#and also none of this matters. our fridge should be able to hold food. the door is fucking broken.

[therosevest]

oh btw my roommates are ready to blame the fridge being broken on me i think. 👍

[subpar-ghoulfriend]

Let’s have a baby

yandere!EraserMicx PREGNANT!Reader 

A terrible mix up leading to an accidental pregnancy? Or something more intentional? Either way now you were pregnant with (none other than the beloved power couple heroes) Eraserhead and Present Mic’s child. Time to discuss how co parenting is going to work. 

TW: pregnancy, artificial insemination, yandere elements, mentions of stalking, alludes to potential custody battle

You had been avoiding the two men for the past week, which was challenging seeing as they managed to find your phone number, address, and place of work. Any time you blocked their calls they got a new number. Two Pro Heroes versus a twenty something civilian, it was only a matter of time until you were cornered.

Now the couple stood between you and your apartment. You had a long shift at your job as a pet groomer and just wanted to get some rest.

Present Mic was the first to speak. "Hey lil momma, we heard you had work today so we brought you some dinner. We thought we could talk over a nice meal."

You had no response. You were tired, both physically and emotionally. You had been put through the ringer ever since meeting them at your doctors office. It was a total Jane the Virgin situation. You went in for an assessment about some supposed ovarian cysts and unknowing left artificially inseminated. There was a supposed mix up, a digital glitch that somehow merged your chart with the surrogates - apparently your names were super similar. Two weeks later you were called back into the doctor's office and informed of what took place. And now you were in this living nightmare.

And the two heroes had nothing to do with the error. There was totally a surrogate. They hadn't paid off your provider. And why would they? You had never met them - although given their patrols they may have seen you once or twice...

They were tearful when they were informed of the mix up, they had been waiting patiently through the whole process and now everything was thrown in chaos. They offered to compensate you for your service which sent you into a blind rage. They just assumed you would carry a child, a child with half of your DNA, and then give YOUR baby away. Rationally you understood that they had planned to be be the only parents to the child, but that was with a professional surrogate who understood the process, who didn't want the child in their life, just happy to help out a loving couple. But that wasn't you, you grew up wanting to be a mom, and now they would take that from you.

What if they tried to legally take sole custody of the baby? Surely they had some pull in the judicial system. Besides, they were a solid couple with money, while you were alone with no family and working two jobs. The thought made you sick to your stomach.

You were shaking as you tried to push past them. Maybe they would just disappear if you ignored them, a girl could dream. But instead they tagged along inside. Albeit you weren’t fighting them on it, you knew this had to happen eventually.

Aizawa easily found the cluttered dining table in your small apartment. You flinched when the loud one tried to help you shrug off your backpack. Taking a seat on the couch you waited for them to start berating you.

"Come sit at the table, dinner is getting cold," Eraser spoke for the first time.

"I'll eat later, I'm not hungry."

"You may not be, but the baby needs to eat."

You glared, how dare they insinuate you didn't know what your child needed. If your body was hungry, you ate. If you were full the baby was full too.

But, you complied, not wanting to argue, "Fine, but I ate a snack not too long ago."

As you ate, Mic kept you company, picking at some left overs, they clearly ate before their visit. Aizawa was rummaging through your place but you managed to hold your tongue until he began throwing things out of your fridge.

"What are you doing?" You hissed, getting up out of your seat.

"Mic and I will bring you groceries tomorrow. The food you have is barely safe for an adult, let alone a fetus."

"Are you kidding me? It's not like I'm chugging alcohol and living off Twinkies. Hey! I just bought those turkey slices. How is turkey bad?" You whined.

To make sure you wouldn't dig the food out trash he dumped it out of his container.

"Zashi, don't let me forget to empty the trash on our way out. Do you know how much salt is in deli meat? And there's no way you can drink any of this while you're pregnant." He gestures to the cans of soda.

As the frustration built you had to fight back tears. They couldn't come in to your home and start throwing out your things.

"Some of us don't make ridiculous money, I'm buying what I can afford and the doctor never had any problem with my health." You hissed.

Hizashi felt the tension thickening, "Hey hey hey, it's okay. Sho and I will go get you some good stuff. We just gotta watch out for you and baby."

And that was the end of your resolve, you stomped past the Hero and locked yourself in your bedroom. Finally tears began to drip down your cheeks.

Back in your kitchen Mic was chiding his boyfriend for being so tough on you.

"So I should just back down while she stuffs herself with junk food?"

Mic gave him a shrug, showing him a bottle on your counter, "At lest she's taking her prenatal vitamins?"

Grabbing the keys to your apartment Aizawa instructed Mic to wait with you while he got you better groceries. He would make copies of your keys on his was back.

You prayed they would leave soon. You were laying in your bed having cried yourself out. Barely into your second month of pregnancy. You still had to endure this for at least seven more months, but most likely much longer.

Next thing you knew you were opening your eyes and the clock read seven AM. By now your uninvited guests must be gone. Nervously you sat up, praying that you'd skip the morning sickness just once this week. You had always had a weak stomach and even the doctor was surprised you were already experiencing the symptom. Unfortunately the minute your feet touched the floor you knew what was coming. You sprinted to the restroom, not even checking to see if the duo had left.

God this was terrible, you didn't just hate throwing up, you were terrified of it. What if you started and never stopped? But it did come to an end. You wiped the water from your eyes and took a moment before standing from the floor. You screamed when a hand slid under your arm, helping you up. Another set of feet rushed to the bathroom.

" What's wrong?" Hizashi huffed as he skid to a stop.

You pulled arm free from Aizawa's grasp. "What are you two still doing here?"

You turned in the faucet to rinse your mouth. Trying to calm your stress, the nausea was trying to return.

Undeterred the scruff pulled your hair into a bun before rubbing your back. You debated returning to bed but that wouldn't get them out of your apartment. You told them you need to sit down, both of them nodding, still wearing their concerned expressions. They got you a glass of water before joining you on the couch. Stubborn men, you sat at the end of the couch so they couldn't both sit, but Mic decided to perch himself on the armrest.

He started petting your hair, "You feelin better little listener?" You nodded in response.

"I got you more food, let us know if your hungry."

You sighed in defeat, "I'm barely two months pregnant, I can fend for myself. What did you all want to talk about?"

You anxiously placed a hand on your stomach. Both men felt their hearts flutter recognizing your maternal instincts kicking in.

Aizawa let Mic begin, he was the more gentle of the two.

"Well, we figured we got off to a rough start. You got put in a tough situation. We shouldn't have assumed you didn't want a child so we're not mad at how you stormed out. But either way we expect to be in our baby's life. The two of us talked it over and we don't want to fight you if you want to be in their life too. So if you wanna be the mommy we're cool with it."

You could blame your reaction on your hormones for your response but you didn't, "Geez thank you so much for allowing me to be in MY child's life."

Aizawa placed a hand on the back of your neck, giving you a gentle massage. "Okay then, the three of us are gonna have a baby. That means you have to stop ignoring us. We can raise the baby together, without involving anyone else. But if we have to, we can always go the legal route for the baby's best interest." 

He knew it was a low blow, but the couple needed you to stop fighting them. Your eyes snapped to his and you shook your head in protest.

"Okay then we're all the same page," Aizawa reassured you.

Mic cheered, "Now we can focus on the fun stuff."

"Hun," Eraserhead caught his attention. "There's still a few more important things to figure out. We don't want you going back to that doctor. They're incompetent. We scheduled you an appointment with another's clinic for next week. Okay?"

You couldn't find your voice after how easily he threatened to take your baby. So you just nodded. Half listening.

"Good. We also went ahead and programmed our numbers into your phone. We need to be able to check in with you."

"Okay, but I can't use my phone at one of my jobs."

"About that lil momma," Mic started. "You work a lot, which is totally bad ass, but we don't think you leave enough time to rest and take care of yourself."

You tried to protest but Aizawa cut you off, "You also shouldn't be working around so many animals. Even though we love animals, they can be unpredictable and one dog can trigger all the rest into a frenzy."

You were dumbfounded, "I've never heard of anything like that happening. One of my coworkers was pregnant last year, she worked until her maternity leave. Plus I need to be able to pay my bills. And don't offer to compensate me again."

"Why do you have to view it as compensation? We just want to take care of the mother of our child. Just think about it. Mic and I have to go take care of some business but we'll be back later this week."

---

Back at their home Hizashi was dramatically splayed on their bed.

"Babe why are you pouting?" Aizawa asked.

"Why can't we just bring her home already?"

Aizawa sympathized with his better half, but they needed to be methodical. He reminded Hizashi that they didn't need to cause her even more stress, especially so early into the pregnancy. If they played their cards right they would have their happy little family soon enough.

If they could ease you in to the relationship everything would be easier in the long run. They had been managing just fine until now, they could wait a few more months.

He joined Hizashi on the couch. Mic was comforting himself the way he usually did when he felt like this. He was scrolling through the countless photos they had collected since their chance encounter with you over a year ago. 

[nebulus-frd]

Jealous and protective Rowan and oblivious Aelin in a modern established relationship au

Hi!!!

Thank u so much for the request. I loved your prompt and also love Rowaelin deeply. Hope u enjoy it ♡

If you liked it or not, let me know. Leave a comment, compliments and especially, constructive critics, are always welcomed.

Wanna request your story? Come ⋆⭒ here ⋆⭒, tell me everything. ----------

The beach. The sea. Them.

Synopsis: Modern AU where Rowan and Aelin finally get a deserved vacation. But he isn't enjoying all the attention given to his wife during the first day of it.

Rated: T

Warnings: implied sexual content. If I forgot anything, let me know.

Words: 1700+ (oneshot).

1/1

It was their first time back at the beach after being married.

The life of a military couple was hectic, to say the least, but Rowan and Aelin were rather used to the chaos. This explained why Rowan found himself alone in bed on the first morning of their vacation. Although his wife had always been a late riser, he knew better than anyone how hard it was to break their routine and if he himself hadn’t take medicine to fall asleep, he wouldn’t probably have slept at all.

Not bothering to properly dress, Rowan moved to the kitchen only to find it empty. Did she go grocery shop? But to his surprise not only was the fridge completely packed, but three sandwiches also topple each other on a plate next to a note.

Good morning princess, did you sleep well? Not even a true love kiss was able to break from the evil medicine spell. I’m training on the beach. Join me… Or not, if you feel like sleeping throughout the entirety of our vacation.

Love,

Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius.

Rowan didn’t even feel the smile that broke through him. God, I love her. Of course, she was training. His wife always called him a workaholic and a military freak, only to always prove herself one. The food was warm enough for her not to have left for too long. And in half an hour Rowan found himself heading to their hotel gym.

Where was Aelin?

He had circulated the gym area twice without success in the mission of joining his wife. Could she be at the beach? It wouldn’t be a surprise. Aelin loves the sea, the sunny weather, and the heat on her skin.

Eight years ago, if someone said to Rowan that there were people who loved those things, he would have straight-out laughed in their faces. He couldn’t anymore. He had learned to appreciate each of these unlike anyone else.

Rowan loved the smile Aelin would have while watching the sea, loved the glow her eyes would reflect under the sun’s light, loved the heat from Aelin’s heart.

His wife had changed each perspective he had in his life.

And while at the beach, once again he asked himself how the hell, he was deserving of the woman he married to?

Aelin was coming out of the sea, dressed in a swimsuit that covered a lot more of what he was used to seeing, looking like the sea god herself had descended in the mortal world to bestow her beauty upon mortals. Thus, Rowan was hindered breathless and as soon as their eyes locked up, he could listen to her thoughts through them.

“Are you delight with the view?”

And the smile that broke in her lips made his knees go weak. She pointed to a small pile of clothes at his right and he could recognize the tennis beside it. As soon as they met Rowan girdled his arm around her hips and kissed her.

“Missed me much?” Aelin asked holding a smirk while still in his arms. Her turquoise eyes nailed on his green-forest ones. The only answer she received was a grunt and a heavy head dropping in her shoulder. “You know you could use words, rather than growling like a beast”, which made Aelin feel the smile coming from her husband, she could picture it too: the perfect set of teeth accompanied by two fangs that were borderline not-human, which had left so many marks on last night's activities, she had almost come to the beach in a diver suit.

“I can’t be bothered. There are a lot of more interesting things to do with my mouth… And my tong…”, Rowan’s impure statement was interrupted by the sound of Aelin’s phone ring, it took a moment for the woman to snap out of the mood her husband had put them in. Poor object, it earned a glare that, if possible, would have transformed it into ashes.

“Oh hi!... Yes, of course, I’m coming… Right, next to the bar… Yes, be there in a few”, she said on the phone friendly. With whom she could have made prior appointments?

“Where are you going?”, Rowan asked confused, involuntarily holding her tighter, Aelin didn’t hide the smile at her husband's unwillingness.

“WE are going to a functional training, apparently the hotel holds them every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday”, she said while putting on a pair of shorts and her tennis, Rowan just nodded in answer.

Once they were in the central area, the closer location between the hotel’s pools and the beach, the equipment could already be seen as well as 10 people roaming around it. Soon enough a man came up to them greeting Aelin, too friendly to Rowan’s likeness, although he could only spot the top of his head.

“Miss Galathnyius, it’s good to have you with us today”, the strange said while avoiding looking at Rowan’s side but he did not miss a beat.

“It’s Mrs.” his accented and low voice seemed to reverberate, earning him an alarmed glance from the instructor, as he had taken from his clothes and name tag.

“Yes, of course. Mr. and Mrs. Galathnyius it’s a pleasure to have both of you here”, the smaller man seemed ready to bolt as he alternated his looks from Rowan’s face tattoo and Aelin’s mirth-filled eyes, she just nodded and that was very well what he did. She knew it wasn’t jealousy from her husband, more like his inability to not correct a mistaken person.

Oh, how wrong she was.

…

Half an hour throughout the class, Rowan was calculating how much trouble would he be if he were to beat three civilians. As the training was open to anyone at the beach, around fifteen more people had come to enjoy the activities. Including a group of four men, who seem too inclined to help Aelin with her training.

Which had made Rowan seeing red since he heard the first suggestion in correcting Aelin’s posture during a core exercise. Whilst his wife seemed completed oblivious as not only agreed to a few suggestions and gave tips of her own. Rowan didn’t mind that both were right.

Nonetheless, at each suggestion made by a stranger, Rowan would casually assert his territory. Moving closer to Aelin, helping her with the weights and holding her during an exercise that required it. Of course, there was the possibility that none of the people participating held any second intentions towards his wife and were only trying to be helpful. He seriously doubted it, even though that was what Aelin seem to think.

Usually, Rowan had never been one to bluntly be jealous and if he found it necessary to discuss attitude with someone, he wouldn’t do it in front of Aelin. But he’d gone apeshit when one of the guys from before made a move to touch her while he went to grab for water. Fuck this. He had been by her side every single moment. What’s with these disrespectful motherfuckers?

The man whose hands extended to help Aelin in moving the piece on her waist only caught a movement in corner of his eyes before a mountain of a man was before him. His eyes caught a glimpse of a wicked tattoo on the man’s face, which had been hidden by the cap he was using.

Rowan’s intimidating demeanor and the fucking gold ring in his and hers left hands were more than enough for assholes to grasp the situation.

She is mine, I’m hers. Fuck off.

Either it was the rings or himself didn’t matter. Apparently, with one look everybody understood his warning.

…

However, nine hours later, he’d been left baffled as his wife complained how, after he glued himself to her side, nobody had talked or interacted with her anymore.

“Well, if you weren’t such a territorial bastard today, we could have made some friends that could introduce us to the town”, she said as they had clearly lost themselves while looking for a Japanese restaurant.

“I beg your pardon?”, Rowan answered seeing red all over again just from remembering the previous event.

“Oh, come on, you thought I did notice? You were just asserting your territory for the heck of it”, she said not bothering with more than an eye roll, still searching the street’s name on their map.

“For the heck of it?”, Rowan was bewildered. Aelin thought he was doing that out of leisure?

“You couldn’t possibly be jealous of those guys from the beach, right?”, she said finally dropping the stupid map that had put them in their current predicament and looking straight into his eyes. Whatever she saw there gave Rowan his favorite smile. “You were….”, she laughed, loud and uncaring. Beautiful. “You are unbelievable”.

Like the viper his wife was, she stealthy approached him in that dark alley. “My cranky husband was jealous of some gym dudes?”, her voice was surrounded by arrogance and seductiveness. Reminding Rowan just who he had married with. The most confident, assertive, dazzling woman he had ever met.

Their eyes were locked on each other as she stalked him like a snake ready to consume her prey. His response to her provocation was nothing more than a grunt. “You know what you should have done?... You could have kissed me right there, ravished me, really… And I would’ve said thank you”.

After many years into their relationship, one would think that Rowan had become numb to Aelin’s advances. However, it was very much the opposite of it. He would be scandalized, shocked… And excited, she burned him with bold words and even bolder actions that made his head spin. His calloused hand didn’t miss one second into holding Aelin’s by her backside and his mouth went to her neck.

“Ditch dinner, Fireheart, I will show you what I would like to have done”, Rowan could feel Aelin’s thundering heartbeat, like his own due to their proximity. It would never lie to him, he affected her just as she did him.

“Oh, why, when you say with such gentleness. I suppose we could make something at home”, she smoothed her hand at Rowan’s ringed finger each word, handing him a bright smile by the end. “I love you”, albeit the sentence was said in a soft tone, it swept bothering feelings between the two, such as sea waves that accompanied their evening.

“To whatever end”, he said holding her left hand and as they walked toward the ocean. Free, unrestricted, and vast. Much like their love.

[silver-renjun]

Cafe 7 Dream: Jaemin

Word Count: 2, 443

Warnings: violence, mentions of death, stabbing 

Read the prologue before reading this!  

You headed into you 8 am class late as usual. After pulling out your notebook from your bag, you threw yourself down on the desk.

“Busy night, y/n?” Jaemin asked. You and Jaemin didn’t really talk that much at all. At the cafe, Jaemin was always in his own world, and in class he just stared at the board, though you doubted he actually remembered anything from the lectures. It was strange that Jaemin started a conversation with you, but it was also strange that you were resting on the desk. No matter how exhausted you were, you took notes, albeit sloppy. 

“I had 3 essays to write. Two of which I didn’t even know existed until Haechan texted me for my work,” you replied.

“You should be more responsible, y/n. I need someone reliable to cheat off of,” Haechan said. You rolled your eyes at his reply and groaned. You didn’t have the energy to argue with him. 

“You should just rest, y/n. I’ll take notes for you and we can review them after class today,” Jaemin said. He smiled at you, but you were fast asleep.

After class, Jaemin shaked your shoulder to wake you up.

“y/n! y/n! Everyone already left the class. It’s time to go,” Jaemin whispered in your ear.

“Where are the other guys?” you asked with a breathy voice.

“They’re at the cafe already. I’m sure they’ll be fine without us. Let’s go to the library.”

Jaemin helped you up your seat and packed your books in you bag. He even offered to carry it for you, but you declined. Jaemin held your hand as the two of you walked over to the library. He was still worried about how tired you were and didn’t want you to fall.

The library was filled with students trying to study. Jaemin led you to a secluded corner in the back. 

You dropped your bag down and asked, “are you sure they’ll manage without us in the cafe?”

“You’re the one who should be drinking an americano, not the one making it.”  Jaemin smiled at you and reached out for your hand. “Don’t worry about the cafe right now.” 

Jaemin lectured the content of the class to you. He was a natural at explaining everything. Even when you had a question about the topic, Jaemin was able to answer them with ease. As you copied down your notes, you were surprised to find yourself understanding the content better when Jaemin was teaching you.

At the end of the session you said, “You take such good notes! And remember everything from class too! I’m impressed. We should totally do this more often.”

“Well I still have to work at the cafe to pay my tuition, but I’ll definitely help you out, y/n.” 

“Yeah, working at the cafe is my destresser. I wouldn’t want to give that up,” you chuckled. “Maybe you could come over to my place after work and we can study then.”

The next day, you were late to class once again. You rushed over to your seat, but this time you didn’t pull out your books. You knew Jaemin had you covered, so you plopped your head down on the desk for some rest. 

“y/n, I need you to start taking this class seriously,” Haechan said. “I need to pass, you know.” 

You knew that replying to Haechan was just provoke him into arguing with you, so let his comment slide. 

“You’re super late this time, y/n. I was almost certain that Renjun’s vision about your death had finally happened,” Jisung said.

Jisung’s remark was just too strange to ignore. Your head shot up and you gave Jisung a raised eyebrow.

“What the hell does that mean?” 

A look of realization took over Jisung’s face before he looked down at the floor. “Sorry about that guys,” he whispered. 

The other boys all exchanged uncomfortable glances as if they were trying to figure out who would explain what had been said about you. Finally, Jaemin broke the silence.

“We can talk at the cafe.” The boys had slightly less uncomfortable looks on their faces, but they still appeared to be worried about something. You decided to not stress over it. Your priority was catching up on your sleep. 

After class, you and the dreamies headed out to the cafe and started preparing before customers arrived.

You were wiping down tables when you asked, “so is anyone going to explain to me what happened this morning?” You knew you were going to be working with Jaemin, and that boy was like a rock when got to work.  This was your only opportunity to get answers.

“Look, you’re not going to believe us at all,” Mark started.

“We’ve got magic powers,” Haechan said. 

“You see y/n, Jisung’s a wizard. He makes love potions so people will fall in love with our cafe,” Jaemin explained. While he was talking, Jisung pulled out a pink liquid from under the counter and waved it at you. You had no energy to question them so you just let Jaemin continue.

“And Jeno, he’s a water spirit. Do a little trick for us Jeno,” Jaemin said. Jeno formed a ball of water in his hand and shifted it into different shapes.

“What the-” was all you could muster up. “That water just came out of thin air! And you’re controlling it!”

“Like I was saying, y/n, it’s all magic.” Jaemin smiled at the look of wonder on your face. “Next up we have Renjun. Care to explain yourself Renjun?”

