#i’m not fully back quite yet bc finals week starts tomorrow and i really have to get my ahit together if i want to pass this semester | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rosedavid · 5 years

Note

hey!! if you're still taking requests, cyrus and tj see eachother after a few months of their break up and old feelings resurface and they end up being all cute and in love again bc they're tj and cyrus lmao idk, i love your writing 🥺🤧

me going overboard on prompts?? just as likely as you think!!

thank you for the request :) enjoy!

also slight tw for swearing and panic attacks

Broken Promises

Cyrus expected college to be difficult. He was prepared for the endless late nights full of stressful studying, the constant tests, and the lack of free time. Going to an ivy league school makes things even more high stakes. It feels like every move he makes gets scrutinized by the professors and students alike. Cyrus planned to attend an ivy league school on the east coast since middle school. It was his goal, his dream one could even say. There’s just one factor that Cyrus didn’t prepare for, one that ended up changing his entire first year college experience. TJ Kippen.

There’s no doubt that Cyrus and TJ were deeply in love. They started dating near the beginning of their first year of high school and continued strong for all four years. Soon, having TJ constantly by his side, hanging out at his house, or taking him on dates became the norm for him. Between the worries of school and standardized testing, he was the steady, comforting constant in Cyrus’s life. As such, he never even thought about leaving him when it came time for college.

It all started in the middle of senior year. Everyone has finished applying for colleges, waiting with bated breath to see if they got in. Cyrus, being the overzealous student he is, applied to at least eight different schools just in case. He had to write so many entry essays that his hand nearly fell off from cramping. All of them were extremely busy with everything happening all at once, such as jobs, final grades, and the approaching graduation.

It isn’t until one fateful day in the spring that TJ and Cyrus realize that everything is about to change.

Cyrus arrives home from school like any other day. He’s starting to get nervous about his college applications, as two places have rejected him so far, and the other three schools he got into are in his bottom choices. As he walks into the kitchen to grab a snack, he spots his stepdad sitting at the table casually sipping coffee and holding out a letter.

“Is that…?” Cyrus trails off with a gasp.

His stepdad smirks in response, wiggling the letter until Cyrus snatches it out of his hand. He reads the correspondent information on the front, eyes widening. It’s his top school choice! This is it. This is everything he’s been waiting for.

Not wanting his stepdad to see him if he’s rejected, Cyrus heads upstairs to his room and closes the door behind him. He gingerly takes a seat on his bed, ripping the top of the envelope all the way across. He pauses briefly to take a deep breath and compose himself before unfolding the small slip of paper. He ignores most of the formalities, scanning through until near the end looking for the indicating words to tell him whether he got in.

Accepted.

Cyrus reads over it again and again until he gets the message to fully sink in. He can’t stop grinning, clutching the letter to his chest as if it would flutter away. He can’t wait to tell everyone the good news at school tomorrow!

Suddenly, it dawns on him. He’s going to school at an ivy league college on the east coast, far away from Shadyside. Andi is going to a fancy west coast art college. Buffy is also going to a west coast college on a basketball scholarship. As of right now, Jonah doesn’t know what he wants to do, so he’s going to stick around Shadyside. And TJ…TJ is going to a college in Salt Lake City, Utah, only a few hours from Shadyside.

For the first time in four years, they would be thousands of miles apart. How would they even see each other? What if their breaks didn’t line up? Could either of them even afford a plane ticket to fly out and visit?

Cyrus decides maybe it’s best if, for a while, he keeps the news to himself.

…

It’s only a few weeks before graduation. All of the seniors are getting even more antsy than usual, holding their breaths for the day when they’re finally done with high school forever. Cyrus is also one of these people, but he’s antsy for an entirely different reason. He has yet to tell anyone where he’s going to school. He’s put it off for such a long time, always saying that not all his schools have responded back to him. But he knows his friends, and he knows they’re getting suspicious. He needs to tell all of them, including TJ.

So, at lunch that day, he decides to rip off the band-aid. Everyone now sits together at one large table, so it’s the ideal time to make his announcement. And, as it so happens, his friends give him the perfect segway to make his announcement (unfortunately).

“Guess what?” Amber squeals, not waiting for anyone to guess. “I got into that fashion school in California!”

Andi beams, reaching forward to hug her and kiss her cheek. “I’m so proud of you! And now we’ll be so much closer!”

As everyone says their congratulations, they notice that Cyrus is abnormally quiet. Andi frowns from her spot beside him and reaches out to tap his shoulder.

“You good, Cyrus?” She wonders. “Is it something about colleges? I know how long you’ve been waiting to hear back.”

Cyrus swallows. “I…yeah. I guess it is. I got a letter from my top choice in the mail, actually…”

“What did it say?!” Buffy asks in excitement.

On his other side, TJ nods in agreement. Cyrus can’t stand to look at TJ when he makes the announcement, so he makes sure to angle himself away.

“Um, well, I got in!” Cyrus smiles.

Everyone cheers. TJ pats his back before putting an arm around his shoulder. Cyrus leans into the touch, wondering how much longer he’ll be able to feel it. And yes, Cyrus is super happy that he got into the school of his dreams, but at the same time things are a lot different now than he expected. In other words, it will be a strange transition.

“So where are you going?” Jonah asks, of course.

“Columbia,” Cyrus murmurs.

He feels the arm wrapped around him tense up. The mood of the table becomes slightly less cheery and more morose. Thankfully, Buffy is there to alleviate some of the sadness.

“That’s amazing, Cyrus,” She says. “An Ivy League! You’re going to do so great!”

TJ speaks up, “Yeah, you’ll do amazing, Cy. You always do.”

Maybe it’s just Cyrus reading too deep into things, but something in TJ’s tone sounds off. Of course, he sounds sad about Cyrus leaving, Cyrus expected that. He also sounds proud. But there’s another tone to his voice that Cyrus can’t quite decipher.

Although he ends up forgetting about it after a few days, it certainly ended up being something. A beginning to an end.

…

The day before graduation. School just got out the day before, and the seniors are all buzzing waiting to be officially graduated. Cyrus personally can’t wait to wear his cap and gown and move his tassel. Even though it’s more of a symbolic idea than anything, Cyrus still loves the idea of it all. In other words, nothing can ruin his good mood. Or so he thought.

That morning, he gets a text from his boyfriend. It’s odd because normally TJ loves sleeping in late, so seeing a message from him at such an early time is peculiar. Cyrus doesn’t think much of it, though, and simply checks to see what he sent.

TJ: meet me at the swings in twenty?

Cyrus: see you there x

The swings. They’ve been through a lot of good times and bad there. Cyrus hates to think that this summer will be one of the last times they’ll probably swing on them together. He smiles, thinking that TJ invited him there for a celebratory swing, maybe a few underdogs.

When he arrives, though, and sees TJ swinging slowly with a drooped head, he realizes that’s not the case.

“TJ?” Cyrus asks tentatively. “Are you ok?”

He goes to sit on the swing beside TJ, but TJ puts up a hand to stop him.

“Don’t,” He whispers. “This won’t take long.”

“What’s going on?”

TJ sighs, standing up himself. “We need to break up.”

Cyrus’s heart stops in his chest. He blinks, trying to process the words he never thought he’d hear come out of TJ’s mouth.

“What?”

“We need to break up,” TJ repeats insistently.

Cyrus shakes his head. “Why?”

“You’re going to college across the country. Did you really expect this to last?”

Tears begin to sting his eyes. Although the tone of his voice doesn’t sound hurtful, the words cut painfully deep. Did you really expect this to last? Did TJ not expect it to?

“Yes,” Cyrus answers honestly. “I did. I know it will be hard, but we can do long distance—”

TJ interrupts him. “No, Cyrus, I can’t. We can’t. I’m sorry.”

At this point, tears flow freely down Cyrus’s face. TJ appears impassive, which just hurts Cyrus even more.

“Wow, great to know that you didn’t expect this to last,” Cyrus scoffs, anger getting the better of him. “I’m so happy to know that you thought this was just a casually, high school fling that wouldn’t amount to anything. Do I really mean that little to you?”

TJ’s face morphs, “Underdog—”

“No! You don’t get to call me that. I guess it’s for the better that we’re breaking up. Goodbye, TJ.”

He doesn’t look back.

…

At graduation the next day, TJ isn’t there. Andi and Buffy ask him what happened, but Cyrus can’t find it in his heart to go through all the details of the situation, about how badly TJ hurt him. So, he just tells them the gist of it.

“TJ and I broke up.”

And that’s it. Buffy and Andi try to prod more information out of him at first, but after realizing how upset Cyrus is, they leave it be. Instead, they pull him into a big group hug which makes Cyrus feel at a little bit happier for the time being.

That summer goes by fast. Cyrus doesn’t see TJ once, but he does see TJ’s mother in town. She asks him how he’s doing and what his plans for college are. He answers them happily, as TJ’s mother has always been caring and sweet toward him. He has a feeling she doesn’t know they broke up.

“How are you?” He asks politely.

“Oh you know, it’s odd not having TJ around all the time,” She replies. “I’m happy he got such a good opportunity to start college early, but at the same time I’m sad he wasn’t around for the summer. I’m sure you understand exactly how I feel.”

“Uh, yeah, completely.”

Early college. He hasn’t seen TJ around Shadyside because he’s already gone. TJ didn’t even tell anyone he left. Suddenly, Cyrus feels more insignificant and used than ever before.

Moving in is a great distraction to the anger and sadness that TJ has caused him. His parents fly out with him to help him buy some things and move into his dorm. His roommate seems nice, and Cyrus can even see them becoming friends if Cyrus wasn’t so down in the dumps recently about everything. Despite his bitterness toward TJ, Cyrus also feels excited and happy. He’s going to the school of his dreams. He’s going to study his favorite subjects. It’s all going to be okay.

He talks to Buffy, Andi, and Jonah nearly every week during school. Even Amber calls up every once in a while to chat. He makes a few new friends at his college, but none nearly as close as any of his old ones. Early in the first semester, his classes are going really well. He’s acing lots of the assignments and tests, and overall, he’s happy to be exploring a new city.

Then, he returns for fall break.

Being back to Shadyside for the first time in nearly three months is like a punch to the face. Driving by all of his old spots filled with memories aches more than he thought it would. When he’s home, he hugs all his parents extra tight. When Andi, Amber, and Buffy come up around the same time to visit for their own breaks, his heart aches even more.

Hugging them all is like a breath of fresh air. He never realized how deeply he missed them. They only get a few days together, a few days to catch up on the last three months of their lives. Buffy, Andi, and Amber are at least close enough to each other to visit every so often. Meanwhile, Cyrus is living a completely separate life. He feels so disconnected from his old friends, family, and home. He wonders if it will always be like this. How much worse will it get?

When Cyrus gets back from fall break to finish up the second half of his semester, things go downhill drastically. He finds himself unable to focus on classes like he’s supposed to. He and his friends at Columbia drift apart with the constant studying. Cyrus constantly thinks about his friends and family. He talks to them on the phone less and less, too, which doesn’t help. Soon, everyday that Cyrus spends at the college feels like torture. His mood continues to drop along with his grades.

Along with all of this happening, Cyrus keeps thinking of TJ. How could he not think of the boy who was a huge part of his life for about five years? At night sometimes, when he’s lonely and wide awake in his uncomfortable dorm bed, he wishes that TJ were beside him, arm draped around his stomach and legs twisted together. Cyrus doesn’t understand. He should hate TJ after what he did to him. He should resent him. But by now, all of those feelings have faded into sadness and longing.

By the time finals come around, he’s a wreck. He can barely even muster up the energy to do his assignments much less study for finals. He wakes up from nightmares all the time, or just can’t sleep at all. He even starts having panic attacks on the worst days.

When he returns for winter break, the first thing he does when he sees his parents is collapse and cry into their arms.

…

It’s a cold, snowy day. Cyrus swings back and forth on the familiar swing set that he’s come to loathe. He’s come out here to cool off, literally and figuratively. Although he adores his parents, the constant questioning about his mental state soon became too much to handle after a few days. So, this morning, Cyrus snuck out. For some reason, he automatically heads to the swings. When he first comes upon the swings, he nearly turns around, but something compels him to sit down on a hard, plastic seat.

“Come here often?”

Cyrus’s breath catches in his throat because no, it can’t be him. This isn’t real, it must be another one of his convoluted nightmares. But the icy snow on his face feels real, as well as the chill of the wind and the brightness of the sky. He turns his head.

“TJ?” he whispers, breath fogging up the air around him.

Sure enough, there he is. For the most part, he looks the same; tall, sharp jawline, ruffled hair, colorful green eyes. But there’s an aura around him that feels different, that radiates maturity and confidence that Cyrus has yet to achieve.

“Hey, underdog,” he whispers back.

Underdog. Cyrus never thought he’d hear that nickname again, especially not coming from TJ’s mouth.

“What are you doing here?” Cyrus asks, almost in a harsh tone. After all, he can’t just forget what TJ did to him, how he made him feel.

“Can I sit?”

Cyrus sighs, nodding. They swing in silence, snow fluttering around them in intricate swirls. Never would Cyrus have thought things would be so awkward between them.

“I heard about what happened with school,” TJ admits.

Cyrus flips his head toward him and hisses out, “What are you talking about?!”

“Buffy’s sort of been sending me a bunch of angry text messages constantly, and in one of them she kinda admitted you were struggling being away from home.”

“She had no right to tell you that!”

“I don’t think she meant to,” TJ promises. “It was just a hint, anyway. But along with that and my parents asking about you all the time…I put it together.”

Cyrus scrapes his feet along the ice harshly. TJ flinches at the noise.

“Why do you care, anyway?”

TJ frowns, “What do you mean?”

The emotions that Cyrus has been holding in for so long suddenly burst out of him like an ocean wave crashing to the shoreline. “You left me after four years! Four years, TJ! And your explanation about college? Bullshit. You didn’t even talk to me about it first! We could have figured something out, but obviously you didn’t care then, so you can’t care now.”

TJ appears stunned at Cyrus’s outburst. Cyrus doesn’t think TJ’s ever seen him that angry before. In fact, Cyrus hasn’t felt so angry before.

“I’ve always cared,” TJ murmurs.

Cyrus scoffs. “Whatever. This is stupid. I’m leaving.”

He goes to get off his swing, but TJ’s gloved hand wraps around his own, causing him to halt his movements.

“Please,” TJ begs, “It’s true. I think about you literally all the time, Cy. I miss you more than anything.”

“Then why did you hurt me so much?” Cyrus cries out, tears dripping down his face.

It feels like a twisted repeat of the end of their senior year. The sense of Deja vu tingles from his head to toes. As they stand in the snow, their hands remain clasped together.

“I didn’t mean to, I promise!” TJ chokes out. “That was one of the worse days of my life. But I knew that if I told you how I really felt about you going to your dream college…you’d hate me forever.”

At this point, tears run down both of their faces.

“I don’t understand.”

TJ steps closer. “I didn’t want you to go, Cyrus! I wanted more than anything to tell you to stay here. But I felt so unbelieve ably guilty for feeling so selfish. This was your dream school, and I couldn’t let my selfishness take that away from you. So I thought the only way I’d be able to handle it would be breaking it off, but now I realize how incredibly stupid that was. No matter what, I can’t stop thinking about you, Cy. No matter how hard I tried, you were always there.”

“Teej,” Cyrus whispers with a sniffle. “Oh my god, TJ…”

“I’m so sorry I hurt you,” TJ sobs. “I hate myself everyday for that. I’m so sorry.”

They collapse into each other’s arms. TJ sobs into Cyrus’s shoulder, while Cyrus strokes his wet hair and cries silently. Being back in TJ’s embrace feels just like he remembers it; a warmth in the cold of the winter, a promise of comfort and security.

“It’s true,” Cyrus says softly into TJ’s ear. “I hate it at my school. I’m so anxious all the time. I’m failing almost all my classes. I’m a complete wreck. I feel like a huge baby. People do this all the time, move far away from home for college, but I couldn’t.”

“You’re not a coward, Cyrus. You were being brave trying something new.”

“But I couldn’t handle it! I feel like I failed,” Cyrus admits, pulling away.

TJ looks him in the eyes. “You didn’t fail. You just found out what doesn’t work for you. You’ll find your way again, I’m sure of it.”

Then, with the gentlest of touches, TJ reaches up to wipe a stray tear from Cyrus’s cold, rosy cheeks.

“I missed you,” Cyrus says again. “I missed you, I missed you, I missed you!”

They meet in a passionate kiss, pouring all their love and affection into it. Kissing TJ again feels like a reignited fire, a joyous song playing on repeat, fireworks exploding across the sky. In that moment, Cyrus knows that he’ll never love anyone like he loves TJ, and he needs TJ to know that.

So, when they pull apart panting for air, Cyrus’s hands cupping TJ’s cheeks, Cyrus hums out, “I love you Thelonious Jagger.”

TJ laughs before leaning in and kissing him again briefly but assertively.

“I love you endlessly, Cyrus Goodman.”

#tyrus #andi mack #tyrus fanfic #tj kippen #cyrus goodman #fanfiction #angst #sweaing tw #panic attack tw

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sergeanttpoliteness · 6 years

Text

➹puppy love➹(peter b. parker x reader)

Requested by @connorshero➝ “Something fluffy and sweet: Peter B surprises Reader (his best friend, who he's in love with) with a puppy after Reader lost their previous puppers.”

Forget listening to sad songs as you eat pizza that burns the roof of your mouth— Peter B. Parker believes a puppy is the medicine for a grieving heart.

word count: 3.5k

a/n: finally, i wrote something short. hello! i’m sorry this took so long, @connorshero , i’m going to be 100% honest and admit that i struggled quite a bit lol— i wrote the entire thing but i decided to delete it and start over bc i wasn’t happy with it. but i finally finished and here it is! requests are open, so feel free to send some if you want (: hope you enjoy!

A desperate thumping on your front door along with the fierce crackle of the storm roused you from the light slumber you didn’t even know you had succumbed to, your body jerking as you choked on the drool that had managed to slip down your chin. You grimaced, wiping the gross saliva off of your face with one hand while the other rubbed your eye. You sat on your floor, your back against your sofa which explained your sore neck and shoulders, staring at the carpet until the knocking returned and brought you fully back to consciousness. You didn’t know what time it was— it felt as if an entire year had gone by whilst you slept, honestly, but you were certain it was too late for it to be your landlord reminding you about your rent payment. You clumsily stood to your feet, the lack of illumination dooming you to knock your shin into the sharp edge of the coffee table. You screamed, but continued limping toward the door anyway, flinging the door open with a scowl as you held onto your throbbing leg. Your expression softened, however, and your brows drew together for in front of you stood a dripping wet Peter B. Parker wearing a large coat that barely covered the red and blue suit underneath it, and… holding a puppy covered in dirt?

“What the fuck?” You muttered, suddenly fully awake. It was an odd and unkind greeting, but Peter really couldn’t blame you for your reaction. He opened his mouth, laughing nervously as his eyes shifted down to the creature in his grasp.

“Hey? Sorry if I woke you up, I just… kinda had an emergency.” He nestled the puppy on his chest and your attention came back to it. The animal shivered wildly, and so did your best friend who smiled at you while his teeth chattered.

You silently moved aside for him to walk in, your brain working hard to figure out what in the world was happening and trying to arrange all the questions speeding by. Peter briefly studied the living room— images of days prior, when he embraced you as you dampened his neck with your tears in that same spot he was in, flashing through his eyes. A twinge of worry invaded him when he took in the abandoned box of pizza on the couch, and the two empty cans of beer littering your red rug. Meanwhile, you might as well have heard the dog talk, because your stunned face— eyes as big as a full moon, your eyebrows almost reaching your hairline— represented just that as you couldn’t tear your gaze away from the stray puppy huddled against the man. “Oh my god,” You finally said, gasping and your hand reaching out to hang above its head. “Why do you have a puppy with you?”

“It was a surprise, to say the least.” He allowed you to take the animal from him, groaning when he saw the grime on his hands and coat. You didn’t mind much about the dirt, though, as it was a dog; laundry day was tomorrow, you told yourself as you hugged the puppy like a young child with their favorite stuffed animal. “I was in an alleyway when I heard something break behind me and so I went to investigate, but instead of a homeless person or something, I found this little girl right here.”

