#he sleeps till 11 and gets a driver to drive him into the office

[fazcinatingblog]

can't talk enough about the cat doctors that's opened up near my work and how a superhero theme song comes into my head whenever i walk past

[consultingsister-aa]

August & Cee for the shippy thing!

SHIPPY THINGS ... ACCEPTING 

1) did your muse fall in love with mine quickly, or was it a long process? In the words of Mr Darcy, sort of, Cee was halfway through before she ever knew she had begun. It was quite quick though, he was obviously handsome and she like a guy who is brought around the edges but then he opened his mouth and he was clever and interesting? Oh crap!  2) have they ever asked my muse to dance? do they even dance with my muse at all? Celia throws herself a lot of dance parties and asks August to join her everyone. Only it’s usually not romantic slow dancing but jumping up and down to rock and roll.  3) are they the type to steal food from my muse’s plate? Celia does seem the type and she can be but usually she over orders and doesn’t eat half her food so if anything, August often has most of her leftovers to pick through as he pleases.  4) does your muse ever cook for mine? if so, is it good – or does it suck ass? Not especially. She can do a good crepe from time to time and she has a stir fry than a uni friend taught her how to make but she doesn’t really enjoy cooking. There is a running joke that Cee burns water but in reality, she just doesn’t find it interesting enough to pay attention.  5) what’s something they do when my muse is down? In the beginning, Celia wouldn’t let August be down for long. She tried to dance away the blues but has come to realise that having a moment to breath is okay. And then she’ll start a dance party. These days though, she tends to book a trip if it’s going on too long. Either a drive out of the city for the afternoon or a week somewhere they have never been before.  6) what’s a topic they’re scared of talking about with my muse? For a while, it’s marriage and kids. She is so happy with what they have and she doesn’t want to scare him off by talking about their future. On the flip side, she doesn’t want to lose him by admitting kids just isn’t something she wants for herself. She makes the mostly wrong assumption that it’s something August would want for himself; although oddly she is convinced that if she brought up getting married, he would run in the opposite direction. He is, at heart, something of a nomad and Cee didn’t want him to think she was interested in tying him down.  7) are they the type who’s affectionate? if so - how do they show their affection? if not, is there a reason they’re not affectionate? Celia is physical but not always overly affectionate. She doesn’t naturally reach out to take August’s hand but she laps wrapping her arms around him from behind and breathing deep, or leaning against him when they’re standing together. She tends to do small gifts or big gestures, like booking surprise getaways. She also makes August playlists for the car, which is cute.  8) are they the type to go on dates? if so, to where? Cee loves a good date; the dressing up, the going out! She also likes dating her husband because it’s just going to be the two of them for the rest of their lives so you gotta keep that spark fresh! If they’re at home in Paris, Cee loves going out somewhere they can sit outside and drink wine and eat really good food, and then maybe a long romantic stroll, usually ending with August carrying her home because she wore heels. The good news is she’s frisky after red wine and a hot date night.  9) would they stay in bed with mine all day? if so, doing what? Not a lot but Cee does like the occasional slob day in bed, ten times better if August is there too, obviously. She’d start with ordering brunch, so he would have to get up to get that, then possibly making him read the paper to her. she might get a little distracting after that, depending on how much she managed to eat of course. After they had fucked their way into the afternoon, she might want to put on a film, or just talk for a bit, or maybe read to him too.  10) what’s a typical night between our muses look like? There is no such thing as a typical night for these idiots. At home, it’s solving wonderful mysteries over a later dinner they probably ordered. Possibly August heading to bed before Celia, who works in her office till she either falls asleep at her desk, which means August has to come to get her, or she follows him through of her own accord. However, a typical night could also be sleeping under the stars, somewhat breathless from a night of running and poison arrows, or hiking up mountains or trekking through the jungle or running around a city finding hidden clues.  11) do they read together? if so, what? If they go to bed together, Celia will read her book out loud for August, usually a novel of some sort. Otherwise, they would likely read non-fiction books one after another, for their work. Cee also reads out interesting essays she gets through the university.  12) who washes the other’s hair in the shower? Cecelia washes August’s hair but less out of romantic intent and more because she is sure boys are unable to wash their hair properly and always miss a bit. Also because she buys the shampoo his hair always smells so nice.  13) who is the driver? or do they switch places? or do none of them drive? For the most part, August drives. Celia is map reader and DJ. She can drive and will take over when August needs a break but she slightly prefers being navigator. Also, her driving makes August slightly nervous.  14) who likes to smack who’s ass for no reason other than laughs? or are they both well-behaved? Whenever August bends over, however inappropriate, Cee is going to smack his ass. That’s the rules.  15) do they like movies? if so what movies would they watch with mine? There is now a tradition of watching the Indiana Jones films at least once a year, which started cute but is actually now a little triggering. Cee is a fan of French black and white films which August is mostly happy to sit through.  16) do they communicate their problems or are they the type to hold everything in until someone becomes upset? They like to think they do and they likely will eventually but it can often take a little prodding from the other side. August usually gets a little snappy with her, or a little moody and Cee finds it best to either leave him alone until he’s ready to talk about it or get him out the house. Cee tends to do the same although she will eventually explode with a tirade and then feel much better.  17) do you see them as the marrying type? Eventually, although it does take a cursed relic ruining their lives for a month and another family-bonding session to really seal the deal.  18) if they had kids, who would be the fun parent? Probably Cee, although in a slightly bad parent sort of way. August is the more dependable parent to their dog, Walter.  19) do they get along with my muse’s parents? Since August has no time for his mother, Cee hasn’t met her. Morland likes August a great deal, thinks he’s a sensible sort of man who seems willing enough to take Cee on. They probably don’t see him that often. 

[extroversive-introvert]

#BlackLivesMatter, #SayTheirNames

1. 𝐀𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐌𝗼’𝐧𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐥𝐞𝐲-𝐉𝗼𝐧𝐞𝐬

killed sleeping on the couch. a flash grenade was thrown through her window and was shot in the head. she would’ve been 17 years old.

2. 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝗼 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞

killed reaching for his driver’s license. he had warned the officer that he carried a gun and told him he was reaching for his license. he leaves behind a daughter who witnessed her father being killed

3. 𝐀𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝗼𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬𝗼𝐧

killed playing video games in her home. an officer had not identified himself, yelled for to put her hands up, and immediately shots are fired. she cared for her nephew and mother.

4. 𝐀𝐤𝐚𝐢 𝐆𝐮𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐲

killed walking in a dark stairwell. an officer had drawn his gun, discharged, and the bullet ricocheted off the wall into Gurley’s chest. he leaves behind a daughter.

5. 𝐌𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞 𝐇𝗼𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐲

killed defending her home. an officer fired 20 seconds after they entered the home. she leaves behind three children.

6. 𝐓𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐫𝗼𝐯𝐞

assaulted by police and attacked by a police dog. she was mistaken for a male suspect. she was 19 at the time of the incident.

7. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐡𝗼𝐧 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐤

killed carrying an iphone. shot 8 times by police, 6 were found in his back in the back of his grandmother’s home. officers believed an “object” was being pointed at them. he leaves behind the mother of his children and 2 sons.

8. 𝐄𝗺𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐅𝐢𝐭𝐳𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐟𝗼𝐫𝐝 𝐉𝐫.

killed due to racial profiling. he was shot three times in the back. officers have repeatedly changed the story, yet it remains that he did not shoot anyone, was there to protect people, and had a license to carry.

9. 𝐀𝗺𝐚𝐝𝗼𝐮 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝗼

killed due to racial profiling. he reached for his wallet, and the plain clothed officers started firing. he was shot 19 times. he would’ve been 45 years old today.

10. 𝐓𝐚𝗺𝐢𝐫 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐞

killed playing with a fake gun. he reached for his waist band and was shot twice, the entire incident happened within two seconds. Tamir would’ve been 17 today.

11. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐯𝗼𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧

killed due to looking “suspicious”. trayvon had come back from buying skittles and a watermelon arizona when a volunteer neighborhood watch person shot trayvon. he would’ve been 25 today.

12. 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥𝗼𝐬 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐉𝐫.

killed for carrying a knife. officers had placed him in a van giving him a rough ride, where they drive erratically while the detained has no seatbelt, broke his legs, and was put into a coma. he died of a spinal injury.

13. 𝐉𝗼𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐝𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬

killed for being at a party. an officer had fired three rifle rounds into a vehicle, shooting him in the head. Jordan was described as hardworking, smart and always smiling.

14. 𝐉𝗼𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐥

killed asking for help. his car broke down so he went to a neighborhood and knocked on doors for help. he ran towards police for help and they opened fire shooting him 12 times. he was a football player for the Florida A&M University Rattlers.

15. 𝐊𝗼𝐫𝐫𝐲𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬

killed attempting protect her child. she had suffered from lead poisoning and there was no mobile crisis team called in to de-escalate the stand off at her home. she leaves behind two children.

16. 𝐀𝐥𝐭𝗼𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠

killed for selling cd’s and exercising his 2nd amendment right. officers tasered him, forced him to the hood of a sedan, then to the floor and shot him six times while he was underneath them. he was known as “cd man”.

17. 𝐉𝐚𝗺𝐚𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐤

killed for wanting to talk to his girlfriend. he had attempted to enter the ambulance she was in when officers arrested him on the ground and was shot. he had hopes of attending college.

18. 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐞𝗺𝐲 “𝐁𝐚𝗺-𝐁𝐚𝗺“ 𝐌𝐜𝐃𝗼𝐥𝐞

killed exercising his 2nd amendment right. officers were called because jeremy had suffered from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. he struggled to put his hands up in his wheelchair and shots were fired, killing him.

19. 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝

killed for not using her turn signal. during a traffic stop, she was forced out of her car, tasered, had her head slammed into the ground, and feared her arm was broken. she was found hanging in her cell. Sandra was passionate for BLM.

20. 𝐋𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝗼𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝗼

killed because she could not afford bail. she was arrested on minor assault charges and sent to riker’s island complex. two months later she was found dead in her cell, she suffered from a seizure disorder. she was apart of the House of Xtravaganza.

21. 𝐓𝗼𝐧𝐲 𝐌𝐜𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐞

killed for defending themselves. several men attacked him earlier in the day so he went to get revenge and was shot by police after he pointed a bb gun. Mcdade was a trans man and people in his community are asking for justice.

22. 𝐌𝐮𝐡𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐁𝗼𝗼𝐤𝐞𝐫

killed for accidentally backing into a car. the driver of the car held her at gunpoint when a crowd gathered and they started to assault her. Muhlaysia was found dead near a golf course. her cousin said “she was picked on because she is transgender."

23. 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐞 𝐉𝗼𝐧𝐞𝐬

killed for directing officers to the suspect and negligent officers. she had been standing behind a suspect holding a baseball bat when the officer shot at the suspect and accidentally shot Bettie. she leaves behind grandchildren.

24. 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫

killed for needing help with his vehicle. Terence kept asking for help as he thought his vehicle was going to blow up. officers tasered and shot at him. he was a father and was studying music at tulsa community college

25. 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐚𝗺𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐜𝗼𝐭𝐭

killed for a non-functioning third brake light. Walter has ran from the officer on foot when he was tasrered and shot eight times at him from behind. he was handcuffed facing down on the ground, dead. he had been studying massage therapy.

26. Oscar Grant

shot and killed by an officer while handcuffed and pinned on the ground.

27. Jule Dexter

shot and killed while attempting to pull his pants up.

28. Belly Mujinga

UK railway worker killed on the job after being spat on by someone infected with COVID-19. no justice has been served. the case has been closed 7 weeks after her death.

29. Charleena Lyles

shot and killed inside her apartment in the presence of her four young children after she called law enforcement to report a burglary. she was pregnant and leaves behind her soon-to-be 5 children.

30. Alejandro Vargas Martinez

shot and killed on his way to school. he was 15.

31. Shantel Davis

trailed by two police officers and murdered. she was 23.

32. 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐉 𝐖𝐞𝐛𝐞𝐫

shot over 10 times because officers 'beleived' he had a weapon though after shots been fired. no gun OR weapon was anywhere to be found. he was 16, leaving his family, including his daughter behind.

33. Tanisha Anderson

restrained by two officers while having a mental illness episode. they claimed it was cardiac failure; her case was dismissed. she couldn’t breathe, and died before she got to a hospital.

34. James Byrd

killed by three white supremacists who beat him, urinated on him, then dragged him behind a truck for miles. evidence showed he was alive and conscious until he was decapitated and dismembered at a culvert. he would be in his 70s today.