Renjun groaned before saying, “I’m an oracle. I see the future. And your future has an attack in it. I didn’t see you die like Jisung said, but since you’re a human, you’re probably going to-”

“Alright that’s enough,” Jaemin said, cutting Renjun off before he could tell you more about your fate. You were so amazed by Jeno’s abilites that you weren’t even fazed by what Renjun had said.

“What about you Jaemin?” you said with a smile.

“I’m human and so is Mark. We know our way around magic pretty well though,” Jaemin said with a self-satisfied grin.

“And Chenle and Haechan?” you asked, eager to learn more.

“None of your business,” Chenle replied harshly. Chenle’s tone snapped you out of your amazement and made you serious about your work again. Jaemin, like usual, didn’t talk much during his shift, so you would have to wait until the cafe was closed to get more answers.

“Hey Jaemin,” you said as you were heading out the cafe. “Does tonight work for you?”

The boys all looked at each other with wide eyes. They had no idea about your study plans with Jaemin.

“Any night works for me,” Jaemin replied as he followed you out the cafe. You could hear the giggles of the boys even when you were standing outside. Jaemin looked at you with an embarrassed smile before holding your hand and following you home.  

At your apartment, Jaemin got to lecturing you once again. He made sure you understood every topic covered in class in full detail. You were still amazed by how good of a teacher Jaemin turned out to be. 

After he finished talked Jaemin said, “well that’s everything we learned today. Got any questions, y/n?”

“About the coursework, no. About magic, yes.”

“Magic happens to be my strong suit, so ask away,” he replied with a smile. 

“Well Chenle and Haechan didn’t really explain their powers. Do you know what they are?”

“Nope,” Jaemin said, shaking his head. “Chenle’s family is pretty influential in the magic world, so revealing their powers is kind of a security risk for them. Whatever Chenle does, I bet he’s pretty strong at it though.” Jaemin paused for a second. “As for Haechan, he hasn’t really gotten his powers yet. He’s kind of touchy about it since most people get their powers by this age.”

You nodded your head in agreement, though you had no idea how it all worked.

“So what about you Jaemin?” you said in playful tone as you poked his shoulder.

“What about me?” Jaemin replied, mimicking your voice and poking you back.

“What’s your relation with magic?” you said with a smile.

Jaemin’s face became serious. He took a minute to think before replying to you.

“It’s a family thing,” was all he said. You decided to not press him any further about magic. 

“You know, Jaemin, it’s really not that late. If you’re down, you could stay and watch some Netflix. I’ve got some leftover pizza in the fridge too.”

“That’s a great idea! I know so many good dramas that are on Netflix!”

You microwaved a few slices of pizza while Jaemin picked out a show to watch on Netflix. It turned out, alongside having a coffee obsession, Jaemin was also obsessed with period dramas. He talked nonstop about the characters and kept on playing episode after episode. It wasn’t until you two had finished the first season at 1 am did Jaemin say, “it might be getting a little late now.”

He looked over to you for a response, but you had already passed out on the sofa. Jaemin stared at your sleeping figure and admired your beauty.

“Since you’re sleeping I might as well tell you this now. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the confidence to tell you this when you’re awake. I really like you, y/n. I think you’re the most amazing person in the world. I’d give anything to be with you.”

Jaemin sighed and went to sleep on your floor. Unknown to him, you had actually been listening the entire time. 

It became a habit for you and Jaemin to study at your place after work. Jaemin would lecture you for a while, and then you would order delivery food to thank him for helping you. After watching Netflix, Jaemin would sometimes even sleep over at your place. 

One night, you and Jaemin were cuddling on the sofa while watching a drama. Jaemin looked over a you and said, “There’s some things I should tell you, y/n.”

You smiled, expecting Jaemin to confess to you. What you heard was not a confession of love.

“You wanted to know about my connection with magic, so here it is. My mom used to sell plants, mushrooms, stuff you would use in potions. I would go foraging with her in the forest so we could find things to sell. Our customers were kind to us, they would even give us part of the potions they made. One day, this fire demon came into the store and gave my mother a potion to drink. She collapsed on the floor. The fire demon killed her and used her blood for a sacrifice.”

Jaemin began to cry as he thought about what had happened to his mother. You pulled him into a tight hug and rubbed his head.  You felt sorry for Jaemin, who had to live his life in so much pain. 

After a few more study sessions, Jaemin finally pulled himself together and asked you out.

“I really like you, y/n. I think you’re the most amazing person in the world. I’d give anything to be with you.”

“That’s the same thing you said when I was sleeping. You’re so cute,” you said, kissing him on the forehead. 

Jaemin stared at you with wide eyes and said, “wait you heard that? You knew I liked you and you didn’t even say anything?” 

You laughed at Jaemin before turning on his favorite show and cuddling with him. 

The next day at the cafe, you were supposed to be working with Jisung, but he had gotten sick. You and Haechan were taking over for him. 

“Hey y/n, you’ve never seen the potions room before, right?” Haechan said. You nodded in reply. “It’s crazy in there. You totally have to check it out.”

You followed Haechan into the back of the cafe where all the potions were. You were amazed at the amount of potions there was in the back room. Haechan grabbed a vial off a rack and handed it to you. 

“You should try this one y/n! It’ll make you feel so energized!” Haechan said.

You opened the vial and drunk all of the strange liquid inside. Unlike what Haechan had said, you began to feel sleepy and collapsed on the floor. When you looked at Haechan for help, you noticed that he had a knife in his hand. 

“Be good for me and don’t make any noise, okay?” Haechan said before slashing your skin with the knife. You couldn’t help but cry with all the pain you were feeling. You slowly became more tired until you passed out. 

When you woke up, you found yourself in a hospital bed. Jaemin was standing beside you and held onto your hand.

“Oh my gosh! y/n, baby, you’re alive!” Jaemin said before tearing up.

“What happened?” you asked.

“Haechan poisoned you. He cut you for your blood. He used it for a ritual to summon his powers. He had already transformed before we could even help you. Haechan’s a fire demon.”

You wanted to say something, but you had no idea what to do. The whole situation was just like what had happened to his mother. You and Jaemin were both thinking the same thing, but neither of you wanted to say it. 

A few days later, you were discharged from the hospital. Although you felt fine after your rest, Jaemin was the one who was truly hurting. Jaemin stopped going to class and the cafe because of Haechan. He just stayed at your apartment. 

“Jaemin, you need to forgive him. I’m not hurt. I’m completely fine!” you argued. 

“I can’t forgive him! That bastard nearly killed you!” Jaemin yelled at you. 

“Whether you like it or not, you’ve got to start living like a normal person again! You can’t just run away from your problems!”

Jaemin began to laugh.

“You’re right, y/n. I’m going to make that scumbag pay for what he did.”

Select another route

[underatedcharactersunite]

Home Sweet Home

Summary; You and Maxwell move into your first home together and decide to explore the town while buying furniture for your first home together.  Pairing: Maxwell Jacob Friedman x Reader WordCount; 1,507 Based off of a prompt from this prompt List;  Warnings; None, just sweet old fluff A/N; So my sister @deansamore​ decided to challenge me to post everyday for the rest of the year. Not wanting to back down, I agreed with. If I win, she will redesign my blog and change my layouts every month next year. If I lose, then I have to buy her some diamond paintings. Game on! 

Day 2

                               »»————-　🇰　————-««

As the movers unloaded the last box from the truck, it finally dawned on you the significance of this moment. You and Max had finally moved in together. It had taken the two of you many months of searching for your ideal first home together. The relatively new build was flawless. Every need that the both of you desired this home had to offer. Now it was finally yours. 

As the early morning chill nipped at your nose, the two of you thanked the movers who had been perfect at moving your belongings to one home. Everything was essential. The two of you choose to purchase brand new furniture for your home together. The two of you couldn’t begin to settle into your new home just yet as there was the vital next step of picking out furniture that would complete your home. Grabbing ahold of your car keys, both of you made your way into town to locate the furniture shop that you located when you drove into your new town. 

Slipping out of the car, Max instinctively strolled around to your side, holding out his hand for you to take, as your fingers laced with one another, he held your hand up to his lips so he could caress a tender kiss onto the back of your hand.

“I think we’ve moved into the right place, don’t you agree? The town seemed energetic yet peaceful enough. Hopefully, we can get everything we need here because I sure don’t want to end up in Ikea again.” You broke into laughter as you remembered the first time Max attempted to build your new coffee table. He was positive that he would end up being the one to help you put the new coffee table in place. However, after six hours of rereading instructions time and time again, he ended up calling Wardlow for help. Who in a matter of half an hour of arriving managed to have the table up and in place.

“Is Wardlow on standby just in case? I don’t believe you want another repeat from the last time you decided to assemble furniture?” Max quickly wrapped his arms around you, tickling your sides. You ignored the disapproving people giving you dirty glances as they walked by. Although, you were certain you faintly heard an elderly couple mentioning how adorable the two were. Your laughter was infectious as the two of you enjoyed a moment together. 

As the perfect autumn day dawned, the two of you were surrounded by the leaves changing colours, the crunching of leaves on the ground with the farmers market in the background.  The echoing of stall traders calls out their deals of fresh fruits and vegetables echoed over. 

“Perhaps when we’re done ordering the furniture, we could head over there to grab some groceries for the house. You plugged the fridge in before we left the house, right?” 

“Yeah, you don’t seem to be the farmers market kind of guy?” Max wrapped his arm around your shoulders as the two of you slowed down as you approached the furniture store you were after. 

“You know I’m full of surprises, is that not why your with me in the first place?” Max was certainly one of the more interesting boyfriend’s you had ever had. There was a level of unpredictability to him. Your relationship was certainly interesting, and Max was able to keep you on your toes.

“It’s one of many reasons why I’m with you.” Max’s signature smirk appeared on his face as he played with your fingers that had reached up to entwine your fingers together. 

“Many things, why don’t you name them for me?” Rolling your eyes, you playfully poked him in the stomach. 

“I don’t have enough time for that now, maybe later.” Walking into the store, you both knew that there were some decisions to be made. Both of you had very different styles, so this was set to be an interesting trip. 

In all fairness, the two of you had not argued about a single piece of furniture so far. Both of your styles appeared to complement each other well. The shop assistant commented on how perfect the two of you appeared to suit each other. 

After all the furniture was ordered, the two of you decided to locate the farmers market across the street. The chilling early morning start appeared to disappear as the heat rose on this Autumn September day.  As you began to feel too warm, you slipped your jacket off and tired it around your waist. 

“That has to be one of my favourite things about autumn. Starting off the day, cold with the frost pinching my nose, and then the summer invades and takes over for a little longer.” 

“You know you should become a writer you always have such a way with words. Let’s see if we can locate anything to fill the fridge.” Stepping into the market, everyone appeared friendly as market traders attempted to get you to come over to their stool.

There was a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits to offer. Everything smelt delicious and mouthwatering. Max and you began to purchase food off of the market as you tried to get everything both of you desired and things to help with Max’s food prep for when he went onto the road. 

The two of you got separated you struggled to locate Max. Although you were not worried too much you continued to browse through the market, picking up some of your favourite fruits to create a fruit bowl, for your new dining table when he arrived on a couple of days. 

As you stepped onto the following stool to browse to see what else the two of you could purchase for your home, a market trader around your age began to flirt with you. 

“I’m sorry, but she is taken.” Max’s hand rested on your lower back as the Market Trader looked shocked. 

“I’m sorry, Sir. My mistake, I was simply admiring your girlfriend’s beauty.” 

“Well, she’s not yours to admire, unless it’s from afar. Come on there’s something I wanted to show you.” Stepping away from the stool, Max made sure to wrap his arm around you tighter as you noticed he was now free of any of the bags he had been carrying. 

“So the other day, I looked over to see you were looking at porch Autumn designs.” Nodding, you didn’t understand where this conversation was going exactly. You became aware that you were heading back to the car, as Max took ahold of the bags and placed them into the boot of the car. 

As the two of you went down a different part of the town, you wondered where you were going. Looking around you noticed that there were beautiful Autumn wreaths everywhere. You were already imaging how beautiful porch could look like, your inner interior designer was desperate to let itself loose.

“I will let you lose on our porch until October, then we can work on it for Halloween together, how does that sound?” You couldn’t have been offered a better prospect, you would finally have your project. 

Moving in Max was going to be the next exciting chapter in your life and you couldn’t be more excited. You couldn’t wait for your furniture to arrive so the two of you could host your housewarming party that the two were so desperate to have. 

“So does that mean you’ll be home for Halloween this year?” 

“I’ll try to, but in the meantime, we’ll at least have the best decorated in the street.” Rolling your eyes, of course, you would know that this would turn into a competition. Max was competitive. It didn’t matter what it was about, who it concerned if Max wanted to turn something into a competition that he certainly would do. 

“If we’re not careful then everyone is going to make us the most competitive house in the street.”

“Would that be a bad thing? Letting the entire neighbourhood know that we are here to say.” Rolling your eyes, you led Max over to the place that held the beautiful wreaths in their window. 

“Let’s not get the whole street to hate us within hours of moving in.” The two of you walked into the store and prepared for Autumn. The two of you were about to explore a whole new world as your relationship continued to develop, who knows where it could end up. 

Something was certain, you couldn’t wait to find out where life would take you in the future. You also knew the possibilities are endless as you became first-time homeowners.  

As you exited the store with your supplies to decorate your porch, Max stopped you onto the pathway, without some much as a second moment, Max pressed his lips onto yours. 

“Have I told you I loved you today” 

“You might have said it once or twice. Why?” 

“I don’t want you to ever forget that I do that’s all.

[maggyme13]

Sugar (16/?)

AN; I am sorry for the long delay (again) but Work was hell and still is..

I also apologize if this chapter seems out of place; i simply haven´t written in a long while for this story, so please forgive me for that and any mistakes I made as well... I might edit it later.

Warnings:  none (?)

Wordcount: around 2000

Masterlist

Sugar- Masterlist

Part 15

It was christmas eve  that you finally were allowed to leave  the hospital under the condition to be closely monitored by your friends.

“Now that you are free again, what do you want to do.”, Sam teased.

“Burger. I need some meat!”, you groaned, even with Loki´s ´Luxurious´-hospital charge, the food had been mediocre.

“If that is what you want.”, Loki hummed, trying to hold Hati back from attacking you with kisses, “The ones of the local diner are alright, I heard.”

“Yes, they really are.”

“Good, then we will go and have lunch there.”, the CEO decided.

“And then I want to go and see Ma.”, you stated with a nod.

“Of course. But I can send Thor to retrieve her and joins us for lunch.”

“Na. I will go and see her. There are things I have to discuss -things that should not be spoken of publicly.”

“Again, if that is what you wish.”, Loki breathed into your ear, “But I will join you. No arguments.”

A shiver went down your spine and you nodded, “okay.”

“Boss!”, Sam called out from ahead, “I just called the diner and reserved a table fro everyone. We have three hours before they close for Christmas.”

“Thak you Wilson. You lot heard him, hurry up your lazy asses.”, the last part was more of a laughter and everyone piled into the cars.

The diner was already filled with families and small groups of friends, when the five of you and two dogs entered.

“You must be Mr Wilson. Please follow me. There is a small table I was able to reserve for you. As you can imagine we have a lot to do today. So please except my apology for any trouble.”

“It´s alright.”, you smiled, “We came on a rather short notice. Please don´t stress yourself.”

“Thank you Miss. Please, take a seat and have a look on our menue. I will be back in a bit to take your order.”

“Thank you, Anne.”, Bucky winked, sending her away with a shy smile.

“I will take the Double Cheese with Onions, jalapenos, extra bacon, fries and Soda.”, you declared after a quick glance at the menu.

“For me it will be the ´Meatlover´s` with Fries and Soda.”, Thor exclaimed with his stomach agreeing.

“Same for me, only with potato wedges instead of fries.”, Bucky hummed.

“I am gonna eat the wings with fries.”, that was Sam.

“I think I will take the Mac´n´Cheese.”, the dark haired CEO hummed, “And some baked-apple-pie ad dessert.”

It took Anne fifteen minutes to return to your table and another five to take the order, because Hati and Skali kept begging for attention by the waitress.

“I will be back as soon as possible with your orders. Just give me a few minutes to get you your drinks.”

“Thank you Anne.”, you grinned.

-..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..-

The food was delicious and after around one hour your little group was finished.

“Here is the check, Sir.”, Anne said, “Do you want to play cash or using card?”

“Cash, if that is alright with you.”

“It is fine by me.”

“Good. This is for the food.”, Loki said, handing over some money, “And this is for your excellent service, and this for the people in the kitchen.”, another two 100 Bills landed in the girls hand, who in return was lost for words.

“Uh-uhuh. Th-Th- Thank you, Sir. But this is far too much. I – I can´t take this.”, she spluttered and you piped in.

“Yes, you can. And believe me: If you don´t take this money now, he will find a way for you to get this somehow. He doesn´t take ´no´ for an answer.”

“Uhm. This… Thank you so much, Sir. God bless you!”, she almost squealed.

“It´s fine. Have a Merry Christmas!”

She thanked him once more when she closed the door of the diner behind them.

.--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..-

“Are you sure you want to do this?”, Bucky asked one last time before turning into the parking lot of Teller-Morrows.

“Yes.”, you spoke with determination in your voice.

“Well then. We will stay at the cars, you know what to do if you need our help.”

“Rosebutt”., you nodded.

“Rosebutt.”, the security nodded back in union.

“Looks like we were already found out.”, Thor stated, nodding to the entrance of the clubhouse where multiple bikers had already gathered, including your brother and his brothers Tig and Kozik.

Stepping out of the cars, you noticed the way the biker´s tensed statures changed once they realized it was you, to a more relaxed. And most of them even left to go inside.

Anger rose in your heart with every step to took towards your brother, and being usually calm and not known for using physical force, a round of surprise noised were heard all around. You had punched your brother in the face, hurting yourself in the process, but also (hopefully) hurting him while bringing your point across.

“Fuck you Happy Lowman!”, you growled, shaking out your hand, “Fuck you and your stupid way of thinking! Damn that hurt. I hope I broke your nose.”

You did not. You were not even sure that this punch had hurt him at all, but at least he was looking down ashamed.

“You heard that? Or did your Boss tell you?”, he grumbled.

“I heard you. For real? I can understand why you did what you did. At least when I was younger. But I am sure, you could have explained everything once I was, what, maybe 18 or just before I left to study? Did you think me this stupid?”

“You ain´t stupid and don´t ever believe someone who claims you are!”, he growled with so much love in your voice you nearly laughed.

“I know I am not! But seriously? Do you know what I had to go through because I believed I was alone and did not want to pull Ma into my trouble? When I thought I had nowhere to go? When I had to live on the streets!  When I was fucking harassed my a swine of a man. When I was sure I would end up in jail? And don´t even think about going into full big-brother mode or something! You lost that right up until the point of a few days ago! But you may have it now, if you stop being an asshole from now on and more of a brother. I do not forgive you right now, but maybe I will in the future. For now I am happy to maybe start anew?”

“ I would like that.”, he nodded, “And I really am sorry. For everything.”

“Good. You do deserve a broken nose though!”, you grumbled, “Where is Ma?”

“In the clubhouse. Hasn´t spoken to me really since I send you away. Deserved that.”

“Yes you did. And before this goes further: how the heck do you know about the account? No one knows about that!”

“I have my informants. Though they never told me about what you had just told me.”, he rumbled, “If anything like that happens again, call me. And I mean it- I will ride my harley to that damn city if I must.”

“Mhm… And you-”, you pointed at your mother who had just joined the two of you,”- don´t you ever be angry or disappointed because I don´t tell you thinks. And do never argue with me if I want to buy you things or help with stuff. If I didn´t know that bafoon of a brother as well as I do, I would be more than disappointed with you not telling me all of this shit. But alas, as we all are as stubborn as they come, there is no need to argue. It was what it was and what done is is done. No need to fret over thinks that can´t be changed anymore.”

Your mother smiled, “God help me with such stubborn children.”

“And us with such a stubborn mother.”, the two of you hummed in union.

“I am sorry to interrupt this moment.”, Loki´s voice suddenly piped up, “May I suggest having some pie or other baked goods together? To celebrate this?”

“And I have just the right cake for this in the fridge. If you have a place. We have a deal, Mr Laufeyson.”, your mother exclaimed and you knew there would be no other choice now, not that you would have wanted.

“As a matter of fact, I have. I am sure your brother is aware of the address. “

“Yeah.”, the brother in question grumbled.

“Good. You go ahead. I will get myself and the cake ready and Happy will drive us there. Say 4pm?”

“My pleasure.”, Loki nodded and offered you his arm, that you happily took.

“We will take care of everything else.”, the CEO smiled his charismatic smile.

“See you later Ma, Happy.”, with these words you allowed Loki to escort you back to the cars.

-..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..--..-

The five of you had returned to New York two days later and were now in the middle of planning how the lot of you would celebrate  New Years Eve.

As you learned, there was usually a big Party at the Bifrost, because of that every one of the friends group was able to celebrate together while still being at work.

“Are there any rules on what to wear?”, you asked Loki one evening while cooking dinner, as he was sitting at the table looking at some designs for a new collection.

“Whatever you like. You could go naked for all I care, but then I would suggest having a private gathering with only the two of us.”, amusement and a bit of flirting was in his voice.

“Maybe after the official part. For now I just need to know if there will be others apart from us at the VIP or if there will be -others.”, you asked again, turning towards the CEO over your shoulder.

“If you are hinting at someone like Quill, then don´t worry your beautiful head of. Our Area of the VIP lounge will be private and separated from the rest. There will be no unwanted attention.”

“That´s exactly what I was hinting at.”, you poked out your tongue, “But seriously, I am representing you and whatever I do will reflect on you and your business. I don´t want to do something wrong or disappoint.”

Having stated this, you turned your attention back to the food, so you did not realized the man hat gotten up from his seat and stepped beside you.

His hands reassuringly caressing your shoulders and arms, he spoke with the warm tone you loved so much.

“No matter what you do, you can not do anything that would reflect badly on me. That is not who you are and even so, I don´t care what others think of you.”

“Maybe.”, you hummed.

“What else is troubling your mind. It is not only the question on what to wear.”, he stated, his arms snaking around your middle.

