#buy* stuff to cook for new years eve today but i texted them that i was having a crisis and i didnt think id be able go get up and go today

[lovsome]

big venting ahead :-{

[bbrandy2002]

Little Shit:

Part 1: Wrapped Around A Finger

This is for week 96 of @wackydrabbles prompt: I can't -- I have a deadline. Prompt will be in bold.

Okay, so I couldnt fit all of this into the 2000 word limit and had to break it up and didn't have the heart to cut.

@kingliam2019​ you made a request for a Little Shit story on New Year’s Eve and it only took 5 months to come up with something, so this one is for you.

If you're unfamiliar with the Little Shit series (because it has been over a year since I wrote anything for it) Nikolas is Liam and Riley's 5 year old mischievous son who just can't help from wreaking havoc, especially toward Drake. He enjoys getting a rise out of him even if he does love his Uncle ... for the most part.

Warning: Crude Language. Mention of Covid and vaccinations.

Word count: 1928

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

Returning from the stables one afternoon, Drake was stopped at the palace door by security -- again -- for not wearing the required mask to enter.

“Mr. Walker, I’m afraid you need to have a mask on before I can allow you inside. I have to tell you this every day.”

“That because I fucking live here,” Drake grumbled as he snagged the offered surgical mask from the guard. 

“Not in the common areas, Mr. Walker.”

“You know this whole virus thing is just a conspiracy and Liam is using it to control all of us, right? He’s gone mad. This shit’s never gonna end.”

“I understand, sir.” The guard waited patiently as Drake begrudgingly slipped the mask over his face. “Perhaps, though, there is an alternative, one where you wouldn’t have to wear one anymore. They’re offering free vaccines in room 105 today. If you get the shot, you won’t need to wear a mask when you come inside,” the guard cajoled.

Drake let out a humorless laugh.“I’m sure that’s exactly what Liam wants: make a guinea pig out of me. Pump me full of that radioactive shit and in five years I’ll have a tail growing out of my face. No thanks.” Drake disregarded the information and moved past the man.

“But, sir .. .they’re giving away bottles of whiskey to the first 100 recipients. Last I heard, they were close to reaching that number. Top of the line stuff too.”

Drake turned on the heel of his work boots, glaring back, before asking skeptically. “Whiskey? They’re giving away alcohol to get this damn shot?” The guard nodded in response.

“Glenfiddich -- 1955, I believe. The King paid for it himself.”

Drake’s eyes widened in disbelief. “That’s a $90,000 bottle! And they’re just giving them away if you get this shot?”

“I … um … yes. His Majesty wants to reward those who are doing their part to create a healthier and safer Cordonia. He won’t rest until every last citizen is vaccinated from this dreaded virus. We can all fight this … together. What do you say, Mr. Walker? Will you help stop the spread?”

“For a $90,000 bottle of whiskey? Hell yeah! I’ll grow two tails out my heads for -- hold on a damn minute …” Drake burrowed his eyes into the guard who was sweating bullets, desperate for him to leave. “Where the hell is Nikolas at? This whole thing reeks of him..” Drake’s eyes began darting around the perimeter in a feverish search for the little prince’s battery operated car. “That little shit is blackmailing you, isn’t he? I should have known.”

The guard straightened and answered in a solemn tone, “I’m a serious professional, Mr. Walker. And I take your accusations of being anything but, demeaning to the loyalty and oath I’ve given to the Crown. How dare you stand there --”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise.” Drake ran a hand down his weary face in frustration. “It’s just that kid is the bane of my existence. I’ve had a long, hard day at work and I’m in no mood for his fucking stunts.”

The guard waved him off. “Nah, don’t worry about it. I’ve heard all about the stuff he’s pulled on you.” He leaned in closer and spoke in a hushed tone, “Between you and me, he’s a little pain in my ass too; always coming down here acting like he runs this place. If you ever need help teaching that kid a lesson, I’d be happy to help.”

Drake arched a brow. “Loyalty to the crown, huh?” The man regarded that retort with an awkward shrug. “Yeah, he needs his ass busted, that’s for sure. Liam thinks he just needs a little more love. I’d like to show him the Bianca F. Walker way of love.” He slammed his hands together.

The guard chuckled. “I’m with you on that. He needs something done; he’s out of control … Anyway, you should probably head on up there and get your shot -- and whiskey -- before they’re all out. I wish I’d have waited to get mine until today.”

Twisting his face in doubt, Drake walked around the corner and leaned up against the wall as he pulled out his phone. Something just didn’t feel right, and he determined the safest thing to do was shoot off a quick text to his best friend.

Drake: Liam, are you really giving away Glenfiddich, 1955, to get the Covid vaccine?

He waited a brief moment until a response came through; he looked down at his phone and read:

Liam: Yes.

Drake: Is that all you have to say about that?

Liam: Yes.

Liam: I am in meeting for Cordonia.

Drake tilted his head to the side and scratched at it as he stared at the odd message. He typed out another response.

Drake: What kind of meeting for Cordonia? And with who?

Liam: Top secret. Can't tell you.

Drake: Uh-huh. Where’s Nikolas?

Liam: With Riley and baby in Vallteria

Liam: Shit. Valtoria

Drake: What’s the capital of the United States?

Liam: Damn it Drake I’m in a meeting!

Drake: Then hurry up and answer

Liam: Washington D.C.

Drake: Who shot me at the costume ball?

Liam: You son of a bitch. IM IN A MEETING!

Drake let out a heavy groan and decided to just call Riley. He knew without a doubt Nikolas took Liam’s phone again. If he called Riley, though, there was no way the boy could pretend he was her.

Picking up almost instantly, Riley answered cheerfully, “Hello. Queen Riley speaking.”

“Riley, it’s Drake. I was just wondering if you and Liam were really giving away whiskey for getting this shot? Sounds a little fishy to me.”

There was a moment of silence, then a clicking noise, followed by a long beep, before Riley replied. “Yes. We. Are. Giving. Away …. Whiskey. Get.The.Shot.Drake.”

“The hell is wrong with your voice?”

“I.Am.In.Valtoria.”

“Riley, why the fuck are you enunciating every word?”

“I. Have. A. Cold. And. Must.Talk.Slow. Nikolas.Is.With.Me. And. I. Must. Get ... Going. Bye. Drake ...You. Ass. Hole.” 

Drake rolled his eyes and slipped the phone in his back pocket. “He’s got her phone, too. Damn that evil-ass kid.” He hesitantly made his way down to room 105; it wouldn’t hurt anything just to open the door and see if there was anything legit about this. As he approached, a lovely lady he knew from the kitchen exited with a big smile on her aging face and a bottle she cradled in her arms; he recognized it almost instantly as the Glenfiddich.

“Miss Milly,” Drake greeting kindly and held the door open for her. “You’re looking as lovely as ever.”

“Oh, you.” She laughed bashfully in her grandmotherly voice as she stepped into the corridor. “You’re always flirting with me, Drake. One of these days, I’m going to make you take me out on a date, buy me dinner, and give me a peck on the cheek at the end of the night.” 

Drake smiled back fondly at her. “You just tell me when, Miss Milly, and I’m there.” He motioned to the bottle in her hand. “Say … couldn’t help but notice that bottle of whiskey you’re carrying around; where’d you get that at? That brand doesn’t come cheap.”

“Ohhh, I know. But I heard they were giving shots in that room right there.” She pointed with a crooked finger. “And they said I was the 99th person to stop by, and gave this to me after getting my shot. I couldn’t believe my luck. And they only have one bottle left. I can finally put my grandson through college.” 

“That’s great! And you said there is still one more bottle left?”

She nodded her head. “Yes. But you better hurry. One of the chefs is on his way here for a shot as well.”

Drake hurriedly kissed her on the cheek and opened the door. Thank you, Miss Milly!” He stepped inside, then stopped and whipped his head back out the door. “Milly, wait. Have you seen Prince Nikolas today?”

“Yes, he left with the Queen after breakfast this morning. I believe they mentioned going to Valtoria.”

Drake rubbed his hands together anxiously and thanked her. He’d known the cook for years, she’s the sweetest person he knew. There was no way she would cover for Nikolas, and Drake couldn’t imagine the boy would have any dirt to hold over her head.

When the door shut, Nikolas grinned mischievously from a dark alcove where he was parked in his black 12V Mercedes Benz S63. “This is the day I’ve been waiting for.”

He set his laptop and both parents' phones in the passenger seat and slowly pulled out. He paid $100 to Milly and asked her to put the bottle back in his father’s liquor cabinet and rolled a few paces to room 105.

======

After filling out medical forms, the palace doctor ushered Drake behind a curtain where a long rectangular table and folding chair sat. Taking the seat, Drake watched the doctor slip on a pair of gloves and pull a small tube of lube out of his lab coat pocket. Drake furrowed his brows in confusion. “Heh. What’s the lube for?” he chuckled lightly. “I’m just here for a shot, man. Nothing else is going in me.”

“Just relax, Mr. Walker. It’s all part of the process.” A squirt of clear liquid was squeezed onto the doctor's two gloved fingers as he held them up. “On your medical forms you denied having a physical exam in the past year. I just need to do a quick exam and check for rectal polyps.”

Drake started laughing in amusement, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “You’ve got to be shittin' me. So let me get this straight. I can’t get a shot until you stick your fingers in my ass to check for ‘polyps?’ Yeah, that’s happening. What a bunch of horse malarky.”

The doctor let out an annoyed huff. “I see you didn’t read over the information forms. They never do,’ he mumbled. “Look, if you want me to wait here all day while you figure out what to do, I can’t -- I have a deadline to finish here. Now if you’ll move along, I have another patient waiting; you’re free to go.”

And Drake knew he was. But that expensive bottle of Glenfiddich was calling his name. He glanced over to that one last beautiful bottle sitting atop a desk on the far side of the room, calling his name. Selling it for even half of what it was worth would afford him enough to move the hell out of the palace and get the freedom from Nik he desired. Rubbing a hand over the scruff on his chin, Drake's timid gaze turned from the bottle to the doctor. He could handle a finger or two in ass for a few seconds if t made him $90,000 richer. 

“Okay. What do I need to do?”

Nikolas quietly typed on the keyboard of his laptop from the opposite side of the curtain. The images from the hidden cameras plastered on the wall where Drake was seated popped into view on his screen. Feeding a link to, and overriding the broadcast feed at the CBC, Nik crouched down low and waited with little beady eyes for the exam to begin. “Perfect ...Okay, Doc, let’s see if you can get a hole in one.”

----------

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[collecting-stories]

Peace - pt. 04 - Rafe Cameron

Summary: The moments leading up to your wedding to Rafe.

A/N: I’m so sad to see this series end honestly, I’ve so loved writing this version of Rafe. Could probably write him like this forever😂 (I should note that I truly hate the Reagan’s but I do admire the love they had for each other and that’s why I reference them.)

One Thing Right Masterlist | Outer Banks Masterlist

△ ▽ △ ▽

Rafe’s first apartment in Boston was a little generic. It was sleek though, modern, like someone had plucked it right out of a magazine and stuck it, piece for piece, into his living space. And it stayed that way for almost three years and then you left your coat hanging in the hall closet. It was banana yellow and looked like it belonged in a Paddington Bear book. But it was just one jacket and when he closed the closet door no one could tell the difference.  

But then a toothbrush popped up, green against his color coordinated grays. A pair of sneakers you wore to the gym sat in his bedroom, a pastel rainbow of colors highlighting the white of everything else. They were small though, little minute changes that he could hide away until slowly, maybe without him even realizing it, you were all over the apartment. A dog bed for Fivel, throw blankets that you somehow smuggled into his place and never took home, by New Years his apartment looked more lived in than it had in three years prior.  

It wasn’t just your things that made their way into Rafe’s apartment though. It was you. Somewhere between a one-night stand in college, a first date, and your second New Years eve together, you had made room for yourself in Rafe’s life. The somewhat generic party boy that had coasted through every other aspect of his life, relationships included, was suddenly thinking more than a week in advance.  

He was thinking about houses, about where you could live together. A place that was yours and his, that was a space you both chose, you both decorated, you both lived in together. He thought about actual schedules, yours and his, but he thought far in advance to. What it would be like to come home from work at night and spend time with you. Watching dumb TV shows and eating take out and trying to cook and buying groceries together. It was all on his mind, all the time.  

He’d taken up showing you houses now, brownstones in Beacon Hill that had enough bedrooms for kids, “I liked the one with the garden.” You said, passing Rafe his phone back.  

That was new, at least in the last year that you were together. Topper had been the first one to say something about it when he’d been up to visit for Rafe’s 27th birthday. Sitting there on the couch watching the game, talking about what bars they were going to hit up.

“I can check...” Rafe patted his pocket for his phone, “babe, do you have my phone?”

“Oh yeah, sorry. Mine died and I plugged it in the bathroom.” You had walked into the room like it was nothing and handed over Rafe’s phone and Topper just sat there in mild shock. There hadn’t been a time in their friendship that Topper could pinpoint Rafe ever letting anyone use his phone. Just looking at the lock screen ran the risk of incrimination.  

“He lets you use his phone?”

“As long as I don’t look at the messages his other girlfriends send him.” You joked, your sentence dissolving into laughter when Rafe tripped you and pulled you down into his lap.  

“I don’t want to sound like a broken record here but...you’re just totally different man.” Topper confessed later once the two of them went out bar hopping. A school day the next morning demanded that you stay in but you waved them off and told them to have fun. Topper had been friends with Rafe since high school and he had seen all the bad sides of him. The excessive drinking, the recreational drug use, “I’ve never even known you to be monogamous.”  

Rafe shrugged. It was probably true but there in the bar, where any other time, regardless of a girlfriend, he would’ve been more than happy to get some attention, he was just drinking, texting you sporadically. “I don’t know. I gave her a key to my place over Christmas.” He admitted, “I think I'm losing my mind.”

“That might not be a bad thing.”

“It definitely isn’t.”

Two months later, in March, when Rafe suggested, for the first time, that you should live together you had assumed he meant in one of your apartments. Yours was smaller than his so you figured it would be ruled out immediately. But you didn’t necessarily love his apartment building and the co-op that owned it could be a little strict for your taste. But Rafe didn’t mention either apartment. Or anything more on the matter until April when he asked what you thought about a brownstone while you were walking Fivel.  

“Kind of big for two people and a dog.” You joked, slowing down in front of one of the brownstones in Beacon Hill. They were beautiful, the epitome of Boston life, a dream you’d definitely let yourself have before.  

“What if we’re not two people and a dog forever?”  

Rafe had a way of asking questions that sent your head spinning with all the giddy hope and optimism you thought you’d packed away when you decided that traditional life and milestones weren’t for you. When you knew for sure that people who got married for 30, 40, 50 years were just flukes, it wasn’t something to aspire to because it was never going to happen to you. The cynicism had been easy for a long time but then, whenever you were with Rafe, you felt like it was melting away.  

He told you to look at brownstones, see if there were any for sale that the two of you thought could fit into your life. You looked on the cheaper side of things while Rafe was more realistic about his finances. And yours, you had told him around the same time as Ian’s wedding that your grandparents had set up a substantial trust for you that deposited to your account monthly. Enough that working was just because you wanted to.  

It was no surprise that it was Rafe who found a house. A beautiful brownstone right in Beacon Hill with a garden entry, nestled back from the street, between two other homes,  the courtyard in the front. It was gutted inside, closer to your proposed budget but it would require enough of an overhaul that you and Rafe would be putting a decent amount into renovations.  

“You said you liked the one with the garden.” And somehow it became the second real argument you had. Silly, because you both loved the place. But you seemed willing to resist, to hold out even though he knew you wanted it.  

You had sent pictures to your mom, saved images on Pinterest boards of all the house inspiration you could find, had bookmarked different tiles and wallpapers and furniture stores. And yet every time he mentioned it you said you weren’t sure.  

“We’re supposed to sign today to buy it.” Rafe complained as you stalled. He was pulling his coat on and his scarf, the temperature drop in Boston was a nightmare, especially for Rafe. He hated the winter, and the fall, and part of the spring.

“I’m just not positive.”

“What’s the matter with it this time?” He asked, a little more than exasperated honestly.  

You sighed, sitting down on the bar stool in Rafe’s kitchen. You knew what was the matter, the same thing that was the problem every time that you thought about the brownstone a little too long. “What if something happens?”  

“What do you mean?”  

“What if something happens between us? What if we start renovating and you hate all the stuff I like or what if we move in and you break up with me-“

“Can I ask why I’m doing all these things?” He asked, walking back over to where you were sitting, turning the seat of your stool so that he could cage you in a little. “What if you hate the stuff I like or you break up with me?”

“That’s ridiculous.” You dismissed.  

“Yeah and it’s ridiculous for you to think that stuff about me.” He replied, “look, I get it. I’ve never taken anything seriously before. All the shit my dad says about me is true but this,” He waved his hand between the two of you, “there’s nothing I want more than this. Okay?”

“Okay,” you nodded, “but I want pink cabinets in the kitchen or no deal.”  

Rafe smiled, shaking his head before. “Whatever you want.”

“That’s dangerous.” You teased, leaning forward in your chair and tilting your head up a little, silently asking him for a kiss which he happily reciprocated. “I love you, I just freak myself out sometimes.”

The brownstone took six months to finish, six months of meetings with a contractor, six months of walking through half finished abstractions and picking out tile and flooring and cabinets and paint. Six months of talking about color schemes and trying to convince Rafe that the pink velvet sofa was moving into the house.  

And somehow, during those six months, it wasn’t Rafe’s modern, spacious, sleek apartment that you co-habituated in but your apartment. Smaller, brighter, more homely. Rafe’s lease ended before yours and he wasn’t sure how you convinced him but he moved out of his apartment, sold furniture he didn’t care about, and moved into yours.  

-

The brownstone wasn’t the only thing that occupied Rafe’s mind during those six months. Between work and renovations Rafe had started spending an unhealthy amount of time looking at rings. There was a significant difference between what he knew you would like (which he had to base solely on what he knew about you because damn it if you never brought up a wedding at all) and what he would’ve liked to give you. He considered asking but he thought that might be in bad taste, who asks someone to help with their own proposal. So he did the next best thing he could think of.  

“This is so exciting.” Nina’s high pitched whisper was hardly a whisper at all, far too invested in this ‘no one could see them talking’ conspiracy. She claimed it was for your benefit, to keep the secret a little longer, but Rafe had a better idea that it was just so she could boast about having helped after the fact. “God, this one is beautiful.”  

“I thought she’d like it, it’s not very traditional and it’s something she’d feel comfortable wearing at work.” Rafe replied. He decided that was an important criteria. You didn’t wear a lot of jewellery solely because you worried about six year old hands grabbing at it or losing it throughout the day.  

“I like it, I think she’d really love it.” Nina replied honestly, “you should just go with your gut, you know what she likes.”

“I just second guess myself.”  

“Well don’t, you guys are…it’s nice, to see her with someone that makes her happy. She used to be so stressed all the time with Ian and he was always such a dick to her.” Nina commented. She let Rafe take his laptop back, the two of them sitting at a table in the Starbucks near your apartment.  

The ring was modest and, for lack of a better word, delicate. It had been the first one he’d seen that he’d felt confident about and hearing Nina confirm that you would love it reassured that anxious feeling in his gut. He didn’t know how to explain it in a way that made sense, that didn’t sound like some cliché sound bite, but this wasn’t something he ever thought about it. He had friends who thought about stuff like that, who made plans or thought further ahead than a week but he had never been one of them. Topper had been right, this wasn’t him. Or, not the version of him that he had been before.  

“You have plans to propose?” Nina asked, sipping her latte and watching Rafe so casually ordering the ring right there in Starbucks like it was a pair of shoes.  

“The house is done in two months so, I was thinking about waiting until then.” He shrugged.  

“You’re gonna ask her to marry you just, in your house?”  

“It’ll be first thing, kinda a ‘here’s our house, marry me’ thing. Why?” He asked. Rafe thought it was a pretty good idea. Take you to the house for one last walk through before you officially moved and ask you to marry right on the rooftop deck that you loved so much.  

“Just wondered,” Nina replied. “You were so worried about the ring, I expected you to be more unsure about everything.”  

“I knew the brownstone was the spot when we toured it with the realtor.” He replied, matter of fact. “Obviously don’t say anything.”  

“I won’t, I promise.”

-

Rafe could’ve asked you about a ring, a wedding, future kids, and you probably still wouldn’t have put two and two together. It wasn’t that you didn’t think about those things because you did. It was like flipping on a TV that was only playing a series of ex machina broadcasts. Even if you weren’t thinking about it immediately it crept in. When Anya had told you about her honeymoon you immediately wondered what your own might be like, if it would ever happen. When a new class of kids started and a name stuck out to you as one you liked you’d start to wonder about your own future children.  

You thought about the future to an overwhelming degree and you always had. But you didn’t think that Rafe did. Or, more accurately, you didn’t want to think about whether or not he did. What if dating was enough? What if the brownstone was enough? Your mom always spooked you with the same advice, “never move in with a guy before you’re engaged or you’ll never get married”.  

You only broached the subject once, laying on the couch after a day of parent-teacher conferences and watching the Bachelorette because it was ridiculous and you needed ridiculous television.  

“You could audition for this show.” You called as Rafe came out of the bedroom, changed out of his work clothes (slacks, button downs, you were truly blessed to see both sides of his wardrobe as often as you did).  

“For…” he looked at the screen as he pulled his Duke University shirt over his head, “for the bachelorette?”

“Yeah, I bet you’d be like, a fan favorite.”  

“I don’t know how you watch this, it’s all manufactured.”  

“It’s kinda nice though, I mean they all get right to the point.” You replied.  

“Saying ���I wanna marry that person’ before they even know each other is dumb. Very rarely does that happen in real life.” Rafe said, walking into the kitchen.  

“Will you make me popcorn? Also, it’s not dumb…you’ve never met someone and been like ‘that’s the one’ right off the bat?” You called.  

Rafe grabbed the popcorn out of the cabinet, Fivel appearing at his feet at the sound of rattling. “Did you feed Five?” He asked, already opening the fridge to grab his food.  

“Only dry food before I walked him.” You called back, “you didn’t answer my question.”  

“Your question is a trap.” He replied.  

You sat up, leaning over the back of the couch so that you could see him in the kitchen. “It is not!”  

Rafe only hummed, ignoring you as you flopped back onto the couch to watch Chris Harrison announce that the guys were flying to Ireland for the next leg of the competition. Rafe looked back over at the TV before putting your popcorn in the microwave. Fivel ate and then headed into the living room, jumping up on the wing chair that you always kept a heating pad and blankets on. Somewhere in all the domesticity of his life Rafe had stopped thinking so much about the differences. He didn’t dwell too much on the kid he’d been in North Carolina and just let himself enjoy doing absolutely nothing with you on a Tuesday night, watch trash TV and talking about all the stuff you had to do in the upcoming weeks.  

He carried the bowl of popcorn into the living room with a beer and a diet coke, depositing everything on the coffee table. He turned the heating pad on for Fivel before sitting on the other end of the couch from you, your socked feet tucking under his thigh. “College,” Rafe said, glancing over at you.

“What?” You sat up a little bit, moving away from him only to move closer.  

