#called my younger sibling and said hey I have pizza can you drive me to urgent care

[alice-makes-things]

In honour of the two-year anniversary of my biggest dyspraxia fail, here’s the x-rays from that time I broke my toe because I was excited about pizza

[ray-ray-writings]

Defending Family-Technoblade, Wilbur Soot, and Tommyinnit

This is a Brother!Technoblade & Brother!Wilbur Soot &Brother!Tommyinnit x gn!reader. This is not in the dreamsmp but it is in the SBI AU where Philza is the father of Wilbur, Technoblade, Tommy and in this imagine, Y/N! In this, Y/N is younger than Wilbur and Techno but older than Tommy

When Y/N hears the school bully talking shit about their family… Well it’s no surprise when that bully gets hit. 

Y/N’s POV

“Y/N! Wake up!” The annoying voice of my even more annoying brother sounded as a pillow smacked me in the face waking me from my sleep. My eyes shot open and I made contact with Tommy’s blue eyes, “Ow Tommy! What the hell?!?” I exclaimed, sitting myself up, rubbing the bridge of my nose trying to ease the throbbing pain. Tommy simply threw his head back and cackled before bolting out of the room. 

I let out a sigh before throwing the blankets off of me before getting out of bed to get ready for the day. It didn’t take long. I stripped off my PJs and threw on a random outfit before making my way to the bathroom to do my business. As I was brushing my hair, Tommy pounded on the door, “HURRY UP Y/N! I need in there!” He yelled from the other side of the door. I rolled my eyes and yelled back, “You should have thought of that before you woke me up! You can wait!” Tommy continued to knock on the door, annoying me even further. 

Finally, once I was done, I swung the door open causing Tommy to stumble forward. I smirked as he caught himself and looked at me in annoyance, “Finally!” He let out, walking further in while I walked out. “Shut up,” I responded, the door slamming closed behind me. 

I made my way downstairs to the kitchen where I found my father over the stove and my two other brothers sitting at the kitchen island waiting for my dad to finish making breakfast. “Good morning,” I beamed, sitting on the stool in between Wilbur and Techno causing everyone to turn to me for a moment. Dadza grinned at me before going back to his skillet, “Morning honey, how’d you sleep?” “I slept fine. I would have preferred a different wake up call though,” I answered, rolling my eyes at the thought. My older brothers both let out laughs as Dadza sighed, “What did he do this time?” Dadza questioned, turning around, bringing the pan with him. “He smacked my face with a pillow and yelled at me… Nothing new, but still not something preferred.” Dadza nodded as he scooped eggs from the skillet onto the plate before me. He then proceeded to turn and also place a pancake and a couple slices of bacon on my plate as well. “Thank you,” I thanked sincerely, picking up my fork and knife, digging in. “Anytime kiddo.” 

As the three of us ate, footsteps bounded down the stairs behind. “Morning,” Tommy called, sitting on the open stool next to Wilbur. “Morning,” the three responded. Dadza moved quickly and filled Tommy’s plate with breakfast before moving to fill his own. “Sleep well Tommy?” He asked, sitting on the one stool that sat across from us. “Yep! Had an amazing dream where I married a hot woman and then I woke up and smacked Y/N in the face to wake them up. Pretty Pogchamp morning,” Tommy babbled, his mouth full of eggs as he spoke. Dadza made a face of disgust, “Please don’t speak with your mouth full Tommy. And please stop smacking your sibling in the face to wake them up, you know they hate it.” “Oh I know they hate it. That’s why I keep doing it,” Tommy announced, smirking at me from the other side of our brother. “If Wilbur wasn’t here right now, I’d smack you,” I hissed, glaring at my little brother. “But he is and so you can’t do anything,” Tommy teased, sticking his tongue out at me. I looked up to Wilbur, my eyes pleading at him to do something. Wilbur got the message and raised his hand and smacked the back of Tommy’s head, causing him to yelp. “Hey!” “You asked for it!” 

“Kids! Kids! Please, can we just have a calm morning for once?” our dad slightly pleaded. I let out a deep breath and nodded, “Anything for you dad,” I muttered before shoving more pancake into my mouth. Tommy huffed, but also went back to his breakfast. “Now that that’s over, what are you doing today?” Techno questioned, looking to our father. Philza smiled at the change of topic, “Well there are a few new clients at work that I have been in charge of so I’ll mostly be pretty busy all day. I’ll be home in time for dinner though, do you guys want me to pick something up or can you handle it.” Before Tommy or I could ask for pizza, Techno and Wilbur spoke up at the same time, “We can handle it.” I couldn’t help but huff and slightly pout. I really wanted pizza. 

I didn’t have time to dwell on it though because an alarm went off causing the four of us kids to jump into action. The alarm was set in order to get us out of the house because if we didn’t leave at that specific time, we would be late for school. Techno and Wilbur no longer went to high school, they both graduated three years ago. But the two still took us to school everyday so Dadza wouldn’t have to worry about it. Wilbur was the only one that could drive, and as much as he hates to admit it, Techno hates being left alone so he always came along. 

The four of us finished the food on our plates, placing them in the sink. “Bye Dadza,” I chimed, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek before heading to the door. I could hear the other three doing the same before they joined me by the door. I slipped on my back pack, Tommy doing the same, before exiting the house and piling into Wilbur’s car. The ride to school consisted of Wilbur, Tommy, and I screaming along to whatever music was playing, and Techno pretending to be annoyed by the three of us. 

“Alright. Get out,” Wilbur demanded, putting the car in park outside the front of the high school. “Thank you Will. Bye Tech! Love you both!” I chimed before getting out of the car. “Bye Y/N, love you too” They responded before I shut the door. Tommy echoed what I had said, getting the same response before he closed his door as well. Wilbur drove away leaving Tommy and I standing there. “Come on Tommathy” I stated before walking toward the entrance of the school. “Don’t call me that” Tommy demanded, but followed close behind me. I threw my head back in laughter and shook my head. “I’ll do what I please thank you.” 

Once we were inside, Tommy and I went separate ways. He went to his locker to meet up with his best friend, Tubbo and I went to mine meeting up with my best friend, Sapnap. Sapnap and I became best friends due to our brothers. Dream and George were pretty good friends with Wilbur and Techno and when they went places Dadza sometimes forced them to take me with them so he could take care of Tommy. Dream and George would in turn bring their younger brother, Sapnap, so that we would stay out of their way. We grew very close through all the hang out time and it was like I had yet another brother. 

“Hey dork,” I greeted my best friend as I opened my locker. “Hey loser. Have a good night?” He greeted back, leaning against the locker next to me. I hummed and nodded at his question, “Yeah, it was pretty good. Did you get the math homework done?” I asked, closing my locker and turning to him. A panicked look over took his face, “We had math homework?” I couldn’t help but laugh at my best friend’s forgetfulness. “Yes we did. And lucky for you I did it… Yes you can copy it.” I answered his unasked question. Sapnap immediately relaxed. A chuckle escaped his lips as he slung an arm around my shoulder, “You’re the best.” “Yeah, yeah.” 

Together the two of us made our way to our first class, but a familiar voice caused me to stop in my tracks, “Come on man. Just give it back!” It was Tommy. Sapnap gave me a confused look as I turned around and marched toward the sound of my brother’s voice. My blood began to boil at the sight in front of me. There, in front of my brother, stood Chad, the school bully. In his hand was one of Tommy’s most prized possessions, his music disc. That was the last thing that our mom gave to him before she passed. He loved it so dearly and was very careful with it. Why was it here and why the hell does Chad have it? 

“Oh what? You gonna cry about it? Cry like you did when your mommy died?” Chad taunted, holding the disc close to his chest. It didn’t take a detective to tell that Tommy’s eyes were welling with tears. “Please, just give it back,” Tommy practically begged, holding his hand out. “Oh I’ll give it back alright. I’ll give it back in pieces.” Chad brought the disc out and put both hands on it. Before he could begin to bend it, I snapped. “HEY!” I shouted, stomping up to the three boys, Sapnap following behind me. Chad stopped what he was doing, surprised at the new voice, but the smirk returned to his face once he recognized who it was. “Well, looky at what we have here,” He taunted. Paying no mind to his taunt, “Give me the music disc. Now.” I demanded, glaring at the boy. Chad simply threw his head back and laughed, “No, I don’t think I will.” 

“You’re a jerk Chad,” Sapnap spoke up, momentarily distracting the bully, allowing me to rip the disc from Chad’s hands. “Hey!” He let out, his head whipping back to me. “Here Tommy,” I spoke gently, handing the possession back to its rightful owner. Tommy carefully took it before wrapping it back up and sliding it carefully in his book bag. “Thanks Y/N” Tommy thanked quietly. “Anytime Tommy. Let’s go boys,” I demanded before slightly pushing Tommy and Tubbo so they would walk in front of me. 

“That’s right! Run away! Just like your father did when things got tough!” Chad called from behind us. His words caused me to stop in my tracks. “What did you just say?” I hissed over my shoulder. Chad simply smirked and crossed his arms, “You heard me, your father’s a coward. So are your other brothers. Wilbur and Techno? Yeah they’re freaks and you’re just like them,” He responded smugly. I felt a tug on my arm. I looked back in front of me and found Tommy standing there with an extremely worried look on his face. “Come on Y/N. It’s not worth it.” I let out a deep breath before nodding and taking a few steps forward once more. 

As I was walking, a force shoved me from behind causing me to stumble, “That’s right, walk away.” For the third time today, I stopped walking. A smirk covered my face as I slid my backpack off of my back. I mean hey, he started it by pushing me. “What? Did I make you upset? What are you-” I didn’t let Chad finish. 

In one swift motion, I turned on my heel and punched Chad in the face as hard as I could. Chad stumbled back in utter shock, his hand coming up to cover his nose. When he pulled his hand back, it was covered in blood. “You punched me!” He shouted incredulously. “You punched me in the face!” “And I’ll do it again!” In one quick moment, we both rushed forward at each other. Punches were being thrown left and right. A few landed on me, but I didn’t care. The only thing I cared about was defending my family. 

At one point, I stomped on Chad’s toes causing him to lose balance and I pushed him to the ground on his back. I dropped on top of him, straddling his chest and just began wailing on him. “Y/N! Y/N stop! You’ve got him! Stop!” Someone yelled from behind me. I didn’t care to listen to them, the sight of Chad helpless under me too much to pass up. As I wound up for another punch, my arm was being pinned to my side and I was pulled off of the bully. “Let me go!” I screeched, trying so hard to wiggle out of the person’s arms. They turned me around to face them and grabbed my shoulders, shaking me slightly. “Y/N!” It was Sapnap, “It’s over. You knocked him out. It’s done!” His words finally hit me and I stopped fighting in his arms. 

I looked over at Chad and noticed his eyes were closed and his face was bloody and beaten. I looked down at my hands and found them also covered in blood and my knuckles were busted and would surely bruise. I also knew from the feeling that my face was also covered in blood. I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at what had just happened. Sapnap looked at me like I was actually crazy. I gave him a little shrug, “Oops.” “Y/N MINECRAFT! TO THE OFFICE NOW!” 

So there I found myself sitting in the principal’s office, holding an ice pack to my knuckles. Tommy, Tubbo, Sapnap had given their testimony as to what had happened to the principal before they were sent back to class. Chad was still laid up in the nurse’s office. He was waiting there until his parents could come. They had informed me they had to call my parents as well. I begged them not to call my dad, I knew today was a big important day for his business. The secretary, who knew me very well and knew I was a good kid, agreed and instead called my big brothers to come pick me up. That almost made me more nervous than if my father were to pick me up. 

It didn’t take long for Wilbur and Techno to show up. Neither of them looked at me when they walked in, which caused a pit to form in my stomach. The principal gave them a very brief description as to what had happened, just that I had got in a physical fight and was suspended for today and the next two days. “Let’s go,” Wilbur muttered as he passed me, walking out the door, Techno following behind him. I scrambled up quickly, wishing the secretary goodbye before following my brother’s out the door. 

The car ride back home was deadly silent. The radio wasn’t even on. Wilbur and Techno didn’t talk to me or each other the entire ride. Wilbur pulled into our driveway, parked, and killed the engine. He remained in his seat though, and didn't make a move to get out of the car, causing me to remain seated as well. “This isn’t like you, Y/N. What the hell happened?” Wilbur asked quietly, not turning to look at me. “He took Tommy’s disc,” I murmured quietly. “What? Speak up,” Wilbur demanded, looking at me through the rear-view mirror. “He took Tommy’s disc!” I spilled, getting it off my chest. “He took Tommy’s disc and wouldn’t give it back. So I got it back and then when we were walking away, he made fun of dad and you two and Tommy pulled me along, but then Chad shoved me so I turned around and punched him. When he continued to come at me, I fought him. I knocked him out. But he deserved it. He can’t just make fun of you and Techno and dad and Tommy and get away with it and-” “Y/N!” Techno interjected, cutting me off. “Yeah?” I asked, kind of breathless. “He took Tommy’s disc? And then made fun of our family? And proceeded to shove you?” Techno questioned, making sure he understood the story. I nodded, “Yeah”

There was a brief moment of silence before Techno broke out in a laugh, causing Wilbur to grin. “Well good on you then!” Techno cheered, belly laughing. “You’re not mad?” I questioned, still a bit hesitant. Wilbur let out a sigh and shook his head no, “I was at first… Well maybe not. I think I was more surprised than anything. We’ve never had that problem with you and it shocked me to the core to get that phone call. If anything I thought it would be Tommy first.” We all had a laugh about that. “But hearing you did that to defend us. Our family. How could I be mad at that?” 

Wilbur took off his seatbelt and got out of the car, causing Techno and I to do the same. As I got out, Wilbur scooped me up in a big hug. Techno quickly made his way around the car and joined our hug. “I’m so proud of you for defending yourself and your family. Although, next time I would prefer it if you did it without the violence,” Wilbur claimed, pressing a soft kiss to the top of my head. “I wouldn’t. The more violence the better!” Techno chimed in. Giggles escaped my lips at that, of course he would say something like that. “I think I’ll try and lay low for a while. Although now everyone knows not to mess with Y/N Minecraft!” The other two joined in my laughter. “Come on Y/N. Let’s get you cleaned and bandaged up and then we’ll go for ice cream.” Wilbur said, pulling away from the hug and dragging me toward the house. I raised my eyebrow as we got inside, “It’s 8 in the morning?” Wilbur shook his head and rolled his eyes as he sat me down in the kitchen, Techno leaving to get the first aid kit. “There is never a wrong time for ice cream”

There you have it! I hope you enjoyed! If so, please be sure to leave a like!!

[astonmartinii]

lemonade and star-crossed lovers, p1 (JJ Maybank)

Warnings: none yet, swearing? all core characters are aged up to 18, Rafe is 21. 

JJ Maybank x kook!reader (super super slow burn) (this will hopefully be a series) 

WC: 4.0k 

Growing up, Y/N always heard jokes about how the eldest daughter was just the mum in a different font. She never used to believe it, but that was when she had present and dedicated parents. Now, it just seemed that with every addition to the Miller family, the less interested Kevin and Julie Miller became. 

So here Y/N was, practically a mother to her three younger siblings. 

Dylan is only a year younger than Y/N but is no less of a hassle, especially when his useless friends decide to crash at their place. But considering they had the most hectic house of Dylan’s friendship group, the Miller household was usually the last option. 

Then there’s Anderson, he’s in his rebellious phase currently, getting to that point where he’s figured out that acting out could maybe get the attention of his parents. Though Y/N wasn’t sure how well his plans were working out. 

Peach is the youngest and practically attached to Y/N’s hip. To an untrained eye, Y/N often looked like a teen mum as she took Peach with her to the grocery shopping. In fact, Y/N was sure that if the kooks in Figure Eight didn’t know her family, they’d sneer at her with the same ignorance that clouded their entire lives. 

Y/N woke up glad - it’s the last day of school. Summer break looms. The idea of boneyard keggers and hot (but equally clueless) tourons, excited the girl. But she knew her summer reality would be looking after Peach, bailing Anderson out of jail and swatting away the affections of Dylan’s stupid friends. 

—————————————

Dylan is already awake when Y/N comes knocking, taking extra close care to his hair. 

“Oh, you’re up,” Y/N said, moving to ruffle his hair and grab the empty plate on his bedside cabinet. 

“Jesus, fuck Y/N, was that really necessary?” 

“Hey maybe if you spent more time on assignments than your hair you wouldn’t have to take so many summer classes - oh yeah, mum might not remember, but I do, and you will be going.” 

“But it’s summer, surely it’s a violation to my human rights to go to school.”

“I’m sure you’ll survive, and maybe when you finally pass this year, you’ll thank me. Breakfast in 10.” 

Dylan just flips his sister off, going back to admiring himself in the mirror. 

Y/N next goes to Peach’s room to find her awake and rummaging through her draws. 

“Hey, princess, what are you thinking for the last day? Third grade finished already, you’ll be my age soon, wheeling me into the retirement home.” 

Peach erupts into giggles, pulling out a little pink summer dress and grabbing her pink sandals to complete the ensemble. 

“All pink, we love. Breakfast in 10, alright, don’t want you to be late for the last day.” 

Anderson’s room is last, Y/N doesn’t bother knocking on her parent’s door. Kevin is probably already down on Judy - his beloved boat. The room is typical of a 14 year old boy, it stunk, his weed paraphernalia was badly hidden and there was a lump of pillows under the cover instead of a boy. 

Shrugging, Y/N picked up the dirty mugs in his room and moved downstairs. She’d been awake nearly an hour now but was still unsure of what to make for breakfast. Opening the fridge gave her the only possible answer, leftover pizza from the previous night and maybe a porridge pot, though considering there were only two siblings to account for, it would do. 

Dylan and Peach joined her in the kitchen shortly after, each taking a slice or two of pizza. 

“No Anderson and pizza for breakfast? Watch out, we'll be calling CPS as soon as we’re outside.“ 

“You don’t know where the bug is? Why does that boy insist on giving me early onset cardiac issues?” 

“Don’t take it too to heart, I’m sure he’ll turn up by the second period.” 

“Okay, go to school now. Dylan, are you okay to drop Peach off, I’ll pick her up.” 

Dylan nods and ushers the youngest out of the door and to his car. Y/N lets out a sigh when she sees them leave the driveway and makes her way to the back door. Through the sliding door she can see her dad, Kevin on Judy instructing John B, the kid who worked on the boat, what to do. Y/N puts two slices of pizza on a plate and grabs an apple and ventures out to the dock. 

“Morning Y/N.” 

“Morning, John B, can I interest you in an apple? It’s all we have I’m afraid.” 

“No worries, any breakfast is breakfast when you’re a pogue.”

“Oh John B, you know I don’t believe in all that sub-par class warfare bullshit.” 

“Of course you don’t, but that’s very easy to say when you’re on the other side.” 

“Touche.” 

Y/N doesn’t say anymore, but moves to give her dad his breakfast. She liked John B and hoped he didn’t see her like the other kooks. Sure Rafe Cameron frequented her house, but she’s nothing like him. 

