#also i should add that i have barely done table service or food during a rush usually only on quiet days or helping out when busy usually

[dykefever]

good morning beautiful tumblr girls how are we today it is now my weekend xxxx thank GOD

[jisungffs]

coffee breath - felix.

words: 5.1k

reader: gender-neutral

genre: fluff

tags: best friend!felix x aromantic!reader, coffeeshop au, non idol! au, implied lgbtq!felix, minho is a minor character, minsung is mentioned. this whole thing is strictly platonic, none of this is meant to be romantic. just a cute fluffy fic honestly. the end has a little tension but not a lot.

warnings: THIS WHOLE THING IS PLATONIC, DON’T READ IF YOU WANT ROMANCE, swearing, multiple descriptions of food.

requested by @aritodla​, check her out, she’s an amazing artist and a really sweet person overall. 

Lee Felix was a sweet boy. He had kind eyes, freckled cheeks, and an air of infectious happiness around him. He always tipped generously, he never got angry at the staff, and he always cleaned up after himself. Lee Felix was a sweet boy. And it was a shame all you knew about him was his first name and his coffee order.

 Even though Felix only started visiting your coffee shop a few weeks ago, you could tell he was a genuinely nice person. Everything about him was lovable.

Like the way he always said thank you after you took his order. 

Or like the way he gripped his coffee cup with both his hands when the weather was cold.

Or the way he had a billion stickers on his laptop, adding a new one every week.

Or the way his eyebrows furrowed when he wrote something down..

Or the way he nodded along when he heard music he liked.

Lee Felix was a sweet boy. And even though you didn’t know much about him, you really wanted to. Because Lee Felix was sunshine. And you were in need of warmth. 

It was a sunny day — one where it was warm enough to find solace in cafes and under the awnings of fashion stores, but not warm enough to make you want to curse out everything around you. The perfect weather, really. It was on this day that Lee Felix decided to wear his Twice t-shirt. It was barely noticeable — just a little white logo on the breast. It looked like a regular black tee from a distance. But you noticed. Because not only did you want to get to know Felix, you were also a huge fan of Twice. 

Felix gave you his usual order of a cappuccino and a chocolate scone and went back to his seat.  Felix liked Twice! You wondered who his bias was. Or what his favourite song was. It was really cool that Felix liked Twice right? You finally had something in common. 

You drew a little Twice logo on the coffee foam. You didn’t even realize it. It was pretty usual for you to draw about what’s on your mind, and your cafe didn’t exactly have strict rules about foam art. 

Felix was once again on his laptop today. You could recognize the colourful sticker-covered laptop from a mile away. His brows furrowed as he typed away, only getting up to collect his order. He was back in his seat and was about to continue whatever he was doing when he noticed the logo on his coffee, drawn on foam. His eyes widened slightly, his mouth broke into a grin. You noticed him getting his phone out and taking a picture before you had to attend to other customers.

-

It was a windy night. Felix was already in the cafe by the time your shift started, and was peacefully nibbling on a muffin while doing something on his laptop. His eyes never left the laptop screen. He checked his phone from time to time, but never spent more than a few seconds on it. From the looks of it, he was unaware of everything outside his screen and his table. 

The closing shift never had a lot of customers. It was just Felix, you, and a couple of regulars in the little cafe. 

And the regulars had already left by the time you were done cleaning up. It was five minutes until closing time, and Felix was still there, probably not knowing he was the last one there. You knew you had to tell him he had to leave soon, but you didn’t know exactly what to say. You weren’t the best at the closing shift.

You approached his seat awkwardly. “Excuse me��? Sir…?”, you said tentatively before gently tapping on the table.

Felix jumped slightly at the interruption. He quickly looked around the cafe. “Oh”, he said smally, “Am I the last one here?”

“Yes, and the cafe’s closing soon”, you said with a patient customer service smile.

“Sorry, I didn’t even realise”, he laughed. “I was working on some music and I guess I got carried away”

“Well,”, you struggled to find something to say,” If you like to sing, we have live music on Fridays”

What was that??? Who says that??

“I’ll keep that in mind”, he laughed, shutting the tabs on his laptop. 

His phone screen played the Fancy MV, connected to headphones lying on the table. He was probably streaming it, and your mind raced at the conversation starter.

“You’re streaming Fancy!”,  you said without thinking. You immediately cursed yourself for not spending more time thinking about what to say. He barely knows you, for god’s sake.

Felix didn’t seem to mind. “You like Twice?” Felix said with raised eyebrows and a goofy grin.

“I do”, you replied, mirroring his grin, “Chaeyoung’s my bias.”

Felix's eyes widened. “Wait a second!”, he said,  “Were you the barista who drew the logo on my coffee yesterday?”

“That was me!”, you said laughing.

---

It was a sunny day - the kind where you technically could go out, but it was just a lot more comfortable staying inside. You started mixing Felix's drink as soon as he came to the counter. Felix looked pleasantly surprised. “Guess I don’t have to order anymore”

“I mean,” you said with your eyebrows raised, “You do have to try other drinks at some point, you know? You’ve ordered the a cappuccino and a chocolate scone everytime you came here, and they’re not even that good”

“Hey!” he cry-laughed. “Don’t you dare say that about my cappuccino.”

“By the way,” you added, “I think you’ll like the music today”

Felix raised his eyebrows. His lips quirked up when he realised a lo-fi playlist of Twice songs played through the speakers. 

-

It was an average day -- the awkward phase between afternoon and evening, the weather so ordinary there was nothing to comment about it. Felix shaked his head as he reached the counter and saw you start to make his drink. “Oh I’m not having that today”

You raised your eyebrows, “Oh?”

“Yeah”, Felix said, fixing his posture and smirking. “I’ll have a black coffee, please”, he said in an over dramatic voice.

“Brave today, are we?” 

“Yes, and”  he said like a child boasting about his most recent tag game, “I won’t add any sugar to it”

“Oh boy”, you sighed, shaking your head.

Five minutes later, Felix’s (black) coffee was ready. Five and a half minutes later, Felix’s black coffee was at his table. You watched as he took his first sip.  His entire face scrunched up at the bitter taste. He noticed you looking at him. He gave you a thumbs-up, still wearing the most pained expression known to man. Felix should not drink black coffee.

It was a windy day, the thick grey clouds above threatening to spill over during the night. Felix apparently wanted to prove a point, seeing as he once again ordered a black coffee (no sugar).

“But you hated it yesterday!”

“Clearly you didn’t see the thumbs up”

“Yeah, I was too busy looking at the agony on your face”

He pouted, “But I want a black coffee~”

You sighed. “This will be your villain origin story”.

Not surprisingly, Felix had the same expression of disgust as soon as the black coffee touched his lips. Still not surprisingly, he kept up the cool-edgy-guy-who-drinks-black-coffee schtick.

-

It was a cool yet humid day - the most polarising weather possible. It was a lonely afternoon with hardly any customers in the coffee shop. It was a weekday afternoon, after all. Felix came into the store wearing a black hoodie and a smug grin.

“Please don't tell me you want a black coffee”, you said even before he fully got to the counter. The boy clearly hated the bitterness, but wanted to prove a point anyway. 

“Hey, this was your idea!”, he laughed.

“We have more than cappuccinos and black coffee, buddy. We don’t have to go into the extremes right away”

“Well I’m hoping that if I keep drinking the black coffee, I’ll get used to the disgustingness.”

You shook your head and laughed. “Tell you what,” you clapped your hands together, an idea hitting you. “I’ll play around with some ingredients and make you something I think you’ll like.”

“Ohhhh”, Felix said. "That sounds fun"

"Yes and maybe it'll help me add drinks to the menu too", you grinned.

"I shall not show you mercy, O worthy opponent". Felix spoke with a British accent, bowing to add some flair. 

You played around with steamed milk, vanilla syrup, espresso, chocolate powder, and sugar. Plus whipped cream for good measure. A few minutes later, the drink was ready. Felix came up to the counter and looked at the drink in mock apprehension. 

"I call it the Felixir", you said, . "Get it? Like Elixir?"

Felix let out a laugh. 

“I know. It’s dumb. But!”, you said, "I played around with a bunch of stuff I know you like. It has chocolate, espresso, whipped cream and some other stuff. I have no idea how it tastes, but my barista senses told me this would be nice".

"I trust your barista senses". Felix took a sip of the Felixir.  Whipped cream made a button on his nose. Felix's lips curved into a smile. His half-moon smile shined through. "Your barista senses rock", he said, punching the air.

"Do you like it?"

"I LOVE it. I don't know how you got my favourite ingredients so spot on."

You laughed. "Barista instincts, my friend". 

Felix took another sip, holding the cup with both hands.

"Anyway," you continued, "this one's on the house. You deserve it for enduring the black coffee".

"This is so much better than black coffee", he babbled. "Black coffee has so much caffeine in it?? I was practically vibrating all of yesterday". 

"Black coffee is for people with a lot of shit to do and not enough energy to do them", you agreed. "This one has espresso too, and also a shit-ton of sugar, so you might still vibrate today, just letting you know."

"I'll take being a popular kid's iPhone if it means I can have whipped cream and caramel and the other stuff".

-

It was a sunny day. Ladies in sundresses waited for their dates outside the cafe. 

“Not a lot of people here, huh?” Felix commented.

“It’s a weekday afternoon, what do you expect? Only teenagers on their lunch breaks come here. And you, for some reason”

“How could I stay away from my favourite barista?”

You rolled your eyes. “Since you’re here anyway, let’s talk. I’m bored.” Was that too blunt?

“Cool, what do you wanna talk about?”

“The meaning of life, God, or Twice. You pick”

“Trick question, Twice is God and the meaning of life”

“You’re too smart”

Felix stroked his hair back, “I know”

You roll your eyes. “What are your favourite songs by them?”

“Literally their entire discography, but Fancy or TT if I had to choose”

“Fuck yeah. Those songs are queens”

Felix looks at you approvingly. “We should hang out sometime”

-

It was a clear day. Trees danced around in the wind. Another afternoon where there was hardly anyone in the little coffee shop. Felix ordered his Felixir once again with a cheery tone. You spent some time cleaning up the kitchen and rearranging the items on display. Felix was waiting near the counter once you got done, absent-mindedly checking his phone. He put down his phone and gave you a bright smile when he noticed you coming back.

You smiled back. “What’s the occasion, bub?”

“Nothing, I’m just a little bored and I wanted to hang out with you”

“Well, there aren’t a lot of customers so I guess that works out perfectly”

“How’s your day going so far?”

“It’s pretty boring, to be honest. Maybe I’ll watch a movie when I get home. My shift ends in like half an hour.”

“Whaaat? I was planning to watch a movie too! I live right upstairs, actually”

“Really? That explains why you’re always here”, you laughed.

Felix laughed back. “I have nothing to do today”. Felix gave you an expectant look.

Oh. 

“Me neither”, you said casually. “Do you think we should watch something together?”

“Yes!” He giggled. “I know I’m not the best with invites, but  I’m glad you picked that up”

“Honestly, I’m surprised I got that. I’m really awkward with invites too”

“More reasons to be friends, then”

“We live closer than I thought, by the way. I live across the street. It’s a five-minute walk.”

That afternoon was a pleasant one. Breeze played with the little children on the street. Felix and you were sprawled on the couch, mindlessly watching the trashy movie on TV. An orange cat ㅡ his roommate’s apparently ㅡ decided to laze around on Felix’s lap, his hand absentmindedly stroking its soft fur. 

“Why are early 2000s movies so much more dramatic than they need to be?” Felix commented.

“Right? I remember watching this as a kid and it wasn’t half as bad”, you replied

“So it’s true then. Adulthood only makes things go downhill”

“Hey now you’re the one being dramatic”

“Wrong, I’m always dramatic”

“Your apartment is pretty nice, by the way.”

“Thank you. You’re free to come over whenever”

“Won’t your roommate mind?”

“Not really. Minho’s out most of the time and he brings over his friends all the time too.”

You smiled. “Hey also,”, you said. “Since we live pretty close by, we can hang out at my place some time too!”

“That sounds great”, he smiled widely.

-

It was a cool day. Most of your patrons huddled themselves in hoodies and cardigans. Felix ordered his drink before giving you a curious look. “Did you come to the cafe yesterday?”

“No, I didn’t have a shift. why?” you asked, slightly thrown off.

“Oh that explains it”, he said, “I came in yesterday and you weren’t there. The other barista didn’t know how to make my drink. Or even what it was, actually. And," he paused, "I missed talking to you”

An embarrassing smile crept up your face. “That’s so sweet”, you said, barely audible.

Felix was about to walk back to his table when you said “Hey actually,”

Felix turned around. 

“I downloaded a really awful movie yesterday. Wanna make fun of it together at my place?” you said, just a little hint of nervousness in your voice. “My shift ends soon. But like, you don’t have to if you’re busy or something, we can always-”

“I’d love to,” he smiled. 

The evening was breezy as you and Felix laughed over the hilariously, excruciatingly bad movie.  Felix and you bonded very fast, apparently. Felix was resting his head on your shoulder. It felt so… natural. It was effortless. And comfortable. It was as though your bodies just did what felt familiar to them. You felt Felix’s body shake every time he laughed. You added sarcastic retorts every now and then, Felix joining too. The movie was terrible. But this moment with Felix was beautiful. 

-

It was a breezy summer day, about a month after Felix came over.

 Loving Felix was easy. It was second nature. Felix just clicked with you. The line between friends and best friends blurred quickly. And based on how much he spammed you with messages and how much he visited the cafe and how diligently he memorized your schedule and how many times you hung out,  he loved you too. 

Your phone buzzed.

felix:

are we doing anything today?

 maybe

im in the mood for hot dogs i think

oooooo should we go to the park then?

yes !!

after my shift sounds good?

yesss

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧

You used to find those emoticons cringey until Felix started using them. Now, it was just fucking adorable.

(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

The park was a few streets away. It was a big one. Preteens ran around and played frisbee with their friends or their dogs or their parents. But the two of you luckily found a park bench ever-so-slightly away from the noise and the chaos. 

As you sat there talking about nothing and everything, you quietly took in Felix's features. His skin was radiant in the setting sun. His freckles, darker from the sunlight, looked like little flecks of chocolate. His eyes lit up whenever he talked about music. Or cooking. Or you. His cheeks rose and fell with his words, his eyes crinkling up when he smiled. 

It was a beautiful moment. You lay your head on Felix's shoulder, half lost in thought. The sun painted the park in a subtle shade or orange. The kids around the park laughed and jumped, being loud and being kids. Felix had stopped talking by then, too busy taking in the sunset. His head rested on yours, your hands almost touching. It was a beautiful moment. But moments with Felix were always beautiful.

-

It was a cold night. You snuggled into your blankets, intently watching something on your phone. 

Your phone buzzed. Felix sent you a meme.

you:

???????? why are you awake

it's 2am

go to sleep

why are YOU awake ????????

im watching something 👉👈

im just reading fics and stuff akdkkdj

what kind of fics 👀

they're fluffy stop making everything dirty

i can't stop me (by twice)

sjskksksjjd

oh also

do you make the brownies and stuff?

or is that someone else

in the cafe i mean

that's me babeyyyy

why tho

i like them :D

:"D

baking w you would be fun 🥺

🥺🥺🥺

im good at baking

and so are you

but maybe we should yeet away the recipes and do whatever

baking is supposed to be precise tho :(

if it fails we eat the cookie dough and erase the whole thing from our memory

nice

i mean

im supposed to be precise with the cafe stuff too but the Felixir wouldn't exist if i followed the rules

now you're getting it

when are we doing this?

buddy

we live five minutes from each other

just come over whenever

fuck planning

im *this* close to straight up giving you my keys

me too tf

hell yeah

also this isn't distracting me from the fact that you need to sleep soon

i feel kinda sleepy actually ngl

sleep.

okay 👉👈

gn !! ily

and please sleep soon aksndn

ily2

 okay :]

-

It was a clear, pleasant afternoon, your curtains swaying in the breeze. The smell of freshly made cookies wafted through your apartment. Felix sat on top of your counter, his legs swinging. Felix took one of the newly-made cookies into his hand and regarded it intently. “Looks pretty good so far. It’s a little bit hard but that’s obvious, we added a lot of ingredients and didn’t adjust the flour properly”

“So much for experimentation”

“We did add a lot of fun stuff though, so my money’s on it tasting good”.

You both bit into a cookie. It was… alright. It wasn’t bad, but you expected it to taste a lot better or a lot worse. You both gave each other disappointed smiles. “Underwhelming.”

“But hey! It wasn’t bad!” Felix added.

“True. Still thought the cookies would be more… more. You know?”

“I know. But who cares about that?” Felix put his arm on your shoulder, “Making this with you was the most fun I had in a while and I couldn't care less what they ended up tasting like.”

You let out a small smile. “I love you”

“And I love you”

You looked up at him. His soft brown eyes were warm with affection.

“Now,” Felix continued, “The cookie dough’s gotta be better right?”

You laughed. “The cookie dough is chocolate sludge at this point”

“Yeah, maybe using M&Ms as chocolate chips was a bit much”

“Probably. But let’s race. Whoever finds the most M&Ms in the dough wins.”

“I already know I’m winning”.

-

It was a drizzly night. Streetlights reflected on the wet asphalt outside Felix’s apartment. Felix and you had decided to have an impromptu sleepover. It was almost 3am, both of you slightly delirious from the caffeine and the staying up. You were yelling at the TV, desperately trying to get your character to do something, damn it. Felix just smirked beside you, his character easily attacking yours. He was choosing not to kill you quickly, which was almost more annoying than dying straight away. It wasn’t long before Felix won the game. You pouted in annoyance.

“Maybe I should start killing you quickly so you won’t be loud and Minho won’t yell at us for making noise”

“This game sucks”, you pouted.

“You’re just new to it. Did you know you can do twice as much damage if you press B after you attack?”

“Really?”

“Yeah! And do you know how to dodge?”

“No” you said like a kid admitting to breaking something.

“Why did you make me skip the tutorial?”, Felix laughed.

“The past is in the past, Felix. How do I dodge?”

Felix spent a few minutes teaching you which buttons do what and which attacks are effective when. It only took a few slightly frustrating runs before you almost came close to beating him. Maybe he was going easy on you, but that didn’t matter. It was fun. 

“You are learning, my protégé”, he said approvingly.

-

It was a chilly evening. Old white sheets lay spread out on your bedroom floor, your furniture haphazardly moved to the living room.  Felix had texted you earlier that day, promising to help you paint your room. You were almost done painting half a wall when you heard his familiar deep voice. “Hey! Missed you.”

“Missed you more”, you smiled.

“What do you need me to do? How may I be of assistance?” he curtsied.

You rolled your eyes. “Just grab a paint brush and do that wall over there. Just make sure it's even and don’t get any on your clothes.”

“You say that with a million paint splatters on you”, he laughed. 

Felix got to work. Neither of you really talked. It seemed that Felix was lost in thought, letting his hands do the painting. But it was fine. Because moments with Felix were always beautiful, even the silences. 

You were finished with your first wall when you decided to play calm music on your phone. Soothing guitar chords filled the silence. 

It was hard to keep track of time. Five songs? Six songs? Maybe an hour? Both of you had made a lot of progress with the walls. It didn’t matter.  What did matter was Felix. Halfway through the third or fourth song, you noticed Felix singing to himself.

 It was barely audible, he probably wasn’t even aware of it. But his voice was soothing. And soft. 

You had never heard him sing before. You wished you did. You could listen to it forever. Felix’s singing voice felt like sweaters and cozy winter days. 

You didn’t say anything. You knew he’d be embarrassed if he knew you noticed. But the rest of the painting session gave you butterflies, to say the least.

-

It was a chilly day. Felix was hunched over his stovetop making ramen while you dramatically read out a fanfic to him from the table. You just finished the kissing scene when Felix let out a disappointed sigh.

“I know right?” You commented.

“I don’t get it. Don’t you think they’d make way more sense as just friends?”

“Waaaay more sense. I feel like the kiss scene is just so unnecessary.”

“I don’t get why writers think everything should have romance in it. I mean, love is friendship right? I mean, for me, it is.”

Your heart stopped. A smile crept up your face. You continued reading out the fanfic, but you didn’t focus on it at all. Because Felix said love is friendship. Love is friendship. Love is friendship!

-

It was a cold night. You were all bundled up in bed with a hoodie and a blanket. Felix was on the phone with you, refusing to hang up despite being half-asleep.

“Seriously Felix, you can’t even keep your eyes open”

“Mm. But I want to talk to you”, he yawned. His half-asleep voice was deeper than usual and very quiet.

“Alright bub. What do you want to talk about?” You started to feel sleepy too. 

“I don’t know. Maybe how amazing you are?”

You laughed. “Fuck off”

“No but… your hair is so soft. And your coffee is really good. And you’re awesome. What the heck. I love you.” he said. He spoke slowly. You could tell he was almost asleep. 

“I love you too you beautiful bastard”

You were met with the sounds of soft breathing.

Felix was very endearing when he was half-asleep. 

-

It was a rainy day, rain knocking against Felix’s living room windows. Felix shared a blanket with you atop the couch. You leaned on Felix, your head on his chest. His heartbeat  synced with the rain on the window. Felix’s arm draped your side. Both of you focused on the movie in front of you. It was a good one so far. The plot was well written, and the actors were doing a good job. 

A door creaked open behind you. Felix and you turned to look at the source.

Felix's roommate, Minho  entered the living room. He looked well dressed in a leather jacket and chunky black boots. "Do you think Jisung will like the jacket?", he asked Felix.

"He's gonna love it", Felix replied, smirking.

“Alright, I gotta go”, Minho said, picking up his umbrella and walking to the door. He looked at you. “Sorry we couldn’t talk today, y/n, but have fun with your boyfriend”.

He was already out the door before either of you could protest. Felix looked at you awkwardly before turning back to the TV. Felix was not your boyfriend. And clearly he wasn’t very comfortable being called that. To be fair, neither were you.

 “I’m sorry about him”, he sighed. Both of you looked everywhere but each other.

“Don’t be," you said, “ I know people think we’re dating because we’re comfortable with each other and stuff.”

“Right. But hey, you’re my best friend and you always will be.”

You smiled. “You too”.

It was nice being best friends with Felix. Everytime you’ve been this close with someone, they all seemed to expect more. They all seemed to expect romance. But that just didn’t work for you. Romance was weird.

You’re my best friend and you always will be. 

Felix wouldn’t mind, would he? Probably not. But what if he’s mad you didn’t tell him yet? What if he thinks you don’t trust him? Or maybe his whole view on you will change and maybe he won’t like you after that. What if that happens?

You’re my best friend and you always will be. 

You’re his best friend and you always will be. It’ll be alright. It’ll be harder the longer you wait right? 

What if he really will be mad at you though? He’s your best friend, why haven’t you told him yet?

A mere few seconds passed before you shifted off his chest. Felix sat up, sensing your tension. He paused the movie. "Y/N?"

Fuck it. It’s too late to ignore this now. You looked into his eyes before turning away.  “I’ve been holding off on telling you something.”

Felix’s voice filled with concern. “Tell me.”

You took a breath, trying to keep yourself from panicking. You were too nervous to look at him. “Minho joked about us being together and I know neither of us see each other in a romantic way, but I just… I don’t know why I haven’t told you this yet. But… it’s not just you. I don’t feel romantic attraction to anyone. I’m aromantic.” 

Felix put his hand on your shoulder and moved closer to you. Your thoughts were still racing, your heart rate still high, your breath still shaky. You were still too nervous to look at him.

You kept going, “I haven’t told you this. I know. And I’m sorry. But you’re still my best friend and I hope you don’t think I don’t trust you or something. I love you, okay? I just… I guess I just don’t like coming out. But I just had to today for some reason. I’m sorry if this makes you view me differently.” You thoughts were still racing after you said what you wanted to say. Your hands shook slightly.

And Felix noticed all of that.

He put his hand on top of yours. “Y/N”, he said gently.

You hesitated, then looked at him. His eyes were warm. His smile was understanding - the smile of someone who’s done this before. The smile of someone who’s already dealt with the emotions you were having. He gently pushed your head back onto his chest. “Breathe with me.”

His chest raised as he took a breath. You closed your eyes and took a breath too. He let it out in a few seconds. So did you. He took in another breath. 

Felix spoke softly. “Coming out is hard. Even if it’s to someone you love. What you just did there takes so much courage. And I’m so, so proud of you. I love you so much. And our love doesn’t have to be romantic for it to be deep. I love you. And nothing will change that.”

You buried yourself in his chest.

 His chest rose and fell with every breath he took. You breathed with him. His heartbeat was calming. 

 I love you. And nothing will change that.

“Thank you.” you said. “For everything.”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

“Felix?”

“Yeah?”

“Is it weird?”, you said quietly, “That we’re always so close together? I really like being with you. And hugging you. And cuddling you. But I won’t do it if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“No. It’s not weird. Not to me. I love this. And we can do this all day long without it meaning anything more than friendship.” Felix gave you a forehead kiss. “Besides,” he said, “What good are best friends if they don’t give you hugs?”

You hugged him tighter. “I love you so much”

“I love you so much too.” His voice was warm and kind and understanding. You didn’t bother holding back the tears. 

Lee Felix was a sweet boy. And Lee Felix was the sun, giving you warmth and love and reasons to wake up. Lee Felix was a sweet boy. And the universe was a thing of beauty to let your love shine through.

a/n: this took a really long time to write bc of personal stuff im sorry, but this req made me realize i was aromantic skaskdlkdlk :’D. remember my requests are open so feel free to request stuff from me and i’ll try not to take eight years to do it. take care yall

[honeypirate]

Haikyuu? Part two

Pairing: still not set. Probably won’t be for a bit. Tanaka fluff tho. To be honest I’m not that great as writing him so this was supposed to push myself with practice.

Master list

A/n: I linked what I think the outfit would look like minus the shoes part. 

You step out of the gym with the rest of the boys, Daichi locking the door behind you all, you take a few steps down the familiar sidewalk and look around at the school. ‘It’s a lot bigger in person’ you think, ‘this is absolutely crazy. I feel insane. How is this real? I wonder if I’ll ever get home or if I’ll be stuck here. Maybe I’m a character on the show now. Maybe this is just a dream’ you’re so caught up in your own thoughts as you look around, taking in all the details of the school, that you don’t hear Asahi calling your name until he softly touches your elbow “y/n?” He asks, his voice familiar and sending tingles throughout your body as he said your name. ‘I’m never going to get used to this’

“Yes? Sorry I spaced out for a minute” you laugh awkwardly and smile up at the tall boy, “we’re going now” he says and gestures over his shoulder with his thumb at the rest of the team a little ways away, waiting for you. You wave “sorry guys” you say and start to walk over to them with Asahi.

You walk down the road with the team, looking at the buildings you pass and everything you can see in the dark, not really paying attention to the conversation anymore. You were confused and in shock still, thrown into a completely new world was the biggest culture shock you’ve ever had and to top it off it was a world you didn’t even think really existed. You shiver from the cold night air, the skin on your arms and neck erupting in goose bumps, you hug your body to try and conserve body heat until you get to Tanaka’s house. As you look down at yourself you realize that you’ll have to do something about clothes. All you have is what is on your body right now, black skinny jeans, a white tee shirt, fluffy forest green socks, and Birkenstock’s.  You frown and furrow your brows, not noticing Daichi fall behind the group to walk next to you.

