#dude it just sounded like my computer got a good smack while singing. just a fricken 'GTTTKZ' out of nowhere?? hallo ?? hi ?

[keeps-ache]

i love genres!! i do not know what they are but they're cool !!

[omgsquee2001]

I’m Not Going Anywhere - Chapter 2

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

After his argument with his dad, Donnie rode his bike to school. Gary was currently talking to Principal Walker about postponing the Graduation Ceremony. Principal Walker wasn’t taking it too well. Donnie zoomed in on the two adults talking. 

“There's Dad taking shit from Principal Walker.” Donnie commented. Donnie looked over and saw [Y/N] and Trey walking over. Along with the two brothers, [Y/N] volunteered to do interviews for the video time capsules. 

“Did you two get the last of the interviews?” Donnie asked the pair. [Y/N] shook her head, looking at the Junior. 

“No, we still got a few to do.” She said. Trey smirked. 

“But what we did get was a nice shot of Miss Bell's cleavage. Wanna see?” Trey asked. He showed Donnie the footage. [Y/N] frowned. Donnie sighed. 

“Trey.” Donnie said. Trey shrugged his shoulders. 

“What? You don't get many teachers with a rack like that.” Trey said, pointing to the footage. [Y/N] slapped the boy on the back of the head. Trey flinched. “Ow!” Trey shouted. 

“You deserved that, cut it out. We need to start editing right after graduation.” [Y/N] said. Donnie nodded, looking at the girl. 

“[Y/N]’s right. Dad wants the clips online by the end of next week.” Donnie said. Trey closed the screen of the camera. He looked at [Y/N] and shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head. 

“What's the point of doing a video time capsule? Video won't even exist in 25 years.” Trey said. [Y/N] looked at him with shock and disappointment. “What?” He asked. 

“Time Capsules record important events! It’s leaving things behind for the next generation!” [Y/N] said. Trey shook his head, holding his hands out. 

“What next generation? The only next generation is the high schoolers who aren’t graduating yet.” Trey said. [Y/N] gave him a ‘Duh’ look. 

“Exactly! Why do you think we are asking people to say something to the future them?” [Y/N] asked. Donnie sighed, shaking his head. 

“Let's just get it finished. Okay?” Donnie said. [Y/N] nodded. She understood that Donnie was under a lot of stress.

“Yeah. Okay.” She said. She smiled kindly at him. A small bit of jealousy erupted into Trey’s mind. He looked down at the camera in his hands.

“Fine,” Trey said. He looked up again, looking around. “Did you guys see the weather report? Supposed to be a big storm coming. Maybe they'll cancel the whole,” Trey was cut off when [Y/N] elbowed him. He looked to her. [Y/N] pointed at something. That something was Kaitlyn Johnston. 

Trey started up the camera again. “Whoa. There's your girl.” Trey said. Kaitlyn seemed to be talking to Miss. Blasky about something. Miss. Blasky walked away. Kaitlyn rolled her eyes and ran her hand through her hair in distress. Trey smacked Donnie on the shoulder. 

“Oh, dude. Now's your chance, man. Vulnerable girl. Comforting guy. Right?” Trey asked. Donnie sighed and shook his head. [Y/N] looked at Donnie. She also knew of Donnie’s crush on her friend. Kaitlyn was one of the second people, beside Donnie and Trey to welcome her to Silverton. Kaitlyn and [Y/N] immediately hit it off. They were extremely close, almost like sisters.  

“Just go talk to her and see if she's okay.” [Y/N] said. Donnie shook his head. 

“We have work to do.” Donnie said. Trey shook his head. 

“Chickenshit. Come on.” Trey urged. 

“I need to get the last of the interviews, and Dad's, like, on my case about it.” Donnie said. Trey shook his head. 

“Screw Dad.” Trey said. [Y/N] looked at Trey, shocked. 

“Trey!” [Y/N] scolded. Trey looked at her and shrugged. 

“What? It’s true,” he said. “Go do something for yourself for once.” Trey said. [Y/N] sighed. She knew that Trey was just trying to help his brother out. “Bro, [Y/N] and I are literally begging you.” Trey said. [Y/N] placed her hands on Donnie’s upper arms. 

“Just go talk to her. All right?” [Y/N] said. Donnie sighed, knowing he wouldn’t win this argument. Especially against his brother and his best friend. 

“All right.” Donnie said. Trey and [Y/N] smiled. 

“Yeah?” Trey asked. Donnie chuckled. 

“Stop.” Donnie said, starting to walk towards the library where Kaitlyn had gone a few seconds before. 

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

Trey and I smiled as we watched his older brother head off towards the library.  Trey laughed. 

“Heh. Have fun.” Trey called in a sing-song voice. Trey looked at me. “He's really doing it.” Trey said, laughing. “We gotta film this train wreck.” Trey said. I looked at him. 

“Trey, leave him, alone for once.” I said. Trey looked at me. 

“Come on, [Y/N]. This is epic! He’s finally going to ask her out!” Trey said. I shook my head. 

“He’s not going to ask her out. He’s going to comfort her.” I said. Trey pointed at me and shook his head. 

“You don’t know that and there’s one way to find out.” Trey said. Before I knew it, Trey grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards the library. 

Donnie walked up to Kaitlyn, who was sitting at a table with her laptop out in front of her. 

“And he's pulling into the station.” Trey said quietly. He and I were hiding behind the doors to the library. Trey zoomed in on the two with his camera. 

“Hey, Kaitlyn?” Donnie asked quietly. Kaitlyn looked up and smiled lightly. 

“Hey.” She said back. Donnie pointed to himself, still standing.

“It's Donnie.” Donnie said, not quite knowing if she knew his name. Kaitlyn nodded. 

“Yeah. I know.” She said. 

“Strike one.” Trey said quietly. I smiled lightly and shook my head. 

“Trey, shut up.” I hissed. Donnie, unaware of our presence, set his back pack down. He took a seat next to her. 

“Are you okay?” Donnie asked. “I saw you outside with Miss Blasky.” He said.  Kaitlyn looked back at her computer screen. 

“Right. Uh, I had this application for an apprenticeship, and it had to be submitted by the weekend,” she started explaining. She opened the application to show Trey. “And Miss Blasky checked it for me, and it's just completely corrupted. I don't know what happened to it. It was fine yesterday.” She said. Donnie looked at the application. 

“Yeah. Yeah, that's toast. What was it about?” He asked. 

“The abandoned factory on Garner.” Kaitlyn said. 

“Oh, the paper mill?” Donnie asked. Kaitlyn nodded, looking at him. 

“Yeah.” She said. Donnie nodded his head. 

“Yeah.” He said, slightly awkward. Undeterred by the awkward comment, Kaitlyn continued describing what her application was about. 

“When they shut it down, the state never paid for an official cleanup. So there's all these chemicals and hazardous materials sitting there contaminating the soil and probably running off into the water.” Kaitlyn said. 

“That's what the film's about.” Donnie said, not sounding very interested. 

“Pretend to be interested.” Trey said quietly. I glanced at him. 

“You do know your advice is practically useless when he can’t even hear it?” I asked quietly. Trey rolled his eyes. 

“Anyway, the submission doesn't make any sense at all without it. So I'm screwed.” Kaitlyn said. She ran her hands through her hair again. I really wished that I could be over there comforting her. But, as much as I don’t really like to agree with Trey on this, it was the only way and probably the only chance Donnie had at asking Kaitlyn out. 

“Come on, man. Take a swing.” Trey urged. 

“Trey, shut up!” I hissed again. 

“You're into all this environmental stuff, huh?” Donnie asked. 

“Come on, man. Just ask her out.” Trey urged again. 

“Trey, if you don’t shut up right now, I swear I’m going to duck-tape your fucking mouth shut!” I threatened. 

“Gotta take care of the planet, right? Or else the planet will take care of us, right? Heh.” Donnie said, laughing awkwardly. 

“That was awkward.” Trey said. I growled quietly. 

“Alright, that’s it.” I said. Trey looked at me. 

“You don’t even have duck-tape on you!” Trey said. I shook my head. 

“So? Doesn’t mean I can’t go and find some, come back and then duck-tape your loud mouth shut!” I argued back. Kaitlyn laughed dryly.

“Heh. Yeah. Well, some of us care, or at least are trying to.” She said. Donnie looked at her.

“No. I'm sorry. I can help. I have all these cameras and this editing software and,” Donnie said. Kaitlyn looked at him, her hope renewed. 

“Really?” She asked. Donnie nodded. 

“Yeah.” He said. “Well, this will be easy. We can reshoot this.” Donnie said, looking at the computer.

“It'd have to be today.” Kaitlyn said. Donnie froze. 

“Today?” He asked. Kaitlyn’s eyes widened. 

“Oh, you and [Y/N] are filming the graduation.” Kaitlyn said. “No, it's fine.” She changed her mind.

“No. No. My brother, Trey, he's good with all this stuff too. He and [Y/N] can get that.” Donnie reassured her. While I was perfectly fine with this, Trey wasn’t. 

“No way.” Trey whispered. 

“Like, they can get that footage.” Donnie said. 

“Really?” Kaitlyn asked. Donnie nodded. 

“It's not a problem.” He said. 

“Sure?” She asked again. Donnie nodded. 

“Yes, it's a problem.” Trey whispered. I snickered. Trey glared at me. 

“[Y/N], now’s not the time.” He whispered, causing me to snicker more.  Donnie nodded. 

“I'm sure. Yeah.” Donnie said. Kaitlyn sighed in relief. 

“Thank you so much,” Kaitlyn said. Donnie shook his head. “No. You have no idea what this means for me. I owe you so big for this.” Kaitlyn said. She stood up. Donnie stood as well and shrugged. 

“No. Well, you know, me and the planet go way back, so,” Donnie said. The bell rang. Kaitlyn gathered her things. 

“Thank you. I'll see you later.” Kaitlyn said. Donnie nodded. 

“Cool.” Donnie said. Kaitlyn started to walk away. 

“Thank you.” She said again, this time leaving. Trey sighed.  

“Okay, no.” Trey said. He pushed through the doors, me following after. Donnie looked up and saw the both of us. 

“This is so not cool.” Trey said. I sighed. 

“Trey,” I tried to calm him down. 

“You are kidding me.” Donnie sighed in anger. “What are you two doing?” Donnie asked. I raised my hands in defense. 

“Hey, he dragged me into this.” I said, pointing at Trey. Trey looked at me like I betrayed him. I shrugged. “What?” I asked. Trey looked back at Donnie. 

“What are you doing? You're gonna skip the ceremony?” Trey asked. I had to admit that I agreed with Trey on this one. If Donnie skipped the ceremony, Gary would not be happy. Donnie nodded. 

“Yeah. Yeah. You two said do something for yourself, so I'm doing something for myself.” Donnie said. Trey looked at me for help on the matter. I shrugged. 

“We did technically say that.” I said. Trey sighed and pointed a finger at me. 

“Not helping, Squirt.” He said. I chuckled. I knew he couldn’t get mad at me. We were best friends. Arguments and playful banter were bound to happen. 

“Yeah. And leaving me and [Y/N] to do all the filming?” Trey asked. Donnie looked at us. 

“You guys can handle it. Right?” Donnie asked. Neither Trey nor I answered. Donnie’s smile fell and worry crossed his features. “You guys can handle it, right?” Donnie asked again. I looked to Trey then back at Donnie. I nodded. 

“Yes.” I said, confidently. Donnie smiled. I elbowed Trey. He groaned.

“Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Hey. You go for it, bro,” Trey said. Donnie smiled and started to walk away. “But get some skin on camera.” Trey called. Donnie stopped and turned around. “E- mail it to me.” He said. I rolled my eyes. 

“Trey, come one.” I said. Trey chuckled. Donnie smiled. 

“Just get the interviews, all right?” Donnie said. Trey nodded. 

“All right, all right, we’re going.” Trey said. Donnie smiled. 

“Okay.” Donnie said, chuckling. 

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

[Y/N] and Trey were in the gym interviewing Todd White, the captain of the Silverton High Basketball team. 

“Yo, Todd. We're rolling.” Trey shouted. Todd shot a basket ball through the hoop. Todd turned to the camera. 

“Yo, what's up, me? How's life in the future, bro? So I just know by now you are playing for the NBA, you're super loaded, and you got a super-smoking-hot cheerleader wife. So why the hell are you watching this right now? Why don't you get up to your penthouse and bang her good, right?” Todd shouted, chuckling. [Y/N] stared at him, not that impressed. 

“That's your time-capsule message, Todd?” Trey asked. Todd shook his head. 

“Why not?” He asked. [Y/N] rolled her eyes. 

