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summerlovingbaby · 7 months ago

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Cramps

Eijiro hadn’t heard from his girlfriend, Y/N all morning, which was strange. She always woke up early to read, and when she did she would text him good morning. Even on the weekend, and this weekend was supposed to be special. For the first time in months, their was no mortal dangers, no training exercises, the couple wasn’t dodging mortar fires, or bombs, or rescuing civilians from collapsing buildings.

He didn’t get a text and it was nearly noon.Y/N was on her period, and though her cramps were usually manageable, today she woke up with an earsplitting headache. She knew it was the weekend and was thankful that she had no prior engagements, so she ignored the violent churning in her stomach, stumbled her way to the bathroom. Blindly felt around the medicine cabinet grabbed Advil and took a handful of pills before she closed her black out curtains, crawled between her sheets and placed a pillow over her head, hoping the pressure would push away the headache.

She was unable to think about the oddities of her situation. Her period was on its final day, it was technically on its final day yesterday, and she expected only spotting today. Her PMS symptoms were never as horrific as they could have been, she never had headaches, and though her cramps wer awful it was nothing that couldn’t be managed with a heating pad and some painkillers couldn’t fix.

But this pain was deep in her stomach, and was shooting painful jabs in her stomach, her head hurt something awful and she wanted nothing more than to hide under her covers and for it to go away. She slept off her headache for 45 minutes before a gentle knocking on the door woke her up.

Eijiro knocked twice before he heard the bed groan, signaling that she had gotten up. He checked his watch, it was nearly 1PM in the afternoon, the door slowly opened and a blanket covered mound peeked their head out, he couldn’t helpbut smile. Y/N had always been particularly shy, but this was a new extent.

“ Hello,” he whispered quietly, like he was afraid of spooking an afraid animal, she used the blanket to block out the light, “ You okay?” he asked.

She nodded, “ Its just bright,” she said, “ And I have a headache,” she added on. Eijoro cocked his head to the side with confusion. Y/N never got headaches, unless she went days without eating, and after a particular situation where she forgot to eat for 2 whole days, he was always there to make sure that she ate at least 600 calories worth in granola bars a day. “ My periods kicking my ass,” she added hoping he would understand.

Eijoro nodded sympathetically, he would never understand the trials and tribulations of being a girl, bleed painfully for days on end, but he was always sympathetic to their plight. He had 2 sisters who cried alot watching nature documentaries on penguins who mate for life. Life was hardcore enough on it its own, but adding bleeding on top of it was metal as hell.

“ You feel up to lunch?”

Y/N shook her head and looked back at her bed, she wanted nothing more than to climb into bed and rot away the day. “ I just want to lie down,” she said quietly.

Eijiro nodded and looked at Y/N sadly. He missed his girlfriend, they had a busy week and hardly seen eachother the past week, barley having the chance for more than a glance and Y/N really wanted to have sex with him, her hormones were driving her up the wall and she wanted nothing more than to jump his bones, but felt too grossed to be touched. Eijiro studied her face, as she chewed on her bottom lip and hesitated opening her mouth.

“ Can I stay with you?” he offered, and Y/N quickly obliged, opening the door wide enough for him to follow her through the door. He placed a hand on the small of his back and guided her to her bed, pulled back the mountain of blankets and watched as she hid beneath them, he then made himself comfortable by sitting down. He outstretched his legs and leaned back on the headboard and watched as Y/N placed her head on his upper thigh and she fell into a vague sleep state.

It only lasted a few minutes before the stomach pain hit her in the gut and she sat instantly upwards, doubled oever and vomited over the edge of her bed. The sight of her vomit sent her spiraling, she already felt gross, and now she had thrown up in front of her boyfriend, she couldn’t wallow in her pity for long because a familiar horrible feeling was rising in her chest again, and she doubled over and threw up once more.

Eijiro had stood up by then, Y/N expected him to leave, she was in such a state of disrepair. Her hair was a birds nest, and her clothes were old and wrinkled, not to mention she just upchucked two times in front of him, she covered her mouth and spared him a cautionary glance at Ejiro, to her surprise didn’t look digusted, just vageluly confused and concerned. She opened her mouth and muttered a vague apology before the ground got closer to her head very very quickly.

She woke up what she estimated was an hour later, in a strangely calm emergency room, she was hooked up to all kinds of monitors with a very concerned Eijiro brushing hair out of her face and fretting over the thickness of the blanket, while her closest friends watched. If he was trying to be calm it wasn’t working because he frequently peaked his head out of the curtiains until a doctor showed up.

She wanted to hide away from the embarrassment of it all. All her friends drug themselves to an ER because Y/N couldn’t handle her stomach pain without throwing up and blacking out, and she wanted to go home. She was never a fan of hospitals, her brother died in one two years ago and it was awful. Now every time she’s in a hospital she smells the clean sterile smell and the light blue walls and she remembers that gut-sinking feeling when her brother died, and all of a sudden her stomach pain and headache seemed bearable enough to be anywhere else but a hospital.

“ I wanna go home,” she whispered, Bakugo muttered something and fretted over the blanket and Denki took a phone call in the hall.

“ I know, just wait a second,” he whispered, “ Denki’s been calling your parents,” he said.

“ Don’t-”

“Shut up, its happening,” he scolded, “ Aizawa is on his way, you need an adult here for medical purposes until your parents get here.”

Her parents were on a trip to the States, and they weren’t getting here anytime soon. Before she could explain a man in blue scrubs with a clipboard jerked back the curtain hard, scribbling madly on his clipboard.

“ So you’re hear today because you have stomach pains, threw up and passed out?” he asked reading it off the clipboard, not bothering to look up.

Y/N nodded, “ Yeah, it’s not usually this bad,” she said quietly.

This seemed to peak his interest because he clicked his pen closed and finally looked up, “ This has happened before?”

“ Well I thought the stomach pain was just cramps, but I don’t think so because my period technically ended yesterday, and my cramps are usually manageable, and I never get headaches, and last time I threw up it was the stomach flu,” she said.

He sighed annoyed and took a few steps towards her, “ So you’re hear for period related stomach pains,” he sighed, “ And you want me to?”

Y/N blinked at him a few times, too stunned to speak. Eijoro had been waiting for a doctor for at least an hour, and was only met with incompetence, “ An exam would be nice?” he said.

“ I mean there really is no point, you said it yourself its PMS related pain, I mean are you experiencing any stress?” he asked begrudgingly.

“ We go to UA, stress is what we signed up for.” Bakugou interrupted. Denki stopped trying to call her parents, and instead listened in to the conversation.

“ Stress has been known to make period pain less tolerable, your BP is normal, you seem fine, I suggest moving to a less stressful environment, and maybe seeing at a nurse will be here in a few minutes to discharge you?”

The notion of leaving in this horrible pain sent her sprailing, she was overwhelmed tired and in pain and could no longer stand the idea of being left untreated and was unable to fight back the tears that she had been holding onto since this morning, Bakugou stroked her hair to calm her, but it wasn’t working, he looked at the monitor where her blood pressure suddenly spiked.

The doctor looked at the monitor then back at her, “ How about we try to calm down?” he said condescendingly, “ Your hysterics are spiking your blood pressure.”

Eijiro shook his head, he had no intention of going anywhere. “ We aren’t leaving, I want another doctor,” he demanded.

“ You’re requesting someone else?” he asked.

“ YES,” he raised his voice and rung his hands in the air, “ I WANT ANOTHER DOCTOR, OR A NURSE, OR SOMEONE WHO IS MORE COMPETENT THAN YOU-,”

His shouting got the attention of a passing-by doctor, who poked her head through the curtain, her intrusion didn’t stop Eijiros ranting.

“ YOU DIDN’T EVEN EXAMINE HER, OR LOOK AT HER CHART OR DO ANYTHING THAT EVEN REMOTELY REQUIRES A MEDICAL DEGREE, SHE IS ON HER PEORID AND REGARDLESS IF THAT PAIN IS RELATED TO THAT OR NOT SHE NEEDS HELP BECAUSE IT SHOULD NOT BE OKAY TO THROW UP AND PASS OUT SO FIND SOMEONE TO EITHER HELP HER OR FIND SOMEONE ELSE WHO WILL.”

His shouting made Y/N cry more, he never yelled and when he did it was always frightening. She wanted to go home and sleeep it off, she wanted to be anythere but this hospital with its blue walls and antispetic smell.

The doctor balked at him with his mouth open, and the lady stepped through the curtain with a plastered smile on her face. “ What seems to be the issue here?” she asked, “ My name is Dr. Ross.”

“Well Dr. Ross, my girlfriend had really bad cramps this morning and a headache, and around 4ish she threw up 2 times and kept passing out, and I know that you think that this is just period related pain but I don’t think so, they’ve never been this bad,” Eijiro began to explain to Dr. Ross who walked to Y/N and fiddled with the monitor.

“ This bozo didn’t even examin her-” Bakugou interjected.

This peaked Dr. Ross’s interest because she shot the doctor a deadly glare and snatched the clipboard from him, and read over her chart.

“ It says here that you were in the hospital 3 months ago, was that for abdominal pain or?” she smiled.

“ I broke 3 ribs and dislocated my shoulder fighting someone,” the doctor lifted a brow, “ You should have seen the other guy,” she added.

“ Is it okay if I palpate your stomach?” she asked.

Y/N meekly nodded, and Eijoro finished glaring at the doctor long enough to watch Dr. Rosses careful hands as she gently massaged her stomach, trying to ignore the pain as she pushed down around her stomach, Y/N then groaned loudly as she removed her pain.

Dr. Ross unhooked the portable ultrasound from the heart monitor quickly, “ And the pain started?”

“ This morning,” she groaned.

Dr Ross squeezed a quarter size of cool jelly on her stomach, and pressed the ultra sound wand firmly on her stomach than made a vaguely dissatisfied clucking noise, her eyebrows squinted together, before they raised suddenly, then with a grim look on her face she looked over her shoulder at the doctor, who still stood with his arms crossed over his chest and was looking rather annoyed. She removed the wand and Y/N groaned loudly, the pain was worse than it was with stomach pressure.

“ Book an OR,” she said grimly, then she turned back to Y/N who had now resulyed on holding her stomach and chewing her bottom because of the pain. “ It looks like her appendix burst a few hours ago,” she said. “ And because it went untreated for so long it turned into peritonitis, and that is beginning to turn into sepsis,” she explained calmly. “Without surgical intervention, she will die, so we need to take her to surgery right away.”

“ Sepsis?”

“ Yes, it seems like her appendix burst right before she threw up, and because it went untreated for hours, because an incompetent doctor,” she tossed a disapproving glance over her shoulder at the doctor, “because she sat in a hospital for hours bleeding out into her abdomen because you thought her pain was made up and you thought she was hysterical, because you didn’t give her the basic standard of treatment, like an exam, she has to have emergency surgery.”

Y/N began to sob, the last thing she wanted was surgery, and apparently she might die. It was alot to handle in 5 minutes.

Before Y/N could protest she was being wheeled out of the room, down hallways that smelled like cleaning supplies, and sterile baby blue walls. She cried for Eijoro but he was no where to be found, she didn’t want surgery, her brother went to surgery and now he was was dead.

Eijoro paced around the room listly, before a nurse led them to a waiting room, then he paced around that one frequently checking the time. Denki didn’t understand his nerves, it was just an appendix, lots of people didn’t have appendix, he one read on a article that it was a common surgery.

“ It’s okay, most people have their appendixes out,” Denki said.

“ She has sepsis,” Eijiro said, “ that means her organs are dying because her burst appendix gave her an infection, her organs are dying because she sat in that ER for hours, and now she might die, and I didn’t help her,” he sighed, finally collapsing in a chair.

“ Hey, you did what you could. That clown of a doctor tried to send her home, but you stayed and you fought for her,” he said, his words were seldom comfort so they waited in silence until Dr. Ross took them to a recovery room where Y/N was lying down in a hospital bed, loopy from all the anesthesia which was starting to wear off.

She smiled at the sight of him, her perfect handsome boyfriend, who was pulled aside by the doctor and wad given instructions about her post-operative care. She would need to stay at the hospital for 4 nights of observation due to the infection, though they were positive that she would recover.

“ You did good today, I know you probably felt helpless watching her in so much pain, but you fought for her when people tried to dismiss her, you fought for her,” she said.

Eijiro spent the next few days spoon deeding her icecream and cuddling while watching Gilmore Girls reruns on the shitty hospital TV.

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heavyhitterheaux · 2 years ago

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Nap Date

AN: sleepy girls make the best girlfriends 🤭🤭

Synopsis: Jack wants to spend more time with you, but you always seem to be sleeping

Pairing: Jack Harlow x Reader

Jack Harlow Masterlist

Please Do Not Repost My Content Anywhere

The relationship between you and Jack had been going on for almost a year and a half or so and you were head over heels for him. Once you saw those blue eyes and curly hair, that was all she wrote.

His second album had come out recently so it was the norm for him to be constantly traveling from one place to another while still trying to do his best to call you and make sure that you were okay.

You had just recently started a new nursing job on night shift in the pediatric emergency department switching from working with adults.

Nursing wasn’t new to you, but working with children along with their parents was.

No one could make sense of why you seem to be more tired than usual since you had always worked night shift and had now started to spend most of your free time sleeping.

Maybe it was the switch between different hospitals or the population that you were working with.

Either way, if you weren’t sleeping or with Jack or your friends, you were somewhere bundled up in a blanket burrito watching your multiple streaming services that you would more than likely fall asleep on.

Jack had a tiny break coming up, only about two days or so and made it his mission to spend those two days with you before hopping from city to city again.

He already knew that you had those days off since you always send him a copy of your work schedule just so he can know what days to work around if he wanted to plan something for the two of you and vice versa.

It was around 9 in the morning when Jack had sent his first text of the day to you.

Smush- Good morning baby girl, how was work last night?

You- A baby was projectile vomiting all over the emergency department waiting room and I of course was assigned to take care of the baby and then it happened again and went down my scrub top. I feel like I will be scrubbing under my boobs for the next week and a half because I know I’m clean but I still feel disgusting. Other than that, great. How are you, baby?

Smush- 😲😲😲😲

You- I’m fine, it’s fine, everythings fine

Smush- Baby that does NOT sound like everythings fine

You- But it is. I actually got to eat my hot cheetos for lunch last night while I had a parent scream at me that I wasn’t doing anything for their kid and telling them what was going on. Ma’am your kid’s arm is basically in the shape of a circle. I think it’s broken, babe. Besides, the doctor tells you that, not me. And I continued to eat my cheetos because I had already given him pain medicine. Now I’m eating ice cream in bed contemplating why I decided to be a nurse.

Smush- I… umm…. Because you wanted to help people babe. And you only ate hot cheetos? I thought we talked about this. You’re always going to have your good days and bad days. I’m always going to be here to listen to you rant about it. I just wanted to spend some time with you this weekend because I know you don’t work and I have a few days off.

You-......

Smush- mamas?

You-……

No response

Smush- Baby? Did you fall asleep that fast?

Smush- I hope you didn’t fall asleep with the ice cream in the bed like you did last time and woke up with it melted everywhere. You were sticky for like 2 days even after multiple showers.

Smush- I mean if I was there I would have licked it off of you, but….

Smush- I’ll call you later, baby. Sleep well. I love you.

It was around 4 pm when Jack had finally gotten a response from you.

You- SHIT

You- BABY! I’M SORRY! I’M AWAKE!

Smush- It’s okay mamas lol I know you were tired. Did you sleep okay?

You- Yes! But I woke up covered in cookies and cream ice cream again

Smush- BABY! I told you not to fall asleep in bed while eating ice cream!

You- It only got on my arm! So we’re good!

Smush- So, as I was saying earlier. Date this weekend?

You- PLEASE! I MISS YOU!

Smush- I miss you too mamas. I’ll plan everything out and all you have to do is pick out an outfit.

You- Do I dress like a whore, classy, or casual?

Smush- Uhh run that first one by me again?

You- Okay classy it is and for now I have washed the ice cream off my arm and now I have to get ready for work. I’ll try to facetime you on my break if a kid or a parent isn’t screaming at me.

Smush- I hope you have a better shift tonight and I can’t wait to see your pretty face later

You- Thank you smush

It was around 3 in the morning when Jack heard his phone ring and it didn’t matter since he was awake. He knew it was you and quickly answered.

Jack saw your face come into view and it looked like you were in a supply closet.

“Uh, babe?”

“THESE PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO KILL ME!”

“What happened?”