“And you decided to take her with you?”

“Well, yeah, we… had a connection.”

A lovely trail of footprints and droplets of mud now adorned your floor which you had actually swept hours earlier; not the makeover you wanted, exactly, and it would’ve irked you except that you were too exhausted and confused to save a place for an extra emotion. You glanced back at Peter, studying his shivering body, and sighed. The man could be bleeding out to death, yet he wouldn’t complain nor do much about it unless you physically dragged him to a nearby hospital; it wasn’t an exaggeration, rather a characteristic of his you gathered after having a friendship with him since prehistoric times, but also since (to your dismay) the exact same scenario had occurred many times before. “You had a connection, huh? Alright, dork, I bet there’s a forgotten collection of your clothes in my closet— go get changed while I get the bath ready.”

There was a certain weakness that threatened to attack Peter, and the fact that he was freezing after swinging to your apartment in the ruthless downpour easily might have been the culprit of that; but as bad as he wanted it to be that way, it was evident in his heart that you were the true delinquent— you, with your tangled hair perhaps from the slumber he disrupted, with just your presence really, continued to transform him into a teenager who wrote long melodramatic poems about his crush and doodled their initials on his school notes during class. It was absurd, truthfully, how you managed to do such thing to a fully-grown man. But you were his time machine, his youth potion, that remedy that allowed him to see life as colorful as a pure child did, and he’d never complain about it, because that’s just what he needed all the time.

Peter had forgotten about the pile of clothes belonging to him that neatly rested on one shelf of your closet. Ever since you two were in college— when he’d pretty much constantly live in your apartment for an entire week— you’d been assembling the shirts and other articles of clothing the man often left behind as if clothes were as expensive as a carton of milk that’s about to expire. So that’s where that shirt went, he thought as his eyes settled on a green flannel he used to wear religiously back before Christ, partially because you always voiced how much you liked how he looked with it. You’d truly had him wrapped around your finger for the longest time, he realized, and yet he’d never had the guts to make a move. That frustration abandoned him, however, when he put on an old shirt and it smelled like you; there was that youthfulness again as contentment pecked his entire face, coloring his skin a rosy tint. Like a new man, he headed down the hallway to the bathroom where he could hear water running. He peeked his head inside, the corner of his lips tugging upwards when he saw you on the floor caressing the puppy on your lap and talking to it. “I see you two already became friends.”

You looked up at him, directing to him a tired twitch of your mouth. “You better be scared, ‘cause your title of best friend is at risk. Could you close the door?” You gestured your head toward the entrance and your wish was his command as a gentle click left the bathroom’s door when he closed it.

“Again, sorry about bothering you. I just didn’t know where else to go, and you’re the best person I know when it comes to dogs.” He shrugged, descending to sit down in front of you, his knees uncomfortably tucked close to his chest to fit his long legs in the small room. The puppy forgot about you, and was determined to snuggle under Peter’s knees as he jumped off of you. “No! I just changed!” He groaned and wriggled away from the animal into the wall.

You giggled, quickly grabbing the excited creature before it tragically attacked your friend’s immaculate clothes. “I don’t really mind, honestly. I wasn’t exactly having the best night anyway; so thanks, Prince Charming, for coming to rescue me with a stray puppy— hic!” You hiccuped, the alcohol finally getting to you. You stood up, waving your hand which you weren’t cradling the puppy with for him to do so as well.

He hummed, amused, his hand on his hip as you closed the faucet. “I’m excellent when it comes to bathing dogs.” You glanced back at him, quirking a brow and narrowing your eyes.

“You sure? Because every time I asked you to help me give Webster a bath you just watched while I did all the work.” A grin may have remained on your features, but the rain cloud of sorrow that showered over you was evident after you mentioned that one name— the one you used to cheerfully call all the time, but now tried to avoid at every chance you got. Peter noticed, his eyes sad, but he elbowed you playfully hoping that it would help somehow, even if just a little bit.

“Lies, I think I did a pretty good job at holding him still.” It was unavoidable, no matter how hard he could’ve fought, the dreamy smile that etched on his face simply as a consequence of your empyrean laugh; such a minor thing that had a tremendous effect on him, and it embarrassed him, but again, he wouldn’t ever complain. It was baffling how you’d never noticed the stares that lasted too long whilst you just existed, or the utter and raw infatuation his eyes burned with as you smirked up at him.

“Sure, keep lying to yourself. I really need you to help me, though, because this girl is a shit ton more hyper than… uh, you know.” Peter recalled in his head the trip to your place and the humiliating amount of times he yelped while swinging as the dog would continuously squirm out of his grasp and attempt to climb onto his shoulder. He nodded, releasing a big puff of air because you had no idea. You grabbed a red a bucket from the cabinet and handed it to him. “Okay, just use this to pour the water over her.”

“Am I going to get something if I do a great job? You know, like a sticker?”

You shrugged, kneeling down before the bathtub. “I don’t know. A kiss, maybe.” You stared back at him when moments passed and he didn’t say anything, both of your faces as red as the bucket he shakily held. “It was a joke. C’mon, get down.”

He waited for you to take your words back, or maybe add something along the lines of “but if you’re down so am I” if the cosmos decided to bless him for once. You remained quiet, though, and a quiet sigh slipped through his lips as he decided to leave it behind for his own sanity’s sake. “Why did you make me stand up if we were gonna get back on the floor again?” He grumbled, following you suit. He looked at you confused when you began to laugh at him. Was he still blushing? You did always make fun of him when he blushed. “What?”

“Why are you making those dad noises?”

“Me? Dad noises?”

“Yeah, like—” You let out a low grunt, your lips puckered and your eyebrows scrunched together, and then breathed out obnoxiously loud and heavy. “That’s what you sound like— hic!” You hiccuped for a second time, and he threw his head back as he laughed.

“Shut up, you can’t even handle drinking two cans of beer, look at you right now.” He teased, the many times you’ve flirted with him throughout the years after getting hammered with a ridiculous quantity of alcohol in the back of his head. He stretched out his arms, making grabby hands at the puppy, the bucket abandoned and floating in the water. “Gimme.”

Your mouth curved into a smile at his childlike actions as you carefully placed the creature in his hold. “I can’t believe you’re such a dad, but also a man-child, it’s adorable.”

He chose to say nothing, lest his voice decided to backstab him and crack like a fourteen-year-old boy during an oral presentation. He took a deep breath, instead focusing on the dog who believed it was a menacing beast as it chewed on his finger, and the grey layer of mud covering its short fur. He frowned, thinking of different scenarios of how the poor pup could’ve possibly ended up such way, none happy. He filled the plastic bucket with water before draining it slowly down its back, revealing its true dark brown color. “She’s so cute, I might have to cry.” He mumbled, his expression strangely serious in spite of his words.

“What are you gonna do with her?” There was a glint of what he wished was hope in your tone, anticipation clouding your features as you tried to nonchalantly squirt a generous amount of dog shampoo on the palm of your hand.

The animal tried to escape as he rinsed the grime but he held it in its place while he waited for you to start washing it. He raised his shoulders, glancing sideways at you. “I don’t know, I guess I’ll take her to a shelter or something.” You almost announced your disappointment, but you nodded, drawing your lower lip between your teeth. “You look disappointed.”

“Me?”

“Uh, no, the fucking ghost in your bathroom.” He said sarcastically. “Don’t roll your eyes at me, of course I meant you.”

You chuckled, shaking your head as you massaged the shampoo into the puppy you cared about too much despite only knowing it for less than thirty minutes, creating enough foam that miniature bubbles drifted in the air. “Did you know that my apartment is haunted?”

Peter snorted at your spontaneity. “Oh, is it?” In a mere second, however, he completely tuned out everything along with your response; all purely because of the accidental caress you gave his hand as you scrubbed the dog’s loin. Was it accidental? Your touch lingered for too long for it to be, no? Or was he just overthinking? Most likely. He desperately needed to put himself together, he groaned internally— and if only he’d done so sooner, then he wouldn’t have been too distraught by a hand touch to notice the rapidly approaching mountain of foam on your hand until it was too late. He felt pressure on the top of his head, and that’s when he recognized your hand sliding down the side of his face, lathering the bubbly liquid on his skin. He jumped, pushing your arm away as his eyes widened. “Why did you do that?!”

Your beam was as contagious as a virus as you giggled, your foamy hands proof of your crime. “I asked you something like twenty times and you didn’t answer!” You defended while he wiped his eyebrow with the back of his hand. “Hey, I saw the opportunity and I took it!” Red alarms went off in your head, and you regretted everything when you saw his sly smirk. You lifted your finger up as a warning when he picked up the bucket and loaded it, innocent eyes staring at you. “Don't you— hic!— fucking dare…”

“Your shirt’s kinda dirty. Here, let me clean it for you—” He spilled all the water over your head and you shrieked, wielding yourself with your arms, which was nothing other than pointless as— regardless of your efforts— you still finished entirely soaked. Peter held his fist up to his mouth, wheezing while you glowered at him with wet hair stuck to your forehead.

“You dick…” You chuckled incredulously, giving him no time to feel satisfied before scooping more foam and launching yourself at him, slamming your hand into his mouth.

It was the cafeteria food fight you’d always dreamed of having; except that it was just two people (and a puppy playing in the bathtub) in your bathroom instead of a big cafeteria, and food was exchanged for water in an old bucket close to breaking and wasted dog shampoo with enough bubbles for a little kid to have a stroke from the excitement. Not a degrade, but an upgrade, indeed— one you’d accept without a doubt; even if you could already imagine how much your back would hurt after you mopped up the mess you two made, for it was impossible not to as Peter grinned widely at you with his fake bubbly Santa Claus beard, and you held your soaked stomach as you hysterically laughed. Peter’s body tingled when he thought about dropping all his fears and doubts to crash his yearning lips against yours; to hold your chin with the delicacy you deserved, inundate the room with all his repressed lust and emotion, like a volcano that’s been asleep for eons gushing everything out for the first time in forever. He held himself back, though, like he always did, and just admired your sunshine from afar.

You lounged on your couch, your arm hanging off the side while Peter rested on the floor with his head against your knee, ignoring the discomfort just to be as close to you as possible. It was a well-deserved break after your puppy bath-time-turned-into-a-water-fight as you two watched the clean animal almost do a handstand while trying to eat from the larger bowl. You chuckled, your cheek squished against the cushion. “Did you know I named him Webster because of you?” You mumbled, and you felt Peter’s head graze your knee as he glanced at you, humming questioningly. “Webster. Web.”

“And you waited seventeen years to tell me that?”

“Thought it was sort of obvious.”

“I kinda just thought you were really passionate about the dictionary.” He said and you let out air through your nose, gripping the worn Mickey Mouse blanket wrapped around you. You clutched the memory of Peter gifting you the cloth for your dog’s first birthday close to your heart— the cloth which would become the Australian Shepherd’s most beloved possession, even up till to his last moments and as you said goodbye to him. You sniffed, closing your eyes when your vision began to blur.

“Spidey was an option at first, but I felt really lame calling my dog ‘Spidey’. Plus… he also really reminded me of you.”

His eyes softened. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, y’know: brown hair, brown eyes, adorable…” He almost had a heart attack. “He was always there for me and I… I really loved him.” You whispered.

Peter’s stare moved down to your hand, and soon you felt his fingers curl around yours. “Hey, Y/N?”

“Hm?”

“I have a confession to make.” You peeked an eye open. “I didn’t just bring the puppy here so you could help me clean her up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I, uh,” He scratched his stubble, trying to find his words. “Webster took care of you when I couldn’t, y’know? Not just that, but I hate seeing how much it hurt you to lose him. It hurt me as well— you saw me bawling my eyes out like a baby when they put him to sleep.” He laughed.

You frowned, giving his hand a squeeze. “Thank you for being there with me. I probably would’ve broken down if it weren’t for you. But why’d you bring the stray puppy here?”

“I know I said I was going to take her to a shelter, but I really just wanted to see your reaction. I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to replace Webster, though, because nothing ever could, and he deserves better than that.”

You then sat up, holding his hand on your lap as you began to understand what he was trying to say. “Peter…” You warned him— you truly weren’t in the mood for a prank, but his voice and features expressed nothing more than honesty. Peter rose from the ground and you immediately followed him, your hands linked as he walked up to the puppy.

“Sorry, bud, but I’m gonna take you for a sec,” He muttered as he bent down and scooped the dog. He faced you, your heart glowing at the sight of his sheepish smile and his giggles whilst the dog began to lick his neck. “I need someone to watch after you now that Webster can’t, and this girl right here is perfectly fit for the job.”

You were aware of how ridiculous you were for tearing up, but it was bound to happen when Peter handed out the puppy— your puppy to you. You gawked at him, taking her gently into your arms, blinking furiously when she washed your knuckles with her tongue. “Are you serious?”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” He scoffed, although showed you a crooked grin. You couldn’t contain yourself anymore, and took a step closer to him before landing a tender kiss on the corner of his mouth, lightly brushing his lips. He gulped when you pulled away, his eyes going round. “O-oh.”

“It’s not a kiss like I said back in the bathroom, but it’s what you’ll get for now.” You murmured shyly, suddenly your feet much more interesting to look at than the flustered man in front of you or the sweet creature you held. However, once again, you missed that stare of his and his growing smile as his whole face lit up.

“I really can’t complain.”

#peter parker x reader #peter b parker x reader #peter b parker #peter b parker x you #peter b parker x y/n #spider man into the spider verse #sm:itsv #itsv #imagine #peter parker one shot #fem! reader #male!reader #gender neutral

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artificialqueens · 6 years

Text

Cause I give you all -Pt1- (Trixya) - Pichitinha

A/N: hi i am back with another fic bc i have no self control whatsoever! this is a three part story that was originally a one-shot but it made more sense to split. it’ll be finished soon bc the last part is almost done so! i will now go back to owl to see if ch4 accepts it has to be written. this is a very casual story, i hope you enjoy it! as always i am @pichitinha on this hell site and I have posted this on AO3.

It isn’t often that they get the night off when touring. Thinking about how tired and lacking months of proper sleep Trixie is, she strongly considers staying in the five star hotel they’re in and sleeping the best sleep she knows she’s had in months, but at the end of the day she knows she gets a good amount of free time on the tour bus, even if sparse and uncomfortable, and she hasn’t had fun in a long time. So she showers away her laziness, gets dressed in nice clothes and her own make-up, and goes in search of a bar.

It’s apparently the only bar in town and it’s really crowded with the most redneck crowd Trixie’s ever seen. There are large bearded men and strong women and as soon as she enters she can spot at least five people arm wrestling on tables filled with empty gigantic glasses. The smell of beer is strong and so is the smell of bacon and she turns her nose.

She finds an empty stool by the end of the counter in the middle of two couples heavily making out and she sits down with her eyes fixed on the bottles in front of her, tries to tune out the sexual noises coming from each of her sides. She truly found the most heterosexual bar in the state.

Maybe she should have chosen her sleep.

She orders herself a beer - when in Rome, right? - and sips at it slowly, lets her eyes unfocus as they stare at the bottles and her mind wonder.

She’s so tired. She hasn’t picked up her guitar in three months. She washes her hair once a week only and it’s starting to show. Her favorite clothes are now all worn out. Her make-up kit is getting way too close to being empty.

But she loves it. Touring with a country legend as a backup singer is something Trixie never thought would be so satisfying, but it is. She’s friends with her which is something she couldn’t even dream of when she was a kid, and she gets to experience the ups and down of the famous life up close. She’s doing what she loves, earning good money with it, and she’s at the best point of her life so far.

She just lets herself wonder, sometimes, when it will end. Not in a bad way but not in a good way either. Is this how it’s going to be, forever? Always on busses, from city to city, hotel to hotel, in the shadows of someone else’s spotlight? Will she ever stop somewhere long enough to find someone to build a life with? Does she even want to settle down?

She doesn’t, particularly, not in the white picket fence with 2.5 kids kind of way. But she does in the having a loving wife who cares for her and wants to share a life together kind of way. Trixie’s in love with the idea of being in love, and she knows she’ll always be.

She finishes her beer and asks for another one. There’s no point in going back to the hotel, even if she’s not mingling in any way. She might as well drink as much as she hasn’t been able to while touring, and sleep in until noon or later since they have a show in that same town the next evening so they have no plans for a few hours.

And then she takes one more look around, tries to figure out if there’s anyway at all she could fit in with anyone, and she spots a blonde woman at the other end of the long counter, sipping on a beer alone, her posture similar to Trixie’s. She might be projecting or reading what she wants to read, but everyone else is very ingrained in the place’s vibe and the two of them are the only ones completely isolated.

Trixie’s not saying the woman’s a lesbian. But Trixie isn’t saying she isn’t. There’s just that face when you know you’re the only gay person in the middle of a clearly non-accepting space and, well, that’s what Trixie’s seeing.

It’s worth trying, right?

She asks for an extra beer and moves over to where the woman is, spots an empty stool by her left side and slides swiftly into it. The woman doesn’t notice, so Trixie decides she has nothing to lose and slides the new bottle of beer in front of her. She blinks three times before coming back to her senses and looking over at Trixie.

She grins widely and Trixie melts a bit. Her teeth are displayed in the most symmetrical smile she’s ever seen and they are extremely shiny and white except for the small red mark on her front one where her lipstick probably brushed and she didn’t notice. It makes her look a bit dorky and it’s a look that definitely suits her.

“Hi,” the woman says, grabs the beer without breaking eye contact or letting her smile drop. “Is this for me?” She motions the bottle, sips at it before even getting an answer. Trixie’s half convinced her old bottle still has beer inside.

Trixie shrugs, drinks her beer as well before answering. “I was a bit lonely over there and I saw you a bit lonely over here, thought we could drink together?”

The woman smiles wider, her tooth still a bit red, and nods a little before adjusting in her seat so she’s half facing Trixie. Trixie can’t tell her intentions, isn’t fully sure if she’s just glad that she has a girl talking to her instead of a creepy guy, but whatever. At the very least she’ll share a few beers with a pretty woman before heading back to her hotel.

“I’m Katya,” she offers as she extends her hand, her short nails painted the same red shade as her lips. “Thanks for the beer.”

“Trixie,” she replies as she shakes her hand, small and pointy. “And you’re welcome.”

They cling their bottles together, cheers, they say, and take a sip together, eyes interlocked.

Maybe she’d been right in going out tonight.

There’s a table in the corner where a couple seemed intent on doing as much as they could without having to remove their clothes and Katya convinced Trixie to bet on when they’d leave and how far they’d go before doing so.Trixie is looking at them very attentively - probably creepy - waiting for her phone to beep indicating Katya’s time is up and she’s won. She has five minutes left and then she wins. They haven’t agreed on what the winner gets yet, but she just doesn’t like losing.

“One of them is gonna end up finishing right there in the next two minutes and then they’ll leave,” Katya says over her shoulder, pulling her attention back. Her tooth is still not clean and Trixie kind of doesn’t want to tell her at all. It’s nice to see a flaw in her, honestly.

“First of all, ew! We want that table so I truly hope they don’t.”

“When will you ever have the chance again to say that you’ve lived through an experience like this? Live life, Trixie!”

Trixie snorts, looks back at the couple and her timer - she’s two minutes away from winning.

“I am living life to the fullest, thank you very much.”

Katya’s eyes sparkle a bit. She seems interested in Trixie, in what she has to say and even what she doesn’t have to say. It’s odd to receive all that attention, but it’s thrilling too.

“Tell me about it. What are you living like?”

“I’m a singer. I mean, a backup singer at the moment. But I do sing and play guitar sometimes, on bars and stuff. Or I used to, before touring.”

Katya nods, her eyes wide as she gives Trixie her undivided attention. “That sounds fascinat- I won!”

She exclaims as she points to the couple getting up and sure enough Trixie’s timer is thirty fucking seconds away from beeping.

“Fuck me,” she whispers in frustration and Katya doesn’t miss a beat.

“Actually I get to choose what you have to do since I won the bet but I’m okay with that.”

Trixie laughs loudly, Katya’s smile is shiny and the little mark still there.

“Maybe if you learn to clean your teeth after you apply lipstick.”

Katya’s hand move to her mouth to brush against it. “Shit.”