“Boys are gross.” She said. Trey looked at her. 

“Hey!” He shouted, sounding offended. [Y/N] didn’t look at him. 

“Not sorry.” She said. 

“A message?” The two Sophomores were now interviewing a construction worker named Frank. Frank shook his head. “Nah, too late for me. Too late for these guys,” he gestured to the other workers behind him. “But my kids? Grandkids? Simple. Study. Get good grades. Or else you're gonna hang around this group of losers shoveling shit all day,” Frank chuckled. He realized that he cussed on tape. “Sorry.” He apologized. [Y/N] chuckled. 

“No harm done, Frank.” She said. 

“Please marry a rich guy. Please marry a rich guy.” A cheerleader named London chanted, her eyes closed and fingers crossed. [Y/N] frowned, confused. 

“Uh, we're rolling.” [Y/N] said. London opened her eyes and looked at the camera. 

“So, what would you like to say to yourself in 25 years?” Trey asked. London looked at the two. 

“That was it.” She said. [Y/N] groaned slightly and pinched the bridge of her nose. High schoolers could be so stupid. Trey placed his hand on her thigh, gently patting it, letting her know that they were almost done.

“Twenty-five years time?” An old man named Chester asked. “Ha! My guess is we'd have blown up the world by that time!” Chester said. His dog sat next to him. [Y/N] chuckled. Chester was her favorite interviewee by far. 

“All right.” Trey said. 

“High school sucked,” Jimmy said. Jimmy was an Honor Role student and what most of the students at Silverton High would classify, a nerd. “Hopefully, it was all worth it. You've got your Ph. D. from Brown. You're doing research and using your skills to help,” Jimmy was interrupted by Todd.  

“Douche-rocket! Ha!” Todd shouted, laughing. Jimmy frowned. Trey chuckled. [Y/N] elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Ow!” Trey winced. “Sorry, man.” Trey apologized. 

“I’m still going to duck-tape your fucking mouth shut later.” [Y/N] said. Trey chuckled. 

“Yeah, good luck with that, Squirt.” Trey said. 

“Am I done here?” Jimmy asked. 

“Uh, yeah, sorry, Jimmy. Thank you for your time.” [Y/N] said, smiling kindly. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

The stage was set up on the field for the ceremony. 

“Mike check. One, two, three.” Principal Walker tested the mic. Gary walked across the field, Trey and I following. 

“Where's Donnie?” Gary asked. Trey shrugged. 

“I don't know. Around.” Trey said. I didn’t really say anything, knowing that I shouldn’t get in the middle of this. 

“He knows what time we're starting?” Gary asked. Trey nodded. 

“Yes, Mr. Fuller. Donnie knows what time we’re starting.” I said. 

“Anyway, [Y/N] and I can run the cameras.” Trey said. Gary looked back at him. 

“All three?” He asked. Trey nodded. 

“Well, yes, Dad. That's why they invented tripods.” He replied sarcastically. I sighed. 

“Trey, now really isn’t the time.” I said gently. Gary sighed and looked at Trey and I.  

“Trey, [Y/N] this is important.” Gary said. Trey scoffed. 

“And we can't do it, right?” Trey asked. Gary shook his head. 

“I didn't say that.” He said calmly. Trey nodded. 

“Yeah, you kind of did.” Trey said. He walked away.  

“Trey,” I started. He walked past me. I sighed and looked at Gary. “I’ll talk to him.” I said. I was about to walk off when Gary gently grabbed my arm. 

“[Y/N], you don’t have to.” He said. 

“Yeah, I do,” I pulled my arm out of his hand. “Trey’s my best friend. It’s my job to make sure that he’s alright.” I said and walked off. I saw Trey near the back of the stage. I gently placed my hand on his upper arm. I was a little shorter than he was, reaching up to his nose in height. “Hey. You okay?” I asked gently. Trey shrugged. 

“No, not really. I just wish dad had more faith in me.” He said. I smiled at him sympathetically. 

“I know,” I reached down and started playing with his fingers gently. “I know things have been rough for you all since your mom died. Your dad’s under a lot of stress, and from what I’ve noticed, he has kind of a hard time expressing his emotions,” I said. Trey looked down, nodding. I tucked my fingers under his chin, gently lifting. Trey looked at me. “But believe me when I say that he loves you. He really does. He just forgets to show it sometimes.” I said. Trey nodded, looking down again. 

“Yeah.” Trey whispered out. I gently cupped both sides of his face. He looked at me. 

“You okay now?” I asked gently. Trey placed his larger hands over my own smaller ones and nodded. I sighed. “Come here.” I said. I removed my hands and pulled him into a gentle hug, kissing his cheek. Trey sighed and closed his eyes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Ceremony had started. [Y/N] was standing in the middle of the row of chairs filled with graduating seniors. 

“To all the students of this year's Graduating Class,” Principal Walker said. “Who have dedicated themselves to the hard work necessary to reach this day, you are now standing on the threshold of adult life,” Gary looked at the other cameras and noticed that Donnie wasn’t there. And let me tell you, he did not look happy. He looked at [Y/N]. Where’s Donnie? He mouthed to her. [Y/N] shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. She lowered her eyes to the camera again. “You are free to take your own path and that path will be different for all of you. But it's now time to create your own lives. To create your own destiny.” Principal Walker continued. [Y/N] looked up at the sky, worried. Dark clouds were forming, thunder rumbling. “I leave you with John Updike's words: "You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it.”,” Rain now started to come down. Students and parents alike pulled out umbrellas, clearly paying attention to the storm warning on the news. [Y/N] arched her back and blinked rapidly, trying to get the rain out of her eyes.   “Oh, great. I guess we should, uh, I guess we should start finishing up, then.” Walker said. [Y/N] rolled her eyes. No shit Sherlock. She thought. The rain started to come down harder. The clouds got darker. This weather was starting to worry [Y/N]. “Seniors! Stand up! Stand up!” The seniors stood. “We salute you!” Walker shouted. The seniors tossed their caps into the air, cheering. The wind started to pick up. “All right! Ah.” Walker groaned as tornado warning sirens started blaring. Okay, now [Y/N] was really freaked out. 

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

The sirens kept blaring. “Go inside, guys.” Principal Walker shouted over the sirens. Gary stood up. 

“Stay calm! Move inside in an orderly fashion!” He shouted. I looked around, trying to find either my dad or Trey in the commotion. 

“Everybody, back inside.” I heard my dad shout. I looked around. 

“Dad!” I shouted, trying to find him. 

“To the main building.” Gary said. Trey was still holding the camera. 

“Dude, come on,” he urged. I looked around. 

“Trey!” I shouted. 

“Thing 2!” A familiar voice shouted. I looked behind me and saw Trey. 

“Thing 1!” I shouted. Trey grabbed my hand. 

“Are you okay?” Trey shouted. I nodded. 

“What about you?” I asked. Trey nodded in confirmation. “We need to go, now.” I said. Trey and I quickly rushed to the main building.  Gary was still ushering people in.

“Here we go! Quickly! Come on! Here we go! Come on, this way.” Gary urged. “Everybody! Okay, 90!” Gary shouted, somehow keeping track of how many people were coming in. “Here we go. Here we go. Keep moving. All the way down the hall. “Keep this door open. Come on.” Gary said to a graduate. 

“Move on in, folks. Move in.” Walker said, trying to remain calm. 

“Everybody into the storm shelter area.” Gary ordered. “Keep this hallway clear. Make sure nobody's behind us. All the way down!” Gary shouted. Trey and I raced in. I looked around for my dad. 

“Dad!” I shouted. 

“[Y/N]!” I whirled around and sighed in relief. Dad raced over to me and pulled me into a hug. He gently cupped my face as we pulled away. “Are you alright?” Dad asked. I nodded. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. What about you?” I asked. Dad shook his head. 

“Don’t worry about me. Go all the way in, alright.” Dad said. I shook my head.

“I’m not going anywhere until I know that Mr. Fuller and Trey are safe!” I shouted. Dad sighed. He knew there was no stopping me. Trey was still near the window, so I would stick close to him.  

“Trey! Where's Donnie?” I heard Gary ask. I looked behind me and saw Trey still by the windows, filming.  

“Uh, I don't exactly know.” Trey said, trying not to reveal the truth.  

“Get away from the window.” Gary ordered. Just then, a whole tree came flying through the window. Dad gently yet quickly pushed me to the wall, covering me with his body. I screamed.

“Tornado!” 

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

//I apologize if Chapter 2 is a little long. If the switching between Third and First person is too confusing, please let me know so I can fix it. I want all my readers to have the best reading experience they can. I hope you all like it.// 

[vannahfanfics]

Yo, I just read your Haynette fanfic, and I gotta say, I'm impressed with what you've written. Would you mind making another one of this couple? They're super cute together, and I feel like they're the most "normal" couple in KH since they're just two teenagers who live normal lives in comparison to the other KH characters. How about a Part 2 where Pence finds out about the 3 a.m. meeting, and starts coaching Hayner on what to do in relationships (with copious amounts of teasing, of course). 😋

Hey there, Anon! Sorry it took me such a hot minute to get to this; this last year has been crazy for me, as you can imagine. But, at long last, here is your Haynette story! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write for one of my favorite Kingdom Hearts rarepairs <3 

3 a.m. Musings and Cherry Lip Gloss Part II

Before you read, here’s Part I! 

Hayner groaned loudly as the persistent chirping of his alarm clock finally bled through his feather pillow down into his eardrum. While using one hand to press the soft, downy pillow further against his head, his other blindly slapped at his nightstand. After his palm thumped uselessly against the wood a few times, displacing a few knickknacks, candy wrappers, and coins, he finally smashed the snooze button. He groaned miserably again, burying his face into his mattress as he clung to the last shreds of sweet, sweet sleep. As he smacked his lips, the succulent taste of cherries bloomed across his tongue. 

“Oh my gosh!” he cried, jerking upright in bed with owlish eyes. His pillow sailed across his bedroom to smack into his dresser, shaking the framed posters and other baubles crammed on its top surface. Still bleary from sleep, Hayner’s hands rummaged nonsensically through his sheets and comforter a few times in search of his phone until he realized it was sitting on his nightstand. He snatched it up, using muscle memory to pull up Pence’s contact information to dial his number. 

“Yello?” the cheery boy answered quickly. 

“Pence! Hey! I got something important to talk to you about! Get your butt over here!” Hayner screeched into the phone. As he crawled across his bed, his foot became tangled in the linens; when he tried to step off, his leg lurched back and he face-planted into the carpet. He heard Pence hiss at the very loud thump Hayner’s body made as it hit the floor. “Agh… Just get here, man!” 

“All right, all right, I’m coming! I’m getting milkshakes.” 

“What? No, I don’t have time for—” His stomach yowled ardently, making the words die in his throat. Groaning, he smacked his forehead down against the floor. “Chocolate, please…” 

“Roger that!” Pence quipped before ending the call. Hayner dropped his phone down onto the carpet, just continuing to lay there with one of his legs still trapped in the blankets and reclined up over his body. He swiped his tongue gingerly across his bottom lip again; yep, faint as it was, there was the saccharine flavor of cherry lip gloss. His cheeks heated with a fierce blush. 

“I… kissed Olette…” he whispered. A giddy smile spread across his face, pulling on his cheeks until they ached a little. However, after a brief blip of dreamy euphoria, reality came crashing down, as did his stupid grin. Hayner had kissed Olette. He had confessed to Olette. Gasping, he snatched his phone back up to check his notifications— specifically, his text messages with Olette. A quick review of the conversation confirmed that they had in fact snuck out at 3 a.m., and unless he had blacked out on the road somewhere and had a strangely realistic fever dream, that meant everything in the Secret Hideout had also occurred. 

“Oh, man,” he groaned anxiously, fisting his tousled honey-blond hair. “What am I gonna do now?” Should he text her? No. No, that was stupid! Hayner would make a great big fool of himself for sure. No, he needed advice, advice from a smart person— and Pence was the smartest guy he knew. Surely Pence would know what to do. 

He plopped the phone back down before melting back onto the floor. If he was lucky, the molecules of his body would blend with the fibers of the carpet, turning him into a puddle of goo so he could avoid this situation. That did not happen. Instead, Pence found him still lying there after tromping up the stairs, following a jovial exchange with Hayner’s parents, of course. 

“Man. You weren’t kidding when you said you needed to talk,” the brunet said and took a loud sip of his milkshake— cookies and cream, probably. In reply, Hayner released a frustrated scream that vibrated the floor as the carpet muffled it. Pence clicked his tongue reassuringly as he rolled Hayner’s computer chair over and plopped down, his chest pressed against the leather back and his legs hanging over the sides. “Come now, talk to Pence,” he crooned as he set the milkshake down next to Hayner’s head. 