“When I saw you in the stairwell at Duke. I was pretty sure.” He replied. Pretty sure was an understatement. If there was one thing that Rafe was positive about it was that he had known then and there, as you stood on the other side of the door in the cold, or maybe before that even, when you first walked into his line of view, that you were it. He would’ve chased that feeling forever if he’d never gotten a second chance at it.  

“I was so nervous that night...I thought like worse case, you were gonna try to take advantage of me,” you pointed out.  

“There goes my credibility.”  

“Well, in hindsight, we did sleep together. But you’re just…I don’t know. Especially in college. I don’t think I’ve ever met a person in my entire life who so embodies the phrase ‘I get what I want’ but you certainly did then.” You replied. He still did now but you didn’t want to give him too much of an ego boost.

“I’d say I can’t argue but you never did call me back.”  

“Yeah well you’ve got me now.” You teased.  

Rafe had told Nina he had it all figured out. In two months he would propose to you, in the house you bought together, and it would be romantic and thoughtful and planned. And all of it went out the window for a Tuesday night in a cramped apartment watching the Bachelorette and eating popcorn.  

“Marry me.”  

“What?” You looked away from the group date that was dissolving into chaos on the screen. You had to shift back a little to look at him because when you’d moved you’d leaned your whole body against his.  

“Marry me.” He repeated, that same confidence that had been seeped in every word that he spoke when he flirted with you in college was there now, as if he was just so incredibly sure of himself. “I was gonna wait another two months to ask but I’d rather not.”  

“Okay, yea, yes.” You nodded. You felt like a whirlwind was going in your mind, all the things you wanted to happen, the things you pretended not to think about, that you spent far too much time on, came rushing forward as you kissed him, unconcerned with the TV or anything other than your boyfriend in that moment.  

Rafe kissed you back, pulling you over his lap, hands on your hips. He was all for a quiet Tuesday but he certainly wouldn’t complain about having this instead. “Bedroom?”  

“Yes sir.” You replied, arms wrapped around his shoulders and smiling against his mouth. Your grip tightened when Rafe stood suddenly, your legs locking around his waist as he carried you into the bedroom.  

You had teased him the first time you toured your future home that he would have to buy a really good couch for the living room so he wouldn’t have to carry you up a flight of stairs. He’d only replied that he would have to put an elevator in.  

-

“You didn’t ask about a ring,” Rafe pointed out, laying in bed with you, hand holding yours over his chest.  

“What do you mean?”  

“People usually propose with a ring.”  

“Oh,” you scrunched your nose up and pressed your forehead against his shoulder, you hadn’t even thought about a ring. Anything that wasn’t solely Rafe had gone out of your head without much effort, your sole focus on him and the fact that he’d asked you to marry him. There was nothing else you could even imagine thinking of in that moment. “I totally forgot.”  

“I was going to propose at the house, when we moved in,” he commented, tightening his grip around your waist as if he could pull you any closer.  

“That would’ve been really nice.”  

“I know.” He had it all planned perfectly, “so I won’t have a ring for another month or so.”  

“You shouldn’t have mentioned it then! I might not’ve even realized it.” You teased.

“Oh, I’m sure you wouldn’t have.” Rafe replied, “you probably would’ve forgotten we were engaged. I could’ve re-proposed.” 

“You should’ve, you could’ve made it more romantic.” 

“What can I say,” he shrugged, “I’m impatient.”

“That’s okay,” you reasoned because honestly it was fine. This was good enough, “you just couldn’t resist me.”  

“Yeah that’s what it was.”  

“Hey!” You laughed, untangling yourself to sit up in bed, “hey, did you have a speech and everything? Was it gonna be like, really sappy?”  

“I did have a speech, yes.” Rafe replied. “It was pretty good too.” And it should’ve been, he had drafts saved on his phone of different possible speeches he could’ve given you.  

“Are you gonna not read it to me now?”  

“It’s on my phone.”  

“Easy fix.” Before he could grab you, you had gotten off the bed, running out to the living room. You made it to the other side of the door before you ducked back in, grabbing Rafe’s shirt off the ground. “Mrs. Murphy is home.”  

“Flash her, she’d love it.” Rafe joked, laughing when you threw up the middle finger at him as you left the room.  

Your window ‘neighbor’ was a retired older lady who liked to sit in her living room and pretend to watch TV. In actuality she had angled her TV just so that she would be able to watch all the windows on the building beside hers, your building, and she’d caught you in some fairly compromising positions since you had started dating Rafe. She was happy to peep and you were pretty sure Rafe purposely walked around the living room naked or next to naked just to give her a show but you most definitely were not.  

“Is it in your notes?” You asked, coming back into the room with Rafe’s phone in your hands, swiping through apps.  

“I’ll get it, give me my phone.” He offered, holding his hand out.  

“I wanna read it.”  

“I’ll read it to you.” Rafe replied.  

“Fine.” You climbed up on the bed, hand pressed against the arched ceiling above your head to keep your balance, Rafe’s shirt riding up. When you got close enough he wrapped a hand around the back of your thigh, pulling and causing you to fall into his lap, knees on either side of him. “I was this close to kneeing you,” you said, holding your thumb and forefinger almost together as indication.  

“But you didn’t.” Rafe took the phone from you, searching his notes to find the speech he’d drafted.  

-

Though you were sure Mrs. Murphy was sad to see you go you were practically bouncing at the prospect of the new house. A house. The word felt so foreign. And maybe because you’d packed up all those silly childhood dreams ages ago when you decided that you would never be the type of person to meet someone that felt so wholly part of you. Nina got the childhood sweetheart life you’d wanted for so long and when you finally cancelled those plans and put your focus on a life that revolved around you and Fivel things like houses felt silly.  

But there it was, something you’d only ever walked passed before. Three stories of space, four bedrooms, an office space, a kitchen that looked fit for the pages of a magazine. Rafe was sorting through books to put on the shelves in the living room space, and you were tackling the kitchen while Fivel napped on the back patio space.  

“We should have an engagement party here.” You called over the music you had turned on. “Honestly we could have the whole wedding here.”  

“I think we might need a little bit more space for a wedding.” Rafe replied, leaving the books in boxes momentarily to find you in the kitchen. You were on the floor, unpacking the pots and pans and loading them into the lower cabinets.  

“I saw this post that this woman and her partner had a small wedding and did a lot of diy stuff and then saved all their money for the honeymoon.” You replied. “If we time it right we could honeymoon in the summer.”  

“That’s fine with me.” Rafe shrugged, “you’ll be planning by yourself though, I’m going to Beijing in May, for the-“

“For that whatever thing your boss is having you do.” You cut him off, leaning back against his legs, “Lucky you. And don’t think for a second that I won’t harass you every day with emails and texts and facetime asking about what venue should we rent, where should we get pictures, what should we eat.”  

“Can’t wait,” Rafe laughed, “we’ll figure something out. Though I do like this small wedding you're talking about.”  

“That’s cause you hate everyone.” You replied.  

Rafe was a party person in the sense that he liked showing off and parties gave him the opportunity but he was not fond of too many people. Polite, friendly even, sure, but he wasn’t rushing to plan too many outings that didn’t immediately benefit him in some way. The only close friends he had were from childhood.  

“Fine then, we’ll have a big wedding.” He shrugged, stepping away from you and causing you to grab the floor before you fell on your back.  

“No,” you groaned, “I don’t like people either.”  

“I’ll only be gone a month; we’ll figure out the wedding details and all that shit.”  

“All that shit.” You repeated, getting up off the ground and walking over to him.  

“What?” He asked, skeptical as you smiled at him, wrapping your arms around his waist and tilting your head back slightly to get him to kiss you.  

“We’re living together.”

“We have been living together.” He pointed out, just barely kissing you, nose brushing yours.  

“Yeah, but this is our house.”  

-

The wedding was small, exactly the way you both wanted. Rafe’s sisters were there by Ward and Rose stayed in North Carolina. Your family came and a few friends, you skipped inviting anyone from work aside from Anya, who came alone. The small church in was in Western Massachusetts, in your hometown, decorated with wild flowers and greens.  

“Topper,” you whispered, waving your soon-to-be husband’s best friend, and best man, over to where you were, peeking out of the pastor’s office. You were almost completely ready, all you needed was your veil and you’d be ready to walk down the aisle. Rafe was already in the chapel, talking with your family as they waited for the pression to start.  

“Hey,” Topper came over, giving you a quick hug. He’d arrived yesterday and you hadn’t gotten the chance to seen him because you were staying at your sister’s. You had made Rafe swear that the two of you were going to spend your pre-wedding night separate. “Cold feet? Want me to stall so you can make a getaway?” He teased.

“No.” You laughed, “will you get Rafe for me though?”  

“Yeah.” He squeezed you in a hug one more time, kissing your forehead before pulling away, “you look beautiful by the way.”

“Thank you.”  

Topper disappeared back into the chapel, walking up the aisle to where Rafe was, whispering in his best friend’s ear that you wanted him. Rafe glanced down the aisle, as if he could see you through the doors. He clapped Topper on the shoulder and headed down the aisle into the vestibule where the pastor’s office was. A few stragglers were chatting as he passed them, coming to the door and knocking.  

You opened the door enough that he could just see you, your robe obscuring the dress you were wearing. “Hi.”

“Hey, you trying to cancel the wedding on me?” He teased.  

“No, god, don’t listen to Topper.” You laughed, “I just wanted to see you. I missed you.”

“I saw you yesterday.”

“Rafe!” You pouted, glaring at him.  

He placed his hand on the back of your neck, leaning in to kiss you, “hey, I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I’ll see you soon.” Rafe promised, kissing you one last time before letting go, heading back into the chapel.  

Everything felt like a blur that fast forwarded to the vows, standing there at the top of the church, pastor in front of you and crowd of family and friends sitting, watching, as Rafe read off the index cards he’d written his vows on. He’d obsessed over them, from the moment you said yes until now, he’d gone over them and over them and back over them. What if he said the wrong thing, what if he sounded stupid or insincere? But you were looking at him like he’d hung the stars, like no one had ever looked at him before.  

He took a deep breath before beginning, “one time at your parents' house you tried to tell me about something Nancy Reagan said to her husband and I know I cut you off then but when we went home afterward, I read up on the President and his wife and I don’t know exactly what you intended to say but in a letter to Nancy, Reagan said ‘I more than love you, I’m not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone I’m waiting for you to return so I can start living again.’ When I saw you across the street, waiting outside the restaurant on our first date that was it for me. I knew in the stairwell of Duke that you were it and when you messaged me the first time after that I knew I was never letting this go…”

You listened to his vows, blinking furiously as you tried not to cry. It was a useless attempt, by the second sentence you could feel the tears, probably soaking through makeup that you’d have to redo before pictures.  

“You never told me you read that,” you laughed, trying your best not to cry, “damn it.”

Rafe smiled, that same smugness he always had when he did something he knew you would undeniably love. You pressed the folded piece of paper to your chest, taking a breath before steadily unfolding it and looking down at your handwriting scrawled in successive paragraphs, all collections of feelings.  

“Okay,” you breathed, looking up at the ceiling in an attempt to stop crying and then down again at the papers...

-

taglist: @maplelattes22 @poguesrforlife  @freckled-and-daydreaming  @chasefreakinstokes @millie-753 @fangirlwithme @alex12948 @katherine097 @tangledinsparkles @carbonated-beverage @mariofgreengables @damonsalvawhore27 @dopedoodes @dolanfivsosxox @belledutchess @poguelifeeee @faded-blue @parkerpetertingle @thebookwormlife @summer-clouds-and-long-days @jellyfishbeansontoast @minigranger @hoewkeye @love-someone-special @tiredfeels @strangerthanfanfiction713 @the-only-nana @tomzfrog @mozz-are-lla @vindictive-hearts @ssprayberrythings @jenahbell @beautyandthebleh @gothackedalready @teenwaywardasgardian @sarahcxmeron @haha-fuck-you-thot @stillbelieve398-5 @rewindlr @queenniccimicci @thedarkqueenofavalon @alytavzla @bqmblebee @linniep @nerdypartytrashpsychic @xxchxrryxx @danielladreaming @obx-saltlife @youngestxhearts @spnobsessedmemes @wowitswondergurl @aoba-josigh @pineappleandcherries @mysterious-adventurer @justawilddreamerchild @rhyetaylor62 @calm-rejects @oh-annaa @aiifandomsunite @x-lulu @ceruleanjj @wicked-laugh @obxwriterfan @allie-mcginn @literarycharleton @khiaraaa-in-spacee @crushe-s @teamnick @daydreamlilys @collectiveuniverses @activist-af @mdgrdians @buckys-sunflower @vindictive-hearts @copper-boom @talksoprettyjjx @5am-cigarette @smiithys @dontjinx-it @outerbanksbro @heavenlymama @rudy-pankow-needs-an-oscar @babymatilda @raekenliar @lemur46 @under-a-canyon-moon @calums-betch @dpaccione @bbeauttyybbx @teenwolfobx @iccyyyybitch @popcrone818 

[emy-loves-you]

Wrong Numbers and Useless Gays Chapter 9

Merry Christmas!

Chapter 8 | Masterlist | Chapter 10

Warnings: Crying, Virgil getting teased for basically being a sugar daddy, Logan attempting to deny his ever-growing chocolate addiction

P- (10:00 AM) Happy First Day of Christmas!

R- (10:01 AM) On the First Day of Christmas my true love gave to me

R- (10:01 AM) A Partridge in a Pear Tree

V- (10:02 AM) Okay first of all the 12 days of Christmas are December 25th to January 5th. The partridge is supposed to represent Jesus, whose birthday marks the 1st day.

V- (10:02 AM) Second of all, why isn’t Logan pointing out that Christmas is in 24 days, like he did with me for Halloween?

L- (10:03 AM) No comment.

R- (10:03 AM) Didn’t strike you for the religious type, storm cloud. And Logan won’t say anything because he gets a homemade chocolate Christmas calendar.

V- (10:04 AM) I had a very religious English teacher. And seriously, Lo? I gave you chocolate weekly and you STILL reprimanded my “Days of Halloween” until the chocolate bouquet. How much chocolate are they giving you?

L- (10:04 AM) No. Comment.

P- (10:05 AM) [*Photo attachment*]

[The photo is of a giant wooden calendar leading up to December 25th. It’s painted white with red doors covering the days. It’s obviously been used for many years. The 1st day is open, and there is a gallon-sized container of truffles next to the calendar. The container is half-empty]

V- (10:06 AM) L, please tell me you didn’t just eat half that container of truffles in 5 minutes.

L- (10:06 AM) NO. COMMENT.

R- (10:06 AM) He did it in 3.

L- (10:06 AM) TRAITOR!

V- (10:07 AM) IF YOU’RE THAT ADDICTED TO CHOCOLATE WHY WERE YOU MAD ABOUT THE BOUQUETS?!?!

L- (10:07 AM) BECAUSE I’M PRETTY SURE YOU SPENT $150 ON THEM!

V- (10:07 AM) IT WAS $118!

P- (10:08 AM) Kiddo, you don’t have to spend that much money on us!

V- (10:08 AM) I know, but it makes me really happy to spoil you guys!

V- (10:08 AM) Speaking of which, what do you guys want for Christmas?

R- (10:09 AM) Give us a moment

R- (10:09 AM) Last time you asked this I jokingly said “Katana” and you actually BOUGHT ONE

R- (10:09 AM) Now we actually have to think about what we want.

Virgil snorted, pocketing his phone. He didn’t have anything planned for today, so he went about sketching. He decided to do some elaborate snowflakes, each with their own unique design. He felt his phone go off several times in a row, so he quickly picked it up and scrolled through Princey’s rant.

R- (10:15 AM) We have made our decisions

R- (10:15 AM) Patton would like one of your more elaborate sketches. Something that makes you smile. If you need to buy him something, he would greatly appreciate some new cooking supplies or some stuffed animals.

R- (10:15 AM) Logan would like a new telescope. His original one broke a few days ago and he hasn’t found the time to get a new one. Some chocolate would also be appreciated.

R- (10:15 AM) And I would like a new set of headphones and anything Disney related.

R- (10:16 AM) But if you are going to buy anything for us, please let us return the favor. I understand your desire to not meet, but the thought of you giving us gifts with nothing in return is pure torture.

Virgil bit his lip, a habit he’d quickly developed after he met these guys. He’s already known them for over 6 months, and they’ve shown no signs of recognizing him or trying to use him. In fact, they’ve done the exact opposite. They respect his want to remain faceless; and while they do like the gifts that he gives them, they discourage him from spending more than he’s comfortable with (what they don’t realize is that he’d try and buy them the world if they asked for it). Virgil sighed (another habit that he's started partaking in more and more) and sent a quick response.

V- (10:17 AM) If I send you my address, do you promise to not try and come over while I’m home?

R- (10:17 AM) We swear on our honor that we will only visit when you are not home, and even then it will be to deliver gifts.

Before Virgil could second-guess himself, he already had his address in the group chat.

P- (10:18 AM) I didn’t realize you lived so close to us, Kiddo!

L- (10:18 AM) Indeed. I have also yet to meet anyone in this city named Virgil.

V- (10:19 AM) Yeah, I don’t really get out much and even then I don’t share my name.

R- (10:19 AM) Well, now that we have a place to send gifts, here comes the question: what would you like for Christmas, JDelightful?

V- (10:21 AM) I mean, new art supplies would be nice. If it helps, I love Nightmare Before Christmas and my favorite colors are black and purple

R- (10:21 AM) Alright, Storm Cloud. We’ll let you know when we’re ready to deliver your gifts!

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

(December 18th)

“Remus, Darling, what is that monstrosity in your hands?”

Virgil looked up from his map. They were currently in Aventura Mall, the largest shopping mall in Florida. They liked to come here every year for Christmas shopping, and they had a small set of stores that they went to each time. But Virgil had a longer list this year, so he needed a map to tell him where the other stores were. In front of him stood Janus and Remus. Remus appeared to be holding a pile of condiments. “It’s a hotdog,” he said. He took a bite out of the top, clearly missing the hotdog. Virgil noticed that the inside of the condiment pile was white, and he couldn’t tell if it was mayonnaise, marshmallow fluff, sour cream, or whipped cream. Knowing Remus, it could be any of them, or even a combination of the four. Virgil suddenly wasn’t curious anymore, or hungry.

“Come on, the first store’s just up ahead.” They made their way to the first store, which had one of Virgil’s gifts for Patton.

“Virgil, why are we stopping here? It’s not like we have a very specific set of stores we visit every year.”

Virgil’s eyes were suddenly glued to the sale in front of him, his cheeks bright red. “I just have a few more items on my list this year, that’s all.”

“Oh? May we see?” Virgil nodded, covering the section for Janus and Remus’ gifts before showing them his list.

They stared at the list for a while before Remus burst into giggles. “You really are their Sugar Daddy, aren’t ya?”

Virgil’s face grew even redder, if possible. He quickly turned back to the sale, grabbing what he wanted before making a beeline to the next aisle. “Shut up, Remus. I just like buying stuff for them, that’s all.”

“Right, and that’s definitely not the literal definition of a Sugar Daddy.” Janus replied, picking up one of the items in fake interest. Virgil was going to respond, he really was, but he got a text and he’d rather talk to his crushes than try and explain himself to these knuckleheads.

P- (2:36 PM) Hey, Kiddo! Are you home right now?

V- (2:37 PM) No, I’m at the mall right now. Probably won’t be home until around 8.

P- (2:37 PM) Alright, just wondering! Have a nice time!

Virgil fondly rolled his eyes, going back to the items on his list. The list wasn’t long enough for 5 hours worth of shopping, but Janus will probably want him to come over after their trip. Speaking of Janus, Virgil tuned out the giggling idiots behind him. He’d try and dissuade them from making “Sugar Daddy” comments later; right now, he needed to compare these prices.

Just as Virgil expected, they finished shopping at around 5 and Janus insisted that Virgil stay over for a while. Virgil tried to be as dramatic as possible, summoning his inner Princey as he ‘begrudgingly’ agreed to come over. They hung out for a few more hours, making snarky comments and discussing Virgil’s new “Sugar Daddy” title. Time flew by and before Virgil knew it, he was getting a text from Patton.

P- (7:34 PM) Hey, Kiddo! I just dropped off a box on your back porch. It has wrapped presents from the three of us and my homemade chicken n’ dumplings! I hope you enjoy them (we’re eating them on Christmas Eve) and don’t open your presents until Christmas morning! Hope you like them!

V- (7:35 PM) I’m sure I will, Patton. Thank you

P- (7:35 PM) No problem, Kiddo!

Virgil asked Janus to give him a ride home and sure enough, a large box stood on his back porch. Inside were three wrapped gifts and a closed Tupperware container. Virgil quickly brought the box inside, putting the container in the fridge and the presents under the tree. The three presents were the same size, with red, blue or silver wrapping paper. It was quite obvious who each gift was from, and they were probably all in the same standard boxes. Virgil smiled, going to wrap presents for his crushes.

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

(December 25th)

Virgil woke up to his alarm going off at 10 AM. Which was weird, since he almost always woke up before his alarm went off. His mind went back to last night, with the heavenly taste of chicken n’ dumplings and enough Christmas puns to send Virgil back into a giggle-fest. He slowly got up, meandering his way out to the living room. He quickly sent a text to the group chat.

V- (10:02 AM) Merry Christmas, guys

P- (10:02 AM) MERRY CHRISTMAS, KIDDO!

R- (10:02 AM) MERRY CHRISTMAS, STORM CLOUD!

L- (10:03 AM) Merry Christmas, Virgil.

R- (10:03 AM) Now that you’re up, we can open our presents!

V- (10:03 AM) How long have you guys been up?

L- (10:04 AM) They both woke up at 6 AM. I convinced them to wait for you to wake naturally before opening presents, since most of these gifts were from you.

V- (10:04 AM) Alright, then. Let’s get to opening these gifts.

Virgil decided to wait until the others opened their gifts before opening his. He already knew what he got them, but he had no idea what they got from each other.

R- (10:10 AM) [*Photo Attachment*]

[The photo is of a wrapping paper massacre. In the center of the massacre are a set of gifts. The first one is a red pillow with the name ROMAN embroidered in gold letters, probably from Patton. The next gift is a book about the history of musicals, most likely from Logan. Virgil had gotten him a sleek set of headphones and a stack of Disney t-shirts. The headphones were red with gold stars on the ears and the word PRINCEY written in silver.]

P- (10:11 AM) [*Photo Attachment*]

[The photo is also of a wrapping paper massacre with several presents. There were two Winnie the Pooh posters from Roman and a new cookbook from Logan. From Virgil, there was a set of stainless steel cookware, a light blue stuffed dog, and 4 of Virgil's snowflake sketches. Each snowflake had small details that pertained to a specific person, such as crowns, hearts, stars, and storm clouds.]

L- (10:12 AM) [*Photo Attachment*]

[The photo has all of the wrapping paper neatly set off to the side. There was a navy blue pillow with Logan's name embroidered in silver from Patton. There were several posters of different galaxies from Roman. Virgil had gotten him a large metal telescope and several boxes of chocolate. The telescope was navy blue with silver accents.]

P- (10:12 AM) I LOVE THESE! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!

R- (10:12 AM) THESE ARE FANTASTIC! YOU ALL HAVE MY DEEPEST GRATITUDE.

L- (10:13 AM) I also appreciate the gifts, but VIRGIL HOW MUCH DID YOU SPEND?

