#my friend and I thought 'well Father Brown isn't great there's probably not much hope for this but we'll try it'

[mabith]

The third season is starting next week, so here's my urging (if you like period mysteries) to watch Sister Boniface Mysteries. Every episode she has a little fantasy segment and this one is from an episode about the town talent competition, thinking about what she'd do for it.

Why the show is Special: --She's the official forensics side of the police. They get along great, there's no animosity or sneaking around to solve cases. It's so refreshing. She fully gets to be one of those smarter-than-anyone-else-on-earth characters and they let her be smug about it. --Covers all your fun mystery tropes (death during magic act, death during movie filming, death during summer fair) and but also keeps very 1960s and gives you death at hippie type retreat, Twiggy figure comes home, death related to modern art exhibition, spying nonsense, spoofing lots of 1960s figures etc... --Random queer love episodes which are done really well in my opinion and often get happy endings (I think only one was an situation that stayed unhappy). --It's just a fun time! Definitely the best period mystery since Miss Fisher and for my money the best cozier mystery currently on in general.

[knickynoo]

hi, i love your posts a lot and hope you're doing well!

you may have covered it before, but do you have any headcanons about the early years of doc and marty's friendship? i always find myself wondering how they went from a awkward employer and employee relationship, to the close bond we see them share in the films. i would love to know your thoughts!

Hello! Thank you; I hope you're also doing well :)

This kind of connects to an ask I had gotten a while ago about how long I thought it took Marty to fully trust Doc. My answer was: immediately, lol.

Basically, I don't think there was much (if any!) of an awkward period between them. In my head, it essentially went like this:

Doc *upon finding 14-year-old Marty had broken into his garage*: "Um. Hello, there. My name is Doctor Emmett Brown."

Marty: "Hey, I'm Marty."

Doc and Marty: *exchanging friendship bracelets*

I mean, in the comic book depiction of their initial meeting, Marty doesn't even care about discussing the pay Doc offers him. He says, "I'll be happy just to be the guy who knows Doctor Emmett L. Brown!" And. And! Doc's journals in the DeLorean Time Machine manual contain an entry written the day he meets Marty, where he writes, "I have a good feeling about the lad, and feel confident I can trust him." They are literally only hours post-meeting, and Doc has already put his full trust into this kid who snuck in through his window earlier that afternoon. Love it. Now for headcanons.

Obviously, Marty likes Doc from the get-go simply because he thinks he's really interesting and cool and smart, but I think--for Twin Pines Marty, at least--a lot of that initial connection comes from him being sort of starved for attention from a caring, adult figure. Every grown-up around Marty is dysfunctional. His father is oblivious and discouraging, his mother is a sad alcoholic, Biff is an abusive bully, and Strickland thinks Marty is a punk kid destined for a life of failure.

^^ I feel like this meme is fitting

Anyway, Marty then suddenly has this adult in his life who...likes him? Thinks he's smart and has potential? Doesn't talk to him like he's an idiot? I absolutely think that Marty was instantly like, "I am going to spend every possible waking moment here." Doc goes ahead and slaps the Flex Tape right over Marty's damaged self-esteem.

Those early first few months are filled with Doc slipping mini science lessons into all the time they spend together. Marty goes into the whole assistant gig with very limited knowledge, but he's eager to learn. Doc quickly figures out the best way Marty learns and absorbs information, and he gives him a lot of the basic facts and skills that he needs to be able to help around the lab.

I think it actually takes a while for Marty to open up about his family life. Doc has an inkling that home isn't such a great place, but he has no clue how to approach the subject and wonders if it's even appropriate to do so. They both dance around the topic for a long while until it all comes tumbling out of Marty one evening. Doc, having had his own unhappy relationship with his father, empathizes with his new friend, though I don't see Doc as being quick to share any stories of his own. He mostly avoids the subject when Marty tries to ask about his childhood (maybe just sharing stories of his mother). He does eventually talk about his father, but it's a tough thing to do.

Related to the above, I think Marty's little cot was an addition to the lab in those early few months of friendship. There were nights they were either working late, or Marty just didn't seem to want to go home, and Doc didn't want him having to sleep slouched in a chair or on top of a table. Marty walked into the garage one day, and there was suddenly a bed for him.

Contrary to the comics, I DO NOT headcanon that Doc gave that nickname to himself. Marty did, and it probably happened on day one or two of them knowing each other. He just went, "Yo, Doc," and Doc momentarily paused in brief confusion before going, "Huh, guess that's my name now." But Doc loves it because it's the first kind nickname he's ever been given.

From the moment Doc finds out Marty's a musician, he tells Marty he'd like to hear him play. Marty wants to be able to share his music with his new friend, but he's also really nervous. What if Doc thinks he stinks? Eventually, he builds up the courage and brings his guitar to the garage one night. He has Doc (and Einie's) full attention, and they both love his music. Doc is quite impressed with Marty's talent and encourages him to continue to build those skills and share his songs. Sometimes, Doc requests a certain song, and Marty does his best to learn to play it.

That's all I can think of at the moment! Thanks for the ask!

[purplerose244]

My thoughts on Seabound!!! 🌊🌊🌊 (3/4)

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Yep yep yep, I'm liking this season a lot! 😍 Although I hope we'll get into a more frantic situation now, like with more battles and more bonding moments (Nya and Maya hopefully, but with Bentho too 🦈🦈🦈)! We got half a season to go, I'M READY!! 😎😎

Alright, here we go!

GENERAL THOUGHTS

I do like the season a lot, maybe MoM was a little more cohesive? Idk but it's not a big complain, I still love it so far 😍

Also maybe I would've liked more interactions between Nya and Maya about how they've been apart for so long, they had a chit chat but I would've loved even more. Maybe with Nya saying that it was fine and she grew up only to realize she is still hurt by that, even though it wasn't Maya's fault. I still like how they did it, I wished there was more that's it 🤷‍♀️

While I do make sense to Maya's behavior, that while it seems a little different from Hands of Time it had its logic in my opinion, maybe Ray feels a little weird? He seems less courageous than before, and it was established that he is a hothead like his son so that came off as unusual 🤔🤔

But I do love the fact that he's here and he's bonding with his son, for real, I've been waiting for this for so long so I'm happy nonetheless 🤩

Maybe I'm just easy to please and I take all I can get idk 😅

THE STORM AMULET

Oh, are we gonna address the wind element? It feels like we haven't really seen a Morro reference since Hands of Time, that would be cool! 😍 I mean, why even mentioning the wind then 😅😅

Well what do you know, they tracked them, who saw that coming?... me, I saw that coming... we all did probably 🤷‍♀️

Jay took upon himself making a quick recap on how Ninjago will be destroyed this time, thanks Bluebell 👌

Yep nyeheh electricity makes Nya go crazy for sure ❤💙 ... wait it wasn't a Jaya pun?

Jay wear your seatbelt please, you risk you life enough 😅😅 Pff lol "are we there yet" and they are actually there, biggest plot twist I've ever heard of 😂

LEGO HUG 💜💜💜

And with someone who might as well join the League of Jay apparently 💙

I liked The Island yet it was not as exciting as I hoped for, but now understand the meaning of it. The ninja helped the keepers and they are all allies. Without The Island the moment where Mammatus gives Nya the amulet wouldn't be as meaningful

Is it just me or Nya looked even more gorgeous during that moment?... just me huh? Okay then 😂���

Wait that's a fake? Wait... UNCLE POWERS?!? OMG THAT I ACTUALLY DIDN'T SEE COMING 🤯

Here I thought he was just messing around, he always makes things harder 😅 Or maybe better? I mean, they kinda missed a bullet on this one...

BENTHO IS SO SWEET AND COOL OMG HE IS ALREADY OUR FRIEND 💙🦈💙🦈

Jay somehow had his own TV show in the past and yet he's got that horrible acting skills wth 😂😂😂

Kalmaar is a very cool villain, like, deeply evil. Not only he's calculated and merciless, he stops at nothing to get what he wants. And the people that get in the way? He wants them to suffer because they had dared to confront him 😳

And yes the voice does help a lot, I'm sorry I'll keep saying it until the season is over 😂 (or even beyond? Please cast Giles again LEGO 🥺🥺🥺)

Awww Nya no my poor girl 😢 Jay wanted to hug her to comfort her he is so sweet my SHIP ❤💙❤💙

MOM PEP TALK MOM PEP TALK!!! 🤩🤩🤩 How cool was it?

Like, this isn't even Maya asking Nya to believe in herself, this is her saying that she KNOWS her daughter can do anything when she puts her mind into it. FINALLY SHE SEES HOW AMAZING WATER GODDESS IS 💜💜💜

MORE LEGO TEARS OMG THIS SEASON IS FILLED WITH TEARS 😱 Which... kinda makes sense considering it's a water based season 😂

Nice one, and now? NOW WE GO BACK TO KAI COLE AND RAY YAS!!! ❤🖤❤🖤

RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX

That is... surprisingly Egypt theme like? It feels like a title coming from the Fire Chapter of season 11... well we got two fire elementals so 😍😍

SPARRING KAI AND RAY

I REPEAT SPARRING KAI AND RAY!!! SPARRING KAI AND RAY!!! ❤❤❤ Lol Ray got old, but how can someone blame him? He did touch death while aging in Hands of Time, I'm just happy he is alive 😂

Yep, master prankster Wu, that's what I love 👌👌 I always thought Wu had become a father figure for Kai at the beginning, so seeing Ray and Wu in the same picture feels very wholesome to me 😚

Ah, uncle Powers, I both love you and hate you so freaking much 😌😌 But you make cool slides nonetheless 😂

ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME WITH BEAUTIFUL SMITH INTERACTIONS??

BECAUSE I LIKE IT KEEP GOING 🤩

Oh no you guys are stranded on an island whatever are you going to do?? It's not like you had already before and managed to survive (Skybound) or you got stranded on a rock in a sea of sand filled with giant monsters (Fire Chapter) or you were on a freaking COMET in SPACE (Rebooted). Yeee, this is the worst yet 🙂

I'm starting to think these ninja are just a bunch of drama queens so no matter what happens, it's always hopeless 😂😂 I feel like I'm kinda right on this one honestly 😛

Whoa whoa WHOA WHO IS NYAD THIS SOUNDS VERY COOL???

Aww I like that, while Ray told his kids stories about dragons and how they traveled through the Underworld, Maya told them about Nya the first water master that could summon whales 💙❤💙❤

Pff imagine if it turned out Nya was the master of fire, carrying a very water based name? Lol

Maya: I would know if it was possible!

Nya: Yeah, like she knows that I can control a bit of ice because it's frozen water

Maya:...

Maya: YOU WHAT

I find both interesting and very annoying that this explorers club thinks so highly of themselves, to the point the deny to aid even the FREAKING SAVIORS OF THEIR FREAKING LAND 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Misako got good reflexes after all, Kai was probably ready to melt this guy's face 😅

Oh, so a trial by Sphinx is a challenge? A mental one? A cultural one? A physical one? Idk but Misako is actually taking charge and that is cool I guess 🤷‍♀️

Okay this is kind of weird, how is Ray so afraid? Is it because there's fire?... did he... did he grow afraid of fire for some reason? Because it feels a bit off for now, but if there is a deeper meaning that could be interesting 🤔

Wait is that the riddle from Decoded? That's fire right?

IT IS FIRE 🔥🔥🔥

Lol at least in this one Kai wasn't completely ignored 😂 I know my flame babe isn't the most rational person, but I do like that it was an answer connected to his element where he used his head!

Ah Clutch, you really got no backbone 😅 And apparently you're the only explorer who doesn't, dang look at the others go! I'm having a bit more respect for them now 😚

LOOK AT SENSEI GO FINALLY!!! 😍😍 FIGHTING SCENES HECK YES!!!

Kalmaar: I'm your conquerer

Wu: so after skeletons, the serpentine, nindroids, the Stone Army, Chen's army, ghosts, oni, more snakes but on fire and people from a game, that makes you the tenth. Have a free cookie

Kalmaar:...

Wu: you're not special

Is this a little throwback to Possession too? Nya seems to always control better water when she doesn't actually think about it. When her feelings are free, so are her powers 🌊🌊🌊

Also this opens up more possibilities! Creatures connected with other elements might get summoned too! I would love something like that 😍😍

This was NEAT, or maybe I just missed Kai that much ❤ What's next??

PAPERGIRL

ANTONIAAAAAAAA!!!! MY GIRL IS BACK!!! All my girls are back in this season, I'm so happy 😍😍😍 And if she is here, sweet little Nelson has to be around and I cannot wait! Bring in the purple ninja! 💜

Owww Antonia's last day as a papergirl? Nooo why??

She's got a job at the... DAIRY DRAGON??? OMG OMG OMG IT'S THE ICE CREAM PLACE BRAGI TOLD US ABOUT ON TWITTER!!! 🤩🤩🤩 I remember the post, he was asking about names for the place and ice cream flavors. Now I can't wait to see what did he choose 🍦🍦🍦

UNAGAMI BABY HI HONEY!!! 🙋‍♀️ I hope he's doing great 😘😘

This is so cool honestly, Antonia got her own character arc going on! Living in a chaotic city like Ninjago City must be pretty dang exhausting 😅

Was... was that Dareth in the garbage can? Am I wrong? Poor brown ninja 😅🤎😅

SPINJITZU SWIRL, BANANAKHAN, ORANGE SERPENTINE, I'M DYING 😂😂😂

Their friendship is so wholesome, I'm so happy they are still together no matter what happens 💕

I thought Kalmaar wasn't much of a fighter but DANG he's got skills! Also the fact that he uses tentacles makes the fight very cool to watch! 😚😚

RAY RUNNING IN AFTER KAI GOT HURT HECK YES ❤❤❤

Well at least you tried Ray 😅

Ah, little cameo of the original Weekend Whip, always nice to hear it again... AND DO THE WEEKEND WHIP!!! 🌪🌪🌪

EVEN NELSON GOT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT I'M SO PROUD 💜

I don't even know what is cooler, the kids being mad lads on their bikes, Kalmaar driving a TRUCK or Kai going full parkour on the buildings to follow them 🤯

I'm sorry... am I the only one that during the Kai and Kalmaar talk kinda thought of Jestro and Clay? I miss my boys from NK, they're even more at odds now 😭😭

KAI YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE OR EVEN TRY TO DIE GET BACK HERE AT ONCE 😱😱

Kalmaar just loves to make everyone feel inferior, gotta be his hobby 😶

Oh good Kai is back

OH NOT GOOD KAI IS NOT BREATHING?!? FLAME BABE I TOLD YOU YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO DIE 😱😱😱

Antonia, Nelson, you guys are now my heroes. You saved my fave, I'll be forever in dept with you ❤❤❤ Am I being overdramatic? Most likely, but Kai is one of the few that didn't almost die or did die in a dramatic situation and he is also my absolute favorite character so that... kinda keeps my sanity in check in this show 🥴

I wonder... does he still not know how to swim? He saved Lloyd in Possession but I wonder if he was only trying to float on the surface... THAT'S TERRIFYING

This episode was so adorable, I love Antonia and Nelson so much 💜💕💜💕 It's nice to see what the other people of Ninjago do while everything goes mad 🤣

Wait hang on my Ninjajan is a little rusty

"Ninjago City. City that never sleeps" well if that ain't the truth 😂

MASTER OF THE SEA

Like Master of the Mountain? Wait are we going back to Shintaro?? VANYA?? ANOTHER BEST GIRL RETURNS??? 💛

Hey hey hey, we got a full Nyad backstory! I really like when they do these little drawn shots, they feel more like legends! And... the ending sounds terrifying? Like, they wouldn't let Nya sacrifice herself and die... again... right? 😱

Bentho: and the world was in balance, until now because of my brother

Lloyd: and the Overlord before of course

Bentho: the what now?

Lloyd: the evil one my grandpa the first Spinjitzu Master fought?

Bentho: YOUR WHAT NOW

Why do I like this offscreen "hiiiyaaa" that sensei Wu does before actually going into the scene? 😂😂

No matter if they come from the underground or the sea, these are all snake-like creature with the same intellect 😅 Kalmaar and Garmadon would have a lot to talk about, sea king dealing with his minions does remind me of Lord Garmadon in season 2 a lot 😂😂

KAI AND RAY FIGHTING TOGETHER KAI AND RAY FIGHTING TOGETHER ❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤

OMG Kalmaar is such a brat and petty villain I love him so much 😂😂😂 Yes I didn't even mention his amazing voice!... AH DANG IT 😳😳

*Misako kicks Kalmaar and is actually useful* 🙆‍♀️🙆‍♀️🙆‍♀️

*Misako gets taken as hostage immediately after* 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

KAI LITERALLY JUST GOT SAVED FROM DROWNING WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO HIM!!!... and Ray and Cole and Wu of course, I care okay 😅

OMG that face 🤣🤣🤣

That some meme material right there

Whoa Vincent that voice just got super up when the Unsinkable showed up, it kinda sounded like Jay's lol

NO NOT BENTHO!!! 😢😢😢

Kai: Nya talks to whales now? (I snorted so hard at this 😂😂)

HECK YES NYA GOT THE AMULET!! 😍😍😍 ... we got, like, four more episodes to go so something needs to happen in between... do I need to be scared? I feel like I need to be scared 😅

Jay starting a fire then blaming Kai?... this is so in character I got chills 😂😂

SHARK BOY IS STAYING TO THE MONASTERY THIS IS SO PRECIOUS!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 I want all the shenanigans and we need to write fanfictions about more shenanigans and AAAAHHHHH 🦈🦈🦈

Bless these two fire idiots

They own my heart ❤🔥❤🔥 Also Vincent, this is supposed to be a fun little gag moment, your amazing voice acting is kinda distracting me 😭😭😭

ANOTHER LEGO HUG

YOU GUYS ARE SPOILING ME OVER HERE HECK YES 💙🌊💙🌊

Maya learned that her daughter is capable of everything, I love that. Nya simply understood that she doesn't have to give up when something gets difficult. She is AMAZING and can do anything she puts her mind into. She simply has to hold on until the end 💪💪💪

Omg Benthomaar playing billiard with the guys I already love this 😍😍

YES IT IS SHINTARO!!! THE UPPLY ARE HERE OMG!!! HI VANYA YOU LOOK AMAZING GIRL MISS YOU I HOPE YOU'RE DOING OKAY!!! 💛💛💛 ... I just really like Master of the Mountain okay 😅

I love how Vanya doesn't even question it. It comes from Cole and he said it needs to be protected? Done and done 👌

Wait what, did something fall?

IS THAT THE FAKE?!?!? WHAT HOW WHEN??? UNCLE POWERS??? OR KALMAAR DID SOMETHING??? SOMEONE??? I'M LEGIT CONFUSED AND EXCITED??? 🤯🤯🤯

Well dang, I didn't see that coming, now what Seabound? What do you have for me?