She’s not sure how they ended up in a park at 2AM, both of them having had one too many bottles of beer before leaving the bar, but here they are. Trixie’s at the talkative phase of her drunkenness and she’s sure she’s shared way more than she should with a complete stranger, but this is something tomorrow her will worry about. Today her is blissfully out of her mind, giggly and in good company.

“Ok so how does one reach the ripe age of twenty-seven speaking five languages?” Trixie asks as they stumble through the empty and quiet park, their healed steps and loud voices echoing through the trees.

“I don’t speak five languages, spanish and italian are like child level knowledge at most,” Katya replies with raised eyebrows, as if that makes any difference, as if Trixie isn’t immensely impressed by that anyway.

“I get that, my english is at a child’s level as well,” Trixie retorts, thinks she’s being funny but honestly she’s far too drunk to be sure.

Katya laughs though, loud and clear in the night sky, enough to send the birds flying from the tree tops near them.

“Hey, it’s not your fault you’re from Wisconsin!” she finally says, and now Trixie’s the one screaming, her hand hitting Katya’s arm playfully.

“You bitch,” she says jokingly, and Katya gets it because her eyes are sparkling and they stumble closer to each other, one practically leaning on the other as their breaths mingle.

There’s a beat of silence in which Katya licks her lips, and then she murmurs, “By the way, I’m like, really really gay.”

Somewhere in the back of Trixie’s mind she knows the setting is intimate - they’re practically embracing, faces close, eyes interlocked - but the way Katya says it just makes a loud bubbly laughter leave her lips as she takes one step back to ground herself.

“Girl, me too!”

It’s 4AM and they’re at a 24 hour diner, most of the alcohol evaporated from their system although Trixie’s skin is still buzzing. They’re seated facing each other in a corner booth, there are quite a number of customers for the time, but everyone is talking quietly and it’s really peaceful. They each have a mug of steaming coffee in their hands and even though they’d looked at each other’s eyes all night, Trixie’s just now realizing Katya’s eyes are green.

“Your eyes are really pretty,” she says then, doesn’t really realize she’s doing so. She’s forgotten bits and pieces of everything she’s told Katya all night, but that’s more related to how dumb some of these things were and how many than to them being drunk. She likes it though, feels comfortable with her. With the pretty, beautiful lesbian with whom she spent the entire night and has yet to kiss.

Katya smiles at the compliment, and Trixie realizes she hasn’t complimented her smile all night. It’s really pretty. She’s really pretty. Trixie is still amazed that they’re hanging out.

“Thank you. All of you is really pretty,” she says back, and Trixie bites down on her lower lip. She’s not one for one night stands usually, but she is on a long tour where there aren’t really any other options and is it even a regular one night stand after they’ve spent the whole night together? Technically yes, she knows, and technically she’s not even certain Katya wants to sleep with her, but at the end of the day she knows that all she wants is to finish this day in a bed with Katya. It can be her hotel room, it can be Katya’s hotel room - she’s travelling too, she learned, she’s a photographer following some models for a project, and what astounds Trixie the most is that she’s not one of the models herself - it can be anywhere really. She’s really drawn to Katya, more so than she usually is to any strangers - are they still strangers by now? - and she knows she deserves it.

She squirms in her seat, thinks of the proper way to put this question out there, but then Katya cuts her off with a question in a completely different direction.

“So, where you heading next?”

“Somewhere close, I think. I never remember the schedule.”

Katya raises her eyebrows. “Really? And how does that work?”

Trixie shrugs. “I just get there and go to the stage and sing I guess? I recognize several of the cities and sometimes I’ll explore for a couple of hours if we can but mostly I just sleep, it’s a really tiring routine.”

Katya seems baffled and Trixie feels like she’s done something wrong for some reason.

“Seeing new places is my favorite part of touring. I’ll gladly give up sleep if I can see something I’ve never seen before.”

“I mean, after the fourth town with the same hay stacks and trees it gets old, you know,” Trixie jokes into her cup of coffee, trying to find her ground again. She’d been so comfortable seconds ago.

Katya laughs, but her heart isn’t fully in it. God, had Trixie somehow ruined this? She’s not even sure how.

“Yeah. I mean, I’m a photographer. I usually find beauty everywhere I go.”

“Oh,” Trixie says, doesn’t know what else she could say.

“Sorry, it wasn’t meant to sound pretentious like that. And I’m not judging you or anything. I’m just… I don’t know, it’s nice finding these little differences, isn’t it? We’ve been so similar all night.”

They have. Their similar sense of humor is something that made them hit it off instantly. But also realizing that they travel so much, live the same home is nowhere lifestyle had been a major point. It never occured to Trixie they might perceive it so differently.

“Yeah, of course,” she responds, although she isn’t sure it is. Meeting Katya had felt like fate, but now she isn’t so sure.

But then Katya’s hand slide across the table and holds tightly onto hers.

“My hotel is really close. Do you want to crash with me?”

Trixie knows what she means, and most of her worries disappear as she looks into her eyes. She nods and they get up together, Katya’s hand clasps onto hers and the only time she lets go is when they’re inside the room and she needs it to unzip Trixie’s dress.

Trixie goes back to her hotel room late in the afternoon with Katya’s number in her phone, a bite mark on her left hip, and the song I Put A Spell On You by Annie Lennox from Katya’s alarm stuck in her head.

#this is the cutest ever and i love it - tiff #trixya #pichitinha #trixie mattel #katya zamolodchikova #lesbian au #romance #cause i give you all #rpdr fanfiction

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parkjmini · 6 years

Text

Reminisce | The End

Park Jimin “I found myself falling more in love with you as I grew older.” You and Jimin were childhood best friends until you had to move away. As years passed and you both aged, the separation between your friendship deepen and you never heard from him again. More than a decade passed and you suddenly stumble upon the man who you never stopped thinking about. Genre: angst Word Count: Warnings: explicit language Italics = flashback Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | the end

after 8 months of not updating, i want to finally conclude the end of this story. thank you for all who constantly reminded me and checked up on this series i really appreciate it bc it shows me that there are still ppl who are interested. through my major writers block, i have to say that i am quite happy with how this all ended.

“Are you going to tell me what it is that hurt you so much that you couldn’t come see me?” Jimin sat in front of you on his bed, his hands twiddling with yours.

“We lost touch, Jimin. As close as we were, we were living separate lives and I wanted to respect yours. You were entering high school at the time and I was just some old friend holding you back from exploring. I liked you a lot, Jimin, so when you began pushing me away.. it hurt me.” Look up, Jimin’s eyes were glossy and rimmed with small puddles.

“Right.. I realized that I was doing that. I never meant to stop calling. I wanted to, I just got distracted by other things. But I never stopped thinking about you, (Y/N). I found myself falling more in love with you as I grew older. When Christmas rolled around, I waited to see if you were flying back. When it was your birthday, I begged Mom to help me mail your gifts.. but even my own mother lost contact with your’s.” A single tear ran down Jimin’s plump cheek.

“You thought about me?” Your voice cracked, shocked by his confession.

“All the time. I could never fully commit myself to a new relationship. I was never fully there because I couldn’t. I was stuck on my best friend.” Your hand slipped from his as the doorbell rang.

He wiped his wet cheeks and got up to answer the door. “What are you doing here?” His voice rang throughout the apartment.

“I need you, Jimin. You make me feel whole. I miss your arms and your chest. I miss you.” A woman’s voice carried with his.

“You can’t be here. Go home.”

“This is my home. It’s our home.”

“No, it’s my home and I need you to go, it’s late.” Jimin was growing angry.

“Fine. I’m sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow. We’ll have lunch or something.” A slam followed her response. He walked into his bedroom with you shocked.

“Were you seeing someone?” You asked softly, your past young self dying inside from jealousy.

“No, (Y/N). But she thinks that I want to be with her and I really don’t. She doesn’t understand that I don’t feel the same and she visits me every week. I tell her every time. I tell her to leave me alone. She’s trying to find the reason to why I don’t want to be with her and she almost found it at first.”

You stared at him, confused. “What do you mean? What’s the reason?”

“If only she came in and checked to see who was in my room. She’d know the reason why I don’t want to be with her.” He held your hand again, glossy eyes soaking you up.

Then it hit you. He meant you. Swallowing the lump in your throat, you drew Jimin in for a hug. “I’ve waited all my life for you to say that you want me the same way I want you. But, Jimin, we don’t live in a fairy tale and you’re a little too late. 13 years late..”

He pulled back and held your face. He searched for answers in your expression, but you remained as blank as possible. “I leave in the next 3 days, Jimin. I don’t know when I’m coming back. I don’t know where life will take me next.”

“So stay. Live here with me, with your dad. This was your life before, the life you loved.” Jimin begged and you’ve never seen this side of him before.

“You didn’t beg this desperately when I left 13 years ago..”

Jimin rolled his eyes and his hands let go of yours, “because that was out of your control. Now, you’re an adult and making your own choices, kiddo.”

You had forgotten how smart and witty Jimin was. You always use to believe that he was smarter because he was older, but it was actually because Jimin was just academically excelling.

“No, you can’t take away 5 apples if you only have 4 to give away. That is when you get into negative numbers and you aren’t learning those yet.” Jimin helped you erase your previous answer.

You pushed away the thick book filled with math worksheets. As a nine year old, you only desired to play, especially with the new scooter that Jimin recently got for his birthday.

“Can we play?” You asked impatiently Jimin poking his temples with the end of his pencil. He shook his head.

“I promised your mom I would help you with your homework and you’re not done with it yet. Come here.” He patted the spot on the lawn next to him.

You stood your ground and crossed your arms. Shaking your head violently, you proceeded to say, “I want to play, Jimin.”

He pouted, “we can play if you answer this problem correctly. If you don’t, you’re coming back to finish your homework, deal?”

You gleamed and nodded, but your smile fell when Jimin hit you with a division question. You had only recently learned division in the fourth grade and you were too busy doodling to pay attention.

When you couldn’t answer him, he patted the seat next to him again and pulled out a clean sheet of paper to write more division practice problems for you to do.

“Well smartass, why don’t you tell me how much it would cost for me to stay here? What job will I be doing instead of a flight attendant? Do I continue school? I definitely can’t dance, Jimin, so don’t even think about that. Are you okay with me living with you? How much is rent? What would happen if we break up? Or if you change your mind?” As smart as Jimin was, asking you to stay was a ridiculous request.

You no longer lived in your old city anymore. You no longer needed Jimin to support you anymore. “I don’t know, if you really want to stay then we can talk about this over the next few days and figure everything out. If you don’t, then I’ll let you go on your way.”

“I’m not staying here.” You told him and the his face sadden by tenfold. “I love you, Park Jimin, as my close childhood best friend. I love you, Park Jimin, as something more than that. But, we would never work out and maybe that’s why it took so long for us to realize how each other feels for the other.”

“But you’re not going to give us a chance?” Jimin’s voice cracked, indicating how much he was holding back from crying.

You pulled him onto the mattress with your arms draped over his torso, your chin on top of his chest. “I gave us so many chances.”

At that moment, he sat up with you in his arms. His lips pressed gently against yours. His scent engulfing you, his nose pressed roughly on your face. His antsy hands wondering your canvas.

The many emotions overwhelmed you, causing you to vibrate and grip onto his shirt to steady yourself. Your heart beat faster than Jimin’s impatient touches. Heat radiated off of your cheeks.

You were feeling a mixture of nervousness and passion. While the other kiss was refreshing, this one was laced with every ounce of passion that Jimin hid inside of him.

After a few more seconds, you pulled away to breathe. Your deep breathing mixed with his as he stared deeply, longingly into your eyes. His chest rose evidently and you whispered, still inches away from his face, “what happened to letting me go on my own way?”

He chuckled, but his smile changed to a small pout as if he had realized something, “I was crazy to push you away before. I’m not going to do that again, (Y/N). I don’t know how many more years I can stand hearing you call me your best friend when I know we both want more than that.”

“So?”

“So.. fucking stay with me, please.” Jimin nuzzled his head at the crook of your neck, burying his hot face into your skin.

The next few days, Jimin would not stop holding onto you. He was afraid of you flying off. He showered you with love and affection. Every night, he made sure you were comfortable in his arms before he kissed you goodnight.

You have never felt more happy in your entire life. Growing up, you had the longest crush on the man, who you’ve been waking up to the past mornings. Jimin was finally yours.

The older protector, the admirable, fearless Park Jimin saw you in the same light that you’ve been casting upon him your whole life. However, something felt off and almost unsettling.

Even though you were happy, maybe it wasn’t the relationship your younger self wanted. It felt almost rushed, but you’ve both been waiting for practically a lifetime for these moments. So... why weren’t you running around the room and doing cart wheels?

As Jimin slept soundlessly at night, you laid next to him wide awake. You didn’t want to stay, even if it did mean that you’ll finally be with the man of your dreams. Your life was in the sky, in different countries.

Your big move when you were younger switched something within you. Through the tears and the new experiences, you couldn’t stay in one place for long. You couldn’t get too comfortable or else, you’ll release it really wasn’t what you wanted.

You didn’t want to abruptly leave Jimin one day. You loved him too much to hurt him like that, so the only way to avoid it was to never start it.

“Why are you going so far away for college? Don’t you want to stay here with me? With your mom?” Your close friend questioned you as you browsed through a college brochure.

“I really.. don’t. I just don’t like it here.” You simply told him, not intending for it to mean much.

He huffed, “I’m here.”

“I know. It’s not you. It’s this location. I’m not happy here. There are millions of different countries in this world, aren’t you curious to what’s out in the world?” You held onto his shoulders, but he shook you off.

“I don’t care about anywhere if it doesn’t involved you. I’ve never found someone as great as you, (Y/N).”

“Don’t say that because you don’t know what you’re saying. How could someone stay in one place for the rest of their lives and be.. okay with it? To be with the same people and feel like they’re not missing out?” You marveled, but you didn’t realize how much your excitement was hurting him.

He cleared his throat and he began to gather his things to leave, “well then, you don’t really need me anymore, do you? Sorry that you felt like you missing out.”

“Why don’t you want to leave?” You followed after him, down your staircase and to your front door. You were unsure why he was getting upset with you.

Your friend spun on his heel to face you with all his final might, “because I’m comfortable.”

“That’s the thing. I’m too comfortable here. I’m-I’m--I’m sick of it!”

“Maybe you should warn the next person you let into your life that you’re not staying for long before they get too attached.” He smiled bitterly before exiting your life.

“Jimin.” You called after him the morning of your mandatory flight back.

The sleepy boy groaned and mumbled, “yes?”

Sitting up, you held his blankets close to your nose to remember the sweet scent you’ll miss. “I’ve decided.”

He shot up, rubbing the morning out of his eyes. “You’re staying?”

“I’m.. leaving. And.. I’m.. not..” you swallowed before finishing your sentence, “coming back for us.” Hot tears spilled at the sides of your cheeks, but Jimin wasn’t comforting you. He was busy curling up into a small ball, cushioning his own heart break.

“Can I ask you why?” His delicate voice cause the guilt to close your throat.

“It’s better if you didn’t know and that there is nothing you can do to change my mind.” Getting up, you needed to get back into uniform.

Jimin’s body shook as his sobs drifted around the room. His tears stained more than his pillow.

He wasn’t the only one who was choked up inside. Hearing your best friend cry was the worst thing that you’ve ever experienced. You experienced turbulence all the time in the planes, times where you’ve felt like you were going to die. But Jimin’s tears shook you violently, more than what turbulence ever done to you. However, the only reassurance you had was that it was for the best. Jimin was better left hurt now than later when he was too invested in the relationship.

Although you had come to the decision of letting go, it was still hard for you to go. Jimin’s nonverbal cues planted your feet to the ground. It made your body hesitant from moving on.

“Are you going to send me off, Jimin?” You asked the sobbing man, his eyes already red from the tears.

He peered up at you and you saw the most hurt expression on your best friend’s face. “Of course. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?”

His voice cracked halfway and he grabbed his keys, without brushing his teeth or changing, he headed for the door. “Do you get ready first, Jimin?”

“Sure.” It almost seemed as if he was mindlessly listening to your orders, losing a mind of his own.

When Jimin was ready, the car ride over to the airport was occupied with a heavy silence. You had to refrain from reaching over and holding his hand. Jimin had to refrain from crying anymore. He didn’t want to listen to the radio, afraid to create any songs that reminded him of you.

Once you arrived, Jimin parked and helped you with your suitcase. He had been avoiding eye contact the entire time, but he looked up once more before you left. His breath was caught in his throat when he saw you beautifully made in your uniform and red lipstick, the same night he had saw you again.

“I’m sorry, (Y/N), that I hadn’t realized how much I was in love with you until recently.” He whispered and you fell into his arms, breaking inside and out.

“I’m sorry for doing this to you, Jimin, but I can’t hurt you in the future when I know it would destroy you more than it does now.” You sobbed into his arms and he pulled you back, confused.

“What do you mean?”

Your mascara smeared under your eyes and Jimin rubbed the rolling tear away. “I don’t stay for long. It’s only a matter of time before I get too comfortable and fly away again. I’ve done it before and I sure as hell would do it again.”

“No matter how much you love me?” His voice grew small.

“No matter how much I love you, Park Jimin.” You kissed him again, dragging out the last taste of his lips, the last smell of his scent.

He held you by your forearms, taking in all your grown features. “You’ve grown up to be a beautiful, independent woman, (Y/N). Don’t forget me when you’re off into the unknown.”

“Jimin... I loved you my entire life. I’ve traveled to exotic countries and I loved you. I’ve gone to places that I can’t even pronounce and.. I still love you. And I hope that you understand my decision of not staying. And don’t you worry, Jimin, I’ve never forgotten about you, you’re with me where I go.” You held up your necklace charm he had given you when you were younger.

He kissed your cheek and drew you in for a long hug. “Goodbye, (Y/N).”

“Goodbye, Jimin. Thank you for being my best friend.”

“Thank you for loving me.” He smiled through his stained cheeks and you felt his arms slowly fall from your arms, and drop down to his sides. You began walking towards your terminal where your coworkers chatted among themselves.

You told yourself you wouldn’t turn around and look at Jimin one last time, but your body betrayed you and your head spun around before you reached your group. However, Jimin was gone before he could take one last look at you.

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riskeith · 4 years

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hihi! <333

it didn’t stay for long but then it started snowing a lot again and this time it seems like it will stick.. dude crazy how different our climates are rn.. i can only imagine how warm it is rn in aus. no worries! there’s always a tomorrow after today :DDD my days has been nothing but stressing over school and exams, watching haikyuu, playing genshin and thinking about you (sry i have to flirt can’t help it 😜) wbu?

i do have her, i meant hypothetically ! also THE DILUC COMIC IS SO SPOT ON gosh that’s so funny shhdkdhdjdjdj that happened with my boy bennett he just... can’t light those torches... bouken da bouken... 3: gotta bring out amber for that task tbh.

traveller is such a op!! from what i gather people sleep on them because they’re free and there are “more” exciting characters but traveller is a five star!!! put some respect on their name 😤 to each their own, but yk. underrated baby.