“Thanks, squirt.” 

Despite the nickname, Kevin was absent as ever, not moving to look at her. 

“You’re children are off to school, don’t worry.” 

Silence. 

“Oh thank you Y/N, I really don’t know what we’d do without you! You’re such a gem, you’re really unappreciated and we don’t deserve you! Thanks dad, I really needed to hear that. Are you coming later?”

“Where?” Kevin grunted, with pizza in his mouth. 

“My graduation? Did you forget that was today?” 

The awkward silence was enough of an answer for Y/N. 

“Sorry squirt, I promised to go to the mainland to pick something up for your mother.” 

With that, Y/N stormed off Judy, towards the house and into her room. When she sat down on her bed she could think about what just happened. She knew her parents didn’t care about her, but missing their first child’s graduation for a small errand to the mainland? 

Now that the house was quiet again, she could get ready - she was graduating today and as valedictorian she wants to look her best. Julie, her mum, is in Washington on some mysterious job venture, Y/N wasn’t told until she came down in the morning a few days ago and saw Julie with her suitcases. She guessed that one positive of her parents’ absenteeism is her ability to steal Julie’s expensive jewelry to wear. 

Y/N looked in the mirror, she did clean up nice when she wanted to. Her lengthy hair is in a half-up, half-down style, with minimal makeup and a red knee-length dress. The dress hugged her figure and complemented her graduation gown perfectly. Too bad none of her family would be there to see it. She knew deep down that Peach and Dylan would’ve attended if possible, and Anderson would maybe even make an appearance, especially if there was food involved. 

Y/N put her matching red heels on and grabbed her cap from her closet. After one final look in the mirror and putting her printed speech into her bag, the young girl made her way down the stairs. 

To her surprise, none other than John B sat in her kitchen drinking a glass of water. 

“You clean up nice kook,” said John B, a smug smirk on his face. 

“Thank you, John. Don’t you have graduation today?” 

 “Eh, yeah. I’m just going for the food though, school isn’t really my thing…” John B looked closer at her cap. “I’m practically the opposite to you Miss Valedictorian”. 

“Hmm, well at least someone in this house noticed, thank you John B. I’m going now, I didn’t notice your van out front, you need a lift to yours?” 

“Is that really on your way, wouldn’t want Miss Valedictorian to be late to her own event, you got a speech ready?” 

“I do as a matter of fact, but I want to be just on time, minimise the time people have to ask about the whereabouts of my parents. So, do you want a lift or not?” 

“Sure thing, Miss Valedictorian.” 

Y/N doesn’t acknowledge the nickname, but secretly loved it, it was a joke, but at least someone was appreciating her achievements. Peach would, she knows, but she’s not really at the point of understanding what it means and the others really are wildcards.

She led John B out to her small car, a baby blue Beetle. The boy smiled at her choice in car, 

“I’m sure that a kook like you could afford better than this.”

“Don’t insult Shelby in her presence, weren’t you ever taught manners? Now get it and give me directions.” 

The drive was fun, not that John B would tell Y/N that. He enjoyed her music choice, Mac Miller blasting from her speakers and the windows were fully rolled down, damned be her hair. 

Y/N neared the chateau and came to a stop. There were a few people sitting on the porch, looking over in confusion. 

“Yo, what’s with the kook-mobile, John B?” The blonde yelled from his seat on the beaten-up couch. 

When John B only turned to Y/N to say thank you, the interest peaked on the porch. The little gang of pogues moved towards the car. 

“John B, I didn’t realise your job came with a taxi service, why did I have to drop you off this morning?” The blonde, once again. 

“Lay off JJ, this is Y/N Miller, she’s the daughter of Kevin, the guy whose boat I work on. She’s on her way to her graduation and offered me a lift.” 

“Since when are kook graduations on the Cut?” The other boy interjected. 

Y/N decided to speak up, “if I knew an act of kindness would cause so much strife, I’ll just let you walk home next time. Now, I do have somewhere to be, so it was nice to see you, John B. I'm sure I’ll see you again this week.” 

“Bye Miss Valedictorian, good luck with your speech,” John B said, getting out of Shelby. 

“You’re the valedictorian?” Kiara finally spoke, face shocked. 

“Yeah, surprising what happens when you show up for school right?” Y/N snapped, angrier than she intended. 

“Oh yeah, sorry. I guess I thought that maybe Sarah would get it, especially if Ward has anything to do with it.” Kiara grimaced, she didn’t mean to offend the Miller girl. 

“You can’t buy the valedictorian title, well I’m sure you could, but not to flex, but my grades were miles better. If we’re being really ironic though, Ward technically does pay for the valedictorian,” Y/N said with a smile, not meaning to brandish her academic success in their faces. 

A chorus of “huhs?” from the pogues surrounding her car told Y/N that they weren’t catching her drift. 

“I’m Ward Cameron’s assistant. Sorry, I didn’t make that very clear.” 

“You have a job, but you’re a kook?” the blonde, JJ, said. 

“Yes, blondie, some of us do have to look out for ourselves, didn’t your parents tell you not to judge a book by its cover. I’ll see you around. Bye John B.” 

Y/N backed out of the road, heading back to Figure Eight, with her graduation starting in 10 minutes, she had massively overstayed her welcome at John B’s. If she weren’t so busy, Y/N always thought she’d like to be friends with John B and his crew, they had an unmistakable family bond that Y/N craved. She loves her siblings but they are still grappling with the idea of give and take, mainly fixating on the taking aspect. 

Y/N pulled up to school, and took out her phone, dropping a text to Anderson pleading with him to at least make it to two classes today. Even with her phone safely away in her bag, Y/N couldn’t quite bring herself to get out of the car. Happy families surrounded her everywhere she looked, she couldn’t handle the stares when she walks in alone. Well, it’s now or never she says to herself. 

Walking isn’t as bad as she suspects, Mr Morgan, her English teacher, meets her at the door and takes her to her seat, explaining the mechanisms of the ceremony and when she’ll make her speech.  

The hall, however, is the reminder that Y/N was dreading. The two seats she had booked for her parents sat empty, standing out like a sore thumb in the packed hall. She made her way to the student section with her head down. However, before Y/N could sit she was apprehended by an excitable Sarah Cameron. 

“Y/N! Hi! I heard you’re valedictorian, well done! I don’t know how you managed, with all the work and your siblings, you really are amazing.” 

“Thanks, Sarah.” 

The words sting, despite their pure intentions. She’s a kook, she shouldn’t have to work, and she should have parents who care for her and her siblings, but some things just aren’t meant to be, clearly. Y/N sat in her assigned seat and willed the ceremony to go fast, though she wasn’t looking too forward to her speech. The diversion to the chateau meant that Y/N had no time to look over it again. 

The ceremony started and the hall quietened down. Principal Stoney started her opening speech, basking in the spotlight when the hall door bursts open and interrupts. In the doorway stands Anderson. His hair is disheveled and the clothes are torn, probably from the nightly activities with the skateboard he held in his hand. The boy scanned the hall, eyes falling on the empty seats with the name Miller and then Y/N herself. He gives her a small wave and pushes past the Figure Eights families to the seats. 

Principal Stoney just restarts, a slight bewildered look on her face. 

When it was time for her speech, Y/N didn’t even feel real, like she floated to the stage and was possessed. Her speech went well from what she could gather, Mr Morgan gave her a thumbs up and Anderson hollered, much to the dismay of the families around him. But he was even worse when she received her diploma. 

As families spilled onto the field for fancy food and photo opportunities, Y/N wrangled Anderson to the side before he could raid the food stalls. 

“Anderson, what the fuck? First you didn't come home last night and then crash my graduation?” 

“Hey, I’m sorry about last night, me and the boys got carried away skating and I crashed on Oscar’s couch. I’m sorry, I should’ve called. And as for now, you think I’m going to let my smart-ass VALEDICTORIAN sister graduate without anyone being here to holler? You’re dead wrong.” 

The sentiment fills Y/N’s heart with joy and tears threaten to spill. Anderson’s never been good with feelings, it was nice to know that he did care. 

“Mum and dad can go fuck themselves, if they don’t see how great you are then they’re blind.” 

“Thanks, bug. It means a lot. Now don’t eat too much, people are probably already annoyed that you’re here.” 

Anderson shrugs, he couldn’t care less what they thought, he was here to eat and show off his sister. 

“Congratulations Y/N!” 

The voice of Y/N’s boss, Ward Cameron, was easily identifiable. Y/N puts on her confident face and turns to see the whole Cameron brigade, minus Wheezie. 

“Thank you, Mr Cameron.”

“You know, I just don’t know how you get it done, working for us and dealing with your siblings…” Rose says, the last part fading out as she watches Anderson walk back to his sister with his arms piled high with fancy horderves. 

“It’s tough, yeah, but what wouldn’t you do for your family?” 

“Of course, of course, sorry for any implications, where is the old man, I know Julie is off on business, but Kevin has to be proud, I didn’t see him in the hall?” Ward’s voice feigned sincerity, but the Miller siblings saw right through it. Before Anderson could respond, Y/N replied. 

“Dad is also doing business on the mainland, at the last minute. He’s devastated, really,” it's not convincing, even to her. Y/N can tell she hasn’t convinced the Camerons either. Sarah gives her a sad look, Rose attempts to mirror her step-daughter but fails, Ward looks slightly smug, like he’s trying to hide it but Rafe doesn’t even try to hide it like his dad, a massive smirk on his face. 

“What are your plans for the summer Miller?” Y/N is surprised when it’s Rafe who asks the question. 

“Well, I’ll be working for your dad, if he’ll have me, I still have my volleyball coaching in the tourist season and there’s never a dull moment with these around,” Y/N puts her arm around Anderson. 

Looking for a quick exit, she looks at her watch. 

“Oh, if we go now, you can still catch your last two periods. Kids, am I right?” She gestures at Rose and Ward, “we’ll be off now, I’ll see you next week?” 

The Camerons nod as Y/N pulls Anderson away and towards the car park. But before they can fully escape, they’re stopped by Mr Morgan. 

“You think you can leave without a photo and a proper goodbye, I didn’t think you were that kind of girl, Miller.” 

“Of course not, Mr Morgan, here,” she hands Anderson her phone, “take a picture please.” 

Anderson does so, taking about 50 at once. 

“Okay, okay, let's get one of you two, you can’t not have a proper graduation picture, especially not when you’re valedictorian.” 

Mr Morgan takes the phone and smiles at the siblings. When the impromptu photoshoot ends, Y/N is glad, despite it pushing back her escape. 

“Y/N, on a serious note, you are always welcome in my classroom, you’ve been a pleasure, and don’t tell anyone, but you were my favourite. And you, I hope you’ll be just as good next year sir,” he says turning to Anderson, “although considering you’re here and not in class doesn’t bode well.” 

“Thank you, sir, really. But you are completely right, and that’s why we’re bouncing now, so he can get two at least two periods.” 

Mr Morgan smiles at the two when they start to run to the car. He’s always felt sad for the eldest Miller, and her parents absence did not go unnoticed. 

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

“I’ll see you later, I know you guys will probably crash a kegger, but at least come home before you go?” 

“Yeah, yeah, okay, who knows maybe I’ll see you there?” 

Anderson laughs and gets out of the car, he knows his sister won’t especially when Peach will be home. Y/N watches him go into the building and stays a couple minutes to make sure he doesn’t sneak back out when he thinks she’s gone. 

But Y/N barely gets time to breathe, as she’s down to the elementary school to pick up Peach. The girl in all pink is waiting with a gaggle of friends and shrieks when she sees the blue car. 

“Y/N! Y/N! I got the “most improved” in drama!” 

Y/N opens the door and picks up Peach, spinning her round and congratulating her. 

“Well done, bubs. This calls for a celebration, it’s the first day of summer and the boys won’t be out for another couple of hours - what do you want to do?”

Peach doesn’t even need a second to think. 

“Lemonade stand!” 

Huh? Y/N was prepared for an answer closer to maybe a princess party or surfing lessons, but a lemonade stand? 

“Are you sure?” 

“You said we could do whatever I want!” 

“Okay, okay, let’s go then we’ve got a lot to do.” 

Satisfied with getting her way, Peach got in the car and demanded that the next stop was the craft store. 

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

The next 90 minutes were gruelling. Peach spared no expense, Y/N was lucky that she still had the credit card Julie gave her. But she knew it would all be worth it. And it was. 

Peach chose a spot right in the middle of the beach and the stall was already making a profit. Y/N knew kooks just couldn’t resist the temptation to look good and what was better than giving a generous tip to a child’s lemonade stand? 

But with a successful kook-trap came the kook assholes. Namely Rafe, Topper and Kelce. 

“Three lemonades please. Apricot, right?” Rafe said with a smirk. 

“You know it’s Peach asshole.” 

“That’s a bad word, Y/N,” Peach mumbled, clearly upset about being called apricot of all things.

“Yeah that’s a bad word, Miller, you should listen to Apricot a little more.” 

“Maybe, you should listen to your college professors, oh wait, you dropped out, my bad, must be a bit of an open wound judging by the look on your face. I bet daddy wasn’t impressed.” 

“Excuse me, you bitch, how dare you talk to me like that.” 

“Run along, lap dog, we don’t need your money.” 

Rafe goes to say something but Topper and Kelce hold him back. 

“Bro, don’t get it shit with your pops over a fucking lemonade,” Topper warned. 

With a final “fuck off”, Rafe Cameron stalked away to his car, his gang of cowards following, but not without Topper placing a crisp $20 bill in the tip jar. Peach mumbled and thank you and Y/N just nodded to Topper, too tired to say anything more. 

And if her afternoon couldn’t get any worse, the prickly blonde from this morning strolled over to the stand. 

“I’ll have four lemonades please.” 

Peach gasped and accepted his money right away, getting to work on the drinks. 

“I’ve seen many a kook-trap in my time, Miller, but not many operated by Kooks themselves. Impressive ingenuity.” 

“Thanks - JJ, was it? Peach here won “most improved” in her drama class and this is what she wanted to do in celebration” 

“Cute, Miller, didn’t take you as a softy earlier.” 

Peach announces that she’s finished with the pogue’s drinks, he puts another $5 in the tip jar and grabs the drinks. 

“Miller, there’s a kegger at the boneyard tonight, wanna come? I’m sure at least one of your brothers will crash.” 

“Sorry JJ, someone’s gotta look after the little one, maybe another time, if you can stand being around a kook for that long.” 

“I think I can make an exception, especially if they look like you Miller,” he winks, “boneyard tonight, if you change your mind.” 

Y/N blushed, but she knew she couldn’t, she couldn’t leave a nine year old at home, even if Kevin was there, there was no guarantee that Peach would be fed and given adequate attention. 

“He’s pretty, you should go.” 

“Peach, honey, you know I can’t, I can’t leave you at home.” 

“But I could go to Jenny’s, she’s having a sleepover tonight, I forgot to ask earlier, I got too excited about the lemonade stand.” 

“Okay, you can go to Jenny’s, but promise not too much candy?”

“Only if you promise to go with him tonight.” 

Peach was proving to be just as mischievous as her brothers. 

“Okay fine.” 

“Go tell him then.”

“Huh?” 

“I won’t believe you unless you go tell him now that you'll be there!”

 Y/N groans, but gets up to follow the blonde. As she nears, she shouts, 

“Hey JJ! I’ll be there tonight, at the boneyard, I’ll be there.” 

“Didn’t take too long for you to change your mind then, am I just that irresistible?” 

“No? What? Of course not! It’s just Peach - she’s a master manipulator, and she’s only nine!”

“Sure, Miller, if that’s what you want me to believe, I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”

Y/N turned, she should cringe, but she finds herself blushing as she walks back to Peach. 

“Don’t say anything, missy, you’ve done enough, let’s pack up and get you ready for Jenny’s. You young ones are such troublemakers, damn.”  

A/N: I am not American, so I hope that the graduation stuff makes sense, from someone who has no real clue what happens there lol  

[mybillyhardgrove]

The Language of Love s.h.

A/n: another one! love language is such an endearing idea to me… plus, I need to show steve more love lol

ps. i mentioned watching movies too much lmao

Disclaimer: i don’t own any Stranger Things material

Word count: 3125

Warnings: a couple curses (par for the course at this point)

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Reader (female)

Summary: after being with Steve for a while, it has become clear how he shows his love for you

Words of Affirmation

You couldn’t stop shaking your leg or gnawing on the skin of your bottom lip on the drive over to the Wheeler’s house. You looked over at Steve when you heard him laugh a bit under his breath. “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, nothing.” You nudged his shoulder a bit, whining that he share what was so amusing. He sighed, glancing over and resting his hand on your thigh before returning his eyes to the road. “I just think it’s cute how wound up you are to meet a bunch of kids. You can relax, they are not hard to impress.” The entire party was meeting at the Wheeler’s to watch The Neverending Story and it would be the first time you met them all. Of course you’d seen your boyfriend talking with them from time to time and you knew Billy, Nancy, and Jonathan from school, so you knew something about their younger siblings, but this was a different circumstance altogether. You thought you might be more nervous than when you met Steve’s parents.

“This is important, Steve. I mean, these kids are practically your children the way you talk about them, and I want to fit in, make sure they like me. You love them and I love you, so I really want this night to go well.” You took a deep breath, getting worked up again and grabbing his hand from your leg, squeezing it tight.

After a few minutes, he pulled his car to the curb outside the house and turned to you. You looked towards the first-floor window and saw the kids all gathered in the dining room, laughing and wrestling. Oh boy.

Steve reached over and put his fingers under your chin, turning your face towards him and pressing a kiss to your forehead. “You’re gonna be great tonight. You are so funny and loving and sweet. Those idiots will love you as much as I do. Trust me, beautiful, just be yourself and everything will work out.”

And not to spoil anything, but it did. A few days later, Steve recounted over the phone how all the kids were raving about you and how cool, funny, nice, and pretty you were - just as he said they would.

Gifts

Ever since the first night you met them, you and the party were very close and they always invited you to everything they did. You accompanied them to the arcade from time to time, you helped El and Max get ready for the school dances, you gave the boys relationship advice, and you were even attending the Christmas party at the Byers’s house. Though it was usually you, Steve, and the kids getting together for impromptu hang-outs or some casual pizza nights, this evening involved everyone getting dressed up and bringing food, drinks, and their secret santa gifts.

You had received Max and took care to get her the specific skateboard she had been talking a lot about, information passed to you by Lucas. You gave the gift after being at the party for a couple hours and she jumped up and down, hugging you tightly and saying more than once how excited she was to try it out. After that success, you were riding high through appetizers and dinner, so glad your gift was a success and you were celebrating the holiday with those closest to you. When you had collected the plates for Mrs. Byers and finished washing them with her, you heard someone clear their throat behind you. You turned and saw your handsome boyfriend in a cozy sweater and khakis, hair brushed back neatly from his face.

“Hey, stranger.” You reached out your arms, slipping them around his waist and letting him pull you in tight.