V- (10:13 AM) No comment ;)

P- (10:14 AM) Did you open your presents, Kiddo?

Virgil turned back to the three boxes, an anxious pit in his stomach. What did they get him? He carefully unwrapped each present. Like he suspected, each present was a standard cardboard box that was taped shut. He turned to Logan's present first. The box contained a new set of art supplies and a sketch pad with a dark purple cover. The first page had a note that read:

"I sincerely enjoy your drawings. The one of the night skies was particularly pleasing. I look forward to seeing more of your art in the future. - Logan"

Virgil blushed at the compliment, turning to Roman's gift. Inside were several Nightmare Before Christmas posters and plushies, with a note explaining that he had bought the posters back in August because "they reminded me of you, storm cloud."

Blushing even more, Virgil turned to Patton's present. When he first opened the box, it looked like a pile of fabric. When he picked it up, however, he was shocked. It was a black hoodie with hand-sewn purple patches. The name “Virgil” was embroidered into one of the patches. Virgil immediately put it on. It was loose and slightly baggy, different from the tight black jacket that he wore as Anxiety. He loved it. Virgil went to text a response when he saw something sticking out of the hoodie pocket. He grabbed the note and felt tears forming in his eyes. It was actually a card, the front saying UR FAM. The inside had a giant heart with the letters ILY. Virgil knew that it was just a pun on family, that this wasn’t actually a confession of love, but a tiny part of him hoped that this meant what he thought it meant.

But he would never tell them that. No, the last thing he wanted was to ruin their friendship. He shakily grabbed his phone and blindly pressed send photo, wanting to send a picture of the gifts like they did. As he angled the camera to show off all of the gifts, he started muttering to himself. “God, these are perfect. It’s all perfect. Goddammit, Virgil, stop crying.” He quickly took the photo and hit send, still misty-eyed from the gifts. Sure, he had gotten gifts from Janus and Remus, but they had never sent such personal gifts, much less heartfelt notes! He quickly wiped his eyes when he felt his phone buzz. He went to check the messages when he felt his heart stop. “Oh Shit.”

V- (10:19 AM) [*Video Sent*]

P- (10:20 AM) Virgil, sweety, why are you crying?

L- (10:20 AM) I believe that Virgil is feeling “emotional.”

R- (10:21 AM) That’s alright, Storm Cloud. There’s nothing wrong with crying when you’re happy! You are happy, right?

Virgil had sent a video. Where he bawled his eyes out and muttered nonsense to the camera. God, Virgil had never wanted to stop existing more than he did now.

V- (10:21 AM) I’m happy, Princey. Embarrassed, but definitely happy.

R- (10:22 AM) No need to feel embarrassed, my Raven. After all, you’ve given us so much over the past few months. Knowing that our gifts made you THAT happy is… quite nice. We care about you, Virgil. It’s nice to be able to show you in ways beyond words.

V- (10:23 AM) Thanks, guys. It means a lot to me.

L- (10:23 AM) It was no issue, Virgil. Now, weren’t you planning on going to your friend’s house today?

V- (10:24 AM) Yeah, I should be going soon. Thanks guys, and Merry Christmas

L- (10:24 AM) Merry Christmas, Virgil.

P- (10:24 AM) Merry Christmas, Kiddo!

R- (10:24 AM) Merry Christmas, Storm Cloud!

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

Taglist: @bisexualdisaster106 @self-taught-mess @itawalrus @arodynamic-enby @sanderssides-angst

[lightningbugqueensfics]

A Magical Time of Year

Happy Holidays from we the Supernatural fandom! I present to you a fluffy fic of family, gift exchanges, coming out, and copious amounts of Destiel. Minor angst, because I can't resist, but a happy ending all around.

Destiel, No Archive Warnings Apply, and there are spoilers from the finale.

Thanks so much for the help @themoosegoes-deanicandothis!

Link

“Dean, we have to go,” Cas called out, “Sam just texted me that Claire got here, and we still need to get presents for Jody and Charlie!”

“Alright, let’s just do one last check that we got everything,” Dean said back loudly over the din of the mall. It was December 24, 2020, Christmas Eve, and the pair were finishing up their present shopping.

“Dean Winchester, I have gone over that list five times, we have everything!”

“Humor me?”

“Fine,” Cas grumbled, faking annoyance at his boyfriends antics. Dean really did love Christmas, and was actually enjoying himself in this enormous place. Everything was magical during the Christmas season. There were lights everywhere, everyone seemed happier, and snow made everything unreal. Especially this year, when nothing even resembling an apocalypse was occurring, December was Dean’s favorite month. Even the shopping required by it.

“New hat for Bobby, the blanket with the green creature on it for Charlie,”

“Baby Yoda, Cas!” Dean interrupted, “I showed you the first episode, you know who it is!” Cas smiled to himself. Dean was sure he did that just for his boyfriend’s reaction.

“A silver knife set for Jody,” he continued, “And nunchucks for Claire,” Dean grinned at the last one. It had been his idea, and after extensive convincing, Cas had finally given in and let him buy them. The pros of finally dating.

“We already have the hair products and gun cleaning set at home for Sam, along with Eileen’s new gun, books for Kaia, a new bear for Jack, a pasta maker and hair pins for Donna,” Dean had been particularly proud of Donna’s present. The hair pins could be removed and turned into silver daggers, perfect for hunting, “and that book on mythology and medicine for Alex. And for you a-”

“No, remember Cas, not supposed to tell me,”

“Right. Yours is a secret, but just from you. Are we missing anything, Dean?” he finished sarcastically.

“Nope, we got it all.”

“Good, then let’s get out of here,” Cas grabbed Dean’s elbow as forcefully as an angel could without hurting him, and steered him towards the door.

“Cas, I was thinking maybe we could go grab lunch in the food court before we go?” Dean ventured.

“Dean, I love you very much,” Dean flushed and ducked his head, “but I would rather not spend another second in this godforsaken hellhole.”

Dean conceded, knowing fully well about Castiel’s fear of crowds. It had taken some kissing and pleading to even get him to come today. The hunter nodded his head and threaded his fingers through the angel’s, joining him on their way out.

They left without another word. Dean stayed silent until they got in the car, and let go of Castiel’s hand. He wasn’t quite pouting, per se, but he was very hungry! Halfway home, Cas turned to him.

“We can go get burgers if you’d like…?” A smile broke out on the hunter's face as he jerked the car around. Burgers at the local diner had become the pair’s staple date, so much so that the owner knew then by name.

As they sped off to get their grub, the smile widened on Dean’s face. He reached out and grabbed Castiel’s hand in his own, happy to be exactly where he was.

The enormous metal door clanged open, prompting excited outbursts from Charlie and Donna. The two had taken a surprising liking to each other in the week they had spent together in the bunker, and at this point it was strange to see one without the other.

“Boys!” Donna called out, “Get down here, and tell Jody that the Southern Ocean is totally a thing!”

“The what?” Dean asked jovially. Everything was brighter in the bunker with their family around, the air felt like it was doused in joy.

“The southern ocean,” Jody said, “Donna claims that there’s an ocean around Antarctica called the Southern Ocean, but I know for certain that it didn’t exist when I was in school,” Jody, Donna, Charlie, and Bobby were seated around the war room table. Despite their supposed argument, Donna’s feet were settled comfortably in Jody’s lap, and they were smiling at each other lovingly. Dean would never admit it, but they were a really cute couple.

“I’ve never heard of it,” he supplied as he walked down the stairs, Cas close behind. It earned a “Ha!” from Jody, who pointed at Donna victoriously.

“Jodyo, that doesn’t mean anything! Deano here barely got an education--no offense, sunshine--we should ask a more reliable source!”

“Hey!” Dean called out. He may not have gone to college, but he still went to school. He went unanswered.

“I’ve never heard of it either, and I’ve been around longer than anyone here,” Bobby put in.

“And yet you thought Australia was part of Oceania yesterday,” Charlie said with a cheeky grin. Dean had no clue where all these geography based arguments had come from, but he would be the first to admit they were hilarious.

“Listen here, ya idjit, this ‘Oceania’ didn’t even exist when I was young. Don’t be ageist,”

Charlie scoffed and tried to snark back, but Jody interrupted her.

“Alright, fine,” the sheriff said, “Cas, you’re an angel. Is the Southern Ocean a thing?”

“Yes,”

“See!” Donna exclaimed.

“But,” he continued, “It was only established in the year 2000. So I think you’re both right. Jody didn’t learn about it in school, but it is real,” The women stared at each other, not quite knowing how to react.

“Huh,” Jody said eventually, “Cool, I guess,”

Charlie rose and sidled up beside Cas.

“I tried to tell them that,” she whispered, “Even looked it up on my tablet. But nooooo, they only trust the angel,” she said it all with a smile on her lips, despite the tone of her voice.

After Jack restored everyone and released all his power back into the world, the boys found out he had done them one last favor. Not only had he brought back the Charlie from apocalypse world, he also revived their Charlie, the one killed by Styne. It was awkward at first, but the two actually made fast friends. Apocalypse Charlie had decided to spend this Christmas alone with Stevie, like Patience had with her dad, so it was just the original Charlie hanging with them this year.

“Alright,” Dean said, “As weird and nerdy as this conversation has been, Cas and I have some presents to wrap,” he held up the bags in his hands to prove his point.

“Have fun, boys,” Donna waved them away, and the two headed towards their room.

They stopped in the kitchen along the way, greeting Sam and Eileen who were working on the stuffing, which Dean had assigned to them. He had taken charge of all the cooking this year, working all of their guests to get ready for the feast he had planned. Dean snagged a beer for himself and Cas from the fridge and signed a quick Have fun, Moose Sam’s way before heading out. With Eileen back, the residents of the bunker had all gotten much better at sign language, and Dean was very proud of how far he’d come.

They passed Claire and Kaia watching Home Alone in the Fortress of Deanitude. They stopped by to give them a quick greeting and hugs, but left them to their movie. Claire had said she wanted to educate her girlfriend on the culture she’d missed, but Dean was sure it was just an excuse to cuddle with her. Lord knows he’d done the exact same with Cas.

Jack was wrapping presents in his room, and Dean had to remind him again to keep the door closed while he did.

“But why, Dean?”

“I told you, they’re supposed to be a surprise. That’s why we wrap them, so it kinda defeats the purpose if someone sees what it is before it’s wrapped.”

“Why is it a surprise?”

“Because that’s part of the Christmas spirit. Random things that someone might not even want wrapped in colorful paper stuffed under a dying tree.”

“Okay!” he said with a smile.

Finally, Cas and Dean made it to their room. They had decided on Cas moving into Dean’s room when they got together, considering Castiel spent barely any time in his and Dean’s mattress was better.

They wrapped in silence for a while, before Dean spoke hesitantly.

“I think I’m going to tell them, tomorrow,”

“Tell who what?” Cas turned to him and put down the blanket for Charlie. Dean’s tone was worrying.

“Tell everyone here about us, that we’re dating.”

“Do you want to?”

“Yes.”

“Then why haven’t you told them yet?”

“I’m scared,” Dean and Cas had made a rule the day after they got together. They would be completely honest with each other. Not more lies, tricks, or deception. They were so bad at communication that they pined after each other for twelve years before getting together, and Dean was determined to never let anything like that happen again. Hence the honesty.

“Why?” Cas moved forward, pulling Dean’s hand into his own, “You don’t think they think two men being together is wrong, do you?”

“Nah, of course not. There are more gay couples in our family than straight ones. I’m scared that they won’t want me to be with you because you’re an angel. We’re hunters, babe! Hell, I tried to kill you when I first met you. I know they love you, but what if they don’t think you should be with a human like me?”

“Dean, tell me. What was Sam’s reaction when we told him?” When Dean finally told Sam, a week after Jack brought Cas back and Dean kissed him for the first time, the man’s reaction had essentially been, “finally, you idiots!” It was so much better than Dean’s insecurity had told him that he nearly started crying. Nearly.

“He said we were idiots and was proud of us for finally getting together,” he grumbled.

“And Eileen?”

“She hugged us and gave me a link to something called ‘Archive of Our Own’ that had creepy stuff about us written on it.”

“Jack?”

“He asked if that meant we were really both his dads now,” Dean had actually started crying that time.

“So do you really think the rest of them won’t approve?”

“I know, I know. It’s stupid, but there’s this voice in the back of my head just telling me that they’ll leave me, eventually.”

“It’s not stupid, love, it makes sense. Dean, know that I will never leave you again. And nobody out there will. We love you, we’re your family. Dean Winchester, I promise you that not a single person in this bunker will ever leave you out of choice,”

“Thank you,” the hunter whispered, then leaned forward to kiss his angel softly. Minutes later, after they finally broke apart, Dean made a decision.

“I’m going to tell them. Tomorrow, when we open presents. I love you Cas, and I need people to know that.”

“I’m proud of you, my love,” Cas smiled kindly, cupping Dean’s chin, “Now, let’s finish wrapping these presents, then maybe we can join the girls and watch that movie. I find Marv very funny,” Dean pulled him in for another kiss, then went back to Claire’s nunchucks. He wrapped them in copious amounts of tissue paper, shaping it like a wrapped shirt. Pranks on Claire were his favorites, and tricking her into thinking a weapon was some kind of disappointing Christmas sweater was going to be fun .

The next morning, Jack bounded into their room at six o’ clock sharp. Dean had made the mistake of telling the kid that he couldn’t wake them before six, assuming he would sleep in like every other morning and get them at nine, maybe. Apparently not.

Jack flopped on the bed on Cas’s side that was regularly empty. Not like Dean would ever admit it, but the both of them loved cuddling. It was a rare occasion that Dean woke up without Castiel’s back pressed comfortably to his chest.

Gone were the days when Dean snatched a gun from beneath his pillow if he was startled from sleep. Cas could do that to a man. Today he just grunted tiredly.

“Dean! Cas!” Jack whispered excitedly, “It’s Christmas! Like, actual Christmas, not the one we had with Ms. Butters!”

“Yeah, kid,” Dean grumbled, lifting his head to look over Castiel’s shoulder, “It is. But the sun also hasn’t risen yet, so could you give half an hour?”

“Okay!” Jack said, not fazed, “I’ll go get Jody and Donna!” Dean nodded, brain still addled from sleep. A thought occurred to him.

“Wait, Jack,” he called out, “Be quiet, and only wake up Donna!” Dean had seen Jody in the morning, it wasn’t a good idea to wake her against her will.

Jack nodded, still excited, and rushed out of the room. Dean shoved his face back into Castiel’s neck, breathing in the comforting scent of honey and ozone. He actually wasn’t sure how their guests hadn’t noticed them sleeping together, but they hadn’t mentioned it, so he guessed they just never felt the need to venture to this part of the bunker so late at night.

Exactly thirty minutes later, after Castiel had woken and the two had made no effort to leave their cozy bed, Jack reappeared in their doorway.

“Ready?” he asked, smiling as bright as ever.

“Sure, Jack,” Cas said, very excited for his first Christmas as well, “why don’t you get everyone together in the war room and we’ll meet you out there.”

“Okay!” he said before rushing off again. Dean didn’t know how he had so much energy so early in the morning.

“You ready for this?” Cas asked, giving his boyfriend a peck on the cheek and standing up.

“Yeah,” Dean said, “I actually think I am.”

“Then let’s go,” Cas said determinedly before grabbing Dean’s hand and pulling him up beside him. They headed out the door side by side, clad in scooby doo and bumble bee pajama pants with old band t-shirts on top.

The war room held what Dean thought his heaven must really look like. Sam and Eileen were curled up in one of their brand new armchairs Dean had chosen to sit by the tree, signing at each other with lightning speed. Jody was on the ground with her legs stretched out, Donna’s head in her lap and a cup of coffee in her hands. Claire, Kaia, Alex, and Jack all sat as close to the presents as possible, and Dean didn’t miss Jack trying to peek into a bag with his name on it that Dean had put there last night. It seemed like the girls were trying to explain some of their favorite Christmas traditions to him, but the nephilim just looked lost.

Bobby was seated in the other armchair, and Charlie leaned against its leg. Their family was all here, and it was a beautiful sight.

When Donna caught sight of the pair, a big smile split her face.

“Deano, Angel Boy!” she called out, “Don’t be shy! Come on over here, there’s plenty of room. Maybe Jody’ll even let you put your head in her lap too!” From the look on Jody’s face, Dean didn’t think that was going to happen.

Cas headed in in front of him, and settled himself down right beside Donna. Dean joined Charlie leaning against Bobby’s chair.

“Dean,” Jody grumbled, “that boy of yours woke me up at the asscrack of dawn saying that you told him it was okay.”

“I told him to wake Donna up,” Dean gave a meaningful look at Jack, “because I know she’s an early riser. I specifically told him not to wake you, so I’m wondering why exactly he did?” Dean, Cas, and Jody turned to Jack while he heard something that sounded suspiciously like “Oooooh, someone’s in trouble,” from Claire. Dean shot a glare her way before turning back to Jack.

“I’m sorry, Dean,” he explained, “I was super excited and I really only meant to wake up Donna but I think we talked too loud and woke up Jody too. I’m sorry,” and there were the puppy eyes. Damn kid had learned them from Sam, and who was Dean to resist.

“Alright, Jack, I’m not mad at you,” he gave in, “Just remember to never wake Jody up again. Capeesh?”

“Yes, I capeesh,” Jack nodded, repeating a phrase Cas had obviously taught him. Jody smiled at him kindly, letting him know that she wasn’t still angry at him. No matter how grumpy Jody could be in the morning, she was one of the kindest people Dean knew.

“Not that this hasn’t all been just touching,” Eileen said and signed, “But could we open presents now? I got up this early for a reason, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, alright,” Dean said, “Go ahead and start handing them out, kid.”

Jack scrambled to grab the first present he could get his hands on, and thus the present exchanging began. Some families did it one at a time, taking a moment for each present. Not the Winchesters and company. They ripped into their gifts at lightning speed, only taking the time to fawn over the present and thank the gifter profusely before moving on.

Kaia loved the books from the brothers and Cas, and squealed when she saw the warding necklace Claire made her, kissing her girlfriend cheerfully. At the same time Donna was thanking Alex for her “#1 Sheriff” mug while Jody protested that she, in fact, was the best sheriff. Their exchange was interrupted by a shriek of “ Nunchucks!!! ” from Claire, which caused Jody to glare at Dean for ten minutes straight. Charlie leapt up and hugged Dean and Bobby when she found a Baby Yoda blanket and working futuristic gun side by side. Bobby loved his new hat as much as Sam loved the beanie Jack got him, and Jody gave Donna a big kiss for her new gun. Alex loved her mythology and medicine book, and Eileen actually got two guns due to miscommunication. She couldn’t have been happier. Cas gave Kaia and Claire an enormous hug to thank them for a new tie, this one stitched with wings and halos. Towards the end, Dean gave Cas a bumblebee beanie and Cas gave Dean socks with pie on them. Dean had to hold himself back from kissing the man on the spot.

Finally, once the present exchange had died down, and everyone was left admiring their new possession, Dean had no more reason to put it off. He had shifted over to sit beside Cas while they all opened their gifts, so he turned to Cas, whispered in his ear what he was going to do, then took a deep breath.

He started to stand up, felt awkward, then sat back down. He cleared his throat, scratched the back of his neck, and couldn’t for the life of him start talking.

“Spit it out, Dean,” Bobby grumbled.

“Heh?” he asked.

“You’ve been shifting around for five minutes like you’ve either gotta pee or you need to say something. I’m betting on the latter, so don’t keep me waiting.”

“Oh, um,” Dean started, his stomach in knots, “Well I do actually have something I need to tell you. All of you. Except for Sam, Eileen, and Jack. They already know, see… And now I need to tell the rest of you because it’s very important but know that I think about it I’d rather not--”

“Dean,” Jody said gently, “You can tell us anything. I promise.”

“Ok, well, um… ok. So, you remember the whole Chuck infinity snap everyone dies thing?”

“Vividly,” Donna said.

“Well we lost Cas right then too. Not for the same reason, that’s a story for another day. Anyway, we lost him, It was…” he started to get choked up. Head in the game, Winchester , he thought, “It was horrible but Jack brought him back and after that the two of us kinda started… dating? Like, we’re together now,” he finished with a grimace, disappointed with his… well, talking skills. Cas grabbed his hand comfortingly, and smiled at him with eyes that said I’m proud of you .

“Uh, Dean,” Claire said, breaking the silence, “We know.”

“Huh?”

“Honey,” Donna cut in, “You two aren’t exactly subtle. To be honest, I thought you two lovebirds were together from the moment I saw you together, and Jody had to convince me you weren’t. Recently though, it’s kinda obvious, sweetheart. You’re both so much happier. You still do the staring thing, but it’s less intense. Castiel’s ASL name for you is literally ‘freckles.’ And you really think we didn’t notice you sleeping in the same room? We thought you knew that we knew.”

“You… knew?” Dean asked, shocked. Donna nodded, “And you’re like, okay with it and stuff?”

“Dean, why wouldn’t we be. I’m dating Jody, Claire’s dating Kaia, why the hell do you think we wouldn’t approve?”

“No, no, not that. It’s just, Cas is an angel. Literally and figuratively. I thought you might not like that we’re not the same… species?” By now Cas’ arm was wrapped around Dean, and he had slouched into his side.

“Well, you were obviously wrong, weren't cha? None of us could ever think Cas is a monster, and you two obviously belong together,” Donna said kindly.

“I'm proud of you, boy,” Bobby added, making Dean duck his head and grin.

“Thanks Donna, Bobby,” he said, “I’m sorry I doubted you. And were we really that obvious?”

“Yes, Dean,” Cas said in his gravelly voice, “I’m fairly certain we were. I thought they knew already at first, but as you are more well versed in human interaction, I trusted your judgement over my own,” at this, Claire cracked up, quickly joined by Alex and Sam.

“Not that this hasn’t been the most awkward conversation ever--except a certain dinner--” Dean and Sam shuddered at the memory, “but I would really appreciate some breakfast. And I was promised pie?” Claire said with a smile, cutting the tension in the room with ease.

Hours later, after breakfast and pie had been eaten, and Jody had already taken away Claire’s nunchucks until further notice, Dean and Cas were left alone in the war room.

“That went a very different route than I expected,” he said quietly, wrapping his arms around the angel’s waist and leading him towards their room.

“That seems to happen often in our lives, Dean,” Cas replied.

“Is it a good thing?”

“Right now, I think it is.”

Dean stopped Castiel in the doorway of the hall, and looked up at the plant hanging above their heads.

“Mistletoe,” he said, then drew his angel in for a kiss.

Christmas truly was a magical time of year.

[sylvanfreckles]

Day One: Candlelight

Welcome to the Twelve Days of Fictmas! Every day until Christmas Eve we’ll have a new story in a different fandom, just to celebrate being together at the end of a very long year.

Fandom: Detroit: Become Human

Summary: It had started as Connor’s first Christmas, but things still aren’t perfect back at the precinct and someone has set out to ruin the experience for him. Ben steps in to the rescue...after all, it’s also Connor’s first Hanukkah. 

(This is in the same universe as my other story “Critical Components��, and connects to a long story I’ve been working on for the new year)

(First attempt at writing something for Hanukkah. I grew up with just Christmas so I don’t know much about other traditions, but I would love to learn, so please feel free to comment on or correct anything I could have done better.)

