#i love the hospital gown with bright pink heels so much i had to give it to her

[princescar]

"You’ll Just Have To Taste Me, When He's Kissing You"

[queentargary3n]

unfaithful

Summary: Sakura is surprised to see Sasuke is the senior associate of the firm she is supposed to start working for. All of her feelings start to come back 10 years after he abandoned her. Sasuke finds out somethings are truly never behind you, and when he starts falling back in love with her, his past comes to hunt him. Her biggest issue? He is already married

Sasusaku Fanfic AU Lawyers. M  FF.net     AO3

Chapter 7

“So, where are we going?” She whispered on his ear, getting on the back of his Harley, holding her ball gown up her thighs, arms wrapped around his middle, before she pressed a mischievous kiss on his cheek.

“Party’s over, I’m going home” He responded, with a hint of seriousness in his tone she hadn’t heard in quite some time.  

“I’m coming with!” she chirped, then continued on a mocked seductive voice, “you know what they say about graduation”

He scoffed at her implication, “We’ve already had sex before, Sakura” He explained, trying to rid himself of any feelings she was bringing up in him, to get out of going home with her, to remember his plans. Knowing if he waited longer, she’d end up changing his mind and making him stay. That just wouldn’t do.

“Yes, but it’s expected! we might have lost our virginities a loooong long time ago” She explained between drunken giggles, taking another sip of the small flask of alcohol they sneaked into their graduation party. “Still, expected it is, and we shall not disappoint! Come on, my parents are not expecting me tonight”

“Fine, let’s go” He relented. He would have to do this the hard way.

She didn’t even question him when he took roads that lead nowhere near his home or hers, assuming, since it was a special night, they were heading to a hotel or something. But when he pulled over the side of the empty highway, and held her hand into his shaky one, she finally wondered, “Sasuke-kun… what’s going on?”

“I’m leaving” He said sternly.

“Where… why?” She asked, shivering when the cold wind caressed her bare shoulders.

He took off the blazer she had forced him to wear to the party over his jeans and t-shirt, since he’d refused to wear a tux, and wrapped it around her, taking one last selfish moment to kiss her forehead, before getting back on his bike and revving it up to speed away.

“Sasuke-kun wait! please don’t leave…” She screamed behind him. Watching as the lights of his motorcycle faded in the distance, her tears felt cold against her face, clouding her vision from the last glance he gave to her. To the beautiful girl, in a bright shinny gown, whose heart he’d just broken.

She felt lost, scared, and alone in the highway that promised nothing more than a long way home, with no one to come back to her. She didn’t know how much time it passed before she started making her way back, nor did she know how long she walked before she reached the corner of their street, where Sasuke’s now abandoned house stood, dark and imposing as the boy himself.

It was then, as she looked into the former Uchiha household that her sadness turned to anger. The numbness that masked the pain she felt from her bleeding blisters, started to fade away. She took off her heels in anger and threw them at the front facing window of his house.

The sound of shattering glass was so loud, it echoed in her ears even as she woke up from her vivid nightmare. She almost thought someone had broken into her apartment as the sound felt so real, the dream so convincing she actually felt as if she was walked all those hours to reach her home.

Her ability to remember details and facts always surprised other people. Sakura always had a knack for memorizing. But this didn’t feel like remembering, this dream felt as if she was reliving one of the most traumatic events of her life, she thought it must be some kind of karmic punishment.

She was fully awake then, much too early for her liking on that Saturday morning, considering the sun wasn’t even up by then, still she was unable, as much a she tried, to go back to sleep, she thought she might as well take advantage of the early start, thinking of the mountain of documents she had procrastinated in completing during the week, on account of all the drama she had to deal with her new employer.

She also remembered she had pending work in the case Naruto had assigned her to. After her glorious day at court, she received a ridiculous settlement offer for her client, so pathetic it must’ve definably be a delay tactic by prosecutors office, she denied it without consulting either Sasuke or the defendant, still she had to draft a counter proposal, which she had also postponed.  

So, she decided to take a run before that, to get rid of the jitters that had her practically bouncing up and down. She put on her sneakers and took off as fast as she could, trying to leave her anxieties behind with every step. She continued until she felt breathless, and her lungs ached in the wake of that cold morning, she noticed  was closer to the building where the firm was located than to her apartment, by that point she decided it made no sense to go back, if the documents she needed were only a few miles away.

She was covered in sweat by the time she reached the office building, her pink tresses sticking uncomfortably to her neck, she had really pushed herself this time, her legs felt unpleasantly numb, lungs practically burning, she wondered how unprofessional it would be if someone were to see her like that.

Ino had explained to her that the office was mostly empty during the weekends, with the exception of the whichever assistant was scheduled to keep watch. So, she pushed the thought of her disheveled appearance out of her mind, it’s still so early and I’ll definitely just be in and out in a flash, she thought.

The offices were open, but every light was off, and no one was at the front desk, since the clocks were barely hitting 6:30am she paid no mind to it. Turning all the lights on as she stepped in, she made a mental note to bring in some flowers and plants to brighten her office up a little, the minimalistic style was much too sterile for her liking.

She threw herself into her pending work, typing almost furiously a much more decent amount for the settlement of her proposal, being a doctor herself, she knew reputation was very important for a surgeon, so she factored in a public apology from the hospital board to Dr. Senju. She was in the zone, although having to wear business attire and heels every day instead of comfortable shoes and scrubs was annoying, she couldn’t deny the fact that negotiations made being an attorney almost as exciting as performing surgery.

Her flow was interrupted by the sudden appearance of red hair behind her laptop, one hand at her hip, the other one holding her expensive purse, Karin stood right in front of her desk, “What are YOU doing here?” she asked. The way she enunciated YOU brought only one word to Sakura’s head. Vicious.

“Sorry Uchiha-san” Sakura said. “I just had some work to do, I didn’t think anyone was in, I didn’t mean to scare you”

“You don’t scare me” Karin replied, although pleased at how Sakura addressed her by her husband’s last name, she couldn’t help when her insecurities towards the pinkette bubbled up inside of her.

It was Karin’s turn to man the office, and although she usually didn’t, she decided to show up that weekend. She woke up before Sasuke did, her actions keeping her up during the night. She couldn’t bear to look at him, knowing that without an actual reason, she had rat him out and without having anywhere else to go at that time, she showed up at the office on whim. She didn’t expect to see Sakura already at the office, typing away with self-satisfied smile on her face.

“Ah… that’s not what I meant…” Sakura said, a drop of sweat rolling down her forehead.

“Whatever just turn off the lights before you leave” Karin answered before she continued, rolling her eyes.

“Okay, no worries, say hi to Sasuke for me” Sakura told her.

That riled her up. That seemingly innocent comment hit her like a slap to the face, she knew what she was doing, Karin was sure. She was going to destroy everything she had work to build with Sasuke Did she even know what she was doing to her and her husband? She pursed her lips and turned to walked away in anger, the clacking of her heels loud in the empty space.

It occurred to Karin then, that she hadn’t had the opportunity to give Sakura the keys to the office. Of course, for security, the entrance to the practice was controlled by card access with their badges. But if the doors were to be locked from the outside… well.

She only hoped that would send Sakura the message, I know what you’re doing, stay away from my husband or I’ll make your life a living hell. She locked the front glass gate that stood between the lobby and the elevator, where the badge reader was located. Of course, she could still take the back stairs and get out of the building, but with it being a weekend the lights of the staircase would be off, lite only by the red glow of the emergency exit signs. The thought of a scared Pinkette, running down 20 flights of stairs in the dark amused her, reminiscent of the days she worked for Orochimaru. Terrifying people to do one’s bidding was a habit she never quite got rid of.

Sakura continued her work, trying to get the image of Karin practically storming off on her. Was it something I said? She wondered. Once she completed the official counteroffer, she emailed it to Sasuke, Naruto, and Dr. Senju, along with the original proposal, explaining in the body of the email, how insulting the offer was, and that she had, of course, rejected it a soon as it came her way, listing in detail why it was unacceptable in the first place. She only hoped, Sasuke and Naruto wouldn’t be upset at her taking the initiative, being a newly hired employee of the firm.

She then immersed herself into the documents that were required of her, as a newly hired attorney, thousands of pages of contracts, and confidentiality agreements, non-compete clauses that she had to read carefully and sign, and date, and initial, over and over again. Sakura continued up to the point that when raising her eyes, she saw lines of letters ingrained into her sight. The sunset disconcerted her, how many hours had she actually spent reading boring contracts if she arrived even before the sun had risen in the first place? This was supposed to be an in and out thing!

She saved her documents and shut down her computer, finally making her way home from her long and unexpected work hours. She dreaded the fact that she would have to walk back all the way to her apartment, deciding instead to call for a ride. She patted her body in search for her phone, freaking out for a millisecond before she remembered where it was, at home in the purse she failed to grab before going for a run. She sighed at her own forgetfulness, how she could memorize complete volumes of law and medical books but forget to do simple things like bringing her phone with her and locking doors was beyond her.  

Turning off the lights, Sakura walked over to the elevator and tried to push open the glass panel doors that separated it from the lobby. It wouldn’t bulge. What’s going on?!

She walked over to the emergency exit to the stairs, resenting the additional physical activity on her already exhausted body. She tried to push the door open, and again it didn’t move. What the actual FUCK! Emergency exits should never be bloqued!! She thought. What am I going to do? Great day to forget you phone Sakura.

X

Sasuke woke up to a killer hangover, lips parched painfully, eyes refusing to adjust to the sunlight, his usual migraine amplified to the thousandth. He stood up from the living room couch where he had passed out the night before, his neck was sore from having slept in a weird position, as nice as the black leather couch was, an expensive purchase made by Karin, it didn’t actually made a comfortable seat, let alone makeshift bed.