Hayner just groaned again and rolled onto his side so he could drown his anxieties in sweet, thick, sugary chocolate milkshake. He sucked the chunky concoction through the straw for two minutes straight before popping his lips off of it. His stomach whirled as the last dregs of cherry lip gloss slipped in, making a flavor reminiscent of chocolate-covered cherries. Should he provide context? 

Nah, better to rip it off like a bandage. 

“I kissed Olette.” 

“You did what?!” Pence spluttered. He had unfortunately been drinking his milkshake at the time, leading to him spitting it out all over his front. He scowled as he scrubbed at his face and shirt. “Dude! Are you serious?!” 

“Yeah, I’m serious! Do you think I would joke about something like that?” Hayner reported hotly as he pushed his upper body up with his arm. Pence sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his half-empty milkshake cup with the other hand. 

“Wait, wait, wait, wait… Tell me the whole story…” 

So Hayner did. As he explained it, taking long, stressed sips of his shake in-between, Pence listened intently. He pinched the end of his chin and nodded his head sagely, and when things got especially good, he took a long drag of his cookies and cream shake. By the time Hayner finished, the other boy was scraping at the bottom of the styrofoam cup to scoop ice cream chunks out with the straw. 

“So this morning you woke up and now you have no idea what your relationship with her is gonna be like?” 

“Exactly!” Hayner cried and slapped his hand down into the carpet. He followed by thunking his head down again. “Ugh, man… I should’ve known better. I’m too stupid in the early hours of the morning.” 

“You certainly do lose all common sense. Remember the time we stayed up for the new year and you tried to steal one of the trams?” Pence chuckled. Hayner rolled his head to glare at him from underneath one of his golden strands of hair. “Right, not helpful,” Pence said, adjusting himself in the computer chair. “Now then, do you like her?” 

“Uh, yeah. I wouldn’t have kissed her if I didn’t.” 

“Look, man, I’m no judge. People do what they do,” Pence shrugged while waving a hand placatingly. Hayner rolled his eyes and shoved his face back down into the carpet. He should have stayed in bed; dust bunnies and crumbs were definitely not a good substitute for soft sheets. “Anyway, so then, do you want to date her?” 

Hayner could feel his face flush so hot that it was a wonder that the heat didn’t singe the carpet fibers. Despite his immense embarrassment, he didn’t have the urge to refuse; even doing so defensively seemed sacrilegious. As his face continued to burn, he meekly spoke into the carpet, “Yeah… I do…” 

“Then date her!” Pence exclaimed, making Hayner jerk violently in surprise. The blond pushed himself up onto his forearms to see that his friend had thrown up his arms in exasperation. “What’s the problem, man? It’s pretty clear to me that Olette likes you back, considering she didn’t slap you silly when you planted one on her.” 

Hayner pursed his lips dourly. Pence made it sound so simple as if girls weren’t complex beings, like the inner machinations of their minds weren’t complete enigmas. Could it be that simple? Frowning, Hayner pushed himself into a seated position, crossing his legs and slumping over a little as he took out his phone again. As he pulled up his chat history with Olette, he found a goofy smile worming on his face just seeing her name. 

Before he could talk himself out of it, he shot her a message that simply said, Good morning. 

The bubble with three little dots popped up immediately, followed by a cheerful, Good morning! I hope you finally got some sleep~ Hayner leaned back a little as his smile widened, a warm and fuzzy feeling bubbling up inside of him to spread from his toes to the crown of his head. Pence, realizing that his work was done, strolled out of the room to call down to Hayner’s mother and ask what was for breakfast. Rather than text a response, Hayner took it as Pence’s silent demand to put on his big boy britches, so he hit the call button. 

It only rang once before Olette’s curious voice chimed on the other line, “Hello?” 

“Hey, Olette.” 

“Hey.” He could hear the coquettishness in her voice; she was probably lying on her belly in her bed with her ankles crossed, twirling a lock of her bouncy brunette hair around her finger. “So, um… Last night…” 

“Yeah,” Hayner gulped, turning to lean against his bedframe as he nervously scratched at the back of his neck. “Last night.” A silence fell between them. Hayner felt like a balloon was swelling in his chest, stretching him to the point of bursting. Unable to take the tension, he decided to burst the bubble himself. “I hope you know that wasn’t just 3 a.m. delirium— me kissing you,” he said, blushing at how silly it sounded. 

“I hope you know that kissing you back wasn’t delirium, either,” Olette giggled girlishly. Hayner melted against his bed in relief; if she was joking so casually about it, then perhaps he really had been freaking out over nothing. Olette grew silent on the other end of the line again, but he knew her well enough to know that she was chewing on the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. 

Hayner drummed his fingers nervously on the floor, trying to find an eloquent way to ask her out. Instead, impatience got the better of him and he blurted, “So you wanna be my girlfriend?” 

He turned beet red as she snorted in laughter on the other end of the line, momentarily panicking. Did I misread the situation? I couldn’t have, right?!

“Sorry!” Olette hastily said though she was suppressing giggles. “Sorry, that was just— that was really cute.” Hayner never, ever thought he would think fondly of being referred to as “cute,” but he’d be damned if he didn’t admit that it made his heart flutter in his chest. “Anyway, I would love to be your girlfriend, Hayner.” 

“Great!” he exclaimed, unable to control the extreme burst of happiness that shot through him. Once he realized he’d said it aloud— evidenced by Olette laughing again— his face turned a deep burgundy color. “I-I-I-I mean, um, great. Um. Would you… like to come over for breakfast at my place, then?” He smacked his forehead immediately after. What was he thinking? It wasn’t romantic to have breakfast with his parents and Pence around! God, he needed smooth 3 a.m. Hayner back. Luckily, Olette was too sweet for her own good. 

“Sure! Your mom makes the best pancakes.” 

“Pancakes! Right!” Hayner jumped up, slipping and sliding on his carpet as he tried to scramble to the door so he could shout at his mom to make pancakes. He relaxed when she called affirmation (and demanded he tell Olette she said hello). Smiling wryly, Hayner turned around to lean against the hallway wall. He chuckled lightly as he threaded his fingers through his wavy blond tresses, still blushing a carnation pink. “Um… See you when you get here, then.” 

“See you soon, Hayner,” she said, and the warmth in her tone made Hayner melt against the wall in adoration. He continued to hold the phone up to his ear even after she hung up, smiling dreamily as if it made him closer to her somehow. He finally lowered it when Pence came tromping up the stairs, chewing on a cereal bar. 

“So?” 

All it took was Hayner’s big grin and Pence exclaimed excitedly. “All right! Good for you guys, man!” he said as he sauntered over, doing a happy dance for Hayner’s benefit. The taller boy laughed and gave Pence a high-five, then looked adoringly down at Olette’s contact information. After a moment of consideration, he smirked and hit the edit button to add a heart and a lip gloss Emoji to her name. Pence peeked over his shoulder, then laughed dryly and punched Hayner in the shoulder. “Man, you’re such a sap already.” 

“Shut up,” Hayner laughed and shoved him in the side of his head before stowing his phone. “Which one of us is single?” 

“Bro! You were single, like, two minutes ago!” 

“Keyword: were,” Hayner teased as he flashed him a wink. Pence groaned, muttering something about how he should’ve just ignored Hayner’s phone call, while the blond sauntered to the bathroom to do his hair. As he wrangled his locks into submission, he licked his lips again, smiling widely at the faint taste of cherry still lingering there. 

Maybe 3 a.m. Hayner had some sense after all.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

[purplesurveys]

775

Do you always carry breath mints? No, I don’t find it essential considering I only get (or got, by now) a certain allowance per week and my budget is usually just right to fit in food, gas, other necessities, and maybe one or two nights of eating out. JM always brought a pack of those every day though and if I felt like I needed one, it was easy to ask him for one. On a side note, it’s so weird having to type these out in the past tense now that that part of my life is virtually over... What is the point of scented pens/pencils/erasers? I don’t think they have one. They’re just fun to have around if they’re new to you and you have a bit of extra money to buy them. Do you buy/wear band-aids with cartoon characters on them? No but we do have packs that come in different colors, which is entertaining enough for me. Are you amused by celebrity fashion flubs? Egh, not as much these days but it’ll sometimes be fun to look at what people are wearing at major events like the Oscars and Met Gala to see who hit the mark and who didn’t. What do you think your reaction would be upon entering the White House? Political feelings aside, I think I’d be as excited going there as I would be going to other tourist destinations. Bonus points if they’ve got a museum inside.

Do you buy and wear crazy looking socks? I wouldn’t call them crazy-looking, but I do like socks with wackier designs like if they’re sushi-themed or burger-themed haha. Would you run down the street wearing a tutu, fishnets, & flippers? That literally just sounds like a task that other college orgs make their applicants do as part of their application process. I’d do it if it was a dare or if something’s in it for me, but I wouldn’t on my own. Have you ever grown your own sea monkeys or dinosaurs? I don’t know what you mean. Would you want to travel into deep space? You kidding? I’ve wanted to go to space since I first read about people going to the Moon. I’d for sure do it if it was offered to me. Have you ever thrown a game controller (or the game) and broke it? Nah but pretty similar; I’ve often smacked my laptops when something goes wrong, like if the internet isn’t fast enough or if it hangs.

Did you ever own an Etch-a-Sketch? No. I think my mom did though. Do/did you ever have glow-in-the-dark stars on your ceiling? Nope, but my dad’s family in Tondo had these, in my cousins’ room. When we went over to visit we’d typically spend the night, so every time it was lights out the stars were my favorite thing to see cause they felt pretty magical to me. Does your house have an attic that had stuff in it when you moved in? No. We don’t have an attic but our third floor is our rooftop. What movie were you really worked up for that ended up disappointing you? Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. And this is gonna get so much flak, but The Shawshank Redemption. Does/did your school have special dress-up days? No for both schools I’ve been in. I do appreciate the fact that my current school has no dress code though. What cartoons did you watch when you were little? A lot, since kids are supposed to watch cartoons anyway lol. My favorite ones were Spongebob, Fairly OddParents, Mr. Bean, The Wild Thornberrys, Jimmy Neutron, House of Mouse, and The Emperor’s New School. Do you eat peanut shells along with the peanuts? I don’t. Have you ever gone white-water rafting? Nope. What part of a paper is hardest for you to write? Introduction. It sets the tone for your entire paper so if it isn’t good or appealing enough, it’s hard to follow through and come up with an excellent piece overall. Does your grandma wear an apron when she cooks? I never saw her wearing one, no. This is your chance to get it out! Place random rant here: Get me the fuck out of this house. How often do you need "me" time? These days I’ve had so much of it I wouldn’t even want it anymore for a while after this lol. Normally though, it’s important for me to have this at the end of the day. I’m always with a bunch of people and friends everyday in school and recharging by being alone is vital to me. Does it bother you that almost everything is done on computers now? Sometimes it can feel impersonal, like if you get invited to a debut or wedding through Facebook. But most of the time I find it convenient because everything is instant now. Have you ever gotten stuck in a revolving door? I don’t think so. There was a time I had fun going around a revolving door at the City of Dreams entrance for a few turns because I hadn’t seen one in a while hahahaha but I didn’t get stuck. Who is your favorite superhero? Not big on that whole genre. I guess I like Wonder Woman. KFC Chicken: original or extra crispy? Original please. What class in school do/did you secretly love? Idk, if I like a class I’d be vocal about it lol. What animal do you most resemble while eating? A human? Pop-Tarts vs. Toaster Strudels. Discuss: I’ve never had the second one and I really like Pop-Tarts, so the verdict here is prrrrretty obvious. Do you believe there are subliminal messages in songs? Like...Illuminati-wise? Lmao not at all, but people sure were busy trying to prove this about Beyonce and Lady Gaga back in 2009. I do think other intentional forms of subliminal messages exist, like how Hayley was actually singing the word ‘mercy’ when she sang the chorus to Simmer. Think about your first kiss. Did you have any idea what you were doing? No, she had to teach me how to move my lips and to not be scared and just go with the dance, because I was very nervous. Would you play Jumanji, if given the chance? I’ve never seen the movie, both original and remake.

