#anyway yeah my parents grew up poor an ocean apart from each other and then had kids together and bopped us around

[littlecornerinbrooklyn]

Elizabeth & Phillip not fully embracing their children because they created American Kids who have no true understanding of their heritage or cultural identities

Kendall telling Logan that he was "so jealous of his children"

Lorelai advising Emily on how to laugh through the judgment & scorn received from mothers & mother in laws

[elichorph]

OH SHIT???? did you see avery jeong buying princess bandaids at the local cvs after punching out somebody’s car window??? anyways, he’s a legacy and a member of the yale's elite, they're twenty-three and a 1st year grad student majoring in mechanical engineering. they are as strong willed as they are naive.

hello, i am back with my third character. yes this is my second character that has a 5 letter name that starts with an a. yes this intro is extremely long. if you read it i will send you a gif of your fav celeb to thank you.

stats:

full name: avery tobias jeong nicknames: ave age: twenty three birthday: march 8, 1998 ( yeah he’s technically 22 right now but he’ll be 23 soon enough ) chart: pisces sun, aries moon, cancer rising siblings: one ( lilia, younger sister ) gender: cis male pronouns: he / him sexuality: bisexual & biromantic height: 6′0 hair color: black tattoos: random tattoos on his arms, faded hand tattoos (specifically an angel on his left hand) piercings: right earlobe ring

blackmail:

( violence & drugs tw )

he had an unplanned child at nineteen with his ex-girlfriend who he now has little to no contact with. his ex dug up a public intoxication charge that avery’s family had paid to cover up in order to place a restraining order on him and deny him custody of the child.

he was involved in an underground fighting ring for multiple years as a means to make money after being cut off by his family. however, he always took fights too far and was banned from the ring in new haven after he nearly killed one of his opponents.

family:

if you’ve already read lilia’s intro then you can skip this because it’s the same thing!

ya’ll ever read one of those drug ring ao3 fanfics where y/n is dating the sexy drug cartel leader? well that’s their family!

generational family blood money because that’s how cartels work i think. started running + dealing three generations back with their great-grandparents in order for them to make a living. it wasn’t until the so-called business was handed down to their grandparents that they wanted to expand and generate more money. the big pharma cover was created in order for them to manufacture, distribute, and supply at a larger scale. present day, their family name has notoriety with other cartel and mafia families. 

basically avery was supposed to take over because he was the oldest right, but lilia did not want that at all. their parents started favoring avery and schmoozing up to him a little bit to get him to say yes (even though avery was fully prepared to give lilia the position) and lilia was like! what the fuck! so she told their parents about this one time that avery accidentally blabbed the family secret to a stranger at a party which broke their one rule of keeping it a secret. their parents wanted nothing to do with him anymore and completely cut avery off and kicked him out of the family. 

everyone knows that avery and lilia are siblings, even though they don’t really know the actual details about their past together because avery doesn’t say anything about his family and the cartel is a secret. now that they are both at yale and in the elites together they are just kinda like haha awkward <3 they basically would just tell everyone that they grew apart if other characters tried to pry but also lilia is now telling people that avery fucked up a business decision which is why he left the family and avery is like alright but good luck trying to get other info out of them! xo, the jeongs

present:

after being kicked out of his family, avery booked it to new haven to attend yale. he was able to score a full ride after graduating as the valedictorian of a specialized school for science in nyc and for continuously staying near if not at the top of his class. literally this man is a casual genius. he will get drunk as hell and talk about math for the entire night even if you don’t care. avery joined the elites in his junior year and even though he technically is a legacy from his family, he told them that if he was going to join, he wanted to be recruited for his academics because fuck if he was going to use his family name!

to expand a little more on blackmails, avery was broke as shit after coming to new haven. he still is, but he literally had so little money to his name and eventually found an underground fighting ring and made money by winning matches through that because he is Beefy and a Unit and his anger issues could be released <3 but he would always go a little too hard and would near murk his opponents, especially this one time that caused him to be banned from the ring. now for money he just fixes up people’s air conditioners and fridges and shit and also works maintenance at a hotel chain around connecticut to get money when he really needs it <3 literally if you need something fixed hit him up and he’ll be happy to do it but he would also love if you made him dinner to thank him because he has eaten too much kraft mac n cheese.