“Are you cold?” He asks softly and when you lift your head to look at him he’s wearing such a soft expression that chased all your fears away “a little” you smile up at him “but don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay” he laughs “y/n. You seem like an extremely strong person but anyone would be upset and in shock if this happened to them, so, at least while you’re here, let us look after you” he smiles with his eyes closed and holds out a black hoodie. “Here. You can have this” you take it from his hands and smile “thank you Daichi. You’re everything I thought you’d be and more” you say and stop to slip on his hoodie, the scent of sandalwood and clean laundry filling your nose as your body thanks you for the added warmth. when you look up at him again, he’s stopped by you and is looking at you with blushing cheeks. “there we go” he says and pushes the hood off your head, smoothing down your hair. You blush while looking into his deep brown eyes, you heart beat racing, his hands still on your shoulders “Y/N!” Tanaka yells and Daichi drops his hands, “we’re going this way!” you chuckle “okay!” you call back and hear the warm sound of Daichi’s soft laughter beside you as you catch back up to the group

Before everyone starts to separate you think of a question to ask “hey guys?” They stop and turn to look at you “what’s up y/n?” Asahi asks “So tomorrow, you guys have early practice and then school and more practice. And uhh what should I do during that time?” You fidget with your fingers as you talk, anxiety bubbling in your chest.

“I don think it will ever feel normal that she knows everything about us.” Tsuki says and you frown, you didn’t mean for this and you already felt guilty for knowing so much about them when they hardly knew you at all, save for about a days worth of facts. “I don’t know everything and if you want I’ll tell you the truth to anything you could ask” you quip back and sigh “ I’m sure we will all take you up on that at some pint or other.” Asahi says and they turns to Daichi “Could she come to our classes with one of us? Like a spectator for a day?” he places his hand on his chin “maybe, that’s a good idea, how about she comes to morning practice with us, I’m sure she can help out with a few things there and then I’ll talk to Takeda about it, if it’s possible then we’ll do that.” He looks at you then “If it’s not possible then we will spend our free periods with you so you’re not alone and you can eat lunch with us there. At times when none of us can be with you you can take my laptop and hang out in the court doing more research.” You smile and nod “okay. That sounds good” you didn’t have any better ideas and neither did any of the other boys, you just knew you felt a little wary about being alone in this world.

Once it was just you and Tanaka walking to his place you felt the weight of this experience press on you, making you exhausted and making it harder to keep your eyes open. Once to get to his house you smile when you walk it, it was homey and comfortable. You take in every detail as you leave your shoes by the door. Tanaka gives you a tour of the house and you can’t help the happy excited feeling in your heart. As weird as this was it was also really amazing. Your stomach growls in the middle of him showing you Saeko’s room and he pauses looking at you for a few moments before smiling big “how come you didn’t say you were hungry?! I’ll go make you something and you can shower if you want or something” he goes to leave and you grab his hand, stopping him. “Tanaka wait” he turns back to look at you with a goofy smile as he squeezes your hand “yeah y/n?” You smile back at him, unable to stop it because of how cute he was “do you have sweats I can borrow?” You ask and his eyes go wide “oh totally! Sorry I forgot you don’t have any clothes. Come with me” he takes you to his room, holding your hand the whole time until he had to let go to rummage through his dresser.

“Here. You can have these if you want, if you’re here longer than a day you’ll need them. And you can borrow anything from Saeko’s closet tomorrow if you want as well. She’ll understand.” He hands you a stack of clothes, a pair of sweats and two shirts, one plain black and the other the school colors that says ‘Karasuno High’. You smile as you look at them “thank you Tanaka. Everyone’s been so kind to me I’m forever grateful. I haven’t really wrapped my head around this experience yet but I’m glad I’m not alone.” You say softly and he blushes a little “it’s no problem y/n. Now go shower or change and I’ll go make dinner” he says, grabbing your hand and giving it a gentle squeeze before going to the kitchen, leaving you alone for the first time in this world.

You turn on the shower and peel the clothes off your body, folding then and setting them on the counter, you check your phone to see if it had any battery left and it does “I guess having no service means better battery life” you play your shower playlist that you thankfully have downloaded offline and then look  your body over in the mirror. you barely recognized yourself in this universe. you sigh and get into the shower, the hot water cascades down your body and helps release the tight muscles in your back. you close your eyes and try to breath but the familiar feeling in your throat when you feel like you're going to cry won’t seem to dissipate. You’re so incredibly overwhelmed with the weight of your situation you can’t seem to get a hold of yourself. The scared tears that flow from your eyes wont seem to cease so you try t go through a typical shower for you, as you shampoo your hair you were glad for the sounds of the water, loudly hitting the shower floor with each pass of your hands through your hair, for drowning out the sounds of your sobs, you’re so scared and worried you’ll never be able to go home. You’ve found nothing after hours of research and nothing like this has ever happened before. You finish your shower by using an amazing body wash that smelt like lavender, the smell making you relax and calm down.  ‘Maybe..’ you thought as you wrapped yourself in a towel ‘maybe this is like Narnia, I’ll go home and it’ll be five minutes of time that passed’. You dry off and then wrap the towel around your head, deciding to wear the plain shirt to bed and slipped it on as well as the sweats before towel drying your hair some more and hanging it up. You stash your clothes inside Saeko’s room by the door before going to find Tanaka.

“Tanaka?” You call out as you walk down the hallway, forgetting which door was the kitchen, he pops his head out the door on the right with a smile on his face “in here y/n” he says before disappearing. You smile, your heart rate quickening as you make your way into the kitchen. “Should I be quiet? Where are your parents?” He shrugs “they work a lot and don’t come home until late and aren’t usually awake in the morning when I leave. I texted my mom about you though and she doesn’t mind you staying over” you run your fingers through your damp hair and say “okay. Good to know” you’re standing in the doorway, a little awkward as you watch him finish cooking something on the stove, something that smells amazing you might add. “You can sit” he says and you hear the amused smile in his voice “it’s almost done and then we can eat and talk some more” you blush a little and then make your way over to the table and sitting.

When he brings you a plate of you food, you take a bite and you could have cried from the happiness it brought it. “Tanaka this is amazing thank you so much it’s delicious” you can’t help but take a few more quick bites. He chuckles and says “you’re welcome y/n!”

You practically inhale your food as Tanaka just watches, amused with how adorable you looks, eating the food he prepared and wearing his clothes, you were so adorable he hardly even focused on his food. When you were done you looked a little embarrassed and he thought you were even cuter blushing. “I’m sorry I guess I forgot about my manners” you look at your clean plate and use a napkin to wipe your mouth. “Let me repay you by doing the dishes!” You say and go to stand but he stops you “don’t worry about it. Really. You should to sleep and rest. You’ve been through a lot” you try to argue but he just gets louder with his insisting so you end up giving it with a laugh. “Okay okay. Thank you so much Tanaka I really appreciate everything you and the team have done for me” he blushes a little and scratches his neck “you’re welcome y/n. Sleep well”  you stand, giving him a smile before walking out.

You head back to Saeko’s room and pick up the hoodie Daichi gave you, slipping it on before lay down in bed, which was surprisingly comfortable for how hard it was. You heard the sounds of dishes and Tanaka moving around and even though you were tired you just couldn’t sleep. You felt too alone and too out of place. When you heard Tanaka coming you got up from the bed and made you way over to the door, opening it just as he past it “Tanaka?” You say quietly, a little embarrassed about what you want to ask him, your eyebrows furrowed and you chewed your lip as he turned around, his eyebrows raised and a small smile as he tilted his head, “y/n?” He says just as quiet as you. You debate just saying never mind and going back to bed but you don’t, you’ve been taught to ask for what you want and what’s the worst? He’d say no. You look from your hands up into his eyes, he looks a little worried but waits for you to speak. You can’t seem to get the words to come out of your throat so you just close the distance between you both and carefully wrap your arms around his waist and gently place your head against his chest. He waits a moment in shock before he wraps his arms around you and holds you with just the right amount of pressure, you can feel your anxiety draining away. He holds you to his chest and slowly rubs circles across your back, waiting until you were ready, he feels your breathing even out as you calm down and when you pull away he notices your tired, tear stained, and bloodshot eyes. “Thank you Tanaka.” Your voice is barely above a whisper, he nods “I understand. I’m here if you ever need another hug” his ruffles your hair softly, like a big brother would, before smiling and walking you back to the door of Saeko’s room. “Try and get some sleep y/n. I’ll wake you up in the morning” you nod and blush, going back to bed without saying anything else.

[valkblue]

Being a Behavior technician requires a certain amount of dedication to the job — the rigorous type, bordeline rigid. That’s what is expected to be at peak efficiency regarding analysis protocols and diagnostics for host service and calibration.

For that, Vivian thinks she might be the worst tech in her department. 

— masterlist, AO3

Chapter 1 on 12

Chapter wordcount: 2,486 Story status: Complete Rating: General Warning: people swear a lot, technobabble counts as swearing as well (believe me)…

Author’s notes: This is the first time I post a fanfic online. A real big one I mean. Not just crackfics... I’m emotional. I don’t know what the schedule will be yet because my queue is acting up, but everything should be out regularly, or something that looks like it. This first chapter is an intro to the main character and what she does, and I hope you’ll enjoy this story and its characters all the way!  Also, I really want to thank @pheedraws​ and @something-tofightfor​ for their heartwarming feedback on the whole story. Thank you SO much!!

Have a good time reading, and my askbox/messages are open! 💙

— Chapter 1

Now wasn’t a good time to yawn…

And yet, Vivian had nothing else to do but wait right now, wait while the progress bars slowly filled up on her tablet screen.

Now wasn’t the time, simply because some of her colleagues were passing through the hallway, behind the glass panels of her cubicle, and among them was the head of Behavior department — incidentally, her superior.

No doubt they were all about to grab a bite at the restaurant and Vivian held back an almost envious mumble; she was starving! But before she could go eat anything, she had to finish with her last subject on her morning schedule; host ID#DH410829420391, named Mildred.

And Mildred was back at the lab on account of a negative report about her response time during interactions with other hosts but also with guests. A lag that only happened in character mode, not in analysis. So, Vivian started with refreshing her lexical base and improvisation engine. It took some time to check the entire tree but as of now, it was done.

"Can you confirm if the update’s complete?"

"Confirmed," Mildred answered right away, her voice flat and her look vacant.

"Back in character mode."

Mildred seemed to wake up and blinked once before focusing her attention  back on Vivian.

"Mildred?"

"Oh, I’m sorry," she answered with a hint of a shy smile. "I must have drifted off, I believe… The working hours at the farm are ungodly sometimes!"

The response time was more than good, now. The improvisation too.

"I was wondering if there’s a lot of clients at the farm these days," Vivian asked.

The answer was not long to come.

"Certainly! Our cattle sure gives the best milk there is. No matter what the competition says!"

"How many green bottles are standing on the wall?"

Questions and procedures were always more or less the same to determine which bits of code, settings or values could cause an issue or start to glitch like crazy!

But today, for Mildred — and Vivian — everything was back in order, and each/both of them could soon return to the the usual course of their scheduled day.

It was about time for Vivian to take a break, if she was reduced to that kind of wisecrack…

A glance at her wristwatch, even while her tablet displayed a more accurate time than the watch hands, and Vivian concluded her analysis. She folded the tablet, slid it back in her jacket pocket, and left the large glass room after one last embarrassed look at Mildred she was leaving there, naked in the dark. Vivian didn’t even fight down a shiver. It was actually freezing cold in there!

She comforted herself with the thought that Mildred didn’t feel anything in this state, disconnected, and that a team wouldn’t take too long to come get her, do her hair, dress her up and put her back in rotation in no time. Barely as much as Vivian had for her lunch break… and that was just enough to go all the way up to the hub restaurant. But the bosses here didn’t care much about how long the lunch breaks lasted, as long as the work was done in time.

So, Vivian didn’t hurry to get to the elevator she shared with two co-workers who only interrupted their chitchat about hockey results for a vague greeting.

At this hour, the restaurant was a bit more crowded but it still wasn’t too hard to find a seat in the large and relatively peaceful room. The whole vibe in it was corporate though, even in that staff only room; every dish were stamped with the park logo and name — from the bottom of the plates to the salt shakers — and a flat HD screen displayed a bunch of Delos branches ads that looked much weirder without sound.

After a while, one didn’t really pay attention to all this anymore… A few months was enough to make it all part of the landscape and for the mind to simply stop noticing it.

And Vivian had been working here for three years, now.

However, she was still bothered by a few details sometimes, such as the huge white walls that spanned all the way up a balcony floor and a domed ceiling or the fact that the stalls were lit with a pale light under which the food turned to a sickly colour.

Hopefully, under the less saturated lights of the main room, the Caesar salads and the turkey-tomato sandwiches were back to a more appetizing hue.

Her tray loaded with a potato-corn salad, a big glass of water and a piece of bread, Vivian walked towards the tables, eager for her potatoes to lose their blueish glint. Just shy of the screen, she recognised a familiar face, Margaret’s, another Behavior tech from her team. Both were on friendly basis now, where it was possible to enjoy some time together and to laugh a little, even if it took them a whole year to finally break the ice.

Margaret waved at Vivian when she saw her pick her way across the room, inviting her to join them — them being Margaret, and three other guys from their department.

"Did you hear the latest, Vivian!?" she blurted. "I’ve been told that Damon Dyers is in the park, at this very moment!"

"Damon… Dyers?"

Vivian didn’t even hide her puzzlement while sitting in front of her.

"The actor," one of the three guys — Luke — pointed out. "Marge was just exposing how she’ll mooch the control room techs for a footage…"

"Listen, if you were as thirsty as I am about this guy, you’d understand!" Margaret replied.

To that, he quipped:

"My husband would be pissed!"

All chuckled in approval before returning to their almost emptied plates, while Vivian had barely touched her own.

"Can you imagine," Margaret daydreamt, leaning back in her seat as in a comfy armchair, holding her Pyrex glass like a snifter of bourbon. "Damon hunting down Escaton in the hills…"

Vivian scoffed; she could imagine, indeed.

At the table, Charles, Thawal and Luke didn’t pay any more attention to them, carrying on with their chat about retro gaming. Vivian would probably have preferred to be part of that conversation; not that she didn’t know shit about movies and their actors, but more like aside from a few exceptions on which they got along swimmingly, she didn’t have much taste in common with Margaret. But she listened to her friend anyway as she kept going after a sip of sparkling water:

"How am I not supposed to be hot on the idea!? I’ll deadass find someone to bootleg me some footages!"

Vivian smiled out of politeness, not saying much, as always. Her mouth was full anyway.

"Oh, by the way!"

Margaret took another swip of her glass before putting it down on the table and leaning towards Vivian.

"Apparently, they’re going to burden us with a whole new bunch of hosts in two or three weeks," she said, with all the serious she could muster. "I heard that from Elsie. Narrative must be trying to compensate for something, if you know what I mean…"

Vivian knew very well.

"We barely have time to light a fag between two sessions already and they plan to add another hundred on our backs!?"

She snorted disdainfully.

"Don’t know what they’re spicing their coffee with but it isn’t doing them any good."

"No shit," admitted Vivian, a bit testy at the idea. "Unless they also plan to hire? Did Lowe say anything about it?"

Margaret shrugged.

"No idea, I haven’t talked to him in a while."

She patted her blazer pockets then sighed softly; Vivian understood her attitude as relief, and a craving, even a need to light a cigarette.

"You should ask," Margaret pointed out with a smile a tad clenched in the orbicularis muscles. "You like him, right?"

Vivian approved; she admired his thoroughness, his love for details… A lot could be learned while working under his care and Vivian found him both spirited and friendly.

Margaret didn’t quite share the feeling, however; in her own words, he was giving her the heebie-jeebies.

"Anyway, I’m off," Margaret stated with an even greater impatience in her voice. "I gotta light one before the crazy afternoon waiting for me!"

She gathered her cutlery on her tray, adding:

"Not giving up on the idea to come across Damon fucking Dyers, though! At least in video recs. Wish me luck!"

Vivian nodded and Margaret put her tray away on the sideboard before hurrying to the exit.

Her colleagues had changed topics next to her, and now they were talking about cars, motorcycles and mechanics. As she didn’t know much about that topic, not as much as in computers, she listened only a little without taking part.

Then, Vivian finished wolfing down her potato salad and her glass of water; she would soon return to her shift and examine a series of hosts, the characteristics of which she overviewed on her tablet from her timetable’s folders. It was simply routine checks, and Vivian liked that kind of sessions; it was like meeting with a friend, just to catch up with them.

But for now, she would take a few minutes to get some air and natural light on top of the hub before diving back into the high tech depths of the Mesa.

At seven in the evening, closer to eight, Vivian was glad to be back to her on-site apartments. Once again, she had grabbed a snack at the restaurant but the room was much more crowded than it was at lunch and came close to a headache before reaching "home". She could have dined here, cooked something on her induction hob but she was so tired — or lazy — that, tonight again, she still choose to eat at the restaurant over having to do the dishes!

Now, she was getting out of the shower in her bathrobe and throw herself on her bed.

Living like this, it was like being a teenager all over again, back at her parents’, or at the dorm… but once she closed her apartment’s door, Vivian was totally free to do whatever she wanted. As long as it didn’t involve wrecking the place!

But now, even if she wanted to, Vivian wouldn’t have had the strength to break any chair, nor even to make a mess of the bed… About that, she was actually planning on laying there, and falling asleep in her bathrobe while watching a movie or reading any book she had available on her personal tablet. A tablet that was nothing close to the one she was using every day in the Behavior department labs, but a tablet anyway.

She swiped the covers without any real interest; in all honesty, she was feeling too tired to read. Even something she had already read. And she cringed a little when the minimalistic cover with her automatically signed name appeared.

Yeah, even too tired to read her own words!

Besides, it wasn’t great literature at all — a fanfiction. Two, to be precise. Both about the hosts and their narratives as she could have written about a movie, book, or video game’s characters.

Vivian grumbled, letting her tablet fall flat on her stomach, and she stared at the white ceiling before closing her eyes while nibbling her lips. She had written this almost six months after she started working here, taken over by all the motivation, excitement and creativity around her!

She refocused on herself since but, in the meantime, she wrote these. And even though Vivian considered herself to have a fertile imagination, she still commended herself about how better for everyone it was she hadn’t applied for a job in Narrative…

Rising her tablet up again and tapping on the lit screen, she entered the file and skimmed through it, trying to ignore the grammar mistakes she stopped committing since; and mistakes aside, her stories had nothing exceptional, totally influenced as they were by her mood and the not-so-new-but-still-trendy storyline — Escaton’s and his bandits, essentially…

Over a very short time, when Vivian was still more or less trying to fit into the life of the facility and social circles of her co-workers whose names had yet to be caught, she had heard so many comments, appreciations and reviews for this narrative that she looked into it first.

After all, the park afforded Lee Sizemore, renowned author who made a big name for himself with a "hot and grimy" historical saga, a few years back before running out of puff under his editor’s pressure. And a juicy offer by a video game studio to adapt it. 

She understood; everybody, whether staff or guests, was more or less hyped by the brute force brought by Hector Escaton — virile and dark male figure — to the relative tranquility of the park’s starting point.

And Vivian had been no exception.

If her first story was only about made-up characters to explore the pleasing and well rounded context of Sweetwater, her second, on the other hand, was more audacious, altering shamelessly the story from what its authors had surely intended; victorious over the town after killing the sheriff and all opposition, Escaton and his gang enjoyed their plunder at the Mariposa where Hector fell for one of the saloon girls.

That being said, Vivian remained very proper — maybe totally prudish — in these sort of narrative fantasies of hers; nothing turned freaky or utterly violent…

All she did was throwing a few sentences on her writing app for some evenings, when inspiration struck or simply because she urged herself to follow through with what she started. All on her personal tablet. She knew better than to write that on anything system-tethered. Imagining that a bored somebody could just hack into the system all the way up to her personal data… and end up on that giddy nonsense, made her wants to puke!

Not to mention that it might also be forbidden. Even though she never planned to, she knew she couldn’t share it with anyone, nor anywhere. Not as a park employee. If the guests were writing critiques and other reviews online about their stay, herself couldn’t talk about it from the inside. Confidentiality and shit…

Her texts would remain secret, and her silly fantasies with them. In any case, it wasn’t as if she intended to try anything for herself, and even less with Hector Escaton, all the more since he wasn’t even part of the batch her team had in charge. And also, rumor has it that fantasies aren’t always good when act upon!

With a lazy tap, Vivian quitted the reading app and dropped the tablet on her sheets before burying her face in her soft pillow. She let out a deep sigh in it, relaxed, and in fact, she fell asleep almost right away.

[judgement-free-sideblog]

Dancing lessons

Barry Berkman x reader

Summary: Barry is finally cast in a feature, the problem? He said he could dance and now he can either disappoint Sally or found a way to learn some steps.

Warnings: Swearing, blood, violence, guns, cheating maybe.

Part 1 ● Part 2 ● Part 3 ● Part 4 ● Part 5 ● Part 6 ● Part 7 ● Part 8 ● Epilogue

Part 2

One week after the first time Barry meet Y/N he was nowhere near learning tango, let alone dancing on the level his stupid resume said he could, he only have ended with horrible pain on his knees, thighs and back. And he hasn't even practice dancing with music yet, apparently his instructor thought he first had to learn one basic step and repeat it a million times before he could start doing the "flashy and presumptuous" step, as she called them, that the director may want.

"You really don't have to worry" Sally said during breakfast, they have an agreement to spend the night at least twice a week in each other apartment but he could tell she rather if he stayed at hers since Jermaine and Nick didn't get along with her. "That girl you say is dancing with you, I just heard from Lindsay that she is totally sleeping with the director so probably the scene is an excuse to show her dancing talent and they will be focusing on her instead of you" She drank the rest of her orange juice and stood up quickly "God is so late" she checked her phone and gave him a kiss on the cheek before taking her purse and keys and rush to the door "I'll see you tonight ok? Good luck!"

"Bye, I love..." And then she was gone. "You" He finished his breakfast and took his own car to the studio where he had to finish filming his scenes.

"Barry you're here, excellent!" Andre said when he arrived, thankfully he was not the star of the film and he didn't have to listen the hundred of notes he had for the leads nor taking all the shit the PAs get from him. "Look" He said pointing at his tablet "Janice is on New York for three more weeks for a Ballet presentation, but she sent this to me, is the perfect choreography for the scene. What do you think?" He showed her a clip of Janice and some professional dancer with a song he didn't knew, probably in Spanish or Italian, dancing incredibly close, with several lifts and spins.

"Great" He said feeling dizzy "Flashy and presumptuous" He add really low.

"What was that?"

"Classy and marvelous, is a modern take on the Argentine style isn't?" He said repeating what Y/N had said to him the day before.

"I have no idea, but hey you are the expert" He gave him a pat on the back. "You can start rehearsing with Janice when she gets back" He didn't like that kind of touching, it reminded him of Fuches and make him feel uneasy.

"Sure, great, hey could you send me that video, you know to study her movements" he tried to sound casual and not frightened as he was.

"Yeah sure" he said and with a hand gesture urged him to move to the set where he got to start shooting.

The minute he was over he drove back to Y/N's studio and saw her giving her class to young girls all dressed as ballerinas, she was wearing a black seetrough dancing skirt over a leotard, and his eyes lingered on her legs a few seconds more than he should mesmerized as he was by the elegance she used to dance.

"Barry you are early" She saluted him with a smile, "Girls say hi to Mr. Block" she said at the mass of pink and white.

"Hi Mr. Block" They cheered.

"I'll be done in a few minutes but this really is a private rehearsal" She pat her lips with one finger thinking "Would you mind waiting upstairs? I mean I would hate for you to drive back home to come back in less than an hour, and the coffee place on this block sucks" She said and the girls start laughing "Don't tell your mothers" She quickly add.

"I don't want to be a burden"

"Oh nonsense, you are not, go upstairs, I have food on the fridge but I wouldn't recommend it since you are dancing later and the WiFi password is written next to the phone" She insisted and he finally accept.

The apartment was just a little bigger than the one he rented with Jermaine and had a nice walls on a blue shade that reminded him of the ocean. And a big window facing directly to the door, so the first thing you see when you entered were the rooftop of other buildings and the hills in the back.

He entered feeling himself as an intruder, but being honest that was a common feeling for him, even if he haven't break in any place in over a year, a very long year, and again the pain of thinking of Fuches maybe lurking around strike him in the chest.

He found a place to sit and after being 5 minutes in complete silence trying to not be alone with his thoughts he took out his laptop to watch the dance again. Next to the landline was a nice picture of Y/N on his wedding dress next to a man that must be her husband with golden letters and numbers written over: JPTLV150813.

Once he was connected he allow himself to look around, the living room was tastefully decorated and there were some framed paintings of wild flowers on the wall in purples and pinks. He glance at their dinner table in the other room next to her kitchen, and while he was still holding he picture his mind start wandering, maybe Sally would like to live with him in a place like that. Full of light and peaceful.

He picture himself waking every morning and walking towards the kitchen to make her breakfast, she getting out of the set exhausted, to get a glass of wine in the living room. Reading lines together in the couch, and falling asleep there watching a movie.

And then since he hadn't sleep wery well and Y/N couch was madly comfortable he fall asleep still holding the picture and suddenly Sally's face start fading away, and Y/N replaced her, in a blue version of the clothes she was wearing earlier, he saw himself dancing with her on the living room, a slow and romantic rhythm, and instead of her husband it was him smiling on the picture next to the phone. She would come upstairs tired from work and he would stop her at the door to give her a passionate kiss... then the sound of a gun going off came from the window and a blood stain start forming in her chest running and she collapsing on his arms, and then it was Sally lifeless body again who he was holding and she whispered before losing her breath You did this and fearful he looked at his own hand holding the gun...

"Barry?" Y/N's voice came from the door, and immediately woke up and shake those horrifying ideas from his mind.

"Here" He call from the couch and was careful enough to not look back and don't picture her covered in blood

"I'm so done, boy I'm glad you came upstairs, Amanda's mother is a pain in the ass, if she have seen you she would have called the cops or something" She said and sit in next of him, she was already wearing the heels she used to practice with him. "What you got there?" She said looking at the screen where the video of Janice was still on.

"Is the dance I'm supposed to do for the movie" He said glad to have something to said and he showed her the clip.

"Well... you are screwed" She said after it was finish and he gave her an imploring look. "I'm kidding, I mean is a monstrosity of showing off, and her technique is not perfect, but I'm pretty sure you can put together something, like Ed Sheeran on Thinking out loud". She said confidently.

"Who?" He asked with no idea of what she meant.

"He is a British singer, we are probably too old to know him, but couples come all the time trying to learn his routine for their wedding" She said, but his face was still puzzled "You are not very familiar with pop culture, for an actor living in L.A. I mean" She stood up and walked towards her kitchen "Do you want anything? I have wine, beer, orange juice?" She called from the other room.

"Beer is fine, and is because I only became an actor recently" He said with some embarrassment in his voice taking the bottleshe offered him "I used to amm... sell auto parts in Cleveland"

"Ohio, that's ... far" she said taking a sip of her drink.

"And before that I was a Marine" He add and she almost spit her beer but did her best to pass it down.

"Oh wow, that's unusual. I would definitely say thank you for your service, but I'm antiwar so what if I gave you a 10 percent off on the lessons and we call it even?" She grin at him

"Don't worry about that, I don't like to make a big deal about it anyway" He said sincerely "Also I'm pretty sure you are wasting your time with me"

"Don't be so harsh on yourself, here look" She took the laptop off his hands and found a video of a ginger man singing a cheezy song about eternal love "See he is not properly dancing, but he act like he is, so first you have to learn how to lead, come on take off your shoes"

"Take them off? Why?" He asked while she got rid off her heels and let her bare feet touch the wooden floor.