“They floated me to the adult emergency department! I have one person who keeps jumping out of bed with a broken hip I don’t know how the fuck he is managing to do that, another one with a gunshot wound who probably needs a chest tube, another one who is 102 and still a got damn full code who is having breathing AND cardiac issues and I am PRAYING that they don’t code because I can’t tonight. I CAN’T. Anyway, you okay, baby? Oh shit. It’s three. Did I wake you up? I’m sorry if I did. I just miss you and wanted to hear your voice.”

“Wait, baby that was a lot and we need to unpack it.”

“No we don’t. They’re all alive. Moving onto more important things, the fact that I miss my boyfriend and I think I have actual shit on my new shoes. Welp looks like I have to throw these away now.”

“Umm, babe, maybe I need to take off a few more days and stay with you because you… sound um…?”

“Stressed?”

Jack simply nodded his head.

“Yeah, just a little bit, but I’ll get through it.”

“Baby, you are hiding in the supply closet.”

“They don’t need to know that. I haven’t peed since I left the house. Oh. Maybe I should go when I get off the phone with you. Anyway, tell me about our date so I can….”

“Code blue room 24. Code blue room 24.”

“FUCK! THAT GOT DAMN 102 YEAR OLD! SHIT! BABY I’LL CALL YOU BACK! FUCK I HAVE TO PEE GOT DAMN IT! JACK, I LOVE YOU. GOTTA GO.”

You immediately ended the facetime call and all Jack did was let out a sigh he didn’t know he was holding. He wanted to do something nice for you since it seemed like lately you weren’t having the best shifts at work.

He wasn’t that far from you and planned to hopefully surprise you and be at your house when you got off from work in a few hours.

After your shift, you sat in the parking lot for an hour just staring off into space before starting to make your way back home.

Once you pulled up, you made your way to the front door, but not before taking your shoes and throwing them in the trash can by the end of the driveway. You were surprised to hear the television on since you remembered turning it off when you left. You also smelled food and was immediately taken aback.

“Am I in the right house?” You whispered to yourself, but not before reaching into your pocket and grabbing a saline flush.

“And what the fuck am I supposed to do with that?” You stuck it back into your pocket, but not before grabbing your baseball bat that was perched near the door.

You tried to make your footsteps as quiet as possible as you approached the kitchen, but because it was an old house, it didn’t quite work out that way.

You then came into the kitchen to see Jack’s back turned to you while he was in front of the stove.

“Baby, put the bat down. And I expected you over an hour ago.”

And that was when the waterworks started.

Upon hearing this, Jack turned around and made his way over to you to try and embrace you, but you immediately backed up.

“Baby! Don’t cry!”

“I have other people’s bodily fluids on me. Let me take a shower and then you can hug me. And I still have to pee and I missed you and oh my fucking shit you’re here. Did I tell you I love you already?” All the while tears are streaming down your face.

“I love you too. I’ll go run your shower for you, come on mamas.”

You followed Jack up the steps while you were still crying and Jack was doing his best to calm you down.

After you showered and moisturized your body, you threw on your Louisville bonnet that Jack had gifted you last Christmas along with a matching shirt and shorts.

You made your way back downstairs and upon hearing you, Jack opened his arms and you ran full speed to jump into them.

“I needed this, thank you, thank you, thank you. I know you’re busy and I hope that I didn’t take you away from anything.” You said as Jack soothingly rubbed your back and kissed your forehead.

“You’re welcome, but there is no need to thank me. I knew my girl needed me. Now I got food for you too or did you just want to go to sleep?”

“What are we eating?”

“Stuffed french toast.”

“Baby, you didn’t cook that, did you?” You asked because the last thing you wanted to do was get food poisoning. One of Jack’s many talents did not include cooking.

“Um, let’s just say that the smoke alarm kept going off so I ordered it instead.”

“Fine by me.”

It was now Saturday and that meant date night for the two of you. You were already dressed and sitting on the couch surprisingly waiting on Jack. You had been excited ever since you had woken up and couldn’t wait to see what he had planned for the two of you.

He had been out the majority of the day getting things for the two of you and had just gotten back in the house about twenty minutes ago.

“How is he going to tell me to be ready by eight, but his ass isn’t even ready?” You muttered to yourself while scrolling on your phone on instagram. Soon your eyes started to get heavy and the phone was long forgotten.

Jack came down the steps twenty minutes later to see you knocked out on the couch with your phone on the floor and he couldn’t help but laugh to himself.

He decided that you two could have a nap date for one day and could go out tomorrow not wanting to wake you up since he knew that this week had been exhausting for you.

Once upstairs, he slipped off your Louboutin heels, put on your pajamas and covered your hair and got comfortable himself. He laid down next to you and drifted off to sleep.

It was midnight when you woke up startled.

You woke up and looked down to see that Jack had his arms wrapped around you and you were thoroughly confused.

“Oh, SHIT! BABY!” You exclaimed while shaking Jack awake and all you got was a groan.

“What, baby?”

“DID I FALL ASLEEP ON OUR DATE?!”

“Mamas, we didn’t even make it out of the house. You fell asleep on the couch and I brought you upstairs.”

“Damn it, I’m sorry I know you…”

Jack immediately cut you off.

“All that I have planned can be moved to tomorrow. And besides, technically we still had a date.”

“Huh?”

“It was a nap date because we both took naps since we’re exhausted. I still call that a win. Get to catch up on sleep while laying next to my sleepy girlfriend.”

“Oh well, I guess you’re right.”

“Now let’s continue our date so that we can actually go outside on our date tomorrow.” Jack said while kissing you and bringing you closer to him.

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captain-mj · 2 years ago

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Hazelnut Truffle Mocha

What do you guys think Koenig is? Just curious on what you guys would predict

Alejandro left eventually, saying something about making good on his promise to bring Rodolfo lunch. Ghost stayed for a few hours.

It wasn’t just Soap that made him stay. He didn’t have anywhere to be. His social battery had hit zero at 5:01 am that morning. While he could go back to his flat, that also didn’t seem like a good option.

So Ghost stayed in the dark corner of the cafe, watching the patrons. A lady with big bracelets that jingled talked animatedly with Soap. Another man trying to flirt with him that Ghost noticed he brushed off. Interesting. Teens and old people alike, ebbing and flowing. Until around 2 pm, the place cleared out. Ghost blinked at the clock, wondering how he spent almost six hours without moving before letting out a huff, watching his breath cloud up.

Oh. It was cold. No wonder he felt like this. He also hadn’t eaten and despite the nausea at the idea of forcing something down, the headache building at his temples was enough to convince him he had to.

Ghost went to stand up and accidentally pressed right into Soap who had walked right up to him at some point. They were chest to chest. Soap felt rather cold, even this close, but Ghost chalked it up to him having been outside recently.

He realized they were still touching. Soap had turned bright red, freezing in place. Ghost gently pushed him since he didn’t have room to move away.

Finally, his barista seemed to reorganize his thoughts and back up. “Uh… I was just… um.”

“Yes, Johnny?”

Soap looked up at him. “I was wondering if you’re hungry? You’ve been here a while.”

“It’s like you read my mind. Yeah.”

“I was planning on closing the cafe for an hour so I can go eat… Did you want to come with me?” Soap looked up at him.

Ghost hummed. “Do you not get free food here?”

“Oh, I do. Just so many times I can eat my own baking though…” Soap smiled.

“You make everything here?”

“Almost everything! I get some of the pastries from a bakery close by. I don’t think I could make thirty croissants a day. Might go insane.” Soap smiled. It was stunning. It softened his features, not so much as to make him look younger, but more to make him look relaxed. Ghost wanted to see it all the time.

They went to a nearby restaurant and sat together. It only really occurred to Ghost that this was likely a date. Checked all the required boxes for a date. They were alone. There was food. Soap had asked.

Ghost decided not to ask, just in case it wasn’t. He stared at him, realizing that unlike with the drinks, he’d have to keep his mask up for more than a few seconds at a time.

Ah. Sorta backed himself into a corner. He fidgeted under the table.

Soap noticed immediately. “Why do you wear the mask?”

“I have some… scarring. It’s not pretty.”

“Are you nervous about me seeing?”

“Nervous about anyone seeing…” Ghost answered honestly. Soap felt easy. Honesty came naturally.

Soap looked very curious, though Ghost noticed how… sad his eyes looked. They were beautiful. A soft blue that he could live in. Soft lashes that fanned across his cheeks when he blinked. A scar across a small part of his face that he wondered about. The rest of his face was gorgeous of course, but right now, in this lighting, he couldn’t drag his gaze away from Soap’s.

Behind those eyes were dark pools. Ghost had gotten used to seeing shell shocked men with nothing behind their eyes, but it usually faded. It certainly was not present in situations such as these. And yet, Soap’s eyes were still empty.

“Were you listening to me?” Soap said gently, leaning in.

“What?”

Soap laughed, luckily. Ghost hadn’t made a good impression if this was a good date. “I said I’ll try not to look too much, but I don’t think scarring is too bad. Bet your handsome under there.”

Flirting. Soap was flirting and Ghost didn’t know how to flirt.

“Well, I doubt anyone will look at me with you next to me.” Ghost looked at him, making eye contact again. He saw Soap’s eyes flicker, something a little softer appearing before reverting back.

“Think I’m that handsome?”

“Yes.” Ghost didn’t have to think about it.

Soap blushed and looked away. They ate together and it felt… nice. Soap was the main talker. Mostly about his job or customers before switching to what he had watched lately. Apparently, he had recently watched a movie about a woman trying to avenge her friend by going on a killing spree. He didn’t catch the name, but that was an excuse to talk to him later. It sounded like the kind of movie Ghost would like. True to his word, Soap’s eyes stayed on his own food or Ghost’s eyes, only occasionally glancing to his mouth, but never lingering. Ghost started to feel a bit guilty for his rather obvious staring.

His scars itched. The large Glasgow smile. Soap grew up in Scotland, so he probably had seen them before, but Ghost’s were so jagged. Traced over and a lot thicker than most people’s. Not to mention the snake bite scars from an… incident when he was a little kid. They weren’t like Soap’s soft well healed scar. They were all bad. They healed wrong and ugly. Ghost tried not to think about them too much.

“This was really fun, but i have to get back now. Work calls.” Soap stood up and went to pay.

“I got it, don’t worry.” Ghost pulled out some pounds.

Soap shook his head. “Absolutely not! I ordered more expensive stuff anyway.”

“Yeah, but I never spend money, I have plenty.”

“You don’t know much I make.” Soap shot back. “I’ll pay.”

“I’m in the military. I go on leave like six weeks a year so I have plenty.” Ghost insisted.

The waitress came back. “I thought your checks were supposed to be split…”

Oh. Right. Ghost knew neither had said that, but from the outside view, they probably looked like two friends.

They were technically two friends.

Fuck, was this a date??

Soap began laughing. “Oh… Uh… I’ll pay mine then.” He glanced at Ghost before leaving, brushing against him just a little.

Ghost felt like he was walking on air. The waitress though had continued to stare at him.

“Oh, let me…” He handed her a rather large tip and her eyes widened before she nodded rather conspiratorially, as if she had picked up on something that Ghost hadn’t. For a moment, he considered asking her if everything was alright, but she had already left and he was pretty sure it was just the bored imagination of a war machine, looking for something to do when there was none.

Ghost stretched and went home, texting with Koenig.

Koenig was going on and on about this Gumiho he had met that he was infatuated with. “He’s kinda small and he constantly wears a mask and sunglasses, but he has these gorgeous fluffy ears and nine tails and he’s just so pretty.”

“Gonna ask him out?” Ghost like Koenig fine, but he acted so different over text. Less anxious. He thought it was funny.

“I will… attempt. He’s a bit intimidating.”

“Be careful when you kiss. He may kill you when you do.”

“I’d let him.”

Ghost blinked. Ah. He forgot his buddy had a death wish.

“Have you found anyone to keep you entertained over your leave? A… what did Price call it… a fling?”

Ghost paused. Should he talk about Soap? Koenig talked to him about almost everything.

“There’s… a guy.”

“Oh? Magic too? Find him at an underground place?”

Ghost never really bothered, but he knew a few places around that were filled with non humans. Bars that kept humans out of them. Places to meet creatures that were alike. He didn’t go to them often, usually for hookups if he was honest. Humans were fine, but it was difficult to explain why they couldn’t touch his things and why he stole their fancy gold watch or why his teeth looked so sharp. They always had so many questions.

“No. Human as far as I can see. He’s nice. Wears gold jewelry all the time.”

“How stereotypical of you. Jewelry really was the first thing you noticed?”

“Yes. Also, he’s very…” Ghost deleted the last part of the message and tried again. “He’s so…” Another deleted message. “His name is Johnny.” Yeah, that works.

“Johnny? English?”

“Scottish. His accent is nice. He’s a little difficult to understand at times, but we can move past that.”

“I’m happy for you, friend!”

“Thank you. I had a… date? I think. He invited me with him and we talked.”

“Ah.”

Ghost frowned at that message, staring at it. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Oh. Nothing. Nothing.”

“No, no. You’re clearly thinking something.”

“I am happy for you. You’ve seen better recently.”

Ghost swallowed. He didn’t want to think about it. Just drop the conversation. Just drop the conversation.

“Better?”

“I am sorry, Ghost…”

“Better than what.”

“I just meant I am happy you are doing well.”

“Why the fuck wouldn’t I?”

Koenig stopped responding.

Ghost knew what he was talking about. Of course he did. He had been doing well recently. Doing all the stupids steps to take care of himself. During Christmas, he stayed on a solo mission far away from any celebrations. He avoided thinking about his family. He tried to try new things and get out of the house and talk to people and and and and and

Ghost took a deep breath, counting. He hated that was an instinct he had now. It was nice to not spiral, but he hated that he had been changed like that. Stupid fucking therapy.

Ghost took a deep breath. He wanted to be angry. To keep lashing out. But that wasn’t helpful.

Koenig didn’t mean any harm. He was just… checking on him. Like everyone was. All watching him like a ticking time bo-

Ghost groaned and started to count again. He tapped his foot as he impatiently waited for his stupid feelings to calm down.

Another reason it would not be good for him to every truly date Soap. No reason to drag him down into his giant mess. Ghost was a bundle of spikes. Full of problems and venom. The last thing he wanted was for someone else to get hurt by their proximity to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist! If you want to be included, just ask :) Also, some of the people that asked, I couldn’t seem to tag,

@the-snarky-dragon @elevenclouds @lukewarm-chickensoup @nervouspsychologynerd @korym @cthulhusstepmom @princess-heathen @badbitchescantgetkilled @revenge-of-the-bucket-demon @roachboy

#johnny soap mactavish #john price #captain john priceghostsoap #soapghost #simon ghost riley #soap cod #cod mw2 #ghost cod #call of duty #call of duty modern warfare #call of duty modern warfare ii #alejandro vargas #rodolfo parra #rodolfo cod #Selkie coffeeshop au

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hiccanna-tidbits · 1 year ago

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@jackunzel-time

Jackunzel Month Week 2 - Coming of Age

***

"Okay, can I look now?"

"Not yet!"

The kitchen is once again filled with the sounds of Rapunzel banging around, plates and dishware clattering as she searches the fridge. Jack's got a sneaking suspicion this all has something to do with the huge, tinfoil-covered mound on the top shelf.

For an entire week, Rapunzel insisted they put every ounce of leftovers in the bottom half of the fridge, ignoring the Mysterious Object™️like a leaky faucet you handn't gotten around to fixing. Not that Rapunzel doesn't occasionally need her home fridge for work-related things, but she isn't normally cagey about it.

Jack once again resists the urge to peek out of the blindfold.

"Come ooooon, Zellie! This anticipation is going to kill me before our starving artist lifestyle does."

Rapunzel laughs. "Starving? I'll have you know, sir, that I've had no less than 5 whole french fries today!"

Considering it was 9 pm, this was not an ideal french fry quota. Rapunzel definitely had time to eat more fries today.

Jack wonders idly if Rapunzel's just getting too caught up in her work to take lunch breaks, or if her manager is crunching her deadlines again.

Before he can get too far into plotting how he would swap her boss's salt and sugar without getting Rapunzel in trouble, he hears the distinctive sound of a lighter.

"Are you torching our apartment?" he asks. "Because if so, I'm very offended I wasn't invited to participate."

Rapunzel scoffs. "Don't be silly! Like I'd set the place on fire without getting home insurance first. And it isn't as though either of us can afford that."

"You're still making me nervous. Usually I'm the one who plays the pranks."

"Hmmm, well...that would have been a good idea, actually." Rapunzel sounds a little regretful. "But no tricks today, I promise. Now open your eyes!"