[tiphprince]

I have many thoughts and feelings about snape leaving Hogwarts. (I would write it but one I am well lazy and I have this weird internal conflict but yes anyways) I will be signing of as 🤺 (this is so long I am so sorry)

So for scene + background purposes : both the mud blood incident and the werewolf prank happens at the 5th year and I guess eileen leaves him. And snape is in this absolute bedroom depression because rn he can't stand himself, there is no scope and like he knows what possibilities lies in both sides but rn he's craving for fimilarity and the only person who he hates that he's connected to is his father right. They both have this anger that eileen leaves them in spinners end and one of them is free. So he does something he hasn't done ever since he met Lilly : he takes a chance and applies to ilvermony he knows he won't get in he's so sure (until he gets proven wrong). And when he gets that letter that says ACCEPTANCE he somehow empathizes with the women who first introduces magic and the same women who ran away from this horrid place and figures that eileen is a clever witch and she's probably okay of not she'd be back or they would find out that she's dead.

He knows that he's meant to be alone (he does the paper work for a transfer alone, he packs alone and he celebrates alone on his departure by allowing himself to feel something when he buys himself a small plum cake) and he feels incredibly small when he enters the ministry where he meets the headmistress but he's hopeful.

And ilvermony is big and it's grand and it's so much more accepting. On his first day he meets a brown eyed girl who's made him feel absolute concern and exasperation in 14 minutes of meeting her (why do you think that England is a sad place he asks her and she simply looks at him dumbly saying your two weather's are rain and heatstroke, and he can't help but agree with her) but he can't help but feel light. There is no Potter, no black no werewolf and maybe his life is worth something. And he's less alone (he doesn't ever say it out loud because he's scared after all he is someone who's great at ruining friendships) because he makes friends some who understand the guilt and the shame and the anger he is carrying while others (and some really good adults) just know that it's not fair that you should treat your own life like this and now he's able to speak about his regrets his guilt to those closest to him 'what you did was wrong but I also think it's wrong that you have been told that holding on to the guilt is the only way you can forgive yourself, I think you have hurt yourself enough' she says to him and there is an absolute pin drop silence until severus takes all the courage to say i think I need help.

Flash forward it's 2 years later in Hogwarts and a ripple effect occurs.

Regulus black feels at first a great deal of anger towards snape because he managed to escape this. Narcissa and lucius understand but they will never admit it. But snape left their snape this tiny greasy kid from coke worth felt his life was worth more or if not he believed in enough spite to take some direct action. That spite is what drove them to stay effectively neutral and hint on supporting dumbledore despite a war that there in the horizon. James and Lilly are together, the loss of friendship leads to a kinship which lead to a romance while Sirius and Remus are okay but they aren't. And Peter well he's shifty ( some days if not most days they all find it liberating to pretend that snape doesn't exist)

And now they all in this campaign to promote unity are in advanced muggle studies class, regulus black is the only slytherin and its painfully obvious on what's to come. And charity Burbage who is this cheery hufflepuff decides to do her video essay on schools but she has this pen pal who is in ilvermony and who's willing to help to show off her school and the people she loves (do you fucking see where I am going with this?????)

And BAM it's this heartfelt Supercut of her favorite places and the people she loves and meets there are snippets of their endearing conversations. And everything is okay until severus snape the boy who left at 15 is smiling at the one recording the video and is sitting casually at a sofa 'hey sev what do you gotta say about Americans' your tea sucks, and to think you would learn from the Boston tea party incident. And the rest of the video shows more people but it's severus who makes the video so much better and so much worse. Because she records his laughter, his joy but it's them who have this weird gut feeling and Lilly cant help but hold James hand tightly and James can't stop staring at the same boy he hurt.

And Lilly comes into this horrible but truthful realization that she's feeling what her ex best friend feels (the disbelief when she can't understand why can't she see him like this, the same way snape felt when he couldn't understand what Lilly saw in James) because there is so much betrayal she feels when he watches him smile at other people and can't understand why couldn't the snape that they are seeing in this video be the one who went at Hogwarts with them??? and James has to see this version of snape he hasn't seen before and thinks maybe they could be friends. And Lilly at that moment doesn't want to answer the question : he's happier because he's away from this place, the same place you love. Would you ask him to leave earlier knowing he could be happy like this?

The video is over and its regulus black who looks so pensive and has this look of hope that maybe goods thing can happen says in a too quite class because everyone knows : I haven't seen him smile like that at all. The bell rings and they just go on and walk a little bit more heavier because all they can think of Severus snape, the boy who escaped and the one who isn't coming back .

🤺🤺🤺🤺

Okay so... this was a completely unsolicited surprise in my inbox the other day, but damn if I didn’t love every single part of it!

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR BOY SAYING FUCK IT AND LEAVING HOGWARTS

For the the other characters it doesn’t change that much, Lily still ends up with James, the Marauders are sad that their favorite target is gone but they get over it quickly, the other Slytherins don’t give a fuck about the poor and dirty halfblood, and the teachers... well, they’re as useless as usual.

But our baby! It’s awful for him at first, the fact that he suddenly finds himself so far away, and so alone, from everything he’d ever known, even the bad. Because at least he knew what to expect at Hogwarts and at home, it was all about the evil you know, and adventure is definitely not his thing.

I’ve always been in love with the “was gone for several years, and came back a changed man” (must be the Naruto fan in me), it’s a bit like anon’s video here, a way to show everyone what they missed, the huge mistake they made in hurting this kid who just wanted to be left alone

I want to see the Marauders praising this dude from America before learning that it’s Snape because he doesn’t look anything like what he used to (meaning he actually looks like a functioning human being).

I want to see Lily, high and mighty with her perfect husband and her son on the way, frown when she recognizes her former best friend laughing and smiling with another girl, looking happier than he’d ever been with her.

I want to see Slughorn in shock when the best potions master of his generation is revealed to be the weird ass teen he’d dismissed on the first day because he didn’t have a powerful family name.

Basically, I want every character who ever underestimated Snape, who ever hurt him, to, if not regret their actions, then at least realize that there was something more to him even back then, that if only he’d been given a chance he could have become that amazing person right here in the UK and not halfway around the world.

Also, I want Snape to not forgive them. Maybe he has to work with them for one reason or another, and he acts just civil enough to not outright provoke and insult them, but he’ll never forgive and he’ll never forget.

[manikas-whims]

Turmeric Milk

A sequel to my other Kanej fic Holi

[Read on AO3]

Ship: Kaz Brekker X Inej Ghafa

Summary:

Modern AU

Kaz had told his neighbour Inej that he'd call up his doctor friend to get his wounds treated but she stills decides to check up on him.

And with a weird drink at that..

Note:

I've decided to turn this Modern AU into a series.

Hope you enjoy this one as well ♥

Kaz rouses from his slumber due to the noise of the cellphone buzzing and sits up, accidentally hurting the wound on his chest. He represses a hiss and looks around, finding himself on his living room’s couch. The wall clock that his eyes land on, make him realize its past seven at night. Great, sleeping at odd hours. Pushing off the duvet, he scrambles to his feet, a jolt of ache shooting through his bad leg. Immediately, he seeks purchase in the arm of the couch, taking deep breaths to help himself endure the ache.

His phone buzzes again and he picks it up in annoyance. ‘W. Van Eck’, the screen reads and Kaz sighs, receiving the call.

“What happened?” He grunts out.

He can hear a loud huff from the other end. “You know Kaz, those shouldn't be your words to initiate a phone conversation.”

He rubs his eyes, trying to bite back the string of colorful words at the tip of his cursed tongue. “What do you want, Wylan?”

There’s a long pause. “Jes and I wanted to check up on you.”

“I’m doing quite alright.” He grits out as calmly as possible.

“Listen Kaz, if you need–”

“I’m not a child Wylan. I can take care of myself.” Kaz reminds him. He likes his crew because they do their jobs perfectly well but thats all he expects of them. His health and personal lifestyle is none of their concern.

“..kay, I understand. Rest well.” Wylan mumbles and disconnects the call.

With that, Kaz tosses his cellphone to the couch and limps towards his bedroom. Its about time he takes a much needed bath and orders his dinner.

By the time he’s done, he changes into another pair of trousers and lets his towel dangle around his neck. There's several drawers in the side rail of his bed. He crouches down to open the middle one and rummages out a first aid kit from within.

Grabbing his cane from the mattress, he walks out to the living room. Immediately his eyes take note of the duvet falling off his couch and the half-filled bottle of brandy but he chooses to ignore them. He’s not in the mood for tidying up. He simply picks up his cellphone and places an order for hutspot from the Kooperom, a diner nearby. It should take around twenty minutes to arrive and as such, he decides to address his injuries.

He sits heavily onto the couch, placing his cane in his lap and pulls out a roll of gauze and a flask of liquid disinfectant. Dousing a cotton pad in the disinfectant, he starts swiping the cut that trails diagonally from the right side of his chest down to his navel, just like he'd done earlier in the morning. That punch to his face had blinded him for a moment and another Razorgull took advantage of that. The teeth of that man’s knife tore so callously through his skin that Kaz winces several times during the whole cleansing. Finally as his hand reaches for the gauze roll, the dinging sound of the doorbell interrupts him.

The food delivery guy can’t make it this quick. A single father and his son run the whole diner by themselves. The thought makes Kaz gaze uncertainly at the door.

The bell rings again and this time Kaz stands up with his cane. He takes slow steps, snaking out a revolver from behind a painting next to the door and then turns the knob.

“Ohh God!” a feminine voice shrieks, making Kaz flinch.

His deep, coffee irises clash with a pair of dark brown ones and he scowls. Its none other than his next-door neighbour— Inej Ghafa. She’s forgone her shimmering traditional garbs and is sporting a set of faded blue silk pajamas. Her long, flowing hair has been pulled together in a single braid. And she has a small jar full of something yellow in her hands.

“The hell!?” He grits out.

She flushes at the sight of his bare torso as she speaks, “I just came by to check up on you.”

Really? Kaz lets out an exasperated sigh and glares at the jar of the unknown yellow. His lips curl in memory of that excessively-sugary Indian sweet that she had shoved in his mouth this morning. He’s not falling for her words again.

Her own eyes follow his and she smiles, lifting the jar higher. “Ah yes! I brought turmeric for you.”

He scrunches his nose in suspicion. “I don’t think I need it.”

She rolls her eyes. “Says the man with a gun.”

Exactly! And she must be scared of this sight. Not strike jokes about it. But he has to admit he’s quite pleased that she’s mentioning the gun instead of commenting on the cane in his other hand. She doesn't even flash a single pitiful glance like the others who come across him do.

“Anyways, may I come in?” She waits patiently.

“For what?” He asks.

“To make you a glass of turmeric milk.” She states, as if its the most normal thing to do for a neighbour.

“Again, I don't need that.” It feels like arguing with a saleswoman.

“But its good for health.” She informs wisely and her eyes stray towards his chest. “And it'll help you heal faster.”

He quirks a brow incredulously. “Fantastic! Just what I needed. Give me the jar and I'll make it myself.”

“Just like you said you'll call you doctor friend?” Her eyes rove pointedly over the injured state of his chest and she shakes her head. “I think I should do this myself.”

Kaz gulps. He knows he will regret this later. Yet something tells him that rejecting her hospitality will only make her more persistent. And its not like his significant belongings just lie around the house. She won’t be able to figure-out anything about him. Yeah but what kind of a sane guy greets a neighbor with a gun? He dismisses the thought instantly. Maybe she’ll just make her energy drink and leave. Maybe she won't consider him a sociopath at all.

“Come in.” He slides the gun in his pocket and opens the door wider.

Inej neatly puts her slippers in the shoe-rack before following Kaz into the living room. While he resumes his task of bandaging his wound, she watches quietly, making him feel self-conscious for the first time since he was fourteen. Now that he isn’t focused on interrogating her, he is unable to be as nonchalant as he had been minutes ago.

“Your job sure keeps you entertained.” She remarks. “I thought your line of work didn’t allow action to this..severity.”

Kaz regards her curiously. He isn’t sure he’s aware of what she’s talking about. Is she a spy from another rising gang? Is she vaguely suggesting she knows about his position in the Dregs? His hands twitch as they tie the gauze.

“You are a Private Investigator, afterall.” She adds.

Oh. Kaz nods in relief. Of course she's talking about his cover job. She probably learnt this as well from the building management.

“Ye-Yeah..things do get messy sometimes.” He confesses imprecisely and starts returning the disinfectant, cotton pads and the remaining gauze into the kit. He needs a shirt. He's never felt so nervous in a woman's presence.

Thankfully, she ends the awkward moment for the both of them. “I..I should start on that milk. If your apartment has the same layout as mine, the kitchen should be the next room from the gallery?”

He nods once and picks up his cane, heading ahead of her in the direction of his bedroom.

Upon his return, and with a shirt on, he notices the absence of his brandy from the table. A package with Kooperom's logo sits in its place. His duvet has been folded neatly, resting on one end of the couch. And his neighbor is standing in the center of the living room, a glass of yellowish, creamy liquid in her hand. He’s assuming its the “turmeric milk”.

“So uh..a delivery man came by just as you left.” She gestures to the package and continues, “I’ve put the turmeric jar on your kitchen counter. Just add a spoonful to your milk daily and you'll be back in shape in no time.”

She strides towards him and pushes the glass into his free hand. “Goodnight, Mr. Brekker.”

And just like that..she’s gone. What’s with her swinging by and departing so abruptly?

Kaz locks the door and sits by his folded duvet. Its interesting how she managed to clean this room within the few minutes he was gone.

He unpacks the food, picks up a fork and takes a bite of the meat from the hutspot. Fulfilling as ever. He takes another bite and looks at the glass in his hand. Reluctantly, he brings it to his lips and takes a sip, bracing himself for another weird experience. To his surprise, it tastes alright. And strangely enough, his muscles do ease a bit. Maybe having neighbors isn't all that bad.

Hutspot: a traditional Dutch dish of potatoes, carrots and onions. Sometimes meat is served as a side dish with it.

Turmeric: a spice regularly used by Indians in their cuisine. Its said to be a natural antiseptic.

Turmeric Milk: drinking milk with turmeric is good for health. even gargling with turmeric water (hot) is good for throat.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading this..:3

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Read more Soc Fanfics, Headcanons & AUs here

(divider by @firefly-graphics)

[sproutsgcrden]

when the seafoam floats | chapter one

the entrance exam

summary: Aizawa Michi isn't sure of a lot of things in her life, but she is sure that Midoriya Izuku is going to be a great hero. Following him from Aldera Middle School to Yuuei High only cements that fact, even if he does have a strange new quirk.

author's note: this is a longtime coming! i've been planning Michi's story for over a year now, and i'm so excited to finally be able to share it! keep in mind that this a retelling of canon with an oc-- some things will be different, some things will be the same. i update every monday on ao3.

masterlist | read on ao3 | next chapter

want to be tagged? send in an ask and let me know!

art done by emmythetaciturn!

father | sent 06:48

good luck. don’t die. i’ll get you a kit-kat later

loudmouth | sent 07:03

HAVE FUN TODAY MIMI! YOU’RE GONNA ROCK THIS 😎😝👏💪🗣

nem | sent 07:06

You’re going to do amazing today, my little mimichan 💕💕

Missed Call | izukun💚 | 07:49

izukun💚 | sent 07:49

Hey! I’m here! Call me when you’re close? 😊

--------

Michi clicked the call back button, bringing the phone up to her ear as the familiar dial tone rang. The black skirt of her middle school uniform swayed gently in the wind as she continued her trek up the path that led to Yuuei High School. Her seafoam green hair, wavy as it was, was pulled back into her usual half-bun. Even if it was completely down, it would barely reach her shoulders. Her narrowed brown eyes began to search for the familiar green hair of her friend among the throng of middle school students in her way.

A click sound through the phone, and through the static and background noise Michi could make out a meek voice. Her lips formed a small grin, and her pace sped up. If she bumped into anyone, well, she could apologize later.

“Hello? Micchan?”

Michi excused herself past a couple who were walking extremely slow for her tastes, and tightened her bag to her shoulder with her free hand. “Hey Izukun! I’m about to pass the gates, so I’ll probably see you within a minute or two. Where are you at?” The golden gates seemed to dazzle in the sun. The young girl had been here many times with her father, but for some reason the entrance seemed especially intimidating today.

“Oh, I’m on the left side of the walkway, right by a pillar…” Michi could hear Izuku’s hesitance through the phone. “Are uh, are you nervous at all?”

“Nervous? Izukun, of course I’m nervous. This is the biggest entrance exam in the entire country. I doubt my quirk will be useful during the physical- but hey, that’s why we trained, yeah? If anyone can pull this off, it’s us!” Just then, Michi passed through the gate. She saw a glimpse of green hair behind one of the pillars, and changed her direction. “Anyways, I’m right behind you.”

A muffled and surprised screech sounded through her phone’s speaker, causing Michi to look up at the source of the noise. Izuku had turned around so quickly that he tripped, but luckily a nearby girl helped him. After hanging up her phone and putting it in her bag, Michi quickly ran towards the duo before her.

“Are you okay?” The cheerful voice of the brunette standing in front of Izuku carried through the open air. “Sorry for using my quirk on you without asking first! I know that some people may not like that, but I figured it would be better than falling!” The girl helped Izuku stand straight and released her quirk just as Michi caught up to them.

Leaning over, Michi gave Izuku a once over, just to make sure he didn’t actually hit anything before he was caught. When she didn’t see anything wrong, she nodded and turned to the brunette standing beside her. “Thanks for catching him. He can be a little clumsy- nerves aren’t really helping today.”

“Oh, it’s no problem! This whole thing is way nerve-wracking!” The two turned to Izuku, who was too busy staring off into space to be aware of anything around them. “Anyways- my name is Uraraka Ochako! Good luck in the exam!”

Michi bowed respectfully..“Aizawa Michi. And this is Midoriya Izuku. Good luck to you as well.” Uraraka nodded, and walked into the building, brown hair bouncing gracefully. Michi watched her walk inside before she turned her attention to her friend, who was muttering too quietly for her to catch on to what he was saying.

With a huff of amusement, she slapped his shoulder and began to guide him into the building. “Izukun, I know you don’t have much experience with girls, but you could at least try to introduce yourself to the one who saved you from eating the sidewalk.” Michi laughed as Izuku’s face went from shocked to embarrassed.

“Oh gosh, you’re right. I was too busy trying to figure out her quirk to even say anything! Do you think she noticed?” Their shoes scruffed against the paved stairs as they continued their walk, eventually reaching the door and going inside. “I mean, what do you think it was? I think it could be some sort of gravity manipulation based on how I floated- that’s perfect for rescue work! She would be an amazing hero, I really hope she makes it in- is that- Thirteen?!”

Thirteen was stationed at a long table at the end of the entrance hall, clearly meant to be a check-in. They pointed directions for the potential students in front of Izuku and Michi as they handed out pamphlets. Izuku began to shake, from nerves or excitement Michi couldn’t tell. She assumed a mixture of both. It wasn’t everyday you got to meet such influential heroes in person- at least for the normal civilian.

As the duo eventually made their way to the front of the line, Thirteen greeted them enthusiastically. “Welcome to Yuuei, Hero Hopefuls! Can you please give me your school I.D.s so we can get you checked in and ready to go?” Michi and Izuku, of course, already had their identification available. Thirteen quickly took them, and checked the two of them into the system. After handing a freshly printed packet to each of them, along with their I.D.s, Thirteen pointed them down the hall.

“Those packets include the booklets you will use in the written exam, along with information regarding the physical you’ll take after. Your proctor will explain everything in more detail once they’re ready to start the exam. Aizawa-san, you’ll be in room 1-E, right down the hall after taking the first left. Midoriya-san, you’ll be in room 1-G, just a few doors further down. Good luck to the both of you!”

