#my friend and i were talking about ai art at dinner tonight

[freebooter4ever]

just studies

[active-galactic-nuclei]

Rewrite Your Memories

Zuko x reader 

warnings: none except like Zuko’s tragic backstory

Inspired by the lovely @zukochi​ who gifted me this wonderful prompt!! 

You were looking for a roommate. You were broke, and you could hardly manage to pay the rent each month. As a college dropout, your career prospects weren’t looking too hot, and as a starving artist that didn’t seem like it would be changing anytime soon. So you put out an ad on craigslist. What’s the worst that could happen? If someone tried to murder you then at least you’d have a good story to tell at parties.

Zuko was looking for a house. Or an apartment. Or anywhere to stay that wasn’t the streets tonight. He had been kicked out of his dorm for “dangerous, unlawful and reckless activities.” Of course, he hadn’t meant to set his curtains on fire. It was just a mistake. They didn’t care much whether it was an accident or not. He was as good as gone as soon as his roommates walked through the door. He figured he’d just have to sleep in a crappy hotel for the night or god forbid he’d have to ask to stay with his uncle. Of course uncle Iroh would say yes, but his pride would never survive a blow like that. He was eighteen years old. He wanted to handle it by himself. He sat in his car and started searching for the places to stay.

Suddenly a message came through on your phone. An unknown number. You figured it would be just another spam text trying to sell you something, so you almost didn’t even bother reading it. Then you remembered the room listing. You’d only posted it two hours ago, surely that couldn’t be it, could it?

“Unknown number: I heard you’re renting out a room. When's the soonest I can move in?” it said. Laughing at the bluntness you quickly typed back.

“And just who are you?” you responded.

“My name’s Zuko. I need somewhere to stay asap,” he shot back quickly.

“Well if it’s really that urgent then you can come by whenever. I’m home for the rest of the day,” you offered, puzzled at his predicament. 

“Perfect. I’ll be over with all my stuff soon,” he responded. Well that wasn’t weird at all, right? Maybe you would be getting murdered after all. The universe just loved to punish you.

An hour and 35 minutes later on the dot, a knock sounded at the door. Well, time to meet your new roommate (or as you supposed, murderer… or…. both?) Dragging yourself away from the couch, you meandered warily to the door. When you opened it you were expecting a terrifying thug, or maybe a creepy old hag, or any other person that your mind coupled with the word murderer. You certainly weren’t expecting a tall, dark, handsome, young man with brooding eyes and a scar taking up half his face. Well, maybe the scar was a little more on brand with what you were envisioning… but regardless, you were more than surprised.

“I’m Zuko, and you must be Y/N right?” he asked meekly. Wonderful, his voice was gorgeous too. You were starting to wonder if the universe was cursing you in a much different way now. 

“Um yeah… That would be me,” you responded hesitantly. Why were you so awkward?

Now the universe really was cursing you.

“Great, I have my stuff with me so if you could, like, show me to my room that would be… wonderful,” he prompted. You had been so lost in his eyes you’d hardly even recognized what he’d said. You quickly snapped out of it, realizing what an idiot you looked like, and started walking toward the spare room.

“Sorry there's still some of my stuff in here. I’ll move it out by tomorrow, it's just that some of the paintings are still drying,” you told him. He started unpacking things from his suitcases and you decided to take the moment to sit down on the floor next to him.

“So uhh… What made you decide to move in with me so fast? I barely had the listing up for two hours,” you asked, trying not to push too hard and make him uncomfortable.

“It’s kind of a weird story,” he trailed off, “Are you sure you want me to tell it?” 

“I’m the master of weird stories, Zuko. Trust me, you can tell me anything,” you answered. 

“I’m um… kind of homeless I guess. I got kicked out of my dorm for uhh… setting my room on fire…” he confessed, looking embarrassed. He looked down, fearing your reaction. Would you be mad? Scared? Instead you surprised him by… laughing?

“I understand, I got kicked out of my last apartment for painting on the wall and ruining it. It was an accident, I just hadn’t realized I needed to put a tarp up. What about you? I mean… Did you mean to set the fire?” you asked. 

“If I'm telling the truth then… yeah. I guess I did. It was just a spur of the moment thing. I was just so angry I started lighting stuff on fire. I didn’t mean for it to spread to the curtains or anything though. That part was really an accident. I just didn’t notice until it was too late,” he explained. You smiled sympathetically.

“I get it. I mean, everyone makes mistakes sometimes,” you told him. “So, what do you do for a living?” you asked, laying back and resting your head on his now empty backpack. 

“I’m uhh… unemployed. I mean I’m a full time computer science student but my uncle pays for everything,” he told you.

“Your uncle pays for everything but you’re homeless? How does that work?” you asked playfully.

“I just didn’t want to bother him by asking to stay with him. I mean I know that he would say yes but�� I just couldn’t do that to him after everything he’s done for me,” he sighed. “How about you, what do you do?” 

“I work at a bookstore with some of my friends. I dropped out of college last semester. It just… wasn’t what I really wanted, you know? My passion is art. I just want to make the world brighter in that way,” you explained.

“I get it. I’m studying to work with artificial intelligence. I just want to help people. If I can do that with my life… i think everything will be worth it,” he told you.

“No way, my friend Toph is studying AI too! Have you ever met her?” you asked excitedly.

“Toph Beifong? Yeah of course I know her. She’s one of the smartest people in my engineering class. The way she works with metal to build stuff… I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.

“That’s Toph for you. She’s always talking about the newest thing she’s built when we’re working together. It’s her and I, and three of our other friends at the bookstore. Katara’s studying business, Sokka’s studying communications, and Aang is working on philosophy. Don’t ask me what he’s gonna do with that degree once he graduates, but he seems pretty happy whenever he talks about it to us,” you told Zuko. He was listening intently, hanging on every word. It seemed like he really cared. Suddenly you realized that you were in way over your head with the mysterious man. The universe was just so cruel that way.

The next day Zuko was in class. He sat next to Toph, hoping to get to know her better. In all his time in class with her, he’d never really taken the time to talk to her. To his surprise, once he got past her sarcastic and calloused exterior she was sweeter than he’d imagined. 

“Have you gotten the book we’re studying yet? The annotations are due by Sunday night,” Toph asked him.

“No I… haven’t even thought about it yet,” he confessed. 

“You should get on it or else you won’t finish on time. Why don’t you go to Katara's Books? That's where I work. Just tell them Toph sent you and they’ll give you 25% off. I mean, not like you need it, rich kid… but still, you should get it there. The money goes to my friend Katara. She owns it and she’s doing everything she can to keep it running,” Toph explained. 

‘Yeah, I'll be sure to stop by,” Zuko said, standing up to grab his things. Katara? That name sounded awfully familiar. Maybe he’d know where he’d heard it once he got there. Making his way across campus, he couldn’t get you out of his mind as he walked. 

Walking into the store he looked around, quickly finding his way to the nonfiction shelf.

“Hey, I’m Aang! Do you need help finding anything today?” came a voice from behind making him jump. He wheeled around to see a little bald kid wearing what looked to him like monk robes. Aang… now that name seemed familiar too. He told the kid, Aang, what book he was looking for. 

“Ah, I love that book! I love the part discussing the philosophy that metal is alive. It’s definitely great food for thought. It should be right… here!” he said, pulling the book off the shelf. 

“Thanks for the help… Aang,” he said, trailing off. He walked up the counter, ready to pay when he caught sight of you. Ringing up the customer in front of him. Of course that’s where he’d heard those names from, you had told him about them last night. He studied your face carefully as you smiled and laughed at the woman buying a copy of The fault in Our Stars. You looked… beautiful. He scolded himself for being creepy. He knew better than to start being vulnerable for you. 

“I can help the next guest in li- oh, Zuko! Hey!” you called out. 

“Hey Y/N, how’s it going today?” he shoots back.

“It’s good. We’ve been kind of slow so that’s been nice. Oh, I love this book! Autobiography of a Yogi is really amazing. Aang told me about it after he studied it in class. I read it after that and I loved it! I think you’ll really enjoy it,” you told him. You were so adorable when you were excited. Zuko scolded himself again. He needed to get you out of his mind. As he paid and said goodbye though, it seemed an impossible task. A spark had caught in his heart, and he knew it would soon be a raging forest fire. Uncontrollable and insurmountable, too great to ever find his way out of. As he walked back to your shared apartment, he began to realize the thought didn’t scare him nearly as much as it should have.

Walking in the door and setting your keys down, you saw Zuko on the couch. As peaceful as he looked, you needed to ask him about dinner.

“Hey, are you hungry?” you asked, setting your bag on the counter.

“Yeah, are you making dinner?” he responded. He turned around to face you.

“I was hoping you’d help out but, yeah. All I have is macaroni and cheese, is that fine with you?” you asked. 

“Yeah, I’ll get the stuff out for it,” he said, watching you put a pot of water on the stove to boil. He grabbed the milk and butter from the fridge, trying to put his anxiety to the back of his brain. He was a grown adult, it shouldn’t still scare him. He had zoned out and before he knew it, the pasta was done.

“Hey, move you dork. I need to pour this in the strainer you said. Seeing that he didn’t seem to notice you tried to move around him and pour it out anyway. Evidently, that did not go very well as you accidentally scalded his hand by pouring boiling hot water on it. He let out a yelp, sounding like a kicked puppy. Your heart sank.

“Oh my god Zuko I’m so sorry!” you apologized. You tried to grab his wrist to inspect the burn, but he snatched it away from you with a squeal and sank down against the refrigerator. You knelt down in front of him as he folded in on himself. You reached up to grab an ice pack from the freezer and handed it to him, noticing him start to cry. You sat next to him and tried to calm him down. He sounded like he was hyperventilating, which you didn’t take as a good sign. You knew a panic attack when you saw one, and this was most certainly one of them.

“Hey, calm down. It’s alright. You’re going to be okay, alright? Just breathe,” you reassured him softly. You rubbed his shoulder tenderly as you brought him back down to earth. It took a few minutes, but eventually he calmed down enough to speak.

“Hey, can you tell me what just happened, Zuko?” you asked softly, trying your best to sound reassuring.

“Panic attack… I just panicked… too much like the accident… too scary,” he blubbered almost incoherently. 

“What accident? Can you tell me what happened to you Zuko?” you pushed, trying your hardest to stay gentle. Your heart broke when he spoke up.

“My dad… when I was little… my face… he poured boiling water on my face… that’s why I have my scar… It hurt so bad, Y/N, it just reminded me of it,” he explained. You were horrified, but even more than that you were angry that someone could do that to him. To such a sweet person. To a child.

“Is he in jail? Your dad?” you asked, pushing your voice to stay flat.

“He’s… he’s gone now. Thankfully. I don’t know what I’d do if I ever had to see him again.” Zuko explained, wiping his tears on his sleeve. “I’m sorry I freaked out, I didn’t mean to…”

“No, don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault. Not at all,” you told him, holding back tears of your own. 

“So umm… you think the pasta’s still good?” he asked, a watery smile teasing on his lips. 

“Fuck the pasta,” you told him. “We’ll just order out.”

“I’d like that... “ he trailed off.

“We’ll get whatever you want, my treat,” you said, watching his face.

“Can we go eat at my uncle’s shop? He makes great tea and we’ll probably be the only ones in there,” he asked.

“Of course we can,” you told him. You got up to grab your keys, not noticing how his eyes flickered over to you with longing as you turned around.

Stepping out of your car, you looked up at the sign for the Jasmine Dragon. A quiet little tea shop by the edge of campus, sitting alone next to two closed buildings. It was cute, you thought. You were surprised you’d never been before. You walked in behind Zuko, who instantly got called up to the counter by a man you could only assume to be his uncle. You spat out an order to him and he cheerfully wrote it down and handed it to the cooks. You couldn’t believe someone so sweet could be related to a family as awful as the one Zuko had described. 

As the only ones in the shop, you got your food quickly. You eyed your soup appreciatively, thanking the server as he walked away. 

“This colour is so pretty. I need to paint something with it sometime,” you told Zuko, gesturing to the soup. 

“It reminds me of your eyes… they’re pretty too,” Zuko said, instantly kicking himself for it. You blushed as you looked up to see him looking at his food intensely, too embarrassed to look back at you.

“Thank you… You know, your eyes are pretty nice too,” you responded rather awkwardly. The universe’s vendetta for you knew no end.

As you got up to leave, Zuko stayed put. 

“I’m gonna stay here to help Uncle close up shop. I’ll be home in an hour or so,” he explained. He watched you say goodbye and walk out, making your way to the car. He walked over to the counter, vaulting over it. 

“Zuko! How’s my favourite nephew doing?” Iroh asked him, smiling as he finished drying off a glass. 

“I’m… confused. I need help, Uncle,” Zuko responded.

“It’s about that Y?N, your new roommate, isn’t it?” Zuko nodded, “I knew it. I’m always so good at reading you, Zuko.” Zuko sighed.

“I think I really like her, but I don’t know what to do. What if she thinks I’m weird or something. I don’t want to ruin us as friends,” Zuko confessed. 

“You’ve got to do what makes you happy, Zuko. If she makes you happy, tell her. If she’s really your friend she’ll understand,” Iroh told him, pulling him into a knowing hug. Zuko let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding as he sank into it. Everything always had to be so complicated. 

At home, your mind raced with thoughts of Zuko. Calling your friends, you sighed as everyone picked up.

“What am I supposed to do about Zuko?” you asked dramatically.

“You could always just kill him,” Toph offered, earning a laugh from everyone else.

“I’m serious. He's literally… perfect. I think I’m in love with him or something,” you said to her.

“Let me get this straight: you let him move into your apartment without even knowing him, he tells you he burnt down his dorm room, and now you’re in love with him? Maybe I’m just spoiled by being in love with the nicest person ever but that sounds kind of fucked up,” Katara told you. 

“Ok first of all, yes you are spoiled by being in love with Aang, but second of all yes. I know I’m an idiot but I can’t help it. You’d only understand if you were in my shoes,” you responded.

“I think you should just do it. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? He says no?” Aang said.

“No Aang, the worst he could do is be totally creeped out and move out and I never see him again,” you spat out frustratedly. 

“If that happens, I’ll yell at him in engineering for you,” Toph offered.

‘Thanks Toph, but I doubt it’ll come to that. I’ll probably just suffer dramatically until the end of time,” you lamented flopping down onto the couch to agonize about life.

When Zuko walked in, he was surprised to find you on the couch. He walked up to the sink and dumped the forgotten macaroni in the trash and rinsed out the pot. Drying his hands on his jeans, he walked over to where you were sleeping. He debated for a second before picking you up and carrying you back to your room. He set you down in bed and turned off the lights in the hallway. He took note of the stacked canvases in the corner, and saw the painting still drying on top. A boy with half of his face obscured by a deep red scar stared back at him. It couldn’t be meant to be him, could it? Surely he wasn’t that beautiful in your eyes, was he?

Waking up the next morning you were confused. You had fallen asleep on the couch talking to Katara. Why were you in your bedroom? Had…. had Zuko brought you in here last night when he came home? Your heart sped up at the thought. He must have, right? As you got dressed and walked into the empty living room, you couldn’t get the thought out of your head. Zuko was already long gone, the crazy morning person that he was. It was your day off, and you knew it was Sokka’s too, so you decided to call him. 

“Hey, do you wanna go get coffee or something today?” you asked him when he picked up the phone. 

“Of course, dork. Meet me at the coffee house by the campus library in half an hour,” he responded. You smiled as you hung up the phone and went to go get ready. 

Half an hour later and you were walking into the coffee house to see Sokka sitting at a table in the corner. You sat down across from him to see your favourite drink already sitting in front of you. Taking a sip, Sokka piped up.

“So about this Zuko character, I know you really like him. Tell me more about him,” he told you, punctuating the sentence with a smile that you couldn’t resist.

“He’s so gorgeous, Sokka. Plus, he’s the sweetest guy I’ve ever met. Aside from you and Aang. But seriously, he’s amazing. I painted a picture of him last night while I was on the phone and it was just Katara. He has the most paintable face. I just want to get lost in it,” you rambled on. He was starting to overtake your mind, you couldn’t get him out of your brain.