* * *

The ambiance of Jimmy's Bar settled around Hank like an old, familiar coat. He'd been avoiding this place since the Revolution, seeking out android-friendly establishments instead. Not that Connor or the other androids ever came out drinking with him, but he wanted to show his support any way he could. But then he'd found out Jimmy had peeled that damn “No Androids” sign off his door three days ago (probably missing the regular business from the precinct) so Hank decided to check the place out.

It was pretty much the same as always, but Hank caught sight of a blue LED at one of the booths, as well as a few non-human drinks on the menu. It wasn't much but, hell, after the last month and a half of shit it was something.

He nursed his single beer (still had to drive home...and Connor would be right up his ass if he got behind the wheel intoxicated) and idly watched Jimmy's movements around the bar. He knew Jimmy had been pressured by the property owner to put that damn sticker on the door, so maybe it wasn't so surprising he'd torn it off the first chance he got. Android equality wasn't quite a law just yet but it seemed like only a matter of time, and there were plenty of businesses ready and willing to let old prejudices go.

Hank's phone chirruped with an incoming text and he let out a groan before tugging his phone out of his pocket. The precinct Christmas party was tonight, and Hank just wasn't feeling it. Not the non-alcoholic eggnog, not the “dirty Santa” gift exchange, not spending hours of his free time with the same assholes he got paid to be around. Now he'd forgotten to silence his phone and one of those jackasses was texting to ask where he was. Connor should have explained it.

He had his reply all planned out, but pulled up short when he saw the actual picture. He poked and prodded at his phone, pinching at the screen to zoom in, trying to decipher what he was seeing.

It was Connor's desk, and it was covered in...crap. Baby crap, specifically. There was some kind of garland that spelled out “Baby's First Christmas” draped over his monitor, and there were bibs and onesies and shit with the same kind of crap on them. Half his desk was taken up with little jars of baby food and a couple of bottles, his phone had been replaced with a cheap toy phone, and perched on the lamp was a tiny Santa hat with Connor's name embroidered on the band. A baby-sized Santa hat.

Connor didn't want to tell you but I thought you should know. Ben's taking him home.

Hank's eyes flicked up to see that Chris had sent him the messages. Well, shit, that was even worse. Chris had given Connor a gift earlier today—said Connor needed something special for his first Christmas. It wasn't tacky or childish like all this crap, just a candid photo of Connor his first day back at the DPD that Chris had put in a little brass frame. The frame just had the year engraved on it, nothing more, but apparently that was enough to set off some dipshit.

He okay? Hank typed back.

He went all Stepford and said practical jokes are an important part of team integration.

Hank swore. Practical jokes were when Tina kept changing the height of Connor's chair to see if he noticed, or when someone kept putting badly-written android erotica novels in the drawers of his desk. Not shit like this. Not lacing the station's supply of thirium with antifreeze, or destroying the clothes in his locker (the kid only owned like three things, come on), or “testing” a taser on Connor at a fucking crime scene.

But of course Connor just kept making excuses. He put on that fake smile, the one Chris and Tina started calling the Stepford after that old movie, and try to bullshit up some positive reaction. Hank was almost certain none of his people were doing the really malicious stuff—not even Gavin. He was a prick, sure, but he wouldn't screw around at an active crime scene. And Connor wasn't the only android at the station, so screwing around with the thirium supply affected a good portion of the workforce.

Hank threw back the last of his beer and tossed a couple bills on the counter before weaving his way through the rest of the crowd of customers out into the cold night. Damn. They'd been hoping things were getting better now that the android was a more familiar face around the precinct. Connor wasn't technically back on the force yet, though Hank was sure it was just a matter of time. He'd been hired on as an independent consultant, which still meant no badge and no gun but at least he was there.

He just wished the kid wasn’t facing an uphill battle just to be accepted.

Ben's car was still there when Hank pulled up. Hank felt something inside him loosen up at that—at least Connor hadn't been home alone stewing over that stupid-ass prank. He tugged his coat closed and trudged his way through the slushy snow to the door, fully expecting to find the two of them on the couch with an old movie playing on the TV.

Instead, he was met with the sound of sizzling oil and the smell of fried potatoes as soon as he opened the door.

“Okay, just flip it...just like I showed you,” Ben's voice echoed out from the kitchen.

There was a faint scraping sound, then the louder sizzle of something frying. “Good! That's perfect, Connor.”

Hank shrugged out of his coat and hung it on the peg behind the door. “Connor? Ben?”

The other man leaned his head out of the kitchen, the apron over his dark shirt splattered with flour. “Hey, Hank! Welcome home.”

“The hell's all this?” Hank asked, stopping to scratch Sumo behind the ears as he crossed the living room to get to the kitchen.

“Well, we thought it was high time to pass on a few old traditions,” Ben said, waving one hand toward Hank's table. There was a table runner laid out across the scarred wood, something deep blue with white and silver embroidery. And a nine-branched candlestick—a Menorah, Hank realized. The candle in the center was burning, as was the one on the far right side.

That's right. Ben was Jewish. So, what, they skipped the Christmas party so Ben could teach Connor about Hanukkah?

Hank settled into one of the kitchen chairs and just stared for a minute. Ben was wearing an obnoxiously colorful apron, one that was styled to look like those ugly Christmas sweaters you found everywhere. Hank knew that apron. That was what Connor had picked out to bring to the party for the gift exchange. As for Connor...he had on one of those over-sized striped hats with the big felt elf ears, plus matching slippers on his feet. The slippers had pointed toes. The pointed toes had bells.

“I'll repeat the question,” Hank said as he watched Connor stare at something in a frying pan. “What the hell is all this?”

“Ben's teaching me to make latkes,” Connor explained. He glanced over his shoulder for a moment and Hank stifled a laugh at the smear of flour on the android's chin.

“Christmas parties are overrated,” Ben announced, running a hand down the front of his apron. “I think these are ready, kiddo.”

As Connor hesitantly poked at the latkes in the frying pan while Ben held out a plate, Hank leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “Hey, Ben, where's the dreidel?”

“Don't be stupid,” Ben called back. “We've got seven more nights, I'm not bringing out all my secrets on the first night...hang on, do you have a double boiler?”

“A what?” Hank accepted the ginger ale Connor handed him, and the plate with a single latke on it. “What the hell is that and why would I have one?” He bit into the latke, savoring the taste of crispy fried potato. Ben had invited him to a family Hanukkah dinner once, a long time ago, and his grandmother had been the one frying the latkes that night. Ben had obviously inherited her recipe.

“Well, we gotta make some gelt if you wanna play with the dreidel, Hank. It's tradition.”

Hank took a swig of ginger ale to wash down the last bite of his latke and watched Connor carefully placing more dough in the frying pan. “I thought you just spun the thing for laughs.”

Ben snorted. “That's 'cause you're an ignorant savage.”

“Damn straight!” Hank lifted his ginger ale in toast as Ben laughed. “So. What's gelt and why do I need that boiler thing?”

Connor's LED spun twice and he turned just enough to look at Ben .”Chocolate...money?”

“Okay, okay, I get the point,” Ben laughed. He patted Connor on the shoulder and dragged one of the kitchen chairs over next to him—close enough to be on hand if the android needed help cooking, but clearly settling down to tell a story. “You can buy it in stores, but my grandmother always insisted we make it at home....”

Hank rested his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand as Ben told Connor about his family and their traditions. Slowly, the peace of the room settled into him as the smell of potatoes, the sizzle of oil, and the warmth of candlelight washed away the frustration from the hazing Connor was getting at work.

They could deal with that tomorrow. Tonight they all deserved a little peace.

* * *

Master List - Day Two

[fantasiesandbooks]

Tenerife Sea xiii

I don’t own any of the photos.

Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11  Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

Soundtrack 1

Soundtrack 2

You were at the dorms with Chanyeol and the boys planning the dinner for Christmas Eve since this year they didn’t have to work on that day. Everyone was gathered at the living room.  You were sitting on one couch squeezed between Chanyeol and Sehun. Junmyeon and Jongdae were sitting on another one and Jongin and Baekhyun were sitting on the floor.

“You two, keep your hands where we can see them” Baekhyun pointed at you and your boyfriend. -At first you and Chanyeol were trying to figure it out how you would tell the guys about your relationship. You were having thoughts about whether they considered you two rushed yourselves since Chanyeol had just ended up things with Sojin, or, the fact that you didn’t wanted them to think you were very easy to jump into relationships. You knew Baekhyun and Sehun will totally support you, and the others boys too in a certain way but, there was also the fear of being criticized and judge by them. Surprisingly the day you and Chanyeol told the news about you being together they didn’t seem surprised about it. Jongin even told you that, what was surprising was that it didn’t happen sooner. You were relieved once everybody knew about it and by everybody you meant Jackson already knew too about you being Chanyeol’s girlfriend. The boy was happy for you and you still maintained a good friendship since you continued to go to some of your after work classes together.-

You rolled your eyes at your friend. “Do you really think we would do anything with all of you looking at us?”.

“I don’t know about you but Chanyeol likes some weird stuff” Baekhyun said.

“Do I want to know about that?” You asked at the white haired boy “No, let me rephrase that. Do I want to know how you know about that?” 

“You know, we are men and we watch...” Baekhyun was saying when you cut him off.

“That’s enough, I got it” you said.

“Ok guys, we should focus on the dinner” Junmyeon said. 

“Oh and don’t forget someone’s birthday is on Christmas Day” Baekhyun said in a sing-song voice while looking at you.

“Let’s not talk about that right now. Could you?” You said imitating his voice.

“You are literally the only person I know whose birthday is on that day. Surely your mother asked Santa for an Epidural.” Baekhyun said amused.

You rolled your eyes at him but sneered at his joke either way.

“Baek stop. We need to plan this” Suho urged him. “We will discuss y/n’s celebration other day”

“Yes. So what are we eating on Christmas Eve?” Jongin asked.

“I was thinking on having Turkey and Beef Tenderloin” Junmyeon said thoughtfully.

“I can cook some pasta and buy a dessert like a cake or something like that” you offered.

“Yes y/n, that would be great. Thanks” Junmyeon said while smiling at you.

“I can buy the booze” Baekhyun said.

“Me too” Sehun said and Baekhyun high five him excitedly.

“Ok guys” Junmyeon was writing down what everyone was supposed to bring that day.

“So the rest of us have to look for the best place where we can buy the Turkey and the Loin. Maybe a salad would be good too” the leader said to Jongin, Jongdae and Chanyeol and they agreed in unison.

“Ok now that it has been settled you can go. Do whatever you want, I don’t care.” Suho said cheerfully and you laughed at his words.

“That’s not usually the words you say at the end of your speeches Myeon” you said amused.

“I know but after today’s recording I’m so fed up with them. I need a night of freedom and I’m going to take it tonight” The redhead said pleased.

“Aw, I’m so proud of you” you said at your friend tenderly.

“What do you mean with that?. We are lovely” Baekhyun said to you.

“Yes but you five can also be a pain in the ass sometimes. I don’t know how this man” you gestured at Junmyeon “can put up with all your antics at the same time. I mean, I would have lost my mind a long time ago if I was him”.

“Us five? What about Kyungsoo, Minseok and Yixing?” Sehun asked offended.

“They are Angels among all of you.” You said nonchalantly and everyone there started complaining about it.

“I don’t know what you are talking about. Everyone likes my personality” Baekhyun said offended.

“I’m not saying I don’t like it. It's just that you have a special gift to make people want to strangle you when you're annoying” you said and the boys agreed. Baekhyun looked at all of you in astonishment “I can’t believe all of you are saying that” he scoffed. The white haired boy stoop up and went to grabbed his coat from the coat rack dramatically.

“Where are you going?” Jongin asked his friend.

“To have dinner outside. I can even look at you all right now” he said and stormed out of the dorms. Drama queen you muttered and Sehun nodded at hearing you.

“He’s going to come back soon” Jongin said.

“How do you know that?” Junmyeon asked the younger boy.

“Because he dropped his wallet” Jongin said and showed everyone Baekhyun’s wallet. You shook your head amusingly and saw Junmyeon pinching the bridge of his nose.

“See. That is what I was talking about” Junmyeon gestured at Jongin. “Anyway, have fun everyone”. Junmyeon grabbed some of his things and went out the room.

“So are we gonna order some takeout and watch a movie?” Sehun asked to no one in particular.

“Sounds good to me” Jongdae said.

“Me too” Jongin said.

They heard the entrance door opened and seconds later they could see Baekhyun’s head peeking out.

“Mmm guys... did I left my...” Baekhyun was saying when Jongin showed him his wallet. The white haired boy sighed in relief and went to grabbed it.

“Thank you” he said to the blue haired boy “so what are we doing?”.

“Didn’t you are going to leave?” Jongdae look at Baekhyun quizzically.

“Nah! I thought about it and it would be better if I stay here with you, at home” Baekhyun said as he sprawled next to the black haired boy.

“Are you also staying?” Sehun asked you and Chanyeol.

“What do you say honey, do you want to stay?” Chanyeol asked you.

“Sure. I don’t feel like going out tonight. And you?” you asked.

“I’m feeling tired” Chanyeol said. You put a hand on his thigh and nodded “We are staying then” you said and Chanyeol took your hand to intertwined it with his.

“Ok. What are we going to order?” Baekhyun asked.

“I want pizza” you said.

“Me too” Jongin and Sehun said at unison.

“I want sushi” Baekhyun said.

“I think I’ll have the same as you Baek” Chanyeol said to his best friend and everyone ordered their food. After spending two hours chatting and eating, the boys and you had put a Netflix movie. Chanyeol went to the kitchen along with Jongdae to get the popcorn. You were finishing your slice of pizza when Sehun pokes your arm to get your attention.

You turned to look at the boy “what?” You muffled while chewing your food. “Y/n I want to lay on the couch. Can I rest my head on your lap?” Sehun said innocently.

He moved his mouth slightly to one side and you thought he looked like a child in that moment. Sehun was known for having a serious or a bitch resting face most of the time but in reality he was like a little boy and he knew how to play the cuteness card really well. You nodded at him “yes Hunnie” you said and the boy smiled at you.

“Thank you. I don't want to have my neck crooked if I fall asleep” he said and laid on the couch.- He was almost the same height as your boyfriend and although it was a big couch, he ended up with almost half of his legs hanging loose on the armrest.- Chanyeol and Jongdae came back. They were handing over the bowls full of popcorn when your boyfriend looked at Sehun.

“I believe that’s my place, move your head” the taller boy said to the youngest one.

“But y/n let me” Sehun argued.

“Y/n” Chanyeol whined.

“He said that he wanted to lay on the couch. Look at him! Half his body is in the air” you explained.

“Ahg fine” Chanyeol said reluctantly “but don’t get use to it” he glared at Sehun and you. The other boy poking his tongue out at the tall boy. Your boyfriend sat next to you with a grumpy face.

“Don’t be like that” You whispered to him and tried to grab some popcorn from the bowl he had on his hands but he moved it aside so you couldn’t reached it. You look at him bewildered. Sometimes Chanyeol could be really childish, specially when he gets jealous.

“Are you sure you are not going to share with me?” You asked him rhetorically.

“Sometimes you have to give things up” he said and gave you a dismissive look. You scoffed. You were mad at his behavior so you texted him angrily.

“Fine. We are not having sex for a week :)”  That will teach him you though smugly.

Chanyeol’s phone vibrated on his pocket indicating he received a message. He pull it out and read it it. His eyes got round as plates and you turned to look at him satisfied with his reaction. “You can’t be serious” he said to you bewildered. The smile on your face faltered and your face turned serious. “I am, pretty much” “But it’s Christmas on that week. You have to share and be sensitive towards others” Chanyeol countered back.

You raise a brow at him “are you listening to yourself right now?”. Chanyeol purse his lips and gave you the bowl. “Thank you love, you are so kind” you said sarcastically and put a mouthful of popcorn in your mouth.

“Do you want some?” You asked him.

“The nerve” Chanyeol sneered. “No, I don’t want anything”. You shrugged and settled on the couch to watch the movie.

30 minutes had passed since your argument and you thought it was enough time for Chanyeol to quit the tantrum. He had his eyes focused on the screen and had his arms crossed over his chest. You tried to sneak your arm between his so you could have yours and his intertwined but he stiffened his grip and didn’t let you intertwined them.

“Chan” you said quietly, struggling to break his arms crossed but he kept his serious face and eyes on the tv. You gave a frustrated sigh.

After a couple of minutes, Sehun had fallen sleep with his head still resting on your lap and you tried to come up with sutil approaches on your boyfriend like lingering your fingers through his leg or tracing patterns on his thigh with your nails. Chanyeol moved uncomfortably until he grabbed your hand “Stop it” he said quietly. “You don’t like it? It’s uncomfortable?” You asked him amused and heard a shh from Jongdae.

“Yes” The tall boy said seriously but you knew he was lying -everytime you would do that on his legs or arms he had said that he enjoyed they tingling sensation that it produces on his body-.

“You liar” You said and smiled mischievously at him. Chanyeol sighed and put your hand next to your leg. You huffed but decided to leave him alone and returned your attention to the movie.

After a while you had found yourself bored at it and your eyes wandered around the room. You turned to looked at Sehun, his features were soften, he had his mouth slightly open and was breathing through it. He looked like the boss baby from the cartoon movie and you chuckled silently at the thought. You started tracing his features with your fingertips gently, trying not to waking him up. He is like the male version of sleeping beauty you thought to yourself amused. He scrunched up his nose a little bit at your touch and you removed your fingers slowly from his face. You took his hair out of his forehead and started making little braids with his comma hair.

Chanyeol, who had been focused on the movie, side eyed at you since he thought there has been a long time since you had tried to make a move for him to be cool with you again. He saw you were focused on playing with Sehun’ hair. He cleared his throat to catch your attention but you didn’t even lift your gaze. He tried a second time clearing his throat, this one louder than the previous one but the only thing he got was a hush from Jongin and a “drink some water” from Baekhyun. Chanyeol rolled his eyes at you being oblivious of his ways for catching your attention.

Damn it! He thought annoyed.

In that moment, there was a suspense scene on the screen and everyone went still on their places except for you and Sehun. You were so caught up in his black hair when you noticed a frown on his forehead following by a little noice coming from his mouth.

You frowned at him “what did he say?” You thought.

“Ahh” Sehun let out quietly followed by a couple of words he mumbled and you couldn’t understand. Was that a groan or a moan?. You thought intrigued. I hope it’s the first one.

Chanyeol and the others heard him too since the room was too quiet but your boyfriend was the only one who turned to look at Sehun with the same weirded out expression on his face. You looked at your boyfriend frowning but said nothing about it. You shrugged and he looked at the front.

He better not be dreaming about y/n Chanyeol thought grumpily.

A few seconds passed and Sehun said your name in a whisper loud enough for everyone in the room to hear it. Your looked at him wide eyed and heard someone had paused the movie. Everyone was looking at you and him, you raised your hands as if saying I didn’t do anything and said “I just braided his hair” you said innocently.

Chanyeol scowled, stood up from the couch angrily and smacked Sehun’s head in the process in order to wake him up.

“Ahh, what?” Sehun grimaced in pain and rubbed the spot on his head where he received the blow.

“Yeol wait” you said, trying to grab his hand to hold him back but he shook it off and stormed out of the room.

Sehun sat on the couch confused of what had just happened and everyone looked at him quizzically.

“What?” He said harshly.

Most of his friends were looking at him with an amused look on their faces at seen his frowning face and the little braids he had on his hair. The sight of him was comical and maybe you had laughed if it wasn’t for the fact that Chanyeol was fuming in his room. A proof of that was the loud bang you heard from his bedroom door. “Were you having a sexy dream with y/n?” Baekhyun asked teasingly at the black haired boy. You stared at the white haired boy sternly.

“What?! Of course not.” Sehun scoffed.

“You said her name while you where sleeping” Jongin said matter of factly.

“Did I?” Sehun asked surprised and focused his gaze on you. You nodded slightly embarrassed and Sehun cleared his throat.

“I was dreaming that she had given away all my clothes”. Sehun explained. You sighed relieved.

“Come on! Do you really believed I could have one of those dreams with you?” Sehun asked you bewildered. “You are not my type”. You frowned at his last statement “should I feel insulted about it?” You asked rhetorically.

“Nah! He has a weird taste in women” Baekhyun said dismissively and the other boy glared at him.

“Anyway. Now you had to explain yourself to Chanyeol” Jongdae said to Sehun.

“Did he hear too?” Sehun asked awkwardly.

“Yep. Everyone here heard you and he is angry” Baekhyun explained. Sehun facepalmed himself “wait a minute! He was the one that smacked me in the head, wasn’t he?”.

Everyone nodded at him and he sighed “fine. I’ll go and talk to him” Sehun said resigned and you stopped him.

“No. Let me talk to him first” you said and stood up from the couch. Everyone looked at you as you were heading towards the bedrooms.

You were standing outside Chanyeol’s room, you exhaled deeply and knocked on his door.  Since there wasn’t and answer you knocked again “Chan it’s me. Can I come in?” You asked.

You heard a muffled “no” and rolled your eyes at him.

Very well then you thought and you turned the doorknob. Luckily for you the door was unlocked so it opened easily and you came inside. Chanyeol was playing with a little ball, throwing it at his wall and catching it at the rebound.

He didn’t even look at you when he said “I told you you can’t come in”.

“I didn’t hear you clearly enough” you said nonchalantly, obviously lying.

Chanyeol snorted at your comment “whatever. I don’t want to talk to you”. He said and continue throwing the ball. You crossed your arms over your chest, seriousness readable on your face.

“Are you really that mad because of Sehun’s dream?” You said incredulously. The tall boy didn’t answer you. “Well you can stop planning his murder since he wasn’t having an erotic dream with me. He said he was dreaming about me giving away all his clothes and that I’m not his type.”. Chanyeol sneered at that “yeah right”.

“He didn’t seem like he was lying. Everyone would have noticed it. You guys can’t hide your excitement” you said but he was doing an excellent good at ignoring you. You got frustrated at his behavior and went to stood up right in front of him.

“Chanyeol please. I’m trying to have a conversation with you and work this out” you said seriously.

Chanyeol looked at you straight in the eyes. “I’m not only mad because of that. I’m also mad because you were stroking his hair and caressing his face. You were doing it to him the things that are supposed you would only do to me because I’m your boyfriend”. He explained irritated. You were going to say something but he stopped you “and before you said it’s silly and that I don’t have nothing to be worry about let me tell you that I already know that because I know you but still it irks me the way you were acting with him. Think of it this way, would you like to see me caressing another girl’s face and hair even though she was your friend?” Chanyeol added frustrated.

Your mind answered no almost immediately at his question. -You haven’t thought about it in the way Chanyeol had because you saw Sehun as one of your closest friends and you thought you didn’t do anything wrong or out of the ordinary. You had always been affectionate towards them but now that you were in a different kind of relationship with Chanyeol, you understood that your displays of affection would have to change with the rest of the boys.-

“You are right. I would not like it” you sighed and went to sit next to him. Chanyeol turned his face to look at you.

“I thought it wasn’t a bad thing since you know Sehun too and he’s like your brother and also because you know I love the rest of the guys as if they were my brothers too. “ You explained calmly. You grabbed your boyfriend’s hand and started caressing the back of it with your thumb, tracing soothing circles on his skin.