A deep sight left your chest and you allowed yourself to lean into his embrace.

“I haven´t repaid you for the other night.”, you mumbled, the slight feeling of guilt had been plaguing your mind for the last couple of days. Just as Loki himself you liked to take care of those that are important to you, and so having been brought to a release without your partner finding one had you feeling that way.

“That night was about you and what you need. Not what I need. And trust me, I have just as much enjoyed that night as you did. Just because I did not came to a release, does not mean I got nothing out of it. I got you and that is far more important than any release you could have given me. You gave me your trust.”, he hummed, his nose buried into your hair.

But still…

“Now, may I ask what is for dinner?”

“Chilli.”

Part 17

AN 2.0.

REBLOGS and comments are appreciated:)

Thank you very much.

~MaggY

Taglists:

Permanent:

@jadepc​@pacifyhxlsey​ @thankyoukarenclifford​

@thankyouforanonymity​  @punkrockhufflefluff​

@scarletraine @buckycaptspideypool  @markusstraya @graveyard-groupie @markusstrayya @randomgirlkensy @the-soulofdevil

@marshyrebelcloud

MCU:

@yknott81​    @banner-and-bucky-are-life @forext20 @dyanlzbb​  @so-finster-die-nacht @emmii4 @bitchwhytho @ladyofmyst   @jilldsumner @momc95 @appreciating-fanfics

Sugar:

@bits-and-bobs-and-kawaii-stuffs @mimmie666   @fullranchwolfoperator

@cluelessnitwhit @youknowitsclouds @his-paradox @purplerainharry

@spootgaai2000 @iamsuperjenna @nikkipea   @alexakeyloveloki @timelordy-fangirl2 @girrafeeeeeee @emilyjane44x @randomgirlwholoveskpop @deathkat657

I couldnt tag a few of you… sorry.

Want to get tagged as well? Comment, Reblog or send an ask to let me know.

[macattackp]

Lies Chronically Ill/Injured People Tell Themselves:

1. I Am a Burden Who Only Takes From Others and Can Never Give Back

We all have things that we feel we SHOULD be able to provide. As a guy, it KILLS me that I can’t do things like shovel the driveway, help carry heavy items, or have a job that could make me a breadwinner for someone.

Don’t undersell what you do bring though! For one thing, chronically ill/injured people tend to be masters of empathy, not to mention we get pretty knowledgeable on the medical system. If you aren’t... don’t fret over it! If you can’t do something, then don’t! Focus on what you CAN do instead!

2. I Am Undeserving of Love Because Who Would Take on a Burden Like Me?

This one is another huge struggle for a lot of people. I know as a guy, I feel the added pressure of being worthless if I can’t provide financially for a girl. (No matter how progressive people may be, this progressiveness tends to vanish when their daughters’ well being are concerned), but I know just as many girls who say the same things.

“How can someone love me when I just am stuck in bed all day?” “Why would someone choose me if I could never have kids?” “Who would choose a spouse who may not be able to have sex?”

Look. I’ll be honest, I have no wise advice on this one as to find someone who is willing to support you on your struggles. Nor can I be dense and say “You’re just misreading people!” because let’s admit it... our lives are tough and there are many who would choose not to join us.... what I can say though... is I have had friends who had chronic illnesses. Some could never have sex. Some would require tons of medical expenses. Some were missing limbs or body parts. One was even pretty much guaranteed to die before she turned 30.... And they ended up getting married, and loved, and supported. I don’t know what the future holds for you, but I do know it IS possible! So don’t put yourself down or give up hope!

3. I Have to Work Harder to Keep Up With Everyone or Else I Will be a Failure!

This world has a main road, but that main road has a lot of cracks... and there are probably more people in this world who have fallen through the cracks, than walk on the main road. But we feel like everyone in this world is on the main road because once people fall through the cracks they tend to be overlooked even though there are so many of them.

It is not fair, nor is it doable to be expected to keep up with others when you are carrying a different burden. We have the Paralympics for a reason. Would you ask a man with one leg to race against the Olympic sprinters? Would you ask someone carrying a massive boulder to outrun someone without one?

And in all honesty, it is not always as cut and dry as “Accept you’ll get 4th or 5th place.” Our world tends to try to put us on rails. We make everything systematic and anything that doesn’t fit within our metrics is considered broken. We often judge people more by their process than their results! But the way laid out by others as the “Right way” isn’t always the only or even the best way! 

Learn how YOUR body works! I was a horrible student in school until I finally gave up relying on teachers and just studied the way I enjoyed it. I figured at that point “As long as I pass, what else matters.” but had the added surprise when I jumped from a 60′s-70′s student at best to my lowest grade being a 94! It doesn’t always work out this well, but your body is yours. No one else can tell you how it works. Learn from what people have done in the past but look for the way YOU work best! When you look back you realize, none of the biggest world changers really ever lived their lives by the book anyways!

4. I Have To Get Better So I Can Have a Life!

To an extent, this makes sense. Without energy, or finances, and with a schedule stuffed to the gills with doctors appointments meaning you can never go far from home... it is hard to feel like there is really much you can do... but... at the same time....

YOU ARE ALIVE NOW!

You may not have the finances to do what you want. You may not have the social life that you enjoy. You may not have an overabundance of time or energy... But you are alive RIGHT now! You are allowed to live!

Write that book you always wanted! Learn a new language! Cook yourself a big meal! You may tell yourself “BUT I HAVE SO MUCH OTHER STUFF I SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON INSTEAD!” 

Look! That stuff will be there whether you focus on it 24/7 or 12/5! Don’t let it get out of hand, but if you aren’t going to be able to solve it by worrying about it more then don’t! Spend your time doing things that will revitalize you, help you grow, and give you some interesting stories to tell once this is all over!

5. I Am Not Allowed to Be Happy or Have Fun Until I Am Better!

This one is a tough one as it ties into our impostor syndrome. That horrible feeling that we get every time we start to enjoy ourselves or smile in public of “Oh no! What if people assume I’ve been faking this whole time?!?!?!”

You are allowed to laugh. You are allowed to smile. You are allowed to have good things happen to you. Yeesh, there is no time in life that it is more important to have happy moments than through hardships!

Being happy or enjoying yourself from time to time through hardships isn’t a sign that your hardships were never that hard. It is a sign that you are fighting forward. That you aren’t letting this take over your life. And plus, as human beings we NEED hope and happiness... we die both mentally and physically without it

6. There is No Future After This

This is one that I personally struggle with... if we count the 6 years of trauma as a kid that originally gave me PTSD, and these last 7+ years of pushing as hard as I can only to fail harder and harder (including these last 2.5 years that have been giving me a whole new layer of trauma on top of my previous trauma) I’m reaching the point where more than half my life has been going through miserable, destructive times where I lose most things that matter to me and find myself alone at the start again in a dark place. It is hard... honestly... Anyone who follows my account and sees my tagless venting posts know that there are more than enough times I question why I even try anymore when I don’t even know what’s left of me...

But there was a movie I watched a while ago... another cheesy hallmark movie, but it was a good one as far as hallmark movies go. I remember they had this one line in it that really stuck with me.

“I’ve lost everything 3-4 times now! It’s the perfect place to start!”

Now I’m not as optimistic as that ambitious old man from the movie was... but I do know this.... You never know what life can hold. The same way you can lose everything that matters to you in a year, I’ve seen people gain more than they ever thought possible in a week. Not to say we are all about to win the lottery or by some miracle wake up completely healed of all afflictions... but I do believe that if it was possible to have things go this bad, it is also possible for things to go much better.

And let’s admit it. You might be thinking “Oh! But I’m not strong enough to make it happen!” and you’d be right... you aren’t. But honestly who is? We live in a world where tons of people succeed or fail... and very few I can say “earned it.”

Life IS unfair, but if it wasn’t, we’d all be dead! What we really get upset about is that it seems to be more unfair in some peoples’ favour than our own. But life is tough. The fact that any of us live is a miracle in itself. Don’t limit what the future holds for you based on what you feel you’re able to do. You aren’t a static person, and this world doesn’t rise or fall on your shoulders either! (even though it feels like that most mornings). Give it your best with what you’ve got every day, and realize even if each day feels like a year, this is still only a season of life. Personally I want to fight and survive long enough to see a day where this all seems like it was worth it!

7. I Will Never Be Self Sufficient!

The lie in this one isn’t that you will be self sufficient! The lie is that people assume ANYONE is self sufficient!

Look. Do you see people growing their own food? Even if they do, do they grow their own fertilizer? Even if they do, did they build their house from scratch, their car, their fridge, do all their electrical work, never once look up anything on the internet?!?!?! No!

We are NOT a self sufficient species. From the minute we are born we NEED people just to stay alive let alone to succeed! So you have to rely on people in a way you don’t see others needing to rely on people! Does an electrician complain that he needs to call someone to fix the backed up pipes when the plumber doesn’t??? No! That would be stupid! And to try and fix it on his own would be stupider! 

You are ALLOWED to rely on others. You are ALLOWED to ask for help. This doesn’t make you any less of a person! This makes you human!

8. I’m Not Worth It . . .

This is something I struggled with even before I realized just how much was stacked against me from the start... I remember one time, someone very precious to me sat down in front of me and for 15 minutes she said nothing else but “YOU ARE WORTHY!” She repeated it over and over again in different ways, not letting me talk and refusing to say anything else until I finally just accepted that I maybe was. Times change, and she may not be around to say that anymore, but those words still stick with me, and that moment still pops in my head every time I am feeling really down on myself like a planted warrior to fight against my internal self doubt...

There are many things in our lives that make us feel worthless.... “I messed up and hurt them.” “I have a lot of health concerns.” “I am not attractive.” “I have a perverted mind.” “I don’t fit with what society says I should be.” “My parents/people who I care about said I wasn’t good enough.” The list goes on... but YOU ARE WORTHY!

“But I don’t deserve to be happy!” YOU DO!

“But I don’t deserve anyone to put up with me.” YOU DO!

“But I don’t deserve a happy life” YOU DO!

“But I don’t deserve a second chance.” YOU DO!

Whatever you’re worried about

Whatever is bugging you

Whatever lies are bouncing around in your head right now saying you should just disappear and stop being a bother to others

YOU

ARE

WORTHY!

Don’t let anyone or anything tell you otherwise, LEAST of all yourself!

I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know what you’ve done or haven’t done.... but I can tell you this right now. You are a one of a kind beautiful life. You are allowed to exist in this world, you are allowed to flourish, you are allowed to enjoy your time with it and interact with others. What’s more, you aren’t just put up with, you are NEEDED! Because there is only one of you out there, and this world needs you. Treat yourself well, and let yourself know just how valuable you are. You are you, and that is beautiful!

[daraanna]

Broken promise part 3/3

She ran through the training fields, trying to get as far as possible from the village gates. Her behaviour was not rational, she shouldn’t react this way, and yet at the sight of her friend her emotions got out of control again. She should be happy to see him safe and sound and she was. The problem was, along with the feeling of relief, that everything was fine, anger and a sense of hurt appeared, as well as a lot of other emotions which she couldn’t  name.

"Is everything okay?" A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. She stopped running just before she collided  the black-haired man who appeared in front of her. How distracted she would have to be to not feel his chakra.

"Yes ... Uh ... I was running for training," she said, meeting her dad's incredulous eyes. It was a really poor excuse considering her office clothes. Not to mention high heels “ Just a tough day ... That's it.”

“Hn. Good to see you. You grew up ...” he answered without looking away from her. He knew something was wrong. However, he didn't want to push it. It was up to her to decide what she wanted to tell him.

“Mom should finish work in an hour.”

"Ah." There was silence again. ‘I missed you’ left never spoken by anyone. However, none of them was good at stating the obvious things. No matter how important they were.

She couldn't help but giggle. Her father raised one eyebrow in surprise.

"Let’s go home, maybe we can cook something before she returns," she said, heading in direction of their house. Sasuke followed her. Embarrassing silence became comfortable and normal again.

............................................................... The next day after his return, he spend for rest. So, when he finally decided to drag himself out of bed, his father had been at work a long time ago, and his mother was cooking dinner. Coming to the kitchen, he greeted her briefly and wandered into the fridge.

"There's some breakfast left to heat you up for you" Hinata said, looking at her son. These three years changed him a lot. He was already taller than her, he looked much more mature, from a boy he became a young adult.

"Thanks mom” he replied, preparing the pans, but when she saw how he struggled with it, she decided to help him. Maybe some things don't change at all.

“Wooo mom is so good! “ Uzumaki shouted after the first bite ”I missed your cooking...”

She couldn't help smiling.

At this moment Himawari entered the living room clearly not in a good mood. She was all wet and shivering with cold, only covered with Kawaki's .

"What was she thinking?!" They heard a fragment of conversation between newcomers.

"What happened?" asked blue-eyed boy from above breakfast.

“My sensei came up with the brilliant idea of ​​sparring in the middle of a fucking lake! Chakra control training my ass!”

"Himawari!" Her mother reprimand her. Boruto, on the other hand, was shocked to hear such words from the lips of his lovely sister.

"I still thank for your coat," younger Uzumaki sighed, looking at Kawaki who enters the room after her .

"You are welcome, the most important thing is that you don't catch a cold," the boy replied. Himawari hearing his words smiled and kissed his cheek making him blush. Then she ran to her room to change.

Boruto looking at their interactions raised an eyebrow in amazement. Their behaviour was strange ...

Kawaki still flushed sat down at the table.

"Speaking of sparring ... It would be good to check the progress after 3 years, what do you say?"

"Sounds good, but not today ... I should have time on Thursday," answered the black-haired man with a smirk. Despite the fact that Uzumaki felt offended by his answer, he decided to leave it, because on Thursday he will rip that smirk off his face.

................................................................. The fight lasted probably an hour and a half before he managed to defeat Kawaki. It  was intense, they both were exhausted and the training field was devastated. After all, he had to admit that he was impressed of the level presented by his brother at many times he doubted his victory, and when they used karma, he sometimes began to fear for his own health. Despite the fact that they both gave their best, neither of them had lose their control over the seal.

"I won!" he shouted panting, sitting next to the opponent.

“You were lucky, besides, I was getting worse ...”sighed the black-haired man, combing his hand with his mohawk ”We'll see how you will manage in the rematch!”

"Be careful about your  wishes" the blond replied, grinning, "I missed our sparings" he added after a moment.

"Without you village was unbearably calm" answered his brother. "A lot has changed too ..."

They sat in silence for a while.

"How was your conversation with Sarada?" Kawaki finally asked.

“Huh? Actually, I haven't seen her since returning to the village" he answered thoughtfully. "Is it true that they were promoted to Jounin?”

"It's been a week since you came back and you still haven't talked to her?" His sudden reaction shocked Boruto.

“What do you mean!?”

"You're just worthy each other" sighed the black-haired boy getting up from the ground and dusting off his pants.

“Oi! Answer me”

“You really didn't get the idea to talk with her after the way you two split up before your trip?”

Blue-eyed looked at his friend confused. Seeing this, Kawaki headed towards the city.

“ That’s waste of my time”

............................................................... Sarada was sitting on her favourite branch eating onigiri prepared by her mother. Of course, because her dad is back home, it was stuffed with tomato. Still, it didn't bother her. Team 3 slowly began to developed great teamwork. Although it was mainly due to aversion to her strange training methods, it was the best proof that these methods work. The problem was that since her childhood friend returned to the village, her concentration had worsened. Days passed, and she was still not able to sort out the emotions stirring in her. She felt hurt, and the fact that Boruto didn't seem to want to meet her made her doubt that their friendship meant anything to him. She was so thoughtful that she didn't sense his chakra before it was too late.

........................................

Kawaki's words did not give him peace for a long time. Before leaving the village, he invited Sarada to spar to tell her about his trip, he also gave her his necklace. Just thinking about it made him blush slightly. He did not plan this, however, spontaneously decided to leave her something. Despite this the next day, the black-haired girl had something urgent to do and did not come to say goodbye to him. The whole story. However, the next days passed and he still did not see his childhood friend. When they were members of the seventh team, he repeatedly saw her completely by accident on the streets of the village, and now even looking for her, he could not find her. It was a strange feeling, but Konoha without Sarada seemed empty. Today he decided that he would not let go until he solved this problem. After three hours of wandering the streets, he was about to give up when he felt her chakra when he was passing by training fields. The signal was barely perceptible and intermittent, but there was no mistake. He walked towards her, reaching the edge of the village to a wooded area not specially adapted for training, but it could be seen where the traces of the Kunas or ninjutsu were used. Black-haired girl was sitting on a tree branch holding a bento in her hands, her eyes focused on him.

"Hey ..." he greeted. Uchiha did not take his eyes from him, just put the food container aside.

"Hey," she answered, when he climbed onto the branch and crouched next to her. "What do you want?"

It wasn't the reaction he expected, for a moment he didn't know what to do.

"We haven't seen each other for a long time ..."

“Tch. Did you come here just to tell me that?”

"What wrong with you?!" He asked irritated, raising his voice more than he intended. He couldn’t understand his friend's behaviour.

Sarada felt rage rising in her. This is not how she imagined this meeting. The worst thing was that the boy acted as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn't left her, their team for three years, without being kind to even let her know. The whole village knew it! Shikamaru and Team 5 even organized him a farewell party. After so much time she still felt betrayed, hurt ... But it was much easier to replace it with rage.

“What wrong with me? Maybe you'd better think about yourself? Suddenly you remembered about me!?”

Boruto looked at her in ever greater consternation. The girl was pissed at him, but he did not remember him doing something stupid since he returned to the village. Trying a gentler approach, he touched her shoulder. However, the girl quickly pulled his hand away.

"Leave me alone!" She shouted.

"What about spar?" He asked, since they can't easily handle it, maybe the fight will help get rid of negative emotions.

"You don't want to fight me" she snorted, turning away from him. "Just walk away!"

“Of course I want to! You owe me a rematch!” For a long time she looked him straight in the eye and he was sure that if look could kill he would be dead long ago.

"Fine!" She shouted, hopping off the tree. "But don't whine that I won again."

“Don't be so sure of yourself. I trained with the best, there is no way for me to lose!“ he smiled standing in front of her.

"Any rules?" She asked unbuttoning her red coat. So it was hard to focus on the question she was asking right now. Uchiha was wearing a black sleeveless turtleneck and leggings of the same color separated by a wide white belt with tools attached. The outfit was elastic, perfect for fighting or training. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it adhered exactly to her body curves, perfectly emphasizing her figure. Much more rounded than it three years ago. He swallowed hard. This is not something should now think and certainly not about Sarada ...

“ Boruto ?!”

"Um ... no scientific ninja tools, we're fighting till someone lose consciousness or surrender of the opponent," he answered when he heard her irritated voice.

"Okay," she agreed, pulling the belt and the device from her right hand aside. The blond man got rid of his chakra sword.

They gazed at each other for couple seconds. Uzumaki attacked first, the girl responded quickly with counterattack. They started by exchanging taijutsu blows. After three years, Uchiha became much faster, she didn't even need Sharingan to avoid his blows. However, he was faster, not allowing her to attack him. Seeing this, the black-haired woman hopped away from him, throwing kunais at him, from which he shielded himself using Kusanagi borrowed from master Sasuke. Moments later he was again on the attack, using purple-lighting jutsu on the sword, he attacked, cutting through the kunai that Sarada used to block, but to his surprise, moments later his blade stopped. Black-eyed has parried his attack creating a small scalpel with a chakra on her index and middle finger. Despite its small size, the blade was filled with chakra much more intensely than those used by medical ninja.

"A really bad choice of weapon for an opponent," she sighed as, to his surprise, her jutsu chipped his katana. Before he could react, Uchiha used the chidorii, which, passing her scalpel on his Kusanagi, struck him by throwing him five meters back. The sword he used was created to interact with the master Sasuke chakra, so the chidorii was better transmitted through the steel of the katana than his jutsu. As soon as he landed on the ground Sarada was already here, using clones he managed to distract her and hide in the crown of the nearest tree. Deprived of the weapon he had learned to use over the past two years, he needed some time to devise a new strategy. Uchiha stood in the middle of the field thinking about using katana, which was now in her hands. She knew the basics of Kenjutsu, but it did not match her fighting style, and she did not want to damage the tool that meant so much to her dad. She decided to put them aside, hoping that Boruto would come out of hiding trying to get them back. The moment she did it, three kunais flew towards her, which she easily avoided. She was about to use the fireball technique on the tree from which he attacked, when two blades flew towards her from another place. Both these and previous ones had wire attached to them. The next kunai flew towards her creating a certain pattern. Seeing this, she threw shurikens to change their track. Moments later, the boy attacked once again starting taijutsu battle.

"Is it really irritating you so much that I went on a journey with your father? You could have said something earlier" Uzumaki shouted, parrying more blows. Her fighting style has changed a lot from the one he remembered. So far, she has never used her strength against him, but what confused him most was the fact that she never once activated her sharingan.

“When? You didn’t even have time to tell me you were leaving!”

Her words beat him out of tune.

"I didn’t?" He asked, but because of his lack of concentration he didn’t avoid punch measured directly into his chest, which sent him straight into his own trap made of kunais and ropes. Lines entangled him, preventing him from moving. The impact was so strong that it broke him a few ribs, making his breathing difficult.

Sarada stopped motionless for a moment, looking up at what had happened. She was convinced that the boy had time to avoid it, in addition, provoked by his words, she used more force than she should. However, her worry turned into horror when Karma on his hand began to grow to the limit when a horn appeared on his head.