He marched to the kitchen, dragging his bare feet on the cherrywood floors, and drank as much water as he could stomach to soothe his hangover thirst. The apartment seemed eerily quiet. Although the flat was large enough for both of them to do their respective activities without  interrupting the other’s, he always managed to catch some kind of noise from his wife, be it the tv from her bedroom, or the inessive buzzing from her always incoming text messages and calls, still the apartment was completely silent, which meant she was not home.

Downing a couple aspirin for his headache and grabbing pajamas and fresh sheets from the linen closet, he went into his home office and laid down on the couch in there, much softer and comfortable than the living room’s, but still not a bed. He thought it was about time he purchased a bed for himself, given they almost never sleep in the same one, even less willing now that he found out about her bedroom activities. He always thought it disrespectful, buying a second bed when his wife expected him on the same room, but he figured it didn’t matter much now.

He looked up at the ceiling, trying and failing to close his eyes and go back to sleep. He remembered the night before with the kind of accuracy he could expect from how drunk he was. Still, a couple of things stood up, the soft touch of Sakura’s fingers coating his cheek with ointment, the shy look in her eyes as she very unexpectedly apologized, her so very beautiful laugh when he, much to his own sober embarrassment, requested her to call him ‘Sasuke-kun’.

She made him feel as if the last 10 years hadn’t happened, like no time had passed and they were just two teenagers together. The feeling of a thousand birds in his stomach, brought by thinking of her, prevented him from relaxing and going to sleep like he initially wanted.

So, he undressed again, putting on a pair of jeans and t-shirt and made plans for his day, go out and get something to eat, call his trainer and get some much needed time at the gym, and then if he had the energy for it, get some work done. He grabbed his training bag and headed out from the apartment. The sun at its highest point indicated that he had sleep past noon, despite of how tired he actually felt.

By the time he was done training, martial arts being the only thing that ever truly relaxed him, he sat in the parking smoking a cigarette, the clock marking already 7 pm, and for the first time in the day looked over at his phone. Lot’s text messages from Naruto, as he expected, mostly containing things like pictures from his baby boy doing something cute, an email from Sakura titled settlement offer and counteroffer and missed call from the office.

She must have some problem with the proposal and finally decided to get help… he thought. It wouldn’t hurt to go into the office now and catch up with the case.

He didn’t like to be out of the loop, especially considering how public this case already was. He drove to the building, expecting to find it dark and empty as it usually was during the weekends.

He nodded in greeting to the only security guard on site and made his way toward the firm. Walking out of the elevator and opening the locked glass gate, he noted how the only light on was coming from his own office, he didn’t give it much thought before he went over and encountered a sight, he was sure to never forget.

Sakura was on the floor of his office, dressed in tight leggings and a lose shirt that hung loosely around her chest and revealed her stomach and tiny sports bra. She was bent over, pink locks hanging above her head and reaching the floor, legs straight displaying her backside to him, in a position he vaguely recognized as a yoga pose.

He almost choked on his own saliva at the sight. He coughed to clear his throat, causing the pinkette to lose balance and drop to the floor startled.

“Sasuke-kun!! I’m so glad you’re here!” She yelled, jumping back to her feet and readjusting her shirt, before she practically threw herself at him, hugging him in excitement, to which he only froze. He could feel the heat spreading to the back of his neck, needless to mention the heat in other areas at the contact.

“Sa.. sa… Sakura, what are you doing…” He stuttered, unable to gather his thoughts.

“Sorry, I took a nap and your office is the only one that has a couch, but it was so uncomfortable, I was just stretching now” She answered taking a step back in embarrassment at her own reaction. She was just so relieved to be saved from actually spending the night in.

Still unclear with that explanation, he asked, “But why are you here?”

“Am… I came over to do some work, but I was locked in… I couldn’t leave… The emergency exit is locked too! Such a hazard by the way!” She offered in return.

“The front door doesn’t lock from the inside” He asked in confusion, someone else had to lock the door from the outside for her to become trapped in.

“Yeah… Karin was here, she must have locked the door by mistake” Sakura explained, since it had happened to her a couple of times, locking doors by mistake when your head is somewhere else, was something that happened to Sakura all too often, especially on her car. Even so, she couldn’t shake the feeling she had pissed off Karin for some reason, maybe Sasuke told her about how she punched him right in the face a couple of days ago, maybe she was annoyed because she was expecting an apology too.

Sasuke only sighed in response. He pinched the bridged of his nose in annoyance. Why his wife felt the need the need to do things like this he never knew.

“And you’re okay?” He asked, bringing the subject back to the matter at hand. “Why didn’t you call anyone?”

“I did! I called the security office, no one answered, it’s terrible by the way if this were a real emergency, someone could’ve gotten hurt, lawsuit waiting to happen!” She responded, causing a confused look from Sasuke. “I called anyone whose phone I have memorized, but no answers, and I forgot my phone at home too”

Sasuke pulled out his phone, remembering the missed call he had from the office earlier. “You called me too?” He asked her.

“Yeah… I didn’t actually have your cellphone so….” She said, and Sasuke noticed how her face went blue all of the sudden, sweat dropping off her forehead. “I found your card in one of your drawers” Sakura told him, pointing at his desk.

“You went through my desk?” Sasuke asked her, a small smile playing on his face that betrayed the annoyed tone he was trying to portray. She must have not noticed thought, since her cheeks blushed scarlet red as she fiddled with her thumbs and started to explain.

“Yes… Sorry I was desperate! I didn’t know what else to do! It was the only thing I saw I promise!”

Sasuke was amused at her embarrassment, he couldn’t look at her with a straight face as she was muttering excuses about how his business card was the first thing she saw when opening the desk drawer, and how she didn’t look into anyone else’s. It made him glad, since while it would’ve made much more sense to look into Yamanaka’s desk for phone numbers, she only thought of him when she needed help, but he didn’t voice those thoughts, instead he asked, “How long have you been here?”

“Since 6am… I didn’t actually notice I was locked in until a few of hours ago thought, I was reading over some materials and got distracted”

It was so like Sakura to get engrossed in reading and forget about everything else. He couldn’t remember how many times she was late to see him back in the day, because she forgot to get ready while reading some romantic novel she was so engaged in.

“Let’s go then” He said, noticing how late it was.

“Yeah, yup, sure” She stuttered, walking out by his side, staying quiet to avoid embarrassing herself again. She always did say too much when she was with him. His presence completely intimidating as always.

Walking out to the parking lot, he looked around trying to find Sakura’s car among the few left in the building. “How did you get here?” He asked her, already informed that she didn’t bring her phone to call herself a ride.

“Am… I ran” She explained. “I was trying to get some exercise this morning, and I was closer here than to my apartment so…”

“You’ve had quite day” He said, trying to sound as uninterested as he could manage.

“Yeah, no, it wasn’t so bad… I wasn’t” Sakura began, but was interrupted by the loud growling of her empty stomach.

Sasuke chuckled quietly at the sound. “You haven’t eaten” He said, again a statement not a question. He pulled her by the arm, taking her hostage to his car. “Let’s go get you something to eat” He insisted when his pull met resistance.

“I’m fine! I had like 8 cups of coffee” She said.

“Sakura, you’re a doctor, you know skipping meals isn’t healthy” He reprimanded, speaking as if to a small child.

Sakura pouted her lips, she didn’t like to be talked down to. Still she relented, walking over to the passenger side of Sasuke’s car, before that last sentence really resonated in her head. “How did you know that?”

“Know what?” Sasuke asked, already getting inside of his car.

She got inside too, and continued in return, “That… I’m a doctor?”

“Oh… Naruto told me” He mentioned awkwardly. He didn’t want to tell her that most of his conversations with Naruto, and late-night internet searches of late involved only a certain aggressive Pinkette. “When you got hired, for background proposes”

And that was the end of that conversation, with Sakura strangely engrossed in her thoughts while Sasuke mostly basked in the comfortable silent they fell in.

He took her to a fancy restaurant in the middle of downtown, with people mostly dressed in expensive looking dresses and suits. She felt terribly underdressed, with her leggings and lose shirt, that had not too long ago been drenched in sweat. She looked over at Sasuke, who just stood waiting for the maître d to get them to their seats, he was dressed casually in a white v neck shirt and jeans, but he looked stunning, like he someone you would see in the cover of some magazine.

The maître d and waitress definitely noticed, eyeing him down every chance they got, hearts practically shinning in their eyes, as they were handed the menu, which Sasuke took from her hands and returned it to the waitress without letting her look.

“The house steak and cherry tomato salad for the both of us, then the anmitsu for her” He told the waitress without ever looking at her.

“Yes sir” The waitress said, but not before over at Sakura with disgust on her face. Definitely wondering what I’m doing in the presence of someone as handsome as he. Sakura thought.

“Don’t you think I might have wanted to order something different?” She told Sasuke in reproach.

“Do you not like what I ordered…?” He asked, his face completely bank of emotion. He specifically remembered anmitsu being her favorite food, if you could call a bunch of sugar actual food.

“That’s not what I said… just why are you so… bossy?”

“Do you not like it that I’m bossy?” He asked in teasing, flashing her a dashing smirk that made her skin feel tingle. “Besides, aren’t you the one who’s always calling me Boss?”

“Well yeah…” She said, confused by Sasuke’s actions. One day he is amicable but professional, the next day he’s all angry and quiet, frankly an asshole, calling her names and accusing her of sleeping with Naruto, and then seems concerned about her, taking her out to eat and teasing her, some may even call it flirty.