"Because, and I mean this with respect" She said standing and looking for a record to put in her old record player until she found one "You are huge, and I'm afraid you would step on me with those shoes" a slow rhythm start playing and he did what she asked and stood barefoot in front of her.

"That doesn't sound like the other songs" Although he like it.

"Because you have to learn to walk before you can run, now, put both of your hands on my hips" She said getting closer to him.

"Like this?" It was funny how without the heels she was way shorter and couldn't completely reach her neck so she settled for put both hands on his shoulders.

"Fine now listen to the music and move" She said moving her body rhythmically "There you go, now move me, lead, right or left, is your choice" She said letting him take small steps and occasionally looking down to watch his feet.

"This is not that bad actually" Barry was actually enjoying himself, then the music start going faster and she took his right hand on hers and pull away from him and he chose to ignore the feeling of lost that caused him.

"Now, the hand on my back has to be steady, and lead, we can spin" She said and taught him how "Or we can walk" She started walking back slowly letting him follow the steps at his own pace. "Is all about who is leading" She gave him a smile and they kept dancing until the music was ending and since he had confidence now he make her spin and catch her on his arm like Janice's partner did on the clip.

"Sorry I always wanted to try that" he said once she was standing next to him.

"It was great, you are getting it, now we can try to improve your actual steps, but we should go downstairs, my husband is about to comeback and he hates having music on when he is working" She put on her shoes again and walked out followed by Barry.

[gastricpierrot]

Title: Heartbeat

Series: Promare

Pairing: GaloLio

Rating: T

Summary:

Lio turns himself in after the final battle, the start of a new life he must get used to.

This is a story of how Lio Fotia navigates through the days that follow, learns that support comes in more forms than he’s ever familiar with, and deals with his alarmingly developing feelings for Galo Thymos.

Also on AO3

[Prologue][Chapter 1][Chapter 2]

[Chapter 3]

“Get on, Lio. We’re gonna go have lunch with the boys.”

Is the first thing Galo says when Lio walks up to him. Lio fails to suppress a smile at his wording.

“Galo, what the heck,” he says, accepting the helmet Galo passes to him nonetheless. Galo straps on his gear as he explains.

“Gueira and Meis have been going on and on about treating you to something nice once you’re out so,” he seats himself, “lunch’s on them today. They should be waiting for us when we get there since it’s closer to their place.”

“I see.” Lio climbs on after Galo, putting his arms around his waist and interlocking his fingers. Galo starts up the engine and goes over the usual routines with habitual ease, then glances over his shoulder when he notices Lio slipping into silence.

“You okay?” his voice comes through a hidden speaker built in his helmet. And honestly? Lio isn’t quite sure himself. Everything still feels a bit unreal. The silence, the blue skies, the fact that he’s right here now and not at the site doing the labor that’s become a usual for him. Even the fact that he’s now speaking to someone else so freely without a time limit looming over them—Lio seems to have yet to process them all.

“Just a little tired,” Lio replies, which he guesses pretty much sums it up too.

“What, you’re that excited about today that you couldn’t sleep?” Galo teases, to which Lio only hums ambiguously because he’s not wrong but he doesn’t quite want to give him the satisfaction of being correct. “It’ll take a bit of time for us to get there so feel free to lean against me and get some rest. Just don’t forget to keep holding on, though—wouldn’t want you falling off halfway.”

And Lio only hums to that again, seizing the chance to get comfortable yet not too much so before Galo starts on their way to the diner.

It’s...been a while since he had such close contact with another person, it eventually dawns Lio as they cruise through the roads of the city. Galo’s so much different from the pillow he’s hugged for comfort on nights where his chest feels hollow enough to hurt. He's warmer, solid. Alive. There, with him.  

Lio holds Galo just a little tighter, leaning against his back as he’s offered. Just until the sudden wave of something in his chest goes away, just until the sounds of traffic around them and the rush of cool air against his skin could distract him again.

The pizza diner is a quaint little place in the middle of a lively district decorated with colorful banners and flowery bushes along the sidewalks. It looks like there’s either going to be a festival soon, or one has just passed. Galo manages to find a parking right outside the restaurant, and Lio has just climbed off and barely removed his helmet when he hears a couple of enthusiastic, familiar voices calling for their Boss.

He manages to put the helmet away just before Gueira and Meis sprint over and envelop him in a crushing three-person hug.

Everything about them screams familiarity: their touch, scent, warmth. It finally begins to sink in. How long Lio has actually been away, how long he’s been separated from the people he considers his family. They might have developed the habit of calling him their Boss, but  Gueira and Meis have always been more like his older brothers, his caretakers when he’s not out there presenting himself as the leader of Mad Burnish. They respected him, no doubt, but they also loved him as their own. Always supporting him in the wild things he does, always knowing when to make sure he doesn’t go overboard and hurt himself.

Lio misses them. He misses his brothers so much.

“You guys,” he swallows the lump in his throat, holding them closer, “it’s so good to see you again.”

“Bosssssssssssss!” Gueira proceeds to wail, almost overlapping with Meis’ demands of “Why did you suddenly run off and do that all by yourself!!!”

Lio does his best to calm them, promising he’ll tell them in a bit so why don’t they just go grab a bite first? The two are quick to start enthusiastically listing out recommendations as they start heading towards the diner, and part of Lio still can’t seem to get over how...unchanged they seem. It feels like home, with them. Safe, accepting, anchoring.

He turns around to prompt Galo to come along, too, and sees the fond smile he’s wearing while he watches them.

“Galo,” Lio feels himself returning the smile as he beckons him over, “let’s go.”

Meis has already made a reservation beforehand, so they’re immediately led to a table by the window once the staff confirms the details. Lio easily gets coaxed into being squished between his brothers on one side while Galo takes the other alone. Lio assures them he’s fine with anything when asked for any preferences, and in no time their orders are placed (with specific requests to exclude onions, of course; they still remember how much Lio dislikes them) and they finally have time to themselves.

Gueira and Meis are quick to resume their questions; Lio can’t blame them. He'd made that drastic, spontaneous decision all by himself back then, after all. Of course they’d still be in the dark with a lot of details. Gueira recounts how he’d actually decked Galo when he found out Lio had been arrested, thinking he had let it all happen despite having just teamed up with him to save the world (“Sorry ‘bout that, bro.” “I told you already, it’s cool bro.”) Meis apparently had even almost gone as far as planning to break into the detention center itself to get Lio out of there. It was a mess. It’d taken Burning Rescue a lot of yelling and reasoning to get the agitated Burnish to calm down and listen.

“We really thought they were going to lock you up for life, Boss,” Meis admits, staring at his own clasped hands on the table. “And I'm sure if it weren’t for the firefighters and that team of researchers, they would have.”

“I know we haven’t thanked you properly for all you’ve done for us and the Boss,” Gueira adds, then grimly faces Galo without a shred of hesitation. “So thanks, Galo. For all your help.”

“No, no need to thank me in particular! It’s all team effort!” Galo is, in true Galo fashion, instantly dismissive. “We couldn’t possibly have just left all of you by yourselves after all that. The Burnish had gone through enough as it was.”

“But what you have done,” Lio reminds him, “is keep me company through those five years. And that alone has saved me more than you can imagine.” He looks up to meet Galo’s gaze. “So thank you. Take credit for at least that.”

“It’s nothing, really!!” Galo insists, face turning slightly red from all the sudden gratitude directed at him. When he realizes this, he covers his face with his hands and just lets out a meaningful “AaaaaAAaaa!!”

“Just accept it, Thymos, because from now on we’d probably die for you.” Gueira says like it isn’t even a joke. “Right, Boss?”

“Please cherish your own lives and don’t do that,” Galo pleads. The pizzas arrive in that moment, giving him the chance to steer the conversation another direction. “A-Anyway, enough of all the serious stuff now that food is here! Let’s eat while it’s still fresh!”

And so they do. Lio pulls out a slice of pizza, still steaming hot and dripping with cheese. He's somewhat gotten used to the feeling of heat on his fingers now, though on some days it’d still feel so foreign and unfathomable. On some days he’s still inexplicably tempted to find out how far he can go before it’s unbearable, before his skin blisters and burns when he’s been immune to injuries like those almost half his life.

Lio takes his first bite, and immediately has to take a deep breath. He's gotten too used to the bland food of the detention center, he realizes. The richness of the cheese and the tomato paste and the olive oil simultaneously assaults his taste buds, and he’s almost overwhelmed.

Meis is the first to notice his lack of enthusiasm and quickly offers, “Boss, if you don’t like it we can—”

Lio raises a hand and shakes his head, stifling a burp. “It’s not that I don’t like it, Meis. I’m just...not used to it yet. I’m sure it’ll get better in a few minutes.”

“Just don’t force yourself if you really can’t have it, yeah?” Gueira insists, brow furrowed. “We can always get something easier to stomach for you, like garlic bread or something.”

“No need.” Lio is just as adamant. “You guys are sharing something you like with me. I can do at least this.”

He tries his best, with many sips of water in between. Their conversation eventually picks up again, and Lio lets himself to be distracted enough to ignore a portion of the pizza’s richness that’s making him sick. He encourages Meis and Gueira to share all about what they’ve been up to and they do; they’ve started out mostly acting as representatives of the former Burnish, aiding Heris and her team in their efforts by providing detailed testimonials of the terrors they had witnessed and experienced. Once that was mostly settled and they found they could not be much use anywhere else, they’d started looking for jobs, knowing they can never rely too much on provisions from an unstable government. Many other adult Burnish must’ve thought the same, gradually finding the courage to put themselves out there again when Heris’s campaign began gaining more momentum.

In Gueira and Meis’ case, there had been no question. Galo had told them about Lio’s community service and involvement in restoring destroyed infrastructure during his detention. They couldn’t let him carry such burden all by himself. So they’d found a company that couldn’t care less about them being past fire-wielding hooligans as long as they could do a good job and, like Lio, had learnt to rebuild instead of destroy.

Lio’s already heard about some of what they’ve been doing from Galo as soon as they got the job. It is his first time, however, hearing their motivations. If they couldn’t be close to Lio in person, they’d do it in spirit. They could indirectly share similar experiences, similar aches, even similar doubts and frustrations. He’s not alone. They refuse to let him be, even if he doesn’t realize it.

“You’d be dumb to think we’ll let you go off on your own so easily after everything.” Gueira ends his recollection with a grin, slinging an arm across Lio’s shoulders. “We’ll always be here for you, Boss. No matter what.”

And of all the times Lio has had the sudden, unexplainable urge to cry that day, this is the first where he fails to keep the tears back. Those five years...he’d been lonely. So ridiculously much so. He might’ve gotten used to being by himself, but that didn’t stop the invisible weight from pressing down on his chest, didn’t stop him from feeling like he’s so disconnected and isolated despite Galo’s fleeting presence. It all comes crashing over him like a tidal wave. The past five years hadn’t been extremely hard on him physically; he could bear with the soreness, the harassment, the other petty less-than-ideal things even in his standards. But it had been so unbearably lonesome.

No one makes a fuss when he cries. His brothers hold him, offering support in silence. Galo averts his gaze to give him some privacy, though if Lio had been looking he’d see how misty his eyes are, too.

Lio feels like a child again. It’s been so long since he’s had such a privilege; to just bask in their unwavering presence, their scent, their warmth, their affection—without having to worry about how weak he might look, how unreliable he’d seem to others if he ever bared the cracks in his being. Lio cries; he cries until his throat hurts and the cheese on the pizza tastes even worse than before.

And once it’s all over, once the knot in his chest has finally faded away, he laughs. And he admits he can’t stomach the pizza anymore.

“So what do you plan to do after this?” Galo asks a little later when Lio’s munching on the tuna sandwiches they ordered for him after he’s calmed down. Lio sniffs and takes a moment to think it over, not quite sure himself what’s going to happen next.

“Is there anyone who are still in the shelters? Maybe I could just drop by and see how they’re doing.” He decides that could be a good place to begin.

Meis and Gueira exchange a look at that. “As far as we know, most of us have already found our own places to stay,” Meis tells him, “the ones who remain are mostly those who aren’t willing to leave because they still get free provisions.”

Lio hums in more thought before deciding it’s still worth a try. “I want to have an idea of how it was for you guys when I was gone, anyway. Plus I'll need somewhere to stay at in the meantime, so I might as well.”

“You could always just stay with us, Boss! It’s really not a problem!” Gueira’s quick to offer, but Lio’s already made up his mind.

“You and Meis are both busy, and I'm sure you guys need your privacy too. It really doesn’t matter to me.”

They bicker back and forth about that for a bit; they’re understandably stubborn about not leaving Lio by himself. He’s been away for such a long while and all he’s got with him are the clothes on his back. They're the only people he has contact with, and the only people he can directly count on at the moment. Lio’s silly to still insist on trying to handle everything himself and refusing to rely on the only people he can, he knows. It’s just something he thinks he’s got to do, some rite of passage he thinks he must go through before he earns the right to ask for help.

“Lio, listen.”

Amongst the bickering, Galo eventually speaks up. He waits until they’ve quieted down, until Lio meets his gaze before he continues.

“Burning Rescue accepts recruits a few times a year, the next being in about a month,” he tells him. “There’s not much prior qualifications needed for the job as long as your physically fit and you’d get to stay in a dorm during the training period. If it’s something you want to try out, I can ask the Captain to throw in a recommendation for you.”

He then looks at the other two. “Meis, Gueira—this is still open to you guys, too.”

There he goes again, doing...this. Butting into people’s lives, needlessly trying to help even in the littlest ways.

“You don’t have to decide so quickly, though!” Galo hurriedly waves his hands in front of himself and adds when the others lapse into a minute of thoughtful silence. “Just know that if you have nowhere else to go, you guys are always welcomed in the FDPP.”

“That’s very reassuring.” Lio genuinely means it. “Thanks, Galo.”

Galo grins, and Lio is once again reminded of how fortunate he is to have him by his side. He’s always been there for them, always been ready to help without expecting anything in return. Lio’s hit by the sudden, overwhelming urge to give back to him; ten-fold, a thousand-fold. He isn’t sure how and if that’d even be possible in his lifetime, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to try.

If it’s for Galo, surely he’d be able to do anything at all.

xXx

They spend the next few hours more just talking about everything and anything, just sharing laughter and anecdotes. Just like every other group of close friends.

And then it’s time for Meis and Gueira to prepare for their shift in the evening, and they have to leave. Galo again offers Lio a ride since the shelter is a little out of the other two’s way to work. Though, it might be a little more accurate to say he’d insisted to do so, refusing to listen to even a syllable of argument from Lio about being a bother to him. It's been five years, and Lio still doesn’t know what he’s going to do with this childishly stubborn side of him.

“Lio.”

But there’s one thing he’s learnt, and that there’s always so much more of Galo under his daily boisterous façade. Lio once again catches of a glimpse of it when Galo calls his name a little while after he’s begun driving.

“It didn’t feel right for me to say this in front of the guys just now,” Galo starts, his voice calm and quiet through the speaker, “but you can always stay at my place too next time if you want. It’s pretty big and I live alone so it’s cool even if another person comes over.”

Galo doesn’t stop trying to keep giving and giving, especially to him. Part of Lio still can’t quite comprehend why he’s willing to go such lengths for his sake when he’s got nothing to gain from it. Doesn’t it grow tiring at some point? Isn't it enough that his entire career is based on the idea of helping others in need? Doesn’t it grow exhausting when he lets it extend to even personal matters like this?

“Galo,” Lio’s asking before he can even properly sort out his thoughts, “why are you so kind to me?”

“Mmm, isn’t that obvious?” Galo sounds genuinely confused that Lio doesn’t understand something so simple. “It’s because you’re my friend!”

Lio frowns. “That doesn’t mean you have to do so many things for my sake.”

“Lio, I don’t have to do it,” Galo says, patiently, “I want to do it. Also, don’t get so full of yourself—a lot of it is for my own sake too, y’know. I’m much more selfish than you might think.”

“That’s truly a surprise,” Lio can’t help but snark to that last bit, and it prompts a playful protest from Galo that leads to some laughter shared.

“Nah, but really,” Galo says once the mirth has faded away, voice taking that quiet, gentle tone once more. “I don’t get it all myself, but I just feel like the way our paths crossed, the way coincidences somehow brought us together to literally save the world—” he takes a breath— “don’t you think it feels a bit like destiny?”

Lio blinks, trying to process the actual words that’d just come out of Galo’s mouth. Destiny? It’s such a fantastical concept, something out of the fairy tales Lio had read when he was a little child. It’s something Lio doesn’t expect to hear in this day and age, yet it doesn’t sound too far-fetched to have come from Galo. Galo, who constantly boasts of other fantastical things like his burning spirit and blazing heart and being the best firefighter in the universe.

“Galo Thymos,” Lio observes, amused, “you’re a surprisingly romantic man.”

“Anything wrong with that?” The pout is evident in Galo’s response even though Lio can’t see it. He sighs, smiles.

“None at all.” You’re amazing the way you are, he manages to stop himself from adding despite truly believing so. He isn’t quite prepared to face the embarrassment of telling him that just yet. Perhaps the day will come when he is, perhaps it will never. Lio doesn’t bother mulling over it.

They soon slip into a comfortable silence, content with simply sharing the space, the moment. Galo must’ve heard Lio yawning at some point, pulling over to shrug off his jacket and tie its sleeves around both their waists. Lio figures it’s to help prevent him from falling off as easily if he passes out, and the comfort of knowing so eventually adds to the effects from his full belly and fading adrenaline. His eyelids grow heavier by the minute, and he finds himself nodding off.

And the next thing he knows, Galo waking him and telling him they’ve arrived at the shelter.

It’s not a very big place, though Lio understands that they’ve gradually downsized the premise as more and more people left. There’s a small reception space at the front, then a hallway that leads to a canteen, shower stalls, and the toilets. The sleeping quarters are further back, in what looks like a small hall with cement floors and large windows at intervals across the walls. There are some used blankets and mattresses strewn across the back corners of the hall, rubbish and dirty laundry littering the space around them. Compared to the rest of the place that’s maintained so perfectly, those areas seem like dumpsters.

“You sure you want to be here?” Galo asks one last time as Lio begins filling the paperwork, frowning in obvious disapproval at whoever’s been hanging around.

“I’m an ex-terrorist who's been in detention, Galo. I know how to take care of myself.” Lio assures as he finishes up and hands the documents back to the receptionist. He tries to ignore the uncomfortable stare he gets from him—maybe he shouldn’t have said that first bit out loud. Oops.

The pout in Galo’s frown intensifies as he tries to come up with more reasons to argue, but he ends up giving in this time. He instead asks for a pen and a piece of paper, scribbling down some things before handing it to Lio.

"Here’s Gueira and Meis’ numbers,” he says, shoving the note into Lio’s hands and folding his fingers over it. “Mine’s there, too. Call us anytime if you need us, alright? Use this place’s landline or a payphone or something since you don’t have a cellphone yet.”

He can be so overprotective at times, Lio muses. “Will you be dropping by every night again?”

He'd meant it mostly as a joke, but Galo’s serious when he answers, “If I can!”

“Please don’t,” Lio pleads, though he knows it’s mostly impossible to change his mind at this point.

“There’s no way for us to reach you if you suddenly up and disappear, Lio!” Galo’s a little more agitated than necessary when he reminds him. “What if something happens!!”

“It won’t,” Lio soothes, gesturing for him to lower his voice. “I’ll be fine, Galo. You’ve worried enough about me.”

“And you can’t expect me to stop now.” Galo crosses his arms across his chest.

Lio gives him a look, like really, what am I going to do with you. “Just go, Galo. It’s been a day for the both of us. I want to wind down soon too.”

“I’ll try to come here after work tomorrow—maybe around seven? We can have dinner together or something?” Galo asks as he lets Lio steer him around and gently push him towards the exit.

“Just do what you like.”

“It’s settled then!” Lio walks right into him when he suddenly plants his feet on the ground and stops to turn around and face him again. “Be careful if you’re going to go out wandering later, yeah?”

“Yes, yes.” Lio smiles crookedly.  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Galo.”

Tomorrow. Yet another tomorrow with Galo to look forward to. Yet another thing that Lio’s glad remains unchanged.

[queen-of-seventeen]

My favourite drug

So my posting date was yesterday and I did post it on ao3, linked to my artist and all, but I also wanted to share it here on tumblr for everyone who didn’t see. 

ao3

the art by my lovely artist who was a wonderful person to work with and bounce ideas off and shoutout to @thespacebetweenworlds for betaing this and calling me out on rythm, word choice and plot. You’re an angel.

Also thank you gabriella for making  @aftgreverse and moderating, this wouldn’t be here without you!

Andrew washed his hands. First rinsing with water. Top, heel, between the fingers. Then with soap and rinse it all. He never missed a spot. He didn’t feel like trailing blood everywhere he went. Not today, not ever. If only Aaron hadn’t forgotten the beeswax again for his hands. His skin wasn’t keeping up with all the washing.

Done.

He stepped out of the room. This should be the end of his work day. He’d have to make dinner for Aaron and prepare for Nicky’s visit from Germany. He should give Katelyn the week off, he didn’t know if he’d given her a break since he hired her years ago. Nicky could take over some tasks and Andrew would be off work a bit more. His cousin was at least notorious in that.

Andrew was already getting a headache when he thought about it. He didn’t hate his cousin but like was too strong a word. At least Erik and his hot chocolates were coming also.

The family of his patient hugged him when he told them their husband and father wasn’t going to die. Why did people feel the need to hug strangers? It was nauseating. Too bad he couldn’t stab them, it wouldn’t do his reputation good. He did have to be a “good” doctor in the end and not kill anyone. Like the man who had lain on his table.

Would he react the same way if it was Aaron or Nicky on that table?

No. He hadn’t cried like that after Aaron’s accident. He just had to crash the GT, hadn’t he?

He told the family that they would be updated by a nurse from now on and Andrew’s day was over. Besides, nurses did more work than he did, he just had to cut people open and stitch them shut. Easy deal.

Someone screamed outside. Probably a woman who would barely make it into one of the delivery rooms. Nothing for him to do. He made his way to the staff room when someone called his name. It was Boyd. He worked at the ambulances and was always too curious for his own good.

“Hey, Andrew, we kind of need your help? Someone has to stitch up Neil and he won’t let anyone but you do it.”

Andrew remembered Neil. He never forgot anyone, but least of all that auburn haired man that could always be found near Boyd. And if people knew little about Andrew they knew nothing about Neil. Which might be why Neil had picked out Andrew to stitch him up. The young man was full of dumb reasons.

Andrew waved a hand to make Matt follow him to an exam room with Neil.

“You’re doing it?” Matt asked. His jaw dropped and he ran a hand through his hair. “I mean great. Please do it quickly. I have no idea how much blood he already lost. Some freak outside stabbed him and he doesn’t even want to take his shirt of so we can put pressure on it.”

Another thing about Neil that didn’t add up. Andrew followed Boyd to one of the smaller examination rooms. He made Boyd wait when he went inside. The glass matte to keep from onlookers.

Neil looked up when Andrew walked in. Andrew’s face turning into a scowl. “You really had to be helpful today of all days?”

Andrew raised an eyebrow and got his supplies from the different drawers. Needles, thread, antiseptics, gauze. From the still spreading blood stain on his arm. He spread them out on the small table and leaned back on a stool. “I get paid to stitch you up.”

Neil remained silent. His eyes flitted to the door and back. Flighty little thing, wasn’t he? “I can stitch myself up.”

“Everyone here can stitch you up.” Not a lie. They all went to school for some form of medical programme. Andrew was certain that only a couple of the desk clerks didn’t know how to stitch up a simple wound or put a couple swallows on them until someone else came to close the wound. “I have a proposition for you. Either I let you stitch it up yourself, wait until you faint from blood loss then still do it myself and hook you up to an IV.”

Neil turned white. “Or? I only heard one option.”

“You let me stitch it up and you can be out of here in a couple of minutes with doctor patient confidentiality, of course.” Andrew crossed his arms. He missed his knives. Too bad they couldn’t go with him into surgery. He could just as well incapacitate Neil with a scalpel.

Neil stilled before taking a deep breath. “Okay.”

Neil took of his coat. He didn’t seem bothered that Andrew wasn’t helping. Andrew was almost certain that neither of them wanted to get close to the other right then. Neil with his reluctance to be helped and Andrew just not wanting to be touched after surgery when he could still feel the blood under his nails.

He had washed his hands right?Rubbed them raw under the streaming water. Top, bottom, between the fingers. Then with soap, top, bottom, between the fingers. Rinse again. Rub them in with beeswax or hand lotion. Take better care of yourself, Andrew. You’re useless if we’re both stuck in wheelchairs.

Andrew blinked twice before he rolled his chair closer to Neil. His skin was pale and sweaty. Not attractive. Not at all. Neil stayed quiet as Andrew numbed the skin and picked up the needle. He didn’t flinch when Andrew stuck it in. “Staring.”

Neil hummed but didn’t look away. He didn’t look at his arm either. He was lucky that the knife hadn’t gotten stuck in one of the bones.

“I didn’t think you would agree,” Neil mused. “Everyone is always saying that you stick to yourself. That you only got in because you know the shrink and stuff.”

“And you believe them.” He said it like a fact. He knew that was what others said about him. One of the nurses, Renee, told him about it during their sunday brunch.

“I like getting my information from the source.” Neil didn’t ask anything else. He kept quiet for a bit. “This is the first time I’m getting stitched up by someone who isn’t family.”

Andrew fought not to react and tied off the thread. His fingers tied the bandage without touching Neil’s skin again. Tight, but not too tight. See Aaron, I know how to tie a bandage.

Neil cocked his head a poked at the bandage. “You’re already done.”

“I don’t waste time.” He started cleaning the equipment and threw out the needle. “Keep it clean but don’t get the wound wet under the shower. If you have any questions, but I doubt the hospital would make hiring decisions that bad, you can ask one of the nurses on the third floor.”

“You work on the third floor?” Neil’s eyes widened. They were too blue to be true. Maybe someone had slipped something in Andrew’s drink and he was making this all up. Like he made up half of his teenage years before Aaron came into the pictures. All the good memories fell under that category.

“Kevin never told me that he works with you.”

“We don’t.” Neil stayed quiet. “We both have our own team. Kevin is the best neurosurgeon this hospital has. My office is on his floor but I work in transplants and amputations.”

“What if I’d come to your office for advice on how to clean this?”

“I get paid to humor everyone with an appointment.” Andrew was finished with cleaning. Why didn’t he leave? Why hadn’t Neil left already? He should be gone. Should go up in smoke. Gone. Out of Andrew’s sight. “Make one and you’ll see what happens. I’m leaving.”

Andrew didn’t look back when he left the room. He certainly didn’t think he should get Neil’s phone number. It’s not like he’d need it for anything. Not like he wanted to speak to Neil or any of his stupid colleagues again.

**

A surgery is a series of complex steps to make sure you don’t accidentally kill someone for a service they asked of you. In other terms: People ask you to consensually stab them in places where they’ll survive.

In this instance Andrew had been needed to do a liver transplant. The woman who got it was lucky. Some guy before her on the list had drunk alcohol. Stupid mistake. There’s only so many rules for a transplant and he messed up an obvious one.

