#but i even brought it in my cute little thermos lunch bag and now it's just sitting on my desk looking cute making me feel accomplished

[polaroidcats]

brought my own lunch to work today, so if all the "stop buying starbucks to become a millionaire" blogs are correct i'll be able to afford a harp in no time!!

[e-milieeee]

four ways to say i love you

Summary: It’s the little things—such as waking up at five in the morning to cook for him or lending her a coat when she’s cold—that mean the world. 

Because Marinette loves her partner very, very much, and she’s so lucky that he feels the same. 

Notes: I was initially going to do one side of the lovesquare, but all sides are equal and therefore have all four sides in this oneshot :) Post reveal, established relationship. A commissioned piece for @mlbforblm—there’s plenty of talented artists and writers who still have slots, so make sure to commission! 

Or read on AO3

Adrien is brushing his teeth when Ladybug comes crashing through his window.

He’s a little later than usual today, still decked in his Ladybug pajamas that he’s so unashamedly  proud of. He has tied his bangs back with an elastic band, and it sits like a little tree on top of his head, water still dripping from his face.

“And here I was, thinking you’d be ready to eat breakfast,” she tsks playfully.

He grins back. “Sorry, M’lady. Plagg turned my alarm off.”

His smile is, as usual, contagious and in a way that can’t help but to smile back. Ladybug returns to his room and takes out the box from her bag, where she’d painstakingly prepared breakfast for him at the expense of a shattered bowl and spilled jug of milk. It’s still warm to the touch, thankfully, and her slightly rough landing in his room hadn’t messed it up too much.

Adrien joins her a couple minutes later. He has taken the hair tie out, but his bangs fall softly over his eyes like it does when he’s Chat Noir, and Ladybug wants to run her hands over it so to feel just how soft it is. She refrains herself, though, as they both settle cross-legged on the ground where she has laid their breakfast out.

His mouth drops open. “Wow,” Adrien marvels. “When you said you were going to make a feast, I thought you’d fry an egg or two and slap it between some bread and that would’ve been it. This is… can you describe food as gorgeous? Because this is gorgeous.”

“Just because that’s the only thing you can cook doesn’t mean it’s all I’m capable of,” she sniffs, but underneath, Ladybug preens at the compliment.

It’d taken a lot of effort, and Ladybug had collected the ingredients the day before and planned every single detail before going to bed. Then, at five in the morning, she dragged herself out of bed looking and feeling like a zombie just to prepare it.

There are four egg rolls drizzled with homemade sauce, then sprinkled with dried seaweed and sesame. Next to that are neat cuts of green onion cake, made from absolute scratch (she burned herself in the process of deep-frying them). Inside the longest container are fried fish, the ones her mother had prepared the night before. Finally, the leftover mooncakes from the Lunar Festival are in the little box, tied with a red bow. Marinette had spent careful care on that one.

“Miso soup,” Ladybug tells him as she hands him the thermos. “Uh… I think I added too much paste and it’s too salty, so you might not want to drink that one. And…” She opens the last box, where a variety of fresh-cut fruit awaits. “For health reasons, there are fruits. Oh! Also a cheese platter for Plagg, but he’s still asleep, so he can have it later.”

Adrien is positively beaming when she unpacks everything. “You’re the absolute best,” he gushes.

“Couldn’t have you starving on your diet, right?” The nonchalant act can only go so far when she’s grinning so wide. “I’m just hoping it tastes as good as it looks.”

“It’ll taste good just because you made it.” He throws her an exaggerated wink, then immediately reaches for his chopsticks to dig in.

Ladybug watches him take a bite out of green onion cake. He chews, swallows, eyes lighting up. “This is amazing, and I promise I’m not just saying that because my diet’s forced me to eat boiled chicken breasts with no seasoning of the past week.”

She giggles. “Just let me know when you want me to bring you breakfast.”

He places a hand on his chest. “I can’t believe Ladybug’s my personal delivery girl. Do you offer lunch services as well?”

“Only for you, kitty.”

His grin is worth getting up for at 5am.

***

Marinette is freezing at lunch break, but they’ve agreed to eat outside, so she sucks it up. At least the lunch she’d packed for her and Adrien is warm.

It’s late autumn now, and the last couple of leaves cling to otherwise bare trees. She regrets the outfit she picked—cute, but not practical. Especially not in this weather. Looking at Alya bundled up in a hoodie and combat boots, Marinette really regrets the dress.

The noodles in the thermoses are slightly soggy, but the flavour is still there. They chat for a while—about upcoming tests, about projects and the end-of-the-year field trip that is still months away, and everything is lovely. Lovely, but cold.

Halfway through, her noodles emptied, Adrien notices her shivering. “Are you cold?” he asks, eyes growing wide in concern.

Alya halts her conversation with Nino as well. “Wait, Adrien’s right, you’re wearing a dress. I’m chilly and I have a sweater on.”

Marinette, who has refrained from speaking for the past couple of minutes in fear of her teeth chattering too loudly, manages to shake her head.

She gets a scrutinizing look-over by Adrien before he makes his verdict. “This isn’t going to do,” he declares firmly. Then, with one fluid movement, he shrugs his own sweater off and drapes it over her shoulders.

“Oh, he’s smooth,” Alya remarks with a wicked grin.

Smooth, indeed. The jacket is wonderfully warm, and, with a content sigh, Marinette slides her arms through the sleeves. There’s also the faint smell of his cologne and it’s so very him that she can’t help the smile that crosses her face.

He opens an arm in a beckoning gesture and Marinette happily settles into his embrace.

***

Because of his father’s strict rules, it’s much easier for Adrien to come by as Chat Noir after school, which he does almost everyday. Sometimes it’s between his schedules, sometimes it’s after, late into the night when both his father and Nathalie believe he’s asleep. Marinette always listens for the thump on the skylight, an indication that he’s there. The trap door is always left unlocked for him, so she only needs to wait as he climbs down the ladder.

It’s nearing nine when he comes this time. She sits at her desk finishing up the rest of the notes when the door creaks open and Chat Noir climbs down.

“Evening,” he greets. “What—ooh, you brought croissants for me.”

He zeroes in immediately on the food that Marinette had, admittedly, prepared for him. Between Adrien’s schedule and that godawful diet his father insisted putting him on and his time sprinting across rooftops and fighting akumas, it’s a miracle that he hasn’t fainted from lack of nutrition. Marinette has made it her personal goal to make sure he’s properly fed, and she ensures there’s a snack waiting for him every time he drops by.

Half a minute later, he’s munching enthusiastically on the food and Marinette can no longer focus on the rest of her notes. She sorts them out—there’s at least four pages that she’d copied in her neatest handwriting—and then hands them to Chat.

“Here,” she tells him. “You missed both physics and mathematics today because of the photoshoot, so I copied the notes from class and re-organized them. I also added a review section from last class so it’s easier to figure out just where we are since the two lessons are connected. And…” She shuffles through her desk once more, producing the textbook. “It’s on page one hundred and twenty seven to one hundred and twenty nine, if my notes don’t make sense. You can study here, if you’d like. My parents won’t be coming back up anyway, so we should be left alone for now.”

The last time her mother had walked in on her and Chat doing homework together, she’d been understanding. Understanding, but skeptical. It had been awfully hard to explain why Paris’ superhero was lounging in her room like he lived there—and much harder more awkward to explain that Adrien was one hundred supportive of her friendship with Chat after her father had become defensive that he had ulterior motives.

Chat takes the papers from her. “You’re absolutely unbelievable,” he tells her, eyes shining in a way only his can. “Seriously, Marinette, have I ever told you?”

She pretends to count on her fingers. “Let’s see… only about six times today. Why? He shakes his head, a grin pulling at the corner of his lips. In one fluid movement, he leans down to pluck the textbook from her hands and plants a quick kiss against her cheek in the process. “What would I do without you?”

“Go hungry, probably? Start lagging behind in all of your classes?” Marinette tsks at him. “God, you’re right. What would you do without me?”

Chat’s laugh is wonderful and full and happy. “Then aren’t I lucky to have you.”

***

The akuma strikes at midnight.

Marinette, about to change into her pajamas after just sending off Chat Noir, curses to herself. She’s tired and not in the mood to transform, but when Chat comes crashing back down from the skylight urgently, she knows she has no choice.

“Akuma!” he informs her, as if the tremors outside could be caused by anything else. “It’s close to here. We should be able to take this one quickly.”

“Why is Hawkmoth even awake?” Marinette grumbles, but transforms nonetheless. Chat waits patiently on the side, though he’s drawn taut, prepared to scramble into action the moment she’s ready. Then they’re climbing out of the skylight, into the light, where the akuma has begun its rampage. The once-quiet night is ripped apart with panic and terror.

The akuma is relatively easy to deal with: a little girl, apparently inspired by Frozen, is decked in full Elsa, wielding similar powers. She covers the streets in ice, a snowstorm whirling around her, as spirals of icy sculptures rise and fall.

Both she and Chat have icicles hanging off them by the time Ladybug purifies the akuma. Even after she releases the Miraculous Ladybug, the cold from the girl’s powers haven’t seeped out of her bones. Judging from Chat’s chattering teeth, he feels the same.

Despite her watch reading 12:32 and the next day hailing as a school day , they stop by at a 24-hour-cafe for hot chocolate. A couple minutes later, seated on the rooftops warming their chilled hands, they’re huddled against each other and staring out at the gleaming cityscape.

“Another successful take-down, m’lady?”

Ladybug laughs as he raises his cup for a toast, and she obliges and bumps her own against him. Hot chocolate sloshes over the lid, splashing onto her suit. She flicks it off. “What a team we make, huh? Now, if only Hawkmoth would get the memo and stop creating his akumas so late. Why is he even up now? Say, do you think he has a life outside of being Hawkmoth?”

“He probably wants to catch us off guard in the middle of the night. Remember that one time we got woken up at three because there was an akuma attack? Plagg wanted to tape my mouth shut so I couldn’t transform.”  

Ladybug groans. “I did really bad on a test the next day because I got three and a half hours of sleep—I fell asleep halfway through the test! It’s— ugh. He’s so annoying.”

“There’s one good thing about midnight akumas, though,” Chat points out.

She takes a sip from the hot chocolate, which, during their conversation, has cooled down to just below scalding. “A good thing?” Ladybug echoes. “Name one good thing, chaton.”  

He nudges her shoulder. “You, m’lady. It’s nice just being alone like this without anyone else, right?”

Then, like he’s said nothing out of the ordinary, Chat goes back to drinking his hot chocolate with infuriating nonchalance.

Ladybug finds herself smiling. “You know,” she tells Chat Noir. “You’re ridiculously good at this. Where do you even get the inspiration to say these things?”

“You.”

“You are completely overdoing it.”

“You love me, admit that.”

“No.”

“So you would get up at five in the morning to make breakfast for just anyone, Bugaboo?”

Ladybug relents. “Okay, maybe a little.”

Chat Noir’s laugh rings crystal clear throughout the night, loud against the crisp air. Ladybug wants to trap that laugh and hold it close to herself. She can’t help but treasure it, after all: it’s a sound that chases away worries, soothes fears, and she thinks she's so, so lucky to hear it everyday.  

“I love you,” he tells her when his laughter dies down. “Don’t forget that, m’lady.”

Ladybug leans her head on her shoulder. “I love you too,” she replies quietly. “You better not forget it, either.”

Notes: Here’s my fics masterlist! 

[secondhand-trash]

A/N: the true mvp of this part is the fact that freehanding memes is apparently a talent of mine

Word count: 1595

(click here to see more of Osamu’s bento)

(taglist in the comments, please go to the link in my bio or send me an ask to be added to the bento taglist uwu)

-

The automatic door of the supermarket opened and closed behind you once again as another customer passed by where you had been standing at for the past moments with a confused look in their eyes at the way you stood there doing nothing.