“Look, I’m just saying. If he’s that great, you should just tell him you feel. If anything else, you know I’ll kill him if he breaks your heart,” offered Sokka. 

“Good luck,” you laughed, “He’s been training in Tae Kwon Do since he was a baby,” you replied. Sokka groaned, smirking as you laughed at him. You took a sip from your coffee mug. Things were always so complicated.

Walking back into the apartment, you saw all the lights were turned off. That was… strange. Zuko should have been home by now. Maybe he was sleeping? You walked with light footsteps down the hall, making your way towards Zuko’s room. Seeing his door cracked open, you decided to go in and check on him. You found him sitting in the dark, holding a lighter. A little silver Zippo he was using to pass over the ends of his fingertips, and holding to his palm. He looked lost in thought as he watched the flames dance across his skin.

“Zuko… are you ok?” he whispered trying not to disturb him too much. He flinched and dropped the lighter onto the carpet, wheeling around to face you.

“You scared me, I didn’t even hear you come in,” he told you.

“Sorry I just… didn’t want to make too much noise in case you were sleeping or something. Anyway, what were you doing?” you asked.

“Oh I was just messing with my lighter. You know, typical pyromaniac behavior,” he smirked.

“I knew you were an amateur arsonist, but I didn't peg you as the masochist type,” you giggled. 

“It’s just in my blood I guess. I’ve always been fascinated by fire as long as I can remember. So was my sister, and my parents, and my cousin. My uncle is too. I guess that’s just how it goes with us,” he revealed.

“I didn’t know you had a sister. I’m assuming she uhh… wasn’t the best?” you said knowingly.

“She was sick in the head. It wasn’t her fault. An upbringing like we had would make anyone crazy. She’s in a mental hospital now. I still visit her sometimes but… not as much as I used to. It’s just hard to see her like that. It just reminds me too much of my mom,” he confessed.

“Is that… bad?” you asked, trying hard not to sound rude.

“I loved my mom, she was the best part of my life when she was in it. After my dad disowned me and kicked her out though… it’s just too hard to think about…” he trailed off, his voice cracking with a sob at the end. 

“I’m so sorry, Zuko. I can’t imagine how you feel,” you responded, pulling him into your chest as his body shook with sobs. You held him as he let out strangled sobs, and you stayed like that until his breathing evened out. 

“We’re gonna get through this. We can rewrite your memories together,” you told him.

The next morning as you clocked into work, you couldn’t stop thinking about the night before. The way he’d been so vulnerable with you. You had grown so fond. It was impossible to stop your heart from racing every time you thought about him. Walking over to where everyone else stood sorting through books, you sighed.

“I need to do something about Zuko. I can’t keep thinking about him like this. It’s all I can think about,” you said, punctuated with a groan.

“Ok well, your only options are to either tell him or die miserable and alone. I don’t know about you, but I would take the first option,” Sokka told you, turning around to face you. 

“Seriously. I know Toph isn’t here but I’m sure she’d agree: we all want you to be happy. The only way that’ll happen is if you just tell him how you feel,” Katara remarked. 

“I guess you’re right. But what if he thinks I’m creepy or something?” you asked self consciously. 

“Y/N, you’re gorgeous. Zuko would be lucky to have someone like you. Trust me, if he says no he’s delusional,” Katara responded. 

“I think I’ll tell him tonight and get it over with,” you stated. 

“Finally! I’m sure it’ll go well,” Aang told you, smiling from behind the book he was occupied with.

Zuko couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid to be so vulnerable with you last night. Once was more than enough, but twice? You had such an effect on him. It was like he could really be himself around you. It was the first time he’d ever felt that way, and he knew he’d have to capitalize on it. He knew he had to tell you how he felt. He sat down next to Toph, as had become his routine in class everyday.

“Toph, I need to ask you something,” he said, setting down his backpack.

“If you’re going to ask me on a date, just know that I’d rather kiss Momo,” she said, motioning to the dopey eyed guide dog that sat at her feet.

“No, it’s about Y/N. It's just… they make me feel so different. I’ve never felt the way I feel about them,” Zuko confessed.

“Happiness. You’re describing happiness,” Toph replied sarcastically.

“Yeah, I guess I am. I guess what i'm asking is… would you be alright with me asking her out?” he asked.

“Of course, idiot. As long as you don’t break her heart. Then I’ll have no choice but to kill you,” Toph said, raising her eyebrow. Zuko shuddered. If there was anyone he was truly scared of, it was Toph Beifong. 

Sitting on the couch, you turned your head at the sound of a key turning in the door. You smiled inwardly when you saw Zuko’s face emerge from the door frame. 

“How was class?” you asked him.

“It was… good,” he responded, walking over to you, “I uhh… really need to tell you something,” he said meekly. 

“What’s up?” you asked as he sat down on the couch next to you.

“I just… you’re the first person that’s made me feel loved in so long. You’re always so happy to see me, and you always know just what to say, and you’re so gorgeous, and you have the most beautiful laugh and… I guess what I’m trying to say is… I really really like you, Y/N,” he confessed. He had no idea what to expect but he certainly hadn’t expected you to… laugh? 

‘I know, Zuko,” you giggled, cutting him off with a kiss. He was taken aback, but he relaxed into it before you pulled away, keeping your hand on his cheek.

“How did you know?” he asked, breathless.

“You think Toph can keep a secret? Of course she told me,” you smiled.

“Of course she did,” he laughed, pulling you in for another kiss, “So, can I call us official?” he asked. 

“Of course, my love,” you told him, sinking into his arms. 

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

"Let Me Patch You Up" A MatchaBlossom Kid Fic

Hi everyone! So this is one of my favorite newer things that I have gotten interested in. I love writing as most of you know and one of my newer favorite fandoms is Sk8 The Infinity! MatchaBlossom is one of my favorite ships in the last few months, they're such a good and unique ship. I got super into the show and eventually made my own fan-kids for the ship. I love making OCs and they make me really happy. So welcome to my newest fic, with Sakura and Haru. I have art of them as well if anybody wants to see what they look like! (By the way, they are twins, both are biologically female and Haru became trans. Kaoru and Kojiro had them through a surgate.)

“Sakura, get up. Your brother is gone, we don’t know where he is.” I jolted upright at the sound of my mom’s strict take no for an answer tone and the sudden brightness in my bedroom from him turning on the lights.

“Sorry flower, I tried to stop him I really did.” My dad quickly followed behind him and I rubbed the tiredness from my reddish brown eyes.

“Do you know where Haru went sweetheart?” He asked me sitting at the foot of my pastel bed taking one of my pillows and handing it to my mom so that he could have something to calm him down with.

“I have really no idea where he could have gone. He told me that he was practicing tonight but that he’d be back before curfew so I haven’t texted him. I’m sorry…” I apologized and my mom just sighed a little bit at me.

“No it is not your fault Sakura you shouldn’t have been left home alone today. He’s still transitioning so I’m even more paranoid about what could happen to him.” My dad put his strong arm around my mom’s shoulders and I watched the familiar tension sort of melt away at the love and affection.

“Do you know where he could have gone flower?” My dad tried his damndest to keep my mom calm and collected but even I could tell that he was just as stressed out as my mom was.

“I mean I thought that it was a joke…” I thought back to earlier that day when I had thought he had jokingly challenged Ichigo to a beef. Ichigo was one of the techies for the drama department that had been talking to me that I really liked who was a fellow skateboarder.

“What was a joke Sakura?” I sighed a little bit crossing my ankles together and playing with the ends of my long pink hair.

“I thought that it was a joke when he challenged Ichi to a beef for a date with me…” My mom took a deep inhale of breath and I could tell that he was visibly holding back the yell of rage.

“What?” His voice took on the deep and ominous tone that I had only heard a handful of times in my life when I had done something that was absolutely unseemly. It used to terrify me to my core when I was little kid and even now it still sent a shiver down my spine and made me fear for my own life.

“Hasn’t that boy asked you out on his own yet?” I shook my head a little bit plucking at the ends of my sheets sighing a little bit.

“No he hasn’t. I think that he’s waiting for me to ask him and make the first move. I was getting really close to doing it too. I really thought that there was no way they would actually agree to a beef. It just seemed ridiculous. Sometimes I wish I knew what in the world went through his head when he joked about it.” My dad put his arm around my shoulders bringing me closer to him and drawing a comforting circle there somehow calming both me and my mom down in one fell swoop.

“Well I think that if he doesn’t get murdered by your mother by the end of this then it’ll be worth it to go out on a date with that boy. I happen to like him. It reminds me a lot of how your mom and I were at your age.” My mom rolled his golden eyes with a small smile. I yawned a little bit rubbing the water from my eyes. I had only gotten to sleep a few hours ago having been doing homework for most of the night before.

“I know that you had just barely went to sleep Sakura. I’m really sorry but I had a mother panic attack when I went to go and make sure that Haru fell asleep.” I smiled softly at him since he had always been the doting parent it didn’t surprise me that he still regularly checked on my brother to make sure that he was getting enough sleep.

“It’s fine mom. I understand why you did come and get me instantly. I probably would have done the same thing in your case. Let me just try and text him or try and track his cell phone.” I went onto the find my family app clicking on my brother and it led me directly down the hall to his bedroom.

“Oh my god that stupid, idiotic, dumbass, moronic, he forgot his phone!” I ranted and my mom sighed muttering a string of curses underneath his breath.

“Of course he did, he’s the son of an idiotic gorilla. I am not at all surprised that he left his phone at home. Then again if he did go to a beef it was actually a smart decision for a kid who worships his phone it could have gotten broken. He should be lucky he forgot his phone. It’ll take longer for me to find and lecture him.” I laughed a little bit at his nearly stunned stupidity. I wasn’t at all surprised that my brother would leave the house without his phone. He was the forgetful type, one of the few things that he hadn’t picked up from mom was his sharp analysis and he usually followed our dad’s himbo logic of just GO.

“I’m going to try Ai and see if he has seen him at all…” I turned on my own phone sending out a rapid text to my brother’s best friend. He was basically our cousin as the son of Reki and Langa so we had grown up together. If anybody were to be at a beef that my brother was skating at it was Ai.

Me: AI, is my brother wherever you are?! My mom woke me up, he’s not at home and I have no idea what is going on. I thought that he was joking about the beef earlier with Ichi! My phone instantly pinged with a text from Ai of my brother doing a rail slide with Ichigo right behind him.

“Oh he is so dead when I get my hands on him…” My mom threatened and I already saw the marks of injuries.

“Idiot, he hasn’t practiced enough professionally recently, not since he started doing basketball.” I muttered and my dad leaned into my space to see what Ai had said.

“He bailed pretty early on and got some bad scrapes but he’s been giving Ichigo a run for his money. The beef is that if Ichigo wins he has to finally ask you on a date and if Haru wins then Ichigo has to give up on you. That’ll be bad if he loses. That’s not a fair bet too you can’t bet things like that. It’s usually for little things, the date thing is fine but he has no right to tell Ichigo that he has to give up on you.” I scowled feeling the burning rage inside of me building into an inferno.

“Mom if you don’t kill him can I and turn him into a dessert?” My dad laughed a little bit at me putting his arm around my shoulders.

“Sorry my loves neither of you can kill Haru. Both of you are going to have to just lecture him and Kaoru you can ground him.” My mom sighed before resigning himself to his fate that if he couldn’t kill his son he could at the very least ground him until the end of time.

“Sakura, I hope that you know that this is not your fault. You did not know that your brother would go for the beef and thus his injuries are not yours to blame.” My mom reminded me and I sighed heavily going back to that picture and feeling my eyes well up with tears.

“But I should have done something, I could have stopped them if I didn’t know that they were being totally serious…” My dad lightly shushed me bringing me into a tight and warm hug. My dad always gave the best hugs in the entire world, they were warm and everything good. I felt my mom being pulled into the hug as well and felt the small smile on his face rub against my hairline.

“Whelp, we might as well go and rescue our kid. Grab your boards people!!” My dad encouraged me and I went to go and grab the longboard that Reki had made specifically for me when I was eight so that I could learn to skate.

“The first person to find where he is on the course will get to pick the movie tomorrow.” My mom told me and I was already internally plotting how to get them to watch another Disney movie.

“That is so not fair Cherry you already know that she is going to do everything that she can to beat us in finding her brother so she can pick some kiddie movie.” I heard the whine of my dad and my mom just smirked a little bit.

“That’s why I made that bargain so that she would consider it an incentive to find her brother. Which one are you thinking about princess?” I hummed in thought spinning my wheels on my board in my hands, looking at the beautiful enchanted rose that Reki had carefully painted on the bottom of it.

“Well gee I fucking wonder what she’s going to pick.” I heard the soft oof that meant mom had once against elbowed him too hard in the ribs.

“Watch your language you worthless gorilla. I am trying to raise our daughter to not be a potty mouth.” I heard the muttered this coming from the cursing king.

“He has a good point mom, I think I heard words I’m not even familiar with when you stubbed your toe last week on the dinner table when you got up too fast.” I taunted lightly and he ran a hand through his long but slowly graying pink hair.

“You got me there Sakura, alright to the car.” He put his arm around my shoulders and I snuggled a little bit farther into his arms. I held back the yawn that was threatening to erupt from my mouth.

“You can just stay in the car sweetie in case that you fall asleep on your board.” I shook my head with a small smile on my face. I had not skated for fun in a few weeks and I had missed the feeling of the wind in my hair as I went zooming by on my board.

“Not going to happen dad, I’ve got my eyes on the prize. That being another shot at torturing you and Haru. I’m thinking maybe Beauty And The Beast.” I heard the groan that I knew was coming but saw my dad’s loving smile on his face.

“I would expect nothing less from my little girl. Are you sure that you want to go in your pajamas though?” He snarked lightly and I blushed a bright pink hearing the lecturing Kojiro followed by my dad’s argument, somebody had to tell her. I grabbed my sunset graphic tee and a pair of black skinny jeans tying a pair of converse around my feet. I grabbed my bright pink hoodie and carefully zipped it pulling my hair into a loose bun on the bottom of my head.

“That’s better sweetheart, now I can’t lose you with that hoodie on either.” I lightly stuck my tongue out at my dad and went down the stairs to the restaurant seeing the scary lack of people on the streets.

“It’s kinda creepy out there at night…” My thoughts drifted and my mom put an arm around my shoulders comfortingly.

“This will be a quick grab your idiot brother and get out situation most likely. Then we patch him up, keep from school tomorrow, and yell at him once I get done with this big project.” I laughed a little bit at my mom and his thoughts on the matter.

“Here kiddo, I got these too just incase it’s loud where we go.” My dad handed me my over the ear headphones that I had to use sometimes when I went on school trips.

“Thanks dad… I swear Haru better appreciate this. I am dragging him back to the car by his freaking ear if I catch him first.” I threatened and they knew that I meant business too. My mom just lightly kissed my forehead pushing the hair out of my eyes.

“There’s my beautiful girl.” I preened a little bit at the praise but looked out the window at the pitch blackness of night.

“Ai texted again, he sent me the coordinates to where the beef is being held.” I plugged the information into my phone and handed it off to my dad who was whirling his car keys around.

“Don’t drop them gorilla.” My mom taunted lightly and I couldn’t help but smile at their familiar bickering. That was their love language and it was something so uniquely them even if it did sometimes cause me to get dragged into the harder debates.

“I might be stupid but I’m not that stupid.” I smiled softly shaking my head at the two of them tapping my shoes on the ground.

“Doesn’t your brother have a crush on your costar for Hairspray?” I nodded my head with a small sigh rolling my eyes.

“Yes he does so he doesn’t have a leg to stand on right now. I wish that I could tell you what he was thinking but I don’t know. Usually he’s a pretty easy person for me to read and get a handle on but not today.” My dad just lightly ruffled up my hair and I pouted at him. I clutched my longboard to my chest and felt the cold of the outside go through my bones. Haru had better be grateful by the time that all of this is over he’s going to owe me big time.