when avery was a sophomore, his girlfriend of a few months accidentally got pregnant whoops <3 and he was ready to literally drop everything for his girlfriend and daughter, but his girlfriend didn’t want that because she was lowkey a bitch! she ended up using a secret that avery had told her (that he had a public intoxication charge that his family had covered up) and took him to court and got his custody rights taken away and a restraining order placed on him and then dropped out of yale before anybody could know about the baby and zoomed to another state and now avery is like ok <3 his daughter’s name is skye though and she is four now and sometimes he still gets updates but literally it eats him alive hahaha

personality:

basically paddington going through an emo phase. he has extreme rbf and might be a solid unit who looks intimidating, but he genuinely is so sweet. by his looks you’d expect him to push you down the stairs but in reality he’s the kid who is 20 minutes late to class to hold the door open for people and he’ll feel good about it even if nobody says thank you to him. 

certified sad boy! the extremely nice guy you meet at a house party who remembers what drink you like from some time you apparently met three months ago? avery loves house parties for real and will be the angel who cleans up at 5am even if he’s got an exam at 8. he loves to take care of people to fill his fatherly void even though he’s the one that needs help the most. 

accepts the fact that he’s now #poor now, but he also gets kind of insecure and jealous seeing everybody pop off with a britney work bitch vc bugatti. tries to keep up with people looks wise at least, he has one old balenciaga cross body bag that has holes in it, way too many ripped pairs of designer jeans, and a scratched gucci belt that you will see him sporting often. might want to bash your face in if you flaunt your wealth and gets kind of whiny about it sometimes.

avery is the type of person that loves the outdoors and going on picnics. his romantic dream is to lay under a tree with the soft summer breeze and play some guitar for the love of his life <3 yes he has a guitar and yes he is actually good at singing even though he gets embarrassed about it. he fucking loves music.

still has that aries moon though, is extremely defensive and my one character who will actually fight in the group chat because what the fuck does he have to lose at this point! avery has extreme anger issues that hurt him more than anything. even though he’s banned from the underground fighting ring, he still needs an outlet and will have his hands shoved in his pockets because they’re either bruised to shit or discolored from how many times they have been bruised. can be found walking home after taking the late bus so he could go scream in a field somewhere.

this man? also naive as fuck. has been hurt by too many people and really just sets him up at this point. an open book most of the time, so much that it hurts him. will tell you everything about himself like the way he can’t sleep in silence and has to have ocean noises playing, but he can’t listen to whale noises because sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks it’s a ghost. however, his family stuff is off limits and he will spit in your face if you even think about asking him about it. 

won’t hold grudges. the type to see a person for who they are as a whole and if they mess up, he’s just like “you’re better than that /: but it’s fine.” probably why he gets hurt so much

wanted connections

a roommate maybe? i pictured him living in an apartment because he probably wouldn’t be able afford live anywhere else. could be besties, could be someone he barely knows but he just needed someone to move in to split the rent.

the one person who he’ll let take care of him. it probably would take a lot to break through his walls, but this person can calm him down after he gets riled up.

since his ex went to yale, maybe one person who knew her and had somewhat of an idea of what happened. they don’t know everything but maybe from what they heard from his ex, they believe everything was avery’s fault and that he fucked her over entirely.

gut wrenching hate plots of where they really love each other but things just can’t work out for one way or another.

gentle romance <3 slow burn. someone who won’t hurt him PLEASE.

aaaaand someone who takes advantage of how naive he is

and friends. so many friends. he is just so friendly and he isn’t the type to hold shit over people’s heads. 

other links 

pinterest

[dewmie-in]

Episodes I Watch Way Too Closely: 144 - Letters to Lars

Going from Jamie’s big episode in Love Letters, there’s a curious connection between that and the title of a big Dewey-focused episode, Letters to Lars, a few seasons later. A few SEASONS, I say as I collapse. More about this big episode and PLEASE OH PLEASE IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE READ ABOUT THE WRESTLING SCENE under my read more. And if tumblr is gross to you, read this on A03.