Name a song lyric you heard wrong the first time and what it really said: I can’t recall an instance at the moment. Do you text/call while going to the bathroom? (Go multitasking!) I’ll bring my phone so I can scroll through Reddit or play games. Do you always make sure your cell phone is charged before going somewhere? Most of the time. I’ll still forget sometimes, though. Did you get Happy Meals just for the toys as a kid? No. They weren’t my kind of toys so I didn’t really ask my parents for Happy Meals. I asked for other toys I knew I’d have more use out of instead.   Have you ever seen your parents cry? If so, how did it make you feel? My mom. She was crying because my sister did a very kiddie mistake, and I was mostly indifferent because at that point our relationship was severed, and also why the fuck would you cry over a little booboo your 8 year old daughter did? She was being dramatic that day and I had no fucking time nor pity for it. What are your thoughts on Chuck Norris? I mostly know him as a 9GAG meme but other than that I know nothing of him. Did you answer that last question with a random Chuck Norris fact? No.

What is the most annoying sound in the world? Boomers complaining and getting their uninformed opinion out in the open. Do you honestly care about calories and fat content? No. How do you feel about animal testing? Fuck outta here. Do you often shift blame towards others? No. This is what my mom did and continues to do, and like I’ve said before I’ve made it my life’s mission to not do the things she did. Do you ever feel like you're smarter than your boss? I don’t have a boss. But I definitely didn’t doubt my internship boss, she was obviously very wise and had gone through a lot to get to where she is today. Your very first best friend: Is he/she STILL your best friend? No. Do you add condiments to your ice cream, or just eat it plain? Nah dude what the hell? Have you ever witnessed a crime? I saw a car very nearly run over a group of pedestrians walking on the pedestrian lane, but the driver was able to hit the brakes before they hit them hard. What's the coolest personalized license plate you've ever seen? Not a lot of cool plates here considering we’re only allowed a maximum of three letters and three numbers. If a plate is personalized it’s usually the driver’s initials and birthday, and that is hardly interesting lol. Did you ever have a piggybank that literally ate your money? No.

[mikauzoran]

Adrienette Drabble Thirty: Sleep

“You should eat something,” Plagg advised as he jumped around on the piano, picking out the notes to O Mio Babbino Caro.

“I’m sleeping,” Adrien grumbled, rolling over onto his stomach.

“You’re moping,” Plagg snorted.

“I have every right to mope. Last night was one of the worst nights of my life. …Do you have to play that song?” Adrien groaned. “It’s depressing.”

“It’s a beautiful song,” Plagg countered. “What’s wrong with it?”

Adrien sat up and sang along, “…ma per buttarmi in Arno.”

Plagg stopped playing. “…Are those the lyrics?”

“Yep,” Adrien snorted. “A little ironic, don’t you think? Especially considering your concerns about me throwing myself into the Seine just last night over a broken heart. The Seine, the Arno. Same difference, really. Keep playing. I’ll sing you the rest.”

Plagg reluctantly obliged.

“Mi struggo e mi tormento!” Adrien crooned, dropping the notes down into the tenor range.

Even in the lower register, the sharpness of the pain and torment was visceral. Plagg could tell Adrien felt every word.

“O Dio, vorrei morir,” Adrien sang so that the notes wept.

“Okay, no.” Plagg quit abruptly, flying over to nuzzle Adrien for all he was worth. “Stop that. Stop wishing you could die. Bad song choice. Bad song choice.” He zipped down to tickle Adrien’s ribs.

Adrien burst out laughing and fell over backwards in bed. “S-St-Stop!” he shrieked as he tried to roll away from the onslaught. “Mer-cy!” he cackled.

Eventually, Plagg stopped and floated up to look Adrien right in the eye. “Kid, I love you so much. You know that, right?”

A touched smile curled onto Adrien’s lips, succeeding in making it all the way to his eyes. “Yeah.” He reached up to scratch underneath Plagg’s chin. “I know, Plagg. I love you too.”

Plagg landed on Adrien’s cheek and gave it a sloppy lick, ignoring the salty taste of dried tears. “Good. Glad that that’s settled. Now, let’s play something happy!” He soared back over to the piano. “What do you want to hear?”

“Whatever you want to play, Plagg, I’m sure it will be wonderful,” Adrien assured, settling back under the covers.

“Come on. Let’s have a request,” Plagg prompted, trying to keep the boy engaged so that he didn’t slip back into his melancholy.

“Habanera from Carmen,” Adrien mumbled into his pillow.

Plagg pursed his lips. “…That’s not a happy song.”

“Hooked on a Feeling,” Adrien proposed instead, having no skin in the game.

“…No. No love songs,” Plagg sighed, sinking down to sit on middle C.

“Javert’s Soliloquy from Les Misérables.” Adrien returned the sigh with interest.

Plagg banged his head against the keys. “Aaaaand we’re back to jumping into rivers. Tell you what. How about we put your sound system to use and go back to listening to Shake It on repeat until you’re fed up enough to get out of bed and eat?”

“Noooooo!” Adrien whined, picking up Plagg’s pillow and tossing it indiscriminately. “I’d rather jump into the Seine than listen to Metro Station.”

“Then you had better—”

Plagg was cut off by a knock at the window.

There was a beat.

“…Was that a bird running into my window?” Adrien wondered, coming out from underneath the covers.

“…A turtle,” Plagg observed.

“The hell?” Adrien sat up to find Carapace waving at him from the other side of the glass.

“The hell?” Adrien repeated as Carapace found the window pane that Adrien kept unlocked for Chat and hopped down into Adrien’s room.

“Detransformation,” Carapace muttered, leaving Nino to dart across the room to Adrien’s side. “Hey. Mec.” Nino kicked off his shoes and crawled across the bed to tackle Adrien. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into Adrien’s hair, squeezing Adrien tight. “Adrien, I’m so sorry. That never should have happened.”

Despite himself, Adrien melted into the embrace and let his hand come to rest between Nino’s shoulder blades.

After a minute, Nino pulled back, letting Adrien sit up so that Nino could study him. “How are you doing?”

Adrien shook his head. “Since when does Maître Fu let you borrow Wayzz to sneak into people’s bedrooms?”

“Since I expressed frantic concern that Chat Noir was vulnerable to akumatization and since your father told me I wasn’t allowed to see you and that I was to leave the premises before he had security escort me. He said you didn’t want to see me,” Nino snorted.

“I told him to tell you that I wasn’t home,” Adrien sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “You are currently on the list of people I will always love but don’t particularly like right now.”

Nino bit the inside of his cheek and nodded. “That’s fair.”

Adrien waited, but no further excuses or pleas for forgiveness followed.

Adrien arched an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to list all sorts of reasons why I should forgive you and why you were in the right?”

Nino shook his head. “No. You have every right to be mad at me. I’m not so sure myself that I got it right this time. I mean, I knew fallout from this was probably going to be bad, but… Look, Mec, I’m just here to make sure you’re all right. Us being all right comes second, so… What can I do? What do you need?”

Adrien pursed his lips and considered momentarily. “Could you please go get that pillow that I threw?”

Nino glanced about until he spotted it on the floor under the piano. “Sure.” With a shrug, he went to fetch it. On his way back to the bed, he noticed the pile of grey ash over by Adrien’s computer.

Nino stopped mid-step to gawk. “Dude. What happened to your desk chair? Did you Cataclysm it?”

Adrien smiled sheepishly. “Uh…accidentally, yes. The desk chair was collateral damage.”

Nino’s frown intensified. “What happened?”

Adrien rubbed at the back of his neck, shrugging and averting his eyes. “I may have been in the middle of Cataclysm-ing Ladybug in effigy in the form of all of my Ladybug merchandise when my father walked in and startled me, and I got the desk chair too.”

Nino’s mouth dropped open. “Holy crap. What did Gabe do when he found Chat Noir in your room?”

“Oh…” Adrien bit his lip. “So…about two months ago I might have actually…told my dad about the whole Chat Noir thing?”

Adrien could feel Nino’s eyes boring into him.

Adrien met Nino’s gaze and rushed to explain, “It made sense at the time, and it’s worked out pretty well so far. I was kind of having an identity crisis moment, and having that conversation with my father is what led to us finally working on fixing our relationship. Maybe some of us have the luxury of not telling anyone, but I really needed my dad at that point, so I don’t regret telling him. If Ladybug has a problem with that, she’ll just have to get over it.”

Nino raised his hands in a placating gesture as he slowly drew nearer. “Mec, it’s okay, so calm down, all right? I think…I mean…She’d be a hypocrite for faulting you on this. I think you’re the only one who didn’t have someone who knew. Alya and I found out about each other when Ladybug didn’t have time to get us apart to deliver our Miraculouses separately, and I figured Ladybug out shortly after I became Carapace, so… I mean, Ladybug didn’t tell anybody, I don’t think—she still hasn’t told Alya, for crying out loud—but I was able to be there for her because I knew. It’s only fair that you finally have people that know and can support you too.”

Adrien looked away, mumbling, “Nathalie totally figured me out a couple years ago, but…”

Nino sat back down on the bed and handed over the pillow. “So you accidentally Cataclysm-ed your desk chair?”

“Yeah,” Adrien sighed, taking the pillow and smacking Nino lightly with it before tossing it once more. “Could you go get that please?”

Nino smiled wanly, getting back up. “Sure, Mec.”

“Last night, I was pretty sure I was going to get akumatized, so I gave my dad the ring to hold onto for me. Apparently, he could feel it through the ring when I transformed to take out my frustrations on inanimate objects, and he came to check on me, disturbing me in the middle of my destructive spree.”

Nino stooped to pick up the pillow a second time. He paused halfway up as something occurred to him. “How did you transform if your dad had your ring?”

“I didn’t relinquish ownership of the ring. I just gave him the physical ring to protect,” Adrien explained, accepting the pillow back from Nino. He gently hit Nino with said pillow before tossing it again. “One more time, please?” He smiled winningly.

Nino nodded. “As many times as we need to do this, Mec,” he assured, starting off after the pillow once more.

“You probably don’t know since you don’t get to keep your Miraculous for any real length of time, but there’s an instruction manual. If you read the manual, it talks about advanced techniques and stuff. It takes a lot of practice and concentration, but Black Cat holders can learn to Cataclysm multiple objects in one go or use Cataclysm multiple times before they have to detransform and recharge.”

Nino stopped at the foot of the bed to cock an eyebrow at Adrien. “How many Cataclysms can you do?”

Adrien looked away. “Only two or three. I’m still working on that. I poured most of my time and energy into mastering remote transformation and not necessarily needing to keep the ring physically on me to maintain transformation.”

“You can do that?” Nino breathed in awe.

Adrien nodded, a proud grin slipping onto his face.

“Can Ladybug do that?” Nino wondered.

Adrien shrugged. “Yeah, but she doesn’t seem to be any good at it. I guess she’s working on other things? I mean, remote transformation was my first priority, but…I haven’t read her instruction manual, so I don’t know what all she can do. Maybe she’s working on something that she deems more important, but…”

Nino’s brow creased. “Have you two talked about this?”

Adrien shook his head. “Oddly enough, it’s difficult to have complex conversations while you’re in the middle of a fight, and it’s not like she ever sticks around to talk to me long afterwards because of her timer. We chat sometimes when we meet up by chance while we’re both out in costume, but…when we do meet up, strategy isn’t the first thing on my mind, honestly.”

Nino made a mental note to ask Marinette if she had ever read her instruction manual.

He sat back down on the bed and handed over the pillow, prepared to be pummeled.

The third blow was as gentle as the others had been.

“I’m mad at you,” Adrien announced.

Nino nodded. “Okay.”

Adrien smacked him with the pillow again. “Like, what the hell? Are we or are we not best friends?”

“We are,” Nino confirmed.

“And yet you just let me walk right into that?” Adrien snorted, shoving the pillow into Nino’s hands as he picked up the other pillow for himself.

“I did,” Nino sighed.

“You suck,” Adrien pouted.

“Yeah,” Nino mumbled.

Adrien’s eyes narrowed into a glare as he raised his pillow over his head. “Fight back,” he commanded, bringing his pillow down.

For the next four minutes, a pillow fight ensued, eventually deteriorating into a wrestling match.

Adrien got the upper hand, pinning Nino and trapping his arms above his head. “You still let me win,” he grumbled, letting Nino’s arms go.

“You underestimate your own strength,” Nino laughed a little breathlessly.

Adrien sat back on his haunches, gazing sullenly down at his friend. “I’m not very good at staying mad at people. I mean, it even took me a little bit to decide that I was mad at you in the first place, and then you come here with your grand gesture, breaking into my room with your Romeo balcony act, and…I don’t want to be mad at you, Nino. I’m so freaking tired.”

“Hey,” Nino sighed, taking Adrien by the hips and gently flipping him over so that they were lying side by side. Nino propped himself up on his elbow and frowned lightly in concern down at Adrien. “You’re okay. Just…feel whatever you’re feeling, and that’s okay. Don’t try to make yourself feel any differently.”