“You two are growing up, your not little kids anymore where you would be able to finish each others sentences. Part of me misses that as a parent since I never got to be around during the day very often to see that.” I squeezed my mom’s hand since I knew that he had a lot of regrets about how often he worked. I never really minded that much, it just made the moments when he could be around all the more special.

“Mom I know that you feel like this is your fault too. It’s not anybody’s fault. I feel like that Haru would have done this anyways. He’s always trying to prove himself to anybody. He probably challenged Ichigo to a beef to try and prove that he could protect me or something along those lines.” I sighed a little bit buckling my seatbelt and my mom sat in the back of the car with me.

“I want to be next to my little girl right now Kojiro.” He told my dad and I saw the small pout but knew that my dad wouldn’t fight him on this.

“I guess I’ll just have to sit up here all by my lonesome then.” My mom muttered just drive you stupid primate and I couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at the two of them.

“I’ve missed you lately anyways mom, it seems that you’ve been more busy than normal.” He sighed a little bit nodding his head.

“More and more orders have been coming in, I envy your brother for wanting to work on tattoos instead of going my route. Have you ever thought about getting ink done?” I nodded my head with a small smile on my face.

“I already told him that once he gets his own shop together that I would be his first customer. I’ll always support him no matter what he wants to do. It’s what siblings do even though sometimes we fight about trivial things.” I shrugged my shoulders and my mom chuckled softly at me as I leaned my head against his side tiredly.

“Did you have a lot of homework?” I nodded my head through my yawn. That was always my problem was that I had too much homework and it took me forever if I wanted to get things done the right way. It left me with minimal free time with my brother or just to myself at all.

“I’ll talk to your principal tomorrow this is getting ridiculous Sakura. You can’t be pulling these all nights. Your still just 15 and this is not what you should be doing as a young teenager. You should be out having fun with your friends, spending time with your brother, working with the drama club instead of worrying about the test tomorrow.” My mom tied his hair up into a tighter ponytail so that it wouldn’t get in his face once he was on his board.

“Mom you don’t have to call anybody it’s fine really. Everybody else has to do the same amount of work. It’s my fault for being so slow at getting things done. Haru doesn’t need to stay up this late in order to get his work done. I’m just stupid…” He squeezed my hand lightly running his thumb along the knuckle of my hands.

“You are not stupid Sakura. You are extremely smart it just takes time for you to learn how to do things the right way and that is not your fault that the teachers aren’t doing their job properly. Don’t think that I haven’t heard the videos that you watch in your room that explain the concepts to you.” I blushed a bright pink now feeling even more stupid than I did a few minutes ago.

“Needing help in school, it’s not a bad thing flower. You don’t have to be perfect at every little thing in fact I prefer you when you aren’t. You’re my little girl and you can bake me out of my own restaurant. So what if it takes you longer to do homework than everybody else? That doesn’t make you dumb or anything, it just means that you put in more effort instead of just wiping it out for the sake of doing something else.” My dad reasoned as he pulled out of the restaurant’s driveway. All the lights in the homes being off and people’s establishments being closed in this neighborhood that usually was lit up felt almost unnatural to me.

“I am calling the school because this can’t go on any longer. It’s bad enough that you have to do late rehearsals but staying up until three in the morning to do homework right it’s ridiculous. You’re just a kid you shouldn’t have bags underneath your eyes.” Something about my mom’s tone told me that I had already lost this argument.

“Okay mom just go easy on them. I don’t need my teachers suddenly getting more on my case because I have a demanding parent.” I tried to joke but his gold eyes told me that I had just talked myself into an even deeper hole than I had originally started off with.

“Do they give you extra work because of us?” I sputtered because the notion of that just seemed so utterly ridiculous.

“Mom no they aren’t homophobic everybody is really nice at my high school. I mean they accept Haru just fine so everybody is great just trust me. I love my friends and my drama club mates there. It’s just that I have a lot of homework that has nothing to do with either of you. My teachers warned me that they would give out several hours of homework per class when I started high school.” I reminded him and my mom just sighed running a hand through his fringe.

“It just doesn’t seem right that your brother gets done with his homework in no time at all while you seem to take all day and night. I haven’t seen much of you lately because of all the homework that your getting. I like seeing my little girl’s smiling face when I come home and not seeing her buried in homework.” I sighed a little bit. Now I felt guilty for always having to do my schoolwork and pushing out family time. I hadn’t meant to withdraw since it wasn’t my choice in general. I wished that I didn’t have so much homework so that I could spend more time with my parents.

“If you’re trying to get your mom to back down trust me it won’t work sweetheart. He never backs down from anything believe me I know. I haven’t been able to get him off my ass since we were seven years old.” My mom kicked my dad’s backseat muttering insatiable gorilla under his breath that caused me to laugh at the two of them.

“I know I give up, you can call the school. You’ll probably need to for Haru anyways. He’ll be out for a little while if the injuries in the picture that Ai sent me are anything to go by. He’s going to hate not being able to play basketball. Of course, it’s his own fault for being such an idiot.” My dad just laughed at the two of us interacting off each other.

“He’ll be lucky to be a benchwarmer for the rest of the season if I have anything to say about it. Consider it his ultimate punishment. I won’t ground him for too long but I still want him to learn his lesson about how his actions have consequences.” I could see the look of cold dead seriousness in his eyes and I knew that my mom meant business. There was no way in anything that Haruki was getting out of this scot-free.

“Am I in trouble too? If I had just asked Ichi out in the first place then we wouldn’t be here…” He stopped his tirade making a gentle shushing sound putting his arm around my shoulders.

“Never, this is not your fault Sakura okay? You didn’t want to ruin your friendship that you have with that boy and this is not your fault for being scared. I remember I was terrified to my core about asking your dad out on our first date.” My dad smiled at me through his mirror at the front of the car. I hugged my mom tightly and he just thumbed at my cheeks.

“It was not your fault. This would have happened at some point anyways because your brother is competitive. He gets it from your dad.” My dad laughed brightly and I felt a big hand ruffle my hair lightly.

“Hands on the wheel you stupid primate, you do not want to get on my bad side right now.” My mom threatened and I laughed a little bit at how fast my dad pulled his hand away from my hair. I sighed at the messed up hair that he had given me as I retied it this time slightly tighter than the last so it wouldn’t come undone as easily.

“Sorry Kao just trying to give her some affection. I don’t blame you either flower you’re just doing your best Saki and quite frankly I’m proud of you for getting such good grades even if it’s been taking a lot of your free time away from the things that are really important. Your mom just wants to spend more time with you and I don’t blame him. You’ve been working crazy hard and we’ve all missed you.” I sighed a little bit. In trying to not let everybody down I had done just the opposite and let them down in a different way.

“I’m sorry that I haven’t been as attentive as I could be. I learned my lesson though and I know better for next time. Hard work is important but so is spending time with the people that you love more than anything.” My mom put his arm comfortingly around my shoulders pulling me closer into his side while avoiding me getting pulled out of my seatbelt.

“It’s a lesson that I am still struggling to learn and I’m an adult. You get your lack of knowing when to actually quit working from me as well as your stubbornness.” I heard my dad mutter at least he finally admits it as my mom once again kicked his backseat.

“I don’t believe that I asked the opinions of an oafish meathead. I’m trying to be sincere.” I laughed at the two of them mentally logging oafish meathead for my next argument with Haru.

“I know you were mom and thank you for that. I needed to hear that. I’m going to stop working so hard, besides it seems like the harder I work the more tired I am to actually focus during classes. I could probably start doing a little bit of the work at lunch…” My mom shook his head at my getting out his phone.

“Carla, leave a note for me.” He told his AI and I looked at the machine as I always did in sheer awe. Haru was always better at science then me so this kind of thing always amazed me.

“What note would you like for me leave master?” I saw my dad lightly mutter he could have just told me and I just mimed a lip zip. I didn’t want to get him even angrier because the angrier my mom got the more likely one or both of us would get caught in the crossfire.

“Don’t make me hurt you up there you primate. I want you to remind me once Sakura’s rehearsal starts tomorrow to call her school and lecture her principal. I also want to see if I can organize a meeting with her teachers.” I felt my eyes well up with tears at the fact that he really was serious about taking this all the way to the top.

“Done master, it is in your calendar. Do you need anything else for me at this time?” My mom sighed resting his cheek against my head.

“Can you also see if there is an opening with Haru’s doctor tomorrow?” I saw the buffering signals and saw three options appear in front of my mom.

“There are three openings for Dr. Fujiwara tomorrow, would you like for me to pick the earliest one master?” My mom hummed in thought before picking the second option and a checkmark appeared in front of him.

“The first one was too early wasn’t it beautiful? It’s already late, should we just call both of our kids in sick tomorrow? I can have my help run the restaurant tomorrow if you want me to go with you to the doctor.” My heart warmed at the typical sweetness that my dad exuded. Even though they fought and bickered more often than not there was always these sweet soft moments that reminded me they loved each other more than anything.

“If you can do that I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you. I love you.” I saw the smile that my dad had and it outshined even the sun on it’s brightest days.

“Love you too baby. How are you hanging in there flower? You doing okay? You can sleep in tomorrow. I’ll make pancakes.” He promised and I cheered lightly for my dad’s breakfasts. It was rare that we had breakfast as a family on the weekends. Dinner time was designated family time when we all had to hang out together even I had been avoiding that for the last little while.

“I’m alright dad, thanks for checking in. I’m a little bit more tired then I would like but I’ll probably have an adrenaline rush once I get to skating and then be up all morning.” My mom sighed a little bit looking out the window.

“I’d like for you to get some sleep as soon as we get your brother in the car. I would also like for you take it easy if you stay home from school tomorrow like I want for you to. No doing anything strenuous. You never take downtime for yourself.” My mom mentioned to me and I nodded my head. I knew that I would have to follow his orders because once he got like this his word was law and needed to be followed.

“I agree with your mom flower. I won’t be there all day to make sure that your not doing anything too crazy so I’m just going to have to trust you. Can you take one day and just do nothing? Please? For me?” I nodded my head resigning myself to my fate. My fate of sitting on the couch and watching cartoons with my brother tomorrow. It didn’t sound like too bad of a day. Plus, tomorrow was Friday so getting a three day weekend was just what the doctor ordered.

“But then can I go out with Ichi this weekend?” My mom playfully hummed in thought and I heard the screech of the car as my dad came to a stop too fast.

“Kojiro.” The low hiss of his voice just screamed that bad things were to come if he did that again. I partially blamed myself for the bad driving.

“Sorry dad! It was a legitimate question, I didn’t know that you were going to go and do that.” I waved my hand and my mom sighed a little bit getting back to his original position.

“I don’t see why not Sakura, you will not interrogate the poor boy Koji. He probably has to go through enough with Haru at school constantly telling him that our daughter deserves better.” I sighed not forgetting about that. I would have to sit my brother down and have a nice long talk with him.

“Flower, I know that you’re growing up. I did everything that I could to stop you from getting a boyfriend but I guess I didn’t try hard enough at scaring them all off. Either that or Ichigo is just super persistent. I think it’s both because from what I’ve seen of him he worships the ground you walk on anyway. I won’t interrogate the kid just yet, I’ll wait until he’s your official boyfriend.” My dad waited for the light to turn green again and I felt my eyes well up with tears. It was far too early to have nearly cried this many times and I tried to suck back the tears.

“She’s growing up Koji, we always knew that we’d have to let her date at some point and I think you’ve pushed it out long enough. I remember when you used to chase the neighborhood boys out of the restaurant for just wanting to spend time with her.” I laughed a little bit at the memory of my dad chasing after six year olds with ladles yelling at them to not ever come back.

“Hey I’ll have you know that all of those kids were punks and they didn’t deserve my angel of a daughter hanging out with them.” I tentatively raised my hand from the backseat wanting to interject into this conversation.

“Umm dad, one time you did that with Ai and another time with Klaus…” I reminded him not wanting to turn this into a heated debate. My mom just laughed at the memory.

“I still remember the look on their faces! It was so funny, they have been terrified of coming into the restaurant ever since then.” My dad rolled his eyes at his husband’s over dramatic nature but even I knew that he was making a good point. My dad had the tendency to take the term overprotective and make it into a whole new thing.

“Okay maybe I have gone a little bit overkill in the past. I think that you should at least go on one date with the boy and see if he’s everything that you’ve been building towards in your head.” I smiled softly at the encouragement from both of my parents. I could always count on them to bring their own unique personalities that so often clashed with each other to each problem that I had.

“I have a feeling that boy would treat you right otherwise I wouldn’t be encouraging this at all. I spent a long time looking at the two of you together whenever he would come home from school with you. I know that he makes you really truly happy and that’s all I’ve wanted for either of my kids.” My mom gently kissed my forehead and I found myself in this warm bubble of happiness.

“So the beef looks like it’s on the other side of town, near the caves.” My dad mentioned as he began to head in that direction and I yawned a little bit too obviously.

“Do you want to get some sleep Sakura?” I shook my head animatedly. If I fell asleep I would miss this time that I spent with both of my parents together and those were rare occurrences.

“How are rehearsals going flower? Your mom and I are really excited for the show that you put on!!” I smiled softly at my dad. Both of my parents had been encouraging of my hobbies to the point where they had started going to every show, even the awful ones back in elementary school when I was bit by the theater bug.

“The rehearsals are going really well! Everything is starting to come together, I was fitted for my final costume for Penny today so I’m really excited to start performing. I’m kind of glad that I didn’t get Tracy since that would be even more work for me, plus I don’t really have her physique.” I smiled at the idea of my friend Kanade who was going to absolutely own the role once our shows actually started. At first when I got the role I had been a little bit angry that I got such a simple character but I had grown to love Penny.

“I’m just glad that you are happy with how everything turned out. I know that you were frustrated with your casted role but I’m proud of you for making something unique out of it.” My mom reminded me of how hard he knew I was working to get everything perfect for opening night.

“Our flower working so hard to make the best product possible. It’s when she’s rehearsing that she reminds me the most of you Ru. She’s always so into her roles and it reminds me of watching you do calligraphy.” I saw my mom blush a light pink before I heard one of my favorite sounds, his laugh, come from him.

“Alright you idiot I forgive you for that earlier screeching stop. You don’t have to woo me with false flattery.” I heard my dad protest to the fact that it was entirely true as I slipped my headphones around my neck.

“He’s right mom he was being entirely genuine right there as sickeningly sweet as it was. Props to you though dad that was really cute. Is that true?” I rarely ever acted like my mom. Most of the time I was a carbon copy of my dad’s passions and his general personality and Haru acted like mom.

“It is true, trust me I’ve watched Ru do his work for years and you look the exact same whenever you get really into a character.” I smiled softly at my mom waiting for his approval as well. He just smiled at me nuzzling his nose against mine.

“I never thought that I actually looked like that but people other than the oaf like gorilla have told me that I do get a certain sparkle in my eye when I’m working. I mostly see it in you when you’re performing or when your brother shoots a three point basket during a game.” He talked about how he thought that I looked and I smiled softly through my laugh.

“I’ve definitely seen the look on Haru’s face before! I love when he gets happy like that. It’s something that I usually see when he makes a hard basket or a dunk. I really hope one day he decides that he wants to go pro with it but I don’t know if that will happen.” I sighed a little bit. I knew that was secretly Haru’s dream, more than opening his own tattoo parlor but that being trans would be a major problem for him.

“I think that if anybody will find a way to do the impossible it would be our Haru. The first trans national basketball player has a nice ring to it.” My dad smiled a little bit and I could tell that he would do whatever it took to support him in his endeavors.

“Haru will find a way to achieve whatever dreams he so desires. It is not our place to tell him what he should or should not do oaf. I would support my son no matter what he wanted to do.” My mom blew his hair out of his face and I could tell in his golden eyes that he loved both of us equally no matter how often his work forced him to be away from us.

“We’ll have a family day tomorrow flower, it’ll be fun!! You deserve it you’ve been working really hard. I’ll let you make all the snacks.” My dad promised and I felt my eyes light up at the idea of cooking. I had resigned myself to being the future owner of my dad’s restaurant once he decided to retire and it was something that I was actually really looking forward to. I loved cooking about as much as I loved musical theater.