“I’m sorry Yeol. I won’t do that again if it bothers you” you said regretfully. He took your hand, the one that was caressing his and intertwined it it.

“It’s ok. Just keep your hands to myself, would you?” He said and gave you a crooked smile. You couldn’t help but laugh at his request. You nodded and said “Ok then, they would only caress you.” Chanyeol smiled pleased. “Can they caress Toben too or he is in the list with the others?” You joked. “He’s good. Me and him come in a package” He said and you shook your head in amusement.

“You are such a dork.” You said.

“But I’m your dork” he said and smiled at you, you smiled back at him and open your other arm so you could hug him.

Chanyeol leaned over so he let you embrace him and rested his head on your shoulder. His nose slightly touching the place where your neck and shoulder meet. He loved the mix of your body scent and your perfume. 

“Y/n” he said. You hummed in response.

“You weren’t serious about not having sex for a week, were you?” Chanyeol asked you hesitantly. You snorted at his question and he sat straight to look at you with his puppy eyes. You cupped his face and got closer to give him a gentle kiss. You whispered near his lips “I’m serious about it”. Chanyeol had his eyes round as plates when you looked at him mischievously.

“Ahh. That’s a low blow” Chanyeol said and put his hand over his chest near his heart, feigning that his heart ached and he laid on the bed.

You laughed at his antics. “Oh my gosh, you’re so dramatic”.

He reached for one of your hands “Are you going to reconsider it?” He said faintly. You tried to stand up and leave him with his little act but he pulled your hand strongly enough to make you fall on the bed. You gave a little shriek when he hovered above you and caged you between his arms so you couldn’t escape.

“You sneaky weasel” you complained jokingly.

“I’m not letting you go until you come around and say you will reconsider it” Chanyeol warned you. Both were struggling, you with trying to push his body aside and get free and he with trying to get a firm grip of your arms.

After a while you decided to gave up and sighed exhausted “fine. I will reconsider it”. Chanyeol smiled smugly and gave you a peck on your lips.

“Thank you. Now you are free” Chanyeol said, rolled over his bed and was laying looking at the ceiling next to you. You sat on the bed and looked yourself at his mirror. Your hair was a mess with some strands loosen from your ponytail and you looked at Chanyeol annoyed.

“I’m a mess because of you”. You said accusingly.

“A hot mess” Chanyeol joked and you rolled your eyes at his pun.

“Only for that attempt of a joke you’re on the sex ban list.” You said.

Chanyeol groaned “come on”. You stood up and went to the mirror to fixed your hair.

“Let’s go, we have to go back to the living room” you gestured your boyfriend towards the hall.

“Can’t we just stay here?” Chanyeol asked you.

“Why? I thought you were enjoying the movie.” You said.

“It wasn’t that good and It will probably be ended by now” Chanyeol said nonchalantly.

“We could watch another one here. I want to spend time with you. Just the two of us”. Chanyeol gave you a side smile.

“Ok then” you said and started walking towards his bed when something popped up in your head and went back to open the door and leave it half open.

“Why did you leave the door like that?” Chanyeol asked you as you were taking off your slippers.

“I don’t want them to think we are doing something here. It was enough with Junmyeon’s lecture the other day” you explained and laid on the bed next to the tall boy. Chanyeol shook his head amused and opened his arms to cuddled you. You snuggled against his chest and he laughed.

“Do you really think that a door half open is going to stop me?” Chanyeol said and gave you a suggestive look.

" It should.” You nodded. “That was what Baekhyun was talking about when he said you liked weird stuff?” you said quizzically.

“Would you really like to know?” Chanyeol smirked at you.

You broke the embrace and looked at his face “If you are taking out your 50 shades of grey movies, I’m good thanks” you said and he snorted.

“He’s not that kinky” Baekhyun yelled from the living room and Chanyeol and you laughed.

“Weren’t you watching the movie?” You yelled back.

“It has ended already. We are putting another one” Baekhyun answered. “Are you coming or not?” 

“No” Chanyeol yelled this time. 

“Fine, but later you don’t get to complain about us not inviting you to spend time with us” Baekhyun warned.

“Ok” you said while laughing and focused your attention back on the tall boy, watching him shaking his head in amusement.

“Can we watch a Christmas movie?” You asked him excitedly.

Chanyeol grabbed his remote from the nightstand and handed it over to you.

“Just don’t pick Home Alone” He said.

“Aw. Why not?” You said to him baffled.

“You made me watch it it for the whole month of December last year. At least wait until a week before Christmas day” Chanyeol said. You tried to put your best puppy eyes in your face but he only raised a brow at you. You rolled your eyes and started searching for a movie you could find interesting. “A knight before Christmas?” You asked him.

“Sure” Chanyeol said smoothly.

You pressed the play button and went to lay next to him. Chanyeol thought the movie was all right but he was not thrilled about it and every now and then he would looked at you to check if you were enjoying it. Over the course of the years Chanyeol already could tell when you like something or not. When it comes to movies, you would always get twinkling eyes, would squeeze his hand and, he loved to see your features changing by the different emotions you were feeling just by looking at it. Once he had thought that he was the only person he knew that could become super excited at seen a movie but once he knew you he realized he was mistaken. There was a scene in which you got ecstatic about it and threw yourself over his side.

“Get me one of those” you said excitedly, signaling at the screen with your finger. You were pointing at the lead actor.

“You know I’m your boyfriend, right?” Chanyeol said sarcastically.

“Oh yeah” you chuckled “I’m sorry Yeol. It just that I would have liked to live in that time. Wearing that kind of clothes and the way men wooed women, ah I would have loved it” You explained.

“But in that age there was no energy, no cars, men were trained to fight and women had to served them in a way. Plus, if we had lived in that time we would already be married and have 7 children by now” Chanyeol said matter of factly.

“And how do you know we would be together? We didn’t live in the same country until a couple of years ago” you sneered.

“That doesn’t matter. I would have found you no matter what” Chanyeol sounded very confident about it.

You gave him a side smile “I like you, you can have a peck on your cheek”.

You said and leaned over him to kiss his cheek, your lips almost touched it when he moved his head swiftly and gave you a peck on your lips. You gasped slightly at his action and he smiled widely at you.

“Let’s keep watching the movie, ok?” You said to him. Chanyeol sighed but nodded anyway.

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

It was Saturday night. Chanyeol and you were playing basketball since he had insisted in teaching you and now he was beating your ass with the score. You had never been a fan of that sport, you preferred football, or soccer as some people call it, or another one before basketball but you agreed to make an effort in trying to understand it since the tall boy was too keen on it.

“Bloody hell” you breathed, trying to stop him in getting to your basketball hoop.  He dodged you easily and took off running.

You groaned in frustration and went chasing after him. Reaching the middle of the court you thought it was useless and made a halt, bending over a little trying to catch your breath. You heard the hoop ringing when the ball crashed against it and got inside of it. Chanyeol was cheering excitedly and you were panting nonstop.

This was a terrible idea you thought. You felt the sweat trickling down your forehead and neck, the chilly air hitting on your face. Your heart was burning and beating like crazy. You closed your eyes for a moment to calmed yourself and when you opened them you saw Chanyeol’s legs near you.

“That’s 52-12” he announced smugly. You stood yourself straight again and looked at him.

“I hate this” you breathed. Chanyeol laughted “don’t hate the game, hate the terrible player you are” he mocked. You glared at him.

“I’m done with it” you panted.

“Just two more shots to see who will be the winner” Chanyeol suggested.

“Really?! 52-12 doesn’t tell you anything?” You asked sarcastically.

“Let’s make a bet. The next two shots will be worth 20 points, if you score we would be tied and we would have to make another shot to see who the winner is. If you don’t make them, I guess we already know who will win.” Chanyeol explained.

“And what’s the prize?” You asked him. You knew there was a catch in this bet. Chanyeol thought about it for a second and he smiled wickedly at you “The loser will have to do the house chores of the other without any help from it until next year ”. Your jaw dropped at hearing the madness he was saying. He knew you hate doing chores, that the only reason you do them it’s because you don’t have another choice and now he wanted for you to do them double.

He is mental you thought

“That’s like three weeks and you are having the Christmas party at your house. I will not clean all that mess” you protested. “You are delusional if you think I’m going to accept that”.

”Come on honey. I have thought you would have more faith in you” Chanyeol smirked at you.

You were frowning at him, anger building inside of you. He had touched a soft string, your ego. Although you knew you suck at this you didn’t want to give him the pleasure of winning without your last try. You looked sternly at him and made a silent prayer so the heavens could help you win this over.

“Fine” you muttered. 

Chanyeol smiled satisfied and threw the ball at you. You caught it and let out a deep breath. Chanyeol went to stand in front of you with a defensive pose and looked at you in concentration.

“Remember what I taught you. I don’t want you to say I cheated” The tall boy smirked at you.

You were looking at his feet trying to figure out your next move in your head. - Chanyeol was a very good player you give him that, but he was also very predictable since in most occasions he would started his move from his right side. Ok I can do this you cheered yourself mentally.

You made the ball bounce, you quickly grabbed it with your left hand and ran towards Chanyeol's hoop. You heard Chanyeol grunt and his quick steps behind you but you didn't stop. You felt as if you were running for your life and once you got to the hoop you made the shot. Luckily for you the ball hit the backboard and went inside of the net. You closed your eyes and let out a relieved sigh.

Chanyeol was standing a few steps behind you when you made shot.

“Nice”. He said as he went to pick up the ball. “But that’s not gonna save you from cleaning”.

You rolled your eyes at him “Yeah yeah whatever. Give me the ball”. You said. Chanyeol was on his beast mode for the end of the game but so were you. Both of you stood up in front of the other. You looked at him in full concentration.

I should try for the right one this time you thought.

The ball bounced again and you grabbed it, Chanyeol started walking forward and made you step back. You feigned going for your left when he blocked you. You dodged him again and went for your right.

“Fuck” Chanyeol muttered.

Go go go was all you could think about while running.

You were in front of the hoop and threw the ball without a second thought.

Please please please you said in your mind.

The ball barely touched the rim and entered the net.

“Yes” you said cheerfully.

“That was lucky” Chanyeol said bitterly.

“I don’t care, now we are even” you said happily.

“Only because I have gone easy on you” Chanyeol said.

“There’s one shot left for each of us. Come on” you said and padded his butt.

“Fine. Ladies first” Chanyeol said and urged you to make the shot. 

You were getting ready for it when you felt Chanyeol very close behind you.

Never mind. I got this you thought.

You threw the ball clumsily since you got distracted by Chanyeol squeezing your butt.

“Hey” you whined and saw Chanyeol laughing at your reaction.

“That doesn’t count. You are cheating” you said angrily at him.

“I was trying to show you my support” Chanyeol said while laughing.

You look at him harshly and went to grabbed the ball so you could come back to your shooting position.

“Go over there” you said and pointed at a tree that was a few feet from the court.

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and went to stand beside it.

You felt the pressure of him watching you and took a deep breath. You shoot the ball and went smoothly inside the net. You looked at it astonished and started jumping happily.

“Thank you sweet Jesus” you said while looking at the sky.

Chanyeol sneered at your behavior and went to make his shot. He did it but the ball bounced on the rim and felt outside the net.  He let out an annoyed grunt while listening to your screams of excitement and saw you dancing happily around.

“Thank you for suggesting this bet and get me a Cinderella for the rest of the year”. You said mockingly and smacked his chest slightly.

“You wouldn’t have won in the first place if I wouldn’t have been so merciful with the score”. Chanyeol pointed out and walked towards the bench where all your things were. He took a seat and pull out his water bottle to take a sip. You went to sit on the other side of the bench, you things separating both of you. You took out a towel and cleaned your face and neck.

“Fair enough. What do you want?” You said to your boyfriend.

“What?” Chanyeol said and frowned at you.

“What do you want?” You repeated “I’m not giving up you doing the house chores, you know how much I hate doing them but... I’ll give you another thing”. You explained. Chanyeol smiled and hummed while he was thinking for what he could asked you to do.

“Cook lunch and dinner for me for the next three weeks... and breakfast for when we stayed overnight whether it’s in your house or mine” Chanyeol said.

“Ok. That sounds reasonable to me” you said and extended your hand to sealed the deal. Chanyeol took it and shake it it. You took your water bottle and gave it a sip.

“But I meant it when I said I’m done playing this. Can you just do this with your friends? They’re probably more skilled at this than me.” You said. “Some of them are good and a few of them are worse than you” Chanyeol sneered.

“Then why do they play?” You said quizzically.

Chanyeol shrugged “They get entertained by it”. He said. “I suggested we play because I want to do more things with you”.

You knew he mean well with it but still you felt it like a torture. Nevertheless you thought this is what relationships take, adjusting to your partner’s life and making small sacrifices if that causes them to feel happy.

You sighed “ok, I’ll try to play better so you don’t get all frustrated for not having a worthy opponent”.

Chanyeol smiled widely at you and you hold a finger out to him “but only if you take dancing classes with me”.  You gave him an excited look and Chanyeol scratched the back of his neck.

“Yeah...I think I’d rather play alone” Chanyeol said and you whined.

“Yeol come on. The studio where I take the classes with Jackson has private lessons. We could take one and see if we like it.” You explained hopefully that he will agreed. Chanyeol saw the expectation in your face and he gave in.

“One class” he said, you stoop up excitedly and danced happily towards him. He chuckled at your reaction and you sat on his lap. 

“Thank you” you kissed his cheek and he kissed yours. You sat next to him and checked on your cellphone.

“So when are we going to take the class?” Chanyeol asked you.

“I’m checking the classes hours. Does Wednesday work for you?” You asked him.

“Sure” He said nonchalantly. “Or Tuesday or Friday”. Chanyeol added and took another sip of his bottle. “Tuesday I can’t. I have pole dance class on that day”. You said calmly.

At hearing that Chanyeol choked, spitting some of the water and coughed violently.

“You have what?” He managed to say.

“Pole dance class. Didn’t I have tell you before?” you said doubtfully.

“No” Chanyeol said incredulously.

“They are included in the monthly payment so I said why not?” You said dismissively.

“Why have I just found out about this now?” Chanyeol said baffled.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal and… I take other dance classes too” you said.

“Yeah but that one is like super hot. Why have you prevented me from seeing you dance in a pole?” Chanyeol complained.

“Ok first of all, clear out whatever sexy fantasy you have in your mind right now because I’m not even close to that. I’ve been practicing for two months now and I can barely manage to keep the balance on the pole”. You explained.

“Ok. Just let me know when we need to get one“ Chanyeol said seriously.

“Get one what?” You asked.

“A pole. We can put it in my living room” Chanyeol suggested and you laughed out loud.

“Yeah. I’m sure a pole would be the perfect decoration your living room is missing” You said sarcastically.

“Or we can put it on my bedroom” Chanyeol smiled cheekly at you.

“Chan stop. We are not getting a pole” you laughed and your boyfriend pouted at you

“How are you even going to explain it if your mom or Yoora goes to your apartment?” You smiled smugly at him, knowing you had a point. Chanyeol frowned as he hadn’t thought about that detail. “I haven’t thought about that”. The tall boy went quiet while having that idea still on his mind “There has to be removable poles. I’m not very sure about it but I’ll look into it” he said determined. You snorted and shook your head as if saying I can’t believe it.

“As you wish”. You said, giving up on this subject. Chanyeol could be very stubborn with some things and when some idea got stuck on his head it was almost impossible to convince him otherwise.

Chanyeol looked at his watch and stoop up abruptly “Oh my god. It’s almost 10:00 pm. We need to hurry if we want to see the full moon”. He started picking up your stuff rapidly and you did the same. 

“Are you sure we are gonna make it in time?” You asked him as both of you were walking towards the parking lot.

“Yeah. The place where we are going is about 20 minutes from here. That gives me enough time to set up the telescope” He said and walked hurriedly with you following his steps. You two arrived at his car and got inside of it. He started the engine and you put your seatbelt on.

“Ready?” He asked you. You hummed in agreement as you looked through the window on your side.

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

It was 11:30 pm when you and Chanyeol arrived at the place where you would be looking at the full moon. It was the first one of the month and the reason your boyfriend was so excited about. You two were standing in the middle of a field. There were trees surrounding the place and a few feet away from you there was the highway. You were wearing one of Chanyeol’s enormous jackets but still you could felt the cold hitting your face.

“I can’t believe you have all this equipment and yet Nini got to capture the weird thing on the sky with his Iphone 7” You said and laughed at remembering that time.

“Ahg. Don’t tell me about it” Chanyeol said, rolling his eyes at the memory and focus his attention back to the telescope. He  was looking through it, trying to adjust it in the right position when he called you excitedly.

“Y/n come” he exclaimed. You went to stand next to him.

“What is it?” You said, trying to warm your hands by rubbing them together.

“You have to look at this” He said and step aside so you could take a look through the telescope. You went to stand in front of it and leaned a littler bit to have a look.

“On your right is Perseus Constellation and if you look down to your left you can see Orion’s Belt” Chanyeol explained excitedly.-You could recognize Orion’s belt easily for all the years they had taught you that at school but you couldn’t recognize Perseus Constellation.-

“I see Orion’s” you announced and looked at Chanyeol.

“Perseus is the one that looks like a twisted antenna. Look” the tall boy said and showed you his book, gesturing at the constellation. You returned your gaze at the sky but couldn’t see exactly which one he was talking about. - in this place you could see the sky full of stars and there were different points in which they seemed to be so closed to each other, that you wondered if all of them were constellations-.

“Ah yeah. I see it” you said as confident as you could sound. Unfortunately for you, Chanyeol knew you too well for him to tell that when you say the ah yeah with that intonation, it means that you are lying.

“You don’t know which one is it, do you?” Chanyeol asked you.

“Not a clue” you said without taking your eye from the telescope.

Chanyeol facepalmed himself but laughed at the end. You turned to looked at him, pursing your lips trying to suppress the laugh but it was inevitable and you joined him.

“You are quite something” Chanyeol said.

You laughed at his statement “I’m sorry. I don’t know all the constellations. If I’m being honest I didn’t even know Perseus has a constellation”. Chanyeol couldn’t believe what he was listening. You went to engulf him in a hug and smiled at him.

“At least I made you laugh” you said.

“Yeah.” Chanyeol said and looked at you. He released his arms from you and surrounded you with them. He was smiling, looking at you tenderly.

“I love that you are my best friend” you said out of the blue.

“I thought we had established we were a couple” Chanyeol raised a brow at you. 

You chuckled “What I mean is that there was a time in which I’d never imagined that I would have a partner that would be both my best friend and my boyfriend. It’s nice” you said and caressed his cheek.

He smiled with his toothy smile you have always loved to see on his face. “To be honest I didn’t thought I would have that either. It’s more than nice. It’s perfect.” Chanyeol said.

“Can you give me a kiss?” You asked him, your smile never leaving your lips.

“You don’t even have to ask” Chanyeol said and leaned over to kiss you.

You felt his soft lips brushing yours, his hot breath joined yours. There was a strawberry taste on his lips thanks to your lip balm that he used earlier because he had said his lips always needed to be ready for the “action”. You smiled at remembering his words while you two continued exploring each other’s mouths. This kind of kisses were ones of your favorite ones. Slow, soft and full with all the love you two felt for each other. The alarm on Chanyeol’s phone rang and made you broke the kiss. It was 12:00 am which meant that you could see the full moon.

“Do you want to see the moon first?” Chanyeol asked you.

“You go first. You are the astronomy fan after all” you said and he chuckled. He went to stand next the telescope and looked through it. 

“Wow. It’s so beautiful” he mumbled. You looked at him and smiled. 

Seeing him like this, without any worries and enjoying his time by doing what he loved the most is was makes you happy. You wondered if Chanyeol had the same feeling when he looked at you doing what you loved. Maybe you would asked him later but now you just wanted to enjoy this moment with the nature surrounding you, the beautiful sky above you, and the wonderful person you get to call your boyfriend. 

Chanyeol, my boyfriend you smiled at the thought.

Thank you for the support and the love. I hope you like the series and enjoy this chapter. I’m sorry for taking so long with this part, I have been very busy lately ;;;. I’ll try to come up with the next one as soon as possible. I hope everyone have a wonderful year. If you have any comments regarding the series feel free to send me a message. I think it would help me a lot.^^

[gothambatsnews]

Podcast 6: Feeling Good During Fall and Winter

[“Spoiler Alert Podcast” theme song plays. There are two feminine voices in the background. The conversation fades, there are three taps on the mic.] [Stephanie:] “Hello Gotham High School and welcome to Spoiler Alert! I’m your host Stephanie Brown, and today, unfortunately, I won’t be joined by my usual co-host Dick Grayson, he’s actually too busy. Buuuut I am joined by the one and only CASSANDRA CAIN! Say hi, Cass”

[Cassandra:] “Hello, Cass.”

[Stephanie:] “Funny. So as you probably know, there’s a veeeery big game coming and our boys are training a lot these days. Thankfully I’m able to use a few minutes here to present you our podcast, but it’s quite wild for the cheerleaders too, as you may assume.”

[Cassandra:] “They’re going to Central City. Playing against the Cougars, next week. Saturday.”

[Stephanie:] “Right. That means for today, it’s a girls only show. I mean, for the hosts. Anyone can benefit the advice in this one, don’t get me wrong.”

[Cassandra:] “Everyone can feel down and suffer from lack of light and warmth in Fall and Winter. Meaning you are welcome to stay, no matter your identity.”

[Stephanie:] “Exactly. As you can suspect it, today’s topic is about Self Love and how to feel better during these dark times. Even if summer’s over, along with its refreshing watermelons, autumn’s got its own little perks. [Cassandra:] “Like Pumpkin Spice Latte.”

[Stephanie:] “Yep. Looking at you, Jason.”

[Cassandra:] “Sound of the rain? When the leaves go crack under our boots? Boots, actually.”

[Stephanie:] “Mmm.. the leaves yes. Boots shopping?”

[Cassandra:] “Just wearing boots, too. Spending time with friends. In the mall? It’s nice and warm.”

[Stephanie:] “Just staying inside where it’s cozy actually.”

[Cassandra:] “With a nice cup of tea?”

[Stephanie:] “Yes, and cocoa if tea isn’t what you like. There’s plenty of good things in Fall and Winter. Not to mention the snow and the unspeakable joy of throwing snowballs straight into people’s faces. But what to do when you’re feeling low nonetheless? Let’s get down to business an-”

[Cassandra:] [In song.] “... To de-feat the Cou-gars?”

[Stephanie:] [Chuckling] “You had to quote Disney, huh? But no, to get into the heart of the matter!”

[Cassandra:] [Sounds like she’s smiling.] “Today we picked four main things that won’t cost too much. Most of us are students and can be hard to follow advice when it’s too expensive.”

[Stephanie:] “Yeah, not everyone is a Wayne, sadly. But the first point may or may not involve getting some supplies, but usually you can manage without buying anything.”

[Cassandra:] “Yes! Art therapy is very popular. Creating is good for our mood. Grab a pen, some pencils, colors, yarn, whatever you have or want, and do something creative. Paint, draw, doodle, just have fun. It doesn’t have to be nice or good looking, you just have to have fun!”

[Stephanie:] “Actually, pretty sure that cooking can be included in that point. Except if your name is Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne or Tim Drake, in which case it’s just living dangerously.”

