#and i feel so guilty getting rid of a sticker that reminds me of her

[botanicallyinclinednerd]

I feel like an absolute monster for taking a sticker that had been peeling slightly off my laptop for a while and removing it to make way for a new sticker I just got. I am a horrible sticker murderer

[tagsecretsanta]

From @Psychoseal

to @avengedbiologist Secret santa does not won this fic, full credit to the author above

Scott is exhausted. Running his hand through his prematurely greying hair as he exits Thunderbird One, the only thing running through his mind is the thought of a long hot shower and the largest pot of coffee on the Island. 

All Scott has ever known in his life is responsibility. He doesn’t even remember the peaceful years before Virgil was born and his life flipped upside down. Before Virgil was born, he had a number of names. Sunshine, Sweetheart, Darling, Scooter are just a small sample. But then everything changed. And his name became “Scott don’t” “Scott don’t put the stickers on the baby. Scott don’t feed the baby your broccoli. Scott don’t climb the furniture.” 

But he learned to love Virgil, and by the time his youngest brother was born his new nickname was smother hen! 

Scott can even remember his first grey hair. He was nineteen and had just gotten witnessed his thirteen-year-old brother fall from the barn roof in a dare gone wrong. That first grey hair he named Gordon! 

Once he has escaped to the safety of his room, Scott quickly strips off his clothes before climbing under stream of fresh almost boiling water. He is so tired he doesn’t even realise that the water is dying his skin blue as he lathers shower gel into his hair, his eyes closed happily as the water helps him to relax. Finally. 

Flicking the water off, he strings a large fluffy towel around his hips. 

Then screams. 

A scream so loud it brings Grandma running up two flights of stairs from the kitchen and barging into his room. “Scott?” she gasps, struggling to catch her breath. The rolling pin she was using to make the pie crust still in the hand. “What happened?” 

“Gordon!” Scott growls. “Where is he?” 

“London with Lady Penelope on vacation and has been all week, I don’t think this is one of his” Grandma reminds him gently. 

“Never jump to conclusions Smurf” Virgil says having also heard the screams, and come running, stopping short when he spots his big brother and bursting into laughter. “Think, who have you annoyed recently, then follow the trail to the culprit” 

“Annoyed? I never annoy anyone” Scott splutters in protest. “I am going to borrow your bathroom to get rid of this ridiculous dye” 

“Sure Smurf just let me do something really important first” Virgil says, and before Scott has the time to run, Virgil snaps a photo of him and runs away laughing. 

“Grandma!” Scott protests, he can feel a new grey hair emerging. 

“Go and get a shower, I will have a word with Virgil” Grandma replies leaving him to his thoughts.

Scott’s thoughts are not pleasant, and involve drowning the responsible brother in boiling oil, or tarring and feathering them while he films their humiliation. Googling cruel and unusual punishment ideas once he is back to normal and hiding out in his own room, Scott smiles at some of the ideas and regrets the vote he lost to build an island jail for his wayward siblings. 

Lying back on his bed, his head resting on the pillow, Scott stares at the ceiling in the ever-increasing gloom of the early evening, but he doesn’t get up to put the light on, but he can’t sleep. The frustration with his brothers isn’t receding the longer he lies here. Revenge is the only thing he wants! 

*TB*

Gordon is back from leave the following morning. Carrying a bag full of gifts for his family. All neatly wrapped. 

“Where is everyone?” he asks Virgil who is the only one in the kitchen. 

Virgil doesn’t answer him while he focuses on draining his coffee instead. “Mmm, that is better! What did you ask Squid legs?” 

“Where is everyone?” Gordon repeats. Rolling his eyes and pouring himself a coffee.

“Alan and Scott are still in bed. You need to apologise to Scott. He didn’t think your prank was a good idea!” Virgil says. 

“What prank?” Gordon asks. His eyes wide and innocent.

“The dye in his shower head. How did you pull that off anyway? You weren’t even here” Virgil asks, he is impressed despite himself. If Gordon has evolved to pulling pranks remotely, then the whole island is doomed! 

“Oh that. I just gave Alan the instructions and told him where the joke kit is hidden. Alan is the guilty party, not me” Gordon insists.

“IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT!” A voice booms from behind him, causing Gordon to startle and almost drop his coffee. 

“Smurf, hi” Virgil says, trying to dissipate the tension building between his two brothers. 

“I KNEW YOU HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS” Scott roars at Gordon.

Gordon rolls his eyes picks up one of Grandma’s scented candles and throws it at Scott’s head. “Lighten up Smurf” he says before running from the room, Scott on his heels determined more than ever to pound the brat! 

Gordon runs up the stairs and out the main doors to the pool.

“No running by the pool Fish” Scott shouts at him, that thing in his brain telling him to protect his younger brothers kicking in again. 

Gordon once again is one step ahead of him as he dives into the pool, and swims across to the other side, before climbing up and continuing to run down to the beach still pursued by Scott, who can’t outswim him and he knows he can’t break an important safety rule. Gordon is fast, but Scott is angry and determined, and he catches up to him, tackling him to the ground. 

“What on earth?” Jeff asks in exasperation. “Gordon you only had one job!” 

Gordon struggles under Scott’s weight, as his eldest brother is now sitting on his chest, pinning his shoulders to the ground with his arms. “I got him here didn’t I?” 

“Let him up Scott please” Jeff asks.

“What’s the magic word?” Scott asks Gordon. 

“Abracadabra” Gordon replies. 

“Scott” Jeff asks again.

And Scott knows that this is the best he can hope for as he rolls off his brother and allows him to stand. “Why are you here?” he asks his dad. “And what did you mean when you said you got me here?” he asks Gordon, now thoroughly confused by the whole matter. 

“Come with me, and you will find out” Jeff replies cryptically. 

Scott follows his father and brother along the sandy pathway leading to a small cove Gordon discovered during his first summer on the island, before he stops in his tracks at the scene in front of him. 

All his favourite people in one place. something that rarely happens in his family. His brothers, even John, are all sitting on the floor around the preparations for a bonfire, yet to be lit. 

“Scott come and sit down” Grandma calls him over. There is a smile on her face, as she pats a spare piece of sand next to her. Scott does as he is told, even though he is confused by what is happening. 

He hasn’t even noticed a large pile of gifts, all neatly wrapped nearby where Alan is sat chatting to Colonel Casey. 

“Why is everyone here?” he finally asks, unable to resist the temptation any longer. 

“I TOLD YOU HE FORGOT!” Gordon cries gleefully. 

“Forgot what?” Scott asks, racking his brains desperately for anything he might have missed. It definitely isn’t Christmas as the villa’s not been decorated. And it isn’t one of his brother’s birthdays as there is no way he would be allowed to forget those. Alan still drops gift hints for months before the big day.

“Hand it over John” Gordon says holding his hand out for his winnings. John reluctantly hands over a twenty dollar bill. 

“Will someone please tell me what the heck is going on?” Scott asks. Unable to take the laughter any longer. 

“What day is it?” Virgil asks, trying to help him out. 

“Erm Wednesday?” Scott replies. 

“It is Saturday Scott” Virgil replies rolling his eyes. “How about the month?” 

Scott knows this one. As it was Alan’s birthday recently. “March” Scott says this time confidently. 

“It’s April” Virgil says. 

“No it isn’t. Alan’s birthday was the other day” Scott insists. 

Virgil takes pity on his eldest brother. “Scott it’s the fourth of April. This is your birthday party!” 

“It can’t be. I would know if it was April already. Gordon is this an April fools’ joke?” Scott asks, turning his attention to Gordon, who is sitting on Lady Penelope’s lap while she hand feeds him grapes. “And can’t you do that in private?” 

“Nota April foolsh joke” Gordon confirms, his mouth full of half chewed grape.

“Ugh swallow first” Scott tells him disgusted, and still not convinced that it really is his birthday. 

“Scott, it really is April. And it really is your birthday. I am sorry I gave Gordon the job if getting you down to the beach, but happy birthday son” Jeff tells him. “We are worried about you though. You have been working far too hard recently. You missed Gordon’s April fools’ day prank because you were on Mars with Alan. it was a good one this year too” he adds.

“What did he do?” Scott asks. Remembering that this is Jeff’s first April fools’ since he got back from the Oort cloud. 

“Snuck into the GDF headquarters and left a notice on the board advising on a Chewbacca Roaring contest and to call my phone and leave a voicemail with their best effort and that I will judge them tomorrow. He even managed to set my phone to go straight to voicemail and put a message on it repeating the contest instructions.” Jeff tells him grinning. 

“And you found that funny?” Scott asks. 

“I did. And I have picked a winner already. Gordon will be paying the fifty-dollar reward though!” Jeff says. 

“Worth it” Gordon says with a shrug. “But Scott, seriously open your presents already!” 

Scott is still sceptical but he also knows that Colonel Casey and his father wouldn’t play a practical joke on him, maybe it really is his birthday.

Picking up the first gift from the pile. Scott knows without looking at it that this was wrapped by Gordon. It is wrapped in bright yellow paper and covered in so much tape he knows that it will take him hours to get in to! Sure enough the label reads “Yo scotty. Have fun getting into this. Love your favourite brother” 

“Hey look, he’s picked your gift Gords” Alan says with a grin, grabbing his phone and loading up the timing app. “Ready Scott?” he asks. 

“Ready for what?” Scott asks.

“Our party game; let’s see how long it takes you to get into the present. My guess is thirty-five minutes” Alan replies. 

Scott knows that he should play along, this has always been one of their favourite traditions. An invention of Gordon’s the first year he was old enough to wrap gifts. “Fine. Start the count” he says. 

“GO!” Alan calls. 

Scott tries to slide his nail under the tape but it is impossible. He can’t deny that Gordon is the master. Turning the badly wrapped gift over in his hands, looking for a way in Scott gets more and more frustrated as the minutes tick by, and starts to chew his way in, finally biting a hole through the tape and into the paper. 

“How long?” Gordon asks the official timekeeper.

“Six minutes, thirty-five seconds” Alan replies. “Dad and Colonel Casey have been eliminated from the game” 

“You all had bets?” Scott asks, he is laughing now though. Finally starting to relax.

“Of course” Jeff tells him. “We have been planning this for weeks” 

Scott is now working on making the hole bigger, sticking his thumb in and wriggling it about. the contents are confusing, as whatever is in here feels slimy. 

Pulling out a piece of still wet seaweed Scott is confused. “Seaweed?” he asks Gordon. 

Gordon grins at him. “Yep and there is something else in there too” 

Scott pulls out the rest of his gift. A book. 

“Stop the clock Al” Gordon says. 