Lars is becoming quite the device for Bill’s character development of all things - the last episode was about Bill not even realizing Lars was missing and ultimately losing his job as mayor. Lars is even pink now - not quite Bill's shade but still - weird parallels between them! Toward the end of the episode, LARS HIMSELF makes a joke about being a storytelling device. Poor Lars! Lars outright asks why Steven sent him a *letter* – a symbol for Jamie. Even Lars is telling us this episode really isn't about him! Love Lars. Gotta get some more Lars in my life. Make a note of that.

Let me recap the episode briefly! Lars is still in space with the Off Colors doing his whole Star Trekky captain's log thing. Suddenly, a letter pops through Lars' head from Steven! Steven talks about the events going on in Beach City through his letter; we see Bill showing up as a common, depressing thread in most of Steven's anecdotes. We finally see a bit of resolution when Steven suggests that Bill start working at the Big Donut. We also see some atonement for Bill's mistake when he doesn't realize who Lars is in Dewey Wins  - naming a donut after Lars and then visiting Lars' parents.

Onto the episode rip-apart! Okay, I already mentioned the little Jamie reference with Lars having a letter pop out of his head. Then, we have an establishing shot of the ocean. Two Jamie symbols! Even before Bill shows up, Jamie is there in some way. Initially, I thought the events happened during the course of a day, but Jamie's improv class is at night – it's the only scene that we see in the episode at night, in fact! More toward that day/night or light/dark theory I have going.

More character symbols! The HAM Sign on the window of the Big Donut looks like a sun - and then Bill, similar in appearance to a walking ham, shows up a minute later.

A lot of this episode deals with how even when his self-absorption has gotten in the way, Bill genuinely wants to help people, be part of things, and ultimately make people happy. Not having that anymore has left him rudderless. Bill has never really been an uplifting kind of guy out of all the characters in the show – he's a mess, really – but this episode was easily one of his saddest. We see him becoming more and more desperate to participate throughout the episode – and becoming more and more unhinged as each attempt fails.

Uh, what is going on with sad men at their wit’s end in this show and half-untucked shirt tails? That’s twice I’ve seen it now – one for Bill and one for Jamie back when he was being a weirdo in Love Letters...

What a couple of dorks.

Interestingly, Bill and Pearl have no interaction this episode – not one line is exchanged between them in the pizza shop scene. If anything, Garnet interacts with Bill more… or at least reacts to him – with a sympathetic little ‘aw’ (I so hope Garnet helps get Bill and Jamie together please oh please) and then whacking him in the head with a tennis ball. Head injuries are always good for character development - well done, Garnet.

Bill could have had another chance to talk to Pearl during the improv scene too, but nothing happens. What is Bill doing trying to participate in the improv class in the first place, anyway? You can tell he's obviously jumped into it last minute out of desperation - no Laugh Guard sweater or anything. You’d think he’d be trying some last-ditch effort to get with Pearl, his big!crush, but no. We see one more token effort to talk to Pearl in one of the background scenes in Reunited and that's it.

Mr. Smiley and Barb are taking an improv class so... that's interesting. Jamie had been doing lots of one-man shows at this point, and he has had trouble getting other people to show up to audition for stuff in the past, so I'm hoping he didn't have to beg people to take this class. It's also the first class we hear of him teaching (but not the first session of the class) so I'm wondering if the community theater might need to start making money. I promised my friends and family I would not write a volume of speculation on the Beach City Arts and Culture operational budget, so I'm going to move on.

To touch on the lack of Bill/Pearl interaction this episode one more time - Pearl actually interacts more with Jamie as a heckler, even prompting a 'Pearl, be nice!’ from Steven. I don’t think she was doing anything maliciously, but the fact that she initially made Jamie look incompetent stuck in my mind a bit. Between Pearl and Peridot? He gets ripped apart in this scene, and ends up pretty annoyed by the time Bill enters. The whole thing is just cringey and wonderful.

Jamie also seems kind of… weirdly full of himself here! He tries to teach improv but honestly he's not doing all that well. I’m wondering if this is going to be a running theme. I so want the next Jamie episode to be a 'crisis of confidence' thing – either a bout of impostor syndrome or people questioning his competence in some way or UGH. There is kind of a disparity so far between Bill's and Jamie's development as characters, so I hope he gets an episode soon.

