You gotta confess first, it’s the rule.” His wild curls flicked so she plopped into the wooden bench.
   “This is not even sexy, I feel like I’m about to be murdered here.” She pressed her hands on either wall.
   “Better confess quick in that case,” Billy leaned in, she saw his lashes flutter, “what color are your panties today?”
   “Billy.” She covered the mesh with one hand.
   “Do they match the bra?” He continued, voice lowering.
   “I’m not doing this.” Evie lifted her skirt and shifted a lacy pair of shorts aside to see. Billy’s breath drew heavier. “What’s it matter if they match?”
   “If they match, you walked into this church thinking you’d be getting some later.” He said that far too matter-a-factually. “Sinner. What color? Describe them exactly.”
   “You’re being gross.” She knew he heard the band of her little biker shorts snap. Caved. “Purple. Like a lilac.”
   “Cotton?”
   “...Satin.”
   A lengthy hum from Billy at that.
   “And the bra. I’m assuming the same.” He already heard Evie shuffling to check.
   “Ah, shit.” She let her shirt go and he chuckled. “I didn’t even plan that. I wasn’t thinking about it.”
   “Your subconscious knew, Angel. No denying it.” Billy propped his arm up.
   “Okay, what do you have on?” The challenge was easily met.
   “Nothing under the jeans, currently. You should try it.”
   “In a skirt? Without my little shorts? My thighs would rub, I’d be miserable.” Came a whine.
   “I’d massage your poor thighs, maybe blow the hot skin to cool it off if you like.” His suggestion wasn’t helpful. “Spread them and rub some ice to make you feel better. Few kisses all the way up.” That damn low baritone lingered upon the syllables like he might lick them. Evie gave a silent snort out her nose. “You’d probably squirm a little bit like you are now.”
   “I am not squirming.” Evie’s chest lifted, eyes turned to Billy’s outline.
   “Now, Angel, you can’t tell lies in here. The sins are just piling up for you today.” Billy peered around, couldn’t see much in here. Spotted her lips parting, but sound came out. “Betcha, you’re already soaked through those satin, lilac panties.” His purring was met with hard silence before a forcibly huff.
   “Billy...quit it.” She bit her lip this time sounding like she’d smiled. Billy spotted her cheeks lifting, full and blushed all pretty he figured.
   “I’ll confess, it took every ounce of fight in me to get you here on time. Lot of places in this town to stop and...park at for a bit. The one charming thing I discovered about this place.”
   “How sunny side up of you.” She hummed.
   “You would have let me have it because we would have parked for awhile. You’d be late. Probably left your wrecked panties in the backseat and walked around here with fireworks still going off under your skin. We both know it.” 
   “Probably wouldn’t have made it here at all.” Her slow reply was uttered and Billy grinned.
   “See, I behaved.” He got closer to the window. “Confess, Evie.”
   “Confess that you’re a total horn dog.” She drew in to meet him.
   “Confess what you want me to do to you in there.” Billy murmured. She blew a curl out her face at that. “I got it, I want you to be my first.” He’d offered that with huge, glittering eyes she’d caught the glint of. Eyebrows jumped.
   “What? Literally yesterday, we-”
   “I never fucked in a church before.” He got her eyes rolling hard, almost to the back of her skull.
   “Jesus Christ, Billy.” She covered the mesh again, heard him laughing on the other side.
   “Not the name you need to be moaning right now.” Billy smacked the window closed and came out. 
   “Finally, we can go-” Evie had the door open. Still blushing. Chest puffed. 
   Billy appeared from smoke, had his hands on either side before he pushed in. Catching her lips on the way until the door could shut behind them. Cupping Evie’s face so she pressed into the wall. Back of her legs hit the bench and managed to not buckle. Palms felt around the hardwood for something to grab for until fingers bunched up Billy’s jacket.
   She broke for air. Gulped on it before his tongue was back into her mouth.
   “We should…” Lips swelled with kisses. “Go to the car.”
   “Will you make that walk? I know I won’t.” Came the hushed reply. “We could cross something big off the bucket list.” Persuasive lips were already working on her neck, teeth tugged her ear and grazed back down. Billy got a handful of her tits and hummed.
   “Not...Not sure it’s on my bucket list.” She just held onto him. Knees wobbling as Billy massaged through the bra.
   “I’d add it now while you have time.” He pecked her throat. Felt the pulse under tender skin racing. “Confess.” It was a sinful purr. Evie’s head tipped back. Lungs starting to sputter. Billy made her heart a pile of volcanic mush.
   “What if someone comes in?” She let him tuck her curls aside. Lips on her cheeks and jaw. Finding her mouth again. Tasting sweet sugar from the apple pie they shared.
   “We’ll just have to keep it down and pray the party is entertaining enough to keep people outside.” He mumbled, coming out to pull the shirt from her skirt up over the pretty bra she had on. 
   Hands pulled her suspenders forth until Evie molded into him. Kissed back with the same fierce vigor he gave. Felt the chain around his neck while her fingers slipped under the collar of his shirt, four buttons already undone.
   The hard lines of his body sweltered with fire. Whatever resolve she might have had melted away completely. 
   Evie liked how he always cupped her face to look at her features close between steaming kisses. Fingers trailed to work her bra down just enough for her to spill into his touch. Into his mouth. Bruising suckles. Teeth edging across silken skin. Tongue swirling one dark, rosy nipple than the other as she tried to quiet herself and ran fingers into his gold mane. A hiss and Billy’s eyes lifted. Evie’s head was turned aside, teeth in her bottom lip. Eyes shut.
   “Cute when you try to hold it together.” Cool breath against her hard, wet nipple sent a vibration down her spine. Billy licked up her chest to inhale that amber perfume, a floral scent with a touch of vanilla from her lotion. Smelled lush to match him. She pushed his face back into her cleavage, partly to quiet him because he was too cocky.
   Chuckling and breathless, Billy came up to tease her lips. Twisting her nipples just so to elicit a sigh. Low and even, Billy ran his finger over her mouth.
   “Just confess, Angel, it’ll feel so fucking good when you do.” He caught her bottom lip and let it go.
   “Promise?” Evie’s lips parted involuntarily at his touch, let his finger stroke her tongue and slip out. 
   “I promise.” That same hand already hiked her skirt to tug at shorts until they came down. His finger inched under the waistband of her panties, teasing sensitive skin. She pressed into his body, vibrating for more. Swaying. Arms snug around his shoulders to stay upright.
   A shameless sound when her lips collided with his. Thigh hitching around his hips in a needy motion. Not shy about what she desired for one beat because he knew how to coax that side of her out. Billy teased lighter kisses, let his deft fingers dance along her inner thigh. Evie was stubborn and she knew what he wanted. 
  Confession.
   A growl rippled out her tense vocal cords. Trying to reel sound in despite Billy’s inherent ability to make her see new sparks of vivid neon colors here in pure darkness.
   “Okay…” She panted, pulling for him until their foreheads touched. “Okay.” A drunken moment where eyes could close. One beat of peace in obscenity. His free arm tightened around the small of her back so they were flush together. Perfect fit. Every curve to her body sloped easily into him. An almost Biblical fate because of how good they felt together. Evie parted her mouth to ghost it over his. “I sinned.”
   “Yeah?” Billy’s palm inched up to reward her sighs. A smirk crossed. “How’s that?”
   “Because I was hoping you’d pull over on the way here. Would have seen the new underwear in a better light. And I squirmed the whole way. Your loss.” All that cheeky strength simmered down when fingers pushed between thick thighs. Wet satin fabric slipped deliberately against her and Billy moaned at the mere feel. Rock hard.
   “Fuck, you’re soaked, Angel.” His tone thickened.
   Evie wasn’t able to articulate. Face in his chest with her needy fingers tight on his jacket. She played her demure self again. Billy felt her legs tremor, nudged them further apart with his boot.
   “All for me? I wouldn’t call it a loss. You gotta hold yourself up a bit longer, open that mouth again.” He gave her two slick fingers to suck so he could kiss down her tits some more. Plucked and nipped at every sensitive part of her body. “Fucking god damn it, I might give religion a shot after this.”
   “Yeah?” Evie licked the pads as Billy slunk down to marvel. Thought about taking her skirt off, but he decided he liked the way the straps framed her breasts partially spilling out of the bra.
   One hand forced her thigh up until her foot hit the bench. Evie was curved back into the wall, holding the side frame and gripping Billy’s shoulder.
   “Long as I get to go where you’re going, I don’t give a shit about anything else.” A chuckle warmed her leg as he pushed her skirt up out of the way.
   “That sounded oddly sentimental.”
   “Maybe I’ll bring you down to my level instead. Sinner.” Billy’s mouth placed one open kiss against her wet panties. Tongue following the hard swell of her bud. She decided she’d let him there in darkness. Every muscle in Evie’s body jumped at full attention. His divine and equally wicked mouth hummed blissfully. She craned to dig teeth into her own arm. Fists clenching.
   Billy maneuvered her leg over to get the ruined fabric down. Tucked them into his coat pocket and she figured she wouldn’t be seeing them again. Kneeling, Billy scooted closer and pushed her thigh back up, baring her to his mouth. 
   A cry hitched, snuffing out immediately as he tasted her. Filthy, open mouth kisses until her fingers tangled into his hair. Pulled. Billy moaned into her folds. Squeezed her thighs and loved the feel of them. God, he really couldn’t get enough of this girl. Every whine she let him have. Every nerve that wanted him. Needed him to ease the frays and sizzling. He just couldn’t get enough and was fine with following her into the dark.
   “Don’t stop.” Evie whispered. Hair falling into her face while her breasts rose and fell. She licked her lips and savored him.
   The dirty sounds he made against her that barely carried outside the booth. Billy squeezed her breast once he was certain she could stay up so she covered his hand. Craned to suck fingers. A gasp left. Evie’s hips rolled into his mouth. Asking for even more until two fingers pushed inside. 
   Billy moaned when her walls clamped. Pumped through the resistance to massage her nice and deep. Evie was quivering there. Using both arms on the sides to stay up. Shameless working into him now. Billy made a vaguely amused sound and gave an obscene pop around her clit, leaning out with arousal slicking his pink lips. It was music, the sounds her body let flow into crisp air.
   “Damn, no wonder you don’t go here anymore. Fucking yourself so hard and pretty on my fingers like this. You couldn’t make the nice list if you paid.” Being eye level with the sight had his cock twitching almost painfully. Evie’s head was tossed back. Clearly getting herself closer so Billy pulled away. Silenced her whine with a kiss. Let her suck and nip at his bottom lip. “See how fucking good you taste?”
   Evie’s hands were opening his belt. Quick and eager. Billy hitched as one palm slipped in, fingers ghosting trimmed blond hair to ease him out of the denim.
   “Confess, Evie, how bad you want me to fuck you right here.” He spoke as if he still had the upper hand.
   “Bet you I can do it without words.” Evie had his hips, guiding Billy to switch so he could sit. The question died and buried itself the second she sank down to lick precum pooling at his tip. Billy’s hips thrust up, eyes heavy and hooded.
   “That bad?” He shuddered, legs opening so she could lean into him. Evie unbuttoned the rest of his shirt to kiss the steel muscles. Twitching and molten. Nails scraped his skin. Stopped to stroke him idly. Kissing his abdomen, thighs, and tip. Evie traced the lines of vein and muscle. Down his shaft and back up his chest. So many sharp angles to explore.
   Little butterfly kisses while she leaned in until his cock slipped snug between her breasts. Spit slick and beading clear arousal. Billy moaned at the sight and gave a rut as she noticed and started to come out. 
   Hands latched to her shoulders. Billy hummed and rolled her nipple. Felt the weight of her tits and pushed them to squeeze his shaft. Idle fingers stilled to tuck her hair back in a way that was almost tender.
   “You’re pretty like this,” he said thoughtfully, “you’re pretty every which way.” Teeth tugged at her bottom lip. A shy kiss followed. Sometimes, he got so bold, she sank. Learned to savor it. Billy whispered against her. “Have I ever told you my cock looks great between your tits like that?” Frankly, he’d be happy to get off rubbing between her breasts or thighs alone. Fingers digging into supple skin. Evie had become a drug to him. Vanilla and amber immersed him in a high.
   “The occasion hasn’t really crossed.”
   “I’ll have to fix that next time I can lie you down.” Billy let her stroke him again and come up. Hesitating so he had to encourage her. “Get in my lap.” He was already pulling her into him. Smoothing hair back sweetly for lingering kisses.
   She long stopped worrying about feeling too heavy for him. Billy threw her around a mattress like it was nothing. Spread her legs, bent them up how he liked. Marveled at her flexibility. Kissed her obscenely and told her how pretty and blushed she looked. She liked when he was ample with her body. The boy certainly lifted enough weights, a fuller girl with hips was nothing to that. Jeans shifted lower as she straddled him. A kiss before she sank down.
   Billy moaned. A low honeyed sound into her ear. Almost musical. Arms wrapped tighter. Evie thanked God for birth control and moved at his coaxing.
   “C’mon, fuck me. I want it.” Billy kissed her fiercely. Nipples. Collar. Throat. Jawline. Mouth. And each time, he felt that same thrill rush his bones. A palm smacked her ass, squeezed it. Got drunk off the pulsing and little whines she gave him as if they were gift wrapped. “Confession. I want pictures of you. Spread out with my cock in you every way you like. They won’t beat the real thing, but fuck, I can’t...stop with you. Don’t want to.”
   Billy looked vulnerable when he moaned so pretty.