Mrs. Byers shooed you two to the living room to be comfortable, “Honey, everything is all set here. Thank you for the help.” Steve released you, draping his arm over your shoulders and walking with you towards the couch. Once you were both settled, you tucked into his side, watching the kids exchanging more gifts, he pulled something from his back pocket. Passing it to you, he leaned his lips to your ear and whispered, “Merry Christmas, sweetheart.” You looked over with a smile, surprised he hadn’t let it slip that he got you for the secret santa (he wasn’t the best at keeping secrets usually). You sat up a bit more, tearing the neat paper from the gift, gasping when you saw what it was.

A small, ornate book filled with ticket stubs, receipts, polaroids, pressed flowers, and other mementos from your relationship. Your vision got blurry as you looked through each page, reading the little handwritten descriptions Steve had added. When you got to the last page, it said ‘To be continued’, which made you giggle despite how emotional you were. You closed it and held it close to your chest, turning and kissing Steve a few times before thanking him profusely. “Steve, this is beautiful. I love it so much. I can’t believe you put this all together and kept these things.” He placed his hand on your cheek, running his thumb under your eye to wipe a tear away before kissing you again.

“The kids helped me set it all up and organize it, but I had been keeping it all in a little box in the glove compartment of my car. I looked in there from time to time when I was having a shitty day, so I put it in this book for you to look at.” His cheeks were red from all the attention and the confession, which you thought made him so handsome.

You kissed him a couple more times before resting your head on his shoulder, finally realizing that all eyes were on you. Steve seemed to realize at the same time, so he said, “Alright, show’s over. Put the movie on already.” When the lights were turned down low and all attention was on the screen, he turned to you once more, whispering, “Merry Christmas. I love you.” And what a merry Christmas it was.

Acts of Service

It was your birthday and you were dreading it. Birthdays felt like a day of awkward encounters and attention you didn’t want, all while being reminded you were another year older. For most of high school, it seemed to be a letdown in a way because it fell on some random weekday and you did homework for the evening, instead of something fun or relaxing.

This year, however, would be different because of the one and only Steve Harrington. When you had explained your sentiments about birthdays to him a couple weeks earlier, he assured you he would change your mind. You argued that your family would be leaving you for the week and hadn’t even mentioned or apologized that they would be missing your birthday. After making you feel better, he wouldn’t say what he was planning, but he seemed to think it would excite you.

You were on the couch working on Math when you heard a knock at the front door. You rose, opening the door to see your boyfriend juggling three bags full of stuff. “Come in, come in. Do you need help?” He shook his head and shuffled past you, heading right for the kitchen and putting everything on the counter.

When he had done that, he ran to you, wrapping his arms around your waist and picking you off your feet, squeezing you tightly and kissing your neck a few times. “Happy birthday! Happy birthday!” He spun you around before setting you back on your feet. “Alright, I love you and this is all for you, but not yet. Please return to whatever you were doing and when you’re finished, you can… one second” and he rummaged through one of the bags with a frown before pulling out a VHS tape. “Here, this is your first gift. I grabbed it on the way over, so you can watch this while I do my thing in here. I will call you when I’m ready for you to see.” He turned you around and hit your backside, kicking you out of the kitchen and back to your place on the couch.

You were confused, but knew he had things handled and had been over enough to know where everything was, so you got back to work.

When you had finished, you played the movie and tried to ignore all the mumbling, clanks, and shuffling you could hear from the kitchen. At one point, you thought you heard him go upstairs, but ignored it. Then, after a little over an hour of that, Steve came back into the living room, announcing that he had cooked you your favorite dinner and the table was set for you to eat. “While you were watching the movie, I also took the time to clean the kitchen and your bedroom, all sparkly clean. I would like to say I saw your Christmas gift album up there, as well, which makes me very happy. Anyway, happy birthday.” He looked rather pleased with himself and you admitted you were too with all he had managed to accomplish in the time he had been over.

He offered his arm to you and escorted you to a beautiful dinner illuminated by a few candles and enjoyed the delicious food and meaningful conversation with your thoughtful and caring boyfriend.

“This is perfect, Steve, thank you. I think I am starting to like birthdays.” He did a little celebration dance in his seat. You laughed at his silliness, heart swelling with how grateful you really were and how much you loved him.

“Well, get ready because I also made dessert.” Yeah, you really loved him.

Quality Time

The nature of your relationship with Steve was that you spent a lot of time together, whether just the two of you or surrounded by people. He was clingy (in the best way), craving your attention and affection. He cuddled, hugged, and kissed you more times than you could count each time you were together, so you would say every time you were together was meaningful and special. If you both had your ways, you would spend all your time together, but the need for money outweighed those wishes.

Steve had been working at Scoops Ahoy, but after everything in the mall, he and Robin began working at a movie rental place. You were not lucky enough to work with them, working instead at a pizza place that was always loud and always filled with rude teens and entitled adults. Your only time of solace was your hour lunch break, which you took each day at the same time. This was so Steve would know when to stop by. Usually, you ate a couple slices or walked to the strip mall across the street to grab something quick, but this time, Steve said he had lunch handled. When he said that, you frowned and tried to ask what he meant, but he wouldn’t elaborate, so you let it go.

Looking at the clock, it was finally time for you to get some fresh air and spend time with your boyfriend before returning to work again. You pushed open the door, bell jingling, and waited out front for the flash of Steve’s deep red car. After a few seconds of scouting the lot, you found it, parked a few spaces away, Steve smiling at you and waving through the windshield once he saw you approaching.

He got out to meet you at the front of his car, pressing a kiss to your lips and rubbing your back. “How is it going today, sweet cheeks?” You laughed at his silly nickname and explained that it was relatively quiet, fewer phone calls and customers than usual. “Oh, that’s great. The day will fly by and I’ll come pick you up when it’s all over.” He put up a finger to signal you to wait where you were, opening the back door and leaning in to grab a basket and a blanket. “In the meantime, I packed a little picnic for us because I remember how you feel a little sick of all the shitty food we’ve had lately. There are some sandwiches, chips, cookies, and sodas.” Steve placed the basket in your hands, a pleased smile on his pink lips. You never got over how thoughtful he was, always taking care of you. It reminded you of your birthday dinner and how much care he took to make it special for you.

“Thank you, honey. This is perfect. Where should we eat?” He grabbed your hand and brought you to the back of his little car, laying the blanket across the back and took the basket back from you. He put his hands on your hips, squeezing a little before lifting you on the back, making sure you were comfortable before pulling the lunch from the basket, explaining everything and kissing your cheek.

You spent the next hour talking and eating. While he was telling a funny story that involved Robin and a rude customer, you just looked at him - his soft hair, doe eyes, smooth skin, pink cheeks, full lips, and freckles, admiring how beautiful he looked. “And then, she said that he should… is there something on my face?” He stopped talking, rubbing his fingers across his mouth and chin, confused why you were staring at him. You laughed and grabbed his hands, kissing him and leaning your forehead against his.

“There is nothing on your face, Steve. I love you and how much time we spend together. This was a wonderful lunch. Thank you.” You kissed his cheek and encouraged him to finish the story before you had to pack up and return to work.

Physical Touch

Another Friday night with the party, another movie. This time, it was at your house. Since Steve started his new job, it had been even easier for you all to figure out the newest and most popular movies to try. After some arguing, the kids had chosen to watch Gremlins, which would not have been your first choice, but you didn’t want to get involved in the complicated debating. In the end, it wouldn’t matter because on these nights, you and Steve usually ended up whispering together or making snacks as the rest were entranced by the screen.

Max and El looked over at you, asking if you wanted to sit with them on the little mountain of pillows and blankets they had set up in front of the couch the boys were sprawled out on. You smiled and joined them, getting comfortable with one of the large bowls of popcorn you had set out for everyone. You and the girls reached your hands in the bowl every once in a while as you waited for the movie to start. Once it started, you hopped up and shut off the light, looking over to make sure Steve was comfortable. His eyes were already on you and he had an exaggerated pout on his lips, arms crossed as he sat in the big armchair by himself. You shook your head with a grin and returned to the girls.

A little while into the movie, you realized the popcorn was finished and the candy was getting low, so you grabbed all the bowls and quietly slipped into the kitchen, grabbing the makings to replenish everything. After beginning to pour the M&Ms into the bowl, Steve joined you, wrapping his arms around your stomach from behind and swaying you both a bit. “You ditched me. That wasn’t very nice of you.” He kissed your neck after that and you could feel he was a little lonely in that chair alone, despite being only a few feet from you.

You put the candy down, spinning in his arms and wrapping yours around his shoulders as he dropped his face into the crook of your neck. “The girls asked me to sit with them, Steve, sorry.” He grumbled against your skin, pulling you in tighter. You decided to indulge him as you were tired and snuggling into his lap seemed like a nice idea. “When we go back in there, I’ll tell the girls they can spread out more and I’ll sit with you in the armchair. Does that sound okay, you big baby?” You felt him smile and nod. He helped you finish refilling the bowls and carried them to the living room, setting them all by the kids to be devoured. You leaned over to Max and El, informing them of your seat change.

Standing back up, you saw Steve was on the chair and waiting for you to join him, a big blanket in his hand. You smiled and climbed on top of him, sitting with your legs curled up between his and your head against his shoulder. You shifted a little to make sure you were both comfortable and he pulled the blanket over you, wrapping you in his arms. After a couple minutes, you felt your eyes getting heavier with how warm and relaxed you were. Every few seconds, you felt light kisses pressed to your hair and his hand tracing your cheek. He whispered sweet nothings in your ear and it lulled you even closer to sleep. That was, until you heard some snickers and whispers. You lifted your head and saw that the boys on the couch and the girls on the floor were all looking at you, speaking in hushed voices behind their hands. Steve noticed too and frowned. “What the hell are you guys laughing at?” He said this lightly, already having a suspicion it had to do with the two of you.

Dustin answered. “Oh nothing, just that you two are showing a lot of PDA. Steve, you’re whipped.” With that, the kids all laughed, nodding and looking at you for a reaction. You snorted and lowered your head back down, closing your eyes and pressing them against Steve’s neck, letting him answer for you both. You wracked your brain and figured there must be plenty of times where you and Steve act like this in front of the party, so why was this so surprising?

“Oh shut up. Watch the movie.” Not the most graceful comeback, but you felt Steve’s chest vibrate with a laugh as he gestured towards the screen. You heard a few more laughs before attention was once again on the movie. He whispered, “What a bunch of idiots.” You smiled and Steve wrapped you up even tighter, rubbing your back as you fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

masterlist

[optimistic-dinosaur-nacho]

WIRED

Chris Evans x Fem!Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: Y/N L/N and Chris Evans filmed a movie together and are asked to answer the Web’s Most Searched Questions. Pretty straight forward right?

Author’s Note: It’s 6:17 am here in California and I just wanted to make this, I woke up at 9 pm and I didn’t fall back asleep.

Love you!

~~~~

“Don’t touch me!” Y/N playfully slaps Chris’s arm as he laughs, “Oh, now you don’t want me to?” He asked, “You just get all sour on me now?” Chris turns to the man behind the camera. “Maybe she just didn’t get her coffee,” Chris mutters.

Y/N laughs. “Okay, let’s do our intro.”

“Who goes first? You? Me?” He asks, he shakes his head, “You go, you go,” He waves his hand. Y/N shakes her head, turning to the camera with a board in hand. “Hey fans, my name is Y/N L/N.”

Chris laughs, “Hi, and I’m Chris Evans. And we’re about to do a WIRED autocomplete interview.”

“Who should go first, you?”  Y/N asks, Chris points to the board, “It has your name on it, so here, I’ll take it and you peel them off.”

“Aw, what a gentleman,” Y/N says, Chris turns to the camera witha childish smile, “I know. I am, am I?” He says. 

“I just peel them off?” Chris nods, “Yep, just rip them off.” Y/N takes the edge of the strip. “Who Y/N L/N...” She tilts her head, “Wow, lacking some words there.” She rips it off.

“Who Y/N L/N look like?” The woman looks at the camera, “You’re looking right at her, people.” Chris laughs. Y/N smiled and reached for another, “Who was Y/N L/N...” Rip. “...date at the Oscars?” Y/N smiles.

“Uh, my first Oscars was my dad, he was happy to be there in 2010. I had my mom, my sibling and then my recent two were Chris Evans. And Chris Evans, he’s a very nice guy.” Chris nods, “Hm. I should meet that guy,” He says.

Y/N nods, “Yeah, you should.” Y/N reaches for the next, “Who is Y/N L/N... sibling?”

“I have a brother/sister, their name is S/N and I’m the oldest sibling and I love them.” Y/N takes the board and throws it behind them. “Next, where’s this guys board at?” Y/N asks. The camera man hands her the board. 

“Who Chris Evans,” Y/N starts, holding the board, “Peel them off. Rip ‘em.” Chris grabs the strip, “Who Chris Evans look like?” He asks. Y/N nods, “He looks like Scott Evans, just a bit more taller and more shoulder mass.”

Chris chuckles, “When I was younger some people used to tell me I looked like Ricky Nelson.”

“Oh, yeah. You do,” Y/N nods. Chris reaches for the next strip, “Who Chris Evans date at the Oscars-Wow! Similar questions,” Chris says. Y/N laughs. “Well, it was my ma one year and then my sister. Then I had Y/N L/N at the Oscars with me.”

“Oh wow. How was she at the Oscars?” Y/N asked, Chris smiles, reaching for the next strip, “She was beautiful, would love to take her as a date again.” Chris rips the next one off. “What Chris Evans dog’s name?” Chris smiles. “His name is Dodger, he’s a mixed-breed boxer, I got him in the year of 2017 when I was filming with Mckenna Grace on the set of Gifted. I adopted him. Mostly I call him Bubba, that just... is what I say a lot.”

Y/N throws the board back. “Another!” Y/N takes the next board and Chris holds it. “All right. What is Y/N L/N...” Y/N rips the strip, “Like?” She hums. “I mean, I rather not describe myself I think it’s better for someone to say who I am in person.”

“She’s funny, gorgeous, good sense of humor, she’s just out of her comfort zone,” Chris says, Y/N laughs grabbing his shoulder. “Are you saying that I’m crazy?” She asked. Chris laughs, “No, I’m just saying you’re so outgoing!”

Y/N laughs, “You’re cute, let me continue. What is Y/N L/N... favorite food?” Y/N cranes her neck to think.

“I have a lot of food that I like. I make it a lot sometimes.”

“Y/N does make some good food. But pesto eggs, oh! You make the best out of them!” Chris says, Y/N laughs. “I’m not really much of a cooker, I just am really hungry! I might just have to go with pizza.”

Chris nods, “All right. All right. Good choice. She doesn't make pizza but that’s something.” Y/N rips the strip with a laugh. “What is Y/N L/N’s first movie?”

“Was it Casper, right? In 1995? You were fifteen,” Chris asks, Y/N shakes her head. “I actually at the age of ten filmed in Home Alone in 1990,” Chris drops his shoulders. “What? You didn’t tell me that!” Chris says.

“I thought you’d know, I’m famous, you don’t look me up?” Y/N laughs with Chris, “No, I don’t because I should hear it from you!” He laughs, “Talking is better to know someone than to know them from a website.” Y/N leans forward in laughter as she hides her face on his shoulder. 

He looks at the camera, “I didn’t know you worked with Macaulay Culkin! That was-Oh!” Chris claps his hands, he laughs against her.

“How did I not know you were one of the kids? Now I remember who you were!” He grabs his left boob laughing. Y/N pulls away from his shoulder and wipes the tear under her eye, “Gosh, we can’t even read the last one. We still have to do you!”

“What is Y/N L/N’s boyfriend look like?” Y/N looks up at Chris. “He looks like Ricky Nelson.” Chris laughs. Chris throws the board behind him. “All right!” Y/N pulls out another board. “Here’s another, babes.”

Chris looks at it, “Did Chris Evans... rip a log in half?” Chris shrugs at the thought. “I mean...”

“Yes, he did,” Y/N says, Chris smirks, “Yeah. I mean, it was made out of styrofoam? I don’t know, it’s nobody’s business,” Chris shrugs. “Did Chris Evans... quit acting?”

Y/N holds her hand out to him, “He’s right here.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” He says. Y/N smiled, “Another one.” Chris looks over to the board again, “Does Chris Evans drive?” Chris smiles, “Like a champ. I have speeding tickets to prove it!” Y/N laughs.

“Does Chris Evans have a brother?” Chris says, he nods. “Yes, he does. Funny guy, love him,” Y/N says.

“His name is Scott. He’s very talented, very funny.” Y/N throws the board behind her. “I’ll clean that up later,” She said, Chris chuckles. “This is really fun, I like these questions,” She hands Chris her board. “They are pretty fun. We learn about each other, I guess, since you didn’t tell me you filmed in Home Alone-”

“Hey, I thought you knew! Stop it!” Y/N playfully hits him. “Where did Y/N L/N grow up?” Y/N asks, she turns to the camera, “I grew up in my home,” She says, causing Chris to laugh. “That’s true.”

Y/N reaches for the next strip, “Where did Y/N L/N start acting? Oh, that’s a good one,” Y/N says, “When I was young, at the age of 9, my mom and dad moved us to New York and I managed to start auditioning for films and I ended up in my first movie, Home Alone and so I started acting in New York.”

Chris grins, “Last one. I think-”

“Yep. Where is Y/N L/N today? Huh? Weird question but I’m here. That’s where I am now,” Chris laughs as he drops the board down. “Okay, this is our last one!” Y/N says, Chris grabs the board and hands it to Y/N.

“Do the honors, babes,” Y/N says, Chris looks at it. “Does Chris Evans actually sing?”

“Yes! He does!” Y/N says, pointing at the camera, “He may reject this fact but he does sing! He sings me to bed sometimes,” Y/N says. Chris laughs, “I do not sing her to bed, she actually does.” Y/N laughs.

“Can Chris Evans tap dance?” Chris asked, Y/N smiles, “That I can do. I can’t sing, but I can tap dance.”

“You’re gonna have to show me some tap dances. You dance like the penguin from Happy Feet that’s why he’s cute when he does them.”

“I can do some soft shoe in the hallway after this camera turns off,” He mutters, reaching for the next one. “Can Chris Evans drive?-What is going on with me and driving? Yes! I can drive very well! I’m a grown up,” Y/N laughs as she leans against him.

“That was some good questions,” Y/N says. Chris nods,  Nailed it! Give me five, babe,” Chris holds up his hand to her and she gladly high fives him.

“Yes!” 

~~~~~~~~~~

RANDOM TAGS (even though they’re the same people I’ve tagged multiple times) : @joannaliceevans-fanficblog​ @jtargaryen18​ @luvinchris​ @chris-evans-imagines​

Want a tag? Just ask, I’ll be happy to tag you!

[anotheronechicagobog]

Yeah, I Would Part 2/Final Peter Mills x reader

written by @anotheronechicagobog​

warnings: swearing, mention of corruption, slightly Erin bashing, canon compliant bombing/accident

You arrived at the diner, taking a deep breath. You spotted Peter working the grill and talking to a man who was sitting at the counter, the detective Peter had told you about presumably. “What’s up buttercup?”