The lady of the transplant hadn’t drunk even once in her life she said. Andrew had no reason to believe her but the blood test came out clean so it was good enough. Good enough for the hospital and good enough for Andrew to stab her in name of his brother. Minyard. How did he even get settled with such a stupid name? With a dumb twin and a dumber cousin who was sleeping in their guest room with his kid and husband from Germany.

Why was family important enough to come visit so far? Andrew wouldn’t do that.

He poked his mashed potatoes with a fork. The texture was wonkey. It wasn’t smooth like it should be and Nicky would be horrified at the bland taste. How unfair life could be to get paid so much but still have such lousy food. He doubted that prison food tasted better. Even with perfect recall, tastes were always difficult to remember.

Like that one piece of chocolate he filched of a younger foster sibling, or the cookies he hoarded before they would cut off his dinner. He deserved better. He might be an angry midget but everybody deserves food. It might be why going to med school in Aaron’s place wasn’t that bad. He already had the credits and Aaron was his motivation letter. This way he could save someone in the same way he had failed his brother.

Telling himself it was just a car accident was both a lie and the ugly truth. Andrew knew what tempered breaks looked like and that Aaron was never supposed to drive in his car. If the police hadn’t found the guy responsible, Andrew would’ve killed him with his bare hands. Nobody touches the people Andrew promises to protect. Except for that time.

The chair opposite of him made an awful screeching sound before Neil sat down. He had to grace to flinch. A steaming ceramic cup warmed his hands. The last remnant of winter had probably seeped in his clothes during his shift.

Why was Andrew thinking of this? It must be the blue eyes.

“I got an appointment,” Neil said. “During lunch hour because you have real appointments of course but I know you still get paid during breaks. Kevin told me.”

Kevin was a traitor. Andrew knew that already. Kevin always had to talk to other people and complain about Andrew. When he wasn’t complaining about Andrew, his apathy towards mistakes, and his poor social skills, he was complaining to Andrew about people. Now Andrew would feel bad for those people only he didn’t like those people and zoning Kevin out mid rant was part of his poor social skills. Now that he was looking at Neil he noticed some things. Neil was a short, flighty, redhead. Which was part of the description Kevin had given at the beginning of his rant. Some stupid red headed midget who always claimed the trackmill in the gym.

Andrew would ask if that’s how Neil knew Kevin. But that would imply Andrew was interested in it. He wasn’t. Not at all.

“I don’t think you have an appointment right now,” Andrew said. “For one, I’m eating and didn’t ask for you to be here.”

“I didn’t see anyone else sitting in this chair.” Neil grinned and ran his finger over the rim of his mug. A real mug with what seemed to be real hot chocolate, with milk, not water.

“The chair’s reserved for my doppelganger. Ask him if you see him.”

“There could never be two of you.”

“That’s just a lie. How did you graduate if you don’t know about twins, triplets, quadruplets, need I go on?”

Neil cocked his head and smiled. He ran his fingers over the rim of the mug again. “How hard must your parents have had it with two of your personality.”

Andrew raised an eyebrow. He watched the smile slip as Neil looked over his shoulder.

“I have to go.” He stood up. The mug still on the table. He hadn’t drunk from it even once. “Matt’s signaling.”

“You’re forgetting your drink.”

Neil looked back over his shoulder, that damn smile back. “I never liked hot chocolate. Consider it a thank you.”

Andrew’s fingers wound around the mug, lukewarm by now, to throw it at Neil’s head. He didn’t do it. Only because he needed this job. Needed the big sums of money to keep paying for Aaron’s care. For Katelyn and the wheelchair, the special shower, all the medication and physiotherapy.

He took a swallow as he didn’t watch Neil walk away. Didn’t watch his ass like he was back at Eden’s with his brother at his side and his cousin on the dance floor down below.

When were Nicky and Erik coming over again? He still had to hire somewhere to clean the house. Someone to pick up the cigarette buds and empty bottles. He never noticed if Katelyn threw them out or not. He didn’t like to spend time at home at all.

He should visit Bee again. See if she could figure out what was going on in his head. He wasn’t able to. Not now. Not when his life was catching up to him.

He would have to figure that out soon enough, but not when he was a mess. Not now. Not now.

**

Home was a mess. Everything was dirty and Andrew didn’t want to clean everything. Even if Nicky was coming that evening. Andrew and Aaron were going to pick them up in a couple of hours. He couldn’t believe he had taken two whole days off for Nicky. Aaron would be able to entertain him way better.

Aaron leaned forward out of his chair, almost sliding out. His fingers just touched the knight enough to scoot it a bit.

“Be careful,” Andrew snapped. “We should’ve sat at the kitchen table.” That way he wouldn’t have to pick his brother up from the floor.

“I told you, I like the view better here. It’s a great garden. Katelyn offered to plant some flowers. You know it being spring and all that.”

“Bulbs have to be planted in the winter. We wouldn’t have tulips if we had to wait for Katelyn to plant all of them.” He didn’t like Katelyn. Didn’t like how she pried in all the cupboards when he already told her where the meds were. How she insisted Andrew had to clean more because it was better for Aaron.

He didn’t need a stranger in his bathroom. It was his bathroom, his bedroom, his home, his brother. The only reason she was here was because Andrew was living Aaron’s dream. He could’ve been FBI or CIA or just a regular cop by now. He had studied for it in the first years of his college education.

Then came the car. Andrew became a surgeon and Aaron was bound to a desk at the newspaper two days a week. He was a better writer than he first thought, at least. Imagine all the threats they’d get over false news otherwise.

Aaron leaned forward again and this time actually managed to move the knight without knocking over the whole board.

“You’re setting yourself up to lose.” What was his brother doing? They had played together for years now. Aaron knew what a losing move looked like.

“If I can win from this position I want you to do me a favor.” Andrew looked over the rim of his reading glasses. Contacts were for work days, and the dates he couldn’t go on anymore.

“No,” he said. It couldn’t only be bad if Aaron was asking that of him. Maybe someone at his work asked him out out of pity. The guy that can’t walk, only has so many fingers. Must be fun to see if he can get it up, right? He wouldn’t allow for someone to use his brother like that.

“You didn’t even hear what I want to ask of you.” Aaron let his wheelchair bump into the table before he moved a piece.

“I said no. I won’t do you anymore favors.”

“When have you ever done me any favors?” Andrew could almost imagine his twin standing up. He always wanted to be taller when he got angry. It was why Andrew stayed seated in the low chair.

“The last time I did you a favor you got yourself hit by a car and destroyed mine, remember?”

Aaron visibly flinched and sunk down in his chair. “I wanted you to drive me to a restaurant, okay. Katelyn asked me to try out some icecream with her.”

“You want to go on a date?” Aaron nodded. Andrew folded his hands. He had to say no. He had to protect his brother. Protect him as if they were thirteen again and Andrew was the only thing between Aaron and his mother’s hands. Between Aaron and another hit. “If Nicky is still here by then you can get him to drive you.”

“Is that a yes?”

“You’re thirty-two. I’m not driving you.” He stood up. His hands itched for a whiskey he hadn’t drunk in years. They didn’t mix well with Aaron’s meds. He could almost taste the burn in his throat.

He grabbed water with ice instead. A second glass already in his hands filled with lemonade before he thought of it.

The stool felt warm and gross when he sat down again. Why didn’t chairs ever just feel neutral?

His fingers moved his queen in reach of Aaron’s knight. He knew he was setting himself up to lose also. Aaron gave him a look like he understood. He could never. He had never given up the last shreds of what he wanted for someone just because he made a promise. Aaron never kept his promises anyway.

It took ten more minutes before Andrew’s pager went off. Buzz, buzz. He reached for it in the same moment that Aaron got him checkmate. The queen was gone and Andrew had nowhere to go.

Emergency. Ambulance incoming in 20 minutes.

Aaron looked chagrined. “Hospital?”

“I could ask them to page Kevin.” Andrew took a sip from his drink.

“You could save someone’s life.”

“Or end it.”

Aaron gave his brother a cold look. “You’re going to save them. I’ll call Nicky to drive Erik and him over here or I’ll call Katelyn and she can take us to and from the airport. We both know she doesn’t have much other patients with the amount you pay her.”

“I wasn’t the one who said I couldn’t have more than three sports cars.” This didn’t improve Aaron’s look but Andrew’s mood went a bit up. Today was supposed to be their brother day after all and the surgery was messing it all up. “Call Katelyn. See if she still likes you after meeting Nicky.”

He pulled on his coat and closed the door before Aaron could reply. His brother was going to get his heart strings pulled. No big deal. It wasn’t like their agreement was still running. Aaron had broken it one to many times. And Bee said it was time to let things go. They were both thirty-two after all.

The Maserati wasn’t his normal work car but he needed to be there quick. The nurses and other surgeons on his team were probably already prepping the room. He still had to dress and clean. He was too slow.

His feet pressed on the peddle a bit more.

The doors slid open in front of him and he didn’t remember half of the trip there. That wasn’t a good sign. It was never a good sign when he was losing time like that. He should get it checked out. There probably was an explanation for and Bee wouldn’t put it in his report if he asked it during a friendly dinner.

The blue scrubs he wore were still clean. His head was still full. There was so much that could be happening at the moment. What if his patient had already died in the ambulance. Then he’d have left Aaron alone for no reason.

Andrew let someone pull on his gloves. It was long ago that he didn’t dare pull his arm guards off but they weren’t hygienic enough for a surgery. He had no choice. No choice but to almost flaunt all his scars to his team. He saw Renee in a corner. The blatant lie that she didn’t want to be a surgeon. He knew she’d had the training. He knew that she only became a nurse because she got more contact with people that way. It was why the boss was so reluctant to give her a raise, fucking Joan of Arc didn’t care for it. Stupid.

In the end a surgery was just as much the use of the right equipment and team. Andrew knew he had both.

It was a surprise for him when it turned out that he hadn’t known everything from the start. He knew it had been a car crash. Look out for internal bleeding, for ruptured organs, for anything. He hadn’t seen the blood at the start. It was a body, there was blood everywhere, always. Robin was good at suction and watching over abnormalities and he was glad Jack had been transferred to Kevin’s team.

There was more blood than planned. At the bottom under the liver there was a small gap. A rib had punctured it and nobody had told him. He’d have told them how low the chance of succeeding was if they had. Now he had to save the dickwad on his table because someone else forgot to tell him stuff.

No time to think. He had to act. To save the man.

He did. He did save the man. Barely. He wasn’t sure how much of the spine was messed up during the drive, the stretcher, the man handling and the surgery. He could’ve just messed up the man’s chance at walking. Not his fault. Not his fault. Not his fault. He told himself.

This is nothing like Aaron’s accident. He had no control over Aaron’s accident or surgery. Aaron was already done for before the medical team arrived on scene. It was a miracle his brother was still alive. If Andrew believed in miracles. He didn’t. Miracles were for the hopers and the hopeless. He was neither. Faith was a waste of his time and had never gotten him anywhere.

It had only gotten his hopes dashed. A very visual imprint of you don’t deserve this . He hated it.

**

The steps at the back door were cold. The only time they were warm was when your butt would melt into one of the steps themselves. At the moment they just turned Andrew into a popsicle. It wasn’t good for him to sit there. He might get a UTI or some other disease from the bacteria that lingered there. The bacteria that would seep into his lungs and might finally make an end to his misery. Long ago he had thought it was his time to go. The world hadn’t agreed with him. Instead they’d tried to take his brother away.

He hated the world and the people in it.

He pulled his last packet of cigarettes out of his backpack. The flame already leaving the smoke he so desperately needed in his lungs. Starting to smoke had been a mistake. A mistake from 13 year old Andrew. Now he had to live with it. He craved the ashes on his tongue as much as he craved control. Maybe becoming a surgeon hadn’t been so bad an idea. He now controlled life and death after all.

Who was he kidding? It was awful. He much preferred singling out murderers and criminals faster than any other in his class. Yet another thing taken away from him.

He blew out the smoke, watching it cloud his sight of the Maserati. The car bought from his first big paycheck. The others had all gone to Aaron. No. No more thoughts of Aaron. He let the smoke billow around him before inhaling again. Let the smoke fog up his mind and cloud his judgement.

His thoughts became fuzzy. He needed fresh air. Clean of the nicotine to keep him alive. Bee would tell him to breathe.

“You’re a smart man, Andrew. You could do everything you want. Yet you follow your brothers dreams.”

But Betsy was a fool. She didn’t know anything of Aaron. Mostly because Aaron didn’t want to talk to the psychiatrist. She also didn’t know of their little agreement to look out for each other and stick together. One that Andrew was slowly loosening up as he let Aaron go out for a single date. Okay, he did it because Nicky would be nagging too much otherwise but still. Andrew would put his brother in first place even if he only ever got second, or third, fourth on a bad day.

Stupid.

The door opened with a whoosh and slammed shut. Andrew glanced sideways to see Neil sit down on the steps a careful arms length away. He always seemed to do that. Staying a careful distance away. Hmm, what would Bee say about him? He should ask her during their next lunch. As far as Andrew knew Neil wasn’t a patient so Andrew should be able to ask her.

He blew out a big plume of smoke before locking his gaze on the Maserati. He could feel Neil staring, those big blue eyes burning. Andrew allowed himself one more sideways glance. Neil was sitting on his hands. Andrew was barely able to stop himself from wondering about those strong thighs. Damnit, maybe he shouldn’t have given up Roland those years ago. He could’ve gotten a decent fuckbuddy out of him.

“Staring,” Andrew said. He put the cigarette down. It didn’t taste good, nor did the one after that. He had three left in the package before he gave up. It wasn’t a good time for smoking anyway.

Neil hummed. “Looking at you is better than Matt’s face. He gets these big sad eyes every time I tell him I haven’t done something.” When Andrew didn’t react he went on. “Like ice skating, or to the cinema, taking pictures for your own apartment. I didn’t even have an apartment before this job.”

Andrew looked at Neil as he leaned over his knees. Neil’s hair lit up in the early evening sky. It made him look like a fire and Andrew was the one getting burned if he kept at this for any longer.

“My mother left my father when I was eight,” Neil continued his monologue, “both of them died before I was eighteen. Lived in England for a while. Got my drivers license. Lost it again. Got it again in America. I’m very determined to not lose it a second time. Maybe keep to the speed limits a bit better.”

Andrew snuck glances at him while he rattled on. They were small bits and pieces about Neil’s life and while they seemed logical it didn’t add up to the person he tried to be. The Neil who was friends with Boyd. To be friends with Boyd you had to either be a puppy or as close to it as a person could be, or a kicked one. He was beginning to think Neil was the latter.

“I’m thinking of a getting a pet,” Neil said. “Matt says I should get a dog. It could go on runs with but to be fair I don’t want it to chew up my couch.”

Neil caught Andrew’s eyes and smiled. Too sharp for a puppy. He grabbed Andrew’s cigarettes only to get the matches out. It sparked and the flame lit up his eyes. A strange blue, not yet grey but very light. Like a midsummer sky back in California. It made Andrew dislike him a bit more. That the sunset set Neil’s hair aflame did not help his case. It looked brighter than the fire of the matches. He looked more addicting than the nicotine. Neil would probably kill him faster.

Andrew squashed down the small bit of want that went with his thoughts.

“Would you like to come with me to the shelter?” Neil asked.

“No.”

“Okay. I’ll ask Dan. She’s a bunny person so at least I won’t end up with something like a snake. No good memories of those in Australia.” Neil scrunched his eyebrows. “Or maybe not. I should take Allison and get her to buy all the toys for me because I won’t be spoiling the pet enough.”

“A pet is a bad decision. They need attention and you work irregular shifts. We all do. You can’t care for others like that.”

“I could if I wanted to. Something like a cat doesn’t have to be taken out. Although you might be right with all the litter.” Neil leaned back on his hands and looked up to the sky. “My break is almost over. Can I leave you here or should I get someone to stay with you?”

“Need to get home. Cousin is staying over for the week.” Andrew huffed. “This was supposed to be my week off. They owe me a night.”

“If you’re not here who will stitch up my wounds?” Neil’s smile was almost as blinding as his hair or the shine in his too smart eyes. Andrew wanted to punch him. Hard. Right across those cheekbones.

Andrew didn’t get why Neil was still sitting on the cold steps. Why he hadn’t so much as blinked when the flame had reached his fingertips. He was an enigma. A problem. Something Andrew wanted to solve. Somehow he thought he might be better off not trying.

Neil had to stop being so interesting.

Only, his brother was going on dates now . Bee would say to give it a try. People aren’t distractions. They’re a support system if you give them the chance. But he did have a support system. Aaron, Renee, Bee and Nicky, even if Nicky knew just about nothing. He didn’t need a fifth person to come into his house and eat his ice cream.

His hands itched for another cigarette and before he could deny himself Neil was already holding one out.

“I know what it feels like to be addicted to something. For me it’s running, and sometimes that’s more dangerous than a pack of cigarettes.”

Andrew took it and ignored the shiver down his spine when Neil’s fingers touched his. He ignored the burn of two blue eyes. Ignored the questions for the redhead. Ignored it when Neil said bye and jogged to the ambulance.

He ignored all the strange crawling feelings in his stomach until he got home and got distracted by his cousin and brother who had been waiting up for him.

**

Nicky, Erik, and Aaron were sitting in the backyard when Andrew came home. Nicky grinned when he saw him. A glass of wine in his and Erik’s hands, an untouched one in Aaron’s. Alcohol didn’t go well with his medication.

Andrew bypassed his cousin to pluck the glass away from his brother and drank it dry. Maybe not the smartest move as he hadn’t drunk in months either. “No more wine for Aaron. We quit drinking years ago.”

We. We. As if they had grown up together. As if they had those weird twin coincidences like being allergic to the same food or being able to read each other's minds through osmosis. Aaron didn’t like his twin enough to allow for that much. Andrew had started to care too much over the years that he wanted it. Like he never wanted anything but to keep his brother safe.

Nicky moved from his chair to Erik’s lap. His fingers disappearing in blond hair. Curly, like Neil’s, only Neil was a wildfire and Erik was a firefighter. He’d squash down the easy wit that bordered on antagonism. Andrew couldn’t have one. His only two joys in the hospital were tea with Renee and Bee and watching Neil burn someone to the ground.

He had to stop this. Had to stop looking at Neil and thinking of Neil. Had to stop anything to do with Neil. Next time Andrew would let him bleed to death at his front door.

He sat down in the chair Nicky abandoned. The wicks poked his back. Aaron always forgot the pillows. Apparently Nicky didn’t even assume they had them. As if he hadn’t been the one to raise Andrew during his teenage years.

“How was work?” Erik asked. His voice was much lower than anyone else in the backyard. If he hadn’t had such a pretty face and Andrew hadn’t had years of therapy he would’ve punched Erik at the associations his voice brought up.

“Nobody died. I’m still employed. Kevin is still the jerk who gets paid more than I do. ‘Best surgeon in South Carolina,’ don’t make me laugh.”

Aaron’s lips quirked up and Nicky was beaming. It wasn’t often Andrew made a joke. At least not a joke that didn’t border on antagonism.

Erik tapped Nicky’s thighs before making them both stand up. “I’m happy you like your job, Andrew. It will lessen Nicky’s grey hairs. Can’t have Camilla not recognizing her dad.”

Camilla was their six year old. They had adopted her back in Germany and she was tolerable for a little kid, Andrew presumed. Totally terrified of the wheelchair one second and fascinated the next. Too bad she wasn’t able to come as she was the funnest of his relatives but it was only her second year in elementary so Erik’s mom was watching her.

The couple wished the twins a good night before retreating inside of the house. It was quiet for all but a minute before there was a loud crash and a scream - surprise and pain. Nicky came running outside, eyes wide.

“Erik broke his arm. The bone is poking out and all. And… shit, fuck, our health care doesn’t cover american hospitals! Oh my god.”We don’t have money for an ambulance or health care outside of Germany.”

Andrew heard Aaron calming down Nicky as he went inside the house. Erik was laying at the bottom of the stairs and Nicky had been right. That was a bone. But no way in hell was Andrew  calling an ambulance for a broken arm.

Andrew grunted. Hopefully the big lump didn’t have a concussion or any other unnecessary trauma, but there was a big chance that Andrew could help his cousin in law. He crouched and took the pen light out of his shirt pocket. It helped that he’d gone straight into the garden from work. It wasn’t like he normally changed into sweaters when he got home. He never knew when he would be called in again or if Katelyn was coming over.

“Look right, look up.” He gave a couple more orders and checked his neck and head before letting Erik sit up. Both Nicky and him said he hadn’t hit his head. Just a poor fall.

“We have to get you to the hospital to set your arm. I haven’t set one in a while but I know someone who does. I can ring her up.” He looked up at his cousin and brother. “I’m taking Erik. Can the two of you stay at home. Get some tea into Nicky. Erik and I will be back in an hour or two depending on Renee and the amount of available rooms.”

Nicky nodded and helped get his husband off the floor. Erik’s arm was put in a sling made out of two kitchen towels. They put him in the car and Nicky didn’t even threaten Andrew to bring his husband back safe or to not kill himself on the road. Maybe he finally started trusting Andrew some more. He definitely hadn’t finally gotten a brain.

Andrew dialled Renee during the car ride. He was steadily ignoring Erik’s stare and focusing on the road and on getting a room and personnel ready. If only someone on his own team was used to setting bones. But no, they were all stuck with the knowledge of how to cut open a living body and close it before it died.

Useless knowledge. For anyone that wasn’t a surgeon or encountering life threatening situations that is.

Renee met him at the door and let Erik straight into a room to get pictures taken. She was good at this. It was one of the reasons he befriended her at first. The second was that she was less stupid than his other colleagues. Renee came in with the pictures and started explaining the wound. Andrew saw Erik nodding, almost as if he was either going to fall asleep or faint. He pulled a chocolate bar from his pocket and handed it over without diverting his eyes from Renee. He absolutely did not see the grateful look when Erik ripped it open with his teeth.

She set the bone like it was her job. Which it was. In the end it only took her forty-five minutes for everything and send them off with an order for Andrew to buy him a coffee.

They sat down at one of the tables with gross, steaming cups. Erik was texting Nicky the news. There was probably some other stuff in there that Andrew didn’t want to know. He’d had enough of their sex life during their college years. Phone sex was not something you wanted to witness. Especially not when it’s your cousin.

Andrew felt eyes burning into him. From two sides. One was Erik who was trying to talk to him. Even if Andrew was close to passing out from a tough work day and having to drive his cousin back to said work. The other pair of eyes were from Neil. He was looking almost thoughtful and started coming over.

Andrew almost started believing in Nicky’s god just so he could pray for Neil to stay away.

Of course it didn’t work. Neil stopped next to the table and smiled. Andrew had seen that smile. Had almost walked into a wall because of it. Still he hadn’t had it turned on him ever before. He would’ve fallen out of his chair if he wasn’t Andrew Joseph Minyard.

“Hey, Andrew. I thought you’d gone home.” He bit the inside of his cheek. Andrew did not notice that. At all.

“To your boyfriend,” Neil added hastily.

Erik started laughing spitting his coffee back in the cup to keep from choking on it. Andrew just grimaced. That was gross. He had to admit Nicky didn’t have a bad taste in man but the thought of dating Erik left a bad taste in his mouth.

“I live with my brother. My cousin and his husband came to visit from Germany. This is his husband.”

“Guten Abend, Andrews Cousins Ehemann. Wie geht’s Ihnen?” Neil adressed Erik in fluent German.

Erik responded back in German. A lesser man than Andrew would’ve been shocked out of his mind. He never would’ve thought that Neil could speak German. Especially that well. The only reason Andrew could were because of Erik, Nicky and Camilla. He didn’t expect the little girl to speak English after all. He’d rather her learn Spanish anyway. Even if Nicky’s Mexican mom was a bitch she was less so than her husband, so her language should come first in her repertoire.

Andrew drank the last sledges of coffee before cutting into the conversation. “Nicky will start bothering me if I don’t get you back soon.”

He stood up and pulled on his black coat. Neil’s eyes didn’t so much as roam his body as train his eyes on Andrew’s face. Especially his mouth and his own eyes.

“You owe me a cigarette,” Andrew simply said before dragging his cousin in law out. He didn’t miss the quirk on Neil lips nor the one on Erik’s. He also pointedly ignored Erik’s questions about Neil and how much they saw each other. If they worked in the same department. He didn’t say anything.

At the end of the ride Erik had stopped asking and Andrew had started thinking that Neil might be more than just an itch he’d wanted to scratch. Neil was more interesting than Andrew had expected and he didn’t like that thought.

**

Nicky and Erik were almost set to go home. It’d been a little over a week already since Andrew had seen Neil in the hospital that night. They’d smoked behind the building on some days when their breaks coincided but Neil hadn’t said anything about the German. Andrew knew he wouldn’t. Not until Andrew asked and he wouldn’t. Neil had the right to his secrets. The same right Andrew had to his own.

Nicky was trying to get Aaron to wear a suit instead of the T-shirt. Erik was trying to get Andrew to borrow Aaron the car. Andrew was trying to ignore them.

He didn’t lend out his car to anyone. They only got to ride in it as a passenger. It was the only way he could make sure there weren’t more accidents.

More people like Aaron.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket and send a single text.

“Come on, Andrew. Aaron hasn’t had a date in years. It’s only one night that he needs it,” Erik said.

Andrew felt the phone buzz and checked the screen. “I can’t lend Aaron the car. I need the car.”

He stood up and began towards the stairs. “Why do you need the car? You were staying home.”

Erik almost followed him up the stairs and Andrew saw Nicky leaning over the balustrade upstairs.

“I’m meeting a friend.” His face blank. Andrew kept walking up the stairs. He made to swerve around Nicky, it wouldn’t do him well to throw his cousin off the stairs, but Nicky stayed in his path.

“Just a friend?” Nicky asked.

“Is it pretty hospital guy?” Erik followed up. Oh, those two were made for each other alright. Both annoying.

Andrew didn’t answer and went into his room.

Neil probably wouldn’t understand that this was technically a date. Andrew had send him a time and an address with a show up if you want to. A bit ominous but quite Andrew.

He pulled on his normal clothes. Things like his black turtleneck and skinny jeans, his combat boots should be somewhere in the back of the closet. Behind the box of all the old study books he didn’t have to read anymore. They were clothes that he couldn’t wear to work. The clothes he felt most comfortable in.

He almost didn’t bother with his hair. Neil probably wouldn’t notice the effort anyway. Still he did it. He wanted to impress Neil for the not-date. O god. Neil didn’t know it was a date. If the guy was as oblivious as Kevin always implied he might even show up in track pants. Well, here’s for hoping. It wasn’t like Andrew couldn’t leave him in the restaurant if he showed up like a hobo.

He walked down the stairs. Passed his brother, straightened Aaron’s ugly blue tie, and let Nicky pat him on the shoulder. It was a step up from the hugging. Not great, but okay.

The doors shut behind him. Knowing he was coming back there to his brother and cousin was the only reason he didn’t freak out at the change. It had been them, the two of them, for so long- He didn’t know if he liked adding people to the mix. Although he had to admit that Erik hadn’t been that bad of an addition.

Maybe Katelyn wouldn’t be an atrocity either. Neil would probably be awful if he finally figured out it was a date. Maybe Andrew should tell him. Yes, he should. He would. That’s right. Just when Neil arrived, to clear the air between them.

Andrew did not get a chance to broach that topic. He was already sat at one of the tables in the too fancy restaurant when Neil walked in. He was wearing skinny jeans, for god’s sake, and a long sleeved shirt that showed his muscles off too well.