That last bit with Peedee and his price-gouging tater tots is when everything is thrown out into the open about much being mayor meant to Bill. Notice none of it is actually feeling like he accomplished anything as a leader – it was the routine of it all, really:

 “You know what I miss the most about being the mayor? The little things – getting dressed and ready for work, walking down the boardwalk seeing everyone’s smiling faces – yes! Knowing I had a place in this town. I used to look forward to it every day – just like the people of this town used to look forward to their morning donut.”

And today in More Lines With Subtext That Probably Isn’t There:

“I guess these days no one gets what they want.”

And then yay! Found some meaning NEW DONUT BOY!

Bill and Barb’s flirting is admittedly super cute to me. If I’m wrong about LITERALLY EVERYTHING I have been theorizing and predicting and hyperfixating on these past few months; if they just decide to make the dance in Reunited a joke like most of the fandom thinks it is; if they just make Bill straight and keep Jamie alone forever? I hope they end up doing something with Bill and Barb. Perhaps Bill would be able to get her to relax her parenting style a bit more - and in turn, Barb could make Bill more attentive as a parent! It also makes you wonder where Sadie would fit in to all that because she does not seem to like Bill at all. BUT ENOUGH, steering readily back into bisexual-disasters-bill-and-jamie territory…

I think this bit actually speaks to two things - one thing about how Bill has now changed as a character and something that started as a tiny prediction but is now a HUGE one:

Okay first, it shows us that Bill is available now! I ramble a bit in my post about Dewey Wins where Bill thought it would be inappropriate to do a ton of flirting as mayor - maybe Bill feels he can play the field a bit now? Even in his interactions with Pearl, he never actually went so far as to ask her out on a date or make a 'move’ so to speak. Okay, so he referred to her as 'the hot one', but he never said that to her face. He whenever he tried talking to her, he tended to cycle between ridiculousness and disappointment, really. So yeah, Bill can be 'in the game' again.

Now for the prediction I have, based on the speech scene at the end of Dewey Wins and the scene in the donut shop towards the end of this episode:

Jamie’s standing off by himself, staring at the soda machine in thought. Smiley is the first to get donuts and then walks off screen in Jamie's direction. Then, Barb and Bill flirt.

Jamie and Smiley are also standing together during the debate in Dewey Wins - there are a couple weird things where Smiley disappears from the background during this - I can't tell if it's just an inconsistency in the animation, or they did it to make the figures in the foreground more easily visible. When Smiley *is* there, it looks like him and Jamie might even be talking to each other a bit during the speeches. I swear the angle of Jamie's arm in one part makes it look like Jamie has grabbed Smiley's hand for support as Bill's speech starts. Hey, this is me talking, though - I grew up on '90s science fiction where it was all 256-color screen captures and I read way too much romantic subtext into shots framed to deal with tiny aspect ratios on old TVs – ANYWAY!

I'm predicting that there might be one, final red herring!romance for Bill and Jamie each. For Bill, it’s going to be Barb - for Jamie, it’s going to be Mr. Smiley. Mr. Smiley has been in enough background scenes lately with Jamie for me to wonder if Jamie might start dating Mr. Smiley first - and Bill is going to learn of it and date Barb as a reaction.

My biggest piece of evidence for this is that seemingly RANDOM BREAK into wrestling stuff in the middle of the episode! Some of these may overlap with other ships or plot points in the show of course, but I'm for now I'm reading this as foreshadowing in my Bill/Barb/Jamie/Smiley love quadrangle theory:

"The Marmalade Boys fought each other in – you guessed it – marmalade!"

This will either be a messy relationship (Jamie and Smiley?) or... fighting in mar... hmm.. mal... mail? MAIL? DUELING POSTAL WORKERS? Are Barb and Jamie going to fight over Bill?

"Concrete Heat faced off against the Wolf of Wall Street inside a steel cage!"

Steven says this in voice over, but this isn't a “face-off” really - we see Concrete Heat (Heat? Firey warmth stuff? Bill is that you?) climbing up the steel cage to get away from a dude in a wolf suit. This might be Bill and Mr. Smiley fighting over Jamie, but I think it's more likely that Barb will either pursue Bill, or Bill will feel trapped by her.

"And the Good Looking Gang finally lost the tag-team title to The Sea Wasp and Shark-o-Mania!"