“Not much hummingbird. Gumbo and a milkshake?”

“Please.”

“What kind?”

“Surprise me, I trust you.”

“Ha, good to know. Before I get started on that, this is Antonio Dawson, the detective. He’s good, you can trust him, okay? I’ll be back with your food in a sec okay?” He kissed your hair, gave you an encouraging dimpled smile, and then left you with Dawson. “Hi, it’s good to meet you. So you’re the guy investigating my dad?”

“Yes, Ms. Voight and I-”

“It’s Y/L/N, actually. I took my mom’s name when I turned eighteen.”

“Alright, Ms. Y/L/N, I don’t know exactly what Mills told you, but I have been investigating your dad and I need to talk to you about that, and you can’t tell him.”

“My dad is corrupt. Dirty. There’s not enough time in the day to talk about it. But still, I was raised by a cop and a social studies teacher, so one thing I learned very early on in life is that evidence is key. So, here,” you handed him a Hello Kitty flashdrive that you’d kept in your bra, he took it very gingerly, clearly uncomfortable with where it was placed, “I started collecting evidence on my dad once I figured out what he was doing. And every piece of it is on that drive. It’s not the original, and I have multiple other spares, but there’s years of photo and video evidence as well as scanned copies of documents and written statements from me on there. If you need stuff in hard copy I can give it to you before the trial, if it even gets there, because I want to make sure this sticks.”

“Okay, thank you for your time. I’ll leave you with your food. Here’s my card, I’ll be in contact.”

“Of course, have a good night.”

“Here you go, let’s move to this booth over here.” Peter unloaded a tray of Gumbo and milkshakes onto the table on the booth behind you. “You ready to dig in?”

“Oh absolutely.” He held off on asking until you’d gotten a few bites of food and slurps of milkshake in because he knew you got drained just thinking about your family. “How’d it go?”

“Good. At least I think it went well.”

“And how’s the food.”

“Incredible, but it always is.”

“Only the best for you hummingbird.”

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

A few days later you walked behind Mills over to the rest of 51. You were a bit skeptical, you didn’t think that a picnic was cause for wearing celebratory blues, but hey, you weren’t a firefighter. You were, however, proven right when you walked over to a picnic table with about six guys laughing their asses off. “I can’t believe you actually did it candidate!” 

“You look ridiculous!”

“Really? Cause I don’t think so.” The men you’d had yet to be introduced to watched as you pulled your boyfriend down into a full-on liplock. You bit your lip as Peter coughed, a little dazed, and you marvelled that you had that effect on him. “Uh, well, hi. I uh. My name is Brian Zvonecek but everyone calls me Otis. And who are you, exactly?”

“I’m Y/N Y/L/N, Peter’s girlfriend.”

“Peter did not tell you about us, we would remember if he had- uh, Joe Cruz by the way. No nickname, just Joe.”

“Capp”

“Tony.”

“Kelly.”

“Matt.”

“Well, hi, everyone. It’s nice to meet all of you. Sorry that didn’t happen sooner, but I thought it might be best if Peter found his footing with you guys first and then I had to work out of the country for a bit.”

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you. You should introduce her to the chief Mills.”

And so he did. Along with Mouch and Hermann, the chief teased him for the blues before congratulating him on snagging a great girl. Cindy was lovely, just as sweet as her brownies. The day was going really well, even with the tension Gabby was creating with just about everyone. She was basically drooling over Matt and literally everyone was noticing, and for some reason, she was acting particularly cold towards you. But all in all, the day was a success, especially since it ended with the arrest of your dad, brother, and sister.

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

Erin was glaring at you so hard that you were thankful Antonio had gotten a freelance security detail hired for you. As it turned out, since a lot of the evidence you had was about your dad covering up the shit your siblings did, that they were in violation of the law as well. Part of you felt bad for Erin, she had worked really hard to get where she was. Yes, she made some mistakes when she was younger, but most of that was due to her mother’s neglect or influence, which you made sure to tell the court, but she still looked like she was planning your murder. “Be grateful detective Lindsay, you’d be going to prison and losing your badge if it wasn’t for Ms. Y/L/N.” She hmphed at the judge and you shrunk into your seat. Peter rubbed your arms, everything about him calming you.

“I hereby sentence Justin Voight to five years in prison with the chance of parole on charges of theft, DUI, neglectful driving, and conspiracy to commit corruption.”

“I hereby sentence Hank Voight to forty years in prison with no chance of parole on charges of corruption, money laundering, stalking, property damage, witness intimidation, and drug conspiracy.”

You left the courtroom feeling much lighter. You obviously didn’t feel good about sending your only remaining biological family to prison, but what other option did you have? They weren’t going to stop or pay reparations to the people they’d wronged. Just threaten and scare everyone who got in their way. And while you knew that Erin agreed with you on some level, you knew that she believed they shouldn’t go to prison. She would cover for them too, she had actually. And it was because of that that she was demoted to officer and barred from taking the detectives exam for five years. She stormed up to you, resembling a raging bull, after both trials had finished. “How could you, they are your family-”

“They have cost people their livelihoods, Justin actually paralyzed someone! I couldn’t stand by and do nothing, if they weren’t going to stop they had to be stopped. You have to realize that.”

“I just can’t believe-”

“Erin, you’re not joining them, and the only reason you’re not getting arrested for any of the shit you’ve done is because I spoke up and said it wasn’t your fault. All of it would have come out eventually, you know that. Now you don’t have to worry about when that happens. Don’t you get that?”

“You just betrayed your family-”

“Nope, you don’t get it. Goodbye Erin, I’ll talk to you when you pull your head out of my dad’s ass and apologize to me.”

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ONE YEAR LATER

You woke up but it was difficult to see and breathe. You could feel dust entering your mouth and throat whenever you tried to get some air, there were some beams of light coming in but you could still see very little, only the shapes of concrete and metal.  You didn’t feel good. Nauseous, light-headed, pounding in your head, ringing i your ears, and your thoughts were moving so muddled and slowly.

You remembered Kim, the CFD logo, and something about the nurses’ station? None of it made any sense to you, and thinking only hurt your head more. You were so heavy, and so tired, so you just let your eyes close.

The sunbeams were gone when you woke up, you heard sounds instead. Machines and ‘whooping’ mostly. But there were some people, you could not for the life of you hear what they were saying. And then you realized, ‘for the life of you’, Kim, CFD booth, charity race sign-up at the nurses’ station, three steps away, boom, nothing, rubble, rebar, dust, minimal light, minal air. The hospital exploded and you were underneath who knows how much of said hospital in pieces! Panic built up quickly, and suddenly you noticed metallic smelling liquid, aches, pains all over your body, something on top of your right leg. You didn’t think, you just acted. You screamed. Loud. In terror. In pain.

Peter, pizza, apartment, cat, Netflix, Cruz, Otis, pancakes, Molly’s, Hermann, Dawsons, coffee, doughnuts, Platt, Al, Justin, Erin, dad. Images, memories, flooded your mind, panic still securing you in its chokehold. You found an engagement ring in Peter’s nightstand last week. You were going to die. You were going to die. You were going to die. You were going to die. You hoadn’t been aware that you’d spent the entire time screaming as much as your lungs could bear until you vaguely recognized someone yelling at you. “Hey! Hello! Are you okay?”

“No! Help me- please!”

Everything was a blur, whether from your tears or your memory you weren’t sure. But in what felt like minutes you were out from and above the rubble, the night’s sky and a group of firefighters meeting your eyes. Their voices were muffled as you felt hands over you and you let yourself fall asleep again. 

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

Crying, someone was crying. It wasn’t you but you could hear sobs coming from right next to you. The room was dark, the only light in the room coming from the cracks in the door and the machines attached to you. You were still in a lot of pain. Your head was throbbing, but not as much as earlier, your lower right leg was in a cast, you could feel bandages on various parts of your body, gauze wrapped around your chest, and there was a plastic lining around your nose in mouth and stale air making its way into your lungs. Your body didn’t feel as weighed down as before, but you could still feel the exhaustion throughout your body. “Peter?”

“Y/N? Oh, thank God. Dr. Rhodes? She’s awake!”

After a flurry of nurses and doctors and tests, Peter was let back in. Dr. Rhodes followed, giving a tentative smile. “Well, Y/N, you are lucky. After being unconscious for five days you have a severe concussion, four broken ribs that we might have to perform surgery on to make sure they don’t pierce your lungs or heart, a broken ankle with three torn ligaments, numerous lacerations, and your oxygen levels were low when you came in. You were initially on a breathing tube but your levels improved so we took it out and put on the mask instead. Is there anything you want me to go into further detail about?”

“My ribs; how close am I to needing surgery?”

“Very, we’ve done our best to secure and monitor them but we really think that surgery would be best, it’s just that your next of kin are arguing about the best course of action.”

“What? But Peter is my next of kin, my only next of kin. Who has been coming to you thinking they have any power here?”

“Uh, it’s your dad, Y/N. They went to the hospital board and argued that they should be considered next of kin. The board agreed. I tried to fight it, but you know how many strings your dad can pull.”

“What? Are you kidding me? Well, I’m awake now, and I can make medical decisions for myself now, right?”

“Yes, I have been told by the hospital’s lead attorney that once you completely woke up you could make all the decisions necessary. We’ve actually been hoping for that because your family has been causing a lot of trouble over this.”

“Do you recommend surgery?”

“Yes. Based on our observations surgery is inevitable. And the fact that your family opposed Peter and your doctors has actually added a significant amount of risks for you.”

“Alright, do the surgery.”

“A nurse will be in to prep you shortly.” 

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

You looked at Peter’s tear-streaked face. “I thought you were dead.”

“I thought that I was going to die, I hadn’t even been aware of where I was or what had happened for most of the time I was down there. I was so scared that I would never make it back to you.”

“When I found out that you were in that building before the bomb went off, I just lost my mind. I was digging through rubble screaming your name, Casey and Severide had to pull me away and restrain me from searching for you. When you weren’t found after eight hours, and all that crews were finding dead bodies, I... The look that Boden and the lieutenants had with each other... It was without a doubt the worst day of my life. I love you, so much.” He was stroking your face, looking at you as if you were a gift from the sun. “I found the ring, almost two weeks ago now.”

He smiled and pulled the black box out of his coat pocket which was draped over the back of his chair. “You mean this one?”

“Yes.”

“I had a much more romantic proposal plan, but I don’t want to wait until it’s too late. I do not want a life without you. I want to spend the rest of my existence with you. Will you please marry me?”

“Yes. I love you so much, Peter. So, so much.”

Your moment with Peter was broken by Doris entering the room “... I hate to break up this moment, I really, really, do, seriously you guys are adorable, but I have to prep Y/N for surgery.”

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

The firehouse took turns visiting you and Leslie in the hospital, celebrating the fact that you were both alive and well and that you and Peter got engagement. Eliza, Peter’s kid sister, showed up with balloons and flowers. Peter spent the rest of your time in the hospital holding your hand and looking at you like you put the sun in the sky. And you looked at him like he hung the stars just for you. Everything finally felt like it was falling into place, and everyone, including your guilt-ridden dad, couldn’t be more happy for you two.

[heycallmeladytypewriter]

The Call of a Siren

Chapter One

She could not, for the life of her, find her goddamn charger. If she was going to make it the rest of the stupid day without music in her ears which blocked out most of the annoyances, she’d flip a table. Or she would when it was finally unloaded from the moving van on the street. 

“Cordelia, would you please come get your brother!” Her mother shrilled from the bottom of the steps. 

Delia sighed and flipped off the boxes stacked in her room who refused to give her back her charger before stomping down the stairs. Her little brother, Henry, was tugging on her mother's hair and yelling nonsense only a toddler of age three could understand. She walked past her mother and went straight to the luggage bags from the flight next to the doorway. Spotting her purple carry on, she rummaged through until she found some fruit snacks she packed but never ate. Coming back over, Cordelia waved them in Henry’s face until he took notice and reached for the snack. 

Grabbing Henry from her mother and putting him on her hip, “ Mom what do you want me to do with him? Fruit snacks are gonna last about two minutes.”

Her mother threw up her hands, “ I don’t know! Just keep him occupied until we have everything in the house.” 

Rolling her eyes, Cordelia fed him a fruit snack one at time trying to buy time until she thought of what to do with him. Most of his toys were still packed and the ones he had on the plane were of no use now as he was now done with them after a 14 hour flight from the States to Japan. Pursing her lips, she thought about seeing a playground not too far from here on the drive. 

“Mom, I’m taking Henry for a walk around. Be back in a bit.” Her mother nodded and waved her off from the kitchen. 

After wrangling Henry’s shoes and light jacket on, they set off with him still in her arms as she didn’t know where the stroller was in that mess which was her new life. Henry was lightly tugging on her hair and quietly babbling as she walked towards the small playground down the street. She already missed home. Well, previous home as she bounced around enough to never really know one place as home. Army brat problems, she thought with slight disdain. Well actually, detective/police brat? Is there even a word for that?

Her dad was former military but since the age of heroes, the military need was still there of course but not as much as it used to be. Her dad decided to go into police work afterwards when she was seven and has since climbed into a detective which made her mother happy as he was more or less off the streets but still dealt with the hardships of the job. Her mother was actually the one to want to move from the States to Musutafu, Japan. 

Thanks to the number one hero, All Might, crime in Japan has lessened significantly which made it a safer place to live in her mom’s eyes. It also helped that her mother had grown up in Tokyo when she was younger before her parents decided to move to Chicago. 

Cordelia didn’t have anything against Musutafu but it still was another move, another restart, another everything which isn't too fun when you are fifteen. 

“Del, we go swing?” A little voice broke her train of thought as she saw them reaching the playground. She smiled at his nickname for her as he couldn’t pronounce her full name yet. Sometimes it was ‘Del’ or ‘la’ but both always made her smile as it was so cute. 

“Sure, bud.” She walked over to the swings and placed him in the little toddler seat. “Ready?” Henry squealed and kicked his feet in excitement. “Ye-es!” 

Cordelia started to push him, preparing to do this for some time as Henry could be in the swing for the whole time. It definitely qualified as a workout.

“Tch, stupid Deku.” Cordelia glanced over to see a blonde boy angrily muttering to himself while kicking a rock on the sidewalk. He was wearing some kind of school uniform but all rumpled like he had some kind of fight or fall before walking home. 

“Del, keep pushin’!” Henry’s voice broke the silence. She didn’t realize she stopped after watching the boy on the sidewalk. “Sorry, buddy.” She murmured before resuming as she didn’t want to call attention to the fact she was being nosy. 

“Oi, what are you looking at?!” The angry boy had unfortunately caught that and was now facing her. 

“I’m not looking at anything. Just pushing my brother.” She replied coolly. 

“That's what I thought, extra.” 

Extra? What was that? “Actually, I was looking at you. Rough day, buddy?” Cordelia shouldn’t have goaded him, a complete stranger, but what the hell was calling her ‘extra?’

“Shut the fuck up!” 

“Hey, child present!” Cordelia waved around her brother. Thankfully, Henry didn’t seem to care as long as he was swinging. 

“Tch. He can mind his damn business too!” With that, he flipped us off. So she did too. Then he walked off, looking madder than before. Weirdly, she wanted to laugh. 

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

After they got back to the house, Cordelia took her slices of pizza that her mother had ordered and slipped upstairs to organize her things a bit more and hopefully locate her freaking charger. Her room was towards the back and furthest from anybody else which she preferred with windows facing the small backyard and back alley street behind the houses. Quiet and isolated with the ability to blast her music a bit without getting yelled at as she liked. She wasn’t a complete loner but did like her space from her nosy family. 

She closed the door and plugged in her small dinky radio in, orange and covered in faded stickers from over the years, and found a decent radio station to unpack. Placing her hands on her hips, she faced the boxes and nodded. “ Okay, here we go.” She said sternly to herself. “Don’t get distracted by every little thing and get it over with.” 

It was three a.m by the time she got done but she was much further than before. There were still a few scattered boxes she stacked in the corner to deal with later but the essentials and whatnot were out and placed. 

Figuring she earned a break, she took out a bowl of water she filled earlier and placed it on her nightstand while sitting criss cross applesauce on her bed. 

Breathing deep, she raised her fingers towards the bowl and the water lifted out and into the air. 

Cordelia took her time and played with the water, trying to manipulate it into shapes before settling on her go-to weapon: a water whip of sorts. She had earlier set up her old stuffed animals along the furniture in the room and tried to knock them down one by one. 

Unfortunately, she whipped too strongly and made a divot in the wall and cut her teddy bear's arm off. 

“Aw crap. Sorry Mr. Tubbs.” Whipping the water back into the bowl, she sadly picked up the teddy’s arm off the floor  and then looked at the damage on the wall. “Yikes. Gonna cover that up with a poster..” Her dad will kill her for practicing in the house again since she usually damages something. 

Cordelia went to one of her leftover boxes to find something to tape on the wall when she found a paper she forgot about crumpled on top. 

U.A ENTRANCE EXAM APPLICATION

Biting her lip, she looked over her application she had printed before flying here. That was the one thing she was looking forward to with moving here: to be accepted in one of the world’s top hero schools. She wanted to be a hero more than anything. Unfortunately, her family did not share that dream nor like them very much. Her eyes flicked over to her family’s picture on her dresser, taken a few months ago on Henry’s third birthday, and sighed. Her mother, a prom queen in her day, had her arms around her dads buffed up arm with her wavy dark hair in a long plait down her shoulder. Her dad stood tall and proud over little Henry in his crooked yellow party hat while her sister, Josephine, grabbed their mother’s other arm. Like her mother, Josie held a sort of grace even in a casual stance and small smile with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Delia stood slightly off to the side, hair unbound and free flowing in the wind, and was held tied to the picture by only Henry’s small hand in hers as if to keep her in place. 

Her mother had a quirk of healing small cuts and wounds with water which helped since she was a nurse in the ER. Nothing to scoff at, in Cordelia’s opinion. Her father had a quirk of weapons; particularly the knowledge of them and how they work. Again, nothing to scoff at especially considering his line of work. Her older sibling, Josephine, took after their father but instead of weapons, it was machines like a typewriter or an air conditioner. Pretty useful but she decided that a career in accounting was for her. They didn’t speak much. 

Despite having quirks, they resented them. They believed the world would be better without them and hero work was not a true profession to aspire for. Thus, a discovery of your quirk at a young age wasn’t anything to celebrate nor was it encouraged to practice and train other than the bare minimum of control. That did not stop her from wanting to be a hero. Everything about it seemed amazing. She would collect articles about them and hide them in the back of her closet along with a poster or two. She’d watch videos on the internet about all the top heroes and wonder how she could be just like them. 

 Getting her parents to agree to this...would be so hard. Hence why she printed the paper but never filled it out. 

She stared at the divot in the wall for a moment before sighing and placing the paper back in the box. 

____________________________________________________________

After only having slept a measly three hours, Cordelia gave up and put on some shorts and a tank top. She snuck outside as her parents and brother would be getting ready soon and she wasn’t ready for any human interaction yet. She was not a morning person in the slightest. 