“I’m disappointed in myself because my therapist is always telling me how important it is not to let people walk all over me, and yet…” Adrien closed his eyes. “Honestly, the most I can manage to feel is hurt.”

“Because your dad taught you that you weren’t allowed to get angry, so instead of blowing up at others, you turn whatever you’re feeling in on yourself.” Nino gingerly began to rub slow, soothing circles along Adrien’s scalp. “It’s okay, Mec.”

“It doesn’t feel okay,” Adrien mumbled. “You should have told me. If there have to be sides like this, you’re supposed to be on mine. You shouldn’t have let me go out there blind and make a fool of myself in front of Luka. He probably thinks I’m a total spazz now.” Adrien opened his eyes to pout at Nino. “There’s no way he’s going to want to be my friend after this.”

Nino blinked as he tried to wrap his head around Adrien’s words. “We don’t…hate Luka now?”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “No. I mean…” A rosy blush crept up into the apples of his cheeks. “Luka’s really cool. I was kind of a little drunk last night after Kim verbally roughed me up, and Luka took care of me. He was sweet, and I had a good time talking with him, and we danced, and he said…he said a lot of things, but…”

Adrien shook his head ruefully. “But none of that matters because he probably hates me now that someone’s told him about me and Marinette, so…so whatever. It’s fine. Whatever.”

Deep trenches formed in Nino’s brow. “Luka called me last night.”

Adrien studied Nino’s face for some kind of indication of where his friend was going with this information. “Oh?”

Nino nodded. “He sounded really stressed. He was worried about you.”

Adrien’s eyes widened in interest. “O-Oh?”

“He was pretty anxious to know whether you’d made it home okay, and he sounded pretty miffed that no one had told you about Marinette dating him,” Nino continued, studying Adrien’s face intently for the smallest muscle twitch. “I don’t think he hates you, Mec.”

A pleased blush made itself at home on Adrien’s face, and a shy smile followed. “He doesn’t?”

“Didn’t seem like it,” Nino confirmed, pursing his lips. “…This isn’t the conversation I thought we’d be having.”

Adrien sat up, looking away. “This isn’t a thing. I just… He was nice. I’d like to be friends. It’s a platonic crush. That happens, right? With people you look up to?”

Nino pushed himself up to sitting and nodded. “Yeah. Sure, Mec. Of course…. But…it would be okay if it was a thing. You know, other than the fact that he’s got a girlfriend. It would be okay.”

“It’s not a thing,” Adrien repeated. “It’s just like how Chloé admires Ladybug and Kagami. How you admired Chat Noir.”

Nino bypassed speculation on Chloé’s sexuality to skip to Adrien’s second point. “Dude, there’s no need to use past tense. I still do admire Chat Noir. I admire him even more now that I know it’s you. I’ve admired you, Adrien Agreste, for a long time.”

Adrien turned a puzzled stare on his friend. “Me? As in…me me?”

“Adrien,” Nino chuckled, shaking his head. “You, you, you, you, you. You are awesome, Mec. There’s a lot that I admire about you both in and out of costume, okay?”

Adrien nodded, his shy smile making a comeback. “You’re pretty cool yourself.”

“I know. Thanks.” Nino preened.

Adrien rolled his eyes, giving Nino a shove. “Stop. I’m trying to be mad at you.”

“Sorry. Should I do something douchebaggy to make it easier?” Nino proposed with a serious expression.

Adrien shoved him again. “…Could you not tell Marinette about my platonic crush on Luka? I mean, I know she already knows because I told her myself the other day when she mentioned she’d been hanging out with him lately, but…like…just don’t bring it up, okay? Don’t remind her.”

“…Dude?” Nino raised an eyebrow uncertainly.

“It’s not a thing,” Adrien insisted. “I just… People can flirt platonically, can’t they? Like…you and I do that, don’t we? And Alya flirts platonically with me, and I used to think Marinette and I flirted like that, but…but people do flirt just for fun, just kind of teasing each other, not really meaning anything serious by it…right?” Adrien’s eyes searched Nino’s frantically. “Luka and I could flirt platonically without that necessarily being cheating on Marinette, right?”

Nino pursed his lips. “Okay, so…yeah, people do flirt without actual romantic intent. You in particular are a huge flirt, so, yes, it is possible just to flirt for fun. Whether or not you and Luka can platonically flirt…I don’t know, Mec. I’d have to see you two together before I could say for sure, and, honestly, I think Marinette would have to be the judge of what should be considered cheating. My advice is to not even go there if you’re questioning whether something is okay. Just don’t flirt with him period if you’re unsure of where the line is. And if you can’t not flirt with him, steer clear of him in general. I mean, I think we’re jumping the gun a little because it’s not like you and Luka are in regular contact anyway, so…”

Adrien nodded, lying back down to absorb what Nino had said.

“…How’s Marinette?” he inquired after several minutes.

Nino gave a halfhearted shrug. “Hurting. Regretting a lot of things. Trying to keep a grin pasted on so no one will worry.”

Adrien hummed thoughtfully. “…Why didn’t you really tell me about Marinette and Luka? Marinette said you two were trying to figure out the best way and the best time. She said she didn’t want to mess up the end of high school for me, but…that all reeks of bull. Why did everyone actually wait more than two weeks to tell me?”

Nino blew out a slow sigh. “The truth?”

Adrien nodded.

“She told you the truth,” Nino confessed. “She was uncertain and trying to figure things out. It was the end of the school year, and we were all busy with other things on top of that. We knew there was no avoiding this hurting you. I was supposed to tell you this week now that we’re on vacation with nowhere to be so that you could have time and space to process and come to terms with it.”

Adrien rolled his eyes.

“Seriously,” Nino insisted. “Adrien, you’re a bit overdramatic. You overreact and take things harshly. I thought so even before I knew about Chat Noir, and now that I do know that that’s you… You really didn’t need to have an ‘end of the world’ breakdown at the end of the school year.”

Adrien rolled over so that his back was to Nino. “Stop patronizing me. I’m not a child.”

“Sorry,” Nino sighed. “I know you’re not. It’s just that sometimes you’re the most mature, grownup person I know and other times…Bro, you throw fits.”

“Do not,” Adrien grumbled.

“Dude,” Nino replied pointedly.

“Dude,” Adrien returned sharply, accusatorially.

“…Dude,” Nino sighed, suddenly sounding beyond the limits of exhaustion. “You know what? You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Adrien rolled back over to look up at Nino. “…How much sleep did you get last night?”

Nino shook his head. “After the party, I ran halfway over here to check on you, but then I got a text from one of your parentals saying that you’d gone to bed, so I knew you’d made it home safe. Then I ran over to the bakery and relieved Alya of Marinette duty. We were up for a couple hours talking. It was almost dawn by the time we crashed. We were both so out of it. We kind of just fell asleep on top of the covers for a couple hours. I left her house at eight, dropped by my house to shower, change, and grab something quick before trekking over here to make sure you were okay, but then your dad told me you didn’t want to see me and threatened to have me forcibly removed, so I hiked over to Fu’s for the Miraculous, roof-ran back here, and here we are now. So, yeah. Not much sleep.”

Adrien sat up and grabbed the discarded pillows, arranging them once more at the top of the bed. He straightened the sheets, pulling them up over both Nino and himself.

“Take off your pants,” he instructed his friend.

Nino arched a curious eyebrow but began to do as asked. “Adrien Agreste, are you trying to seduce me right now? Because I have to say that it’s working.”

Adrien rolled his eyes, smacking Nino’s arm. “Sure, Bro. Marinette has wrecked me so completely that I’m now into guys—particularly guys with girlfriends who they’re crazy about. Your jeans don’t look too comfortable to sleep in.”

“Am I sleeping?” Nino chuckled, tossing his pants to the floor.

“Yep.” Adrien grabbed the remote control from his nightstand and hit two buttons.

The lights turned off, and enormous blinds slowly lowered, covering the floor to ceiling windows.

“Nap time. You sound wiped.” He pushed Nino down on the bed beside him.

Nino stared quizzically as Adrien settled back under the covers. “Don’t you need to talk about stuff or something?”

Adrien shook his head, eyes closed. “I’ve done enough talking. I’ll talk to my therapist on Tuesday. Right now I’m moping and sleeping.”

“You’re sure?” Nino pressed, trying not to catalogue all the ways in which Adrien’s pillow was far more comfortable than his at home.

“Mmhm. Go to sleep. You’re off duty.”

“But—”

“—Hush.” Adrien’s eyes snapped open to fix Nino with an intent gaze. “You’ve been running yourself ragged these past few months trying to be everybody else’s emotional support. You think I don’t realize how needy I am? I can’t even imagine Marinette’s crap on top of that. And then there’s your own stuff and probably Alya’s. Nino, go to sleep, okay? You’re going to make yourself sick.”

“…I thought you were mad at me.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “I suck at being mad at people. Even if I am mad, I still care about you. Like I told Marinette, love and hate aren’t mutually exclusive. I’d love to smother you with this pillow, but I’d regret it as soon as I was done. Don’t you and Alya ever get like that?”

Nino sighed. “Yeah. There are times I want to strangle her with my bare hands, but…”

“All right then,” Adrien announced. “Go to sleep. I promise not to smother you.”

“Much appreciated,” Nino mumbled, letting his eyes slip closed.

 Adrien came to consciousness feeling much too warm. He tried to move away from the heat, but someone was holding him in place. Had he been captured?!

He jerked awake to find himself wrapped up in Nino’s arms with his face buried in his friend’s shirt.

Nino inhaled sharply but then snuggled back into Adrien’s hair, pressing a kiss to the top of his head as he mumbled, “Shh, Al.”

“If we’re gonna do pet names, I prefer ‘Dri’,” Adrien chuckled, causing Nino to give a jolt of surprise.

Nino pulled back, blinking uncomprehendingly at Adrien, trying to remember what he was doing in bed with the blonde.

“First time calling your partner by the wrong name?” Adrien teased, sitting up and stretching.

Nino rolled his eyes, flopping back over. “What time is it?”

Adrien reached for his phone on the nightstand only to remember that he had entrusted his mobile to his father the night before. “Good question,” he mumbled, grabbing the remote control instead, turning on the lights and opening the blinds with the push of a button.

The sun was still shining brightly, but that didn’t reveal much in the middle of the summer.

“Plagg, what time is it?” Adrien called out, hoping his kwami hadn’t gone far.

“Time for you to get a watch,” Plagg snickered.

“It is two-twenty-three,” Wayzz responded as he floated over to land on Nino’s knee.

“Wow. Thank you, Wayzz. That was incredibly helpful. I appreciate that,” Adrien remarked pointedly at Plagg before turning to Wayzz with a sincere smile. “Seriously. Thank you. Tell me, did I get stuck with the smart-aleck? Are the rest of you more accommodating and cooperative?”

Wayzz chuckled softly. “Adrien, you could have done a lot worse than Plagg. He cares about you a great deal.”

“Don’t I know it,” Adrien sighed, holding out a hand to his kwami. “I care about him too.”

“Brat,” Plagg snorted, landing on Adrien’s hand and hugging his thumb. “When are you gonna eat something?”

“Not hungry,” Adrien sighed, lying back down, resting the hand with Plagg in it palm up on his stomach.

“When was the last time you ate?” Nino side-eyed his friend suspiciously.

Adrien shrugged.

“He had some snacks at the party,” Plagg ratted his chosen out remorselessly.

Nino sat up to glare down at Adrien. “Mec, we’re getting you something to eat. I will feed you myself if I have to. Going on a hunger strike will not make your problems go away.”

Adrien shrugged once more. “What time is Marinette’s party? You’re not missing it, are you?”

Nino rolled his eyes. “I’m not going. I’m pestering the tar out of you until you get up, put on actual clothes, eat, and then play foosball or something with me. I don’t care what we actually do, but you’re getting up out of bed.”

Adrien shook his head, a deep sadness settling onto his features. “I don’t know if I’m ready to get out of bed.”

Nino arched an eyebrow but didn’t press, letting Adrien talk in his own time.

“This past month, since Marinette broke up with me, I’ve been getting up and working on getting better because I thought that was the only way she was going to take me back. I could only be with her and be happy if I put the work in, but last night she told me that she’s not going to be waiting for me on the other side of this. If I get out of bed today, it will be because I’ve decided that I am worth getting out of bed and putting the work in for. Just me. No true love. No happily ever after. Just…Adrien Agreste.”

Adrien looked at Nino nervously. “I don’t know if I care enough about him to commit to this. Like, seriously. I don’t know if he’s worth putting myself through all this.”