Boruto felt like he was losing consciousness, apparently the impact was stronger than he had expected. In addition, he felt a familiar tingling in his hand as Momoshiki's chakra began to flood him. His fractures healed, but his consciousness began to flow. He couldn't afford to lose control, certainly not in the middle of the village. To his surprise, a strong push pulled him out of the trance. Sarada grabbed his wrist and a moment later he felt a painful injection of a huge amount of chakra. Moving his eyes to the girl, he saw black patterns covering her body, they resembled his karma pattern, but they were more regular and covered her skin symmetrically. Instinctively, he pushed her away, trying to free himself from uncomfortable feeling, and to his surprise he noticed that the patterns on his body disappeared completely, and the diamond on his hand was secured with something like a seal. Before he could react, he heard a sound like the twittering of a bird. Uchiha stood maybe 20 meters from him with the chidori in her right hand. At this stage, both of them were already at a low chakra level, probably this will be the last attack of this duel. Despite the current pain, he performed rasengan. They ran opposite each other, but before their jutsu collided Sarada grabbed his right hand with her left by the wrist and knocked him off directing his rasengana to the ground and him to the floor. Moments later, he felt her weight on him. Again he was nailed to the ground, her chidori detained just two centimeters from his neck, so that he felt his hair stand as a result of electricity.

"I give up" he said, getting the sand out of his mouth.

The twittering stopped and the girl got up from his back. Slightly wavering because of small amount of chakra, he stood up, turning to look at her.

“I-I told you...” Black-haired girl started, but before she finished the sentence, she lost her balance turning over into Uzumaki’s chest sending them both back to the ground. She definitely overdid the consumption of chakra she was barely able to maintain consciousness. Boruto was definitely in better shape, he was still able to maintain a seated position and to hold her now leaning against his torso. She should move away from him, but she didn't have the strength to keep be mad at him. Even worse, she didn't even want it. For the first time in 3 years everything was fine. She felt safe.

"I was sure I told you ... Then during the sparring" his voice made her tremble. “I’m sorry”

She still felt hurt, but she seemed pointless to her further grudge.

"I'm sorry too ... I overreacted a bit ..." she replied sighing. Still, she couldn't look him in the eye. All this time she blamed him for everything bad that had happened in her life in his absence. It was only now that she understood that her behavior was absurd. She understood that she really missed her friend all this time. Embracing him in the neck, she snuggled into him.

"I missed you," he said, gently stroking her back. She felt her tears welling up. She said nothing but squeezed him harder.

“How did you manage to keep up with me without activating Sharingan? “ Boruto broke the silence.

“ I put you under genjutsu so you couldn’t see when I activated it.”

“What!? It's a cheating! ” He shouted, making a face that made the girl laugh.

"There was no rule about using genjutsu ..." she replied, but he heard her laugh, his heart beat faster, he was not able to be angry with her anymore.

"Okay, what have you done to me here?" The boy asked looking at his hand. He still felt a tingling sensation in it, but the seal around his karma was gone.

“This is the technique we developed, me, Kawaki and Sumire. It allows you to stop the spreading of karma for a while, but to use it you must have a byakugo seal“ she said and revealed a small diamond seal located on her breastbone.

The boy turned his gaze on her neckline.

"Nice place," he replied grinning. Uchiha immediately blushed.

"Uh ... It's not like that ... Sharnigan took too much chakra from me, I was not able to accumulate them in the frontal sinus, so close my eyes ..." She said embarrassed.

"Oh," something else caught his eye at the moment. A silver chain that he noticed on her neck. When he gently pulled him, he saw a screw-shaped pendant. The same one he wore in his childhood and same that he gave her before leaving. Sarada was silent for a moment.

"I missed you too," she admitted, looking into his eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere anymore," he replied. Their faces were separated by a small distance, which was slowly getting smaller. Black-haired girl looked at the boy's lips, then moments later again look into his blue iris. Her heart was still pounding, and there was a thought in her head to kiss him. At the same time, she felt fear. They haven't seen each other for so long, and they were friends. Friends are not kissing! However, her race of thoughts was interrupted when she felt the touch of Boruto's lips on hers. It was a gentle kiss, a bit clumsy. Despite this, as soon as he moved a little away from her, she drew him closer to her deepening their kiss. They continued it until they were out of breath.

Young Uzumaki was confused. It wasn't something he expected, but he didn't regret the kiss. Judging by her smile, Sarada too. It was a new yet undefined thing in their relationship. But now they will have a lot of time to rediscover their bond.

                             ............... Filler Bonus ..............

* Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Hinata hidden in the bushes watching the battle of Boruto and Sarada * Hinata: I can't believe it happened ... Sakura * looking at Sasuka and Naruto* I swear If they gonna amputate their arms you will feel my anger! Naruto: It's not our fault! Sakura: It's your genes that are responsible for this! Sasuke: Tch. Naruto: Hinata help ;-; Hinata: I'm sorry darling, but it's true ... Sasuke: It wouldn't happen if your son wasn't an idiot. Naruto: It's not my son's fault! You know how it is between rivals! Sakura & Hinata: Rivals ... riiiiiiiiiight ... * Boruto and Sarada Rasengan vs Chidorii scene * Naruto: I can't look at it! * Sarada turns over Boruto * Sasuke: ... Naruto: ... Sasuke: I never thought  about it... Sakura: This is my daughter Shanarooo! Hinata: They are talking now... Looks like it's the end of drama. Naruto: Yes, we can probably come back home. * Boruto and Sarada are kissing * Naruto: ... Sasuke: ... Naruto: ... Sasuke: !!! Sakura: Awwww ... Hinata it is happening! Hinata: Yes, we can go back to organizing the wedding! Sakura: We will be family! Sasuke: * dark aura * Not if I kill him ... Naruto: SASKEEEEEEE NOOOOOO!

...........................................................................................

Oh holy Kaguya... It is finally over! It took me so long to write it. And honestly the end result is completely different from my initial plan (for example at the beginning they were about to start make out in the middle of theirs fightXD) But I hope you will like it anyway :) 

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt.45

Lance had been nearly deafened. He hadn’t been able to change back at all the previous day. Keith carrying him around as he was forced to be cooed over. He carried him to the kitchen, the bathroom, the living room, basically wherever Keith went, Lance had gone with him. He’d changed back in the middle of the night, curled up against Keith. His poor boyfriend hadn’t had the best day, and he’d ended up hearing everything between him and Shiro. Shooting Hunk a message in the middle of the night, both his friends came by barely after the breakfast dishes had been put away. Pidge was either talking a million words a minutes, demanding answers from Matt, or screaming over seeing her brother again. The touching reunion was too much. Pidge’s voice was too much. He’d never had such a reunion with his siblings, so he ended up feeling half deaf and crying his eyes out in the kitchen. He was happy for her, but the weight of Matt’s secret was dragging him down, as was the pathetic jealousy of feeling on the outside again. Feeling strong arms wrap around his waist, Lance turned his head, nearly kissing Hunk thinking it was Keith. Hunk was also a crying mess

“I’m so happy he’s back. This is the best surprise Pidge could have gotten”

It was easy for him to think of Pidge as the same age as Hunk, and not two years younger. She was so brainy she seemed much older than her 22 years

“Yeah. It’s nice to see her so happy”

“I don’t think happy even comes close to describing what she’s feeling right now, man”

“That’s true”

Lance wanted to skip out and come back once Pidge had settled, but that was asking the impossible from his little gremlin. She had every right to be this happy. He’s be happy to if his siblings would accept him back. He missed them. He missed Marco most of all. Marco had loved having a vampire for a brother when everything had been new. Before he realised he had to keep things a secret and deal with a brother that had screaming nightmares and sometimes was too traumatised to talk

“Man, you okay? You’re shaking”

Lance smiled as he wiped at his eyes, knocking his glasses as he did

“I’m really happy for her. But it’s making me miss Miriam”

“Have you seen her lately?”

“Not as much as I’d like to. I didn’t go last weekend, and this weekend’s probably going to be out seeing Matt’s here with Rieva”

“Have you called her?”

Not as much as he’d like to have... Simultaneously wanting to be with her and keep her away from what was happening to him

“It’s not the same as seeing her”

“You could always to tomorrow?”

“Nah. Keith and Shiro are off to Platt tomorrow. I can’t just ditch Matt and Rieva here for the day with Curtis”

“I was wondering who he is... He hasn’t said much”

No one had said much other than Pidge and Matt. Shit... Curtis needed a cover story... His mouth moving without much thinking

“Cousin. Definitely a cousin... of mine... My house has turned into a damn bed and breakfast”

“Man, you have cousins? You never talked about any one other than Miriam”

“Oh, he’s like distantly related. Miriam thinks I need company”

“We never enough?”

Lance turned in Hunk’s hold, hugging him back

“You and Pidge are always, always, more than enough”

“That’s good enough for me. Man, all these people have my creative juices flowing. I think we need a feast”

Pidge stopped talking, spinning towards the pair of them

“Did I hear food?”

Hunk laughed, Lance still hugging him

“Yep. Lance and I are going to make you guys the biggest meal you’ve ever seen! Matt’s home, it’s time for a real party!”

“Whoop whoop! Okay, that’s our cue to vacate the kitchen. I want to hear all about how you snagged Rieva. She’s totes out of your league, you know that right?”

“I do. Let’s head to the living room. I want to hear all about what you’ve been up to here”

The kitchen vacated at near vampire speed as Pidge pulled Matt along with her. Lance watched them go from over Hunk’s shoulder. The only one who stayed was Keith, which Lance found reassuring. His boyfriend wasn’t jealous over him hugging Hunk. He took it as Keith making a real effort to be involved more with Hunk and his stupid emotions nearly made him cry again. Keith was like the missing piece none of them knew they needed. Breaking the hug, Lance wrinkled his nose over his fogged up glasses

“These things need to come with a warning. Right. Well. We’ll need to head to town. We need milk, and I have no idea what’s in the fridge”

“I’m on it”

Hunk gave him one more hard squeeze before walking over the fridge, Lance feeling Keith’s fingers brushing against his hand. Turning to his boyfriend, he gave him a wobbly smile

“Hey, you. Here to help?”

Keith nodded, he looked a little lost over what’d just happened

“Pidge is a bit too much right now... are you okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah. All these family feels... bit much”

Lance fanned his face with his glasses, Keith nodding again. As his boyfriend started to let his hand drop, Lance reached out to squeeze it gently

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never... felt like that”

“Let me know if you need a break”

“I should be saying that to you”

God knew how much Lance wanted to kiss Keith right then. But Hunk was in the room and he didn’t want to make things more awkward for Keith

“I’ll be okay. It makes me wanna see Miriam”

“You should... You... we could go... or tomorrow. You could come with us tomorrow”

“Someone’s gotta be here to keep an eye on things. I’ll call her tonight”

Keith frowned of him

“You’ve wanted to see her for days... it’s not fair...”

“Sometimes things mean you can’t do what you want to do. I once went three months without seeing her and it was the absolute worst”

“I can’t imagine that”

“I know... anyway, you ready for another cooking lesson?”

“Yeah... Yeah, it’s like you said. It’s a good skill to have”

“Careful there, Keith. That nearly sounded like you were saying I’m right”

Keith snorted at him, Hunk calling out from where his head was still in the fridge

“What was that?”

“Keith admitted I’m right”

“As shocking as it seems, it happens. You’ve got a lot in here, so you can go to town while I get started”

“Sounds good. Wanna come for the ride?”

Keith nodded quickly, Lance smiling at the thought of Keith wanting to escape all these damn people, as he’d say

“Perfect. Hunk, gimme a list. We’ll be back once the shoppings done. Better pick up some wine while I’m at it. Pidge does love an excuse to party”

“That she does... I’m already dreading tomorrow morning”

“It’ll be fine. You’ll see”

*

Keith hated shopping. He hated shopping even more when it meant going up and down each isle, but today that was the plan and he was grateful for it. Both he and Lance needed a moment away from all the family stuff. Keith was “allowed” to push the cart, as Lance walked beside him, hands brushing occasionally in a way that made Keith want to hold his hand in public. Nudging him with his hip, Lance was definitely feeling better. It wasn’t fair he wasn’t able to see his Mami because of everything going on

“What?”

“Nothing. Felt like it”

Keith huffed, hiding his budding smile in the sound

“You’re so annoying”

“Yep. Still. This is nice... kind of like a da-... like none of that drama is waiting for us back at home”

Keith had heard that “da”. He didn’t know what the “da” was leading to. Nudging his boyfriend back, he took a guess

“We’re you going to say date?”

Lance couldn’t have meant date. What was date like about shopping together? They’d shopped together before...

“Pffft. Who said date? I didn’t say date. Just two dudes, two bros, doing bro things like shopping together...”

That wasn’t fooling Keith. He’d heard the way Lance called Curtis his cousin when Hunk tried to ask more about him

“How is this a date?”

“I didn’t say it was a date”

“You clearly said “da”. “Kind of like a da-...“”

“Nope. I have no memory of that. Oooh, look, we need that”

Keith intercepted Lance reaching for cake mix. The hunter had a feeling Hunk would be insulted if they brought the premade stuff home

“We don’t need that. If this was a date, wouldn’t I know about it? Does shopping for food even count as a date?”

“Noooo. Ugh. Fine. I mean... like, because we’re alone. Not alone, like “alone” alone, but it’s the pair of us hiding together”

“You’re making even less sense”

“I mean we haven’t been alone for like a week now... and it’s like... nice”

“It hasn’t been a week...”

“You know what I mean. With that many people around it feel soooooo much longer”

So their alone time at home did count? This dating thing was confusing

“That’s true”

“See. And we have to be only a little bit careful and not fully careful in front of people”

“It’s still not a date. You’d know if I took you on a date”

“You’d be cranky because you’re all flustered and awkward?”

Keith nodded, that was the most likely scenario

“Pretty much”

And pretty much how he normally was around Lance when Lance started paying too much attention to him

“Maybe when you’re settled we can go on a date. I mean, only if you want to. Totally, zero pressure. We can totes just go as friends... two bros hanging out...”

Keith really liked this awkward side to Lance. It reminded him Lance was nearly as human as he was

“I’d like that... as friends... or whatever”

“I like the sound of that “whatever””

Keith felt himself growing red, especially when he realised he was the whole conversation happened with his hand around Lance’s wrist. Quickly letting go, he turned away from his boyfriend. Being alone with Lance was dangerous. He wanted to kiss him, or at least slip his arm around Lance’s waist, but Garrison had already proven backwards enough. There was just something about when they were alone together that made Keith feel stupidly comfortable. Tomorrow they’d be off to Platt, and Shiro’d force him through a full medical, but that wasn’t even bothering him like it usually would. Normally he’d fixate and work himself up before those kinds of things, no matter how much he tried to deny it. Lance had a point about needing someone at the house in case something happened. Matt could easily mess up all their cover stories when being pestered incessantly by Pidge over things. Lance was needed there to keep things running smoothly, but it wasn’t fair he couldn’t see his mother when he really needed her right now. Maybe they’d get the chance on Monday? Shiro could stay home with Matt, Rieva and Curtis, while they went to Platt?

“I’ll “whatever”. What about Monday?”

With his thoughts in his head, Lance had every right to look confused as Keith’s sudden suggestion of Monday

“For a date?”

“What? No. You could go see your mother on Monday”

“Oh... do you think Shiro will be okay with that?”

“I could say I’m going with you, then find some way to kill time?”

“Or you could come with me?”

Keith was touched that Lance would invite him, but he didn’t want to crash their alone time

“I think there’s a lot you want to talk to her about that you should do on your own”

“What about a compromise? You come pick me up and stay for a bit?”

“I could do that... I don’t what to say though”

And what if he said the wrong thing? What if he upset Miriam?

“You’re overthinking things again. Mami knows you’ve been with me and that we’ve gotten close. I want her to spend time with you too, but only if you’re comfortable with it”

“I’ll think about it”

“Okay, I don’t want you feel pressured... but... I do want to tell Mami that I’ve found someone I like”

“You want to tell her about us?”

A vampire and a hunter seemed a bad joke

“I want her to know that even with everything going on, I’ve got someone by my side and on my side. I’ve been as honest with her as I could about everything from day one”

“Yeah. I know that... but won’t it bring up questions?”

The way Lance sighed hurt to hear, Keith feeling bad for prying

“Probably. I’m not going to tell her about Luis. I hate to admit how old she is now, but I don’t want to drive them apart. Mami is so full of love for her family. She doesn’t need to know what he did to me... besides, if you think about it, he hates me so much that he brought you into my life”

“I feel like he’d have a heart attack on the spot if he knew”

Keith maybe kind of wanted to see Luis lose his shit again

“As much as he’s a dick, let’s not joke about that. Some people never get over that fear. Luis couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t control his fear and... well, my sister Rachel wasn’t much better. My other sister Veronica used to reach out, when I was in university the first time around, but Luis didn’t like it. He just wanted to keep everyone safe. Especially with the thought that monsters really do exist. He had to grow up realising anyone could be a vampire and he wouldn’t know until it was too late. You know that kind of pressure. Plus he had a super traumatised brother, so most of Mami’s attention was constantly on me”

“But you’re like the least vampire vampire in existence”

“And you saw what happens when my ego gets too big. Imagine your kid brother not able to control that and constantly being scared of everything. No matter how hard it was to adjust, it took time that humans just don’t have. Life goes on. That’s why I’m so nervous with you. I don’t want to bind you to me. I don’t want you to suffer because you chose to date me. It still feels like a dream”

Yeah. It was probably going to be rough, but Keith had never wanted anyone like he wanted Lance. Things had been so shaky getting to where they were, he wasn’t going to give up now

“I don’t regret it. We’re still working things out”

“I know. But if you ever feel like that, I want you to be honest with me”

“I’ll try. What else is on Hunk’s list?”

“Milk, which we both knew we needed... ugh, that reminds me, there’s a mug of hot chocolate in my room still and it stinks”

“Is that why you threw up yesterday?”

“Nah. Food’s gotta come out someway. It’s honestly fine”

“That’d suck, if you asked me”

“Okay, so it does, but I’d rather eat like a normal person”

“Says the guy who’s started bringing blood to the breakfast table”

Lance shrugged, bumping Keith again with his hip. Keith was about ready to grab him by the hips and kiss him like they weren’t in public. Having all of Lance’s attentions was going to his head

“My house, my rules. I’m turning into a slob”

“I think you’ve earned the right to rest”

“It’s more like I can’t find effort to gather up my scattered fucks and get things together with everything so up in the air”

That was true. For both of them other than Shiro and Adam he’d never really had anyone he’d felt like he was leaving behind, and even that felt different to leaving Lance

“Fair call. I’ll see if I can get phone while we’re in Platt tomorrow. You can show me how to set it up”

“I’d like that... plus, Pidge won’t be there to order you a crazy expensive one. Like, all I need it for is talking to everyone and taking photos of Blue. I don’t need so many damn features”

Keith snorted, he could appreciate that

“Yep. Pretty much. I’m kind of nervous about being in a chat with everyone”

“It’s mostly memes. Everyone appreciates a good meme. Sometimes Shay and Pidge get pretty savage. Just don’t make the mistake of getting caught up in Pidge going on a new conspiracy craze. She’s been so focused on Garrison lately that we’re about due for her to pick some new interest on the other side of the country and decide we all have to go road-tripping to investigate”

“So don’t feed the gremlin?”

“Exactly. See. This is why you fit right in. You’ve already developed that healthy fear of Pidge. And Hunk, man, he’s the ray of sunshine you need in your life. Shit day? He’ll be there right when you need him”

“I’m not good at making friends”

“Neither am I. But those two are like us, you just can’t seem to stay away”

Keith felt all stupid again. His heart was being stupid again. Sure, Shiro said it was a crush and sure it mostly went stupid around Lance, but this was ridiculous. Coran better give him answers tomorrow or he might just go insane with how Lance was making him feel and react. Would it always be this way with him? Or would moving cool things off between them and turn them back to strangers like the last month meant nothing? He didn’t want that. He didn’t want to be strangers with Lance... or Pidge, or Hunk... Matt was a little “eh” but he came with Pidge, kind of like a package deal. Keith couldn’t help but think about Lance describing this as a dream. He didn’t want to wake up if it was... because... he kind of, maybe, really didn’t want to be alone anymore.

[sylphid187]

Coming Home, Taking Flight ‐ Chapter 2: Road to Osaka

This Chapter 2 of my fic focusing on Hinata's journey home. A look into Hinata's return to Japan, his interactions with his friends, and how he makes it into the MSBY Black Jackals.

Hinata Shoyou wakes up religiously the next morning. He gets up, goes for a morning jog, gets some yoga in his routine, then makes time for morning meditation. He makes sure to do all this, before heading to the kitchen to make some breakfast for his family. 

He spent most of yesterday and last night catching up with his family and friends, who had to leave late in the night, after they realized that the sun was down and Tsukishima still had to drive Yachi and Yamaguchi home. During dinner, Shouyou had spent blissful time with his family, his mother seemingly very happy about having the returning presence of her eldest, back in their household. He is reminded again how being back in the company of his family in their own home, was so comforting. 

He walks around their kitchen and, as he waits for the rice to finish cooking, he goes into the fridge to find some salmon slices and some tofu. Shouyou smiles and figures that he probably has enough ingredients to make a healthy japanese breakfast with the salmon, and he's sure his mom has enough ingredients to make some miso soup to go with the meal. He smiles as he is reminded of how he fiddled around in hisbshared space with Pedro, and how Shouyou would usually make breakfast for his roommate, before going to wake him so they could enjoy a meal together. 

As much as Shouyou wanted to treat his family to some brazillian recipes he'd learned from Nice, he didn't have enough ingredients for it right now. So he promises himself he'd do that another day. He'd be more than happy to share the other culture that he's grown to love, with the one that he grew up with. 

Later, when Shouyou is just about finished with setting up the table and their morning meal, he hears padded footsteps make their way through their dining area, and is sure that it's Natsu that's making her way to the kitchen. He hears a gasp and looks up to find that he's guessed right, and Natsu is there staring at their table. 

"Wow Nii-chan, this looks great!" she claps her hands together in glee and continues to scan over what Shouyou has made. 

"Thanks Natsu! Hope you like it! I packed one for mom so she can take it with her to work." Shouyou smiled. His mother still worked on the weekends, and she was used to laboring hard as a single mother. She had worked hard her whole life to sustain Shouyou and Natsu. Shouyou hopes that his dreams of going pro wouldn't just be a benefit to him, but would help lighten the load on his family too. 

"It really does look good! I can't wait to dig in!" Natsu clasps her hands together again, before heading to the sink to wash them, and sitting down at her usual spot on the table. 