Should you just make up some lame excuse as to why you went home empty handed? Would he believe it if you said that all supermarkets across the area of your workplace was closed down due to unknown circumstances? He wouldn’t. He could be a bit simple minded when it comes to certain things but he wasn’t dumb. You could already imagine the way he whined at how you didn’t try to go along with his efforts if you just straight up admitted that you gave up on it.

Ah...

Ah.

You had to at least give it a try, didn’t you?

You felt the pulse on your temple pulsing as you thought of what made a supposedly simple trip to the grocery store so damn complicated.

Ever since that time you opened your bento box to literally being stared down by your own lunch, you had been very careful with opening your lunchbox without anyone seeing the contents before actually eating it. The arrangements had been fairly normal since then. You had formed the habit of peaking inside from the barely lifted corner of the lid before opening it completely but there had not been anything as shocking since then. He sound so excited on the phone about his new discovery that you had expected him to keep trying and trying until he eventually got bored of it.

You had come to the conclusion that perhaps he had given up way before you thought he would or that he just couldn’t find the time and effort to think of a different design each day on top of his already heavy workload preparing for opening Onigiri Miya each day.

Either way, you let out a sigh of relieve when you opened your bento each day to see a regular, non-questionable lunch sitting inside. You almost felt guilty for saying this, given the amount of effort he must have put into that eerie lunchbox, but you just couldn’t handle opening your lunch like you were drawing a lot for some sort of weird penalty.

You should have known that something was up when Osamu handed you the cloth-wrapped bento this morning in a particularly good mood. You even heard him whistling in the kitchen as he wrapped up the bento. (”We came out with bento wrapping clothes with the Onigiri Miya logo,” he had very happily held it on his palms before putting it in your bag, “cute, right?”)  But your alert had dropped at this point, almost certain that it was just a one time occurrence and the there was nothing you needed to look out for anymore.

And so you took your bento out onto your desk as usual, laughing along a joke your colleague made as you loosened the knot on the cloth.

“Honestly, I’m so jealous that your boyfriend is so down to making your bento every day,” your friend said with a sigh, “I could barely get mine to put the seat down.”

You chuckled, trying your hardest to hide the grin on your face. Yes, yes my boyfriend was pretty great. “Trust me, he forgets to do that all the time too.”

“But if he can cook as well as yours do, I can let that slide.” they joked, twisting off the cap of their thermos.

You were still smiling when you separated the stacked up compartments of your bento box.

Until you looked down to see what was inside, and you felt the corner of your lips twitching as you felt like you pulled the wrong muscle on your face with how you tried to maintain your look of ease.

“Is something wrong?” they asked, seeing the way you seemed to have stiffened up.

“Oh, nothing,” you said, still holding the lid of your bento, “nothing...”

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the f u c k-

You brought your fingers to your temple to press down at the beating pulse point, trying to clear your head. You had no idea where you should start looking. Hell, you didn’t even know what he wanted you to get.

Why couldn’t he just send you a text like a normal person? You let out yet another heavy sigh as you pulled out your phone, your brows furrowing together as you pulled out the photo you took of the bento before you gulped it down so no one would see it.

Just... you still could not get over the impactful image that you had no choice but to stare at. You had to admit that you were very impressed by the amount of detail that was put into the pattern that was cut out from a piece of seaweed on top of the rice. He did a good job, with the technical aspect of it. But why on earth would he thinks that putting a meme on your rice was a good idea? 

Poor pepe, you silently prayed to the deceased meme that now ended up in your stomach.

Unlike last time, the message of the bento was a lot less abstract. He had opted to make things clear by directly writing out what he wanted to say thought the little speech bubble and tiny strips of seaweed. The seaweed was placed on top of sliced cheese so that it would look smoother and not be affected by the moisture from the rice which he must have learnt from the mom blogs that he had been browsing through religiously a while back.

What he didn’t take into account, was that the steam from the rice would condense on the top of the bento and slide back onto the surface as water droplets. Even though you could still faintly make out that they were supposed to be words, the small pieces of seaweed had already stuck together and was barely comprehensible by the time you landed your eyes on it.

You could understand “tomato” and “please buy”, thanks to how those few letters were mostly straight lines. But the rest... you really didn’t have a single clue what they were supposed to be.

Standing at the front door of the store, you felt an annoyance burning at your chest just by looking at how many aisle there were.

You would only prompt him to keep trying until it worked if you got it wrong, you were certain of it. With that thought in mind, you clenched your jaw and called your last two living braincells to work in this game of edible pictionary.

.

.

.

“Ohhhhhhhh!” Osamu’s eyes were near twinkling when he pulled out the items from your bag to see that it was exactly what he had wanted you to get. He snapped towards you like an excited zoo animal that just heard the sound of a nearby tourist tearing open a bag of snacks, sprinting to your side to compliment you on your good work. 

You were laying face down on the couch like a dead fish when he crouched next to you and when you exhaustedly lifted your hand, he very obediently put his head under your palm to let you take out your stress on his very soft hair.

You were tired. You were so, so tired.

 How did you manage to figure out what the rest of the list consisted of? Well, it was a whole lot of guessing and all the luck you had gathered from the good deeds you had done in your entire life. You had even put the image through google translate once in a futile effort to figure out what it was trying to say.

Grocery shopping was not supposed to be this stressful...

“You look tired, rough day at work?” you turned to the side to look at Osamu who was now at your eye level, tilting his head with your fingers still weaved into his hair.

You were so determined to tell him everything as it was, but you immediately didn’t have the heart to do it when you were met with his round eyes fixed on you.

You had it coming...

“Yeah,” you said, “we are going through this real big project right now and everyone is on edge.”

He took your hand and pressed it against his cheek. You smiled as he leaned into your touch, caressing his jaw with your thumb. He was lucky that he’s cute, you thought to yourself, silently deciding that maybe you would try to be a little bit more openminded the next time he turned your lunch into a meme canvas.

“Then I should try to bring you some excitement with your bento then! Something that both taste good and can motivate you visually!”

What? Was the pepe not exciting enough in his opinion?

“I'll start researching on food that can boost stamina and provide energy right away!” you felt like you had made the wrong move when the glint in his eyes grew and he perked up. 

Your hand was still holding out mid-air when he scurried away after giving you a light pat on your head, telling you that he would go run you a bath soon.

You paused as you collected your thoughts, and then slammed your face down onto the cushion.

It seemed like you had underestimated his will to strive for excellence...

[nephyscorner]

My little big dream

Chapter 3: A new begin

It was 5am. Soft moonlight still streamed through your window and you snuggled into your warm blankets. On the other side of the room was Hikaru sleeping. Both had fallen into a very deep sleep after last night's fun. You had had a good time. Barely got home, you put on your pajamas and fell asleep in your beds, almost instantly. You dreamed of everything that happened, and what was going to happen. You were very anxious for this new stage. But there was something - or, someone - that change your dream's plot.

You couldn't stop dreaming about that angelic face, his soft touch, his sweet hug, the pleasant sensation of resting on his chest ... no, it wasn't the same sleeping in your room anymore, your bed didn't feel as good as before. You missed the warm feeling of sleeping in his arms, while he stroked your hair, that feeling of security, that soft smell of cologne that you liked so much. Both have been very good friends for a few years, but little by little, things started to feel different. His smile started to tickle your stomach, his touch made your skin crawl, his bear hugs made you melt, hearing your name with his captivating voice makes you shiver inside. No, things definitely didn't feel the same anymore.

Tik... tik tik...

A soft sound brings you back to reality and you wake up. There he was, smiling sweetly on the other side of your window, in the moonlight, gently tapping a key on the glass. Shit. He looked so cute, almost seemed out of your dream. You rubbed your eyes for a moment but he was still there, he was real and he was on the other side of your window.

You get up wrapped in a blanket and approach him to open the glass and greet him

Good morning sleeping beauty. I hope you rested well, today is a great day -Suga leans over the window a bit to give you a soft kiss on the cheek

Yes I did, what about you? -You yawn while you fight internally not to blush from his kiss.

Of course, I'm excited ... Um ... Are you awake or do I have to kiss you to wake up?  -Your eyes widened, Suga's soft and innocent laugh made you understand that it was a joke ... or not. You couldn't help but blush just thinking about it and he noticed.

I'm awake -You murmured

Go, wake up Hikaru and get ready, we will be waiting at the door, we prepared breakfast to take to the gym since we are usually the first to arrive ... Oh and bundle up it's cold and I don't want you to get sick -He says goodbye shaking his hand and goes to the entrance of the house. You just close the glass and stand still for a moment. That was so beautiful, almost out of a romance tale.

You take a few seconds to regain your composure and grab your pillow to throw it at Hikaru's head

Neee, wake up, the boys already arrived and they are waiting for us- You tried to wake up your friend but she only responds with babbling. You head to the bathroom, wash your face, and brush your teeth, as always. But something had changed, this time you stayed a few moments in front of the mirror, wondering what hairstyle you should wear ... or, what hairstyle Suga might like, but at the same time, be comfortable to train. After thinking for a moment, you decided the classic option. You made a braid a bit loosely and let it fall over your shoulder, and you released a bit of hair on the sides of your face. That would suffice.

You went back to your room, grabbed your pillow, and threw it at Hikaru's head again. This time she wake up. You open the closet and pull out your gray tracksuit training uniform.

A few minutes have passed and you meet your friend in the living room, ready to go out. You take your jacket, your bag and leave the house.

They were out there, sitting on a little brick wall, talking about what to train today, what exercises they would do, etc.

We're ready -You say with a smile as you go down the few steps that separate the entrance of your house from the sidewalk.

On the way. We have to arrive, have breakfast and start preparing the gym while the boys arrive- Daichi seemed charged with energy. He was all the way talking about today's training, preparations, even imagining some friendly matches with other teams to train. Hikaru was still trying to wake up, she was never good at communicating before breakfast. Suga was talking with Daichi and you were trying to come up with an idea or suggestion. But there was something that was distracting you ... Accidentally -or not- your hand gently hit with Suga's when walking, you could feel a soft caress of his fingers playing a bit with yours from time to time. Your heart was racing and you tried to hide the little blush that had come out on your cheeks. Little by little your fingers began to intertwine until your hands gripped. His grip was firm but gentle and he gently caressed your hand with his thumb.

After a while reached the gym. Suga takes the keys and opens the door letting you both go first. There it was again, the boys' volleyball court, you began to daydream about what it would be like to practice there with them, how many shots you could recive, how it would feel to play with a net higher than you were used to. The simple fact of being there already made you happy. Suddenly Hikaru slaps you on the shoulder and gestures to approach the boys. They were sitting on the floor taking breakfast out of their backpacks.

A smell of hot coffee invades the court as Suga takes out a thermos from his backpack, while Daichi takes out some fruits and some sweet sandwiches that he had prepared.

It's not a breakfast of gods, but it will give us the necessary energy for training until midday.Daichi looked a bit embarrassed by his breakfast attempt, until Hikaru was finally able to say a few words while still staring at one of the Sandwiches.

It's perfect -She says as she accepts a cup of coffee that Suga serves his and takes one of the Sandwiches.

Don't go to burn, froggy -Suga hands you a cup of hot coffee and you thank him with a tender smile

Hikaru could finally be useful in the conversation and while you had breakfast, you were talking about what you could do to help the team

Once breakfast was finished, you all picked up the things, cleaned up the crumbs a bit and was time to prepare the court.

(y/n) and I can bring the net, you could go for the traini...- Suga stops talking when he notices that Hikaru and Daichi were muttering something and Hikaru lets out a small laugh.

Sorry, yes, we will go for the shirts and the balls, you bring the net- Hikaru affirms, resuming her composure.

The four of you went to the warehouse, where they had the sticks, net, brooms and everything they needed for the court. It had no light, but leaving the door open you could see everything perfectly.

Suddenly you feel a draft of air and hear the door slam behind you. Hikaru and Daichi were gone. Instead there was a small laugh from the other side.