   His knuckles traced the curve of her cheekbone. Evie bounced, gripped his shoulders to stay upright with her spine curving. Unable to respond to something so passionate. Billy had that mode on him, sometimes it came out in odd ways. Filthy words to match his obscene way of caressing and worship. His manner of making Evie feel bold and sexy. Cute. Pretty. Fierce. Desired. The fact that sometimes he’d lie still for once and seek out her fingers across his curls and her lips on his cheek.
   Evie Fenny was a drug and cure to him, all at once. She gave back. Made Billy feel full and light. Made him feel present. Like he could shed his fangs. Lie back and feel the sun on his skin.
   “Confession,” Evie said between quick kisses with her thumb tracing the edge of his jaw, “I want more of you too. After....”
   “After?” He scoffed. “Like tonight?”
   “Just… After.” She slowed to rock into him. Deep thrusts that made them both moan in sync. So close. “After what’s next for us. Life. High school. Whatever. I want you to be apart of my after.”
   He could blame the sex for short circuiting her brain, he’d given it to her pretty hard.
   “I don’t know what I’m saying.” She rubbed her eyes, laughed because it felt silly. Felt Billy swoop in to kiss her. Wordlessly validating it wasn’t silly at all. That was another thing they did, pumped life into hopeful hearts and dwindling thoughts of something more. Something that was waiting...after.
   “We’ll deal with the after.” Billy skimmed a hand between them. Stroked her until she gave a cry into the denim of his jacket. A beautiful note. Evie thought she heard the twinkling music from outside, joyful and airy. Realized that maybe it was just playing in her head. “Right now, I want you to come.” He pecked her parted lips. “Cum for me, Angel.”
  “Billy.” She found his mouth again. They shared a godly nectar in one kiss. He worked her hips into his as she climaxed. Lungs heaving with a great arch. Billy watched her tits bounce and found his own release quick. Let her slip into him as he fell back to the wall. Lungs tried to find some peace. That New Orleans accent laced her tone again. “God damn it, Billy.”
   “Still a church, Fenny.” He massaged her thighs. Eyes shifting while she breathed even and fixed her bra. Tucked her shirt back in.
  “I need a bathroom. This is about to be a mess.” She slipped off him, pulled her undershorts back on because he wasn’t giving her panties up. Thighs hummed, sore and blissful. Billy tucked himself away to fix his own clothing back. Evie poked her head out. “Coast is clear.”
  Without thinking, she laced her hand in his. Hurried him out to the bathroom to pee and wash up. Saw her patchy, red cheeks in the mirror and huffed. Patted cold water on them. Billy finished at the sink and lit a quick cigarette by the window. That chipper music lingered outside.
  “Your mom is going to be here awhile. I vote your place.”
  “Movie on the couch.” She flicked hair aside. Billy flashed a smile, nodding as he snuffed the smoke out.
  “To start, maybe.” Two fingers grasped her chin, angled Evie’s mouth for a slow kiss. Tasted sweet, obscene, and smoky all at once. Made her dizzy.
  “I’d come back here under certain conditions.” He passed to go out with Evie behind him. She found her purse and coat again.
   “Let’s go, you had your fun.” She chuckled as they rejoined the event outside. Wind and all.
  “Uh, I think you did too.” Billy’s arm hung around her shoulder. Easy with their height difference.
  “You two leaving?” Mona had called, edging from her conversation to cross once the teens were outside. Evie pressed her legs together. Smiled. The Pastor who’d been speaking to her mother followed too. Plastic grin upon his face.
  “Ah, yeah, I’ll see you later, mom.” Evie had replied.
  “Thanks for coming to help.” Mona beamed. “Pastor Ray, you know Billy. Our neighbor. He was kind enough to help out.”
  “Mr. Hargrove. I’m surprised to see you here.” They shook tense hands.
  “Only thing I like more than Jesus is Christ. Who doesn’t want to turn water into wine.” Billy’s sarcasm was almost charming. He got a flat look in return.
  “I see...”
  “Evie, can you take some of the food home, honey? We’ll feed the neighbors.” Mona grasped Evie’s arm to pull her forth. “Just put it in the fridge. I’ll organize later.”
  “Sure.” Evie started to follow.
  “Be sure to grab the cherry pie if there’s any left. The ladies outdid themselves this year. Billy, you’re free to take some food home, son.” The Pastor addressed him kindly again. Billy’s grin flashed shiny teeth.
  “I love a good cherry pie, but I filled up on angel cake.”
  He caught Evie’s head whipping toward him as she went. Eyes ablaze which made his smile bigger.
  “Oh?” Ray’s head cocked. “I didn’t see that over there. Must have went fast.”
  “Like you wouldn’t believe, sir.” Billy patted the man’s shoulder and sauntered by. “Nice church, by the way. Pointy.” Evie hurried to his car with her arms full of Tupperware and boxes. Settled them in the backseat.
  “You’re so dead.” She looked sweet, waving at her mother across the lot. Billy laughed, starting his car. “I pick the music.” Her hand swatted his and a groan followed as she tuned the radio to some Etta James. Billy revved out of the parking lot, turning some heads as he went.
  “Admit it, you wouldn’t change what you did today. Sinner.” Billy’s free hand found her leg out of his usual habit. “Made my first church going experience special.”
  “Don’t turn on the waterworks just yet.” She teased back, sucking her cheeks in without looking at him. “Still mad at you.” A smile pulled her forcibly grumpy expression. Billy came to a stoplight. Tugged at a curl to let it bounce so she peered at him. Nose crinkling when she broke to chuckle.
  “Admit it.” Billy gave her thigh a squeeze, vibrant eyes flickering.
  “Make me.” Evie said, facing the road. “Later.” Lips lifted before the light turned green. His Camaro lurched forward.
  “Happy to.” Billy caught the song change. “Hey.”
  “Hm?”
  “It’s that song you’re always singing to yourself.” Billy turned it up. Irma Thomas. “The mushy one.” Her favorite. He played like it was a careless thing, but Evie stared at him. Warming. Reeled in too easily.
   Anyone…
   Anyone…
  “Shocked you paid attention to that.” She offered after a beat.
  “I have to hear it every day I see you, Evie.” Billy snorted, ocean eyes intent on the road. Evie knew better. “Not like I have a choice. Singing and plucking that guitar constantly.” He peered at the trees. “That stuff you were rambling about during the sex high about after.”
   “Sex high.” She scoffed.
   “Was that the fucking making a mess of you?” Billy asked slower. “Used to hate me.”
   “I didn’t hate you,” Evie paused when he shot her an unconvinced look, “we weren’t agreeable.”
   “Agreeable? Okay, now you sound like that prissy Austen chick you like to read.” Billy’s retort made her giggle. These little details he picked up about her that stuck with him. It was true, their relationship used to be in the negative for good reason.
   “I like when we hang out.” Evie shrugged. “Labels. Whatever. I just meant, we should...keep hanging out.”
   “After?”
   “After.” Evie produced simply. Billy twitched amusement at her, turned a corner.
   “Well,” he parked, “I don’t know, good. I guess”
   “Fine.”
   “Great.” Billy cut back in, challenged.
   “Wonderful.”
   “Fan-fucking-tastic.”
   Evie grasped his jacket, shut him up with a kiss. Made the boy breathless there. Billy’s blue eyes glimmered at her. Calm seas for miles. The sun shined into his car. Made the teens glow.
   “Movie?” She unbuckled to get out with him following. “Gotta get this food into my fridge.”
   “Only if I pick.” Billy stood there and let her set boxes into his arms before she grabbed the rest so they could walk up the driveway.
   “Sure. Our tastes align.” Evie peeked back at him with doe brown eyes. “I trust you.” She’d offered that too casually, Billy stilled at the door to watch her unlock it. Blinked.
   That was the thing about them, how nonchalant their hearts beat together. A totally on purpose accident. Billy remembering Evie’s quirks and her reluctance to show certain petals sprouting from her stem for fear the world might not like the colors. Budding to flash them with some fire and vibrancy because she had a boy who encouraged them despite it all. And she teased this incandescent quality back out of him with ease. Made him work to be still and feel the world turn once in a blue moon. Billy gave this little smile to himself without her noticing and followed Evie into the house.
   They hadn’t trusted each other before. And now it was approaching the after. Whatever that meant. Evie glowed to beam at him there and few things were mattering today. New beginnings.
   Billy let himself hope that the after would last.
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aprils-arcadia ¡ 4 years ago
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Curiosity
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Member: Dowoon Genre: Fluff Word Count: 1.9k Summary: You had always been incredibly curious and now is finally the time to find out your dad’s biggest secret
When people talked about you your curiosity had always been their Nr. 1 topic. You had been unbelievably curious since the get go, often trapping your dad in half-hour loops of why-questions or rummaging through stuff that wasn't yours just to find your answer. They always told you it was your most admirable and most annoying trait at the same time. Some adults often lectured you that “Curiosity killed the cat” and other outdated phrases like that but you knew better. You knew how this phrase ended. “Curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back”. So the only thing they achieved was encouraging you. Encouraging you to continue your quest for answers.
You had always wondered where this excessive longing for answers came from. Why had you always been so curious? It only became apparent to you in later years. It was probably because the first years of your life had been shrouded in mystery. Why were you not allowed into the one room in the basement? Why did your father keep a shoebox so far out of your reach? And why did he continually dodge the topic when you brought it up?
Normally he was happy to give you all the answers you needed and if he didn't have them himself he helped you find them, visiting libraries and museums or simply watching documentaries. Why the sky was blue, why there are no dinosaurs among us anymore or where rainbows come from. But this one thing he never wanted to answer and he even got agitated when you pushed the issue.
It was not until you entered middle school that you finally learned the truth. You had found an old band shirt of your dad’s while rummaging through his closet. Having entered your rock/punk phase an oversized black band shirt would have been the perfect fit. You knew your dad had a collection of those, often sporting his Blink-182 sleeveless in the summer or cuddled up in his Foo Fighters’ hoodie in the winter. The shirt you had found was a jackpot, no wonder it had been buried deep in the back of his closet. By now he was keenly aware that you started stealing his clothes.
You had eyed the shirt with confusion. You couldn’t remember him ever wearing this one. It was a black shirt with teal colored letters on it that said “Youth”. Above the writing a big 6 with various circles around it was printed. You presumed this was the logo of the band. Somehow this logo rang a bell in the back of your head. Somewhere you had seen it before but you couldn't quite grab the memory tightly enough to reveal where. The back was filled with tour dates dating back 16 years. So this shirt was older than you were. You pulled it over your head and looked at yourself in the mirror. The teal-coloured letters fit your blue backpack and sneakers perfectly. It felt like you were meant to find it. You were sporting a big smile and proudly presented your outfit to your dad. Instead of his usual smile at your new outfits his brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed.
"You can't wear that. You're gonna go and change now."
"But dad why? I like it and you gotta admit it looks great"
"No whys. You're gonna go and change. End of discussion."
"But-" You had stopped yourself when you saw the look on your father’s face. This was non-negotiable.
Apart from ruining your outfit for the day more than anything it had piqued your interest. Why was it so important to him that you didn't wear it? What meaning did this shirt and that tour have to him? 
You had spent the whole day thinking about where you had seen it before and the only results you achieved were a major headache and even more questions. You had asked a few friends if they had seen the logo. Nothing. Your web searches also turned up nothing since you didn't have the full name of the band. Resigned, you packed your bag at the end of the day and headed out to the parking lot. 
Most of the days it was Uncle Sungjin's turn to pick you up. You liked to spend time with him. He always patiently listened to you rant about things that happened at school or tried to give you honest and useful advice. The second you had entered the car the revelation hit you like a brick wall. Sungjin had turned the key in the ignition and a small round pendant swayed in the air. There on his keychain was the logo. You had seen it so many times but it never seemed to really stay in your head. 
"Everything okay, peanut?” He asked, concern clearly visible on his face.
What he didn't expect was the bombardment of questions that followed. You couldn't stop yourself and for a solid minute everything you had been wondering about this whole day came pouring out.
"Woah woah, stop there. I think it might be best just to ask your dad that."
This wasn’t the answer you were looking for. You had hoped he would be able to solve the riddle that has been holding your brain hostage, but instead you got nothing. Even your sure-kill moves of pouting and begging didn’t get you any further. He just wouldn’t budge. Instead you saw him type out a short message in some chat simply saying: “I think it’s time”. You didn’t think this day could have gotten any more enigmatic than it already was.  
Once you arrived home you quickly stepped out of the car and headed straight to your room. Sungjin said he would wait for your dad in the living room since he had something to discuss with him. You couldn’t have cared less at that time. It felt like nobody was on your side right now. You threw your backpack towards the desk and let yourself sink onto your bed. Maybe you would be able to extort some information out of Uncle Wonpil, he always had an even softer spot for you and he was terrible at keeping things to himself.
You heard your dad's voice from below the stairs:
"We're gonna have some unexpected company today, so I'm ordering pizza. Which one do you want?
"Salami," you shouted back, not moving an inch.
You had heard the doorbell ring a few times but decided to stay in your room, not being in the mood for company.
"Pizza's here. Come on down." You heard a familiar voice say.
You quickly got up from your bed and sprinted down the stairs, skipping the last few steps and practically tackling Younghyun. Out of all your dad’s friends you only saw him a few times a year since he had always been busy with something.
"What are you doing here?" you said in surprise.
Younghyun motioned towards the living room, where your dad was standing. “Just a little surprise,” he said, smirking at you. 