And at last, Jack gets to see what all the fuss is about.

A stunning, snow-white cake sits in the middle of their dining room table, covered in sparkly silver candy orbs and carefully sculpted fondant snowflakes. All around the side are little hand-painted winter scenes, meticulously crafted by an icing brush in a process that must've taken hours. On top, a "2" and a "6" candle sit ablaze.

Rapunzel, of course, spends all day at work decorating cakes. It's her career. (Or, at least, it has been for the past 6 months--the longest she's gone without leaving a job to date.)

It still seems like she went the extra mile with this one.

"What--" For a long moment, all Jack can do is stare with his mouth hanging open.

"What the hell," he says finally. "How did I forget today was my birthday???"

Rapunzel's surprise quickly turns to laughter.

"Oh my god, how did you forget?"

Easy for her to say. Back when Rapunzel lived with her crazy mom, who practically kept her a prisoner in her own house, birthdays were easily the most interesting thing that happened all year. Birthdays with the Overlands were always much more...lowkey, so to speak.

"In my defense!" He holds up his hands. "Nothing interesting happens when you turn 26. Pretty much all the milestones are finished, so it's just another orbit around the sun."

"Nonsense!" Rapunzel sticks her lip out in disapproval. "That's no way to talk about your coming-of-age ceremony!"

"Coming-of-age?" He raises his eyebrows. "I think we missed the cutoff for that a while ago."

"Well, 26 is your age now." She crosses her arms, chin up defiantly. "And you have come to it. So therefore you have come of age."

He chuckles. "Is that how that works?"

"Why not? Teenagers and college kids shouldn't get to have all the fun!"

"My point still stands, though," he argues. "You don't really...unlock the same kind of stuff in your 20s that you do when you're younger. It's not like there are new magical adventures that you suddenly have access to when the clock strikes 12 on your 26th birthday."

"Says who?"

His girlfriend's conniving smirk sends a wave of excitement through him. What is she plotting?

"Did you find an elite 26-and-over club to join?"

"Not exactly." She leans over the table, smirk widening. "But someone did have a chat with your boss about how many great snowscape photo opportunities there are in the mountains, and how you're going to need to not come into the office for while to get all the best shots."

Jack's eyes widen as her meaning dawns on him. "And Mr. North was cool with that? Me taking a vacation right before the holidays?"

"I mean. He could hardly resist the offer of having his best photographer out getting festive snapshots for the December issue of the magazine. You'd do more good on the field than stuck behind an editing desk, right?"

"No kidding."

Jack sits down, getting ready to blow out the unexpected birthday candles. He pauses, something occurring to him.

"Wait, what about you? I'm not about to go off and leave you to handle the bakery's holiday rush on your own!"

Rapunzel hums thoughtfully.

"Well, funny thing. I told our head baker that I just hadn't been feeling very inspired lately. And if I went somewhere, say, fresh and exciting, then the muse was sure to strike again and I'd pump out a collection of the most beautiful winter cakes the bakery's ever known. Ones to really send that holiday profit flooding in."

"So...you snuck around and got us both a week off for my birthday by spinning it as a work trip? And on top of that, you just casually whipped out the most gorgeous birthday cake I've ever seen in my life?"

She nods, beaming.

"You're my goddamn hero."

He stands up and sweeps her into his arms, pulling her into a kiss worthy of being the Big Dramatic Finale to any coming-of-age film. All these years later, and it still feels like cameras should be spinning around them with rock music building into a triumphant crescendo.

Maybe that's cheesy, but to hell with it.

"Have I ever mentioned I'm in love with you?" he murmurs against her lips.

"I would hope so, Overland. We've been dating for 9 years now."

***

Half a hazelnut chocolate cake and two celebratory hot cocoas later, Jack finds himself being dragged toward the car in the encroaching darkness of 5:30 pm.

"Zel, what--"

"Come on! I booked us a night in a cabin, and we need to take off before the roads get icy. It's supposed to snow in a couple hours!"

"But what about--"

"I packed the car while you were at work." Rapunzel doesn't miss a beat. "Don't worry, I grabbed all your favorite sweaters! Your snowboarding stuff too. And the sleeping bags. And the cozy socks. And the snow chains. And the binoculars. And the sled. And the scarves."

He doesn't have time to form a reply before he's being bundled into the front seat and covered in one of his favorite fluffy blankets. The sheer amount of alpine field guides and brochures on the car floor make him do a double take.

"You have an itinerary?" he asks, surprised.

She hums uncertainly as she pulls out of the driveway.

"Well...nothing too rigid. No coming-of-age road trip of self-discovery can be that structured, or else it might get in the way of spontaneous epiphanies about who you truly are, right?"

"Right."

Rapunzel looks like she's about to burst open with what she isn't saying.

"I sense a 'but' there."

"I did find a really cute place for us to sled." The dam breaks as Rapunzel pulls out of the driveway. "And there's this secluded little mountain animal rescue we have to see. And this four-star cafe we can stop at for hot cider and soup, and this really pretty snowy hike that I don't think is too tiring. Also this ski and snowboard slope we can check out if we have time, with this really cozy lodge, and--"

She cuts herself off mid-sentence as soon as she picks up that all this might be a little overwhelming.

"Buuuuut," she amends slowly. "It's not like I've put down a deposit for anything. We could just drive through the mountains and stop whenever we feel the urge. Find the best secret spots and have them to ourselves, you know? Have deep conversations and be alone with nature and reconnect with our humanity and our sense of purpose. Or something like that."

He can't help but laugh at the way her brow scrunches as she goes deep into thought.

"That sounds great."

"Do you...have a preference?" She gives him a searching look as they pull onto the freeway, already glowing with streetlamps and taillights. "Agenda or no agenda?"

"Whatever you're down for, I'm down for. Hell, I'm just happy to have an unexpected week of vacation."

"I guess that's the thing about these types of 'finding yourself' stories. You kind of have to figure them out as you go along."

"Then let's do some figuring!"

Rapunzel hits the gas, and off they go into the winter sunset, bound for their next coming-of-age adventure. One to perhaps be followed by many more, depending on how many future ages they deem it significant to "come to."

***

Tfw you keep aging but The Blorbos™️do not, so the only logical solution is to force them to age with you XD God dammit, if I have to be in my mid-20s, then so do my comfort characters!!!

Fr tho, I often find myself wishing there were more aged-up AUs in the RotBTD fandom. Most fandom olds returning to (or who stayed in) the fandom aren't the teenagers we were when we first got into the big four anymore, so...why not let them grow up with us??? It's not like their canon ages are some sacred, set-in-stone thing that can't be changed since people do in fact get older as time passes ajdnlshbf

And like!!! Don't get me wrong, I love a well-done high school or college AU, and they can be a lot of fun!!! But I think as I've gotten older I wonder more about how the RotBTD kids would navigate adulthood, and how they would change/adapt and how they would stay the same throughout their lives.

Jackunzel I feel like would be one of those couples who would just be it for each other. Like they get together in late high school--probably junior or senior year--and everyone keeps waiting for the spark to die in college and for them to get stir-crazy (as people who get into committed relationships young often do) or bored of each other, and they just. Don't. MFs hit 30 and are still in the honeymoon phase with no sign of getting out XD

Rapunzel is so right here btw. Twenty-somethings DO deserve to have indie coming-of-age dramas made about them!!! Kids and teens and college students shouldn't get to have all the fun!!! Besides, there's plenty of growing/maturing still to do in young adulthood, so why stop writing stories about that just because the people in question are out of school??? Tbh I'm so tired of movies with adult protagonists being either fluffy (hetero) romcoms or a drama about Some Guy with a wife and kids like??? There are other types of adults besides straights in the dating pool and middle-aged people with tidy little nuclear families!!! I promise!!!

Guess I'll just have to write all those funky little RotBTD twenty-something AUs myself ajshdkuys

Shout-out to the RotBTD discord for giving me the idea of having Rapunzel be a cake decorator and Jack be a photographer! I sometimes struggle a bit with future career ideas for the RotBTD kids, but these fit really well :D Jack definitely seems like the kind of person who would like something freelance and loose-scheduled where he basically gets paid to capture the beauty in the world around him :O And we know Rapunzel can bake, and she likes art, so...

CAKE ART CAKE ART CAKE ART CAKE ART

VERY happy I found that snowflake-and-orb cake, because that definitely seems like something Jack would enjoy 🤍❄️ And now I kind of want to try it 👀👀👀I DO have to wonder how they did that little picture with the tree and the car :O

As always, moodboard pic credits available upon request!

#jackunzel #jackunzelmonth #jackunzelmonth23 #moodboard #aesthetic #jack x rapunzel #rapunzel x jack #jack frost #rapunzel #jackxrapunzel #rapunzelxjack #rotbtd #rise of the brave tangled dragons #the big four #tangled #rise of the guardians #rotg #crossover

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ladytemeraire · 11 months ago

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Whew. Today is one of those days that definitely demonstrates that progress is nonlinear and unpredictable.

My lunch walk with Sadie went extremely well - we did about 2 miles in 40 minutes, and we were able to walk past another dog across the road! I know this sounds like a "basic" thing but for her, it's a huge deal. She was definitely poofed up and laser focused on the tiny wiener dog, but she didn't growl or bark once, and we did a bunch of rapid-fire 1-2-3 and she disengaged on EVERY 3 and went to "find it" when I tossed the treat into the grass. Big progress and lots of celebrating and happy times!

After work? It was like every single one of her triggers packed into a single walk.

At the very far end of our street, we got surprised by a very large husky coming out of its house on a long lead much closer than I would have liked (across the street and half a block down from us). Initially Sadie was alert but relatively fine, even disengaging; she showed curiosity so I was willing to get a little closer, but shortly after we did she had a BIG reaction. I had to physically drag her back down the street to increase the distance. We did more engage/disengage and 1-2-3 to make the experience more positive before we kept heading away from the dog and back towards our house.

On the other main street, we had a motorcycle come RIPPING by us. There's only a foot of boulevard there and the houses are right by the sidewalk, so basically all I could do was hold onto her handle-collar and harness and reinforce afterwards.

Finally got home and went to throw the poop bag away aaaaaaand Nemesis Dog who lives next door came running on its tether right up to the fence between our properties. Ironically this was the best interaction we've had with this dog - by which I mean Sadie did lunge to the end of her leash by the trash can, but was actually able to disengage and come back down the driveway with me rather than me having to fully drag her away. Small victories I guess?

With all of these, I made sure to give her cheese stick (high value treat) even when she reacted and to speak in a "happy" voice so I wasn't yelling at her. Even when I had to drag her away with the husky, I was firm but not yelling ("this way, come on, we're going this way, leave it"). And after every incident, I made sure to do some "find it" with both high value and regular treats to have her decompress and have a positive experience rather than ending the walk right then and there.

So... yeah. Trying to use the tools in my toolbox and remind myself that I can't predict everything and sometimes all I can do is management rather than preparation and diversion. I'm doing the best I can, and even with her big reactions, she calmed down SO fast compared to where she was a year or two ago.

(Also we got home and she was like "no I'm too tired for dinner" and promptly conked out for two hours on the couch. Literally didn't eat her dinner until like 8:30 pm. Sweet baby.)

#life with ladytemeraire #Sadie the good shep #dogs of tumblr #dogblr #reactive dog #positive reinforcement

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dizzyluc · 2 months ago

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Incoming vent rant (needed to air out my anger after the past 3 days, considering my pain level I'd say is at a 6 out of 10, and the more constant pain I'm in, the more pissed I get lol...)

This month, let alone this week, has not been kind to me... and it's only Tuesday, THE THIRD ">_> When this month starts off shitty due to something personal related (not health related thankfully, (although it IS insurance related is all I'll say, it could definitely be worse though, but...) it's actually put me in a pretty pissy mood these past few days, which I'm praying Friday it's taken care of, so hoping Friday goes over well) Monday, my "rest up before a long ass week" day, I had to take my car in to get an oil change as my light just lit up, went to a "Take 5" and after waiting 30 minutes, being inside the place that does it, with my car off cause no idea when they would actually just "start" doing stuff... "Oh, we don't have the right thing to change your oil, so we can't do it." THANKS FOR SAYING IT AFTER MAKING ME WAIT (instead of checking real quick if it can be done... then having me wait for everyone that came before me go... although I think they were understaffed too) Then after, I go to a local donut place, that I have been trying to get a coconut flavor for, for WEEKS, even went the day before and they said "oh we will have it tomorrow!" and they still didn't have it... (they have said this 3 times now at this point) pretty much making my outing a complete waste of time. Today being Tuesday? I've been almost crashed into 6+ times (at least twice my mom yelped at people almost creaming me) The donut place, after saying I'd be back at noon today? "It will be ready at 5-6 today!" How. Many. Times... I drop my mom off for her appointment, which normally this one takes 3 hours due to ALWAYS being behind, get a Slurpee... which tasted like a cheap drink... and then every place I went to, for SOME reason, after lunch? Big lines. I get done with the final place almost, expecting to get back and chill and relax after such a hectic afternoon and week so far... (after picking up a pizza cause a good deal usually happened at a certain pizza place nearby on Tuesdays) Mom texts: Oh, I'm just about done, there was no one in the doctor's office today! So we can keep doing errands once you get back! Me thinking... "Can I get just 5 minutes... FIVE. MINUTES." Dealt with more cars trying to ram me (If you go to Florida, be VERY CAUTIOUS about driving here, the people are lunatic drivers, even more so lately it feels like, literally had to slam on my brakes twice today because people THINK THEY OWN THE ROAD, TO PULL OUT IN FRONT OF ME) After finally eating today (I only had donut holes at this point btw today... it was pizza though, but...)

I think my nerves from all the shit happening these past few days finally caught up to me and I got nauseated for like an hour or so, which going back to the donut place didn't help (it still wasn't ready when I got there, it was almost 6 pm) and after they brought it out... it wasn't even the right donuts. "Wait, OHHHH... you wanted the white, coconut donuts we served like, 3 months ago right? With the coconut drizzle? Oh yeah, no that was discontinued." Me thinking: ... I LITERALLY TOLD YOU THIS EVERY TIME "I want the coconut donut that had white frosting, and coconut flakes drizzled on top of the donut" I got whatever the hell they made, got home, let dogs out (while it pretty much was almost raining) and it took me 2 hours to get a shower and now lay down in bed. ... and it just keeps going tomorrow lol... (Gotta be ready by noon, and will be out probably till 6 or so doing "Military Monthly run" aka pick up medicine, pick up veterinarian stuff for dogs, maybe mail some stuff or do a bank run (these 2 not always), followed by pick up cards and any random stuff at the Base Exchange, then the Commissary for almost 2 hours for the family monthly grocery supply [and this is why I call it "grocery day" as it's an all day affair, that literally is dedicated for goods for the month])

#Again #It's only Tuesday #the THIRD OF SEPTEMBER #And I already want this month to end ahahaha...#I honestly feel like I got nauseated earlier due to maybe an internal panic attack #I was more pissed at the world taking it out on me it felt like #But I got so nauseous after eating #even though I didn't eat much today #And it took like 2 hours for it to finally go away #I'm “fine” just... really needed to vent #Mom: Do you feel like crying?#Me: No I feel like I wanna scream at every person that wants to run me off the road when I have enough to deal with physically and mentally #Note: Do not “scream” at random people IRL or you might regret it

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onlyswan · 6 months ago

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Hii artieee

OMG RMBR when i told u i had an exciting thing coming up that was semi confirmed?! I WAS WORKING FOR BRUNO MARS CONCERT BROOOO (like i worked for ticket master and ushered all the fans and scanned their ticx and stuff.)

I jammed my heart out to the songs!!! Lmao ifnyou think abt it i gpt paid to attend a concert!!! Yiieeee-

Also the D-Day movie killed me. My throat was dead and sore for 1 wk str.

This is a very generic qn but like how was this wk for you? Did you do something fun and reward yourself with your favourite things? What challeneges did you face this wk? I wnna know!!! hehe...

(Also coz its a part of my assignment and everyone i ask keeps telling me that They 'reawarded themselves with sleep'. -_- like bro pls. Be srs for once)

Anyways this wk my challenges were 3 grp projs due tmr night, and a full analytical report and 2 tests to go through. also my room is under rennovation so im camping on my sofa rn.