“I’ll make the freshly made popcorn, that’s how you’ve got to do it. I’ll also make the hot chocolate recipe for Haru. Something tells me the poor thing is going to need it.” I sighed a little bit wondering what in the world my idiot brother had been thinking.

“From now on I want you to keep an extra eye on your brother whenever you can. When you can’t send Ai to look out for him. Just in case. I know I’m probably just being overly protective and you can tell me if I am Koji.” My dad smiled softly at his husband squeezing his hand lightly with a small smile on his face.

“I wouldn’t consider that overprotective baby you care about your kids and the way that our son is acting right now I’d say that somebody needs to look out for him.” My dad tried to joke but I just smiled softly at him gazing out the window at the world around us.

“I’ll try my best but I won’t promise that he’ll actually listen to me.” I joked humming under my breath as I saw the entrance to the beef or what looked like it.

“Your both stubborn but I’m proud of you sweetheart. Just go out there and find him. Please.” I gave my mom a thumbs up and grabbed my board.

“We’ll be right behind you flower!!” My dad told me and I looked around the audience seeing Ai. I quickly walked over to him.

“How far ahead is he?” I asked my old friend and he just sighed a little bit showing me another picture with even more injuries.

“It’s obvious that he hasn’t been skating professionally very often. He’s a long ways ahead by now, the way that he’s going he might actually beat Ichigo if you don’t get to him first. This is his exact location.” He told me showing me on the map and I nodded my head virtually filing that information away as I set up my longboard. I plugged in my headphones to my phone and went speeding down the hill hoping that I would find my brother. I went around the corner with practiced ease. I really hoped that my brother wouldn’t be too banged up by the time that I got to him. It had been so long that I skated for something that was fun. Usually it was just a mode of transportation to get me to and from school when my parents were too busy to drive me. As I rounded another corner and went up a ramp I found myself going up it and doing a familiar rail slide. I looked ahead of me seeing that I still had a long way to go. I saw a familiar head of black hair that told me Ichigo wasn’t too far ahead of me.

“Hey Ichi!” I called out to him and watched his sea green eyes turn around worriedly as if trying to placate me and tell me that this wasn’t what it looked like.

“It wasn’t my idea I swear, he challenged me after school. He told me that I needed to prove that I was worthy of your heart and if I didn’t do it then I was a coward.” I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose tightly.

“Can you direct me in the general direction of my local idiot?” He laughed at me directing his board just ever so slightly in front of me.

“Will you go out on a date with me on Saturday?” I blurted not able to keep these feelings to myself anymore and heard the shocked laugh from my friend.

“Only if I get to plan the next one kay? I can’t believe that you actually beat me to the punch. I guess it took us long enough. I’m sorry that I made you wait so long that apparently your own brother had to challenge me to a beef in order to get this far ahead.” I rolled my eyes at the mention of my moronic younger brother.

“I wouldn’t pay much attention to him. He sometimes says things without thinking. Not that he has many brain cells to begin with.” I heard Ichigo’s laugh as he led me down the pathway and I turned my longboard around the corner.

“I’m catching up to you flower!!” I cursed under my breath at the sound of my dad’s voice since he was only a few feet behind me.

“Is that your dad?” Ichigo asked me whipping his head around clearly terrified. Not that I could blame him, my dad basically put the fear of God into all of my male friends which most of them were.

“My mom is here too, he’s the one who woke me up a while back. I am so tired but I just want to make sure that my brother is okay. I might bicker and insult him a lot but I can’t help it. It’s the environment that we grew up in. My parents lovingly bicker almost 24/7 so I guess that just passed onto me and Haru.” My friend just smiled softly as I talked about my parents. Ichigo rounded the corner doing a flip on his board and I saw the bright laugh that left him. I couldn’t help but think that he was the most attractive and amazing person that I had ever seen. He was constantly surprising me with what he could do on his board since I couldn’t do a whole lot of tricks on my longboard other than a rail slide.

“Haru!” I yelled out to my brother seeing a familiar mop of green curly hair that was sticking out awkwardly outside of his helmet.

“Sakura, what are you doing here?!” He asked me exasperatedly and I jerked a thumb back at our parents who were lovingly bickering.

“Mom woke me up because he went into your bedroom and saw that you were gone. He promptly freaked out and woke me up panicking because he thought that you were kidnapped or something. You know how he gets. So anyways, he woke me up and now I’m here to talk some sense into your stupid head.” I caught up to him gasping at the wounds that he had that were staring me in the face. I would have to patch him up once we got back home. After mom had finished yelling at him for being reckless.

“Come on moron, let’s go home. I already asked Ichigo out on a date this weekend anyways so you challenging him to a beef was virtually pointless.” I told him stopping his board and grabbing his arms to stop him from falling.

“Why can’t I ever just do one thing for myself? It seems that you get all the free will and I’m left with jackshit. I always get busted.” He kicked a rock sitting down on his board. I looked at my brother with wide eyes.

“Is that really what you think babe? Because that’s not true, I have just as much freewill as you do. Which is to say not a lot with mom around and dad scaring off every guy that’s ever come into contact with me. I just dealt with it because that’s the hand that was given to me. I love mom and dad more than anything in the entire world even if their bickering is exhausting. They love us too otherwise they wouldn’t have worried about you so much. I get busted sometimes too incase you’ve forgotten.” I kicked his foot lightly with mine putting my arm carefully around his shoulders.

“Let’s just go home yeah? We can talk about what you were thinking tomorrow after I patch you up and you go the doctor for any mandatory stitches.” I told him and he rested his cheek against my shoulder. Even though it was bloody and getting blood on my hoodie I couldn’t care less. My brother was physically okay and to me that was everything that really mattered. Even if he got on my nerves more often then not he was still my younger brother.

“I’m sorry that you had to be woken up for my stupid ass shit…” He told me and I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“Let me go out with Ichigo and we’ll call it even okay? Not that you could ever physically stop me from doing something that I wanted to do. I don’t need your permission to do anything. I’m not happy that you made that decision for me ass.” I yanked on his piercing that was in his ear harshly and he winced in pain. I could see the remorse in his usually bright and sparkling yellow eyes.

“I was just trying to do something right by you for once. I thought that it would make you happy. We fight so much that I just wanted to see you smile…” I lightly nudged my brother’s side with a small sad smile on my face.

“I fight with you because I worry about you and the life decisions that you make sometimes. It’s hard for me to see your side of things and I promise that I’m not that mad at you.” I reminded him that I could always be more angry with him and I had been in the past over things that were way stupider than this.

“I know I owe you big time for this one. I really messed this up and mom is probably so pissed at me right now.” I laughed a little bit at my brother’s thoughts because yeah, that was the understatement of the century.

“You’ve got that right Haru. I am very angry with you for sneaking out.” I could hear the cold tone of my mom’s voice and I just patted Haru’s back in good luck. I did not want to be around when this ice storm started. I grabbed my board and my dad just put his arm around my shoulders.

“I’m proud of you kiddo. You didn’t get mad at your brother when you easily could have. That alone means that your growing and I’m proud of you for that flower.” He encouraged me and I smiled softly at my dad.

“I asked Ichigo out for a date on Saturday. He said yes but that he gets to ask me out on the next one.” I couldn’t help the happy skip in my step at the idea that I had something to look forward to this weekend.

“I’m glad sweetheart, not that he would’ve ever said no. I’ve seen the way that boy has always looked at you.” I blushed a light pink at the idea with a small laugh of not being able to hide anything from my dad. Ichigo had been one of those people that I had grown up with since a young age because our parents knew one another despite the fact that Miya was so much younger. It had taken him a while apparently to settle down with somebody and have Ichigo.

“He’s the only guy that you haven’t managed to have running for the hills so far dad. I hope that for your sake it stays that way because I don’t think I’m ever going to find another guy quite like him. I know that I’m young and everything but he’s special to me.” My dad just softly nuzzled his cheek against mine wincing when he felt the wet squish of blood.

“Sorry! That’s Haru’s he was leaning against that side, I have to patch him up when we get back home.” I slipped my headphones around my neck and my dad just sighed a little bit. “

This has been quite the eventful evening and not at all was expecting when I eventually went to bed this morning.” I laughed at my dad totally understanding where he was coming from. I bounced on the heels of my shoes with a small smile on my face.

“I’m just glad that Haru is okay. I know that mom probably has the lecture of the century planned out for him but in reality just the fact that he isn’t gravely injured is enough for me.” I reminded him looking back at my brother who looked absolutely terrified of our mom.

“He could have been hurt a lot worse if we hadn’t gotten here so quickly. They were barely even halfway down the course. How did Ichigo look?” I blushed a bright pink remembering the moves that he could do on his skateboard.

“He wasn’t injured at all. Then again, he still boards professionally for the most part. He only took the techie job so that he could look after me. For some reason he took that job upon himself.” I looked at my dad with a raised eyebrow.

“Well gee, I wonder who put that idea into his head. It certainly wasn’t me I can tell you that right now.” My dad was never the type that could lie or look conspicuous easily. My mom always lightly teased him that he couldn’t lie to save his own ass.

“You look stupid dad, I know it was you so you don’t need to cover it up like that. Why did you say something like that to him?” My dad sighed a little bit keeping his arm around my shoulders supportively. For as much as he knew that I could handle myself sometimes I wondered if he didn’t trust me at all.

“I just want to make sure that your properly looked after. I’ve always liked Ichigo. Ever since you two were kids and he first came into your brother and yours lives. He makes you happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you was to be able to be happy. Also to not have to pine for decades after one person because you were too stubborn. I knew that he was going to be different from the other boys that hung around you when you were younger. He was the persistent type. So I told him to look after you as much as he could. That’s why he became a tech crew member.” I looked over at Ichigo who was in his own little world with his headphones on. I could already tell what he was listening to just by his feet movements. For as much as he prided himself on being a badass skater boi he was deep down a huge nerd.

“I am happy dad, even if I didn’t have Ichi I would still be happy. I have a great family, an amazing brother, and I get to do musical theater for fun something that I’ve always wanted to do.” I shrugged it off and my dad just smiled softly at me.

“I know your happy flower but you’ve always been happier when your with that boy doing your own thing. Besides, without him you wouldn’t be nearly as confident as you are right now and I’m happy for that.” I laughed a little bit at my dad shaking my head. I knew that there was no way that I was going to win this argument and I was far too bone deep exhausted to carry on with it.

“Twenty thousand yen says that you can’t guess what he’s listening to.” He told me and I couldn’t help but laugh because this was the easiest bet that I would ever win.

“Lost In Paradise. He does the foot movements for the ending song all the time whenever he listens to it. I’d recognize it anywhere. Want me to go and fact check for you?” My dad laughed openly at me and let go of my shoulder.

“Go work your magic kiddo. I’ll handle your mom when he eventually catches up to me.” I smiled softly at my dad catching up with my best friend and lightly tapping him on the shoulder. I saw his startled jump and him clutch at his hoodie.

“Were you listening to Lost In Paradise?” I asked him and he just smiled a little bit sheepishly at me showing me his phone and that I was one hundred percent right.

“I was right dad!” I smirked a little bit when he sighed. Ichigo just laughed at the familiar bickering with my dad and me.

“You just know me way too well. Are you-umm are you sure that you want to go on a date with me?” He played with his index fingers and I nodded my head.

“My brother doesn’t make decisions for me. I do. I’ve liked you for a really, really long time. Probably about four years now Ichi. I was just too worried about ruining our friendship to say anything.” I took his hand with a small smile on my face.

“You could’ve just told me that you liked me. I knew that you were hiding something from me because you suck at lying it’s one of the few things that makes you like your dad. If you had just told me then we could have started dating in middle school. I’ve pretty much had a massive crush on you since I met you Sakura. I mean how could I not?” I blushed a bright pink cursing my stupid anxiety for getting me this far ahead.

“Well I’m just me there isn’t really anything that special about me. Unless you like your girls with a temper.” I tried to joke even though it sort of fell flat due to how tired I was right now. Ichigo just blinked at me.

“I don’t think that you have a temper it just means that you care about people. I don’t know many people that would get up at three in the morning after only getting two hours of sleep to rescue their younger brother with her parents. You love your family, it’s something that I’ve always known. Even though you pick fights with them it’s so clear that you care about who they are as people. You love your mom and your dad even though they exhaust you. I don’t think that anybody else could put up with all the bickering the way that you do.” I sighed a little bit with a small smile on my face picking up a rock on the ground and thumbing the edge of it.

“They do exhaust me but at the same time I wouldn’t want them any other way. They’re loud, crazy, bicker constantly, most of their nicknames are low key insults, but they’re my parents. They’ve done everything within their power to make sure that I’m okay at school and at home. Even if that meant that my dad scared off every guy other than you from his restaurant. And you only came back because you were persistent.” Ichigo just laughed a little bit at the memory of him being smaller and my dad towering over him.

“I thought that your dad was super admirable because of how often he was there for you. Everyone knows that mine was off and on not that I have any room to complain. He taught me everything that I know about skating and I still am trying to get on his level.” I smiled softly at my best friend walking up the slope next to him.

“You’ll get there one of these days. If anything, I get your feeling. The idea of taking over dad’s restaurant terrifies me. There are all sorts of what if’s that run through my head on a daily basis. Mainly the idea that I’ll let him down. That bugs me constantly.” I didn’t usually mention the amount of pressure that I felt dealing with the looming dread of inheriting one of the most popular restaurants in all of Okinawa.

“Your dad gave you the restaurant because he knows that you can handle it Sakura. It’s a lot of pressure but you don’t need to do everything by yourself. I doubt that he did too. He had your mom on his side even if it was with leering sarcasm a lot of the time.” I laughed a little bit wondering if he would do the same for me, even if this didn’t work out in the long run.

“I know I don’t but asking for help is easier said than done. I say that I can handle it myself but even he can’t do that and has people that help him out. I love cooking and baking. I always will even if it’s a lot of pressure for me to be perfect consistently.” Ichigo leaned against my side causing me to flush a bright pink. It was a miracle that he hadn’t figured out my feelings so much earlier than he actually did because he was a super tactical type.

“I’ll be there to support you, no matter what happens got that? You were my best friend first for our entire lives pretty much so even if dating doesn’t work I’ll always be in your corner. You will run yourself into the ground if you keep going like this though. Is your mom going to do something about all the extra homework that you get?” I gulped a little bit hearing the familiar footsteps coming up behind me. I knew that this wasn’t going to end well.

“Extra. Homework. Ichigo. Explanation. Now.” My mom said, his voice an ominous dark thing that had me cowering behind my best friend.

“Well they always give her extra homework because she isn’t the best in a lot of subjects. She manages to get straight B’s but to her that’s not good enough. So she begs them for extra homework to maintain her straight A track record.” Thanks Ichigo, you know what I take everything that I just said back. I hate you. You suck.

“Sakura, is this true?” I nodded my head faintly and the hug that I got I wasn’t really expecting. My mom had never been much for affection in public preferring to be doting in private.

“You do not need to be perfect all the time. I know that this is something that you’ve struggled with for longer than you would like to admit. This is not okay though. We will work on your self worth. You are worth so much more than you know my darling. It is not worth all this staying up all night just so that you can feel more accomplished. It’s exhausting you and that is not something that I will put up with willingly.” My mom reprimanded lightly and I sighed a little bit into the hug that I was receiving. Ichigo just smiled softly at me.

“There was that so hard? I told you to just talk about what you were going through but as usual you never listen to me.” Ichigo mocked slightly and I glared half heartedly at my best friend for throwing me underneath the metaphorical bus.

“I just wanted you to be proud of me mom. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. I know it probably sounds selfish but I thought that if I worked hard enough I would be smart like Haru…” My mom cradled my face in his hands resting his forehead against mine.

“Both your brother and you have different strengths and weaknesses. I have never known you to be the academic type, you’ve always been more practical. Your head is full of recipes rather than algebra, your dad was the same way when we were in school. It’s not about who gets the best grades at the end of the day. It’s about how hard you work. I know that you work hard and you do your best. That’s all I’ve ever wanted from you my darling. You didn’t need to beg for extra homework just to maintain the same grade point average that your brother does.” He comforted me lightly even though I could tell that what I had said bothered him.