“Eleven minutes, twenty-two seconds” Alan announces, checking the contest list for the closest. “Hey Virg, you won!” 

Virgil jumps up from the floor to do his victory dance, pumping his fist in the air and twirling around until he falls over his own feet. Picking himself up and spitting out sand, he turns to Scott. “What is the book Scott? I don’t think Gordon has ever even opened a book let alone bought one for someone else!” 

Scott examines the books cover. “1001 of the weirdest laws in the world” he realises that one of the pages is bookmarked. Opening the book Scott reads the highlighted passage “In New Hampshire, it is illegal to collect and carry away seaweed at the beach, but only at night.” 

“You didn’t?!” Scott asks, eyeing up his brother. “You went to New Hampshire in the middle of the night to get seaweed even though it is illegal?” 

Unrepentant, Gordon nods. “Yeah I even borrowed thunderbird one. Do you like it?” 

“Like it?!” Scott asks spluttering with laughter. “Only you Gords. Come here” 

Gordon scrambles to his feet from Lady Penelope’s lap and runs over to Scott, who grabs him by the waist and tackles him to the ground. “Of course I like it! Who doesn’t love gifts that have been gathered illegally?” 

The rest of Scott’s presents are more normal. A painting of Thunderbird One over the Island from Virgil, which will look great above his bed. “Thanks Virg. I love it” He says, now with genuine enthusiasm. 

“The cavern quest expansion pack” Scott says opening up his gift from Alan. 

“Yeah, I am going to need that back once you are done” Alan says. 

“Sure” Scott replies, handing it over. He does not have the time to play mindless video games. 

Alan rolls his eyes. “Scott. You have to play it first. Come and see me tomorrow and Kayo and I will teach you” 

“You know I don’t have the time” Scott reminds them. 

“You do, we cleared your schedule for the rest of the week. You are on vacation and we are going to teach you to have fun!” Alan insists.

“I know how to have fun” Scott insists. 

“Scott, your idea of fun is doing paperwork, nagging me and cleaning your room” Gordon tells him. 

Making the only decision that will allow him to keep his dignity, Scott ignores Gordon and goes back to his presents. This one is from Grandma and turns out to be vouchers for an evening out at his favourite restaurant. “Thanks Grandma, but can I leave Gordon and Alan here to eat your lasagne, they really like the way you leave it frozen in the middle but burn the top layer.” 

“Scoooooo-oooooott!” Gordon and Alan whinge in unison. 

“Call it big brother’s revenge!” Scott replies with a grin. 

Their pouting doesn’t last long as Scott unwraps his gift from his father. 

Shocked by the contents, Scott just stares at him. 

“Well?” Jeff asks.

“I can’t” Scott insists. “International Rescue needs me. They need me” 

Scott has been raising his younger brothers for so long, he has not had a proper vacation in years. But this states he can have a whole month away from all the worry and stress. 

“We can cope. The GDF are going to take care of some of the simple rescues. The hood and the Chaos Crew are all safely locked away in the newly rebuilt Hex prison. I don’t think they liked the irony of being locked up in a prison they blew up!” Jeff says. “It is okay to admit you need a break Scott” 

Scott can feel tears welling up in his eyes, and it his father who makes the first move, wrapping his arms around his eldest son, who has been so strong for so long. 

“We love you Scooter” Jeff says. “You have held this family together beautifully, but please let me help you” 

Scott nods. His head still buried on Jeff’s shoulder. 

“If I do, please don’t let Gordon have Thunderbird one!” Scott says, trying to inject some humour into the situation. 

“Oh I don’t know; he did a g-g-great job while you were on Mars. A-a-apart from the unauthorised t-t-trip to New Hampshire” Brains says.

“Oh don’t forget the drone he crashed into the Eiffel tower” John says. 

“And the flood in the hangar when he was trying to clean off the mud off after he had to rescue the three explorers from a mudslide in Italy” Virgil says.

“Stop it, or he will never agree to leave” Jeff says. 

“Where am I going to go?” Scott asks. 

“Anywhere you want son” Jeff replies. Still holding him in his embrace. “We can talk about it after the party. Now how about you open some more presents, then we can get the bonfire started and grill some breakfast” 

Scott doesn’t make an effort to move from Jeff’s side, but happily opens the rest of his presents. Finally realising that they are right, he has been so wrapped up in the problems of the world that he has been carrying that weight on his soul, and it is slowly crushing the life out of him. Maybe, just maybe he can take a vacation. 

*TB*

The party lasts all day, thank you to the organisational skills of his family there are no emergency call outs, as Eos is forwarding the calls to local authorities and the GDF. The sun is starting to set, but the party is still going strong. Gordon and Lady Penelope have disappeared somewhere more private, but everyone else is there.

Alan is in charge of the music. Having set up a playlist and letting it go.

“GUYS COME ON! THIS IS MY FAVOURITE” Alan calls when the introduction to his favourite some comes on. “LINE UP” 

No one moves as the opening lines of the macarena start up. 

Alan grabs Jeff’s hands and pulls him into a standing position. “Come on dad, pleeeeeeaaaaassssssse!” he begs, giving his father the wide doe eyed start that no one, not even the great Jeff Tracy. 

“Okay fine show me what to do” Jeff replies. 

“Great! Okay Scott, Virgil, John, Grandma, Kayo, Parker, Brains, Colonel Casey” Alan calls while he starts going through the movements of the dance.

Virgil is the first to join in. knowing that Alan needs this just as much as Scott does. Taking his phone, he tries to contact Gordon. A family macarena isn’t the same without the family fish. 

“Hey Virg, what’s up?” Gordon asks. 

“Where are you?” Virgil asks. 

“Thunderbird one with Pen” Gordon replies. 

“Please tell me you’re just giving her a tour” Virgil asks facepalming. 

“Sure” Gordon replies with a shrug.

“Anyway stop it, and get back to the beach, we are having a family dance off” Virgil says. 

“You know I am going to win right?” Gordon asks, ringing off without giving Virgil a response. Pulling his shirt back on, he helps Lady Penelope zip back up her dress before they hop down from the pilots seat and exit Scott’s plane before running hand in hand back to the beach. 

“The macarena?” Gordon says with a grin. “Put it back to the beginning Al” 

Alan skips the track back to the start, and Gordon takes centre stage. Wriggling his hips before jumping up into the air crying “HEY MACARENA!” every single time. 

Even Parker and Grandma join in. the move on to the cha cha slide and the YMCA before collapsing into a heap on the floor laughing. 

“What song next DJ Allie?” Kayo asks. Even she has relaxed, her hair no longer in its customary tight pony tail but falling loosely around her shoulders. 

Alan grins before jumping up to his feet and skipping over to his phone. 

“No way. This I draw the line too!” Kayo says as the opening to baby shark starts to blare through the speakers. 

“SCOTTY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO! Gordon starts. “SCOTTY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO” 

John is the first to join in. “SCOTTY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO” 

Jeff joins in too “SCOTTY SHARK!” 

Kayo groans, but she knows when she is defeated.  “VIRGY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO VIRGY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO VIRGY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO VIRGY SHARK!” 

This is the version of the song Jeff would sing to Alan and Gordon to get them to sleep after their mom died. It never got them to agree to go to sleep but became a family tradition along with their bedtime stories. 

“JOHNNY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO JOHNNY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO JOHNNY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO JOHNNY SHARK! 

Lady Penelope is looking at the boys and Jeff like she has never seen them before while they do the baby shark song dance like the madmen, she always suspected they are. But she can’t help but join in. 

“GORDY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO GORDY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO GORDY SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO GORDY SHARK!” 

“ALLIE SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO ALLIE SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO ALLIE SHARK DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO ALLIE SHARK!” 

Lady Penelope stops there she has no idea what will come next, as there is no way they will hunt prey! 

“TRAPPED IN A CAVE DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO TRAPPED IN A CAVE DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO TRAPPED IN A CAVE DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO TRAPPED IN A CAVE” 

“LET’S GO SAVE DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO LET’S GO SAVE DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO LET’S GO SAVE DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO LET’S GO SAVE!”

“SAFE AT LAST DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO SAFE AT LAST DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO SAFE AT LAST DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO SAFE AT LAST!” 

“You guys are too adorable” Lady Penelope says. 

Night has fully fallen now, and with it the boys’ inhibitions and dignity have evaporated with the daylight and they are now dancing their way through whatever song that comes on. Wild songs that see them dancing round the fire all holding hands and laughing. Slow songs which Lady Penelope and Gordon take centre stage for, dancing like their the only two people in the world. Fast songs they dance wildly too. 

“Is anyone going to bed?” Jeff asks, just after four o’clock. The fire is starting to die down now, and with it the temperature is dropping. He is starting to feel the chill in the air and he can tell by looking at Alan who is standing over the dying fire, rubbing his hands together to keep them warm that he is not the only one. 

No one protests, as they tiredly march back to the house, Scott and Virgil taking the time to make sure the fire is out. 

*TB*

“So, Gordy Shark” Lady Penelope says once they are alone in Gordon’s room. “Want round two of what we got up to in Thunderbird One?” 

Gordon grins before he strips his shirt off and jumps into the bed. 

*TB*

Scott leaves for his vacation the following afternoon, carrying one rucksack full of everything he is going to need for his trip, after forcing all four of his brother’s sign a contract that they will tell him immediately if he is needed. 

There is an immense feeling of relief as he gets settled in the cabin he has rented, looking out of the window at the sun glittered lake. This is the perfect place, miles away from civilisation and the problems he deals with every day. 

The only issue he faces here, is will he want to return to that chaos when his dream holiday is over?

[prompt-master]

It's Snooping Time

Makoto had the nosiest little sister. He had to shoo her out of his room all the time to keep her from getting her grubby little hands all over his things. He couldn't even begin to count the amount of manga Komaru just straight up stole from him. Not to mention that she even went so far as to snoop through his mail and open his Hope's Peak Acceptance letter while he was out.

He'd made sure to rid his room of anything he didn't want her taking before he left for Hope's Peak. It was the only precaution he could make with even a chance of working. It was such a strange feeling moving into his dorm and not having to worry about Komaru checking every nook and cranny when he turned his back. It was relaxing, honestly. He did miss his sister, and he loved her dearly! But he didn't love some of the crap she pulled.

But that's alright, because now Makoto had a chance to catch up and remind himself of all the things he loved and hated about Komaru. After the Ultimate Pharmacist accidentally caused a risky chemical spill that managed to leak to the dorms through the vents, everyone had been given a week off campus!