Neil sat down opposite to Andrew and immediately took a sip of the champagne. “Matt said this is a date.”

He took another sip and swooshed it around in his mouth. “That you’ve been eyeing me for a while and I was oblivious.”

“Did he also make you wear those jeans?”

“He did,” Neil smiled, “do you like them?”

“They’re less terrible than your usual attire.”

Neil smiled again. A big, toothy grin that took Andrew’s breath away like a stolen cigarette. Neil put his glass aside and grabbed his menu. “Oh, they haveEscargots, one thing I never want to eat again.”

“Jean from oncology said they are better in France anyway.”

Neil hummed. He closed the menu and tapped his long fingers on top of it. “Tried them there. Didn’t like them. The texture just isn’t for me. I think I’m going with hare steak. Have you ever tried that?”

Andrew shook his head. He picked out his own dish and closed the card. “My cousin made me promise to never eat bunnies. I don’t go back on my promises.”

Andrew looked down at the embossed letter on the menu to avoid Neil’s face.

“You never answered my question,” Neil said.

“You didn’t ask one.” Andrew raised a single eyebrow.

“Is this a date?”

“Yes or no, Neil?” Andrew finally looked up. He found the blue and thought of the hottest part of a flame. Looked at Neil and thought of all the secrets shared on dirty hospital steps. He hoped for an answer and wished Neil would say no. Andrew had been a danger to everyone for years. He didn’t deserve someone like Neil. Someone who gave those secrets away like they were loose change and Andrew was a beggar.

He’d promised himself to never beg again but he thought that he might cave a single please to never find his brother in a hospital bed again.

“Yes, Andrew. I want to be on this date with you.”

Andrew nodded. His eyes back to the embossed letters and his fingers tracing the curves until Neil’s hand came into sight. Close but not touching.

When Andrew looked up the waiter was waiting for his order. “The salmon.”

Neil smiled like he had known what Andrew was going to say before the words had even left his mouth. Andrew didn’t know if he liked it.

Conversation with Neil wasn’t like anything Andrew had with anyone else. It was wild and quiet and outrages and calming and so many different things. Sometimes it was completely silent but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Neither had realized just how used to each other they had become with all those hours.

Hours Andrew got the evil eye for when he got home late for Aaron. He realised they those hours had been worth it. Having conversations with someone who treated him like just another human were worth it.

Someone other than Bee or Renee. Someone he could actually like over time.

If he’d ask the ladies they’d say this was good. In all honesty, and Andrew despised lying, he was terrified. Limiting Aaron’s sexual and romantic endeavours had also meant staying on his own himself. He couldn’t feel sorry for that but he was glad he could feel the fear after all those years.

Was glad to have Neil sitting at the table with him when they already trusted each other.

And if Andrew fantasized that night about Neil’s lips on his he wouldn’t tell anyone himself.

**

Andrew crossed his legs. He counted to sixty before uncrossing them. Nicky was supposed to be here already. Andrew had forgotten the burritos at home and Nicky had sworn he’d bring them. Andrew had forgotten that Nicky was always late.

Finally the doors opened to let Nicky in. His dark skin looked sickish in the hospital light. Then again who didn’t look ill in a hospital? Maybe Andrew because his completion was already as pale as that stupid Edward Cullen guy.

Nicky didn’t just hand over the burritos and left. He just asked if they were allowed to eat where they sat and started unpacking his bag. He pulled out drinks and food and sauce and-

“Nicky, you said you were bringing a single burrito.” Andrew raised an eyebrow.

“I’m bringing lunch. I’m leaving soon and I’ve barely seen you because of your work. Which great, you’re saving people. I even saw the girl that patched Erik up outside. She said you have a picture of us and our little girl.”

“She’s lying,” Andrew deadpanned. “Renee doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

Nicky started arguing but fell silent. “Is that redhead who I think it is?”

Andrew turned around to stare in the same direction. Neil’s hair was almost brown under the hospital lights but the smile on his face made him light up from within. They stared for a minute. Neil’s laughter echoing through the hall.

  His head turned and his eyes fell on Andrew, than on Nicky. His soft smile spread across his face as he waved and started walking over. Andrew wouldn’t have minded it if Nicky hadn’t been sitting next to him. Nicky had in no way brought enough burritos for all three of them.

“Is this the husband of mr. My Cousins Husband?” Neil said. He was just standing there. Right next to him. His hair a mess of auburn curls and his hands hung loose by his side. He looked great, even in uniform. That might even help.

“What are you doing here?”

“I asked first.” Neil smirked and extended a hand. “I’m Neil.”

“You are the date!” Nicky’s grin took up his whole face. “I’m Nicky, grumpy’s cousin. I hear you’ve met my husband.”

Neil nodded. He pulled his hand back a little too quick. Nicky probably didn’t notice. Andrew noticed everything.

“Join us for lunch?” Nicky looked a bit too hopeful but Andrew already knew Neil had to get back to work in a couple of minutes.

“Only if this counts as our second date, or should I just text you an address for tonight?” He was pretty sure that if he lifted his eyebrow any higher they’d disappear in his hair.

“Tonight?”

“Yes.”

“Text me the address and get back to work.”

Neil’s smile was sharp and shark like but Andrew thought he liked it. Nicky certainly did. Andrew didn’t feel sorry when he kicked his cousin over it.

**

Andrew was waiting in his car. Neil said he’d get there in about ten minutes. Apparently the loser didn’t have a car. He should’ve mentioned it. Andrew would’ve picked him up. Too late for that now. He said Boyd was bringing him. Nicky had said they sounded like high schoolers. Andrew as the cool guy in his car and Neil being brought by his unofficial dad.

His phone rang and the vibrations made an annoying sound in the cup holder. Or phone holder, as Andrew used it. “Minyard.”

“Andrew,” Renee said. “We need you to get here for an emergency, all the other surgeons are unavailable.”

He turned his key in the ignition and drove off. Neil would understand.

“Tell me who and what,” he ordered.

“Young man, no allergies or prior surgeries. There was nothing wrong with him but well-”

“Spill it, Renee.”

“It’s Neil Josten. Matt was driving him to a date and they got into a crash. Matt was fine but someone drove into Neil’s side of the car. There’s some glass shards in his upper body and we’re afraid he might have a collapsed lung.”

Neil. It was Neil. Neil who was supposed to be arriving at that same restaurant in three minutes.

Andrew tried not to think about the similarities between his brother and his date. Tried not to think that Neil might already be dead before he even arrived at the hospital.

Andrew had never gotten to the hospital that fast.

Getting ready for surgery was a blur and it might not be the safest thing to let him operate half in shock. It wasn’t like they had any other choice. Kevin and the other surgeons were all busy or out of the country or too far away to be able to save him.

There were scalpels and blood and flat lungs and almost flat liners and glass on its way to Neil’s heart to stop it before Andrew could save the one person willing to date him. The one person he was willing to date.

Neil had always respected his boundaries and now Andrew was breaking all of his to save Neil’s live. It was worth it. Even if Neil would hate him for putting him on display, at least he’d be alive because if there was one thing Andrew was good at it was saving life. Stitching skin to keep someone from bleeding out and dying on his table.

The surgery took too long and too short and Renee pumped sugary drinks and food into him when it was done to try and get him out of the minor shock. He was a mess and he knew it but he didn’t talk. Couldn’t say anything. Not to Renee, not to Bee, not to his brother and cousin when they came by in the hospital room to see if Neil was doing any better.

Only there were no signs he was getting better. Yes, his wounds were closing, but Neil was still asleep. His right arm and leg still broken and his mind dormant. Andrew hated it every time he set foot in that stupid room.

His reprieve was work. Work and Aaron. His brother who saw Andrew much the same as he had been years ago. His brother who must see that this was no different than when Aaron lay there much the same way.

A car accident. A couple broken bones. A heart so close to stopping that Andrew was willing to give his own. He wouldn’t die to save Neil but the feeling came close enough.

It took a week for Neil to wake up. Andrew was sitting next to his bed, his head propped on his arm as he read.

“Andrew,” a soft voice croaked. Andrew quickly set down his book and moved the glass of water with a straw to Neil’s mouth.

“Spare your voice. You’ve been out for a week. You could’ve just told me if you didn’t want to go on a second date.”

Neil almost missed the quirk of his lips when he said that. It was a sad one.

“I did. Fucker in the other car ran through red. Must’ve.”

Neil was right. Andrew didn’t want to know how he could still remember that.

“Take a nap, Neil. You need to rest.” Neil nodded but moved his hand to grab Andrew’s. “Stay, yes or no?”

“It’s always yes with you,” Neil said before passing out again.

Andrew turned to his book. His heart started beating again. A shade so dark it was almost black. Rotten from years of neglect and disuse. Years in which he was denied love and care. A heart so dark he thought nobody would see through but his friends had grabbed candles and flashlights and decided they would be his light until he found his own. Now there was enough light. Not a lot but enough. Light for his family, for Bee and Renee and now for Neil. Because Neil wanted him to stay. For however long that was Andrew would take it. He would stay for Neil.

[sleepyskjolle]

PHARMA (Michael Myers x OC) // Chapter 01

A/N: So, I'm VERY new to writing fanfiction (although I've done a decent amount of RP-ing), so please be gentle with me - u -

I also wanted to make a point to not add any specific physical descriptors to our protagonist, June, so that she can be whatever you want her to be! So I suppose the story is kind of a mix between self-insert, original character, and x reader! Please feel free to tell me what you think! o u o

Summary: For June, any job was better than fast food. That of course included being hired as the specialized aide for Haddonfield's most prolific serial killer.

Set Pre-Halloween (2018)

November 21, 2017 Smith's Grove Sanitarium. Warren County, IL.

The walls of the office June sat in were just as stained and grungy as they were the first time she entered almost two weeks prior. She waited once again to see the head psychiatrist of this institution. The same institution that had loomed on the edges of her suburban hometown since the early 20th century.

Her fingers rubbed against each other in a simple pattern as she tried to calm the nervousness that was lapping at the edges of her consciousness. The ticking of the clock served as a melody for her fidgeting and it was starting to feel like she'd been waiting there an hour, although she knew that wasn't the case.

When the door finally did open, June turned to greet the doctor, a smile only crafted by years of customer service flashing.

"Good morning, Dr. Sartain, I'm sorry I'm a little early. I hope it's not a problem or anything." Apologizing for literally anything was another trait that had been beaten into the girl during her early years of employment.

The doctor just smiled back and physically waved her apology away. "There is no need for that, Ms. Jones. Promptness is a sign of a dedicated worker, and you are going to need dedication for the position you've been hired for." The small man makes his way around the desk and lowers into the well-used chair, immediately leaning onto his elbows to look at her more closely. His eyes are still kind, but his demeanor turns very serious very quickly. "You read the entire packet I gave you, correct? And the files?"

"Yes sir. I read over both pretty thoroughly, but I don't think I have any serious questions." Her fingers itched to fiddle again so she decided to clutch at the seam of her straight-out-of-the-package scrub top to quell the urge.

Dr. Sartain gave her a slightly incredulous look, pausing for a tense moment before speaking again. "And you are absolutely positive, Ms. Jones, that you want to take this job?"

June understood why he felt the need to ask. In retrospect, this was a dangerous thing, what she had signed up for. She didn't quite realize that when she signed the contracts that make it so the institute isn't liable if you get hurt. It became pretty clear though, when she had to go through a week of training and was told enough stories and shown enough scars to scare most anybody away. She learned a lot of ways to be safe though, and multiple ways to get away, as nobody was allowed to even detain the residents except for the guards, who usually sat half a compound away in their station. You weren't allowed to hurt a resident, even to protect yourself.

"Yes sir. I... I'm not afraid."

The doctor's intense demeanor switched off like a light and suddenly he was smiling warmly at her again and leaning back in his seat. "Good. You came at a good time too... He's been without an aide for a few weeks now at this point. Not that he necessarily NEEDS an aid, but most everyone that works here refuses to give him even decent care. At least in my professional opinion...” The doctor’s face betrays a slight bit of disdain for a split second “And, as I've explained to you previously, your position is sort of a last ditch effort to rehabilitate Michael."

Sartain coughs into his hand then begins to rise back up, using the desk for assistance.

"Come. It's time to introduce you to the nurses. Afterwards, we will let you meet your charge."

June follows the doctor without a word, nervous and a little bit excited, which always comes with a new job. She hoped the other orderlies liked her, naturally, but she was more worried about Michael. The doctor, and even the ones in charge of training, explained extensively just how many aides Michael had already gone through. Many either quitting suddenly and unexpectedly and the others being fired after a month or more of Mr. Myers showing no significant change. Apparently, Sartain had realized that he wouldn't be able to get through to Michael due to his distrust in doctors, or at least he assumed that was why. He petitioned to have this position made in an effort to find someone Michael could trust. So far, no luck.

Would she be any different?

The trek to the nurse's station was mostly uneventful, other than the intense security check they had to go through just past the doctor's office, at the entrance to the ward. Sartain assured her it would be swifter once she was given her clearance card but June knew that it was important that the residents weren't given access to anything that they could use to harm themselves or others. At Smith's Grove, careful was an understatement.

Most of the nurses were older and gave the girl just a side glance before returning to their work. The ones closer to her age, and a male guard that was chatting and flirting with a younger employee, greeted her with big smiles. There were too many names to remember immediately but the nametags would help.

One CNA, a younger guy named Nate, shook her hand and wished her luck. After that, it was like everyone remembered just why she was there. She mumbled a quick "thank you" as Sartain began to lead her further down the hall, watching the concerned eyes follow her until she was out of sight.

Dr. Sartain pulled her back from the distraction with his thick accent, "Michael should be in the cafeteria by this point, eating breakfast. This will be a good time to introduce you, while there are guards watching. Just in case, you see."

The ward was sort of maze-like, but there were signs indicating the cafeteria was close. The rusty looking red doors came into view and Sartain asked if she had the itinerary on hand. June's fingers slipped into her pocket in search of the folded paper, just to make sure.

"Yeah. Yeah, I've got it." They pause just outside the doors and he points through the rectangular window at an old man sitting alone in the middle of the large room. There were plenty of other residents already up and scarfing down their breakfasts but there was a wide berth around the one they were watching. The man, who had to be Michael, was staring out the nearest window. His breakfast sandwich sat half-eaten in his grip.

June's gaze breaks to look for some bit of affirmation on the doctor's face, her arms crossed to prevent her fingers from worrying her scrubs into oblivion. "Do you think he'll like me?"

"Hm... Well, judging by past trials, it's likely he won't take to anyone. But... it's possible, Ms. Jones. No one really knows what's going on in that grey head of his. No one ever has." His eyes turn back to Michael before hers. "Look. He knows."

Her attention snaps back to the old man in the cafeteria and he is glaring at her. From this angle, she can see the dead eye and the scars around it, just like she read in the file. The look he is giving her is curious and intense and it takes a moment before June comes to her senses and flashes a smile, raising a hand to wave at him. His head cocks to the side slightly before he turns back to his sandwich.

"That's a good sign, Ms. Jones. You haven't sparked his ire yet, at least. Let's test the waters..."

The door doesn't make much noise but as soon as they step in the room, all eyes are on the two of them. All except for Michael, who is suddenly engrossed in the last few bites of sandwich he's holding.

They have to skirt around a few of the guys that are sitting in the aisle but there is barely any movement going on in the room so it was easy enough. The two finally halt just in front of the table Michael is sitting at. Moments pass and he still isn't giving any sign that he even knows they are there. And she knows he does.

There is no change, even as Dr. Sartain begins to address him. "Good morning, Michael. There is someone I would very much like to introduce you to. Do you think perhaps you could take a break to meet her?"

Silence. The scrape of a plastic spork against cheap foam and a bite of apple makes its way to the old man's mouth. Soon it feels a little bit like his chewing is the only sound in the room.

June glances around and catches the guards looking their way. They must be used to this.. The silence swiftly becomes deafening and she feels like she needs to break it.

"My name's Juniper."

The strong jaw that was making easy work of that apple stops in place. She can see the muscles and tendons tense beneath the skin. Even Sartain is watching her now. "I usually go by June, though..."

She throws her foot over the bench and slides into the seat in front of him. There was no going back now. June is a foot away from the deadliest serial killer to ever grace the beautiful state of Illinois and her biggest worry is if he'll like her. Probably another product of employment in the fast food industry.

"I'm your new aide and I would really appreciate if you could maybe write down the things that you do and don't want me to do. I have ADHD and sometimes its really hard for me to remember things if I don't have a list. My uh… my little brother has autism too and sometimes he doesn't like being touched and sometimes he does. So if there is anything like that for you, I want to know. It's really nice to finally meet you, y'know!"

His head doesn't move even a millimeter but slowly his eyes rove over to the girl, although only one of them displayed any awareness. She's having problems deciphering how he feels about her just through his gaze, but June continues to smile at him, awaiting a response. Or anything really.

Eventually it comes. Although it arrives in the form of Michael standing and picking up his trash before turning on his heel and walking to the exit, throwing away the garbage, and leaving without a word.

When he's out the door, every bated breath in the cafeteria releases at once and suddenly it's as if nothing ever happened. She takes a moment to scan the room in awe before turning to face the doctor again. He's looking at her in a similar manner to how she was purveying the room, like something out of the ordinary just happened. June wonders if that was the wrong thing to do and she fucked up her chances at keeping this job but her worries melt away when his visage of confusion shifts to one of approval.

"Very good, Ms. Jones. You know, you may just be the right person for the job. Let's go fetch your clearance card and nametag and then we'll throw you back into the ring after lunch.”

“C-cool!” She knew how unprofessional the word was even as it slipped past her lips and the girl mentally berated herself for it as she unwove her legs from the bench. This wasn’t fast food anymore. This was the big leagues. Like, the “$20,000 more a year” leagues.

Her new employer simply gave a small chuckle, setting her at ease again.

“Yes, Ms. Jones. VERY cool.”

_________________________

June was allowed to watch the hustle and bustle of the residents during the period between breakfast and lunch from the nurse’s station. Nate, when not checking on his assigned residents, sat close to her and made small talk.

They were near the same age and she had remembered seeing him in passing during her junior and senior years. They bonded over making fun of old classmates and teachers. Even as they chatted, her eyes were always on the lookout for HER resident. She hadn’t caught sight of him since their meeting in the cafeteria and she wondered if he was avoiding her on purpose. Nate seemed to pick up on this and their talk shifted.

“He’s always like this at first, so don’t worry too much about it.” It was nice that he was trying to reassure her, at least.

She notices that her fingers are fidgety again and wonders just how long they’d been doing that. It takes a few seconds for her to debate whether she should voice what she’s really thinking.

“Is he really all that bad? I mean… I know about the babysitter murders. Trick-or-treating has been basically illegal in Haddonfield until just a few years ago. We ALL heard the stories about the boogeyman growing up. But since then?”

Another pause while Nate parses out his response. “Well… I haven’t ever seen him like that. But some of his previous aides got really freaked out and quit all of a sudden. And Nettie,” he nods his head towards an older nurse doing paperwork in the small office across the hall, “she’s told us all some pretty crazy stories from back in the day. Said he used to be really dangerous. But I’ve never even seen a resident give him a mean look. They simply don’t mess with him. It’s kind of crazy, really…”

June isn’t sure how to respond. Dr. Sartain had assured her that Michael hadn’t hurt anyone in “quite a while”. He said they had even brought in cats to spend the night with him a few times and every single kitty came out of the room in the morning just as it had been the evening before. Before she musters up another query, Nate stands up from his chair and scoots it back under the desk.

“Hey, I gotta go real quick. It’s lunchtime and they’ll get rowdy if we don’t start rounding em up.” He turns to another employee that had been reading on the other side of the station. “Cass. Hey Cass. It’s time for lunch.”

The other girl, Cass, rolls her eyes as she slides her bookmark back into the tacky romance novel she was halfway through. She grumbles an audible, “this’ll be fun,” before picking up a clipboard and pen and pushing past June on her way out of the nurse’s station. Nate shoots her an apologetic look before grabbing his clipboard and leaving her there alone.

She can hear them shouting “LUNCHTIME” down the halls and all of a sudden, doors are slammed open and then the passageways are stampeded with the footfalls of eager, hungry men. Many of them take the time to ogle the new blood a bit on their way but it’s obvious that most of them are more focused on their bellies because none of them bother for too long.

June herself is pulling out the package of tuna and crackers she had brought for her own lunch as the last stragglers file through. Her thumb gets caught on the lip of the plastic as she tries to open it and the ensuing cut is little, but a drop of blood begins to form from the slit. Out of instinct, she mumbles “shit” and brings it to her mouth. Her tongue is putting pressure on the little wound and the sharp pain is starting to fade when something tall looms just in her peripheral.

Her eyes jolt upwards to see him standing still as death in the hallway, still facing towards the route to the dining hall. His head is ever so slightly tilted in her direction, his good eye flickering between her own eyes and the finger still suckled in her mouth.

Within a millisecond June’s thumb is retracted and she gives Michael a smile and a nervous wave with her other hand.

“H-hey! I hope you have a good lunch!” She begins to explain herself, “I just, uh… I cut my finger on accident and I…”

He doesn’t let the girl finish her rambling, turning his head back and continuing on his trek towards his lunch like she wasn’t talking at all.

He gets to the end of the hall and turns the corner before her mind finds itself again. “Uh, okay… rude…” Maybe he just needed time to warm up to her, just like Nate said.

June’s eye catches the offending tuna package once more and then her attention is turned back to how hungry she is. And Lord knows with her new “friend”, she may need the strength in the coming hours.

_________________________

After lunch, Dr. Sartain fetches her again, to ferry her to Michael for the last time. After this, she would be on her own. June doesn’t bring up what happened at the nurse’s station.

She waits just beside the doctor as they walk up to him in the common room. He’s standing and looking out one of the many large windows that line one wall of the decently large room.

“Michael, June is here to see you again. She’ll be with you the rest of the afternoon, so you must be on your best behavior so you don’t scare her off.” The old man continues to stare out the window and gives no indication that he’s even heard the doctor speak. Sartain turns to her and whispers “good luck” before making his exit.

It takes a couple of minutes for June to make her way up to the window, near Michael, but far enough away as to not make him uncomfortable. She sneaks a few glances at the tall man and also tries to pinpoint just what it is he’s watching. They are on the third floor and the view spans a pretty wide area, even overlooking the parking lot. A few people are coming and going, mostly what looks like employees and the others most likely visitors. His eye follows one and then moves on to the next person. And then the next. ‘Ah. So he’s peoplewatching,’ June thinks to herself.

A few minutes of watching with him and she notices just how quiet the man is. Barely exuding a sound besides the rhythmic breaths that accompanies most humans. He really is a mystery.

Not really knowing what to say, she lets almost half an hour pass in silence before her legs begin to ache from standing still for so long. June moves to sit in the chair just on the other side of Michael and she grabs a magazine from a nearby side table to flip through. She doesn’t want to push Michael too much and is sure just letting him get used to her presence is the correct way to go about it, at least for the first day or so. Some of the other men in the room begin to whisper to each other. After awhile, she peeks over the top of the Good Housekeeping in her hands to see a few younger looking guys watching her and talking amongst themselves. Within ten minutes, they are standing close enough to speak to her but still not incredibly close. She sees them nervously eyeing Michael, who hasn’t moved a centimeter.

Maybe she should say hi? That’s polite, right?

“Hey, what’s up? You guys need something? I can go get a CNA...”

One of the boys, the one that seems to be the leader, steps just a tiny bit closer, eyes moving from her to Michael. Then from Michael to her.

“Nah, we’re good, miss. We just wanted to meet you. My name’s Russ. We just don’t get many new people around h-here.”

One of the other two men, who looks to be a bit older, is flashing her a weird smile. He nudges his way up so he’s standing beside Russ instead of behind. “We definitely don’t get many pretty girls like you.”

Russ jabs his elbow into the other man’s side and June isn’t really sure how to respond. “Oh, um… Thank you?”

Russ opens his mouth to say something else but the younger guy cowering behind him gets his attention and points behind her. June turns to look as well and it seems Michael has turned his head in their direction and is glaring at the boys. The flirty guy curses under his breath and Russ, who looks absolutely terrified, starts backing up. “S-sorry for bothering you… sorry…”

They abscond without another word and huddle around a small table in the opposite corner of the room, looking back at her direction every now and then. She moves to glance back at her charge and their eyes meet.

Silence. Then he’s looking out the window again, ignoring that she’s even there.

So she goes back to reading the interview with Jaime Lee Curtis she was engrossed in when they were approached. She couldn’t help but to sing that digestive yogurt jingle in her head.

A couple of hours pass by uneventfully and by 3 o’clock she’s read every article in every magazine in a five foot radius. June’s eyes are a little sore from the reading and she wonders just how Michael can stand in the same spot like that for that long. When she stands, one of her hands moves to settle against his shoulder. Just a small gesture to get his attention. The muscles beneath her hand tense just slightly at the touch.

“The doc told me to leave at 3 today, so I guess I’ll be on my way. It was nice meeting you though. I hope I didn’t annoy you too much...” Her hand falls back to her side. “Have a good rest of your day, okay?” She waits for a response but it never comes, so June makes her way back to the nurse’s station to gather her things, yawning along the way. Sitting around doing nothing had really taken a toll on her today.

Nate is packing up when she gets there so they head out together, chatting about what they are going to eat for supper that night all the way up until they have to split up to get to their cars.

June opens the driver side door but gets a shiver down her spine before she can climb in. Realization dawns and then her eyes are looking back up at the massive, decrepit building, searching the windows. It doesn’t take long to find him and when she does, he’s looking back at her. It’s the same spot he was in when she left him but this time his gaze stays on her, instead of flickering to and fro. There are more than a few people leaving right now but he’s just watching her.

‘Maybe that’s a good sign…’

She waves once more but as she suspected, he doesn’t return it. The wind is chilly though, and she doesn’t wait for long.

‘It wasn’t a BAD day,’ June reminds herself on the drive home.

“Beats McDonald’s ANY day…”

[nachtgraves]

Hey, I'm a fan of your work over in Ao3! I have a prompt idea for a Yuuri! On Ice fic. Could you do a 5+1 kinda thing where Yuuri and Victor are dating (I was kinda picturing it to be an AU because we all know they would move in together) and whenever Yuuri comes over to Victor's apartment and stays late he hints around to staying over for the night but Victor is a very dense boy and doesn't get until, like, the end. BONUS If you put an unnecessary amount of angst and then a huge amount of fluff

I FINALLY FINISHED IT. I’m so sorry it took forever but it is done! I deviated a bit with your prompt, but I hope you still enjoy (: This is also my first 5+1 type of thing so hope I did that decently. And thank you!

Title: Five Times Yuuri was Obvious and the One Time Victor Finally Got It // AO3Word Count: 4,960Tags/Warnings: G/PG. College AU, misunderstandings, established relationship, Victor is oblivious but means well, minor background relationships.

1.

Yuurireally likes Victor. Like a lot. He’dnever have thought that the guy he saw coming into the ice rink where he workedpart-time would ever look twice at him. But now here he is, on the olderRussian’s couch watching some dumb TV show he, at least, has not been payingattention to, while said Russian is getting the takeout they ordered from thedoor.

“—nkyou. Have a nice night.”

Yuuri’sphone buzzes. A text from Phichit. Victor’s moved to the kitchen and Yuuriknows from experience that Victor will bite his hand if he tries to help.Victor has weird and outdated views on hosting guests, especially boyfriendshe’s still trying to do the whole impressing thing with. Yuuri doesn’t know howto tell the man that he just needs to laugh and Yuuri is gone.