[Cassandra:] “Calling them out, Steph? They’ll get revenge. You and I know that.”

[Stephanie:] “They can bring it on, this is a free podcast! FREEDOM OF SPEECH!”

[Cassandra:] [Really laughing this time] “Heheh. That only protects your speech, not from the boys.”

[Stephanie:] “I’ll face the problem when I get to it.”

[Cassandra:] [Snorts] “But yes, cooking, especially since it’ll be good for you to eat a balanced meal.”

[Stephanie:] “Don’t just throw a snack in the microwave, or cereals in a bowl. Don’t be a Dick! Make something. Start small. Maybe a smoothie or something, if you’re uncomfortable with the stove and oven. But make it yourself. It’s less expensive, usually healthier, and way better in the long run.”

[Cassandra:] “And fulfilling!”

[Stephanie:] “And once you master the basics you can begin to improvise. Add stuff, cook with new ingredients,... Make heart-shaped waffles…” [happy sighs] “I just want to wake up some day to a tray of heart waffles covered in chocolate, maybe a rose next to the plate. Romance tip, get your significant other heart waffles.”

[Cassandra:] [With a very neutral tone] “Someday, maybe, who knows?”

[Stephanie:] “Ah, but I got distracted, my bad, my bad. Where were we….” [Shuffling paper noise] “Ah right, here. Planting something.”

[Cassandra:] “Taking care of a plant is very relaxing. Don’t know why? It helps to have a tiny bit of nature inside. Especially in Gotham. And you can grow herbs to cook. Bonus points.”

[Stephanie:] “Ok I’ll be honest, I’m terrible with plants, BUT I got a workaround.”

[Cassandra:] “You do?”

[Stephanie:] “Fake flowers. Expensive ones though, not the cheap plastic ones. I got a few ones, mostly made out of fabric, and I switch between the different sets to maintain the illusion it’s fresh flowers. If you don’t look too closely, it’s alright.”

[Cassandra:] “So the parsley I got you…?”

[Stephanie:] “The one you named Peanut? Dead, sorry. So so sorry, I didn’t want to tell you!”

[Cassandra:] “Next time I’ll just get you a scarf like everyone else.”

[Stephanie:] “PLEASE NO!!” [Silence] “I mean… I already got 12 scarves thanks to Dick and Tim and Babs and other friends, I don’t even wear a scarf most of the time.”

[Cassandra:] “Fine. Mittens it’ll be then. Which leads us to the next point, go outside. Get fresh air.”

[Stephanie:] “Get ready to go outside, too. Don’t just make two steps outside with dumb sweatpants and a lazy bun, get ready! Always get out of the house like you’d like a potential date to see you for the first time. Not all out, but pretty enough and comfortable. Put on some makeup too. Nothing much, but if you’re feeling low, there’s nothing compared to putting on some lipstick to see it bring the life back to your face.”

[Cassandra:] “I thought that was the blush powder’s job.”

[Stephanie:] “Or the blush powder, yeah. Any of those. Also for our male listeners, never underestimate the power of a good concealer. Don’t be shy and get some. It’ll cover for all your long nights spent studying. Or anything else, really.”

[Cassandra:] “I thought the makeup topic was for another week?”

[Stephanie:] “It’s never too early for concealer, Cass. Just make sure you got the right tone. Erm… Oh, right. If you don’t know what to put as clothes to get out, stick to the basics.”

[Cassandra:] “Black?? But we said..”

[Stephanie:] “No no, I know what we said, get some colors. Sooooooo… WEAR THE RED AND GOLD!!! GO BATS GO!!”

[Cassandra:] “But at this time of the year be prepared to be mistaken with a Gryffindor student.”

[Stephanie:] “What’s wrong with that?”

[Cassandra:] “Some of us prefer the other houses. Not me, obviously, but you maybe. Or the boys. Especially Damian. He really enjoys being sorted in Slytherin.”

[Stephanie:] “Ok I’ll give you that. But you got to admit that at least it’s easy to get decent clothes, you just have to gather your Gotham High School merch- Oh god, wait.”

[Cassandra:] “What?”

[Stephanie:] “We’re talking about Harry Potter and Tim isn’t ev-”

[A phone dings. There’s some noise as Steph fishes for it]

[Stephanie:] "Oh god, it's Tim." [Cassandra:] "What did he say?" [Stephanie:] "'Tell them about my Dumbledore theory.' No, I'm not gonna. Goodbye Timothy."

[Sound of her phone being placed down.] [Cassandra:]"But you know he'll try to-" [A phone dings] "Text me." [Stephanie:] "Don't do what he says!" [Cassandra:] "He's threatening. He'll come here to crash your podcast."

[Stephanie:] “Please no. Tim if you hear us, don’t. Seriously don’t.”

[Cassandra:] “He’s probably already practically here or something, Stephanie.”

[Stephanie:] “Ok let’s finish this before he comes then. The last thing you probably heard it a thousand of times, but just turn off your phone and computer, and take a bit of time to just breathe.”

[Cassandra:] “Meditation. It’s called meditation. It helps lower the heart rate, and to put things in perspective. Makes people happier too.” [Stephanie:] “It doesn’t have to be hours long, just one or two minutes are already enough. We’ll… Talk about it in depth in another podc-

[Sound of a door being slammed open. A scream on Steph’s side] 

[Tim:] "LET ME TELL THEM ABOUT MY THEORY STEPH, COME ON!"

[Cassandra:] “NO! TIM GO!”

[Stephanie:] “And that’s a topic for another tiMELOVEANDSPARKLES!!”

[End of Episode 6]

[365-money-diary]

DAYS 8-14

DAY EIGHT [JAN 8]

9:00 AM - Wake up still feeling full from yesterday’s black bean burgers. Make a chemex and start working. I have a performance evaluation today and as well as an after-work happy hour so I want to try to get everything done before the review and then workout after before HH.

10:30 AM - Eat a banana

12:30 PM - Have a short break before my performance review. Make a Greek-ish salad and drink a Seltzer before my quarterly performance review which I am slightly nervous for since I was very slow in both November & December.

3:00 PM - Performance review went well. No criticism from my boss, though I should’ve known. She is the most direct supervisor I’ve ever had so I always know where I stand. Eat some grapes. I’m not super sore today but there’s something in me that’s saying to take a breather from exercising today (probably my “reward” for a good performance review), so I slowly finish my work for today.

4:00 PM - My best friend (let’s call her T) from high school calls and we catch up for 45 minutes. Pour a mezcal soda while we chat. I let her go attend Happy Hour and realize this after work HH thing isn’t happening. Today is David Bowie’s bday and I get sentimental about the annual David Bowie Nights I would do with H (I never gave him a name in my last diary, but we’ve remained pals over the years and he will probably come up more this time around). I FaceTime H kinda drunkenly and he goes to the corner store and joins me with a bottle of wine. I pour a second mezcal soda. We chat until 7:45 and I lowkey make dinner towards the end.

8:00 PM - K and I eat veggie sandwiches with potatoes for dinner. He slinks off to work more and I facetime another friend, J to chat about H’s latest drama. 

10:00 PM - Go out on the couch to find K already falling asleep. I’m kind of drunk anyways and there’s no point staying up so we decide to turn in.

DAY EIGHT TOTAL: $0

DAY NINE

2:00 AM - Wake up sweating. This is my new hangover thing and has been happening throughout quar. Drink some water, turn on the fan, and stay up for an extra 30 minutes until I pass out again.

9:15 AM - Wake up feeling ok! Make a chemex and watch the latest episode of Dessert Person on YouTube.

10:30 AM - Get started on blog stuff for the day. I have a stacked list of stuff I want to shoot this weekend. I’m only one ingredient spread in before I start to feel light-headed from last night’s alcohol, so I break to make breakfast – tofu/egg scramble tacos with soyrizo. I still feel a little weird after so I drink a nuun and things start to improve.

3:30 PM - I shoot thousand island dressing, Russian dressing, cauliflower leek soup, and the first half of seitan corned beef. Tomorrow I’ll finish that, and shoot rubens, italian dressing and a greek salad. I don’t usually shoot 7 recipes in one weekend, but I’m very much out of content. 

4:30 PM - Finish shooting for the day and eat a small bowl of cauliflower leek soup. 

6:00 PM - Working out on the weekends is always hard because of lack of routine / structure, but I suck it up and do a barre live stream. Shower and watch the last of the Suns game and import photos. 

7:45 PM - Make veggie sandwiches with miso butter green beans for dinner. This is the last of our veggie sandwiches which is sad. I love them so much! Spend the rest of the evening with K. We watch part of the 76ers game where they only had 7 players, a few episodes of Letterkenny, and then I read Remain in Love while he played RocketLeague.

DAY NINE TOTAL: $0

DAY TEN

8:45 AM - Doomscroll in bed for a bit and finally make myself a chemex. Put on an old episode of The Challenge. Buy a very belated birthday present for a friend - mamafuku seasoned salts. $34.95

10:30 AM - Pump myself up for shooting for the rest of the day. I have to finish the seitan, then shoot a greek dressing, a greek salad, and reuben sandwiches. None of these things should take too long but I also shot all day yesterday so I’m dragging ass. 

3:15 PM - Finially finish! I ended up also taking a decent break to chat with my sister on the phone part way through. I think everything looks alright though. 

4:00 PM - Import photos, eat a cup of cauliflower leek soup with a La Croix, watch an episode of The Challenge, try to hype myself up to exercise but by the time I am ready to play DDR, K says we’ll be zooming with his parents in just a short while.

5:30 PM - Drink the last of the wine in the house – a true bummer – on zoom with K’s parents. Cook dinner after – reubens with miso butter broccoli with more La Croix. We watch some Letterkenney and then K plays RocketLeague while I read some Remain in Love / zone out on fone. 

9:00 PM - K finishes playing and I assume the DDR position. My tracking has already improved quite a bit since Tuesday. I play most of the tracks on standard and close my Apple Watch rings after 30 minutes. Rinse off, put the Challenge back on and edit photos of Russian Dressing. 

DAY TEN TOTAL: $34.95

DAY ELEVEN

8:30 AM - Ugh Monday. I actually have a lot to do already today. Make a chemex and do the dishes leftover from yesterday’s cooking adventures. Pure barre charge comes through. $15

9:45 AM - I have a giant stack of packages and mail in the house from the past few weeks. Open up one of them and it contains a phone case I bought from a “tech company” that is probably just a fancy version of Wish. Slap it on my phone. I honestly can’t believe I went over a month without a case without cracking anything. I’m amazing.

10:00 AM - Missed a call on Friday afternoon from an appraiser scheduler, so I call them back to get something on the calendar for next week after MLK day so I have the 3-day weekend to clean. Eat yogurt for breakfast.

12:00 PM - Make a greek salad for lunch with a La Croix. It’s really good but not very filling. I have a feeling today is going to have a heavy snack vibe.

2:00 PM - Eat a handful of pretzels. 

3:00 PM - Eat 2 clementines

4:00 PM - Eat a handful of tortilla chips. Start thinking about dinner. Don’t want to do reubens and burritos sound really nice so I start the process of making chile de arbol salsa and instant pot refried beans.

5:30 PM - Do a Pure Barre livestream. My focus is a little better than Saturday, so I’ll take it!

7:00 PM - Make rice on the stove while I clear some dishes and make burritos for din. Spend the rest of the eve watching random YouTube videos with K. He falls asleep at some point on and I turn on The Challenge. 

11:00 PM - Gently wake K up and we head to bed. Put on the Suns game from earlier and cuddle up. By the end of the first quarter, I’m asleep.

DAY ELEVEN TOTAL $15

DAY TWELVE

8:30 AM - Wake up to find a couple of weird charge notifications. One is from Instacart for the exact amount of my last order – a duplicate charge. And the other is an auto-ship from Thrive market but it was supposed to charge my mom. I text her to let her know she owes me $20. I won’t include either of these charges since I’ll get reimbursed / refunded. The autoship also reminds me to look at the account and cancel my next one with Thrive.

9:00 AM - Get the stuff sorted out with Instacart. They’re going to email my sister (we share this account) the deets and she’ll forward to me. Make a chemex and make my way through the stack of paper mail before starting my workday. One of them is a confirmation of my credit score – 749. Sign a bunch of papers and put them in a giant envelope to send back to the loan company.

10:00 AM - Eat plant yogurt for breakfast and try to focus on the outstanding tasks I have this AM which is surprisingly kind of a lot.

11:45 AM - H texts me saying he forgot his wallet to buy lunch and asks me to place an order at Chipotle that he can pick up. Always happy to help! Place the order online and it’s $10.43. He PayPals me $10 for the damage. $0.43

12:45 PM - Make a greek salad for lunch with a La Croix. This salad has like 5 calories since the dressing is oil-free and leaves me wanting more. 

1:00 PM - Eat a handful of mini pretzels. 

3:00 PM - Heat up a small bowl of cauliflower lentil soup. Officially done snacking until din.

5:15 PM - Done with workie. Make a nuun and do barre live stream. The class recording this time is actually “easy” which is nice – my body must be adjusting to the new moves. Make leftover bean cheeze and rice burritos for din.

7:00 PM - K and I watch King of the Hill for a bit and then he plays RocketLeague while I read some Remain in Love and then work on a post for Russian dressing. Watch some of the Challenge in the background.

DAY TWELVE TOTAL: $0.43

DAY THIRTEEN

8:30 AM - Good morning to me! See a charge come in from Blueland for soap & dishwasher tablets. Kind of a bummer because I don’t need them at all right now. Move my next delivery date to November 1 and put a note on my calendar a week before to check my stock. Note that the Instacart charge is gone. Hooray! Make a chemex, do the dishes and spray down the counters. $25.19

9:30 AM - Not sure what it is about today, but my calendar is clear and I know tomorrow is going to suck with meetings, so I really take my time and ease into the day. I don’t feel super confident posting the Russian dressing all over the interweb and would rather stage it as a thousand island vs Russian dressing kind of thing, so I just decide to post on Insta, Pinterest, and one Reddit forum before deciding that’s good enough. 

10:00 AM - Eat a yogurt. These Oui ones are really too sweet for me, but I’m at the mercy of whatever is on sale because honestly yogurt is a giant rip off. I should learn how to make my own.

12:30 PM - Make another greek salad with La Croix for lunch. Fully prepared to snack again since this guy is just not very filling. 

1:20 PM - Eat a handful of mini pretzels

2:30 PM - Eat a cup of cauliflower leek soup. I’m actually caught up on work for once which is nice. Looking forward to knocking out barre before 7 PM - hah. We’re still a week out from needing groceries, but it takes a while to plan/prep. With the appraisal on Tuesday, I know it’s not going to be a fun weekend so I start thinking about what I want to make for the rest of the month.

3:30 PM - Find a bougie polenta recipe I want to give a go as well as shoot oil-free instant pot refried beans and nacho cheese with potatoes and carrots. And use all of that to make sheet pan nachos. Should be a fun weekend of shooting there. Eat grapes. 

4:30 PM - I can’t hang with how hungry I am. Eat tortilla chips and salsa. Do a barre live stream and do a peloton 10 minute low impact ride. 

8:00 PM - K isn’t hungry for dinner so I heat up a Philly burrito and eat it with more tortilla chips and Sweedish Fish for “dessert.” I watch some of The Challenge and then K and I play Mario Kart and watch Letterkenny before turning in.

DAY THIRTEEN TOTAL: $25.19

DAY FOURTEEN

8:30 AM - I hate 9 AM meetings. Get my shit together enough to make a chemex before I have to be on the call.

10:00 AM - I can’t handle how many snacks I keep eating throughout the day. Toast a bagel for breakfast with Earth Balance, everything but the bagel seasoning, nooch, and salt. Eat some Sweedish Fish while I wait for the bagel to toast.

12:30 PM - Make the same greek salad with a lemon La Croix. I eat quickly as I have to present at 1 so I eat quickly in prep for that.

2:50 PM - It’s over! It went well and got good compliments on my presentation skills by all parties. AND I’m not starving. A win for all! I realize half the lights in my bedroom & bathroom are out which is a bad scene for appraisal. Buy some replacements on Amazon. $27.98

3:10 PM - Start building the grocery order for next Wednesday. I realize I’m doing this really far in advance, but I’m worried I won’t have the gusto for it this weekend. 

4:30 PM - Heat up a small cup of cauliflower leek soup for a snack. Debate to myself about whether or not I want to do barre and for whatever reason an hour of it sounds boring. DDR sounds fun though so I go for that instead. Get a good cal burn and even AA Kind Lady on Heavy. It’s coming back baby!

6:00 PM - Rinse off and make dinner – we’re doing Reubens tonight with roasted potatoes. Really really delicious dang. 

8:30 PM - Drink a yellow chartreuse with Lagunitas Hop Water and play Mario Kart with K. Then edit photos of cauliflower lentil soup for my blog.

DAY FOURTEEN TOTAL: $27.98

[suckitsurveys]

1 - When was the last time it snowed where you live? Do you like snowy weather or is it just a pain? It snowed Saturday night but didn’t stick. I don’t mind snowy weather when I can just sit and look at it. Shoveling and driving in it is a pain in the ass.

2 - Are you expecting any parcels in the mail right now? Yeah.

3 - How long is it until your birthday? Do you have any plans for the day? 9 months. 

4 - What was the last thing you had to drink? Water. Just realized I didn’t make my morning tea oops.

5 - Do you need to do any laundry right now? Not really.

6 - Who was the last person you got a notification from on social media? Is this person a close friend of yours? On IG, someone I don’t know liked my most recent post. On FB, someone I don’t know liked a comment I left in a group.

7 - Do you regularly buy things on credit? If so, how much do you owe on credit cards right now? I haven’t used my credit card in a while. I owe a lot, but it’s scheduled to be paid a little each month. 

8 - When was the last time you got a call from an unknown number? Did you answer or call them back? OH MY GOD I have been getting SO many calls from unknow numbers lately. I just got one like 20 minutes ago. I don’t call back unless they leave a message.

9 - When was the last time you got off work early? What was the reason and did you do anything fun with your extra free time? I worked from 6am to 2:30pm like two months ago so I could take my nieces to the zoo. I usually work 7am to 3:30pm.

10 -  What do you typically eat for Christmas Dinner? Are you the one who cooks or does a family member do the cooking? We usually have Christmas eve dinner at my dads. He makes ham for sandwiches and I make potato salad. And then we have a spread of apps and sides that people bring. This year were are doing it differently and getting take out Xmas eve and having our usual dinner, sans the brought apps, on Christmas Day with our pod.

11 - What time did you wake up this morning? Did you get out of bed right away? I got up at 7 and brought my laptop back into bed with me and worked there until about 9.

12 - Do you have any plans for the weekend? Are these plans typical for a weekend or are you doing something different? This past weekend I got a tree for my dad’s house and had a Hanukkah celebration at my sister’s. 

13 - Would you like to work a job that involves going in and out of other people’s homes all day? (Like care work, painter, decorated etc.) Not right now, no.

14 - When was the last time you had an injury? Was it a minor cut/scrape or something more serious? What happened? I popped my arm out of place the other day and it hurt really bad. Still kinda does.

15 - Do you ever watch movies or TV shows that require you to read subtitles? I almost always have subtitles on. 

16 - What accents are your favourite? Boston. 

17 - How many people have you texted today? Are these people friends, family members or something else? I don’t think I’ve texted anyone.

18 - Are you any good at DIY? What was the last DIY project you finished? I feel like I made something else recently but the first thing that popped in my head is the DIY Lumpy Space Princess costume i made for Halloween.

19 - When was the last time you had a haircut? When was the last time you dyed your hair (if you ever have)? My sister cut my hair a month or so ago. And I had it dyed in Sept of last year I think. I wanna try that overtone stuff. Maybe I’ll buy some for myself for Christmas.

20 - Do you prefer wearing tight-fitting or loose-fitting clothes? Loose.

21 - Are you currently warm, cold or just right? Is the heating or air conditioning on to contribute to that feeling? I’m comfortable. I have a blanket on me. 

22 - What was the last piece of good news you received? Was it expected? I don’t know.

23 - What colour socks are you wearing right now? I’m not.

24 - Do you prefer hot coffee or iced coffee? What about hot tea or iced tea? I like it all. 

25 - What are some of your favourite Christmas songs? What time of year do you start listening to Christmas music? My friend Ellen and I made a playlist last year. I started listening to it kinda early this year because it brought me some joy. You can listen to all our favorites here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1xFB9opKvGI8LhKCm1MqVg?si=OixUuUy6RLm2ibtz_kbeVA 

26 - If you see cats wandering about in the street, do you stop and fuss them? If they let me.

27 - Speaking of cats, do you own a cat? Are they a particular breed or just a moggie? Would you ever want a specific breed of cat at all? I have three. One is a torti and the other two are domestic long hairs. 

28 - When was the last time you moved furniture around to clean behind or underneath it? Do you need someone’s help in order to do that? It’s been a while oops.

29 - Do you have any medications that you need to take daily? Is this something you’re going to have to do for the rest of your life? No.

30 - Do you know how to start an open fire and keep it burning without using loads of wood? Is this a skill you use on a regular basis at all? I do.

[finn-nelson-for-the-win]

Changing Priority- Chapter 13

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post this when I finished it a few days ago, but the internet at my apartment has been shit, so I’ve been writing and not posting lately. 😬

I swear this was the longest week ever for Rae but a lot happened, thus warranting multiple chapters! I’m not sure that this chapter will be what you’re all hoping for (and I too find myself wanting to give Rae a friendly slap across the face and tell her to pull it together from time to time during this chapter, but I digress) but it was a significant series of events in the grand scheme of things, so try not to hate me too much…😅

Wanna check out all the previous chapters?

Thanks for reading and I’m excited to hear what you all think (also be on the lookout for Chapters 14 and 15 to be posted in the next couple days!)

Just Roll With It

When Rae’s shift was over, she slung her backpack containing the snacks she had purchased earlier that day as well as anything else she thought she may need for her movie night with Izzie and began the walk to Izzie’s apartment from memory, despite having only ever been there once before.

Rae’s mind was still preoccupied with the odd turn of events thus far today—as Rae rarely caught the attention of one boy, let alone three within the span of eight hours—so she was thankful for the crisp January air and the thirty minute walk that gave her a chance to process everything a bit more.

Eric the Barista has been taking my order when I grab coffee from there for months and he always seemed friendly—but not necessarily “flirting friendly”…

I had assumed that to just be part of his customer service persona, but maybe it was flirting all along…

And if I’m being honest, he is quite attractive…long, spikey dark brown hair, olive skin that makes the green in his hazel eyes look much more prominent…tall, lean, and athletic-looking…and a wide and toothy smile that exposes the most perfectly white set of teeth I have ever seen.

Not to mention the tattoos that cover his arms almost entirely from what I can tell and piercings on his nose, lip, and ears that had been one of the first things I noticed about him…

What can I say? I have a type…

But still, I don’t even know him all that well and while I’m flattered by the sudden attention he paid me today, I don’t know what to make of it…

“Ugh, what a prick…” Rae muttered with an eye roll as she quickly side-stepped to avoid a person on a bicycle going the opposite direction on the sidewalk that clearly had no intention of slowing down or swerving to avoid colliding with Rae.