35. Emmett Till

accused of coming onto a white woman in 1955. Kidnapped from his home later that night, beaten to death, body tossed in a river. his mother had his body displayed in an open casket at his funeral. in 2012, the 'alleged whistleblower' confessed it never happened.

36. David Felix

killed by police after being called to building. they were told that the building housed people with mental illness. they were also told that David had been given a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.

37. Aura Rosser

shot by state police. the court deemed her homicide as “justifiable self defense”. the officer who murdered her was never charged. 38. Kenneth C. Smith

went out to hear his music, and gunned down by off-duty cop. he was 20.

39. Jordan Davis

shot and killed over loud music at a gas station. he was 17. his mother is now a congresswoman for Georgia's Sixth Congressional District.

40. Sean Bell

police fired 50 shots on him and his friends as they were leaving his bachelor party. he was killed the morning before his wedding. he was studying to be an electrician.

41. Christian Taylor

shot and killed in 'suspected' burglary. he was unarmed. he played football at Angelo State University. the trainee who killed Christian pursued him without alerting his supervising officer.

42. Samuel DuBose

shot and killed for missing front licence plate and suspended drivers licence. officer who killed him said he was dragged because his arm got caught in the car, but bodycam footage showed otherwise. released on bond without trial, ended in mistrial after jury deadlock. retrial also ended the same way. charges were dismissed with prejudice.

43. Breonna Taylor

shot eight times in her sleep by plainclothes narcotics officers in unmarked vehicles serving no-knock warrant.

44. Ahmaud Arbery

executed on camera by white supremacists while going for a jog. his killers remained free for 74 days before arrest.

45. George Floyd

executed on camera by police officers for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill. the killer kept his knee on George's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, of which 2 minutes and 53 seconds George became unresponsive. he leaves behind two daughters.

[dc-fics-and-pics]

Jason Todd x Harper reader pt 2

Warning: Cursing

Word count: 2768

The flight to Gotham was long and loud. You sat in front of a kid probably only six years old. He was determined to drive you crazy the entire flight while Jason sat next to you reading a book peacefully while the annoying mother behind him did nothing to stop her kid from kicking the back of your seat. To be fair you were used to first-class, anytime you did go on a public plain it was with Oliver's money and Oli paid for the best. No squirly brats in first class. When flight 401 finally landed you hauled ass out of there, grabbing your suitcase, you dragged Jason out and away from that little devil.

You had never actually been to Gotham City, and it surely lived up to its reputation. It was the middle of summer and dark clouds covered the sky making your bare arms collect goosebumps. Jason signaled a cab and you both got in. You gave the taxi man the address to one of Oliver's apartments before Jason could say his. Maybe you agreed to see Roy but you didn't agree to stay with him. Jason just huffed and looked out the window till you arrived.

When you finally did the hotel staff were weary to let you stay in Oliver Queens penthouse apartment but after you practically shoved evidence of him being your legal parent down their throat you where let in. It definitely had nothing to do with Jason name dropping his father none whatsoever.

After the debacle downstairs you unlocked the door with a crisp swipe and pushed the door open revealing a beautiful view of what you thought was an ugly city.

"Its a lot better looking from up here." You had almost forgotten Jason was with you till he spoke.

You nodded still entranced by the large buildings going on for miles, "Yeah definitely."

You both shuffled fully into the apartment, heading straight for the bedroom and flopping on the bed. Jason didn't follow you in, however. That gave you alone time to unpack your suitcase. When you went to the living room to join him he was still looking out the window that made up the living room wall. You stood by his side looking out with him.

He pointed off to a corner, "That is where the knights are going to kick your Spartans ass tomorrow."

"Ugh, you wish!"

"The Spartans haven't beat the Knights all season."

"Just wait, Jason, I have confidence in my boys."

"How much?" he asks with a sly smirk.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you willing to bet on it."

You laugh, "I'm not betting you, Jason."

"I thought you had confidence," he mimics.

"Fine!" you agree.

"Looser has to wear the other team's jersey for a day."

"What! Hell no I will never put your ugly black and grey colors on."

"If you are so sure they will win then you won't have to." he counters.

"Deal."

Shaking hands you seal it. The Spartans better win you can't even fathom the thought of anyone from Star hearing about you wearing a Knights jersey. You shiver just thinking about it.

~~~~

Jason leaves you to get settled in saying He and Roy will pick you up for the game at noon tomorrow. It will be weird hanging out with Roy all day after you blew up on him but at least you will have another Spartans fan with you. You decide to order pizza for dinner and just chill on the couch. You sent some quick texts to Oliver and Connor letting them know you arrived safe and sound in Gotham. You even gave Connor a full rundown of the child from hell on your flight.

When you told him you're about your wager with Jason he made you promise to not "Waist your hard-earned money" on "cursed" merchandise from "that hell hole they call a city." you laughed at him but his dead silence over the phone made you think he was being serious.

You ended the call when the pizza arrived. You took the whole box to the couch and turned on the TV to watch the office. It was 11 o'clock when you saw Gotham's famed heroes on the rooftop ahead of you. All the lights were on in the room since you changed it from your lighthearted comedy to the Conjuring. You weren't an idiot about to watch scary movies in the dark in a place you never been before. No, you were smart. You turned the lights on. Because that was so much better.

You figured they could see into your apartment and since you saw Red hood their you decided to waive. He waved back along with a shorter man in black and blue next to him. They departed soon after and you decided to hit the hay so you could get a good nights sleep before tomorrow.

~~~~

When you woke up you were somewhat startled when you noticed you weren't in your room back at home. You crawled out of bed taking a quick shower before trudging into the kitchen to order some breakfast. Scanning over the room service menu you spotted y/f/f and called it in as quick as possible. You decided that you were going to wear all your Spartans gear for the game today just to piss of Jason. Thankfully your team is red and black unlike Gothams ugly black and grey wich you now see fits them.

Throwing off your towel you pull on some black leggings, for Gotham's cold weather you throw a black hoodie on and button your red jersey over it. You decide to even wear your red baseball socks and pull them over the bottom of your leggings and throw on some black PF flyers. You laugh at your over the top outfit in the mirror and send a quick pick of it to Conner who salutes you in return.

Roomservice arrives just in time and you open the door to collect your food. The busser scrunched his nose at the sight of your outfit and pushes it into your room. "I don't think you want to wear that around here you might get shot."

You laugh for a second and he looks at you seriously, "You are joking right."

"Well," He thinks to himself, "I think that's more likely to happen to a meteors fan," he shrugs.

You nod your head before sending him out. You quickly scarf up your food before Jason and Roy arrive.

It is exactly 11:59 when Jason texts you that he is outside. The thing is you can't recall ever getting his phone number. You shrug it off and make your way downstairs. You try to ignore the looks Gothamites give you as you prance down the hall. Its all a ton of glares until on short kid with a camera draped around his next shouts "Is that y/n Queen!"

You roll your eyes glaring at him "Harper! h-a-r-p-e-r I'm not a queen."

He just shrugs and puts a camera up to his eye and follows you out of the lobby onto the sidewalk. You see Roys fiery red hair in the car across the street. He looks at you giving an awkward smile.

You strut over to who what you assume is Jason's car considering he's behind the wheel. The kid you now know is paparazzi flashes pictures the whole way. You decide to have fun and pose for some making him smile and say thanks before walking off. At least he wasn't rude.

You sit in the backseat of the car and buckle up. You were thankful that you did considering the way Jason peels out of the parking spot making you hold on for dear life.

"Sorry y/n, Jason's a crazy driver," Roy sighs.

Jason huffs, "I am not a crazy driver Harper. I'm a carefree driver."

That statement makes you hold on the rest of the ride.

It's not long until Jason veers into a reserved parking spot. Climbing out of the death machine you thank the gods you made it out of their alive. When you do you are able to get a look at your brother and his friend's outfits. Roy is dressed identically to you. Wich doesn't surprise you. THankfully he is wearing black jeans instead of leggings but all he needs is the socks and it would be a perfect match. Jason, however, is wearing his grey Gotham knights jersey with black jeans. You take note of his last name written on the back along with his number of choice '05'.

The three of you walk to the gate getting your tickets scanned and your bags checked. When you finally got inside you could smell all the classic game food. You didn't talk much to Roy deciding to talk to Jason most of the time instead. It was already a big step for you to even be there with Roy so you decided to take it slow and it seems he did too. You find your seats and sit wich is right behind home plate. When the game starts you admire all the hunky baseball players that come up to bat getting the perfect view. You sit in the middle of Roy and Jason so you can talk to them both. You tried to just sit by Jason but he trapped you in the middle. You text Conner letting him no you made it not so safely but are okay now. He responds about how jealous he is that you are there and you promise to take him to the next home game. There was one player on the Spartans that you found so hot. He was tall and muscular he was a great player and you ogled him the whole game. Jason and Roy found it excruciating. Every time he would come up to bat you would grab their arms shaking them as you squealed in delight. Every. Single. Time. He was also the catcher so you got to see him even more. It would have been better without the ump in the way though.

Throughout the game, you would send updates to Connor who was stuck at work and couldn't watch the game. You would also tell him every time you favorite was up describing his glory in full detail. You are almost positive he ignored those texts.

Jasons favorite player was the pitcher and every time your boy came up to bat Jason would go on and on about how he would get struck out but thankfully he never did and you got to rub it in each time. Although it was the bottom of 9th inning now and the Spartans were down by one run. You sent Connor updates practically every second making Jason confiscate your phone to stop the clicking noise. Of course, there were two outs with one runner on second an third and your favorite was up to bat. If he just hit a double the Spartans would win and you could laugh in Jasons face as he put on a Spartans jersey.

You started to clam up when there where two stikes. The three of you were on the edge of your seats. When the pitcher threw his pitch the batter swang and missed.

Your heart was crushed. Jason jumped up out of his chair and turned back at you laughing directly in your face as you covered it with your hands. You were so close goddamnit.

You and Roy sulked the whole way back to the car while Jason practically pranced with a newfound pep in his step. When you got in the car you slumped down in the backseat as Jason laughed going on and on about how he told us the Knights would win.

He finally stopped when he pulled into a Batburger saying something about how the winner gets to pick the restaurant.

The three of you walk in and up to the counter where you order your food. looking at the menu you see how it is themed, half of it was labeled heroes and the other labeled Rogues. You snickered when you saw all the burgers were named after Gotham vigilantes and villains. You could hardly contain your laugh when you saw that Jason didn't have a burger like the rest of his family. Batman was a normal burger Robin was a cheeseburger. Red Robin was a burger with peanut butter on it wich you found strange. Nightwing even had one even though he was based in Bludhaven, his was a double cheeseburger. After scanning batgirl, spoiler, black bat, signal, and even one labeled ' that onetime Nightwing was batman' you looked over at the Rogue side.  You finally couldn't contain your laughter. Underneath The Joker, Penguin, Scarecrow, Ridler, Catwoman, Clayface, and Mr. freeze you saw one named 'The Red Hood' and you burst out laughing. Jason saw this and scowled huffing and puffing about how he isn't a villain and he should have a special spot in the middle.

When you got up to order you chose a Nightwing along with Roy and Jason ordered himself saying, "I want the Red Hood burger but by the way! He is not a villain he has saved countless lives so you should really change that before he decides to come in here and take care of it himself."

The man behind the cash register just blinks and asks, 'Will that be all?"

Jason just growls and hands him the money.

When you all sit down you send Connor a quick text about the result of the game and attempt to start a conversation. "Even though the Spartans lost I still had fun." I smile at the two boys sitting across from you.

"Would have been more fun if you weren't texting Connor the whole time," Roy says rolling his eyes.

You scowl at him before saying, "I wasn't texting him the whole time I was just giving him updates Roy."

As soon as his name leaves my mouth my phone lights up beside me dinging. "Who is that?" Roy asks gesturing to my phone.

I look at the message 'Conner' lights up the screen along with a picture of him right after he woke up from a nap looking like a hot mess. "Oliver," I respond snatching my phone up.

"You liar." Roy scowls.

"So what if it is I don't see the issue."

"Becuase you were supposed to come here to hang out with me not text your stupid boyfriend the whole time."

Jason just sits there looking back and forth between the both of us, "For the last time Roy he's not my boyfriend!"

Faster than the flash he snatches my phone out of my hand and scoffs, "Then why does he have hearts around his name?"