He'd been having the time of his life attending as an Ultimate. All his new friends were so lively and made him excited to face each day. He treasured every bond he'd made over the course of the year. It was a bit overwhelming at times being surrounded by the most talented eccentric individuals Hope's Peak's scouters could find, and walking into his quaint little home only reminded him of how average he really was compared to everyone else in the school. He somehow managed to be more average than other raffle winners.

"I'm home-"

"Makoto!"

His mother pulled him into a quick unexpected hug.

"Ack- mom-!"

"Aw, Makoto we missed you! I've never been away from you from so long, you're growing up!" Her arms curled around his back, pulling him in tighter and tighter. One hand ruffled his hair from the back, the other lay on his shoulder.

"I missed you too mom" Makoto laughed, embarrassed as his mom planted a kiss on his head, "but can you please let go? You're crushing me."

"Makoto!" Another voice cried out and Makoto held his chest, recovering from the previous hug.

"Hi Komar- oof!"

She gave him a heavy slap on the back before another hearty hug, giving him a mouthful of hair. He could feel her usual energetic excitement, she pulled off of him quickly, hands on his shoulders and starry eyes wide, "How was it?! Are the students as weird as the internet says?! Do you have any hot upperclassmen?! You go to school with your stupid idol crush now don't you?!"

Just about a year ago all this energy would have left Makoto dizzy and tired, now he considered it low energy compared to the intensity of everyday life around the Ultimates.

Makoto laughed, a soft sweet sound. Home sweet home, after all. He did have much he wanted to tell his sister. She was going to freak out when she found out Yamada Hifumi, the author of her favorite doujin, was in his class. "Calm down Komaru, I just got home."

"Geez," she said, tone light and teasing, "you go to an elite school and come back like you went on a life changing journey! Where's my brother who gets annoyed at all my questions, huh?"

"Give your brother a break, Komaru." Their dad joined the scene, clapping a hand onto Makoto's shoulder. "You'll have plenty of time over the week to hear about all his adventures."

"You just want to hear about it too, dad."

"Guilty as charged." their dad put up his hands in admission, chuckling softly.

"You should get settled in," when his mother smiled, she had little crinkles around her eyes. It was such a small detail but he missed seeing such a genuine joy on someone's face, "we won't have as much to tell you as you will us though."

"That's ok mom!"

Makoto found himself relaxing. Even though he'd been away from home for so long he fit right back in like he always belonged here. After an awkward wave he left down the hall to get into his room. On his way there, an unfamiliar glint of light from the living room wall caught his eye, causing him to look up. There was a new frame up on the wall. More of Komaru's art, maybe? 

He came closer to the simple black frame, seated in a spot that was rather obvious. Like his parents wanted all visitors to see this particular frame. From a distance it looked mostly white and blank. He got close enough to make out the little black text that simply and quickly announced Makoto's acceptance into the school of a lifetime. 

Makoto smiled. They framed his acceptance letter. He was really happy to be home. He felt loved before he left, but now he felt adored. 

As he pushed open the door to his room and dropped his bags to the floor he briefly wondered how different things would be after starting out a new path in his life. But once he sat down on his bed he felt like he'd never really left. He was excited to have dinner with his family again, but he also has text messages from his new friends to look forward to! 

The problem was Makoto got too relaxed. He was used to sleeping in a cozy locked dorm where everyone only bothered to knock in order to ask him to hang out elsewhere. So when Makoto went to dinner he left his backpack free for the picking on the floor of his bedroom. 

And of course, Komaru wasted no time poking her head into said room. How could she not?! Her brother is getting a once in a lifetime opportunity! No, not even that, most lives don't get to experience even a taste of what Makoto gets to indulge in. How could she not want to know more?! A quick inspection of the bags he brought over showed pretty much only clothes and a teddy bear wearing the Hope's Peak emblem on its shirt. 

And then she turned her attention towards his backpack. Maybe she'd find some embarrassing doodles in his notebooks, Makoto did have a tendency to scribble when lectures bored him. She zipped open the bag, bouncing up and down in anticipation as to what she might discover. 

Ugh, boring. Why did Makoto only have a bunch of school supplies in his backp- oh. Well actually, that did make sense. Even though Makoto was accepted into the school unconditionally it seemed he still wanted to prove himself. 

Well, average grades. It's certainly not exceptional but...he is trying. 

Feeling a bit dejected at the lack of juicy information, she opened the front pocket of his backpack with much less vigor than prior. Then she paused.

Oh my, oh my, oh my. What do we have here? 

Within the pocket were several small envelopes each sealed with a well placed red heart sticker.

Confession Letters. 

Naegi Makoto had confession letters. 

There was NO WAY anything in this world could keep Komaru from digging further. She quickly took one of the letters into her hand and inspected it. 

"Maizono Sayaka" 

She gasped, it was the idol crush! That was definitely Makoto's handwriting, it was always a bit distinctly messy. No doubt in her mind that her brother wrote these. 

She looked back into the bag, where so many envelopes lay in waiting for the day someone would open them. She felt herself building up an uncontained excitement. Was Makoto so enamored with Miss Maizono Sayaka that he had to write several drafts of his confession? She could totally imagine Makoto about to hand over his letter before going red in the face and sprinting away in panic. 

She wondered if she could open up some of these without getting caught, she desperately wanted to read the embarrassing contents. She picked another letter from the back of the pouch and turned it over. 

"Kirigiri Kyoko" 

Her amusement grew three sizes. She was trying hard not to laugh, her brother was crushing on two girls who were most certainly out of his league? What did he think he was, an anime protagonist? 

She picked up another, buzzing with excitement. 

"Togami Byakuya"

Her eyes almost popped out of her head at that one. Togami Byakuya? Wait… Togami? Like THAT Togami? Togami Corporation? Wait- a BOY? 

No way. No fucking way. She totally called it. But to think that Makoto wasn't just crushing on a TOGAMI but was writing letters hoping to confess. The image of her average joe brother handing, not just a random someone but a TOGAMI, a handwritten letter made her giggle.

She continued to pick through the letters. He certainly had a thing for Kyoko and Byakuya as there were SEVERAL versions of those letters. There were a few more for Sayaka, and a few singles for others such as someone named Asahina Aoi, and someone named Ikusaba Mukuro.

Was Makoto just falling in love with anyone who so much as looked at him? 

She needed so desperately to know more. She was trying hard not to sputter with laughter at the assortment of letters now in her lap. Makoto didn't just think he was an anime protagonist he seemed like he thought he was a harem protagonist. 

The door opened up, leaving Komaru without even a single moment to put everything back. 

"Komaru, you know I don't like you in my-..." Makoto's slightly annoyed tone cut off as he processed the sight in front of him. 

Komaru. His sister. With all his very personal letters in her grasp. 

Makoto quickly sprung into action. "Ack! No! No stop that! Why are you going through my bag!?" He dropped to his knees, sliding on the wooden floor and scrambling to rip all the letters away from her. 

She held on tight to one of them, it was one of Byakuya's letters. Her face was smug, knowing all too well she was about to bring the motherfucking gavel down on him. 

"Komaru let go!" Makoto whined trying to snag Komaru’s prize for snooping.

"I- ppftt - I can't believe you wanted to date like half your class!" Komaru disregarded her brother's pitiful plee and kept the letter just out of his reach. Her brother's face was beet red as he glared at her.

"H-hey it's not HALF!" Komaru continued to laugh at him, unable to even get a sentence out between her wheezes. Makoto picked up a pillow from his bed and threw it at her face. 

She rolled back with the impact, hopping up onto her feet and balancing on her heels. She held the letter high above her head. 

"I never thought you'd be the type to write CONFESSION LETTERS!" 

Makoto felt panic rushing through his very veins, "its not…!" He couldn't even do much but stay on the ground desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation "They aren't confession letters!! I dont have crushes on all of them now give it back!" 

His face, all the way to his ears, had gone so bright red you could make a paint swatch out of it.  

Komaru's amusement somehow grew worse at his words. She stood tall over him, her smile reminiscent of a cruel villain from an shounen anime. "All of them?" She said. 

Her face hurt from being unable to stop smiling, "All of them?! You have crushes on all of them at the same time?!" 

"No…!" 

"Oh my GOD I thought you just kept switching crushes because you're sensitive! Not piled them up!" 

"I didn’t-!" 

"What was the plan here Makoto?!" 

"I don't know! There is none!" 

"Oh my God I have to read one." 

"No!" 

That got Makoto back into action, jumping up to once again try to tear the letter by force out of his sister's hands. She retaliated by licking his hand when it came near her face. 

"Gross! Komaru!" 

"Makoto please you need to tell me. You're seriously going after a TOGAMI?" 

She was pretty sure if Makoto blushed anymore he'd pass out from a head rush. 

"Tell me what you like about him" she said "or I'll tear this bad boy open!" 

"Honestly, I'm not too sure either…" Makoto had far more memories of Byakuya insulting him for being an 'optimistic commoner idiot' than he did memories of him being nice. 

Komaru flopped back, throwing herself down onto Makoto's bed hard enough that she got a bit of airtime. "You go to an elite school and now you think all these Ultimates are in your league!" She propped herself up on one arm "I mean, I expected this for Maizono, but I always thought you were more modest than this Makoto. You should know the harem comes to YOU, not the other way around!" 

Makoto's voice reached a pitch that she thought should be impossible, "I don't want a harem!" 

Completely sitting up on his bed now, waving the letter in her hand mockingly, she said "No? Trying to pick one lucky fella then?" 

"How am I supposed to choose?!" 

"No way you actually are. Pffftt…! You're in some deep shit Makoto!"

"It's not my fault..! I mean...they're all so amazing! Maizono-san and I became good friends right away...and when she told me she remembered me from middle school I was a goner…! 

And then Kirigiri-san trusts me - ME Komaru! - to help her on investigations. And- and sometimes she gets this adorable pout when I spend time with other friends for too long. And when she smiles at me...it's so rare but she has the prettiest smile...anyone would be lucky to have her! 

And oh no, Togami-kun. He seems almost like he hates hanging out with me, but then he gets upset when I seem disinterested. He tells me all these personal details about his life as if he wants me to be closer to him. How can I not look into that! 

All these people are messing with my head!" 

"Woah woah lover boy calm down!" 

Makoto panted, having to catch his breath after blurting out such a very personal speech about his feelings. Realizing just how embarrassing that entire thing was, he zippered his hood up all the way so that Komaru had no chance of seeing his embarrassment. He dropped himself back down so that he was sitting on the floor, reflecting on all the actions and words he picked to get him in this situation. Maybe if he just sat quietly he would actually disappear.

"Aren't you the older one here?" 

"Shut up…" 

"You always did have a soft heart, you fell for Maizono-san just from talking to her once! And now you've got all these guys to worry about" 

"I don't know what to do…" Makoto mumbled, "I'm lucky enough to be friends with them." 