“Have you been diagnosed with bipolar disorder?” Sakura asked suddenly, amazed at her own boldness.

“You’re really annoying you know that?” He told her, “And rude, why would you even ask that”

“Well… because I’m a doctor, and your displaying symptoms commonly associated with multiple personalities” She explained, admittedly she was rude in asking, still his changes in mood definitely gave her whiplash.

“No” Sasuke answered seriously, then stop as the waitress brought down their meal, and asked in a much too friendly manner if there was anything else she could bring him, which he turned down without a pause.

“Eat” He ordered.

“Thanks…” She muttered taking a bite of a small piece of meat, before she glanced over at Sasuke starting with his salad.

“Here, let me” She took his plate from in front of him, and started to cut down the steak for him. She didn’t even know why he’d order something he would have a hard time eating without even asking the waitress to bring it already cut.

“I can do that on my own” He protested but made no move to take the plate back from her.

“I know” She answered non chillingly. “But I want to help”

“Hn” was the only sound he made in return as she handed his plate back.

“So… how did you lose it?” Sakura asked quietly, busying her hands with her salad.

“Lose what?” Sasuke asked, expecting some snarky comment like ‘your mind’, he was well aware of how he’d treated her on the last few days.

“Your arm… I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, I was just curious” She said, waving her hand dismissively, noticing the change in Sasuke’s expression.

He took a moment to consider if he wanted her know the whole story about his arm. Deciding instead to spear her the gory details of his tainted past, he said, “Motorcycle accident, 8 years ago”

Sakura figured that’s all he wanted to say in the matter, so she didn’t press. They continued eating in silence until they finished their dinner, with Sasuke observing Sakura attentively while she made pleasing faces and sounds at the taste of her desert.

Sasuke requested the check, which was promptly brought by the heart-eyed waitress. Sakura look at him with a smile on her face, sugar did put her in a much better mood, he noticed, and extended her hand to take the bill, Sasuke handed it without saying anything but still handed the waitress his credit card.

Sakura only shook her head in disapproval, she opened the check, mentally noting how much she owed for her meal, fully intending to pay Sasuke back for it, when she noted the phone number written down by the waitress. Bold she thought, took the piece of paper and placed in her pocket.

They both got back in the Sasuke’s car and drove away to Sakura’s place.

“You didn’t have to do that you know” She said, trying to look at the road instead of looking at his handsome face.

“It’s nothing” He muttered.

“You didn’t even look at the bill… even after the waitress put so much thought in it” Sakura said in between giggles and placing the check in his hand.

“What?” Sasuke asked in confusion, parking in front of Sakura’s building, taking the paper she was offering and looking at the loopy handwritten phone number. “Bold” He commented.

“Hahaha that’s what I thought too… You’re as popular as always” Sakura said, hand in her face trying to cover her giggles.

“I guess you would know” He told her, sporting his trademark smirk.

“You’re right, maybe I should go back there and give her the link to your fan girl website, wouldn’t want to leave her without the pleasure of your godly image”

He chuckled at her joke, Sasuke’s laughs where rare and infrequent even when he was younger, and they never failed in giving Sakura goosebumps and butterflies in her stomach.

“I really like your laugh” She confessed. “It always does things to my stomach, maybe that’s why I’ve never been able to forget about you”

He instinctively reached out for her arm, pulling her in and clashing his lips against hers. Sakura was stunned for a second before she returned his kiss, pressing gently against his lower lip, her mouth slightly open.

He took advantage to the parting of her lips to begin to kiss her more assertively, his tongue fighting hers for dominance. She reached to grab a handful of inky locks at the nape of Sasuke’s neck and pulled, her kiss almost as aggressive as his.

It was as if he awoke a hunger that she didn’t know still existed inside of her. She needed to get closer, closer until there was no more space between them. She bit his lower lip playfully, to which Sasuke responded only with a predatory growl.

He moved down to the crook of her neck, kissing and biting the tender skin, leaving his mark on her, encouraged by the pleasured gasps that escaped her lips.

“Sakura…” He whispered in her ear before leaving another love bite under it.

That brought her back to reality. She pushed him as hard as she could after she reprimanded with a strong “NO” and got down from the car, slamming the door loudly and running away to the protection of her apartment.

[snarkwrites]

FFT: sweet morning rose; shane walsh

Notes:

So... this is one of my many universes for Evie Grimes, my walking dead original character. Given that I cannot choose between Shane and Daryl to save my life, she has like.. 3? universes with each guy? I know, it’s excessive, yikes. Let me live, damn. Maybe one day I’ll write out at least one each. I toyed with doing a ‘choose your own guy / path’ thing but that’s hard and I’m not sure anyone would even read a basic fic for TWD by me, let alone a complicated one. But maybe. Maybe one day.

Summary:

Shane’s nightmare the night before the apocalypse kicks off has him really taking note of the things that matter.. But will he apply what he’s /seen/ to real life? For now, it seems so.

Pairing:

Shane Walsh x OFC, Evie

Warning:

uhh.. zombies. some vague gore allusions. a Grimes!ofc, and Shane, before he goes darkside.

Hazy morning sunlight filtered in through threadbare plaid curtains and Shane rolled over. When his arm settled over a body next to him, he jolted awake.

The nightmare from the night before was still fresh in his mind. It was all so vivid; so real. Rick in a coma, then a fever hitting and putting a grinding halt to the world as he knew it.. Being forced to choose and making the wrong damn choice.

Evie lie there, and she seemed to feel that he’d woken up, because she was rolling over, curling herself against him, a hand going up to shield her eyes as she grumbled about getting better damn curtains.

Shane couldn’t shake the nightmare, and he got this distinct feeling that he’d had it for a reason. That there was a lesson within.

… don’t take an idiot to figure out the lesson is not let outside people interfere with me an’ Evie… the thought came clear as a bell and Shane sat up, rubbing his eyes. It prompted Evie to sit up, eyeing him in concern.

“You okay?”

“Just one helluva nightmare last night, darlin.”

“About when you were a kid?”

“Nah, this was.. Different. This was worse.”

Evie almost pushed for more details, but something about the look of sheer panic and pain in his eyes stopped her from bringing it up. Instead, she leaned against his back, peppering kisses across his shoulders as she rubbed her hands up and down his arms.

“There’s a game on. Wanna go re heat the pizza from last night and just snuggle up on the couch and watch it?”

Shane grabbed hold of her hips as she slid off the bed, pulling her down into his lap, smoothing hair out of her face as he gave her his most serious look. “You know I love ya, right? That I’m only yer man?”

“Shane, what the hell was that dream about?”

Before they could say anything, an emergency siren went off over at the town hall. They shared a look and Evie went to stand - probably to go look out the door, but Shane grabbed hold of her, putting her behind him. “Stay close.”

“Shane, what’s going on with you? It’s probably just a test.” Evie whispered back. Shane opened the door just barely and peeked out.

The Millers down the street were hurrying to cram their things into the back of an SUV.

A glance up the block showed that other neighbors were doing the same. The sky was bright and sunny, it was a typical Georgia Saturday morning and yet deep down, Shane got the distinct feeling it wasn’t.

He shut the door quickly and leaned against it, pulling Evie against him, staring down at her after breathing in the sweet rose scent of her shampoo. “Darlin, we gotta get our shit an get outta here. I don’t know what’s goin on but all the neighbors are doin it. That can’t be a good sign.”

Evie’s natural response was to try and peer out the window next to the door and when her face went pale and her jaw dropped , her scream echoing through the house, Shane pulled her away from the window, peering out himself.

A little blonde girl in a hospital gown and a pink house robe was shuffling down the block, with half of her face gone, and blood and skin hanging from the part that wasn’t.. She looked like she was chewing on the skin hanging from that side of her mouth and her body was slumped over, the flesh sloughing off as her feet dragged the pavement leaving almost brown bloody trails behind her.

“Evie, we gotta get our asses outta here. We ain’t got time t’ talk about this.”

Evie nodded in response and Shane raced down the hall, back into their bedroom with Evie hot on his heels. He shut the bedroom door, starting to shove his grandma’s old heavy wooden armoire in front of the door, just to be safe.

“She bit that kid… She just walked up and bit him..” Evie was pale, shaking and staring at the faded hardwood floor in disbelief at what she’d seen.

She’d heard rumors that some new virus was out there, and that it was dangerous, but the news hadn’t mentioned it in almost a week now.

Was their town being hit by whatever virus this was?

Shane knelt next to her, cupping her jaw. “C’mon, darlin.. Y’ gotta stay with me, okay? We gotta get outta here.. Together.”

When she didn’t respond, Shane picked her up over his shoulder and after stopping by his gun cabinet to grab his Mossberg, the box with her engagement ring inside of it and a box of ammo, he bolted out the door on side of the house, making a break for his Bronco.

He put Evie inside and swerved into the road, and when he looked back in the rearview, more of whatever that little girl had been were rounding the corner behind him, slowly but surely.

“Don’t look back, darlin. Just trust me.. You.. don’t wanna see what I just did.”

“Okay..”

Shane fumbled around with the knobs on an ancient Kenwood cd player and finally, he found a station giving a detailed report.

They were calling for an evacuation.

“You think we oughta call Lori and Rick?”

“Hon, yer brother’s gon get ‘em out. I’m sure we’ll see ‘em on the interstate…” Shane said it but he relented. “I’ll call Rick. Make sure he’s awake and hearin what’s goin on.”

He called Rick and found out that they’d already gotten out of town. It made him breathe one hell of a lot easier. And the nightmare from the night before came rushing back.

Maybe it hadn’t only been a lesson, but a warning as well.