Shouyou then sits across from her, and they both give thanks before beginning to dig in. Natsu immediately gives out a happy squeal after a few bites, and Shouyou can't help but chuckle at his sister's antics. He's extremely pleased though that she seems to genuinely like his food. "Nii-chan! This is so good! It looked great, but it tastes even better." 

Shouyou grins. "Flattery will get you nowhere Natsu, but thank you. I'm really happy you like it." 

"It's a real shame you won't be staying longer Nii-chan. I wouldn't mind eating more of your cooking. You're leaving this afternoon right?" she asks him with a smile. 

"That's right. I'll leave by noon, sorry I won't be able to spend more time with you and mom. And I just got home too." Shouyou states, a little gloomy at the thought. 

It saddens him a bit that he can't spend more time with his family, just after he's gotten back. But Shouyou cut it really close when he chose to fly back yesterday. He couldn't book earlier flights because he also wanted to maximize spending time with Pedro, Heitor, Nice and Coach. That, and he did promise to wait after Heitor and Nice's wedding.  But, he needed to be home in time to make it to tryouts. Granted, his chosen flight really didn't give him much time for any detours. Tryouts were on Monday, and today was Saturday. The plan was to head out Saturday afternoon to Osaka via train. 

The train ride from Miyagi to Higashiosaka in Osaka was about nine hours. He had planned to leave around noon to get to Osaka by 10pm. He still had to find a place to stay, but he figured he would work it out when he got there. He could, of course, leave on a Sunday. But Shouyou wanted to have enough time to familiarize himself with the area before tryouts, and have at least a little bit of time to get in shape while waiting for the day to arrive. He didn't want to show up to Osaka not knowing where he was headed and end up missing tryouts because he got lost. With this, he'd at least have a full day to go around the area. 

"Don't apologize to us for following your dreams, Shouyou." The two look to the sound of the voice, to find their mother there with a smile on her face. "We support you, always remember that. And whenever you're having a hard day and need to come home, we'll be here to welcome you back." 

"Mama..." Shouyou smiles. He really was very lucky, and he will never tell himself otherwise. 

"That's right Nii-chan! And I can't wait to tell my friends and teammates all about you when you make the team!" Natsu says as she shoves another piece of fish in her mouth. 

"Natsu! I told you I have to make the team first. There's definitely tons of competition for a spot on the team." He contemplates on this. He's both nervous and excited for tryouts, but he will definitely be doing his best, no matter who his competition is. 

Their mother goes to the countertop and picks up the lunch Shouyou made and smiles at her son. "Oh believe me, you'll make it." 

"Mama! Not you too! I don't wanna be overconfident about it." 

"Shouyou, I'm not saying it because of any other reason, but because I truly believe that you'll make it." She goes over to him and pats his head. "It doesn't matter to me how old you and Natsu ever grow up to be. I will always be your number one fan. And you always remember one thing, I am so very proud of you." 

" Thank you." Shouyou feels like crying, but he stops himself and opts for a wide smile instead. "I'll definitely ace tryouts, you'll see. I'll make sure they notice me."

"Yes you will!" Natsu chimes in. 

"I know you will." She thanks him for the meal he's made for her before kissing both kids on the cheek and making her way to the door. "By the way Shouyou, are your things packed for later?" 

"Yep! I made sure I had everything before going to sleep last night." He says with a proud smile. "I might end up leaving a little earlier though. I want to make sure I catch the train on time." 

This makes their mother stop in her tracks, and Natsu snicker. "Shouyou, did you think you were taking the train?" 

Shouyou is confused. "Yes? I mean, how else am I supposed to get to Osaka?" he asks as he tilts his head to the side. 

"Natsu." 

Natsu grins "Don't worry about it mama. Nii-chan will find out later anyway. So everyone agreed to keep quiet about it." 

"Keep quiet about what?" Shouyou asks again as he looks between them both. "Am I missing something?"

"It's a surprise." And what a surprise it was. 

 ---

Shouyou was just grabbing his things and about to head out the door, Natsu following behind him. "Nii-chan I really think you should wait a bit." 

"Sorry Natsu, if I wait any longer I might miss my train!" He ruffled her hair affectionately and continued "Take good care of mama while I'm away, okay?" 

"Nii-chan wait!" Natsu tries to grab Shouyou as he opens the door, but misses. He slides their door open and comes face to face with none other than Kozume Kenma and Kuroo Tetsurou. 

Shouyou blinks. And then again. And again. "Kenma-nii! Kuroo-nii! You made it just in time." he hears Natsu speak from behind him. 

"Yo, chibi-chan! What's up?" Kuroo's personality hasn't changed at least, Shouyou thinks. 

"Wha...what are you guys doing here?!" Shouyou gasps, as he looks over at the newcomers. 

"Shouyou." He looks over to Kenma who is smiling at him. "I'd like to think you owe me a better greeting than that." 

"Yeah, that's kinda hurtful chibi-chan. After we came all the way here to take you to Osaka." Kuroo says with a grin as he slings his arm around Kenma's shoulder. 

" You're taking me to Osaka?!" Shouyou exclaims again in shock. 

Kenma sighs, a small smile still on his face. He dislodges himself from Kuro’s hold and goes to envelope Shouyou in a hug. It takes a moment, but Shouyou relaxes and immediately hugs back. "Welcome home Shouyou." 

Shouyou feels someone ruffling his hair and he opens his eyes to see Kuroo there with a smile. "Glad to have you back Chibi-chan" 

He feels Kenma let go, and the gamer finally stands back to take a good look at Shouyou after all this time. "You look good." 

"Thanks Kenma! You too!" He grins. 

"Should I be jealous?" Kuroo asks with a smirk as he watches them, but one look from Kenma shuts him up as he raises his hand in resignation. He chuckles and shakes his head, allowing the two to continue talking.  

"You've changed too." Kenma continues as he grins. "I can't wait to see what else you're gonna do Shouyou." 

"If you get boring, I'll drop you."  

Shouyou ends up giving out a nervous laugh as he remembers Kenma's words from back then, just when Kenma offered to become his sponsor. But deep down, he knows that Kenma has only ever done everything he could to help Shouyou, and that was said in jest...probably. The former Nekoma setter was just really fascinated with him, for some reason. 

"As much as I love the touching reunion, we have to move folks. It's a 10 hour drive to Osaka!" Kuro exclaims as he pats their backs. 

Kuro and Kenma both begin to help Shouyou and Natsu bring the former's things to the car. While they're loading up, Shouyou continues to say thanks to his friends for taking the time to bring him to  their destination. "I really appreciate it you guys, thank you. I was fine with taking the train though!" 

Kenma scrunches his face in disapproval and replies "There's no way we'd let you take the train, not when we had the time to pick you up ourselves." 

"I hope you guys didn't put off anything important." he tells them. He knows how busy Kenma has been, as he's regularly kept in touch in Brazil. 

"I can manage Shouyou, don't worry too much about it." Kenma says with a wave of his hand. 

"What Kenma means to say, is that if he had it his way, he would have been the one to pick you up from the airport too. Unfortunately, he lost at a game of rock-paper-scissors to Tsukki and had to give the airport pickup to them. And he also wants you to know that he finished all his workload early to make sure we were free when you got here. So don't you worry about it." Kuroo says as he shuts the trunk and dusts his hands. He looks over at the two with a large grin before he feels someone lightly punch his side. 

Kenma gives Kuroo a glare and then another playful shove. "Just get in the car before I decide to leave you here Kuro." 

"Awww you'd never do that kitten." Kenma stares at Kuro with a piercing gaze, and Shouyou thinks if looks could kill, that was it. "Annndd I'll be quiet now. Come on chibi-chan! let's get you to Osaka!" 

Natsu waves at them animatedly as they all get in the car. She lets out a loud "Keep safe!" as they drive away from the Hinata household and begin their 10 hour car ride. 

The ride begins similarly to that of yesterday, filled with catching up and updates on how everyone else has been doing. Shouyou has had little contact with the former Nekoma team, with the exception of Kenma and Kuroo. This wasn't for the lack of trying either, but he’s only ever occasionally spoken to Inouka and Lev, and that's during one or two video calls during a day off. It isn't a surprise to him that team Nekoma have all worked their way up the ladder as they grew up, and even through their success, continued to stay connected within their own circle. Kenma and Kuroo themselves regularly spoke to all their former teammates and told Shouyou much of how they were all doing. 

"Waaah! I've heard from Lev about his modeling career! I didn't know he'd become such a big name in Russia." he exclaims excitedly. 

"Lev is still Lev. He might look pristine and proper in the photos, but he's just as loud as ever." Kenma says with a sigh, as if just talking about Lev was tiring him out. 

Kuroo guffaws. "At least he's mellowed down some because of Yaku." 

Shouyou tits his head "Are they?" 

Kuroo looks at him from the rearview mirror and smiles. "We can neither confirm nor deny, I'm afraid. Neither of them have said anything, but Yaku's sent us photos of them together. It's pretty common at this point, ever since Yakkun's been playing for the Russian V-League." 

"We hear he plans to come back though. There's some talk that they've begun to scout for players fit for the Japanese volleyball olympic team, and Yaku wants to be here and play for Japan." Kenma states, as he begins to fiddle with what seems like a new game console. 

"Ah yeah! Bokuto's been excited about that too. But he wants the Jackals to win this season first and finally kill the Alder's winning streak." Kuro tells them with a smirk. "And you know, they might actually be able to if you make it on the team chibi-chan." 

"Ahaha...well I'll definitely make sure to make an impression during tryouts." Shouyou says. "I can't wait to see Bokuto-san on Monday! I wonder if he'll be watching tryouts?" 

"From what Bo tells me, Coach Foster is requiring them to watch this year. He wants the whole team's opinion on getting a new player." Kuro replies. 

"Shouyou, what do you mean by seeing Bokuto on Monday?" Kenma immediately asks, putting his game down and turns to look at Shouyou. 

"Eh? I mean, I won't be seeing him till tryouts." Shouyou reiterates with a tilt of his head, when else would he find the time to see Bokuto-san? 

"Wait chibi-chan, aren't you going to..." Kuro doesn't get to finish. 

"Shouyou, where in Osaka are you staying? Sorry, we forgot to ask earlier." Kenma asks him. 

"Oh! Sorry, my bad. I was wondering if you guys knew of any affordable budget hotels that you can drop me off in that's near the tryouts gym?" Shouyou asks with a smile. He sees Kenma freeze and Kuroo's eyebrows shoot up. 

"..." Kenma stays silent for a little too long, and Shouyou wonders if he's said something he shouldn't have. 

"I can look one up though! So you guys can drop me off somewhere in the area and I should be able to find one that'll let me stay two nights!" 

"Kuro." That's all he hears Kenma say, before the rooster haired man is nodding and passing his phone to Kenma. 

"Got it. Just send the text out and let them know it's you. Shouldn't be a problem." Kuroo replies. Shouyou doesn't understand what's happening.

"Um." 

Kuroo looks over at him again. "Don't worry about it chibi-chan, we know exactly where to take you." 

"Really? Where?" He asks, confused. 

"You'll see." 

He can see Kenma vigorously typing a message using Kuroo's phone, and once he's done, looks over to Shouyou again with a smile. "You're not sleeping in a random hotel, Shouyou. I'm not letting you." 

"Eh?" 

"Don't worry though, we've already found a solution." Kenma continues with a smile. 

"Eeh?" 

"Better to just go with it, there's no stopping Kenma when he's like this." Kuroo grins again. 

"But..." Shouyou begins to protest. He really hopes his friends aren't spending money on him. "K-Kenma..." 

"But you know," Kenma stares at him then, with catlike eyes that seem to be boring into his soul. "If you ever do something like this again and not let me know, I'll be really upset Shouyou." 

"Eeehhhh?" Shouyou binks. He looks between the two and can't help his confusion from growing. 

What in the world is Kenma talking about? And where in the world were they taking him?! 

CHAPTER 1 BELOW

[anotheronechicagobog]

Dunder Mifflin Meets Intelligence AKA

Volomag and Vodka Part 2

Warnings: swearing, mention of vomit, numerous times, pranks

Written by @anotheronechicagobog

A/N I hope you guys laugh at this as much as I did writing it. The pranks are from a show called “The Office U.S.”, I do not own that or One Chicago Also, Kevin’s sister Vinessa makes an appearance

Whoever coined the term ‘morning sickness’ deserves a slow and painful death. Kim thought bitterly as she was hugging the toilet at ten at night. “Kim? I made you some ginger tea and I got you a glass of water.”

“I fucking love you.”All Adam could do was laugh as he sat on the edge of the bathtub and gathered Kim’s hair in one hand and rubbed his hand up and down her back. Kim let out a grateful hum before her stomach lurched again. The gruesome sound of Kim spewing more stomach acid (because let’s face it, there’s nothing else left for her to throw up) into the porcelain toilet bowl.

Several minutes later Kim felt better, not good, but better. She felt okay enough to get off the floor. She stood up and grabbed the glass of water Adan had brought her from the sink counter and washed out her mouth before grabbing her toothbrush to complete the process of removing the acidic bitterness from her mouth. By the time she raised the mug of tea to her lips it was cold. “Thank you, Adam. For everything.” Her eyes met his in the mirror as he came up behind her to wrap his arms around her middle. “No thanks is necessary. This feels like a dream come true.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I... I don’t think that I’ve been this happy in a long time. I know that we’ve had our issues, but I love you. I have for years. Even when we broke up, I can’t stop. Even if I wanted to.”

“I love you too.” And she did. She might not know where she stands with him right now, she might not want to be labelled as his girlfriend right now, but she does love him. Dating after Adam was hard because she was always comparing them. No matter who they were or how much she tried to stop it, none of them came even close to the bar that Adam had raised. “C’mon,” he kissed the crown of her head, “let’s go to bed, we’ve got work in the morning and you might wake up a few more times in the night.” She smiled softly as he guided her towards her bedroom.

They hadn’t moved in together, but they were looking for a place. Three bedrooms. One for the baby, and one per adult. Adam and Kim, they had such a dramatic history, that they weren’t actually sure how to handle it. They wanted to have this baby, they wanted to parent together, they just weren’t sure if they should be in a relationship while doing so. It was a complicated situation, but they were doing their best to make it work.

————————————————————————————————————

The next day Kim was standing behind the desk at the 21st district. It was a... Unique change, because despite her bubbly personality, she’d managed to be grumpier than Trudy was behind the desk. It had absolutely nothing to do with the work, the officers, or the civilians, and everything to do with her pregnancy symptoms. Nausea and soreness kept her awake at night, causing her to be exhausted and in need of coffee, but she can’t have coffee! And on top of all that, people were constantly bringing food in that thrust her into a constant state of “if I don’t keep my mouth closed I’m going to hurl on everything in front of me, yes I have tried ginger ale, saltines, and ginger tea, and no, none of them have worked”. She was excited to be a mom but she was ready to behead somebody.

“Hey mama, how are you holding up?” Trudy, yes she was letting Kim call her by her first name now, had become her saving grace. Since Kim was covering the desk Trudy was free to do work in the back office and go on patrol. In return, Trudy was making sure Kim always water, Gatorade, and Polish beef barley soup (it was the only thing that didn’t make her hurl). “I haven’t disintegrated anyone with a glare today, so good.”

“Ha! Well, I brought another blue raspberry one for you. I’m gonna head out with Tay for the day since O’Donnel is out sick today.”

“I’m so glad that you were able to get her assigned to 21 again. I missed her.”

“Spare me the love fest, Burgess.” Her tone may have been snappy but the smile on her face and light in her eyes gave away just how happy she was. “Have a good day Sargent.”

“You too.”

————————————————————————————————————

Hailey and Vanessa had been keeping her up to date with all the goofiness of intelligence. All the jokes and all the pranks. When they noticed that Kim looked like she was going to cry, scream, and throw up, they figured they should do something to cheer her up. And since nothing ridiculously funny was happening on its own, they decided to make it happen, with some inspiration from one Jim Halpert.

First, they decided to try one of Vanessa’s favourites. The vending machine prank. They grabbed all of the small knick-knacks from the guys’ desks (excluding Voight because they didn’t have a death wish) and convinced the vending machine guy to let them put them in the vending machine. Adam’s Groot bobblehead, name plaque, and Chicago Bears bouncy ball, in places C4, D2, and H7 respectively. Kevin’s Chicago Blackhawks hockey puck, large globe pencil sharpener, and small Chicago bears teddy bear, in places A6, I3, and F2. Jay’s magic 8 ball, Deadpool figurine, and ‘cereal killer’ spoon, in places G5, D9, and A3.

Second, they moved Kevin’s desk into the bathroom. Phones, computers all plugged in. And aside from the items in the vending machine, all were where they normally were on Kevin’s desk. Vanessa even placed all of his files in order and each spine of the folder a couple of centimetres forward each level. So it looked kind of like a staircase made of folders, and that was how he always did it, according to Vanessa. That earned the dark-haired woman a knowing chuckle from Hailey who, Vanessa reminded, really didn’t have room to talk.

Third, they moved Jay’s desk into the corner of the bullpen, where Al’s used to be, and put a large navy blanket over it. Figuring that was enough to keep his desk out of sight. Together, with some scrap wood from one bewildered Matt Casey, they wrapped the pieces of wood together in such a way that they imitated a desk, a chair, a computer monitor, a phone (that one was a pain), his file divider, pencil cup, pencils and pens, and stacks of files. They were both so proud when the got to look at the finished product.

Fourth, Hailey had gone to a hardware store and gotten a spool of red wire. She plugged on end into Adam’s monitor before placing the wiring with tape along the front of his desk, the floor, all around the edge of the break room, out into the bullpen again, before going down the hallway to the interrogation room, up the wall across from the gun safes, attached to a plastic tub filled with neon coloured ping pong balls. This one went a little off-script, but they were both excited to see how it would turn out.

Fifth and finally, they took the containers out of the fridge that they had made first so that the contents would have time to solidify. Taking off the lids of the three containers, the two women flipped them over quickly onto plates. Thankfully the jello stayed completely intact, each confection clearly showing the mugs inside.

Giggling they stood back and high fived, feeling good and excited for the next day. A heavy cough interrupted them from their internal praise and sense of accomplishment. “Sargent. Hi. What are you doing here so late? We don’t have a case.”

“I was about to ask you two ladies the same thing Upton.” The two women looked at each other and sighed, knowing they were caught, Hailey answered.

“We were setting up pranks for the guys.”

“Don’t you two think that’s a bit childish?”

“It’s to cheer Kim up. She’s been so stressed, and the pregnancy symptoms have been so awful that we thought she needed a good laugh. Plus, it’s not like the guys will get mad at us. Adam and Kevin will go puppy-eyed once they realize this was all for Kim, and Jay’s in love with Hailey so he won’t be mad at her, and he can’t be mad at me if he isn’t mad at her since we came up with all of this together.”

“Hey! He doesn’t... Whatever,” she muttered when she saw the look Voight gave her, “Plus, we didn’t do anything that involved your office, your stuff, or you.”

“... Alright. At least there’ll be some entertainment to distract from the boredom of spending all day doing paperwork. Now get out of here, get some sleep, you have to be back here in five hours.”

————————————————————————————————————

“... Where is my desk?”

“Forget that, why is mine wrapped up like some kind of present?”

“Mine looks fine... But different? Does that even make sense?”

“I’m gonna need coffee if I’m gonna deal with whatever th fuck this is.”

“Start a big pot, Kev.”

“Hey what is this red wire? And duct tape?”

“It’s a computer, Ruzek. It has wires.”

“Thank you for your sarcasm Rojas, but seriously, what is going on? And why are your and Hailey’s desks normal?” Hailey pulled out her phone and started recording Adam as he unplugged the red wire and pulling it up. The duct tape came up with a sticky ripping sound. Everyone watched closely and angeled themselves to get a better look as the tape lifted up from the bullpen floor and continued into the breakroom, Adam growled in frustration as he exited the breakroom pulling the wire up just after he had entered and gone in a circle. Everyone followed him curiously as he went down the hall to the interrogation room, just as Jay was about to shout out an agitated question, the tape went up the wall. When Adam gave a final tug, the last bit of tape came off the wall, but he’d also pulled the rest of the wire, at what it was connected to, down to him. Causing started gasps and shouts from the guys as 100 neon ping-pong balls rained down from the ceiling all over them. “Okay seriously, what was that?!” Hailey, Vanessa, and Voight were all in the background enjoying the show.

“Wait, wait... Do you hear that?” The shouts stopped and everyone strained their ears to listen to what Kevin was pointing out. A desk phone ringing. From the men’s bathroom. Voight subtly took Hailey’s phone to continue the recording. “What the hell?!” Kevin, Adam, and Jay had found Kevin’s desk in the bathroom. Looking confused as hell he looked to his brothers before picking up the phone. “... Hello? Oh, hi Vinessa. Listen I’m gonna have to call you back, something’s going on at work. I love you okay? Say ‘hi’ to auntie for me... Okay, I’ll tell Kim you say ‘hi’. Bye.” He hung up the phone before sitting down and stretching his arms out over his desk. Almost nothing is out of place. “What the ACTUAL fuck?! And where is my hockey puck?!”

“Okay, now I’m even more curious as to why my desk is wrapped up like a birthday present.” Numbly nodding their heads all the men left the bathroom and cornered Jay’s desk. Vanessa had Hailey’s phone and she watched with her boss and roommate as they did their best not to blow their cover. Jay shook his head, puzzled at the state of his desk before putting his arm on his desk and plopping down in his chair... Everything immediately collapsed. Leaving the girls pushing back tears as Jay tried to stand up in the sea of slippery wrapping paper and wood. “Fucking hell someone please tell me that the coffee is done.” He looked like Bambi on ice trying to get up as Kevin hollered from the breakroom, “pot’s done! And thank fucking God for that! Hey! Why is my hockey puck in the vending machine?!” Hailey and Jay followed the crowd in last, Hailey having to help her partner get up. They entered and Adam looked like he was about to blow a gasket. “My name plaque! Groot! Who- Why would someone do this?!”

“Who the fuck put Deadpool in the vending machine?! And where is my desk?!”