"You really like all of them, huh?"

Makoto nodded, unzipping his hoodie just a smidge, enough so that his eye peeked out, "every chance I get to spend time with them feels really special"

Komaru, still sitting down on Makoto's bed, leaned her head back against the back wall. A much softer smile graced her face, it was a small little thing but Makoto understood the meaning. Komaru thumbled the envelope in her hands, then placed it by her side. 

"You're just...you're kinda amazing, Makoto." 

"Huh?" Makoto didn't understand that at all, he wasn't anything special at all! He only got lucky, otherwise he was the most average guy in Japan. He unzipped his hoodie all the way, embarrassment forgotten in his confusion.

"I mean look at you!" She lifted her head back up, gesturing wildly to all of Makoto, "you're out there, making friends with the most amazing people in the world just by being yourself! I mean...what is up with that?!"

Makoto smiled, "They are the most amazing people, huh?" 

"You've always been pretty good at making friends-" 

"So are you though!" 

"-but I never thought you'd be this good! You're going places! You're making connections!" Her excitement and gestures began to slowly lose steam as she spoke. Her movements more sluggish and heavy, her smile going away. 

"And I'm still gonna be here. Just a normal girl." 

Well...that made sense. Makoto felt exactly the same. He and his sister may be rather different, but they were also incredibly similar. They were both optimistic, friendly, they both saw the good in a lot of people, but they also both felt like they were painfully average. Makoto lifted himself off the ground and joined Komaru on the bed, sitting next to her. He knew that just telling her she was special wouldn't help much, he'd experienced people telling him that over and over and he still felt like he cheated his way into being "special".  

After a pause, Makoto said, "you know...I know a few Ultimates I think you'd make good friends with…" 

Komaru looked up at that, "Wait, really?" 

"Yeah! You'd get along great with Maizono-san, Enoshima-san-" 

Komaru gasped, "Enoshima? Like Enoshima Junko?" 

"Uh, yeah!" 

"She's a total BABE Makoto where's her letter!" 

Makoto laughed, she sure cheered up fast, "Maybe you can write it after you talk to her for a bit." 

"You really think she'd talk to me? I'm not an Ultimate." 

"Sure! If she can talk to me, she'll get along just fine with you! Ah but...careful...she can be kind of intense on pranks…"

"She sounds great!"

"And that's not all! There's also people you already know! You've read Yamada-san's fan books and one of Fukawa-san's novels!" 

"You know them?!" 

"You don't need to be in Hope's Peak and you don't need to be special to go places, I think you're fine as you are!"

Komaru's shoulders lifted and she curled in on herself, a genuine grateful look on her face, "thanks Makoto...you're a good brother" 

"Any time, Komaru." He smiled sweetly, "now give me my letter back." 

[romewritingshop]

Universal Words Chapter One: Think about it

Fandom: Narcos

Relationship: Indian!OFC x Indian!OMC

Warnings: None

Word Count Total: 2954

Summary: Priya Srivastav is an uneducated housewife who decides to take English classes at the behest of her sister. Coming to the classes, she is drawn in by another class fellow, a mysterious withdrawn writer by the name of Javier Peña. As sessions go on, Javier and Priya learn more about one another and discover a new form of communication.

A/N: This is a fic where multiple characters speak different languages so the words highlighted in bold indicate the character is talking in another language.

Universal Words Masterlist

Tagged: @tiffdawg​ @storiesofthefandomlovers​ @arrowswithwifi​

Priya sat on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around her body, staring dead straight into the Indian drama serial. She didn't know what it was called but the familiarity of the language brought some peace to her heart. Meena sat at the dining table with papers around her and a laptop in front. Her eyes often darted from the screen to Priya. She sat back and rubbed her head. She couldn't focus as she saved her work and shut down the computer, going around the dining table and sitting next to Priya.

"Did you finish your work?"

"No."

Priya frowned and glanced at her sister. Meena had a grimace on her face as Priya unwrapped herself from the blanket to offer to Meena, who took the edge and laid it over her lap.

"Why?"

"Because you sitting here is distracting me from working. It's been two weeks since you've come out of the house. You need fresh air."

Priya rolled her eyes and stared straight into the television, ignoring her sister's suggestion. Meena sighed and held her sister's hand with comfort rather than sympathy.

"Look I know what happened hurts. But staying cooped up in the house isn't going to help. You need to get out there and work. For Jig.”

She hated it when Meena mentioned Jignesh but she knew she was right. She had to go out and work to support Jignesh. At the mention of him, the front door opens with two voices squealing excitingly followed by a deep stern voice.

“Mama!”

Priya glanced over her shoulder watching as her son and niece skip through the door followed by her brother-in-law. Her son, Jignesh or Jig ran around the sofa to jump into her arms, excitedly talking.

“Mama! Today we had chips and chocolates because it was Max’s birthday! And Mrs Jones gave me a sticker for being a good helper.”

Priya smiled as best she could even though she didn’t understand what her son was saying. He was speaking too fast for her to comprehend but she could sense it was something good judging by his big smile and shiny eyes. Meena could see her sister trying to focus on what Jignesh was saying and she decided to step in for Priya. She took Jignesh and sat him on her knee, subtly translating what he said.

“Really! You got a sticker from Mrs Jones and you had chocolates!”

Priya gave a nod, understanding what happened as she held Jignesh’s head in her hands and she kissed the top of his forehead.

“You are such a good boy, Jiggy. I’ll buy you a present tomorrow.”

“Yes!”

Jignesh jumped off and ran upstairs to get changed as Priya and Meena got off the sofa. Priya went to the kitchen to make a start on some snacks for the kids as Meena went to her husband, Yadav and daughter, Radha.

“Hello, you two! How was your day, Radha?”

“It was okay, Mom. Had a maths test and got an A minus. I gave my history project to my teacher. I also signed up for piano lessons.”

Meena smiled and hugged her Radha, who turned out of the room and went upstairs to get changed. Meena gave her husband a hug, staring lovingly into his eyes, talking in hushed tones as if to ensure Priya couldn’t hear. It was useless because Priya wouldn’t have understood what they said anyway. Priya smiled wistfully as she was chopping cucumbers into sticks. Meena and Yadav came around the kitchen counter, as Yadav greeted Priya.

“Hello Priya. Did you have a good day today?”

“Yes I did. I watched an entire indian serial.”

Yadav gave a concerned nod and turned to his wife, asking for help on how to broach the topic but Meena shook her head and urged him to talk. He had a responsibility as a brother-in-law to help out his sister-in-law. Yadav rubbed his moustache and found a way to start the conversation.

“So, Priya. Did Meena talk to you about classes?”

Priya turned to Yadav with an unimpressed raised eyebrow and Yadav grew skirmish under her stare. She nailed ‘disappointing’ as Yadav tugged his shirt collar.

“Look, it's for your benefit. I don’t understand why you don’t want to go. It’s just three hours during the day and you'll be home before Jignesh finishes school."

Priya put the knife down and took in Yadav’s words. She hated that they were offering easy ways to go to the class without stress but it was something she had never done. Her mother raised her to be a dutiful housewife and she couldn’t understand what the point was in learning English.

“What am I going to do with English?”

Meena rolled her eyes and held her sister’s hand.

“You can go back to teaching. I know you loved teaching maths and English will help you get a job to support Jignesh. You can’t keep relying on Amit’s child support.”

Priya was feeling even worse as she understood the deeper meaning of her sister’s words. Meena wanted her to get out and the only way she was going to get out was if Priya had an income to pay for rent for another house. Priya sighed as she took in her sister and Yadavs’ faces. She really wanted to believe they cared for her but deep down they just wanted to get rid of her: a single mother holding on to her sister for support. Who wouldn’t?

“Just think about it, Priya.”