Not that he’d ever put much stock in that kind of stuff… But maybe it was a needed wakeup call.. A reminder to focus only on what was closest to his heart. Not to let himself forget where his heart really was.

… hint taken… he thought to himself as they hung a right and turned onto the ramp leading onto the interstate and the fairgrounds, where the newscaster had told everyone to head out to on the radio not even five minutes earlier.

[bkdksecretsanta]

untitled

Gift fic for Drea aka bkdk4life on twitter from @3rdgymbros.

A message from the Santa:

Hi, lovely! I'm your Secret Santa this year, and I really hope you like this story! Happy holidays and I hope you have a great year ahead!

He opens his eyes to behold white everywhere. Spots of colour float above him; Izuku blinks, and the dots unify into one blob, which materialises into Bakugou’s face, smudged with dirt and littered with a mass of cuts. Itsuka lingers by the door; she waves at Izuku and limps out to give them their privacy before Bakugou can snarl at her.

“Fucking Deku,” Katsuki mutters, but there’s no real venom in his tone, and the frown on his face does little to mask the worry in his eyes. “What the hell were you thinking, going in without backup?”

He manages a weak smile, his voice a hoarse whisper, “Knew you’d show eventually.”

“And if we hadn’t?” Bakugou counters harshly. “You could have died. Fuckin hypocrite. Telling all of us not to go in alone, but it’s fine if you go and do it, huh?”

Izuku sighs, “Don’t worry about it. I did what I had to do. There were civilians in there, Kacchan, I couldn’t just leave them.”

“You should have waited.”

The doctor bustles in then, slender in a white lab coat. “I’m sorry,” She says to Bakugou, soft and firm as she injects something into the IV tubing, “But the patient needs his rest. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“We gotta go, Bakugou,” Itsuka says, leaning heavily on her right leg as she stumbles into the room before Bakugou can blow up. “We still have to debrief the interns and give the police our statements.”

“Fuck you, I’m not going anywhere!”

“Yes, you are,” Nonplussed, Izuku interjects. His vision blurs again, and his eyelids threaten to fall of their own accord. There must have been a sedative amongst the medicine cocktail in his IV. “This can wait. Go get fixed up, I’ll be here.”

“See?” He hears Itsuka say. “Besides, our five minutes with him are up. Let’s go.”

Before Izuku can respond, everything dissolves again.

XXX

Izuku wakes to a dark world, energised. If every object weren’t in such sharp focus, and if his bladder wasn’t so uncomfortably stretched, he’d believe this was a dream.

After using the adjoining toilet, Izuku wheels himself back into the room, careful not to wake Kacchan, who’s curled up on the couch in the room, asleep and breathing deeply. Despite their earlier disagreement, he does feel warmed at having Bakugou in the same room with him – it’s a peace offering of sorts, and as close to an apology as he’ll get.

Something tugs on his fingers, gentle but persistent, and Izuku just about jumps out of his skin.

“Mama?”

Big, bright eyes, much wordier than they should be, stare at Izuku in the dim light, and this time, he does yelp.

And Bakugou chooses the worst time to wake up from his slumber, leaping up and screaming profanities that do nothing towards diffusing the situation. There’s a quiet whimper, a muffled sniff, and the shuffling of feet.

Fumbling for the light switch with clumsy, harried fingers, Izuku finally manages to grab the remote and hit the lights. Only then does Bakugou calm down. Izuku turns around. A little boy steps back, tucking his hands under his chin. Moments later, he sneezes into them, he could be anybody’s child, fresh from playing in dirt – muck masks the original colour of his skin and the precise proportions of his features, sans a pair of wide set eyes the precise hue and colour of fine cut emeralds.

“It’s just a f – A kid, Deku,” Bakugou gripes, already giving the boy a dismissive once over. He isn’t cursing as much as usual, Izuku notes, probably because there’s a kid in the room with them. Even angry and tired, he still has some sensibilities about him. “Shoo,” Bakugou says half-heartedly, making a gesture to the door and hoping that the kid will get the message and scram.

All he gets is a blink.

Izuku muffles a laugh.

“What’s your name?” Izuku asks gently, squatting to get a better look at the boy. His face is unusually solemn, but his movements are quick, bright and normal, like the typical kids he sees playing in the streets. “Where’s your Mom? And how did you end up here?”

A chubby index finger reaches out, traces the freckles dotting Izuku’s cheeks. “Mama!” He says again, in a high, clear voice.

“Pfft, the twerp thinks you’re a girl, Deku –”

“Kacchan, you’re laughing too much!” Izuku protests half-heartedly. “No, no, I’m Izuku. And I am most definitely not a girl.” He points a finger in Katsuki’s direction. “That’s Kacchan. What’s your name?”

The little boy blinks again, and shoves his fingers into his mouth, more concerned with sucking on the little digits than he is at replying to Izuku’s question. Or maybe it’s because the only word in his repertoire is Mama, Izuku doesn’t really know.

“That’s gross, cut it out, twerp!” Katsuki snaps, somehow managing to sound appalled and disgusted all at once when the little boy yanks his fingers out of his mouth and starts waving them around, sticky and wet, and a few centimetres away from Izuku’s face.

Still, Bakugou yanks out a couple of tissues from the box on Izuku’s bedside table, and meticulously starts cleaning those grubby little fingers. Bakugou’s surprisingly gentle with the little boy, who watches Bakugou’s every movement with those unnerving eyes, his shell-pink lips open in a big “O”. There’s a soft sound of protest from their owner, and in return, Bakugou snaps out a petulant, “Quit squirming, brat! I’m doing this for you, you’d better be grateful!”

Izuku points out, trying unsuccessfully to hide a smile, “Nobody asked you to, Kacchan.”

“Can it, Deku.”

When the alarm goes off in the room, the telltale click clack of heels on tiles comes closer and closer, until Izuku catches sight of his pink-haired nurse dashing into the room, her face awash with relief when she catches sight of the little boy with them.

“Katsuro, there you are!” The nurse admonishes the little boy, now known as Katsuro, hands on her hips. “Really! We’ve been looking all over for you! What do you have to say for yourself, running off like that?”

“Mmmmamamama . . .”

The nurse directs a flurry of apologies at both Bakugou and Izuku (he smiles and waves goodbye to little Katsuro), and they both walk out of the room, Katsuro’s small and grubby fingers clutched tightly in the nurse’s own gloved fingers.

Izuku can still feel a pair of eyes staring at him.

XXX

Bakugou’s pushing Izuku’s wheelchair into the rooftop garden that’s devoid of patients, and Izuku inhales the fresh air and perfumes of plants, whose outlines he can barely see. It’s a dark, balmy night, and everything might as well be made of shadows. They walk down the rows of apple trees, each hung with a ripening fruit, Izuku chattering away about everything and nothing, when they hear the quiet, familiar voice garble, “Mamama”, and a surprisingly strong hand grabs onto the hem of Izuku’s hospital gown.

Bakugou scowls down at Katsuro, who seems perfectly unperturbed, and only gurgles at the older man. “How did you find us again, twerp? Aren’t babies supposed to be in bed by now?”

“Mamama,” Katsuro gabbles, holding up his outstretched hands. “Mama?”

“Kacchan, don’t be rude!” Izuku chides, smiling down at the little boy – Katsuro, he reminds himself – and cheerfully obliges by picking Katsuro up and placing him on his lap.

Katsuro’s been washed and cleaned; he’s a bright smear of warm limbs and ash blond hair, bright spring-coloured eyes, with freckles like constellations dotting his thin cheeks. He has a sweet smell of his own, of baby powder and child sweat. Katsuro’s fussy tonight, shifting about in Izuku’s lap, his eyes flicking up to Izuku’s face, and then over to Bakugou’s, who snarls, “What the he – ck are you looking at, kid?!” whenever their eyes meet.

Bakugou’s being rather nice, by his standards.

Izuku remembers, with fondness - and a touch of exasperation - Bakugou’s knack of making children cry, made especially apparent during his younger years.

“Katsuro,” Izuku says into Katsuro’s curls, feeling fluffy hair tickle his cheek, “Be good, okay?”

Either Katsuro’s intelligent for his age, or maybe it’s something in Izuku’s voice, but whatever the case, the little boy settles down, shifting so that his face is buried in the crook of Izuku’s neck. Izuku’s body adjusts, by itself, to gently cradle the child in his arms. He’s asleep within minutes, breathing deeply, and although Izuku has to grimace at the drool staining his shirt, he makes no move to wake Katsuro up.

“Damn brat,” Bakugou says, resuming his pushing once more – but his voice can almost pass for being gentle, turned down to about a tenth of its usual intensity, “Told you it was past your bedtime.”

XXX

His name is Katsuro.

He’d been abandoned at the hospital, a note left in his pocket. One of those safe havens so young girls would stop flushing their babies down the toilet or throwing them away in Dumpsters behind a MacDonald’s. The law didn’t say how old, or how young, a child had to be to receive haven.

Even undernourished, most three-year-olds aren’t babies by any standards.

“But we had to take this little guy in, you know?” The nurse – she’d brightly introduced herself as Momoi to both Izuku and Bakugou – says quietly, now more dejected than she’d originally been. She’d been sprinting down the hallways, frantic and panicky, but had stopped with a cry of relief when she noticed Katsuro in Izuku’s arms. “He didn’t have any personal belongings with him, just the clothes on his back, and we couldn’t just turn him out onto the streets. The social worker’s coming in on the weekend to bring him to an orphanage, after the Christmas Holidays.”

“I see,” Izuku replies just as quietly, his arms unconsciously tightening around the still-sleeping Katsuro.