Your fists curl up in your lap, "All of my contacts have hearts around them, Roy, its how I know which number it is."

"Does mine?"

"No. I deleted your contact months ago."

We sit there scowling at each other till Jason chimes in, "Look guys I think we should just calm down."

You look at him with the same glare you had been giving Roy, "Don't tell me to calm down Todd! He has been gone for a year and when he comes back all he does it lecture me about Conner I'm sick of it he has no right to tell me who I can and can't date."

"Yes I can," Roy speaks up, " Whether you like it or not I am your big brother. As your big brother, I am telling you that you can absolutely not date any hero ever!"

You stare at him completely flabbergasted, "Why?"

"Because they are all my friends and that's like against the law!"

"But-"

He interrupts you, "Please y/n," he is quieter now more sincere, "Please promise me you won't date any superheroes."

You look at him still scowling, "Fine." Your food finally arrives and you refuse to look at Jason or Roy. Jason decides its best to just take it to go and everyone can eat on their own. You agree.

You go to sit in the car and wait for the boys while Jason and Roy talk. Jason says he is going to drop Roy off at their shared apartment then take you to yours and you just shrug and look out the window.

You sit staring out the car at all the others racing by in the dark grim streets of Gotham.

[wonwoosthetic]

In The Night Of Lobby Hero || Chris Evans

MASTERLIST

WHO I WRITE FOR

I’m officially done with every single one of my exams in school!! Wuup wuup :) I’m literally so happy!!

It was also a very special day - Tom Holland’s 22nd birthday! He’s growing so fast...So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM :) <3

Anyway, this isn’t a Tom imagine, but a Chris Evans one and I’m very happy to share it with you :)

Thanks to @itsthecomet for sending me this request and sorry again for the MASSIVE delay, so so sorry!

Request by @itsthecomet : Like chris and the reader have broke up but in good terms but they don’t see each other anymore due to different schedules.. and then the reader visits New York just to see Chris play in Lobby Hero.. and Chris sees her from the stage and when the play ends the two meet after a long time and they go for a night walk and then they end up in the hotel room of Chris... and you take it from there

This request reminded me SO MUCH of Before We Go and since this is one of my favourite movies of all time and the one that inspired e to become a writer and screenwriter, I decided to involve one of the scenes into this. :)

THIS IS A LONG ONE, SO GET READY :)

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader

Warning: none

In The Night Of Lobby Hero

Two years… Two years it had been since you’ve seen your ex-boyfriend Chris Evans. But to be honest, it had been your own fault, well… both of yours fault. You had been busy traveling the world, helping children all over. You were an English native speaker for children in underdeveloped countries – you had taught in Brazilia, Africa, Colombia, and a lot more - this took all of your time. Chris, on the other hand, was busy filming – filming for Avengers, and more recently for being on stage by playing Bill, a police officer, in the play ‘Lobby Hero’.

When you ended things two years ago, you went your separate ways in good terms – the both of you had just noticed that due to your extremely different schedules, your relationship was not the way it had been when everything started five years before. Three years before the break-up, you got together after a year of knowing each other – having met at a charity gala – and everything was perfect. Literally perfect. Your relationship could have had been from a fairytale about a normal girl meeting this generous, amazing, and gorgeous Prince Charming called Chris. But after you got the opportunity to visit so many different places, while your boyfriend had to stay in America due to his career, everything started going downwards. Thankfully, you and the tall actor had very quickly noticed that you didn’t spend as much time with each other as you used to, or that you hadn’t even talked to each other as much as before. Therefore, you decided that the best idea and only solution would have had been to end your relationship. Everything happened in all nice manners and you had shown the respect for each other, that the other one deserved so much.

But ever since you had stopped traveling around the globe, you started noticing how lonely your life had been. Of course, you had been always surrounded by other teachers helping you and lovely children, but this loneliness was not about not being in the presence of people, but about not being with one specific human being – Chris. You had thought about texting or even calling him, but decided against it, thinking it would be a bit un-personal. A better, more exciting idea popped into your head as you watched one of the latest interviews of your ex-boyfriend. Because he was currently in New York, being a part of the play on Broadway, you had decided to get a ticket to see him in action. It had always been a dream of yours to see him on a stage, but while you were dating, he didn’t do any plays, now that he has the time for them, he obviously does.

Getting a ticket in one of the front rows was probably the hardest part of the whole plan. As you clicked around on your laptop, trying to find a free seat, you lead out a frustrated sigh, almost giving up, to look any further, but then you saw one extra seat for the performance this Friday ‘That’s in two days!’, the thought immediately came to your head. You hurried up to find one last minute flight to New York, which thankfully was available – destiny and faith were on your side. Not wasting any more minutes, you got up quickly and started packing your suitcase, thinking about how many days you will approximately stay in the big city – deciding on packing for four, just in case. Today was Wednesday, the flight would be at 11 a.m. on Friday, taking about four hours and the play will start at eight p.m., so everything was perfectly planned. Well, almost everything. Then came the second hardest thing to plan on a last-minute trip, a hotel room.

You looked on pretty much every possible hotel website, but none of them had any more rooms left. ‘That’s when it all will go wrong.’ You thought about every possibility of staying in New York… after about half an hour of worrying about where to sleep, the idea of staying at a friend’s place in New York popped into your head. But now the question turned into ‘Who’s house could I ask to stay at?’ All of your friends that came to your head, didn’t live in New York, except for one, Paul Rudd. (I don’t know, if he actually lives in New York, I’m sorry, but I had to change things a bit for the story, I hope you don’t mind.)

You looked around, searching for your phone while sitting on one of the dining chair’s which were right at the table. It was next to your laptop, so you took it and looked for “Ant Paul” in your contacts. After only a few ringing sounds, the actor picked up enthusiastically “Heeyyy (Y/N)!” You laughed at his silliness “Heyy Paul.” “What do I owe the pleasure of speaking to you.” “I have a question…”, you started asking slowly and carefully “Is there any chance you’re in New York right now?” “Yeah, I’m here now, gonna watch a play on Friday and then fly back to L.A., why?”, he explained. Hearing that he was going to see a play, made you think that it was possibly Lobby Hero, but it was very unlikely. “That’s great, ehm… is there any chance a friend could stay over at your place for a few days.” “If that friend is you, OF COURSE. Come!”, he answered, excited to see one of his best friends again. “Yeah, that friend would be me”; you smiled happily, knowing that now everything was going just like planned. “When you’re gonna come?” “My plane leaves at eleven in the morning, and I’m gonna arrive at four.” “Great, perfect; I’m gonna pick you up”; Paul offered kindly. “You don’t have to do that, it’s fine, I’m gonna get a taxi”, you were very thankful to have such an amazing friend. “No, nope, nope-di-nope, I’ll pick you up.” You started laughing again “Alright, alright, if you say so. Thanks again a lot Paul.” “No need to thank me, you’re welcome.” “Well then, I’m gonna carry on packing. See ya!”, you said your goodbye. “Bye, ‘till Friday (Y/N)!” You ended the call.

Shortly after, you decided to check your suitcase again, to see if you got everything packed and ready to take to New York.

--- Friday ---

You woke up earlier to clean your apartment properly, since you won’t be back for at least two to three, at most four days. As you finished at 7 a.m., you went back into your bedroom to pick a comfortable outfit for the flight. Soon enough, you found one and entered the bathroom to take a refreshing shower, brush your teeth, and put on a small amount of make-up.

You got done at 8:30, having taken your time for everything. Calling a taxi was the next step – it was going to be at your place twenty minutes later.

When it arrived and honked, you grabbed your suitcase that had everything you needed in it, and your small blue fabric backpack as a carry-on, with your laptop, a good book, and a couple more things inside of it.

The drive took a bit longer due to a bit of traffic on the highway, but you still managed to get to the airport at 9:30. After paying the taxi-driver and getting your suitcase out of the trunk, you started making your way inside of the big building, the sounds of airplanes landing and taking off were able to be heard.

Security and check-in took long enough, but at 10:50 you were sitting in your seat, ready for the take-off which happened fifteen minutes later.

--- In New York ---

After landing, you started noticing how tired you were, since you had woken up at 5:30 that morning and couldn’t really sleep, besides for thirty minutes, on the plane. The airport was a lot busier than in your city, but you still managed to get through everything without being interrupted. As you were making your way to the exit of the airport, you were already able to see Paul standing there with a hood on his head. Your steps became quicker and the moment you were close enough, you jumped into his already open arms excitedly. You hugged for a solid minute before separating again “Wow, look at you”, Paul started “All glowing happily like that.” You smiled at him “Thank you, well I am excited to see you again.” He took your suitcase and showed you the way to where he had parked his car. “I’m also happy.” Your conversation carried on all the way until you were in the car when he asked a question as he was driving “You know, you never actually told me, why you’re here. I mean don’t get me wrong, I really don’t mind, you know that, but why are you here?”, he wondered, laughing every now and then at his own words. “I wanted to see Chris again.” His head shot into your direction and looked at you with wide eyes, but quickly focused his gaze back on the road “Your Chris?” You looked at him with a ‘seriously?’-look on your face “He’s not my Chris anymore, Paul.” “Oh please, he always was and always will be your Chris. You know that.” “No, Paul-“, you started but he interrupted you “No. Yeah, I know you ended things in good terms, but the both of you and I and every single one of the people that know your guys’ story knows that it wasn’t the best decision you’ve ever made.”

You knew he was right and started looking out of the window to avoid his eyes “Yeah… but at that time it was the only possibility, we didn’t ever see each other because if one of us had the time off, the other was busy.” He nodded understandingly “I get it”, but then he got slightly confused “But where do you want to meet him? Do you know where he is?” “I’m gonna watch Lobby Hero tonight, I bought a ticket. I just want to see him and maybe talk to him for a bit.” He looked at you immediately as you reached a red light “No way! I’m going to the play tonight as well!” “Oh my gosh”, the both of you started laughing.

--- In The Evening ---

The rest of the short time, you had spent together, laughing at old memories, and sharing your ideas of what could happen that night. Paul’s wife and kids hadn’t gone with him to New York, so the apartment only held you and him.

It was 7:15 in the evening and Paul and you decided to start heading off, by using the public transport since Paul had stated that it would be impossible to find a parking space. In the subway, you talked about the god and world and every now and then people would recognize your friend, but nothing too annoying. Shortly before the start of the play, you reached the building and entered to find your seats, which were sadly not next to each other. It started at exact eight p.m.. The moment Chris stepped onto the stage, you felt your heart drop. Even though he looked ridiculous with that mustache, you started realizing how much you’ve missed him over the years… and how much you wanted him back.

As expected, his acting was on point, and as he got to a pause during his line, he started standing on the side of the stage, suddenly fixing his gaze on you. He couldn’t turn his eyes away from you, you were way too pretty that night, well in his eyes you had always looked perfect. You smiled up into his direction, giving him a small wave.

The actor answered with a small smile but quickly got back into his character. The play ended a lot faster than you expected and suddenly all of the actors were lined up and taking bows. You stood up and started clapping. Chris looked at you again and your eyes never left each other for the entire rest of the time, that he spent bowing. After all of them left the stage, everyone around you started leaving the theatre, while you tried to find Paul again – you forgot to tell each other where to meet afterwards.

You decided to stand aside in the entrance hall and wait for him to come out of the large room. You stood there for about five minutes before someone put their hand on your right shoulder, making your head turn to the right – Paul was standing next to you. “I’ve been waiting for you”, you stated. He nodded behind him “I know, sorry, but come with me.” He took your hand and lead you into a narrow hallway that lead to behind the stage. “Where are we going?”, you wondered. “Someone wants to see you”, he turned around while answering and smiled sheepishly.

At first, you were really confused, but then the thought of Chris crossed your mind – maybe, just maybe, did he actually want to see you. Th walk was not too long, and all of a sudden, you were in a room with a lot of people hurrying around the room, moving things away, and actors packing their stuff and leaving the theatre. “He’s over there”, Paul pointed at one of the extra doors on the side – there were about six – probably for the leading actors. When you reached the door, he stopped you right in front of it and grabbed you by your upper arms to look at you. Paul reached out to sooth your hair” “Alright, you look great.” You were still completely confused “What? What for?” He gave you a cheeky grin “You’ll see. Go on in.” He gestured with his hand for you to open the door and enter the room behind it. You did as you were told after knocking three times and walked into the light dressing room. You gave Paul a small goodbye wave and closed the door again. As you turned around, you got to take a proper look around the room. The walls were in a warm beige with lights fixed on them, a couch was leaning on the wall across from you with a large painting above it, a desk was set to your left and a small table on your right with a mirror right next to it. There was another door, which led to a possible bathroom.