Priya gave a nod as the two kids came tumbling down the stairs and thundering into the kitchen. Priya smiled and brought a tray of vegetable sticks and a tub of dip. Everyone sat around at the dinner table as Priya watched her son scoop a big pile of hummus on his cucumber stick. She should do it. For Jignesh. Jignesh beamed at his mother and she beamed back at him.

~~~~~~

Priya stood in front of a coffee shop, waiting around for Meena to just finish up at work. Priya was still unsure about English classes. Something was holding her back but she couldn't put her finger on it. The coffee shop was quaint and homely from the outside. She caved in to Meena’s request to step out of the house and with an extensive list of directions, Priya was able to take the subway to Manhattan; to a small coffee shop with the logo of a green woman.

She looked down at her dark green saree to brush away the creases. Priya looked fairly decent and nice as she wrapped the extra saree cloth around her shoulders to protect herself from the breeze. It wasn’t long when she heard a low hum from somewhere. Looking into her purse, she realised it was her phone as she reached in and answered it.

“Hello Priya?”

“Meena, I’ve reached the caffee shop.”

“Listen, I’m really sorry but I’m going to be stuck in a meeting for an hour. Sit in, order a coffee and then I’ll meet you at Central Park.”

“But Meena?”

“Look I’ve got to go! See you.”

The phone cut and Priya was taken aback by Meena’s hasty behaviour. She understood that Meena’s work was important but she left her in a difficult position. How was she supposed to order coffee for herself? Priya took a deep breath, reassuring herself that she could do it. It’s coffee. All she has to do is ask for a coffee and then pay. She glanced down at her phone to the store and then stepped in.

It was about time that she tried to be independent for herself, especially if it was going to be just her and her son for a couple of years. There were three people in front of her as she looked around the small shop. It was fairly full with scatters of people on sofas, high chairs and tables. Some were couples, others were with laptops and one or two just sat with a book. She noticed a man alone at a table, his lips pursed with focus and his dark moustache neatly brushed.

He was staring deep into a brown leather bound notebook and his mug of coffee sat with steam whispering away. There was something about him that reminded Priya of Amit. She recognised the quiet stillness as she took a deep breath and tried to shake away thoughts of Amit. She turned her eyes forward and noticed that she was next. Taking an awkward step forward to the cashier, who looked young and sprightly as she had a wide smile on her face. Hat sitting just right which made her face more noticeable rather than hidden.

“Hi, how can I help you?”

‘Help’? Priya didn’t understand what she meant because all she had come to do was order a coffee. She looked at the menu with uncertainty. The words did nothing to help and she didn’t see anything remotely looking like the words coffee.

“Help?”

“I mean, what do you want to drink?”

Priya understood. ‘Drink’. She looked at the menu and was hesitating to read the names, nor understand them.

“Coffee?”

“Sure, we have different types of coffee? Which one would you like?”

The cashier was still expecting more and Priya was stumped. Was coffee not enough?

“You have coffee?”

The girl’s smile faltered slightly and Priya felt unbelievably guilty. She didn't mean to be awkward with her lack of understanding. 

“Yes we do, there are different kinds. Which one would you like?”

Before she could answer, a deep voice behind her bellowed angrily.

“Hey lady! Can you hurry up?”

The cashier’s smile dropped into a grimace as she brought her head around Priya’s view and directly to the direction of the deep voice.

“Hey buddy! There’s a thing called patience! Surely you can wait a few minutes!”

The deep voice grumbled angrily as the cashier turned her head back to Priya with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry about that.”

The cashier was apologising about the voice and Priya felt a little tense from the embarrassment. Out of the corner of her eye, the queue behind her was piling up slightly and she hated being a pain. Forget the coffee, she was thirsty for water. Surely there were no complications with getting a glass of water.

“Water?”

“Of course. Do you want still, sparkling, iced or flavoured water?”

Correction, there were complications with water and Priya’s head was hurting even more. The cashier seemed to notice the customer in front of her was having a hard time deciding what to choose. She wasn’t being overly difficult, she was just unsure and unclear. She seemed to just understand coffee and water and the cashier was feeling a little bad for her. Then she took in the customer’s saree, having a guess she decided to talk in Hindi.

“Do you speak Hindi?”

The cashier noticed a big smile on the customers face as she vehemently nodded. Priya was relieved when she heard the familiar words of Hindi.

“Yes! Thank you.”

“It’s no problem. Do you want anything to drink?”

“I want coffee.”

“There’s different types of coffee so it is not easy just to say coffee because they’re all coffee.”

“Oh! I was wondering why coffee wasn’t on the menu? Well do you have tea?”

“We have different types of tea.”

In the midst of their conversation, an unwelcome deep annoying voice bellowed again.

“Hey! You mind talking in English?”

The cashier fumed as she looked around Priya with fire dancing in her eyes. No longer a polite smile and she was not going to hesitate to put this customer in their place.

“I didn’t recall asking you to be a part of our conversation. You don’t like Hindi, go somewhere else for coffee!”

The slightly tubby man threw his hands up in frustration and stalked out of the cafe. The cashier smiled to herself and turned herself back to her customer in front of her.

“Sorry about that. People don’t have any respect nowadays.”

“I’m really sorry. I’m holding up the queue.”

“Don’t worry. Take your time.”

“Could you recommend something for me?”

The cashier took a moment to look at her customer fully, taking in the sari, simple plain face and bright curious eyes. After a few minutes, she was able to choose something she had a feeling the customer would like.

“Chai Latte. I think that’s a good coffee to start with. I’ll give you a small cup. That’s three dollars and fifty-five cents. Drinking inside or taking somewhere else?”

“Drinking inside.”

Priya smiled with relief, she was able to order a coffee, with the help of the cashier. She reached into her purse and handed the cashier five dollars. The cashier handed her the change and gestured to her to take a seat at a table. She did just that and sat at the table, bouncing her leg with habit. A nervous comforting tick. A few minutes later, a white mug was placed on her table and the lively cashier took a seat opposite to Priya, leaning back and spreading her legs as wide as possible, one ankle resting on her knee. Priya was entranced by her demeanour as the girl smiled and raised an eyebrow at her.

The cashier watched as her customer took a sip of the chai latte, and her lips pursed in and her eyes scrunched slightly. She smiled and leaned up with both elbows on the table, eyebrows hooked with curiosity.

“So you don’t like it?”

“No, it’s different from the coffee I have back home. A little bitter but decent.”

“At least you’re honest.”

Priya watched her with curiosity and realised she hadn’t gotten the name of the kind cashier.

“Sorry, what was your name?”

“Pooja.”

Priya was certainly surprised by the Indian sounding name as Pooja smiled. Pooja could tell this customer hadn’t met anyone like her; she probably hadn’t gone out of her house often as Priya mouthed the name in question. Pooja set about introducing herself to educate her customer.

“Yes. I’m from Nepal. My mum liked the word and thought it would be a good name for me.”

Priya gave a nod and took another sip of her drink, slightly liking it more as she thought it appropriate to thank the cashier.

“Thank you again for speaking in Hindi. I’m sorry I kept your queue long.”

“Don’t worry about it. I know what it’s like not being able to communicate in English.”

Priya had to agree there and smiled at Pooja. She was still dressed in her uniform and Priya worried that she might be keeping Pooja from her job.

“Are you not going to get in trouble by sitting here and talking to me?”

“Nope. My friend owns this branch so he basically has given me free reign.”

Priya smiled as she looked around the various patrons in the coffee shop, feeling slightly down at the fact that her sister wasn’t able to come meet her here. Pooja noticed the way her face fell and carefully treaded onto the topic of her dull face.

“So, were you here to meet someone? Most of the people that come here: meet people or do work.”

“Yeah, my sister was supposed to come down and have a drink with me but she was stuck in a meeting. Told me to get a coffee then meet her later.”

“Ah.”

There was a comfortable pause as Priya finished off her coffee. Pooja was an interesting character, carefree and strong, not to mention outspoken. All the things she wished she was and she couldn’t help but venture down this deep path of discovery.

“How did you learn English so well?”

“The same way I learnt Hindi: I picked it up from watching a lot of TV and films. Soon as I came to New York, I hung out with a lot of people that spoke English. It wasn’t easy but it worked for me.”

Her brain was reeling from this experience as she thought back to her sister’s insistence on English classes. Should she actually bother or should she just wing it like Pooja? Maybe she might get her answer by phrasing the question in a hypothetical situation. It always helps with getting clear cut answers.

“If you had the choice to go to English classes, would you go?”

“Definitely. At least I’d learn all the proper grammar and structures of sentences. I taught myself and that took hours of my time. If I went to a class to learn how to speak English, I’d feel much more confident in my speaking skills.”

It was certainly not the answer she was expecting as she took in Pooja’s words. Before she could ponder deeply, her phone rang and cut before she could answer it. It was Meena, probably finished with her meeting as she stood up along with Pooja.

“That’s my sister. Again, thank you for the drink and just being kind to me overall.”

“It’s alright. Kindness starts somewhere.”

Pooja headed back to the coffee counter with Priya’s empty coffee mug, taking her place by the till and taking the next order. Priya was heading towards the door and looking through the phone when she accidentally bumped into a wall. She brought a hand to her forehead before looking back forward to see a tall person instead of a wall. It was the moustached man as he stood with a grim face, leather bound journal in his hand. Priya apologised and stepped around the man, walking straight for central park where her sister was. After talking with the cafe worker, Pooja, Priya decided that she would give these English classes a try.

CHAPTER TWO: INTRODUCTIONS

[myngxy-sue]

Heartbreak Hurts Like Hell

I was originally going to write about Sue’s envy finally giving her the motivation to confess to Lucifer but I got so caught up with what happened beforehand that I dedicated almost three days of my life writing this. Pairings: Mammon X Yuki, Lucifer X Sue maybe Word count:  3772 words Genre: Angst, hurt, comfort Warnings: Probably OOC and my character gets slightly injured. There’s also some cursing in it. The ending is probably rushed too. 

She wrote him a love note once. It wasn’t anything special. She couldn’t think of a better way to express her love for him. Perhaps it was a bit too long. Sue had a horrible habit of getting wordy when it came to her writing. But it was from the heart and she dedicated all her time and effort into writing it. She stuffed the note into her purse, assuring herself that she’d give it to Mammon when she got the chance.

Well, chances came and went, the note was forgotten about and it wasn’t until Yuki confessed to Mammon that she remembered. But it was too late. Mammon and Yuki were together.

It was a pretty generic confession, like one straight out of an anime. Their meeting place was under a cherry blossom tree of sorts. Sue happened to be there as well because she had a still life assignment for art class. Yuki had been there for quite a while, leaning on the tree, walking around it a few times and sitting right next to it, waiting. Sue had half a mind to ask what she was waiting for but she decided against it. Yuki didn’t seem to be aware that she was there too.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps, the sound of someone’s feet cutting through the grass as they ran. Sue peeped to see who it was and her heart stopped. Mammon stumbled before Yuki, scratching his head and wearing a sheepish grin on his face.Yuki helped him up.