You were about to go open the door when suddenly you feel a heat near you. He was there again, so close that you could smell his cologne that you liked so much. You could see almost nothing, except for the few figures that the dim light below the door revealed.

You feel a hand on your shoulder that gently travels your body until it reaches your waist and hug you, eliminating any distance that could be between you. You feel his other hand stroking your hair and then your cheek. You were getting closer and closer, you could feel his breath on your lips and you thought he could hear your heartbeat. Your lips barely touch, but suddenly Suga sighs and pulls away a bit.

This is not the time ... would you bring the sticks, please? He mutters as he grabs the net. You couldn't say a word, still trying to get over what had happened, you just make a sound with your throat, grab the sticks and then leave the warehouse.

You were setting the net, when suddenly you hear someone run followed by:

Idiot! I won this time

Not!! I won, I was faster, Noya who won?

Kageyama came one step before you, sorry

I told you, you idiot !!

You'll see next time

After that, Kageyama, Hinata and Noya enter the gym.

Ohh you came, you are great, girls!! -Hinata jumps with excitement when he sees the presence of you two

But we still didn't do anything -Hikaru looks at him half surprised by his euphoric reaction

But it means we can count on you and that's great! You are great!! -He is interrupted by a blow from Kageyama to make him close his mouth. Noya approaches you still a little nervous about talking to one of the new girls.

Libero, uh? I couldn't introduce myself, I'm Nishinoya, I will be happy to teach you the things that I know and you can learn from the best, you can call me Senpai or my love, as you wish - His tone although confident was not annoying, it motivated your desire to compete . You look at him with a lopsided smile.

Nice to meet you Nishinoya, I'm (t/n) and in a while we will be able to see who teaches whom ... kohai -Wasn't usual to speak defiantly with someone you had just met, but the fact of being able to train with the one who is considered one of the best liberos in Japan, it mades the blood run through your veins and it was really exciting.

The boys arrived and began to do stretching exercises and jog a few laps around the court until Ukai and Kiyoko appeared, which finally started practice officially.

Serving, spiking, setting practice was quite normal, only now you could tell them what to correct or what to change from a new point of view.

You were so excited about the practice, the hours seemed like minutes, and the sound of Ukai's whistle brought you back to reality.

It was already midday and it was time for lunch.

While Kiyoko handed out the lunch, Ukai took the opportunity to give them some tips and suggestions.

I also brought for you both, are you feeling comfortable? -Kiyoko's soft voice is heard approaching Hikaru and you, while she extends two bentos to you.

They are nice guys, even though some of them fight among themselves- Hikaru laughs a little at the thought of the times that Kageyama insulted Hinata or Tsukishima by making sarcastic comments

The three of you talked for a long time between a few laughs, until you realized that you were being watched. Almost all the boys had turned to see you. Three beautiful girls, talking and laughing, it was something too beautiful for them.

After lunch is over, you decide to do a game practice with the two of you included.

On one side of the court: Daichi, Hikaru, Nishinoya, Tsukishima, Kageyama and Asumane.

On the other side: Yamaguchi, Tanaka, Hinata, Sugawara, Ennoshita and you

They all agreed that Hikaru should start and it was. Until now, only you, Daichi, and Suga knew about her fast service.

The whistle blows. Hikaru sighs and does her jump-fast serve. The ball was hit like a whip, so before anyone could know it, the ball was already on the other side of the net. Obviously, since you already knew her trick, you were the only one prepared to receive it and you did it flawless. You reacted quickly, and sent the ball right into Suga's hands so he could set the game. When you wanted to find out, Asumane was already doing a cross spike that caught you a little off guard, but you were able to defend him like a champion.

As the game progressed, the boys were impressed by how well you both could adapt to a slightly more aggressive style of play than were used to and how the height of the net wasn't an impediment, as Hisaki was tall and could jump high. On the other hand, it was incredible to see how you could receive strong shots from the boys without hesitating or complaining of any pain.

Once the game was over, everyone was tired, so decided to finish the practice. Except for Hinata and Nishinoya, we don't know where they get their energy from.

Ukai calls everyone to meet him and Kiyoko passes by handing out some papers

While you were practicing, I was talking to Nekoma and Fukurodani to organize trainings, they told us that we could arrange a mini practice camp with the three teams. By the way, I already have the email with the final dates for the official matches, everything is written down on those papers-The whole team seemed excited except for two members.

I ... I ... coach ... I ... can't attend. They are the dates of the final exams of the university and if I don't appear I will fail the year ... I ... I ... sorry, I can go to the camp, but not to the games -Stutters a little Asahi.

Coach, I have a trip scheduled at the end of the year, I'll see if I can cancel it to go to the official matches, but I can't promise anything- Nishinoya says a little worried.

Ukai sighs - We're tired, let's rest the rest of the day and come back tomorrow with an idea, okay?

A unanimous Yes was heard and the practice of the date was terminated. Everyone set up and cleaned the court and when everything was ready, Daichi takes the keys and closes the gym.

(yn), Do you want to go for a walk in the park while there is still a bit of sun? -Suga gives you a tender smile that he knows you can't refuse.

Then said goodbye to Hikaru and Daichi and started walking.

Partly how unfortunate today ... do you have any idea what to do if they can't show up, Suga? Is there a way to contact the boys who have left to replace them?

Mmmm -Suga looks at the sky thinking for a moment and taking the opportunity to slowly take your hand- Not honestly, I'll have to think. Possibly something occurs to me when I talk about it with the pillow.

You wanted to pay attention to him but it was too late, Suga took your hand and your brain completely disconnected from the conversation. Yes, it was his firm but soft grip, only this time, was you who took the opportunity to gently caress his hand.

By the way, you have been my best friend for a long time, stop calling me Suga, you can call me Koushi

You felt a tickling go up your stomach to which you could only respond by nodding your head. You arrived at the park and found the tree in front of the lake in which you like to rest sometimes, so youdecided to sit there and talk and watch the people go by.

Hum ... regarding today's, (yn), ... The scene in the warehouse quickly came to your mind and you couldn't help but get nervous, you felt a hand gently pass behind your back, surrounding your waist- I hope I didn't make you feel uncomfortable.

N..no, not at all, everything is fine -You murmur as you rest your head on his shoulder trying to get a little out of his vision.

I'm glad to hear it, little thief -You turn to see him somewhat confused by what he said. Sorry? -He moves so he can see you from the front while still hugging you. You have stolen my heart for a long time - You feel again the soft caress of his hand on your cheek and without realizing it, you were already a few centimeters from each other - I love you- He whispers softly moments before connecting your lips in the sweetest kiss that anybody have ever given you. At last, what the latter had daydreamed of, that you wondered what it would be like, had happened. His lips were warm and soft. You could feel him slowly running his tongue across your lip asking for your permission to enter, which you agreed. (...)

You wrapped your arms around him and hid your head in his neck. Neither of you said anything, but it wasn't necessary either, both had understood everything. He hugs you and gently caresses your back. You snuggle into his hug wishing that moment would never end.

You stink - he murmured softly

You too, but I don't care

I don't care too

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

Hi! Hope you like this chapter  This is my first writing in English, so, constructive criticism is always welcome.

Tag list open! Just DM me ♥

@mer92 thanks for support me, honey ♥

[lovemesomesurveys]

How often do you watch the news? I catch some of it most days, but majority of my news I get from the news app and online. 

Would you rather read the news online? Yeah, which is what I do for the most part.

Speaking of being online, what website do you visit the most? Tumblr.

Have you ever shopped online? Yeah, I do a lot of online shopping. Especially this year; I haven’t been to an actual store since March. 

Have you ever held a snake? Noooooo. And I never would. Don’t even bring one near me.

Ever caught a turtle? What about a crawfish? Nope.

Have you ever eaten gumbo? No.

Or do you not like spicy food? I loved spicy food, but I can’t eat it anymore. :(

What about sweet food? I don’t have a sweet tooth, but I do enjoy sweet stuff. 

Are the Sour Patch Kids commercials funny? No.

Do you own a bottle of hand sanitizer? Do you like how it smells? I own several. 

Do you own a pool table? What about an air hockey table? Or a foosball table? Nope to all.

Do you live with your parents? Are you cool with that? Yes and I’m perfectly fine with that.

When did/when do you want to move out? I don’t have any plans to move out for the foreseeable future. 

Have you ever been on a cruise? No.

Have you ever played frisbee? Yeah.

Are you better at catching or throwing? I’m so uncoordinated and not athletic at all so neither.

Did you donate to the Haiti relief fund? I believe so.

Did you do so with your cell phone? I don’t think so.

Have you ever seen Scare Tactics? Would you ever put your friend on that show? Would they totally kill you? Yeah, I remember that show. I wouldn’t put anyone on it.

Speaking of killing things... have you ever hit an animal with your car? Did you ever go back and check if it was okay? >> I don’t drive. <<<

What game systems do you own? Nintendo Switch. My brother has a few other game systems that I’ve used/use, but they’re not mine.

Do you ever play computer games? I Play Sims 4 once in awhile. I haven’t played in like 2 years, though. I’ve been wanting to.

Do you have a wireless mouse? What about a laser mouse? No, I use the trackpad on my laptop.

Do you wear polos? No.

Did you used to have a lunchbox? Yeah, when I was a kid. Matching thermos and all.

How often do you/did you bring your lunch to school? I did in preschool and kindergarten, but for most of elementary school I got lunch at school. In middle school I started bringing my lunch most of the time. In high school I got lunch at school my freshman year and then brought my own the other years.

What was/is your favorite school lunch? I liked the pizza and burritos.

When was the last time you wore a hat? What kind of hat was it? Not since earlier this year. It was my rose gold baseball cap with a little Minnie Mouse outline on the front that I got from Disneyland.

Do you wear hats often? I like to wear beanies in the cold months.

Have you ever seen Ghost Hunters? Do you think it's all fake? Yes and yes.

Have you ever tried to ghost hunt? If so, did you catch anything? No.

What room are you sitting in? Are you comfy? I’m in my room sitting all nice and comfy in bed.

Do you prefer gold or silver? What about diamonds or pearls? Earrings or bracelets? Necklace or rings? Or are you not a jewelry person? Both, pearls, bracelets, rings.

Have you ever made jewelry? Just beaded bracelets. 

Do you have any unique hobbies? No.

Have you ever put together a model airplane? What about a model car? I’ve done a few model cars as a kid.

Do you have a beanbag chair? What about a futon? How about a popasan chair? Or are all those words pretty much a foreign language to you? I don’t have any of those.

Have you ever broken a window? If so, what with? No.

Have you ever had surgery? If so, what on? Yeah, I’ve had several surgeries.

Would you date a handsome mariachi player who never stopped playing? He’d have to stop at some point, right?

Do you know any boys named Ashley or Lesley or Lynn? No.

Do you have a thermos? No.

Do you prefer coffee or hot chocolate? Coffeeeee.

Do you like green tea? Yeah.

Do you like to play Freecell? What about Hearts? Or Mahjong? I’ve never played any of those.

Is there a wicker basket in the room? How about an empty bowl? Wicker basket- no, empty bowl-yes. 

Do you like cheetos? Do you lick your fingers after eating them? I loved Flamin’ Hot Cheetos back when I could have them.

Have you ever fed the birds? I have with bread when I was a kid. I’ve heard that’s not good to do, though. Whoops.

Did it cost tuppence a bag? Huh?

Do you know where that line is from? No.

Does your family own guns? No.

Do you like mini coopers? What about PT Cruisers? I actually wanted a PT Cruiser at one point when I was like 18/19. I thought they were cute.

Have you ever been given flowers? Were they from a relative or someone special? I have from family members for graduations, birthdays, and hospital stays.

Have you ever ridden on a motor cycle? On the back of one when I was a kid.

Where you live, what are the laws regarding helmets? You’re supposed to wear one.

Do you chase after the ice cream truck? No. I certainly wouldn’t now, but even as a kid I don’t recall ever chasing it. I or whoever I was with was able to stop it pretty easily or when I went out there someone else already did so.