Taking shaky breaths all the boys muttered the holy word; “coffee.” Kevin went to get the creamer when he stopped dead in his tracks. Three thuds later, and each of the boys’ favourite mugs were on the counter, floating in piss yellow jello. “Why is my mug in jello?”

“I washed these last night! First the ping-pong balls and now this?!” Adam reached into the jello and pulled his mug out, the jiggly substance still visible inside the mug. The two pranksters (and witness) burst into tear-jerking laughter. Hailey snatched her phone back and sloppily emailed the video to Kim before the boys could stop her. “O-oh - oh m-y- Fu- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“You two did this?!” The girls quickly got off the floor and hauled ass to the women’s bathroom. The lock clicked just as the guys reached the door. “Hey!”

“Get out here now!”

“What did we do to deserve this?!” Their voices were lost in a mixture of laughter and yelling. Hailey and Vanessa were curled up on the floor hugging their stomachs and each other as the laughter became painful.

Suddenly the yelling stopped, and their boss’ voice made it’s way to the two hyenas. “I think it’s time to explain, ladies.” They took deep breaths, their laughter finally coming to an end. They untangled themselves and stood up, but didn’t dare leave the sanctuary of the ladies’ room. “Kim’s been really sad lately. We wanted to cheer her up.”

“And you thought that pranking us was the best way to do it, Hailey?!”

“Yeah, Jay. We all get a kick from joking around now and then, and she’s told Vanessa and I numerous times that sending pics and videos of funny work mishaps brightens her day.”

“We just wanted her to smile again, guys. She constantly looks like she’s about to burst into tears or rip someone’s throat out with her teeth.”

“... Fair enough. I know that this has been hard for everyone, but Kim and I really appreciate your support.” The click of the lock and squeeze of the door had Jay looking into the delighted eyes of his favourite person and... he wasn’t angry. He’d calmed down when they were talking about Kim, but seeing Hailey smile? Really, truly smile? He’d do anything for that. Vanessa stepped out of the way, and into Kevin as Jay wrapped Hailey in his arms, tucking his face into the crook of her neck.

“Kim is my best friend.”

“Hey!”

“Shut it, Adam. Kim is my best friend. Thanks for caring about her.”

“Don’t thank me, it was really, really fun.” And just like that, the intense emotional mood was broken. Causing laughter, from everyone this time, to reign supreme.

“As much as I love this... I’ll call it team bonding and get HR paperwork on hand, we have a desk day today. And we all need to work. So let’s put Atwater and Halstead’s desks back in their rightful places.”

“Okay seriously, where did the two of you put my desk, Hails?”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The signature footsteps of Trudy Platt raced up the stairs to the intelligence bullpen, drawing all eyes to her. “Can any of you explain why Kim had to excuse herself to the back room to roll on the floor laughing?”

[asksciencesquad]

Hello everyone would YOU like to read some angst tonight? ... No? Well here’s some anyways. Have fun :v

(also happy slightly-late 4th birthday to this blog!)

Summary: Sans and Alphys have a hard conversation. Takes place shortly before the events of the game.

Words: 3,732

Rating: PG-13 for a bit of swearing

Sans and Alphys stood quietly in the skeleton’s basement lab. It was rather messy – blueprints, notebooks, and spare parts littered the floor and almost all the available counter space. None of it had been touched today; when Alphys had arrived, she insisted on talking to Sans instead of working. And now, she was waiting out yet another long pause in the conversation.

Sans finally broke the silence. “It just… doesn’t feel right.”

“Sans, I know you miss him. We all do. But it’s been a long time. We really need a new Royal Scientist.” Alphys drummed her fingers on the table near her. “I just… think we need to move on, you know?”

Alphys noticed Sans tighten his grip on the counter. Obviously, this wasn’t an easy discussion for either of them. “… You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”

Sans sighed. “No, I’m not mad. Just feelin’ conflicted, is all.”

She bit her lip. “Y-yeah, I thought you would be. But I figured it was better to tell you.” The lizard monster had been considering trying to get the Royal Scientist position for a while now. She’d had a lot of her own back and forth thoughts, but she’d finally decided to go through with it. It had taken her even longer to gather up the courage to talk to Sans about it.

They both stood in silence, the only noises coming from the equipment and overhead lights of the makeshift lab. A machine covered by a heavy tarp stood in one corner – a grim reminder of why they were having this conversation in the first place.

“What if we do get him back, though? Then what happens?”

Alphys’s heart sank. She looked over at the broken machine that both of them had tried so desperately to fix for so long. “Sans,” she said as gently as possible. “I really don’t think we’re getting him back. He’s gone. They’re all gone.”

Sans looked down at the floor. He didn’t say anything for several seconds.

“Sans?”

He met her gaze once again with a pained expression. “So… you’re giving up, then?”

“I’m not-“  she began. She took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m not ‘giving up’. I’m just being… realistic.” She looked away. It had been years since the accident; she’d spent plenty of time trying to heal from the loss, and felt she’d made some good progress. She was much less sure about her friend, though. “I just want to move on. And honestly, I think you should, too, you know?”

The skeleton shook his head. “I’m not going to abandon them all. There’s gotta be some way to fix that thing. And I don’t think taking G’s position just because we haven’t figured it out would be fair.”

“I’m not ‘taking’ his position! Even if we could bring him back, it’s open now and someone should fill it. And hey, you could even be MY assistant. The pay would be better, you’d be doing science again, you could move back to New Home or even go to Hotland…”

Sans grimaced. “Thanks, but I think I’d rather just stay here in Snowdin.”

Alphys mentally kicked herself. Why did she even think it would be a good idea to suggest Sans go back into science after everything that happened?

She switched gears. “What about getting out of the Underground? The longer we don’t have anyone working on that, the longer we’re going to be stuck here. I mean, that’s the whole reason the Royal Scientist exists in the first place.”

Sans tapped on the counter with his phalanx. “I dunno. A few years of difference really doesn’t matter. I mean, we were having issues coming up with new avenues to go down even when Gaster was the Royal Scientist. You’d still need to get past that.”            “The Core was built in just a few years,” she pointed out. “A lot can change in such a short time.”

Sans didn’t respond. There was another awkward silence between the two. “Alphys…” he finally said. “Losing Gaster was like losing a brother to me. That’s not something you just ‘move on’ from. And maybe you just don’t understand that - you don’t have any siblings.”

His words stung. “I DO understand! I was close with him, too! But it’s been years and you still keep trying to fix that machine. You have to accept that we can’t get him back. I know it sucks, but at some point you just have to let go.”

Sans bristled. “Look, if there’s even a CHANCE I can bring him and everyone else back, I think I owe it to him to do everything I can to do that.”

Alphys furrowed her brow. “Sans, we’ve both tried everything, and none of it has worked! Trying to fix that thing has been driving you up the wall! I think he’d rather see us continuing on with our lives. I’m in a really good position to be the Royal Scientist. You and I both worked right under him; I can pick up right where we left off before the accident - and I’m sure he’d be FINE with that.” She crossed her arms. “Besides, it’s not like anyone else seems to be willing to step up.”

Sans narrowed his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She huffed. “Never mind,” she muttered. “I just wish you’d stop fixating on that stupid thing. It’s not good for you.”

“Well,” he said. “You’re not exactly the picture of mental health either.”

“At least I’m TRYING to get better about it! I miss them all, too, but I’ve pretty much moved on to the ‘acceptance’ stage of grief. You’re just- you’re just stuck in denial. Gaster wouldn’t want this for you, I know that.”

“I want to keep trying. I want to get them back no matter what it takes.”

“Ughhh.” Alphys rubbed her temples. “How can you be so stubborn about this? I seriously worry about you sometimes! And you won’t let me help you.”

“If you want to help, then forget the Royal Scientist thing,” he replied. “Or maybe start giving me a hand with the machine again. That would be pretty fuckin’ nice right now.”

“That wouldn’t be helpful! Why are you being such an asshole about this??”

Sans stiffened. “Look, if you’re just gonna drag me down instead of helping, maybe you should leave.”

“Well, then maybe I will!”

“Fine.”

“Fine!” Alphys shoved past him and stormed out the door, slamming it behind her. She heard the click of the lock as she walked away.

Sans was such a stubborn ass sometimes. Why couldn’t he just move on? Why couldn’t he just support her? It’s not like she was stealing Gaster’s position or anything. He wasn’t even here anymore!

She slowed to a stop. …He’s not here anymore. For some reason that thought hit her hard. Even years after the accident, and all the steps she’d taken to overcome her grief, she’d occasionally be overcome with a sense of loss all over again. But this was different from that.

… She kind of was giving up, wasn’t she? For a long time, she and Sans had both worked tirelessly to fix the machine that had taken their friends and coworkers, believing if they could get it running again they might be able to bring them all back. She’d been losing hope over the years, but actually saying it to Sans and deciding to try becoming the next Royal Scientist was so final in a way it had never been before. Alphys realized that for the first time, she felt that Gaster was truly dead.

And there was no way to bring him back.

She tried to hold herself together, but despite her best efforts, a few tears started rolling down her face and she let out a choked sob. She walked to the nearest tree and sat down under it, doing her best to avoid the needle-covered branches. For a short while she let the tears run, sniffling and sobbing occasionally.

After a few minutes, she managed to regain her composure. Tears still stung at her eyes, but she wiped them away impatiently. Now wasn’t the time to have a total breakdown. She had work to do. She made her way across town to where the Riverperson was docked.

“Waterfall, please,” she told them. “I have a friend to visit.”

*****

Several months later…

Sans shuffled into his house, closing the door behind him. Today had been particularly long; for some reason, Papyrus had insisted the two of them go around recalibrating all their puzzles and patrolling more areas than usual for humans. Sans hadn’t objected, of course – it was something to do, and most days on the job were rather boring – but it had still been draining. Even going to Grillby’s felt like too much. He was more than ready to unwind alone.

He walked over to the fridge. After digging through the many containers of spaghetti for something actually edible, he found a lone can of soda hiding in the back. Sans knew Papyrus wouldn’t approve of something ‘so unhealthy’, but he was at Undyne’s house right now. He couldn’t give Sans any grief about his food habits.

Soda can in hand, Sans plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels. There wasn’t a whole lot of television content in the Underground, but he could usually find something at least mildly entertaining.  As he flipped through, the familiar visage of Mettaton flashed briefly on the screen. He kept searching, but found nothing particularly interesting. Something compelled him to flip back and see what the robot was up to today.

“- and once again, a special shout-out to my friend Doctor Alphys for making all of this possible! Thank you, darling!” The camera panned to the side, revealing the lizard monster waving shyly at the audience.

Sans sank into the couch a little more. He and Alphys had only talked once or twice since she’d become the Royal Scientist. How long had it even been, he wondered to himself. He mentally tallied up the months. Almost a year, at this point.

On some level he still wasn’t all too happy she’d taken over in Gaster’s place, but he did miss her. They’d been friends for so long, but in a comparatively short time the distance between them had widened to a seemingly uncrossable gap. Sometimes he thought about getting in touch with her again, but he figured she was too busy to even have time for him. From what he’d heard, she hardly even left her lab anymore.

He wondered how things were going with her research. He hadn’t heard of any new developments in a while. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d hit a wall – how many new routes could monsterkind even take with trying to get out of this mountain without another human soul?

He turned off the TV and, sighing, flopped down onto his side, setting the soda on the floor right below him. His thoughts drifted back to the subject anyways; what would things be like if the accident had never happened? Would they all have made a breakthrough that brought them closer to getting out of the Underground? Or would they still be grappling with the same problems?

Maybe he would be happier in a world where it all worked out. Snowdin was nice, and overall Sans was content with his life, but he had to admit that at times it felt… lacking. He wasn’t really using any of the knowledge he’d spent years studying, and he didn’t have any close friendships like he’d had back when he was doing science. His job was also pretty dull most days.

He wondered if Alphys was still mad at him for not helping her become the Royal Scientist. If she was, he couldn’t really blame her. Their last real conversation had ended on a rather sour note. Maybe she didn’t even think about him anymore.

And how would Gaster feel about all this? Would he have wanted her to take his place? Would he think lowly of Sans for being a mere sentry, instead of still working in science? What would he have said during that last fight they’d had?

Sans knew that at the very least, he wouldn’t have wanted this situation to divide Sans and Alphys like it had. But perhaps it didn’t matter what Gaster would think. Alphys was right – he was gone and there was no way to bring him or the other assistants back. Sans had finally admitted that to himself a few months after his argument with her. He’d exhausted all his ideas of how to fix the machine, and it had been the only way to move forward with his life.

He shut his eyes. If he took a nap, maybe he’d feel a little better afterwards. It had been a long day, after all. His mind still meandered between all the ‘what ifs’, but eventually, he was able to succumb to his exhaustion.

 Sans was woken up to the sound of someone knocking on the front door. With a grunt, he sat up. Papyrus must have forgotten his keys, he figured.

… Although, that was very unlike his brother. Sans checked the time; he didn’t usually come home from Undyne’s this early, either. If it wasn’t Papyrus, there weren’t many other monsters Sans could think of that would stop by his house.

His hesitation provoked another earnest knocking. “Alright, alright, I’m comin’,” he told them loudly, finally getting up to answer the door. Once he opened it and saw who was there, he froze. It took him a good few seconds for his mind to catch up with his eyes - a very familiar yellow lizard bundled in winter clothes stood on the doorstep.

“… Alphys??” he said. “Uh, wow. I was definitely not expecting you to be here. What… what are you doing in Snowdin?”

“Uh, h-hi, Sans! Long time no see,” she stammered. “I was just, you know, in the neighborhood and thought I’d d-drop by and… and…”

Sans noticed her lip quivering. Suddenly she threw her arms around him and began sobbing.

“Oh my god, Sans! I screwed up! I screwed up so, SO bad! And it’s been eating me up inside for so long and I didn’t know where else to go and if I don’t talk about it I think I’ll explode and-“

“Woah woah, slow down!” He pulled away from her grip, putting his hands on her shoulders. “What happened?”

She attempted to explain between sobs. “Th-the experiments - on all those fallen monsters they sent to the lab – s-something went REALLY wrong, I… I…” She broke down crying again.

Sans frowned. He hadn’t seen Alphys this upset in years. Whatever was going on had to be very serious if Alphys had come here, of all places.

“Aw, man, Alphys…” He pulled her back into a hug. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do. Usually he’d try to lighten a serious situation with a joke or two, but this didn’t seem like the kind of thing a bad pun would help with.

He pulled away, keeping one arm around the lizard monster. “Uh, how ‘bout we go down to the basement and talk about it?” he suggested. “Y’know, just in case Papyrus comes home early. I, uh, get the feeling this isn’t something you’d want anyone else to overhear.”

Alphys only nodded. Sans grabbed his keys and they both headed down to his lab. The light flickered when he turned it on; he hadn’t actually been down here in quite a while. Things were strewn all over the floor and counters, covered in a fine layer of dust and with some cobwebs in the corners. He couldn’t even remember where he’d left off with his research. Perhaps would’ve been better for him to at least tidy up before abandoning everything.

Alphys, however, didn’t even bother to look anywhere but at the ground as she continued sobbing. He decided not to press her to start talking right away, offering to sit on the floor with her. For a while they both just sat, Sans hugging her as she wept into his shoulder. He wasn’t sure how long they were there, but it felt like hours. Eventually, she started to calm down and pulled away, wiping tears from her eyes.

“You ready to talk about it?” he asked.

She sniffled. “Yeah, I think so. It’s… kind of long, if I tell you everything.”

The skeleton shrugged. “If it’ll make you feel better. I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Okay.” She took a shuddering breath. “God, where do I even start…?”

 There was even more to the situation than Sans had imagined. Flowers, the extractor, determination, countless fallen monsters… once Alphys had finished a long while later, the two of them just sat silently for a few minutes.

“Wow,” Sans said eventually. “That sure is a lot. I can see why it was eating you up.”

“Yeah,” Alphys sighed. “It’s bad.”

Another pause. Alphys hugged her legs to her chest. “… I’m a bad person,” she murmured.

“Hey, don’t say that,” Sans said. “I mean, lying about Mettaton wasn’t the most ethical thing, but the thing with those… ‘amalgamates’ wasn’t your fault. It was completely uncharted territory n’ you were trying to help those monsters.”

Alphys looked away. “Does that really matter? People do bad things with good intentions all the time. It doesn’t make the harm they caused just go away.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he admitted. “But…”

“But what?”

Sans looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “I think… a lot of people who say they didn’t mean to hurt someone kind of frame it as if the people who were hurt are reacting irrationally - because, y’know, the other person didn’t mean to hurt anybody. But I think you recognize that this isn’t something that would go away overnight if word got out. You’d find it reasonable if people didn’t just forgive you and let it go.” He shifted a bit. “…And, honestly, I don’t think they would.”

Alphys shook her head. “Me, neither.”

She looked around Sans’s small basement lab. Her eyes fell onto the tarp-covered machine. It was covered in a lot of dust. “Uhhh… how’s work going on that thing?” she asked cautiously.

He chuckled sadly. “Alph, I gave up on that thing a while ago. Not very long after you told me you wanted to be the Royal Scientist, actually.”

“… Oh.” She looked back at the skeleton. “Sorry about that whole thing. I felt like a jerk afterwards. I said some pretty harsh things.”

“Yeah. I did, too,” Sans said. “But I think I was mad partly because on some level, I knew you were right. I wasn’t moving on like I should have. And once I ran out of ideas for how to get it running again, I finally had to just admit to myself they were all dead n’ gone.” He sighed deeply. “I don’t think there was ever any fixing that thing. It was pointless from the beginning, even when both of us were workin’ on it.”

“Yeah, probably.” Alphys stared at the floor, tracing circles on the tile. “… Do you think Gaster would be mad at me?”

“Well, I’m sure he wouldn’t be too happy about the whole Mettaton thing,” Sans answered. “But the rest? I don’t think so. I mean, that could easily have been him. We were all really struggling to find other options for a while even before the accident. We could have ended up doing the exact same thing.”

Alphys didn’t look entirely convinced. Sans wasn’t actually sure, either, but he really wanted to make her feel better.

“You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Nah. I think it would be a lot more meaningful if you were the one to say something, anyways. But you should probably come clean sooner rather than later.” “Yeah, I know. I probably can’t do it for much longer anyways; taking care of them is a lot of work. And, well, people will start asking even more questions about it.”

Sans put his hand on her shoulder. “Maybe I can help out a little here and there. Then you can have a bit more time to think about what to do next.”

She looked at him. “Really? You’d do that?”

“Sure. I don’t think you should be handling this all on your own.”

She fidgeted with her hands. “You know that helping me means people would be mad at you, too, right? For being, like, complicit.”

He shrugged. “Eh, I care more about my friends than my reputation. Not that I even really have one.”

She sniffled a little. “Th-thanks, Sans. That would… mean a lot to me.”

There was another pause between them. Sans stood up and offered his hand. “Hey, whaddya say we go back to your place and watch some anime and get our minds off this? Your pick.”

For the first time that evening, Alphys smiled. “Y-yeah, that sounds nice.” She let him pull her up. “Does that include Mew Mew Kissy Cutie?”

“Of course. I’d watch even the crappiest anime with you.” He went over to the door of the lab and opened it.

Alphys’s eyes widened when she saw her own lab on the other side. Then she made a face. “You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you doing that.”

“That’s fair,” he said, stepping out of his basement. Alphys followed, stopping after a few steps.

“Hey, Sans?”

“Yeah?” he said, turning to look at her.

“Thanks again. For… for all of this. I know I haven’t been a great friend lately, but… I’m glad I could still go to you when I needed it.”

“’Course. I wouldn’t just turn you away like that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I haven’t exactly been a good friend either; I could’ve tried to reach out to you and reconnect. Then you wouldn’t’ve had to go through all this alone.”

She hugged him tightly. “Shush, you’re a GREAT friend. You always have been.”

“Heh, thanks,” he said, hugging her back. “You, too.” He pulled away. “C’mon, let’s go watch some shitty anime.”

[pairedaces]

Can I have a taste?

Veronica leaned into the palm of her hand as she used her fork to push around some of her left over food, doing everything she can to focus on the words this man across from her was saying. Don’t get her wrong, the food itself was insanely delicious but her date was just a plain as they come. She watched him with feigned interest as he rattled on about yet another work story.

Thank god the night was coming towards an end because she doesn’t know how many more boring tales about his business or his golf sessions or whatever else he was into. The asshole didn’t even ask her about her interests or life once this entire night and to top it off he was insanely rude to the staff and had poor table manners. You would think that someone with as much money as he boasted about having he would’ve taken some lessons on proper table etiquette.

She was going to murder Cheryl for setting her up on a blind date this awful. Never again will she do this, no matter how lonely she gets.

“Would you like some dessert?” The waiter asks them.

“No thank you,” Veronica is quick to cut in, “I think we should be on our way.”

Her date gives her a sly smirk that sends chills down her spine in all the wrong ways. He seriously thinks she’s going to sleep with him? Not even if her life depended on it.

She looks at him with disgust as he throws a few hundred dollar bills in the waiters direction, not caring that the poor boy stutters out a ‘thank you.’

“Shall we take this back to my place then?” The man asks, running a hand over his overly slicked back hair.

“Let me just freshen up in the restroom really quickly,” Veronica smiles thinly, not waiting for a response. She tries not to run in the other direction.

Dodging waiters and people around, she walks passed the restrooms briskly and down a random hallway hoping her date won’t see her trying to sneak out.

Veronica looks behind her just to make sure he’s not paying attention when she accidentally bumps into someone causing her to stumble a little bit.

“Oof,” the person huffed. “I’m sorry-“

“No I’m-“ Veronica stops mid sentence when she finally looks up. “Hot,” she finishes, gawking at the man stood before her.

Dressed in a crisp white chefs coat that’s folded up to his elbows to showcase his forearms, a face that even Adonis would be jealous of, and hair as bright red as the blush on his cheeks. She wonders why he wasn’t on the menu for tonight’s special. She’d definitely order seconds to go.