“I will always be proud of you Sakura. You work hard. That alone amounts to how amazing you can be. You baked your first cake all by yourself for your dad’s birthday when you were five. That is not something that the average person can do. For that I will always be so proud of you. You and your brother are naturally different people, much like your dad and I. I wouldn’t trade you for anything in the world my darling. I know how hard you worked even before all this extra homework and I was always proud of you.” He doted on me putting his arm comfortingly around me in a tight hug. I clung to my mom trying to rein in my tears.

“It’s okay to cry Sakura, it’s perfectly natural. I’m sorry that you had to hear it from me Kaoru. I think that it was about time that you knew about the true meaning behind the extra homework.” Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck his dark hair sticking up at odd angels.

“Thank you for telling me Ichigo. It appears that both of my children have forgotten what it is like to be a member of this family.” I felt the sweat drip down my neck and pool at the base of my spine knowing that this conversation was far from over.

“I will proceed with this talk on Sunday. Be prepared for it.” He warned me and I nodded my head stoically grateful that he was giving me at least two days to myself.

“At least he’s letting you off easy right now? Before he would’ve demanded that you talk about it right now. I guess he was really worried about Haru?” I nodded my head with a small sigh. I actually felt a lot better getting that off my chest. I knew that my mom had been worried about me for a long time coming but actually admiring to the reasoning behind all the excess homework made my chest feel a whole lot lighter.

“Are you skipping school tomorrow?” I nodded my head rubbing at my eyes with a big yawn almost tripping.

“Here, lean against me Sakura.” Ichigo told me putting his arm around my shoulders to make sure that I wouldn’t trip and fall flat on my face.

“Sorry that you have to do this for me…” I apologized but my best friend just laughed a little bit at me resting his cheek against my pink hair.

“It’s no big deal really, you’ve had a really emotional night and I know that you haven’t had the easiest time right now. I’m glad that you feel better after talking to your mom and telling her the truth.” I smiled softly at the never ending love and support from my childhood friend.

“I’m actually not dreading the lecture coming because I know that I’ll feel better once I get it done. Though his angry voice just now did terrify me.” I laughed a little bit at my friend as I felt him shutter against me.

“Nothing is scarier than your dad’s interrogations if I’m being entirely honest. It used to scare the absolute crap out of me when I was little. The only reason that I kept coming back was because you were there and you made me happy. I got to teach you skateboarding and we got to have fun together.” I smiled softly since he was the one that got me my first longboard and taught me the basics. I just happened to pick it up super fast and finally had the ability to say that I could ride a skateboard. True, it was a longboard but I finally felt like I fit in amongst my family.

“We did have a lot of fun together as kids. I’m grateful that you were one of the few that stuck around Ichi. I know that he couldn’t have made it easy. He promised me that he wouldn’t interrogate you again unless you became my boyfriend.” I saw the colors flush across my best friend’s cheeks at the idea of him dating me. It was a pretty amazing thought, it wasn’t like he needed to work that hard to make me fall for him when I was already in love with him.

“Then I’ll just have to prepare a thick set of armer for when that happens. For I shall not let milady fight alone.” He joked. I laughed a little bit with a bright pink blush on my cheeks. When I was younger Haru, Ichigo, Ai, and Klaus had been my himbo knights of the round table and we had acted out different stories that we made up as we went along. Even as a young kid I still had the same best friends that I did now. They were the greatest things that had ever happened to me.

“I love you Ichi…” I told him tiredly and he flushed a bright pink with a small stumble but I could tell that he was still happy, ridiculously happy.

“I love you too, I’ll tell you so much that you’ll get sick of it.” He promised me and my heart melted at the sheer idea of having somebody that loved me. True, I had my parents but part of me felt that they were contractually obligated to love me. Ichigo loved me by choice.

“Me too. I can’t promise that my sharp tongue will be tamed or that I won’t bicker with you because it’s basically in my blood at this point. It’s how I show love thanks mom.” I mocked jokingly and my best friend? Boyfriend? Just laughed at at me all the same.

“I wouldn’t trade your sharp tongue for anything in the world. It’s just another thing that I loved about you from a young age. You were the only person that could shut down any jerks on the playground and I just followed you around like a lost puppy dog.” I smiled fondly at the memory. I missed those days when I felt like I could be queen of the playground and tell off bullies instead of being too scared to do it like I was now. As a kid, I didn’t fear anything. I just said whatever was on my mind no matter how rude or unseemly it was.

“I’ll cover you for you in theater tomorrow. God knows that you need a break. I don’t want you doing anything strenuous tomorrow. Not if you can help it.” He advised me and my heart warmed at the idea that he was trying to protect me.

“Don’t worry, my whole family is taking a vacation day and we’re all relaxing. Nobody is doing a damn thing other than taking Haru to the doctor. To which I’ll probably still be asleep. I have a lot of sleep that I want to catch up on.” Ichigo leaned his head against mine with a small loving smile on his face. I couldn’t help but smile along with him, it was such an adorable boyish smile.

“It’s been a while since you’ve had a family day. Seems like it to me anyways, I used to hate them when I was younger because I would be super bored. Hanging out with Ai and Klaus without you just wasn’t the same.” I smiled softly poking his pink cheek with a small laugh. I couldn’t help but do all the things that I had always wanted to do flustered Ichigo. A big part of it was sleep deprivation I needed to get more sleep at night.

“Aww Ichi, I didn’t know that you cared about younger me so much.” I teased lightly and he just rolled his sea green eyes at me.

“You totally knew you can’t lie to me Sakura. You had to have known that I was smitten with you all these years. My dad pretty much never let it go telling me how gross it was thinking about how basically his parents would one day be his future in-laws.” I blushed hotly at the idea of my uncle being the way that he was. Some things would never change and Miya was the youngest out of all the group that came before us. He retained a lot of that childish love of pranks and messing with other people.

“I know that I’m a rotten liar. It’s amazing that I was able to lie to my mom for this long about the extra homework. I’ll just be grateful when I don’t have to beg for it anymore.” I sighed heavily the idea of all that work finally going away not fully sunken in yet.

“I don’t think that your rotten at it really. It’s just that your too pure to be lying to people like that. You were always way more open than most of the other people that we hung around with growing up. I miss that.” I smiled softly at my best friend seeing my family’s car in front of me thankfully done with that walk back up the hill.

“Hey Sakura!” I heard Ai call to me from his spot where he was seated on the ground next to the television screen that was hooked up.

“I see that you found your wayward brother, your mom did not look happy when he got here. Did something happen on his way back up the hill?” I sighed a little bit running my hand through my fringe at the ends of my pink hair.

“He might have found out the reasoning behind all the extra homework and needless to say I am not his favorite person right now. I probably won’t be for quite sometime. But it’s okay, I know that he loves me no matter what. It’s just that I wouldn’t be happy with me right now either.” I told Ai and he just laughed a little bit at me.

“Well better you then me I’d say, is he at least giving you some time before he reins hell upon you?” I nodded my head taking off my helmet and setting down my skateboard.

“I should really get going home, do either of you want a ride back?” I asked my two best friends and they both shook their heads.

“We’ll ride our boards back. My dad already knew that I was going out tonight he told me to do my best to win your heart.” I blushed a bright pink hearing Ai’s laughter at the antics of our favorite crazy uncle. I had no idea how long that my uncle had been shipping us but I had a feeling that it was a long time.

“Flower, time to go!!” I heard my dad call from where he had parked the car and I smiled softly at my family.

“I’ll text you both, preferably when I’ve had a bit more sleep than I’ve been getting.” I waved to my two best friend’s as I walked through the crowds to get to the car. I got into the passenger side since my mom already had my brother cuddled up next to him.

“Did your friends want a ride home?” I shook my head buckling up my seatbelt carefully and put my skateboard onto the floor of car.

“They said that they would both ride their boards home and that Miya already knew that Ichigo had gone out tonight.” I smiled softly feeling my eyes droop a little bit. Everything had turned out alright in the end just as it always did. In this family of chaos where something was always happening it was sometimes hard to catch my breath.

“Sweetheart, get some sleep. I’ll wake you back up again when we arrive back at home.” I melted into into the seat and felt my eyes finally fall shut. I hadn’t even realized that I was so exhausted before I had sat down officially in the car. My dad kissed my forehead with a small smile on his face. He put one arm around my shoulder ignoring my mom’s protest and pulled me into his side.

“Just let me have this Ru, she’s tired and she’s been working so much lately.” I melted into the warmth and drifted off into a small catnap on the way back home.

“Flower, we’re back home.” My dad lightly shook me and I rubbed my eyes yawning openly. I looked back and saw my brother snuggled against my mom.

“I do need to patch him up as best I can before his meeting with the doctor tomorrow.” I told my mom and he just smiled softly at his son.

“Haru, Haru get up darling…” I smiled softly at my brother as he rubbed at his golden eyes. I thumbed my dad’s knuckle and I stretched my hands over my head.

“Come on idiot, I need to fix you up as best I can.” I reminded him and he glared lightly at me for calling him an idiot.

“Don’t call me an idiot…” He whined a little bit and I laughed at him and I got out of the car putting my arm around his shoulders.

“I love you Haru, I’m sorry that I’m teasing you I just want you to take better care of yourself.” I reminded him lightly and he leaned his head against my shoulder.

“I love you too Sakura, I’m sorry that you had to get up so early to come after my stupid ass.” I laughed a little bit at my best friend as he clung to my shoulder. I opened the door to the restaurant and he hobbled a little bit up the stairs.

“Did you twist your uncle you moron?” I asked him and he shook his head a little bit against my shoulder. I looped my arm around his waist and helped carry my best friend back up the stairs.

“No I’m just tired. I did something really stupid and I know that mom is really pissed at me.” I sighed a little bit turning my brother around. I led him through the bathroom and he hopped up onto the counter as I got out the first aid kit so that I could heal him.

“This is going to hurt at first as you already know. I’ll be as gentle as I can. I want to make sure that you’re okay.” He hissed a little bit as I dabbed the antiseptic over his varying wounds to her my brother. I carefully bandaged up all his different injuries.

“Okay that was the last one sweetheart. I know that you’ve been going through a lot right now. Do you want to stay by yourself or with me?” He shook his head at the first question and I helped him off of the countertop with a small smile.

“With you if you don’t think that’s weird. I know we used to do it a lot as children but we haven’t done it in a. Really long time.” I smiled softly at my brother putting my arm around his shoulders and laughing a little bit.

“I can’t judge you sweetheart, come on. You can change into your pajamas! I need to get back into mine as well.” I put my clothes back on and my brother crawled in next to me. My mom came in checking on me and making sure that I had done a good job patching up my brother. My brother snuggled next to me and my mom kissed our foreheads.

“Good night my darlings…” He turned the lights off and left the two of us alone so that we could relax and just get some sleep. I was super sleepy and it looked like my brother was at this point too as he snuggled against me. The next day would bring him lots of chaos and new fun things to do with my family.

[aire101]

Ferrum Intro

My brain absolutely, positively refuses to focus on romance atm, which means I have made no progress on my WIP and instead my brain ended up producing this concept which I will probably continue at least until I get it out of my system.  So here’s the beginning of a post-Endgame MCU/SAO Irondad fic that I went online to read, discovered it didn’t exist yet, and so could NOT GET OUT OF MY DAMN HEAD.

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It had been a long day.

Then again, every day seemed like a long one lately.

It had been a relatively beautiful November day for New York City, and with the approaching holidays Peter was starting to see the usual uptick in petty crime begin this season. Within his five hour patrol he had helped eight lost tourists, found one lost pet, caught two armed burglars and tied up a ridiculous number of petty thieves. Nothing too problematic, just another day in the life of our friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

Peter sat crouched on a roof looking over the newest Iron Man mural to pop up, this time right on the edge between Queens and Brooklyn. There were several around town already, but this one was especially heart-wrenching. Most were either of the armor mid-action or of Mr. Stark in his trademark press look. But this one was different in the best and worst way.

In this art, Mr. Stark was still in his armor, but the helmet was retracted, allowing the viewer to see the blood crusted on his face, the lines of worry even deeper than they were before everything had gone to hell. There weren’t many pictures of Mr. Stark from the five year period now known as the Blip, but in the ones there were Peter knew he had looked like this— tired and worn in a way Peter had never seen, but could well understand. All in all, it looked uncannily similar to the last time Peter had seen him. When—

Anyway—

And on the shoulders of this mural’s Tony Stark rested an enormous orb holding dozens of galaxies spiraling around a central point— a tiny arc reactor in the shape of a heart.

There was still a little while before he would be expected at Ned’s tonight, but the more he tried to convince himself to hit the streets again, the heavier his limbs felt.

He couldn’t do it. Not like this. Experience told him it was a recipe for disaster, likely to get himself or someone else badly hurt. Himself he could handle, someone else… his conscience couldn’t take another body added to its count right now. Besides, he had promised Ned he’d be there tonight.

Peter sighed and swung away from his rooftop perch to head back towards Ned’s, not sparing the art a backwards glance.

No matter how good it was, no reproduction could ever duplicate what he had lost.

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“Whoa, you’re early,” said Ned with a mild tone of shock. Which honestly… was probably fair. “I wasn’t expecting you for at least another thirty minutes.”

“Yeah, I decided to call it a night early. It was actually pretty quiet tonight anyway. Didn’t want to get too wrung out on the web considering we have plans tonight,” said Peter as he stepped into the Leeds’ apartment, slipping off his shoes and hanging his coat on the rack. “Where is everyone?”

“Dad has to work tonight, and mom and Angelica went to Laser Bounce earlier, but they should be back before too long. I stayed home to finish some stuff up before the launch tonight. Plus, I wasn’t sure when you’d be getting here, so…”

“Sorry, I should have messaged earlier.”

“You’re alright man. Like I said, I had some stuff to wrap up. I plan to be in-game as much as possible tomorrow,” said Ned as they moved into his bedroom.

“You sure you don’t mind me getting the first run tonight? They might have some secret opening event planned for the first few hours…” asked Peter.

“I am absolutely positive. I am going to have plenty of opportunities to lose unhealthy amounts of sleep to this game. Besides, between the two of us I think you need the break more than me.  On a related note— you look terrible man. Have you been sleeping at all?”

“I sleep,” said Peter defensively. “I don’t really need much though, you know?”

“Physically, sure. Mentally? You’re still just as human as the rest of us Peter. Have you talked to May about it? Or Happy?”

“Can we please drop this? It’s just been a long day, alright?”

“What happened? I thought you said it was mostly quiet?” asked Ned, confused.

“I meant it was quiet for New York, I was still busy pretty much all evening,” said Peter, falling backwards onto Ned’s bed.

Ned sat down at his computer, spinning around to face Peter. “Fine, but I’m definitely going to harass you later, and you better actually sleep after we trade off in a few hours. Anyway, I am SO PSYCHED or this! God I hope its worth all the hype.”

“I can’t imagine it being a flop. The tech behind it is revolutionary, and the head developer has been working on the game for like a decade,” said Peter, as he scrolled through the GameSpot special coverage from that day.

“Wasn’t SI contracted to consult on it, too?” asked Ned.

Peter felt his throat begin to constrict. The nails of his right hand bit into the flesh of his palm as he forced himself to take a slow breath—hold—and release…

“Yeah, Mr. Stark consulted on it himself. Some of the engineering on the headset is similar to the BARF technology. I think he might have worked on a couple system AI’s as well.”

“That is so cool man. So this is almost like his last tech contribution? Last gift to the world…”

“I doubt that. It was just a consult job, most of the work was done by Argus. Plus, Mr. Stark had years worth of projects and updates on file. We’ll probably see things he had a hand in being released for the next ten years at the least,” said Peter.

“Still pretty cool though,” said Ned with a shrug.

At that moment, Peter heard the sound of a key being inserted into the lock of the front door.

“Looks like they’re back,” he said, continuing to scroll, this time through discussions on Reddit.

“Have you had dinner yet? You know if you haven’t she’s going to force you to eat before you dive.”