When I say the year 1492, what comes to mind? >> “Columbus sailed the ocean blue”, unfortunately. <<< That’s what I thought of as well.

Do you prefer to buy or rent DVDs? It’s been awhile since I’ve done either one. I just rent from Amazon or OnDemand. Or see if the movie is available on a streaming service.

What was your favorite book as a child? I had many.

Who is your favorite super hero? Iron Man.

Have you ever eaten at Chik-fil-a? Yeah, many times.

Have you ever seen a dead body? Yes, my grandmother’s funeral had some time where it was open casket. 

Have you ever tried to read the dictionary the whole way through? Uh, no.

What does your umbrella look like? I don’t have one. 

Do/did you have any hot teachers? Or is that thought kind of gross? Nope.

Is anyone you know pregnant? Not that I know of.

Do you know any twins? Yes.

Do you spray tan? Nope.

Would you consider yourself healthy? No.

[gosecretscribbles]

MonthofMaybel2019 Week 1: Sweaters

Takes place after Dipper and Mabel have left the falls and started their school year.  Enjoy, doods!

“ANGELAAAAA!” Mabel sang at the top of her lungs.  And then promptly crashed into her on the school's front steps.

Luckily Angela was a veteran of surprise Mabel Hugs and managed not to fall over.

“Hello, Mabel,” she gasped.  “I'm guessing you had an extra bowl of Sugar O's?”

“Try four,” Dipper said, grinning apologetically as he caught up to them.  “She was up until 3 AM making that.”

“Making – whoa, Mabel, that is beautiful!”

Mabel laughed and twirled on the spot.  Her brand-new sweater was a cashmere blend the color of a rosy dawn, soft as kitten breath, with a hem that flared out like flower petals as she spun.  It even seemed to shimmer a little, although Mabel was pretty sure that was just a sugar high side effect.

“And that's not even the best part!” Mabel said.  She stopped spinning and held out her arms.  “Tada!”

Angela gasped.

The body of the sweater had the usual perfectly even braiding, but Mabel had sewn two words in Old Norse Runes into either sleeve, courtesy of Angela, who was a serious Norse Nerd.  She even carried around a set of runes for fortune-telling in her big canvas bag.  

“That's why you wanted my Old Norse dictionary!”

“What do they say?” Dipper asked, leaning forward.

“That one's 'wish' and that one's 'truth' and I will buy this sweater from you right now do you take cookies as payment?”

By the time they reached Mrs. Pierce's class, Mabel had agreed to knit three sweaters for Angela, each with different runes, in exchange for three batches of brownies and an Unlimited Smoothie Stamp Card from Blizzard's.  

The rest of the class was already filing in after them.  Several of them were loaded down with parkas, scarves, and mittens, because despite the still-summer weather, Mrs. Pierce liked to keep the room at a chilly 52 degrees.  

“This was room temperature in Alaska and we liked it!” she'd tell them.

“Oh – sorry!” Mabel said, accidentally bumping into Ximena on her way to her desk.  Mabel really liked Ximena – she always made sure everybody got included on the playground and told awesome jokes, mostly puns so bad they were practically Stan-worthy.

But today, she didn't even look up.  Just grunted.

Chris, who sat next to Ximena, snickered under his breath.  “Troll, meet Tree.  You two make a cute couple.”

Mabel scowled.  “Leaver her alone, Chris.”

“Or what, you gonna sic your pig on me?  Huh?!”

“Forget it,” Dipper said sharply.  He put one arm around Mabel's shoulders and guided her to her desk.  “You okay?”

“Yeah, but did you see Ximena?” Mabel glanced back.  She was hunched over with her head hanging low.  “She looks seriously bummed out.  I bet she's upset it's always so cold and we can't even make any snowmen...hey Dipper, do you think we could build a snow machine!?”

“It would probably melt, it's not technically freezing in here.”

“It feels like it,” said three separate people.

“Okay, class!” Mrs. Pierce called out, striding into the room.  She immediately went to the thermostat and turned it down.  Everyone groaned.  “Now none of that!  It's first thing in the morning and I won't have people falling asleep!  Besides, this was room temperature in Alaska –”

“– and that was how we liked it,” the class changed.

“Correct! Now, homework out, please!”

Mabel took out her homework, glancing anxiously at Ximena.  She already had her workbook out and she was writing along with everyone else, but she was all hunched over and her dark brown hair hid her face like a curtain of pure angst.  Mabel tapped her chin.  She'd have to think of a pun even worse than Stan's to cheer her up.  But what?

Mabel was still trying to think of something fifteen minutes into class. That's when she automatically reached into her backpack for her thermos of hot chocolate – and then stopped when she realized she still wasn't cold!

She looked around.  Everyone who'd brought a coat was bundled up, and Dipper was already taking sips of his own thermos.  Angela had thrown an actual blanket around her shoulders and was still shivering.  But Mabel wasn't cold at all.  In fact, her whole body felt like she'd been napping in the sun with the world's best pig!

It's the sweater! she realized.  It had to be the cashmere, right?  But she hadn't thought it would make her this toasty.  Even her bare legs were perfectly comfortable.

Ximena, on the other hand, was wearing a thin T-shirt and had so many goosebumps Mabel could see them from two rows back.  Mabel grinned – sweaters were like hugs you could wear all the time, this would be the perfect way to cheer her up!

“Ximena!” she shout-whispered.  “Hey, Ximena!  Pst pst pssssst!”

“Shut up, Tree Sap,” Chris growled at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him and waved instead.  Finally Ximena looked over.  

Mabel whipped off her sweater and held it out.  The cold instantly stung her arms and numbed her fingers, but Ximena took it with a nod and put it on.  Mabel sat back, smiling happily.  Being warm would make her feel better right away!

She returned to the worksheet she was currently doodling on.  Her fingers were tingly and se was debating on the best way to warm them when Ximena let out a tiny sneeze.

“Bless you,” she said automatically.

Dipper leaned across the aisle, tapped Mabel's shoulder, and mouthed “Cold enough for ya?”

She mimed becoming an ice cube and they both grinned.

Ximena sneezed again.

“Bless you,” said Mabel, the teacher, and a few other students.  Chris glared at her like the sneeze had been a personal insult.  Mabel rolled her eyes.  Now there was a permanent case of the grumpy-grumps.  

Ximena sneezed harder.

Mrs. Pierce turned away from the board.  “Ximena, if you need a tissue, they're – what on earth?!”

Ximena sneezed, and kept sneezing, and every time she did a spray of soap bubbles came streaming out of her nose!

Several students actually jumped up with shouts of surprised, leaning away. By now Ximena was sneezing nonstop and she was almost completely hidden behind a cloud of iridescent soapy goodness.

“Snot bubbles!” Chris shouted.

“Chris, that's enough!  Ximena, if you thought it was funny to bring bubble toys to class –”

“I di – achoo! – didn't bring – achoo!  ACHOO!”

She started sneezing so hard she clawed at her chest.  Mabel and Dipper instantly rushed to help.  She yanked the sweater off and Dipper made her sit back down with her head tilted back, just a little, to open her airways.  

Nathan leaned forward, waving the sinking bubbles away.  “Ximena?  Is she okay?”

“I'm fine,” Ximena gasped.  

Mabel winced.  “I'm sorry, it's cashmere and wool, are you allergic to those?”

“What? No, I –”

“Betcha the Pig Princess rigged the sweater,” Chris said loudly.  “Either that or the two of them planned the whole prank!”

“We did not!” the two said hotly.

“That's enough,” Mrs. Pierce cut in.  She was looking straight at Ximena and Mabel, her eyes cold.  “Nathan, please escort Ximena to the nurse's office.  I'd like her checked out just in case.  When you come back, Ximena, I'd like a word with you after class – you too, Ms. Pines.”

“So how bad was it?” Angela asked.

She, Dipper, and Mabel were sitting down for lunch.  The weather was nice, so they'd decided to eat on the benches outside.

Mabel grimaced.  “We didn't get in trouble, but I don't think Chris' comments helped that much.  He stuck around afterwards because he said he was a 'witness.'  Just because my pig ate his homework one time –”

“He's a grade A jerk in general,” Dipper said sourly.  “Remember last year, with the Open House?  He nearly got Summer suspended and nobody could prove it was really him.  He just likes getting other people in trouble.”

Angela nodded.  “He sure turned on Ximena fast, and she looked more freaked out than anyone.  What the heck happened back there?”

Mabel shrugged miserably.  “I don't know.  I was just trying to cheer her up, so I loaned her my sweater.”

“Hmmm.” Dipper eyed the offending sweater critically.  “Let me see that for a sec?”

“Sure, how come?”

“Actually, Angela, you take a look.  Are there any runes that were sewn in by accident?  I man there's one rune that's a straight line, so...”

“That's ice, I don't think – wait, look, there are extra runes!”

Mabel gasped.  “Where where where?!”

She and Dipper leaned forward, and Angela held it up to the light.  The cloth shimmered again, and this time Mabel could see tiny lines of silver thread criss-crossing in the narrow gaps between her stitches. The thread was as slender as a spider's web and so delicate that it was nearly invisible, but as it caught the light Mabel saw that the thread spelled out actual runes!

“Whoa, okay, I didn't do that,” Mabel said, still in awe.  “Wow, that stitching is amazing!  Look at that part, it's got combo stitches in it!”

“What does it say?” Dipper pressed.

Angela spread the sweater for a better look.  “I'm not sure.  It uses runes, and I know I'm new at it, but this doesn't even look like Old Norse.  It's like a whole different language that just happens to use runes.  But if I had to guess, they're spelling out something that made the sweater magic.”

“You gave me a magic sweater?”

They turned.  Ximena walked up to them, hands in her pockets with her shoulders hunched, Nathan right behind her.  

“Ximena!” Mabel shouted, leaping to her feet.  “Omigosh I'm so sorry about earlier, I was just trying to give you a sweater hug!”

“Yeah, uh, do you think you could tell the magic part to Mrs. Pierce?  I've kinda got a lot going on, I don't want to get in trouble again.”

“Oh, gimme a break.”

Suddenly a fist shot over Mabel's shoulder, grabbed the sweater, and yanked it out of Angela's hands.

“Hey!”

Chris dangled the sweater out of reach, grinning maliciously.  “You want it?  Come and get it!  But no way is Mrs. Pierce gonna beweive it's weawwy magic.”  He made his voice sound cutesy.  “Bubble Snot just pulled a prank and is sorry she didn't get away with it.”

“Mabel's not a liar,” Nathan snapped.  “And neither is Ximena, now give that back!”

They were starting to draw stares from other students.  Chris saw this as encouragement.  His grin widened and he waved the sweater in front of Chris' nose.

“Oooh, someone's mad I insulted his girlfriends!  Quit acting like you're some big hero, you're just embarrassing yourself.”

“How 'bout I'm acting like a decent human being?” Nathan made a grab for the sweater, but Chris yanked it away.

Dipper was half-standing, hands out to placate them.  “Okay, it's not magic, alright?  Just give it back.”  

“Yes it is,” Ximena insisted.  “I didn't pull a prank!”

“I know you didn't and I'll prove it.”  Nathan thrust out his hand. “Give me the sweater.”

Chris smirked.  “You want to a fashion fail?  Be my guest.”

He threw it at Nathan, who caught it and pulled it over his head.  Mabel grabbed Dipper's jacket and squeezed, holding her breath.

Nothing happened.

After a few seconds Nathan pulled the front of his sweater over his nose and breathed in audibly, frowning.  Still nothing.

“See?” Chris sneered.  

“Well – well the sweater did something! Like Mabel just got some powdered whatever on it from her crafts by accident, right?  Mabel, tell him!”

He turned to her, gesturing to Chris – and a fountain of live fish suddenly flung out of his sleeve and hit Chris square in the chest. He went down with a yelp, covered in flopping salmon.  As soon as the fish hit the ground, though, they turned instantly into fish-shaped pastries.  Chris sat in the middle of the pile, fish goo still dripping from his clothes.