“I think he is,” Nino replied gently, running a hand through Adrien’s hair. “But, Adrien…even if you get out of bed today, that doesn’t mean you have to get out of bed tomorrow. I would like for you to, but you don’t have to. Don’t think of this as an all or nothing situation. Somedays you’ll get out of bed; somedays you won’t. That’s fine. The important thing is that you get out of bed more days than you don’t. Maybe it won’t be like that right away, but that’s the goal to work towards right now. Once you meet the goal of getting out of bed four days out of every seven, try for five out of seven, then six. This is a long-haul kind of thing. You don’t have to be perfect off the bat.”

Adrien took a deep breath and let it out thoughtfully. “Are you hungry?”

Nino nodded.

Adrien pointed. “There’s a landline on my desk. Dial three-six-five to reach the kitchen staff and ask them to bring whatever you want to my room.”

Nino got up and went over to the desk, mindful of the ash pile that used to be a desk chair and Ladybug merchandise. He dialed as instructed and waited for someone to pick up on the other line. “Uh…hello? Um…could you please bring two large salads with grilled salmon and some kind of vinaigrette dressing along with a mug of mint tea to Adrien’s room? …Okay. Sounds good. Thank you so much.”

Nino looked back to find Adrien propping himself up on his elbow, staring at Nino in wide-mouthed surprise. “They said it would be about fifteen/twenty minutes. What’s up with the fish face?”

“You remembered,” Adrien breathed.

Nino frowned. “Remembered?”

“What I said. A couple years ago. About salads and mint tea,” Adrien clarified.

Nino chuckled, making his way back to the bed, climbing over Adrien. “About how when you or your mom had a bad day she’d kick the kitchen staff out and make you guys a big salad and some mint tea to share? Of course I remember. I mean, salad and mint tea are about the weirdest comfort foods I’ve ever heard of.”

“Marinette’s mom makes her orange jasmine green tea,” Adrien muttered sullenly.

“But her dad makes her crème brûlée to go with it,” Nino countered. “Most people eat fat and sugar when they’re feeling crappy. You just eat health food. Your whole family is weird.”

“I’m sure you mean that in the most loving way possible,” Adrien sniffed indignantly.

“Of course, Mec,” Nino snickered.

There was a long silence.

“…Hey,” Nino called nervously. “Just tell me if you want to drop it, but…can I apologize for the whole Luka thing again? You were right. I’ve been doing a lot of emotional support stuff lately, and I feel like I’m juggling a bunch of balls, right? But I’m a sucky juggler, so I’m trying really hard not to drop them all, but it’s hard cause I don’t know exactly what I’m doing. And I think I dropped one. I think I might have dropped one of the most important ones, and I’m really sorry, Mec. I don’t want to make excuses because I did screw up, and I know I screwed up. You have every right to be mad, but I just want you to understand why. Don’t think of this as an excuse. It’s only an explanation. Some context for my massive failing as a friend…. Can I tell you the story of how I met Marinette?”

Adrien considered for a minute before nodding his assent.

Nino exhaled slowly and began, “I was about five when my family moved to Paris for my mom’s job. It was kind of rough settling in because Paris was so different from the little town I was from. It was kind of overwhelming. I had a hard time fitting in with all the new people. I’ve always been a bit of a social recluse—at least, before you and Alya—I mean, I liked music still, and I was a huge movie buff even then, but those are hobbies you do by yourself. I didn’t have a whole lot to relate to other kids with.

“When I started school, all the other kids in my class were white—well, Marinette’s half white, but—and most of them had lived in Paris their whole lives, and they’d known each other from the previous year, so…I was feeling super out of place. One day, during break, some of the kids were playing I don’t even remember what, but it looked like fun, so I asked if I could play too, but then Chloé, bless her heart, repeated some crap she’d probably heard from her dad about brown people’s place being in the servants’ quarters.”

Adrien full-body winced. “She didn’t.”

Nino snorted. “Maybe those weren’t her exact words, but that was the gist of it.”

“Oh my God, Nino. I am so sorry she said that.” Adrien’s entire face heated up in shame.

Nino shook his head. “You don’t need to apologize, Mec. Just have a bunch of brats of your own someday and teach them to act better.”

“Hey, you’ll get no complaints from me if you can talk Marinette into it,” Adrien joked, only not really. “But what did you say to that? What did you do?”

Nino smiled sheepishly. “I was, like, five. I started to cry, Dude, but then Marinette came over and took my hand and told Chloé that she was mean. Marinette said that she thought my skin was a beautiful color, and she asked me if I wanted to come play with crayons with her.”

“Of course she did,” Adrien chuckled, smiling affectionately.

“Of course she did,” Nino echoed. “And we were fast friends. She was my first ‘bro’. For a couple years, we were nigh inseparable. We made an actual blood pact when we were eight. We used one of her sewing needles to prick our fingers. We kind of drifted apart around the time we were eleven or twelve. We still hung out and everything, but…we weren’t as close as we used to be until after you and Alya came and the four of us started hanging out as a group. We were both kind of outcasts before you and Alya. Marinette didn’t hang out with the other girls in our year besides when the whole class was doing something together, and I was off doing my own thing—listening to music, watching foreign films. Marinette and I used to sit with Nathaniel at the losers’ table in the lunchroom. We weren’t the people you know now. Alya really drew the both of us out of our shells. Well…I guess Marinette had the whole Ladybug thing going on too, but…”

Nino took a deep breath and rested his hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “Do you kind of get where I’m coming from? You and I are best friends now, yes, and you are irreplaceable to me, Adrien…but Marinette and I have a lot of history together. I know as your bro I’m supposed to be on your ‘side’ first and foremost, but…”

“You can’t do that because Marinette is an irreplaceable friend to you too, so you keep getting caught between us,” Adrien finished with a sigh.

Nino nodded. “I’m sorry, Adrien.”

Adrien shook his head slowly. “It’s okay. I understand.” Suddenly, an impish glimmer lit up his eyes. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it, does it?”

Nino shrugged. “No.”

“So…it would be okay for me to, even though I understand where you’re coming from, still get all childish and pouty and want you to choose me anyway?” Adrien wondered.

Nino smiled wearily. “Yep. That is definitely something you could do.”

“Good,” Adrien proclaimed with a triumphant smile. “Then I’m still mad about the Luka thing.” He picked up one of the pillows and tossed it over by the piano. “Fetch?”

Nino groaned in resignation, getting to his feet. “Okay. If this is the worst I get, I’ll take it and be grateful.”

(The following are questions I asked the AO3 readers in response to some of their comments. I’ll ask you guys too in case you would like to give some feedback on the direction of the story. If you’d rather comment on AO3 because the formatting is easier, you can do so here.

Show of hands: Who wants to see Nooroo and Adrien? Who wants to see more of Luka? Who wants to see less of Luka? Who wants me to stop expanding the story and just wrap it up already?

I feel like some of you want me to stop writing already and just skip ahead to when Marinette and Adrien are okay to date, but I was planning smaller time skips to show how they get there instead of the large timeskip that some of you have mentioned. Are you interested in seeing how they get there, or do you really want me to end the story already? My plan was for Adrien to learn that it doesn’t have to be Marinette through a crush on Luka (no, not a relationship but an attraction that teaches Adrien that he actually can develop feelings for someone else and he isn’t doomed to be alone if Marinette doesn’t return his feelings). I was also going to show Adrien and Marinette slowly learning how to be around one another and repair their relationship before finally coming to a place where they can be together.

So who wants the story to timeskip and wrap up already? Who wants to see the longer version showing the reparation of the relationship and character growth? I think what you guys are tired of is the drama and the angst and the hurt. The good news is that we’re pretty much done with that at this point. Thirteen and Twenty-Seven were the big blowups. Now we’re working on rebuilding.

Thoughts? Thanks for reading!)

[glowyjellyfish]

Tonight I learned that John Leguizamo was in Moulin Rouge and it just. does not compute. I watched the movie again and I still cannot line the facts up together in my head. I cannot recognize him. I mean, good job dude, ~voice actiiiiing~ but listen. I saw that movie in the theater when it was new. My sister and I were dissatisfied that the soundtrack didn’t match the songs that were in the movie and hooked a vcr up to a computer to make our own mp3 copies of the movie versions of the songs. I legit used to prefer the version of Nature Boy APPARENTLY sung by John Leguizamo over the one sung by David Bowie, and my brain still refuses to connect the dots. It’s been twenty years and in Moulin Rouge he was doing both a French accent and a speech impediment but. And here my niece was joking about Disney not being able to make him sing any more than the exact few lines he sang in Encanto, and lol my sweet summer child apparently he once sang a whole-ass solo song for a movie musical before they were cool. Obviously with more vocal training at that point but my dude. Sing us a Bruno song John leguizamo. I want to hear it. I want to convince my brain to recognize his voice in this dammit. why did everybody focus on the sloth and not Toulouse in moulin fucking rouge.

side note: given that I cannot recognize his voice at all, I would not be surprised if I was told somebody else sang his song for him in moulin rouge, but that was a movie where mostly people did their own singing and he definitely participated in several other songs that were on the official soundtrack crediting him, so??? why not??

Side note: I was terribly shocked to learn about this, most especially because his whole filmography was full of “movie that I wouldn’t be interested in” “something I’m vaguely familiar with but not gonna get excited over” “another goddamn ice age movie” “movie I probably shouldn’t judge but sounds very terrible” and then I got smacked with the one-two sucker punch of moulin rouge and fucking super Mario brothers. wtf who are you sir. And after immediately rewatching Moulin Rouge, it is less confusing as I forgot just how bonkers Moulin Rouge is and clearly those actors were up for ANYTHING, but I am still utterly baffled as how a career like this even happens. Good for him, I guess, that he continued to even have a career after playing Luigi Mario?? Boy, sometimes you recognize an actor’s name and you’re like “I probably know what this actor does” and then you look them up and you are wrong.

anyway I plan to politely separate this new knowledge from my love of Encanto so I can just continue to enjoy myself without baffling reality intruding, but my god I need to just stew on this revelation for a while.

[cvmdumbp]

DEH 12/6/17 Act 1 pt. 1

I’m typing the things I can remember

The little aesthetic little notification dings before the show started were great

When the computer light went on Noah’s face, everyone started clapping and it was awesome

Noah’s version of Evan’s anxious ticks/habits are really different, he pinches?/scratches at his stomach and grabs his shirts near his stomach area

Noah talks really quickly in the beginning, and he stumbles on his words a lot,’his voice also cracks a bunch which is cute

The line when he says “That’s not true you have to stand there while they’re counting the change while it’s silent” he starts whisper yelling to Heidi

Nicole is pretty ??? Bitch ???

She said her lines pretty calmly, but quietly, it was frustrating at times, but she was really good none the less

Also, her voice is amazing

Evan like, avoided her gaze during the lines before Anybody Have a Map

And he was doing everything else, but looking at his mother

Noah makes the oddest faces and it’s great

Alright, when I first saw Mike I wanted to scream because I was breathing his fuckinh a i r

His hair was really messy tonight, like, it was frizzy, but he pulled it off well

And every time he tried pushing his hair behind his ear, it would never stay

When Zoe says “He’s definitely high”

Connor like, weakly yells “Fuck You” and puts his head down

When Jennifer said the line “Besides, he’s not high” Mike fucking picks his head up and looks at the audience with this smug ass grin and I fucking died

When Con says the lines “Perfect. So then I won’t go.” He gets up and starts walking off, but Cynthia tries calling him back and he just yells “Thanks mom” and he like, yells, in that tone of “this conversation ends now”,cutting off the conversation completely

After he walks off, Zoe has this sour face until she exits

Cynthia was trying her best to keep things in order, and she was like, cleaning up after everyone and a c k

Mike and Noah were on different sides of the stage, behind projection screens fixing their appearances

Connor was putting on his jacket thing, satchel, and smoothing out his hair

Evan was wiping his hands on his pants, also smoothing out his hair, and looking at the sharpie, and messing with his backpack straps

Mike and Noah like, met in the center, faces almost touching, but they were like, staring at the ground before crossing past each other

Heidi and Cynthia were half singing to each other and at the end they were trying to reach for their boys, but they were out of reach and OO F

When Alana appeared I wanted to hug her ??? I’m love ??

She talked pretty quickly, I couldn’t pick up on anything else but that

Jared. Fucking. Klienman.

Boy am I straight for Will

His voice sounds even better in real life ??