“Nah, I didn’t get a chance to stop off earlier. What kind of leftovers do ya have?”

“I think there’s meatloaf and some chicken adobo left at the moment.”

“Yaaasss… Chicken adobo…”

Just then Ned’s bedroom door opened, and Mrs. Leeds poked her head in, a large smile on her face.

“Peter! I thought I saw your coat by the door! I’m glad you were able to make it tonight! Edward has been excited about the sleepover for weeks,” she said.

“Oh my god, mom! It’s not a sleepover! I doubt we’ll even sleep much!”

“Isn’t that what sleepovers are about?! You’re ridiculous… Anyway, have you eaten?” Mrs. Leeds asked, looking at Peter.

Peter had to bite back a smile, but shook his head.

“Hala ka, you’re going to waste away into dry bones! I don’t care how busy you are these days, you shouldn’t be skipping meals. You’ll blow away in a strong breeze. Come, I’ll heat something up. I know how bad you boys get about eating when its a normal game. A full immersion VR? You’ll forget you even have a real body that needs sustenance.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Peter, dutifully following her into the kitchen.

“You are in luck. We have some leftover chicken adobo from last night. I know you like that recipe. Did May ever give it a go?”

Peter flashed back to the gloopy, slightly charred mess that was May’s attempt at cooking the dish. “Eh… Yeah but it wasn’t quite the same. Still needs a bit of work.”

“Huh,” Mrs. Leeds said, sounding confused.

“Peter!” shouted a voice from behind him.

“Hey Angie,” said Peter, before he felt arms wrap around him from behind in a bear hug.

His heart throbbed in his chest. His breath caught and wouldn’t come.

Thanos was coming for the gauntlet he couldn’t let him have it he had to run the aliens were grabbing him he had to—

“You never come around anymore! It’s been months—!”

“Stop that Angelica. It’s been a crazy year, and Peter stays very busy between school and an internship. Shouldn’t you be getting ready for bed? It’s already way passed bedtime.”

Angie rolled her eyes dramatically but stomped back off towards her room to do as she was asked.

“Sorry, dear. She just missed her big brothers, you know.”

Peter did his best to force out a grin, but he wasn’t sure just how well it came off because the next thing he knew Mrs. Leeds was giving him a tender kiss on the head and muttering about making some cups of cocoa.

It was moments like this that he truly felt the strange reality of the fact that he had lost five years of his life. On the surface level everything felt mostly the same— Aunt May along with the majority of his friends had also been snapped, as well as several of his teachers. But while they were gone, Ned’s little sister aged from an innocent five year old, to a ten year old girl who had grown in a world in more confusion, pain and desperation than Peter could really comprehend. Freshman he had helped tutor in school had graduated. Families he had known were irreparably torn apart, seemingly overnight.

It felt like while he was still the same, the rest of the world had tilted slight to the left, leaving him unbalanced and unsure where to step next. He’d always felt a bit out of place anyway after the spider bite, but now it was so much worse. Sometimes Peter wanted a taste of what normal used to be like, without freaky spider powers, world protecting responsibilities and the guilt of looking around him and wondering if he deserved to be here at all.

He glanced at the clock that hung on the wall— fifteen minutes till midnight.

“I should probably go brush my teeth too and get settled in. The server will open soon,” said Peter as he stood.

“Yeah, though there shouldn’t really be much to do other than to actually connect since we calibrated your account the other day,” said Ned.

Within ten minutes Peter had taken care of his nightly necessities and given Angie and Mrs. Leeds both a hug goodnight, settling in on the upper bunk of Ned’s bed.

“Last time I’m asking— are you sure you don’t mind me giving this the first run?” asked Peter.

Ned sighed and spun around from his computer to send Peter an exasperated look. “Do you not want to take it on its maiden voyage?”

“That’s not what I said,” Peter rolled his eyes.

“Then stop worrying.  Just have a good time for once.  Also, I downloaded a couple files to the gear.  Not sure how reliable it is yet, but a few beta testers put out some first floor tips on the DL as a downloadable in game file, so check that out once you dive.  It might help out a bit.”

“Will do.  Thanks.”

“No problem.  Now get going, and be sure to take plenty of notes in your journal to send me later.”

“See you around, kid.”

“I am older than you are by two months.  Shut up and dive, loser.”

Peter smiled as he fitted the Nervegear onto his head, laid back and said, “Link Start.”

———————

In a remote, nondescript server room a certain file kicked to life.  It’s programming had been remotely accessed, a mere accident of oversight.  The digital pathways that connected it to the Argus servers, while known about, had been forgotten in the chaos of the last few years.  The file was not one created within the system, but one created to interact within it.  The Cardinal system downloaded the precious data, implementing it in the category that best described its form and function.

Program designation: Client

System ID: Ferrum Vir

Administration level: GM

. . . .

Installation Complete

————————

At 12:00 am EST on November 5th, 2023 (1:00 pm JST), Peter Parker joined 10,000 others in the world’s first full dive MMORPG— Sword Art Online.

And so did a very confused Anthony Edward Stark.

[give-me-back-my-rhodey]

Seeing Through the Masks - AUgust Day 18

Title: Seeing Through the Masks

Author: Purple_ducky00

Rating: Teen

Warnings: N/A

Card number: 016

Square Filled: Obadiah Stane of the @tonystarkbingo flash card

Pair: Bucky/Tony; background Steve/Sam/Sharon

Link: Read on AO3

Summary: Bucky is hired to be Tony Stark's bodyguard. Once annoyed by his task, he starts to see the real Tony Stark behind all the masks he wears

+++++++

Bucky groans. It’s only his second day working for Stark, and he’s ready to quit. As Stark’s bodyguard, he’s supposed to get a daily schedule and be updated if anything changes. This is the third time today that Stark changed the schedule and didn’t inform him.

 Stark is abrasive, unfriendly, and unable to shut up at all times. When Pepper brought Bucky down to Stark’s workshop to meet him, Stark went on a rant to her about how he doesn’t need a bodyguard, and the bodyguard will only get in his way.

 Pepper firmly told him “You need a bodyguard. The Board implemented it.”

 “Did they forget that I own more than half the shares?” Stark demanded. “And that I’m the fucking CEO? Without me and you, this business might not go anywhere?”

“Mr. Stark. Just humor the Board on this one. I know you think you’re invincible, but the truth is, none of us want to see you get hurt.” Pepper had said softly, and Stark acquiesced.

  He looked at Bucky and said. “Fine, but you do not get in my way at any time. Pepper, did you give him an NDA? I don’t want any of my plans stolen. I don’t know why you didn’t just tell Happy to guard me like before.”

 “You made Happy your driver,” Pepper reminds. “And now he’s the head of security at SI. Do you really want to downgrade him? And yes, I gave Mr. Barnes an NDA to sign, which he did. Do you think I’m an idiot?”

 “No. No.  Ok thank you, Miss Potts. I will call you if I need you. Barnes, is it? Just stand there and don’t get in my way.” Tony had dismissed them as he went back to his work.

 Mouthing the word ‘sorry’, Miss Potts led Bucky to the door. “So, we’ll get you a key card and everything. I’ll have Tony put a code for you on this door. I’m sorry. He’s prickly at first, but I’m sure he’ll warm up to you.”

 Now, Bucky just wants to strangle the man. Stark is talking to his CFO, Obadiah Stane. “No, it’s not going to work that way. Obie, Obie, listen to me. I know how these things work, trust me. You know Dad would have told you the same thing. I will take care of it, Obie. Leave it to me.”

 Stane gives Bucky the creeps. Something about him just seems… off. But Bucky grits his teeth at the arrogant tone in Stark’s voice. The call hangs out, and the man turns to him. “You, come help me with this.”

 Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Bucky walks up to Stark. “What do you want me to do?”

 “Hold up this piece of metal here. I’d ask the bots to do it, but they’d probably drop it, those little terrors.” He grins. Bucky’s not sure where Stark stands with the bots. He’s always insulting them, but he never gets rid of them. Bucky holds up the sheet of metal while the billionaire does a few experiments on it.

 In the end, Stark shakes his head and groans. “Won’t work. I told him.” Realizing that Bucky is still there, holding the metal, he waves at him. “Go ahead and put it down. I have to scrap it.”

 Bucky puts down the metal and walks back to his place by the wall. Stark ignores him for the rest of the day. Soon enough, it’s nighttime, and Tony dismisses him as he will not be going out tonight. Miss Potts thanks him for his work for the day and hands him the key card and badge that he will need going forward. He nods and walks out of the house.

 Meeting Steve, Sam, and Sharon at a restaurant, Bucky does not eat dinner until close to 930. Sam asks him about his new job, and Steve rolls his eyes. “No, you don’t wan…”

 “My new job?” Bucky smiles sharply, all teeth. “Let’s just say, it’s a good thing it pays well. Very well. My employer doesn’t even want me there, is an arrogant jerk 99.99999999% percent of the time, and doesn’t know how to treat anyone well, other than himself. It’s so fun.”

 Sam widens his eyes. “Wow. Sounds like you should just quit.”

 “Can’t. I’m under a year’s contract. I guess that’s how they trap the people in this job. Major lawsuits against me if I just quit.”

Sharon leans forward. “So, who’s your employer or is that classified as well?”

 “Tony Stark. And let me tell you, he is a pain in my ass.”

 +++++++

Bucky notices a few differences in Stark’s treatment of people… and things. Miss Potts, he treated with the utmost respect. They banter back and forth, and he usually is quick to give in to her demands. Stark has a voice in his ceiling. A learning AI, the genius had told him. Stark treats this voice like a friend or something. He’ll have full conversations with the voice. Bucky thinks it’s weird, but Stark is ‘eccentric’ right?

 He meets Colonel Rhodes within the first month of his job. He is unprepared for the pure, unadulterated joy he sees on Stark’s face when Rhodes walks through the door.

 “Rhodey!” Stark cries and runs over to hug the man. “How was the flight back? Do you need sleep? What’s on the docket for your leave?”

 Bucky just stares at the expressiveness of Stark’s face. Of all the days Bucky has escorted Stark around the city, and of all the people Stark has talked to, Bucky has never seen Stark drop his guard so much as he does right now. Rhodes, Bucky notices, hugs his friend right back. “I’m going to need some rest, Tones, then we can do whatever. Hey DUME, hey U, hey B, how are you guys?” Rhodes pats each of the bots. They beep happily back at him. He notices Bucky for the first time. “Um, Tones? Who’s this?”

 “Oh. Bodyguard.” Tony crosses his arms, defenses rising once again. “The fucking Board and Pepper strong=armed me into keeping this one. Apparently, they don’t want to see me hurt or some shit.”

 “Hi, James Rhodes. Nice to meet you.” Rhodes walks over to Bucky and extends his hand.

 Bucky shakes it. “James Barnes. Likewise. Can you make sure Mr. Stark updates me when he decides to leave the premises? I’d hate to get in trouble with Miss Potts if I lose him again.”

 “I’m right here.” Stark snaps.

 Rhodes chuckles. “But would you listen? Come on, Tones. You don’t want him to face Pepper’s wrath, do you? You know she’ll probably aim it at you, too.” Wrapping his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders, Rhodes leads him out of the workshop. Bucky trails behind at a slower pace.

 ++++++

Stark warms up to him over time.  He brings Bucky to red carpet events and galas. He makes sure to inform him when he’s going off schedule. Stark also lets him know when he’s taking home a bed companion or two. Bucky is happy he doesn’t have to stay inside the room when Stark has sex. Bucky had accidentally gotten an eyeful once before, and he wishes he could scrub the view out of his mind. It doesn’t help that Stark’s ass is perfect. He has to stop thinking about this!

 Apparently, when Tony gets comfortable with you, he flirts with you a lot. Now Bucky wouldn’t mind, except that he is incredibly gay, and Stark is terribly attractive. Bucky once fantasized wiping the grease off of his face the one-time Tony had emerged from under his Roadster, eyes sparkling. This is not good.

 Pepper must have noticed his discomfort and tells him. “If you want him to knock it off, just tell him. He'll understand.”

 “No, I don’t really mind,” Bucky admits. “I just have to stop myself from flirting back.”

 She shrugs. “As long as it’s just simple flirting, and nothing comes of it, I’m sure you'll be fine. He'll probably like you better.”

 “As long as I have your permission.” Bucky smiles. This job might have just gotten a lot easier.

 The next time Bucky meets up with his friends, they ask about his job. “I may have exaggerated last time.” He ducks his head, sheepish. “I don’t know if I’ve just gotten used to him, or what, but Tony isn’t so bad, you know?”

 “Oh, so he’s Tony now?” Sharon grins. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. But I think a lot of the problems I had with him were personas he thinks he has to live up to. When he’s alone in his workshop, he’s almost magical. The stuff that he can make is amazing, even if they end up being weapons of mass destruction. I don’t really like that. When he’s with Miss Potts or his friend Colonel Rhodes or even ugh Stane – I do not like that guy, he’s always so… open and relaxed. It’s almost as if he feels like he can be himself.  Then, when he’s around other people, at least one wall comes up. When he’s at a gala, he’s in an unbreakable safe. You can’t reach the real him, no matter how hard you try. It’s kind of sad that he has to do that.”

 “I think he’s just an asshole who can only be nice to the few people he actually likes.” Steve crosses his arms.

 Sam gives him a look. “Once again, Steve. Do you know the man?”

 “No, but.”

 “Why are you judging?” Sam glares, and Bucky chuckles. Sam knows how to give Steve a reality check.

 Sharon shakes her head at her boyfriends. She turns to Bucky. “What’s he like around you?”

 “He usually just kind of forgets I’m there when we’re in the workshop, but I don’t think he completely trusts me still. When he’s sleep-deprived, though, he likes to flirt with me.” Bucky grimaces. “Sometimes, I like it a little too much.”

 “Don’t tell me you’re crushing on Stark.” Steve groans.

 “Since he seems to be a topic of arguments, how about we just stop talking about Tony?” Bucky suggests. “Steve, how’s your art commission coming along?”

 Steve launches into his explanation on what he’s doing, and Bucky zones out. Does he really have a crush on his employer? How is that a good thing?

 ++++++

One day, Tony grabs Bucky by the arm. “We’re skipping out of the awards show or whatever Pep has planned for me tonight. I hate them. How about we go to the new casino instead?”

“Mr. Stark.” “Tony.” “Tony, you have to fly out to Afghanistan the next day. A late night at the casino isn’t going to help you. By the way, I still think I should accompany you to Afghanistan. I did fight over there, you know.” This was an argument that kept coming up.

 “Pshh, what do you know? I’ve been doing this since I was 16. I’ll be fine.” Tony brushes him off. “If you’re not going to go, I’m asking Happy.”

 “I’ll go, but you’re going to shield me if Miss Potts tries to kill me.” Bucky relents.

 Tony gives him a side eye. “Bold of you to think she won’t just kill me. And also, aren’t you supposed to be my bodyguard? Where I go, you go?”

 “So, why shouldn’t I accompany you to Afghanistan?” Bucky mentally cheers. He doesn’t usually one-up Tony.

 Tony pats his cheek. “I have Rhodey and plenty of Army and Air Force personnel there to protect me if something goes wrong. You should be happy; you have a few days off.”

 Bucky and Happy both accompany Tony to the casino. Happy sticks by Tony’s side while Bucky fades into the background. He watches as Rhodey comes from the awards show with an award for Tony. Tony apologizes and promises to be ready for the flight tomorrow. Rhodey leaves and Tony hands off his award to a Caesar cosplayer. Bucky’s heart wrenches as it does every time Tony picks up someone for a roll in the bed. He follows Happy home in his own car, checks the perimeter, makes sure everything is ok, and goes home for the weekend. Tony is right; he’ll finally have some extra time.

 ++++++

Bucky is bowling with Sam, Steve, and Sharon again when Rhodey calls him. Thinking Tony is coming home a day early, he excuses himself and answers the phone. “Hey Rhodey.”

 “Bucky.” Rhodey’s voice comes over the speaker. “Are you sitting down?”

 “No, but I can. Is something wrong?” His body fills with dread. He should have been over in Afghanistan.