"I knew this day would come and I think it's okay now.” your dad started to say “And you know I can hardly keep anything from you for long and I wouldn’t have a chance against your Sherlock-like detective work. Why don't you sit down." He smiled his usual smile but you could see the concern that was hidden in his eyes. You walked over to the couch and the suspense became almost numbing. There on the couch were sitting Uncle Jae, who usually picked you up from practice on Tuesday. And right next to him was Uncle Wonpil. Seems like you wouldn’t need to call him after all, since he was right there waving at you.
"What is going on?" You asked, eyeing the room in confusion. It has been about half a year since you saw all of them together like this. 
"Well peanut, you'll see in a second." Sungjin came in from the kitchen holding a tower of pizza boxes and started distributing them among everyone. "Just make yourself comfortable." He handed you your pizza and let himself sink into the armchair to your right. 
Your dad went to the mysterious shoebox on top of the book shelf and got out a disc. So it was finally time. He put it into the player and a concert video started playing.
You gasped as you saw the logo pop up on the screen. Now everything would be answered. On the screen was a stage, lit dimply with blue lights, the backdrop displaying in huge letters the word “Youth”. It was exactly the same as on the shirt. Slowly people started to enter the stage and the crowd began to cheer loudly. You saw the drummer sit down and the slowly increasing spotlight made his features more visible. You gasped audibly, losing all control over your jaw that was hanging wide open by now. The first song started playing and the stage was brightly lit, and there they were, everyone in this room was on screen and on stage. You looked around in confusion.
"You guys you... you were... you were A BAND?"
All five of them smiled brightly at you.
“And a pretty damn good one, I’d say,” Jae exclaimed while already wolfing down his pizza.
"It was time for you to know," added your dad, ruffling through your hair. "I was just always too afraid to tell you. I just wanted you to have a normal life. Especially after your mom left. I know that it was selfish to not tell you from the start." 
You weren’t able to say anything and just watched in awe. A million thoughts darted through your head but you were coming up empty. You felt a soft weight on your shoulder but you didn’t turn. It was as if your world had stopped dead in its tracks making you unable to comprehend. You looked at the screen and saw how much fun your dad was having and how much the others enjoyed standing on that stage, singing and performing with their closest friends. Everything made sense, you never questioned how the five of them met or why they were still so close, they just always had been there, always had been part of your life since you could remember. Now you finally knew. You looked around and saw the others look at the screen. You were scared to see regret or remorse or anything but instead all of them were smiling brightly, seeming to look back to this time with fond memories. You could see Younghyun bobbing his head to the beat and Wonpil swaying in his seat to the melody. 
“What happened? Am I…-”
“I’m gonna stop you right there,” Sungjin interrupted, looking at you with a stern expression, like he wanted to prevent you from saying and even thinking about the possibility.
“We just got older.” Your dad shrugged. “The hyungs had to take off for the military and even though we still had some gigs after that, we all just started to create our own lives. Younghyun’s acting career took off, Sungjin got married and I met your mom. So we decided to disband. It wasn’t the easiest decision but we all agreed that it would be best and as you can see we never really drifted apart.”
“Can you still do it? I mean...that” You pointed towards the screen.
“Probably,” said Wonpil looking around the room and getting a couple of nods in return. 
“I should have everything at my place,” said Jae, showing you a thumbs up. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“You better get dressed then,” your dad said, handing you the shirt of this morning. “I think this belongs to you now.”
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yurionice-secretsanta ¡ 5 years ago
Text
To  @cadencekismet From @vilchan
Purrhaps Not Today
Yuri kicks open the door of the animal shelter and stomps off the snow stuck under the soles of his leopard print vans. An elderly couple and the girl behind the counter stare at him, pen held motionless in the air over a form of some sorts. Yuri lifts his chin and raises an eyebrow, squinting in that way Mila once described as ‘a delinquent waiting in line to pay for a carton of milk’.
The elderly couple startle a little and are quick to huddle closer together, mumbling under their breath. The girl behind the counter—who can’t be older than twenty—raises an unimpressed eyebrow in return, holding his stare for a moment before she turns back to the couple and points her pen on the next clause to explain.
The wall behind her is covered by posters of cats in the arms of smiling children and dogs leaping after frisbees or tennis balls, with titles like ‘Become someone’s forever home now’ and ‘Make a difference today’. She doesn’t quite fit in with the vibrantly coloured backgrounds and photoshopped faces—on the contrary her messy bun is lopsided and coming apart at the seams, her t-shirt wrinkled and covered in dog hair from the looks of it, and there are not one, but three coffee mugs next to a computer who looks as if it’s been running since before he was born. If it weren’t for the customer friendly smile and the easy flow of her speech as she informs the couple about the different options they have, Yuri would’ve easily mistaken her for one of the many stressed college students he sees in front of him in line at the 24-hour open supermarket, arms full of comfort food, painkillers and coffee grains.
Two waiting chairs and a table take up most of the space in the small room. Yuri ignores them and leans against the wall, skimming the pamphlets spread out on the table briefly before his attention wilts and his fingertips start itching. Hidden in the pocket of his hoodie, he twists a tiger shaped keychain around his pinky.
The elderly couple give him a wide berth on their way out, and the pleasant smile from the girl slips once the door shuts. She looks him up and down, dark eyebrows pinched together—Yuri is long used to stink eyes, it comes with the territory of being a child prodigy who also spent his teens being a total asshole, but an animal shelter wasn’t the place he expected to meet one.
ÂŤCan I help you?Âť
He plants his elbows on the counter, chews thoughtfully on his chewing gum as he skims the mess of papers and loose documents strewn across the desk and observes her idly as the girl’s lips purses themselves into a frown as she waits. Her name tag reads ‘Natalya’.
I wanna volunteer, he says, tilting his head slightly to the side so his hair falls away from his eyes. 
Not what she was expecting, he could tell. A moment passes in which she just stares at him, stone faced with a disbelieving tilt to her mouth. Her eyes narrow and she looks him up and down again, this time with none of the welcoming hospitality she showed the couple from before. Yuri clenches his jaw, considering for just a moment to leave if she won’t take him seriously—but back home is an empty apartment and the looming threat of a phone call from his grandpa where he’ll again have to make his uneventful days sound healthy and engaging.
ÂŤDo you have any prior experience volunteering?Âť
ÂŤNo.Âť
ÂŤAny experience handling animals?Âť
ÂŤI had a cat,Âť he replies, fingers twisting and untwisting around the keychain.
Natalya rummages through a drawer, curses quietly when she doesn’t find what she’s looking for and pulls out another. Eventually she slides a form over to him, the paper slightly crinkled and with what looks like coffee stains in the corner.
«You don’t get a lot of volunteers, do you?» He asks, mostly out of curiosity, but also to see that annoyed twitch in her expression.
She makes the kind of face Yuri over the years has learned to recognize as a warning; she pulls the form back over the counter and Yuri has to yank it back, banging his hand against the polished wood in the process. A mutual glare is shared before Yuri snatches a dog face-printed pen from a cup next to his elbow and stalks back to the chairs. He can feel the force of her glowering as he discards the top and lets it fall to the ground.
He takes his time reading through the document, paying extra attention to the clause in which they promise not to divulge personal information like his phone number or email; Yakov had at least taught him that much. He scrawls down his name, address and contact information. He writes down his date of birth and age, and for once it doesn’t make him feel old to write down 24 years old.
He ticks off ‘walk dogs’, ‘shelter care’ and ‘cat attendant’ when they ask what types of volunteer work he’s interested in, and after a moment of hesitation he ticks off the box next to ‘other’ as well, for good measure.
A question about when he’ll be available comes up, just to estimate the amount of time he’ll be able to devote. He checks off the box saying ‘at least five hours a week’, but beneath it he scrawls ‘anytime’.
Natalya looks up from her paperwork as he slides the form back to her, their gazes locked in a steely staring contest as they both hold onto the form. 
«We’ll be in touch,�� she says briskly and goes back to her paperwork, apparently done with him. Yuri bites the inside of his cheek and wonders for a brief moment if this is how Yakov felt all those years. Maybe he should send him a gift basket for his birthday.
He turns on his heel and marches out, making sure to slam the door just as hard on his way out as he did on his way in. 
***
“Yurotchka. It’s been too long since your last call.”
Yuri looks down briefly and his grip around the phone tightens; beneath the chiding gruffness is worry, and he hates it when his grandpa worries.
“Sorry, it slipped my mind. How’s your back? The weather must still be cold in Moscow.”
His grandpa barks out a laugh at that. “My back is fine—it’s you I worry about. Are you eating well?”
“Of course. …Actually, I’m thinking about volunteering at a shelter. Just part time, but it’ll get me out of the apartment at least.”
There’s a moment of silence on the other end and Yuri has his lip held between his teeth, holding his breath because this is another kind of nervous than what he’s used to. 
“I’m glad to hear that,” his grandpa says, calm and collected where he is not, and Yuri can finally breathe again.
***
A week later he’s called in for a basic introduction on how the shelter operates. It’s not Natalya who shows him around, but an older man with greying hair, big glasses and worn leather shoes who introduces himself as Josef. Yuri pays rapt attention as he’s given a tour of the shelter, informed about the different procedures and what volunteering entails. When he asks how many other volunteers they have, Jakob rubs his neck and chuckles awkwardly.
“There haven’t been many volunteers except Talya, lately. I’m the owner and deal with most of the paperwork, while she handles the animals and reception along with some college students who drop by once a week or so.”
Jakob looks at Yuri through those comically big glasses, and for a moment it’s like being fifteen again with one skate on the ice and Yakov’s steady hand on his shoulder just before a competition, both to ground him and to give him that extra push. Yuri recognizes very well that hopeful, expectant expression.
“I guess that means I’ll have plenty to do, then,” he says and turns on his heel. Once he stepped out on the ice he never looked back at Yakov, and he doesn’t look back at Josef either. Eyes forward. “The cages are next, right?”
Deep in his pocket, the keychain is wound tightly around his pinkie.
***
 «I wasn’t sure you were gonna show up,» Natalya says as the door slams shut behind him. She doesn’t sound happily surprised.
Yuri holds back an eye roll and twists his hair up into a ponytail. She watches stoically from the counter with only one coffee cup this time—still steaming. Hopefully she isn’t one of those people who get grouchier with more caffeine.
ÂŤWell, here I am,Âť he says, ÂŤWhat do you need me to do?Âť
She waves him along to the door behind the counter which he already knows will lead to the back rooms with the animals.
The first back room is for the dogs, and they all perk up when they enter, barking and panting for attention like a certain poodle he’s glad is currently on another continent. Natalya tries to shush some of the barking and leads him quickly past the cages—stopping only to ruffle the ears of a moping golden retriever who wags weakly with his tail in response.
“I’ve already cleaned the dog cages, so you take the cat ones. Someone set up an adoption meeting in—” She glances briefly at her locked phone screen, “—thirty minutes, so I’ll do one cage for you to see before you’re on your own.»
The cat room has thirty cages lining the walls and within are cats of all colors and shapes. Some stay curled up on their bedding and will barely turn an ear in their direction, while others get up on their hind legs and wail like sirens for attention. 
A siberian with long, smokey grey fur pushes their face close to the bars and blinks up at him. Yuri reaches out to let them sniff his hand—
«I wouldn’t do that if I were you,» Natalya comments drily from behind his shoulder. «She likes to act all innocent, but that one’s got some claws on her.»
Yuri has half a mind to ignore her, but the cat’s tiny paws are indeed armed with a set of sharp claws she methodically digs in and out of the bedding with her blue eyes firmly fixed on him. Better let scheming cats lie.
«What’s her name?» He asks. The finger he moves from side to side in front of her cage must either smell like dead mice or look suspiciously like a red dot, because her eyes follow it with searing focus.
ÂŤBelle.Âť Her tone is clipped and dismissive and if she had pigtails Yuri would have to fight back the impulsive need to tug on them. But, he reminds himself, she does not have pigtails and therefore he should not tug on them. That would be immature and petty.
Natalya gives him a quick rundown; pull out, shake, laundry basket, fold and repeat. A dry ‘good luck’ later and he’s on his own.
Cleaning cages is—unexpectedly—a shitty job. It’s smelly, moist, tedious and it’ll take forever to get through just one row. At the pace he’s holding it’ll take at least another hour before he’s anywhere close to finished, but the thing is…
Yuri kinda likes it. 
Except for the smell and the symphony of thirty cats crying out for food, Yuri really doesn’t mind the task. Every cage comes with a new furry face, and it feels good to use his body for physical work again; his height is for once an advantage instead of a pain and saves him the effort of pulling out the ladder Natalya pointed out for him earlier.
Around the time he reaches the halfway point, Natalya pokes her head in to check on him. 
«Things alright in here?» She asks, sounding remarkably, almost friendly. Just a tad less grouchy and he might even give her credit for trying. «I’m gonna go for a walk with the dogs. You good to stay here for another hour?»
Yuri nods, doing his best to keep his expression from screaming ‘my schedule is a black void of nothingness with the exception of the weekly calls to my grandpa’. Every now and then he gets a text from Yakov reminding him to eat a minimum of two meals a day and get something between eight to ten hours of sleep, but other than that his time is his to do with as he pleases. 
If someone rings the bell, just tell them to come back some other time.��
Yuri raises an eyebrow. ÂŤAnd if I can actually help them?Âť
She looks him dead in the eye. «Don’t. Most likely they want more info about the adoption process or they want to schedule an adoption meeting—you’ve been trained for neither. Just tell them to come back. If they’re serious, they will.»