Michi led the way to their respective rooms, clearly having some knowledge on where to go. Izuku followed her lead, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “Uh, Micchan?” The girl in question absentmindedly nodded her head, gesturing for Izuku to continue his question. “Well, I was just thinking, isn’t it a bit strange that we haven’t seen Kacchan yet?”

“Why would you want him to see you today of all days?”

“I don’t! I just-” Izuku sighed, causing Michi to pause and pull him to the side of the hall. “If he does see me, I’d rather it be before everything starts? At least it wouldn’t be so embarrassing if he yelled at me in an empty hallway versus a classroom.”

Michi nodded in understanding, waiting a moment before speaking. “I don’t think he’d go too overboard today, Izuku. At least, not on campus? Yuuei is very strict in their policies, so he’d likely be barred from taking the exam if he started screaming at you for nothing.” She gave him a reassuring grin. “And if he did, I’d punch him in the face. Again.”

“Micchan! You can’t just talk about how you punched Kacchan!”

“Why not? The asshole deserved it for what he said. And you know it.”

“I mean, maybe he did. But I’m sure you’ll be barred from taking the exam for talking about how you assaulted another student so openly!”

“Yeah... But I could still make it into general studies, probably. Besides, my old man already knows I cracked open Bakugou’s nose.”

“Micchan!” Izuku’s eyes were wide, but he couldn’t mask the giggles leaving his mouth quite fast enough. Michi smiled in response- a large, open-mouthed smile that rarely came from the normally stoic girl. Once Izuku calmed down, he began to talk once more. “Oh yeah. I forgot you mentioned your dad taught here. I’m still upset you won’t tell me which hero he is.”

Michi huffed, a small ounce of suppressed laughter. “Dad doesn’t like me sharing his hero identity, Izukun. But, to give you a clue…”

Izuku leaned in closely, ready to hear whatever could possibly clue him in on the mysterious hero.

“You have a few pages dedicated to him in one of your notebooks! I think number eleven?”

Green eyes widened comically as Izuku took in the implications of his friend’s words. “You mean I already wrote about your dad and you won’t tell me which hero he is?!”

“I thought it was funny.” Michi shrugged with a small grin. “Plus, like I said, dad doesn’t like people knowing his hero identity.”

“I still- I wrote about your dad and you never said anything!”

“I would’ve corrected you on your analysis had you been wrong, but you actually broke down his abilities quite well! I wanted to take a picture and show it to him, but that would’ve been too on the nose.”

Michi slapped her shell-shocked friend on the shoulder, trying to snap him out of his stupor. “We have a test to take, remember? Let’s focus on that!”

Izuku, getting over his shock and embarrassment, shook his head clear of his thoughts and nodded towards his friend. Michi walked a little further with him to make sure that he made it to the correct room before hurrying to her own. It was time for the exam to get started.

--------

Michi groaned as she tightened the seafoam-colored half bun sitting on top of her head, turning her back quickly to pop it as she made her way towards the large auditorium Snipe had pointed her group in. The written test hadn’t been as difficult as she thought it could’ve been. Thanks to the endless nights she and Izuku spent studying every subject they could get their grubby little hands on, she didn’t have nearly the amount of trouble she expected to have on the math section. It really wasn’t one of her strong suits. Quirk Science and Quirks Laws, however, were a speciality of hers. Her father debated the laws with his coworkers frequently enough for her to pick up on, and Quirk Science definitely helped explain her own quirks’ functions. Sparing a quick glance down to her pamphlet, Michi took the stairs near the entrance to find her seat.

The row her seat was in wasn’t hard to find, but Michi did a double take once she found it. With narrowed eyes, she slammed her bag on the table with a bit more force than necessary. Of course they would sit her near him. She only hoped that Izuku got placed on her side instead of the empty seat on his side.

“Real mature, guard dog.” the grating voice of Bakugou Katsuki sounded from her right. She barely spared him a look of contempt before setting her gaze on the stage below. His ashen blond hair was as explosive as ever, red eyes set in the permanent glare she was used to seeing from him. The sight of his crooked nose was enough to almost make her lose her cool, letting out a short cackle.

“Yeah, as if you know anything about maturity. Want a reminder of how your nose got permanently tilted to the side?”

Bakugou snarled, turning away from Michi to face the stage once more.

It was the first day of their third year, and of course Izuku was the first one assigned to classroom cleanup. Michi offered to stay behind with him, but she ran to the restroom right after class was dismissed. She knew she should’ve waited until Bakugou and his cronies left for the day, a fact she cursed herself for months after the event.

Her shoes tapped against the linoleum floor as she hurried back to their class, knowing the sooner they got the cleaning done, the sooner they could go get some katsudon and celebrate their first day being over. She didn’t expect her vision to turn red in rage the moment she entered the room.

“If you really want to be a hero so bad- maybe you should take a swan dawn off the roof of the building and pray for a quirk in the next life!”

Fingers and the chain smoker had already turned towards the door, eyes widened in fear. Not knowing of the danger that awaited him, Bakugou turned towards the exit with a smug smirk. And that’s when he was met with a sharp crack against his nose. Blood leaked through the torn skin on the bridge, as well as one of his nostrils. He spluttered, hand moving up to catch the blood and cover his nose as his shocked eyes met Michi’s glowing red ones. Her seafoam hair, normally tied back in a half bun, floated towards the ceiling.

“If you ever say anything like that again, I won’t stop at your nose.”

The feeling of someone tapping her left shoulder brought her out of the flashback, and she turned to see Izuku smiling down at her. He set his bag down beside his chair softly, scooting his chair closer to hers as he sat down. His documents were placed on the table in a neat stack. He was about to say something to the girl beside him, when he seemed to realize that Bakugou was only two seats over. Michi knew he’d probably start freaking out, so she turned to face him completely, blocking out his view of Bakugou.

“How do you think you did on the written portion, Izukun?” The lights dimmed before going back to their original brightness, signalling that the presentation was about to begin.

The young boy fiddled with his papers, shaking his head slightly. “I think I did okay? There were a few questions on the beginnings of quirks that I had a bit of trouble with, but other than that it seemed easier than expected?”

“Yeah. Good thing we studied for the math section. I totally would’ve failed if we hadn’t gone over a majority of it.” Michi flicked her eyes towards the stage once more, seeing the silhouette of a man with very large hair walk up to the podium.

Izuku, Michi, and the rest of the participants crowded into the room focused their attention to the newcomer as the lights dimmed. His bright yellow hair, gelled up to the high heavens, was only accented by the artificial lights beaming down on him. Headphones covered his ears, and the collar of his leather jacket did little to hide the speaker connected around the man’s neck. Michi chuckled as she heard her green-haired friend let out a squeak in surprise.

“YOOOOO YUUEI HOPEFULS! HOW ARE WE FEELING TODAY?” The man certainly didn’t need the mic connected to the podium as his voice echoed clearly throughout the entire auditorium.

“That’s Present Mic! His quirk control is absolutely incredible- his rescue stats as well! I listen to his radio show every morning! I can’t believe he’s a teacher here! It’s totally crazy that all the teachers here are pros- guess that’s Yuuei for you!” Izuku was nearly bouncing in his seat, gushing over the Voice Hero with the quietest voice he could possibly muster.

“Will you stop nerding out, freak?”

Michi glared at Bakugou. “You really want me to mess up your nose again, sweaty hands?”

“Micchan! Kacchan!”

The two stopped glaring at each other and turned forwards again, paying attention to Present Mic, much to Izuku’s relief.

“WELCOME TO TODAY’S LIVE SHOW! EVERYBODY SAY HEY!”

If Michi had been paying attention to detail, she would’ve realized that no one in their position would ever reply. Tension and nerves were extremely palpable in the air; everyone was too scared to even say anything at this point in the exam. All except Michi- who was used to the loud, booming calls made by her father’s best friend. So when she replied with a decent-volume, she lifted her head, surprised to see over a thousand faces staring back at her.

Blood immediately rushed to her cheeks as she realized that she was the only one in the entire room to reply to the loudmouthed hero. She felt Izuku’s concerned gaze as she tried to block out the obnoxious sound of Bakugou trying (and failing) to hold in laughter.

“THANK YOU EXAMINEE 8978!” If Michi were any closer, she would be able to see the wink he sent her way, but from the distance she was at, she could barely see his exaggerated movements. “I’M HERE TO PRESENT THE GUIDELINES OF YOUR PRACTICAL! ARE YOU READY?!”

The large screen behind Present Mic lit up, showcasing a map of the ten different battle centers. “THIS IS HOW THE TEST IS GONNA GO, LISTENERS! YOU’LL BE EXPERIENCING TEN MINUTE LONG ‘MOCK CITYSCAPE MANEUVERS’! BRING ALONG WHATEVER YOU WANT! YOU’LL HEAD TO YOUR ASSIGNED LOCATION AFTER THIS PRESENTATION, YA DIG?”

Bakugou shuffled beside Michi, taking a quick glance at the paperwork laid out in front of each of them. “That’s so kids from the same middle school can’t help each other out, yeah?”

“Yeah. It makes sense, too. Especially considering that each consecutive I.D. number is assigned to a different location!”

“Get your eyes off of my paper, nerd!” Izuku shuddered as Bakugou whisper-screamed at him. The ashen blond grunted as he looked away. “I’ll crush all these losers. Fortunately for you, you’ll get to live another day.”

Michi felt a sinister grin form on her face as she spoke through clenched teeth. “Broken. Nose.”

They grew silent once more as Present Mic continued to speak.

“Each site is filled with three kinds of faux villains! Points are awarded for defeating each according to their respective difficulty levels!!! Use your quirks to disable these villains, and earn your points! That’s your goal, listeners!!” There was a short pause before the hero continued. “Of course, playing the antihero and attacking other examinees is prohibited!”

Michi elbowed Bakugou at the reminder, making him scowl at her.

“Excuse me! May I ask a question!”A voice sounded from below, nearly right in front of the stage. A figure was lit up by a stage light: a tall student with dark blue hair and glasses. He didn’t pause to let the hero reply before he continued on with his question. “There appear to be no fewer than four varieties of faux villains on this handout! Such a blatant error, if it is one, is highly unbecoming for Yuuei! Japan’s top academy! We’re all here today in the hopes of being molded into model heroes!”

“And you! With the curly hair!” His finger pointed towards Izuku, making the green haired boy cower behind Michi. “You’ve been muttering this whole time! It’s distracting!! If this is some sort of game to you, then please leave immediately!”

Izuku let out an embarrassed “Sorry,” in reply, making Michi glare down at the kid who singled her friend out. If it wasn’t going to create even more of a scene and cause Izuku to become even more of a nervous wreck, she’d totally give this guy a piece of her mind. Just who did he think he was?!

“Alright! Examinee 7111! Great catch, thank you!” Present Mic increased his volume, trying to lead the attention back to himself. “But the fourth villain variety gets you zero points! He’s more of an obstacle! There’s only one at each site! A gimmick of sorts that’ll rampage around in close quarters.”

“Thank you, sir! I apologize for the interruption!”

The presenting hero nodded, gesturing to the entire room with his hands. “That’s all from me, folks!” He went on to describe a quote from Napoleon, of all people. Michi knew this was the school of schools, but she also knew Mic was being forced to spew the random educational fact to them all. “PLUS ULTRA!!! Break a leg, listeners!”

With that, the main lights turned back on and the other potential students began to shuffle their way to their respective buses. The small shuttles would take them to and from campus to their testing sites. Bakugou, bag already slung across his shoulder and papers in his grasp, sped past Izuku and Michi as soon as the lights turned back on. The two shrugged as they gathered their things and made their way down and out to the buses.

-------

The shuttles, while as large as they could be, were still completely cramped. Michi found herself wishing that the battle centers were closer so that they could just walk to where they needed to be. She wasn’t much of a people person in the first place, even more-so when she was surrounded by random people with no room to herself. Luckily, she was able to grab a window seat near the back. The kid that sat immediately next to her didn’t seem too awful, either.

“Hey! Name’s Sero Hanta!” His deep black hair reached just above his shoulders, and his smile was so obviously genuine. Michi nodded, eyes flickering down to the round shape of his elbows before meeting his own. “This is totally crazy, right?”

“Aizawa Michi.” She sat up a bit straighter to provide more room for the both of them as she nodded. “Tell me about it. Didn’t know we were fighting robots… I’m going to have to be creative.”

Sero lifted his arms to give her a better view of his elbows. “I get ya! My quirk’s called Tape! I produce organic tape from my elbows.” He dropped his arms once she had gotten a good look. “What’s yours?”

“It’s called Erasure.” Michi held up her hands for Sero to see. “If I touch someone with all five fingers, I can erase their quirk. Or, I make them unable to use it? It’s not very effective on those with mutations, however.”

“Oh no shit?” Sero turned to face Michi fully, lifting his elbow to her still raised hand. “Try it on me! I wanna see what happens with my quirk!”

The young girl nodded, and placed her entire hand on the boy’s elbows. Michi felt her hair begin to float upwards, and she could tell by the look on Sero’s face that her normally brown eyes had begun to glow red. “You can move your elbow. I can still have my quirk activated if I let go.”

Sero tilted his arm away from her, moving it back and forth with furrowed brows. He shook his arm a few times, in an attempt to try to use his quirk. “It’s so weird. I know my quirk’s still here, it just feels like I forgot how to use it.” He knocked his knuckles against his elbow. “Yeah, I can’t get anything to come out.”

Michi nodded and deactivated her quirk; the feeling of her hair floating back down to normal tickled the back of her neck. In an instant, tape shot out of Sero’s elbows in a similar fashion to a grenade getting launched. He quickly grabbed the end before it could get far, and retracted it. She sheepishly scratched the back of her neck, turning her gaze to the floor.

“Sorry. I should’ve warned you before I let it go.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it!!” The shuttle came to a stop in front of their battle center, and the two of them stood as they waited their turn to make their way to the gate. “That’s a pretty great quirk though. It sucks that you don’t have a way to use it against the robots.”

Michi shrugged, following Sero as he began to walk through the aisle. “I have a few ideas of what I can do. Either way, if I don’t manage to bag enough villain points, I’m confident I’ll make it into general education. I can just fight my way into the hero course from there.”

The duo had made their way to the gate by the time Michi finished her short speech, and started to stretch while they waited for the countdown to begin. It wasn’t a long wait before a loud buzzer sounded through the area, and as soon as the gates opened up, Michi sprinted her way through it. She barely acknowledged Present Mic’s voice as she surpassed those in her group, heading straight for the nearest one-pointer.

The one-pointers were the smallest of the bunch, and therefore the easiest ones to test her theory on. Logically, these robots had to have a manual shut-off. Michi had no doubt that the exam proctors were controlling these things from a central room somewhere on campus, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t other ways to make sure they were running properly.

Thanking her dad for the parkour lessons, Michi narrowly dodged the robot’s fist before hopping onto it. Using its arm as a leverage point, she swung herself towards its neck. It didn’t take long for her to maneuver herself so she was able to look down at its back. Taking a moment to look around, her eyes lit up as soon as she glanced at a small switch between the neck piece and the back of the robot. Dodging another hit from the bot, she swung herself around once more. Hanging one arm around its neck from the back, Michi was able to stick her hand down far enough to toggle the switch. She heard a small click and immediately did a backflip off the bot and ran to find a new enemy to take on.

The other examinees were beginning to catch up to her, but she did her best to ignore them and keep to the plan she had. Now that she knew for sure that the robots had a toggle for power, Michi felt much more comfortable going after the two and three pointers. She would just have to make sure to dodge their attacks as well as she could. Without any quirk enhancements, taking a hit from one of the bigger bots was sure to at least crack a rib or two.

As Michi kicked off the two-pointer she just eliminated to land on the arm of a nearby three-pointer, she found herself regretful that she hadn’t practiced more with a capture weapon. Her father’s capture scarf, while useful, was extraordinarily complicated to learn how to handle. Even after practicing with a smaller version for about two years now, she still didn’t feel confident in handling it. At least, not confident enough to take it along for the most important exam she would probably ever take.

The three-pointer shut down with a flick of a button, and Michi jumped down to the ground as it collapsed in on itself. The ten-minutes they were allowed were quickly running out, and the examinees had fully taken advantage of every second. The young girl ran down the back alleyways of the mock city in hopes of finding a straggler or two, but it seemed to be in vain. She was sure that there were probably some more targets near the open streets, but quite frankly it was a bloodbath between the others and she really didn’t want any part of it.

Just as she was about to enter another alley, the ground began to rumble. Something big was approaching, and approaching fast. Looking out onto the main road, she spotted the biggest robot she had ever seen in her life. It easily doubled the largest buildings in the area, and the insane amount of weapons situated on its arms made it a terrifying sight to behold. That’s the zero-pointer?

Michi stared at the giant, watching it move closer and closer as other examinees rushed past her to get to safety. No wonder Present Mic said to avoid that thing! There’s no stopping it unless you want to break yourself! Michi set her foot back, hesitantly getting ready to make an escape, before she heard a terrified scream break out in front of her. A kid with strange looking balls on top of his head was cowered underneath a few pieces of rubble. It didn’t seem to be crushing him, but Michi knew sooner or later that the zero-pointer would.

With a sigh, Michi forced herself forward, running towards the other examinee as fast as she could. She came to a stop right beside the boy, eyes flickering between him and the zero-pointer. As she took a closer look, she noticed that similar balls to what he had as hair were wedged in between the wall and the pieces of rubble about to fall on him. She also noticed that his pant leg was caught in between the street and the piece of rubble as well.

“Hey!” The kid met her calm gaze with watery eyes and snot dripping down his nose. She tried not to grimace at the sight. “Those ball things are your quirk, right? Can you get them to unstick? I’d reach around to rip off the part of your pants that are stuck but I can’t reach and we really don’t have the time to mess around here.”

“I- I can’t!!” The kid was pretty much inconsolable. “I made sure they’d be super sticky for the exam today!”

Michi gritted her teeth, looking around for something she could use to help push the heavy rubble away, at least to the point where he was able to get his pant leg out of there. A metal pipe glinted in the alleyway she came from, and she made sure to tell the crying boy that she’d be back soon. Pushing herself up once more, Michi sprinted to the alleyway and bent down to pick up the pipe. A ripping sound came from above her, and she looked up to see Sero grinning down at her with a sweaty face.

“Need help?” Sero dropped down from the roof to stand beside Michi as she stood to face him, gripping the pipe tight between her hands.

“Actually, yeah.” She gestured for him to follow her as she turned to run back to the boy in trouble. “We need to move this rubble so he can move but his quirk got caught up in the mess. So we need to separate this main piece from those balls attached to the wall.”

Sero nodded, taking a furtive glance to the approaching zero-pointer which was only getting closer. Tape from both of his elbows shot out, attaching to the flat side of the rubble. “I’ll pull; you can stick that pipe up at the top and push it my way.”

Michi did as he said, jamming the pipe as far as she could between the wall and the debris. As soon as Sero called out, Michi began to push the pipe. The young girl relied more on her speed than her strength, so she wasn’t very used to dealing with this much weight. Sweat dripped down her face as she pushed harder, finally beginning to see the rubble move in the direction they wanted it to. After a minute or so of this, she felt the trapped boy grab onto her leg and pull himself out of the hole he had essentially dug for himself. Once he was a safe distance away, Sero and Michi both stopped their efforts.