Sue got a cold, clenching feeling inside her, somewhere between her chest and her gut. Something told her that she knew what was about to go down. She absentmindedly placed a hand on her purse, watching everything unfold.

Yuki looks down at her feet, a strong blush fading on her cheeks. She fumbled with a skirt before taking a letter out of her pocket, a pink letter bound with a red heart sticker. Sue wanted to turn away. Lord knows she desperately wanted to turn away. But she couldn’t. It was like watching a car accident take place.

Mammon’s face went blank as he eyed the letter. He takes it and promptly shoves it into an inner pocket with a smile, probably planning to show it off. They exchanged some words with each other, Yuki looking ecstatic and Mammon blushing. Then he took her in his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead.

Finally, Sue had enough.

She gathered all her things, stood up almost instantly and bolted to the school building. The clenching feeling began paining her. She tried to prevent the hot tears from accumulating but to no avail. Sue didn’t want anyone to see how hurt she was. They’d start pestering her with questions she didn’t want to answer. She slipped into class and hastily as possible and went over to her seat.

Putting all her supplies inside her desk, she rests her head down on the surface, using her arms both as support and as cover. Everyone assumed she was sleeping when she was really crying. This was all thanks to her habit of taking quick naps during school hours, particularly during breaks. She made sure to stay as still as possible and regulate her breathing.

She couldn’t believe it at first. Even if she knew all the signs, she refused to accept it at first. Yuki was a very outgoing girl despite what she tried to affirm. It was only a matter of time before she decided to make her confession. Her anxiety was never as bad as Sue’s, perhaps because she didn’t have a voice in her head constantly demeaning her. Mammon favored Yuki since she was the first between the both of them to make a pact with him.

But she didn’t get why he was only drawn to Yuki. Sue made a pact with him too and through less dubious means. She should be the one he clinged to. Leviathan forced Yuki to make a pact with Mammon for his own benefit. It didn’t make any sense.

Yuki wasn’t all that great. She was much too nosy and reckless for her own good, constantly getting herself into trouble. Sue had to save her countless times, especially from Lucifer. Yuki was childish. She cried about every little thing, she was a bit selfish, lazy, indecisive, irresponsible and maybe even stupid. Yuki was nothing but a burden.

At the same time though, Yuki was so sweet as well. Even if she was nosy, it was only because she wanted to do what she believed was right. No matter how cruel the brothers were to her, Yuki was always kind to them and believed they had some goodness to them. She was the only person who was never mean to Mammon.

Of course Mammon loved Yuki. Even with all her shortcomings, she was still better than Sue in many ways. Sue couldn’t really think about anything meaningful she had to offer. That was probably why everyone except Lucifer prefered Yuki. She was the fun, loving one. Sue was the boring mom friend.

Sue felt guilty for trying to rationalize why her friend was a bad choice. She should be happy for Yuki. She remembered all those late nights when she listened to Yuki swooning about her dream boy. Yuki saw that in Mammon so she should be glad. But no matter how hard she tried, Sue was never fully content for her friend. Her feelings for Mammon were still so strong.

Ugh, why does stuff like love and feelings have to be so difficult?

“Oi, oi! Sue-chan! Wake up!” A high-pitched voice bubbled as the owner shook Sue. “You’re not supposed to be sleeping during the day!”

Sue let out an exasperated sigh. She knew it was Yuki, not that it was hard to tell who she was to begin with. Yuki stood out for better or for worse. Reluctantly, Sue sat up, wiping her eyes in a groggy way so her friend wouldn’t suspect a thing.

“But it’s break time…” Sue grumbled.

“But Lucifer-san got mad at you for sleeping in school!” Yuki pouted, putting her hands on her hips.

“Weren’t you listening?” Sue began cleaning her glasses. They got smudged against her skin. “He was mad because I was sleeping during class. Otherwise, Lucifer has no problem with me sleeping in school.”

“Oh really?”

“Really.”

Yuki took a closer look at Sue, narrowing her eyes. Sue put back on her glasses with a straight face. Deep down, her guilt was reaching its zenith. Someone so pleasant didn’t deserve her wrath, even if it was all internal.

“Why did you wake me up anyways?” Sue huffed, acting like she didn’t see the confession.

Yuki pulled away quickly, instantly becoming bright eyed. “Oh Sue-chan, it was like a dream come true! I confessed to Mam-kun under the sakura tree and he accepted my feelings!”

And grass is green and the sky is blue! I bet you want to tell me that people die when they are killed too!

That was a stupid thought to have. Sue tapped herself on the head lightly. Yuki didn’t know she saw a good chunk of the confession. Sue knew that very well. This heartbreak was making her act weird.

“That is the sappiest thing I’ve ever heard,” Sue smiled weakly.

“But it was so magical!” Yuki swooned, spinning herself around like some sort of princess. “If you had a boyfriend, you’d understand!”

Sue felt like she got stabbed in the heart. She shouldn’t be getting so hurt over Yuki’s words but they hit a nerve. The bitter part of her was telling her that Yuki knew what was going on and she was intentionally trying to hurt her. But Sue’s rational side reminded her that even if Yuki knew, she wouldn’t be so spiteful about it. She just wanted to scream so badly.

“Why don’t you have a boyfriend, Sue-chan?” Yuki said suddenly.

Sue was taken aback. “Why would you ask something like that?”

Yuki shrugged playfully. “I just think you should’ve had a boyfriend by now. After all, you’re eighteen.”

Sue couldn’t be mad at Yuki for having that mindset. She grew up in Japan and Sue heard that there was a dating crisis there. If Yuki hadn’t been dragged to Devildom, there’d be no doubt that her parents would pressure her into finding a man to settle down with.

“I don’t know…” Sue groaned. “I don’t know anyone out there who likes me…”

“There has to be someone out there!” Yuki asserted. “There’s always someone for everyone. It’s like the saying from your country: Every…. Umm.... Every… Well… It has something to do with bread.”

“Every bread have a cheese?”

Yuki snapped her fingers. “That’s it!”

Sue chuckled softly, secretly wishing that the ground would consume her already.

“Don’t worry, Sue-chan! I will find the right man for you!” Yuki declared.

Sue gawped at Yuki before smiling and snickering, “Good luck with that.”

Yuki affirmed that she could do it before stomping off ambitiously. Sue sighed once more before putting her head down again. Now she had to deal with getting over Mammon and Yuki’s quest to match her with someone. Two things too many. And once the bell rang, Sue was going to have math with the worst teacher ever. Sue placed her hand on her purse again.

“Well, so much for that…” Sue thought to herself.

She knew at that moment that she wanted to dispose of the note. It had no use anymore and if anyone found it, she’d die of embarrassment. Throwing it in the bin was out of the question. It was so easy for someone to find it that way. Not to mention, there were some demons gutsy enough to rummage through garbage. Sue kept thinking of other ways. Even when the bell rang and classes resumed, Sue was coming up with a myriad of ideas to get rid of her note.

It went on like that until school finally finished for the day. To Sue, the day felt longer than usual. She was so desperate that she didn’t even wait for the bell. But she managed to control herself. The last thing she needed to do was piss off Lucifer.

During the walk home, Sue abruptly had an idea. She had read Little Women very recently. There were many parts of it that stuck to her. But since she wanted to dispose of her love note, the moment she thought about very much had something to do with destroying paper. She remembered when Amy burned Jo’s writing.

Of course, fire was the best way to get rid of almost anything. Paper wasn’t safe. The flames would reduce everything to ashes. All of her regrets, unrequited feelings and all would become nothing. If she played her cards wisely, it’d be like the note never existed to begin with.

She knew at once that burning the note would be the first thing she did once she returned to the House of Lamentation.

As she walked home, Sue thought about how glad she was that never bothered to give Mammon the note. She was proud that she was too shy for her own good. She had the feeling that even if she did beat Yuki to the confessing, Mammon would probably reject her. He needed someone who loved him wholly, someone who didn’t make him feel like trash. That someone, as hard as it was for Sue to admit, was Yuki.

If she saw Yuki and Mammon together, she’d turn a blind eye. She’d have to stop looking at Mammon with rose-colored lenses. He was a demon and whatever trouble he got into affected everyone to boot. Even Sue was annoyed at how Mammon would constantly get into the same problem over and over again. That and his arrogance was quite annoying.

Damn it…

Even with all that in mind, Sue’s love for Mammon was still great. She could only hope that this wouldn’t last for so long.

The walk home went without a hitch if one ignored the fact she fell into an open drain. Her ankle hurt like a bitch. In the heat of the moment, she almost used her pact to summon Mammon. Seeing him for the rest of the day was the last thing she wanted. She couldn’t summon anyone else. Making a pact with Mammon alone was a dumb idea. Well, she supposed that her ankle wasn’t that badly hurt.

Shit…

Sue rubbed her ankle once she managed to climb out. Lucifer would notice. She could pretend to her heart’s content, but he had a way of knowing. Her heart stopped. He had a way of knowing. Sue began to worry about how much he knew about her.

He probably knew about the note already. They were in the same room when she wrote it. Lucifer may have taken some cursory glances while he was working. He might’ve known that she was pretending to sleep when she was really crying. Once Lucifer even knew she had a cold before she even came to the realization. But maybe she was just over thinking. Sure, Lucifer knew many things but not everything. And what business did he have with unrequited love anyways? In all likelihood, he wouldn’t care. Lucifer had six oversized babies to look after, two humans to protect as well as copious amounts of work from Diavolo. Even if he knew, he didn’t have the time and energy to care.

Sue limped the rest of the way home, grateful that she didn’t bump into anyone she knew. She stopped at the front door. Maybe she could hide the ankle problem. It wasn’t like she didn’t try to walk normally when she hurt her foot before.

She entered.

The entrance hall was empty, much to her delight, and the fireplace was right in front of her. Sue stumbled into the living room. She didn’t even bother to check if anyone was in there.

“You’re late,” A voice said sternly.

Sue froze, jolting a bit when she accidentally applied weight to her bad leg. She turned to the source and she could feel herself trembling. Lucifer was not too far from the fireplace, lounging on a chair with a book in hand. His eyes were locked on her, that world famous scowl on his face.

“You didn’t even have any of my brothers accompany you,” Lucifer added as he stood up. He walked over to Sue. “Care to explain yourself?”

She looked up at the demon, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest. Her mouth opened slightly but not a sound came out. Lucifer let out a frustrated sigh as his face softened. He picked her up suddenly and set her down on the nearest chair.

“Even you can be troublesome…” Lucifer mumbled under his breath. He stared at her bad leg, almost cradling it in his hands. Sue didn’t know why but it was oddly comforting. It wouldn’t awaken anything within her, right?

“I fell into a drain,” Sue admitted.

Lucifer remarked, “You know you should watch your step.”

“I guess…”

“I am going to grab a few things for your ankle. I want you to stay in this exact spot. Don’t even think about getting up.”

She eyed her feet as she listened to Lucifer walking off. The sight of the swollen ankle made her cringe. Regardless, she took off her shoe and her sock to get a better look at it. It was a lot worse than she was expecting. The skin was mostly reddish with some bits of purple here and there. Sue grumbled. If she hadn’t been so caught up on the note, she would’ve watched her step.

Oh yeah, the note…