I rewarded myself with fried chickem coz those pms cravings hot me hsrd and they rlly hit the spot 😭😭🫶🫶🫶 (like do you know that thingly, excited feeling when you FINALLY eat something you crave for so long and also cox you havent eaten all day? Damn it was so good!❤️)

Btw can i also be added to your taglist? 👉👈

-lyf

omgomg that is soooo cool!!! i always thought working at the concert scene is some sort of a life hack 🤭 love that for you i’m so happy you had loads of fun 💕

well my final exams were definitely the challenges i faced this week 😭 when i tell you my battery is dead!! but right after i went out with my friends to eat lunch and we hung out together at the park laughing over the stupidest things 🥺 i wanted to go home and sleep instead (almost disappointed you there damn) but i thought i wanted to create more memories with them and it totally felt like the best reward :")

best of luck with your challenges and i hope you’re taking very good care of yourself despite being very busy 🫂

SPOIL YOURSELF AS YOU SHOULD! chicken sounds soooo good i’m jealous rn omg 😭

already added you to the taglist btww mwah <3

#art’s post office ☁️#imlyfie <3

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emetogirl · 2 years ago

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Saw your post about wanting to hear other people's emeto experiences and I'm going through one right now so thought I'd share. I've posted a few bits and pieces as they happened over on my blog, but I'll combine them all into one post for ya.

On Friday at work, I noticed that the co-worker I share an office with kept excusing herself to go to the bathroom. And then I knew something was really up when she didn't eat anything at lunch (we had a potluck). I confronted her about it and she admitted that she had been feeling nauseated all morning, but she hadn't thrown up. She looked exhausted and I encouraged her to go home; there had been a bug going around work and it was likely she caught it.

She left and I went on about my day. Later that night, right before I went to bed, she texted me saying she'd finally thrown up. And me, being a bit of a emetophobe in real life, immediately started feeling sick too. I tried to tell myself it was all in my head and went to sleep.

When I woke up yesterday morning I felt "off." Just kind of achy and I had no appetite. My stomach didn't really hurt, but it felt like a pit of looming dread. I usually wake up really hungry, so not having an appetite concerned me. I forced myself to drink some water and continued nursing my water bottle to stay hydrated throughout the day. I really wanted to believe it was all in my head, but deep down I knew that it wasn't.

I also had an appointment to get my taxes done yesterday afternoon and that one little errand exhausted me. I took my temp when I got home because I was shivery and still really achy. My temp was a pretty low-grade fever (100.8) but it was definitely enough to make me feel blah. My stomach had also become really uncomfortable at this point, but I hadn't eaten anything all day so I wondered it was just hunger. I heated up some chicken noodle soup, ate a small bowl, and then went to sleep around 8 pm, hoping I'd be able to sleep it off.

A little after 2 am I woke up sweating like crazy and just knew I was going to throw up. I bolted out of bed and made it to the toilet just in time. I didn't even have time to freak out about it because it happened so fast. My anxiety skyrocketed after the fact, though, because I didn't want it to happen again but I still felt so bad and knew that it was probably inevitable. I was dizzy and seeing spots and felt so weak.

I stayed on my bathroom floor for about an hour just fighting the nausea until my stomach calmed down a little. Eventually I decided it was safe to drag myself back to bed with a trashcan nearby. I curled up in a ball to take some pressure off my stomach and ended up falling back asleep.

Woke up three hours later to a mouthful of saliva and grabbed my trashcan to throw up again. Emptied my stomach in three more liquidy waves.

I feel soooo much better after the second bout. I still have some lingering nausea but I don't feel as weak and foggy anymore. I had some water an hour ago that has stayed down and later I'll try some Liquid IV. Probably won't attempt food until tomorrow. My coworker said she only threw up a couple of times so I'm hoping I'm over the worst of it and it's smooth sailing from here.

Trying not to read too much into the fact that I caught a stomach bug the same week I started posting emeto content again haha.

Okay, first of all, Maddie, I HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER SOON THIS SUCKS SO MUCH!!! So many of us that are into emeto also experience emetophobia, and I’m probably one of the odd one’s out being someone that doesn’t. When you feel ready for food I always tell people it’s best to start out with the BRAT diet- banana’s, rice, applesauce, and toast! Usually sick tummies will tolerate those foods better than, like, a whole ass steak dinner😂

But worries aside, this was an epic story nonetheless and I can’t wait to read your post about it!

#emeto #emetophilia #irl sick #vomit tw #emeto tw

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salems-spaghettios · 2 years ago

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It will be okay sweetpea pt.2

~Gwendoline Christie x pregnant!daughter!reader

Bold + Italic = flashback/memory

Italic = idk man, i used it for different things

Bold = thought

Warnings: light mention of alcohol, death, blood, miscarriage, somewhat descriptive self-harm, implied eating disorder, childbirth, self-depreciation, mental health, angst? (im probably forgetting something.)

Nine weeks later

Your mother neglected to talk to you about Dr.Vogt’s words, she didn’t want to upset you or spark an argument. It was 12:00 pm, mum was out grocery shopping, and you were home making lunch for your mother and yourself, you hadn’t been eating properly since you were told you miscarried. But you would eat some food when with your mother. You thought about your doctor’s appointment, “..you have miscarried, but–” maybe you should call your doctor, she had made several attempts to call you the past couple of weeks. You hit the red button on your phone’s screen every time. You weren’t in the right head space and were scared what would happen if you did answer it. What did she mean by ‘but’, your thought was disturbed by the smell of your grilled cheese getting close to a burn. You put your grilled cheese on a plate, and started on your mum’s. The front door came open, and you knew it was your mother with the rustling of bags. She entered the kitchen setting the bags down, and gave you a kiss on the forehead. “How are you feeling today sweetpea?” She asks with genuine care, she has always cared for you. You don’t understand why, you weren’t that good of a daughter. But you couldn’t imagine your life without her. You had smiled at her words, still watching her food, you replied honestly, “I feel like shit. I miscarried, yet I’m so fat, I haven’t lost any weight, in fact I’ve gained more. I haven’t gotten my period yet, it’s been like two months now. I’m not complaining but I- I don’t know, never mind.” You were trying to avoid rambling. You finished cooking her grilled cheese and handed it to her on a plate, a frown came onto your mother’s face when she saw your grilled cheese untouched. You took a bite out of your grilled cheese, to hopefully please your mother. It did, because a smile graced her lips. You loved her smile, it made every bad thing disappear for a while. You gave her a hug, wanting some form of affection, which she gladly reciprocated. You ate with your mother, talking about simple things, such as auditioning for a role in an upcoming movie. Then you assisted her with putting away the groceries.

Six hours later

You were wearing a silk robe as you prepared for bed, you had finished dinner and hopped in the shower. You were just out of the shower so you only had your robe on, due to your missing lotion you didn’t get dressed fully. When you went out to the living room looking for your lotion, trying to find out where you misplaced it. Your mother was watching you curiously, when suddenly you felt like a balloon popped inside of you. Water poured out of you with no clothing on under your robe to soak it up, and you didn’t know what to do. Your jaw dropped, you stood still looking down in shock. Your mother got up immediately from where she sat, and instructed you to get a pair of shoes on. You had a little argument about wanting to get a towel and clean up, but you ended up getting your shoes on. Your mother held onto you in case you lost your balance as you walked out to the car and got you to the passenger side of the car. When you stopped. “Mum, I don’t need to go to the hospital. I miscarried. I guess my body is finally aborting it..” Your mother looked at your eyes, your eyes that she loved since the day she gave birth to you. “Honey, I know you’re scared and think we shouldn’t go to the hospital. But will you trust me? Please?” She was right, you were scared, you didn’t know what was going to happen. Then it hit you, it was like a period cramp but worse and you were positive it would hurt more and more over time. Except you weren’t on your period. You winced at the pain, and you got into the car, wanting to stop the pain that would start coming in regular intervals. You put your seat-belt on, and your mother ran over to the drivers side, put her seat-belt on and left for the hospital. She grabbed her phone, and you saw she was calling someone, Dr.Vogt. “Hello Dr.Vogt, y/n’s water has broken.” You heard that familiar voice for the first time in what felt like an eternity “What- She’s only thirty-two weeks pregnant though.” “W- what?” You chimed in, not asking again as another god awful wave of pain hit you, which made you realise it was a contraction. Your mother quickly answered the doctor “Yes I’m aware, we are on our way to the hospital now.” You heard your clinician giving her best of luck as she was off shift. She had been in contact with your mother the entire time and was receiving updates of your pregnancy from her, due to your lack of communication. Wanting to know, finally ready to know what Dr.Vogt was supposed to tell you before you cut her off weeks ago, you spoke” Mother, what— what did she mean “thirty-two weeks pregnant?”” She placed her hand on your leg, looking over at you during the red-light trying to make sure you were okay. “Darling, how far apart are your contractions? Are you breathing right?” You replied “I don’t know, maybe like ten-ish minutes..” you hesitated before speaking again, “I’m ready to know what Dr.Vogt was going to tell me.” You said anxiously hoping it was something good for a change. “You are pregnant with an alive baby, sweetpea.” You wanted to talk more about it, but you had finally reached the hospital, contractions coming sooner and more painful. Your mother got valet parking, and you both rushed into the hospital. Your mother did all the talking as you were trying to focus on your breathing.

You were put in a room immediately, your mother sought out the best care for you. You were awfully sweaty, and were petrified. Your mother was arguing saying she didn’t care if they were on break, she wanted the best staff. Her heart beating out of her chest. She was scared, but not of being a grandmother. She was scared of the baby being hurt, but she couldn’t fathom what she’d do if you were hurt. She remembers when you first said ‘mama’, when you learned to crawl, when you took your first steps, and later on in life when you got your first period and thought you were dying. She loved you so much, her darling girl, you had struggled with mental health before and she always worried you wouldn’t reach out to her for help. She worried one day you’d take your life and it would be all her fault. She hated the thought where you were a burden to take care of, she had loved you unconditionally from the moment she found out she was pregnant.

You were in excruciating pain now, physically and mentally. The midwives urged you to push more but you couldn't. You were too scared. You had cried in agony, you actually tried to get out of the bed more than once. Your eyes screwed shut out of pain, you wanted your mother, but you already bothered her so much. Your mother snapped out of her paranoia of what would happen to you. She climbed into the bed behind you, and pulled you to rest against her. She wiped your hair out of your face, and wiped the sweat off your forehead. “It will be okay sweetpea, you have to push. It hurts, I know. I was here at one point too. Then the gods blessed me with you.” She whispered as she gently kissed at your temple. Her words made you cry more, but now your mother was holding you, you were safe. You held her hand as another contraction came, you tried to listen to the midwives. After a couple more contractions, and you basically choking on your own mucus as you pushed. Your tense body had a wave of relief. Then you heard your mother crying “My baby had- her own baby.” she choked out. You were scared to open your eyes, but then you heard the cries of a newborn filling the room, and you had to take a peek. One of the midwives held your child then said, “Well she was born early, but she seems healthy.” She. You held out your arms, hoping you could hold her for a second before they did tests to make sure she was 100% healthy. Your mother massaged your shoulders whispering sweet praises, and I love yous. The midwife handed you, your daughter. Who was very much alive, and you cried more, but this time it was because you were happy. Your mother watched from over your shoulder, she giggled a little, “She’s so tiny.” she proclaimed. You felt hot with irritation, and you had to ask your mother. “What did Dr.Vogt mean by “miscarried” I just gave birth to a perfectly alive baby!?” Your mother sighed, “Honey, you were going to have twins. You miscarried one, but this little one was fine. She was going to tell you but you didn’t let her finish, remember? I tried to tell you myself but you still didn't listen.” It all made sense finally, that’s why your belly kept growing, that’s why you didn’t get your period. You felt horrible because you hadn’t been taking care of yourself, of your baby. You hadn’t been giving your baby proper nutrition, you almost drank alcohol while still pregnant. The midwife took your baby to ensure the health of her and to give you and your mother room to talk. Now, you and your mother were alone. You laid back farther onto your mother, and she held you. Almost like you were the new child in her life. “I’m— I’m sorry I didn’t listen. I was just.. I was just hopeless. Now, she’s so small and has been brought into the world early, because I wouldn’t eat or do anything for that matter.” The guilt was getting to you now. “You were born premature too, I was so worried you wouldn’t be okay. I’m positive her birth wasn’t your fault.” Your mother’s words reassured you. Your mother didn’t blame you or say anything snarky, she watched over you. Her own baby at once, now all grown up. You were only in a hospital gown since they had you change out of your robe, and your mother saw something that made her heart sink.

#gwen christie #gwendolineuniverse #gwendoline christie #miscarriage #mental health #gwendoline christie x reader #fem!reader #fanfic

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thaiteaprincess · 5 months ago

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6/4/24 Self Discipline is Self-Care 🌟

I barely slept last night. I tried to sleep but my body wouldn’t let me. I was worried I was going to get zero sleep but some time after 5:30 AM I snoozed. I ended up getting up early still because someone was mowing their lawn 🥲 So I’m running on about 2 hours of sleep.

This changes how I operate for today. No cardio for me 🙅‍♀️

I took a nap but I think the Lord doesn’t want me rested today because my mom woke me up 😓 It’s honestly really frustrating because it’s so difficult for me to fall asleep so when I mange it being woken up early is infuriating. I’m not mad at my mom she didn’t know and was worried but I’m so tired man 😮‍💨

Note:

I’m only eating when truly hungry and I had lunch at 3:30 PM lol. So I assume dinner will be later too

Another salmon 🍣 dinner. I’d rather spread them out because I don’t know when I’ll be able to afford more but it’s the only protein I have at the moment and I’m not going to the grocery store on little sleep.

Speaking of food. I need to tell my family to stop buying me junk food. I feel guilty not eating it because it was a gift but it’s not helping.

I finally finished my last painting which is due tomorrow. I don’t like it. I think I went too bold with the colors but oh well. The collection is complete

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f-ngrl · 1 year ago

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kid milli x yanghongwon x jjangyou x dnopf x ???

ok lets go. first about my day, if you don't wanna know you can scroll down :D

so i had to book my train ticket for a train at 6:30 am bc they announced the concert super late and everything was expensive already. i cried abt it to friends for days bc i never leave the house this early, but then as i started to travel there were commuters everywhere just doing their regular thing. and like it's not that big of a deal xD

i arrived in paris at 10 am, successfully queued in the right queue to obtain my metro tickets, did so and successfully took the metro to the neighborhood of the concert (last time i took the metro alone i couldn't find the way out and when i finally got out i had to walk super far anyway and the ride wasn't worth it :D).

i dropped my bag and thought i could have breakfast somewhere but nothing seemed inviting and i had eaten some breadbuns on the train and wasn't hungry so whatevs. went to a park and walked around, it was nice. so many ppl working out here! decided i should eat sth for lunch but was overwhelmed with finding a restaurant that offered veggie food with good ratings and close by and is open and is affordable. also i learned i'm really not confident to go to restaurants or even cafés alone. so i got some prepackaged food at a supermarket but it was meh :D walked past the venue and there were a few people waiting at 2 pm. got bubble tea i love that stuff. then there was nothing more to do and i didn't wanna use up my energy so i went to the place where i'm staying and read a book. ate the rest of the lunch.

went to the venue! i thought, but it turned out i walked into the wrong entrance into the wrong event. i was already confused about the other people xD

then i found the right entrance and was confused again bc there was no queue at all. general admission was at 7:30 and it was like 7:32. there were 2 guys entering at the same time as me and one said to the other (in english) "yeah i played here 4 years ago" and i didn't think anything about it.

i got in and the club was SO SMALL!! even though i hadn't queued i got a good spot to see. after a short time, the dj, dnopf, started. and it turned out he was the guy from the entrance!! i felt sry for not recognizing him. he played only khh and krnb and i cannot explain how much i loved that. that's my dream like. having someone who knows khh really well rec khh to me? there were songs i didn't know but sounded good. a lot of jay park and coogie. a lot of aomg/h1ghr but no ambition or daytona at all. dnopf's tshirt said

I ❤️ PARIS

hilton

i thought that was funny.

then jjangyou started right away (no waiting times, it was awesome). i'm not really into his music but wow he can make the party go crazy like himself. he even walked around in the crowd and was really close to where i was! he said he was sick and had a cold so we should cheer more to give him energy. poor guy, i felt bad ':D but this was a great performance, he was the most energetic artist by far.

then hongwon came on aaaah! he played 2 old songs and then only unreleased songs, 1 or so of which i didn't know. he introduced himself as "young b yanghongwon" and said when he returns to korea he will release an ep. (it has to he noted he's promised albums often so it's not really reliable but i'll still be hoping every time :D). slowmo is the album's name. his performance was wonderful ofc, he did all the raps properly as we know of him <3 idk what to say u know he's my fav artist rn it's just yeah.

and then kid milli. his show was also great of course! he's very professional, with carefully chosen song order etc so you know it will definitely be good. he showered the crowd in compliments (a bit cheesy for me but whatever :D). i felt bad abt knowing so few of his songs. he wore a hat (beanie style) and hoodie for the whole show idk how he didn't melt but he stayed strong :D

during kid milli's performance, suddenly hwimin jumped on stage for 1 second, yes you read right and i didn't see wrong bc kid milli confirmed it :D he said "do you like hwimin? we brought a representative for area, it's gemini!" so gemini came out and performed 3 songs and the crowd went crazy for him. i don't like him thaat much so i was a bit ?? but i guess it was the surprise effect, he said he'll be back next time with his own tour. parisians are lucky that so many khh ppl (esp former fa members and area members) seem to love paris so much, i don't see this for any other place except maybe japan.

after that, kid milli performed some songs with less action and then at the end as an encore some songs with jjangyou and hongwon together. they performed indigo last, with good guy kid milli rapping all of justhis' part <3

the show ended around 10:15? maybe. kid milli left the stage early but jjangyou and hongwon stayed around for a long time, gave signatures and talked to fans from the stage. that was so nice!

when i got out, it was still a little bright outside. not where i live! this was surprising but it's almost the longest day of the year after all. the neighborhood was still full of people enjoying the evening and sunset, good mood.

i was gonna post photos but will do that separately. tumblr app is broken and uploads different photos or replaces my uploads with different photos from my phone no thx

good night!! 💕💖💕

#khh #khiphop #kid milli #jjangyou #yanghongwon #dnopf #hwimin #lil moshpit #gemini #concert

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boymage666 · 2 years ago

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I survived the

WIZARD RACE

Anyways I'm gonna talk about it now. no readmore because mobile tumblr is dumblr, sorry.