 Rhodey sighs a ragged breath. “Tony, he, uh…. The convoy Tony was in got attacked. He definitely survived the attack, but they must have taken him. We don’t know where he is.”

 “No. no. You’re lying.” Bucky accuses. “I should have been there. I should have told Tony I was going with him, no matter what. This is…”

 “Not your fault.” Rhodey interrupts. “This is not your fault at all. We should never have had Tony there in a hotspot to begin with.”

 “Are – do you have people looking for him?” Bucky asks.

 “Of course, we do.”

 Bucky trembles. “It won’t be enough. Rhodey, let me come. Let me come and find him. I need him. Let me…”

 “Bucky, you know I can’t do that. “Rhodey sighs. “I know he means a lot to you. He means a lot to me, too. I’m not going to stop until I find him. I promise you, Bucky. I promise.”

 Bucky hits end call and sinks to the ground. What is he going to do now? Sharon notices his position and runs over to him. “Bucky! Get up, are you ok?”

 “No. Tony, he’s….” Bucky breaks down into tears.

 “Shh, It’s ok honey. Let’s get you to a real chair.” She takes his shoulders and leads him to their lane. “Just sit here. You’ll be ok.”

 Sam and Steve notice that he’s crying. “Shit. What happened, Shar?” Sam asks.

 “Something with Tony Stark. Bucky can’t finish his sentence. It must be pretty bad.”

 They take him home, and when his shock wears off, he tells them what Rhodey said. “I think I love him. And the bastard has to go get himself kidnapped.” He scoffs, wiping away tears from his eyes. “I don’t even know what I’m going to do tomorrow.”

 ++++++++

Three months pass. Bucky is just going through the motions. Serving as Pepper’s bodyguard, Bucky accompanies her to all her meetings and outings. He breaks down in tears once again when he gets the call that they found Tony. Accompanying Pepper to the airport, he refrains from embracing Tony and never letting him go. Instead, he tells Tony that a three-month long vacation is long enough.

 When they get in the car, Tony tells Happy to get him a cheeseburger and Pepper to call a press conference. Bucky sees a new resolve in Tony’s eyes that he never saw before. Tony tells the press that he’s shutting down weapons manufacturing. Bucky is happy. Bombs only caused more destruction.  That was one thing he hated about the army. Rhodey, on the other hand, is pissed. He tells Tony that he needs to rest and relax.

 Stane tells Tony to sit back and let him take care of all the PR. Bucky is always skeeved out about that guy. Tony obeys him and works on creating a flying suit. He tells Bucky he doesn’t know who to trust so he’s keeping it all private. Bucky is honored that Tony trusts him. IT takes a week or two for Tony to get everything working right, and once he masters the technique, he takes it out for a test drive. He returns not even an hour later, crashing through the ceiling. “Needs a few adjustments.” He pants.

 Bucky watches silently as Tony talks with JARVIS about changing a material for the suit, and the colors he should paint it. Tony’s focus is taken away by a reporter on TV, talking about the annual Firefighters Ball, hosted by Tony Stark. “Hmm… did we get an invitation to that, J?”

 Not to my knowledge, Sir.

 Tony tells JARVIS to fabricate and paint the new suit. “Don’t wait up.” He tells the AI. Nodding to Bucky, he asks, “Coming?”

 They quickly change and arrive at the gala in no time. Obadiah sees Tony and reminds him that he was supposed to lay low. Tony tells him that he just needed to get out. As per their normal gala routine, Tony goes to the bar while Bucky fades into the crowd. He notices the guy from Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division approaches Tony. Tony seems preoccupied. He takes a sip of his Scotch, shakes the agent’s hand, and makes his way toward… Bucky?

 “Care to dance?” Tony asks him. Bucky can’t say no. They dance for a little while until Tony asks Bucky if he’d like some air. The go out on the roof, talking about anything and everything. Things get said, an almost kiss happens, and Tony goes back to the bar to get them drinks.

 He’s gone for a long while, and Bucky goes to find him. He’s on the steps of the hall, talking to Stane. He’s not happy. Stane leans in closely and says something quietly and moves away, waving at Tony. Tony signals at Bucky to leave, and they drive back to Tony’s house in silence.

 Tony spends the next day watching feed of reporter talking about a town called Gulmira. He is not happy. He sends Bucky upstairs for something, and when Bucky comes back down, he is gone. Bucky groans, knowing all too well what Tony is doing. The military won’t take this happily.

 After almost getting shot out of the sky by the US Air Force, Tony returns home. His suit pinches and he takes a little while to come apart. He sends Pepper to get some files off his computer. Telling Bucky that he won’t be going out anymore tonight, he sends his bodyguard home. Bucky leaves five minutes too early. Stane attacks tony, paralyzing him and taking his arc reactor.

 Pepper calls Bucky, asking him where Tony is. “He’s not picking up his phone, and I’m afraid Stane is trying to hurt him. Can you go back and check on him? I called Rhodey, too.”

 Bucky makes a quick U-turn and heads back to Tony’s mansion. Rhodey is already there, helping Tony into his suit. “No time for arguments. I got to go.” Tony says and flies up out of the hole in the ceiling.

 In the end, Tony saves the day. Obadiah is killed, and Tony barely survives. Bucky runs up to him and kisses him fully on the lips. “I’m sorry if this makes things awkward, but never scare me like that again.”

 Tony kisses back with the energy of a man reaching a near-death experience. “I guess that means I have to quit now.” Bucky laughs.

 “No, I’ll just move you to Pepper. I don’t need a bodyguard anymore. I have my suit, you know?” Tony hugs him. “We’re gonna be alright.”

[myipscrapbook]

Mark Dion: The Moral of the Story is... Cold Calling

What an incredible day. 

In Summary: 

Had a great morning in IP with Franc, Sophia, D, and I, about where our projects are at. Received great inspiration regarding displays and novelty museums. 

Had a great Sci Fi class in which I confirmed my Book-Flower project, which I won’t get into right now, but I’m happy about. 

And then the Mark Dion event:

It’s 12:01 AM, and I’ve just got back from the Mark Dion dinner. I am so grateful that Sophia and Franc encouraged me to seek it out. Definitely one of the most memorable nights of my time here. It wasn’t simply a dinner, it was a dinner party. It was maybe 12 or 13 people total, but everyone there was there for a reason, and everyone was lovely and interesting and connected in some way. 

One big surprise was that Scott Hockney was there as well! He was a previous Stamps Speaker, another favorite. His work is really also about finding/creating wonder in the overlooked. Turns out Scott Hockney is close friends with Mark Dion! 

Another was that Mark Dion’s collaborator and friend Amanda Krugliak was there; She’s also the head of the institute of humanities. Her face is very familiar to me, simply because she has introduced more than a few Stamps speakers over the years. Although my face was not familiar to her, of course. 

Chrisstina Hamilton really made an effort to make me feel comfortable. I felt very intimidated at first. I didn’t know anyone personally, and was the only undergrad in the room. When we arrived at The Earle, we went downstairs to a private room, and sat around a table that was, in Chrisstina’s opinion, just a bit too wide. Conversation started immediately; many people were familiar with each other. After we had ordered food, she clinked her glass and suggested we start introducing ourselves, and made note that I, as the lone IP student, would be required to also give a 3 sentence summary of my IP project. No pressure. When it got around to me I said, “For my IP project, I want to create a situation that makes people appreciate the wonder in the mundane.” This got a good reaction; Chrisstina told me to repeat it. “So, to do so, I’d like to take something incredibly ordinary, in this case, the Michigan Blue Bus, (Some confused faces in the crowd–– I clarify what those are) and document and observe as much as I can from it, and turn it into some kind of exhibit, an archive of the Bus.” They liked it so much they gave me more than the 3-sentence limit to elaborate... I explained my background with the Time Capsule project– how I got involved simply by emailing the team and asking to help out, and learning that the team was purely engineers and in need of some academic diversity. I talked about Kristin Hass’s class, about how time capsules tend to suck, which Mark agreed with, and our Bicentennial Party. After I finished my introduction, I felt like I’d earned my place at the table. I was in good company. These people think in similar ways. 

There were so many coincidences this night. Seated next to me was Bryn, the GSI of the studio section I go to on Tuesday-Thursdays. Bryn had recognized me, and we realized that this was the reason. Now that we’re introduced, and she’s become familiar with what I’m working on, she said she’d be glad to stop by my studio to help out and have conversations!

Bryn and I also had a great conversation about life after graduation. Bryn spent three years between undergrad and grad school living in Toronto, and working part time at a restaurant to pay her bills, and spending the rest of her time putting herself out there, applying to grants, residencies, making art. She assured me that it IS possible, and to not let the inevitable “What job are you at?” questions discourage you from your goals. She also said that what kept her going was having moved to Toronto WITH a fellow student from her undergrad. Having her friend to bounce ideas off of and talk about art made the work feel less isolating. I told her this made me think of my brother; we’re on the same wavelength and I know I’ll have him to lean on throughout my life and career. I hope one day we work together, or that at least we are both doing good work. 

I didn’t get the chance to ask Mark Dion many questions, although I did ask him the one that mattered most to me: 

“In your work, you collaborate with so many different people, sewage treatment workers, botanists, architects... How do you do it? ...What I like about this University is that I can’t walk 5 minutes without bumping into someone who’s an expert on something. I’m afraid that when I graduate, all that will fall away.”

His response: Cold call people. Dion talked about an artist & friend who had wanted to make deep geological cores of governors island, in different shapes. And this artist just started calling up people who make geological cores. And got one no. Then another no, but with extra information: “You know, there’s only one company in the country that can do the kind of work you want to accomplish.” The artist calls that company, and they say “Absolutely.” And in 3 phone calls the artist found the people for the job. So the moral of the story is, there’s a world of experts at your fingertips all the time. You just need to reach out. Some of them will even be eager to help. 

Later this same night, Chrisstina came over to me and made sure I was feeling alright, and I mentioned that I was grateful for being there, and was thinking about how it will never happen again. And Chrisstina said, well, every moment will never happen again! I mentioned my conversation with Mark, and another woman pointed out that this was exactly what I had done to get involved with the Time Capsule; I reached out. Simple as that. Chrisstina said, That’s the takeaway of the night! 

Thinking back on my 4 years, this might be the takeaway of my whole education. Many of my projects started because I initiated collaborations with professors, historians, student teams and organizations. 

The Penny Stamps Lecture Series has sent so many incredible people in our direction. I have had opportunities to ask questions to artists I never would have otherwise. I’ve had an unforgettable back and forth with Vik Muniz about the future of media. I’ve asked Christo why he likes the color orange so much. (I was corrected: it’s saffron, not orange!) I’ve seen egotists like Karim Rashid and Julian Schnabel, and wonderists(?) like Dan Goods and Fred Gelli. I’ve seen and spoken with humble artists like David O’Reilly and recently Keiji Ashizawa, both of whom are great speakers, in my opinion. I’ve sat down with Joe Sacco the day after his lecture for a lunch talk, and listened to others pick his mind. I’ve seen Grammy Award Winning™ John Luther Adams, (he likes to introduce himself this way, you see,) and the same night heard his piece Become Ocean performed by full orchestra. I’ve seen graphic narrative icon Alison Bechdel, and had asked her at her book signing if having her life story turned into a book and then a musical has made it feel less real, or more real? And she looked me in my eyes and told me, with intense consideration, that she had been thinking about this question a lot. And that the answer was More Real. 

And tonight, I not only met Mark Dion, but Scott Hockney! At the end of the night, Scott was surprised to have learned that I had seen his lecture last year! I told him that his was amongst the few most grounded lectures I had seen in the series, and I meant that. He said that what I said earlier that night, about creating wonder out of the mundane, is something that he thinks about a lot. 

At the beginning of the night, the table was having a conversation about the value of dinner parties– how they are occasions designed for the sake of connecting with people in a substantial way. 

I am of the opinion that the Stamps Lecture series has been one big long dinner party. So I am very grateful to Penny Stamps for picking up the check. 

PS: I met more cool people:

1. I met another GSI, Carolyn Gennari, who also knows American Culture professor Kristin Hass, and how badass she is. Carolyn was an BFA undergrad and is currently studying Museum Studies. I’ll be sure to let Kristin know I met her. 

2. Sitting at the corner, I spoke with a woman whose name I forget. She works at her own letterpress company in Detroit. I had told her that she needs to check out Robin Sloan’s book Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore. Not more than 5 minutes later, Jennifer Friess, Assistant Curator of Photography at the UMMA, seated on the other side of the woman, asks her if she’s heard of Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore. And I just said, WAIT. And explained that I had JUST recommended that. And we had a moment. Jennifer and her husband have been reading the book together and have been loving it, and they’re almost done. And I told her that Robin Sloan came to campus only 2 weeks ago!! Which made her happy and upset at the same time. And that Robin Sloan has just put out a second book! “Is this real?” “Yes, the book is new!” “No, I mean this conversation!!” “OH.”

We continued to geek out over Robin Sloan, prime numbers, metafiction, AI singing, the merits of audiobooks, and other things that fall under the umbrella of Robin Sloan and general nerdiness. I promised to send her links to everything we’d talked about, which I will. 

3. I barely spoke with her, but I met the upcoming new director of the UMMA. What I really admire about her is that she expressed her interest in what the future of museums are in a time when less and less people are enrolling in humanities studies like Art History. She is asking the right questions. I believe they’ll require unusual answers. 

4. I officially met Prof. David Chung, who I’ll see tomorrow for a meeting related to screening videos in the Michigan Theater for IP. He gave me a valid critique of my Bus Archive idea: It’s too Michigan centric. I’ve gotten this critique before, in regards to my comics in the Michigan Daily. My response to this has always been, well, this is my audience, and this is the place that I’m in and responding to. Similar to how Mark Dion has to respond to the places that he works in before he knows what he’ll make. Chung is of the mindset that I should aim to make my work more general, or rather, to remember that my work is not about BUSSES, it’s about FAMILIARITY and OBSERVATION. This, this is a good critique and I let him know that. This was the similar issue with the Ant Travel Guide. It began to be about ANTS and not about, well, FAMILIARITY and OBSERVATION. That being said, Bryn suggested that maybe the Ant Travel Guide is worth returning to as an idea; she liked that better than the Bus idea. I admitted to the fact that the Bus is arbitrary; it’s a stand-in for an ordinary part of our routine. But perhaps I should give more thought to what specifically my project will be. I’ve asked the big questions; now I’ve got to make sure I nail these smaller questions down. 

5. I mentioned that I met Scott Hockney earlier, but he told me as we said goodbyes that I am free to get in contact with him!!! He was a great person to talk to. The friendship Amanda, Scott and Mark have is pretty great, and Chrisstina is kind of everyone’s friend in the best way possible. 

6. Chrisstina asked me to go home and write up a testimonial about this night, which is what I am doing and just about finished doing now. She told me to write something tonight, sleep, and with a clear head send a clean short version to her, for the sake of Penny Stamps, who is apparently not feeling super well right now, and would appreciate hearing about how grateful I am for this event. 

Good night... It’s 1:50AM and I have class tomorrow...

[ohbrie]

Havoc: Chapter 2, Pt. 1

He was beginning to wonder he had managed to warrant the attention of the superhero team, they all seemed eager to meet him however. He guessed it may be because he destroyed part of their tower, by the amount of floors the elevator had it couldn’t be anything by a skyscraper. He couldn’t tell where though thanks to the tint on the windows. This tower was truly a piece of art, it was decades ahead of all buildings he had previously been inside. They were giving him the wrong kind of attention for destroying their base. They were treating him like a friend, well the men was. Natasha was treating him warily; she was clearly the smart one of them all. If whoever owned this tower hid weapons in the toilet who knows where else he may find new toys to destroy them with.

Not all of them were as pretty as Clint so not all of them would be so lucky. Okay, they were all extremely pretty people, including Captain America. Well especially Captain America which was really unfair and it was another thing he was going to hold against the Greek God of a man. He had a weakness for pretty people and found it considerably harder to destroy pretty things. This S.H.I.E.L.D. was smart surrounding by pretty, super-human people who were resistant to damage and Clint. Clint and Natasha were supposedly all human but he didn’t quite believe them about Natasha, he was half-convinced that she may be an android.