…And what was all that about with Andrew today!? That seemed to come from out of nowhere a bit…

Rae pulled herself from her musings to determine how much further she had to walk before grabbing her cell phone out of her purse and typing a text message while she waited to cross the street.

Rae: So…you’ll never guess who I was talking to today…

Rae: And I’m pretty sure he asked me out (although I did have to politely decline since I already had plans today)

Rae felt her phone vibrate within her hand, but she waited until she was out of the road to read the text she had just received.

Rebecca: OMG WAS IT WHAT’S-HIS-FACE!?! Rebecca: YAAASS GET IT GIRL!! ;)

Rae: Good guess, but nope

Rebecca: Who then!?!?

Rae: Andrew…

Rebecca: Look at you! Stealing the hearts of every male coworker you come into contact with. \(^-^)/

Rae: Hah, very funny. It was just so odd though…like we were chatting a bit and then he asked me to “hang out” and it seemed like a date, but I don’t want to assume that he was asking me out though, you know?

Rebecca: Yeah, I get you. Is that all he said? He’s kind of flirty in nature, so maybe he just meant in a friendly way without the expectation of it being a date, you know?

Rae: Maybe, yeah… Rae: He did compliment my hair, say he misses seeing me at work, and tell me I looked pretty today though…does that change anything?

Rebecca: (-_-)

Rebecca: “Does that change anything?” YES THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING! Rebecca: I suppose that it is possible, although not probable, that he meant hanging out as friends…but I wouldn’t bet on it. I can do a little recon for you if you’d like…

Rae: You don’t have to do that…I guess I’ll just keep an open mind and see if he starts talking to me more or tries to ask me out again.

Rebecca: Ok! Sounds like a plan!

Rae was fairly certain that she was standing outside the door to Izzie’s apartment, but she texted her just to be certain.

Rae: Hiya Izz! I think I’m here…please come outside so I know I’m not awkwardly standing outside some random person’s door xD

Izzie opened the door that lead to a small patio in front of Izzie’s actual apartment and Rae breathed a sigh of relief at finding her mate’s apartment without getting lost at all.

“Rae! How are you?” Izzie exclaimed as she pulled Rae into a tight hug.

“I’m pretty good. How are you?” Rae replied as she followed Izzie through the front door to her apartment.

“Good…excited for tonight, definitely!” Izzie said as she knelt down to open the puppy crates once Rae had shut the door behind her and began to remove her shoes.

“Jupiter…Panther…your favorite person came to visit you two!” Izzie called as her dogs hurried to free themselves.

Rae had her back turned as she took the snacks she had purchased out of her backpack and placed them on the table at one side of the room when she heard the distinct sound of yapping and felt Izzie’s two Chihuahuas leaping against her ankles to get Rae’s attention.

“Hello, my loves! Did you two miss me?” Rae cooed as she leaned forward to give each puppy the attention they were demanding from her.

When the dogs became distracted with fighting over a toy Izzie had thrown on the ground on the other side of the room, Rae walked further into Izzie’s apartment, placing her backpack into Izzie’s bedroom.

“So, Rae-Rae…I know there was talk of watching our favorite childhood movies and playing video games today, but we don’t have to only do that. We can watch other movies or anime or play board games or something, if you’d prefer.“

“It doesn’t matter to me, Izz, I’m up for doing whatever!”

“Okay, cool!”

“Hey, Rae!” Izzie’s older sister, Megan, who Izzie shared this apartment with said as she walked into the living room where Izzie and Rae sat on the couch as they were talking.

“Hi!” Rae replied as she beckoned the dogs that were licking at her now bare feet to leap up onto her lap, which they did without hesitation.

“I’m kind of hungry…are you hungry, Rae?”

“Maybe a little bit…” Rae said to Izzie who was now standing from the couch and making her way into the kitchen.

“Okay, cool. Do you like frozen pizza rolls? We have a huge bag and I can just throw some in the oven for us all to eat…”

“Uh, sure…that’s fine…”

Have I ever had frozen pizza rolls? No…I have not…well, there’s a first for everything, I guess.

“Great! I’ll get them started!”

Rae continued playing with the two dogs who seemed to be enjoying the attention they were getting from Rae, until Izzie let Rae know that the Pizza Rolls were done.

“Izz, can I be honest with you?” Izzie nodded and Rae continued, “I can honestly say that I have never had frozen pizza rolls before this…”

“Really? I feel like that’s almost all we eat anymore if we’re too lazy to cook or get food from anywhere…So, what do you think?”

“Uh, they’re okay…I don’t know that I would buy them to make for myself, but not too bad…”

The three girls stood in front of the counter in Izzie’s kitchen, eating the pizza rolls directly from the tray they had been baked on rather than dirtying plates for this small snack.

They moved their conversation back to the living room when they were done eating and continued chatting about how they had spent their Christmas and New Year’s Eves when after a while, Izzie’s sister stood from the couch where she had been sitting next to Rae and stretched her arms high into the air.

“Izzie, I want to take a shower before it gets too late…can you and Rae walk the puppies while I shower and get ready and then we can watch movies and hang out more afterwards?”

Izzie looked to Rae who shrugged and nodded, and Izzie agreed happily as she went to get the leashes to take the dogs on a walk.

Once the dogs were ready to go outside and Rae and Izzie had both put their shoes back on, they walked outside and Rae was surprised to see that it was already incredibly dark outside.

“There’s a park we take the dogs to right down the street,” Izzie said as she handed the leash for one of the dogs to Rae.

“Great, lead the way!”

When they arrived at the park Izzie had been referring to, she leaned down to unhook the leashes from each dog and they immediately took the chance to run a short distance away to a particularly grassy and well-lit area of the park.

“So…I have a bunch of stuff to update you on with the situation with Finn…”

“Ah, yes you do! I’ve been waiting eagerly to have this conversation for over a week now!”

Rae and Izzie continued walking idly around the park as they watched the dogs run around and play in the grass as Rae informed Izzie of everything related to the situation with Finn, including elaborating more on some of the things that had happened months ago but Rae was never able to tell Izzie about in-detail when Finn would sit by them on a daily basis at work.

“Damn Rae!” Izzie exclaimed once Rae had finished catching her up on everything that had happened in the last couple weeks in terms of the latest shift in dynamic between her and Finn.

“I know…it all seems so crazy, but I guess this is really happening so I think my only choice is to just roll with it and see what happens” Rae replied, still chuckling at Izzie’s response to what she had been told.

“And all of this was happening at work—sometimes when I was only a few feet away from you two—and I hardly picked up on any of this. How clueless am I?” Izzie asked with a shocked laugh.

“It’s hardly your fault…prior to the last week or two, Finn was generally pretty subtle about his flirting, except for the sniffing incident and a few other things that you were already aware of. But now? I don’t know…I feel almost like he’s just said ‘fuck it’ and decided that there was no use being coy with his flirting. Don’t get me wrong, I dig it, but I still don’t know if I should make a move or wait for him to make the first move, you know?”

Izzie had reattached the leashes to each of her dogs’ collars and she and Rae began walking side-by-side back to Izzie’s apartment.

“We’re back!” Izzie called to her sister as she and Rae walked through the front door of her apartment after letting the dogs off their leashes for them to run inside on their own.

“Okay, I’m just finishing up now,” called Megan from behind the closed door of her bedroom.

“So Rae, do you wanna watch a movie now? Or play video games? Or we could play a board game, if you’d like…” Izzie asked

“It’s up to you guys, I’m fine with doing whatever…”

“Oh, Izzie! I know what we can do! We can play LCR! It’s perfect because we finally have 3 people to play the game with…” Megan said as she came into the living room from her bedroom whilst towel drying her hair.

“What’s ‘LCR’?” Rae asked, but it did not seem like anyone heard her.

“Oh my god, yes! That’s perfect! We should totally play LCR!” Izzie replied, leaping from the couch and walking across the living room toward her bedroom.

“Hey…guys…what is ‘LCR’ and how do you play it?” Rae asked again, this time a bit louder to ensure that she would be heard.

“It’s a game of chance where you roll dice and bet money or something like that. Do you have any money to bet with?” Megan replied as she moved a small coffee table into the center of the room to serve as the table for them to play the game on.

“I don’t think I do…I think I only have my card with me today, sorry.”

“No problem! Hmm…what can we use instead…” Izzie replied as she returned to the living room with three labeled dice, setting them down on the small table.

“Alcohol!” Megan suddenly exclaimed.

“Really? You want to bet with alcohol?” Rae asked, slightly surprised to hear Izzie’s sister suggest that as Rae had never known Izzie to be a very frequent drinker.

“Yeah! We could make it into a drinking game and do shots of vodka instead of betting with money or whatever…” Megan said as she grabbed a nearly full bottle of vodka from the kitchen and set it down on the table alongside the labeled dice.

“Are you alright with possibly getting a little drunk tonight, Rae?”

“Izzie! Do you really even have to ask? I’m always fine with drinking and getting drunk, let’s just be honest here…” Rae replied with a casual chuckle as she continued scrolling through social media on her cell phone.

“Great!” Izzie and Megan replied with a laugh.

“So how is the game going to be played?” Rae asked as she set her phone to the side and grabbed the dice off the coffee table to examine them further.

“So basically, we each start off with three shots of vodka in front of us. We then take turns rolling these three dice and each of them have L, C, R written on each side which stands for Left, Right, and Center. And then we just do whatever the dice tell you to when you roll all three…it sounds a little confusing, but I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it, Rae!”

Rae was still utterly confused, but the idea of unwinding with Izzie and her sister and getting drunk was enough incentive for her to follow along to the best of her abilities until she figured out how the game was played.

“What kind of vodka do you have?” Rae asked as she returned the dice to their prior position on the table in front of her.

“Uh, regular? I guess…It’s not flavored or anything…do you want to try some before we get started to see if we want to use some other type of alcohol?” Megan replied as she held up the blue bottle of vodka for Rae to get a closer look at.

“Yeah, I’ll try some, I suppose. Thanks Megan!”

Izzie’s sister grabbed one of the shot glasses she had placed on the rectangular coffee table centered in front of the couch and poured it full of vodka before handing it to Rae with extreme caution not to let the vodka splash over the top of the decorative shot glass.

Megan proceeded to pour Izzie and herself a shot as well and Rae sniffed the vodka, trying to remind herself what to expect from drinking straight alcohol opposed to the wine and mixed drinks Rae had grown accustomed to more recently.

“Salud!” Rae declared as she lifted the shot into the air ceremonially—clinking glasses gently with Izzie and Megan—before bringing the glass to her lips and swallowing the entire shot in one go.

Rae winced slightly as the shot went down her throat, burning more than anticipated but not unbearably so. Looking around, Rae was amused to see that the other two girls were having much more difficulty with their own shots and they opted to sip their shots rather than drink it all at once.

“So…? Is vodka alright with you?” Megan asked while trying to gauge Rae’s response after having finally finished her own shot.

“Yeah…that’ll do just fine.” Rae said with a chuckle.

“Ugh, why is alcohol so nasty? Megan, do we have anything to drink with it? I forgot what it’s called…” Izzie asked as she struggled to remember the term she was looking for.

“A chaser,” Rae replied, immediately knowing what her mate was referring to.

“Yeah! Do we have any chasers?” Izzie added, giving Rae smile for helping to remind her of the word she was drawing a blank on.

Megan walked into the kitchen and perused their pantry and refrigerator, taking stock of what they had that could serve as potential chasers.

“Uhh…water…soda…pink lemonade?”

“I say pink lemonade, but you two can do something different if you’d like…” Izzie replied after considering her options.

Rae opted to use the lemonade as a chaser as well, although she was completely aware that she could drink the vodka without needing a chaser.

Megan brought the pink lemonade and three cups from the kitchen and poured half a glass for each of them before setting the container of pink lemonade on the ground beside her.

“I don’t have nine shot glasses for us each to have three, so I’m just gonna use a shot glass to measure shots into other cups, okay?“

Izzie and Megan began pouring and distributing the shots until there were three in front of each girl.

“Okay! Rae, since you’re the guest here, you can go first. Just roll all three dice and then we can help you figure out what you’ll have to do with your shots, if anything, alright?” Izzie said as she gave Rae a reassuring nod after noticing Rae looking at her with an eyebrow quirked up in uncertainty.

“Alright…here goes nothing…” Rae took all three dice into her hands and shook them around a bit before dropping them onto the coffee table and accepting the fate this game of chance bestowed upon her.

Wait…does this mean what I think it means…?

“Uhm, what do we do if you roll a dice and get the ‘C’?” Rae asked with hesitation evident in her voice.

“Normally you’d put your bet into the center of the table, but for our purposes, if you get a ‘C’ you have to take a shot,” Megan clarified.

“Why? What did you roll, Rae?” Izzie leaned over to get a better look at the dice on the coffee table in front of Rae and burst out laughing.

“Holy shit!” Megan add, having leaned over to see what Rae had rolled as well.

“No fucking way…” Rae said as she looked down at the three dice in front of her to see that each of them had landed on the C, which meant that Rae had to take all three of her shots before the next person could take their turn.

“Well, there’s not use prolonging the inevitable, ladies,” Rae shrugged and grabbed the first shot glass in front of her, lifting it in the air as she did the prior shot and announcing, “Salud!”

Izzie and Megan lifted their glasses of lemonade and called out “Salud” in response and Rae took her first of three shots.

“Blegh…okay, one down and two to go…Salud…and, salud!” Rae took her two shots almost back-to-back and followed with a generous sip of pink lemonade to ease the burning in her throat and rid her mouth of the unmistakable flavor of strong alcohol.

“And, I guess we’ll just go counterclockwise now, so Izzie, it’s your turn…” Megan said with a smirk, jumping at the opportunity to be the person rolling the dice last.

The three girls kept playing until Izzie won the game—having done the least shots by the time all the shot glasses had been emptied.

Rae had indubitably taken the most shots and she was not feeling the effects of the alcohol until she stood to grab the charger for her cell phone and very nearly lost her balance.

How many shots did I even have? 1…2, 3, 4…5…6…7…was there more? Oh…and then number 8, which was the final shot of the game that indicated that Izzie had won…

The vodka was catching up to Rae and despite having her contact lenses in still, her vision was blurred to the point that she would have guessed otherwise. Rae could not remember the last time she had drank that much alcohol in such a short period of time, but honestly, Rae felt…great.

As the other two girls gathered the collection of now empty shot glasses and cups, Rae settled into the couch where she was sitting and opened Snapchat on her phone.

Okay, Rae…you look really pretty today, so let’s take some selfies to document this rare occasion, yeah?

Hmmm…okay, that filter is cute, but what should I caption it..?

Rae added the simple caption of “Fun night with great people” to the selfie she had taken using the pink flower crown snapchat filter and posted it to her Snapchat story.

She was still taking selfies and trying to convince herself that she wasn’t that drunk—but she was—and that she didn’t look as drunk as she was feeling—but she did—when she heard Izzie rummaging around in the kitchen.

“Rae-Rae, if I make popcorn, will you eat it?”

Oh, I don’t like popcorn…

“I mean, yeah…maybe a little bit, but only if you’re already making it, Izz”

Izzie hummed in response and returned to the living room a few minutes later with a large glass bowl full of microwave popcorn. After handing the popcorn to Rae and taking a handful of the fresh popcorn from the bowl Rae had set down on her lap, Izzie grabbed the remote to put on something for them to watch.

“Do you want to watch a movie or anime?” Izzie asked as she turned on the TV that was mounted on the wall.

“Uh, yeah…that’s fine…” Rae replied distractedly while typing quickly on her cell phone, earning an eye roll from Izzie.

Rae stared straight ahead at the TV—not paying attention to what she was watching so much as just zoning out and being only vaguely aware that she was in fact watching something—while munching on popcorn in the bowl resting on her lap. She was not sure how long had passed, but Rae soon realized that she was alone in the living room and Izzie’s sister was calling Rae’s name from another room.

“Raaaeeee….Rae-Raaaeeee…yoo-hoo, where are youuu?” Megan drunkenly sing-songed.

“I’m in the living room…” Rae called in reply, her voice more slurred than she would have liked.

“Come and join meeee…I’m so lonely in here all by myself here in the kitchen,” Megan whined, her voice sounding even more slurred than Rae’s did as she dragged out most of the words she was saying.

Rae stood carefully from the couch and placed the bowl that had previously contained popcorn onto the coffee table before slowly walking into the kitchen to see Izzie’s sister laying on her side on the floor.

Megan used a hand to pat the kitchen floor behind her, inviting Rae to join her on the cold laminate floor. Rae shrugged and eased herself into a laying position on the floor behind Megan.

“Raeee…let’s take a snapchat videooooo!”

Megan opened up Snapchat on her phone and began recording.

“I’m soooooo drunk! Say hi, Raeeee!!”

“Hey girl, heeeyyy!”

“Yay for being drunk!”

“Woooo-hoooo!”

Rae and Megan remained laying on the floor in the kitchen until Megan quickly bolted forward, barely making it to the garbage bin near her before emptying the contents of her stomach along with the few shots of vodka she had drank.

“Ugh…I’m such a lightweight…” Megan said once she was confident that she would not get sick again as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and sat back down on the laminate floor of the kitchen.

“I’m just gonna get some water…” Rae stood up from the floor where she was sitting and grabbed a cup to fill with water.

Rae gulped down the entire glass of water and set it back down on the kitchen counter before her legs gave out from under her and Rae slid smoothly down to a seat position on the ground.

“He’s so handsome…” Rae said seemingly out of nowhere.

“Who is?” Megan asked, clearly confused by Rae’s sudden exclamation.

“And he’s so sweet and I love talking to him…and I just never know what to expect from this boy…but best of all, he likes me! Me…as in me, Rae, me!”

“Who’re you talking about, Raaaeee?”

“Oh! I know…I’ll show him to you!”

Rae crawled over to where she had left her phone when she was lying on the ground a short time ago and entered her password correctly on the third attempt as she crawled back to where she had been sitting on the kitchen floor with her back propped against the refrigerator.

Rae tapped the icon for the Instagram app and went to her recent search history and found the Instagram account she was looking for at the top.

“This is him! Isn’t he so nice to look at?” Rae turned her phone toward Megan so she could see what Finn looked like, but Megan was lying flat on her back on the kitchen floor with one arm blocking the light out of her eyes.

“Oh my! He posted this picture of him shirtless a couple days ago and you can see all his tattoos. I just wanna touch’em…like I have touched his tattoos before, but I wanna touch them even more…and here, he is on stage with his punk band when they were playing some shows back in December. Did you know he missed me while he was traveling with his band? ‘Cause he did and when he came back he told me so and it was so cute…holy fuck! Finn posted a picture of the cupcake I gave him and he used a bunch of heart-eye emojis in the caption where he also wrote ‘This girl certainly knows the way to my heart! Mondays aren’t so bad when there are sweet treats from a sweet girl to enjoy’…Why did I not look for him on Instagram sooner!?!”

Rae continued scrolling through Finn’s Instagram account and was surprised to see how many of the pictures were in some way linked to her or brought back memories of a conversation she had had with Finn at some point in the last three months.

When she had scrolled long enough that every post was over thirty weeks old, Rae’s stomach dropped at the sight of numerous pictures of Finn and his ex-girlfriend, Stacey.

Wait…THAT girl is his ex? She’s perfect! She’s thin and blonde and pretty and they look so cute together.

Why did they break up?

And who broke up with who?

She’s not THAT attractive…

…who the fuck am I kidding!?! She’s so adorable and tiny and cute and I fucking hate her even though I’ve never met her and they are fucking adorable together and…

She’s so cute! Why would Finn ever flirt with someone who looks like me when he had someone like her?!?!

Why did I think he could like me? And why did I let everyone trick me into thinking that he could like me when the truth is this obvious…he’s an 11 and I’m a 4 on a good day with the right lighting and angles…

He has to know how much his flirting has been stringing me along, right? These last three months have just been some sick joke that went too far and now I’m the punchline of the joke.

Why would Finn do this? Why would anyone do this? Why? Why? Why?

Rae had not realized this but as she continued to scroll through more pictures of Finn and Stacey going back to when they first began dating her breathing became uneven and she now found herself crying and hyperventilating as she kept scrolling.

Her breaking point was a picture of Finn and Stacey sitting beside a pool with her bikini-clad body nestled against the side of his body and she was kissing his cheek as he took the photo and Rae lunged forward as quickly as she could, throwing up in the trash as she still struggled to slow her tears and regulate her breathing.

The sudden wave of nausea having passed as quickly as it came over her, Rae rinsed her mouth with water from the sink and sunk back down to the floor with her head tilted back against the refrigerator and her phone out of arm’s reach.

“Are you two alright? I heard someone getting sick earlier and then just a bit ago…” Izzie said as she came into the kitchen from another room, and Rae realized for the first time in a while that she had no idea where Izzie had snuck off to while Megan and Rae sat in the kitchen.

“I threw up a while ago and Rae just got sick. I’m okay now, how are you Rae?”

“Good now as well…I don’t know what came over me…” Rae quickly realized that neither Izzie nor her sister were aware of the self-inflicted panic attack she had after getting too engrossed in stalking Finn’s Instagram, and she decided it best for them to assume that it was the alcohol that had made her sick and not her latest epiphany about Finn and how disgusted Rae knew he would be if he ever found out that she had thought that the two of them had potential as a couple.

Rae continued sitting on the floor of the kitchen in silence and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of Izzie’s conversation with a friend that she had called shortly after Izzie checked on her sister and Rae.

“I just love you so much! You’re so beautiful…no, I’m serious! You’re beautiful and perfect and I love you and I want you to always know that, okay?” Rae overheard Izzie saying too loudly into her cell phone.

“C’mon, Rae…let’s get to bed. I don’t know when Izzie will finish, but she can just join us when she is done on the phone…”

Megan helped pull Rae to her feet and Rae was initially surprised at how quickly Megan had seemed to sober up.

Well, I suppose it makes sense that you can sober up much faster after 3 shots and throwing up twice shortly afterwards…

Meanwhile I had almost triple the amount of alcohol she had, almost all the shots with very little time in-between, and the vodka had been rotting in my belly for much longer and that did not seem to change dramatically even after I got sick.

Rae followed Megan to her bedroom and slipped under the covers of the California King-size bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

***

Rae awoke a couple hours later with a massive headache, but her full bladder seemed to be a more pressing matter as she disentangled herself from the blankets and made her way into the bathroom attached to Megan’s bedroom.

When Rae walked out of the bathroom, she saw Megan sitting upright in her bed.

“Are you feeling okay, Rae?” Megan asked, her voice still thick with sleep as she rubbed her eyes slightly.

“Yeah, I just woke up and really had to pee…”

“Okay, come back to bed, then. It’s freezing cold outside of these blankets!” Megan said as she sunk back down under the pile of blankets on her spacious bed.

Rae walked back to the bed and climbed back under the covers as well before retrieving her cell phone from underneath one of the pillows she had slept on.

Wait a second…why can I see right now?

Ugh, fuck! I never took my contact lenses out last night!

Rae tried to ignore the discomfort she was feeling in her eyes long enough to check the time on her cellphone when she pressed the power button on the upper right side of her phone.

6:26 AM

Ugh, fucking hell…

“Hey, Megan are you awake and sober enough to drive me to my apartment?”

“Right now?” Megan said with a groan.