So, only slightly relevant to anything, but I did the entirety of the game during the school day. Started around 11:30, but I didn't find my first charm until about 12:45 (I had to go to an assembly then eat lunch)

Finding the charms was a pretty fun challenge, the only one I didn't get on my own was the heart (thanks for that one @wizardgoblin )

had to take another break after submitting the charms because I had to get back to school, by that time 3 people were already done. No big deal to me, all I wanted was top 13. So I do my work for that class and open Tumblr again to start phase 2.

This is a good point to say I love codes and cyphers, so I was very excited at the idea of the next part, only to metaphorically fall on my ass because I forgot that the actual question was on the main post about the game. Once I found that again I copied it onto a sheet of paper so I could write out the sounds as I figured them out. And so the teacher of my next class wouldn't flay and crucify and sous ve me for using my phone, but more so i could write my thoughts.

This bastard. (affectionate)

That symbol right there caused me the most trouble of everything, I thought for a moment I was going mad because I couldn't find anything like it in the sample text. But you know what? I think it's better that way. Made me think harder. I was kinda skipping around on words while translating, going for the easy words first then the words that I felt would be important. Decided I would hold off on this word and skipped back to the line above it to solve the big word up there. Catchphrase. And the last word was "Weekly". I realized then that this had to be "Wizard".

I'm glad that the "z" sound wasn't in the passage, it made me think harder about the puzzle, and that was fun in hindsight.

(please ignore the blatantly mistranslated word on the second row.)

Unfortunately I don't have timestamps for exactly when i entered the maze, but it was probably around 3:40, as I remember realizing school was about to be over, which meant I'd have to drive home before finishing if I didn't get through fast.

MAZE SPOILERS AHEAD. DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO HAVE IT RUINED FOR YOU. DO READ IF YOU'RE STUCK AND WANT TO PLACE. IM NOT YOU MOM.

On the first page of the maze there were three options to choose where to go. I translated the first option, If I recall correctly it was scoundrel. Did not want to deal with that, the second option I couldn't translate immediately, so I skipped to the third option. Merchant. Sounds safe enough, I should go there.

So I did.

Reading the options, and knowing I was at a merchant, I decided to barter, and got an item. Cool. Sick even. So I move on.

[something] [STRENGTH] [STEALTH]

Decided to go stealth, and remembering how the merchant went, I choose the stealth option. Made it out with a cool gem. Encountered the dragon. Decided I didn't want to give up the candle and tried using the gem. Back to the start. Same path with the merchant, chose the option i didn't translate for the monster, and decided to try and charm it. Sandwich aquired. Not a good offering, back to the start. Merchant and gem? Close but no. Finally, I decided to try and fight the monster. It worked, and the item visually matched what I got from the merchant much more that the other items, sure enough, it was a good enough offering, and I got to move on.

Last part of the maze. 14 options, one was correct, spotted it immediately. Escaped at 3:57 pm ctz, day one of the race.

Honestly, I thought the game was fun! The maze was slightly easier than the cypher, for better or for worse, but that also could have been on me by refusing to try the other routes at the start of the maze. I can't wait to see what future events have waiting for us! Thanks for hosting this @wizardweekly

#wizard #wizardposting #wizard race #wizard weekly #longpost

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electrasev5nwrites · 1 year ago

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Ninja Daily: AIC 28

Her day started ludicrously early, but suffering was just her lot in life so it made sense. Aiko was incredibly morose about it but she made it to the office at 4:30, right about the time that a wan-looking Nishikawa unlocked the doors. They exchanged a commiserating look. Aiko's protection detail merely stared at them, miserable and baggy-eyed a few feet back. The woman leaned against the wall while Nishikawa shuffled off to turn on the lights and turn off the security system.

She took a moment to wonder if her supposed bodyguard was going to keel over and die. It didn't seem like a bad option, honestly. The sun wasn't even up. Aiko was an absolute monster for causing her staff to be at work this early.

Silently, Aiko put a hand in her pocket and offered the bodyguard a candy from her stash.

The chuunin took it on a nimble reflex. Then she looked at her palm. Her mouth came open slightly and lines formed on her forehead. She looked genuinely confused about how this state of affairs had come to be. She was not ready to live in a world where there was a cherry candy on her palm. She had not prepared for it.

'I think the night shifts need to be shorter,' Aiko decided. '11 pm to 7 am is unreasonable. This lady is going to die.'

That seemed like a good time to go and start the coffeemaker. Aiko filled the one intended for her office staff and just stood there, waiting for it to percolate. Nishikawa came in as the machine was finishing up.

He gave her a mildly concussed stare, as if he wasn't completely certain who he was looking at. "Ah, thank you, Mizukage-sama."

She meant to tell him it was no trouble, but she wound up yawning at him instead. He pretended not to smile and instead turned to pull out milk from the fridge.

She had already sorted through the dishdrainer to find the cup with his name on the bottom and set it next to hers on the counter, so she poured coffee the instant the dripping stopped. He took his mug gratefully and drained it as-is while she tore open sugar packets. He was half-finished by the time she leaned against the counter and started stirring with her usual yellow spoon. Security wasn't allowed to eat or drink from the same sources as the kage, so the chuunin went off to secure the premises.

They were both on their second cup before Aiko dredged up the will to focus on work. "Today." She rubbed at her eyes. "I have a meeting with Sakurai at noon. Right?"

Nishikawa took a moment to respond, eyes flicking upward. "Yes," he said slowly. "I'll make reservations and tell him where to meet you. Do you have a dining preference?"

"The private room in Koyama." She yawned. She covered her mouth with her wrist. "Also invite Yuusaku and Karin to this lunch. I'll bring Gaara with me when I go. So make the reservation for 5, I suppose."

He just nodded. "Would you like to order at the time, or for me to select from the menu?"

"We'll order," Aiko decided. "Karin is picky, I think." She knocked back the rest of the cup, and oh there was a deposit of sugar that she hadn't fully dissolved. Yes. So good. She deserved this. "Other than Sakurai, assign that group as working on the reserved space with me. Add Keisuke and Ryuusei too, tell them to report by 1:50. Kanagawa-sensei confirmed his group, right?"

"Un." Nishikawa rinsed out his cup and filled it with water. "So you'll be out there from about 2 until 6?"

"Sounds right." She gave a stretch. "I'll be back in the office around 7 to handle any correspondence and signover paperwork. Ask Saito-san her opinion on the two accountant candidates, but you'll make the final decision. I want someone starting on Monday." She refilled her coffee and started tearing open sugar packets. "Priority is the letter to Nadeshiko, have Sakurai bring it with him to lunch so I can approve it. If it's good, send it with a three-man team."

"Of course, Mizukage-sama," he murmured. He watched her stir her coffee. "Is there anything else?"

She pursed her lips, but couldn't think of anything. "I think we're good." Aiko lifted her coffee in salute on the way out. "Once more, into the breach."

"It's Thursday," Nishikawa called after her.

"I know. Twice more into the breach just doesn't sound that good," Aiko yelled back. She heard him laugh as she opened her office door. Her protection detail had already unlocked it and circled the room to end up behind the genjutsu curtain. Aiko took pity and asked the chuunin to watch for threats from the vantage point of the couch. It did not take much convincing.

She spent way too much time doing paperwork. Other office workers began trickling in after a couple of hours, as well as her change in bodyguard. Aiko sent one of them away with a stack of documents to be filed when Mira came in. Saito came in with a particularly hard jaw to take the mission assignments. Aiko took the correspondences out to Nishikawa's desk personally.

And they were off. Gaara brought in a report about his investigation into the poison, and then sat in on her interview of the team that had escorted the relevant shipment.

"All the way from Nadeshiko to the processing," Oda Kai promised. He managed to meet her eyes when he said it.

His twin sister nodded agreement. "We noted no irregularities. The merchants' identities and papers were verified in Nadeshiko, one of us was present and alert with the group at all times during transit, and no signs of tampering by the merchants or any outside party were discernible."

"Right." Aiko glanced down on the profile of the four-person merchant team. She had already checked over the information for the farmer and the processing plant where the tsukemono had been made. It looked legitimate so far as she could tell from Kirigakure. "This was the second such mission you have taken from Nadeshiko, correct? Have you done similar missions in past?"

The twins exchanged a glance. Kai tilted his head at Aoi. She sucked in the side of her pockmarked cheek and took the initiative. "Many. A truly numbing amount, but there was a break of several years between these escort missions for Nadeshiko and the missions we did prior."

Gaara gave Aiko a sideways glance at that, but kept his mouth shut.

The movement had drawn both chuunins' attention to Gaara. Aiko considered their obvious curiosity and thought about publicly sharing Gaara's apprenticeship status. She should do that. Eventually. After she got things sorted out with Temari.

"The merchant company that came left Kirigakure after less than 24 hours within our walls. Does this align with their implied plans before your arrival?"

Kai nodded. "It does. And while that is an unusual profile for many merchant visitors, it aligns with a merchant delivering a pre-arranged contract. They would have a financial interest in returning as soon as possible to their home state."

The interview didn't yield anything outright useful. Gaara rounded on her when the door shut behind the chuunin.

She leaned back and took a deep breath.

"The long period of time between their previous escort missions and the Nadeshiko escort is a discrepancy. Why?"

Aiko wound some hair around her fingers and pursed her lips at her student. She tried not to look too disappointed, because the answer there was easy. "You need me to tell you why that's true?"

Gaara looked a little affronted. He stood perfectly still and narrowed his eyes at her.

She tilted her head.

"Changes in leadership and economic troubles," Gaara said.

"Pin-pon." Aiko gave him a thumbs-up. "Good thought. They would have done that kind of mission routinely as experienced genin and novice chuunin. They would not be taking those missions now if we had caught up on the backlog of low-level missions."

"So it is not relevant to the poisoning." Gaara looked away.

"It isn't," Aiko confirmed. "But it was good to notice that detail." She felt mean to shut down his line of inquiry, but not all ideas were correct. Noticing the oddity in the first place and wondering about it was a sign that Gaara was applying analytical thinking. He was doing well.

She shook the thought off with a sigh. She'd bring it up at his next performance review. Giving feedback all the time wasn't a good use of their hours together.

"Do you want to personally come with me to Nadeshiko to speak with Shizuka?" Aiko put away his report and started digging for what she would need next. "I'm going to wait until a day or so after she should have received our official complaint about the issue. She will undoubtedly look into the incident on her end immediately to ensure that none of her people put her in breach of contract. So it's best to give her some time and cut down on waiting." Aiko found what she was looking for and unrolled the long scroll onto her desk top. "Look at this, please."

Gaara took two steps closer. "Accompanying you is acceptable. Is this the park project for the day?" His tone was neutral.

"It sure is," Aiko said cheerfully. It was nice to be done with the absolute desperation measures. The bare bones of infrastructure for safety and housing were in place, so some community works could be done before pivoting to updating things like aging water lines. "You're going to help me dig out this lake here, and move the soil and sand over to form this bank and planting area. At that point, my genin- chuunin, sorry, my chuunin and the two genin teams will work on filling the lake with fuinjutsu while we go and retrieve the saplings." She flexed her fingers. Then she went to dig out the hospital funding report, because she needed to talk to some old people about hallway width and secure storage for medicine.

"And then I will direct the Academy students in planting small trees," Gaara said.

Aiko gave him a quick look through her eyelashes, because it was hard to read his mood from his voice there. His face didn't bring more enlightenment, so- "Yep. And poor Yuusaku gets to direct his teammates and Karin in using all the lumber to assemble the planting beds and park benches. Or maybe split them up from the genin teams..."

Gaara actually looked at her for that. He took a long, slow breath in. "Karin-san will not be pleased."

"Karin is a genin," Aiko said absently. "She can be as grumpy as she wants, she is a village asset just like everyone else. And we are making a pretty park together like a family."

He gave her a long, steady look that implied he was weighing her chances of surviving that conversation. "This path here. What purpose does it serve?"

Aiko took a look. "Running path, for civilians and Academy students. It's a safe, central location away from the training grounds. It will also be very pretty when the plums and cherries are blooming." Eat that, Konoha. They had pretty shit too.

"And the herbs will scent the air," Gaara said. He seemed to be just a bit amused by the whole thing.

"That's practical," Aiko defended. She sat back in her chair. "Planting herbs and fruit trees and vegetables for public consumption is part of combating poverty and hunger. In combination with the rice subsidy-"

"I did not mean to criticize." Gaara unfolded his arms. "My apologies, Aiko-sama."

She watched him suspiciously for a moment, but allowed her student to back away from his sass. "Go survey the area," she ordered. Her attention was already turning to her next meeting. "Take the plans with you. After that, the morning is yours until you will meet me here at 11:45 to head to lunch."

"Mizukage-sama." Gaara rolled up the scroll and tucked it under his arm. He paused at the door. "There was one more thing."

"Oh?" She tore herself away from the report. "Not about the poisoning- our guest?" Hell, they still had Raidou. Maybe they should, uh. Let him go or something. Or move him into diplomatic housing once it had electricity. What was he working on now? She should check up on that...

"The unconscious guest." Gaara, bless him, said with with no humor at all. "He has awoken. About four minutes ago." He seemed perfectly fine with the party line about the Konoha delegation and how they were enjoying splitting their time between Mizukage-inflicted hospital arrest and hard labor.

'Not like Utakata. The sighing every time he has to talk about the situation is getting old.'

Aiko considered telling him not to leave his sand on strangers to spy on them, but it seemed counterproductive. It was useful. "Alright, thank you. I'll go check on that soon. For now, he should be in good hands."

'Am I being a bad mom by not correcting his manners, though? He should respect peoples' privacy. Sometimes. Why did he even want to spy on Sai? And why didn't he get bored with that? Sai has been unconscious for weeks. That was commitment. I want to be impressed but I also want to make him apologize.'

She touched a pen to her lips as she leaned back to watch her most confusing child leave.

Sanbi heaved a sigh and rolled over. He didn't even pretend to be interested in the dilemma.

God. She leaned on her elbows a bit, reflecting about how sorry she felt for herself. She would never have imagined her life turning out this way. She was a single parent and manager of a large flock of murderous lunatics. No one else was going to help, so she had to raise all her illicitly relocated children by herself.

...Actually, fair enough.

'But no, Karin is above-board. Her village head knows she's here to spy on me. So I didn't do anything illegal there anyway.'

Sanbi slapped against her mind. "Please let me rest. Your justifications are giving me a headache."

The moral highground was a lonely place. Shame that all the turtles were down in the lowland of sinners.

The hospital board came and went, although they had the newly appointed head doctor with them this time. Utakata stopped by to make sure she drank some water and hovered until she finished eating the apple he cut for her. Someone came to apprise her of the change in Sai's condition and confirmed that her genjutsu hadn't fried his brain, which was pretty good to know. She approved some serious painkillers for him and fought her way through the rest of the morning and tugged her hair unpinned as she and Gaara left for lunch. It fell over her shoulders with interesting pin crinkles and some humidity frizz. Aiko made a mental note to get a haircut, because she had uneven ends from some fight or something. She couldn't keep track anymore.