“Um,” he mumbles, “although I do agree that you are hot-“

“What?” She asks, completely mortified when she realizes what she blurted out. “I-I didn’t- I meant to say that you don’t have to be sorry because I bumped to you. So, I’m sorry.”

First a date from hell and now embarrassing herself in front of a hot chef, this is just not Veronica’s night at all.

“Oh,” he laughs, “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” he dismisses with a smile.

“I should get going,” Veronica says after a beat of silence.

“Are you lost? You were about to head into the kitchen.”

“No, I was actually-“

“Are you sure you saw her go this way?! She said she was going to the restroom!”

The unmistakable annoying voice of the man she came out with tonight seems to be getting closer with each complaint.

Her eyes widen as the chef’s eyebrows crinkle in a frown.

“What’s that-“

“I wasn’t lost! Just trying to make a quick get away from a blind date gone wrong,” Veronica says quickly. “If you could help a girl out?” She asks, eyes pleading for help.

“Yeah,” He says without any hesitation. “Follow me,” he intruscts, grabbing her arm gently.

She doesn’t have time to dwell on how his touch ignites goosebumps on her skin in the best way. Veronica allows him to pull her through the double doors and into the chaos of the kitchen. Around them the cooking staff hustles to get every meal prepped and plated as fast and efficiently as possible.

“Over here.” He leads her to a secluded area next to a giant fridge with see through doors. She wonders what ingredients could be stored in there. “Stay put until I come back when the coast is clear, okay?”

“Okay,” she agrees with a smile on her lips before it turns into a worried frown. “You won’t get in trouble for this right?”

“No trouble at all,” He gives her an impish smile, as if there’s an on going joke she doesn’t know about.

He walks away without another word.

~

She doesn’t know how long has passed when he returns but she figures it’s been quite sometime since the noise in the kitchen has died down significantly. Veronica is in the middle of posting a few embarrassing pictures she has of Cherly on Instagram as payback for this horrendous night when he tells her that the coast is clear for her to go.

“I took a little longer than expected. I got caught up helping them clean up for the night.”

He’s wearing a chef’s cap that makes his ears stick out adorably. God, he’s so cute she could just-

“Thank you so much,” she says gratefully, stopping her thoughts from venturing elsewhere. “And I really hope I didn’t get you in any trouble. I could speak to your boss and-“

He laughs and Veronica stares at him in confusion.

“What?” She asks impatiently.

“Archie Andrews, Executive Chef and owner of this dump,” He says jokingly, sticking out his hand with a humble smile.

“I would hardly call a three Michelin star restaurant a dump,” Veronica raises a brow but allows him to take her hand. “Veronica Lodge.”

He bows, planting the softest of kisses on her knuckles and she has to hold in a gasp. “A pleasure to meet you, Veronica.”

“Likewise,” she replies in a whisper, fearing that if she speaks any louder her voice will crack.

“Company aside, did you enjoy tonight’s dinner?” Archie asks, leaning back against the steel counter.

“I did,” she answers honestly. “My compliments to the chef.”

“Thank you,” He chuckles.

“Although,” she taps her chin thoughtfully, “I am a little disappointed I wasn’t able to order any dessert.”

“We can fix that right now but I don’t want to keep you if you have other plans.” Archie straightens up a little.

“None at all,” she says immediately, all thoughts of leaving were thrown out the window the second his lips touched her skin.

“Okay,” He claps his hands, looking very pleased, “I’ve been told I make a soufflé that’s out of this world.”

“Then I can’t wait to have a taste,” she says, running her eyes down his figure leisurely.

Veronica revels in the way Archie’s eyes widen at her blatant flirting.

-

By the time he gathers the ingredients and guides her towards a station to get to work, most of the staff has filtered out and said their goodbyes for the night. Archie and Veronica spend the time talking and getting to know each other while she watches him in action. The focus that he has mixing all the ingredients and the ease of how he moves fluidly around her, turns her on like no other.

She finds that he’s as charming and funny as he is handsome. Even though he has to keep an eye on the task at hand, he makes sure that she knows he’s listening to every word that comes out of her mouth.

He’s everything she was hoping to encounter when she agreed to Cheryl’s plan of finding her a new fling. In a way she could thank her for tonight because if it.

“You probably get this all the time but how did you get into cooking?” Veronica asks, mostly because she’s genuinely interested but also because she wants to keep herself intact. She doesn’t think dropping to her knees and getting a taste of him in the middle of his workplace where he handles other people’s food would be sanitary.

“Well-“ he pauses, concentrating on putting the finishing touches on the soufflé and she has to admit it looks almost as delicious as the one who made it. “I was about 10 years old when I cooked my dad an omelette.”

She licks her lips when Archie grabs a spoon, sliding closer to her with the dessert in hand.

“He didn’t want me to do it because he was scared I’d hurt myself with the fire but he hovered over me the entire time when I finally convinced him and the look on his face was priceless after he took his first bite,” he imitates the look and Veronica laughs. “Ever since then I was hooked, cooking every chance I got. My dad actually got me a customized apron for Christmas that I still have till this day.”

There’s a wistful look in his eye that makes her want to reach out and touch his face.

“That’s wonderful,” Veronica says instead. “He must be very proud of what you’ve built.”

“Yeah,” he nods a little solemnly, it causes a twinge in her heart and her curiosity to rise but she doesn’t push. “But enough about that. Here.”

He grabs a spoonful and holds it up to her lips. Veronica keeps her eyes on his as she takes the hole thing in her mouth slowly. She moans at the sweet flavor that bursts all over her tongue. He wasn’t kidding when he said it was out of this world.

With the heady look he’s giving her though, she can’t help but think spending a night rolling around in bed with him might be out of this world too.

“Amazing,” She says, her eyes darting from his eyes to his mouth.

The spoon slips out of his hand and clanks against the stainless steel.

“Can I have a taste?”

Veronica nods but she’s pretty sure he’s not talking about the soufflé anyway.

Turns out she was right because his lips are on hers a second later.

[patsisfly]

Nolan Patrick- My Regular

Nolan Patrick- My Regular

A/N this is bad idk it kinda got worse by the end but 🤷🏼‍♀️ also it’s in first person which is sorta different i guess

Warnings: none

I don’t want to come off as clingy, I really don’t. But I met a boy three months ago at a bar. We spent the whole night talking and he bought me a drink, then he bought me another.

When my friends wanted to head home, he drove us so we wouldn’t have to pay for an Uber. We really connected, and human connection is something I’ve been lacking since moving to a new city. He invited me to a party at his friend’s place the next weekend, and walked me home afterwards.

When he had his own party, he had abandoned hosting duties around midnight to show me his bedroom. We had sex on his bed, fueled by the alcohol. We had sex nearly everyday that week. He’s very busy, but his text messages at four in the morning and the ones at two in the afternoon have me running across town to his apartment.

I thought that it was maybe more than just sex, because we had a real emotional connection too. That’s special to me, and doesn’t happen with just anyone. But I was naive because he is a professional athlete, he’s only twenty years old, and he can get any girl he wants.

His best friend, TK, throws parties at his place nearly every weekend and I’m invited. And maybe at first I thought that since Nolan’s friends all seem to like me, that we would progress into a more serious relationship. But we haven’t. We didn’t.

I started to think that TK and Carter were talking to me so much just to distract me from the sight of Nolan wheeling another girl right in front of me. But after weeks of this, having sex with Nolan while he had sex with other girls... now I just think everyone knows I’ve become nothing more than a regular hookup.

Nolan is picking me up tonight before heading over to TK’s. They had a game and won, so I suspect that tonight will be fun. I open up my front door for him, smiling at his game suit. “You look nice,” I compliment and move out of the way to let him inside. His cheeks get red and he ducks inside. “Thanks, I gotta stop home to change but I wanted to pick you up first.”

I head into my room to grab a pair of boots and he follows. “How come?”

“I don’t know, I just feel like it’s been a while since we hung out. Since I was on the road all last week,” he explains, absent mindedly picking up the flyers t-shirt thrown onto my bed. It was a gift from TK, he said he wanted to claim my loyalty before any other guy on the team did. So for the few games I’ve been to, it was Travis’s last name on my back.

“Okay, lemme just grab my jacket and we can head out.”

He drops the shirt back on my bed and follows me to my hallway closet. “You look really pretty,” he says sweetly, “I mean you are really pretty.”

I chuckle at his hesitation and thank him, trying to ignore the butterflies in my stomach. I assume that tonight he won’t be looking for another girl, that he’ll be clinging to me how he does some nights.

I really should make it clear with him my feelings. Acting like he’s just someone to hook up with isn’t healthy for me. Even Carter tried to talk to me about it, saying he knows how I feel about Nolan and that I shouldn’t keep hurting myself. But it’s Nolan, he’s the one guy I’ve felt close to since moving here and I don’t want to risk losing that.

I sigh quietly as he rests his hand on my hip while we walk outside to his car. I wish I was brave enough to tell him how I feel, because maybe he feels the same way. On nights like these it’s easy to think that he does.

We have a pleasant drive to his apartment, he tells me about the game and how he scored a goal on the power play. He asked about my day too, how work is going and how my exams were. Conversation is so easy with him, I feel like I could tell him anything.

At his place, he offers me food and water but I decline. I should be used to his hospitality, but it still makes me smile. I sit on his couch while he goes into his room to change, but in a matter of minutes he’s calling for me to come in. “I don’t know what to wear,” he whines, staring at me in only a pair of sweats. I gulp at his bare and muscular chest and take a look at his closet. “Wear anything, it’s only TK.”

He pouts at me, jutting his bottom lip out and making his eyes look sad. They’re so blue, I can’t resist. And his lips are so kissable. I suggest a pair of jeans and an off white long sleeve t-shirt. “See, you’re better at this than me.”

I roll my eyes at him and push the clothes into his arms. “Geez the party will be over by the time we get there.”

He chuckles, and strips off his sweats to change. I try to avoid blatantly checking him out, but I can’t help it and he notices. “Take a picture babe.”

I scoff, trying to ignore my reddening cheeks. “Hurry up, Nol. Please.”

“We can skip it if you want,” he suggests while stepping towards me and pulling me to him. I knew he would look good in this outfit. “I missed you this week.”

I have to remember that he’s only trying to keep me happy, to keep me happy enough with him to continue to sleep with him at his every beck and call. But I’m weak for him.

“I missed you too,” I respond and lay my hands on his chest, feeling his heartbeat through the cotton. “But we should go to the party.”

It’s settled and at the party, it’s how I expected. Nolan is clingy, holding my hand while we snake our way through the crowded space and to the fridge for drinks. He rubs circles on my hip and squeezes my side periodically, even while talking to his friends. He only plays beer pong if I’m his partner, and he pulls me aside to kiss me. I can taste the alcohol on his breath and it only makes me want him more.

I brace my back against the wall, and pull him against me by his belt loops. He groans as our fronts come in physical contact and I match the noise with a moan. Before his week on the road, he hooked up with a different girl that weekend, so it’s been two weeks since I’ve slept with him and I’ve missed it. Sex never made me feel like it does with him.

His tongue licks into my mouth, and I hold his body to mine, relishing in the way his hip bones dig into my stomach. “Let’s go to my place,” he mumbles in between kisses.

“Nolan we just got here,” I argue and pull back from him.

“C’mon babe. It’s getting boring here anyway,” he whines, lips puffy from the kissing.

I groan. “I didn’t even get to talk to Carter or Phil yet. I haven’t seen them in weeks.”

His eyebrows furrow. “What? Why do you have to talk to them?”

“Because they’re my friends? What do you mean?” I step away from the wall and away from him. It’s only natural that I’ve become friendly with his teammates. When he drags me to their parties and then ditches me for whatever whore of the night, I won’t sit in the corner by myself. Of course I make conversation with other people at the party. Over time, I’ve gotten close to some of his friends.

“You’re here with me,” he asserts, confusion and maybe even jealousy expressed on his face.

I scoff and cross my arms. “So? Are you mad that I’m not waiting around all night for you to wanna have sex with me? If you want someone who doesn’t care enough to talk to your friends, then I’m sure you’ll be able to get with any one of the girls out there,” I say and point down the hallway to where the rest of the party is going on.

“It’s fine that you’re friends with the guys, but I’m the one who introduced you to them.”

“I know that,” I say, feeling hurt by his assumptions. “But I feel stupid just being the girl you hookup with half the time, while the other half you’re fucking other girls. It’s not fair, so sorry if I wanna have a normal conversation with other guys who aren’t just talking to me to get in my pants.”

I wasn’t planning on the word vomit I just had, but now that it’s out in the open, I’m relieved. His eyes drop and the tension in his shoulders seems to relax. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We never said we were exclusive or dating or whatever.”

“I know that, Nolan. But- ugh, I can’t do this anymore. I hate feeling like I’m just one of the sluts you pick up when I know I’m at least a little bit more important to you than they are.”

He’s speechless, jaw clenched and utterly shocked into silence. I shake my head and rush past him and back to the safety of the crowd. I’m making a beeline for the door, but someone stops me before I can get there.

“Y/N!” Phil exclaims. “When did you get here? Are you leaving?”

I nod and sniffle back some emerging tears. Phil’s expression goes serious as he realizes. “What’s wrong? Did something happen? Is Nolan here?”

I shrug. “He’s here, but I just have to get home.” Before he can respond, Carter is here too, noticing my stressed state right away. “What’s wrong?” He’s much more precise than Phil, probably because he knows it has something to do with Nolan.

“Nothing, Carter. I just told him I can’t keep doing this. So I’m gonna go home, I’ll be fine I swear.”

“Y/N, let me drive you. It’s late.” Carter insists and I won’t be able to change his mind. I say goodbye to Phil, and follow Carter out of the apartment. We walk outside in a comfortable silence. As he drives me home, he tries to make me feel better. He says I did the right thing and that maybe Nolan will come to his senses and own up to his feelings about me.

“He has feelings for me?” I ask, sniffling.

“Yeah, I don’t know if he knows it yet but it’s obvious. Even Travis has teased him about it.”

I don’t respond, I don’t know what I could say. I basically told Nolan that I have feelings for him and he said nothing to me. He didn’t try to get me to stay and he didn’t say anything about his feelings.

When we arrive at my place, I thank Carter and assure him I’ll be okay. He’s a great guy, really thoughtful. When he drives away for the night, I change into some pajamas and clean my face. I’m ready to sleep until I forget about everything that happened tonight.

As I lay in my bed, covers pulled up to my chin, my phone keeps buzzing. Text messages start appearing on my lock screen, all from Nolan and one from TK. I ignore them all, and within the hour, there’s frantic knocking on my front door.

It’s Nolan. I can hear him yelling for me to open up, and in fear of getting a noise complaint, I oblige. His hair is disheveled, his hands are shaking. “Nolan, what are you doing here?” I ask.

He shrugs, looking confused, and blinks a couple times. “Why’d you leave?” He asks innocently, hiccuping mid sentence. He wasn’t this drunk when I last saw him an hour ago. He must’ve done more shots once I left. “Oh Nolan,” I mumble and pull him inside by his forearm.

“We got in a fight,” I say simply. He nods slowly and sits down on my couch, eyes downcast to the floor.

“I remember now. I’m sorry, I’m an idiot.” He speaks slowly, barely even able to comprehend his own words. “You don’t have to forgive me, I’m so stupid.”

I can’t listen to him like this, I sit down next to him and shake my head. “You don’t have to be sorry. I’m the one who’s stupid. We were never anything more than just hooking up, I’m the one who caught feelings.”

Even the way he’s looking at me right now gives me hope that he feels the same. I’m so pathetic. “You’re so pretty,” he mumbles, drunk and giddy. I sigh, there’s no use talking to him about this; he won’t remember anything in the morning.

I stand up from the couch, and start fixing the pillows so he can lay down more comfortably. “You can sleep here tonight,” I tell him, avoiding his watchful stare. As I go to turn away, he grabs my wrist, forcing me to look at him.

“You’re not stupid, I am. I ruin everything, the guys always said I don’t deserve you and they’re right,” he mumbles.

I sit back down next to him. “What do you mean?”

“I have feelings for you, I have since we met. I didn’t know how to tell you, because I thought you didn’t feel the same. I didn’t wanna embarrass myself,” he rambles. “I’m kinda a loser if you didn’t realize. And you’re so pretty, so so pretty, and nice and funny and smart and ... I didn’t think you could ever like me how I like you.”

Hearing these words out of him is something I never would have believed. He thinks I’m out of his league? Hell, he’s out of mine. Then again, it’s something I’ve wanted to hear for weeks. I put my hand on his cheek, turning his face to mine. His blue eyes are wide and nervous.

“Nolan, did you really just say all that? You’re not just mocking me to make me feel even more stupid, are you?”

He shakes his head furiously. And I push forward to kiss him, to lock our lips together. I catch him by surprise, but after a second he wraps his arms around me and kisses me back. Tonight when we have sex, it’s different than all the other times. I can’t really explain why, but even though he’s drunk, I’m going to believe that tomorrow he’ll still mean every word he said today.

We’ll see.

[xserpentlife]

Just Dance with Me

Request: @avenging-fandoms heyo! can I requests something with prompts 2 and 25 from prompt 3? thank you! :)

A/N: sorry this is so late I've been super busy with school work

Summary: Sometimes you just gotta to dance in the rain.

Warnings: None its just realllly fluffy

Word Count: 2017

You and Sweet Pea have been dating for about 4 months, and it was safe to say you fell head over heels for the guy. He was cheesy as hell always doing cute little funny things. Sweet Pea was quite literally the sweetest guy you had ever met. There were also parts of him though that really made him a big baby. Like when he would get upset when you guys couldn’t do something together or when you'd be cuddling and someone would interrupt. Here is a little backstory. You guys have known each other for a while because you were friends with Toni. One night after being at the Wyrm Toni’s bike broke down which led to you and her not having a ride home. Sweet Pea and Fangs offered and you both gladly accepted. Sweets took a wrong turn on the way home “by accident” which led to you getting “lost”. But let’s be honest it wasn’t an accident to get lost in a field of flowers with a blanket laid out. You had to admit though it was clever and super cute. After that night you guys made a tradition that once every other week you would drive to the field, and just spend some time together. 

This week was the week you were supposed to go to the field but you haven’t really been feeling up to it, and you’ve been busy the entire week. On Monday you were sick with a stomach bug from eating out someplace fangs found on his way home from a job in Greendale. Tuesday you had to help Toni with a photo series she was doing for Cheryl’s birthday. Wednesday you had to work at the Wyrm. Thursday you had to do a job with FP, and Pea was out doing a different job with fangs. Friday you all planned to go see a movie at the drive in, but it got crashed when you all got a call because the Ghoulies decided to try to trash pops. And Saturday was the day you planned on going with Pea but then got interrupted by fangs bike breaking down and needing a ride to go see his boy in Greendale. An entire week went by of you not being able to go to the field and Sunday was the day that you guys slept in and cuddled at home. You figured you’d go to the field next week and it would be fine. But there was no way in hell Pea was letting that happen.

Sunday came and Pea kissed your cheek waking you up. 

“Hey babe get dressed and let’s go to the field since we have been interrupted literally this entire week” you covered your head with the blanket mumbling no “what do you mean no Y/N we have been going every week for the past 4 months” you stood up to go to the bathroom and while walking out said “I know Pea but id rather just stay here and cuddle you like we do every Sunday” with that you shut the bathroom door assuming he would have gone into the kitchen to make breakfast like he always does but no. you open the bathroom door and there he is “but pleaseeeeeee I wanna goooooooo” you shook your head walking past him “Pea why does it matter when we go we can just go tomorrow” he walked in behind me in the kitchen snaking his hands around my waist as I was stood at the fridge “well if we can go tomorrow why can't we just go today Y/N” you shook your head at how childish he was being. I mean he was annoying you but he was also super cute when he was needy like this. “I just don’t feel like it okay Pea... we have been out literally this entire week and I just want to chill at home with you is that so bad” he turned me around towards him “no it’s not that it's bad but I still want to go. But since you don’t I'll drop it... for now” ughh you knew exactly what that meant and within the next 2 hours you knew he would be asking you again. We were watching a movie and he surprisingly only asked again once throughout the entire thing so that was a plus. “Hey Pea I’m gonna go take a shower” he held onto me tighter “Pea let me go I need to go shower I stink” he let me go but shook his head “Baby you don’t stink but alright go ahead. Oh, and are you hungry? While your in the shower I can run to pop’s and get us some food” you shook your head yes stating how hungry you were but before you could close the bathroom door he said, “oh and btw can we go to the wyrm later?” you thought it was weird because you usually don’t go to the Wyrm on Sundays “I mean yeah I guess but why?” he stood up putting his jacket on “Toni needs the homework from Friday that she missed cause she wasn’t at school remember” he was acting really weird but you just ignored it. You were still in the shower when Pea came back because you had decided to take a bath. “Y/N are you okay in there?” you chuckled to yourself surprised he hadn’t tried to open the door. I mean there was a reason you didn’t lock it “yeah, yeah I'm good I’m getting out now” you got out of the bath walking into your guys’ bedroom and got dressed. You walked out smelling the Pop’s Pea had brought home “Pea that smells so good I am starving” you sat on the couch next to him as he was placing the food on the coffee table. “why were you in the shower so long? are you feeling alright?” as you took a bite of the burger you chuckled to yourself. “Yeah haha I was fine I decided to take a bath” You were in a mood so you decided to be a tease. almost finished with your burger you looked at him laughing. “Why are you laughing at me? do I have something on my face? he was wiping his face all over “no haha I’m laughing because I’m confused why you didn’t try to open the bathroom door” he looked at me confused “I was going to but when I said your name you answered back instantly... why?” I looked at him again chuckling “well you should have... I left it open for a reason” he looked at you wide-eyed “well I mean you can go back in and I can open it” you laughed again standing up grabbing your jacket “Can’t baby we gotta go visit Toni... right?” he cursed under his breath standing up with a “yeah... yeah, we do” 

We got on Pea's bike and started driving towards the Wyrm but instead of going straight at the intersection the asshole made a damn left. You tapped him on the shoulder but he just kept driving. You knew exactly where he was going and you were pissed. You didn’t want to go to the field because it was a 20 min drive and you just didn’t feel like it. He pulled to a stop getting off the bike as you punched him in the arm. “OW Y/N what was that for” you looked at him sternly “Oh shut up that did not hurt, and I hit you because you lied to me. You said we were going to the Wyrm for Toni. This is not the Wyrm and Toni is not here” he looked at the ground kicking the dirt and went to grab my hand but I backed away “look, baby, I'm sorry but I didn’t want to break out tradition... its important to me” You looked up into his eyes and could see the plea. You knew he was sorry you were just a little annoyed. “You know Pea you're lucky your cute or else I would be super pissed right about now” he laughed lowly taking my hand to walk down to the field. You stayed at the field for a while just talking and having a good time. You had to admit it was nice being with him like this. This was your place you were the only two who knew about it and it was special. Whenever you were here with him it felt like nothing else mattered, and you had to admit holding onto him while riding a bike was a good feeling too. It was a few hours later and you both wanted to get home. He handed you your helmet as you guys got onto the bike. 