She favorited her new home’s address in her phone since she didn't know the neighborhood or have a specific route around yet. Then she set off. 

After thirty minutes of light running, she came upon a beach. A sign on a big rock read ‘Dagoba Municipal Beach Park.’ Cordelia felt her heart explode with joy at the sight. Water was close to her. No, the ocean was close to her!

“Oh my god!” She shrieked to herself. She found her place. This is where she would practice and train and just be and just...breathe. She jogged down the steps to the sand and couldn’t stop herself from giggling from pure happiness. The only sad part was the mountain of random trash and junk off to the left of her on the beach. Hell, maybe she’d move it all just to clear more space or put in a request to the city as she saw refrigerators and car pieces which looked way too heavy for her to just lug. 

All of a sudden, a giant boom and junk flew outward causing her to yelp and duck out of the way as a toaster almost took her head off. 

“The hell..?” She marched over to the source and stopped cold. A skinny boy looking around her age with a mess of green hair stood in a clearing in the mess. Her brain could only notice that much about him as her focus was being pulled to the shock before the boy. 

All Might.

All Might was in front of her.

ALL MIGHT WAS STANDING IN FRONT OF HER.

HOLY AJKFC SHIT!!

Cordelia couldn’t breathe. The number one hero in the world was right there and this boy was familiar with him enough to have a conversation. Holy wow. Thankfully, she was hidden by some of the junk so they didn’t seem to see her. 

“..towards being a hero.”

“Um..All this?” The boy looked back worriedly at the junk piled all around him. “But..There’s so much. That’s impossible!”

“ Young Midoriya, you wanna go to UA, right?” 

“Well, yeah. Of course! You went there. So it must be the best school around, right? It’s a long shot but still..I’m going to shoot for the moon.” She smiled at the sound of how earnest he was to try. To be honest, it made her want to try to despite her family’s lack of support. 

“You’ve got a lot of spirit, fanboy! But, as I’ve mentioned before, Heroeing isn’t easy to do without a quirk. It’s not fair but that's the reality. UA is the hardest hero course to get into. So that means..”

“..that I have to prepare my body for your Quirk really fast. UA’s exam is in ten months!” 

Ten months. 

Backing away slowly, she turned and ran back to the stairs to grab her shoes before running home. 

By the time she got home, she had made up her mind. 

After her shower, she grabbed the crumpled application out of the box and a pen off her desk. 

She wanted to go to UA and just like the boy on the beach, she was going to shoot for the moon.

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

A/N: Hey guys! I decided to take a shot at a fanfiction I’ve had in my head for a while with everyone’s favorite (especially my favorite) angry boy. I could use some beta readers and maybe some coverart if anyone is willing?? Feedback is more than welcome and I plan on updating at least once a week! 

[its-r-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s]

Call Me A Freak- Chapter 14: The Martyr

Words: 2,089

Warnings: anger and aggression, descriptions of violence and injury, murder, panic attack, physical and mental abuse, suicidal thoughts? (plans?)

Ch 13 | Ch 15

~ ~ ~

Jay forced me down into one of the park benches outside the school.

“How could you?” Jay snapped at me.

I didn’t react. In all honesty, I was a bit numb from the whole experience.

“Jay!” Evie hissed. “Not now.”

“You lost your cool back there,” Jay continued. “You went full out Maleficent on Chad, when you promised you were going to try and be civil until the Coronation.”

I snapped, shoving Jay away from me. “I lost my cool? The only reason I intervened was because you practically had him by the throat, Jay!”

“You instigated a fight with an old woman-”

“I didn’t say a word to her!”

“-you caught the attention of the whole school-”

“She’s the one who yelled!”

“-and you threatened the life of a student!”

“Shut up, Jay!” I screamed.

“Guys!” Carlos tried to interrupt, but it was no use.

“No!” Jay screamed. “All you’ve done this whole week is push away everything that could convince you to go against your mother and I’m sick of it. She’s not all powerful, Mal!”

“She’s my mother-”

“And I’m your best friend!”

It all came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop it. “Best friend? Ha!” I looked between all three of them. “You three think that we’re friends? You guys are just the deadweight kids of the people my mother is using as her stairs to power! She plans to kill you and your families the MINUTE SHE TAKES OVER!”

Jay faltered. “Excuse me?!”

Carlos stepped between us, breaking our eye contact. Suddenly, I was staring into another’s angry face. “Mal, what are you talking about?” he insisted.

“You’re all fools if you think my mother cares about a single one of you,” I laughed. I looked insane. I felt insane. “She killed all my siblings! I’m the only one left!”

“Oh my-” Evie gasped, but I wasn’t going to let her finish.

“My mother lives for the thought of slowly and painfully killing all of your parents. They drive her crazy!”

“And what about us?” Carlos tried again. “What reason does she have for wanting to kill us?”

“Reason?! She doesn’t need a reason! She’s insane. We’re both insane,” I snarled.

“Mal,” Evie said, softly. “You’re not like your mother. You don’t need to go along with her plans-”

“NOT LIKE MY MOTHER?!” I screeched. “You think I don’t have blood on my hands?! Believe me, I do.”

“What are you talking about?” Jay asked, stepping out from behind Carlos.

“Do you guys remember Gothel’s kid? Michael? He was 2 years younger than us. He went missing in July.”

“Mal-”

“He’s not missing,” I spat. “He’s dead. And I know this, because I was the one who smashed in his brains. I was the one who watched my mother’s goons carry him out, like they have with others, and dump him into the water.”

“Mal.” Evie tried to step forward.

“I KILLED HIM!”

My voice echoed outside the empty school. No one responded for a minute. Then, I heard a soft, “What?”

Behind me was Ben. He looked completely shell shocked when I flipped around to stare at him.

It felt like my heart had just become a center of gravity and the whole world was compressing down on my chest. Why would I say any of that? I had never told anyone before. It was an awful, horrible stain in my humanity that I would never recover from. I could never escape from the memories.

And now it was out in the open. Now Evie and Carlos knew. Now Jay knew. Now Ben knew…

I bolted. I had nowhere to go, but I couldn’t stand there a minute more. I couldn’t look at the horror on my friend’s faces. I couldn’t stand there and admit to Ben what I had just said.

~ ~ ~

Michael screamed out in pain, as I took another swing to his ribs. I did my best not to hit too hard. I couldn’t bring myself to. But anything was torture in his condition.

He deserves to pay for his crimes I tried to tell myself, but there wasn’t any way to convince myself of that. No one deserved this. He was just a kid, trying to survive in a world of thieves and murderers and monsters. Monsters like me.

~ ~ ~

I ended up in a hallway. It was empty. Silent.

I skidded to a stop, tripping over my feet and hitting the ground hard.

I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t go anywhere. I curled into myself. Sobbing. Trying desperately to push old memories away.

~ ~ ~

“Oh, hurry up already and finish the job,” my mother snarled. “Kill him!”

The boy couldn’t even look up at me. He lay almost completely still, a slow, piercing whimper escaping his throat.

“Mother, I can’t-”

“MAL!”

~ ~ ~

“Mal!” Someone was calling me from a distance. “Mal?! Where are you?”

“Mal, it’s us! Please… we just want to help!”

~ ~ ~

“Kill him!”

Beat.

“Kill him!!!”

Beat.

“KILL HIM!!!!!!”

Smash…

You know when you touch something with a strange texture and you hands feel weird? Like they didn’t like it and are trying to expel the feeling?

After hitting Michael across the head, my arms numbed. As if trying to forget the feeling of his skull being crushed underneath the crowbar.

I vaguely recall hitting the ground and watching my vomit mix in with the pools of blood.

I didn’t move a muscle as my mother ordered for the guards to take him away. I didn’t move until my mother lifted me up by my collar, almost like a kitten, and dragged me back inside.

~ ~ ~

Ben lifted me from my shoulders, gently placing me in his lap.

“Mal,” he whispered. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“Ben, I’m so sorry,” I gasped.

“She needs to monitor her breathing. Deep breaths,” Evie advised, from behind him.

“It’s okay,” he kept saying. “Breathe with me.”

“I didn’t mean-” I sobbed, “I didn’t mean to-”

“Shh… You’re okay,” he said into the top of my head. “Just keep breathing. There’s nothing to apologize for.”

“But-”

“You are not your mother,” he told me. “You aren’t evil. You aren’t a villain. You’re my Mal. And I love you so much.”

~ ~ ~

“Is she going to be okay for tomorrow?” I could hear Jay say quietly.

“She’ll be fine,” Evie reassured. “She just needs a couple of hours to rest. She’s… been through a lot.”

“No kidding,” Carlos mumbled.

I took in a deep breath, then pushed myself up. I was in my bed in the dorm rooms. “I don’t need to rest.”

They all turned to stare at me, wide eyed. Evie and Carlos sat across from one another at the table. Jay was already standing and quickly walked up next to the bed.

“Hey, Mal. How are you feeling?”

“Kinda shitty,” I mumbled.

“I’m so sorry for yelling at you today,” he admitted to me. “I lost it on you.”

“We both did,” I replied, quickly. Jay and I didn’t really do the sappy, heart to heart stuff, but it meant a lot to me that he tried. “We have more important matters at hand right now.”

“Mal, we don’t have to talk about this now. You need to get some more sleep-”

“The Coronation is tomorrow, Evie. There is no time.”

Everyone looked around, waiting to hear what I had to say.

“We are not going to take that wand tomorrow,” I insisted. “And you three are never going back to the island.”

Evie and Jay’s faces lit up. Jay even wrapped his arms around me in excitement. But Carlos picked up on my lack of enthusiasm.

“And you?” he demanded. “You said the three of us would never go back, but what about you, Mal?”

Jay’s muscles tensed around my back and I slowly pushed away.

“That… That depends.”

“On what?” Jay growled.

I looked between them all. “Jay… you asked me yesterday to really think about what makes me happy. And I have… And I thought about you guys. I mean, stealing things doesn’t make you happy. Tourney and victory pizza with the team makes you happy!”

A smile crept onto his face.

“And you,” I said to Carlos, “scratching Dude’s belly makes you happy, who would’ve thought.”

I giggled. A tear slipped down my face.

“And Evie, you are so smart. You amaze me every time you open your mouth.”

She looked about ready to burst into tears.

“And you’re right, Jay. I don’t want to take over the world with evil. It doesn’t make me happy. I want to stay here, with you guys. And with Ben… Because Ben makes me really happy.”

He looked me up and down. “Then what’s the problem?” he asked.

I sighed. It had taken me awhile to come to this conclusion. I was still trying to process my thoughts as I said them aloud to my friends. But I knew in my heart it was the right choice.

“Tomorrow, after the Coronation, I will give Ben the antidote to his spell. And I expect… he’s not going to be happy with me. I’ll come clean about everything, except your involvement. And when it’s over… if he decides to send me back to the Isle, back to my mother, I will go.”

“You can’t!” Evie shot up. “Mal, she’ll kill you!”

I shook my head. “Honestly, I hope she does. There are much worse things I’ve seen her do.”

“We’ll go with you,” Jay decided. “Tell Ben that we were all a part of it. That way we’re all sent back and can protect one another-”

“No! You guys don’t understand. You need to stay here. You need to stay away from your parents and… be happy. There’s no reason for us all to die. In fact, my mother will happily use you three against me. I have to go alone.”

No one argued. There wasn’t anything to argue.

Evie rushed forward and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so proud of you, Mal,” she whispered, tears streaming down her face. “You are so brave.”

“Let me in.” Carlos got up and pushed his way into our arms, joining the hug.

Once the three of us were settled, we looked at Jay.

“Please no,” he grumbled, but Evie grabbed his arm and pulled him in with us.

There was silence for a beat or two. Just the four of us, with our arms wrapped around one another, heads down.

“It’s not fair,” Carlos said. “You’ve spent your whole life being tortured by Maleficent and now, you have to be the martyr who stops her grand plan.”

Jay squeezed me closer to him in the hug. “Don’t worry. If Ben sends you back there tomorrow, I promise I’ll kill him for you.”

We all laughed.

Finally, we slowly pulled apart from one another.

“I actually have a surprise for you, Mal,” Evie confided.

I raised an eyebrow. “A surprise?”

“Yeah,” she breathed, a grin on her face. It was somewhat distorted by her tears, but it was happy nonetheless. “I’ve been working on something for you. For the Coronation.”

She shuffled back to her closet, pulling out a long, lavender dress.

“Oh, Evie,” I started, but she shushed me.

“Come take a look.”

She held it up and I started to touch it, identifying the separate pieces. The skirt was long and ruffled. It had a short train, which was scrunched up on the floor at her feet.

There wasn’t much in the way of sleeves and the collar was high, haloing my neck just like my mother’s did on her cape.

“Evie, it’s so beautiful,” I told her.

“It gets better,” she said, with a smirk. She then, flipped it around, giving me a look at the wide open back.

“Oh no,” I muttered. “Evie, I can’t wear this.”

“Of course you can!” she prompted.

I shook my head wildly. “Evie, my scars! My burns! Everyone will be able to see them.”

“That’s the point,” Carlos admitted, wrapping an arm around my shoulders to look at it as well. “Think of the statement you’ll be making! About what kids have to face on the Isle all the time! Anyone who has a single doubt about Ben’s proclamation will have to eat their words when they see you walk with the new king, proudly displaying your past pain.”

I chuckled. “My current pain,” I half-joked.

“So, you’ll wear it?” Evie asked, bouncing with excitement.

I nodded. “Yes, Evie. I’d be honored to wear it.”

[cambridgefamilyfiction]

When We Were Young Chapter 1: The dispute

 So sorry this has taken us so long to put out. It is pretty bad but i hope you enjoy it anyway. Remember send in requests so we can write more of what you want. - Audrey. 

March 2011

Will and Kate were enjoying a “friendly” game of Monopoly with their siblings, they had all had a few drinks so were quite lively. It was getting intense everybody was getting increasingly verbal when someone bought a piece of property they were collecting. Not everyone was entirely happy with the direction the game was going; Pippa took it upon herself to shut everybody up. “so you two, you’ve been together almost a decade and you’re getting married in a month. Are you ever going to tell us how your fairytale romance came to be” She obviously directed at her sister and her fiancée, the game had already been forgotten when Harry and James backed her up with unified “oh yeah’s”. The couple looked at each other and laughed, silently wondering if they had ever told anyone the story before, sure, everyone knew the basics, they met at university, moved in to a flat with some friends and then things developed, what they were being asked for were the intricate details of who liked who, who asked who out, a detailed retelling of the first date, first kiss, the dynamics of the early stages of such a widely celebrated royal romance before anyone knew it even existed.

 “Basically William was in love with me from the first moment he lay eyes on me and followed me around for the next two years begging me to go on a date with him.” Will disagreed with her statement and quickly retorted “yes that is entirely true except you were in love me” “oh you have got to be kidding me, come off it William” “Uh oh looks like you’ve started a domestic Pip.” James said “why don’t we just agree that you both liked each other.” Now Harry spoke up “do you know I reckon that’s true because when I came to visit you before you two were an item I could totally see that you guys had major googly eyes for each other and I felt like I was interrupting something when I talked to both of you together. William and Kate reluctantly accepted this but in their head they still believed they were right, they were not going to let it go until they knew the answer, it was sort of like the Ross and Rachel who came onto who debate.

 ***

November 2002

 The four friends had been living together for about a month, the flat was not huge so naturally they were all in each other’s space a fair bit of the time. Not that they minded all that much, some of them less than others. William was enjoying the normalcy of living without intrusion and getting to spend so much time with his friends. He had grown particularly close to Kate, they shared many things in common, History of Art classes were no longer one of them but it was thanks to Kate that he was still at university, and he’d never been gladder of it than in this moment when he realised how grateful he was to have the opportunity to get to know and form an incredible friendship with this girl. He thought he was starting to develop a crush on her; she had the most beautiful smile that let out the most infectious laugh he’d ever heard. He knew that he would have to be careful after all nothing could ever happen between them, he would never subject her to the cruel nature of his world, little did he know that she too was developing a crush of her own.

 As she was lying in bed Kate was beginning to realise how much she valued spending time with William, he was such a genuine person who she could share just about anything with, without fear of being judged. They talked about everything; she loved the fact that they could have long conversations about both superficial and intellectual things. She convinced herself that she had to stop thinking about him in a romantic way, he was a Prince for goodness sakes he would never fall for her.

 Harry was on his way to visit William in his flat for the first time since he’d moved in. He had been giving William flack by text about the girls he was living with, who were supposedly just friends. Harry believed his brother had something going on with Olivia. Harry realised just how wrong he was when he arrived. Kate had cooked dinner for all of them William said thank you to her about 45 times and her gentle rub of Williams shoulder in reply did not escape his attention. He noticed that the room mates paid a lot more attention to each other than anyone else at the table and William laughed at everything she said.

 Later that evening he cornered William and began interrogating him about the nature of his relationship with Kate, “so mate, what’s going on between you and Kate” “Harry shut up there is nothing going on between me and Kate.” “William! Are you kidding me that is such lie and you know it, I can see the way you look at her and if there is nothing going on you wish there was.” “Alright fine I really like her but nothings ever going to happen because I don’t want her to have to deal with my life.” “Okay but she definitely likes you too” “harry that’s not possible” “alright think what you want brother but you know I’m always right.” “No harm in asking her on a date” “Harry, are you kidding she would never go out with me” “William you are so so so naïve.”

 Lying in bed that night, William wondered if there was any truth in what Harry had been saying, he hoped there was. He made a mental note to try and figure out if she really did like him back, he had a few ideas that he would try out tomorrow. He fell asleep with a hopeful grin on his face.

 “Good morning all” William bellowed as he made his way into the kitchen for breakfast. Kate’s toast was taking much longer than she would have liked, she expressed her dissatisfaction with the toaster speed “ugh why is this taking such a long time, I’m so hungry!” Will chimed in with the classic “hi hungry I’m William” she laughed a little “that was the worst joke I have ever heard Will, even for you that was bad” she may have just insulted him but she did laugh at his terrible joke so he took that as a sign she liked him, he began a mental tally 1 point for, 0 against. Throughout the day he observed Kate’s every move, noted her reaction when he put his hand on the small of her back - she didn’t flinch, he analysed the way her fingers lingered slightly longer than necessary on his hip when she squeezed past him in the kitchen, he consciously engaged her in eye contact and watched as she held his gaze without nervously glancing every other direction and as the day progressed so did his jokes they got progressively worse that is, still, she laughed even if just half heartedly at some.

 Kate stood in front of the mirror brushing her teeth reflecting on the incredibly weird day she’d just had, William was being very strange, stranger than usual. She had to admit she had a little crush on him but they were just friends, well she thought they were just friends. Kate decided she couldn’t solve this on her own so she called in the big guns her little sister. It sounds strange to ask your younger sister for relationship advice, truth was however Pippa had always been better at this stuff, she had more experience. Kate was well aware of the irony of the situation but shot Pippa a text anyway. She explained the countless bad jokes, the weird wide eyed starring at her all day and everything else. Pippa responded “Kate he definitely likes you, you should ask him out he’s probably too shy” Kate replied with only two words “NO WAY!”.