Her semi-friendly tone is all but gone as she observes him. The way her gaze lingers on his leopard printed vans and the bold print of his hoodie reminds him of Lilia when he first met her—but unlike Lilia who always fought to bring out the potential she saw in him, Natalya looks more like she’d like to see him reduced to dirt than anything else. 
She stares at him and some old, stubborn part of him wants to bite back, call her a hag and stomp off somewhere to stew until she comes creeping back. But that tactic never really worked with Mila or Lilia or Victor, and imagining the faces of his grandpa or Yuuko if they saw him behave like a literal fifteen-year old just… doesn’t appeal to him.
«Fine,» he says, «But chasing them away doesn’t sound as the best tactic if you want them to come back.»
And in true fifteen-year old fashion, Natalya glares at him with the power of a thousand burning suns and slams the door—or, well, more like shuts it firmly to not scare the animals, but the intent is there.
A drawn out, raspy meow from Belle reminds him of the dirty bedding he’s holding and what he should be doing with it.
Yuuko better be feeling fucking proud right now, he grumbles and whips it once, twice; successfully transferring a ton of cat hairs from the bedding onto his newly washed, black jeans. 
***
Natalya is, in fact, not back within an hour. Yuri finishes up with the cages, and since he’s not allowed to help any clients if they happened to stop by anyways, he waits in the back, mostly out of spite. But fifteen minutes passes, the cats are pacing in their cages and complaining, and she’s still not back, so he refills all of their water bowls and then—after a quick glance at the feeding schedule taped to the wall—he refills their food bowls too.
Josef is the one who finds him thirty minutes later on the ground making funny faces at a dozing tabby who really couldn’t care less. The cats all perk up at the sound of someone entering the room; even Yuri’s lazy tabby meows for attention.
«Ah… I see you’re having fun?» Josef says, absently pressing his knuckles against one of the cages to let one of the cats sniff them. «Have they’ve been out already?»
«What? No. Natalya told me to clean the cages, but they’ve been acting weird ever since I finished.»
«Wow, she sure isn’t going easy on you, giving you the crappiest job first,» he says, and Yuri has to physically ease his hold on the keychain he’s been fiddling with to avoid breaking the chain. In the beginning it could be accounted to a bad mood, but now it’s really starting to look as if she doesn’t want him here. Either Josef doesn’t notice the tight set of his jaw or he chalks it up to the fact that he’s just spent two hours cleaning cages; there’s nothing but a curious tilt to his voice as he continues:
«She didn’t tell you about the socialising? We usually let them out of their cages after cleaning for some playtime. If they were to adopted by a family with kids, for an example, we want them to be fairly used to humans. So we take them out in batches of ten to play.»
At his blank look, Josef waves him up. «I’ll show you.»
Three batches of ten for thirty minutes each; they carry them one by one into a playdate room with boxes of cat toys, water bowls and a cat tree stationed in the corner. Belle scratches him in thanks before she darts out of his grip, tail lifted high and haughty like she owns the place. Even though she’s small in size, Yuri doesn���t miss that some of the other cats shy away from her, so that might very well be the case.
When every cat is safely moved and the exit properly barricaded, Josef gives him a few safety instructions and tells him to yell out if he needs him. Something about paperwork or responsibility or whatever, Yuri had two cats in his lap and tried to secure a third one climbing from his shoulder to his head at the time, and multitasking was never a specialty of his to begin with.
The lazy tabby who didn’t appreciate Yuri’s funny faces earlier is apparently called Rolf. Josef carried him in earlier, and the second he had all paws back on earth he headed for the cat tree, probably to continue his day-long nap with a higher vantage point. A single narrow eyed look and a flick of Belle’s tail as Rolf nears is all it takes to dissuade him from that idea.
Instead he curls up at Yuri’s side and keeps a watchful eye on Belle, tail curled around himself. Yuri’s hand finds its way into his fur almost on its own, and after a tense second in which Rolf contemplates wether protection is worth the ear scritches, he softens and closes his eyes to doze.
«Hmph, coward,» he says, carding his fingers through the soft fur of his neck. «Letting her boss you around like that, where’s your pride?»
Rolf rumbles with a deep, vibrating sound and offers no other response except the lazy curl of a paw.
The cats look happy to do their own thing; dozing on the different levels of the cat tree, sniffing around the water bowls in search of food, snuggling up to him for some attention or just to be petted for a while.
One of the boxes next to the door is filled with cat toys, and especially the younger, more playful cats seem to enjoy chasing after jingling balls and swatting at stuffed mouse toys. Yuri manages to lure some of the lazier cats in the cat tree down by using a plastic fishing rod with a feather at the end of the line, tickling their noses and pulling away when they try to bat at it until they’re leaping from one spot to another with their claws out to catch and kill.
When the first half hour is up, most of the cats aren’t all that happy to be picked up again and placed back in their cages. A new set of scratch marks join their comrades on his arms, courtesy of two worked up cats whom he doesn’t know the names of.
Cute little bastards.
Natalya is having her own playtime with some of the dogs in the other room, wrestling them for a chewy toy and scolding them lightly when they get overeager and jump up on her. 
She hasn’t noticed him yet, so he leans on the doorframe and crosses his arms as he observes. A moment later he realizes that he looks like a moody teenager and plants his arms back at his sides, shuffling his feet a little to rearrange himself.
«I thought you said you’d be back in an hour.»
Her smile slips for a moment and one of the dogs bark triumphantly as he finally manages to steal the chewy toy from her lax grip. Immediately, two of his smaller cage mates leap on him, yipping and shoving their noses beneath him to snatch the toy away for themselves.
Natalya fixes him with a sour look. ÂŤI took a longer route and came back twenty minutes ago. What about it?Âť
«Oh, I don’t know, you could’ve told me?» He says and crosses his arms. «Or you could’ve explained that I was supposed to do the socialising thing after I was finished, instead of leaving me waiting for you to toss me a crumble.»
She snorts, and Yuri scowls. «What, is that too much to ask? I’m here to help, but it doesn’t really look as if you want me to.»
«Yeah, sure, you’re here to help,» she snorts. «Believe it or not, but I’m not gonna waste my time training someone seriously when you’re obviously not taking it seriously.»
«Where is that even coming from? I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me—you’re the one who’s not taking me seriously!»
«Oh, for fucks sake, you’re an olympic champion and my brother has your posters plastered on his walls! You show up here in your flashy clothes with no experience volunteering, and I’m supposed to what? Act as if it’s not a publicity stunt? Sure, you can clean cages and cuddle with cats as much as you want, but at the end of the day you’re gonna make your dramatic return to figure skating next season with a better reputation than Jesus himself. I want nothing to do with it,» she says, looking slightly redder in the face than before. 
It’s Yuri’s turn to snort, and he doesn’t bother to hide the sceptic look on his face. «Who the hell shot your Santa Claus? First off, I’m not going back to skating. Long story short, my injury from the Grand Prix was just the feather to tip the scale; my body’s so busted the doctors won’t allow me to even look at a rink, so that’s a big no. Second, I get three worried phone calls a week from people who want me to get out of my apartment, so I thought doing something nice for the society would be a good start. And also: cats. I really like cats.»
He looks down his nose at her and raises a sharp, blond eyebrow. ÂŤAre we done here?Âť
***
The next morning, Yuri wakes up feeling like piece of shit gone through the drier. His shoulders are sore from leaning into cages all day yesterday, aching in ways he’s grown unaccustomed to after so long away from the ice and the training regime following it. He twinges as he reaches up into the cupboard to retrieve a mug, but he sucks it up; feeling like a piece of shit after coffee is usually better than feeling like a piece of shit prior. Maybe it’s time to pick up a membership at a gym or something. 
The thirty minute long bus ride to the shelter sounds about as tempting as eating the leftover kibble in the dogs’ feeding bowls, but being a no-show after yesterday’s shitshow is absolutely out of the question. Natalya and her entitled opinion can go die in a hole for all he cares, but hell if he’s gonna let her think she’s right about him.
His closet has been forty percent workout clothes and fifty percent tiger stripes and band logos since he turned fourteen, but he fishes out a plain, black hoodie and a pair of white sneakers he’s used maybe two times in his life. Not that the chance of being recognised out on the street was very high to begin with here, but he knows his absence has made the atmosphere among his fans more… turbulent than usual. 
He leaves his apartment with the hood pulled down low and arrives at his bus stop five minutes early. He keeps his earbuds in and his nose buried in his phone for most of the ride, and for once he doesn’t make a ruckus on his way in, instead shutting the door gently behind him.
Natalya looks up, for once not with a frown. Her hair is pulled away from her face with a bandana, and it takes him back to an onsen in a has-been town with nothing to speak off except their broken ace and the people who love him. But unlike Mari, Natalya has none of that easygoing confidence. She looks at him with weariness in her eyes, pen halting in the air and stumbling in its steadfast ‘taptaptap’ against the counter. She looks ready to say something, but makes no move to do so.
«Where do you need me?» He asks, tilting his head to the side in a manner his grandpa would scoff at. It’s a bad habit he hasn’t quite managed to shake since his teens, and an annoying coworker isn’t what’s gonna inspire him to get rid of it. It’ll take a heartfelt apology and a bag of newly baked piroshki to even consider, and Natalya hasn’t even made it halfway.
«Uhm, dogs,» she says, blinking a little to compose herself. «I’ve finished most of their morning walks, but Yoda, Dany and Eloise haven’t been out yet. Take them to—you know that park two blocks from the mall? The one with the little pond and oak trees, right by the dentist office? Take them there.»
Unlike the cats, the dogs’ cages are all marked with their names and are thus easy to find. Yoda is apparently the shi tzu who always greets him with a hoarse ‘bork’ when he passes by his cage. He and Dany, a standard poodle and are two of the older residents well-used to the routine. He fastens leashes to their collars and leads them down the hall to the last cage. Unlike her buddies, Eloise is a bundle of endless energy, constantly pulling at her leash to run ahead and very insistent in where she wants to go.
Except for the occasional jogger and elderly person passing by with sneakily hidden bags of bird seeds, the park is theirs to rule. They keep a leisurely pace so that everyone will have the time to stop and sniff at lampposts, flecks of grass or a bush of interest. Natalya gave him the ok to let Dany loose without a leash if it wasn’t crowded, and she trots diligently a few steps behind him, sometimes slacking off a bit or taking the lead as it suits her.
Yuri’s experience with poodles is limited to Makkachin, and seeing Dany leaping ahead does bring back memories of the countless times Victor had him dog-sit for the weekend whenever he planned to whisk his husband away. But Dany doesn’t jump onto him or bulldoze him down with wet kisses and snouts pressed under his chin like Makkachin. It’s been a while since he though about her, actually. Maybe he should give those two idiots a call later.  
Once everyone has found a spot worthy of their droppings, they head back. On their way in, Yuri holds the door open for a father and his daughter. Between them is a carrier, tightly shut and with a familiar, furry face hiding behind the bars.
“—can’t wait to introduce Ketchup to Billy; do you think they’ll get along? I hope so since…”
Is all he hears of their conversation, even as he turns to watch them leave with Rolf; or Ketchup, as it seems he’ll be known as from now on. Good for him.
Yuri leads the dogs back to their pens and hangs the leashes back on their hooks. He refills their water bowls and spends some time showering a long faced mixed breed with affection.
While he’s been out, Natalya and Josef got started on cleaning the cat cages and are almost finished by the time he pokes his head through the door.
ÂŤAh, there you are, Yura. Could you just get started on the socialising while we finish up here?Âť Josef asks.
Natalya has her back to him, shoulders tense and hunched. Josef hands her some clean bedding, and their gazes meet for a split second across her shoulder before she breaks it off.
***
They meet in the playroom with the eyes of ten cats on them. Belle has finally accepted his existence and even lets he pet her; the first touch to her furry, little head is hesitant and careful, ready to pull away at any sign of hostility. She stares at him as he pets in slow, light movements, and then her head sinks back to the floor and her eyes close slowly.
Yuri holds his breath, almost moved to tears at the display of tolerance trust.
Natalya joins him on the floor with her back to the wall, and she is immediately surrounded. One cat comes out victorious and settles on her lap, purring loud enough for him to hear six feet away. Two others settle down on each side of her thighs, pressed close to steal some of her warmth.
They sit in silence for a while. Yuri has no need to break it; he’s not the one who should be apologising right now, so if Natalya wants to stew, he’ll let her stew.
“I’m not really sorry. I mean— My thoughts, not the way I treated you. The way I treated you was pretty shitty, to be honest, but I don’t think it’s weird for me to be suspicious when an Olympic champion stumbles in and wants to volunteer at an understaffed shelter. But I guess it wasn’t very fair to you, and we need more volunteers, so, y’know, you’re welcome to stay.»
It’s a pretty crappy apology in his opinion; no eye contact, no bag of piroshki, and he never actually heard the words ‘I’m sorry’ in there. But well, he’s probably delivered much worse apologies himself when he was her age—not that that’s a high bar to reach.
ÂŤI could show you how to work the computer system later, if you want,Âť she offers.
ÂŤSure.Âť
He can’t waste time on grudges when there are cats to pet and cages to clean.
Thank you for reading! This was a gift for cadencekismet! I had some trouble coming up with something for your prompts, but I hope you liked it :)
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everlarkchristmasgifts ¡ 6 years ago
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Something Suspiciously Like Hope
Written for Day 2 - Secret Santa Exchanges.
Unbeta’d. Rated T for language. Enjoy :)
Peeta takes the slip of paper from his pocket and stares at the name, written in her small, careful cursive. Again. As if the writing changed from the last time he read it.
Katniss Everdeen.