From Phichit / 7:34 PM

So ur not coming back tonight riiiiiight?????Ive not taught u well if u doI will be v disappointed yuuri

Yuuri’sface heats even though he did come over to Victor’s with the intention to notbe sent off to the trains to go back to his and Phichit’s apartment at the endof the night. He doesn’t even care if they do things. Well, he does, and would not be opposed, but he mainly justwants to wake up to Victor in the morning.

It’sa weekday, but neither he nor Victor have classes or work in the morning. Yuurihas work in the afternoon and that’s during the time Victor usually comes tothe rink to skate, now with the added bonus of light flirting and making plansfor date nights when it’s Yuuri’s shift to moderate the skaters. He’s preparedto withstand the teasing from Phichit and Yuuko should he and Victor come tothe ice rink together, Yuuri wearing the same clothes Phichit had last seen himin, or, better yet, in something of Victor’s.

To Phichit / 7:37 PM

We’re eating takeout and watching a movie.But if I happen to miss the last train…

Yuuriadds a fingers crossed emoji before hitting send. Phichit’s reply is immediateand Yuuri’s cheeks flush at the series of peach, eggplant, and kissy faceemojis.

“Dinneris served!”

Yuuristuffs his phone face down in his lap, startled by Victor. His boyfriend isstanding with two plates loaded with naan and a chicken curry at the foot ofthe coffee table. He tilts his head. “Is everything okay, Yuuri?”

Yuurinods, mentally willing the flush on his cheeks to die down. “Yeah! Yup.Everything’s fine.”

Victorraises a brow and sets the plates on the table. “Okay… Well, do you wantanything to drink?”

Theydecide on some wine and Yuuri vocalizes that he is limiting himself to oneglass, two glasses max. Victor laughsat him but puts the bottle away after pouring the both of them modest glassfulsbefore joining Yuuri on the couch.

“Atoast?” Victor asks, raising his glass.

“Towhat?”

Victorhums, lips pursed in thought. “Delicious food, a hopefully interesting movie,and the best company I could ask for?” The little smile Victor flashes isentirely unfair. Yuuri’s face is bright red when their glasses clink togetherand Victor is unapologetic.

Theystart the movie, an action-adventure-comedy type thing that had won severalawards that neither of them had managed to see when it was in theaters. As theyclean off their plates and nurse their wines, Yuuri gradually closes thedistance between Victor and himself until their shoulders press against oneanother. Yuuri curls his legs up and leans against Victor. His boyfriendglances away from the screen and huffs a laugh, but throws an arm aroundYuuri’s shoulders and lets Yuuri lean further into Victor. They meet for abrief kiss that has Yuuri arching for more when Victor pulls away.

“We’llmiss the movie,” is Victor’s excuse in the face of Yuuri pouting. Hetemporarily placates Yuuri with one more kiss and tucking Yuuri closer to hischest, cheek against Yuuri’s head.

Yuuri’sonly got half a mind on the movie, even though it is actually interesting andif Yuuri wasn’t thinking about other things he would have been just asenthralled by the plot as Victor is. But it’s getting later and later and themovie is longer than Yuuri thought it was, but it works in his favor since thelast train he can catch to go home arrives in the next twenty minutes at astation that is a ten minute walk away and there’s at least another thirtyminutes left of the movie. Yuuri fights the urge to stare at the clock on hisphone to see the minutes tick by.

Themovie ends and Yuuri’s missed the last train by eight minutes, assuming it wason time.

“Ohshit, I’m sorry, Yuuri. I lost track of time.” Victor looks incredibly guiltywhen he sees how late it is.

“Don’tworry about it,” Yuuri assures him. He feels a little bad that he somewhatorchestrated the situation and Victor seems to feel really bad about it.

Butthen Victor perks up in that way he does when he believes he has an incredibleidea. Yuuri has to hold back the preemptive yes.

“Lyft!”Victor exclaims.

“Ye—what?”

Victorgrins and unlocks his phone. “I’ll call you a Lyft. Let me just download theapp real quick.”

Yuuridoesn’t tell Victor that he has Lyft, as well as Uber, on his phone. While hehas found the services to be incredibly useful during nights out where no oneis capable of getting themselves home, currently, he has some very differentfeelings on the matter.

“Ah,yeah. Thanks.” Yuuri sighs as he gathers his things and Victor sorts out the Lyft.Victor cheerfully announces that Yuuri’s ride will arrive in moments. When itarrives, Victor walks him to the front of the building and Yuuri gets a kiss onthe cheek before sliding into the car.

Yuurireally likes Victor, but he wishes Victor could take a hint.

2.

WhenPhichit is determined, nothing can deter him.

“Okay.So clearly, your boyfriend is a little slow on the uptake, but! Now that I’mtaking charge of this, you will not be coming back here if I can help it.”

Yuuripretends to look affronted. “Are you trying to kick me out?”

Phichitplays coy and twirls a lock of hair. “Well.Only for like a night every once in a while.”

“Likeme being home hasn’t stopped you before.” Yuuri nudges his best friend. He’sgotten used to seeing, and sometimes hearing, some of Phichit’s closer friendsthe occasional morning.

Witha laugh, Phichit lets his entire weight fall onto Yuuri, causing the two tospread out on Yuuri’s bed.

“Phichit,get off!” Yuuri laughs. Phichit squirms until he’s pretty much starfished outatop Yuuri. “I can’t breathe!”

Phichitraises himself up and smirks at Yuuri. “Well, I wonder if there’s a certainRussian we know that would help you out.”

Facepink and laughing, Yuuri pushes Phichit off of him. “Shut up.”

“Alright,back to business. When is coming by?”

Yuurisearches for his phone, lost amid blankets. It’s trying to hide in a pillow andflashes several notifications from social media and a couple texts. There’s atext from Victor, flooded with exclamation marks, saying that he finished hiserrands earlier than expected and can be ready whenever Yuuri is.

“WheneverI want, it seems,” Yuuri answers. He shows Phichit the text and is just barelyquick enough to keep his phone out of the Thai boy’s reach when he grabs forit. “What are you trying to do?”

Phichitshrugs, eyebrows high on his head, eyes directed to the corner of the room.“Nothing,” he draws the word out like he’s not even sure what lie he was goingto come up with. “Anyway, time to slut you up.”

Yuuriis slightly afraid.

Victor’seyes widen when they meet up and Yuuri grudgingly admits to himself thatPhichit does know what he’s doing. Even if Yuuri wants to pull at the too-tightshirt that belongs to Phichit and squirm in the jeans that supposedly make hisass look ‘bitable’ and are definitely going to be more of a struggle to takeoff than they were to put on.

Theygo out to see the movie Victor’s been looking forward to and grab dinner at acute Spanish restaurant after. Victor animatedly goes over his favorite partsof the film, praising directing, acting, cinematography. He goes over the partsthat were lacking, but overall his expectations had been met. Yuuri watches himfondly, chiming in every once in a while, nodding along or disagreeing with oneaspect, but overall he lets Victor lead and is content with sipping wine and cataloguingthe Russian’s every gesture.

It’slate when they leave the restaurant, the walk to the nearest station quiet andmostly deserted. Victor reaches for Yuuri’s hand, and their fingers are linked,warm and loose, for the walk. They come to the point where they would need topart if they went to their own homes. Yuuri, gnaws on his bottom lip, wraps hisfree arm around his middle.

“Well…”Yuuri trails off, awkward, hopeful, waiting. “I’m that way.”

Victorfrowns slightly and Yuuri traps his bottom lip between his teeth, biting downhard. He looks up at Victor through his lashes, eyes wide, Phichit’s voicerunning through his head giving orders: Curve you neck, draw attention to yourmouth, show a hint of tongue—a hint, a flash! You gotta tease, Yuuri. You are not ice cream in an ice cream shop, there’sno sampling. You’re the display piece they can look at through the window, andcan only have if they take you home.

WhenVictor comes closer, leans down, Yuuri closes his eyes and meets his boyfriendhalfway for a lingering kiss. When they part, Yuuri is ready to nod, stomachfluttering and heart jumping.

Victorsqueezes Yuuri’s hand before he lets go. “Get home safe, Yuuri.”

Yuuri’shands, both empty, slide into his coat pockets. “Ah, yeah. You too.”

Theywalk their separate ways and Yuuri sends a text to Phichit.

To Phichit / 9:48 PM

Mission failed

3.

“Idon’t get it,” Yuuri whines. He shoves away his textbook and notes, floppingover on Victor’s coffee table. Victor, fiddling with a pen as he reads throughstudent work for the class he’s a TA for, looks up from the essay.

“What’reyou stuck on?”

Yuuriturns his textbook around and uses his pencil to point out the problem he’sbeen stuck on. God does he hate Gen Ed requirements.

Victorlooks over the page and comes around to sit beside Yuuri on the floor, lookingover Yuuri’s notes and the in-progress assignment that’s a review worksheet fora midterm-like test.

“You’reon the right track but you’re using the wrong formula,” Victor says after amoment. Using his pen, Victor writes out an equation that looks vaguelyfamiliar to Yuuri and he’s fairly certain he knows what some of the variablesmean. But it still doesn’t really help.

“Victor,” Yuuri whines again after attemptingthe problem with the new equation. He’s flipped through his notes and thetextbook, but still can’t figure out how and what to plug in to get the rightanswer. He’s really not looking forward to the upcoming test. Yuuri can alreadysee all the red marks that will make themselves comfortable on his paper.

Victorchuckles and ruffles Yuuri’s hair. “How about a food break?

Thespeed at which Yuuri perks up is comical, if the way Victor’s chuckles turninto full blown laughter is at all telling. Yuuri puts his schoolwork to theside in a somewhat organized pile, clearing space as he gets up. He followsafter Victor into the kitchen, seeing his boyfriend looking through his pantry.

“Areyou feeling pasta tonight?” Victor asks, looking over his shoulder.

Yuurinods, “Pasta sounds good.”

Withinthe hour, Yuuri and Victor are back in the living room, plates of some lemon,butter, garlic, and herb chicken and angel hair pasta set before them that hasYuuri salivating. They eat on the couch with the TV on and once the food iscleared, Victor pointedly looks at Yuuri’s incomplete assignment. Yuuri slidesback down to the floor with a put upon pout.

“Thisisn’t even graded,” Yuuri grumbles.

Ahand comes to rest on his head, fingers curl into hair. Yuuri looks up with aquestion on his tongue, but a mouth presses to his in answer before he canspeak.

“Mightnot be a graded assignment, but the test counts for a lot,” Victor says oncethey pull apart from the brief, far too brief, peck. “But a boyfriend can givehis boyfriend rewards for a job well done?”

Yuurifocuses more on the assignment than he’s focused on any class that he’s ever enjoyed.Victor’s smile as he finishes up doing his TA work may be incredibly cocky andsmug, but being able to wipe it away with kisses and some hair tugging while inVictor’s lap more makes up for it.

Yuuriis very comfortable in Victor’s arms, and the way Victor’s holding him feelslike Victor won’t be letting go any time soon. But when they break for air andjust rest against one another, Yuuri’s head on Victor’s shoulder and Victor’scheek against Yuuri’s head, Victor sighs. “It’s getting pretty late and youhave class in the morning.”

Yuuristills for a moment against Victor before releasing a sigh of his own. “I kindof wish I lived closer to school like you do. You’re what, a twenty minute walkand maybe ten by car?”

Victornods against Yuuri. “Yeah, about. Depending on traffic it can take almostthirty by car. The street one over from the coffee shop everyone goes to? Theabsolute worst during the lunch rush.”

“Ohyeah, that street is awful,” Yuuri says. “Still, you don’t even have to wake upas early to get to classes on time. I’m jealous.”

Victorlaughs and presses his mouth to Yuuri’s forehead. “But you live closer to theskate rink.”

Yuurican’t argue with that, but the conversation is not going where he hopes itwould. He doesn’t know how else to get Victor to suggest he stay over, since,clearly, it’d be easier for Yuuri to get to class in the morning.

“Ugh,”Victor groans. “C’mon I need to get you home before it really gets too late.Don’t you also have to see your advisor tomorrow?”

“Shit.”Yuuri had completely forgotten. So maybe this time wouldn’t have beenconvenient to stay over. “I forgot. And all the things I had to bring her areat home and—”

BeforeYuuri can spiral into full blown panic, he finds himself much higher off theground than the couch and Victor’s lap, legs swinging freely in the air, theonly point of stability being Victor’s arms, one under his knees and the otheraround his back.

“Victor!”The man only grins. “What? I’m getting you home.”

Eventhough it is the best idea for now and Yuuri had not planned things out well atall, Yuuri can’t help but wish that Victor was carrying him towards the bedroominstead of his coat and shoes.

4.

Yuuri’srelationship with alcohol is one that everyone around him enjoys while heremains oblivious to his actions until days, sometimes even months later. Hehas no memory of the first time he met Victor at one of Chris’ parties and madean absolute ass of himself when Victor sought him out at the ice rink not toolong after. It was only on one of their earlier dates before they officiallyfinally got together that Victor brought up the first time they met. Thepictures of that night are ones Yuuri still can’t look at, much to Phichit’ssadistic glee.

Andyet, Yuuri will still find himself a few too many drinks deep every once in awhile. Especially at one of Chris’ parties where it’s rare to have an intactmemory of the night.

“Ithink you’re done for now,” Victor says, taking Yuuri’s newly filled glassaway. Yuuri pouts, and while trying to reach for his drink, finds it too taxingand simply slumps onto Victor, arms draped over the Russian’s shoulder.

“M’fine,”Yuuri mumbles into Victor’s neck.

Victorwraps an arm around Yuuri’s waist, holding him up. Yuuri settles further intothe warmth of his boyfriend.

“I’msure you are right now, but you won’t be later.”

Yuuriwants to sulk, argue with Victor, but he also really likes being in Victor’sarms so he settles for lifting his face up briefly to give Victor furrowedbrows and jutting bottom lip before settling his head back in the cradle ofVictor’s neck and shoulder.

Victorleads them out of the kitchen – away from the drinks – to one of the couches inChris’ living room. Various people, all somehow associated to Chris, mingle anddance and drink around them. Phichit’s dancing with two of Chris’ coworkers, JJand Isabella are canoodling on an armchair made for one but can apparently fittwo, Sara’s sneaking off with Mila while Emil distracts Mickey, not that that’sany sort of hardship for the lovable Czech.

Yuurileans heavily into Victor, eyes drifting almost shut as he dozes. Yurio andOtabek join them at some point, before Victor’s teasing makes the other Russiansputter insults and storm away, face red. Otabek follows after, the tips of hisears and cheeks almost as red as his not-yet-boyfriend’s. Yuuri’s vaguelyconscious when Phichit swings by and lets Yuuri know that he’s leaving with thetwo guys he had been dancing with most of the night. He must have fallencompletely asleep at some point, for a few minutes at least, because Victor iswaking him up and getting to his feet.

“Yougood to go home?” Victor asks.

Ittakes a moment, groggy as he is, but Yuuri nods and manages to sort himself outwithout relying on Victor too much. Most of the partygoers have gone or are inthe process of leaving. Chris is wrapped up around Masumi who looks nothingshort of fond. Their cat has slunk her way to them now that the house isquieter, curled up on the armrest by Masumi’s arm.

Victorand Yuuri say their goodbyes and head out. Chris and Masumi live pretty much atthe heart of the city so there are plenty of cabs around. Victor hails onequickly and helps Yuuri in.

Yuuri’snapped and dozed and had some time to let all the liquor he’s had go throughhis system enough for him mind to fix on the fact that he and Victor live incompletely opposite directions and Victor’s apartment is closer.

ButVictor rattles off Yuuri’s address to the cab driver.

“You’recloser though,” Yuuri argues.

Victorhesitates, doesn’t look at Yuuri. “It’s fine. I want to make sure you get homesafe and it’s not that far from yours to mine. Besides, I have to do a thingfor the class I’m TAing in the morning so.”

Yuuriknows Victor’s fibbing. Not entirely, but he’s not being completely truthful. Yuurilooks away, down at his hands in his lap. “Oh. If you’re sure.”

Victorruffles Yuuri’s hair. “It’s really fine.”

Yuurigets dropped off in front of his apartment building with a brief peck and ‘seeyou later’.

5.

MaybeVictor just has a thing.  People havethings they’re weird about all the time. Yuuri knew someone who had a thingabout how they eat their food, eating the smallest items on their plate firstand moving their way up. Yuuri had a thing about having people he didn’t knowto a certain, abstract level being in his room when he lived in the dorms hisfirst year.

Butthen he sees Chris’ Instagram post of him and Victor in pajamas, in what Yuuriknows is Victor’s bedroom, Victor in the background holding pillows and extrablankets, captioned ‘sleepover!!’ with an arrangement of emojis, and doesn’tknow what to think.

“Doeshe not actually like me?”

Phichitwhacks Yuuri with the pillow Yuuri hasn’t been hugging to his chest, sulking.“That boy is completely gone for you, Yuuri, shut up. It’s probably justsomething else. Like, Chris wasn’t taking no for an answer or Victor doesn’tcare about Chris spending the night because Chris isn’t his adorable boyfriend.”

“But—”

“Justbe more aggressive the next time you’re over!”

Yuuripouts into his pillow. “I can’t do that.”

Phichitrolls his eyes, “Just get some drinks in you and I’m sure you’ll have noproblem with voicing your wants.”

Yuurifinally relinquishes his hold on his pillow to throw it at his best friend.Unfortunately, Phichit catches it out of the air easily and now has both thepillows. He drops the pillows and shuffles on Yuuri’s bed so they’re side byside, Phichit with an arm around Yuuri’s shoulders.

“Butreally. You won’t get what you want if you’re not vocal about it. Apparently,your Russian is oblivious to actions that, knowing you, are far fromsubtle—don’t hit me, you know it’s the truth—so just be upfront and tell himyou want to sleep over.” Phichit adds on with a wink, “Or not sleep.”

Yuurirolls his eyes and shoves Phichit. He has to get ready though for a doubledate.

Yuurishows up at the restaurant early, but he sees Victor is already there. Victorgreets him with a brief kiss that has Yuuri sighing and leaning in for more. They’vegot a few minutes until the time their reservation and knowing Chris andMasumi, more Chris, they probably had a little more.

Yuurican only think of how the universe is probably laughing at his expense that rightafter he had seen Chris’ Instagram post, Masumi and him wanted to grab dinnerwith Yuuri and Victor the next day. He doesn’t know how to bring it up withoutsounding stupidly jealous when there’s no reason to be. Instead they talk aboutschool and work as they wait for Masumi and Chris who show up with Chris allbut clinging to Masumi and Masumi looking fondly exasperated.

“Sorrywe’re late,” Masumi says, he doesn’t give an excuse, only looks to hisunashamed boyfriend.

“Youcan’t blame me when you get all dressed up,” Chris throws back, flirtatious asever. Yuuri feels his cheeks pink at the implication. Victor laughs and Masumijust shakes his head as they enter the restaurant and get seated.

Dinnergoes well. It’s not often that Yuuri hangs out with Masumi or Chris with theirbusy schedules, Masumi travelling often for his work and Chris busy with hisown. They talk about work and school and future plans, Masumi and Chrisplanning to take a few days off work to go travelling, visit their familiesalong the way. They promise to come by the ice rink some time too, both of themmiss having the freedom to skate and hang out with everyone.

It’swhen the bill has been paid and everyone’s ready to part ways that Chris bringsup how he thinks he left his scarf at Victor’s the other night.

“Ah,yeah, I found it have it hung up. I forgot to bring it with me but I can dropit off at yours sometime if you want.”

Chriswaves him off, “I can swing by and get it myself whenever you’re free, don’tworry about it. Thanks though, and see you too soon. I have a well-dressedboyfriend to…pester. And I’m sure you both do too.” Chris leaves them with asmirk and clings to Masumi as they head home. Masumi manages a wave but there’sno hint of resistance to Chris dragging him away.

Yuuridoesn’t know what to say, he more than hopes that Chris’ assumption andsuggestion would lead anywhere but his track record lends to the contrary.Victor clears his throat and offers his arm. “Sometimes you think you canhandle Chris, and then learn you were very incorrect. I’ll walk you to thestation?”

Yuuritakes Victor’s arm. “How was that sleepover, by the way?”

Victorlaughs. “Chris was very excited. We just watched TV and ordered in takeout. Ithink he’s been a bit stressed about something at work and didn’t want to putit on Masumi. I offered to let him stay the night since we’d been drinking andMasumi was in the middle of some high priority work Chris didn’t want tointerrupt.”

Andthere went Yuuri and Phichit’s theorizing that Chris had invited himself over.If only Victor was that blasé about asking Yuuri to spend the night.

Havinghad some wine with dinner, and envy filling his head, Yuuri comments, “SinceI’ve known you, I don’t think you’ve ever had people stay the night at yours.Sleepovers don’t seem like something you’d do.”

Victorshrugs, “Not often, no. But sometimes being alone in an apartment that is kindof a little big for just one person can get lonely. Date nights at mine areprobably my favorite kind of date nights because of that.”

Yuuriwants to strangle Victor. It would be so easy to ask why Victor has never evenseemed inclined to get Yuuri to stay the night, extend date nights into datemornings. But they’re at the station and Yuuri’s train is rolling up and whileit’s late, it’s too public a place to be potentially humiliated.

“Goodnight, Victor. See you soon?”

Victornods and bends to kiss Yuuri before he has to catch the train home alone.

+1.

Yuuri’snot avoiding Victor. At least not on purpose. Schoolwork has picked up and he’sbeen covering at the ice rink more often and he’s just too tired to do morethan go home and pass out in bed with take out and something playing on hislaptop. So he hasn’t seen Victor in a while for more than a brief hello aroundcampus or while he’s working at the rink that’s been busy with tourists andlocals taking advantage of deals and sales and whatnot because it was that timeof year.

Buthe runs into Victor on campus at the library, Victor at a desk with a pile ofbooks on one side of his laptop and a stack of essays and papers on the other.

“Yuuri!”Victor beams. Yuuri stops by and leans down for the kiss Victor pulls him into.

“Youlook busy,” Yuuri comments.

Victorpouts. “You too. I’ve missed you.”

Yuurifeels a flush of pleasure at the words. “I’ve missed you too. Just the time ofyear, you know?”

Victornods, “Trust me, I do. But doesn’t mean I can’t miss hanging out with you. Thisweek should be the last of it before finals season but are you free thisweekend? Just a night in with takeout and some TV?”

Yuuritakes a second but nods. He has a fair number of assignments all due the nextweek that he should work on this weekend, but he has missed Victor and, despitehis hopes, it’s not like he’ll be spending the night, as he’s learned.

Fridayrolls around Yuuri can tell he’s not the only one immensely grateful for theweekend. He finishes up his last class and heads straight to Victor’s, havingswitched shifts with Yuuko he doesn’t have work until Saturday afternoon.Victor lets him in almost immediately, pulling Yuuri inside and mouth on hisbefore the door even clicks shut.

“Hey,”Yuuri laughs once they part.

“Hello,”Victor grins, still holding Yuuri around his waist. “Ready for the weekend?”

Yuurifalls into Victor with a sigh. “You have no idea.”

Victorkeeps one arm around Yuuri and leads the way further into his apartment. “Well,I have Thai on the way and Netflix up and ready for our abuse.”

TheirThai food arrives halfway into the second episode of the TV show they startedto binge and Yuuri was quite invested. They eat as they continue watching halfof the season before Yuuri starts yawning and leaning heavily into Victor. It’snot even close to midnight but the week’s toll has weighed heavily on hisshoulders.

“Weshould get you home, I think,” Victor says quietly, hand brushing throughYuuri’s hair. Yuuri groans and presses his face into Victor’s shoulder.

“Homeis too far. Your bed is so much closer,” Yuuri mumbles without thinking. As thewords he carelessly said process in his sleepy, fuzzy mind, he’s suddenly muchmore awake.

Yuurilooks up and Victor is uncharacteristically flustered, stunned even. There’sreally no backtracking so why not continue to shove his foot deeper into hismouth?

“Whydo you not want me to sleep over, Victor? I feel like I’ve been pretty obviousbut…”

Victorrubs at the back of his neck, looks away. “Oh. I, uh, I thought you were just,being you, didn’t want to read too much into things in case that wasn’t whatyou meant.”

Yuuridoesn’t know if he should be offended by Victor’s implications of Yuuri beingthat aloof and unaware. There’s some truth to the unsubtle statement but still.

“Soyou’re not opposed,” is all Yuuri says in response.

WhenVictor looks at him again, there’s a heat in his gaze that’s fighting beingtempered.  “Well you see, Yuuri, if youspent the night, I, well, sleeping would be very difficult.”

“Victor.”

“AndI don’t want to pressure you into anything, because I don’t just want to, youknow, but also just cuddling in bed and platonically, well not entirelyplatonically, but romantically? Just sleeping together and seeing you firstthing in the morning.”

Arambling Victor is a rare sight, and any other time Yuuri would let Victorcontinue and see where he trailed off into, but Yuuri is tired and happy andhas been patient long enough.

“Victor,” Yuuri cuts Victoroff before he can continue. With a smile, he leans up and pecks Victor’s cheek.“Just letting you know, I’m staying the night.”

[bedazzlecat]

Let’s Play Street Kids, Pandemic Edition.

Giuliana Doran

Giuliana has been in foster care her whole life. She’s never really known her parents, and things have been pretty rough. She got pregnant and had twins and had to give them up. She was sent to a home for girls but that place... she doesn’t want to think about that place... So now she’s here. She really doesn’t know how to accept love, but she finds herself being like a mother to the others here. Giuliana doesn’t know she is part of an ancient bloodline of witches. Kleptomaniac and Freegan. Spellcraft and Sorcery

Esmerelda

Esmerelda doesn’t want you to know her last name. Her dad is someone super important and rich and she can’t stand him, his money, or his demands. She lost her mom to cancer and suddenly a man she barely knew was trying to force her into a mold she didn’t want to be in. She’s a bit of a hippy. A white girl with dreads. Freegan and Adventurous. Outdoor Enthusiast

Tessa Hawthorne

Tessa is the neighborhood thot. Her mom went to jail for drugs and was served an eviction notice the same day, and Tessa is just surviving the best way she knows how. She’s really sweet and a good friend though, and has a smile that will melt your heart. She is confident in herself. Tessa is secretly a witch that loves to collect crystals. Self Assured and Romantic. Collector

Avery Valdes

Avery, ran away when her mom was taken by ICE. She didn’t want to get put in a cage, so she ran to the city and hid in the streets, blending in with neighborhood kids and going to school like a normal kid. No one seeming to notice that there’s an extra kid in the class for some reason. Kleptomaniac. Social Butterfly

“Sonny”

“Sonny” is secretly an alien. He’s a specially bred genius dedicated to the purpose of observing human life and behavior, particularly how humans treat the least among themselves. So he must live the life of a human child in abject poverty and get to know who humans truly are. Genius. Whiz Kid

Travis Bruner

Travis is... well, just a bit of a psychopath. He ran away because he hates authority and doesn’t really have a good home life. He’s into hard drugs and will do whatever it takes to get them. His softer side shows sometimes when he’s painting or gardening. Mean and hates children. Public enemy. 

Ronan Ambrose

Ronan recently got turned into a vampire and accidentally fed on his little brother. Terrified that he is becoming a monster, he went to this warehouse to avoid people, but suddenly finds it full of other teens, who he can’t help but feel drawn to in their suffering and in his hunger. Good and a loner. Good Vampire.