 “Kate the others have gone out, wanna watch a movie?” “Yeah okay but I get to pick” “Sure, shall I order a pizza?” “Yep and I’ll make a salad.” “ so what movie do you want to watch I’ll get it all set up while you’re making the salad” a sly smile crept across Kate’s face “Princess Diaries” William laughed “are you serious Kate?” “Deadly, hey come on it looks good and I just bought it last week I’ve been dying to watch it, who better to watch it with?” “Fair play Middleton no harm in watching it once” he was pleasantly surprised, they both burst in to fits giggles when his picture flashed across the screen “you look good there” “shut up” he mumbled in response.

 When the movie finished they were both relaxed and were sitting close together. William decided to take advantage of the moment, “Kate? Can I tell you something?” “Of course” she replied and turned to face him. “you are one of my best friends and I love the time that we spend together, we can have so much fun but we can also be so serious, I love that I can be 100% real with you and I’ve been thinking this for a while but I really like you Kate, I really really like you.” He had kept talking and was starting to ramble so Kate put her hand on his to stop him “let’s have dinner next week, just the two of us” a big smile made it’s way across both of their faces as they sank back into comfortable conversation, their hands still clutched together.

 ***

2011

 “So when it comes down to it, you both liked each other and basically you both asked each other out.” Harry said. “Well, yeah, I suppose” William replied, this led to the five of them laughing, Pippa spoke now, “are you sure you should be getting married? You bicker over the founding details of your relationship only to discover that your both wrong, how do you not remember the first date?!” “I wouldn’t want to marry anyone else” Kate said as she caught Williams gaze and they both smiled. James pretended to be sick. “So go on, we haven’t even got to the stuff, what happened on the first date?”

 *** 2002

“So when are we having this dinner?” William asked as they were walking back from their respective classes for the day. “I’ve been thinking about that and since you nor I really want to flash it around I thought we could go to my house. My family is away for the weekend and I had already planned to go so you’d just drive separately and no one will ever know.”  “Seems like such an ordeal just for dinner” he responded though he was grateful that the very start of their relationship would be played out in private rather than in front of the prying eyes of other university students. “So are we keeping this secret from everyone?” She asked “at least until we know the nature of it. I think it would be best.” He replied. She grinned “our little secret”. “One more thing William” “Yes?” she was serious now “will you be bringing your security team with you?” “If I brought them, it wouldn’t be our little secret, would it?” she smiled like a child on Christmas morning, a smile that was so contagious William found himself smiling too. They kept talking and walking “this is all so thrilling I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep this up” Kate said. William responded, “I reckon you can last 6 months at least.” “Will we still have a secret to keep in 6 months?” she asked “I hope so.” He said. In that moment the two of them wanted nothing more than to hold hands but that would mean letting people in on their secret, something they were not willing to do. It was Thursday evening, Kate would leave at lunchtime tomorrow after her classes were done and William would follow an hour or so later because he had an extra class. They both decided to drive and not fly to avoid travel to and from airports and boarding planes and such and for William driving meant he could avoid the inevitable stares of strangers. Neither of them could wait.

 “Are you excited to go home this weekend Kate?” one of their flat mates asked her at dinner that evening “I can’t wait! Although I think I’m most excited to see my dog.” That comment earned her giggle from everyone present. “What is everyone else doing this weekend?” she asked. “Since we are on the topic I’m going home this weekend too.” William said. “Dad’s asked me back because Harry is home from school for the weekend too.” “Looks like it’s just us two then.” Fergus and Olivia high fived.

 Kate’s phone buzzed, she picked it up to see who it was, it was William his message read; “hey, I’m here come and let me in please.” When Kate opened the door he was standing there with a bunch of flowers in his hand “these are for you” he said before kissing her cheek. Kate laughed, “come in”. William thought she looked very cute, she was wearing an apron and had her hair up high in a messy bun. They were both a bit shy “I’ll show you around, where to put your bag and such” she said gesturing for Will to follow. The house was large but not overwhelmingly so, she showed him around the downstairs area before heading up the stairs. Her parents’ room was first on the left, Pippa’s was next to it and James’ across from it, they sprouted from the landing that had a big window looking out over the street. Kate then led William down a corridor she pointed to her right “this is the spare room which is where you’ll stay” the bed was very nicely made and the window looked out onto the back of the property it was so green, the garden perfectly groomed. “Nice view” William said before following Kate down the hall again “and this is my room” she pointed to the door in front of them. “May I see it?” William asked, eager to see where she had grown up. He believed a persons bedroom revealed so much about them. “Of course” she opened the door and motioned for him to go in and sit down. It was very clean and simple, not too much stuff crammed in. She had a few pictures with her siblings and a few with her friends. A bookcase stood in the corner, full, but not overflowing and her bed was perfectly made with more pillows than was practical. It suited her he thought, beautiful without trying too hard. “I better get back to the kitchen” she smiled at him “you can stay up here and settle in if you want or you can come back down, up to you” “I’ll come back down, I can help you cook.” Kate laughed “ no offence William but I think I’ll cook tonight, I’d quite like to actually eat whatever is made.” William clutched his chest “ouch! That one hurt.” “ If you insist on being helpful you can set the table and light some candles while I finish dinner.” “Candles?” he asked “are we expecting someone special?” “No, just some deadbeat I met at university, I’m only doing this to humour him” “suppose he is only here out of pity for the girl” Kate let out a full laugh “please William we all know that is false, you’ve been waiting for this moment your whole life” “well if I have, so have you.” “Hmmm you might be right,” she said as she placed their plates on the table and poured them each a glass of wine. She went to put her apron back in the kitchen “Will you can sit down you know.” “I know” she gave him a weird look when he stayed standing where he was. When she came back to the table he pulled the chair out for her and then sat down himself. “I was really nervous for tonight” William chuckled “more nervous than I’ve ever been for a date, not that I’ve been on many” “why?” “I don’t know I guess I just wanted it to go well” “That’s cute Will, I think its going pretty well so far, don’t you?” “yes” he said and he took her hand across the table briefly before they both went back to eating. Kate got up to clear the table William placed his hand on her wrist to stop her “let me” “fine you wash, I’ll dry”.

 “Cup of tea?” “Oh yes please” “I’ll bring it into the sitting room in a minute, you can turn the TV on if you want” Kate said pointing in the direction of the room she was talking about. When she walked in with the tray of tea she found William sitting on the couch “there wasn’t anything good on TV so I just put the radio on. She sat down next to him and listened to the music – it must have been a 90s station. As the opening notes of ‘No Matter What’ by Boyzone played she smiled “I love this song.” William stood up and held out his hand “would you like to dance?” she took his hand and he spun her around, their hands were locked and their heads close together. He spun her again, this time only half the way round so her back was against his front and his hands were wrapped around her stomach, his head sat perfectly in her shoulder. They danced until the early hours when they both decided it was time to go to bed. They went up the stairs hand in hand and gave each other half smiles as they slowly pulled away when they said their goodnights.

 *** 2011

  “Kate, I didn’t know you had your first date at home.” “Nobody did, Mum and Dad would have killed me if they knew I was alone in the house with a boy all weekend.” Pippa gasped and a shocked expression made its way across her face exaggeratedly she said “CATHERINE MIDDLETON” “relax Pippa, nothing happened. Not that time anyway.” Her eyes met Williams and they smiled knowingly at each other.

[i-also-miss-our-talks]

Sibling Feud ~Zoe Murphy x Reader

Holy. Shit. I found this story on my laptop from back in January. I just wrote the last few paragraphs to finish it up because for some reason I couldn’t do that four months ago. Also major projecting! Be warned! Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

WC: 2,108 (wtf?!)

Warnings: Swearing, Cruel family members, Jared Kleinman

Masterlist

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck you!”

You got up, grabbed your backpack, and stormed out of the house, not even bothering to say goodbye to your mother. You were too mad at your sister to even think straight. Sure, she was only a year younger than you, but that doesn’t give her the right to treat you like shit.

Walking towards school, you dreaded the day to come. You had three tests back-to-back, an essay that you definitely didn’t finish that needed to be turned in today, and Zoe had extra band practice after school for her concert tomorrow night.

Okay, maybe the last one wasn’t bad. After all, you could spend hours on end listening to your girlfriend play and never grow tired of it. But she was staying after school which meant you had two options. One, wait for her after school with Connor, or get a ride home with your sister.

Staying with Connor wouldn’t normally be too bad, considering you’ve learned to tolerate each other. You two have been in the same English class since seventh grade after all—kinda how you met Zoe since she was a year behind you—but Connor was now dating Evan. And whenever there weren’t a lot of people around, Connor would be all over Evan, just talking about life and other stuff you didn’t even want to know about. So you would just be the awkward third wheel.

The second option wasn’t any better. Since you stormed out of the house this morning, that meant your sister got the keys to the car, making her the driver for today. That wouldn’t help your situation with her in the slightest. Plus, she’d probably poke fun at you about Zoe and how you two aren’t actually a “couple” because no one in the Y/L/N family was the slightest bit gay.

“Fuck you,” you mumbled to yourself as these thoughts about your sister ran through your head again.

“Y/N?”

You turned your head to see none other than the Murphy siblings pulled over to the side of the road. Zoe had a worried look on her face as she hopped out of the car and pretty much tackled you in a hug, to which you gladly reciprocated.

“What the fuck are you doing walking to school?” Connor asked as Zoe ushered you into the back seat with her.

You got in and folded yourself into your girlfriend. “Getting the fuck away from my sister and her bullshit,” you answered.

Connor rolled his eyes and continued the drive to Evan’s house. Zoe kissed your forehead. “What’d she do this time?”

You held her hand, intertwining your fingers together. “She was just being annoying as always; telling my mom we’re just friends and that she can find me a boyfriend for prom.”

“Isn’t prom like six months away?”

“Exactly! But anyway, she just needs to back off before something happens,” you said.

Connor parked the car in Evan’s driveway and got out to help his boyfriend with his stuff. When Connor left, Zoe gently cupped your face and kissed you. You happily kissed her back, playing with some strands of her hair. This was one of your favorite things to do with Zoe; early morning kisses when you two were still tired enough that there wasn’t a lot of force between the kiss, but enough to show that you still loved each other. Of course, today’s wasn’t the best, due to your earlier situation, but it was still sweet because it was with the girl you loved the most.

You two pulled away when Connor and Evan slid into their seats. You and Zoe gave Evan a soft smile before continuing your cuddling from earlier. You played with the rings on Zoe’s fingers to help steady your mind before you arrived at school. Zoe, in return, laid her head on your shoulder and shut her eyes, hoping to catch a few extra Z’s.

When you arrived at school, you gently squeezed Zoe’s hand. “Hey, Zo. We’re here,” you whispered and shook her slightly.

Zoe groaned and forced her eyes open. She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. “I don’t wanna go to school,” she mumbled.

Connor opened the door to the backseat to grab his bag. “Yeah, well, you’re not the first,” he said.

“Oh, fuck off, smartass,” Zoe said and sat up, grabbing her backpack and guitar case.

The older Murphy sibling flipped her off. “Just get the fuck out of the car so I can lock it.”

You and Zoe obeyed and held each others hands as you walked into school, the boys following close behind. You spotted your little sister walking away from her car in the parking lot, surrounded by all her guy “friends”. She rolled her eyes as she saw you and Zoe, pointed to your intertwined hands, and pointed a finger in her mouth, imitating the motion of forcing herself to throw up. You felt Zoe tighten her grip on your hand.

“It’s okay, Zo. She’s just being a bitch,” you said and continued your walk into school. You and Zoe left the boys to head towards the band room. You leaned against the wall as Zoe put her guitar away. “I’m really excited to watch your concert tomorrow, Zo.” The both of you frowned as the two minute bell went off. “I guess I’ll see you at lunch?”

Zoe nodded and kissed you softly before running towards her first class. “I’ll text you before then, though! Love you!”

You smiled and ran towards your first hour. “Love you, too!” You slid into your seat in the back of your English class, next to Connor, right before the bell went off. You sighed as you remembered the essay that was due. “Shit,” you mumbled and pulled out your notebook. Your phone vibrated in your pocket so you pulled it out, smiling at the text.

Zoe 💕: i barely made it to class on time! oh! if you need an essay ask connor. i think he still has a copy of his rough draft and its pretty good.

Y/N 💝: Bless your soul, Zoe. Remind me to pay him back later. Love you!

Zoe 💕: love you too!

You turned to Connor and asked for his rough draft. Although hesitant, he gave it to you after you promised to pay for his next batch of weed. You thanked him and wrote your name at the top. Maybe today wasn’t gonna be as bad as you originally thought! After all, you had your friends, Connor and Evan, and your beautiful girlfriend, Zoe. Plus, you really only had lunch with your little sister and she didn’t even talk to you at lunch anyways.

Yeah. Today will be okay.

Yeah. Today will not be okay.

After completely bombing your first two tests, the teacher saw your phone light glow in your backpack when Zoe texted you about lunch and immediately said you were cheating. Therefore, he confiscated your test and gave you a zero.

Your sister was gonna have a field day.

Getting lunch wasn’t any better. Because you left in such a rush this morning, you had left your lunch on the counter which meant you had to buy. Today’s food was grease-filled pizza and mystery meat. Obviously mystery meat was not an option so you slapped a piece of pizza onto your tray, grabbed a can of sparkling lemonade because all the waters were gone, paid for your food, and headed to your table. On the way there, one of your sisters “friends” ran into you, causing the tray you held to fly back into your shirt. The grease and uncooked cheese covered your shirt. You sighed and picked up the can of lemonade before scurrying to the table. Jared was the only one there and when he saw you, he opened his mouth for an offhand comment.

“Don’t you fucking dare, Jared,” you hissed and sat down. You stole a few napkins from him and tried your best to wipe up your shirt.

Try being the key word.

Soon, Evan and Connor joined the table. Evan sat next to Jared and Connor beside him. Alana came not too late after them and sat two seats away from you. Zoe finally arrived and sat between you and Alana. She gasped at your appearance. “Y/N! What happened? Did Connor throw a pizza at you?”

“Fuck you, Zoe,” Connor mumbled and ate his sandwich.

You shook your head. “No. One of my sisters friends ran into me. No big deal.” You put your lemonade on the table, but when you cracked it open it sprayed up and into your face, soaking you to the bone.

Jared burst out laughing.

You couldn’t help but let out a small sob. You got up, grabbed your bag, and walked out towards the girls bathroom. You ignored Zoe calling your name and Connor threatening to shove a fist down Jared’s throat if he didn’t stop laughing.

Arriving at the bathroom, you saw there was only one other person there; your sister. She was adjusting her hair and makeup. One glance at you and she was dying of laughter. “What happened to you?”

You flipped her off and went into the back stall. Letting out a few tears, you take off your shirt and hang it over the side of the stall door in hopes of letting it dry out a bit. You ring out your hair above the toilet so the lemonade dripped into the bowl. You thought about taking off your soaked pants, but decided against it.

Soon, a knock was heard.

“Y/N? Can I come in?”

Your heart swelled at the sound of Zoe’s voice. You unlocked the door and quickly pulled her inside, throwing your arms around her middle. Zoe didn’t hesitate to hug you back, brushing your hair with her fingers and ignoring the juice sticking to the underside of her fingernails. She pecked your lips before speaking. “Don’t worry. Connor took care of Jared.”

You smiled slightly. “Jared’s the least of my worries. Is my sister still out there?”

Zoe shook her head. “Not that I saw.” She shrugged off her hoodie and wrapped it around you for warmth. “Do you wanna hide in one of the music rooms with me for the rest of the day?”

You nodded and picked up your backpack. “Yeah. That sounds good. I could really go for a shower now, though,” you said and zipped up Zoe’s hoodie so it acted as a shirt for you.

Zoe laced her fingers through yours and led you out of the stall. She threw away your gross shirt and took you to the music hall. Using her lock picking skills—which Connor taught her at one point—Zoe pulled you into the small music room. Inside was a piano and a few chairs. “I’ll be right back,” your girlfriend said and ran off. She came back a few minutes later with her guitar and its case. Closing the door, Zoe tossed her backpack in the corner and sat on the floor. “Join me.”

You smiled and sat next to her after tossing your backpack next to hers. You watched Zoe take her guitar out of its case and laid your head on her shoulder. Sighing contently, you listened to your girlfriend play.

Eventually, time had passed and the last bell of the day had rang. Zoe pressed a soft kiss to your lips, promising to meet you after rehearsal. “Hopefully I can get done quickly as long as the trumpets don’t ask a million questions,” she said, rolling her eyes.

You laughed and walked her to the auditorium. “Don’t worry. I’ll just wait with Con and Ev,” you said. With a quick kiss, you two went your separate ways. As you were walking towards your usual waiting spot, you saw Connor and Evan walking out to the student parking lot. You let out a sigh. Guess I’ll be waiting alone, you thought as you sat down, pulling out your earbuds.

Two hours later, Zoe finally finished her rehearsal. As soon as you saw her, you jumped up and engulfed her in a tight hug. Your girlfriend giggled and hugged you back. “I missed you, too. Ready to go home?”

“As long as I’m with you, I’m ready to go anywhere,” you said, kissing her cheek.

Zoe smiled brightly and grabbed your hand, laced your fingers, and walked out of the school towards her brothers car.

Yeah, you thought, I’ll be okay as long as I have you.