The gods of Random Name Drawing have a sick sense of humour, that’s for sure.
God, what if she drew his name, too? Then what would he do? He fights back a shudder — what are the odds of that happening? — and tosses the paper in a nearby bin. It’s not like he’s ever going to forget it, anyway.
He takes stock of his very limited options as he mixes up another batch of dough for the bakery’s famous Christmas shortbreads. He can’t get her anything too impersonal. That just seems… rude. Not to mention, a gigantic lie. They’ve never been friends — hell, the slip of paper with her name on it is about the entirety of their exchanges over the years — but they’ve been in the same classes since kindergarten, so that should count for something, shouldn’t it?
But on the other hand, he can’t get her anything too… not impersonal, either. Nothing that could out the feelings he’s carried around like a backpack full of bricks for over a decade. That would be… not a gigantic lie. But also, his absolute worst nightmare come true.
He should have asked to redraw his Secret Santa when he had the chance. Knowing Ms. Trinket, though, she never would have allowed it.
There’s a tiny sliver of grey area that he can work with here. What’s the happy middle between a five-dollar café gift-card and a dozen long-stemmed red roses? Is baking her a cake from scratch too heartfelt, or just the right amount of caring and not-caring?
I put together this cake just for you, but I also work in a bakery and make literally thousands of cakes just like this one in a week, so don’t feel too special.
“Why does this have to be so hard?” he mutters to himself.
“Surely not the dough, son? You could make those cookies blindfolded by now.”
Peeta jumps maybe three feet in the air. He’d almost forgotten his father was still in here, too.
“Not the dough,” he says, shaking his head.
“What, then?” his father prods.
Peeta sighs, but there’s never been any point lying. His crush on Katniss Everdeen has been his worst-kept secret since he was five and saw her for the first time, after which he declared to everyone in earshot that he would marry her someday. If Katniss ever heard, she’s been too polite to say anything.
“A Secret Santa exchange at school. I drew Katniss.”
His father goes quiet for a minute, then asks, “Why’s that so hard?”
“What do you mean, why’s that so hard?” Peeta exclaims. “What am I supposed to do?”
His father shrugs. “I guess that depends on the sort of impression you want to make.” He dusts off his flour-covered hands and crosses his arms. “Do you really want to go about your last year at school without ever having been honest with her? Could you live with that?”
“I think I could live with it,” Peeta whispers without hesitation. “But I think I’d regret it every day, too.”
His father smiles. “Then I guess that’s your answer.”
“So, what do I give her?”
The smile spreads into a grin. “Something unforgettable.”
Peeta says nothing. Just furrows his brows and turns back to his dough, rolls it out into a thin sheet.
He has an idea. More like a sapling of an idea, really. A weedy little sapling struggling to break up into the light. It’s a ridiculous idea given that they only have until the end of the week to exchange their gifts, but he thinks he can do it. He’s got everything he needs back home, so the twenty-dollar price limit isn’t going to be an issue (or does that just make him look cheap?) and what’s more… if he plays his cards right, it will be unforgettable.
Peeta finishes his shift with a smile on his face.
XXX
The canvas barely fits inside his beat-up Corolla.
Never mind ‘unforgettable’. She’ll be lucky to ever forget him after this. The guy who made her carry a massive canvas all through the halls with her. Less of a ‘something to remember me by’, and more of a gigantic ‘screw you.’
He parks in his usual spot at school and collapses against the steering wheel. He’s gotten a collective ten hours of sleep this past week working on the damn thing, recreating the woods which border District 12 in wrenching, painstaking detail, but it’s worth it. It has to be.
A fist raps against his window. Peeta jumps high enough to hit his head on the car’s felt ceiling.
“Hey! Is that it?”
Without waiting for a reply, Finnick swings to the other side and settles himself in the passenger seat. He twists towards the back and lets out a low whistle.
“Dude. It’s huge.”
“I couldn’t do it with anything smaller,” Peeta mutters.
“Sure isn’t going to be a secret now.”
Peeta shakes his head and gets out of the car. “I never said it was going to be.”
“So… you’re going for it?” Finnick jumps out and slams the door shut. “You’re actually gonna do it?”
Peeta sucks in a deep, sharply cold breath. “I think I… maybe?”
“Peeta!” Finnick punches his shoulder. “Seriously, man? That’s awesome.”
Peeta snorts. “Yeah. Two guesses how it’ll end, though.”
“You still reckon she’ll say no?”
“I just don’t see why she’d say yes.”
“You know, Annie says she’s real nice.”
“So? I’m not after a pity date, Finn. I just… I know she’ll like this. That’s all.”
“Yeah, she will. You wanna know what I got my Secret Santa? A box of sugar cubes.”
He almost laughs. “Seriously? Why?”
“Well under the twenty-buck limit, and ‘cause Clove Andersen could stand to be a whole lot sweeter, don’t you think?”
Peeta snorts. “When she decks you, and she absolutely will, don’t expect me to step in and save the day.”
“All you’d have to do is flash that smile and she’d be off me and all over you.”
“Yeah, not really the image I’m going for right now.” Peeta pulls in another deep breath, sets a hand on the car’s roof, and nods to himself. “So, you going to help me bring this thing in or what?”
XXX
His own Secret Santa gift — from Madge, mercifully, a pair of thick, silly, reindeer-print socks — had been front and centre at the top of the pile in Ms. Trinket’s room. At the end of class, he grabbed it and bolted, the tips of his ears burning as he caught Katniss out the corner of his eye, approaching her massive gift, propped up at the back and taking up damn near half the wall, with a frown on her face. He considered for all of a nanosecond staying and waiting for her to unwrap it, just to see her face when she saw it. But that same crippling self-doubt that always seemed to afflict him around Katniss squeezed at his chest and he just… couldn’t.
God, he’s such a loser.
He plops down on a damp bench right on the far edge of the school, far enough away that the chatter and laughter from everyone else is little more than a distant echo. The cold air dusting past his face brings his thoughts into more clarity. He should have seen this coming a mile off. It happens every single time. He’s never been able to string more than five words together in Katniss’ presence; why would today be any different? Combine that with a giant, what-the-fuck of a gift, and it’s a damn wonder he was able to walk through the school gates at all this morning.
The phone in his pocket vibrates with texts he’s not sure he wants to see. Probably just Finn asking how it all went. Maybe one from his dad, too. Peeta groans and fists his hair. His own damn fault for telling everybody.
“Peeta?” a soft, smoky voice whispers behind him.
He jumps about ten feet in the air and spins to face his assailant. Katniss Everdeen, her hands tucked into the pockets of her patchy coat, staring at him with eyes as grey as the storm clouds above. An omen or not, he’s not sure.
“Katniss,” he breathes.
She smiles, the barest quirk of her lips. “I wasn’t sure you knew my name. I guess… I guess that was wrong.”
His cheeks flush as he sets himself back down on the bench. “I’ve always known who you are.”
“I’m starting to get that, yeah.” She perches herself on the bench beside him, even though there’s not a whole lot of room for them to share. Even through his thick coat, the warmth Katniss radiates is enough to make him feel like his blood is boiling.
“It’s incredible,” she blurts out before he can say anything. “I mean, I knew you were good — I think you’ve got paintings hanging in every corridor in there — but that painting is… amazing, Peeta. Really.”
“I’m glad you like it,” he murmurs.
She sets a warm hand on his forearm. The contact is like lightning beneath his skin, but it anchors him, too; this moment is real. He’s not dreaming it. And it’s fucking amazing.
“I love it,” she tells him, low and deliberate. “Thank you, Peeta.”
He clears his throat. “You’re welcome.”
She lets her arm fall from his, and he misses the warmth all at once. “I kinda feel bad about what I got my Secret Santa now, though.”
“Who’d you have?” he asks.
“Delly.”
He barks out a laugh. “What did you get her?”
“A fluffy pom-pom keychain shaped like an owl. Prim picked it out. I had no idea what to get her.”
“I can tell you with absolute certainty that Delly loved it.”
She smirks. “Oh, I know she did. She jumped me right in the hallway as we were leaving and hugged me.”
Peeta smiles. “That sounds about right.”
A couple from the year below them walk by, hand-in-hand. As if by some unspoken agreement, Peeta and Katniss stay silent, their gazes trained on the ground, until the pair pass by.
When he looks up again, their faces are much closer together than they were before — or maybe they were always this close? Katniss’ cheeks are a bright, glowing pink, and she’s looking everywhere but his face.
“We should… uh, meet up, maybe?” she says, all fractured, and he thinks it fractures something in his head, too, because she cannot possibly be saying what he thinks she might be saying. “Some day during the break? I could, um… maybe show you the woods when it’s snowing, and you could paint or something? If that’s even something you wanted to see, I don’t even know if you —”
He cuts her off before she can ramble anymore, because even though it’s completely, utterly adorable, he’ll be damned if he lets her talk herself out of this now. “I’d love to come to the woods with you, Katniss,” he says, leaving no room for anything else.
“Good!” she says, a little too loudly, but Peeta’s not sure anything could beat the pounding of his heart for volume right now. She clears her throat and says, “That’s… good.”
“Yeah… good.” Damn, he’s eloquent.
“How’s Boxing Day for you?”
“Yeah… good,” he says again. Katniss lets out a tiny chuckle, one that he swears makes his heart skip a beat.
A bell goes off somewhere… the school, maybe? He’s got no way of knowing, or caring. All he gives a shit about right now is Katniss Everdeen, right in front of him, so close he could maybe kiss her if he didn’t think that would be kind of weird. Before he can move, Katniss is shouldering her bag and making her way back towards the building.
“Merry Christmas, Peeta,” she whispers, a real smile, however tiny, tipping her lips now as she walks away.
He grins what he’s sure is the dopiest, happiest grin the entire world and calls back, “Merry Christmas, Katniss.” For the first time in forever, the self-doubt doesn’t even enter his head.
In its place now is something suspiciously like hope.
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y00sungshairpin-blog ¡ 7 years ago
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OOKAY, I have a request! Maybe something super fluffy; it's MC's birthday and she keeps asking for a handmade gift. RFA+V, maybe? If you feel comfortable writing him. (I also don't mind if you want include Saeran or Vanderwood I LOVE THEM ALL. Up to you!) +_+ ♡
Hi! I love this concept so much and I’m so excited to write it! As always I hope it meets your expectations, if not I am always open to constructive criticism!