For a split second everyone was so quiet Mabel could've heard a mouse flick its cute button ears.  Then everyone started yelling at once.

“Did you see that, did you see?!”

“Lookit those things!”

“No way they'd all have fit in the sleeve!”

“– were actual fish a second ago, right?”

“Sweater's not even wet!”

“It is magic,” Nathan said, stunned.  “I knew it, I told you it's not Ximena's fault!”

“Ohh, I wanna try!”

“Me next!  Me next!”

“Hold on a second!” Mabel called out, jumping to her feet, but it was way too late.  People were already crowding around the sweater, shouting and exclaiming and laughing with excitement as it was passed from person to person.  She turned to her brother.  “Dipper, a little help here?”

“Sweater...changes...abilities...per...user,” Dipper mumbled, scribbling in his quote-unquote “Journal” as fast as he could.  She groaned.

“Just ride it out,” Angela advised.  “Plus, honestly?  It looks like everybody's having a blast.”

Mabel had to admit she was right.  Once they got their turn with the sweater people wiggled around, trying to activate the spell.  

One girl's hair started changing colors according to her mood, another boy's wristwatch turned into a tiny green garden snake that slithered up to his hair where it curled up and fell asleep.  Someone else was suddenly fluent in ASL, with the sweater sleeves growing slightly longer and covering their fingers to shape each sign.  There were squeals of excitement and laughter.

Mabel grinned.  The sweater was a great way to cheer everybody up!

Except...

She looked around.  Something still didn't seem quite right.  The growing crowd?  No, people were so excited about what the sweater had done for them that no one tried to grab it back; they just shared stories with anyone who'd listen. The squashed fish pastries?  No, she could scoop those up for Waddles later, they wouldn't go to waste.  

Wait.  The squish-fish were the only things on the ground.  Where was –

“MY TURN!” Chris shouted. He'd grabbed the sweater and stood in the middle of the crowd, his smile practically a snarl, flexing his fingers.  Everyone immediately backed away.  The laughter died instantly.  

“Oooh, that's not good,” Mabel said.

His grin just got bigger. “Alright, losers, get ready to see what real power can do.”

“Wait!” Mabel shrieked.

But Michael leaned back and cocked an arm.  His fingers curled into fists.  Angela plunged her hand into her bag.  Just as his punch arced through the air, Angela yanked out a rune and shouted.

Something exploded.  Wind hit Mabel's face so hard she was knocked back into Dipper, who went crashing into the bench.  Sand and grit flew through the air.  Mabel scrubbed her eyes and jumped to her feet.

It looked like Chris had been standing in an invisible cylinder which contained the worst of the explosion.  All the food and styrofoam trays around him had shot into the air, then rocketed back down, covering him in half-eaten turkey sandwiches, clotted tapioca pudding and Tropicola Juice packets.  The people closest to him had been knocked over, too, just out of range of the falling food.  Chris stood there, looking stunned, a few drops of ketchup dripping from his bangs.

“What is going on here?!”

Everyone scrambled to their feet.  A supervisor hurried over, looking almost as stunned as Chris.  “What was that explosion, why are you covered in condiments?!  This is not a modern art exhibit!”

“Chris threw the food,” Nathan said, loudly and clearly.  “Chris did it. The rest of us were clear of it.  He called us losers and told us to see what 'real power' could do.”

“Is that true?”

The rest of the crowd nodded, murmuring their assents, backing away from Chris.

His face turned red.  “I didn't – you – this is Mabel's fault!” he shouted.

“No it's not,” Dipper said coldly.  “First, she's three yards away. Second, you're completely covered in food; if she'd thrown it at you one side of you would be clean.  Third, everybody saw you do it.”

“Straight to the office, I think,” the supervisor said, her voice almost as cold as Dipper's.  “I'd like a few students to come along with me and explain what happened.”

Nathan immediately volunteered, as did a couple other students.  The rest of the crowd dispersed, quietly and quickly.  The supervisor led the Nathan and the others away, with Chris in front, throwing poisonous looks over his shoulder.

“Oh, wait – my sweater!” Mabel cried.

Ximena cleared her throat and Mabel jumped.  “Sorry.  Just – look up.”

They looked.  The sweater had been blown straight up with the rest of the food.  It was slowly parachuting down, but as soon as Mabel saw it, one sleeve crumpled under it and it started to fall.  She stepped forward and caught it.

Her brother caught the look on her face.  “Mabel, c'mon, it's not your fault.”

“It kind of is,” she said in a small voice.  “Fashion is supposed to bring people together, not tear them apart!”

“But you said you didn't make the tiny thread part,” Angela pointed out. “Someone else did.  I think the tiny stuff made the 'wish' and 'truth' part come to life.”

Ximena looked like she'd been whacked in the face.  “What, really?  You're saying it – fulfilled our wishes, or something?”

“I guess?”

“That makes sense,” Dipper said thoughtfully.  “I mean, Mabel was probably wishing to be warm, which explains why I didn't see her shiver while she was wearing it.  I mean, that's what I'd wish for in her class.  Plus, did you guys hear that kid with the snake?  He kept talking about how he always wanted a little pet he could fit in his pocket.”

“It was an adorable green noodle,” Mabel admitted, feeling a little better.  “And everyone was having a lot of fun with it.”

“Except Ximena,” Angela pointed out.  “And Chris.”

The four of them were quiet.

Dipper shook his head.  “I think we have to get rid of it, Mabel.”

“Wait,” Ximena said suddenly.  “Wait, just wait.”

Dipper looked surprised.  “But we can't let someone get ahold of power like that.  If it hadn't been for Angela's spell, Chris could've really hurt somebody.”

“But that sweater used the wish to float off of him.  It didn't do that for anybody else.  It can tell the difference between good wishes and bad!”

“It almost got you in trouble, though,” Mabel said.

Ximena hesitated.  “It...also kind of helped me out.  I just didn't really get it until Angela said that thing about the wishes.”

“You wanted to sneeze bubbles?” Dipper asked.

“No, but – okay, my brother got this lesion on his spine, alright?  They removed it but it gave him dissociated sensory loss.  Like he can't tell where his body is in space.  He's getting therapy for it but it's really discouraging, yesterday he up and quit.  He said he hated that he couldn't even feed himself properly, he didn't want his limits thrown in his face.”

Dipper and Angela looked stricken.  Mabel's eyes filled with tears.

“That's – that's awful,” she whispered.

“Yeah, but here's my point – I'd been sitting in class this morning thinking about him, I didn't even notice that I'd put on somebody else's sweater until bubbles started coming out of my nose.  And then just now it hit me!  My brother and I used to play bubbles all the time when we were little, we had those bubble kits and everything! If I got them out again, the bubbles would help him practice moving around, but it wouldn't be physical therapy.  It'd just be us playing like we used to!”

Mabel squealed and threw both arms around Ximena.  Ximena, who was not used to the power of Mabel Hugs, promptly landed on her but.

“Ximena that's so beautiful!”

“Uh – thank you?  Also ow.”

“Yeah, you're pretty much stuck until she decides to let go,” Dipper told her.  “She's like a koala.  Also, the bubble idea sounds perfect. Let us know if we can help.”

“Yeah!” Mabel broke away and pulled Ximena to her feet.  “We could have a bubble party!  With bubble wands the size of our heads!  And giant hamster balls so that we could pretend we were literally in the bubbles!”  

“I would go to that,” Angela said immediately.

Ximena laughed.  “You know, I might take you up on that when Leon's feeling better, thanks.  So, the sweater?”

“KEEPING IT!” Mabel shouted.

“Yeah, okay, keeping it,” Dipper agreed.  “Ximena is right, this sweater helped people. We'll save it for a rainy day.  We just need to be careful about who uses it, but this thing could still come in handy.”

Mabel's face broke into a wide grin.  “Excellent!  I have the perfect hiding spot for it!”

“Mabel, you cannot label your craft box 'perfect hiding spot' solely to keep saying that.”

“I CAN AND I WILL!”

[peachyfic]

Hours Gone By - Mark

January 3rd. BamBam

January 4th. Mark

Just as BamBam told you last night, Mark wanted to meet you in an outdoor activity. He chose a perfect day for it as it wasn’t that cold like in the previous days, however, you still had to dress warm enough to endure the breeze. Your best friend texted you that Mark is waiting for you by the Han river at noon for lunch. Well, Han river is vast and has many spots where people meet up, but in the following text, she told you that he will be by the convenience store. There weren’t that many stores by the river’s main park so you kind of guessed which one he is talking about. 

It took you only thirty minutes to get there as you took the subway. Since you were on time, you didn’t expect Mark to be there already. You were right about that as he was late by 15 minutes. 

“So sorry for being late,” he said while he was trying to catch his breath. 

“Don’t worry about it, at least it’s not too cold outside today,” you smiled at him which made him feel relieved. 

“Before we go and sit down do you want to get something from the store? I prepared a little food but I don’t think that will be enough,” he said while looking at the bag he had in his hand.

“That’s really nice of you that you brought food,” you said excitedly but then both of you decided to get some snacks and Mark made ramen for himself. 

After you finished with the shopping, you tried to find a nice spot where there weren’t too many people and you got a good view of the river. Thankfully, it was easy to find a place just like that as for many people this weather was still not ideal for a picnic. 

Mark took out a blanket from his backpack, which he laid down on the grass, then he carefully put down the food and a big thermos that you guessed had some warm drink in it. 

“The restaurant is ready, Miss,” he said as he imitated a waiter. This made you giggle and he knew he was on the right track. 

“Wow, did you make all of these?” you asked as you looked at all the gimbap that was in the container. 

“Yes, I did. I also have some warm tea here, so please just take whatever you want,” he replied and without hesitation, you picked up one gimbap and started eating it. The taste was great as he used delicious and fresh ingredients. 

“I would have never thought that in January I’m going to have an outdoor picnic date by the river,” you said as you were still amazed by all the things Mark prepared. 

“We are lucky that the weather is good today. It was made just for the two of us,” he said cheesily which resulted in him bursting into an embarrassing giggle. It was hard for you to not notice how cute he was. 

“In my past dates I haven’t been outside that much so it’s great to get some fresh air and sunshine,” you told him and he suddenly put down his cup of ramen. 

“Oh, this reminds me of. It might sound cheesy or pushing the boundaries, but I think it’s beautiful how the sunlight is shining on you... do you mind if I take a picture of you?” He asked timidly but you shook your head. 

“I don’t mind it, just show it to me. And if I look unacceptable then you have to delete it,” you made him pinky promise it. Then he took out his camera and snapped three pictures of you. After that, he showed you the results and he looked at the pictures with admire in his eyes. “You made me look prettier than I actually am.”

“Ah come on, y/n, I think you are really pretty even without the sun shining down on you,” he replied before you could continue talking down about yourself. “But I gotta admit the rays make you look like even more of an angel.” 

“Well I think between the two of us, you are the angel as you prepared all this stuff for today,” you said and he started to blush. 

“It’s really nothing. I’m just happy that I can spend some time with someone that I’m just getting to know. After a while it gets boring to be with the guys,” he laughed which implied that he loves them regardless, but it’s good to meet new people. “By the way, BamBam couldn’t shut up about you yesterday which wasn’t cool of him as we all promised we are not going to talk about the dates.”

“BamBam seems like that type of person who just can’t keep the words inside him,” you chuckled as you thought about how even on the previous day he kept on dropping information about stuff he wasn’t supposed. 

“Yeah sometimes he can be really annoying, but of course I adore him a lot. He pretty much grew up in front of my eyes and I consider him my little brother, so I really can’t be mad at him,” he smiled softly while he thought about his dongsaeng.  

“That’s great how all of you are so close to each other,” you said and he nodded. 