Sue pulled it out of her purse. It was folded pretty delicately. If only she could fold other things just as nicely, she thought. She opened it. Only one word in and she already couldn’t take it. She had put so much effort into it. That was one of the reasons she hated it so much. But mainly, it reminded her of the feelings she was now ashamed of. Feelings she wished that she could just get rid of on a whim. Why couldn’t it just be simple like that?

Lucifer may have told her to stay still, but she had to do what she was about to do. Sue got up, the pain from her ankle shooting up to the rest of her body. Jesus Christ, she was in pain! But she ignored it. Crumbling the note in her hands, Sue staggered over to the fireplace. The heat was quite welcoming.

She looked at the crumpled piece of paper before quite casually tossing it into the fire. Falling down to her knees, Sue watched as it was slowly consumed by the flames. A strange sense of melancholy took over. At the same time, she was strangely ecstatic. She couldn’t look away even after the note turned into ashes.

“You cannot be serious!” Lucifer exclaimed.

Sue chuckled softly as the demon paced over to her. He hoisted her up and carried her back to the chair, plopping her down on it. Lucifer gawped at her, holding her face up by the chin so she wouldn’t look away.

“I thought I’d just be able to ignore this but you've been acting strange since break,” Lucifer said. “What’s the meaning of all this?”

“Sometimes you just want to watch your regrets burn in an open fire,” Sue answered plainly. She smiled weakly but Lucifer was as stern looking as ever.

Lucifer raised a brow. “Is that all?”

“It was just a stupid story I wrote. I didn’t like it so I burned it. There’s nothing to worry about,” Sue claimed after hesitating for a moment.

The silence between them was damning. Lucifer’s eyes narrowed before he huffed.

“Sue, I believe we both know that’s a lie. I saw what you wrote and I know exactly who it's for. But if you insist on lying then please be my guest.” Sue bit her lip. She knew what she should tell him but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to. Just thinking about it brought back the pain tenfold. The tears came flooding out and her lips streamed. Lucifer was stunned.

“I feel horrible!” Sue whimpered. “Mammon likes Yuki and I don’t want to be mad at her. But I still love Mammon!”

Lucifer’s eyebrows went up ever so high in disbelief. “You have feelings for Mammon of all demons?”

“I can’t help it. I think he’s great.”

“No, he is not,” Lucifer said, shaking his head.

Sue pouted. “Don’t act like you don’t get it!”

“I really don't.”

Sue furrowed her brows, giving Lucifer the best icy stare she could manage. But she gave up and let out a sigh in defeat, pulling away from him.

“Whatever,” Sue grumbled. “That doesn’t matter right now. It’s just that… I think I might be jealous of Yuki.”

“There, there…” Lucifer comforted, patting Sue on the head. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.”

“But I’m jealous of my friend.”

“You shouldn’t be jealous of Yuki. You must remember that she’s the inferior one.”

Sue paused as she gawked at Lucifer. How could she say such a thing? But once she really thought about what he said, she giggled lightly. It was pretty clear that Lucifer wasn’t being serious. He smirked a bit.

“Thank you. I’ll take it to heart,” Sue assured him.

Lucifer narrowed his eyes. “I hope you are not trying to flatter me. I was worried that this may affect your academic performance.”

“Is that all?” Sue had a blank expression.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Lucifer scoffed. “Now, let’s see about that injury of yours.”

Sue watched as Lucifer tended to her ankle. The brief moment of joy from a few moments before had faded.

“I just wish I could get over it sooner,” Sue confessed.

Lucifer nodded. “I suppose such feelings are quite bothersome. But they are not easy to overcome so don’t beat yourself down if you believe it’s taking too long.”

“I wish it were that simple but…”

Lucifer looked up at the human, raising a brow.

Sue continued, “I don’t know. I just feel really bad about being jealous of Yuki.”

“Has your jealousy led to you hurting Yuki?” Lucifer inquired.

Sue shook her head.

“Have you ever thought about hurting her?”

She shook her head again.

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Lucifer assured her. “You have a lot of self-control, something my brothers unfortunately lack.”

Sue tilted her head. “But what about you?”

Lucifer got serious real fast. “And what do you mean by that?”

Sue paused, looking at him with a blank expression again. She considered whether or not she should tell him. But before she could decide for herself, Lucifer spoke up.

“No, I don’t even want to hear it. I suggest you keep your thoughts to yourself, Sue.”

“Fine.”

She looked down at her patched up ankle, her internal pain easing up a little. Then her gaze turned to the fireplace. She wished that she could burn her feelings and move on. But all she could do was bottle them up and let it sit there until she forgot. Lucifer said she was doing a fine job, keeping it all in. That probably wasn’t the best advice. But she took it regardless.

“You should stay away from school until your ankle heals. I don’t want you hurting yourself anymore,” Lucifer advised. “I will make sure that you—”

Sue threw herself onto Lucifer all of a sudden, pulling him into an embrace. She could feel a new stream of hot tears running down her face. Lucifer eyes widened in surprise.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Lucifer bleated.

“Thank you…” Sue breathed. She hurt her ankle again.

Lucifer recovered from the shock a bit before sighing. “If you wish to thank me, just say it. This is simply unnecessary.”

Sue looked up at him and was amazed to see the demon blushing. He tried to glare at her, but it was hard to be afraid when he looked so cute. She didn’t think that she’d get him flushed so easily. Many things were running through her mind. Something told her that perhaps getting over Mammon wouldn’t be so daunting.

“You are such a strange human,” Lucifer remarked.

She shrugged. Perhaps she was. Sue began to wonder about what would happen next.

“Will you finally sit down? You’re not making this any easier.”

Well, chances came and went, the note was forgotten about and it wasn’t until Yuki confessed to Mammon that she remembered. But it was too late. Mammon and Yuki were together.

It was a pretty generic confession, like one straight out of an anime. Their meeting place was under a cherry blossom tree of sorts. Sue happened to be there as well because she had a still life assignment for art class. Yuki had been there for quite a while, leaning on the tree, walking around it a few times and sitting right next to it, waiting. Sue had half a mind to ask what she was waiting for but she decided against it. Yuki didn’t seem to be aware that she was there too.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps, the sound of someone’s feet cutting through the grass as they ran. Sue peeped to see who it was and her heart stopped. Mammon stumbled before Yuki, scratching his head and wearing a sheepish grin on his face.Yuki helped him up.

Sue got a cold, clenching feeling inside her, somewhere between her chest and her gut. Something told her that she knew what was about to go down. She absentmindedly placed a hand on her purse, watching everything unfold.

Yuki looks down at her feet, a strong blush fading on her cheeks. She fumbled with a skirt before taking a letter out of her pocket, a pink letter bound with a red heart sticker. Sue wanted to turn away. Lord knows she desperately wanted to turn away. But she couldn’t. It was like watching a car accident take place.

Mammon’s face went blank as he eyed the letter. He takes it and promptly shoves it into an inner pocket with a smile, probably planning to show it off. They exchanged some words with each other, Yuki looking ecstatic and Mammon blushing. Then he took her in his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead. Finally, Sue had enough.

She gathered all her things, stood up almost instantly and bolted to the school building. The clenching feeling began paining her. She tried to prevent the hot tears from accumulating but to no avail. Sue didn’t want anyone to see how hurt she was. They’d start pestering her with questions she didn’t want to answer. She slipped into class and hastily as possible and went over to her seat.

Putting all her supplies inside her desk, she rests her head down on the surface, using her arms both as support and as cover. Everyone assumed she was sleeping when she was really crying. This was all thanks to her habit of taking quick naps during school hours, particularly during breaks. She made sure to stay as still as possible and regulate her breathing.

She couldn’t believe it at first. Even if she knew all the signs, she refused to accept it at first. Yuki was a very outgoing girl despite what she tried to affirm. It was only a matter of time before she decided to make her confession. Her anxiety was never as bad as Sue’s, perhaps because she didn’t have a voice in her head constantly demeaning her. Mammon favored Yuki since she was the first between the both of them to make a pact with him.

But she didn’t get why he was only drawn to Yuki. Sue made a pact with him too and through less dubious means. She should be the one he clinged to. Leviathan forced Yuki to make a pact with Mammon for his own benefit. It didn’t make any sense.

Yuki wasn’t all that great. She was much too nosy and reckless for her own good, constantly getting herself into trouble. Sue had to save her countless times, especially from Lucifer. Yuki was childish. She cried about every little thing, she was a bit selfish, lazy, indecisive, irresponsible and maybe even stupid. Yuki was nothing but a burden.

At the same time though, Yuki was so sweet as well. Even if she was nosy, it was only because she wanted to do what she believed was right. No matter how cruel the brothers were to her, Yuki was always kind to them and believed they had some goodness to them. She was the only person who was never mean to Mammon. 

Of course Mammon loved Yuki. Even with all her shortcomings, she was still better than Sue in many ways. Sue couldn’t really think about anything meaningful she had to offer. That was probably why everyone except Lucifer prefered Yuki. She was the fun, loving one. Sue was the boring mom friend.

Sue felt guilty for trying to rationalize why her friend was a bad choice. She should be happy for Yuki. She remembered all those late nights when she listened to Yuki swooning about her dream boy. Yuki saw that in Mammon so she should be glad. But no matter how hard she tried, Sue was never fully content for her friend. Her feelings for Mammon were still so strong. 

Ugh, why does stuff like love and feelings have to be so difficult?

“Oi, oi! Sue-chan! Wake up!” A high-pitched voice bubbled as the owner shook Sue. “You’re not supposed to be sleeping during the day!”

Sue let out an exasperated sigh. She knew it was Yuki, not that it was hard to tell who she was to begin with. Yuki stood out for better or for worse. Reluctantly, Sue sat up, wiping her eyes in a groggy way so her friend wouldn’t suspect a thing.

“But it’s break time…” Sue grumbled. “But Lucifer-san got mad at you for sleeping in school!” Yuki pouted, putting her hands on her hips.

“Weren’t you listening?” Sue began cleaning her glasses. They got smudged against her skin. “He was mad because I was sleeping during class. Otherwise, Lucifer has no problem with me sleeping in school.” “Oh really?” “Really.”

Yuki took a closer look at Sue, narrowing her eyes. Sue put back on her glasses with a straight face. Deep down, her guilt was reaching its zenith. Someone so pleasant didn’t deserve her wrath, even if it was all internal.

“Why did you wake me up anyways?” Sue huffed, acting like she didn’t see the confession.

Yuki pulled away quickly, instantly becoming bright eyed. “Oh Sue-chan, it was like a dream come true! I confessed to Mam-kun under the sakura tree and he accepted my feelings!”

And grass is green and the sky is blue! I bet you want to tell me that people die when they are killed too!

That was a stupid thought to have. Sue tapped herself on the head lightly. Yuki didn’t know she saw a good chunk of the confession. Sue knew that very well. This heartbreak was making her act weird.

“That is the sappiest thing I’ve ever heard,” Sue smiled weakly.

“But it was so magical!” Yuki swooned, spinning herself around like some sort of princess. “If you had a boyfriend, you’d understand!”

Sue felt like she got stabbed in the heart. She shouldn’t be getting so hurt over Yuki’s words but they hit a nerve. The bitter part of her was telling her that Yuki knew what was going on and she was intentionally trying to hurt her. But Sue’s rational side reminded her that even if Yuki knew, she wouldn’t be so spiteful about it. She just wanted to scream so badly.

“Why don’t you have a boyfriend, Sue-chan?” Yuki said suddenly. Sue was taken aback. “Why would you ask something like that?” Yuki shrugged playfully. “I just think you should’ve had a boyfriend by now. After all, you’re eighteen.”