YEAH PRO BENDERS!!!!!!! well.. they’re on opposite teams and something happens at an important match of theirs so they’re forced to link up to survive and well.. yeah 😌 i’ve written about 20k words and i’m not even half done with the story help... i really wanna finish it though... anyway yes i do write shdksjdksjdk at first i was too shy to bring it up but you know so much about me already might as well.. 😶 i’ve written for years but i only started posting seriously again after years of not doing it in 2020... i have a couple out actually !! shsjdjhdjdjd not a lot of klance but some bnha ! 🥺 maybe someday i’ll share... 🥺

this connects a bit with this ^ part above as well i suppose. it was incredibly freeing ! it was actually the best thing i’ve done to myself.. idk i realized that that life was just dragging me down so much... always being connected and knowing everything all the time drained me so much. then i just cut everything out and found myself??? this sounds so generic but it’s true jshsjjsisjfj if it’s something you’ve thought about i truly recommend it!!! it takes some time to get used to the silence but god when you do it’s so relaxing. it’s like... so fun hanging out with yourself. i got into so many shows and watched so much movies and stuff by myself and made my own memories and i treasure that so much. shdhdkdhkssj this got so deep..... freelance writing do be like that. you can’t force it you just gotta let it come to you. but looking at your posting list you’re super consistent and it’s always quality fics so don’t feel too bad!! here’s an outside view telling you that you’re doing super well... <333

COUPLES THAT FIGHT TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER. yea they fucking do. look at us being todobaku kinnies... dhsjdhkshsksjdhdkd LMAO. GOD SERIOUSLY AAAA??????? wait 😭😭 venti baby is coming home..... he is coming home!! 😭😭😭😭 i’ve thought about it seriously and i’d happily pay money to have him his fighting style is just soooo good... 🥺 imagine if we had xiao and venti that would be so sexy of us. manifesting it all day every day. you know i would happily give some financial support for your xiao pulls... if it comes down to it <333333 i haven’t read anything either i haven’t thought much about shipping while playing tbh shksdhksshdk maybe someday for fun tho.. also i had no idea!!!! i’m def gonna check it out, is it on their website?

if they announced a movie and it was a prequel... i’d be so upset. like... so fucking upset lmao. there are so many unresolved loose ends it would be so annoying... but truthfully i don’t think they’ll do it. voltron took to hard of a hit for them to pull a move like that lmao .

hmmmm it’s true that studio ghibli movies end too fast.. one moment you’re like... in this amazing beautiful world and the next there are end credits. haku is BESTEST boy. dragon king.... <3333 you’re going on a studio ghibli marathon??? how beautiful of you. <3

🥺 ik but i love asking.... you know that tumblr post where the dude talks about how he keeps calling his wife ‘my wife’ because it makes him happy to remember that they’re married? that’s literally me.. ANYWAY AAAAA ! a one shot multichap sounds soooooooooo good.... i’d love to read it pls i’d be so honored. it’s up to you though i’d accept Anything i too have my whole heart open..

btw i’ve never asked but always wondered: what kind of music do you listen to? <3

*bernie voice* i am once again asking for your forgiveness. i keep sending these long ass asks i rly need to chill... goodbye LMAO :*

(‘read more’ again bc my reply got long fhksjfjds)

hi bb!

oooo nice! did you get to play in the snow~ and yeah ahah it’s close to 30 degrees rn! it was pretty shit earlier in the week but it’s gonna get hotter again for a bit. does it get pretty hot in sweden in the summer? or are you guys too close to the north pole or something for that to happen

that sounds good!! (other than the horrible thing that is school...) ahah you’ve got my heart going doki doki now please 🤪💓. in all honesty it seems pretty balanced tho i do hope you’re taking breaks from study and all!! hmm today i got up super late again and then i tried to go for a walk (it was too hot so i came back) and then i was editing a fic! and now i’m gonna play genshin bc i think a new event started, then hopefully maybe finally start studying fhksjfd

ahh ! AHHAHA nooooo rip :( but omg i still can’t believe you have bennett.. like i know that i haven’t tried for this banner and maybe i would have him too if i did but 😩😩 he’s so cute!! WAIT on that topic guoba does that too i swear i have to like make so many calculations and figure out the optimal spot to place him so he won’t go breathing fire in the wrong direction XD

i 10000000% agree!!! like excuse me they can also control TWO elements???? who else could ever 😩 i watched a video about geo traveller too some time ago and that made me stop sleeping on them like damn they did some damage!

hehehe that sounds so intriguing 👀 20k!!! that’s more than i could ever omg... sending you strength!! you’ve got this 💪💪 icb you were too shy to bring it up pls im losing my mind over here 😭 but aw that’s really nice <3 maybe 2020 did some good after all.. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pls whenever you’re ready i’m here... or mayhaps would you be okay with just plain copying a snippet into an ask sometime i promise i won’t look it up and try find you 😩 but i wanna witness some of your magnificence !

(also scratch that genshin co-op date idea um... fic collab instead?! could you imagine 😌)

yeah ugh i totally get the being drained feeling.. it’s like it doesn’t bring you joy you know? and you’re just still there bc you’ve just always been there and it’s too late to leave. !!! that does sound really tempting.. but i think i’m a bit too attached to the people i’ve met (you being one of them hehe) to fully let go. but if in the future i just need to take a break i’ll def do it! i was hesitant about doing that last year but now that i’ve done it before surely I won’t hesitate before doing it again (tho i’ve noticed that whenever i try to leave/take a break some new thing happens or releases and i’m losing my mind and can’t go fskjfhsd)

tysm marriage anon i appreciate you sm 😭💞 but yeah it’s easy to get lost in it sometimes but then i’ll look back and see how much i’ve actually done throughout the year and it’s like?? wow i did actually do and achieve a lot? so perspective matters i guess ahah

FHKDSJFH okay but todobaku who’s who? i like writing from bakugou’s POV more which makes me think I can relate to him more (like i used to write from lance’s pov a lot! that, and just bc we both love keith a lot 🤪) but i do write from todoroki’s pov quite a bit too.. hm.

and yes!!! honestly if venti is actually coming back i should invest in getting him too.. he can do so much !! the only issue i have is that i don’t really like bow users bc i’m shit at aiming hfkdsjfhjsd. waiting for the day we can live out our xiaoven dreams <333 FKJSHFKJSD and please don’t give me money for that fhsdkfjs!! spend it on yourself instead 😩😩 but also real talk i wasn’t gonna say this bc i’m uber paranoid that somehow someone will read it and hack into my account FKHSFKSJD but i have like... 12k primogems rn AHAHAH so i’m feeling good about getting him! ty for the offer tho but seriously, let that go to your own genshin funds first if anything fhksjfds get yourself a c6 venti. yeah honestly me not really shipping anyone is a big reason why i haven’t read anything either lolll. like the art is good and i’m fine but i’m not invested enough to read fics about it yet fdshfkjs. yup it is! in case you haven’t found it yet, here! (i saw that the prologue alone was 74 pages and yeeted out of there hfdsjf)

yeah i think dreamworks ended up kinda unhappy with it all FKJFHKDSHFS but honestly with how they ended the show i feel like in their minds all ends were tied so the only option would be for a prequel? idk. and also bc i feel like movies from shows tend to do that ahaha. or omg a spinoff with completely new characters and maybe we only get mentions or cameos of the old ones hfkdsjf

yesss i’m so excited to at least get through the most popular ones!! still haven’t started howl’s moving castle yet tho lol. can’t wait to finally understand when everyone talks about these movies 😩

no i don’t know that post?? but omg.. 💕💕 also is this an appropriate time to ask what your pronouns are/how you like to be referred to FHSDKFHSD i’ve been using non-gendered language as much as i could bc idk what you prefer!

okay i might.. post a link to that doc in an ask sometime soon then or hm.... what if i continued working on it instead... many different options hfskjdfd

i mostly listen to kpop!! ahah in recent years i’ve really said fuck western media and fully immersed in the asian stuff.. but yeah my ults are bts but i really got into seventeen in 2020 and i love them so much... they’re all so funny btsvt collab when HFKSFJS. hbu??

*bernie voice* i am once again asking you to stop apologising >:( please these are genuinely the highlight of my day LOL i am always looking forward to your messages!! pls do not chill >:((((

yours, c.r. <3

#marriage anon #wowclunaanswers #long post

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bookwyrm214 · 4 years

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Where in the World is Bookwyrm214? (8/18 Progress Report)

I got through typing the first 688 words of Rhapsody in Reverie chapter 16: Caught in a Landslide today, and I wanted to let y’all know what’s going on in Book-land, since I know it's been over two weeks since my last fic update.

Rest assured, now that I’ve started the typing phase for 16 it’ll be fully typed tonight, beta-read ASAP, and hopefully posted tomorrow. If all goes according to plan, 17 won’t be too far behind, and 18 will be up on Sunday according to the original schedule.

I’m going to try and put the rest of this under a read more bc it’s pretty long, but this is what’s up with my life and my planned content moving forward!

I’ve been working through the stress of going back to long distance with the honeybee (he moved back to college last week), my job finished off for the season last Friday (I spent the afternoon sleeping the length of a shift), I was dungeon master for about half of Friday’s session (though I gave the reigns back to the honeybee pretty quick, I have the writing part down, but the execution isn’t there yet), I played for myself and a friend who couldn’t make it in my Saturday dnd session and helped my other friend through her first session, gave my best friend shit about cancelling his Sunday dnd session to prep for his not-yet-girlfriend to visit while being supportive and encouraging about meeting her, and prepping to move back to college myself at the end of the month.

I’ve been trying to get used to the new laptop’s keyboard, which is a big one for why ch16 is so late. I had to finish transferring everything to my new laptop so my little sister could use the old one for online elementary school, which was a bear to do and tool for-flipping-ever (I ended up having to get an external hard drive for my photos, since I’m really bad about deleting the blurry ones after birding trips and they wouldn’t fit on my flash drives to move them off)

I have, however, had a very productive couple weeks! It’s just mostly offline and draft work, so it’s not visible progress.

Writing-wise I’ve made great progress! I’ve got:

• 688 words typed of RiR chapter 16 (1.5 pages of the 11-page rough draft)

• Brainstorming for chapters 17 and 18 of RiR, so that when I get 16 up I can jump right into the last couple chapters.

•My Fugo-centric post-RiR work (Deep in the Dark) got a lot of attention last night and this morning, with most of the beginning outlined.

•15.5 of RiR, aka the sexy chapter (Body's Aching all the Time) is handwritten, but typing/editing is going to take awhile since I'm not quite happy with it & the honeybee doesn't want to beta-read smut, so I’m just going to be extra careful with a fine-tooth comb on that one.

•Post RiR giomis (Here Comes the Rain Again) has a rough summary of the first few chapters.

•A fairytale AU Sheila E/Trish work (A Girl in Trouble is a Temporary Thing) now has a very detailed outline & will likely be my next typed/posted work, since it’s a cut and dry one-off and wont spiral into chaos like the RiR universe has.

•My pre-canon Bruabba fic (Come Out and Play) has a chapter typed and three handwritten with a possible fifth in planning, and its follow up fic (No Light, No Light) has four chapters outlined, and for those I have a couple pages of OC stand/user planning done too. (It was supposed to be a one chapter smut and now it’s become a sprawling edgy feelings two-part fiasco, and I need to rework a lot of the timeline/planning for it I think. I retroactively decided to have it set in the RiR-verse and I need to edit it so it’s compliant)

•My fix-it post-canon everyone lives Bruabba AU (Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology) has gotten some love by running it by the honeybee and fleshing out parts of the rough outline.

•Fugio fantasy AU which doesn’t have a working title yet is also in the mix, while it was technically the second concept I came up with for Jojo’s fanfiction it’s been shelved for no particular reason.

And that's just my writing!

When it comes to my art I have a lot of ideas and goals:

•Mermaid Bucci gang series:

--> To go with Mer-Mista and Mer-Narancia, I did Mer-Bucciarati which I may redraw the head/face of since I don’t feel like it meets my quality standards.

--> I want to finish up the Sticky Fingers jellyfish to go with mer-bucci + the Sex Pistols fish + Aerosmith (i think I concept-ed that as a shark?)

--> I want to continue that series to include Abba, Trish, Fugo, and Giorno, plus their stands!

• I want to ink and color my PHD redesign, getting it out of my planning notebook and onto actual art paper.

• I want to draw Deep Sea & Fandango, I have reference images but I want to make true concept art since I’ve gotten a lot of feedback interested in Georgia.

• I want to draw Scaramouche & Margaritaville, for similar reasons to Fandango and Deep Sea, since I’ve pulled reference art already and I want to finalize their designs/ possibly make a stand-stats sheet.

• I want to draw my original stands from DitD, one of which (K.Y.E.) I have sketches in my notebook, plus pulling reference art/making a concept sheet for my COaP/NLNL stands. (I can’t really name any of these bc spoilers, but I’m really excited for K.Y.E. and it’s user, the honeybee really loves that one!)

If you’ve stuck through reading this so far, thank you! This is a fairly comprehensive summary of my fan-works right now, so hopefully all of these see the light of day sooner rather than later! I appreciate the support I’ve received thus far, and I look forward to sharing all this stuff with y’all in the future!

#progress report #jjba #book writes #book draws #Hopefully the read more and all the links work properly #back to writing now!#rhapsody in reverie #Time for my incomprehensible tags for my WIPs so I can actually find stuff in my archive #RiR WIP #DitD WIP #BAatT WIP #HCtRA WIP #AGiT (iaTT) WIP #COaP/NLNL WIP #COaP WIP #NLNL WIP #RWMM WIP

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ashenworth · 5 years

Text

OKAY hear me out. I had the sudden urge to finish my Twilight s/i’s story. I couldnt just leave it unfinished it was eating away at me. so here it is, The whole ass backstory i wrote for my Twilight s/i. im so sorry if mobile doesnt show the read more, bc its fucking LONG

words: 10 560

Ashley Hale (formerly Ashley Davidson)

Born: Sept 15, 1942

Turned: 1962

From: Edmonton, AB, Canada.

Born near the end of the second World War and raised in Edmonton, Ashley (but she prefers “Ash”) lived a relatively normal life until the age of 20. Her father, who was deemed unfit for service, worked as a bank teller. Her mother a nurse, before becoming pregnant.

One night, in July of 1962, she and her family were taking a road trip to visit some relatives outside of the city. Rain was pouring down, but they were only about 10 minutes from the nearest rest stop. Her father, not wanting to spend any more time in the rain than needed, decides to speed up a little in the hopes of arriving sooner. Nobody would have thought that it would be an issue, as the roads had been empty for most of the trip so far, but that would prove to be wrong. With all the rain, he failed to notice the deer that had just stepped onto the road until slightly too late. He swerves and successfully avoids the animal, but the wet ground fought against them and caused them to tumble into a ditch.

When Ash regained consciousness, the car was beat up and laying on its side, having flipped a few times over. Weakly, she manages to pull herself out of the busted window, adding even more cuts and bruises to her frail body. As she falls to the ground, head spinning and vision blurring, she glances inside the car to see her parents, completely still and covered in blood. Before she can make any sense of it, she passes out from blood loss.

Her vision slips in and out, creating a slideshow of the events to follow. A few shots of nothing. Click. Two pairs of feet near the car. Click. One pair is now closer, wearing combat boots. Click. The other pair, sneakers. Click. Both pairs, now next to her. Click. Long, curly black hair and set of golden eyes. Click. Then, black.

Pain

Searing and unrelenting pain. It floods her body in a wave, and is so powerful that she can’t think. Writhing and screaming for what feels like hours. Is there no end? Please, it hurts.

It hurts.

Please, it hurts so much.

Please.

How long has it been? It feels like weeks. Months even. It doesn’t stop. Why hasn’t she died yet?

Wait.

It’s subsiding. Is she dying? Is it finally over?

The pain lessens. Only a touch, but enough for some relief. Then, ever so slowly, it lessens more and more. When it’s finally over, she lies there. Unconscious, but peaceful.

She has a dream. It’s blurry, but, she sees a couple. A man with pale skin and bright blonde hair. His arm is around a woman. Same pale skin, with brown, almost red hair. They’re smiling warmly at her. Her head turns. There she sees four other people. All with the same pale skin. She feels happy to see them. One of them, a dirty blonde haired man, steps towards her and holds out his hand.

She wakes up. As her eyes adjust to her surroundings, she starts to panic. She’s in a log cabin that is completely unfamiliar to her. She sits up. Before she can survey any more of the room, she has another dream. This time, while shes awake.

The same scene as before, but shifted in perspective. Her hand is outstretched. She’s seeing through the dirty blonde’s eyes. In front of her is a short haired woman. She’s mesmerizing. As this short haired woman looks into her eyes, she feels warm. Like these people are family. The short haired woman smiles, and takes hold of the hand in front of her.

She comes back to reality, to the unfamiliar scene she found herself in. Her mind is racing. What is happening? Why did I see that? Who are they? Where am I? Shouldn’t I be dead? Before she can calm down, the door opens.

The black haired woman she saw at the scene of the car crash slowly comes in, but freezes when she sees Ash awake. Quickly, she shuts the door, and footsteps can be heard walking away. She comes back with a cup in her hands, and holds it in front of Ash’s face

“Please, drink this.”

“What’s going on? Who are you?”

“Before I answer any questions, I need you to drink this. You’re thirsty, right?”

Ash almost didn’t notice with all the chaos, but her throat is burning. She can smell the drink so strongly that it’s almost like it’s calling to her. She takes the cup and starts to drink as fast as she can without even looking at it first. Her thirst subsides enough to calm down a little.

“There, is that better?”

“Yeah, it helps.”

“My name is Helen. My partner, Jo, and I found you in that car wreck.”

“I… don’t really remember much of it.”

“And you probably won’t. Your life… it’s going to be very different from now on. You were dying. Holding on by a thread with the little strength you had. We saved you. Jo was against it, but, I couldn’t just let you suffer there…” Helen trails off. She looks down and remembers something. “Oh! Right, let me get you a change of clothing! I promise, when Jo comes back, we will explain everything.” Helen gets up and leaves the room.

Ash looks down. Her clothing is torn and covered in dried blood. Right. I guess she didn’t really get a chance to change. Helen returns with some clothing in her hands.

“Here you are! They might be a little big but that’s nothing a little alterations can’t fix!” She hands Ash the clothing and starts to walk out of the room. “Oh, by the way…” Helen looks at her feet, a little sheepish. “We never managed to find out your name.”

“Oh! Uh, Ash.”

Helen nods. “Ash. That’s a beautiful name. When you’re done, please, come on out.” She smiles, and leaves the room.

Ash’s thoughts keep racing through her head as she changes. I’m alive. I was saved. But, there’s so much I still need to know. The burning in her throat intensifies again. That drink she had earlier still lingering on her tongue.

Before she can leave the room, Ash hears muffled voices through the door. Curious, she places her ear to the door. It’s hard to make out fully, but she can hear some of what is being said.

Helen: “...woke up…”

???: “....thought…..wake up...tomorrow….”

Helen: “Go….hello”

Ash hears footsteps coming towards the door, and she backs away quickly. Helen knocks

“May I come in?”

“Oh! Yes, it’s fine!”

Helen opens the door and her eyes light up when she sees Ash.

“Oh, those clothes fit you well! I’m glad.” She shuffles to the side of the door to let someone else in. A tall, stocky woman enters the room. Red curly hair comes down just past her shoulders, and she’s wearing what seems to be hiking gear.

“Ash, this is Jo. My partner.” Helen introduces the two of you, a slightly nervous look on her face. The tall woman, who you now know is Jo, has a blank expression.

“Hey, uh, sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up. We weren’t expecting you to come back to us so soon.” Jo mutters.

“That’s alright. I’m still not really sure what’s going on anyway…” Ash trails off, sensing a little but of tension in the air. Jo shoots Helen a look.

“Jo, she just woke up. I wasn’t sure how to handle it on my own.” Helen admits, head turning towards the floor. “Why don’t you come out into the dining room, Ash? We can explain everything there.” The pair walk out of the room, hand in hand.

She follows suit, walking into the main area of the cabin. It’s a lot larger than she expected when you compare it to the size of the room they were just in. Ash takes some time to take in the sights. From the paintings on the walls to the decorations all around the room. Slowly, she makes her way into the dining area, where there’s a table big enough to fit 10 or so people.

“Please, have a seat. I’ll get you some more food.” Helen walks to the kitchen while Jo sits at a chair. Ash isn’t quite sure where to sit, so she takes a spot just diagonal of Jo as to not make things weirder.

“How you feelin, kid?” Jo’s raspy voice cuts the silence like a hot knife, startling Ash slightly.

“Uh, not awful, I guess. My throat is killing me. I have this..very strong craving. I don’t exactly know what I need though…” Jo sighs.

“Yeah, I remember that feelin’. Don’t worry, it’ll be a bit more clear soon.”

Helen comes back with a pitcher and a few glasses on a tray, one glass already full and ready to be served.

“Here, Ash, drink this. It will help with that burning in your throat.” She encourages. Ash ignores the irresistible smell coming from the cup for a very short amount of time to examine the liquid. It's crimson in colour and thick. Without a second thought, she downs the whole glass.

“God, that's good.” She groans, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

“Huh...I’ve never seen a newborn with that much restraint.” Jo somewhat mumbles to herself.

“Yeah, they’re usually so...feral.” Helen murmurs, a puzzled look on her face as she gets lost in thought. The two give each other a quick look as they continue to think aloud.