“I consider myself lucky that I was able to meet these guys. But hey let’s talk more about you. Even though BamBam already shared so much, I feel like there is still a lot for me to learn,” he said with a playful wink and that made your heart beat faster. 

The two of you kept on talking for hours. It was already four pm when you realized it was starting to get a little colder as you were getting closer to the night. 

“I can’t believe that time went by this fast...” sighed Mark as he looked at his watch. You emptied out even the last bit of tea from the thermos. You now had neither food nor any drinks. “But I don’t want to say goodbye yet... there is a basketball court close by and I happen to have a basketball in this magic bag. What do you say?” He asked while he was really hoping for you to stay longer with him. 

“That sounds great!” You said cheerfully and Mark quickly got up to pack up everything while you picked up all the garbage that you didn’t want to leave behind. 

After ten minutes of walking, you arrived at a basketball court. There were barely any people playing as it was still work and school time. Mark took out his basketball from his bag while you got yourself ready for another sports embarrassment. Third time this week. 

“I don’t think that I’m such a good player,” you admitted but Mark shrugged. 

“I don’t consider myself a good player either. But hey, this is not the NBA's, we are just here to have fun so don’t worry,” he said to ease your worrying. 

For almost an hour you kept on playing against each other. At first, each of you had ten chances and to whoever had the least scores, that person had to post an embarrassing picture on social media. Surprisingly that person was Mark. 

“But hey, you didn’t go easy on me, right?” You confronted him but he put his hands up in protest.

“I swear to God you were just simply this good,” he said which made you laugh. Then he proceeded to take one of the ugliest selfies of our time, but still, he managed to look handsome. 

“Wow, how can you look this good even from this angle?” You asked, truly amazed by him. 

“I guess I was just born with it,” he replied while he flipped his non-existent long hair. 

“Okay but this time let’s try to block each other’s attacks,” you suggested and Mark put up a thumbs up. 

“I might hurt you so be prepared,” he said which now sounded a little darker compared to how cute he was a few minuted before. 

“Oh, the real Mark is finally starting to show,” you teased him and he wiggled his eyebrows as an answer and when you were not paying attention, he took the ball from you. When it registered in your brain what just happened, you quickly turned around and started to chase after him. 

“Yaa Mark Tuan!” You yelled but he was just loudly giggling as he was running away and then getting the ball right in the hoop. 

“Next time pay close attention,” he said while he pointed at your eyes with two of his fingers. 

“Okay then what if I get your attention away,” you said, getting closer to him. First, he looked like he cannot be bothered but when you got way too close to him, as only a few centimeters were between your faces, Mark’s hold on the ball got weaker which was the perfect moment to steal it from him. Then you started running towards the other hoop, Mark closely behind you.

“You can’t seduce me like this, it’s not fair!” He shouted but you managed to go all the way to the other side and get the ball in the hoop. 

“I didn’t do anything, you are just imagining things,” you shrugged and Mark rolled his eyes. 

“Nice try, but I won’t give up this easily,” he replied.

For thirty minutes you were playing around like this, chasing, teasing, and laughing at each other. You had such a good time with him that you didn’t even notice how fast time has gone by. 

“I should head home now, it’s really dark outside,” you said as the two of you were sitting on the concrete, feeling exhausted. It was already dark and cold. On the river, you could see the lights reflecting from the city, which made the waves look colorful. 

“I will take you home,” he said and you looked at him questioningly. “I mean I don’t have a car, but I can take the subway with you and walk you home, to make sure you get back safely,” he added and you melted away just by how caring he was. 

“Okay, then let’s go,” you said and the two of you walked to the subway. On the way to your home, you didn’t talk as much as you both felt exhausted. Instead, you were trying to fight off the sleepiness.

Once you got to your house, it almost seemed like as if Mark didn’t want to go home. 

“I really enjoyed my day with you,” he said with a sleepy voice and it just made him even cuter. 

“I had a great time too. Thanks for the food and the tea,” you mentioned again and he just smiled softly at you. Then he suddenly leaned in to plant a kiss on your cheek. When he saw your widened eyes, he realized what he had done just now. The embarrassment was taking over him in form of a tomato red face and sweat forming on his forehead during that cold winter night. 

“I guess I should go, good night!” he said with a higher pitched voiced and he started to back away then he jogged towards the subway station. That was one of the cutest reactions of your life. 

“Good night,” you shouted after him and he suddenly turned back to wave at you with a big smile, then he continued to make his embarrassed home run. 

January 5th. Jinyoung

[iamsonyeondone]

heir!seventeen // joshua hong

♥  fluff and angstz (warning: mention of blood and bullying)

♥ 1.6k words

♥  summary: when the humble prince of Pledis saves the infamous ice princess, an unexpected relationship blooms

Joshua as an heir still doesn’t change the fact that he’s still very much extremely humble

he will go out of his way to ensure that he doesn’t go to school with any of his mother’s collection of cars

and he prefers going to school by bicycle with his guitar behind him because he gets to see the blossoms better in spring!!

one time he had no choice but to use the car to school because the snow wouldn’t let him live liKE it was flippin march and a snowstorm hits

and everyone was like???? we’ve never seen that car roll up to school before waiT isn’t it limited edition?????

and Joshua steps out of the car, all blushy and embarrased as everyone has their jaws hitting the floor

because they thought humble king Joshua was a middle class heir or something but nOOOO

even after that day, Joshua still denies it with a soft smile and tries his best to ride his bike to school at all costs poor shy baby

you on the other hand knew him i mean who wouldnt?? this boy is made of honey and everything sweet-

but your case was entirely different

everyone knew you as someone stuck up and even called you a name that was overused

“the ice princess came to school with a new car? does she ever take a break and try not to flaunt her parent’s money???”

although their words sting, you kept the facade of being unfazed and calm while you continued on with your day

it’s kind of sad that you got used to these kinds of comments, like it doesnt affect you a much as you used to

but that was just you bottling up your feelings until someone had taken the last straw

you were minding your own business as usual, heading towards your locker to prepare for next class until letter fell out, all of them from an anonymous sender

it didn’t seem unusual at first from the outside, but when you took a little peek into the insides, you screamed your lungs out, while you fell to your knees from the immense shock

there before you was your pictures covered in something that looked almost like???? blood??

everyone around you heard your ear-piercing scream as they scrambled to see what was going on

you couldn’t take it any longer, you couldn’t keep it bottled up any longer as you cried relentlessy, your blood-stained hands trembling before your eyes

your vision began to blur and the cold air hitting your body seemed to cease

what was this warmth enveloping you?

you tried to lift your head to get a better gist of your situation, only to be covered with something soft?? fabric?? it felt like the school’s uniform had been placed onto your head

while a pair of gentle hands brought you to your feet, your knees still slightly wobbly from the traumatising experience you had to handle

“Please make way and call a teacher, we’ll be at the nurse’s office,”

and you recognise that sweet voice anywhere

was it really him??

and in a few minutes, you were welcomed by the scent of rubbing alcohol and all things alike, while you were carefully seated down onto the white mattress

the blazer was lifted off of you to reveal Joshua, a small worried smile adorning his face while you desperately wiped your damp cheeks

“The nurse is having her lunch right now and I thought you needed some space,”

his soft and alluring voice calmed your panicked state while you turned your head away from him, sure that your bloodshot eyes would deter him

“I hope you’re feeling better. I saw what they did back there,” he trailed off, taking  a seat on the opposite bed while you sniffled

“...thanks for saving me back there,” you mumbled

and to be frank, Joshua seemed more attractive now that you actually talked to him one and one

and omg this guy was way nicer than people assumed him to be

“no problem, I’m just doing what’s right. The things...I saw back there was definitely not something anyone should experience,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair

and from your peripheral vision, you couldn’t help but question why he was so worried when,,, the both of you never actually talked

Joshua catches you staring from the side and you nearly snapped your neck from turning your face away from him

if only you saw the small smile that curled on his lips when he caught you

“You’re not as cold as people call you to be, or at least that’s what I think,” Joshua attempts at starting a conversation while he accompanies you in the nurse’s room

“what do you mean?” you asked him out of curiosity

“I saw the way you acted around the cat on the way to school- I’m not a stalker! I just happened to pass by because we kinda take the same route to school and I-”

You couldn’t help but burst out laughing, your palm flying up to cover your sudden outburst as he looked towards you in bewilderment

but his shocked expression turned into a smile as he giggled along with you

“it’s nice to see you smile, (y/n),”

just at those words, your cheeks turned bright red the hues reaching your ears as you began to feel warm

“are you feeling better now? we can head back to class if you want, no rush,”

you nodded your head slowly, getting up from the bed as he followed suit

Before he could reach the door knob, the door swings open to reveal the nurse holding her daily dose of caffeine

“I never thought I’d see you here with ms (y/n), Joshua,” she smirked, sipping on her beverage as she casually took her seat at her table

“U-uh  it’s nOt what you thiNK, I- WE-”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, kid. It’s about time you actually made a move,” She chuckled before shooing the both of you out of her office

maDe a MoVe???? are you hearing things right??

“I-It’a not a crime to like someone right?”

and you shook your head from your thoughts as Joshua looked back at you,,, with a hint of worry in your eyes

without thinking, you nodded your head as he looked back at you with a delighted smile, that his wide smile crinkled the end of his eyes

“let’s go then, we don’t want to be late for class,” he chimed, taking your hand in his as the both of you ran through the hallways, laughter bouncing from the walls 

within a week, the both of you had become inseperable

and your schoolmates finally realized you weren’t giving the cold shoulder intentionally

especially after Joshua made you burst out laughing in the middle of lesson and the both of you had been sent out of class

because Joshua???was friends with you??

it got the entire school buzzing for the news

and ever since they saw you in a new light, you were actually really nice!! you were just shy and all those new cars were because your father was one of the big bosses in a car company

but after awhile of the school warming up to you, they couldn’t help but ship you and him together because you guys are the literal cutest

“Why don’t you put the bunny keychain on your bag?? :(( I got it from a crane game and lost a hundred bucks because of it >:(((”

“stop pouting, it’s on my guitar bag you dummy,”

because our boi really protects his guitar with his life and he wants to protect the bunny the same too uwu but dont tell him i told you that

LIKE you see!!! the nicest people in school deserve each other!!!!

and it’s only when he got into an accident that your feelings were beyond being friends

Joshua had accidentally rode his bike over a pebble on the way to school and twisted his ankle

and for the rest of the week, you walked to school alone because poor bb had to be driven to school

and for every period you had the time, you always tried to check up on him and eat lunch with him in class

and he finds it so endearing to see your worried face - your eyebrows furrowed and a small frown trying to resurface but you held it back because you didn’t want him to see you like this

and on friday, you greet him as usual in class for lunch with bento boxes in hand and he couldnt help the thoughts that rampaged through his head

seeing you sparkle when your mother packed your favourites or when you pouted because she sneaked herb tea into your thermos for HIM and not you

and the words just slip out of his mouth

“gosh i like you too much,” with a dreamy sigh until his eyes widen from his sudden confession like he couldnt keep it in!!

and you casually reply back with an “i like you too” when your cheeks are heating up so rapidly and you could already tell your face was tomato RED

and the both of you are a blushy giggling mess as you bashfully fed him food and poured him his herb tea

once the both of you walked into school with interlaced fingers, the school cheered and its so cute because youre so shy!!!!!!

and as much as he’s shy too, Joshua pecks your cheek and the school just roARS

“now that I think about it, you’re the prettiest whenever,”

yall are so cute WTF

A/N: WHAOW 3 updates in a week?? hopefully I keep this up for the rest of the year :O hope you guys had/is having a nice day!! love yall bubs :] also this is a little similar to Jeonghan’s because their inspired by the ton of kdramas that I watched OOPS

[our-jensen-ackles-love]

Whatever It Takes || Jensen Ackles

Chapter Four

For once in a really, long time, you were looking forward to work. You took your time getting ready, making sure that you had on a little bit of make-up and tucking a tube of lipstick in your purse, just in case you changed your mind about wearing it. You decided to wear a cute little sundress that was covered in black and white polka dots.