The duo sent small smiles to one another, grateful that they were able to help. Unfortunately, that feeling didn’t last that long. Michi, about to ask the other boy if he was okay, suddenly froze as she felt a hand travel up her thigh.

“Oi, what the fuck!” She kicked the boy away from her, which wasn’t hard to do as he was still gripping onto her leg. Sero, who saw what had just occurred, came to stand by Michi’s side. Their glares combined sent the kid into another crying fit.

“I just wanted to say thank you!”

“Yeah, that came across real well when you tried to cop a feel.”

The boy, mouth open and ready to respond with some pathetic excuse, suddenly stopped as a loud sonic boom echoed around them. Almost immediately after, Present Mic’s obnoxious yelling sounded through the area.

“TIME’S UP, LISTENERS! PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE FRONT GATES!”

--------

The shuttles had taken them back to the main campus rather quickly. Those who had minor injuries were informed to wait for Recovery Girl to come back- apparently somebody had majorly hurt themselves in one of the other battle centers. Michi suspected it had to do with whatever caused that explosion at the very end of the test.

Michi walked through the crowded group of waiting students, searching for a glimpse of familiar green hair. Her brows furrowed as she saw no sight of him, and she pulled out her phone to see if he had texted her. The lock screen lit up, showing a photo of herself and Izuku on their first day of their third year. She was barely smiling, and he was red-faced and sweating buckets. The picture always did make her grin, but when she saw that there weren’t any notifications, she pulled up her messaging app. She was in the midst of typing up something to send to Izukun when she felt a hand land on her shoulder.

“Examinee 8978!” Present Mic stood beside her, shooting her a wink through his orange-tinted glasses. “Someone’s looking for you. Lemme take you to them, ya dig?!”

Michi nodded, following the tall hero as he led the way towards the less crowded hallway. As soon as they were out of earshot from most of the other examinees, Present Mic grinned down at her.

“What?”

“Nothin’. I’m just so proud of you! Saving people already!” The hero wiped a fake tear from under his eye, cackling when Michi groaned. They made another turn, and Michi grew more concerned when she realized they were heading in the direction of Recovery Girl’s office.

The young girl adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “It would’ve been better had that loser not tried to grab my ass.”

“And Mineta Minorou will face consequences for those actions. If I have anything to say about it, he won’t step foot in the school again.” A deep, exhausted voice sounded from in front of them as Eraserhead turned the corner they were approaching. His eyebags were very pronounced today, only seeming more prominent from the shadows his long, unkempt hair cast upon his face.

As Michi and Present Mic walked closer, he stopped them to hand Michi a kit-kat bar and pat her head. “Good job, kid.” All Michi did was nod her head, trying to hide her forming grin.

Of course, the moment was ruined once Mic opened his mouth. “Why can’t you two act like a normal father and daughter for once?! Give her a hug, cry! Show some emotion!”

Both Aizawas felt their eyes twitch, turning towards Mic with matching glares.

“Okay, okay!” Mic began waving his hands and backing up. “I’ll shut up! I gotta go check on the other listeners anyways since this case may take Chiyo a while!” With that, Mic sped away back towards the lobby where a majority of students were still waiting, leaving Michi and Eraserhead alone before the nurse’s office.

Michi blinked, turning to her dad in hopes of hearing an explanation. He sighed, eyes closing as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Your friend. I thought he was quirkless.”

“He is, though?” Michi crinkled her nose in confusion, “He has the extra toe joint and the special shoes and everything.”

“Then how did he level an entire zero-pointer with one punch?”

“What did you say?!”

All her father did was sigh again, and open the door to Recovery Girl’s office. Immediately, Michi rushed in, ignoring the elder woman’s protests. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw Izuku laying on the stretcher with a nervous smile.

“H-Hey, Micchan! How did your test go?”

She was going to kill him.

[flowerbloom-arts]

A 2434 word long fic about Fuddler talking to a maybe not actually real version of his father after trying to escape from a recent event in his life and failing. Now I would've written a 50s sitcom episode of Fuddler's family that would've lead up to this point if I had the motivation, but I didn't, so here you go. I hope you enjoy this!

---

The set of the show had become undone and the fourth wall was nothing but a non-existent window into the stage, the Muddler, tear stained and tired of his child's shenanigans, went up from the table he was crying at and walked to the empty director's chair with 'The Fuddler' embroidered on the back and sat on it. The Muddler grabbed the megaphone that sat on one of the armrests and spoke into it in a very clearly annoyed tone of voice: 'Cut. Take 2. Excuse me! That wasn't a bad first take but all of you really fell apart at scene 15.'

But the rest of the cast had been frozen in place, basically mannequins, all except Fuddler, who was in fact the mastermind behind this mess. The small and fuddly creature looked around in a slight bit of confusion and decided to walk up to his father on his director's chair, it did have his name on it afterall. 'Excuse me, aren't I supposed to be sitting there?' he asked rather sheepishly, there was a thought in the back of his head that knows exactly why but he's too afraid to make that thought even slightly tangible.

'Well, yes,' answered the Muddler matter-of-factly 'but due to poor management someone else had to take over.' he added, he spun the megaphone around and inspecting it in a rather disinterested manner. If it's anyone, it really didn't seem to be the father that Fuddler knew, even if he was stained with dark brown tears on his face and wore ragged feminine attire indicative of a mental breakdown, which was a sight that would only be familiar as the Muddler.

'Maybe. Though we should probably take a break, that breakdown didn't look all that... The breakdown seemed very exhausting to act out,' Said the Fuddler, trying to avoid going over this episode another time.

'Sure,' Muddler said, he didn't even care to glance at his child, he put down the megaphone on the floor and rested his face on his paw resting on the armrest, looking off to the black void beyond the set or nearby part of the studio.

Fuddler sighed with relief and a tinge of discomfort, he decided it was best to sit down next to his father and look back at the scene that was frozen in time. It was not even the slightest bit amusing to say the least, it's just everyone looking concerned over Muddler having a breakdown but Muddler isn't even there, you could see the Fuzzy, Fuddler's mother, placing a hand on what was Muddler's back, great uncle Hodgkins and Sniff are looking on confused and concerned, and Moomintroll had just walked in with not even the slightest idea of what's going on. The Fuddler stared at it for a few moments before saying what was on his mind while the scene was happening 'That... That breakdown... It wasn't in the script.'

'What script?' Muddler asked as if Fuddler was too dumb to even remember he didn't even make one. Of course there wasn't any script to speak of.

'I- I dunno!' Fuddler blurted out with the realization 'You guys were basically reading my mind anyway! I thought that was something like reading a script-!'

'Were we reading your mind or were you controlling us?' Muddler asked, almost cutting him off.

Fuddler was a bit surprised at the sudden interruption, it's really unlike his father to act anything close to this, is this even his father? Fuddler started to actually question everything about this, as if it wasn't a very obvious thing he should've questioned at the start. He looked down and curled up into a more fetus-like sitting position, kind of avoiding answering the question.

'Now tell me, child, why this?' Muddler gestures vaguely toward the set.

'What do you mean?' Fuddler looked up at Muddler and asked innocently.

'Why the television show?' he clarified, he lowered his resting paw and finally looked at Fuddler for once, though he did look very... unpleasant.

Fuddler felt very uncomfortable at the question and simply answered with an 'I dunno...' like a small child, he certainly looked and acted like one either way despite being an adult.

Muddler sighed disappointedly and went back to staring at the set 'Is this really how you're gonna deal with what happened? What even did happen, anyway?' he asked, even he was unsure of the origins of this.

'I... I actually don't remember... Excuse me, sorry, oh dear... What was I thinking?' Fuddler asked, he was mostly asking himself that.

'That's right, what were you thinking?' Muddler repeated Fuddler with annoyance 'Did you really think you could reduce your own family into cheap tropes and live like that?'

'I wasn't trying to do that!' Fuddler cried 'I just thought...! I thought if I could live just one happy day after 10 years of nonstop misery-!'

'And you did that by retreating into some ideal version of reality the city gave you through a light box?'

'Yes!' Fuddler blurted out, he realised what he said outloud and slowly went back into a balled up position on the floor 'Just... Atleast those people on TV seemed happier... Happier than we ever could've been when we moved to the city,' Fuddler argued with a quieter but ultimately defeated tone, this wasn't how things were supposed to go in his mind.

'Is that why you wanted to move away so badly?' Muddler asked in a more sincere and worried tone of voice, much more like his regular self and what Fuddler would be used to.

'Maybe,' Fuddler answered simply 'Or I guess there were other things too...' he added.

'Oh I could definitely list them off for you,' Muddler suddenly went back to a menacing tone.

Fuddler suddenly felt a great shock to his system and did not want anything Muddler could be implying 'Please don't-'

'Well first of all,' Muddler didn't let his child finish and he didn't seem to care in the slightest 'you didn't like other creatures shoehorning you into their ideas of what you should be, you didn't like the boring concrete buildings, you hated the constant noisiness of that wretched city, you couldn't bare the constant mockery from your own peers, they kept thinking you were a twelve year old - which you never grew out of being one after all these years by the way - and kept thinking you were lying when you said you weren't, you didn't like the lack of frogs or swamps or free things to collect off the street, you were being discriminated against for being a clumsy little mut, and most of all-'

'Please stop!' Fuddler cried.

'MOST OF ALL,' Muddler repeated louder to talk over Fuddler 'You hated me. Your own father. Simply because he couldn't land a simple job and was too feminine for anyone's liking!'

'NO!' Fuddler jumped up and tried to hold onto his dad's arm, but Muddler quickly got it away from him.

'YES! You kept having the same negative comments and jokes repeated to you over and over and you thought they were making fun of you by association! You don't want anything to do with the way I am and yet you keep chugging along the same way I did!' Muddler cried 'You were happy enough to tell my dear old friend mr. Moomin that people said you took after me and leave it at that! What if he asked you even further? Would you have talked about me in a good way!?'

'STOP! PLEASE!' Fuddler was almost in tears at this.

'Oh I see how it is! Just admit it! You hate me! Why else would you shove me in as the comic relief? Why else would I break out of character if you didn't know it'd be completely out of line for who I actually am!? I am anything BUT happy and you know this! No matter how hard you try I will cry eventually because I'm that dumb and sensitive about everything! The only things that you got right about me is that I'm clumsy and that I love you!' Muddler started tearing up through all the yelling 'You know deep down I love you... It's not your fault... right?'

Fuddler wanted to cover his face in his saucepan but unfortunately he was in his sitcom costume which lacked it completely, all he could really do was bury his face in his paws and try not to cry, muddler tears are much like that of a dog's, mixed in with blood waste and it stains your face, you'd need some cloth and water to clean it. Very inconvenient for a man, they aren't supposed to cry, and the stains make it very obvious you did.

'Fuddler... Did you really think this was going to solve anything?' Muddler got up from the director's chair to kneel down and lowered Fuddler's paws away from his face, Muddler's face was... trying to be comforting but that got ruined by the tear stains, which was being added onto by him crying at this very moment, he looked down at Fuddler's paws, looked back up at his face and added '... At all?'

Fuddler didn't make an attempt to make eye contact with his father, those strange 'u' shaped pupils were familiar but the idea of them not being normal at all still brought him some form of discomfort '... I just... Excuse me. I just thought that maybe... If I could feel better, somehow, maybe the problem would be less of a problem...'

'Fuddler, you don't even remember what the problem was,' Muddler said, he held his child's chin up to make him look at him directly 'You know this.'

'I know...' Fuddler admitted 'I think the cause is starting to come back to me... I think... It's still a little foggy...'

Muddler sighed 'How many times have you done something like this?'

'I...' Fuddler started thinking 'I don't know... I never bothered counting.'

'So this clearly isn't the first time.'

'It definitely doesn't feel like the first time... say for the addition of a few cast members,' Fuddler added the last part as a sly attempt at humor, he was referring to Moomintroll, Jumble and Sniff.

'Of course,' Muddler said with a touch of melancholy and sat on the floor beside Fuddler, Fuddler followed suit 'Do you think this is normal?'

'Dad, I moved to Moominvalley to get away from 'normal'!'

'You moved to Moominvalley to feel normal, there's a difference. And that's an important difference to realise,' said the Muddler, the black and white studio faded into a sepia tone as it seemed to transition into a lake sort of scene, almost unnoticeably to the Fuddler.

'Why's that?' Fuddler asked.

Muddler picked up a flower that happened to be next him, well- not actually, a sort of ethereal copy of the flower formed which left the real one untouched, Muddler looked thoughtfully at the flower in his hands 'If you know the difference, then maybe you can appreciate the specific thing that makes this place feel like you feel normal.'

Fuddler stared at the flower and glanced up at his father '... You're not really my dad, are you?'

'You think that now?' Muddler questioned with an amused undertone.

Fuddler felt almost silly about it, of course this Muddler isn't real, why would he think otherwise? 'I dunno... I guess I got cought up in the all the acting that... I forgot I'm just talking to myself...'

'Does it really matter, though?' Muddler raised an eyebrow with a slight smile on his face 'Atleast you got it out of your system, you twelve year old.'

'Don't call me a twelve year old!' Fuddler cried in defense.

'Then why do you act like one?'

'How can I not act like one if I look like one?' he said, slightly furious at the subject being brought up.

'People can turn invisible if they're abused enough, maybe this is something similar?' Muddler suggested.

'Tsch, magic, sure.' Fuddler waved off dismissively.

'You stayed as the same Fuddler that you were when we lost Sniff, excuse me but you really don't think there's something connected here?' Muddler asked rather rhetorically 'You graduated college with a degree in biology and live by yourself in the coffee tin you inherited from me and yet you still chase after a woman like you have a preteen crush on her with absolutely no clue as to how to talk to a girl.'

Fuddler cringed at the memory of his attempted courtship of the Mymble and recoiled back into a ball position.

'But atleast it seems like you learned from it, just... Don't let things paint your views so easily, sir,' Muddler placed the flower on Fuddler's head.

'Don't use 'sir' on me...' Fuddler muttered quietly.

'Well, what do you want me to refer to you as? Ma'am?'

'That's even worse!' Fuddler shut down the idea almost immediately, he grabbed the flower from his head and looked at it 'Neither of them feel all that right...'

'Right,' Muddler said 'It's fine if you don't want to be referred to as either of those.'

'It's not just that... I don't really feel like a... A man. Atleast not how the world seems to think of one.'

'You're a button collector, Fuddler. Maybe you should start calling yourself that instead.'

'You can do that?' Fuddler seems to be almost bewildered but not totally against the idea.

'Fuddler, I'm a half woman who calls itself a man, anyone can be anything, especially in places like this valley. You don't have to define yourself by those standards anymore.' Muddler explained.

Fuddler stared at his father with a thoughtful expression on his face 'Like I don't have to define my family by any of those standards...' he looks back down at the flower in his paw.

'That's the spirit!' Muddler punches his child lightly on the shoulder 'And whatever the problem was... I hope you can fix it, it's not easy but... It'll be better for the long run.'

'Right...' Fuddler flicked the flower into the lake, it simply dissolves in mid-air rather than land into the water or anything 'I'm sorry about... Everything. I'm still very, very dumb.'

The Muddler laughed ever so slightly 'You'll get it in time, I promise.'

'... Maybe.' Fuddler said rather hopefully. The Muddler seemed to dissolve away like the flower did and the world faded into full color. It looks like that episode was a wrap, one might say. Now it's time to figure out why it had to be made.

[fandomqueen44]

9 months to hell and back: A Tim x Female Dallas Story

So this is an idea that wouldn't leave my head and has even haunted my dreams.

Point out any mistakes in comments and I'll fix lol

Warnings: Mild Violence and Pregnancy. Probably misspellings.

Summary: Tim accidentally knocked up Dallas Winston after a rumble. But...everything happens for a reason right?

.....

Week 6

Dallas Winston was in a god awful mood today, even worse then her usual moods. She huffed as she pulled herself off of Bucks bathroom floor and flushed the toilet, brushing her teeth in an effort to get the taste of vomit away from her mouth. She groaned and splashed her face with cold water, groaning a bit as she gazed in the mirror.

She was by all means a pretty girl. She was about 5'9 and weighed a nice 125 pounds, with a pleasant curve to her body and a rounded face, with wild brown hair, her skin having a dusting of freckles across it.

She groaned a bit and got dressed, frowning as she looked down and noticed her stomach was ever so slightly rounded. She just took it as a sign that she'd finally began putting on weight (Darry had suggested to her that she do) and carried on.

She went outside and saw Buck smoking. Normally she would join in for a stick or two, but her stomach clenched at it and another bout of nausea hit her. She groaned and went back inside. Maybe her period was close?

She laid back on her bed and through about whatever came to mind. She grimes as a craving for a blizzard from Dairy Queen hit her, but she again shrugged it off as her period coming.

Week 9

She was with the Curtis Gang when another wave of Nausea hit her. She groaned mentally, shifted in her seat on the couch, and tried to go back to watching the movie. Her period hadn't come yet, but it had never been regular anyways. She just tried to watch the movie and eat popcorn, but the taste just only made the nausea worse.

Week 13

Dallas frowned in the mirror and lifted up her shirt. Her stomach was starting to curve out now, and she had gained about 10 or so pounds, but it wasn't soft like she'd expect. It was almost like jello more then anything. She frowned and tugged her shirt down, frowning as she still saw it poke out. She sighed, thinking to herself.

When her period hadn't come for 2 months, she took it as a blessing. Now it had been three months, and her mind began to wonder to another option, one she wants entirely sure she was ready to face.

"Am I....." She mumbled to herself before dismissing the thought. That wasn't a reality she was ready for.

That she was pregnant, and fucking Tim Shepard was the father.

She just shook her head and grabbed a beer, or thought about it before grabbing a water instead. Just in case.

Week 15

She sighed as she saw her belly poke out more. She had to be pregnant, there was no other explanation at this point, but her mind refused to really believe it.

She walked to the drugstore and grabbed a test, one of the slightly more expensive ones, and took it, anxiously pacing until it dinged 5 minutes later.

She picked it up and just shook her head in resignation. Postive.

Oh.....that Shepard was so going to pay for this....after she puked.

Week 18

She walked into the clinic shyly, wearing a jacket to hide her bump. She didn't need any rumors flying already. She hadn't even told the gang yet, although, she was sure Darry suspected. She filled out the chart and waited in the room, looking at the other women there and looking away when she found herself staring at just how large a few of them were. She sighed softly as a doctor called her back for the first Ultrasound.

She got on the seat and saw an odd looking machine. Ultrasounds were still rather new technology, only having come out 10 years ago. She wasn't entirely sure she trusted it.

The doctor told her to lay on her back and lift her shirt, which she did shyly. She usually wasn't so shy, but doctors always made her nervous.

The doctor put a gel on her stomach before moving the wand-like object around. Dallas looked at the screen anxiously until a shape came into being.

The doctor looked over the screen for a while. "When was the last time you were...active...?" The doctor asked.

Dallas thought for a moment. "Almost 4 months ago..." She said softly. She was known for sleeping around, but she stopped shortly after she began to notice the pregnancy, more ashamed of her weight at the time than anything.