“Soon at least…my shift at work starts at 8 and I want to shower and try to sober up a bit more beforehand…”

“Yeah, I should be fine to give you a ride to your apartment now if you’d like, let me just put some shoes and warm clothes on…”

Megan pulled on a pair of sweatpants over her pajama bottoms and a thick coat and slipped on a pair of sneakers before grabbing her car keys and leading Rae in the direction of her car to give Rae a ride back to her own apartment.

“Thanks for the ride, Megan. Izzie works today, I think, so tell her that I’ll see her at work later, okay?” Rae said as she collected her backpack from the floor of Megan’s car.

“Will do! Good luck at work, Rae. I hope you had fun last night because I know that Izzie and I did!”

“Yeah, I had a lot of fun! We’re gonna have to do something like this again sometime. I’ll see you later, yeah?”

Rae waved goodbye to Megan after getting out of her car and hurried up the steps in front of her apartment as much as she could with the dizziness and headache that was beginning to set in as Rae realized exactly how hungover she was.

As soon as Rae was back in her bedroom, she removed her clothing that she had been wearing all day yesterday and that she had slept in—since when Izzie invited her over to hang out Rae had no way of knowing that she would end up getting drunk and spending the night at her apartment—and jumped into the shower with the water set to the coldest temperature that Rae could withstand.

When Rae was fairly certain that she had to get out of the shower if she intended to make it to work on time, she quickly turned off the water and dried her body and hair with a towel before padding barefoot into her bedroom and throwing on the nearest clean clothes that were in a pile on Rae’s bed.

Rae brushed her teeth as quickly and thoroughly as she could to remove the lingering taste of vodka in her mouth and took a moment to observe her appearance.

Rae had deep purple shadows beneath her eyes from lack of sleep over the past week. Rae had been so caught up with work, making plans with friends, and preparing for the new semester of Uni to begin the following week that she couldn’t recall the last time she had gotten a decent night’s sleep that wasn’t following an evening spent drinking—whether it be alone or with friends.

Her eyes were still irritated from sleeping with her contact lenses in, so Rae decided that it would be best to wear her glasses to work today to avoid causing her eyes any further discomfort.

Ugh, I hate wearing my glasses…it just reminds me of what it was like when I was younger and the time before Uni, which are a lot of memories that I do not wish to relive.

The thick, black frame of Rae’s glasses helped hide some of the shadows beneath her eyes, but she could still clearly see the exhaustion and pallid coloring that resulted from the night spent heavily drinking.

I am never going to drink again…

Rae sped out of her apartment and walked briskly to work, desperately hoping that she would not be late to work but having no way to check the time as she had left her cell phone charging in her apartment because she did not foresee needing it at work today.

To Rae’s relief, she walked through the doors to the office with a little more than five minutes before her shift began and she instantly perked up when she saw Rebecca sitting at a table in the break room, waiting until it was closer to the start of her own shift before entering the main part of the office.

“Rae! Good morning! You look incredibly tired…” Rebecca said as she waved Rae over to join her at the table where she was sitting.

“Hey, Rebecca! Tired, a little…but more than anything, I’m a bit hungover,” Rae replied sheepishly as she took a seat.

“Rachel Earl! How irresponsible…showing up to work hungover after a night of drinking and being a hooligan!”

“I know, I’m awful!” Rae replied with a chuckle.

“Did you see mine or Izzie’s snapchat stories?”

“Not yet…should I…?” Rebecca asked, already unlocking her phone to open up her snapchat app on her cell phone.

“Yes”

“I’m watching them now…oh my god…that’s amazing! Rae, you look so cute and drunk in all those pictures and videos!”

“Thank you, I think…I’m quickly realizing that I’m not so much a ‘drunk texter’ as I am a ‘drunk snapchatter’…there are like twenty different conversations from last night that I have no memory of initiating, so I’ll probably have to deal with that a little later, huh?”

“Yeah, probably. You didn’t do anything too crazy while drinking last night, did you?”

“That sort of depends on how you define ‘crazy’ I suppose,” Rae began but quickly became distracted by the concerned look on her friend’s face.

“Oh no! What did you do, Rae?” Rebecca asked seriously, although there was an edge to her voice that indicated she was more interested in hearing more than critical of Rae’s actions.

“Well, I ate an entire bowl of popcorn…and I hate popcorn,” Rae continued after laughing about this with Rebecca, “and I, uh…maybe…kind of, sort of…Instagram stalked what’s-his-face as you call him and ended up crying hysterically and having a panic attack on Izzie’s kitchen floor…”

“Aw, Rae! Why would you Instagram stalk him, especially when drunk? And was it something that you found while stalking that upset you?”

“I don’t really know, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but perhaps that was just the eight shots of vodka doing the thinking for me…”

“Wait, did you say eight shots of vodka? Like shot-shots or shot glasses full of vodka? Because you do realize that a shot glass filled to the top is more than one shot, so if you had eight shot glasses, it was probably closer to twelve or more actual shots!”

“Well fuck…”

“Rae!” Rebecca chastised halfheartedly before chuckling and motioning for Rae to proceed, “sorry about interrupting you like that, carry on with what you were saying before…”

“So yeah, drunk Sarah thought it’d be okay to stalk his Instagram and drunk Sarah stumbled across some pictures of what’s-his-face’s ex-girlfriend and the negative thoughts set in…”

“I’m sorry, Rae. Now that you’re less influenced by the alcohol, are you still really upset about it?”

“Not so much, especially not as bad as I was at the time last night…right now I’m just confused and so unsure about what to make of the situation.”

“Yeah, I can see how you’d feel that way. Just take your time thinking it all through and if you need anything from me along the way, just let me know, yeah?”

“I will and thanks, I appreciate that…Well we should probably head inside and get to work now…” Rae said as she slowly stood up from her chair with a slight groan.

“Yeah, you’re probably right…Good luck at work and I’ll be sure to come over and check on you when I can and you can come over and chat if you get the chance too, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan!” Rae replied as both girls scanned their badges at the machine on the wall and went their separate ways.

Rae took a seat between Archie and Hannah and began logging into her computer as a massive yawn took her by surprise and concluded in a groan when she was reminded of the headache that she had nearly forgotten about up until that point.

“Hiya Rae…from the sound of that yawn-turned-groan, your ‘fun night with great people’ may have been a bit too much fun knowing that you had work the first thing the next morning, huh?” Archie said with a cheeky smile when Rae continued logging into her computer.

“Good morning, Arch. So I take it that you saw my snapchat story last night…” Rae replied with a nervous chuckle.

“That’s a very astute observation. Yes, I did see your snapchat story…and Izzie’s snapchat story…and the various snapchat messages and selfies that you sent me from last night until early in the morning. What did you two girls do?”

“Wait…I sent you snapchats? I don’t even remember sending you anything! What did I send you?”

“A few selfies with different filters, a picture of a bowl of popcorn, a video of you eating said popcorn and watching something on TV…I think you were watching anime…Do you really not remember any of that?”

“Oi…I am so, so sorry about that Archie! I remember all of that, I just don’t remember sending any snapchats! To you or a number of other people, but my recent snapchat activity is telling a different story!”

“No need to worry, Rae, I took screenshots and saved everything you sent me so you can relive it all over again!”

“Ugh…” Rae groaned as she hung her head forward until she rested her face directly on the cold surface of her desk in front of her.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Rae! Do you want something for your head or some coffee or anything? Getting some food into your belly to soak up all the alcohol should help too…”

“I should be fine, I think…” Rae said without lifting her head from her desk, but Archie rolled his eyes and locked his computer before standing up from his desk and walking out to the break room.

When Archie returned a few minutes later, he placed a bottle of orange juice and a granola bar he had purchased from the vending machine on Rae’s desk and dropped a few tablets directly into one of her hands.

“For your head…I know this isn’t much of a breakfast, but you should still eat it…It’ll make your shift today a lot less miserable, I think.”

“Thank you, Archie. I really appreciate it!”

“It’s nothing really, Rae. But I must ask, what kind of shenanigans did you and Izzie get up to last night?”

“Well…she had invited me over for video games and movie night…which quickly turned into a dice game to be played with money, but we didn’t have money…we had alcohol. And I was either really good at the game or really bad at it, depending on what my end goal was!”

Archie and Hannah were laughing at Rae’s stories from the prior night and she joined in when she realized how quickly their innocent plans of children’s cartoons and video games had unfolded and led to her being at work at 8am with the third worst hangover of her life.

A couple hours later, Rae looked up to see Izzie scanning her badge at the machine on the wall and walking to take a seat at the desk behind Rae.

“Rae-Rae! I’m so glad to see you made it to work today. I woke up a bit before Megan came back from driving you to your apartment and I didn’t know where you two had disappeared off to at first.”

“Yup, I made it! And you sure do look well-rested and cleaned up well this morning…” Rae replied with a slight eye roll as she saw Izzie’s refreshed appearance in comparison to her own exhausted and tired self.

“Yeah, I had some time to take a shower and get ready after I cleaned up some of the mess behind from the popcorn and all the cups and shot glasses we used.”

Izzie got logged into her computer and they all continued working for a few hours as the radio in the background played an eclectic mix of music from the 80’s until today and Izzie and Rae recalled random details and memories of the previous evening that were slowly coming back to them and falling into place.

When is was Rae’s scheduled break time, she had barely locked her computer and turned away from computer screen in her desk chair when she noticed that Rebecca had the idea to come chat with Rae on her break as well.

“I was just about to go say ‘hi’!”

“It looks like I beat you to the punch then, I guess!” Rebecca quipped as she gave Rae’s shoulder a playful shove.

“Oh, you all will never believe what happened yesterday morning…” Rae said loudly enough for all of her coworkers that she had been chatting with thus far in her shift to hear her.

“What happened, girl?” Rae heard Finn ask and she immediately whipped around in her desk chair to see Finn walking toward the recently vacated desk beside Izzie and taking a seat in the chair without breaking eye contact with Rae.

“Oh, hiya Finn…”

“Well, don’t stop the conversation on my account, Rae…unless you don’t want me hearing it..? I didn’t mean to intrude on your conversation, honest!” Finn mumbled, suddenly trying to backtrack and apologize for interrupting the prior conversation.

“No, no worries, Finn. I just forgot what I was going to say and needed to remember it. So, uh, yesterday I went to the little café across the street…”

“Yeah, I saw you when you were standing outside the café, don’t you remember me telling you that?” Finn asked with a smirk.

Rae ignored the raised eyebrows she was receiving from a number of her friends and nodded before proceeding with what she was going to tell her coworkers.

“Well yeah, but when I was in the café…one of the baristas gave me coffee for free…and we were chatting a bit…”

“Oooh, look at you, Rae! Wooing the baristas and getting all kinds of freebies just by flirting a bit!” Peter exclaimed while giving Rae an exaggerated wink.

“Wow, Peter! That’s really mature…it probably wasn’t like that at all. The barista was just trying to be nice and earn some good karma by giving a repeat customer a free drink, right Rae?” Finn said as he turned towards her to confirm what he had said.

“Yeah, maybe…but then again, I’m pretty sure he was hitting on me…I’m not quite sure, because he’s always been a pretty nice guy…but he wrote a little note on my cup and he’s never done that before.”

“Aww! That’s so sweet of him to do, Rae!” one of Rae’s coworkers gushed, but Rae was too preoccupied with watching Finn sulk and turn around in his chair with a huff as he logged into his computer and got to work to determine who it was that was speaking.

“He also offered for me to skip the line whenever I go there if he is working, but I don’t know how to feel about all of that, you know? I just feel like if I let him be really friendly like this and he is flirting with me, it may be leading him on or taking advantage of him because I don’t see him like that, you know?”

Rae quickly glanced toward Finn and noticed that he had perked up slightly after overhearing what she had said and he was now turned slightly toward them in his chair, his interest in the conversation piqued again.

“Honestly, I’d just roll with it. Coffee is really expensive and lines for coffee can be so long, so it may not be the worst thing if this barista’s little crush on our Rae-Rae helps you get the occasional free coffee or a fast pass in the line. I’m not saying give him false hope, but just be nice and keep things platonic and see if he makes any attempts to change things while you are trying to determine what he is trying to get from the relationship…I don’t know though…That’s what I would do, but I don’t want to make any decisions for you, Rae” Rebecca said as she processed the entire situation and gave her input.

“No, I think that’s a good idea too and I appreciate getting another point of view on the topic,” Rae replied with a smile.

Rebecca’s break was nearly over so she waved goodbye to Rae and Izzie before returning to her side of the office building and taking her seat beside Andrew.

Rae turned around in her desk chair as well to get back to work when she noticed Finn clearing his throat behind her and she turned again to see why he was trying to get her attention.

“Oh, Rae! I just wanted to let you know that I think you look really pretty when you wear your glasses. I like how you look without glasses too, of course, but your glasses just kind of frame your eyes and make them look even more beautiful…so yeah…” Finn smiled nervously as he ran his left hand through the hair at the nape of his neck like he often did when he spoke to Rae.

It seemed to Rae like he had used every bit of confidence he possessed to tell her this, which Rae found incredibly endearing and she made no efforts to hide the blush and genuine smile that spread across her face upon hearing Finn’s compliment.

“Thanks, Finn. That really means a lot to me, especially coming from you.” Rae turned in her seat to face her computer and she could not contain the smirk that was spreading across her face when she saw Archie smiling and raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Ha! Stacey, who?

She’s his ex for a reason and she’s in the past…but am I his future?

@eveerez @tinakegg @hey1tskat1e @bitchesbecrazy89 @kneekeyta @milllott @protectfinnnelson @arathewallflower @jackiewalsh2013 @pink-royaute @i-dream-of-emus @lurkernolonger @bitchy-broken @nutinanutshell @mallyallyandra @borntosik​

A/N: Hellooooo! Only 2 more chapters to go before a critical point in this story line and a sorta small announcement I’m gonna make at the end of the week…Which is kind of exciting and kind of nerve wracking hahah...

I know that the dice-game-turned-drinking-game in this chapter could be a little confusing, so here is a link with some basic info and basically instead of the chips mentioned in the wiki page, my friend and I used shots of vodka…so basically: L (pass a shot to the left), R (pass a shot to the right), C (take a shot), and any other sides you don’t do anything and we just kept taking turns until all the vodka was gone. Much like Rae, I was either really good or really bad at this game, depending on what the end goal was hahaha 😅

[szopenhauer]

Does your current shampoo has a specific scent? it smells like nettle

Have you had a headache at any point recently? yes

When was the last time you took painkillers? months if not years ago

Has there recently been a thunderstorm where you live? yup

Do you recall the last time you saw a spider anywhere in your house? I see one now *shrug*

Are you afraid of spiders, or do they not really bother you? as you can guess they don’t bother me 

Is there a beverage that you drink more often than anything else? water

Do you enjoy any films with Nicole Kidman in them? nah

In the last 7 days, have you worn make-up? noooo

How long have you been sober? my whole life besides this one time I was drinking absynth with John but I didn’t get drunk 

Do you think you are an argumentative person? maybe

How’s your heart lately? physically or emotionally?

Do you still talk to the person you lost your virginity to? -

Is it harder to be rejected or to reject someone else? to reject someone because it’s your decision to make (it can be wrong) and you’re hurting somebody with it, every strategy to do so feels bad

What is the best thing about your current job? no job!

Have you been on a date in the park? sure

Do you like pulp orange juice? I hate pulp

Do you prefer the tanning bed or the sun? sun

Were you single on your last birthday? I’m always single on my birthday

Name something you dislike about the day you’re having? ugh... many things

Do you hate the last person you kissed? I don’t hate her

Where is the last person you kissed? shopping

Who was last to cook for you? parents

Who is the last person that texted you? my gf

What are you going to do next? play Choices, finally!

Will you regret your next kiss? hope not :o

Who was the last person you gave the finger to? not sure who was last nor if it was serious or playful

Are you the oldest? youngest

Do you know the difference between a vegan and a vegetarian? of course and I like vegetarians but hate vegans

Would you prefer to go out on a fancy date or just chill in her house? chill

Do you enjoy long car rides? if there are stops to pee and stretch legs

Do you own a laptop? I wish

have you ever slept​ on the floor​?​ yep do you still​ talk to the perso​n you fell the harde​st for? even currently lol who is your last text from?​ her :P ​what color​ shirt​ were you weari​ng when you had your last kiss?​ mostly white

would​ you kiss the last perso​n you kisse​d again​?​ obvi have you ever slept​ in the same bed with the last perso​n you kisse​d?​ layed only is there​ someo​ne who you can spend​ every​ minut​e with and be happy​?​ I need some time alone! are you keepi​ng a secre​t right​ now? nah was it a boy or a girl to text you first​ today​?​ girl last time you saw firew​orks?​ New year’s eve  three​ days in a hotel​ or nfl game ticke​ts?​ hotel would​ you rathe​r watch​ footb​all or baseb​all?​ I’d rather not  how do you calm down when you'​re extre​mely angry​?​ depends are your frien​ds with any of your ex boyfr​iends​/​girlf​riend​s?​ because she’s my gf again, elseway I wouldn’t be able to somet​hing you just don'​t under​stand​?​ stupidity what was your worst​ mista​ke in your life?​ just one? can’t choose have you ever kisse​d someo​ne whose​ name start​ed with the lette​r e? nope who was the last perso​n of the oppos​ite sex you had a conve​rsati​on with?​ dad have you ever worn the oppos​ite sex'​s cloth​ing?​ I own some stuff that were bought in male section of stores is the last perso​n you hugge​d older​ than you? they’re my parent so... do you like to make the first​ move?​ might have you ever laugh​ed so hard you cried​? especially this year thx to Gosia will you be up befor​e 7 am tomor​row?​ I wanna sleep in 

have you ever used a belt bag/fanny pack? hated those but thrifted one last month to carry my meds in it and it’s cute - 80s themed and all

are you the one who usually breaks up with your significant other or is it them that do the breaking up? I do the breaking up  where did you go the last time you rode on a train? Ełk is your wardrobe color coordinated? pfft when was the last time you wore something with polka dots on it? the only thing like this that I own is probably my red leggings  what is your favorite animal print? not a fan but don’t mind in small amount? is there a song in which you prefer the acoustic version as opposed to the original? don’t think so have you ever been in an on-and-off relationship? sorta did the last shirt you wore have buttons on it? noooo are you friends with any of your significant other’s exes? funny thing is I was friends with my almost gf’s lover who told me about her lying do you and your best friend share the same favorite color? me and my gf both like black and my dad likes yellow which of your parents is older, your mother or father? mom

where is your favorite place to buy hoodies? second hands would you rather have an analog clock or a digital clock? digital, I can’t read analog :x

if you lived in bikini bottom, would you go jellyfishing with spongebob and patrick?  why not? what kind of shaving cream do you use? I shave without cream if an unknown number calls you and says, “who is this?” what do you say? why are you calling someone you don’t know? what’s the most you would pay for earrings? I don’t use those so... unless it was going to be a gift then dunno if you could be a guest star on the office or house, which would you choose? The office 

what would happen if you were suddenly in bed with the last person who texted you? ;) do you want a relationship? I’m in one

if you were 12 and you could see yourself now, would you be disappointed? omg I imagined it now and that’s sooo sad :( do you know your mothers birthday? I forget the days but I know my parents’ months, I suck at dates do you like texting? mhm who was your first text this morning? my gf  are you starting to realize anything? sigh... can you remember the last time you really liked someone? this summer is your hair longer than your shoulders? no would you run down the street naked if it meant earning $15,000? probably do you have any text messages that you don’t want other people reading? absolutely can you live a day without tv? I don’t watch tv for months  do you really know how heartbreak feels? I know could you forgive someone who slept with your boyfriend/ girlfriend? what about forgiving my gf first?... who was the last person to touch your stomach? besides me? my gf 

how does it make you feel looking at pics with your ex and someone else? weird why are you doing this survey and not something else? because!

do you get really annoyed at sex questions? might, depends did you ever join a gym to look hot and get back at an ex bf/gf? what a lame reason if you’re not in college, why? several reasons

be honest. you love the beatles, don’t you? I don’t care for them do you own a studded belt? used to how many pairs of shoes do you own? *shrug* do you watch spongebob? at times what high school did you go to? it’s personal do you like surveys? very

you are chosen to have lunch with the president. the condition is you only get to ask one question. what do you ask? I wouldn’t go what do you think captain hook’s name was before he had a hook for a hand? captain hand[s]

rock, paper, or scissors? hmm... how long was it from ‘the first date’ until the proposal of marriage? how long until the wedding? I’m not married nor even really engaged which is worse, being in a place that is too loud, or too quiet? too loud is worse everyone hears discussions that they consider boring. what topic can put you to sleep quicker than any other? I’m more annoyed than bored with specific subjects  how many times did it take you to pass your drivers test? I haven’t taken it if you had to have the same topping on your vanilla ice cream for the rest of your life, what topping would you choose? no topping you are offered an envelope that you know contains $50. you are then told that you may either keep it or exchange it for another envelope that may contain $500 or may be empty. do you keep the first envelope, or do you take your chances with the second? take a chance and lose if you had to choose, which would you give up: cable tv, or dsl/cable internet? tv - easy what kind of lunch box did you have as a kid? I remember that it had Pooh on it but then I had a transparent plain one  what would you rather have, a nanny, a housekeeper, a cook, or a chauffeur? cook of chauffeur would you rather be trapped in an elevator, or stuck in traffic? traffic, less dangerous lets say a brick fell on your foot, and your kid is standing right next to you, what is your ‘cleaned up’ swear word? I wouldn’t care about them hearing me swear, honestly

ever been torn between 2 people? not in love, just friends/family issues do you think a lot of people think bad things about you? I know they do because they heard lies about me

ever liked someone who was in a relationship? I didn’t know that they were do you wear shoes in your house or take them off? slippers  you love math, right? umm... when you watch movies at home, do you like the lights on or off? on or dimmed did you cry today? not so far which is unusual do you have to check in with your parents before you go someplace? I do have to  will tomorrow be better than today? hope so do you find smoking attractive? nah

can you honestly say you’re okay right now? nope do you tend to waste a lot of money? not a lot  are you asian? not even partially whose hoodie did you wear last? mine has someone recently told you something you didn’t want to hear? ugh... are you satisfied with what you currently have in life? I’m sorry but I’m not  you go home with a hickey, what does your mother say? oh God... are you currently talking to/​​​​​​​​​​​texting/​​​​​​​​​​​instant messaging anyone? I am have you ever liked someone older than you? not much older have you held hands with anyone lately? yep where is your phone? in front of me as always

do you like polaroid photography? yup

is there a friend of yours who curses nonstop? who would that be? my gf says CHUJ a lot

don’t you hate when you put lyrics as a status and everyone comments it asking what it means / why it’s your status? no one comments  what do you usually do to let your feelings out? post on tumblr, talk, cry, listen to music, write letters, play games, go for a walk... do you think boys notice things more than girls? or vice versa? it has nothing to do with gender are you participating in project 365 (you take a picture of you/something everyday of the year and post it)? nah do you have a flickr? if so, post the link. I don’t post anything there, not actually even going there anymore like with instagram am i the only one who would go to the ends of the earth to see their favorite band perform? I’m definitely not that kind of person, sorry to inform you do you think it’s dumb when a band smashes their instruments, or do you find it totally radical? dumb do you feel like you need some inspiration, or are you totally inspired right now? I lack motivation, not inspiration