But like, he smugly makes his was over to Evan making his snarky ass remark about his cast

“Is it weird to be the first person in history to break their arm from jerking off too much or do you consider that an honor”

After that line Evan literally jumps at Jared and his voice cracks so much

Will fucking cackles while talking

“You fell out of a tree?” He like, cackle said that line

“And then you fell?” Cackle spoken

When Noah says “[…] waiting for someone to come get me.” He was talking to the audience

But when he says “I kept saying to myself” he looked at Jared and kinda, lowered his voice ??

“Did they?” Jared like, changed his tone of voice and did this weird hand motion

“No. Nobody came. That’s what’s funny.”

“Jesus Christ” the cackle talk is back

When Will said “Hey tell your mom to tell my mom that I was nice to you today, or else my parents won’t pay for my car insurance” Noah weakly/ silently mumbled“I will”

When Mike re-enters his hands were digging into his satchel, like he was searching for something important that he lost, it was, intriguing

When Jared says Connor’s hair is very “School Shooter Chic” Mike stops looking in his bag and slowly looks up at Will and just glares at him

Jared noticeably gets nervous and swallows hardly with this face of “i fucked up,but I’m not gonna show that I know and I’m afraid(?)”, which was very well portrayed

Mike hasn’t moved until he says “Yeah no. It was funny. I’m laughing. Can’t you tell?”

Mike fucking lunges when he says “Am I not laughing hard enough for you?” But he sounds,sarcastic when he says it. Maybe not sarcastic, but a like “I’m sick of your shit/you wanna say that again bitch???”kinda tone (???)

Jared subtly backs up and nervously chuckles before sayin “you’re such a freak” and jogging away

Evan nervously laughs when Connor looks at him and Connor kinda, chuckled back before saying “What the fuck are you laughing at?”

Mike’s volume drastically increased when he said “Stop fucking laughing at me.”

Mike had so much emotion, and it rocked

When Mike shoved Noah, Noah like, dropped to the ground, but it wasn’t soft, he literally smacked into the ground, and had this face of pain, and he gripped the bottom of his shirt while on the ground before slowly getting up and beginning Waving Through a Window

And holy fuck can that boy sing,

When Laura comes back on stage for the second time, I actually clapped and I was so embarrassed

When Laura says “[…] Evan right?” Noah looks around and avoids her eye contact and says “Evan?” Like He was confused, until

He made this face that read “wait, I’m Evan”

“I’m Zoe.”

“I know.”

Before Evan says “I know” he reaches out the shake her hand, but immediately stopped himself and wiped his hand on the back of his pants and Zoe just looked at him like “dude tf??” And says “You know???”

When he says “What did you say…?” After he talked about signing his cast he holds out the “What…?”

“Me???? No way, Jose.” He’s like, uncontrollably fidgeting.

When Zoe turns to walk away, Evan tried running back, and reaching out his arm to grab/Tap her, but he stopped himself.

When everyone re-entered I died a little

The emotions that they were expressing were fucking fantastic

For Waving Through a Window, at the “WHen you’re falling in a forest and there’s nobody around.” Part the projections showed a bunch of hateful words that surrounded Evan and when the music cut out for the last “Did I ever make a sound.” Blue lights fucking came up on all of them when he sang the chorus again, and holy fuck it hurt

When they kept turning away from Evan I cried

He was trying to reach out to everybody, but they kept turning away from him

And when they exited leaving Evan alone, the lights came up, and the projections disappeared and all that was left was him and a H

When Heidi and Evan were talking, Nicole made Heidi seem, kinda desperate to let everything out. And it’s quite heartbreaking

When Evan was singing the Waving Through a Window Reprise,

Connor cut him off by Entering with Evan’s note, but before Connor cuts him off, he looks at Evan’s note for a while, he like, studies it, then he studies Evan before,

“So what happened? To your arm?”

There was a long pause after “No ones signed your cast.” And “Well I’ll sign it”

But Connor sounded slightly happy/confident??I’m not good at describing shit sorry

“Do you…have a,uh, sharpie?”

Noah immediately, and quickly, takes out the sharpie from his back pocket and hands it to Connor

Mike looks at the sharpie for a few moments before taking it

Just a little something that I noticed, there were a lot of pauses in this scene it was, different

Connor Fucking snatched Evan’s arm and Evan sounded so fucking hurt by it, it wasn’t even a gentle snatch it was a “harsh grab and yank”

Connor stared at Evan’s cast for a long while before quickly writing “C O N N O R” in huge letters, it’s like, he was debating on writing big or small

“Oh it’s great, thanks” Noah said that so fucking sarcastically, but his voice cracked which made it so much better

There was an awkward silence before Mike just kinda, felt for the paper under his arm and softly grabbed it.

“I-Is this yours?” I found it. On the printer. It says “Dear Evan Hansen. That’s your name.” He doesn’t say it as a question, he states it, like “you’re Evan.” It was different from the script.

When Evan tries to explain that the letter was for an assignment, Evan reaches for it, but Connor pulls it away from Evan’s reach, and starts reading it again.

And everytime Evan tried to grab the letter, Con snatched it away from his grasp it was like, when you’re taller than someone so you’re able to snatch it higher so the shorter person can’t reach it,,,that’s,,pretty much what happened

Mike was literally screaming, he sounded sooo good when he was saying the lines

He literally scream/cried “FUCK YOU” before literally bolting out of the room

“A letter?? To yourself??? What the crap does that even mean? Is it like…some kind of a..sex? thing?”

When Evan says “You’re my only frie…” His mouth is like, open really wide before he softly/breathily screams “fAmily friend”

Alana sang the Waving Through a Window Reprise (#2) while crossing the stage and I felt emotions that I probably wasn’t supposed to be feeling ??

But I feel like, Alana felt alone, and she was like showing that

When Evan got to the office, he was jogging, but when he saw Larry and Cynthia, he immediately slowed the fuck down, and did that weird fidgety thing he does to his stomach

Noah’s voice was cracking so fucking much in this scene and he was portraying the panic very nicely

When Larry and Cynthia started yelling, Evan literally started crying and he was shoving the letter back to him, and he was trying so hard to explain what the letter was, but they weren’t listening to him

When Jen takes the letter back, there was a weird pause and Noah had his arm weirdly positioned in the air as he retracted his fingers

“Larry look.”

Cynthia weakly points to Evans cast and he looks at it and makes this weird fucking face to the audience

[kirishwima]

The one in all caps + Klance

Here ya go~ ((It’s a med school AU btw because I’m trash for university aus lol))

*****

“WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT FILL UP A “SUPER BIG GULP” CUP WITH 5 HOUR ENERGY AND CHUG THE WHOLE THING. MY HEART HAS EITHER STOPPED COMPLETELY OR IS BEATING SO FAST THAT I CAN’T FEEL MY OWN PULSE.”

He blinked owlishly, trying to let his tired mind comprehend the scene before him.

Lance was staring, eyes wide as he was sitting cross legged on their apartments floor, his pyjama sleeves rolled up whilst he held markers of various colours in each hand. He situated himself across a wall of their living room, scribbling on it what was…was that a brain crudely drawn on there?!

Keith squinted, his mind yelling all sorts of curses at him for the wild awakening. How did he get into this mess anyway?

He had settled in for bed, his warm and comfortable boyfriend snuggling up to him with a grin, Lance’s hand wrapped around his waist, before drifting off into a cozy sleep. A sleep that was interrupted no more than an hour or two after, by a loud thud outside their bedroom door.

By pure instinct he grabbed the knife he kept under the bed, much to Lance’s disagreement, and made haste out of the bedroom in quiet steps. He walked through the hallway, peeking across the door and into the living room, where he found the source of the sound.

Lance was just sitting there, humming and frantically drawing something on the wall, something that Keith had now identified as the nervous system of the human body, all whilst papers with Lance’s handwriting and anatomy books were scattered all around him.

“Lance…what the hell.”

He doubted the humming boy even heard him, far too deep in his own world to pay mind to any outside source of noise.

After another quick scan, Keith noticed the massive plastic cup and empty energy drink bottles scattered besides the lanky boy, both long empty by now.

He sighed and leaned closer, tugging Lance’s shoulder to get his attention.

Even then the boy barely registered his presence, merely turned around with red bloodshot eyes and grinned manically, mumbling a ��Hey sweet thing!’ before returning to casually destroying their apartment’s walls.

“Lance.”No response.

“Lance what the fuck are you doing.”No response.

He clicked his tongue, bringing a hand to loudly smack against the door beside him, finally rousing Lance from his work with a start.

“Keith! My dude! My bro! The mullet that’s only second to David Bowie’s! My-”“Lance. Explain. Now.”

He really wanted to remain calm in this situation, really, truly did, but it was three in the morning and his boyfriend was talking a thousand words a minute and he did not have the patience for all this right now.

After a lot of cooing and persuading, he managed to get out of Lance that after Keith fell asleep, he suddenly remembered that he’d be doing a presentation on the brain and nervous system for the second-years of their university’s medical faculty the next day, only, he hadn’t even realised that that’d mean he’d have to go fully prepared with a presentation and impeccable knowledge in case any student tried to corner him with obscure questions.

Keith sighed, realising how…Lance-like the whole situation was.

“What do the coloured markers and our wall have to do with this?”

“What wall? I was just writing on the computer a moment ago-“He stared in awe at the markers in his hands, evidently wondering how they got there.

“Keith! I was-no-where’s my computer?!”

He took Lance’s hands in his own the moment the boy stood up from his position on the floor, directing him to the couch and tugging him down, hoping he’d stay still long enough for him to bring a blood pressure meter to estimate in how bad of a situation his boyfriend put himself in this time.

He returned to find the boy perched onto the corner of the couch, his computer on his lap and fingers furiously attacking the keyboard.A quick peek at the screen reassured him he was, indeed, writing everything that came to mind without even a single space or comma in-between the words.

“Lance. Give me your hand.”

“Mm. Just-“

“Lance. Hand.”

“Hand. Multiple innervations. Sixth cervical for thumb, seventh cervical for index and middle finger, eight cervical for ring finger and pinky. Sensitive innervations-“

He took one of his hands and tugged it to him, willing the boy to stay still with a glare.

For a minute he complied, letting Keith place the machine around his arm before turning it on and letting it measure his blood pressure, watching the way Lance squinted at it as if it had personally offended him, trying to hide his grin at the sight.

“140 to 90. That’s not good.” he sighed when the machine beeped, signalling it’s done measuring, “But you’ll survive. It should drop when you digest that monstrosity of a thing that you drunk. I’ll get you some antihypertensives if not, though that probably won’t be necessary.”

“I won’t die?”Keith shook his head.

“Then why am I seeing a pretty angel in front of me right now?”  he questioned, nodding to Keith’s direction, “Or are you always this pretty?”

He smiled at the baffled look his boyfriend gave him and ruffled his hair, getting up to go put the machine back in place.

“Alright that’s enough flirting you nerd. Come here, you tell me what you want to write and I’ll type for you.”

The grin Lance gave him was worth the disruption of his sleep.

*****

An hour later and the effects of the energy drink hadn’t worn off. Lance was firing out information even Keith hadn’t known, despite studying for his neurology exam just last week. He made a mental note to look up experimentation on energy drinks, lack of sleep, and human knowledge, though he doubted he’d find any results on the matter.

His boyfriend was pacing around the apartment, stilling for but a moment to start jogging in place, laughing all the while.

At some point he put on music, letting their mixed playlist of Beyonce and Fall Out Boy play whilst he danced around to one song after another.

Keith couldn’t help but laugh and take a quick snapchat video to send to their friends, adding the time stamp on it to let them know of the situation.

Pidge responded within the minute, sending him a text that simply stated ‘You’re the one that wanted to live with him. Now face the consequences, you cryptid kink butt.’.

Hunk must’ve been asleep, his snapchat being the only one not opened yet, whilst Shiro called him immediately after seeing it, worriedly asking what on earth was going on in there.

“Look Shiro, whilst my boyfriend is very very sweet and very lovable-“

“To the point Keith.” he chastised, quickly following it with a yawn.

“Yeah while he’s very cute, he’s also a big idiot. The type of idiot that chugs a massive bottle of an energy drink of questionable origin and tries to write up a presentation on the human brain whilst his isn’t fully working yet.” he said in a monotone voice, “Also he’s on the first stage of hypertension if his blood pressure is anything to go by.” he added after a moment of silence.

He heard Shiro hum before replying in a slow quiet tone.

“Should you maybe…take him to the hospital?”

“Shiro. We’re fifth year medical students. I’d take him if I thought he was in danger.”“No no I know but…” he mumbled, “shouldn’t you maybe talk with a doctor, just in case?”

There was a short pause.

“Shiro. You are a doctor.”