[obeydontstray]

The Little Things chapter one

So I started the 100 ways to say I love you prompts. Hop tells Joyce he loves her in a hundred different ways. Post season 2, beware of spoilers. Each prompt is a different day. So here's 1-5! Can be found on ao3! 1. "Pull over. Let me drive for a while." The radio played on between them, her passenger's Dark Side of the Moon cassette. Joyce's mouth was set into a hard line. Mauled by a bear. Fucking lie. She was on her way to Indianapolis to tell Bob's only sibling that he was mauled by a bear. Her eyelids were heavy and she let out a weak sigh, passing the leaving Hawkins sign. She had been determined to leave tonight, to stay at a hotel, and see Sue first thing in the morning. "Pull over. Let me drive for a while." Came a gruff statement from the passenger side. After the events of the last few days he was deathly tired but as soon as he heard her intention of telling Bob's family, he wouldn't take no for an answer when she insisted on going alone. "No Hop you need rest, I'll drive." His hand reached for her's on the steering wheel. "Joycie. Let me drive. I know you're exhausted." Without much protest she pulled over and switched seats with him. He rolled the driver's side window down a bit, upped the volume of the radio just a bit. Then he passed her his fur lined police jacket. "Rest up, Byers." He smiled before she closed her eyes. 2. "It reminded me of you." They were eating dinner, the Byers and Hop and El, at the cabin when Hop leaned up on one hip, digging in his pocket for something. "Here, this is for you." Hop said, opening his palm to Joyce. In his big hand lay a tiny stone cardinal. "Hop!" He gave her a small smile. "It reminded me of you. I know your favorite Aunt loved them." "That she did." She smiled. "She always said they were magical birds." "Oddly enough I found it on the ground. I guess it was meant for me to find it." He smiled gently. "Maybe that's her sending you a hello." The kids all went back ti their food, their interests elsewhere. But under the table Joyce lightly squeezed his knee, giving him a small smile. "Thank you, Hop." 3. "No, no, it's my treat." He hoped it was a comforting thing for Joyce and the boys. Really the things just made his head hurt, but it was determined that once a month there would be a board game night in Bob's memory. Jim was squinting at a brainteaser, trying his hardest to decipher the damn thing. "Bob the brain. You know I always called him that because he was smarter than me." Jim observed. Joyce responded with a sad smile. The doorbell rang. "Pizza!" Jonathan called. "Hey Will, go grab my purse please-" Jim stood, reaching in his pocket. "Don't sweat it, I got it." "No Jim, it's my turn to buy dinner!" She protested. "No, no, it's my treat." He said, heading for the door. "Besides." He said returning to the table with a pile of pizza boxes. "One of these is just for me anyway." He said, referring to the everything pizza he'd gotten. "Your boys and their weird pineapple pizza. Blasphemy." There was a pepperoni and ham for El and Joyce. El watched him intently as he ate. "Folding?" She inquired. Jim always folded his pizza slices when he ate. "Yeah, people eat pizza all different ways." He explained. He pointed at Will, who was eating his crust first. "When my little girl was little, she would only eat pepperoni pizza, and she ate it upside down!" He laughed. "Some people eat cold pizza, sometimes for breakfast. People eat pizza all different ways." She looked around at the table, watching everyone eat pizza from paper towels as they played with the brain teasers. Jim looked over at Joyce. "I like to think he'd be happy, knowing the kids are having game nights like this and everything." He said quietly. She nodded and swallowed. "I think so, too." 4. "Come here. Let me fix it." Joyce cursed a blue streak, her finger stinging. The splinter had been sharp, a piece of wood from the work they were doing repairing his cabin. Joyce had insisted on helping, since he helped repair her house after...after she chopped a hole through her wall. After the kids fought the demogorgon in her hallway. She wanted to help. She shoved her finger in her mouth, sucking the pained skin. "The quicker you get it out, the less it hurts." He said, looking up from where he was rebuilding a bookshelf. "Uh, I hate removing splinters, makes it hurt worse." "Come here, let me fix it." He offered. "I'll fix your boo boo." Joyce pouted at his baby talk, but did it anyway. "Boo boo?" El asked, her eyes squinted in confusion. "A wound. Also called an ouchie or a boo boo if you're talking to a kid." "Joyce is not kid." She said flatly. Jim held Joyce's finger. "She's four months younger than me so sometimes I tease her." He explained and Joyce rolled her eyes. "Now Joycie, I want you to look away and sing me a song, okay?" "This is so stupid!" "Sing, woman!" He fussed as he unfolded his pocket knife. Joyce turned her head. "Moving forward using all my breath. Making love to you was never second best. I saw the world crashing all around your face..." Jim dipped his head low to see the big splinter. As she sang, he gently cut into her finger with the tip of his knife. He then squeezed the skin lightly till the wood poked out. He pulled it out gently. "I'll stop the world and melt with you. You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time..." "All set." He said, folding his knife and tucking it away. Joyce observed her finger. "Wow, that didn't even hurt, Hop. Thank you." He grabbed her hand, lifted her finger to his lips and kissed it. "Tradition." He explained. "It was always my job to kiss boo boos. And we have got to talk about your taste in music." "Not everyone's favorite song has their name in it, Jim." 5. "I'll walk you home." "I would tell you guys to watch after my girl, but I think it'll be the other way around." Jim laughed, patting Jon's shoulder. "Thank you again for doing this, El has been so excited." He said. "And I have to work so I couldn't stay." Jon nodded. There was an entire campsite set up around Castle Byers. El, Will, Max, Lucas, Dustin, Mike, Steve and Jonathan all had sleeping bags set up around the fire Jim had started for them. The sun was beginning to dip in the sky. "You're not camping too Ma?" He asked and Joyce shook her head. "Too old for camping." "Never too old for camping!" He smiled and offered her his arm. "I'll walk you home." He offered and she took it. The crisp autumn air blew through their hair as they walked through the woods. In his free hand Jim toted the oil lantern ahead to light their way as it began getting darker. She playfully reached up to run her fingertips through his beard. "Just like a real lumberjack." She teased. "Me, mountain man." He laughed. "You know, you can crash here tonight. I know the boys are with the kids but I dunno, I'd just feel better if you were close and we needed you." He raised the lantern once they got in the scope of her porch light and blew it out. "Those kids? They can handle their own and so can you if anything happens." He teased lightly. "I would, but I left my uniform and stuff at home." There was a pause between them at his driver's side door. She looked up at him, trying to contain the emotion his blue eyes made her feel. "Go get your uniform, come back. I'll even iron it for you." She smiled. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I'd better get back to the cabin, Joycie. I'll take a rain check though. Next time El wants to stay over." One corner of her lips lifted, a pouty half smile. "Alright. Be careful going home, okay?" He nodded. "Always am. Got too much to live for these days." He smiled warmly as he slid behind the wheel. "Goodnight, Joycie."

[rscenarios]

Daehyun - Family Drama

Hey everyone, happy 151115 day everyone! Always remember our team came back. To celebrate (even though this request doesn’t relate oop) here is a request from xiumin120801 on AFF for when you fight with your brother Daehyun and go stay with your boyfriend Yongguk.

I hope you guys like it! - Em

Warnings: some blown-out of proportion responses because angst. 

It’s been a very long day. Everything that could have gone wrong at work seemed to go wrong. What’s gotten you through everything was the fact that you would at least get to see Yongguk after his busy own busy week. A nice cuddle session with soft music is all you want right now. As soon as you get into your car you hear the soft text alert go off. You expect to see a message saying how he looks forward to seeing you, but instead you see a message saying he has to cancel.

Rather than mope about it, you decide you might as well take some time to pack more of you stuff. You send Yongguk a message, letting him know that you hope he isn’t over working. With an album in progress you know he’s likely to start pushing himself more and more. That done, you head back to the apartment you share with your brother, Daehyun. When you arrive the place is empty, so you decide to message your brother to see where he is.

To your surprise, he replies almost a moment later, ‘I’m leaving the studio! Are you at my place?’

You confirm your location and pocket your phone before preheating the oven. As it heats, you head into your room, maneuvering around your few piles of things that you were organizing for the move. You slip into pajamas and once you’ve changed you hear a soft beep telling you that the oven is ready for the pizza. Once it’s in, there’s a beep from your phone, urging you to charge it soon.

You go to your room, expecting to find your charger in its usual place only to remember that you grabbed it to take to work with you. You look around, only to accept that it was somewhere in your office. Sighing, you go grab Daehyun’s. With that, you head back to your room, putting some of the clothing piles into a box. You’re about to start on some of your personal knick-knacks when you hear the front door open and close, signalling your brother’s arrival.

You can hear another voice, another guy is with him and it isn’t until you go to greet him that you see Changsub. Changsub greets you politely before you embrace Daehyun.

“I thought you would be with Yongguk?” He questions. There’s no harshness to his tone, only a soft curiosity.

“He had to cancel. But there’s a pizza in the oven that should be done in a bit and then I’ll be in my room so you guys can do what you have planned.”

“I wouldn’t mind if you join us,” Changsub smiles.

You smile but shake your head, “I should keep tending to some stuff, but thank you.”

Both of the guys nod as the oven beeps so you make quick work of slicing up the pizza and taking some into your room to eat as you work on packing some of the photos you want at Yongguk’s place.

A soft curse leaves your lips as one of your picture frames falls behind your bedside dresser. You move the little dresser, only to hear a clunk as you do so. Not thinking much of it, you grab the framed photo and set it on your bed before moving the dresser back.

There’s a soft chime from your phone, signalling a text from Yongguk, who offers to get breakfast with you tomorrow to make up for tonight. Smiling, you tell him that would be great. As you’re about to set the device back down, you note that it’s not longer charging.

Puzzled, you make sure the cord is plugged into your phone: it is.

You check the wall port only to see the plug port pulled out slightly, but as you reach to push it back in you see the wires coming out of the end of the cord. It must have been hit by your dresser and finally snapped. It had been frail from all it’s different trips when Daehyun goes on tours.

Biting your lip, you decide to try taping the wires up. It’s too late to get a new one tonight, so maybe you can at least do a temporary repair. It holds a charge for a few seconds before stopping. You aren’t sure why, but you can feel your eyes watering. Maybe it’s the long day getting the better of you. Daehyun is usually laid back when it comes to you, the benefit of being the younger sibling. Although there are times he can be harsh, especially when it comes to his things.

You try to decide if you should tell him know or wait until Changsub leaves. There’s laughter from the other room and you assume they’re watching a movie so you opt to wait. You try to search your room for you old phone charge to at least give him something and keep charging your own.

“Did a tornado go through this room?” your brother’s voice makes you jump slightly.

“I was just...looking for something,” you tell him. “Did Changsub leave?”

“Yeah. Now I wanted to make sure you were alive with all the weird sounds we kept hearing the last half hour,” Daehyun tells you.

“Was I really loud?”

“Not really,” he shrugs. “What’s so important you find?”

“Well, um, I left my phone charger at work,” you begin. “So I borrowed yours...and when I moved my dresser I snapped the cord and I’m really sorry.”

“You broke my charger?”

“Yes.”

“______________, I thought we agreed we wouldn’t mess with each other’s stuff?”

“I know, I just really needed it since my phone was dying. I didn’t mean for it to break.”

“Well you did,” he grumbles. “And now my phone is going to die as well.”

“I can get you one first thing in the morning.”

“That doesn’t help me now!”

You’re taken aback by how he snaps. Something else has to be bugging him, but you’re too tired and stressed to process anything beyond his shout. You’re about to apologize again, only for him to be cut off.

“Why didn’t you just go to Yongguk’s anyway?”

“I don’t have my key yet.”

“You’re moving in with him and you don’t have a key? That should be one of the first things he gave you. I made sure you had a key when you moved in here.”

“We’re just taking things slower. It’s only been a week and keys take time. Is that so wrong?” your voice is getting higher as you feel yourself ready to fight back.

“I think you should make sure that you have a key for where you’re going!”

“Are you in a rush to be rid of me? Because you’re sure acting like it!” You shout, ignoring how irrational you’re being about this. You don’t give him the chance to respond as you grab your car keys and a box. “I’m leaving then. Goodbye Dae!”

You push past him, and even slam the door on your way out. Placing the box in the backseat, you send Yongguk a text asking him to get home as soon as he can. You’re about to start driving before you send another message telling him your phone is going to die so he won’t be able to reach you soon. With a deep breath, you start to drive, reaching Yongguk’s building soon so you buzz his apartment number only to get no response.

Unable to do anything else, you go back to your car to wait and watch for your boyfriend to come back. As you wait you can’t help but reply your spat with Daehyun and kick yourself. You let a bad day get to you and stormed out. You’re sure that your brother did the same, since you’re both very similar. You’re sure if you both had working phone’s he would be calling and texting you apologizing and explaining himself.

Still, you can’t help but feel like you won’t be welcomed back home soon. Or rather to his place. Yongguk’s was your home now. The thought makes your eyes water even more and you finally lose it.

It’s a small tap on your window that breaks you out of your thoughts to look to see Yongguk looking at you full of concern. Quickly, you open your door and wrap your arms around him. He holds you without a word, letting you cry a bit more. “Let’s get inside before you catch cold,” he says softly, kissing the top of your head.

With a nod, you grab your box of clothes that is soon taken by Yongguk as he leads you inside. Tigger is quick to greet the both of you, eagerly licking your hands in greeting. As you settle onto the couch, Tigger doesn’t hesitate to settle into your lap. It’s as if he can sense you need the comfort. A small smile forms as your scratch behind his ears.

Yongguk hands you your favorite warm beverage as he sits down. He doesn’t say anything, waiting for you to speak when ready. It takes a few moments, but you manage to tell him what happened. “Daehyun loves you,” he says slowly. “As you said, there’s more bothering him than he’s letting on. It’s a very busy time for him, but I assure you that he loves you and you’ve helped him by being home. I think that it’s hard for him to know that soon you won’t be.”

“He has a funny way of showing it,” you huff.

“People make wrong choices when they’re troubled. I’m sure you two will work it out. He isn’t going to be angry about something he can replace.”

You give a soft sigh, knowing this as well.

“I think I have something that might make you feel a bit better,” Yongguk says after a moment. You watch as he gets up from the couch, only to return and press a cool metal into your hand: your key. “I went to pick it up before all my meetings tonight. I’m sorry I didn’t give it to you sooner.”

Smiling, you kiss his cheek. You don’t need to use your words to thank him for this, Yongguk knows. He also knows how tired you must be since he suggests getting ready for bed so the two of you can cuddle. You change quickly and settle under the covers, kissing him softly as you settle into his arms. It doesn’t take long for your body to relax in the warmth so you drift to sleep.

When you wake the following morning, Yongguk is still fast asleep, giving you a chance to admire him as you lie there. You can’t believe that soon you’ll wake up to this just about every day. With that in mind, you press a gentle kiss to his forehead, making him grumble and pull you closer. You chuckle, and try coaxing him awake with sweet words, and soon enough he’s awake and smiling at you.

“Good morning my love. Do you still want to go for breakfast? Because I’m personally very content here.”

“You always want to be in bed,” you tease. “We can stay a bit longer, and then let’s just eat here. I don’t want to go anywhere today.”

“Perfect,” he pulls you closer. The two of you lay there, talking softly about this and that until your stomach begins to growl. “Let’s find you some food.”

“Us. Us some food. You’re eating too,” you tell him as you get up and head for the fridge. As you expect, there isn’t much there that’s a simple breakfast meal.

“We could have ramen,” Yongguk grins.

Not seeing many other options that appeal at the moment, you agree and let Yongguk make his precious ramen as you use his phone charger. You don’t expect any messages from Daehyun yet since it’s a bit early for him yet, but you need it charged regardless.

Once the ramen is done, Yongguk quickly grabs some blankets and puts a movie in for the two of you while you eat. By the time the movie is done, there’s a few notifications on your phone. All of them are from Daehyun.

“I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t mean to be so harsh last night. I just finally had something I could put my frustration and anger on and I didn’t think. I know that’s not an excuse, and I’m really truly sorry.”

Those two messages are followed by three more five minutes later. “I’m sure my words really hurt you, and so I don’t expect forgiveness for a while. But when you’re ready, let’s got out for dinner? My treat.”

“Please at least let me know you’re safe.”

“I’m sorry.”

You feel your chest ache at how much he has to be beating himself up. Instant forgiveness washes over you, but you still don’t feel ready to see him. Still, to help him relax you send a reply, “I let a bad day get to me too. I’m with Yongguk and plan to be for a while. I’m sorry too.”

You set the phone down and snuggle into your boyfriend’s side, not wanting to do anything else but relax with him. The day actually puts all the stress from yesterday out of mind.

It isn’t until Monday that you feel stressed again as work becomes more demanding with the start of a new project. You sit through meeting after meeting all day, unable to do any other work. You make time to answer a few emails and prepare for the next day before leaving the office. As you head to the car you check some of the messages on your phone, only bothering to answer Yongguk’s. As soon as you’re home, you make a small meal before settling in for a relaxing bubble bath. The week continues much the same.

It isn’t until the following Friday, two weeks after your fight that you see Daehyun again. You were making dinner when you heard the door open followed by excited barks from Tigger. “Hey Gukkie, dinner will be done soon.”

“It’s....um...it’s not Yongguk,” a familiar voice says slowly.

Your actions halt as you turn to confirm that it is indeed your brother standing awkwardly in the doorway with the poodle running around his feet. Before you can speak up, he does, “I’m sorry to surprise you like this, but you didn’t answer any of my messages and I was getting worried even though Yongguk assured me you were fine. He gave me his key and told me I should stop by since he’s going to work on the album late tonight. I thought he was going to tell you I was coming, but I guess not.”

“Sounds like Yongguk,” you shake your head. “Come take a seat and we can chat over dinner.”

Daehyun does as told, not speaking until you’re seated at the table with him. “How has living here been?”

“Good, but not like back with you,” you tell him. “I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your messages. It wasn’t anything to do with the fight, I’ve just been drained with everything going on at work that I get sidetracked replying to just about everyone that isn’t a co-worker or Yongguk.”

“You work too hard,” Daehyun sighs.

“We both do. And that was why I was so rash to run out on you that night. It had been a very long day and I just couldn’t take any more.”

Daehyun nods as he chews on his mouthful of food. Once he’s swallowed, he speaks, “I was rash as well. What happened was an accident, I know that. I just finally had a stresser I could snap at and get some frustration out. But that’s not an excuse. I shouldn’t yell at you because I’m upset about other things. I’m truly sorry _____________.”

“I’m sorry too.”

“I’ve really missed you. The apartment is lonely now.”

“I missed you too,” you tell him. “How about I come by tomorrow? I have to get more of my stuff and I think some sibling bonding would do us some good.”

“I would really like that,” he tells you.

“How does noon work? You can buy lunch.”

“Deal,” Daehyun grins. With all forgiven, the two of you keep eating and chatting. Mostly you both rant about how busy things are, but you also joke around and tease each other. It isn’t until late, when Yongguk stumbles in the doorway half-asleep that you realize how long you and Daehyun have been talking.

He greets Yongguk politely before announcing that he should be getting home himself. He embraces you, telling you that he looks forward to lunch tomorrow. You head to your bedroom to find Yongguk already lying in bed in just his boxers. You chuckle to yourself as you change and settle in beside him. “Everything worked out?”

“Yeah, thanks to your little surprise,” you muse.

“I’m glad,” he smiles, pulling you into his arms.

You couldn’t be more content than in that moment.

[lookitsjill]

I’ve Never Been to Heaven, But I’ve Been to Oklahoma

It’s been 5 years since I’ve gone to Tulsa. I think back to what that trip was for me and the outcome was revelation that I am capable. That I am bold and independent enough to go it on my own. Knowing afterwards so assuredly that I could accomplish whatever it was I set forth to achieve. I had a goal in my mind for 15 years at that point – someday I would make it to Tulsa and explore the place that birthed my band. The place that had been imprinted on my childhood.

My trip to Tulsa began way before the Hanson Day weekend. It started when I was taking a walk with Zac Hanson. See, the band used to put on these 1 mile barefoot charity walks around whatever city they were touring in. It was a way to connect to the message of supporting our impoverished communities. Most fans didn’t take it that way and instead fought for facetime with the band in ways that were borderline aggressive and all together silly. Zac and I found each other more than 1 time in the New England crowds, and this time was no different.