“I guess she’s just different. It’s not like we’ve seen every newborn in the world.” Jo quips.

“You’re right. Hell, we haven’t even seen a gift with our own eyes. Just talk.” Helen replies.

“Um...I’m sorry to interrupt…” Ash quietly speaks up. The two turn their heads to her, looking like they forgot she was even in the room. “What’s going on? What do you mean by ‘newborn’? Like, a baby? And why can’t I stop thinking about...” She trails off before finishing her sentence, not wanting to say it out loud.

“It’s okay, Ash. It’s going to be alright.” Helen tries her best to comfort the younger girl. “Uh, this might sound really weird but-”

“Yer a bloodsucker.” Jo cuts Helen off.

“JO! What the fuck!”

“She deserves the truth and she deserves it straight.” Jo leans back in her chair, crossing her arms.

“Wh-what? Do you mean like...Dracula? Like, old legends and myths?” Ash’s brain is running a million miles a second, jumping from question to question and the overwhelming craving she has. “Is...that what I want so desperately right now? Is it blood?” Her heart would be pounding if it was even moving at all.

“Yes. Jo and I are vampires as well. That craving is going to stay for a while. When things get settles down, we were going to take you hunting.” Helen says, being careful to choose her words.

“Hunting? For...humans?”

“Oh, Lord, no! Jo and I only hunt animals. There are plenty here in Northern Alberta. We don’t touch humans”

“If you show that kind of restraint out there like you did in here, you shouldn’t have too much of a problem when it comes to feeding. Not many people up here, anyhow.” Jo reassures. Ash stays silent as she tries to sort out her own thoughts and process this new information.

The room stays silent for a minute or so, before Helen cuts through it.

“I’m sorry, Ash. I’m sorry for making you this way.” She puts her head down in remorse. “We smelled all the blood from the car crash. When we got there, the two in the car, who we assumed were your parents, were already dead. You were just lying there in the grass, hanging on within an inch of your life. I felt that you deserved a second chance. It was all my idea. I was the one to change you and I swear I will help you through this.” She says through gritted teeth, determined to finish what she started. Ash stares at her for a few seconds.

“Thank you. For giving me a chance. I’m still so confused, but I feel like I’m going to be okay now.” She smiles warmly at Helen. Helen smiles back, perking up at Ash’s words.

“Okay then, how’s about we try some hunting?” Jo remarks, standing up from the table. Helen and Ash follow suit. As Ash stands, another vision comes to her.

It’s the same set of people, but in a slightly different scenario, They’re all sitting together in one big living space, talking and laughing. The scene pans over and she sees the same beautiful woman from before. The woman looks at her and smiles warmly. Ash is filled with a strong feeling of love from looking at her.

The vision fades and Ash comes back to the real world to find Jo and Helen staring at her.

“Sweetheart, what just happened? Did you see something?” Helen asks, walking over to the dazed girl and placing a hand on her back. “Please, tell me.”

Ash explains the visions that she has seen in great detail, even down to the colours of insignificant background pieces of furniture. Helen thinks on it before speaking.

“I think you may have a gift, Ash.” She says, smiling brightly to the girl.

“A gift?”

“Yes. Some of us have what we call ‘gifts’. I’ve heard of things like mind reading, future seeing, or, the ability to inflict pain without touching a person. Not everyone has a gift, so, you’re a bit special in that way.” Helen starts walking over to Jo.

“So, what gift do I have?” Ash questions.

“Well, we’re not completely sure. It could be future seeing. We would have to do a little bit of testing before we can figure it out.” Helen stretches out her hand. “For now, let’s go do some hunting, okay? You look parched.”

Ash takes it, and they walk out the door and into the dark of night.

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The year was 1920 when Mary Alice Brandon (aged 19) was changed. She lost her memories, but her visions of the future were only intensified. Her first vision after changing was of herself and another vampire. She and this male vampire were close, holding each other and whispering into each other’s ears. She saw this, and could see that they were in love.

Her second was of herself and this man together, surrounded by a beautiful family. They were all talking together. She knew that she belonged with them..

Her last vision was vague. It was of herself, running through a forest. When she stops, she looks around. Then keeps running. She stops again, and looks around once more. Before she can take off, she comes face to face with a woman. Her dark red hair catches the eye of Mary Alice as it moves with the wind. They lock eyes for a moment, in shock.

And it ends. She wants so desperately to see more, but nothing happens when she tries. She decides to set off in search of those she saw in her visions.

Some time passes. She changes her name to just “Alice” and her search for the man from her visions finally comes to an end in 1948. He finally shows up at the empty diner they were fated to meet in and Alice is elated to finally see this mystery man, who she learns is named Jasper, in person. They bond and become closer than they could imagine, however, they both can tell that they aren’t meant to fall in love. They decide to stick together and brace this world with a newfound companionship.

Two years later, they find the family from Alice’s vision. The Cullens, they were called. Carlisle was the oldest. A doctor with incredible restraint and a calming aura. His wife, Esme, who was gorgeous and caring. Edward, a somewhat closed off boy with the gift to read minds. Rosalie, a hardened woman who was given a second chance she didn’t want. Lastly, Emmett. A burly manly-man who is head over heels for Rosalie. They accepted Alice and Jasper into their home and into their hearts quickly, which meant the search was over.

Alice spent the next few decades with the last of her visions in the back of her mind. She didn’t have any follow up to this mysterious girl and where she would be able to find her, so she would just sit and wait for another vision, like she had done so in the past.

Then, one day, she finally got one.

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The year is 1967, 5 years after Ash Davidson turned. Her newborn years have come and gone and she’s come to terms with her new life.

With nowhere else to go, she still stays with nomads Jo and Helen, the women who replaced her parents after the change. They taught her how to hunt, and they answered every question Ash had about this new form.

“Do we burn if we go in the sun?”

“Nope, myth. But, our skin takes on a glittering effect that would give us away to any human who sees us, so be careful.”

“Are we invisible in mirrors?”

“Nope. You could have just checked that one yourself.”

“Do we need to be invited to be able to enter someone’s house?”

“Nah, that’s all folklore.”

And so on. Every question they could answer, they did, as they guided this young vampire through her new life. Now, they’re helping her train her gift.

“Okay, now, I want you to stay here in the house. Jo and I will leave and you’ll hear a loud noise. That’s your signal to start. You got that, Ash?” Helen, the black haired woman, is standing outside of the door to the log cabin that has become home with Jo, ready to start training for the day.

“I got it. Listen for the noise and start.” Ash gives her a thumbs up and watches as the two of them disappear into the woods. After a few seconds, a loud crack can be heard from the direction they headed, and Ash takes that as her cue.

Ash closes her eyes and focuses on Jo. She searches for her in the woods, winding through the trees and bushes until she finds her.

Ash opens her eyes and finds herself in the woods, leaning against a tree. She looks to her left and sees a small tree trunk cracked in half. In her hands, she’s got a piece of wood and a knife and is whittling something. When she looks up, she sees Helen, who seems to be speaking gibberish.

“Wolf. Hairbrush. Scalpel. Orange. Baseball. Zebra.” Helen is repeating this set of words in this exact order, with her fingers making numbers to match. Wolf is three, hairbrush is five, scalpel is ten, orange is two, baseball is one and zebra is ten again. Helen repeats this pattern a total of 5 times.

“Okay, I think we should be good.” Helen says, as she turns around and heads back in the direction of the cabin.

Ash blinks and she’s back to where she was, standing in the living room of her home. She waits for a few minutes before she hears the other two return and open the front door.

“So?’ Jo says, as she walks towards Ash, holding a knife and a piece of wood in her hands. “Whatcha got?”

Ash repeats the six words and their numbered counterparts exactly as she saw them back to Jo and Helen. Helen beams

“Oh, sweetheart, that was perfect! You did so good! You were faster than ever, too!” Helen wraps her arms around Ash in an embrace.

“Yeah, good job, kid.” Jo mumbles, staring down at her project. Ash closes her eyes again and looks through Jo’s for only a second before coming back.

“Jo, I know you’re happy, too. No need to hide it anymore.” Ash puts on a sly grin as Jo shoots her a glare, and mumbles something to herself about “that damn kid and her gift”.

For the years to come, Ash would train her gift to the point to where she didn’t have to search for the person she wanted to find, she could just focus on them and see what they do. She tried endlessly to see any of the people from her first activation, but to no avail. She wouldn’t get anything until a little over a decade later, in 1979. The same year that Alice Cullen finally had her second vision of the dark red haired woman.

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It’s been 29 years since Alice and Jasper joined the Cullen family, 31 years since they met and 59 years since Alice turned and had her very first visions of the future as a vampire. 59 long years that she waited for something to turn up about the woman she saw in her visions. Alice knew that this woman would mean something to her. She just wanted to know more.

When the vision came, she stopped dead. She was out hunting with Jasper, Edward, and Esme. Along with them was Tanya from the Denali coven, another vegetarian group that the Cullens have been staying with for quite some time now.

Edward, who had become accustomed to when Alice had a particularly important vision, clued in instantly and was watching with her.

She saw herself following the dark red haired girl through the woods and up to a cabin. She took in the sights and noted the cabin as the girl led her inside. Alice sees two other women, both vegetarian vampires.

The vision ends and Alice can barely stand. Finally, a clue. A big one, at that.

“Alice, that was the girl, wasn’t it?” Edward asks, knowing all about Alice’s search from her own thoughts. Alice nods lightly, and Esme drops to her side.

“Girl? What girl?” Tanya questions. Jasper cuts in.

“When Alice turned, she had three visions. One of myself, one of the Cullens, and one of another vampire girl. She’s been searching for this girl for almost 60 years with nothing to go on. This is the first time since then that she’s seen her.”

“This girl, is she friend or foe?” Tanya asks, nervous about the intentions of this stranger.

“We don’t know. We just know that she’s important to Alice.” Esme pipes up, her hand on Alice’s back, comforting her.

“I think I know where she is.” Alice says quietly. Edwards follows.

“That cabin, we saw it on our way up to Alaska, didn’t we?” Alice nods.

“I think so. Tanya, do you know of any other vegetarians nearby? The three I saw all had golden eyes like us.” Tanya shakes her head.

“Not that I know of, but, Carmen and Eleazar might. We separate when hunting and they may have come across some nomads before. I can ask when we get back.” Alice nods, then stands up.

“Okay, let’s get back to hunting. I’ll need to be at full energy if I’m going to look for her.”

“You mean we, right?” Jasper raises his eyebrow at her. Alice shakes her head.

“I’m sorry, but I think I need to do this alone. She might get scared if a cavalry shows up looking for her.”

“We can’t just let you go alone! We don’t know her intentions, or why she’s important to you.” Jasper raises his voice, his concern growing as the conversation continues.

“What if she’s important because she’s the one who kills you, Alice? We don’t know anything about her because you haven’t had any visions.” Edward chimes in.

“She won’t. I know it.” Alice says, getting more and more frustrated.

“No, you don’t! If you knew for sure, then I would know, too!” Edward yells.

“I can just feel it, okay? You have to trust me!” Alice yells back, getting into Edwards face.

Jasper puts himself between them and places one hand on each of their shoulders. Instantly, the tension dies down.

“Stop, you two. Alice, don’t you think it would be smarter if someone came along with you? They can just watch from a distance. She doesn’t even have to see them.” Jasper asks, hoping to convince her.

“Fine.” Alice caves, knowing fully well that they won’t give up on it. “But, they have to stay far enough back that she won’t know anyone’s there.”

“Then, I’ll do it.” Edward offers. “That way, I can hear what she’s thinking and step in if i need to.”

“You won’t need to…” Alice mumbles under her breath as everyone prepares to finish their hunting trip.

Edward says nothing when Alice’s thoughts are filled with protests to the idea. “Okay, let’s get going. I think there’s some deer to the north.”

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The day that would change Ash’s life forever. It started out normal. At sunrise, she sat outside and watched the sun come up through the trees. A tradition she started after a few years of staying with the two nomads who found her.

Then, using her power, she would check the perimeter to make sure no one was near the cabin by ‘expanding’ her senses to cover 100 metres all around the house, a skill that she developed while training.

When nothing was found, she went back into the house to do some cleaning. Dusting, vacuuming, etc. When she was finished with that, she would use her free time to do various other hobbies. Training her power, reading, or knitting. Those are what she was currently invested in.

Today, she decided to train for a bit. She wanted to try expanding her search radius from 100 metres to 200.

She goes back outside and sits down in the snow. Then, she closes her eyes and starts to expand her senses once again.

Within seconds, she hits the 100 mark. Slowly, from there, she pushes herself further. 101, 102, 103. It takes a few minutes but eventually, she hits 150. She opens her eyes and pulls back, happy with the results. She closes them again and goes a second time, hoping to speed up and to hit 200.

Although, this time, when she hits the 200 mark, she picks up on something.

When her vision returns, she running through the trees. On the surface, she’s calm and collected, but underneath, her emotions start running wild. Hopeful, but nervous. Excited, but worried.

Ash comes back to her own eyes and panics. Someone’s actually near the cabin for the first time since she’s turned and she has no clue what to do.

Thinking quickly, she closes her eyes once more and searches for more people. She gets a hit, someone who is a few metres behind the first person. All she can see through their eyes are the trees in front of them and the other blurry figure running through the forest. They’re extremely worried for the one they’re following.

She comes back after searching. Two other vampires, coming straight for the cabin. A situation she has never had to deal with until now.

She stands up. I have to take care of this on my own. Without alerting Jo and Helen, who are sitting blissfully unaware inside the cabin, she heads towards the unwanted guests.

Making sure to stay quiet, she slowly comes up to the place where she last saw them and hides behind a tree. Then, she enters the first person’s eyes. They’re standing in the middle of a clearing, looking around in circles for something.

“It was here, wasn’t it?” They say to themselves. It’s a female voice. Her emotions are still running wild, but this time, she’s more hopeful.

When this girl looks around, Ash notices that she’s not at all well hidden behind the tree she picked. As if on cue, the girl notices the same thing and slowly started to walk towards the tree.

Ash comes back to her own eyes. Her mind starts racing with all the options she has but as far as she can tell, none can end well. Taking matters into her own hands, she decides to confront them.

She quickly comes out from behind the tree, baring her teeth and ready to fight. And she sees it.

In front of her is a face she knows all too well. A face that she’s been searching for since she turned in 1962, 17 years ago. The face she knows as the ‘short haired woman’.

And she’s standing right in front of her.

Instantly, Ash notices the shocked expression on the short haired girl’s face.

“It’s you.” The woman says, unable to muster anything else.

“W-what?”

“I...I’ve been looking for you. For 60 years.”

“Si- you…” Ash sputters out, unable to stop the rapid thoughts going through her mind right now. Slowly, the girl gets closer and takes Ash’s hand into her own.

“I’m Alice.” She says, with a smile.

“I’m...I’m Ash. How...how did you find me?” Ash asks.

“My gift. When I turned, I saw you in a vision. I’m a future seer. I saw this place, that cabin, and you, just a few months ago. With the help of some friends, we were able to track you down.” Alice replies.

“You...you saw me? When you turned?”

“Yes. I knew somehow that you would be important to me. But, I couldn’t see you after that. I couldn’t see you no matter how hard I tried. Then, I finally did. And it brought me here.” Alice explains, her face beaming.

“I saw you when I turned, too. My gift allows me to see through someone else’s eyes, and to feel the emotions that they feel. I saw you, and a group of others. Then, I never found you again. I tried and tried but nothing happened.”

Alice brings her hand up to Ash’s face, caressing it lightly as tears form in her eyes, and smiles.

“We...saw each other? That means that our fates lead us together.” She says.

Ash nods, taking her own hands and placing them on top of Alice’s. Then, she remembers something.

“Wait. Someone was with you, right? Who was that? I can’t seem to find them anymore…”

“Oh! That was my brother, Edward. He was with me just in case out meeting didn’t go well. I think he backed off once he realized that things were okay.”

Ash closes her eyes and quickly checks on Jo and Helen to make sure they’re still okay. When it’s confirmed, she grabs Alice’s hand.

“Come with me. I want you to meet my family.” She says, as she pulls Alice behind her towards the cabin.

Periodically, Ash looks back at Alice. Sometimes, in disbelief that she’s even here. Sometimes, she just wants to keep looking at Alice’s face. She’s even more beautiful in person.

When they reach the cabin, Ash stops.

“Wait out here, okay? I want to explain the situation first.” She says. Alice nods in response.

Ash lets go of her hand and opens the door to the cabin.

“Jo? Helen? Where are you guys?” She calls out to the two nomads. She could easily find them with her gift, but the last time she tried that, she found them having sex. After that, she decided just to ask.

“We’re in the kitchen!” Helen calls out.

When Ash enters the kitchen, she sees the two of them sitting at the island, talking to each other.

“Oh, so you guys decided this room wasn’t getting enough attention?” She quips. Helen laughs.

“We just decided to switch it up for once.”

“Alright, so. I gotta talk to you two about something.” Ash says, her voice growing a but shaky.

“Hey, what’s up, kid?” Jo asks with a worried expression on her face.

“Okay, don’t get mad. I was training my power earlier. Y’know, trying to expand my search radius. When I managed to hit 200 metres, I, uh...I got a hit.”

Jo stands up.

“You WHAT?”

“Just calm down! Everything’s alright, I dealt with it myself.” Ash tries to reassure Jo, but fails.

“You dealt with it ALONE? We told you to tell us if you found something!” Jo yells. Helen stands up and grabs her arm.

“I know! But, I wanted to deal with this on my own. I figured that if things went south, I could yell loud enough for you to hear me.” Ash jumps back at the sound of Jo’s booming voice.

“What happened, Ash? Who were they?” Helen steps in.

“Well, that’s the funny part. Hold on a second.” Ash says, quickly running to the door and bringing Alice inside.

“You guys…” She says as she pulls the shorter girl behind her into the kitchen.

“This is Alice.”

Jo and Helen are silent as they stare at Alice, who smiles brightly back at them.

“Hello. I’m Alice Cullen of the Olympic coven. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Alice greets them and curtsies with a nonexistent dress.

Jo and Helen don’t respond. Instead, they eye her over from head to toe. Helen takes notice of her features and it clicks.

“Ash, is this…” Before Helen can finish her question, Ash nods.

“It’s her. Alice is the girl from my vision. She found me.” Ash smiles wide. Helen starts to tear up.

“Oh my gosh...it’s really her? You’ve been looking for her for so long…”

“Well, she’s been looking longer.” Ash retorts.

“60 years, to be exact.” Alice says.

“60 years? Oh wow. How did this all happen?” Helen asks. The two spend some time explaining the whole situation to Jo and Helen. How they both saw each other, about Alice’s vision, and the meeting. When they’re all caught up, Jo is smiling to herself while Helen is basically full on sobbing.

“You two...this must be fate pulling the two of you closer together.” Helen says through her tears.

“Nah, this is just some freaky bloodsucker coincidence.” Jo shoots back with a quip, smirking. Helen smacks her arm.

“Jo! Stop that.” Everyone laughs.

“Well, I think we should give these two some privacy. Ain’t that right, Helen?” Jo shoots Helen a look.

“Right! We’ll let you two talk alone. I think you both probably have things you want to talk about.” Helen and Jo get up and leave the room for their own.

“Come on, it’s getting dark. I want to go sit under the stars.” Ash grabs Alice’s hand once again and brings her back outside. Together, they find a spot in perfect view of the sunset and sit down in the snow.

They spend the whole night talking to each other. About their lives before and after turning, their gifts, their families. Any topic they could think of they had a conversation about. Through the whole night, they grow closer and closer. By the time the sun comes up, they both can tell that they’re meant to be together. Whether it’s love or friendship, it doesn’t matter. They’re supposed to be together. Right here and now.

As dawn breaks, they stop talking to admire the sunrise. Alice rests her head on Ash’s shoulder and grabs her hands in her own. Together they sit, peacefully in the glow of the morning sun.

In a window from the cabin, Helen can be seen watching the two of them huddling together.

“I think those two are mates.” She says to herself. Jo lets out a loud laugh.

“Ya think? Hel, the whole time that Alice would talk, the kid couldn’t take her damn eyes off of her.” Helen giggles in response.

“Yeah, you’re right. Alice did the same exact thing.”