Bakugou clicks his tongue, but there’s a hint of sadness behind the steel. He runs a finger down Katsuro’s cheek, soft and smooth.

XXX

“Red Riot, Icy Hot Make Special Appearance at UA Sports Festival.”

Izuku hears the familiar garbled sounds, a hodgepodge mix of simple consonants and vowels. He blinks open bleary eyes to find Bakugou reading the morning papers in a low undertone, with Katsuro settled comfortably in his lap. Katsuro’s scrawny arms hold clutch on tightly to an All-Might action figure, strangely reminiscent of the one that Izuku had carried around with him all those years ago. His is faded now, worn beyond measure surely, but the memory is still vivid and real in his mind.

“Mamma?”

“No, that’s Half and Half.”

“Mmamam.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I’ve got a meeting with him on Friday.”

“Mamama.”

“Fine, Red Riot’s not so bad, but I’m not gonna tell him that to his face.”

Izuku smothers a smile, huddles deeper into the warm cocoon of his blankets. A part of him finds this surprisingly domestic, a strange longing permeating the deepest recesses of his body to catch and hold on to this feeling of warmth and happiness.

X X X

When Bakugou comes to pick Izuku up on the day of his discharge from the hospital, Izuku is staring down at the sleeping child, wanting to say goodbye, but at the same time, unable to bring himself to. The words clog up his throat, making speaking near impossible.

The white curtains have been drawn, sunlight filtering through and creating golden, dappled patterns on the floor. In his crib, Katsuro lies, sound asleep, breathing deeply. His mouth is open and freckles scatter his nose and cheeks.

Izuku reaches down into the crib, a calloused finger tracing Katsuro’s cheek, as soft as a baby’s should be. A second finger joins his, their owner’s hardened red eyes softening, gentling into an expression of unspoken tenderness.

Even in sleep, a tiny starfish hand reaches out and clings onto Izuku’s for dear life, holding on like a lifeline, as if trying to reassure himself that he hasn’t been abandoned again.

His name is Katsuro. He’s three. Abandoned, unwanted, cast aside at a hospital, his fate sealed as another of Japan’s nameless orphans.

Izuku raises his eyes to meet Katsuki’s.

A whole conversation passes between them in that moment.

It’ll be hard.

I know.

What if we can’t do it?

We will. We’ll do it together.

X X X

“I still don’t see why I have to wear this.”

“Kacchan, it’s a family tradition!”

“Bullshit! You made that tradition up yesterday!”

“Language, Kacchan! We have a baby here now!”

Bakugou tugs grumpily at the collar of his maroon sweater, emblazoned and festooned with a cheerful green pattern of christmas trees. But at the mention of their son, Bakugou looks over at Katsuro, illuminated by the bright lights of their artificial Christmas tree. His chubby fingers catching and holding onto a sparkly ornament.

“We’re going to put that on the tree,” Izuku admonishes, but his voice is closer to a coo, devoid of anything close to criticism. In his arms, he cradles a child, dressed in a sleep-suit decorated to look like a reindeer. “Do you wanna try?”

“Mamamamm.”

Bakugou snorts. “Think that’s a yes.”

“In a minute,” Izuku promises Katsuro, and holding their baby safely against him, leans over and kisses his partner on the lips.

“Merry Christmas, Kacchan.”

[tinywriter2018]

Chapter 2 - Daydramin’ 

Word Count: 1744

There was light streaming down into her face.  Sakura knew that couldn't be possible counting she had blinds that she never opens, yet here she was stirring because it was too bright.  Turning over, so slowly opens her eyes to see blue greyish sheets.  She blinked confused.  Her sheets were darker color, more purple than anything.  Sitting up, she blinked back the pain as the drinks from the previous night came biting her in the ass.  Her head pounded as she slowly began to remove herself from the strange bed.  The room was too neat and tighty, definitely not Naruto’s.  

Sakura looks around for her shoes, but she couldn’t seem to find them.  She pulled on her bra straps, wondering how drunk she was in order to sleep in the uncomfortable bra.  Sakura slowly began to walk out of the bedroom, trying to brush out her tangled hair.  

“Good Morning.”  She paused, her eyes grew wide as she looked at Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto’s friend.  

“Morning.”  She noticed the cup of coffee, waiting for her.

“The coffee should help with the hangover-”  Sasuke paused as Sakura quickly downed the hot liquid, before giving him a shy nervous smile.  

“Thank you, bye.” She quickly left, running to grab her shoes at the door.  Sasuke went to follower her but by the time, she got out his door, he couldn’t help but smile, thinking how bright red her face had just gotten.  

Ino came home from Sai’s place.  Her dress from last night was still on, and she was carrying her heels.  Walking into the main room, she sees Sakura spread out on the couch with Grey’s Anatomy playing on the TV.  

“Sakura?”  She asks.  Sakura turns to her, her hair up in a bun.   Her glasses sliding down her face, while a pint of Ice cream was in front of her along with a couple of folders from work.  “Your watching Grey’s Anatomy?”  

“Don’t judge!”  Ino Dropped her stuff down, walking over to the women, in her lazy clothes.  

“I’m not, it’s just...Sweety you hate Grey’s Anatomy.  What happened?”  Sakura sighed, slamming her face in her hands.  

“I woke up in Sasuke’s bed.”  

“What!?”  Ino yelled, quickly jumping over the couch.  “How!?  Was it amazing!”

“Nothing happened!  At least I don’t think it did.  He was already up when I got up and I was still fully clothed, only minus my shoes.”  She rubbed the back of her neck.  “I didn’t think I had that much to drink.”    

“Wait, isn’t he also working at the same hospital as you.”

“Shit, I forgot...Ino!”  She yelled.  Ino leaned in patting her shoulder.  

“Can I give you some advice?”

“Please.”  Sakura pushed her glasses up.  

“Nothing happened it seems like it, which means that nothing has changed between you two.  You are just new acquaintances that have to work together on monday.  So I suggest you put it behind you, turn off the trashy bad medical advice show,-”

“I don’t like it, that doesn’t mean  it’s trashy-”  Sakura tried to speak again, but Ino held a finger to her lips.

“And take a shower.  You smell like a walking bottle of Pink Champagne.”  Sakura’s hand fell.  She knew Ino was right.  Nothing to get nervous about or wondering if she made a mistake about anything.  Sasuke was being a nice guy and helped her when she was intoxicated.  Ino took of her glasses and helped push her towards the bathroom.  Taking a bite of ice cream for herself.  

Sasuke was sitting in his apartment.  Naruto had stopped by, a bag of bagels in his hand, like he always does after a night of partying.  He sits and eats them all by himself, while Sasuke sips on his coffee.  

“So, did Sakura get home alright?”  Naruto asked, stuffing another everything bagel into his mouth.  Sasuke paused, sipping on his coffee.  Looking down at the table.

“She stayed here last night.”  He took a sip of his coffee peering at his friends reddening face.  

“Sasuke!  How could you!?  She’s my wife’s friend-She’s My Friend! I thought you weren’t playing with women anymore!  You dumbass I told you not to-”  Sasuke hold up his hand silencing his friend.  

“She stayed over last night because I didn’t know where she lived.  She had passed out by that point.  The only person I could think of calling was you, but I knew you weren’t in a position to talk.”  Naruto shook his head.  “Nothing happened!”  Sasuke yelled at his friend, grabbing a piece of bagel.  

“Never stopped you from calling me before.”  Naruto mumbled.  Before Sasuke could respond, his phone began to ring.  Looking at the ID, his brother’s name flashed on the screen.  Toying with answering, he knew he would just keep calling until he did.  

“Hello.”  Sasuke spoke, hearing his brother sigh in relief on the other side.  

“Sasuke, please we need to talk.  Please think about where your doing your fellowship again.  It’s not to late-”

“Today’s my first day, I would say it’s a little late.”  

“Yes but baby brother-”

“I’m sorry big brother, but I won’t be doing my fellowship at that hospital.  Goodbye.”  Hanging up, he sipped in coffee in silence.  Naruto had a feeling his friend needed cheering up.  Quickly taking out his own phone, he sent a photo to Sasuke.  The phone dinged on the table.  Sasuke picked it up to see a photo sent to him.  It was from last night at the club.  Himself and Sakura were sitting very close together, a light smile on her lips, while he caught himself with a rare small smile on his own.  Flashing a look to Naruto, his friend only winked at him.  

“Cause I know you never got one in High school.”  Rolling his eyes, Sasuke locked his phone, and leaving his friend to eat alone while he went to get ready for work.      

Sakura was checking up on one of her patients in the NICU.  The little boy was born 4 weeks premature, and was about to be able to be sent home to his mother.  The nurses behind her were gossiping, as usual.  They only did so, when there were no parents in the room.  

“Did you hear about the new doctor?”

“The Hottie from that small village?”

“I heard he is the son of tycoon owner.”

“Really?  I hope he takes notice to me!”  She squealed.  Rolling her eyes, Sakura smiled at the baby, handing her chart to another nurse.  Walking out of the NICU, she was seen by her boss and mentor, Tsunade.      

“Sakura!”  She quickly froze, knowing what she was going to ask.  

“I’m too busy.”  

“No, your not.  Just show him around, let him get to know the hospital.”  

“I’m sure anyone else would be glad to do it.”  She put out, but Tsunade shook her head.  

“I trust you.”  Sakura sighed, turning to look at her mentor.  

“Fine.  When?”

“He’s at the nurses desk in this ward, show him around after lunch.”  Tsunade pointed the direction that he was.  Sakura built up the courage, and went to find him.  