Yoosung:- OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD- when you first asked him he immediately said yes and he was so excited about it- but there he was, the day before your birthday, panicking because he had no idea what to make and how to make it - then it hit him- origamis!!- he looked up the most romantic ones and came across origami roses- he went crazy and made about 20 and glued them to a box- then he made an origami heart and attached it to the lid- after that he printed a picture of the two of you and placed it on the bottom of the box before covering it with cookies he’d just made- just in time for you to come back home and smell the cookies- “What no it’s just a new air freshener I bought”- as soon as the clock hit midnight he pulled out the box and gave it to you- your eyes widened as you observed the neatly folded paper all around it and you carefully opened it, making sure not to ruin it- when you saw the cookies you went nuts- you ended up finishing them together in less than one hour- and when you got to the bottom you picked up the picture- behind it was a lovely message written in his messy handwriting- needless to say that night was full of hugs and tears because this boy is so cute
Zen
- he would do anything for his princess- so of course when you hinted at the fact that you wanted a handmade gift he was happy to oblige- he had actually been thinking about it for a while, since he, too, had always wanted a handmade gift from you- his present was ready way before your birthday- which sucked because he now had to wait a whole week before giving it to you and seeing your reaction- so he started giving you hints on what it could be- you didn’t get it though- so when he finally gave you a small box sealed with a cute ribbon you had no idea what to expect- he looked at you excitedly as you opened the box and the look on your face changed- you took out a glass jar with a pink candle inside- “Zen did you actually make this?”- “Smell it”- you opened the jar and were invested with a sweet flowery scent- when you gave it a better look you noticed that the candle had small pieces of what looked like roses inside of it- you hugged Zen tightly and he smiled, proud of himself- how the hell did Hyun Ryu make a candle- you didn’t know but you absolutely loved it- but how the hell did Hyun Ryu make a candle
Jaehee- her time to shine- she was good at basically everything so it wasn’t hard for her to find something to make- you had been working together at the cafe for quite a while now and she knew that you were in need of a new apron- so she decide to make one for you herself- she made it very basic at the beginning but then started knitting pretty patterns on it and wrote “World’s Best Cook”, then crossed the last word and replaced it with Girlfriend- you were closing up the coffee shop after a particularly busy day and you suddenly heard the bells strike midnight, so she ran to the back and brought you your present- you immediately tried it on and twirled for her as she clapped excitedly- she was so glad it was the right size- you paused- “Does that mean I’m not world’s best cook?”- “Sorry sweetheart, I beat you on that”- you stuck your tongue out at her playfully before giving her a big hug and a kiss to show how grateful you were for her heartfelt gift - you couldn’t wait to show it off to the other rfa members and make them jealous- which they definitely were
Jumin- when he asked you what you wanted for your birthday he already had his wallet in hand, so after you asked him for a handcrafted gift he was very surprised- but he was not going to say no to his beautiful girlfriend - so he called Jaehee for help- because poor boy had never made something himself- luckily his assistant was very helpful - he got to work immediately, after being provided with all the necessary materials- Jaehee had told him to just make a necklace- but we all know our Jumin is EXTRA™- so he made a complete set- a wire necklace (with a liiiiittle tiny diamond in the middle because he’s still Jumin Han)- a bracelet made out of beads- a metal ring with a button on top- earrings with wire hooks and cute thread decorations - and a keychain with a complicated thread pattern because why not- so much for someone who had never crafted anything in his life- he put everything inside little boxes and placed them inside a designer handbag- he had to buy something he just couldn’t resist- he handed it to you and told you to look inside before you could even react- he wouldn’t admit it but he was actually proud of his creations- you almost cried when you opened the boxes - he had put so much effort into each jewel and they looked so well made- proud MC- you immediately wore all of them - proud Jumin- he genuinely looked so proud of himself- hiS LITTLE SMILE- after seeing him like this you would never even consider taking them off- until he forced you to do it because he was afraid the necklace would choke you in your sleep or something - dAD
707- he had initially thought it would be nice to make you another robot- but nevermind it would just be repetitive - sO- he got to work right away- it took him like three days but when he finally finished it he was satisfied with the result- one day before your birthday he handed it to you- “It’s already your birthday somewhere in the world”- really he was just impatient and wanted to see your reaction - it was a little book that was kind of falling apart but that’s alright- you opened it and there were like 200 pages, each one containing a quote from either you or him, that only the two of you knew about- basically all of your inside jokes were in there- this was the most heartfelt and personal gift you had ever gotten- also how come he remembered all of these? You had forgotten about half of them already- some made you laugh, some made you cringe until you got to the last page-there stood, word for word, everything he said when he first confessed his feelings for you-needless to say that was a very emotional night
V-photo album!!!-despite not being able to see very well, he meticulously put together a lovely book and sticked over two hundred photos to it-on your birthday he woke you up with some breakfast in bed and some cuddles before sliding under the covers next to you, wrapping his arm around your shoulders and placing the album on your lap-you started looking through it, careful not to accidentally tear the thin paper-some pictures were of the two of you during your various trips together, home for the holidays or with the other members of rfa-but half of them were pictures of you that you’d never seen before-you napping on his lap or on his shoulder, you looking somewhere in the distance, you laughing at who knows what-how was he so talented-“These pictures are really pretty”-“That’s how I see you”-“I think your version of me is a little bit more blurry”-that earned you a playful punch on the shoulder-(which turned into a tickle fight)
Saeran-“NO WAY I’m putting effort into something silly like that”-he was actually dying to do it-he felt like he had the best idea ever and he knew it would make you happy-so he bought everything he needed and got to work-not even hacking had ever been this tiring-and after stinging himself with a needle a couple of (hundreds of) times it was finally ready-he wrapped it up nicely and topped it off with a cute bow-when he gave it to you his cheeks were R E D-as soon as you unwrapped it your eyes widened and you were brought to tears by the sight of a little teddy bear holding a stuffed heart-you could see stitchings all around it but that’s what made it look so genuine and cute-you hugged it close and taking another look at it you noticed that “Saeran” was written in small letters on its back-“You said you weren’t gonna give me anything handcrafted?”-“Do you like it?”-you hugged him and kissed him in response-HE’S BLUSHING AGAIN THERE HE GOES-“I’ll take that as a yes”
Vanderwood-“oh man this woman is demanding” was the first thing that crossed his mind-he kept sighing and pondering for an entire day before deciding-it wasn’t much but you had asked for it so you were gonna take it-he got a block of wood and a sharp pocket knife and got to work-and of course being as talented and skilled as he was he got the job done in no time-when the day finally came he put the present in a bag and handed it to you-so much for presentation -you took the statuette and examined it for a while-it was you!-so he knew how to carve too-and it was really realistic as well-was there anything this man couldn’t do?-“Thank you so much! It’s beautiful!”-“For my next birthday you’d better repay my efforts” he responded, giving you a loud smooch on the forehead
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missmeikakuna ¡ 5 years ago
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So, Apparently, I Find Fairies Hot Chapter 3
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Rated: T
Fandom: Original Fiction
Relationship type: Male/Male
Description: You know those movies and TV shows in which an effeminate gay character has a crush on the popular jock? Strike that, reverse it.
Daniel is technically popular at school but fades into the crowd. After an injury at footy (Australian football) practice, he is forced to focus on improving his grades, starting with English. Luckily, the new kid in school knows a lot about Shakespeare and is willing to tutor him. Now if only this new guy wasn’t so attractive.
CONTENT WARNING: Homophobic slurs are used. Also, there are some sexual references but nothing too graphic.
Chapter 3: Is it gay to work out with other guys?
Daniel stood in front of the gym, looking at the time on his iPod. He coincidentally turned up the volume of the rap song at the very moment a rapper said, ‘No homo.’ He changed the song even though it was one of his favourites.
He grinned when he saw Eddie jog up to him in a black T-shirt with the word ‘Ghost’ on it and a pair of dark grey track pants. While jogging he was taking a CD out of his purple duffle bag.
He handed it to Daniel. It said ‘Rage Against the Machine’. 
Daniel nodded in understanding. ‘I didn’t know these guys did rap. I assumed they were a punk band or something like that.’
Eddie gasped in a loud voice and put a hand on his heart. ‘Assumed? How dare you!’
Daniel raised an eyebrow. ‘Was that sarcasm?’
Eddie chuckled. ‘Oh my god, you’re like a kid.’ Daniel frowned. ‘Oh, sorry. That came out wrong. I didn’t mean to insult you or anything.’
Eddie gulped, his eyes blooming outwards like a pansy in the spring. Daniel was laughing. Holy hell he was laughing. His voice was as deep as one would expect from him but somehow it didn’t sound harsh or threatening. It was kind of quiet and melodic.
A smile leapt onto Eddie’s face. He watched Daniel laugh with the curiosity of a visitor looking at a zoo animal. Daniel eventually noticed this and felt his cheeks heat up.
He coughed. ‘Let’s go in. Have you been to a gym before?’ Eddie shook his head. He and Daniel walked inside and headed to the desk. Eddie turned his head and saw several rows of treadmills to his right. ‘Okay, so make sure to negotiate. Don’t just take the first offer. Young people can’t afford the full price. Oh, and you have to get them to give you one free session with a personal trainer. That way you can properly learn how to use the equipment. I can teach you a little, but there are some machines I don’t use.’
Eddie nodded, reigning in his temptation to point out how long Daniel just spoke for. At the desk, Daniel told the receptionist that he had invited a friend and therefore he was entitled to two weeks free for his membership plus a water bottle. He held his thumb up at Eddie, who was whisked away to a table in the corner of the gym.
When Eddie returned to the desk, Daniel asked him how it went. ‘14.95 per week plus one session with a personal trainer next week.’
Daniel grabbed his arms and pulled him closer as if he was about to give him a hug, but he stopped and stepped backwards. Eddie froze, surprised, before rolling his eyes.
It took Eddie five minutes of using the cross trainer before he was slumped over the damn thing, panting and whining. However, he kept going when he heard Daniel lightheartedly laugh at him. That damn melodic laugh played in his mind over and over again like a theme song in a sports montage.
Eventually, he was able to work on running on various equipment for half an hour. Whenever he felt like giving up again, he looked at Daniel next to him and watched him smile as he ran faster and faster. Something told him Daniel would quickly choose runner’s high over sex. The slight growth down below added to this hypothesis.
Little did he know that Daniel kept sneaking glimpses of Eddie’s slender arms and legs as he worked out.
After the thirty minutes were over, Daniel told Eddie, ‘I’ve got to go to the bathroom. I’ll meet you in the other weights room.’
Eddie smirked but said nothing, preferring to go the dignified route and chug the water from his bottle. 
In the toilet stall, Daniel held his head in his hands. 
What’s wrong with me? He’s a fucking fairy. What, do I find fairies hot now? I’m not even gay, and if I was, why the hell wouldn’t I be into manly dudes?
He lifted his head and saw an advertisement for Viagra posted on the stall’s door. He sighed, not sure whether to laugh or punch something. Then again, he found the image of older men trying to treat their erectile dysfunction quite useful for curing his current temporary ailment.
He rushed to the weights room, where he saw Eddie using the small hand weights. ‘Move over, strongest man in the world!’ Eddie declared with a grin. ‘I bet he can’t use two three-kilogram weights at once!’
‘Who’s the child now?’
‘Point taken. So, am I ready for those long weight thingamajiggies or am I just supposed to use the dumbbells?’
Daniel walked up to a machine and sat on it, grabbing the handles on each side and pushing them forward and back a few times. He jumped up and made the gesture an old-fashioned gentleman would use when welcoming a woman to his house.
Eddie tried to push the handles forward, grunting like an old man trying to get out of bed. Daniel chuckled and changed the settings to make the machine lighter. Eddie blushed.
After another half hour of using various weight machines, Eddie begged Daniel to stop, and Daniel finally granted him mercy. Daniel stood with his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground, his eyes avoiding the droplets of sweat that fell down Eddie’s arms.
‘So, um, would you like to, maybe, I dunno, do some more studying at my place?’ he asked. ‘We’ve got that essay next week.’
Eddie grinned like someone who knew he would get that question. ‘I will on one condition. I get to use your shower.’ Daniel’s jaw crashed onto the floor. ‘Ew, not like that. I’ve got an outfit I just bought in this bag and I need to get the sweat off my body or else I’m gonna be super uncomfortable wearing it. Plus, I hate public showers.’ Daniel bit his lip. ‘Please? It’s my birthday next week.’
’You want to use my shower for your birthday?’
‘It can be part of the present. You can also, I dunno, get me a keychain or something.’ Eddie bared his teeth and batted his eyelashes, which were still long despite the lack of mascara. Daniel sighed and led him to the bus stop.
They sat down and waited in silence when other people sat near them. Eddie considered talking but saw that Daniel was looking down at his fists on his lap.
When they boarded the bus, Eddie couldn’t keep his mouth shut. ‘How did you make friends when you don’t even like talking near people? Hell, what made you able to talk to me in the first place?’
Those words gave Daniel’s heart an uppercut. ‘You seemed easier to talk to, and I was desperate to get better in English,’ he muttered. ‘That’s all.’
The ride was silent.
As they reached the stop near Daniel’s house, Eddie sighed. ‘Sorry for being so rude.’
‘Don’t worry about it. Oh, by the way, we have to sneak inside.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Mum doesn’t want me going to the gym until she’s sure my leg has healed. I think it’s fine, but she wants me to wait another week or so. Oh, and… sorry for not telling you last time, but it’d be best not to… act gay around this neighbourhood. Especially the family next door with the big fence. They’re cashed up bogans and they have a guard dog.’ Eddie opened his mouth. ‘And no ranting about what I just said. Just… stay safe, okay?’
Eddie groaned but nodded. They took a windy path to Daniel’s home. Each home got progressively larger, more modern and more expensive. As they passed the home next door, the low, thunderous bark of a dog made Eddie jump.
Daniel walked to the side of the house, reached behind the gate to open it and crept inside, Eddie following him from behind. Daniel slid the back door open and tiptoed into the house. He felt his heart stop then beat at the speed of an Olympic runner’s treadmill when he heard his mother’s voice. He and Eddie snuck to the staircase one slow footstep at a time.
They ran up the stairs, laughing. Daniel opened his drawer and pulled out a shirt. ‘Get changed in the bathroom,’ he said. ‘I’m gonna get changed in here. Knock on my door when you’re done.’
‘Wait, you’re not having a shower after doing all that exercise? Are you some kind of wild animal?’
‘I’ve got deodorant.’
‘Not good enough.’
‘Leave me alone, Mum.’
Eddie scowled at him but did as he was told.
Daniel waited ten minutes after changing into jeans and a plain T-shirt but didn’t hear a knock. He opened the door and knocked on the bathroom door.
’You still in there?’
‘Almost done! This eyeliner’s killing me.’
‘You’re putting makeup on? What’d I tell you about acting gay in this neighbourhood?’
‘Wearing makeup doesn’t make me gay!’
‘But you are gay!’
‘Correlation, not causation, sweetie!’
‘I just don’t want you to get hurt! And… don’t call me ‘sweetie’!’
Eddie released a miraculously high growl and opened the door. ‘I’m done. Happy now?’ Daniel gasped through his nose. Eddie was wearing a tight navy top that went off the shoulder and had a picture of Bela Lugosi as Dracula printed on it. His skinny jeans were black and ripped. Around his neck was a plain black choker that made his neck look more muscular than it actually was. His still-wet hair fell down his shoulders. His makeup was heavy, dominated by dark colours that made him look mature. Daniel gawked at him.
Eddie smirked. ‘Very happy, apparently.’
Daniel’s cheeks burned. ‘Shut up. I’m not like you.’
‘Sure, sure.’
The two sat down and studied. Eddie had to tap Daniel’s head over and over again to get him to concentrate.
‘My arms aren’t going to tell you the themes of A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ he said, causing Daniel’s cheeks to get even redder.
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unfolded73 ¡ 7 years ago
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What Comes Next (4/8)
Summary: They lived happily ever after. And then what happened? (A Post-S6 story.)  Starts about a week after the final battle, and explores the highs and lows of newly married life between Emma and Killian as they deal with work, friends, and family as life in Storybrooke settles down somewhat.
Captain Swan, Explicit overall, ~4200 words this chapter
Thanks to @j-philly-b for the beta.
CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3
Killian paced the across the floor, glancing at the clock again. He stopped, straightening a picture on the wall, then turned and paced some more. Checked the time again. Shifted one of the heavy candlesticks on the mantle over an inch. Looked at the clock. Paced.
Finally the front door to the house opened, and Henry walked in.
“Oh hey, Killian. I figured you’d still be at work.”