“So did you when we met. Every time I’d look back, you would turn your head so damn quick but those curls gave you away.” Jo laughs to herself.

“Yeah, yeah. Not like yours did you any favours.” Helen snaps back. Together, they laugh as they reminisce about their pasts.

When day fully breaks, Alice suggests that Ash come up to Alaska to meet the Cullens, since Alice already got to meet her family. After a long talk, Jo and Helen caved and agreed. They lectured her for hours before they left.

“Remember, try not to let anyone see you in the sun.”

“And don’t go using your gift all willy-nilly, alright? Save it for when it’s needed.”

“And find some food before you go! You’re going to need your energy for the trip!”

After lots of “yeah” and “I know”, they set off. A few yards from the cabin, they meet up with Edward, who stayed just far enough to hear them just in case something went bad. I think this one’s the mind reader, right? I still remember his face. Ash thinks to herself. Edward chuckles.

“Yeah, this one’s the mind reader.”

Ash gasps and instinctively throws her hands over her mouth even though it wouldn’t help at all.

“It’s alright. I hear worse on a daily basis.” Edward laughs again. “So, what did you mean that you ‘still remember my face’?”

While on the road, Ash shares her story to Edward. She describes everyone she saw in her vision while Edward and Alice tell her who they are.

“So, the blonde man and the dark brown haired woman? I assume they’re a couple.”

“Yup, that’s Carlisle and Esme. Carlisle is the one who turned most of us.” Edward says.

“They’re basically our parents. At least, they are when we’re living normal lives” Alice chimes in.

“And the beautiful blonde woman with the burly man?”

“That’s Rosalie and Emmett. They’re mates as well.” Alice explains.

“Yeah, Rosalie can be a bit harsh so don’t take anything she says to heart. Emmett’s a manly guy. He’s the strongest out of all of us by far. Might want to fight you when you meet.” Edward warns.

“That leaves...the dirty blonde man. I’m guessing that’s Jasper.”

“Yeah! He’s the one I told you about. How we met after I turned.” Alice beams when talking about Jasper.

“Right! Your partner in crime.” Ash retorts.

Suddenly, Alice stops. She stares into nothing as she has a vision. Edward quickly watches along, looking concerned, but his face softens as he sees it as well. Ash, seeing the two of them, decided to try something. She closes her eyes and focuses on Alice’s. When she gets her bearings, she sees nothing but the forest that Alice is staring at.

She focuses a little harder. Slowly, a vague outline of something starts to show. A group of people. She can’t see their faces, just their outlines. Then, the vision ends.

Alice and Edward are smiling together while Ash adjusts back to her own eyes.

“What was that, Alice? I tried to see it too, but, I just got some blurry outlines.” Ash asks.

“Wait, you saw something? From my vision?”

“I think so. I saw maybe 7 or 8 people. I think they were people…” Ash trails off, trying to remember all that she saw. Alice’s eyes widen.

“Yes! I had a vision of us! Of you meeting my family! You can see my visions!” Alice yells excitedly and she clasps her hands onto Ash’s shoulders.

“Yeah, I guess I can…” Ash trails off, thinking of how she could start training this aspect of her gift.

“Wait a second. What is your gift again?” Edward asks, confused by the conversation.

“Oh! I guess I never fully explained it. I can see through someone else’s eyes. Let’s say you were looking at Alice while I was 100 feet away staring at a tree or something. I could put your vision into my mind and see Alice from your point of view. Does that make sense?” Ash rambles.

“Yeah, I think I get it. Actually, I’d like to try something. Alice, could you walk a few feet away from us and look in our direction? Make sure you can see the both of us.” Edward requests of her. Alice looks puzzled, but obliges.

“Okay, Ash, can you look through her eyes for a second?”

“Uh, yeah sure.” Ash replies, catching on to what Edward is trying to do. She closes her eyes and pops into Alice’s. She can see herself and Edward from between some trees.

“Alright, I got it.”

“Okay good. Now let me just-” Edward cuts himself off with a gasp.

“I can see what Alice sees. From your mind. I can see us.” He says, a hint of excitement in his voice. “This could be a good strategy for hunting.”

“Yeah, it could be.” Ash says, distracted by her own gift. While what she can see may be fairly boring, her ability to feel emotions is overwhelmed by Alice. Her heart is so full of love for the two that, for the first time, Ash can’t handle feeling two people’s emotions at the same time. Quickly, she cuts the connection and returns to her own body.

“Did-did you feel any of that?” She asks Edward, feeling physically strained from this exercise.

“Feel? I can only see, I can’t ‘feel’ anything when I read someone’s mind. What did you feel?”

“My gift lets me see someone else’s eyes while also feeling their emotions. The emotional response was too much, I had to stop.” Ash says, plopping to the ground to get her bearings. Alice sprints over to the two of them.

“What happened? Are you okay?” She asks, worry flooding her voice.

“I’m alright, I’m alright. I just wasn’t expecting such strong emotions from that.” Ash leans against a tree to relax for a minute. Alice’s face washes over with an embarrassed look.

“I’m sorry. I was just...so happy that you two were getting along…” Alice trails off, covering her face with her hands. Ash laughs.

“It’s alright. It’s not your fault. I’m just not trained enough to handle it yet.” Ash reassures Alice as she stands back up. “Okay, let’s get this show back on the road. I think it’s time for a meal.”

The three of them spend a day hunting for food in the woods. Edward and Ash decide to test out their new strategy by having Alice go ahead and send animals towards them while they wait to trap them. It works out well enough, but the constant use of her power drains Ash of all her energy.

“Sorry, I’m not used to using my power so much. I never really used it back with Jo and Helen.”

“You didn’t use it much? Most vampires use their powers as much as possible in the first 25 years. Then, they usually get bored of it.” Edward says.

“I just...never really had the chance to. It was just us three out there, so there wasn’t much to see really. The only time I ever really used it was when I was training.” Ash mumbles to herself.

“Surely, you must have encountered other vampires, right? You would have used it then.” Edward asks. Ash shakes her head.

“So far, you two are the only other vampires I’ve met other than Jo and Helen. You guys showing up at my cabin was the first time I ever had to try to defend us. Luckily, there didn’t have to be any fight, but…” She trails off.

“But, you still don’t know what to do in case someone malicious does show up.” Edward replies, having heard from her thoughts. Ash nods.

“Well then, we’ll have to teach you then.” Alice pipes up. “We’ve dealt with our fair share of nomads. Usually, you won’t have any problem with other vampires. Those who feed on humans may show up hoping to find some, but will leave if they realize there are none around. Others tend to think that you’re in their territory. That would be the only time you may have to fight someone.” Alice gives a lecture of the ins and outs of fighting other vampires. She lists off reasons another vampire may want to fight, different techniques, and how to thoroughly kill a vampire.

“Do you have any experience with fighting vampires?” Alice asks.

“Uh, Jo and Helen taught me some basics before the end of my time as a newborn, but, that’s about it.” Alice sighs. It’s like they never wanted her to leave the cabin…. Her eyes widen as she thinks of something.

“Wait, have you ever been around humans?”

“Oh, yeah! We have to go into town sometimes to pick things up. The first time was extremely hard on me, but Jo and Helen were there with me so it helped. After a while, I got used to it.” Alice puts her hand to her chin, wanting to ask another question but isn’t sure how to bring it up.

“Have you ever had human blood before?” Edward asks suddenly, startling Alice. After reading her mind, Edward decided it would be best to just outright ask.

“Yes. I had human blood on my first day as a newborn. I didn’t kill anyone for it. I didn’t turn anyone for it, either. Helen gave it to me in a cup. She’s close with the nearest town’s doctor and was able to convince him to give her a pint. After that, we hunted for the first time and they told me all about how animal blood won’t be as satisfying, but it does the job. Trust me, I’m not that secluded from the world. Jo and Helen know a lot and have taught me so much.”

Edward nods and takes a step back, satisfied with her answer, and gestures Alice to continue.

They spend the few days it takes to get to Alaska talking about how to defend yourself against other vampires, stopping every so often to practice together. It’s a long journey but, eventually, they arrive back at the Olympic-Denali coven household. As soon as the enter the door, they’re greeted by Esme, who comes over and brings both Edward and Alice into a big hug.

“Oh, I’m so glad you two are finally home. I’ve missed you guys.” She says, holding them tight.

“Esme, come on. We were only gone for like a week.” Edward says, embarrassed. Esme laughs.

“I know, I know. Everyone was just worried.” She says, as she loosens her grip. Then, she turns to look at Ash.

“Esme, this is Ash.” Edward introduces them. Esme shoots Alice a quick look, and Alice nods in response.

“Hi, It’s nice to meet you.” Ash says, holding out her hand. Instead, Esme pulls her into hug.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you. You’re like a local legend around here.” Esme laughs to herself. Ash giggles back.

“Well, it’s nice to finally put the rumours to rest.”

Then, the rest of the Cullens come bounding towards the door, all ready to greet their family members after the trip. They all huddle together to say their greetings.

“Welcome home, you two.” Says Carlisle, as he wraps an arm around Esme.

“Yeah, we thought you two mighta died out there.” Says Emmett, as he punches Edward in the arm.

“Well, we’re just glad you’re safe.” Says Jasper.

Carlisle turns to their guest. “So, I think we can all guess who this is.”

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Ash. You may all know her as the infamous Red Haired Girl.” Alice says as she wraps an arm around Ash’s waist. Ash chuckles.

“Funny. In my house, you were Short Haired Girl.” She looks at Alice and smiles.

“So, Ash, this is-”

“Wait. I want to try this myself.” Ash cuts Alice off.

“Let’s see. This-” She points to Carlisle. “- is Carlisle. He’s got his arm around Esme. This-” She points again, this time at Emmett. “- is Emmett. Next to him is Rosalie. And way in the back must be Jasper.” She point once more to Jasper, who’s looking a bit disinterested. Everyone nods in response.

“Well, I see you’ve done your research.” Carlisle says.

“Well, I think Ash and I have a story to tell everyone. Could we move this into the living room?” Alice starts to usher everyone away from the front door and into the living room, where they share their story one more. They explain their visions and their meeting, and talk about what they did at the cabin. They all talk for hours. Soon, the conversation lands back on the ‘local legend’.

“I swear, she thought about you night and day. I would go weeks sometimes only hearing her thinking about finding you, or even just replaying that vision in her head over and over. It was like a broken record sometimes.” Everyone laughs along with Edward’s story as Alice holds her face in embarrassment.

“Well, Edward was the only one who actually knew what you looked like. The rest of us just had to take their words for it.” Rosalie comments. “Honestly, I sometimes thought maybe you weren’t even real.” She laughs to herself.

“Oh, Rosalie. Let’s be fair to Alice, she has been hoping to find her for 59 years.” Carlisle pipes up, placing a comforting hand on Alice’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I got the lucky side of this deal. I’ve only been hoping for 17.” Ash says, grabbing Alice’s hand and squeezing it, hoping to make her feel better.

“How did it happen, anyway?” Jasper cuts in from the other side of the room, silencing everyone.

“Jasper, you can’t just-” Edward’s about to tell Jasper off before Ash cuts it short.

“It’s fine. Do you mean ‘how did I die?’” Jasper nods.

“Well. I was in a car crash. In 1962. My parents and I were driving down country roads in the rain one night. Almost hit a deer. We swerved a little too much to avoid it and landed in a ditch. When Jo and Helen found me, my parents were already dead, but I was still hanging on. Just barely. They decided to give me a second chance.” Ash’s voice lowers as she recounts her past, still fresh in her mind.

“How old were you?” Jasper asks.

“Twenty. Just a few months shy of twenty one.”

“...Sorry.” Jasper puts his head down.

“It’s fine. I have to face it. It happened. Now, I can move on and live different lives.” Ash says, flashing a small smile at Jasper. Quickly, the conversation shifts to a different topic.

When the conversation picks back up and becomes lively once again, Ash gets an idea. She closes her eyes and connects to Jasper for only a second before opening them again. Just long enough to get a hit on his current emotions and to disguise as a blink. In that split second, she noticed a lot of different emotions, none of them positive. The only one she could identify was worry. It was the strongest out of the bunch, thus she picked up on it first.

Edward on the opposite side of the room as them notices the commotion in their thoughts and clues in.

Why does it seem like he’s been hounding me since I got here? What’s going on in that guys head?

Well that’s obvious. Edward thought to himself. He’s extremely protective of Alice.

Jasper’s thoughts, on the other hand, were a different story.

What the hell was that? What the fuck did I just feel? He shoots Ash a look. What gift does she have and why did she just use it on me?

Edward smirks to himself at this new information, and decides to stay silent.

“By the way, Ash, you said you saw a vision of Alice, right?” Jasper speaks up again. Ash turns to him and nods.

“Alice saw you because of her gift. I’m just wondering. What kind of gift do you have? It may seem strange, but, I thought I could feel it just now.” Jasper calls her out.

“Actually, my gift is the ability to see through someone else’s eyes. If you were in the other room, I could describe every inch of it without having ever set foot in it. All from your vision.” Ash replies, turning her body towards him.

“Is that what that was then, you were looking into my eyes?” Jasper accuses.

“Actually, Jasper, the reason I connected with you was to figure out what the hell you were feeling. I can pick up on your emotions as well and I’ll be honest, you’ve been giving me dirty looks all night and I just wanted to know what was going on.” Ash snaps back at him. Alice reaches her hand up and grabs Ash’s arms. A few moments pass without a word said in the room before Jasper stomps over to Ash and grabs her hand, pulling her out of the room. Alice stands up to protest but Edward stops her, reassuring that they’ll be fine.

Jasper pulls her into another room and slams the door shut. Then, he takes a second to calm himself down, which by proxy also calms Ash down.

“Listen. Alice has been looking for you since the day she turned almost 60 years ago. I’ve been with her almost since day one. I love her to death and I couldn’t imagine how she would feel after finally finding you. Forgive me for being skeptical, but, I can’t help but keep her best interest in mind.” Jasper explains to her while pacing the room.

“Jasper. I know. I know about how you and Alice were together before joining the Cullens. I know how close you are because she talked about you so much. I know how much you care about each other, so I can understand why you were worried. You have to remember. I’ve been looking for her, too. Maybe not as long, but I had those same feeling she did. The worry, the hope. Everything she felt, I did too. Not just her, but all of you. I saw all of you in my vision. Your feelings are completely justified because if I was on your side of this equation, I would be scared too.”

Jasper sighs. He walks over to Ash and grabs her hand into his.

“I know the love you two share. I know you’re not going to hurt her. From the moment you two walked in the door, I could feel the joy radiating off of the both of you. I just want Alice to be happy and safe. I know now that with you, she will be.” Jasper shows a small smile before letting go of her hands. Then, Ash puts one out for a handshake.

“Let’s start over. Hi, I’m Ash.”

Jasper chuckles and grasps the hand with his. “I’m Jasper. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

The two of them share a laugh. Ash closes her eyes and connects to Alice.

“We should get back. Alice is so worried, I think she might explode.” She says.

“Whoa.” Jasper clutches at his chest.

“Hey, you alright?” Ash asks as she cuts the tie with Alice. Jasper let’s go and stands up straight.

“I think...I think I felt what Alice was feeling. Through you.” He says. “Hey, try someone else.”

Ash obliges and connects to Esme. Her heart is also filled with worry, but it’s mixed together with the overwhelming love she has for her family.

“Whoa. Okay, that much love and worry in one place? That’s gotta be Esme.” Jasper says, taken aback by the force of her emotions.

“Yup. She’s got a lot of love packed inside of her.” Ash opens her eyes and cuts the connection. “So, uh, that’s pretty cool. Edward can see the visuals, you can feel the emotions.” Ash comments as she stares at nothing and gets lost in her own mind, thinking of ways that this information could benefit them. Jasper grins.

“This could be useful for fighting…” He trails off as does the same. They stand there in silence for a moment, lost in thought, before Jasper snaps out of it.

“Hey, we should get back out there. They’ll be worried.”

“Oh! Right.” Ash opens the door and steps out.

As they both turn the corner, Alice’s eyes lock on to the both of them, hoping to figure out what happened in there. The two of them laugh together before joining the rest of the group, and the weight lifts off of Alice’s chest as she sees them acting friendly. As Ash approaches, Alice grabs her arm.

“How did it go?” She asks quietly. Ash chuckles

“It went great. Things are fine now.” Ash smiles widely at Alice, hoping to reassure her. Alice sighs in relief and smiles back.

The hours pass as they all talk together, laughing and joking like they’ve known Ash for years. When night falls, people start to split off to do their own things, and eventually it’s down to just Carlisle and Esme together with Alice and Ash.

“So, I think it’s safe to say you two are mates, am I right?” Esme asks.

Alice and Ash share a look and nod to each other.

“Yeah, I think we are.” Alice replies.

“Then, where do you two go from here?” Carlisle cuts in, looking concerned. “It’s hard for mates to stay away from each other after they’ve found one another. Ash, you have a family in Canada, right?”

“Yes, I do.” Ash answers.

“Have you thought about what would happen in this situation?” He asks. Ash thinks for a moment.

“No, not really. At least, we didn’t talk about it…” She trails off.

“How about you, Alice?” Esme asks.

“No, I haven’t either. Because this is my family. I couldn’t ever imagine leaving you all.” Alice says with a confident look on her face, that then subsides when she realizes what’s at stake here. She looks down at Ash who is still lost in thought. “What about you?”

“I...I love Jo and Helen. They taught me everything about this new situation I’ve found myself in and raised me to become who I am right now. But...I hate myself for even saying this. I think I belong here. In the Olympic coven. When I saw you all in my vision, you felt like family to me. Then, I actually met you all, and it was like seeing an old friend for the first time in years. And, I didn’t want to let go of that. I still don’t.” Ash rants for a while, trying to make sense of her feelings as the words spill out of her mouth. After she finishes, Carlisle nods.

“I think I can speak for most of us when I say that we all felt the same way as well. I truly believe you belong here with us. But, there is no rush. It’s your choice.” Carlisle says as he stands up and grabs Esme’s hand, leading the two of them out of the room to let Ash and Alice talk.

Ash leans back in her chair and sighs loudly.

“You know, I can come live with you too.” Alice says, hoping to break some of the tension. Ash shakes her head.

“No. Alice, I’ve already made up my mind. I want to be here. I really do think I belong here with you. I’m just trying to figure out how to tell Jo and Helen.” Ash sighs again. Alice leans over and kisses her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it in the process. When Alice pulls away, she smiles.

“Just remember, you don’t have to do it alone. I’m here now.”

Ash smiles widely and grabs Alice’s face, pulling her in for another kiss.

“We’ll come up with a plan.” Alice mumbles against Ash’s lips. She pulls away. “Remember, we still have a week to think about it.” Ash grins at Alice’s reassurance.

“Come on.” Alice says, standing up and grabbing Ash’s hand. “I still haven’t shown you my room.”

Ash smiles again as she’s pulled along by Alice up the stairs.

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

The week goes by quicker than Ash thought it would, and if she had any doubts about her decision to stay with the Cullens, they were gone before she could make it back to her own place.

With a few hugs from the Cullens, Ash and Alice head out the door to return to Alberta for what may be the last time.

Time passes, and soon enough, they arrive at the little cabin in the woods. When they get to the door, Ash stops for a second to compose herself.

“You alright?” Alice asks, wrapping her arm around the other’s waist and pulling her close.

“Yeah, I think so. This might be the hardest conversation I’ve ever had to have.” Ash sighs, trying to muster up the courage to open up the door. After a few deep breaths, she puts her hand on the knob and twists.

“Guys! I’m ho-” Ash cuts herself off in surprise.

“Ash?” Alice walks in beside her.

On the floor next to the door are 4 suitcases, stacked up and open, revealing the contents inside. Clothes, trinkets, books, etc. All items that belong to Ash.

“What...the fuck?” Ash thinks aloud.

“Surprised ya, didn’t we?” Helen’s voice can be heard as she steps into the room with a smirk on her face, Jo trailing behind.

“What is all this?” Ash asks, unable to process what she sees in front of her.

“Sweetie, it’s your stuff. Pack and ready for the big move. Our little birdie is finally leaving the nest!” Helen turns to Jo as she says this last line and wipes away a fake tear from her eye.

“How...did you know?”