That has only one interpretation to me. Two guys with their arms around each other, one in blue and the other in red. Is my ship just sailing in foreshadowy form or what?! Does objective reality really exist? Oh, also - one of Jamie's character symbols is mentioned here – the sea!

You might be thinking, “What about Bill and Jamie's dance in Reunited! Jamie could have been dancing with Smiley if are a thing” - but I don't think they're a thing yet – and that scene was to plant a more obvious seed with the viewer that there's some sort of thing between Bill and Jamie - something buried deep they will only let out between the Red Solo Cups of Dubious Contents and being mutually upset about things. Their running away from the wedding screams (and I’m so happy I don’t have to keep this to a G rating because it’s tumblr and not A03) them having a one-night stand! Or at least intending to before the attack happened. I'm guessing giant aliens landing on the beach would kill the mood... unless you're Greg. I have no idea if Bill and Jamie's evening together will be referenced later on as something that causes tension or awkwardness between them. I could see Bill maybe even ghosting Jamie for a bit as a result. Maybe this awkwardness is what pushes them into the other relationships?

At the moment in the storyline, I suspect Mr. Smiley just fills the gay friend trope for Jamie – helps Jamie through a rough time after all the trauma of the Aquamarine episodes. In this case, Bill might misinterpret their friendship as something else and I'm just losing a hemisphere of my brain at that.

So to summarize: there's gonna be a big thing with Bill, Jamie, Barb and Mr. Smiley, and Bill/Jamie will ultimately be the result. I'd say I'm taking bets but that's illegal, so I'm just going to look really smug if it's true.

To wrap up, most of Bill's story arc feels like it’s tilting toward stuff to get him out of being so self-absorbed. Which is going to be a process! The bit at the end where Steven has him name a donut after Lars and then bring some over to his parents is a good start. I hope the whole abduction thing is brought up specifically with Jamie and Bill together as part of that growth, but I feel that's kind of optimistic. I get the feeling something new is going to happen that might make Bill a bit more selfless.

SO! Sweet jelly baby jesus this is so much fun! This gets me caught up of all the episodes that have currently aired. I'm going to start watching the series from the beginning now and writing a post on episodes where Bill/Jamie might be hinted at, where they have minor roles where something might speak to their character development, OR just random theories. Either way, there will probably be at least one more chapter to this meta in the coming days or weeks, so expect another update soon!

[docholligay]

Under the Sea

The commission for @yamadara87 this month! I hope you like it! If you’d like more of my writing, including a new Mystery and Shadow to be dropped tomorrow, check me out at my Patreon! 2012 words. 

Michiru Kaioh, whenever asked what she would like for her birthday, smiled and said she was too old for anything too dramatic, and that she would very likely go to dinner with Haruka, perhaps take in a play.

What she did not say was that mostly, she simply wished to be left alone.

The last party she remembered having was her 16th, thrown by her parents to fete her burgeoning womanhood, or so the story goes. It had been the same as all her parents’ other parties, with lavish decor, champagne flowing, a cake decorated in the most lavish and expensive way possible, floral arrangements with crystal details, live music, and all the empty fineries of the world.

The first party she remembered wanting was when she was four. She had wanted a Little Mermaid party, and her parents had agreed. For weeks, she had looked forward to seeing the bright haired singing mermaid atop her cake, with her loveable yellow and blue friend, and the grumpy crab that always made her laugh.

When the day came, her 4th birthday party varied precious little from her 16th, the only nod to Michiru’s request the decor on the cake, mermaids singing on the shoreline and even they invoked Waterhouse in smooth lines and soothing colors, with none of the technicolor glow that entranced Michiru’s little heart.

And so, on that day, she learned that birthday parties were never for her, and always for others, and she dropped them as soon as socially permissible.

“Anyway that’s why I’m not throwing her a birthday party,” Haruka said, weaving some version of the above tale, “I never do. She hates it.”

“Okay, but I love an excuse to use Michiru’s black card,” Mina leaned over on the couch and grabbed a chicken strip from Haruka’s plate, “you never do what I want to do.”

Haruka withdrew her plate. “Get your own!”

“All this lesbian selfishness.” She shook her head as she gnawed on the chicken strip. “So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Haruka dipped her strip in ketchup thoughtfully, “You know, Michiru’s the reason I stopped hating my birthday. I wish--I wish I could do that with parties for her.”