Killian hooked his thumb behind his belt buckle. “I’m going to patrol tonight to see if I can catch these thieves that have been giving us so much trouble, so I took the afternoon off.” He gestured with his hook. “Have a seat, Henry.”
Henry dropped his backpack on the floor. “Why?”
“Just sit down.”
Eyeing him suspiciously, Henry sat on the sofa.
“Did I not hear you tell your mother two nights ago that you were rewriting a paper on which you had gotten, I presume, an unsatisfactory grade?” Killian asked him.
Henry began to look nervous. “Yeah.”
“Then why, pray tell, did I answer a call at the sheriff’s station this morning from your English teacher, calling to inform Emma that you had not turned in three assignments, including this supposedly rewritten paper?”
Henry sat silently, a war between panic and sullenness taking place on his face.
“She said you are barely scraping by with a ‘C’ in the class, which I gather is bad. So I need to know what’s going on with your schoolwork, lad.”
Henry narrowed his eyes. “Why did you talk to my teacher?”
“Because your mother was busy when she called, and I figured it was one thing I could spare Emma having to worry about, if I spoke to the teacher in her stead.” Killian sat down on the chair across from Henry. “And as I am your stepfather, Mrs. Ritchie was happy to discuss it with me.”
Sullen won the war for Henry’s facial expression, and he sat back against the sofa cushions. “I just didn’t have time to turn it in. She didn’t give me enough time.”
“I’ve seen you on the XBox and on your phone the last two nights, and you expect me to believe that you didn’t have time?” Henry just rolled his eyes at that, not answering. “Try again, lad.”
“I’ve got a lot going on,” he mumbled.
Killian sighed, giving up on getting a satisfactory explanation from Henry on the reason he’d been shirking his schoolwork. He stood up again. “Now, I realize there are only a few weeks left before the end of the school year, but I’m sure if we eliminate some distractions, you can bring your grades up. For starters, hand over your phone, please.” He held his hand out, palm up, to Henry.
Henry looked at him with incredulity. “You can’t take my phone.”
“I can and I will.”
With another, even more disdainful eye roll, Henry stood up and dug in his pocket. “Yeah, okay, but we’ll see what happens when Mom gets home.” He slapped the phone into Killian’s hand a little harder than necessary.
Killian chuckled. Although he was, deep down, nervous about disciplining Henry for the first time, all his years as a captain of pirates made it easy not to show it. “Believe what you want, Henry. I don’t think either of your mothers will disagree with me on this. Now have a seat at the table there,” he said, indicating the kitchen, “and get started on your homework where I can keep an eye on you.”
Henry was visibly furious, boiling underneath the surface, and Killian was bracing himself for the boy to shout 'You’re not my father!' or some similarly devastating statement. Instead he folded his arms and stated, “My computer is upstairs in my room. I need it.”
“And as I understand it, it’s portable, so you can go get it and set it up in the kitchen,” Killian countered.
With one final roll of his eyes, Henry stomped up the stairs. After a few minutes, he was quietly doing homework at the kitchen table, and Killian began preparations for dinner.
~*~
“I still can’t believe he just stood there and lied to me,” Emma said, blinking at the early morning sunlight as they pulled up in front the converted house where Ashley Boyd ran her daycare. “Or, you know, lied by omission at least. Let me believe he had that English paper situation under control, when clearly he didn’t.”
Killian slid his coffee cup into the curve of his hook and closed the car door. He’d filled Emma in on the situation with Henry as soon as she’d come home the night before. Any trepidation that she might be angry at him for making an executive decision about Henry’s punishment quickly melted away. Mostly, she seemed grateful that he had handled it. After a dinner during which Henry ate silently while Emma and Killian attempted to make normal conversation, Killian had headed out on patrol, spending several hours walking up and down the sidewalks and alleys of Storybrooke’s business district, looking for evil-doers. Now he was sleep-deprived and cranky, especially since it had all been for nothing. While he’d been stalking around downtown, the thieves had hit a business in one of Storybrooke’s residential neighborhoods.
In the face of Emma’s anger about Henry’s school situation, Killian found his own anger had been replaced mostly with empathy. If he and Emma were having difficulty processing everything they had been through, how could he expect Henry to have a handle on it?
“I think we just need to provide an environment at home where he can’t avoid focusing on his studies,” he said as they approached the front door. “And I suppose we should fill in Regina.”
“I called her this morning,” Emma said as they walked through the door. Ashley approached with a toddler on each hip.
“Hey guys, thanks for coming so quickly,” she said. “Give me just a second to get these two settled.”
Killian looked around at the controlled chaos of Ashley’s daycare. Ashley delivered the children she’d been holding to her assistant, who was in the process of soothing another child who’d just had a block thrown at his head by little girl with pigtails. With a grimace, Killian backed away.
“They aren’t going to swarm you, you know,” Emma said as he drank from his coffee cup and tried to drown the cobwebs in his brain.
“You never know, Swan. Best to be cautious.”
“My office is right over here,” Ashley said, leading them down a hallway. “It was my own stupid fault for forgetting to lock all the windows before I went home.”
“No, love, it’s our fault for not tracking down the perpetrators yet,” Killian said as she flipped on the light in a cluttered room dominated by a large desk.
“God, I haven’t even had a chance to talk to you guys since the wedding,” Ashley said. “How are you?”
Killian smiled faintly. “Happy to be married, but not happy to be here under these circumstances. Can you tell us what was stolen?”
“Just money, and there wasn’t that much money for them to take; this isn’t really a cash business. Mostly people write me checks, or I have this new direct debit system…” She opened a drawer and pointed. “But I had this cash box with a couple hundred dollars in it, and they cleaned it out.”
“Ashley?” called her harried assistant. “I need your help for a minute.”
“Can you guys look around while I go deal with this?” she said, and was gone before they could respond.
Emma collapsed in Ashley’s desk chair, seeming disinclined to do any real investigating.
“You said you called Regina?” Killian set his coffee down and then used his hook to grab the cash box by the handle and lift it out of the drawer.
“Yeah, I filled her in, and she’s gonna follow up with the school today to make sure there aren’t any issues with any of Henry’s other classes.” She smirked. “Also I told her you’d confiscated Henry’s phone, so that she knows he’s not reachable that way.”
He probed at the flimsy, broken lock on the cash box with his hook. “This lock was cut with something.”
Emma glanced at it. “Yeah.”
“How did she react to the fact that I took his phone?” he asked.
Emma shrugged. “I don’t know. She didn’t, really.” She let her head fall back against the chair’s headrest. “I don’t like the idea that I can’t trust my own son.”
Killian went over to the window. “There could be fingerprints here.”
“Yeah, we’ll dust for prints,” Emma answered, not moving to do so. “If he’s gonna lie to me about this, how do I know I can trust him about anything?”
Killian felt the need to defend Henry again. “He’s still a good lad, darling, he’s just gotten himself in over his head with school. We’ll sort it out.”
Ashley came back in, and Emma stood up. “We’ll need to check for prints, and we’ll take the cash box with us to the station to do the same.” She pulled out a pad of paper, but her distraction was palpable. “Anything else missing?”
Glancing around, Ashley frowned. Killian couldn’t imagine she’d be able to tell, the space was so cluttered. “Actually, yeah. I had a little Cinderella keychain that Sean got me sitting on top of my computer. I thought maybe it had just fallen off, but I can’t find it anywhere.”
“Another trophy,” Killian muttered.
“Yeah,” Emma said as she scribbled down a few notes. “Ashley, make sure you check all your doors and windows before you leave each night. We’ll let you know as soon as we know anything.”
Ashley shrugged, seemingly resigned to the fact that the money and her Cinderella keychain were gone. “Okay, thanks.” Then there was thump and a child’s wail from the other room, and she dashed off again.
“I’ll get the fingerprint kit from the car, shall I, love?” Killian asked.
Emma nodded, and then flopped back down in the desk chair.
~*~
“And Henry’s still giving you the silent treatment, huh?” David asked as he tipped the last of his beer into his mouth and flagged the bartender for another.
“Aye, for the most part.” Killian rotated his glass of rum on the bar, resisting the urge to swallow the drink in one large gulp.
“He’ll get over it. You were right to punish him. He lied to Emma and it sounds like he’d been shirking a lot of his schoolwork.”
Killian sighed. “I know, but how much of that is his fault? All the battles we’ve been fighting, he’s been fighting them too. Given the effect it’s had on Emma, can I expect Henry, who is not yet a man grown, to have dealt with it any better?” He sipped from his glass, savoring the taste of the top shelf rum he’d ordered before swallowing it and letting it warm his chest.
“I’m not saying there aren’t good reasons for Henry’s behavior,” David responded, peeling at the label on his empty beer bottle. “There definitely are. But you can be cognizant of that and offer him support in dealing with those issues while still being firm about your expectations of him.” He clapped Killian on the back. “Trust me, you’re doing fine.”
Killian smirked. “Leading a band of pirates was easier.”
“Yeah, well, no one ever said being a parent was easy.”
That label took Killian aback. “I’m not really—”
“A stepparent is still a parent. It’s right there in the name.” He accepted his fresh beer from the bartender with a nod. “And I’m saying you’re being a good one, so take the compliment, Hook.”
They drank in silence for a minute before David spoke up again. “What did you mean about the effect it’s had on Emma?”
“She’s… struggling at the moment,” he said evasively, unsure what Emma would want him to share with her father.
“How so?”
“We’ve had so many traumas in rapid succession, I don’t think she can let herself believe that there isn’t another villain on the horizon. That we’re actually going to get some peace.”
“The honeymoon trip should help her relax,” David said. Killian raised his eyebrows at that, which made David grimace. “Ugh, I just mean getting out of Storybrooke would be good for her.”
“I agree, but she won’t go. Or at least, she says she’s not ready to go.” He took another sip of rum. “I don’t know how to convince her that she doesn’t have to keep sacrificing her happiness for the sake of this town.”
“Yeah, I’m afraid she gets that from Snow and me.” David frowned and looked down at the bar. “I could talk to her…”
“No, she might be cross with me for even mentioning it to you. She’s always so capable and strong; it’s hard for her to depend on other people. Or to be seen as weak,” Killian added.
“It’s not weak—”
“I know, mate.”
Grumpy and Happy came through the doors of the bar at that point, raising the decibel level in room significantly as they called out to other patrons before coming over and greeting David and Killian. When they left to go sit at a table, Killian rolled his next statement around in his mouth, debating whether to actually say it out loud.
“I just want to make her happy,” he said quietly.
“You do.” David held his gaze. “There is no doubt in my mind that no matter what else Emma is dealing with right now, you do make her happy. It still annoys me, frankly.”
Chuckling, Killian stood up and put some cash on the bar, trying to think of an equally good comeback. Instead he held out his hand to his father-in-law. “I’d best be getting home. Thank you for the advice.”
“Any time, Killian.”
~*~
“Shit.”
Killian looked up from his desk, where he was very slowly filling out a report on his computer, typing with two fingers. He could have had this done already if Emma would just let him fill out these reports with a pen, but she said she’d never get the station digitized if he kept creating more paper records. Why that was a priority of hers, he still didn’t quite understand.
“What is it, darling?”
“I’m supposed to be at the school in half an hour for that meeting with Henry’s teachers that Regina set up, but I’m also supposed to be at a meeting with the fire chief that I’ve already postponed three times. Fuck. I read my stupid calendar wrong.” She was staring at her cell phone accusingly, as if it had betrayed her.
“Can I go to the meeting with the fire chief for you?” he asked.
“No, that will only piss him off.”
“Then can I go to the meeting with Henry’s teachers?”
Emma looked thoughtful at that suggestion. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. You’re more familiar with his schoolwork situation right now than I am. Would you mind?”
“Not at all. Anything to lighten your burden.”
She dropped Killian off at the high school on her way to the fire station, and he managed to find his way to the room she’d instructed him to go to with a minimum of difficulty. Regina was already standing in the hall, the shadows of her high-heeled shoes casting a long and grotesque shape onto the polished floor.
“What are you doing here?” she asked with her usual lack of tact.
“Emma had a conflict, so I’m here in her place.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “I set up this meeting for myself and Emma. His mothers.”
Killian tried not to feel hurt at that, and drew himself up to his full height. “Surely as his stepfather I can offer some wisdom. I have been monitoring his time spent on homework fairly closely the last few days.”
“I didn't realize English literature was a prerequisite for becoming a pirate. You’d probably just as soon set him to work swabbing the decks of your ship than send him to school,” she grumbled.
“I happen to think that school is important, Regina,” he said patiently. It’s not as if the two of them had ever really talked about this, so maybe he couldn’t blame her for knowing so little about him. “I spent my childhood laboring as an indentured servant, and the only reason I learned to read was the pains my brother took to teach me by the light of a single candle, belowdecks.”
She gave him an appraising look. “I suppose you are reasonably educated,” she allowed.
“Well, what I didn’t learn at my brother’s knee, I learned in the Royal Naval Academy.”
Regina’s resulting expression was somehow simultaneously impressed and annoyed. “Henry isn’t a naval cadet. You can’t captain him into submission.”
“I’m aware of that. And for what it’s worth, I think he may be experiencing the aftereffects of everything we’ve been through, including Emma and me being Dark Ones, me dying, Robin dying, you splitting into two people, his grandparents being under a sleeping curse, and then of course the final battle. So mostly, now that none of us are dead or battling evil or cursed or grieving, I think he needs our support to get past all of those terrible experiences.”
Regina raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised by his insight. “I… agree.”
“Good.”
“He may not forgive you for taking his phone away for a while,” she said.
“I know.”
Regina smirked, but it seemed to be one of grudging approval.