I’ve done some trial runs on Twitch on a Let’s Play, available on Facebook to see here, but I’m starting over with a new save, creating a situation in the city of San Myshuno in the Spice District at the Old Salt Factory, long fallen into disrepair and disrepute. This dystopian Let’s Play features 7 starting Sims, which include 5 teenagers and two children. I’m going to describe the starting scenario and the characters.

During the 2020 Pandemic of Rabid Rodent Fever, 7 runaways find shelter in the abandoned factory. Some of the children are a bit... different. They all have some low level skills from the trial run. None of them are related. Gameplay begins in the fall (more challenging to try to get through winter) in an industrial footprint (due to the grossness of the build). 

Find me on Twitch, Youtube, and the Gallery with username: Bedazzlecat

Rules: 

These kids are poor. They can’t get up front jobs/careers. They can make money by selling things that they make or by collecting.  Also tips from musical instruments or odd jobs.  They spend their money on frivolous things because they’re kids, and they have no clue about budgeting, saving, or earning. To make this as true to the theme as possible I have set up rules to keep them limited in how much money they’re able to make and how fast. 

They can grow anything they can find to plant. There’s already a mushroom plant and a trash plant on the lot. Maybe a carrot. Once they reach level 5 gardening they can buy any seeds they wish. I will never make them garden. They will have to take care of it autonomously, that includes any seeds I set on the ground. I will only make them harvest. Fishing allowed. They can only sell things they make from the ingredients or sell them on a vendor table. They mainly are using it for food.

I’ll occasionally take them to other parts of the city to use certain facilities or maybe even attend a festival, but they’re not allowed to go to other worlds. They’re allowed to have crafting items they can keep in their own inventory. Woodworking, candle making, fabrication, and juice making can only be done on public lots that have these items.   Spellcasters are allowed to travel to the magic realm to work on their training or to get ingredients.

Roommates allowed if there are  the beds for them.

There will be one prostitute and one drug dealer in the household. Prostitution will only be Friday and Saturday night and with limited clientele of 3. Later on, I might get her to take out a loan. Drug dealing is a little harder, so he’ll have to find a drug dealer that I’ve placed in the neighborhood to work under him, then he’ll have to build the skill and clientele and maintain his supply.  (There will always be a streaming censor in place.)

They are allowed to buy from vendors anything they can afford. 

Build buy will only be used to get something out of the inventory if they find it or are awarded it for some reason.  I will not sell burned furniture from the inventory for money. This is a glitch and they should be worth nothing. They can be recycled, however. If there’s a fire and they get the automatic insurance to replace the item, then it can be replaced. Any other furniture or decor that is found that is repairable or in good shape can be sold from build buy or used in the household. As much as possible I want to avoid selling directly from the inventory but try to make money through Plopsy or vendor tables. There’s a short list of what I will allow the household to buy from build/buy: Generator, Cauldron, Hot Pot, wash tub, clothesline, insect farm, easel, knitting basket, yoga mat, sticker storage box, and the fireplace from Eco Life

I will never make them go to school or do their homework. They will do it on their own if they can but that’s up to them.

I will only click to auto solve for their needs. I will not tell them what to cook, or how much. Because the game glitches, I may have to tell them to actually eat what they cooked or found in the dumpster.

They already have their wardrobe set to have very few articles of clothing. They’re allowed to buy t shirts from vendors, or they can buy one article of clothing at a time for $100 Simoleans deducted.

I won’t tell them to clean but I might clean up dishes or trash myself to generate trash in the dumpsters to dig through. If they earn responsibility points it is up to them to do it themselves. I won’t make them do laundry, but I may put it in their inventory if it gets to be too much on the floor.

Lot traits are “teen neighborhood”, “off the grid”, and “reduce and recycle”. I tried it with cursed and it’s not the right vibe. The house as it is set up from the gallery will turn the neighborhood smoggy after about a week of trash accumulation. I keep the option open to change the lot type for story purposes, like if I want a pet I'll change the lot to attract a stray and add it to the household instead of adopting through the service.

The warehouse is full of mice. If one of the sims has a level 5 handiness score a a mouse hole can be deleted for 1000 Simoleans deducted each.

If they want electricity they can buy a generator or they can get a fake ID to get the power turned on but they then have to pay the bills. They can’t use wind or solar unless they find it in the trash for some reason.

Heat can only come from fire pits on this lot. No fireplaces, central air, or ceiling fans. 

Debug junk and trash piles cannot be removed, but they can be put in the inventory and taken to a public lot to be recycled, but only 3 debug items per trip. Keeping it real.  

Rabid Rodent Fever has been introduced to a family in the game.  If the rabid rodent fever gets too bad and I see it in the neighborhood, the warehouse will be locked down and everyone will stay inside or in the fence for 1 sim week. No going to school, and no social visits. If someone in the household catches any kind of sickness they’ll have to quarantine in a room locked in until they get a moodlet saying they’ve beaten their cold or whatever. Medicine and all kinds of cures allowed. If any sim from the household dies, I will add another teen or child to the household, like a passing teen from the neighborhood, or perhaps someone from the gallery. No EA townies and no adults though. I have aging turned off. I may decide to age up one or both kids if someone dies in the household.

Holidays may be observed as best as they can. They can only decorate with what they can find from rummaging for decorations or something they make. They can only rummage for decorations on a holiday that requires decorations. No holidays have been added or removed. Gnomes can be sold and so can seeds, but it’s better to get the seeds. Think of it as the good will of nature spirits taking pity on their misery.

I won’t interfere in neighborhood action plans. If they’re annoying, that’s life. Kids don’t vote, so why would they have any say over how the adults choose to run things? Stupid adults. We're starting with 7 in case I want a pet or someone gets pregnant.

[micoamkurts-blog]

Reviews and Poems

ABDULLAH A. AMAIKURUT II

Food Review

           The Peri Peri chicken is one of the newest chicken house here in Iligan. This one in the picture is one of their branch at Robinsons Place, Iligan City. As far as I am concerned, I had a good dining experience with them. They told me that the chicken would be serve in 15 minutes and just like they said in less than 15 minutes my order had been served.

           However I have noticed things and wished that this restaurant will do or implement in order to improve more. First of all is that they should have brought service water during the time their customers wait for their orders in order to make sure that their customers would not get tired of waiting since they have something that can quench their thirst. Second is that I hope the price for their drinks will decreased since 35 pesos alone is pretty much expensive along with 100 pesos of chicken especially for students. I hope they would have combo meals that would be much cheaper. Lastly, as a maranao and Filipino, I hope that there would be chilis in the table since we would love to mix them with the sauce and in order to add more flavor. Overall, I had a quite nice experience and hopefully they would implement some of the listed things above soon.

Movie Review

           For me the movie “COCO” is one of the most underrated movie this year I think it is because of the trailer which is not quite as good as the movie itself. Honestly, it thought that it would be a movie with a cliché story plots just like other Disney animated films. However, it was not what I expected the story was full plot twists, it shows how death could really affect a family especially if they have committed a mistake in the past. The movie also emphasizes the love of each family member for one another an example is the story of Hector and his family where they thought Hector had abandoned them where in fact he was murdered by his best friend Mr. Dela Cruz. One of the best scenes that emphasizes the love of Hector for his daughter is when he wrote a song for her which was sung by Miguel to his great grand mother(Coco). It was a heart melting scene for me since all the time Coco would not speak due to old age and because of the song of his father she was able to recall everything especially the love of his father. As for Miguel I loved how he pursue his love and passion for music even though many people tried to stop him which is also his family members but still he chose to fight in what he believe which is a hard thing to do in the very first place, Overall, I love everything from this movie from the graphics and especially the ost which is very good. For me it shows that a person may lose a loved one but not his/her love for that person.

(Book Review) The Magician’s Nephew

Author:

By C.S Lewis

 Summary of the plot

          The novel is all about how the land of Narnia was and created and how evil takes over the land. The book includes plenty magical series and it depicts the battle between good and evil.

             The story begins when Digory and Polly meet and become friends one cold, wet summer in London. While the children attempted to get into an empty house which happens to be the house of Digory’s Uncle, Uncle Andrew Ketterly, the children happen to see yellow and green rings on a table in the house. Uncle Andrew decided to offer a ring to Polly. At the moment she touches it, she suddenly disappeared. Digory was then told that the rings happen to be special and that they were made from magic dust. He was told that the yellow rings allow a person to be transported to other world while the green rings has the ability to bring a person back to the present time. Due to the fact that Polly does not have the green ring, Digory must use one of the yellow rings for him to be able to bring back Polly.

 Eventually Digory was able to find Polly in a place called Wood between Worlds. The pair then decided to explore the space which allows them to explore different kinds of worlds. They found themselves standing in a place known as the Charn. Charn is a place in where no life can be found. However, the two still decided to explore and ended up at the Hall of Images. They have found out that there is a bell with a warning at the hall. Despite the warning, Digory still rang the bell which causes the awakening of the Queen as soon as she was awake the building started to fall down and ended up being destroyed.

 Digory and Polly learned that it was the Queen’s fault in why the Charn’s been ruined and because of her greediness and thirst of power she killed her sister and everyone in the Charn. The children are frightened and tried to go back to London but the Queen had managed to grab a hold of them and was transported to London as well. The Queen had cause chaos and destruction in the entire London. She told Uncle Andrew about her plans of taking over the whole world and later on steals the jewelry as well as the horse and the carriage. Due to how complicated the situation is, Digory and Polly uses the ring to transport the Queen which was also called the witch but the problem was that all of them was touching the ring and they all ended up at a strange and dark place. Later on, they heard a voice singing which comes from a large lion. Horrified, the witch managed to escape and runs away. As the song is continuously sung flora and fauna had also appeared from the earth.

 The lion who was called Aslan, instructs some of the animals to protect Narnia. Digory followed Aslan to know if the witch has already entered Narnia. He was then commanded to bring Cabby’s wife to tell the couple that they will be the rulers of the land.  Digory was then given a mission to go and help protect Narnia. He was ordered to go to a hilltop garden to get an apple from a tree. As soon as He and Polly arrived, they noticed that the witch was already there eating an apple. She tried to catch him and tried to convince him to transport the apple to London in order to save her mother. Even with the temptation of the witch, Digory was still able take the apple back to Aslan. Digory was told by Aslant to bring the apple with him. Aslan then returned them back to London. Digory’s mother was able to get better. The children then decided to bury the rings along with the core of the apple. After sometime, a tree grows out from the rings and apple. However, a storm had destroyed the tree and causes it to be knocked down. Some time later, Digory made a wardrobe out of the tree in where a new adventure will soon begin.    

Opinions

    The book was actually interesting and was well written. It had the fantasy that I want and it was just simply amazing. I was just surprised to learn that the there is a sequel that can already be read. The author has done a great job in capturing his audience’s attention and has actually greatly entertained me. Overall, the book deserves to be recognized and be acknowleged by other readers.

Recommendations

    I would recommend  the book to readers who are greatly fond of fantasies. I would also be happy to share it with my family and friends knowing that the book has already been transformed into a movie.  I also would whole heartedly share it to those new readers.

   Poems

Acrostics

Organized

Carefree

Independent

MICO

Diamond Poem

           MEN

             TOUGH PREDICTABLE

UNDERSTANDING RECEIVING TOUGH-LOVING

MOON WATER SUN FIRE

WORRYING PROVIDING WORTH FIGHTING

FRAGILE COMPLICATED

WOMEN

Tanka

You look happier,

Sadly, I was not the cause

Your smiles have returned

Those smiles were not meant for me

They are meant for someone else

Limerick

Most people seem like giant towers

Reaching books from the shelves takes forever

Often mistaken as elementary students

Hoping they can find their way through the crowd of high school students

Blessed  are they not, Height is just a number

 Concrete

L

E

A

V

E

S

will already grow

out of nothingness of trees

Like how these wounds would

turn into scars of our hearts, Everything

will be alright in time. In the end everything was worth

the fight. Never regret everything we had. Leaves

will soon cover the bareness of trees. Just like

how you came into

my life

Free verse

Life, what makes it worth remembering?

It is mostly the small things which we never noticed,

Or which we often take for granted

 What makes it memorable?

It is the efforts of other people that made you smile and

Have brighten up your day no matter how down you are

 What makes it worth living?

It is often the moments of your loved ones

Which you have learned to cherish and treasure

 Villanelle

Do you remember those days?

When we are allowed to roam around with nothing to fear

Hoping we can reminisce those days

 Laughing without thinking of the incoming days

Children playing near the streets without fear

Do you remember those days?

 Enjoying the view of the bay

Visiting your loved ones with nothing to fear

Hoping we can reminisce those days

 Wishing and looking at sky of blue and grey

Listening to deafening music with your peers

Do you remember those days?

Hoping everyone would find the right way

Without anyone sacrificing their blood and tears

Do you remember those days?

Hoping we can reminisce those days

Sonnet

Her eyes, dark as the mysterious night sky

Her skin is as white as the winter snow

Her smile is my sunshine after the rainy skies

Her long hair is like a river that flows

 She is the first one whom I want to see

And the last one whom I want to be with

She always know what is the best for me

And often treats me like a childish kid

 I may not be as perfect as it seems, But,

I will give her the sweetest chocolates

And the fragrant roses that she have sought

I shall give her my love and not my hate

 In the end, she is someone dear to me

She is the someone that no one could be

[darnedchild]

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2017 - Day Seven

A/N:  I was stuck for an idea for today’s fic, so @lilsherlockian1975 very kindly gave me one.  “Molly and Sherlock running into Wiggins - he's all smug because 'he knew it!' (maybe because an all drugged up Sherlock spoke very highly of his pathologist and her perky little t*ts”.  I modified the prompt a tiny bit.  In case you haven’t figured it out yet, there is a tiny bit of naughty language in this one.  Unbeta’d.

It’s not my best work, but I only had three hours to knock it out if I wanted to get it done today so . . .

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2017 – Day Seven (Non-Canon – Free Choice)

Shezza’s Missus

“Sherlock?  I know I’m early, but you said it was important that I come over after my shift and Doctor Rich-“  Molly came to a dead stand still in the doorway to Sherlock’s kitchen.  She took in the strange man standing in front of the hob stirring something in a pan with a wooden spoon.  Whatever was in the pan smelled absolutely lovely, some kind of mouth-watering curry.  But still . . .  “You’re not Sherlock.”

“Hullo, Missus.  Home early?” He brought the spoon up to his mouth, tasted the sauce, and grimaced.  His hand hovered over a row of spice jars before snatching one up and shaking a sprinkle of seasoning into the pan; then he shrugged and shook the jar twice more. “Curry powder.  I told him the sauce was too bland the way he’d done it, but Shezza insisted on following the recipe to the letter.”  The man winked at her over his shoulder.  “I won’t tell him we gave it a bit of a tweak if you don’t.”

“I . . . What?”  Molly had no idea what was going on.  She didn’t think she’d ever even seen Sherlock’s kitchen used to prepare food before.  Add to that oddity, the lanky man who seemed to have made himself at home and who appeared to be wearing a frilly pink pinny over his jeans and thread-bare jumper. 

He shrugged.  “I spent a few weeks crashing in the basement of a tenement across from the best curry place in Southwark.  I picked up a few pointers from the bloke who washes the dishes.”

Molly opened her mouth and then shut it.  After a moment she tried again.  “What?”

“Do you know you keep sayin’ that?”  He stirred the sauce one more time, then adjusted the heat to let it simmer.  He pulled open the fridge and dug out a bottle of water.  “You want one?  There’s also wine, but I think that’s meant for the meal.”  She shook her head no.  He leaned against the fridge door and opened his water.

“I hate to be rude, but where’s Sherlock?”  More importantly, had he been murdered and cut up for curry by a strange madman?  

Molly considered that she should probably stop marathoning episodes of “Hannibal” on DVD if that was the sort of thing that wasn’t going to come to mind whenever she was confronted with something out of the norm.

“Took Mrs H to A&E.”  At her alarmed look he rushed to reassure her.  “Just twisted her ankle.  Tripped over the rug.”  He nodded toward the sitting room and Molly finally noticed how clean and neat everything was.  Papers, magazines, and books had been carefully stacked and shifted out of the way. The top of Sherlock’s dining table/desk had been cleared and set with two place settings, complete with wine glasses.

She turned back to the scruffy man in the pinny again, searching his features because something about him seemed vaguely familiar. “I’m sorry, have we met?”

He nodded.  “You could say that; although we weren’t formerly introduced at the time. Wiggins.  Bill Wiggins.  At your service.”

The memory came to her.  The day John and Mary had brought Sherlock to Barts for a drug test. “Not the best of circumstances for a first meeting, was it?”  She sheepishly smiled.  “I’m Molly Hooper.”

“I know who you are, Missus.  I’ve heard all about you.  Shezza was always going on about Molly this, Molly that when he was . . . indisposed last summer.”

Indisposed last summer?  He must have meant when Sherlock was high off his arse during the Culverton Smith case.  “Oh! You’re Billy!  The one who-“

“Kept him from OD’ing,” Bill supplied.  He met her eyes, posture stiff and expectant as if he was waiting for her to rail at him.

As much as she wanted to, she knew Sherlock well enough to know he would have gone ahead with his plan whether or not someone was there to monitor his usage.  Molly pulled out one of the kitchen chairs.  This was beginning to feel like a “make yourself comfortable, it’s going to be a long night” sort of situation.  “Yes, well.  Thank you for that, in case Sherlock never got around to saying it.”

A flash of surprise washed across Bill’s face, then disappeared as quickly as it came.  He nodded and turned back to the hob.  “You like curry chicken, Missus?”

“Yeah, it’s one of my favourites, actually.”  Bill nodded as if that was exactly the answer he’d been expecting.  Her gaze was drawn to the intimate set up on the dining table again, and a small blossom of hope bloomed in her chest.  “Do you know, uhm, do you have any idea why Sherlock asked me to come over tonight?”

He hadn’t said in the text, just asked her to come to Baker Street and that it was very important.  

She and Sherlock had only spoken a handful of times since the infamous phone call.  The first time had been less than twelve hours after he’d nearly destroyed her, and he’d explained the entire thing – his sister, the island prison, the tests, and the reason for making her say what she’d said.  Clearly, she’d meant the words, and he had assured her that he’d meant his as well . . . and that was where they’d stalled.  He’d actually stood up, said “I’m glad we’ve got that settled then”, leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, and left.  He never brought any of it up again, actually going so far as looking a bit panicked anytime Molly came near him during the last two weeks; and Molly hadn’t managed to get him alone, and she was certainly not going to bring it up while Greg or John were listening.  

“Dinner.”

That much was obvious.  She was hoping for a slightly more informative answer.

He shrugged and continued adding chicken to the curry sauce.  “Then a good shag, I would guess.  Gotta break in the new furniture sometime, right?”

Molly choked hard enough that Bill dropped the spoon and grabbed another bottle of water out of the fridge for her.  “You all right, Missus?”

She caught her breath and drank some of the water to ease the burn in her throat.  “I don’t think I heard you correctly.  Did you say ‘shag’?”

“Sorry.  That was rude, what’n’it.  Make love, then.”

“We don’t-we aren’t . . .”  Molly sputtered.  “I think you’re a bit confused.  Sherlock isn’t interested in that sort of thing with me.  Maybe you’re thinking of one of his past girlfriends.  Janine or-or-Why are you shaking your head?”

Bill waved the spoon in her direction.  “Definitely you, Missus.  He’s been wanting to get into your knickers for ages.  I figured it was only a matter of time.  He used to say ‘smart really is the new sexy’ and then laugh and start talkin’ about his Molly’s perky little tits.”

She choked again.

“One night he just kept going on and on about your arse and how perfect it was.  Couldn’t get him to stop, actually.  Said it was just right for-“

“All right, Billy, that’s enough!”  Sherlock’s voice drowned out the rest of Bill’s sentence.

Molly stared at Sherlock standing in the kitchen doorway, still wearing his Belstaff and scarf.  

“Curry should be done in another ten minutes, kept an eye on it like I promised.  Even entertained the Missus while you were out.”  Bill grinned.  

“I noticed.”  Sherlock sighed and reached up to pull off his scarf.  “I can take it from here, if you would be so kind as to bugger off.”

“If you’re sure?”  Bill snickered when Sherlock sent a glare his direction.  “Right then, I’m off.”  He slipped the pinny over his head and folded it up, dropping it on the counter. “Make sure that gets back to Mrs H or she’ll have my head.  Night, Sherlock.  Missus.”

Molly nodded, then held out her hand to stop him from leaving.  “Why do you keep calling me that.  Missus, I mean?”

“Cause that’s what you are.  Shezza’s Missus.  Everyone knows that.”

Sherlock reappeared after hanging up his coat.  “Billy, don’t you have somewhere—anywhere—to be? Now.” he rumbled in warning.

She let Bill leave.

Sherlock clear his throat and nodded toward the dining table in the sitting room.  “So, dinner?”

“Dinner sounds lovely.”  

He released a deep breath, obviously relieved that she was willing to stay.

“Or-“  Molly stood and moved to the hob.  She turned the heat off and moved the pan to a different ring.  “Or we could skip right to the shagging.  Bill pointed out that you’ve got quite a lot of new furniture to break in.”  She bit her lower lip and waited to see how Sherlock was going to react.

He blinked several times, enough times to make her start to worry.  He came out of it and cleared his throat.  “Billy is a wise man with a very valid point.”

[thethinkpit]

Temporary Freedom

I can’t quite describe the sound of a car starting. A vroom does not quite cut it. A chug- chug- chug is what happens when the car fails to start, or nearly fails. There is a kind of hitch, and pshh and then a low purring and a rolling of the r’s. There’s no singular sound that I can write that quite describes the sound of that hitch, pshh and purr. hi-pshh-purr. hII-psh-pururur. The sound is familiar to all of us, yet it is not easy to describe. Perhaps because we never really have to.

              For some, hearing that sound can mean freedom. After walking up the long hill from the kitchen, slowly unbuttoning the top buttons near the neck, and yanking the shirt out from under the entrapment of pseudo-belt/apron rigged around through the loops of the pants all I can think is freedom.  Gravel crunching under the soles of the shoes, opening the car door and trapped latent heat pouring out and sitting on the hot seat is freedom. To wrench off tight shoes and peel now-gross socks from my feet is freeing. Slamming the door, rolling the windows down and to pressing my bare feet against the brake and the clutch while turning the key is all to hear the familiar hII-psh-pururur, the sound of my freedom. My red freedom-chariot absconds from the gravel parking lot.    

              Daily, I submit to this torture. I wake up at 4:30, get dressed and prepared to leave by 5 or usually by 5:15. I spend approximately 30 minutes driving to work, and on certain days I take the long way around to pick up my co-worker. Arriving at work by 6:00, I go down to the nearly empty kitchen. Greet the young, sourly judgmental chef named Kyle as he putters around and start the coffee, I admit though, I preferred the days where the French sous-chef Sylvain started with me.

Then I start flipping over cups and putting out the little things: flowers, carefully piped whipped butters, house made jams, salt and pepper shakers. Carefully align the silverware- spoon with a knife facing inward on the right side, forks on the left- expensive, polished glassware -Simon Pierce water glasses positioned off the mat above the knife and spoon- and the mats on which they rest, making sure that the leftmost mat always overlaps the one on the right. Then grab the stack of identically folded napkins and place them in the same identical position on every mat. Thankfully, it is raining, and I don’t have to move these all outside and put up the umbrellas.

As I do this, the housekeeping ladies come in to clean and fill the fireplaces with wood - because only rich people would ask to have a fire in the summer- as well as vacuum the crumbs from dinner last night. After they are done rearranging the chairs to vacuum and prop the hose into the housevac with the chairs, I move them all back and inspect each chair pillow for the correct amount of fluffiness. Then it’s time for the continental. The coffee is freshly brewed just in time for me to empty it into polished silver carafes, and carefully arrange pitchers of cream, milk and almond milk beside carafes of coffee, decaf coffee and hot water. Add a wooden tea box, expensive Farmhouse Pottery mugs and honey as well as napkins and it is almost ready. Finally, stacks of newspapers on the table opposite of the Barn Room with the Times, the Boston Globe and Wall Street Journal. Seriously, I don’t know anyone who reads the Wall Street Journal, must be a rich person thing. Also, if these people are here to visit Vermont, they should have a copy of the Herald or the Valley News, right? Incorrect, only one visitor that entire summer asked to have a local paper with his daily morning room service of coffee and pastries.  Still, if I am lucky, and my early morning partner competent, I should have a few moments to read the headlines. I run into the kitchen to grab the breakfast menus and stack them on the table near the door in a perfect pile. Only then is every, single, tiny, detail is similar and perfect all before we open for breakfast at 7:00.

              Driving blind is generally not recommended. Or at least, that’s what I tell myself. I can see, but the rushing air flying through the car moves my now loose hair in awkward, un-traceable flows. I could slow, but I do not want to slow my escape. I could tie my hair back again but denying my hair of the same freedoms I pursue seems contradictory. Especially now that I just allowed it to be free. I can see through changing masses of brown curls that infect my vision, just perhaps not completely.

              Quickly I prepare the baskets for room services. Deftly, I check that every basket is filled with whatever the guest could possibly need. Butter and Jam go with every bread like item, half-and-half with every order of coffee as well as a sugar box, and ALWAYS water and water glasses with every room service- but not the Simon Pierce glasses, those stay in the dining room, instead we send the Ridel ones carefully wrapped up in a cloth napkin. Once Kyle or Sylvain had finished the food I would wrap it and put it in the basket before running out the door.

              I didn’t love that it was raining now. Room services were not fun in the rain. At first, I had to use the map to figure out where I was on the property. The cottages were not clearly labelled “Orchard Cottage”, or “Chalet Cottage” and there weren’t signs that pointed toward where you wanted to go. When I had the pattern down though, it was amazing to drive the van around the property. For a few seconds, I had the luxury of having power. It was me versus the guest. I held their beloved coffee and buttermilk pancakes hostage. They may have the wealth and power to book a few nights at a five-star resort, but their demand for caffeine and carbs at 7:30 in the morning was thwarted by some eighteen-year-old college student from the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Of course, I had to give in to their demands, but I could’ve taken the van, ran into the woods and ate the pancakes myself.

When I would set up breakfast for guests, usually they were wearing their fluffy white bathrobes, sometimes they would ask about me to avoid awkward silences or to learn more about my backstory like I was some character in an interactive story they indulged in when they came here. The usual story was that I was working here during the summer to help pay for my college education and they seemed happy with that. The traditional idea of a hard-working girl putting herself through school usually appeased them enough to stop their questions, despite that not being the truth because it was not just me working hard. It was my entire family. My mother overworking herself, and my grandparents for taking me in. I worked fifty hours a week for something that these people could buy easily. That what was the most intimidating about these people, if they were feeling generous they could make my unending struggle go away. A couple thousand dollars was nothing to them, but it was costing me my limited, youthful summer days.

              The Royalton Turnpike was a beautiful DIRT road that wound its way from Royalton to Barnard. As I left ‘the hidden gem’ that was Twin Farms, I could see the descent into ‘my folk’. Suddenly the lawns were not all well-kept, and the further down the turnpike I was the more likely I was to see the junk in people’s yards. The further away I was from Barnard the rougher and bumpier the ride got, washboard rattles were more frequent as were potholes in the road. Driving my car, I was in control. I could slow if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t have go with the curve of the road, but I did. I was alone, and free of anyone’s expectations. I could pump my music as loud as I wanted, I could sing at the top of my lungs in a horrible off-key way and no one would care or correct me. My performance was only for me and no one depended on me.