“Ah well,” Mina slumped back into the couch. “She’ll like whatever you do.”

Haruka shrugged, disappointed. “Yeah.”

___

One of Mina’s finest strengths was her own control of her element. Other people might not have said this of her, but, then again, others were not available of what her element really was. But she had seen it clearly the day she began to swing a chain made of other people’s hearts, and few people realized that Rei was not the only one with a deft skill and a subtle hand at her trade.

A normal person might have simply bought festively colored plates, commissioned a cake, and set about buying invitations. But Mina had often observed that most people did not live with the idea of a challenge, and, in any case, perhaps the greatest act of kindness she could bestow upon Michiru was not forcing her to thank Mina for anything.

Also she couldn’t see any of the senshi helping out of the goodness of their hearts, unless she played it off just right.

Luckily, again, her element sparkled.

And so it took her very little time to set the events of her triumph in motion.

“Did you know Michiru’s birthday’s coming up?” Mina looked over at Usagi halfway, then turned back to her magazine.

“Yes!” Usagi answered brightly, and then puzzled. “Wonder what we should get her.”

“Yeah,” Mina turned the page disinterestedly, “Just gotta find a good time to give it to her. Because she never has parties, she got too disappointed when she was a kid. Broke her heart.”

“I’m not sure I think that’s physically possible, Mina.” Ami did not look up from her homework.

“Oh Ami, it’s an expression! She doesn’t mean her PHYSICAL heart!” Usagi laughed brightly, but Ami did not correct herself, and Usagi turned to Mina. “What happened when she was a kid?”

“Oh, she never talks about it,” Mina set down the magazine she had never been reading, “But when she was a little girl, she adored the Little Mermaid. It makes sense, doesn’t it, each of us remembering our past lives, each remembering how we would be drawn to you? It was something she didn’t know yet but her heart must have seen,” she touched her fingers to her chest, her eyes far off, and Rei huffed heavily and rolled her eyes, “must have known she was connected to the water. She was promised this party. Oh, she was so excited, Usagi! Imagine little Michiru, clutching a stuffed Flounder, waiting for her own magical tale under the sea!” She gripped Usagi’s hands in her own, as Usagi’s eyes grew wide.

“But?” Usagi nodded

“The day came,” Mina’s voice grew sad, “and for all the glitter and glitz...it was never meant to be her party. No Ariel, no Sebastian, No Flounder. They didn’t even invite any of her friends, just her parents associates and Michiru, poor little Michiru, OUR OWN little mermaid, was so filled with anguish that she cried under the stairs, HER OWN OCEAN against her cheeks.”

If she could have seen the look the other three girls were giving her, she might have been ashamed.

But probably not.

Usagi snapped to attention, the perfect soldier Mina knew she could be, when the battle was aligned to her unique abilities. “Mako!”

Mako looked up, already knowing her fate.

“Your food is the best! I know it’d make Michiru so happy if you made a Little Mermaid cake for her, so that’s your job!” She nodded crisply, and then leaned toward Mako and smiled as if apologizing for becoming the terrible general. “I’ll let you pick the flavors, because everyone knows you know flavors best, and everyone will love it but especially Michiru, I know you’ll do great!”

It was impossible to disappoint Usagi in the face of such a compliment, and so Mako simply nodded, and could not help herself from mentally arranging a perfect party spread.

“Minako!” Usagi whirled and pointed to her. “You know parties, and drinks! You get all the punch and maybe a little champagne but not too much!”

“Aye aye, captain.” She saluted, with every intention in her mind of getting too much champagne.

“Genius Ami!” Usagi jumped toward her, bursting with excitement. “You figure out a SUPER clever way to get her to come to Mako’s apartment!”

“Are we using Mako’s apartment?” She asked cautiously.

“Of course we are!” Usagi smiled brightly. “Where else would we go?”

Ami did not answer, simply shrugged and shared a knowing glance with Mako.

“And Rei!” She was most excited now of all. “You know Michiru really well, so you can help me decorate elegantly!”

Rei crossed her arms. “Then you should just let me do it, Usagi, you think elegance is tinsel scattered all over the tables with a bunch of fake rose petals.”