“Ash, it ain’t that hard to figure out. You and Alice are mates. You two would never want to be separated ever again after finding each other. And the way that you spoke about the Cullens in your vision made it all the more obvious to us. They’re your family.” Jo speaks up from the back.

“But, what about you guys? I mean, you basically raised me from my second birth. You’re both okay with this?”

“Well, of course we are! Ash, we love you. As they saying goes ‘If you love something, you gotta let it go.’ It’s time to let you go, sweetie. Besides, it’s not like you can’t come visit us!” Helen replies enthusiastically, with a giant grin on her face. Ash turn to Alice, a soft smile on her face.

“Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.” She laughs. Ash walks to Helen and Jo and gives them both a big hug. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Now, come on Ash, you’re not leaving yet! Stay for a while and we can all have a chat.” Jo waves them all into the kitchen where they sit at the island and talk for hours. When the sun starts to set, they know that time is now up.

Ash and Alice stand at the door, carrying Ash’s suitcases. They turn back to Jo and Helen, and give them a nod, before heading off towards their future, together with the Olympic coven.

#Ash Hale #there now my brain can shit the fuck up and maybe start working on other selfship shit without feeling guilty #also theres probably a million spelling errors. i dont give a Fuck im a dumb bitch #sn: your future #ashen writes #ashen.txt

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couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name · 7 years

Text

- I(tm)

- AM(tm)

- S T R E S S E D (tm)

- So like first let me say: The kids were FANTASTIC. Best performances of their lives!!!!

- everything that could have possibly gone wrong went the fuck wrong

- A DISASTER

- You know in horror movies were like one person gets infected or some shit but you think everything is fine until suddenly everyone is dying? Literally.

- May I remind you that mics have been perfectly fine all week,

- Opening number, Vanessa is doing her little bit and there’s just a tiny. Glitch.

- Like her mic dropped for half a second. It was hardly noticible. Tom and I literally double checked like “you heard that right?” But it was completely fine so we were like “It’s probably nothing”

- WELL GUESS THE FUCK WHAT

- IT SPREAD LIKE A PLAGUE. IT STARTED SLOW BUT IT SOON CONSUMED THE ENTIRE CAST. THE MICS WOULD GLITCH OUT LIKE EVERY FIVE GOD DAMN SECONDS. JUST IN AND OUT AND IN AND OUT IT WAS T E R R I F Y I N G

- I’m fucking. Borderline screaming. Tom looks like he’s going to punch something and is running around checking for what the problem was. THERE WAS NO VISIBLE PROBLEM. THIS SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN HAPPENING.

- And then it just???? Fucking stopped on it’s own???? What the FUCK. Sometime right before 96,000 it all just went back to normal holy shit

- BUT THEN THE MUSIC WAS LIKE “Is it chill if we just...stop working at random intervals? Gucci.” SO SOMETIMES WE’D HAVE FULL ORCHESTRA AND OTHER TIMES IT WOULD JUST DROP TO ONLY KEYBOARD

- AND something was up with the fucking keyboard’s speaker??? Because of course.

- Guys seriously we literally STILL DON’T KNOW what happened! At intermission Tom and I were just dying and finally he’s like “I don’t care anymore I’m just gonna see what the hell is wrong with the keyboard” and returned 3 minutes later, still no answers, and was like “You know what? ‘Blackout’ sounded fucking amazing and that’s what matters to me” like we honestly just quit oh my God

- However the kids really powered through all the issues and didn’t let it trip them up so that was good

- Meanwhile, though, the audience was FUCKING HILARIOUS I LOVED THEM

- I’m...fully convinced half this audience had never been to a musical before in their entire lives, and even if they had they had never seen or listened to In The Heights so their reactions were great.

- Lot of gasping holy shit it was so funny. “I got more hoes than a phone book in Tokyo” *GASP* “What do I do with this winning ticket?” *G A S P*

- The opening of act 2 when Benny and Nina are on the fire escape and clearly had sex the night before? G A S P

- Guys it was so funny. And they were clearly loving the music and laughing at all the jokes- every scene got deafening applause omfg

- They were all clearly very much sucked into the story so that was just so fun to see

- They tried to cornrow Benny’s hair

- That was quit half way through thank God omfg

- Also mildly off topic but when I was getting his mic on him he hadn’t done his bun yet and that boy has a fantastic head of hair holy shit

- “OH MY GOD THAT HAT CANNOT HAPPEN YOU LOOK LIKE THE PERSON FROM THE LORAX”

- There was a moment before they opened the doors and the entire theater was quiet but suddenly all (like...8 or 9) boys could be heard singing “Baby” by Justin Bieber at the top of their lungs in their dressing room. No explanation as to why

- They announced that the fall show was Pippin and Steven got a fucking baseball bat and starting balancing it on his fingers yelling “JUST IN TIME” (he had apparently ‘just discovered’ this talent on Sunday and has been talking about it like non-stop since)

- The girl playing Graffiti Pete had a bunch of school friends come to the show. They all shrieked every time she opened her mouth holy shit

- Before the show the director was giving notes and she said something like “This is right after Claudia’s death-” and half the cast was like “Tag you’re fucking spoilers” omfg

- And then when mic checks were happening Steven sang “atencion” and Tom cut him off yelling “SPOILERS, SPOILERS” instead of “good” lmao

- Okay so like...is there a little kids show character that I resemble or something????

- There were a lot of kids in the audience (probably like actor’s siblings or something) and like...during intermission an alarming amount of them were staring or waving at me with shy smiles or pointing me out to their parents who seemed to know what they were thinking and I was just like....Who do you think I am?????? Oh my God

- No one actually tried to talk to me but a few looked like they wanted to??? A few even got some of that gentle parental shove thing??? What is happening I’m so confused over this????

- Oh my God you know how in Boy Meets World, Rider Strong hated his fucking hair and as a result we were blessed with Shawn constantly aggressively raking his hair back with his hands???? There was a boy sitting directly in front of me who did that literally the entire show to the point where I was like....You need to stop I gotta see what’s happening on stage omfg

- Also lol I guess he was there for his ensemble sisters(tm) or something bc he cheered for everyone who came out for bows except he booed for one specific group of girls lol

- I was on my phone before the show and the directors husband made Tom get my attention just so he could silently give me a thumbs up before walking away so we were laughing at that

- He did give me free skittles at intermission tho which was rad (he tried to give me like the entire table for free lmao)

- The choreographer was working the spotlight (which she admitted she was confused by) and she was super tired and lowkey joked about falling asleep and falling over on the job before the show started but somewhere during act 2 I fucking saw the sliding spotlight and panicked lmao

- Her and Drew were bonding over being bad at spotlight and everyone in the back area said “you guys are better than Jimmy” in perfect unison lmao

- Usnavi was borderline sobbing by his last line in the finale omg

- We couldn’t fucking get a sound effect for the fireworks so for the final part of ‘blackout’ when you’re supposed to hear them the pianist deadass just whistled the noise omfg

- Nina and Abuela Claudia were the fan favorites, as I predicted

- Benny was a little off his game but I still support him

- Lowkey there’s a couple guys in this show who have never done any shows before and I’m not sure if he’s one of them??? He seems like he is so I think he was probably just nervous or something

- Everyone was sneezing and coughing bc why not

- Before the show the Piragua Guy was berating himself as per usual and the only cheer-me-up anyone could think to give him was “It sounds great! It’s just like, the words that you’re having trouble with!” lmao but he KILLED IT I was v proud the audience loved him

- Like 20 minutes before we let people in we had the directors daughter, in heels, on a fucking ladder painting over parts of the shop signs bc we realized that even though they had professional looking signs made they all had Philadelphia area codes on them lmao

- Oh God. So remember the not-screwed-in door I was complaining about???

- Well. They screwed it in. Backwards.

- And it makes an obnoxious noise when it opens and closes, and also doesn’t close all the way l m a o

- The programs all went missing lmao

- I found one box hidden away thank God but??? Apparently there’s supposed to be more. So we might just run out of programs during the second show

- LMAO DURING HER OPENING SPEECH THE DIRECTOR DEADASS PRONOUNCED LIN MANUEL MIRANDA’S NAME WRONG COULD YOU GET ANY MORE #ICONIC(tm)

- Tom fist pumped multiple times in pride and excitement when the show finally ended lmao

- THE GOT THE GRATE WITH ABUELA CLAUDIA’S FACE ON IT HOOKED UP (another audience gasp moment) AND HONESTLY???? I TEARED UP

- Lmao I’m pretty sure Tom was also lowkey crying at the end I didn’t say anything tho

- There’s more but it’s almost 2 in the morning lmao so anyway!!! Hopefully tomorrow runs a little more smoothly!!! And hopefully we get another great audience!! Overall it was great so I’m all pumped

#in the heights #ith vagueblogging 2k17 #musicals #theater #theater problems #molly mumbles

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hobistagram · 7 years

Text

She’s a baby

A/N: I wanted to do a drabble to explore the world I created for my witch!au and I can’t stop listening to the new zico song so this is what happened. i’m not spelling everything out in the story bc I just think it reads better that way, but in this au, all the boys have regular day jobs and each of them are witches. they all have a specific set of powers (see if you can figure them out!) but i’ll be going into way more detail w that and a whole lot more in the full length jimin fic coming up so if you’re left w questions now, they may be answered soon! hope yall enjoy!

wc: ~1.8K

witch!yoongi | witch!jimin | witch!tae | witch!jin

Hoseok watched her fumble her way through a conversation with a medical intern. The boy was overbearing, talking too much without really saying anything, and she was eating it up, because he was handsome and he would one day be a doctor.

Not that it bothered him. Being a nurse was just as, if not more, important, and God knows he did most of the healing anyway. Last week alone he’d cured a five-year-old’s broken leg, lessened the pain of a dying grandparent, and helped a healing cancer survivor grow her hair back. It had sapped all his strength, left him bedridden for nearly thirteen hours, Namjoon fretting at his bedside and Yoongi yelling at him to stop worrying because he would awaken at exactly 8:35 PM.

He’d sworn to Seokjin that he would take it easy this week, after the older boy had given him one of his lingering looks. It was unfair of him to use his power on Hoseok, but he supposed Seokjin thought he wouldn’t listen to him otherwise.

The girl waved goodbye to the intern, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, and turned in Hoseok’s direction. He busied himself at the computer, updating a patient’s chart.

“Do you know where I can find a bathroom on this floor?” She came up to the counter barring off the nurses’ station and placed her head in her hands, her elbows resting against the counter. Hoseok wondered how she could manage to look so precious so casually. “I came up to visit my mom in her office, but I got a little distracted.” She blushed at her own words and Hoseok remembered the way she looked at the intern.

He pointed behind him, to the hall to his right. “This way.”

She straightened, her face already brightening to a smile. He saw on her shirt, a frilly thing that looked like it belonged on a doll, a name tag from the gift shop downstairs. “Thank you,” she lilted, her voice sweet and small. She beamed, looking like she’d just had the conversation of her life with him.

Hoseok watched her walk off, her gait light and dreamy like a child’s. She looked fragile, like she needed to be taken care of.

But he was a healer. It was why he’d never been sick growing up, why Jimin had always screamed his name growing up whenever he got a bruise, why he’d gone into nursing in the first place.

That was why he wanted to care for her, he told himself, even over the pounding of his heart.

You floated down the hall, enchanted. If you’d known your mother worked near him, you would’ve visited her sooner.

Still, the interaction had been enough to paste a smile on your face.

She’d gotten you the job at the gift shop. After seeing how little your interest was in figuring out your future, she thought at least you should make some money. So you’d started manning the small shop singlehandedly. Hardly anyone came in and your free hours were spent daydreaming, staring out the glass windows of the shop at the passersby and inventing stories for them.

He was The Prince. That was what you’d named him after seeing him walk by, his stride hurried as he rushed to the elevators. He had a soft beauty despite all the hard angles of his face. His lips held tension you couldn’t quite figure out and the set of his brow was in a state of constant worry. You imagined the stress of a kingdom was what weighed on him. The happiness of his people in peril, the future of his land, all on his shoulders.

You hadn’t expected to see him there, seated at the computer, looking somehow smaller and less certain. You’d run through a million things to say to him, trying to determine what would be wittier, sweeter.

“You must be Dr. ______’s daughter,” the intern had said, stopping you in your tracks. “You look just like her.”

You’d indulged him, listening to blather on about how he knew your mom and how much he appreciated her as his attending. Glancing over to make sure he hadn’t left, you practiced out your smiles on the intern, hoping The Prince would see.

When the intern had finally finally let you go, your mind had blanked. What would you say to him? What would look natural now? All your conversation starters had meant to be casual but there was no way to be casual after you’d been eyeing him for five minutes.

By the time you reached him all you could think to do was to say something—anything—to hold you in place long enough to read his name tag.

Jung Hoseok.

It was a princely name.

He should’ve gone straight home. He’d promised Seokjin he would help him make dinner, Namjoon would be home late because of parent teacher conferences, and he was the only one that could get Yoongi to look away from his computer long enough to take a bath and join them to eat.

But the girl had lodged herself in his brain. When he leafed through charts, he thought of her. When he handed a lollipop to a boy with a sprained wrist, he thought of her. When Nurse Kim from the NICU came over to flirt with him during her break, he thought of her.

So after he’d clocked out, waved goodbye to the incoming nightshift nurses, and gathered his things from the lounge, he stopped by the gift shop.

Only it was closed.

The lights were off and the sign had been turned and his heart sunk no matter how firmly he told himself that he did not like this girl.

He spun on his heel to head out, already chastising himself for fantasizing, when the door opened.

She noticed him immediately, her face turning like a dimmer, brightening by increments as she realized that he’d come to see her. She must smile at everyone that way, he thought. It was the only way he could explain her sweetness to a complete stranger.

“Hi,” she said, and he realized her voice somehow always sounded like a song. Even earlier when all she’d done was ask him where the bathroom was. He wondered idly if she was a venus like Seokjin. It would explain why he felt drawn to her, why she had awakened that odd protectiveness in him.

“Hi,” he replied. He smiled and looked at her expectant face, realizing too late he didn’t have a reason for coming to see her. He scrambled. “I’d been hoping to buy flowers for a patient.”

“Oh.” Her brows raised and she blinked in surprise. She was doll-like, everything exaggerated and dulcet. “I can open up for a minute longer.” She turned to unlock the door again, digging in her purse for the keys she’d already stashed. Her finger caught on something and she yanked it out, putting it to her mouth. She grimaced, looking real and more human for a moment. “Papercut.”

He shook his head. “That’s okay. I can come by tomorrow.”

She grinned, dropping her finger, then spotted his bag. “Are you heading home?”

“Yeah, I’ll walk you out.” He eyed her cut and reached out a hand. “I’m Hoseok, by the way.”

“Y/N,” she offered. He brushed his thumb over the cut as he pulled his hand back, watching the knit in her brow relax as the stinging subsided. “It’s nice to meet you, Hoseok.”

So he was a healer, then.

It made sense, the way he devoted himself to his job, the burden he made himself carry. Healers were always like that, always trying to heal everyone and everything and feeling guilty if they didn’t.

You were mad at yourself for not picking up on it earlier, but it was hard to sense others if they weren’t your kind. You could spot a charmer from a mile away, feel the energy vibrating off them before you could even see them, but others were harder, trickier.

You weren’t certain how to bring it up without seeming weird, so you opted to show him instead. Grabbing the protein bar wrapper from breakfast out of your purse, you held it in your palm for him to see as the two of you walked. It unfolded, turning matte, and bleaching itself out to a pure white. You reached for a pen from the bottom of your bag and scribbled your number on the fresh paper, holding it out for him to take.

He stared, stopping mid-step as he saw the paper start to shift and his expression stayed unreadable as he took the sheet from you. “You’re a charmer?”

You nodded, feeling the charm you’d placed on your shirt wear off. It was the one that made you dreamy and fuzzy, the one that made people trip over themselves to care for you, to baby you.

His brow furrowed, finally seeing you as you were. “Who’s your coven?”

“Haven’t joined one yet.”

His eyes widened and you tried not to be injured by his shock. It was true someone your age should’ve joined a coven by now, but it was hard when you didn’t have a job or a life plan and still lived at home. “It’s late out,” he said, his voice notably softer. “I should walk you home.”

You stared at him, wondering how he could still be so nurturing to you after the spell had worn off. There was nothing shielding you now, it was just you, fully imperfect. “You don’t have to.”

He smiled, one that rivaled your own under the charm, and your breath caught. “I’d like to.”

Even with the charm worn off, Hoseok couldn’t help feeling protective. Except that wasn’t quite the right word for it. The pang in his chest that told him to draw nearer to her, that made him want to keep looking at her, that caused his body to hum with the urge to touch her. All of it was…possessive. He was possessive.

He wanted her, despite his best efforts to keep himself indifferent, and there was something freeing about knowing that for certain.

But what was he supposed to do now? What if she was just using another charm? A love spell, like the ones Jimin used, but stronger. Or what if she didn’t have a coven because she was a hunter and she was just using him to draw out his coven?

He could ask her out. He had a day off coming up soon and he could take her out to lunch and get to know her. Or he could never talk to her again. Crumple up the paper she’d given him and forget she exists.

She looked over at him, her eyes trusting and her smile small and self-conscious now with the loss of her spell, and he knew what he would do now.

He would walk her home.

#btssunshinenet #jung hoseok #jhope #bts #hoseok #hoseok fluff #jhope fluff #bts fluff #jhope imagines #jhope scenarios #hoseok imagines #hoseok scenarios #bts imagines #bts scenarios #also hobs sister just posted pics of him and my heart jumped #i love him so much

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moodyxteen · 6 years

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Another Activity Update!

#HEY GUYS I DIDNT DIE #i am so sorry that barely came back after thespian but it has been a whirlwind with finishing Oz and dealing with school at the same time #i’m not fully back quite yet bc finals week starts tomorrow and i really have to get my ahit together if i want to pass this semester #but! after friday christmas break starts!#so i promise promise Promise i’ll be back on soon!#i know tumblr’s about to shit itself but i have nonplans to leave (not yet at least)#but if you are Please let me know if you’re moving to another platform or just want to keep in touch!#i have a discord and i’m absolutely willing to rp there so just ask if you want it!#x; listen up fuckers (psa)#x; less of a bitch (ooc)

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jamieloveharris · 7 years

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& i thought changing my relationship status would be hard....

i REALLY didn’t want to have to write this. i’ve gone back & forth because part of me wants to be the bigger person and let karma do it’s just job. and other part - straight savage. as you may (or may not) know, i was supposed to get married in november. if you’re hoping this is the story of that, go ahead and click that X bc it’s not. howeverrrrr....when i got engaged, i moved pretty fast and went ahead and booked whatever i could, one of those being a photographer. this particular photographer i had obsessed over for years. literally my fam got some pics made probably 8 or so years ago and he was fairly new and i remember calling him to get pricing details. so since then, i’ve followed his work on social media etc and he’s crazy talented. so when i reached out and he was available, i was ecstatic. he’s pricey but if you know me, i love pictures and i was willing to splurge on a good photographer. everyone’s advise was always, “its all you’ll have left of the day, splurge.” anyhow, we emailed back and forth about pricing, packages, etc & spoke on the phone once, and he told me that he was doing things a little different now due to taking a full time job and trying to balance work/family life. you see, his wife is a photographer as well and equally as amazing and instead of shooting separately, they started to shoot together (if you choose 2 shooters) so they wouldn’t always be away from each other during the busy season of photography, allowing them to “drop their prices” some (LOL). so, long story short I said lets do it, and sent him the deposit. the schedule is as follows:

25% immediate deposit ($1,050)

25% 60 days before wedding date ($1,050)

50% remainder due 2 weeks before wedding ($2,100)

on january 20, what we agreed to was a total of $4,200 ($4,000 wedding package) + $200 (extra one hour if needed). so, I sent him $1,050 which is 25% of the total amount via paypal. the next payment wasnt “due” until technically september 18 - 60 days prior to the wedding which he stated in an email to me as well. i wanted to go ahead and try to get ahead so on March 17, I emailed him asking if it was okay to go ahead and send him more money (that wasn’t “due” until 9/18) and he was very eager to say “Well sure. You can send me as much as you want as often as you want :) “ Yeah, i bet so.