              The only time I wasn’t running around- but with the esteemed grace and even-pace as if everything was under control- was in the rare case that I wasn’t doing room services and the kitchen wasn’t behind. Then I would stand diligently at the doors to the dining room (leaning was not tolerated). I would check my apron was straight, all the buttons buttoned then stand with my back straight, hands clasped behind me, and smile on my face waiting for guests to arrive. However, as the summer went on they depended on me more and more and that meant no more waiting for guests to arrive but rather I was the one running the show in the kitchen. The Expediter- or Expo- as we called it. I called the shots, told house-keeping whose room to clean, told servers where to take food. I went out and calmly took orders from the guests with a happy go-lucky persona that pleased them. I always never could understand this idea we portrayed: happy to serve and be there. Once a Guest asked me if I would be at dinner later after I had served them both breakfast and lunch. I told them that “unfortunately I had to go home and cook dinner for my grandparents”.  They seem to forget that I am an actual human being with a family and life to go home to at 4:00 pm every day. Perhaps they thought I was just part of the furniture, that I lived here, and was part of the dining room, part of the hotel’s experience.

              The longer I stayed there the less I believe I existed. I became part of the dining room, and part of the quaint Vermont existence. I became the stereotypical poor farm girl, who knew the area and could recommend good spots to go swimming. The more I served the more subordinate I became, and the more I believed in the power of these people. I became powerless. My ideas and beliefs no longer had meaning because I was meaningless in these people’s lives. They forgot me as soon as they saw me, which had never happened to me before in my life. People always remember me until I became a server.

              I need the job to be free, but I need to be free from the job. I live in a world of sacrificed happiness to obtain my eventual freedom. We are taught to value freedom because once I am free I am supposed to be happy. But what happens when our search for freedom becomes the drain of the happiness I desire? We are happy as children despite a complete, utter lack of control and ability to make decisions. Once we are given opportunity to make choices what if that’s when-

              I slam on the brake, and the curls littering my vision fall to the side.  I can see the stop sign, the same red as my freedom-chariot, bright in the afternoon sunlight. The engine sputters and stops.

              I sigh and push the clutch in as well and turn the key. The familiar HII-pshh-PUurur sound enters my mind. The sound of temporary freedom.

[monicasantanarealtor]

Shhh..Top Secret: How my clients sold their home in ONE week.

Oscar and Veronica had found their perfect forever home in Newtown. This meant that they needed to sell their condo FAST. They had done a few changes here and there, but their home was not market ready for this to happen. Changes had to be done, so together we came up with a plan.

They had made a few upgrades to their two bedroom condo in Danbury. Crown molding, woodwork throughout, flooring, and paint. It was already beautiful! But with small kids, a dog, and too much of everything (clothing, shoes, toys, etc etc etc) this young couple had a lot to do, but I helped them all along the way.. LITERALLY!

With a few tips to prepare their home to present it in the best light using their own furniture and accessories, and most importantly their commitment to keep it up; their home sold in ONE WEEK!

So how they did it? I am sharing with you My Top Tips that will help you get your home ready and position it on top of the competition for a quick sale and for the highest price.

1.FRONT PORCH

A beautiful front porch is CRUCIAL for a fast sale, as it not only welcomes visitors, but it is one of the first things they will see, so decorate it with a warm, inviting style that makes it easy for the buyers to imagine themselves living there.

Even if you have a tiny stoop, make it say “Welcome Home” with a clean doormat, potted plants; and if you have room, one or two pieces of porch furniture. 

Make sure to keep your porch lights on in the evenings; potential homebuyers tend to drive by to see how the property looks like at night. Illuminating the front walkway with lights is a very nice extra touch. There are many inexpensive options including solar lighting that you can purchase at your local Home Depot and Walmart.

2. A CLEAN HOME

Get your home sparkling clean. From shinning floors and gleaming windows to clean counters and scrubbed grout, every surface should sparkle!

This is the easiest way to help your home put its best foot forward. This step is KEY! 

Here is a picture of how Veronica and Oscar’s condo looked like after we did some staging and declutteing. 

3. DECLUTTER

If you are serious about selling your home, all clutter MUST GO!

It will not be easy, but it is well worth the trouble.You need to show potential buyers a spacious and organized home, so purge anything unnecessary or unsightly.

Decluttering is probably one of the hardest aspects of staging for sellers. It’s hard to put away all the “stuff” that you’re so used to seeing on a daily basis.  But remember,  buyers don’t want to see all your school schedules, soccer cleats, homework,etc everything must be put away!

Pack up your countertop appliances.  Countertop appliances eat up counter space. Not a good thing especially if you have limited counter space.  The last thing you need is a counter full of toasters, blenders, microwaves, baskets full of papers, etc.  If you don’t have a built-in microwave, put it away.  They just advertise that you don’t have a built-in microwave.

The plan with Veronica and Oscar was to go room by room and packing what they were going to bring to their new home, and throw away or donate the rest. Veronica hired a cleaning crew to help, and had someone she trusted (ME) overseeing that she won’t keep unnesesary items. This was crucial in this process. Don’t be shy on asking for help from friends and/or family.

Look at how Veronica and Oscar’s kitchen looked like after we decluttered and freed the counter space. It was very hard for them to keep it up because they had young children, but they did it and their home sold extremely fast!

6. STYLE YOUR DINNING ROOM TABLE

The dinning room is often a blind spot in decorating the home. A bare dinning room table can look uninviting, so styling it up with visitors in mind, can increase the appeal. 

An oversize arrangement can look stiff and formal, so try lining up one or a series of smaller vessels down the center of the table instead.

Veronica and Oscar’s dinning room had already beautiful features with woodwork, crown molding and walls painted in a natural and inviting color. We decluttered and staged this area. Just a few changes went a long way!

7. RE ARRANGE YOUR FURNITURE

In the living room, symetrical arrangements usually work well. Pull your furniture off the walls, and use pairs (sofas, chairs, lamps) to create an inviting conversation area.

8. CLOSETS

Just know that visitors will peek inside your closets, so show off their full advantage by getting rid of excess items. They will appear larger and spacious.

We left only 20-30% of open space in each closet to give the impression of spaciousness. 

9. TOYS

If you have children, a big challenge is to keep toys organized.  When people are house hunting, they are imagining a fresh start. Show them that in this house, it is possible to have a beautifully organized kid’s room, and they will fall in love! 

Veronica made sure to pack 99% of the toys that were left from the original purging. Remember, you are moving anyways.. so pack pack pack! When selling your home... LESS is MORE!

10. PETS

If you have pets, get all rugs steam cleaned and be extra vigilant about vacuuming and washing surfaces. Also make sure to keep any pet toys hidden when tours are scheduled. Food, toys, beds.. all must be put away during showings.

Also, make sure to bring your pet with you while scheduled showings; it will let buyers appreciate your home with ease.

11. CREATE A LIFESTYLE

Create a lifestyle people are looking for. Even if you have a small balcony, play it up with cheerful table and chairs; a little tray of dishes or a vase of flowers make a big difference. Potencial buyers will envision themselves living the lifestyle.

12. CURB APPEAL

Curb appeal, like the front porch is extremely important. Make sure your home is ready to lure potential buyers with these tips:

Power wash siding and walkways

Hang easy to read house numbers

Plant blooming flowers and fresh greenery

Mow lawn, and add fresh mulch.

Wash windows

Repaint or stain porch floor.

Preparing your home for sale is CRUCIAL  to show off its true potential, highlight your home’s strenghts and downplay its weaknesses. Homebuyers will fall in love as they imagine themselves living in it.

My efforts to market your home begin before it is even listed for sale. I make sure your home is in perfect condition for when it hits the market. As part of my professional services, I provide you with staging consultation using your own furniture; We can also work together with my professional stagers, or I can provide you with virtual staging if you are working on a budget.

Excellence is about service, not a price point.

~ Veronica and Oscar accepted an offer on their condo after ONE WEEK of it being in the market. They worked very hard decluttering and getting rid of many things that they didnt need. They kept up with the organization and cleanliness and it paid off.

 They are now living with their two girls and their dog in their beautiful home in Newtown where they are surrounded by soccer cleats, swimming gear, barbeques, friends, family and love!

Monica Cuevas, Realtor

William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty

203.451.3906

[kristablogs]

How to start your own survival garden

Now is the perfect time to plant a survival garden. (National Park Service/)

This story originally featured on Outdoor Life.

Looking for something to do while you’re stuck at home during the COVID-19 quarantine? Planning ahead for the day that the food pantry is bare? Gardening is a great activity in the springtime and anyone can grow food, even if you’re stuck in an apartment. You’ll just need a spot with ample sunlight, some dirt and water, something to start growing, and a generous amount of patience. Whether you’re gardening just as a pastime or doing it as a food security strategy, you might be surprised how rewarding it can be.

The modern “victory garden”

During World War I and II, Americans at home responded to the call to plant “Victory Gardens” in their backyards and in public spaces across the nation. The main goal of the movement was to increase the public food supply and allow more commercially produced crops to be funneled toward the war effort. This activity was also a powerful morale booster for the citizenry, allowing people of all ages and abilities to feel empowered by their self-reliance and feel proud of their contribution to the war effort. In 1943, there were at least 20 million “war gardens” growing, which yielded a staggering eight million tons of food in the United States. This was nearly half of the food consumed that year in the country. Jump forward to 2020. With self-quarantine recommended across the nation, you can do your part to limit your interaction with others and avoid some unnecessary trips to the grocery store. Plant a “Victory Garden” and stay the hell home. The sooner we all get serious, the sooner we can stamp out the COVID-19 pandemic.

Be patient and manage your expectations

If you’ve never tried gardening before, it’s a great exercise in patience and expectation management. You don’t plant seeds so you can eat today; you plant seeds so you can eat next month (or next year). A survival garden, just like any other garden, will require you to be patient. Nothing good grows overnight. It will be a month or two before the simplest and most low calorie vegetables (lettuce and radishes) are ready to harvest (if you took good care of the plants, and no diseases or pests struck your crop). Patience is a virtue that is valuable in many situations, gardening especially. In addition to being patient, it’s also important to manage your expectations. Not every seed will sprout and not every plant will make it to harvest. I remember more than a few “old timers” telling me to plant three times as much as we needed. That would give us one for the deer (even when we are trying to keep them away), one for the bugs (even with pest control) and one for the dinner table. Gardening is a lot like dodgeball. There’s a lot of running around, but if you aim low, stay reactive to threats and don’t expect too much, you might just win.

Pick a site with light

Your garden will need sunlight to grow. (Tim MacWelch/)

There are many necessary things for a successful survival garden, but the location is absolutely critical. You’ll need enough room for the plants you have planned and you’ll need enough sunlight. Whether you are planting in the ground or in a pot on a balcony, you should have a spot with eight to 12 hours of completely uninterrupted sunlight each day. The shadow of just one tree or structure, sweeping across your garden for an hour, can prevent certain seeds from sprouting and cause other plants to struggle. Plants need light to grow, and many are very sensitive to interruptions in light. Watch your prospective garden spot at different times of day (you’ve got time during quarantine) to make sure it has light exposure the whole time. For those without a field, yard, or even a balcony to grow food, consider growing indoors with grow lights (though this uses a lot of electricity) or ask your building manager if you could set up a small container garden on the building roof. Bribe them with the offer of fresh veggies and you might be able to strike a deal. And if you can’t do that, I’ll show you how to grow sprouts at the end, with no light required. I told you, anyone can grow food.

Mind the season

Hold off on those tropical vegetables. It is early spring and you’ll still need to focus on frost-tolerant plants. Even though plenty of garden centers are already stocking live tomato plants and other “hot-blooded” vegetables, you’re asking for disappointment by planting these too early. Unless you’re growing indoors, you’ll first want to figure out your date of “last frost” in your area. Latitude and elevation play a big role in nighttime temperatures, frosts, and freezes. Plants that are native to warm places (like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants) are not cold tolerant. Even a light frost will kill them. You can start your “tropical” seedlings now in a warm indoor space (they take a long time to sprout anyway). For now, plant crops that are native to colder parts of the world. Here are just a few.

Seeds you can sow directly in early spring

<b>Greens:</b> lettuce, kale, collards, Swiss chard, spinach, and arugula

<b>Root crops:</b> radishes, carrots, turnips, and beets

<b>Peas:</b> early peas and snow peas

Live plants you can put out in early spring

Onion sets

<b>Hardy herbs:</b> rosemary and thyme

<b>Cruciferous vegetable seedlings:</b> cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and kohlrabi

Create a survival-garden layout

Once you’ve figured out “where” you will be growing plants and “what” can be grown in the springtime, it’s time to create a plan. The most natural place to begin is to discover what resources you have at your disposal. Your options may be limited by social distancing, but if you can still get out to the store or order products for delivery, you’ll have lots of options. There’s no use dreaming about the plants you can’t get now or the ones that will die in the cold. Just focus on the plants you can acquire (as seeds or seedlings) and pay some attention to calories. The caloric value of your crops should be the main focus in a survival garden. In your planning, you’ll also want to do some simple math.

Figure out how much room you have to grow and the spacing that the plants require. This will allow you to calculate how many plants or seed packs to buy. Don’t cram too many plants together: They each need a certain amount of space, otherwise they will underperform due to competition for moisture, light, and nutrients. Mel Bartholomew’s book Square Foot Gardening is a great resource, though you may want to leave a little more space between plants than the book recommends, for bigger and better results.

Get creative with containers

If you’re blessed with a sunny patch of rich dirt and you can grow vegetables in the ground, count yourself lucky. If that’s not you, don’t despair. You’re still in the race. Most plants perform best when growing in loose deep soil. We can, however, still do a good bit of growing in containers. Don’t feel like they have to be special containers. Almost anything will work. It just needs to be able to hold enough dirt to grow a fairly normal root system for that type of plant or number of plants.

I’ve grown plants in all kinds of vessels. Trash cans, bins, and buckets are all great candidates for containers. Just drill or punch some holes in the bottom (if they aren’t already there). This will allow excess water to drain and create a healthier condition for the plant roots. Without adequate drainage, you’ll run a greater risk of fungal diseases killing your plants. Fill your waiting containers with any dirt-like growing medium you can get. You can use potting soil, mulch, compost, aged manure, or some dirt you dug up locally. This can be supplemented with fertilizer and should be watered with clean water. Rain is ideal (where legal to catch), though municipal tap water can be de-chlorinated by letting a bucket of “city” water sit open for a few days.

Add high-calorie crops

Remember when Matt Damon only ate potatoes on Mars? It's realistic (sort of). (Tim MacWelch/)

Yes, salads are good for you and most lettuce varieties excel in cooler weather, but salads will starve you to death without creamy dressing and bacon bits (neither of which can be grown in a garden). Since calories are the whole point of a survival garden, add some nutrient-dense crops as soon as the weather permits. You can even use things you already have like old potatoes. When white or sweet potatoes begin to sprout, chop them up so that each sprout has a good chunk of potato attached and plant them. It’s just that easy. The calories listed below are per 8-ounce cup.

Peanuts (1200 calories, 4 to 5 months to harvest)

Sunflower seeds (800 calories, 4 months to harvest)

Soybeans (775 calories, 3 to 5 months to harvest)

Chickpeas, kidney, lima & fava beans (600 calories, 3 to 4 months to harvest)

Sweet potatoes (180 calories, 3 to 4 months to harvest)

Potatoes (140 calories, 3 to 4 months to harvest)

Carrots (80 calories, 2 to 3 months to harvest)

Tomatoes (50 calories, 3 to 4 months to harvest)

Turnips (35 calories, 2 to 3 months to harvest)

Pepper in perennial herbs

Despite the cold of winter, some tough herbs can stay alive through the coldest times. These hardy woody-stemmed plants and bulbs can be grown near your kitchen door in most climates to give your food some fresh flavors during the coldest weather. When you’re tired of eating the same vegetables over and over, use your fresh herbs to transform the meal into something new. Perennial plants also represent a great financial investment, as your plants will live for years, instead of just one growing season. Prepare your soil for a few long-term residents, and plant a few of these.

Rosemary

Sage

Oregano

Thyme

Tarragon

Save seeds for the next garden

The ultimate way to be frugal with your seeds is to save them from this year’s plants to replant next year. This is best done when you are growing single varieties of each vegetable, to avoid unpredictable results from cross pollination. Let the veggies mature completely, remove the seeds, and dry them for storage. An easy rule of thumb in seed storage is to add the storage temperature number (in Fahrenheit) to the humidity percentage number. For example, 60 degrees F and 30 percent humidity gives you 90 points. The total of these two numbers should always be below 100 points. Lean toward the dryer side in storage, and your seeds will sleep happily for years.

Take advantage of wild plants like this chickweed. (Tim MacWelch/)

Grow sprouts

Anyone can grow food, even if you live in a windowless basement apartment in the big city. You could buy a mushroom kit to grow fungus as a food crop. You can also grow sprouts in a jar. Simply add a small amount (2 to 3 tablespoons) of sprouting seed mix to a jar and add cool clean water. Cover the jar with a mesh lid or a piece of cloth (held on by a rubber band). Allow the seeds to soak for eight hours, drain them, and rinse them with fresh water. Rinse and drain them three times a day for the next two days, and eat them when they have sprouted and grown baby leaves. For best results, give your sprouts a few hours of sunlight before eating them, just to add some color and additional vitamins. Enjoy them in a salad, on a burger, or as a snack.

Eat some weeds

It’s a shame not to take advantage of wild edible plants that pop up in the garden. Think of these unexpected herbs as beneficial plants, rather than a nuisance. Many common garden weeds are also wild edible plants. Make sure you have positive identification of the plant, and then treat those weeds as valuable vegetables. Frequent edible garden weeds include dandelion, chickweed, plantain, clover, chicory, lamb’s quarters, sorrel, and violets.

[scootoaster]

How to start your own survival garden

Now is the perfect time to plant a survival garden. (National Park Service/)

This story originally featured on Outdoor Life.

Looking for something to do while you’re stuck at home during the COVID-19 quarantine? Planning ahead for the day that the food pantry is bare? Gardening is a great activity in the springtime and anyone can grow food, even if you’re stuck in an apartment. You’ll just need a spot with ample sunlight, some dirt and water, something to start growing, and a generous amount of patience. Whether you’re gardening just as a pastime or doing it as a food security strategy, you might be surprised how rewarding it can be.

The modern “victory garden”

During World War I and II, Americans at home responded to the call to plant “Victory Gardens” in their backyards and in public spaces across the nation. The main goal of the movement was to increase the public food supply and allow more commercially produced crops to be funneled toward the war effort. This activity was also a powerful morale booster for the citizenry, allowing people of all ages and abilities to feel empowered by their self-reliance and feel proud of their contribution to the war effort. In 1943, there were at least 20 million “war gardens” growing, which yielded a staggering eight million tons of food in the United States. This was nearly half of the food consumed that year in the country. Jump forward to 2020. With self-quarantine recommended across the nation, you can do your part to limit your interaction with others and avoid some unnecessary trips to the grocery store. Plant a “Victory Garden” and stay the hell home. The sooner we all get serious, the sooner we can stamp out the COVID-19 pandemic.

Be patient and manage your expectations

If you’ve never tried gardening before, it’s a great exercise in patience and expectation management. You don’t plant seeds so you can eat today; you plant seeds so you can eat next month (or next year). A survival garden, just like any other garden, will require you to be patient. Nothing good grows overnight. It will be a month or two before the simplest and most low calorie vegetables (lettuce and radishes) are ready to harvest (if you took good care of the plants, and no diseases or pests struck your crop). Patience is a virtue that is valuable in many situations, gardening especially. In addition to being patient, it’s also important to manage your expectations. Not every seed will sprout and not every plant will make it to harvest. I remember more than a few “old timers” telling me to plant three times as much as we needed. That would give us one for the deer (even when we are trying to keep them away), one for the bugs (even with pest control) and one for the dinner table. Gardening is a lot like dodgeball. There’s a lot of running around, but if you aim low, stay reactive to threats and don’t expect too much, you might just win.

Pick a site with light

Your garden will need sunlight to grow. (Tim MacWelch/)

There are many necessary things for a successful survival garden, but the location is absolutely critical. You’ll need enough room for the plants you have planned and you’ll need enough sunlight. Whether you are planting in the ground or in a pot on a balcony, you should have a spot with eight to 12 hours of completely uninterrupted sunlight each day. The shadow of just one tree or structure, sweeping across your garden for an hour, can prevent certain seeds from sprouting and cause other plants to struggle. Plants need light to grow, and many are very sensitive to interruptions in light. Watch your prospective garden spot at different times of day (you’ve got time during quarantine) to make sure it has light exposure the whole time. For those without a field, yard, or even a balcony to grow food, consider growing indoors with grow lights (though this uses a lot of electricity) or ask your building manager if you could set up a small container garden on the building roof. Bribe them with the offer of fresh veggies and you might be able to strike a deal. And if you can’t do that, I’ll show you how to grow sprouts at the end, with no light required. I told you, anyone can grow food.

Mind the season

Hold off on those tropical vegetables. It is early spring and you’ll still need to focus on frost-tolerant plants. Even though plenty of garden centers are already stocking live tomato plants and other “hot-blooded” vegetables, you’re asking for disappointment by planting these too early. Unless you’re growing indoors, you’ll first want to figure out your date of “last frost” in your area. Latitude and elevation play a big role in nighttime temperatures, frosts, and freezes. Plants that are native to warm places (like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants) are not cold tolerant. Even a light frost will kill them. You can start your “tropical” seedlings now in a warm indoor space (they take a long time to sprout anyway). For now, plant crops that are native to colder parts of the world. Here are just a few.

Seeds you can sow directly in early spring

<b>Greens:</b> lettuce, kale, collards, Swiss chard, spinach, and arugula

<b>Root crops:</b> radishes, carrots, turnips, and beets

<b>Peas:</b> early peas and snow peas

Live plants you can put out in early spring

Onion sets

<b>Hardy herbs:</b> rosemary and thyme

<b>Cruciferous vegetable seedlings:</b> cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and kohlrabi

Create a survival-garden layout

Once you’ve figured out “where” you will be growing plants and “what” can be grown in the springtime, it’s time to create a plan. The most natural place to begin is to discover what resources you have at your disposal. Your options may be limited by social distancing, but if you can still get out to the store or order products for delivery, you’ll have lots of options. There’s no use dreaming about the plants you can’t get now or the ones that will die in the cold. Just focus on the plants you can acquire (as seeds or seedlings) and pay some attention to calories. The caloric value of your crops should be the main focus in a survival garden. In your planning, you’ll also want to do some simple math.

Figure out how much room you have to grow and the spacing that the plants require. This will allow you to calculate how many plants or seed packs to buy. Don’t cram too many plants together: They each need a certain amount of space, otherwise they will underperform due to competition for moisture, light, and nutrients. Mel Bartholomew’s book Square Foot Gardening is a great resource, though you may want to leave a little more space between plants than the book recommends, for bigger and better results.

Get creative with containers

If you’re blessed with a sunny patch of rich dirt and you can grow vegetables in the ground, count yourself lucky. If that’s not you, don’t despair. You’re still in the race. Most plants perform best when growing in loose deep soil. We can, however, still do a good bit of growing in containers. Don’t feel like they have to be special containers. Almost anything will work. It just needs to be able to hold enough dirt to grow a fairly normal root system for that type of plant or number of plants.

I’ve grown plants in all kinds of vessels. Trash cans, bins, and buckets are all great candidates for containers. Just drill or punch some holes in the bottom (if they aren’t already there). This will allow excess water to drain and create a healthier condition for the plant roots. Without adequate drainage, you’ll run a greater risk of fungal diseases killing your plants. Fill your waiting containers with any dirt-like growing medium you can get. You can use potting soil, mulch, compost, aged manure, or some dirt you dug up locally. This can be supplemented with fertilizer and should be watered with clean water. Rain is ideal (where legal to catch), though municipal tap water can be de-chlorinated by letting a bucket of “city” water sit open for a few days.

Add high-calorie crops

Remember when Matt Damon only ate potatoes on Mars? It's realistic (sort of). (Tim MacWelch/)

Yes, salads are good for you and most lettuce varieties excel in cooler weather, but salads will starve you to death without creamy dressing and bacon bits (neither of which can be grown in a garden). Since calories are the whole point of a survival garden, add some nutrient-dense crops as soon as the weather permits. You can even use things you already have like old potatoes. When white or sweet potatoes begin to sprout, chop them up so that each sprout has a good chunk of potato attached and plant them. It’s just that easy. The calories listed below are per 8-ounce cup.

Peanuts (1200 calories, 4 to 5 months to harvest)

Sunflower seeds (800 calories, 4 months to harvest)

Soybeans (775 calories, 3 to 5 months to harvest)

Chickpeas, kidney, lima & fava beans (600 calories, 3 to 4 months to harvest)

Sweet potatoes (180 calories, 3 to 4 months to harvest)

Potatoes (140 calories, 3 to 4 months to harvest)

Carrots (80 calories, 2 to 3 months to harvest)

Tomatoes (50 calories, 3 to 4 months to harvest)

Turnips (35 calories, 2 to 3 months to harvest)

Pepper in perennial herbs

Despite the cold of winter, some tough herbs can stay alive through the coldest times. These hardy woody-stemmed plants and bulbs can be grown near your kitchen door in most climates to give your food some fresh flavors during the coldest weather. When you’re tired of eating the same vegetables over and over, use your fresh herbs to transform the meal into something new. Perennial plants also represent a great financial investment, as your plants will live for years, instead of just one growing season. Prepare your soil for a few long-term residents, and plant a few of these.

Rosemary

Sage

Oregano

Thyme

Tarragon

Save seeds for the next garden

The ultimate way to be frugal with your seeds is to save them from this year’s plants to replant next year. This is best done when you are growing single varieties of each vegetable, to avoid unpredictable results from cross pollination. Let the veggies mature completely, remove the seeds, and dry them for storage. An easy rule of thumb in seed storage is to add the storage temperature number (in Fahrenheit) to the humidity percentage number. For example, 60 degrees F and 30 percent humidity gives you 90 points. The total of these two numbers should always be below 100 points. Lean toward the dryer side in storage, and your seeds will sleep happily for years.

Take advantage of wild plants like this chickweed. (Tim MacWelch/)

Grow sprouts

Anyone can grow food, even if you live in a windowless basement apartment in the big city. You could buy a mushroom kit to grow fungus as a food crop. You can also grow sprouts in a jar. Simply add a small amount (2 to 3 tablespoons) of sprouting seed mix to a jar and add cool clean water. Cover the jar with a mesh lid or a piece of cloth (held on by a rubber band). Allow the seeds to soak for eight hours, drain them, and rinse them with fresh water. Rinse and drain them three times a day for the next two days, and eat them when they have sprouted and grown baby leaves. For best results, give your sprouts a few hours of sunlight before eating them, just to add some color and additional vitamins. Enjoy them in a salad, on a burger, or as a snack.

Eat some weeds

It’s a shame not to take advantage of wild edible plants that pop up in the garden. Think of these unexpected herbs as beneficial plants, rather than a nuisance. Many common garden weeds are also wild edible plants. Make sure you have positive identification of the plant, and then treat those weeds as valuable vegetables. Frequent edible garden weeds include dandelion, chickweed, plantain, clover, chicory, lamb’s quarters, sorrel, and violets.