“Hello?”, you asked into the room, expecting an answer from somewhere. A deep voice rang from behind the other door “I’ll be right there.” You would recognize that voice everywhere. The door opened, and a casually dressed Chris Evans stepped out. He closed it behind himself, before making his way over to you “Hey”, he greeted you in a soft voice giving you tight hug. You obviously started hugging back “Hey.” After your parted again, the actor put his hands into his pockets “You look great.” You were wearing a dark red a-lined dress with spaghetti halters, which stopped in the middle of your shin. A black clutch was in your left hand. Trying to not laugh at his mustache, you looked down blushing “Thank you”, you looked up again “You were great, by the way.” “You like it?”, he looked shocked but very happy to hear that comment. “I loved it. I’ve always wanted to see your Broadway talent. I knew you had it.” He started smiling “Yeah, I remember.”

You used to always tell him, how much you wanted to see him in a play after his mother had shown you his performance in West Side Story when he was still in school.

A slightly awkward silence overcame the both you, so you decided to ask him, what you had been wondering about ever since Paul lead you through the narrow hallway “I…Ehm… Paul told me you wanted to see me?” “Oh, yes, yes, I… yeah… I wanted to see you. I saw you in the audience and I thought we could maybe go out. We haven’t seen each other In quite a while, I’m sure we’ve got a lot to tell each other.” A smile crossed your face “Yeah, I would love that.” Chris nodded quickly “Great, let me just grab my stuff and we can head off.” He walked over to the couch to grab his wallet and phone, as well as his jacket, which he didn’t put on but threw over the arm to hold it. “Ready?”, you asked. “Yep, let’s go”; he answered.

You opened the door and left his dressing room to make your way out of the building. As you were leaving, with Chris right next to you on your right, he was saying his goodbyes to everyone that crossed your path. After you exited the building, you started walking, but you didn’t know where to “Where are we going?”, you wonderingly looked at him.” “Well, I remember that you don’t like bars or anything like that, so I thought we could just take a walk. New York in the middle of the night is beautiful.” You smile lovingly at him, thinking how cute it was of him to remember that about you “Sure, I’d love to. I’m surprised you still now that.” “As if I could ever forget”, he looked into the distance, remembering all the good memories the two of you shared.

The streets of New York were dark, the only light coming from the shops on the side and the light posts. Cars were driving around at this time of time just like at daytime in any other city.

(please ignore the text on this gif)

“You know, when I saw you in the audience today, I actually didn’t believe my eyes at first”, Chris admitted. You laughed “What? Why not?” “Because you haven’t seen each other in two years and you still look the same, so beautiful…” “Thank you, Chris”, you blushed “I actually only came to New York to see you in Lobby Herp.” He turned to you, looking shocked “As if! Are you kidding me?” You looked at him laughing “No, I’m serious.” “When did you arrive?”, he wondered. “Today, at four in the afternoon.” “Oh my gosh”, he shook his head laughing “Did you at least get some sleep on the plane?” You tried avoiding his gaze “Maybe…” “That means no.” You gave in “Yeah…. Not really.” “Aren’t you tired?”, he started actually worrying about you. “Maybe a little bit, but I want to spend time with you. I’ve really missed you.” Your conversation turned serious again. You wrapped your arms around yourself – that action didn’t go unnoticed by Chris. He took his jacket off his arm and got closer to you to wrap it around you “I’ve missed you too.” Your gaze wandered up to meet his blue eyes.

You kept on walking on talking about all the good old times you had together, with your right arm linked with his left. He was telling jokes, like nothing ever happened to the two of you, and showed you his favourite spots in the big City “Over there, you can get the best coffee, ever.” “Better than Starbucks?”, you asked with a raised eyebrow – he knew how much you loved Starbucks. “Way better than Starbucks”, he smiles and threw his head back shouting it into the world “WAY BETTER THAN STARBUCKS!” You jumped slightly to cover his mouth with your hand that still held your clutch since you were quite a bit smaller than him “Shhh, Chris”, you laughed at him. He lowered his head, to be closer to your face. The both of you stopped at a red traffic light. He looked deeply into your (Y/Y/C) eyes “I’m gonna take you there tomorrow.” “How do you know that I’m still going to be here?” You grinned at him. “Paul told me”, he shrugged his shoulders. “And what if I don’t want to get coffee?” The grin didn’t leave your face. “That’s not possible. You love it… and you love m-“, he got interrupted by the honking of a car. Your heads turned to the left, to see the driver of the car, telling you to cross the street since the lights had turned green. As you walked over the zebra crossing, Chris gave the driver a wave, to say ‘Thank You’.

As you were walking on the other side of the road, a wave of tiredness overcame you and you couldn’t hold back a yawn. “Well, someone’s tired”; Chris commented. “No, no, I’m good, I-“, you interrupted yourself by yawning again “OK, maybe I’m a bit tired.” “Do you want to go to my hotel room? You can sleep there for the night”, he offered you kindly. You looked at him with a knowing look and a cheeky grin “Are you trying to get me into your bed, Mr. Evans?” Chris put his hand over his heart “I cannot believe you would ever think of me in that way, Misses E- Miss (Y/L/N)”, he corrected himself, the mess-up getting unnoticed by you “So, shall we?” You nodded your head, with a tired smile on your face “Yes, please.”

Chris lead you to the hotel and checked in immediately. In the elevator, you started leaning on his shoulder. As the doors opened Chris gestured for you to go at first and he followed you shortly after. “238”, he informed you about his room number. You found it shortly after and waited in front of the door, for him to take out the card to open it. After getting it, you got to look around the room, but decided against it, since you were exhausted and landed face forward on the bed. “And at first you didn’t want to come here.” You rose your head and turned into his direction “You remember what the best part about hotel rooms is?” You questioned him with a smile. “Of course, you reminded me of it in every hotel room, we were staying in.”

You got up from the bed, not feeling as tired anymore as you did before, and made your way over to one of the pictures hanging on the wall. Chris laid down on the bed on his side, supporting his head with his hand. You took the frame off the wall and turned it around. Making your way back to the bed, you sat down positioned the painting in the right angle, for you and Chris to be able to look at the behind of it.

Chris took a closer look at it “Oh my…”, he tried controlling his laughter You looked at the hotel doodle “Wow.” “Oh…” “What? How can you not appreciate that?”, you asked the laughing actor, before continuing your comment “It’s the best one I’ve ever seen.” Chris started reading it out loud “’Gotta go, the hookers are here.” You were laughing out loud as well and couldn’t stop, just as much as Chris. “We probably shouldn’t touch anything in this room”, you commented, and Chris nodded.

You got up and put the frame back to its place, before making your way to the bathroom, where you started looking for something. Really quickly you found it – bathrobes. You started undressing when you heard Chris’ voice coming from the other room “What are you doing?” You didn’t answer but put on the robe over your underwear. Quickly you looked for some make-remover which you found and used, and also a brush. You opened the updo hairstyle you had been wearing the entire night, the feeling of freedom overcoming your scalp – you started brushing your hair. Grabbing the other one, you exited the bathroom and walked back to the man laying on the bed. You threw the robe into his face “That’s what I was looking for.”

He took the gown off his face, where it had landed and put his phone away, which he had been using before. His gaze fixed onto your silhouette “Wow… I forgot how amazing look with messy hair and no make-up.” You tried not to smile, looking at him “Stop…” You walked over to the bed and laid down next to him. “I’m serious. You know that. You’re beautiful”, he complimented you. You looked at him and started laughing uncontrollably. Chris gave you a weird look “What? What are you laughing about?”, he wondered. You tried to calm yourself down, so you were able to answer him “I’m sorry… but”, you started laughing, but calmed down again “I’ve been trying not to laugh the entire night, but your mustache is ridiculous.” He joined in with your laughter.

After a good amount of time of laughing, the both of you had calmed down again and started looking deeply into each other eyes. The actor extended his hand to sooth your hair and put a strand of it behind your ear “Why did we end things and didn’t stay in contact?” You asked him sadly. “I don’t know. I don’t think I want to know”, he admitted.

Your faces slowly got closer and before you could even realize what was happening, you were kissing the love of your life again – after two whole years of not even seeing each other. The kiss became more passionate by the second. He deepened it by putting his right hand on your hip and his left on the back of your neck. You grabbed him bay face. Everything went really fast and all of a sudden you were completely lying under him with your robe slightly open.

---

That was a long one, I’m sorry if it was too long! Please let me know :)

Thanks again to @itsthecomet for this lovely request, I hope you and everyone else enjoyed it!

Please ignore all of my grammar or spelling mess-ups :)

(none of the gifs are mine!)

I hope all of you have a wonderful day/night! :) <3

[aded19744973-blog]

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[okgrumps-blog]

The Best and the Worst of You

Chapter 7: Tired Arin

AO3 | Read chapter 1 | more

The two men were cuddled up on Dan’s couch together, with a fluffy brown blanket draped over their knees. They were meant to be at the Grump Space at least three hours ago, but Arin had streamed video compilations of horseshoe crabs on Dan’s television, and they’d gone through nearly every available video until they were led to Vine compilations. When the last compilation ended, Dan made the executive decision to switch off the TV, Arin groaning in response and cuddling into Dan’s side. Dan shook his head, moving so that Arin would be more comfortable.

“What time even is it?” Dan chuckled, pulling out his phone from his pocket. He read the time and frowned. “Aren’t we meant to be at the Grump Space?” He looked over to Arin, who was incredibly warm and definitely didn’t look like he’d be moving any time soon. “Arin.”

Arin slowly shifted and looked up at Dan sleepily, a soft smile over his face. Dan couldn’t hate that look at all. “Mm…?” The younger man hummed.

“Are we going to the office at any point to record?” Dan asked, moving a hand over Arin’s head to play with his hair. “I know you’re tired, and if you’re not up to it…”

“No, we gotta…” Arin groaned in response, sitting up and yawning quietly. “We gotta record. We didn’t record at all yesterday.” He scratched his head. And Arin was right - their upload schedule had been very spotty over the past couple of days. It couldn’t be helped - especially after the trauma they’d both experienced yesterday.

Dan offered to drive to the Space, a sleepy Arin sat in the passenger seat of his car. Dan glanced over at the other man occasionally, checking he wasn’t going to fall asleep before they got there. Since they’d missed a few sessions, it’d be an intense day of gaming for them both. They hit traffic lights, and as Dan looked over, he immediately recognised that Arin had his eyes shut.

“Arin, buddy…” Dan warned, nudging his shoulder. “I’m gonna stop off at the store, maybe you can pick up some energy drinks or something?” Dan frowned, watching as Arin opened one eye and nodded. He wasn’t aware of it, but Arin must not have slept well at all last night. He, on the other hand, had slept like a fucking baby after such a stressful evening. He really felt sorry for Arin - it wasn’t his fault any of this was happening, and clearly it affected him more than it should.

“I didn’t sleep…” Arin quietly admitted, mostly to himself. Dan could tell because he was shutting his eyes again. The lights turned green and Dan huffed, driving towards the local store. He wondered if he should just turn the car around and go home. But no; Arin would be mad at him, and everyone at the Space would worry. Not that they weren’t worried, anyway.

A few minutes passed, and Dan was pulling into the driveway of the 7-11 nearest to the Space. He looked at Arin again, who was passed out, looking incredibly peaceful. Dan bit his lip, leaning closer to him and speaking in a hushed voice.

“How many Monsters do you reckon you’ll need?” Dan stirred Arin from his slumber. Arin jolted, looking at Dan in confusion before understanding.

“‘Bout 5.” He mumbled, trying to sit himself up in the chair. “I’ll get you the money for it when we get to the Space…” Arin stretched his arms out, and Dan raised an eyebrow. Arin must be really tired, if he was offering to pay.

Dan hurried into the 7-11, leaving Arin to sleep in the car. He shuffled to where the drinks fridge was and tucked five Monster cans under his arm, grabbing a sparkling water for himself. He also picked up a Kit Kat for Arin on his way to the tills.  

Making his way back to the car, he could already see through the window that Arin was sleeping peacefully. He felt bad as he clicked open the driver’s door, slipping inside - it obviously woke Arin up, who looked displeased. Dan gently dropped the five energy drinks onto Arin’s lap, holding up the Kit Kat in front of his face to catch his attention. Arin’s eyes immediately lit up, and he sat up properly, taking the Kit Kat from Dan.