Sakura and Sasuke weren’t sitting in the middle of the cafeteria but she still felt like all eyes were on them.  He was seeming to ignore them quiet well. Sakura felt her knee begin to bounce, the eyes on her when she wasn’t in the OR, was not something she was used to.  He seemed to be perfectly use to it.  She felt the need to bring up her running out of his apartment in the morning but couldn’t find the words or the courage, not with everyone staring.  

“Sasuke-”

“It’s fine.  I’m not upset about anything.”  He gave her a small title of his lips into what was she believed the closing thing to smile, she can remember but before she could respond her pager goes off.  

“I have to go, one of my patient’s has an emergency.”

“You going in the OR?”  

“Yeah.” she got up to leave, and he quickly followed.

“Can I watch?”  

“It’s just a C-Section.”  

“Still?”  

“Alright, just from the Observation room, don’t like other surgeons telling me how to do my business.”  Sasuke nodded.  

“Something we have in common.”  

Sasuke sat patiently, his eyes darting between the monitor and the room down below.  Sakura’s pink hair was glowing under the lights.  

“There we go!” She said happily, the mother calm behind the current.  The baby crying loudly.  “Welcome to the world, little man.”  He felt himself smile at her tone.  He noticed the nurses around her looking worried.  She handed it to the nurse, knowing why.  The baby was too small.  

“Is my baby alright?”  Sakura began to work on bring the mother’s stomach back together, clearing out the blood.  

“He looks healthy at first glance, the nurse is with him.  Just a little small, like we talked about.”  She reassured her patent.  C-Sections where hard for doctors, the others tended to be awake.  Once everything was back where it should be, and stitched, Sakura turned to an attendant.  “Stitch her up, and while I check on patient number 2.”  

Sakura came out of the OR, removing her gown and cap.  Sasuke was leaning against the wall, a cup of water in his hand.  He reached out handing it to her.  She thanked him, with a nod, downing it in one gulp.  

“The baby is way to small.  He’ll be in the NICU for at least a week or two minium.”  

“But other than that he’s healthy?”  

“Perfectly, his lungs are functioning normally, his liver is developed, nothing is wrong, just his size.”  

“How early is?”

“Two weeks.  She had trouble getting this one, so we made sure to keep an eye on her more closely.”  

“That was a fast delivery.”  

“Well it’s not my first one.”  She refilled the water cup, downing another glass.  

“Since your lunch was interrupted, do you want to go to dinner.”  Sakura eyes him suspiciously.  “I mean, I don’t know anyone around her, nor do I know any good places to eat.”  

“You know Naruto.”  

“Yes, but he is busy with the Hokage or his wife.  So I am desperately in need of your assistance.”  

“Fine, there's a Ramen Shop that’s open late enough and likes Doctors.”  

“There are places that don’t like doctors?”  

“You would be surprised.  Bars love us though.”  

“Really?”  

“I’ll take you there after our shift.  I still have rounds.”  

“Deal.”

Pervious Chapter: Chapter 1 

Next Chapter: Chapter 3 - Coming Soon 

Masterlist 

[veilingofthesun]

My Tänk Om(If/Then) review/report part 2

I’m gonna start this up by explaning a bit more about the scenography. The stage is a turntable, so they revolve it to change the layout of the six ramps and create new spaces and sets. The ramps differ between being on the ground, standing up and hanging on wires from the roof. Inside the ramps they put different set pieces, like the chairs on the train, Lisa’s bathroom, her bed, a couch…The ramps serves as a benches at the football game, bar in the moment explodes etc…often the ensemble dance on them or sit on them when they’re in the background of a scene…

One of the ramps has chairs attached to it that’s used for the first scene with Betty and Steffen in the office and later reused for The moment explodes where they serve as airplane seats.

The lightning really complements the set perfectly. I think they’ve been inspired by the broadway versions lightning in some scenes…it’s got a very similar colour scale going on. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and as I mentioned before, it’s really effectful the way the dancers creates shapes and silhouttes…

The costume design is so well thought out…the ensemble has a base costume of grey and pastells and it creates a beautiful effect. The ensemble are usually a bit more edgy and modern.

Kate’s costumes are mostly very colourful and she’s got bracelets and big earrings. Her clothes are as loud as she is.

Anne has awesome costumes, she looks so cool. She never wears a dress or skirts. She has a lot of ripped jeans, leather jackets, denim shirts, leather pants and sneakers.

Lisa is dressed in a more relaxed way…she’s a jeans and t-shirt/shirt/knitted shirt kind of person. The only time she wears a dress is when she’s pregnant and when she’s getting married. Her colour scale is mostly blue, white and black. Her bright pink shirt from the trailer and the pro pics has been changed to a white one…it suits her personality much better. Since she’s very much the girl next door…She’s got a very ‘swedish’ style..if you’d walk down the street in any swedish town you’d see a lot of women dressed like Lisa..

Betty is similar in the way that she never wears a dress or skirt either and she mostly wears black, dark blue and sometimes a bit of dark teal…

She’s got a more business woman style, of course. Lots of dress pants and blazers paired with heels. When she’s not working, she dresses like Lisa.

Lucas dresses similar to broadway Lucas with hoodies, striped shirts and pants. His colours are mostly green and red. He always has a scarf on.

John has similar outfits to his broadway version too…he looks stylish but his clothes dosen’t stand out much. Earthy tones, jeans, knitted shirts, a leather jacket. Very down to earth and Joshish…

Elena is more young and girlier in her dress sense than her broadway counterpart. She dresses like a lot of young students in Sweden does..like she buys all of her clothes at H&M.

This day/Walking by a wedding

The ensemble sounds so amazing in this one and the choreography is really beautiful. It starts out with a couple in wedding clothes and their wedding party. The groom comes out carrying the bride through the space between the two standing ramps. Later, John comes out carrying Lisa, you realise that the first married couple was dressed exactly the same as Lisa and John. The choreography in wbaw is really beautiful and simple. I can’t really explain it, because if I try it sounds like a bunch of people walking around and being affectionate with each other. You kinda have to see it to understand what I’m talking about. It’s both girl/girl pairings, boy/boy pairings and girl/boy pairings walking around behind Bety, holding hands, hugging etc..While Betty sings, she walks around the whole stage..up on the ramps and behind them..

In the beginning of the song, when the broadway cast sings “ And all the wrong turns on the way” the swedish cast instead sings “You learn to be strong and weak” (it’s a swedish expression) which is a nice foreshadowing to yltlw. More foreshadowings to come…

The This day choreography is much more upbeat, of course. I love this routine, the ensemble is having so much fun with this one. Kate/Anne and Lucas/David are adoreable too. David actually carries Lucas in his arms when they come out on the ramps.

The wedding photographer bit has been extended, probably to give Linda some more time to change her clothes..I think that on broadway they had the dress hidden underneath Betty’s skirt. Here Betty wears pants, so I guess they needed a bit more time…

The photographer seems to be very drunk when he shows up. He starts asking where the bridesmaids and groomsmen are and all of the wedding party starts messing with him. Poor guy, lol.

The outro has been extended a bit too, some of the ramps has to be lowered down and the stage revolves to create the setting for Lisa and Johns conversation leading up to Hey Kid.

Hey Kid

It starts out the same way as on broadway, John at the table with the laptop and Lisa coming in and slamming the laptop shut. But then she proceeds to throw the newspaper straight at him when she talks about the kid being killed in traffic.

John tells her that she’s oversensitive in which she replies: I’m not over sensitive, then she cries out: I’m sensitive.

I have watched quite a few bootlegs and heard some audios, but I can’t recall hearing a Lisa being this angry and because she’s so angry it gets John going too. They’re both so good in this scene though. Their chemistry just keeps getting better and better in every scene. Linda has a great balance between being angry and very matter of factly. Especially when she says the line: “I’m a neurotic mess…” That’s the way I am, deal with it.

Three ensemble women comes out to dance on the ramps behind him wearing hospital gowns and baby bumps. (Imagine the contraction ballet from Waitress..kind of) The dancers leaves once Lisa comes back on stage, and then there’s just the three of them.

Instead of a nurse coming out with the baby, Lisa comes out with the baby, holds him for a while and then hands him over to John who sings the rest of the song with the baby in his arms. Lisa sits on the bed watching them, looking completely drained and in tears, but she also looks at them so lovingly. The look on her face breaks your heart.

Christopher is so amazing in this song. Both vocally and emotionally. He conveys all the different feelings and emotions John goes through in this song perfectly. He’s so believeable and puts so much feeling into this song and his performance.

A quick thing regarding the change of Jake’s name to Tim that I forgot to mention in part 1. Linda has a son called Tim who’s been around a bit during rehearsals and performances, so it’s a little nod to him. :)

Some other me

Okay, remember how I talked about Ydntlm and the beautiful heartbreaking dance routine? I thought it could not get even more beautiful and heartbreaking…but I was so wrong. The combination of everything in this number, the intense emotions, the beautiful singing, the choreography, the fantastic dancers, has completely ruined this song for me(in a good way) I can’t even think about this song let alone listen to it without breaking into tears. I have it on my playlist at work, and nowadays that is not a good thing..

I really wish Malmö Opera or the choreographer, Ambra Succi, would post some clips from this number (or any other number for that matter) or from rehearsals. Or just the dancers doing the routine. Because this is SO good, it really deserves to be seen.

First things first, the actors. Oh, they really break my heart here. Previously, their relationship was so easy going, compared to this. Sure, they had their issues sometimes, but they were always there for each other and they were never uncomfortable together. In this scene they’re so uncomfortable and awkward around each other. You could really feel the tension in the room. There’s thick silence and both of them desperately trying to find something to say..and when they do, it’s forced,  It’s clear that neither Betty nor Lucas know what to say or how to act around the other one. And it’s so sad to see them that way…It’s clear that they both miss what they had and don’t know how to get it back.