“Michiru loves roses, REI!” Usagi scowled.

“Not ugly fake ones from the craft store.”

“You’re so mean to me and I’m just trying to do something nice for Michiru!”

“I’m trying to help you do it RIGHT.”

“I know things Rei! It’s supposed to be a Little mermaid party not a fancy thing, didn’t you hear Mina’s story!”

Mina smiled and leaned back against the wall of Usagi’s room. All according to plan.

____

Michiru was not easily touched. The sea was a cold thing, she had often reflected. She wondered, often, if she had been born this way, or if she had built this this stone wall around the garden of her heart, brick by brick, protecting herself from the many slings and arrows of a fortune so outrageous Shakespeare knew not of it.

And yet. With the brightly colored banner, Usagi’s renderings of Flounder and Sebastian framing Michiru’s name, the imprints deep in the paper from where she had pressed so hard as she drew, putting such effort into it. The food was beautiful, dumplings arranged beautifully with thematic fillings, a cake with her technicolor mermaid, no deep oil colors to be found, framed in the middle of the table.

Usagi set a rhinestone tiara on her head, glittering with teal and purple jewels, a purple glittering cameo set in the middle of it, framed by enamel shells.

“It’s the fancy Little Mermaid crown! I went to DisneySea to pick it up for you, Michiru!” Usagi clapped her hands together with delight.

“I’m sure that’s the only reason you went, and not to get pizza spring rolls.” Rei snapped, a glass of teal fizzy punch in her hand.

“It was!” Usagi protested loudly.

Michiru was ever so grateful for their bickering, which kept her from thinking too deeply on the subject of all the effort that had been laid out for her, that kept her from dwelling too much on the tiny girl inside of her that jumped for joy at seeing the green tulle and fake fishnet against the wall, the brightly colored party hats on the table, of feeling as if someone had listened.

Haruka put an arm around her, and popped a crab dumpling in her mouth. “Shebashtain’s delischious.” She swallowed. “This is really great, guys!”

Michiru looked up at her. “You didn’t do this?”

Haruka shook her head. “I rented us a sailboat for tomorrow afternoon. There’s cake there too, though.”

Michiru looked up again, unable to imagine that these girls who were quite stuck with her more than anything, by an accident of fate, had pooled together their resources and wherewithal simply to make her happy. She had never been overly expressive with them--she was a creature

who lived by the checkbook more than the heart, she often thought, and that was all she knew how to do.

But somehow these girls had seen what she meant, when she offered them concert tickets or dinners out.

“Thank you so very much.” She looked around, pretending to survey the party once more, but pointedly meeting no one’s gaze. “I,” she adjusted the tiara on her head, “I am not certain what I should say.”

“Do you like it?” Usagi asked, for a moment seemingly worried she might not.

“It is the birthday I’ve always wanted.” She gratefully took a cup of punch from Mako’s hand. “I cannot believe the effort you put it.”

“Well, you’re one of us, Michiru!” Usagi grabbed a plate from the table. “So we had to make sure you had a good birthday!”

She smiled honestly, a small band of white showing at her lips. “I cannot express how grateful I feel. Truly.”

She made a note in the back of her head, however, that Mako seemed to need a new stand mixer, that Usagi would very likely enjoy a box of the fine imported chocolates her parents got, and Rei seemed to be in need of a fine evening out.

She would simply tell Haruka to go have fun with Mina, on her credit card.

She sat at the table as a lit cake was put in front of her, and somewhere deep under the sea, Michiru felt warm.

In the corner, Haruka grinned brightly and poked Mina in the shoulder. “You did something nice for miiiichiiiiruuuuuuu.”

Mina looked away from her and sipped her punch, which was mostly just champagne, by her own pour. “The fact that we managed to separate your heart crystal from the talisman itself is really inconvenient for me, have I mentioned that?”

“You did something nice for miiichiiiiiruuuuuuuuu.” Haruka leaned onto her shoulder.

“I did something nice for you, you homosexual ingrate. Michiru was just my pawn.” She swatted at her face.

“I love you too, Mina.” Haruka leaned against the wall and popped another dumpling in her mouth.

“Fucking lesbians.” She shook her head.

But she smiled, just shaded enough so no one could see, at the glisten of Michiru’s eyes in the candlelight.