Sue couldn’t be mad at Yuki for having that mindset. She grew up in Japan and Sue heard that there was a dating crisis there. If Yuki hadn’t been dragged to Devildom, there’d be no doubt that her parents would pressure her into finding a man to settle down with. “I don’t know…” Sue groaned. “I don’t know anyone out there who likes me…” “There has to be someone out there!” Yuki asserted. “There’s always someone for everyone. It’s like the saying from your country: Every…. Umm.... Every… Well… It has something to do with bread.”

“Every bread have a cheese?” Yuki snapped her fingers. “That’s it!” Sue chuckled softly, secretly wishing that the ground would consume her already.

“Don’t worry, Sue-chan! I will find the right man for you!” Yuki declared.

Sue gawped at Yuki before smiling and snickering, “Good luck with that.”

Yuki affirmed that she could do it before stomping off ambitiously. Sue sighed once more before putting her head down again. Now she had to deal with getting over Mammon and Yuki’s quest to match her with someone. Two things too many. And once the bell rang, Sue was going to have math with the worst teacher ever. Sue placed her hand on her purse again. “Well, so much for that…” Sue thought to herself.

She knew at that moment that she wanted to dispose of the note. It had no use anymore and if anyone found it, she’d die of embarrassment. Throwing it in the bin was out of the question. It was so easy for someone to find it that way. Not to mention, there were some demons gutsy enough to rummage through garbage. Sue kept thinking of other ways. Even when the bell rang and classes resumed, Sue was coming up with a myriad of ideas to get rid of her note. It went on like that until school finally finished for the day. To Sue, the day felt longer than usual. She was so desperate that she didn’t even wait for the bell. But she managed to control herself. The last thing she needed to do was piss off Lucifer.

During the walk home, Sue abruptly had an idea. She had read Little Women very recently. There were many parts of it that stuck to her. But since she wanted to dispose of her love note, the moment she thought about very much had something to do with destroying paper. She remembered when Amy burned Jo’s writing.

Of course, fire was the best way to get rid of almost anything. Paper wasn’t safe. The flames would reduce everything to ashes. All of her regrets, unrequited feelings and all would become nothing. If she played her cards wisely, it’d be like the note never existed to begin with.

She knew at once that burning the note would be the first thing she did once she returned to the House of Lamentation.

As she walked home, Sue thought about how glad she was that never bothered to give Mammon the note. She was proud that she was too shy for her own good. She had the feeling that even if she did beat Yuki to the confessing, Mammon would probably reject her. He needed someone who loved him wholly, someone who didn’t make him feel like trash. That someone, as hard as it was for Sue to admit, was Yuki. 

If she saw Yuki and Mammon together, she’d turn a blind eye. She’d have to stop looking at Mammon with rose-colored lenses. He was a demon and whatever trouble he got into affected everyone to boot. Even Sue was annoyed at how Mammon would constantly get into the same problem over and over again. That and his arrogance was quite annoying. Damn it…

Even with all that in mind, Sue’s love for Mammon was still great. She could only hope that this wouldn’t last for so long.

The walk home went without a hitch if one ignored the fact she fell into an open drain. Her ankle hurt like a bitch. In the heat of the moment, she almost used her pact to summon Mammon. Seeing him for the rest of the day was the last thing she wanted. She couldn’t summon anyone else. Making a pact with Mammon alone was a dumb idea. Well, she supposed that her ankle wasn’t that badly hurt.

Shit… Sue rubbed her ankle once she managed to climb out. Lucifer would notice. She could pretend to her heart’s content, but he had a way of knowing. Her heart stopped. He had a way of knowing. Sue began to worry about how much he knew about her.

He probably knew about the note already. They were in the same room when she wrote it. Lucifer may have taken some cursory glances while he was working. He might’ve known that she was pretending to sleep when she was really crying. Once Lucifer even knew she had a cold before she even came to the realization.

But maybe she was just over thinking. Sure, Lucifer knew many things but not everything. And what business did he have with unrequited love anyways? In all likelihood, he wouldn’t care. Lucifer had six oversized babies to look after, two humans to protect as well as copious amounts of work from Diavolo. Even if he knew, he didn’t have the time and energy to care.

Sue limped the rest of the way home, grateful that she didn’t bump into anyone she knew. She stopped at the front door. Maybe she could hide the ankle problem. It wasn’t like she didn’t try to walk normally when she hurt her foot before. She entered.

The entrance hall was empty, much to her delight, and the fireplace was right in front of her. Sue stumbled into the living room. She didn’t even bother to check if anyone was in there.

“You’re late,” A voice said sternly.

Sue froze, jolting a bit when she accidentally applied weight to her bad leg. She turned to the source and she could feel herself trembling. Lucifer was not too far from the fireplace, lounging on a chair with a book in hand. His eyes were locked on her, that world famous scowl on his face. “You didn’t even have any of my brothers accompany you,” Lucifer added as he stood up. He walked over to Sue. “Care to explain yourself?”

She looked up at the demon, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest. Her mouth opened slightly but not a sound came out. Lucifer let out a frustrated sigh as his face softened. He picked her up suddenly and set her down on the nearest chair. “Even you can be troublesome…” Lucifer mumbled under his breath. He stared at her bad leg, almost cradling it in his hands. Sue didn’t know why but it was oddly comforting. It wouldn’t awaken anything within her, right? “I fell into a drain,” Sue admitted. Lucifer remarked, “You know you should watch your step.” “I guess…”

“I am going to grab a few things for your ankle. I want you to stay in this exact spot. Don’t even think about getting up.”

She eyed her feet as she listened to Lucifer walking off. The sight of the swollen ankle made her cringe. Regardless, she took off her shoe and her sock to get a better look at it. It was a lot worse than she was expecting. The skin was mostly reddish with some bits of purple here and there. Sue grumbled. If she hadn’t been so caught up on the note, she would’ve watched her step.

Oh yeah, the note… Sue pulled it out of her purse. It was folded pretty delicately. If only she could fold other things just as nicely, she thought. She opened it. Only one word in and she already couldn’t take it. She had put so much effort into it. That was one of the reasons she hated it so much. But mainly, it reminded her of the feelings she was now ashamed of. Feelings she wished that she could just get rid of on a whim. Why couldn’t it just be simple like that?

Lucifer may have told her to stay still, but she had to do what she was about to do. Sue got up, the pain from her ankle shooting up to the rest of her body. Jesus Christ, she was in pain! But she ignored it. Crumbling the note in her hands, Sue staggered over to the fireplace. The heat was quite welcoming.

She looked at the crumpled piece of paper before quite casually tossing it into the fire. Falling down to her knees, Sue watched as it was slowly consumed by the flames. A strange sense of melancholy took over. At the same time, she was strangely ecstatic. She couldn’t look away even after the note turned into ashes. “You cannot be serious!” Lucifer exclaimed.

Sue chuckled softly as the demon paced over to her. He hoisted her up and carried her back to the chair, plopping her down on it. Lucifer gawped at her, holding her face up by the chin so she wouldn’t look away.

“I thought I’d just be able to ignore this but you've been acting strange since break,” Lucifer said. “What’s the meaning of all this?”

“Sometimes you just want to watch your regrets burn in an open fire,” Sue answered plainly. She smiled weakly but Lucifer was as stern looking as ever.

Lucifer raised a brow. “Is that all?” “It was just a stupid story I wrote. I didn’t like it so I burned it. There’s nothing to worry about,” Sue claimed after hesitating for a moment.

The silence between them was damning. Lucifer’s eyes narrowed before he huffed. “Sue, I believe we both know that’s a lie. I saw what you wrote and I know exactly who it's for. But if you insist on lying then please be my guest.”

Sue bit her lip. She knew what she should tell him but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to. Just thinking about it brought back the pain tenfold. The tears came flooding out and her lips streamed. Lucifer was stunned.

“I feel horrible!” Sue whimpered. “Mammon likes Yuki and I don’t want to be mad at her. But I still love Mammon!” Lucifer’s eyebrows went up ever so high in disbelief. “You have feelings for Mammon of all demons?”

“I can’t help it. I think he’s great.” “No, he is not,” Lucifer said, shaking his head. Sue pouted. “Don’t act like you don’t get it!” “I really don't.” 

Sue furrowed her brows, giving Lucifer the best icy stare she could manage. But she gave up and let out a sigh in defeat, pulling away from him.

“Whatever,” Sue grumbled. “That doesn’t matter right now. It’s just that… I think I might be jealous of Yuki.”

“There, there…” Lucifer comforted, patting Sue on the head. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.” “But I’m jealous of my friend.”

“You shouldn’t be jealous of Yuki. You must remember that she’s the inferior one.” Sue paused as she gawked at Lucifer. How could she say such a thing? But once she really thought about what he said, she giggled lightly. It was pretty clear that Lucifer wasn’t being serious. He smirked a bit.

“Thank you. I’ll take it to heart,” Sue assured him. Lucifer narrowed his eyes. “I hope you are not trying to flatter me. I was worried that this may affect your academic performance.” “Is that all?” Sue had a blank expression. “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Lucifer scoffed. “Now, let’s see about that injury of yours.”

Sue watched as Lucifer tended to her ankle. The brief moment of joy from a few moments before had faded. “I just wish I could get over it sooner,” Sue confessed. Lucifer nodded. “I suppose such feelings are quite bothersome. But they are not easy to overcome so don’t beat yourself down if you believe it’s taking too long.” “I wish it were that simple but…” Lucifer looked up at the human, raising a brow. Sue continued, “I don’t know. I just feel really bad about being jealous of Yuki.”

“Has your jealousy led to you hurting Yuki?” Lucifer inquired.

Sue shook her head. “Have you ever thought about hurting her?” She shook her head again. “Then you have nothing to worry about,” Lucifer assured her. “You have a lot of self-control, something my brothers unfortunately lack.” Sue tilted her head. “But what about you?” Lucifer got serious real fast. “And what do you mean by that?” Sue paused, looking at him with a blank expression again. She considered whether or not she should tell him. But before she could decide for herself, Lucifer spoke up.

“No, I don’t even want to hear it. I suggest you keep your thoughts to yourself, Sue.”

“Fine.”

She looked down at her patched up ankle, her internal pain easing up a little. Then her gaze turned to the fireplace. She wished that she could burn her feelings and move on. But all she could do was bottle them up and let it sit there until she forgot. Lucifer said she was doing a fine job, keeping it all in. That probably wasn’t the best advice. But she took it regardless.

“You should stay away from school until your ankle heals. I don’t want you hurting yourself anymore,” Lucifer advised. “I will make sure that you—”

Sue threw herself onto Lucifer all of a sudden, pulling him into an embrace. She could feel a new stream of hot tears running down her face. Lucifer eyes widened in surprise.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Lucifer bleated. “Thank you…” Sue breathed. She hurt her ankle again. Lucifer recovered from the shock a bit before sighing. “If you wish to thank me, just say it. This is simply unnecessary.” Sue looked up at him and was amazed to see the demon blushing. He tried to glare at her, but it was hard to be afraid when he looked so cute. She didn’t think that she’d get him flushed so easily. Many things were running through her mind. Something told her that perhaps getting over Mammon wouldn’t be so daunting. “You are such a strange human,” Lucifer remarked. She shrugged. Perhaps she was. Sue began to wonder about what would happen next. “Will you finally sit down? You’re not making this any easier.”