“Well, you sure are looking nice for work,” your roommate said, poking her head in your room with your son on her hip. “Any particular reason?”

You felt a blush start to creep over your cheeks while you stole one last glance at yourself in the mirror. Your blue eyes were simmering with something that looked like it could be excitement. Or the fact that you almost stabbed yourself in the eye with the mascara wand. “Oh, no. I just felt like dressing up today.”

“Uh-huh,” Marcy said, still eyeing you. “Are you sure it doesn’t have anything to do with a certain Winchester brother that seems to frequent your closing shifts?”

That warmth in your cheeks got hotter as you knew that she was probably right. For the last two weeks, Jensen had been showing up every night with food and a helping hand where he could. He would make you sit at the bar and at least eat a couple bites of whatever he brought while he finished stacking chairs or one time he even offered to clean the bathroom.

“I don’t even know if he will come by tonight,” you said, shifting your weight on your feet, knowing that more than likely you would be seeing him. “Besides, he is a very busy man.”

Marcy laughed a little, like you had just told her a dry joke. “I think we both know that he clearly isn’t busy enough to not see you.” You watched as your son sleepily stare between the two of you. “Do you think tonight he’ll finally ask you out?”

Her question surprised you. You always had found Jensen very attractive even before you got the chance encounter of meeting him, but now that you knew a little bit more of the type of person he was – you couldn’t help, but get excited about the idea getting to know him more.

“I doubt it. I think he just feels bad for barging in on me a couple weeks ago,” you sighed. Even if this little friendship was short lived, you knew that it would be something you would never forget.

Marcy started to open her mouth to say something, but you glanced at you clock sitting on the nightstand. You were running a couple minutes behind schedule already with the extra time it took to get ready. Quickly, you rushed over and gave your little one a kiss on the head, wishing him a good night and a brief hug to your friend.

As the door was closing behind you, Marcy shouted out. “We won’t be waiting up for you.”

Just like clockwork when the clock struck quarter after nine, you heard a slight knock on the door. With a smile, you headed over, unlocking it briefly allowing Jensen to slip in and leave a couple of wet footprints on the ground.

“Good thing I didn’t mop yet,” you joked at Jensen’s back which caused him to turn around and look apologetically at his own mess. “Don’t worry about it.”

You watched as Jensen took a step back and handed you a little lunch box. With a grateful smile, you took it and headed over to the bar, all the while feeling his eyes watching you intently. It was starting to make you hyper-aware of everything that you were doing.

Jensen cleared his throat before taking the remaining steps to get to where you were sitting. “Sorry, it’s not much today. I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow.”

“You made us dinner tonight?”

You saw him nod and glance down at what you were pulling out of the insulated bag. “It’s nothing fancy, just some grilled cheese and tomato soup.” He reached over and pulled out the thermos, before grabbing a paper cup and pouring some out and sliding it over towards you. “I figured it was a good day for it.”

Nodding, you looked outside to see that the rain had picked up again causing a downpour over your store. “The upside was the store was slow enough that I got to send everyone home early and just kind of hang out.”

“You were by yourself?” He asked you, leaning across the bar, with a mouthful of his grilled cheese sandwich. “If I had known that, I would have come a hell of a lot earlier."

“Well,” you stalled, swirling the corner of your grilled cheese around in your soup. “It’s not like you could have known that.”

Once again, you felt his eyes on you causing you to swirl you sandwich a little bit longer before taking a bite. You didn’t look up at him, suddenly feeling nervous and a bit too warm for just wearing a sundress. But you saw from the corner of your eye, Jensen put down his sandwich and reach into his pocket for something.

Sliding his phone across the counter, he placed it right under your gaze. “I should have done this the night I met you,” you heard him give a low chuckle, the kind that made your insides twist. “Will you, please, put your number in?”

Marcy was going to have a field day when she heard about this tomorrow morning.

Quickly, you entered in your number, putting a little coffee symbol next to your name in case you shared your name with anyone else in his phone book. “There,” you stated, sliding his phone back to him.

Jensen quickly picked it up and typed something else into his phone. “I texted you, that way you have my number as well.”

You gave him a wide smile and went about eating your grilled cheese while Jensen started wiping down part of the counters and talking about something that happened on set that day. Apparently, Jared and Misha were in a bit of a prank war causing all kinds of mayhem between the scenes.

By the time you had finished your food, Jensen had just about finished stacking the last of your chairs and was starting to mop the front of the store, even though you insisted that he didn’t. He wouldn’t listen, leaving you with just counting the cashier draw and making the final deposit.

All of it didn’t take long, but a lot of your closing procedures went by a lot quicker with your extra pair of hands. You put the money in the safe and stood up, taking one last glance around the place and seeing that it had never been cleaner.

“I’m all done,” you said, not seeing Jensen.

“Ready when you are,” his voice rang, coming from the bathroom where he was exiting with a paper towel in hand.

Both of you grabbed your items and headed towards the door, Jensen knew the drill to leave first so that you could enter in the alarm code and then you would follow him outside and lock the door. With the both of you standing there, the rain was still kind of trickling down, but not nearly as bad as it had been half an hour ago.

“Thank you again,” you said, slowly, kind of not wanting to have to leave, but knowing you had to. “I really appreciate the food and extra help that you’ve been providing.”

A smile played at his lips while he glanced down at you. “I really don’t mind it. It’s kind of like a much-needed break from my world.”

You weren’t sure why, but hearing him say that you gave him a “break” caused your stomach to twist up in those knots again. Not knowing what to do with yourself under his gaze, you just offered him a shy smile. “I’m glad I could help.”

That got a little bit of a laugh from him again. If you didn’t know any better, you would say it sounded a little nervous. “So, Lydia,” he started, his tone shifting away from playful. “I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner sometime?”

For a moment, you forgot how to breathe. “You want to go out to dinner with me?”

He eyed you again and you realized that he was being completely serious. “I do. While I have been loving coming here the last couple of nights, I think it would be nice to get to know you better over a nice dinner and something other than coffee.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” You watched as a smile quirked at his lips.

You felt yourself blush and was thankful for the night sky right then. “Yes, I think dinner would be amazing.”

Walking towards your cars, you made plans for the following Saturday around seven. Jensen promised you that he would still come by a couple days during your closing shifts, but that his new filming schedule might make it difficult. And when you said your goodbyes, Jensen leaned down and gave you a kiss on your cheek that burned the whole way home.

@iamnotsaneatall

[lovepeacebeautyaction-blog]

CHADAR

                                                 CHADAR       

“ If you can be Love in any situation, Then you are in Meditation”

                                                                                                   Osho

  “ On the Chadar,Everything freezes but Tears”

                                                                            National Geographic

Chadar Trek on the Frozen River Zanskar – Leh Ladhak, Jammu & Kashmir,21/01/2018 to 31/01/2018

Thoughts

My body was struggling from cold, extreme cruel cold ( if you can call -35 degrees that!), and then there was walking on ice, which only felt /looked good on you tube video featuring similar a*******!!! And yes sleep!!! Or the lack of it! The moment you try to close your sleeping bag , completely cutting out any air from outside, you start suffocating, less air, heavy breathing, foul words ( inside your head), and just as you put your sunburned nose out for a whiff of fresh air , your hand accidentally hits the side of your tiny camp/tent and the small ice formations on the top of it fall down right onto it…. Your nose….. $$$****$$####  more bad words! There goes your sleep. As if it was there in the first place, Crazy!!

 But what was real torture was not the queue for morning ablutions or the no water or bathing period for all the 6 days or sleeplessness. ZIP !! Yes ZIP was the real Pain Clinician!! The only time you have to face the beast on a normal day is while wearing your Pant. But here in Chadar there is a ZIP almost everywhere. On your down jacket ( Which is on top of 4 other layers of various types of clothes , thanks amazon) you have at least two zips on your handpockets where you will place a) mobile b) Lip balm ( My Wife said ill spoil my lips) c) Wet Tissue Packs d) Sanitizer e) chocolates and umpteen other un-necessities. You need to zip and unzip them to take all goodies in and out. They may get stuck, may come out altogether and you are highly inconvenienced, to have said the least. After endless  such zipping and unzipping during your trek, in the evening , what greets you is more Zipping and Unzipping. The dinner tent, our cute sleeping tents ( with two zip covers), the washroom ( to put it sweetly), sleeping bags ( two of them) all have zips. They get stuck, stop working and you are in trouble, lot of it!! It went this way , To satisfy your Hunger pangs after a hard days trek, you get into the dinner tent ----ZIP---Get In----ZIP Down-----Oops you forgot the sanitizer----ZIP Up---Out-----Close the Tent shouts one frozen soul from the inside---ZIP down ----- Then Sleeping Tent-----ZIP Up----twice-----Crazy search for sanitizer-----ZIP Down----Twice-----Back to the Tent------ZIP Up and -----ZIP Down----Dinner over ---ZIP UP-----ZIP Down ---- Sleeping Tent ----ZIP Up Twice -----ZIP Down Twice ------Repeat, you need to pee before sleeping ---- Then comes the most painful of it all ---- The sleeping bags!!!! Now multiply all these by 6---- days on Chadar!!!!

  You need to be a yoga expert to be able to sleep without using profanities!! But having done all and having succeeded in getting into your sleeping bag , you slowly start relaxing, no more fights with the ZIP, not until next morning or the midnight pee. Then, as you close your eyes, your tired mind suddenly wakes up. You start seeing those beautifully colored mountains with almost nil vegetation, changing shades with every turn and curve, those fantastic artistically designed rocks, a red , a blue,  a green a yellow and so on and on, of all shapes and sizes, the beautifully flowing Zanskar river sometimes white, sometimes blue or a deep green, singing a song similar to those sung by our Zanskari Porter during their post dinner ordeal, those ice petals more like a lotus flower floating on top of them. There were rows of ice crystals along the edges of the river, wonderfully formed, like jewellery by cartier or bvlgari, shining brightly in the sun. The sky was mostly blue, then green ,yellow and orange as the sun passess, only to bring in that wonderfully bright and large moon!! Jhule—Jhule --- Jhule ---- your heart starts dancing to the tunes of nature!! Bliss!!!! You start experiencing a deep Joy, or Love for everything and anything around you. And somehow you realize that that Joy or love is going to remain in your heart for eternity!!! And then some sleep.

  Facts

Trekking Distance – 80kms, Maximum Altitude -11,123 ft , Temperature – (-10 to -35), Days – 6

(No Roads, No habitat, Sleeping tents & Food need to be carried, 4 to 5 layers of winter clothing , oxygen cylinders and basic medicines for emergency, chances of Altitude Mountain Sickness, Acclimatise for atleast 2 days before trek at Leh)

 We were 18 of us ,Doctor Saab and Amitabh Saab being the eldest. Amitabh Saab was known to me, after all it was he who did everything to make me and Captain comfortable during our stay for Desert BRM. I remember meeting our Spartan King and Babu Prince during that same event. The Adorable Couple, there were two of them, had just put their photos on the groups whattsapp account, making it easy to recognize them at Delhi airport. Shetty with that handsome bearded face and Military Prince greeted us at the airport. Iron Man, I wont forget him, he visited Leh on his bermudas, can u believe that? It was -7 degrees there. Snow white had arrived on the same day as Mountain Man and Captain, i.e, a day before us.  The trip to Leh was fantastic. I was lucky to watch the mountains down below as I had got the window seat. Leh at last, and the view was breathtaking, mountains, lots of them. Trip to our hotel was short. We were lucky to have got such a hotel what with hot water, heated beds and even some south Indian breakfast. Went out in the evening for some shopping and also collected our gum boots from the nearby office of the tour operator. All arrangements were made and bags were filled and unfilled to balance weight and necessities. The next day we set out on our journey, visiting Pathar Sahib on the way. The way was treacherous with narrow roads and I imagined falling down the valley. If we fell straight down without going upside down, the view would still have made us spell bound, almost forgetting the fall. So beautiful was the view outside. After settling down in our sleeping tents at the base camp in Darr, few minitues later, we put on our Gum boots and started practicing a bit on frozen Zanskar banks below. Then, having had dinner, we left to our tents for some sleep. All that we had dreamed till now, would be a reality in some hours.