The doctor nodded and thought a bit more. He explained a few more things, stating that the baby looked in good health and was growing nicely.

The doctor printed her a photo and got it developed the same day for her. She took it and walked off, her mind swarming.

Week 20

It turns out, Tim Shepard was a really hard guy to find when she actually wanted to see him. She grumbled and walked around his part of town. She had her bump hidden as best she could, but her jacket did little to hide it these days.

She then decided to walk to the drive in and smirked seeing Tim's car. Slashing tires always got his attention. She flicked her blade and slashed a hole in one and walked off.

She walked to the Curtis house and let herself in like usual. She handed around before sitting by Johnny, subtly frowning as her bump (which was halfway by now) seemed to be more pronounced when she sat.

Johnny sat by her and looked at her in concern. "How are ya doin' Dal?" He asked.

"Fine." She said, before Two-bit politely handed out beer. He handed her one but she polity sent it away.

The jokester frowned at her. "What's up Dal? You sick?"

"Something like that." She replied, looking down.

Darry came from the kitchen and looked at her. He must have just finished a shower. "Unzip." He said, gesturing to her jacket.

Dally arched a brow in fake confusion, but Darry gave a look and she slowly complied, unzipping the jacket which let her bump be that much bigger.

"I knew it." He said. "You're pregnant aren't you?"

Dally looked down with a small nod.

Darry sighed. "Do you at least know who the father is?"

Dally glared a bit before realising he had a point, as she had the reputation. She nods. "It's Tim."

"Fucking what?!" Steve yelled in surprise. Sure, everyone knew she and Tim messed around, but Dallas Fucking Winston....pregnant ?

"Does he know?" Johnny asked quietly. He had suspected, but never said anything.

Dallas sighed. "Not yet...haven't been able to find him."

"Ah, speak of the Devil." Soda said, who had been watching out the window. A few seconds later, there was an angry knock.

Dallas instinctively went to zip her jacket, but Johnny grabbed her hand and stopped her, shaking his head.

"He deserves to know." He said. "Let him see."

Dallas swallowed. Why was she so nervous...?

Darry opened the door to reveal an angry Tim in all of his glory. God, he was sexy when mad. (Which, when Dally reflected, is what landed her in the situation in the first place.)

"Where's Dallas?" Tim asked in cold Anger.

"Inside but....well..." Darry stumbled for a moment. "well, you'll just have to see for yourself."

Tim arched a brow in confusion but stepped inside the Curtis house, his eyes landing on the Brunette. Something was off, he knew it. He could feel the tension in the air.

He stepped closer, and by the third step, he realised what was off. He glanced down and saw a definite swell on Dallas. He blinked and then saw it again.

There was a long silence.

"It's mine isn't it...?" Tim asked slowly, his anger seeming to fade away.

Dallas stayed silent for a moment and nodded, looking away.

Tim swallowed and walked up to her. He knealt before her, which was a rarity. Dallas looked at him confused.

Tim put a shakey hand on the swell and sighed. He looked at Dallas and then back to the bump. "I'll try to be there....if you want me that is?" He looked at her.

Dallas swallowed, the look in his eyes holding a....pleading feel. She looked down. "Sure..." She mumbled.

Week 25

Tim had began coming to the Curtis house more often to see and be with Dallas. They were in an awkward relationship to say the least, as neither had been on any real dates with the other but now they were having a kid together.

They had also began looking for a cheap apartments to live since Tim's side of town was not ideal and Bucks was a horrible place for a child.

She was on the couch eating some candies in the Curtis living room. They were the only ones at house currently, since Pony was in school and the others were out and about.

Tim sat beside her awkwardly and they held a small staring contest before Dallas felt something. "I think the kid kicked..." She said, unsure. She had felt it move before, but never actually kick.

Tim looked at her and, almost shyly, touched her bump, and soon enough, felt the kick hismelf. His eyes winded and a grin lit his face. He kissed the bump a bit and smiled softly. "I promise to be better for you than either of our dads were." He said to it.

Dally felt her eyes tear up, the sweet sentiment doing a number on her emotions. There was no way she'd make it through this with her dignity in tact.

Week 30

Now nearing the last stretch of her pregnancy, Dallas Winston was very obviously pregnant, and the talk of Tulsa. And she was sick of it, and impulsively said she was gonna join the rumble, which lead to a rather dumb argument.

She was out for a walk to clear her head after the dumb argument with Tim, when she heard the signature thrum of a car. She didn't think anything of it until she saw it was most definitely a socs car. She hoped they were just passing through since, as much as she hated to admit it, she probably couldn't fight for shit with this bump on her which was already giving her a slight waddle.

The car kept following her, slowing. She sighed. Great. Fucking perfect. She frowned as she realised it was night, and friend more as she saw the socs were drunk. She reached for her knife, only to realise she never brought it.

"nice going..." She thought to herself. "You totally screwed yourself."

A group of 7 socs popped out, and she noticed on was Bob. She glared at them and tried to keep going, but Bob grabbed her by the arm and slammed her against him. She gaged at the smell of alcohol and smoke.

"shit...." She thought panicked as she saw the group all had knives.

"Look what we have 'ere boys....a pregnant slut..." Bob slurred loudly to the group who laughed.

Normally, she would have already beat the group to pulp, but she suddenly remembered she was very pregnant when she squirmed and fled the child squirm. She shivered as bob lifted her shirt up and pressed his knife Into her stomach, drawing a small amount of blood.

"shit...." She panicked mentally, trying to get away. Bob gripped her tighter.

"Stop moving. It would be a shame if something happened to a mother before birth." The drunk taunted.

Her body froze and she looked down, her heart racing, trying to think of an out. She noticed she was surrounded and whimpered a bit against her will.

"Aww. Is mommy Winston scared?" A doc cooed mockingly. She yelled as she saw the man brace to punch her, aiming for her stomach as bob held her...

But the blow never came. She peered an eye open to see a very, very pissed off Tim Shepard. She had never seen the man so mad!

"Leave her alone you punk." Tim growled, holding the socs wrist firmly.

"Oh, it's her knight in shining hair!" Bob laughed.

"Actually, she has two." Came Two-bits voice from behind Bob. Two-bit held his prized knife to bob's neck, which made the doc let go of Dallas, who took off back to her and Tim's new place. It want by any means a great apartment, but it would serve until they could afford an actual house.

Tim came in a few minutes after, a little bloody but otherwise fine. He walked in and looked her over.

By now, the Adrenaline had worn off, and the realization of what almost happened hit Dallas hard. She wrapped her arms firmly around Tim and started to cry a bit.

Tim stood stunned before wrapping his arms firmly around her and rubbing her back, gently rocking.

"T-They were gonna...." She whimpered out quietly through chocked sobs.

Tim frowned and kissed her head. "I know Babe, I know." He said softly.

That was the night something shifted in both of them.

Week 38

Dallas was 2 weeks away from her due date, which everyone was happy for. Partly to meet the new baby, but also to make her not be pregnant anymore since she was even moodier now.

She was on the couch at the Curtis house and curled up, sitting with Johnny while Tim was out. She was eating some chocolate Tim had gotten her. She shifted around and Johnny glanced at her.

"You alright?" He asked

"Yeah, the kids just kicking more than usual is all." She said.

Johnny nodded, doubtful.

Indeed, a few hours later, she hissed in pain. "That wasn't a kick...." She grumbled to Johnny.

Johnny ran and got the phone, Calling Darry.

"Dallas is in Labor."

15 hours later....

Tim frowned as he held her hand gently and squeezed it. Dallas had been in labor for almost 15 hours now and had murder in her eyes.

Tim couldn't blame her for wanting to murder him. He kissed her head. It turns out, Dallas was allergic to Epidural and all the other medicines they tried didn't really help her, so she had felt almost everything for the last 15 hours.

"I'm going to kill you after this..." She grumbled as another contraction passed.

22 hours....

Tim grunted as Dallas squeezed his hand again. The pushing had come, and Tim had looked to see the baby, having been told it was a miracle. Well, turns out, that is a trap and he never looked again, just Focusing on Dallas. "You're almost done babe." He said softly as she panted.

Her blocked out her profanity in exchange for the sound of a sheer cry. Tim looked at the child and felt his eyes water.

"It's a boy." A nurse said

He left Dallas to watch them clean his son off, revealing the soft blond hair the kid had. The nurses swaddled him and handed Tim the child. Tim awkwardly held the kid before crying a bit.

His son looked a lot like him, but had some features of Dallas, like the ears and the general face shape.

"You plan on sharing?" Dallas asked quietly in amusement.

Tim blushed embarassed and handed their son to her. She held him with a fond smile, as all her worry melted away. She kissed his red forehead and giggled.

It was strange for Tim to see her hold a baby with such a fond look, but he just smiled. It was a good strange.

He sat by her and put his arm under her and kissed her head. "Not bad."

And thus, Ethan Shepard had entered the world.

[starlit-serenade]

Along the Red Thread | Chapter 4

🧣 Summary: It is said that a red thread connects people who are soulmates and destined to be lovers, regardless of place and circumstances. What makes this difficult is that you stopped believing in love a long time ago. OR. You go to Korea to visit your father after several years. There, a mysterious red thread that seemingly only you can see shows up when you least expect it, and you meet a childhood friend you’d never thought you would see again.

🧣 Chapter 4: 3,500 words

🧣 Pairing: Reader x Kim Geonhak (Leedo) / Characters: GenderNeutral!Reader; Kim Geonhak (Leedo); Kim Youngjo (Ravn); Lee Seoho (Seoho); Lee Keonhee (Keonhee); Yeo Hwanwoong (Hwanwoong); Son Dongju/Xion; a couple of OCs;

🧣 Rated: T / Warnings: Mentions of divorce (Y/N’s parents); Mentions of abuse (physical); Instances of abuse (non-physical); Mentions of child abuse; Swearing / Genre: Angst; Fluff; Soulmate!AU (Red Thread of Fate); ChildhoodBestFriends!AU; Happy Ending;

《 Boy Group Masterlist // ONEUS Masterlist // Series Masterlist  》

You wake up early in the morning to the sun in your eyes. This room isn't familiar. It isn't your bedroom at home. And it isn't the bedroom at your father's apartment.

It takes you a moment to remember that this is Kim Geonhak's dorm with his group members, and that, after getting in an argument with your father, Geonhak allowed you to sleep on their couch.

You sit up and rub your eyes. You're still wearing the white T-shirt that Geonhak lent you. It's several sizes too big for you, and is very comfortable.

You hear the door open, and suddenly someone emerges from the bedroom door next to the couch. Kim Youngjo, the brown haired man you had met last night, comes out from the bedroom. He's wearing sweatpants and a white T-shirt with a design on the front.

"Oh, good morning," he says. He smiles his warm smile as he moves across the room toward the kitchen. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I did, thank you," you say.

"Would you like breakfast?" he asks. "I don't make the best eggs out of the group--that's Geonhak--but I'm a close second."

You shake your head. "No thank you. I should probably head home, I don't want to be a bother and overstay my welcome."

"Oh, don't worry," Youngjo says. "We're all happy to have you here. Any friend of Geonhak is a friend of ours. Besides, he really likes you. You must have been really good friends when you were kids."

"He was there for me when no one else was," you say. "From when my father would scream at me and my mother for getting in his way. When my parents would fight and I couldn't stand it. When my parents finally got divorced after years of fighting. He was there for me, as a shoulder to cry on, a second home to stay at. He was my best friend. He was my home," you explain.

"That's sweet of him. I would tell you that he's a warm, sweet and kind person beneath his intimidating appearance, but it seems you already know that," Youngjo says. "And I don't know you well, but if you need any help, I am always open to talk to."

"Thank you. Like I said, though, I should get going. My father might be worried about me," you say. You've already gathered your clothes and put on your coat. "Thank you for letting me stay."

"Thank you for blessing us with your presence," he jokes. He walks over to the front door and holds the door open for you as you leave. "Stay safe on your way home."

"Thank you, Youngjo."

You exit and wave goodbye as Youngjo closes the door behind you. Then you sigh and walk down and out, bracing yourself for whatever you might encounter when you get back to your father's apartment.

The door creaks open and you push into the living room. Besides your light, careful footsteps, there isn't a single sound. Which isn't too much of a surprise. It's the weekend, so Sunho doesn't have school and neither of his parents, your father nor Sooyeon, have work today.

You head to your bedroom, close the door behind you, and plug in your phone to charge. There, you see several texts and calls from your father that you'd ignored from last night, begging you to return.

Last night, you had not felt safe at all. You'd wanted to stay at a hotel, but none were open. Perhaps you should stay at a hotel for the rest of your stay here in Korea. Maybe you would be--or at least feel--safer at a hotel.

As you start packing your stuff, suitcase on your bed with clothes folded inside, you don't hear the footsteps in the hallway. What you do hear is the door opening behind you. You turn around again and see your father, dressed in his work clothes, standing in the doorway.

"Y/N, where have you been all night? Your Eomma and I were up until midnight waiting for you last night," he says. His eyes drift over behind you, and settle on your suitcase. "Where are you going?

"I was thinking I might get a room at a hotel and stay there until I go home," you say, turning back to the suitcase, intentionally not meeting his eyes.

"What? Why?" he asks. You don't respond, not trusting your own voice. You're a little afraid that if you try to speak, your voice will break and you'll collapse from the inside out.

"Because of our argument last night?" your father asks, and you're already feeling bad for even thinking about staying elsewhere. "Y/N, are you kidding? It was an argument, leaving last night wasn't necessary--wanting to stay at a hotel isn't necessary!" He pauses. "Look. Y/N. I know that things have been difficult between us for the past few years. But I haven't seen you properly for so long, akd now you want to leave in the middle of your visit? Y/N, be reasonable. Please, I won't yell anymore. I just wanted you to try with your Eomma . . ."

There's a long silence, and you're left to respond to him. You feel so bad for leaving last night. It was unreasonable. It is unreasonable for you to want to leave . . .

You turn around, head hanging. You still can't look him in the eyes, but now it's much more because of shame.

"I'm . . . I'm sorry. You're right," you mumble, barely recognizing your own voice. You feel so small, sounds so small.

"It's alright," you hear your father say. "I have to finish getting ready for work, but how about you finish packing and relax. I'll take you, Eomma and Sunho out to a nice dinner tonight. How does that sound?"

You nod, but you really don't know what you think. Your brain is lagging behind a bit, you almost feel like you aren't in control of your body and mind. You feel lost.

"Perfect. And, do you think you could take Sunho to school today? He was asking about you all night after you left, I think he would want you to take him," your father says. Deep down, you know that this is your father manipulating you to stay through your little, five year old half brother. But on the other hand, you do care about Sunho.

"Sure," you say.

"Great."

Your father leaves the bedroom, and once you hear the door close, you blink and look up. You're back in control, but now you're just confused.

"I guess I'm staying," you mumble to yourself.

You remove everything from the suitcase and put them back where they were before. Really, you're confused about the past few minutes. You walked into this apartment this morning, expecting to leave with your things and get a room at a hotel where you'd feel so much physically and mentally safer. Instead, you have spoken to your father and somehow agreed to stay here.

After you finish folding your clothes again, you sit on your bed and lean with your back against the headboard and grab your phone. You can see several texts from 'Geonhak 🐥'. You click to see what he wrote.

Geonhak 🐥: Hey, where are you?

Geonhak 🐥: Are you okay? Are you safe?

Geonhak 🐥: Youngjo said you went home. I hope you're okay and safe. Please let me know.

Geonhak 🐥: Call me if you can? Let me know if you're ok.

You realize that you’re smiling stupidly at your phone. You're not only happy to have someone to listen to you, but you're also just happy to have a friend back.

You think back to when you two were kids. You would read together. You would play video games together, play on the playset together, despite being too old for it. You would spend hours talking, playing, and just hanging out.

You click the call button, and he picks up the phone almost right away. You wonder if he was waiting by the phone for your call.

"Y/N? Hey, are you okay?" he asks, his voice slightly muffled by the phone, but your heart flutters a bit at the sound of his voice still. "You weren't here when I woke up. I was hoping to maybe make you breakfast or something?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," you say, purposefully ignoring the fact that he wanted to make you breakfast. It's sweet of him. Really sweet.

"Do you need any help getting a hotel? Or do you have that figured out?"

You pause. "I'm staying at my father's apartment."

"But what about yesterday? Didn't something happen? Isn't that why you needed a place to stay?"

"Yeah . . . I talked to my dad and . . . well, he apologized," you say. "He said he wouldn't be like that again."

"But . . ." Geonhak sighs. "Alright. If anything happens again . . . if you need a place to stay, the dorm is always available."

"Thanks, Geonhak."

There's a long pause. You can feel him wanting to speak on the other end of the phone. And you also want to tell him that you can't find the words for.

That while you've agreed to stay here at your father's apartment, you actually would so much rather stay at ONEUS's dorm. You hate it here, and you have no idea why you agreed to stay when you had come back planning to leave and stay at a hotel instead.

"Y/N, I'm worried about you," Geonhak says.

Now would be the perfect time to tell him exactly what you're thinking.

"You don't have to worry," you say. "I'm an adult. I can get a hotel if I need to. And I can call you if I ever need help."

Geonhak sighs. "Alright."

You nod, and are about to wish him goodbye when he speaks again.

"Hey . . . would you like to hang out today? Or tomorrow? Maybe go to the library or something?"

You smile, and almost giggle into your phone. Your cheeks are warm. "Yeah. Sure. I'm busy today, my father wants me to take Sunho to school and then I have some reading to do. But tomorrow works."

"Alright. Who's Sunho?"

"Oh. My dad's kid. My half brother. He's six."

"Oh, cute!" Geonhak exclaims. "Would you like me to come with you to take him to school? I'm good with kids, I swear."

"Aren't you busy?"

"No. My schedule today is flexible."

You smile. "Alright. I can text you my father's address and we'll take Sunho to school. See you soon."

Sunho is clinging on tightly to your hand as you leave the apartment building together. When he saw you after he finished brushing his teeth, he almost burst into tears. You apologized to him for not reading to him last night, until he calmed down and finished getting ready for school.

As you exit the building, you see Geonhak standing further down the sidewalk. His clothes are plain--jeans, a black T-shirt and white overshirt and glasses--so he doesn't stand out too much, but you recognize him right away.

He sees you at the same time and smiles, walking over to you and Sunho. You blink, surprised by how handsome he looks now that it's the daytime. Not that he wasn't handsome last night when you stayed over.

Geonhak bends down in front of Sunho, so that their faces are at around the same height.

"Hi," Geonhak says in such a sweet and gentle voice that catches you by surprise. He holds up his hand for Sunho to hi-five. Sunho does, indeed, hi-five him, and you watch Geonhak's smile widen. "I'm Kim Geonhak," he says softly. "You must be Sunho."

Sunho looks up at you, and you nod. He nods back at Geonhak.

"I'm friends with your sibling Y/N," Geonhak says. "How old are you, Sunho?"

Sunho raises his hands.

"Six? Woah! You're so tall for a six year old. Are you the tallest in your class?" Geonhak asks. Sunho nods. "Cool. I'm going to be coming with Y/N to take you to school. Is that alright with you?"

Sunho nods.

"Great." Geonhak looks up at you with the most adorable smile you've ever seen on his face as he stands up straight.