DISCLAIMER: in his defense, it DOES say in the contract I signed that in the event the client cancels for reasons out of the control of the photographer before completion of services, photographer retains all funds collected to date” I tell you this because I want to be completely transparent with all relevant details since this is basically a story of morality, and not money.

stay with me. SO, unfortunately I called off the wedding at the beginning of april. imaginably so, it’s a very emotionally draining situation and at that point, I knew I had already lost a lot of money (on venue, catering, band, dress, etc) so i was just trying to recoup anything that I could. it’s just money but at the same time, ya girl isn’t rich so being able to get anything back I could would be more than helpful. I had paid extra towards my venue as well and when I reached out to her (s/o to Bonnie - you’re the best), she immediately went out of her way to go to the bank and deposit the money back that wasn’t owed yet, but i had chosen to pay before it was due. my caterer also refunded what he could, minus the required deposit and wrote me truly the sweetest email saying he was praying for me and my situation and would be happy to refund fully if he rebooked the date. ya know, being a good person and doing what’s “right,” in my unprofessional opinion. let’s get to the good stuff...okay so, I had chosen on my own free will to send said photographer (cough cough ROB INGRAM cough cough) an extra $1,000 on March 17 via paypal. keep in mind, it wasn’t due until september and he wasn’t using that money for anything relative to my wedding. afterall, we were only using him for the wedding - no engagement or bridal pictures or anything. that was 2 weeks before I called off the wedding.

April 1, i emailed him asking protocol on if he would refund any payment that was made outside of the non-refundable deposit. I was aware i wouldn’t get the original $1,050 back and that’s fair business. to be honest, i didn’t read the fine print on the contract because who thinks you’ll need to cancel ya know? not me. {{ LESSON LEARNED }}. and this is where sh!t hit the fan. it’s LONG, but if you’re still reading you’ll probably be intrigued to find out the rest of the story right? so for your reading pleasure, i’ll copy and paste the string of emails between Rob and I from that date forward.

i’d like to preface this with some of my thoughts. first, contractually he doesn’t owe me any of the extra $1,000 that i paid him. i get that. morally, in my opinion, he does. afterall - he has to sleep with himself at night and live knowing he essentially stole $1,000 from someone he performed ZERO services for, not even so much as meeting for a cup of coffee. i’d also like to point out the fact that it was less than 2 weeks after I sent him the $1,000 that i asked about him refunding it. my theory is that he had already spent it therefore he didn’t have it to give back.i feel like as a human being, it’s our duty to be kind, and compassionate. maybe i’m crazy but the “right” thing to do would have been to do exactly what Bonnie did - give it back. it’s not yours. you did nothing for me, rob, except make me completely devalue you as a professional and as a person in general. again - I GET IT - by contract, he didnt have to give it back. but as a person, it would have been the right thing to do. it’s hard not for me to go postal up in this blog about it, but i think i’ll let his words speak for themselves. he demoralized woman, condescended me as a person, and said very offensive things about my friends whom he does not know. he didn’t want to add salt to the wound (after he took him over a week to respond btw - inclusive of a text and follow up email from me) but he would be glad to credit at least part of the payment “for when I do get married.” ya know what Rob? F OFF. Do you think that’s what i’m thinking about right now? do you think 1. I would ever use you as a photographer IF i do get married one day? and 2. do you think i’m studying my next wedding right now? NO. BYE. and that’s just the tip of the iceberg my friends. in the end, HE SUGGESTED that he would pay me on the 1st of the month $100/month for 5 months starting in May to prove his integrity (HA HA HA HA) because that’s all he could afford to do regardless of if he rebooked that date or not. Fair enough, and I thanked him for that gesture. I had to follow up with him, which is extremely awkward by the way, asking about the payment. truthfully, it’s not even about the money at this point but about doing what you say you’re going to do. he FINALLY paid my my first payment on May 19th (18 days after promised date). he lied saying it was “set to transfer” on the 15th of May, which i actually don’t think is even a real possibility with paypal after talking to other professional business owners who use Paypal as their method of payment, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. In June, i received $100 on June 16. After that, NADA, ZERO, ZILCH. Let me repeat - it’s not about the money at this point. it’s about doing the right thing. I’ve sent several emails to him asking to simply let me know if he doesn’t plan to fulfill his promise to let me know. again, NO RESPONSE. i swear i’ll quit rambling but my final thought is this....if you want to maintain your integrity that you swore you have, then do what you say you’re gonna do. Simple as that. and if you don’t plan to do said thing, have the decency to at least let that person know. if you plan to keep reading, start at the bottom of the email chain below and read up. PLEASE READ HIS LONG EMAIL CAREFULLY. I cannot stress enough how unprofessional, rude, demeaning, and downright ugly it was. I’ve never been more turned off from something in my life. ENJOY!!! :)

On Sept 18, 2017, at 12:44 PM, Jamie Harris <[email protected]> wrote:

Hi Rob, I didn't hear back from you so I'm going to assume at this point I won't be receiving the additional $300 that you offered and agreed upon?

"But beginning in May, I will refund you (thru PayPal) $100/month for 5 months regardless of whether or not we rebook for a total of $500. And, in the event that we do book the date, I will refund the remainder of the $1000. I know a little at a time doesn't have the same effect as a lump sum, but it's the best I can do right now."

Thanks,

Jamie

On Jul 27, 2017, at 8:42 AM, Jamie Harris <[email protected]> wrote:

Hey rob, just wanted to check in with you regarding July payment.

Thanks

Jamie

From: Rob & Wynter <[email protected]> Date: May 18, 2017 at 7:47:03 AM CDT To: Jamie Harris <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Contract

Jamie,

That transfer will be authorized tomorrow morning. I don't typically use the account tied to the PayPal so I had to transfer the money to the funding account yesterday. I wasn't aware that the account didn't have money in it when it was set to transfer. Never intended not to do what I said I would do.

Sent from Rob Ingram's iPhone

On May 18, 2017, at 07:41, Jamie Harris <[email protected]> wrote:

Hey Rob, it's the 18th now and I have not received anything via PayPal. I just kindly ask that if I will not be receiving what you offered to me, please let me know so I am aware.

Thanks,

Jamie Sent from my iPhone

On May 10, 2017, at 5:02 PM, Rob & Wynter <[email protected]> wrote:

It's set to transfer on the 15th Sent from Rob Ingram's iPhone

On May 10, 2017, at 16:54, Jamie Harris <[email protected]> wrote:

Hey Rob,

Just wanted to follow up regarding your last email.

Thanks,

Jamie

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 18, 2017, at 4:11 PM, RobWynter Ingram <[email protected]> wrote:

Jamie,

I’ll start by saying that the fact that you concluded this message with “I don’t expect a response, to be honest…” is confirmation that you don’t know me very well. But, I guess you can only derive your opinion from personal experience. My delay in responding to your cancellation email (as I have already told you) was because I wanted to see if I could fill your date with 2 other inquiries that we had for 11/18 and hopefully be able to refund some of your money. I apologize that, in the middle of life and a busy wedding season, I didn’t respond sooner. I know this is not an easy time for you and adding financial strain only adds insult to injury. It was never my intention for the end-result of all this be one that has left such a bad taste in your mouth.

I’ll also say, before I address your message, that of the 30+ brides that we work with every year, not one would make general comments about my “heart” or my approach consistent with what I just read from you. In fact, “heartless” is so far from who I am and who we are. But, rather than try to convince you of that, I will (try) to remove emotion from it and simply respond with facts. I absolutely HATE the fact that your opinion of me is now so skewed from the reality of who I am that you feel the need to say some of the things you have, but I guess what’s done is done, and all we can do now is continue to do the things that made you want to hire us in the first place, which is be the best wedding photographers we can be and provide brides with beautiful wedding images.

To begin, let me confidently say this. I will refund the $1000 if I book the date. I have more integrity than you might think, and I will be 100% honest with you if we rebook and will refund your money. But so far, I have had zero inquiries since you cancelled. I had 2 others within a week of you booking. And both could not move their dates. You are right, it’s possible we will rebook, but speculating that is a moot point, and as of now, we will make at least $2000 less than expected right before Christmas.

I have been doing this for 10 years, Jamie. Shooting weddings is a volatile thing and a huge risk for anyone who makes this their profession. As weddings are concerned, we basically stake our entire income on the promise of two people who are currently very happy, but have no idea of what lies ahead. In the entire time I have done this, previous to 2016, I have had only ONE wedding cancellation. Then, in 2016, we had 3 cancellations, all of which did not result in rebooking the date, costing our business over $15,000 in income. Now, for 2017, we have had 2 weddings that did not work out after booking, resulting in another $5400 in income loss.

As far as your comment about comparing what $1000 means to us vs. yourself. Let me ask you….and it’s imperative that I be a little more personal here than I typically have to be with clients because perspective might help in our case as well…How many of your "photographer friends” that you felt the need to talk to about this, support 4 kids (not including an additional $1000/month in child support and another $1200 for health insurance) on a one-income budget? You can do the math, but in order for Wynter and I to have anything that resembles a life with our kids on the weekends, we can only feasibly take 30-35 weddings a year. Other than a VERY small amount of other photography income, WEDDING photography is our only source of income. We don’t shoot separately, because our product is now branded by what we both bring to the table on a wedding day. The process of editing hundreds of images/week and making sure that we correctly handle images that can never be replaced, is one that takes a great deal of time and care. So again, since you felt the need to bring it up, I’m betting the comparable value of $1000 to us is a little closer than you might think. Remember, image is our job, so it may be a little misleading when you simply look at our life and business with facebook or Instagram goggles. So please, if these photographer friends of yours (who obviously aren’t talented enough to garner your business) really want to talk to me about their opinion of my approach here, please tell them to call me when their husband gets off work. I’d be happy take any advice from them that will allow me to be both a business man and a bleeding heart. And feel free to forward this email to them too. This business is full of people who will try to undercut and discredit other photographers at every turn. Maybe this email will be ammo they can print, forward and use in their advantage to create an image of me that results in one less person to compete with. It’s why I have never cared much about what everyone else is doing. And frankly, the insecurity of a lot of people in this business is consistent with the ones that would so willingly be agreeable with you in this situation. But, if my guess is right, you either talked to someone who is single or someone who has another source of income in their home. But again, I’m just giving you facts and comments about financial consequence isn’t an area that anyone has ever tried to navigate with me. So, my “condescending” response about applying your payment to a future wedding is justifiably condescended now by your interpretation and the emotions behind a hurt that I ultimately did not cause, and yet currently have a $2100 deficit because of. So to clear that up, I wasn’t trying to be condescending at all, but I am pretty confident any this point that you won’t be “passing on my name” to other people in any way that would ever result in me being portrayed in a positive light. And really, the residual effect of what this has ultimately done to your image of us, is going to cost us a lot more than just the $2100 that we won’t get from you. Consider that we are two people (with financial responsibility to 4 more) getting paid basically one medial income.

Jamie, this situation doesn’t require me to pray about it. I really can’t believe that I’m even discussing money value and prayer in response to this, but you went there, so I will too. My relationship with Jesus is the most important thing in my life and spiritualizing this issue isn’t something I think is necessary. But hypothetically, had your message today said, “Hey Rob, that $1000 means a lot to me and not having it makes a significant difference in my life. As a fellow follower of Christ, I am asking you to consider our kinship in that and pray about a way to refund all or a portion of this money. This is a crappy enough time for me and I realize there may not be an immediate solution, but I would appreciate it if you would reconsider your last email”, then I wouldn’t have spent the better part of my day responding to this, I would have a better perspective on how it effects you, and would have done what was best for both of us regardless of contractual language. And maybe that should have been my first approach, but just because my business deals with people on a more “personal” level doesn’t exempt me from still being a business, so I responded as such. Typically, the clientele that we work with understands that, which is why I’ve never dealt with this. In fact, most of those relationships end extremely well and have been followed up with inquiry on whether or not they owed a cancellation fee, rather than me writing a check back to them based on a circumstance out of my control. The fact that I never uphold my clients to the "additional 25% cancellation fee of entire contract" outlined in their contract may produce a less “heartless” opinion from others who have been in your situation.

This is the exact reason why Wynter and I charge a little more than most photographers. There are plenty of “wedding photographers” who have a camera and can produce a good image for $2500-3000. If I expounded on the reality of their inadvertent devaluing of our industry, I would spend the next half of the day typing, so I will spare you. BUT…our whole approach has always been based on working with an upper-tier bride who typically isn’t greatly affected by the loss of $1000. In fact, in your situation, I was more inclined to think money wasn’t an issue for you at all. You didn’t try to talk me down on price, you were in a hurry to get your deposit to me, and you sent the extra $1000 even after I told you that it wasn’t yet due. And up until you cancelled your wedding, you were very consistent with some of the best brides that we have ever had from a payment and accountability standpoint. So, my response was derived from quantifying and qualifying you with our other brides. I apologize that I responded with an incorrect assumption. You can't expect me to know the reality of your personal situation, and the email you sent to me this morning basically holds me responsible to know that.

My “truly shocking” response, as you called it IS exactly what you described it: a matter of money. I unapologetically agree with you there. And I’m not quite sure why it being a “matter of money” and me “having a heart to do what I can to help someone” can’t coexist. And if really was a ONLY “matter of money” I would be the type of heartless person that would seek all compensation of what was agreed to in the contract, which would be an additional $1000.

So, to be clear, I am not the jerk that my response in this email confirms that I can be. But, when I receive an email that is obviously based on frustration and dehumanizing me, I am not going to read it without at least attempting to establish a little bit of perspective-based defense. You ask how I can sleep at night. My sleep has never been effected because I've always done what I said I would do and I've never received such a hostile email based in response to what someone agreed to.

All of that being said, I will do this…because we live on our received income rather than our completed work income, I can’t cut you a $1000 check today. But beginning in May, I will refund you (thru PayPal) $100/month for 5 months regardless of whether or not we rebook for a total of $500. And, in the event that we do book the date, I will refund the remainder of the $1000. I know a little at a time doesn't have the same effect as a lump sum, but it's the best I can do right now.

I am really sorry our relationship took this turn, Jamie. I enjoyed every moment of our first conversation and I hope one day you can see that I'm not all the things you seem to now believe. What I definitely will pray about for you is continued healing through this difficult process. From my experience, you are a really cool girl and I hate we won't be moving forward from this point on. I'll be in touch the first of May with the first partial reimbursement installment. Thanks for taking time to read this.

Rob

On Apr 18, 2017, at 10:17 AM, Jamie Harris <[email protected]> wrote:

Hey Rob/Wynter, I’ve had some time to think about this situation and it’s just been on my heart to respond. I understand what you said about the contract, but in my personal opinion something like this comes down to a matter of character and just simply doing what’s right and being able to lay your head down at night knowing you’re living the way you’re proud of. I know that I made the choice to send you an extra $1,000 when it was not even due, and in your contract you did state what was paid was to be kept. At the same time, when I look at the big picture it honestly just doesn’t sit right with me that as a successful and respectable business owner, you are okay with keeping $2100 of someone’s money when you truly performed no act of service. We did not even meet in person and get a coffee. We simply exchanged a few emails, several of which took you more than a week to respond. If I canceled a month before my wedding, this would be a different story and completely understandable. But considering it was over 7 months out from the event, you and I both know the chances of you filling that spot are pretty high knowing how wonderful of photographers you and Wynter are, and how desired your services are as well. People plan weddings in just a few months all of the time, and I just can’t help but feel like I was truly taken advantage of, and I hate feeling that way with someone whose work I have followed since the beginning and always dreamed of having them shoot my own wedding. I would never want or expect to get the 25% deposit back. I knew going into it, that no matter what that was nonrefundable and should something happen, that was paid regardless. I just can’t get out of my head that I sent you $1,000 and you’re comfortable with keeping that knowing you didn’t provide any service to me. $1,000 is a lot of money to me, especially considering I am single and live alone and have already lost about 5x that much with all of the other things I had to cancel. Again, that was MY choice and I’m well aware of that but at some point it just comes down to doing the respectable thing. In the grand scheme of things, what is $1000 to you compared to what it is to me? Especially $1,000 that wasn’t even owed to you yet. As far as the taxes thing go, it would just show as you overpaying and would be considered a credit. It's not anything that would cause issues in the long run, so I don't find it fair to use that as an excuse.

I’m not looking for a pity party, or any kind of sympathy as I know I made the choice that I did and had to do what’s best for me and my situation and unfortunately that came at a cost. I’m just simply asking for you to reconsider your decision given the situation and circumstances. I am obviously dealing with a lot emotionally as well as financially and that’s on me and I’m dealing with it the best I can. I have several photographer friends I spoke to about the situation, as well as just everyday humans and the consensus was always the same – shock that someone who works in an industry capturing people’s happiest days could be so heartless. It just seems that you would have a little more sympathetic nature to the situation simply as a human. Someone could get engaged tomorrow, and book that date and come to you this week dying to have you. You have 7 more months for that to happen and the fact that you’re dead set on this being the final decision honestly makes me question the professionalism of your business. And to even condescendingly say that you’d give me a credit “when I get married one day” couldn’t have hurt worse. I understand you were trying to offer a “solution” so to speak, but that was the most humiliating thing that I could have read considering the last thing I’m thinking about at the moment is getting married.

I am truly just asking you to pray about, think about it, whatever your method is of coping with things is, and really consider what happened. I know “contractually” what was said and I get that as anyone would,but sometimes, things go a little deeper and you look at it as a whole and treat as others the way you’d like to be treated. I sent you an email right away, with no response, followed up with a text several days later with no response, and had to email another time before I was even given the respect of a response. At the very least, I would have expected an acknowledgment email when I first emailed you just letting me know you received it and would get back to me. I obviously had to send the same email to several people and the difference in response is truly shocking. It seems to just be a matter of money vs having a heart and doing what you can to help someone.

I don’t expect a response to be honest, but would appreciate if you would at least take the time to read this, and consider what it would mean to me and do for me. I am more than happy to recommend you to anyone I see that may be seeking photographers in the area because I do love your work as you know and would be more than willing to pass on your name, but I just can't let this sit on my hear any longer.

Thanks for your time

Jamie

On Fri, Apr 7, 2017 at 11:22 AM, Rob & Wynter <[email protected]> wrote:

Hey Jamie,

I'm sorry to just now be getting back to you. And I'm very sorry to hear that you had to call the wedding off.

Unfortunately, this is where business collides with people that I genuinely want to do what's best for, but because of the way our accounting works, it puts me in an awkward position.

In Section 3 of our contract, the agreement states that all funds collected upon cancellation are retained by the photographer and a 25% cancellation penalty is assessed. Obviously, I am not going to charge you another $1050, but the second payment, which in your contract stated that it was due BY (not ON) April 24, 2017 was voluntarily sent and thus falls under the "all funds collected" section. And because we pay taxes quarterly, those have been submitted as well.

Also, we do this because we have other inquiries and in your case (because of the popular date during football season) we turned down two other weddings because of your reservation of the date. That is why it has taken me a while to respond...I was reaching out to those two brides to see if I could salvage their business. (In which case, I could have justified refunding a portion to you). Both have booked elsewhere and quite honestly, November wedding clients are few and far between this late in the year. So, in reality, we have a $2100 deficit on our year as well and will doubtfully recoup the loss of income from Nov 18, which really is the only date anyone has asked about for Nov of this year.

I know this adds salt to an already open wound, but because of the nature of our business, we don't refund due to things out of our control. But, what I can do is give you a credit for when you do get married one day. We can at least apply 50% of the $2100 you have sent ($1050) to a future contract. I know that helps you none right now, but please know I will do what I can to make it as easy on you as possible if you would like to work with us one day.

Again, I hate having these conversations and hate what you are dealing with all of this. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Rob

Sent from Rob Ingram's iPhone

On Apr 7, 2017, at 10:15, Jamie Harris <[email protected]> wrote:

Hey Rob, wanted to follow up with on this since I never heard back. I paid you an extra $1000 towards my balance but I've regretfully decided to call off my wedding so I believe I should receive that back since it was not due or anything until sept 18 per your email below. Please let me know what you need from me to get this refunded.

Thanks for understanding

Jamie Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 1, 2017, at 10:32 PM, Jamie Harris <[email protected]> wrote:

Hey rob, random question but I know if something happens we can't get our deposit back but do you refund any other payments made?

Thanks

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