The door to the classroom opened, and Mrs. Ritchie, the bubbly English teacher, beckoned them inside. Killian introduced himself to the others of Henry’s teachers and to the assistant principal, Dr. Wardmore. Dr. Wardmore was a tall woman with her hair in a severe bun and glasses perched on the end of her nose. None of them seemed to think it was odd that Killian was there and Emma wasn’t, and he relaxed a bit. He and Regina were invited to sit in two other school desks, pulled into a circle with those that the school staff were already seated in. Killian sat down, resting his hooked arm along the armrest that connected the desk to the chair. A couple of the teachers eyed it nervously.
Regina immediately took control of the meeting, which wasn’t surprising, Killian thought. For the moment, he decided to sit back and watch her go.
“I called this meeting so that we could get a complete picture of Henry’s semester. To be frank, I was quite disappointed to learn that we were not informed more promptly that he had missed assignments in some of his classes so that we could take more swift action to correct it.”
The array of teachers before them glanced at each other nervously. Mr. Howard, the history teacher, spoke up. He was a short, balding man with a kindly demeanor. “I appreciate your concern, Mayor Mills.” He glanced through some notes. “I did try to call on a couple of occasions, and I was told you and Ms. Swan were… trapped in a mirror?”
Regina bowed her head slightly to concede that point.
The assistant principal cleared her throat. “We obviously have a pattern of absences going back over a year with Henry. Several weeks missed because he was in Camelot, another several days in ‘the Underworld’, sporadic absences here and there that we were told after the fact were due to funerals, or an unexpected trip to New York, or issues involving the Evil Queen... “ She fiddled with an earring nervously. “You know, when there were two of you… not that you’re evil, Ms. Mills.”
“Henry made up the work he missed when he was unable to be at school,” Regina said, putting on her haughtiest expression.
“Some of it,” Dr. Wardmore replied.
“He has often turned in things late for my class, and when asked to explain, has said his duties as ‘The Author’ required his attention,” said Ms. Collins, the math teacher, a woman in a threadbare cardigan with frizzy hair.
Killian and Regina glanced at each other. While that was perhaps occasionally true, Killian wondered if Henry had been playing the author card a little too liberally.
Before Regina could argue, Killian held his hand out to stop her speaking. “I think we can all agree that it was a difficult year for our family. For all of Storybrooke, actually, but most of the challenges we faced hit the royal family the hardest. We don’t want to make excuses for Henry, but he’s faced some rather extraordinary circumstances, and while his mothers have done what they could, they’ve had their own challenges to face.”
The assistant principal was consulting her notes again. “So the times he was tardy because he was helping his mother…” she ran her finger down a list on a piece of paper, “‘be less evil’?”
“Depending on when that was, that could be either one of us,” Regina murmured to Killian.
“Or this one, where the excuse is just listed as ‘Black Fairy’?”
Regina raised an eyebrow. “What’s your point?” she said, her anger close to boiling over. “If it weren’t for my son’s heroics during the final battle, none of us would even be here to be having this meeting.”
“We just want to make sure that Henry is well-positioned to move forward into tenth grade,” Dr. Wardmore said.
“Then let’s focus on that,” Regina said. “If you can provide him with a list of missed assignments, we will ensure that he completes them. Perhaps, if necessary, accommodations can be made for him to receive incompletes now and finish some of the work over the summer.”
Killian didn’t know what an ‘incomplete’ was, but he thought that sounded reasonable. “We will also be working together as a family to make sure that any lingering trauma from the things Henry has been through are dealt with,” Killian added.
Regina nodded, giving him a grateful glance. “Yes, precisely. With Dr. Hopper’s help, of course.”
That seemed to allay some remaining concern with the staff, as they all relaxed, looking at each other and nodding. “I think that’s excellent, Ms. Mills. If Dr. Hopper would provide a report for Henry’s file, then we can certainly make accommodations as you suggest.”
The meeting broke up shortly thereafter, and Killian walked Regina to her car. “The nerve of those people,” she said once they were out of earshot. “They’d all be dead if it weren’t for Henry.”
“They’re just trying to do their jobs,” he said.
She rolled her eyes and pulled out her keys, unlocking her car. “Do you want a ride back to the sheriff’s station?”
“Thank you, I’d appreciate that,” he said, walking around to the passenger side. He slid into the leather seat of Regina’s Mercedes, enjoying how comfortable it was compared to Emma’s vehicle. He leaned his head back on the headrest and closed his eyes as Regina backed out of her parking spot.
“Thanks,” she said, “for the things you said in there.”
“I only said what was true,” he answered without opening his eyes.
There was a long pause as she drove. “I’m glad Henry has you… as a stepfather,” she said, clearly finding paying him a compliment excruciating.
Killian thought about returning a snarky comment, but decided against it. He opened his eyes and turned to look at her in profile. “I love him as if he were my own, Regina. I’ll always do what I can to support him.”
She glanced at him quickly, then back at the road. If he wasn’t mistaken, her eyes were slightly glassy with tears. “I’m counting on it.”
~*~
Killian tapped on Henry’s bedroom door with his hook. There was a long pause before he heard ‘come in’ from the other side.
He opened the door to see Henry seated at his desk, typing on his laptop. “I’m doing homework, you don’t have to check on me all the time,” he said without looking up.
“Actually, I was thinking of getting pizza, and I wondered what you wanted on it,” Killian said mildly. He was getting used to letting Henry’s retorts roll off of his back.
Henry looked up, skeptical. “Not anchovies.”
“Not anchovies,” Killian agreed. “We can get pepperoni, if you really want those greasy red discs.”
“Yes!” he cheered, and then his grin faltered. “We could just get pepperoni on one half, and then something you like on the other.”
“That sounds like a fine compromise. I’ll go telephone the pizza restaurant and place the order.” He started to close Henry’s door.
“Hey, Hook?”
“Yes?”
“Later, do you wanna maybe… do some sparring in the yard?”
Killian’s heart skipped a beat. “I would love that, lad. I’ll go find the practice swords in the shed.”
“Okay, cool. Um, any chance I can get my phone back soon?”
“Let’s see what grade you get on the make-up algebra test you’re taking tomorrow, shall we? And then I’ll consider it.”
Henry sighed, but he didn’t look angry. He even smiled at Killian. “I’m gonna ace that test, so I’m pretty sure that phone’s as good as mine.”
Killian grinned back. “That’s the spirit.”
CHAPTER 5
211 notes ¡ View notes
lia-nikiforov ¡ 8 years ago
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Spring Amiami Haul: YOI goodies and other stuff!
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Remember how I keep saying that I’m unemployed and poor as dirt? Well, I still am both things, but money’s not gonna save anyone when the Orange Overlord kills us all so I’ll have my YOI merch with extra avocado pls. Thought it would be cute and funny to let you in on my road to financial self-destruction and maybe convince you to buy some of these things and throw money at Yuri on Ice becuse it might be officially and irrevocably the best selling anime of 2016 but this is Sayokan and she needs ALL THE MONEYZ to make that movie this isn’t quite how anime is made but i believe in principle the more money that gets thrown into any series’s products in any capacity, the more money will get thrown into its production see Attack on Titan. In this post we’ll look at my March and April purchases and cry over how beautiful these things are and how poor I am.
Starting with the March set, which is comparatively smaller
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First we have the Yuri!!! on Ice school calendar which I bought basically because I wanted a calendar and the MAPPA one was too costly with shipping charges and I thought I couldn’t make that expense (how innocent I was). It’s a cute lil’ thing, with a few funny things in it and also a bit of design laziness which is a bit sad. To get the bad stuff out of the way first, as you can see, the cover illustration is completely original and our boys are looking very smart in those suits, nothing wrong with that...
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except half of the calendar pages are just the same illustration, just individually. So we have Victor alone for one page (June-July), Yurio alone for another and Yuuri alone in the last one. I would’ve rather they used other official illustrations instead of recycling the cover thrice over ):. THe remaining three illustrations are cute, I particularly like the one for December-January, Yuuri looks so pure :3
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What’s weird and funny about this calendar is they decided, for some inexplicable reason, to have it all in Russian. The names of the days and months are ALL in Russian, and cyrillic to boot. Idk what they were going for but it’s quirky and unique, so I like it. It’s not like I actively use calendars anyway, I just use them to tear them apart and stick the illustrations on my walls. The calendar is available on amiami
On to the next item
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A relatively simple phone cleaner strap, nothing much to say about it. It’s punipuni like Yuuri’s off-season chub (still can’t believe this is a canon thing) and works good for a quick clean of your screen if you’re not home. This one is currently sold out on Amiami, but they might restock eventually (wow that cost more than I remember, I was so liberal with my money when I had job lol)
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The last item from the March haul is this acrylic accessory stand that depicts Yuuri at the end of his free skate in China. I don’t even own or wear any jewelry or accessories, but I just had to have it, it’s so beautiful ;----; Cup of China Yuuri is very important to me, ok? You can see I’m using it to hold my kanzashi and an ear-pick lol. Ngl I thought it would be big enough to hold my smartphone, but it isn’t and I don’t care, he’s beautiful. He’s still available on Amiami, and there are other designs to choose from too. If a girl like me who wears no jewelry could find room for it, I’m sure you can too!
Now, onto the April stuff
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Firstly there’s these two cleaning cloths depicting Victor and Yuuri from the first Key visual which I love. I’ve also tested them and they’re really effective, even without cleaning liquid. They’re a bit more plastic-y than the one I had before so they don’t leave any fuzz on the screen, which is gr9. These were kind of a spur of the moment purchase half of my YOI stuff has been spur of the moment purchases because I thought amiami would flat-rate EMS and since I expected the box to be big given how it came with two figures and a coin case and a keychain, I thought SAL would be like 1800ish (what I paid the last time I had a figma and Nendoroid shipped together) and EMS 2000 and figured 200 yen would be worth not having to wait three months for the items to arrive, so I could have the luxury of making it a true huge haul. Turns out 1) There isn’t a flat rate on EMS 2) SAL was only 1300, so I went for SAL and it arrived so fast it was like a Golden Week miracle.
Aaaanyway, these are still available on Amiami, as well as a Yurio variant and they’re also pretty big –you can see they cover the figure boxes-, I recommend them if you’re looking for a new cleaning cloth or smth.
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Next we have this adorable Victor keychain which is waaay bigger than I thought it would be I really need to start paying attention to sizes (for reference, from skate to skate he’s about  1 cm shorter than a Nendoroid). I don’t particularly understand the buzz for “Pinched” character goods, but this one I bought at a time in which I was restless because I wanted to throw money at Sayokan but the BDs weren’t affordable at all –even now, counting ALL the YOI shit I’ve preordered, and I’ve shit PO’ed up til August, I don’t even come close to what buying all the BDs would’ve cost- and these keychains came out for preorder and I loved how Victor had his legs so dramatically extended, so I impulse pre-ordered him lol. Of course, I’m not actually gonna use it as a keychain because I’m afraid his legs would break given what a rough treatment my keys go through, but I’ll hang him from a shelf and he’ll look cute :3
He’s still available at Amiami along with Yurio, Yuuri and Makkachin and I’m fairly certain there are also cellphone strap versions if that’s what you prefer.
And last but not least (since I forgot to take individual pics of the figures and I haven’t even unboxed them yet, I’ll do those in a separate post) we have this beautiful beautiful beautiful coin case!
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Like I just don’t have any words, it’s just so beautiful, it completely surpassed all my expectations. It has so many little details I want to cry.
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The synthetic leather is so soft and the baby blue color is adorable and the print looks even better in person than in the prototype, it’s such a lovely pattern too.
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What made it a deal-breaker for me was this little depiction of the hair-poke, literally end my life
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I’ll admit this isn’t my favorite type of coin case because I feel it’s prone for dropping money, especially if you’re carrying a lot of coins (not a problem for me since I don’t have money at all :’D), but I literally couldn’t care less, it’s so beautiful and perfect I will treasure it forever. I can’t possibly overstate how in love I am with this thing.
Playful Mind company has a variety of designs of different items such as phone cases, card cases, ticket holders etc, with this and other cute patterns, so I totally recommend you check them out, most of them seem to still be available on Amiami :D A+++ recommend, I honestly feel tempted to buy another one with a different design just because they’re so pretty.
 BONUS
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Yes, if you thought I wouldn’t take this opportunity to once again flaunt my beloved calendar, light of my life, my everything, you were WRONG. Like I said before, I originally didn’t intend to buy it because the shipping costs were so insane at CDJapan, but I succumbed when preview pictures started flooding in and turned out to be way more beautiful than I ever expected orz.  Barely scraped in the last few days of preorders, and now it’s sold out af.
Also, I originally planned to get the Yuri on Life guidebook and take it to be autographed to the convention –in case you missed it, see my report of this most momentous occasion here- but the guidebook was delayed (and has been delayed three times as of this writing, still have it PO’ed though) so this beautiful calendar became The Chosen One. I love it so much, literally bury me with it when I die.
That’s all for this season, next one probably won’t be until late August when I’ve gotten both Nendos cos there’s no point in separating them. I’d hoped this would be longer and include the Animestyle, Yuri on Life and Go Yuri Go books but since the latter two got delayed yet again and I’m too poor to afford separate shipments, it’ll all have to wait til late fucking June *sobs* But hey, the summer haul is gonna be monstrous *my YOI wallet sobs*
Like I said, who’s gonna need money when the Orange Overlord kills us all. I just hope he holds off until I get my Yuuri and Victor Nendoroids though
It’s four am I’m sorry I’m in highkey idiot mood.
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