I’m talking to this guy – this person whose face I had plastered over my adolescent bedroom walls and yet somehow I feel like he is an old friend – and he is asking me not to leave his side because I’m “normal and they’re not”, as he gestures left at a group rapid-firing pictures. Okay, fine. I ask about song lyrics and he sings me a bit of Billy Joel. He asks about my favorite songs and where I come from. He talks about home, and then ask me if I am coming to Tulsa for this year’s Hanson Day Weekend. My answer is that I don’t think so, and he challenges me on this. The conversation is something like…

“So you’ve never been to Tulsa?” “No. Again, I’m not … them.” I gesture left. The girls are taking selfies with Zac in the background. “I want to go some day. It is our Graceland, after all. It’s a dream I’ve been chasing.”   His smile is so wide. “Graceland? Your Graceland?” I shrug, laughter in my words. “Yeah, it’s a thing people say. Tulsa is our Graceland. You haven’t heard that?”

His laugh is explosive. “No. I have not heard that. That is amazing! I love it.” Selfies turn into picture requests and he is not present. He comes back and I shake my head at him. He picks right up where we left off. “So if Tulsa is a dream you should come. We’re doing the 20 years since we were a band thing – it’s the perfect timing for your first visit. It’s going to be epic.”

I can’t commit. I don’t know. “I’ll… think about it. It does make sense to go now or never.” He nods but the crowd moves us apart and Taylor is then doing a half-way talk about the message behind this madness. Zac always looks disinterested and Isaac the opposite – attentive, pragmatic and fatherly. We walk back after that and again I’m a few paces just behind Zac. I catch up.

He notices and starts in again. “Oh hey. I’m still trying to remember what the first line of ‘Give A Little’ really was.” He recants a question I had earlier. “It’s driving me crazy. I’m going to wake up in the middle of the night and remember it, you know.”

I laugh. “Well, if you remember on stage just shout it out!” The joke is cheesy, given that their album is titled Shout It Out, and he knows it but rolls past it anyway.

“Deal. Coming to Graceland?” He wags his eyebrows and winks, he must be making fun of me.   “Shut up.” I roll my eyes and contest. “Maybe.”

“Your mistake if you don’t.” So, I did.

I went, and with great trepidation begin to explore a city that all at once felt like a place I could call home. I did all of the cliché fan things; starting with a secret Hanson sandwich at the Blue Rose even though I was alone and that felt altogether strange and liberating. I stood on the deck and imagined what that place was like 20 years ago when three boys that were too white to sound so much like the Jackson 5 played to a 21+ crowd for the very first gig. I took a picture of the snare screwed to the wall with their signatures and traveled Route 66 to my hotel room.

There were signs welcoming Hanson fans in the lobby, which I found odd. Clearly this city fully embraces this weekend of tourism and commerce. I can never stay idle so I took my car and drove around, recognizing way too many things on the street. I realize how much of Tulsa I have unknowingly absorbed in the past decades. I remembered that I should check-in with the band’s staff… at their recording studio.

I waited in line with strangers, silently listening to all of their conversations and categorizing their level of crazy in my brain. The girl with the giant Hanson symbol tattoo across her forearm, the one with the keyboard leggings, the one wearing a jean jacket with Hanson’s faces on the back, and the girl who would not stop talking about their children were the folks that made me look anywhere but at their faces. I willed them not to notice me. But then there were these other two. These girls, standing next to me, were so brilliantly sarcastic that I found myself snickering aloud just before they pulled me into their conversation.

They peppered me with questions. Soon “Are you alone?”; “Wait have you been to Hanson Day Weekend before?”; “Where are you from?”; “How many shows have you been to?” quickly lent themselves to “tell us your story.” So, I did. I told them everything because they asked and actively listened to my responses. They echoed my impressions of the city. They understood the songs that were laid as the soundtrack to my adolescence. They connected with me more in 1 hour than many other people have done in a lifetime. I know that is part of the magic.  

These girls introduced me to other like-minded fans. We took over the special Hanson store located just inside the studio. I sat down at the piano from “Lost Without Each Other” and ran my fingers over the keys. We snapped pictures of the art gallery even though we weren’t supposed to. We squealed just a little bit when we realized that the band’s younger siblings were manning the cash register and that Taylor was calling to them on a walkie-talkie from out back. We canvased the area until we found Zac’s truck and watched as Isaac took off down the railroad tracks on his bicycle.

The next day I woke up to do it all over again, only this time I took my rental to one of their houses and they showed me the city… and the outskirts and pieces of the city that we’re supposed to pretend don’t exist. The cliché and taboo - like taking that picture outside the modest house Hanson grew up in and taking a drive through the compound they moved to - less economical and more militaristic. We toured to every recording studio in the city where we know various albums were created. We went places we know would put us on the those people list, but we did it anyway in the name of my first trip.

We ate and drank our way through the famous Hanson watering holes. Pizza at Joe’s, Hanson cookies at Dilly Deli, shopping at Ida Red. We cheered on another friend whose team wound up winning a bowling tournament. We watched Hanson’s first terrible and childish VHS movie as it played in an actual movie theatre. We laughed so hard I swear it was 1995 again.

The next morning I grabbed a coffee and a book, pretending not to watch Taylor’s wife wrangle her children across a café. She was young and tired, but maintaining that ever present Southern charm. She had an air of amused frustration that was transparently inauthentic. I caught the little girl – Penny – just before she would have slammed face first into the dessert case. Natalie was grateful. I had to go.

I went down to the Block Party that Hanson was hosting in the street. I met up with my new friends and spent the afternoon sipping Dr. Pepper on the sidewalk as we people watched and they smoked all the cigarettes. We ate the worst food truck food and made fun of other fans. We watched how polite yet annoyed one of the Hanson siblings acted when people were unwilling to form an organized line.  We watched their Dad stand stoic and proud in front of the venue. We watched their Mom carry one of their babies like it was made of glass.

At one point, Isaac’s oldest child asked me to play cars with him in the street. Just like that. I got down with him and Taylor’s youngest (at the time) joined us. I felt altogether scrutinized, but they kids wanted to play and I always have a difficult time saying no to hopeful little faces.  Strangely, not one Hanson cared. I think their aunt Zoe was supposed to be keeping them safe, but she seemed overwhelmed and thankful for the small break from all of their energy.

Taylor sent an email inviting everyone to a tasting to determine the brew for the new Hanson brew, and the promise of a cold beer pulled us away from the Oklahoma sun. He said he would tell us where at the very last minute because we couldn’t all come – but we anticipated the location anyway. We had our pints before he even sent the info thanks to a confused bartender. Taylor and Isaac popped out for some sips, banter and feedback. I pretended like they all didn’t taste like I was chewing on hops.

The show that night was unprecedented. It was a culmination of so many things and a moment frozen in time. I felt alive. I felt vulnerable and empowered at the same time. Above all else, I felt connected. I was connected to this band, to this crowd of family, to the music that represented so much growth and so many learnings. The band played a song written for the first album that resonated so deeply with me I was crying before the second verse. I took one look left and right and realized I was in good company, and audibly cursed him out for playing it. Then Zac opened a song written for the event that made my jaw drop and shake my head in incredulity. Of course he would write a song about chasing down your dreams. Of course he would.

On my last day I said goodbye to these fated friends. I traveled the entire city again, only that time it felt small and quaint in some way.  I took more time with it on my own, soaked it in and stopped to watch the trees and try to capture this feeling in film, the music playing softly as my only comrade. I spent time relishing in the chance to explore a city that felt something like home. There is a small piece of me that is still there – on the highest point or the dustiest road; chiseled outside the studio door or hiding in the Center of the Universe.

I still reconnect that slice of reality whenever I can; the time that I got totally lost in the middle of nowhere and wound up finding myself, after all.

[jdashyak]

Sundays at Grandma’s

When I first moved to Fargo, the consistency of a Sunday dinner at grandma’s house was what helped me get through my weeks.

Around four o’clock every Sunday, I’d hop in my car and head down University towards Southwood Drive. I remembered the house from my visits as a child which, I’m sad to admit, came too few and far between.

When I had ultimately made the decision to go to Concordia College, it was in part predicated on the hopes that I would be able to get to know my grandma better before she passed away. Being stripped of the opportunity to spend quality time with any of my other three grandparents while they were living, I was committed to my Sunday nights at grandma’s - I wanted to build that relationship while she still knew who I was.

At the time I first started visiting,  grandma was still a pretty good cook. She’d make bratwursts and potatoes, lasagna, tacos, and a few other of her quick-and-easy favorites. We’d chat about how school was going, what my new friends were like, if I had kept in touch with my parents that past week, and things of the like. She would ask me when I was going to introduce her to a girl; I would smile at my plate, shake my head, and say “someday, Grandma.”

Following our ice cream dessert, we would turn on 60 Minutes.

“Oh, it’s such an awful country we live in now, isn’t it?” she’d say. I wondered what it was like for her when she was my age.

Around six thirty I would look at my watch, sigh, and say “well, it’s probably time for me to head out.”

“So soon?”

“Yeah, sorry, grandma. I’ve gotta get my laundry done - next week, though?”

She’d send me off with leftovers in a tupperware container, saying that I might get hungry and need a study break.

As the years went by, I had a front row seat for the regression of my grandma’s mental state. I found myself repeating the same stories often, each time with my grandma acting as surprised as the time before. She would do odd things like set the silverware on Kleenex instead of napkins, and write me birthday cards six months before my birthday. She started calling me “Evan” or “John” instead of “Jack,” and grew increasingly frustrated with herself when she couldn’t keep up conversationally. It was difficult to watch such a charismatic and sociable woman lose her confidence.

Though I still visited on Sundays, the meals she cooked turned to carryout pizza, week after week, with her continually telling me “I found this new place called… Papa Murphy’s. Have you had it?” Yeah, the last six weeks, grandma, I wanted to say. My post-dinner calls to my mom, where we would discuss the funny things grandma said and did, changed in tone. We were all concerned at how rapidly the decline was happening.

One Sunday in October of my junior year, right before grandma moved to the retirement community, I tried to remind her of a story.

“Hey, Grandma.”

“Yes?” she replied, brushing the crumbs off the sides of her mouth and blinking at me.

“Remember that time you were showing me your childhood house, and the camera crews started following you?”

“Well, of course,” she said, “I was the star of the show!”

We both laughed, as I started to clear our plates off the table. The moment I was referencing was back in 2011 during Fargo’s Historic Homes tour, when my grandmother’s old house was one of the main attractions. I took my grandma that day and we walked through the house, as she pointed out some of her favorite rooms as a child. The KVRR camera crews picked up on the fact that grandma used to live in this house, and started following, essentially letting the entire Fargo community in on my private tour. She lit up the room.

My mom used to tell me stories about how when she was younger, my grandma would be partying until the break of dawn with her friends. “I’d wake up in the middle of the night to them taking shots and grandma  playing the piano in the living room,” my mom would tell me. “She was more wild than her high school kids were.”

It was that same sense of life that my grandma exuded that had me write a story about her in sixth grade, titled “Seventy-Five Going on Thirty.” I won an award for that story, which was a non-fiction piece about how hip my grandma was.

As the years went by, the Sunday nights at grandma’s became less frequent. My grandma would forget to call me, and I was beginning to develop a social life of my own up in Fargo. Grandma moved into a retirement community and started to have her Sunday meals at the cafeteria instead. When I did visit, she became more confused by who I was. At times I was her son, other times I was her brother. Though there are still some amazing moments where her mind seems perfectly in tact, the Alzheimer’s has certainly made its home in my grandma’s brain. It’s tough to see.

This weekend, I came over to her house to spend some time with her on Saturday morning.

“She’s just waking up,” said one of The Doves, a group of women my mom and her siblings hired to keep an eye on my grandma.

“Okay, thanks,” I responded, walking towards her bedroom.

My grandma strolled out into the common area, when she heard my voice, greeting me with a big hug.

“I’m so happy you’re here,” she said, clinging tighter to my chest. “I don’t like this life here anymore.”

---

Over six years ago, I moved to Fargo and had the intention of getting to know my grandma better. I’ve seen her at her highs, and tried to help her through some of her lows. Alzheimer’s Disease can take its toll on a person, but as I recount my Sunday nights at grandma’s, I realize one thing: although the disease has made my grandma forget who she is, it will never take away my memory of who she was.

[viralhottopics]

The Rules Of Texting (Explained By Guys)

A special thank you to Brittany and Kristi for the article inspiration, Anna for panel recruitment and research assistance, and to the panel of experts for contributing.

As single millennials, the Should I text him first? inevitably pops up in my friend group chats from time to time, followed by thorough deliberation. This time, I went straight to the source for the answers to what, if anything, is appealing about the chase when it comes to texting, what the game is about, and how to play. Five guys, ages 20 30, opened up about what goes through their minds before they hit send.

Our panel of eligible male millennials: (Names have been changed.) David, 20 Braden, 20 Cameron, 23 Ben, 27 Nate, 30

1. Are there rules to texting?

Lets cut to the chase pun intended. Four out of five of the guys said yes, there are rules to texting. According to Cameron, 23, the golden rules are to mind your grammar and abide by three strikes youre out if hes not responding: Always use complete sentences and never send more than three unanswered texts.

Nate, 30, says the golden rule is No emojis if you are over the age of 16.

Ben, 27, thinks it goes beyond whether or not you send those monkey emojis: I definitely think there are unwritten rules to texting. A lot of these rules are generated by society and pop culture, and dictate how we converse with one another. I think these rules are also reflective of the relationship you have with someone. The frequency and type of text definitely differs between friends, work associates, girlfriends/boyfriends, best friends, crushes, siblings, parents, etc.

Ultimately, I think there is a general set of baseline rules that most people follow like being polite, funny, respectful and then the rest just falls into personal expectations.

2. What is appealing about someone being hard to get?

There was a clear divide here. Two out of three of the 20 23 year olds said there is nothing appealing about someone being hard to get. David, 20, clarifies, It makes them seem conceited and uninterested. Nate, 30, weighs in with the younger crowd on this one, stating that nothing is appealing about a girl who is hard to get. He advocates the straight to the point approach: I am always one who is aggressive and goes after what I want. You know pretty quickly if someone is into you or if you are into them. Whether its via text, at a bar or Steak n Shake, hard to get is a thing of the past. I have noticed over past 3-4 years even females have been more aggressive in pursuit.

On the other side, Braden, 20, says, It makes them seem desirable; if lots of people want someone, then that person probably has something good about them.

Ben, 27, sheds more light on the appeal: [Its] the old adage of nothing easy is worthwhile. I think everyone can agree that the more time and effort you put into someone, the more interested you are. But being hard to get is definitely a game and

I think it totally depends on the type of person you are. Each individual has a different threshold of hard to get that they are willing to tolerate. When youre texting someone that you like and they are hard to get, its nauseating, exciting, and thrilling, waiting for someone to respond the fact that its new and unknown is exciting. The anticipation and re-reading of texts can drive you mad but its that pain and agony that makes it so much better when they respond.

3. How often is too often for a girl to text just to say hey?

According to Braden, 20, more than once a day is too often, while Cameron, 23, says texting just to say hey is always fine. Nate, 30, agrees that the text conversation should be open-ended to keep the conversation flowing.

Ben, 27, wants a more creative conversation starter. If you are actively pursuing someone, you better come up with something better than hey or you will lose their interest, he cautions. But dont underestimate the guys ability to play hard to get: However, if I know someone is interested in me, and maybe Im playing hard to get, just saying hey after a lull in conversation can let them know that Im still interested, but still give me the control.

4. Is it a turnoff if a girl is always the one to text you first?

We have a consensus here everyone answered no. Nate, 30, explains, Its 2016; Chivalry isnt dead, but her texting first is kind of a turn-on, actually. It shows interest. Ben agrees, adding that, It shows that she knows what she wants. If Im not interested, its not a turn-off, but it does become annoying if they continually

text you first when you dont show interest.

5. Are there weekend texts and weekday texts?

No surprises here Weekday texts are more conversational, and are meant to serve as distractions while at work. They are also sober texts (usually). Weekend texts tend to get more flirtatious, and the senders are more likely to have a drink in the other hand (you dont say).

Ben, 27, cautions the tipsy texters: Once you start drinking, you start texting less with your brain and more with your emotions, which can lead to a disaster the drunker that you get.

When asked the difference between a weekday text and a weekend text, Nate, 30, says that there isnt one unless it is after midnight and the bars are closing. I feel compelled here to remind everyone of the Jersey Shore wisdom of Nothing good happens after 2:00 A.M. (unless youre at Steak n Shake and Nate will be there with chivalry and cheese fries).

6. Is there a reason or strategy behind your texting habits?

Maybe the bad texter isnt always a myth. Some guys generally dont like texting as a whole. David, 20, dislikes communicating through texts because of the inability to convey emotions properly through words. Nate, 30, would also opt out: I am more of a phone caller, [it] shows more intimacy.

Unfortunately, the fear that the guys inbox is full of conversations with other girls may be a valid concern. That is, at least, if youre talking to Braden, 20: I treat it like a game where I try to talk to as many people as possible at the same time.

Ben, 27, is our breath of fresh air. Im not one for games, he says, and the older I get, the less and less I play them. But I do think it is important to not come off as desperate or clingy when first meeting someone, because you dont want to spook them. When can you expect a non-strategized text from him? After 2 3 dates, I usually stop worrying about the time or frequency of my texts as strategic, because I feel that I have a read on them and whether or not we like each other.

7. What is your favorite text to get from a girl?

Ill let the guys speak for themselves here.

David: I dislike all texts equally.

Braden: hey (:

Nate: pizza and hockey game?

Ben: I think that depends on the girl; for example, I loved getting hey there stranger from my first serious girlfriend who I took to prom. The words didnt necessarily mean anything, but between us it was an inside joke or something we always said to each other. So I think the best/favorite text to get from a girl is where they reference an inside joke; it shows they care without actually saying the words, and its unique to your relationship.

Cameron: Anything that means they were thinking of me (e.g. miss you/ something reminded them of me) and compliments.

8. When was the last time you ghosted a girl and why?

For questioning readers, Ill save you the Google search: Ghosting is when someone youre dating or talking to or seeing (#Dating in 2016 problems) ends the relationship by ending all communication without explanation or warning.

Interestingly, the 20 23 year olds werent as familiar with the term. David, however, appears well-versed in it. When asked when the last time he ghosted a girl was, he replied, This week, I didn’t want to talk to her. Fair enough.

However, sometimes ghosting is the simple solution to an online dating match gone bad. Ben, 27, last ghosted a girl after a first [Tinder] date. She had a lot of baggage, he explains, and brought up that she recently broke up with a boyfriend she had been dating for several years She was not ready to date and that was what I was looking for.

Nate last ghosted a girl last year: She said she was a Cubs fan.

9. Have you ever waited a day or longer to respond to a text? If yes, why?

Most of the panelists said yes, by accident or yes, to not come off as eager. Nate, however, knows better than to wait too long to reply to your text: You wont find yourself anywhere but the doghouse if you dont text back within a few hours.

The takeaway? To summarize the findings, here is the most important graph. Send the text. Keep it thoughtful If you were thinking about him, let him know. Mind your autocorrect, dont spam him, and be your witty self even if that calls for emojis (personal opinion). Happy texting.

Read more: http://tcat.tc/2jyDsoW

from The Rules Of Texting (Explained By Guys)