Their fight here is really intense, I’ve talked before how passionate Lucas is about everything. And he’s so angry here, and since they play so well off each other, Betty is furious with him too.

Moving onto the whole scene: There’s a male and a female dancer that wears the same color scheme and the same type of clothes as Lucas and Betty. The male dancer also has his hair in a manbun. The dancers dance Betty and Lucas story. It starts off with the dancers seperately from the actors, a bit lighter in the mood. When Lucas verse starts, both Betty and the dancer symbolising her, sit next to each other on the ramp, watching their men. Occassionally reacting to the things their Lucases are singing/dancing, for example throwing their arms out in frustration(mirroring each other, of course)…Just as in ydntlm, Lucas and the dancer mirror each other.

When they reach the bridge of the song, Actor Betty and Dancer Betty approach Actor Lucas and Dancer Lucas. The dance gets more intense and portrays where they are now. They continue to mirror each others movements throughout the rest of the song. Actor Betty and Dancer Betty switch places, so that Actor Betty stands slightly behind Dancer Lucas. But she and Dancer Betty glances across the stage at their Lucas with a sad face, before they all go their seperate ways…

It’s so simple, just the actors and the dancers, yet so effectful…

The way Lucas says: “It was nice seeing you” is so weary and angry…

I hope I didn’t confuse you, it’s hard to explain because it really has to be seen. But I really wanted to try to paint a picture of it for you. Because it’s truly something very special.

I stole this picture from one of the dancers instagram..This picture is not the best to describe it, because it’s in the middle of a move and they’re not wearing the clothes they had on in the show…but imagine the girl dancer in jeans and a blue shirt and the guy dancer in in green/greyish jeans and a red shirt. It will give you an idea at least… Edited because I forgot something I wanted to mention about Jonas (Lucas)… He is terrific…hi’s portrayal of Lucas is so amazing. I mentioned before how passionate and angry he is ..he plays those scenes so well. But he is also really caring, sweet, needy, hilarious, cranky and a bit of a drama queen….there’s so many layers to him and Jonas manages to be believeable in all of them…He has found a great balance between all these sides..he really makes you feel so bad for Lucas but he also makes you laugh a lot..

Best worst mistake

Where do I start? These two adorable little geeks makes me so happy. David arrives on his bike, Lucas has the baby’s stroller on his scooter and gets scolded by Lisa. David is so proud when he shows her the baby helmet, he smiles like a little school boy and says: Super cute!. Lisa is not so amused. When Lisa takes her leave she ‘accidently’ forgets the helmet. David runs after her and calls out to her: Lisa, wait, the baby helmet! She laughs awkwardly and mumbles sarcastically: “Yes, How did I manage to forget that one?” and throws it into the stroller.

When she has left, David says: “We could have our own, you know” and Lucas replies: “Baby helmet?” David’s face is a picture.

Moving forward in the dialogue, when David says that he saw Lucas shopping for baby clothes last night, (baby JCrew has been changed to H&M)he proceeds to shout really loudly over the whole park that Lucas buys baby clothes at H&M.

There are six male dancers behind them on the ramps. Three dressed in Lucas style and color scheme and three in Davids. The ‘David’ guys sometimes has baby strollers incorporated into the choreography. When Lucas says: “You tricked me into saying that”, two of the dancers rides past them on a bike, laughing at Lucas. David smiles knowingly at them and says: Hi guys!

During this number they ride on Lucas scooter together, as you can see in the trailer. They’ve gone with the feel of the orginal here too, with David’s bike and Lucas on his scooter (I know that it was a skateboard, but it’s almost the same..) and in the end they bike and scooter away off the stage. They’re so sweet and funny together that I just smiled throughout the whole number.

I need to mention something about the translation…we didn’t notice it live. But when we were listening to the audio while trying to fix the sound a bit, we noticed something..You know when Lucas sings “Let it go”, in swedish he sings Slå dig fri (which just happens to be the swedish title of the song Let it go) We laughed out loud when we heard that. Very well played by the translator. Either he’s really done his research or it’s mentioned in the material they got when they bought it…Either way, it’s a very nice touch:D

One small thing is that Nils(Davids) voice is not completely suited for this song…he’s got a real ‘church’ like voice, which works perfectly for wwyd..but maybe not as well for this one…but it’s a small issue…He makes up for it with his passion and charms. It sounds better when they sing together too..

I hate you

I had just about recovered from SOM and then this happens…(I knew it was coming of course, I almost cried when I saw the kids beds being wheeled in…my vulnerable heart couldn’t take anymore…basically act 2 was a big sob fest)

It starts out with John on the phone and Lisa by the kids beds. But instead of saying: Let’s have wine while we can…she goes over to him, kisses him and starts taking off his shirt. First, he kisses her back, but then he pulls his shirt down, grabs her by the arms and tells her that he has to ship out.

They’re killing me with this one…they both nail this. The beautiful and very organic chemistry they’ve had from the start is on top here. Just when you think it can’t get any better they somehow manage to surprise you yet again. It just feels so real…

There’s actually dancers in this routine, the only Lisa/John song with dancers in it. There’s two pairs, man/woman, on top of a ramp each, with Lisa and John between the ramps. The dancers are all dressed in black and the lightning is quite dark in this scene. The dancers were not distracting at all…they painted pictures of what the actors were singing and acting. I hate you is quite a physical song…she uses her body a lot, pushes John away and expresses her feelings with her whole body. Again, it’s choreographed so well..the dancers and Lisa mirror each other. When she pushes John away, they push their ‘John’ away etc..When John leaves, the male dancers leave and the female dancers remains behind, looking at them as they leave, just as Lisa looks at John…

When John has turned around to leave and she shouts at him to wait, he stands with his back to her and before he has a chance to turn around, she runs towards him at full speed and throws herself at him and holds him really tight. (I like to call it ‘the Gabe grab’…like in i am the one(reprise) where he grabs a hold of Dan) She holds on so tightly and refuses to let go when John has to leave…He literally has to pry himself away from her grip, because she just holds on and refuses to let go. Their faces in that moment…if I hadn’t lost it before I lost it there…

The ramps behind them ‘split’ apart and creates a walkway where John’s soldiers walks in to pick  him up. He leaves with them and Lisa stands there looking so small and sad…

Two soldiers comes in the same way to tell her that John has died. Linda is just fantastic here…anyone who performs this song must be so emotionally and physically drained after this. She really takes you on a roller coaster of emotions here…

I really like something they’ve done with the translation here..in the orginal she sings: “Let’s look at this calmly, discuss how I hate you..”, in swedish she sings: “Let’s look at this calmly, with focus on hating” It really hits home how she focuses on hating him to not think about the pain and how much she’ll miss him..

Small edit: In the orginal she sings I love-d you. In swedish you can’t add a letter to make a word past tense. So instead she sings I love you(very big and dramatic) and, whimpers ‘loved’ silently and then sings ‘have loved you’ kind of angrily. It kind of changes it a little bit, but it works really well…the contrast between that quiet little word and the anger in the next three words is very powerful.

A map of New York(reprise)

Not much to say about the song since it’s so short…but he sounds great in it though.

Funny little moment though: Betty’s fixing her make up while Steffen is talking to her and her intern is fixing her hair, spraying it and fluffing it up..When he’s done,(the intern is a guy in this version) Betty whispers something to him and they smile..On the way out, he sprays Steffen in the face and sassily walks away…

The ensemble are used in the background here as office workers/business men and woman in an office space. At least that’s how I interpret it…They walk around in the background and sometimes connect with each other.

When Steffen says: “Have you learned to take care of yourself?” Betty gets a text message, checks her phone and dosen’t pay attention to what he says and asks: What? Steffen makes a: “told you so face”, like he thinks that she’s too invested in her work.

You learn to live without

I love how this scene is set up..the almost completely black lightning with some shades of blue fits the scene perfectly. It’s really simple and intimate(this is one of my favourite pro pics, because it captures the feel and mood brilliantly..it’s also a great shot:D) This picture captures the conversation where the friends talk about Lisa..You’ve got the intern up on the ramp, then Kate, Lisa, Anne, David and Lucas.

The song starts with Betty up on the ramp where the intern is. She remains there until the conversation between her friends. While they talk, she walks down the ramp, sits down and becomes Lisa. All five of them stays on stage until the intern and Kate asks if everything is okay. She says: “You can go, all of you..”

I can not say enough good things about this. This song has always been one of my absolute favourites so experiencing it live felt really special. Linda is SO amazing here, both vocally and emotionally…it’s just so beautiful and sad. I think this is one of my favourite moments in the whole musical. I didn’t think I could cry anymore, but sure. the tears were running here too..

And when even the sometimes to a fault polite swedes(who’s really afraid of clapping for a song unless it has a big ending preferably with a boom and a pose, because we don’t want to disturb the flow of the show) applauds even though it blends into another song, then you’ve done your job well. (even though they stopped quickly when they realised they were going into another scene, lol)

I know that I talk a lot about the translations, it’s probably not that interesting, but I’m very impressed with his translations. They’re very true to the orginal and also very beautiful. Because swedish is so different from english, he had to word things differently to get the timing right.

“You learn somehow to like the dark and even love the doubt” is translated to

“You slowly rewrite your life, a dark but strong novel” It sounds a bit strange in english, but it’s beautiful in swedish. It’s very poetic.

The moment explodes

These chairs, as I mentioned before, are attached to the ramp, and is folded down by the actors as they enter for this scene. Even though the stage is a turntable stage, they don’t use it for this scene, as they did in the broadway version. Instead they remain seated throughout the whole song, at the very end of the song they get up and run to the edge of the stage. They do a bit of sitting choreography, grabbing the ramp, each other…some jerky movements.