It left Clint as the only sure human and he had already bonded with the man. S.H.I.E.L.D. seemed to know what they were doing as one teenage boy wasn’t going to take on a whole team especially one that seemed adamant that they were going to befriend him. Even with Rhodey’s help once the Black Widow finally got around to sorting out the call, he was severely out-numbered.

Speaking of the spy she seemed to be the only force stopping them overcrowding him, he was thankful for that. Didn’t mean he had to trust her though. He had a sneaking suspicion that she was the only reason the three men had even came in at intervals after all rather than all at once and overwhelming him. He still did not understand why they wanted to see him.

Then she left to sort out his phone call to Rhodey and they crowded around him like he was some new toy for them to play with. He wasn’t sure whether this was part of the big plan of keeping him too distracted to think why he was here or to escape or what. It was working though in the distraction department.

He was torn between basking in the attention, attention that was rare anywhere but MIT or Rhodey’s house, and backing the heck away because there was far too much of it and they acted like they knew him which freaked him out.

Clint (despite not having a shield like Captain America had) was his choice for human shield against them all. Well mainly the big, blondes and brutish were too close. Thor seemed like a physical person all too ready to reach out and he had tried for a couple hugs already. Captain America was just... Captain America. He may be a lovely guy but some things were difficult to get over quickly. One was inadequacy issues concerning Captain fucking America. Clint was on hand when it got too much though. He found that Clint was really good at picking up body language and could wheedle him out of the more awkward situations.

Bruce was an utter dear however; he almost shrank back and actually gave Tony the space he needed when surrounded by eager strangers. He wasn’t overly sure whether it was from out of respect or of self-fear. Tony felt the strangest urge to protect him which was really strange considering how much older the man was but he looked like a sad teddy bear.

So if he constantly made excuses to lightly touch the man on the shoulder to show that he had no fear, and complimented on his science then who was to blame him? And if he accidentally ended up lightly prodding his cheeks in some attempt to make him look less like a sad teddy bear but a happy one.

Bruce did end up smiling, a fond long-suffering smile but it was a smile nonetheless. Tony counted it as an achievement. He wondered how loyal Bruce was to S.H.I.E.L.D. because when he escaped he was really tempted to take Bruce home with him, he had a feeling Rhodey would like the man.

...

“Tones?” It was Rhodey. Just hearing Rhodey’s voice he felt like crying. It didn’t sound quite the same but it was Rhodey’s merely rougher, he probably just woken up then. He would do anything to have Rhodey with him right now, the man was his rock. If they were truly hostile he preferred that Rhodey was out of their grasps though, torture wouldn’t work on him but if they touched Rhodey then he would snap.

“Rhodey, sugar-muffin! Don’t wait up for me, I won’t be home tonight.” Step one. Sugar-muffin. This wasn’t Rhodey’s pet name, Rhodey was always Honey-bear, so this would capture his attention.

“Which home would this be?” Translation: Rhodey asking about which home was enquiring about his location.

“Silly, you’re my home of course. Home is where the heart is after all.” Translation: I’m not sure but in the country. Being a Stark he had houses all over the country and some out of it as well, all he had to do is pinpoint the nearest one and Rhodey would know his rough location. He raised a proud finger towards the chortling archer.

“You should be saying that to whatever girl you caught this time, what’s she like?” Translation: How urgent is it? How much danger are you in? Do you need me? The type of girl mentioned answered all of them. A shy girl meant that it wasn’t urgent but he was uncomfortable so give him an excuse to escape.

“You know the hot teacher twins? Like that.” Translation: He was scared, there were several of them and he needed Rhodey like now. “I love you, you know.” He was cracking a little and breaking the code but he was talking to Rhodey. The one person he could count on, the one who would believe in him when he needed it most. The one who wasn’t here and he needed him. “You’re the best, like seriously, I love you man.” This might have been embarrassing considering he was pretty sure Clint was on the ground with laughter and just the looks on the rest of the team’s faces was mortifying but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Who knows when he would next speak to Rhodey.

“I love you too.” Rhodey’s voice was so soft and calming, Tony just wanted to wrap himself in it as that way he would be safe. Rhodey was safe.

Natasha tapped on her wrist, he hadn’t much time left, he was getting a little too emotional and she was afraid something would slip no doubt. He had gotten the bulk of what he knew out anyway, he just hoped Rhodey could do something.

“She’s getting impatient, better run.” Translation: I don’t know when we’ll be able to speak next, come quickly.

“Later then.” He didn’t want it to end, he wasn’t ready to let go of the safety of Rhodey’s voice.

“Wait.” Rhodey waited. Natasha looked perched ready to swipe the phone out of his hand at any moment waiting for him to spill even a letter.

He began babbling techno-speak that left the watching team reeling but Rhodey responded smooth and simply, Tony wasn’t the only one who studied engineering at MIT after all. Technology was safe, comfortable and hearing it from Rhodey was the best he was going to get to a safety blanket.

 “We got the class presentation in the bag.” He added mainly to explain the babble rather than it being a support mechanism.

 Then the call ended, he felt conflicted. He felt better because Rhodey now had a head’s up but he now also realised how bad he felt without his Rhodey-shaped-support-beam to hold him up. Rhodey going through the engineering equations was enough for now though, he could do this. He also had an amazing idea of creating an AI and possibly hiring a bodyguard to prevent further takings. Because hostile or not he sure didn’t walk here willingly, he was taken.

...

“Hello? Rhodes?��

“Pepper. Are you aware of Tony’s latest predicament?”

“The Avengers have informed me, yes.”

“Is Jarvis scrambling this call?”

“I aim to serve.”

“Good. Tony’s our responsibility; let’s take what is ours back.”

“I thought we were going to let them deal with the situation, they have Thor after all. What do we know about magic?”

“He doesn’t know what’s happening. He’s scared, Pepper and he admitted it.”

“They have twenty-four hours. If he’s not his usual age by then or at least comfortable. They’ll regret it if they don’t hand him over.”

...

They were feeding him. He had to give it to them, they were dedicated in acting like friends to him, and this whole family meal thing was both awkward and comforting. It was awkward as these people weren’t his family although they pretended to be and acted like they knew him.

It was also comforting as it reminded him of Mama Rhodes inviting him over for some home-cooked meals. The good memories that were filled of great food and even better company, after trying Mama Rhodes’ special broccoli mix he had sworn off all broccoli but hers as none would ever compare. She had chortled and told him he could come over any time that he wanted, she had practically adopted him into her family and sometimes selfishly he would wish that Mama Rhodes was his mother instead of Maria Stark.

Then he hated himself because of it.

Captain Rogers was in charge of cooking; apparently he was in charge of home-cooking as well as on the battle field. Tony still wasn’t coping that well with Captain America being alive. He had a sneaking suspicion that maybe he was here because Captain America was found... maybe seeing as Howard had his precious greatest creation back he had no more need for his inferior son so merely passed him on to S.H.I.E.L.D. That hurt though so he liked to think he was taken rather than having been abandoned, discarded like the blueprints that would never work or weren’t perfect enough.

Consumed by his own thoughts and worries he didn’t realise that dinner was ready until Captain freaking America himself jolted him out of it. Tony tried hard not to flinch when suddenly coming face-to-face with the Stars-and-Stripes but judging by the hurt look on the man’s face he failed.

Another reason to dislike the Boy-Blue (aside from the whole inadequate thing Howard had managed to drum into his head every time Tony had failed to live up to the expectations of Captain America) was the fact he made Tony feel so guilty with every hurt expression he pulled.

“Captain Rogers, it’s nice of you informing me that the dinner is ready but you don’t have to frogmarch me there.” There it was again, that formality. Steve used to wish that Tony would learn a little respect and call people by their actual names but now he was actually being called by his title he felt a sense of unease.

“You can just call me Steve.” Steve prompted; it made him uncomfortable to be called so formally by Tony. The man who hadn’t called him by his given name from the moment he met him, although this Tony wasn’t quite a man any more. It was also unfair as he was the only one who was greeted so formally. Clint was referred to as Clint or mostly as incredibly handsome and a bunch of other nicknames the young Tony had so graciously given to him. Even Natasha had some form of variation on her name but with him it was always Captain Rogers.

“I would prefer not to.” Even the formal language was getting to Steve, adult Tony would have responded with a simple ‘nope’ yet the younger was so darn proper. This was supposed to be a good thing but all it did was make him feel isolated. Then Tony was gone to Clint’s side and whispering in his ear and the archer snickered. The young genius had certainly bonded quickly with the man. Steve was a little put out as he was good with children, normally children and teenagers alike loved him and even Tiny Tony had admitted that he had been his idol. Yet the teen had instantly taken to practically everyone but him. And Natasha. Natasha was different however as she wasn’t a natural with children, she was also a woman (Steve figured most boys would prefer to hang out with their own gender) and considerably colder than Clint, Bruce and Thor.

Steve just didn’t get why the kid didn’t like him. Adult Tony hadn’t worshipped the ground he walked upon but he hadn’t singled him out or treated him much differently than anyone else. He may have clashed but that hadn’t been entirely Tony’s fault, he had just as much a hand in that. Tony had just stood for everything he detested, all he had seen was Howard’s son who looked so much like his father yet seemed so selfish, keen to drag his father’s name in the mud and endanger everyone around him with his foolish actions. He may not be entirely wrong but he had learnt that he wasn’t entirely right either. He just hadn’t given the boy a chance, yet now it was Tony not giving him a chance.

Steve Rogers was stubborn however and somehow he was going to get the boy to like him too.

...

Tony took one look at the table arrangement before deciding to rearrange it to fit his own needs, he had been placed at the end of the table facing opposite Steve and next to Bruce and Thor. He didn’t really like being so isolated he claimed when he requested to change the seating, but mainly he didn’t want to have to look at Steve. The table was long enough to fit three chairs on each side rather than the two it had previously, therefore rather than having two sat on the ends they were now all on the same level.

The last seating arrangement made him feel like he was facing off against Steve and there was some kind of pecking order. It made him uncomfortable but mainly if he arranged it the way he wanted he wouldn’t have to look at either Steve (Captain America - say no more) or Natasha (she made him uncomfortable) and he could surround himself by those he felt safest around. Although not completely safe. He sat beside Bruce and Clint whilst opposite Thor, Natasha being opposite Clint and Steve opposite Bruce. No one complained so he was happy.

[ataleoftwosuites-blog]

Elba Day 3, 4, and 5

Elba Day 3: Tuesday morning we had class at the hotel until 11:20, and then we walked down to the market to find food words. I thought we were going to a supermarket, but instead we ended up along the shore, where a giant open air farmers market had sprung up overnight. It was incredible. There were stalls selling produce, jewelry, clothing, shoes, meat, and purses. Class ended early and I spent awhile wandering the market. I ended up at a little clothing stall, where I fell in love with this red dress with large pink roses on it and a sweetheart neckline. The man who owned the store said Bonjour to me, rather than Buongiourno, continuing the trend of Italians thinking Im French. He told me they had a changing room, which I was thrilled about. Except their changing room was in the back of a van. Definitely one of the more sketchy experiences of this trip, trying on a dress in the back of a van with a blanket as a partition. The dress was worth it though, and I ended up buying it. The rest of Tuesday afternoon was spent by myself. Other people took a taxi to a beach, but I didn't feel like going so far away. Instead, I spent most of the day up on the cliffs overlooking the sea reading and writing. It was really nice. I lost track of time while up there and ended up staying there for three hours. Needless to say I am much much tanner than I started off. A lot tanner. For dinner, my apartment hosted a potluck with ten people. There was a ton of food and a lot of wine, which I had to skip. We sat around eating at talking for hours. It was really fun. Some people got a little tipsy, and I was a little worried about the hangovers they were bound to have in class the next day. It did not seem like it would be pleasant. Then cleanup of the kitchen real quick, and bed around midnight. Elba Day 4: After class in the morning, to which many of the tipsy people were late to (poor things), we took a bus tour of the island. Three hours looking at beautiful beaches and scenery. We also saw Monte Cristo island, which reminded me that I need to download that book to read, so that my mom doesn't have a heart attack. The island looked beautiful, the top of the hills shrouded in mist from a distance. However, I was on the left side of the bus and all the interesting things were on the right, so all my photos have a beautiful frame made of bus seats and people's arms holding phones. They are really museum worthy photos. We stopped in Portoferraio of an hour, the largest town on the island. I went with a couple of people to a Votophone store to get an Italian sim card. One of the worst decisions of my life. Lets talk about the people I went with, shall we call them Sandy and Mandy. Sandy cannot seem to function on her own and Mandy is the rudest person I have ever met. We went with our program coordinator. When we found the store they both didnt want to talk first so I went up to the counter. I wanted to get a sim card fast so that I could go look at the Medicee fort. So ai immediately start speaking in French. Oops. The guy says 'English please' to me. Im in the middle of getting my sim card when Sandy and Mandy join me at the counter. Mandy immediately begins trying to ask the guy questions, and ignores our program coordinator when she tells her several times to wait her turn. I finally get my sim card, have our coordinator help me put it in, and Im off. I look at the fort and the beautiful views from the wall. These are actually really nice photos. But back to the phone store. I found out from a friend later that Mandy and Sandy only got worse. My friend went to try and put more data on her plan. Mandy and Sandy are still in the store. Sandy has managed to break her phone because she just shoved the sim card in without putting it in the little case thing. She then blames my friend for having told her to do it. My friend had not told her this. Mandy is complaining about how slow and incompetent the man is to my friend. In front of him. In english, a language he speaks rather well. The phone store guy is not happy. Mandy begins banging Sandy's phone on the counter trying to get the card out. This is when our coordinator comes back into the store. She is not happy. The phone ends up having to be left with the guy to be fixed because Sandy is an imbecile who broke her own phone. By now its time to meet at the bus. When Mandy and Sandy get on, they immediately regale me with tales of the phone store guy's incompetence and how HE broke Sandy's phone. From what they were saying, I thought they had ended up in a different store, because they man they described didn't match the nice man who helped me. And now the bus. We leave thirty minutes late, and as soon as we drive away, we realize that two students are missing. We turn around. We wait at the bus stop for awhile, and then our coordinator and one of the Italian teachers get off the bus to wait for the two girls. They will take a cab back. Just as we are pulling away, they show up. One hour after we were supposed to meet to leave. So we get back late, our teachers and coordinator go to a bar to drink, where we see them later. They look unhappy. We get back after the supermarket had closed, so we have to go out to dinner, and we have no way to get lunch for the next day. We were supposed to be back earlier. Thankfully, I got pizza and had leftovers, so that became lunch for Thursday. We all sit around and complain about some of the people in our program. We are all at the end of our patience with certain people. After dinner, we all head back to our apartments. I do some Italian studying for the test Friday and then go to bed. Elba Day 5: Class in the morning. We meet early, as our program coordinator requested. She gives us a speech about being late and how unacceptable that is. Some very good points. Made to all the people who were actually there. The ones who are always on time. The ones who don't need to hear it. Class was good though. I'm on good terms with the Italian teacher. She also knows French, which helps since I accidentally slip French words in between the Italian ones a lot. Then lunch of pizza. Still hungry though, but we don't have any food and the store doesn't open until 4 PM. Really wish people hadn't been late yesterday. Then I would have food. Its hard not to hold a grudge. I really dislike being hungry. We meet back at the hotel for our very first Renaissance art history lesson. Our teacher is very no nonsense and strict. Some people who are regularly late are not going to do well. She will just leave without you. There is a final paper of 4,000-5,000 words. I think I'm going to be editing a lot of people's essays. We get to choose our own topic though, and I'm thinking of looking at Bernini's statue of Apollo and Daphne. That would be amazing if I could do that. After class a group of us wandered around shopping and eating gelato before running to the grocery store. We are all studying tonight for the Italian language test Friday morning (tomorrow). We had some apartment bonding after I accidentally broke a glass and we ran around trying to find a broom and dustpan. Curse my clumsiness. O well.