“For me? Thank you…” Arin smiled happily, quickly opening up the packet and breaking off one of the fingers of the bar. Dan sat back and took a sip from his sparkling water, a smile across his face.

It wasn’t more than 2 hours before they’d ran into a problem.

Arin kept falling asleep in episodes, and Dan was really struggling to make up for Arin’s silence. Dan began to feel how Arin must have felt with him earlier in the week - with Dan constantly being tired from travelling. Dan, unlike Arin, was never angry. He could never be angry at someone like Arin. Whilst Arin was out cold, he finished up the episode himself, even keeping to the traditional ‘Next time on Game Grumps’. He quietly maneuvered himself about the room, stopping the game capture and recordings, fiddling with wires and buttons. He’d only ever done this once before by himself, but he figured the once was enough to know by now how to do it all properly.

Arin didn’t stir from his sleep, surprisingly, and Dan made a decision to leave him resting in the Grump room for a little while. He draped one of the blankets from his office over the younger man and closed the door behind him, strolling into the office. Checking the time, he hushed a small sigh. It was already turning 6, and he’d done nothing of proper use with himself. Feeling a weird kind of weight in his chest, he sought out Ross, who was running over some scripts with someone Dan didn’t quite recognise in Ross’ office.

“Whatcha up to?” Dan asked, peering over Ross’ shoulder. Ross tilted his head back and looked up at Dan with a smile.

“Dan.” He acknowledged the other man’s presence, sliding his chair back a bit. The man next to him did the same. “We’re just running over some stuff for Gameoverse. Lines and stuff.”

“Oh, that’s cool. How… How long do you think you’ll be?” Dan asked nervously, running a hand over his hair. Ross raised an eyebrow and looked at the stranger next to him, glancing back at Dan.

“I can pause it if you need to talk.” Ross folded his arms, watching Dan warily. “You never come to me first, though. So I guess it must be important…” He looked at the man sat next to him and shrugged. “If you’re good with it, we can come back to this in about an hour.” Ross suggested, the other man nodding and agreeing, walking to the other room. Ross watched him leave, and once he was out of sight, he turned back to Dan.

“You’ve known Arin for a long time, right?” Dan started, dragging a chair over to sit by Ross, dragging the door closed at the same time.

“Not as long as Suzy has. You could talk to her.” He shrugged, turning back to his screen. Dan grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around with a sigh.

“Suzy’s not here, and I need to hear it from someone who won’t object every flaw I’m about to point out.” Dan’s voice bordered desperation, and Ross’ eyes widened.

“Oh shit…” Ross turned to face Dan properly. “Well, you’re right. Did something happen?”

Dan prepared himself, hands fumbling in his lap. He knew that he should probably just confront Arin about this kind of stuff, but he didn’t know if it was just him being someone who worried too much.

“He didn’t sleep last night, and I’m just really worried something’s wrong.” Dan looked down at his hands with an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know if it’s him and Suzy, or anything going on outside that we don’t know about.” Dan looked at Ross, who’s face frowned in recognition. Ross must have noticed, too - or even, maybe he knew something. “I mean- God, Ross. When I was out yesterday, I met an Arin who was literally seconds away from killing himself.” He watched Ross’ face as he tensed, clearly concerned. “I stopped him.” Ross let out a breath he didn’t even realise he was holding in.

“But that’s not our Arin.” Ross tapped against the table, his brain running wildly now. Was Arin okay? He’d noticed Arin had been a little more distant recently, but hadn’t thought much of it until just now.

“Right.” Dan confirmed, crossing his arms and sitting back in the chair. “But I got back, and Suzy said Arin had a really bad, unexplainable panic attack.” Dan frowned, Ross shaking his head in tow. “When I told him about the other Arin, it made him really uncomfortable. He’s spoken about death before only recently, but like…” Dan groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Do you think? Arin might be depressed, or something? Something’s going on, and it pains me that I don’t know what the Hell’s going on, and…”

“Where is he?” Ross suddenly asked, quick, worried. Dan shook his head and waved a hand dismissively. He’d never taken Ross as the kind of person to worry so much.

“Grump room. He fell asleep.” Dan mumbled. “God, I don’t know what to do, Ross. I can’t talk to him about it, ‘cos he’ll get all upset. I can’t talk to Suzy, because she’ll just worry more and freak out and shit.”

“Yeah…” Ross nodded with a sigh. “I think just… talk to him. Even if he does get upset… Better to do that, then leave it to become something worse…” Ross frowned.

The two of them jolted upon hearing even the weakest knock against the door. Ross and Dan exchanged a concerned glance, and then Ross stood up to open the door. Standing before them was Arin, looking at them both sleepily. His hair was rustled, and he still seemed really tired. He hadn’t slept for long.

“I thought we were recording…” Arin grumbled, sounding a bit hurt. Dan stood up to match his height and nodded quickly, feeling bad for leaving him.

“We were, but you kept falling asleep, buddy…” Dan frowned, putting a hand on Arin’s shoulder. “So I stopped it. We got about two episodes done, but you should really rest up. I don’t want you to die by being overtired and fuelled only by energy drinks.” Arin seemed to huff a quiet laugh, shaking his head.

“I can stay up… It’s not even late.” Arin propped himself against the doorway to Ross’ office, a lazy grin on his face. Ross merely rolled his eyes, turning back to his screen and scrolling through the script again.

“It’s not late, but you literally didn’t sleep all night. You told me that.” Dan looped an arm around Arin’s waist and pulled him close for a quick hug. “I don’t mind if you want to call today off and go home. We can space everything out, I’m sure Ross wouldn’t mind recording some Steam Train stuff with me before I leave.” Dan glanced at Ross, who looked dumbfounded. “And we can even get some Grumpcade stuff out. We’ve got that special with Brian and Audrey to come out, yet.” Dan reassured him, patting him on the back. Arin seemed to mumble something sleepily into his shoulder, and Dan just laughed.

“C’mon, big cat. Let’s get you home. Or at least, to mine.” Dan stopped and thought for a second. Suzy wasn’t at the Grump Space, and neither was Barry, so he assumed that they were both at Arin’s still. He waited for a response, but Arin was already falling asleep leant against him, which made Dan giggle.

“Can you two lovebirds just go home already?” Ross sighed, deferring back to his usual persona. Dan was nearly surprised. “I’ve got work to do.”

Dan said that he didn’t mind carrying Arin back to the car and such, but Arin was very adamant that Dan wouldn’t be able to. They were back on the same couch at least twenty minutes later, minus the energy drinks. Arin refused to sleep anywhere other than right next to Dan, for some unknown reason.

“You want me to sleep with you?” Dan looked confused. Arin shook his head and cuddled up to Dan on the couch.

“No, I mean-” Arin looked embarrassed, tucking his fringe behind his ear. “Just… stay with me whilst I sleep. Until you go.” Dan nodded and ran his hands through the younger man’s hair, just for something to do. Arin wasn’t sleeping for some reason - Dan thought he was tired. It’s the whole reason they came home. His conversation with Ross arose in his thoughts again and he looked to Arin with a worried expression.

“Is something wrong?” He asked very quietly, as if there were anyone else in the room to hear them. But they were alone, and even Barry probably wouldn’t be back until the late evening. Arin looked up at Dan, suddenly seeming very sad, as if he could cry. Dan hugged him tightly and rubbed his back.”Hey, c’mon… I’m right here.”

Arin stayed quiet for a while, just trying not to spill any tears. His voice was muffled by Dan’s shirt, so Dan pulled back and gave him some room to breathe. Arin took a sharp breath in and stared up at Dan. His voice was cold, terrified.

“I had a dream that you didn’t come back.”

[kootenaygoon]

So,

Suddenly everything was upside down.

My eyes snapped open in the oily darkness of Brendan’s basement, and as things began to haze into focus I realized that my light fixture was mounted directly below me, in the middle of the floor. Holy shit. I’d been having a dream that I was being chased through a forest full of Tim Burton trees, their branches dangling to snag me, when a bolt of electricity blasted me into hyper-consciousness. My first thought upon awakening was the handstand push-ups from CrossFit. Maybe I’d done too many? And what was holding me here, was it some sort of anti-gravity? Would I fall as soon as I swung my legs out of bed?

As a journalist and a photographer, I’ve always believed that perspective is everything. If you want to understand something, if you really want to see it, then you have to observe it from every imaginable angle. Sometimes that means standing on a chair so that you’re higher than whatever you’re shooting, sometimes it means pretending you’re dumber than you are to lure an interview subject into a false sense of confidence. For years now I’d been exploring every facet of Nelson, every nuance, but it had never occurred to me to try things upside down. It was the sort of bonkers idea that would only occur to me if I was high, which I was, off a particularly potent indica joint I’d enjoyed post-workout.

When my phone rang, buzzing on my nightstand, it felt like a kick in the head. I reached out desperately to silence it, then turned it over to see who it was. The number was unlisted so I stared for a moment, dazed and blinking, before picking it up.

“Is this Will? Can I talk to Will, please?”

I coughed, sitting up carefully, the room around me doing a slow twirl. “Yeah, it’s me. I mean, this is Will. Who the fuck is this?”

A deafening roar filled my ear, like an engine running in overdrive, followed by a plaintive honk that disappeared into the night. “Will?”

“Yes, it’s Will. Who is this?”

The voice on the other end was mouse-like, barely audible. “It’s Maya.”

Now she had my attention. It had been a few months since I’d road-tripped with Steph’s 15-year-old daughter to the coast, since I’d made my mental vow to be her ally. So far that didn’t entail much more than asking about her at Breakfast Club with Brendan, Lyra and Steph or liking her posts on Facebook. I knew she was having a hard time, and I had learned enough of her secrets to know that she needed positive adult role models in her life. As far as I could tell, she was safely enjoying her high school years, but now it sounded like she wasn’t safe at all. It sounded like she’d narrowly missed being hit by a car. Wind fuzzed the receiver.

“Are you okay? Where are you? What’s going on?” I asked, my stomach surging with concern. She had become my adopted daughter. Was she in danger?

“Can you come, please?”

“What do you mean? Come where? Are you okay?”

I heard muttering, a few sobs, voices in the background. “I just need you to come, okay? Can you come, please?”

“Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Where are you? I can come pick you up, is that what you need? Where are you?”

“We’re on the highway, by the big sign, right near the turn off for Blewett.”

“Okay. I know where that is.”

“I need your help, Will. I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

By this point I’d thrown off the covers, becoming more and more accustomed to being a human stalagmite. I crossed the room in a crouch and flicked the light switch as I struggled into my jeans and sifted through the laundry pile for a T-shirt that might be clean. I found my pink anti-bullying one from the Rosemont flash mob, and put it on. 

“Maya, I don’t understand what you mean by that. Can you tell me what’s going on? Have you been drinking?”

“A lil’ bit.”

“Okay, I’m going to hang up and I’ll be there in like eight minutes, okay? I’m heading out the door here.”

Walking out of the house was terrifying upside down, with the yawning void of purple sky opening up below my dangling head. Purple was the colour of the Targaryens, the dragon-riding kings of Westeros. It was the colour of magic, of violence, of imagination. If I could wrap my mind around the reality of being upside down, what else could I imagine? 

As I struggled with the gate going out of Brendan’s backyard, I saw that my RAV had an open passenger side window. Andrew Stevenson was taking a deep drag off his cigarette under the mustard-coloured glow of the streetlight. I’d been binge-watching this new Netflix show called Stranger Things, so my surroundings now had an 80s Spielberg shimmer. I would be the one who legitimately cared that Barb died, though nobody seemed to notice. I would be the one pedalling my bike into the sky with E.T. in the front basket.

“I’m going to have a passenger.”

“So?”

“So Maya gets shotgun, and you’re being demoted to the backseat.”

Andrew sneered, annoyed. He’d been in a pissy mood all week. I loomed over him until he turned and crawled into the darkness behind the front seat. The Andrew Stevenson I knew was frozen in time, was fixated on one event. I was starting to realize that to really figure him out, I had to think of him outside the constraints of that type of desperation. I had to love him despite the horrible things he had done, which was something I was struggling to do with myself. Andrew Stevenson was a bank robber, yes, but he was also a father.