 We had a great start, some slow , some fast but all as excited and energetic as ever. Walking on the snow was fun, at least the first day. Stopping to gaze at a green ice formation or that startling Mountain at the end of the valley. Rocks attracted me, never saw such colours, such finish, the Creator was at his best. Clicks on the mobile, some using DSLR to create finise Cinderella wouldn’t have left an inch of it. She was always last to finish, clicking every turn and curve. We stopped when tired. Drank hot water from the thermos, which we carried on our shoulder bags. Then set off towards our destination. We walked half of the journey before lunch and by 4 or 5 am we’re at our days stop. The steep climb at the start and at Nayrek were the only places where we found it difficult. A minor mistake would have taken us into depths, down to the half flowing, frozen Zanskar. Otherwise, it was walking on plain ice. Small talks, philosophies, jokes and other exchanges brought us together as a group. Sitting around the gas stove in the evening at our destination dinner tent warmed our legs and sox and singing songs while drinking hot tea  warmed our soul. We were happy.

There was an accident on the 3rd day. Two of the porters were lost. We were less by one sleeping tent and 10 sleeping bags. Horror!! We were to freeze to death!! Friction, hot exchange of words, somehow the cold outside had crept into our hearts. But then common sense prevailed and we made our hearts bigger to accommodate one extra person in some tents thus making it much warmer. “My views have changed, humans are basically good, not bad”, said our Little Mrs Sunshine while we were walking, somehow that night, the same thought crossed my mind Some had to sleep with only an upper sleeping bag. But we survived. The desert team had to leave early, some had to catch a flight on 28. They left early, walking and covering more distance than us. 10 of us were left. But we had a happy reunion on Republic day, they were coming back fom Nayrek, we walking towards it. We had a Desh Bhakti moment in between and lots of clicks. They left us, some promising to stay back till we came. At Leh. Babu Prince promised me a champagne bottle. Never saw him when I returned. But I will come for it when I get back, and I am not coming back only for a bottle, I am coming for all of it Desert Prince!! Doc Bhai, Chauhan Saab, Shetty and Military Prince did the honours though!! Thank you!!

 Our guide was a cool man, Kashi,“hanji” was all he said. Never upset, never angry , always on his toes and checking the last person during the trek. The porters and cook worked all day and most part of night to make us comfortable. There was hot water all round, maggi and chocolate for a quick lunch on the way, followed by that awesome kaba tea, of which I used to gulp down a minimum of 3 cups. Breakfast was poha, poori or paratha and there were lots of stuff which all us had got like thepla, ladoo( that was me), adhadiya, pedas etc. in fact there was so much food, that even our Zanskari Porter started running away, when we forcefully fed them theplas!! There was also scrambled eggs and bread all served hot. Evenings we had Dal Rice, roti, some sabzi and even a dessert like gulab jamun, hot fruit salad etc. Sometimes the food was too good ( I weighed myself at Leh airport) and we had to stop in between to relieve. Chauhan Saab and Captain proved to be excellent company during such “ Khullas”. Me and Mountain Man, we’re Potty partners in the morning. During one such outing Akshay Kumar’s “ Toilet Ek Prem Katha” came into my mind. Sorry no more Potty details!The walks/treks were good, as your body was excercising and warm. Evening and nights were tough. Cold , very cold. We used to visit the small caves after dinner where the porters used to cook/sleep. At times we had the good fortune of hearing them play their pipes and sing. Melodious. Some nights we all joined together around a camp fire ( Firewood was scarce, and was available only on top of the mountains)to dance to the tunes of latest hindi songs and remixes. Lady Diana and Mrs Dixit knew how to shake a leg. Doc Bhai was the best among males. I believe everyone tolerated my ugly moves, maybe because I was ok otherwise. Poor guy, let him be, they might have thought. We had a visitor, Million Dollar Baby, we called her, a professional boxer, who couldn’t make the trek due to AMS. Later,  I cant imagine the poses I gave for that post dinner fiasco by our Captain at Nayrek. Night photography, he called it. No less than torture for me, being tired and cold, as always. The results though, were fantastic.

  After walking for 3 days through the narrow gulf of the beautiful mountains hearing only the crunching snow under your feet and the singing Zanskar, we finally reach the destination, Nayrek! Was I happy when I saw that outstanding view! , Spectacular!! God was down here for sure, taking time personally to construct that crystal cube made frozen waterfall!! It was out of this world. But more than anything else, I felt relieved. That’s it! We are here, no more onward journey! Time to turn back. I was literally exhausted, I mean,  after 12 kms walk on snow( Total onward Journey to Nayrek was around 40 kms), and then the steep mountain climb and ascend in the end to reach Nayrek waterfalls ( Chadar broke at the right place , just at the end), anybody would be. Lots of Kodak moments, dancing masti and some Desh Bhakti later most of us left for the tents. The sun was going down but four of us were still there, including our Captain, taking pictures in all permutation combination. You can’t afford to miss anything, after all who knows whether we can make it here again!! I started walking back slowly climbing the steep mountain overlooking Nayrek village. Once up, we took some time to catch our breath, wait for the captain, but more so for the view from the top. It got emotional when the four of us joined together on the top. Tears of joy, having completed something so tough and beautiful at the same time, flowed down her cheeks when Captain complimented her, Mrs Dixit. I too had tears in my eyes, more so because our dear Captain had got back my walking stick and goggles which I considered lost!!!

    Here to There

Just as I crossed 35, realization that I was nearing mid age dawned upon me. My blood tested positive for Diabetes type 2. I was depressed at first, then something inside me clicked, I started taking to badminton for an hour, then went on to increase it to one more. As 40 approached sad depressive songs filled my literary palate. Mid life crisis!I needed motivation. Took on running as an exercise, even went on to do a 10 km quarter marathon. Then Mountain man inspired me, his style statement, a la Sharukh Khan , made me buy my wife a cycle for our anniversary , two years back. She gifted me one too, a Montra MTB. Though I never attempted to copy his stunts, I felt like a hero myself, riding on that fluorescent green bike to and fro to my badminton court, 2.5 kms from home. That’s when our Captain chanced upon me and qualified me for a membership in our cycling club. I was elated. Next morning I did a 25 km ride, followed it up with a 40 km ride on a rainy day and then on a 125 km tiring ride to a far off temple. Though the last ride kept me in bed for 2 days, I was back and kicking in no time. Saboo, my friend, saved me from all those ferocious dogs on our early morning rides to various destinations in our city. Our city was beautiful, I discovered, and it changed color with every season. The next time I rode with Captain was for a BRM, 200 kms. Did it,lifted the cycle for a picture and posted it on all known social media sites, facebook, whattsapp, instagram. After all it was my first victory after LKG , And all due goes to our Captain!!

 That was 3 months ago, somewhere in September 2017, when he showed me the video, ice falls, ice walk, ice sleep, it was all white. Once again, I became an LKG boy and asked Captain the same question, can I do it? After all it was one of India’s most challenging treks. The answer was the same, Yes. Then began a maniacal purchase session on amazon and decathalon. Down jacket, fleece jacket, inner, gloves, outer gloves, sticks, small bag, rakshak and a lot of other un necessities. Not even for my marriage have I purchased so much!! And if not for Captain, I would have accumulated even more. The first trek of my life, I was very excited. Then there were training sessions,  starting at 5.30 am, running up and down a 60 degree slanting road after 15 kms of cycling for more than a month. That was followed by squats and other core exercises. But what made us get up in the morning was hot milk served at the joint next to the dam. To add spice, Saboo used to regularly bring in some good saffron. He was made to do all exercises in spite of the fact that he was not coming for the trek. Cinderella and Snow White made it only by 7.30 am, once we were finished with our workout, and then followed a series of artistic photography where no Spiders were spared!!

 After months of early morning cycle rides, walking and running around our lake and countless cups of yummy saffron milk, I found myself at Ahmedabad airport calling out our Captains name in vain. Nobody to Chadar?? Where were those Spartan Princes, where were those wonderful Couple? Nobody?? Inspite of my diabetes, I had already downed two sugary doughnuts and a cup of coffee (With two sachets of brown sugar mind you). I made love to Delhi water, the next day morning, using both hot and cold water to bathe. I was told that the next time I use water to wash will be when I am back in Delhi, i.e, after 11 days. Yuck!!!!. Picking up Cinderella and Mrs. Dixit, I reached Delhi the airport. Just before breakfast, Shetty tapped me on my back, he asked, Chader?? Captain?? And then the rest followed suit. Bachan Saab, I knew, then there was Iron Man, our poster boy wearing only bermudas to Leh??!! Captain greeted us at the Leh airport and that was followed by lots of camera and mobile clicks. The team was ready!! Chadar here we come!!

 Moment

Never in my whole preparatory period of 3 months or during the first 3 days of the trek was I prepared for that Moment. We were on the hill overlooking Nayrek Village and the frozen waterfall. Just the two of us, Captain and me, as Cinedrella and Mrs Dixit climbed down, after that emotional moment. We decided to spend some time after everyone left. I agreed, even though I was dead tired, for our Captain, after having spent all these days watching over us, needed some time for himself, to breathe in the sweet mountain air, to take in the beautiful view and just be there at the moment. We decided not to make any noise, let alone talk. The only sound was Zanskar singing. The view was enthralling and the moment was pure meditation, peace. I was awed by the amount of Love and Joy I felt. Captain’s thoughts were louder than mine and it brought me back. I heard him whispering ‘’ Mujhe Yahan Se Nahin Jana Hai, Nair saab, Mujhe Yahan se nahin Jana”. Das Saal se, Das saal se……..the rest of his words were too weak to hear above Zanskars music. I was watching a very beautiful moment in my life. More beautiful than all that was around me, was our Captains Emotions, Joy, Happiness, Love or was it something else, yet to be named by silly humans. (When asked by a local where he belonged to, during our trek, he replied, Yahin ka hoon, bus kamane keliye yahan wahan jana padtha hai) Was it his moment or mine? Of course his!!! He had waited for 10 years to be there. Me a mere 3 months. But then why was I so happy, why was I filled with such uncomprehend able feelings. Or were we the same me and Captain?? All I knew was that I was burdened for life by this unexplainable sweet feeling. And as a sign of victory, right then, God let us watch two Tibetan Wolves running across Nayrek Village, speeding across the mountain ranges in wind speed, covering them in no time. ( Captain says they were foxes, I prefer Wolf). Both sped at the same pace and had the same distance left between them till they vanished from our eyes. My destination was Nayrek, but I was destined for a better view, for which I thank God Almighty. A different I climbed down the mountain.

 P.S. :- The last three days were care free and beautiful. I still shouted profanities at night and ZIP pestered me till we reached base camp. Chader!!

Jhule ( Namasthe)

I Honour the place in You in which the entire Universe Dwells.

I Honour the place in You which is of Love, of Truth, of Light and Peace.

When You are in that place in You and I am in that place in Me

We are One.

Special thanks to both beautiful Bhabhis and their equally lovable Bhaiyas, , the Spartan Desert Prince Team for their Spirit, Our own Zanskari  guide and his mates for making our life a lot easier at Chader, Mountain Man for being with our Gals, and all three Sweet Gals for Wonderful company, Cinderella for selfless love, Snow White for Gyan (She was my best companion) and Mrs Dixit for the ACT (Enacted a scene from her Theater). Captain, I won´t thank you for anything!! I just won’t!! How can I thank myself?? Right ??

And yes, to my beautiful wife and kids, for silently suffering my absence.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             M.B.Nair