Sakurai kept remarkable composure when his working lunch ballooned into a social gathering. Yuusaku arrived next, looking neat in his new chuunin jacket. That netted him a look of approval and a few minutes of chatting until Karin strolled in and pulled out her chair with a screech.

"Good afternoon," Karin said cheerfully. She was already flipping the menu open. "It's a good day for oden, don't you think?"

Gaara sat back and watched her as though he suspected she might choose to bite someone. He didn't seem afraid for himself or anything, just as though he was certain a sudden smiting was an easy possibility.

'I wonder if that healthy wariness has to do with Karin herself or if it's an impression that Temari left about older sisters.'

"No, not when we're going to be using a lot of chakra. Oden is relaxing at home on a cold day food. I want steak," Aiko said. She signaled over the waitstaff. "Hello, thank you. Could I get this? The sweet potato side, and tea. Water as well."

Karin gave her a sharp look, but amended her order to katsudon. She didn't say anything else until the man left to take their orders to the kitchen. "What's this about a lot of work?" She turned her face a little to the side and tilted it so that her chin was at a positively dangerous angle. "I have a full day of training planned."

Gaara went so still that it was obvious he was working not to lean back.

'I guess Karin laid down the law. Maybe about the way he drips everywhere out of the shower? That would drive her mad. I should be home in the evening more to keep an eye on them.'

"Karin, this is Sakurai-san." Aiko gestured and repeated the introduction the other way. "Karin is my relative, a current genin. You might have heard of her. And Sakurai-san is a member of my administration who oversees the city development and planning."

Karin's eyes glazed over. "Wow. That must be a fun job."

"I like it," Sakurai said mildly. "It's very nice to meet you. Will you be working with us today on the park project?"

"She will," Aiko said cheerfully. The look she got from her prickly daughter was pure poison. Karin was going to be vicious one day and it was absolutely precious to look at the seeds. "She's going to learn how to interpret the diagrams for the wooden parts from Tazuna before he leaves today, and then she will be in charge of supervising the two genin teams working with us today."

It was kind of beautiful, Aiko reflected. Karin puffed up to argue until the part where it became she was being involved as management. Then her curiosity won over her pride and she leaned in to ask-

"What is this project about?" She adjusted her glasses, because Yuusaku was frowning at the way they reflected light into his eyes.

Aiko nodded to Gaara.

His voice started off a bit gravelly. "It is a community welfare project that will increase the attractive qualities of the city, as well as serve as intensive training in water and earth ninjutsu for the lower-ranked shinobi involved."

Karin frowned, but she didn't seem sure of what to think. "I see." She pursed her lips. "I can see why you'd want to clean the place up a bit. It is pretty bleak."

'Fuck is she talking about? Is Otogakure lined with fucking daisies? Orochimaru got a lot of fountains?'

She could feel a scowl coming on.

Sakurai swooped into the conversation, even and reasonable and ever so deserving of a raise. "We have many projects planned that will increase the visual appeal of Kirigakure as well as raising the quality of life here. We believe that it is an important factor for morale and mental health."

blood splattered on the cobblestone steady steps behind but she was racing ahead of Tsunade. Touch one, two, three. They fall, they fall, they fall-

Aiko shook off a memory and crossed her legs. Kirikgakure didn't always make a great first impression, it was true. "This is going to be a large park, the west side dominated by a lake with a running path surrounded by various scented and edible trees and plants," she said. "The east part is planned to be recreational fields as well as some gardens for relaxation and consumption."

"Huh." Karin wrapped a fist around some of her hair and leaned forward. "That seems alright, then." She sniffed.

"Yuusaku will be supervising the jutsu usage of his team and supporting an Academy class in clearing the riverbed." Her student seemed pleased to know his role, smiling slightly. "Gaara and I will help around, and then work on filling flowerbeds with the plants we have so far."

Sakurai was hard to read, but at the least he didn't protest about the staff she had chosen for the project. The odd group got through lunch alright. Afterward Aiko snagged a finger through Karin's collar and tugged her along to meet Tazuna. He and his men were already packed up and ready to go. The village head was clearly waiting. He impatiently walked to meet her, face verging on thunder and precious architectural plans held in the hand that wasn't a fist. Aiko smiled at him and waved to some of the men milling behind. One of them ducked his head away, but a couple of them nodded. Three of them appeared to be sleeping on their luggage.

'It is definitely time for them to go home for a break. It is probably a week or two past the time they should have gone home. I need to make sure they're adequately compensated. I can't afford them to have a negative preconception when we are remaking our image.'

The brusque old man opened the plans and started talking as soon as Karin was within earshot. "I'm not repeating any of this. The namby-pamby arches are going to be death from above if you forget about the support here, so don't. It needs to go in at this angle. Benches are less dangerous, worst you'll get is a sore ass if someone screws up." His grouchiness levels went down slightly at that point.

Karin gave Aiko an incredulous look. She smiled placidly back.

Tazuna drew his posture up aggressively, earning Karin's attention back. "But don't screw up anyway. Look at this here- don't skip it, I know it looks ornamental and it's a pain in the ass but it'll keep the damn thing around til the wood rots." He cleared his throat and put his free hand on his hip. "You got all that?"

"I do," Karin replied primly. She took the plans in a quick movement that Tazuna clearly didn't register until she was holding them behind her back. "I'll follow the instructions precisely. Is that all?"

Tazuna blinked at his empty hand. Then then veteran construction worker seemed to really look at Karin for the first time, with her sharp eyes, confident posture, and neatly tailored jacket. He sighed. "I liked those Konoha ninja I had around for a while, but I gotta say they make 'em a bit smarter in Kirigakure, don't they?" Aiko covered a snort as Tazuna shook his head. "You're a young lady like Hikari-chan, aren't you?"

'Ah, right. She has no idea that he thinks that's my name.'

Karin followed his nod to Aiko with a carefully neutral expression and no comment.

"She is," Aiko said. She looked at her clever little cousin and felt proud. She swayed just that little bit closer to give Karin a companionable bump with her hip. "She's spying on us for a foreign country, but I like her just the same. I was sneaky when I was a teenager, too. It's a good phase."

"What." Karin's lips didn't entirely close. She took just one step back, turning so that her body was facing Aiko. She looked remarkably like she had been hit in the face with a squid. One hand slowly crept up toward her chest and stopped, unsure of what she should be doing. Panic? Become defensive? Deny it? Run away?

Sanbi started laughing. "Your youngling-" he cut himself off with a chuckle. "Her face. Ah, I think she understands my suffering."

'It's good for a girl to be knocked off her high horse every once in a while,' Aiko thought unrepentantly. 'Tsunade did that kind of thing to me, and look at how I turned out.'

"Moral and considerate?"

'Nah. Sturdy.'

"Could do worse," Tazuna agreed mildly. "She does remind me of you at that age."

Aww. He was so dadly. Aiko tried not to let her expression soften as much as it wanted to. He had actually met her when she was not much younger than Karin. Not this specific Tazuna but hey, details. Aiko warmed at the implied compliment anyway.

"Yes, I hope she also ends up deposing someone to rule her own country when she grows up." Aiko put a hand to her cheek and smiled warmly at her cousin.

She gave a quick check over, trying to read the younger girl's thoughts from her face and body. Karin's heels were thoroughly on the ground, her body language tense, her chest facing Aiko dead-on. A little defensive, but… Karin had correctly read the air and skipped right over the fear reaction for confusion, which meant anger was coming any time now. "We Uzumaki are born to be queens."

Tazuna snorted. "Are we ready to go, your highness?" He made some fluttery motion that was probably not respectful enough for her station and dignity.

"Hold up." Karin made a sharp hand motion and scowled. "Wait, what? You know that I'm a spy." Karin crossed her arms and widened her legs. She was smart enough not to try denying it. She was brazen enough that the statement came out as an accusation. "What are you thinking?"

Tazuna sighed and turned around to rejoin his workers.

"Of course I know," Aiko said mildly. She tilted her head down at her cousin, because come on. It had been very silly for Karin to think otherwise. "But I'm not worried. You don't know anything that could damage me, you haven't yet been contacted, and I'm going to have to kill Orochimaru-san anyway."

Fury sparked in those red eyes. "Like you could," Karin spat. She leaned into Aiko's personal space. "Orochimaru-sama is incredibly powerful."

"He is," Aiko agreed. "He's certainly one of the best shinobi in the world, and a genius. I would not feel eager to face him alone." It wasn't difficult to keep her tone and body language neutral, because Karin just did not intimidate her at all. "But I'm strong as well, and I am working with two other nations to get back something that he stole. This is the way the shinobi world works- your personal strength is not always enough. A shinobi who lives without powerful allies is always at risk." She put her hair back up with the ponytail on her wrist. It was time to get back to work.

"Hm." Karin just watched Aiko adjust her hair, angry but silent. The vertical lines pressed between her eyebrows were proof enough that she was thinking over every possible angle. "You're very certain."

Aiko nodded at the point, because of course she couldn't absolutely know. "We will probably kill him," she amended. "If Orochimaru-san kills me, of course you would be wise to return to Oto. But if Orochimaru-san dies, I hope that you will consider staying with me. Family is important." She smiled.

Karin was silent and impassive.

'Look at that. Two minutes after having her cover blown by a foreign kage, and she isn't panicking or putting herself at risk.' Aiko tried not to be too visibly proud. 'I told you that she was a clever girl. She has all the self-preservation instincts that skipped over the rest of our family. She'll outlive us all.'

"I did not contest her wit," Sanbi said. He was clearly having a good time. She got the sense that he was leaning forward to catch every word that was said. "Now say something disinterested and walk away. That will be satisfying."

'You're my best friend. Of course I'll be dramatic.'

Her voice came out serene. Aiko was hyper-aware of how having her hair up made her neck look long and dignified, her chin tilted at just the right angle to look at Karin through her lashes. "In any case, your outside loyalties are why you cannot be promoted or given much responsibility at this time. When and if you reconsider, you may be elevated. You may follow Yuusaku now."

She nodded to the figure waiting not too far off, because keeping an eye on Karin was part of his job. Then she made eye contact with Tazuna and held up a hand to indicate she was ready to go.

Her sweet baby cousin stiffened at the dismissal. Karin looked like an offended Pomeranian, with her round eyes and wrinkled nose. If she'd had fur, it would be standing straight up. "Ugh." Karin gave her a look somewhere between confusion and disgust.

Aiko gave a little wave and sauntered away.

"Ah, satisfying. That was an interesting approach," Sanbi said. "Why do you not employ secrecy?" He sounded curious, not judgmental.

'Karin is direct, and it's important for her to respect the people she works for. She would never respect me if she thought that she was more clever than I am,' Aiko responded absently. She gave a little stretch before holding an arm out to Tazuna. 'If I let her view me as a mark, she won't want to stay here. I'm letting her know that she has actual options. If I just killed Orochimaru, she might stay here, but she would have the baggage of trying to conceal her original reasons for coming and fear of repercussions. I'm removing that consideration.'

"Seems like a sweet kid," Tazuna said absently. He hefted his knapsack and kept his left hand on the straps. His right reached out to shake her hand, which had not been the plan but whatever.

"That's true," Aiko agreed instantly. She grabbed the closest construction worker by the shoulder and took them to Tazuna's house. "I love her." She let go of those two, flickered back to Kirigakure, and motioned over two more men.

But it was understandable that other people might not realize how sweet Karin was off-hand…. Aiko took a moment to ruminate on how ridiculous the first group of young shinobi Tazuna met had been. She dropped two construction workers at Tazuna's house. She went back to Kirigakure and motioned over two more people. Team 7 had set a false standard for young shinobi eccentricity. She thought it over while she efficiently transported the entire crew back home.

It was better not to correct those misconceptions, she decided.

She stood around and smiled and said the right things when Tazuna gave a little post-trip speech to his workers and their gathered families. He was supposed to wait to announce it, but he launched right from talking about how much money they had made to how Hikari and her little friends were going to revitalize their village by building things. For a group of about 30 people, they made an impressive ruckus when Tazuna started talking about how a girl from their village was the Mizukage. Wives, children, and random assorted relatives gave Tazuna delightfully baffled expressions at that. Tazuna and his men looked at her cheerfully.

There was a visible ripple of confusion from the villagers who had not spent two months in Kirigakure. They looked Aiko. She looked at them. She clasped her hands in front of her hips and gave a pleasant little nod in response to all the scrutiny.

Aiko smiled, but she felt tension run through her body. She didn't want to use genjutsu on any noncombatants if she could help it. She was not good at that. Sai still had a heaache. She looked over the crowd faces, cataloging their thoughts and reactions. Would anyone refute it?

"Wow," someone said. And then the crowd erupted into excited conversation. A middle-aged woman gave Aiko an interested look and leaned to ask her husband something. He shrugged in response, showing his palms and a cheerful flash of teeth. Similar interactions were happening all around.

She tried not to laugh. 'It almost looks like none of them remember me,' she told Sanbi. 'How odd.'

"They take him at his word," Sanbi noted. "This is unreasonable."

'It makes some sense,' Aiko disagreed. 'Most people don't like to publicly tell their leader that he's wrong. And it's in their best interest to believe it- it's flattering for them. They'll probably spend the next couple of days deciding that they remember me just a little bit, especially as the people I put under genjutsu months ago chime in with unremarkable stories about my mother coming into town occasionally.'

The day dragged on. She returned to Kirigakure and hollowed out a lake. She and Gaara moved the leftover soil to the planting beds that Yuusaku had managed to direct into being so far. He gave her a tortured look over the heads of shrieking, muddy Academy children who were nominally helping. Keisuke was bent over picking a splinter out of someone's thumb while an Academy teacher directed the more obedient children in laying boards.

Aiko nodded at Yuusaku and gave a stretch. She swiveled her head over to check that Karin hadn't killed any genin yet. Everyone looked quite alive. Good, good.

She brushed her hands off and took Gaara to pick up the plants she had prepaid for. The salesman gave her a look of polite confusion that became stronger every time she carried potted plants behind the building, set them in Kirigakure, and hiraishin'd back for another peach tree. He gave his watch increasingly concerned looks and left at one point to splash water on his face.

"Will he ask?" Gaara said in an undertone.

Aiko shrugged. She bent down to deposit a particularly large plum tree with the small forest they were settling a few hundred feet from where Karin barked orders. "If you thought some two strangers were buying your whole stock and putting it in your alley, would you want to say something?"

"Yes."

"Huh." She cast him a curious look. "We are different people. I would just let that go. Sounds like none of my business." They twined arms, crossed continent, and then dropped their contact to briskly walk into the greenhouse again.

The elderly man behind the till gave them a distressed look and pretended to be reading a newspaper. Aiko put a plum tree on one hip and a rosebush on the other, held the door open with her foot, and walked out the door and just around the corner. Gaara was carrying four plants with no sign of strain or wobbling, which was unbelievable until she looked close enough to see that they were actually hovering in place. A pot of lavender bumped cheerfully against his heel where it couldn't be seen from behind the counter. She suppressed a smile as she led them into the alley. As soon as they were out of easy sight Gaara obligingly touched his elbow to hers and then they were in Kiri. They set down plants. They returned. The old man took a step back from the window and started talking under his breath.

"Aiko-sama." Gaara sounded thoughtful. She glanced down at him. "I will arrange the transport for the second shipment of seedlings."

She shrugged. "Whatever you like. One less errand for me."

"You will transport me," Gaara disagreed. "And attempt to have a pleasant conversation with the floral staff while Yuusaku-san and I put plants into a wagon. Then the wagon will be pushed out of town. At that time, I will ask you to use your transportation technique."

Aiko sighed and wiped some dirt off her shirt. "Your way sounds fine too."

"Mizukage-sama." Mei casually surveyed the work happening around, eyes lingering on the line of genin doing their best to fill the new lake. It was going slowly, but, uh, they were genin.

"Mei," Aiko greeted. She kicked a pot over a few centimeters. "It's lovely to see you. Did you have a report from Ao-san?"

"Yes." Mei's nose wrinkled. "We will have a visitor from Konohagakure in two days."

She eyed her subordinate. "Is it Jiraiya?"

Mei's jaw was tight. "It is."

Aiko sighed, and it was like all her energy left in that breath. Great. Jiraiya. He was such a great houseguest. "I'll greet him personally. Anything else?"

"Sunagakure has sent word ahead that we may expect them at the outer border tomorrow." Mei cast a lazy stare on Gaara. "We will host a three-man team."