"I see that you wanted to say hello to Sunho before saying hello to me," you joke. You gently tug at Sunho's hand and he follows you and Geonhak down the sidewalk, toward the bus stop you use to get to Sunho's school.

"I wanted to be friendly with him first," Geonhak explains. "Didn't want him to think I was just some stranger."

You nod.

"Are you alright? Last night was a lot, I think, for you," Geonhak says.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can we talk about it after?" you ask. You glance at Sunho, trying to signal to Geonhak, not in front of Sunho. He seems to get the message, and nods.

"Right. Sorry." He looks at Sunho and smiles. "Sunho, is it okay if I hold your hand while we walk?"

Sunho nods his head while smiles widely and holds his hand out to Geonhak, who takes it and smiles at you.

"So, Sunho," Geonhak says. His voice is soft and gentle, shocking now that you're used to his deep voice. "What do you like to do for fun?"

Sunho thinks for a second. "I like reading. Y/N reads an English book to me at night!"

"Oh? Do they?" Geonhak smiles over at you, and you swear your heart starts to beat a bit faster. His smile is really . . . lovely. "What books?"

"Y/N reads me 'The Kiss . . .'" Sunho frowns, scrunching up his face while trying to remember. "'The Kissing Hand'! It's in English."

"Oh? I've never read it. Is it good? Do you like it?" Geonhak asks. Sunho nods. Watching the way Geonhak smiles at Sunho is adorable. He's so good with kids, and you can tell he's having a lot of fun.

"Yeah! It's my favorite English book!"

"Oh, I should read it sometime then."

You laugh a bit and Geonhak looks at you curiously. "Geonhak, it's a kids book."

"I'd love to read a kids book," Geonhak says. "Sunho, would you want me to read you a book sometime?"

Sunho nods.

You, Sunho and Geonhak board the semi-crowded bus. You stand, one hand holding Sunho's while the other grips the pole for stability as the bus starts to move. Geonhak stands behind you, his hand holding the pole above yours.

"Did you know Y/N disappeared last night?" Sunho asks. "I got really scared. It was night time and I was scared they were gonna get lost. But they came back this morning."

"Right," Geonhak says, looking at you. "You don't have to worry. Y/N was with me! I made sure that they were safe, and protected them."

Sunho's face lights up brightly. "Really? Thank you for protecting Y/N, Mr. Kim! I was scared Y/N wasn't going to be able to take me to school today."

"Do you like school, Sunho?" Geonhak asks. Sunho nods quickly with the biggest smile on his face. "Do you have friends at school?"

"Yeah!" Sunho says, grinning. "I have my best friend Areum. Areum likes reading too! And also my other friends."

You smile down at Sunho, then over at Geonhak. Geonhak's smiling down at Sunho with the most precious smile you've ever seen. He's got little tiny dimples, you notice. And his eyes are like little crescents because he's smiling so hard.

You shake your head and look back at Sunho.

The bus comes to a halt at the bus stop outside of Sunho's school. You and Geonhak dismount with him, and walk over to the sidewalk. You kneel in front of him and fix his shirt.

"You're gonna have a good day, right?" you ask. He nods, and you hold up your hand for a high five. "Good. Have a good day at school, okay Sunho?" you say.

"Okay!" He nods and high fives you.

"Give Geonhak one too," you say. He walks over to Geonhak, who raises both of his hands and gives him two high fives. Sunho lets out a giggle, and you can tell from the way he's grinning that he likes Geonhak.

You and Geonhak wave Sunho off as he walks the rest of the way to school, joining his friends. You both watch as he walks with them toward the school building, laughing and talking.

"He really likes you," you say, eyes still on Sunho. You can see Geonhak look at you out of the corner of your eye. "I can tell. You made him really happy."

"That's nice to hear." There's a pause. "Do you want to go to get drinks with me?" he asks "Coffee or tea or smoothies?"

You nod. "Smoothies sound nice."

"I know a place we can walk to from here," he says. He reaches for your hand, but stops himself and smiles.

"This way," he says, nodding his head down the road. You follow him as he starts walking, considering what flavor of smoothie you want to get.

"Is Sunho your half brother, then?" he asks, after a minute of silence. You nod.

"Yeah. We have the same father. But his mother is Sooyeon," you explain. "I actually never met Sunho before I visited. He's a sweet kid. I hope that my father treats them better than he treated me and my mom."

Geonhak nods. "About this morning . . . are you okay?"

You nod. "Yeah."

"I thought you were planning to stay at a hotel tonight? But you said you aren't? What happened with that?" he asks. "I don't want to be invasive, so if you don't want to tell me, that's alright."

"No, it's okay. When I went to my father's apartment to pack my stuff, my father confronted me. He apologized, I think. And asked me to give him another chance. He promised not to do anything threatening or aggressive anymore."

Geonhak nods. "He said that a lot when we were kids, too. 'I won't do it again.' 'I'll do better next time.' Forgiving is alright, but if you keep doing it every time, he'll only do it more."

"I know," you murmur. "But I guess I want to believe that now that he has this new family, he's changed."

Geonhak sighs. "That makes sense. Just remember, you can always call me for help, Y/N."

You smile. "Thank you, Geonhak. I . . . really appreciate you letting me stay over last night. Your members were very nice to meet."

"You think so?" Geonhak asks, laughing a bit. "They liked you. I think Seoho would have spent time intentionally telling you every embarrassing thing I've ever done if he could."

"Oh?" You raise an eyebrow at him, grinning evilly. "Well, then I guess Seoho and I have some catching up to do."

He sighs and rolls his eyes. "Whatever. It's not like you haven't seen my embarrassing self when I was in school with you."

You grin. "You were pretty embarrassing back then."

"So were you! There's the smoothie stand."

You both line up for the smoothies, and he helps you decide on which flavor to get and helps you order. You grin at him as he hands you your smoothie.

"You know," you start, "besides last night, you and I haven't really hung out yet. Which is a shame, since we haven't hung out in years."

"True. I'd love to walk Sunho to school with you more, if you'd allow me," he chuckles, sipping from his own drink.

"You're really good with kids," you note. "Or, at least, with Sunho."

"Right. I'm studying early childhood education, so it's only natural that I've learned a bit about how to work with kids."

"That's cute," you blurt out. Geonhak gives you a shy, smiley look, similar to the adoring look he gave Sunho.

"Cute?"

You roll your eyes and nudge him. "Yeah, sure. Cute. Don't let it get to your head, though. Sunho is still cuter than you."

Geonhak gasps, feigning shock, and places his hand in surprise in mock offense. "Really? I'm offended." He chuckles a bit.

You can feel your face heating up from the way he looks at you. You clear your throat and look away. "Uh, yeah. I'd love it if you could join me and Sunho in the mornings, whenever you can. But that's not what I meant."

"Oh?" He tilts his head curiously.

"What I meant was actually hanging out. As friends. Maybe we could go to the library or park or something," you say. "Maybe see a movie."

He grins. "Sure. Have you been sightseeing yet?"

You shake your head. Your father hasn't really taken you anywhere since you arrived. If anything, you've spent most of your time here as Sunho's babysitter and a shopper for Sooyeon.

"No? Maybe I could . . . take you sightseeing?" he offers. You nod.

"I'd like that."

[forkanna]

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

NOTE: HAPPY NANOWRIMO! Sorry if my updates are more sporadic right now; I'm trying to focus on writing this month. That includes (minor spoiler) another Persona fic! I promise in December I will try to resume a more regular posting schedule. 

Also: if you're enjoying this fic or any of my others, and you have disposable income, you can drop a few dollars in my tip jar! Every little bit helps! Anyway, happy reading!

CHAPTER NINE

                                                   ~ x The Priestess x ~

Things settled down until Monday afternoon. Mostly, I hung out with my friends and tried to focus on my studies. And everything had been fine. There were other girls around the school I kept glancing at, trying to figure out my feelings, and I didn't feel any "lesbian stirrings" - if that's even a thing. Just looked like regular people. So I started to convince myself that it had been a fluke, and I only felt those urges because Miss Kawakami had been so sensual with me in the hotel room. Everything was going to be fine.

Then I saw her in the hallway again and it shot all of my hopes to hell.

"Good afternoon, Niijima-san," she said with a smile as she waved. And I felt my knees go weak, my heart speed up in my chest. She was completely back to her usual self: longsleeve yellow scoopneck, denim skirt, sensible white low-heels, fluffy brown hair. Armload of books and lesson plans. Tired-but-cheerful expression.

Just Miss Kawakami, being Miss Kawakami… but she still made me want to do things I had never done before. And wouldn't know how. Experiment with her.

"Niijima-san?"

"G-good morning," I managed to stutter.

"It's not morning," she chuckled. But she peered at my face for a moment. "You… should request me again."

"Huh?!" But when she held a finger to her lips, I quickly said, "Right. Sorry."

"You should. Because it looks like… you need to talk. But not here." Her eyes flicked from side to side, indicating the throng of students surrounding us.

"Of course. I'm sorry, I really… yes. I'll ask you about that homework later."

Her gorgeous mocha eyes did roll toward the ceiling at my poor attempt at covering, but at least she was still smiling. I wished she would always smile…

"Of course. Friday."

"Friday?"

"Or Saturday. I'll let you know if another time works equally well."

"OH!" She was trying to tell me her schedule. "Y-yes, I'll hand it in by then, if I don't have any questions sooner. Thank you."

When I bowed slightly, she patted my shoulder. "Good, good, Run along to class." Then she walked away…

And I did something I have never, ever done. For anybody, no matter who they were, or how attractive I might have found them - though I almost never notice that kind of thing. I turned to watch her leave. Not because I liked her and missed her, or because she was a decent role model. Those things were also true… but for some reason, I wanted to see her calves moving below the hem of that skirt.

The bell for class rang and I was still standing there, staring at the spot where her calves had last been. At least that finally prompted me to move again.

                                                  ~ o ~

The rest of the week turned out to be my own personal Hell. Every time I saw Miss Kawakami, she looked better and better, and my thoughts were less pure. Maybe it was because I had never thought about anyone in this way that I fell so headlong into lust. Or maybe she was just exactly my type and I didn't know it before Hotel Juliet revealed all.

Dreams of her cleavage in that maid outfit when she crawled across the floor toward me, her stockings recently discarded, filled my nights. Or of her shapely thighs disappearing up her frilly French Victorian dress. Worse - disappearing up the hem of her robe as she writhed under my touch, panting my name with her eyes closed…

Recalling that also gave me another new experience: trying to focus in class while being aroused. I'm not kidding when I say that not once in my entire academic career had that been a stumbling block for me. Now, my thighs twitched, my face flushed, until a neighbouring student asked if I was feeling under the weather. That only made my blush worse.

When Thursday rolled around, I was at the end of my rope. I had basically called Ann in complete distress about six times in three days. She was great at talking me down, but had no real advice to give - which was okay. It would be kind of an insane convenience if she somehow knew exactly what to do about developing a lesbian crush on a teacher, wouldn't it?

"Look," she sighed into the phone as she did her nails, and I slowly tried to finish formatting a report. "She said you can request her tomorrow night, right? So just… don't worry about it until then. Forget about her totally. Like, since you can't do anything."

"That doesn't work. Believe me, I try."

"God, you're so cute. I know, I know - not helping."

"It isn't cute that I'm so smitten with a woman out of my reach that I can't eat, or sleep, or study. Those are basically the only things I do, Ann."

A little laugh floated over the phone lines. "Yeah. I mean, until you started hanging out with us, I'd believe it. Except maybe kissing Principal Kobayakawa's-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," I warned her, and she laughed more.

"Fiiiiine. And I'm gonna offer again; I know you don't wanna reveal her secret. But if you need me there, to mediate or whatever, like, call me. Swear I won't show up without you asking, but all you gotta do is call."

"And you'll be here. I know, and thank you. But this is something I should be able to do on my own."

"Why? You've got friends; use 'em."

I had been about to protest and tell her I didn't want to 'use' my friends… when I realised that I could. Not Ann; she was already being enough help as it was. But there was someone else I should be going to about this matter.

"Thanks, Ann," I said suddenly, sitting up and closing my textbook. "I think I have an idea. I'll call you back when I have put it into practice."

"Huh? O-oh, okay, bye. Good luck!"

"Thank you. I'm gonna need it."

                                                  ~ o ~

Cafe Leblanc was basically closing up by the time I got there. Futaba Sakura was lingering at the counter, and the proprietor, Sojiro Sakura, was wiping down the counter. Ren was doing the dishes; sometimes the old man roped him into that, considering he was letting him stay in the attic rent-free.

"Hey," I greeted Futaba first. Not that I could see much of a reaction. Her huge glasses and orange hair covered most of her face and head, as if they were a protective shield from the rest of the world. Which was likely true; she's the biggest introvert I've ever known.

"Guten abend."

"Huh?"

"German." Pushing up her glasses, she peered up at me with those oddly mauve-tinted eyes. "You are here to see Ren."

"How do you know that?"

"Keep glancing at him. Not exactly rocket science - though rocket science is actually fairly simple and straightforward. Just gotta know the formulas."

Chuckling softly as I slid onto a stool at the bar, I said, "Uhhh, I'm going to have to take your word for it, I guess. But you're correct."

"He'll be free in a few minutes," her adoptive father said as he tossed the rag under the counter, then perched a cigarette just above his goatee. As he flicked the lighter, he said, "Can I get you anything, Niijima-san?"

"Oh, no thank you," I said with a slight bow. The cigarette smoke bothered me, but I would never dream of mentioning that. "You're already closing up; it would be rude."

"Nonsense. I've got some leftover curry ingredients in the fridge; you kids could go upstairs while I whip some up."

"You do not wanna miss his recipe," Futaba confided as she typed on her phone at lightspeed. The screen was flashing so fast I couldn't even keep up with what she was doing. "Mom's recipe. Their recipe."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it," her surrogate father chuckled good-naturedly as he puffed, turning back toward the kitchen. "Amamiya-kun. Take five and see your friend; I'm going to make you something."

"And I'll help," Futaba volunteered with a smile, pocketing her phone.

Ren nodded at him, barely glancing at me before drying off his hands and abandoning the dishes for now. Then he nodded toward the stairs and we went up together. Futaba made no move to abandon her place at Sojiro's side - proving that she really did accurately guess I wanted to talk to Ren alone. What a little genius.

Once upstairs in his cozy little loft, I dropped onto the old couch and wasted no time telling him everything. Ren eventually sank down beside me, expression slightly pained but mostly resigned. As if he knew this day would come, but couldn't be sure which friend - or maybe stranger - would approach him about it.

"So I know you've been having her run errands," I wrapped up with. "But she insisted that you aren't hurting her, and she isn't hurting you. I guess… I feel like I believe you, but I need to hear it. What is the nature of the relationship with Miss Kawakami?"

Guess I really do sound like you sometimes, Sae.

"We don't have one," he answered after a pause to mull over his words. "She's my homeroom teacher."

"And the maid stuff? You really do request her just to… what, give her free money?"

Another pause. "She does jobs for me. Makes curry, cleans up, does laundry. I pay her for the work. But I request her more often because I understand she needs the money; it's the only official way I can help her without…"

"Without?" I prompted.

"Without it being charity."

"Ohhh…" My eyes turned sad as I looked down at the floor. "Miss Kawakami wouldn't accept any handouts, probably. That makes sense." He nodded. "You're sure you've never… a 'health massage' or-"

"No."

"Would you want to?" At that, he looked a little uncomfortable. "Ren?"

"Maybe. But not that way; not because I paid her. It would feel like forcing her into it. And though Miss Kawakami is beautiful, I don't have strong feelings like that for her."

"All of that's very fair," I sighed, staring down at my plain black shoes. "That's how I felt, too; the 'forcing her' part, I mean." He made no reply, so I looked up at him. "You don't even care about… that part of this. That I might be attracted to her, even though I'm a girl." He shook his head. "Why not?"

His shoulders rose and fell. "That's your business."

"So simple for you," I chuckled softly, eyes sad. "But I feel like… a freak. A circus freak for seeing a woman old enough to be my mother in the hallway - well, almost old enough - and wanting to do things with her I've never even dreamed about before."

Ren's only response was to sit back a little, folding his arms and crossing one leg so the ankle rested on his knee. I watched him for a moment, squinting at his passive, thoughtful expression.

"What? What is it?"

"I may have somewhere you should visit. Come with me."

"Now? But it's so late - and we'll miss Sojiro's curry."

His smile was small and coy. "Very well. Curry and then come with me. It's important."

That word could not be ignored. He didn't just think this was a good idea, he thought it was "important"? And Ren was a fairly serious guy; he didn't just spout off things like that for no reason. I trusted him. Therefore, I nodded.

"Curry, and then I'll go with you. It's a promise." And we shook on it, like we were making a business deal.

                                                  ~ o ~

Once our bellies were full of delicious curry, my taste buds still singing at the spices and mingling flavours, I hopped the train with him up to Shinjuku. That was a surprise; I didn't even know Ren knew anyone up that way, or ever went there. Maybe I didn't know him as well as I thought, but I opted to put my faith in him for the time being.

Within minutes, we were walking into a bar called "Crossroads". The place was pretty empty, except for a young woman with a pink fanny pack slumped over at the bar, and an older woman with an ornate kimono behind it cleaning glasses.

"You spend way too much time here, young man," she said - and my eyebrows shot up. That was a pretty deep voice. Was she… a he? A cross-dresser?

"Lala-san, this is my friend, Makoto Niijima. Makoto, this is Lala Escargot."

I bowed slightly, trying to hide my surprise from before. "It's a p-pleasure to meet you, Lala. Escargot… is French, right?"

"Sure, honey," she chuckled with a big grin. "French is so fancy. Why do you think I picked it?"

"Picked…?" I swallowed hard, then moved to sit at the bar in front of her. "Forgive me for asking something very forward. But are you… transgender, or a drag queen? I don't want to assume."

While Ren looked a little surprised, Lala grinned. "Just a queen, girl. When I ain't on the clock, this all comes off and I'm a regular run-of-the-mill man. Well… maybe not run-of-the-mill."

"No, I am sure you're very unique." Luckily, 'she' seemed to take that as a compliment. "Should I keep using female pronouns while you're Lala, then?"

"Yes, please." A little bow to show her gratitude, and I bowed back. "What brings ya taggin' along with this no-good louse?" Then she chuckled and hid her face behind an elegant white fan. "Just kidding, Amamiya-chan. You know me."

"Of course," he laughed with an easy smile. Not at all flustered or annoyed by her teasing.

"Well… I actually don't know." After a few seconds to consider, I just blurted out, "I think I might be gay."

"Oh yeah? Good for you, honey!"

"Thanks?" I laughed self-consciously. "But I have a feeling Ren thought it might be a good idea to talk to you about it. And maybe he's right; I really don't know what I'm doing, or feeling, or thinking, and… this isn't exactly my first contact with, um, 'the community', but none of my friends are gay. So I'm a little unsure of where to turn."

Her smirk was playful. "That you know of. I mean, just saying, Ren does hang out with a drag queen an awful lot for a straight boy."

"I work here, Lala," he sighed with a roll of his eyes. But she only laughed in response.