As I climbed into my RAV, I reached over and turned on the console. I’d been listening to Sia. “I’ve got thick skin and an elastic heart, but your blade it might be too sharp,” she sang. “I’m like a rubber band until you pull too hard. Yeah, I may snap and I move fast.”

I turned the corner at the Dairy Queen then fired the RAV up to 90, zooming through the day-time school zone for Hume Elementary, and flew around the corner past the grocery store and on to 7-11. I decided to stop and get some coffee, so I could get on top of this Maya situation. I ended up standing in line for nearly ten minutes as a new-hire suffered at the till.

“Have you gotten used to it?” I asked him, laying down two coffees and an assortment of candy. 

“Used to what?”

“Being upside down. This is my first time.”

He narrowed his eyes at me, this scrawny Asian dude in his 20s. “Are you messing with me right now?”

I sighed. “Sorry, I thought you’d understand.”

From there I drove past Dorkmeyer the Front Street Grotesque and down to where they’d just established a new brewery called Torchlight. Past that was one of my favourite pot dispensaries, then city hall and the bank Andrew Stevenson had robbed in 2014, the Nelson & District Credit Union. It’s kitty-corner from the Hume Hotel, with its upside down letters glowing crimson in the night. Most of the best memories I had of Nelson took place in that hotel.

“I’ve got thick skin and an elastic heart,” Sia sang. “But your blade it might be too sharp.”

As the RAV hurtled around the last bend up to the highway, I realized that I was unconsciously following the path of Andrew’s getaway car on the day of the robbery. According to the trial proceedings he was driving, but more likely it was his female accomplice who was actually in the driver’s seat that day. I’d driven the route multiple times, trying to imagine how everything played out. He was driving a tiny white shit-bucket and somehow still successfully evaded two brand new cop cars with highly trained personnel behind the wheel. Say what you want about him, but Andrew Stevenson could drive a fucking car.

“You lied for her, didn’t you?” I asked him, looking up at the rearview. He had his forehead pressed to the glass like he was contemplating bashing out the window with his skull. “At the trial, you fucking lied for her.”

“I don’t even know how to lie.”

“When they got to the bridge they found her with a dog in her lap, sitting in the driver’s seat. They say you got out of the passenger side.”

“They’re pigs, you can’t trust what they say.”

From there it was just half a kilometre uphill and to the right before I was on the highway leading out of Nelson, with the ‘Thank you for visiting’ sign on my left. It was misting rain, and it was trippy to see those raindrops come dancing up from beneath me. I slowed as I approached the cliff banks on the right, then found a safe place on the shoulder to park and hit my hazards. I pulled on the jacket Paisley’s mother had bought me and put up the hood.

It only took a few minutes of wandering along the shoulder to hear voices down the grassy banks towards Railtown. I trudged through the mud, holding up my phone as flashlight, and came out just above Cottonwood Falls. Among the trees I could see teenagers smoking in a circle, maybe ten of them, with music playing from a mounted speaker. In the distance I could see the Nelson Star office, right beside the train tracks leading out to Red Sands.

“Hey guys, I don’t mean to interrupt. I’m looking for Maya,” I said, as I approached their circle. It was mostly dudes, and I recognized them from Tony’s. “She called me a few minutes ago?”

A girl stood up from the boulder she was sitting on, her black hood up over shockingly white blond hair. She was wearing jeans and skateboard shoes, her face shadowy. “I’ll take you. She’s just down here.”

I followed this teenager through the grass, past a few trees, to a clearing surrounded by boulders. Nestled up against one of them like a scared fawn was Maya, so tucked into herself that I couldn’t see her face. She was soaked.

“What’s going on with her?” I asked. “She sounded fucked up on the phone.”

The girl sighed. “I think she did some MDMA, but mostly she’s just been drinking these gross coolers. She started getting all emotional and kept saying she had to call you. Then she came down here to hide. Are you her Dad?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m just a friend of her mother’s.”

“Well, she’ll be fine. She just needs to sleep it off. But she doesn’t want to go back to her foster home. She was crying about it.”

Steph had told me that Maya was maybe going to end up in foster care. She’d been telling elaborate lies to the social workers, trying to maneuver herself into a safer place. It was gruelling, emotionally taxing shit. I could tell that she didn’t know who her allies were, who she could really trust. It meant a lot to me that she felt she could trust me, that she would call me.

“Hey, you’re that reporter that covered my grad,” the girl said, recognizing me in the purple moonlight. “Last year, at Elephant Mountain.”

I looked at her for the first time, and saw that her blond hair was pointing straight up towards the heavens. It looked like a halo. She was pretty, and looked like my sister Kathryn. “Yeah, that was me.”

“Well, I’m Josta,” she said. “Josta Cunningham. You know a bunch of my friends, but we never actually met. I was the one in the sparkling red dress, the strapless one. Do you remember?”

“You look a little familiar, yeah. That was an intense day.”

“Yeah, how many people get RCMP escorts at their grad? That shit was way over the top.”

“Do you think we could carry her up the hill to my RAV? I need to get her out of here before she freezes to death. It’s fucking cold out here.”

Josta nodded. “Yeah, I’ll help you.”

With one of us under each arm, we lifted Maya into a walking position and struggled up the muddy slope. She was murmuring to herself, half-conscious, her feet sometimes dragging. By the time we reached the top I was sweating like I was halfway through a CrossFit work-out. Josta opened the passenger side door and I lifted Maya like I was carrying a bride across the threshold. She was tiny, like a wounded animal, and together we got her belted into place. As I closed the door, I turned to my blond accomplice. We were under the streetlight now, so I could see her face for the first time. She had a streak of mud on her cheek and her angelic hair was still floating around her head like she was underwater. She shook a cigarette into her hand.

“Can I bum one of those?” I asked, thinking of Andrew in the backseat. “I don’t normally smoke cigarettes, but I could use one right now.”

Josta passed me one, then lit it with her Zippo. The rain was getting heavier. “You ever read any George R.R. Martin?” I asked. “The guy that wrote Game of Thrones?”

She shook her head as she lit her own cigarette. “No, why?”

Most of her face was in shadow, but in the streetlight her eyes glowed the same royal purple as the sky. She could’ve easily been a famous actress.

“Because you kind of remind me of Danaerys Targaryen.”

The Kootenay Goon

[xiumin-on-this-shit]

All My Idols Ch 2: Fan Meeting

The whole week I have been here, I’ve been telling myself the entire thing with big bang was just in my head. I have settled into my apartment, started my job at the bar on the first floor of my building. I have already grown accustom to my schedule of going to bed at 8 o’clock in the morning after working from 11 at night until 7 in the morning, a night full of serving drinks and cleaning up after. The job isn’t too hard, the people can be a bit rude but that comes with almost any job, and it pays my bills.

I just got off a busy shift when my phone buzzes in my pocket as I step into the elevator to go up to my apartment. My eyes go wide as it read the message:

From: Unknown Number

Hello Charlie, this is Top. Sorry it took so long to message you, our schedule has been packed since we’ve been back. We’re are actually having a fan meeting near where you live, you should come and we can get some food afterwards.

As happy as I am that he finally messaged me I’m also irritated that these boys are messing with my sleep again. But I push my annoyance away and smile at the fact he would want to meet again.

Of course! When and where is the fan meeting?

He sends me the address and the time, 8. Giving me a little under and hour to shower the smell of liquor off me and look some what presentable for them. I quickly run to my apartment, sheading my work uniform as I make my way to the shower. My shower is quick, styling my naturally curly hair only takes a few minute, and my make is applied decently well for doing all of it within the length of a song. An outfit it an easy decision, or at least it should have been until I wonder where we would be eating. Not wanting to over dress or under dress I grab a plain tan a line skirt and a white neck, hoping for a cute casual outfit. When I’m finally satisfied with how I look, I grab my coat before making my way back down stairs, passing through my work. My boss is still there, he give me a confused look as I give him a tired smile.

Since it’s a Sunday, the street is only slightly filled with people on their way to places. It’s a little chilly out, but I’m comfortably warm with my coat on. The venue isn’t too far from my apartment, about a mile walk. It only takes me ten minutes at most to get there. A massive line is waiting outside the doors, girls in big bang shirts holding signs and banners, even some light sticks. Top had texted me while I was walking, telling me to go to the back door and find their female manager but I smile at the idea of waiting here with the rest of the fans. Hoping it they will find it cute I join the line of girls and wait for a few more minutes before being let in. It takes forever to even get inside the building but what else can I expect from big bang.

By the time I’m inside and can even see them it’s already 8:30. Being only 154 cm I have to stand on my tiptoes to see over the crowd of girls. I smile big at the sight of them being so happy and friendly with their fans. Another half hour passes by when I finally reach the stairs to the stage. They are sitting there in a line, Seungri is first at the table, followed by Taeyang, GD, Top, and Daesung. When it’s my turn to go up the security guard waves me through as I pull out their made album. Placing it on the table nervously, Seungri picks it up without even glancing up and signs it.

“What is your name?” He asks still staring down at the album.

“Charlie,” I say with a small hopeful smile. His head snaps up, a wide smile on his face. Taeyang follows, totally forgetting the fan in front of him.

“What are you doing here?” He asks happily.

“Top-ssi invited me.” I whisper back.

“We know that, but what are you doing in line?” Taeyang asks when the fan moves on to GD, who is now trying very hard to focus on the fan but keeps glancing my way.

“I wanted you to sign this,” I say taking the album away from Seungri and handing it to Taeyang. Seungri pouts when I move away, allowing another fan to step up, snapping him out of his attention on me.

“We happily would have signed it later,” Taeyang whispers.

“But this is much more fun,” I smile as I continue down the row to GD, who is already beaming a breath taking smile at me. He happily accepts the album and takes a few minutes to sign it before passing it over to Top. He, just like Seungri, doesn’t bother looking up. That is until GD nudges him; his head goes up and a small smile appears.

“I was starting to get worried about you,” He says leaning forward.

“I figured this would be more fun than waiting for you in the back watching all the other fans have fun.”

“And was it?”

“This is one of the best moments of my life,” I say honestly as my cheeks begin to ach from smiling too much.

“This is only the beginning, wait till after this.” He passes my album to Daesung before waving to the woman behind them to come over. He whispers something into her ear, she looks up at me, and our eyes lock. I’m debating whether or not she hates me when Daesung brings me out of my daze when he grabs me hand.

“Charlie-ah!” He says happily.

I smile back, “Daesung-ssi!”

He frowns, “No, none of that, Daesung oppa, or just Dae.”

“Are you sure?” He nods vigorously making me giggle, earning stares from down the table, fans and idols a like. I bow to him before accepting my album back and moving off the stage. As soon as I step off, a security officer is pulling me away from the exit, into the back of the venue. There are many people sitting around, stylists, makeup artists, and people with jobs I didn’t even know existed. The security guard leads me to a large dressing room, he lets me go, bows, and leaves without a word.

I stare around the room for a minute, a bit confused, but not wanting to cause trouble, I sit down on one of the three couches and wait. But waiting isn’t something I’m able to do with such little sleep. I find myself leaning my head on the arm rest, my upper body becoming parallel to the couch while my feet stay planted on the ground. My skirt rises slightly, making me nervous of what could happen if I moved in my sleep. I take off my jacket and use it as a blanket; within seconds, I’m completely passed out.

“Is she okay?” A familiar voice echoes thru my sleepy mind.

“She’s just sleeping,” Top’s deep voice responds.

“I thought she looked a little tired,” The voice, I know realize is GD, says back.

“Should we wake her up?” Daesung asks.

“I think we should let her sleep a little longer,” Taeyang suggests. I shift as I realize they are talking about me. I sit up the couch, the jacket falling from me on to the ground.

In a sleepy fog I mumble, “I’m awake, no worries.” Each man lets out a small chuckle.

“Go back to sleep,” GD, who is next to me, says as he caresses my arm soothingly.

I shake my head, “I can sleep later, you guys have a busy schedule, and I want to hang out as much as possible!” My hand goes to my mouth, as if to catch those silly words but it’s too late. They all smile.

“I’m happy to know you feel the same way!” Top says from the couch next to me. “We were worried you’d be mad that I didn’t text you at all.”

I wave their worries away, “You guys are busy, I understand that.” They’re smiles seem to widen.

“Thank god! I don’t think I could have handled you being mad at us,” Seungri says letting out a sigh of relief.

“What do you mean?” I ask, confused. He nervously looks to his hyungs who are glaring at him before he looks down at his hands like a child about to be scolded.