"Ugh." Aiko scrubbed at her face. "We'll have to work to keep Jiraiya ignorant, he's such a goddamn snoop. I'll babysit him. In that case, I need to run an errand out tonight. I don't want to leave Kirigakure while he's here unless I can help it." She yawned, feeling a wave of exhaustion pressing down while the sunlight faded. "Thank you for the information. Oh- Raidou. Have him in my office at 9pm. I'll have a talk with him."

"As you wish." Mei nodded and turned away. "Mizukage-sama."

Aiko watched her go and admired the way all that red hair moved in the wind. "Gaara."

Her apprentice stopped and gave her an expectant look. The line of potted plants hovering en-route up the hill stopped and bobbed in place.

She reached out and ruffled his hair. "I'm never going to be as impressive-looking as Mei is, am I? She looks so cool. All the time."

Gaara sighed.

#vapors #uzumaki aiko #electrasev5n #ninja daily #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction #clarity #AIC #Aiko in Canon

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our-time-is-now · 1 year ago

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September 16, 2019 (2): And you are? The godmother?

(previous play)

You can find more information about the authors, translators, content warning and additional information about the plays in the pinned post on our blog.

Attention! This play includes transgender topics. For more details see our interjection.

Monday, 12:59 pm:

David: *has managed to pass the morning quite well with breakfast, rounds, laser and a visit with the gynecologist* *is glad that all the doctors are satisfied and that Dr. von Fratschen has confirmed that he’ll definitely be allowed to go home on Wednesday - possibly even on Tuesday* *sends an update to Matteo every now and then, but doesn’t tell him about Tuesday, because he doesn’t want both of them to get their hopes up too much and it might not work out in the end* *eats his lunch at 12 pm and realizes that afterwards he’s slowly getting a little excited and nervous* *passes the time with music and some games on his phone, but turns the music off at a quarter to 1 to not miss the knock on his door* *then takes a deep breath when there’s really a knock at shortly before 1 and calls* Yeees?

Heike: *went straight to the hospital from the main train station and is now standing in front of her son’s hospital room* *can feel that she’s nervous and clutches her little bag and runs a hand through her hair again before finally knocking* *hears the “yes” and slowly opens the door* *smiles immediately when she sees her son* Hello David… *closes the door behind her and steps to the bed* You’re looking good. *then laughs slightly* Well, you know… how are you doing?

David: *sees his mother stick her head into the door and smiles slightly at her greeting* Hey… *sits up while she closes the door and realizes that it already hurts a little less than yesterday* *laughs quietly at her words and holds his chest a moment later* Thanks… *then sits down on the edge of the bed, because he somehow doesn’t want to lie down right now and isn’t really sure how they should greet each other, because their hugs were quite insecure and hesitant the last time* *therefore remains sitting down for now and answers her question* Already pretty good… really… just earlier today the doctor told me again that he’s really satisfied and that I can go back to the flatshare on Wednesday… *clears his throat a little insecurely* Hmm… and what about you… did you find your way here okay?

Heike: *immediately looks worried when he holds his chest* Laughing hurts? *sees him sitting down on the edge of the bed and only lightly touches his shoulder in greeting* *then pulls a chair close and sits down halfway next to and halfway across from him* *smiles at his words* I’m happy, that sounds good… *then nods in a friendly manner* Oh yes, Laura has written down everything in detail, everything went well… *then lifts up her bag, which she had put down next to her chair* I brought something for you… *pulls a notepad and a case out of her bag* I did some research, the paper is apparently very good. I wasn’t sure about the pencils, but I hope they’re okay, anyways… *hands him the notepad and the case* …well only if you can already sketch again, if not, then it’s for later when you’re back home again…

David: *nods at her question* Yes, laughing and coughing doesn’t work at all… and this morning I had to sneeze - that felt like the incisions would burst open again… but apart from that the pain really is getting better… *smiles slightly when she touches his shoulder and then watches her pull a chair closer and sit down* *nods when she says that she found here okay and that Laura wrote everything down for her* Nice… I mean, it’s quite some distance from Lychen… *briefly wonders why she didn’t come by car, but thinks that maybe she was scared because she doesn’t know the way* *then looks interested when she says that she brought something for him and beams when she pulls out a notepad and a case* *is really happy, especially about the fact that she took the time and did research and accepts both things* Wow… I… thanks, Mama! *knows the brand of the notebook and slightly waves it around* That’s really good… *then opens the case and beams again* And those, as well… Thank you! *is a little embarrassed because he didn’t expect her to bring something for him and doesn't know what to do for a second* *then stretches a little and puts both things down on his nightstand* *pushes the photo of the friends from Heidesee a little to the back so that the notepad and the case have enough space* *then looks at his mother a little helpless* Umm… do you maybe want to drink something? I have water and juice…

Heike: *is really pleased when he’s so happy and beams* I’m happy about that. *then looks at the nightstand when he puts the things down on it and sees the photo with all of his friends* *feels a little bit like crying for a moment from happiness and pride but also remorse, but swallows it down* *quickly shakes her head at his question* No, thanks… I just finished my bottle of water… how is the food here? I can see that you’ve been brought a lot? *points at the basket next to the bed*

David: *hears her say that she doesn’t want anything to drink and nods* *but reaches for the bottle of water to pour some for himself* *but then hears her questions and briefly stops unscrewing the lid* The food actually isn’t bad… well, edible… I’d say… you always hear bad things about hospital food, but the food here really is okay… *grins slightly when she points at the basket* Yes… I can’t even eat all of this… there’s also some stuff in the nightstand… Laura brought a lot of stuff on Friday already and yesterday our friends came to visit and brought this… *points at the basket with his head* *then remembers something else and pulls the coupon book out from the drawer of the nightstand* …and this… really cool… *hands her the book and then finally unscrews his water bottle to pour some for himself*

Heike: *nods slightly* Oh, that’s good… edible is enough if you’re getting so much stuff elsewhere… *smiles slightly when he tells her that Laura and the friends have spoilt him* *is surprised when he shares things with her and when he hands her the handmade book* Oh… *slowly leaves through it, because she doesn’t want to miss anything and smiles more and more* That’s really a great idea, and so useful, isn’t it? *then laughs slightly* I remember you and Laura always gifting me coupons: 1 time making breakfast, 1 time going shopping, 1 time vacuuming… for Christmas, birthday, mother’s day… I redeemed maybe one of them… *laughs again* But I was still happy to get them… *sees David flinching briefly when he lifts his arm to put the bottle back and then remembers something* Oh, hang on, I have something else for you… *hands him the book back and reaches for her bag again* *searches for a while and then pulls a tube out* That’s from your… well… that’s from Jörg… *hands it over* He says that it’s good for scars… or to prevent them… well, so that it won’t tug as much and that they heal well…

David: *drinks a sip while his mother leaves through the coupon booklet and nods at her comment* *then has to laugh quietly (ouch) when she reminds him of the coupons from the past and says in amusement* You should have insisted on it more often - then we would have done it… *then grins slightly and says* I’m afraid I’m under surveillance when it comes to those coupons… *points his head toward the book* Jonas already said that they insist that /all/ of them get redeemed… *then puts the bottle back onto the nightstand to have one hand free and realizes once again how exhausting that still is - especially with his left hand* *looks at his mother in surprise when she says that she has something else for him and takes the coupon book back* *takes another sip and then puts the glass down on the nightstand, as well, and puts the book back in the drawer while she rummages through her bag* *then gets a tube of ointment handed and almost drops it when his mother says that it’s from his father, because he feels everything constricting inside him* *looks at the ointment and presses his lips together* *nods at his mother’s words and swallows slightly* *doesn’t have the slightest clue what this is about, why he does that, and for a second even has the paranoid thought that the ointment might even be harmful to the healing process and that he should better ask Dr. von Fratschen first* *looks up at his mother and hesitates* *but then asks, after all* Why did he give that to you? *knows that she explained that the ointment supports the healing of the scars, but wonders why this should be important to his father, since he didn’t care about that at all, so far*

Heike: *smiles slightly when he tells her about the coupons* Good. I think it’s nice that your friends want to help you, just accept it, David. *is a little nervous when she says that the ointment is from Jörg and can also see from David’s reaction that he doesn’t like it* *slightly presses her lips together when he asks the question* *she knows that he wants to know the emotional reason and is incredibly sorry for the fact that she won’t be able to give him an answer* *thinks very hard about what to say* He said that he did research on the surgery and the risks… and the post-surgery effects… he said that the scar formation is very important with such a surgery and that it’s better if the skin around the scars is relaxed, and the ointment is good for that. *looks at David and swallows slightly* I told him to write a few lines to go with it, but he didn’t want to do that… I’m sorry.

David: *huffs quietly when she says that he did research on the surgery and the risks and finds it ironic, once again, that the medical part of all of this seems to be important - that in that case he can do research and inform himself but that he still can’t manage to read a sentence on the topic of transgender* *defiantly thinks that then he could have saved himself from giving him the ointment* *looks from the ointment back to his mother when she apologizes that his father didn’t want to write a few lines and slightly shakes his head* That was somehow predictable, right!? *realizes that he sounds bitter and doesn’t want that* *preferably wouldn’t like to feel anything anymore when it comes to his father and right now, doesn’t want to worry about why it could be important for him that his scars heal well, either* *puts the ointment down on the nightstand and looks back to his mother* *takes a deep breath and reaches for his glass of water again* *shrugs one shoulder* No idea… tell him thanks? I don’t know… he probably doesn’t care, anyways… *takes a sip and then shakes his head slightly because he sounded defiant and because it isn’t his mother’s fault, after all* *quietly murmurs* Sorry…

Heike: *watches David and can understand very well how painful and frustrating it is for him* *but also knows that it really was a big step for Jörg* *but definitely won’t say that, because she agrees with David that it isn’t enough, not even close* *therefore shrugs one shoulder sadly when he says that it was predictable* *sees him putting away the ointment and wants to say something to that* *but hears him talking and nods slightly* I’ll tell him thanks… and you don’t have to apologize… I can understand that this is frustrating. *swallows slightly and then looks at the ointment* But don’t let it out on the ointment, ok? Jörg may be a lousy father but you know that he’s an excellent doctor. And if you want to be on the safe side, then ask your doctor, ok? *looks at him piercingly* It would be a waste if it could really help you…

David: *smiles slightly when she says that he doesn’t have to apologize and shrugs one shoulder* *murmurs quietly* But I don’t have to let out my frustrations on you, either… *then also looks at the ointment again and sighs quietly at her words, because he knows exactly that she’s right and that his father really is a good doctor* *therefore nods* I will… *then grins slightly and nods again* Yes, true… *then takes a deep breath and asks pleadingly and with a slight smile* Change of subject? *thinks about what they could talk about and finally says* Hmmm… by the way, it’s a little mean that I can’t be there when you’re at the flatshare for the first time… *grins slightly* *would really love to be there - especially when she meets Hans and Linn*

Heike: *nods slightly* Yes, you can do that… *thinks that she should also be there for him to let his frustrations out* *but nods when he asks for a change of subject* *then smiles slightly* I’m sure that your roommates will tell you very precisely what they thought of your old mother… *looks at him with a smile* Or would you have loved to be there when I see the rooms?

David: *laughs briefly, because ouch, and nods* Oh yes, I’m also pretty sure about that… at least Hans… Linn more with her own odd way of thinking… *but didn’t really mean that and nods slightly at her question and gets a little more serious again* Yes, that too… but… *briefly presses his lips together and lowers his gaze with some embarrassment* I just find your reaction to all of that interesting… the house, the apartment, the rooms, the people… *grins slightly* …Hans’ bathrobe, the slow coffee maker, my stuff in the apartment… *then shakes his head and says sheepishly* …but Laura can tell me about it… or you some other time…

Heike: *is really happy that he wants to know her reaction* *smiles when he lists the things* *then nods when he says that Laura can tell him about it and beams when he talks about her* If you want to, then I could come over again tomorrow morning before my train leaves and I could tell you about it? *fumbles a little nervously with her shirt, but likes the idea so much that David is really interested in her and her opinion*

David: *sees his mother beaming when he mentions her and at first doesn’t know if that’s supposed to make him more or less embarrassed* *then hears her suggestion and smiles* I… I’d love to… well, if that isn’t too stressful for you… it does take an hour from the flatshare with public transport… but yes… that would be nice. *smiles even more because he realizes how happy her suggestion makes him and suppresses all the worries and thoughts of false hopes and plans on taking what he can get* *drinks another sip and then puts the glass back* *realizes that sitting upright without support is getting a little exhausting and heaves himself back onto the bed, but adjusts the backrest so that he can sit comfortably* *then they tell each other a little bit about their holidays and he thinks that it’s really nice - even though you can tell every now and then that they’re both a little insecure* *at some point got a glass for his mother from the bathroom, after all, and poured her some water and was just about to sit back down on the edge of the bed when there’s another knock on the door* *frowns a little in surprise, because he wasn’t expecting anyone and because the nurses always come inside immediately after knocking, and exchanges a brief glance with his mother, shrugs and then calls* Yees?

Heike: *has enjoyed the time with her son a lot* *now checks the time when there’s a knock* Maybe Matteo was able to get off work early? *then looks at the door when it opens*

Susanne: *opens the door with a small tupperware box in her hand* Hello David… *but then sees that he already has a visitor and pauses* Oh, you already have a visitor, I can also come back another time?

David: *slightly shakes his head at his mother’s guess and then also looks at the door* *smiles when he sees Susanne and until just now, forgot completely that she also wanted to come by* *is happy that she’s really here and immediately shakes his head at her question* No, no… I… well that’s okay, I think… *briefly glances at his mother and sees her smile and nod, probably because she’s curious to see who it is he’s so happy to see* *looks back at Susanne and says with less hesitation and with a smile* Just come on inside… and hello…

Susanne: *is happy that she doesn’t seem to interrupt and goes inside* *closes the door and walks past Heike to David* *squeezes his shoulder and then ruffles his hair* You’re already looking really fit again, I’m happy to see… I brought you something… *hands him the tupperware box* That’s Tiramisu, you liked that so much. *then turns to Heike* Oh, excuse me… hello… I’m Susanne, Matteo’s mother, and you are? The godmother?

David: *smiles when Susanne ruffles his hair just the way she sometimes also does with Matteo and then grins slightly when she says that he looks really fit* Well, not really fit just yet… but I’m really already feeling quite good again… *then accepts the tupperware box and briefly lifts the lid* *beams when he sees the Tiramisu and nods at Susanne’s words* Cool that you remembered… and thanks… this will be my dessert tonight… *then wants to introduce Susanne to his mother when she already introduces herself* *sees that his mother is smiling at first when she learns that Susanne is Matteo’s mother, but then sees her looking a little more serious when she thinks she’s Bea* *quickly jumps in* Susanne… this is my mother, Heike Schreibner… Mama, Susanne Florenzi, Matteo’s mother… *grins slightly and adds* …who will be annoyed that he missed this… *then points at the chair that’s still at the table and tells Susanne* There’s another chair if you want to sit down…

Heike: *holds her hand out to Susanne a little mechanical* Pleasure… hello… *is a little shocked because she didn’t know that David and Matteo’s mother apparently get along so well that they’re even on a first-name basis and that Matteo’s mother knows what David likes to eat for dessert* *adds with a bit of a forced smile* That’s nice that you came to visit my son…

Susanne: *smiles at David* Of course I remembered… *looks at David when he takes care of the introductions and then quickly looks back at Heike when he says that it’s his mother* *remembers, of course, what he said about his parents and immediately sees her in a different light* Ah, David’s mother, of course… *briefly shakes her hand* *hears David’s comment that Matteo is missing out on something, but doesn’t comment on it further* *then gets the chair and joins them* *looks at Heike when she hears her words* *says quickly and with determination* But of course, he’s part of the family.

Heike: *slightly presses her lips together when Susanne says that David is part of the family* *on the one hand, is very happy for David that he has been accepted into Matteo’s family so well, but at the same time is also sad that she wasn’t able to sooner be the family that he would have needed* *stills says with a small sad smile* That’s nice… I’ve only met Matteo once, but I also like him really much… he’s a good boy… *briefly looks at David and smiles* *is really glad that David has Matteo*

David: *looks at his mother when she greets Susanne and has the feeling that she looks a little less relaxed than she did only a few minutes ago* *smiles slightly when Susanne really gets a chair and joins them, and smiles even more when she emphasizes again that he’s part of the family* *then sees his mother’s look and briefly feels bad for getting along so well with Susanne* *has to think about the fact that only a few weeks ago he wished out of defiance that his parents could see that people can also like him the way he is and right now he can’t really tell what exactly this fact does to his mother* *but thinks that she reacts to Susanne quite confidently and returns her smile when they are talking about Matteo* *laughs quietly (ouch)* A good boy… the way that sounds… *hears his mother: “It’s true! He’s good for you!”* *beams and nods* Yes, okay, that’s true!