"But why here? Hmmmmm? So many after-school jobs, and here you are in Shinjuku. Just saying…"

Interrupting her further teasing, I asked, "So what do I do? How do I know? Especially because I have a crush on a teacher, not another student, so it's…"

"Ooooh, damn," she intonated, heavily-shaded eyes widening. "That is a pickle, sister. How old are ya?"

"Huh? Oh… eighteen."

"Awww, you're almost outta there. Just hang on and then ask her out when you're in college."

Drawing my knees together and folding my hands on the bartop, I whispered, "That's what Ann said. You make it sound so simple. I don't even know if what I'm feeling is real, or-"

"It's real."

Stunned by the firmness in her voice, I asked, "How can you be so sure?"

"If you're worried enough about it to follow your friend to some dive bar in Shinjuku, you're feeling real things, baby," she pressed with a sympathetic sigh. "Maybe you get a few years further along in life, and it turns out you ain't a lesbian, or maybe you are. But right now, for you, in this moment, you wanna be with a woman. Don't second-guess yourself or waste a lot of time thinking you're 'crazy'. Take Ohya there."

With a start, the other woman shot upright, eyes unfocused and sunglasses askew. "Huh? Wh-wha…? I'll pay my tab next week…"

"Poor thing was in love with this old colleague of hers," Lala went on as Ohya slumped back downward, clearly not even listening. "Completely oblivious until it was too late; she's still in denial about it. Now Kaya's out of her life and she ain't got nobody. Think she still likes men, but when's the last time I saw her on a serious date with any of 'em?"

My eyes widened. "Oh. She's a lesbian, too?"

"Bisexual," Lala corrected. "Probably, anyway."

"Right, right; like you said, she still dates men." I watched her snore for a few seconds, then cleared my throat. "I guess… it's different, meeting a woman who likes women in person. Not that I doubted their existence."

The drag queen shrugged as she poured me a tonic with lemon; something light and non-alcoholic, but still being courteous. "We get a lot of people like you wandering in. Girls or boys who ain't sure what they want outta life, or outta relationships. Some of these places around Shinjuku will really turn your brain upside-down if you let 'em, but… most of us just wanna help family."

"Family?" After a second of flashbacks to dead parents and my stubborn sister, I got it. "Right. That's me; I'm 'family' now. But what if I try dating a woman and decide I like men? Isn't that… wrong, somehow?"

"What's wrong with experimenting and figuring out what you like?"

"Well, when you put it that way… I feel stupid," I ended up saying, and she chuckled.

"Don't, honey. Nothin' stupid about not knowing where you wanna end up in life. Just take your time, figure it out. Come back here if you got questions; maybe Ichiko'll be sober enough to answer 'em next time."

"Hey, I'm not that drunk," the woman muttered without lifting her head or opening her eyes. "Sober enough to see Ren-kun brought another cutie with him. You're the drunk one, Lala-chan… not me."

Another cutie? Did she mean me?!

"You're the horizontal one," Lala mocked back, and Ohya did smile slightly. But she still didn't get up.

And now I found myself really looking at her. If I'm being brutally honest, I don't know why I had such a strong image in my mind that a woman who likes women would be some kind of freak. Probably had something to do with societal brainwashing. But here was this Ichiko, very normal other than the fact that she was drunk. Bobbed black hair, blue jeans and sneakers. Very pretty in the same way Miss Kawakami was pretty: a little older but taking good care of herself, other than the drinking which probably had the same amount of detrimental effect on her as the lack of sleep did on my teacher.

"Maybe," I breathed quietly to myself before taking a sip of the tonic water. It was actually pretty refreshing.

"What's that, honey?"

"Nothing, nevermind. Just thinking to myself."

"Questioning?"

For some reason, she was smirking at me again. I had the feeling her comment meant more to her than it did to me, but I decided not to ask about it. "Anyway, your friend looks like she's not getting up anytime soon, so maybe I should go. Thanks for this, Lala - and you, too, Ren. Helped me a lot more than I can be sure of just yet, I'm sure."

Ren nodded with a small smile as he took his place behind the bar. Lala came over to stand next to him. "Ohhhh, you're up for a shift, huh? Good, good. And let me know if you ever change your mind about me dressing you up."

Feeling second-hand embarrassment for Ren felt like reason enough to quickly and quietly take my leave. Besides, now I had an awful lot to think about.

                                                  To Be Continued…

[rainyrowan]

Sunkissed - Chapter 3

description: Wedding of the century rolls around as the previous college clique, along with the rest of their family members, stay in preparation for it. During this time, Riley meets Lucas, a gorgeous, green-eyed wallflower who happens to be immediately taken by her. Little did she know, he has a deep secret. One that will either change her views on him forever or make her feel closer to his world.

word count: 2,927

pairing: riley x lucas

Song: Stop and Stare by OneRepublic

chapter three; riley

For most girls, coming home to your mother posing by the stairwell in a wedding dress as your father and her best friend are adjusting the fabric beneath her isn't typically, well, normal. However, it's the norm on my end. 

"Hi honey," Topanga greets as I come into the front door. "What do you think of the dress?" She asks, dramatically leaning against the banister, allowing her ombre curls to cascade over her face. The dress is pretty simple compared to all the other ones that she has tried on for her previous clients. This dress is made up of white satin and it's off the shoulder too. It also has little laced flowers at the bottom, which I thought was pretty cute. I genuinely think it's beautiful, but I'm still shaken up that I just nod silently.

A satisfied smile creeps upon her face. "Good. Well, it's Rachel's."

"Oh, she's here?"

"She's at my place, Babygirl," Angela speaks. "Her, Aubrey, and Lucas should be settling in."

"Who's Aubrey and Lucas?" I ask.

"Aubrey's her niece and Lucas is the nephew." Topanga answers.

Dad jerks up and points a finger at me. "You are to stay away from Lucas, ya hear me?!"

Angela rolls her eyes. "Cut it out, Cor. Your father is joking. You should meet them." She then turns to my dad. "Both of them."

"Sure. I really don't mind. I'll meet them when I get the chance." I shrug. "But for now, I'll head up to my room."

They all nod at me before I quickly start climbing up the flight of stairs. Our house only has three rooms, which makes two reserved for my parents and my not-so-little brother, Auggie. The last room would be the office that my parents have always wanted. This leaves me the attic. Although, I'm really not complaining or anything. As a matter of fact, with the help of Farkle, I was able to decorate my relatively large area just the way I want it. Only cons would be that I have to climb an extra flight of stairs and I don't have a door. My room's basically a loft, but I love it.

Just as I was about to head into my room, I decided to make a slight detour to Auggie's. I poke my head into the slightly closed door to find him locking lips with his girlfriend of apparently seven years, Ava. I roll my eyes at the sight. Just as I was about to shut the door, giving them privacy, he pulls away from her and turns to me. "You perv." He sneers.

"Hi, Riley," Ava says, embarrassed.

I smile at her. "Hey."

"Can you just leave us be?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Oh, whatever happened to my sweet little boy? He's all grown up now.

"My dear brother, if you would like some privacy, I think you should really use this to your advantage." I sway the door back and forth.

"Whatever." He offers me a smirk.

"Just keep this shut and don't do anything you'll regret!" I exclaim, walking away.

Once I've reached my room, I plop onto my bed. I lied there for a few moments, just pondering about everything that has happened today. I've embarrassed myself once again and now Charlie's mad at me. I groan and the thought. I sit up, glancing at my phone beside me. I impulsively click on Farkle's contact and shoot him a text. 

Hey, where are you right now?

Lucky for me, Farkle's pretty quick when it comes to responding to my messages.

Sparkly Farkly: I'm home. Why?

Are you busy? Can you come over? I kind of need you.

Sparkly Farkly: Give me 2 minutes. I'll be there.

I graciously sighed in relief. Having your best friend be your next door neighbor can be more convenient than you think. I look up at my mirror, which sits on top of my dresser. I sigh as I stare at my reflection. Ugh. I pretty much sigh every time I see myself in the mirror. Look at the mirror-- sigh. Look at the mirror-- sigh. It has become an impressive reflex throughout the years, honestly. Today, I sigh at my brown curls. How can Charlie still look adoringly handsome when the sea breeze messes up his hair? And when that happens to me, why do I look like I've just rolled out of bed? I pick up my brush and comb through my curls. Moments later, I hear a soft knock on my door. "Come in," I say. 

Farkle opens the door and I smile at him. Well, I smile at him to the point where tears start to slightly form in my eyes. "Not again," He whispers before pulling me into his arms. I sob uncontrollably into his shirt, which I used to feel really bad doing, especially since I wear mascara on a day to day basis. Even on my worst days, but it's not like I know when I'm going to have one anyways. Today, I fortunately do not have any makeup on.

"What happened?" He asks me. 

I pull away, wiping my tears. "I had a panic attack, Farkle."

He tenses up. "Is it because of Charlie? What did he do?" 

I sob as I explain what had happened, hoping that he could even understand what I was even saying. Moments like these, I feel like I tend to overreact on the littlest of things. Farkle says it's fine and that I should just let everything out, instead of bottling anything in, regardless if it's anything major or not. He's truly a good friend for willing to hear me out and staying patient with me. 

"I just don't understand why I fall into these things. I understand what I'm getting myself into, but it's like I just ignore the consequences." I rant, finally cooling down.

"It's okay, Riley. It happens," He responds. "You just need to remember that there are certain things that are out of your control and you can't dwell on that."

"Have you met me, though?" We both laugh. It's true. I seem to always be filled with so much regret. 

"The best thing that you can do is move on. As a matter of fact, we can do that right now!" Farkle retrieves his backpack that I hardly even noticed he brought. "Movie night?"

I let out a sigh and smile at him. Move on. I think to myself. "Depends... What movie?"

"I was thinking Funny Face." He suggests.

"Of course! How can I say no to an Audrey Hepburn film?" I exclaim. "I'll get the ice cream." 

Moments later, we're snuggled up in my blanket on the floor. Farkle's laptop is placed right in front of us as we watch the movie and simultaneously stuff our faces with chocolate ice cream. This pretty much sums up my ideal perfect night. 

Funny Face clearly is one of my favorite movies of all time. We beam over how dreamy Paris is, how Audrey's costumes look breathtaking in the film, and Farkle and I even got to dance along to the musical sequences that would come up. It was all laughter and fun for a bit, but as the night came along, it all had to be put to an end. Once the movie ended, Farkle gets a call from his mom telling him that it was time to go home. 

"I gotta go." He mumbles. 

I frowned. "Aw, can't stay longer?"

"I wish I could," Farkle hangs his head down. "I'd rather be here than at home anyways." I pull him into an embrace. Lately, there's been this odd shift going on between his parents' relationship, thus affecting Farkle. Constant fighting would occur almost every single day and he unfortunately has to always witness. At times, he would sneak out to our place and stay for a bit. There was this one time that he actually stayed a whole week! Things must be pretty heated between the two if they weren't able to notice that their son was gone for that long. 

"It'll be okay," I whisper as we both pull away. "Maybe I can see you tomorrow. You can help out with the wedding." 

"Can't. My dad's taking me to Stanford tomorrow."

"Oh, wow! That's like your dream school!"

"Yeah, he's been planning a campus tour for months." He shrugs like it was no big deal at all. Me being the best friend, I can tell that he's secretly very excited. 

"I hope you have fun." 

"Thanks. Well, I better get going." He offers me one last squeeze before heading out. I honestly would've sent him out, but I was way too beat. I decided to call it a day and fall right into bed hoping that tomorrow will do me good.

- - - 

The next day, I woke up bright and early just as my mother told me to do so. I quickly got ready by doing my usual morning routine: Brush my teeth, shower, get dressed, and curl my hair. Today, I decided to throw on a rose-patterned sundress along with my favorite white cardigan that my mom had given me. It's kind of like a protection shield if you ask me. When I'm in trouble and I have this on, it's like Topanga's there with me, which obviously makes me feel safe. 

I slip on a pair of brown sandals before grabbing my camera, thinking that they might want some photos of the whole set up process. I sling the leash over my shoulder and climbed down the stairs. As I was heading down, I was instantly greeted by the smell of my mother's famous Blueberry Surprise Breakfast, a personal favorite. Topanga would either prepare blueberry flavored pancakes, waffles, or bagels. Today, it was the waffles. 

"Good morning, honey! Thank you so much for waking up early. Your father and Auggie are still sound asleep, so we'll probably meet them at the venue later in the day," She explains, stuffing a waffle inside a ziplock bag and handing it to me. "Meanwhile, you and I need to head over there right now. So, eat this on the drive." 

I take the bag and nod. "Alrighty." 

We both then head straight for the door. "Nice cardigan, by the way." She jokes. 

"Yeah, the person who gave it to me truly has a great sense of style." I giggle. 

- - - 

On the way, Topanga pretty much explains everything I need to know: The wedding ceremony will take place down by the beach. Right afterwards, everyone will walk over to this grand hotel, which luckily is walking distance from where they're at. There, the reception will take place. I can already tell that most of Angela and Topanga's magic will be manifested into this part of the evening. 

Once we arrived, we were immediately greeted at the sight of Angela scurrying around. Spotting us, she waves. "Oh good, you're here!" 

"Indeed I am!" Topanga beams.

Angela then grabs both of our arms and drag us into the wedding suite. "I know we only started yesterday, but I feel like all of it's already coming together! I can't wait for you two to see it." When we step inside, I hear myself gasped louder than ever before. 

"Wow, it's amazing."

Tables and chairs were already set up where they're supposed to be, just awaiting its silk fabrics that they need to be covered in and the centerpieces, which I hopefully get to be in charge of. Fairy lights were also hung up everywhere, which makes the place look incredibly magical. Even though there is still so much that needs to be done, the place already looks pretty nice. I can best assure that once the extra decor is set into its place, everything would turn out phenomenal. 

Suddenly, a tall red-headed lady approaches us with a smile. "Topanga!" She exclaims, giving my mother a hug. "I am so glad that you're here!"

"As am I! I can't believe this all finally happening," She says, looking around the room in amazement just as I did. She then turns to me. "Oh, Riley, this is Rachel. You probably don't remember her but  trust me, she definitely was a big part of your childhood." Topanga chuckles. And so I've heard. Both my parents have told me about how Rachel would take care of me as a baby. From hearing all the stories, I thought she was pretty darn cool.

"Hi," I greet as politely as I possibly can. 

Rachel cups her hands over her mouth. "Oh my gosh, Angela was right! You're growing up such a beautiful little lady, I hardly even recognized you." She instantly pulls me into a bear hug and rocks me back and forth. 

"Alright, so my itinerary says that we have a meeting with catering soon." Topanga interrupts, bringing us back on track. 

"Correct. The head chef is waiting for us in the kitchen." Rachel says. 

"Yes, and we need to start testing out audio/visual, so Riley, if you could head on over to the storage room and fetch a couple microphones that'd be fantastic." Angela requests. 

"Oh, sure. But where exactly is-" 

"Thank you, sweetie!" She exclaims before the three of them head towards the kitchen. Well, alrighty then. I think to myself. Guess I need to find the storage room myself. 

Before I do so, though, I take a few photographs here and there.  I then scan the room in search for the storage room, but failed to spot it. It must be outside then.

I exit the wedding suite and make my way down the hotel's hallway, hoping to find an employee that could help me out. 

As I was walking, I suddenly hear a soft melody playing from one of the rooms. Intrigued, I decided to investigate. I let myself into what seemed to be an awfully dark room. I could still see, but just barely. Barely enough to realize that I am currently inside a theater. Foldable chairs were placed all over the room and right up ahead was a small stage. I figured that one hit wonders or old artists would perform here. 

The sound was coming from the far end of the stage. I walk ever so quietly so whoever it may be won't see me. The closer I got to the stage, the louder the sound becomes. Next thing you know, I hear a voice. A guy's voice. He was humming along to the tune that he was playing, which was very, very beautiful. I then see him. A boy, who looked around my age, was sitting crossed-legged on the very back corner of the stage. He was surrounded by a ton of music equipment, so I couldn't really get a good look at his face. However, I could still see him delicately plucking the strings of his guitar whilst slightly swaying back and forth. I was wonderstruck at the sight.  Everything about the guy seemed so intriguing and mysterious, yet familiar. I scratch my head at the thought. 

Why does he look familiar?

I pulled out my camera and zoomed in, thinking that I could probably get a good look at him this way. For a split second, I saw him. But to my horror, I accidentally press the shutter-release button and the sound my camera makes stops him from playing. Shit. 

He turns around and looks off into the room. "Hello? Who's there?" 

Maybe if I slowly tip-toed towards the door, he won't notice. But I could never. The door was too far away, and besides, he'd probably see me leave. I take a deep breath before revealing myself. I slowly merge from the darkness, and wait- I remember him! He was the guy I ran into at the beach yesterday. 

His emerald green eyes, ones that have looked into mine before, widened at the sight of me. He remembers me. 

"Who let you in? And why were you taking photos of me?" He asks in a slightly stern tone. 

"I-I'm so sorry. Uh- I really didn't mean to. I-I-" I stutter anxiously. I take a second to stop myself from committing another act of embarrassment. "Look. I'm taking photos for the wedding that's happening here," I partially lie. I technically am taking the photos, but I'm more so on my quest to find the storage room. "How did you get in, I should ask. Are you the wedding singer?" 

The boy raises an eyebrow. "Am I the wedding singer?" 

"Yeah, are you practicing?" I start to slowly move towards him. "Because if so, I wouldn't do that song if I were you."

"And why not?" 

"Because," I say looking right up at him. God, his eyes are so mesmerizing. "Because it sounds so sad." 

He doesn't speak. Instead, he stares at me as if I was an alien from another planet. I begin to endure this familiar sinking feeling that I've become very much familiar with, especially from Charlie. I realize that I should probably leave before I start becoming even more anxious than I already am. "Well, it was nice meeting you. Good luck at the wedding." I say with burning cheeks and I turn to go.