“What he meant is that even though we have only known you for a short amount of time, we really enjoy having you around, and things have felt weird since we haven’t seen you,” GD explains, his hand still caressing my arm. My heart is racing in my chest as a pink tint crosses my cheeks.

“Really?” I somehow mumble.

“Yes, so I hope you don’t plan on abandoning us soon.” Taeyang teases from the other side of Top.

“So please,” GD adds, “feel free to call us oppa.”

I nod.

“Alright,” Seungri says as he claps his hands and jumps off the couch, “lets get something to eat, I’m starving.”

“Me too,” I whine, “I haven’t eaten since I went to work last night.”As if those words were some kind of insult, all eyes come to me, deep frowns on all their handsome faces.

“What do you mean?”

Confused I just say, “I haven’t eaten since I before I went to work at 11 last night.”

“What time did you get off work?” Tae asks.

“At about 7, right when Top oppa texted me.”

“You haven’t slept all night?” GD’s frown deepens.

I shake my head like a child being scolded.

“We should get you home to sleep,” He says standing up, the others follow suit. I jump up along with them to stop them from packing their things.

“I’m already here and awake,” I say bring all their attention back to me. “Let’s just get some food and than I will go home and go to bed.”

The boys share a look before GD responds with a, “Fine.” With a sigh of relief I plop back down and watch them collect their things to go. With in a few minutes the guys are ready and leading me to the exit. Their female manager is waiting by the door, stopping me but inadvertently stopping the guys as well who aren’t okay with leaving me behind.

“She can’t leave at the same time as you guys, you go a head and we will fallow.” She says shooing them away with her hand and a glare. When the guys are gone in their car and most of the fans are gone the manager and I sneak to her car in the parking lot. I get into the passengers seat while she throws her bag in the back before climbing into the drivers seat. We drive in silence for the first few minutes; I take the time to give her a once over. She’s pretty, very pretty; most likely a couple years older than Top. Her wavy black hair ends just above her breasts, neat and perfectly styled. In a nice pant suit she is the perfect woman.

“Are you planning on having sex with any of them?” She asks bluntly, never taking her eyes off the road. I’m so taken back by the question I don’t even respond, just stare at her, dumbstruck. When I don’t answer she looks over at me. “Yes or no?”

“No, I don’t plan on sleeping with any of them,” I say honestly, not that I would say no if they offered. She nods.

“They really like you,” She adds, “I don’t know whether or not it’s romantically or just friendly but they have been trying to find time to see you since we’ve been back.”

This time, I nod.

“They don’t really like fan meetings to be honest. Don’t get me wrong, they love seeing their fans but they are busy men and they usually like to use this time to rest but the moment I said where the meeting would be they all agreed. Thank you for that I guess.” She glances over at me with a small smile. “I have feeling we will be seeing a lot more of each other from the way they talk about you, so feel free to call me manager unni.”

“I’m Charlie.”

“I know. You should get the boys to call you something else, like a nickname. Something not connected to your real name incase they start talking about you to someone else. We don’t want fans finding out about you.”

I just nod again, her words floating around my mind. They talk about me, a lot apparently. I find myself smiling at that. I’m not 100% sure what is going on and how I ended up in big bang’s manager’s car, being told that I’m kind of like their new best friend but I’m too happy to question it.

We pull up to a nice restaurant in downtown Seoul. She doesn’t park, just pulls up the curb, “The boys will be waiting inside, just tell the guy inside your name and he will lead you to them. This serves lots of idols so secrecy is not a problem here, the boys will take you home since there aren’t any fans where the idols park.”

“Thank you manager unni.”

She gives me a pretty smile, “You better be careful with those boys Charlie, I don’t know what kind of magic potion you gave them to make them this interested in you but I think you gave them too much.” She teases before driving away.

[lalka-laski]

Survey Fun

What’s the weather like right now? Unusually warm for January in Upstate New York. But my walk to work this morning was lovely and I only had to wear a spring jacket, so I’ll take it!  What are you currently sitting on? An office chair. How many times have you brushed your teeth today? Just once, it’s only 7 am. 

When did you get up? 5:45. I woke up just a few minutes before my alarm, which is uncharacteristic of me. I’ve been sleeping soundly the entire night lately and waking up refreshed! I always thought restful sleep was a scam but I’m becoming a believer! 

Have you been in a vehicle for more than 45 minutes today? I haven’t been in a vehicle for quite a few days actually. Perks of the pedestrian life! 

Where is your best friend? My lifelong best friend lives in Pittsburgh.  How many days until Christmas? It’s January 11th so you can do the math  Have you kissed someone today? I have not  Is your mom over 50? 50 and some change. Maybe 55? I should know this...  How old were you 7 years ago? 20. OH GOD! This was not the kind of realization I needed today.  Do you know what ‘C'est la vie’ means? I do. And I can’t read or hear that phrase without “C’est la vie” by B*Witched running through my head. The ‘90s were strange.  Do you usually take showers or baths? Showers recently because my current bathtub isn’t really fit for a proper soak. (Hasn’t stopped me from trying though...) One of my requirements for my future house is a nice bathtub. What kind of bottoms are you wearing right now? Black jeggings with a tummy control panel that I have to say doesn’t work that great. 

Are you wearing anything red? My nails What was the name of your first pet? Beanie the bunny!  Do you live in an apartment? I do, and a fairly decent one at that. I’m happy! What color is the floor in the room you’re in? It’s not one distinguishable color but rather an array of earth tones.  What was the most irritating thing to happen to you today? Knock on wood, the day’s been calm and stress free so far. Granted, I’ve only been at work for an hour and only seen 2 clients BUT... it’s a nice start. How do you feel about your most recent ex? I don’t think about him anymore, and for that I am grateful.  Do you wish at 11:11? Sometimes just for fun.  Do you wish on shooting stars? Once as a kid I was sitting in my backyard the night before an end-of-the-school-year picnic. I saw a shooting star and I wished that I would win a game of Bingo at the picnic. And the next day, I did! So as far as I’m concerned, shooting star wishes have a 100% success rate and that is not debatable ok. 

Do you wish on dandelions? I do! I like the whimsical fun of it.   Are you drinking anything right now? I just finished a coffee and now I’m sipping water. I rotate between water, sparkling water and coffee throughout my work days. The bathroom trips are INCESSANT!  About how tall is your father? It’s funny, everyone assumes he’s 6′ or taller, but he’s really only about 5′10. He’s just such a large man and has a very big, intimidating presence so he appears taller than he is.  How old is your oldest living grandparent? Mid-80s.  Do you know anyone who has lived to be 100+? My maternal grandfather’s mother lived ‘till her late 90s if I’m not mistaken. Which was pretty unprecedented for her era. I could see my grandpa living ‘till 100 himself. And his wife (my grandma) just might as well despite her decaying health, because as my mom says “evil never dies.”  Have you had your birthday yet this year? Not for another 7 months!  Do you read your horoscope on a regular basis? I don’t, but I still find astrology interesting. I view it less as dogma and more as a tool for self-discovery and introspection. And I think people who want to criticize the validity of it need to lighten up a little!

Do you like the color yellow? It’s one of my least favorites actually. I NEVER wear yellow apparel or accessories, and I’m not even fond of it for decor/knick knacks etc. Something about it, I dunno... 

Are you an aunt or uncle? My boyfriend has a niece and nephew that I refer to as my own. And they will technically be someday, so better to just get in the habit now I suppose! Why is your best friend your best friend? It was destiny, if I’m honest. What is your hair like at the moment? I have it piled into a hair-clip. This hairstyle paired with my glasses give me a real librarian vibe, but not in a sexy way.  How many times have you donated blood this year? This calendar year, none. Last year I believe I donated once? I try to as much as possible. It’s such a simple act of charity. Plus, you usually get a tee shirt or something out of it! Are you wearing any jewelry? My claddagh & my promise ring (we call it “the placeholder).  Are you a video-gamer? We never had any kind of gaming consoles or devices growing up. Not because we weren’t allowed, but because they simply never interested us. I did like a few PC games though as a kid. Carmen Sandiego is still my bitch!  Who got married at the last wedding you went to? My good friend Sarah Do you like Chinese food? I do! I just had some mock Sesame Chicken the other day and it was bomb.  How far is the nearest Walmart? A little less than a 10 minute drive from here, I think. Have you ever been a designated driver? Never. And not only for the obvious reason that I don’t have a license. Even if I did, I wouldn’t want that responsibility. When I go out, I GO OUT.  What is something that always brings tears to your eyes? Looking at pictures of my “babies” (the little girls I nanny or my goddaughter). I sometimes can’t even talk about them without getting a little crack in my voice. My love for them is just outrageous.  Who is your 20th phone contact? If you really think I’m picking up my phone and counting... Do you have any plans to get a tattoo? I used to have a list of potential tattoos but looking back, I’m grateful I never followed through with any. I’m maxed out at one tat.  Or a new piercing? None.

What would your name be if your last name was the color of your shirt? Black. Elizabeth Black, hmm... doesn’t suit me at all. If you could find out how you would die, would you want to know? ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT.  Do you make your bed regularly? I lazily make it. By that I mean, I prop the pillows against the headboard, lay the comforter flat and then strategically toss the throw blankets across it. It’s the perfect effortless-but-actually-required-some-effort look.  Do you look forward to the weekend? It’s Saturday right now and I am living for it!  How much do you know about the mechanics of cars? Not a damn thing. Has anyone ever told you you should be a model? Actually, yeah. But I don’t get those comments anymore and I’ll try to pretend that’s not result of my weight gain...  How old was your mom when she had you? 27 I believe? Which is the exact age I am right now, so this has been a fun survey *eye roll*  Do rainy days get you down? No, I adore them! Who is the artist/band you’re listening to at the moment? Just the instrumental office music right now. But lately I’ve been LOVING Blood Orange.  Do you ever take aspirin when you 'feel a headache coming on’? Occasionally. I only really get headaches when I’m hungover so it’s not often.  Is there a calendar in the room you’re in? Nope. Do you prefer to be in a relationship or be single? I’m in a beautiful and healthy relationship right now so, that should answer it.  If you’re single, do you wish you were in a relationship? Have you ever had your heart broken? Plenty of times  Do you live within an hour of the beach? I do! For Upsate NY we have a pretty good selection of beaches. How do you like your steak? I don’t. Were you born in the 1980s? I WISH

[canaryatlaw]