The drive home was good at first until you heard the rumble of thunder. It wasn’t supposed to rain today so you thought you would be okay but 5 mins into the ride home Pea had to pull over under a bridge because it was downpouring and hard to see. You were both soaked from head to toe. You stood there leaned against the bike pulling out your phone to look at the weather. You were pissed. “SEE PEA I TOLD YOU WE SHOULDN’T HAVE GONE OUT. ITS GONNA BE RAINING LIKE THIS FOR ANOTHER HOUR... LOOK” as you put your phone to his face. “His eyed looked sad you knew he didn’t mean it he just wanted to spend time with you, but you had wished he just waited one day just one day. You stood there for another few mins before he even said anything. “Look Y/N I i’m sorry I just... We haven’t seen each other all week really aside from sleeping and I know how it is we can get caught up in the flow of the week with work, and school and on top of that the gang. I just... I wanted to spend time with you away from the trailer no distractions” you could see how sorry he was so you stood off the bike and went over to hug him grabbing his face in your hand “I know you are I just wish you would have waited till tomorrow cause we're going to be stuck here for a while�� He laughed grabbing your hand dragging you to the end of the bridge about to pull you into the rain. You yanked back and he looked down at you. “come on we’re already wet, and if we are going to be here for a while we mine as well have fun. Come dance with me” Is he insane you thought to yourself who in their right mind would willingly go dance in the rain. “You are actually insane Pea if you think I am going to...” he didn't even let me finish he literally pulled me into the downpouring rain. “come on baby dance with me pleaseeeee” you shook your head while snaking your arms around his neck you danced around for a few minutes having a great time and went back under the bridge out of the rain. You two stood next to his bike, and he looked at you and frowned “I... I hope you're not mad. I’m sorry I ruined our Sunday I just I...” you stopped him and kissed him not letting him finish his sentence “i”m not mad at you pea I could never be You’re my one and only.” He hugged you tight “good. I'm glad baby. I don’t want to lose you. Now as for opening the bathroom door... is that still on the table?” you laughed smacking him in the chest “Your lucky its still raining and I'm gonna be cold when we get home... I think I'm gonna have to take a warm bath” The rain started to die down and he hopped on the bike handing you your helmet. “well then we should get home” you climbed on the bike and he sped off towards your trailer.

[cheekyharold]

My Prince, Chapter Ten

Read previous chapters here!

I always thought it was weird that you could hear the rain before you saw it. What begins as a small pit, pit, pit against roofs of cars or buildings soon becomes a wall of water in a matter of seconds. But you always hear it running towards you on the pavement. And at that moment, the saying “When it rains, it pours” had never been so literal.

I walked out of Kensington’s gates in a daze. I didn’t even feel the rain soaking my clothes. I didn’t even recognize if it was cold or not. It must have been. It was only the first week of April. I wished this were all an elaborate April Fool’s joke. Sure seemed like one.

I forced my legs to move forward each step. I have to make it to the tube and back to work. I have to – I have to tell everyone…

It’s liver cancer, she said. Terminal. The sentence echoed around my now-empty-feeling brain.

Somehow I made it back to Buckingham. I didn’t remember scanning my Oyster or stepping onto a train, but I made it.

I knocked on William’s door, and he called for me to enter.

He stared at me oddly until I realized too late that I was still soaked.

“No umbrella?” he joked, but when he sees my ghostly expression, his smile fades. “What’s happened?”

“I don’t – I don’t know–” I mumbled, unsure how to even form everything into words.

“Come in, Carolina.” He stood from his desk and walked around it, helping me into a chair. “Is everything all right? Is it the Prince?” When I finally am able to read his expression, I see pure terror. He probably thinks there’s been some attack. He’s about ready to call in an emergency when I place a quick hand on his arm to stop him.

“The Prince of Wales is fine, William.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

I tell him what my mother told me – she’s at late stage liver cancer, far too late to do any treatments. She sits on a transplant list, but with her history and background, the odds are slim to none.

“She’s been admitted to The Shakespeare Hospice in Stratford-upon-Avon,” I concluded. My voice didn’t sound like mine.

William’s face is brimming with pity, but I don’t want it. For so long, I pushed my mother away and now… I’m sad? She was never much of a mother to begin with, but that phone call shattered something inside of me I didn’t know existed anymore.

“You take as much time as you need off, Carolina,” William finally said. “Definitely take the rest of the day. I’ll give your photos to Jude to complete.” Another pause. “Miss Pearson, I know you and your mother weren’t close… but I think you should see her.”

I only nod my head. “I know.” Better late than never, eh?

William slips the camera bag’s strap off my shoulder. When I stand, he surprises me by pulling me into a deep hug. I don’t think I cried yet – it was hard to tell tears from rain outside – but I squeeze my eyes shut and let a couple fall.

When he let me go, he said in the softest tone, “Take a week, a month – however long you need, yeah? Your job will be here waiting for you. You don’t need to worry about that.”

“Thank you,” I croaked.

The rain outside let up a bit by the time I exited the palace. I called Pip on my way to the tube station to give her the news. She offered to leave work but I convinced her to stay. I told her I wouldn’t leave until the morning anyway, so I’d see her back at the flat that evening.

Back at my flat, I stared at my empty suitcase for fifteen minutes. I hadn’t been back home for close to a year. I didn’t know how long I’d be gone for. I didn’t know how much to pack. I didn’t want to pack, and I really didn’t want to go back home. But I knew I had to. Plus, this distance would be ideal. I wouldn’t have to see Harry’s face, even though the image of his panic was stuck in my mind forever.

Stop thinking about him.

I can’t.

He’s not the priority.

Neither is she.

She is right now.

I didn’t even realize how late it was until Pippa’s keys were scratching at the door and it swung open.

“Oh, babe,” she cooed, dropping her keys and bag and wrapping me in a hug. “I’m so sorry. So, so sorry.”

I mechanically hugged her back and said, “Thanks.”

“You need help?” She pointed to the empty suitcase.

In reply, I sigh and slump down onto my mattress. “I don’t even know what to pack.”

“Well, it’s beginning to get warmer so maybe just a few light jumpers and–”

“That’s not what I mean, Pip. I mean… I don’t even know how long I should go. A week? A month? How long does it take to put someone’s affairs in order? How strange of a saying is that – put someone’s affairs in order. What does it even really mean?”

“Whoa, okay, calm down there,” she said, turning to me and placing her hands on my arms. “Sit down.”

Robotically, I sat on the edge of the bed.

“You should always pack more than you think you might need, yes? It’s better to have too much than too little. I’ll help.”

We took the next two hours filling the suitcase to the brim. In true Pip style, she was adding more things well into the night that she thought I might need. I was still in a daze so she cooked us both dinner, made me some tea, and shuffled me off to bed early enough to catch the morning train.

For the entire three-hour journey north the following morning, I couldn’t sit still. I didn’t know what to do with my hands. Nothing felt right. Sitting on the seat felt like I was doing nothing, and I felt like I should be doing something. I tried playing soft, instrumental music through my earphones but nothing worked to calm me down. I was anxious to arrive, yet dreading it at the same time. I didn’t know what to expect when I got there.

I had about a dozen texts through the night and into the next day from Jude, wondering how I was and if I was holding up all right. I didn’t respond to any, mostly because I had no idea how to respond. I didn’t know my emotions. I felt everything yet numb at the same time.

When the train arrived at the Stratford-upon-Avon station, I dragged my suitcase off as slowly as I could. I hadn’t stepped on the concrete platform in what felt like years. Of course, the air was the same as in London, but everything felt different here. It was always so quiet compared to the city.

I knew the first thing I had to do, and I dreaded that more than anything.

I had to go home.

I lugged my suitcase the ten-minute walk from the station to the townhouse I called home for eighteen years. The familiar street brought back memories I wanted to keep at bay forever. Most of them consisted of me running away from our house, tears welling in my eyes. Some of them were of me peering down this very road, on the phone with emergency services, wondering where the ambulance was when I thought my mother had overdosed. The neighbors hated when I did that.

It was one of those streets where every house is attached to the one next to it, and each one looked like an exact copy of the last. The only defining feature in each one was when a door was painted a different color or had different lace curtains in the window. I could always tell which one was mine – third from the last, on the left, with a red door that had begun to chip years ago. Now, it didn’t even look red. The door itself looked like, with one blow of wind, it would crumble in on itself.

I turned the key in the lock, surprised it still worked. I don’t even remember the last time I used it. Six months ago? A year? I was also surprised to see the door was even locked. Usually, she forgot to lock it.

Inside was as musty as ever. I didn’t miss the smell. She never opened the windows. She never bothered with heat or aircon; always mumbled something about companies stealing her money. The only ventilation the house ever received was her opening and closing the front or back doors. The smell of old cigarette smoke hung heavy in the air, attaching itself to every surface.

I closed and locked the door behind me and switched on the lights. They flickered for a moment, but then the yellow light filled the doorway. It opened to a small hallway with carpeted, stained stairs leading up to the second floor. The door on the right lead to the decrepit kitchen that leads to the dining room and to the back door. The door on the left went into the living room and first-floor bathroom.

I climbed the stairs to the top floor, turned down the hallway past the bathroom and spare bedroom – which had always instead been storage of random objects she never could seem to get rid of – to the familiar door at the end of the hall. I could spot it anywhere. It was covered with stickers and drawings I’d made when I was little. Over the top was a handwritten sign by me declaring for everyone to stay out. I remembered closing it for the last time when I moved out for uni all those years ago. I told myself I’d never come back. Besides the required holidays, I never did. Until now.

I turned the old, rusted knob and walked into the room. Everything was the same. The same pink bed sheets and quilted cover, the desk littered with photographs I took a lifetime ago. I chucked my luggage onto the bed and unpacked the entire thing. Really, I was buying time until I had to be at the care facility. Hospice just seemed like a cruel word. Nothing about it seemed comforting.

I went back downstairs to look in the kitchen for food. I didn’t want to touch anything – every inch was covered in some sort of grime or dust. It didn’t look like anyone had been in the kitchen in months. Maybe she hadn’t.

I cracked open the fridge and frowned. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was completely empty. I guess I should have been glad I didn’t find some old, rotting food. But there wasn’t even a pint of ice cream in the freezer. It was almost noon, and my stomach was grumbling.

I reached under the sink and pulled out the plastic Tesco bags. I grabbed my purse again from upstairs and walked to the Tesco up the road. I guess one upside to living outside of a city was that the grocery stores were so much bigger. Since I didn’t know how long I’d be staying, I stocked up on all the foods I could fit in the two bags. I also bought a few cleaning supplies. If I was going to be staying in that god-forbidden house, I may as well try and make it presentable for whoever would buy it next.

After I ate lunch, I knew it was time. I couldn’t procrastinate any longer. I searched for the location of the hospice and was disappointed it was only a 20-minute walk away. I spent the time on the walk wondering what I would say to her. What could I say to her? I had nothing to apologize for – she made my life a toxic hell; I had to escape. Turning around and coming back just never seemed like an option available to me. It would only cause a spiral of events. Someone needed to break the cycle. I wasn’t sorry it was me.

Through the trees beginning to bud for spring, I could see the building with the sign reading “THE SHAKESPEARE HOSPICE” on the side. I followed the signs for the entrance and paused for a second outside the front doors.

Walk in. Do it.

Inside, I knew, everything would change. From here on out, my life was going to be different. Soon, I’d be an orphan. Well, sort of. I had no clue the whereabouts of my father nor did I care. I didn’t even remember what he looked like anymore. Maybe he was dead.

I walked through the doors, and a lady with a kind face greeted me. “Hi, can I help you?”

I glanced around the room. It looked like a regular urgent care waiting room. Yellow walls, inspirational posters, old magazines on tables with unknown stains and watermarks. It smelled like bleach.

“I’m looking for Mary Pearson,” I replied.

“Alright, give me one second to look her up. Are you family?”

I nodded. “Uh, yeah. I’m her daughter.”

“Can I just have you sign in here, please?” She pointed to the clipboard in front of her and handed me a pen.

I scribbled down my name and the time of my arrival. She also handed me one of those large stickers that said, “HELLO, MY NAME IS _________” along with the logo of the hospice.

“Right, so–” she peered down at the sign-in sheet “–Carolina, your mother does have a few outstanding fees that will need to be taken care of before the month is out, but you don’t have to worry about those now since it’s only the beginning of the month. I can give you those papers when you leave if you want.” I nodded. She pulled out a paper anyways, but it didn’t list numbers on it. “This is a map of the grounds.” She took the pen I had just used and pointed it on a spot. “Your mother’s room is 007, so right down that hallway. Take a right, and it’ll be the second on the left. Visiting hours are until 5, unless under special circumstances.” She didn’t have to say what those “special circumstances” where – death. “Do you have any questions?”

“I’m sorry, you said she has outstanding fees?”

The woman nodded. “Yes, but you don’t have to worry about those right now.” I knew she was trying to be polite, especially under the circumstances of her job at a hospice, but her smile was driving me insane.

“I’m just confused. How long has she been here? If she only just got here, how­–”

“Oh.” Her smile finally fell. But now that it did, I wanted nothing more than for it to be back. She looked sad. “I’m-I’m so sorry, I thought you knew. Mrs. Pearson has been here since the beginning of last month.”

A rock fell in my stomach. She’d already been here an entire month. Who knew how much longer she would have? I figured she had called me when she first got here. But… she had been here an entire month already. I didn’t know much about hospices, but I knew they were the last stop for anyone who was admitted. They didn’t tend to last long.

“Of course I knew,” I lied. “I just assumed the NHS would take care of it.”

She smiled sweetly again, but smaller this time. “Some, not all, I’m afraid.”

I swallowed, nodded, and took the directions she gave me to her room. I turned right at the end of the hall, and sure enough, I saw the room number 007 greeting me two doors down. The door was closed, which I was thankful for. It gave me the time to pluck up enough courage to reach for the handle and turn it.

What I saw almost made me gasp. The woman in the bed, I knew, was my mother but looked nothing like her. I had Googled the effects of liver cancer, but nothing could prepare you for the real thing. Her skin was a sickly yellow color, her hair was greasy and matted, probably from not being able to shower from feeling ill or having too little strength, and, most surprising of all, her abdomen. Whereas I expected her to be skin and bones, her abdomen was abnormally swollen. She looked nothing like the mother I knew. I even double-checked the room number to make sure this was the right one. It was.

I trepidatiously walked into the room. She was asleep, and I didn’t want to wake her. I didn’t want her to see the horrified look on my face. She had all sorts of IVs stuck in her, along with an oxygen line and a feeding tube leading into her nose. Her mouth was slightly parted in her sleep state. I noticed her lips were chapped. Something about this room felt suppressing, despite the large window and brightly colored walls.

I set my bag down on the floor and grabbed a chair to pull closer to her. I didn’t want to touch her, still afraid of what I saw. I watched her chest rise and fall, just to make sure she was still alive.

I hardly noticed when a man walked into the room until he spoke my name.

“Carolina?”

When I looked up, I noticed the familiar face looking down at me. I didn’t know what emotion I was expressing, but it quickly changed to shock.

“Callum?” I gasped. “What are you doing here?” I asked, stupidly.

Callum was someone I knew growing up in primary and secondary school. We dated for a couple of years on and off before we both parted ways for uni. We hadn’t spoken since. Now, here he was, wearing a doctor’s lab coat and holding a clipboard.

“I work here,” he replied. Duh. “It’s good to see you.” He offered a kind smile – one, I found, I could not return, no matter how much I wanted to.

I fumbled for words. “I, uh, yeah, you too. Wait – you’re a doctor? Shouldn’t you still be in school?”

“Sort of. I still am. I just started vocational training here in autumn.”

“Wow, that’s-that’s great. Good for you.” I attempted a smile. It was weakly received.

He stared at me for another second before shaking his head slightly. “So, um, Mary – your mother – is one of my patients. Car, I’m so sorry.”

I glanced down at her decrepit figure and shook my head. “No, don’t be. This was a long time coming,” I muttered lowly. I kept my eyes off of him. I knew the look he was giving me. I didn’t want the pity.

“She’s on some heavy sedatives for the pain, but I could wake her if you want?”

I sat back in the chair, shaking my head again. “No, that’s alright.”

“Listen, I know you probably want some time. Whenever you’re ready, we can have the talk about where to go from here.”

I look back up at him. “What do you mean?”

He looked a bit uncomfortable. He shifted his weight on his feet, glanced at my mother, and then back at me. “I mean, just the logistics. The update on her health, what the protocols are, all those types of things.”

I pursed my lips into a thin line. I pressed them tightly together, it almost hurt. Almost.

“We can now if you want,” I said. “How long does she have?”

Callum pulled over another chair to sit on the other side of the bed from me. “Well, since she was diagnosed last November–”

“Wait, November?” I gasp.

“Yes,” he answers slowly, unsure.

“I had no idea,” I whisper, looking over at her unconscious figure again. She had been sick for months, and she said nothing. Then again, I didn’t call her either. Not even on Christmas Day.

“Like I said, we can talk about this another time if you want.”

I looked away from her before I let the tears form. “No, let’s do this now. I need to be prepared.”

He was staring at me, probably debating whether or not to speak. Eventually, he began, “She was diagnosed last November with stage four liver failure. End-stage, as it sometimes is called. Considering she’s held on this long says something about her, I think.” I scoff. He ignores me. “However, seeing her health now, I’d say it’s not much longer. A week, maybe two at best. We’re keeping her comfortable, so she doesn’t feel any pain.”

Lucky her, I wanted to say.

“What happens… after?” I asked.

He didn’t have to ask me to specify. He knew what I was asking about. “We’ll send her to the funeral home of your choice, where you can decide the steps from there. Do you know if she has a Will?”

I let out a small, sad laugh. “I haven’t a clue. I don’t think she even has one if I’m to be honest. She doesn’t seem the type.”

Callum gives a curt nod. “Then it’s up to you to decide what to do when the time comes.”

I run a hand over my face, rubbing my eyes deeply. “Great,” I say sarcastically.

I keep my hand over my face. I don’t want to cry. I don’t even love the woman. But something attaches me to her. She is my mother, after all. At one point, I’m sure, there was love between us. I don’t hear Callum get up or leave, so I assume he’s still in the room, silently watching me.

“I can help, if you want,” he said softly.

I removed my hands. I saw the pity on his face I didn’t want to see. “Thanks,” I offered in reply, then added, “but I’ll be fine.”

“How have you been?”

He always had sweet eyes. They were the softest shade of blue. They reminded me of the wool scarf I got for Christmas one year when I was eight. I wore that scarf every day that winter. I was so glad it was a deep shade of blue because it became ratty rather quickly from its everyday use.

He was a thickly built man since he played rugby every year in secondary school. I imagined he continued to play at uni, too. After our final and official break up, I knew I would miss his arms the most. They always seemed to fit around me perfectly. He would kiss my shoulder when he thought I was asleep. He always loved running his fingers through my hair. He was the warmth I needed; the warmth I never had at home. I guess, in a way, he was my home during those times.

“I’ve-I’ve been fine,” I stuttered, trying to put the old memories out of my mind. I had to look away from him and focus on a loose strand of string on my coat.

“I hear you’ve been living in London. How’s that?”

I laughed. “Hard.” I paused. “My flatmate, Pippa Wellington, you remember her, right? – God bless her – has a stable job so she’s been paying the brunt of the bills. But I actually just got a real job for the first time, so I hope to change that soon.”

“Oh yeah?” He sounded genuinely excited, so I had to look up. His smile was blooming, accentuating his tiny dimples in his cheeks. I guess I always had a thing for guys with dimples. “What job is that?”

For some reason, I started going red. “Um, I’m actually working for the palace. I’m one of the royal photographers.”

Callum sat back quickly in his chair as if someone knocked him back. “What! That’s amazing! Have you met the family, then?”

The string on my jacket had never been so interesting as that point. I was doing anything not to meet his eyes. I had been successful up until now about not thinking of Prince Harry. “Yeah, I have. I’m Prince Alfred’s photographer, actually. Weird, huh?”

“That’s…” He shook his head. “That’s amazing, Car. Really. I’m proud of you.”

I nodded, finally glancing up at him. “Hey, you too, you know. You’re a doctor! Like, a proper doctor.”

“Almost,” he adds, cheekily.

“Almost,” I said, raising my hands. “Sorry. Almost a doctor. Last I recall, you wanted to be a musician.”

“Yeah well…” He trailed off, glancing down into his lap. “Strange how things change, huh?”

“Yeah.”

An awkward silence fell between us then. I wondered if he was thinking about our past as well. The nights I would come running to his house, tears streaming down my cheeks because I couldn’t afford dinner and my mother was passed out.

He cleared his throat suddenly and stood from the chair. “Listen, I’ve got a few other patients to get to. If you’re free, we could grab a drink tonight or sometime? I have a feeling we have a lot to catch up on.”

I nodded, more enthusiastically than I intended. “Yeah, of course. I’d love to.”

“It’s good to see you, Car. I’m sorry it’s under these types of circumstances.”

I stood from my chair, and we awkwardly shook hands over the bed. “Good to see you, too, Callum.”

“I’ll call you,” he said as he exited the room.

I wondered if he really would.