Susanne: *looks at Heike very proudly when she’s talking about Matteo* Yes, he’s great… *is of course happy that Heike is speaking well of Matteo* *but also thinks briefly that she probably didn’t contribute too much to that* *but swallows that down and concentrates on showing that she likes David and that she accepts him the way he is* *then laughs slightly when David repeats it again* He’s a good boy… and you’re just as good for him… *looks at Heike* Those two are really an experience together, totally in tune and familiar, that’s really nice to see. *then looks at David* But what about you… how are you doing? Are the nurses nice? Are you still in a lot of pain?

Heike: *smiles slightly when Susanne says that Matteo is just as good for David and thinks that David can really be an enrichment in a person’s life* *is annoyed and blames herself for not being part of his life for so long and that their relationship was so difficult and that she hindered and stopped him more than she supported and strengthened him* *nods with a friendly smile at Susanne’s words and says* I can imagine that really well… *wonders how often the two of them meet Susanne and would like to ask about it, but waits so that David can answer Susanne’s questions* *sees her looking at him a little worried, but smiles at her encouragingly because she thinks that her remorse really shouldn’t be his problem*

David: *grins a little sheepishly when Susanne says that he’s just as good for Matteo, and shrugs one shoulder* *murmurs quietly* I’m doing my best… we just look out for each other… *then hears what Susanne tells his mother and smiles slightly, but also looks at his mother a little worriedly* *wonders if he should have told her that they have a good relationship with Susanne, but thinks that there also wasn’t much opportunity to do so* *then sees her encouraging smile at Susanne’s questions and suppresses those thoughts* *turns to Susanne and smiles* The nurses are pretty nice, yes… *grins* Yesterday, the night nurse came in a lot sooner just to tell us that visiting hours are over so that Matteo and I could take our time saying our goodbyes… *then stretches a little to relax his muscles, because it’s hurting a little, and says* The pain gets better each day… on the first day I could barely move… but now it’s okay. Anything that involves the abdominal muscles still hurts… *grins again slightly* …especially laughing and coughing… and currently I can lift my arms only this far… *lifts his arms a little* …which is a little problematic when getting dressed… but… yes… *shrugs and says* Actually I’m doing quite good… *then smiles broadly* Actually even very good… I’m pretty happy that I have it behind me and the doctors are happy and… yeah… *doesn’t know what else to say*

Susanne: *fully concentrates on David and listens to him attentively* *laughs a little when he talks about the night nurse* That’s very nice of her… *then listens to him further and nods slightly* That’s so annoying, isn’t it? Just the things that you can’t control… coughing, laughing, sneezing… *nods sympathetically* *but then hears him pause, but is happy that he talked about it in so much detail* But all of that sounds really wonderful, David. I’m so happy for you. The next time you guys come over I’ll cook for you, okay? Whatever you want… as long as I can cook it… *laughs a little* *intentionally pays Heike only little attention*

David: *nods vigorously and grins when Susanne says that pain during things you can’t control is annoying* *smiles when she’s so happy for him and also when she offers to cook for him* That’s nice, I’d love that… I’ll think of something… but I’m actually not that picky…

Heike: *listens to her son’s words and has to chuckle when he tells them about the night nurse* *nods in agreement to Susanne’s words* *can feel a small lump in the throat again when she realizes how happy David is with the surgery and is so incredibly proud of him that he did all of that on his own, that he fought for it even though at first no one had his back* *would love to tell him that, but not now in front of Susanne, and plans on definitely doing that once they’re alone again* *leans forward and briefly squeezes his hand* *says quietly* It’s so nice that you’re finally happy… *then hears Susanne and her invitation and can feel this stab of jealousy again* *would also love to see David and Matteo more often but knows that a visit from the two of them would probably never be as relaxed as she would like it to be* *clears her throat and tells Susanne a little stiffly* It’s really very nice of you that you’re so happy for David. Do the two of them visit you often?

David: *looks at his mother when she squeezes his hand and smiles at her words* *briefly looks between Susanne and her and feels a little bit like Susanne wants to show his mother how simple it is to have a good relationship with him and that it somehow seems to work and that it makes his mother feel uncertain* *somehow wishes that Matteo were here to maybe mellow the situation a little*

Susanne: *smiles at David* Yes, whatever you wish, just let me know… *then looks at Heike at her question* *can already see that she’s a little cold toward her* *therefore also stays cold* We see each other pretty regularly, but not always at my place. I also visit the two or we go out to eat… last week, they visited me at my church group for LGBT family and friends, that was very nice… wasn’t it, David? *looks at him again for confirmation*

David: *nods and smiles slightly when Susanne says that they see each other pretty regularly* *actually also always really likes those meetings, because every time Susanne and Matteo make him feel like they’re a family - as if he’s really a part of it, but can tell right now that his mother somehow seems to be overwhelmed with this new information* *wonders why the two of them can’t just trade some childhood memories of them and thinks about how he could maybe involve his mother more or steer the conversation into more neutral topics* *but first answers Susanne, but simultaneously also directs the words at his mother, so that she won’t feel excluded* Yes, that was really nice. A really colorful bunch there… and I think it’s pretty cool that there’s a group like that in the first place. Although that’s probably also another advantage of Berlin. I think other cities aren’t so open in that regard… Cologne and Hamburg might be, as well, but apart from that…

Heike: *listens to Susanne and can feel this yearning within her to also want to have that… regular meetings with David and also Matteo, regularly being a part of the others’ lives* *can feel a small stab when Susanne says that the meeting last week was very nice and when David confirms this, but still smiles in a friendly manner* *nods at David’s words and briefly clears her throat* Yes, you’re really lucky in Berlin when it comes to this. *then turns to Susanne and admits* And you’re also lucky that you live so close to the children and that you can see the two of them so regularly…

Susanne: *does notice David looking at his mother worriedly and plans on being a little more accommodating* *therefore nods once at David in understanding and then turns to Heike* *even smiles slightly* Yes, I’m really lucky. And it’s also lucky that they even want to see me. *swallows slightly when she thinks about Matteo and thinks that it also could have ended differently* *slightly bites down on her bottom lip, the way Matteo often does, as well*

David: *briefly has to consider if his life might have gone differently if he had grown up in Berlin, if his parents would be different, his father more tolerant* *smiles slightly when his mother agrees that in this respect you’re lucky in Berlin, and wonders if she sometimes might have similar thoughts* *but then thinks that Lychen really isn’t that far away and that in Berlin it sometimes also takes two hours to get from one end of the city to the other and that they could actually also see each other more often if she wanted to, but doesn’t say anything* *then sees Susanne’s compassionate look and smiles slightly when she seems to give up her fighting position a little bit and when she admits that she’s also lucky* *grins slightly at her last words, because he still isn’t sure if the two of them are already ready to make jokes, shrugs one shoulder and says* Well, most of the time there’s good food when we see each other… that’s actually /always/ an argument for Matteo…

Heike: *is positively surprised when Susanne suddenly smiles slightly and then also smiles slightly when she hears her words* Why should they not want to see you?! From what I heard so far, you have a good relationship to the two of them… *then hears David’s words and has to chuckle* When you were in Lychen you mentioned something similar, as well… that Matteo’s actually always hungry… it’s nice if he likes to eat. Although you really can’t tell by looking at him…

Susanne: *looks at David and is at first a little hurt when he reduces it to the food* *but then understands that he wants to lighten the mood and nods* Yes, you can always get him with food… *then looks at Heike and nods slightly* That’s the half-Italian in him, eating and eating but not gaining any weight… and he doesn’t do any sports, either. But luckily he can cook and he doesn't only eat fastfood, that definitely is an advantage…

Heike: *smiles at Susanne’s words and nods* *is glad that she at least already knows some things and that not everything is completely new for her and that she can also contribute something to the topic* He mentioned that. Apparently he and my daughter regularly cook for David together… he’s not really interested in it… *looks at David and smiles so that he knows that she didn’t mean it in a bad way*

David: *nods at Susanne’s words and grins slightly* Definitely an advantage! *hears his mother and relaxes a little, because he feels like the two of them are slowly relaxing, as well* *but then looks indignant and laughs quietly (ouch)* *holds his belly and pants in indignation* I am interested! But I’m never allowed to help! Even though I’m really not that bad…

Susanne: *nods when David’s mother says that Matteo likes to cook with her daughter* Yes, he’s always liked cooking with company… *then gets more serious for a second when she remembers that this used to be his father* *but then laughs slightly when David complains* David, why do you complain? It’s great if someone cooks for you. I always enjoyed it when Matteo cooked for me… *then winks at him slightly* You don’t have to be able to do everything, you know?

Heike: *briefly looks at David in worry when he holds his belly after laughing, but then realizes that it apparently doesn’t bother him too much that he’s in pain* *smiles slightly at his words and then hears Susanne* *also smiles at her words and explains, before David can say anything* David has always been very ambitious. Whenever he set his mind on something that he wanted to be able to do then he tried doing it for as long as it took him to do it and be happy about it. So far, it’s been like this with almost anything… with learning how to swim, drawing, sports… and I’m sure that with his ambition he’ll be able to speak Italian fluently in half a year tops… *looks over at him quite proudly*

David: *grins slightly when Susanne asks why he complains and has to agree with her to some extent, because he really enjoys being cooked for very much* *was just about to explain that it’s not really about that when his mother starts* *gives her a brief and small secretary’s-office-look, but then gets a little embarrassed at her words, because he really isn’t perfect in either of those things* *murmurs* …I’m far away from being fluent… *then sighs quietly and admits* But it’s not really about that… Sure it’s nice being cooked for and sure you don’t have to be able to do everything… what bothers me is the fact that the two of them always make it seem as if I would suck completely at it… which I don’t…

Susanne: *listens to Heike and is really surprised about how firey she’s talking about David* *but really wonders where that fire was when David needed her* *but pushes it aside for now* Oh yes, I can imagine that very well… very ambitious… *then looks at David when he explains* Ah, I see, they hurt your honor… what makes them think that you’d suck if you’re never allowed to cook for them?

David: *grins slightly and a little apologetically at Susanne’s words and shrugs one shoulder* Yes… somehow it is… *then briefly exhales and shakes his head* No idea… when I moved to Laura’s she just cooked usually… and then it somehow became some sort of running gag when Matteo and she cooked together… *also wants to add that he already cooked for Matteo, at least, and that he even thought it tasted quite good, but gets interrupted by his mother*

Heike: *smiles and nods when Susanne says that David is ambitious* Exactly! *then has to chuckle slightly when she says that Laura and Matteo hurt his honor and thinks that this is probably pretty accurate* *then hears David’s words and immediately feels sort of bad that Laura took care of David because she herself couldn’t manage to take care of him in a way that would have made him feel comfortable at home* *gets a little defensive* But Laura always liked to cook… probably similar to Matteo… I’m pretty sure that she didn’t mind it… and that she doesn’t mean any harm…

Susanne: *nods when David talks about Laura and Matteo* *still finds it nice that the two of them feed David* So Laura has always taken good care of you… and then Matteo did the same… but that’s nice. *then hears Heike defending herself and gets a little snide again* Sure, that’s squabbling… but it sometimes can be difficult if you have to be mother and sister at the same time. *slightly presses her lips together and looks away from Heike*

David: *nods when Susanne asks and smiles slightly* *only then realizes that this excludes his parents and immediately looks at his mother a little worried* *also nods when she says that Laura has always liked to cook and that she surely doesn’t mean any harm* *but is still annoyed that she teases him* *then hears Susanne’s words and nods about the squabbling, but can feel his heart speed up and that he feels himself getting hot at what else she adds* *knows that she’s right to some extent, but also knows that this is quite the attack toward his mother and is pretty overwhelmed right now with what to say next* *therefore stammers slightly* Oh, well actually it’s really only squabbling amongst siblings… that’s true…

Heike: *also thinks that it’s pretty nice that Laura and Matteo take care of David, but painfully realizes once again that she wasn’t able to do that at that time* *wonders how much of the story Susanne might know and can feel herself getting slightly nervous* *nods and smiles politely when she mentions the squabbling, but then feels like her face is dropping when she hears her next words* *can feel herself blushing and slightly lowers her gaze* *looks at David and can see that he also looks worried* *ignores his words, slightly clears her throat and then says with a thin voice* Laura didn’t mind that David moved in with her… she even suggested it herself… *knows that she’s somehow justifying it and feels bad about it, because she knows exactly that none of it is an excuse for her behavior*

Susanne: *looks at David apologetically when he mitigates it* *knows that it makes him feel uncomfortable, but still thinks that Heike has to see what not only David but also Laura have done because she didn’t want to* *looks at Heike when she justifies herself* Oh yes sure, I believe that… *has the words “she wanted to protect David” on the tip of her tongue, but bites back on it* *is quite glad when there’s a knock on the door and a nurse comes in: “Alright, mister Schreibner, time for… oh, you have visitors?”* *gets up immediately* Oh, no problem, we can wait outside.

David: *looks at Susanne pleadingly when she looks at him apologetically* *knows that she wants to protect him and is really grateful that she’s on his side so much, but doesn’t want his mother to feel uncomfortable right now either, just as their relationship starts improving* *then also hears the knock on the door and has never been so grateful to see nurse Nina* *hears her say: “I actually wanted to ask if we can do the laser treatment a little earlier today… they need the laser on another ward later…”* *nods slightly mechanical and murmurs* Yes, sure… *then looks at his mother and Susanne and says uncertainly* That takes about half an hour, I’m sorry… maybe you could go to the cafeteria or something in the meantime…? *isn’t quite sure how well this will go and looks between the two of them a little worriedly*

Heike: *also looks at the door when there’s a knock and hears that apparently David is supposed to be lasered for half an hour* *also gets up immediately and shakes her head when David apologizes* *briefly runs a hand over his arm and smiles slightly* No problem… don’t worry… I… *briefly looks at Susanne and then corrects herself* …or we… we’ll be back again soon… *tries to not let it show how much she dreads having to spend half an hour with Susanne now, but tries to remind herself that she’s here because of David* *then reaches for her handbag and leaves the room together with Susanne*

David: *looks after the two of them and takes a deep breath when they leave the room* *sees nurse Nina smile: “Looks like I was right on time…”* *grins slightly and takes off his shirt with some difficulty* A little break really isn’t too bad right now… *reaches for his phone while the nurse positions the laser and texts Matteo*

WhatsApp, David/Matteo: David: (1): HELP!!!! (2): My AND your mother are here and are jumping at each others’ throats… (3): Nurse Nina saved me, the laser treatment is earlier today… but I don’t know if those two survive half an hour together… you have to save me! Please!

Matteo: *is doing his shift in the café that will be until 4 pm* *would normally check afterwards what else there is to do, but is quite glad that he’s finished for the day then and that he can go to David sooner* *looks at his phone when there isn’t much to do and sees David’s messages* *immediately replies*

WhatsApp, Matteo/David: Matteo: (1): Oh no! You poor guy! (2): Hang in there, I’ll be there as soon as I can, probably around 5 (3): Or should I ask if I can leave sooner? (4): Maybe Iris can take over sooner, I’m going to try to reach her…

Susanne: *has noticed David’s look and immediately felt a little caught out and guilty* *plans once again on holding herself back* *but then hears that they’ll have to pass half an hour and really considers leaving instead* *but also wants to see Matteo again and also doesn’t want to just yield the floor to Heike* *therefore goes outside with her and closes the door* Then let’s see what the cafeteria has to offer, right? *takes the lift down with her* *they find the cafeteria and a free table* *they both order coffee and cake* *then looks at her a little awkwardly* So… you’re staying at the flatshare?

David: *can’t answer Matteo anymore because Nina removes the bandaids, turns the laser on and he’s no longer allowed to move* *but immediately reaches for his phone again after the laser treatment, but can see that it’s now already shortly after 4 pm and that apart from Matteo’s messages, he also has one from Laura* *reads that first and learns that apparently Laura won’t be there before 5:30 or 6 because some kid can’t get picked up earlier* *sighs quietly and then replies to Matteo’s text*

WhatsApp, David/Matteo: David: Sorry, the laser was on, I couldn’t move. I’ll try to hang in there until you get there. I’m very very very much looking forward to seeing you!

(next play)

#Druck #og druck #matteo florenzi #david schreibner #davenzi #davenzi plays

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