mmmmm I’m in a bad mood because I have really bad cramps right now that are not being resolved with advil and a heating pad and the thingy is recharging and UGH I hate this, but today was alright I guess. I woke up at 11:30 and started getting ready which I accomplished in like half an hour but had allotted another half hour before having to leave so I just sat and ate a bagel and chilled for a bit (I still have a few bagels left in the freezer). around 12:30 I got an uber and took it downtown. The ride was fine and generally quiet until we were in the midst of traffic downtown and I was just like “driving downtown is actually the worst” and the driver just laughed and agreed. I got dropped shortly afterwards, surveyed the building right across from the court building, and then ended up walking around the block before finding a suitable starbucks to chill in until the interview. Once I did I got my usual drink and chilled out until I headed over. I get to the office and am greeted by the administrative assistant I had been emailing/talking to on the phone about scheduling the interview. There’s also another man sitting in the waiting area, probably in his 50s. They wanted my license and ARDC card to copy so I gave them those, the other man was then called into one of the rooms and started to be interviewed, so I figured he was probably being interviewed for the same job as me, and based on his age he’s probably significantly more experienced than me. I can actually hear what he’s saying through the door at first, talking about how he used to be an ASA and yeah, he’s got way more experience than me. And again, this is an interview I only got because I got someone highly ranked in the office to vouch for me. But shortly after that I was called into another room to be interviewed. It was all very formal, they had a set list of questions that they were asking every candidate that they said they could repeat but couldn’t clarify just so everything was fair. Okay, if that’s how you want to do it fine. Of course the first question is why do you want to be a public defender? so I started talking about growing up with my dad as a criminal defense attorney and him instilling in us that everybody deserves a defense and that without defense attorneys the justice system would crumble and constitutional rights violations would be rampant, all that good stuff to smooze over the fact that I don’t actually particularly want to be a public defender. so I talked about my experience and did my best to relate it back to them, talking bout the child welfare system and how it could be improved, but then I had to sort of flip that on its head because they asked what crimes or areas of crime I would like to avoid being involved in and I was totally upfront about not wanting to ever be stationed at the public defender’s child welfare division because the public defender is the only person in the courtroom whose goal is something other than the best interest of the child and I do not feel I could zealously represent my client (that’s legalese) if I felt it was not in the best interest of the child. so I was kinda glad I was able to state that so naturally and didn’t have to just come out with it because I wanted to tell them, I’d rather be up front now than end up in a terrible situation down the line. But yeah other than that it was pretty standard, a decent interview I would say. When I was walking out there were more candidates waiting, all of whom at least looked to be older than me by some degree, so I guess I can take that for what it’s worth. I decided to take the bus home rather than ubering again since it was right there, so that took me about an hour to get home. I got changed into more comfortable clothes and ended up just sitting down and watching the news for a while, and during this time looked up options for getting birth control online because I am so fucking sick of these cramps!!! and it looks like I got one figured out that should be sending me some soon (it was actually really easy?? like thank you god) so hopefully that will help since I’m currently in cramp hell. So I was just chilling until Jess texted me that he was home from work and we could head over to the nail place next to the breakfast place we were gonna try. They were open till 8 and it was 6:30 on a Tuesday night so there was only one other customer there who finished pretty quickly, and they had two staff members working so that worked out well. We were initially gonna wait till this weekend but Jess had messaged me earlier that she had anxiously peeled all her nail polish off and wanted to know if we could go tonight so I said sure 😂 the idea was to get colors for C2E2 cosplays, so I ended up with a light purple that I’m hoping with match the Ariel pajama t-shirt for my Saturday cosplay (still not sure what I’ll end up doing for Sunday, but atm I’m leaning towards Bombshells Lois since I switched out a lot of elements of it since last wearing it). So that was good, they were playing Legally Blonde 2 on the tv which I had not watched in a very long time, and it was honestly pretty cringeworthy lol. I much prefer the musical to the original movie, and seeing this version of Elle just didn’t feel right to me, I feel like the movie version is portrayed as much too ditzy and frankly annoying while the musical version has a lot more depth given to her and genuinely has the audience rooting for her. So that was interesting to see. After we finished we walked down the street to the main stretch of restaurants, we were gonna go to the arcade restaurant because it was the closest place we could get cheese curds (I mean the gay bar is right there too but now we’re always concerned about getting trapped there for god knows how long lol) but they were closed for some reason, so we ended up walking down to the Irish pub that makes the best fucking cheese curds, I always forget how good they are because all cheese curds are good, but these things are the best fucking shit you can get. So we very much enjoyed that, since it’s the week of st patrick’s day I went ahead and got their special entree of corned beef and cabbage, it was good but the corned beef was very salty so I didn’t finish all of it. After we finished eating we headed to our respective apartments and I spent a while addressing the envelopes for the autographs we got from the con to send to people so I can do that tomorrow. Should be a lot better than last time because this time they’re all US addresses, instead of the majority being international, so hopefully it will be a lot less painful 😂😂 but yeah, I basically just chilled and watched tv for a bit before starting to get ready for bed and now I am here and I am tired, I am legitimately excited to sleep in tomorrow so I think I’m gonna get to that now. Goodnight loves. Hope your week’s been pretty good so far.

[rucbarthatbowtiesarecooldw]

December 23rd Christmas Devotional

Matthew 2:1-2

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

With Wondering Awe

1. With wond'ring awe the wisemen saw The star in heaven springing, And with delight, in peaceful night, They heard the angels singing:

(Chorus) Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to his name!

2. By light of star they traveled far To seek the lowly manger, A humble bed wherein was laid The wondrous little Stranger.

3. And still is found, the world around, The old and hallowed story, And still is sung in ev'ry tongue The angels' song of glory:

4. The heav'nly star its rays afar On ev'ry land is throwing, And shall not cease till holy peace In all the earth is growing.

Big Wheel Truckstop

In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone. The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two. Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared. Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds. He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.

Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either. If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it. I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress. I loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.

The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town. No luck. The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince whomever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.. Still no luck.

The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had been converted to a truck stop. It was called the Big Wheel.

An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids. She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning. She paid 65 cents an hour and I could start that night. I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people. I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.

That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel. When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money – fully half of what I averaged every night.

As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage. The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home. One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires! There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires. Had angels taken up residence in Indiana? I wondered.

I made a deal with the local service station. In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office. I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.

I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn’t enough. Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids. I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning. Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.

On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. These were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe. A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine. The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up.

When it was time for me to go home at seven o’clock on Christmas morning I hurried to the car. I was hoping the kids wouldn’t wake up before I managed to get home and get the presents from the basement and place them under the tree. (We had cut down a small cedar tree by the side of the road down by the dump.) It was still dark and I couldn’t see much, but there appeared to be some dark shadows in the car – or was that just a trick of the night? Something certainly looked different, but it was hard to tell what.

When I reached the car I peered warily into one of the side windows. Then my jaw dropped in amazement. My old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes. I quickly opened the driver’s side door, scrambled inside and knelt in the front facing the back seat.

Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans. Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes: There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes. There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was a whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.

As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude. And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.

Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop.

[shreyasken]

The Fallback

As usual, Apu woke up at 6:45 am. He checked his phone and realised that this is the first out of the three alarms he schedules on a weekday. One at 6:45 am, next at 7, and the last one at 7:15. 7:15 - that is the deadline for him to get up, otherwise he will be late for gym.

He pressed the snooze button and drifted back to sleep, thinking he will get up with the next alarm. He does as well. 7 am - good time to wake up. He got out of the bed, and folded his quilt. Then he held the loft, and pushed his body forward. The folding and the stretching are important to him. They lighten him up; motivate him for his next routine.

Thereafter, he brushed his teeth and undressed. He looked at himself in the full-length mirror, assured that yes, he is losing weight. He wore a light tee and basketball shorts, and walked towards the kitchen. Eating some dry fruits, he contemplated on getting a cup of black coffee. 'Caffeine early in the morning gives you an adrenaline kick, and makes you work harder than expected at the gym' - he had read somewhere. He decided against it, and started walking to the gym.

On one of these routine days, he correlated this walk to various sequences of a regular movie. Starting at his apartment - calm, peaceful, birds chirping around. Then a left turn, and here comes the butchers’ lane. The whole lane is lined up with meat selling shops (full of hues and cries of the animals) and garbage. These animals in the cages, as a collective, do not have an emotion. Some of them are not anticipating anything, as they do not know how a free animal’s life is supposed to be. But some of them have caught a glimpse of their friends getting cut into pieces, and are worried if today is their day. The shop owners do not sympathize with these animals. They are fresh, happy, and are looking forward to the day with a cup of tea in their hands. The sentiment of this road (according to Apu’s the-trip-to-gym-resembles-a-movie) is chaos, confusion and tension. This lane leads to the main road, wherein many humans appear. They are waiting at the bus stop, driving their cars, or are running towards their workplaces. This road represents the movie's high-paced climax, involving a million sidekicks of the villain and the hero, who tears every obstacle apart and reaches to his destination (in this case the gym). The gym, located in a quiet area, represents the end of the movie - beautiful scenery, happy people, and a better future. 

However, understand that Apu does not go through the whole emotional cycle everyday. This was a one-off thought. On a regular day, he plugs in his earphones and listens to his three favorite songs - ‘Alright’ by Kendrick Lamar, ‘Run the Jewels’ by Run the Jewels, and ‘These Walls’ again by Lamar. You might think that he listens to these high-energy songs to prepare himself for the gym, but that’s not the case. They do not affect him. Lately, nothing affects him at all, and that is what he has been aiming for from a long time.

The gym session is exhaustive and dreadful. In Apu's head it is a drag, but he tries to be optimistic about it. Apu is not a healthy guy, so he wears out in the first 20 minutes. The remaining 40-50 minutes is just pushing himself till the workout regime ends. The best thing to come out of the gym for Apu is going back home, looking at himself in the mirror again, and drinking his protein shake.

He then gets ready for work, and reaches office by 9:45. The 15 minutes early arrival is to eat breakfast at the office pantry. Work is good - Apu enjoys what he does, and gives in a 100%. He speaks to his colleagues politely, and keeps everything organised. His work, demanding and challenging, takes up around sixty percent of his work hours. The rest of his workday is spent in different activities - stalking people on social media, observing his females colleagues, and thinking about what would happen if he quit today.

People at his office start heading home at 6 sharp. Apu heads a vertical at the company, and has eight people working under him - young kids, fresh out of college. He does not want to portray himself as a strict superior, more of a ‘chill boss’ vibe. He never instructs the kids to stay back and work overtime, overachieve their targets. Everyone heads out of the office, except a few people including him. He reads, browses the Internet, and checks if there is any new email in his work folder to respond to.

Back home at 7:30 pm, he lies down on his bed for a while. The same questions cloud his head.

What the hell did I do all day today? Total waste!

Why am I doing this to myself?

Am I happy living this life?

Should I find a girl for myself? Life would be way more cheerful then. 

Maybe I need to relax. It’s just a matter of time. I will get into that business school I applied at, and then America! 

Let’s calm ourselves down. No need to find a girl for yourself. You are happy living alone. You love solitude.

Concentrate on 3 things right now - health, work, and dating. And B-school. Yes, 4 things.

9 pm. Wow, I wasted over ninety fucking minutes on these thoughts! Seriously need to get a life.

Dinner is another time consuming activity. Not having a cook makes things a little difficult for him. Either order some food, or eat some oats. Let’s order some food. I have eaten enough oats.

By 10:30 pm, Apu is ready to sleep. A good night’s sleep is necessary for him to perform at gym the next day.

Very important to go to the gym.

But he stays up till 11 pm, reading a book. This year he has promised himself to read two books a month - a whopping twenty-four books in the whole year! He is a bit behind schedule, but that’s ok. The trilogy is taking a bit of time, and maybe he can count it as three books instead of one.

What a beautiful fuckin’ life.  

** 

“Hey man! Come for dinner tonight. Birthday was on Tuesday, so thought will throw a party tonight.”

“Perfect! Will be there!”

Wow, he turned 28 this year! Time flies fast! I remember meeting this dude when we were 15 or something.

Yes, time flies fast. Look at Apu himself – He had the whole plan chalked out. Get out of college, work for two years, then write the management examination. Go to the best business school, work at a consulting firm for some time, and then move to the USA with wifey and kids. Though, things did not exactly move this way. He went through a boring desk job for 4 years. In this tenure he wrote the management examination twice, and failed every time. His girlfriend broke up with him because of his desk job and the delay in the career move. He quit shortly after, and moved to a small company. He and his girlfriend got back together for sometime, but broke up again.

Not her fault. She was not happy. I am taking too much time in moving up the corporate ladder.

Actually, the corporate ladder is fine. The ‘ladder of life’ would be a better description. Yes, I am taking a lot of time moving up the ladder of life.

People won’t wait for me. I need to make things happen. I need discipline, focus, and determination.

And hence, the rigorous schedule. 

At the dinner, Apu is cheerful. It’s been long since he met his friends who live in this part of the city. I should meet these guys often. We have seen so much together.

The friend initiates some small talk. “So how is it going? Work and life? All good?”

“Yeah, all ok.” Apu talks about his work. Then he mentions his daily schedule - how he is an early riser, and manages working out before work. He also talks about his personal life and the creative habits he is into post work hours.

“Wow. You get free by 7? That is unbelievable. I get done with work by 10, sometimes even 10:30!"

“Me too!” said the girl sitting next to him. The pretty one. 

“Yeah man. I have never seen the city at 10 actually. You know how it is at Investment Banking. I have a lot on my plate, so I usually get out of office around 11!” said the fat guy with the spectacles. 

“Hmm. Yes, I have some liberties. It is easy to finish work and get out of office early. Though my last job was tough - just like you guys.” Apu says. 

He realised he should not have said this. Why am I justifying? It is good to get free early and go home. Do something productive, creative. Why do not people understand that?  

Or is it? Maybe my job is not that great! What am I doing anyway? The company does not even make a difference in the lives of more than 50 people on this planet. Wow, I am clearly not doing enough.

Apu books a cab and goes back home, a bit remorseful about the whole evening. The cab driver was listening to some Hindi radio channel.

"Can you turn the volume down a bit?" Apu asks the driver. 

"Oh, sure sir." The music almost fades out.

The next morning, the first alarm buzzes. Fuck it.  

Then the next one goes abuzz. Oh c’mon ! Just let me sleep. 

The third one. Just shut the fuck up. I can miss the gym at least a day in the whole week.

First of the many to come.