[sugrmottas]

(this genuinely isn't judgey fodpsapid) but quinn, puck and santana having rachel's ambition is...a lot.

i mean, it is.

it also isn’t.

like, rachel definitely outpaces all of them, don’t get me wrong – rachel has lived her life being told she is going to be successful, and i think that changes things. quinn grew up believing she was doomed to live the life of her mother, puck grew up being told he was just like his father (which is mostly fan-canon but i feel like there’s enough Illusions in actual canon to back it up) and santana grows up in what qualifies for the Hood (adjacent) in lima, ohio – but like, rachel grew up with dads who worship her. who tell her she is going to be amazing because she has to be. her peers always say cruel things, but rachel trusts her fathers so much more than she does her peers, so girl grows up knowing she will be successful, if she works for it.

but then there’s puck, too. puck who is a young jewish kid in what is predominately a protestant state (on that line: i know quinn’s evangelical but what is mercedes actually? where we given anything more than just plain christian? also sam? why did glee never expand on anything??? ugh) so already feels like a fish out of water – but he (canonically, at least) only has two peers his age who share the same faith. jacob ben israel, who is disgusting, even from a young age (is it canon that puck’s always bullied him?) and rachel, who i truly do believe he grew up knowing, even if i don’t think they were the best friends fanon likes to paint them as. he grows up in a heavily jewish household but in a community that does not share his faith, or even respect it, and that’s hard. add to it a burning desire to not become his father (i’m not sure if it’s actually canon that his mother told him he was just like his father, but it’s a headcanon i hold very close to my heart) and a mother working her ass off to provide for him and his sister, and kid is fucking angry.

so puck has anger issues, which i feel is mostly backed up in canon anyway – which is his passion. his ambition blooms from this – a burning desire to prove everyone wrong, the need to get the fuck out of lima. i do think finn and puck have a very deep friendship, but it’s one that adds to both of their insecurities. finn is the Golden Boy, he is (seen as) kind and talented. puck is the Bad Boy, he is charming and capable. they spend their lives being compared and i think puck is mostly reserved to coming second (hence his anger at finn going off-book and joining glee) but he also maintains that he Wants to beat finn, wants to be the best. puck has selfish ambition (but really, what ambition isn’t at least a little selfish?), but he has so much of it.

remember his first Real line? i’m not like everyone else in this cow town, i got star potential. kid makes it very clear he’s getting the fuck out of lima, no matter what his peers think. i do hate how glee handled him in s4 (he got out of lima sure, but he didn’t do anything, which i feel was such a disservice to him – he struggled with school because he isn’t a learner, but he’s always been a doer, let’s not forget the kid had an actual business at 16) but i hate what they did with most characters in s4, so i tend to ignore it for everyone bar the newbies and finn. the unravelling of klaine was interesting too, if only because we saw how co-dependent they actually were. otherwise fuck s4. (santana and rachel both had Moments, now that i think about it.)

anyway, like – of the four, i think puck has the least ambition. i also think he has a lot more purpose than say, santana, so his ambition is a lot more Realised. 

and then there’s santana, who i think has the clearest ambition in the show, even if it’s constantly overshadowed by rachel’s. i believe santana’s family is religious (her abuela definitely is but we don’t know too much about her parents actual lives despite actually meeting her mother, it’s of my personal belief they are religious but non-practising) but santana fails to perceive any proper value to religion.

(this is going somewhere, i swear.)

santana also doesn’t have a Great Big Dream, she eventually settles on wanting to be famous but that feels so much like a cop-out that i fail to see any value to it. she doesn’t particularly live for cheerleading or glee club either. 

what i’m getting at here is that if santana has ambition (she does, i’ll get to it) she doesn’t have purpose to go with it. and ambition without purpose can be fucking dangerous and santana is such a good example of that.

onto her ambition: i do think it’s pretty clearly shown within the show, even from the beginning of her character, as underdeveloped as she was. of the three cheerleaders, she’s the one who wholeheartedly throws herself into sabotaging the glee club – we don’t see too much of her in the first half of s1, but i believe she was working away at some of the weaker characters (read: artie, because santana lopez genuinely does read super prejudiced, but i’m probably still salty about her biphobia) until the back half came along and girl turned it up, went after finn hudson and took his virginity (i have so many feelings about finntana, mostly in a platonic sense but there was a glee meta years ago on them sleeping together that still sticks with me) and took so much pleasure in quinn fabray losing her status (quinn and santana read weirdly similar to finn and puck, but i don’t think their friendship is anywhere near as deep so they have less reason to empathise with each other) and girl was fucking messy.

it was great. i lived for it.

then s2 happened and we met santana lopez, properly – the girl from the hood (adjacent) who was so angry and so scared and wanted so much. and the season was full of ambition from her, even if stupid little ways – wanting to win the duet competition and knowing her and mercedes would be the match-up, knowing she wants to keep sleeping with brittany so tricking her into thinking it’s not cheating (we can talk about who was the real bad guy of the two of them for that for days but the correct answer is both, because brittany pierce is not as dumb as she seems but santana lopez still had full intent to make b cheat on artie), rejoining the cheerios at the first opportunity because she wants to win, no matter the consequences (i’m not sure how i feel about the three of them ditching the competition because it’s just a weird situation but this isn’t a finn hudson meta). and she cares about glee club a lot, of course, for a lot of reasons, but you cannot tell me she’s so upset about finn and rachel losing them the competition solely because… what? they ruined it for the club? no, they lost it for her. fuck them for that.

s3 is really the season i point to to prove the girl lacks purpose, so we’ll skip over that to s4 – santana is on her own, for the first time. she’s on a scholarship to a big school relatively far from home and she doesn’t handle it well, of course. gets super untethered. and then visits home and remembers Santana Lopez, The Star. so she goes to new york and still lacks purpose, sure, but she has a stage. she just has to figure out what part she’s playing.

and this is where the danger comes in, because santana sees her friends succeeding – rachel mostly, but kurt too – and gets restless. does stupid shit like her yeast-i-stat commercial. but most importantly, decides her life’s mission is playing fanny brice. which isn’t stupid on its own, but like, for someone who cares so much about her friends it reads so strange that she would actively go after something that clearly matters so much to what we pretty much assume is her best friend. the deterioration of rachel and santana’s friendship was written awfully so i won’t go into it, but like. god. someone give this girl a purpose so she has something worthwhile to invest herself in and stops sabotaging all her relationships.

so santana has bucketloads of ambition (i’d rank her third of the four) but she has nowhere to put it and it fucks her over every single time.

and then quinn. oh, quinn. ohhhhhhhh quinn.

quinn has so much fucking ambition – she has a life planner from age six. she details every moment of middle school, every moment of high school, every moment of college, every moment of life. she’s going to go to an ivy league college (she thinks she’d like brown, her dad went there, but yale sounds nice and freeing) and she’s going to study law and she’s going to become a family lawyer. she’s going to help kids get away from abusive parents and she’s going to make sure everyone she comes into contact with is safe and happy.

on the flipside, lucy quinn fabray is already resigned to living her mother’s life. doing a short course in real estate and then becoming a realtor. she’ll marry a nice boy, maybe finn hudson, and they’ll buy a house with a white picket fence and have 2.5 children and a dog. 

quinn fabray’s ambition is fucking tragic, because it was killed before even getting the chance to thrive – and it’s still there, of course. in some ways. when she tells finn she’s pregnant, she says i really thought i had a shot at getting out of here. when she’s wondering whether to give up drizzle or not, she knows she shouldn’t – her religion doesn’t look on the act kindly and i’ll never forgive glee for overlooking quinn’s faith post-s1 – but it would allow her to move on with her life.

quinn fabray is tragic, because she loses her future-husband to rachel berry, who has all of her ambition and none of her fear (or all of it, but quinn doesn’t get to see that, nobody gets to see that). she loses her husband to everything quinn wanted to be, and it’s awful.

s2 sees quinn not gaining her ambition back, as she hoped. or maybe as i hoped. s2 sees quinn getting back with finn. s2 sees quinn telling rachel that she’s wasting her time with lima because she’s going to be successful and they aren’t (or rather, quinn isn’t). 

but it comes back, eventually.

i don’t know when. s3 fucked quinn over so bad. but it comes back.

and she writes so many fucking essays about her emotionally neglectful father and her child who she loves so fucking much but had to give up and her friends, her glee club, who helped her through fucking everything.

it comes back.

quinn gets accepted into yale.

quinn gets accepted into yale.

rachel and kurt are (eventually) accepted into a prestigious performing arts school, which is perfect for them, but let me reiterate – quinn (and mike actualy) gains admission into one of the most prestigious schools in america. 

quinn fabray is going to be fucking amazing, and she knows it – she’s going to live her own life, the one her mom wanted to life, but was always too scared to pursue. quinn knows how short life is, she also know she can’t let anyone drag her down – quinn is going to motherfucking yale and she is going to be fucking wonderful. 

there’s a quote i’ve always used for quinn – i can’t abandon the girl i used to be, so i carry her. and quinn carries lucy with her every single fucking day – and lucy gets to see her ambition realised, gets to see herself succeed and become everything she dreamed of.

and it’s amazing.

so maybe nobody has rachel’s ambition, not really. but a lot of glee club have their own wild ambitions (mike, mercedes and tina all come to mind).

but i do genuinely think puck, santana and quinn all come very close to the standard rachel set, in such different ways. 

and i think that’s wonderful. 

[rainyrowan]

Sunkissed - Chapter 1

description: Wedding of the century rolls around as the previous college clique, along with the rest of their family members, stay in preparation for it. During this time, Riley meets Lucas, a gorgeous, green-eyed wallflower who happens to be immediately taken by her. Little did she know, he has a deep secret. One that will either change her views on him forever or make her feel closer to his world.

word count: 2,626

pairings: riley x lucas

Song: Annabelle’s Homework by Alec Benjamin

chapter one; riley

Sparkley Farkley: Did you know that the slowest marathon time ever is 54 years, eight months, six days, eight hours, 32 minutes, and 20.3 seconds? Yeah, in 1912, an Olympic marathoner from Japan supposedly disappeared during the middle of a race. Some say that he stopped to get a drink from an outdoor party, but ended up staying longer than he should have. Risque, if you ask me. Anyways, he was too embarrassed to finish the race, so he flew back to Japan instead. Years later, he decided to finish what he started by running the whole marathon himself. What I'm trying to say is WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? Riley, you're seriously taking much longer to get to the boardwalk than this Japanese marathon guy. Hurry!!

I looked at the horrifically long paragraph Farkle had sent me and sighed. Being best friends with him also meant being best friends with your very own encyclopedia, which can be extremely useful at times. Although, it really isn't when your phone is constantly being bombarded with numerous texts about everything and nothing.

Gentle reminder that I live farther from the beach than you do. I'll be there soon! Don't miss me too much :)

I quickly text back. I gripped onto my camera strap, which is draped over my shoulder, as I start quickening my pace.

When we became closer over the years, Farkle and I both created a tradition of spending almost every Saturday down at the boardwalk. In regards to this, the main rule that we've agreed upon would be that if one of us couldn't make it, we would have to have an extremely valid excuse. Me being the more "laid back" friend, I've been pretty lenient on Farkle if he couldn't make it. Wish I could say the same about him, though.

Last night, I had to stay up till two in the morning helping my mother out at the flower shop. Arranging flowers isn't as easy as one may think. In result, I woke up later than usual, causing me to be about 30 minutes late. So far, I've received a fact text from him for every minute I ran late. It truly amazes me how he could just drop these facts off the top of his head.

I'm practically already running when I see Farkle by the entrance, arms crossed.

"I'm sorry!" I pant. I take a second to breathe before I continue speaking. "I.. I woke.. Wow, I'm not cut out to be.. an athlete, huh?" I joke.

He rolls his eyes as a grin forms on his face. "Where were you?"

"I was up all night helping my mom with the flowers. I woke up super late. I'm so sorry."

He nods in approval of my excuse. "That's okay. However, I don't think we could go to the diner now. Brooklyn and her minions are there. Seated in our spots too!"

The thought of Brooklyn made me sick to my stomach. Brooklyn was the Regina George of Harbor High School, and basically all of Santa Cruz. Like your typical teen cliche, she was the popular girl who also the prettiest. Brooklyn also had her own entourage, as she always had two minions following her. With her bitchy personality, you may say that it's surprising that she gets all the guys. With her body, though, it really isn't. It's probably how she had my crush of four years and counting, Charlie Gardner, falling for her.

"Well, I guess we would have to postpone our meal then," I say, linking my arms with his. We enter the boardwalk and head straight for the arcade. We're surrounded by all the games you could never ever get tired of. From Dance Dance Revolution to laser tag to racing games, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk Casino Arcade has you covered. Farkle and I have our common favorite, air hockey.

He let go of my arm, dashing straight to the air hockey table. "You ready to get your ass beat?"

He asks, slipping in a token. We love each other very much, but when it comes to air hockey, it's like we're two different people.

"You should be asking yourself that, Minkus." As air starts to shoot through the tiny holes from the table, we both grabbed our paddles. Suddenly, the puck falls through my pocket instead of Farkle's. "Well, that's a first! I guess I'm starting."

I hit the puck as hard as I can towards his goal. Hoping that this time my first hit would make it, he blocks the puck in a swift move and smiles. "Not today." This goes on for quite a bit. I concentrate on the puck as it glides across the table back and forth. That is, until a distraction came my way. Charlie.

I offer him a double take before actually realizing that it was him. He probably didn't even notice me, which was a good thing on my part. I didn't want him to know that I was here. Out of impulsive thinking, I ducked down to hide behind my side of the table. This wasn't really the best decision, though. Farkle managed to make a goal and yell on behalf of his victory. I don't even have to see what's happening to know that attention was surely brought towards us.

"Farkle!" I call out in a whisper. He walks around the table and takes a seat next to me.

"So, explain to me why we're hiding behind- "

"Riley!" Charlie exclaims. Mortified, I lift my head up to find him standing right in front of us.

"Hi, Charlie." I saw awkwardly. Thankfully, Farkle gets up off the ground and pulls me up, as I was too scared to even move.

Farkle clenches is jaw subtly enough that no one could notice, except for me. It's safe to say that he never liked Charlie. I don't blame him. Most of the time, he can be a total jackass.

I'm not too sure how or why I've liked him for so long, and still currently do. I like to think it's because of the fact that I'm always seeking the best in people. I don't necessarily like making assumptions out of people based on looks or first encounters. For Charlie, I realized how much of a good person he is, deep down, whilst working on a school project with him in the public library. My father, who so happened to be my teacher, assigned both of us as partners for a project that we had to turn in a matter of three days. Within those three days, we'd head to the library at night to work, but we were never productive. All we did was talk. Well, all Charlie did was talk. About himself, of course. I would just sit and listen. It was kind of odd not taking part in the conversation, but I mostly did not mind. As a matter of fact, I remember feeling like it was for the best since I would most likely say something stupid. Plus, I got to learn more about him and who he truly was. The downside of it was that I had to take our project home and finish it myself, but I thought that it was worth it. From that moment on, I couldn't help but keep thinking about him, about us.

Charlie extends his hand out to Farkle, expecting a shake, but he steps back. "I'll wait for you outside." He tells me. No, no. Please don't leave me alone with him.

"Well, that was awkward." He laughs. "But anyways, I am so glad I caught you. I was wondering if you're free like right now? I was hoping that you could help me out with something."

Crap. As much as I would love to help him, I promised Farke that I would spend the day with him. However, as I was looking up at Charlie's mesmerizing brown eyes, I seem to have ignored that fact. "Um, sure." I squeaked. I clear my throat and try again. "What would I be helping you with exactly?"

"You see, we're doing headshots in drama, and you're kind of known to be a really talented photographer," I blush as he says so.  Along with the fact that his words make me swoon, another thing about Charlie that I liked was the fact that he is a performing arts fanatic. I'm presuming that it's something that he would like to achieve in the future. He's actually really talented if I'm being honest.

"So, would it be alright if you got a couple of portrait shots of me by the beach?" Charlie asks.

"Maybe in return, I can buy you a milkshake afterward."

Farkle is so going to kill me after this.  "Er, okay."

"Great! C'mon, let's go." He starts heading towards the exit as I trail behind him. Hoping that he was the gentleman I thought he'd be, I expected him to open the door for me. Instead, he ends up leaving it to close behind him. I sigh, disappointed for getting ahead with my thoughts. Once I've exited the arcade, I immediately scan my surroundings in search for Farkle.

"I'm here." He calls out from behind me. I turn to find him leaning against a wall.

"You're going to hate me," I confess.

A smirk creeps up on his face. "Not gonna lie, I was already kind of assuming."

"You're not mad?"

"No," Farkle says softly. "I still hate that bastard, though. But I mean if you like him that much-"

I pull him into a hug. "Thank you," I whisper.

"Yeah, okay." He wraps his arms around my back and chuckles lightly.

"Riley?" Charlie yells.

I pull away from Farkle and adjust my outfit. This would technically be the first time I get to hang out with Charlie alone, so I obviously want to look presentable. However, that's clearly not the case since I'm currently in my maroon Harvard sweater that Farkle had actually bought me from when he visited last year, along with a pair of faded ripped jeans.

"Do I look okay?" I ask.

He holds two thumbs up. "Can't say no to a girl in Ivy League gear."

"I love you, and thanks a bunch!" I plant a quick kiss on his cheek before running towards Charlie.

Once I've caught up to him, we both head to the beach together.

I truly do love the beach. I love the ambiance of waves crashing against the shore, along with the wailing of seagulls as they soar across the sky. Not to mention, the smell of the ocean beach as well. Everything about the beach is so captivating and peaceful, especially since it's a little early and not a lot of people are here. The afternoon is the absolute worst time to visit the beach. The fact that there are so many people who usually come on a day to day basis, makes me a little anxious to go.

Charlie leads me to where the dock is located. Farkle and I would usually come to take pictures underneath the dock. This area is quite aesthetically pleasing.

"I think this is a great spot." He says, placing his bag down as I begin to adjust the settings of my camera. I let him know that I'm ready once everything's all set. Charlie then runs towards the shoreline and starts posing of a shot. Since I'll be capturing portrait shots, I made sure that my camera is set so all my photos can have a shallow depth of field. This way, Charlie will be in focus as the background will be a bit blurry. After taking a few photos here and there, I stop to look at them. Charlie was perfectly centered, the lighting was on point, and all shots have great composition. Perfect. I think to myself. However, Charlie apparently doesn't exactly think so when he sees them.

"Yeah, this situation just isn't working for me. Let's try something different." He looks around for a moment. "Here, why don't you get some bird-eye shots of me laying on the sand."

I was a little offended that he didn't like the photos I originally took. I spoke out, irritated. "I thought we were taking portraits?"

"I'm just trying to think outside of the box here, Riles. Maybe the photos will turn out better." I scoff at what he had just said. What difference does it make? You're just going to be lying down. And I thought all headshots were portraits. There he goes acting like a douche, but here I am, still taking interest in him.

Charlie lies down on the sand and places his hand behind his head. From the looks of it, he could pass for a Hollister or Abercombie & Fitch model.  I stand directly on top of him to get good shots. If I'm being honest, this isn't the ideal position I'd want to be in. It's a little uncomfortable and weird, really.

Suddenly, water hits the shore and Charlie attempts to save his khaki pants by jerking straight up. Instead, jerking straight up somehow caused me to tumble forward, allowing both of us to fall back down. I also end up dropping my camera on the sand. Water continues to run beneath Charlie, which caused his whole outfit to be soaked. "Shit!"

The water still kept going around us. I panic as I watch it slowly ooze towards my camera. Miraculously, the water stopped before it could reach it. I graciously let out a sigh of relief. "Will you get the fuck off of me now?!" He yells in annoyance. I flinched when he does so and realize that what was happening: I was on top of Charlie Gardener. Because I was on top of him, I didn't get hit by the water at all. I quickly scurried to my feet and grabbed my camera.  I turned to Charlie, who was still really angry that he was drenched. He got up from the ground and gathered his stuff. "Thanks to you," He snaps. "I am soaking wet, and I have rehearsals for the musical after this!"

I feel a familiar tightness gripping my throat. As Charlie continues to curse at me, a burning heat rushes through my body and I can hardly breathe. The DJ over by the boardwalk starts blasting music that seems to be ten times louder than usual. My surroundings then become too horrifically bright. My hands become clammy as I start to lose control of my body. My vision starts to get blurry and my heartbeat begins to speed up to the point where I could hear it.

Once Charlie finishes grabbing his stuff, he walks over to me. He stops and takes a deep breath. "Just email me the photos whenever you can." And with that, he walks away. When I've lost sight of him, I walk towards the pebbles near the ocean. I stare out to sea, trying to take big breaths. I stay until I've finally coaxed my heartbeat back to normal.