The dancers behind them dance a very dramatic routine, and coupled with the stunning singing and the gorgeous lightning it becomes very effectful. I keep talking about the silhouettes the dancers creates, but it’s so well thought out, a real collabroation between the choreographer, the set designer and the lightning designer.

They have two flight attendants with a trolley who joins the others on the chairs when the song starts.

Oh, the tracks are a bit different here. The deputy major is also the architect and the bartender is a woman. The bartender and Kate is at the ramp to the left of the one in the picture. Their ramp serves as a bar disk and the bartender slides the drink down to Kate.

The singing and the harmonies is so beautiful here. It’s very powerful..The ensemble is on top form here. Seriously, the whole ensemble is just so good. I adore this cast so much.

Love while you can

The setting here is quite simple…just a bunch of girls sitting behind them reading books. They do what I call ‘bookography’, it’s not a dance routine, but they flip the pages in their books, holds their books up synchronizally etc… The choreography they do in Betty’s verse is repeated in Anne’s verse (probably because Betty and Anne both want Kate & Anne to stay together) and in the bridge and during the rest of the song the choreography changes.

The three of them are amazing in this scene/song. They’re so good together and they play off each other so well. You can really feel the anger in the room here. Kate is so furious at Anne, Anne gets furious at her in return and Betty is so done with being silent and accepting things. Kate runs after her and pulls her back when she tries to get the reading girls attention by calling out: My ladies…and ladies. They just look at her and shushes her.

Karolin and Sara sounds fantastic, their voices go so well together. I love this song so much, so this was another highlight for me..Lachanze and Jenn Colella is a tough act to follow, but they do a really, really good job. And their passion and chemistry is just fabulous.

They’ve changed the ending of the scene a bit, though. Instead of hugging and walking off together, a teary eyed Kate holds up her hands and walks off stage alone while a devasted looking Anne is left behind. :( That really hurt, it made me want to yell: No! Stay with her! (But I didn’t, of course…I got teary eyed again though..) But, don’t worry, they didn’t get a divorce in Betty’s story too. The timeline in the program says they didn’t…in my head canon Kate needed a bit more time to think it through and then they made up, because their two hours weren’t up after they’d finished singing;)

I have to talk about Sara Lehmann (Anne) too. She’s just phenomenal. (Probably my favourite after Linda) Jenn Colella has really made her mark as Anne, but Sara makes a fabulous Anne. Her voice,her dancing, her passion and performance skills is just WOW. She has this light about her that draws your eye to her a lot of the time. Even when she’s in the ensemble (hidden underneath a cap) she commands your attention. By reading her bio in the program I noticed that it’s her first ‘big’ role. She’s mostly been in the ensemble beforehand. Coming from ensemble roles to a much bigger role makes her performance even more impressive.

The way she embodies the character of Anne is spot on. She’s really going for it. It’s the complete package, singing, acting,dancing, facial expressions(also her wig and costumes play a big part in it, she’s got the coolest hair and awesome costumes) and I can’t forget to mention, body language. Anne is very comfortable with herself and with her body and Sara is not afraid to show that. She takes up a lot of space, sits with her legs spread apart, yells over the whole book store that she likes sex more than Kate, deals with drunk Lucas, who’s almost about to punch Steffen, like a pro…She’s a very nice combination of tough, funny, emotional, passionate and also really nice and caring.

She and Karolin are soooo good together too. Kate does her crazy things and her reactions to Kate’s antics are perfect. Her facials and the way she talks, laughs and sighs at Kate..nailed it.

What would you do

They’ve kept a lot of broadways colour scheme here, both in the lightning and the costumes. It’s simple, but powerful. It’s just the four of them.

The way Lucas says No…no, after Lisa says: “So Zhuangzi was what, an idiot?” is so confused and sweet…and David has to comfort him(kind of like in the orginal)

I love how Linda plays Lisa here, she seems so tense and angry and laughs loudly and uncomfortable sometimes…it’s like she’s trying so hard to keep it together but it’s starting to crack…

This is a very nice moment for Nils to shine. I mentioned before that he has a very deep, ‘church’ like voice, and it works perfectly for this song. It’s so emotional and really beautiful. It sounds and looks like he’s about to burst into tears before he starts singing and that continues throughout the song. Nice little translation parallel again…He sings: If you could start over from the beginning (directly translated, again, a swedish expression) and in ASO Lisa sings: We’re starting over from the beginning..

When they go to get the car ready, Lucas takes David’s hand and they walk off together holding hands…

I haven’t really mentioned the orchestra before, but they deserve some credit too..and I thought they sounded really beautiful in this one(well, they always did…) It’s a big orchestra,almost 30 people(they’re employed by Malmö opera and work on all of their productions) and that makes the beautiful score sound even richer.

Always starting over

Unfortuneately there are no pro pics from ASO:(

This scene starts with Lisa taking out her phone to call John’s cell phone and listening to his voicemail twice. After the second time she starts talking…so it’s like she’s leaving a message on his voicemail. Just that little thing made the tears come out again…

The dialogue leading up to ASO is amazing though…she was really in tears throughout the whole dialogue and the look on her face…you had to see it, but it was heartbreaking…

I mentioned in part one that there’s a parallel between Surprise and Always starting over…she actually sings the same phrase, new start, in both of the songs. (in the orginal it’s and start, here it’s new start) I love all the little parallels they’ve snuck in..

She really nails this song. Listening to Idina and Jackie, I didn’t think we had anyone that could live up their standards…When we first heard that they were making a production of If/Then, we couldn’t think of anyone that we knew could play this part..We’re so happy and pleased with Linda. She really embodies the character and is perfect for the part. She brings out other sides of Elisabeth and has her own take on the character. She plays out the emotions differently. For example, sometimes she’ll be more angry, other times more matter of factly and she also has great balance between the comedy and the tragedy. She has a very sarcastic sense of humor. Not the mean kind of sarcastic, it’s hard to explain. In Sweden we call it krass, there’s no proper english word for it…  Her krassness got lots of laughs from the audience, because a lot of swedes are like that, it’s a very common theme in swedish pop culture.

The Lisa part of her character is more physical, uses her body language a lot more, where as Betty she is more ‘restrained’.

She has a great understanding of the role and really seems to love playing Elisabeth and getting to explore two sides of the same character.

There is one thing I’m upset about though, they took out the second verse of ASO:( I love that verse so much, so I’m still not over that. I guess it has to do with the length of the show again..and I can understand that something had to go since other things had been extended, I just wish it wasn’t this though..

I would love to hear/see the lyrics to the second verse, but unfortuneately I don’t think that’s going to happen…but you never know, she might sing it in a concert someday…

What if(reprise)

In What if and the reprise it’s sexy guitar guy and his percussionist friend who sings the first lines. It’s like they’re still singing the same song after five years…

In Lisa’s conversation with Lucas, when he says: “Move to us in the suburbs” David joins them with the baby in a sling and says excitedly: “Yes! Do that” I think it’s really sweet that they involved David in the scene too, I really liked that.

Their baby is called Finn in this version, but don’t worry, Huckleberry has not been removed completely…David starts saying: “Since we had Finn… and Lisa interrupts him by saying: “I’ll call him Huckleberry” She asks them if they want coffee and David says that he and Finn will go with her. As they walk off she says: “Come on, Huckleberry” and laughs. It’s really sweet.

After Lisa and David’s gone off stage, Lucas remains on stage and does his trademark manbun Lucas switch..

Speaking of trademarks, I forgot to mention that Kate carries around a kazoo, which she uses when she deems it appropiate. Usually to call attention to things or when she’s really excited. For example, she uses it to announce that she’s teacher of the year.

The conversation between Kate and Lucas is amazing from start to finish. When Kate goes to get coffee and tells him to not tell Betty, she says: I’ll cut you into pieces, slowly and makes a knife cutting gesture at him. Then she laughs like a hyena.

When Betty tells him to not tell Kate, Lucas brings out his falsetto voice again and screams in panic.

In Betty’s storyline when Lucas tells her to stay and listen to the sexy guitar guy, she walks over to him, listens for a while and then she starts swaying to the music and dances slightly looking very content and happy. In the background you can see John watching her with a smile on his face before approaching her. It’s a beautiful moment.

Betty’s and Josh’s meeting is beautiful. He seems so shy and bit more Lucasish here..He dares to approach her, but when he talks to her he’s a bit more awkward…I love the way he replies to the war guilt line…

The last thing she does before she exits the stage is to take her phone out of her bag. She smiles and holds it up like she either gets a phone call or is about to make a phonecall..

That’s it…thanks so much for reading all this and for caring. I really love this production and I want to spread the Tänk Om love. I didn’t know what to expect before I saw this production but everyone involved has done such an amazing job and they surpassed all of my expectations and hopes. Malmö Opera has been very brave to produce this musical. Here in Sweden everyone usually goes with more famous and traditional musicals because they draw the crowds. We’re a small country with no big traditions of producing original musicals from scratch. So people here are not that used to seeing orginal work that isn’t based on anything.. I believe that most people that has seen Tänk Om hardly knew anything about it beforehand…I’ve seen a few people mention that they knew about the orginal, but the majority of the audiences is completely new to If/Then… I wish I could share footage with you because there’s so many great things that deserves to be seen. But this report and my audio is the best I can do. My ask is open if you have any questions. :)

Big thanks and credit goes to my sister and partner in crime @askyfullofcomets for helping out with this report. We noticed different things so this is a collabroation.