He heard the slow hum of recognition, shaking his head at the thought of his friend’s current expression, fully grinning when he looked up to find Lance trying to fit his face by his side, murmuring hellos to Shiro across the phone.

“Do you think I should come over, make sure he’s alright? Maybe-“

Shiro never got to continue his sentence before Keith heard shuffling across the line, another voice coming to greet him on the phone.

“Keith, just give him some warm milk with honey, a slap on the face from me for being a reckless kid, and go to sleep. Now.” were the last words he heard before the line cut off, leaving him with the familiar beep of an ended call.

“Goodnight to you too Allura”, he mumbled to no one in particular before dropping the phone and returning his attention to Lance and the computer screen.

*****The sky was already turning pink by the time they were done with the presentation, even going so far as to look for videos and pictures to accompany it.

Per Lance’s stubborn request, he even added a video of Pinky and the Brain singing about parts of the brain, as well as memes of oddly specific humour that he knew Lance would regret the next morning.

He shut off the computer with a pleased sigh, dropping his head over Lance’s, the boy comfortably nestled onto the crook of his neck as they sat on the couch, the energy drinks’ effects slowly wearing off.

“Done. We can get like…” he peeked at his phone, glaring at the brightness of the screen “forty minutes of sleep. An hour if you don’t mind being fifteen minutes late to class, which you always are either way.”

“I’m presenting at 8 am Keef.” he mumbled onto Keith’s skin, making the boy huff a laugh.

“Well, it’s 6 am right now. Might as well go make yourself presentable rather than risk oversleeping.”

“Mm” Lance mumbled, shifting his weight onto Keith’s body, tugging the boy beneath him as he moved to lay on the couch, ending up in a tangle of limbs and Lance’s head on his chest. “Just…just five minutes.”

Keith laughed into Lance’s hair. “That’s what you say every morning, and we always end up late. I swear, I’m never waiting for you again.”

“You say that every time.” He felt Lance smile, grin stretching further when Keith brought a hand to rub circles on his back.

“You say that every time but you still always wait for me y’know? No one’s forcing you to. You don’t have to wait for me. But you do anyway.”

Keith scrunched his nose, wondering where this conversation was headed, Lance’s voice slurring the closer he came to the bliss of sleep.

“You wait for me ‘cause you love me. And though you nag and complain all the time, you still wait. And I whine right back and say perfection takes time, but I’d much rather be late and hear you whine than get there early but alone, because you love me and I love you and, if you were the one that was late, I’d also wait for you.”

He moved, shifting his head to face Keith’s widened eyes under thick eyelashes.

“I’d wait for you forever because-because you’re my soulmate. And I love you. And also you’re very, very pretty.”

There was a pool of red flushing Keith’s cheeks, his mouth agape until Lance leaned in for a chaste kiss before flopping back onto his chest.

“Wuv you” he muttered onto the material of Keith’s shirt.

It took him a minute to compose himself, letting his heartbeat be the only thing breaking the silence of daybreak.

“You know I whine and nag at you, and tell you you’re nerd or whatever, but I never really met anyone like you. I’d rather spend an entire lifetime waiting on you and being perpetually late at anything and everything than spend a moment without you.”

He tucked his head closer to the top of Lance’s.

“I love you too Lance.”

He was expecting a huff, a smile, a kiss, something.

What he hadn’t expected, was a loud snore to shatter the romantic scenery and his boyfriend’s previous love confession.

Yet one look at his sleeping face made him think that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t so bad after all.

****

I had to google what a Super Big Gulp cup is and all I have to say is…americans are scary. 

Hope you like it! :D 

[ladycapuletwrites]

Swing

“Excuse me?”.

I turn to see a small blonde English girl wandering up the street towards me. Her backpack looks like it’s about to topple her.

“Uh.. this might sound strange, but I’m just wondering if you know of any good hostels around here? It’s just, I.. I’ve never traveled by myself before and I’ve just been working in this little village where I’ve been teaching and I haven’t really been alone and I just got off the bus and I don’t know what I’m doing”. She says all this in rapid fire quick succession, and I can see that she’s terribly embarrassed.

“I’m Sarah, you’ve come to the right place” I smile broadly, and hold my hand out to her. Her name is Izzy.

I take her back to the hostel I’m staying at and buy a glass of red wine. We check her into a room and I tell her about all the impending mates that are traveling here to meet me.

She’s worried about making friends, so I invite her out to Shays birthday celebrations and our white water rafting the next day.

Shay arrives with her best friend Maya and a guy called Jude, who makes fast friends with Izzy. He wants to shave for tonight so I lend him my lady clipper. He accepts graciously after I clean it extensively.

James arrives in the afternoon, and I go to meet him at his hotel room. I’m a little drunk at this point and let him film a slo-mo of me in a very compromising position. It feels good to have his hands on me again. We fuck a couple of times and then decide to head back to the Great, where I do Shays make up and Angel appears right as I finish her lipstick.

He stares at her. “What have you done to your face?” Later, he tells me he thinks she looks like a hooker. He doesn’t like make up on women. I ask him what he thinks when I wear it. He says the same thing: “you look stupid, it’s weird. Why you are putting all these colours on your face. It’s weird man, so weird” and then he laughs that same stoned laugh I missed so much. I give him a hug.

“How was Galapagos?”

“Oh man, it was so cool. I went diving every day and I saw sharks and turtles and all sorts of epic shit! I spent like a grand getting there but it was worth it man! Yeah!” He goes on to show me photos and videos of murky wildlife.

We head to a karaoke bar and get absolutely shit faced and sing songs. Drinking weird blue overpriced cocktails, sitting around smoking cigarettes. We yell at each other over the music until somehow James and I end up on the street arguing. Angel is looking over at me, I head back to the alley of bars we switched to. I suddenly realise I don’t have my phone. I’m so drunk i have no idea where we’ve been, and James goes on a mission with me to find it, although by this point I’m being a total drunk bitch to him.

I wake up in bed next to him and immediately start apologising, starting with my mouth moving slowly down to his cock.

After he finishes and I offer to run down and grab coffee, he stops me and asks, “are you a little bit bipolar or something?”. The question smacks me in the face.

“No, I’m not, I just realise that I was a total cunt to you last night and I’m trying to apologise for it”

“Oh, so you remember insulting me and storming off into a dangerous street where I followed you because I couldn’t leave you to possibly get hurt and then you said that I wouldn’t understand anything because I wasn’t as smart as you?”

My insides clench.

“Something like that”, I say, shame rising up to meet me as I swing my feet over the bed.

“Nah, I’m good. But thanks”, he says, and we lie in silence for a while until I get up to leave.

“I’m going to go back to my room for a bit, have a shower and maybe a nap. Then I’m going to look for my phone.”, I say, and kiss him quickly before I slink out. At this point I’m enveloped in a cold sweat and feeling completely shit about myself.

I head back to The Great, and have a huge argument with the girl at the front counter. I forget immediately what it was about, and go to have a nap.

On the way, Angel sees me. “Hey man, you were such a fucking bitch to James last night man, wow. I’ve never seen you like that. I can’t believe he followed you to make sure you were okay. I would have left you to get fucked over” he says.

“You totally wouldn’t.”

“No, of course I wouldn’t. But you should say sorry. He was a good dude last night.”

I think about James in a different light on the way up the stairs. I think the arrogance I saw in him when we first met was merely a mirror of my own shortcomings.

When I wake up later, I feel terrible about what I said to the girl at the counter, and go down to apologise to her. She isn’t working, but I write a note and the guy at the counter cheekily tells me that she thought I was a massive bitch and he’d pass the message on.

I deserved that, to be fair. I look out the window and James is wandering down the lane. “Let’s get your phone then?”

As we walk out, he hops into a little 4x4 roadster that he’s hired.

“Surprise”, he says. I am Jacks roiling unworthiness.

We get in and scale all the bars from the night before, and then James realises that we stopped at a chicken shop when we were fuck eyed, and were too drunk to eat properly.

In a strange twist of fate, the owner has hidden the phone so that no one else on the staff can steal it, and I gladly give him all the money in my wallet upon its return. The fact that I found my phone after losing in Ecuador is astronomically rare. So rare in fact, that I’ve never heard a story like it since.

I kiss James and thank him, apologising profusely about my shitty behaviour, and we hop in the car to drive into the Jurassic mountains.

The car has no top, other than some black bars, so I feel a rush when he puts his hand down the front of my pants. I have again worn tights, so he works his way down with one hand on the wheel, and the scenery of the mountains rushing by us. The sun is just in the right spot in the sky; behind us, illuminating the ashphalt. I’m just about to cum when we swerve left to miss a truck. I busy myself with the cords and Velcro on the shorts he’s wearing, but I’m in the wrong position to do anything once I get them undone except limply jerk him off.

We head into the mist, higher and higher, until we reach the place where The Swing at the Edge of the World is. The inspiration, I realise, for the entire trip. I pull my hand out of james’ pants as another car drives by. Look up towards the sign saying to turn left for La Casa Del Arbor.

Oisin.

As the clouds start to make the car cold and we head farther into foggy territory, I think back on what lead me to this place, to this continent.

I think of his hands and his insatiable mouth. I think of the way he would disappear, even when we were in the same room. The way he changed the colour of the lights in his room for a month to see what hue made him feel different things. He wouldn’t call me for three days and I’d worry, uber to his house and find him painting a sculpture he’d made, completely manic. “Look, I’m painting the monkey from Monkey Magic. I sculpted him first out of wood I found at a scrap yard”, he would say. Time didn’t really have a meaning to him. I was dangerously in love with him from about two weeks in.

Red wine soaked mouth, I was just back from a festival. He came to my house, an apartment in the city. Showed me a ted talk by Esther Perel, a Belgian psychotherapist exploring the relationship between desire and comfort.

I got pretty drunk and in the morning I took a photo of him through the vacant space in my bookshelf. It shot in black and white, and when I looked at it, I think that was when I started falling in love with him, but I had no idea until months later. I hadn’t listened when he said that another woman had been the love of his life, that he wasn’t ready for someone else, that he could never be in love with me. I didn’t listen to any of it. I just stared at him whilst he was sleeping and I was drunk on tequila and little bit stoned and wondered how I got so lucky to be next to him.

He was my first foray into polyamory. It didn’t go well. Not for the reasons you might think. He was a very bad communicator. He would forget to text for a week when he got caught up in an experimental project or disappeared on a road trip with some person he’d met at a bar. I never knew what security in that relationship was. Esther Perel says that desire happens from a distance, and I know exactly what she means. I projected all my love onto him and he wasn’t there to reject it so it stayed and deluded me until I opened my laptop, a couple of weeks after he’d called it off and I’d arrived at his house wasted while his friends were over. He sent me home in the morning and told me not to call him again. He’d left his email open on my computer, I couldn’t help myself. The first one was from a girl who had recorded them fucking, and sent it to him as a sound bite. I won’t go into the rest.

I think about how fascinated I was by him and how many pieces of writing I’d written about him so far. How many times I’d drank at him, about him, to him.

I’d stared at the painting he’d given me for my birthday. He strapped it to the back of his motorbike with me on it, and we’d ambled back to my house.

It had a piece of paper attached to the back, explaining that it was. “The Swing at the Edge of the World”, in Ecuador. I looked at the painting for a year and had many more relationships and fuck buddies and pretty girls and pretty boys in my bed. I still thought of him every time I looked at it before I got sick of myself. And one day, when I was stoned, Allan called me.

“I’m going to South America with Lucy”.

He explained further that he was leaving in a few months to join her there.

I had been reading The Celestine Prophecy, based in Peru. It had been given to me by a work mate named Darko. I’d bought it in Thailand after I had experienced such intense synchronicity that a new friend had told me to buy it, and I’d promptly walked into a second hand bookstore in Khao San and declared that I would find it within five minutes. I did, but I discovered that when I got home, it was the complimentary edition, to the original. Darko had given me the correct copy a year later, after I’d forgotten about it. Inscribed on the first page, was a simple note. “Follow the signs.” It said.

It was lying on my bed, and I opened the book, reading the words.

I looked up at the painting on the wall.

“Are you going to Ecuador by any chance? Or Peru?” I asked.

“Yeah, both.” Allan replied.

“What month?”

“August”

“Do you mind if I meet you there?”

And that’s how it had started, with a book and a painting and an exhaustion borne from the unhealed parts of my heart. I had dreamed about this moment and then forgotten about it in the last couple of months, my heart had mended and broken in many different ways by now, it was another piece in the puzzle. A finality of sorts.

It makes sense that it’s foggy on the way up, the chills up my spine seem like they have a place, regardless of the weather.

James puts his hand on my knee.

“Let’s get this fucking photo then, hey?” He says.